"The Philosopher's Stone? No I don't know much about it," Izumi was currently residing in one of the four chairs in the kitchen where the six of them had gathered to talk over a cup of tea (Dean still eating his sandwich). "It holds no interest for me."

On the way to the shop Al had filled Sam in on the their idea to ask Izumi about what she possibly knew regarding the Stone. Sam had been nervous about it at first, believing it to be dangerous to ask too many people about it knowing that question like that got around and someone on the wrong side could mess things up. But Izumi and Sid were trustworthy if not anything else, and they were close with the Elrics after all. It was possible they knew something about it…..or at least the boys' had believed she did, but now that hope was gone.

"I see, okay," Ed had responded calmly, but Sam could sense his disappointment with her answer.

A hush had fallen over the room for a moment as each of them digested what was said, and then Sid offered a bit of trivia of his own.

"There was that one alchemist. I thought that one man from Central knew a good amount about the Stone."

The Winchesters and Elrics both perked up at that exact moment, Ed choosing to address Sid's comment, "So who was this guy?"

"Let me think," Izumi placed a thoughtful hand to her chin. "What's his name? Ah….Hohenheim."

The moment the name left her lips, Alphonse gasped and Edward's expression degraded from a jovial state to a look you'd sometimes see on a child that's just been told his favorite toy was broken. He'd gone rigid all over, gloved hands clenching into fists, his breath hissing through his teeth.

Izumi frowned at his reaction, but it was out of concern rather than disapproval. "What is it?"

Edward didn't look up to face her, instead he kept his eyes trained to the floor. "Then he's alive."

Dean looked at him sideways, "Someone you know?"

Ed didn't answer, so Al took the moment to explain. "He's our father."

Izumi did a small intake of breath upon hearing that, "The one who ran out on you when you were little?"

Now Ed spoke, and his voice held the same level of rage that Sam remembered from the altercation with Freezer. "Yeah that's the one."

Sam and Dean exchanged glances just then, both fully understanding of the Elric's reaction to the news. It may have been a few years but Sam remembered with clarity all the times he and dad had fought, and even more than that he remembered the countless nights without their father. Sam felt like there was still some parts of his father he had no clue about, simply because so much time with him had been lost over the years. It had made him both angry and hurt that his father had never really been around. After losing him Sam had begun to realize that John's absence, along with the choices he'd made, may have not made sense before but after his death it was like pieces of the puzzle had fallen into place. He hoped like hell the Elrics would never have to suffer through losing their only remaining parent to understand him better, but at the moment it appeared that Hohenheim's death was all he could hope for.

"It's all because of that bastard that our mother's dead," Edward went on to say, "...and…..if it wasn't for him…." He left the statement hanging, unable to finish as he became lost in a painful memory.

Alphonse took the moment to steer the conversation away from discussing their mother, Edward obviously not being of a proper state to talk about it without becoming even more upset. "Um…did our dad say anything about the Philosopher's Stone?"

Izumi resumed what Sam was becoming to recognize as her "thinking position" with the one hand on her chin, "Something about a life-long dream coming true. He seemed very happy when he said it." She glanced over at Ed and, frowning upon seeing him still in a state of rigid anger, instantly picked up on Al's attempt to thwart discussing painful topics and planted a fist firmly on the top of Edward's head.

"Now we're going to eat!" she responded with vehemence, ignoring Edward's whiny "Okay!" and chose to direct her disapproving glare at Dean. He'd just swallowed the last of his sandwich and was now looking at her with a sheepish expression, shifting his weight uncomfortably.

"I eat a lot," he tried to explain, stuffing his hands in his pockets and sinking against the wall. Sam would've laughed had it not been for the fact that it just didn't seem the right place for it.

They ate their dinner with gusto, Dean maintaining his previous statement by loading up a plate full, though Sam was sure that it was more or less his way of appeasing to Izumi. Alphonse naturally couldn't eat, but the only ones that knew why were not planning on revealing anything of it at the time, so when Sid commented that Al wasn't eating, they allowed the younger Elric to make some excuse that he wasn't hungry. Sam attempted to help him out a bit by changing the subject, so he made the suggestion that the Elrics should tell Izumi and Sid about the birth they'd witnessed in Rush Valley. It was certainly something to watch Ed and Al gush over the event, instantly becoming separated from the hardships of the world…..if only for a few minutes.

The moment the topic had been brought up about the birth, Sid had immediately cast a glance at his wife, searching her expression as though he expected her to chastise the boys or something. But instead she'd sipped calmly at her tea, agreeing with the boys in their opinion on how amazing the incident was and how giving birth was such a blessed thing to behold. Even though she remained pleasantly tranquil with discussing the subject, there was a kind of sadness in her eyes that had Sam wondering briefly if Izumi had ever had a child. She certainly couldn't be expecting one, not with her coughing up blood every now and then.

After dinner they'd each gone to their separate rooms, Dean and Sam choosing to room up in Sam's designated room while the Elrics stayed in Dean's room. Sam knew that Dean would hate having to sleep on the floor, even though it was Sam's room Dean still felt it necessary to rock-paper-scissors to see who got the bed and who was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Paper beats rock and Sam was settling in his bed while Dean grumbled his way through arranging blankets on the small army-cot-sized mattress.

"What d' you think will happen once she finds out?" Sam attempted to break the silence with the obvious question that had been dangling amongst the four of them since the Elrics' arrival.

"About what? That Ed is the Terminator and that makes Al Iron Man?" Dean punched his pillow a few times to get it just the way he liked it. "I don't know. I'm just glad it's not me that has to tell her. Have you seen the way she fights Sam?" he whistled just then to emphasize his admiration for their teacher's fighting skills.

Sam sighed heavily, placing his hands behind his head as he stared thoughtfully at the ceiling. "I wonder how Bobby's doing."

"He'll call us when he finds something."

"I just hate being so distant from so many resources," Sam replied irritably, allow some of his annoyance with their other-worldly situation to seep through.

"Like what your precious iPad?" Dean chuckled and wiggled further into the covers. "I have an idea, why don't you go explain to these people about the Internet, maybe that'll speed things up."

"This isn't funny Dean."

"Damn right it isn't," Dean fired back. "Dude I am just as pissed as you are about this whole situation, I'm just not bottling it up like you do, which isn't good for you by the way. If you want to let out some steam I suggest you apply it to your fighting the next time you have to spar with Dragon Lady."

Sam made a huffing sound, "Either way this is going to take longer than I thought it would."

"And I'm guessing that little resolution has to do with the fact that apparently it takes more than a year to learn the up's and down's of alchemy and oh…let's not forget…..the fucking chemistry exams that go along with it!"

"Keep your voice down!" Sam whispered urgently.

"And here's another thing," Dean went on, his voice gaining an octave, "Let's say we master this alchemy shit and we become somewhat savvy alchemists. How the hell does this stuff help us get back to our own world?"

"It's a start."

"It's bullshit is what it is," Dean snorted. "Dude I didn't leave school just to go looking for it somewhere else. And I sure as hell didn't sign on to learning how to transmute little birdies out of wood, or sitting on our asses when god-only-knows-what is going on back in our world. I feel like a freaking sitting duck here okay Sam?"

"And you think I don't feel the same way? I hate being here Dean but we've got to make due with what we've got or suffer for it."

"The only 'suffering' I've witnessed so far is you collapsing from a mental blow," Dean was getting nasty at this point but he couldn't seem to stop himself. "But hey, since you're fine and all I guess that's nothing to worry about right?"

"I'm handling it," Sam responded firmly, growing weary of the turn the conversation had taken.

"Sure you are," Dean countered. "You honestly don't think I can't hear you mumbling in your sleep every night?"

"Mumbling?"

"Oh yeah Sammy, you're Harry-freaking-Potter in…..what was that movie again?"

"Order of the Phoenix."

Dean shook his head and scoffed, "Yeah you're the dork alright."

"What's your point Dean?"

"My point is I'm sick of you acting like everything's okay when it isn't," Dean admitted in a lecture-ly tone. "I'm also sick of you pretending you're okay when you're obviously not."

Sam huffed at him, "What do you want me to do? I'm handling it okay?"

"Then give me something, anything!" Dean retorted in an exasperated fashion. "Just give me a hint of what's going on in that noggin of yours because if you don't and it comes back to bite us in the ass later….how the hell am I supposed to help you Sam? Tell me, how?"

Sam hated this, hated it when Dean tried to "fix" him as if it were that easy, like all those times he'd locked him up in the panic room thinking it would help put a stop to what the demon blood was doing to him. But it hadn't. It had done permanent damage to him, both physically and mentally, and nothing Dean did could ever fix that. Now he was trying to fix Sam's broken mind, but this time he wasn't doing it forcefully, but the firmness of his declarations and the way he spoke of Sam's little predicament felt very similar to Dean's previous methods of "fixing". So much so that Sam was reflexively against being helpful.

"Don't try to help okay?" he tried to say it as calm and peacefully as he could. "It's okay. I'm okay. It's nothing I can't handle."

Dean stared at him hard, as though expecting Sam to instantly retract his bravado and succumb to acting helpless, but eventually he rolled over onto his side facing the wall mumbling something along the lines of "yeah right". But he said no more.

Truth be told, Sam had barely felt any urges to pass out or anything since their alchemy mission had officially begun. So he wasn't really lying in that regard, however he had been having some intense dreams lately, which would explain Dean's comment on his mumbling in his sleep, but he wasn't quite up to dwelling on that just now. After spending a year in the Pit it was only natural that he'd have some nightmares about it, he was only human after all.

The next morning proved to be as equally eventful as the previous afternoon. While Sam and Dean, joined by Sid, were eating breakfast (Dean ignoring Sam and vice versa), there was a small commotion outside. Sam was beginning to wonder if this was to become a common occurrence with the Elrics, not a dull moment to be had. Sam was about to ask Sid what could possibly be going on, but the older man seemed to have sensed his silent question anyway.

"Izumi found out about what happened to the Elrics," he explained in his deep voice, munching on a sausage link.

"You mean she knew about it before they got here?" Dean inquired, a fork full of scrambled eggs half-way to his mouth.

"And apparently you did as well," Sid eyed them both suspiciously, but the calmness in his eyes showed that he wasn't the least bit phased by this bit of news, merely curious as to how they knew about it.

"Yeah Al told us," Sam explained. "We've known about it for some time now."

"Then perhaps you could explain how it happened," Sid suggested almost casually.

"What do you mean?" Dean frowned. "I thought you said you knew already."

"We know that Ed now has two automail limbs and Al's soul is attached to a suit of armor," Sid replied, taking a sip of water. "What we don't know is how things got that way."

Sam and Dean exchanged looks, Dean choosing to avoid explaining by stuffing his mouth with sausage, leaving Sam to fill in the blanks…..sort of.

"I'm guessing you'll find out soon enough. I don't think they can continue to keep it from Teacher."

"For a while it seemed we were barren….we wanted a child but couldn't conceive."

The six of them found themselves, once again, back in the kitchen, where Izumi explained how she was able to transmute without a circle. Or at least that's how Sam perceived it, his question about Ed's (and Izumi's) ability to transmute without a matrix finally being answered. From the sound of it, it was a product of attempting Human Transmutation, but from Sam's understanding pulling a stunt like that was more of a cost than a gain. So how was it that committing the ultimate taboo gave you the advantage of transmuting by simply clapping your hands together?

"When we were finally able to conceive, I ended up falling gravely ill," Izumi went on to explain how she came to attempting Human Transmutation. "And our child as well, he was not able to take a living breath in this world. And so…..I committed the taboo. As a result, I lost parts of my inner organs…..What an idiot I was."

Sam had never had a child, nor had he ever thought very long on the idea of what being a father would be like. The kind of pain that Izumi, and ultimately Sid as well, must've suffered over the loss of their one and only child was beyond his comprehension. And to have that pain magnified after losing parts of her body in an attempt to bring that child back, was more terrible than he could ever understand.

Izumi lifted her gaze to focus on the Elrics, her eyes full of a despair that stretched on through years of heartbreak. She absent-mindedly had a hand placed on her stomach, as though she could still feel her child's presence there somehow. "Now I realize I should've told you sooner…It must've been awful."

Ed reached a hand to his metal arm, clenching some of the material in his fist, his expression pained But he immediately masked his hurt with a forced smile, attempting to keep his voice light and casual, "Nah, I did it to myself after all. It hasn't been that big a'deal actually."

"Besides," Al offered pleasantly, the task of masking his own hurt a lot easier when he needn't worry about facial expressions. "I've got this long list of things I get to look forward to eating when I have my body back. Right brother?"

"Yeah!" Ed responded with forced excitement, "it's nothing."

Izumi rose from her chair and crossed the room to place an arm around either Elric. "You darling little idiots," she pulled them into a tight embrace, her voice gentle and soft. "It's okay to hurt."

Sam glanced over to see how Dean's reaction would be, having been standing by the window the whole time. But the older Winchester's eyes were focused on the world just beyond the glass, although Sam could tell the whole conversation had hit him pretty hard. Even though Dean had only been four when their mom had died, he still remembered her and how she took such great care of the two of them. Sam had only been six months old and therefore had no actual memories of her save for what he saw of her when they'd gone back in time a few years ago.

Still though, they were equally hurting because, regardless of their differences in how they remembered her, it was still painful having to remember that she was no longer with them. Regardless that Izumi wasn't their mother by birthright, she'd taken it upon herself to be there for them as a mother could be, watching over them, feeding them, guiding them as best she could.

How nice it would be if Sam and Dean could have that. Just once he wanted to know what it was like to have something like that in your life. That took care of you the way a mother would.

Both Elrics were speechless at Izumi's embrace, but eventually the two of them let their guard down a bit, returning the embrace and having a moment's cry while she held them. They whispered their apologies to her, asking her to forgive them, Sam understanding that their apologies were not for trying to bring their mother back, but rather that they had let Izumi down in doing so. If he hadn't fully understood their respect and loyalty to their teacher, that moment sealed it.

After that things began to simmer down a bit, not much was discussed about Ed and Al's past nor what happened to the Curtis'. They ate their meals together, but resorted to meaningless topics rather than any serious subjects. Two whole days had passed, during which time Izumi had eventually called the Elrics into the kitchen for something (was it always the kitchen?). As it turned out they'd been expelled due to their mistake of attempting Human Transmutation, and Izumi had ordered them to get on the next train out of town. However thanks to a little insight from Sid, who had escorted them to the train station, the boys returned to the house less than an hour later, fully accepting whatever consequences came with attempting a friendship status with Izumi rather than that of a student-teacher. This new relationship began on the most significant question the Elrics needed answers for, and that dealt with finding a way get their bodies back. Which lead to the current discussion at hand, and one Sam had been hoping for since he learned Izumi's story.

"Al, you didn't see the Truth did you?" she asked the younger Elric.

"No, I don't even really know what that means," he answered.

"And I'd sure love to find out," Dean replied, arms folded across his chest as he propped up against the living room wall.

"You must've lost your memory from the shock," Izumi went on addressing Al's answer. "We need to get Al's memory back. His entire body was taken from him….just think what he must've seen."

"Oh yeah," Ed replied, catching onto her meaning. "We only exchanged parts of our bodies for what we saw. But Al paid the toll with his entire physical being, he must've seen more of the Truth than either of us did."

"So….if I can remember what I saw…..than we'll know how to get our bodies back?" Al inquired.

"But the memory of that thing…" Izumi began.

"That thing…." Ed piped in to say, the two of them beginning to act like kids trading scary stories over a campfire.

"What thing?" Sam asked, growing tired of playing games.

"What is it something bad?" Al queried, growing nervous.

"No it's more like…awful," Izumi gave a crooked smile now that she realized Al was getting scared.

"Yeah…and horrifying," Ed added, finding his brother's unease comical.

"What the hell is it?" Dean all but snarled, causing the trio to snap out of their momentary little fright-fest.

"It's the Truth," Ed explained, suddenly serious. "At least that's how we know it to be. When Al and I attempted Human Transmutation, we were both taken to this place…it was almost like a void…and it was in that void that I saw it…all the information in the world…..the Truth…all of it pouring into my brain all at once."

"It's what you have to pay for in your arrogance of trying to attempt Human Transmutation, a toll is required for seeing the Truth," Izumi placed a hand on her stomach, just as Ed placed a hand on his metal arm. "It's what took away some of my organs and two of Edward's limbs. It is also the reason why we are able to transmute without a matrix. Once you have witnessed the Truth, in a way you yourself become the matrix. A circle is no longer needed."

"So how is it that you can't think back on the Truth and figure out what you need to know to get your bodies back?" Sam asked Edward.

"Because I didn't get to see all of it. I was only allowed so much." Edward looked up at him with a serious look. "Seeing that much alone was overwhelming enough, any more and I could've been driven mad."

"Just like Al could be driven mad if he were to retrieve his memories of what he saw," Izumi pointed out, once again in her thinking-pose.

"That doesn't matter," Al responded firmly, gloved-hands clenched in fists. "If there's a chance it could help us, then I want to do it."

"It might also help us with our little situation," Dean suggested, exchanging looks with Sam.

"Might I ask, what is your situation?" Izumi glanced at the two of them.

"Um…." Sam began, lost for the right words that wouldn't make them sound crazier than they actually were.

"These two claim to be from some alternate dimension and they crash-landed here," Ed responded casually with a wave of his hand. "They think that learning alchemy may help them get back home."

Izumi merely stared at Ed for a moment, that famous frown once again creasing her forehead. "I see," was her only response in that regard, she quickly re-focused on Al's predicament. "Alright, I have an acquaintance that might know a way to retrieve your memory for you."

The alternate dimension topic was immediately discarded.

"But…" Izumi went on with a smile, "let's eat dinner first. Give me a hand."

"Okay!" both Elrics replied in unison before jumping up to help her.

Neither Sam nor Dean had wanted to make a scene about what Ed had told Izumi, especially since they were technically still living with her, but there was no way they were going to let him get away with just tossing it out like that. Instead they chose to wait until the following day while Izumi and Sid were busy with preparing meat packages for customers and filling out records of how many of each type of meat they had. Al was outside sweeping the walkway, and Ed was supposedly busy reading or something. But when they both went to check his and Al's room he wasn't there.

"You think he's outside?" Sam asked Dean as they both stood staring at the empty bedroom.

"I'd prefer it if he was, I don't want to get blood on the carpet. Teacher will kill us if we do," Dean and Sam turned to walk back down the hallway towards the front door of the shop.

"Look I'm just as pissed as you are that he just blurted that out," Sam reminded him sternly. "But we can't go beating the kid up. Not unless you want Teacher kick our asses in return."

"It'd still be worth it," Dean pointed out, reaching over to open the shop door. They stepped outside to find a clear blue sky, almost cloudless, the sun shining gloriously shining….and no Alphonse.

"They can't be inside, we would've seen them," Sam scanned the streets thinking that maybe Al had taken a walk or something.

"Or he's skipping out of sweeper-duty," Dean strode forward a few feet, bent over and straightened, picking Izumi's broom from sidewalk.

Sam did a slow inhale-exhale, trying not to think of the worst…and failing. "What do you think?"

Dean shook his head, "I'm thinking I'm going to be pissed if I end up finishing the job for him." Which pretty much settled it for Sam.

Ed and Al were gone.