Chapter One: Alchemy and Growth Spurts

Together, a right and left hand reach toward the ceiling of a room, but the right hand's fingertips reach no farther than the bases of the left fingers.

Ed stares up at his hands as he says, "What am I going to do, Al? People are starting to notice."

Entering the bedroom, Al glances toward the blond ponytailed man laying on the bed. "Well, look on the bright side. You're 22 now, so you probably won't get any taller."

Ed sighs. "For once, I guess that would be a bright side... My leg's the worst off. I don't know how long until people ask me why one shoe's a few inches taller than the other." Ed smiles a little, finding the thought funny in a way.

"You should have gotten them replaced years ago," Al tells him.

"I know, but Winry's automail is better than anything in this world."

"Do you think we can find Winry's double, brother?" Al asks as he sits down in a chair close to Ed's bed.

Ed shakes his head. "She probably has a different name; may live in another country. Besides, I doubt she'd know anything about automail, since it doesn't exist in this world." Ed pushes himself off the bed and walks over to his desk. He picks up a piece of metal piping he had been using as a paperweight and examines it. "This would probably be enough material to fix my leg..." Ed says as he peals down part of the covering on his left leg to reveal the automail. "If alchemy existed in this universe."

Al widens his eyes as he jumps out of the chair. "But brother! Didn't Eckhart open the gate on this side? That means she used alchemy!"

Ed shakes his head. "I think Envy was what made it work, and he's gone now. I guess I'll just have to find some type of replacement... I hate again settling for something inferior to Winry's handiwork, though..." Ed says as he sits down at the desk and picks up a stack of papers he needs to look through.

"Um... I'm sure we can find something almost as good," Al says.

"Ow..." Ed mumbles. He puts his left index finger in his mouth. "Stupid paper cut..." he grumbles.

"Well, Ed...? Will you look around town today and see if you can find anything?" Al had said something before that, but Ed didn't catch it, being too focused on his finger.

"Look, Al," Ed says as he clasps his hands in front of his face. "I have to sort through these bills today. We're behind on our payments as it is. There's not enough money for replacement limbs. Maybe next month, okay?" Ed knows he was the one that brought it up, but he hadn't planned on discussing it all day long.

"Wait... how'd we get behind on the bills?"

"I don't know..." Ed moans. He narrows his eyes when hearing a rumbling sound, glaring at Al. Al blushes as he puts a hand over his stomach. "Sometimes I wish you were still stuck in a suit of armor. At least then, you didn't have to eat."

"Brother! I can't be the only reason we're behind on the bills!" Al exclaims.

"...Well, it did cost a lot to fix the sink. That new pipe took more than both of us make in a year... I wish they could have just reattached the old pipe."

"Then you wouldn't have a paperweight," Al tells him with a slight smirk.

Being reminded of papers, Ed glances back toward the looming stack of bills sitting in front of him. He starts to feel upset about their financial situation and says, "Sometimes I wish I could just..." and slams his hands down on the desk. All of a sudden, the papers are gone and there's a burnt spot on the desk where they used to be. Ed blinks in surprise. (I'm picturing background music starting here, by the way)

"Ed! What'd you do?" Al asks in amazement.

"Uh... I don't know," Ed replies with wide eyes.

"You used alchemy, Ed!"

"I did?"

"Yes! You deconstructed the matter of those papers! You made an incomplete transmutation!"

"But I needed those papers!" Ed cries.

"Forget about the papers and try transmuting something else! Uh..." Al glances around the room. He points as he says, "That! Transmute your chair!"

Ed stands and looks at his chair. He shakes his head and sighs. "Al, this isn't going to work. The papers was just a fluke. - A freak accident."

"Ed, just try it," Al orders.

"Fine. Here it goes..." Ed claps and touches the chair. It transmutes into a block of wood. "It worked?"

"Now you can transmute your leg!" Al says and points toward Ed's paperweight.

"Hey, you're right!" Ed replies with a grin. He uses the pipe to extend his leg. "It's not great, but it'll do," Ed says as he wiggles his toes to test it out.

"Hey, Ed... How would you like to have a real maintenance job done? I'll bet we can get back to our world, now that you can use alchemy again... I'll bet Winry would be glad to see us."

"Huh?"

"C'mon, brother, don't tell me you don't want to go back home," Al says.

"I don't really care where we live," Ed says with a shrug. "Nothing's in this world to keep me here, but the same is true about the other world."

"Ed, you can't be serious! I'm happy that I'm with you, but if we can go home and see Winry and everyone else again, I'd jump at the chance!"

"I don't know... Hitler will be getting out of prison in a year... We should make sure he doesn't start a second world war or something..."

"No one's going to listen to him anymore, brother!"

"You know there's still a lot of people that think he's right, Al! Especially that guy who killed your double..."

"Even if he does try to start something, it can't amount to much after we got rid of that Uranium bomb!"

"Okay, okay. If you're so set on going back to Amestris, I can't say no. The thing is, even with alchemy, I don't think we can open a portal to our world. Don't you remember what happened last time? It took forever to close that gate!"

"But, that was because I opened it at the same time! If no one's opening it on the other side, it will close after we go through!"

"You don't know that," Ed states. "And another thing... You had to use Wrath and Gluttony to open the gate, while our father and Envy were used on this side. - There's no homunculi on this side of the gate anymore, and we're not going to sacrifice someone's life."

Al seems to sink as he loses his excitement. After a second, though, he gets a determined look in his eyes. "There must be another way, Ed! What about how you got on this side of the gate in the first place? How did it happen then?!"

"Don't you remember, Al? You used the stone to bring me back to life. Then I brought you back with myself. ...I didn't even expect to be alive after that."

"Oh... I forgot..." Al looks away.

"But there was that other time... When Dante sent me to the other side."

Al's eyes light up.

"She said something about babies being able to call forth the gate. I think she used Rose's baby to open the gate the first time I saw this world."

"And I know for a fact that Rose's baby was fine afterward, so now we know a way to open the gate without sacrificing anyone!" Al says happily.

"My body stayed at the gate that first time, so it might work differently. Besides, I don't know if the same thing applies to babies in this dimension or not."

"There's only one way to find out... Let's go see Officer Hughes and Gracia!"

"What?! Al, we can't experiment with their son!" Ed exclaims, but Al grabs his hand and runs out of the room with him.

---

"Hello, Officer Hughes," Al greets when Hughes answers the door.

"Hi, Al. What are you boys doing here?"

"We just thought we'd drop by for a visit," Al replies with a smile.

"But if you're busy, we can go back home and leave you alone," Ed adds, hoping that's the case.

"Don't be silly, Ed! You two are always welcome here." Hughes gestures for them to enter the house as he says, "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, Al, but it's amazing how much you're beginning to resemble Alfons Heiderich..."

"Uh... That's okay," Al insists, waving his hands. He and his brother have yet to tell them that they're not from this world, and they'd rather not tell them, either.

"Hmm..." Hughes says, wondering what Al's hiding. "Oh! You won't believe how much Erich has grown... I'll go get him!"

"No wait! That's not necessary!" Ed begs as Hughes runs off.

Ed and Al begins to hear crying and a woman saying, "Honey no! He was napping!"

"This will be easy..." Al whispers to Ed, a smirk on his face.

---

"I can't believe he actually trusted us alone with him..." Ed grumbles as he stares at the baby he's holding at arm's length.

"Why not? We helped Gracia deliver him on your last birthday. - They trust us with his life."

"They shouldn't..." Ed mumbles to himself.

"Don't worry! Everything'll be fine!" Al says with a big smile.

Ed sighs. "Fine... Let's get on with it." Al nods and Ed sits Erich on the couch. He claps, touches him, and... nothing happens.

"Ed, you didn't do it right! Clap and try again!" Al orders.

"What do you mean I didn't do it right!?" Ed exclaims.

"If you did it right, it would have opened the gate!"

"Al, look... I don't think I can do alchemy anymore. What happened in our apartment wasn't permanent."

"Before you jump to conclusions, try using alchemy on something else," Al begs. Ed claps and touches the floor. He then shakes his head, although it's obvious that it didn't work.

--End Chapter--

Anyone wanna tell me what they think?

The title is (as you probably know) from the movie. I think Shamballa was supposed to be a make-believe paradise or something, and not Ed's world (although I could be wrong...). But, I was thinking about so many happy things happening in this story, I thought it was a nice title (although, I may come up with a real plot later...).

So... After watching the movie, and seeing this little known fact in the booklet that came with the movie about Hitler going to jail for five years before starting World War II, I thought I should have something about that in the chapter. Ed's kind'a joking about Hitler starting a second world war, by the way - he has no idea it will happen.

Ed's a boy, so he'd probably keep growing after age 18... I was wanting to make him about three inches taller, but if I made his arm and leg three inches longer, the rest of his body parts would probably grow three inches, too, and that'd make him too tall... But, I don't know for sure, so I didn't change it.

Hughes' comment on Al looking like the other Al is also based on the movie. I don't remember if it was in the booklet or on the disc, but it was mentioned that Alfons was designed to look like an older Alphonse. So, Al should look a little like his double, now that he's physically 17... Hey, that's the same age Alfons was... I didn't realize that Al was that age until now. I think he'd still look different, though, since Alfons isn't Al...

I changed Hughes' baby into a boy. Heh... It just seemed like too much of an coincidence for him to have a girl with the same name, so I thought I'd give him a boy with a somewhat similar name. But, Ed and Al still got to help Gracia deliver him, during a party for Ed's 22 birthday. This time, they weren't so... weird acting, by the way (a decade should make Ed more mature, right?).

Now... I have so many ideas for this story's upcoming chapters, but I'm not sure how easy I can write them or how much free time I'll have to do so, so... I'm thinking I may update it weekly, possibly every other week.

Note: I went back and changed Eric's name to Erich, because Erich is a German name.