Weeks went by ever since Kari met Lust, Envy and Gluttony and the young girl was getting used to Central Command HQ. She had grown quite fond of many of the people such as Riza, Roy, Edward, Alphonse, Alex Armstrong and so on. Today Kari was hanging out with Alphonse outside while Edward and Kitearo were watching from a distance.

"So," Edward began. "You gonna tell me what that thing was that Kari did when we first met?" He asked and Kitearo glanced over to the smaller male.

"Trust me, if I knew I'd tell you... Maybe... But I don't know much... All I know is that one day when Kari was four she began to do these weird things that defied logic in every way possible. I trust my instincts to stay out of her way when she gets like that at times. But she never remembers what she did and is always either tired or hungry afterwards." Kitearo explained then saw Kari's smile and chuckled. He too had grown to like this place, yet he still feared for Kari's safety.

"Well... That's something we need to tell Colonel Mustang... But I can guess you would want us to keep quiet about that too huh?" Edward sighed as Kitearo nodded.

"That would be appreciated, yes."Kitearo replied with a chuckle. The four soon went inside for lunch happily when Edward was pulled away by Roy. The two spoke with each other in Roy's office.

"Ed, I need you to go out and investigate something for me." Roy stated and Edward showed a small frown. "There is something strange going on in East city. I don't have many details sadly. You can take Alphonse if you wish."

"What about Kari and Kite? Can they come too?" Edward asked nervously and Roy raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Well, uh, you see... Al and I are kinda their only friends within their age range... Also they trust us the most here... So it would probably be the best if the four of us stayed together..." Edward explained. Roy sighed and let it be.

"Fine. They can come if they want to." He replied then excused the fifteen year old boy. Edward raced out and went to inform Alphonse, Kitearo and Kari.

"What?" Kari asked with a tilt of her head. "East City? That sounds cool!" Kari jumped up childishly but Kitearo was not so happy. He gave a distant stare to the ground as he thought of many things. "Can we go Kite?! Please big brother?! PLEEEEEEASE?!!!' Kari begged and snapped Kitearo out of his thoughts. The seventeen year old looked at the thirteen year old then sighed.

"Well... I guess we can..." He said with a small smirk. Kari jumped for joy with Alphonse happily.

"You hear that Alphonse?! I get to go with East City with you and Edward!" Kari giggled happily and Alphonse nodded.

"Yeah. I'm happy that you get to come Kari!" The fourteen year old laughed happily. It was settled. The four packed a few things then headed to the train station. Alphonse had to hold Kari so she would not go running off and get lost but that did not mean she would not struggle.

"Come on! I wanna go and see what's over there!" Kari whined and kicked her feet. Alphonse chuckled then shook his head.

"Nope. We don't want you getting lost. Besides the train is here." Kari stopped at the word "train" and looked up at the metal suit with wide eyes. The four got on the train and Edward had to make a leash with his alchemy to keep Kari near by because she wanted to run around. Kitearo chuckled at how the two brothers were treating Kari.

The four soon arrived in East City. Kari looked around while riding on Alphonse's back with a smile. Edward and Kitearo chuckled at how childish the two were acting then they walked onward into the city and towards East City Command. Edward spoke to the person running the place and then walked out of the office with a sigh.

The group then went out into the city to investigate what Colonel Mustang was talking about. They looked at the buildings and the plants even the people and animals. Nothing seemed to be wrong so the group went back to the building they were staying in while they were in East City.

That night the city streets began to glow a bright array of colors. The whole city slept, except for Kari who slowly sat up and exited the room with a controlled stance and expression. Kari walked with a distant gaze to the city's center then stopped. She looked around with a small adorable coo then heard a familiar voice call out.

"Hello. It's good to see you again Kari." It was Lust. Kari just stared at the older woman. "Come over here. I have something for you." Kari blinked then took a step towards Lust, the red light from the ground covering her body as she slowly approached the woman. Lust held out her arms and got onto her knees as if to give Kari a motherly hug. Kari stopped before the two could make contact.

"What... Thing?" Kari asked and Lust sighed then stood up and rummaged through cleavage and pulled out a bottle with a red liquid inside it. That was when the geez glowing stopped. Kari blinked and snapped out of her trance-like state and took a step back in shock upon seeing Lust. "L-lust? What's going on? I thought I was in my room. Why am I here?" Kari looked desperate for answers as she gulped. Soon Kari noticed the small bottle with the red liquid and her eyes widened. "What's that?" Kari asked innocently and straightened her posture so that she looked relaxed.

"It's a philosopher's stone. Well, an incomplete one." Kari widened her eyes in shock. She had heard the stories from Edward and Alphonse about a stone that can defy the law of equivalent exchange and that they were looking for one so they could get their bodies back. Lust gave a small smirk upon seeing Kari's eyes grow sad. "It's a gift Kari. Accept it."

"What's the catch?" Kari asked, something about Lust made Kari feel uneasy. She got the same feeling with Gluttony and Envy. Lust blinked and chuckled.

"Join us. We'll give the stone to the Elric brothers. All you need to do is do what we say and--"

"KARI! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" A voice called and Lust was kicked in the side and sent flying as she put the bottle that held the philosophers stone back in her cleavage. Kari gasped and went wide eyed in shock. It was Edward, still in his pajamas.

"Kari! Thank goodness you're alright!" Alphonse's voice echoed as he trotted up. Kari just stared in the distance with a shocked expression. "Kari, what did she do?" Alphonse asked and Kari gulped and shook her head.

"Nothing. Where's Kite?" Kari asked and Edward walked up with a grumble.

"Damn... She got away..." He muttered in anger.

"He's still asleep. We should get back to the room before he wakes up or he'll kill us." Alphonse suggested and everyone shivered then raced back.

The next morning Kitearo woke up to see that everyone was still asleep. He grumbled then began to transform then he barked until everyone was awake, except for Alphonse who can't sleep.

"Come on. The sooner we figure out this mystery the sooner we leave!" Kitearo huffed as he went back into his human form. Kari and Edward grumbled in unison then got changed, Kari changed in the bathroom.

Hours later the group was walking around the streets, investigating strange etchings that were on some of them that were not there before. The group decided to take a break for a moment since they were starting to feel a little tired, so they went and sat down and eat lunch.

"This is amazing Kitearo!" Edward called out happily and Kari giggled while Alphonse wrote down the next meal he wanted to try when he had his body back, Kitearo's sautéed swiss-chard, onions and mushrooms.

As the group talked and relaxed for a while a man walked up with a gasp. He had black hair and dazzling light blue eyes and wore a dark brown coat with a white shirt underneath, black jeans and dark gray shoes.

"K-Kitearo Argentum? Is that you?" Kitearo jolted and looked up at the man and gasped in fear then widened his eyes.

"Wh-why are you here, Nathan?"

"Is that anyway to call your own father?" Kitearo growled and stood up.

"Guys... We're leaving." Kitearo picked up Kari and began to walk away but he heard a click next to Kari's head. Nathan had pointed a pistol at the girl's head.

"Now, now son. We haven't seen each other in years. Why not catch up with your old man? If you do I'll spare the girl." Edward growled and clapped his hands then put them on the ground and sent Nathan flying back.

"Kitearo, what's going on?" Edward asked as he raced up to be to the older teen's right.

"That's my dad... When I was four he... Made me into a chimera and that same day mom and I left him." Kitearo growled. "Not only that but he has done similar things to kids that were on the street before then and all of those ones either died or were defective. He's sick and I hate being his son!" Nathan laughed as he stood up while Kitearo put Kari down so she could stay with the Elric brothers.

"Well sucks to be you then. Heh, you know... Since you have my blood---"

"Shut up!" Kitearo clapped his hands together and put them on the ground like Edward did but instead of a pillar there were statues of wolves that each had a transmutation circle somewhere on its body. The wolves began to charge at Nathan and attack him. "I do not see you as my father, Nathan! I see you as a sick rat just waiting to die! Now leave me alone!" Kitearo barked angrily and the wolves began to scare the man away quickly.

"I'll be back you little brat! You may not need me but I sure as hell need you! For you have the key to success I desire!" Nathan whispered to himself as he ran away.

Kari stared in shock as well the Elric brothers. Kitearo turned to them and sighed.

"Guess I have some explaining to do, huh?"

"Oh yeah." Kari huffed with a smirk and Kitearo sighed and then everyone sat on the ground and began to explain.

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In a regular sized two story house in East city before Kitearo turned four his Father, Nathan, was trying his best to become a state alchemists since a good friend of his was one. He tried day and night to get better but something seemed off with his research so he decided to take in some orphans from the street and transmute them into human chimera hybrids. All of his attempts failed and few actually lived. Most ended up in a pile of internal organs and blood while others suffocated to death because of the sudden change.

"Daddy? I heard screaming, what's going on?" A little voice called from the doorway, it was Kitearo. Nathan turned around to see his son and remembered what his friend used to make chimeras. His own wife. Did that have something to do with it, maybe not, but it did not seem like a bad idea. "Daddy why are you doing this to them?" The young boy asked as he saw a small bloody arm on the ground, the rest hidden by his father.

"You'll find out my boy... Very soon..." Nathan then grabbed Kitearo by his dark brown hair and put him in the transmutation circle with a wolf pup and then began to combine the two.

Kitearo was knocked out as well as the wolf pup. When both woke up they saw a big black arched door way in front of them. Soon the pup turned into ashes with a yelp and surrounded Kitearo as the transmutation went on. The gate opened and forced Kitearo to enter as the boy screamed.

"Hush child..." A voice called. Kitearo whined as he went through the gate and then came out while wheezing and panting and holding his head up from a massive headache. He felt different, as if he gained something that could be useful. "Wake up..." The same voice called again and Kitearo's eyes jolted open. He looked around as the smell of blood that he did not smell before filled his nose.

"Are you alright, Kitearo?" A voice asked. It was Nathan. Kitearo looked up and gulped.

"What... What did you do to me?" The boy asked in anger and confusion. "I feel weird. What's going--- AAAHHH!!!" Kitearo began to transform unwillingly as he went from boy to half wolf to full wolf instantly. Nathan widened his eyes and smirked.

"You are a success! Oh Kitearo, I can't believe this! Now I must do some tests so that I can see what to do next ti-"

"Nathan! What is going in down here? Where's K--!" Hanna walked to the front door of the eerie room that Nathan used to practice alchemy. When she saw what was going on she gasped.

"Mommy!" Kitearo whined and rushed to her then went back to his human form and hugged his mother's legs. "Daddy did something! Daddy did something!" Kitearo cried over and over. Hanna held her son and rubbed his now silver hair. The young boy whimpered sadly and nuzzled his face into his mother to feel comforted and safe.

"This is too much Nathan. I can't believe you did this to your own son! You should not have listened to that Shou Tucker person!" Hanna yelled then picked up the young boy and carried him to his room, told him to pack his things quickly then went to pack her things, the whole time Nathan tried to get Hanna to stop but she did not listen.

The mother and son then fled to Central after Hanna filed a divorce and took full custody of her son then she went to a desert after a month to find a home. That is how she met Jay, her next husband to be. All seemed right with the world and when Kari arrived everything just got better. Kitearo figured out how to transform at will from boy to half wolf, boy to full wolf and half wolf to full wolf and back to boy. He also learned more about alchemy in secret with his mother, who was also an alchemist. He vowed to make sure his father was stopped when he was older and more experienced, but he also wanted revenge for what Nathan had done to him.

"Mom..." Kitearo whispered one night years later at the age of eleven. "I... I'll get stronger so if Nathan comes back I can protect you and Kari alongside Jay. I don't want him to get ahold of you or Kari... I don't know what he'd do if he got you two..." Kitearo frowned as he was tucked in.

"It's okay Kite. I'm sure you'll protect us. After all, you have grown so much and I'm so proud of you." Hanna smiled happily and Kitearo yawned and slowly fell asleep.

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Kari, Edward, and Alphonse stared in shock while one of the wolves came up and nudged Kitearo then barked. Kitearo rubbed its head and looked at the three.

"So, that's how you became a chimera." Alphonse whispered.

"And how you can use alchemy without a transmutation circle." Edward said in a low tone and Kitearo nodded as the wolf statue crumbled. Kari frowned and hugged Kitearo.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Kari sniffled and Kitearo sighed as he held Kari close.

"It's okay. Come on, let's finish investigating those streets." Kitearo let Kari go and stood up then everyone went back to investigating.