A fanfic I made a long time ago. It sucks majorly, but I wanted to put it up here. xD I wrote two chapters, but I don't know if I'll go any further with it. It takes place after the movie, Conqueror of Shamballa. Chapter 1 In a flash, General Roy Mustang fell to the ground- a quick slash of the Führer's blade sent a stream of blood jetting out of the General's eye. As he collapsed the world flashed white. The light dimmed and Winry was the only person in his view, "Ed, I'm sorry my Automail's not good enough." she sobbed and ran into the distance. Again the world flashed a brilliant white and the homunculus Envy stood on top of the bodies of Maes Hughes and Hohenheim of Light. He stood smirking. The white light shone again. When the light faded Alphonse was being torn apart by the limbs and being pulled into a large door by small black beings. This time the entire world turned black and he fell down a dark void. Ed shot up from his sleep. He was soaked in sweat, and panting like a dog. He looked down at his false right arm and took a deep breath. He hadn't had such a frightening dream in ages. He pulled off the blankets and stepped out of his bed. He quickly showered and changed then headed down stairs for breakfast. It was Al's turn to cook breakfast and Al was always the better cook. "Yo, Alphonse!" he shouted, "What's for breakfast, I've been dying for eggs!" As he reached the bottom of the staircase Al called back, “Well I’m not cooking today, Brother.” Ed had confused look on his face, “Come on Al, don’t be lazy. Noa’ll be upset if there’s no food.” “We’re going out for breakfast.” He replied. Ed stood there, confused. “Oh, come on brother.” Al said, “You haven’t honestly forgotten that today’s your birthday, have you?” Ed’s expression turned quickly to a smirk, “Of course not! What kind of a bonehead do you think I am?” Al snickered, “I planned on leaving for the Goldenes Schwein once Noa woke up.” Ed looked at him, “The Goldenes Schwein?” he asked, “Wow Alhponse. You didn’t have to do this.” Al smiled back, “I know brother, but your 19th birthday doesn’t come along everyday. I wanted it to be special.” Noa awoke a few minutes later and the three headed to the Goldenes Schwein, one of the nicest restaurants in the city. “Ed,” Noa said, “can you tell me more about your home? Your and Al’s home?” Ed looked at her for a moment then thought. “Well like I’ve said, it’s a lot like this one, but your technology has far surpassed ours and we have alchemy.” “I know,” Noa said, “I want to know about your friends, if it’s ok.” Ed looked up into the sky. He thought of his teacher, Izumi Curtis, General Mustang, Major Armstrong, the passed Brigadier General Hughes, and Winry. He remembered the dream he had the past night and all of a sudden he recalled just how much he missed them. Noa knew Ed didn’t want to talk about it at the moment. Just as well, as they were near the restaurant. “Ah, here we are!” said Al, trying to lighten the mood. Ed returned to his laid-back self, “Well let’s go in then- I’m starving!” They approached the front door as loud boom came from a nearby building. Bricks fell from a hole in the wall and scattered along the road. A dirty-looking man walked out of the building with a bag of money. “Geez, how cliche.” Said Ed, looking deeply at the thief, “Ready for some vigilante work, Al?” Al nodded and the two brothers clapped their hands in unison. There was a pause and finally they both sighed. Ed ran after the thief and Al quickly followed, “You never know how much you appreciate alchemy…” he murmured to himself as he pulled back for a punch to the thief’s face. He missed with his huge punch and lost his balance, almost tipping over. Al came to his brother’s aid, but Ed tore from his grip and chased after him again. The thief turned as the chase headed down the next block, “What’s the matter shrimp, can’t ca--?” Ed didn’t give him a chance to finish his sentence, “WHO’RE YOU CALL’IN A PUNY MIDGET SO SMALL YOU NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE HIS FACE!?” “He didn’t say that!” Al called back. Ed started running twice as fast. He caught up to the thief and threw him into a dark alley to the right of them. The thief tried to get to his feet but was pushed back down by Ed who had a fire burning in his eyes as he glared down at the thief. Ed looked at the hand where the money was and saw nothing. Al came running up the alley, “Ed, he dropped the money. Once you started running like that after the shrimp comment, he tried to escape without it.” Ed blushed in embarrassment slightly. He got up off the thief, “Get out of here before the cops show up. “You!" exclaimed the thief, "You’re the one I’m looking for!” Ed stared at him again, this time with a look of confusion, “What the hell are you talking about?” “You’re the one master told me about! Edward Elric! Son of Hohenheim!” the thief jumped up and grabbed Ed by the shoulders in excitement, “Though you really are a lot smaller than I thought…” Ed abruptly shouted, “WHAT IS IT WITH YOU AND SHORT JOKES!?” The man bowed down before Ed, “Please forgive me.” He said, “I need to do this because I knew it would get your attention. I need to ask you something.” Ed was still just as confused, “What?” “Please teach me your mystical alchemy!” he begged. Ed looked down at him surprised and even more confused, “How do you know about alchemy?” he asked. "My master is a famed Iraqi alchemist. He told me you crossed the gate TWICE and learned alchemy from masters in Shamballa!” Ed’s eyes widened, he grasped the thief by the collars, “Who is this master? Is it Bradley!? Tell me where he is!” “Please great alchemist, you must teach me your legendary alchemy!” Ed finally came to his senses and put the thief down. “Of course, Bradley is a homunculus, so he can’t perform alchemy” he said to himself. He redirected his attention to the thief, “I should’ve said this from the start, alchemy is impossible here, in your world. Surely your master told you that.” The thief sank to his knees in shock. “He told me looking for you was foolish and risky considering my situation, but I had no other options. I need alchemy… My family is going to starve!” he was weeping, his face in his hands. “Well why wouldn’t you run off with the money you stole?” Ed asked. “Don’t be foolish! Your German currency is worthless in my country. It was just a way to get attention. I needed something... We are very poor and I need alchemy to feed my family. That’s why I trained under my master- to perhaps one day learn alchemy. I ran out of options, so I took out everything I had in saving and gave it to my family and only took some for myself to afford the voyage here, to find you." “Wait, I almost forgot, my master wanted me to give you a message- he can help you return to Shamballa!” Ed and Al were momentarily speechless, "No way! You have to tell me his name!" The thief's face lit up, "See! There is hope!" He regained his composure, "Of course, his nam-"the thief stopped short in his sentence and gasped dryly for air as he collapsed to the ground. Ed turned, and standing at the end of the alley was Officer Hughes. Ed ran to him, “What are you doing?” he yelled, “He’s just a thief is that really deserving of death? He was about to tell me something important!” Hughes had an overwhelmed look on his face as he replied, “I-I’m sorry Ed, he was a convicted killer and robber. He had to be stopped” Ed calmed down, fell to the ground and sat. “There are so many thgins a famous alchemist could’ve helped me with. Now I’ll never know who he was.” He said quietly, depressed. Al sat next to him and sighed, “Well he was a criminal- for all we know he could’ve been lying about the whole ‘master’ thing to escape with some money.” Ed thought about it. Al was right- criminals couldn’t be trusted. But something about meeting another alchemist just made him remember his old friends again. He started to tear slightly. Once things had seemed to quiet down, Noa came into the alley to find the sulking Ed next to Al while Officer Hughes walked away. She offered Ed her hand with a smiling face. It reminded Ed of his mother, which raised his mood slightly. He put his hand in hers and stood up with Al at his side. The three started to walk home, but as they passed the Goldenes Schwein, Ed said, “So our breakfast plans are over? I’m still hungry as hell!” his two friends looked at him and smiled. They turned and went into the restaurant.
