Prologue

It was the night the Elric brothers decided to try to revive their mother. It was raining hard. Everything was going as planned... until the light from the transmutation changed color, from a bright blue to an ominous purple. Neither boy knew what was going to happen until it was already too late.

From Edward's perspective, Alphonse faded away right before his eyes as the Gate swallowed him whole. At the same time, Edward lost his left leg from just above the knee, down. He knocked the suit of armor down, causing the helmet to fall off and tumble to the side in the process. Then he drew a blood seal on the inside of the back of the neck, as well as on his own arms and chest.

"Take my arm, or my leg. Take my heart, I don't care — just give him back! He's my little brother! He's all I have left!" Edward screamed as this transmutation lit up the room just like the last one had.

Nothing would come of it, though... but he wouldn't know that. Very soon after his arm was taken by the Gate, the boy passed out from the pain of losing two limbs.

Little did Edward know, there was a figure lurking in the shadows the entire time.... Said figure turned out to be a young man who revealed himself only after he was absolutely sure that Edward was out cold. The first thing he did was check the boy's vitals. Once that was done, the young man went to the fallen suit of armor, crouching where Edward had previously been kneeling, and the light of a transmutation glowed from the blood seal Edward had drawn earlier.

A moment passed, then the suit burst into life.

"Brother?!" The voice sounded similar enough to Alphonse's, even with the metallic twang of the echo from within the armor, that the young man assumed no one would be able to tell the difference between this replacement and the genuine article. The armor scrambled up and pulled its helmet on before looking at the young man. "Are you sure about this...?"

The reply was a single, firm nod.

"...alright..." The armor looked unsure for a moment longer before shaking its helmet in a brief "no" motion, as though to clear its mind, and looking towards the unconscious Edward. "Oh no! Brother!" It panicked upon seeing Edward missing limbs... it carefully lifted the bleeding boy, holding him close to its chest plate protectively, and hurried from the house — no doubt heading straight for the Rockbell residence for help.

The young man who'd brought the armor to life stood up straight once it was gone and turned on the spot to observe the damage done to the study. Books were strewn about everywhere... the thing the boys had tried to bring to life lay dead in the middle of the room. There was blood everywhere, and the sheer amount of energy from the first transmutation had broken at least one of the room's windows.

"...I can finally attempt to pick up where I left off..." He picked up a few of the fallen books, looking over them quickly for damage before putting them down on the desk. "I remember when Hohenheim got these..." He shook his head at that to clear his thoughts. "...but I can't get too caught up now. I need to get out of here before someone comes to scope out the scene."

With that, he left the house and the small town entirely... hoping that no one had seen him.