Alchemy. The Science of Understanding, Deconstructing and Reconstructing. It is based on the law of Equivalent Exchange: if one wishes to obtain something, something of equal value must be lost.
Alchemy is not an all-powerful art, though.
While it can turn lead into gold, or combine a human and an animal into one body, Alchemy has one major taboo: Human Transmutation. The act of attempting to bring someone back from the dead. And any who commit this taboo, will pay for it with their body and life because nothing in this would could ever equal the value of a human soul.
But, while most who committed the taboo will either perish on the spot or live their lives as nothing more than broken or maddened people, there were 2 brave souls who promised one another they would mend their mistake and get back the pieces of themselves they lost to the other side.
They are the legendary Elric Brothers, the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother, as far as the world knows.
But to a select few, they are Alphonse; a brave and kind boy with a heart of gold encased in an empty suit of armour, and Edward; a hot-tempered and foul-mouthed girl with a Robin Hood kind of life philosophy and a will stronger then steel.
And this is my journey with them, as their companion and friend.
A young girl panted as she trudged tiredly, dragging her feet through the soldering hot sand. She felt like her hair was malting off of her due to the unbearable heat of the Eastern Desert. That was to be expected, it wasn't called a desert for nothing, but come on! Did it really have to be so freakishly hot?! There was such a thing as a cold desert, people!
"I…" The girl, dehydrated as she was, managed a mumbled, "I can't take it anymore." Before collapsing in the sand, uncaring for the grains that now covered her cloths.
As she silently cursed two particular 'brothers' in her mind, a pair of figures approached her.
"Celly?" The shorter of the figures called, golden hair/eyes shining, tanned skin gleaming, red and black clothing bold against the blue and yellow background of the world around them.
The other figure, tall and in full on armour with only a loincloth to accommodate the outfit, suggested, "I think she needs some water and fast, Sister."
The figure called 'Sister' sighed, "I hate it when this happens. Damn it, Al, why didn't we think to bring some food or water for any of us?"
The suit of armour, or rather called 'Al' by the 'Sister', sighed, "Because you'd have eaten it all while we were in the taxi, Ed."
'Ed' snapped, "Hey, I wouldn't have done that!"
The girl on the ground, 'Celly', groaned, "Alphonse, Edward, do your dear old friend Celina a favor and carry her to Liore won't you? I'm nearly ready to pass out right now."
"But my armour is probably hotter than the sand and we both know Edward can't carry you; she's too short." Alphonse stated the obvious.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING TOO TINY TO CARRY A 11 YEAR OLD BRAT ON HER BACK BECAUSE SHE'S SHORTER THEN A FUCKING 4 YEAR OLD?!" Edward exploded.
Celina groaned as she forced herself to her feet, muttering under her breath, "The one time I need 'em, they're useless as fuck."
"What was that, Tucker?!" Edward snarled, glaring at the 'only' female in the group.
"Fuck off, Elric, you're useless right now and I don't want to hear another short rant from you." Celina hissed back.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING TOO SHORT TO GET HER OPINION HEARD BY FUCKING MUSTANG BECAUSE SHE'S TOO FUCKING TINY TO EVEN BE AT THE COLONEL BASTARD'S ANKLE?!"
"I didn't call you any of that, you fucking idiot, do you have a hearing problem or something?! And why bring Mustang into this, or has he really been on your mind that much lately, Ed?"
"Wh-wh-what- WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU IMPLYING?!"
"Trust me, you don't wanna know, shrimp."
"LITTLE SHITTY BRATTY KID!"
"PINT-SIZED PEA-BRIAN!"
And the insults dragged on as they walked to Liore, Alphonse occasionally sinking into the sand, his armour finding it difficult to keep level with it.
After a while of walking, the party of 3 were in a town with 2 and 3 story buildings with shutter windows, statues of a man with an incredibly long beard holding a staff that had a sun-like monument on the end of it. All the people had dark tanned skin, dark brown hair and seemed to be surprisingly happy with their lives out in the Easter Frontier Town... despite the incredibly strong and disgusting smell of wine that filled the air and made Celina want to puke.
Curse her sensitive nose. This just furthered to piss her off even more… just as it did her blonde-haired companion.
"Brother, are you okay?" Alphonse asked, concern in his 10-year-old voice, going back to the way things were now that they were in society.
"I'm so thirsty…" Edward trailed off, sweating buckets.
"That makes two of us, Ed." Celina sighed, "God, what I wouldn't give for some water."
Then, the sound of running water entered their ears and the scent of wine got sickeningly strong.
"I think I'm gonna puke." Celina warned, holding her nose with her gloved hand.
Edward have very different things on her mind, "Water?"
She stared at a fountain and then cried in rejoice as she started running towards it, ignoring her younger brother's and friend's call, continuously chanting, "Water! Water! Water! Water! Water! Water! Water!"
However, when she got close enough to the fountain, after jumping in the air to land in the 'water', the blonde realized the smell she'd been smelling was coming from this fountain. And when she looked, it indeed wasn't water.
"This is what I've been smelling all along?" Edward pouted.
Celina walked up to him, scoffing at the rotten smell of wine that made her puke internally, "If you think it's bad for you, how do you think I'm handling it?!"
Alphonse approached them with a shout of, "Brother! Celina!"
Celina sighed and looked towards Alphonse enviously, "Al, sometimes, I really wish I couldn't smell things as easily as I do. It's annoying and nauseating when all you can smell is wine all over the fucking town square."
Using one of the cups provided, Edward took a sample of the liquid that had Alphonse leaning closer in interest and Celina cursing herself.
"Blood?" Alphonse questioned.
Edward gave the drink a hopeless look, "More like blood-red wine."
"Hey, you!"
Edward felt someone tugging at her jacket and calling, "This is off limits to kids, you know!"
The old shop keeper, Joe, laughed when the group of travelers told him their story. He was so dumb!
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! As travelers, you wouldn't have known that there was wine coming out of there would you?" Joe apologized, laughing lightly.
He was a middle-aged man with dark skin, a mustache and dark coloured eyes. The man was wearing a dark green tunic, white apron, brown hat and sandals.
Behind the travelers, a group of 3 children exclaimed in delight when they saw the armour sitting at the stool of a local café.
"Wow!"
"Look at that suit of armour!"
"It's huge!"
The golden haired/eyed boy with tanned skin drank from a glass of orange juice as Joe took in his appearance, "The town of Liore must be pretty prosperous, huh? Having a wine fountain and all?"
The boy was wearing black, leather, tight-fitting trousers, a brown, leather belt and a black tank top. Over said top, he wore a thin, high-collared jacket that fastened with a silver clip at his neck; the ends of the sleeves, hem and top of the jacket were silver. A hooded red coat that was long enough to reach his shins was over the outfit. The coat had a split and a single button on the top. On the back of the coat was the black image of a cross with a snake draped about it with detached wings and a crown above it; the boy had said it was a Flamel symbol. He wore black elevator boats and white gloves on his hands.
The boy beside him was wearing unnaturally wide, dark grey, 7-foot tall armour that covered him from head to toe. Around his waist was a grey loincloth and 3 spikes jutted out of the shoulders. On his left shoulder was another Flamel symbol, this time in red rather than black while the breast plate stuck outwards ridiculously. A protective guard sprouted around the neck and surrounded the helmet slightly, which had a very long, thin lock of feather white hair coming from it that reached his shins, a horn in the forehead and a zigzag mouth. The eye holes had white eyes in them, rimmed with red.
Finally, the only girl of the small band of travelers seemed to be the most unusually dressed of the 3. She wore a denim-coloured beanie hat over her head with slight points at the top that looked like cat ears. Her white shirt was covered in pictures of an animal that looked like some kind of dog; the girl had stated it was a Thylacine. Denim blue jeans and a pair of black trainers with silver markings and laces adored her flower-half. Her ginger coloured hair with black highlights was worn in two pigtails below her cap, her pale skin was slowly turning tanned from being in the Eastern Desert and freckles a shade darker were appearing over her nose and cheeks while her incredibly dark brown eyes glinted with wisdom and youthfulness at the same time. On her hips was a black leather belt with two hand guns attached to each side of her hip and many packs of spare bullets were littered around the belt; when she had caught him staring at it, she'd shown him a military certified license that said she was both allowed to carry and use the weapon if she was threatened.
The girl scoffed at her companion's statement, "This place would be better off without it, Edward; it reeks here."
"Celina, that's rude." The armour boy scolded the girl.
"I don't care, Alphonse; my nose is practically begging me to cut it off right now." Celina scoffed back, taking a sip of her cranberry/raspberry juice and sighed in relief, "At least this stuff doesn't smell or taste like crap."
Joe decided to do himself a favor and ignore the strange girl and boy in armour, "Yeah, you might say that." A thought suddenly came to him as he remembered the time and turned the radio on, "Oh, almost forgot, gotta do this…"
The travelers watched in wonder as every other radio in the vicinity was also turned on to the same channel that played a mysterious and enchanting yet calming melody and everyone in the town stopped what they were doing and placed their hands together in a praying manner.
When the music stopped, a man's voice entered their ears, "All of God's children, who live upon this land, pray in faith and ye shall be saved."
Instantly, Celina's face dropped to a mix of disgust and boredom while Edward's took on a look of confusion and discomfort.
The man continued, "As the sun lights the day, so does the sun God Leto illuminate thy path and drawn out thy sorrows…"
"Well, that's freakish." Celina stated, glaring at the radio as if it had personally offended her.
"Wonder what the deal is…" Edward trailed off, turning back to his drink.
"Some kind of religious broad cast?" Alphonse offered, also turning back to rest his arms on the table.
Insulted for the lack of care these children showed his leader, but willing to let it slide, Joe put his hands on his hips and frowned at the trio, "As far as I'm concerned, I should be the one asking 'what the deal is' with you guys."
Joe was ignored as Edward went back to his drink, taking a little nip of Celina's when she had turned her head. Alphonse didn't offer up an explanation either when Joe looked to him.
"We're just travelers, Sir." Celina offered and then smacked Edward's hand off her drink without looking at him, taking it back in her hand and sipping.
"Really?" Joe questioned, "Cause to me, you look like street performers or something."
Edward chocked on his drink and it splattered everywhere while Celina only continued to calmly drink her juice and Alphonse watched, "Now look here, Pops! Where the hell did you get that idea from?! Do I look like a clown to you?!"
Celina chuckled as she put her drink back down, making sure it was closer to Alphonse then it was to Edward, "Trust me, Ed, you only look like a clown when you try to put make up on your face. And as unoften as that is, it's still a very scary look for you."
Though Joe was confused with the comment that had Edward glaring at Celina, he wasn't going to lose focus and went to eyeing them suspiciously, "If you're not performers, then what are you doing all the way out here? You must have some reason."
Edward sighed and slumped slightly, "We're looking for something, that's all." He turned his head slightly towards the rest of the town, "So, what's the story with this guy on the radio?"
Joe's suspicion dropped a little, replaced by the pride of the town's Religious Father, "That's Father Cornello."
"Yeah, but, who is he?" Edward questioned.
"It doesn't ring a bell." Celina added, looking a little bit thoughtful before returning to her drink.
Joe was so shocked, he practically jumped out of his skin, "YOU'RE KIDDING ME! You've never heard of the great Father Cornello, the representative of the Sun God Leto?!"
Edward gave a grin that looked sheepish and shit eating at the same time, "No, so what's so great about him?"
"And how come it's always 'The Great blah, blah, blah' that people are called these days?" Celina questioned in a sassy and annoyed tone, "Why not 'The Magnificent' or 'The Gracious'? People, a little more originality please!"
The girl's stupid question was ignored in exchange for the towns' people praising their great profit.
"He can perform miracles for one thing, I've never seen anything like it."
"It's because of him that this place is so wealthy."
"This place was a God forsaken dust ball until Cornello came here and turned it into a desert paradise."
"Cornello can even forgive sins."
"He really is an incredible man!"
"Yeah, the works that man does are truly amazing!"
"We're on the Sun God's good side because of him, he gives us blessings now!"
Edward sighed, exasperated and covered his ears, "I just remembered, we have to be somewhere; somewhere that has some people who talk sense hopefully."
"Oh, shut up, Ed," Celina took another sip of her drink that was finally disappearing, "I'm not all that interested in religion myself, but if people wanna preach, let 'em. It's not doing any harm to anyone."
"Faith is a powerful thing, Celly." Edward stated, "You'd be surprised how many stupid decisions were made by men because of it."
A dark look crossed the girl's face, before it turned neutral, "We better get going then since you despise all this religious stuff so much, Edward-chan."
Edward glared at Celina, angrily for some reason, but then sighed and smiled towards his brother, "Shall we go, Al?"
"Yeah, okay." Alphonse nodded.
The trio stood up and Alphonse, unconscious of his height, accidentally slammed his metal head against the roof of the shop, causing the radio to fall and smash into tiny, little pieces.
"Al!" Celina yelled in shock, turning to her metal friend and checking him over, "Are you okay?!"
All was silent… until Alphonse brook it with a simple, "Oops."
Joe stared in shock at the precious radio that their Father's great words once flowed from, "Forget the Armour Boy, look at what you did to my radio! What do you expect to happen, wearing a stupid tin suit like that?!"
Celina gave him a very deadly and dark look, as if saying, 'One more word about that armour, and I'll cut your voice box out with a can-opener' that made Joe nearly shit himself.
Edward handled the situation much more calmly though, "Don't bust a long, Grandpa, we can fix it, no problem."
"How can you fix it? It's in a 1000 pieces!" Joe exclaimed.
It would take a miracle to fix that!
"I'm so sorry!" Alphonse apologized and turned to the remains of the radio, "Let me try fixing it."
"Sure." Edward agreed.
"It's not like I can do anything about it." Celina sighed.
Edward gave a shit eating grin, "So who's useless now, huh?"
Celina only proceeded to back hand his face.
Soon, Alphonse was at work, drawing a circle of chalk on the ground with several symbols inside and then placing all the parts of the radio in it.
"What's that?" Joe asked, looking at the circle in confusion.
Edward's smile didn't leave his face, "It's a transmutation circle."
Celina followed right up, "It's an incantation to get a wish granted. Right, Ed?"
The blonde snorted and the ginger/black haired girl smirked, as if it were a secret joke. Alphonse stood up, having finished his circle and after placing his hands one over the other, a shot of blue electricity shot to the radio and there was an explosion.
When the dust settled, the radio was good as new. And Cornello's voice could be heard once more on the radio, "As the representative of the Sun God Leto, I pour out both mine and our lord's love onto thee always…"
The people of the Easter Frontier Town gasped in astonishment, "It really is a land of profits; your buddy can work miracles like Cornello."
Suddenly, Celina burst out laughing, "What country are you from old man? That's no miracle!"
Alphonse stepped closer, the fixed radio in his hands, "Edward and I are Alchemists. This wasn't done with God's hand or anything; it's science."
"We're the Elric Brothers. Not to brag or anything, but our reputation is fairly widespread." Edward stated as Alphonse placed the radio on the counter.
Celina chuckled next to them, "And I'm apparently their loyal friend, Celina Tucker, 'Wolf of the Elrics'. According to the papers, I follow them around like a lost puppy and protect them like a wolf; so I guess the title fits. Somewhat."
The towns' people started up again.
"Alchemists?"
"Elrics? Not familiar."
"Wolf? Who'd call you a wolf?"
"Then it wasn't a miracle?"
"I've never heard of any Alchemists living around these parts."
"Or wolves, for that matter."
"That's because we don't have any."
"I fix things for a living though, let me know if you need a job."
Edward gritted his teeth, feeling awkward while Celina sighed, "Now you know how I feel when people say 'never heard of you'."
"He doesn't need any work, that's Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist."
All heads turned towards the voice that was smooth as silk and dripping with temptation. The voice belonged to a woman with dark, dark blue, almost black hair with gentle and gorgeous waves, incredibly pale skin, a black upper-lip accompanied by a violet lower-lip and violet eyes. She was wearing a mucky grayish green cloak and when she raised her hand, you could see it was covered with a dark green glove.
The woman smiled at the trio with a certain glint in her eyes and her hand held in an arrogant/lady-like fashion, "He's been a celebrity around East and Central City since he passed the State Alchemist test at age 12. They say he's quite the child prodigy."
At first Edward only glared at the woman suspiciously, but then smirked at the brushes on his ego, but the joy did not last. Not when as soon as the word 'Fullmetal' entered everyone's ears, their eyes were on Alphonse.
"Incredible!"
"Wow, a real live famous person."
"Now I get it, you wear the armour because people call you Fullmetal!"
"Hey, would you come to my daughter's birthday party?"
"Are you really that famous? Really?"
Alphonse, not one to enjoy being in the center of attention when he didn't deserve it, raised his hands, "I'm not the Fullmetal Alchemist, he is."
Everyone turned their heads to said boy and someone made the worst mistake of his day.
"You mean that little shorty over there?"
A tick mark appeared on Edward's head and then, he was throwing a pair of men about, screaming off his head, "SHORTY?! COULD A SHORTY DO THIS?! WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANNA CALL ME: A HALF-PINT BEAN-SPROUT MIDGET?! I'M STILL GROWING YOU BACKWATER DESERT IDIOTS! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE CALLING A BEAN SPROUT TOO TINY TO EVEN NOTICE?!"
"Nobody said anything like that!" The helpless victims of Edward's rage cried.
Joe sweat-dropped at the sight, "Should we be worried about them?"
Celina chuckled, "Oh, trust me Pops, you have nothing to fear, the worst they'll get is too dizzy to walk for 10 minutes. Besides, this is entertaining."
"I see there's plenty of excitement around here, today."
The chaos stopped for a moment as everyone turned their heads towards a girl who had just arrived on the scene. She had dark skin, dark chocolate coloured hair with pink coloured bangs framing her face and deep purple, sort of blue eyes that shone in kindness and friendship. She wore a simple yellow dress, a pair of sandals on her feet and in her arms was a paper bag of groceries.
"Oh, Rosé!" Joe greeted, glad to see his niece once more.
The girl gave a gentle smile to her uncle and then turned her attention to the 'brothers' who had stopped causing chaos and were instead staring at her, blinking in confusion.
She turned her head slightly, revealing greenish blue studs in her ears, "My, I haven't seen these folks before, but don't mind me, I'd hate to spoil all the fun."
"That's okay." Alphonse straightened up, "My name's Alphonse Elric." He gave a little bow to the girl about his own age and stood back up, "Nice to meet you."
Edward tossed aside the men he'd been throwing about and pointed at himself, grinning, "And I'm Edward, Al's older brother, also known as the Fullmetal Alchemist."
"Oh my, you're the older brother?" Rosé blinked lightly, "Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
Edward's face darkened at the hidden meaning of the comment and while Alphonse tried to keep him calm, Celina jumped in front of them and grinned, "And I'm Celina Tucker, 'Wolf of the Elrics' at your service!"
Joe chuckled slightly then turned to his darling niece, "You already done shopping for offerings, Rosé dear?"
Rosé's confusion gave way to a smile once more, "Why yes, Uncle Joe."
Joe turned his head back to the party of three, "Well then, why don't you take them to the Church of Leto? They say they're looking for something, so maybe God's Grace and Father Cornello could help them."
Alphonse had his hands raised in a gentle halting manner, "Oh no, that's okay, we don't really-"
But Rosé's gentle smile cut him off too quickly, "It's alright if you don't have an offering for the day, there are free pilgrimage's quarters there too so you could stay for the night, if you wanted."
As Alphonse continued to attempt a kind dismiss of the offering, Edward's contemplative look passed away like hot butter in a frying pan as he placed his hands on his hips, "Really? In that case, let's take them up on that offer, Al, Celly."
Alphonse blinked for a moment and looked to Edward in surprise, "O-okay?"
Celina shrugged and grinned, "I'm good as long as we get to eat and a place to sleep together."
Edward nodded and with that, the trio of travelers trailed after the local girl, all of the smiling among each other while Joe and the men gossiped.
"It sure is nice to see a smile on Rosé's face."
"Yeah, she has gotten a lot more cheerful now."
"She's beginning to act like her old self again."
"Her heart must be healing at last."
"And it's all thanks to the Minister. It truly is a miracle considering what's happened to her before."
No one noticed the dark-haired woman from before smirk knowingly before leaving.
The trio of travelers walked with the local resident, who was humming a happy tune.
Seeing Rosé was distracted, Edward decided begin a quiet conversation, "Hey, guys. Didn't that woman at the shop look familiar?"
Celina nodded in agreement, "It feels like I've smelt her around before, but I can't pinpoint where."
Alphonse disagreed with the girls, "I don't remember seeing her, maybe you two have though."
"You shouldn't worry."
They turned their heads towards Rosé, who was smiling towards them once again, "I'm sure Cornello will help you find what you're looking for." Edward and Celina offered smiles, but not much hope was in them, so Rosé continued, "And maybe if you pray enough, Leto will make you taller."
With her anger spiking once more, Edward chased after the giggling girl, screaming, "HEY, WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME?!" while Alphonse and Celina chased after the pair of them.