Piles of notes were scattered all over the room, forgotten in the tide of work, tossed aside by a golden-haired hurricane. By my side, I heard Hughes whistle, sounding almost impressed with the complete and utter chaos before him. I looked from the room to him, then back to the room, exhaustion hanging heavy in my bones and only getting heavier looking at the sight.

"I'm not cleanin' it up."

Maes chuckled slightly before stepping into the room and trying to gain the brothers' attention.

"Yo! How's progress going, you guys?"

Edward waved a hand at us distractedly, pulling a book from the bottom of a pile and only barely avoiding being squished by the rest of them when Ross rushed to right the cascade. She attempted a respectful salute, all while trying to save the eldest Elric from an untimely demise via literature. Maes spoke with the poor bodyguards while I made my way over to Alphonse, who was less absorbed in the work than his brother. He looked up as I approached, waving slightly,

"Stephanie! How has the military been treating you? We didn't really get to talk much last time we saw one another."

I could sense the approaching gloom that always appeared when anyone mentioned the Tuckers, and quickly moved to intercept it.

"I've been alright. Occupied is the word I suppose. Treading water might be appropriate too, now that I think of it. How have you guys been? Making any progress on this stuff?"

Wrong move. The gloom was back,

"Not much progress. Marcoh coded his notes very well. I'm starting to think we might never get my- um that is, never find what we're looking for."

The correction confused me, until I recalled that I wasn't supposed to know what the brothers were looking for, or what had happened in their pasts. I simply smiled at him confidently,

"Oh, you'll find whatever it is. The both of you have enough intelligence and dedication for ten men."

I don't know how, but it seemed like the armor managed to convey a grin. I looked around at the mess,

"I'd offer to help but honestly my knowledge of Alchemy isn't where I wish, and from the looks of this it doesn't even fall into my niche."

This stirred what seemed like even more interest than what he'd had for my foreign origins.

"You know Alchemy?"

I shrugged, not sure if it would be wise to admit to much at this stage, so close to my goal. I must be tired if I was giving away even as much as I had.

"I dabble. It started as pure curiosity, we don't have real alchemy where I'm from. It's myth, legend, fantasy, a fairy tale. Rulers of ancient dynasties drinking Mercury because they thought it was the key to eternal life. The irony in THAT almost hurts."

Al laughed, then jumped up, as if struck by something.

"Um, excuse me for a second, I need to talk to my brother about something."

He rushed off and I glanced at the pages he had been holding, trying to see what he'd found, but the code remained solidly out of my reach. I heard muffled grumbling from Ed about the disturbance, then only muffled whispers about whatever it was Al wanted to talk to him about. It was a full three minutes before Al returned, this time with Edward in tow. That caught the attention of Hughes, who wandered over to where we were gathered. Al nervously fiddled with a book in his hands for a second before he spoke,

"Stephanie, can I ask you a question about your country?"

I looked at him for a second before shrugging, confident that I had enough answers prepared to handle what he threw at me.

"Sure, fire away."

Fire away, fire away

Ricochet, you take your aim

Fire away, fire away

I slammed the mental door closed, now was not the time, random song lyrics. Fuck did I need sleep.

He seemed to glance at his brother, who hesitated before nodding slightly.

"What do your people have to say about the philosopher's stone?"

I never once expected them to ask me about that. Now that I think of it, I should have. It makes sense to ask people about the different legends in different places, especially somewhere as far away as my 'country'. It also warmed my heart slightly, that they trusted me enough to ask me about their ultimate goal. Then again they could just be that desperate.

I seriously considered the question for a second before answering. It wouldn't help them but I could hardly up and say that.

"Well, there are many legends about a stone, be it the Philosopher's stone, the sorcerer's stone, or the elixir of life. I've come across a few with theories that said the stone can turn base metals into gold or silver, heal any ailment, bring dead crops back to abundance. Some say that it can only be created when one has achieved true understanding of all geometric knowledge, and others say that it is not created by human hand like homunculi but that it is compressed in the center of colliding stars and pieces of one may fall to the Earth every other millennia or so. I don't put much stock in those legends though. After all, they are just legends. Sorry I can't be much help."

Edward was thinking hard about what I had said and I hoped dearly that I had not led them away from the correct path. I had no idea what that could do to the plot, or their lives. I needn't have worried. Even as I tried to blink away the dizziness from going so deep into my head while so tired he shrugged it off,

"Yeah, you're right, they're just legends. The falling star thing isn't something I had considered before but it doesn't really seem feasible."

I nodded absently,

" 'Specially since it's not the actual stars that are falling."

He looked at me funny,

"Huh? Course it is, it's in the name."

I stared at him for a second, pure indignation waking me slightly. Surely alchemy hadn't taken over these peoples minds to the point that they neglected astronomy? Some transmutations required alignment to certain stars and other such things. As a fan of literally all sci-fi I couldn't imagine not having at least rudimentary knowledge of the stars. Wait, what if shit was different here? Different planets, different constellations...I needed a space program, stat.

I swallowed, trying to get my bearings from that brief shock, fumbling around mentally for the information I knew I had. It was strangely hard to source at the moment. Maybe Maes was right on the whole self-care thing.

"No, it's actually pieces of rock called meteors that hit the planet's atmosphere and burn up, leaving that trail of light. Anything that actually survives enough to impact is then called a meteorite. Sometimes they contain rare ores but mostly they're just space rock. Stars are giant burning balls of gas, just like the sun, only much much much further away."

He put down the papers he had been looking at,

"Where did you hear that?"

Hear it? Not learn it? He didn't freakin' believe me?!

"It was taught in school in my country. There were also various publications on the subject, and extensive government-supported research. It was something of a hobby of mine to study while I was ill and couldn't move around much. I sent my brother to the library to get books for me every other day."

He sat on the table facing me, unconvinced.

"And where did those people get their information?"

I rolled my eyes,

"Look, there were telescopes involved and a few pictures taken. Believe me or not but either way it doesn't help with this code thing."

It was his turn to nod absently as he shuffled through the papers on the table beside him. "I've heard of some complicated codes before, but never one as complex as yours. Do you think you could have a quick look at this?"

He handed me a page and I took it, glancing at it and realizing it was page 57 of the third cookbook in the series. I had actually kept this recipe on the off chance that I would actually have the time to cook something.

"When did you see my code? I don't remember showing it to you and I certainly didn't leave it anywhere that you could have picked it up."

He shrugged,

"Colonel Bastard mentioned it to me while I was in the hospital after you left. He said that it made no sense whatsoever to him, and that you looped it through two different languages."

I internally smirked, Three actually, one that I created on my own, but ya know, who's counting?

I made a show of looking over the page, analyzing each word and the placement of it on the page, but got about as far as I did the first time I took a look at it. Nowhere. I sighed, and handed it back to him,

"Sorry Edward, but I have no clue what this could be other than an intriguing recipe for cookies."

It was much later when the silence had become oppressive and Maes had yet to move to leave and I felt a crushing need to break the aura of brain-pain hovering over the brothers.

"Ya know, I think I actually have that recipe at home. I probably read this cookbook before and never even realized that it was alchemy research."

Edward nodded distractedly and I felt slightly guilty for breaking his concentration but realized it must not have been that great in the first place if he responded at all. Usually, he was completely in his own world when researching.

"I know, there was a record of you checking it out before. I had wondered about that, you don't exactly seem to be the cooking type."

I glared halfheartedly.

"If I had more time I would cook more. I used to like it, but now it's not really worth it and I think take-out might own my soul by now."

He cackled a bit at that and then froze, muttering under his breath,

"Souls…"

He ruffled through the pages and the more he found and put together the more that he swore. I tucked some of the word combinations away for future reference as the breakdown from the anime happened in full force. Armstrong was around somewhere, I wasn't sure when he had arrived. I wasn't sure what was really happening around me for the most part. I had to slip into my mind palace many times just to maintain my grip on reality. I needed sleep, and badly. I couldn't remember the last time I slept properly, that realization about Armstrong had totally killed my nap-vibes. Now really wasn't a good time for my brain to allow itself to finally shut down. I mumbled something garbled about needing to lie down and everyone gave me a sympathetic look, thinking I was taking the 'key to the stone' hard. It made a wonderful excuse for my absolutely necessary nap. As much as I ignore normal human sleeping patterns, the human body dies after so long. It was just lucky for my stupid ass that the one time I pushed myself to the brink would be the time when I would be able to collapse more or less without question, I could see others sinking down into various chairs, heads in hands.

I struggled out of my military jacket, revealing my black under-armor-type shirt. I tugged my gun holster off my belt, setting it to the side, found a dark corner of the room, and lay down on the floor, not bothering to try clearing a place on the couch or search for a pillow. I was out seconds after I registered that despite the off-putting color the carpet didn't stink as badly as I had feared.

I woke to Sergeant Ross shaking me violently, blubbering out about the Elrics' escape and the Lab by the prison. I noticed someone had placed my jacket over me like a blanket and I pulled it on quickly, fingers barely fumbling the buttons, I was better rested than I had been for weeks. Ross was still talking, mentioning how the higher-ups were going to kill them for letting the Elrics escape, and how Maes had left me because of how tired I looked. I did a quick inventory, and after reclaiming my gun from where I'd abandoned it earlier I took a quick bathroom break that wouldn't exist if this were actually an anime, rather than anime quality-ish. THAT was when I set out to find the Elrics. It would be best if I could keep Edward from getting hurt, and I would love to save Al from the pain of doubting his own existence.

I gave quick orders to call Maes, and then brought up my mental map of central. I wasn't as far away as I had assumed. I took off at a run, because who knew how much time I had lost because of sleeping through their escape like an utter dumbass. Maes was…almost certainly right and there was some merit to the whole 'taking care of yourself' bullshittery.

/./
Still alive! Check out the x-men nonsense I wrote, leave some comments, I am yeeting good vibes your way and there is nothing that can be done about it
~TimeLordOfPie