The Elric Sister: Those Golden Eyes

Chapter 5: The Man With The Mechanical Arm

~Continuing Flashback~
Al aged 10, Ed and Van aged 11.
Van POV:
Ed and Al are supposed to be in Central today and words can't describe how excited I am to see them. Mustang said he'd make sure that they get into Central before nightfall. Hughes is on the train too. Gracia and Hughes took me in when I first moved to Central, they're kind of like my second parents and I am so grateful to them. And since they are like my parents, I'm gonna have a little sibling soon, I know we'll be close.

Today I wore a black skirt that reached my mid-thigh and a black jacket that reached my mid-stomach, with a red tank top and my blond hair in a side braid.

"Van!" Mustang calls, I begin to run down the hall to his office.

'Yes?' I sign.

"Well you're going to be a state alchemist soon, if you pass the exams. If you could pick a state name, what would it be? Taking into consideration most people don't have the option to choose and you might be able to, depending on your answer. We usually base your names off of what you're best at with alchemy."

'Well, I learned how to use the Blue Flames Of Hell over this past year. Meaning I can generate and control the Blue Flames Of Hell. In other words called Hell-Fire Manipulation. But I've already thought about it, and if I were allowed to choose a name," I look up at the ceiling thinking about mom and dad, and the fact that he left, everything flashing through my mind. 'It'd be... The Calamity Alchemist.' he looked dumbfounded for a moment but regained his usual stoic expression quickly.

"Why that name? Out of all the names you could choose, why that one? It's a little dark, don't you think?"

'Because...' I stopped or a second, tears threatening to spill from my eyes, 'Because, it was my fault my dad left. It was my fault mom died, and if I could've gotten ahold of my dad, mom wouldn't be gone and if she wasn't gone... we wouldn't have tried human alchemy and if we didn't try human alchemy, Ed would still have his limbs and Al would still have a body. I only bring... disaster. In other words, Calamity.' tears slowly fall from my eyes but I pretend to look out the window so he doesn't see.

"Do your brothers know that you feel this way?"

I turn to him, I stopped crying but my face was still stained with salty tear droplets.

'No. But if I were to ask them if they felt that way, I think they'd agree that it was my fault.' Mustang got up, walked over to me and...hugged me?

His arms were warm, he was warm. I couldn't help but hug him back.

"It's not your fault, and they know it."

I then realized that I was sobbing, staining his uniform with tears. He just sat there and held me, my arms were around his neck, gripping his shoulders but not to hard. We stayed like that for a long while, on the floor.

On the train:
Third person POV:
"I can't believe the Colonel made us run for the train." Ed says angrily.

"Calm down brother. Think of it like this, we get to see Van today." Al cheerfully exclaims.

Suddenly a man with grey hair at the top and black hair at the sides panicked a bit at Al's appearance. But then Hughes gets told by Mustang that he's okay. Falmon quickly calms down, walking over to Ed and Al but then he got attacked by bandits.

General Hakuro was in a booth with his family and then all of a sudden he was being held hostage, along with the passengers. The bandits had taken charge of the train. The leader was revealed to be a man named Bald.

Ed fought Bald, finding out that he also, has an automail arm.

Time skip:
At the train station:
Van POV:
We're waiting at the train station now. We see the train and it's so close yet so far, the anticipation is to much. And then I thought for a second, maybe instead of going straight to Ed and Al, I'll go directly for Hughes and hug him instead. I chuckle silently and Mustang looks at me.

"What's funny?"

'You'll see.'

He smiles, knowing I'm up to something. The train arrives and everyone gets off. I see Ed and Al then I see Hughes, who is right behind them. Perfect. I start running and they both open there arms, ready for a hug and then I hug Hughes instead. He smiles and then chuckles, I smile too.

'I'm so glad you're back okay.' I sign to him pretending that Al and Ed aren't even there.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." he says.

I turn to Ed and Al who look gloomy at the fact that I just avoided them. I pull them into a big hug.

I hand them a piece of paper that says,
'I've missed you guys so much! You'll have to learn sign language to understand me most of the time, better get on that.' I smile at them, they smile back.

Bald and his men are sitting on the ground at the train station and a little girl is waving at Ed and Al. I smile because the scene is just adorable.

Ed looks at Mustang and is suddenly pissed off.

"You made us take that train because you knew this would happen!"

"How would I know? I can't tell the future." Mustang says with a sly smirk, I grin at him. "But you're lucky that it happened, since you helped handle the situation, an exception has been made and you can now take the alchemy exam to be a state alchemist."

I already got my exception by helping capture people for the past year, plus, because of all my research.

Ed looks shocked I jump on his back and give him a note.

'Chill out, you may have been played but there was a gain to it. Smile!' so he does as told and smiles.

A little girl and her mother walk up to Ed, Al and I, and begins to thank them.

I turn around to look at the Colonel, he smiles at me and I smile back. I jump off of Ed's back and run to Mustang. I reach him and instantly wrap both of my arms around his neck, taking in all of his warmth. He doesn't hug back and I know why, this looks very unprofessional but I don't care. I let go and sign at him.

'Thank you so much!' I tilt my head a bit while smiling.