![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
batsutousaiTitle: Reverti Ad Praeteritum
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood/manga
Author: Batsutousai
Rating: Mature
Pairings: Edward Elric/Roy Mustang, May Chang/Alphonse Elric, Gracia Hughes/Maes Hughes, post-Edward Elric/Winry Rockbell
Warnings: Spoilers like whoa, Ed's potty mouth, canon-typical violence, pile 'o OCs, mute!Ed, original character death, angst, fluff, past dub-con, past adultery, Ed has all the guilt
Summary: Unwillingly forced to serve as a human trial for a crazy alchemist experimenting with time travel, Edward Elric finds himself standing across from Truth in the moment it takes his leg from him. Armed with the knowledge of what's to come and burdened with guilt for the choices he'd made as an adult, Ed sets out to fix every mistake he ever made and save every life they ever lost, no matter what it takes.
Key: "Speech" | 'Mouthing words'
'Writing'
:Sign Language:
"In another language" | 'In another language'
A/N: There's some original character death in this chapter. Because, let's be honest, Ed can't save everyone, much as he might like to be able to.
Tsuyuhime asked me about May's siblings over on tumblr, and I spazzed out a bit. It's spoiler-free, so if anyone else was interested in the family I made for May, you can head on over and read.
For those who are looking forward to Al figuring out he was with May in Ed's original timeline: Trust me, he's figured it out. (Ed sort of shot himself in the foot, there.)
For those of you who are looking forward to Al figuring out who the mystery man is: I really can't wait for you to understand why I've been sitting here laughing for the past two days.
Chapter Five
-0-
Ed slipped a couple of times and commented on May's crush, but Al always returned the favour by asking leading questions about his 'mystery man', clearly geared in hopes of being able to spot him if they ever met. (Small favours; Al didn't seem to suspect they had already met.)
The one time Al had started it – asking when Ed was still half asleep – Ed had cottoned on quick enough to keep from signing anything more than :He has a stupid face,: which was about as useless as saying he was Amestrisan – small favours – and Ed had retaliated by tackling his brother and sitting on his stomach, pinning his wrists with his knees, to hold him still while he gave a very thorough explanation of the birds and the bees, occasionally pausing to roughly pat Al's cheek when he closed his eyes. (Which had almost been more fun than tormenting Al about May; pity it was sort of a one-time thing.)
In September and October, they suffered a rash of attempted assassinations and/or thefts of the book, only about half of which Ed and Al ended up involved in – the only problem with living on the outside edge of the village, was that they missed anything that happened after they turned in for the night. On the other hand, none of the thieves ever thought to try and find one of Hohenheim's books in their house, which meant their study was actually probably the safest place in the entire village.
:If I wasn't hoping May would give the damn thing to the Emperor when he falls ill as her clan's bid for favour,: Ed complained to Al at one point, :I'd say we should just hand a copy out to a few of the thieves and let them squabble over the lot for a while.:
Al rolled his eyes. :You would,: he signed back; at least he knew better than to expect Ed to show any amount of reverence for what their neighbours considered 'a priceless artefact', but he just saw as junk.
Fuck. It wasn't like they couldn't get Hohenheim to make new copies.
(Actually, that wouldn't be a bad way to earn a bit of extra yuan. Get the bastard to write a pile of new journals, then sell one to each of the clans for money or favour, telling them each time that it was 'one of a kind'. They'd stop fighting over the damn things, since everyone had one, and Ed would be sitting pretty in the kingdom of Xing, well away from Mustang and his stupid face.)
Al groaned and shoved Ed with his foot. :Whatever you're plotting, Brother, NO.:
...yeah, he had a feeling Al wouldn't approve. Never mind how much of a sodding pain in the rear end it would be to track that useless father of theirs down and make him sit still long enough to write enough journals.
:Yeah, yeah,: he signed a bit carelessly. :Too much work, anyway.:
Al just sighed and went back to sharpening their kitchen knives.
Ed shrugged and went to go get his spear; if he was lucky, he'd be able to catch them some game that they could throw in the Xerxesian cold box and have over the winter. (And, yes, he absolutely saw the humour in actually needing to use the old array for its intended purpose, after he'd gone thinking its only modern use would be for automail.)
That winter was milder than Ed and Al's first one in Xing, and planting more than enough crops in the spring meant they didn't have to ration any food to accommodate Ed and Al, even after one of the fields took some damage during one of the attacks in September, so everyone was in high spirits once spring started showing its colours in March.
That lasted until the fourth of April, when, just as Ed and Al were preparing to turn in for the night, their attention was caught by shouting voices and a roar of flames from the village.
Al grabbed his jian sword while Ed snagged his spear, and they both raced out of their house and down the path, finding three houses on fire, including May's.
Dark blurs raced at them as they slowed in horrified shock – the worst structural damage from any of the attacks previous had been that one partial field – and Ed barely managed to deflect the dao sword that came at his head with his spear.
"Brother!" Al shouted, a faint strain in his voice as he caught the blow of his own opponent. "Leave these to me! You need to help with the fires!"
Ed snarled and braced his spear butt against the ground, then swung himself around, delivering a hard kick with his left foot to the side of his attacker's head. As they staggered from the blow, he pushed past them, trusting Al to handle himself, and dropped his spear to pull out three of his kunai and throw them into the fires.
And then he closed his eyes, envisioned the Aerugonian water array they'd used to refill the water caches in the Great Desert – which worked way better when drawing on the Dragon's Pulse, he'd discovered – and clapped his hands, then sent the water that rose to his command towards the three bright points of his qi in front of him.
"Edward!" someone shouted in warning, just before his sense of impending danger had him throwing himself to the left, dodging the attack from behind.
"I will kill you, little alkahestrist," his attacker – a man, by the timber of their voice – snarled, before spinning and swinging his jian sword at Ed's side.
He caught the stroke on a kunai, stepping forward to deliver an automail-powered kick to the nads and sending the guy to the ground in a ball of agony.
He did so like it when idiots gave away an easy weakness to exploit while in the middle of combat.
A quick clap saw the fucker wrapped in a dirt prison, then Ed stepped over to pick up his fallen spear and looked to see what the distraction had wrought on his fire suppression.
There was a growing puddle of water across the main lane, turning everything muddy, and what he could see of the houses past the wall of steam and smoke, said they were suffering some serious water damage, but it looked like the worst of the fires were out, and the small ones were already being handled by people dunking containers in the massive puddle and tossing the water at them.
"May?" Al gasped as he stepped up to Ed's side.
Ed quickly looked him over and, upon seeing only a couple cuts in his pyjamas and no sign of blood, shrugged and pointed to where he could see the crackle of alchemy at the far side of the village, past the last of the smothered houses. He could sense a huddle of qi down there, too many all at once for him to pick out individuals, but it felt like the villagers, rather than more attackers.
Al nodded and jogged across the puddle, splashing water the whole way.
Ed sighed; he was going to need to deal with this before the other houses suffered water damage, too. He dropped his spear again, walked into the puddle and clapped, drawing on another Aerugonian array that would help the ground soak up the water faster, then knelt and pressed his hands against the muddy earth.
The puddle immediately started drying up, little shocks of alkahestric – or alchemic; it all looked the same from the outside – energy arcing along the ground and over the top of the water.
Someone sat heavily next to him as the last of the water soaked back into the ground, and Ed looked over to find Tengfei, his mouth twisted into a painful grimace, while sorrow darkened his eyes. "Honghui's dead," he said flatly.
The rush of grief left Ed struggling to breathe for a moment. Honghui had been the best healer in the whole village, had been so happy to try teaching Ed and Al alkahestry, had driven them all completely mad with her stupid poetry and her basic arithmetic and that wounded look that she got any time Ed or Al tried to beg off a lesson.
And then Tengfei held out his left arm, revealing a burn that covered the whole outside of his forearm and bloomed across the back of his fist. "Can you heal this? I don't want to distract anyone."
Ed could fully understand that, and he nodded and quickly clapped his hands, then gently took Tengfei's hand in his, closing his eyes so he could better direct the flow of healing energy. There would be scarring – healing alkahestry really just sped up the body's natural healing rate, and while Honghui had known tricks for minimising scarring, and Al had picked most of them up, Ed hadn't – but Tengfei wouldn't lose the use of his dominate arm while waiting for it to heal, or chance worse scars by getting impatient and using it anyway.
Once he'd done all he could, he let the transmutation go and looked towards where the other village alkahestrists were very likely struggling to do what they could for any burns, but Tengfei touched his arm and shook his head, then nodded behind Ed. "Help me collect those bastards."
Ed sighed and levered himself to his feet, ignoring the rush of vertigo from the excess of alkahestry and the loss of the adrenaline that had carried him through the fight, and started towards the attackers he and Al had caught in the ground, only pausing to grab his spear.
By the end of the night, they had discovered the attack had come from the Ning clan, and they'd managed to save everyone else in the village.
Ed and Al expected to be left out of the funeral preparations and burial – one of Hohenheim's books had had a section on Xingan funeral rites, but he'd written that he'd never been welcomed to attend any of the funerals that he'd been nearby for, himself, because it was a clan matter – but while they were fixing what damage they could to the three houses and the fields behind them, Elder Nuo found them and asked, "Were you not intending to join in our prayers and the ceremony for Honghui?"
Al swallowed and shook his head. "We weren't certain it would be allowed," he admitted. "We're outlanders." It wasn't hard to forget that, when they looked so vastly different from everyone else in the village, from everyone else in the country, even; gold where others were black, and tanned when others were pale. (Honghui had once talked of them being like miniature suns in the tide of shadows; Ed had scoffed, while Al had tried to find a way to thank her, even though neither of them had ever really understood her poetic metaphors.)
Elder Nuo shook her head. "You were not born to Chang," she said, "but you have become members of this clan. My sister would have wished you there, and so do I."
Al didn't bother looking over at Ed – they'd both wanted to be able to mourn with the rest of the clan – just bowed and whispered, "We would be honoured to attend."
Hohenheim may not have ever been allowed to attend any Xingan funeral ceremonies, but he did learn enough to keep his sons from committing any social faux pas, so kudos to him for that, Ed supposed.
:It may be time,: Ed told May once the period of mourning was over, when she found him during his lunch break in the fields, :to start considering an alliance with one of the stronger clans.:
She scowled at him as she brushed the burnt hairs that were too short to be pulled back out of her face. :Ally with an enemy?: she returned, her signs a little more careful than Ed's, because she didn't use sign language very often, for all that she had got to the point over the winter where she no longer had to ask for a translation of a sign. :Are you insane?:
Ed rolled his eyes. :No. Think about it: You have something your people consider a priceless artefact and everyone else wants it. These attacks are going to KEEP HAPPENING, May, and Al and I need to leave soon.:
"What?" May breathed, looking like she'd just been dealt a blow. Next to her, Xiao Mei let out a confused squeak and May picked her up to hug her, even as she pleaded, "No, you– You can't leave, Edward!"
Ed pressed his mouth into a thin line. :We only came to learn alkahestry, and we've done that. We have people waiting for us back in Amestris, and I need to get my automail looked at.: Because it was still working fine, but he'd been growing, and even villagers who didn't know anything about fighting were starting to notice the limp that said he needed it adjusted. :We were never going to stay, May.:
Tears sprung to May's eyes and she roughly rubbed at them, while Xiao Mei let out quiet, pitiful squeaks. "But... Now?"
Ed shook his head. :Maybe a couple more months,: he allowed. :I don't want to cross the Great Desert in the middle of the summer, but we need to be back before the onset of winter, or travel will be difficult in Amestris.: Okay, really, he just wanted to have his state licence before the end of the year, and one of the things he and Al had agreed they needed to do before finally checking in with Mustang, was go by to see Teacher. And that could be a quick trip, or it could end up taking a whole month, depending on how pissed she was at them performing human transmutation and Ed's intention to join the military.
May swallowed and let Xiao Mei squeeze free to curl around her knees, an action the panda was quick to copy.
Ed pulled out one of his kunai and quickly scratched in the ground. 'Try the Yao clan. Ling Yao sounds like he's okay.'
"Ling Yao," May snarled, reaching out with her foot and using it to erase the message, while Xiao Mei growled, "is a pig."
Oh, now, Ed wouldn't go that far.
"I would sooner watch my whole clan burn than ally with the Yaos!"
:Be careful what you wish for,: Ed signed grimly, :you might just get it.: Then he stood and dusted off his rear, before returning to the planting team he was with.
That night, Al asked, :Did you do something to May? She hugged me earlier and started sobbing.:
Ed winced. :I told her we were leaving in a couple months.:
"Ah." Al stared into the stew pot for a long moment, before starting to stir it and asking, "When?"
Ed shrugged and, when Al glanced up at him, signed, :Middle of August?: That seemed like a reasonable time, to him. Late enough in the summer that the desert temperature wouldn't be unbearable either during the day or at night, but early enough that they'd have plenty of time to visit with people before Ed took the exam.
Al nodded. "Did you want to try getting a guide through the Hans again?" he asked, unable to keep from grimacing.
Ed grimaced himself; the Han clan had been one of their thieves during the spring last year. They hadn't hurt anyone in the village – had been overwhelmed before they'd managed to draw weapons, according to those who'd been there – but the attack had still felt like a betrayal to Ed, and he suspected his brother felt the same. :No. May managed the crossing on her own, last time; we should be able to do it without relying on any guides, since we've already crossed once.:
:We won't have horses this time,: Al cautioned.
:And I TOLD you not to bring so many of those damn books.:
Al rolled his eyes. :Shut up. Maybe we can leave a few behind. As backups.:
Ed shrugged. He didn't really care what Al did with Hohenheim's books, but he could see the sense in leaving them with the Changs, in case their current treasure finally got stolen. Maybe they could set up some sort of safe-box in their house and leave the key with May before they left? Then they wouldn't have to deal with the gratitude, and Ed wouldn't have to hide his disgust of Hohenheim. (Not that most of the village didn't already know he had no love for their precious Philosopher from the West, but he usually made a point to keep that opinion to himself, at least around anyone other than Al and May.)
They had time to figure it all out. For the moment, the stew was ready, and both of their stomachs made very loud comments about the delay, nearly in sync. Al rolled his eyes and smiled while Ed laughed, and they turned their attention to far more important matters.
Over the next couple months, May sort of clung to Al, which Ed found adorable and it kind of sucked that he couldn't comment on it, but watching his brother's embarrassed bafflement in silence was still pretty fantastic, so he made do.
On the day they'd planned to leave, however, May had just sort of...vanished. Ed made a show of checking both of their packs, as though looking for a stowaway – Al had rolled his eyes, but Ed had also caught him waving a stick of bamboo over their things, as though trying to tempt Xiao Mei out of hiding, so he really didn't get to judge – but didn't even find a gift snuck in.
They had been informed, on no uncertain terms, that they weren't allowed to leave the village without one last goodbye, so they shouldered their packs about an hour before Ed had determined they absolutely had to leave – to give them as much time to travel before they would have to find shelter from the heat of the desert day, doubly important without horses or taking the well-worn route the Han clan had built up – and found nearly the whole village waiting for them along the main path.
There was still no sign of May, but since her parents and half-siblings didn't appear worried, Ed assumed they either knew where she was, or knew why she was hiding. (Ed had his own guesses, none of which he was allowed to voice, for fear of Al asking about his 'mystery man' again.)
They went around to everyone, trading quiet goodbyes. To May's mum, Al gave the key array, saying, "Could you give this to May? We left something in the study that she might appreciate."
Ai took it with a bow. "I'm certain she will be most grateful," she agreed.
At last, they reached Elders Nuo and Qiang. "You both know, I believe, that it is tradition for any members of our clan, after their first hunt, to receive a tasselled sash from their parents," Elder Nuo said.
Ed and Al both nodded; they'd found out about that fairly early on, actually, when Al had asked Ru about why only the older children and not all of the adults had the sashes that Ed knew May had worn during her first trip to Amestris, and had donned any time she travelled anywhere, after she'd married Al.
Elder Nuo offered them a faint smile. "As I told you many months ago, you have become members of this clan, and, as you have no parents to bestow them, it must fall to Qiang and myself to gift you what you have long earned." She nodded to where her husband had unveiled two dark blue sashes, both with the familiar white tassels at each corner.
"Oh," Al whispered, clearly at a loss for words.
Ed sort of understood the feeling – he had never, honestly, expected to receive sashes, though he and Al had both joked about how 'then we'd be proper members of the clan' – but with his brother fumbling, it fell to him to step forward and give a deep bow of thanks, letting his qi fill with his honest gratitude; over two years living with the Changs, and the knowledge that everyone had at least some form of qi-sensing, meant he didn't always need words to get his meaning across any more.
Elder Nuo's smile was understanding as she accepted one of the sashes from Elder Qiang and they each presented one to the brothers.
Ed slipped off his pack and desert robe so he could put his on before they left, and Al followed suit after a brief moment. The dark blue sort of blended in with the black that Ed always wore – Xingan-style, right now, though he'd probably switch back to at least his familiar leather trousers, once he could get his hands on a pair – while it stood out against the tan and brown ensemble that had become Al's signature colours. The side of the sashes meant to be worn facing in had a couple of small pockets, just the right shape and size for kunai, and likely reinforced so the sharp points didn't rip the fabric. Ed suspected he could modify a couple, or just add a new one, so he could keep his journal and pen in there; far easier to keep track of it there, than hoping he could unbury it from his pack when he needed to write to communicate.
"Thank you," Al finally managed as they replaced their robes and packs over the sashes. "We'll wear them with pride, in honour of your kindness and friendship."
"And we will always remember you as such," Elder Qiang returned.
There was some more bowing – Ed couldn't even pretend he was using it to hide any sort of 'fuck you' expression, this time – and then Ed and Al made for the western-most path out of the village.
"I'm going to miss them," Al admitted quietly, once they could no longer look back and see the roofs of the houses.
Ed glanced down at his new sash, the front tassel swinging free with every step, and signed, :Me, too. Maybe, when all this is over, we can come back for a visit.:
"Yeah," Al agreed, sadness colouring his voice. "I'd like that."
Ed wondered if his brother didn't share his fears, that the Chang clan may well have been wiped out by attacks before they were able to come back.
Desperately, he sent a silent plea back over his shoulder towards May: Please swallow your pride and save our clan.
Crossing the desert on their own hadn't been nearly as simple as Ed had hoped, but they managed to make it through in one piece. And, while they ran out of food about two days before they found civilisation, they had more than enough water, and they had survived almost starving before, so it wasn't like they started panicking when they ate the last of the food they'd brought. (Well, okay, there'd been a little panicking, but it had also got them to stop arguing, so...)
The only real happening of note, while they were crossing the Great Desert, was Ed somewhat absently complaining about having the take the stupid state alchemy exam again, which had led to Al asking him how it was, which turned into Ed realising his brother was intending to take the exam, too.
And the absolute last thing Ed had ever wanted, was for his brother to become a dog of the military.
He tried refusing him outright, which worked about as well as if someone had tried to do the same to him. Then he tried pleading, which also worked about as well as expected. So he moved on to horror stories, citing Ishval as proof that the military only saw them as weapons, and mentioning some of their more dangerous missions as proof that this was a dangerous life.
"Brother," Al had stated rather flatly, "what makes you think I need a state licence follow you into dangerous situations?"
Which...okay. He kind of had a point; even as adults, Al had regularly followed him into danger, because Ed was bad about looking after his personal safety, and Al had developed the extremely unfortunate urge to play his guardian.
Ed's response to that had been the silent treatment, which Al bore with all the grace of someone who had long resigned himself to the fact that his brother had all the maturity of a five-year-old.
And then they ran out of food and Ed stopped caring about who was going to join the military and started caring about what they had that could be turned into food when they finally ran out of strength to keep walking.
A sunbathing lizard served as a brief meal, and he made Al eat most of it, shooting his brother a flat look and signing, :You have more body mass. Stop trying to play the 'who's weaker' game and eat the damn thing.: Which Al had given in to with only some quiet muttering, low enough that Ed didn't even have to pretend he hadn't understood him.
Luckily, as the sun rose behind them the next morning, it gleamed off the odd shapes that he'd almost started believing were a mirage overnight, showing them to be the smoke stacks and scaffolding of Youswell. Which, he hadn't quite been aiming for that town, but he supposed the mining town was almost a direct shot west across the Great Desert from the Chang clan's land, so it made sense they'd end up here.
He snapped his fingers at Al, who was dragging slightly, and waited until his brother had blinked up at him before signing, :We're at the border.:
Al's head jerked up and around. "You recognise those towers?"
:Yes. Y-O-U-S-W-E-L-L,: he spelt, because that hadn't been one of the towns they'd ever worked out a sign for, and the books Al and Winry had bought only had signs for the capital cities.
Al took a moment to sound that out. "Youswell," he finally got, looking back up towards the town ahead. "Mining, right?"
:Our main source of coal,: Ed agreed when Al glanced over for his response.
"You've been here?"
:Once,: Ed agreed, frowning; there was something about Youswell that was tugging at his memory, but he couldn't quite catch it. Probably too hungry. :We should be able to reach it in a couple hours, find some food.:
"And a real bed," Al said, sounding more than a little pathetic.
Ed rolled his eyes. He wanted to comment on how overly attached to his comforts his brother was, but he still couldn't quite get past the reminder that his brother could care about comfort for his own sake.
Some miracles, he knew, would never get old.
It was late enough in the morning, when they got in to Youswell proper, that it should have been bustling, but the place looked...dead.
Why did that send a shiver of dread down Ed's spine?
"Huh?" someone said, and Ed and Al turned to find a boy standing behind them, looking nearly as dirty as they did and holding a small sack in one hand. "Visitors?" His eyes lit up in a worrying way.
Fuck. Right. Now he remembered: Expensive-as-fuck inns and unfair taxation. Oh, he wasn't sure he wanted to deal with this shit again.
"Yes, we're..." Al trailed off when the kid gave him a confused look, then looked a bit uncertainly towards Ed.
:You're speaking Xingan, still,: Ed signed tiredly. :Tell him we're alchemists from Xing and we don't have any Amestrisan coin.:
Al shot him a frown, but he was clearly too exhausted to ask for clarification, because he cleared his throat and, stumbling a bit over their native language, said, "Sorry. I– We are from Xing. Alchemists. Is there an inn we could relax in?"
"Uhm..." The kid stared at them for a moment, uncertain, before he apparently decided to take pity on them, because he nodded and forced a smile. "Yeah, my family owns an inn. Follow me." He motioned with his hand for them to follow, then led the way into town, making straight for a building with a sign declaring it an inn. He pushed his way in, calling, "Mum! I found some travellers from Xing! They say they're alchemists!"
"Oh?" a woman called back, coming out of a back room just in time to watch Al trip his way in the front door.
Ed caught him, concerned, but Al shook his head and promised, "I'm fine, Brother," when he caught sight of Ed's face, pulling away from Ed's hold and making a show of standing straight.
:You're half-starved and exhausted,: Ed returned with a scowl. :Go sit down while I barter with the locals.: He pointed at the nearest table.
"You're worse off than me," Al tried.
'Now, Alphonse,' Ed mouthed, glaring until his brother slumped in defeat and went to sit down. Then, sighing, Ed yanked his journal out of the pocket he'd created for it in his sash and brought it over to the bar, where the boy and his mother were watching them with confused expressions. Opening to a fresh page, he carefully wrote, in his best Amestrisan, 'I'm sorry. We ran out of food a couple days ago + both exhausted. We only have enough cenz for 2 train tickets but we're alchemists + willing to trade whatever repairs people might need around town for food + lodgings if you can'
Then he tore out the page and held it out to the woman.
When she looked up after finishing reading, her gaze was soft with understanding. "I think we can work something out," she promised, and Ed couldn't quite keep from slumping in relief. "How about I get you both a bowl of soup, then show you up to rooms. We can figure out payment after you've had some sleep."
He'd probably been in Xing too long, because the only response Ed could think of was a grateful bow.
"Go sit down," she ordered in that gentle way that all mothers seemed to have, motioning back towards Al, before turning to her son and saying, "Go take that to your father, Khayal. And tell him we have some alchemists staying."
"For free, Mum?" the kid said, quiet enough that he was probably trying not to be heard, but Ed did anyway.
"No. Now go. Shoo."
Ed sighed and dropped into the chair across the table from his brother, bringing Al to look up from where his face was making friends with wood grains. :She's willing to wait to discuss money until after we've had a bit of food and slept.:
Al gave a tired nod. "And you tell me why we're lying," he mumbled.
Ed grimaced, but promised, :I will. And I DID tell her we have money for train tickets.:
Al huffed.
"Here you go, boys," the woman said, sliding steaming bowls in front of both of them, spoons sticking out from inside.
"Thank you," Al whispered, sounding more than grateful enough for both of them, while Ed managed a smile.
She smiled back and left them to eat, neither of them bothering with decorum, because starving. Also, there were beds waiting for them, and Ed could admit that, as much as he might joke about Al's need for comforts, he was kind of looking forward to sleeping on something other than sand and rocks, himself.
Almost as soon as they were done, the woman swooped down and picked up the empty bowls with a kind smile. "Up you get," she coaxed, before moving away with the bowls while they both forced themselves to their feet. She returned as they both managed to collect their bags. "This way," she said, leading the way to a flight of stairs that had Ed grimacing and Al sighing.
They made it up the stairs, somehow, and Ed couldn't quite articulate how grateful he was when she opened the first door on the hallway and motioned them in. "The toilet and shower are just down the hall," she told Ed, pointing at an open doorway further down, while Al gave up on politeness and made a beeline for the closest bed, falling onto it with a 'flump' and mumbling something into the bedspread. "We'll see you when we see you."
'Thank you,' Ed mouthed, and she smiled and nodded before turning to return downstairs.
Ed closed and locked the door before walking over and dropping his bag next to the bed Al wasn't sprawled on. And then he turned to his brother and let out a helpless laugh upon realising he'd fallen asleep. 'Idiot,' he mouthed, forcing himself to walk over and get his brother's pack, robes, sash, jian sword, and shoes off, then wrangle him under the covers.
Only once Al was properly settled, did Ed finally remove his own robe and sash, kick off his own shoes, and climb into bed.
He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
"Brother."
Ed grunted.
A hand pushed at his shoulder. "Brother, come on. Wake up."
Ed flailed a heavy hand at whoever was disturbing him; couldn't they see he was sleeping?
His hand was batted away. "Stop it. Come on, Brother. I need the toilet."
Toilet?
Oh. Al. He always used to do this when they were kids.
Ed sighed and shoved himself out of bed, squinting his eyes open just enough to get a glimpse of their borrowed room – still a little bit of light coming in through the windows; he wondered how long he'd slept – then tripped out of bed, catching himself on Al – who seemed to have expected that – and caught his brother's hand and led him out of their room and down the hall to the toilet that had been pointed out to him earlier.
Al waited until they'd both relieved themselves – Ed was already up, figured he might as well – before murmuring, "Sorry."
:Idiot,: Ed signed tiredly.
"Don't fall asleep until after the tour?" Al suggested, sounding way too fucking awake.
Ed glared at him.
Al covered a smile and glanced toward a sign on the far wall that said 'Showers' with an arrow pointing down a short hallway that, by all appearances, led around behind the toilet stalls. "I think I'll get some clothing and shower, if you want to go back to bed?"
Ed sighed. Bed sounded good, but his mind was waking up, now, even if his body was still sluggish, and further attempts to sleep would result in little better than messing up the bedcovers. So he shook his head and signed, :A shower sounds like a good idea,: because that should help shock his body into wakefulness, if he kept the water cold.
Al nodded and they returned to their room to find changes of clothing and a pile of towels sitting on a small table just inside the door. Which, you know, Ed didn't remember seeing those when they were led up to the room, but he hadn't really been paying attention to much beyond 'toilets, Al, bed', and it wasn't like the inn owners wouldn't have a key to let themselves in; he'd been exhausted enough, he wasn't even certain the threat of an attack would have woken him, so it was quite possible that the woman sneaking for something as innocent as leaving towels for them wouldn't have disturbed him.
The shower did help wake him up the rest of the way, with the added bonus of making him feel far more human than he had in nearly a month; if he never had to cross the Great Desert again, it would be too soon.
On the downside, being awake meant he actually became aware of the crawling sensation underground. Writhing and shifting and brushing against his qi-sense like an unending parade of ants over his skin; as helpful as his heightened senses would be for keeping tabs on the the homunculi, he was cursing them, now.
:So,: Al signed once they were both back in the room after their showers, apparently oblivious to the Philosopher's Stones shifting deep below their feet, and Ed couldn't decide if he was jealous or grateful, :what's up with the lying?:
Ed sighed. :When we first visited this town, it was run by a greedy lieutenant who was taxing the miners way too much, so any potential customers were charged out the nose. We don't have the kind of money they were asking.:
Al frowned, and Ed could see it in his eyes, that same mix of pity and fury that'd had Ed creating gold to swindle the lieutenant last time. :How much?:
:Two hundred thousand cenz, I think. Per night.:
Al just sort of stared dumbly at him.
Ed rubbed at his mouth, then admitted, :I did something slightly illegal to tip the balance last time.:
Al's eyes narrowed in interest. :How illegal?:
:I'm a terrible influence on you.:
Brother.:
Ed shrugged and signed a bit carelessly, :I turned some coal into gold, traded it to the lieutenant for the deed to the town, entirely off the books, then traded that to the owner of this inn for the price of our stay.:
Al's mouth curled with an entirely inappropriate smile. :Did you at least turn the gold back into coal?:
:What do you take me for?! Of course I did! I'm not stupid; I know why that law's in place.:
Al snorted and tilted his head. :Can you do it again?:
Ed grimaced. :I don't know. Half the reason it worked, last time, was I was already a State Alchemist, and the lieutenant thought I'd put in a good word for him. Which, that reminds me, don't tell anyone I'm taking the exam.:
Al shot him a knowing look. :I'm taking the exam too, Brother. You can't stop me.:
Ed didn't think that deserved a response.
Al let out a huff and switched to speaking Xingan, since Ed wasn't looking at him, to say, "Okay, so, we're poor, but alchemists, and willing to pay our way with that."
Ed considered his hands for a moment, then pointed out, :We have healing alchemy. Fixing things are all well and good, but mining is dangerous work; there might be some broken bones we can speed up the healing of.:
Al shrugged and nodded. "Sure. I've got nothing against healing people so they can continue their livelihood."
:It may also attract the attention of that lieutenant,: Ed signed.
Al blinked once, then snorted. "You really are a terrible influence," he returned, before standing and catching up his sash to put it on. "Amestrisan," he mumbled to himself. "We're back in Amestris, that means they speak Amestrisan, not Xingan."
Ed laughed as he put on his own sash, slipping his journal inside once it was secure, just in case he needed to write to communicate again, as well as a couple of kunai, more for distance transmutations than because he thought he might need to defend himself here.
"Shut up, Brother."
They made their way down to the ground floor together, Al taking the lead, since he was the one who could talk. A handful of miners were already sat around one of the tables as they reached the bottom of the stairs, but their view was quickly blocked by the woman from earlier. "Good evening, boys," she said.
Al, Ed could tell from his voice, put on his best smile and returned, "Good evening, madam. I'm sorry if we were at all impolite earlier."
She laughed and shook her head. "No, you were both fine. Your...brother?"
Al nodded. "Edward. I'm Alphonse."
"Edward explained that you were just in need of sleep and food." Something must have shown in Al's face, because she laughed again and said, "Food it is. Why don't you both take a seat?"
"Th-thank you," Al said, clearly embarrassed to have been caught out.
Ed rolled his eyes and shoved his brother toward the nearest table while he shot the woman a smile in thanks.
One of the miners got up from the other table and came over to join them as soon as they'd sat down, while the front door opened and another miner stepped inside, to greetings from the miners at the other table. "I'm Halling, owner of this inn, and that's my wife, Piper," their current tablemate offered.
"Alphonse Elric," Al returned politely, giving a short bow over the table, before seeming to remember himself and offering his hand. "Sorry. This is my elder brother, Edward."
Halling chuckled as he shook first Al's hand, then Ed's. "My son said you were both from Xing."
Al winced and shot Ed an apologetic look, before admitting, "We're actually from Resembool, but we've spent the past two years in Xing. My brother made sure to save out enough cenz to get us both train tickets, should we need them, but I'm afraid we didn't really plan for an inn stay and food."
"But you're both alchemists?" Halling pressed.
"Yes, sir."
Seeming to pull it from nowhere, Halling set a scraped up, broken pickaxe in the middle of the table. "Can you fix that?"
"Halling," the woman, Piper, chastised as she brought over a tray with two bowls and two mugs on it.
Ed shrugged and clapped his hands together, then reached out and touched the two pieces of the pickaxe. A flash of alchemic light, and it was shiny and whole, all signs of previous wear vanished.
There followed a stunned silence, which Al broke by sighing and muttering, "Show off."
Ed flashed him a smirk. :Really. He would have called bullshit if we hadn't proven ourselves.:
Al just rolled his eyes.
Halling cleared his throat as he picked up the pickaxe and looked it over. "Yeah," he said, while Piper sat the bowls and mugs in front of Ed and Al, "I think we can work something out for payment."
Al took a quick sip of his soup, then nonchalantly offered, "We can use healing alchemy, too."
"Healing alchemy?" Halling repeated, blinking.
Al nodded. "Broken bones, burns, cuts, and bruises," he agreed. "We can't do anything about nerve damage, really, and if you're missing a limb, you'll still need to find an automail mechanic, but we can do little things."
Halling blinked a few more times, while one of the other miners got up and stepped quickly from the inn; Ed suspected they would shortly be awash in all sorts of business. "How long can you stay?" Halling asked.
Al gave a nervous little laugh into his mug and glanced at Ed. "Well, actually, my brother needs to go see his mechanic, which is why we came back to Amestris."
"You have automail?" Piper asked sadly.
Ed shrugged and nodded around his soup.
"Kid of few words," one of the other miners commented in a voice intended to carry.
Ed rolled his eyes, but Al's hand tightened around his spoon as he flatly said, "My brother's mute."
Ed set down his spoon long enough to sign, :Deep breaths, Al,: then went back to his food.
"Sorry, kid," the miner who had spoken said, wilting under Piper's glare. "Didn't mean nothin' by it, Pipe."
Ed flapped a careless hand in the miner's direction; he'd long resigned himself to people's responses to disabilities. It was the same as when people realised he had automail or, before, when people who'd known him as Fullmetal had found out he was no longer capable of alchemy; you either learnt to ignore the comments and stares, or you went completely crazy. Or, if you were a young Ed Elric, you hid your automail until you didn't have any other choice, and overreacted to comments about your height to hide your guilt.
Any further commentary on disabilities was set aside when a man on crutches was helped through the front door of the inn, his right ankle wrapped tight, a hint of bruising showing above the wrap.
As the man was helped to a seat, wincing as his heel touched the floor, Ed knocked his fist against Al's shoulder, then signed, :Tag, you're it.:
"Such honour you do me," Al muttered as he stood.
Ed snorted. Please, his brother was inarguably the better healer, of the two of them. He was also notably better with defensive alchemy, which had always been true, while Ed was the far better offensive alchemist (especially with water alkahestry, now), and was slightly better at repairing metal and wood objects. Their attention to detail was about equal, but Ed usually transmuted faster, while Al left fewer transmutation marks behind on his work.
All told, they made a good team, easily covering each other's weaknesses. Which, really, Ed already knew they were both far beyond your average alchemist or alkahestrist, in terms of raw abilities, and could probably take down most – if not all – of the current State Alchemists, blindfolded. Mustang might prove a challenge, but all Ed had to do, really, was toss a kunai at his feet and douse him with groundwater and he was done. And since the bastard didn't move when he was using his alchemy – kind of couldn't; no way it was simple to manipulate elemental chains with the sort of accuracy that he managed – soaking him would be easy.
Not that Ed was worried about having to fight Mustang; they'd been on the same side the last time, and the man's moral compass was too closely aligned with Ed's to see them standing against each other for anything more than a terrible idea of a battle assessment. (Although, if Ed took him out right from the start, rather than letting the bastard chase him around the parade grounds, blowing everything to hell, maybe the clean-up wouldn't suck so much. And Ed wouldn't be stuck in hospital for a week, recovering from minor burns. Fucking bastard and his trigger-happy snapping.)
Ed shook Mustang from his thoughts and pulled out his journal while everyone else watched his brother heal the wounded miner. 'When's the next train to New Optain?' he wrote, then knocked his journal against Halling's arm until the man turned back to him, looking amazed.
He took a moment to read Ed's note, then frowned in thought. "Trains come in Thursday afternoon, leave whenever the last of the coal's finished loading on Friday."
Ed blinked, grimaced, and wrote, 'What's today?'
Halling chuckled. "Monday. It's the fifteenth of September."
Ed rubbed tiredly at his face and shook his head. Mental note: Invest in horses to cross the desert. It cuts the travel time in half.
Halling leant forward over the table. "You two look a little young to be travelling to foreign countries without your parents."
Ed couldn't stop a scowl, and Al announced his return by saying, "Oh, dear. He asked about Dad, didn't he?"
"Sore subject?" Halling guessed, while Ed made a point of turning his attention to the last of his soup.
Al sighed and nodded. "He left when I was three, and Mum died the next year. We don't know where he is, though Brother seems pretty certain he's still alive."
Halling nodded in understanding, and said to Ed, "Sorry."
Ed huffed and shrugged; most of his anger any more, if he was being honest, was just because it was familiar. Yeah, he was still furious with Hohenheim for leaving Mum to raise two kids on her own and never bothering to check in – even Ed had learnt to ring Winry every week or so, when he was away for an extended trip, which was only partially because she would have killed him otherwise – and he really couldn't care less if, after they dealt with the Dwarf in the Flask, he never saw his father again, but the blinding hatred of his childhood had withered with age and his own experiences. He still fully intended to punch the bastard in the face when he saw him again – if only for the pleasure of being able to say he'd done so twice – and he really had no interest in any more fireside chats, but if Al wanted to reconnect with Hohenheim, Ed wasn't going to stop him, actually sort of approved; just because Ed had outgrown their father, didn't mean Al needed to be equally deprived.
:We're going to be here for a few days,: he signed to his brother.
:Long enough to overthrow the power balance in this town?: Al returned.
Ed couldn't quite stop a grin. :If we're lucky.:
"Cool. So– Wait. How many days is a 'few'?" Al asked.
Halling laughed.
Halling and Piper seemed happy to continue putting them up until the train, and Ed and Al were more than happy to show around some alchemy. As hoped, they managed to attract the attention of their prey – Yoki; Ed finally managed to remember his name when he caught sight of his pathetic face – and he came down Thursday afternoon to try winning them over, while all the miners were working. Which, well, Ed had never expected Al to bluff his way into Yoki's good graces, but he pulled it off, and then left with the lieutenant while Ed kept a firm grip on Khayal's shirt back.
'Al knows what he's doing,' he wrote, before holding the note in front of the boy's face.
"He's selling himself to those–!"
"Language!" Piper snapped, twisting her hands in the tea towel she'd been using to wipe down one of the tables. She shot Ed an uncertain look while Khayal finally subsided, settling back into his chair next to Ed. "Edward?" Piper asked, something that sounded a little too much like fear in her voice.
Ed sighed and put on his best reassuring look, then wrote, 'Trust us. You've been good to us + we don't return favours with betrayal'
"That's not what it looks like right now," Khayal muttered, slouching in his chair, as his mother read that.
Ed shrugged; if Al managed to pull this off, Khayal would be eating those words.
Al returned in the middle of the dinner rush, looking so fucking smug. (Ed really was a terrible influence.)
"Back, are you?" Halling asked, his eyes hard. He'd taken the apparent breach of trust as fact, and Ed had been getting the cold shoulder all evening. (He'd actually expected to be booted out on his rear, but Piper must have made her husband promise to give them a chance, or something; she seemed far more inclined to trust Ed when he'd said this wasn't a betrayal.)
Al blinked towards Ed, and he rolled his eyes.
Al sighed and stepped up to Halling's table, brandishing a few pieces of fine parchment. "Well, I was going to use these to pay off our stay at your inn, but if you don't want the deed to Youswell..."
Terrible influence. (Ed was so proud.)
"That's the–" Halling said, eyes wide, while the rest of the dining room had fallen absolutely silent.
Al turned it around for him to read. "Deed to the town and the mines, yeah. Lieutenant Yoki just sort of gave it to me."
Ed couldn't help it, he just started laughing. :GAVE,: he managed to sign.
Al raised the pages slightly and pointed to writing that was too far away for Ed to see. "No, see, it says so right here, Brother. Free of charge." He turned back to Halling while Ed attempted to shut himself up, saying, "I know we've been fixing things with alchemy to pay for our stay, but a lot of that was for other people, and I know they can't really afford to pay you our shares, even if that's sort of how we worked it. When Lieutenant Yoki offered me the deed to the town, I thought it would be about equivalent for what we still owe you. Right?"
Halling chuckled and shook his head, then held out his hand. "Mr Elric, I think that's more than enough."
"Oh, good," Al said as they shook. "Because Brother would leave without feeling bad, but I'd just feel wretched."
:Stop villainising me!: Ed signed when Al looked over, obviously expecting a response.
Al blinked. "I'm sorry, Brother. Could you speak up? I couldn't hear you."
And, because all of these miners were arseholes, they broke out into loud laughter.
Al had just sat down next to Halling to sign over the deed, when Ed sensed the wash of fury coming towards the inn. Al clearly sensed it too, because he stiffened and looked towards the door while Ed stood, pulling out a couple of kunai.
"What–?" Piper said, looking at the blades in Ed's hands.
And then the door slammed open, revealing Yoki and his two privates. "What is the meaning of this?!" he shouted, waving around a handful of dark rocks. He zeroed in on Al and took a menacing step forward.
Ed threw one of his kunai, shaving off that little tuft of hair at the top of Yoki's head.
Pretty much everyone turned to look when the kunai thumped solidly into the wall next to the lieutenant, then turned towards where Ed was idly flipping the other one through the air. He shot Yoki an icy smile and mouthed, 'I wouldn't.'
"W-wh-who–?!" Yoki stammered.
"Oh," Al said, his tone careless but his smile sharp, "that's my big brother. He's the best knife-fighter in our clan."
Ed curled his finger in a 'come hither' motion.
Yoki and his privates ran.
Al sighed as he stood and walked over to get Ed's kunai. "That was unnecessary, Brother."
Ed shrugged and, when Al tossed him his weapon back, caught it by the grip – an exchange that had taken them three months and a massive amount of energy expended on healing cut fingers to figure out – and slipped it away.
As Ed and Al both returned to their seats, someone asked Al, "How long has he had those on him?" Because none of their fixes around town had required the use of distance alchemy.
"The whole time," Al admitted. "I have some, too, but I much prefer my sword."
"You have a–?"
"Oh, yeah!" Khayal interrupted. "It's kinda a big thing with a fancy handle, right?"
Al let out a polite little cough. "Yes."
"So I guess you boys are more capable of taking care of yourselves than you look," Halling said, a well of humour in his voice.
Al was quiet for a moment, and Ed glanced up from his tea to see he was wearing a tired frown. "Xing is a hard country," he finally said quietly. "You find a way to protect yourselves and your clan, or you die."
The adults in the room all traded grim looks.
"Which isn't to say our own country doesn't have its problems," Al added, his tone gone a bit absent. "The military may help to keep some form of peace inside our borders, but we're constantly at war with our neighbours, and if Ishval taught us anything, I would think it's that it doesn't take much effort to turn a gun around and point it at the people we're supposed to be protecting." He stood and tapped the table. "All yours. Thanks for letting us stay so long without any real payment; you're good people."
Ed stood and joined his brother on his way upstairs to their room.
"I need a shower," Al muttered, going for his pack.
Ed closed the door and leant back against it. When Al looked over, he signed, :What happened?:
Al slumped and dropped tiredly to his bed. "I just...feel dirty. How could a man like that gain control of a town?"
Ed sighed and walked over to sit next to his brother. :The higher ups don't care about the people or some greedy little officer out in the boondocks. So long as they're getting the coal to keep the trains running and some facsimile of commerce is occurring, they only care about their plans for immortality. Remember, they're okay with sacrificing the entire country for their own power.:
Al leant forward, toward Ed, and he pulled him into a hug. "But why is it always good people who have to suffer?" Al whispered, a sob punctuating the question.
Ed tightened his arms around his brother; even if he could speak, he couldn't think of a single thing to say to that.
01 || 02 || 03 || 04 ||
11 || 12 || 13 || 14 || 15 || 16 || 17 || 18 || 19 || 20
21 || 22 || 23 || 24 || 25 || 26 || 27 || 28 || 29 || 30
.
