Mustang,
Are you actually trying to prevent me from succeeding? It seems that every time there's the slightest hint of a lead, you end up sending me somewhere else. What is the point of having this license if it's still doing nothing for me and Al?
Even with your interruptions, we've ruled some things out. From what we can gather—and it's not much, considering human transmutation is, ya know, taboo and all that—no one has succeeded. Duh, that's what everyone says, but to confirm it was another thing. No matter how logical and thought-out the approach, no matter how skilled the alchemist…it always goes wrong.
It's not an incorrect calculation; it's simple enough to find out what goes into a human body. So the problem must be in the power of alchemy itself. Maybe a soul is just so complicated, it needs more than what we were prepared for. How do you calculate equivalent exchange when part of what must be created is an abstract idea?
We think the answer is a supposed myth. But every myth has some truth. A Philosopher's Stone, if we could manage to create one or find one, should amplify mine and Al's alchemic abilities.
I haven't told Alphonse about the Gate I saw…I haven't told anyone. It's just so hard to explain. But I think reopening that Gate with a Philosopher's Stone would give us enough power to retrieve our bodies from the other side. The Stone would negate the necessity of equivalent exchange, so we wouldn't have to give anything else up.
It's a long shot, but it's better than nothing. Just stop getting in our way.
-Ed