The countryside was alive with the sound of young children running by, and people hollering to each other from across their fields. It was the beginning of summer break, and Erika Kaufmann had to spend the whole two months with her grandmother in Resembool, a boring town on the outskirts of the State of Amestris, of all places. She would've liked it better back at home in Central City where she could go swimming with her friends; her parents had installed an in-ground pool in their yard- and her little brother was going to get to use it first! But, her grandmother needed someone to be there for her, and Erika was prepared to sacrifice her entire summer for her family.

"Remember Erika; don't pester your grandmother- she's dealing with enough stress as it is," The muffled voice of her mother said from the speaker of Erika's cell phone, "and don't forget to call her 'Oma'; she says it reminds her of the time when you were little- and your grandfather was still alive."

"I'll remember," Erika replied as she trudged down the sidewalk, "bye." Erika snapped her phone shut as she stopped at a small house. It seemed quite out of place; a small house on the top of a large, grassy hill. "I sure hope this is Oma's house," she muttered to herself as she dragged her suitcase up the creaking stairs, "it feels like I've been walking all day." Once she had dragged her things up to the door, it slowly creaked open.

"Erika, is that you?" a short lady with silvery wisps of hair asked from behind the door.

"It's me, Oma," Erika said with a smile, "How did you know I was here?"

"Oh, I could hear the creaking of those old stairs. I really must get those fixed. Now darling, do come in!" Oma said with a smile as she took Erika's hand. Erika couldn't help but smile as the vaguely familiar scent of fresh baked apple pies filled her nose. The old black and white pictures which covered every wall seemed to call out to her- she definitely felt at home with Oma.

"Have you been visited by any patients lately?" Erika asked as she set her suitcase down near the kitchen.

"Not lately," Oma sighed as she pulled a pie from the oven, "No one goes for automail anymore; they all want the light, plastic prosthetic limbs. The downside to them is they don't function like automail; they don't function like a real arm or leg." Oma, since she was a young girl, had been creating mechanical limb replacements called automail for those who had lost an arm or leg during one of the many wars between Amestris, and one of the neighbouring countries, Drachma. It was also created for those who had lost limbs in car accidents, and even those who had been born without a fully developed limb.

"Don't worry Oma," Erika said as she sat down on one of the padded chairs, "you'll get some traffic here sooner or later." She highly doubted her own words, but she had to tell her grandmother something. The two were silent for a long while until Erika decided to change the conversation topic. "Oma," she began, "may I visit your study? You told me that a friend of your grandmother's once kept some of his research notes there before he left Amestris; I wanted to know if I-"

"Could read his notes and become a good for nothing State Alchemist?" Oma interrupted as she set her pie on the window sill to cool. "Erika, that friend of mine, his son became a State Alchemist after reading those notes; he became one of the military's attack dogs; they slapped a collar onto his neck and held him by a leash to hold him back from being with his family. That decision nearly cost him his life- on a number of occasions. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you, and I was partially responsible for it."

Alchemy is the science of reshaping or combining different kinds of matter to suit your needs. When used correctly, Alchemy could make a life a million times better than it originally was. But, when used incorrectly, it resulted in very dire consequences.

"State Alchemists are not good for nothing," Erika countered, "my father- your son is a State Alchemist; he made our lives amazing! Sure, they're forced to do things they might not want to, but that doesn't mean they're taken advantage of like that!"

"Erika Marie Kaufmann, this conversation is now closed!" Oma said sternly. "You will not read those research notes- not if I can help it." Erika opened her mouth to protest, and then hesitantly closed it. She hadn't even been in the house for an hour and was already bickering with her grandmother. "Now that we have that out of the way," Oma said with a quiet sigh, "why don't you go and make yourself comfortable in your room?"

Erika trudged into the room closest to the stairs and nudged the door open. She sighed deeply as the smell of flowers wafted towards her from the open window. Despite feeling depressed and defeated, she still managed to smile. Sunlight filled the room, making the whitewashed walls look like the light was emanating from the paint itself. The dresser was covered with pictures of two young boys. In the corner sat a small bed. It wasn't much of a room, but then again, her grandmother didn't have much for money; she couldn't afford to buy anything too fancy. "Well, I guess I'll just have to make the best of this," Erika sighed as she set her suitcase on her bed and began to unpack.

xXx

Beep, beep, The alarm Erika had set on her cell phone began to charm. She groggily sat up in bed and grabbed her phone from the makeshift table she'd made from her suitcase and four large stacks of books. Eleven o' clock PM the analog clock read as she pressed a button, turning off the blaring alarm. "Better now than never to get into the study," she whispered to herself as she tiptoed across the floor, wincing as the floorboards creaked beneath her feet. 'Finally,' Erika thought as she slipped into the study, the door softly clicking closed behind her, 'I made it in.' Carefully, she felt around and eventually found a small table with a gas lamp and matches. As quietly as she could, Erika struck a match and lit the lamp, illuminating the room. "This is amazing," she thought aloud as she browsed the many shelves filled with books ranging from the basics of Alchemy; to how to create a Chimera; a life form made by fusing two or more separate life forms to the core. As she pulled two particularly thick books from their spots, she noticed something peculiar. Set into the wall was a secret shelf that had been blocked by the thick books in Erika's hands. Upon the shelf were four leather bound journals. "Jackpot," Erika said quietly, "there'll be a ton of good info in these." Carefully, she took the journals and slid the thick books back in place, and crept over to the gas lamp, the journals tucked under her arm. As quietly as she could, Erika flipped the small switch on the lamp's base, cutting off its gas supply on her way out of the room. "Sorry Oma Winry," she whispered as she tiptoed back into her room, "but I just had to get my hands on the research of such an intelligent alchemist."

xXx

Throughout the next handful of weeks, Erika stayed up late at night, reading through the journals she had managed to snag. One night, while leafing through the fourth journal, one page caught her eye. 'The Philosopher's Stone' the label read.

"I've never heard of that," Erika said quietly, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to learn about it." Letting her curiosity get the best of her, she began to read.

'The Philosopher's Stone is known by many other names;' the journal read, 'the Elixir of Life, the Sage's Stone, and many others. The Philosopher's Stone is an Alchemic amplifier; while using its awesome power in a transmutation, you have the ability that no other alchemist does; you can ignore the laws of Alchemy, the most important one being Equivalent Exchange. No one has successfully found or created a true Philosopher's Stone, but rather, they have made unstable fakes, sometimes referred to as prototype stones or Red Stones. There have been a number of rumors spread around about alchemists using the stones in Human Transmutations.'

"Human what?" Erika exclaimed. Human Transmutation was an attempt to transmute a human- create a body and bring a lost loved one's soul back from beyond what was known as 'the Gate'; where all things given to the principal of Equivalent Exchange are taken to and destroyed; and rebind the soul it to its body. Erika had read somewhere that Human Transmutations were strictly forbidden by the State because they always resulted in serious injury, or much worse.

Taped below the entry were two red stones, which Erika carefully pulled from the sticky backing. She assumed they were fake Philosopher's Stones.

"Well, if these stones were left in the Human Transmutation section," Erika said as she closed the journal and shoved it under her bed, "maybe it means that I can transmute safely with them."

xXx

"Erika, wake up, dear," Oma called from the kitchen.

"Coming," Erika said groggily as she sat up in bed; three weeks worth of staying up late at night and reading wasn't as easy as she'd thought. She slowly trudged to the kitchen, and plopped herself down into one of the chairs.

"It looks like all that reading about Alchemy tuckered you out," Oma said quietly as she placed a plate of pancakes in front of her granddaughter, "you really must be determined to learn Alchemy." Erika froze; did her grandmother just say what she thought she'd said?

"S-sorry?" Erika stuttered. Did her grandmother know about what she'd done?

"Did you honestly think I wouldn't figure it out sooner or later?" Oma asked with a sigh, "I knew you'd eventually find those journals. When you stopped asking about the research notes, I knew something was up. I checked on the journals last night- they were gone, and I knew you'd taken them."

"I'm sorry Oma," Erika replied guiltily, "I know the journals weren't mine to take, but I had to read those notes."

"You're just like your father was when he was your age," Oma began. Erika hung her head low, expecting her grandmother to tell her how unimpressed she was. "You've got a thirst for knowledge, which you'll try to quench in any way you can." she replied with a smile. Erika looked up at her grandmother, a look of shock on her face.

"You're not upset with me?" Erika asked, "Not even a little?" The fact that Oma wasn't upset came as a real shock to her.

"I'm not pleased that you took the journals without asking," Oma replied, "but I'm glad you've finally found something you love and are passionate about. Just promise me you won't join the Military as a State Alchemist."

"I promise, Oma," Erika said as she hugged her grandmother, "I promise."

As Erika picked at her breakfast and her grandmother walked about the kitchen, cleaning and cooking at the same time, she felt more and more compelled to ask her grandmother about the one thing that had been floating around in her mind for the past couple of days.

"Oma," she said softly. Her grandmother turned to look at her. Erika was extremely afraid to ask about it. She didn't know what to expect her grandmother's reaction to be like.

"Yes, Erika? Is there something you'd like to talk about?" Oma asked as she placed her dish rag on the counter and sat down at the breakfast table.

"What do you know about Human Transmutation?" Erika asked quietly. She looked into her grandmother's eyes, looking for any sign of anger. All she could see was shock, and maybe even fear.

Oma stood up and walked over to the sink, "I don't know too much about it, but I know it's forbidden," she said as she began to wash the dishes, "and I know that there were two alchemists here in Resembool who tried it."

"What happened to them?" Erika asked, sounding more eager than she intended, "where are they now? Are they still here? Did they succeed?"

"They died." Oma said bluntly. Erika looked up at her grandmother. She didn't seem to want to talk anymore.

Erika placed her plate on the counter beside the dishes, "thanks for chatting with me, Oma." she said as she left the room.

Oma sighed and glanced at Erika as she walked into her room and shut the door behind her, "please Erika, don't try to make the impossible possible."

xXx

Erika sat in her room, the journal with the entry on Human Transmutation open in her hands. "I hate seeing Oma upset; I haven't seen her smile for so long. If only Opa was alive." she sighed as she examined a symbol on a page. "Wait a minute," she murmured as she set the journal aside and flipped open the other three journals and examined the symbols drawn in them. "Eureka!" she said as she grabbed her pen and flipped to a blank page in the first journal, "Now I'll be able to pull it off for sure!"

xXx

It was a dark outside, and the crash of thunder could be heard harmonizing with the sound of the rain pelting the window of Erika's room. The journals she had been reading and writing in were spread lying open on the floor, each showing a complex circular geometric pattern; a transmutation circle. Erika had been studying each one carefully, eventually realizing that when layered together, they became what looked like one large transmutation circle that could be used to transmute a human. The first journal with the first circle drawn in it had an entry that suggested that the array displayed below it was the only transmutation circle that, theoretically, would allow an alchemist to transmute a human. Erika knew better than that. The circle looked incomplete. She traced each circle in each journal onto individual pieces of transparent plastic and layered them together, revealing the complete circle. Upon discovering the array, Erika, at that time not knowing about the consequence of violating the taboo, was convinced that she would be able to use it.

"These five points create a steady flow of energy," Erika said to herself as she gestured to the chalk drawing of her array which she had carefully transferred onto the floor, "but what exactly do I need the energy for?" Now even more compelled to try out the array, Erika pulled a large wooden box out from under her bed. She quietly flipped the latches open, revealing twenty or so bags, each filled with a different kind of element. "I hope Oma won't mind me using the Alchemy tools she had in the study," Erika said to herself, knowing full well that she was really crossing the line this time. Slowly and carefully, she measured out the proper amount of each powder contained within the bags, all according to the information in the journals. "…Carbon, Calcium, Magnesium, and last, but not least, Sulfur." Erika mumbled as she poured the powders into the center of her circle. She quickly put the bags back in their box, and walked back to the center of the transmutation circle. "This should be enough to bring Opa back." she said as she grabbed a sewing needle she'd transmuted earlier that day. "My blood for his; that's a fair trade, right?" she asked herself as she gently poked her fingertip with the needle. A small bead of blood formed, and dropped down onto the pile of powders. Erika quickly put the needle away, and walked back to the edge of her circle. "I can't forget the last part!" she said with a smirk as she pulled one of the Philosopher's Stones out of her pocket. She placed the stone by the array, and gathered all of her strength. "Here goes nothing," she said to herself as she placed her hands on the edge of the circle. Slowly, the transmutation began to emit a deep blue light. As the transmutation went on, the light grew brighter, and the powders within the circle began to move around. 'It's working,' Erika thought, a smile spreading across her face. Just as she was about to add more energy to the transmutation, the blue light started to turn red. The humanoid figure in the center of the circle began to twist and turn into something different. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light. When Erika opened her eyes, she was sitting before a giant gate, the Philosopher's Stone she was using floating beside her. She stared in horror as the gate opened, and thousands of black tendrils emerged. One of the tendrils snaked its way over to the Philosopher's stone and dragged it into the never-ending darkness beyond the gate. The rest all flew towards Erika, her mouth open wide, and throat burning from all of her screaming. No matter how hard she fought, she couldn't stop the tendrils from grabbing her limbs and pulling her in. On top of that, it seemed that her body was being deconstructed. In bright flashes of white light, parts of her limbs would disappear. "Oma Winry, help me; somebody, please!" Erika screamed as her Oma burst through the door, a look of fear and shock on her face. By the time she had gotten into Erika's room, it was too late. Erika had been dragged back to wherever the tendrils and gate had come from. In the center of the circle was what could only be described as a monster. It didn't even remotely look human.

"This is all my fault," Oma Winry sobbed as she buried her face in her hands, "it's all my fault."

xXx

The light from the setting sun cast a red glow on the buildings. It was getting dark and very cold outside- the evenings in Germany usually weren't as chilly. A boy walked down the street, pulling his brown coat tight around his torso. He hummed softly as he walked. The only thing on his mind was getting back home for a good nights' sleep. As he strolled along, he noticed an unusual shape in the distance, farther down the sidewalk. Now interested, he picked up his pace, his dark gold eyes glittering softly in the dimming light. As he neared, the shape became clearer. Lying on the sidewalk was a girl. The boy gasped and ran towards her.

"Alphonse, what's wrong?" the voice of another boy called. The boy called Alphonse turned to see the owner of the voice, a shorter boy walking towards him. When the boy saw what had troubled Alphonse, he stopped in his tracks. "Oh, this isn't good," he mumbled as he raced over to the girl, "come on; let's get her inside."

This is chapter one of a story I wrote for my ELA class this past year, and I decided to submit it to make up for my absence here on Fanfiction. I hope you liked it!