I ultimately skipped Ch. 12, cuz I just couldn't think of anything interesting Lily could possibly be doing. So, we're still on Ed and Al, just 2 days later on ze day of ze seminaire!~ (They were probably just wandering around West City and checking out its library after they got off the train, so didn't bother writing about it. XD)

I was so excited to finally write this! See, this is about what I guess could be called a headcanon? I've actually hinted at it a few times, especially in the first chapter, but I guess they might've only been obvious to me? ._.

Sucks, though, that this chapter ended up pretty short. ;-; COME ON, ME! *mental self-slap* ...Ow?

Whatever. On with the story!

"Now, Dr. Stride will demonstrate basic alkahemy," Dr. Orbit announced after he'd given his lecture on some medical instruments he'd brought into the room.

{Dr. Orbit and Dr. Stride: a pair of doctors that joined up to teach every once in a while. While their techniques and equipment differed from each other, they worked well together, in a sense.}

Al hurriedly finished writing up some notes he'd taken so he could pay special attention to the next part. He and his older brother had never been interested in becoming doctors, but the tech and science behind Amestrian medical work was fascinating; they couldn't help but write down everything!

But this was the topic they were waiting for: alkahemy.

Dr. Stride stepped up as his partner sat down and drank some water. He wore a little smile as he scanned the room. "Now, to do the demonstration, I'll need a volunteer."

Ed's hand immediately shot up in excitement, and he nudged Al to raise his hand too.

"Someone who wouldn't mind a prick in the finger," the lab-coated man added, causing a few of the hands to go down, but the Elrics persevered.

The doctor hummed as he looked around for a good volunteer, and eventually settled for pointing to Al Elric. Both brothers quietly flipped out together as the younger moved out of his seat and fast-walked to the presenter.

"What is your name?"

"Matt."

"Well, Matt, let me tell you what we're going to do," Dr. Stride announced with a... stride... to his equipment. "With this circle, I will heal a cut on your finger," he explained as he held up a paper on which was drawn a very neat yet relatively simple transmutation circle, something that looked somewhere in-between alchemy and alkahestry. "Unless you already happen to have a cut, though, we're going to have to make one."

"I don't mind," Al replied. After all, it didn't really matter if it was just going to be healed up again a moment later, did it?

The doctor went to drawing the same transmutation circle on the whiteboard, but much bigger, so he could show and explain all the details of it to the other occupants of the room, who were all intrigued and taking notes. He noted that Matt and the young man still seated who looked to be his brother were following along perfectly fine- perhaps even better than some others- and looked very interested in what he had to say.

They both actually looked a little too young to be here, as this was aimed at adults at least old enough to be in college. He brushed it off as them just being baby-faced; he'd met a few college students that looked as young as them but were actually older. This was probably the same case.

After the circle was fully dissected into all its components, he turned back to his volunteer. He quietly asked Matt if he wanted to cut his own finger or let the doctor do it for him, but the young man said he'd be fine doing it himself.

With the tiny knife in his right, Matt placed his left hand against the nearest hard surface and slowly brought the knife to one of his fingers. He carefully broke the skin with the sharp tool, just enough so the 3 millimeter cut released a bead of blood, but nothing more.

"Perfect," the doctor muttered, taking the knife back and wiping it clean. "Now, come over and put your hand on the circle."

Matt obeyed and laid his hand on the paper with the transmutation circle, which was now on a table, with his cut facing up.

Dr. Stride repeated aloud the important things to remember when doing a transmutation before placing his fingertips against the edges of the circle and activating it.

Blue alchemical sparks shot from the paper, surrounding the doctor's and volunteer's hands. The light show continued for a few more seconds before it died down. Everyone was prepared for Matt's hand to be raised in the air, showing it was indeed healed, but...

Dr. Stride just stood there, staring at the hand in confusion.

"It didn't work..." Matt whispered.

Al was not sure how to react at first. Did the man just mess up something small? Did the circle not work on the first try all the time? Or was there really something wrong here?

Without a word, Dr. Stride placed his fingers on the circle and activated it again, letting the transmutation go for longer this time, hoping it'd do the trick.

It didn't.

Dr. Stride was somewhere between shock and anger. He inspected the circle again, counting off the different parts of it in his mental list, and it was all there. Just what was going on?!

The ones attending the seminar remained confused and slightly disappointed. Ed was the only one to catch the underlying expression in his little brother's eyes, even from a distance- panic.

The usually calm Dr. Stride made his first rash decision in a long time: he quickly grabbed the knife and nicked his own finger. Everyone's eyes grew wide when they realized he was going to transmute himself.

He moved Al to the side and transferred his own cut hand to the circle, placing his other fingers on the edge of the circle to activate it. Everyone stared, very quiet, as he did the transmutation, not daring to even breathe.

The blue sparks stopped flying, and the doctor inspected his hand. He wiped away the blood that had already run out of his cut before the transmutation, and saw that he had succeeded in knitting together his skin again, leaving his finger without a scratch.

The tense silence of the room was deafening, as the unspoken question hung in the air... What happened?

The door suddenly opened, the hinge and doorknob sounding very loud. The oblivious lady that had been outside poked her head in. "Just informing that it's time for the lunch... break..." She finally noticed that the atmosphere was very dense and off. She frowned slightly. "Is there something wrong?"

"Everyone return here in half an hour," Dr. Orbit announced as he stood up from his seat near the corner, dusting himself off casually, hoping to break the awkwardness of the situation. "We will continue with some more alkahemy, then a Q and A."

Quiet conversations finally started up again in the group of attendees, and a few started standing up to get food. Everything finally seemed to return to normal as young adults filed out of the room.

Ed and Al were among the last to leave, the former having discreetly pocketed a page of his notes on the way out.

"Al, I've got a theory." Ed unfolded the page as soon as he and the other Elric sat down with their cheap plastic-wrapped sandwiches. He pointed to a certain list of numbers. "He said these are the components of the human body. Not that my memory is perfect, but I think they're a little off."

Al skimmed through the list, and realized his brother was right- the ratios were slightly different to the ones back home. There was barely a difference, but maybe it was still enough of a tweak to matter.

"If he was thinking with these proportions, then maybe that was why the alchemy didn't work on you," the elder continued.

"So you're saying he's wrong?"

Ed shook his head. "He was still able to transmute himself, so he was right. But it was wrong for you." He leaned forward on the table, holding himself up with his arms. "I've been wondering for a long time. We're from pretty far away, perhaps far enough away to be fundamentally different from people here."

Al felt a memory suddenly slam him in the face. "You're right!" He blinked as he realized he said that a little too loud. He slowly sunk down in embarrassment as people gave him odd looks. Ed nodded for him to explain the outburst and Al started talking in a much lower volume.

"That was why nothing was taken from us at the Gate. The souls didn't even know what to make of our bodies and left them alone."

Ed's eyes lit up and he slowly began to grin. "Al, you little genius."

"You're the genius," he countered with a little sly smile.

After a few seconds of thinking, Ed frowned again. "Wait, so... what does that mean for us? For Ryan?"

"I guess we'd have to figure out how to adjust alkahemy so it would work on her."

Both brothers sat silent for a moment, thinking about how long that could take.

"Aw, great. This project just got even harder," Ed said with a deep sigh.

Al nudged him. "Hey, we still got this, Brother. At least we found this out before we went back home."

The elder brother sighed again, but nodded to the younger and picked up his sandwich. "Let's eat fast so we can go learn some more alkahemy."

At the first line break during the chapter, I hope you gasped dramatically. XD

Dr. Orbit and Dr. Stride were totally not named after gum. XD I'm not big on gum, actually, especially since I don't really like mint. *fuchi face* I tend to dislike things that make people be like O.o when I tell them. I know I'm weird, but, for some of these things, I tend to think everyone else is weird. What is appealing about *insert something I don't like*?!

I wonder if either Ed or Al noticed the numbers being off while they were researching in the library a few days ago. If they did, then they might've seen the headcanon coming... XD

To make up for the length of the chapter, I thought, "Maybe I can even it out with an alternate!" Then the alternate ended up being pretty short. -_- Sorry, guys. This is all I've got for now. And who knows how updates will be once school starts next week! (New school- wish me luck!)

Happy End of Summer Break! (More like "Sad"! ;-;) K bai!

Alternate (Ending) M:

"Let's get this done now. Dad's gonna get here soon."

John and Matt reached to the first circle, then glanced up and gave each other soft, but confident, smiles. They pressed their hands down on the circle to activate it. And...

Nothing happened.

"...We are doing this right, right?" Al eventually questioned out loud after both had continued trying to get the transmutation up and running for a few minutes.

Ed wore a very, very frustrated look. "Are you freaking kidding me?!"

They kept trying until they heard the door upstairs open, signaling that their dad just came home. They hung their heads in defeat and quickly started picking everything up.

Alt. M: They can't do alchemy, alkahestry, or a combination of the two. They just can't even. Ed and Al remove all traces of what they were doing from the basement and their rooms, and spend some time afterward futilely trying to come up with something else they could do to help out Ryan.