400 years ago...
Truth scowled. Rage building up inside him. His world-HIS world!-with all its beautiful scientific harmony he had strived to create had been thrown completely off balance by foreign supernatural forces. His perfect laws of physics and chemistry that kept his universe running in such a wonderfully uniform fashion were being bent, distorted, and ignored by the demons that now plagued it. It was madness! Plants grew from nothing. Bodies were being reanimated. Matter and energy were being destroyed. Fires started without sparks and burned cold. It made him want to scream how they mocked his laws.
The worst part was that he had no way of stopping it. All it had taken was one man seeking immortality. Using thousands of human souls to do it, he ripped the fabric of the universe wide open, allowing demons of all shapes and sizes to flood in. From the smallest Koaltar to some of the most powerful, they were everywhere, coming and going as they pleased and he had no way of fixing it.
Suddenly there was the sound of a door opening. "My, my, you seem to be in a pinch," a voice rang out. Truth turned to see Mephisto standing there. The white deity growled. How dare he come to mock him at a time like this. Small black hands reached out from behind him. "How dare you come here Samael!" he growled, "You know you aren't allowed here. You have five seconds to leave before I take your limbs and throw you out!"
There was a tinge of fear in the demon's eyes as he raise his arms defensively, but he still teased the divine figure. "Oh I'm sorry," he said, "I didn't mean to upset you. I just heard from Gehenna that the gates are wide open into this world so I assumed you were inviting us in now!" Truth did not appreciate his joke, and the black hands gripped onto the demon's limbs. "I wouldn't do that!" he tried to chime, although his voice cracked slightly, "Otherwise I won't be able to help you."
Truth frowned and loosened his grip. "What do you mean by help?" he said.
"As you know, I am the demon king of time and space," he said, "I can bend the fabric of reality to my will. And while It is not my best skill, I can also do a good patch job of it too."
Truth paused in thought. "What is it that you want?" he asked, "I of all people should know your kind never works for free, so make your claim, but if you ask for something more than what you're giving me in return, you're going to regret it."
Mephisto smiled. "I want to be able to access this universe whenever I feel like it," he said, "I've been looking for a new vacation home for a while. Someplace I can take a few friends and really wow them. This universe with alchemy seems like a nice place to do the trick. In return I will help you fix your universe now, and again if it ever happens."
Truth smiled and laughed, letting him go. "I believe that will work," he said, "but only two guests can be brought over with you at any given time, otherwise you'll start losing body parts, demon, starting with that tail of yours."
Mephisto inwardly shuddered at how painful and humiliating that would be. "Good to see you agree," he said, extending out a hand. The pure white deity took it in his own.
….
Present day...
"Damn it!" Envy cried, kicking over a chair at Mustang's house in Central, "Where the hell is it?!" He felt like flipping over the man's desk. Lust walked up the stairs and into the room, a disappointed look on her face. Gluttony was behind her, pouting, "Well? Did you find it?" Envy demanded.
"No," she said, "It wasn't in the basement or the kitchen."
Envy looked over curiously to Gluttony who looked upset. "Whats wrong with him?" Envy asked, "Wouldn't he be glad he got to check the kitchen?"
"He was…" she said, "Until he found and drank a whole bottle of something marked 'Kuro' on the same shelf as the wine."
"It didn't taste good…" Gluttony whimpered, "not at all…"
Envy blinked in surprise. Gluttony didn't like eating something? What was the world coming to?! "Are you sure it wasn't rat poison?" he asked, "Oh who am I kidding…Gluttony would still like rat poison."
"No, the rat poison was under the sink," she said, "Besides, it smelled like alcohol."
"Jeez…," Envy said, a little disturbed, "What kind of tastes does this Mustang have if he keeps something that even Gluttony doesn't like?"
"No idea, but there's no point in staying here," she said, "It's clearly not here. He must have taken it to East City with him."
Envy groaned. "But that means that cat thing is still guarding it!" he hissed, "Damn it! Why does that thing have to get in the way!"
"Oh stop complaining…" she snapped at him.
"No, you don't understand!" he retorted, "There's something wrong with that thing! No matter what disguise I take, it can tell who I am! Do you have any idea how many times that thing has killed me? I'm getting into double digits here!" The truth was he was long past double digits, but he didn't need to admit that.
"You probably have just been going about it the wrong way," she said.
"What? Have you got a plan to get past that thing?" Envy said.
She smirked at him. "I already have three," she said, "Now come on. We're wasting daylight."
….
Alphonse, Edward, and Rin wandered around the small village on the outskirts of East City, looking for the apartment where they had been directed. Roy had sent them off in the general direction of where the man was, but they still needed to ask around to be sure. "Jeez!" Rin complained, "For such a small place, it sure is hard to find him."
"Actually, I don't think it's too much farther," Al said, looking at the street signs, "Look! Up there!" He said, pointing to the small sign of a medical a second story apartment.
"Hey, Dr. Marcoh, you in?" Rin called knocking on the door, "Come on man, we want to talk to you." Suddenly the door opened and two gun shots fired. Rin was sent reeling back as he dodged them. "JESUS CHRIST! What the crap, man?!" Rin cried, "You could have killed me!"
"It's Ok!" Al said, "We just want to-"
"I know what you want!" The man said, panic clear in his voice, "You're State Alchemists. You think you can take me back there!"
"No it's not that," Ed protested.
"You are Doctor Marcoh, the Crystal Alchemist, right?" Al said, "We're not going to take you back."
So you've come to silence me?" he said, cocking the gun, "Think you can kill me? Well I don't have to just let that happen!"
All three boys held their hands up. "No!" Ed cried, "We'd never kill someone!"
"Yeah, just calm down!" Rin said, "Look, we aren't here to kill you. My name is Rin Mustang, the Spitfire Alchemist. You were friends with my dad, right?"
Marcoh's eyes widened. "So it really is true," he said, "When I heard a Rin Mustang was a state alchemist, I didn't think it was his child that had joined the military. I thought he might have had a cousin or nephew…" then he raised the gun again. "Wait that doesn't make any sense!" he snapped, "Roy Mustang had no children during the war!"
"Yeah, my brother and I were adopted after the fact," Rin said, pulling out his wallet to show him proof. "Here, see?" He said giving him his ID.
Marcoh frowned but accepted it. "Very well...but what about them?" he asked, gesturing to Ed and Al.
"I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist," he explained.
"And I'm his little brother Alphonse," Al added.
"We swear, the military didn't send us," Ed said, "We just want to talk." Marcoh hesitated but nodded and let them in.
….
"I can't believe Mustang of all people let his son become a state alchemist," the man said as he brought tea to the table, "He of all people I thought would be against it."
Rin scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Yeah…" he said laughing nervously, "Let is a strong word...so is relented…"
"You snuck in behind his back, didn't you?" the man said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah…." Rin muttered.
Marcoh rubbed his temples and sighed. "That explains alot…" he muttered, "So what was it that you boys wanted to know?"
"We wanted to know about what you did in your time in the military," Alphonse asked, "Is it really true you searched for the philosopher's stone?"
He gave them a hard look before answering. "Yes and I deserted the battlefield. And when I left, I stole all the research I'd compiled at the time; Their books, my notes. I have a hunch the military's still looking for me so they can see what I found out," he explained.
Ed's eyes lit up. "So you can help us! You can help us find it!" he exclaimed.
"Forget it," Marcoh growled, "I can't show you my work. The orders from above notwithstanding, I dirtied my hands with that research. Then the military, they put it to use on those people in that Eastern Rebellion massacre."
"Eastern Rebelion?" Rin questioned.
"You mean that uprising in Ishval?" Edward asked.
"Armageddon. That's the only word that fits that battle. Women, children, it didn't matter, everyone was killed. And there wasn't any real reason. All they said was the people of Ishbal defied them," he explained, "Spoke out against the system. What I was responsible for, I could never make up, even taking my life would be a token gesture. So I decided to vanish, and become a doctor. Help people, and slowly work off some fraction of the debt. Now get out."
"Wait a minute!" Rin said, voice low, "What do you mean Armagedon? And civilians getting killed? When did that happen?" Rin couldn't help from get a sinking feeling in his stomach as Marcoh's words sunk in. Rin felt like he had been lied to. He thought Ishval had just been a regular skirmish like what was going on with Creta. Granted he had never really looked into the subject much or asked about it.
Marcoh got a look on his face. A look of surprise and pity. So mustang hadn't told the boy. That explained why he was so eager to get into the program. "The war was more than just a war kid," he said, "Terrible atrocities were committed there."
"What kind of atrocities?" Rin questioned growing more worried.
"I'm sorry...I don't think I was supposed to tell you," Marcoh said sincerely, "I think this is something your father wanted to discuss with you on his own terms." The doctor didn't feel it was his right to explain it to him. He didn't know half of what Mustang had gone through, only his own experiences. "Now you three really need to leave," he stated.
"We're not leaving until we get answers on the stone," Edward said.
"And I'M not leaving until I get answers about Ishval," Rin stated.
"You are all going to leave right now if you know what's good for you!" the four people in the room turned to see Brigadier General Basque Grand and several other men.
"The Brigadier…." Rin snarled, "not again!"
"Brigadier Basque?" Marcoh sneered, "Well, you've wormed your way up."
"You're damn right, Crystal Alchemist,"And now you'll turn the Philosopher's Stone and your research over to me."
"I don't have any," Marcoh denied.
"Oh really?"the brigadier general said, "Search the building!" In seconds
soldiers were all over the place, tearing down shelves, overturning furniture, until someone found a hollow space in the wall.
"General? I think I found something!" the soldier shouted.
"Out of the way!" Basque said, shoving Rin aside. He turned his hand into a gauntlet before smashing the wall. He pulled out a red vile.
"Philosopher's Stone? That thing?" Ed questioned.
"It looks more like that red water…" Rin noted.
"In liquid form. An experimental leap at best, roulette at worst. You never know when it will reach its limit and backfire. An unstable, defective product, different from the true stone. But during the rebellion, it did augment our abilities. And make us tremendously powerful," Grand said, examining it, "And now it, and Marcoh, are coming with me."
Two men grabbed hold of the middle aged man. "No! Let go of me!" He cried, struggling, "Please! I'm sorry I ran! Have mercy! You can't take me back! I can't go back to that place! It's too much! I can't take it! The testing. The experiments! My hands are already stained! Please!"
"Dr. Marcoh!" Alphonse cried as they pulled him out the door.
"Let him go!" Rin demanded pulling out his gloves as they ran out the door after them. When they got outside, the general had already gotten the Dr. into his car and was driving off.
"No!" Ed growled and swore, "Not again! He took him just like Nina!"
"Yeah? Well he's not getting away with it!" Rin snarled. The two boys began running after the car with Alphonse trailing behind. Rin was prepared to snap to explode the tires, but he didn't have to. The car screeched to a halt on its own. The three slowed in confusion until they saw the car explode.
"What the hell?!" Edward cried.
"Is Dr. Marcoh ok?" Al question. The dust cleared and the three were both surprised and relieved to find he was alright. They began running towards them again when they noticed something. There was a figure standing in front of Basque Grand
"Wait," Ed said, noticing the X shaped scar on the man's face, "I saw that guy in Central!"
"Hey, me too!" Rin exclaimed, "The heck is he doing here?"
They quickly found out as the man attacked Basque Grand, pressing his palm to his forehead and causing his skull to explode in a flash of light. The three boys were struck with horror as they watched the large man fall back into a pool of his own blood. Rin's legs shook. He thought he was going to be sick.
"He...he murdered Basque!" Alphonse exclaimed.
"Crystal Alchemist Doctor Marcoh," the man said, approaching him, "I heard you were dead. I'll have to take special care...to wash you out of this world for your transgressions." He extended his hand out to Marcoh who was kneeling on the ground, looking up in fear.
Rin had been paralyzed before but as he saw what the man was about to do, he snapped out of it. "NO!" he shouted, snapping his fingers.
Scar was pushed back by the blast of blue flames. He landed on his backside and Edward took the opportunity to grab Marcoh and run. Scar furrowed his eyes as he patted out the fire. "These flames…" he muttered, "Why do they carry such an unearthly color?" He looked up to see them running away. It didn't make any sense. If he remembered right, the Flame Alchemist's fires were red and orange? Why were his son's different?
He growled. He didn't have time to think about this. He needed to end those pesky alchemists, before they could destroy anyone else's lives.
A bit shorter than usual but, I still hope you guys enjoyed it. Small note: its a head canon of mine that the wine that kuro likes is a special kind that only demons enjoy. Anyways, have a nice day guys.