Clara

Clara, better known as the phantom thief Psiren, is a normal woman in the city of Aquroya by day and a thieving beauty by night who is exclusive to the 2003 anime. When she first met Edward and Alphonse, she was giving Ed a shot for food poisoning. Al thought she was a lot like their mother in a way, and felt she was a very kind person at heart. Ed retorts that Al has strange taste in women, that Clara is nothing like their mom, and that she is "nothing but a bad present in pretty wrappings".

Later, when her identity was revealed to them when Ed accidentally saw she had a transmutation circle on her chest like Psiren, she told them a story about how the hospital was to be demolished, and she was only stealing to keep the hospital's fate from becoming a reality. Because of this story, Ed helped her escape a trap the police had set for her, in hopes she could save the hospital. Ed catches Psiren and pins her down, but then realizes that he has grabbed her breast, so he jumps back in shock, allowing Psiren to escape. The Elrics had high hopes for her... until the next morning when they discovered the hospital had been destroyed anyway. This happened again twice, once as a nun working for a church about to be demolished, and again as a teacher to a school about to be demolished. While the Elric brothers are confused about her true motives, a local man points out that Aquroya is currently sinking into the water that surrounds it. On the revelation of the imminent disaster, many families fled the city, leaving only those who couldn't or wouldn't move. Tourism also suffered, until the newspaper stories about Psiren started. The locals credit Psiren with giving their town one last boost before their inevitable fall. Al wishes to believe this, but Ed merely remarks that the only thing he is sure of is that she tricked him, and he wants her to pay for that.

Ed confronts her after this, and she counters that while she may be just a thief, he also wants something that isn't his – the Philosopher's Stone. He remarks that every thief he encounters tries to say how he's just like them, before Psiren attempts to sink him in the canal. But while she is congratulating herself, Ed succeeds in turning the tables and capturing her, much to Al's dismay. Before the police put her into a van to take her away, Clara gives Ed a lead on the Philosopher's Stone maybe being in Xenotime.

While being taken to jail, Clara asks the policemen to unzip her outfit, because of the heat inside the van. This uncovers her tattooed transmutation circle, and she uses alchemy to quickly escape. Psiren/Clara does not appear in the anime after this point. However, when Ed and Al return to East City to report to Mustang about their experiences in Reole and other adventures, Mustang reveals how close a handle he is keeping on them by asking if Psiren really is as beautiful as they say under her mask.

Powers and Abilities
Clara is a skilled alchemist, thief, and acrobat. She is also an experienced seductress who uses her sex appeal and well-endowed figure to outwit her male opponents when backed into a corner. One of her most often used ploys is to offer (or ask someone) to unzip her shirt, tempting them or disconcerting them by revealing her breasts, only to reveal the transmutation circle on her chest allowing her to use alchemy more or less instantaneously. Many of her alchemic transmutations involve using a deck of playing cards, including creating a katana of cards, a narrow bridge of cards she uses to cross a canal at one point, pinning various opponents to walls or other stone surfaces, and even succeeding in restraining Alphonse in this manner during one robbery attempt.

She also seems able to adopt a variety of personas, acting as a hospital nurse, a nun, and a school teacher during the time Ed and Al are in Aquroya.