Philosopher's Stone
an excerpt

The Philosopher’s Stone
by Sunsinger

When dogs dream, when cats write stories, that is the day this tale will be revealed to the world. I hide this manuscript in this place in the hope that by the time it is reveled, it can hurt no one.

Many people say they know the truth of what happened all those years ago, the textbooks are all wrong. The truth was too… huge to be contained in a simple story or book. What my great-great-grandparents did to save this country, to save a race of people, and to end the race for the philosopher’s stone.

My name is Elicia Trisha. You already know my last name, or maybe by now, it’s nothing more than a legend. It doesn’t matter, I just needed to write down the truth, the way it came from their mouths. Also, this story isn’t about me but rather about my great-great-grandparents and uncle and others.

This story starts in another world, a place called Earth. It is a world twin to Ametris but their world focuses on science not alchemy. In this world, it is the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty one. It has been ten years since Edward first traveled there, eight years since he has returned to our world and gone back to Earth with Alphonse.

Eight years as they reckon time at least.

Earth

Near New York City

1931

The train jerked as it moved sluggishly down the track. Edward Elric looked at his younger brother, Al. Al was sleeping, the heat causing sweat to stain his dulled red coat. The hair which was more golden than Ed’s own stuck to his face. Sighing, Edward turned towards the window as the countryside passed by. Behind him a child cried, and the rustle of cloth from the group of women on their way to shop.

The creaking wheel of the coffee and news trolley made Al shift. Ed sat up and pulled his brother’s braid forward gently. The light touch soothed Al back to sleep. Reading into a pocket, Ed pulled out two coins. Both shone with a silver hue but they were very different. One showed a crowned snake with wings while on the obverse is a strange letter with a halo. Around the letter, along the side of the coin, were seven stars. The other was a simple silver dollar with the word In God We Trust scrolled across the top. Frowning, he put both back in and rummaged until he found three nickels. Pulling them out, he waved to attract the attention of the old man pushing the trolley. Soon the wheels squeaked to a stop near him.

“Well?”

Edward looked up at the old man. “A paper, three apples, and two Dr. Pepper’s.”

Glass clinked as the man pulled two dark bottles from covered pail of cold water from the trolley. Three small firm red apples and a rolled up New York Times followed. Ed handed him the nickels and waves away the changed. Ed unrolled the paper, and started to read the paper. As he turned the pages, a picture caught his eye. A young man was seated at a table, and on the table were pieces of marble that had been inscribed with a set of interlocking circles and shapes. As he stared at it, the image took on new meanings. /A transmutation circle. But it’s…wrong, it’s missing something. A component. /

Ed looked up at the clock on the wall of the coach and nodded. In less than twenty minutes they would be chugging their tired selves into town. Picking up the other bottle, Ed pressed it against Al’s sweaty neck.

“YAH!!!” Al jumped and slid off the seat. “Ed!”

“Calm down, little bro. We’re almost there. Just wanted to wake ya up. Got some apples and a soda for you.”

“Thanks. So why are we going to New York again?

Ed slid down in his seat and stared out the window before biting into an apple. “Look at this article. I’m sure this guy is a survivor from the Thule Society. The circle is similar to the one they had before. Except it’s missing a few things.”

Al stared at the photograph, and pulled out a pencil and sketched the circle out. Staring at it, he frowned. “Brother, are you sure it was this circle that was sketched on the ceiling?”

“Yeah, I should be. I was staring at it. Why?”

“Was there another on the floor?”

“Yeah. Hand that over, there were two circles. One on the ceiling, one etched into the floor, with Envy in snake form between them. But this one, the one in the picture, it’s wrong. It’s missing something.” Ed drew the two circles quickly sketching in all the aspects of the array he remembered. Graceful arcs and curves came quickly under his hand.

Al watched in fascination, the same as he always felt when he saw his brother drawing arrays. Edward’s hands moved with a special grace, as if he knew where everything was supposed to go. Al jerked up as Ed stopped suddenly.

“You’re right, the Thule Society’s arrays were wrong too. Incomplete. They missed… this part!” Ed pointed to an area on left side of the diagram. “Here... it’s where I would put the time factor. After all this entire array is for traveling, right? Then we need a time fact if we expect to go anywhere, after all we need to compensate for the movement of the planet and such.”

Al nodded, “True, but if this doesn’t have a time factor, then how can it exist? The array needs a beginning and an end otherwise it would suck power continuously from the alchemist.”

Ed frowned. “But it wasn’t… They were planning an all for one shot. They had made smaller arrays and used Father’s blood to power them.”

Al shuddered. “Then when the blood was gone, the array powered down, right? Because there is only finite life in blood.” Al cocked his head to the side, “But, if that’s so Brother, why did they establish a permanent gate when they had [Envy] kill Father?”

“I don’t know.” Ed grinned and shook his head before standing. “Then again we’ll figure it out. We always do!”

“True.” Al jumped a bit as the train whistle screamed. Standing up, he dragged down the two packs from the overhead bin, he smiled as he realized, not for the first time, that he was actually a couple inches taller than his brother, despite Ed’s growth spurt. Smiling, he handed both packs to his brother and wondered how this habit had come about. Was it because Ed always carried their packs on his left arm and it didn’t tire because it was metal or was it just because he was ‘Big Brother’? Either way, Al enjoyed the time he spent traveling with his big brother, even if his big brother was smaller than he.

Ed sighed as they cab stopped at the street corner. Jumping out, he winced as his false foot thudded on the ground. Holding out a hand, he took the bags from Al and headed towards the door. Opening, he stared at room. Simple, it almost reminded him of home. The front room was wood, polished and light, with a mix of light and dark woods. In the far corner was a small bar where a young woman sat reading. Her hair was a light chestnut, while her skin was indicatative of her having a person of color in her background a couple of generations ago. She looked up, dark eyes taking in his outfit. The door opened and closed behind him. A nudge from behind him made him look back at his brother. Shaking his head at the Al’s sleepy expression, he grabbed Al’s shirt and walked over to the bar.

“Hello. Welcome to Madame Sarah’s Rooming house. We have eight bedrooms and four bathrooms upstairs. Breakfast and Dinner are provided. Lunch you are on your own. Breakfast is from seven to nine; dinner from 6 to 8. Rent is due every 3rd of the month. “

“Hey, how much for a month?”

“Ten dollars but you get a soft bed.”

Ed smiled at the girl. “I’m sure, do you have any rooms with two beds or a large bed left?”

She nodded and smiled at him. “For twenty five cents more per week, we can put another bed in for you tomorrow.”

Ed looked at Al, then back to the girl. “Okay, but just tell us where to get it and we will. Which room is available?”

The girl flashed a quick smile before pulling a lockbox out from under the desk. Inside were several small compartments, in each there were several keys. She looked at Ed again, her eyes going over his arm and leg. She reached for a tangle and unlooped two sets of keys. “We have two rooms on the first floor, but nothing on the bottom floor. You will each have three keys. The first one is the key to the front door. The second on is for the inner door to each floor as well as the outer doors. In the back is a enclosed stairwell that goes for all three of the top floor, there’s a door off the stairwell to each floor. Also you can travel the inside main staircase, the doors at each floor use the same key as the outside door, and the third key is to your room.

“That’s one of the reasons why it’s so expensive here.” The girls shrugged as she led the up the steps. Ed grabbed the bag and smirked at the look the young woman was giving his brother.

Al laughed. “We don’t mind. By the way, how would we get to the college?”

“Ummm, you can take the subway to City College. It’s in Manhattan. You should check out Shepard Hall. There’s a subway station three blocks up from here. Just take a left out of the door and head straight.”

“Thanks.” Al grinned at her, as she opened the hallway door.

She nodded and turned back towards the hallway. Ummm, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Constance Harrington. Madame Sarah is my aunt on my mother’s side.”

“My name is Alphonse Elric and this is my older brother Edward. We’re working on science and rocketry, so we might keep odd hours but we promise not to do any experiments in the room.”

“Maybe.” Ed smirked.

“Brother!” Al turned back to the young woman. “We do promise! Brother just has a mean streak.”

Constance opened the door to their room which had a silver five nailed to the front. Pushing open the door, they saw a room made with the same wood and same4 type of furniture as downstairs with one window in the main room. “Well here we are. The bedroom is through that door. The door on the right leads to a shared bathroom with the people in the next room.”

Ed stepped in and pushed open the door to the bedroom. Dropping the bags in a corner, he looked around. One bed, large enough for them if they slept on either end, a five drawer chest, two closets, a night stand, and a writing table.

He could hear Al talking to the lady. And flopped down on the bed. A light laugh and the door closed.

“She has a crush on you!” Ed shouted.

“BROTHER!”

Roy Mustang stared at the paperwork on his desk. He’d never come back as Fuhrer if he knew how much paperwork was involved. What a shame if something… flame-like were to happen to it. Smiling sneakily he raised his hand.

“I made copies, sir. You can burn that set if you want.” Lt. Corporal Riza Hawkeye stated.

“You take all the fun out of it. Don’t you have someone else to stalk?” Roy glared up at her, out of his right eye.

“No, sir.”

//Ed laughed, no matter what happened. Nothing would ever change Mustang or Hawkeye or the rest of the group at Central. Even after all they had been through. The tales Al had told him were… disturbing in the least. Roy going into retirement omnly to come back as a soldier to be station in the frozen wastes. Riza Hawkeye thinking about leaving the military. Fuery and Breda talking about a transfer to another branch. They were splintering. He knew they couldn’t always stay the same but damn it, a good command team was near impossible to find, it seemed only fair to keep them together. Even worse the Ishbalans were being targeted for more than the usual crimes and hatred. Most people blamed them for the earthquakes that followed the opening of the GATE.

He never though he’d admit it but he missed that idiot, Roy. Though he made the right decision in the end, coming back to take over the Army. It needed him now that the Fruher was revealed to be a homunculus. In fact, right now, Roy most likely to be trying to sneak past Hawkeye… //

Roy checked under the desk, spinning in the leather chair silently. Nodding, he got up and holding his shoes in his hand headed over to the door. He cracked open the door and peered outside. Sighing in release he opened the door and walked in socked feet towards the door that would lead him outside.

“Sir! Have you finished reading and reviewing the reports, sir?”

The cool voice caused him to turn around, a grimace frozen on his face.

“I did enough. The rest can be done later. I’m busy.” Roy stood up and tried to loom over his subordinate.

“Yes, sir…”

“Idiot.”

Roy cocked his head as if he heard something. He traded a glance with Hawkeye, “Ed…?”

//The scene faded and Ed’s mind drifted towards Winry and the hospital. She was consulting books. And sketching out an arm. Ed knew that as much as she loved the creation and maintenance of automail limbs, she loved even more the design of new versions of automail. Making them more efficient, more lifelike, She would love the way, Hoenheim created the false legs. He needs to remember to add that information to the books.//

Winry Rockbell sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know why I’m doing this, Ed. You might never come back. Of course if anyone can get you back, it’ll be Alphonse but he’s disappeared too, is he with you, Ed? Will you take care if him? Will you come back again?

//Ed sighed and stroked her ponytail. “Of course we will, you know we will. We will come home. I promise!”//

Winry raised her head, a sound from [the dog], as he cocked his head as if he was hearing the same thing. “Ok Ed, I believe you.”

Smiling, she went back to designing a better set of automail.

Ed opened his eyes. It was so realistic. Turning his head, he could see Al asleep beside him. It reminded him of when they were younger and Al would sneak into his bed after a nightmare. Staring up at the ceiling, he sighed. One day he would get them back home. Home where Al belonged.