Metallic Hearts FullMetal Alchemist Part Eight: The Philosopher's Stone

Ed just stood there with you still on his shoulder as the State Military appeared.

Riza: "If there was an act of the Devil, this case would be it."

Roy: "Devil, huh? We State Alchemists are the militaries weapons. If there is a need, we are called into duty, and if there is an order, we must soil our hands. The things Tucker did and this case are very similair if we look at how they effect human life.

Riza: "This is an adult reasoning. Bu they are still..."

Al: "Brother, the Lieutenant Colonel..." Ed looked up to see Roy standing at the entyrance.

Roy: "It's a useless effort. It is impossible to reform a life that has already been passed on, no matter how good of an Alchemist you are. Who will become happy after reviving a defective Chimera. There will be much harder things down the path you three chose. You must except this, even if you must force yourself to, and move on."

You: "Accept this!" Roy walked up to you and grabbed your hand roughly, pulling you towards his face.

Roy: "You have some goals you wish to accomplish, correct? Do you have time to stand around idle?"

Hughes: "I can't even bathe with my daughter in peace with these things... Is this the place?"

Soldier: "Sir!"

Roy: "The rest is to the Investigations Department's job. Get out of the way." You ripped your hand from his grasp and glared at him. You pushed him out of the way and ran out of the alley.

Hughes: "This is gruesome. Was it killed by that serial killer? He only goes after young woman. And this one isn't sliced to death."

Hughes: "This looks as if... it exploded from the inside." A tear ran down Ed's cheek at these words.

The Philosopher's Stone

You all sat on a pair stone steps, Ed was opening and closing his official state watch. Havoc came along and told you about a special assignment.

Havoc: "Look at your faces."

Ed: "We've just been through a lot... I've decided not to hesitate, but... So, what are our orders?" Havoc opened a pair of huge bronze doors. It was Tuckers work space. "Organize the data in order to gain an understanding of Tucker's research."

You: "Are you asking us to take over Tucker's research?"

Havoc: "Although he went about it the wrong way, Tucker's research had some benefit's to the military."

You: "Then let Tucker do it!"

Havoc: "He died. His crime was apparent, so the upper classes decided to execute him."

You: "They consealed the case? Is that possible?"

Havoc: "Show loyalty to the military. That is one of the State Alchemists rules." He handed you a black book and walked out.

Al: "Hey, it looks like Tucker was doing some research on the Philosopher's Stone as well."

Ed: "Yeah, so?"

You: "That's nice."

Al: "How long are you going to sulk like this? The Philosopher's Stone is the ultimate secret of Alchemy. It amplifies Alchemists power by infinity and allows Transmutation that don;t abide to our Principle. In other words we can do things that we couldn't..." You threw your bag of pet feed at Al.

Ed: "That things just a legend! It's only a fairytale!"

Al: "But Tucker a State Alchemist, was researching it, which means..."

Ed: "I don't care about his research. Al, did you forget about Nina!" Ed pulled the doors open and ran out.

With Roy Mustang

Roy: "I cannot permit that."

Ed: "Why? The seriel murderer could have done that to a Nina. I'll help find him."

Roy: "What is the job I ordered you to do? What happened to the analysis of Tucker's research?"

Ed: "I don't want to do that... I'll investigate the matter on my own."

Roy: "Then leave that here." Roy lifted his hand up and pointed to Ed's pocket.

Ed: "I was planning to." He took it out of his pocket and slammed it down on the desk. You were standing outside of the building, waiting for Edward to come out. He looked royally pissed off and passed you.

You: "Wait! You're aren't the only one that is mad because we couldn't do anything for Nina. We're Alchemists, our job isn't to catch the culprit. It's to continue our research so we can save children like Nina..." Ed ran ahead of you and you sighed. "Why the hell does it always have to be this way?" You turned around and bumped your arm with someone. You looked up to see the man you had seen at the Library.

Man: "You're..."

You: "You're the guy form the library."

Man: "Since you were able to get into the first sector of the library, are you a State Alchemist." You didn't like the way he had asked you that question.

You: "My boyfriend, was a State Alchemist before he quit. He was able to get me in." Luckily for you, you were good lier to stangers.

Man: "Is that so? It's better for your sake." That sent shivers down your spine. He turned around and walked away.

Man: 'That's better for your sake... if you don't want to be destroyed by this arm.'

At the train station

A young blonde girl walked off a train and looked around.

Winry: "Ed, Al and Lita are going to be so suprised. Since I, Winry, have come here to congratulate them personally.

With Al

Al: "Thank you, Lieutenant Hawkeye."

Riza: "That's okay. But I barely know anything about the Philosopher's Stone. At least, I have not heard anything about it acually existing in reality. I thought it was just a legend."

Al: "Really..." She stepped closer to him and whispered lowley.

Riza: "I believe you should not interest yourslef in such a thing."

Al: "What?"

Riza: "It is said that bad things happen to people who get to close to the Philosopher's Stone." The Furhrer was standing behind Al listening to this convorsation.

Furhrer: "Oh, you're interested in the Philosopher's Stone, eh?" Riza immediatly saluted.

Al: "Who is this?"

Riza: "He is..."

Furhrer: "You wish to obtain a Philosopher's Stone?"

Al: "Yes."

Furhrer: "For what purpose?"

Al: "For human... I mean I want to get something back my brother lost."

Furhrer: "You are a caring little brother. I don't know about it in detail either, but there are many that believe in the Philosopher's Stone. Also, I sometimes hear that someone has created a Philosopher's Stone. Rumors like that appear in the military. The Central Library's first sector should have records of it."

Al: "Really?"

Furhrer: "But only State Alchemists can use that place."

Al: "So a State Alchemist could confirm if the rumeors are true or not?" Al excused himself and bowed, and ran to find one of you.

Riza: "Fuhrer, why did you tell him such a thing."

Furhrer: "It is a good thing for a young man like him to chase a dream. Do you think not, Lieutenant?"

Riza: "Oh..." Ed had caught up with you, apologized and bought you lunch in the mess hall.

Hughes: "You think she is just cute too, right?"

Alchemist: "Yeah, right." Ed took the research book out of his coat and placed it in fornt of him. You and Ed were skimming through the page when a picture was stuck infront of your face.

Hughes: "How is she?" It was a picture of him, his wife and his young daughter. "You think she looks like me? Oh man, everyone says that." Ed pushed his hand away.

Ed: "Please don't bother me, old man."

Hughes: "That's not very nice. I'm showing you two the profiles of serial murderers that I'm prohibitated to show anyone else."

You: "Yeah, and you owe us two favors from the train incident and your wife."

Hughes: "Really? Anyway, we're really stuck here. There are no suspects even though the crime took place in the city. The bodies have been sliced to death, and it's hard to believe he did it in such a short amount of time.

You: "Maybe he killed the victims then dumped their body after words. How much time elapsed after each murder."

Hughes: "The autopsy didn't tell us the exact time. But the military and police are searching every car that enters and exits the city by opening and looking in their trunks.

You: "There must be something you're missing. Like a car that can hide a corpse."

Hughes: "Or it's the work of an Alchemist."

Ed: "Alchemists aren't murderers."

Soldier: "Are you Edward Elric?"

Ed: "Yes."

Soldier: "You have a visitor at the Command Center's reception desk."

Ed: "Guest?"

In the kitchen

A girl with long brown hair and blue eyes walked into the kitchen with a heavy looking bag.

Girl: "How are you?"

Cook: "Thanks for doing this all the time."

Girl: "Don't mention it. There was another Alchemy Exam, right?"

Cook: "Right. Did you know that two twelve year olds made the cut? I heard he did this with his hands." He made a clapping motion. "And he Transmuted something."

Girl: "Is that true?"

Cook: "Look, it's the red head and the blonde. There still a couple of children. By the way, be careful with that killer. I hear that beautiful ladies get killed." The woman was still staring at you.

Girl: "You're worried about me?"

Cook: "Yes."

Girl: "I hope he gets caught soon."

Cook: "Yeah."

Girl: "So did you hear anyhting else about that case?"

Outside

Winry sat outside Central's base.

Winry: "How long id Ed going to make me wait?" She looked over and gasped. "This is a refridgeration machine. Central City does have the latest cars. How cool. I want to take it apart."

Girl: "Taking it apart would cause some problems."

Winry: "I'm sorry. Is this your car?"

Girl: "Yes. It's our food shop's carrier car."

Winry: "Is something the matter?"

Girl: "Would you like to see the inside?"

Winry: "What? I can? Thank you!"

With Ed

Soldiers: "Hmmm? I told her to wait here. That's weird. Mr. Elric." Ed had walked down the stairs and stopped. There were steps leading to an oil leak. Ed picked up a screw.

Ed: "This is..." Ed lifted up his sleeve and put the screw next to his auto-mail. "Winry?"

Soldier: "Yes?"

Ed: "Was there a car here?"

Soldier: "Yes there was a refridgeration truck parked her from the food company for the Mess Hall." You looked up.

You: "Refridgeration truck? It can hide bodies... Could it be?" Edward looked up and you both ran in the direction of the scid marks. You found the car parked in an alley. You stepped in the cold environment with many pigs hung form the ceiling. You groaned, you were a vegetarian and this sickened you. The cat eyes you had obtained from the Human Transmutation helped you cut through the darkness. You saw a woman in the corner, shivering.

You: "Hey, are you okay?" You ran over to you. "Were you kidnapped too?"

Girl: "There is one ore, over there..."

You: "Okay let's get them and get outta here. We'll accompany you, so rest assured..." You were cut off by getting hit in the back of the head with a huge wooden bat. You both fell to the ground unconsious. Ed woke up to the sound of a blade being sharpened.

Girl: "Hello, little boy."

Ed: "You..." He couldn't move since he was tied to a chair. The girls voice change to that of a mans.

Girl: "I heard that you can transmute objects without a Transmutation Circle. So I took some precautions." He picked up Ed's auto-mail arm. He chuckled and pulled off the wig. In reality he had short blonde hair. "Let me introduce myself. I am this shops owner, Barry."

Ed: "A man?"

Barry: "I'll show you something nice for getting this far." He pushed a pig line and you and Winry were pulled towards him. He set his hand on your shoulder to stop you both.

Ed: "Winry, Lita!"

Barry: "I'm going to take her apart artistically now. So watch carefully... Mr. State Alchemist."

Ed: "Stop! Why would you do that?"

Barry: "Why? I don't know. Maybe because I like it." Winry was struggling but as soon as Barry looked at you two she froze.

Barry: "I killed my wife first. We had a stupid fight. And I just did it as a whim. But since I was able to slice her so beautifully, I wanted more. And I wanted more people to see my work."

Ed: "A person can't kill another person for such a dumb reason." Barry picked up he blade.

Barry: "Yes they can. A person can kill another person for any reason." He began to walk towards Ed. Barry had blindfolded oyu, obviously he had learned form someone that you had to see what you were using your powers on. But you could feel his steps and sence Ed's fear.

Ed: "Stay way!"

Barry: "If they go to war, people can kill other people even more easily. Why do you think that is?"

Ed: "I-I don't know." Barry stuck his axe into the chair slicing Ed's shoulder abit, blood dripped to the floor and you could feel the chains jerk.

Barry: "People want to kill people. On a battlefield, I've seen a State Alchemist like yourself and your lady friend, kill people very easily. Just like this... "splat."

Ed: "No... No!" Ed scraped the screw against the chain and created a Transmutation Circle. The chains were broken and they turned into a steel bar with a flash of light blue light.

Barry: "Why you!" Ed jumped out of the chair as the butcher knife sliced it in two. Ed threw the bar to himself with his feet and blocked the knife with his auto-mail foot. "What?" Ed continued to doge him and thrashed the bar, hitting Barry in the hand. Creating a large gash, blood dripping form his hand. Ed ran over and attached his arm back into the base socket. He transmuted his arm into a blade and blocked the butcher knife many times. You jumped onto a step up ladder and swung your leg into a pig sending it across the shop and crashing into Barry and Ed. Ed kicked the knife out of Barry's hand and went to stick him right threw the head when something grabbed his hand. Ed turned around and slashed Al in the chest.

Al: "I won't die just with that." Some soldiers surronded Barry and took him in.

Ed: "Al?"

Al: "Brother, does it hurt?" Tears began to fall down Ed's cheeks.

Ed: "I thought he was going to kill me. I thought I was going to die." A very handsome soldier walked over to you and took the chains off your hands and undid your blindfold. "I was scared... I was really, really, scared." You ran over to Ed and hugged him.

'Hughes noticed that the same food truck went through the security check multpiple times. So we were able to make it in time. This was known as Ed's first successful case. But Ed would remember it differently.'

Al: "Brother, the Philosopher's Stone may very well exist. But to find it, you need to be a State Alchemist. I have no body, so I can't feel the pain you felt when you thought you were going to die... That is sad... and tough. I want to return to my normal body, a human body. I want to find the Philosopher's Stone. Even if it's something that goes against the flow of the world and is said to be impossible. I found out after I was nearly killed..."

Ed: "All I could do was scream. My head became blank. I thought to highly of myself and thought that I could save someone. Our hands are full trying to restore our own bodies. To accomplish that, I don't care of people call me a dog of the military or a Devil. But... we really aren't Devils or even Gods. We're just humans. We couldn't even save Nina. We're just petty humans."

With Roy

Roy: "A condition?"

Ed: "I will abide the military's orders. So I want you to give me all information related to the Philosopher's Stone. When we are not on a mission, please permit us to look for the Stone."

Roy: "Do you want your crime of preforming Human Transmutation known to the public? You're little brother will be sent to a lab because he's a rare transmutation. I can threaten you wiht that. But very well. But report everyhting you learn about the Philosopher's Stone to me." He took out a couple of folders. "The Furhrer has given you both your second names. It is a very ironic name." You grabbed your folder and opened it and smiled.

You: "Metallic Cat?"

Ed: "Full Metal?"

Roy: "Along with the watch you get a second name. Full Metal Alchemist. Metallic Cat Alchemist."

You: "I like it!"

Winry: "I'm going to have to treat me in every expensive and good thing in Central."

Ed: "Isn't that suppossed to be the other way around?"

Winry: "I fixed your arm."

You: "Uh, blackmail."

Al: "That killer had nothing to do with Nina."

Ed: "Yeah. H e had an alibi that night."

You: "Than who erased Nina?" The man from the library was leaning against the wall of the alley. He looked over and saw the chain of your watch around you neck and Ed's in his pocket. He pushed off the wall, pushed his sunglasses up a bit and walked off.