Hey everyone! Like I promised, here's another chapter, only slightly after one week (which is still shorter than four months XD)

Thank you all for your lovely review. Nothing perks up the self-confindence like other people commenting on your writing you know.

I'll take all your suggestions into account. To everyone else, criticism and opinions are just as important as flattery. I'll go nowhere as a writer if you guys don't tell me where I need to improve.

To Maddy-Neko, this chapter is over 5000 words long. This is double the amount I usually type up (which is why its a little late, sorry). Hope this satisfies you. And the stew. Has now been eaten.

Other shoutouts to S.N. Rainsworth, Anquitil, Kenshen El, FullmetalDemon, and Animals of the Night for their reviews and comments.

And now taking GaBeRock 's advice, here is the disclaimer, which you will never see again:

"I don't own FMA or Secrets. The chances of that changing are infinitesimal. I will not make this disclaimer again." Word for word. Thanks a bunch, GaBeRock!

Now enjoy this new chappie!

It had started as a normal enough day. He and Al were in the kitchen, discussing their plans for going to America. Noah had departed months ago, determined to find her own way of living. The boys wanted to leave Germany before things got too ugly. There was a type of tension in the air that they had not felt since they left Amestris, since Ed worked with the military. There was a war brewing, and it was coming soon.

The political party known as the Nazis was rapidly gaining power. They made Ed feel nauseous, with their discrimination of Jews and their brainwashing of the public. It reminded him how corrupt the government and military had been before they came to this world. It reminded him of a political system so corrupt, they could mutate a little girl and not even bat an eye at it. He hated it. He hated the racism against the Jews, for it reminded him of the Ishvalens, and Scar and the others they had later met, and how they were treated.

That was part of the reason why the brothers decided to go to America. That was a land of opportunities and freedom, and hopefully they could leave before things started to get out of hand. Or at least that's what they thought.

It was a warm morning, and sunlight was streaming through the open window, which also let a warm breeze in. The two of them were eating breakfast- some kind of porridge, with obviously no milk for Ed. Despite his hatred of the drink, he still had managed to grow a bit over the many months they've been here.

And then suddenly, the world was turned upside down.

An explosive force threw the boys off their seats and demolished the house walls. Lights flashed, and smoke was everywhere. Ed lay in the middle of the rubble, barely conscious. His automail was badly damaged, and he was in a great deal of pain.

Alchemical energy crackled around his body, healing the wounds. Ed's eyes shot open. If the Stone was needed to heal his body, how bad was the damage? Then what about-

He scrambled up quickly, ignoring the ongoing healing, and looked around. His eyes fell upon the deathly still and bloodied body of his younger brother.

"Alphonse? Al? AL? AL!"

Ed shot out of bed, drenched in sweat, gripping the sheets tightly. It was that dream, that memory, again. He sighed, and settled back into bed. He hadn't thought about that day in ages, but those two kids yesterday had dredged up suppressed memories. That day, he should've died along with his brother. The doctors said that a piece of shrapnel had pierced his heart, killing him instantly.

"He would've died quickly and painlessly," the doctor had said, consoling him. It didn't work, and the ache that was left behind still felt very raw to this very day.

After the funeral, he ended up traveling around the world, never really settling down in one place. He never did get to go to America, for it didn't feel right, going there after Al had died. But he had learned some interesting things and met some interesting….. people, before returning to Germany. Seven years ago, he had settled in this village that reminded him so much of Risembool, of his old home.

It was easy to make a living here. Along with a master's degree in physics and chemistry (oh, come on, that was too easy, it was practically this world's equivalent to alchemy), he also had studied medicine and stuff. So basically, he was the unofficial doctor and scientist in this area, along with supplying the villagers books and knowledge when necessary. He was also one of the few people in this small town to have actual internet connection and a computer, along with a telephone. A small town such as Risemburg didn't need much technology, and it was pretty secluded and self-supporting, only rarely needing supplies from beyond the village boundaries.

Somehow, his mind managed to wander back to the two twins that had visited yesterday. Through all his years and adventures, if there was one thing Ed had learned, it was how to sense the atmosphere and mood of people. These siblings were….. different. They excluded an aura unlike most people. In fact, they kind of reminded him of certain "people" he had met in his travels. They had felt anxious and stressed, along with haunted and tense. As if they were running away, with danger chasing them.

Not unlike the Elric brothers, in fact.

Birds chirped outside his bedroom window, and sunlight made the room extremely bright. He watched the dust motes get illuminated by a shaft of sunlight, spinning and dancing through the air, each ablaze with fire.

Ed got up. There really was no more point in staying in bed, at this time, and he wasn't about to fall asleep any time soon. His stomach rumbled, and he grimaced. Plus, he was really hungry for some breakfast right now.

He got up, and slipped on one of his many red T-shirts. The wonders of modern technology… thanks to some experimentation, Ed was able to transmute a complex latex-like substance, which he wore as some kind of arm-glove over the automail. The benefits of this were that it disguised the automail, and the texture was enough that it looked and felt like a normal arm, albeit a little bit harder. This way, he actually looked a lot more normal and didn't draw more attention to himself than necessary. It was too much of a hassle to make another one for his leg, however, so he stuck with wearing long pants.

Now dressed, the blonde stomped down the stairs on a desperate quest for breakfast. First stop, the kitchen.

He opened his fridge, and frowned in disappointment. Nothing. Well, nothing he'd like to eat, anyway. Some cruel soul had decided to stockpile his fridge with dairy products. That meant lots of evil, white liquid, and its just-as-evil by-products. (Ed made a mental note not to let the kind lady down the road near his fridge ever again. Apparently she held some sort of grudge against him). But didn't the twins yesterday bring…. Could it be…. Wonderful, wonderful stew with them? Ed made a mental air punch of victory as he exited the kitchen. Now, where could it be?

He expertly maneuvered himself through the maze of books, searching all the rooms, 'till he entered the piano room. [insert spotlight here, along with the chorus sound effects]There, his breakfast awaited him.

[TIME SKIP]

He hummed as the stew warmed on the stove. Normally he wouldn't consider it a breakfast food, but it was better than the bread he could transmute with grass, and Truth forbid milk being the better alternative.

Stew consumed, he left the dirty bowls in the sink, and wandered to the back of the house.

No one who had once known him would've ever guessed, but Ed liked to paint.

Painting, along with piano-playing, was a skill that Edward had come to hone after World War II. The two were closely linked- painting was a way for Ed to put his memories down on canvas, and music was a way for him to express the emotion of those memories in a way mere words never could. In addition, artistic skills were a challenge that Ed had come to relish. Science and linguistics were easy enough for him to learn, him being a child-prodigy and all. But art was different. You couldn't just memorize or apply a formula to make a truly well-done piece of art. You had to improve at it, apply emotion to it.

At first Ed had been apprehensive about this. It was too different, too open, too emotional for him to handle. Stick with straight facts and formulas, and you'll be safe. He excelled with research and data. But it was too easy. He needed something else to do. So he had started drawing, and took piano lessons. Decades later, and his skills were as good as they'd ever be, but that was the thing about art. There was always room for improvement. It could evolve and change. Maybe one day he'd decide to completely change his style, and start from scratch. In this way, art gave him a thrill that science and alchemy never could. Yes, he still loved alchemy and still loved the excitement that came with it. That would never change. But he also enjoyed art.

He settled comfortably in his chair and picked up from where he last left off. He sometimes applied science here too, for maximum effect. It helped him greatly when calculating perspective, and how far lighting and shading should go, or when he needed exactly the right ratio of pigments for a color he desired. Sometimes, he just threw all thoughts of science out of the window. That was why art was so freeing, so liberating. You could do anything you wanted.

The scene he was painting was a familiar one, one that haunted his nightmares and subconscious all too much. The Gate of Truth, and the strange entity who called himself Truth that stood watch over it. Really, could ever forget such a thing? The intimidating presence of the Gate, the haunting, creepily childish voice of Truth, it was maddening. So Ed applied it to canvas as if doing so could drain the very memories out of his head. It didn't work, or course, but it sure helped him cope.

Soon Ed was in his own little world, with nothing but the memories in his head and the image in front of him. Time quickly fled past.

Someone behind him coughed, and Ed whirled around in alarm. He had been so preoccupied with painting that he hadn't even noticed the twins arrive. The girl –didn't her brother call her Sophie?- looked embarrassed, as if she was intruding on something personal, which she kind of was.

Josh didn't know why this felt so awkward, but it did. He and his sister had come up to the house for today's little 'tutoring session', but there had been no sign of Elr- ahem, Ed. Sophie had panicked, thinking that the German had somehow died a death-by-books. He snorted, imagining the headlines of a newspaper (Did Risemburg even have a newspaper?). "LOCAL SCIENTIST DIES BURIED ALIVE BY BOOKS". Don't attract attention to yourself, indeed. So she had run into the house (the door was still unlocked), frantically searching through the messy, messy rooms (how in the world were they going to clean this place up?), until they had stumbled upon this private little alcove. Before them, Ed painted away, humming under his breath.

So where do we go from here?

And how to forget and forgive?

What's gone is forever lost….

Now all we can do is live.

It had a pretty melody, actually, but was quite melancholy (a melancholy melody- has a nice ring to it), much like his piano playing the other day. Josh's eyes scanned the paintings that were propped all around the room. One depicted a young boy strapped with wings, soaring above an open ocean. The boy's eyes were a brilliant gold color, along with his hair. His face was beaming with pride, but unbeknownst to him, a few feathers were already drifting lazily away into the hungry sea.

Josh's attention drifted to another painting, and was immediately struck by a pair of fierce, fiery eyes. There was a somewhat Asian-looking man, black hair slicked with sweat, narrowed eyes glaring at the viewer. He was decked out in an elaborate blue military uniform. The teenager tilted his head in puzzlement. He recognized the rank from the stars on the man's shoulders (which was Colonel, oddly enough), thanks to the knowledge given to him by Mars Ultor, but the uniform was unlike one he had ever seen before. Flames whirled around this painted man, but they didn't seem to burn him. On the contrary, they seemed to be dancing around him, a personal whirlwind of Hell's fire, spiraling from outstretched hands. Josh blinked. Was that… Fire Magyk? He glanced at the oblivious Ed, and then peered closer at the painting. No, not quite… Rather, the flames seemed to originate from a spark between the snapped fingers of Fire Man's hands, which wore gloves. Looking harder, those gloves seemed to be inscribed with some sort of symbol that seemed vaguely familiar. Blue eyes frowned, studying the painting, before flicking up to glance at the braided golden head. Nah…. Just a coincidence. Probably just Ed using his imagination and painting something fantasy-like. He couldn't possibly know about the specifics of Fire Magyk.

Other paintings filled the room. There were many portraits of people in action, and a majority of them were decked out in that blue military uniform. In one, a woman with blonde hair pulled back into a bun and wine-colored eyes stared down the barrel of a gun pointed directly at the viewer. Her eyes, however, were sparkling, and her mouth was graced with a half-smile. A huge antiquated suit of armor starred in another. Other pictures seemed to display battle scenes, using the same people. One painting had Fire-Man duking it out with a woman dressed in black with the biggest boobs Josh had ever seen. Scarily, the woman's eyes seemed to be glowing purple, and her fingernails were frickin'ly long and sharp. Meanwhile, someone wearing the previous suit of armor was standing back to back with Gun-Woman, fighting these weird white zombies. A kid surrounded by shadows and tentacles, ninjas, and tanks only added to the surrealism. A vague figure in red was surrounded by blue electricity in front of a smudged blob. Considering how detailed the painting was, and how intricate said details were, Josh doubted that that was an accident.

The next painting Josh looked at was the one Ed was currently working on. He peeked over the painter's shoulder, and received a nasty jolt of shock. The image was stark blacks and whites, with some grey. It had an almost barbaric feel to it- No, barbaric wasn't the right word. A better word to describe the feeling Josh was feeling would be primeval. This picture was describing something that went beyond mere humans and their petty battles, something that transcended time and space. This was raw, powerful, alive.

The first thing the eye was drawn to was a huge door-like structure that seemed to dominate space. It was a looming structure, painted in various shades of grey. The frame of this "Door" was inscribed with various screaming faces, each the very picture of agony. Other small carvings depicted various beasts, talons and fangs flashing. There was an aura (no, not the type of aura that he and Sophie had. You know, a normal kind of aura) of despair to it, and the very shadows around the structure seemed to be writhing. Josh immediately knew in his heart this was the smudged blob in Ed's other painting.

If you looked long enough, however, then your eyes would eventually be drawn to an area that drew your attention because of what appeared to be an empty void, as if your gaze could fill the hungry vacuum. And if you stared long enough, you'd notice it didn't seem so much as an empty void as it seemed to form some sort of negative image- as if there was something there, but the picture had been inverted. Words trying to describe it had failed, for words cannot be applied to something that really didn't make any sense.

Some being of white filled the space between the shadows, crouching in front of the door. All that was seen of this white silhouette was a dismembered floating grin, impossibly wide and mocking, much in the style of the Cheshire Cat. It radiated a type of sadistic maliciousness, and gave Josh the chills. He tore his eyes away, and shuddered a bit. Werewolves, vampires, and prehistoric dragon-things be damned, this was way creepier than any of the monsters they had encountered so far, and probably more dangerous.

Sophie coughed politely. Josh jumped, not expecting it, still a bit freaked out from the painting. Ed, however, had spun around in shock, eyes slightly mad and frenzied. Josh unconsciously took a step back. Then Ed's eyes finally settled on them, and those golden eyes lit up in recognition, and he calmed down.

"Ah… it's you two. Sorry, didn't notice you coming in."

No duh.

He shifted a bit, and the atmosphere was filled with awkward silence. Ed was acting embarrassed, like a kid caught trying to sing. Josh couldn't really understand shy. These paintings were amazing. Granted, they were a bit unsettling to look at, but rather than tarnishing its brilliancy, it just added to it.

Sophie, however, seemed to understand. She nervously cleared her throat, and then spoke up.

"Ah, we'll just, um, wait for you in the living room then?"

Ed looked extremely grateful and relieved, and nodded. "Danke. I'll be there in a bit. Just have to clean up, ja?"

The twins bobbed their heads, feeling a bit flustered. This room felt intimate, as if no one but Ed was supposed to know about it. So the twins didn't so much leave as slowly flee with dignity, glad to get out of the oppressive atmosphere.

Ed slowly stood up, and mechanically started cleaning up the area, putting brushes and paints away. He cursed himself for becoming so immersed in his work. It couldn't be helped, though. Hopefully the two would just think of the paintings as scenes from his imagination, instead of events that really happened. Normally, he wouldn't be worried about people mistaking these paintings as reality, but as he said before, these two were quite different. He sighed. It was time to face the crowd.

He found the two in the sitting room again. The boy was pacing, while the girl fidgeted on the couch. He braced himself a bit, and then pushed open the door. The two siblings immediately looked up. Josh stopped pacing.

"Sorry for making you wait," Ed apologized. Sophie quickly dismissed it.

"No, no, it's okay! It's not like we told you when we'd be coming or anything, so we were kinda intruding anyway. And you already are doing us a great favor by teaching us, and stuff…." She trailed off. Her brother took over from there.

"Dude, your paintings were amazing! You seriously got some mad art skillz. Plus the fact that you speak really good English." He paused, and then sent a questioning look at Ed, who mentally sighed. More explanations were in order, it seemed.

"Your compliments are accepted, but it was really only through hard work that I achieved that ability. As for mein English…" His voice trailed off a bit, then strengthened in volume. "Mein bruder and I had originally been planning to move to America, so we studied English before we left. However, Al died before we could leave, so I never did end up moving to America, though I did continue to improve at mein language skills."

The two were silent, Sophie shuffling her feet, embarrassed at touching upon what she perceived as a delicate subject, and Josh filing away the fact that Ed's deceased brother's name was Al.

Ed then straightened up. "Now, we said you're here to learn physics, right?"

The two nodded uncertainly. Ed smirked. "But before you do that…"

Josh wiped the sweat off his brows. This was ridiculous. It was impossible. And it was deadly.

They were set to work with their task of cleaning the house before the lessons, but Josh secretly suspected Ed trying to kill them. Why else would he charge them with such a task? Everyone moment spent trying to overcome teetering piles of books was a moment of possible death. True, they only had to clean one room today, but still.

Sophie had found a clean scarf, which she had tied over her nose and mouth. Josh wondered if he should do the same. The dust was enough to give anyone with dust allergies a heart attack.

But the biggest problems were the books. Even if they organized the books,, where the Hell would they place them? The best they could do is straighten them up and pile them on the same table, and pray that they wouldn't be crushed to death in the process. He recalled the headlines he had thought up of earlier that day, and modified them a bit. "VISITING TWINS CRUSHED TO DEATH BY DICTIONARIES".

Sophie gasped. Josh looked over, concerned. Even though he was the younger twin, he had always considered Sophie his 'little sister', so he had always tried to look out for her.

"Hey, Soph, you 'kay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," was Sophie's shaky reply. He looked at her, but her back was to him. She was standing over a somewhat-cleared but incredibly dusty desk, a broom clutched in one hand.

Josh shrugged. Nothing seemed wrong, so he went back to work. He never noticed his sister slipping a piece of paper into her pocket.

The most sadistic man in the world stood in the doorway.

Ed surveyed the room. "Not bad, not bad at all," he said, though whether it was to himself or for the siblings' benefit was unclear.

The books, which had once been all over the place, were now all stacked neatly in different piles. Various documents and newspaper clippings were in separate folders. The once dusty room had undergone some drastic changes.

The two tired workers lay on the ground, wheezing and panting from exhaustion.

Josh wiped his sweaty brow, and then looked up at Ed.

"So are we done yet?"

Ed offered his hand to Josh, then helped him up. He did the same for Sophie.

"Yup. You guys deserve a break. I'll bring along some refreshments, and you guys just rest."

He left the room.

Josh flopped back onto the ground. 'Geez, I hope we don't have to do this for every lesson. Or at least that not every room was like this one."

Sophie sat down next to him, legs outstretched. She shifted her weight a bit then said, "I agree. This place makes your room look positively neat. How did he survive so long with a place like this?"

"My question is how in the world did he accumulate so much books and dust?"

Sophie looked away. "I have an idea," she said softly, "but I'll tell you back at the inn."

Before her brother could ask her to explain further, Ed reentered the room, bearing a tray full of iced drinks. "Good job, guys. You just rest up. When you're ready, I'll be in the living room."

The two of them gratefully accepted the drinks. Sprawled on the ground, they looked like something the cat might've brought in. After the refreshments, however, they felt revitalized.

Getting up, they found Ed in his room like he promised. Several textbooks were spread out around him. He gestured to the chairs next to him.

"So what do you know about physics?" He asked. Sophie and Josh shifted a bit.

"Well, we're in high school, and don't learn physics until next year, but our parents thought we should get ahead, so they sent us off for the summer with their friends the Flemmings…."

Technically it wasn't a lie. At school, the freshmen studied Biology. Then, the next year, the sophomores (which they were) would study chemistry, and it wasn't until junior year that they could take physics. In addition, it was true that the Newmans were always telling their children that they should get ahead and study things ahead of time.

Ed sighed. Looked like he was going to have to start from scratch then. No matter, they did help clean up his study room.

"Get ahead? Oh, you'll get ahead all right. By the time I'm done with you you'll know rocket-science leveled physics!

(line break)

The duo trudged home, both mentally and physically exhausted.

"Bleh… I'm sore all over. This is worse than the time Scathatch was teaching me how to use Clarent."

Sophie winced. "That bad, huh? Though I'm starving as well, almost as if we took three consecutive leygates."

Her brother shuddered. "I'm hungry too. Let's go back to the inn and order some food."

Halfway there, however, they received a surprise.

Standing on the path was Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel.

Nicholas was currently wheezing. He definitely was getting too old for this.

"We returned to town to find you guys gone. The innkeeper said that you might be at this Elric guy's house, and pointed us in this direction. What have you two been doing?"

Josh ignored the question. "What are you doing back here so soon? I thought you'd be gone for at least a few days longer!"

Perenelle caught up to her husband. Although her hair was just as grey as Nicholas, she didn't seem the least bit winded.

"We just went to a few old haunts to gather some notes and information. Everything was exactly where it should be, and we encountered no monsters or immortals, so we finished up without a problem. In fact, we weren't planning on finishing so soon."

"The village is still intact, I see," Nicholas commented wryly. Sophie rolled her eyes. Josh just clenched his fists and kept silent.

"We were going back to the inn for some food," Sophie explained.

"Then you can inform us what you've been up to for the past few days then," Perenelle replied.

Josh wanted to groan. They just got back and were already nagging at them! Geez, why couldn't they have some peace?

So the group (Quadrio? Quartet?) tromped back to the inn. Josh's initial enthusiastic mood had twisted into something else. He stared moodily at the ground the whole way back, and everyone was silent, wrapped up in their own thoughts.

Halling greeted them at the inn door.

"I see you found them," he addressed the Flamels. He then turned to the twins. "How was Edward anyway? Did he help at all?"

"Oh, yes," Sophie replied with a bright smile. "He taught us loads. My head feels so crammed!"

Halling smiled back. "That is gut. Would you like a chicken dinner tonight to celebrate?"

Josh moaned. "Any food would be wonderful right now."

Halling laughed and promised to whip something up pretty soon. Then the group returned to their rooms.

"So why exactly were you two way out in the woods?"

Josh flopped into an armchair, while Sophie plopped herself onto the bed. The two adults seemed to prefer standing.

"We were just learning physics, you know, just to strengthen our cover," Sophie explained. Josh stretched in his place, yawning, then elaborated, "You know, Ed really knows what he's talking about. He said that he studied rocket physics, and I don't think he's lying."

"Really?" Flamel asked, interest peaked. "Maybe I'll go with you guys tomorrow and talk to him. He sounds like an intelligent young man."

After some more boring, irrelevant discussion, the two Flamels left, leaving the brother and sister in relative peace.

Sophie stood up and walked to the doorway. She peeked her head out, and then seeing no one in the immediate area, closed the door. Then she walked over to where her brother was lounging.

"Hey, Josh? Can I show you something?"

He looked up. "Hmm? Sure?"

Sophie pulled a slightly crinkled piece of paper out of her pocket. It was old and yellow, and looked kind of brittle. Closer inspection revealed that it was an old newspaper clipping, all in German, of course.

She offered it to her brother. Josh took a look, and then shrugged. "So?"

Sophie's voice was shaky. "Look at the date, then at the photo."

Josh looked back at the piece of newspaper. Dates are universal. Oktober 1919. This paper was about 90 years old.

He quickly scanned through the article. There was nothing that he could understand, which kind of was a given. Then he flipped the clipping over. The photo was in black and white (white being a relative term, of course. It was more yellow), but the two eyes fiercely gazing at the reader were unmistakable. He hadn't even changed much. The boy in the photograph, over 90 years ago, was no one other than Edward Elric.

Lalala... Corny cliffhanger end is corny and cliche. Oh well. I'll probably update within another two weeks, if high-school doesn't get to me.

Review, review, and review! XD