"Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be his world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow." ~Mary Shelly (Frankenstein)

Chapter Twelve:

Knowledge Leads to Depression

"A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body."

"Humankind cannot gain without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange."

The laughing sun was shining down upon Death City with it's bright, it's happy face filled with glee; everyone was happy... except one...

FullMetal was sitting on a stitched up couch across from Marie and Stein, who had told the Gold-Scythe something that shocked him and made him want to call them crazy.

He stared up at the two adults with his scared, golden orbs, "Wait...I-...I don't think I heard you right...C-could you repeat that?"

Stein frowned, "I said I want to hold you in your weapon form for a good minute or so..."

"That's what I thought you said... Why couldn't you have said something else?..." FullMetal thought.

"Tsubaki told me every detail of what happened in your Soul Realm, and I want see your madness for myself," Stein said, "it's the only way I can see just how strong it really is... The time you were possessed by it and the experience that Tsubaki and Maka had are possibly only just a small portion of what's going on with your soul... Do you understand where I'm getting at?"

FullMetal gulped, "Y-yes sir..."

He remembered what Tsubaki told him of what had happened in his soul... It terrified him. It was terrifying to know that his madness seemed to be in its purest form. He couldn't help but wonder if that was what he was like when he had his memories... He also wondered if he'll end up being like that when he gets his memories back... He hoped not. Stein told him to transform so that way they could resonate and meditate so he could go to the Soul Realm, and see what the Maddification was like there... FullMetal did what was told of him, and hoped that Stein will get out alright...

Right when Stein held the Gold-Scythe he felt the Maddification wavelength at full force. It was like if he was stuck in quicksand while cold water was being poured on his head. When he blacked out, he found himself in the Soul Realm that he was told about by both Maka and Tsubaki. It was just as they had told him. Two cities cut in half and merged into one. It was a very interesting place, and as much as he'd like to go and dissect every little bit of it, he needed to dissect something- or really- someONE else. He needed to find the part of FullMetal that represented his madness.

But then again, he could find out so much more if he just dissected FullMetal on the spot...

NO! He was here, there was no backing out now...

Well, maybe he could dissect him when he gets back-

But he's a student, not an-

Technically he is an experiment...so really what is the harm?

Getting on to the bad side of five witches is harm... not to mention Lord Death's bad side...

He sighed, now was not the time to get into an argument with his own madness, he need to focus on the task at hand. He began to look for the Weapon's madness. He saw how Maka and Tsubaki had both proclaimed that the madness looks for those who enter the Soul Realm, and how 'Nina' or Edward, which ever the innocence prefers to be called, always tries to 'save' those who enter the realm, not wanting them to get into contact with the madness. This means, if he finds Edward, he'll know he's close to coming in contact with the madness. But there's one place he wants to find first...

Central Headquarters.

What does a military have to do with FullMetal's past, and why would it be connected with him on such a deep level that the kid's soul even manifests it? Not to mention he has a military uniform, which has enough badges for the rank of a Major! Its such a high rank for a child... Stein would love to hear the explanation behind that! Oh, and just wait till Marie and Spirit hear it! They'd probably kill who ever let FullMetal join a military. That would be a sight to see.

Stein wished that he was able to comprehend emotions a little better. It would at least help his situation with Marie wanting to adopt Crona... Everyone is saying that he is good with kids... He just doesn't see how...

He soon made it to the center of the city, surprisingly without interruption... Maybe he was too close to the madness in FullMetal...

He looked at the building before him. It was very big, but didn't even rival the DWMA in the slightest. As he suspected, when he took one step towards the building, someone tried to shoot him, but missed in order to intimidate him. He then saw the woman who Tsubaki had told him about, FullMetal had also talked about her, but they didn't know who she was...

"No trespassing..." the woman growled.

What kind of human has the ears and tail of another animal? Maybe she is like Blair the Cat, the one that Maka talks about... This woman would be an interesting subject to dissect...

He shrugged the thought out of his mind and took a deep breath, "Ma'am, I'm simply here to learn more about my student, I'm merely here for information, nothing more..."

The woman didn't lower her gun, but raise it, making sure it was pointed at his head, "Whom ever this student you are talking about, you've came to the wrong place, this is a military, not a school."

"What about FullMetal Alchemist, he has several things from the military..."

The woman's eyes widened, checkmate, "You wouldn't happen to be talking about Major Edward Elric the FullMetal Alchemist?"

"That's interesting," Stein thought, "She said his name as if it was someone else's title... but he has amnesia... So of course there is the possibility that he would forget his name, he even told the Mizune's that he remembered being called FullMetal Alchemist, not it being his name. So it makes sense why his innocence would take the name while the madness took the title. The madness wanted to be intimidating, while the innocence wanted to be remembered as the person not the monster..." Stein gave a small smile, "Yes actually, that would be him."

The woman raised an eyebrow, "What is it that you want to know?"

Inwardly, Stein smiled, hook, line, and sinker, "Why is he in a military?"

"That's classified."

Figures...

"Where was he born?"

"Resembool, Amestris."

That's an interesting name for a town(city?)(village?) and a state(country?)...

"Does he have family?"

"Yes, a little brother named Alphonse."

What about his parents?

"Do they have parents?"

"They're deceased. Their closest parental figure is their teacher, Miss Izumi Curtis."

Another teacher? Stein made a mental note to find this woman.

"What's your name?"

The woman looked at him curiously, "You may call me the Hawk's Eye."

He had a feeling that it was a hint to what her real name is, but another feeling sank in... It was a give away to her profession, the gun... the title... she was a sniper...

"What relevance did you play in Edward's life?"

"That's classified. Now I have a question for you. Why are you asking me these questions?"

Stein grinned, "My main profession is experimentation and observation, which means that I am, in fact, a scientist. But observation is only getting me so far when it comes to learning so much about Edward, so I thought that asking you a few questions would help enlighten me about the boy's behavior. I think I'm done here."

He knew that Hawk's Eye was glaring at him as he walked away, but what could she do? Shoot him? She could shoot him all she liked, he wouldn't die just feel the pain, that is how the Soul Realm works. Now it was time to get what he had came for. As he walked about the realm, he couldn't help but let his mind run with information...

"Edward Elric. That name fits him. Yet he has the title of FullMetal Alchemist... 'Alchemist'... Alchemists are people whom study and perform the art that is Alchemy, an art that was said to create a mystical stone called the Philosopher's Stone which was able to turn anything into pure gold and also create an elixir that would give anyone eternal life... But it was also the basis of all science. It had both experimentation and observation at its core, which its what caused its creation in the first place... Maybe this is why FullMetal- or Edward, excels in class so easily... Math and science seems to be his specialty. But what about the title of FullMetal? What does that tie into?... Maybe Alchemy is more than what it is really known for?... Maybe he had more of an interest in metals and what he could do with them using Alchemy... Seems likely... Not to mention that metal prosthetic he has... I wonder who his brother is. Is this 'Alphonse Elric' an Alchemist too? Was their teacher an Alchemist? It would only be reasonable..."

Suddenly snapping out of his thoughts, he saw all too familiar triple blades coming right for him with a chain to back them up. He swiftly moved away and grabbed what little staff was by the blades, stopping them from trying to hit him, the chains moved passed him a few feet before stopping.

Stein's eyes fallowed the chain, only to find the manifestation of FullMetal's madness, hanging upside down on a lap-post.

The madness chuckled, "I know its not right to hit a guy with glasses, but can you really blame me for making an acceptation?"

"So you're the one I've heard so much about," Stein said with a light glare.

"Aww~, they talked about me? How cute." the madness cooed sarcastically.

Stein glasses reflected the light from both of the moons in the realm, making the lenses seemingly glow. "They didn't say good things about you. If you don't mind me asking, what is your purpose here?"

The manifestation smirked, "My purpose?" it slowly began to chuckle before going into a full mad guffaw, "MY PURPOSE?! This is MY soul! I'M THE ORIGINAL!" it's laughter soon seized and calmed, "This is my soul. I'm the real FullMetal, not that rodent that you care so dearly about!"

"I highly doubt that." Stein glared.

Maka and her friends were walking to Doctor Stein's lab. She knew that FullMetal was there for his third check up this week. She was still a little shocked about how the Professor wanted to explore FullMetal's Soul Realm. It was reasonable though, he was a scientist and a doctor, he needed data and wished to get it no matter the challenge that awaited him. They all soon arrived at the laboratory. Maka knocked on the door, which was soon opened by Marie who smiled at them.

"Hi Miss Marie!" Maka smiled, "I hope we're not interrupting anything."

"Oh no," Marie said, "actually they just finished the experiment."

The sentence that the woman spoke stunned the students.

Kidd looked up at Marie and asked, "How did it go?"

"Hard to say." Marie frowned, "Stein was exhausted and all he said was that he had collected enough data to get a small idea of what FullMetal's past was like, but he said that he didn't get enough information to see why he had became a Keishin Egg in the first place..."

"Did he say what the data was?" Tsubaki asked.

Marie nodded, "Yeah, but I think its best that you heard it from FullMetal."

Marie let the students in, who then asked the exhausted Professor Stein if they could take FullMetal, which he allowed. They then left the laboratory and began walking to Maka and Soul's dorm. FullMetal was quiet and didn't say much until Black Star brought up the experiment.

"So, what did Stein say he find out about that little past of yours?" Black Star asked.

FullMetal sighed and said, "I don't want to talk about it..."

"Why not?" Black Star pressed.

"I JUST DON'T!" FullMetal shot, glaring daggers at the blue haired assassin, shocking everyone. He calmed himself before continuing, "I-...I'm still mulling it over, okay."

"Yeeesh, you don't have to be-" before Black star could finish his sentence Maka hit him with a hard-covered book.

"Telling by that, it wasn't all that good..." Liz said, "Was there any good new at all...?"

FullMetal sighed and gave a small smile, "Yeah... I have a little brother..."

Kidd raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Do you happen to know his name?"

FullMetal nodded, "His name is Alphonse..."

"I bet he's looking all over the place for you." Tsubaki smiled.

"I guess," FullMetal shrugged.

"I don't know..." said Soul, "What if this Alphonse guy knows about how FullMetal was a keishin egg? He might be terrified of him..."

"That's what I'm worried about..." FullMetal muttered. Soul just had to voice the Alchemist's worries didn't he? He should just slice open that lame excuse for a scythe! He could make a clean job of it. He didn't deserve that beautiful scarlet liquid in his body! He need to drain out of him! Yesss that would be good - then he wouldn't be able to do anything like that ever again!

FullMetal bit his tongue. He shouldn't be thinking such thoughts about his friends! No matter how annoying they are. He'd rather beg Lord Death to kill him than think such thoughts!

"Well, on a different subject..." Kidd said acknowledging the madness that was radiating from the Mizune, "The DWMA's anniversary will be coming next month, which is only a few weeks from now. You have heard of the anniversary, haven't you FullMetal?"

"Yeah, wasn't the founding of the DWMA on April second but is celebrated on the first because of the fact its April Fool's day, therefore a joke?" FullMetal replied.

"Wow, you really did your research!" Liz said.

"Wow, Mizzy you're so smart!" Patty exclaimed.

"I still don't get why she calls me that..." FullMetal thought.

They soon arrived at Maka and Soul's dorm. FullMetal was surprised at how simple it was. It had a purple tile floor, there was a green carpet on the far side of the room which had red couches and a glass coffee-table. There were a few posters and paintings hung, one of which was of Death City. Everyone took a seat and began conversing about the usual: upcoming tests, hunting Keishin Eggs, the up coming anniversary, Black Star's idiotic fights, Soul's habit of cheating on tests, and Ragnarok, were some of the main subjects.

"- I swear Maka," Death the Kidd said, "You should let me remodel this apartment of your's!"

"No thanks Kidd," Maka smiled, "I'm okay with it not being symmetrical."

"Why do you like symmetry so much?" FullMetal asked curiously.

"I'm surprised," Kidd said, "You and your entire outfit is completely symmetrical! Symmetry is beautiful! Its balanced! And balance is key!"

FullMetal shrugged, "I don't know about that... Personally I see that symmetry is to be one sided, one minded and easily processed, but every flaw sparks an unseen beauty that is greater than its would be judgment..." he said so wisely that everyone looked at him surprised, "But that's just my opinion..."

"Hm... never thought of it that way..." Kidd said, "but I still think that symmetry is better..."

FullMetal simply shrugged. Suddenly a purple cat with a log curled tail came out of nowhere and hopped onto the coffee-table, the Mizune swiftly hid behind Maka, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. Right when the cat 'meowed', FullMetal gripped Maka's arm tightly.

"FullMetal, what's wrong?" Maka asked.

"C-c-...c-cats..." FullMetal said shakily. "I...h-hate...c-c-cats..."

"Hm?" Kidd looked at FullMetal, surprised, "You have Ailurophobia? I didn't expect that..."

"Whats that?" Soul asked.

"Ailurophobia is another word for saying that he has a fear of cats..." Tsubaki said.

"Wow, how lame." Black Star muttered.

The cat smiled and went wide-eyed when she looked over to FullMetal.

The cat then said "Wait, ...those stripes... You're a Mizune, aren't you?!"

FullMetal was startled by the fact that the cat could speak, but he was in for a far bigger surprise. With a loud 'poof' the cat turned into a woman with long purple hair, some of it stuck up on the sides of her head and curled like the tail of the cat. She wore a witch-like outfit: a black dress that revealed her shoulders and wraps around her neck whilst at the bottom it had a short skirt with white frill; long black separate sleeves, long high-heeled boots that curled upwards at the toes, and a black witch's hat that with a long brim with a grey strap with a buckle around it and the tip of the hat curled up with sharp right edges.

Before anyone could say anything at all, the cat- or witch- grabbed FullMetal and hugged him. (Mostly because of his height) his face was buried in her chest.

"OH, YOU'RE JUST SO CUTE!" the cat (or witch) exclaimed, "Hey, why don't you take a bath with me?"

"BLAIR, LET HIM GO!" Maka growled.

"Oh, alright..." the woman said as she did what Maka asked, and released FullMetal who swiftly hid behind Soul. The Mizune's face was a red as a cherry. "But, still, Soul how about you and all your friends take a bath with me?" she smiled as she said that. The only response was all the boys in the room blushing a bright red.

Maka simply sighed at the display before her. Blair was now chasing FullMetal around the room. Black Star and Soul practically fainted from their nose-bleed that they had gotten from the request that Blair had made. Kidd was still a deep shade of red. Patty was laughing at the display. And Liz was doing the same as Maka.

When he got home, FullMetal slammed his apartment door shut then locked it. He sighed and went to his bedroom and fell into his bed. He had had a long day. Rain patted down on the roof of the building... he could hear it clearly as if he himself was outside... His thoughts drifted.

"Alphonse..."

Ever since he heard that name he had been getting a deep saddening feeling like if he had to find Alphonse. He felt as though he just had to find him and that he needed him. He just felt that this feeling was important. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts get deeper and deeper and deeper...

"Al..." he muttered under his breath.

Suddenly he mentally saw a flash of light.

"AL! ALPHONSE!"

"BROTHER!"

FullMetal saw a purple light take a boy that looked a lot like himself; the boy was very young and had short gold hair and bright golden eyes. The purple light was turning the little boy into ribbons as if he was keishin that had been defeated - but he wasn't.

FullMetal found himself in a desert with a suit of armor; the exact one from his dream. The suit of armor crawled out from under the sand and it said - in the same voice as the boy in the other memory, "Sorry brother, I sunk into the sand again!"

"Don't scare me like that, Al!"

"B-Brother, why? Why would you agree to-"

"Don't worry Al, I know what I'm doing... just...trust me, okay?"

Fullmetal laid there, confused and wondering what he had agreed too... Did he agree to become a keishin? He began mulling it over... listening to the rain. It sounded like people running in a silent cave or building...