Disclaimer: I make no profit, and write these works purely for my own entertainment and the entertainment of others.
Note: I've mentioned in the summary that this is a partially AU story because I've mostly stopped following the canon, the moment the two Elric boys returned to their homeland in Risembool. This is not an Winry x Edward fanfiction, and although I haven't planned it out yet, this will most likely end up in a Edward x OC fanfiction, but that is yet to see due to the complexity of the plot ( I do not want to add any romantic elements yet). I also want to mention that this choice is not because I think Ed would be better paired with an OC. I admit that Winry is not one of my favorite characters nor do I favor Edward x Winry pairing. I respect those who love this pairing, therefore I have not completely omitted to talk about their relationships and how it comes to an end in a plausible way and for reasons I think it would. I am not asking to like it, and you are not obliged to read, but if you do read it, I hope you'll enjoy this Alternate Universe. And it is an Alternate Universe, because after all, we all know how the manga ended.
I will try my best at keeping the characters the way they are in the FMA.
I hope you'll enjoy my work.
Heart of Atlas
Prologue.
"Give me knowledge.''
When the long twilight waned upon the rim
Of the earth and sky, a voice within me cried,
"Yonder thy way lies, o'er yon opal tide,
-Forth to the west before thine eyes grow dim!"
So forth I fared unwearying, till the slim
Boughs of an unknown islet I descried,
Pencilled against the horizon, waving wide
And many hued, like wings of cherubim. Aye, there it was, the dream of many a year.
The vision vanishing through dark and day,
The lost isle veiled in world-old mystery,
Sought and not found, green while the earth turns grey.
Strange blossoms fluttered down to welcome me
And whispering in strange tongues, the waves drew near.
"By such reflections and by the continuance in them of a divine nature, the qualities which we have described grew and increased among them; but when the divine portion began to fade away, and became diluted too often and too much with the mortal admixture, and the human nature got the upper hand, they then, being unable to bear their fortune, behaved unseemly, and to him who had an eye to see grew visibly debased, for they were losing the fairest of their precious gifts; but to those who had no eye to see the true happiness, they appeared glorious and blessed at the very time when they were full of avarice and unrighteous power."
A wondrous, mystic blending
Of the sun's fervid light
With liquid moonlight, lending
Charms both of day and night-
Pale twilight, rosy dawning,
Rising and setting sun,
Glories of noon and morning
All melted into one. Sands that are more than golden
Shine thro' that radiant veil,
But the seeker's step is holden
And to reach it still will fail;
Yet when the sun is setting
Off Erin's surf-drenched shore,
Which sun-dyed waves are fretting,
We glimpse that land once more.
The god of gods, who rules according to law, and is able to see into such things, perceiving that an honourable race was in a woeful plight, and wanting to inflict punishment on them, that they might be chastened and improve, collected all the gods into their most holy habitation, which being placed in the centre of the world, beholds all created things. And when he had called them together, he spoke as follows –
"In order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost or destroyed.''
There is a story of a beauteous land,
Where fields were fertile and where flowers were bright;
Where tall towers glistened in the morning light,
Where happy children wandered hand in hand,
Where lovers wrote their names upon the sand.
They say it vanished from all human sight,
The hungry sea devoured it in a night.
You doubt the tale? ah, you will understand;
For, as men muse upon that fable old,
They give sad credence always at the last,
However they have cavilled at its truth,
When with a tear-dimmed vision they behold,
Swift sinking in the ocean of the Past
The lovely lost Atlantis of their Youth
First poem – Mary C. Gillington 'Atlantis'
Second poem - Jane Budge 'The Lost Atlantis'
Third poem – Ella Wheeler Wilcox 'The Lost Land'
The two long quotes – Plato 'Timaeus/Critias'