12Chatper 1 of To Be is up! Yay!
"Ed, Al, the girl's gone!" Winry shrieked when she saw the empty bed.
"But that's impossible!" said Al "She only had her automail attached two hours ago!" Ed was already running downstairs.
"Auntie Pinako! I'm going out for a while." Winry and Al quickly followed suite.
Now, if I were hiding, where would I hide? Ed thought. The riverside! He wasn't sure if the girl would go there, but it was worth a try. He skidded to a stop at the riverbank. There was no sign of the girl. Ed turned back. When he was far, but not so far that he couldn't see the river, a flash of movement caught his eye. The escapee was crawling out of the river, spitting a hollow reed out of her mouth. Ed smirked; he now knew where she was. He swiftly ran and transmuted an earthen hand. It trapped her.
"LEMME OUT YOU SHORTY!" the girl yelled, as she tried to loosen the hand's grip on her.
"WHO'S SO SMALL THAT HE COULD HID IN A RIVER AND NEVER BE FOUND?!" Ed waved his arms to emphasize his point, not noticing that the girl had broken loose from the hand. The girl dived back into the river.
"Better luck next time!" she said over her shoulder, but before she could swam away, another gigantic earth hand fished her out and trapped her, this time her arms included. Then, a wrench came spinning through the air and hit Ed in the head, knocking him to the ground.
"Edward Elric, where were you? We were looking for you everywhere!" Winry screeched, punctuating each word with a stomp.
"Brother, there you are! And what have you been doing? Your clothes are muddy. The girl's clothes are muddy and wet." Al came running.
"So it was you who conjured up this hand." The girl said venomously at Al. "Let. Me. Out." Al didn't know what to say.
"Only if you agree to go back to the house and not run away again." Ed said.
"No."
"Well, then you'll just have to stay here forever."
"Brother, we can't do that!" Ed ignored Al.
"Have we got a deal?" The girl didn't like the situation, but she had no choice.
"Fine." Ed loosened the hand so the girl could free herself.
"Did you find a solution?" asked Winry. She had been watching the argument with amusement. Her question was answered when the girl sulkily walked with them back to the house.
One Year Later
"Sir, please finish you paperwork." Riza said, threateningly hold her gun.
"I'm doing it, I'm doing it." Roy said. To a passerby, the office would look it always been for over five years, but in reality, Roy was not behind in his paperwork. He was actually ahead of his paperwork. He has been like that for the past five years ever since Lior had been another alchemic target, ever since the discovery of the underground city, and ever since the Elric brothers' mysterious disappearance. The public didn't know what actually happened. They didn't need to know that the brothers had went to this other world through a gate that was destroyed in both worlds, which made journeys in-between them impossible. It was irreversible, one-way trip.
Havoc came in and saluted.
"Sir, I have three more entrance forms for the State Alchemy Exams."
"Put them on my desk." The Fuhrer didn't even look up from his paperwork.
"Yes sir." Havoc put them near the masses of paperwork and saluted again before leaving the room. Roy glanced at the forms now. Hitomu Hibiki, Hitomu Genji, Hazuki Kirarena.
First Day of the State Alchemy Exams- Written
"You may all began." Papers flipped and pencils started writing. The State Alchemy Exams had begun. All of the people in the Exam were seated alphabetically in order. The Fuhrer gave a sigh. Sitting through the written part of the Exams did not appease to him. He pointlessly looked at the people, seeing if they were concentrating on the papers or not. Everyone was concentrating so far.
"Half time." Half of the time for the written test had passed. Everybody was shifting in his or her seats for sitting so long, with the exception of three people. Roy lazily checked the list he had showing whom sat in what chair. It said the three people were Hitomu Hibiki, Hitomu Genji, and Hazuki Kirarena. A weak ray of sunlight filtered through the window flashed as it reflected off metal, catching some people's attention. Hitomu Hibiki was slowly taking off his brown coat, revealing an automail right arm. Roy noticed that he had odd-looking clothes: a white shirt, with a mud brown vest and the same brown pants, with a lighter brown coat that was really long. He also had long black hair that was tied up in a high ponytail. Roy looked at the brother. He was also wearing odd-looking clothes, a very light brown jacket with a plain white shirt and mud brown pants.
Before long, the official called out, "Time's up, finish your sentences and hand them in." A young woman stood up, pushed her chair in, and handed her test in. Then, she walked to the entrance and waited for her friends to finish. But, mostly everybody was franticly writing, trying to finish his or her own tests. When two young men, one slightly shorter than the other, finished their tests and handed them in, the young woman removed herself from her position, which was leaning against the wall, and they all turned to leave. Then, a man spoke up.
"Girls can't be state alchemists, its too hard for them. Why don't you join the other girls and leave the state jobs to men." Some other men encouraged the man. The trio stopped and turned around. The two young men were angrily glaring and stepped forward. The shorter one more aggressively, but the woman motioned to them that she could handle this on her own. She stepped forward, face showing no emotion.
"And why can't they?" she coolly asked.
"Girl's are weak, like you."
"Prove it."
"Girls cannot stand state jobs like men can. You should know that, you little girl. You're just a puny, wimpy, defenseless, little girl." At that, the two young men, tightened their already clenched fists, but the woman motioned them to calm down. Now, her eyes flashed dangerously and next sentences were not spoken with the coolness in the previous sentences. They were spoken with coldness like the deepest snow and behind it; there was a malice that burned like a fiery fire.
"Let me tell you a little something I learned over the years that you obviously didn't." Her words rang throughout the room. "Both men and woman are equivalent. There is not one difference in their soul. Also, there no scientific law that says that woman can only be what men say they only can be." When she finished what she said, she turned her heel and walked away, but not before lastly saying, "And I know a young boy who finished the whole test and scored the highest out of everybody." Then, the young woman and the two young men walked away.
"Y-you're lying!" sputtered the man who had said woman were inferior to men. "You're lying! And I know you are, because it's impossible to finish the test, especially for a mere boy!"
"No, what the young lady said was true, there was a young boy who finished the test and scored the highest. That happened a long time ago. If the boy was here today, he would've been a young man by now." Roy had spoken up.
"Where is he now?" a young man asked. Roy hesitated before speaking again.
"He went far away, so far that nobody knew exactly where he was, never to come back." His single eye was a little misty when he said that, thinking about the past. He stopped thinking about that for a moment to say, "Alright, that's all, come back tomorrow for the second part of the Exams."
It was obvious that they were dismissed, but the young man who asked the question about the little boy walked up to Roy and asked, "What was his name?"
Roy replied, "Why don't you ask the young lady for his and his older brother's name?" referring to the young woman that stated that a little boy finished the whole test and scored the highest out of everybody as a fact.
"He had an older brother?" Roy only smiled.
"Excuse me! Wait! Excuse me!"
"Kira, I think somebody is calling for you." Genji said. They turned around to see a young man running up to them.
"Excuse me miss, my name's Washi, Oki Washi. I need to ask you something. Who was the boy that finished the test and scored that highest? And what was his older brother's name?" he asked.
"Why do you want to know? And how do you know he had an older brother?" Hibiki asked cautiously.
The young man shrugged, "I don't know, I asked the one-eyed soldier and he said to ask you.
"Really? Did you know that was the Fuhrer?"
"That was the Fuhrer? Oh no, I wouldn't have asked him if I know he was the Fuhrer! I'm don't think I'm supposed to talk to him! I'm not even sure if I'll pass the Exams. And even if I do, I'm not sure if I would be able to talk to him either!" He said all that very quickly. Kira, seeing his alarmed expression, reassured him.
"Don't worry, tomorrow I'll ask him to blame me if you're in trouble. After all, it was me who started it all." He calmed down.
"Oh, thank you, but, um, are you sure?" Kira cocked her head to the side.
"Do you think I can't? Of course I can."
"Thank you! So, um, who were that boy and his older brother?" Kira didn't know what to say. Hibiki then answered it for her.
"The younger brother was Alphonse Elric and the older brother was Edward Elric." Washi's jaw dropped open.
"The Edward Elric? The Fullmetal Alchemist? The hero of the people? The military alchemist who sided with the people? The one who discovered the underground city? The one that Colonel Mustang sent to lots of missions to look for a Philosopher's Stone?" He continued to list all of Edward's accomplishments until Kira interrupted.
"So Washi, where are you staying in Central?"
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