Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or any of the characters. They belong to Arakawa-Senpai~ I only own my OC's, my made up towns/cities/countries/other misc characters and this fanfiction.

Author's Note: I want to say a quick thank you to KenLala Laura, cherrishish and my good friends Limey and Necromantic for their reviews and opinions. I'm also grateful for the story follows. I'm so happy that from the beginning, this story has been enjoyed thus far. So I endeavor to continue to write as best as I can.

I welcome CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, so please review somewhat kindly. Also feel free to PM me for any questions/queries about this story, or even just to say hello :3

Chapter: Rising & Falling

Summary: Some people are just meant to meet...

Sitting in a quaint booth inside the bar they had bumped into each other in front of only a few days before, Alphonse and Juniper were engaged in a deep and humorous conversation about their experiences as Izumi's apprentices. Alphonse threw his head back in laughter as Juniper shared one of her memories with their teacher.

"It happened more than once though. I remember one evening I was in the kitchen with Teacher helping her prepare dinner. I had finished my tasks and I was bored, so I began toying with the water inside a nearby glass. I was clumsy with water back then, so it would splutter outwardly sometimes when I tried to keep in together in a shape. I accidentally put out the flame on the stove that Teacher had just lit, so she went to relight it. I made the water splutter again and put out the relighted flame. That's when I heard her grumble out my name. Before I knew it, I had barely managed to escape the four butcher knives she sent flying in my direction while shouting 'DON'T PLAY WITH WATER INSIDE THE KITCHEN, YOU IRRITATING IRAYLIAN FISH!'" Juniper said in her best Izumi voice and Alphonse burst with laughter, clutching his stomach.

"Hahaha. Iraylian fish? I'd expect nothing less from Teacher, she was and still is, the only woman to ever truly frighten the living daylights out of me and Brother. Well, with the exception of Winry and her perfected technique of wrench throwing. You don't throw any hard or sharp objects too do you?" He said with a playfully raised brow.

She chuckled at his comment. "No no. Throwing things isn't particularly my style. Unless you counted punching and kicking as 'throwing things'."

Alphonse snickered. "We should train together sometime then. I've only ever been beaten by Teacher, and one time by Brother. But it was only once." He reaffirmed the last fact, being proud of his winning streak.

"Sure." Juniper gave him a nod and a cocky grin. She knew well enough from stories Izumi told her that Alphonse was a bit of a softy, especially towards women. She figured that accepting a challenge from him wouldn't necessarily result in a victory for him. She was sure she could put him on his ass if she tried. It became difficult suppressing a smug grin that threatened to tug at the corner of her lips.

"So what's Iraylia like? I've not really heard much about that country until recently."

Juniper quickly registered his question and pressed an index finger to her lips and knitted her brow while she thought of the place she once called home.

"Well, the town where my family was, it was very vast with long winding dirt roads and small homes scattered about the place. Most of the land was just large stretches of rocky plains that were covered in grass and moss. The cliff sides at the seaside were enormous, dropping down far with big rolling waves of the sea slamming into it endlessly. It was mostly overcast a lot of the time, and everything was moist with so much rain and mist. But it was quiet and peaceful, and the people were all so wonderful. In many ways, it was a lot like your hometown." She smiled, turning her gaze to him once again.

"Have you ever been to Resembool?"

She nods. "I have. Helping Da or my brother deliver liquor to one of the local bars there, to Mr Brunswick."

"Oh, Mr Brunswick! I remember him always getting excited about a monthly shipment that would come in." These coincidences just continued to grow in numbers it seemed.

He had learned that Juniper was the daughter of the only Iraylian brewer in Amestris, based in Kadayr. Her small family would deliver shipments in huge horse-drawn carriages all across the country themselves, so they were all well-traveled. Doing so had led her to meet Winry back when they were 15 in Rush Valley when she was making a delivery with her father one time. He wasn't surprised that they had remained friends. What really surprised him was how she had met Edward before.

It had been a month after he and his brother had gone their separate ways to continue their alchemy research a few years ago. Apparently Edward, as usual, got himself into trouble with some thugs in his travels. If Juniper had not been nearby, on her way back from a delivery to West City, then Edward would have been a lot worse off now than he was that day. Edward was the one who had pointed Juniper in Izumi's direction after witnessing her basic, but impressive use of alchemy that saved his ass. She spoke just the words he was thinking.

"I still can't believe we have not met before the exams. Our paths seem to have been crossing more and more as the years have gone by."

"Yeah I know. It's weird, but I'm not complaining." He shot her a bright, genuine smile. She lightly bit on her bottom lip and looked away to fight a blush from appearing as her mind wondered. She didn't notice his citrine eyes darken slightly with an unknown emotion. He swallowed hard then lifted his glass of beer to his lips, effectively halting his own oncoming blush.

"S-So I guess you've got a hard task ahead of you, choosing who to give the certification to." She decided on distraction to rid herself of the blush.

"Yeah, but it's kind of an easy choice for me." He gave her a knowing look, and she rolled her eyes.

"I hope you're not biased. You don't even know how I did on the first exam."

"Well you made it to the second exam didn't you? Do you know what your score was by the way?" He would find out tomorrow anyway.

She nodded, but appeared to be frustrated. With an exasperated sigh, she enlightened him.

"Yeah, 91 from 100. I had some trouble with the advance questions of 'Reconstruction'. I was really sure that would be one part I would be able to ace."

"91 is still an impressive score Juniper. Don't be disheartened by it. If you like, I can lend you some books and notes I have on advance reconstruction. You might find that after reading them, your alchemy would have improved too."

"That would be great, thank you Alphonse." She muttered softly as she picked up her own glass of beer to sip it gingerly. They had both opted to drink lightly that evening.

She watched him take a small leather bound journal from a pocket inside his jacket and a pen. He opened it up and scribbled his apartment address neatly before tearing the page out and passing it to her.

"Come by tomorrow any time after five if you aren't busy. Maybe we can do some note swapping and you could enlighten me further on your air alchemy. I'm really intrigued by how you do it." Alphonse spoke softly as she took the paper from him. He really hoped she would stop by. She was smart, and clearly had a broad knowledge of elemental alchemy he had never seen used before until today. He tried to ignore the fact that he really just wanted to see her again.

"Sounds like a good plan to me. I'll be there for sure." Unbeknownst to each other, they were elated about the opportunity.

A few hours later, the pair was reasonably tipsy. Once again laughing and swapping stories with each other, learning about one another in the process. It had gotten quite late, and every patron in the bar had left. It was only them and the barman, who knew Juniper and was content with letting her stay just a little longer while he cleaned up, smiling to himself as he watched the two become closer, though he was sure neither of them had a clue. A clock on the wall chimed softly as it struck one in the morning.

"Oh goodness. I didn't realize how late it had gotten. Hic.." At the end of her sentence she hiccuped softly, which caused her to giggle at herself.

Alphonse chuckled. "I guess we should get a move on, I have to be in Fuhrer Grumman's office by 8 tomorrow-... uh this morning I mean."

Juniper nodded her head in agreement as she slid out of the round booth, hiccups still escaping her every so often. When she stood, she turned and waved to the barman.

"Thank you Mr Monroe. Sorry to have kept you so late." Juniper called out as her and Alphonse made their way to the door.

"Anything for you Miss Fox. I'm looking forward to your father's next shipment." His deep voice bellowed across the bar. This made her chuckle softly.

Outside, the midnight spring air was pleasant, if not a little bit on the chilly side. Juniper never thought to have brought a jacket with her earlier that day. She folded her arms around herself and rubbed her upper arms a bit to warm her skin. She didn't realize that Alphonse had shrugged off his military jacket until he placed it over her shoulders. She looked up at him, a little dumbfounded.

"The cold doesn't bother me so much. It's fine Juniper. Besides, I'll walk you back to your hotel which isn't far anyway." He offered her a kind smile before he started to walk down the pavement with her.

She tugged the lapels of the jacket a little tighter around her body. Subconsciously and as discreetly as possible, she closed her eyes and inhaled the soft, comforting scent of Alphonse.

'Mmm… smells like Golden Delicious apples, cinnamon and autumn. Warm, golden… just like his hair and eyes.'

Her eyes snapped open when she realized what she was doing. She mentally scolded herself as she regained her equilibrium and looked ahead of her. 'Get a grip, Juniper. You're a 21 year old aspiring alchemist, not 14 year old love-struck girl with her first crush!'

They enjoyed light conversation on the short walk to the hotel Juniper was staying in. Once there, they both stood outside the hotel and continued their chatter on purpose, delaying the inevitable. In such a short time, they had found a friendship; a strong bond that neither of them quite understood, as if they had known each other all along.

"Anyway, thank you for walking me back here Alphonse. I had a good evening drinking with you. It was nice to unwind after a month's worth of stress crammed into just three days." She said as she shrugged the jacket from her shoulders and returned it to Alphonse, who folded it over his forearm.

"Yeah, it was good for me too. I remember how stressed out I was with my exam, not something I'd jump to do again, that's for sure."

Juniper giggled and shook her head. "I have to say I agree with you immensely on that."

A moment of silence passed them, but it wasn't in anyway awkward for neither of them. Breaking this silence, Juniper held her hand out to him.

"Well, it was nice to have finally met you. I look forward to tomorrow evening as well." She smiled so brilliantly.

Alphonse returned the smile and reached his own hand out to grasp hers in a handshake. He softly gasped at the contact, and could have sworn her heard her sharp take of breathe.

There..

There it was..

The spark he knew he had felt with her.

Now it was a physical thing, and not just a feeling.

They slowly let go of each other's hand, letting go of the warmth that was there between their palms, having not even shaken each other's hand.

"Night.." Juniper whispered hoarsely as she turned and walked into the hotel. In her mind, she began scientifically summing that feeling up to a misunderstood spark of static electricity. Surely that's all it could have been.

"Goodnight.." Alphonse murmured in a husky tone as stood there and watched her disappear into the building before he too turned to leave. He had felt that feeling before, but never as intense as that had been. As if to confirm his suspicions, he noticed he had the tell-tale symptoms: Heated and flushed cheeks and ears, clammy hands, the feeling of swirling anxiety and nerves in the pit of his stomach and a thumping heart.

He shrugged on his jacket and shoved his hands in his pockets as he made tracks for home. His mouth pressed into a hard line as he frowned deeply.

'No, I can't let this happen. I need to think rationally and get control of these emotions. It just can't happen.. It… It wouldn't be allowed to happen anyway if she became a State Alchemist… and I can't bear to be hurt again… or possibly hurt her.'

That night, he dreamed of her. Her kind voice, her giggle and laughter, and those eyes... They were everything he had imagined they would be up close. A captivating mixture of green, blue and gold. Now they, in all the different shades he had seen of them so far, liberated his dreams.

"Right, that's everyone here then." Grumman said as Alphonse and Roy sauntered into his office the following morning. They took their seats at a long dark oak table where the Fuhrer, General Burwell and Brigadier General Walker were seated already.

"Let's look over the results from Day One of the exams, and then discuss Day Two and Day Three. In front of you are the results in the written exam." Grumman said as he picked up his own copy to read over as did the other men. Alphonse, and even Roy, only took notice of the results of the three highest scorers.

Final Exam Results of Day One

Riley Connors. 100/100

George Kelly. 98/100

Juniper Fox. 91/100

In fact, all the men seemed to have put back down their paper at the same time after this.

"I will refer to the applicants by their surnames from here onward gentlemen. Let's move this along. As Fuhrer, I have made a list of applicants who I have opted to not be eligible for certification after my evaluations of the Psychological and Physical Exam, due to mental instability, substance abuse or a failed physical exam." Grumman clears his throat and reads out a list of names of the applicants who would not be considered any further.

"Any objections to these applicants mentioned, gentlemen?" He looked up from his list and saw the men shake their heads and mutter 'No Sir'. Pleased with this, he moved on.

"Is there any applicant that any of you may deem unfit or unable to serve the military for whatever reason?"

General Burwell, the non-alchemist on the panel spoke up. "I do have concerns over Riley Connors' weak constitution after his performance on Day Three. He passed both psychological and physical exams, yet he was left unable to move after performing his alchemy. This could be a problem."

The men nodded in agreement as they thought of this.

"That may be true General Burwell, but the state in which he was left had nothing to do with his overall physical or psychological strength and health. To me, it is clear that Mr Connors has not had as much practical training as he could have. Alchemy requires certain energy within and around us that also requires an understanding of said energy. Hence the basic equivalent exchange principle; to gain something is to give something back in return. It's clear that he has not had the opportunity to push himself in training before." Alphonse explained as best as he could to General Burwell, who genuinely nodded in understanding.

"Actually, I was notified by my secretary this morning before you all arrived that Mr Connors requested for his application to be withdrawn and left a small note for us conducting the tests." Grumman said as he rustled through his papers and found the neatly folded letter he was searching for and unfolded it to read it aloud.

"'I require more training before I believe I am ready to take the exam again, so I am returning home. I won't give up, and will be back next year to retake the tests. Someone recently made me realize that I owe it to myself try my very best'."" Grumman chuckled as he refolded the letter.

"A determined young lad if I do say so myself. Perhaps a certain young alchemist inspired him yesterday to do some improvement." The four older men snickered at Grumman's words. Alphonse's lips pressed into a small smile.

"Ahh… Let's get back too it then, gentlemen. Now as far as Day Three goes, I was mostly pleased with Kelly, since Connors has withdrawn, and Miss Foxy is on the top of my list. What are your thoughts?" said Grumman as he folded his hands in front of him on the table. The men let out a small chuckle at the nickname Grumman had already started to call Juniper.

"My choices were going with Connors and Fox." General Burwell muttered.

"Anyone who can put Mustang on his ass is a winner in my books." Brigadier General Walker teased, snickering with Alphonse when Roy began to grumble from the opposite side of the table. After the exam, Burwell and Walker had continued to remind and tease him of his defeat, by a young woman no less.

"As much as I hate to agree with Walker right now..." He huffed through gritted teeth while his brow twitched in frustration, though he remained smirking. "…I was surprised and impressed with Miss Fox's strategy and quick thinking which lead to my unexpected disbarment during the mock battles." He emphasized the point..

Anyone that could do that was worth having in the military.

"Also, her act of compassion towards Connors yesterday proves she has a sense of honor and loyalty, and would probably go out of her way to take care of our own."

He wanted her on his team, that much Roy was certain.

"Her alchemy is uncommon and very unpredictable, as is her fighting style, which would be hard to anticipate. She doesn't rely solely on alchemy to fight or defend herself. She would be hard to overcome in a serious battle. Her elemental alchemy would have many advantages for other soldiers trying to apprehend criminals in situations we might face being overwhelmed. Not only that, but I can see it doing a lot of good in aiding the community, who's concerns we are trying to ease." Alphonse's statement appeared to have convinced the men more on their decision.

Grumman stood and placed his hands on his hips as he announced happily.

"Amestris has just gotten itself a new State Alchemist."