Theo's POV

"You guys ready?" I asked, looking at his younger brother, Maes, and younger sister, Nina. Nina was the youngest, with two years dividing her and her oldest brother.

They both nodded.

We were in the basement of the Rockbell house, all of us facing a huge transmutation circle-

A human transmutation circle.

"Let's start, then!"

I pushed the plate that we were going to transmute mom from into the middle.

It had all the necessary stuff for a body, right down to the carbon in eyelashes.

I really could recite it if I wanted, but thank god this isn't a alchemy textbook or something.

It even had my and Maes's blood, and Nina went far as to cut her pinky finger off.

She really wanted to see Mom again, even if it meant an arm and a leg.

I did the 'thumbs up' signal, meaning that we were going to start. We clapped our hands and placed them on the edge of the circle, and then a blue light beamed in our faces. We looked like poor people being notified that they just won a billion-

Shocked, but yet extremely happy.

And then an eye appeared in the middle, and purple light started flashing. There were these black things, going around the circle.

"I… I th-think that there's something wrong, brother!"

And the black stuff was replaced with these arms, reaching up.

They grabbed my left leg, and Maes was being pulled into the center, reaching out as he disappeared.

And then there was Nina, and her legs were being taken away.

"NINA! MAES!" I screamed, battling the arms, reaching for their hands.

And then everything, even the eye and the arms, disappeared. I was in a white room, with a gate behind me. It actually wasn't a room, just white, all white.

And then I heard a person say "Hey!"

I saw something all white, only there by some blackness around it.

"Who- who are you?"

"Your father asked me the same question many years ago, and I'll tell you the same answer I told him." The thing told me, smiling a smileless and eyeless grin. "I am the being you call the world. Or also, the 'universe'. Or 'God', or the 'Truth'. Or Whole. Or One. And, I am you!"

With that, the gate behind me opened.

"Welcome, poor fool and son of a fool, ignorant of your own limits."

An eye appeared behind me, and then the arms reached out.

I screamed and ran, but the arms grabbed me before I could make anything you'd call 'distance'.

"NO! LET ME GO!"

"Aw, shut up. It's what you wanted, isn't it?"

I screamed, tried to push myself out, reaching out, and trying desperately to get out.

"I will show you.. The Truth."

I was pulled in, and the gate shut. I fell into darkness, with the little arms just helping me fall.

I saw what that thing called the Truth, which was about everything in the world.

It felt like a school teacher, 100% worse.

"STOP! MY HEAD'S GOING TO EXPLODE! IT HURTS!"

I was just carried down even faster.

"STOP IT! STOP IT!"

But now I understood,

The Truth was everything, yet, of course, it was also nothing.

And then I saw Mom, with her golden ponytail swishing as if there was any wind.

"Mom…." I said, reaching out desperately.

But then, right as I almost gripped her hand, I appeared in front of the thing again.

"So, how was it?" The thing asked.

"Yes… my theory wasn't wrong!" I said. "But it wasn't enough!"

I placed my hands on the gate.

"Just let me see the theory again! It was just a bit farther… please!"

"I can't. With this toll, that's as much as I can show you."

"Toll?"

"Yes. 'Toll'."

And then, my leg appeared on the thing, and my own fell apart, as if it was sliced neatly off of me. I gasped, as my left boot flopped over, clearly with nothing in it.

"Equivalent exchange, right? Al-chem-ist."

As I regained consciousness, I screamed in pain.

"Damn it! Wha- how could have this happened?"

I balled my fists, pushing myself up.

I noticed that my leg was actually taken, and my brother and sister gone. My sister still had her clothes, which lead me to hoping that she came out of that place at a different place.

But Maes was gone, without his clothes.

He was probably gone for good!

"No… Someone… Help…"

I fell onto my side, wincing in pain.

"Mom… Mom…"

I saw something in the middle, and it looked like my mom!

But when I got a good look at it, it was just a mass of bones, blood, flesh, and hair.

"No! This couldn't be… It's just like daddy's stories… It's not… It's not… It's not what we wanted!"

"Mark! Maes!" Mark was Maes's nickname.

"Nina? Nina!" I yelled. There was absolutely nothing. Granny Pinako was coming home soon, and she would be so mad, but what about Nina and Maes?

I dragged myself over to an armor suit, and punched it, making it fall.

Blood trailing behind me, I went up to the collar, and drew a soul-bonding circle.

"Take my arm! Take my leg! Take my heart! Take ANYTHING! He's my one and only little brother! Give him back!"

After almost the same thing with my left leg happened to my right arm, I looked to Maes, the suit of armor.

"What? I'm a-" He looked at himself, balling his hands.

"Brother… how could this happen? And where's Nina?" Maes asked. "Your theory was perfect… How..?"

And then Granny got home.

"Maes? Nina? Theo? Where are you?"

Daringly, I barely mustered a "Down here."

Granny came down, groceries in hand, and said,

"I was wondering where you were! You should stay up here while I'm no-"

She dropped her groceries, gasping.

"Oh, no… You tried to transmute Winry, didn't you!" Tears streaked down her face, as she brought us upstairs, and laid me down in a bed.

After a while, someone from the military came in.

"Where are Fullmetal's sons and daughter?" He shouted, looking around.

And then he walked into the auto-mail surgery room.

He grabbed my shirt collar, and stared at me, hard.

"I heard a scream in here, and the same light that Fullmetal's house had! You did it, didn't you? You transmuted your mother!" He said, swelling with anger.

Maes put a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Please don't hurt my brother… We only… We only wanted to see Mom again… Please…"

The man put me back down, and stared at Maes.

"Exactly like Fullmetal's and his brother…" The man whispered.

"I am Fuhrer Mustang, a former friend of your father's."

"Wha- what do you want, Fuhrer bastard?" I croaked, trying to yell but only managing a horrible croak.

The Fuhrer laughed. "Colonel bastard, Fuhrer bastard, You and your father are almost just alike. I'm very sorry about his disappearance, and I have an offer."

So the man asked us to join the military, and then he left.

"Eyes of determination again, just like that time so many years ago…"

A.N: Oh, wow. I wrote this much… expect extremely quick updates, maybe one per day. For those that are wondering where Elicia is, Nina is, and Ed is, Elicia is going to come up next chapter, Nina is somewhere I can't say yet, and of course, Ed was captured by the infamous Tucker-san. Will come up next time. 3

My rule for books: Equivalent Exchange.

Of course I'll do a daily chapter or so, but for me to update faster, I may need reviews, or to be in a good mood.

I'm just going to post my pre-writen chapters today, so up to 3, they're all free. But beyond that, there's a quota.

My quota, which I can change any chapter :P : 5.

Signing off,

B-