Carbon, nitrogen, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, sulphur... The make-up of the ground that we walk on. The very soil of the earth...

Edward Elric slammed both of his hands onto the ground, creating a small tornado of dirt and dust in the air. "Tell me where my brother is!" he snarled.

The guy facing him was still quite visible behind the dust storm, due to his sheer size. He may have had the advantage of height and strength, but Edward was one of the state's top ranking alchemists. No way was he gonna let a six foot something hunk of muscle scare him off.

The guy just laughed at Edward's move. "You think a little dust is gonna help you? No chance."

Strong hands reached into the dust cloud and dragged Edward out by the collar, slamming him against the side of an old wood-cutting machine. He winced. The dust dispersed as his alchemy was interrupted.

"And I've got a little trick to show you, Fullmetal. You're not the only one who can use alchemy." The guy held up his free hand - a clearly visible transmutation circle scarred deep into his palm. He slapped it against the machine, sparks flying as it noisily chugged to life. The rotary blades started whirring, picking up rapid speed.

"You use your alchemy to alter the circuits inside the machine," Edward commented, unable to keep his brain from working logically, even whilst in danger. "Not a bad trick."

"Flattery's not gonna get you anywhere, boy. Now tell me where the philosopher's stone is or you can say goodbye to your head," the guy threatened, slamming Edward against the wood-cutter a second time.

Edward looked up at the extremely fast-spinning blades above his head. Not good. Why did someone have to pick a fight with him in a junkyard of all places? Still... "Fat chance," he replied. He made to clap his hands together to perform more alchemy, but the big guy grabbed his wrist before he could finish his move.

"I don't think so, Fullmetal," the guy grinned, testing his grip around what was definitely not flesh and blood, just as he'd guessed. "I know how your alchemy works. This arm is your biggest strength."

It was true. Even though Edward could use alchemy without a transmutation circle, he still needed both hands to do so. The arm that the guy had pinned back was made of automail and was therefore a lot stronger than his other arm – though not strong enough to break free from this position.

"I don't have time for this!" Edward shouted suddenly, growing tired of this pointless interrogation. "Tell me where my brother is!"

"Oh, no, I'm not giving that up just yet," the guy said conversationally. "First, you tell me where the philosopher's stone is."

"I've already told you I don't know," Edward replied bluntly, still trying to pull the guy off with his free hand.

"I'm sorry to hear that," the guy said sombrely. "Perhaps you need a bit of persuasion before you decide to share anything."

He suddenly lifted Edward off his feet and up towards the spinning blades. Edward gasped – they were just inches above his head. He ducked forward as far as he could, desperately trying to kick and hit his opponent.

"I don't know where it is!" he shouted, the fear making his voice raise a few octaves.

"I think you do," the guy insisted, lifting Edward up higher still.

"I don't!" cried Edward. He was going to get decapitated and he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

"Tell me!" yelled the guy.

"I swear I don't know!" Edward screamed, his long hair catching painfully in the spinning turbine. "We still haven't found it!"

Before the guy could respond again, a rock suddenly slammed hard into the side of his head. He staggered sideways and dropped Edward back on the ground. Edward just managed to keep his balance and stay on his feet, though his good leg was shaking slightly.

They both looked round to see who'd thrown the rock. It was a young girl with short, untidy dark hair. She surely couldn't have been any older than fourteen or fifteen. She was walking towards them with another rock in her hand.

"I suggest you leave him alone," she said directly to the big, muscled guy.

"This doesn't concern you," he grunted, gingerly touching his face. There was now a thin line of blood trickling down from his temple.

"I don't care," she said shortly, holding the rock up. "You'd better leave now unless you want me to throw this."

The guy took two moments to measure up the situation before abruptly grabbing Edward's automail arm again and pulling him in front like a shield. Making sure he had the mechanical limb in a vice-like grip so that he couldn't use his alchemy, he wrapped his other arm around Edward's neck and squeezed hard. Edward choked and tried to pull the man's arm away.

"Now you keep your nose out and get lost or I'll break the kid's neck," the guy threatened.

The girl weighed up her chances. She had no doubt that the guy would do as he said. The odds of her managing to actually hit him hard enough with the second rock for him to let go of the kid weren't good. And she definitely didn't trust that she'd have enough time to find more ammo on the dusty ground before her.

"Drop the rock!" the guy ordered sharply, tightening his arm around Edward's throat even more. Edward gasped in pain, his eyes rolling back in his head and showing too much white.

The girl reluctantly tossed the rock aside. "Fine, I'm unarmed. Now let him go."

"I told you this doesn't concern you. Now piss off," said the guy, still not relinquishing his hold.

She had no doubt that he'd kill the kid if she turned away now. Edward was still desperately trying to loosen the guy's grip with rapidly-weakening fingers. His face was starting to turn purple - if she didn't act fast, then he was going to lose consciousness. Only one thing left she could do.

"I'm giving you one last chance to let him go," she warned quickly.

"Or you'll do what exactly?" the guy scoffed.

"This," she replied simply and clapped her hands together. The twin rings on her middle fingers clinked as they connected. The sensation of fire rushed through her body. She held up her right hand as a protective steel layer spread across it, protruding past her fingers and forming long sharp claws. "Last chance," she said menacingly.

The guy eyed her sharp nails for a few seconds, then laughed nastily. "Am I supposed to be scared?"

In one swift movement, the girl lurched forward and stabbed the row of nails deep into the guy's arm that was restraining Edward's automail limb. He roared in pain and released the boy, who keeled onto the floor, fighting to get his breath back.

"You'll regret that," growled the guy, reaching towards her.

In another single move, she had her nails pressed just underneath the man's jaw. "Don't make me do it," she said softly, though her eyes were hard as steel. She made sure she was standing between the man and the boy still on his knees.

The guy just stared back for a few seconds. "Fine," he said gruffly. "Though why you wanna protect a state alchemist so bad, I have no idea."

He raised both hands in surrender. She lowered hers and allowed him to back off. Only when he'd finally stalked out of sight did she clap her hands together again to revert her hand back to normal. The metallic claws disappeared.

She then helped Edward to his feet. He was still breathing hard. "You okay?"

"I think so," he breathed, gingerly rubbing his throat. "Who are you?"

"My name's Alice Tatum," she replied. "What's yours?"

"Edward Elric," he said, still looking wary.

"Well, Edward Elric, maybe next time you should pick on someone your own size," Alice smiled.

Edward grimaced. "Are you calling me short?"

Alice laughed at his reaction. "Hey, you said it; not me."

Edward wasn't laughing. He was still staring at her, a suspicious look on his face. "Are you a chimera?"

That wiped the smile from Alice's face. "Of course I'm not. Why would you ask that?"

Edward waved a hand towards where the claws had been moments before. "That little trick with the claws. No human could transmute their body like that."

"I didn't transmute my body," Alice pointed out, a little more bluntly. She shook back the long sleeve of her sweater to reveal a metal cuff that she was wearing underneath it. It looked like it was made of the same kind of steel as Edward's automail. "This was what I transmuted. Maybe you should open your eyes before you start making accusations like that."

"That looks like automail," said Edward, staring at it. But automail was used for aesthetic appendages; not as an accessory that you could wear.

"It is automail," Alice corrected him. "It's the same compound anyway. Fortunately for you."

Edward frowned, not quite understanding. "Fortunately?"

"Well, it did just help me save your ass. Which you could be a little more grateful about, by the way," Alice pointed out.

"Oh... err, sorry," Edward apologised, actually looking sheepish. "And thanks," he added as an afterthought.

"You're welcome," said Alice, mollified and smiling again.

"But you got rid of that guy too quick," Edward continued, going back to the point at hand. "He's gone and I still don't know where he's keeping my brother."

"Well, maybe this will give us a clue," said Alice, producing a key from nowhere and dangling it in Edward's face.

Edward's eyes widened as she handed him the key. It had a single tag attached to it. "Where did you get this?"

"Snagged it while he wasn't looking," Alice grinned, looking pleased with herself. "I'm no thief, but pick pocketing is a handy skill."

Edward actually smiled back. He checked the tag. "Boathouse? I wonder if that's where Al is."

"Well, let's find out!" Alice enthused. "It's bound to be the boathouse at New Optain. It's not far from here."

"Hang on, you're coming with me?" Edward interrupted. Alice nodded. "Why?"

She shrugged. "To help you find your brother."

"But why?" asked Edward suspiciously. "What's in it for you?"

Alice hesitated. "I'll help you if you let me come with you to find the philosopher's stone. That's what you're searching for, right? At least that's what that guy seemed to think..."

"Why do you want the stone?" enquired Edward, still suspicious and also avoiding answering her question.

Alice had been prepared for that one. "Let's just say I need to help a friend out with her problems." She didn't really want to go into details. It wasn't her secret to share.

Edward just looked stonily back. "That's not very specific."

Alice sighed. "Look, I really do need the philosopher's stone to help my friend. She hasn't even done anything wrong. I swear the stone's not even for me - I just want to help her have a normal life again. Haven't you ever felt like that?"

Her words actually rang too close to home for Edward's comfort. But he certainly wasn't going to admit that outright. "I guess so," he shrugged.

Alice decided that was good enough. She took a chance and held her hand out. "So do we have a deal?"

Edward eyed her outstretched hand warily. "I still don't fully trust you."

"Well, I don't really trust you either, seeing as I don't know you," concurred Alice. "So we're even."

Edward reluctantly took her hand and shook it. She had saved him, after all. And if she did turn out to be trouble, then he could always find a way to ditch her along the journey. "Let's find my brother first and then we'll decide. But if you do anything to keep us from getting to the stone, then you're out."

"Understandable," Alice accepted, slightly happier. At least that sounded like he was leaning towards a yes. "Now come on, New Optain is about two miles this way."

XXX

Alice wasn't very used to having company. She'd been searching for the philosopher's stone by herself for quite a while now. It was nice to have someone to talk to. So she'd been making the most of it and filling every silence with endless questions.

"So how come you're after the stone?" she asked, as they trudged across the dirt.

"So me and my brother can get our bodies back to normal," replied Edward shortly.

"What's wrong with your body?" asked Alice, eyeing him up and down to try and find a visible fault.

"This," said Edward simply, pushing up his right sleeve to reveal his automail.

"No way, you have an automail arm?" said Alice in awe. She lived around automail – her father was a mechanic and her younger sister had an automail limb herself – but it always amazed her just how many people had it. "How did that happen?"

"I know a mechanic," said Edward stiffly. His missing limbs weren't a subject he liked to discuss.

"I mean what happened in the first place?" Alice pressed on, completely oblivious.

"It's none of your business," Edward grumbled.

"Oh... sorry," apologised Alice, finally shutting up.

But Edward's own curiosity didn't leave them in silence for long. "When you transmuted that automail cuff earlier... Did you do that without a transmutation circle?" Though he'd been incapacitated at the time, he was sure that he hadn't seen her stop to draw one.

"What?" Alice was confused for a moment until she realised how it must have looked from a spectator's point of view. "Oh, no... I just used these." She held out her hands, showing Edward the identical rings on both her middle fingers. "The insides are inlaid with crests. When I connect them, they form a whole transmutation circle."

"Huh. I guess that's one way to make things easier," said Edward.

"Yeah, it's definitely more convenient than having to stop and draw circles on the ground," agreed Alice. "So who was that guy anyway?" she continued, barely seeming to pause for breath. "He seemed pretty eager to get the philosopher's stone... And he was damn sure that you knew where it was."

"His name's Ethan Marx. We came across him a while ago in East City," explained Edward. "We found out then that he wanted the stone to become rich. He only recently caught back up with us. He knew we were after the stone too and somehow thinks that we must have it by now."

"But how exactly would he use the stone to get rich?" Alice wondered aloud.

Edward shrugged. "By transmuting meaningless objects into money, I guess. Something like dirt or rocks maybe."

"Surely that's breaking some kind of personal gain law," said Alice. "Not to mention it's not equivalent exchange."

"Probably," agreed Edward. "But it's the philosopher's stone. It doesn't follow the same laws of alchemy that we do. It probably doesn't have to follow any laws."

Which is exactly why I want it, Alice thought to herself. No laws. That's the only way I can help Lucy.

Before long, they'd reached the outskirts of New Optain. Alice could tell because the Pendle river ran alongside it. "Come on, the boathouse is this way," she directed.

"You certainly know your way around," Edward commented.

"I only just passed through here myself," explained Alice.

"Looks like we've been travelling in completely different directions," noted Edward. "And you haven't come across any sign of the stone from this way?" Alice shook her head. Edward decided that when he got Alphonse back, maybe they'd have to rethink their route. There was still a hell of a lot of ground to cover.

When they reached the boathouse, it was very quiet. Whether it was because it was empty or because they were walking into a trap, they didn't know. Alice clapped her hands together and the rush of alchemy coursed through her again. Her automail cuff shifted from the transmutation and the long nails stretched outwards once more.

"I'll go in first and check if it's clear," she decided. "Since I'm the only one who's armed."

"Wanna bet?" Edward copied her gesture, then drew his good hand along his automail arm. The automail stretched and moulded until he had a dagger of the same material protruding from his forearm.

"Nice trick," said Alice. It wasn't all that different from how she transmuted her cuff into a weapon, though she was guessing that Edward's was probably much more sturdy than hers. "Fine. We'll both go in."

They snuck round the side of the boathouse and peered in through the back entrance. It was dark, but there were no signs of movement. They crept in and around the edge of the room until Alice found a light cord. She pulled on it and a dim light was thrown across the room. It was virtually empty, apart from some scraps of armour.

"Al!" Edward cried happily, running to collect the pieces of armour.

Just when Alice was feeling like she'd missed something, a voice from nowhere shouted, "Brother!" She started and looked around. There was nobody else there. Edward was busying himself with reassembling the armour.

"Okay, I'm totally lost. What are you..." Alice stopped abruptly and had to swallow a shriek as the suit of armour moved and took the helmet from Edward's hands.

"Thanks, brother," it said, fixing the helmet on straight. "I knew you'd find me."

"I did have some help," Edward admitted. He turned to Alice, who was still gaping like a goldfish. "Alice, this is my little brother Alphonse."

Despite being completely lost, Alice couldn't help but pick up on the irony in that comment. "Little brother?"

"Hey, who are you calling a pipsqueak?" Edward suddenly flipped out.

"Calm down, I didn't say that!" laughed Alice. So he was touchy about his height. That could be fun. "I'm hardly gonna pick on your size when you're actually taller than me."

Edward seemed slightly mollified by that fact. "Really?" He measured himself with his hand on top of his head, then held it above Alice's. "Wow. I'm taller than someone."

"Yeah, okay, don't get too cocky. It's only about an inch or so difference." Alice turned to the giant suit of armour. "Now you, come here. I wanna know what your deal is."

She made Alphonse lean forward so that she could reach properly and pulled his helmet back off. She peered inside and gasped. It really was empty. So how the hell could he talk and move? "Erm, are you a ghost or something?" she asked hesitantly, giving him the helmet back.

"No," replied Alphonse, setting his helmet straight. "I lost my body, so my brother attached my soul to this suit of armour."

Alice looked amazed. She turned back to Edward. "Are you serious? That's really advanced alchemy!"

Edward just shrugged. This obviously wasn't his preferred topic of conversation. Alphonse was happy enough to speak for him, however. "Ed's really advanced. He's a state alchemist. And he can transmute without a circle."

Alice couldn't deny how impressed she was. After all, the only way she could perform faster alchemy without having to constantly draw out transmutation circles was by relying on the twin rings on her fingers. Only then did she realise. "Hang on, you guys are the Elric brothers!"

Edward looked exasperated. "I already told you my name! How many Edward Elrics have you come across?"

"Sorry, it only just clicked," said Alice sheepishly. She'd never been particularly fast on the uptake. "So that means you're the Fullmetal alchemist!"

"And, err... I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?" Alphonse interrupted.

"Oh, I'm sorry," apologised Alice, automatically holding out her hand. "My name's Alice. I'm the Kinetic alchemist."

"Kinetic alchemist?" Edward repeated with a frown. "Like a state alchemist?" Alice nodded enthusiastically. "But you can't be a state alchemist. I was the youngest alchemist to have ever been allowed in."

"Right," Alice agreed, failing to see where the problem lay. "I only just took the test this year."

"Looks like your position's been usurped, brother," Alphonse pointed out, sounding amused.

"But I was the prodigy!"

Edward seemed genuinely annoyed by the idea. For all the stubborn brashness he'd show Alice so far, he actually appeared to be somewhat on the childish side. It would have been quite amusing if she could just figure out why he was so irritated... And then it clicked.

"Wait... Just how old do you guys think I am exactly?" she asked suspiciously.

Alphonse studied her face. "Erm... I'd say about fourteen or fifteen."

"Really? I'd say more like twelve," Edward laughed.

"Twelve?" Alice repeated, horrified. "I'm eighteen!"

"Eighteen? Are you kidding?" Edward exclaimed.

Alice sighed. People had always told her that she looked young for her age, what with her big eyes and slight figure. Plus apparently tying her hair back under her shirt and just leaving the shorter bangs hanging loose made her look even more baby-faced. She was really going to have to start wearing her hair down.

The door to the boathouse suddenly banged, making them all jump, but it was only the wind. It was enough to remind Edward of the situation they were in. "We should get going. Just in case Marx comes back," he decided. "I'm thinking we take one of these boats straight down the river."

"Let me come with you," Alice said again, more determined this time.

"You want to come with us?" Alphonse asked in surprise, before Edward could respond.

Alice nodded. "I'm looking for the philosopher's stone too. I need it to help my friend."

"Oh, I see. Then you should come with us," Alphonse agreed, more than happily. He was a lot more trusting than his older brother. He didn't even ask any questions.

"Al!" Edward protested. "You can't just decide that - we don't even know her!"

"But it makes sense if we're all looking for the same thing," Alphonse pointed out, completely nonplussed.

"And I could actually be of use to you," Alice added. "I've already helped you out once, remember? Or did you forget that I saved your life earlier?"

"Ed. What did you do this time?" Alphonse asked exasperatedly.

"What? I was just trying to find you!" Edward exclaimed. "And I was handling things just fine."

"Sure, you were." Alice rolled her eyes. "You wouldn't still be breathing if I hadn't come along in time."

Alphonse glanced between the two of them. "Brother, if she helped you, then we should return the favour. Otherwise that's not equivalent exchange."

Edward sighed. Equivalent exchange may have been the key law that they lived by as alchemists, but it sure came back to bite him in the ass sometimes. "Fine. You can come with us."

Alice suddenly beamed. "Thank you! I promise I'll be helpful and you won't regret it!"

"I think I already am..." Edward grumbled.

XXX

Author's Note!

Soooo I actually started this one about three years ago... /shot. My whole idea has changed since then though, and the old writing style was just urghhh, so I ended up rewriting quite a lot of it. Hence why it took so long for me to get back round to.

Since I wanted it to follow a fairy tale kinda theme, I decided to add the prologue at the start so that it's actually being told like a real story! (because I'm geeky like that xD)