Ok so I know I've been horrible, but I just got myself into a rut. I couldn't think of what to do. I didn't know where this story was gonna go next so I was just gonna cancel it. But then I finally figured out where I can take it so I hope you like it!
Ed stared out at the city. They had finally arrived in Zanarkand. This where they had set out for two weeks ago, but got sidetracked. He smiled at the scenery. Maybe, just maybe, he would finally get some answers about the stone and maybe get his hands on one. He looked at Al and told him to search around the city for anything that eh could find as a clue. Ed still hadn't told Al the real reason for them coming there. He didn't want to get Al's hopes up. He didn't want to see his face disappointed. He walked out of the car and walked up to the local bar. He paused and took a breath before entering.
Upon entering the bar he saw a fight break out between two men in a drunken rage. He ignored them and walked up to the bar tender. He asked in a quiet voice,"Do you know a woman by the name of Lila Bradshaw?"
"Oh yeah Lila. She lives a few blocks over. Why?"
"Oh I have some questions that I hope she could answer."
"Well kiddo, I can give you directions to her house." Edward cringed at being called kiddo, but he bit his tongue. He needed the directions. The stranger slipped him the piece of paper and walked over to take care of his customers.
Ed followed the directions to her house. He smiled, but thought sadly that this was too easy to be true. He knocked on her door and a pretty young girl about his age answered the door. He asked in a manly voice,"Is Lila Bradshaw home?"
The girl looked him in the eye and said,"Yes, please come in." He entered the house and heard,"Mom! You have a visitor." Ed heard footsteps and looked at the stairs. Coming down was a woman in her early thirties. She had light brown hair like the girl and caring eyes.
She smiled at Ed and said,"Hello young man what's your name?"
"My name is Edward Elric and I wanted to know if I could discuss something with you that I read in a book." Her eyes widened in surprise and directed him into the living room.
"Please come in." Ed followed her gratefully into the well-lit room. It was moderately furnished and he plopped down on a couch positioned against the wall of the room. She sat down and asked,"What did you want to ask me?"
"I read, in your book, that you had heard of a way of creating the Philosopher's Stone. I read on and I didn't quite understand it. I got the part about alchemy, but I didn't get the part about not giving up any human sacrifices."
She looked at him and said,"Well, there is a way, but it's very hard to do. Do you know what a homunculus is?"
"Yes. It is a being created when an alchemist performs the forbidden act of human transmutation on a dead person. They take a likeness of the person and are able to roam the earth. That's about all I know about them."
"Well, instead of using human lives, I gathered up some of these homunculus and placed them in an alchemy circle. Basically you take the life of the homunculus instead of the humans. It's not as powerful though and does wear out after a couple of uses. Though it works just as well as the stone for those uses."
Ed just stared at the lady. How could he not've thought of this before. It was so brilliantly simple. Well except the fact about catching the homunculus. That would prove to be a challenge. He said,"Thank you for everything." Then he stood up and started to walk out of them room.
Lila saw the boy and then said,"You tried it, didn't you? You tried human transmutation."
Ed looked at her in shock, but then answered,"Yeah. My mom died when me and my brother were little. We tried to bring her back and it ended in failure. I lost my left leg and al lost his entire body. At the last second I sacrificed my right arm to bind his sole to a body of armor."
"Is that why you needed to know how to make the stone? You want to get your mom back, but you don't want to kill innocent people to do it."
"No, we merely want to get our bodies back to the way they were before we tried anything."
"One last thing, how did you gain access to this information?"
"I work at the office in central. I'm a state alchemist despite my age."
"So the rumors about the famous Edward Elric are true. I heard that you are the youngest state alchemist to date."
"Yes and well it was nice to meet you." He left before he let anything else out. He didn't want to spill out his whole life story to this strange woman. He thanked her and went to find Al. He could finally tell him why he had come here.
Well how was it. Obviously I can't spell homunculus. So if anyone could tell me the actual spelling I would be eternally grateful. Sorry once again please forgive me for not updating and tell me what you thought.