A.C.: I hate uniforms... let's just leave it at that. And the alchemist names? Don't ask.
Summary: Upon finding the diary of the legendary Phoenix Alchemist, Edward is thrown into a plot long since launched into motion by the fabled war hero...
Timeline: Sometime before Hughes is dead.
Warnings: oocness, grammar/structure/spelling mistakes, spoilers?
Library,
The beginnings for any pursuit of knowledge.
Making sure that no one was tracking him, Ed takes care to sneak into the hall of records placed next door.
The receptionist at the desk gives him an odd look for he was notorious for spending an unhealthy amount of time at the library.
But it wasn't a book he was looking for this time.
It was a person,
A person named Ryan Mogust...
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"...Should I be worried?"
"I don't think so but he's pretty determined."
"I know that already, think he's figured it out by now?"
"Maybe... I'm sure he has his suspicions."
"hmm..."
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He shouldn't be doing this...
Not in broad daylight.
But he had to...
He sneaks in the back door making sure that no nosy neighbor was staring through the window at that moment.
Wiping his brow he collapses as soon as he slips inside and proceeded to take a nap.
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Riza frowns noticing that the newly initiated Brigadier General was NOT doing what he was supposed to and therefor NOT doing his work.
So what the hell was he doing?
He seemed to be writing, too long on one paper to be signing off paperwork.
Even Breada looks up to see his superior thoughtfully filling out a paper.
Black Hayate barks and shakes his tail,
Dinner.
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Lady Dante was a gracious old lady and complimented me on my feats at the battle front. She offered me a place to stay for the night but I refused, my excuse was that I had somewhere to be. She looked very disappointed and asked Izumi to walk me out.
Now Izumi... well what a woman. If it weren't for that temper of hers, I would have happily committed myself to her, maybe. She asked me what being a State Alchemist like and I couldn't help but notice an odd glint in her eyes. I warned her specifically not to join. She protested a little but understood what I had to say. We parted at the train station, I hope we meet again.
-Ryan
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He knew... knows? Teacher...
Book after book is tossed aside,
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Dante...
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Military records, officers, janitors, alchemists, experimenters, doctors...
The most recent alchemists,
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Thunderblade and Smoke 1914
River and Chrome, 1913
He could see how fierce the competition was fierce, just as it was when he was accepted in to the Amestris Military as the youngest alchemist of the century,
And there he was...
Fullmetal and Shockwave, 1911
Further on there were some alchemists he though he recognized,
Emerald in 1910, a nice woman, a girl really, assassinated by the Ishival legacy. She didn't even participate in the massacre,
Also Brightwing in 1910, possibly the only year the two picked were woman, she was currently stationed in North.
1909, Screamer Alchemist, around somewhere in Central,
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And... Flame?
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That couldn't be right... does the military give out two of the same names? There were only so many to go on before they used them all but... while original was alive?
Ed didn't give it much thought.
There was another Flame Alchemist in 1894 along side Sword,
Traveling further down the list Ed discovered the one he was looking for.
Razor Alchemist and Phoenix Alchemist of 1897.
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He searches the library and comes up with records showing the Phoenix Alchemist Ryan Mogust. What it doesn't show is what happened to him after the war. All it lists is that he was a legendary war hero in Ishival and had taken out a semi-permanent vacation out somewhere. From the talks of war veterans from Ishival, Edward learned that Ryan was presumed dead.
"Brother? Have you found anything?"
Martel seems to be elsewhere judging by the relatively hollow sound Al made when he softly bumped into a table.
"No," He throws the trusty records the last mournful look. "nothing"
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She looks fine, legs missing, a pinkie looking like a stump but alive. it's been a long time since I've seen her. She offers to fix my arm, I decline, she told me that she would be moving to Xing soon. She looked wistful, she looked lonely. I told her I would take care of the house, she told me to burn it when she was gone. She gave me a stone, no bigger than a blueberry, but it's the stone. She told me that it was mine, that I created it on the day I failed to create my father.
She was crying, the second time I've seen her cry.
She told me that my father is alive somewhere in Xing. (well no wonder my transmutation failed -.-;;)
She would go after him.
She told me that my father was alive.
-Ryan
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There's much missing in the middle, Edward's not sure if it is relevant or not but from what remains in the middle of ripped pages and ink stains is the fact that philosopher's stone are derived from human souls.
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He knows that
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That human transmutation will always end up unsuccessful because nothing equals another life, another soul.
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Not even the stone themselves...
Does that mean that the Phoenix Alchemist had tried a human transmutation once upon a time?
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Yes it does, he admits it there.
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That homunculi are real, results from failed human transmutations
That in another life time, some time ago, Phoenix had failed in the transmutation of his father. How his mother had torched the wretched mound of flesh before it was a mere pile of ashes in the fireplace.
The first time he had seen his mother cry.
His mother is retired now
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"Mom..."
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Roy rubs his eyes, he's tired.
Or perhaps it's just the light.
There's no one left but him, there's no reason for him to stay,
But he does, no particular reason.
He spins the pen slowly on the curve of his index finger and the thumb, mulling things over.
Kimbley's return,
Archer's promotion,
his promotion...
It should have been...
He shakes his head and rubs his eyes. He's been in office too long, the clock is pointing 11 o' clock.
The light reflects on the glass of the clock,
A flicker of fiery eyes,
Roy has a premonition.
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The last entry looked somewhat recent. The black ink looked fresh to him somehow. The rest of the small book was blank paper, riddled with dry water marks and smudges of rustic brown. Edward has a suspicious inkling that the stains are of blood, but he knows, circumstantial evidence is not enough to try a person.
A father...
The fruity scent pervades his mind and he shuts the book and welcomes the darkness.
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He wonders where Al is.