A/N: Hello, me again! Thank you curligurl0896 for reviewing and thank you to anybody else who decided to favorite/follow this story! I really appreciate it! In this chapter, the story will truly begin and we meet a couple of our antagonists. Keep in mind that this chapter isn't edited. Without further ado, let the story truly begin!

Disclaimer: Still don't own FMA

Chapter 1: The New Student of Amestris High

Today was the first day of school.

Al walked through the door and into his first period class, History, and plopped down into the closest desk. He wasn't used to waking up so early again and he had only slept for six hours the previous night. His new teacher, apparently named Mr. Smith according to the name tag on his desk, seemed rather surprised to see how young one of his students was. Al ignored his gaze however, since he was used to getting stared at. After all, it wasn't very usual for a nine year old to be attending high school.

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise." Al, who had laid his head down on his desk, looked up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice.

A boy with black hair and eyes stood before him, a strange smile that was neither malicious nor kind on his face. Most importantly, however, the boy seemed to be his age! He blinked, suddenly very awake and surprised.

"Um... Hello?" He said hesitantly, unsure of how he should respond to this strange boy's presence.

"Greetings. Mind if a sit beside you?" Al shook his head mutely and the boy placed his things on the desk next to him.

"Um... What's your name?" Al asked for the sake of starting a conversation. Again, the boy gave him that weird smile.

"Selim. Selim Bradley."

"Nice to meet you. My name's-"

"Alphonse Elric, correct?" He blinked, confused and more than a bit freaked out.

"Um... Yeah, that's my name. How do you-"

"How do I know?" Selim smirked as Al gave him the fish eyes. "I've heard a lot about you, even before I came here. After all, it isn't everyday that such a young student comes to attend high school. My brother has also spoken highly of you."

"Who's-"

"My brother? Why he's Student Council President Bradley." Al studied him for a moment, as if he were trying to figure out a puzzle. Selim grinned. "And no, I'm not a mind reader. I'm just good at guessing what's on other people's minds." Al frowned disbelieving.

"If you say so..." He said slowly. "So what are you doing here, Selim?"

"Attending school like every other student here." Selim answered smoothly. "Like you, I suppose you could say that I'm a prodigy."

"Wow, really? I didn't expect to meet another student my age at this school!"

"Well, I'm older than I appear. I'm actually fourteen."

"Oh." Al blinked, not quite sure whether or not he believed that statement. "I see."

The bell then rang and class began.

As it turned out, Al had every class with Selim, much to the two new friends' delight. By the time lunch came around, Al was in a much better mood than he had been this morning. As he approached the lunch table where his brother and their friends sat, however, he saw that his brother was not in as good a mood as he was. He was glaring darkly into empty space, repelling most of the curious students who hadn't met the local prodigy the previous year. Their friends at the table all seemed be sitting at least a seat away from him.

Strangely enough, Selim didn't seem to be bothered by Ed and the scary aura surrounding him. Instead, he smiled that smile that Al still couldn't understand.

"That's your brother, right? Edward Elric?"

Ed walked into his first period class, English, uncharacteristically happy that morning. He had gotten a good night's sleep last night and had enjoyed a wonderful breakfast. He couldn't be more prepared for school. He had just set his things on an empty table in the front row when he was alerted to the presence of a new classmate by the sound of a loud laugh. He turned around to see a green haired... person who he couldn't identify the gender of. The student was wearing a black leather jacket, black trousers, and had black leather boots which they put on display on top of their desk. Everything about the stranger screamed "trouble".

"So your the pipsqueak prodigy everybody's been talking about?" The student sneered. "You don't look like much. I was expecting you to be a bit... Taller." Ed willed his mouth to stay shut and his face was burning red as he tried to control his temper.

"I'm... Not... Short..." He managed to say semi-calmly through his gritted teeth. Suddenly, Ed also became acutely aware of his teacher, Mrs. Datzman, staring at him with sharp eyes. She was very aware of his temper and his sensitivity about his height since he had spent a few afternoons in her classroom last year during detention. He was almost certain that Mrs. Datzman believed that he was pure evil. He wasn't inclined to blame her for believing such a thing however, considering how violent he could be.

"What are you? Delusional? Of course you are! How old are you anyway? You look like you belong in kindergarten to me." Ed felt his self control slipping away.

"Who the hell are you?" He snapped, redirecting his anger from his least favorite subject of conversation. The student smirked.

"You can call me Envy."

Much to Ed's despair and Envy's delight, the two of them had every class together. By the time he finally reached the lunch period, Ed's mood was about as bright as a storm cloud. His friends from last year wisely chose to give him some space. Envy thankfully decided to sit with his own friends (Ed wondered how he had any friends so soon in the first place), and he had a few minutes of relative peace to glare at nothing in particular.

"Brother? Is everything alright?" At the sound of his younger brother's voice, Ed's glare softened.

"Hey, Al." He said wearily, turning only to find that his brother had apparently bought a new friend to their lunch table. Surprisingly, he appeared to be just as young as they were. "Who's your new friend?"

"Oh, this is Selim Bradley, a new student here. He's a sophomore like us!" Ed's expression remained neutral.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." He said, shaking hands with Selim.

"The pleasure's all mine." The new student said and smiled. It took Ed a total of five seconds to decided that he didn't like this boy or his smile. Something about that grin was off, and he felt no urge to find out why. For the sake of his brother however, Ed faked a smile.

After an awkward and unusually silent lunch, Ed quickly left the cafeteria. Roy Mustang, a junior that he had met last year, and a couple of his other friends ran to catch up with him.

"Hey, pipsqueak, wait up!" Roy yelled over the noise of the hallway. Ed looked back and glared at him.

"Who are you calling so small that he could drown in a teacup, you jerk!" He yelled angrily, picking up his pace.

He was nearly to his next class when someone grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side of the hallway. It was Riza Hawkeye, who was also a junior. Roy and another one of his friends, Jean Havoc, stopped beside him

"Hey, chief, what was that all about? You've never run from us before!" Jean exclaimed, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. "Is it because of that creepy kid?" Ed glared at him.

"It's-"

"Don't even try to tell us that it's none of our business." Riza interrupted, her sharp eyes looking at him intently. "You're our friend, whether you like it or not. Anything that concerns either you or Al, concerns us as well."

"I'm just having a bad day." Ed said, not daring to snap or yell in Riza's presence. "This guy who calls himself Envy is in all of my classes and he's been bothering me all day."

"Envy? You mean that new kid with the weird green hair?" Roy asked, a frown on his face. He nodded. "I'd advise for you to try and avoid him at all costs." Ed looked up, a bit surprised to see concern in Roy's eyes.

"Why?" He asked curiously.

"I've heard rumors about him. And not just from school. I think he's involved with some gangs in the city."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Ed groaned. "I have to spend every day of this year with a genderless palm tree involved in criminal activity. Of course, of course. And to top it all off, he seems to enjoy continuously sitting next to me so that he could bother the living daylights out of me! What now? Will he move into the apartment next door?"

"Don't worry, Ed. Roy, Jean, and I have a talk with him after school today." Riza said with a rare and reassuring smile.

"We will?" The other two students asked dumbly in unison.

"Yes, you will." Riza said, looking at the two of them, a warning look in her eyes.

Roy and Jean quickly nodded there heads in agreement. "Of course we will!"

Ed sighed. "Thanks guys, but you really shouldn't. If Envy's in a gang, I think we'll all be better off if we steered clear of him." The first bell rang, warning them that they were a minute away from being late. "I gotta get to class." He said, and walked away without another word.

When Ed entered the classroom, he was almost relieved to the point of tears. The only seat left was in the back corner of the classroom and Envy wasn't anywhere near it. The green haired student glared at him from his seat and muttered some unflattering words as he passed by, but Ed was too happy to hear him. Then, he paused and blinked. The student next to him was another kid about his age! He had narrow eyes, black hair, and what seemed to be a permanent smile on his face.

"Why hello, fellow genius! I've heard much about you! Your Edward Elric, aren't you? My name's Ling! I look forward to being your friend!"

Ed had quickly befriended Ling during the classes they had together and thanks to his fellow prodigy, Envy wasn't able to bother or even sit near him, for the rest of the day. Sure, Ling was a bit annoying, spoiled, and constantly asked him for food, but he helped Ed avoid a certain green haired jerk and happened to be the same age as he was. It was nice to have a friend who was also a kid for once, even if they did argue much more than they agreed. By the end of the school day, Ed had hopes that this year wouldn't be so bad. Unfortunately, he had jinxed himself earlier.

"Hey pipsqueak." An already familiar voice said as he and his brother approached their front door. Ed's eyes widened and he made a choking sound that resembled a twisted form of an attempt to speak.

"What are you doing here?" Ed managed to finally say. Envy smirked.

"Isn't it obvious, shrimp? I live here."

"Brother? Who's this?" He turned to face Al. He had decided to not tell his little brother about Envy, not wanting to endanger or worry him. So much for that.

Instead of answering his brother, Ed grabbed his hand and stormed inside their small apartment, slamming the door behind him.

Their caretaker, Sheska, a kindhearted librarian that had found them on the streets a few years ago, dropped her novel at the sound of Ed's loud entrance.

"Oh, welcome back home!" Sheska said cheerfully as she saw them enter the small living room that was also the kitchen and dining room.

"Hey, Sheska!" Al said with a grin. The brothers saw their caretaker as more of a sister than a mother, considering how young she was and how she had been their friend before adopting them. "How was your day?"

"Wonderful! And how was yours?"

"We'll tell you about it later." Ed growled, before slamming the doors to his and Al's room.

As he crashed into his bed, Al sat down at the desk they shared, a look of concern on his face.

"What's going on, Ed? You've been acting weird all day. Who was that guy next door?" He lifted his head slightly to meet his brother's eyes.

"You don't need to know his name, who he is, or how I know him Al." He said, choosing his words carefully. "All you need to know and all I'm going to tell you, is that you must never talk to him or even look at him. Ever. No matter what."

A/N: Done! Finally! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please write a review and tell me what you think about this chapter. Constructive Criticism will be greatly appreciated as are alerts and favorites! I decided to make Sheska the Elric brothers' legal guardian since I wanted their caretaker to be somebody who won't play a big role in this story. Sheska happened to be that person. If your bothered by the fact that she's their caretaker, worry not, she won't be in this story very much. The next chapter will probably come soon. I plan on updating every other day since I want to also update my other fanfiction, but no promises! I don't write for a living (I wish I did though). Until next time, I, EndlessStars, bid you farewell!