Edward found himself staring at yet another useless book hidden among another hundred. He leaned back in his chair in frustration as he tossed it over his shoulder gaining some small satisfaction from the deafened thud that it made before glancing around at his surroundings. He had been searching through this entire dust encased library for days to no avail. Not one single volume tucked away in this damned place revealed any clues on how to close the portal.
With little hope left Edward let out a loud sigh and reached for the next volume stacked on his desk and begrudgingly opened it with his mind set for disappointment. The first few pages did just that, disappoint him and out of shear boredom he rifled through the page to find if anything at all was there that could help his situation.
To his surprise he saw a glimpse of something and quickly flipped back a couple pages. THERE! A Transmutation circle scribbled on one of the pages along with measurements and notes hastily scribed below some of the useless dribble that this book contained. Upon closer inspection Edward was able to make out the needed chemical measurements written in sloppy and rushed handwriting. Throughout the notes there was mentioning's of body mass and movement. Edward found that he was staring at some sort of complex transmutation circle for accelerated motion akin to teleportation.
Two circles conjoined in the middle overtop of a nine point star and encircled with a double ring containing intricate formulas and measurements
Edward stared at the ingenious of the circle as his mind started to work. He found that with some alteration to the salt, ammonia and carbon amounts as well as some minor adjustments to the central circles and adding extras as needed, this diagram was his key. With this Edward could easily shut down the portal and set things right.
In excitement Edward leaped out of the chair and dashed down the hall. "Al! I found it! Stop what you're doing and get over here!"
After a couple of intense days Alfonse and his older brother found themselves in a rundown basement of the castle where the portal had been created and remained to that day, staring at an increasingly complicated transmutation circle. Seven rings overlapping at the center with a spiral set between them and encircled with three outer rings scribed with the needed formulas. The ingredients were piled in the middle and a few candles meticulously placed on the outer rim of the largest ring. The candle lighting gave the basement a dark and even greater ominous feel.
Edward could still feel the power of the portal emanating from the other room not thirty meters below them. The sooner it was gone the better in Edwards mind. With that thought he turned to his brother. There was little more that could be done. They had checked and double checked the measurements down the last microgram. Alphonse had even gone over the circles a third time to check their perfection.
Edward took a final look at their creation with a nod and drew a small knife across his palm. The pain was sharp but short, his blood gathering in the center of his hand. Quickly he turned his bloody palm down and touched the outer ring.
The reaction was almost instantaneous. The room became brighter as the candles flared and the circle glowed with crimson power. Edward could feel the portal below him closing and gave his brother a look of triumph, but his celebration was all too soon and short lived. For the next moment Alfonse's face gave way to an expression of pure terror and that's when he felt it.
A new portal tore opened behind him, a gaping maw of purple and black energy. From what Edward could see over his shoulder was that this portal was even more powerful than the last, and it grew in strength rapidly, beginning to pull on him.
Edward felt himself sliding backward toward the opening; his steel caped boots scraping across the floor leaving white drag lines and emitting a high pitched screeching. He gave his brother a look of desperation as the thought of them separating again struck him, he leaped forward but was already within feet of the portal and his little jump only gave him a couple of inches and left him on the floor with little to nothing he could do to save himself.
It was then that Alfonse reacted, thanks to Edward's jump Al was given enough time to act. In a flash he swiped his hand across the circle in hopes of undoing the affects and cutting short the transmutation. Only in his rush the younger brother merely succeeded in connecting two separate rings and altering the outcome.
With the new design in affect the transmutation circle went from a blood red to a pure white glow. The portal collapsed and Edward found that instead of him being pulled into the portal, the room around him simply disappeared, replaced with a sky blue field…
Ayano found herself staring off at the two figures. With a tired sigh she watched the forms of Bernhardt and Lapis disappear. She looked from the spot that Lapis had been just a second ago and to her cousin with sadness in her heart. How do you heal someone with such a deep wound?
Before she could say or do anything she heard a loud shout of surprise from above her. Ayano looked up to find a Blonde haired man falling from an incredible height. She wasn't sure how he had managed to get up so high but it was simple enough to assume he had no way to stop his impending death.
She was about to say something when the shouting stopped and as Ayano focused a little harder she could just barely make out a single phrase that he kept repeating. "Please work. Please work…"
After a few seconds of him repeating that the man stretched his hands far apart then slapped them together. With a seemingly shout of delight the air around him crackled with energy and a wave of it shot down to the ground and the force of the impact and rebound visibly slowed the young man enough that when he hit the ground it was no longer life threatening. The area around the contact point billowed with dust and Ayano stared at it with mild interest.
Seconds later she heard what could only be maniacal laughing as the man stumbled out of the dust. "Man it's good to be back" He said with a grin from ear to ear.
Ayano shook her head in amusement. She was pretty sure that the man had used wind elemental magic to slow his fall, but if that were true than why hadn't he simple started to fly instead of falling in the first place. Either way he was defiantly not normal.
The man turned around and stared at the dust cloud he had just created and with his hands on his hips kept laughing. It lasted for a while before he realized he was not alone. With an air of accomplishment the man walked in Ayano, Rein, and Kazuma's direction.
As he got closer Ayano was able to see through his torn cloths and just barely make out some sort of metal encasing his right arm. It was rather strange and caught her attention almost as much as the odd haircut and clothing.
"So, is this any part of Germany or are we in Amestris?" The man asked with a sense of urgency that contradicted his earlier attitude.
"You're kidding right?" Rein asked with disbelief in his words.
Ayano now saw that the strange man was even weirder than her first assumption. Who could possibly be that geographically challenged?
"Well I performed a transmutation and things went wrong, so now I'm here and don't know where 'here' is exactly." The man replied.
"Well I would say you're pretty much on the wrong continent." Kazuma replied. "Try a few thousand miles to your west and maybe about two thousand miles north because this is Japan."
"Japan?" The man asked and for the first time it became apparent to Ayano just how short he was. In fact he was easily as short as her yet appeared a year or two older.
"I thought short people were supposed to be smart but you don't even know what country you're in." Ayano shot at him smugly.
The man instantly went on a rage, "Damn it! Who are you calling shorty!"
"Whatever, anyways just how did you say you got here?" Ayano asked.
"Well I was using a transmutation circle and something was off." He glanced sideways and then jumped back in surprise, "Don't tell me I did all this!"
Kazuma looked at the man with interest, "No this was mostly our fault, but do you usually create this sort of destruction?"
The blond haired man hunched his shoulders up, "You just claimed to have caused this then accuse me of being destructive?"
"Don't argue with him, his arrogance will just twist whatever you say." Ayano said with a laugh.
"Well that's not fair." The man complained with a glare.
Edward continued to glare at the three strange people before him but after a moment he felt his frustration leave him and replace with curiosity.
It wasn't only just their personalities that were weird it was also their attire. They wore clothing that seemed more refined than his and of better quality. They were both woven with finer and more exact precision. There was no way they were done by hand.
His only assumption was that he was yet again in another world. Their cloths were just too perfect; there just was no way human hands could have done it. So if he wasn't in a familiar world then just where the hell was he?!
"What kind of magic did you use by the way?" Edward heard the girl say. He glanced at her and once again found himself focusing on her bright pink hair and dark red eyes. He had to admit she did look cute but that aside…
"Like I said I used a Transmutation circle." He replied then he noticed their blank stares and shook his head, "You know, deconstruction followed by reconstruction", their stares did not change, "it's called alchemy."
The girl's eyes brightened and she looked at him with something close to curiosity, "Don't tell me you go around trying to turn lead into gold."
"Well that is a form of alchemy but it's forbidden, although I was never one to follow the rules." Edward answered rolling his eyes.
The man on her right stared at him with a raised eyebrow, "For a second I thought you were joking, but now I can see your nuts."
"I'm not crazy!" Edward muttered defensively. Then after a moment he figured he could prove his sanity, "Alright then I'll show you what I can do."
Edward pulled up his sleeves revealing more of his automail and absently taking note of their stares. Then he looked around for something to change and after a second he simply gave up looking, "You really did a number on this place."
With little other choice he figured he did have something and he slapped his hands together and then slid his hand across the metal replacement he used for a right arm.
He felt the usual surge of static shock as the metal changed shape. As his hand moved down the metal limb the forearm plate stretched and sharped. He reached the end of his metallic fist and kept going creating the short blade he had always used in the past. He heard the gasp of his audience and swung his arm in a demonstration.
"What… How did… There is something wrong with your arm." The girl said before letting her mouth hang open in shock. The man on the other hand just stared in simple interest as if trying to fit pieces to a puzzle together.
With his point proven Edward felt content enough to simply reverse the process and alter his arm back to its normal state. He almost felt his ego growing and could only smile and bask in the awe and wonder the girl was throwing his way.
The third person stared opened mouthed at Edward. He had bright blond hair. Not to mention his red shirt and yellow sleeves. Edward looked at him and could easily assume he was a similar age to Al… "AL!"
"AL?" The girl asked.
"I'm such an idiot! Well not really, but you know what I mean." Edward offered.
"To be perfectly honest, and I think I speak for everyone, but no I don't think we do." The man replied with a touch of boredom.
"He is my little brother. I left him back in the other world." Edward shot out as he started to pull out some hair. "Oh, Man what do I do?! He could be… He could be…"
Edward felt a hand take a firm grip on his shoulder and looked up at the man, "Calm down little man, I'm sure he will be fine."
"Now I'm little! And no I will NOT calm down; I need to get back to my brother." Edward said with a glare at the brown eyed man that seemed to tower over him.
"Didn't you just say he was in another world? Do you even know how to get back there?" the man said calmly.
"Well I would need to do some research, maybe talk to some other alchemists… Do you know where I can find someone?" Edward asked.
"Look you're in a world with no alchemists" the woman said in a matter of fact tone, "If you don't want to be locked up in some sort of crazy home I suggest you don't go around looking for someone else that turns water into wine."
"First of all it's fairly easy to make wine from water, but that's not the point!" Edward shot back in frustration. Why were these people so unwilling to just point him in a direction?
"So I'll go on a limb and say you have nowhere to stay while you research right." The girl asked.
Edward felt instantly on edge and not willing to trust this rude chick, "Maybe I do and maybe I don't, what's it to you?"
"She's inviting you over to her place cause she thinks you would be of some interest to her father." The man replied with a sly smile.
"Stop doing that! I hate it when you read my mind!" The girl said angrily as the man dodged her blow with ease.
"Did you just say he can read minds?" Edward asked with fear evident in his voice and turned to make a quick escape.
"Calm down short stuff she was just saying that I know her too well and I just knew what she was thinking," the man replied dodging another brash attack.
Edward stopped mid stride and turned around. He paused to think about his options. Here he was with no place to stay and no clue what was in store with him. What could happen at some girl's place? Nothing worse than what he had already gone through right? "So if I'm of an interest to your father then I may have a place to stay for a little while?"
"Just ask the girl on a date and the old man will hand it over lock, stock and barrel." The man replied with a smirk, "The old man has been trying to sell her off pretty fast as it is, but sadly I'm just not interested."
"He has not! Not to mention you're my cousin, gross." The girl shot back with a glare.
"You're so innocent my young fire cracker." The man replied as he ducked under a jet of flame.
This last action took Edward by surprise, these people were obviously not alchemists yet she had just wielded some sort of power similar Colonel Mustang's. Was everyone in this world like that? To answer his question the man shot back a gust of wind that tore a hole through the girls skirt and caused her to grab at it and glare daggers at him.
Edward frowned at the duo. They wielded powers and affected the area around them but with no transmutation circle of any kind, nothing he could see anyways. To Did he realy want to involve these people, with a shake of his head he looked to the quarreling pair No choice "Alright, I'll meet with your father,"After all, he may be able to help.
His words caught the attention of the quarrelling cousins and while one gave him a smile that sent a chill crawling up his spine the other just stared at him with a slight half smile, it seemed that he was trying to piece him together again; man Edward hated it when people tried to figure him out.