Golden eyes exchanged glances as the Elrics silently talked while Roy watched with detached amusement. It would be interesting to see how the boys explained this little event because from Xander’s reaction, alchemists and alchemy as they were familiar with it were not part of this world which would make explaining things a bit more difficult.

“Perhaps we should save explanations for behind closed doors,” suggested Giles, glancing around to keep an eye out for any more of those strange beings.

“I agree,” announced Roy, ignoring the surprised looks from the teens around him. “If those creatures have more friends, it would be prudent to be someplace more secure as events are explained to everyone’s satisfaction.”

For a second, it looked like Xander was going to protest, but common sense prevailed and he nodded, starting down the street again with everyone falling in around him. Buffy tossed Xander another glare before almost flouncing down the street, forcing everyone to hurry to keep up with her. Narrowing his eyes, Roy followed the group, and not liking the dynamics of the teens in this eclectic group as he saw them.

A few more minutes and they were sitting around a living room that could have belonged to any descent alchemist due to the amount of books crammed on the shelves lining the walls. There were other nicknacks and artifacts scattered among the books, but not that many broke up the rows of old books.

“What can you explain about Xander’s strange ability?” Giles inquired, settling into a stiff backed chair after getting everyone a round of drinks.

Edward stood up and walked over to Xander, his golend eyes serious as he studied the brunette. “Can I test something?” asked the Fullmetal Alchemist, his voice calm and soothing. “It could eliminate a possibility.”

Brown eyes met golden for several tense seconds before Xander nodded, and Edward removed the necklace containing the Philosopher’s Stone, dropping it in his own pocket. Grabbing a piece of chalk, Edward cleaned off a section of the coffee table, neatly stacking the books off to one side before pulling out his own alchemical notebook and flipping to a certain page. Handing the chalk to Xander, Edward turned the book to face the brunette. “Draw this on the table with about a foot diameter.”

Shrugging in confusion, Xander drew a simple general array on the table, glancing at the diagram on occasion to make sure he was getting it right, and Roy realized why Edward had removed the Stone to keep it from interfering with the simple test he obviously had planned. Anyone with a general idea of how alchemy worked could use a Stone to work alchemy, but a true alchemist could do alchemy without a Stone powering them. Once the array was done, Edward grabbed the spear and broke it into several pieces before placing them on the array, being careful not to smudge any of the lines.

“Now place your hands on the edge of the array and picture that spear whole,” instructed Edward, walking to the other side of the coffee table to face Xander. Disbelief flickered across the brunette’s face and Edward snorted. “You can do this. You did it before, you can do it again.”

Closing chocolate eyes, Xander placed shaking hands on the array and his forehead wrinkled in concentration. The soft green light appeared around his hands, spreading to the array, and Roy watched as the wooden spear flowed back together as if it had never been broken in the first place before the light faded. Xander slumped with a soft moan before opening his eyes to blink at the spear. “What’s going on?”

“You’re an alchemist,” Roy announced, staring into startled brown eyes and he gestured to the simple array with a gloved hand. “A rather strong one to be able to use that simple of an array for that complex of a transmutation.” He was rather impressed, because the only other person who had shown that level of skill and strength was the Elrics themselves.

“What do you mean?” asked Xander, frowning in confusion. “How can I be one of these alchemists, whatever they are, and how was that complex?”

Roy crossed his legs as he sat back in his chair. “Alchemists are a select group of people with the ability to transmute objects into other objects, such as concrete into a metal spear or a broken spear into a whole one. All alchemists settle on an area of study that best suite their abilities while others study and compete to become certified as State Alchemists who work with the military for the people,” he explained, comfortable in this aspect of the explanation. He heard it often enough when he was growing up, and could quote it from memory.

“As for that being a complex transmutation, let me explain something about arrays,” continued Roy, gesturing to the chalk drawing on the table. “An array is used to shape and direct an alchemist’s power, assisting us, and the more complicated the transfiguration, the more detailed the array. Most alchemists would have at least required the glyph for wood in the circle, but not only didn’t you need it, you were able to do the calculations required to repair that spear instinctively.”

The more he explained about alchemists and alchemy, the more at ease Xander became, but there was still confusion in his eyes. “How come I’m able to do this now when I’ve never been able to before?”

“I think I know,” Edward stated, and everyone looked at him and the silver necklace dangling from his hand.