"Grab hold of something; this might hurt- a lot," Edward warned as he prepared to connect the automail leg he held in his hands to Erika's automail connection base.

"I'm aware of how much it hurts," Erika groaned as she shifted in her seat, squeezing Alphonse's hand tightly, "I'm just not looking forward to feeling all that pain." Al had managed to find Edward's spare automail leg and convince him to let their guest use it; just negotiating with Ed had taken more effort than finding the leg!

"Don't worry about it," Al said reassuringly, "just look away and you won't feel a thing."

"You're talking to me as if I'm a five year old getting a flu shot." Erika said with a smile.

"That's true, but it definitely works." Al replied. Erika turned her head to see that the automail leg was now in place- and she hadn't even flinched!

"I've just got to make a few minor adjustments to the automail connection mechanism to make sure that the leg works properly," Edward explained, "the mechanism isn't exactly compatible with this older leg model. This is the painful part."

"Oh, good lord," Erika cried, "this really isn't my week, is it?"

xXx

Greta Hendel walked down one of the many hallways of the lab facility she had been working in since the death of her sister. "I promise, dear sister, I will open the portal, and infuse this world with the holy purity of Shamballa." Greta turned left, towards a door guarded by several brutish men.

"This area is off-limits, ma'am," the burliest man said as he stepped in front of the door, the other men forming a protective barrier behind him, "this room is only accessible by members of the Zauber Society." Without saying a single word, Greta reached into the pocket of her coat and flashed a card at the men before her. Upon seeing the card, the men hurriedly moved away from the door. "My apologies, ma'am," the burly man from before stuttered, "I had no idea that you were the Chairman"

"Now you know for next time," Greta began, "who your boss is and who might just fire you on the spot." Without another word, she pushed open the door and disappeared into the room before her.

"Ah, Miss Hendel, how lovely it is to see you again," a tall man wearing a long white lab cloak said with a smile as he approached Greta.

"Do I know you?" Greta asked as she walked over to a table covered in blueprints.

"We've met once before," the man answered, "I am Dr. Reto Heidemann, the head of this stage of your plans."

"Ah, now I remember," Greta said with a smirk, "you came to me with a head full of scientific theories and an empty stomach."

"Yes, that's true, and those theories have lead to the discovery of a way to Shamballa." Dr. Heidemann said as he led Greta into a large room in the center of the lab facility. The two of them stood on a balcony high above the floor, looking down upon a large machine. From high above, it appeared to be a round ring, with five metal rods evenly spaced around the circumference.

"Impressive," Greta murmured, "how does it work?"

"It's quite a complex operation," Dr. Heidemann said as he admired his creation, "the machine creates a hyper excitation of the electric fields that bind the atomic particles that form the gases making up the air we breathe. The energy phase shift creates a void in the time space continuum, which allows making both time and interdimensional travel possible, via inter-quark ionization potential cyclotronic technology. The result is a portal that can remain open for almost half an hour."

"It's perfect," Greta said with a smirk. "We'll activate it tomorrow."

"There's one problem with that, Miss Hendel," Dr. Heidemann said quietly. Greta whipped her head around to look at the scientist.

"What do you mean, 'one problem'?" she hissed in annoyance.

"We haven't exactly figured out how to make the portal stable enough to allow a human to pass through. The soonest we'll be able to use it is eleven days, and that's a gamble." he said, awaiting an angry rant from his superior.

"Well then," Greta said through pursed lips, "I suggest you get to work on that, doctor."

"At once, Miss Hendel," Dr. Heidemann said as he rushed off to continue his work.

"You'd better not fail, Heidemann," Greta hissed as she spun on her heels, walking back towards the door, "or I'll have you back on the street, eating from garbage bins once again."

xXx

"It's got to work this time," Erika growled as she slammed her hands down onto the edge of the tenth circle she'd drawn that week. Alphonse had helped her come up with several different arrays, all of which they'd failed to activate.

"I told you it was useless," Edward sighed as he walked into the room, shaking his head.

"It's not useless," Erika growled at him, clearly upset by his lack of confidence, "I've been here for over a week, and I'm already sick of this place! All you've done is told me that I'll never get home, I'll never this, I'll never that; you're just so negative!"

"Erika, calm down," Alphonse said, "getting angry isn't going to do anyone any favours."

"Me, negative?" Edward snapped, "all you've been talking about is how scared you think your grandma is, and whether you'd transmuted your grandpa right! You've been nothing but a downer since you got here!"

"That's because I've been worried about my family!" Erika yelled, "I ventured into God's domain when I attempted Human Transmutation; I tried to play God- and now my family thinks I'm dead! I'll never see my mom and dad again, my grandmother, or my little brother! I wasn't ever much of a sister to him, and I wanted to change that more than anything, but now I'm not so sure I'll be able to! You, of all people, Edward, should understand! For three years you and your brother were literally a world apart, and I bet it felt like an eternity to you! That's exactly how I feel!" For a long while, the three of them were silent. "I need to get a breath of fresh air," Erika stuttered as she made her way past Edward. She ran through the house, and out the door.

"Nice going, Ed." Alphonse muttered as he chased after Erika, leaving his brother alone.

xXx

"Erika, wait up," Alphonse called after her, "you don't know your way around; you'll get lost!"

"I don't care," she cried as she picked up her pace, "the sooner I get lost, the better. Then Edward won't have to look at me again, and I'll rot away like compost! Besides, it's not like I have a family that'll worry about my disappearance!"

"You're upset and you aren't thinking rationally;" Al said as he started running as fast as he could to try and keep up with Erika, "you'll get yourself in a ton of trouble if you're not careful!"

"I don't give a damn!" Erika yelled, "I have no family here, and nobody who would make me part of theirs! No one here cares about what happens to me!"

"That's not true," Al said to her as he finally matched her pace, "you've got a friend who cares about you, and he's right here." Slowly, Erika stopped running, giving Alphonse some time to catch his breath.

"You actually care about me?" she asked as Al placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Of course I do," he said softly, "you're one of the best friends I've had in a long time. You're exactly like Winry; sweet, funny, caring; you're an amazing person."

Erika looked down at her feet. Ever since she'd been taken to this new world, she'd longed to be comforted by someone who genuinely understood how she felt, and Alphonse, bless his heart, did.

'I won't cry,' she thought as she felt warm tears roll down her cheeks, 'crying means you're weak, and weaklings don't survive in the world!'

Alphonse noticed how hard Erika was trying to keep her tears from falling and sighed. He used to do the same thing when he was younger. "It's always okay to cry;" he said softly, "we all do it. Even soldiers cry."

That did it. She couldn't stop herself from bursting into tears. Erika buried her face in her hands and cried.

"No matter how many times you may fall down in life," Al began once Erika began to calm down, "there's always someone out there to get you back up on your feet."

"Thanks Al," Erika said softly as she turned around and hugged him, "you're sweet too." For a short while, Alphonse seemed quite flustered and uncomfortable, but eventually smiled and returned the hug.

"Please don't try to run away like that again," Al said as the two of them pulled apart, and Erika slid her hand into his, "as I said before, this world isn't safe."

"I promise." Erika said as she wiped away her tears.

"Let's get back home," he said softly as the two turned back the way they'd come from. The second they started walking, they collided with a tall woman in a black coat.

"Watch where you're going, you little brats," she hissed at them as she picked up the folder she'd dropped. She glared at them; her piercing blue eyes seemed to stare into their souls. With that, she took off down the sidewalk at a brisk pace.

"It looks like she dropped some paperwork," Erika said as she picked up a couple pieces of paper from the ground, "Hey lady, you dropped some of…" by the time Erika had turned around, the woman had disappeared.

"Let me take a look at those," Alphonse said as he took a glance at the papers. As he read some of the information on them, he shook his head in disbelief. "Let's get these to Ed;" he said hurriedly, "he'll be interested in taking a look at them."

xXx

Edward stood in front of the window, the evening sun casting shadows down on the street below. Slowly, he slid the white glove off of his right hand, revealing his automail arm. He rolled up his sleeve and sighed as the sunlight glinted off of the polished metal.

"Maybe it isn't impossible to make it back home," Edward said as he turned to look at the many circles drawn on the floor.

"Edward," Alphonse called from the doorway, Erika right behind him, "you're going to want to see these papers." Judging by how excited the two of them seemed, they really wanted him to take a look at them.

"What are they?" he asked as he took the papers.

"Plans for a spectacular machine, that's what they are!" Alphonse said happily as Edward examined the papers. Erika crossed her arms and stared at the floor.

"These are Zauber Society plans!" Edward exclaimed in shock, "These plans would be considered classified!"

"Zauber Society? What exactly is that?" Erika asked quietly as she turned to look at the small logo printed on the top right hand corner of one of the papers.

"The Zauber Society is an independent group of scientists who believe that it's possible to open pathways to other worlds- at least that's what the government tells everyone;" Edward answered, "how did you get these?"

"We accidentally bumped into someone on our way back here;" Alphonse explained, "she dropped the papers without noticing. We tried to return them to her, but by the time we'd gathered them, she'd already left."

"It's a good thing you didn't give her the papers," Ed said as he spread the papers out on a nearby table, "the Zauber Society is planning to use a machine to open a portal leading to 'Shamballa'; a utopia often referred to by the Hindu people, and fuse it with this world. These are the main blueprints and activation instructions. A lunatic I met before tried to do something quite similar to this."

"That's horrible!" Alphonse gawked as he took in the information he'd just been given, "A process like that is extremely dangerous!" Now really interested, Erika shifted her gaze to the rolled up blueprint in Edward's hands.

"That's not all," Edward said darkly, "they plan to fuse Shamballa with this world; there are two problems with that. One, if Shamballa really exists, there isn't enough energy in the entire world to create a portal to such a place. Not even Alchemy could allow us to do it. Two, by my calculations, they'll be opening a portal that leads to our world; more specifically, into Resembool, Amestris, the year 2013, not Shamballa, or anything remotely close to it."

"We've got to stop this;" Erika said, "during the fusion process, millions of people could die!"

"But how can we?" Alphonse asked, "We're just a couple of normal people. This'll be impossible unless we have some sort of source of Alchemic power- which doesn't exist in this world."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Erika said with a smirk as she reached into her pocket. Edward and Alphonse gasped as she pulled the one remaining Red Stone she'd taken with her to the past from her pocket.

"Is that a Red Stone?" Alphonse asked in amazement, "How did you get one?"

"I'd originally found and taken it from one of the journals I'd used as a reference guide back at home;" Erika explained, "I'd completely forgotten that I'd had it in my pocket when I first attempted to return home. After I learned about how you two ended up here, I decided I wouldn't leave this world without taking you both with me. Because the stone is unstable, I decided not to use it; there was no telling when it would lose its power during a transmutation and cause some serious injuries. Despite being a fake Philosopher's Stone, it is still extremely powerful, and a source of Alchemic energy. If we're careful enough, we can use it to power our Alchemy. It'll also allow us to use Alchemy without a circle. I used the second one I had while trying to transmute my Opa."

"That explains why you paid so little to the gate; it took the Philosopher's Stone as payment!" Al mused as he stared at the small object in Erika's palm.

"If we use some of the Alchemic catalysts within the stone to split it into three, we'll each have an equal amount of energy to work with!" Ed exclaimed, his eyes shining with renewed hope, hope that Al hadn't seen in a long time, "What are we waiting for? Let's get to work!"

xXx

"Miss Hendel," Dr. Heidemann said as Greta Hendel walked into the laboratory, her folder tucked under her arm, "If you don't mind, I would like to see the blueprints for the machine; I plan on making some last minor modifications before we activate it this evening."

"Of course, doctor," Greta said quietly as she opened up her folder and flipped through the thick mound of papers. "What?" she growled as she scanned the folder once again for the papers she wanted, "they're gone!"

"What do you mean, 'gone'?" Dr. Heidemann asked.

"I mean just that," Greta snapped, "those little brats on the street must've taken them!"

"I can't modify the machine without those blueprints," Dr. Heidemann pointed out, "are you sure you don't have them?"

"I'm never wrong, Doctor;" Greta replied coldly, "we'll just have to move onward with my plan. Once those children figure out what we've been planning, they'll take it upon themselves to play the 'Hero' game and attempt to foil my plans!"

"But Miss Hendel, it's still unsafe;" Dr. Heidemann warned, "the machine could kill someone if the portal it generates is unstable; it could kill anyone who gets close enough to be pulled through!"

"Do I look like I really care about what happens to a couple of idiots who get too close?" Greta asked, "We will set the third phase of my plan into motion tonight!"

xXx

Erika sat in her bedroom, playing with her new skirt. If she was going to live in this strange world where Munich, Germany was, she would have to blend in with all of the other young women. A sweet lady named Gracia who owned a flower shop across the street had been more than happy to lend her some clothing. She was just about to slip on her shoes when there was a knock at her door.

"Come in," she called, expecting Alphonse to be coming in to tell her it was time to get to work. She was quite surprised to see that it was Edward who had been knocking.

"Sorry for the intrusion." he said as he gently closed the door behind himself.

"You're not intruding at all;" Erika said as she slipped her feet into her shoes and began walking about the room, "is there something you'd like to talk about?"

Edward sat down in a chair in the corner of the room, "yes, actually. About what happened earlier…"

"I know, I lost my temper," Erika said with a sigh, "and it was wrong of me to blow up like that."

"That's not at all what I was going to say;" Ed said as Erika pulled a chair over and sat down, "I shouldn't have said the things I did. They were hurtful and rude. I know that being tossed into this place must be overwhelmingly terrifying for you, and you have the right to be worried about your family."

Erika looked down at her hands. She was indeed terrified of this strange world, and was almost always thinking about her family.

"I guess what I'm trying to say," Edward said as he squirmed in his seat; apologizing was always hard for him, "I'm sorry."

The two of them were quiet for a while. Soon after, Erika looked up at Edward. "Back in Resembool, Oma Winry told me that there were two Alchemists who used to live there. She said that the two of them tried Human Transmutation and died. Now, I think she was talking about you and Al. She lied to me about you two. Why would she do that?"

Edward sighed, "she was trying to protect you. She was partially telling the truth, though. Al and I nearly died transmuting our mother. She didn't want that to happen to you. She was afraid that you would try something foolish and end up like the two of us. I joined the Military as a State Alchemist, and because of that, I had to do a ton of things I didn't want to, and more often than not, Al got dragged into it. We made a ton of foolish mistakes, and this is the hell we were allotted for them."

Erika clenched her fists tightly; she had completely ignored her grandmother's warnings, and now she had gotten herself into this mess. She blinked hard to try and stop the tears in her eyes from falling; she had promised herself that there was absolutely no way she would cry again. 'It's okay to cry,' Erika then remembered Alphonse say to her. "I'm sorry," she stuttered as her tears began to fall, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," Edward said gently, "don't be."