...shoot, sry guys...the first part was supposed ta be red and in chiller font...but stupid changed it...

It Brings Joy in Sorrow

Victory in Battle

Light to Darkness

Life to the Dead……

That is the power of the blood-red jewel which men honor the name

"The Philosopher's Stone."

"Maybe we would have been better off not knowing the truth at all." Bella said, breaking the silence that had overcome the room.

"If what these documents say is true," Rei spoke up, "The main ingredient of a Philosopher's Stone is a living human being. But not only that, it would take numerous human sacrifices to create one stone." All three state alchemists looked down at the ground, ashamed of what they had discovered.

"I've never imagined that something so inhuman was being conducted by the military!" Brosh said.

"We cannot let this go on unpunished!" Lt. Ross shouted. Ed looked down, his hand covering his face.

"Second Lieutenant Ross, Sergeant Brosh," he said quietly, not making eye-contact with them, "Could you please not tell anyone about this…."

"But-"

"Please, act as if you never heard about this."

Later On

Rei and Bella had been sitting in their room for a long time, neither of them speaking. Rei was sitting on the bed, staring blankly at the ground, while Bella was curled up in the chair.

"Angel?" Bella asked quietly, attempting at breaking the silence. She wasn't the type who liked everything quiet for so long. (No wonder whenever she's around, there's mayhem :Laughs:) Rei turned her head away from the blue-eyed girl.

"Angel, you can't stay quiet forever." Bella said, setting her head on the armrest so she was looking at Rei upside-down. "Hello? Angel? Look at me." She put her hand out and waved it. "Hello? Earth to Angel. You there or are you in some kind of other dimension?" As much as the alchemist tried, she couldn't get Rei to say anything.

"Fine," Bella said in defeat, "But I guess you won't be getting this back." She held up a silver pocket watch with the Kings Crest and a six-pointed star. She traced the star with her finger. Rei looked over at Bella, who was attempting at opening it and she went wide-eyed.
"When did you-"

"I have my ways, and like I said at Marcoh's, I was a thief." She tugged on the lid. "Damn, it won't open." Rei got up and snatched the pocket watch away angrily.

"Don't ever take this away again." She said, shooting Bella a death glare.

"And she speaks!" Bella said.

"Shut it"

"Make me" Bella stuck her tongue out at the troubled alchemist, which was not the smartest idea.

"Fine, but I've got your notes." Rei said holding up pieces of paper. "And they don't really look like notes, more like random stuff you wrote down and doodles."

"Oh shit." Bella said quietly to herself.

"Wait- You're handwriting isn't like normal. I think I've seen this somewhe-"

"No you haven't!" Bella had snatched away the pieces of papers. Shit, if she had those a second longer, she might have figured out that it was Ishbalan writing. Bella thought quickly. "Aw man, you crinkled up my drawing!" Looking at one of the papers with disgust.

"Whatever." Rei responded slightly annoyed. The two turned when they heard a knock on the door, but then jumped when they heard the booming voice of the last person they wanted to see right now.

"Bellator Wings and Reian!" shouted the voice of Armstrong "It is I!" Rei rolled her eyes then looked towards her partner who was now hiding behind the chair she was sitting in moments before.

"Let's just keep quiet. Maybe he'll go away." Bella whispered.

"We know you're in there." Said the voice of Edward. Bella glared at the door as she heard him.

"Damn Ed. That stupid little pipsquea-" she didn't get to finish because Armstrong had ripped the door off its' hinges. Rei and Bella both spotted the two Elrics brothers standing on either side of Armstrong in shock of what the Strong-Arm Alchemist had just done.

"You.are.so.dead.pipsqueak." Bella mouthed to Ed. Ed able to translate what the heck she said, shouted in protest.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MICROSCOPIC SPECK OF SAND THAT CAN'T BE SEEN EVEN UNDER A MICROSCOPE!" he shouted, enraged.

"I didn't call you anything, Ed" Bella smirked as he shot her a glare from hell.

Moments Later

"What a tragedy!" Armstrong said, tears rolling down his cheeks. (:cough: drama king :cough: ) "To think that the Philosopher's Stone would hide that horrible secret!" "It is a grave situation if this hell-like research was committed by an organization under the military! I cannot do nothing and allow this to pass!" he continued.

Rei and Bella looked over at Brosh and Ross.

"S-s-s-sorr-ry. When a guy that annoying got that close, we had to talk." They whispered to them, as though they were reading their minds. Brosh now noticed that Ed's right arm was automail, and Bella and Rei's automail hands hanging out of their sleeves.

"Oh, you arms are artificial?" Brosh asked them.

"Er… uh… Just a little incident in the Civil War back East" all three of them said at the same time.

"That's why we need the Philosopher's Stone to get their bodies back to normal." Al said. Brosh nodded, understandingly.

"Oh, I see. It's too bad it had to turn out this way. Sometimes the truth can be so cruel." Then, it suddenly hit the smartest of the three state alchemists.

"The truth…." Rei said quietly.

"Huh? What's wrong Angel?" Bella asked.

"Ed, Bella," Rei said looking towards them, "Do you two remember what Marcoh said?"

"Wha?" both Ed and Bella said, confused.

"Come on, what he said at the station." She paused, "The truth behind the truth….."

"I get it!" Bella said, with a light bulb above her head. "There's still something more!" she said cheerfully.

"Right," Rei nodded, "Something……."

Moments Later, again……

"There are currently four locations within Central that are alchemic research institutes that work for the military." Armstrong said, laying a map on Central on the table. "Among those four is the one that Dr. Marcoh worked for, the third research institute."

"I've passed through all of them after I got my national license." Ed said, studying the map. "This one didn't look like they were doing research that was all that important."

"Hey," Bella said, pointing to a building that didn't look familiar to the three alchemists. "What's this building?"

"Previously, that building used to be the fifth lab," Ross read from the booklet she held her hands, "It is currently only an unused deserted building however. Due to danger of collapsing, entrance is prohibited."

"That's our place" Rei said.

"Huh?" Bella asked confused. "What gives you that idea?"

"This" Rei pointed to the building right next to the fifth lab. "There's a prison next to it. To make a Philosopher's Stone, they need to use living humans as raw materials. Which means there's a place where they're supplied with raw materials."

"So, they used the death-row inmates as experiments, don't they?" Ed asked. Rei nodded.

"The inmates are the raw materials?" Bella asked, having a disgusted look on her face. Rei nodded again. "Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww"

"Considering this is a prison" Brosh pondered, "Then the military has something to do with this…."

"Somehow I think we poked our necks in too far into something too big." Ross said, her and Brosh having weird expressions on their faces.

"That's why we told you to act as if you never heard this" Al said.

"However," Armstrong started, "That is ultimately speculation at present. The nation may have no connection to this. This research organization may have acted independently."

"oh!" Bella said suddenly, "Isn't General Grand in charge of research department?" She smiled cheerfully, "We can ask him!" Armstrong looked down.

"That's not possible," he said, "Because he was killed by Scar not too long ago."

Bella's smile dropped.

"Damnit!" she said.

"Many national alchemists affiliated with the higher rankings of the military were killed by Scar." Armstrong said. "Among those who were killed, there may have been someone who knew about the truth" He picked up the map and rolled it up into a tube. "Should there actually be anyone of high rank in the military other than General Grand that is involved in this research, then it is inevitable that this will become complicated. I will probe into this matter and inform you four later."

"Until then," he continued, "The Second Lieutenant and the Sergeant are to keep quiet on this manner. And the Elric brothers, Miss Wings and Miss Angel will STAY PUT!"

"WHAT!" both Elrics shouted as Bella glared evilly at Armstrong for calling her Miss Wings. Armstrong looked at them for a second.

"HMPH! YOU THINKING OF SNEAKING INSIDE AND INVESTIGATING WERE YOU NOT!" Ed and Al were knocked back a little from his booming voice shouting. "YOU WILL NOT!" he continued, "EVEN THOUGH THERE MAY BE A WAY TO RESTORE BODIES AT PLACE, CHILDREN SHOULD NOT DO SUCH DANGEROUS THINGS!"

"We get it! We get it!" Ed shouted back. Finally when everyone was calmed down, Ed sighed. "We wouldn't do something that dangerous!"

"We'll just wait for what the Major has to report." Al said.

When the Major, 2nd Lt. and Sergeant had left, Ed grinned evilly.

"Hey Angel, Bella, get the bed sheets real quick." He said. Rei rolled her eyes and grabbed them off of her bed.

"What! We're actually going!" Bella said.

"Yes baka," Rei responded coldly. Bella smiled.

"Yay!" She said, "I LOVE disrespecting orders!"

like i promised, another wonderful chapter from our amazing authoress Ember! Kira should probably have the next soon...if she doesn't have other stuff...