Chapter 2 - The one who challenged the Sun

Nothing's gonna keep you down
Even if it's killing you
Because you know the truth
Listen up listen up
There's a devil in the church
Sixx A.M. - 'This is Gonna Hurt'

The square was packed with festive and smiling people, as if it was a day of celebration. The local radio announced in the morning that Father Anderson would perform miracles in front of the church and the citizens had immediately closed shop and had gone in mass in front of the churchyard. Ed and Al stood in the crowd, more intrigued than intimidated by the two strange wanderers: a pair of children had even started to climb on Al's armor, before their parents called them back. Not that Alphonse had disliked their company.

"Al, look," the older brother said, mentioning some figures on board the square: they were soldiers of Amestris, wearing a black variation of the military uniform. You could count half a dozen of them, positioned around the square, and seemingly confused by the strange massive group of people. "In the worst case..." he began, but was interrupted by an explosion of jubilant voices from the crowd around them: Father Anderson had walked into the churchyard and was climbing on a wooden stage, accompanied by the two nuns of the night before and Esther, who, however, was no longer wearing clerical robes but a simple and elegant white dress. Two men carried on stage, before the four, a large, heavy wooden box, before the priest made a sign with his hand to silence the crowd.

"What is he doing?" Asks Edward, who could not clearly see the stage because of the crowd.

The nun with blacks hair and glasses handed out to Anderson a transparent and empty glass. The man took it and, with a brief flash of red light and a puff of smoke, it was filled with a red liquid. The crowd greeted the act with a thunderous applause, while Anderson went and created a giant statue out of a small block of wood. Even in this case, the miracle was accompanied by reddish flashes.

"Did you see that?" Al said.

Edward nodded.

"It's undoubtedly alchemy, even if does not follow the principle of equivalent exchange".

Suddenly the crowd fell silent again, Esther had handed to Father Anderson a microphone, which made his voice boom across the plaza.

"Dear faithful, an Emissary of our Lord appeared again before me bringing the good news: today he will allow his disciple to walk again among us!"

"Hey, hey! Are you kidding me? Is he going to do it now? " Edward exclaimed, then tried to climb on the armor, despite the protests of his younger brother, the better to see the stage. From the elevated position he could finally see the wooden case for what it was: a coffin. "Are you kidding me...?" The boy repeated, in equal measure surprised, horrified and fascinated.

Father Anderson raised his hands to the sky and began to sing a litany, soon the people of the crowd also joined, who with arms extended in a way similar to the priest, who with his hands joined in prayer. Thick smoke that smelled of incense spread rapidly in the square, greatly reducing visibility, but failing to completely mask the reddish flashes coming from the wood. Slowly, the smoke cleared and when Father Anderson was visible again, gestured with his hands to stop the litany. Another gesture and two men opened the sealed coffin. Edward held his breath, feeling his heart beating wildly in his chest: the wooden roof flew off and Edward saw Esther bringing her hands to the face and jumping to the coffin with a joyful smile. A human figure sat up, looking around bewildered, and she threw her arms around him.

"He did it...?" Muttered Al.

Edward inhaled sharply: no, there was definitely something wrong. Father Anderson helped the boy to his feet: he had brown hair that fell messily on his face, and was simply wearing a white shirt with dark pants. Shyly, the boy raised his hand to greet the crowd, which exploded into a hubbub of exultation and applause.

"I want to see clearly" Edward announced, while the five retreated inside the church. He came down from the his brother's shoulders and began to stride in that direction. "Come with me, Al!"

After a moment of daze, the armor followed closely the boy, the two came close to the church, but instead of heading towards the main entrance of the building, turned around it until they found one of the side entrances. The small wooden door took them into a corridor that went in two different directions.

"Let's split up ways here, let's quickly find Anderson... or that boy" suggested Edward, before racing away down the hall.

"Why such a hurry?" Al sighed, walking in the opposite direction.

Anderson sank into the armchair in his office. From the window he could see the square that was emptying.

"I saw those guys in the crowd," he said to the nun with black hair and glasses, which at the moment was the only one in the room with him. "I count to have them among our followers very soon."

"I'm not so sure," Sister Heinkel began suddenly, bursting into the room. "I just got confirmation from one of my associates: I was right not to trust the kid."

Anderson stood up.

"What do you mean?"

"Hair and eyes the color of gold, a blood red coat, travels along with an armored person... The description fits perfectly with that of..." She handed the priest a folded newspaper that she had brought with her . The date went back a few weeks before. Reading, Father Anderson's face twisted into an expression of pure hatred, before the man strongly slammed the newspaper on their desk.

"Where are they now?" He hissed angrily.

"They were seen infiltrating inside the church a few minutes ago." Heinkel looked at the priest. "What are your orders, sir? Do we make them disappear? "

"No, if we did so, we would have the damn army at the gates in no time." Anderson smiled, but, unlike the previous ones, this smile was sinister and maniacal. "They've never been here," he said slowly.

Heinkel nodded, then pulled a gun from under her coat and left the room.

"Yumiko" the priest called. The nun with black hair and glasses looked up. "Come with me, we've got unbelievers to bring before God."

The nun said nothing, but nodded in turn.

Edward came out in the main nave of the gigantic church. It seemed to be totally empty, except for a solitary figure who was cleaning compulsively the altar with a rugged cloth. To Edward it was enough to see a flash of red hair to identify Esther, still in civilian clothes, and with an ecstatic smile on her face. With a cough he caught the girl's attention, who turned and smiled even more brightly when she recognized him.

"You see? Father Anderson is really the spokesman of God! My hard work and dedication were rewarded at last! " she exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

Edward shrugged.

"I'm not sure, it could very well have been a very complex hoax ".

She clenched her fists and looked furiously at Edward.

"He resurrected Dietrich, you saw it too! Would you be able to do such a thing ?! "

Ed made a skeptical frown. He sighed and from an inner pocket of the coat, he took out a worn notebook and opened it to a page in which was inserted a cloth sign as he began to read.

"35 liters of water, 20 pounds of carbon, 4 liters of ammonia, 1.5 kg of lime, 800 grams of phosphorus, 250 grams of salt, 100 grams of saltpeter, 80 grams of sulfur, 7.5 grams of fluorine , 5 grams of iron, 3 grams of silicon... plus another 15 items in small quantities, "he concluded, closing the notebook, under the Esther's confused look. "A human adult body is composed of the elements that I have just mentioned to you, but despite our knowledge no one has yet been able to make a human transmutation. Something is still missing, and certainly it's not by praying and waiting that we'll to get to the truth, but searching . For an alchemist, and then a scientist, like me, it is impossible to believe such an uncertain thing as the existence of God... "

"Yours is simply blasphemy!" She accused Esther

"... And it is ironic that we are the ones that are closer to the power of a God" And he went on, approaching the altar, behind which stood a huge statue of God sitting on a throne holding a small sun. "Even the sun that your God holds is nothing but a mass of hot gas. The only drawback is that if you get too close you risk to be scorched... "he concluded bitterly, under Esther's glare.

Al walked the long corridors without meeting a soul: there seemed to be no one in the sacred building. He could not help but feel out of place, but finally, from a half-open door, he heard a voice.

"... pity on me, keep me with the power that you have been given, so that I triumphs, confusing my enemies, reinvigorating my strength..." Somebody was praying, but from the tone of their voice they seemed more annoyed than anything else. "What nonsense!" The voice finally exclaimed, while Al cautiously opened the door and peeked into what looked like a small chapel. In that moment, a booklet hit the wall a few inches from the boy's head, who winced and turned in the direction from which the booklet was launched. Clear and big brown eyes looked him over with curiosity.

"Dietrich!" Al recognized the boy.

The young man whistled with admiration, then smiled and walked over towards Al.

"You're gigantic you, where the hell have you come from?" The boy asked with an amused tone. Al noticed that the boy was walking barefoot on the cold stone floor of the chapel. Moving with light footsteps around Al, Dietrich examined the details of his armor. "That Flamel Cross on your shoulder... You're an alchemist, right?" He asked, pointing at the symbol painted in red on the armor, the same symbol that Ed wore on his coat. "Alchemy is not practiced in Istvàn, especially not at church. What are you doing here? "

Instead of answering, and be diverted, Alphonse posed in turn a question.

"Were you really brought back to life?"

The boy shrugged and fell back on one of the chapel benches.

"I think so. In short, I was told that I was dead, but now I'm here. I'm still trying to make sense of that. "

"What do you remember of your death?" Alphonse insisted.

"Very little. I know I was maneuvering a car in the workshop, I was alone, and then... Then I remember a great light... An ethereal music... After that, I was on the stage outside the church. " Dietrich ran a hand through his hair and laughed, embarrassed. "What a ridiculous story, right? I understand if you don't believe... "

"Apparently, you don't believe it either" Alphonse interrupted him. "Is that what they told you to say?"

After a few seconds, during which the boy looked at Al with an appalled expression, on Dietrich's face a hostile smile appeared, eyes narrowed and fixed on the armor.

"Oh?" he simply said, with an amused tone, but before either of them could say anything else, a creak and the sharp sound of a gun that was loaded was heard. Sister Heinkel appeared behind Al. In her hand she was holding a pistol, pointed at the crack where the helmet was connected to the rest of the armor.

"Dietrich, stay back" the woman said, her hate-filled gaze fixed on Alphonse.

The boy, whose haunting expression had faded away like smoke, stepped back in surprise.

"Si-sister Heinkel?" Al called, confused. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to talk to Dietrich before he left for his pilgrimage, I was..."

"Don't play dumb, we know who you are," Sister Heinkel interrupted. "Father Anderson does not tolerate the presence of the military in his city, especially if they are State Alchemists. You disbelievers are the scourge against which Father Anderson is fighting his crusade. You made a big mistake by coming to Istvàn. Now you must die. "

"Wait!" Al tried to say.

"Don't fear, your brother will catch up on you very soon."

Edward and Esther heard distinctly the sound of a gunshot coming from one of the chapels behind the apse of the church.

"What was that?" the girl exclaimed, frightened.

"Al!" Edward called immediately, running toward the direction of the sound, which seemed to have come from a door not far from the altar. The door was locked but the boy broke through the wood with a kick and rushed into the adjoining chapel, entering the room on the opposite side of the door Alphonse had entered from. Esther followed him close behind.

"Dietrich!" the girl exclaimed, running to the young man who had his back on them.

Edward instead opened his eyes wide seeing Al body, flat on the ground, with his helmet blown off from the opposite side of the room, at Edward's very feet. Sister Heinkel still held the smoking gun in her hand. She pointed it against Edward and with her free hand gestured towards Esther and Dietrich, who were locked in an embrace.

"Esther, Dietrich, go away! I'll take care of this heretic. "

She didn't notice that behind her, Al's body was rising up from the ground.

"What a fright" the armor without helmet exclaimed.

Heinkel turned and remained speechless: the armor was empty, there was no one inside! Yet he spoke and moved as if nothing happened.

"You are..." Dietrich began, but was interrupted by a terrified cry from Esther at the unnatural sight that appeared before her.

Taking advantage of the general chaos, Edward picked the helmet up, holding firmly the plume, with force he whirled it and threw it on the woman's head, which fell to the ground unconscious.

"Strike!" Edward exulted.

"My head!" Al exclaimed with an hurt tone, catching the helmet that had been thrown into the air.

With a thud, Esther fainted and slipped to the ground. Dietrich picked up the girl's body and, without deigning the two boys another look, he ran out of the door through which Alphonse had entered through.

"What a mess..." Al sighed, putting the helmet back on. "What do we do, brother?"

Ed stepped over the woman lying on the ground, walking next to Alphonse in front of the door ajar.

"I'd say that we have little choice."

The two brothers started walking down the corridor again and sauntered blindly until, with a reddish glow, a door appeared out of thin air on their left. Edward smiled.

"An invitation to enter..." he grinned, throwing the door open, which opened onto a staircase leading down underground. The steps stopped in front of another door, which led to a huge underground crypt, whose ceiling was supported by four rows of columns. Across the room there was a raised stage where Father Anderson and the nun with black hair and glasses stood. The priest grinned and by simply raising his hands he closed the door through which the two boys had entered: the wall became smooth as if there had never been an entrance. Edward didn't miss the glow of the stone that the man wore on his finger.

"You were offered accommodation and hospitality, the possibility to embrace our church and leave behind your sins," he declared. "And how did you repay all this? By lying and deceiving, as it befits you filthy worms, army dogs. "

"Listen to who's talking!" Said Ed. "Aren't you doing the same thing? Aren't you fooling the Istvàn people?! Your miracles are nothing but alchemical transmutations! "

Anderson gritted his teeth, furious.

"My power comes from God Almighty! No alchemist can do what has been granted to me! Your art is subject to the Law of Equivalent Exchange, is not it? "

"All right, I'll give you that, but I have another theory." Edward pointed to the ring that the man wore on his finger. "There is a way around this law, although until now it has remained a legend: the Philosopher's Stone. It's that ring, isn't it?" Edward's eyes were shining with wonder. "Finally…"

Unexpectedly, Anderson burst into a maniacal laugh.

"Even if that was the case, this ring is a gift from God's Emissary, and it is through this sacred object that I can ensure His will." With a gesture from the man, the room's floor turned into sand, immediately after Anderson jumped down the stage, standing before the two alchemists. He was holding two short flat swords that, on closer examination, proved to be bayonets. "My name is Alexander Anderson, spokesman for the Word of God, former knight of Aerugo's King's army, and today I will be your executioner. May God have mercy on you. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. We, who are just dust, will return to dust. " While reciting these words like a mantra, he had moved their swords to form a cross in front of him. "Amen," he concluded, and lunged at Edward, who barely had time to crouch to avoid the blades that would otherwise cleanly removed the head from his neck, but barely cut a lock of the boy's hair .

"Wow, all right!" Edward exclaimed. "A difficult opponent to deal with bare hands," he said sardonically.

The boy clapped his palms together and laid them on the ground. Without using any alchemical circle, bluish flashes of energy unleashed from the sand, from which Ed took out a long spear which he used to repel the next attack from the priest. Anderson was astonished: he had never seen anyone make alchemical transmutations simply clapping their hands, but didn't let himself be distressed by this revelation. With a flash of red light, one of his swords turned into a whirlwind of sharp metal headed towards the boy, but it was stopped by a stone wall that formed halfway. Anderson turned his head and saw that the second alchemist, the guy in armor, had managed to draw an alchemical circle on the stone of one of the columns. Angrily, Anderson released the grip of what was now an aberration of metal and pulled out a new sword from under his coat, launching himself this time against Alphonse.

"Don't you dare..." Edward hissed, running after the man. His goal was to topple him using the handle of his spear. But Anderson apparently expected this kind of move, because with a clever movement cut the transmuted weapon into three pieces. Edward stared dumbfounded at the useless piece of metal that was left in his hands.

"It's not you who owns a prodigious weapon, State Alchemist!" Anderson spat contemptuously, dropping both swords on Edward with a scissors cut.

"Brother!" Alphonse cried, alarmed.

A metallic clang echoed in the crypt, and once again Anderson gasped in surprise: Edward had stopped the swords simply placing his right arm in the way. The reddish light that lit up the ring was the only warning before several glass spades sprouted from the sand, Edward shot away, but one of them managed to tear apart the fabric on the left leg. However, not a single drop of blood was spilled.

"Your arm, your leg..." Anderson stared at the boy with narrowed eyes.

"Observe carefully, Anderson..." Ed grabbed his torn coat and pulled it to tear it completely: the right arm of the boy, as well as his left leg, wasn't made of flesh and blood, but completely of metal. "This is what happens when you cross into sacred ground where men are not allowed, the body of those who have attempted human transmutation." He dropped his coat. "This is the body of a sinner. Careful, Anderson, playing God you could find yourself like me, "concluded the boy.

"A mechanical prostheses, automail" Anderson muttered. "You... dared to violate the forbidden taboo of alchemy! And you were taken two limbs away!" Edward returned Anderson's gaze with determination. "That's why you are saddled with that name " the man continued, looking at the boy with contempt. "Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist!"

The silence that followed was broken by the sound of an explosion, as the wall behind which the staircase from which they had descended the boys was reduced to dust, letting into the crypt a small handful of priests armed with rifles and guns, led by Sister Heinkel.

"Father Anderson!" Called the woman as she saw the armed priest and the conditions of the battlefield.

The man quickly withdrew on the raised platform. He walked past the nun with black hair and glasses, who was wielding a katana and stood in position, ready to assault Ed and Al. The priests surrounded the boys forming a semicircle between them and the exit. Anderson grinned, pleased.

"Ashes to Ashes" he said, before shouting: "Fire!"

A dense hail of shots set off in the boys' direction.

SPECIAL THANKS to my Italian beta and co-writer GreenArcherAlchemist, my English beta Nathan Van Doorn.

THANKS to MoonlitWaterSunnyRiver and phantomrose96 for their indirect support and the inspiration they gave me to write this story.