"Fullmetal Alchemist: The Second World War"
By cdc100
Summary: Edward, Alphonse and their friends are transported to Earth and help the Allies defeat the Nazis and the Axis Powers.
Disclaimer: This is a work of pure non-profit fan fiction. I do not own any of the characters, their weapons, their abilities, or any of their universes, nor do I own any of the lyrics that will appear in later chapters, or any of the products mentioned in the story such as Coca-Cola, or Playstation.
Chapter Two
"Their Research Begins"
Before sundown, the Elrics managed to find a hotel. Ed led the way inside and rang the bell at the front counter.
"Yes? May I help you?" asked a voice.
"Me and my brother are looking for a place to stay."
Steps could be heard coming from the back room behind the counter.
"How long do you think you'll need to stay here?" asked the man.
Ed turned to look at the stranger.
"Oh, quite a-" Ed recoiled. "While?"
"What's the matter, kid? You look like you've just seen a ghost."
Ed looked at the concierge. He had spiky blond hair, sapphire eyes and was twice as tall as he was. For once, Ed wasn't preoccupied with the height of another person, but his face. It was the face of Lieutenant Jean Havoc.
"Hey…" said the Havoc lookalike. "I know you. You're that kid from Munich. You were working on rocketry with that kid, Alphonse Heidrich, right?"
"Yeah. That's right. I'm Edward Elric, and this is my brother, Alphonse."
Both brothers shook hands with the man.
"Mm. Good to meet you both. I'm Jean Wolfram."
"Anyway, back to business. Me and my brother need a room. We're going to be doing research, and odds are, it's going to take a while. And since renting a place is kind of out of the question…"
"I get the picture. How does… two hundred marks a night sound?"
"It seems kind of low," said Ed. "There some kind of catch?"
"No. You guys are sending Germany into a new age of engineering. You're practically a celebrity in this part of Berlin."
"Alright. Sounds like a fair deal."
"Good."
The Havoc lookalike extended his hand to Ed, who promptly shook it.
"Now, let me see…"
Jean began looking through the slots where he kept the keys to his rooms.
"Ah, here we are."
He took out a small, bronze-colored key and handed it to Ed.
"The number's engraved on the key. Let me know if you or your brother need anything else."
"Thank you very much for your accommodations, Mr. Wolfram," said Ed as he and his brother headed up the stairs.
The innkeeper chuckled.
"You can call me Jean. Hey, can I interest you guys in some dinner and a show tonight? We've got a famous opera singer coming in."
"No, that's fine, Jean. We'll most likely be too busy to really do anything other than research."
"Your loss…" said Jean, pulling out a cigarette and moving toward the door. He struck a match as he went outside.
When the two brothers got to the top of the stairs, they entered a long hallway. They proceeded slowly down the hall, scanning the numbers on the doors until they found the one that matched their key.
"Here it is, Ed. 225."
"Alright."
Ed took out the small key from his coat pocket, inserted it into the slot, and wasted no time in unlocking the door. When the door was open, he gestured for Al to go in first, and then followed him in.
Ed threw his suitcase and briefcase onto one of the beds, and took his jacket off. He then flexed his right arm and rolled up his right sleeve.
"How's the automail treating you, brother?"
"Just needs oiled," said Ed, pulling out a small flask. He applied oil to the joints of his wrist, elbow and shoulder. When he was done, he examined the flask, and was reminded of the person who gave it to him: Winry Rockbell, his childhood friend back in Resembool, where he and his brother lived.
"Something wrong, brother?"
"Just spacing off, Al. But we don't have time for anymore of that. Let's get to work."
He picked up his briefcase off the bed, and opened it on the desk in the corner. He flipped the clasps of the rim, and opened the case. He then pulled out what looked like a list.
"What is that, Ed?"
"It's a list of some works I'm thinking of checking out. I hear that the Berlin library has a lot of books to look at."
Al picked up the list and looked at it.
"Interesting selection. Want to see a book I picked out?"
"Sure."
Al handed the book to his brother.
"Let's see here… Who was Paracelsus? This is on alchemy?
"Yeah, I actually thought that you should have a look at this one.
"Why is that?"
"Trust me. You'll see. I found it on a park bench back in Munich. Apparently, somebody picked it up from the library here in Berlin, and forgot to check it back in.
He began rummaging through his briefcase and pulled out a small book.
"Here it is.
Al flipped through the pages, and suddenly stopped at the page he was looking for. On the upper right-hand corner of the page was an illustration of Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man drawing. Al pointed to the second paragraph of the page on the right.
"Take a look."
Ed took the book from Al and put his hand to his mouth. As he read, he absorbed the scraps of information that the book emitted. Apparently, Paracelsus was a very famous alchemist. He lived in the fifteenth century and had been credited with creating a homunculus. He stopped when he saw Paracelsus's real name.
"Phillip Von… Hohenheim?" he gasped. He re-read the entire passage, noticing that their father had done all of this.
"OUR DAD WAS PARACELSUS?!" asked Ed.
"Yeah. That was my reaction, too," said Al. "Apparently, he had quite the following before he came to Amestris. I figure, he must have found an easy way of getting back to Amestris."
"It's a good pick, Al, but before we work on getting back, we need to dispose of that uranium bomb."
"I know that. I just thought that if we could get some insight on getting back to Amestris, that would be good, too."
Ed shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
He let a sigh escape his lips.
"Man… there's so much to do, and I have no idea where to start."
"Why don't we just start from the beginning? The ABC's of alchemy, alchemy 101, whatever you want to call it."
Ed nodded.
"I don't suppose you brought a copy of that book we used, did you?"
Al smirked and pulled the book from his cloak pocket.
"I never leave home without it."
"Good. And I saved Dr. Marcoh's research, and I have a cram sheet with Flamel's notes on them. Let's get to work, Al."
"Right," replied the younger brother.
Al and Ed put the notes on the floor, and scattered them so that they didn't have to flip through them in order to find what they were looking for.
As they read, they found their alchemic teachings refreshing themselves in their minds; from equivalent exchange down to the simplest transmutation. Ed looked at some of the raw materials on the lists within the texts. He understood now why transmutation was so complicated in this world. All he needed to do now was find a way to make it simpler. He had his mind made up. He would find out what was needed to pull off a transmutation, and he would perfect it; master it. As every young man striving for something knows, "Practice makes perfect."
He read more of the texts that were in front of him. After finishing a paragraph, he looked at his watch.
12:00 midnight? Impossible.
But his doubt was quelled when a yawn came from his mouth.
"Brother?"
"What is it, Al?"
"I heard you yawn. If you're feeling tired, we can take a break, and we can get a jumpstart in the morning."
"If you're sure."
"Yeah. I'm feeling kind of tired, too."
Ed smiled.
"Okay."
He stacked the notes one on top of the other, and placed them on the workstation in the corner. He pulled off his vest and suspenders, and threw his unbuttoned shirt onto a chair by the window. He stretched before finally climbing under the covers of his bed. Al had gone into the bathroom, and had finally emerged when Ed's head fell to his pillow. Al, who, in the old days, usually fell asleep before Ed, nodded off moments after he pulled back the covers.
Ed, on the other hand, couldn't find it in him to let himself fall asleep. His head was spinning too much. Despite what he had learned from the notes, and the fact he new he was capable of the things mentioned in them, he felt utterly clueless. His thoughts were running through his head like rats in a maze. Without knowing it, he had slowly drifted out of consciousness.
The next morning, the boys got dressed, and started on their reading once again. They must have read and then re-read those notes dozens of times. Finally, Al let out an exasperated sigh.
"We need new reading material, Ed. It isn't helping us a whole lot just reading this."
Ed stood up.
"Let's go into town. We need to get something in our stomachs, anyway."
Al's stomach growled rather loudly, causing both brothers to laugh.
Without needing further persuasion, both boys put on their overcoats and went downstairs, where they were greeted by Jean.
"Where are you two off to?" he asked, pulling his cigarette out of his mouth.
"We're going to the public library to get some books. We're also getting breakfast. We'll probably be back before noon."
Jean took another drag from his cigarette.
"Hurry back. Lunch is at one o'clock."
"Okay. See you later."
The older Elric shut the door behind them. As they walked, Ed went through their plan with Al.
"Okay, once we get this figured out, we go after the bomb. While we're conducting our research, we'll need to get used to going to bed in the day, and waking up at night."
"Being nocturnal," said Al.
"Exactly."
"What are we going to do once we have the bomb?"
"For once in our lives, Al, we can figure that out once we have it."
They finally found their objective: The Berlin Library. Once inside, they spoke to the attendant at the front desk, A tall man with thinning hair and a bushy mustache.
"Excuse me, sir," said Ed, "where can I find books pertaining to science? I'm looking for materials on something in particular."
"If you tell me exactly what you're looking for, I could help you find it."
"No. I'd just like to take a look at the science section."
"Very well," said the attendant. He pointed his thumb behind him. "The entire back of the library pertains to science and sorcery. I hope you find what you're looking for."
"Thanks," said Ed.
Al followed him to the back, and they rummaged through the shelves looking for anything to do with alchemy. Ed pulled down dozens of books, and Al pulled out two or three. When he saw the ton that Ed had taken, his eyes widened.
"Do we really need that many?"
"Too much is never enough, Al," he said.
With his arms under great stress, he waddled to the counter where the librarian stood.
"I'll take all of these," said Ed.
"My word," said the librarian. "You need not take all of these at once, sir."
"Well, if I just take a few, then one might not be available when I need it."
The librarian snapped his fingers.
"Would you like to try the new checkout system, sir?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's something our sister library in Munich is currently trying. Instead of taking multitudes of books, we can place them in the back room, and put them on reserve. Then, when you turn your books in, you can get some more."
Ed thought this over, and then nodded.
"Yeah. Why don't we do that?"
The librarian smiled and nodded.
"Just take the books you'd like to use now, and I'll put the rest in the back room."
Ed took the books that he needed most from the top of the pile.
"Thanks. I'll be back later."
"Have a nice day, young sirs," said the librarian.
After they left the library, Alphonse's stomach growled again.
"You said we were going to get breakfast, right? Well, what are we going to do?"
Ed stopped dead.
"Oh, crap," he said.
"What is it?"
"Something I forgot to mention to you. This world… particularly in Germany… I guess it's in a state of what they call 'depression.'"
"Okay, I feel pretty stupid. I don't know what that means."
"Don't worry. I didn't either, when I first came here. It means that the value of money has gone down, and as a result, prices on goods skyrocket."
"Ouch."
"So, from now on, we're going to have to ration our food."
"I can manage that. I was used to eating small portions when I was on my search for you."
"Good."
As they walked down the street, they found a café. They went inside and took a seat.
"There's something here you've got to try, Al," said Ed.
"What is it?"
"I'll surprise you."
A lady came from the kitchen to take their orders.
"What can I do for you?" she asked.
"We'd like two apfelstrudels, and two cups of tea."
She bowed and walked back to the kitchen.
"What's an apfelstrudel?" asked Al.
"It's a layered pastry with a filling inside it. It's called an apfelstrudel because it has apple flavoring."
"Sounds really good," said Al.
They waited for about a half hour before their strudels and tea came.
"Thank you," said Ed.
"Enjoy," said the lady.
Al took a small bite off of his strudel, and was instantly astonished.
"Good, isn't it?" said Ed.
"Good? Wonderful? Otherworldly? I don't know."
Ed chuckled. He chowed down on his strudel while Al took small bites from his.
"Al, why are you taking such small bites? I didn't mean you had to ration the rations."
"But you said-"
"I bought us enough of a breakfast; Small enough that it wouldn't empty our pockets, but big enough that we would be satisfied. You see?"
With that, Al took even bigger bites off of his strudel.
As soon as they were done, Ed paid their bill, and they headed back to their hotel. Instead of staying cooped up in their rooms, the two of them decided to take their notes into the lobby and work there. They decided that, since they shut everything else around them out when they're reading, anyway, there would be little point in making themselves scarcely visible.
That night, Ed and Al were getting ready to retire, when Jean stopped them.
"Boys. You two have been working really hard lately."
"How would you know?" asked Ed, sleep weighing down his voice.
"Well, I haven't seen what you guys have been doing, but I can just tell by your body language how exhausted you two must be."
"You going somewhere with this?" asked Ed.
"Tonight, that opera singer that you guys missed out on is coming back for a matinee. It's sort of a dinner theater kind of deal. I want to invite you guys to join me in watching the performance. And I won't take 'no' for an answer."
Ed sighed, but then he smiled.
"Okay, we'll come along."
"Good."
"When does the performance start?" asked Al.
Jean looked at the grandfather clock next to the front desk.
"In about half an hour. Why don't we go in, and get something to eat while we wait for the singer?"
The three of them gathered in the restaurant section of the inn. The restaurant held a stage with a small runway that extended from it.
"So, what is this singer like?" asked Ed, as they were eating some sausage.
"Well, she's twenty years old, and she's from Hungary. I've only heard her once, on a radio, but she had an excellent singing voice. She's also Jewish, and she's regularly harassed by the National Socialist German Workers' Party."
Ed pounded the table lightly.
"Damn them."
"She doesn't let it get to her, though."
Just as Ed finished off another bite, a man came onstage and spoke to the audience.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you a musical prodigy. A soprano of high caliber at the age of a mere twenty years old. I give you… Gitta Alpár."
The audience applauded, and onto the stage stepped a young woman of about twenty years old. Indeed, Jean was right. She had a spectacular singing voice. That, however, was not what caught Ed's attention. She had long blonde hair, light blue eyes, and piercings on both ears. She looked almost exactly like…
"Winry…?"
To Be Continued…