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The pain of truth is much better than the bliss of an illusion.

-Anonymous

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     Ash had been up hours before the sun rose. Sometimes, it sucked to get no sleep. Whatever it was, there were nights she just could not sleep. Some nights, she could go past dawn, other times, she only got an hour of much needed rest. It all depended on her body, nothing of free will.

     The girl was already dressed and sitting in the living room. She had a deck of cards in her hands, but instead of keeping up with her habit of shuffling, she laid out many cards and began playing a game. She had made it up herself, having time on her hands when she could not sleep. It kept her mind busy.

     Brown eyes never looked up, "You're welcome to come sit with me, Alphonse. I don't bite."

     Said armor sheepishly approached the table, "How did you...?"

     "I liked to keep my senses open. You were pretty quiet, but I still caught a little bit of creaking." A King of Spades was laid in an empty spot, "It's unusual. From the way your armor barely makes a sound to how your voice echoes from within, as if there's no body..." Her eyes looked up to the quiet armor, "It's alright. I won't pry. It's not my business."

     He sighed, "Thank you."

     The girl continued to lay down cards. Alphonse watched as she stacked the cards in numerical order. There was an Ace of Clubs and an Ace of Diamonds separated from the group. Seven cards were laid out following the red black, or black red pattern. The stack she held would have the top card flipped. If she did not use it, she would place another from the deck on top of it.

     "What are you doing," the younger Elric asked.

     "It's a game I made up. I call it Solitaire." A Two of Hearts was placed onto a Three of Spades, "The point is to single out the aces and get all of the cards to them in numerical order from two to the king. I struggle with sleeping through the night, so I came up with this as a distraction."

     "Why do you play with cards?"

     "It's a quiet way of keeping my attention away from my own thoughts. I think a lot and get too fidgety. Cards are quiet. To keep me distracted, I've made of new ways to shuffle and made it a goal to learn as much magic as I can."

     The boy gasped in awe, "Can you show me a trick?"

     The girl shrugged, "We have time to kill, so I don't see why not."

     Mr. Hughes was the first to awake and find Alphones sitting on the couch with Ash asleep against him. Before he had a chance to pull out his pistol, the brother hurriedly explained that they had been up for a while and she had fallen asleep again while explaining how one of her card tricks worked.

     When Edward saw what happened he laughed and teased his younger brother about getting a girl. Only to squeal and wake said girl up when Hughes went for his pistol. This ended up with both boys kneeling in front of Ash as she ranted about being woken again.

     After a hearty breakfast and a farewell to the family, the new trio of teenagers began their walk through the city, keeping a look out for Isaac the Freezer. All the while, a deck of cards was continuously shuffled.

     Edward finally turned on her, "WILL YOU STOP THAT?!"

     Ash raised a brow, "Stop what?"

     "All that noise you make with your cards is driving me crazy!"

     "Look." She held up a Nine of Hearts, "You see this?" She shook it and a white card with a transmutation circle took its place, "Outside of playing cards, this is how I fight. I have a whole deck of these lovelies waiting to be turned into steel, iron, you name it." She placed it on the top of her deck and snapped her finger, "Playing cards keep me sane." The Nine of Hearts was back, "But the cards I've made keep me alive." She flipped it to the back to show the white card again.

     The blonde took it from her to get the nine from before, but only found the one card she had shown him, "How did you...?"

     "I got the title of Illusion for many reasons, Edward Elric." The brunette pulled out the nine from her coat pocket, "Magic is my forte and requires the art of deception. One of the illusions I've created," she shook her hand, showing off the white card, "is all in what you choose to see in this fourteen year old girl, who needs glasses to see. Now if you look at the card your holding."

     Edward squawked when he saw he was no longer holding that girl's weapon of choice, but instead, the nine of hearts again. He looked at her as she gave him an innocent smile. One thing was for sure, he needed to stop underestimating her. But that did not stop the fact she was being a pain in the ass.

     Having no good comeback, the older of the brothers scoffed, "Whatever."

     "That's an amazing card trick, Ash," Alphonse complemented.

     "Maybe," the girl began walking, "but I get the feeling we're about to dig ourselves into something not so great."

     Noon went by without much excitement, but once evening was upon them, chaos rose again. When they rounded the corner to the next street, everything was in total discord. There was one man, laid against the wall, who was surrounded by a few comrades. There was steam rising from the body. It was safe to assume the officer was dead.

     "Get a medic! Hurry!"

     "Report to headquarters! Five men dead!"

     Ash pushed up her glasses, "It looks like another on bites the dust."

     "How awful," the younger Elric mourned.

     "Looks like a steam explosion," Edward commented. "Raise the temperature of water fast enough, it expands with the force of a bomb blast."

     "The harsh reality is that the human body is 70% water. So there's that factor working against us if we're forced into a fight..." The two brothers looked as she pulled out her tenth sucker that day, "Roy gave me a map of Isaac's sightings. I feel like there's a pattern to all of this, but what?"

     "A pattern?"

     "That's what I believe. There's something suspicious about his movements that just bothers me." The girl sighed, "I'll show you what I mean later. This is a fresh kill. Our murderer may still be nearby."

     "Right. Let's get a move on before someone else get's hurt."

     "Couldn't have said it better myself, Fullmetal."

     The boy smirked at her, "You know, you're allowed to call me Ed."

     "But Fullmetal has such a nice ring too it," Ash gave him a sly smile, "No wonder everyone think's it's Alphonse instead of you."

     Alphonse laughed as his brother pouted, "You can call me, Al if you want to, Ash."

     "If you boys insist."

     There was an explosion from behind them. A large dust cloud filled the alley where it came from. There were large things that flew out. The young lady could barely make out the face of Major Armstrong on the flying debris.

     The three ran into the alley with Alphonse yelling, "Major!"

     The wanted criminal threw his canteen. Thankfully the armor pulled the State Alchemists back from the oncoming steam. The girl could feel the heat of it brush against her legs. She spit out her sucker stick and grabbed a few of her cards.

     "Water from his canteen, huh?" Ed knocked on the armor, letting the hollowness ring in the other's ears, "Thanks for the quick save, Al."

     "Let's go! He's getting away," the brother in question ordered.

     "Come then!" Armstrong sent a nod to the female of the group, "After me Elric Brothers."

     There was a collective nod, "Right."

     The only problem was that after chasing him, he vanished from their grasps again. Ash angrily bit down on another stick from a sucker. After losing McDougal a second time, she was mad. She would not let it happen again. But there was still something about the map that bothered her.

     She showed the map to the brothers, "Please tell me you see what I see!"

     "What do you want us to see," Alphonse asked.

     "I know there's something weird with his sightings, but I don't know what!" She turned it back to herself, "I already lost the Freezer twice. I don't want to lose him again. All the same, I feel like finding out why these sighting are strange to me may fill us in on where to find him next."

     "I get the feeling he wasn't done with his business when the Major greeted him." Edward looked in another direction, "We should go investigate. I want to know why he was there in the first place."

     "Done deal then," Ash threw the stick away, not bothering to replace it again, "let's get going."

     They made it back to the alley. As they approached, the sound of footstep grew louder. Edward hid near the entrance, Alphonse blocked the exit and Ash took to the roof as quickly as she could.

     Sure enough, Isaac was foolish enough to be as loud as he liked. Brown eyes watched as he moved rubble out the way, revealing a transmutation circle. The gears in her head started to turn. Thankfully, Edward had the decency to talk to their target. By some grace, there was enough light for her to make out the details of the circle. And suddenly...

     She still had the map on her, and as usual, a pen. She traced out the sightings and followed them through the circle and through the designs. She sat back on her hunches in disbelief. He had made a transmutation circle of Central with Central Command at its center!

     At this point, a red light shot up from the alley, followed by more spots around the city. There was no way he should have been able to do a transmutation of this scale! Either there were more people working with him or...

     He found a way to bypass equivalent exchange.

     The temperature in the air began to drop and suddenly it all made sense. He was going to freeze central command over!

     Isaac was forced to dance as metal cards fell all around him. He looked up just in time to block an incoming strike from a little girl. She bounced back, but stood strong, glaring at him.

     "I knew your sightings has a pattern to them!" More cards were in her hands, "You made a large scale transmutation circle and plan to freeze Central Command over!"

     The Freezer smirked, "Clever kid. And who might you be?"

     "Ash Fox, the Illusion Alchemist."

     "Edward Elric and Ash Fox, you've sworn you lives to the state as dogs of the military. But do you really know the ones you serve or what their plans are?"

     "Who cares," Fullmetal shot back. "It's not my problem."

     "Don't be a fool! He'll lead us all to ruin! I'm only doing what needs to be done!"

     "As dogs of the military, we're only doing what we've been ordered to do!" The girl's glare hardened, "Some of us joined the military for selfish reasons."

     Gold eyes looked at her in shock. Did she know about what happened? Had the Cornel blabbed off too much to the girl? Or was she talking about herself?

     Before he could think more about it, Alphonse had jumped over the forming ice wall. The two not in the fight had to dodge as the criminal was thrown out of the alley and into a fence bordering a water source. The two boys celebrated.

     "Alright! Nice work, Al," the older brother complemented.

     "But we still have to stop his alchemy," the younger reminded him.

     "And this time he's not getting away," the brunette stated.

     Ash followed closely, the three of them surrounding the downed target. What the Fullmetal Alchemist said next was the most shocking thing she had ever heard.

     "So where is it? You have a Philosopher Stone; don't you," Edward asked.

     A Philosopher Stone? The stone of legend? The cure all? The only thing that could surpass the laws of equivalent exchange? And by the reaction McDougal gave, she knew he had one. No one was caught in league with the Freezer and it was the only other explanation to his city wide circle!

     "No way," the brunette breathed out.

     "What are you talking about," the ex-State Alchemist humorously played dumb with a smirk

     "I won't ask again," the blonde started to approach him, "where is it?!"

     The man was beginning to grin, "And what are you going to do, boy? You're out of your league!"

     The water shot up behind the criminal. It froze and began to rise, growing even taller that the apartments and other buildings. The worse part was, it was beginning to travel! Alphonse yelled as the three of them made a run for it.

     Major Armstrong was read to take it on, "Stand back and prepare for a display of Armstrong Alchemy!"

     "He's all yours, Major," Edward shouted.

     They ran past him and turned to watch, "Witness the alchemic art, passed down the Armstrong line for generations!"

     With his mighty punch, it froze the moving water. Only for it to shoot out in a different direction, shocking everyone.

     "That's unexpected," the major spoke, astounded.

     "What the heck are you doing?! You're making it worse," Fullmetal yelled.

     "I was mearly-"

     The ground started to shake, throwing everyone off balance.

Ash was holding onto her glasses, "The ice walls are merging! We have to stop him before he freezes Central Command over!"

     "Right!" Edward turned to Armstrong, "Major, Al and I will try to slow him down. Can you handle the transmutation circles?"

     "Consider them, erased," the major responded.

     The brunette grabbed Edward's shoulder, "Don't forget about me! We're working together, remember?"

     "Right," The blonde alchemist began running, "we're getting ahead of that thing. You stick with Alphonse."

     "Roger that, Fullmetal!"

     With a few shortcut tips from Ash, the two were able to make it ahead very quickly, though it seemed, Edward still made it to Isaac first. Alphonse quickly drew a circle, launching the both of them to the top of the ice wall.

     McDougal touched his end of the ice and tried to break it down so that it would overlap the trio. Edward tried to counter doing the same.

     "Two can play that game," the older boy shouted.

     Instead, a group of cards impaled The Freezer's ice and exploded.

     Ash smirked, "Gotta be faster, Fullmetal!"  

     While the criminal and the ice were in the air, Ash had transmuted her cards into iron and steel. She threw them at him and watched as many nicks appeared on his skin. He used a chunk of ice. It exploded, but rained down at hot water. It was not the biggest bother to the girl, considering her coat was pretty thick. Sure, it burned when it touched her skin too, but it did not affect her terribly, unlike Fullmetal who was acting as if he were being burned alive.

     Isaac was already running back on his ice pillars. The brunette had to bend backwards to get out of his way, but Edward was still distracted. Thankfully, Alphonse came to his rescue.

     "Brother," Al shouted, pulling his brother out of the way.

     "Too slow," the older man shouted.

     He got his hand to Alphonse's face and caused an explosion, sending the helmet flying. Before the brunette could react, the Freezer grabbed her and held her as a hostage. The only reason she did not struggle was because he could decide to boil or ice her over at any moment.

     "Ash," Edward shouted.

     "I'm okay...for now," the girl answered. "Alphonse! Are you okay?"

     "You're being held hostage and you're worried about my brother," he yelled incredulously.

     Said armor stood, "I'm alright."

     But he was without his head. The inside of his armor was empty, just as she had figured. But his blood seal was in plain sight... A poor soul sealed to a suit of armor. Just what had the Elrics done?

     Her captor was stiff. There was no way Alphonse should be empty, but he was. He sounded so young. He was so innocent.

     She was totally quiet while McDougal had to talk it out, "There's no one in there." Isaac paused, "It's empty...! But that... that could only be true if his soul was bonded to the armor... So you lost your arm...and your brother...he lost his entire body..." The man laughed, "I see...it all makes sense... You fools committed the ultimate taboo! You attempted human transmutation, didn't you?! Alchemy's one and only unforgivable sin!"

     She watched those gold eyes start our large and grow small. They really had done it then. Ash growled, but flinched when he dug his nails into her skin, a reminder of their predicament.

     "So Illusion Alchemist, are you going to stay friends with these fools," the Freezer asked.

     "You know..." Brown eyes glowed with mischief as she winked at her partners, "There's a reason they call me Illusion."

     She dropped her weight and threw her right leg up, effectively kicking him the face and leaving him with a bloody nose. She gave him no time to recover. Once he had let her go, she kicked his legs out from under him.

     Edward came up beside her and used his hands like a hammer and slammed the enemy's head against the ice wall. Said man touched the ice and sent up a wall of spikes, the two humans fell back while Alphonse broke through and kicked said man off of his wall. The wall stopped moving as the creator stumbled down the hill. The three of them slid down the wall and met him at the bottom. Blood was still pouring from his nose, there was some dripping out the corner of his mouth and steams coming from the cuts the cards had inflicted.

     The blonde walked forward, "Give it up! There's no water for you to use here."

     "You've forgotten something." The older man grinned, "I've all the water I need...seventy percent of my body!"

     Before he could react, Ash pushed Ed out of the way. The blood ice stabbed her shoulder, but she threw more steel cards, some hitting and sticking out of his arms while others cut him even more.

     "Ash!" Alphonse broke the ice.

     "You bastard," Edward yelled.

     He tried attacking, but ended up in the same predicament as the female and Alphonse had to repeat the process. McDougal laughed hysterically as ice began to flow over Central. The younger Elric was kneeling in front of his brother, while the brunette pulled the ice out of her own shoulder. She immediately put pressure on it.

     "Why can't you understand?! I'm trying to save this country," the Freezer shouted.

     He watched his chaos for a moment and began laughing again. He staggered away from the trio of teenagers.

     "Well," she muttered to herself, "Corbin's going to kill me if he finds out." She then spoke up to the brothers, "You okay over there, Ed?"

     "Come on!" He threw his own blood ice to the side, "I'm not done... Not even close..."

     They all nodded together and followed as fast as they could. Isaac had hit them in a good spot. It was painful and if it were not for their coats, they might as well be bleeding out where they stood.

     What shocked them all was when they came to the alley, the Fuhrer stood over the body. Thankfully, it was covered by a tarp, but Ash was not focused on that. The moment they had walked in on the scene, the scent of blood had hit her hard.

     She could not hear anything around her. She was focused on the blood, the scent of it. Her ears were ringing with the sound of a child, screaming and crying. The child was covered in blood. The debris around the child was covered in blood. Everything had that godforsaken metallic smell...

     Ash did not even have the chance to realize it, but she fainted. And thankfully, the Elrics were there to catch her. 

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A/N: Hello Lovelies! Chapter 2 and the end of Issac the Freezer. Whoo!

      I have to admit, poor guy really did have the right intent, but he went mad and his motivation got distorted. At least, that's how I see it for this guy. 

     Anyway, I just feel like explaining this really quick. I realize you can't turn playing cards into anything, but here's how it works for Ash. Ash is by no mean dumb, I kinda see her as Sherlock, with keen observation skills, but manages to fall short a few steps. 

     When it comes to her cards, she thinks ahead. As we know, alchemy is destruction, reconstruction and creation. For Ash, she knows she could most likely turn the cards to wood. (from the hypothetical standpoint) She makes the cards themselves. When she does this, she organizes them by what element she wants. She either attaches a piece of the element she wants to turn it into or adds the dust of the element she wants.

     As for the explosion, that was an idea given to me by @pandafangirl2. Ash reminded her of a hero named Gambit. This guy has playing cards too. He charges them with kinetic energy and throws them at the target before they explode.

So yeah, there's that explination. See you guys next chapter!

Tootles~

-Muse