A/n: ok ok ok i know that i said that i would have a chpater out soon but because the fantastic phenomena of writers block decided to come and fuck me in the arse and since i went back to school a couple weeks ago and have been bombarded homework, assignments and sleep deprivation, i still havent got the chance to write out a full chapter. so here, have this half of the next chpter, because i know for damn sure that the whole thing wouldn't have come out all together until apparenty 2020. so sorry that this full chapter hasnt come out yet and youre stuck to wait with this very short one. (and, watch out for typos because there are probably some that i have accidentally overlooked)

Ed's POV

"I don't know, ok? I'm not sure what any of it even means."

Winry sighed. "Well, you'll have to stay calm if you want to figure any of it out, ok?"

Ed sighed in response. He'd figured that deciphering the Oracle's prophecy would've been easy, especially with Winry's and even Al's brains thrown into the mix. Apparently, all it served to do was frustrate them and brought him no closer to decoding the riddled words.

"And you're sure we can't take this up with Chiron?" Al asked, leaning over Winry's workbench. The place had become a meeting grounds of sorts for the trio. "You're positive that he won't help?"

Ed ran his left hand over his hair. "Yes, I'm sure. All he was saying was that 'the Oracle's words usually have double meanings' and 'you won't understand the truth behind her words until events come to pass' and crap like that. Trust me, we're making more progress now than when I was with him."

Winry sighed once more. "Run it through us again."

"'Kay." By now Ed had recited his prophecy enough times that it'd become permanently stuck in his head.

"The sun, the flames, the wise alone

Shall seek the ones once made of bone

To give up on what you hold dear

And left with but your deepest fear

Though try to get back what was lost

An equal value is the cost."

They sat for nearly a minute more, desperately unwinding the words to find their meanings.

"Wait...the first line." Al started, breaking the deafening silence. "The sun, the flames, the wise. The only reason they'd be grouped together is..." he paused, thinking.

Winry and Ed leaned in closer, eager to hear his discovery.

Not before long, he lit up with an idea. "That's- it's talking about the gods. The gods. What else could it be? It means the gods of those three things," he explained.

"Al, that's it," Winry exclaimed. "You're a genius!"

Ed thought it through. The sun, the flames, the wise. "Apollo. Hephaestus. Athena." The blonde looked up at his friends. "I'm assuming that's us."

"Yes," Al concurred, his smile growing. "It's us! We're the ones to go on this quest."

In a heartbeat, Winry joined in on Al's joy, relieved to have finally figured out the first line. "We're going on a quest!"

In spite of his friend's growing excitement and as much as he would hate to have words to be said to himself, Ed blurted them out anyway.

"Wait, no. No, you can't come," he told Al. "You're too young."

Alphonse instantaneously stopped grinning, looking at Ed as if he slapped him across the face. Ed immediately regretted his words to the young boy.

"Ed," Al said, green orbs staring straight into golden ones, "how old do you think I am?"

The question threw Ed off a bit, but he considered it anyway. The older boy inspected the younger one, trying to guess what his age could be: he was a little shorter than Ed, and had a small body. If you look at him with the right lights and angles, you could even say that he still had some baby fat.

"Uh, Nine? Ten, maybe?" Ed guessed, looking at Winry who shrugged.

Al stayed silent.

"But that would mean you would've performed human transmutation when you were six or seven and that makes absolutely no sense since you-"

"I'm fourteen."

...What?

Al looked at Ed as if he should've already know this, like his age was common knowledge. Ed could tell that he was expecting him to say something, but all he could manage to do was stare at the younger boy bug-eyed with his mouth hanging slightly open.

"You're...what?"

"I'm fourteen," he repeated. "Well, at least I will be in a few weeks. But then technically, since I haven't slept in almost four years, mentally I'm quite a bit older."

Though still trying to comprehend the fact that he was fourteen, Ed took in his words.

Al is fourteen. Just a year younger than I am. He's fourteen. What the hell?

Ed's first reaction was to laugh or to accuse him of lying. But he stopped himself and reconsidered; this was entirely possible in his case. For almost four years, Al had been cursed to a life without almost any type of a sensation. It also meant that physically, he hadn't aged since, and never would until the curse was broken; that is, if it could be. So to that day, he still looked like the ten-year-old boy that made a stupid, careless mistake so many years ago.

And that left Al with three different ages: a young one, which his appearance took on; the growing age he should've be at if it was counted by the years; and at last the age of his mental state, both older and wiser than what his 'proper' age would be.

Ed attempted to think of something intelligent to say, but all that escaped his mouth was: "You're fourteen-" he paused- "Oh."

Al nodded.

"I'm coming on this quest, and I'm definitely old enough if you and Winry are," he decided with finality.

Ed glanced at Winry, who looked just as shocked as he felt. Without letting them dwell on Al's age, though, she continued with the project of deciphering Ed's prophecy.

"Right, uh, well. If we're gonna be the ones that have to fulfil this prophecy, the least we can do is attempt to understand it." She nodded, mostly to herself. "What does the rest all mean?"

Ed couldn't help that his mind was shocked out of the question. All that time, Al was thirteen.

Ugh, and I've been treating him like a child the whole time! He thought to himself. He must think I'm such a condescending dick. Jesus Christ, Al is almost fourteen. Gods, he's been here for more than half a year and he just let everyone think he was ten. Does Chiron know? Probably... This is gonna be weird to adjust to.

To be continued...