Chapter Two: The Price of Life

Rain's face frowned while Alphonse looked down and Edward's eyes were shadowed.

"I see. Now I understand who you are. It was always a mystery why a mere brat had a fearsome alias like "FullMetal." Look at them, Rose! Those two dared to do the one thing forbidden to alchemists. The unspeakable crime of Human Transmutation."

Rose cringed in fear. "They committed the worst possible sin!" Cornello yelled while grinning evilly. Rain glared at Cornello while Edward grunted and threw his now torn red trench coat on the ground.

'He made wings out of wax so he could fly, but when got too close to the sun, to god, the wax melted and he crashed to the ground.'

- Flashback -

"Al! Al!." An 11 year-old Edward yelled while running and looking for his younger brother. "Hey, Alphonse!" He yelled again.

"What is it, big brother?" Alphonse asked as he closed the book he was reading.

"LOOK! We can't go wrong using this theory!" Edward said laying down a picture of a certain transmutation circle.

"No way. Is this...?" Alphonse started as Edward nodded.

"It is! This says how to do it! We can bring mom back from the dead!" Edward yelled with happiness as Alphonse smiled as well.

"We never had any doubts about doing it. Our mother was so kind, the kindest person in the world, all we wanted was just to see our mother's smile again. Even if it meant breaking the laws of alchemy, that was the only reason we were studying alchemy after all. But the resurrection failed. When it failed, m brother lost his left leg, and I had my whole body taken. I lost conscious for a while, until the next thing I saw when I opened my eyes, was this armor body and a sea of blood."

"Brother?" Alphonse asked as he got up. He looked to see his body was different. It was armor.

"Heh, heh...sorry, Alphonse." Edward said as he chuckled in pain. "All I could get for one arm was your soul." Edward said as he grasped his now missing arm.

"Brother, why?"

- End of Flashback -

Rain looked down as her bangs covered her eyes and Rose cringed in fear.

"Even after the horrible injury of losing his left leg, my older brother exchanged his right arm for my soul and put it in this suit of armor." Alphonse said.

Edward closed his eyes and smirked. "Heh. The two of us tried to resurrect one person and this is what happened. This is what it takes to raise the dead, Rose." Edward said as he looked straight at Rose. Rose flinched back.

"Heh Heh Heh! And you call yourself a state alchemist?! Don't make me laugh!" Cornello yelled while laughing.

Edward's vein pulsed. "Shut up! You're just a third-rate hack who can't do anything without that stone!"

"More likely, an old fart..." Rain muttered as she glared at him, loud enough for Edward and Alphonse to hear. Edward and Alphonse chuckled.

"I see, I see. So that's why you want the philosopher's stone. Good idea. If you used this, you might be able to transmute humans for real eh?" Cornell asked chuckling.

"Don't get the wrong idea, baldy! The reason we want the stone is to get our original bodies back. Besides, we still don't know if it'll even be able to do that." Edward said smirking while gripping his auto-mail arm.

"Father, I'll ask you again. Give us the stone before you get hurt." Alphonse said, motioning his hand up for the stone.

"Heh heh...you fools are the ones who came too close to god and fell to earth. If that's the case, then this time I'll make sure to send you to god permanently!" Cornello yelled as he transmuted a gun and started shooting toward the boys and Rain.

Edward grabbed Rain and pulled her behind him and transmuted a wall. "Sorry. God doesn't like me very much. Even if I went, he'd probably chase me away!" Edward said laughing. Rain gave a little smile.

"Tch." Cornello grunted, but then saw Alphonse getting Rose. "Why you!" He started shooting Alphonse who ran toward Edward and Rain.

"Al! Let's get out of here!" Edward said as he grabbed onto Rain's wrist and lead the way toward the door.

"Fools! The exit is rigged. Only I can open it from up here!" Cornell yelled while grinning.

Edward let go of Rain's wrist and clapped his hands and slammed them onto the wall beside the sealed door. "Oh? Is that so? If there's no door, I'll have to make one!" Edward said as he rammed into his new door he transmuted. He grabbed Rain's wrist again and ran down the hall with Rain and Alphonse. Alphonse was carrying Rose.

"Don't just stand there! Go after them!" Cornello yelled at his guards. "They're pagans who want to destroy our religion! Get them! Hurry!" Cornello ordered.

All the men in the church gathered around the upcoming runaway group. "There you are! Hey, you! Stop!" One of the men commanded.

"Hey, you little runt. Are you gonna take us all on empty handed?" One of the guys asked. "Might as well give yourself up before you get hurt." He said.

Edward grinned and clapped his hands. He grinned evilly as he transmuted his arm into a sword. One said with rigged edges and the other straight and sharp. The men that surrounded, Alphonse, Rose, Rain and Edward screamed in terror. "AHH!"

BAM! Rain dropped down and tripped two of the guys that was behind Edward. Alphonse kicked one of the guys that was leading the new group toward them. "'Scuse us!" He yelled as he ran past them. Edward and Rain followed.

They were about to run past a room, but Edward stopped and peaked into the room. "Huh? What's this?" He asked, Rose.

"The broadcasting room. This is where Father Cornello delivers his sermons over the radio." Rose explained.

"Oh really..." Edward held his hand up to his chin and thought with an evil glint in his eyes.

"Uh-oh. He's got a bad idea.' Alphonse thought. Rain sweat dropped while Rose looked at him weird.

"Rose, go with Alphonse. Rain, stay here with me. Help me with this stuff." He said as he headed into the room with Rain following.

"Let's go." Alphonse said as he headed out the door with Rose following.

- Alphonse and Rose -

"About what you were saying before, I can't believe you have to do all that to perform alchemy." Rose said.

"I told you. The foundation of alchemy is the "Equivalent Exchange." To obtain something, something of equal value must be lost." People call my brother a genius, but the reason he's so good at it is he paid the price and worked so hard." Alphonse explained.

"But because you sacrificed so much, you must have been able to bring back your mother." Rose said.

"The thing we bought back wasn't even human anymore." Alphonse said as he continued transmuting the speakers to the bell. Rose flinched.

- Flashback -

"Nooo! How did this happen?! Big brother your theory was flawless!" Alphonse said.

"yeah, there weren't any mistakes in the theory. We were the ones who made this mistake." Edward said as he clutched onto his missing arm.

- End flashback -

"We've given up on transmuting humans, but my brother still wants to get my original body. I'd like to make my brother's body the way it was too. But like I said before, the risk's are high, so we might end up even worse, or lose our lives. That's the way things are in this business. Rose, that's why you can't choose this path." Alphonse said. Rose looked down at the ground and gulped.

- Edward and Rain -

Edward sighed as he sat on top of the desk. Rain stood behind the desk. "Old man is taking too long." Edward said as a vein popped.

BAM!

"You little runt, you're not getting away!" Cornello said as he leaned against the door grasping for air.

"Just give up, will you? News of your trickery will spread throughout the town in no time anyway." Edward said sighing as he gave him an irritated look.

"Shut up! Everyone within this church is under my direct control! They'd never believe a stupid follower if she contradicted me!" Cornello yelled.

"My, my. I feel sorry for those poor followers of yours." Edward said.

"Followers are just pawns to use for war! I don't have time to be sorry for mere pawns! If I ask them to, they'll die happy and fulfilled, believing that they did it for god! I'll mass-produce them! Limitless fanatics, from the masses of idiots who can't even tell alchemy from miracles!" Cornello yelled as Edward smirked and rested his head on the fist of his auto-mail hand. Rain sighed and gave Cornello a bored look. 'Yup. He definitely fell for it.' Rain thought.

"Did you think that you could stop my plans so easily!? You underestimated the power of blind faith!" Cornello said laughing evilly.

Edward's smirk grew wider. Then he started laughing. Rain followed. She grasped her stomach as she laughed and Edward tapped his head while laughing.

"What's so funny?!" Cornello asked.

"That's why I keep saying you're third-rate baldy!" Edward said as his eyes shadowed under his bangs as he kept laughing. Rain nodded. "I agree, but I'd call you old fart." She said laughing.

"You little brats! How dare you insult me!" Cornello said angrily as a vein popped.

"Know what this is?" Edward asked pointing to the box that Rain held up with an on and off switch.

Cornello looked at the box and down the floor where the microphone was. He looked at the box again and it said, ON.

"You! YOU COULDN'T HAVE! YOU LITTLE RATS!"

~ Outside ~

The bell rung out throughout town.

Alphonse held the large bell as Cornello's voice could be heard throughout the town. Rose was flabbergasted as well as the town.

"How long has that switch been?!" Cornello asked.

Rain laughed in the background. "From the very beginning. You just exposed your entire plan." Edward said.

Two old women reading books dropped their books after what they just heard on the radio.

The men inside the church sweat dropped.

The manager at a restaurant along with the customers stared at the radio in shocked. The manager had the pitcher still pouring the coffee in the one the customer's cup.

The people walking around town stopped and looked at the speaker in the bell.

"What?! You dumb brats. I'm going to kill you two!" He said as he tried transmuting his stick into a gun.

"Too slow!" Edward said as he transmuted his auto-mail arm into a sword on top of his hand. He sliced the gun in half.

"Didn't I tell you? There's no comparison between us." Edward said as he stood in a stance in front of Rain.

"I won't give up! As long as I have this stone I can make miracles again and again!" Cornello yelled as he tried transmuting the half gun into a whole one, only to have his hand transmuted along with it.

"GAAAGGHH MY ARM! MY ARM!" Cornello yelled in pain as he crouched on the floor holding his now transmuted arm.

"Why did it...?" Edward said as he stared in disbelief. Rain looked at the arm and disguised her face with a frown.

'The old fool deserved it.' She thought as she sighed mentally. 'Father won't like this. Oh well.' She thought as she crossed her arms.

Edward marched over to Cornello and grasped him by the collar of his shirt who was crying in pain.

"SHUT UP!" Edward yelled with two veins popping as he head butted Cornello on the head. "It was just a rebound! Don't make a big deal over one or two arms! The stone! Let me see the philosopher's stone." Edward demanded.

"My..stone." Cornello said as the stone cracked in pieces and fell to the floor only to break into dust and flowing into the air.

"It broke? How could this happen? How could a pure substance like the philosopher's stone break apart?" Edward demanded.

"I don't know. I don't know anything! Nobody told me a thing! Agggh...Please spare me. I was wrong. I'm powerless without the stone. Help me." Cornello said as he held up his hands defense.

"It's a fake? After coming this far...I thought I could finally go back to normal and it's a fake?" Edward asked staggering away from Cornello as he slouched on the ground.

An imaginary spotlight showed over Edward as Rain sweat dropped. She walked over to Edward and tried to comfort him. A large gloom floated over Edward.

'Heh, heh, heh. He's not paying any attention to me. I'll get even with them even it it means giving everything to kill this one kid!' Cornello thought. He got up silently and tried to tip toe away from Edward and Rain.

"Hey. Old man." Edward said as the gloom went away and he got up and helped Rain up as well. He turned around to face Cornello.

He clapped his hand and transmuted the ground.

"First you lied to the townspeople, then you tried to kill us." The little lightning spread throughout the room. "And now, after all the trouble you put me through, you're telling me the stone was fake?!" Edward asked as a large transmuted fist showed up. Cornello yelped as the hand came out from under him.

"THIS BETTER BE SOME KIND OF JOKE!" Edward yelled as a large vein popped. A large figure was formed behind Edward and Rain. The figure loomed over Cornello. "FEEL THE IRON BLOW OF GOD'S WRATH!" Edward yelled in anger and frustration as three more large veins popped.

Cornello stared up in horror as a fist came slamming down at him. Cornello was knocked out.

Edward grunted in frustration. "Damn old man! He should be glad that he's not dead." Edward said. As he flexed his auto-mail arm. "Come on Rain." Edward said motioning Rain to follow him. Rain looked back at him and Edward. She nodded and followed him out the door.

They met up with Alphonse and Rose outside the church.

"Its a fake?" Alphonse asked as they seated on the ground.

"yeah, it was all a waste of time too. Just when I thought we were finally going to be able to get your old body back." Edward said as he sighed.

"We need to worry about you first. Auto-mail has a lot of problems." Alphonse said.

"Oh well, I guess we'll look somewhere else. Back on the road again." Edward said as he stood up and dusted his pants.

"But, there must be some mistake. I mean, they told me that he would come back to life." Rose said as she was sitting on the ground.

"Give it up Rose, it could never be done." Edward said. Rain went over to Rose and grasped her shoulder.

"What did you do to me? What do i do? What am I supposed to believe in now?! Are you going to tell me?" Rose asked as Edward and Alphonse remained silence. "Well, are you?!" Rose asked desperately.

Edward sighed. "You need to figure that out on your own. Stand up and walk. Keep going onward. At least you have strong legs to take you there." Edward said walking away with Alphonse. He looked back to Rain. "Are you staying or coming, Rain?" Edward asked as they stopped to look at Rain.

Rain looked down and sighed. She looked at Rose. She put a hand on Rose in comfort manner. "Keep moving on like Edward said. Help make things better without miracles. At least believe in something real and believe that they will happen." Rain said as she stood up. "If we're lucky enough, we may see each other again." Rain said as she gave Rose a sad smile. Tears poured down Rose's face as Rose gave a small smile. Rain turned around and walked toward Edward and Alphonse.

"I'm going with you two. I'll help a long the way with you, and I may even learn more about alchemy too." Rain said as she looked at Edward and Alphonse.

"Alright. Are you sure you're ready for the dangers we're put in?" Edward asked. Rain nodded. "I don't have anywhere else to go. I need to be useful in something and I'll to do it now." Rain said.

"Let's go." Edward said as he turned around with Alphonse and Rain following.

As the two drew farther away from the town; Edward decided to get answers out of Rain.

"So, you going to tell us where you came from?" Ed asked as Al nodded. "You are still a stranger to us." Al agreed.

Rain looked at them and back. She fixed her hood to cover head from the sun. "I travel. A lot. So I don't exactly have a home." She said.

"Hm. Well, we got time. Let's chat shall we?" Ed asked as they continued walking.

'Here comes my deception.' Rain thought as she thought of a lie to discuss with them.

- Below the church -

"I can't believe those runts ruined my plans. I won't allow it. I've invested too much in this to let it fall apart." Cornello said in frustration as he past the dead chimera which half of it's body was in bones.

"Really, you were so close and now everything's ruined." A voice said in the dark. Cornello looked ahead to see a large fat guy sitting down eating the remains of the chimera and woman sitting on his shoulder.

"Long time no see. Wish it was longer. You've caused a lot of trouble, your holiness." The woman said.

"Wh..What's the meaning of this!? The philosopher's stone that you gave me broke into pieces. How dare you give me a fake!" Cornello yelled.

"Please. Did you think we would hand over the real thing to a person like you?" The woman asked, now standing up.

"You...you said that I would be able to take over this country by using this stone." Cornello said.

"Mmm. I did say something like that, didn't I? All we wanted was for you to cause a little big of chaos in this region. That's all." The woman said as Cornello looked puzzled.

"What? You look surprised. Did you really think that a third-rate despot like yourself could become ruler of a country?" The woman asked.

"Hey Lust, can I eat this old guy? Can I?" The large fat guy asked as he grinned.

No, no Gluttony. You're going to get a stomach-ache if you eat the likes of him." Lust said. "If you eat this third-rate, no this fourth-rate fool..." She continued, but was interrupted.

"AAARRRGGG! YOU'RE ALL MOCKING ME-YOU AND EVERYBODY ELSE!" Cornello yelled as he charged toward Lust.

Lust raised her right hand and her fingers extended only to have go through his head.

"You, are no longer of any use." She said as she grinned evilly. She withdrew her extended fingers and turned away from the now dead corpse of Cornello.

"Awww. And just when things were starting to go so well. Father will be furious." Lust said as she sighed and returned her extended fingers back to normal. Gluttony picked up the guy and grinned.

"So, what should our next plan be?" Lust asked as she glanced at Gluttony.

RIP...SHRED...

"Hey, I thought I told you not to eat that." Lust said. Gluttony ignored her and kept eating.

"Wonder where that little Deception went." Lust wondered. Gluttony stopped eating at the name of Deception. "Where is she?" Gluttony asked as he left the corpse unattended.

Lust sighed. "I don't know. But right now we got to report to Father." Lust said walking away with Gluttony following.

- Edward, Alphonse and Rain -

GWOOO. The train went down the tracks fast.

"Looks like we're the only ones on board." Alphonse said as he glanced around the cart to see no one else. Rain was asleep in another seat. Edward put his trench coat on top of her.

"I've heard the rumors, but I didn't know it was this bad. Guess this isn't exactly tourist country." Edward said as he sighed. He folded the map.

"The town on the eastern border. The Youswell Coal Mines." Edward said looking out at the upcoming deserted town.

Critics and Reviews are welcome. Thank you.