Deata

Combined with the series having more hopeful tone overall at the beginning it felt like Al was telling a tale in the intro:

Even after Elrics discovered that in order to obtain the Stone you need to sacrifice a lot of people, which was like, a big plot twist, the intro still stayed the same. Because they aren't on their wits' end yet.

But after Alphonse became the Philosopher's Stone it changed. There's a new shot with Ed and Al's present selves.

And it doesn't feel like a good thing anymore, with the way Elric brothers obtained it. This is not how they've planned to get their bodies back. Al is in a bigger danger now, the stakes are too high and brothers can't rely on each other the way they used to.

Instead of a festive feel of achieving a long-term prize the situation now has a grim finality to it. You've completed the journey but it's so so wrong. There's little hope now and so many new regrets gotten along the way, such an unfair exchange once again.

Is there an archive anywhere for all these old fan works? This one is dated for 2004. All the eBay listings never explain what they’re about :( Most of them end up being super sexual. But I’m willing to document the ones I get, if anyone is interested.