Water, thirty-five litres… Carbon, twenty kilograms… Ammonia, four litres… Lime, one point five kilograms… Phosphorus, eight hundred grams… Salt, two hundred fifty grams… Saltpeter, a hundred grams… Sulphur, eighty grams… Fluorine, seven point five kilograms… Iron, five grams… Silicon, three grams… … That's it! We've got everything we need… are you ready, Alphonse?
~
"Alphonse… Alphonse… Hey, Al!"
"Huh!"
Alphonse Elric snapped to attention. He lifted his head and glanced around quickly, as a familiar red-coated boy strutted towards him.
"Hey, you alright? Sorry for making you wait out here so long."
Alphonse rose to his feet, towering over his brother, "It's fine, you weren't that long… You all set to go now?"
"Are you kidding? I've been waiting to get out of here ever since we got here!"
With that, the brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric headed away from the gates of Southern Headquarters, glad to be done with their detour.
Far from being a regular pair of brothers, Ed and Al were always seen travelling around together.
Edward was easily recognisable: always sporting his bright red jacket, his extravagant idea of style. Everyone always commented on his golden hair and eyes, which he was told made him look just like his father, much to his annoyance.
He stepped lively alongside his younger brother Alphonse. Al was only a year younger than Edward, and yet he stood above his brother in a seven-foot tall suit of armour. This armour, which Al never seemed to take off, only undermined the height of his older brother further.
"Hey Alphonse," Ed groaned a little, "You mind if I stop to get something to eat before we go to the station? I'm starving…"
"You're always hungry brother…" Al sighed, "Yeah, I don't see why not. The trains to Central city will be running all day."
Ed beamed, flashing a toothy grin, "Then we have plenty of time!"
Like numerous teenagers, Edward was a hothead, and had no trouble speaking his mind. Alphonse was the opposite of his brother, as he was very well spoken, quiet and polite. But what made the Elric brothers so different to other boys of their age, was the fact that almost everyone in the entire country of Amestris knew their names.
"Hey! Aren't you Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist?"
"You're the famous kid who passed the State Alchemy exam at the age of twelve? That's pretty amazing!"
"Wow! They must call you Fullmetal because of that armour you wear, right?"
"What're you doing here in South City, Mr. State Alchemist?"
Alphonse panicked as a group of passersby surrounded him, but he was pretty used to this by now.
"Um…" he stuttered bashfully, "I-I'm not the Fullmetal Alchemist… I'm his younger brother, Alphonse!"
The crowd all turned their attention to Edward; each one grimaced.
"You mean that little pipsqueak is the Fullmetal Alchemist?"
A vein throbbed through Edward's forehead as he jumped up and down frantically, startling everyone with a shout from his lungs.
"DON'T SAY PIPSQUEAK!"
After an alchemic ritual had gone wrong several years ago, Edward Elric became an Alchemist of the State. While the naïve people of Amestris saw this as an ingenious feat, the brothers hid behind a horrifying truth… Edward's title, the Fullmetal Alchemist, was a constant reminder to them of their greatest sin.
In trying to bring their mother back to life using forbidden alchemy, Ed and Al had paid a hefty price… Edward had lost an arm and leg, and had been forced to take on prosthetic auto-mail limbs, while Alphonse had lost his entire body to the "portal". Bound by a blood seal on his suit of armour, Alphonse was nothing but a soul in a hollow shell, with only one wish: to get their original bodies back.
Working with the military wasn't their idea of a living, but Ed and Al would endure it as long as it helped them towards their secret motive: obtaining the legendary Philosopher's stone, said to be able to bypass alchemy's law of equivalent exchange and grant anything the holder desires.
Holding on to any shred of hope, Edward would stop at nothing to find this stone, and restore his little brother to normal.
"But seriously kid, are you saying you're really the Fullmetal Alchemist?"
"Of course I am!" Edward cried out, delving a hand into his jacket, "Look, I have my State Alchemist pocket watch right here…"
Everyone waited silently, as Edward rummaged about in his pockets. There were some murmurs of confusion, as he began to get more frantic in his search.
"H-Hey… where is it!"
The spectators watched awkwardly, as Edward threw off his coat and flapped it around, desperately listening for any clangs of metal. But none came.
"WHAAAAAAAT?" Edward screeched, making everyone jump, "I just had it!"
"Brother, please calm down!" Alphonse pleaded, not wanting to die of embarrassment; however he knew how important that watch was. It essentially proved Edward's identity as a State Alchemist, and allowed the brothers to access the military's resources.
Clutching his jacket in both hands, Ed yelled despairingly into the sky, amongst a dispersing and slightly frightened crowd, "WHERE THE HELL IS MY POCKET WATCH?"
Nobody said their journey for the Philosopher's stone was going to be easy.
~~~
Edward stormed out through the gates of Southern HQ for the second time that day; the grand building served as the major military base in the south of Amestris. Alphonse was waiting for his brother by the gates, just as before.
"Did you find it in there?"
"No…" Edward huffed.
While on a visit to South City, to turn in Edward's annual State Alchemist assessment report, the Elric brothers already found themselves in a heap of trouble. They hadn't even been there for a day, and Ed had somehow managed to lose his identity, namely his pocket watch.
"How could you lose it, Ed?" Alphonse cried, filled with concern.
"I dunno! I had it in HQ and I know I had it when I came out…!"
"Oh… what're we gonna do?" Al was fretting, "Without your pocket watch we can't-"
"Can't take any money out of my State Alchemist account… I know." Edward rolled his eyes; he was mentally kicking himself, but he would never let that on to Al.
"But… that means we can't afford anything!"
"Don't be silly! I have money in my wallet…" Ed pulled out his wallet, and felt his heart sink upon seeing the little amount that was left in there.
"How are we gonna get back to Central now?" Al cried.
"Quit worrying!" Ed snapped, "We're going to find it!"
"But… how?" Al murmured weakly.
"I'll bet I know who has it…" Ed frowned, starting off quickly.
"Huh?" Al followed after him, "What do you mean 'who'? You think someone…"
"Stole it. Yeah." Ed carried on without turning to look at his brother, "And I have a good idea who it was…"
Alphonse sighed; of course his brother would jump to the conclusion that it was stolen, rather than that he'd lost it himself.
"That damn Xingese prince!" Ed snorted, "I'll bet it was him! He probably thinks he can use it to get us to talk about the Philosopher's stone!"
Alphonse was frankly shocked, "What? You mean… Ling Yao?"
It was true: a mysterious boy - in actual fact, a prince - from the far away country of Xing had appeared to them recently, looking for information on the Philosopher's stone. Ed had refused to help him; especially after hearing that he wanted the stone to obtain immortality.
"Immortality? Please… what a bunch of nonsense. Humans aren't supposed to mess with life." Ed had told him; he would have said the same to anybody else, since his sin had taught him that the hard way.
But despite Ed's attempts to give good advice, that hadn't stopped the prince from tailing them and trying to bribe them for any information.
While Alphonse didn't want to believe it, stealing Ed's pocket watch did seem like the sort of thing Ling might do, to try and get them to share anything they knew. Ed could be right.
"Come on!" Ed called, steaming ahead, "He's in this city somewhere!"
"Right!" Alphonse followed behind, his armour clanking with every step he made.