Disclaimer: I own nothing of Full Metal Alchemist or anything in that universe. But, I'm saving enough money to get some shares.

It was a rough week with Tobias, Lily's new pet fox, having him staying in the house and not chewing through her cloths. But finally, she set boundaries with him. Like, she would have him outside mostly part of the day, putting a little doggy or in this case a fox door that lead outside and into the garden in the back of the house. That actually stopped the crows from picking at the herbs Viktor had planted. The hardest part was when Tobias sleeping with her on the bed, he was a real kicker ladies and gentlemen. Kicks from a fox equals scratches, deep ones. She finally put a bed in her room, right next to the sliding door, so he could look out at the night sky. Tobias seemed happy being with Lily, as did Lily. It was a welcoming presence in her home, at least she won't die from loneliness in the house.

Lily was currently relaxing in the tub, a bubble bath. Scented candles decorated the dim bathroom as smooth and gentle music played in the background. Thankfully, Mary came over to fix the two of them a lunch (Leo would've come later, he was on a date). She hum along side to the music, grabbing a wash cloth, she began to wash her legs and arms. This was peaceful. She closed her eyes, resting her head on the edge of the tube, feeling very sleepily at the moment. Now, only if she had a bigger tube, her boyfriend, more candles, and possibly some rose petals instead of bubbles. She would have to ask Rick about that when she got back to Central. She yawned and stretch herself in the tube, ready to take a small nap before lunch.

"HELP! HELP!"someone yelled outside of the bathroom.

Opening her eyes and sitting up, she screamed in fright as Mary came busting in, and covered her chest with her arms before her friend saw anything. Mary herself looked scared herself and seem to be huffing and puffing, like she ran a few miles.

"Mary!"Lily screamed,"What the hell is going on here!"

"Big.."she huff,"Big...metal...robot...man...out..side!"she said in between breaths.

Mary looked more scared then she had ever been in her life and that was saying something. She sighed, just when she thought she could have one moment of peace to herself, now this happens. Grabbing a robe and putting it on, tying it tightly, she walked towards the front door, Mary behind her. Tobias was growling at the open door way, his fur on high ends, and getting ready to attack at any moment notice.

"Heel, Tobias,"barked Lily

Tobias stopped and walked behind Lily, and sat behind her, proudly. Glancing at the open door way, it seem Mary was right after all. Well, instead of a robot, it looked to be a giant armor suit, only standing on it's own, and seemed scared of Tobias.

"May I help you?"she asked, acting calm and not screaming in terror like Mary.

A boy in a red, long jacket, his blond hair in a braid behind his back, stepped away from the armor man and stood in front of Lily. He looked to be fifteen or maybe was it twelve? She couldn't tell by his size.

"Yes, we are to see Viktor Marshall."

----

The trio of sorts, sat in silence at the table. Two on one side and the other in front of them. Lily was the one alone (dressed now), busy pouring each of them a cup of steaming hot tea, a frown on her face. Facing her was a young lad, with blond hair and braided hair, short as it seems. To his side was a large, metal suit of armor, even though it isn't possible, unless some someone was in there, moving and talking on it's own. The blond boy was starring hard at Lily, waiting for her to talk and break the silence.

Taking a sip from her cup, Lily sighed and set it back down,"So, let me get this straight You came here to talk to Viktor Marshall, saying he contacted you nearly two weeks ago?"

"Yes, for the fifth, thousand time,"he snapped, annoyed,"Now, tell us where he is."

"Brother..."begged the tin man

"Where is he hiding? I will find him you know,"he stood up from his chair, his hands on the table.

"...He is dead."Lily said softly

This shut him up, he sat back down in his chair.

"I'm surprise you haven't heard about his death, Edward."

He was surprised she knew his name when he didn't tell her,"How did you..."

"Know your name? Don't play stupid, everyone knows your name Full metal but only people in the military knows your face. By your experiences, I'm really shock that you joined the military when you were 12, I'm impressed."

Ed blushed and went to sip his tea to hide his face.

"So, how do you know this?"he asked a moment later

"I'm currently employed in the military, as an alchemist. I do read your reports when Mustang is finished with them. Quiet a bit of adventures for you two, I'm jealous. I'm stuck at work, doing boring paper work and you are out there doing real alchemy."she sighed, frowning.

"Mustang? You mean you work for Roy Mustang?"

"Yeah, sadly. Been stuck with him since I got in. My friends think it's a blessing. Speaking of which..."

Turning her head around, she saw Mary peeking out from behind the couch.

"Mary, will you please get out of there...We have guests over and it's rude for you to glare at them behind a couch, no doubt."Lily said

"Not until that robot man stops looking so scary!"she exclaimed

"Al isn't scary, right Al?"asked Ed

He shook his head, feeling embarrassed of what Mary said.

Lily sighed,"Mary, could you please finish up lunch like you were before you started to freak out?"

Mary frown, earning a glare from the blond. They stared at each other before Mary look disappointed, losing the silent starring eye contest. Getting up from behind the couch, she moved to the kitchen and disappear behind the door.

"So,"turning to the brothers,"Now, that is out of the way. Can we get back to the subject of Viktor contacting you?"

"He told us he heard that me and Al that he had some notes on Philosopher's Stone and wanted us to have a look on them."Ed said

"Really now? I thought the Philosopher's Stone was just a old wives tale. What else did he tell you?"

"He said we should come here in two weeks, so he would have time to get the notes together."

Lily leaned back on her chair, tapping her chin, thinking. "I don't think Viktor was really interested in the Stone, only hearing about it once or twice when I was younger. Maybe he went back to work on it when I went to Central. It won't hurt to look, I suppose. I mean what else am I going to do?"she asked, mostly to herself.

She stood from the table, her cup empty."While we wait for lunch...shall we take have a brief look at Viktor's office?"she asked

"What about lunch...?"asked Al

"It's going to take forever for Mary to make a simple lunch. She can't cook for her life. She can even burn cold cereal...for some unknown reason. In the end, she would probably order pizza or whatever."she explain

The two brothers got up from the table and followed Lily down the hall. Walking up the stairs, and into the small office. Instead of books, papers, and even more boxes, they found...nothing. It was completely wiped out.

"What the...How come I didn't notice this place was empty? I have been here for a week!"Lily exclaimed

"I can explain that!"

Lily jumped back, seeing Mary standing behind them.

"When did you get here!"

"Just now. Anyway,"Mary cleared her throat,"While I was here the other day, I saw this place was a mess so I took the papers downstairs in the basement."

"The basement...? How did you get into the basement! What are you not telling me!"Lily yelled

"Relax, honey. I found a note, address to you, from Viktor. It had a key on top."Mary said

"You read her letter?"asked Ed

"Yeah, she is a weird one,"Lily nodded, "We actually did a test with her blood and she is ninety-nine percent human and one percent albino monkey. Still working on how that worked out."

Mary glared at them before returning back to normal,"As I was saying, there was a key on top of the note. It asked Lily to take down his stuff to the basement. I did that myself. It was a lot of work carrying down those heavy boxes. But, you should have seen how many-"Lily covered her mouth

"Mary...where is the key?"

Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a golden key and handed it to Lily. She let got of her friend and looked at the key. Turning to the boys, she smiled.

"Well, let's go look for those notes."

----

It's been one week since they started their quest for any notes on the Philosopher's Stone, and had turn up empty since. Lily let the Elric brothers stay in a guest room while they were here. It would cost a fortune to stay at a hotel, at least a good one. Thankfully, Leo came over to cook for them. Mary was terrible at it and Lily was busy looking in the basement. The basement itself was big as the house, maybe a bit bigger, and there were probably millions (or at least getting there) of boxes of notes in there. Viktor was a busy man before he retire from the military. The basement was really furnish then Lily had original thought. Instead of gray stone walls, cobwebs, hard ground, it was pretty nice. Pale carpet and wallpaper, and even a desk off to the side.

Lily sighed from her side of her room, putting down another useless folder,"It's no use. If we do find anything, it going to take us months to read all of this!"

"What did he say about the Philosopher's Stone, Lily?"asked Al

"Really the same as always. Read about it in my studies and heard about it from Viktor, what the books couldn't tell me. All he said was that could do what alchemy could not without Equivalent Exchange. After that...When I tried to learn more about it, he would yell at me and told me to go to my room. Saying I was too young and shouldn't mess with that kind of thing."she said

"I even think Tobias knows about the Stone then I do."she gesture to the sleeping fox, curled next to the foot of the stairs.

"Anything else?"

"That's all! Get off my back already!"she yelled, falling down, laying on the carpet

"Sounds like someone needs some nourishment in them."a voice called up on top of the stairs.

Turning their heads, they look to see Mary coming down the stairs, carrying a tray of food. Once she reached the landing, she placed the tray on the only clear space available, the desk.

"So, how goes the research?"she asked, sitting down in the desk chair

"Terrible. We can't find anything yet and Lily's temper is not helping."complained Ed

"Watch it, Shorty."she growled out

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT YOU CAN EASILY STEP ON?"he yelled, Al holding him back.

"Wow,"Mary breath,"Everyone is on edge. I'm a little surprise you made it this far. I know the thing you help you! Roy Mustang Meatball Subs! Zero carbs in fat but extra delicious!"she smiled

A shoe collided with her head, leaving a nasty bump on her forehead,"Okay, another thing gone, your humor. I just have sandwiches."

She threw little sandwiches (in bags) to both Ed and Lily, with her bad aim, they landed on their head. She only had one left.

"Are you hungry, Al? You seem the only one sane."Mary said

"No, no, I'm alright."he said

"Suit yourself,"she had already begun eating the sandwich.

Putting her sandwich aside, Lily got up and put all her papers in the box and went to put them away, she reached for a box on the top shelf of a tall bookcase, she stopped when she heard Mary say something behind her back.

"You know during this week, I have notice some common things between Ed and Lily,"she counted each reason on her fingers," One; You both have blond hair. Two; Both alchemist in the military. Three; Both hate or dislike Roy Mustang, my God and Master, and finally number four; you can perform alchemy without a transmutation circle."

The room went silent after Mary said this. The brother's having shock faces on, and Lily a look of surprise and anger. Ed was the first one to speak.

"Is...that true?"he asked Lily

"A bit, yes. Can...can we just drop this conversation, please? I don't think it was wise of Mary to bring it up."she said, glaring at her friend

Without paying attention, Lily's hand hit a heavy box of paper that sat on the edge of bookcase. It came crashing down on top of her head. Taking off the box from her head, she starred at the pile of papers next to her. A thick, black, leather back, book laid on the pile of papers, it stood out from the white. A rather thick envelope laid on top, on further inspection, it had 'To Lily' written in the middle, Viktor's handwriting. Lily quickly picked up both envelope and the book. It looked old she could see the pages yellow and tattered. Strange writing decorated the surface, she never seen these kind of words, it's like a foreign language. As she tried to open it, it held closed, it wouldn't budge.

"What's that, Lily?"asked Mary

"I don't know..."she breath, staring at the book

"Well,"perked up the black head,"I think we had enough excitement for one day, hm?"

-----

Dinner was silent and quick(thankfully). Ed sat there, starring at Lily, who in return, stared at her plate, playing with her food. The mystery book she kept at her side and the letter in her pocket. Once she was done with her food, she took the journey up the stairs, to her room for the night.

After taking a shower to fresh her mind and slipping in a pair of pajamas pants and a over size shirt, she sat on her bed. Over by the window, Tobias laid sleeping, unknowing what was about to transpire. The black book resting near her legs, she grabbed the thick envelope from her bed side table. Taking a deep breath, she ripped off the outside paper and pulled out nearly ten pages of writing, all in Viktor's. Mentally preparing herself, she began to read.

'Dear Lillian...'

---

Author's Note: Ha! You probably thought I would never come back! But, I'm back and here to stay! Really, sorry for the delay. Was trying to figure what to do nextnot this chapter) and had to work out some bugs (a whole lot of bugs!). I have finally got it. It's set, it's solid, it's sexy, and it's...smelly? Sorry, couldn't think of anymore 'S' words unless the other one...Anyway, next chapter, we are going to read the letter!

Other News: I'm going to go to visit family for six whole days! Hopefully, I can convince my mom to allow me to rent a laptop for the trip so I can write like I never write before. My dad wants me to bring paper and pencil but I can't get this story when it's on paper to the computer, it will mess it all up! There is a strong chance that I shall get a laptop for that week and probably have more then one chapter to bring to all of you. Now, I'm going to go and eat some Pocky!

The best thing in this world is Pocky, with Roy Mustang and Anime in the close run.

Please review!