The ColdFire Alchemist-- The Other Side to FMA

[Crimson]

“‘Human kind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return.
To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.’
That is Alchemy’s First Law of Equivalent Exchange.
In those days, we really believed that to be the world’s one,
and only truth.”
-- Alphonse Elric, Age 14

[Crimson]

CHAPTER ONE: Bad Dreams

------Three children, all of them no younger than twelve, sat around a transmutation circle on the wooden floor of a house. Two were brothers, and the other- one of their best friends-- the only girl they knew, besides their sensei, who could perform the complicated, and dangerous science of alchemy. The boys were the two Elric brothers, the eleven year old Edward and quiet, nine year old Alphonse.
------Edward looked at the circle, and the ingredients piled in the middle. The two brothers had already both added a few drops of their blood to finish it off, and they had taken as many precautions as they could in this forbidden practice, and he was more or less confident in what they were about to attempt.
------No, alchemy was far from forbidden. However... This certain type of alchemy was. And for a good reason. What they were trying to do had never been accomplished before, not once in history, and many have died trying... Human Alchemy, or trying to resurrect the dead.
------And not as a zombie or something, either. As a living, sane, human being.
------Alphonse gulped loudly, looking at his brother with concern. Al was only here because Ed needed as much help as he could, despite Al’s protests. The same could be said of the girl.
------Ed looked at his brother, and his friend. He grinned at them, a tinge of uncertainty in his almost golden eyes.
------“Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”
------Al gulped again and nodded. The girl sighed.
------She didn’t know how in the world Ed had talked her into this. This was their mother they were trying to bring back, after all. Her father had already died, and she had no idea where her mom and “long-lost brother” were. But, just looking at the determination and sadness in Ed’s face as he looked down again, his eyes covered by his blond bangs, she knew she would have to help.
------Al was nearly shaking with nervousness and fear, and the girl put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, his darker eyes filled with worry. He had dirty blond hair, short than his brother‘s, and probably resembled the Elric brothers’ mom more than Ed. The girl smiled at him.
------“Don’t worry Al. Ed knows what he’s doing...”
------I hope. She thought.
------Ed looked at her thoughtfully. She was a strange looking girl, her jet-black hair with purple streaks going through it. They were there naturally somehow, and she had dark blue eyes. He thought she was kinda pretty-- for a girl anyway.
------The girl noticed Ed was looking at her and she blinked. He blushed and looked away. After a moment, he looked back at both of them. They nodded to him, and they all took a deep breath after Edward nodded back.
------They all clapped their hands together and they leaned forward. Time seemed to stand still before they all slammed their open palms onto the edge of the transmutation circle.
------Blue and gold electricity swirled around them as it began. They all grinned at each other. It seemed to be working...
------And then...
------The darkness came.

------It whirled like a tornado, and they all looked around. The girl sat back on her
heels as she wondered what was going wrong. Ed looked straight at whirlwind, and Al was looking at the ceiling.
------“Brother... I don’t like this...” He said, his voice shaking.
------Then there was a bright light around Al’s hand and he looked down at it in horror. He let out a scream and the girl and his brother turned their attention to him.
------This horrible black and white light was beginning to eat away at Al’s body. Ed reached for him.
------“AL!!” He and the girl screamed at the same time, but then the girl gasped.
------She yelled in pain as it began to eat at her left side. Ed looked down, and saw his left leg was being taken too.
He looked at his brother, who was beginning to disappear into a portal of nothingness.
------“AL!!” He shouted again, reaching for his brother’s outstretched hand.
------“BROTHER!!!” His voice echoed until the hand, and the rest of Alphonse Elric’s body, disappeared.
------Ed sat for a moment, in shock.
------“Al...” He whispered, coming up with an idea.
------He looked at the girl, who was clutching at her side. Ed gasped as he saw her left arm and leg were gone, and she was bleeding. He thought he heard her crying... He had never once heard her cry.
------She looked up at him, tears running down her cheeks. She looked at where Al had been, and nodded. holding out her remaining arm. Ed held out his right one too. There was a splitting pain as their arms were sacrificed.
------They both let out horrible piercing screams as Ed tried to--

~*~

[Crimson]

------“AHHH!!!!!!!” The girl woke up in a sweat, clutching her pounding heart.
------She was breathing heavily and sweat was beading down her neck, and the back of her shirt was soaked with it. She took a deep breath and looked around the room she was in. She sighed.
------I need to calm down... The past is the past, and nothing can change that. She thought this to herself as she looked at her automail arm. She closed he fist. No matter how much I want it to.
------She looked over at the other bed where Edward Elric slept, on his side, facing the wall, with the small braid of blond hair hanging over his shoulder. She didn’t know why he bothered to keep his hair that long, but...
------She shrugged and swung her feet over the bed. Her heart was still racing as she sighed deeply and looked up at the slowly swinging ceiling fan.
------I hate that dream... And it occurs too often for my comfort.
------She wondered if Al was awake and she peeked over at him, where he was awkwardly lying on the couch. A huge suit of armor lay there, eyes closed apparently... Since she did not see the red glow of them right now.
------She shook her head.
------Those boys can sleep through a tsunami if they felt like it...
------She chuckled and stood up, stretching. She heard the whirring of the gears in her automail arms and left leg as she did this. She still wasn’t very used to it, even after almost three or four years, give or take, with the automail limbs.
------She heard one of the boys stirring, and she looked about. It was Ed. He was already looking at her, on his other side.
------Ed had been up already, just now chose to show it. He cupped his cheek in his hand, propping himself up on his elbow. His two curtains of bangs framed his attractive face, and his amber eyes were looking right at her.
------Mai Mustang looked at him, her cheeks slightly pink. Her longer black hair, with its natural purple streaks, was loosely falling down to her shoulder blades. Her dark blue eyes sparkled in the light from the sunrise that peaked between the blinds. Mai sighed.
------“Do you always watch people like that?” She whispered to him, not wanting to wake Al.
------Ed shrugged as he sat up.
------“It’s somethin to do I guess. After all, your tyrannical brother hasn’t sent us out on any missions recently.”
------Ed’s voice was a bit deeper than when he had been a kid back in Risenbull, their hometown. He hadn’t grown much though, and therefore blew up every time someone called him short. Except Mai, cause she could kick his ass any day of the week.
------Mai rolled her eyes, then chuckled.
------“Roy’s only a tyrant to you, Ed. He can’t be evil to me since I’m his sister and all.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “So nyah.”
------Ed stood up, dusting off his black leather pants. He looked up at her, grinning.
------“You’re so immature.”
------“Ah, but I’m half a year younger, so I can be.”
------“Touché.”
------A chuckle from over by the couch alerted them to the fact that Al was awake. He sat up, the red glowing eyes now visible in the helmet.
------“You guys seem to be in good spirits today.” His voice seemed a bit cheery today as well.
------Mai sighed and sat down on her bed, rubbing the back of her neck. It was still wet with sweat, since she couldn’t feel the cold of it. Her eyes were clouded as she thought back to her dream and shivered involuntarily. There was silence for a moment before Edward came over and sat on the bed, next to her. He looked at her face, trying to meet her eyes.
------“What’s wrong? You look horrible.” His voice had the smallest hint of concern in it.
------“Oh that’s nice...” She said sarcastically, though her eyes were still filled with the fear of what had happened those years ago.

[Crimson]

------Ed paused and Al watched them from the couch, knowing what Mai was thinking about.
------Ed sighed, figuring it out.
------“Oh...” He looked at the ground, as did Al. They all thought back to that horrid day, Ed and Mai shivering.
------Ed sighed again, putting his arm around Mai’s shoulder comfortingly.
------“Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s in the past.” He said softly.
------Mai shook her head sadly.
------“You told us not to worry back then, and look what happened.” She realized too late that she shouldn’t have said that, as Ed removed his arm slowly.
------“Mai... I know... I know I screwed up.” The sixteen-year-old boy’s voice cracked as he fought tears. ------“I... Just wanted to see mom again.”
------Mai felt a chill go down her spine from guilt. She moved over closer to him and hesitantly put her arms around his head, resting her chin on his head.
------“I’m sorry, Edward... I shouldn’t have said that. That wasn’t fair to you.”
------“But.. It-it’s my f-fault...” His shoulders were jerking up and down.
------The two of them barely noticed when Al came over and kneeled on the floor in front of him.
------“Brother... Please stop crying.”
------Ed looked down at his brother, more tears welling up in his eyes.
------“Oh Al...”
------Mai sniffed and buried her face in Ed’s hair.
------After a few minutes of Ed and Mai crying, and Al looking worried, Ed finally slowed down and Mai stopped altogether. She stopped holding Ed and blushed lightly, tucking some stray hairs behind her ears. Ed looked at her, his cheeks a bit pink too as he wiped his tears on the sleeve of his black, long sleeved overshirt, with the high collar and white trim. Mai laughed.
------“Oh, look at us.. we’re crying over something that happened a long time ago.”
------She stood up, brushing off her pajama pants quickly. She turned around and smiled at them.
------“Let’s all just go to breakfast and try to cheer up.”
------Ed blinked, then smiled at her, nodding. Al laughed briefly before nodding and standing up, the armor clinking. Ed stood up too.
------Mai went over to her small dresser and pulled out her clothes, going behind a dark curtain so they couldn’t see. Ed and Al turned around as usual as she changed. Al wouldn’t have looked anyway, but Ed was easily distracted so...
------She came out, dressed in an ankle length black skirt. She had a black shirt, the long sleeves flowing out, so she tied them around her wrists with leather straps. She had a blue short sleeved shirt over it, and gray socks. Her brown boots lay by the door next to Ed’s black ones.
------Mai was tying her hair back with a blue hair tie as she came out, her Staff of Hermes pendant already around her neck. She looked up to see Edward was looking at her with a weird look on his face. She arched an eyebrow.
------“What’re you looking at?”
------Ed shook his head, his cheeks pink again as Al chuckled from where he stood. Ed glared over at his little brother. He went over to his boots and pulled them on with unusual concentration.
------“Nothin. Let’s just go.”
------Mai shook her head and plopped down next to him to put hers on. She didn’t understand him sometimes.
------Once Ed had gotten his red hooded coat and Mai had her own gray hooded coat, with a pale blue pentagram on the back and left shoulder, and gloves on, the three of them left their room.

[Crimson]

------They were in Central right now, as was Mai’s brother Roy Mustang, the Flame Alchemist. Mai was known as the ColdFire Alchemist, because she did almost the same thing as her brother, except the flames went around her automail when they were transformed into blades. And the flames were blackish purple. Mai also can take the moisture in the air and freeze it, using her gloves. She had become a State Alchemist at the age of 12, same time as Ed. He, of course, was the FullMetal Alchemist. They were both very famous(and infamous) , Ed more so. Mai was mostly known as the Flame’s little sister.
------They entered the mess hall in the Main building, and took seat at an empty table. Mai and Ed asked Al to save their seats for them, and went to go get their food. They returned and sat down, Ed in the middle. He was still short, and Mai was a little shorter than girls her age. But still taller than Ed. And Al, of course, was a giant since he had gotten his soul transmutated to the armor.

[Crimson]

------Ed gobbled down his food as usual, occasionally taking a sip of juice(since he hate milk, and so do I.) Mai watched him, eating at a normal rate.
------Seriously, why do boys need toe at so fast? It’s like he thinks he’s going to die if he doesn’t finish eating before the rest of the friggin world, Mai thought sarcastically, chuckling to herself at her own private joke.
------Al was staring absently at the wall, and didn’t even hear her quiet laughing. But Edward did.
------Ed looked at her, some strange emotions making his heart flutter as he gazed at her. He looked at the way her ponytail hung over her shoulder, with those strange purple streaks that she had somehow managed to be born with. He noticed the way the light hit her eyes, those little globes of ice that only softened or lost their total iciness for Al, Roy(as much as he detested to admit that) and... himself. He blushed lightly at that thought, tapping his fork on the edge of his plate.
------Mai heard this tapping and looked up to see Ed looking at her with that same expression on his face, for about the third time today. She blinked and arched one eyebrow, and Ed looked down at his food in embarrassment, beginning to eat verociously once more. Mai shook her head and was about to stuff a piece of scrambled egg in her mouth when a shadow suddenly loomed over her plate. She looked up and was suprised to see none other than her brother, the Flame himself.
------Roy Mustang was your typical tall, handsome and charming man that girls seemed to swoon over. His jet-black hair went down just to the nape of his neck and his bangs fell a bit over his dark eyes, making him look a tad mysterious. His State Alchemist watch was in the pocket of his uniform(which was mandatory since he was a colonel) and the chain was resting against his leg.
------Roy cleared his throat loudly, to get the ever-oblivious Edward’s attention; Ed didn’t even so much as look up. Roy looked at his younger sister hopelessly. Mai, getting his meaning, sighed and looked at Ed. She pulled on his braid sharply, causing him to let out a little yelp of pain and drop his fork.
------“Hey Shrimp!” She said to him, obviously waking him up.
------“What was that--” He started to yell at her, then stopped midsentence as he saw her pointing with annoyance at Roy, who was rolling his eyes.

[Crimson]

OOC: And that's it for now.