A/N: hello hello hello :) ok, tying something new with this story. Have an Edythe Elric (blind girl) and her older brother Alphonse (who has 2 automail limbs) who are recruited by the military as alchemic prodigies under supervision of Mustang & Co. Basically their adventures, am playing around with longer chapter writing and different character developments. Let me know what you think! updates might be a bit sporadic as have a heck of a lot on at the moment, but all will be long so hopefully worth it :P hope wherever you are that you are having a good day!

The alarm was blaring irritatingly loud, echoing and ringing through the head of one Edythe Elric who groaned as if the weight of an entire universe rested on her young shoulders before smacking a hand down to silence the offending machine. At least this time she hadn't knocked it completely off the bedside table- Al would have had a fit if she broke a second clock in a week… and it was only Tuesday…

Seconds later there was the creak of the door hinges, a clank of metal and a faint smell of oil intruding on her musings that it wouldn't hurt to stay in bed for just another five minutes…
"Sister, you have to get up. We need to go and see Colonel Mustang in one hour and you can't be late on your first day."
The elder Elric received only a vague grunt in response, although the younger did begrudgingly swing her legs over the edge of the bed, wincing slightly as the cold of the floorboards made contact with her bare feet. Some small, foolhardy, positive corner of her sleep fuzzed brain chirped that at least the shock helped wake her up.

Thankfully it didn't take long to complete her morning routine, the warm familiarity of her usual clothes providing a small comfort as she thought of the day ahead. Something told her it was going to be a difficult one, but then new places and people always were. At least having Al meant it wouldn't be as disorientating since they had worked out a system for whenever there were big changes in her surroundings. She often joked that he was better than any dog could have been.

They had decided to grab some breakfast on their way to Central Headquarters from a café just a few blacks away from the barracks where they had been placed. Despite having only arrived from Risembool the night before, Ed already had a rough map of the place in her mind, Al having walked her around the building as much as they could before the exhaustion of the journey had over taken them and forced them to get some sleep.

Even so, she warily kept her stick out in front of her as she tapped and counted her way down the stairs at the front doors, 12, and rested one hand very lightly on her brother's automail arm until they were in the street.

At that time in the morning there were few other people around as far as she could tell, less noise than was no doubt common for a city that size once the sun was properly over the horizon. She still grumbled slightly at being up at 'stupid-o-clock', but Al was used to her complaints and calmly ignored them all, knowing that her mood would improve dramatically once there was food and coffee in her system.

It was with those thoughts that he left his younger sister sitting at one of the outside tables of the café whilst he went in to forage up some breakfast. From his place in the queue he was able to keep an eye on his sibling, a fondness softening his expression until the woman behind the counter almost thought her heart would melt as she handed over the coffee and pastries he had chosen. It was with slightly exaggerated care that he took the coffees in his automail hand, not wanting to damage the china cups with the metal but reasoning that if he spilt any at least he wouldn't end up burned.

His sister's face swung in his direction as he left the shop and approached her table, tarnished golden eyes fixing on a point only slightly to the left of his actual face. It was almost unnerving how accurate her stare could be. A truly radiant smile broke across her face as he placed the food and drink down with the words,
"food at 12-o-clock, and drink at 2."
"Ooh chocolate twist!" her nose was twitching eagerly, taking in the rich aroma of coffee and buttery pastry, the slightly bitter undertone of the chocolate. Suddenly it was a much better morning.

Unfortunately by the time they arrived at the imposing headquarters of the Amestrian military, no amount of sweet treats could stop the slightly sick feeling which stole over the siblings. Al stared with a slightly open mouth at the huge building, the sense of his awe radiating to his sister who began to shift nervously from foot to foot and fiddle with the ends of her golden hair. Slightly tentatively she placed her hand on her brother's automail arm, preferring the familiar feel of cold steel through thin cotton to the rapid pulse running through his flesh and blood limb. With a simultaneous deep breath, they headed for the entrance.

"Call the ball Al."
Her brother smiled slightly at the brave tone she had adopted, and began muttering details to her as they walked. "Alright, 24 steps… hmm, some sort of reception room, desk at 12-o'clock, pillars at each corner, open tiled floor all around."
She could hear their steps echoing back at them, suggesting that the room was fairly large, feel the sharp vibration of each time Al's automail foot connected with the hard floor. It felt like there were a fair few people hurrying around them, so she made sure to swing her cane in a slightly tighter arc than normal to prevent hitting any of them accidentally.

"Alright, the letter said the office we are after is on the fourth floor so guess we are going to have to take the stairs." The elder Elric was keeping a close eye on his sister even though he knew that she was more than capable of handling the situation. Since the accident which had cost him two limbs and her the use of her eyes they had been forced to get good at adapting. Even so, he was always fiercely protective when heading into the unknown as he acted as her eyes.

The jarring clattering of their steps against what seemed to be some form of marble gave way to a much softer padding. Apparently the fourth floor had a type of carpet, not one which you could fully sink into but enough to make it slightly springy underfoot. Brief flashes of warmth from what were probably windows, the smell of ink and old papers as they passed what Al told her was a clerk's work area, the distant ringing and answering of a phone… and then they stopped slightly abruptly. Wood polish, Al's heartrate has picked up.

"This is it."

Involuntarily her knuckles tightened ever so slightly around her cane and she let go of her brother to hold it with both hands so that they wouldn't tremble. Ed was determined that she would show no weakness to whoever was on the other side of the door. Al rapped on the wood with his flesh hand, the sudden sound making her jump just a little which he pretended not to notice, before a muffled voice called for them to enter.

Alphonse went first, Edythe filing in just behind and trusting him to hold the door open for her, muttering a brief warning about a desk a couple of feet to her right as he came to stand beside her. For a moment there was silence. Or at least for everyone else. Breathing, five… no six people in front of me. One a bit wheezy, smoker? One slightly heavier than the others, bigger build?

"Aah you must be the Elrics." The voice was somewhere ahead and a bit to the left. Deep, rich, sounding self-assured and perhaps a little smug. For some reason it set Ed's hackles up a tad.

Al took the lead, stepping forwards and shaking the man's proffered hand.
"That's us. I'm Alphonse and this is Edythe, although you can call us Al and Ed." She got the feeling he must have motioned in her direction as she got the sense that everyone was staring directly at her. Turning her face towards their voices, she held out a hand although didn't step forwards.

After a moment's pause there was a faint rustle of cloth and then a hand met hers. She gripped it firmly, deft fingers feeling some sort of glove. Intrigued she curled them around the stranger's wrist, flipping their hand and tracing the back of it, stroking the tips of her fingers across the fine stitching.
"Hmm, alchemical array… a salamander? Oh- guessing you are the flame alchemist?"

A strong wave of surprise from the person in front of her and a faint chuckle from Al confirmed her suspicions. Smooth voice, faint smell of ash, wood smoke, and… spices? Must be some sort of aftershave. The alchemist chuckled slightly, "Very good, I can see that you live up to your reputation as an alchemical prodigy. Although, no offence, nobody informed me that you were… umm…"
"Blind? Huh, would have thought that would be in my file to be honest…"

There was a slight sighing noise from the area where she could sense a gathering of people, and she heard what sounded like a woman whisper, "I told him to pay attention to his paperwork…" Choosing to ignore it, although she couldn't help a slight smirk dancing briefly across her face, Ed shrugged instead. "So I'm guessing you also don't know about Al's automail? Ok, well in that case don't let him hit you with his left hand or right leg unless you fancy breaking something."
"Oh come on Ed that isn't fair- it only happened one time and they were asking for it anyway."
"No comment."

The Flame Alchemist broke into their exchange, "Well, now I know and consider myself forewarned. My name is Colonel Mustang, and for all intents and purposes I am your superior officer for the duration of your time with the military. Allow me to introduce my subordinates who will form the team that you work with. First up, we have Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye."

Someone stepped forwards, very soft on their feet, the scents of gunpowder and gun oil mingling slightly oddly with sandalwood- perfume? There was a faint clink from what Ed assumed was some form of firearm. Her voice when she said hello was friendly but had a stern edge underlying it.

"Next up is Jean Havoc."
Overwhelming smell of stale cigarettes, this was the one with the wheezy breathing. His voice was slightly gravelly but sounded easy going enough.
"Sergeant Breda."
Solid footsteps, a faint aroma of bacon and eggs as if he had just eaten breakfast, slightly loud voice.
"Sergeant Fuery,"
Air of nervousness, a hint of ozone like that from a short circuited wire, higher pitched voice.
"And last but not least, Falman"
Very quiet, she could only just hear his breathing, and could smell what seemed to be hot chocolate…

Alphonse nodded to each of them in turn with a warm smile. They really seemed like a very nice bunch, each giving the young siblings a welcoming smile as they were introduced. From the corner of his eye he could see his sister mentally cataloguing each of them, still managing to keep a pleasant expression on her own face as she turned to roughly where she gauged each of them to be.

"Well, with the introductions out of the way, how about you guys step into my office and we can get through or the formalities of signing forms and get you settled in around here."