Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Bloodlines or Fullmetal Alchemist
I had listened through his explanation of battling with the being known only as Father, and the homunculus. Part of me was amazed that such creatures had been created, though most of me was filled with horror. They cared so little for life, even when they themselves fought simply for survival, to elongate the life of themselves and their creator.
The real surprise of their story came after the war, however, after the story of how they managed to get their bodies back. Giving up alchemy as a whole was a major price, one I wasn't sure if I was willing to pay at the moment. Even in this brief period of time, I had grown attached to it. It was all I knew, the only thing I woke up aware of in the sea of emptiness that was my mind.
Their story began five years after they had gone in search of the secrets of alchemy within other nations. They had returned to their home in Resembool, where Winry had patiently been waiting for Ed to return from his latest adventure….
Things sure had changed in Amestris, at least that was what Ed had been thinking when he first got back. The state alchemists had separated from the government, based on what Roy had told him when he walked back into headquarters in central. Now, he really didn't know what to do with himself. Alchemists simply practiced for their own gain now, for scientific knowledge rather than to assist the people. He had already done all that when he left the country, he didn't need to do more stupid research when he got back!
That was why he was returning to Winry. His leg had been acting up again and it needed maintenance. Besides, he hadn't seen her in years. He hoped she was still okay, that she was willing to wait this long for him. He still felt that connection to her, the one that made him say those stupid things to her before he left on that train. Either way, it seemed like she felt the same, so he hoped that maybe now he could settle down a bit, perhaps relax and start a family. After all, there wasn't any more work to be done for the Alchemists at this point.
This was exactly what he ended up doing, and for a while, his life was great. Living with Winry, raising kids, and having Al back by his side, it was all he could wish for. Maybe he still wanted his real leg back, but with the best automail mechanic as his wife, he didn't have too many issues staying mobile. The real issues came up when he found out what the Alchemists had been up to during his absence, the one day he returned to headquarters for a visit with his wife and brother. He had left his children at home, believing that they could take care of themselves for a few minutes on their own. Ed had only meant to speak with his old friend, Roy, but it turned into something far more dangerous.
The Alchemists had been going strong since their split from the government and the military, growing secretive and of their research and refusing to disclose it to the public until it was complete. All they would say was that it was vitally important to the future of the nation. "Hey guys, long time no see!" Ed had stated when he walked inside their new headquarters, only to stare in shock at what was present within.
They had been preparing for another experiment within, but Ed had not been prepared for what it was. "Brother…this looks like…." Al had begun, his voice shaky as he recognized the transmutation circle on the floor, or at least what it resembled.
Roy was no where to be seen, nor was Strongarm there. Any familiar faces were gone, leaving Ed staring at a group of strangers working over the circle. "What the hell are you guys doing? Human transmutation can't be done, you're all fools if you think that this is possible!" he shouted, while one of the Alchemists moved to speak with him.
"Wait, what is that on your cheek?" Winry had asked, seeing a strange pattern emblazoned in a copper color on the man's face. It looked a lot like a flower, something that seemed strange even to Ed.
"A symbol of our devotion to our cause, the cause of creating new life in this world. The homunculi we faced were powerful, immortal beings, and we know it is possible to replicate them and create bodies like that for ourselves. We simply need to find a way to overcome the price, to divert it to another source." the researcher had insisted, his hand touching his cheek gently. The others turned towards Ed, Al, and Winry as well, all with similar tattoos on their faces.
The uniformity had unnerved Ed, reminding him far too much of a blindly obedient army. "Fuck this, I'm out of here. You guys are insane and I'm not going to stand around and see the disaster this makes." Ed had told them, preparing to leave. That was when things went wrong, with the Alchemists surrounding him and pulling him back, forcing him into the circle.
Inside, he saw another person, a young girl with scared eyes looking over at him. "Oh my god, Ed, it's a kid." Winry stated, horror in her voice as she realized who was being transmuted. The horror was felt by Ed and Al as well, even if they did not voice their worries like Winry. They had seen far too much darkness in the world to let their opinions show so easily.
"Hey, sweetie, what's your name?" Winry had asked, her gaze focused on cheering up the girl as the Alchemists restrained them and forced them to wait inside. At least they were no longer in the circle, Ed had thought. After all, there were unimaginable risks involved if they were dragged into that circle when it was activated.
The child glanced over at Winry, her pale green eyes staring into Winry's blue eyes. "Sarah, Sarah Dragomir." she stated.
Al joined in, smiling over at the girl. "Dragomir, huh? Kind of sounds like dragon to me. Are you strong like a dragon?" he asked, giving her a smile.
Sarah nodded, smiling over at him. "Of course! I'm the strongest of all my siblings. One time, my brother challenged me to an arm wrestling match and guess what?" she stated, sounding happier already. "I won! I beat my brother!" she exclaimed, actually standing up as she celebrated.
Ed couldn't help but clench his hands into fists, wondering how they could drag such an innocent child into this mess. "Keep them still. We have work to finish." one of the Alchemists ordered, stepping towards the circle that contained the girl.
"No! Let her go!" Al yelled, fighting hard against the hands that kept him restrained. Winry was doing the same, struggling with no success. Ed had other plans though, and for once, he was glad he still had a bit of automail left. He swung his metal leg back, kicking the man behind him with enough force to gain his own freedom. From there, he moved on to the ones holding Al and Winry captive, using his fists to knock them out and free his friends.
Unfortunately, it was too late. Glancing back towards the center of the room, the circle was already activated, the girl within screaming as blue sparks danced on the ground underneath her. "Stop it!" Al yelled, rushing forward without though.
"Al!" Ed yelled, wondering how his brother could be so stupid. He was running towards an active transmutation circle, one designed for some form of human transmutation. Neither of them knew exactly what it would do, but both of them knew it would come with a great price. Shaking his head, Ed chased after his brother, finding both of themselves trapped within the active circle, desperately trying to pull the child free.
Shadowy hands already had their grip on her though, a familiar sight to Ed and Al from their own transmutations in the past. "Ed! I'm not losing you here, we've got our family to take care of!" Winry called out, sounding frightened. Ed wondered why that was, when he noticed the shadowy hands gripping his own body and Al's. His gaze turned towards Winry, panicked over what was going to happen to him. She was right, he couldn't leave his family. "Edward! Don't worry, I'll find a way to get you out of there." Winry promised, stepping forward and standing on the edge of the circle.
"Don't be an idiot, Winry! You'll only get yourself trapped like us, run while you still can!" Ed insisted, but Winry did not listen. She stepped inside, gasping as the circle's power grew, ensnaring all of them. In the center of the circle, Sarah was still trapped, though her screams had stopped. Ed could see how pale she was, how thin she seemed to have grown in only a matter of seconds, and he began to wonder if she had died. They had mentioned deferring the cost of the transmutation, and he realized now who was paying that price. This child was paying the price for what these scientists were trying to do to her, without her consent.
Ed glared at the Alchemists outside of the circle, before pain surged through his body. He gasped, hearing Al and Winry begin screaming as all of them collapsed on the ground in the circle. Glancing at the ground, Ed now saw something similar here, something that reminded him of the markings used to create a philosopher's stone. That meant…the only safe spot was the center, where the girl was now sitting calmly, unharmed as the transmutation reached its end.
"Ed….I love you…." Winry gasped out, her arm reaching out towards him as she began to pass out. Ed reached for her as well, his hand locking with hers before turning towards Al, who looked grim as well. He seemed to have noticed the markings as well, and he understood what was going to happen to them.
"Al, we'll get our bodies back again, I swear it! We did it once, we'll find a way to do it again." Ed promised, grabbing his hand as he too lost his grip on his body. All three of their souls faded from within, transferred into a red stone with gold streaks, now resting in the hands of Sarah Dragomir.
"What's wrong with them? Why did they fall asleep?" Sarah asked, but Ed, Al, and Winry were facing a new horror. Souls trapped within a philosopher's stone were supposed to be lost to their anguish and pain over everything that had been taken from them. That was not the case for them, and Ed knew immediately that something was wrong.
"Drop the stone! Do it now, it isn't safe!" Ed tried to yell, though it felt strange. His voice didn't come out like normal, but it was obvious that the girl had heard him, since she dropped the rock on the ground and scooted away from it.
"My head! Ow, that hurt." she complained, rubbing her head. Her gaze turned over towards the Alchemists, who were frowning at the results of their experiments.
"Hm, she doesn't seem any different." the lead Alchemist commented, a man in his forties with black hair and square glasses. He pushed on his glasses, sliding them into place on his face after they slid down his nose.
The girl had heard him and her eyes were now locked on him. "This place smells funny and my head still feels funny! Make it stop, please!" she begged, her body shaking. Something was clearly wrong with her, and even through the red haze that now clouded his vision, Ed could see it too.
"Brother, we have to do something. What did that circle do to her?" Al asked, though none of the Alchemists or the girl seemed to hear him like they had heard Ed. It would take some time for them to figure out that it only worked with physical contact, to figure out just what this new stone did.
As much as they wished to help, it did not take them long to realize they could not move. The only thing they could do was change their perspective, viewing things from a different side of the stone they were trapped within. "Well, it utilized our lives to give her something, that's for sure. Let's just hope we offset the cost enough that it didn't do too much damage to her." Ed stated, still not recognizing how all the symbols linked together. They had altered too much, and while it still held the core shape and feel of human transmutation, something felt very wrong with it.
The child got up, this time catching their attention. She seemed to stumble, looking weak and off-balance. One of the Alchemists moved to help steady her, and that was when it happened. The girl stiffened, her gaze turning towards him with a hungry look in her eyes. Ed, Al, and Winry stared in horror as the child actually bit the Alchemist, her mouth latching onto his wrist. The man seemed to be lost, not even trying to fight back as a look of pleasure crossed over his face.
"Stop it, you're killing him!" Ed yelled, but the child could not hear him. Still, she seemed to realize something was wrong when she shoved the man away from her, blood dripping down her chin. Her hands were shaking, but she was no longer unsteady on her feet.
As she stared down at her hands, Ed could tell that she was overwhelmed by what had happened. "What am I? Please, turn me back! I don't wanna hurt people, I don't want this!" she pleaded, but it was already too late.
Ed could sense the horror of the others within the stone, a new connection between the three of them now that they had merged into one. "Brother…we need to find a way to fix her too." Al stated, giving Ed a new focus. He would do just that, as soon as they were back to normal. After all, they were rather useless in their current state.
Feeling his determination, even Winry perked up, having confidence in Ed's ability to achieve his goal. However, things did not turn out as well as they had originally hoped. The Alchemists nearby had been too afraid of the child to stop her when she fled, but that did not stop them from taking the newly made philosopher's stone. "Well, looks like one good thing came from Fullmetal and his meddling." one of the younger Alchemists stated, a girl with long brown hair, pulled back into a braid.
She had grabbed the stone, handing it off to the leader of this small sector of Alchemists. "Yes, indeed this is good. A philosopher's stone, this is exactly what we were missing." he stated, his greedy eyes examining it closely. Ed felt horror deep within him, realizing this man's intent. He seemed to think that the stone would allow him to accomplish his goals, but Ed knew that wasn't true. This stone wasn't a normal philosopher's stone, it would not follow the same rules.
Even with all of his yelling from within the stone, even with Al and Winry joining in, none of them listened. If they had, maybe they could have prevented the disaster that befell the Alchemists and led to the abandonment of the practice of real alchemy.
They had watched in horror as the Alchemists continued perfecting their transmutation, creating numerous more freaks of nature like Sarah Dragomir. Ed remembered each of their names, each child that had been transformed into a monster against their will. There was William Badica, Rodrick Conta, Lily Ozera, Bret Tarus, Casey Dashkov, Henry Lazar, Mary Voda, Patricia Szelsky, Evan Zeklos, and finally, Roland Ivashkov. Each and every one of them had gone through that horrible process, becoming what they were now calling vampires. They were exiled from normal communities, shunned for the fact that they needed to feed off of others to continue surviving. Still, Ed had heard the rumors of their magic, and their incredible health and reflexes. They had gained some benefit from these experiments, but it was not worth it in his mind.
Now, they felt that they were ready for the final step, utilizing the philosopher's stone that had been created during Sarah Dragomir's transmutation. "Stop this, you don't know what you're doing!" Ed had screamed at them, one final effort to convince them to give up on this goal of theirs.
"This is for the greater good! We will gain immortality and strength, the likes of which the world has never seen! Then, we will correct our mistake and vanquish that feeble race of vampires we created before. Our newer, perfected generation will replace them and all of humanity in the end." the lead Alchemist stated, at this point known as Patrick Stanton.
The circle was put into place, with the stone in the hands of the Alchemist that was activating it. None of them were prepared for the result, not the Alchemists, Ed and his friends, or even the victim in the center of the circle. It had started off like normal, the circle activating with a flurry of blue sparks dancing on the ground. The vicim began screaming in pain, much like the previous children had done. However, at that point, everything went wrong.
Ed, Al, and Winry felt something shift within the stone. They could not quite control it, almost as if the rock itself had a will of its own. Ed could feel energy pouring within him, surrounding his mind and making him feel far more alive than he had felt in months. Al and Winry felt it too, seeming excited about it at first. "Ed, do you think this is returning us to normal? Is this circle reversing what was done to us?" Winry asked, turning to the most knowledgeable Alchemist within their stone.
Ed doubted it, confused about what was going on until they were flung onto the ground. The Alchemist that had been carrying the stone was dead, his face lifeless and drained as he gazed at them. That surge of energy they felt, the life they thought was a miracle, now turned into something unspeakable. "The stone, it is like the children! It steals life away from others, specifically by draining their energy. We have to…stay away from others." Ed stated, but even he knew the problem with that. Without outside help, there would be absolutely no way of returning to normal.
Al and Winry both seemed to realize this, and gravely, they agreed to his words. They had every intention of isolating themselves somehow, of making sure their stone was never found again. That was before they saw what had been created, the creature in the center of the room.
The other children still seemed human when the transmutation was finished. They acted like kids, scared and confused about what had happened to them. This one, however, did no such thing. Ed could see that something was different about this one, its skin even paler than the skin of the other children before it. Its eyes were frightening as well, red rings circling each of them and reminding him of the blood red color of the philosopher's stone.
"Thank you for awakening me. Now, I understand what I was meant to do. With this strength, I can accomplish anything." the child stated, standing up with a smile at the Alchemists around him. Ed felt a chill run down his spine at those words, words far more collected and calm than any child should be able to get out.
As much as he wanted to yell and scream at what happened next, his trapped form did not allow it. The child, alone and completely untrained in combat, began fighting against the Alchemists in the room. Much like the others, he went for blood, biting any skin available to him. The Alchemists that were bitten reacted much like before, not bothering to fight as they were drained of blood, killed with a blissful look of pleasure left on their faces. When others realized that this vampire was deadly, they began fighting back, using their Alchemy to attack the creature.
"You think that will stop me? This is weak, pathetic even. Tell you what, I'll actually make you a deal. Whoever manages to survive the longest against me will get to join me in my new world. After all, it would be rather boring to live alone for all of eternity." the child stated, sounding amused at the thought. Ed had no idea if the kid was immortal or not, but he had no intention of finding out right now. He couldn't run, and he couldn't fight, so ultimately, he had no choice but to stay and watch as every Alchemist was killed.
The final one fell, drained of blood as the child grinned at him. "Congratulations, my victor. Come, taste the spoils of your victory." he stated, dragging one of his own fingernails down his wrist. Winry and Al were already horrified to the point of silence, mourning for the deaths of the others in their own way, while Ed was raging in anger. He wanted this kid to pay for what he had done, for the careless way he threw away the lives of others.
Still, that didn't stop Ed from recognizing what rose up after him, something even more unnatural than even the vampires had been. The dead Alchemist was now moving again, after the kid shoved his blood in his face. However, Ed could already see the change in him. His eyes had red rings, just like the child's, and his skin was deathly pale. As they walked out together into the night, Ed, Al, and Winry could only imagine the horrors that had been unleashed on the world because of this.
Ultimately, word spread of what had been created at the hidden lab of the Alchemists. They were shut down, forced to close as the government fought to find a way to deal with the new creatures roaming the world. The first group of vampires seemed harmless enough, so long as they kept their distance, they were spared. They hated the discrimination they faced among normal people, so they fled and created their own culture and government, fading away from the memories of the people over time.
The Alchemists were another matter. Labeled as a danger to society, all alchemical use was banned. The stone containing Ed, Al, and Winry was placed into the care of their only remaining family member, who held onto it with a grim expression. It was understood that use of that stone was expressly forbidden, as was alchemy itself. Any violators were executed, and the organization as it was once known was scattered. Some of the people that remained gathered behind General Olivier Armstrong, forming a sector under a new name that sought to eliminate the threat of the newly named strigoi vampires haunting this planet. They viewed death as the only way of eliminating them, thus was born the organization that came to be known as the Warriors of the Light. With their values of strength and honor guiding them, members became very independent, the leaders simply giving them the motivation they needed to continue with their goal.
A more prominent group followed behind the lead of Colonel Roy Mustang, focusing more on containing the damage to regular society. They kept the name they had once used, to remind themselves of their past sins that needed to be corrected. Their focus was on tending to the humans who met tragedies with vampires, helping to hide the newly named moroi from the public as well as the now growing race of dhampirs, half-vampires born of relationships between humans and moroi.
In the end, even the organizations themselves forgot this tragic history of theirs. As Amestris faced a new war, it was forced to merge with its neighboring nations for strength, becoming the country now known as Germany. The creation of vampires was forgotten even by the moroi themselves, and with the common belief that alchemy was nothing but a myth, no one had the capability of finding the truth. As time went on, each organization split further and further apart from each other, until the Alchemists' hatred of the killing done by the Warriors led them to keep even the existence of their sister clan hidden from its members. To this day, only the remaining members of the Elric family know the truth of this story, and now it has been passed on to two others. Heed this warning well, human transmutation is not something to be toyed with. In the end, it will cause nothing but pain and destruction to the world around you, even if you have the best of intentions.
This chapter right here is actually what inspired this entire crossover. I love origin stories, and after realizing I could create a link between alchemy and the vampires in Bloodlines...this story was born. Feel free to review and tell me what you think!