A/N: The 'epilogue' of sorts in the 2003 anime seemed to take place quite some time after the story's conclusion - this of course extends to Izumi's arrival in Resembool and agreement to train Al. To avoid timeskips and keep both worlds on the same page, I moved the event up a bit to just a week after Dante's defeat. Hopefully this doesn't bother anyone.

AMESTRIS-2

It was just past dawn, and the three Elrics were strolling down the streets of Dublith at a very unhurried pace.

"Can't you two walk a little faster?" the other Ed muttered under his breath. "Look, I had this exact conversation with her in my world, and it went perfectly that time."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Al wailed, clutching his helmet. "Even if our Teacher's done human transmutation like yours has, she'll still beat us up and you know it!"

"Good thing I already wrote out my will last month," Ed said in a gloomy voice.

The other Ed rolled his eyes and tugged his wig tighter around his head. "For crying out loud… I just said it's going to be fine! Don't you guys trust me at all?"

"We just met you, and you still haven't told us everything you know," Al pointed out.

"Yes, I have!" The other Ed's lips drew together into a familiar pouty expression.

That definitely wasn't true, but Al decided not to press the issue further; the other Ed probably had a good reason to keep quiet. Probably being the key word.

They turned the corner, and – oh no, there it was: the Curtises' butchershop, small but stolid in the brightening daylight, with no sign except the (faintly ominous) MEAT written in large letters over the roof. Al could hear his knees knocking together like some sort of metal percussion set, and he suddenly felt very glad, for once, that he couldn't spontaneously burst into tears.

They crept up to the door. "Are you ready?" Ed whispered, his hand shaking slightly as he reached for the doorknob.

"She's not gonna kill us… right?" Al said.

"Just do it already," said the other Ed with a sigh. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see us."

Ed took a deep breath and pushed the door open. "Hi, Teacher!" he said brightly. "It's Ed and Al! We came to visit!"

"Well, well," came a voice from within. "You two really have grown…" Izumi Curtis emerged from behind the counter, her hands on her hips in a pose that was somehow still menacing even though Al was now a foot taller than her and made of metal. She stopped a few feet away and looked them up and down. Then, abruptly, she reached out and punched both of them into the wall. "Too slow!" she barked. "I thought I taught you two better than this!"

"Sorry – " Ed stammered.

"We, um, we've been training hard, promise!" Al squeaked, getting to his feet.

The glare Izumi shot him was possibly enough to melt the moon. "Seems you've been slacking off lately. Come on in, I want to talk. Oh, and your little friend can come in too."

The other Ed, who had wisely ducked behind a pile of crates, tiptoed through the door. The four sat down at the kitchen table while Sig made coffee.

"So." Izumi made the word sound like a tolling bell of doom. "What have you been up to?"

Ed coughed. "I, uh, became a State Alchemist. We've been traveling around."

"A State Alchemist?" Izumi scowled. "Didn't I tell you precisely not to do that?"

"I know! It's just… we, uh, I had to do it, because, um. Because…" He took several deep breaths.

"Come on," said the other Ed out of the corner of his mouth. "You promised you'd tell her."

Ed squeezed his eyes shut and blurted out, "Becausewedidhumantransmutation!"

No one said anything for a few seconds, which was, in Al's opinion, the scariest possible thing. Izumi sat back in her chair, arms folded tightly. "I see." Her gaze shifted from Ed to Al and back. "That's what I guessed, from how your bodies felt when I threw you a few minutes ago. You have automail, and you don't have a body. Am I right?"

"Yeah," Al said quietly, all too aware of how his voice echoed hollowly inside him. Then he looked up, just in time to be punched into the wall again.

"Teacher!" Ed cried, his head having narrowly missed a bookshelf. "That was a little unfair…"

"Idiots," Izumi snapped as they sat back down unsteadily. "After all my warnings, all I tried to teach you, you did it anyway? And then you sold your soul to the government? I can't believe it."

"But if I hadn't signed up, there wouldn't be any way to get Al's body back," Ed said pleadingly. "We were looking for the Philosopher's Stone – "

"A myth," she said, cutting him off. "You can't restore what Truth has taken away. Believe me, I know." She doubled over suddenly, coughing, and spat a few flecks of blood into a basin on the counter.

"Teacher! Are you okay?" said Al worriedly.

She waved him off and returned to her seat. "As I was saying. Your determination is admirable, but you violated the taboo – " her hand moved down, almost involuntarily it seemed, to her abdomen " – and that's the price you had to pay."

Al looked down, first at his giant hands resting in his lap, then at Ed's hands across the table. His gloves were on, but as he shifted slightly there was a brief flash, barely a twinkle, of metal.

"But we have to get our bodies back," he burst out. "How can we just go on with our lives, knowing we made that mistake? That's not who we are, right, Brother?" Next to him, he thought he heard the other Ed's breathing hitch, just for a second, and wondered if he'd said something wrong.

"Yeah, that's right," said his Ed in the meantime, giving him a grin before turning back to Izumi. "I know we messed up, but we actually need your help right now, so… can you forgive us? Please?"

Izumi's brows furrowed for a long while. Her hand was still resting on her stomach, Al noticed. "I suppose I shouldn't be too angry," she said finally. "The two of you followed my example even better than I'd thought." So the other Ed had been right about Izumi doing human transmutation. "But even so," she continued, "I can't excuse behavior like that. Especially from my own students – "

"Wait, don't expel them!" the other Ed interrupted, speaking up for the first time. "We're not done yet!"

Izumi whipped around to glower at him. "How did you know I was going to do that? And who are you, anyway?"

"I knew because, uh, you did it to me a while back. And about who I am…" The other Ed bit his lip. "That's actually why we're here. It's kind of a long story, but I'm Ed. I mean, I'm also Ed. Like, from another dimension." This explanation didn't seem to be very satisfactory.

"What?"

"He came here through the Gate," Al said in a vain attempt to clear up the situation. "It's like equivalent exchange for my body. Um, not my body but his brother's body. I think."

"Yeah," Ed chimed in helpfully. "He really is me. I've got him all checked out. He knows my favorite flavor of ice cream, the brand of oil Al uses to fix his joints, the name of that one kid in Resembool who always stole my homework, everything. Also, he looks like me too. See?" The other Ed took off his wig, revealing his shiny golden tresses. "It makes total sense, doesn't it?"

There was another pause.

"Coffee's ready," said Sig.

Half an hour later, Al was reasonably sure everything had been discussed thoroughly. (Everything the other Ed had bothered to tell them, anyway.)

Izumi sipped from her mug thoughtfully and examined the detailed series of flowcharts the other Ed had drawn on the table. "Well. This defeats the point of my entire lecture, doesn't it."

"Not at all," the other Ed said cheerfully. "You said pretty much the same thing to me and Al in our world. I think these two needed to hear it."

Ed snorted. "We really didn't. Anyway, before we get down to business here, we should deal with the thing up on Seluna's Peak first."

"What thing?" asked Izumi. As if in reply, a distant rumble rippled through the earth. Sig's kitchen knives quivered slightly.

"A snake, people are saying," the other Ed said as the vibrations ceased. "We went to have a look a few days ago, but there was nothing there. We were hoping you could accompany us today."

"Me?" Izumi laughed. "I don't know what help I'd be, but if that's what you want, then I'm all for it." She gulped down the rest of her coffee and rubbed her palms together. "Let's go. Sig, honey, keep the kettle on for me while I'm gone, would you?"

The tremors became steadily more frequent as they made their way up the hill again. The other Ed was in front, practically sprinting through the undergrowth. Al and Ed trudged behind, questioned incessantly by their teacher all the while.

"So… you're positive this boy is yourself? Absolutely positive?"

"No doubt about it," Ed said, rolling his eyes. "Believe me, I know what I'm like. The real question is what exactly he's been up to."

Al pondered that. Back at Rose's place, the other Ed had done a magnificent job dodging just about every question they'd asked. Sure, he'd told them about the Philosopher's Stone and given out a few vague warnings about homunculi and the state and that sort of thing – he'd also apparently died at some point, but Al wasn't sure if that was just symbolism. No other answers had been forthcoming. Just another sign to Al that, no matter which universe you lived in, Edward Elric was always impossible to deal with.

"He's from the future?" Izumi was saying. "How does that work?"

Ed shrugged. "He said some things were different here, so I guess it's not really the future. But the stuff he knows could really come in handy."

"If he doesn't ditch us and go back home," Al added, rather darkly.

"I wouldn't do that!" cried Ed, as if he'd been the one insulted. "I mean – he wouldn't. He seems alright, doesn't he?"

"Sure, but he cares more about his Al than about any of us. We're just duplicates to him."

Ed didn't have a response to that. They walked on in silence.

This time when they got to the top, half of the wheat field had been flattened. Not a good sign.

"Hey, come out!" Ed shouted at the open air. The words died on the breeze without so much as an echo, but from the woods on the south side there came an answering roar. They tensed as the trees shook and rattled. Al caught a glimpse of a tail waving madly up above the leaves. Then, all of a sudden, it burst out – a great green serpent, its back covered in fins and ridges, bigger than anything he'd ever seen before. It passed above them in a wide circle, almost like… what was it called… the Ouroboros? No time for dredging up textbook information now.

The head swung from side to side until it caught sight of the four down below. Then there was another roar, this one ear-splittingly loud (Al didn't exactly have ears, but the point stood).

They were expecting a fight, but instead the snake's form began to crackle and shudder as red flashes passed through it. "What's going on?" Izumi shouted.

"Just wait," the other Ed replied, his face tight. "I think I've figured out who this is."

The serpent disappeared behind a burst of red light, which flickered and condensed into a human form – a muscular young man with long green hair and an interestingly tight outfit.

"I thought I killed you," the creature seethed, pointing a trembling finger at Ed (it wasn't clear which one he meant). "No, I'm positive I killed you. You died right in front of me! Why the hell are you here?"

Ed looked as perplexed as Al felt. "Oh – that's him." He nodded at the other Ed, who waved awkwardly. "I actually don't have anything to do with this."

"What?! Don't lie to me, I know who you are!"

"Stop, stop," said the other Ed. "He's right, Envy. I'm the one you're looking for. And I'm not dead anymore, by the way."

"Envy?" said Al, remembering the name. "The homunculus you talked about? What's he doing here?"

Envy made a irritated growling noise in his throat. "Quit the chatter. I don't know why you Elric brothers keep coming back after you're supposed to be dead, but before I kill your dad I'm gonna finish the job here first!" He rushed toward them, beginning to change forms again.

"Watch out!" the other Ed yelled, transmuting a fist from the ground that hit Envy before he could shapeshift. "He can't use alchemy, so just watch out in case he tries to, I dunno, impale you or something – "

Ed and Al rushed towards Envy, only to find all their moves blocked expertly. "Hah! I figured out the two of you – three, whatever – a long time ago!" he snarled. Al finally got the drop on the homunculus long enough to ready a punch, but then he shifted into Winry – a stupid trick, but it made Al hesitate – and aimed a savage kick at Al's ankles. Izumi threw up a wall at the last second and shoved Al behind it.

"Thanks, Teacher," Al said, feeling embarrassed that he'd fallen for something like that.

"Don't thank me. Your sparring is horrible." She bent over and coughed before giving him a pat on the back. He couldn't feel it, of course, but the dull clanging sound was reassuring nonetheless.

Al and Izumi rushed back into the fray. Envy and the two Eds were still duking it out, too close together for alchemy to be of much use. Al was sure that, given enough time, the four of them could beat Envy, but he had a feeling that the shapeshifting would make things a little complicated.

This suspicion was proven correct when Envy changed form again a few minutes later, this time into Ed. "Oh, great," groaned the real Ed (one of them, anyway). "How are we supposed to tell each other apart now?"

"Just hit anyone that looks like you," Izumi advised, promptly turning around and flinging a different Ed out of her way.

"Ow! Teacher, that was – "

"That's Envy, don't listen to him – "

"No, you're Envy!"

"Shut up!"

At this point the brawl descended into total chaos. Al waited it out and watched as closely as he could, finally catching a telltale red flash on one of the Eds. "Got you!" he cried, and punted Envy halfway across the field. Except it wasn't Envy, as he soon realized when a blade from behind sliced into him, mercifully missing his blood seal.

"Hey!" cried Ed, rushing towards the real Envy.

"Got you that time," Envy crowed, shifting back into his usual appearance. "Now I'll just need to bump off one of you blond bastards – " He dodged Ed's punch and ducked low to the ground, his hand morphing into… was that a spike? The other Ed really hadn't been kidding about impalement. "Brother, watch out!" he shouted, but he was afraid it might already be too late –

A black blur slashed through the scene, so quickly that at first Al thought he'd imagined it. But no, something had definitely just happened. Ed was still standing where he had been, a baffled look on his face, but Envy stumbled backwards, blood spilling from a series of clean slits through his chest.

"Who was that?" he demanded, sounding more annoyed than anything at the sight of what really ought to have been a mortal wound.

A pale, dark-haired (and… very busty) woman sporting a bright red tattoo on her chest sauntered forward. "Well, well. I wasn't expecting you to be the disturbance threatening this little town," she said silkily, retracting her spearlike fingernails.

"Lust?" sputtered Envy and the other Ed simultaneously. "What are you doing here?"

The woman – another homunculus, it seemed – raised an eyebrow. "I think I should be the one asking the questions here, don't you agree?" She narrowed her eyes. "Envy, or whoever you really are, these people are off limits."

"What's with dead people not staying dead?" Envy hissed, getting to his feet as his wounds sealed themselves. "You've got no right to order me around like this. I'm here to find Hohenheim, and no one's going to stop me!"

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear," Lust replied coolly. "I'm not your world's Lust. Lay a hand on any of these four, and we'll see to it that you die a horrible death. Oh, and you're coming with me." When Envy didn't move, she casually stabbed him in the forehead and began to drag him off through the field. At the rim of the woods she paused for a moment and turned to look at Izumi and the Elrics. "By the way… don't get up to anything stupid. You're needed here." Then she was gone, with no sign of her presence except a winding trail of Envy's blood.

It was quiet again. Both Eds were gaping blankly, and Izumi looked equally mystified. "Ed – do you know this woman?" she asked.

"Yeah, her name's Lust," said the other Ed, recovering from his state of shock. "She's dead in my world, but I guess the homunculi are up to something here, too."

"Could it be the same plot you told us about?" said Al. "The crazy lady with the red stones?"

The other Ed shook his head. "I don't think so. Dante doesn't exist here, for one thing. We'll just have to see." But the troubled look on his face didn't look quite as optimistic.

Back at the butchershop, Ed fixed up the gash in Al's armor as they settled in to continue the earlier conversation.

"I've dealt with Truth," said Izumi, "but this parallel-world idea could change everything we know about alchemy."

The other Ed nodded. "To be honest, I don't really understand what happened in the first place to get me here. It doesn't seem to fit with Equivalent Exchange."

"It's not too complicated," said Izumi, pointing to the flowcharts on the table. "The Al from your world must have used his Philosopher's Stone to reunite your body and soul and restore your limbs. Then you traded the limbs back along with your place in that world to reunite his body and soul. You were supposed to go through the Gate when you died, and the only way for Truth to satisfy that while keeping you alive was to push you all the way to the other side. See? Simple."

Al stared blankly at the charts, which featured five pen colors and at least twelve different arrows. These other brothers sure were proactive. "It doesn't looksimple. And Brother, what does this have to do with your theory about Elric telepathy?"

"I told you, that theory was something different!" Ed fumed. "Right now I'm just hypothesizing that if you were to find your body in the Gate somehow, you could regain your memories of the Truth. You might even be able to form a connection to the other Al, since you both have a strong link to that place."

"But I would have to separate myself from this body, and the only way to do that normally is by dreaming. Which, you know, I can't."

They stopped to think about this for a second. "We could knock you out," the other Ed suggested.

"Um, how would that work?"

Izumi tapped her chin. "Al, let me see your blood seal." Al obediently lifted up his helmet. "Alright, just like I thought. According to what I've read, if one were to add more blood to the rim of the circle, the soul would be dislodged temporarily."

"Sounds kinda risky," Ed said. "What if it messes up the seal?"

"It won't," Izumi replied, "as long as the extra blood comes from a person other than you. And, well, I've been coughing up plenty if you need some." She glanced ruefully at the basin next to the sink, which had seen quite a lot of use this morning. "Of course, if you have a better idea, I'm all for it."

Ed turned to Al. "Do you want to do it?"

Al considered for a moment. He didn't want to think about the possibility of accidentally dying right here and now. But the Philosopher's Stone was a dead end, and if there was a chance, even a slim one, that this experiment might help him and Ed get their bodies back, he couldn't turn it down. And he might get to do alchemy without needing to go through twelve boxes of chalk every month. It was a grand opportunity. "I'll do it," he said.

They filed into the Curtises' small living room. Al sat down on the floor with his legs crossed and hands in his lap, just like Izumi had taught him years ago. The two Eds sat on the couch across from him, wearing identical looks of concern.

"Be careful," Ed said quietly as Izumi dipped her fingers in the bowl. "I haven't touched it since… that day. I don't know what's going to happen."

"Don't worry. I'll just put some on the outside – it shouldn't bother him at all." She gave Al her trademark squinty stare. "Stay focused. Find your body and get as close to the Gate as you can. And come back. Got it?"

"Got it," Al said, his voice barely shaking at all (what an accomplishment). Izumi stuck her bloodstained hand down Al's armor and very gently dabbed the area around the seal. Al gasped involuntarily, making them all freeze.

"What is it? Something wrong?"

"No, nothing," Al said hastily. "I – I can sort of feel it, that's all. Keep going." He could feel it, by some miracle; not the true sensation of a person's touch, dimly recalled from times past, but something else – more like a dull throbbing in every place Izumi had brushed with her fingertips.

"Are you focusing?" Izumi bellowed. "I'm almost out of blood here, you know."

"Oh! Sorry, sorry." Al let his gaze drift, which wasn't nearly as conducive to meditation as closing his eyes had been back in the day, but it was good enough. The room went fuzzy, and he could feel his seal pulsating like a heartbeat, more and more strongly until it threatened to overwhelm him. He was in a dark tunnel, rushing faster and faster towards the light at the end – that's it, he thought, that's the place –

There was a flash, and he suddenly recalled something from years ago. Hands tearing at his body, his real body, while he reached for his mother's hand, pleading with a blank-faced white figure to let me go, it was a mistake, just let me touch her again, please! His own anguished cries echoed in his ears. That was Truth, he realized, the same Truth that Izumi and Ed had talked about, and this was his memory of the Gate.

Color and words and pure knowledge had surrounded him in that memory, and for a second, he had known everything the world had to offer. The circle is the conduit. Al put his hands together, barely aware if he was inhabiting the past or the present, and felt the energy travel through him. I… I get it, he thought hazily, and he wandered near the edge of the abyss, to the gaping maw of the door to another world. The other side of the Gate.

Something passed him by, rushing in a torrent through the night. He felt it, and it was familiar to him in a way he couldn't quite place. Alphonse? he called out, but it continued on its merry way. Silly – there was only one Al out there. Everyone knew that.

The darkness receded, and he felt himself being pulled back to his body in the real world. Except… someone was already there.

AMESTRIS-1

"Here we are," said Izumi, pushing open the door to the shop. Al stepped inside and looked around. The place was just as he remembered it – the meat hanging from the ceiling, the wooden countertops, the positively ancient decor.

Sig put the luggage down on the floor and wiped his hands on his pants. "First things first," he rumbled. "Breakfast."

After several heaping plates of scrambled eggs and porridge, Al got to work. To be honest, the thought of being attacked and yelled at by his teacher wasn't very appealing, but then again he'd made the choice to come here himself. He wanted to learn more about alchemy, and there wasn't anyone in the whole world better at alchemy than Izumi Curtis. (Well, no one he remembered, anyway.)

"Transmute a dirt block," Izumi ordered when they got out to the backyard. Al dropped to the ground, traced the lines, and put his hands on the circle. A neat, if slightly misshapen, cube popped out of the earth.

"You're going to get pummeled with a form like that!" she shouted upon seeing the result.

"Faster! This is basic stuff!"

"Did I say transmutation ellipse? No, I said circle! Work on it!"

"Do it with your toes this time!"

Twenty circles later, Al was embarassingly out of breath and doing his best not to collapse on the massive pile of blocks he had produced. He'd done this exercise before, of course, back when he and Ed had first come to Dublith, but since then he'd gotten rusty. For the past few months they'd had been focusing solely on their theories for human transmutation, which, obviously, hadn't required much fieldwork. Still, he wasn't that bad, was he?

"Horrible," Izumi declared, as if on cue. "If the old Al saw you right now, he'd be ashamed, I'll tell you that much."

"But, but he's fourteen! That's not fair!"

"Don't be ridiculous. You're fourteen too, remember? Now get up and do some more."

Al missed Resembool already.

By the time they stopped for lunch, Al felt like he'd strolled through a warzone. He was sweating buckets, his arms felt like they were about to fall off, and his fingernails were full of dirt from drawing the same lousy circle over and over. "I think you need a break," Izumi observed, munching a sandwich. "Maybe I did go a little hard on you, considering this is the first day. You're not the fighter you were."

"I can take it," Al said defensively, bristling slightly at the comparison to his lost self.

"Considering that you barely have the energy to put your hands on the table, I doubt that." She rested her head on her chin. "Let's discuss your memories. Tell me the exact moment you last remember."

Al scrunched up his face and thought back. It had only been a few days ago in his recollection. "Brother and I were in the room at the end of the hall. We activated the circle, and at first everything was going like we expected, but then it went dark. There was –" this part was harder to recall " – there was a lot of pain all of a sudden, and I felt like I was being dragged by hands somewhere. Ed said my name, and… then I woke up in the hospital. That's it."

"So you don't remember the Gate? Or Truth?"

Al shook his head. "What's that?"

"You're probably better off not knowing." Izumi made a face. "Anyway, based on what your friend Rose told me, I think I can figure out what happened to your memories. About a week ago, you had the Philosopher's Stone in your body, which you used to restore Ed after he passed out."

In my body? Ew. "I thought he died."

"No, not even the Stone can bring back the dead. You must have done it before he went all the way through the Gate. Then, once he came back, he gave up his life to bring back your entire body and soul."

"But it didn't work perfectly," Al pointed out, rather unnecessarily.

"Exactly. Whatever he gave up, it wasn't enough to do a perfect human transmutation. So to balance the equation, the four years you and Ed spent together were taken away from your soul. I suppose he thought those years were very valuable."

He missed Ed more than ever, hearing those words. "So… where's Brother now?"

"I'm sure he's still alive somewhere, or else the transmutation would have failed. Other than that… I don't know."

"Oh." Al stared at his bowl dejectedly and didn't speak for a moment. It was quiet. Out in the front of the store he heard the steady sound of Sig's knife pounding away on the cutting board. Thump-thump, thump-thump, almost like a heartbeat. Al sat up, suddenly remembering the visions he'd been having. "Teacher, there's something else I need to tell you."

"Hm?"

"Ever since I woke up in the hospital I've had this… empty feeling in the back of my head. I don't know how to describe it, but whenever I fall asleep or zone out, it's always there. Plus, I get these really weird dreams sometimes. Even when I'm awake." He thought back to the incident on the train. "I can hear my own voice talking to someone else, but it sounds different. Then it fades away."

Izumi furrowed her eyebrows. "That's odd. I suppose the emptiness could be the result of you sensing the missing piece of your soul, but I can't explain the visions. And – did you say your voice sounds different in them?"

"Yeah, it's sort of echoey. Like I'm talking into a can or something – " He stopped, suddenly realizing. Across the table, Izumi had come to the same conclusion.

" – or a suit of armor," she finished. "It's a long shot, but these could be your old memories, Al."

"Really?" Al's eyes lit up. "Then I've got to find out more! Can I skip the afternoon practice? Pleeeease?"

Izumi sighed. "Fine. We'll do some meditating after lunch. But first, wash your hands. They're disgusting."

Al looked at his dirt-caked fingernails ruefully. "That was your fault, Teacher."

"You remember the pose, right?" Izumi asked.

Al sat on the living room floor, cross-legged with his hands in his lap. He nodded and took a few deep breaths.

"Now focus on that empty part of your mind. Since part of your soul is in the Gate, you should be drawn towards it."

"Okay." Al closed his eyes and let his mind drift. The pit rushed up to meet him; it was all he could do not to get swept away in the blackness. He tumbled down further and further, seeing brief glimpses of things he didn't know and probably never would, but he wasn't here for those. He was here to find his memories and, maybe, his brother. Not even every piece of them – just a little glimpse was all he needed. That wasn't too much to ask, right?

There was a point of light up ahead, searingly bright in the darkness. Almost there! He fell towards it, and it enveloped him. At first he was frozen, his eyes straining in the perfect white expanse, but then the light dimmed, and he found himself in… Izumi's living room?

He was sitting in the exact same way, on the floor with his legs crossed, but his body seemed strange and oversized, like Ed's big red coat hanging off his small frame. What was more, he couldn't move, and he felt as if his nerves had gone dead. The only thing he could feel was a throbbing on the back of his neck, almost painful in its persistence.

Izumi was sitting on the floor too, leaning forward and staring at him. On the couch was Ed… two Eds? They were more-or-less identical, and both were looking at him with the same concerned expression on their faces. If this was a vision, it was certainly out of the ordinary.

He held on to the view for as long as he could, but all too soon it grew fuzzy and dim. The throbbing intensified, and he felt something pulling at his edges, urging him to get out, go back where you're supposed to, leave me alone! Al gave in finally and returned through the current, where he came back to himself.

"Well?" said the real Izumi. "Did you get anything?"

Al hesitated. "It was a clearer picture, but it wasn't a memory. At least, I don't think it was. I saw this room, and you were in it, and so was Brother. Except – " he frowned in confusion " – there were two of him."

"Definitely not a memory," Izumi decided quickly. "Were you in the vision?"

"I was in my body, but I was… really big. And I couldn't feel anything except right here." Al touched the nape of his neck.

"That's where your blood seal used to be," said Izumi. "You must have been inside the armor." She jotted down some notes. "Not bad for a first try. If you meditate more, you'll get better. I'm sure you'll find a way to access those memories."

"So… now what?"

Izumi grinned. "Back to the dirt heap, of course. We haven't even done sparring yet! To train the mind, you must first train the body!" She jumped up and strolled out, humming to herself.

Al flopped down on the carpet and bemoaned his sad fate.

AMESTRIS-2

On the other side, the second Alphonse crashed back into his body.

"What happened?" said Ed worriedly. "You sort of fell over for a second."

Al put his helmet back on, feeling slightly woozy. "I think I might have gotten my memories of the Gate back."

"Really? Did you remember anything important?"

"No," he admitted. "I saw a lot of the Truth, but there wasn't anything there that could help us get our bodies back. Oh, and I saw your brother."

The other Ed's eyes widened. "You did?"

"Well, maybe. I could feel him in my body – this one, I mean, the armor – when I was trying to come back."

"So we know he's alive," Ed said brightly. "That's something, right, other Ed?"

"Sure," the other Ed replied glumly, "but he's probably in bad shape if he's going around hijacking people's bodies."

"It wasn't like that," Al said, feeling the need to defend his other self. "He's been sort of connected to me for a while. You know a few nights ago when we were playing cards and I felt that weird presence? I think that was him."

They pondered this information. "Well, in any case," said Izumi, "that's enough to go on for one day. Why don't you three make yourselves useful for once and help me dust the shelves?"

"Come on, Teacher, that's not fair!"

"I thought we were here to learn!"

"Can't we do something else?"

Izumi very slowly turned around and gave them her best glare. "I said, dust the shelves." There was a pause.

"Yes, ma'am," they replied in unison.

That night, long after the lights had gone off all over Dublith, another family meeting was underway.

"So this is the creature you picked up down south?" said Father, examining the surly figure attached securely to a board via spear through the chest. "Interesting. I wasn't aware that the other world also contained homunculi."

Envy glared up at him and struggled against his bonds. "I'm not here to work for you, old man. I just want to get my hands on Hohenheim and his little snot-nosed kids."

"Didn't I just tell you we need them?" Lust snapped. "You'll stay here, where we can keep an eye on you."

"Can I eat him?" Gluttony piped up hopefully. Lust shushed him and turned to the rest of the group. "How is everyone else doing?" she asked.

Wrath shrugged. "Envy – our Envy, I mean – is still in Liore, but he'll be back in Central soon. Pride's reading bedtime stories with my wife. Greed… my forces are still out looking for him, but the whole business with Scar is a bit of a distraction. And Sloth's digging, as usual." He paused. "Father, is this new homunculus really from the other world?"

"He is," said Father, steepling his hands thoughtfully. "A few days ago I felt the energy of three massive transmutations, all around the same time. It is probable that, somehow, the Gate connecting our world to the other was opened ahead of time. Once for Envy, once for Edward Elric, and once for Van Hohenheim. At least, that's my conjecture."

"He's here, then?" Envy said, his head jerking up. The accompanying spurt of blood didn't seem to faze him.

"I believe so." Father gave Envy a calculating look. "You have some personal connection to Hohenheim, don't you?"

Envy went still. "None of your business," he growled. "And I could say the same to you – you're practically his twin."

"Indeed. But I'm willing to tell you my secrets if you tell me yours," said Father. "The Promised Day is in only a few months. Once I'm through with my sacrifices, I'll let you do what you want with them."

"You really want us to work with him?" said Lust, curling her lip. "He can't be trusted. I'd rather make bargains with the Fullmetal Alchemist himself." Envy seemed to find this hilarious for some reason, but she ignored him.

"No need for that," Father replied. "I just want information. After all, it'll be difficult to conquer the other Amestris if I don't know what's there, don't you think?"

"That's what you're after?" Envy contemplated the situation for a while, then smirked. "Sounds a lot more fun than what Dante had in mind. I'll think about it."

The other three homunculi present didn't look pleased about this, but they had no choice in the matter. "Anything else to discuss?" said Wrath. "I need to get back to the house soon."

"Just some last orders," said Father. "Lust, I want that Ishbalan man disposed of before he gets to the sacrifices. Take Gluttony and get rid of him. Wrath, continue the search for Greed. And as for the Elrics, keep an eye on them – including the new one. Make sure they don't get too close to the truth. Or the Truth, for that matter. Dismissed!"