Ava, Ed and Al were all sat on the train, Ava just making it in time no thanks to Roy, the boys had taken one look at Ava and had asked if she was okay as she seemed slightly flustered. Panicking, she had rubbed the back of her head saying that after everything that happened she'd almost forgotten, technically she didn't lie, she did forget, but she wasn't about to let them know about her extra activities involving a certain Colonel. Now on the train watching the world go by as they travelled to Lior, she was just now tuning into their conversation as they spoke about Father Cornello and Lior.

"Brother? The stories about this priest in Lior." Al said, sounding nervous as he spoke. "Do you think they're true?"

"The ones about his miracles, They say he can transmute flowers out of thin air, Right? Could just be a sleight of hand or some cheap trick like that." He said his voice seeming to get more disappointed as he spoke.

"But, what if it's not?" Al asked

"Right, if it's not then all that leaves is the real thing huh." Ed said his voice becoming more determined

"You think he has a Philosopher's stone don't you?" Ava asked joining the conversation looking towards Ed, he nodded "After I heard about this man's miracles, I decided to get a ticket to Lior." She explained looking at her notepad. "Nothing that was spoken of seemed possible, it's clear he's deceiving people with alchemy but one cant bypass the law of equivalent exchange, and come out un-scaved."

After a moment of silence Ed's face began to smile, "Guy's I have a good feeling about this one." Ed's smile was infectious because he rarely had a smile that was genuine, so Ava smiled with him enjoying the moment of peace they had.

Ava looked back out towards the many fields again, her brain wandering to what led her here in the first place.

Hera, as she used to be called, grew up in a small travelling family. Her mother was a simple healer using basic medicine to cure the injured, he had died giving birth to her. She was never told exactly what happened but she was labelled as a tragic event. Her father was a mystery to her, as far as she knew he dropped off the face of the earth after her mother died, the only resemblance being her golden hair and eyes.

It wasn't until she turned 17 that she began to realise she wasn't ageing like everyone else. She began to worry more when she suffered a seemingly fatal cut to her arm that managed to heal itself in days. She began to fear her family's safety, people began to talk about the girl who didn't age. Worried people would call her a freak, or worse harm her and her family trying to figure out how she was managing to stay youthful. She did what was best for them and left in the middle of the night.

Travelling she stumbled upon the outskirts of Xing, she learned how to transmute using alkahestry, which she was found to be quite a natural at. This brought upon her many opportunities. She went from town to town living many different lives, killing herself off and moving to a new town once she could no longer hide her youth. Along the way she learned hand to hand combat, even training to be the Emperor's personal guard. Her life was perfect finally, under the Emperor she was allowed to live in secret. Until the Emperor's son took charge, growing up she had been tasked with watching over him, he'd made it clear to people that she would be his concubine once he surpassed his father.

Upon the Emperor's death he demanded she become his concubine along with every other beautiful woman in the land. She had politely refused, reminding the young man that she had taken a sacred vow and due to this was unable to have relationships. This had enraged the new emperor who branded her as a traitor. She struggled to leave with her life, thankfully she escaped but it took many years to regain her full strength and cross the desert.

Stumberling her way through the desert she found herself in Ishval, although they rejected her Alkahestry they took pity on the 'Young' Female, offering her food and shelter in return she offered construction work and medicinal help, the peace however did not last. The Civil war started and the worst years she'd had to live came all too quickly and she was thrown into the middle of battle. So many children suffered as a result and she had to heal in ways she never thought she'd need to. She had learnt that dead soldiers on both ends could be used to heal broken and injured soldiers lying in medical wings. Anyone who knows alchemy, an art she'd learned from the west requires you to learn one rule. The Law Of Equivalent Exchange. She'd learnt that a body with no soul could be deconstructed and reconstructed on a new body. So far it had worked perfectly, and she would mend wounded and disabled soldiers quickly, even though many protested calling her a monster they understood that her work kept the forces fighting.

Putting dead bodies onto living people wasn't the worst of it though, no that came when a man from the military found her, he wasn't like the others, she could feel something off about him it was like he wasn't even human. She could see in his eyes the only thing he wanted to do was destroy. Upon finding her trying to protect the Ishvalan orphans, he had quickly pinned her to the wall making her watch as he killed them all one by one. Blood splashed across her body as she screamed for him to stop, fighting her way to protect them. Unfortunately for her she risked it, asking him to take her instead, begging him to leave them alone, To which he had smiled menacingly.

For the next few months she became his plaything, between killing and sleeping. He'd come back covered in blood from the fallen and proceed to rape her multiple times a night. It never seemed to end, and when he wasn't in the mood for activities he found ways to satisfy himself, usually enjoying watching her squirm as he used her as an ashtray. It was 3 months later before she managed to break out, unable to take it anymore she ran into the streets, into the war hoping to die.

She had run down a street hoping she'd run into someone from the military that could end her life, but she had been quickly pulled into an alleyway, behind her a barrage of bullets hailed, but she couldn't stop staring at the man that had chosen to save her life. His dark hair covering his furrowed eyebrows as he looked at the Ishvalans running past, once they had moved on he slid down the wall clearly in pain. She looked into his eyes and found herself unable to look away, trapped in his dark eyes. He had winced in pain and grabbed his shoulder and that's when she saw it. The transmutation on his gloves and she recoiled from him.

The Flame Alchemist. She had heard from her captor how this man had reduced an area to rubble. It had felt like ages before she took her hands off his gloves back to his face. She saw something that day, unlike her captor there was no menace in his eyes, only guilt. She had come closer examining the bullet wound in his shoulder before deciding to save him; she quickly transmuted some of her skin to cover the wound. She gritted her teeth so she wouldn't scream as the man looked at her in shock at what she was doing.

It wasn't long before a military woman rounded the corner, as she turned and saw her she pointed her gun, thinking Hera would finally die she closed her eyes in peace that she could finally leave this place, but no shot ran out. Opening her eyes the man had put himself between her and the woman.

"Not this one Riza." Was all he said.

He took her back with him to the military camp introducing her to a couple. The couple turned out to be Medics Sarah and Yuri, a couple from Resembool with a daughter named Winry. Hera was in awe of the couple; they could do so much with so little and Hera offered to help any way she could, but refused to heal the soldiers the way she had Ishvalans. In her opinion, if they could use Alchemists as weapons against people who were against it seemed only fair that she level the playing field, Through the years her particular medical team were the most hated among the troops, being that they healed both sides no matter what was going on around them. In their tent there was a truce.

It all seemed fine. She'd go to work, sleep, go to work again and repeat. Until one day a patient she had healed killed both Sarah and Yuri before she got to work. The man who saved her appeared that day to inspect the place and assess the damage, with no one to watch her, he requested Hera be transferred and that's when she met Fuhrer King Bradley. She had to hide that she could feel a disturbance around him, he requested he show her what she could do, to which she complied, showing him she could change her body shape to anyone she had seen, as well as healing a wound with her own body. She could tell he was impressed but tried to hide it, transferring her into the care of a woman named Pinako.

She was sent the next day to Resembool to live with Pinako and Winry. Her first meeting with the family didn't go well. No officers had arrived to tell the family what had happened and Hera was left to break the News to Pinako, Upon hearing what had happened she broke down in tears and Hera cried with her. They might not have been her parents but they treated her like family. Eventually things became somewhat normal to the family. Winry eventually loved the idea that she had someone she could call a sister.

Her biggest shock was when a pair of boys appeared at the Rockbells residence. 2 pairs of golden eyes filled with curiosity were staring back at her. Asking if Winry was coming to play soon. Letting Winry out, Hera shut the door and walked over to Pinako asking who the boys were. Pinako explained they were the boys of Trisha Elric and Van Hohenheim. At that name she froze it couldn't be her father he would have died decades ago maybe a descendant. It would explain her last name Hohenheim.

Over time the 4 became close. The boys continued to ask questions about alchemy and Hera was too happy to oblige showing and teaching them what she believed she could teach them, eventually the boys found someone who could teach them more than she ever could, she had even asked Izumi herself if she'd be willing to teach her as well, she was allowed as long as she followed Izumi's rules. Hera shocked her by showing Izumi she was able to transmute without a circle or even touching her hands.

Winry would ask a lot of medical questions wanting to be a medic like her parents, she would also ask what they were like and Hera would happily tell her about the times she had with her parents, the girls grew close as Winry developed a larger interest in automail. Hera went out her way to get her the newest magazines and best tools to craft automail at home.

Everything was perfect again, she had found a family, this was till the epidemic which took Trisha from the Elric brothers, their father never even showed up. This wasn't the worst thing to happen that year though, one night Hera woke to a very bad feeling running out the house to get to the Elric's but she was too late opening the door to the basement she saw Ed only half alive and Al's body morphed to a metal suit. Everything changed that day.

It wasn't long after the war that she would see her saviour again, he had appeared later in the year she'd seen him running from the Elric house to hers before he could get to the boys she put herself between them. She had never seen him so angry and he had every right the boys had done the ultimate taboo, Human transmutation. Or at least attempted to but she wouldn't let him lose that anger on them. Screaming at her to move she held her ground refusing to move screaming at him that it was her fault. She was the one who was teaching them at home and should have paid more attention to what they had been doing and gathering. Tears had streamed down her face begging him to punish her and not them. They were just boys, boys who missed their mother.

Riza, the woman she had met in the war, had warned him "Mustang." was all she said.

Mustang.

That was the name of the man who had saved her life. They had all sat down after he had calmed down; he explained that Ed and Hera would be offered positions of State Alchemists. Explaining to Hera that she'd have to change her appearance completely becoming a woman the Fuhrer chose to call Ava. Offering the pair State Alchemy titles. Due to recent developments Mustang suggested that Ed lost his arm in the eastern conflict. Continuing his mantra he said that they can either stand still or keep moving but the choice was up to them. Not long after he left with Riza, Ed asked if she would do it. She said she would as it meant more research, research that she could use to find a way to bring back both their bodies. She had seen fire in Ed's eyes for the first time in months.

Ed's rehabilitation should have taken 3 years but due to Pinako and Winry's knowledge of auto mail and Ed's complete determination he improved rapidly over time. By 5 months the 3 began sparing outside the house Hera had to go easy on them. Her Xingese training came in handy a lot of the time, but she was sparing kids so she had to fight back carefully. One thing she could say for certain was that Ed's punches were a lot harder than they looked given the steel arm, he'd managed to break a few of her ribs not like she'd let him know.

Her problem was every time they would spar Ed somehow managed to break his automail, leaving Winry to start throwing wrenches at his head. Hera watched the two with amusement; it was clear Winry liked Ed and vice versa. Just neither said anything so they always bubbled into hatred. It was just under a year when Ed was back to himself. He hadn't tried transmuting since that day and on his first try he didn't need a circle like her and Izumi a question lingered on her mind when he absentmindedly asked Al whether he had seen it.

Seen What?

Hera, now known as Ava. had gone through the testing first. Taking Mustang's advice she had drawn a transmutation circle on her leather black gloves so it would look like she needed the transmutation circle. She had walked in her head high spotting Roy from the corner of her eye, she saw his tell tale smirk from the training area and she held back a laugh. She managed to perform her Alchemy perfectly transforming into people she didn't know. She also showed that she was a master of most elements and her fighting style was yet to be matched. Fuhrer King Bradley Declared her State Alchemist there and then, she still had to wait an entire month for her certificates. Upon being called to Roy's office as she had begun calling him, her and Ed sat down to hear their results, Ed passed being named Fullmetal Alchemist. Ava being called the Life & Death Alchemist. Every Alchemist was given a silver pocket watch to certify their state alchemy. Ava was given a special one though the interior was laced in gold, with an inscription.

' Never Give Up - 1908 '

It didn't take a genius to figure out who wrote it.

Once Ava, as she had to call herself. Had her state alchemy she chose to move to Dublith, Mustang mentioned to go for someone older looking so she wouldn't be asked for ID everywhere. She still had a flat in Central just in case as she was often called upon for missions, but she couldn't stand the hustle of Central life so opted to live in Dublith. Izumi offered her a place to stay at her and Sig's meat shop, Ava gladly accepted their offer and worked in the shop during the day and researched her Alchemy and Alkahestry at night.

Occasionally she would take a night off under Izumi's orders and go for a stroll round Dublith on an evening, occasionally helping out the odd Citizen here or there and occasionally popping into a bar or 2. It was in one of these bars she met a man named Gulliver. He was a handsome man with Dark hair that pointed upwards in all sorts of directions, which she found to be quite striking and attractive. He wore a short black jacket with fur trim and always wore his rounded sunglasses even indoors as well as 2 leather gloves. The most strange thing was that the one time she had managed to take a peek under his dark shades she could swear his eyes were purple.

Ava spent a lot of her free time with Gulliver once they met talking about the world and things they wanted to do, she often referred to him as Mr Greedy as he seemed to want everything but she didn't mind, she liked that in a man. Someone who wasn't afraid to go after what he wanted. They had been on a stroll through the town when she had been approached by military officials saying she was due back into Central. Saying farewell to Gulliver and that hopefully after this was over they could continue to meet up, she left him with a small kiss on his cheek before running off towards the train station. Little did she know that quick kiss would change her whole world.

Her head snapped back to reality Gulliver in the midst of everything she'd forgotten about him and now she was in a tiny mess on one hand there was Roy who'd shed been kissing and enjoying the company of, then there was Gulliver a man that went after everything he wanted not caring who it affected and wasn't afraid to speak his mind. She liked them both and she wasn't going to lie to herself, Roy was a safe bet and she knew it whereas Gulliver was dangerous and filled with uncertainty. Unfortunately she didn't have time to dwell as the train pulled into the station, for now this problem had to wait till this trip was over.