Chapter 1

The child wandered aimlessly, comfortably, casually, familiarly through the halls of the Central military headquarters. The noise his boots made on the floor and the constant rattling of metal that followed him drew attention towards his figure but never once was his presence greeted with surprise – often he was greeted with salutes. The young officer didn't like the respect that his rank earned him from people many years his senior – he was a state Alchemist for the resources not the ranking as major.

Suddenly a panting NCO rushed at him, still wet behind the ears. The NCO saluted stiffly to the boy, his breathing still uneven and laboured as a result of his dash as he searched for the major.

"Major Fullmetal Alchemist, Sir!" The young NCO declared loudly, politely and officially – clearly waiting to explicitly be given permission to relay his message. When it was given to him he lowered his salute but still stood stiff. He spoke quickly – nervous of the young child who stood ahead of him – much his superior. "Sir, you are wanted by Colonel Mustang in his office, urgently. I'm afraid he didn't tell me for what reason, he only told me to inform you that your brother was up their waiting."

"Thanks." The boy muttered - dreadfully informal – as he walked the all-too-familiar route to the bastard's office. The NCO stared on in shock, the boy – not even dressed in the correct uniform – trailed off with posture so good he was sure that someone had trained it into him and shuffling feet. He watched the golden braid disappear around the corner with a flash, whipping out behind the boy as his pace quickened and he turned the tight corner that lead to the stairs. The NCO muttered and shook his head as he walked off – reconsidering the extent to which he stiffly used formalities in his workplace after a single, brief encounter with his young superior.

Edward staked into the office of his own superior and commanding officer as he usually did – broodingly. The scene that played out before him brought what little regularity he had in his life, among all the misconducts and impromptu outings that occurred rather frequently, to light. As always, Colonel Roy Mustang was procrastinating fiercely. Stacks of paperwork lay unfinished on top of his desk – Edward was very much convinced, without a single word spoken, that the majority of it was long overdue – and he was putting off the completion of them further by claiming to is lieutenant – who was growing increasingly impatient – that he had urgent business to attend to with "Fullmetal" who would be there at any moment. The aforementioned lieutenant was stood to the side of the lazy Colonel's desk, one hand on her hip, the other placed discreetly over the holster that held her handgun. She sighed periodically, in an odd combination of amusement and frustration. Off to the side of the room, in a chair very clearly intended for a figure of far smaller stature, (most would have suggested Edward himself as the perfect replacement, even if just to get a rise from the boy) there sat a sentient suit of armour, standing at about eight-foot-high should Edward have to estimate.

"Brother!" the armour shot to its feet and called out in a juvenile voice that was greatly mismatched to its appearance - the voice coming from the metal figure was that of a pre-pubescent boy, only echoed and somewhat hollow.

"Hey Al." The young boy smiled up at the armour, his slanted golden eyes lighting up and a quirky grin pulling at his lips.

"Fullmetal." The man's voice came from his desk smoothly, sending odd shivers down Edward's spine as the way he spoke on that particular day brought with it a fierce sense of foreboding. As he spoke he sent a triumphant, cocky grin at his lieutenant who was no longer devoting her full attention to her commanding officer, rather to the young alchemist who had just recently entered the office.

"Good to see you again Edward." She spoke with a maternal smile pasted across her features, despite the sharp look of her uniform and her pulled back hair, her features were soft and caring – something that she was very aware of the brothers' yearning for.

"You too, Hawkeye." He was being kind to her as he often was, in the way she doubted Colonel mustang would ever see the boy. "What did you want bastard? Why send a new NCO, you know I hate it when people treat me like I – I"

Mustang cut him off once he began stuttering, something that was greatly unexpected of the obnoxious boy "Like you're their superior? What else are you then?"

"An alchemist. Alchemist be thou for the people. Unlike you – bastard – I do not work the way that I do purely out of selfishness."

"Whatever you say. You know," An evil looking grin spread over his features indiscreetly "I do think you are rather short in the personality department at times -none of us are perfect, Fullmetal. If you so much as pretend to be otherwise it is complete asininity."

Edward's teeth had gritted at the mention of the word 'short' and his eyes began to blaze – Hawkeye looked on in dismay, clasping her hand tighter around the grip of her gun. "Don't call me short! You're just a freakishly tall Dickhead!"

"language pipsqueak." Mustang was greatly amused but Hawkeye was just fed up. Swiftly she drew her gun and fired a single bullet into the wall behind he superior, just above his head.

"Sir, you had something to tell Edward, did you not?" She gently urged him to change the topic of conversation to the 'pressing matters' that they had to discuss.

"Ah yes." He turned his attention to a still flaming Edward. "You've been receiving mail."

"Where the hell from?"

"Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry."

"Hogwarts school of what now?

"Witchcraft and wizardry."

"Is this a joke. It's a pretty poor one bastard."

"It's not Edward. Please just head down to the train station at 0900 hours tomorrow. You are to meet a man named Hagrid."

"Fine." he conceded, "But what of Al? he's coming, right?"

There was a tint of threat applied to the end of the sentence and Mustang was actually hesitant to answer. He let out a breath – he had concluded that exhalation was using at least a moment of time, forever the procrastinator – "No." He did not want to drag out his reply for any longer than necessary.

"No!" Edward replied in much the same way.

Mustang prepared himself to answer but Alphonse beat him to the catch "It's okay brother. If you do go, I'll see you again during summer. Besides, it's probably safer for you."

"Al is right." Hawkeye added "It'll be safer and you won't be gone forever."

"Just keep on top of your research, Fullmetal." Mustang added, determined to maintain his image as Edward's commanding officer.

"You're one to talk." He gestured subtly to the large pile of papers on Mustang's desk, to the side of his right elbow.

"He's right, sir." Hawkeye said as the young Elric brothers left the office with departing messages fitting of their personalities.