So, yeah, this is basically a sort-of plot summary of the manga. Why, you ask me? Because my mind has been bugging me to do so since I first read chapter 108... which is almost a year ago. I've had several attempts... and all of 'em looked bad - this one was my best attempt, though still obviously lacking a lot of things. And this was only here because I incidentally seen a copy of chapters 107 and 108 in my flashdisk and was tempted to reread... and did so. Well anyway, I present to you:
The Alchemist with a Fullmetal Heart
There were once two little boys living in a small village in the East. Their mother died, and their father went away, so they had no one. And thus these two lonely boys tried to revive their mother, but instead of her warm smile, they got only a corpse of some unknown woman and lost their bodies in the exchange. The older of the brothers, Edward, lost two of his limbs, and the younger brother Alphonse was only left his soul, which was summoned into a suit of armour by Edward. Thus from that moment on, the two boys lived with their neighbour and best friend Winry, who lost her parents in the war, and her Grandma Pinako. Their lives were quiet and almost sad, that is, until the day life was offered back to them.
Lt. Colonel Roy Mustang and Lt. Riza Hawkeye were bitter, war-hardened people who vowed their lives for the country and held great visions for it. They had witnessed mass murder, participated in it, inflicted and got wounded in war, yet they still believed in the good that the country may have in the future. Upon hearing about a prodigy alchemist in the small village in East, they came to visit and succeeded in recruiting Edward to the military. They would've had Alphonse, too, for Edward was not the only prodigy, but human transmutation was forbidden by the law and the brothers' dirty secret would be found out should a suit of armour appear and try out for the state alchemist test. The Lt. Colonel took it upon himself to be the mentor of the young boys and secretly vowed to help them get their bodies back. This particular chapter of the boys' lives marked the beginning of their long journey.
A particular legend of the Philosopher's Stone interested the boys: the red-coloured orb and its magnificent powers that were said "able to revive even the dead" tempted the young Elrics to have it. But in the process of looking for the rare stone, the boys, their soldier comrades and friends they made in the journey discovered secrets concerning the stone – secrets that they should not ever know. These secrets revealed the corruptness of the leaders of the country: hungriness for power, willingness to shed blood for convenience and that the country was actually lead by the villain. These did not make the whole military bad – in fact, a lot of soldiers wanted to serve the country for the better, but they were all deceived into helping the leaders getting even more power.
They met the Homunculi – these were artificial humans who had even more power than the real humans did; not only that, they were also immortal in some extent. They thought these were the villains they should defeat, yet they finally discovered that not all homunculi were bad – they only wanted to become humans. As their journey continued, Edward and Alphonse finally knew that they did not want the Philosopher's Stone – they wanted to eliminate the evil. Now that they thought about it, it was better living as souls in incomplete bodies than to rejoice by the fruits of evil deeds.
Yes, they had first thought der Fuhrer to be the source of all evil, but he was not. He was only another puppet to the true leader of the country, or as all Homunculi hailed, 'Father'. Father was the only original homunculus, and all other homunculi were his children – children that completed his desire to be human, yet also supported his ambition to become God. And so the Elric boys and their comrades fought for the good and peace.
All good deeds are rewarded, the religious say. But neither Edward nor Alphonse was religious, nor was Roy Mustang and his subordinates. But all the same they were rewarded for their good deeds in some ways: Edward and Alphonse eventually got their bodies back (save for Edward's leg – he did not want to change that, ever, or Winry would be mad), Roy got closer to his goal to become Fuhrer and the country had its peace. But that did not mark the end of the brothers' journey:
There were once two grown boys living in a small village in the East. Peace and good had come for everyone, they knew, but there were still people suffering out there; not everyone had their lives back after the defeat of the corrupt leaders. And so Edward went West and Alphonse headed further East, and they would continue to learn until all was good.
The End? Not quite. The brothers would be back alive and kicking! Someday…
I hope it was not that bad. Now tell me what you think! Now, like, now!