Ed lifted up a book that had been scorched black with flames, only to have it crumble to ashes as Ed stared dejectedly at the remains of the library.

"Our only solid lead on the stone, Doctor Marco's research notes..." He moaned in despair, sinking to his knees. "Up in smoke!"

While Alphonse comforted his obviously distraught brother, Second lieutenant Maria Ross, in an attempt to get Ed off the floor, helpfully supplied with a, "Well, all hope isn't lost. There was a woman working here who was quite well acquainted with the materials here."

"Really?!" Ed perked up again at this new piece of information.

"But unfortunately, she's not working here anymore." Maria finished, Ed sighing in frustration at how difficult his life was. Whoever the bright idiot was who decided to burn down the library was no doubt going to get punched in the face by him personally. Somewhere in the generally more shady part of Central, older Ed -who was busy patching up his wound- sneezed.

"That sounds incredibly helpful." Ed mumbled sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest.

Nonetheless of what Ed had said, fifteen minutes later, they stood in front of an apartment door.

"Is anyone even home?" Ed mumbled, seeing the lack of response from his knocks. "Ms Sheska?" Maria Ross called as Ed found the door to be unlocked, before he pushed it open, only for the group to gape at the sight, because holy-!

Mountains of books that filled almost every inch of the apartment were piled up precariously in semi neat stacks, leaving everyone present speechless.

"Someone actually lives here?!" Maria, who still hadn't recovered enough to find her voice, nodded her head dumbly as response to Ed's bewildered exclamation. "T-that's what the records say..." Sergeant Denny Brosh supplied, trailing off, his eyes still bugging out at the sheer amount of books that was actually possible for someone to read.

Then again, if Ed actually bothered to buy books, and keep them, he and Al would probably have accumalated the same amount of books, maybe even more, if one was to take into account how many books Ed had read during the past three years of being in the military.

"Hello? Anybody home? We're coming in!" Ed called out as he stepped over a small pile of books. "Brother! You can't just enter someone's house uninvited!" Alphonse scolded, as Maria and Denny followed Ed. Al sighed, before making his way in. His brother really was going to get in trouble one day- wait, never mind. Ed already had gotten into trouble more than Al could count on his fingers.

"Ms Sheska?" Maria called as she slowly made her way past the stacks of books, so as to not topple them because it looked really painful to have them fall on your head.

"Hello?" Ed made his way through the mess of books, walking as per normal. At times like this, his sma- uh, comfortable sized body really came in handy. Wait, no! That's not good!

Just as Al inched past a pile of books that swayed dangerously, threatening to collapse on Al -For once, he was really grateful he couldn't feel anything in the armour, since all he could think about was how painful hard cover books could be. He would know, since he had first hand experience six years ago-, a muffled cry brought his attention before he backed up to locate the source, only to freeze in his tracks.

"Uh, brother...?" Al began slowly, pointing at something his older brother couldn't see as he looked back, hearing Al talk.

Squeezing past the Sergeant and the lieutenant -Quite easily, since he was so sma- NO!-, Ed nearly tripped over a couple of books, before he caught himself and steadied himself on Al, pretending he never tripped since he did have his pride to keep.

"Is that...?" Hearing Al speak, noting the worridness in his tone, Ed followed the imaginary line Al's finger drew before his eyes landed on a collapsed stack of books that had a hand holding a pair if glasses, which had seemingly buried a table-

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Back up.

A hand holding a pair of glasses?!

"WAAAH! THERE'S SOMEONE BURIED DOWN THERE! DIG! DIG!" Ed shrieked, frantically pulling the books from the pile and throwing them mindlessly behind him, before Al and Denny followed suit, while Maria moved the books with slightly more care.

Eventually, sometime during that mad throwing of books, one hit another stack and- well, the outcome should have been pretty obvious, and so, as the trio yelped as soon as they felt a foreign weight land on them, Maria could only bring her hand up to her mouth to cover up a cross between a giggle and an exasperated sigh.

"I'm so sorry! I accidentally knocked over a stack of books and I really thought was going to die!" A girl with mousy brown hair that had been cropped short apologized profusely as soon as all the books had been cleared, bowing in embarrassment, before she replaced her large glasses.

"Uh..." Ed raised his hand to get her attention in an effort to stop the girl's continuous apologies that streamed from her mouth. "Are you Sheska?'

"Oh, yes, I am." Sheska paused mid apology to give an affirmative nod.

"So... You worked at the library?" Ed asked. The moment the word 'library' escaped from Ed's mouth, the newly named Sheska gasped.

"Oh, the library!" She gushed, her eyes sparkling brightly. Ed vaguely wondered why everyone seemed to sparkle at some point in their lives. But more importantly, those sparkles had better not be contagious since one Armstrong was bad enough. Imagine if everyone had sparkles! Oh... That was a really horrible thought for Ed.

"Ever since I was a little girl, I had always loved reading, so when I got that job, it was almost like I had been sent to heaven! But..." Suddnely, she seemingly wilted before their very eyes, a gloomly cloud hanging over her head. "I forgot I was supposed to be working, and so they fired me! Now I can't get the money to transfer my dear sick mother to a better hospital! I'm a failure! A good-for-nothing!" Sheska wailed, bursting into a ocean of tears.

"Um..." Ed wondered why she was busy wailing. If she got fired, shouldn't she just get another job? But, Ed really just needed to know something.

"Yes?" Sheska paused in her mindless wailing about how she was worthless and a failure. Talk about self degrading.

"In the first branch, did you see any books written by Tim Marco?"

"Hmm... Let's see... Tim Marco... Tim Marco..." Sheska clapped her hands together, beaming. "Oh yes! I remember them quite distinctly! They were some hand written notes shoved in an incorrect shelf."

"So they were there! But that means..." Ed grinned, just as reality set in. "...they burnt up, along with the library..." Ed and Al moaned, crying internally over their bad fortune. Oh, they were definately going to have a fit when they find out that the notes were in fact, not destroyed. Rather, Ed's older self was currently in possession of the notes. Well, they would, but not before they get over the shock.

"Oh... So you wanted to read them?" Sheska asked, staring at the two who were curled up in the corner, sighing.

"Yeah, but it's no use now..." Ed murmured dejectedly, making to exit the room, before making a beeline to the military hotel to just curl up in his bed and sulk.

"Sorry for bothering you." Al followed after his brother.

"Well, I do remember everything in it, so does that help?"

A pause, before the new piece of information Sheska gave finally sunk in, leaving the brothers' jaws to fall open in a silent exclamation.

"WHAT?!" Ok, maybe not so silent anymore, as Ed and Al yelled out exactly what they thought in unison.

Sheska took a step back, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her temple. "T-that's the way I am! I am able to remember the contents of ever single book I ever read. If you'd like, I could copy them out for you."

"Thank you, book worm!" Ed thanked her, overjoyed at the fact that he still had a lead on the Philosopher's stone, and that he wouldn't be dying a sad man.

"Book... Worm?" Sheska repeated the endearing nickname Ed had given her, unsure of whether or not it was meant to be a compliment.

LINE BREAK

"Yow!" Older Ed hissed in pain as he pulled on the bandage -which he transmuted from random pieces of stray cloth- with slightly too much force. He had transmuted the tissue back over the wound to stop the bleeding, but that didn't mean he was completely healed. The torn flesh beneath the skin needed time to heal, and the skin itself was still thin enough to tear at any given moment. And quite frankly, Ed really didn't want to have to clean up anymore evidence then he had to.

"Alright... Now what should I do now?" Ed reached into his coat and drew out Doctor Marco's research notes. "What the hell should I do with this? Man, I should thought this out better!" Ed moaned as his mind started thinking up of things he should do with the book, most of his ideas involving a chainsaw, a blender, and more commonly, a flame thrower.

Flipping over the book again, he paused, seeing the title.

"I could just use it as a regular cookbook, but I don't cook."

Fifteen more minutes of debating with himself slipped by, before he finally just went, screw this, I'll just carry it for a while until I decide whether or not to just toss it in a river.

But, it was probably going to end up as the latter.

Which eventually led to him walking down a particular street, with no actual destination in mind. He wouldn't really need to do anything for the next twenty or so days. For the first five days, Ed recalled, it was just waiting around for Sheska to copy out Doctor Marco's notes. The next ten days was cracking Doctor Marco's ridiculously coded cookbook. And finally, the last five were dedicated to the fifth laboratory, and that oh-so wonderful trip to the hospital. Actually, if Ed had any choice, he would definately have chosen the fifth laboratory over the hospital in a heart beat. The sad thing was that most of that five days was spent in the hospital, while Ed barely spent three hours at the lab. Going back on point, Ed really didn't know why he chose this particular street. Was it for nostalgia? Or-

"Hey!"

Yeah, it was probably for some excitement.

Ed turned his head behind to see his younger self with his brother without the lieutenant or the sergeant for that matter, since they had pretty much ditched them somewhere along the line. He had his hood up, so his younger self still wouldn't be able to put two and two together.

"Oh, it's you again." Ed really was having more fun than he should be on tormenting his younger self. Damn it, Mustang rubbed off on him. "How's life? It's a pity that the library burnt down, isn't it?"

"That was you?!"

"I didn't actually say that, but you're pretty much spot on." Ed side stepped to avoid the red blur the launched himself at him.

"You ****! I'm going to kick your ass!" Oh, if younger could actually see who he was insulting... Now that was a funny thought.

"And they say I pick fights... Yeah, they're probably right." Ed deadpanned quietly to himself. It really was an eye opener to see his younger self since he could now see for himself his own flaws people complained about.

Louder, Ed simply said, "Please don't severly maim yourself." Funny how words could have double meanings. To his younger self, it would seem as if he was warning younger Ed not to fight him, or he'll get severely injured. But to older Ed, it meant exactly how it sounded. Meaning, don't injure your future self please, I've got things to do.

But then again, Ed was fighting his younger self, so they should have the same skills, except for the fact Ed had more experiance, and no automail arm.

... Yeah, younger Ed was going down.

Blocking his younger self's punch, he dropped down and kicked at his younger self's legs, only for him to draw back, before leaping at him with a round house kick aimed for his head, which older Ed ducked under but not before he grabbed his younger self's leg threw him, landing in the dirt with a solid thump. Older Ed groaned as pain shot up his back. Apparently, any injury that he had never sustained in his own timeline, but occurred here, he'd feel it. Not. Good.

"Brother, he has the same moves you do!" Al gasped -not noticing the pain older Ed was in-, obviously stunned at the newest revelation. They had truly thought that no one else knew the same style that their teacher had taught them.

"What?!" Younger Ed yelled from his place on the ground. Older Ed dragged is palm down his face in an exasperated facepalm, sighing deeply. "Look," He began, his eye twitching. He had to end this soon, or it wouldn't turn out pretty for either of them, which wasn't a good thing for obvious reasons. "I can't tell you anything until I've finished my work. It's not safe.

"What does that mean?!"

"Like I said," Edward interrupted, throughly annoying his younger self. "I'll explain once I can, but not now."

He turned to leave, not knowing what his younger self would do, but that was pretty stupid considering they were the same person.

A vein bulged in younger Ed's temple. "Who the hell are you then?! You can tell us that much, right?!"

"Nope!" Ed chipperly announced, a complete contrast to his previous serious demeanor, which left the younger set wondering if Ed was bipolar or something.

But of course, Ed really should have known his younger self wouldn't take that for an answer, since he was like that too.

Clapping his hands together, Ed dashed forward, much to Al' exasperation, catching other Ed off guard. "Who the hell do you think you are?! Hiding your face under a hood?! Show us who you really are!"

The minute Ed's hands touched the hood of the other's coat, it immediately began to deconstruct, showing a flash of gold hair.

Gold? Ed frowned but before he could see anymore, the other halted the deconstruction with just a clap of his hands. However, the damage was already done, and a flash of gold hair was easily visible from the side which Ed had deconstructed. But, shadows still obscured his face. He cursed, making to take another step.

"Please. Not now. I have to save somebody, and if they find out about me now, I'll have failed to save someone else." The pleading tone in the other's voice made Ed stop short -Not short. NOT SHORT!-. This guy, who could have easily taken him down, was pleading?!

"You hate being left in the dark, I can see that much. I was like that too, until a friend of mine died because I dug too deep." Ed's eyes widened, taking in this new information.

"If you really want to know something that badly, let's just say I'm doing a job for Truth." If Ed had been drinking at the time, he would have no doubt done a spit take. The TRUTH?! Alright then, how was that guy still here?

"I'll tell you everything the next you see me, but only if our next meeting is more than twenty days from now." But even more quietly, Ed whispered. "But then again, you meet me everyday when you look into a mirror."

With those words lingering in the air, older Ed ran off in the opposite direction, leaving wide, staring eyes in his wake.

[A/N Alright, you guys can just reach through the screen and slap me, hard, for this shitty excuse of a chapter. I SCREWED UP ED'S CHARACTER! BOTH OF THEM! NOOOOOOO! AND THERE'S SO MANY PLOTHOLES! I'm so dissatisfied with how this chapter turned out. I ruined the scenes! Just lemme go sulk in a corner now...

*Three hours later*

Ok, I'm back. I'm willing to bet someone is going to unfollow the story thanks to this piece of *Censored* called a chapter. If anyone posted this kind of chapter, I'd be really disappointed, so I apologize, but I really didn't know how to write this, hence the delay.

And that ending, that was horrible. Gah, I'll probably rewrite this chapter in the future, don't know when but I probably will.

And thanks to the people who reviewed. I'm honored that you guys liked my story, and so therefore, I feel like such a horrible person to give you this sorry excuse of a chapter.

But I promise you the next will be better! I promise it with same power as Naruto's promises!

~ Gwntan12]