Beast Alchemist

2: A New Beginning

I awoke with a start, and felt severe pain shoot through my left arm; or at least, where my left arm would've been. I screamed in agony and terror when I saw the blood gushing out of where my shoulder joint used to be.

"Now now," said Charon, extraordinarily calm for someone watching a man bleed out after performing the most taboo of alchemical procedures. "Calm down, or else you'll lose too much blood before I can stop you from dying." He twisted his cane around before placing his thumb on one of the transmutation circles I recognized from Dr. Marco's work and tapping his cane on my shoulder.

"GAAAAHHHH!" I exclaimed. "You son of a bitch! I'm going to tear you to shreds!" I tried standing, fell, then tried to stand again before Charon shoved me down.

"I think I'll leave until you've had a chance to cool your head." He said. "And besides, I don't like unexpected guests, you know?" He then left out of the window and disappeared down the street.

At the same time, I heard the door open and Dr. Marco saying "I'm sorry for being late today, I had some errands I had to ru- Alexander?! Alexander, what happened?!" He must've seen Williams body by now. I had tried to ignore it, the disgusting, bloody mass that was hardly recognizable as human.

A few minutes passed by as Doctor Marco tended to me in a rather flustered manner, after which he turned his attention to the crux of the matter.

"Alexander, what did you do?" He asked, though it was plain to see that he knew even without me telling him.

"Doc," I said, the fire that was in my voice when I claimed I would kill Charon was dying out "Why didn't you just let me lay here and die?"

"Because life is something to be valued, Alexander. " He said. And, looking over at what was once William's body he added: "And as I'm sure you've found out: once a life is lost, it can't be brought back."

After calling some friends of his and getting a few favors taken care of so that I wouldn't be charged with performing a taboo Doctor Marco came to me again, this time with a very serious look on his face. "Alexander, I'm not telling you that what you did was right. Quite the opposite, I'm going to send you to spend some time with an old friend of mine who I think can tell you just how wrong it was. For now, I'm going to try to smooth things over with the authorities and keep you from being arrested."

I simply nodded in agreement without thinking. I could hardly sort out exactly what I had done, let alone what I was going to do next.

A few days passed, and after making sure that I had everything ready for the umpteenth time I set off for the train station. I handed my ticket over to the conductor before boarding, after which he returned the torn stub for when the train was checked.

After I seated myself in one of the more deserted cars I took out one of my alchemy books and began to read. It had taken some getting used to, but I could now turn pages fairly easily without having to set a book down. Using my thumb to turn the pages, I continued reading until I was too tired to continue, at which point I slept.

The sound of the conductor over the loudspeaker woke me. "Attention passengers, we will be reaching the Risembool station in approximately five minutes. Please collect whatever luggage you have and prepare to disembark. This is our last stop of the evening. Once again, we will be reaching the Risembool station in approximately five minutes. Please collect whatever luggage you have and prepare to disembark."

As I stepped off of the train and onto the platform I reached into my pocket. A task I found somewhat difficult to do without dropping my two small bags off of my shoulders. As I finally managed to get the small piece of paper with the directions from Doctor Marco out of my pocket and unfolded in order to read it, a pair of children approached me.

"Are you Mr. Alexander?" one of them said. He looked to be about ten or eleven years old, and a small girl stood cowering behind him. Could she be his younger sister?

"Yes, that's me. But how did you know that?" I replied sharply. I had never been to this town before, and there was no reason for the local children to know my name.

"Our parents…" The girl started, but when I looked at her she flinched and looked away. I must've been quite a terrifying sight. A man with only one arm, and cold eyes that had dark bags under them due to a lack of sleep after what had happened.

"Hey!" The boy shouted. "You better not make Cindy cry!" He must be trying to show off in the big brother sort of way that I used to for William.

"Alright, sorry" I said so dryly that it was beyond obvious that I wasn't feeling remotely apologetic. "But I take it she was trying to say that your parents sent you to fetch me?"

The girl nodded, and the boy started to walk away at an energetic pace saying: "Follow me!"

After a short walk down some rural paths along farmland, we reached one of the few houses in the area. Posted outside was a sign that read "Auto Mail" in large black letters.

"You wait here!" the boy said as I approached the front steps. He then rushed inside.

I looked around as I waited. The area was pleasant, quiet, and disconnected from the harsh smells and noises of the city. I could see why the Doctor had sent me out here.

After a few minutes the door opened again, only this time a woman stood to greet me. She was downright beautiful, with long blonde hair, fair skin, and for some reason: an oil soaked apron. "You must be Alexander Crux." The woman said.

"Y-Yeah…" I replied, somewhat dumbfounded.

"Dad! This guy's looking at mama all funny!" I heard the boy shout from a little farther in the house, followed by a furious shouting fit. "Oh hell no he's not! If you even think of laying a finger on my wife then you've got another thing coming!"

As the man stepped onto the front porch around his wife I chuckled slightly. He was a rather short man, nearly a full head shorter than myself.

"What's so funny?! Oh, so you think I'm short huh?! You think I'm a little pipsqueak so small you couldn't see me without a microscope?! You think I'm like an amoeba?! Why I oughta-" he stopped abruptly, as anyone would if they were hit in the back of the head with a wrench.

"Edward, that is no way to treat our guest!" I was very taken aback by this sudden outburst. After all, what kind of normal relationship warrants a woman to hit her husband in the head with a wrench?! "I'm sorry about my husband's behavior" She said, back to the mild mannered woman I saw a few moments ago. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Winry Elric, and this" She whacked her husband on the arm with her wrench again. "Is my husband, Edward. I believe you've already met our children, Edmund and Cindy."

"Yes." I replied again. "Excuse me, but did you say your name was Elric? As in the same Elric who wrote 'The Gateway of Alchemical Truth'?"

"Oh, so you're familiar with my work?" Edward said. It seemed as if his wife's beatings had served their purpose. "Is that why you came here? If you want an autograph then forget it. I don't sign things for people who look at my wife." Or maybe the wrench hadn't worked as well as I thought.

"Actually, no." I said, growing impatient. "I came because Dr. Marco asked me to."

"Oh…" Edward replied. I took it as meaning he had been informed of my situation ahead of time. "Come on in then, we need to talk."

After stepping inside and settling on the couch Edward said: "So, your brother died and you tried to bring him back to life. Is that right?"

Hearing the words spoken so nonchalantly stung. I had, after all, performed a taboo, and lost a limb. And that's not even touching on the subject of what I saw after I blacked out…

"Don't worry; I'm not here to judge. I've got no right to, seeing as I did the same exact thing."

I felt my jaw lower in disbelief. This man, who wrote about human transmutation, and warned of the consequences it could have, had actually attempted it. It made sense once I thought about it. After all: how else would he have known so much about it? But still…

"What are you staring at?!" He asked. He must've seen me looking him over, trying to figure out what he had lost in equivalent exchange.

"You don't appear to have lost any limbs…" I noted his exposed hands. His legs didn't appear to be auto mail either, although that may have simply been due to the fact that I wasn't able to see them through his pants and shoes. "And you look to be in well enough health that internal organs are out of the question… Oh." My face expressed pity. "I'm so, so sorry. I mean, if I'd lost that… I'd be angry all the time too…"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" He replied viciously, reaching for a large hammer which was resting on a nearby table.

"Edward lost his left leg trying to bring back his mother." Winry said whilst trying to physically restrain her husband.

"Oh…" I deflated a bit. Of course there would be some sort of sad story behind his reasoning. "But wait a minute…" After thinking about it for a moment I had realized a hole in his story. "I thought you said you did the same thing as me, so that would mean that you tried to bring back your brother too! Unless you were lying…"

"That's a long story." Edward said, looking awkward.

"I've got nothing but time." I responded.

"True enough I suppose." He said. "I guess I could spend a little time telling my tale…"

At these words I heard the sound of scrambling footsteps as Edmund and Cindy ran into the room shouting: "Daddy's going to tell one of his stories, yay!"

After a few hours of him telling his tales of action and adventure alongside his brother Alphonse, Edward reached what was apparently the climax of his story.

"And after Al sacrificed his soul for equivalent exchange to give me my arm back I managed to beat back homunculus and save countless lives in the process!"

"Wait wait wait." I interrupted "You mean to tell me that you've lost two limbs, gotten one back, helped Furor Mustang reach his position, AND saved all of Amestris?"

"Yup!" Edward replied. "Me and Al, the invincible duo!"

"But then, what happened to Alphonse?" I asked. Surely he couldn't have died back there…

Edwards face fell, and he appeared to be somewhat crestfallen. "About that…"

But at that moment, the front door opened and two more people came inside. "Sorry we're so late!" A man's voice called, "We took a bit longer than usual to close down the restaurant. Oh, I see the guest Dr. Marco sent is here already!"

I saw Edward snicker at me out of the corner of my eye. "You have a sick, sick sense of humor, you know that?"

"Yeah, yeah." Edward said. "So after all was said and done I gave up my gate of truth to bring Alphonse here back from the other side."

"I get it," Alphonse said, picking up on the situation at last. "Edward must have been telling you about how we got our bodies back! Well after I got my body back, we traveled around for a while to continue our alchemical research before coming back here to settle down. Ed and Winry have kept Granny's shop in business, and Mei and I opened up a restaurant! In fact, I don't think I've introduced you to my lovely wife yet. Mei! Come say hello to our guest!"

"I'm coming!" The voice emanating from the kitchen sounded like that of a child. A few moments later a very small woman appeared out of the kitchen and came to stand next to Alphonse, hardly reaching his chest. "Hi there, I'm Mei Elric! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

Winry then stood up and said: "Well, now that the introductions are all out of the way and our wonderful chef is here, it's time you and I had a little talk Alexander."

"Me?! A talk about what?!" I responded in a flustered manner.

"Don't act so nervous, I just need to talk to you about your new auto mail." Winry replied.

"My WHAT?!" I was furious. Not only had Dr. Marco sent me to a strange town in the middle of nowhere, but he expected me to get a new arm while I was there!

"Oh calm down, you've got excellent health insurance thanks to your brother, so it'll hardly cost you anything!" Something about that smile on her face told me that even after the insurance that this wasn't going to be cheap…

After Winry and I had our discussion about my auto mail (I had decided to go with a simple, yet fairly dexterous model) we all sat around the dinner table and had a traditional Xinghese meal. Once we were finished with dinner and the children were put to bed I decided that I would turn in for the night as well. Winry showed me to my room, then returned downstairs to finish cleaning up.

Despite being exhausted. Despite having a full stomach and a comfortable bed; despite all these things I was still unable to sleep that night. After several restless hours of tossing and turning I gave up. I got up and stepped over to the window so as to enjoy the nighttime view out of the small window. It was then that I became fully awake.

I ran down the stairs and strait out of the front door. "Charon, you stupid son of a bitch!" I shouted, not caring who would be woken by the noise.

"Hey now," He said, for I had seen him from the window upstairs. "I thought you've been cooling your head all this time!" He was easily dodging my furious blows, which couldn't have been that difficult due to my lack of limbs. "And besides, you'll wake up this cozy little family you're staying with."

My anger began to subside, as I could tell he wasn't looking for a fight. "Alright, well what do you want?" I asked sharply. "Tell me before I change my mind about not killing you!"

"Oh, my dear Alexander…" He sighed. "You couldn't kill me if you tried. Tried again that is. You'll need to be much stronger for that to happen, you know? Besides, I've still got a use for you."

"If you think that I'll be taking any orders from you then you're dumber than you look!"

"You will take orders from me because you're too weak to stop me!" Charon had finally seemed to lose his cool for a moment. "I'm sorry about that, I must've let my emotions get the better of me. Anyway, I need you to learn alchemy from the Elric Brothers. You were going to anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem for you, you know?"

I scrutinized him, looking for some sort of tell. Searching for any hint that could tell me what he's after; but to no avail. "All right," I said resentfully. "I'll just follow your orders till I'm strong enough to kill you, all right?"

"I wouldn't have it any other way. You know?" Charon then left, walking along the dirt path towards the train station. I then began to creep back inside and upstairs. It was a wonder I didn't wake anyone with all my shouting. But then again, maybe they heard, and just didn't care…