Long Winding Road
EdXOC &AlXOC
Edited: 8/3/12
[Mikayla]
"A mission?"
"You should know how missions are run since you've been all over the country with Ed." Roy said, handing me a packet with all the information I would need.
I glanced over the papers and saw that I needed to go to various towns like Rush Valley, North City, and East City to train some of their medical staff.
"There are also other alchemists that specialize in medicine going to different towns to train hospital staff so you won't have to do too much running around." Roy said.
"Alright then, when do I leave?"
"In two hours." He replied.
After being dismissed, I walked out of Central Command and met Reena in the hotel.
"A mission? Cool!" Reena shouted, packing her things. "Where are we going?"
"To some towns to go train medical alchemists; shouldn't be too hard." I replied, packing things in my duffle bag.
After waiting for a while, we headed out of the hotel and to the train station.
"HELP!"
I looked over to see a building starting to collapse.
"The hell?" I shouted, clapping my hands as I ran over.
I stopped short when I saw a girl run out from nowhere and stop the building from falling with her own alchemy - without a circle. The girl looked around sixteen years old with shoulder length black hair. She wore a black skirt and a red jacket that had the fire alchemy emblem on the back.
"Another fire alchemist? I thought Roy was the only one," I muttered.
"Mikayla come on, we're going to miss the train! That girl has it under control!" Reena shouted, tugging on my hand.
We jogged to the train station and got to the train just in time.
That was weird. That girl did alchemy without a circle, which would mean she's seen the Gate. I thought. And she has the fire symbol on her jacket, which would make her a fire alchemist. I rested my head on the window and watched the world go by. Guess I'll talk to Mustang later.
When I arrived in Rush Valley, I headed towards the hospital and checked in with the front desk.
"My name is Mikayla Mitchell, the Silver Katana Alchemist. Central Command sent me over to train staff members." I said.
"Oh yes come this way." The nurse smiled, ushering me down the hall.
She led me to a room where ten men, ranging from the ages nineteen to forty five, sat at long tables.
"This is your teacher Mikayla. She is a state certified medical alchemist and she will teach you how to help here at the hospital and pass your exam." The nurse said. She then showed her way out and left me with them.
"Um, alright." I started awkwardly, "Tell me your names."
After telling me their names, I decided to write some questions on the white board for them to answer.
"Can anyone come up and draw the circle you would use to heal a basic cut?" I asked, "Steven."
The youngest – Steven - walked up and drew the circle. It was a nicely draw circle except it was the wrong one.
"Steven, that's the wrong one." I pointed out, "This is what is."
I drew the correct circle on the board and he went to draw it on a piece of paper.
"I thought all of them were the same." He said.
Oh gosh, I have a lot of work to do…
[A few weeks later]
It had taken me about half a month to get through all the towns but finally I was going back to Central to give my report.
"Thank God that was the last town! Those guys knew nothing!" I said, collapsing on the train.
"After hearing you explain something fifteen times I think I could perform medical alchemy with ease." Reena muttered, sitting across from me.
When we arrived in Central, I went to the command center to report to Roy.
"Very good, the hospitals called me and said you did a good job teaching them." Roy said, looking through my report.
"Thank you," I grinned.
"Well, you're dismissed-"
"Wait, I wanted to ask you something." I interrupted, "Do you have a daughter?"
He gave me an odd look, "Where the hell did you get that from?"
"Well before I left a girl stopped a building from collapsing. She had black hair and the back of her jacket had the fire alchemy symbol on it," I explained.
"Well I don't know anything about another flame alchemist nor do I have a daughter. Is that all Silver Katana?" He asked.
"That's all," I replied, walking out of the room.
[Roy's POV]
I sighed and ran my hands through my hair as I headed towards my apartment. The moon was out and the streetlamps were on; I bet it was close to ten. Work had been brutal today, and my thoughts drifted to Mikayla's words from earlier. Another flame alchemist? I didn't know how anyone would know Flame Alchemy without a teacher, and Master Hawkeye was the only one I knew of.
Barely anyone was out, maybe a few drunks or late night workers, but I stopped when I saw a young girl walking across the street, heading the opposite direction as me. I normally wouldn't have cared, but the flame symbol caught my eye.
"Excuse miss!" I called, looking for cars before crossing towards her. She stopped and looked at me, eyes wide. I examined her - black hair, red jacket, blue eyes - and knew I had found the girl Mikayla described to me earlier.
"Roy Mustang?" She asked, blinking. "Flame Alchemist?"
I narrowed my eyes. How did she know my name? Well, I was pretty famous. "Yes, and you might be?"
The girl stuck out her gloved hand. "I'm Nami Clark," she grinned. "And I'm quite a fan of you, Mr. Flame Alchemist."
"Oh really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, I was actually looking for you," she said. "I have a request."
"If it's training you in fire alchemy, no." I answered. I didn't know if that was the question, but by the disappointment in her eyes, I had guessed correctly.
"And why is that?" Nami - if I remembered her name correctly - asked.
"Because fire alchemy is dangerous, and bad things happen if it falls into the wrong hands," I replied sharply.
I had to get her to leave before she came up with some smart answer to try to get me to teach her. "Now if you'll excuse me."
I turned and made my way down the street, yet unable to not take one last glance behind me. The girl stood there, her fist shaking softly and her head down. Why did she even want to be a flame alchemist? I mean, of all alchemies, why that one?
I shrugged as I entered my apartment and set my stuff down. No need to dwell over it, but maybe I would mention it to Mikayla later.
[Unknown]
I was extremely bored. What did they call themselves again… Blade Children?
"So, you're telling me that you want me to kidnap this girl who is a State Alchemist and bring her here so you can kill her?" I asked.
"Yes! Michelle, I know you would get the job done right!" Dr. Jethro - the 'father' or 'leader' of the Blade Children - grinned widely. "And you would get paid! You would be as famous as your uncle."
I snorted, "And look where that got him! In a grave! Look, I might have taken on his nickname but that doesn't make me a carbon copy of him. When I cause trouble, I cause trouble my way."
"But Michelle-"
"Shove off!"
I grabbed my jacket and placed my uncle's old white hat over my chestnut hair.
"Call me when you don't have something stupid to tell me." I sneered, walking out of the hideout.
I trudged out the forest deeply disappointed. I actually thought I would have a good job - start some random shit. Obviously, that plan was a bust.
"Michelle Kimblee, the Crimson Alchemist. Named after her uncle who betrayed the state and is expected to betray the state as well." I muttered to myself, "Thank you uncle for leaving me such a title."
[Mikayla]
My next mission was to go train with some guy named Kane. Roy thought it would be a good idea if I had some formal training in fighting - kind of like how Ed and Al were trained by Izumi.
For some reason I feel like I know this Kane guy. I thought, oh well.
The only downfall about the mission was that it was in Risembool. I would absolutely love it if Al was there but if I saw Ed I didn't know what I'd do - either start crying or simply walk away. I felt a weight land on my lap and saw Reena was fast asleep. The train hadn't even left yet and she was already sleeping. Then again, she didn't get much sleep last night.
"Excuse me."
I looked up and saw the girl from almost a month ago.
"Is this seat taken?" The girl asked, pointing to the seat across from me, "There's no more seats left."
I shook my head and she sat across from me.
"Um, did you by any chance stop a building from collapsing a few weeks ago?" I asked, curiosity getting the best of me.
"Yeah, I did. I'm guessing you saw that." She answered.
"Yeah, I actually was going to go stop it but you got there before me. Good job, by the way." I said, "I also noticed the symbols on the back of your jacket… are you a flame alchemist?"
The girl looked hesitant to reply but nodded, "Yes… well I want to be. Are you a state alchemist?"
"Yep," I answered, "Are you?"
"No," She replied, "But I wanted to see if Roy Mustang would train me… but unfortunately he said no."
I then had an idea, "Well, I'm going to go train with some guy named Kane in Risembool. Where are you headed?"
"Risembool."
"I heard from Mustang that the guy I'm supposed to train with isn't a 'certified' flame alchemist but he does use fire when he attacks. If I remember correctly it comes from his guns and it's the reason why he's the Silver Bullet Alchemist. Maybe he can help you." I said, "What's your name by the way?"
"Nami Clark, you?"
"Mikayla Mitchell and this little girl sleeping on me is Reena."
Nami and I talked about various things as we rode the train to Risembool. Turns out, she had an auto-mail leg and her mechanic was Winry (which makes sense since she lives in Risembool). She was friendly but I could tell she still had many walls up. I couldn't blame her though; I had many walls up too.
It was around mid-afternoon when we arrived in Risembool and Nami needed to go to Winry's to get her auto-mail tuned.
"I'm going to find Kane's house. See ya later Nami." I said.
"See ya."
We went our separate ways and I started going down one of the dirt paths.
"Do you even know what direction the house is in?" Reena yawned out.
"Shush, I'll find out." I replied, looking at the paper Roy had given me.
"Reena thinks you'll get us lost."
"Mikayla thinks Reena should shut up before she sends Reena to the shadow realm!"
"…What?"
Author's Corner:
~Nami Clark belongs to xxTemarixx and I would like to thank her for writing Roy's POV for me because it formally introduced her character.
~I WONDER WHO KANE IS! (*hint* Go back to the chapter either right before or the actual chapter where Kaylee dies in Not A Normal Girl *hint*)
~HURRAY FOR YU-GI-OH REFERENCES! (I love referencing other books and animes)