The laptop named in this chapter belongs to whoever invented it, and FMA belongs to Arakawa Hiromu. This chapter may contain references to certain video games, which I do not own.
"I'm telling you, this is a really bad idea." Edan waved a copy of Revival Theory at Alice in a reprimanding sort of way.
"Why?" Alice smiled innocently.
"We could get killed."
"You, dear brother, are overreacting."
"We would be breaking dozens upon dozens of rules."
"No one would ever know. All we would need to do is gather a few materials, and maybe use our powers for a bit."
"I know you're hungry, but cooking with author power is not a good idea."
"Fine, then lets get back to those papers I found. You know, about Mary-"
Edan clamped a hand over her mouth. "Stop saying that.
In the immortal words of John Cleese: "And now for something completely different."
Leroy Mustang was not the type of man to be startled or scared by, well, anything. Known as the Flame Author (for his fire based passages), the Lt. Colonel had not only mastered the art of being stoic and impassive, he had perfected it. Legend had it that Mustang once stared down half a tank squadron, and demolished it without turning a hair. Besides, pyromaniacs like him tended to inspire fear, and not the other way around.
Looking at Mustang at this very moment, you'd never know that any of the previous words were true.
The tall, black-haired man ran for his life through the grassy landscape of Resmbool. But what was chasing him? An army of demons? A 200 foot tall colossus?
The world's fastest moving glacier (clocked at 2 miles per hour)?
None of the above. Mustang ran from the one thing he feared the most: water. Specifically, falling from the skies in the form of rain. To Leroy, each darkened cloud was a B-1, and each drop a bomb. Most writers with an affinity for fire disliked rain. Leroy took it one step further.
He had to get out of this world of watery death. If he could just make it to shelter. Mustang could see someone's house a short distance away. The occupants would probably let him stay for a few hours. It was raining after all. Sure, he could conceivably be a murderer or vampire, or a guy with strange taste in socks, but it was raining, for Pete's sake! Raining! Water!
"Have to make it to that house," he panted. "Have to make it to that house." Then something caught his eye.
"Have to burn that bush…"
Scene change!
Edan did not trust his sister's idea. "There has to be another way. I don't think anything good will come of this theory."
"Why would you think that?"
"Be cause after saying Mar- that word a few times, you've become very ill."
"My health has never been very good. Remember when we were little? I got colds whenever I was wet, and I got fevers because I ha d a cold, and an upset stomach because I was too warm, and…"
"Yeah, but is it even possible for humans to get dog fleas?"
Alice scratched herself vigorously. "No." She took various medications to counteract the cold, fever, flu, charley horse, and bad hair day she had contracted in the last 15 minutes. The flea bath would have to wait.
"All I'm saying is, there are other, less hazardous ways of reviving someone."
"Fine, then let's try one."
Edan placed a list on the table. He motioned to the first method (designated Plan A).
"First, we start by collecting all of the 1/21 soldiers. Then, we obtain an underwater materia and we take these items back to the City of the Ancients where we…oh, wait, this is a list of Aeris resurrection rumors."
He placed another list on the table.
"First, we hunt monsters in the Veldt until we encounter a Brachiosaur. Upon defeating it, we should receive an item called Reviver. When we pour this liquid over General Leo's grave…"
Edan grinned wryly. "Nevermind."
He placed yet another list on the table.
"I have been researching an ancient art known as alchemy. Many books on this art speak of a "Philosopher's Stone", which could be used to revive people."
Some 2,000 miles away, a lawyer stirred from a sound sleep. He had the uncanny feeling that somewhere, he was needed.
Alice raised an eyebrow. "How do you perform alchemy?"
Her brother shrugged.
The lawyer turned over and went back to sleep. The feeling had passed.
Edan sighed. "I guess we'll have to stick with your plan." He said resignedly.
"I'd be happy that I was right, but I have the feeling that no good will come of it now."
Scene change!
Lieutenant Mustang knocked gently on the door of the Rockbell residence. The writer couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something strangely familiar about this place. When Linry opened the door, everything came together.
My God…This girl! Those doctors that I executed were carrying a picture of her and this house. She must be their daughter!
"Um, hello."
Leroy responded with a stream of barely coherent speech. "Hello, girl-whom-I-have-never-met-and-whose-parents-I-never-met-or-killed!"
"Of course couldn't have met them. They died in a freak gas pumping accident."
"Right, and not from a bullet to the brain."
"If you say so."
Both Linry and Leroy felt that something was amiss. With a quick glance at their scripts, everything became clear.
"You weren't supposed to arrive at my house until Alice and Edan did." Linry indicated a page of her script.
"So what do we do now?"
"Just…wait, I guess."
Meanwhile…
"Alright, we have all the ingredients necessary to make a human." Alice dusted her hands off.
Pure carbon, lime, phosphorous, water and other materials lay in a heap on top of the magic circle. The method for creating a Mary-Sue differed from normal characters. Because such characters were made by bringing a human back to life, one had to have a human body available, or as in this case, the ingredients for one. The character description for a Sue couldn't generate a body, after all. With normal characters, on the other hand, earth-based materials, such as soil and rock could be used to provide a body.
"Are we all set, big brother?"
"Nearly. We have one last thing to do." Producing a pocketknife, Edan cut his index finger open. He bade Alice to do the same. "We have to sign our passage in blood."
Alice gulped nervously when he mentioned the character description. She didn't want to tell him, but she had felt strange while they were writing the character description. Almost guilty, like she was committing some sort of crime.
Edan bandaged his finger. "You ready, sis?"
Alice grabbed her brother's hand and held it tightly. "Yeah. I'm ready."
They placed the scroll containing the character description on top of the heap. The siblings took a deep breath and focused their energies on the passage.
You guys know what happens next, right?