CHAPTER TWO

"Hey, Kid! K-i-i-i-i-d! Wake up, we're gonna be late!" Liz shook the lazy reaper's shoulder in hopes of waking him up. The only response she got was a muffled "I don't wanna" and a groan of pain. After a few moments of nagging, Kid sat up, stretched his arms, and winced. He was moving his arms, trying to loosen them up, when the events of the day before came back to him. That's right, he thought, I had that big fight with Ed. He examined his left shoulder, where Edward's blade-arm had cut cleanly through his jacket. It had cut deeper than Ed had meant, and Kid now had quite an injury to nurse back to health. At least I can still use the rest of my arm. Poor Ed can't even move his!

Deciding that he had it better than his ex-opponent, Kid got out of bed and walked over to his closet, where he always kept a few extra jackets. He flinched as he put on his

shirt and jacket, and even had to have Liz put his Death Mask brooch on for him. "You had better get that shoulder fixed up soon, Kid," said Liz. "Patti and I aren't going to do every little thing that causes you pain to do." Kid gave her a look, which made Patti laugh, making Kid even more upset. He stormed out of the house and started walking to school, the Thompson sisters calling after him to slow down.

Over at the Death City Hotel, Edward was just getting off the phone with Winry. Al, sitting on the other side of the room, could hear Winry's screeching about Ed's busted arm. "I just made the one two months ago! How did you bust it up this time?!"

Ed was vehemently trying to calm Winry down. "Look, it's not that bad. I just need my shoulder put back in place and maybe a couple extra bolts that may have come loose." Winry started howling about how her bolts "can't come loose, I used a brand new air-compressor socket wrench Pinako got me for my birthday!" Edward looked ready to snap, so he wrapped up the conversation before he told Winry about his stupid fight. "Look, the bottom line is that I need my arm repaired and you're the only one I trust to fix it. I'm in Death City and I can't leave right now, so would you be able to come here to fix my arm?" He held the phone a good foot away from his ear as Winry squealed about how much she needed a vacation and always heard Death City had some of the best automail because of all the weapons and she would pack right away and how long would she be there and how would she get there? Ed quickly explained that he would wire the money to her and she should get to Death City in the next couple of days. They said their goodbyes and Ed sighed, trying to move his dislocated arm.

Al looked at the clock and jumped up. "Brother," he called, "we're going to be late!" Ed looked up from his arm and started scrambling to get ready. The boys ran to the DWMA as fast as they could, but Ed's legs were already jelly by the time they got to the bottom of the stairs. There was no way he could get up all those stairs before 7 o'clock. It was already 6:45! "Quick, brother, get on my back!" Edward gave his brother a look, but knew there was no other way to get to the DWMA in time. Ed hopped up onto Al's back and the started up the stairs. A few students gave them very strange looks, and Edward knew he would get teased for this. The brothers walked into room 206 just as the bell rang.

"Hello class," Ed said breathlessly. "Today…we will be l-learning…about—the chemi-chemical components…of different items." As he tried to catch his breath, Alphonse started explaining what chemical components were.

"A chemical compound is a substance formed by chemical union of two or more elements or ingredients in definite proportion by weight." Alphonse lost a few students here, including Soul and Blackstar who were busy drawing a comic about Edward's shortness, but he didn't seem to notice. "Technically, everything is a chemical. Therefore, the most complex thing, even if it's made up of other chemicals, is still a chemical." About half the class looked lost by now, but Al seemed to be scanning the deepest recesses of his mind for this information. "For example, the human body is made up of 35 litres of water, 20 kilograms of carbon, four litres of ammonia, one-and-a-half kilograms of lime, 800 grams of phosphorus, 250 grams of salt, 100 grams of nitrogen, 80 grams of sulfur, seven-and-a-half grams of fluorine, five grams of iron, three grams of silicon and 15 other trace elements. Although each of these is a chemical, the human body is still a chemical too."

Edward, seeing how confused the class was (minus Maka and Ox, who were furiously writing down notes), jumped in with an easier-to-understand explanation. "Okay, look: chemicals are what make up everything in the world, including you. To understand the basics of alchemy, you have to understand that everything has a chemical makeup. And to create something out of something else, which is the basic reason for alchemy, you have to know the chemical makeup of each object. That is one of the main rules of Equivalent Exchange."

At that, Kid perked up. "Equivalent exchange" sounded very symmetrical, and he wanted to hear more about it. He raised his hand, but Ed was too deep in explaining the chemical makeup of other things to see Kid's hand. He realized he had missed his chance and would have to wait until Edward was done with his lesson. Finally, with five minutes remaining in the class, Ed asked if anyone had any questions. Kid's hand shot up almost immediately.

"You mentioned Equivalent Exchange earlier, could you elaborate on it?" Ed looked sharply at Kid, realizing he hadn't taught the students about Equivalent Exchange on the first day. How could I forget to tell them about that? Some teacher I am, he thought, silently scolding himself for forgetting something so vital in the world of alchemy.

"Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return." Alphonse's small voice seemed to suddenly fill the room. "To obtain, something of equal value must be lost." His voice was getting progressively louder, and at this he stood up, and his booming voice filled the room. "That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange."

Edward seemed a bit embarrassed by his brother's enthusiasm, but before he could interject, the bell rang and all the kids left the class. Kid was the last one out of the room, because he wanted to make sure Ed's arm wasn't hurting too bad.

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about it. I called Winry this morning, she's probably already on her way here. It'll be kind of tough for the next few days but I'll be fine once she gets here."
"Well, alright then," Kid said dubiously. He left the classroom and walked home with Liz and Patti.

After the classroom was empty, Alphonse let his thoughts out. "Brother, come on, we should go do some research about the Stone! That's the whole reason we came here, and we haven't found anything yet," Al stated, with a hint of worry in his metallic voice. His brother didn't seem nearly as distressed. He propped his feet on his desk and leaned back in his chair, his one working arm behind his head. "Brother! I'm serious!"

"Alphonse, relax. We've only been here for like three days, and I can't very well carry many books in my condition, can I? Now calm down and, I don't know, grade some papers or something. I'm going to go get something to eat from the cafeteria." Ed picked his feet up off the table and his chair fell back on all four legs with a thud that echoed through the room.

As the young alchemist was wandering the halls looking for the cafeteria, he bumped into Professor Stein, literally. He looked up at the tall man, with his jaggedly sewn face and clothes, and the giant bolt stuck through his head. Stein looked down at Edward, a terrifying grin on his face. His glasses flashed.

"Oh, I'm sorry little one. I must not've been watching where I was going." Stein didn't seem to remember the young alchemist he only hired days ago. His voice had an almost soothing quality, but with an underlying tone that made Ed shiver. Nonetheless, he still got defensive at being called "little one."

"HEY I"M NOT LITTLE I'M A TEACHER HERE HOW DARE YOU CALL ME LITTLE YOU'RE THE ONE WHO HIRED ME-" Oh, that's right, thought Stein, this is the new alchemy teacher. I almost forgot. As Ed continued to yell at Stein, the professor decided to do some investigating on the young man he had hired just days ago. He twisted the bolt in his head to be able to read Edward's soul properly. What he found shocked him greatly. He grasped the yelling alchemist's head and moved him to the side. "Hey ,where do you think you're going?! I'm not through with yo-," But the professor was already gone. Edward turned back the way he was going, and stomped on to continue searching for the cafeteria.

When Professor Stein got back to his office, he locked the door and went to the far corner of the room. He pushed a bookcase aside, so he could get to a secret compartment hidden in the floor. He opened it and took out a notebook that looked quite old and torn up, with blood spattered on the cover and in some of the pages. He flipped to one page that was so covered with blood that the writing was barely legible. Only a few words stood out of the red-brown stains. Alchemy, human transmutation, failure, The Door. There was also a picture paperclipped to the page. It showed a transmutation circle, one only used by alchemists who would commit the ultimate taboo of trying to bring a human back to life.

Stein had always thought of everything as an experiment. And practicing alchemy was no exception. After graduating the DWMA, he stayed near the school so he could do simple experiments. After almost a decade of doing nothing but tearing up and putting back together small animals, he was getting bored. So he went off on his own for a bit. At the time, he was extremely taken by alchemy, and went around the world trying to learn as much as possible. His ambitions eventually led him to a land called Amestris, where alchemist were commonly drafted into the military. During the time of his visit, the Ishvalan War of Extermination was going on, so many of the alchemists he had hoped to consult in Central were unreachable.

He heard murmurs of a woman, an alchemist, who lived in a southern city called Dublith. She had remained nameless in the big city, but people had heard that she infiltrated Fort Briggs a few years back. From what Stein had researched, Fort Briggs was the toughest, most well-protected military base in the country. If a single woman was able to break through that kind of security then she was definitely worth looking up.

When Stein had located Izumi, he was surprised to find the person he did. He had expected an aged, strong-looking woman, but instead found a small, young women who seemed too young to know all that she knew about alchemy. But after spending a day with her and her hulking husband, Sig, Stein had learned much about the deadly science, how much it can help people, but how it can corrupt people with a weak will. Although she knew much on the subject, and was glad to share her knowledge, Izumi had been hesitant to reveal her personal past to a stranger.

"I'm sorry if I've made you feel uncomfortable, ma'am. I didn't mean to pry," Stein apologized. "Sometimes my interest in the unknown gets in the way of my manners." He chucked.

"No, it-it's no problem. I just haven't told anyone before." She looked up at Sig who was standing behind her, rubbing her tense shoulders. He nodded his head and she took a deep breath. "After finding out that my alchemy instructor was a fraud, I left him to teach myself. During that time, I ran into Sig, and we fell in love immediately."

Sig snickered. "She was carrying a bear. An entire bear! And when she said ran into me, she meant literally. Knocked the bear right off her shoulders!When I picked it up for her, our eyes met and it was love at first sight." He looked at his wife with visible adoration in his eyes.

"Hmm, yes. Not to be rude, but about your past with alchemy...?" Stein inquired.

"Oh, of course, sorry. I didn't mean to bore you with my love life," Izumi said, immediately somber. "After a few years, when we were settled down, Sig and I decided to have a baby. But it... didn't work out how we were hoping. My baby was, he was stillborn. I was heartbroken, we both were." She let her head fall, and Stein could see tears drip onto her hands clasped in her lap. "I didn't know what to do. I was almost mad with grief. I couldn't understand it. I was finally blessed with a baby, and it was taken from me. So I did the only thing I could think of to lessen the pain." Her hands suddenly clenched tighter in her hands and her head whipped up. "I committed the ultimate alchemic taboo." She stood up suddenly, knocking Sig's hands off her shoulders. "I tried to bring my baby back to life! But it didn't work. What I brought back was not my baby. It wasn't even human! It was a monster!" She then proceeded to cough blood and fall onto her chair, nearly faint.

Sig grabbed his wife's hands and led her out of the room. "Could you excuse us for a moment?" He asked Stein. The professor nodded. As the couple left the room, Stein contemplated Izumi's reaction to a lost loved one. Stein had always told himself he was incapable of love, ever since he was little. And he believed it. But being handicapped in this way left him unable to understand the pain of losing someone close to him. He was glad he didn't have useless emotions that got in the way of his experiments, even if people thought of him as a heartless monster.((Right here is where I'm still putting stuff in, so what's written below is kind of out of order))

After a few minutes, Izumi and Sig came back into the room and sat down. "Sorry about that, I'm just still a bit sensitive on that topic," the woman apologized. "Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I'll tell you about what I saw after... after the transmutation. As you know, most people need a transmutation circle to perform alchemy."

"Yes, I am aware of this. And certain aspects of circles accomplish different results."

"That's correct. But you see, human transmutation changes that. Although it doesn't do what you want it to do, it gives you an end result that is still useful. When you perform this taboo it opens The Door."

"The Door to what?" Stein inquired.

"To all," Izumi said quietly. "The Door holds knowledge of everything behind it. When you attempt a human transmutation, you open The Door. But it doesn't open for free. It takes something from you, something from your body. For me, it took some of my organs, which is why I was coughing up blood a bit ago. It also made me unable to have children ever again."

"I'm sorry for your loss, ma'am. But to have something so drastic taken from you, you must have learned quite a lot?"

Izumi sighed. "Yes, when The Door opened, all the knowledge of the world was shown to me. But I was only able to grasp some of it. The one thing it did for me though, was teach me how to perform alchemy without using a transmutation circle. See, watch." She took a cup off the table, clapped her hands, and pressed them onto the cup. A blue bolt of light flashed from her hands to the cup, and the cup transformed into a beautiful glass swan.

The professor seemed impressed. "So you lost things vital and important to you, but you got quite a gift in return. That's quite a trade."

"Yes, but not one I would've picked if I had known the outcome. It is of course convenient, but the trade-off wasn't the most desirable." She sighed. "But I know I must live with the consequences of my actions. I learned that when I first became an alchemist, and I have learned to take full responsibility for everything I do. "

"I can tell you take this very seriously. And as I've learned from my research and from you, you are smart to take it so seriously." He smiled at Izumi, eerily but sincerely. He then looked up at the clock. "Oh my, time seems to have passed quicker than I thought it would. I should be going now then." He stood up to shake Izumi's hand. "Thank you for telling me about your knowledge on alchemy. I will use it wisely for my research."

Izumi and Sig walked the professor to the door. "It was my pleasure. I enjoy sharing my knowledge of alchemy, unlike my imposter of a teacher." She said this in an irritated tone, but was smiling. "Now, I know you're a scientist and all, but don't go around trying to bring someone back to life. I wouldn't wish this life even on my worst enemies, let alone a nice man who's simply hungry for knowledge!" She had given this warning to Stein with a chuckle, but her eyes were deadly serious. He had almost felt bad for going against her advice for the sake of science. But a small consequence such as low-functioning organs was nothing to worry about in his eyes, if he could unlock the secrets of The Door. But for Izumi's sake, he decided to push the idea of human transmutation out of his head and pursue the knowledge of chimeras. He waved as he walked away from the cozy little butcher shop.

After his visit to the Curtis household, Stein went back to Central, where he had been gladly welcomed as a guest from the famous DWMA. He visited many libraries and records searching for information on chimeras, and finally after a few days pouring over books a state alchemist suggested he look up Shou Tucker who was known for trying to get his state alchemist license by creating chimeras. Stein was very intrigued and thanked the soldier greatly. He left immediately to look up and visit Shou Tucker.

When the professor got to the Tucker residence, a beautiful young woman holding a baby opened the door. She seemed shocked to see such a strange man at her door. She discreetly adjusted the baby on her hip away from Stein. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Is this the residence of Mr. Shou Tucker? I was told by military personnel that he was the one too see for information about chimeras," Stein replied.

"Oh. Yes, he's here. Please, come in. HONEY! Someone's here to see you," the woman called up the stairs. "The living room is over here, Shou should be down in a minute." She walked into the living room with Stein trailing behind her. She put the baby in a playpen and sat down in a chair. Stein sat on the couch, and Shou came in moments later.

Stein stood up to shake Tucker's hand. "You must be Mr. Shou Tucker, known for his genius in the topic of chimeras. It's an honor to meet you. I'm professor Franken Stein from the DWMA. I'm quite a fan of of dissecting and experimenting on animals myself."

"Good to meet you. It's hard to find anyone around here with the same interests as myself. You say you're from the DWMA? I don't believe I've ever heard of that." Tucker seemed pleased that this man showed up at his house, hoping to discuss chimeras.

Stein explained, "The DWMA, or Death Weapon Meister Academy, is a school where children learn to wield weapons to keep the world free of evil creatures called 'Kishins.' The weapons these students are actually other students who have the ability to turn into weapons. It all revolves around souls and their wavelengths, and how compatible the weapon and meister's souls are."

Tucker was captivated by the school Stein was from and how much they relied on souls for what they did. During his time trying to become a state alchemist, he had heard about a Philosopher's stone that used souls-but could perform miracles. He asked Stein if they had a Stone at the DWMA. Stein seemed confused and said he didn't know what that was. Tucker dropped the subject and showed Stein to his lab in the basement. Before he could go down with Stein, Shou's wife pulled him aside.

"Shou, you don't know this man. He just showed up on our doorstep, out of nowhere! And now you're going to show him your experiments?" She grimaced on the last word. "Are you crazy? This isn't safe!" She seemed genuinely frightened, but her husband paid no heed.

"Darling, don't worry. He said he came from a school, what kind of school would let a madman work there?" He was already edging toward the basement door before his wife could respond.

"How do you know he's telling the truth?" she hissed. "Maybe he is a madman and is making all this up to steal your research! We're relying on you passing your state alchemist exam to make it through the winter. We can't take any chances." She was struggling to keep her voice down so as not to disturb the baby.

"No need to worry, I'm not going to give him any of my data, just tell him what I learned before I started experimenting." He embraced his wife, who hesitantly hugged him back. "How about you take Nina and go to the park? I think she'd like some air." He headed down the stairs without another word. Exasperated, his wife took the bouncing baby out of her playpen and into a stroller. "Let's go, Nina. Daddy's busy."

Down in the drab, shadowy, basement, Stein was inspecting a multitude of cages filled with different chimeras. Lizards combined with birds sitting in cages; cats mixed with fish, half drowned in fishtanks; what looked like a spider with butterfly wings banged around in a glass case. "So you created all of these yourself?" he asked Tucker with awe. He could've stayed down there forever, inspecting and dissecting these anomalies.

Tucker replied, with pride, "Yes, with nothing but alchemy and my own hands. Although I've learned much from it, the military doesn't seem to find it very useful." He sighed. "I've taken the state alchemist exam twice, but each time they said my 'talent' wouldn't be 'helpful to the cause.' But I'll be taking it again next spring, so maybe they'll have changed their minds by then." He reached into a cage and pulled out what seemed to be a foot long snake with the head and front paws of a rat. It slithered up Tuckers arm and rested on his shoulder.

Stein reached for the cage with the lizard-bird, and looked to Tucker for permission. Tucker nodded. Stein opened the cage and took the creature out, letting it fly around him and perch on his arm. He then proceeded to inspect it closer. "Do you have any idea what you're going to do for your exam? It seems you might have to think outside the box for this one," Stein commented.

"I've been entertaining some ideas, but I feel that the military will simply find me useless once again. Perhaps I could make a chimera out of bigger animals, maybe a lion and crocodile. That could be quite the killing machine." The alchemist seemed to have started mumbling to himself by this point. He then shared with Stein all he knew on chimeras: How they are created, how they stay alive, and how much the bodies are altered. Near the end of Stein's visit, an idea occurred to him.

Stein hesitated before telling Tucker his idea. Anything for science, he though. He finally suggested, "Tucker, had you thought about creating chimeras out of more than just stupid animals?" He looked up at the alchemist knowingly through his glasses. "I can almost guarantee the military would notice that."

Tucker looked at the professor with shock and admiration. "Are you suggesting... a human chimera?" Stein nodded. "But it's illegal to experiment on humans. They would never accept it. Such a shame, that's a wonderful idea. I probably could even get it to talk."

"Who ever said they have to know that it's part human? They're all military grunts, I doubt they'll be able to tell what it's made out of. As long as they see an end result, they'll be happy," Stein retorted. He could see understanding dawning on Tucker's face as he realized that it would be possible. After a few hours discussing chimeras and Tucker's exam, Stein left, happy with the knowledge he had gained. The next day, he took the train out of Central and headed back to the DWMA.

When the professor got back to the DWMA, he headed down into the dungeons, where Lord Death said he could practice his alchemy. It was dark, far away from people, and off limits to the students, so it was reasonably the safest place for dangerous tasks to be completed. After wandering the halls of the dungeon for half an hour, Stein found the room that Death had marked for him to use. In big, oddly shaped letters, a sign read "Do Not Enter- Fatal Dangers Await." Well that should keep at least some students out, thought Stein, if any DWMA students would be deterred by a little sign. He shook his head and opened the door to find cases of chalk, piles of cages, compasses, towers of books, stacks of paper and pencils, and blocks of materials: wood, cement, metals, everything an alchemist would need.

He walked over to a desk in the corner of the room, set down his bag, and pulled out a beat-up old journal. He opened the journal to a page marked with a piece of scrap paper, where he had written down everything he learned about chimeras. He then went about writing all his new knowledge in a large, more permanent book. He didn't include any of the personal information he had written down, this hard copy was strictly for information. He had already filled a couple dozen pages with simple alchemy rules, transmutation circles, and the chemical makeup of a few items. But now he would be able to fill this book with his own finding instead of just things he read in books.

After a few weeks of practicing alchemy, he was content that he had achieved enough experience with chimeras to show Lord Death his progress. He had made many chimeras that didn't survive, and a few that did, and an even fewer amount that cooperated when he told them a command. He decided to bring up his favorite creation, a creature with the powerful legs of a wolf, yet the dexterity of a cat, the obedience of a dog, and the head of a snake. It was small enough to sit in someone's lap, so it was a very good stealth attack creature. He put it in a travel cage and brought it to Lord Death's room.

"Ah, Stein! Hello, hello, come in!" Lord Death seemed quite excited to see Stein, and his latest creation. "I hope you planned to stay for tea!" Stein set the cage down and walked over to the tea table, where Death was already pouring tea into two cups. The professor sat down and picked up his cup, stirring it before taking a sip. Lord Death did the same, his cup getting lost in his giant glove-like hands. "So I see you brought an animal with you today. Would that be one of those chimeras you've been working on?" He took a drink of tea as he waited for Stein to answer.

"Yes, it's my best one I've made yet," Stein replied. "I thought that since you gave me the time and materials to practice alchemy, you would want to see what I've done so far." He got up and brought the cage to the table. It was covered by a cloth, but the cage was being rattled by the creature inside. The professor pulled the cloth away to reveal the cat-wolf-snake abomination. It hissed at the sudden light and clawed at the air. "Down," Stein said sternly. The thing ceased clawing and sat down obediently, its long cat tail swishing against the bottom of the cage with the vigor of an excited dog.

Lord Death inspected the creature, taking in the diversity of textures, the jaggedly sewn together skin, and the soul. The soul was just as jagged as the outside of the animal, maybe even more so. He was surprised this poor creature still even had a soul after what Stein did to it. It wasn't exactly round like most souls, but more like someone had three balls of clay that they clumped together messily.

After a few minutes, Lord Death asked if it could come out of it's cage. Stein nodded and opened the cage. The animal leapt out and onto Stein's shoulder, where it sat waiting for a command. "Down," the professor said. The animal jumped off his shoulder and onto the table. "He is very obedient, and knows many commands after only a few days of existence. I have to say this is one of the finest accomplishments of my life, behind graduating from the DWMA, of course." He smiled slightly, then returned his focus to his creation. "Take a lap." It jumped five feet in the air, landed across the room, ran around the entirety of the Death Room, and was back on the table sitting obediently before Lord Death had even realized what had happened.

"Wowza, what an achievement! But, Stein, I do have one question for you," Lord Death requested.

"Yes, and what's that?" Stein asked.

"What do you plan to do with this creature? And any other creatures you intend to make?"

Stein answered without hesitation, "My plans were to perfect the science of creating chimeras, making sure they could survive for long periods of time without any negative effects and be more physically and mentally advanced than other animals. Now that I've accomplished that, my work on chimeras is complete. I think I may keep this one, though, as a memento of sorts. If that doesn't break any of the DWMA rules, of course," he added hastily. The last thing he wanted to do was upset Lord Death.

"I think that will be fine," Lord Death replied after a moment. "As long as no one is put in danger because of it, I will permit it to stay on school grounds. And now that that's out of the way, I must get back to business. Thank you for stopping in and showing me your accomplishment, Stein."

"It's no problem, sir. Thank you for allowing me to pursue this interest." He bowed slightly and walked out of the Death Room.

"Oh Stein," Lord Death called, "before you go: Do you plan to continue on the path of alchemy? I don't know much about it, but I know there's more than chimeras involved."

Stein hesitated. "Yes, I do plan to keep learning all I can about alchemy. I am a scientist of course," he responded somewhat darkly.

"Well, be careful. I've heard it is a dangerous art." Death looked at Stein wih a deep meaning in his mask's eyes. Then he was back to his normal, goofy self. "Well, adios, bye-bye, see ya later!" He waved as Stein walked down the hallway, away from the Death Room.

When Stein got back to his laboratory he looked at his stacks of books, pondering what to do next. A little voice in his head said, "How about some human transmutation?" He shook his head, trying to make the voice go away. I promised that woman in Central I wouldn't do it. "How would she know you did it? Are you ever actually going to see her again?" I doubt I will actually see her ever again. Besides, it's in the name of science. "There you go, now you're thinking!" He walked over to his desk and pulled out his journal, where he had written what he knew about Human Transmutation. He found it strange that there was so much information on something that was so taboo, but was thankful for it.

After a few weeks of research and collecting resources, Professor Stein only needed one more element to complete his transmutation- a human to bring back. He figured he could just get the DNA of someone deceased- blood, hair, or otherwise- and bring them back by using the DNA and the chemical components of a human body. When he got all the other components ready, the phosphorus, carbon, iron, ammonia, among other things, he decided to visit the town morgue for some DNA of a dead guy. He ended up with a man who had been mugged two days ago. A man with a life, a job, a family, a home, a name. None of this occurred to the professor.

Around midnight one night, so he would not be disturbed by anyone, he set up the transmutation. It took him an hour and a half to draw the circle, and another 45 minutes to get all the chemical measurements correct. By this time he was itching to learn the secrets of The Door, Izumi's warnings all but forgotten. When he had gotten everything situated he made sure the door was locked, crouched down by the circle, clapped his hands, and put them on the circle. A bolt of light came from his hands and encompassed the tub of ingredients in the middle of the room. but then the light turned to darkness, and the floor opened up to reveal a giant eye. As Stein looked at the eye, a flash of light filled the room, and when he opened his eyes he found himself in a different room.

This room was all white, with no noticeable landmarks except a giant door behind him and a small figure sitting down, barely visible on the white backdrop of the room. "Where am I? Who are you?" Stein demanded.

The figure laughed. "Why I thought you'd never ask! I am what you call the world. Or the universe, or God, or the truth. I am all. I am one." The figure pointed at Stein. "I am also... you." The professor took a step back, taken off guard by the figure's words. He kept walking backwards until his back hit something. He turned around. A door? he thought to himself. No, it must be The Door. He stared at it with awe. "Are you interested to know what's behind that door?" The figure inquired.

Stein turned back around. "Well of course I am. Why else would I be here?" He looked at the figure as if it was an imbecile.

"Wait. You're telling me you didn't perform a human transmutation to bring a loved one back to life?" Stein shook his head in response. "Wow, you must be a pretty heartless man."

"I find human emotions to be more trouble than they're worth," he countered. "I only live to learn, and what could I learn if my emotions kept getting in my way?"

The figure seemed genuinely shocked. "Well, as you probably know then, to see what's behind this door, I need to take something from you." Stein nodded. "And you're perfectly okay with this?" He nodded again. "Then I will show you the truth!" he bellowed. The door behind Stein opened to reveal another eye, exactly like the one in the circle. Little black tentacle-like hands shot out from around the eye and took hold of his limbs. "Oh, one more thing," called the figure. "I'm very fond of your lifestyle, searching the globe for nothing but knowledge. I think I may have to take some of that knowledge for myself!" His thunderous laugh filled the room as the professor was sucked into The Door.

When The Door had closed, the little hands dragged Stein through The Truth. All of the information in the world was in there, which he thought was heaven at first. But the fingers were dragging him too quickly, and he couldn't remember all that he had seen "Go back," he cried, "go back!" The fingers didn't listen, they just kept pulling him along. But finally he realized The Truth. At the end of the information, he saw the man he had tried to bring back to life. He reached out to the man, desperate to get away from these fingers that now seemed to grasp him tighter and tighter. As he was reaching toward the man, his arm started to break down before his eyes. He looked down at his legs and torso to see that they had already unraveled and parts had disappeared entirely. "Wha-what's happening?!" He reached out once more toward the man, and found himself back in the white room, put back together.

The figure looked at Stein, panting and sweaty. "Well, how was it?" the figure asked.

"It was- it was magnificent! All the information I could ever possibly need to know was in there! But I couldn't grasp it all quick enough. I would be delighted if you could send me back in for a while, to gather more data," Stein hinted.

"I can't. You've learned all you deserved to learn for your toll."

Stein was confused. "My toll?"

"Yes, the price you paid to learn what you did. Too bad for you that your best trait was your knowledge!"

The professor suddenly collapsed, holding his head as if it were going to rip in two. He let out a howl of pain as the figure drained his knowledge from his brain. "Equivalent Exchange, correct? I learned these things, so you take something from me, I knew that. But this," he gasped, "is not equivalent! You can't show me this information and take it away just like that!"

The figure laughed. "Sure I can. Human transmutation has only ever been used out of love and desperation. You, heartless man, do not deserve this knowledge. And I'll take a little more, because you learned so much before this transmutation that you don't deserve to know," he said condescendingly, as if Stein was a little baby incapable of thought process. "I'm going to take your sanity, little by little. So slowly you won't even realize it's gone!" The figure bellowed his horrible laugh once more, and Stein found himself back in his lab, clutching his head, trying to remember all that had happened before it was gone entirely. He fumbled around for his journal and pen, trying to jot down what he could. He only got a few lines down before he was distracted by the moaning mass of blood, bones, and skin in the center of the transmutation circle. He crawled toward the mass to see how the transmutation worked for the subject.

When he got close, he saw what he had created. It wasn't even close to human. When he got too close, the thing vomited up blood, covering him and his journal in the red stuff. His head suddenly clenched, forcing him to roll away from the thing and grasp his head, trying to make the pain end. After a minute or two, he blacked out from the pain. The last thing he knew was the pained moans from the creature beside him and the blood seeping into his clothes.

As Stein held his journal, he struggled to remember what he learned over those months. The memories were there-Izumi and Sig, Shou Tucker and his family, his trip to Amestris, his lab in the dungeon-but he could not remember anything he had learned from any of them. And his journal had been so ruined by the thing he couldn't remember had happened all those years ago. His sanity had been slowly deteriorating since then as well, just as the figure had said. He would have kept this journal locked up for the rest of his days, had the state of Edward's soul been so familiar to him. It was the same as the professors: Fragile in places, as if it had been damaged, but toughened by something traumatic. The thing that was killing Stein was not knowing what that traumatic event was.

He had tried to look up information about those few legible words, but anytime he tried, he got a crippling headache. "Well, having this little alchemist around tells me one thing about those missing months," he said to himself, "whatever happened must have been related to alchemy. I guess I'll have to ask him what happened that would warp his soul so," he decided. He flipped the pages in his journal one last time before putting it back in its hiding spot, trying to ignore the start of a headache in the back of his head.