CHAPTER 3

The Alchemist

Colonel John Low sat behind a table in the east end of the train station grumbling to himself. Their table was cluttered with enlistment forms and informational pamphlets on alchemy. Though most people already knew that alchemy was the deconstruction and reconstruction of matter, they had a giant pile of pamphlets especially made for that one person who didn't. It was a long day at the station, many people were rushing to get somewhere or another. Whoever happened to stop by the table to see what the soldiers were handing out, usually were scared off by the Major's passion and emotional connection to his job. It would usually begin with a normal conversation, then end with the Major crying about how lovely it was for people to stand up for their country. John knew that their chances of finding eligible alchemists were slim and even slimmer to find one that actually wanted to join the military. While no one was being drawn to their beautiful display of patriotism, and Bolden's tears, John quickly pulled out some unsorted files that he snagged from the office. Though he wasn't supposed to take documents out of the Military base or government compound, he didn't want to waste all of his time waiting for an alchemist that would never show up. He sifted through the pile of papers until he found the picture of the two girls. They looked as innocent as ever, but it was worrying the Colonel a bit that he couldn't find one file that would match the picture's description. There were several cases that involved women as victims or suspects, but none of them described anything about two little girls. As the colonel was skipping through the files, the major caught site of the picture and snagged it from his hands. John reached out desperately for it like the photograph was his life line, but the Major was too tall and strong for him to do anything about it. Bolden simply turned his back to the colonel and studied the picture.

"Major Bolden!" John irrupted as his demands were going unnoticed by a lower ranking officer. Major Bolden, hearing the demanding plea of his Commanding officer and longtime friend, turned around with a tear in his eye. The colonel took a few steps back from the Major, who looked like he was going to have another episode. "What is it Bolden?"

Major stifled a tear as he passed the picture back to his C.O. "Those are the girls from the cold arson of Arrington."

"What about it?" John asked softly, trying not to make the bomb go off. He glanced at the picture a few more times, the two girls looking back at him.

"It was so tragic!" the Major said so softly he was barely able to be heard above the echo of the station. "Someone set fire to the town house that these two girls and their father were living in. It was thought to be an accident, but no fire can do what happened to the two sisters."

"What do you mean? What happened to the girls?"

"It is all in the files," the major quickly shut down. "All I can say here is that the father was nowhere to be found and the girls were left homeless with no other family." His voice was hushed and faded into the screams of the crowd. John snapped his head up in alert and looked around the station. Several travelers were being tasseled about and luggage flew around in the crowd as three people raced through the station. An ugly looking man raced by their table grasping a piece of luggage. To the Colonel's surprise, the man quickly upset their promotion table, throwing it in the way of two people chasing him. One person wearing a long green coat and slick black pants nearly tripped over the table as they tried to hurdle it, landing clumsily on the stone floor. They quickly shot off from the ground and raced past the colonel in a flash of white, screaming curses at the other man. Sprinting along behind the first one was a golden suit of armor, who strangely enough, cleared the obstacle with ease. The armored tower, quickly yelled out several high pitched apologies as it plowed down through the crowd of people. The soldiers were left in a dazed confusion as the train of chaos pranced into the multitude of travelers. When the Colonel finally snapped to, he pulled his gloves on tighter and grabbed the major by the shirt collar.

"Come on Bolden!" he commanded as he started to race after the group. The two soldiers caught up to the three runners quickly due to their military training. John tried to get a clear view of the man they were chasing, but too many bags of luggage and people were being tossed about. They chased the people from the east end of the train station all the way to the south corridor nearly exiting the station, when all of a sudden several flashes of electricity shot out from the ground around them. A giant wall grew out of nowhere and the man ran smack into it, sending the suitcase flying down to the ground near John's feet. The two figures tackled the man, and the suit of armor pinned the pitiful human being there with his foot. The Colonel noticed that the green coated figure, bore choppy white hair fixed into a bun. As they turned around to grab the suitcase, he also noted that it was not in fact a he, but a teenaged girl. Despite her rather bulky and masculine clothes, of black cargo pants, black leather boots, and a heavy green coat, the teenager still bore the subtle features of a girl her age. She raced over to the suit case and brought it back to her armored friend, who still had hold of the thief.

"Colonel," Bolden said behind him, "What are we going to do about this?" He motioned to the chaos of the station. Couple people were glaring at the officers and girls who pushed them over in the high speed chase, while others groped around trying to find their lost luggage, which by now was probably halfway across the station. Though the colonel had to admit that this little adventure was much better than waiting around at the promotional table, he gave a sigh.

"It's okay, major. I got this," he huffed as he walked up behind the girl, with his thick black boots clicking the uneven stone ground. He stood above the two kids as he cleared his throat, startling the girl. The green coated girl leapt high in the air and spun around to face him. Her grey eyes looked at him in shock and anger. John almost let out a gasp as he saw her eyes. Pain and torture flickered through them. "You two. Come with me," his deep voice said sternly.

So here is the POV of the last chapter. So repetitive, but so thrilling! YaY! will try to get the next chapter up by the end of the week. Please review or promote. Tell your friends, tell your wives, tell your uncles, babies, or nieces. If you absolutely hated it, tell your enemies. I just love to hear feed back.