P.U.S.H. Chapter Two
Title: P.U.S.H.
Authors:
scribeoffate and artisticentropy
Illustrator:
Rating:PG-13/R
Genre: AU
Pairings: Mostly Gen, later chapters (and I mean really later) hints of Ling/Ed, also vauge one sided Roy/Ed if you look really hard
Warnings: Spoilers for everything, movie, series and the manga.
Summary: AU series rewrite. Hohenheim and Dante found a way to stabilize their bodies. Now a more controlling military has gained guardianship of the Elric brothers. Can Ed and Al discover a way to put things right in a world shaped in unexpected ways by Hohenheim’s discovery?
Disclaimer: Not ours.
Chapter One
Prologue
Ed thumped down on the couch they’d managed to smash between their beds in their tiny military dorm room. Al was due back soon, and Ed was just glad to be away from Gran’s prying eyes. The bastard had been hounding him for days about Youswell. He’d made his report. Everything was just fine. He’d said as much, a thousand times now.
“Brother,” Al walked in. Ed stared; why was he walking so slowly? Surely, Gran hadn’t done anything to Al because of what happened at the coal mine? He hadn’t done anything wrong,‘that the military knew about,’ a little niggling voice couldn’t help but point out to him.
“Al, what’s wrong?” Ed narrowed his eyes at his brother; utilizing his older sibling look that said, ‘YOU WILL TELL ME EVERYTHING’. It was a particular expression they handed out to all older siblings—right before the right to boss your sibling around, and after the ability to goad them into doing stuff for you.
“Nothing. Why are you so worried? What did you do this time?” Al narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
A sense of relief physically assaulted Ed. Al would have known what he did, if they were hurting him for something his older brother had done. Ed’s ‘indiscretions’ were always painted vividly for his sibling’s ‘amusement’ in the midst of whatever punishment the military thought up.
“Uh, nothing Yeah, N-n-nothing,” Ed smiled nervously and waved it off. Change the subject! Change the subject!“Hey, has Mom heard from the Bastard yet?”
“No. No one’s heard from him. Not since that day...”
****
Edward stared at his father. He would make everything alright. His dad would do something--some alchemy--and his mom wouldn’t be sick anymore. She’d get better and they would all be a family again. He knew it. His father could do *anything*. He was Hohenheim of Light, wasn’t he?
“Ed, help is coming for your mother,” his dad smoothed his hair, kneeling down to be on his eldest son’s level.
Ed felt much better and smiled tentatively towards his father. He knew his dad would take care of everything. That’s what dads were for. “Soon? Everything will be okay again soon?” His face pleaded with Hohenheim’s for reassurance.
For some reason Father stopped meeting his eyes. “Yes; things will be okay again. Though maybe not right away.” He turned back to face his son and made the little boy meet his identical gaze, “Listen, Edward, promise me you’ll take care of your brother. Everything will be fine; all you have to do is take care of Alphonse.”
“What? Why? You take care of him. You and Mom, that’s what you do.” His voice was high and trembled a bit in puzzled confusion and trepidation, “What kind of help is coming for Mom? Is it the military? Are they going to make you go away with them?” He bit his bottom lip as his eyes began to swim a little—a habit he’d had since he was small and used whenever he wanted comfort, but thought he was too ‘big’ to ask for it.
“Yes, Ed. I’m afraid that’s very likely.” He stared solemnly at his son, something unreadable in his expression.
“If they come, they’ll help Mom, right? But, I don’t want you to go away with them You’re our dad ! You belong here!”
“I’m sorry Ed, there’s nothing I can do. Sometimes things just…happen….and you’ve got to make what you can of them. Now, stop worrying; the military will definitely be able help your mother. Much more than I can...”
“I’d do anything to help her get better. Anything!” He stared at his father, almost accusingly, small hands gripping the arms of the older man and daring him not to respond in the same way.
“I know you would, Edward. I am very proud of you. I hope you never come to regret that.” His father’s gold eyes looked directly into his. “I love you...Remember to watch out for Al, no matter what happens. That’s your duty as his older brother.”
“That was the last time I ever saw him...” Ed clenched his fists. “And if I see him again, I’ll...I’ll... I don’t know. But he’ll be sorry.”
Al had turned away, was standing by the door, staring at it, as if it lead somewhere different than the halls of the State Alchemist military dorms. “You’ll forgive him, Brother. How was he to know they would want more from us once they found he was gone? I think he left, hoping they’d leave us alone when they couldn’t find him. He did what he thought was best for us. He always did.”
****
“You don’t want to frighten her, do you?” their father was gazing at them with smiling eyes. Al thought that their dad’s eyes matched Ed’s perfectly; they shone like coins.
“Well, no,” Ed answered for both of them.
“You should explain what you are doing, scientifically, like I taught you. She’s a smart girl, she’ll understand what’s happening if you tell her. She’s not used to alchemy though, so you might frighten her if you don’t talk her through it first. Okay?”
“Yes, Dad,” they chorused. Al always felt happy when they did that. And he always felt happy when their dad looked at them like that. Like he was so proud of them.
“Well, go on, then We’ll do a test run. I’ll be Winry, and you pretend you’re making me a doll for my birthday.”
Al giggled. His brother shot him a glance, a slight frown implying he should take this seriously. How could he, though? Pretending that their father was Winry? Even Edward, as seriously as he tended to take all things alchemic, had to find it a little silly.
“Winry--” Ed started a bit awkwardly, raising his voice a little over the sound of Al’s mirth. “We wanna make you a present! With alchemy Our dad showed us how!”
Al couldn’t help but giggle even more loudly when their father clasped his hands and brought them up beside his face, then answered in a high pitched voice, trying to sound like Winry. He was clutching his stomach and shaking with laughter while Ed explained the array, and the elements they would use to create the doll. When their dad responded as Winry again, Al felt tears in his eyes and was happy to see that his father and brother were now laughing too.
“What’s going on? What are you doing?” Winry’s voice called through their doorway, only her sandaled feet visible at the top of the stairs leading down to Hohenheim’s study.
That only got them all laughing again.
“Yeah, Winry really ended up liking that stupid doll. Mrs. Rockbell
mentioned it in her last letter,” Ed stared at the place on the door his brother’s gaze was still drawn to, “She’s evidently still got it.”
He glanced over and noticed Al was smiling, a distant, fond, expression on his face.
“Happy memories don’t change anything, Al,” Ed said harshly.
****
“Where is your father?” Ed stared up at the broad shouldered man in the military uniform towering over them. He’d introduced himself as General Brasque Gran, and he was glaring down at him. Ed glared right back, looking like a kitten with his back up, tensed to protect his territory.
“I don’t know! You tell me! He disappeared. He said the military might make him go with them in exchange for helping out Mom. Is that what happened? Huh? If you’ve got him, you’d better give him back, right now!”
“You should be more polite, son. Show your elders more respect. Especially elders that brought a doctor to take care of your mother.” The General glanced towards the doctor who was currently in the room with Trisha Elric, he seemed to be pulling his red stone out of his bag already. The man smirked; she was just as poorly off as they’d heard, then.
“How about you,” the man turned towards Al. “Will you tell me where he went? Things may not go well with you if you don’t cooperate. We don’t have to heal your poor mother, after all, and it looks like she’s going to need more than one treatment.”
“Hey ” Ed shouted. “Leave him out of this! Leave him alone!” He stood
between Gran and his brother with his arms flung our protectively, his left fist clenched tightly in fearful anger. “I don’t know where that bastard went, and neither does he!”
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed as the doctor re-packed his things and started walking towards them. Ed quit glowering at Gran and turned quickly toward the man who was helping their mother, making sure to keep one eye on the general in case he went after Al again. He had to take care of Al. With Dad gone, he was the man of the house. He started to open his mouth to demand answers when the doctor spoke.
“She will be okay. Her condition is quite treatable. However--” Ed could have sworn the graying doctor and the general traded a look. The doctor seemed to find his shoes really interesting. He reminded Ed of a rabbit Winry used to have. Though it was domesticated, it usually looked a bit like it was afraid to be eaten, “--it seems she will be unable to provide proper care for these children.” he mumbled, sounding guilty and never once looking up to meet any of their eyes.
Ed harbored no illusions that their father would be returning. He remembered the conversation from last night, he wasn’t an idiot. His father had been saying goodbye. He might also have been rather young and provincial, but he had a feeling these men were trying to pull something on them. “It’s okay, we can stay with the Rockbells until Mom gets better. They’re right next door. I’m sure they won’t mind.”
Gran smiled at him. “Perhaps, but did it never occur to you that they might be busy? They are surgeons after all. No, son. You are lucky you live in such a benevolent and advanced society because I believe the military will be forced to take over you and your brother’s guardianship. At least until your father can be located. So, if you know where he is?”
“I told you already I don’t know where he went, and don’t you call me ‘son’ You don’t have any right! We’re not going anywhere with you!” Ed felt Al’s arms on his shoulders, preventing him from physically attacking this pompous asshole who wanted to take them away from all they knew and loved.
“Really? Well, Marcoh, it seems we aren’t needed here. It seems Edward here thinks he is control of this situation.”
“Yeah!” Ed shouted. “You can both leave now. The Rockbells can take care of Mom just like they have been doing!”
“Oh? I thought you said her condition had been declining? Marcoh, how does a person go about treating Mrs. Elric?”
Ed stopped struggling against Al’s arms, and looked toward the doctor again. Why was that bastard Gran looking so fucking smug and the doctor so fucking guilty?
The physician still wouldn’t look at him. Ed felt a flare of anger that quickly turned into fear as Dr. Marcoh’s started to speak.
“One--well...one doesn’t.” He glanced up at Gran, then away again, “I’m the only one that can properly treat her condition. It isn’t a simple matter that can just be shown or taught to anyone else. It’s my alchemical specialty combined with my medical training. At her previous level of care, she probably wouldn’t last more than a few more months. Perhaps a year.”
“Ah. I see. Well then, maybe you’d like to reconsider, Edward. Not that you have a choice, but I may have difficulty justifying using so valuable a resource as Dr. Marcoh for treating a civilian, if you aren’t going to come along peacefully…”
“You don’t mean...” Al said behind him. Ed understood. That horrible feeling that had been growing inside him firmly solidified in his chest. It made him angry, though he wasn’t certain who he was angriest at.
“He does. This bastard is trying to blackmail us for our cooperation in return for our mother’s treatment. Right? You’d just let her die if we don’t do what you say! That’s extortion!”
“Rumor has it that you boys are gifted, it’s nice to see that for once the rumors are true. We really shouldn’t have expected any less from Hohenheim of Light’s sons,” Gran was leering at them possessively. “Now, if you’ll just talk to your mother, and convince her it’s in everyone’s best interest that she sign here, entrusting your welfare to the state military, I’ll authorize the good doctor to treat her whenever necessary.”
“Boys, I’d like for you to meet your new teacher.” Ed kicked sullenly at the ground in front of him. He didn’t want to be in stupid Central meeting some stupid teacher, he wanted--no needed--to be at home, with his mother. Those military bastards were unbelievable, trading their good behavior for keeping their mother alive. It was just plain wrong to do that to a person. If you had the ability to help someone, you just did it You didn’t blackmail them for it It was all the Bastard’s fault. If his father hadn’t been such a big friggen coward--
“Edward!” Ed glanced up at Gran, attempting to let him know exactly how he felt with his expression. He hated the General and didn’t care if he knew it. Unfortunately it didn’t work and the over-grown jackass failed to burst into flames.
“Pay attention when you are being addressed by a senior officer! You will treat Master Izumi with respect, Edward, and attend thoroughly to your lessons. Your mother would want to be proud of you, wouldn’t she?”
“Jerk,” Ed muttered, kicking at the ground again, imaging it was the Bastard’s face. What about becoming some sort of slave to a corrupt government would make Mom proud? ...but at least she would be alive to worry about them, this way... “Yeah, okay,” he said more loudly, resigning himself to whatever new horrors Gran had in store for them in the guise of this new ‘teacher’.
The general was looking at him again with that calculating expression on his face. Ed turned away and glanced at his brother. Al was staring at someone else, presumably this alchemist they were supposed to be learning from. He didn’t want to learn alchemy from some teacher! He wanted to learn it from his dad. But the Bastard had just up and left, hadn’t he? Leaving his not-even-10 year old sons to do what he was too scared to do.
“I’ll take it from here, General.” The woman who spoke wore her hair in braids plastered across her head, and was the first person the brothers had been entrusted to who was not wearing a uniform since they’d left for Central. She was rather casually dressed in a white top and jeans that only fell half-way down her calves.
“Of course. For the foreseeable future, they are yours.” Gran gave them another one of those looks before leaving them with this strange woman.
“Ed,” Al said softly, taking a hold of his brother’s shirt hem, “I wanna go home.”
“Well. You can’t.” the woman cut in before the elder Elric could answer, “So best get over that right now. Follow me you two, and no arguing, no talking back I’m not dealing with any of it. If you want to survive here, you’ll just have to learn to cope on your own. Come on, we have work to do.”
Ed stared after this woman and rushed to follow her when she started walking. He drug his brother with him, struggling to keep up with her long strides. (Not because he was small or anything, but because he had to help his brother.) They followed her into a large foreboding building, shaped, unimaginatively, like a large box and looking like it had been assembled in a hurry out of ugly rectangular cinder blocks. This place was nothing like home…
“Now,” their new teacher, Izumi, was speaking. Her voice was harsh, not at all kind like their mother’s. Ed’s stomach dropped at that thought. They should be with their mother right now. Maybe this woman didn’t know what Gran had done. Maybe she would let them go home.
“Master Izumi ” Ed interrupted her, and earned himself a stern glare as well as a light smack. Ed stopped, his mouth falling open in shock. His parents had *never* hit him, not for anything. Even though the slap hadn’t been particularly painful, it really bugged him that she would hit him. She’d better not do that to Al!
“No interrupting! If you disrespect the officers here, you’re likely to get much worse than that little tap! Now, as I was saying, I am Master Izumi. I will be teaching you about alchemy, because that’s what the military tells me to do. You will do everything I say, you will follow all my rules because that’s what *I* tell you to do Do you understand?”
“Yes Ma’am,” Al said loudly, his voice high pitched and shaking.
Ed simply glared at her. Who did she think she was? She wasn’t their mother “Do you know why they brought us here? We didn’t want to come They made us! Please, please, can’t you just let us go home? Can you help us?” Ed didn’t particularly care for the pleading note that had crept into his voice, but if she would help them, it’d be worth it.
Her gaze seemed to soften. For just a moment, Ed had hope. She might be willing to help them. What the military was doing to them wasn’t right, she obviously knew it! And if she felt the same way, she could help them. Somehow, they’d learn the alchemy needed to help their mother on their own. Then they wouldn’t need that spineless Dr. Marcoh, or the military!
“There’ll be no more talk of going home,” she said, dispelling that momentary glimpse of hope. “It won’t happen no matter what you do. You might as well get over that right now. We can start studying immediately; it will take your mind off things and give you a chance to resign yourselves to the situation. What are the three basic principles of alchemy?”
Though her voice was a little softer and there was a small mote of compassion in her eyes, her expression had hardened again. She’d given up hope and knew it would be the kindest thing she could do for these boys, to help them do the same. As long as the government had their loved ones under their thumbs, all they could do was make the best of the situation. They still had each other, after all, and even here, there was still some small happiness to be found--once one stopped pining for the past and reconciled themselves to their futures.
“We learned a lot from her, Brother.” Al had turned around and was sitting with his back against the door.
“Yeah, It isn’t really her fault she couldn’t help us, I guess.” Ed didn’t sound terribly convinced.
“But she did help us, Brother. She certainly saved you plenty of times,” Al’s voice was accusatory. “You always had a knack for getting into trouble.”
****
“Edward Elric!” Gran was fuming, Ed could tell even without looking, he’d experienced this a couple of times before. He actually seemed angrier than the time Ed had incited a food fight in the mess hall. And really, it was disputable as to whether or not he was the actual cause of that! Unfortunately, this incident was pretty cut and dry.
Ed clenched his fists. It wasn’t his fault if the General didn’t think his choice of materials was appropriate. He needed to practice his new array! The statue they’d just erected of King Bradley in the courtyard had been so tempting. If they were going to waste such nice, smooth marble on a statue of that stupid homunculus, they couldn’t blame him for using it to practice! It’s not like he couldn’t easily put it back the way it was…
“What will it take, Elric? What would motivate you to behave, even a little? Some new form of corporal punishment? Shall I beat some sense into you again? Or perhaps it would be more effective if I beat some sense into your brother. He appears to be the brains of your little duo.”
“No! Not Al! He didn’t do anything! ” Ed shouted, realizing a little belatedly that he may have given Gran a bit too much insight into his inner workings. Master Izumi was always chastising him about not properly hiding his weaknesses. She said it was one of his greatest faults in a fight.
“Ah, General Gran,” Ed was relieved, for once to hear his teacher’s voice behind him. “I did admonish Ed to practice his arrays. How about we forget about this, if he can put the statue back *exactly* the way he found it? On the first try.”
Master Izumi’s voice was actually scarier than the general’s anger, but Ed drew the appropriate array without a hitch. He pressed his hands to it, and reverted the statue from his rudimentary artistic attempt at a seven foot pig with wings back into Fuhrer King Bradley. He resisted the urge to leave the snout, but only just barely. It was really his teacher that prompted that much restraint--well and Gran’s threatening to punish Al for his actions--and not any kind of loyalty to the dumb puppet that had been set up to rule this stupid country.
“That was a very nice display of talent, son. I think you may be ready to take this month’s test.” the General’s voice had switched from stern to impressed, “I imagine you’ll do rather well, and it would be nice to have you officially among our ranks as a State Alchemist. I imagine the research budget and a little more freedom may give you more incentive towards good behavior.”
Master Izumi had paled quite visibly at that comment. “I’m not certain he’s ready yet, General Gran. Ed, go find your brother and wait for me. The General and I need to talk.”
Ed didn’t argue with Master Izumi. He wasn’t sure he dared. He went back inside to find Al without so much as a glance back. He didn’t really want to take the test and become a nationally certified alchemist, but he was aware that he would have to eventually. Maybe if he and Al did really well on the test, the military would allow them some leeway, maybe even let them visit Mom and the Rockbells. It would be nice to be able to see home again. He knew the other alchemists were allowed leave occasionally. Maybe it’d be worth it.
“You were transferred to Tucker after that, Al,” Ed had laid down across the couch with his hands behind his head. “I’m not sure Master’s interference was what you would call ‘help’.”
“Gran wanted you to take the test that month, wanted to implant you with one of the stones right then, Brother! Master Izumi convinced him that it was her training that prevented it from affecting her and not her knowledge of the Truth. She was just trying to help. He transferred me to Tucker because he thought she had taught me less--that he could keep me from being impervious to the stone, like he thought she had made you. I heard she was even punished for it! ”
“Oh.” Ed hadn’t known that. He’d been recovering for quite a while after the Incident. “That explains why I had time...” Ed trailed off. “I’m sorry, Al. That I wasn’t fast enough--t-to prevent what happened.”
“Don’t you apologize! You did what you could! Let’s not forget what happened to you, Brother.” Al sounded almost menacing. “That’s my fault.”
****
Al concentrated on the array he was supposed to be drawing per Tucker’s instructions. For some reason they’d been ordered to find a way to bind a soul to inanimate objects like a full suit of armor. If Al thought about it, he could begin to see the practical uses to this one, at least. Most of the stuff they wanted them to do didn’t seem to have a lot of practical implications. Being able to put living things into bodies that were more impervious to harm made more sense than a talking chimera. Tucker was apparently desperately trying to create another one before his evaluation.
If he concentrated on the array, he wouldn’t be nervous about whether or not he and Ed passed their certification exams. Ed was being interviewed right now, Al wondered why they were going through the entire process; it was pretty much a given that Ed was going to be forced into military service whether he liked it or not. Well, him and Ed both really. Al wished he was with his brother. He could keep him from doing anything else rash.
“Al? How’s it coming?” Tucker was standing over his shoulder, and Al noted that the chalk he’d been using to outline the array onto the stone floor was merrily rolling away from him now. He must have dropped it while he’d been thinking about the tests.
“Uh, sorry. I...my, thoughts are...I guess I’m a little worried about Ed, sir.”
“Of course. That’s understandable, but we need you to finish this array tonight Al. We want to test it.”
“Test it? What? But...I mean...I thought you were doing that later. Or-or something.” Al knew he should have known that he was drawing this array out full sized and on the floor for a reason, but he’d just hoped that maybe they would do that part without him. “Aren’t you finishing your research for the evaluation tonight? How can you do both?” Al did not particularly want to be here when they tested his and Mr. Tucker’s theories on a living thing. The thought of what these arrays could do to someone made him feel a little sick.
“Yes, yes. The brass wants both objectives completed tonight. We’re running low on time; finish that array, Al. I’ll be back.”
Al tried to concentrate on the lines again. It really was best not to think too much about what was happening to his brother, or what he would soon be doing. Was there some way he could get out of actually activating the array? He could refuse, but then, they’d find some way to convince him that he had to. They might even hurt Ed. And if he didn’t do it, someone else just would. Someone not familiar with it, and they’d probably mess it up. That would just make him feel worse.
He finally managed to immerse himself in the symbols he was drawing. It had taken him months of extensive research to figure this thing out. He hoped, maybe, that Mr. Tucker meant they’d be testing it on animals. He hadn’t quite figured out the equivalence part of the reaction yet. Maybe giving up the body to attach the soul to something else counted, but what poor creature would they use to try that out, and how do you measure the cost of a soul?
Al sat back on his heels and double checked his work, he’d finished it. Every line was perfect. Now, he needed to find some way to convince Mr. Tucker that they shouldn’t actually *use* it...
“Alphonse Elric, impressive work.” It was General Gran’s deep voice which interrupted his thoughts this time.
“Oh!” Al stood up quickly, wondering if he should salute, or something. He was in the process of officially becoming a State Alchemist, after all. Gran was a General, and he was at least partially in the military now; protocol was so confusing. Not like alchemy where you knew just what to expect if you put in the proper materials and effort. Then another thought process invaded this one, and Al spoke without thinking. “Brother? Where is he? Did he pass his interview?”
“Eventually,” the General said, eyes glinting.
Al tried not to groan out loud. He could just see his brother doing or saying something completely stupid. “I’m sorry for whatever my brother did, sir,” Al told the General. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”
“Oh, he meant it, Alphonse. And you aren’t really sorry, not yet. But you will be.”
Al started to protest, to claim that he really was sorry. Well, he really was sorry that Ed couldn’t control his smart mouth long enough for them to find some way to get away from General Gran and go back to their mother. But then the General’s words and tone sank in, and he realized he was in trouble. Gran pushed him and he fell to his hand and knees in the middle of his array. The general nodded to Tucker and Al’s world exploded in a burst of blue light.
“The next thing I remember,” Al worried at a splinter in the door, “was waking up, holding you--or what was left of you--bleeding half to death in my arms.”
“I... I-” Ed was pale and his voice shook. “-you’re saying you don’t remember? You don’t remember what I let happen to you?”
“I remember what I let you happen to you, Brother! You were almost dead And I know it was because of me! Because of that stupid array, they tested on me. I know that !I just don’t remember it. But I almost killed you!”
“Al...That’s not what happened! Well, okay, it is, but not all of it!” Why had they waited so long to talk about this? Had Al been carrying around this guilt, HIS guilt, all this time? He felt like such a failure as a brother...
****
Ed sat heavily in the chair the panel had indicated. A three legged chair that stood on its own like that shouldn’t even be possible, but here he was, sitting in it. Alchemists weren’t supposed to be afraid, huh? He wondered why anyone would *want* to be in the ranks of the national alchemists.
“Why do you want to be a state alchemist?” one of the panelists asked, and Ed froze. Master Izumi had admonished him to pass the test, to pass the interview. She was convinced (and probably right) that something terrible would happen if they didn’t do extraordinarily well during their testing.
“I don’t,” Ed said before thinking. “I really just want to go home. It must be fairly obvious that we don’t know where that spineless bastard who calls himself our father is by now!”
“You will have to do better than that, Edward.” Ed recognized the rumbling voice of that jackass, General Gran. What did he mean better than that? Did the really expect him to make up some reason why he wanted to be their stupid dog? It wasn’t like they were giving him any choice in the matter.
“It would be a shame,” Gran added, “if we were to have to prolong your training. As a nationally certified alchemist, you’d have opportunities not afforded to you at this time.”
Ed resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Gran apparently was going to look bad if he didn’t pass their stupid interview. But if he was certified, he might get to visit Mother. Wasn’t that worth it? It wasn’t like he had a choice. With a pang Ed remembered what his fath-...no, what Hohenheim had said before he’d ran away.
“I want to be a state alchemist because I made a promise...” he began.
****
“Well done, son.” Ed resisted the urge to strangle the general. This man was the reason he wasn’t at home right now, eating stew with his family, or safe in his bed. “Now you’ll just have to ace the practical skills demonstration, as I am certain you will.”
Ed did roll his eyes this time. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be a dog of the military then. I’ve got one question though, why? Why are you doing this to us? What reason can the military want a couple of kids for?”
“I should think that would be evident. The real question is, why wouldn’t the military want alchemists of your brilliance in its ranks?”
“I know all that. But we’re still just kids. Why not wait? When we’re older...”
Gran laughed at him. “Why wait? You’re alchemical prodigies, and more resourceful than many alchemists twice your age. No, no reason to wait. You might as well get used to it, Edward. The military requires your services and we will have them. Now, come along, we have something special planned. Wouldn’t you like to see the results of your brother’s research?”
“What do you mean by that, and what’s it got to do with my practical?” Ed asked. He didn’t like the tone of voice Gran had used.
“Let’s go, you’ll see when we get there.”
The first thing Ed noticed when they walked into the set of rooms given to Shou Tucker was the lack of Alexander. That dog had been driving him crazy for most of a year now. Tucker’s apartments in lab five were perilously close to the ones he currently shared with Master Izumi. The dog was a menace, barking at all hours, and trampling him every time he came to visit Al.
The second thing he noticed was that Tucker had left the door to his generally locked, special research rooms, quite open. Ed couldn’t help it, he’d never been allowed in those rooms, and desperately wanted to know what was there. Al hadn’t even been allowed to go into those rooms. Ed hung back a bit and ducked into slightly ajar door while the General was talking to one of the low ranking toadies that always followed him around.
As Ed hurried down the unfamiliar hallway, he could hear a whining noise at the end of it. What was making that pitiful sound? Ed emerged into a dimly lit room, he could see Tucker’s silhouette against the far wall. Something else was outlined in front of the soft spoken man that had been training his brother. “I did it, Ed. See look,” Tucker’s voice seemed even softer that usual. “A chimera that can learn the human tongue. Watch...” Tucker’s voice was rising slightly, taking on a manic quality. “Say ‘Edward’.”
“Eddowarr…” the thing said, in a deep voice that resonated oddly, but reminded him of something...
Ed stopped short. A speaking chimera? It was impressive. But where was Alexander? And why did the thing say his name the same way Tucker’s two year old daughter did, as if it was concentrating on pronouncing all of the letters?
“Where’s Nina!” Ed shouted, glaring accusingly at Tucker, a rising feeling of nausea frothing in his stomach. If his suspicions were right…This was--this was beyond sick. He couldn’t have. Edward desperately hoped the man hadn’t...
“That’s why I had to keep Al busy,” the man answered. “You are both too perceptive for anyone’s good, especially your own... But I did it, Ed. I did what they wanted. They won’t do it to me again. They won’t! And I could do it, isn’t it amazing? See how beautiful she is, Ed? And even better, now they can’t do to her what they’ve done to you.”
“That...you used....your own daughter,” Ed’s voice was shaking. His entire body was shaking. He’d thought of Tucker as one of the few good people he’d met since they’d been forced to come here. He’d treated Al so nicely, taught him so much. Just what had this man been showing his brother?
“Yes...now they can’t use her, don’t you see? I control her now, not them. Don’t you see? I know you do. They’re using him against you; you against him. You shouldn’t have come in the door. They’ll do it soon, you know. Wanted to see what choice you made, see which one you’d try to save. Nina, or Al. I was supposed to do something? What was it? Have I messed it up for them? Wanted me to...” Tucker trailed off. He stepped into the light. His eyes were panicked. “No Please, Ed, can you save her? What have I done?” Tucker was staring at the creature he’d created with regret and disgust, his whole body began to shake.
“Sa...ave.... her?” Ed trembled; the urge to be violently ill getting stronger, though he wasn’t certain if it was in fear, anger, or disgust. Some combination of the three. His brother? What were they doing to his brother?
“Please, Ed.” Tucker’s voice was breaking. “No! She can speak. She’s a success!I did it, did you see! I did it, speak for me, can you say friend?”
“Eddowarr…fend,” the creature emitted pathetically.
Ed’s stomach lurched at how it did and didn’t sound like Nina. Could he restore her? His mind filtered back to the chimera research he’d been doing for Al while Master Izumi hadn’t been working him to death--before Al had been put on the armor research full time. He’d helped his brother out late into most nights. He’d developed a theory for reversing chimerical transmutation for the sake of this brother’s conscience. He might be able to fix this...
Nina and Alexander were both still there, it was just a matter of separating them, so all the materials should be there, right? Everything should be equivalent already except for the energy needed for the soul’s portion of the process.
His mind rapidly calculated; maybe it was soon enough that they could be separated, but what could he offer? What was the equivalent trade for splitting two beings that had been fused together? He guessed that Tucker had given up his sanity, or was it his daughter? Ed fumbled around in his pocket, taking out the chalk he kept there. He sketched an array, the one he’d read about in the human transmutation texts Izumi had expressly forbidden him to read, thinking it was better for him to have such knowledge than his brother, since it was needed for that stupid soul array.
He thought he’d be able to keep Al innocent and safe with that information. He could tell his brother what he’d learned when and if he needed the knowledge. He’d studied so that he might even be able to fix any horrible things they forced his brother to participate in and prevent Al from carrying that kind of guilt around for the rest of his life.
He recalled the theories he’d had to undo chimerical transformations when he’d learned what Al was originally supposed to be working on, and added some of the additions his brother had suggested. Al had been forbidden to tell him about his projects by both Tucker and Izumi; Ed thought they were stupid if they thought they’d go along with that. As brothers, of course they shared everything.
He drew the circle, took a deep breath and pressed his hands to it. Wherever Al was, he was fine. Ed would know it if something had happened to his brother, wouldn’t he? He’d go find him right away after this. Blinding light surrounded him for a moment, and he concentrated, *willed* Nina to return as she was. A human child was made of these minerals, a dog was made of this much...Something happened, he heard a scream, was it Tucker? He had a flash of black shadowy hands and thousands of eyes reaching for him. Then everything stopped.
He was somewhere else. None of the texts had mentioned anything like this happening. Actually, most of the texts had sternly warned him not to do what he had just attempted. Where was he? He looked around, and he could only see mist glowing faintly in the wherever-the-hell-he was. Oddly, he couldn’t feel anything, either--no moisture, no coolness, nothing at all. A door appeared, growing slowly out of the fog, and like physical sensations, emotional ones seemed dulled. He was curiously unafraid.
“Who’s there?” a voice called, something he didn’t think he had heard with his *ears*, but he understood it nonetheless.
“Who are you?” Ed glanced around, puzzled. “Where are you?”
Something chuckled with many voices, making the laugh sound eerily high pitched and rumbling all at once. A form appeared in the fog, an outline of a human shape, nearly the absence of a person, rather than a presence, and smaller than even Ed. It was crouched in front of the door, its head pointed towards the boy. It had no discernible facial features, but Ed could tell it was looking at him.
“Thank you for asking,” it said, inclining its head towards him. “I have many names, God, Truth, Knowledge. I am all of these things,” it shifted a bit, as if trying to get comfortable in it’s non-body. “and I’m You.”
Then the door opened. He didn’t grasp what was happening at first. It was an eternity of seconds before he understood that he now understood.
Knowledge, limitless amounts of knowledge were pouring into him, showing him in detail how to do things he’d never dreamt of, how to do things he’d done before, only better, more information than he’d ever realized existed fell straight into his head from what he now knew was the Gate. It crowded into his brain and competed with itself for space and attention. It was fascinating, riveting, excruciating, and sickening; everything he needed to know, and it hurt. It made him feel as though his head would splinter into a million pieces. And then everything stopped again. He had been so close to knowing *everything*. There was something else, something really important, and he’d almost had it!
“Just a little more,” he gasped, hand reaching, sprawled in front of the closed Gate again. The figure calling itself Knowledge crouched down in front of him.
“No, I’m afraid that’s all you get you for this price,” the thing quipped.
“Price?”
“Equivalent exchange, no?” The thing didn’t have a face, but Ed could tell it was grinning at him.
That’s when he noticed his right arm was dissolving from his shoulder and reappearing on the blank form of the Gatekeeper. He stared down in horror at his disappearing limb. It felt like nothing he could articulate until the Gate faded away, and he was physically returned to Tucker’s apartments in lab five. Then it hurt, it hurt enough that he screamed, clutching his bleeding shoulder over the place where his arm had once been. He cried out in agonized pain until he noticed the small round face of Nina looking up at him, her huge white dog panting over his shaking back.
“Edoward brofer? You hurt?” she asked innocently, and he wanted to weep with joy even though he was kneeling in a growing puddle of his own blood. She was okay. It had worked, but where was Tucker? And what was that scream that was echoing his own?
“Brother! ” He heard it faintly through the quickly tunneling distance of his conscious mind. Al was in trouble. And he’d stopped to help Nina. He’d known, or at least suspected, but he thought he’d have time Tucker had told him that Al was in danger. And instead he’d wasted time saving someone else. Damn it, he’d only had to do one thing He’d only had one thing asked of him…
He struggled to his feet, fighting the dizziness of blood loss, and ran towards his brother’s cries. He used his good arm to try and staunch the blood as best he could, occasionally losing his balance and falling against a wall with a sharp cry. His entire side quickly grew sticky with warm wetness, but he could only think of one thing, he needed to get to Al, and because of his own stupid pride, he was probably too late.
He ran, vision blurring, out of Tucker’s secret rooms to his regular labs. He knew his way around this part of the apartment because of all the time he’d spent there with Al. Al He stumbled into the rooms in time to see Gran pushing Al backwards...into...Ed’s eyes widened. It was that damn soul array What were they doing to his brother Tucker--that’s where he went --was pressing his palms to the array. Ed didn’t stop to think. “NO!” he shouted and stepped into the array with Al.
“I’m sorry Al, if I’d gotten there sooner...if I hadn’t stopped,” Ed’s throat was tight.
“Then Nina would be dead! Or half a dog! You can’t honestly think I’d be upset that you’d saved a little girl before coming to me!The whole thing was a set up from the beginning. Gran wanted to test us, Brother. Both of us. Besides, you saved me in the end !” Like I couldn’t save you,Al thought, but didn’t say.
Al sat in the chair next to Brother’s hospital bed. His mind was a tumultuous mess of thoughts. He didn’t remember everything, anything, clearly at all. He remembered light, pain, a rushing sensation, then a pleasant distance and a kind of metallic ring in his thoughts. Then he remembered holding his brother, bleeding profusely from where his arm and his leg used to be, both of them covered in Ed’s blood—just holding him and staring at a stunned General Gran and begging him to help his older brother, please, *please* before he died.
The General had grinned then, looking extraordinarily pleased with himself. “I am happy to say you have both passed your practical demonstrations with flying colors. Such impressive talent you both have. Wouldn’t you say so, Lieutenant Colonel Mustang?”
The man who had accompanied the General looked distinctly ill. Al felt tears of fear and frustration sliding down his cheeks. They left tracks in the redness from where he’d placed his cheek against Ed’s chest to try and hear a heartbeat. He didn’t care about the exam right now “Please He’s going to bleed to death ”
“Yes, yes. Let’s get him to the hospital, then you and I can have a little chat.”
Lt. Colonel Mustang had carried his brother, Al following the general and trying not to stumble. His body didn’t feel quite right, like putting on an old pair of shoes for the first time in a long while. They fit and were comfortable but you were conscious of them on your feet. After a while they molded to you, and you could forget you were even wearing them. Just like that, he was starting to feel more at ease, but the sensation was creepy and warred with his worry for his sibling.
He constantly glanced back to check on Edward as he staggered down the hall, but the pale dark haired man didn’t seem to be having much trouble carrying him. Not that he weighed very much, missing half of his limbs like that, Al thought, a bit hysterically. He was exhausted, worried, and frightened, and he wanted his Mom
After arriving at the hospital, all Al had wanted to do was sit by his brother’s side and wait for him to recover. He had to recover, he just had to. General Gran held him back.
“We need to speak, you and I.” The gleam in the General’s eye worried him. What did he have in mind this time? Hadn’t they done enough already? His brother was missing an arm and a leg, and he didn’t know how it had happened
“Please, I need to be with Brother. I need to help him,” Al was aware that he sounded young and scared and flat out didn’t care anymore. He was all of those things and he wanted his brother, his mom, and even his dad.
“Yes, certainly. This will only take a few moments of your time. Then you can go be with your brother during his recovery.” That was when Master Izumi had stormed in, and Al had cowered. He wasn’t sure he could face her after all this, on top of everything else, but her wrath seemed targeted towards the general, not himself.
For an instant, even Gran seemed a bit intimidated by Ed’s teacher, but his face quickly shifted to resignation. He sent Al in to wait beside Ed, to wait until his brother recovered from saving him. Al had been sitting there ever since, waiting. Ed hadn’t stirred, had only moaned feverishly a few times, something about knowledge and truth. Al was still waiting when the Lieutenant Colonel that had so carefully carried his brother came into the room looking, if anything, more ill than before.
“Alphonse Elric?” he inquired. Al nodded mutely, barely glancing away from his Ed’s unconscious form.
“General Gran sent me to deliver a message to you. He says, ‘Congratulations on becoming a nationally certified alchemist.’ He also wished to pass along the same sentiments to your older brother. And he gave me this for you.” The dark haired man handed him a plain looking stone box.
Al took it, puzzled. “What is it?”
The Lieutenant Colonel was standing very straight and rigid, his posture something beyond perfect. “You are to be implanted with the contents in a few moments. A nurse will call for you momentarily; every certified alchemist is required to do be so. It will disperse in your system and increase your powers and your stamina.”
Al backed away from Ed reluctantly to face the soldier, no alchemist, in front of him. He had just caught a glimpse of the man’s silver pocket watch. “And what else does it do?” he asked. He could tell there was something else he wasn’t being told.
“Well?” he narrowed his eyes after a moment of silence.
“You are being given an order, Major Elric, I suggest you follow it.” The man’s face was blank, betraying no emotion in a way that said there was a lot of emotion to be hid. Al could see that he was tense. He could tell that this man was not comfortable with his current assignment.
“Please, can I wait until Brother wakes up? Then I can deal with this, I don’t even want to be in the military. I know you don’t know anything about us, sir, but we were kidnaped, brought here against our will. The military exchanged our cooperation for our mother’s life. Please, just don’t make me deal with all this army stuff now.”
“You are to leave for implantation immediately,” the man’s voice was wavering now, not a lot, but Al could tell he was having some kind of effect on the man.
“Please, can I do it later?” Al stared directly at the soldier, letting some of the tears he’d been holding in fall. He felt mildly unclean manipulating this person he’d just met, but he didn’t have time for this, he needed to be with his brother. He couldn’t explain how his mere presence would help speed Ed’s recovery, he was just certain it would.
“No.” The single word was short, and the older man wasn’t looking straight at him any more. It seemed the pitiful approach wasn’t as effective as he’d thought it would be. It had always worked on Ed…
“I’m not letting anyone implant anything in me it until you tell me what it does,” Al said finally, crossing his arms.
“It enhances your alchemic reactions, extends your life span mildly, and allows the military an opportunity to control you. Once it is in place you will need to take an Elixir every so often to prevent its more harmful properties from effecting you, eventually resulting in death. The only people who know the secret of creating the Elixir are in charge of the State Alchemists.” Lieutenant Colonel Mustang said finally, voice dull. “You will take it, because you don’t have a choice. If you want your brother to recover you will follow the orders you have been given.”
Al’s stomach lurched. They wouldn’t. They couldn’t! Didn’t they want both of them?
“The military would prefer to have both of you under their command,” the man said, as if reading his mind, “but they will settle for one.”
“If they do anything to him, I’ll never do another thing they say!” Al threw the box at Mustang who simply caught it, as though he had been prepared for such an action.
“Please take it,” Mustang said after a moment, holding out the box and looking significantly towards Ed, laying helplessly in his bed. “Mrs. Curtis’s teaching has rendered your brother insusceptible to the stone, but...”
Al had a moment of understanding. “They’re doing the same thing to you. They have or had someone you love...oh...” Al sat back down again heavily. “And they’ve ordered you to make sure I submit to this...” Al shuddered. These people were disgusting. He hated them all. And he hated himself even more for reaching a trembling arm out and taking the box from the man’s outstretched hand.
“That bastard! He gave it to you! Knowing what it would do!I...” Ed sat up and was on the verge of standing, obviously getting ready to storm off. He’d fry that shit-head with his own extra set of flame gloves (Given to Ed at the start of his apprenticeship—He was constantly being nagged to wear and practice with them more, after all…).
“Brother! You know he didn’t have a choice. Don’t blame him; blame me. If I’d never drawn that array...”
Both brothers were standing now, facing one another. Ed flopped back down on the couch first, and Al sat tentatively on his bed.
“I just wish we could go home,” Al said after a long moment of silence during which neither brother could look at the other.
“Yeah,” Ed agreed after a small pause during which he thought of the plans Mustang had shared with him, and the part he was playing. He remembered, that as much as he wanted to share everything with Al, he couldn’t tell him about this, to protect him in case something happened. What Al didn’t know, Al couldn’t be blamed for. “We’ll figure out a way, Al. I promised that before and I mean it.”
“Yeah,” his brother didn’t sound terribly convinced. “But first I’ll find some way to get your limbs back, Brother, to restore you to your natural body.”
“I told you before, Al, don’t worry about that. We have to help you first.” Ed glared at his little brother. He could be so stubborn sometimes.
Al shook his head. “I will get your body back, Brother. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Authors:
scribeoffate and artisticentropyIllustrator:
Rating:PG-13/R
Genre: AU
Pairings: Mostly Gen, later chapters (and I mean really later) hints of Ling/Ed, also vauge one sided Roy/Ed if you look really hard
Warnings: Spoilers for everything, movie, series and the manga.
Summary: AU series rewrite. Hohenheim and Dante found a way to stabilize their bodies. Now a more controlling military has gained guardianship of the Elric brothers. Can Ed and Al discover a way to put things right in a world shaped in unexpected ways by Hohenheim’s discovery?
Disclaimer: Not ours.
Chapter One
Prologue
Ed thumped down on the couch they’d managed to smash between their beds in their tiny military dorm room. Al was due back soon, and Ed was just glad to be away from Gran’s prying eyes. The bastard had been hounding him for days about Youswell. He’d made his report. Everything was just fine. He’d said as much, a thousand times now.
“Brother,” Al walked in. Ed stared; why was he walking so slowly? Surely, Gran hadn’t done anything to Al because of what happened at the coal mine? He hadn’t done anything wrong,‘that the military knew about,’ a little niggling voice couldn’t help but point out to him.
“Al, what’s wrong?” Ed narrowed his eyes at his brother; utilizing his older sibling look that said, ‘YOU WILL TELL ME EVERYTHING’. It was a particular expression they handed out to all older siblings—right before the right to boss your sibling around, and after the ability to goad them into doing stuff for you.
“Nothing. Why are you so worried? What did you do this time?” Al narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
A sense of relief physically assaulted Ed. Al would have known what he did, if they were hurting him for something his older brother had done. Ed’s ‘indiscretions’ were always painted vividly for his sibling’s ‘amusement’ in the midst of whatever punishment the military thought up.
“Uh, nothing Yeah, N-n-nothing,” Ed smiled nervously and waved it off. Change the subject! Change the subject!“Hey, has Mom heard from the Bastard yet?”
“No. No one’s heard from him. Not since that day...”
****
Edward stared at his father. He would make everything alright. His dad would do something--some alchemy--and his mom wouldn’t be sick anymore. She’d get better and they would all be a family again. He knew it. His father could do *anything*. He was Hohenheim of Light, wasn’t he?
“Ed, help is coming for your mother,” his dad smoothed his hair, kneeling down to be on his eldest son’s level.
Ed felt much better and smiled tentatively towards his father. He knew his dad would take care of everything. That’s what dads were for. “Soon? Everything will be okay again soon?” His face pleaded with Hohenheim’s for reassurance.
For some reason Father stopped meeting his eyes. “Yes; things will be okay again. Though maybe not right away.” He turned back to face his son and made the little boy meet his identical gaze, “Listen, Edward, promise me you’ll take care of your brother. Everything will be fine; all you have to do is take care of Alphonse.”
“What? Why? You take care of him. You and Mom, that’s what you do.” His voice was high and trembled a bit in puzzled confusion and trepidation, “What kind of help is coming for Mom? Is it the military? Are they going to make you go away with them?” He bit his bottom lip as his eyes began to swim a little—a habit he’d had since he was small and used whenever he wanted comfort, but thought he was too ‘big’ to ask for it.
“Yes, Ed. I’m afraid that’s very likely.” He stared solemnly at his son, something unreadable in his expression.
“If they come, they’ll help Mom, right? But, I don’t want you to go away with them You’re our dad ! You belong here!”
“I’m sorry Ed, there’s nothing I can do. Sometimes things just…happen….and you’ve got to make what you can of them. Now, stop worrying; the military will definitely be able help your mother. Much more than I can...”
“I’d do anything to help her get better. Anything!” He stared at his father, almost accusingly, small hands gripping the arms of the older man and daring him not to respond in the same way.
“I know you would, Edward. I am very proud of you. I hope you never come to regret that.” His father’s gold eyes looked directly into his. “I love you...Remember to watch out for Al, no matter what happens. That’s your duty as his older brother.”
“That was the last time I ever saw him...” Ed clenched his fists. “And if I see him again, I’ll...I’ll... I don’t know. But he’ll be sorry.”
Al had turned away, was standing by the door, staring at it, as if it lead somewhere different than the halls of the State Alchemist military dorms. “You’ll forgive him, Brother. How was he to know they would want more from us once they found he was gone? I think he left, hoping they’d leave us alone when they couldn’t find him. He did what he thought was best for us. He always did.”
****
“You don’t want to frighten her, do you?” their father was gazing at them with smiling eyes. Al thought that their dad’s eyes matched Ed’s perfectly; they shone like coins.
“Well, no,” Ed answered for both of them.
“You should explain what you are doing, scientifically, like I taught you. She’s a smart girl, she’ll understand what’s happening if you tell her. She’s not used to alchemy though, so you might frighten her if you don’t talk her through it first. Okay?”
“Yes, Dad,” they chorused. Al always felt happy when they did that. And he always felt happy when their dad looked at them like that. Like he was so proud of them.
“Well, go on, then We’ll do a test run. I’ll be Winry, and you pretend you’re making me a doll for my birthday.”
Al giggled. His brother shot him a glance, a slight frown implying he should take this seriously. How could he, though? Pretending that their father was Winry? Even Edward, as seriously as he tended to take all things alchemic, had to find it a little silly.
“Winry--” Ed started a bit awkwardly, raising his voice a little over the sound of Al’s mirth. “We wanna make you a present! With alchemy Our dad showed us how!”
Al couldn’t help but giggle even more loudly when their father clasped his hands and brought them up beside his face, then answered in a high pitched voice, trying to sound like Winry. He was clutching his stomach and shaking with laughter while Ed explained the array, and the elements they would use to create the doll. When their dad responded as Winry again, Al felt tears in his eyes and was happy to see that his father and brother were now laughing too.
“What’s going on? What are you doing?” Winry’s voice called through their doorway, only her sandaled feet visible at the top of the stairs leading down to Hohenheim’s study.
That only got them all laughing again.
“Yeah, Winry really ended up liking that stupid doll. Mrs. Rockbell
mentioned it in her last letter,” Ed stared at the place on the door his brother’s gaze was still drawn to, “She’s evidently still got it.”
He glanced over and noticed Al was smiling, a distant, fond, expression on his face.
“Happy memories don’t change anything, Al,” Ed said harshly.
****
“Where is your father?” Ed stared up at the broad shouldered man in the military uniform towering over them. He’d introduced himself as General Brasque Gran, and he was glaring down at him. Ed glared right back, looking like a kitten with his back up, tensed to protect his territory.
“I don’t know! You tell me! He disappeared. He said the military might make him go with them in exchange for helping out Mom. Is that what happened? Huh? If you’ve got him, you’d better give him back, right now!”
“You should be more polite, son. Show your elders more respect. Especially elders that brought a doctor to take care of your mother.” The General glanced towards the doctor who was currently in the room with Trisha Elric, he seemed to be pulling his red stone out of his bag already. The man smirked; she was just as poorly off as they’d heard, then.
“How about you,” the man turned towards Al. “Will you tell me where he went? Things may not go well with you if you don’t cooperate. We don’t have to heal your poor mother, after all, and it looks like she’s going to need more than one treatment.”
“Hey ” Ed shouted. “Leave him out of this! Leave him alone!” He stood
between Gran and his brother with his arms flung our protectively, his left fist clenched tightly in fearful anger. “I don’t know where that bastard went, and neither does he!”
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed as the doctor re-packed his things and started walking towards them. Ed quit glowering at Gran and turned quickly toward the man who was helping their mother, making sure to keep one eye on the general in case he went after Al again. He had to take care of Al. With Dad gone, he was the man of the house. He started to open his mouth to demand answers when the doctor spoke.
“She will be okay. Her condition is quite treatable. However--” Ed could have sworn the graying doctor and the general traded a look. The doctor seemed to find his shoes really interesting. He reminded Ed of a rabbit Winry used to have. Though it was domesticated, it usually looked a bit like it was afraid to be eaten, “--it seems she will be unable to provide proper care for these children.” he mumbled, sounding guilty and never once looking up to meet any of their eyes.
Ed harbored no illusions that their father would be returning. He remembered the conversation from last night, he wasn’t an idiot. His father had been saying goodbye. He might also have been rather young and provincial, but he had a feeling these men were trying to pull something on them. “It’s okay, we can stay with the Rockbells until Mom gets better. They’re right next door. I’m sure they won’t mind.”
Gran smiled at him. “Perhaps, but did it never occur to you that they might be busy? They are surgeons after all. No, son. You are lucky you live in such a benevolent and advanced society because I believe the military will be forced to take over you and your brother’s guardianship. At least until your father can be located. So, if you know where he is?”
“I told you already I don’t know where he went, and don’t you call me ‘son’ You don’t have any right! We’re not going anywhere with you!” Ed felt Al’s arms on his shoulders, preventing him from physically attacking this pompous asshole who wanted to take them away from all they knew and loved.
“Really? Well, Marcoh, it seems we aren’t needed here. It seems Edward here thinks he is control of this situation.”
“Yeah!” Ed shouted. “You can both leave now. The Rockbells can take care of Mom just like they have been doing!”
“Oh? I thought you said her condition had been declining? Marcoh, how does a person go about treating Mrs. Elric?”
Ed stopped struggling against Al’s arms, and looked toward the doctor again. Why was that bastard Gran looking so fucking smug and the doctor so fucking guilty?
The physician still wouldn’t look at him. Ed felt a flare of anger that quickly turned into fear as Dr. Marcoh’s started to speak.
“One--well...one doesn’t.” He glanced up at Gran, then away again, “I’m the only one that can properly treat her condition. It isn’t a simple matter that can just be shown or taught to anyone else. It’s my alchemical specialty combined with my medical training. At her previous level of care, she probably wouldn’t last more than a few more months. Perhaps a year.”
“Ah. I see. Well then, maybe you’d like to reconsider, Edward. Not that you have a choice, but I may have difficulty justifying using so valuable a resource as Dr. Marcoh for treating a civilian, if you aren’t going to come along peacefully…”
“You don’t mean...” Al said behind him. Ed understood. That horrible feeling that had been growing inside him firmly solidified in his chest. It made him angry, though he wasn’t certain who he was angriest at.
“He does. This bastard is trying to blackmail us for our cooperation in return for our mother’s treatment. Right? You’d just let her die if we don’t do what you say! That’s extortion!”
“Rumor has it that you boys are gifted, it’s nice to see that for once the rumors are true. We really shouldn’t have expected any less from Hohenheim of Light’s sons,” Gran was leering at them possessively. “Now, if you’ll just talk to your mother, and convince her it’s in everyone’s best interest that she sign here, entrusting your welfare to the state military, I’ll authorize the good doctor to treat her whenever necessary.”
“Boys, I’d like for you to meet your new teacher.” Ed kicked sullenly at the ground in front of him. He didn’t want to be in stupid Central meeting some stupid teacher, he wanted--no needed--to be at home, with his mother. Those military bastards were unbelievable, trading their good behavior for keeping their mother alive. It was just plain wrong to do that to a person. If you had the ability to help someone, you just did it You didn’t blackmail them for it It was all the Bastard’s fault. If his father hadn’t been such a big friggen coward--
“Edward!” Ed glanced up at Gran, attempting to let him know exactly how he felt with his expression. He hated the General and didn’t care if he knew it. Unfortunately it didn’t work and the over-grown jackass failed to burst into flames.
“Pay attention when you are being addressed by a senior officer! You will treat Master Izumi with respect, Edward, and attend thoroughly to your lessons. Your mother would want to be proud of you, wouldn’t she?”
“Jerk,” Ed muttered, kicking at the ground again, imaging it was the Bastard’s face. What about becoming some sort of slave to a corrupt government would make Mom proud? ...but at least she would be alive to worry about them, this way... “Yeah, okay,” he said more loudly, resigning himself to whatever new horrors Gran had in store for them in the guise of this new ‘teacher’.
The general was looking at him again with that calculating expression on his face. Ed turned away and glanced at his brother. Al was staring at someone else, presumably this alchemist they were supposed to be learning from. He didn’t want to learn alchemy from some teacher! He wanted to learn it from his dad. But the Bastard had just up and left, hadn’t he? Leaving his not-even-10 year old sons to do what he was too scared to do.
“I’ll take it from here, General.” The woman who spoke wore her hair in braids plastered across her head, and was the first person the brothers had been entrusted to who was not wearing a uniform since they’d left for Central. She was rather casually dressed in a white top and jeans that only fell half-way down her calves.
“Of course. For the foreseeable future, they are yours.” Gran gave them another one of those looks before leaving them with this strange woman.
“Ed,” Al said softly, taking a hold of his brother’s shirt hem, “I wanna go home.”
“Well. You can’t.” the woman cut in before the elder Elric could answer, “So best get over that right now. Follow me you two, and no arguing, no talking back I’m not dealing with any of it. If you want to survive here, you’ll just have to learn to cope on your own. Come on, we have work to do.”
Ed stared after this woman and rushed to follow her when she started walking. He drug his brother with him, struggling to keep up with her long strides. (Not because he was small or anything, but because he had to help his brother.) They followed her into a large foreboding building, shaped, unimaginatively, like a large box and looking like it had been assembled in a hurry out of ugly rectangular cinder blocks. This place was nothing like home…
“Now,” their new teacher, Izumi, was speaking. Her voice was harsh, not at all kind like their mother’s. Ed’s stomach dropped at that thought. They should be with their mother right now. Maybe this woman didn’t know what Gran had done. Maybe she would let them go home.
“Master Izumi ” Ed interrupted her, and earned himself a stern glare as well as a light smack. Ed stopped, his mouth falling open in shock. His parents had *never* hit him, not for anything. Even though the slap hadn’t been particularly painful, it really bugged him that she would hit him. She’d better not do that to Al!
“No interrupting! If you disrespect the officers here, you’re likely to get much worse than that little tap! Now, as I was saying, I am Master Izumi. I will be teaching you about alchemy, because that’s what the military tells me to do. You will do everything I say, you will follow all my rules because that’s what *I* tell you to do Do you understand?”
“Yes Ma’am,” Al said loudly, his voice high pitched and shaking.
Ed simply glared at her. Who did she think she was? She wasn’t their mother “Do you know why they brought us here? We didn’t want to come They made us! Please, please, can’t you just let us go home? Can you help us?” Ed didn’t particularly care for the pleading note that had crept into his voice, but if she would help them, it’d be worth it.
Her gaze seemed to soften. For just a moment, Ed had hope. She might be willing to help them. What the military was doing to them wasn’t right, she obviously knew it! And if she felt the same way, she could help them. Somehow, they’d learn the alchemy needed to help their mother on their own. Then they wouldn’t need that spineless Dr. Marcoh, or the military!
“There’ll be no more talk of going home,” she said, dispelling that momentary glimpse of hope. “It won’t happen no matter what you do. You might as well get over that right now. We can start studying immediately; it will take your mind off things and give you a chance to resign yourselves to the situation. What are the three basic principles of alchemy?”
Though her voice was a little softer and there was a small mote of compassion in her eyes, her expression had hardened again. She’d given up hope and knew it would be the kindest thing she could do for these boys, to help them do the same. As long as the government had their loved ones under their thumbs, all they could do was make the best of the situation. They still had each other, after all, and even here, there was still some small happiness to be found--once one stopped pining for the past and reconciled themselves to their futures.
“We learned a lot from her, Brother.” Al had turned around and was sitting with his back against the door.
“Yeah, It isn’t really her fault she couldn’t help us, I guess.” Ed didn’t sound terribly convinced.
“But she did help us, Brother. She certainly saved you plenty of times,” Al’s voice was accusatory. “You always had a knack for getting into trouble.”
****
“Edward Elric!” Gran was fuming, Ed could tell even without looking, he’d experienced this a couple of times before. He actually seemed angrier than the time Ed had incited a food fight in the mess hall. And really, it was disputable as to whether or not he was the actual cause of that! Unfortunately, this incident was pretty cut and dry.
Ed clenched his fists. It wasn’t his fault if the General didn’t think his choice of materials was appropriate. He needed to practice his new array! The statue they’d just erected of King Bradley in the courtyard had been so tempting. If they were going to waste such nice, smooth marble on a statue of that stupid homunculus, they couldn’t blame him for using it to practice! It’s not like he couldn’t easily put it back the way it was…
“What will it take, Elric? What would motivate you to behave, even a little? Some new form of corporal punishment? Shall I beat some sense into you again? Or perhaps it would be more effective if I beat some sense into your brother. He appears to be the brains of your little duo.”
“No! Not Al! He didn’t do anything! ” Ed shouted, realizing a little belatedly that he may have given Gran a bit too much insight into his inner workings. Master Izumi was always chastising him about not properly hiding his weaknesses. She said it was one of his greatest faults in a fight.
“Ah, General Gran,” Ed was relieved, for once to hear his teacher’s voice behind him. “I did admonish Ed to practice his arrays. How about we forget about this, if he can put the statue back *exactly* the way he found it? On the first try.”
Master Izumi’s voice was actually scarier than the general’s anger, but Ed drew the appropriate array without a hitch. He pressed his hands to it, and reverted the statue from his rudimentary artistic attempt at a seven foot pig with wings back into Fuhrer King Bradley. He resisted the urge to leave the snout, but only just barely. It was really his teacher that prompted that much restraint--well and Gran’s threatening to punish Al for his actions--and not any kind of loyalty to the dumb puppet that had been set up to rule this stupid country.
“That was a very nice display of talent, son. I think you may be ready to take this month’s test.” the General’s voice had switched from stern to impressed, “I imagine you’ll do rather well, and it would be nice to have you officially among our ranks as a State Alchemist. I imagine the research budget and a little more freedom may give you more incentive towards good behavior.”
Master Izumi had paled quite visibly at that comment. “I’m not certain he’s ready yet, General Gran. Ed, go find your brother and wait for me. The General and I need to talk.”
Ed didn’t argue with Master Izumi. He wasn’t sure he dared. He went back inside to find Al without so much as a glance back. He didn’t really want to take the test and become a nationally certified alchemist, but he was aware that he would have to eventually. Maybe if he and Al did really well on the test, the military would allow them some leeway, maybe even let them visit Mom and the Rockbells. It would be nice to be able to see home again. He knew the other alchemists were allowed leave occasionally. Maybe it’d be worth it.
“You were transferred to Tucker after that, Al,” Ed had laid down across the couch with his hands behind his head. “I’m not sure Master’s interference was what you would call ‘help’.”
“Gran wanted you to take the test that month, wanted to implant you with one of the stones right then, Brother! Master Izumi convinced him that it was her training that prevented it from affecting her and not her knowledge of the Truth. She was just trying to help. He transferred me to Tucker because he thought she had taught me less--that he could keep me from being impervious to the stone, like he thought she had made you. I heard she was even punished for it! ”
“Oh.” Ed hadn’t known that. He’d been recovering for quite a while after the Incident. “That explains why I had time...” Ed trailed off. “I’m sorry, Al. That I wasn’t fast enough--t-to prevent what happened.”
“Don’t you apologize! You did what you could! Let’s not forget what happened to you, Brother.” Al sounded almost menacing. “That’s my fault.”
****
Al concentrated on the array he was supposed to be drawing per Tucker’s instructions. For some reason they’d been ordered to find a way to bind a soul to inanimate objects like a full suit of armor. If Al thought about it, he could begin to see the practical uses to this one, at least. Most of the stuff they wanted them to do didn’t seem to have a lot of practical implications. Being able to put living things into bodies that were more impervious to harm made more sense than a talking chimera. Tucker was apparently desperately trying to create another one before his evaluation.
If he concentrated on the array, he wouldn’t be nervous about whether or not he and Ed passed their certification exams. Ed was being interviewed right now, Al wondered why they were going through the entire process; it was pretty much a given that Ed was going to be forced into military service whether he liked it or not. Well, him and Ed both really. Al wished he was with his brother. He could keep him from doing anything else rash.
“Al? How’s it coming?” Tucker was standing over his shoulder, and Al noted that the chalk he’d been using to outline the array onto the stone floor was merrily rolling away from him now. He must have dropped it while he’d been thinking about the tests.
“Uh, sorry. I...my, thoughts are...I guess I’m a little worried about Ed, sir.”
“Of course. That’s understandable, but we need you to finish this array tonight Al. We want to test it.”
“Test it? What? But...I mean...I thought you were doing that later. Or-or something.” Al knew he should have known that he was drawing this array out full sized and on the floor for a reason, but he’d just hoped that maybe they would do that part without him. “Aren’t you finishing your research for the evaluation tonight? How can you do both?” Al did not particularly want to be here when they tested his and Mr. Tucker’s theories on a living thing. The thought of what these arrays could do to someone made him feel a little sick.
“Yes, yes. The brass wants both objectives completed tonight. We’re running low on time; finish that array, Al. I’ll be back.”
Al tried to concentrate on the lines again. It really was best not to think too much about what was happening to his brother, or what he would soon be doing. Was there some way he could get out of actually activating the array? He could refuse, but then, they’d find some way to convince him that he had to. They might even hurt Ed. And if he didn’t do it, someone else just would. Someone not familiar with it, and they’d probably mess it up. That would just make him feel worse.
He finally managed to immerse himself in the symbols he was drawing. It had taken him months of extensive research to figure this thing out. He hoped, maybe, that Mr. Tucker meant they’d be testing it on animals. He hadn’t quite figured out the equivalence part of the reaction yet. Maybe giving up the body to attach the soul to something else counted, but what poor creature would they use to try that out, and how do you measure the cost of a soul?
Al sat back on his heels and double checked his work, he’d finished it. Every line was perfect. Now, he needed to find some way to convince Mr. Tucker that they shouldn’t actually *use* it...
“Alphonse Elric, impressive work.” It was General Gran’s deep voice which interrupted his thoughts this time.
“Oh!” Al stood up quickly, wondering if he should salute, or something. He was in the process of officially becoming a State Alchemist, after all. Gran was a General, and he was at least partially in the military now; protocol was so confusing. Not like alchemy where you knew just what to expect if you put in the proper materials and effort. Then another thought process invaded this one, and Al spoke without thinking. “Brother? Where is he? Did he pass his interview?”
“Eventually,” the General said, eyes glinting.
Al tried not to groan out loud. He could just see his brother doing or saying something completely stupid. “I’m sorry for whatever my brother did, sir,” Al told the General. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”
“Oh, he meant it, Alphonse. And you aren’t really sorry, not yet. But you will be.”
Al started to protest, to claim that he really was sorry. Well, he really was sorry that Ed couldn’t control his smart mouth long enough for them to find some way to get away from General Gran and go back to their mother. But then the General’s words and tone sank in, and he realized he was in trouble. Gran pushed him and he fell to his hand and knees in the middle of his array. The general nodded to Tucker and Al’s world exploded in a burst of blue light.
“The next thing I remember,” Al worried at a splinter in the door, “was waking up, holding you--or what was left of you--bleeding half to death in my arms.”
“I... I-” Ed was pale and his voice shook. “-you’re saying you don’t remember? You don’t remember what I let happen to you?”
“I remember what I let you happen to you, Brother! You were almost dead And I know it was because of me! Because of that stupid array, they tested on me. I know that !I just don’t remember it. But I almost killed you!”
“Al...That’s not what happened! Well, okay, it is, but not all of it!” Why had they waited so long to talk about this? Had Al been carrying around this guilt, HIS guilt, all this time? He felt like such a failure as a brother...
****
Ed sat heavily in the chair the panel had indicated. A three legged chair that stood on its own like that shouldn’t even be possible, but here he was, sitting in it. Alchemists weren’t supposed to be afraid, huh? He wondered why anyone would *want* to be in the ranks of the national alchemists.
“Why do you want to be a state alchemist?” one of the panelists asked, and Ed froze. Master Izumi had admonished him to pass the test, to pass the interview. She was convinced (and probably right) that something terrible would happen if they didn’t do extraordinarily well during their testing.
“I don’t,” Ed said before thinking. “I really just want to go home. It must be fairly obvious that we don’t know where that spineless bastard who calls himself our father is by now!”
“You will have to do better than that, Edward.” Ed recognized the rumbling voice of that jackass, General Gran. What did he mean better than that? Did the really expect him to make up some reason why he wanted to be their stupid dog? It wasn’t like they were giving him any choice in the matter.
“It would be a shame,” Gran added, “if we were to have to prolong your training. As a nationally certified alchemist, you’d have opportunities not afforded to you at this time.”
Ed resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Gran apparently was going to look bad if he didn’t pass their stupid interview. But if he was certified, he might get to visit Mother. Wasn’t that worth it? It wasn’t like he had a choice. With a pang Ed remembered what his fath-...no, what Hohenheim had said before he’d ran away.
“I want to be a state alchemist because I made a promise...” he began.
****
“Well done, son.” Ed resisted the urge to strangle the general. This man was the reason he wasn’t at home right now, eating stew with his family, or safe in his bed. “Now you’ll just have to ace the practical skills demonstration, as I am certain you will.”
Ed did roll his eyes this time. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be a dog of the military then. I’ve got one question though, why? Why are you doing this to us? What reason can the military want a couple of kids for?”
“I should think that would be evident. The real question is, why wouldn’t the military want alchemists of your brilliance in its ranks?”
“I know all that. But we’re still just kids. Why not wait? When we’re older...”
Gran laughed at him. “Why wait? You’re alchemical prodigies, and more resourceful than many alchemists twice your age. No, no reason to wait. You might as well get used to it, Edward. The military requires your services and we will have them. Now, come along, we have something special planned. Wouldn’t you like to see the results of your brother’s research?”
“What do you mean by that, and what’s it got to do with my practical?” Ed asked. He didn’t like the tone of voice Gran had used.
“Let’s go, you’ll see when we get there.”
The first thing Ed noticed when they walked into the set of rooms given to Shou Tucker was the lack of Alexander. That dog had been driving him crazy for most of a year now. Tucker’s apartments in lab five were perilously close to the ones he currently shared with Master Izumi. The dog was a menace, barking at all hours, and trampling him every time he came to visit Al.
The second thing he noticed was that Tucker had left the door to his generally locked, special research rooms, quite open. Ed couldn’t help it, he’d never been allowed in those rooms, and desperately wanted to know what was there. Al hadn’t even been allowed to go into those rooms. Ed hung back a bit and ducked into slightly ajar door while the General was talking to one of the low ranking toadies that always followed him around.
As Ed hurried down the unfamiliar hallway, he could hear a whining noise at the end of it. What was making that pitiful sound? Ed emerged into a dimly lit room, he could see Tucker’s silhouette against the far wall. Something else was outlined in front of the soft spoken man that had been training his brother. “I did it, Ed. See look,” Tucker’s voice seemed even softer that usual. “A chimera that can learn the human tongue. Watch...” Tucker’s voice was rising slightly, taking on a manic quality. “Say ‘Edward’.”
“Eddowarr…” the thing said, in a deep voice that resonated oddly, but reminded him of something...
Ed stopped short. A speaking chimera? It was impressive. But where was Alexander? And why did the thing say his name the same way Tucker’s two year old daughter did, as if it was concentrating on pronouncing all of the letters?
“Where’s Nina!” Ed shouted, glaring accusingly at Tucker, a rising feeling of nausea frothing in his stomach. If his suspicions were right…This was--this was beyond sick. He couldn’t have. Edward desperately hoped the man hadn’t...
“That’s why I had to keep Al busy,” the man answered. “You are both too perceptive for anyone’s good, especially your own... But I did it, Ed. I did what they wanted. They won’t do it to me again. They won’t! And I could do it, isn’t it amazing? See how beautiful she is, Ed? And even better, now they can’t do to her what they’ve done to you.”
“That...you used....your own daughter,” Ed’s voice was shaking. His entire body was shaking. He’d thought of Tucker as one of the few good people he’d met since they’d been forced to come here. He’d treated Al so nicely, taught him so much. Just what had this man been showing his brother?
“Yes...now they can’t use her, don’t you see? I control her now, not them. Don’t you see? I know you do. They’re using him against you; you against him. You shouldn’t have come in the door. They’ll do it soon, you know. Wanted to see what choice you made, see which one you’d try to save. Nina, or Al. I was supposed to do something? What was it? Have I messed it up for them? Wanted me to...” Tucker trailed off. He stepped into the light. His eyes were panicked. “No Please, Ed, can you save her? What have I done?” Tucker was staring at the creature he’d created with regret and disgust, his whole body began to shake.
“Sa...ave.... her?” Ed trembled; the urge to be violently ill getting stronger, though he wasn’t certain if it was in fear, anger, or disgust. Some combination of the three. His brother? What were they doing to his brother?
“Please, Ed.” Tucker’s voice was breaking. “No! She can speak. She’s a success!I did it, did you see! I did it, speak for me, can you say friend?”
“Eddowarr…fend,” the creature emitted pathetically.
Ed’s stomach lurched at how it did and didn’t sound like Nina. Could he restore her? His mind filtered back to the chimera research he’d been doing for Al while Master Izumi hadn’t been working him to death--before Al had been put on the armor research full time. He’d helped his brother out late into most nights. He’d developed a theory for reversing chimerical transmutation for the sake of this brother’s conscience. He might be able to fix this...
Nina and Alexander were both still there, it was just a matter of separating them, so all the materials should be there, right? Everything should be equivalent already except for the energy needed for the soul’s portion of the process.
His mind rapidly calculated; maybe it was soon enough that they could be separated, but what could he offer? What was the equivalent trade for splitting two beings that had been fused together? He guessed that Tucker had given up his sanity, or was it his daughter? Ed fumbled around in his pocket, taking out the chalk he kept there. He sketched an array, the one he’d read about in the human transmutation texts Izumi had expressly forbidden him to read, thinking it was better for him to have such knowledge than his brother, since it was needed for that stupid soul array.
He thought he’d be able to keep Al innocent and safe with that information. He could tell his brother what he’d learned when and if he needed the knowledge. He’d studied so that he might even be able to fix any horrible things they forced his brother to participate in and prevent Al from carrying that kind of guilt around for the rest of his life.
He recalled the theories he’d had to undo chimerical transformations when he’d learned what Al was originally supposed to be working on, and added some of the additions his brother had suggested. Al had been forbidden to tell him about his projects by both Tucker and Izumi; Ed thought they were stupid if they thought they’d go along with that. As brothers, of course they shared everything.
He drew the circle, took a deep breath and pressed his hands to it. Wherever Al was, he was fine. Ed would know it if something had happened to his brother, wouldn’t he? He’d go find him right away after this. Blinding light surrounded him for a moment, and he concentrated, *willed* Nina to return as she was. A human child was made of these minerals, a dog was made of this much...Something happened, he heard a scream, was it Tucker? He had a flash of black shadowy hands and thousands of eyes reaching for him. Then everything stopped.
He was somewhere else. None of the texts had mentioned anything like this happening. Actually, most of the texts had sternly warned him not to do what he had just attempted. Where was he? He looked around, and he could only see mist glowing faintly in the wherever-the-hell-he was. Oddly, he couldn’t feel anything, either--no moisture, no coolness, nothing at all. A door appeared, growing slowly out of the fog, and like physical sensations, emotional ones seemed dulled. He was curiously unafraid.
“Who’s there?” a voice called, something he didn’t think he had heard with his *ears*, but he understood it nonetheless.
“Who are you?” Ed glanced around, puzzled. “Where are you?”
Something chuckled with many voices, making the laugh sound eerily high pitched and rumbling all at once. A form appeared in the fog, an outline of a human shape, nearly the absence of a person, rather than a presence, and smaller than even Ed. It was crouched in front of the door, its head pointed towards the boy. It had no discernible facial features, but Ed could tell it was looking at him.
“Thank you for asking,” it said, inclining its head towards him. “I have many names, God, Truth, Knowledge. I am all of these things,” it shifted a bit, as if trying to get comfortable in it’s non-body. “and I’m You.”
Then the door opened. He didn’t grasp what was happening at first. It was an eternity of seconds before he understood that he now understood.
Knowledge, limitless amounts of knowledge were pouring into him, showing him in detail how to do things he’d never dreamt of, how to do things he’d done before, only better, more information than he’d ever realized existed fell straight into his head from what he now knew was the Gate. It crowded into his brain and competed with itself for space and attention. It was fascinating, riveting, excruciating, and sickening; everything he needed to know, and it hurt. It made him feel as though his head would splinter into a million pieces. And then everything stopped again. He had been so close to knowing *everything*. There was something else, something really important, and he’d almost had it!
“Just a little more,” he gasped, hand reaching, sprawled in front of the closed Gate again. The figure calling itself Knowledge crouched down in front of him.
“No, I’m afraid that’s all you get you for this price,” the thing quipped.
“Price?”
“Equivalent exchange, no?” The thing didn’t have a face, but Ed could tell it was grinning at him.
That’s when he noticed his right arm was dissolving from his shoulder and reappearing on the blank form of the Gatekeeper. He stared down in horror at his disappearing limb. It felt like nothing he could articulate until the Gate faded away, and he was physically returned to Tucker’s apartments in lab five. Then it hurt, it hurt enough that he screamed, clutching his bleeding shoulder over the place where his arm had once been. He cried out in agonized pain until he noticed the small round face of Nina looking up at him, her huge white dog panting over his shaking back.
“Edoward brofer? You hurt?” she asked innocently, and he wanted to weep with joy even though he was kneeling in a growing puddle of his own blood. She was okay. It had worked, but where was Tucker? And what was that scream that was echoing his own?
“Brother! ” He heard it faintly through the quickly tunneling distance of his conscious mind. Al was in trouble. And he’d stopped to help Nina. He’d known, or at least suspected, but he thought he’d have time Tucker had told him that Al was in danger. And instead he’d wasted time saving someone else. Damn it, he’d only had to do one thing He’d only had one thing asked of him…
He struggled to his feet, fighting the dizziness of blood loss, and ran towards his brother’s cries. He used his good arm to try and staunch the blood as best he could, occasionally losing his balance and falling against a wall with a sharp cry. His entire side quickly grew sticky with warm wetness, but he could only think of one thing, he needed to get to Al, and because of his own stupid pride, he was probably too late.
He ran, vision blurring, out of Tucker’s secret rooms to his regular labs. He knew his way around this part of the apartment because of all the time he’d spent there with Al. Al He stumbled into the rooms in time to see Gran pushing Al backwards...into...Ed’s eyes widened. It was that damn soul array What were they doing to his brother Tucker--that’s where he went --was pressing his palms to the array. Ed didn’t stop to think. “NO!” he shouted and stepped into the array with Al.
“I’m sorry Al, if I’d gotten there sooner...if I hadn’t stopped,” Ed’s throat was tight.
“Then Nina would be dead! Or half a dog! You can’t honestly think I’d be upset that you’d saved a little girl before coming to me!The whole thing was a set up from the beginning. Gran wanted to test us, Brother. Both of us. Besides, you saved me in the end !” Like I couldn’t save you,Al thought, but didn’t say.
Al sat in the chair next to Brother’s hospital bed. His mind was a tumultuous mess of thoughts. He didn’t remember everything, anything, clearly at all. He remembered light, pain, a rushing sensation, then a pleasant distance and a kind of metallic ring in his thoughts. Then he remembered holding his brother, bleeding profusely from where his arm and his leg used to be, both of them covered in Ed’s blood—just holding him and staring at a stunned General Gran and begging him to help his older brother, please, *please* before he died.
The General had grinned then, looking extraordinarily pleased with himself. “I am happy to say you have both passed your practical demonstrations with flying colors. Such impressive talent you both have. Wouldn’t you say so, Lieutenant Colonel Mustang?”
The man who had accompanied the General looked distinctly ill. Al felt tears of fear and frustration sliding down his cheeks. They left tracks in the redness from where he’d placed his cheek against Ed’s chest to try and hear a heartbeat. He didn’t care about the exam right now “Please He’s going to bleed to death ”
“Yes, yes. Let’s get him to the hospital, then you and I can have a little chat.”
Lt. Colonel Mustang had carried his brother, Al following the general and trying not to stumble. His body didn’t feel quite right, like putting on an old pair of shoes for the first time in a long while. They fit and were comfortable but you were conscious of them on your feet. After a while they molded to you, and you could forget you were even wearing them. Just like that, he was starting to feel more at ease, but the sensation was creepy and warred with his worry for his sibling.
He constantly glanced back to check on Edward as he staggered down the hall, but the pale dark haired man didn’t seem to be having much trouble carrying him. Not that he weighed very much, missing half of his limbs like that, Al thought, a bit hysterically. He was exhausted, worried, and frightened, and he wanted his Mom
After arriving at the hospital, all Al had wanted to do was sit by his brother’s side and wait for him to recover. He had to recover, he just had to. General Gran held him back.
“We need to speak, you and I.” The gleam in the General’s eye worried him. What did he have in mind this time? Hadn’t they done enough already? His brother was missing an arm and a leg, and he didn’t know how it had happened
“Please, I need to be with Brother. I need to help him,” Al was aware that he sounded young and scared and flat out didn’t care anymore. He was all of those things and he wanted his brother, his mom, and even his dad.
“Yes, certainly. This will only take a few moments of your time. Then you can go be with your brother during his recovery.” That was when Master Izumi had stormed in, and Al had cowered. He wasn’t sure he could face her after all this, on top of everything else, but her wrath seemed targeted towards the general, not himself.
For an instant, even Gran seemed a bit intimidated by Ed’s teacher, but his face quickly shifted to resignation. He sent Al in to wait beside Ed, to wait until his brother recovered from saving him. Al had been sitting there ever since, waiting. Ed hadn’t stirred, had only moaned feverishly a few times, something about knowledge and truth. Al was still waiting when the Lieutenant Colonel that had so carefully carried his brother came into the room looking, if anything, more ill than before.
“Alphonse Elric?” he inquired. Al nodded mutely, barely glancing away from his Ed’s unconscious form.
“General Gran sent me to deliver a message to you. He says, ‘Congratulations on becoming a nationally certified alchemist.’ He also wished to pass along the same sentiments to your older brother. And he gave me this for you.” The dark haired man handed him a plain looking stone box.
Al took it, puzzled. “What is it?”
The Lieutenant Colonel was standing very straight and rigid, his posture something beyond perfect. “You are to be implanted with the contents in a few moments. A nurse will call for you momentarily; every certified alchemist is required to do be so. It will disperse in your system and increase your powers and your stamina.”
Al backed away from Ed reluctantly to face the soldier, no alchemist, in front of him. He had just caught a glimpse of the man’s silver pocket watch. “And what else does it do?” he asked. He could tell there was something else he wasn’t being told.
“Well?” he narrowed his eyes after a moment of silence.
“You are being given an order, Major Elric, I suggest you follow it.” The man’s face was blank, betraying no emotion in a way that said there was a lot of emotion to be hid. Al could see that he was tense. He could tell that this man was not comfortable with his current assignment.
“Please, can I wait until Brother wakes up? Then I can deal with this, I don’t even want to be in the military. I know you don’t know anything about us, sir, but we were kidnaped, brought here against our will. The military exchanged our cooperation for our mother’s life. Please, just don’t make me deal with all this army stuff now.”
“You are to leave for implantation immediately,” the man’s voice was wavering now, not a lot, but Al could tell he was having some kind of effect on the man.
“Please, can I do it later?” Al stared directly at the soldier, letting some of the tears he’d been holding in fall. He felt mildly unclean manipulating this person he’d just met, but he didn’t have time for this, he needed to be with his brother. He couldn’t explain how his mere presence would help speed Ed’s recovery, he was just certain it would.
“No.” The single word was short, and the older man wasn’t looking straight at him any more. It seemed the pitiful approach wasn’t as effective as he’d thought it would be. It had always worked on Ed…
“I’m not letting anyone implant anything in me it until you tell me what it does,” Al said finally, crossing his arms.
“It enhances your alchemic reactions, extends your life span mildly, and allows the military an opportunity to control you. Once it is in place you will need to take an Elixir every so often to prevent its more harmful properties from effecting you, eventually resulting in death. The only people who know the secret of creating the Elixir are in charge of the State Alchemists.” Lieutenant Colonel Mustang said finally, voice dull. “You will take it, because you don’t have a choice. If you want your brother to recover you will follow the orders you have been given.”
Al’s stomach lurched. They wouldn’t. They couldn’t! Didn’t they want both of them?
“The military would prefer to have both of you under their command,” the man said, as if reading his mind, “but they will settle for one.”
“If they do anything to him, I’ll never do another thing they say!” Al threw the box at Mustang who simply caught it, as though he had been prepared for such an action.
“Please take it,” Mustang said after a moment, holding out the box and looking significantly towards Ed, laying helplessly in his bed. “Mrs. Curtis’s teaching has rendered your brother insusceptible to the stone, but...”
Al had a moment of understanding. “They’re doing the same thing to you. They have or had someone you love...oh...” Al sat back down again heavily. “And they’ve ordered you to make sure I submit to this...” Al shuddered. These people were disgusting. He hated them all. And he hated himself even more for reaching a trembling arm out and taking the box from the man’s outstretched hand.
“That bastard! He gave it to you! Knowing what it would do!I...” Ed sat up and was on the verge of standing, obviously getting ready to storm off. He’d fry that shit-head with his own extra set of flame gloves (Given to Ed at the start of his apprenticeship—He was constantly being nagged to wear and practice with them more, after all…).
“Brother! You know he didn’t have a choice. Don’t blame him; blame me. If I’d never drawn that array...”
Both brothers were standing now, facing one another. Ed flopped back down on the couch first, and Al sat tentatively on his bed.
“I just wish we could go home,” Al said after a long moment of silence during which neither brother could look at the other.
“Yeah,” Ed agreed after a small pause during which he thought of the plans Mustang had shared with him, and the part he was playing. He remembered, that as much as he wanted to share everything with Al, he couldn’t tell him about this, to protect him in case something happened. What Al didn’t know, Al couldn’t be blamed for. “We’ll figure out a way, Al. I promised that before and I mean it.”
“Yeah,” his brother didn’t sound terribly convinced. “But first I’ll find some way to get your limbs back, Brother, to restore you to your natural body.”
“I told you before, Al, don’t worry about that. We have to help you first.” Ed glared at his little brother. He could be so stubborn sometimes.
Al shook his head. “I will get your body back, Brother. I’ll do whatever it takes.”