Two.

Two years had passed since the massacre.

Once the news broke out, Alex went from the most liked person, to the most hated.

People constantly berated Alex for committing mass genocide and saying that he caused the tension.

As an 8 year old, Alex suffered a lot of insults, and, tons of mental instability.

The massacre had given Alex tons of mental trauma and PTSD.

The sight of him standing in front of his dead parents' bodies had permanently scarred him.

Thankfully, Noire and Uni had taken him into their home at the Basilicom and helped his mental rehabilitation.

So, two years had passed, an our hero Alex is now 9. Two years removed from his massacre.

What heroic act is he doing now?

Well.

A door opened as Uni entered it and the first thing she saw made her sigh. "Seriously Alex?" She muttered.

She walked in on Alex sleeping in the middle of a pile of books with one on his face.

Alex ended up hearing Uni's voice as he slowly removed the book and woke up

He opened his pocket watch to check the time.

"Dang. I was out for a while. Oh, hey Uni." He said as he stood up from the pile.

"You do know your gonna clean this mess up right?"

"Yeah yeah I know."

"What were you even doing in here?"

"Research. Important research."

"And that research is?" She asked.

Alex then tossed Uni and book as she grabbed it and looked at the title page.

"The Philosopher's Stone: The All Powerful Weapon? Why read this?"

"Well."

Flashback

"Did you need to see me Führer Bradley?" Asked Alex. "Alex, I've called for something very important. You've heard of the Philosopher's Stone right?" He asked as Alex nodded. "Well, I need you to conduct research on it and figure out how it's made and what it's used for." "Right! Understood!"

Flashback End.

"And that's why I was here." Alex told Uni.

"Okay. But, why not use the public library?"

"Cause, why go when there's a library in here? It's practically easy to go here everyday now."

Uni cleared her throat and pointed to the sign on the door which in bold letters said, BASILICOM LIBRARY IS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CPU BLACK HEART. ANY OTHER PERSON SEEN IN HERE WILL BE PUNISHED BY BLACK HEART HERSELF.

"Well, shit."

"Don't worry. I won't tell, but, you do owe me one." Said a smug Uni.

"Fine fine. What do I owe you?"

"I'll tell you when the time's right."

Uni helped Alex clean up the Basilicom Library and left the room.

"Hm, how am I gonna find more research?"

Alex then struck an idea.

"I got it!"

TimeSkip: 2 Hours Later

Alex stormed back inside the living room of the Basilicom extremely happy.

"What's good you in a good mood?" Said Noire who was at her desk.

"This!" Alex snowed Noire what he held as it was a folder with the name, Dr. Tim Marcoh's Notes On The Philosopher's Stone.

"Dr. Tim Marcoh? Philosopher's Stone?"

"I'm doing research on it and by decoding Marcoh's notes, I'll be able to find out all about the stone!"

Alex then rushed to the table in front of the couch and started to lay out and organize the notes as Noire took a look and read the notes.

Noire saw that they all had tons of information and transmutation circles, though, one thing stuck out to her.

"Um, Alex? Are you sure these are notes? All the apparent, "data and research", this Marcoh guy didjust says grocery items "

And Noire was true. Every line of supposed data was just many and tons of grocery items.

Alex simply laughed at this.

"Yeah I know. That's what I meant by decode the notes. Each Alchemist doesn't just write notes normally. They all each have their own style of writing notes. So, all I gotta do is figure out the pattern Marcoh used in the grocery items, and, once I found the pattern, decoding becomes easy." He said.

"Well, good luck." She said as she left into the hallway.

"I don't need luck! I'm only 9 and yet I'm already the Colonel! How hard can this be!?"

A Day Later

"This is fucking impossible!"

Alex shouted as he slouched back on the couch, completely exhausted, tired, and annoyed.

"Damn Marcoh. You didn't just code your notes. You literally made them a nearly unreadable language."

Uni came from the hallway. "I heard you shout. Are you okay?"

Alex turned to see Uni and signed before sipping a cup a coffee.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Uni walked up to the table and saw all the notes and writing Alex had dome to decipher the original notes.

"That's a lot of papers used."

"And I still feel like I'm going nowhere! I've barely decoded like 3% of his notes!"

Alex had used at least over 10 papers and even though it looked like me wrote and figured out a lot, most the pages were just rewrites of others to fix mistakes.

"I swear, I feel like I'm stuck on a permanent dead end."

Uni smiled and touched Alex's shoulder.

"Don't worry Alex. I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually."

Alex returned a smile and calmed down.

"Thank you Uni."

Alex stood up and stretched for a bit as he decided to take a break as he went to the balcony as he leaned over the railing which gave him a nice view of Lastation.

He looked at his left hand, the hand that held the sword that killed his parents, as he got flashes of that night.

He immediately shook it off as the flashes and visions became less and less frequent.

"It's already been two years, yet, it only feels like yesterday. The past must really like clinging to me." He chuckled and walked back inside the Basilicom as he saw his notes were no longer scattered but instead nearly organised.

He looked around and caught a glimpse of Noire in hallway. He already knew she had organised his notes, though, he knew better than to ask. She'd just decline it as usual.

He sat back down and continued his research with a fresh and clear mind.

And, eventually he did find out, but, what he found, is what he didn't expect.

Sunset

"DAMN IT ALL!" Alex shouted loudly as he flipped the table as all the notes spilled and fell onto the floor.

Noire and Uni heard and immediately rushed to him as he sat down on the floor with his head hanged low.

"What the hell is wrong with you idiot!? Why'd you flip the table and make a mess!?" Shouted Noire.

"Alex? Are you okay?" Asked Uni.

Alex didn't say anything, as he put a hand to his face.

"Geez. Calm down Alex. You don't need to be upset just cause you can't figure out some simple notes." Noire said, however, she was wrong.

"No. That's not it. I figured out these damn notes. These, damn, bloody notes." He said.

"Really? Then hurry up and spill it out! What did you find out that made you flip the table!?" Noire had asked.

Alex chuckled softly.

"The main ingredient for a Philosopher's Stone is, live humans."

Part 4: End