Well, here's the next chapter.

I do not own FMA.

Ed glared at Marcoh's journal and his notes in on it which sat in front of himself.

Convincing Al that he'd gotten the journal from an acquaintance had been difficult enough. Thankfully for him though, he'd ran into Sheska, a former librarian who'd managed to get trapped under a pile of books. Once he'd dug her out, she'd been quite willing to pretend that she'd given him the journal. And Hughes had given her a job afterwards, so things had worked out well for both of them.

But then there was the journal itself.

Marcoh's notes had been difficult to decipher, and likely would have been harder without the notes Scar had left that held clues on how to decode the journal. Naturally, Scar had left a note warning them that something seemed wrong with the small portion he'd thought he'd decoded.

Regardless of the warning, Ed pushed forward. His determination to get himself and Al back to normal as well as making sure Scar didn't get injured in vain, managed to push him through the hardest parts.

And then they deciphered it.

Ed glared at the notebook bitterly. After all Scar had gone through to get the journal, after he'd swallowed his guilt and lied to his little brother, the formula to create the philosophers stone had turned out to be useless. And speaking about Scar, the man hadn't contacted him since he'd handed over the journal. He was probably fine, but Ed couldn't help worrying anyway. The inhuman beings didn't sound like people that should be messed with, and they'd already managed to injure Scar.

He gritted his teeth, then bellowed, "To hell with it!" as he swept the research off the table before both Elrics sat on the ground. Ed heard Sergeant Brosh and lieutenant Ross run in as Brosh exclaimed, "What did you guys do to this place!?" Ross then added, "Don't get angry because you can't crack it. Throwing things won't help."

"We did crack it." Al replied softly, "We cracked the code and decrypted the notes."

Brosh didn't seem to understand their mood as he joyfully exclaimed, "Really, you did? But that's a good thing, isn't it?"

Ed punched the ground reflexively as he snapped, "There's nothing good about this, Dammit!" He couldn't bring himself to look up as he continued, "This is the devils research, it should have looked up." He slowly lifted his hand to his head as he said, "Dr. Marcoh was right. It's evil." Brosh sounded uncertain as he asked, "What's so evil about it?"

Ed grimaced as he replied, "The main ingredient for a philosophers stone ... is human life! Ross and Brosh gasped simultaneously and Ed continued, "And In order to manufacture a single stone, you have to make several human sacrifices.

"Brosh sounded horrified as he he exclaimed, "How could the military authorizes research into something so horrible!?" "I can't believe it!" Ross added, "How awful."

Ed got up slightly as he said, "Do is a favor, don't speak to anyone about this." "But sir-" "Please!" Edward insisted . Brosh gasped again and Edward continued, "Just pretend you never heard any of it!" After that, Ross and Brosh left to report to Armstrong like they had every other of the seven day the Elrics had been working. Hours passed, and Ed lay on the couch in their hotel as Al sat behind it. Al once again said, "Brother, you should get something to eat."

Al had been trying to convince him to do that for the last hour or so, but Ed replied like he had the last times he had, "No thanks."

The knowledge that their one best chance at getting themselves back to normal took masses of human sacrifices to succeed took away his entire appetite and brought up that worry that had plagued him for years. He'd always wondered if Al blamed him for the state of his body, but after hearing what his father had said, that fear grew even more than it ever had before.

After a moment, he said, "Pretty awful, huh?" Al made a sound of agreement and Ed stretched his automail arm out infront of himself before he continued, "You know Al, it's like you try so hard to grasp the truth, but it always slips away." He made a fist in the air, "Now that we finally have caught it, it turns out the truth is to dangerous to hold." He chuckled before he lowered his arms to rest above his face and said bitterly, "I'm starting to believe this is God's special way of torturing people who have committed taboos." The smile disappeared from his face as he said, "I wonder if it will be like this our entire lives?"

He got no response, and once again that worry he held began to attack his weakest points.

Al and Hohenheim's voices taunted him, and Ed found himself saying, "You know Al, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a while."

The statement caught his brother's attention and Ed continued, "I guess I've been too afraid to say it." He paused, then Al asked, "What?" Ed hesitated again and managed to start his sentence before something pounded on the door to their hotel room.

Both brothers sat up as they heard Armstrong call boisterously from the other side of the door, " Elric brothers, I know you're in there! Open up, this is the major!" Al sounded unnerved as he asked, "What do we do?" Ed watched the door as he replied, "We ignore him, that's what." The words had barely left his mouth when Armstrong's arm burst through the door, surrounded by sparkles, handle in hand as he exclaimed, "I know what it said, Edward Elric!"

Ed and Al screamed at the sight, and Armstrong promptly burst into manly tears as he loudly proclaimed, "How tragic! To think the legend of the philosophers stone would boast such a terrible secret!"

Ed gared at Ross and Brosh who looked guilty as Ross apologized and Brosh admitted, "It's hard to stay quiet when someone like him asks you."

Ed could practically hear Armstrong's sparkles as the man continued, "Imagine the military being behind something like that! Oh, the truth is more cruel than we bargained for!"

Ed gasped as the words reawaken his memory of Dr. Marcoh's words. He repeated the words, "The truth? Al promptly asked, "What is it brother?" Ed replied, "Do you remember what Dr. Marcoh said at the station?" Ed recalled the man's words to look for the truth within the truth as he admitted, "I didn't have a clue what he was talking about then, but now ... It's the same as with alchemical notes. What you can see on the surface is only a portion of the truth. There's still more to find here. There has to be."

Upon hearing that, Armstrong was quick to procure a map of Central as he explained, "Currently, there are four operational alchemy laboratories in Central that have connections to the government. We can narrow down even further. Marcoh only worked in the third laboratory, we should start with that one, it is the most suspect."

Ed studied the map as he replied, "Al and I have been to all the laboratories in the city, none were doing any remarkable research." One place marked as the fifth laboratory caught his attention, and he pointed at it as he said, "Here. What's this building used for?" Ross swiftly answered, "It was designed for the Fifth Laboratory, but it isn't currently in use. The building isn't structurally sound, so it's been classified off-limits." "It's there." Ed insisted as he looked at the map. Brosh sounded surprised as he asked, "How can you be so sure that's it?"

Ed swiftly replied, "There's a prison right next door." He moved his finger to point at the prison and Brosh said, "Okay, so?" "What was the main ingredient to the philosophers stone?" It was a simple question, and Brosh easily answered, "You said it needed live humans ..." he proceeded to make a shocked noise as Ed said, "There'd be plenty of condemned criminals in the prison. Officially, they'd be recorded as executed."

Ross sounded disgusted as she said, "They're using the prisoners to make the stone."

Ed raised his hands as he added, "Don't look at me like that, I don't like talking about this anymore than you."

Al also added, "Prisoners from other jurisdictions could be used too. I wonder if the government is involved." Ross and Brosh looked sickened as Ross said, "Why do I have the feeling we're getting involved in something really dangerous here?"

Irritation was clear in Al's voice as he exclaimed in response, "That's why we told you to pretend like you've never heard anything!"

Armstrong rolled up the map and stared to leave before he turned back and said, "This has the potential to become a political nightmare before long. I'll look into what we talked about tonight. In the meantime, officers, speak of this to no one!" They both replied, "Sir!" and saluted. "And you Elric brothers," he continued, "Behave yourselves."

Both brothers reacted with distress, and steam blew out of Armstrong's nose and his eyes glinted red as he insisted, "I know you two boys! You were thinking about sneaking into this building and taking a look around, weren't you!? Admit it!" Both brothers held up their hands as they exclaimed, "We weren't, we weren't! We promise!" Armstrong eyed them a moment more before he left as Brosh and Ross followed.

The room was quiet for a few minutes before Al asked, "We are going, aren't we?" Ed grinned at him as he replied, "Of course we are! We can't just quit empty-handed, everything we did to get this far would have been wasted." Al nodded and they quickly came up with a plan to get out unnoticed. It was stupidly simple, but it still worked.

Ed panted slightly as he ran through the streets of Central. It was probably a dumb idea, but he couldn't stand letting both his and Al's along with Scar's effort go in vain.

It's not too much different from the main story, but some things will change no doubt because of Scar's influence. I think you could slightly see it already.

In any case, the next chapter should be up in a week.