Roy watched with hooded eyes as Edward politely asked Xander for the Philosopher’s Stone, and managed to suppress a shiver at the ghostly memory of the power from the flawed Stones the military Alchemists had used during the Ishbal Uprising. It had been a heady feeling to have that much power at his disposal, increasing his flame alchemy to the point where he could have easily melted one of the military’s own tanks with a snap of his fingers.

“Why do you need that stone, young man?” Asked Giles, snapping Roy out of his memories and causing Edward to jump as the blond alchemist was reminded of the rest of the people in the room.

Straightening to his full height, Edward met Giles’ eyes with a calm stare that most fifteen year olds shouldn’t have been able to manage, and it was that stare that proved that even though his body was only fifteen, Edward’s mind was much older. “I need it to give my brother back his body,” he announced, no trace of humor in his voice yet the blond girl, Buffy, still snickered.

“How exactly are you planning on doing that, kid?” she asked, still chuckling, and Roy didn’t bother hiding his sigh of resignation as he watched the anger build on Edward’s face. “Cause I gotta warn you that if you’re gonna build a body like Frankenstein, then I’m gonna have to stop you.”

“I’m a National Alchemist, the youngest ever certified,” growled Edward, his automail hand clenching with a quiet click of metal. “I don’t need to build a body. I’ll be able to recreate Al’s body around his soul with that Stone.”

“Sheah, whatever,” Buffy drawled, brushing his words away with a flap of her hand. “Keep dreaming, kid.”

“Don’t hurt her too badly, Fullmetal,” sighed Roy a Edward took a step towards her. “She has no honest idea of your skills.”

“Then I’ll just educate her,” growled the blond alchemist before calming down and returning his gaze to Xander. “May I borrow the Stone?”

Xander removed the necklace and held the whole thing out to Edward who took it with a smile of thanks. Slipping the chain over his head, Edward moved to a clear section of the floor and removed a stick of chalk and his notebook before slipping his red coat off and dropping it over a chair. Opening the notebook to a certain page, Edward began to copy the array from his book onto the floor.

It was a large array, about six feet in diameter if Roy was any judge, with symbols and glyphs filling every available space around a smaller, three foot diameter circle in the center, and after several minutes of double checking his work, Edward closed the book with a snap, causing the teens to jump. Dropping the book and the chalk on the table by his red coat, the blond teen took off the necklace and removed the Stone from its setting before placing it in a smaller circle that Roy hadn’t noticed since it was part of the design before dropping the rest of the necklace on the table. Stripping off his black jacket, it joined the notebook where he also dropped his silver pocket watch before he finally turned towards his brother’s armored for, a determined light in his golden eyes. “Al, I need you to stand in the middle.”

“Of course, Edward,” agreed Alphonse, the trust evident in his voice for his brother clear for even those who didn’t know the Elrics, and he carefully stepped into the center circle, being careful not to smudge any of the chalk lines. Edward knelt next to the array, took a deep breath and clapped his hands, pouring his blue alchemical charge into the array, illuminating the lines. The blue light enveloped Alphonse, growing brighter until it was impossible to see anything that was happening in the center of the array.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was in reality only a few minutes, the light faded, and Roy could only stare in surprise and disbelief at the boy lying sprawled in the center of the array. Long pale limbs and waist length light blond hair indicated maturity but there was still innocence in his golden eyes. Laughing in delight, Edward crawled to the center of the array, not caring if he smeared the lines now that its purpose had been completed and scooped up the naked, living form of Alphonse, holding him as if Edward was never going to let his brother go again.

The dark haired man had known that the Elrics were skilled alchemists, a person could hardly become a National Alchemist no matter what the age if they weren’t, but to see the reality of Edward’s dream was a surprise all its own. Yet now Roy had to wonder what Edward would do now that he had his brother back.