Note

I have decided to continue this story.

This picks up from the alternate ending in the prologue.

I hope you enjoy!

D.G(-)man belongs to Katsura Hoshino, and Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa.

A Bookman exists to record.

That's all we do.

We see, we watch. We remember, we write. We move on.

There's no attachment involved. Intimacy. Parental. Friendship. They're forbidden.

You take one step out of that border...

It's game over.

But this is a secret.

It's a pretty, messed up world out there. It's harsh. I couldn't help but find myself eventually leaning on the people I was suppose to observe.

Without even noticing it, I became a spector of this brutal history. The era full of alchemy and exorcism... has some darkness. It's a miracle I'm even alive.

It's not all fun and games. There's suffering, too. There's unbearable pain and even hatred. Right and wrong. Bad and good.

Humans truly do contain complicated ambitions, goals, and feelings. The power of alchemy and exorcism does ruin us in the end.

Words can't describe anything. They're powerful, but it doesn't come near.

This is the First Record. The beginning of how it all started.

•••The First Record•••

Allen

Eight years later.

Amestris —En route to East City

Deciding to hide his deformity before anyone would see, he placed his favourite accessory back on. White leathered gloves slipped into a pocket and fetched a piece of paper. The springtime breeze that flew inside from the window of the compartment was very relaxing. The gentle roar of the train outside sounded as good as soft music.

Allen Walker yawned. The scar on his cursed eye appeared larger than ever, causing a stark contrast against his gentle silver eyes.

"The attendant sure is late," he mused softly, scratching his head and fancying a mango custard at the moment. He peeked up at the glass door, hoping to catch a glimpse of the woman who he was on cordial terms with. There was a small commotion earlier, if Allen recalled correctly. A boy and a tall suit of armour were causing a ruckus over authorization to use the First Division compartment, a special privilege available to only the highest ranked State Alchemists.

That was terribly unfair in Allen's opinion; he heard rumours that the large compartment contained luxurious seats which performed massages, and a whole five course meal was included at no additional cost. Be as that may, he was only still a seedling compared to the State Alchemists, and in any case, it was best not to cross ways with an alchemist at all, given his recent occupation as an official Exorcist.

The boy closed his eyes for a brief moment, as passengers walked by his door, sending scornful looks in his direction. This did not faze him in the slightest; he knew that, as the only Exorcist on the entire train, there were sure to be whispers and disapprovals. Had he not been granted special access from the Governor of Amestris himself, he would have no doubt been kicked out of the country in less than a second.

Allen Walker had his own reasons, his own drive, his own passion, for being an Exorcist. Of course, he was friendly and kind to the public, especially to the citizens of Amestris, but he wouldn't dare breathe an air of superiority towards them. It would simply be toxic. The Amestrians still viewed Europeans as inferior, despite the latter's tremendous advancement in technology and multiple attempts to reunite the two countries. The hatred against the Exorcists was to be expected.

Akumas had spawned unimaginable births in all of Europe over the last decade, and Amestris itself was now victim to these terrors. The Governor, whether out of spite or desperation, called for a temporary cease fire with the Black Order. Many were not pleased about this. Führer King Bradley is a fool, people uttered. How many times have we called for a truce with the exorcists, only for them to betray us and kill our people off?

Indeed, Allen thought to himself quietly, as he opened his eyes once more. We're all fools here. There was only one man who was the cause for this devastation, this chaos, this endless suffering. While we sit back and argue, he's only progressing farther toward his goal...

The gentleness in the silver eyes vanished and became replaced with a hard, bitter expression, just as it always did when Allen thought of the Millennium Earl.

Considered classified information and highly protected by the Black Order, the Millennium Earl was the breeder and mastermind behind the Akumas. European police officials claimed this thing was simply a legend, a myth, a tale of old to ward off children and the like, and never acknowledged such an existence. There was no record of a living being coming to contact with such a creature, and as such, this information was never revealed to the State Alchemists.

But... more importantly...The bloodlike scar was intense against his very pale skin. What the hell is this... Allen squinted an eye, trying to make use of the handwriting his assumed Supervisor had sprawled in a flourish before he had a postman deliver to him.

Allen, forgive me for sending you off before we even met, but please see to the East City, immediately. An Akuma attack has erupted just at the border, but the military has kept it secret. It seems that they can't take it down, so they will expect you to arrive within three days while they defend against it. Please hurry as soon as you can. I won't be able to guide you over the transmitter since our operations don't work in Amestris, but I trust you will be fine. The Governor has granted you special permission to enter the territory until you complete your task. If there's anything you need, the Colonel should assist you.

Don't forget what we spoke about.

Komui Lee

"How exactly did I get myself into this?" the Exorcist sighed, causing a strand of snowy hair to flop upwards.

He regained his serious composure however, as he reread his instructions once more. Allen had not personally meet Komui Lee, Chief Officer and Head of the European Branch of the Black Order, just yet. There were certainly arrangements, and Allen's previous guardian, Cross Marian, made sure the boy would be placed in this man's arms before his traitorous departure. To make it worse, the boy's only source of communication with Komui Lee was through a golden earring transmitter, in which Cross left for him.

It was difficult at first, for Allen to trust the new man, but as the year went by, he grew comfortable and was even relieved to hear the scientist's whimsical voice on the other line during his darkest times. Trust between the two was not the strongest, but he was happy he wasn't left stranded on his own anymore.

"Don't forget what we spoke about... I'm sure he's referring to the Innocence," Allen muttered lowly.

Innocence were the exorcists' true source of power. It was their everything. Those selected by God were the Chosen Ones, granted the immeasurable ability to exorcise with Innocence.

It was not at all like alchemy, a skill attained by perseverance, experience, patience, infinite effort and knowledge. It was due to this that conflict arose between the two groups; Alchemists could not understand the reasoning behind exorcism. To make matters worse, Innocence was also top secret, hidden from the sharp, calculating eyes of Amestris and other countries due to its illogical power that could change the vortex of space. Refusing to reveal their true origins and research, Exorcists were shunned from every country, and treated as bloodthirsty and inhumane for their greed.

Allen decided he shouldn't pry too deeply into conflict between the two groups. He respected State Alchemists just as much as his fellow Exorcists, yet it would be nice, pleasant even, if he didn't receive any of those harsh, disgusted looks everywhere he went...

BOOM!

He hit the floor with a bang. In utter confusion, the train bellowed with sudden screams from the passengers in the main section. Allen hastily pulled himself up, listening hard as scuffling of feet and thuds echoed loudly. Hearing familiar sounds of pistols and explosives, Allen hurried out of his compartment, and covered his nose with the collar of his coat.

"Good grief, there's at least a hundred people in here," he muttered in disapproval, as the gigantic fumes of smoke furled outside the nearest window. A scream erupted from the southern end of the train. "That's where the attendants and conductor are!" he took off, drawing his hood over his face.

Two men ahead dressed in black barricaded the entrance. Allen wasn't accustomed to assault missions, and decided to jump into a quick, tragic solo opening act. When the first bodyguard caught sight of him, the hooded Exorcist stopped short, gasped convincingly, and then, to their surprise, clutched his chest with his hands and toppled to the floor.

"Hey, what's wrong with him?" the other brown-haired man snarled. He was the weakest looking of the two, with dark sunglasses and a purple undershirt beneath the black blazer. "Damn, just shoot him quick, will you?" he commanded to his partner, who took action.

Inwardly cursing at his failure, Allen sprung up into a flip and kicked the incoming man right in the jaw. "Oh!" the man cried out in alarm, as a tooth flew onto the ground. It seemed to feel agonizing—Allen didn't kick hard at all; perhaps he had a gum disease. The Exorcist, feeling almost sorry, bowed his head before turning to the brown-haired guard.

The man made a disgruntled sound as his crybaby of a partner continued to wail. "Who the hell are you?! Don't interfere with our hijacking!"

Allen was genuinely surprised.

"Hijacking? Why would you do such a thing?" he argued. "There's innocent people on board!"

"Heh! Who cares? We, the Blue Squad, have more important matters to attend to!" A black pistol flaunted in his face. "Prepare to meet your end!"

The Exorcist threw a deck of playing cards, sidestepped and dodged the bullet, which successfully got trapped in a Joker card. The man screamed as the boy appeared out from the sandstorm of cards and pinched a nerve in his neck. In a blink of an eye, he slipped to the floor, unconscious.

"I better be careful with these." Allen stared at his fallen cards. It was a favourite add-on of his, created by the scientist. The cards had the ability to turn hard as steel when needed. "Komui doesn't have much left in stock, let alone create more for me." He stared at the two unconscious attackers and scratched his cheek, though a ghost of a sly smile peeked from under his hood. Thanks for being the closing act, he thought, as he ran off.

Edward

A bullet ripped through the hem of his red coat.

He was not happy at this.

"You got some nerve," Edward Elric hissed at the Blue Squad member, a muscular bald man hosting a giant rifle. They were battling on top of the train, and it was definitely not his cup of tea. His brother Alphonse was most likely ambushing another member down below in the main section while protecting the rest of the passengers.

It was a perfect, beautiful, damn day.

"What am I suppose to tell my Colonel? You'd think I want to wear those trashy blue uniforms?" Edward drawled to the man, as the wind blew in their faces amid the roaring of the moving train.

"Tell your Colonel this: release Bald, our leader." The man was smirking. It made him look hideous, which was fine with Edward, since he favoured some nice entertainment at the moment.

"Bald? Where's he hiding, then?" Edward glared. "He's just big talk if he's letting you low lives hold a finger against Major Hakuro."

Blood dripped as the man cursed. A spear had lodged in his right thigh from below.

"That's payback for waking me up in a disgusting fashion. And it seems like my brother stalled enough time for me." He smirked. "So there's 12 of you, huh? That's nothing." The Alchemist clapped his hands and the effect was immediate—

Edward went flying off the top into a coal car as a wave of bullets bombarded his way from behind his back; another Blue Squad member had joined the fight from the other side. Having transmuted his arm into a small shield in time, the Elric cursed as he snatched onto a ladder on the side of the train.

"Looks like you're having a little trouble!" the same muscular man roared with laughter as his partner reloaded.

A scream blared however, as the partner ducked his head from a small cannon ball that exploded from Edward's poor alchemistic gun. The muscular man stopped laughing, and hurried back into the train in fear.

Damn, that cannon wasn't a good idea. Edward gritted his teeth as the bullets that stuck into his arm fell out. This isn't looking good. I better act fast! He held onto the ladder and ascended until he heard a click. The train is spilting?! His foot lost grip on the step and he nearly fell when a whizzing card suddenly pierced through his hood like a dart, securing him in place. It caused a wonderful dent at that.

A hanging Edward gaped in shock as a voice called out.

"Are you okay?"

The Elric turned his head to see a hooded figure peering at him from the engine window.

"Hey!" he said. "Thanks. I was in a pitch there."

"You're welcome." The newcomer seemed to be busy turning a huge steering wheel. Edward briefly wondered who he was, because his voice sounded oddly familiar.

He had no time to dwell on this, however. The Elric screeched as the black train began to sway. "What do you think you're doing!" he yelled incredulously, as he swung back and forth like a doll.

"There's still some of them coming this way!" The stranger thrust the wheel to the left—and Edward could tell he regretted it, because the wheel broke off, leaving a hiss and trail of gas. "Oops."

"You broke the wheel?!" Edward hung onto the ladder for dear life as the now dysfunctional train picked up speed and started strutting. "You're practically useless!" he shouted at the stranger, who flinched, clearly embarrassed.

Transmuting his arm into a blade, the alchemist stuck it through the body of the train and climbed himself into the window where the newcomer was. He was surprised to see the male in a long black-white Organization coat.

"Hey!" Edward greeted him again. "I'll help you out there." He nodded at the disattached steering wheel in the boy's gloved hands. A flash of sapphire light blinded the room and both of them breathed a sigh of relief as the new steering wheel rotated normally once more.

"That's amazing," Edward heard the stranger mutter under his breath. "Wait, you're a Stat—?"

"Incoming!" The Elric slammed his head down and yanked the boy with him. He recognized Alphonse's drain pipe as an ocean flood swept through the compartment from above. "That Alphonse! What's he trying to do, wash us all away?!" he resurfaced, coughing and feeling as if he gained twenty pounds.

"Are you okay?" The stranger had grabbed him by the hood. "We should swim out of here," he coughed, and Edward caught sight of white hair before the hood was lowered again. "Who is this Alphonse? Could it be that armour that was with you?"

"Yeah," Edward confirmed, swimming to the door and grasping the handle. Within a second, the two males emerged onto dry land of the engine room. "I think he assumed the captain or other terrorists were steering the train. That probably means he's being outnumbered..." Ed ran off to the staircase that led downstairs to the main lobby of the train. "I gotta go!" He did not realize the stranger was following him.

"Halt!" They were met by an angry-looking man that Edward had no trouble recognizing as another member of the Blue Squad. "Surrender yourselves!"

A whizzing card pinned the astonished man into a wall from behind the Elric's ear, and he turned around to see a deck of playing cards in his companion's hands. "What in the...?" he blinked, as the newcomer shuffled the deck with pure ease.

"I'll help you out!" he exclaimed, seeing Edward's flabbergasted expression, which then turned into a small grin.

"Looks like it's not a bad day after all!" Ed jumped down a shattered hole in the ground and found himself face to face with his surprised brother and tied up members of the Blue Squad.

"Brother, you're late," Alphonse remarked. "Everything else is done. Their leader escaped from the train, though. But aside from that, the General is safe. Officer Hughes is on his way."

Edward scratched his glistened head and sighed. "You're kidding. Oh well. And this all started because they wanted a release for their stupid leader." He gave a scorching look at the terrorists, then turned around, expecting to see his companion. "Sorry, looks like—wait, where is he?"

His brother stared at the empty space beside him. "Who?"

"There was a guy in a long coat." Edward frowned. "He saved me out there. Where'd he go?"

Strange. The newcomer felt oddly familiar to him, as if they had met before. There was something about his voice too... it definitely struck some fuzzy memory that Ed could never recall. "Weird," he muttered. He glanced up to see Alphonse gazing at him with concerned red eyes, and he laughed it off as they made their way back to the main lobby, where all the worried passengers were seated.

"I guess it's a good thing we were on board this train today, don't you think, Brother?" Alphonse was speaking, but the older sibling was not paying attention. Again, he was in deep thought about the stranger from earlier. After telling Al he had to take a washroom break, the short boy strode all over the train, but to his frustration, the newcomer had disappeared. It was definitely odd; a car compartment was disconnected and must of have been destroyed during the Blue Squad battle. Edward grew slightly worried; he owed the boy gratitude, and he had done just that, but there was still something urging Ed on. As if their meeting had a special reason. He figured he'd tell the Colonel about this stranger. That coat was peculiar, and he had never seen it before.

"Hey, Al. You could never remember that day, right?"

The armour was taken aback.

"Yeah," he said, as they glanced out the window, where they could see Amestrian officers climbing aboard the train now that they had reached East City. The Blue Squad members were to be taken back to Central City on another train, and a search party for Bald the leader was underway.

"Every time I tried to remember... something's blocking it," Edward said slowly. The feel of his automail arm against his jacket felt more real than ever. "Why? Why can't we remember how Mom died? And... there was somebody else there with us, but..."

"We just don't remember who." Alphonse finished for him sadly. "Sometimes, I'd hear a voice, though," he added, hoping he was helpful. "A boy's voice. Maybe he was someone we met when we were young."

If that was true... then... "What happened to him?" Edward wanted to know. "No doubt about it. He's probably the one who has our answers. About Mom." The Elric turned to look at his younger brother. "Maybe he has answers about our bodies, too."

The expression Al gave him made Edward realize how ridiculous he sounded, but if there was an inch of hope left in this world for them, then Edward was ready to bet everything on it. "Come on, don't look at me like that. Everyone says Mom died because of an illness, but isn't it weird that we could never remember anything in her last moments?" he urged his brother. "Seeing Mom in that state when we performed the transmutation that day..." he said quietly, "doesn't that bother you, make you wonder how she was even like that?"

"I don't know, Brother." The melancholy in Alphonse's voice was vivid. "If we can't even remember this person who was with us that day... how will we..." he trailed off. Al fiddled with his fingers, refusing to meet his golden eyes.

"Then let's add it to the list of things we need to find." Edward's hands balled into fists. "Let's find the Philosopher's Stone, and let's find this person we're connected to. I won't give up," he declared, his eyes burning with its own kind of fire. "Once we're done reporting to the Colonel bastard, let's head back to Resembool."

"Resembool?" Al was surprised. "Why?"

"Because there's a bicycle there, still," Edward said softly, resting his chin on his hand as a cheery Hughes waved at him through the window from the platform. "Winry said it belonged to someone, but she doesn't remember either. So it's got to be his, the person we're looking for."

"I see..." Edward didn't hear the small smile in his brother's voice.

"Come on, let's go. Hughes is waiting for us."

Allen

"That was close."

"Yes," the Exorcist agreed quietly. The golden earring on his left ear buzzed as Komui spoke through the transmitter.

"If they found out you were an Exorcist... it would be bad. The hatred for us is rather unimaginable these days," the man laughed uneasily. "From what you told me, they seem to be official Alchemists."

Allen was quiet at this.

"How did you even get this communication line to work? You bypassed the frequencies in Amestris?" the scientist sounded impressed. "The satellites over there is quite different from ours, I would presume."

Allen laughed sheepishly as he unstuck several of his cards from the cylinder of the train. "Actually, I kind of cut through a bit of the circuits and valves which kind of made the transmitter work for some reason. I had to tell you something urgent, and so I was hoping by disconnecting some stuff."

"And you had to destroy a whole compartment of a train and separate it from the main body just to tell me?" he could hear Komui raise an eyebrow.

"Yes. Supervisor, you see..."

—static

"Allen?" the man asked as the exorcist yelped slightly in pain. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. It's the same thing I've told you about, before," Allen replied as he sat down on a rail and felt the sun shine on his face. "It happened a lot today."

"Has it? That's concerning. If that's the case, you better hurry with your mission at East City and then head to the Black Order." Komui seemed to smile over the line. "I think I should do the honour of officially welcoming you once and for all. Anyway, I have to go. Report to me if anything unusual happens. Don't forget to take a break."

"You mean, I have to walk all the way to East City now..." Allen groaned as the line cut off. He was famished, exhausted, and was not fancying a long journey by foot to his destination. He removed his hood and glanced up at the fluffy soft clouds that soared over him.

"So that guy was an Alchemist, huh..." he said softly. "What was his name? He had a brother named Alphonse... " the name lingered on his lips for a moment before he shook his head, not at all in the mood to dwell on anything else. "Amestris is interesting as you can get."

The Exorcist heaved himself up, dearly regretting to have left his briefcase aboard the train.

"Well. I better not cross ways with another Alchemist." The red scar enlarged as silver eyes watched the continuous long railroad ahead of him. "I need to protect my Innocence at all costs from people like them."

He strode off, the long coat glistening in the sun as the Black Order emblem radiated proudly on his chest.

Note

Hi everyone, I hoped this chapter was decent. It's short compared to the prologue but for starters, I didn't want to pack a lot of information at once, and I'm kind of lazy to write longer chapters too.

I wanted to know if this formatting style is all right? Putting 'Allen' or 'Edward'? I could remove it from it takes away the perspective.

Some plots in here are not 100% canon which is what I'm aiming for - Trisha's death, Ed/Al/Winry's memories. This makes it more fun to write about, since this is suppose to be two universes in one.

I think a lot of you are excited for other FMA/DGM interactions, especially Mustang/Hawkeye, Lavi, and the reason why Allen hasn't meet Komui in person yet.

I tried my best to describe Allen's backstory too, which isn't 100% canon either.

Anyway, please let me know what you think of the story so far!

I seem to be running out of ideas for other characters, such as Lenalee, Kanda, etc.

And if you are curious by now, Allen does speak in a fluent Amestrian dialect.