Disclaimer- I do not own either Harry Potter OR Fullmetal Alchemist! If I did, I wouldn't be writing stories on FANfiction!

Oh, I also want to note that I messed around with history a bit and made Nicholas Flamel be born in the 13th century instead of the 14th century so I could include the Black Death in my story. Sorry to any hard-headed historians out there!

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Red lightning crackled around him as the bones in his neck realigned and snapped back in place, reversing the process of his snapped neck. The blond man let out another scream of frustration and sorrow. He must have killed himself at least seventy times! No matter what he did, he always bounced back to life. He had tried everything he could think of. He had started out simple. A noose tied to a tree. Slashed wrists. A sword through the stomach and the heart. As these methods failed, he moved on to much more…drastic measures. Elaborate traps to impale him in all his major organs at once, beheading himself, burning himself to a crisp, drowning himself. He even tried to get sickness from letting diseased animals bite him. Nothing worked.

The blond stared around at the clearing where his morbid actions were taking place. A sluggish river was placed to his right and trees towered over him at every turn. Crimson blood stained the entire clearing. Every blade of grass was gifted a shower from the suicidal man, making their color a deep red. Even the river had hints of red in it. Nooses hung from trees, some broken and others not. His elaborate traps were destroyed, due to the fact that the blond man lost control of his temper every time his quest for killing himself failed. The blond felt himself slipping into madness. The voices, which he normally blocked out, were starting to form into stronger whispers. He couldn't help but wonder what his friends back at home would think of him if they realized what he was doing, what he was. Surly his brother would forgive him. That was in his nature after all. Mustang would probably tell him to get his shit together and throw in some short jokes while he was at it. Teacher would-

The blond flinched visibly. He was too scared to even think about what Teacher would do!

As these blocked feelings washed over him, the blond collapsed to bloody floor, gripping his blood stained hair, ripping out large chunks. He couldn't go back to them. He was the stone now and he couldn't go home. It would put his entire country in danger again and he could never risk his loved ones lives to just see them again in person one more time. Besides, he couldn't die. If he went back, he would have to watch everyone around him grow old and withered before they died, leaving him alone. Forever.

The blonde's mind finally snapped. The voices a deafening crescendo in his head.

"No stop! Please!"

"It hurts! It hurts!"

"Mommy? Where's my mommy? MOMMY!"

"Where am I? Where am I? Where am-"

"Save me! Please save me!"

"God? Where are you? God SAVE ME!"

The blond screamed into the dirt, his mind reeling from all the voices. He couldn't tell where he was, what was up and what was down. Hell, he even couldn't remember who he was!

He was an old man, praying at the church. Now he was a pregnant woman. Now he was a beggar on the streets. Now he was a young man that had contracted the Black Death. Now he was-

"Hello? Mister? Where am I? Who are you?" A young, female voice asked, somehow quieting the torrent of human despair that echoed hollowly within his mind.

"Huh?" the blond thought back, confused.

"My names Isabella, mister." The voice said. "It is very dark here; can you please tell me where I am?"

The blond was shocked. The girl-Isabella-had actual thoughts! She wasn't completely dead! Did that mean everyone was still alive in some way? Inside him? If that's true, then maybe that's why everyone was screaming. Most of these people were dying of the Black Death. Now they made up the Philosopher's Stone inside him, pure souls without a body. The blond felt horribly sickened, but at the same time relieved. Now he really couldn't go back. Going back meant sacrifice of another human life. He had promised his brother that they wouldn't sacrifice any person to get their bodies back and now the blond felt as if the same promise applied here. He could never use a human being as a payment for the toll. Never. The blond smiled outwardly, pushing himself to a sitting position and stopped clutching his head. Reaching deeply into himself, he struggled to try to connect himself to every soul, every human within him. Somehow, he knew how to connect with these people. It was instinctual and he figured if he hadn't been so focused on killing himself and blocking them out, he would've figured this out already.

"Everyone" the blond started, somehow knowing that his 'Voice' had grabbed the attention of everyone inside him. "I know you are all very confused. And scared. But let me explain. I am going to tell all of you everything. And in return I want to hear all of your stories, your lives. We're stuck together now, all of us and its best to get along."

Feeling everyone's attention focused solely on him, the blond began his tragic tale, from the very beginning.

"There once were two brothers. The younger brother was named Alphonse Elric and the older brother was named Edward Elric…"

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Edward stared down at his white gloved hands. It hadn't taken too long to return to his temporary home and let Dumbles transport his stuff to Hogwarts. It was actually lucky he didn't have a job currently or his strange and sudden disappearance would've made people suspicious. Edward let his mind wander a bit. Not wander too far for fear of being drawn into his own nightmare of memories, but he did let himself think of all the odd-jobs he's picked up in his roughly seven hundred years. Such as the invention of the car. Or (some) better hygiene. Or the Apollo Program. After all that work, teaching in a magic school for the second time didn't seem all that exciting. He already tried it and decided he disliked it. There were constantly papers to grade and hand out, tests to make, snotty and irritating kids he had to put up with…

Ugh, now I know how Mustang feels. Wait, no, felt…

Edward shook his head violently. Don't think about it. He thought. Don't think about it. Never think about it. Don't be drawn into memories. Keep moving forward. Don't think. Don't think. DON'T THINK!

Edward growled and pushed himself up from the cramped desk piled with papers. He had been lucky to get a decently sized room. A bed with a simple spread was shoved in the corner while the walls were just bookcases. His new desk was also larger and had drawers in it for pens and extra paper. Overall, it was pretty decent and would suit his needs.

Weaving his way through the maze on unpacked boxes, he swung the door open and went into the connected classroom. An even larger desk for the teacher sat at the front while about thirty students' desks faced it. A massive chalk board that took up nearly the entire wall was behind his classroom desk. Fresh boxes of chalk were stacked neatly upon the desk, along with parchment, (why couldn't wizards use paper? It was cheaper.) quills, and ink. (Pens would be easier. Don't have to dip them in ink every other four letter word!)

Edward still couldn't believe that he actually came back to Hogwarts. To teach alchemy once again. To be honest, he knew most wizards won't get it. In his seven years of teaching from before, only around fifteen students truly excelled at the subject. It was a shame to hear that none of them continued the art outside school. Though many more did scrape by, they had merely been mediocre students that didn't even really deserve to be called "Alchemists." Now he was redoing exactly what he did all those years ago. Sadly, he lost his old lesson plans, though, he figured, he could always recreate them anyways.

Sighing, he made his way to the classroom door, glancing at his reflections at the dark windows. Edward had decided to not only honor Nicholas's last wishes, but to return to his true identity, which included clothing. His golden eyes blazed from the window's reflection, matching his braided golden hair perfectly. His unruly bangs were grown out once again and framed his face. His red coat was flashy as ever, still holding his Teacher's symbol, a cross with a snake wrapped around it, on the back. Underneath he wore his black tank top, along with the black overcoat. He had on his old black leather pants along with the thick brown belt and finishing off the look was his black and red elevator boots which boosted him from average height to around five feet, nine inches, give or take.

Overall, he looked exactly like he did do many years ago. Staring at his reflection a bit more, Edward felt a sense of nostalgia wash over him. He blocked all the memories of Amestris from his mind. Though time could heal almost all physical wounds, emotional wounds will always be scabs. Just a little bit of scratching and you'll find blood oozing out all over you again.

Slipping out into the hallway, Edward decided to actually go to dinner. Though it'd be a few weeks until term started, almost all the teachers were here and had dinner together in the Great Hall. Well, minus him, usually. This would be his third time actually going to dinner since the entirety of the two months he's been here. Edward sighed. He really didn't want to go but a notice from Dumbles that day suggested (more like told) him to go. Though he rarely listened to authority, Edward decided it would be better to give into this one demand to avoid headaches later on.

Making his way down long hallways and devious stairways, Edward finally reached the Great Hall. Slipping inside, he slunk against the wall to the Head table. Though the students wouldn't be arriving for a good while, the house tables were already set up and ready for use. Making his way to his assigned seat, which was luckily at the very end of the right hand side of the table, he slipped into his chair as quietly as possible.

"Professor Elric! Finally decided to come outta your room didn't ye?"

Well shit. Edward thought.

Edward quickly stuffed some food into his mouth so he didn't have to talk. Though Rubeus Hagrid was a very kind person and he normally didn't mind his presence, he had caught Edward in a bad mood. Edward had run out of theories on how humans could travel past the moon without the theoretical problems. He was back to the drawing board and that greatly infuriated him. On top of that, he hadn't found his old pocket watch yet, the only thing he had kept from Amestris that wasn't his automail. He knew it was in a box somewhere, but he wasn't sure which one and he hated having to rifle through the unorganized boxes filled with his research and books to search for the blasted thing.

Edward swallowed his large bite, nodding at Hagrid as he shoveled more food into his gaping maw. Despite not being human, he still retained his need to eat. And now that he thought of it, sleep. Maybe it was to do with the fact that he was born a human? He wasn't sure. Oh well. I would've missed eating and sleeping anyways. He thought to himself. He barley registered Hagrid talking to him, giving the man nods of agreement when needed. As soon as he was finished, he said a weak goodbye to Hagrid and slunk out of his chair, wanting to get back to his room as fast as possible. I should've just ignored the demand. Screw this. Edward thought.

Slipping away, Edward caught the small twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes as the said man talked to a stern looking witch. McGonagall. Out of all the teachers here, he was most worried about her. She knew him the last time he taught here. On top of that, McGonagall was sharp and to the point. Out of all the professors, she was the one who could eventually discover who he used to be and even figure out he was immortal…

Edward quickly shook his head. No use getting paranoid over something that probably won't happen. Walking briskly back to his office for more research, he figured that old man was trying to get him to open up to more of the teachers.

Like that will ever happen. Edward snorted. Out of all the normal teachers he met, only Snape really interested him. Edward could tell the man had a dark and dirty past and Edward could relate to that. On top of that, however, was the fact that Snape was one of the few wizards that actually had more than two grains of sense, which was always welcomed. The only other person Edward could stand was Hagrid. It was hard to not like the kind giant and that pure kindness reminded him of his brother.

Slinking into his bedroom, Edward took one glance at his cluttered desk before flopping into the cozy bed. Nuzzling into the blankets, Edward let sorrow wash over him as he remembered Al and all the adventures they went through. How, despite what people said around him, he was sure he was going to get his brothers body back. And he had fulfilled his promise. Al had gotten his body back. Edward wondered how his life is, how he's coping…

Wait, no. was. Edward reminded himself bitterly. By now, Al was surly dead. Edward squeezed his eyes tight. No matter how many years that will pass, Edward knew that the guilt and sadness would always plague him. No matter what.

And with those depressing thoughts heavy on his mind, Edward fell into deep waters of poisoned sleep, filled with the painful reminder that his home was gone.

Maybe wearing the same clothes as before wasn't such a good idea after all.

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A/N:

Sorry for the short chapter! This was mainly a filler, just setting things up and such. Next chapter will actually be pretty important! I originally was going to wait a few days to post this chapter but I decided "Why wait?!" and went ahead!

Oh, and to answer your question, meladi1, I did the math and originally it turned out that Ed is 666 years old. (didn't do that on purpose!) So I changed it so that he was 667 so I wouldn't offend anyone.

and the math is a bit like this

Ed turned up in our world (16 years old) in 1343

seven years later (1350) he absorbed the stone

the story takes place in 1993

so that would make Ed's age 667.

Anyways, as always thanks for reading and of course, review!