A/n- Konichi wa minne! It's summer and I'm on vacation (though the internet here sucks) and so this time I have no excuse for why it's taken me over a week to update, other than I am a perfectionist by nature and want this fic to be absolutely perfect. Someone replied and said I had used the wrong spell for destroying; um…sumimasen! (bows repeatedly) that was my bad. I intended on saying 'Obliterate' not 'Obliviate' and yes I did know that was the spell for erasing minds I just…bad typo. Baaad typo. So sorry. (headdesks) And I will fix it soon. For now, enjoy!

Chapter 31- Kokoro no Renkinjutsushi

Edward proceeded to hole himself up in Alphonse's study; he was not surprised to find books on soul attachments hiding in many of the stacks littered throughout the room. These were his starting points, for his goal was straightforward; he had to find a way to call back the missing piece of his brother's soul. It was an arduous mission, but one he had to accomplish nonetheless.

Several hours had passed without so much as a pause to stretch his stiffening limbs. The pile of books to read grew steadily shorter as the stack he'd analyzed grew to a point where it teetered precariously. He was so absorbed in his research that he didn't notice Winry's soft footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Ed? How are you doing?" she asked, pausing for an answer that didn't come, "Auntie made some stew if you want a—"

"Is there any change?" Ed interrupted her, not bothering to look up from his book; he was still slightly perturbed with her for giving up so easily.

"Wh—no, no change," Winry answered quickly, "Why don't you come have something to eat, Edward?"

"Sorry Winry, but I have to keep looking. If you don't mind…unless there is a change in his condition, can you please let me be?" Edward sighed, knowing his words sounded harsher than he intended. He continued in a sincere approach. "To be honest, I don't think we have that much time; according to this book, the body begins to decompose when the entire soul isn't present, almost like a roof caving in when a support beam is ripped away."

"Yes, alright," Winry agreed, making her way back to the stairs. She paused at the bottom step, visibly bothered by Edward's words and spoke over her shoulder, "I'll let you know if anything changes."

Edward threw the last book down in disgust, momentarily allowing himself to feel defeated. There were still books left, but they were all on typical alchemy and not anything worthwhile; he knew just by reading the titles that they held no promise. He let out a long sigh and stood to stretch his aching limbs. How much time had passed he wasn't sure, but he felt exhausted. When was the last time he slept? He couldn't remember. It had been the night before the battle with Voldemort…right? He wondered how many days had passed since then, because to him it seemed like weeks; he was definitely clinically insane at this point in time. His thoughts were muddled now that he had nothing to concentrate on.

He opted to get some long deserved sleep and curled up on the bunk in the corner; apparently Winry had lugged Al's bed downstairs to try and get him to rest now and then when his brother was searching for a way across the Gate. After some rest, perhaps the information Ed had learned would spark some course of action in his mind; it was a given that he wasn't accomplishing anything in his present state. Even with that in mind, he still felt guilty about wasting time sleeping when he could be searching for a solution.

What he had could not be called sleep, for his dreams were invaded by his brother's calamity. The battle with Voldemort and the golem kept replaying in his mind: the explosion, Al's widening eyes as he clutched his chest before he fell to the cold stone beneath him, and his sandy-brown hair draping over his tightly closed lids. He caught glimpses of his brother's ghostly, sweat-slicken face, and then time wound backward to when he was healthy and smiling. Ed rolled and flailed in his nightmares, trying to escape the heartache they held.

Suddenly they stopped and he was unconsciously aware that his mind was quiet for once. Thoughts ran through his mind; most were lines from the books he'd read. The knowledge he'd learned flitted in and out of his grasp as his sleeping self pieced them together in random disorder.

Then his mindscape changed again as he landed into another dream, though it was different from the others. He was walking in a plane of midnight blue, surrounded by this color on all sides of his being. There was a pale blue light a long distance away and this was what he walked toward. It seemed hundreds of miles passed until the light appeared to be closer, but his dream self felt no fatigue at all. Instead he felt a stronger drive toward it, as if it had a magnetic pull on him.

Time lengthened and finally he was there, standing in front of a beautiful blue orb that shone with its own light, like a brilliant blue star. It pulsed every second or so, as if it was alive, as if it had a heartbeat. Ed reached for it, knowing somehow that this orb of light held the answers to all his questions.

A spark of energy shot through him as his fingers brushed the surface of the orb. It jolted him awake and his eyelids fluttered open immediately, only to narrow in confusion. He knew he was awake because he was lying on Al's bed—he could feel the sweaty sheets beneath him—but the orb remained, floating in front of him, just inches from his face. He had no idea what was going on, for this occurrence wasn't scientific in the least, but somehow he didn't care at the moment; the orb was still as compelling as it had been in the dream.

He untangled his arm from the sheets carefully, not wanting to scare it away. The orb stayed still, oscillating between dimmer and brighter radiance as it rested calmly on the air beneath it. Ed touched it gently with the tips of his fingers, attracted to it like he had been in his dream. The orb quivered slightly and then pulsed again, brighter than before; if Ed didn't know any better, he would say it was…happy, content. The place where his fingers had met the light tingled with a gentle warmth; it was unlike anything he had ever experienced and his mouth hung open in awe.

Suddenly the orb retreated from him and sped away to the far side of the room where it stopped, pulsing stronger than before as if excited by something. By this time Edward disregarded every scientific fact in his mind and stood to follow it; he still couldn't explain to himself why this blue ball of light was so fascinating, other than the fact it was scientifically impossible, that is. He found himself yearning to understand it, to see how it worked, how it existed.

As he drew closer, the orb moved a bit farther away. Ed stopped, wondering if it was perhaps scared of him. He advanced slower this time, cautiously, trying not to seem like he was moving. Apparently the orb grew annoyed with this, for it quivered suddenly and then flew to make several twirling circles around him, barely an inch from colliding with his flesh. 'Alright, so it's not afraid,' Edward thought, 'If that's the case then it must want me to…follow it.' The idea was ridiculous, but what else was he to believe?

Again the orb recoiled, this time moving all the way to the back wall and toward the right corner of the bookshelf. Puzzled, Ed noticed there was a space between the bookcase and the wall, just big enough, perhaps, to harbor…a small tome. Drawing his attention away from the orb, he slipped his fingers into the space and felt around until he found what he was searching blindly for, though he didn't understand yet how he knew it would be there. As he pulled back his hand he brought with it a small leather journal; it was the same research journal Ed had sent his brother from across the Gate.

He smiled slightly, as he had wondered where his journal had ended up. However, this was not what he was hoping to retrieve and was annoyed he'd gotten his hopes up; what was he expecting, a written solution from Alphonse himself? He glanced back at the orb and his smile faded to one more wistful than happy.

"Thanks," he said, wondering why he was now talking to it, "But this doesn't help me, not that I expect you to understand."

Ed stood to place his journal on Al's desk. He all but collapsed in the chair by it and studied the glowing sphere with an unplaced longing. He shook his head and turned away, trying to figure out what was going on.

"I must be going insane," he said, laughing, "I mean, this is really pathetic."

The orb quivered again as he glanced back at it; this seemed to be its way of portraying a want to say something it couldn't without words. A second later it was in front of him, startling him so much he stumbled out of his chair and knocked the journal off the desk in the process, where it landed open on the floor. The orb sped toward it and stopped above it abruptly, bouncing and seeming excited. For a moment Ed was concerned it was going to harm the leather volume.

Instead the sphere spun rapidly above the book, causing the pages to turn from the wind. Then it stopped abruptly and floated over the pages, waiting for Edward's next move. Confused, Edward moved closer; he saw immediately that the page he was looking at was not covered in his handwriting. Driven by curiosity and a growing suspicion he snatched up the diary and skimmed its contents.

"Could it really be that easy?" he said in disbelief as he finished reading; he didn't trust what it said was true at first so he proceeded to read it three more times.

At long last Edward looked up from the page to gape at the blue globe in front of him. It spun slowly as it hovered about a foot from the ground. Realization hit Ed suddenly like a brick and he stumbled back, dumbfounded that he hadn't thought of this before.

"Al?" he voiced hesitantly, still to bewildered to believe his assumption.

The ball of light bounced twice in a repeated up-down motion, as if nodding. Edward glanced down at the journal again and then back to the missing piece of his brother's soul.

"But, why haven't you…" he started to ask, then understanding, "You can't return by yourself, can you? You need my help."

Again, the orb nodded in its peculiar way. It bounced faster now, excited it had finally accomplished its goal.

A/n- so, did anyone see that coming!? Eh? I am proud to say I am proud of this random brain spark that brought about this turn of events. It's almost done, minne; I hope you stick around for the grand finale, next!