In a small chapel in the depths of the temple in Lior, two figures stood in the flickering glow of small candles. The red gleam reflected off of the cherry wood pews and the stone idol that sat in the back, giving the room a haunting glow. One of the figures was a tall beautiful woman, her black hair waving delicately over shoulders pale as the moon. The other was a young boy, no older than thirteen, and his long blond hair gleamed golden in the candlelight. He stared down at a small red jewel in his hand, his handsome brow furrowed in consideration as the woman watched on. If one were to happen upon the scene, it would appear that the hapless young boy was being seduced by the devil, the next movement bringing either salvation or calamity.
The blond boy slowly brought the red stone to his lips, and Lust the Lascivious shuddered in anticipation. She had wondered when she had seen the three boys in town earlier whether she would get the chance to set her plans in motion. The lure of the Philosopher's Stone had been the perfect bait, and just as she had anticipated, Edward Elric had brought his brothers to Lior. The trap was set, and with any luck, Lust and her comrades' ambitions would be fulfilled, thanks to that talented Alchemist. And this boy as well. He would come to her side, just like the rest.
The boy, Alex, delicately placed the jewel on his tongue and it disappeared behind white teeth. At first, nothing happened. His gaze turned questioningly to his hand, which held the injury that Lust had so foolishly allowed, the roped scar standing out starkly against his lightly tanned skin. The smug woman smiled. It wouldn't be long now.
The reaction was sudden and complete. Red sparks momentarily filled the room, and the young boy threw his head back with a moan, his hair falling back and his body arching in surprise. Lust tingled in remembered sensation. She knew exactly what he was feeling. It was the same way they always felt when they consumed the red stone: mind-numbing pleasure in every nerve of their bodies. She knew the experience could be…overwhelming for those who were not used to it.
The boy shuddered once, then twice, folding his arms around himself. His eyes were unfocused as he looked past the lavishly decorated ceiling. Slowly, he brought his eyes down and looked at Lust, his bright green irises muddling in color until they settled into a bright purple, identical to the woman's own. His gaze zeroed in on the handful of red stones that Lust still held in her delicate gloved hand. They gleamed temptingly, and he took a shuddering step forward.
Lust smiled, exposing her teeth. "That's right, they are all yours." She proffered her hand, and the boy moved forward immediately. He grabbed Lust by the waist and pulled her forward with his previously healed left hand, and with his right, he grasped the hand that held the stones and brought it to his mouth. Lust stroked the silky blond locks on the back of the boy's head while he pressed in as close as he could get, devouring the stones greedily from her palm. "That's it, eat to your hearts content." They boy clung to her as each bite he took sent a shudder of intense pleasure into his body, the feeling addicting and powerful. When they were gone, he licked the hand, his pink tongue tickling Lust's palm. She giggled.
Another brilliant bout of red sparks emitted from the young man and he threw his head back again in ecstasy, his body going rigid. "Ah..agh…" With a shuddering moan, his eyes slipped back into his head and his legs gave out. Before he could hit the ground, Lust caught him around the waist and carefully laid him on a mahogany bench.
She softly brushed back the golden hair from the boy's peaceful face. "There, there, little one. Don't worry; I haven't given you enough to turn you immortal just yet, as the time has not come for you to join us. You need to be there for Edward until he has completed his task." She turned the boy's face and brushed aside the hair behind his right ear, smiling. The ouroboros tattoo was growing darker; going from a dim red shadow to the light form of a dragon biting its tail, identical to the one that graced her generous bosom. "Soon," she whispered, softly kissing the mark. The woman took off her traveling cloak and placed it over the slumbering boy, leaving him there to rest.
o-0-o
"Lust," a wheedling voice interrupted her thoughts. At first the woman didn't react, preferring to dwell on the beautiful memory.
"Lust," the voice spoke again. Lust opened one eye, slightly annoyed, and regarded her companion. A short, round man, if he could even be called such, was sucking on his finger pathetically, his white empty eyes wide open in concern. "Lust, I'm hungry."
If it hadn't gone against her personality so badly, Lust would have rolled her eyes. As it was, she placed her chin on her palm and assumed a bored expression. "Gluttony, you are always hungry." She looked out the window from the small tower they were lounging in, observing the demonstration below. Their puppet Cornello was performing beautifully, using the red stone she had given him to lure talented Alchemists into their trap. Not that that was the only reason they had put him there. The army of the faithful would come in handy later, as well.
The man whined childishly and placed a meaty hand on Lust's arm. "But…"
"Oh, hush. You'll get some food soon. I have a feeling things are only going to get more interesting."
o-0-o
I peered over the rumbling crowd, trying to see what the Prophet Cornello was doing with new interest. His Alchemy really was incredible. He was making things out of nothing, and creating beautiful works of art without any effort. He might have been a complete fake, but I had to hand it to him: he had style.
"Philosopher's Stone?" I repeated, excited. Could something like that really exist? It sounded a bit too easy to me. How could there be something out there that broke all the rules and basically granted wishes like a genie in a bottle?
"That's right," Ed said, speaking to me normally. I was grateful for this, since I had thought he would still be mad, but it looked like he was willing to let it go for now. "It was thought to be a myth, but Alchemists have dedicated their entire lives to finding out how to make one. The research is supposedly hidden very deeply, as everyone who finds out seems to either be cursed to fail, or the secret is just so incredible that they wanted to hide it."
"Sounds dangerous," I said, giving up on trying to see properly and looking up at Ed. He was still standing on the crate, his expression serious even though he looked kind of silly.
"Dangerous or not, we have to look into this. It's our best lead, and clearly the existence of the stone is possible. I think it's our best bet." He grinned ruthlessly. "Let's go pay Father Cornello a visit."
A few moments later, the demonstration was over, and Father Cornello disappeared into the church. The people surrounding us started to disperse, and Edward jumped down off the crate. Just as we were about to leave, a young woman came up to us and tapped Edward lightly on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to be the people who are staying in the pilgrim's quarters by any chance?"
Ed turned around, annoyed, but he stopped short, his scathing response seeming to choke him. The girl was about as tall as I was, and she had long brown hair with cute pink highlights in the bangs that surrounded her tan face. Her eyes were wide, brown and friendly, and she smiled radiantly at Edward. The boy frowned disconcertingly, disarmed, and blushed a little.
"Yeah, that's us."
"Hello," Alphonse piped politely. With a short bow, he introduced himself. "My name is Alphonse Elric."
I gave a charming smile and imitated Al's bow theatrically, hand thrown to one side and the other resting over my heart. "My name is Alex Elric, nice to meet you."
Edward jabbed a gloved thumb at himself with a wide smile. "And I'm Edward Elric, their older brother."
The woman put a finger to her lips cutely, eyes sparkling with amusement at the declaration. "Older brother? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
I snorted loudly into my palm as Edward glowered dangerously. "Just calm down brother," Alphonse smoothed over, holding his hands up in placation, "she didn't mean anything by it." Edward ground his teeth but didn't respond in his usual expressive manner, no doubt because of his weakness for pretty women.
"My name is Rose," the girl said brightly. "I heard you boys were staying in the pilgrim's quarters and I was wondering if you might help me with something." Her voice withheld a bubbling laugh that I could almost see just beneath the surface of her radiant smile. My cheeks tugged as I could not hold back a grin at her infectious mood.
"Sure thing," I said, playfully throwing an arm around Edward's shoulder, "I'm sure Ed here would be delighted to help with anything you ask." I winked and Ed took a swipe at my head, causing me to move back with a chuckle.
"Great! Follow me." Rose spun around, her brown hair waving merrily, and began walking towards the church, weaving between the dispersing crowd in the narrow street. Ed grumbled but was the first to follow along, Al and I a step behind him, the both of us exchanging amused glances.
The young woman led us up the white steps and into the church, the grand double doors that we had bypassed before opening into a cavernous chamber. At the end of what was clearly the main chamber of the building was a monumental statue of their idol, Leto, holding his staff of the sun. In front of him was an altar, and dozens of rows of benches lined the rest of the space, leaving a wide walkway in the center. We strolled up this red-carpeted aisle, and Ed glanced around with a bored expression, seemingly unimpressed with the decadent architecture and blatant display of wealth, though I couldn't imagine he had seen many sites quite like this.
"Here," Rose said, her voice echoing in the quiet chamber as we reached the altar in the back. "I need a bit of help getting these purple drapes on the wall behind the statue." She pointed to a stack of the shimmering cloth sitting on the floor beside the altar, and there was an identical cloth hanging from the high ceiling on the left side of the idol. "I put up that one earlier, but the man who was helping me suddenly had to leave, and this has to go up before the next session tonight."
"What's it for," I asked, looking up. The ceiling was at least several stories high, and a tall ladder rested against the wall, reaching up.
"It's the ceremonial drapes signifying the change in the seasons in Letoism. I really just need a few helping hands to hold the ladder steady while I pin these up. Would you mind helping me?"
"Sure," Ed said.
"Thanks, Edward," Rose said with a smile. Ed blushed and looked away. For the next several minutes, Alphonse and Edward held the ladder steady while Rose and I pinned up the drapes, me from the bottom and Rose from the top. When it was finished, Rose looked up at the statue of Leto and smiled in delight.
Rose folded her hands over her heart and bowed her head, mumbling a short prayer to herself. "Thank you boys," she said, looking over at us. "You were a big help."
"It was nothing," Al said bashfully, "We are staying here for free after all."
"What is the reason for your visit to Lior," Rose asked. "Are you interested in Letoism?"
"Sorry," Ed said, sitting heavily on a bench in the front row. "I'm not really the religious type." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his attitude.
"Oh," Rose said, smiling sadly. She closed her eyes in reverence and folded her hands before her chest, her look benign. "That's too bad. To know God is to know peace and purpose. Before Father Cornello showed me the way, I was drowning in despair. He said that through Leto, my boyfriend who died a year ago in a terrible accident would come back to me."
Ed frowned deeply, golden eyes narrowing in suspicion, and I got a sinking feeling in my gut, not liking where this was going.
"You mean to say that Cornello is claiming to be able to bring people back from the dead," he said softly.
"Yes, he's even done it before–"
"Impossible," Ed interjected sharply, and I cringed at the slight wavering of pain in his voice. Rose stopped short, no doubt hearing it as well. Edward pulled out his small leather journal, the one he frequently wrote notes in during our travels. He turned to a well-worn page and held it open, stroking the parchment gently, contemplatively. "Did you know that the components of an average human, down to the very last protein in your eyelashes, could be bought in a market for the spare change in your pocket? It turns out that humans can be built on the cheap. Heck, even a kid could afford it."
"What–"
Ed continued, closing his eyes. "Still, even with all of the advancements in Alchemy that have been made, there has not been a single instance of successfully resurrecting a human life." He glared, challenging. "Are you saying that something modern science can't do, you can do with prayer?"
"Yes!" Rose shouted strongly, shoulders going rigid and voice echoing off the vaulted cielings. "Lift thy voice to God and he will answer. Those who are faithful are rewarded by His divine grace."
Ed shook his head, a rueful smile on his face and voice calm in the face of her ire. "You have to understand, Alchemists don't believe in un-provable concepts like gods or creation. We observe the laws that govern the physical world and try to learn the truth. In a way, we have achieved the power to become gods ourselves."
"That's blasphemy," Rose whispered in disbelief, "It's sheer arrogance to place yourself on the same level as God."
"You know," Ed said, leaning back and gazing upward, "there's this legend of a hero who flew with wings made of wax. He thought he could touch the sun, but when he got too close, the wings melted, and he came crashing down."
"Icarus," I whispered. How appropriate to compare himself to the Greek legend. It was a wonder that our two worlds shared the same story. I hoped that our journey would not end in the same tragedy. I leaned against Alphonse, who shared in my melancholy.
Rose was stunned, and Ed, realizing that he may have gone too far, stood and held his hand over his heart. "I'm sorry, this is hard for me to ask, but can an arrogant Alchemist like myself be permitted to speak with Father Cornello, so that I too may be saved?"
Rose clapped her hands together in delight, seeming completely oblivious to the lie. Or maybe just hopeful. "Of course! I'm sure Father Cornello can show you the way!" I smiled a bit at her naivete.
A loud bang from behind us startled me badly, causing us to jump. A door I had not noticed before had swung open suddenly, and a man stepped through, expression fierce. Swiftly, he brought a gun to the fore and pointed it straight at Alphonse without preamble. My heart leapt into overdrive at the unexpected entrance as adrenaline spiked through my limbs. From the corner of my vision I saw Edward tense, jumping to his feet before freezing at the man's threatening gesture.
"Father Cray," Rose exclaimed in alarm, "what are you doing!?"
The man, Cray, did not look away from Alphonse, his black robed arm steady. In a deep voice, he said, "Step away from them, Rose. These boys are evil, and they have come to destroy this place of worship."
Rose stepped back in sudden trepidation, looking between Ed, Al, and I. "What?"
"This is the will of God," the fanatic shouted, and before we could react, he pulled the trigger with a loud bang, the sound shattering off the walls and causing my adrenaline to spike painfully as I gasped. Alphonse's helmet flew off and his body clanked heavily to the floor. "Alphonse!"
I made to move towards him on frantic limbs, but the man pointed his gun at me. I froze, eyes going wide with terror. There was no way I could do anything about it at this distance! "Not so fast," Cray growled, a manic gleam in his eyes. "You're next. Father Cornello has proclaimed you enemy of the church. May Leto have mercy!" He jerked his hand, and I flinched, futilely trying to protect myself with shielding arms. But the shot never came. Slowly, my eyes cracked open to take in the scene. Alphonse stood behind the shocked dedicate, hand held up as if pausing after a swift blow, and helmet held in his other. He had gotten up behind the man and hit him over the head with his armored fist before he could shoot me. Ed and I sighed in relief, myself sagging, and we made to move forward, thanking anyone listening for our nearly indestructible brother's resilience. A sudden scream peirced the air, fraying my already staggered nerves. With a wince I turned to regard Rose, whose hands were held over her heart in terror.
"You're empty inside! What are you!" She shouted, eyes glued to the empty cavern within Alphonse.
"It's ok, there's nothing to be afraid of. Oh, there she goes," Al sighed as Rose fled the room with a scream, dropping his hand dejectedly.
"Wait," Ed cried, leaping over the unconscious fanatic and chasing after the girl. Al and I swiftly followed him, feet pounding loudly down the dark hallway. We ran for a short time till we came to a another large chamber meant for gatherings, though this one was completely empty, devoid of both light and pews.
"I can't see church socials happening down here, can you," Ed said, glaring into the sinister room.
I spotted Rose through the gloom and called out to her. "Rose, wait! We can explain!"
The girl spun around. "No! Father Cornello was right, you are evil!"
"Ouch," I said, pulling my hand back with a sad smile, "that hurts my feelings."
A bright light blinded us as the other end of the room lit up. Squinting, we saw a figure standing at the top of a stone platform, light haloing him. It was Father Cornello, seeming disconcertingly calm despite having just ordered someone to shoot us. He smiled benignly down at Rose, and said in his booming voice, "Thank you child, for bringing these heretics here. You did well." The hapless woman turned around with a relieved smile, shoulders relaxing slightly.
"Father Cornello!"
"I was wondering when the State would send an Alchemist to interfere here," the old man said, turning his slim cold eyes and addressing us. "I wasn't expecting them to send the Fullmetal Alchemist, however." He was staring directly at Edward, for once not mistaking either Alphonse or me for Fullmetal.
"Well, there's just a couple of things I'm curious about, like how you're using Alchemy to deceive the people of Lior into following you," Ed said aggressively, his voice echoing in the large room.
"Everything I do is for the divine will of God," Cornello responded, irritatingly self assured. I scoffed. "Besides, can Alchemy do this?" The enrobed man merely raised his hand and a small statue was created seemingly out of nothing in a flash of red sparks.
"See, that's what I don't get." Ed said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. "How could someone perform Alchemy without following the laws of Equivalent Exchange? Then I had a thought; if someone were to obtain a certain object, he could ignore those laws. Am I right?"
A frown pulled at Cornello's face momentarily before he smiled and held up his hand, seeming to regain his composure. "Oh, do you mean this," he asked tauntingly. Ed exposed his teeth in a fierce grin and I squinted to make out the object. On Cornello's middle finger was a ring with a small red stone on it. I frowned thoughtfully. It looked kind of like…
"Hey, Ed…"
He ignored me, too caught up in the moment. "Hand it over Cornello, that stone belongs to me now!"
"Oh, and why is that," the man said, grinning widely.
"If you don't, I'll tell everyone here that you have been deceiving them!"
"By doing what, restoring their town? Granting their wishes?" He snapped immediately and Ed grimaced, both of them heedless to the shocked gasp of a certain young woman beside them. "If you take this stone away, those miracles stop, and this town becomes as desolate as it once was, and no one wants that." The man opened a compartment on his cane and pushed a button. A Trapdoor slowly creaked open on the seemingly seamless wall behind us, causing my shoulders to tense and putting me on guard. "Since it appears Cray wasn't competent enough to get rid of you, I will have to do it myself."
The trapdoor clanked open, and and at first I could barely comprehend what I saw. But then it hit me like a sledgehammer, nearly stopping my heart with fear and absolute disgust. Walking towards us was a chimera, something I had fervently hoped to never see again, and something that should never have been conceived in the first place. "So this is the kind of sick stuff you do with the philosopher's stone, Father," I shouted furiously, "torturing animals and forcing them to fight for you!" The chimera was a grotesque mixture between a lion and an alligator. It stalked towards us threateningly and I pulled out my tonfa, holding the gleaming metal weapons in front of me protectively, a familiar and welcome weight in my hands. I heard another growl behind us and cursed. There were more?! Father Cornello smirked, and the creature in front of me lunged, taking full advantage of my distraction. Rose backed up against the wall with a whimper of fear as Edward, Alphonse and I were thrown into battle.
The creature jumped at me with a snarl and I rolled to the side swiftly. It swiped at me with its large reptilian tail and I flew back with a gasp, managing to just divert it with a sharp swipe my weapons. The blow left my arms momentarily stunned, but I was able to hold my tonfa at the ready, my body falling into it's training easily, despite the weeks of disuse. A familiar and comforting clank sounded from behind me, Alphonse joining my battle and protecting my back.
Behind me, Edward was having troubles of his own. The other chimera lunged at him, and he swiftly fell back, clapping his hands together sharply and drawing a spear from the floor. Cornello leaned forward in disbelief. "What! Alchemy without a transmutation circle? So the title isn't just for show, you really are gifted. Still, your little weapons are no match for a chimera that can bite through iron!"
As he spoke, the chimera swiped at Edward, breaking through the spear and claws squealing against his metal leg, shredding his pants. "Wrong leg, pal," Ed grit out. "And here's the right arm!" With is steel arm, Ed swung back and punched the chimera with all his might, crushing the creature's jaw and knocking it out cold. As the animal fell back, its brutal claws caught in Edward's jacket and shredded his sleeve as well. "Tch, dammit," Edward cursed, trying to pinch the fabric together. Alphonse and I stood back and watched, leaning over the chimera we had taken down as well.
"Wha- metal limbs? And a brother trapped in a suit of armor…Now I understand. You did the forbidden, what even the most novice of Alchemists knows not to do. You performed human transmutation!" Cornello laughed cruelly, and Ed's face contorted in fury.
"Why don't you come down here, and we'll see who's the novice!" He ripped off his ruined coat and revealed his automail arm fully, the metal shining in the dim light.
"Oh God…" Rose whimpered as she took in the brutal scars where the fake limb met his flesh.
"Take a good look, Rose. This is what happens when you try to play god and bring back the dead. Is this what you want!?"
"You want to be like God so much, I'll send you to him instead!" Cornello used Alchemy and transformed the staff he was holding into a machine gun, and Edward and I dove to the side as he began firing indiscriminately. In a flash of blue light, Edward erected a stone barrier to block the bullets from him and me.
"Whew, that was a close one," Ed chuckled nervously. I huffed out a laugh beside him.
Cornello growled and pointed the gun towards Alphonse, who was in front of the barrier, and the boy swiftly picked up Rose who was standing in the line of fire and carried her away under a rain of bullets. Rose huddled into Alphonse with a scream, shocked.
"Al, this way," Edward shouted, slamming his hands to a wall behind us and creating a door. Cornello screamed out in fury as Edward threw the doors open and we raced out into the hall.
o-0-o
"Well, that was exciting," I said, letting out a panting breath. We had left the church and were standing in a small alleyway in Lior, trying to catch our breaths from our flight. I was leaning heavily against the wall, Al still holding onto Rose beside me, and Ed was checking the street for pursuers. I thought back on all that had just happened, and something still bugged me.
"Hey, Ed. That stone…" He looked back at me questioningly, but Rose interrupted me and pulled Ed's attention away.
"Father Cornello…shot at me…" she said, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
"Like I've been trying to tell you Rose, he's been lying to you all this time," Ed said seriously.
"I don't believe it…" she whispered.
"He was, and I'll prove it to you," Edward look back out on the street and gestured for us to follow him. "I've got an idea."
I frowned in annoyance, believing that my observation was important, but we were already moving once more. I hoped I wouldn't forget later in the coming drama as I followed my brother into the twilight.
o-0-o
I sat on the large bell tower, my feet dangling precariously over the side, and watched the sun go down over the city. It was breezy up here, and the wind whipped my long hair around until I tugged it to submission.
Behind me, Alphonse tinkered with a large copper church bell we commandeered from the tower behind us while Rose looked on with confused eyes.
"What do you think of Cornello now, Rose," Alphonse asked in that gentle way of his. "He did not care that you were in the line of fire, and shot at us anyway."
"…" Rose looked away, brows drawn together. "What he said back there was true, wasn't it," she said eventually.
"We are not evil…all we wanted was to see our mom smile again. But our transmutation failed, and what we made…it wasn't her. Instead, we ended up destroying the life of another, and taking the mother from someone else." I hunched my shoulders, my old grief coming back to haunt me, and I could feel Rose's eyes burn into me because of my small movement.
"You don't mean," she started. Al interrupted before she could ask, and for that I was grateful.
"People don't come back from the dead, Rose. Not ever. Just the price of a failed transmutation was enormous. Ed ended up losing a leg, and I ended up losing my entire body." He stopped moving his hands for a moment and took off his helmet. "Do you see it," he asked, and I knew he was talking about the blood seal on the back of his armor, though I didn't turn around. "My brother drew that in there with his own blood to rescue my soul from the other side. He must have been in so much pain…but he still sacrificed his arm to save me."
Alphonse placed his head back on his body and continued to draw the transmutation circle he was working on. "That's why we need the Philosopher's Stone. I'm trying to find a way to get Edward and Alex back to the way they were, even as they are trying to do the same for me. It's a dangerous journey, and we might get killed along the way, but that is the path we chose. All we can do now is keep moving forward."
I looked out over the city in the setting sun, the buildings and the people so different from my old world, and yet so much the same. I felt homesickness as I had not in a long time after Alphonse's words, and I wondered not for the first time if our desperate quest was even possible. I felt like crying, but just like Alphonse and Edward, my tears were all dried up.
"But…Father Cornello said…just because you failed doesn't mean he will!" Rose exclaimed, her voice high and shrill. I winced.
Alphonse sighed and finished the transmutation with a flash. "Just listen."
He stood and hefted the reformed bell onto his large shoulder and pointed it towards the town.
"Let's just cut the crap, Cornello," Ed's voice boomed loudly at the newly built speaker, and Rose jumped, startled. It echoed clearly over the town, and from my precarious vantage point, I could see the people on the street below us pause in their wanderings. Good.
"I just have some questions about the stone you've been using to fool everyone in town with your second rate Alchemy. Tell me what I want to know, and I just might leave without getting the military involved."
A second voice growled over the speaker, and a door slammed. "What do you want to know?" Cornello's voice asked grudgingly.
Rose put a hand over her mouth with a small whimper.
"The Philosopher's Stone grants you incredible power over the physical world, even allowing you to use Alchemy without Equivalent Exchange. So why are you in this backwater town performing phony miracles? Got an inferiority complex or something?"
"Heh," Cornello grunted, "You are thinking too small, child. At my fingertips I have an army of the faithful to do my bidding, just with a couple small 'phony miracles', as you put it. With each miracle I attract new followers to the order who are unafraid to die." His voice grew in intensity and hubris. "Soon enough, no one will be able to stand in my way, and I will be able to rule this world with impunity. Who knows? I might even cut you a piece. Ahahaha…ha…why are you smirking?"
"Pft," Ed snorted, "all you guys are the same, no imagination. You really are a novice aren't you?"
"….Wha–How long has that speaker been on?!" Cornello screamed frantically. "Don't listen to him my children. It is a trick! Aaaah!" Gunfire was heard, and then the sound cut off abruptly.
Silence filled the town, and Alphonse shifted slightly. "He's been lying to you Rose. He's been lying to everyone."
Hokay, I'm going to cut it off here now. This chapter was getting pretty long. So wow, Alex has some kind of reaction to the red stone (and it is the red stone, not the Philosopher's Stone, because that would kinda defeat the main plot). I'm sorry if this chapter was a little tedious, but since Rose would be important later, I thought I should keep this part the way it was originally. I'll try not to do that too much in the future, and I'll try to keep this plot arch brief.
I actually really loved it when Ed told the story of Icarus. I'm kind of a Greek and Norse mythology geek so that made me a little excited. The story of Icarus is actually a pretty good one, so if you don't know it, you might want to look into it. It's cool.
To those of you who asked: the last chapter I did change perspective. I did it because 1) it was a nice break from first person for both myself and the reader, and 2) it eliminated the need for the characters to have long conversations about their feelings. Talks about feelings can be tedious as long dialogue sequences, so I took advantage of the omniscient perspective for a chapter to get some other points of view. don't worry, I'll only do that every once in a while to get certain points across.
Right! Next Chapter: Ed says words of wisdom, Lust makes devious plans, the Elric Brothers Three somehow become the Elric Brothers Five, and Alex smells something nice. See you next time!