Hello and Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you had a fabulous holiday season!

For those of you that read my other stories, this is the twelfth series in the Baby Universe. For those of you that are new, I hope you will enjoy this story!

Caden was tired, hungry, and more importantly, lost. Well, he thought to himself, maybe being hungry was more important than being lost. His stomach seemed to agree with that conclusion. His sharp brown eyes squinted against the bright sunlight as he looked about the town for somewhere he could eat.

"Hey, kid, are you lost?" A young woman smiled warmly as she approached Caden.

Immediately, Caden put on his best puppy dog eyes and began sniffling. "Yes ma'am. I'm really hungry but I don't have any money."

The woman smiled and patted his messy blonde hair down. "Don't worry. I'll help you. We'll get you fed and then we'll find your mommy. I'm Rose, by the way."

"Thanks, Rose-neesan!" Caden grinned up at her as she took his hand. "I'm Caden." Caden hummed to himself as Rose led him down the winding streets. He stopped when he heard a loud commotion coming from up ahead.

"Oh my." Rose said softly before tugging Caden over to an outside stand that said 'Food'. "You seem rather busy today."

Caden peered curiously at the two people standing beside the food stand. One was rather tall and clothed in a full suit of armor. The other, much shorter male had blonde hair in a braid and sharp golden eyes. Caden stared at them for another moment before looking down at the ground and noticing the Alchemy circle. His eyes lit up and he let go of Rose's hand. "Are you guys Alchemist?"

The shorter one's chest seemed to puff up as he nodded. "We're the Elric brothers."

Caden's eyes widened. "No way! So, you're the famous Fullmetal Alchemist?" Caden rushed over to the one dressed in armor and grabbed his hand. "You're so cool!"

"Um, I'm not the Fullmetal Alchemist. I'm Alphonse Elric, the younger brother." Alphonse answered softly. "My older brother, Edward Elric, is the Fullmetal Alchemist."

Caden blinked, looking dubiously over at Edward. He looked back at Al, a frown on his face. "But, he's so short."

Al immediately scooped Caden up and held him high in the air while Edward screamed furiously at the child. "Hey, go easy on him. He's just a kid."

Edward glowered up at the little boy. "That's no excuse! He should respect his elders!"

Caden stuck his tongue out at Edward. "I'll respect you when you grow another foot." He grinned as Edward began shouting angrily again.

"Caden, shouldn't we go find your mother?" Rose asked.

"Oh, no." Caden said as Al finally lowered him to the ground. He put on the happiest grin he could muster. "My mom's dead. I'm trying to get to East City. My cousin lives there. I'll stay with these guys."

Rose nodded hesitantly before smiling at them. "May Leto bless you!" She called before rushing off.

Caden blinked as he felt someone roughly poking him in the head. He turned around, swatting Edward's hand away. "Stop that."

Edward glowered down at the little boy. "Who said you could stay with us?"

"I did." Caden answered, as though it were obvious. "You're a state alchemist, aren't you? That means you'll be going where my cousin is eventually. I just want to tag along until then. Besides, I can help you guys investigate this Father Cornello character."

Intrigued, Edward crouched down in front of Caden. "You mean the guy that's been rambling over the radio for an hour now?"

Caden nodded his head. "Yeah. I've been here for a couple days now and I've heard people talking about him. Apparently, he claims to have the power of miracles and the ability to raise the dead." Caden beamed as Edward mulled over the information. "So, can I come with you guys? I promise I won't get in the way. Besides, I wanna see the Fullmetal Alchemist in action!"

Al sighed at the way Edward's chest puffed up. "You seem to really like alchemy, Caden."

Caden grinned as he began walking away, leading the two towards the church. "Yup. I've read lots of books about alchemy. I want to become an alchemist!"

"You're really hyper." Edward muttered as the trio quietly entered the church. It seemed they had just missed the main congregation as all the pews were completely empty. Edward sighed and plopped down on one of the front pews. "So, what's a kid doing out here all by himself?"

Caden glanced over from the giant Leto statue, his grin never leaving his face. "My dad was murdered and my mom's dead. The only other family I have is my cousin. She lives in East City so I'm going to see if she'll let me stay with her. Otherwise, I'll have to go to an orphanage."

Edward was about to say something more when Rose came into the room. Her face lit up when she saw the three of them. "Are you three interested in joining the Church of Leto?"

"Nah," Edward answered. "I'm not really a religious person."

Rose frowned. "That's not good! If you have faith, you'll definitely grow taller!"

Caden laughed as Alphonse had to hold Edward back from pummeling the oblivious girl. He tuned out a majority of the conversation, instead looking up curiously at the statue of the Sun God, Leto. Flashes of fire ran through his mind, his mother was screaming, his father was fighting some unknown enemy, and the monster…

"Hey, Caden, we're going to check out this Father Cornello's 'miracle' powers." Alphonse said gently. "Want to come?"

Caden snapped himself from his stupor and grinned up at Alphonse. "Yeah, sure." He followed the two alchemist out of the church, trying his best to ignore Edward staring at him. "What?"

Edward looked at Caden for another moment before shrugging. "Nothing." He frowned as they were at the back of a large group. Muttering angrily to himself, Edward stood on top of his suitcase in order to better see Father Cornello.

Caden stood on his tiptoes and jumped up in down, vainly trying to see over all the ridiculously tall people. He couldn't help the squeak that came out of his mouth as cold metal hands picked him up. "Thanks, Al." He said sheepishly as Alphonse placed him on his shoulder so the little boy could see better. Caden watched in interest as Father Cornello turned a tiny poppy flower into a huge sunflower. "He didn't even use a transmutation circle. So, he really is just an alchemist."

Edward nodded, frowning thoughtfully. "Yeah, it's alchemy no matter how you look at it."

"What about the laws, though?" Alphonse asked.

"Oh, you three did come to see him!" Rose smiled as she came over to the group. "This proves that he has miraculous powers and is the Sun God's child."

Edward sighed in annoyance. "Nope. That's alchemy no matter how you look at it. He's a fraud."

Caden kicked his legs against the front of Alphonse's armor and blinked when he heard a hollow sound. "But how can he bypass the laws?"

"That's the problem." Edward groaned in frustration.

Rose blinked and looked curiously at the three. "The Laws?"

"Alchemy can't create things out of thin air." Caden explained. "Something new can only be created from something of the same substance. It's called 'equivalent exchange' in alchemy. In other words," he continued when he saw the blank stare Rose was giving him. "if something new is to be created, something of equal value must be given in exchange."

Edward nodded approvingly. "You've really studied, Kid." He just missed the wide grin that split across Caden's face at the praise. "That old guy is making too much out of too little. He's basically breaking the law."

"See?" Rose smirked, sure she had defeated Edward's alchemy logic. "that proves he has miraculous powers."

Alphonse and Edward exchanged meaningful looks, leaving Caden rather confused. They seemed to know something he didn't.

Edward suddenly put on a bright smile and turned to Rose. "Hey, I'm really starting to get interested in this religion! Can you take us to his Holiness?"

Caden blinked as Rose squealed excitedly and led them back to the church. "He's lying, isn't he?"

Alphonse sighed and nodded. "Caden, it may be better for you to stay here where it's safe. We'll come get you when everything is all finished up."

"No way!" Caden exclaimed, latching onto Alphonse's helmet. "I wanna know what's going on to. Besides, Edward might try and sneak away without me."

Alphonse couldn't find another argument to void Caden's. "Just stay close to Edward and me." He placed Caden back on his shoulder and jogged to catch up with Rose and Edward.

Rose spoke quickly to one of Father Cornello's attendants who disappeared and returned moments later, motioning the group to follow him. Edward glanced up at Caden. "So, what's your cousin like?"

Caden shrugged, looking nervously at the two additional people that began following them. "I don't know. I've never met her before. The only reason I even know about her is when they were trying to see if I had any extended family for me to stay with. She's all they could find. She works for the military."

Edward was about to ask who it was when they were led into a small room, the doors shut behind them.

The man that had led them into the room continued facing away from them. "His Holiness is a very busy man. You two were very lucky to be able to get an audience with him."

Edward put on his best smile. "We'll try not to take up too much of his time."

Caden screamed as the man turned around with a gun in his hand and blew Alphonse's head off. The loud crack of the gun rang through Caden's left ear and he fell off of Alphonse's body. His ear was ringing and it took him a moment to reorient himself. When he finally managed to sit up, he saw that Edward had been forced to his knees by the two men that had followed them, the poles they had been holding trapped his head. Caden blinked as he found himself suddenly face to face with a gun barrel. He scrambled away until his back hit the wall.

"Brother Crory, what are you doing?" Rose shouted in alarm.

"Rose," Brother Crory said patiently. "these people are heathens who wish to destroy his Holiness. They are evil."

Rose shook her head. "His Holiness would never allow this."

Brother Crory smirked. "But he did allow this. His words are the orders of God. This is the will of God." He cocked the gun and pointed it right between Caden's eyes.

"He doesn't sound like a very nice God."

Caden didn't know what to do. There was no way what was happening in front of him was possible. Despite Alphonse's head being blown off, Alphonse's body was not only standing up and holding onto the gun, but the headless body was talking as well. Caden sat on the ground dumbfounded as the Elric brothers dealt with the three men easily enough.

"Are you okay, Caden?" Alphonse asked as he put his head back on.

"Where's your body, Al?" Caden asked, not even fighting Alphonse helping him to stand.

Alphonse was quiet for a moment. "It's what happens when you commit the greatest sin, when you trespass into God's domain. Both my brother and I did and we were punished for it."

"Save that story for later." Edward muttered, dusting his jacket off. "Caden you stay here. Rose, do you have the courage to face the truth of this man you believe to be holy?"

"I'm not staying here!" Caden stamped his foot for emphasis and glowered at Edward.

Edward glared right back for a moment while Alphonse helped Rose to hide in his suit of armor. Finally, Edward sighed and straightened up. "You're one stubborn kid."

"Takes one to know one." Caden retorted, following close behind Alphonse. They walked in silence until they reached the room Rose had told them Cornello could usually be found in. He jumped back when the door opened slightly on its own.

"Scared?" Edward teased, a huge grin on his face.

"No way!" Caden rushed into the room before either Edward or Alphonse could enter. He jumped yet again as the door slammed closed but this time, Edward made no comment. He looked forward to see the reason why was because Father Cornello was standing there, staring down at them from a staircase.

"Welcome to the Church of Leto." Father Cornello said, a warm smile on his face. "Have you come to hear me preach?"

Edward smirked while Alphonse made sure Caden stayed close behind him. "Of course. I'd love to hear how you deceived all those people with your third rate alchemy."

Father Cornello's smile never wavered. "Why, whatever do you mean? My miracles are not alchemy. If you could just see one of them…"

"We already have." Caden cut in. "How'd you do it without following the laws?" Caden blinked as Edward put a heavy hand on his head.

"We don't need him to tell us that, because I've already figured it out." Edward said with a smirk. "He's got the Philosopher's Stone. In fact, I do believe it's in that ring you're always wearing, isn't it?"

For the first time, Father Cornello seemed nervous. Then, his smirk returned. "You are correct."

Edward's smirk was still in place, but there was a wild look in his eyes. "I've been looking for that for a long time."

Caden looked up at Alphonse for answers but all he got in response was Alphonse shaking his head.

"What do you want the stone for?" Cornello sneered down at Edward.

"That's none of your business." Edward answered. "What about you? What did you gain from founding a phony religion? Money? Fame?"

Cornello waved his hand dismissively. "It's not about the money. I get all I need from my lovely little flock. What I really need are followers that would happily lay down their lives for me." A crazy look came over Cornello's face. "Soon, I'll have an invincible army of loyal followers that don't fear death! Within a few years, I'll have complete control of this country!"

Edward sighed and rolled his eyes. "That's all well and fine, but I don't really care."

Cornello was taken aback for a moment. "You should care! You're a part of the military, aren't you?"

"You know, I really don't care about the country or the military." Edward answered. "Just give me the Philosopher's Stone and I won't tell anyone about the scam you're pulling here."

Cornello cackled. "My followers will never believe the words of an outsider like you! They all love and worship me! They think my words are from God himself! I've got these idiots completely fooled and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"He sure talks a lot." Caden muttered.

Edward grinned over at Caden. "But, wasn't it nice of him to tell us how he's done everything? Sure, they'll never believe us, but I'm sure they'll believe her." Edward's grin widened as Alphonse removed the metal chest plate to reveal Rose hiding inside him.

Caden barely had time to move out of the way as Rose hopped out of Alphonse, her face a mixture of hurt, confusion, and anger. "Is she going to kill him?"

"You've been fooling us this whole time?" Rose screamed angrily. "You can't grant my wish with God's powers? You can't bring my darling back?"

Cornello's nervous face suddenly melted away to be replaced by his cool and calm mask. "While it's true I'm not God's emissary, with this stone, Rose, I can resurrect your boyfriend."

"Rose, don't listen to him." Alphonse pleaded.

"Come here now, Rose." Cornello said calmly.

"I bet he's lying, Rose!" Caden grabbed at Rose's hand, though she brushed him away.

Rose hesitated for only a moment before walking towards Cornello. "I'm sorry, you three." She whispered. "This is the only choice I can make."

Caden glared at her. "You're an idiot. Dead people are supposed to stay dead. No matter how much you want them back, they're dead. You're just going to cause more people pain and suffering because of your stupidity."

Edward stared at the furious looking child for a moment. He didn't get a chance to ask Caden anything because the sound of a large metal door groaning open drew his attention. He sighed when he saw the rather intimidating looking chimera appear from the shadows and stand between the trio and Cornello. "This one won't be easy to play with empty-handed." Edward clapped his hands together. "Caden, stay close to Alphonse. You want to see the Fullmetal Alchemist in action, right?"

Caden nodded slowly, pulling himself from his anger and scooting back behind Alphonse. He hadn't meant to let all that slip out. Surely now, Edward and Alphonse would question him relentlessly. His eyes widened as Edward placed his hands on the ground and pulled a metal spear from the ground. "That's so cool! He didn't even need a transmutation circle!"

Alphonse sighed and picked Caden up, placing him back on his shoulders. "It'll be safer for you up here."

The spear didn't last long as the chimera's claws sliced through the lower part of the spear and tore open Edward's left pant leg. Caden expected to see blood gushing from the wound, but all he saw was the gleam of metal. "Is that an automail leg?"

Alphonse nodded. "Yes."

Caden watched as the chimera lunged towards Edward and clamped down on his right arm. When the chimera was unable to bite off Edward's arm, Caden's eyes widened. "His right arm too?"

Edward kicked the chimera in the jaw, forcing it to let go of his jacket. "Look, Rose! This is what happens when you use alchemy on humans. This is what happens to sinners who pass into God's domain. He tore off his ruined jacket to reveal a full automail arm. He turned angry eyes to Cornello. "Come down here and fight me, you third-rate moron. I'll show you there's no comparison between the two of us."

"Alphonse, what happened to you and Edward?" Caden asked softly.

Alphonse was silent again for a while. "We wanted to bring our mother back to life. The whole reason we started alchemy was to bring her back. The resurrection failed. My brother had his left leg taken as a result and I lost my whole body. I lost consciousness for a while but when I woke up, I was in this suit of armor and all I saw was my brother bleeding. Even after the horrible injury of losing his left leg, my brother sacrificed his right arm to put my soul into this suit of armor."

"Rose," Edward said. "the two of us tried to resurrect just one person and look what happened. Are you ready to make this kind of sacrifice?"

Alphonse glanced over at Caden. The boy had been oddly silent the whole time. He was surprised to see that Caden was in fact crying. "Caden?"

Caden quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. "It's nothing." He answered.

Cornello laughed as he sneered down at them. "So, you want the Philosopher's Stone in order to successfully resurrect your mother."

Edward rolled his eyes. "Nope. We just want to get our original bodies back. Now, give us the Philosopher's Stone."

Cornello held his cane up and changed it into a machine gun. "You two came to close to God and then fell back to the Earth. Allow me to send you back to him!"

Caden clung tightly to Alphonse's head, steeling himself for the pain of bullets pelting his body. When nothing happened, he cracked his eyes open to find Edward had put up a shield using the floor.

"Sorry, but God doesn't like me very much." Edward sneered. "Even if you sent me to him, he'd just kick me out."

"What about the devil?" Caden asked. He blinked as Alphonse put him down and rushed over to Rose to pick the girl up. Caden remained close to Edward as the eldest Elric brother rushed towards the door.

"Fools, only I can open that door!" Cornello shouted.

Edward clapped his hands together again before placing them on the wall, creating his own door. "Caden, stay close to Alphonse, okay?"

"Okay." Caden answered, running alongside Alphonse while Edward led the way. "Does he know where he's going?"

"Probably not." Alphonse answered as they came up to a group of Cornello's men.

Caden shuddered at the demonically gleeful look that crossed Edward's face as he turned his automail arm into a scythe and cut down the men in their way. "He's scary…"

Alphonse nodded as he kicked another man standing in their way in the face. "Yes, he is."

They hadn't been running for long when Edward stumbled across what looked like an office. "What room is this?"

Rose breathed a sigh of relief as Alphonse finally put her down. "This is the broadcasting room where Father Cornello delivers his sermons."

"Alphonse, he's making the scary face again." Caden whispered as he stared nervously at Edward.

"All right, you three go get the bell from the top of the church. I'll stay here and deal with Cornello."

"I wanna stay with you, Edward." Caden said stubbornly. "I want to see you beat that moron up."

Edward sighed. "Fine. Just don't get in the way."

Caden sat in the large plush chair behind the desk while Edward sat directly on the desk. "Hey, Caden," Edward asked after a moment. "why were you crying earlier?"

Caden stiffened. "I don't know. I guess I just thought it was really sad what you guys went through."

Before Edward could say anything else, Cornello came running into the room. Edward put on his best bored face. "Will you just give it up? News of your deceit is going to spread through the town soon enough."

Cornello glared at Edward as he stepped into the room. "Shut up! Everyone in this church is directly under my control! They'd never believe one stupid follower if she contradicted me!"

"It's rude to use people like that, you know." Caden piped up, leaning on the desk.

"Followers are just pawns to use for war." Cornello hissed. "I have no time to feel sorry for pawns. If I tell them to die for me, they'll do it happily, believing they are doing God's will!" Cornello continued ranting, missing the smirk on Edward's face. "I'll be able to create more and more pawns out of the fools that cannot tell the difference between alchemy and miracles! You are the fools for underestimating the power of blind faith!"

Edward and Caden looked at each other before laughing hysterically. "He's really an idiot, isn't he, Edward?"

Edward nodded. He held up a simple control that had an on/off switch set in the on position. "You know what this is, Third-Rate Baldy?"

Cornello squinted for a moment before his eyes widened in horror, realizing that was the switch for the microphone. "How long has that switch been on?"

"From the very beginning." Edward sang. "You just revealed your entire plan. Caden," He looked over at the little boy still sitting behind the desk. "you want to see the difference between a first-rate alchemist and a third-rate one?"

Caden nodded, tearing his eyes away from where Cornello was once again turning his cane into a machine gun.

"Too slow!" Edward leapt forward, turning his automail arm into a blade, easily destroying the gun.

Cornello snarled. "I won't give up! As long as I have this stone, I can…!" He had begun to turn the destroyed gun into a cannon when a bright light flashed.

Caden's eyes widened in horror as the gun seemed to have become a grotesque part of Cornello's arm. Pieces of metal stuck out everywhere and Caden had to cover his ears as Cornello screamed. "Was that a rebound?"

Edward grabbed the front of Cornello's shirt and headbutted him. "Shut up! It's just a rebound! Let me see your stone!"

Before Cornello could move to do anything, the red stone in his ring cracked and broke, falling out of its setting.

"Is it supposed to do that?" Caden asked hesitantly, seeing the devastated look on Edward's face as said alchemist slumped to the ground. Caden went over to Edward's side and poked him in the head. "Are you okay?"

Edward brushed Caden away. "First, you lied to the townspeople, then you tried to kill us, and now, after all this trouble you put me through, the stone is a fake?"

Caden stepped back beside the desk as the room seemed to fill up with alchemic energy. His eyes widened as a large stone hand appeared through the floor, the hand in a tight fist. "Wow, you brought up the statue of Leto from downstairs." Caden whistled.

"Feel God's wrath!" Edward snarled as he brought the giant fist of the statue down within inches of Cornello, causing the old man to fain from shock.

"Edward, are you okay?" Caden asked tentatively.

"I will be." Edward muttered as Rose and Alphonse rushed into the room.

Alphonse first went over to Caden, making sure the little boy was okay. "So, the stone was a fake?"

"Yup." Edward sighed as he dusted his clothes off. "Looks like we're back to square one."

Rose sat on the floor, dumbfounded. "What am I supposed to do now? They told me they could bring him back to life. Tell me what I'm supposed to do!" She shouted at Edward and Alphonse, tears streaming down her cheeks. "What am I supposed to believe in now?"

"You need to figure that out on your own." Edward answered as he and Alphonse began walking away. "Stand up and walk, keep moving forward. At least you have two strong legs to carry you."

Caden hovered by the desk, unsure what to do.

Edward glanced over his shoulder and frowned. "Hey, Caden, you coming?"

Caden blinked before a grin split his face. He ran forward to catch up to the two. "You're really going to let me come with you guys? Hey, Edward, will you teach me alchemy? I wanna be just like you when I get bigger…well, except I want to be taller."

Alphonse scooped Caden up before Edward could throttle him. "This is going to be a long trip if you two keep fighting."

"He started it!" Edward whined. He quickly composed himself. "So, Caden, what's your cousin's name anyways? We might know her."

Caden had to think for a moment. "Oh, it's Riza. Riza Hawkeye."