Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist! Bluebird's Illsuion doesn't belong to me! As such, all credit for both franchises are property to their rightful owners Hiromu Arakawa and Nolan Ocean-X. Thanks guys!

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return.

To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.

That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange.

In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth..."

Arc 1: Fleeting Illusion

In the sandy town of Lior, Rose walked to the sit-in restaurant for her day job as usual. Things were normally slow on hot days like these so she didn't rush herself.

As she approached the little shop, she stopped in her tracks at the only customer who was there. Long blond hair. A red coat. She picked up the pace and called out, "Edward? Ed, is that you!?" Had she been paying attention to the little details, she would've taken notice of how this individual's hair was a few shades darker than Ed's—making him a dirty blond. That and his long hair was in a pony tail; as opposed to Edward's signature braid.

The person looked around to find the source of the voice. As he turned, Rose finally saw that it couldn't be Edward. This person's eyes weren't amber-gold, but instead a mix of gold laced hazel. His eyes more rounded than Edward's and had a more laid back expression. Now that she thought about it, his hair was parted more to his right side instead of down the middle.

The person's eyes went wide in recognition and a grand smile had quickly crossed his face. "Rose? Hi!" He said; standing up and waving to her with both arms. "It's me, Alphonse!" Alphonse? As in Elric? Last time Rose had seen him, he had been nothing more than a soul bonded to armor. So he and Ed had done it! They had finally got Alphonse's body back.

In excitement, they spent a couple of minutes laughing and talking quickly to one another about how much the other had changed since their last encounter. The manager, who came out to find out what the commotion was, had ruffled Alphonse's hair before heading back, prompting Alphonse and Rose to calm down, and Al returned to his seat while Rose clocked into work.

"So," Rose began as she served him the fruit punch and grilled turkey sandwich he had ordered, "tell me everything."

That was enough encouragement to get Al off and running about everything; the good and the bad. He recounted what had gone down in Central. The homunculus, his dad, Hohenheim, and his countermeasure, Edward regaining his arm in reverse-exchange, how Edward had given up his alchemy in exchange for Al's body... "It was tough to stand up at first. Brother ended up breaking my falls the first—I don't know—fifty times!" Alphonse chuckled while he had still been on that subject. He finished by talking about how they traveled for a while in separate directions to learn more about alchemy.

"Sounds like a lot has happened," Rose smiled as she brushed a strand of her pink-dyed hair out of her face.

Alphonse took a big bite into his sandwich. "Yeah, and look!" Alphonse got down from his seat and reached into his pocket. His eyes were bright with excitement as he pulled something out and held it proudly for Rose to see. In his white gloved palm was a silver pocket watch; the emblem of Amestris shining proudly upon the watch's lid.

Rose's eyes were wide in surprise. "You mean you-"

Alphonse's smile said it all. "Yup! I'm the second youngest certified State Alchemist-next to brother of course." He was still grinning as he slipped the watch back into his pocket. He remembers the day he had passed the State Alchemist Exams; how thrilling it was to be able to carry on the legacy his brother had left behind when he had to leave service for obvious reasons.

Oh the irony of having been given the title the Armored Alchemist for something other than his appearance. His soul, having been trapped in that armor for such a long time, was now more flexible; he could split it up and put it into inanimate objects- armor in particular -and control them with little effort. Even though it kinda freaked him out at first, he had to give this new talent some credit for him obtaining his certificate. So whatever.

He finished off his meal and was sipping down the last of his beverage when he heard Rose say, "Edward must be very proud of you." Alphonse almost did a spit take, but managed to choke it down without coughing too much. "Are you okay!?" Rose asked worryingly.

Alphonse managed a weak smile and said, "Yeah." He laid out the payment for the meal and stood up; instinctively bracing himself for a collision with the ceiling—something that he was used to from his time in the armor. "I'll be late for my train if I don't hurry," he said as he picked up his travel bag. "Tell the restaurant owner I say bye. And if his radio breaks again, you know who to call!" He quickly slipped Rose her tip and hurried off.

Rose looked at her tip, eyes widening as she called out to Alphonse, "Hey, Al, wait! This tip is more than twice as much as what you paid for the meal!"

Alphonse spun around and was walking backwards as he waved and called back, "Don't worry, I know! It's equivalent exchange, Rose. I hope you get yourself something nice with it." And with that he was off and running towards the train station.

"What's he mean equivalent?" Rose wondered out loud as she stared at her generous tip, "For what?"

Alphonse made it in time for the train and had found a spot in an empty train cart. He leaned out the window and watched the world breeze by.

With all his traveling experience, he was able to notice how not everything in the landscape was quickly left behind. Sure there were the trees, and shrubs which stayed behind as the train flew past. However the rolling plains, a soft green carpet at this time of year, always tried to keep up with them. And the purple-hued mountains or even a large hill, blending in with the scenery and the bright blue sky like magic, would stay in Alphonse's line of sight as if to say, "Hello, let's be friends!" They would stay that way until the train met a fork in the tracks, or no longer ran along the base of these landscapes where they would have to part ways.

Alphonse was filling out a report, which he would be turning in when he returned to Central—he had just come back from the excavation site—when he thought again of what Rose had said. "Edward must be very proud of you." With that in mind, he cracked a smile before bursting into laughter. He laughed so hard, his sides began to ache, and tears sprung in his eyes. "Brother? Proud?" he said as another wave of amusement came over him. He was surprised he had managed to maintain his composure about it up until now.

After a while he regained that said composure and sighed as he wiped his eyes dry. He looked out the window once more. The sky was turning a soft crimson as night time approached. "Proud huh?" he muttered as he took a look at his silver watch. His "military dog tag," Edward had said two years back.

xXxXx

"You did what!?" Edward asked angrily.

Alphonse regretted turning down Winry's offer to tell Ed in his place. Edward was steaming mad. "Well, I-I've applied for the State Alchemist Exams," Alphonse stuttered.

Edward was pissed off with that answer and wasn't afraid to show it. "No! No way is my little brother going to become a dog of the military!"

"Edward, please," Winry cried, "let's talk about it in a calm manner."

"Calm?" Edward snapped, "Are you expecting me to be calm about my own brother making the biggest mistake of his life?"

Well, that had set Alphonse off. He stood up from his chair, trying to maintain his composure once again "Brother, I'm eighteen years old. I can make decisions for myself," he muttered through gritted teeth. "I know what I'm doing."

"Dammit, Al, no you don't!" Edward insisted.

"Yes, I do!" Alphonse retorted back angrily; slamming a fist on the table. He regretted his actions only for a moment. Everyone, Granny, Winry, and even Edward were shocked by his sudden outburst. But he continued on while he had all their attention.

"Throughout our journey, we saw lots of people who had suffered. It didn't matter how, it all looked the same to me," his eyes swept over the table; making sure they were all still listening. Then he stopped at Edward and stared him straight in the eyes—angry gold eyes against determined hazel ones. "'Alchemists be thou for the people'. Everyone had stopped believing that. At least until you came along.

Also, a lot of that suffering came from past mistakes of our ancestors, including Dad." He paused for a second in order to choose his next words carefully; picturing the homunculus and all the war and bloodshed that they had brought to Amestris, "I want to learn more about Xerxes and why they created that homunculus in the first place. There must've been more there than the prospects of immortality, right? I'll find all that out, and make sure it never happens again. Don't you see, brother? I'm doing this for everyone we cared about who was victimized by the homunculus." Edward didn't answer, but instead got up and stormed out of the kitchen; slamming the door behind himself.

xXxXx

Alphonse sat there, dozing off in his seat in the train. It had felt good to have been able to talk to someone about his new position. When he'd come home after the exams, he had spoken to Winry about it, and she had been really happy for him too. But, it was kinda awkward to have been talking about that sore subject while Ed was around. Even though they did end up having a heart-to-heart conversation, it was still a little too awkward so he never had gotten into detail about it. So he hoped Rose treated herself to something nice with his little tip.

Once the train was at Resembol, Alphonse hopped off and had almost made it out of the station when he heard a mewing sound. He looked around until he found the source of the noise huddled under a bench. A calico cat with bright green eyes was huddled under there staring curiously at Alphonse.

Oh shoot. He instinctively stretched out his hand to pet the little creature. It accepted his gesture and he picked it up. "Oh, c'mon," he muttered to himself, "Now's not the time to be bringing strays home..." However his logic and his instincts weren't agreeing with one another. His head was saying "No." while his heart was saying "YES!" So after some inner conflict, his heart won out as he walked out of the station with his new feline friend licking his face with its sandy tongue. "Maybe they'll let you stay," he said to the cat as he softly scratched under its chin. After all, it was a pretty big day for Edward and Winry. Anything can happen.

Alphonse had arrived at the Rockbell's residence just as a loud crashing sound could be heard.

"Edward! I told you not to bump into me!"

"Calm down, Winry. There wasn't anything in the bowl anyway!"

"That's not the point!" Alphonse cringed as he heard the familiar sound of a wrench making contact with a person's skull.

He understood how it was. Every girl dreams of this day, so of course Winry wouldn't be any different. The last thing Alphonse wanted was to get caught into her excitement-induced wrath.

Even the cat seemed to sense the mood at it squirmed around in Alphonse's arms. He let the little guy down and sighed. "How about we just wait out this storm, okay?" He sat down on the side of the wall and began playing with the cat using a piece of string. It batted its tiny paws at the thread without a care in the world. How on earth, Al wondered, could anyone dislike cats!?

He was still on the ground when he heard Winry say, "I'm going to get some air." Footsteps could be heard as he tried to get up, only for the door to swing open in his face!

"Ow!" he cried as his back collided with the wall and tumbled back to the ground, surprising Winry. He almost faceplanted into the cat, but it managed to get out of the way in time. Cats are truly, lucky creatures.

"A-Alphonse!" Winry exclaimed, "Are you okay!?"

"Al?" Edward came running towards the door. "What happened?" He then saw Alphonse lying on the grass—his cat licking his face while he tried to stop his nosebleed—and reached out his hand to Al. "Need a hand?"

Alphonse blushed sheepishly. "Yeah thanks," he said as he was pulled up. He then leaned close to the ground and used a kunai to draw a transmutation circle with a star at the center. He made sure to keep in mind everything his friend May Chang had taught him about the Dragon's Pulse. "There, that should do it," he said as he used one hand to hold back the bleeding and the other to pin some more kunais onto the tips of the star. It glowed as he placed his hands on the circle—using his Alkahestry to heal up his bloody nose. "That's better," he sighed as he removed his blood-stained glove. Well, I guess I'll need to clean this...

"Your Alkahestry has improved since last time," Edward commented.

"You think so?" Alphonse asked. Edward simply smiled at him and nodded.

"Now c'mon," he said swinging an arm around Alphonse's shoulder, "Let's get you inside before something else happens." He smirked. "We can't have the best man down and out, now can we?"

It was after the wedding ceremony, and Alphonse, who had donned a blue dress shirt and black slacks, had been talking to an old neighbor when it was time to cut the wedding cake.

Alphonse still couldn't get over the fact that Winry had managed to convince Edward to wear a tuxedo. He had to admit it though, Ed looked pretty darn good in it.

While Winry...wow! She had picked out a lovely flowing white dress with a bateau style neckline that flattered her figure in the most appealing way. And with her hair having been pulled into a bun with small ringlets framing her face, she looked like an angel. No wonder he and Edward had once fought over who would marry her.

When Edward and Winry were about to feed one another a piece of the cake (like what all cute newly-weds do) Winry purposefully slipped up and got the icing on the side of Ed's face. Everyone laughed until Ed took a shot and successfully sent some icing on her nose. Well, that just created more laughter and cake smearing. However, Alphonse eventually decided to intervene before a food fight could break out (which most definitely would if nothing was done) by tapping on his glass so he could say a toast to the happy couple. For crying out loud, clean your face, Al thought as he absently noted the missed icing still on his brother's face.

He began with, "Thank you all for coming to witness the union between my childhood friend and my brother. Ever since brother and I were younger, the two of us had considered Winry to be like a sister. Well, apparently Edward felt a little more for our 'sis'." Everyone laughed as Edward turned red from embarrassment and flicked his eyes at Winry. "Then again, I did too so we're even," he said with an embarrassed blush of his own, "And I'm happy for them." He lifted up his glass. "To my best friends, and a happy life together."

With that, a few "Cheers!" were said following the clinking of glass.

Alphonse took a sip of the champagne, wondering how some people could stand drinking more than one glass, when he felt a hand pat his head. "Not too shabby a speech, Armored Alchemist," General Roy Mustang said. Riza Hawkeye waved hello to Alphonse from behind Roy.

"Thanks, General," Alphonse muttered, waving back at Hawkeye. He may be twenty now, but that didn't mean he was no longer into being patted on the head like a little kid anymore.

"Oh, Miss Hawkeye!" Winry called.

Hawkeye turned her attention to the bride and smiled, "It's nice to see you again, Winry. Or should I say Mrs. Elric?"

"Y-yeah sure." Winry blushed a bit at the thought of being called Mrs. Elric.

"I still can't believe I ended up inviting the Colonel," Edward grumbled to Alphonse.

"That's General to you, Fullmetal," Mustang said with a smirk, much to Edward's displeasure, "And also, this is somewhat of a business trip as well." He turned to Alphonse and accepted the file envelope from Hawkeye. "Colonel Bernhard asked me to deliver this to you along with good wishes to the happy couple."

Alphonse accepted the files from the General and smiled. "I'll remember to thank her once I'm back at Central." It was then that he noticed his brother scowl at the sight of the envelope.

"So, who is this Colonel Burn-head?" Edward asked Alphonse the next morning as he munched on some toast.

Alphonse tried to look serious, but cracked a smile at Edward's mistake (although he suspected it was on purpose). "It's Bernhard. Adaline Bernhard to be exact. She also goes by the name the Atom Splitting Alchemist. And for your information, she isn't too bad a person." Edward huffed at that comment. Alphonse continued anyway, "I stayed at her home during the Exams and had gotten to know her pretty well." He couldn't help but remember how he had thought she was an androgynous guy. Most of it was because of how low her voice was, how she was kind of flat-chested, and the fact that she wore the men's uniform. He had learned the hard way that "he" was a she... "Anyway," he continued, trying to pull his thoughts away from that awkward mistake, "Colonel Bernhard had found out about my research and decided to help me out." He motioned toward the envelope he had laid at the table earlier that morning. "She must've found something in the homunculus' old lair under Central."

Edward eyed the envelope suspiciously, "What would this Colonel be doing down there?"

Alphonse sighed, brushing a hand through his tangled hair, before answering. "Probably looking for chimeras," he shrugged, "That is her line of work."

"Chimeras?"

"Yeah," he said before sipping some of his coffee, "Unlike Shou Tucker, Colonel Bernhard is researching how to undo a chimera transmutation." Edward raised an eyebrow at his little brother. "I'm not exactly sure why, but she's always seemed passionate about it so I've never questioned her." He took a sip out of his coffee cup while making a side note. "I need to remember to tell Zapano and Jerso about her soon…" Those two were still in Xing advancing their Alkahestry for research.

There was an awkward moment of silence until Edward mumbled, "Wonder where she got that idea..." before taking a bite out of his breakfast.

However, Alphonse saw that look in his eye. He was also thinking about Nina—Shou Tucker's daughter who had been used along with her dog to make a talking chimera. And they had seen plenty of other people who had the same thing done to them. If Colonel Bernhard was to find a way to undo the transmutation of chimeras, then it could help lot of those people who were still alive.

"Aren't you going to open it?" Edward finally asked. Alphonse was a little surprised that Ed was suddenly interested in it. But Al only shrugged and picked the envelope up. He opened it and pulled out the small stack of variously sized papers that were inside. The first page was a note from the Colonel.

Major Alphonse Elric,

I would like you to take a look at the quick sketches and photos I had taken from my last investigation in the homunculus' hideout. I noticed that the charts, which I have circled in red, seem to be for a formula. However, I can't read the writing. Is it from Xerxes?

And then there are these separate rooms and passages. I've tried charting them out on a makeshift map, but even that is a bit of a guess. It's too big—like a maze!—and too much of the area has been altered or mysteriously blocked off. Do you think there might be any extra passageways that I had missed?

Furthermore, there's this piece if machinery I have found (look at the third photo). It took all my manpower alone to get it pulled out. It's like a melter. But what's it supposed to melt?

There seem to be more questions than answered in this letter, isn't there? My apologies.

Anyway, I would like you to return to Central with any and all books written by your father Mr. Hoenheim ASAP.

-Colonel Ada Bernhard

The two brothers looked at the last paragraph and said in unison.

"Too bad we burned them all."

"Yeah I guess I could pull the rest of them out."

Edward stared at his brother in shock. "What do you mean 'pull the rest of them out'?"

"Uh w-well," Alphonse stuttered, "I—uh—well, when you had gone to your State Alchemist Exam I had stayed in an extra room upstairs. Whenever I was bored I'd take some of Dad's older looking, hand-written books, and...uh...I never...put them back…"—he shrugged sheepishly—"They're in the attic now..."

Edward laughed and shook his head. "That is way too convenient, Al." Alphonse only smiled at him. "Alright then," Ed said as he got up from the table. "When do you plan on going?"

"Going where?" Winry asked sleepily as she came in the room wearing a lovely pale blue night gown.

Edward smiled and kissed Winry on the forehead. "I was wondering when you'd wake up." Winry's cheeks turned pink as she kissed him back. "How do you feel about heading to Central?"

With that question, Winry's was suddenly fully awake. "What's in Central?" she asked suspiciously.

"Oh the usual. Nice people, big buildings, and an interesting Alchemist's theory," Edward smiled playfully as he swung an arm around Alphonse's shoulder.

Winry put her hands on her hips, but couldn't quite suppress the ghost of a smile. "Oh really? Well I was hoping to stay quiet about it, but you leave me no choice. I've gotta be honest with you." She gave them a look that practically screamed brace yourselves. "The real reason I decided not to go on a honeymoon was because it was the doctor's orders. It's not a good idea to travel until the nine months are over, you know." And with that, both of the Elric brothers' jaws dropped