{Hey! Silv here! And I know you all are thinking, WHAT? Another new story? Really?! But worry not, my lovely readers, this story is actually NOT my own story! I'm just posting this for a friend outside of FF, and this is purely her idea, and writing. I'm just the co-authoress/Beta , so anything you see in these "{ }" Will be me! The rest is purley Saki-Chan }

Hi! Saki-chan here! This is my first posted story

Different.

I'm different, a "freak of nature", or so they call me. 'They' being the humans who persecute me and my people.

It doesn't make sense. I was born just as they were; yet, they treat me like an alien. Something they don't like, just because I don't look or act like them, because I'm not 'normal'.

The wind whips my dark curls into my face, making my blue eyes water. The humans are gaining on me as I jet down the road, their voices raised and fists punching the sky. Cars honk at me, their drivers irritated by the obstruction of their path. I take a sharp and sudden left turn into an alley and squat behind a dumpster.

Why am I here? Sitting among the rotting food and rat poop? Oh, that's right, I have naïve ideals, I want to change the world. I lost Terrin a while ago, so now I'm along, and terrified.

This is going to be a lot harder than I thought.

I grew up in the faraway town of Pisu, at the outskirts of Amestris's Eastern Territory almost in the desert area. It's a small town with maybe one-hundred people just like me. Each of us have a power greater than any normal human being. We're alchemists, or people who can control or make things out of a certain element. We're all different, yet we're all the same.

There are other towns like this one, little outlawed towns, each filled with their own alchemists. Yume, Hopu, Kikai, and Henko. All these towns are set apart from the rest of humanity. The government lost use of alchemists when Edward Elric and his brother, Alphonse Elric, defeated King Bradley.

Now we're just abominations to the human kind, a threat they government has to keep a watchful eye on. They fear us.

My name is Pace, pronounced 'Pachay', it means 'peace' in Creta. I'm a seventeen year-old girl who loves music and wants to change the world. I inherited my father's deep ebony hair, and have guessed that my electric blue eyes were from my mother, having never met her personally.

And I believed I could do exactly that

As I grew up, my father put me through martial arts, and I loved it! My Master would tell me to "concentrate all your thoughts upon the task at hand. The sun doesn't burn until brought to a focus." It took me years to understand what he meant, and I'm still not quite sure what he meant. My Master always encouraged me to live by the five basic laws of life, or at least what the alchemists believed to be life's laws. Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self-control, and Indomitable Spirit. I put my heart and soul into my martial art training

My parents, Roy and Riza Mustang, have long since given up on rejoining society. They've been separated for about twenty years now. When the new Overlord threw the alchemists into little rinky-dink towns they lost their hope for the world.

But I believe we can change the world.

The teacher, Mr. Elric, rambles on and on about public relations, but I'm only partially paying attention. He's a cool teacher, fairly relaxed and laid back, but sometimes I don't believe his heart is here. Like he doesn't feel like being here. Mr. Elric's looks more like a scholar than a teacher. With his thin framed glasses and scruffy short beard. His long hair is pulled back into a pony tail, leaving the shorter pieces to hang in his face. His shoulders are broad, giving him a strong appearance, but he still doesn't look quite like he belongs in a classroom.

Earlier today he was giving us a history lesson, that he abruptly cut off. "There was once a time in which humans and alchemists lived together peacefully. We went to school together, feel in love with each other…" Here Mr. Elric stopped talking. His golden eyes were so full of pain, that it lead me to believe he'd fallen in love with a beautiful young woman in his past. And when the war ended he was forced away…he never to see her again.

It's a sad thought, a doomed love right from the start. Yet, through our sorrows, I can't help thinking how much I wanted to see what it's like outside of my little town.

Soon class ends and as people rush out the door I stay in my seat. I want to ask Mr. Elric what he knows about the past twenty-five years or so.

"What's wrong, Pace?" Mr. Elric asks, as he nudges the thin framed glasses up higher onto his nose.

"Well, sir, could you tell me more about the years leading to and after Edward defeated King Bradley?" I ask, standing and moving closer to the front of the classroom.

Mr. Elric's eyes widen in shock, maybe even fear, before being replaced by a thoughtful expression. His eyes flicker from me, to the door, and down to his desk. Clearly debating if I was worthy for the tale.

He'd been thinking for a couple minutes before whispering," I'll tell you my tale."

"Why are you whispering?" I asked him.

He stood quickly and closed the door to the classroom door," What I'm about to tell you will NOT go beyond this door. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, sir," I whispered, realizing this must be far more serious than I thought.

"I'm only telling you because your father is Roy Mustang," Mr. Elric says.

"What?" I almost shouted," You know my father? How?"

"Do I know your father? Of course I know your father! He's in all the history books, we worked together…that bastard Colonel" He paused a moment before going real quiet, "And, I'm– …I'm Edward Elric."

Shock? Surprise? Disbelief? I don't know what I felt, but I couldn't speak. My teacher…is the famous Edward Elric? The one who defeated the homunculous, Wrath! Unbelievable! Somehow I couldn't imagine that Edward Elric would become a teacher. A teacher like Mr. Elric, no less, always laid back, and looking more like a scholar, not a fire headed fighter.

Mr. Elric sat down again and pulled the collar of his shirt just over his shoulder. A thick scar about an inch and a half wide wrapped around his broad shoulder. The scar that marked where his automail arm had once been before he got his real arm back. After rolling his sleeve down, he lifted the edge of his pants to his knee, showing his automail leg.

He smiled slightly at my surprise.

"Not a lot of people know I'm Edward Elric. Most think I'm Evan Elric, with no relation to Edward or Alphonse. But now you know my secret."

"Why do you wanna keep that a secret?" I asked," Don't you want people to know who you are?"

"No, not particularly. Most people blame me for this," he said, gesturing to our surroundings.

He's right of course. In our little town there was no electricity and we were lucky to have running water. A lot of Pisu's residents had lived in luxury before Edward killed King Bradley. And for about a year after Bradley was defeated the alchemists and humans fought for the right to rule.

Naturally, it seemed wrong for an alchemist to rule since we wielded so much power to begin with. And since the humans outnumbered us, a human was voted into office. Two months later, all alchemists were sent to remote towns or killed for resisting.

"What happened when you were forced to leave?"

"A lot happened that day," Mr. Elric mused, before launching into his tale" I woke up and it was just like every other day. Winry had been up for about an hour and we went through our usual morning routine. However, around ten in the morning soldiers in new, crisp, green uniforms knocked on our door...

"How may I help you?" Ed asked, eyeing the stone faced soldier, who glared right back.

"By orders of President Maliki James, all alchemists are to be evacuated to their designated relocation towns, or be executed at any sign of resistance." The soldier spoke clearly, presenting a yellow packet, containing information papers. Ed hesitated a moment, before nodding and grabbing the folder, shutting the door.

As he tuned to go back to the kitchen, Ed was shocked to see Winry behind him, staring with a wide-eyed look. She slowly fell to her knees, as Ed rushed over to her, kneeling down to rest her head in his lap.

Her body shook, as her tears soaked his pants, "So– so close, to the wedding…" she sobbed, clutching his hand tightly.

Ed nodded soberly, he had proposed to her last year, and they had just been finishing the last few plans for their wedding, which was two weeks away.

Mr. Elric paused. His voice was shaky and his eyes watery. This was a very emotional story for him. It even had me tearing up.

As he continued Mr. Elric struggled to control his emotions," I couldn't bear the thought of leaving my soon to be wife and the life we'd built, but, I couldn't die either…that'd be much worse. So I packed my belongings, ready to leave when the order was given. Not long after I had finished packing, there was a second knock on the door, and I thought for sure it was those soldiers telling me I had to leave. But it wasn't, and instead I opened the door to find your mother and father."

I frowned. My father is blind, and was then too. Granted, he wasn't completely helpless, but he still relied on me to guide him outside of our little house.

Mr. Elric chuckled," You're father shoved his way into my house, cursing like you wouldn't believe, and ran smack into a wall. Even Riza was laughing, given the situation. We sat down in my living room, your father was still fuming, your mother glaring at the carpet, and Winry trying not to cry."

"This is such bullshit!" Roy yelled, enraged.

"All alchemists are to leave to their designated relocation towns…" Winry whispered from her spot next to Ed.

"Clearly our new government can't be trusted…" Ed muttered quietly, before he suddenly got louder, "Riza! When Roy and I leave, will you please protect Winry for me?"

"Ed…that's not –" Winry had started, but he cut her off, staring into her eyes, in a pleading way.

"Please…" he whispered, tears welling in his golden eyes.

Riza could see his concern and desperation, "I will."

This caused Roy to burst out, "I can't just leave and never see Riza again! Or…well…you know what I mean!"

"We can find a place to meet each other…" Ed suggested, a familiar fire lighting in his eyes.

"Where's your new town?" Winry asked. "Are you two even in the same one?"

Ed blinked, clearly not having not thought about that, he pulled out the packet the soldiers had handed him, "I'm in a town called Pisu, in the Eastern section of Amestris, just outside of the desert."

Risa pulled out a similar folder, "Ok, it looks like Roy's in the same town. Good…Let's meet in the closest minor town to the desert then,' Riza thought aloud.

Roy nodded, "It's decided then, we'll meet every year for a week in that minor town."

As the time came closer for Roy and Ed to leave, everyone became more and more irritable and angry. Roy and Riza had constant silent glares, while Ed and Winry could be found pacing around the room.

The day they were supposed to leave found Roy and Riza at the Elric's house again. Ed punched the wall, "It's just not fair, damn it!"

As Winry managed to calm Ed down enough, the door rattled as someone knocked upon it and everyone froze, looking up at the door. Ed opened it the soldiers everyone anticipated were there.

"It's time to leave," The same stone faced soldier from before announced.

Ed nodded, gritting his teeth, " Just give us a minute to say good-bye."

They didn't say anything, so Ed closed the door again, growling softly when he heard that they didn't leave.

Winry gave Ed one look, before bursting into angry tears, and sprinting into his arms, Riza held Roy in an embrace so strong Ed knew he couldn't breathe.

Ed gently pushed away Winry's bangs and kissed her forehead gently before moving down to her lips. She held onto his shirt desperately until Ed gently pulled away.

Riza handed Roy his suitcase and walking stick, leading him over to where Ed and Winry stood. They exchanged hugs for what felt like would be the last time.

"Promise me you'll keep Roy safe, and I'll protect Winry," Riza whispered into Ed's ear as she hugged him tight.

"I promise," Ed nodded, before grabbing his suitcase and hugging Winry one last time.

Before leaving, Ed handed her his old State Alchemist Pocket Watch, making sure the alchemy seal was broken so she could open it.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she opened and closed the pocket watch and Roy opened the door, showing the soldiers who still stood on the porch.

As Ed made sure that Roy, who had their house memorized, made it down the stairs ok, Ed gazed back one more time, at his house, and Winry and Riza.

"Why I am always so weak when people need me most…' Roy whispered next to him as a lone tear streaked down his cheek, but Ed pretended that he didn't hear him

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