First of all, thank you to everyone who voted on the poll! I have decided to keep the story as it is. However, I will most likely eventually go back and make some adjustments to the previous chapters. I don't know exactly how many adjustments or how extreme they will be quite yet, so I will keep you guys posted! As a reward for being patient with me while I decided and giving me your support by voting, I tried my hardest to make this chapter longer than the others. I hope I did well! Thank you everyone! Chapter 14, here we go!

Chapter 14

~Tara's POV~

"Brother, she's waking up!"

Tara groaned and sat up slowly. She blinked her eyes open to find two faces watching her closely, both of them holding curiosity, though the shorter one turned quickly and pretended to hide it. She slowly took in the surroundings. Familiar white walls, bed in the corner. She was laying on what seemed to be the couch. Beside her was her bag along with her belongings that she had been messing around with earlier. They were scattered around the bag, her phone in a corner and the stone sitting a little ways behind it. The sight of the stone made Tara shiver slightly. It was enough of a shock to realize that she had one in her possession for the matter, but the fact that it had been used to get here was sickening to her. She had been using human lives without even knowing it. But was it really her fault? It was the secretary – No, the Truth – had forced it onto her. But she still had come over to this side, using the stone. And now she couldn't get back unless she achieved some sort of goal for Truth. "Pure of Heart.." She murmured the words quietly to herself, reminding herself of the said goal she had been sent to achieve.

"What was that?" A curious Alchemist broke into her thoughts. Apparently she had spoken louder than she had meant to. Tara looked back at him, deciding there was really no point in trying to keep anything a secret. "I had another visit with the creepy white kid."

Tara thought he got the reference, because Ed's eyes instantly narrowed and his lips curled back into a snarl. "Stupid Truth, what did he do this time?" She sighed. Here we go.

"He told me what my toll was. Apparently I did pay one."

Two heads snapped up as soon as she said "toll." Tara nodded, deciding to get straight to the point rather than wait for the blur of questions that she knew was to come. "He took my portal. My Gate, as you would call it." She shook her head. "He told me that I had to become Pure of Heart if I wanted to open it again."

Alphonse gave a light murmur of curiosity. "Pure of Heart? What does it mean?" How Tara wished she knew the answer to his question. It nagged her as well, and it frustrated her to no end that she didn't have a clue as to how to find the answer.

Keeping this in mind, she answered with a simple, "I don't know."

Al sat back on the floor, sighing. "I didn't think so.. Oh well, just more research for us, right? Something we can work on together, now that we all know about it." His voice held a small smile. Tara didn't need to see it to know it was there. He was trying to keep the mood positive, but successfully get his point across as well. She smiled back at him, grateful for the peaceful lecture.

Her smile faltered when she turned back to Edward. His eyes had hardened, cold and untrusting. "What is it?" She said slowly. "What's wrong?"

Ed scoffed. "This is all a bunch of stupid nonsense."

Tara bit her lip to hold back a sharp reply. There was a scolding reply of, "Brother," from Al, but neither the elder brother nor the girl seemed to pay much attention to it. Ed continued to glare for a minute before continuing. "You came to this side. How? Alchemy is impossible on your side of the Gate. You told us that yourself when you explained all of this crap about a story on your side that's all about us. So how did you end up here then? No one just magically starts using Alchemy because of some creepy woman at a schoolroom. It's not logical."

Time to spill some more beans. "Ready for some more shocking stuff?"

Both brothers seemed slightly taken aback, and Tara grimaced. Sure, she kept secrets, but was it really all that shocking that she was going to willingly share something..? Shaking it off, she picked up the necklace, feeling their gazes following her the entire way. She thrust the stone into Ed's face, startling him. "Do you know what this is?"

Ed studied it for a minute, then turned back to her, his gaze locking onto hers. Tara nodded to confirm his suspicions, then pulled the stone back away from his face. "Yes. It's a Philosopher's Stone. The mythical object to bypass Alchemy. The stone you've been searching for for years." She could see that Ed was struggling to decide which emotion he wanted to express from the way he simply stared at the stone. Alphonse made a small gasping sound, a sign that he was slightly shocked and quite a bit mesmerized. Tara might have found their actions a bit amusing, if it weren't for what she knew she had to do next.

Ed leaped forward, reaching for the stone. Tara stood and quickly held it out of his reach, anticipating that he might go for it. She stepped back a few feet, grasping the chain tightly and keeping it behind her back, a small glare fixed onto his eyes. Tara knew he wanted this stone so badly he could just taste it. She knew why he wanted it, and she felt absolutely terrible for not just giving it to him. However, he needed to learn why he couldn't use it. He needed to learn why he needed to find another way to bring his little brother's body back. "Edward. Stop, listen to me."

Her words seemed to have no effect on the furious Alchemist, as he lunged again. "Give me the stone! I need it! You know that I need it!"

Tara dodged again, running to the other side of the room. "I know you do! But you need to stop for a minute and think!"

Ed snarled, advancing on her again. "What the Hell is there to think about? I need that stone to get my brother's body back! You of all people should get that! You have one in plain sight. Why can't I use it!? It's right there.. Right in front of me. And all that's stopping me from getting it is you."

Tara suddenly felt a cold chill run down her spine as he finished. She was scared now. Yes, she knew that Ed wanted this stone. Needed the stone. And she would give it to him, if it weren't for what it was made of. If Tara gave the stone to him now, and he found out what the stone required later, it would inevitably make things much worse. But Ed sounded like he was about ready to kill her just to get the stone. Though Tara knew that he would never do such a thing, she felt frozen. Would he hurt her?

Luckily, a suit of armor took action right about then and grabbed Edward by the hood of his coat. "Brother, that's enough. Let her explain."

Tara expelled a huge sigh of relief as the blonde reluctantly sat down. "Thanks, Al. Now, as I was saying, Ed, you need to stop and think about this first. As much as you want the stone, you need to consider what the price of using the stone may be."

Edward sneered. "The stone doesn't need any sacrificing. It bypasses those laws."

Tara looked at him thoughtfully. "Correct.. But even then. You don't know how to properly use the stone, do you?"

She had gotten him with this one. And Edward knew it. Tara internally smirked at the scrunched up glare he was giving her. It wasn't necessarily the fact that someone had to know how to "use" a stone. Tara only wanted to keep everything on track with the timeline. In order to do so, she could not allow the Elric brothers to acquire the stone and use it. The best way to prevent that from happening was to convince them that they needed to know more about the ways of the Philosopher's stone. Besides, they would change their minds anyway, most likely. She continued, "The stone has unlimited power. However, just think. If you accidently misplace this power, some really bad things could happen, right? So isn't it best to learn a bit more before trying?"

Ed growled at her, a sure sign that Tara had won this fight. He said nothing more after that, instead simply turning away from her. Alphonse sighed and continued the conversation. "So, if we need to learn more, where do you suggest we start? We have Marcoh's notes, but the library was destroyed."

She smiled. That, at least, she could give them a straight answer on. "Go get Second Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh. I have someone you guys will probably be very pleased to meet."

~Alphonse's POV~

Alphonse was very confused when Tara led them to a small house in a cozy neighborhood of Central. She was smiling widely as she approached the door, almost as if she was extremely excited for something. Was there something in the timeline that was supposed to happen right around here? He watched her curiously as she put her hands on the door, expecting her to knock. So he was completely taken off guard when she simply flung the door open. There was a small gasp as Ross pushed past him and stared into the house. "Tara, isn't it impolite to not.."

Her words trailed off. Confused, Al stepped forward and peered into the door. What he saw shocked him. Mountains of books filled every corner of the house, some reaching all the way to the ceiling. There was barely any room to walk, it seemed. Little paths outlined the edges of the walls, though the walls were barely visible behind the bookcases that lined each square inch of each one. With the books on the shelves, on the floor, and outlining every inch of the house, Alphonse was at a loss of how a person could possibly live here. There didn't seem to be any living space at all in this house. Whoever lived in it, if someone did in fact live in it, must find it extremely hard to live in these conditions..

Tara led the group into the house without invitation. Al followed hesitantly, not exactly sure what they were looking for, until Tara yelled, "Sheska! Where are you?" So it was a person that they were looking for. He began to call the person's name as well, trying to imagine just exactly what kind of person could be able to live in a mess such as this, when Edward stopped for a second in front of him. "Sheska. I remember that name. She was the girl that worked at the first branch, wasn't she?"

Tara nodded. "Right. She might know something about the notes. I figured you guys might like to meet her."

So that was why. Al nodded, making sense of the present events. Now he was eager to meet this person, as they could hold the next lead to their research. Al called again, listening to the others as he went, glancing at the piles of books as he passed them. After a few calls, he stopped. A faint sound was coming from farther into the room. He looked around and spotted a pair of glasses on top of a pile of books. The cry came slightly louder, enough so that Al could make sense of it. "Help me!"

Al felt his stomach drop (metaphorically). Ed glanced curiously at him, so Al pointed his brother in the right direction. "Brother.. I think there's someone buried under there.."

Two seconds later, everything clicked into place. The five intruders sped forward, and the books began to fly. Alphonse dug through the pile faster than he had dug through anything in his life. By the time they were done, he was thoroughly exhausted, even though he didn't really know the feeling of tiredness. They had uncovered a girl with frazzled short brown hair, the glasses from before perched on her nose, and an extremely apologetic face. She bowed towards him, apologizing repeatedly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I accidently knocked over a mountain of books, I thought I was going to die under there!"

Tara stood up before Al had a chance to assure her it was all right. "Excuse me, Miss Sheska. My name is Tara Rishimane, and these are my friends, Edward and Alphonse Elric," She began, gesturing towards Al and his flustered brother. "We understand that you worked at the First Branch at one time, and were wondering if you found anything by a man called Tim Marcoh?"

Sheska seemed to think hard about it. Out of the corner of his eye, Alphonse saw Tara heave a sigh, seemingly of relief. Sending a questioning glance her way, Tara gave him a small wink in response. Al shoved the thought away. Maybe she would tell him later.

Sheska clapped her hands together, making Al's thoughts return to her. Sheska smiled and nodded, "Yes, Tim Marcoh! I remember! There was a book shoved into a section where it didn't belong."

Al felt his heart soar. It really had been there! He saw that his brother was feeling the same way, for Ed had jumped up, eyes shining. "It really was there!"

Their moment of glory was cruelly smashed down as the truth reminded them that the branch had burned down. This, of course, meant that the book had also burned along with the library itself. Al watched sullenly as his brother once again hit his knees and knelt on the floor in self pity. He felt the same way. There went their lead once again, so close, yet so far..

"Would you like to read them? Is that why you're asking?" Sheska's curious question once again penetrated through his gloom. Al stood, Ed following him and responding, "Yeah, but they were burned up along with the library." He began to walk towards the door. Al followed him, but stopped as Tara caught his gaze again, smirking slightly.

A minute later, Alphonse realized why. Sheska spoke out again, "I can remake a copy of the book for you if you like."

Both Alphonse and Edward stared at the girl. Remake an entire book, from memory? Alphonse could hardly believe what he was hearing. Sheska seemed to notice their surprise and smiled nervously. "It's just the way I am! I'm able to remember everything I read word for word! It's not too much trouble, and if you want it I don't mind.."

Al didn't even bother to listen to what she said after that. Happiness bubbled up inside his hollow body, filling it with enough joy to where he thought he could start dancing in the middle of the room if he could. He was aware of Ed shaking a flustered Sheska's hand, blubbering out thanks while the two military officers stood in the background quietly. He then looked around. Tara was standing behind him, smiling cheerfully at him. That's when it struck Alphonse. She had known about this all along. She knew that Sheska held the research they needed. Tara nodded to him, as though she could tell what he was thinking. She walked a little closer to him and whispered, a small smile plastered onto her face, "You're welcome."

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