Chapter 3
Edward was 7 years old when he discovered Human Transmutation.
That kind of alchemy was forbidden, the old books held within his fath- No - that man's study described vague consequences for those who pursued this form of alchemy.
Equivalent exchange, the very fundamentals of alchemy, yet this form of alchemy held dark secrets that changed everything.
He looked towards the empty hallway, memories of warm laughter and chocolate eyes filtered through his mind.
Human transmutation was the answer, Ed was certain of it.
All he had to do was study.
Sure others had failed.
But they weren't him.
He looked down towards the bundle of blankets laying upon the small couch, watching the small rise and fall of life as his brother slept with a wistful look on his face.
They weren't them.
They didn't know how to move the earth before they could walk. Or how to rip trees from the ground before they could run. They didn't understand modern science or how the gap in time progressed leading to the very study on human biology that these alchemists so dearly lacked.
They could do it.
They would do it.
Ed would make sure of it.
All they needed now was time to study, and a place to practice.
After all, Alchemy died out hundreds of years ago.
It's not like they could find a teacher… Right?
-x-
He was wrong.
They found a teacher, she came in the rain and washed a flood away with nothing but a clap of her hands to move the earth.
At first, they thought she was like everyone else, earth quirks weren't common but they did exist.
But then there was that faint flicker of light.
The light of alchemy, they'd spent years pulling that light apart within their minds, it was something they knew on sight, the smell of ozone in the air, the feel of electricity pulling under their skin.
Like a new instinct.
Ed found himself moving towards her without even thinking, Al sharp on his heels as always.
She turned her head to them, box braids parting the rain in harsh winds.
"An Alchemist…"
The whisper from his lips caught her off-guard and something seemed to change in her dementor.
"Wait. You remember too?" It was a quiet response, one only heard by Ed and Al, a spark of what looked like hope in her eyes.
It was Alphonse who killed that hope with one word.
"Remember?"
Or maybe it was the questioning lilt in his tone that killed the hope in her eyes, Ed thought the confusion shining through was a little more likely though.
-x-
Ed takes it back.
He doesn't want a teacher.
She could rot in hell for all he cared.
He was stuck on an uninhabited island with only his brother and a knife.
For a month.
A whole month!
Ed thought that islands like this didn't exist anymore, wouldn't someone have bought it by now. Wait… Did that dumb, no good, actually kinda good alchemist buy this island?
After all gold wasn't that hard to come by for an Alchemist.
… Did she?
Wait no. You're thinking crazy Ed, must be the hunger.
He's so hungry.
"All is One, One is All."
What could that mean?
The sky was just so blue, it almost hurt to look at.
All is One, One is All.
Ants crawled in a line at his side, every one of them moving together with the same goal in mind.
One is All, All is One.
Together, they moved together.
God, he was hungry.
His eyes were blinded by the light of the sun high in the sky.
They were going to die here, hungry and sunburnt just waiting for the ants around them to eat them bit by bit.
Till there was nothing left.
…All is One, One is All…
All Is One- No! They wouldn't die here! He reached out blindly with his hands, sitting up with the force and stuffing ants into his mouth with newfound vigour.
The world may keep going after he died, but he'd be dammed if they died before achieving their goal.
He looked back down toward the squished remains of the ants in his hand, then towards the ground where their small bodies and blood mixed with the soil and dust covering the ground.
Feeding the earth, after feeding hi- One Is All!
He shot to his feet, eyes wide in understanding.
Al stirred on the ground by his side.
"All Is One, One Is All."
He finally understood.
Al looked up to meet his eyes as a large gurgle erupted from his stomach.
Goddammit, he was hungry.
-x-
After they passed the test their Teacher sat them down in an effort to what he hopes is congratulate them.
It was wishful thinking he knew, but they were tired, mentally and physically drained. They wished for the warm days with their mother, Al still held out some immature hope for their father's return.
Ed's hopes were quashed long ago. Specifically, the day they buried their mother.
As soon as both himself and his brother made themselves comfortable Ed knew by the sharp look in their teacher's eyes that this wasn't a congratulation.
"As you both know, Alchemy died out years ago. More than a Centenary even. I already know that your father was the one who you learnt from…" She continued even under the hard glare the Ed knew he was sending her way,
"But I thought I should explain how I know."
Their teacher threaded her fingers together in front of her, it was such a fluid movement that Ed almost missed the way they were shaking.
"You see my quirk isn't minor matter manipulation like how it's listed. It's actually memory-related, simply put both my brother remember the lives we lived before this." She paused to gauge our expressions before she continues once again.
"And in those lives, we lived in Amestris. As Alchemists."
Ed's first thought was, "Well Shit."
-x-
The next few years were filled with questions, (his questions on Quirks and Alchemy still remain unanswered.) beat downs and the eternal fear of their master and her knives, through it all though they never left Germany, for their teacher's home country of Japan.
If anything their journey actually veered into the deadlands of what used to be Amestris.
Together they mapped the empty lands of Amestris, an infamous city that seemingly disappeared without a trace.
Not even the ruins of what once was the capital 'Central City' were found.
Empty land, lush and rolling hills preserved and unoccupied with only a memorial stone to remember the empire that once existed.
Through it all Ed watched the stony expression of their teacher wither away into something more sombre, memories passed through her eyes as she gazed into the distance and found it empty.
They toured the empty walking roads of the ruined land in silence, Al's eyes voicing his concern for their teacher in a way that Ed never could.
Days turned to weeks in of both charted and uncharted land, little details missed on the maps they held that were now filled in, and weeks turned to months as they made this way past Central and into the rolling dunes of what once was Ishval.
Unlike central, Ishval, held ruins that littered the once town in a withered and broken landscape. Broken houses and cracked roads painting a bleak picture.
Even worse was the stains that lay upon the ground beneath his feet, splatters of dried blood faded with time but still somehow surviving the passage of time.
Rows and rows of unmarked graves littered the horizon in a visual display of the actions taken by the Military that once ran the country in their final years.
Their training grew with each passing day as the visual evidence of Alchemy's history was made clear to them, State Alchemists, the Dogs of the Military they were called.
It was only on their way towards Zing, passing through the lost lands of Xerxes that they found something that threw their teacher for a loop.
A broken Alchemy circle.
One carven into stone with jewels, gold and blood. Outdated.
…Yet strangely familiar.
The large jewels of red surrounded by smaller blue, the painted colours faded with time and covered in sand, writing carved into stone littered the circle in long paragraphs of coded Latin.
The sun and the moon, in ancient Alchemy.
The bloodied jewels were the body. The sun was the soul. The moon as the mind.
Human transmutation.
Of that he was sure, it just felt… like he was missing something like there was something more.
The last part of the circle… I wonder what it says?
Although from the look on his teachers face, he wouldn't find out anytime soon. Because, with the conflicted expression that arose on her usually agitated face, he knew they were going back.
He'd felt it for a while already anyway, the way their teacher would shy away from teaching them anymore. Especially when she noticed the hunger in their eyes when she mentioned the taboo of human transmutation.
She was onto them, and if Ed was honest, unlikely to teach them more in anything that could be useful for their mother's revival.
Their training was coming to an end.
It still didn't make their parting of ways when they finally returned to Risembool any easier.
Al cried.
Ed got something caught in his eye that made them misty.
And teacher promised they'd always have somewhere to stay in Japan.
So with a final warning against human transmutation, they finally split ways as Ed and Al began they trick towards their empty home.
Returning stronger and more knowledgeable then when they left, another step closer to bringing their mother back.
Another step closer to seeing her warm smile once again.
-x-
Another chapter! So so sorry it took so long! But I'm back :)
Oh and I'm leaving Al's quirk till a later chapter, SORRY ;(