Disclaimer: Rights are reserved for the respective parties who do in fact have claim and ownership over the Fullmetal Alchemist magna and anime 2003/2009 series. I am a fan writing for my own pleasure and enjoyment and am making no profits from doing so. The only thing I claim here are the blatant deviations from the original Fullmetal Alchemist that are obviously my own. This disclaimer is for this chapter and for every proceeding chapter added to this story henceforth.

Author's Note: Truth be told, I'm not all that much into anime. This particular manga/anime, though, has caught my intrigue, as well as sent my brain off beyond the Gate, only for the Gate to return it with an excessive plot bunny attached that demands itself written. This story is a mix of the manga with both amines and follows its own sort of timeline with an added twist, spiraling the end result into the category of an AU. I think it should be fun, intriguing, and suspenseful, with plenty of action and a dash of humor. As for romance and pairings, romance is not necessarily my genre nor my focus in any story that I write, so don't expect much in this regard. Enjoy the read.

Dec 2013, AN: So, I've been reading through some of my old stuff, while attempting to get my computer cleaned up. Found this, which I nearly forgot about completely. I've decided that it was quite good and probably deserves a repost. I don't know if I'll be adding to it, but … well … I just might.

–

Equivalent Exchange, the Alchemist's Principle

Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of equivalent exchange. [FMA]

The Early Years

–

Chapter One: Heaven's Door

Rain pounded down on the small country village, ozone filling the night with its electric charge. Lightning flashed across the dark, clouded sky overhead followed by thunder rolling in its wake, as the falling drops grew steadily harder and more unforgiving by the minute. While most residents of the village comforted themselves within their homes – warped in thick blankets or seated with a warm cup of tea in hand and a fire burning in a nearby hearth – two boys, one eleven and the other ten, paid no heed to the storm or the chill of the late spring night.

"… water 35 liters, carbon 20 kilos, ammonia 4 liters, lime 1.5 kilos, phosphorous 800 grams, niter 250 grams, sulphur 100 grams, magnesium 80 grams, manganese 1.5 grams, iron 5 grams, silicon 3 grams …" the elder of the two blond haired, golden eyed children rattled off, as the younger brother worked on adding the components as dictated to a large basin at the center of the windowless room. Upon the last component being added several minutes later, the elder bent down to the basement's stone floor with a piece of chalk in hand and anticipation in his eyes. "Right, now the constructional formula."

Fidgeting nervously, the younger of the two watched, as the elder boy worked. Slowly, with precise and well practiced strokes, the elder brother drew out the necessary transmutation circle on the floor. Every line of the circle was smooth and flawless, following every last calculation made and perfect in design. When he finished the last stroke, he stood.

"And finally, we need some soul data," the elder brother said.

Together, both boys carefully walked to the center of the circle, making sure not to traipse on any of the chalked lines or symbols. With knives in hand, each pressed the blade of the knife that they were holding to their left index finger, letting the welling blood from their wounds fall atop the rest of the gathered components within the basin.

"That ought to do. You ready?" the elder boy asked, as he and the younger boy took their positions outside the circle.

"Yes." The younger brother nodded.

"Then let's go for it," the elder brother said with a hint of excitement in his voice.

As one, the two brothers slammed their hands down against the outer lines of the circle. Power rushed through the cluttered basement with the transmutation's activation.

–

Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang glowered, as he trudged down the rain sodden path before him. So far, his and 2nd Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye's trip to the backwater village of Resembool had not been pleasant. The train that they had taken out of East City had broken down in Kaumafy, a small village one stop away from their destination. The five hour wait that it had taken for the train to be repaired had been nothing short of mind numbingly boring, seeing as Kaumafy was an even smaller village than the village of Resembool and the 'train station' consisted of nothing but a platform, while the 'village' consisted of far spread houses, lots of cows, and a single general store, which had run out of coffee earlier in the week and wasn't expecting another shipment until next Tuesday.

Luckily, the repairs hadn't ended up taking as long as originally anticipated, he thought despondently, as his boots repeatedly sunk into the mud that had been a road not an hour ago. A five hour wait is definitely better than a seven hour wait, let alone a full night's delay.

A particularly blinding clap of lightening overhead drew the lieutenant colonel's attention to the tempest raging across the night and pounding down upon him and his subordinate. He sighed, tucking his head roughly against his chest the best he could, as the rain seemed to pound down just a bit harder and the resulting thunder shook the ground and trees around them, while the wind picked up in its ferocity. They desperately needed to get inside. However, like Kaumafy, Resembool's train station was but a simple, raised platform, and while there was more than a single general store in town, there was no inn.

"Sir, how much farther?" 2nd Lieutenant Hawkeye asked with a nervous edge that was barely detectable in her voice and would have been missed if the lieutenant colonel didn't know her so well. She, like her Commanding Officer, was aware of the dangers of being caught out in such a storm.

"Seeing as we've travel about three miles from the main part of the village, the house should be just over this crest," Mustang said and indicated to the slow rolling hill before them. "Or, at least, it should be in accordance to the directions given in the file."

"Perhaps, sir, we should inquire about lodgings for the night and leave the purpose of our visit until tomorrow," Hawkeye suggested, as they began the brutal task of trekking up the hill, their boots sliding and squelching in the mud with their every step. Their rain soak military issued uniforms poignantly weighed them down, not at all helping matters.

Focusing on not landing face first in the mud, Mustang merely nodded. Getting out of the storm and securing a place to stay for the night was prudent. While there was little love for the military in these parts, it was well know that few would turn military officers away if asked to supply lodgings for a night, as it could be seen as an act against the State. However, despite their lodgings being nearly guaranteed, the lieutenant colonel and his subordinate were both aware that they could quickly find themselves thrown back out into the storm, regardless of how the act might be perceived, if they pressed matters tonight and their attempt to recruit the Elric brothers into the ranks of the State Alchemists was not received favorably . Considering the reputation of the State Alchemists in these parts … both officers knew that there was a high probability that they would be forced back out into the night and to seek lodgings elsewhere, if they did in fact bring up the issue.

Mustang froze in his struggles against the mud, coming to a halting stop upon reaching the crest of the hill.

"Sir?" Hawkeye asked, looking to her CO with concern.

"There's something foul in the air," Mustang murmured, feeling a charge spreading out into the night that had nothing to do with the storm.

–

The alchemical energy was blinding, causing the two brothers to squint against the transmutation's brilliant, bright blue glow. As if the storm outside had come inside, a ferocious wind began to whip through the stagnate basement, scattering the boys' notes and calculations and whipping through the pages of left open books. Powerful charges shot out from the active transmutation, colliding with the walls and ceiling. Abruptly, the blue hue of the transmutation became tinted with crimson, as every breath the boys took rapidly began to settle ever more heavily in their lungs with the building pressure in the air.

"Brother, something is going wrong here," the younger brother exclaimed in alarm. This wasn't how the transmutation was supposed to go. Transmutations weren't supposed to react like this. They weren't supposed to make him feel like this. "Brother!" he exclaimed with exceeding alarm, as an void opened up at the center of their transmutation and little black hands shot out of it, flying towards him and grabbing hold off him, clinging to his clothes and skin. As they began to pull him towards the center of the transmutation, he flailed, struggling against their hold. His effort were all to no avail.

"Al!" the elder boy yelled, horror showing plainly on his face at the sight out his little brother being stolen away from him. He lunged towards his brother's disintegrating form, ignoring the black hands that were grabbing hold of him as well. All that matter was his brother. "Al!"

"Brother!" the younger boy, Al, cried out fearfully, feeling himself being pulled more forcibly into the void.

For a split second, as the elder boy reached out to Al, it seemed that he would be too late to latch on to his younger brother and that the two boys would meet their doom separately. However, with a desperate push against the vaguely solid ground beneath his feet, the elder brother jumped into the void towards his younger brother, not caring about anything but grasping his younger brother's proffered hand. "Al!" he called, catching hold of said hand and holding on to it for dear life.

"Brother!" the younger boy yelled one last time, as more little black hands latched onto him and his elder brother, tugging them mercilessly from the world and into the unknown beyond.

–

Hawkeye stiffened in response to the wariness in her CO's words, her hand instinctively going for the gun holstered at her hip and her eyes darting around the area.

"Stay behind me," Mustang told her urgently, taking off down the other side of the hill in a rush with his dark eyes set upon one of two houses off in the distance, the one that he knew to be the home of Edward and Alphonse Elric. There was no mistaking the alchemical energy now consuming the place.

"Yes, sir," Hawkeye said and made to follow the lieutenant colonel at a cautious distance. Upon catching sight of the blue hue beginning to surround the house that her superior was headed towards, she quickened her pace. She had been around enough alchemy in her life, despite not knowing how to perform alchemy herself, to know that whatever the Elrics had attempted to do just now, it was growing beyond their control.

As screams rang out into the night and the blue hue turned crimson, the lieutenant colonel and his subordinate broke into a run. The transmutation was rebounding and no doubt with volatile strength.

–

"What the…?"

"Brother?"

The elder brother, Edward 'Ed' Elric, didn't even have time to turn towards his younger brother, Alphonse 'Al' Elric, before he was pounced upon by his brother and they both went crashing to the floor. Relief flooded each boy, as they held each other, feeling the warmth and wholeness that they both were.

"What are we doing here, brother?" Al asked, upon drawing back from Ed. He frowned at the expanse of white all around them.

"I-I don't know," Ed said, frowning as well.

An echoing laughter to their right made the two boys stiffen and look in the direction of the sound. Perplexed looks crossed of the boys' faces, as they saw nothing but never ending white.

"Who's there?" Ed demanded bravely into the ether, as he clamored to his feet and shifted defensively in front of Al, who had stood as well.

"Here, here," the disembodied voice cackled. "I'm right in front of you."

"Where?" Al asked, not seeing anything. Both he and Ed gasped a mere second later, as a shadowy mist began to outline a humanoid form sitting on the floor before them. It had one shadowy leg drawn up with the other bent at the knee. Though they could not see its face, both boys got the impression that it was smiling maliciously at them.

"Who are you?" Ed narrowed his eyes at the shadow figure.

"Ah, thanks for asking," the shadow said amused. "I am known by many names. I am the World. I am the Universe. I am God. I am Truth. I am All. I am One. And," it said ominously and pointed a shadowy finger at the two boys, "I am you."

The shadow cackled madly, as the boys jumped in surprise and turned to see the large stone doors that they hadn't known towered behind them slowly begin to creek open.

"Welcome, ignorant fools!" the shadow said with glee, as little black hands shot out from the abyss and grabbed hold of the boys once more.

"Al!" Ed screamed for his younger brother, as he was yanked away by the hands with more force than before.

"Brother!" the younger boy yelled, as he too was pulled behind the doors with more force than before.

"Be quiet," the shadow chastised the boys. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Al!"

"Brother!"

The two boys cried out, while their struggles did nothing against the hands holding them.

"I will show you the truth," the shadow said smugly, simply watching as the two brothers were pulled all the way through the open doors and the large stone doors slammed closed behind them.

"Al!"

"Brother!"

"Al!"

"BROTHER!"

"AL!"

The two boys continued to scream for each other and to try to reach each other, as they were plunged into the depths beyond the doors. Their screams for each other soon subside, however, as information – information of all kinds, from all sources, knowledge beyond their wildest dreams – began to pour into their heads.

"Stop!" Ed screamed, attempting to grab at his pounding head.

"Ah!" Al yelled, attempting to do the same as Ed, as if by doing so he might prevent the mass amount of information from invading his mind. "Stop! NO! No more! Please! Please, STOP!"

"My head is going to explode!" Ed roared furiously, as more information and more images flooded his mind.

Neither of the boys knew how long it lasted or exactly how much information they were forced to take in, they simply continued screaming and pleading for it all to end, as their young brains were overloaded with the knowledge presented to them.

"Mom!" the two boys yelled, as their mother's figure came into view amongst the swirl of information spiraling all around. "Mom! Help us! Mom!"

Both boys had no more than just reached out for her, their child hands extended desperately, when everything stopped and she was gone.

"Mom?" Al asked, blinking his eyes against the expansive white once more filling his vision.

"How was it?" the shadow figure asked from where it sat on the floor before the boys, seeming not to have moved at all since the two had last scene it.

"I feel like unbelievable amounts of information have just been crammed into my head," Ed answered, looking a bit queasy. "My head hurts."

"Mine too," Al said, rubbing his forehead with a grimace set upon his face and a faint shimmer of tears in his eyes.

"But now I finally understand," Ed piped up and turned to the close doors behind him. "This is the Truth!"

"Our human transmutation theory wasn't wrong," Al said with dawning realization, as he too began to process the information that he and his brother had just been forced to take in.

"That's right." Ed nodded and put his hands to doors, clawing his fingers into the crack down the center and attempting to open them. "It just wasn't enough. Just a little more," he gritted between clenched teeth, prying impatiently at the doors. "What we need to know was just ahead! There was the truth regarding human transmutation! – Please, let us see it again," he said, giving up his futile attempt to open the doors on his own and whipping around to face the shadow figure. "Just one more time."

"No can do," the shadow figure denied. "That's all I can show you for the toll you've paid."

"Toll?" Ed asked in confusion, as Al demanded, "What toll?"

"This," the shadow figure said gleefully, and suddenly, the shadow being had two mismatched human arms and two mismatched human legs.

"AH!" the two bothers yelled, as they each suddenly found themselves missing an arm and one of their legs. Where Ed's right arm had been there was nothing but empty space, the same went for nearly the whole of his left leg. The opposite was true for Al. The younger brother was now missing his left arm and nearly the whole of his right leg.

"Surely, you knew," the shadow figure said entirely too happily, as the boys tumbled to the floor before it. With an arrogant gait, the shadow walked up to the boys. "You're fortunate to share the price equally. Had you not been so determined to arrive here together, things would have ended much differently for the both of you." It sighed, as if it were disappointed. "But, alas, things are the way they are."

"Give us our limbs back!" Ed yelled angrily, practically snarling. He attempted to lunge at the shadow figure, but did not get far do to his missing limbs.

"Uh-ah-ah, young alchemist." The shadow figure bent down over the boys. "It is equivalent exchange, no?"

With that last parting shot, the boys were ejected from the white, expansive plane and back into the world which they had come from.

"Al!" Ed called out immediately, as soon as he had come to, while squinting against the darkness of the basement to locate his brother. He cringed, as unbearable pain shot through him from the gaping wounds where his missing limbs had been. "Al!"

"Brother!" Al called back, using his one good arm and functioning leg to crawl across the cold, stone floor of the basement towards Ed, who was doing the same to reach him. Al felt his stomach rolled with rebellion, as his hand slipped through the warm, gooey substance that he knew to be his and his brother's blood, as the crimson liquid pooled around them, mixing a foul, metallic odor into the air with the thick ozone that had filled the basement do to their failed attempt at human transmutation.

"Al." Ed sighed in relief, taking his brother's hand and tiredly lowered his head to the floor. His blond hair quickly became soaked with the blood beneath it.

"Brother." Al sighed, struggling to remain conscious now that he had tangible proof that Ed was indeed still alive.

"I'm sorry, Al," Ed whispered, his eyes drifting shut.

"I'm sorry too, brother," Al murmured back regrettably.

Neither boy heard the hurried footsteps overhead nor did they hear the basement door slam open seconds later.

–

Lieutenant Colonel Mustang felt his heart pound rapidly in his chest, as he pushed himself into a sprinting run towards the small two story house that belonged to the Elrics. Mud splashed up behind him, no doubt coating his back with a thick layer of muck. The wind whipped his cap off of his head and sent it spiraling into the night. All the while, fat drops of rain continued to soak him to the bone. He didn't care. He'd seen enough carnage do to wild, very nearly out of control, yet always explosive alchemy during his time in Ishval and he'd be damn if he saw more carnage without at least attempting to help, attempting to stop it. If the transmutation was rebounding, as it seemed to be, and if he got there in time and short circuited the array, if he could at least contain the backlash somehow …

He skidded to a halt just outside the house's garden gate. No explosion, no screams, no nothing, just silence and the storm overhead, as the crimson hue of alchemy abruptly vaporized from around the house and disappeared into thin air, leaving the house perfectly untouched and as dark as the night around him.

"Sir!" 2nd Lieutenant Hawkeye called out, as she skidded to a halt a few steps behind him.

He did not respond. He could only stand, staring incredulously at the house with his mouth hanging wide. He had felt the alchemy. He had felt how powerful it was, how out of control and hungry it was. He had seen the hue of the transmutation change, indicating the negative reaction.

"It was a rebound, wasn't it, sir?" Hawkeye questioned, eying the quiet house warily.

He nodded mutely. Yes, he was sure that it had been a rebound. Though, how the energy had been pulled back without any sort of apparent backlash was perplexing. He had never seen nor heard of something that strong merely fading away as it had.

"Your cap, sir," Hawkeye said and stepped up closer to him with his wayward cap out stretched towards him, seeming to have decided that the threat that the alchemy had posed was no longer immanent.

It was as Mustang finished straightening his cap upon his head that they heard the pain filled screams.

"Al!"

"Brother!"

Mustang needed no further prompting. In a matter of seconds, he was through the rusted, garden gate and making his way into the house.

"Check up stairs," he ordered, as he dashed through the front door, bypassing the rickety staircase in the entrance hall and heading deeper into the gloom of the house, while pulling his weapon free from the holster at his hip in the process. An heady ozone entirely separate from the storm outside filled his nose, as he quickly and professionally cleared the living room, kitchen, and pantry in a matter of seconds. Upon approaching a door on the far side of what appeared to be a rather simple, yet well maintained kitchen, the metallic smell of freshly spilt blood assaulted him.

Checking a second time to make sure the safety was indeed off on his weapon, seeing as his ignition gloves were thoroughly soaked and the gun was now his only defense, Mustang mentally prepared himself for whatever he might find on the other side of the door. He took a deep breath and steadied his weapon out before him, before, in one smooth motion, kicking the closed door inward, causing it to crash against the wall behind it with a reverberating BANG!

Hearing no sounds from within what he could now make out to be a scarcely lit cellar, Mustang advanced forward, taking careful, cautious steps down the stairs. Upon getting a full view of the room, his steps faltered, his body and mind freezing up, as he took in the sight of the bloodied and mangled bodied lying like discarded rag dolls in the middle of an ever growing pool of blood. The bodies were much too pale, much too still, but most importantly off all, they were much too young, much too young to have had a hand in the carnage presented before him.

"No." The word tumbled out of his mouth with no conscious thought. It was a denial, a denial of what he could already see was the truth. The evidence was there, plain as day: the complex transmutation circle on the floor, the gurgling, humanoid mass at the center of the circle, the two boys on the outside of the circle, limbs missing and blood everywhere. If that weren't enough and didn't speak for itself, he could hardly ignore the fact that where the boys' limbs were missing, the cuts were startlingly clean, too clean to be done by anything but alchemy.

The rebound, his mind acknowledged.

"Hawkeye!" Mustang yelled for his subordinate, before pounding the rest of the way down the stairs and crossing the blood sodden floor over to the boys.

Bending down and with numb fingers, he reached down to the child nearest him, checking for a pulse. The dull thump against his fingers was weak, much too weak. Checking the other child, he found the second blond boy to be in much the same condition. Disregarding the blood and the very limited possibilities of what these children might have been attempting to do, he pulled the first boy up and onto his hip, before doing the same with the second. The kids were of the roughly of the same height and weight, giving him an easier time of maneuvering them, as he stood back up.

Footsteps pounding down the stairs, only to falter much the same as his had, alerted him to Hawkeye answering his call.

"There is a house not far, on the opposite side of the hill," Mustang said as calmly as he could manage, while holding the boys close to him and carefully stepping around the items scattered throughout the room. With strained steps under the weight of the two children, he made his way back to the stairs, where he looked up to Hawkeye with all the authority he possessed as her CO. "Run and get help, see if there is a doctor in the village…"

"Sir." Hawkeye nodded stiffly in response, though her eyes briefly linger with a touch of tenderness on the children in Mustang's arms. Turning back up the stairs, she bolted out of the house.

Wasting no time, Mustang climbed the stairs after her. While moving the boys might not have been wise in the immediate sense, doing so was wise for their future, should the two live. Whoever came to assist needed not see what rested in the basement below. On gut instinct, despite knowing that the transmutation the boys had been performing was most likely illegal and punishable by firing squad, he doubted that the act was committed with ill intent and he had the distinct sense that if he played his cards right and the boys pulled through the night, he might just be able to gain something for himself out of the whole ordeal and his and the 2nd lieutenant's horrid trip out to Resembool might not end up for not, like he had originally expected.

Two young alchemists with the brains and strength to do something like what he had witnessed tonight … both could prove to be assets to him and his future goals.