Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hello All! I have another story! And I'm going to update this one a lot! And I do not own the Fullmetal Alchemist world where this story is based. That belongs to Hiromu Arakawa!

Note to All: Though the story is based in the Fullmetal Alchemist world and although there is a great deal of talk of the certain aspects of it, there is little or no mention of the characters that we all know and love. This is based all around my Original Characters. So don't give me a hard time about it. And I warn you now, since there are parts of Central unexplored by the manga or anime, I will be naming places you've probably haven't heard to be in Central or otherwise.

Now with that said...On to the story!

CHAPTER ONE: The Past Always Catches Up with You

There were times when he wished he could change the past. There were times when he got on his knees and screamed in agony. There were times when he collapsed on the ground and cried until no more tears would come.

But mostly he just gazed blankly upon the tombstones.

The sun shown brightly on that cold autumn morning on October 16th, 1926. Kane stared with his empty eyes on the three graves. Fate had now taken away all that was dear to him. He stood at the graves in Central’s main cemetery where the three most important people of his life were buried. He moved his head to the left, casting a look upon the farthest stone. It read ‘Jake Galen. Born in 1900. Died in 1916. Age 16. A Wonderful Friend and Son’. Below it had been hand chiseled, ‘We’ll miss you buddy’. Kane could see him now. His dark brown hair, his tan skin and his hopeful green eyes attached to a face that spoke of high hopes.

He looked at the one in the center. ‘Nyemah Boriall. Born in 1900. Died in 1926. Age 26. Wife and Mother. Taken too soon. I miss you already’. Then there was a smaller tombstone, one that hadn’t been made by an artisan. It was hand chiseled in the same writing as on Jake’s tombstone. ‘To my unborn daughter. We never even got to give you a name’. His wife…her radiant red hair shimmering in the sun, her pale skin almost glowing and her orange eyes staring at him with mischievous intent. He wondered what their daughter would have looked like.

These people were now lying six feet under in graves that had been carved out all too soon. Tears rolled down Kane’s face as he turned and walked away from the graveyards and out onto the empty streets of Central. No one was up yet. It was a Saturday. No one would be up at seven. Unless you were the military.

He wrapped his jacket around himself tightly because for some reason, despite his abnormally high body temperature, he just couldn’t get warm. It was as if the cold breath of Death, who laughed silently over his shoulder, was leeching it away from him. A cold wind blew through, stirring up the fallen leaves and bringing more to the ground. All around him was death. He couldn’t escape it. He had failed to protect everyone he loved.

“Get out of here!”

“Jake if you stay you’ll die!”

“And if I don’t stay we’ll all die now run!”

The words from that fateful day in 1916 ran through his head. It had been a couple months after he had met his wife-to-be that her father’s men had come and gunned down Jake. They had been after Nyemah because she had escaped from her father who happened to be a filthy rich company owner and was planning to marry her off to some b*****d who didn’t deserve her. He could still remember his last words with him.

“Jake! Jake buddy…hold on! Please! Don’t close your eyes!”

“Is she…okay?”

“She’s fine but we need to get you to a hospital!”

“I won’t make it and you know it…see you in hell Kane.”

“You won’t go to hell. Not after this...you’ll go to heaven.”

“What heaven…?”

He remembered handing his body over to his mother who had broken down right there in front of him. They had had to leave for they were being followed. She had buried her son out there by herself.

Then there was Nyemah only a few months ago. They had been living up in the North, she was five months pregnant and things were going well. Until they found them that early summer night. Her father had not given up on his search. He had found them during the night and had attacked. Her father was determined to get her back. He had sent his men to find and kill Kane so she would have no temptation to run from her arranged marriage anymore.

But they shot her instead. It had been a stray bullet that had whizzed by his body and shot her in between the eyes. He had massacred them for that but it was too late. The death had been instant. No chance for pain or goodbyes. They had killed two people that day. Not only his wife but his child as well. He had taken the body and burned it then brought it down and buried it in the graveyard right next to Jake. His heart was hardened and the world seemed icily cold. Just like the realm of which he belonged to. The snow and ice, the Polar Bear. He was a polar bear chimera. So perfect had he been that he could actually transform into a much more perfect version of the polar bear with enhanced strength, speed, eyesight and hearing. Not to mention he was quite a bit bigger. His looks proved this. His hair was as white as snow and his eyes were the color of ice. They used to sparkle when he smiled.

But now all was dim.

Kane walked back down the familiar back alleys and streets until he came to the broken down shack that had once been his home here in the ghetto of Central. It used to stand upright and, though abandoned, had been in good shape. But now half the roof was missing, the wood was rotting badly and it leaned up against the building next to it. Looked like no one had lived in it in years. Not since he had left ten years ago.

“It is times like these I wish I had never gotten free from that lab. Then Jake and Nyemah would still be alive.” He said to the clear blue sky. Then he chuckled half-heartedly. He could imagine what both of them would say.

“Kane, you’re stupider than I thought...” That would be Jake and all of his attitude. And then there was Nyemah.

“Kane you dope! If you weren’t there, life wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun!” She was always looking on the brighter side.

Kane turned from that painful place and left down the road that led to the little housing place that had been Nyemah’s first hideout until she had come upon Jake and Kane. But he stopped. He couldn’t go there either. Everything was either Jake or Nyemah. While Jake’s memories rested in the ghetto and up on the hill at the mansion he had always wanted, Nyemah’s rested everywhere. Every step he took he could remember something that had happened. Whether it was gum in his hair that she had stuck there or milk coming out her nose from a joke he had told. Even the smallest bit of conversation. And though he had never truly gotten over Jake’s death, no matter how hard he had tried, he had at least accepted that things couldn’t change. This was too fresh, too sudden.

Kane sat down on the bench that rested near the main park and put his head in his hands.

“Losing people is the most difficult yet most common fact of life.” Kane jerked his head up to find a man standing next to him. Kane hadn’t even heard or smelled him. One moment he was just…there. He looked up at the man’s face, taking in what he saw. He was about as tall as he was but just about three inches shorter, making him 6’3. His hair was a chestnut brown that hung behind him in a low ponytail and his eyes were a blue that made you want to stare at them forever. That deep electric blue. On his body he wore tan pants over shadowed by a knee length brown coat with a hat to match. He wore shoes that looked like they had come from a dress party. The shiny black look made them noticeable.

“Who are you?” Kane said coldly. He had never like people who butted into other’s problems without permission.

“Me? I’m what is known as a blast from the past.”