Hey guys! Here's the next instal of Substitute Soul. Whew, I've written over 10,000 words in two days! Need more coffee...Thanks everyone for reviewing/favoriting/following or just plain reading this story! It's only been two days, and I've already got 80 views! I want to give a special shout out to Shiloh Moon, BuggyNess and Helios. for leaving such kind reviews. Don't worry Helios, I haven't forgotten Winry! I was just waiting for the right moment since it was kind of hard to shuffle all of these characters around at one time. I wanted to introduce her after I dealt with Ed to keep things a little less complicated. Also, I will be drawing from both FMA and FMAB, since I like some scenes in one or the other. The timeline will also be shamelessly toyed with to suit my own purposes. Well, I'll shut up now. Enjoy!

"Um…" A small voice drifted from the doorway.

"What," I grunted irritably. My head was face down on the kitchen table where I slumped, my arms hanging listlessly at my sides.

"He didn't mean it," the voice continued. I looked up and saw yet another child looking back at me with forlorn eyes. Just how many kids were running around this place anyway? It was a young girl with light blond hair (I was starting to wonder if everyone in this world had blond hair, or if they were just all related). She had pretty blue eyes and was dressed in a cute pink sundress. I immediately regretted my harsh tone.

"I know he didn't," I said, much more gently. It wasn't this pretty girl's fault that Edward was being an unbalanced prick. I knew I was being unfair to the boy, but his words still stung, and I just wasn't in the right mind to forgive him at the moment. At my change in tone, the girl smiled tentatively and joined me at the table.

"My name is Winry."

"Alex–" I was about to say 'Alexandria' but that wasn't quite right anymore, was it? I was no longer a woman, and having a woman's name would just cause unnecessary confusion on everyone else's part. "Alexander," I said decisively, "but you can just call me Alex." That wouldn't be too bad, since that was my nickname in my other life anyway.

Winry frowned at my choice of name. Obviously she had heard my story from Pinako, but she didn't comment. Smart girl. I was really in no mood to discuss it at the moment.

Sensing my mood, it seemed like Winry had had enough. She bounced off her chair and took my hand, tugging a little. "Come on Alex, let's go outside!" She flashed me an adorable grin. For a moment I was stunned at her easy acceptance, but the feeling was swiftly taken over by gratitude. She was trying to cheer me up. I nodded and gave a small smile of my own. Maybe some fresh air would do me some good. "Thanks Winry." She pulled me out of the dark kitchen and into the sunlight.

FMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMAFMA

Days passed, and with the help of Al and Winry, I started to get the hang of my new body. I found that not only was my equilibrium off because of my change in bone structure and height, but because this world was just different. It felt like gravity was somehow less here, not enough to change things drastically, but enough that I was able to jump higher and move faster than I was sure was even possible in my own world. Al's body was also cut hard, like a diamond, and more physically fit than I ever was in my own. I wondered just what kind of physical training he was used to to get so fit at his age.

Alphonse was also having a tough time adjusting to his new body, his big bulky frame causing him to misjudge his strength and run into doorways. I found it kind of fascinating that even though the armor was hollow, it functioned just as well as if it had moving muscles. Alphonse really had to concentrate when he touched things, because his strength was astronomical compared to what my body was capable of. If he gripped something too hard, it was likely to shatter.

Also in this time, I dedicated myself to learning about my new world. I was constantly grilling Al and Winry about how things worked, especially what the government was like and how Alchemy worked.

It turned out that I was in a place called Amestris, which was like a huge military state, with a commander-in-chief serving as a king. Winry brought me a book that had a map in it, and I discovered just how very different our two worlds looked. There were no familiarities between the continents of my world and the seemingly one giant continent that was this world. Amestris looked like a giant circle surrounded by even larger countries. "Where are the oceans?" I asked after looking at the map. Winry gave me a confused look. "Do you mean the Great Sea? That covers the other half of the planet, but I don't have a map of it. There isn't really much out there." That was interesting news. So this planet basically had one continent, just like Pangaea millions of years ago in my version of reality.

Alchemy was even more foreign to me than this world's geography and government. I could not make heads or tales of the complicated textbooks and Al's dizzying explanations. My own world's physics and sciences had made little sense beyond basic understanding to me, and Alchemy was no different. I just didn't have the mind for it. When Alphonse showed me a transmutation, I was floored. He just drew a circle in the dirt, and a flash of lightning later, there was a little toy horse where only dirt and rocks had been. "Ok, I get that you can't make something out of nothing and that you need the exact amount of materials to make something of equivalent value. That's basic science. But what I don't get is, where does the energy for these reactions come from?"

"There are several theories in regards to that," Al started in what I came to recognize as his 'instructor voice', " the primary being…" The more I listened, the more my headache grew. Just about everything he was saying was way over my head, and after a while I just gave up on understanding. Yup, definitely not cut out for this Alchemy business. From what I understood, Alphonse was somewhat of a prodigy, and no matter how much he dummed it down for me, I just couldn't keep up.

There was something that both Alphonse and I shared common ground in, and I was delighted to find out that he was also a martial artist. Martial Arts was something I had been into for as long as I could remember, and I had started training right about the age that my current body was. It was something I never skipped if I could help it, and I hadn't been able to train for months because of my pregnancy. I had dearly missed it, and found in the following days that it not only helped me to regain control of my motor functions, but it helped me maintain a sense of normalcy. I was still me, and I could still do something I loved. Alphonse and I seemed evenly matched in our fighting abilities, a fact that kind of irked me. How could a kid who could only have been training for a couple years match someone like me, who had been training for a decade? It may have been the way we had been taught, but it could also just have been his prodigal side peeking through again. I decided not to let it bother me, and just enjoy the fact that we shared a passion.

Al and I continued to work on our connection. We found that if we both did meditation techniques before we touched, we could strike a balance, as it were, with our emotions. It was an extremely intimate experience, one that made us irrevocably close. When we were connected, we could feel exactly what the other felt, but in a mutual understanding we never spoke of it. I never asked him about his pain, and similarly he never spoke of mine. In that way, he was able to feel again, and I didn't feel quite so alone.

Days passed into weeks, and I saw little to none of Edward. He refused to come out of the room where we had met, and Pinako took care of his body's needs with silent stoicism. He did not talk to anyone but Alphonse, and would not even look at me. I didn't know if it was out of guilt or disgust, but either way, I had little to no hope that he would be able to help me return to normal. So, for the moment, I lived in the now. That small, pale boy was broken, and none of us knew how to fix him. I never stopped thinking of home, but for now it was an impossible dream.

It was on one of the days I sat outside by myself contemplating this, when I observed two people wandering up the dirt road. Everyone else was in the house doing this or that and I was seated underneath a shade tree nearby. I did not move, hoping they would not notice me and observed them with interest, for they were the first people I had seen outside of Pinako's family. I was about one hundred yards away, so I could not make out too many details, but I could tell the one leading was a man, and the second person walking two paces back was a slightly smaller woman. The man was tall with black hair, the first person I had seen like that, confirming that there was diversity, and the woman had the familiar blond. Both wore what looked to be blue uniforms and walked with purpose.

Probably military or some kind of government officials, I thought, remembering what I had learned. I could not tell if this was a good or bad thing, so I continued to observe to see how Pinako would react to them. The two figures reached the house and knocked. Pinako answered the door and after a brief exchange, they were admitted to the house. Before she went back inside, Pinako looked over to where I was sitting and raised her hand in a halting motion. The message was clear. Stay away.

So, not good then. I contemplated whether or not to obey. I didn't know much about this world's politics, but from what I gathered, this military was no stranger to taking things by force. It could be really dangerous but…Oh who was I kidding, there was no way I could hold back my curiosity.

I quickly snuck from my position by the tree and ran to the house, careful not to be in view of any windows. I paused underneath the kitchen window. I was in luck. It was open, and I could hear everything that was said from my vantage point.

"…heard there was a talented alchemist living in this town, I came down from Central to see him for myself." A smooth male voice drifted through the open window. "The last thing I expected to find was a boy skilled enough to attempt human transmutation, nor advanced enough to bind a soul to a suit of armor. I'd say he's more than qualified to become a State Alchemist. Should he choose to accept the position, he will be required to assist the military in times of national emergency, and in exchange, he'll receive otherwise restricted access to research materials in Central Library. Given time, they may be able to find a way to get there bodies back, or even more."

My heart leapt into my throat. So there was a way! It wasn't just a fantasy, but something that could actually happen. If Edward became a State Alchemist, he might be able to find away to put everything right. It was too good to be true.

I tuned back into the conversation just as Pinako finished yelling. The man no longer seemed to be addressing her though. "I'm not forcing you, I'm merely offering you the possibility." Wait, Edward was out of the bedroom? That was new. "Will you sit in that chair wallowing in self pity, or will you stand up and seize the chance the military can give you? If you believe there is any chance of getting your bodies back you should keep moving, whatever it takes, even if the way ahead lies through a river of blood." With that, I heard a scrape and boots walking towards the door. I quickly shuffled around the corner when I realized they were leaving.

They walked out the door and I heard the woman talk for the first time. "Well, I guess this is goodbye young lady."

"It's Winry," I heard the young girl reply. The woman said a quick goodbye with a promise to meet again. Alphonse and Pinako also stepped outside to see their visitors off. As soon as they were out of site, I ran forward to stand next to Al. "Is it true?"

Al seemed startled by my sudden appearance. He looked back down the road. "I don't know. But I believe it's possible. I have to."

I nodded and turned back to the house. I found Edward in the kitchen, and for the first time in weeks, I felt a surge of hope. In that boy's eyes, I no longer saw the look of defeat, but hard golden orbs filled with determination. He looked me in the eye for the first time since the day we met.

"Are we going to get our bodies back?" I asked.

"We are going to get our bodies back." He replied.

Hokay! another quick note before I let you guys go, just to answer some questions I know will be asked. Is it unrealistic that the woman whose soul was taken just happened to be a martial artist? I think not. I myself am a 21 year old woman, and I have a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, a purple in Kung Fu, and an orange in Philippine Martial arts, as well as a spattering of knowledge of several others. Is it luck of astronomical proportions that Alex can fight? Yes. But there is just no way I am having a dead weight character. So yeah.

Also, I do not intend to have Alex learn Alchemy for several reasons. First of all, not everyone can be a bad-ass prodigy. It's just not realistic, or else everyone in Amestris and their mothers would be Alchemists. Two main character Alchemists are enough for one story.

One last thing. I will be referring to Alex as a guy from here on out. There will be a lot of references to his past and he won't just suddenly start acting like a dude, but he clearly made his choice at the beginning of this chapter. Also, it's just plain less confusing.

Next chapter: Alex says goodbye for a little while. Review please!