The yellow tomcat in the barn perked his ears up at the very new and very loud noise that emitted from the house on a dewy Summer morning in Amestris in 1900. Sitting up suddenly and stretching with his back arched, the cat strolled over to the window of the barn and looked out into the small village cut into one of the large mountains in the north of the country, the buildings and streets being intricate carvings out of the stone provided by their only protection: the mountain itself. Miraculously, trees and shrubbery and a fair amount of flowers were littered over the hillside. After a few minutes the father, with his wispy, curly black hair, ran out of the house and greeted a female neighbor, who quickly ran inside.

Minutes turned to hours and the tomcat became tired in his vigil, so he crouched down in a uniform ball and started to relax his eyes. Only to be perked once again by a mother making an appalling scream and the father running out of the house again, this time his hands covered in blood and crying. The female neighbor came out of the house after him, pleading with him. He was wearing surgery clothes and his hair was covered, he was the doctor treating his own dying wife.

Alarmed, the tomcat jumped from the windowsill to the floor of the barn and he started to trot away, opting to find one of the ledges near the other homes to use to look over the rolling landscape before him. The sun followed its trail across the sky and found itself being consumed into the horizon, and only then did the battle inside the small wooden house cease.

In the south, Van Hohenheim had just given his wife a gruff smile before glancing down at his two golden-haired sons. Edward, confused, gave his father what would become one of his most stern looks. Hohenheim stared at his son's strong eyes with mild trepidation, but turned around and left anyway.

Four years later, the window of the barn had lost its glass thanks to one violent punch on the birth-day of his only born, so the tomcat, who had gotten fatter, was splayed over the entire window sill and lounging against the wood lazily. The cat watched as a pair of Central military soldiers approached the small blue house coming out of the cliff with a cluster of yellow flowers surrounding it. The male knocked on the door, and the father opened it roughly. Upon seeing the soldiers, he made a tense smile and nodded to them. They spoke, and the father invited the two of them into his home. They met his daughter and asked the father whether or not it would be difficult to have a neighbor look after her for a few months.

1904, and Tricia Elric was dead.

"Dr. Philip Harris?"

"Yes." Philip said as he held out his hand, his curly black hair had specks of white in it and there were new wrinkles around his eyes and lips.

"I'm Urey Rockbell. This is my wife, Sara. Where are you from?"

"Ametris. The north. From a village in Green Valley."

"We're from Ametris as well." Sara said, "But we're here to save lives that need to be saved. It doesn't matter the skin color or eye color."

"Wow." Philip said as he looked at the other military personal. Most were in blue, but he was wearing his brown farm clothes and his leather medical bag. Torn and shredding, overused and never replaced. It stood out against the pristine, clean-cut uniforms. "This is an all-out war, then."

"Yeah." Sara said, "It'll be interesting to see who fights on what side."

The three of them jumped as one of the State Alchemists yelled out a command for the doctors to assemble. Philip watched as the Rockbells trudged off with the rest of them, and he had a fleeting thought about whether or not his neighbor, Lettie, was going to feed the tomcat in the barn or not. He heard one of the State Alchemists yell out, "Doctor Marcoh! Please come forward!" Sighing, Philip fell into march.

The tomcat hissed and hackled as the 7-year-old giggled and started towards him. Lettie tsk'd and said, "Your father sent a letter to keep feeding him. I can't imagine why. Such a sour thing…"

"Because this is his home." The little girl explained calmly as she cornered the hissing cat, "Even if he doesn't like us."

"Don't get scratched. You always get scratched!" Lettie scolded as she watched the little girl lean down to the cat slowly, her curly hair, like her father's, falling over her shoulders gently. When the sun shone upon it was brown and highlights were always coming through during the summer, since the young girl spent almost everyday outside.

She reached out slowly but the cat swiped at her and hissed again. She said to the tomcat, "Your paw is broken! You have to let me help you! You can't run anywhere!"

"His paw is broken because he's so fat." Lettie snapped, flipping her blonde hair as she looked out towards their village, "Let him die. It's his fault for not taking care of himself." But she huffed as the young girl reached forward and got hold of the cat anyway, despite the scratches. She held the cat down and started to splint his leg.

The cat softly growled during his operation, but his ears perked up and he stopped upon hearing a noise. Lettie made a face and turned to look down the road at the approaching man. "Philip…" Lettie whispered.

The young girl before her ignored her neighbor as she let the cat go. The tomcat gave her a dirty look before limping away, wiggling his wounded paw. "That's my first surgery, Lettie." She said from her kneeling position on the ground, "He's my first patient. Lettie?"

"Sweetie." Lettie breathed, "Your father's home…"

Roy Mustang clambered along Resembool, from the train station to the green hills of the families. He approached one of the villagers and said, "Excuse me. Can you point me to the Elric residence?" He had to admit, the countryside was gorgeous. He would have to consider a holiday in such a pretty place. Once he got high enough in the rankings. The villager quickly gave directions towards one of the houses on the hill, standing by itself with a single swing on the nearby tree. It looked homey enough. Mustang only hoped the parents were home.

"You need to let it go…" Lettie said gently to Philip as she placed a cup of tea in front of him in the wee hours of the morning. Philip never slept anymore, he instead stayed up almost all night pouring over his books and watching the moon move across the sky. When Lettie realized his new habit, she had taken it upon herself to try to get him to bed.

"They were awful, those alchemists." Philip whined, "They always killed. They never helped or saved!"

"They were doing their job."

"Doctor Marcoh…he did alchemy. His alchemy could save lives…His alchemy could have saved my Flora's life…"

"Philip…" Lettie sighed. But she couldn't respond. The mere mention of Flora, Philip's late wife, stopped her debating.

But Philip was sure as he took a determined sip of his tea and stared forward, watching in his mind once again the bodies that were burned or exploded by the alchemists, the human weapons that 'saved' Amestris from Ishval. "I forsake the military…"

His daughter sat in the hallway listening in, stroking the tomcat that had decided to officially live with the family.

This official document certifies that the nation of Amestris, prefecture of the Generalissimo appoints the name Fullmetal Alchemist to Edward Elric in the name of Fuhrer King Bradley.

The State Alchemist shall follow all orders and policies of the military.

"Clara, no!" Philip yelled as he ran after his daughter and pulled the book from her hand. She gave him a confused look as he replaced it on the top shelf. "That book isn't for you."

"Who is it for, then?" Clara asked innocently, "You said I could read your medical books…"

"That's not a medical book. That's an alchemy book."

"What's the difference anyway?" Clara countered, "Why would you have an alchemy book to begin with?"

"Alchemy kills, Clara." Philip explained, "And medicine heals. You always want to be on the healing side, never the hurting side. Understand?"

Clara's large eyes bore in to her father as she watched him, but eventually she nodded, "Yes, father."

"Go outside, now. Help Lettie. Maybe go find some herbs for a soothing salve; I heard Mrs. Whippersprout will be needing some for her arthritis."

"Yes, father…"

Philip watched his 16-year-old slowly walked out of the room and he turned around to grab the alchemy book. Given to him by Tim Marcoh himself, but Philip had never read it. Pursing his lips, he took it to his own room and hid it under his bed.

"Alchemy…Gives and takes away, I guess…" Edward sighed as he looked at the human form of his brother, staring back at him with eyes similar to his own. "I'll never get used to seeing you in the flesh…"

Alphonse laughed and wrapped an arm around his brother fondly, pulling him close and walking along. Edward followed suit, and after a few moments Alphonse said, "Come on, Ed. Let's go have some of Winry's apple pie."

Edward barked out a loud laughter and said, "Don't get your hopes up! I only said it was great to make her feel better!"

"Ed!" Alphonse scolded, but Edward only laughed again and pulled his brother along, like he had done so many times before. Only now, it was natural.

"Medical school? You still want to go? Carry on the family occupation, huh?"

"You're getting older." Clara explained to her father, "And someone in this family has to be the doctor."

Philip smiled at his daughter and he clipped some of the roses from the garden in the sunlight, the tomcat meowing around his ankles. He had a limp.

"I want to go to the medical school in Central." She said quickly, and Philip stopped clipping abruptly. He gently pushed the cat away with his foot and stood up to look at his daughter, willing her to continue. She added, "It's the best—"

"You want to be around the military?" He clarified.

"I…I hadn't really thought about the military." She confided, "But when I sent a letter south to enquire, they suggested that the Central Medical University was the best in the country. I would be getting the best education."

"You don't need education. You're a better doctor than any doctor I've ever met." Philip said, "I didn't go to university."

"But nowadays you need credentials. Only State Alchemists don't require schooling now." Clara argued back as logically, and professionally, as she could.

Philip became rigid at the mere mention and leaned back so that he could lean on the tree, and he observed his daughter. He had made it clear that in his house: alchemy was forbidden. He wanted to raise his daughter so that she would do things the honest way, instead of cheating out of everything like alchemists.

Her hair was tied up in a fluffy bun and it curled around her ears gently. She had bangs but she had pushed them aside so they wouldn't get in her way. Her hands were soft and sure and had performed many surgeries with her own father on almost everyone in the village. But the big city, Central of all places, wasn't their little village in Green Valley. She wasn't just going to be a doctor; she wanted to be the best doctor in the country.

"The military is very dangerous…" Philip explained softly, "For a young woman all by herself in a big city. I've heard about the serial killers down there, all the death tolls. All the pain the people in Central have gone through…"

"All the more reason for me to be there." She said gently, "You take care of people here, and I'll take care of people there." Her smile was soft and brilliant. "You said to be on the healing side. I can't do that if there's nothing to heal."

"Clara." His father said, shaking his head, "You're so much like your mother. I only wish she could see you now…"

Clara smiled bashfully and shrugged her shoulders and she knelt down to pick up the basket of roses by her father's feet before she took his arm as they strolled inside, and Philip said, "So Central…That's a very long trip from here."

"I'll write every day, father."

The train rolled in to Central station and came to a stop, then it whistled out a loud greeting to the occupants of the City. Most people crowded around, waiting for family or friends, but Edward and Alphonse didn't need to. They hopped off the train as per normal and started to walk through the station, happily talking about their visit home. Alphonse smiled at a few of the military personal dotted around the building but Edward didn't. Some people wondered what ever happened to the large armored body that used to tag along with Edward around Central; only a few knew of the actual happenings with the boys.

In the crowds, Clara Harris stepped off an opposite train, but she avoided the Elric brothers by swerving around people, ducking under a few, and looking around herself to try to find the closest military personal for directions with a map clenched in her hand. After a few moments, she did, and they directed her to the great Central building.

"Good morning, miss. How can we help you?" Asked one of the soldiers behind a large wooden desk in the front of the Central Military building.

"I'm here for the State Alchemist Certification Exam, please." Clara replied. She was wearing the most professional dress she could find, a faded green one with small white heels. Compared to the others she probably looked like a stay at home mother instead of a potential doctor, but for now, she'd settle for that. Maybe others underestimating her would be helpful.

The original soldier raised his eyebrows and looked at his comrade before looking down at the table before him and shuffling through the files, "You sent your enrollment?"

"Yes, sir."

"Name?"

"Winters." Clara stated, "Flora Winters." She tried to give him her best smile, her blue eyes smiling at him, hoping beyond all hope that her proclamation of her name was enough.

"Winters…" The soldier mumbled, "There you are." He handed her the folder and pointed through the door, "Go through there and take a seat to wait for the written exam. Leave your bags by the door, they will be watched until your return. When the written exam is over, you will head to the interview portion of the exam, then to the practical. Please follow all instructions and procedures for your safety and the safety of your fellow students. When the entire exam is finished, you may return for your belongings. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"Already with the 'sirs'." He laughed, "You'll do fine. Good luck, Flora."

Flora smiled and headed in to the examination room. It was 1918.

_

Hello! I had previously started this and had taken it down because I didn't like where the story was going. Now, I think I might be able to finish it or at least enjoy it a little bit more. Thanks for reading and let me know if you'd like read more! x