Chapter 2 - First Impressions

If anyone wants me to keep going I'll need five reviews. I'm only doing

this chapter for a friend of mine. I'm changing the couples for this

fic because I have had a change of plans for the ending....*grins*

Anyways, please comment flames or not, I need some feedback people!

Here are the couples........Meesha/Roy, Cleo/OC, Katelyn/Alphonse,

Sato/Edward.....



Chapter 2



/Father!/ I gasped jumping off the rock, and sprinting for

the exit. I turned around. Meesha remained motionless, her eyes still

fixed to the ground.

"Meesha! Come on!"

"No." she said softly. "Just stay put Cleo. It'll be over

soon." I shook my head, not understanding the words escaping my best

friend's mouth.

"Meesha! Come on!" She jumped off and grabbed my arm roughly.

"Cleo! Just stay put................." She looked at me with

such a hopless gaze, I shuddered. The screams echoed around me.

"What are you talking about?! Come on, let go! Stop fooling

around! Father's in trouble! Meesha?!" I pleaded. I watched as she

remained motionless, not lifting her hold on my arm. Jerking away from

her I sprinted towards the exit. I heard her call after me. In the

distance I could see the village. In flames. I sprinted towards the now

louder screams of terror. There was a ring of high, burning flames

around the village. Men were there. With odd looking clothes. I heard

someone scream my name. Searching for the source I laid my eyes upon a

group of men standing in a circle. Holding back a young boy who I

remembered playing with in the creek weeks ago..

"Cleo! CLEO! HELP! HELP ME CLEO!" One of the men started

aproaching me with a slow steady pace. My heart raced and I felt all of

the men's eyes on me. I knew I should have done something, I should

have moved or ran, or said something. But I didn't. Stopping the man

drew out a small, greyish looking object. Pointing it at me he said,

"Who are you?" I took a terrfied step backwards. I began

backing away slowly and I tripped. The man took a step forward, the

thing still pointing at my face. "Tell me who you are." Scrambling I

tried to get back up. He kneeled down, setting the thing aside he

grabbed the colar of my kimono. I got a better look at his face. His

black hair gave off a blueish tint and he had brown-black eyes. "Tell

me who you are...now!"

"Stop Colonel!" I looked at the voice to see a woman with

blonde hair and brown eyes. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a bun,

that was fanned out to look like hawk feathers. "There's no reason to

scare the child to death."

"Lieutenant! I thought you were with Hughes in Central."

"Well, I'm not. Why are you interogating the girl?" she asked.



I realized she meant me.

"She wasn't in the village, she just arrived. The girl

promised everyone would be there, meaning she lied to us Lieutenant!"

The woman gave him a curious look. She then turned to me and laid her

hand on my shoulder.

"That's no reason to interogate her Colonel. Are you

alright?" I could feel my legs and I did the first thing that came to

mind. Ran! Not very far though. I ran into a solid wall of flesh.

Looking up, I saw a giant of a man with the biggest musceles I'd ever

seen. Looking down he grabbed my arm.

"Colonel. Lieutenant. Having trouble are we?" he asked in a

deep voice.

"Yes, we are. Thank you Armstrong." the Colonel replied. I

stried wiggling from his srong grasp. Suddenly, I found my voice.

"Let go of me! I demand it!" I yelled, digging my nails in

his skin. He didn't even flinch. The Colonel laughed,

"You're in a disposition little lady. Because at the moment

you have no right in demanding anything."

"LET ME GO! I'M THE PRINCESS OF THIS VILLAGE! UNHAND ME NOW!"



the man known as Armstrong looked at the Colonel nervously. The

Lieutanent looked at the Colonel. The Colonel remained calm. "WHAT DO

YOU WANT WITH MY VILLAGE?! LEAVE US ALONE!" My arm remained in a firm

grasp and it was hurting.

"Where's your friend?" the Lieutenant asked. "The fiesty one

with the pretty blue eyes." I paused. Madelyn.

"WHY, WHAT DO YOU WANT WITH HER?!" The Colonol tried keeping

his cool.

"Your little friend helped us into the village."

"She...no...no she didn't...." I said weakly. I felt my knees



give way underneath me. She couldn't have. She was my frend. She'd been

there for me forever. 'Madelyn...............no.' "NO! You're a liar!

Madelyn's my best friend! She couldn't of! What do you want from her?!"

I screamed. The Colonol stepped forward,

"Do you really want me to answer that? Now tell me where she

is." The Lieutenant stepped in to interfer.

"Maybe this interogation could be finished somewhere else?

Somewhere inside?" she asked politely. Colonol gave the Lieutenant a

warying look.

"Yes, I suppose that could be alright. Lieutenant you have a

way with kids, you take her back." He picked himself up and brushed

himself off. The Lieutenant leaned over and pulled me up by my

shoulders.

"I suggest you listen to me, or else I'll have to shoot you

and neither of us want that, do we?" she said. My mind probably had a

hundred of Meesha's snappy comebacks swimming around. But, my mind was

simply numb.

"Mustang! Let her go!" All spun to see Meesha, hand fingering

the belt around her waist. Which I knew held in place her ivory handled

sword. "I told you everyone would be here. Now let her go." she said

civily. She pulled her blonde hair into a pony tail and her blue eyes

flashed menacingly. "Now." Two thugs aproached her quietly, to Meesha's

total unawareness. I was so confused. But, she was my best friend. So,

I screamed. But,a thug pulled Meesha back by the hair and forced her to

the ground.The Colonol aproached her and smiled.

"You look surprised little girl."

"This wasn't part of the deal, Mustang!" she said struggling



to reach her sword. He tilted her head up lightly.

"All is fair in war, some learned that the hard way." he

paused. He leaned in and whispered something in her ear. I saw her eyes

go wide, catch mine, then fall to the ground. "Good. Let her go boys,

she won't run antywhere, she doesn't want to endanger her little friend

now does she?" Meesha was released and she stood, her head down, "Get

the captives to the base." The Lieutenant led me away.

"You don't want to see this." She said. I wanted to ask why. I

wanted to ask what was going on. I wanted to pinch myself and wake up

to my Father's arguing and my Liam's bragging. But as I found out a

little while later no amount of pinching couild wake me from the

nightmare. The Lieutenant led me to a car. I stood and watched my feet.

'Meesha? What have you done?' I asked myself quietly. Tears welled up

in my eyes and I forced them away. "Are you coming?" I didn't say

anything, but I climbed into the passenger side of the car. Lieutenant

started the car and took off. I turned around to see high flames

engulfing what, was formerly known as my village.



>>>>>>>>>>>>>>FAST FORWARD>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



I sat quietly in the cell. Lieutenant Hawkeye sat outside

petting a small puppy. Every once in a while she would look back to

make sure I was there.

I shivered, the freezing air sent chills down my arms and legs.

"Where's Meesha?" I asked, my words barely above a whisper.

There came no reply. A voice sounded from down the hall. It seemed to

echo in my head.

"Thanks for holding her while I was with Mustang, Riza." the guy



said, ruffling his blonde hair with his fingers.

"No problem, Zachary." He turned to me and gave me an appraising



up-and-down look. I must have done the same because he chuckled. I sent

darts at him. "She's a charmer, isn't she?" He said lightly. He had

broad shoulders and emerald colored eyes. Lieutenant Hawkeye opened the

cell door and I jumped up. My mind racing at full speed. 'If I can just

get out.' I prayed silently. But he was quicker than me. In seconds he

had a hold of my wrist. I tried to pull away, to no avail. He slowly

backed me into the wall. I tried pulling away again, ignoring the fact

he was much stronger than me. He was closer to me than I felt

comfortable with.

"Don't.....please." I whispered. His eyes widened and he took

half a step back so that he wasn't breathing in my face.

"My name is Zachary Reese." he whispered back. He postitioned

himself so that both my wrists were held in his right hand, held above

my head uncomfortably. "If I let you go, promise me you won't run

away." I stared at him. He stared back. "I don't want to hurt you, but

if you run I'm gonna have to." he said seriously. "Promise?" He wasn't

going to get a reply. "Fine." he said reaching into his pocket. He

pulled out what looked like a brown leash. With his left arm he slid it

about my neck and let go. I walked around him. I tried to back away,

and I had a feeling he would have let me. But the leash had diffrent

plans. I couldn't go more than a few steps without being suffocated by

the leash. He smiled and stepped outside the cell, pulling gently.

"Come on now, don't make me carry you." I stood still. 'He won't carry

me...will he?' Sure enough he stepped forward and swept me up without a

problem, bridal style. I pushed him away and fell out of his hands onto

the ground. He gave me a dissaproving look.

"Don't touch me." I ordered. He raised an eyebrow.

"Right...and since when do you have any choice in the matter,

missy? By the way I don't think I caught your name." He said pulling me

up by the arm. I jerked away.

"Cleo. If I follow you, and don't run, will you stop touching

me?" I asked. I figured that was the only way I could try to reason

with him.

"Probably." Was his casual reply. I thought I heard Lieutenant

Hawkeye laugh. I glared at him. He threw up his hands. "Fine, you

follow, I don't touch. But I'm gonna warn you my promises don't last

forever." He started on his way down the hall. A few men walked down

the hall and gave Zachary a smile and asked him about his new girl. He

just smiled and continued down the halls. We came upon a large door,

Zachary pulled out a key and unlocked it. The door swung open and he

stepped in. In the room was a desk and the walls were lined with book

shelves. My eyes went wide and I went to the nearest shelf and fingered

a black book. I pulled it off the shelf and read the title Basic

Alchemy. I placed it back on the shelf and fingered another book in

awe. I heard him chuckle lightly.

"I didn't think savages could read." I spun around.

"I'M NOT A SAVAGE!" I yelled angrily. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY



PEOPLE?!" I asked, advancing on him. I wasn't sure what I was gonna do

when I got to him but all I could think about was how angry he made me.

He grabbed my arm and pullled me into him. His arm wrapped around my

waist gently, but tightly all the same.

"This is gonna be quite amusing." he said. I tried pushing him

away and twisting away from his grasp. He lead me to another door in

which he opened and pushed me in, shutting the door behind him. Instead

of advancing he leaned against the door. He watched me intently as I

looked over the room. There were two large windows, out which I saw the

sun had setted and the stars were high i n the sky glimmering brightly,

and a giant canopy bed. Off to the side I saw another door, small and

metal. I gave him a questioning look. "Go see what it is. If you want."

I strode cautiosly to the door and pulled it open with the metal hatch.

It was a smaller room with a small, thin mattress on the floor and a

wooden nightstand. I turned around and opened my mouth to say

something. He was standing right behind me. "Now, I have some business

to attend to, so if you would kindly step into your new room I bid you

goodnight." I glared at him. He smiled and removed the leash around my

neck then he pushed me back gently. "Good night, little girl." I

stumbled back onto the ground and the door shut. I heard the lock fall

across it. I banged on the door.

"OPEN UP! OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!" The room was dank and dark and I



couldn't see. "PLEASE OPEN UP!" I didn't get an answer so I leaned

against the door, afraid to move around. I shivered and pulled my legs

to my chest.



/Zachary's POV/



I stood against the door, sighing softly. 'She's gonna be a handful.'

Suddenly from the inside I could hear her soft crying. I sighed again,

just soft enough she wouldn't hear me. 'This isn't the best way to

start out.'



Hey people, please review! I really need reviews if I'm gonna go on

with it. Thanks lots.

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