Son of Flame Chapter 4, a fullmetal alchemist fanfic

-1A/N: hey people!

Ok I love you guys for all those reviews!

And if I didn't answer your review because I try to answer them all then I am sorry but it has been a heavy two days around here, I'm trying to catch up on school work and report cards are coming up. If I did well then that's fine but if I did bad then that means no computer.

Yikes.

Ok um I think that's everything.

Here is the chapter you have been waiting for the chapter of the human transmutation and Roy's and Riza's meeting with their son Edward for the first time in nearly eleven years.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

The day of the Human Transmutation.

"Thirty-five liters of water, Twenty kilos of carbon, four litters of ammonia, one point five kilos of lime, phosphorus eight hundred grams, niter two hundred and fifty grams, sulfur one hundred grams, magnesium eighty grams, manganese one point five grams, iron five grams, silicon three grams" Edward recited the formula for one human adult body as he and Al got the ingredients ready.

Some of the chemicals needed to be boiled before usage so they got to work immediately, wanted to be reunited with their mother as soon as possible.

"Hot, hot" Al hissed as he picked up the canister with the boiling water.

"Be careful that's that stuff that is going to make up mom" Ed scolded him.

Al smiled at him and asked "Hee, hee what should we say to her first when we see her"?

Ed grinned at him and said "Isn't it obvious? Don't tell our teacher".

The two brothers shared a laugh before getting back to work.

They had decided to work in their basement; there was plenty of room in there to have the small lab with the chemicals and enough room on the ground to make the circle.

After a few hard hours of boiling the chemicals, bringing it to the right area, cleaning the junk from the basement ground to make the circle when it was time they were finally ready.

They gathered the ingredients together and placed them in a big enough plate and pushed it in what they believed to be the center of the ground they then picked up the chalk and started to make the array.

It took some time but soon enough the plate was in the middle of their greatest transmutation circle ever. The circle itself was perfect, the runes on the side and inside were all correct. This was going to be their best one yet.

Ed and Al checked things off to make sure they had done everything.

"Basic ingredients that construct the human body" they nodded in the direction of the plate. "The Alchemy circle" another nod towards the circle that the plate was in the middle of. Now for the final ingredient.

Ed got a pocket knife and sliced his index finer of his left hand winching slightly. Al did the same with his own finger "Part of our soul" and shook the finger until some of the drops of blood stained the combined chemicals.

They sat on the outside of the rim of the circle with their hands placed almost directly on top of the circle.

"Ready Al" Edward asked.

"Yup" Alphonse nodded his agreement and mutually they placed their hands on the circle and activated it.

Edwards heart was thumping loudly in his chest as the familiar light appeared around the array and the components in the middle started to join together to form something.

He grinned in excitement but it quickly disappeared when the familiar blue light turned into a harsh red one and darkness was appearing. The sound was like lightning crackling.

He turned around, trying to see behind him where the most darkness seemed to be heading towards.

"Big brother, something's wrong" Al said his voice shaking.

A loud crack. A scream. Edward snapped his head to where his brother was screaming.

Something, which looked like hands made from the shadows, was at his brother's arm and was disintegrating it!

"Al"! Edward screamed leaping at him, or trying to. The moment he got up he felt something at his left leg pulling it away. Looking down he saw the same thing that was happening to Al's arm was happening to his leg.

"It's a rebound" the realization came crashing down to him.

His attention was snapped back to Al who was screaming even more. The things were now at his entire body and were pulling him apart!

"Big brother, big brother, big brother" he kept on screaming and reaching towards Edward.

"Al"! Edward screamed also reaching towards his brother. He fought through the hands that were holding him back and stretched out his hand once more.

"Alphonse, Alphonse" he screamed reaching out. Their hands almost touched before the remainder of Al's hand exploded and Ed saw a flash of white light.

All of a sudden he was standing in a long white room. There was nothing in front of him but there seemed to be something behind him. He turned his head to the sides trying to see where he was.

"Al" he called out trying to see if his brother was there.

He obtained a confused look and asked himself "What the, what was I just doing"?

He turned around and saw a doorway floating there. Nothing was holding it up or suspending it. It was just floating there.

"Hey" a voice from behind him announced, he flinched violently before spinning around.

"Who is it" he saw no one and turned from side to side trying to find the source of the voice.

"I am right in front of you" the voice said.

Turning once more he could barely make out a shape, or an outline, of a person sitting there.

"Who, who are you" Ed asked a bit skeptically.

"Oh so glad you asked" he…she…it said raising one arm in the air.

"I'm what you humans refer to as the world. Also known as the universe. Or g-d. Or true knowledge. Or all. Or one, and" he/she/it said ignoring Edwards face that had grown paler and paler with each word it spoke and pointed a finger at Edward "I'm you".

The doorway behind him opened all of a sudden violently just as the being said "Welcome, poor fool, ignorant of your own limits".

Hands reached through the doorway and grabbed Edward. He screamed and tried to scramble away.

As it dragged him away screaming the being said "Oh shut up, this is what you wanted wasn't it"?

The hands almost had him past the doorway. He grabbed at the door hoping that if he held on tight enough that they would let go.

Unfortunately they were stronger then he was and pulled him into the darkness and shut the door tight but not before he heard the being say "I will show you true knowledge".

He screamed as the hands dragged him into a bottomless abyss, struggling was futile he could barely move.

'What is all this' he wondered as a pin points of light appeared. The closer he got the more he saw that it was strands that held pictures and words on them. Pictures of people that he knew like his mother, Winry, and even Teacher.

All sorts of facts and truths were opened and pouring into his head. One after the other, like rocks hitting his head. The images flashed before his eyes.

'Stop' he yelled in his head, he couldn't move his mouth. 'My head is going to explode'.

He felt the things grab at his body and tearing it to pieces. His arm, his leg, his entire body was being taken apart.

"Stop it, stop it"! He yelled finally finding his voice.

"Stop" he yelled once more before seeing something ahead.

It was an image, no the shape of a person. Some big that had long hair…his mother.

"Mom" he whimpered out pulling an arm loose from the shadows.

He stretched it towards her, she held out her hand almost ready to grab his own.

And suddenly he found himself in the blank room in front of the Truth and the Gate with his arm stretch out and drenched in sweat.

He looked at both of his hands panting and then he looked up.

He turned around towards the gate once more, his head filled with new knowledge and understanding.

"How was it" the Truth asked.

Still panting Edward replied "I feel like…unbelievable amounts of information have just been cramped into my head, my head hurts."

He continued to look at the gate. "But now I finally understand. This is…True Knowledge."

He began to walk towards the gate while saying "That's right, our human transmutation theory wasn't wrong. But it wasn't enough."

He placed his hands upon the hard wood of the door, on the words engraved on the door "Just a little more".

"What I needed to know was just ahead" he heard the Truth get up and start to walk towards him. "There was true knowledge regarding Human Transmutation!".

He turned to the Truth and begged "Please just let me see it again, just one more time" only to be interrupted by the Truth saying "No can do".

"That's all I could show for this much traffic fee".

Edward felt confused, when did he pay a fee? "Traffic fee"?

"That's right" the Truth said lifting his left leg up slightly off the ground. Edward stumbled and felt his eyes widen when he saw that his own left leg was being disintegrated into nowhere and reappearing on the Truths leg.

He gasped at the pain and stumbled on one leg, looking up he saw all of a sudden that the Truth was right in front of him.

"Equivalent Exchange, right? Al-che-mist."

All of a sudden he was back on his basement floor and the pain tearing through his left leg, or what was his left leg was unbearable. He threw his head back clutching the stump of his left leg and screamed in pain.

A sudden thought brought on by the new knowledge that he had obtained. Equivalent exchange meant that Al had to give something as well.

"Al? Al?! Alphonse!" he screamed. He twisted around from his place on the floor and saw his brothers clothing on the floor empty. There was no trace of his brother. "No this can't be happening"!

He leaned forward onto his elbows with his left arm holding onto the still bleeding stump that used to be his left leg. "It wasn't supposed…to be like this" he growled out.

"Damn it! It got taken away" he screamed looking back at his leg.

He fell forward onto his side and whimpered "Somebody…help me…mom" he unconsciously said. He then remembered what they had been doing. He opened his eyes to the being in the middle of the circle; they had given up so much surely that meant…

He felt the remaining breath in his body leave as his eyes saw exactly what was there.

His eyes widened in shock and terror in what he saw there.

It wasn't human. It didn't even have a human shape. Its organs were pulsing out of its body so that he could see them along with some bones that looked like the ribs. Its head was upside down and it was breathing heavily. It reached a disoriented arm towards him as he crawled against the wall trying to get way from it. The arm snapped with a sickening sound and it coughed up blood before the arm dropped to the floor announcing the creature dead.

He held his head in his hands tightly "No this can't be…no…not like this" he screeched out.

He brought his hands up to his mouth as he felt bile build up in his throat.

He leaned forward as he expelled the remaining contents of his stomach onto the floor.

He leaned heavily on his hands "No…this is not what we wanted" he managed to get out. "Al, it's my fault".

He scrunched the dirt from the floor together by bringing his hands into fists "My fault".

He grabbed a rag from the floor and tied it to the bottom of his remaining leg to slow down the flow of the bleeding and dragged it over to where some of Hohenheim's old armor statue stood. He knocked the closest one to him to the floor and dragged himself to the front where the head was.

With the new knowledge that he had gained with the price of his leg he drew a new array from his own blood onto the armor with his hands shaking it was a miracle that he made it as perfect as he did.

"Give him back" he hissed. "He's my little brother".

"Take my arm or my other leg you can take both for all I care". He raised his arms high and said softly "You can even have my heart. Just bring him back, he's my only brother" Edward screamed before clapping his hands together and bringing them down on the armor, around the array.

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Lieutenant-Colonel Roy Mustang and Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye sat in the carriage being operated by a kind driver. They were used to cars and smooth roads so this 'travel through time' certainly surprised them.

"My apologizes, there are no cars in a country side village like this" the driver said once more.

Bemused Roy said "No, its okay. This makes the ride pretty interesting" that was the truth. They didn't know a single person that had ever ridden in something like this unless they were from a village like this one.

"So" the driver said turning his head back towards them slightly "Why are you looking for the Elric's Lieutenant-Colonel Mustang"?

He pulled out the familiar piece of paper and answered "I heard that the Elric brothers in Resembol were talented alchemists. I am here to recruit them".

It was slightly the truth. The moment he had heard 'alchemic talent' and 'Resembol' from General Hakuros mouth he knew right away that it was his son.

However their were some mistakes that only he, Riza, and Hughes knew. Like for the fact that they believed the eldest Elric brother to be thirty-one years old and he was only eleven. Eleven long years since they had seen him. And the military wanted to recruit him, to turn him into a dog of the military.

He wanted to speak out, to tell them that he was much younger then they thought but he couldn't. As far as they are concerned he had never even heard of the name and maybe the place until that moment.

And it gave him and Riza an excuse to go and see him.

His thoughts were brought back to the present as he heard the driver exclaim "A national alchemist, impressive".

"But why would a Lieutenant-Colonel all the way from the eastern district come all the way here" he asked while waving to a couple kids that were waving at him.

"It's my job to look for, and recruit talented alchemist" Roy answered as he saw the kids look at him in awe; he smiled at them and watched them run towards wherever they were going in the first place.

"We need all the new recruits we can get truthfully" he sighed. That was also true. The Ishballan war had left them with a serious dent in their men in the military, but that didn't mean that they had to add his son to the ranks.

"A ranked officer to meet them in person, boy will those kids be surprised" the driver chuckled.

Roy froze, even though he knew the truth he add the act the part. "Did you say kids" he asked.

"Yes sir" the driver answered cheerfully.

Roy picked up the paper once more and peered at the information on it. "Resembol Village, Edward Elric, thirty-one years old" he read aloud.

"No sir he's eleven, his brothers a year younger" the driver corrected.

He looked over at where Riza sat. She had a confused look on her face as well, playing the part, but from years of working together Roy had grown to read behind the mask, inside she was feeling nothing but amusement and joy. "What is the meaning of this Lieutenant" he asked. Riza could just barely detect a note of amusement in his voice. He enjoyed the fact that he was playing the Generals back at base for fools, confusing an eleven year old boy with a thirty-one year old man.

"Either this information came through a time vortex sir or someone make a grave error" she answered swiftly.

"Ho, ho, ho it won't do you any harm to just meet them" he chuckled at them.

'Oh no, no harm at all. Just that you are taking us closer and closer to our son' Roy thought at him.

He pulled up to a house. He looked up at it, his mind flashed back to that time years ago when he and Riza were leaving their son here.

How did he look like now? How did he act like? Was he more like Riza, or more like Roy? Did he still have that blonde hair and curious gold eyes?

He reached for the doorknob and was surprised when the door opened with just a push. He opened it fully "Anyone home" he asked quietly. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest as his eyes scanned through the dark room.

"I'll check the back" the driver offered and walked away. Roy walked into the house, he felt Riza walking behind him, he heard her heavy breathing and knew that her heart was thumping as much as his was.

Something on the table caught his eye. He walked over and picked it up. It was a picture.

He felt his breath get caught in his throat as he peered at his son through the glass, grinning at the camera and flexing his arms while the other boy, the younger brother with dark blonde hair and olive toned eyes, also smiled at the camera and held up a fish that they had evidently caught together. He extended the picture towards Riza who grabbed it and her eyes greedily looked over it.

Something wasn't right he noticed, the air felt wrong too stiff and heavy.

He came to another door and opened it. When he stepped inside he felt the remaining breath leave his body.

Blood. And a lot of it. In a huge puddle right in the middle of an array. It covered most of it so he wasn't able to see what kind it was. When he heard Riza walk in she gasped loudly, something caught her attention on the wall and she walked towards it.

There were bottles on the floor. Roy picked one up at a time looking at the contents. Sodium, phosphorus, magnesium he looked at each ingredient as his mind came to conclusion that he didn't want to believe.

Human transmutation.

Why on earth would his son perform a human transmutation? It was illegal for a reason damnit!

Riza brushed her fingers against the wall while Roy stood there frozen. "These are blood stains" she whispered. They looked like human hand prints and fingers that slid down.

He heard someone else enter the room and the familiar voice of the driver appeared and said "Sir they aren't in the back. They should be-".

Roy interrupted him "Where" he asked curtly.

"Huh" the driver asked confused.

"Where the hell are the Elric brothers" he yelled with his back still to the driver and Riza.

"Well I was going to say that if they aren't home then they should be at the Rockbells" the driver answered cautiously.

The walk to the Rockbells was quick and before he knew it he and Riza were in front of a house and he was banging on the door. A dog was barking at them as the driver attempted to calm it down.

"Stop being noisy Den, be nice to the guests" they heard a voice say from behind the door. The door opened to reveal and old lady.

Roy marched in and said "Sorry for the intrusion Mrs. Rockbell" and startling the old lady.

"What does a military man want barging in here" she yelled at them.

Riza smiled, or tried to, at the lady and said kindly "My apologizes, we heard that the Elric's would be here so…" Roy didn't hear anymore something had caught his attention.

In the corner of the room there was a wheelchair with someone occupying it and a suit of armor behind it to hold it in place. The armor wheeled them into the light.

The occupant was revealed to be a young blonde haired boy that had only one arm and one leg, a blanket was covering his remaining leg and the sleeve on the right of his shirt was empty.

The boy looked up to reveal golden eyes, dull golden eyes that looked like all hope was sucked away from him, like he looking at deaths eyes themselves.

Overcome with rage Roy walked towards him quickly and grabbed the front of his shirt and brought him close to his face.

"We went to your house" he screamed at the boy. "What the hell did you do" he leaned in closer to the boy, "What the hell did you create" he hissed at him. The boy looked down and started to cry slightly.

Golden eyes. Roy's own eyes widened in realization. This is his son, his and Riza's.

The eyes that he had seen blazing like a fire in the photograph were no more then dull, put out, like his flame was extinguished in what he had seen. Roy had seen that look in many of the soldiers that were lucky enough to come back home from Ishbal.

Eyes of the dead.

He lost feeling in his fingers and he let the material of the shirt slid through his hands and Edward fell back into the chair still crying.

Roy felt someone put their hand on his shoulder and a voice say "We're sorry please forgive us". He looked up, it was the armor.

A voice was echoing from the armors depths "We're sorry, we're sorry" it kept saying over and over again and started to shake slightly as if it also wanted to cry.

He looked once more at Edward sitting there slumped in his seat. There was no hope in his eyes. Nothing to lead him or help him. What Roy did now although Riza would most definitely disagree, and he might have a few bullet wounds later, he had to do this.

He had her wait in the hallway after taking one look at her star struck face before she put her emotionless mask on. He knew that both of their masks would crumble as soon as they were alone in the privacy of either their houses or his office.

"Full funding to all of their work, access to secret documents, the countries research data, and technology at your disposal. This is some of the benefits of becoming a State Alchemist" he listed off emotionlessly. He could not let emotions get in his way now; he had to do this for Edward.

"However in return you are bound to follow military orders and if the situation calls for it to be called to serve your country" he said. He wanted them to understand everything that went along with this ride. To get you give. Equivalent exchange.

Looking over at the suit of armor he said "You might even find a way to get back your original bodies".

The old lady had sat at the table facing him while Edward and what seemed to be the Elric boy stood over at the side of the table. The old lady looked at him right now and asked "Are you sure these kids are qualified to pass the National Qualification"?

"The alchemy circle found in the Elric home, there knowledge alone of alchemy, and the ability to transmute a soul there is no doubt." Although he was disgusted by the turnout and what was given he couldn't help but feel pride of his sons knowledge course through him, he might have even surpassed him in this field!

"Lieutenant-Colonel Mustang" the old lady said blowing some smoke with her pipe. "After this boy came crawling in here covered in his own blood I went to their house to see what had happened" she said.

"That…I buried that thing in the back of the house. That-" she stumbled slightly here before yelling "That thing wasn't human! Alchemy had created that thing and had taken away these children's bodies. And you want them to do more of that! Is that you what you want for them to do with their life"?

Riza Hawkeye sat impatiently, although she didn't show it in that hallway while she heard Roy telling their son about the 'privileges' about joining the military, at least he was telling them the negative things as well. Only years of practice was she able to now break down there at the sight of her little boy beaten down.

"Would you like some tea" a timid voice asked breaking her out of her thoughts. Looking to her side she saw a little blonde haired girl holding a tray with two cups of tea on it.

"Oh thank you" she said taking the tea that was offered to her. She took a sip of it to calm her nerves as the little girl sat beside her.

"Umm…Miss Second Lieutenant…" the girl started with her voice shaking.

"Call me Riza. Riza Hawkeye" she corrected and held her hand out. "Nice to meet you."

She was confused for a moment as the girl just looked at her hand with a weird expression, fear?, before asking "Riza, have you ever shot anyone before" shocking Riza.

Pulling back her hand she ran her thumb over her fingers and said softly "Yes I have. Many times" thinking back to all the people that she had killed.

The little girl looked straight ahead of her and said "I don't like people from the military. Because both of my mom and dad were taken onto the battlefield and were killed there". Her hands shook slightly as she continued while Riza looked on sympathetically. "And on top of that, now that guy called Mustang is trying to take Ed and Al away".

Her voice shook slightly and so did her body as she began to cry softly. "I don't want them to become part of the military. Please don't take them away from me" she begged.

Riza closed her eyes and said truthfully "The military isn't going to take them away. It will be their choice whether to come or not".

Looking over at the little girl Riza told her "To tell the truth I don't like the military either. Because at times I am forced to take lives".

Taking another sip of the tea the girl then asked the unavoidable question "Then why are you in the military"?

Riza closed her eyes slightly and said "There is someone I need to protect" as she heard Roy's voice raise slightly in the other room.

"Mrs. Rockbell, I'm not trying to force them to do anything" Roy tried to convince the elderly woman.

"It was not because I was forced by anyone, but it was my own freewill" Riza continued.

"But I'm only stating the possibility" Roy continued differing from where his eyes where looking from Edward and the Elric boy and the Rockbell woman.

Raising her hand slightly to her face she stared at the fingers that pull said trigger and continued "It is my own choice to pull the trigger. For the person who I must protect".

Pulling out his trump card, although harsh it is effective he said "To live your life as a self pitying cripple with a suit of armor for a brother or to sell yourself to the military for the possibility that you can recover" he yelled slightly at them.

"Until the day that the person accomplishes his goal, I will pull the trigger without doubt" Riza continued.

Looking at his son who had his head down and was gripping the armrest of the wheelchair tightly before looking up at him eye-to-eye he said "The choice is up to you".

"If those kids have strong wills they will decide for themselves and go toward that path" she concluded thinking over about her son in his broken state and wishing she could comfort him like the mother she is. "Even if the path is a muddy river".

"That'll be all" Roy said getting up and walking towards the armor. He handed him some papers and said "If you decide to come to the Headquarters in the Eastern City".

He silently exhaled, that was hard then he thought. He took one more glance at his son who was staring at him as well and turned to the door where Riza was waiting.

Opening it he saw Riza look up at him and said "Let's go". She nodded and got up and looked once more at the girl.

"Good-bye miss" she said nodding her head towards her.

"Oh" the girl said raising her hand. "My name is Winry".

"Ah Winry" Riza said smiling. "I hope we meet again" she said shaking her hand.

Mrs. Rockbell walked them towards the door and when they got there she said something that turned their blood cold. "Excellent parenting you two, excellent".

Looking back at her stricken she merely inhaled from her pipe and said "To tell your son to sell his soul to the military at the age of eleven. Excellent." and opened the door.

"How do…" the words stumbled out of Riza's mouth.

Looking over at them with piercing eyes she said "Trisha told me incase something ever happened".

Nodding towards her they quickly rushed out of the house and the door closed sharply behind them.

They walked to where the old driver was waiting and got into the wagon without looking behind them where Mrs. Rockbell was looking at them from the window.

Gathering all her inner strength she turned to Roy and asked "Do you think they'll come"?

"They'll come" he said confidently.

Riza frowned slightly and said "You sound sure. By the look in those boys' eyes it seemed like he was never going to recover".

He chuckled slightly and said "Oh really? I saw eyes that were burning like fire" remembering when they once burned with curiosity in the past, one from the picture that he had secretly taken and was in his pocket right now, and once more when his sons eyes were filled with hope.

Ok it's about two in the morning and I am exhausted and my dad is pissed.

This is what I do for you people. Piss off my dad and deprive myself of sleep.

Ugh the things I do for my readers.

And since I am so exhausted that means that this chapter is great and long, ok I just looked at the page numbers it's really long.

I felt that, that place was a good one to stop, mostly because I am about to collapse of exhaustion.

The next chapter will deal more on why Roy still went to recruit him to the military, the aftermath of doing that like what he feels about himself and what a pissed off Riza can do, and of course Hughes.

You will see their entire reactions to seeing Edward like that, the fact that they managed to keep up their masks that long without breaking is astounding just so you know.

Unfortunately the weekend is coming to a close and I have school after, well since it is passed midnight it is tomorrow, I cant stay up late to write great chapter so you are going to have to wait for the next weekend if I can.

And please try not to get used to such long chapters, I have no idea how this thing came to be fifteen pages but I am happy about that. But like I said try not to get used to this because I don't think that the others are going to be as long as this one.

Please remember to read and review.

Until then this is Phoenix-Fire Power over and out.