Blue Eyes

By Yellow Mask

Spoilers: up through Chapter 56 of the manga.

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA.

Chapter 1

AN: Set in the manga universe, several years into an imaginary future.

Adam Lithson wasn't stupid. He knew it was all-too easy to underestimate him; he was nothing out of the ordinary. Average height, medium build, brown hair, hazel eyes. One of those normal, everyday people who faded, whether deliberately or accidentally, into the background.

But he was far from stupid. Planning to make his journalistic debut at age nineteen, he could be considered a genius.

The only problem was, he didn't know what he was going to write about. It had to be something interesting, something different, something that would grab people's attention.

The Fall of the Military was always a good idea. The council and the homunculus leading the military had fallen over nine years ago, but the chaos of that final year still echoed.

Adam rifled through his stack of photos, clipped from newspapers and taken from photography galleries, all taken during those twelve months.

Two men in blue military clothes, facing each other over drawn guns as loyalties disintegrated. A young boy scrounging in the streets for food as stray cats trailed behind in hopes of a meal. Adam continued to sift through the pile, waiting for something to grab his attention and hold it…

And then he found it.

'Blue Eyes', the photograph was called, snapped by chance during the Rush Valley Disaster, as the military's civilian prisoners were marched away. The background was filled with dark-haired, dark-skinned people, most sporting some kind of automail.

But dominating the picture was someone very different. A girl, with pale skin and long blonde hair pulled into a rough ponytail, standing out in stark contrast from those surrounding her. One hand was resting on the shoulder of a dark girl with two automail legs. She was looking directly into the camera, piercing sapphire-coloured eyes reflecting her wariness, her fear and desperate, aching uncertainty.

This was Blue Eyes, the nameless girl with the haunting stare, captured by the military when they quashed the rebel groups in Rush Valley. It had become known as the Rush Valley Disaster, and the automail industry had yet to recover. Rush Valley was no longer the heart of the automail community, and no town had sprung up to take its place. In fact, the best place to go for automail was a mechanic in Stone Tree, over the mountains from Rush Valley. And that little town was a far cry from the once-bustling city.

The picture in his hands intrigued Adam. It was one of the most famous photographs of the time, making headlines in the newspaper, used as rebel propaganda.

But did anyone know who she actually was?

He flipped the photo over, reading the words 'David Mitchelli' printed on the back.

Adam felt resolution steal into his heart. He knew what he would write. A piece addressing the chaos and uncertainty of the Fall of the Military, showing how it resounded in people's lives for years to come, how it changed all it touched, for better or for worse.

Adam would find out who Blue Eyes really was, and what had happened to her.