"So, what are your cousins like, Yaomomo? Or is this a case like Todoroki or Kirishima and you haven't met them?" Jiro asked.

"Oh, I've met them before. They live on the outskirts of a European country known as Amestris. My aunt Trisha visited there once, before meeting a man and settling down there with him. My parents and I would go to visit on Summers and holidays. They are sweet and talented boys. Their mother is incredibly kind as well." Yaoyorozu explained.

"And what about their father?" Todoroki asked.

"He is... very distant. He doesn't live with them and was almost never around. I asked my aunt, but she simply said he was doing his best. I never quite understood what that meant." Their vice-representative explained.

"And what are their Quirks?" Midoriya asked.

"Oh. Well, in the normal sense, they are Quirkless. However, their father was a very accomplished alchemist and they seemed to inherit that trait from him. They even made me a doll once on a holiday when we visited." She remembered fondly.

"Fascinating! There have been rumors of people using alchemy, but I never believed them." All Might said, amazed.

"Hey! We heard my granddad can do alchemy! Why didn't you believe it then!?" Mineta complained.

"It was probably one of his nasty-ass poison bombs." Bakugo said dismissively.

"It's been so long since I've seen them. I hope they've grown up well! Edward was always fussy about drinking milk, so I was always worried he wouldn't grow as much as he could." Momo said.

"So, when was the last time you saw them?" Mina asked.

Yaoyorozu frowned at this. "It's been a little over eight years now. And I haven't gotten a letter from them since then, either. Truth be told, I'm a bit worried." She admitted.

Their hostess looked surprised by this. "Wait, you didn't know, then?" The celestial asked.

"Know what?" Yaoyorozu asked, concerned.

The Empress briefly considered calling off this viewing and moving onto Creati's sister instead, but she knew this would probably make the situation worse, as the Creation Quirk User would likely demand answers and drive herself insane wondering what happened otherwise. So, with a heavy sigh, Sandra floated down in front of Yaoyorozu, kneeling down in front of the girl and placing her hands on the girl's knees. "I'm so sorry, my dear. But Edward and Alphonse's mother, your dear aunt Trisha, fell ill and passed away. Shortly after your last visit." She informed the girl.

Yaoyorozu gasped at this, before tears quickly came to her eyes and she began to start sobbing, before going into full-on bawling, the celestial host moving away so that her teachers and classmates could comfort her and ease her pain. "I'm so sorry, Yaoyorozu." Todoroki said softly to her.

"I feel the same way. Loss is always hard, ribbit." Asui agreed quietly.

The rest of the class voiced their similar feelings, then just continued to hold and console the girl. After about an hour, she finally calmed down. "So, I understand what happened to Aunt Trisha, then, but what about the boys?" She asked.

Sandra winced once again, before she simply readied the next viewing. "I'm sorry, my dear. What you are about to witness will be very upsetting." She told the girl remorsefully as the viewing started.


A house was shown late at night with crickets chirping in the distance. "You know, whoever invented stew must've been a genius! It's even got milk in it and it STILL tastes good!" Edward said as he held a book in his hands, looking down at Alphonse, who laid down on his stomach on the floor, also reading a book.

"So that makes it genius?" Alphonse questioned in amusement.

"I don't get it, why doesn't he like milk? It's tasty and it does the body good!" Ashido chirped.

"According to him, he says it's like drinking vomit. Some people just don't like certain things." Yaoyorozu said with a shrug.

"But wow, that's a lot of books those two are reading. Do they get lots of homework or something?" Asui asked.

"Well, I only visited during the Summer when there was no school, so I'm not sure. But they did always enjoy reading their father's research and learning about alchemy." The rich girl explained.

"Nothing wrong with being studious. I praise the boys for seeking to further their knowledge." Iida said, nodding his head in approval of the boys' effort.

(We'll see how long that lasts...) Sandra thought

"Someone came up with the idea to pour milk into vegetable soup for the first time, right? That's a leap of imagination! The kind a scientist needs to be able to make, too!" Ed explained his thought process.

"I don't know. I guess that's true." Al admitted, looking away in thought.

"Sure it is! Just one leap, that's all it takes! And it's what we need to figure out human transmutation!" Ed explained.

"WHAT?!" Yaoyorozu screamed, shooting up from her seat.

Everyone jumped at the rich girl's sudden outburst. "Jeez, Yaomomo, calm down. What's the big deal about this human transmutation thing?" Jiro asked.

"Well, transmutation is the action of changing or the state of being changed into another form. So for human transmutation, that would mean changing a human into something else. That doesn't sound very good." All Might said in concern.

"It means they're trying to bring the dead back to life!" Yaoyorozu explained.

"What?!" Everyone asked in shock and disbelief.

"I remember I asked Aunt Trisha once if there were any rules about alchemy. According to her, State Alchemists have three taboos they must NEVER break: do not transmute gold- so as not to cause economic instability," She began, ignoring Ochako snapping her fingers at the idea being outlawed, "Do not act against the government- kid of obvious, but the final one is a rule for alchemists in general, known as the only TRUE taboo of alchemy: do not attempt human transmutation. I didn't look into it too much for obvious reasons, but from what I heard, it ONLY ever ends in horrific disaster that endangers the alchemist's life!" The Creation Quirk-User explained.

"It must be impossibly difficult. Which is as it should be. Life and death are a constant thing and a natural part of nature. Messing with that is distorting the laws of nature itself. Even if it is possible, it SHOULD be made illegal because you're disturbing the natural order of things." Aizawa said.

And so, we began searching for the key that would unlock the secrets of human transmutation and bring Mom back to life. Ed narrated as a few pages of one of their alchemy books was shown. The two were then seen using alchemy under the harsh eyes of their mentor.

"So that's what it looks like when they do alchemy? Cool." Kaminari said.

"Indeed, it is quite the flashy performance. Magnifique!" Aoyama exclaimed.

"The circle must have something to do with how exactly they perform alchemy. Maybe it dictates what exactly they're trying to use in their transmutation, or HOW MUCH they can use at once. And different symbols may have different meaning, allowing for the use of different TYPES of alchemy. I'm guessing the lightning is a chemical reaction created from the energy they're using in order to transmute the object they desire. Or maybe the lightning IS the energy created by the circle..." Midoriya began, breaking down into one of his signature muttering storms.

And while he was muttering away, he wrote his theories down in a new notebook given to him by Sandra specifically for the family members of his classmates, with the first two pages reserved for a pair of heroes he was already very familiar with: Tornado of Terror and Hellish Blizzard.

He was suddenly pulled out of his mutter storm when he felt something incredibly cold placed against his neck, causing him to jump and turn back to see Todoroki holding icicle in his hand. "Midoriya, maybe we should listen and hear how they do it before you go insane trying to think of an answer." He suggested.

We trained with an alchemy teacher to prepare our bodies as well as our minds. It took YEARS of constant effort, but we wanted to see Mom smile again. We wanted to go back to our lives with her, the way they used to be. That's what drove us, day and night. The boy continued to explain as the passage of time was shown, the boys' studying continuing from winter into spring.

"Well... At least they're doing it for a good reason for what they were doing. They weren't just trying to get rich and famous." Uraraka said awkwardly.

"Still, they should be aware of the dangers of what their doing and the repercussions that might come with it. Would their mothers even want to come back to life knowing her sons had to risk theirs to do it?" Midnight questioned.

"And more importantly, HOW EXACTLY will she come back from this? Will she be just like she was before, or would she be some kind of zombie?" Present Mic asked in concern, not noticing how their hostess was wincing as if what he said hit her very soul.

"Does their teacher know what they were trying to do?" Ojiro asked.

"No, she didn't. She came to their town on vacation once during a storm when a river was flooding and used alchemy to make a wall high enough to stop the river from flooding and so the boys asked if she could teach them to improve their alchemy. She originally said no, but caved when she heard they didn't have parents." Sandra explained.

Ed was shown writing all of this down as memoirs in the event they succeeded... or a note explaining what happened to them if they failed. However, the smirk on his face as he finished showed he was confident in their success. "And we're ready!" He declared.

"No! No you are not! Don't do it!" All the students yelled, worried for the boys after learning human transmutation could be life-threatening.

Some time later, a crow let out a caw as it flew away from the house, the last traces of sunlight on the horizon painting the scenery a blood red.

Inside the house, the boys arranged all the necessary ingredients they would need for this venture. "Water: 35 liters carbon: 20 Kilograms, ammonia: 4 liters, lime: 1.5 kilograms, phosphorous: 800 grams, salt: 250 grams, saltpeter: 100 grams, sulfur: 80 grams, fluorine: 7.5 grams, iron: 5 grams, silicon: 3 grams." Ed listed the ingredients as they were all shown to be perfectly portioned out while Alphonse filled a small basin with the water.

"WHAT?! That is IMPOSSIBLY wrong?! How could they have studied all this time and miscalculated THAT badly?!" Yaoyorozu demanded, half-freaked out that they were going into this with an incorrect formula and half-furious they messed up the measurements that badly.

"What!? What's wrong?!" Ashido shrieked, shocked along with quite a few others at the incredibly rare outburst from their vice rep. "What is it, Yaomomo?" She asked.

"That math is ABSURDLY wrong! All of those measurements are off by ridiculous margins! Silicon ALONE is off by three hundred percent! You need ten grams of silicon, not three! They BARELY have HALF the right amount of sulfur! Aunt Trisha would come back with acne from hell, arthritis and memory loss!" Creation Quirk User ranted.

"And THAT'S only if her body didn't collapse under its own weight, because they have three hundred percent TOO MUCH fluorine! Her bones would be weaker than glass!" Mineta joined in her shock and fury at the boy's incorrect numbers. [1]

"Whoa. I never thought I'd see those two agree on anything." Sero whispered to Kaminari.

"Right! Now the constructional formula." Ed declared as the two drew down the giant transmutation circle they would need for the ritual. "And finally... We need some soul data." The elder brother finished as the boys each cut one of their fingers with a knife, dripping their blood onto the mound of ingredients.

Many winced at the brother's causing themselves physical harm in order to perform the ritual, but had nothing really to add to the situation.

The two of them then placed their hands on the circle, sharing a final look at each other before attempting the ritual. "This is it, Al." Ed told his younger brother, who gave a simple "Hmm" in agreement, just as committed as his older brother. And with that, the lines of the circle began to glow a brilliant blue as lightning sparked from the circle.

However, the black darkness of the lightless room around the boys and the glowing circle suddenly changed to a blood red as smoke began to rise from the circle. "Ed, something doesn't feel right." Alphonse said uneasily, even though they made no attempt to stop performing the ritual.

"Uh... That doesn't look like it did when they were training with their teacher, right?" Hagakure asked, the way her shirt moving suggested she was turning back and forth in hopes for an answer.

"No... It's different than before. I have a very foreboding feeling about this. Something is about to go VERY wrong." Tokoyami agreed.

"What tipped you off? The weird smoke, or the fact the world just changed color?" Bakugo questioned.

Suddenly, a strange curving line appeared in the middle of the circle, almost as if it was turning the circle into the Yin Yang symbol [2]. But then, the line opened up to reveal a massive eye and the smoke condensed into countless wriggling tentacles. Suddenly, Alphonse's entire left wrist exploded into strange shards, breaking his hand away from his arm and taking most of his forearm. But instead of blood, a strange black and red energy was flowing through the disconnected appendages. The boy then screamed as he held his arms up, the tentacles from the portal ending in tiny hands that held onto his arm.

"ALPHONSE!" Yaoyorozu cried out.

"What's going on!? What's happening!?" Koda asked fearfully.

"Alchemy works on the law of equivalent exchange. For instance, you can only turn one thing into something else if those things have an equal mass. And to create something, something must be given in return, the reason for all their ingredients. They simply didn't have enough." Sandra explained.

"Al!" Edward cried out. But before he could even think of helping his brother, a similar fate befell HIS left leg, splitting it in half at the calf, causing him to cry out in pain and collapse, the tentacles also grabbing his leg.

"It can't be... A rebound!?" Edward questioned, looking back at his detached limb.

"EDWARD!" Yaoyorozu cried out again.

"This is all going SO BAD!" Sato exclaimed in horror.

"Losing an arm is definitely rough, but losing a leg makes life insanely hard. Even standing or walking is now basically impossible." Shoji said, feeling terrible for the boys.

"What the heck is a rebound?" Kirishima asked.

"It ties back in with what I just said about equivalent exchange." Sandra explained, doing like what she did with Ochako in the last viewing, making Tsuyu stand up this time, upgrading her phone and Googling the answer. "When you attempt to bypass the laws of equivalent exchange and perform alchemy beyond what you have available, a rebound occurs. A rebound is the alchemy process balancing itself in an undirected, catastrophic way instead of careful balance deliberately performed by the alchemist." Their hostess explained, returning the phone.

Ochako pouted when she noticed something. (How come Tsu's skirt didn't get flipped?) She mentally questioned with a pout. Not that she wanted to compromise her friend's modesty, but felt a bit cheated that HER modesty was compromised only moments earlier when the exact same thing happened.

"So, their ingredients list is a bit messed up, but they should still have roughly enough if you compensate the things they have TOO much of. This messed up stuff shouldn't happen!" Asui said as she sat back down.

"But that's the thing. They may have the right PHYSICAL materials- more or less- but they're not just making a human body, they're bringing back someone's life, returning a LOST soul to a body. And what's more valuable than a human soul?" The Empress questioned ominously.

"Brother!" Alphonse cried out, drawing Ed's attention and revealing the tentacles were wrapping around him and dragging him towards the center of the portal, while one more tentacle was holding his right arm, which was starting to break apart as well. Ed looked on in horror as more hands grabbed onto Alphonse, most of his head starting to be eaten away as he called for his brother.

"ALPHONSE! NO!" Yaoyorozu continued to scream, turning away from the viewing and sobbing into Midnight's chest after the R-Rated Hero came over to comfort her.

"Leave him alone!" Jiro snapped at the tentacles, wanting this horror to end.

"It already took his arm! Why is it still taking from him!?" Midoriya asked, he along with many others wishing they could jump through the screen and help the boys.

"Simple. It wasn't done taking from him. It's impossible to tell just how much its going to take from someone. It may simply create a random mutation, it may take a limb, or it may completely kill you." Their hostess explained.

"AL!" Ed cried out in horror as both brothers reached out towards each other with all the strength they could muster. But it was all for naught, as Alphonse's hand- and presumably, the rest of his body- shattered into countless pieces as everything went white.

Suddenly, a massive stone gate was shown floating in a white void, with Edward stood in front of it, his leg now reconnected. The boy gasped at this and looked around. "Al?" He called for his little brother. "Wait, what was I doing? I just..." The boy wondered, looking up in confusion, the trauma apparently affecting his memory.

"What the? Where is he? And what's with that giant gate?" Kaminari asked.

"This is all pretty crazy! Too crazy! So it can't be real! It has to be a bad dream! Yeah, that's it!" Ashido said, desperate to come up with a reason as to why the boys were safe.

"And is this a dream? You all sitting here with me now?" Sandra questioned.

"But that was an act of divine intervention!" Iida exclaimed, before it suddenly dawned on him. "Unless..." He started.

"Hello." A voice suddenly called out, Ed's eyes widening in shock as he looked ahead of him at a strange figure that seemed to be a REVERSE silhouette, a fuzzy mask of darkness floating around an empty space of white, forming the shape of a bald child of similar size to Ed.

"Who are you?" Ed asked.

"Oh! I'm so glad you asked!" The figure said eagerly, throwing its hands in the air in elation. "I am called by many names. I am the world, I am the universe! I am God. I am Truth. I am all. I am one. And I am also... YOU." The figure declared, pointing at the boy before it.

"Wait! I thought you were God?" Uraraka asked their hostess.

"I am A god. Just like with the Greeks and Romans, there are multiple gods. Truth is one of them. While I rule the universe and make sure things keep existing, Truth keeps balance and make sure no one messes with the laws of nature."Sandra explained.

"Okay, I understand they were messing with laws they shouldn't, but surely the punishment doesn't need to be this harsh. They're merely children." All Might said in concern.

"Truth doesn't care. He just cares about the balance. Hell, one time someone was FORCED to commit human transmutation involuntarily and yet Truth still punished him and took his eyesight." The Empress explained, much to everyone's shock. "Yeah, he's kind of a dick." She admitted.

"So, we get why he took their body parts, but why did he take them there to meet him?" Ojiro asked.

"Simple. He has something to show them." Their hostess explained.

Suddenly, the gate behind Ed opened, revealing another pitch-black void, from which ANOTHER eye like the one from the transmutation circle appeared. "You have DARED to knock on the door. Now, the door is open." Truth declared, at which point, more tentacles like the ones from before grabbed and wrapped around Edward as he tried to run away, drawing him back towards the door. "Quiet, child. This IS what you wanted, isn't it?" The deity declared as Edward was now pulled into the void as the doors of the gate started closing while he reached out for the entity, before holding onto the edges of the doors for dear life so as not to be completely pulled in. But once again, all in vain as the door closed.

"He wanted his mother back! Not whatever you're doing to him! So stop it!" Koda shrieked.

"What even IS that freaky gate?" Shoji asked.

"It's Ed's Gate of Truth. It is the doorway of all alchemic knowledge and the doorway to the domain of the Gods... Or at least Truth, I've never seen anyone come through one. Every single individual has one and it is what actually allows them to use alchemy." Sandra told them.

"Amazing. This one gate is what gives them their incredible power and they wouldn't even know they had it unless they committed the ONE crime of alchemy. Kind of ironic or poetic, in a way." Midnight said.

Edward then began to fall through an endless black void as he continued to scream. Suddenly, what appeared to be countless film reels suddenly flew by the boy, showing him all their images and information as the tentacles wrapped around him forced him to watch and made sure he observed the knowledge. It was like all of the information in the world was being poured into my brain at once. Ed narrated once again as images of his mother and his master flew by him, spiraling at the end to form a vortex of information leading to a blinding white light.

"Oh, my. Truth may be a bit harsh on the boy, but he puts on quite a show." Aoyama said, amazed.

"No! Stop it, now!" Yaoyorozu pleaded.

"What? What's wrong? He's learning everything there is to know. Isn't that a good thing?" Uraraka asked.

"If he had time to process it, then it very well could be, but he himself said it's happening all at once. Surely many of you have felt overwhelmed studying for too long, because you're trying to process too much information at once. But this is on an INFINITELY larger scale and he CAN'T stop and rest as we all can. This can result in cognitive overload, reaching a point of paralysis of information, not being able to process and then act on what is heard." Iida explained grimly.

"I knew it! Learning IS evil! I've been saying it all along!" Sero exclaimed, causing Aizawa to groan in annoyance.

"It's too much! It's too much, make it stop!" The boy cried out in terror, shutting his eyes to try and protect from the overwhelming level of information. The film reels continued to spiral around like a helix as Edward's body was torn away. "What's happening to me?!" Edward cried out as his body continued to be unraveled. He was then forced to look upon the eye once again. "Stop it! Make it stop!" He cried out as he finally moved beyond the helix of information as more hands grabbed him.

"It's just like Iida said! It's too much for him! This Truth guy's GOTTA stop!" Sato yelled.

"What's happening?! Why's he breaking down like that?!" Mineta asked.

"He is breaking down both physically and mentally and being made into a part of the flow of knowledge being forced into them." The celestial explained.

"Yeah, no thanks. I'll stick to reading as my way of getting knowledge." Present Mic said.

"Smart." Aizawa agreed.

Then, five of the reels streaked ahead of the boy, forming the white light at the end of the abyss. My head felt like it was about to burst! For an instant, it all became clear! The Truth... of everything! Ed narrated once again as the white silhouette of his mother then appeared.

"So, wait, Ed and Al weren't able to give the value of a human soul, so if they're already lacking on their end of the bargain, why is Truth GIVING him all this information?" Kirishima asked.

"That's... actually not a bad question. Not bad, Shitty Hair." Bakugo admitted, looking to Sandra. "So what's the deal? If he's punishing the brats, why's he giving them all the information they could ever want?" Bakugo asked.

"Well, they are told the truth of alchemy and the importance of not doing human transmutation anyway, so by attempting it, they defy the truth, so Truth shows them... the truth, everything of what is and isn't." Sandra explained. [3]

"Mom! Mom, please!" Edward pleaded to his mother as he reached out for her, her silhouette reaching back for him, their two hands almost making contact... before he was suddenly back outside the gate in front of Truth, the gate slamming shut behind him.

"So... How was it?" Truth asked, not having moved at all from where it sat.

"What... Just happened? I thought he just got broken down and became a part of the flow?" Todoroki questioned.

"Well, that's his gate of truth, inside his own mind, or body, or whatever, so all this is taking place in his mind. So yes, he was broken down and added to the flow of knowledge, but only in his mind. And he was restored and pulled out of the gate." Sandra said.

"But if that's the case, what's actually happening out in the real world?" Yaoyorozu asked.

"THAT'S the simple part to explain. You already saw it. Ed lost his left leg and Al lost his whole body." The Empress informed her.

Ed didn't answer for a minute, simply turning back around and walking towards the gate. "I see... The theory of Human Transmutation WASN'T wrong! It CAN be done! It's possible!" He said, placing his hands upon the gate. "It's still just missing something! All of the answers I need are RIGHT here! The truth about Human Transmutation! Please, you have to show it to me again!" He pleaded.

"WHAT?!" Everyone in the audience shouted at once.

"Is he crazy?! Why would he want to go through all that again?!" Asui asked.

"And why would he attempt human transmutation again after how bad THIS ONE went?!" Ashido asked.

"Well, at least with all that just happened and this seemingly impossible meeting with a deity right before his eyes, he may believe he's dreaming and that none of this is real and he'd wake up with the knowledge of how to do human transmutation perfectly this time." Midoriya suggested.

"If I had a dream THIS horrifying, I wouldn't even THINK about attempting the events that led up to it." Kaminari said.

"It's to bring back his mother. For his family. He'd probably be willing to do anything for that." Bakugo said, knowing that however much he argued with his mother or his siblings, he loved them and would do anything for them. Hell, he was STILL thinking on how to try and get Revy to come back from Roanupur.

Truth finally stood up as the boy spoke. "I can't do that." The deity declared as Ed turned to face it. "I've already shown you all I can for the toll you've paid." The entity explained as it started to approach the boy.

"Toll? What toll?" Ed asked.

"This... Surely you knew." Truth explained as it raised its left leg, which started to develop into a human-like left leg in a way exactly opposite of Edward and Alphonse being broken down previously. At the same time, much like before, Edward's own left leg separated and began to break down once again.

Ed gasped at this, seeing his limb being torn away once again, before looking ahead of him as Truth was now right in front of him, the being's face mere inches from his own, the void around them becoming pitch-black as the pure white figure stood before him. "It's the law of equivalent exchange! Right, young alchemist?" The deity asked, its mouth now moving with a massive sadistic grin on its face.

"Wait, what is going on?! I am SO confused right now! I thought the leg was because of the rebound, not the cost to get all the knowledge or whatever!" Hagakure groaned.

(Oh, TRUST ME, you're not the only one.) Sandra thought. "This is ALL part of the Rebound. Being pulled before Truth and the Gate is the Rebound, which results in the gaining of the knowledge and the toll being, whatever they take from you." The Empress explained.

"But why is it so random what it takes from you?" Midoriya asked.

"Well, typically, it takes your most valued attribute, or the part of you that represents your relationship with the person you're bringing back. For instance, Ed wanted to bring his mother back to stand strong and support and care for his family, so Truth took his leg so he can't stand. Al wanted to feel his mother's warm embrace again, so Truth took his whole body, so he couldn't feel ANYTHING. Their teacher, Izumi Curtis, wanted to bring back the baby she lost and carried in her body for so long, so Truth took some of her vital organs, namely her womb. And Roy Mustang, the man who was forced to commit human transmutation, sought to become the ruler of their country and lead his nation and people to an age of peace, so Truth took his sight so he could no longer see his future." The celestial informed them.

Many of them were shocked and horrified at this. "Taking so much from someone... driven to extreme by an act of grief..." All Might said in horror, feeling sympathy for the woman due to her losing important organs as well.

"It took her womb. That means she can never have another baby to replace the one she lost..." Uraraka said in horror.

"Taking the part of them that they value the most... This Truth is truly a monster." Tokoyami said.

"Seriously, what a dick!" Dark Shadow agreed.

"Well, ultimately, it's goal is to keep all things balanced and fair. He does all this because he sees human transmutation as an unfair exchange by the law of equivalent exchange and seeks to balance it out by taking what is most precious to the alchemist..." Sandra defended her fellow deity, before pausing. "But yes, there's no getting around he's an asshole is is unnecessarily cruel and harsh." She agreed.

Suddenly, Edward was pulled out of this otherworldly vision, screaming out in pain as he held onto the remains of his left leg, now gone for real, blood pooling from the stump of the leg that remained, cut off a bit above the knee. And beside him, Alphonse's clothes were laying their empty, the body that had once filled them completely gone.

"Their gone... His leg... And Alphonse... They're really gone." Jiro said in horror.

"No... Please, no..." Yaoyorozu wept pleadingly.

"Couldn't you have just told us they had passed away?! Why did you have to show us how they died! This is too terrible!"Kirishima asked.

"Because they're not dead. Both of them survive. Even Alphonse, against all odds." Sandra told them.

"W-what? But how?! His body is gone!" Midoriya exclaimed.

"Alchemy is an incredible thing. Besides bringing the dead back to life, it has almost no limitations. Until you're well and truly gone, it can pull you back from the very brink." Their hostess told them.

"His BODY is GONE! I'm quite sure that's WELL beyond the brink." Iida cried out.

Sandra sighed at this. "I'm tired of explaining. Just watch." She groaned.

Edward groaned in pain as he balled his hands into fists, struggling back to his hands and knees. "Dammit! This can't be happening! It can't be! This wasn't supposed to... He's gone! What have I done!" The boy cried out in anguish as he realized he may have very well lost his brother because of this endeavor. And finally, he became too tired to hold himself up, so he collapsed on the floor right beside the circle, eyes squeezed tightly shut in pain. "Somebody help me! Somebody! Please, Mom! Mom, please!" He whimpered and sobbed as the light of the circle died down, signaling the end of the transmutation.

Ed opened his eyes to see what happened, at which point they widened in horror at the sight before him. In the place of the ingredients, instead of his beautiful, loving mother, was a horrifically mangled, charred black body with no hair and an exposed ribcage. The creature let out a breath as Edward watched on in horror as it slowly reached one of its arms out to him, tearing something in its barely-formed body and unleashing a pool of blood as its arm dropped. If this WAS Trisha and the boys did indeed bring her back, she was deceased once again almost instantly.

And immediately, vomit buckets appeared before almost all of the students, with Bakugo, Todoroki and Tokoyami being the only ones who didn't lose the contents of their stomachs, although it was a struggle to keep their lunches down, along with the adults. "Well... Mineta... Yaoyorozu... It looks like you two were right." Midnight said, trying to keep her food down.

"I know... But I wish we weren't." Yaoyorozu cried.

"This is so messed up..." Mineta said, petrified in fear.

Edward could only look on in horror at all that had transpired around him. "No! This is wrong! This isn't... This isn't what we wanted!" He cried out, looking at his brother's empty clothes, repeatedly calling his brother's name in vain, clenching his hands into fists again. "This is all my fault! Alphonse, no!" He wept, before gaining an idea and knocking over a suit of armor. He then began to crawl towards the opening for the head in the chestpiece of the armor, dragging his body behind him, the stump of his missing leg leaving a trail of blood. "No, dammit! You won't take him, too!" He insisted as he drew a circle with an eight-pointed star on the back of the collar on the inside of the armor, using his own blood. "Give him back! He's my brother! Take my leg! Take my arm! Take my heart, anything! You can have it! Just give him back! He's my little brother! He's all I have left!" Ed screamed out in desperation, clapping his hands together and performing a desperate bit of alchemy to bring his brother back, the lightning generated from this act making everything go white.

"Okay, so... Edward's alive at least. Sure, losing a leg isn't great, but it happens all the time and people still live full lives!" Yaoyorozu said, trying to look for ANY positives about the situation, before coming to the question she dreaded. "But what about Alphonse?" She asked, her voice trembling fearfully.

"You won't believe me if I simply told you. You'll just have to watch." Sandra told her.

Some time later after the failed transmutation, a young man with black hair looked on in shock and horror at the blood stain on the floor. "Lieutenant Colonel." A woman called as a young blonde woman stepped up beside him. "They're not in back, either." She informed him, before seeing the markings on the floor. "What is this?" She asked.

"Where are they?! Where are the Elric brothers?! I want them found!" The man demanded.

"Who are these guys?" Present Mic asked, not liking the man's tone.

"That's Roy Mustang, a State Alchemist known as the Flame Alchemist. And his lieutenant/future lover, Riza Hawkeye, a master markswoman and loyal soldier." Sandra explained.

"So, Ed and Al are in trouble because of what they did?" Sato asked in concerned.

"They probably should be, but no." Sandra assured them.

The two of them were then seen at some kind of shop with a sign outside reading "Rockbell Automail". A dog was heard barking inside the building. "Oh, hush, Den! Don't bark at our guests!" An elderly woman's voice scolded the dog, before the short, bespectacled old woman the voice belonged to opened the door. "Yes?" She asked.

"Oh! It's Granny Pinako!" Yaoyorozu said, perking up a little.

"You know her?" Aizawa asked.

"Oh, yes. She's an old friend of the boys' father and the grandmother of the boys' best friend, Winry. They're practically like family to the boys. And they always treated me the same as they did the boys." The rich girl remembered fondly.

"Automail? What's that? Do they use alchemy to teleport letters and bills to a person instantly?" Kaminari asked.

"Oh, no. It's actually a type of automotive prosthesis that's linked directly to the nervous system and doesn't require any external power source. It's far more versatile than regular prosthetics and moves just as well as an actual human limb, taking electrical impulses from the nerves to power and move the various parts of the limb." Creati explained.

"Huh?" Kaminari asked again, even more confused.

"Really, REALLY good fake arms or legs." Jiro simplified, earning an "ah" from the human cellphone charger.

However, rather than answer her, Mustang just pushed the door wide open and barged in. "Hey, what is this! You have no reason to come barging in here!" Pinako snapped.

Roy then turned and saw Edward sat in a wheelchair, his right arm now missing along with his left leg. And behind him stood a familiar suit of armor, holding onto the handles to keep the chair steady, someone likely wearing the armor. The Flame Alchemist then stormed up and grabbed the front of Ed's shirt, lifting him up to his face. "We went to your house, we saw the floor! What was that?!" He demanded as Edward simply stared at him fearfully, unable to speak due to the trauma of what he went through.

"Hey! Be easy on the kid, asshole! He just lost a leg and an arm!" Bakugo snapped, before he and the rest of the class realized what they said, Sandra rewinding the clip a few seconds to see that Edward's right sleeve was empty and there was no right arm sitting on the arm rest of the wheelchair opposite to the left one.

"WHERE THE HELL'S HIS ARM?!" Everyone cried out all at once.

"It's how he got Al back, remember? He was pleading for Truth to take his arm or whatever else he wanted. Well, he said arm first, so that's what Truth went with." The hostess explained.

But suddenly, an armored hand softly placed itself on Mustang's arm. "We're sorry... We didn't mean it..." Alphonse's voice reverberated from inside the armor, the boy clearly being devastated from this ordeal, his voice filled with sadness as he kept repeating "I'm sorry..." while shaking.

"Th-that's Al's voice!" Hagakure said.

"So he IS alive. Thank goodness." Yaoyorozu said with a sigh of relief.

"But why is he in that armor? Is something wrong with his body? Or is he super disfigured?" Asui asked.

"He isn't IN the armor." Sandra began.

"What does that..." Shoji asked, before the hostess simply pointed to the screen.

Roy was shocked at this. "Boy, are you..?" He asked softly.

After calming down a bit, Roy and Pinako were sat at a table, with Edward's chair positioned to the side in between them, Alphonse stood behind him. "This is a surprise, to say the least. I'd heard reports that there was a brilliant alchemist living in this town, so I came to check them out. The last thing I expected to find was a boy skilled enough to attempt human transmutation... Or advanced enough to bond a soul to a suit of armor." Mustang explained, looking to Alphonse at the final part of his sentence.

"He IS the armor." The celestial declared.

"His soul is bound to the armor? What does that mean?" All Might asked.

"His body is trapped behind his own gate of truth. But, using that blood circle he made, Ed was able to pull Al's soul back from the gate and now it's contained bonded to the armor with that seal. And if it's rubbed off or broken, Al will die. But beyond that, he's the closest thing to invincible. Even if he gets damaged, Ed can just gather up some steel and add and shape that to fix his body." The hostess exclaimed.


"So... Where are they now? And in what condition?" Yaoyorozu asked.

"Okay, to prevent you from freaking out so much you have a heart attack, I'll just come out and tell you. As of this moment now, Ed and Al have their bodies back and are perfectly happy and healthy." The celestial revealed.

"Thank goodness." Creati said, sighing in relief.

"So, how did they do it?" Asui asked.

"And what are the combat applications of alchemy? Surely they don't only use it to make things, right?" Midoriya asked.

"I doubt it. Did you see how they were doing alchemy? They had to draw giant circles and shit. Who's going to sit around and let you draw huge circles on the ground in order to attack?" Bakugo questioned.

"Funny you mention that... They don't have to do the circles anymore." The Empress informed them.


[1] This rant brought to you by Film Theory, who pointed out how wrong Ed's math was. Mattpat actually got HIS math wrong, too, but mostly about the Hydrogen-to-Oxygen percentage, which is the least of their worries compared to the other things he listed that I had Momo and Mineta mention.

[2] That's the best way I can describe how the eye was shaped. Sorry if it's not the best description.

[3] Again, I'm sorry if this is HORRIBLY wrong, but this stuff is SO hard to understand! I cannot wrap my head around it if I hear it A MILLION TIMES! It's like King Crimson, no matter how many times you hear what its ability does, it still doesn't make sense!