A Twist of Fate Makes Life Worthwhile
Part 1
"Welcome back, Führer. How was your visit to Dublith?"
"It was quite interesting." The Führer said, sitting down at the head of the table. He let his one eye look at all the faces in front of him. They were all his advisors, all of them about as old as he was, some older. Their best years were behind them, and they wanted immortal life to continue living their pitiful lives. How pathetic. They were so weak willed…"I met with the Elric brothers' teacher. She certainly was something."
"She!" one of his cabinet members exclaimed. The rest of them murmured under their breath. A female alchemist? Unheard of! Well, it wasn't unheard of, but it certainly was rare.
"I tried to convince her to be a State Alchemist, but she would have none of it."
Another oddity. Females in the military were rare. Female State Alchemists had never even been considered. Even though women were becoming more independent, not many people expected them to join the military. Not one female ever took the State Alchemist test, and there was an unwritten rule that females would not be allowed to be State Alchemists. Not many people wanted women to become State Alchemists anyways, especially after what the State Alchemists did in Ishval. It was bad enough that a woman sniper was there, participating the bloodshed. For a woman to do what those men did…
"And she got me thinking…imagine how powerful a woman can be. You all have mothers and wives, I'm sure you know of what they can do. I don't have a mother, but I'm sure that those of you who have mothers vividly remember them slinging you over their knee as if you were nothing compared to them, even when you were adults."
They nodded.
"And wives can be the same. Why, my wife once jumped in front of a car to protect my child." Not that it meant anything, since his 'son' could take care of himself and slice the car in two if he wished. "If a woman like that joined the military, she would be a force unlike anything we have ever seen. But the woman I met was too old. She had made up her mind years ago about where she stood and nothing in this world would change that. But what if we tried to get high school girls in on our philosophy? High school students don't know where they stand in life, and most are willing to learn about new things. This is my idea: We assign some students to State Alchemists. They'll teach them about the military and Alchemy. They'll be able to mold them into their image. They'd be a fighting force to be reasoned with. We'll have some new candidates for sacrifice as well."
The cabinet nodded, finding that the idea he presented was a good one. Then again, if they disagreed, they wouldn't bring it up. Getting on Bradley's bad side would mean that he would release his wrath upon them. Literally. "There was an international essay about what students would do in the military." One of the men spoke up, all eyes turning to him. "I'm sure that we can find out who the winners were at each school and—"
"I'll look through them myself."
"Führer?"
"They judge on the quality of writing, not what the message is. That's what I'll judge by. I'll see which of these girls have the right mind sight to be in the Alchemy Academy."
/
There was a form going around the State Alchemists. Roy Mustang looked at the sheet. "To all State Alchemists," Mustang read out loud for his subordinates. They all looked at him with interest, listening quietly. "Führer King Bradley has announced a plan to help integrate Alchemy in the daily lives of civilians. A handful of high school girls across the country will be assigned to State Alchemists. The State Alchemist will need to teach them the basics of Alchemy, military life, and any other abilities that the assigned State Alchemist knows. If you wish to participate in The Alchemy Academy, please sign below."
"Well…" Mustang said, putting the paper down. "What do you make of this?"
The subordinates exchanged looks. "Do you think it's a good idea, sir?" Kain Fuery asked.
Mustang put his elbows on his desk, linking his fingers together. "I don't know. Something doesn't really seem right about this. However…" he took out his pen and signed his name, drawing a small flame at the end. He handed the paper to Hawkeye, "I can't figure anything out just by this letter. If something is being planned, I'll have to figure it out on my own."
"You sure that you didn't just want to be in the company of a high school girl, sir?" Hawkeye said nonchalantly, her face still the same.
Mustang flinched and froze. "Uh…"
Havoc chuckled, blowing some smoke out of his mouth. "That's a yes."
/
"What the hell is this?"
"Geez, Ed, what are you yelling about?" Winry came into the bedroom, a wrench in her hand. She was busy making an automail leg for someone when she heard Edward's cry from upstairs. She found him clutching a letter tightly.
"Someone wants brother to teach Alchemy." Alphonse said, turning his head to Winry.
"Teaching? That doesn't sound so bad." Certainly not bad enough to warrant a yell like that from Edward.
"I'm teaching some snot-nosed, preppy, PMSing, high school girl!"
"And what's wrong with being a high school girl?" Winry said, crossing her arms. "In case you forgot, Edward, I'm in high school too." Well, she was supposed to be. She spent most of her time at home, working on automail. And then she got a job at Rush Valley and hadn't bothered to enroll in High School.
"Exactly! They're hormonal, wrench-wielding automail otakus!" Edward yelled, adding the last two to make the attack personal.
Winry's blood boiled and she swung her wrench, aiming for his large head. Edward ducked under the wrench and ran out the door. Winry threw a couple curses at him as he ran off. She glared at him for a while longer, than relaxed her shoulders, rubbing her forehead.
"Sorry Winry…" Alphonse apologized, embarrassed by his brother's actions.
"No, no…It's alright…He's just so impossible sometimes…" she noticed the wrinkled letter on the floor. She looked it for a couple of seconds, a smile slowly curving onto her face. "Hey Al?"
"Hmm?"
"You can mimic Ed's handwriting, right?"
"Uh…Yeah. Kind of. Why do you ask?"
Winry picked up the letter and turned to Al, a large cat-like smile on her lips.
Alphonse looked at her for a couple of seconds. "Wait! You want me to—No!"
"Comeon, Al. It's just a joke. Besides, Ed needs to get off his ten foot tall horse."
"I don't think that's a good reason—!"
"Comeon! Wouldn't it be cool to teach somebody Alchemy? You could really make a difference in the life of someone! I know that you both suffered because of Alchemy, but I know that every time you draw a Transmutation Circle or clap your hands, your eyes light up, excited to be doing Alchemy. Wouldn't you want someone else to feel that way?"
"Well…Alright." Alphonse took a pen and signed Edward's name. "But just this once."
"That's all I ask for, Alphonse. That's all I ask for…"
/
Armstrong stared at the letter on his desk. He had just come back to Central after his trip in Dublith, that is, if it could be called a trip. He spent most of the time he was down massacring people, mutated people though they may be. He felt sick. It was almost like another Ishval, though smaller…
And here in front of him was a letter asking him if he would like to educate high school girls in the ways of the military. Who would want to join such a place where bloodshed follows every step they take, especially a girl?
Then again…if he could teach someone about the true meanings of the military, they could help fight to make the military a more noble place.
Besides, it would give him a reason to teach THE ARMSTRONG ALCHEMY THAT HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE LINE FOR GENERATIONS!
/
"Sir?"
"Hmm?" he looked up. "Eva Vora, right?"
She nodded. "I'm here to see the essay results. There was an announcement saying to come here."
"Ah. Right. One moment please." He brought out a large file box and sorted the papers slowly, humming.
Eva sighed, tying her brown hair into a ponytail. Her hair barely fell past her shoulders, but she still didn't want it blowing in her face. She anxiously shifted from one foot to the other and even took to hopping a bit as she waited. She had too much energy, and it wasn't suited for standing around waiting.
Eventually, he found the paper, handing it to her.
"Thank you!" she said and hurried out, not wanting waste a moment.
Eva ripped the seal off the envelope and opened it. She looked at it and then ripped the paper into numerous pieces, throwing them onto the ground. It's amazing how many words can be used to say 'Your essay sucked, please never write again'. Alright, the last part was mostly made up, but it was implied at the very least.
She sighed, sticking her hands into the pockets of her jeans. She wasn't used to writing essays. They were boring! She loved books, most under the fantasy genre. She wasn't good with the real life stuff that essays focused on. She absently kicked a stone with her boot. At least she liked the purpose of the essay. She was always fascinated with Alchemy ever since she read a book where the protagonist was an Alchemist. She also wanted to catch criminals, but that was for her own reason.
She headed home, grabbing the mail out of the mailbox. "I got the mail!" she yelled, receiving a confirming yell deep within the house. She absently sorted through the mail. "Bills, bills, bills, coupon, college, college, military, bills—" she froze and went back to military letter. It was addressed to her. She opened up the letter and started reading.
"No way…"
/
"Ms. Anjyl?"
"Hmm?" Namori turned to the principle. Her face was curious for a second before she noticed the envelope in his hand. Her face lit up. "Oh! You have some mail for me!" a large smile was on her face at the thought of mail.
He smiled a bit at her involuntarily. He had to admit, the thought of admitting an Ishvalan into the school, albeit only part. However, she was one of the sweetest people that you could ever meet. Whenever she smiled, you felt as if you had to smile. It was impossible to deny. As one of the students commented, she tasted like diabetes. Sickingly sweet. It was too bad that she didn't have a real place to stay. All of her mail had to come in through the school. He handed her a sealed envelope, her mail inside unopened.
She smiled and took the envelope, hugging it against her chest. "Thank you!" she left the school, putting on mirrored sunglasses to hide her dull red eyes. She walked back to her home, humming a song that somebody was playing when she headed to school. A wind blew, throwing her brown and red hair into disarray. She quickly ducked into an alley, fixing her hair. She straightened her short black skirt and pulled down her white tank top. She reached into her bag and pulled out a black sweater-jacket, pulling it over her brown arms. She tied the loose fabric into a knot, playing with the ends until they were exactly the same length. Confident in her appearance once again, she continued walking.
She went into the outskirts of the city and climbed the hill that led into the slums. She stopped walking at the top of the hill and pulled off her sunglasses. If she looked hard enough, she could see Ishval in the distance, a brown ribbon in the distance. She stared out onto the field, trying to recall some memories of that desert she once called home. She was only three when the Ishval Civil War started, so she didn't have any memories about that. For eight years, she was surrounded by war. She and a couple other families managed to escape as the State Alchemists joined the war. Even though she was older then, she still could barely remember what happened. Almost every memory she recalled were ones where she and some other village children played in destroyed homes. People said that she was an angel, so she couldn't remember any bad things. She was simply too innocent. Naomi wasn't so sure though. It seemed too unrealistic.
After staring out for a while, she started down into the slums. She walked through the slum, saying hello to everyone she knew and having conversations with people she didn't know. After much talk, she walked into a small stone building that was her home, pulling the red rug that hung over the door out of the way. She sat down on her stick and straw bed and took out her mail. She flipped through some of the envelopes and paused when she found a letter from the military. She slowly opened up the letter, hands shaking a bit, her mind subconsciously telling her that military=bad things. It wasn't that hard for her to know. She grew up when Ishval was enveloped in war. She couldn't recall many memories, but as she tore the envelope, she could feel her body being pressed into a cart, surrounded by her friends as an explosion rattled the town and screams filled the air. She read the letter inside.
"No way…"
/
"Ms. Wiesel? Please stop stabbing the paper."
Kaitlin sighed. "Sorry sir…I just—I can't do this right." The young girl rested her chin on the table, her thin red lips fixed in a pout.
The teacher looked at her. Her grayish green eyes were dulled, though there was a slight spark of annoyance in there. The teacher comfortingly patted Kaitlin's short, brown hair. Kaitlin waved her hand away and straightened up, playing with the black ends of her hair. "Katie?"
"What?" she snapped.
"You're a good drawer." The teacher replied, his voice still sympathetic.
"No I'm not." She pouted again.
"You're not perfect, that's true. But you don't need to be."
She looked up at him, and the teacher was able to see the blue in her eyes. He marveled at how many colors were in her eyes. If someone were to do a portrait, they could spend hours on her eyes. He mentally shook his head, clearing those thoughts before they got any worse.
"I'm a perfectionist;" she said, her voice indicating that this speech had been told many times before, "everything has to be perfect to me. If I don't get it right, it'll annoy me to death."
"You're not as bad as you think." He sat down next to her. "Mind if I help you?"
"Not really." A bit, actually. He seemed a bit too friendly to her. She supposed that she had a 'cute' or 'moe' look. Then again, she didn't really consider all the freckles on her face that cute, and she was a bit short, and have stick limbs, and a bit flat…But she wanted to learn about art, so she would deal with his subtle—or not so subtle in many cases—flirting. It was worth it though. She wanted to learn more about drawing. She would do anything to improve her art.
Afterwards, Kaitlin hurried home. That took longer than she thought. She hoped she wasn't late. She ran through the streets easily, weaving in-between cars. She grew up in a city, and she knew her way around. It helped that her legs—twiggy they may be—were made for running quickly. She soon found her way to the apartment, quickly unlocking the door and running up the steps. "Sorry I'm late! I got held up in class!" she yelled, closing and locking the door behind her. She went into her room and fed her Rabbit-Who-Does-Not-Have-A-Consistent-Name. She sat down at her desk and was about to get started on her work when she noticed a fancy looking letter sitting on her desk. She picked it up and her eyes widened. This was nice paper. Only the military could have nice paper. She opened it up and read what was inside.
"No way…"
/
"Mia…Miiiiiiiaaaa…"
Mia was engrossed in her drawing, working on the details. The world was blocked out. All there was in the world was her, the pencil in her hand, the couch she sat on, and the sketchbook in her hand. There was nothing else. No sound, no people, nobody. Her brother's voice fell on empty ears. He looked at his little sister. He sighed and pushed his glasses further up, clearing his throat. He leaned over the couch, a couple inches from her ear. "MIA!" he yelled. Mia squealed and jumped, her pencil darting across the page. Her brother laughed a bit, jumping over the couch to sit next to her.
She frowned, looking at her sketch. She turned to her brother, showing him the long line across the page. "You ruined it."
"Sorry, Mia." He petted her head, earning a purr from her.
Mia eventually pulled her head away from him. "So, why did you ruin my drawing, nii-nii?" she asked, erasing the mark. Nii-nii was her way of saying 'big brother', taken from the Southern Xingese word nii-san. Mia and her nii-nii were both part Xingese, located in the southern end of the country, next to the ocean. While her nii-nii displayed many signs of their heritage, particularly in skin tone, Mia was pale white. Only her small, half closed eyes betrayed her heritage, and even then, it wasn't much.
"Two things." He said, holding up his fingers. "One. Dad is nagging me to nag you about colleges." He allowed Mia to groan for a couple of seconds before continuing. "And you got this in the mail." He held up a letter. It only took Mia a couple seconds to realize that the letter was from the military. "What did you do?"
"What makes you think I did something?"
"Why else would the military want you?"
She stuck out her tongue. "Give me that." Mia snatched the letter out of his hands, ripping the envelope. She read the letter, her brother reading over her shoulder.
"No way…"
"Yeah, why would anyone want you to join an Alchemy School? You'd just fall asleep while they were talking."
"Oh, shut up."