Hey everyone. I want to apologize again for the last few chapters. There was SOOO much information I had to put across, but I didn't want to bore you guys with all of the details (I know some of you wanted me to get on with the story). I had to copy some of the dialogue straight from the (subtitled) episodes that I have seen, because everytime I tried to write what was going on it ended up and even more confusing than before. I knew when posting those last couple of chapters that it seemed kind of rushed, but that's why I tried to make up for it with the rest of the story. There is a lot of dialogue in this chapter, though I tried my hardest to not make it seem so rushed. Anyways, here it is. Major spoilers from here on out (if you hadn't already figured that one out), well…at least for the next few chapters.

Chapter Thirty-One

Edward walked up to the old, dilapidated church on the outskirts of what was the Old Central town. He had received word that the Tringham brothers were there to give him some information their father wanted delivered to him. Thinking he might have had the wrong place, Edward hesitantly opened the doors to the church and walked in. Sure enough, inside sat Russell and his younger brother, Fletcher, waiting for him on the old antique pews.

"Edward!" Fletcher yelled out happily as he ran up to the alchemist. At one point on his and Alphonse's journey, these two brothers posed as Edward and Al just to be able to continue their father's research on the red water. Action pursued, and in the end all of them realized the water was slowly poisoning the city, so it had to be disposed of. They were civil to each other after that incident, though Russell still loved to throw the short jokes in Edward's direction.

"What took you so long?" Asked Russell as the three walked to the front of the church.

"Sorry. Is this the place you were supposed to tell me about?" responded Edward.

"Yes. It is here," commented Fletcher quietly.

"Show it to me once more," Edward said, as Fletcher handed him an old piece of paper. Edward read carefully, not wanting to miss any information.

"Long ago," explained Russell, "Father came to Old Central to research a method for creating the red water. Here, he found a place called the Fifth Laboratory. And there, he met an alchemist. That man revealed to him…that to transmute red water into the Philosopher's Stone, the use of human lives was essential. He also revealed the location of the true laboratory." The three looked at the large altar in front of them as Edward folded up the piece of paper and handed it back to Russell.

"The Fifth Laboratory was nothing more than the entrance to something greater," the elder Elric brother thought out loud as he studied the altar, "In reality, there was a bigger human research facility. Indeed, this has to be the place we're looking for." Edward slowly began to walk up to the altar, then noticed the two brothers begin to follow him. "No," he said, turning around slightly, "I'll go alone…"

"But, I don't understand…" commented Fletcher, "Al is in trouble, isn't he?"

Edward smiled slightly to comfort the younger brother, "Don't worry, it's okay. He's only a little lost." He clapped his hands and placed them on the front of the altar, opening a large space that had stairs trailing down into the darkness.

"Ed," said Russell, causing the teenager to turn around again, "The reason we let you see this diary…wasn't because we wanted you to create the Philosopher's Stone."

"I know," Edward responded, "I'm not going to create the Philosopher's Stone. Believe me." He turned back around and began to descend into the darkness below the altar. After a few moments he could hear Russell and Fletcher run to the entrance behind him, "Come back, Edward…Come back alive!" he heard Russell yell from above.

Edward descended the steps for what seemed like hours before finally coming out into a bright area. It had a natural waterfall next to the opening to the stairwell, and he could see the many giant roots of ancient trees forming the walls of the room. He walked off to the side and noticed large carvings of masks that adorned the walls as well. He was finally able to locate another set of stairs descending further down, and quickly began to disappear into the darkness.

"According to Father's Diary," Edward remember Russell telling him earlier, "If you enter this temple, a relic from an ancient religion, and go deep underground, suddenly…"

Edward's mind became blank as he finally exited the bottom of the stairs, and stood upon a great wall overlooking a city. "Under Central, you'll find another city." Edward continued to stare at all the buildings as his mind caught up and remembered Russell's words, "Father estimated from the architectural style that it was close to four hundred years old. There is a legend, that back then, where Central stands today, there was a city that disappeared in one night. Father performed experiments related to the very nature of alchemy. 'Was the whole city trapped and taken underground?' That's what he thought."

"Using all of the people in a city as a sacrifice for the Philosopher's Stone…" Edward thought out loud, "To deceive other people and hide the disappearance of the population…make the city itself disappear." He continued to stare out at the seemingly dead and ancient city, "Is there anyone capable of crafting such a plan?"

"Is anyone here!" Edward screamed into the city, hearing himself echo from the distant walls. "You must be here! You knew everything, didn't you? Old man!" He screamed into the emptiness of the city, somehow knowing that his father was not here. He walked along the sides of the wall, until he was able to jump down onto one of the structures of the city. The city really was empty; no one had lived here for many years. In the distance, Edward heard some music playing, which surprised him. Maybe someone is still living down here! He ran as fast as he could up to the structure, which looked like an old opera house, and stood before the doors. He could hear the classical music playing behind them. Determined to find out what the hell was going on, Edward pushed opened the doors, and couldn't believe his eyes.

Indeed inside was the interior of a gorgeous opera hall, with its many lofts where the upper class would sit looming over the floor. The hundreds of lights that were contained within the room were all lit, showing the extraordinary features of the room. The blood red curtains that hung on the stage were pulled back, as though a performance was about to start. None of this, though, compared to the sight he saw before him.

In the middle of the opera house, normally where other seats were placed, was Winry. She was dressed in an ornate dress that Edward pictured coming out of the same time period as this city. The long sleeves covered her arms, though her automail hand still showed at the end. Her once beautiful, long, blond hair was now spiky and red, which reminded Edward of the girl he chased throughout Rush Valley not too long ago. Could it have been her the whole time? That would explain the problems he had with catching her; she had been trying to hide from him. On the dance floor, the girl fluidly moved around, as if being led by an imaginary partner.

"Winry?" Edward said almost silently. He wished this were a dream; he didn't want to be tricked again. The mention of her name caused the girl to stop and look towards Edward's direction. He looked deep into her eyes, and realized something was different, like a part of her was not there.

"Edward?" She said quietly as she started to smile slightly, "You finally came…"

Edward was about to question her, but didn't get a chance as she stepped forward and grabbed his hand, leading him in a dance while the music still played. Ed felt her close to him, and knew that this time she was the real Winry, but that didn't explain anything to him as to why she was acting the way she was.

"Winry? Why are you here? How did you escape Lior?" he questioned as he continued to lead him around the dance floor. He was overjoyed to know that she was, in fact, still alive, but something deeply disturbed him about this whole thing.

"I've been waiting for you forever. Forever, Edward…I…." She pulled her head back from his shoulder and looked him in the eye. Edward blushed at her words, but something else was causing her to act this way. He needed to get away so he could find the source, instead of letting his emotions be clouded. He quickly pulled away and stepped back from Winry.

"Winry, who tricked you into coming here?" He asked her, and not receiving a response, "What is this plac--"

The sound of a baby crying interrupted his questions, and he saw her slightly respond to the noise. Turning around, he saw Lyla, Dante's apprentice, standing by the side of the floor holding a baby close to her chest.

"My baby…" Winry said as she quickly walked over to take it from the other woman.

"Baby!," Edward thought to himself, "What the hell is going on here!" He saw Winry cradle the baby in her arms and lovingly hug and hold it as if it were her own child. He knew that the child wasn't hers, and almost didn't want to know where it came from.

"If only you could have danced with her…" spoke Lyla after a few moments of silence. "After we ran away from Lior and came into hiding here, she waited for you. You're despicable, you know…"

"Lyla, did you bring Winry here?" asked Edward point blank. She should be able to shed some light on the issue at hand, since she seemed to be acting normally.

"This is a town that only old alchemists know of," Lyla said as she walked out onto the dance floor, to within a few feet of Edward, "That's what Dante-sensei told me."

"I still haven't heard…"continued Edward. For some reason his nerves were not settling right, "haven't heard why Dante was killed."

Lyla lowered her eyes slightly in pain at the memory of her old teacher, "She was killed by the homunculus called Greed. Didn't I tell you?"

"That's a lie," said Edward bluntly.

"It can't be," Lyla replied, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"The alchemy array left behind in Dante's mansion was something to block the homunculi's moves," Edward continued. "There, I also found the bones of what was once, Greed. He couldn't have possibly made a move against Dante."

"Is that so?" Lyla asked, laughing slightly to herself, "But Dante died, that's for sure…"

"If the body was only used as a shell for the soul…" Edward reasoned, but was interrupted by the woman.

"What are you trying to say?"

"What if," Edward continued, "the power of the Philosopher's Stone was used to switch from one body to another…it would make a human capable of living hundreds of years, right?" He narrowed his eyes back at the woman in front of him, "Back then, you made it look like you died and took over Lyla's body! Isn't that so?" he finished, yelling out loud.

The woman smirked, then suddenly looked desperate for help, "Ed, stop this! I…"

She was not able to finish as Edward transmuted a spear from part of the floor and hurled it at the woman in front of him. She quickly clapped her hands together and held one out in front of her, preventing the spear from penetrating her barrier. The spear was flung to the side and landed on the other side of the huge ballroom.

"That was close," she said sternly.

"When did you see the gate, Lyla?" Edward asked. When he didn't get a response he continued, "You did a transmutation without an alchemy array. That itself is the answer, Dante!"

The woman smiled slightly at the teenager's intelligence, "When did you find out, Edward Elric?"

"So it was true…"

"I've grown quite fond of this body," Dante stated happily.

"Then, which body is this?"

"I don't know, I can't remember, but I do know it's not even the tenth. After all, I had to use the Philosopher's stone during that time…" she said as she looked up towards the teenager and smiled.

"You destroyed this city's inhabitants…and created the stone!" Edward demanded to know.

"It was the same for a country in the East that disappeared in a night, long ago," she finally answered, and smiled as she heard the sharp intake of breath as Edward realized she spoke of the Ishbal rebellion. "I do have to tell you, I'm not the one who created it…"

"Hohenheim of Light," Edward spat out; he was really beginning to hate his father.

"You mustn't speak your father's name like that," Dante said, almost disciplining the teenager who had no respect for the man she used to love.

"Did he live on like that too? For what purpose is all of this?"

"Because we are worth it," Dante said bluntly.

"You use sneaky moves to create the Stone, and use it only so that you can live on!" Edward pointed out, "This can't be forgiven!"

"Humans can't handle the Philosopher's Stone," Dante tried to explain; though she knew the teenager would most likely not listen to her.

"Therefore," Edward said, continuing her train of thought, "when they try to create it and are annihilated, only the mere legend remains. Those who approach the stone will die…"

"Yes," replied Dante, "That way, humans won't get close to the Philosopher's Stone. And for those who come close to it, we confiscate it in the nick of time and use it with the utmost care. After all, if we left something like the Philosopher's Stone in human hands, we don't know what they would do with it. I'm doing this so that foolish humans won't destroy it…You could say that I'm living on to protect the world. So that foolish humans don't do foolish things with the Philosopher's Stone…"

"Don't kid yourself!" interrupted Edward, "You too, are a human!"

Calmly Dante looked at the teenager and smiled, "I am no longer human."

A door to one of the back exits opened suddenly, and Edward was startled when one of the homunculus, the one named Gluttony, barged in yelling out Lust's name. Edward quickly got ready to fight the creature if it attacked him, though he kept Dante in his sights as well.

"What a shame," she said as she began to walk over to Winry. Edward became angrier the closer she got to his friend, but didn't want to do anything that would attract the attention of Gluttony, who was still walking around looking for his friend. Dante walked up to Winry and cupped the girl's face in her hands, "I was looking forward to entering this body and having the Hohenheim's son love me…" she said as she held Winry in a close embrace.

"So this time, it's Winry's body?" Edward growled, "What have you done to her!"

"Yes," Dante replied, almost grinning at seeing the teenager's anger, "I've also attained the Philosopher's Stone again."

"What do you mean?" Edward questioned, then widened his eyes in realization, "Al?…Where is Al?"

"Lust! What happened to Lust!" screamed out Gluttony, interrupting the two.

"Ask him, Gluttony," Dante said, directing the homunculi's attention to the alchemist in front of him. Gluttony came trudging up to Edward, calling out his friend's name, and grabbed the teen's right arm with his mouth.

"She's dead…Because of me…" Edward finally said, looking down at the homunculus still attached to his automail arm.

"Lust…is dead?" asked Gluttony quietly, the arm muffling his voice.

"Yes. Your comrade, Wrath, sealed her," Ed said, answering him. Gluttony let go of Edward's arm and began to fall back, and plopped down on the ground in a daze.

"Gluttony?" questioned Dante, still holding Winry's face within her hands. The homunculus repeated the name of his fallen friend and slowly dragged himself up and away from the room. She yelled out his name, but did not get any response out of him.

Seeing that the homunculus had left for the time being, Edward saw his chance to attack, "Let's get this over with!" he shouted as he quickly turned his hand into a blade. Before he could reach Dante, she transmuted the stone floor in front of her to become a giant snake and had it lunge towards the teenager. Just as the snake was about to swallow him whole, Edward jumped up high enough to land on the beast's head and run down its body towards his opponent. He surprised Dante, and was able to slice part of her chest before she moved out of the way. The force of the attack pushed her away, and he deliberately put himself between her and Winry.

Dante looked down to see the front of her dress had been ripped off, exposing part of her decaying body. "I knew it," Edward said, "Attaching your soul again and again is not something that will last forever. It's the Law of Conservation! That's the consequence of doing something that stupid again and again!"

"The Law of Conservation?" questioned Dante as she easily fixed the torn parts of her dress, "You still believe that theory taught to children?"

"It's not a theory. It is alchemy's…no, this world's rule!" Edward lectured, "Didn't you say it too? 'In order to gain something, something of equal value is necessary."

"That is something only children say…'Setting things equal…that's unfair'," Dante replied, smiling slightly, "But you see, there is no such thing as the Law of Conservation." She ignored the outburst from the teenager and continued, "To gain something, you must pay. Then, conversely, by paying a price, something will be gained."
"Of course, that's why people make efforts to pay this price!"

"But that's weird," Dante thought as she waited for Edward to finish, "After all, even though you gain the same price, you won't always gain the same thing." She saw the realization hit Hohenheim's son like a ton of bricks and smiled in delight, "There is the Nationally Certified Alchemist examination. To pass it, how many people spend time studying for it? That is what they put into it. But, in reality, only a small number will pass. To begin with, even if you study alchemy in the same way, huge differences in ability will be born."

Dante saw Edward look at her, then back towards Winry, "And people's lives do not have the same value." She placed her hands together and reactivate the giant stone serpent. With lightning speed, it lunged towards Winry and snatched the baby from her arms, knocking her to the side. Edward himself had to jump out of the way, but quickly ran to Winry to check and see if she was all right. The serpent looped and floated in the air, holding the baby in its mouth for all to see. The child cried frantically, knowing danger was near.

"With the way things are," Dante finally spoke up, "the baby will die…"

"Stop it!" Edward yelled at her as he helped Winry to her feet; she seemed to be fine, at least physically. Whatever mind control she was under still was in place.

"It is really easy to kill him. Then," the woman explained, " was that child only born to die? That child is trying his best to live, and he is paying the price. Yet, the only thing he will gain is…death. On the other hand, there are people who survive even though they kill other people. It doesn't matter how hard you try to live; at the time of your death, you will die. If you compare this to people who are blessed with wealth and authority, who spend their life happily…Isn't that unfair? The world is truly cruel. Yet, at the same time, you could say that is why it is beautiful…"

"Quit your sophistry!" Edward yelled, tired of hearing this old woman's philosophies. He clapped his hands together and placed them on the stone serpent, causing it to disappear. The baby that was once in its mouth now fell towards the ground, but was easily caught by the teenager. He gently held the child and turned to give it back to Winry. She took the child from Edward's arms and cradled it in hers yet again.

"What you call the Law of Conservation is merely an excuse for the weak to console themselves," Dante said, interrupting the moment between the two teens, "If they paid a price, they would become happier…"
Edward swung his arm in frustration, "You didn't need to use this child as an explanation!"

Dante contained the laughter that threatened to fly from her mouth, "You are like your Father, after all."

Panic crept through Edward as he turned around to see an alchemist circle appear on the baby's stomach. Then everything went black.