\!/ General Disclaimer (valid for the entire story) \!/

Hello it's Ema here. This is my second fanfiction. I want to say that I do not own the series Fullmetal Alchemist, but Goddess Hiromu Arakawa does.

I do my best to write well, but, since I learned French first, I might make a few grammatical mistakes there and there thinking that it is grammatically correct (when it's French grammatically correct). Please bear with me.

This story follows the Brotherhood narrative (slightly different from the manga), and I will insert a few original scenes of the series (sometimes edit them) for the first couple of chapters. There are original arcs that will appear (especially in the time skips and for character development).

I loosely based myself on my two favorite openings of the FMA sagas (FMA 2003's "Rewrite" opening by Asian-Fu Generation / FMAB's "Period" opening by CHEMISTRY).

It is a mostly first person point of view story (character is the narrator), but, in some instances, it will third person point of view (omniscient narrator).

Feel free to review, favorite or follow. I thank you in advance.

That's pretty much it.

I do not own FMA.

Let's go on with the story.

The Cause ( Do not Forget: Part 1)

April 18th 2010

Bo.

I had to keep myself calm for the entire day, and it was hard. It was a Sunday, so I had to go to church, and then eat brunch at my aunt's house. I was too excited, because a new episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was airing. Did I have to explain how I felt while waiting hours for a twenty-five minutes episode? I guess all fans out totally knows how it feels. I was excited to watch it, but during the entire episode, I cursed destiny, because it was not the reality I wanted at all. How could the author kill off Hughes that early? I could hear my heart crumble to pieces during the entire episode. The moment between Eliza and her mother at the funeral was heartbreaking. The moment with Mustang and Hawkeye finished me. I felt so bad for Mustang. I just wanted to hug him. I just did not cry. My little sister, Zoey, cried for two anyways.

"Well it was a good episode," said my older brother, Nathan, stretching himself.

I stared at him. How could he be so insensitive? It was not just a good episode. This episode was dark perfection. I was about to reply, but my sister beat me at it.

"You say it as if it was nothing. Maes Hughes just died, I can't. First, they lost their mother, then, they could not save Nina, and, now…It's unacceptable. We are just at the tenth episode, damn it. I do not approve it," Zoey rambled.

"Whatever. It's just an anime. Nothing is real," he brushed off.

"Alchemy is real," I retorted.

He blankly looked at me, and then rolled his eyes.

"No, it's not. It's just good old fiction. There's no hard proof that anyone was able to change things to gold. The possibility of Nicholas Flamel even existing is questionable," Nathan said.

"Geez, just because there aren't 'proofs' doesn't mean that it's not real," I argued.

"It doesn't. And you know what else doesn't," he smirked.

When he smirked, it meant nothing more but mischief. I did not want to know, but my sister wordered.

"Magic. You Potterheads should calm the fuck down. The place is/" started Nathan.

"How dare you talk shit about Harry Potter!?" Zoey yelled, cutting him off.

If there was one thing you were not allowed to do in front of my eleven years old sister was talking bad about anything she loved. My brother was just crossing the line on both Fullmetal Alchemist and Harry Potter.

"Geez, what happened in your childhood for you to be like this, Nate?" I let out.

My brother rolled his eyes again. He was not going to apologize for being so offensive.

"Want to try then? We can go on internet and copy Ed's human transmutation circle right here, right now. Believe it," he said walking towards the computer.

"But if it is real, we'll have…" Zoey shivered, when she thought of the consequences of human alchemy.

"Scaredy cat, I can't even." Nathan laughed.

Zoey left the room completely offended. Nathan started to surf on internet. I was just there standing.

It all started February 14th. Zoey, our little precious otaku, wanted us to have some family bonding time. She thought that it would be great if we watched Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood together. I was the passive anime watcher, so I did not mind. My brother was not an anime watcher, so it took a lot of convincing and bribing, before he accepted. Now, we were there at episode ten.

"So, Bo, are you going to stay there?" asked my brother, his eyes still on the screen.

I sighed. "Why you ask?"

"Because, we can always try, you know," he suggested.

Unlike my sister, even if I believe in the possibility, I was curious. I really wanted to try.

"Let's use another circle, though. I want all my limbs," I told him, walking by his side.

We looked at various transmutation circles, then we got annoyed by the lack of circles. In the end, we decided to just go with the flow, and use Ed's circle. Feeling quite thrilled, I watched my brother drawing it meticulously. What we were doing was beyond wrong.

"Nate…we don't have any ingredients," I mentioned.

"Who cares? There's nothing that is equivalent to a human soul; therefore, it will rebound. We can only know for a fact that alchemy is real, if see the Truth," he replied.

"We can prove it by just creating something," I pointed out.

"You know, I can do this myself, Bo," he said, annoyed.

I breathed in and out a couple of times. I was not going to chicken out. Nathan smiled when he was done. He silently motioned me to position myself. We did not even have proper training for a trick like this.

We placed our hands in the ground, and the circle lit up. It was just like the show. Everything went wrong. My brother was served. There was black violet lightning. There were the arms. There was the eye. I remembered that I screamed.

Nate.

I could not believe what happened. One minute, we were in my room. Now, we were in a white room. I say we, because, unlike in the show, my sister and me were together in that room. In front of us was that freaky looking gnome with that stupid creepy grin on his or her or its face. Bo was terrified. I could not blame her. I was fascinated. Soon, we would be able to tell everyone that Fullmetal Alchemist was based on or inspired by a true story.

"So what do we have here?" said the white thing.

I turned my head to my sister, and met her scared eyes. It seemed that I was going to do the talking.

"So you are the one we call the Truth," I said.

"I am called by many names I am the world, I am the universe, I am God, I am Truth, I am all, I am One, and I am You," the thing replied.

I laughed. I do not know why. The moment it confirmed what it was, I just laughed. I felt like I achieved something great.

"You want the truth, don't you, child?" it spoke; its grin seemingly wider. "I shall give you both the truth."

"Nate…Nate…" I heard Bo call.

She tried to grab my hand, but she failed. We were sucked in the gate.

The gate…it was an experience I did not want to try ever again. I shunned it from my memory.

When we came back from the gate, the Truth was waiting for us. It still wore its despicable grin. I wanted to punch it off.

"Humans from another realm, trying to interfere with the other one…that won't do," it said.

"Why don't you just take the toll, and let us go back home?" cried Bo.

It giggled. It fucking giggled.

"Sending you back home, when you know too much and you did not even bother to place any ingredients? You are stupider than you look," it mocked.

"What do you want?" I asked, annoyed.

"My toll," it replied, always with this smile. "What am I going to do with you, boy? It is a hard choice."

I gulped. Since it was the Truth, it obviously knew that it was my idea.

"Should I take your tongue for profaning the art? Should I take your eyes to force you to believe without seeing?" it continued, purposely thinking out loud.

I flinched.

"I cannot go this severe. I am already not sending you home; it will not be equivalent," it realized.

"Right, you cannot do anything. Just send us to whatever world," I exclaimed.

If it had eyes, it would be staring at me and looking down into my soul.

"Ah, I can strip you from colours. Your life is already dull. Taking colours away just makes it gloomier," it said.

I did not understand what it meant at first. It became clear when I slowly lost sight of colours. I started to panic when I looked at Bo. I could only imagine Bo's pastel pink bob, her purple hoodie that was too big for her and hid her blue jeans shorts, and her Squirtle sneakers.

"No…" I whispered.

"What's wrong, Nathan? Nathan, speak to me," Bo questioned.

"I cannot see you, Bo," I answered.

Bo.

I looked at my brother, and then I turned to the Truth. I wanted to vent my anger on it.

"You said that rendering him blind was too much," I yelled.

It snickered. "I never said I cannot color blind him. Life in monochrome, for some time photography was only in black and white."

I turned to my brother. His eyes were lifeless. He had lost all his spunk.

"As for you who knew that it is better not to deal with the unknown, what should I do?" The Truth resumed with his mockery.

I fell on my knees. I started to cry.

"Sending you to Amestris pays the toll for no ingredients, but it is not enough. I 'blinded' your brother for not believing. You were wise, but curiosity killed the cat. Curiousity clouded your judgement," it continued.

My judgement was clouded?

"I have found it. Hyperopia, it shall be. Your vision will be blurry. You will only be able to see from afar. The right choice was so close to you, but you preferred not to choose it," it laughed.

In an instant, my 20/20 vision was no more. I cried even more.

"What are you going to do now?" my brother asked.

"I'm shipping you off to Amestris, where you will belong," it replied, laughing. "There's one rule, though. You are to tell to no one where you come from and what you know of the realms. I don't care what you do."

"But, we have a home," he argued.

"You do. In Amestris," it replied.

Before my brother could ask for explanation, everything faded to black.