People cannot gain anything without sacrificing something. You must present something of equal value to gain something. That is the principle of equivalent trade in alchemy. We believed that was the truth of the world when we were young." -Alphonse Elric

Alchemy: the science of transmuting matter from one form to another. Edward and Alphonse Elric thought they'd learned enough to bring their mother back from death, but the laws of nature demand a heavy price. Edward, with an arm and a leg of metal, and his little brother Alphonse, whose soul is now encased in a living suit of armor, begin a journey to restore their bodies by finding the legendary Philosopher's Stone, which holds unlimited power. But they're not alone.

Intro: That was more than six years ago that one night when Ed and Al tried to bring back their mother. Now in search of the coveted Philosopher's Stone, Ed(15) and Al(14) have to pass many problems that stand in the way of them finding the stone. Along their journey, the two young brothers come across Serena, an injured girl that they help. Now traveling along with them, the three uncover secrets that may have been best left unknown, and Ed and Serena develop a relationship that may tests Ed's ability to love, forgive and forget, and come to cope with the un-fairity of this world.

This chapter's summary: The secrets are coming out! Ed goes to visit John Kagin, and after sitting for a spot of tea, all the secrets are revealed! And I know you all are gonna hate me for leaving hte ending of this chapter the way i do. hehe

A Hidden Secret No More

Serena sat very daringly on the ledge again, looking over what once was her home. She'd been there all day, occasionally popping down to the nearest store to get more milk for the puppy and herself. She knew that she was risking a lot being in Central. Surely if anyone was watching the skies they'd spot her. She'd taken to walking around now, and her feet ached. Watching from above gave her more comfort.

Serena heard voices from below and turned her gaze back to the house. She sat staring in shock at the boy that being taking her stoop steps two at a time.

She sighed. Edward Elric what have you gotten yourself into?

Ed rang the bell once. A older man came to the door.

"Mr. Kagin sir? I'm Edward Elric…I'm a…"

"oh I know who you are son. Come on in." John Kagin let in the young Elric. "Go sit in the den. I'll go tell my wife to put on some tea."

Ed walked into the den, smiling gently at it's homey furnishings. He walked over to the fireplace's mantle, looking over all the pictures. He saw an old white and black one with a woman in a wedding dress and a man in the suit. He figured that was Martha and John Kagin. On the other side was another picture of a newlywed couple, and immediately he could tell they were Serena's parents. She had many of their features. Her father's smile, her mother's hair. Scattered amongst the other framed photos was one with John Jr. holding up a little baby girl next to Sarah, both smiling, both seemed so happy. Ed reached out and took the frame in his hands. He stared at the photo, suddenly missing his parents.

Something fell from behind the frame. Ed looked around and reached down to grab it. It was yet another photo, only this one was not in a frame and seemed to have purposely been kept hidden. Ed stared at the picture of a little girl in a white dress the dragged on the ground. She stood there, her side to the photographer. She was holding a small doll in one hand, and flowers in another, and had no smile on her face. Ed's energy seemed to drain when he noticed that in front of the little girl was two gravestones.

Serena… Ed's heart filled with a sad emotion. He and Serena had a little too much in common than he'd wish on anyone.

Ed heard rustling from the hall and rushed to put back the photos. He turned around just as John Kagin entered the room.

"Martha made us some tea and cookies. Come, sit down son." John smiled at Ed.

Ed sat on the sofa, opposite of Mr. Kagin in his arm chair. He sipped the tea, savoring it's taste and the warm feeling the liquid had rushing down his throat. He suddenly was hit with a wave of tiredness. He hadn't had a good night's rest in days. And after looming over legal military papers the whole afternoon and walking around Central, he had every right to be tired.

"I think I have an idea as to why you are here." John looked up at the boy. "My, you really do resemble your father incredibly."

Ed's heart sped up. He hadn't seen his father in years. Even the mention of his name brought back the wave of memories, and the anger he felt for his father leaving his family. "You knew my father?"

"Ah yes. Actually he sat in the exact space you are. And came for the exact same reason too. I assume you are here about my granddaughter."

"Ah…y-yes actually." Ed looked up into the man's eyes, noting the hidden pain that lied behind them.

"When my son and his wife died, my wife and I took care of her. Your father came around when she was six on military business. Soon after the many raids, Serena left. She was only about 8 years old. All alone on the streets. I went out searching for her for days, but since the military wanted her, we couldn't but up flyers or tell anyone she was missing." John sighed deeply, sipping his tea.

"Sir…why did the military have such interest in your granddaughter?"

"Hm…I would have thought you'd figured that out by now." John placed his tea down. "Edward, the reason your father came here was to find out more about Serena…but more so, if she was alive."

Ed stared at the man. "I read in the archives that Serena had died, but that can't be possible…I mean…She's still…"

"As a state alchemist yourself you must know that it is quite possible that she is still alive." John nodded his head to Ed's automail. "Maybe you more so than anyone else."

Ed's eyes widened. "Human transmutation…" He whispered.

John leaned in. "Exactly." He lowered his voice. "My son and his wife were working on secret projects in Centrals labs. And those projects…were…

"You mean to be telling me that the military was experimenting with human transmutation?"

"More than that Ed. They were using humans, animals, vegetation. They'd seal souls to objects, create animals…"

"Chimeras!"

"Yes. So you are familiar with them?"

Ed blushed. "I'm battled a few."

"Well, then I'm sure you know how all of this is forbidden…even mentioning it…" He raised his eyebrows.

Ed grabbed the hint. Keep your mouth shut about what I'm about to say next kid. "Uh-huh." Ed nods his head.

"The military had been unsuccessful in trying to create a proper human transmutation. They were growing quite weary of the scientists who were working on the project. So my son and his wife decided to work on their own home projects. I helped him build a hidden lab and Sarah would sneak supplies home. Here, they worked on arranges of projects, adding to the research back that the labs.

"Soon though, both my son and daughter-in-law grew tired of their jobs. They wanted to settle down, have a family." John smiled sadly. "I remember how happy they were when they found out Sarah was pregnant with Selena."

Ed popped up. 'Wait…Selena?"

"Yes. Their first child. Let me explain." He eased up and walked over to the mantle where he extracted the photo of John Jr. holding his baby, from the frame, and the picture of a little girl at her parents grave. He sat back down. "This, " he gave Ed the photo, and pointed to the baby. "This is little Selena, a couple of hours before she passed on. This…" He pressed the photo of the sad girl into Ed's hands. "This is Serena at her parents grave, just before she ran away."

John leaned back into his chair, and rubbed the space where his glasses rested on his nose. "Selena was born on December 5th. 9 hours after birth, she passed on, placing my John and Sarah both into terrible depressions. John spent hours after that in the lab, reading over every book he could, every note, everything he's researched.

"One night, my wife and I went out after John and Sarah insisted that we go see a play that the Central Theater. John and Sarah then locked themselves in the lab. For hours they must have pondered and probed over every solution, every decision. But both were so unhappy and depressed. That night, on December 10th, they attempted a transmutation. They used Selena's lock of hair, along with the rest of the ingredients that make up a body."

Those exact necessary ingredients ran through Ed's head like a grocery list.

John reached for one of the chocolate dipped cookies. Tasting it, he smiled sadly. They were John Jr.'s favorite. "From their research, they'd learn what would happen with the attempted human transmutation. And they both believed that would be the only way for it to be successful. From a letter John's wrote me, he said that they'd both come to terms with the decision, and believed it best. They wanted their daughter to have a life of her own. So, they sacrificed their own lives, for her."

Ed jumped at this. "But that doesn't seem right! I mean, two lives for the price of one? How did that work?"

"Well Ed, it did work, entirely." He folded his hands in his lap. "When my wife and I had gotten home, we heard a baby's cries, and immediately rushed to the lab. In a transmutation circle lied a baby, surrounded in puddles of blood." John shuttered at the memory. "The baby was no ordinary baby. She had wings sprouted from her back." John sighed heavily again. "Later on, we learned that that wasn't all that was wrong with her. My wife and I didn't believe it right to name her Elena. This baby was a different child. My wife believing in God, did not see how she could be the same baby, and also, never accepted Serena. To her, God was the only one who created life. He gave us the power to in reproduction, not through alchemy. Cleary, this was not the case. But my wife…she treated Serena as though she was the Devil's offspring.

"Serena's guilt for her parents' death grew, along with the guilt of the military always barging in for house searches. They'd grown suspicious of their scientists disappearance. So they'd raided the house one night and discovered us with baby Serena. Since I too had been apart of the military, I'd asked my friend to keep her a secret. After that, I resigned from my position, and stayed home. Many years later, someone had found out about Serena. So raids began coming. Only then we'd gotten smarter and hid her in the secret room.

Ed tried to take this all in. "So the military believed that she was their property because she was the project of the research they'd funded?"

"Quite right my boy, quite right. They searched for her and their lab. They wanted to take her in for testing. And they knew of her special abilities. We denied her existence. Serena grew incredibly lonely for friends, to be able to go outside the house. But she just couldn't. It wasn't right. No child should live like that." John shook his head. "Serena figured that the raids were her fault and thought it better if she just disappeared too. After that, the raids stopped. And we have not heard from Serena since."

Ed stared down at the pictures in his hand. Serena looked so sad. She still has that same look in her eyes. Ed put the pictures down, and took one last sip of tea before getting up. "it's getting late. I should leave you to rest."

John smiled and walked Ed to the door. "Thank you for coming by. Please, don't hesitate to come over. I haven't talked about alchemy in a long time. it feels nice to finally with someone who's educated in the field."

Ed smiled, and nodded. Half-way through the door, John stopped him.

"Tell her…tell her that we love her very much, and miss her terribly." John's smile didn't hide the tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

"I will." Ed said, not even giving time to figure out how this man knows that he's met Serena at all.

Before Ed stepped outside, he glanced at the wall by the door. In a frame was a certificate, made out to John Kagin, The Windrider Alchemist.

Serena watched in the comforting shadows of the alleyway between the building across the street from her old home. She'd been waiting for Edward to come out. he almost had swooped down on him and stop him form going inside. She knew as soon as he did that he'd know everything. Every little secret. Everything that she tried so hard to hide from others, but mostly from herself. She hasn't been back to Central is such a long time. She gave up watching from afar her grandparents' lives going on.

No. She figured out from all of her parents research in their lab that she could change herself right. She could make herself as normal as any other human. She'd only have to find it…

Oh! Ed's coming out! O.K. Now…

"So, did you have fun, Edward Elric? Sneaking around, bothering a poor old man and poking your nose into things that aren't your business?" A voice came from the shadows.

Ed jumped. "Serena."

She stepped out of the alleyway, looked at him, and in a swoosh of her cape, took off into the shadows.

"No! Serena!" Ed ran after her. "You have to stop this! You can't keep running forever!"

In the middle of the alleyway Serena stopped. She reached up to the metal painted chopstick that holds her hair up. Her hair cascaded down. Even in complete darkness, Ed should still see it shimmer. Suddenly he heard a crack in the air, the same sound an alchemic reaction makes. A light pooped out of nowhere. It came off a long staff. On the top was a crescent moon shape, where dangling in the middle was the alchemist symbol, which was where the glow was coming out from.

Ed now could tell…she was crying.

"Why Ed? Why did you need to go and find out everything?"

"Serena…I didn't mean to prey…" Ed reached out to touch her arm.

"No!" She ran back down the alley, into the street, stopped and standing there panting.

Ed followed her. "You ran away. They loved you. They miss you. They were your only family. Why would you leave that?"

"My grandfather was the only one who ever loved me!" She spun around, not caring that her face was wet and hot from tears. "I never mattered to my grandmother. She saw me as the reason her son died. I'm not their granddaughter at all! I'm not John and Sarah's daughter! I'm not Selena! I'm not even human for Christ's sakes! So you tell me Ed. Why did I run away?"

Ed looked down at the ground.

"Because I don't belong with them! I don't belong with anyone! The only people in this world that want me is the damn military because they think that they own me. I don't even have property over myself! Jesus!"

"That's not true! Your grandfather wants you back home!"

"He wants me back because I'm the only thing he has left to hold onto of his son! And that place is not my home."

"Well then maybe I want to be around you!" The words filtered out of Ed's mouth before he could stop them.

Serena stood there, staring at him. She walked closer to him, the staff's glow illuminated his face. "Don't Ed. Don't go there. You don't know what you want." She shook her head and sighed. "It's my fault John and Sarah are dead. They died trying to bring back their daughter. But you can't play God. I was never supposed to be on this earth, and no good has come out of that. Look at what I am. A freak."

Ed reached up and placed his hand on her face. She flinched, but then eased. He wiped away her tears. "You are no freak. If that was the case, then Al and I would be to."

She laughed, then smiled at him and looked down. "I just…I just feel like there is no place for me." She looked back up at Ed.

"Then you and I are both in the same boat." He chuckled. "We both have no parents, no home, no place to go. We both practice alchemy. And…" He smiled and took his white glove off, showing her his hand. "…I guess we are both freaks."

She chucked again. "Thank you, Ed."

They both smiled. A awkward silence passed through between them. Looking into Serena's eyes, all these emotions just started flooding Ed's head, and before he knew it, he was leaning in close to her. Serena's eyes closed partly, and she too leaned in close.

A light of red and yellow flashed. "Hold it right there!"

(A/N: So, you hate me right? Ah, he stuff you deal with as a writer. Lol. Anyway, I hope you like the new profile. Do you all wanna see what Serena and Serenity look like? Well I drew what they in my head look like, so soon I'm gonna have my ex-boyfriend help me put them on his website, so I'll have the link up soon. Tata for now!

Next Chapter: Central's Most Wanted