Fullmetal Alchemist

INVADERS OF GALIA

Chapter: 1

The Gallian Liberation Front

A WAR TORN COUNTRY

Lanseal Military Academy

Southern Region of the Amestrian colony of Galia.

It had, thus far, proven to be a fairly normal day at Lanseal Military Academy. Just as on any other day, students were drilling tirelessly, learning valuable military maneuvers that would preserve not only their lives, but the lives of others in the days to come. After all, with Gallia still torn by civil war, the army still decimated by the war with the neighboring Imperial Alliance two years ago, and no sign of aid coming from the Galian mother country, Amestris, any time soon, these students were the only line of defense for much of Sothern Galia. This fact had everyone on edge. So much so, in fact, that none of the drilling cadets noticed an unfamiliar man with long golden hair, wearing a long red jacket crossing the campus grounds towards the main facility, accompanied by a much larger man wearing a large suit of armor.

"So this is Galia," the boy said, "seems like a decent enough place, but man, I thought the main Amestrian army was merciless. These kids all look exhausted."

"They can't be that much older then we are, brother," the man in the armor said. His voice sounded like that of a young child! "Are those kids really supposed to fight in this war?"

"They don't have a choice, Al. This civil war has just gotten that out of hand," the smaller boy replied, "that's why we're here. We've gotta do everything we can to stop this war." He wasn't paying attention to where he was going and he turned to look, just as he ran right into the back of a young woman wearing a Lanseal drill uniform. The woman, who was tall with long pink hair, turned and glared down at the smaller man rather angrily.

"What the…? Hey, you watch we're you're going you little pipsqueak," the girl said irately which caused the smaller man to scowl just as fiercely.

"WHO YOU CALLING SO SMALL YOU CAN'T SEE HIM WITHOUT A MAGNIFYING GLASS! SO SMALL YOU JUST WANNA CRUSH HIM UNDER YOUR FEET LIKE AN ANT! LET GO OF MY ALPHONSE, SHE ASKED FOR IT!" he started shouting frantically as he made to grab for the woman's throat, forcing the armored man to grab him and hold him back.

"Brother, calm down. You're making us look bad," Alphonse said desperately trying to stop his brother.

"What's wrong, little man?" the woman asked, "did I strike a nerve? If you knew who you were dealing with you'd be far more respectful."

"Oh is that right, and just who am I dealing with?" the shorter man asked.

"I am Juliana Everhart, class chair of the elite Class A, Lanseal's finest, I might add," Juliana replied rather snobbishly which only irritated the smaller man more.

"Is that right. Let go of my Al, I promise I won't hurt her," he declared smiling wickedly.

"Alright, but remember Brother, you promised," Al replied as he released his brother who walked towards Juliana, who looked a little surprised by the young man's response.

"Juliana Everhart, chair of the elite class A, huh," the man said smugly clapping his hands together and slamming them down against the ground. Juliana yelped with fright as several rods of earth shot up around her, binding her arms and legs and preventing her from moving. She tried to scream, but as she did, one of the rods of earth wrapped around her head, rather effectively gagging the snobbish class chair. "The name's Edward Elric and believe me, the pleasure's all yours," Ed replied folding his arms and turning back to Alphonse, "come on Al, we better get going. We don't wanna keep the headmaster waiting.

"Brother," Alphonse said sounding mildly annoyed as Julliana made several distressed but muffled grunting noises.

"Oh fine," Ed declared clapping his hands again and putting them against the ground. The rock that bound Juliana unwound and returned into the ground, freeing the Class Chair, who fell to her knees.

"I personally liked her better the other way, but whatever. Let's go Al," Ed said as he continued towards the Campus building.

"Ummm, sorry about my brother. He's really quite nice once you get to know him," Al said apologetically to Juliana, "um excuse me." He bowed to the pink haired girl then chased after his older brother."

"Who was that guy?" Juliana asked in complete shock, "he couldn't have been… an Alchemist from the mother country, could he?"

Lanseal Headmasters Office

In his office, Lanseal Headmaster, Laurence Kluivert sat reading a very important letter he had received earlier that day. He jumped a bit when someone knocked on the door, but quickly called for them to come in. Edward and Alphonse Elric opened the door and entered the headmaster's office.

"Ahh welcome, you must be the ones I received this note from Colonel Mustang about. The State Alchemists who have been sent to assess the situation here in Galia. It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Laurence Kluivert, headmaster of Lanseal academy," he said standing up from his desk and walking over to the Elric brothers, "and you must be the famous Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. It's such a pleasure to finally get to meet you," he declared offering out his hand. The only problem… was that he offered his hand to Alphonse Elric! "I can certainly understand why you've earned the title of Fullmetal, what with a suit of armor like that."

"What? No, I'm not…" Alphonse began to protest but Ed cut him off.

"I'm Edward Elric! I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist!" Ed screamed waving his arms frantically.

"You?" the headmaster replied seeming taken aback, "but you're just a little kid."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PATHETIC LITTLE PIPSQUEAK!"

"What? I didn't…" the headmaster replied but then burst out laughing, "Ahh, the enthusiasm of youth. My apologies young Edward Elric, I meant no disrespect." Suddenly, there was a loud crashing sound as a bell began to toll out in the main court.

"What terrible timing," the headmaster declared as his face turned grim, "my apologies Elric brothers. It seems that I will have to explain our situation to you at a later time. I will have you taken to your rooms now so you may rest."

"What do those bells mean?" Ed asked seriously.

"Headmaster," a man shouted bursting in, "the rebels are attacking a village just south of us! Though we aren't certain what they're up to, it seems that they are there to purge any and all citizens of Darcsen descent living in the village, and they have a tank with them."

"It seems we have no choice," the headmaster declared, "mobilize squads A, D, F, and G to attend to the problem."

"Brother, did you hear that? They have a tank with them," Alphonse declared.

"Squad A, huh. That big-mouthed girl we met earlier said she was the leader of that class. This should be interesting," Ed declared.

"My apologies Fullmetal Alchemist, but I'm afraid I have other duties that I must attend to. We'll have to finish our conversation at a later time," Kluivert declared.

"You're right, we will," Ed replied, "cause Al and I are headed to that village to stop this."

"That isn't necessary sir. You must be tired and…"

"We're here to assess your current situation, Headmaster," Ed declared cracking his neck, "now's as good a time as any. Besides, I'd be bored out of my mind if I just went and sat in my room all day. You can just leave this mess to us. Let's go Al," Ed ordered as the two headed out.

Arlem Village

Two miles south of Lanseal academy

"Keep up your attack!" a rebel soldier shouted, "don't allow a single Darcsen to escape."

A short distance away, a Darcsen man and woman hid in an alleyway with their little girl.

"We have to go, now," the father declared pushing his family in front of him. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and the father stopped cold, then fell forward, a bullet have lodged itself in the back of his head. A rebel soldier stood at the entry to the alleyway. The woman stepped in front of her daughter as the man fired his rifle again, causing the mother to share her husband's fate. The woman lurched backwards, then fell forward over her husband's body. Frightened and uncertain of what had just happened, the little Darcsen girl knelt on the ground and began to cry uncontrollably, clutching a little doll with long blue hair.

"What do we have here?" the rebel demanded walking to the girl and yanking the doll from her trembling grip. The child whined in protect, but then shied away from the man who had taken her toy.

"Blue hair… and the design of the outfit… you Darcsen mongrel. This doll is meant to resemble one of the holy Valkyria. The man reached into his holster for his side arm, which he pointed at the child. "Darcsen scum like you has no right to possess anything in the image of the holy ones. Do the world a favor and just die!" the man shouted beginning to squeeze the trigger.

"Nice speech, but I think, you need to reconsider which one of you is the real scum!" a voice shouted from behind him. Edward Elric stepped between the rebel and the child and put his right hand over the barrel of the pistol. The man was startled and fired, causing the bullet to ricochet off of Ed's automail hand and back into the chamber. The pistol blew up in the man's hand, blowing shrapnel from the weapon into the man's hand and face. The man yelled with agony, then fell back, clutching his face. Ed clapped his hands together and used Alchemy to transmute a sheet of earth over the man, pinning him to the ground.

"You just sit there and think about what you were about to do until I come back," Ed ordered as he walked over and picked up the child's doll. Alphonse approached him from behind carrying the child. When the little girl saw her doll, she began frantically reaching for it until Ed gave it to her, then she clutched it tightly in her arms and began to sob.

"Brother… are these… Darcsens?" Al asked looking at the girl and her dead parents.

"I don't get it. I was expecting something similar to Ishvalans, but they don't look any different from us," Ed said kneeling down next to the parents. He was surprised when the mother shuddered when he touch her. "She's alive, Al take her to the medical tent, hurry!" Ed ordered.

"What about the dad?" Al asked.

"I think he probably died instantly. Hurry Al! If they can save her… we might be able to save the kid from becoming an orphan," Ed ordered again turning and walking towards the alley exit.

"What're you gonna do?" Al asked picking up the woman.

"What do you think I'm gonna do. I'm gonna stop these rebels in their tracks," Ed declared stepping out into the open. The village was a small, grassy one, and found himself standing on a hill have emerged from between two barns. Below the hill, several Lanseal cadets were pressed up against sandbags taking cover from the advancing enemy. A rebel soldier carrying a large sword and tower shield was approaching a barricade that a young girl with long, dark colored hair was hiding behind. She was frantically firing upon the man with a machine gun, but he was blocking all of her bullets with his shield as he continued to advance.

"Dark hair… I wonder if she's one of these Darcsen's too. As far as I can tell, that's the only thing that really distinguishes these Darcsen's apart. Not a very big difference, which means these rebels probably can't tell them apart from normal people with darker hair either. Makes me glad my hair is blonde!" he shouted clapping his hands together and rushing to the aid of the Lanseal cadet. He put his hand against the metal wall of a barn and produced a spear from the wall as he pulled away from it. Twirling the spear, he leapt over the sandbags and knocked the encroaching swordsman's shield away. The swordsman's eyes lit up with surprise as his shield flew from his grasp. Ed moved to the left to knock away the sword next, but as he did, the girl pulled the trigger on her sub-machine gun, placing three bullets into the body of the swordsman. He crumpled to the ground, instantly killed.

"Hey! Watch it! You could have shot me!" Ed shouted looking around, "look out, he shouted in surprise. Diving behind the sandbags and tackling the girl as a rebel began firing on them with a machine gun of his own.

"Phew, thank you very much," the girl said, "I'm Marion Siegbahn of Squad G."

"Marion, got it," Ed replied, "hey, sorry to ask, but are you one of these Darcsen guys?"

"What? Me, a Darcsen? Of course not? Why would you even think something like that?" Marion replied sounding insulted.

"Hey, don't start with me. I can't see any difference between a regular, dark haired person like you and one of these Darcsens! I was just checking," Ed shouted irately.

"Darcsen's don't have last names," Marion replied, "their last names were taken from them long ago as punishment for their sins."

"Yeah, whatever… look I don't really care about any of that right now. You can rant about what Darcsen's do and don't have later. Right now, we have enemies in front of us to deal with. Who's in command?"

"Command? Oh, right, that would be our class chair, Avan Hardins. He's the red haired boy at the front," Marion replied pointing to the front most sandbag barricade where two young men, the red haired boy, Avan, and another dark haired boy, were firing at the advancing enemies.

"Another dark haired kid," Ed said, "so is that one a Darcsen?"

"Yes. His name is Zeri. He's new to our battalion. They're always putting the Darcsens in with Class…"

"Like I said, you can rant later. I've got work to do now!" Ed declared clapping his hands together again, but first we need to get past that machine gunner, which means we're gonna need some mobile cover," he said putting his hand against the spear he'd made and transmuting a thin shield.

"That won't work, I need something more sturdy… oh right. How could I forget?" he asked out loud as he spotted the swordsman's shield lying a short distance away. He clapped his hands and transmuted several spikes along the ground, the final one of which hooked under the shield and flipped upwards, launching the shield to Edward who took cover behind it before charging at the man who was still shooting at them. The bullets all ricocheted harmlessly off of the shield and when Ed reached the man, he knocked the gun to the side with his shield before transmuting the weapon into a small, metal ball with a small wooden chunk that poked from the ball like the single loose strand of hair on the top of Ed's head. A ridiculous face stared up at the terrified gunman who dropped the ball, turn, and ran.

"And don't come back!" Ed shouted as Marion moved up next to him, "Alright, I think I've had enough fun." He quickly glanced over the battlefield below. The rebel troops were quickly approaching the barricade where the squad commander and the Darcsen were still firing, trying desperately to hold them back. "I'd better end this or someone's gonna get hurt, you know… other then the rebels. ATTENTION REBELS!" he shouted suddenly, causing Marion's eyes to light up with fear and surprise.

"You idiot, what are you doing!" she shouted as all the rebels below looked up at the two of them.

"Hey Zeri, who's that guy with Marion?" Avan asked looking up and spotting the Fullmetal alchemist.

"I don't know, but he's going to get himself killed," Zeri replied glaring up.

"ALRIGHT, REBELS, THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING! RETREAT NOW OR YOU'RE GONNA GET HURT!"

"You're kidding right," one of the rebel soldiers said as they all started laughing.

"This must be a joke. He's just a little ki… ahhh!" he was cut off as the metal ball that had once been the other soldier's gun slammed into his head, knocking him unconscious.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A PUNY LITTLE RUNT, SO SMALL YOU JUST WANNA CRUSH HIM UNDER YOUR FOOT LIKE A PATHETIC LITTLE COCKROACH!" Ed shouted flailing his arms around angrily, "THAT DOES IT! NOW YOU DON'T GET TO RUN AWAY!"

"What are you talking about?" Marion asked, "no one said anything about pathetic little cockroaches." Ed clapped his hands together and slammed them into the ground, transmuting a massive cannon. Marion backed up and fell over backwards looking up at the massive weapon that Ed was now sitting upon. The rebels certainly weren't laughing anymore. They were to busy scrambling frantically to get away from the enraged alchemist.

"I'll show you short!" Ed shouted as the giant cannonball unleashed a barrage of cannonballs that all looked just like the small ball Ed had transmuted from the rebels machine gun at the frantic rebel soldiers.