Holy crap it's been ages since I updated this thing! I mean like I haven't been able to since December... but hey I just got back around to it (god damned writers block on this one I tell you) and now I'm going to try working on this as much as I can since I already planned out how I want to end this!

Chapter 4

Alicia was outside Keil's door again, this time though she brought a tall alchemist with her as her fellow researcher hadn't come out of his room all night and they had to get going soon.

"Keil, this is getting ridiculous get out of there!" Alicia yelled as the tall alchemist she brought with her was drawing an alchemic circle on the door.

"Almost done Alice."

"Thank you Thomas. Keil if you don't open this door by the count of three we're breaking in!" Alicia yelled once again. "THREE!"

Thomas activated the circle, causing the door to break apart and attach into the surrounding walls… only for the two to see the body of the person they were attempting to bring out, hanging from the ceiling with his own bed sheets.

"Good lord!" Thomas exclaimed while Alicia flinched and took a step backwards with a scowl.

"Damn fool taking the coward's way out… right before we could even finish as well."

...

The three kids were far away from the train station by this point and Joseph was not happy at all.

"A-Alright, we just wait till the hype dies down then we take the first train back to Resembool!" Joseph stammered as he tried to catch his breath from running to keep up with the foreigner, his sister was also catching her breath but with a defiant glare at her older sibling.

"Yeah it won't die down so soon…" Tan-Lan sighed earning the sibling's attention in that moment.

"How would you know?"

"Well for one thing, I got caught once before… could not go back to that train station without security after me for two whole days before I went to walk to the next town for the train there," Tan-Lan explained with a sigh. Maria's eyes widened with glee while Joseph's widened in horror.

"So… we have to?"

"Yup."

"And it takes about-"

"Six or seven days, give or take on weather."

"So we're gonna be gone for-"

"Long enough for them to notice you're missing."

"I can't wait!" Maria chimed in excitement as she broke up the back and forth between the two older boys. Looking at the young blond she was jumping up and down with much more energy than she had while running earlier.

"W-Well when we get to the next town… or city, we're taking the first train back home!"

"You guys can do that if you want… I've got some things to finish up first before I can even think of back tracking," the prince sighed, hoping to whatever god out there he would be left out of a family squabble that wasn't his own.

"You can take the first train back Jo-Jo, I'm gonna travel Amestris!" Maria grinned, already darting off ahead of the two boys who both reached out to try and stop her for different reasons.

"H-Hey don't go running off without us!" Was Joseph's call as he didn't want his sister getting lost or worst.

"Wait none of us know where to go for the next town!" was Tan-Lan's exclamation as he thought about the maps he… borrowed and read, or rather look for exit points and places that match how it looks on the map.

After getting Maria back Tan-Lan was looking over the map, despite the headache he got from trying to read the Amestrian language. Joseph and Maria saw the boy's struggling and the brother then pulled the map from Tan-Lan's hands and began reading it himself.

"Closest town is to the north from the looks of this," Joseph said after glancing over the map.

"I knew that…." Tan-Lan murmured as he took the map back.

"Why do we even need a map, when we could go without one to make it better!" Maria exclaimed as she bounced on her heels. Joseph gave his sister a deadpanned look, while Tan-Lan looked at the nine year old like she was crazy.

"Maria, that's like more of a death wish then an adventure," Joseph responded only to get his sister to pout at him.

"Seriously we need to go to places that would have food! Not all foods you find will be safe to eat," Tan-Lan reasoned only to get a deadpanned stare from Joseph.

"Do you seriously just think with your stomach?"

"What? No, I'm just saying that eating random plants you pick up in case you run out of food is a very stupid idea," the prince explained, looking back at the brown haired boy with an equally deadpanned look.

"You do have a point, pick the wrong plant and you could get sick," Maria thought out loud as she remembered a few things from her plant book… but couldn't quite understand most of the words in it.

"I know that but I still want to know if he just thinks with his stomach," Joseph sighed at the deadpanned look from the Xingese Prince.

"Will you believe me if I say no?"

"No…"

...

"So… Keil has passed to the next world huh?" the Prince asked as he visited his workers, the remaining alchemists nodded.

"He couldn't handle the pressure boss," Thomas responded, not making eye contact with the Xingese royal in the room. Said royal just grabbed a strand of his hair and played with it for a bit.

"That's a pity really, such talent to leave before it could be used or finished," the prince then let his single hair strand go and once again turned to walk out of the lab with his guards around him. "However, I don't want you nine to do the same as Keil. Finish the circle and complete the transmutation as soon as possible and Alice, keep me informed for when it's completed."

"Boss where the hell are you going?"

"Home, after all I don't want my brother or father to know of my dealings… too soon in this game that is," a hidden smirk crossed the Xingese Prince's face as he left the workers to themselves. The one who questioned the boss was left frowning with a glare in his dark brown eyes.

"Why are we even following that guy?"

"One he's paying us, and two he's also allowing us to actually study alchemy that would be considered illegal in Amestris," Alice responded in an even tone, her eyes lingering after her boss as she said these words.

"She's right Jack, besides… would you rather go back to your life as a failed State Alchemist, or accomplish something even they never could," one of the alchemic researchers spoke up to the one who seemed to dislike the boss.

"Tch…"

...

Selim had stopped his paperwork when a sudden bad feeling went down his back. The young looking man stood up from his seat and went over to the near by window. Rain was cascading down the glass and pounding on the roof.

What… what the hell am I feeling all of a sudden? Selim thought as he stared out into the rain. Sure he felt something was wrong… but at the same time he felt a nagging feeling that… there was something familiar going on in the back of his mind. As the black haired man stared out the window trying to figure it out, he was so lost in thought he didn't notice the flash of his dark eyes… taking on a deep violet hue only for a second.

"Is something wrong Mr. Bradley?" a young lady Selim had requested to help him for the day asked. A file sitting in front of the lady was left opened on a picture of a State Alchemist who went missing ten years back.

"Wha? Oh sorry I zoned out for a bit there. Nothing's wrong really," Selim replied as he smiled at the lady, but couldn't help but feel something was still wrong with his situation.

...

"What the hell are we going to do now?!" Joseph shouted as the trio were all stuck out in the rain. Tan-Lan shrugged, keeping his hands in his pockets and enjoying the feel of the water on his face.

"Dunno, look for shelter would be a good option I guess," Tan-Lan said only to internally start thinking about back at home and how the guards would be yelling at him to come back inside from the rain there. Not that he would go in until his grandfather saw him and told him to come inside.

"For once I agree with you…" Joseph muttered after rubbing his face with his hands and getting his hair out of his face.

"Why did it have to rain? Rain ruins adventures!" Maria complained as she was getting her longer hair out of her face and truly looked like she wasn't having fun anymore.

"Or we could stay outside and enjoy the weather," Tan-Lan also brought up with a little smirk when the siblings flat out denied that idea. "Well looks like that idea's out… and to think I was already enjoying it."

"How the hell can you stand it anyways?" Joseph asked as the trio started making their way to find a place out of the rain.

"The rain is really soothing to me," Tan-Lan responded taking a relaxed breath.

"But whyyyy? It's wet, I'm getting cold, there's no way to have a fun adventure and my hair keeps getting in my mouth!" Maria complained once again. Tan-Lan just smirked a bit, actually glad he cut his own hair at this point as it barely even got in his face at this point.

"Well should have thought that through if you wanted an adventure. Gotta prepare for weather," Tan-Lan laughed, even though he knew that he himself… was not very prepared thanks to unpredictable Amestrian weather.

"Can we all just focus on getting out of the rain right now?" Joseph asked, shivering a bit as he stood in the rain in his short sleeved shirt and shorts.

"Pleaaase!" Maria pleaded, for once agreeing with her brother on something while Tan-Lan frowned at the two of them.

"Fine ya kill joys…" Tan-Lan sighed as the siblings as well as himself back tracked to the town once again to find some shelter till the rain let up.

Now that the trio was back in the town… their biggest problem rose up with being they had no where to really stay for the night. Tan-Lan decided to stay out of the conversation for a while as the brother and sister tried to work it out for themselves.

"Why don't we just go ask people to let us spend the night?" Maria asked, keeping her arms around her self to keep warm.

"In this part of town? Not going to risk it," Joseph denied, also trying his best to warm himself aside from the fact they were all really wet, as well as looking all around at the darker part of town they ended up returning to.

"Well then where do you suggest we go huh? We don't have money for a hotel… and Tan-Lan doesn't have any."

"Whoa hey there, I've been good at staying out of this topic. Don't go dragging me into it for another one of your sibling fights," Tan-Lan spoke up, only paying attention to the fact he heard his name and had been tuning out the rest of the conversation. The Xingese prince was then met with a pair of deadpanned looks from the siblings.

"You're in it now," Joseph responded, only to earn a curse in Xingese from Tan-Lan.

It took the trio a while but they had finally found a place to spend the night in. It was an abandoned storehouse that looked to have been cleaned out and forgotten with the dust on the floor as well as the cobwebs in the corners.

"Do we haaave to stay in a dump like this?" Maria whined as she kicked up some of the dirt on the ground.

"I don't trust the people in this town Maria…" Joseph started before he and his sister had their shoulders pushed by Tan-Lan just walking through them and into the storehouse. The Xingese boy then took to kicking away some of the cobwebs as well as the dust in one corner before plopping his bag down and using it as a makeshift pillow.

"Wake me when the sun is up," Tan-Lan stated as he quickly got comfortable. Joseph sighed deeply while pinching the bridge of his nose before going inside himself to prepare a spot for the night as well.

"I'm not going in there. It's dusty, dirty and smells funny," Maria stuck her tongue out in disgust as she expressed her dislike for the space.

"Maria, look. This is the best we've got for now. We can't afford a hotel, the people here don't really look like trustworthy people and we have no where else to go out of the rain," Joseph sighed, feeling very tired from this god awful day he's been through and didn't want to make it any worse with his sister's stubbornness.

"This is not what I thought would happen on an adventure…" the young blond pouted as she slowly made her way into the small space with the only sound in there being the dripping water from outside and the occupant's breathing.

Maybe this will help her get around to wanting to come back home, Joseph thought to himself with a satisfied smirk on his face, before turning around to get some sleep for himself.

Tan-Lan was having the weird dream of the sea of red once again. The Xingese boy blinked before looking around his surroundings to find nothing was different from the last time.

"Damn, the least dog-face could have done was set up a table… or the lady could have left some cards or something…" Tan-Lan sighed, before looking around once again to see if these wishes had effected the dream or not. The prince was disappointed to find out that it didn't affect his surroundings at all.

"Hey any of you guys, or ladies, know who's in charge around here? I have a few complaints about the decor and hospitality!" the prince shouted into the sea of red, hoping to get some sort of response to help ease his boredom.

"Complain away brat nothing's going to change around here." The sudden voice caught the boy off guard as he turned around to look for the source of the voice… finding nothing as he did.

"Where are you? Wait better question, who are you?" Tan-Lan asked, still trying to find the source of the voice… as well as genuinely curious on who this voice was supposed to be in this weird dream of his. A chuckle came from behind the boy causing him to turn around once again.

"Ever try looking up ya brat?" The prince blinked at this before face palming and looking up… only to take a step back and for his eyes to widen at what he saw. It appeared to be a face that was dark red like every other face there… but this one seemed the most inhuman and was larger than the other ones. The white eyes appeared to be mildly slanted, no nose was on it and the mouth had no lips as the teeth appeared to be all exposed.

"Whoa…." Tan-Lan gaped in surprise before a grin spread on his face. "Anyone ever tell you how badass you look?"

"HA, first time actually," the face laughed, causing Tan-Lan to laugh a bit.

"You've gotta be kidding me. Really?"

"Nope. Everyone here besides you and I don't talk."

"Damn, that's gotta suck."

"You have no idea brat."

"How long did you have to deal with this? I'd be pretty sick of hearing all these screams after a while… and staring at dog-face or bird nose over there."

"Pretty long time…"

"So what's your name? Or should I just call you Bad Ass?" Tan-Lan asked, growing slightly more interested in this being that he believes his mind created for the dream. Another laugh came out of the being once again at his question.

"Kid I'm beginning to like you. But no don't call me 'Bad Ass' all the time. The name's Greed." Tan-Lan blinked at the name, before chuckling a bit to himself.

"Funny. We have similar names. I'm Tan-Lan by the way."

"How are our names similar kid?"

"Well back in Xing my name is written in the characters for avarice," Tan-Lan explained earning another laugh from Greed.

"Now you have got to be kidding here kid."

"Nope. It's the truth, my old man gave it to me!" Tan-Lan grinned with pride, only for it to be wiped off his face at the thought of his grandfather. "Damn he must be pissed at me…."

"What's your old man going to do to you anyways? Kill ya?"

"Maybe, I kinda ran away from home… and stole the stone thing he used to become the emperor…" A silence fell after that while Greed's eyes scrunched up a bit at the information he just got.

"Wait emperor? How… is your old man named Ling?"

"Yeah…?" Tan-Lan responded only to quirk a brow in confusion when Greed started laughing once again. "What?"

"That piss ant couldn't let go could he?! HA, who knew he would name his son after me?!" Greed laughed as Tan-Lan blinked with a confused look on his face.

Why do I get the feeling this isn't a dream? Tan-Lan thought to himself for a second before deciding to speak up again.

"Actually, I'm his grandson." That got Greed to stop laughing before he stared at the fourteen year old before him for a bit with widened eyes.

"... That so brat?"

"Hey my name's not brat Greed!"

Before he could continue the conversation with the weird entity Tan-Lan woke up.

"Tan-Lan!" Maria whispered loudly while shaking the prince awake. Said prince jumped up and pulled himself into a defensive position at being suddenly woken up. However when he noticed nothing was wrong… and it was still dark outside, Tan-Lan was not really happy.

"What's-"

"Shh. Not so loud, Jo-Jo is still sleeping," Maria cut the prince off before grabbing his hand and dragging him out of the storehouse.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What's it look like going on a night adventure!" Maria chirped quietly only to receive a deadpanned look from Tan-Lan.

"Maria, stop."

"Huh?" The duo then stopped with the nine year old looking up at the older boy in confusion.

"It's late at night. I was trying to get some sleep and I don't want to go out 'adventuring' at this time of night. Besides your brother would be alone for one thing."

"Yeah then he won't ruin the adventures!"

"You have one unhealthy obsession! God why don't you just go take your brother and leave me alone huh?!" Tan-Lan shouted, loud enough that Joseph heard from the store house and woke up, and loud enough that Maria flinched at the tone of it.

"But… but you said you would take me on an adventure… and Xing people don't go back on their word… right?" Maria asked, looking up at the boy with a kicked puppy expression.

"I didn't promise that! I agreed to take you with me, but that was it! Look I just want to go back to sleep right now. I don't want to deal with this right now," Tan-Lan groaned just as Joseph came out and over to the duo.

"Maria, where did you think you were going this late at night?" Joseph growled just as the Xingese prince passed him and went back into the storehouse to get back to sleep.

...

Ling's worry was getting worst. None of his guards had found Tan-Lan near any of the stations, not to mention he lost contact with a few of the guards around one of the towns in the desert. Currently he's got a few guards looking for the missing ones and currently he's thinking about where the hell his grandson could be.

He's somewhere in Amestris I know… but the question is where in Amestris? Ling questioned deep in thought while feeling helpless once again in being able to do nothing… when suddenly an idea hit him. However said idea would have to be done with extreme caution… and be carefully crafted in order to work. That is if he had enough time to do that.

"Guards," the emperor spoke causing the guards to bow. "Go get Hai for me then leave the room as soon as he's here."

"Yes M'Lord!" both guards bowed and dashed out of the room to retrieve the first born of the twins.

...

The preparations had been completed, and the test had been successful. The group of Alchemists had created a philosopher's stone. Alicia gently held it in her hands with a growing grin.

"We succeeded! All those years of research, all those years of preparation for this moment," Alicia laughed, tears in the corners of her eyes as pride filled her heart.

"First stage of the plan is a success," another female researcher smiled as well, her foot grinding onto the left behind clothing of one of the people used from the village.

"If this turned out as a success… then… We can finally make what would normally be impossible now," Thomas laughed, the rest of the researchers continuing in joy about the success. All but Jack who sat back with a stern gaze.

It's not even for our own use, Jack thought bitterly, his face forming into a snarl. His gaze soon shifted right onto the glowing red stone in Alicia's hands.

When stage two is finished that arrogant prince won't be the one in control anymore. I will be the one in control.

Yup lot's of heavy shit going on here... and some more plot build up. Now onto the next profile for the series:

Maria Reinhart:

Age: 9

Birthday: July 19th (Cancer)

Favorite food: Macaroni and cheese, also partial to steak and mashed potatoes

Least Favorite food: Vegetables

Family:Edward Elric (Grandfather), Winry Rockbell/Elric (Grandmother), Aleister Elric (Uncle), Gabe Elric (Uncle), Nina Elric (Mother), Kevin Reinhart (Father), Joseph Reinhart (Brother), Alphonse Elric (Great Uncle), Mei Chang/Elric (Great Aunt), Ya-Ting Elric (Cousin)

Dreams/Goals: To be a Military woman, Back up plan is to be an adventurer so she can travel around and explore everything.

Talents: Able to burn almost anything in cooking, fairly good aim

Weaknesses: Cooking… even when it's simple, impatient, very stubborn