AN: Hey guys! I have other stories I really should be working on, but this one just won't leave me alone.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, otherwise there would be a lot more RoyxEd jokes. None of the ideas expressed above are actually mine. They are told to me by Jared and Misha, the five inch tall space aliens who live under my desk. In return for these ideas, I have given them permission to eat any dust bunnies they may find under there. XD

So without further ado,

Worlds in Truth

Prologue

A brunette woman sat contentedly on the steps of a dais. She sat staring at an black stone arch, strangely positioned in the center of the room. The arch in turn, seemed to stare back at her, with it's translucent curtain swaying to the non-existent breeze.

The woman had spent years studying the arch for her friend, and after seven years she still had nothing.

The arch called to her, though. It whispered things that she could barely hear and spoke secrets and lost knowledge that no one had realized had been lost.

"Still staring at the veil, I see." a voice spoke from the entrance to the dais' room.

The woman turned, a little dazedly, to see the friend she had begun studying the veil for.

"It is rather mesmerizing." The woman replied with a wry smile. She stood up and shook out all of her numb limbs. "What are you doing here, Harry? Shouldn't you be in Minsk for that conference?" Harry groaned in complaint.

"They're so boring, Hermione. They keep talking in circles about stuff like funding and Quidditch." He rolled his eyes.

"I figured that'd be something you'd love." Hermione replied with an indulgent grin. Harry grimaced.

"I like to play Quidditch, not debate for hour about whether the Chuddley Cannons will ever win the World Cup." The two chuckled together at the absurdity of that statement. It faded after a moment, as did their smiles.

Hermione cleared her throat, eager to change the subject.

"I've made a little progress on the veil." She said quickly. "It seems to be a portal, but only for living things. I can't count the amount of chocolate frogs and Berty Bott's beans I've thrown through. It also seems to be connected to some sort of matrix, though I don't know what it does.-"

"Hermione." Harry tried, a tired look on his face. The frazzled brunette continued regardless.

"- and I haven't quite translated the runes yet but I'm getting close. I think they're either ancient German or Icelandic in origin-"

"HERMIONE!" The young woman stopped short, staring with wide eyes at her friend. The black haired man sighed. "You can't avoid it forever."

"I don't know what you mean." Hermione replied staunchly, despite the tears already welling in her eyes. Harry stepped closer and gently rested both hands on her shoulders.

"Hermione, I know you're sad. I am too. But you can't make the truth disappear by avoiding it. It's not healthy for-"

"Stop it." Harry continued, regardless of the energy filling the air.

"He's gone-"

"Stop it!" There were cracks running through the ground now, starting from Hermione's quivering form and heading outward.

"Hermione, just-"

"STOP IT!" The brunettes voice was at a near shriek, but her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were shiny with tears. "Just...stop it."

Harry's eyes softened.

"Hermione..."

"I know he's gone, Harry." The woman replied, her voice shaking slightly. "I feel it every day, every hour, every minute. I can feel it when I go to tell someone about a book I've read and whenever someone tells me my acronyms are stupid. I know he's gone when I go to Hogwarts and there's no stupid red-head, gorging himself in the Great Hall or playing Quidditch with his best friend or being braver than nearly everyone in the house of the brave. I feel it when I go home and it's empty and I-" She began sobbing into her friends chest, clutching tightly onto the front of his robes.

Harry gazed sadly down at his collapsing friend and held her tightly to him, lending her all the warmth and comfort that he could. They sat there for several minutes, not saying anything

"I miss him so much." Hermione told him in a whisper, breaking the silence.

"I know. So do I." Harry admitted.

As they sat, neither one noticed the lingering tether of emotional magic slink towards the veil. Up the stairs, between the cracks in the ground, and across the clear flat dais, neither felt the magic until it was too late.

Hermione shot up, her panicked eyes reaching the veil and her magic quicker than Harry's. She reached forward, as if to pull the magic back to her but it had already entered the veil.

She collapsed with a bloodcurdling scream.

Harry caught her writhing form and attempted to locate the lingering magic tether that was causing her so much pain. He found it after a moment, and severed it, but the damage had already been done. He laid the unconscious woman on one of the steps as he stood and followed the severed tether to the veil.

He looked on in a mixture of horror and awe as the veil glowed a bright white, like it never had before. He peered closer at it's swaying curtain only to jerk back in shock.

A human stood on the other side, or at least a humanoid shape. It was rather large and the proportions were a bit off but it was still obviously human.

Harry reached forward gently with his magic, ready to sever it at any moment. He reached for the figure and felt it connect securely.

He pulled.