Since 'Parting Gift' is coming to a close I can once again start work on this fic. These first two chapters were written a while back but I gave up on it. Now I will start all over again by at least posting to see what you think.

Hopefully this will become an epic story. I don't want to give too much away, but it should have something for everyone somewhere along the line. It will pass through many themes so the rating may change depending on how it goes. Tell me what you think of this start, its not exciting but its to explain what happens in the series so there are spoilers. I have not yet seen the movie so anything to do with that is a guess. Nothing of FMA is mine sadly.


Who ever said you could never achieve your goals?

It's when these become dangerous that you must question their worth.

It's amazing what can be achieved in two years. A family can be created, a government can fall and rebuild. One man can change the course of history and the principles of science.

That is exactly what Edward Elric achieved. Upon the day of his return joy was felt like no other. Throughout the land his name regained its famous status. Scientists from all over would come to question how he had achieved what he had. Where had he been? Who had he met? What was he to do now he had returned home?

Very few people knew what became known as 'the truth'. Only those who had committed the ultimate taboo in alchemy received such a privilege. It granted them skill that no other could achieve without committing this taboo but cursed them along with it.

It was this that had got Edward and his brother Alphonse in to such problems in the first place. They had begun to learn the skill of alchemy from a young age, inheriting it from their father. He was a great alchemist and well known at that. However he had vanished from the young brothers lives. Edward loathed him for it whereas Al did not share in his brothers' hatred. They loved their mother dearly and watched as each day she would spend time by the window, waiting for her lost husband. She was the kindest woman and a friend to many. It was no wonder the boys were determined to bring her into the world when she passed away at a young age.

They were restless. Even while living with their close friend Winry and her grandmother they planned how to get their mother back. They had heard about human transmutation before and believed this was they way to bring Trisha back to this world. They told no-one about these plans, not Winry much to her dismay, Aunt Pinako who cared for them, not even their teacher. It was she who had trained them to be the best alchemists and fighters they could be.

Although Edward was undoubtedly clever the human transmutation went wrong. They had all the ingredients, they had their blood, but it was not an equivalent exchange. A creature was created but it was not their mother. Edward lost a leg for it, Al lost his entire body.

Their bond as brothers was too strong for Ed to simply let his brother go. Instead he sacrificed his right arm so that his brothers soul may be stored in a suit of armour. This was the body that Al would possess for nearly five years of his life.

As for Edward, he too would be marked with a sign that he committed the ultimate taboo. Aunt Pinako, and indeed Winry, were experts in the art of auto-mail. His right arm and left leg were replaced with those of metal enabling his to stand and carry on life as normal.

This was not to be. Edward, guilt-ridden, vowed he would return his brother to his own body, one of flesh and feeling.

So began a long quest to seek the Philosophers stone. With this item one could ignore the rules that surrounded alchemy. There was no need for an equal sacrifice. At the age of twelve Edward achieved the title of state alchemist as well as the name Fullmetal. As a state alchemist he could go places and discover things only aloud because of this title. However he became a dog of the military, serving the command of the higher ups. The one responsible for Ed was Colonel Mustang, one known as the flame alchemist for his great skill with fire. He too was an extremely clever and cunning man whose goal was to reach the status of Fuhrer. He had served in the war at Ishbal, seen many an evil deed done on those that were innocent, slaughtered the innocent himself to follow orders. After killing two doctors he had nearly killed himself, horrified at the act. Unknown to him, this event had connected him to Ed and Al when they were young. The doctors he had been ordered to kill were the parents of one Winry Rockbell, the childhood playmate of the Elric pair.

Ed and Al met many characters along the way, some who helped and some who hindered. Scar was a survivor of the Ishbal war. He had lost his brother but gained an arm of great power. With this arm he set out to kill all state alchemists whether they had fought in the war or not. Alchemy went against the teachings of his God and those who carried it out must be punished. Scar was to play a vital role in the lives of the Elrics.

As was a man called Shou Tucker, the sewing life alchemist. All that the boys originally knew was that he had created a talking chimera. This creature was created by mixing two animals to create a new life. However, the chimera he had created could talk because it was once his wife. His daughter, whom the brothers had grown fond of, also became a victim. She didn't live long as a chimera for Scar killed the creature that was part dog part girl. Ed was not to discover it was Scar for a while and mourned the death of little Nina as if she were his own little sister. Tucker was taken by the military.

Yet he was not killed. He himself was turned into a chimera and ordered to create more of his unholy beasts. He fell into alliance with Eds greatest enemy, the homunculi.

A homunculus is a near perfect, artificially created human. Ed and Al were to face seven in total, each named after one of the deadly sins. By the time he was sixteen he had met three of them. Many events had led into a horrific situation in which Al was close to being destroyed. The boys had discovered that to create the Philosophers stone many human lives would need to be sacrificed. Although the homunculus had set it up for Ed to create, he could not bring himself to kill many people.

The Elrics managed to survive once again. They had encountered Envy who could shape shift into anything, Lust with spear like nails that could pierce anything and Gluttony who could eat through anything, consuming most of Al. Unknown to them they had also met Pride and Sloth but their identity was hidden for the time.

For a while, with Winry following, the boys went to see their master, the woman who had taught them to fight and how to use alchemy as best they could. It was during this part of their journey that they would meet two more homunculus. Wrath, no more then a child, and Greed the ultimate shield. They also met Dante who had been the teacher to their teacher. She was an elderly woman who was slaughtered by Greed. In turn Ed discovered a way to destroy Greed although they were nearly immortal. Contained within the body of the homunculus were red stones. Each time they died a stone inside of the vanished. Greed had run out and died as a human would.

Wrath was able to use alchemy. They should not have been able to and this was the reason they wished Ed to do it for them. What was to be noted about Wrath was that the skin on his right arm and left leg was a different tone to the rest of him. He was able to use alchemy because these were the limbs Ed had sacrificed.

Things began to fall slowly into place when they boys found out how a homunculus is made. They are the result of failed human transmutation. When they eat the stones the mass of organs they were transform into a human figure. Therefore one of the sins must be theirs.

Taking the form of the Fuhrers secretary, Sloth finally revealed herself. Her uncanny resemblance to their mother had not gone unnoticed. Ed knew he had to destroy her however much it pained him. Sloth was their sin and not their mother. Her base was water to Ed transformed her into ethanol. She evaporated into the air.

A homunculus is paralysed when presented with the remains of the human they used to be. Lust was once the lover of Scars brother and a lock of her hair was kept inside a locket. Her death was brought about by Wrath after she had decided to help Ed. Like the others Lust wanted nothing more then to just be human. In the end she died just as a human would.

An event know-one knew about clearly was how the Philosophers stone was created. Scar had set out to make the stone using the lives of the military and the lives of those already stored in his arm. This tattooed limb had once belonged to his brother. An alchemist had destroyed Scars arm and given him the star on his forehead by which he was named. His brother had given him the arm as he himself had been wishing to create the stone.

Scar and Al had come face to face with the alchemist who had taken Scars arm all that time ago. Before his death, the crimson alchemist had managed to turn Alphonse into a bomb. Slowly but surely Als body was changing until it would finally explode thus killing him. Scar in a final sacrifice had changed Al into the Philosophers stone.

This achievement came with a heavy price. Ed was on the run and Al was now to be hunted down by the homunculus. After a time hiding at their second home, that of the Rockbells, they said what would be their final goodbye. During this time however they had met a most unlikely guest. Their father; Hohenheim of Light. While Al expressed an interest, Ed did nothing but loath the man all the more. He had not remained with them for long, disappearing entirely from this world.

The cause of his vanishing was Dante. She was the leader of the homunculus all along and held all the secrets that would answer all their questions. She was the original creator of Envy, as was Hohenheim. They had been living for hundreds of years, changing bodies so that they could live forever. Hohenheim had stopped and remained in his present body as it was the form Trisha had loved. However it was rotting away and hence the reason he had deserted his family.

During the upheaval in her country, Rose had been raped and was now with a child. This child was to be used as a weapon against Ed, as was indeed the weakened Rose. Dante, after losing the love of Hohenheim, planned to take Roses body and make Ed fall in lover with her as replacement. Instead she sent him to the gate using the weak connection of mind, body and spirit of the baby.

Ed was taken beyond the gate to an entirely new world. Here, alchemy was overruled by technology and a war was at hand. Taking the body of that world him he bumped into his father. After getting the explanations he needed, the body Ed was possessing was destroyed. Miraculously Ed managed to return to his world to try and save his brother. Yet it was not to be after he found out an evil truth. The human that Envy used to be was the son of Hohenheim and Dante. In surprise Edward let his guard down and was killed by Envy.

Al witnessed this event. At the time Gluttony who was now nothing more then pure sin was eating away at the stone within Al. With his brothers death Al found new strength and got away to walk over to his brothers side. Using the skill he had learnt, Al would revive his brother.

That's just what he did but Envy jumped in during the reaction. Ed stood before the gate and watched it take Envy into the other world. Next thing he knew he was alive again, Rose standing over him. Dante had vanished from the scene, leaving Wrath behind missing an arm and a leg.

Ed had sacrificed himself, not bearing to live without his brother. And so he had vanished from their world. Al returned as a ten year old boy with no memory of events that had happened once he was contained within a suit of armour.

Dramatic things had happened within the military. Colonel Mustang had finally discovered that the Fuhrer himself was a homunculus. He had also successfully destroyed him so causing the collapse of the government. Mustang had also taken a serious blow during his fight and was blind in one eye.

For two years thing passed pretty much the same in their world. Al had decided he would train in alchemy all over again in attempt to bring his brother back. Rose lived with Aunt Pinako while Winry did the one thing she promised Ed she would do and trained in her auto-mail harder than ever. Wrath had been equipped with an auto-mail arm and leg but had since vanished. Roy was demoted and Riza, his closest friend and defender in the military and been sent away from him. Dante was not heard from again.

This was still the way of things even after Ed had returned. Relieved to be back in his own world he was never left alone. People came from all around to ask him how he had managed to return, where had he been, who had he met? But for the time being Ed kept quiet and so did Al. For a week after his return he had stayed in Central just to please basic curiosity. He saw all the people there he could which was more then he remembered. He regaled Al with tales that his memory had wiped. All Ed really wanted to do, for the time being at least, was settle back into the home that always had its doors open to him.


When Pinako had received the phone call she felt it one of the most wonderful days of her life. Not long ago Al had vanished from their world along with his brother. Now they were both safely back in their world, alive and well. They were close to her heart, more grandchildren that she had lost the opportunity to have when she lost her son and his wife.

'They're coming home,' she called up the stairs, not needing to specify. There was a small cry of delight from upstairs and the girl came bounding down. She had been through much in her life but to look at her face then you would not know.

'I had almost given up hope, but I prayed each day! When will they get here?'

Pinako smiled at her. The elderly woman was aging day by day but young life in her house made her ageless. At the news she would get the brothers back ten years had simply lifted from her. The younger woman was giddy with excitement, just like the child she had once been.

'They will be here by this evening, we must prepare, and to start, Den needs a bath,' Pinako beamed trying to contain her overwhelming joy. The dog simply looked up and wagged his tale, not understanding what was going on but knew it had to be good.


Please R+R