CHAPTER 7

"All I insist on, and nothing else, is that you should show the whole world that you are not afraid. Be silent, if you choose; but when it is necessary, speak— speak in such a way that people will remember it."

~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist

"We don't go to Hogwarts for 7 months. The Fuhrer called and told us we could do whatever we wanted until that day came. What now, guys?" Ed was pacing. Izumi had left for Dublith after they had finished lunch. "We could always go to Central and do some research over there. " Harry offered. "Not a bad idea, Harry. Off to Central!" Ed said, pointing at the door dramatically. "NOT SO FAST!" Winry said. "What is it?" they asked. "Harry and Ed have grown about an inch since their last automail repairs. We need to fit you with new automail." she said. "Fine." Harry and Ed muttered. The boys had to stay an extra week to let Winry make new limbs for them.

After the week was over, they went over to the train station to get to Central. After five hours on the train, they got off and the boys went down to the Central HQ to let Mustang know that they were in town. When they got their, they heard an unfamiliar voice. "Isn't she gorgeous? My cute little Elicia is turning three soon! I just can't get enough of her!" "Hughes, if you're just going to gush over your daughter, I'd advise you leave, and quickly." Mustang snapped. "It's not just my daughter... my wife is gorgeous too! Just have a look at her! She..." "HUGHES!" Mustang yelled angrily. "Okay. Fine, I'll get going. Oh, I forgot to mention. Their was another State Alchemist murdered yesterday. The Iron Blood Alchemist, to be exact." Hughes walked out, and when he saw the Elrics, he said, "Don't you kids have somewhere to be?" Mustang walked out of his office. Harry saluted.

"Oh. Hi short-stack. Harry. At ease" Harry relaxed. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT MMMPH!" Al put his hands over Ed's mouth. "Sorry about that, sir." Al apologized. "I love getting him angry..." Mustang said evilly. "I'm right here you know!" Ed said angrily. Mustang smirked. "And what about it?" he taunted. Why do I have to teach with him? Ed thought bitterly."You haven't met Maes Hughes yet. Hughes, I'd like you to meet the Elric brothers, boys, say hello to Major Hughes." Mustang said. Hughes ran over and enthusiastically shook all the boys' hands. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you!" he said. "It's nice to meet you too, Major." Ed said.

"You know, I found something very interesting in 1st branch of the library that might help you guys in getting your bodies back." Mustang said, when Hughes left. "What is it?" Ed asked, excited "It's research done by an Alchemist who was researching the Philosopher's Stone during the Ishvalan Civil War. His name is Doctor Tim Marco, he went missing, taking most of his research with him. He coded it, to make it look like a cookbook, but in reality..." "It's research! Thanks, Colonel!" Ed said. "Where is it?" he asked "I have it right here." Mustang said, pulling out stacks of paper.

"We'll be over at the library, researching. We'll probably be done in a couple of weeks." Ed said.
Ed were right, about two weeks later, they had cracked the code. "DAMN IT!" Ed yelled two soldiers, posted as guards, Sergeant Maria Ross and Sergeant Denny Brosh, burst the door open and ran in. "What's wrong, sir? Are you giving up because it's too hard?" Ross asked. "No. Nothing like that" Ed said bitterly. "We cracked the code." Al said. "But I don't understand, isn't that a good thing, sir?" Brosh asked. "No it isn't" Harry said. "The main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone is human life." Ed said. The two sergeants put their hands over their mouths. "That's awful! I can't believe the military actually authorized the creation of these things!" Ross said.

"Hang on, in one of these notes, Marco scribbled a note. Here, let me read it, 'I've found the truth hidden within the truth' I don't know what it means, but it could be a clue about the Philosopher's Stone. Ross, Brosh?" Ed said. The two stood in attention. "Sir!" they said. "The information about the Stone does not leave this room. That's an order." "Understood, sir!" they said. "Okay, you can relax." Ed said.

Ed was in his apartment room. He had been resting for awhile, thinking about the Stone, when the door burst open, with Ross and Brosh following behind Harry. "I've got some stuff that'll help us figure out more about the Philosopher's Stone." Harry said, rolling out a map. "There are currently 4 operational science labs here in Central" Ross said, circling each one. "The one that Doctor Marco worked at was Lab 3." she said, marking it on the map. "I would start here to look for clues." "No, we've been to all the labs in this city. There aren't any clues in any of them." Ed said.

"What's this building, here?" he asked, pointing to a building on the map."That building was slated to be the 5th lab, but it's off limits because it isn't structurally sound. It could collapse at any minute. It's not in use right now." "Bingo" Harry said. "What do you mean, sir?" Brosh asked. "That's the building their using to make Philosopher Stones." Ed said. "Are you certain?" Ross asked suspiciously.

"Look at the building next to it." Harry said. "It's Central Prison." Brosh said. "Exactly!" Harry said. "You mean their using the prisoners as material for the stone?" Ross asked. "The prisoners would be officially reported as 'executed'. It's the perfect income of materials for the Alchemists involved. " Ed said. "Can we please stop talking about this?" Ross said, looking pale. "Hey, we don't like talking about it either, but we've got to face the facts." Harry said. "Ok, let's call it a night." Ed said.

"Don't even think about it!" Ross said, suddenly stern. "What are you talking about?" Ed asked innocently. "You boys were thinking of sneaking off to the 5th lab!" Ross accused. "No we weren't, honest!" Al said. "Yeah, we weren't, really!" Ed agreed. "You better mean that. We'll be watching the door." Ross said. The two got out and closed the door.

"Heh! As if we wouldn't go!" Ed said, now running on the streets towards the 5th lab. "Do you really think this is a good idea?" Harry asked. "I'm with Harry on this one" Al said. "Aw, come on! Do you really think that sitting around doing nothing is going to get us anywhere! We have to find out about this place!" Ed said.

They finally arrived at the 5th lab. "There's guard for a supposedly abandoned building? I find that quite interesting." Ed said. "We're going to have to go around the side. We would make a door, but the light from the transmutation would attract unwanted attention. Let me see..." Ed and Harry both climbed to the top of the fence. They lowered a piece of barbed wire so that Al could climb up. When they got to the jump, the martial arts training from Izumi kicked in, and they jumped down without making a sound.

Ed noticed a vent outside. "I'll go in with Harry, you keep guard." "But won't you need backup?" "Whether I need backup or not is not the question here, Al, you're simply too big to fit in here." Ed said, going in with Harry. "It's not my fault I have this gigantic body." Al said, sitting down and facing the wall depressed.

The air vent got more narrow as the two boys got further in. "Oh wow, this vent is really small. It's a good thing we have small bodies, or we couldn't have gotten this far..." Ed paused. Harry scooted back a little. "OH NO! I JUST CALLED MYSELF A TINY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK!" Ed raged. "Calm down, Ed. Let's get going." Harry sighed.

The two finally made it to the end of the vent. Immediately after they got out, they noticed a transmutation circle drawn in the middle of the room. "What's this?" Harry asked. "If I'm not mistaken, that's the transmutation circle they use to make the Philosopher's Stone" Ed said. "You are correct, boy." A suit of armour walked into the room from the opposite side of Ed and Harry, completed with a bandana around where its mouth would be and a sword..

Al sighed. He couldn't take much more waiting. Without warning, a suit of armour with a skeleton like helmet and an axe in his right hand. He jumped and dodged the attack, and the armour turned to face him. "I see you've got good reflexes for someone so big. Too bad that won't help you when I cut you to shreds!" the armour started laughing maniacally.

AN: I didn't add Armstrong in because I don't really want to try to copy his attitude on paper. Also, they did meet Tucker to try to learn more about bio alchemy, but I didn't put that in here because I didn't want to full this story with depressing things.