Sheikgoddess: Well I'm trying something different and writing something with a plot. Very scary thought. Anyway note that a few details will be different. Also note that this is my first FMA fic so be nice. It's set about twelve years after Ed and later Al go to the other side of the gate. There are obvious episode/possible moviespoilers, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Characters not mine, but this newest and twisted plot certainly is.

Prologue – A Twelve Year Long End Of Days

Twelve years had passed since Edward and Alphonse Elric had disappeared from Amestris. Over in the Far East, Ishbal was slowly being rebuilt. The biggest change was the attitude of the Ishbalans. Though they still did not perform alchemy, they were beginning to accept it whilst retaining their quiet dignity. The Assembly, now leading the state had made drastic changes in regards to the military. The Assembly was helped greatly by its most prominent members, Roy Mustang and his fiancé, Riza Hawkeye.

They had re-written laws so that wars between cities could be negotiated against before action was taken. This had ultimately led to a twelve-year peace between the state and its cities. Another interesting change was the military uniform. Females were now required to wear short skorts after the Assembly rejected mini skirts. Roy Mustang never seemed to have been able to fully justify that particular 'change'. This 'change'just so happened to take place when Riza had been home with the flu.

All information and references to the Philosopher's Stone were destroyed. However the ideas of human transmutation had not yet faded from everyone's memories and still lingered on the minds of alchemists. However. Though there was still talk, most lacked the power to do anything.

In the town of Risembool, much remained the same. Winry Rockbell had taken over the automail shop her grandmother, Panako had run before she grew too old to keep up and Izumi and her husband lived quietly in a cottage where the Elric residence had once stood. Wrath over time had come to an understanding of who Izumi was. Though he did not live with her, he did accept her and was fond of her in his own way. However, his attitude had much remained the same way since the age of eight when he came out of the gate. He was still determined, still one to make rash decisions before thinking and he still needed a friend or two.

Chapter 1 – Everything to Lose

Gracia and Elysia Hughes still lived in Central. Gracia had never re-married after the death of her husband, Maes Hughes. As a result they both lived alone and kept each other company. It troubled Elysia that her mother had never re-married. She knew she was lonely and she felt partly to blame because she knew she was his daughter; she served, as a constant reminder to the man she lost and her mother could not forget the past. She loved her mother so much but didn't know how to make her happy.

Elysia was sixteen, and almost an adult. But she could not forget the memories. Haunting memories of a father she knew she loved desperately. She could not remember much but her dreams were full of her father's smiling face, the words he used to speak and she knew she called out for him in her sleep. He was her mentor, her idol from beyond the grave. He was the first person she thought of when she woke in the morning and the last before she went to sleep. She didn't understand why. Was his love for her that strong? Was hers? All she knew was that the memories left tearstains on her pillows and a sense of emptiness and loss whenever she was alone.

Growing up without her father had been hard. She remembered vividly, the day of his funeral, when it finally sunk in that he was never coming back.

You can't bury Daddy. He still has heaps of work to do! He told me so!

Those were the last words she spoke until she found a love that in some ways substituted for her loss – alchemy. She taught herself until the age of ten. It was then that her mother arranged for someone to teach her properly. She needed something her father approved of and her father had been a military man. That was why she had planned to become a state alchemist. But that was before she realized that she couldn't live without her father. The science and the glory would mean nothing if he weren't there. Alchemy only helped to ease the pain; it didn't eradicate it completely.

She had vivid green eyes and light brown hair that reached just past her shoulder blades. She was slim and very muscled for a teenager. This was because at the age of sixteen she was a promising alchemist, having been taught for six years by her teacher the Flame Alchemist himself, Roy Mustang. Roy believed that if the mind should be in peak physical strength for alchemy, then the body should be too. However, they never seemed to see eye to eye about alchemy. She was more interested in the radical ideas of alchemy and he was if anything, a traditionalist. She remembered the time last year when she had asked about human transmutation…

……………………………………………………………………………

'Teacher, could you tell me about…human transmutation?'

Roy looked down at her and Elysia saw the familiar set of walls come down over his eyes when he was hiding emotion but not before she could capture a glimpse of the troubled look in his eyes.

'There is nothing about human transmutation you need to know. You would be foolish to' –

'But you do know something about it? I was just interested in the theory-'

'I know what you're thinking Elysia. If you live in the past you will forget to live a future. Forget your ideas and move on'

Roy turned the conversation to arrays and Elysia was left to ponder why he had trouble mentioning her father.

……………………………………………………………………………

She knew Roy felt guilty about her father and knew he would never tell her why. The painful memories in her childhood made her want to try human transmutation but it was forbidden and against the laws of the state. That was one law she wished Roy had changed.

There was another problem with human transmutation – equivalent exchange. From what she could remember, Elysia knew the Elric Brothers had tried to bring their mother back and had lost their bodies and limbs. She had loved the boys like brothers and still did. Elysia felt a slight pang when she thought of them. But there was a chance that they might still be alive - on the other side of the gate. Roy had no idea she knew about the gate. It was through three years of painstaking research that she had come to know about the gate. It was the only conclusion she could come up with when she thought of the brother's strange disappearance. The gate had a mysterious power and Elysia had no idea about how to get there or how the gate worked.

What was missing though? What was the price to pay for human life? Equivalent exchange – to gain, something of equal value must be lost.

A life for a life in other words. She hated that alchemic law with a vengeance. What about her father? What had she gained the night her father was murdered? The law applied in alchemy but you couldn't use it in the real world.

These were Elysia's musings as prepared herself to perform the most important transmutation of her life. She had lost so much and gained nothing in return. Elysia would die happy, knowing she had bought her father back and made her mother happy once more. I have everything to lose and nothing to gain. With that final thought she added the last features to her array for human transmutation. No matter what, she decided – I will bring my father back.

Sheikgoddess: I hoped you liked the first chapter and for future reference I happen to like cliffhangers. So sue me (no point really, I have no money). Anyway Ipromise the next chapter will be more exciting.

REVIEW! Even if you didn't read it review anyway! Or you could be nice and actually read it too. Pretty please with automail covered in chocolate with marshmallows on top?