Disclaimer - I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist

Chapter Twenty - Ed's Confession

Nick was alone in the First Branch of the National Library, searching for information on the legendary Philosopher's Stone, when he heard the door open. Since State Alchemists were the only ones with access to the First Branch, Nick was instantly curious.

The boy glanced up when he heard the sound of footsteps coming toward him. Nick was thoroughly shocked when he saw who it was that was walking toward the table where he sat. "What are you doing here Dad?" Nick asked. "And for that matter, how did you gain access? I thought only State Alchemists were allowed inside the First Branch."

"Normally that's true," Ed replied as he sat down beside his son. "However since I'm a former State Alchemist and since I know the librarian, she made an exception."

"So back to my initial question. Why are you here?"

Ed sighed. "I finally managed to coerce your Uncle Al into telling me what he knew about the reasons you had for joining the State Military. And once I had that information I knew that I had to come and talk to you."

"Save it. I'm not quitting the military and I'm not coming home until I've finished what I started."

"I know," Ed said, completely shocking his son. "I didn't come to order you to come home. I came to give you some information that may prove useful in your search for the homunculus."

Nick's eyes widened in surprise.

Ed gazed around at the stack of books that were on the table where Nick sat and a knowing look appeared in his eyes. "So you've met others, haven't you?"

"Others?" Nick was confused.

"Other homunculi," Ed clarified. "The strange people who keep popping up during your missions and attempting to guide you, and others like you, toward the Philosopher's Stone."

"How did you know about that?" Nick asked.

"Because the same thing happened to me when I was a State Alchemist," Ed replied. "And although I initially joined the State Military with a different objective I eventually ended up tracking the homunculi, just like you."

"You were tracking homunculi?" Nick asked, his eyes wide.

Ed nodded.

"Why would you do that?"

Ed took a deep breath and gazed sadly at his son. He had been trying to avoid telling his son about his mistakes and yet he knew that it was way past time that he did. "I did it because I had created one of them, the assistant of the apparent leader of the group of homunculi who were after the Philosopher's Stone so that they could use it to become human."

Nick gasped. "YOU created a homunculus?"

Ed nodded. "Your Uncle Al and I attempted to resurrect our mother when we were young and the result was your uncle lost his body, although we eventually managed to get that back, I lost an arm and a leg and a homunculus was born."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"It wasn't something I thought you should know," Ed said. "I never thought you'd be placed in a similar situation and even when you began studying alchemy I didn't think the knowledge of what Al and I had done would benefit you in any way."

"So that explains why I didn't know about it during my childhood," Nick said. "But you didn't tell me after Harmony's death, not even after I failed to resurrect her."

"And for that I will always feel guilty. I should have told you about my mistake when I noticed that you blamed yourself for Harmony's death, yet I did not. And then you attempted human transmutation and still I didn't tell you, which was a mistake. I realize that now but I still wanted to shelter you from the knowledge of what you had created."

"And now what I created, and others like it, are after me because they want me to create the Philosopher's Stone."

"Correct," Ed said. "And I feel compelled to warn you; do not attempt to create the Stone."

"Why not? There are so many things that I could do, if only I could forge a Stone. With the Philosopher's Stone you can bypass the law of Equivalent Exchange."

"No, you can't." Ed told the boy. "That is the true myth of the Philosopher's Stone. There is an exchange for the powers of the Stone and it's too great a price to pay. And it stems from the process used to make the Stone."

Nick stared at his father expectantly.

"The Philosopher's Stone can only be created by using live people, in mass numbers."

Nick gasped. "And I was actually looking for a way to create the Stone. I could have. . ."

The boy was horrified at the thought of what he had almost done.

Ed shook his head. "No you couldn't. No matter how you found out, I'm confident that once you realized what the Stone was made of you would have ceased all efforts to forge it."

"So all the research I've done concerning the Stone was a waste of time." Nick bowed his head. "Well that's depressing. That means I'm no closer to my goal than I was the day I joined the military. I put up with all of their shit for nothing. ARRR!"

Just the thought of what he'd endured at the hands of the military was, even under normal circumstances, enough to set him off. And the fact that he'd put up with it for no reason really set his blood boiling.

"I can't help you find the homunculi," Ed said with a feeling of extreme sympathy for what his son was enduring. "But once you find them you hold the key to destroying one of them already."

"I do?"

Ed nodded. "Do you still have the locket that Aiya gave you after you joined the military?"

"Yea." Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out a thin gold chain, with a heart shaped locket hanging from it. "Although what this has to do with the homunculi is beyond me."

"Good," Ed said. "Homunculi are weak against anything connected with the person whose failed resurrection gave them birth. And since that locket belonged to Harmony and contains a lock of her hair, it will be a powerful weapon against the homunculus that you created. All you have to do is confront it with the locket and it will become immobile."

Nick gazed down at the small locket that he held in his hand. "I can use this to defeat the homunculus?"

"Yes. Since homunculi are merely recreations of once living people they are weak against any part of the body of the person whose failed resurrection gave them birth. And the locket that Aiya gave you contains a lock of Harmony's hair. Unfortunately, in order to have the same power over the other homunculi, you'll have to find out who attempted to bring them back to life and get an item from their former bodies. Sorry I couldn't be of more help."

"Don't say that," Nick said, placing the locket back in his pocket. "You've been a tremendous help. Thanks."

Ed smiled. "On the bright side, you don't have to have that power in order to destroy them. There is an array designed to seal a homunculus and I can show you how to draw it. The problem with that is that in order to seal them you have to somehow get the homunculus to stand still on top of the array long enough to activate it."

"Show me," Nick said, excited about the prospect of having a weapon that he could use against the homunculi. He rummaged through his research material until he finally found a blank sheet of paper. Nick offered the paper and a pencil to his dad.

Ed nodded, accepting the paper and pencil that Nick offered to him.

"Now this is a fairly complicated array," Ed told his son as he drew. "However you're such a prodigy that it really won't make any difference. Just make sure that you don't mess it up because that could prove to be a very costly mistake."

"Right," Nick said, nodding his head.

A/N - and now Nick knows the truth. Hope you enjoyed this little chapter. til next time this is Hitsu-taichou signing out.