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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'
Chapter Six
-0-
The next day was much more cheerful, and Ed and Al got dragged into a 'celebration lunch', the miners promising the train wouldn't be ready to leave until after they'd celebrated properly. (Since they were the ones in charge of loading the coal, and Ed'd spotted the train operator and at least one of the engineers at the party, he was willing to believe that.)
"Are you sure it's okay?" Ed heard Al asking at one point, and he squeezed between a couple guffawing miners to find his brother talking with Halling and Piper. "I don't want Lieutenant Yoki to come back here and bully you lot into handing back the deed."
Halling chuckled and shook his head. "That deed has passed hands with all the legal necessities, kid. There's nothing Yoki can do about things, now."
Ed touched Al's shoulder, and when he glanced back, signed, :The miners are more than capable of taking care of themselves against that lump and his men.:
Al glanced behind Ed, likely looking at the many massive miners filling the room. "I guess," he agreed quietly.
:And we can pass on the news of corruption as soon as we see Führer Bastard,: Ed added, meaning Mustang; given how rare knowledge of sign language was, he figured it was fairly safe to refer to the bastard like that, though he would probably avoid doing so in Central, just in case. (That said, people were more likely to assume he was referring to Bradley than Mustang, unless informed otherwise. Which could suck, because, well, insult, but when had Ed ever let that stop him?)
Al sighed. "Please stop calling him that."
Ed rolled his eyes. :Habit. Can't help it.:
Al just turned back towards Halling and Piper; he'd clearly learnt that there was no winning against Ed over that matter. "I'll still worry about everyone," he admitted.
Piper smiled in understanding. "You're both welcome to come back any time."
"We may take you up on that," Al decided, and Ed nodded; maybe they would.
Once the party finally broke up, Ed and Al said the last of their goodbyes and hopped onto the waiting train while the last of the coal was loaded on. The conductor traded them tickets for some of the cenz Ed had kept, winking as he corrected Ed's change and left them to their chosen seats in the otherwise empty train.
Ed considered the remaining money for a moment before slipping it away; he knew he'd done the maths right, which meant the conductor had discounted their tickets. If questioned, he'd likely say it was because they were children – always served as a good excuse, in Ed's experience – but, more likely, he had heard what they'd done for the miners and was showing his appreciation in his own way.
Ah, well. Either way, it looked like they'd be able to afford tickets to Dublith without having to beg money off Winry, which was good, as that additional cost hadn't been part of his savings plan. They might come up a bit short for the trip from Dublith to East City, but if the station manager in Dublith hadn't changed yet, they could probably appeal to his wife and she'd bully him into discounting their tickets. They'd figure something out.
It wasn't quite an hour into the trip, when Ed realised Al kept shifting, looking uncomfortable. It was his first time on a train, Ed knew, but still. He knew his brother, and Al didn't usually get this jumpy over new experiences, no matter how uncomfortable the seats were.
He leant forward and touched Al's knee, mouthing, 'Al?' when Al looked at him.
Al swallowed and shook his head. "Can you...sense it?"
Ed blinked a few times, uncertain, before Al's eyes slid down, to the floor of the train.
No, not the train floor; beneath the ground. Creeping and crawling and squirming across the senses.
Ed closed his eyes and sat back, nodding. :Yeah. I noticed them not long after we got in.:
"What...is it?" Al whispered.
Ed set his jaw and met his brother's uncertain gaze. :Remember how I told you the Dwarf in the Flask was a Philosopher's Stone?: Al nodded. :And that he can stop our ability to use Amestrisan alchemy?:
Al swallowed. "Yeah. So, is that...what?"
:That's what's sitting between us and the tectonic movements we use to power our alchemy,: Ed explained grimly. :Tens of thousands of Philosopher's Stones.:
Al snatched his feet away from the train floor. "People?" he squeaked, horror painting his face. "That's people?"
Ed nodded. :Xerxesians.:
Al drew in a shuddering breath and turned to look out the window for a moment, something broken in his eyes. "You knew they were there," he assumed quietly.
Ed sighed and nodded again, though he wasn't certain Al saw the motion.
"How could anyone do that to people?" Al whispered.
Ed touched his brother's shoulder and, when Al glanced at him, he mouthed, 'They aren't people to him.'
Al closed his eyes and nodded. And then he took a deep breath, followed by a second. When he opened his eyes again, he looked a little less like his heart was breaking. "We'll stop him," he said with quiet determination.
Ed offered him a smile that ached, then warned, :It'll be stronger closer to Central.:
And since they were switching lines in Central...
Al looked vaguely sick for a moment, before he swallowed and asked, "Can I sit with you?"
Ed immediately tossed his bag onto the bench next to Al and, after leaving his own bag and jian sword there, Al stepped across to Ed's bench, touching the floor as little as he could. Ed tugged him into a hug as soon as Al curled up next to him, and his brother caught his hands in Ed's sash and pressed his face against his shoulder.
Ed sighed. With any luck, Al would acclimate to the sensation quickly, as terrible as that was, because it was going to be a while before they were likely to be this far from Central again.
Al had called Granny their second day in Youswell, to get the update on where to find Winry. It turned out that, somehow, Granny had talked Dominic LeCoulte into training Winry on a trial basis – because Ed had needed even more reason to fear Pinako Rockbell – and, according to Granny, she was still out there. Ed had promised he'd be able to find the place – they'd gone out there quite a few times, after he and Winry'd got married – so Granny said she'd tell Winry that she didn't need to meet them at the station.
Indeed, there was no sign of her when they finally got off the train, and Ed shrugged and signed, :This way,: before taking the lead through town and up into the mountains.
"Wow," Al huffed after a while, wiping at his sweaty forehead. "They sure are a long way out."
Ed grimaced and nodded, wiping at his own sweaty forehead; it didn't seem to matter if he was young or old, in shape or not, this journey was always a massive drain on his energy. :Crazy old man's kind of a recluse,: he signed. :Always goes on about finding the best ore out here and shit, but he really just hates people.:
Al snorted. :You two clearly got on well,: he returned, apparently deciding signing was less effort than speaking.
Ed rolled his eyes. :Winry delivered his grandson, and he was the mechanic of a friend of ours. We'd all come out every few months to visit, if his son and them didn't come down into town.:
Al considered that. :We all lived in Rush Valley?:
:Winry and I had a house here,: Ed offered cautiously. His and Winry's house had been plenty big enough for Al and May, and they'd certainly stayed there often enough, but they'd sort of moved into the Rockbell house in Resembool, after Granny fell ill, and never moved out when she died, since May hadn't minded the countryside, and the easy access to news from Xing was a nice bonus. And, well, Ed and Al had been out travelling, those last three years, almost more than they were settled down, so they just crashed in whichever of the houses ended up being closer for a week or two, then headed after the next rumour Ed had managed to sniff out.
Al snorted and took a moment to resettle his pack. :And? Did I live somewhere incriminating?:
Ed shot him a flat look. :Resembool, officially. But we bunked over with each other plenty often.:
Al grinned at that. :Of course we did.:
They finally reached the wood and rope bridge spanning the gorge, and Ed stopped at the edge to stare out along it. The number of times this bridge had broken because of a lightning strike or a rock fall was...embarrassing, but the gorge was too wide and the bridge too little used for the city government to put any real effort into fixing it up properly, so it had remained a wood and rope bridge and they'd come out to fix it every other year or so.
Al had once joked, before, that, if Ed hadn't given up his alchemy, they probably could have stood on either side of the gorge and managed, together, what neither of them were able to do alone. Al had tried with distance alkahestry, but because of the nature of the Dragon's Pulse and how it affected earth, it had been slow going, and they'd ended up deciding it would take too much time and be too much effort. (Even May coming out to help did very little; she was an excellent alkahestrist on a small scale, but she just didn't have that extra little 'oomph' that Ed and Al had been born with, which made large scale transmutations seem simple. Elements of their Xerxesian ancestry, doubtless.)
"Brother?"
Ed glanced up at his brother. :This bridge breaks a lot.:
Al glanced back at the bridge and nodded. "Me on one side, you on the other?" he guessed.
Ed grinned. :Yes. Amestrisan alchemy would be best, but we'll have to use alkahestry for the supports, first.: He stepped up to the edge and looked down into the gorge, where only a slim river was making its way through the smallest of the riverbank boundaries today; clearly, it hadn't rained recently. :They'll need to be thick and well-grounded, or the water that rushes through here will wash them away,: he signed, once he'd turned back toward Al again.
Al winced, bracing himself against the wooden support stake and glancing down into the gorge himself. "That's going to need a lot of stone."
Ed nodded. :I expect we'll be here for a couple of days, anyway. If we get the supports today, we can worry about pulling earth from the cliffs to stretch the bridge.:
"Right." Al pushed off the support and crouched down, pulling out a kunai to start scratching a rough map in the stone ground. Because he always liked to have a visual to figure out the specifics, whereas Ed just did whatever came to mind and hoped it turned out okay in the end. (Which was why he usually left the planning to Al, when they had time to do planning.) "Two, or four?" he asked, looking back up at Ed.
Ed took a few steps off the path, eyeballing what they had to work with, then sighed and decided, :Four. Then we won't have to pull as much from the cliff to support it.:
"Good point." Al scratched in the supports under the current wood and rope bridge. "We're going to have to use the space the bridge is currently in, or it's not going to match up with the road."
Ed nodded and crouched down across from his brother, signing, :Yes. If we bring the supports to just under the current bridge today, we can pull them up the rest of the way tomorrow, after cutting down the bridge.:
Al grimaced and nodded. "If we cut down the bridge, and this fails, one of us is going to be stranded."
:If we leave the bridge, it'll just get in the way.:
Al sighed, took one last glance at the map, then stood. "Right. Give me your bag and I'll head across while you place the kunai."
Ed raised an eyebrow at that, but he could see the sense in making him as light as possible, in case they damaged the current bridge in any way during this. Not that he couldn't repair it before trying to cross, but he got where his brother was coming from, so he handed over his pack, then stepped back up to the edge of the gorge and pulled out some of his kunai as Al started across.
They would need at least one focus point each, but two would be better. He could easily throw down two for himself, but the distance made a second one for Al difficult. Unless...
Ed looked down at the slim river and felt a sharp grin breaking across his face; no way in his first life could he have ever imagined he'd develop the sort of control over water that this trick necessitated, but using the Dragon's Pulse made manipulating water easy, and knowing it was Mustang's greatest weakness had made mastering it worth the effort.
So Ed rather carelessly tossed his four kunai into the gorge, waited until they were nearly to the river, then clapped his hands together and let the energy flow between him and the kunai, activating an Aerugonian array to manipulate water and turning it on the river the kunai had just splashed down into. Tendrils of water slipped their way out of the river's flow, each one carrying a kunai, and dragged them to the best possible positions, before evaporating away.
Al called something across the gorge, which Ed suspected was some variation of 'show off'.
Ed snorted and shrugged, then made the most obvious wave he could, before closing his eyes, taking a settling breath, and pressing his hands together. Energy raced out from his feet, burrowing through the rock and ores he was standing on, before twisting down under the kunai and heaving up, dragging the stone up– up– up–
Ed opened his eyes after what felt like an eternity, squinted through the sweat streaming down his forehead at the slowly rising pillars – his were a fair bit ahead of Al's, but that was to be expected – and couldn't quite stop a moan; why did stone have to be so stubborn? Why couldn't it flow, like water did?
Well, he couldn't really complain, if he was being honest; working with the earth would always be easier when using tectonic energy, but water answered best to the energy of the Dragon's Pulse, and that meant he had a fairly powerful elemental weapon, no matter which energy form he was depending on, and no one would ever suspect him of having equal mastery over two such fundamentally different elements.
And he should probably make an effort to downplay or completely ignore one of the two, once he joined the military. Against opponents like the Dwarf in the Flask and the homunculi, the more tricks he had up his sleeves, the better off he'd be. Al too; even as a civilian, downplaying his skills would keep the homunculi from thinking they were too dangerous to be left to their own devices.
Ah, there would be time to figure all that out later. Maybe Mustang would have some ideas? The man was a pain in Ed's...pretty much everywhere, but he was a damn good strategist, and Ed had learnt well the necessity of asking for help from people you'd sooner punch in the face. (Case in point: Hohenheim.)
Ed shook his meandering thoughts away as the pillars finally reached a respectable height, leaving behind wide craters in the bottom of the gorge, which were already filling with water from where his and Al's craters cut across the riverbed. That had sort of been expected, honestly, and there wasn't much they could do about it, but at least pulling from the gorge bottom would keep them from completely destroying the cliffs while trying to bridge the gaps.
He ended his transmutation and started carefully across the bridge, watching for any weak spots. Just above both of his pillars, he carefully slipped over the edge, dropping lightly onto the top of the pillar, ostensibly to test for stability, but also because distance alkahestry was hard on his kunai supplies, and he retrieved them when he could. (At least being able to internalise their arrays meant Ed and Al only needed a singular point of focus, as opposed to the five kunai the rest of their clan required?)
After also testing Al's two pillars – and collecting those kunai – he finally finished crossing the bridge, finding a welcoming party of a single person waiting with his brother.
Winry jumped forward and caught him in a hug that Ed was all too glad to return. "Thank you for fixing the bridge," she whispered into his ear. "It washed out this spring and we were all stuck in the house together for days."
Ed waited until she'd pulled back before signing, :The crazy old man and you are way too much alike, huh.:
Learning to read qi was probably a cheat, because Ed sensed her spike of irritation and was dodging out of the way with a laugh before she'd even managed to get her spanner out of her pocket.
"Edward Elric, you come back here right now!"
Ed offered her a fond smile and signed, :I missed you too, Winry.:
Winry deflated a bit. "Yeah. Idiot." She shoved the spanner away and gave him a considering look. "You grew, didn't you?"
Al, the jerk, started laughing.
Ed rolled his eyes and nodded, deciding his best bet was to just ignore his brother. :Yes. I made some minor changes to the array, too.:
"Oh! Really? Why?"
:It got a little uncomfortable in winter,: Ed admitted before catching up his pack and slipping it on. :It wasn't a big issue, but I tweaked it a bit for comfort, anyway.:
"Okay," Winry decided, motioning for them both to follow her back towards the stone house they could easily see from this side of the bridge. "Can you walk me through everything, though? The alchemist who agreed to activate the arrays for people in Rush Valley was asking me a bunch of questions I couldn't answer." She grimaced.
"We can tell you the basics," Al offered. "But some of it, I'd bet, was him fishing for secrets. Like you'd try and get tricks out of other mechanics, right?"
Winry sighed. "Yeah, Master Dominic said it was probably something like that. That alchemist lives in town, if you want to meet him?"
Al snorted and shot Ed a knowing look. "I might, but Brother should probably stay away."
:Was that a comment on something?: Ed demanded with his best cross look.
Al and Winry both laughed at him.
Dominic was as cranky as Ed had remembered, but Ridel and Satella more than made up for it, welcoming Ed and Al with wide smiles and hugs from Satella. Winry had clearly told all of them in advance that Ed was mute, because it was taken in stride and generally ignored, Al and Winry easily trading off acting as a translator for him.
Ed, Al, and Winry spent what was left of their first day, after the long journey up the mountains and fixing the bridge, catching up and going over the notes on the array, telling Winry enough that she wouldn't feel like a complete idiot next time an alchemist started questioning her about it, but would also be able to tell them, flat-out, that if they needed more information, they'd need to ask Ed and Al.
They finished the bridge right after breakfast the next morning, leaving behind a sturdy rock bridge that should hold out against any amount of rushing water coming down the gorge, and was actually wide enough for a cart, though the twists and turns of the path made using it as an alternative to the back path down to South Hood kind of a moot point.
"We're just grateful we won't have to be regularly asking them to come up from Rush Valley to repair it," Satella admitted.
Ridel grimaced and nodded. "When I was a kid, after we'd first moved out here," he told them, "there were a few times when it took them a whole month to send someone. Dad finally started going into town and harassing them until they'd send someone, so they got good about coming out as soon as we got word to them that it was down."
:If there's one thing no one needs, it's that crazy old man going ape-shit on them,: Ed signed.
"Be nice, Brother," Al chided, while Winry snorted into her tea.
Ridel shook his head. "I suppose we should actually tell the town that it's been fixed up properly, but having a bridge that gets washed out on a semi-regular basis means fewer people are willing to come up here and ask Dad for things, which I know is his preference."
"As soon as Paninya finds out, she'll probably start sending work out here," Satella pointed out with a laugh. "Dominic's going to have to stop her before she can get back down to the village, after her next visit."
"Not pointing that out to him," Winry insisted. "I refuse that job."
Satella and Ridel both let out wary laughs, then roshamboed for the dubious honour of talking to the missing member of the household. Ed was familiar with this particular song and dance and knew, from Winry,before, that Satella would eventually learn to anticipate her husband, so she'd always win. Whether or not she'd already picked up that skill, he had no idea, but she won that round, and Ridel got up with a groan to go hunt down his father.
Winry tapped Ed's shoulder. "Come on. Let's go see how many adjustments I need to make for your new leg, then install it."
Ed let out his best dramatic moan, then twisted out of his chair, smoothly avoiding the spanner aimed at his head. Al let out a snicker into his tea.
Winry shot them both glares. "I will find a way to hit both of you before you leave," she threatened, "and it's going to hurt twice as much as if you'd just taken it like men the first time."
Considering how many times she'd aimed to hit Ed so far this visit? He was fairly certain only getting hit once was going to be a lot less painful than if he'd 'taken it like a man'. :Come on, Winry,: he coaxed. :You can punish me by connecting the nerves with no warning.:
"I'll be staying well out of the workroom," Al decided. "Forever."
:Good choice.:
Winry shoved his shoulder with her spanner. "Funny. Move."
:We, who are about to die–: Ed started signing.
Al started laughing, even as Winry smacked Ed's hands and shoved him properly to get him moving, complaining, "Stop being so dramatic. You're not going to die. This time."
:Reassuring, thanks.:
As they left the kitchen, Ed heard Al filling in the blanks of that exchange for Satella.
Winry had shown them, the evening before, where she had her own private workroom off to the side of the house, in an area that Ed knew had been added on for her special, as it had never existed, before, and had a bedroom for her and a 'guest room', which had very clearly been furnished with Ed and Al in mind, though Winry had insisted that she had a couple friends from town who would stay overnight in there, when they were willing to make the journey out to her. Most of the reason she'd shown them the workroom, yesterday, had actually been because she'd needed their help to adjust the arrays she'd already had prepared for Ed's new leg, as well as on a couple of other pieces she'd been working on.
As soon as he got into her workroom, Ed removed his sash and trousers without her having to direct him, then hopped up onto the bed and stretched out on it.
"I forget, sometimes, that you've had automail for longer than I've been alive," she admitted quietly, as she picked up a measuring tape and came over to take measurements of his right leg.
Ed shrugged, couldn't really respond to that while she was fussing about with numbers and the tape measure. But, yeah, he was used to automail check-ups, was used to Winry being his mechanic, and knew how to anticipate her needs.
She got up and waved the paper she'd written the measurements down on. "Do you need me to redo the array on your port?"
Ed considered that, then shrugged and shook his head, sitting up so he could more easily sign, :The plating insulates it enough, it should be fine. Like I said, it was more an adjustment for minor comfort, than an actual issue that desperately needed to be addressed.:
She sighed and nodded. "I know. And, right now, you're the expert." She tapped his leg with the curled measuring tape. "Still. I don't like the idea that it might be bothering you."
:I once went up to Briggs, during the winter, with normal automail,: Ed admitted, and her eyes went wide with a sort of disbelieving horror. :I almost got frostbite. Trust me, if there's an issue, I will know, and I WILL tell you.:
Winry swallowed and shook her head. "Please tell me I beat you for being that stupid."
:You were so pissed when you came after me,: Ed promised. Though, at the time, finding them both in a cell had dulled her anger a bit. :The Briggs doctors chewed me out, too.:
"Well that's...something," Winry decided, walking over to her workbench. She stared at his new leg for a minute – Ed had picked it up yesterday and, fuck, she'd clearly already learnt some of Dominic's tricks, because it was the lightest leg she'd even made for him, though it being northern-make probably had something to do with it – before demanding, "Why would I have even let you go north with normal automail?!"
:I didn't tell you I was going,: Ed admitted, then ducked the spanner she threw at him.
"Idiot!"
Ed nodded; he really kind of had been.
She deflated a bit and asked, "Did it help, in Xing? Having the northern type? Granny said you'd asked for it because the clan you wanted to visit was in the mountains."
Ed shrugged. :I might have been able to get by with the normal sort, but I was a lot better off with the northern, yes. Especially since our fighting instructor liked to drag us out in the snow for practice.:
Winry huffed and rolled her eyes. "You fighting sorts are always crazy," she retorted, before actually setting about her adjustment work.
Ed just watched her work for a while, soothed by the familiar sounds and her steady pace, before relaxing back on the bed and looking up at the paper with a swirling design that someone – Winry or Satella, most likely – had taped onto the ceiling, probably meant to serve as a distraction for patients while they were recovering from reattachment. It certainly worked to set his thoughts on a meandering path, slipping through his mental store of arrays, some complicated arithmetic that didn't really relate to anything, hoping that May got her head out of her pride, and finally settling on his ever-malleable plans for the future threat. Which reminded him of the most recent upset to them.
Winry got up from the workbench, and Ed – knowing better than to try sitting up and annoying her – awkwardly signed above his chest, :Al wants to take the State Alchemist exam.:
"Of course he does," Winry agreed flatly.
Ed chanced a spanner to the head and sat up to frown at her. :You don't care?:
Winry sat down on the stool next to the bed and started pulling off the plating of his leg so she could get to the connection bolts. "I don't want either of you joining up," she said, and her tone was still mostly flat, but there was enough fear in there, too, that Ed didn't need to read her qi to notice it, "but I know your stupid plan hinges on having some of the privileges that State Alchemists are given, which means at least one of you has to join up. I don't like it, but I understand why. Granny and I are both resigned."
Ed frowned through her actually disconnecting his leg, unable to quite stop a grimace at the sudden lack of sensation that always came with disconnection. When she looked up at him, clearly expecting a response, he signed, :You don't have to be resigned to BOTH of us. I already know what I'm getting into, so just help me convince Al–:
"You think he's going to listen to me any better than to you?" Winry retorted.
Ed grimaced and rubbed at his face. Okay, yeah, there was that. But maybe if they double-teamed him?
"I can't believe you're making me do this," Winry complained as she got up to switch out his old leg for the new one.
Ed made an enquiring noise.
Winry huffed and tossed his old leg into a pile of scraps with a crash, making Ed wince in sympathy. "Logically," she bit out as she picked up the new leg and turned a glare on Ed, "Al is the more likely choice for the military, because he's not mute. And I know you think Bradley'll take you on anyway," she continued, before Ed could raise his hands to point that out himself, "because you're a sacrifice candidate or whatever, but you can't really bank on that. Logically, the only way to be certain that at least one of you gets in, is for both of you to take the exam. Since, you know, illogically, you're never going to let Al take it alone."
Ed...really sort of hated her for that. :I don't like your logic,: he complained.
"I will brain you with your leg if you don't lie down and shut up," Winry snapped.
Ed lay down.
"I can't believe I'm arguing logic with an alchemist," Winry muttered as she sat down on the stool again and set the new leg out on the bed. "Worse! I can't believe you just made me say that both of you joining up was better than neither of you! Why do you live to piss me off?"
Even if Ed could have easily responded to that, he knew better than to do so.
Winry continued to mutter insults and complaints as she got everything lined up, before finally stopping to warn, "I'm reconnecting the nerves." When Ed nodded in understanding, she muttered, "Shouldn't have warned you."
Then the burn of sensation shot up his leg, and Ed grit his teeth against the familiar pain. It took a bit to ease away, because Winry hadn't quite been at this long enough, yet, to have developed the quick connections she'd been able to perform by the time they'd married, but Ed wasn't about to complain about a minor extended shock to his system, not when he knew there was little she could do about it right now.
And then the pain died down and he let out a breath through his teeth.
"Idiot," Winry muttered, lightly patting his hip. "I'm done. Give it a minute to settle."
Ed didn't need to be told that twice, wincing as a minor aftershock flared up his leg. At least the reconnection had been pretty much right after the disconnection; it was those times when he had to wait days between having his automail removed and put back on when he really suffered, because his nerves had had the time to sort of...not really 'forget' what it was like to be connected, but they'd sort of fallen asleep, and it would take hours for everything to settle again.
(To be fair, his habit, as a kid, of almost immediately getting up and sparring with Al, just to prove he could, probably hadn't helped matters. Moving into Rush Valley and watching other people give their nerves time to settle had taught Ed a lot about the importance of giving his body a chance to adapt in its own time. Which had resulted in Winry threatening to brain him for being an idiot a little less often, which was nice, since they'd sort of slept in the same bed, making him an easy target.)
Ed sat up and glanced towards where Winry was roughly putting her tools away. She glanced up to glare at him, and he took the chance to mouth, 'Sorry.'
She didn't have Al's lip-reading skills, but she clearly knew that one, for she slumped slightly, looking more tired and worried than angry. "Tell me it turned out okay," she requested quietly. "Tell me you never did anything you regretted."
Ed considered that for a moment, then slowly signed, :There were people I couldn't always save, and I made mistakes, but, as a whole, I never regretted becoming a State Alchemist.:
"That wasn't what I–"
:I never did anything that compromised my morals while I was a State Alchemist,: Ed offered, because that was true. Sure, having to trust Scar with Winry's safety had been wretched, and living with the knowledge that he'd essentially led Hughes to his death had about broken him, and there had been times – like when he'd punched Tucker all to hell after what he'd done to Nina, or when he'd been willing to let Scar kill him if he'd spare Al – where he'd almost let himself make the wrong choice, but he'd held true to his principles to never kill and he'd got Al back, in the end, without hurting anyone.
Winry took a moment to assimilate that, then slowly repeated, "While you were one?"
Ed grimaced; that had been an unfortunate specification for her to snag on, but the one thing he didn't want to admit to, to her, was hardly the only time he'd completely fucked up after losing his alchemy. :Human transmutation,: he pointed out, and she winced. :Too, there was a civil war being fought on the western end of Creta, when I visited. I...didn't always help people, when I saw them, even when I could have, because I was more concerned with not getting dragged into it. I regret that.:
He sighed, then offered, :State Alchemists get a lot of flak, but it's possible to do good in that position. I did so before, and we can do it again.:
"Both of you?" Winry pressed quietly.
Ed closed his eyes and forced a smile that ached. :He's not giving me a choice.:
"You're not giving him a choice, either," Winry pointed out flatly. "You're right, you don't both need to become State Alchemists, and there's nothing saying you have to join up again."
Ed shot her a glare.
Winry rolled her eyes. "Idiot," she said as she returned to her tools. "You don't get to complain about Al being stubborn until you stop, too."
Ed huffed. Being a crabby old hypocrite was his prerogative, thanks.
Winry, probably wisely, ignored him. And, as soon as the aftershocks had mostly stopped, Ed got dressed and went to find his brother for a spar.
They stayed another day before saying their goodbyes. Winry understood – there wasn't much out there to hold their attention, and they had the groundwork of their plans to finish laying down – but she'd still been clearly saddened to see them leave, and insisted on walking them to the station, saying, "There's a couple things I need to pick up, and I was going to see about introducing you two to that alchemist."
So they left way earlier than they'd needed to and ended up making good time going down the mountain, leaving them plenty of time to stop past the alchemist in question's home.
The man who answered the door was probably in his early forties and had the most ridiculous 'I just smelt something unfortunate' expression etched across his face. "Ah, Apprentice Rockbell," he said with what was probably the most pompous, upper-class Central accent Ed had ever had the misfortune to suffer. (And he was friends with the Armstrongs.) He glanced over at Al and, yeah, his brother looked rather like he was already regretting agreeing to meet this guy. (Fucking wanna-be alchemists. Ugh.)
"Mr Hossenfeffer," Winry said with that 'I'm only pretending to be polite because I can't afford to offend you' tone that Ed had never quite managed to master, for all that he'd tried. "You were asking about the cooling array?"
"Ah, yes. Did you hear back from the person who created it at last?"
"I did," Winry agreed, before motioning behind her. "This is Edward and Alphonse Elric."
Hossenfeffer blinked a few times, glancing between Ed and Al. "But," he said, sounding so very confused, "they are just children!"
:I'm going to punch him,: Ed decided.
Al grabbed his nearest arm, while Winry snapped her fingers to ensure he was looking at her, then signed, :You will NOT. He's the only alchemist who lives in Rush Valley full time. I need him willing to work with me.:
Ed rolled his eyes. He wasn't really going to punch the pompous fuck. Probably.
"What is– What is this?" Hossenfeffer asked, waving his hands in front of himself senselessly.
Al cleared his throat. "My brother is mute, sir. He communicates with sign language."
"Oh how...unfortunate," Hossenfeffer offered, casting Ed a look that made it clear he was wondering about his mental functions, if he couldn't talk.
Al let go of Ed's arm, which was, from him, practically permission to punch the fucker. "You had questions about my brother's array, Mr Hossenfeffer?" Al asked politely, wearing his 'I can think of a dozen different ways to kill you using only my pinkie finger' smile, which Ed fucking adored. (He was nearly certain Al had stolen it from Teacher.)
Hossenfeffer cleared his throat, looking a little uncomfortable. "O-of course. Won't you all please come in?" he offered, stepping back and waving them in.
Hossenfeffer had manners enough, at least, to offer them all juice and biscuits, which they accepted. As he sat down, after leaving the tray of refreshments where they could reach them, he cleared his throat and offered, sounding more pompous with every word, "I am James John Hossenfeffer, the third. I come from a long line of alchemists, all of whom have been contracted by the military to work in their alchemy labs multiple times."
:Kill me now,: Ed signed, forcing his mouth to remain in an unimpressed line, rather than showing how much he wished he'd lost his hearing, instead of his ability to speak, right that moment.
:He'd probably make you clean up any blood you got on the carpet,: Al warned in return, while politely replying, "I'm afraid we don't have such a distinguished pedigree. We're just a couple of country kids who learnt alchemy from their father's books. He was, himself, a largely unknown alchemist, but he was well-travelled and picked up all sorts of scientific texts."
"I...see. And how did your brother find the...inspiration for that...interesting array?"
Al cleared his throat, his fingers flexing around his teacup. "We came across an old refrigeration array in one of our father's books. Brother had been interested in going to Xing, to study their alchemy, but he has automail, so it sort of wasn't feasible. He took the idea from that array and...modified it." He shot Ed a helpless sort of smile. "It's something he has a talent for."
Winry made a noise of agreement. "Yeah. It was a bit freaky, actually. He just sat there, staring at the book, and traced out a new array onto a piece of paper."
:It wasn't NEW,: Ed couldn't help but correct. :It had elements of the old–:
"I know you kept elements of the original," Winry said, rolling her eyes. "The point is, you didn't even look over as you drew the array. You just...did."
Al coughed. "Well, once you've drawn enough arrays, the motions just become rote and you don't really need to look to know it's coming out alright." He turned a smile on their host. "I'm sure Mr Hossenfeffer would say the same."
It was abundantly clear that Hossenfeffer could not say the same, very likely was one of those alchemists who still had to use a pair of compasses and a straightedge to get his arrays perfectly aligned. "O-of course," he agreed, smiling like he wasn't lying.
:Don't need to punch him any more,: Ed announced. :Feel free to keep politely telling him he's a waste of alchemic talent, Al.:
Al's smile turned slightly predatory. "You had questions, Mr Hossenfeffer?"
Hossenfeffer's questions turned out to be the sort that Winry easily could have answered, even before Ed and Al'd returned; clearly, he'd realised he was outclassed and wasn't dealing with a couple of dumb kids, despite appearances.
Once he'd shown them back out and closed the door behind them, Winry laughed and skipped down the front steps. "Did you two seriously just out-alchemist him?" she asked.
"I wouldn't go that far," Al tried, while Ed signed, :Al totally did.:
Al sighed while Winry laughed some more and hugged him.
Ed took a couple quick steps forward and spun to walk backwards, using his qi-sensing and Al's minute twitches of expression to let him know when he was about to walk into someone as he signed, :Oh, I am SO important because MY family is contracted by the military to add a bit more shine to their regulation boots.:
"Oh gods," Al moaned, while Winry failed miserably at hiding a grin.
:What I won't admit to, and you CHILDREN clearly don't know, is that the military contracts alchemists who aren't talented enough to be state certified, because they don't want to waste their VALUABLE STATE ALCHEMISTS to do pointless, menial transmutations. In fact,: Ed continued, putting on a sad face, while Al finally gave in and started snickering, :I'm hoping you aren't aware that it's an INSULT in some circles to be military contractors. Of course, since you're CHILDREN, there's no way you COULD know.:
"You're terrible," Al told him with a laugh.
Ed gave a low bow, dodging absently around a woman who was telling off a small child as he did so. :I'd say I'll be here all week, but...:
"But you're leaving me," Winry complained, hugging Al's arm.
"Sorry, Winry," Al offered, while Ed slowed down so he could walk on Winry's other side.
Winry sighed as she freed one hand from Al's arm and caught Ed's, too. "I know," she offered, voice pitched to stay between them. "You've got world saving to get on with. Just...call me every few months?"
Al smiled and nodded. "I can do that," he agreed. "And I can hand the phone over to Brother and let you remind him to maintain his leg."
:SPARE ME,: Ed signed, one-handed, so as not to upset Winry's hold on his arm, while she laughed.
"Well, you didn't completely destroy it in Xing," Winry allowed, squeezing Ed's arm and shifting her grip, so he could sign without upsetting her, "so I suppose I can spare you the lectures."
Ed rolled his eyes. :As soon as the military forks over some money, I'll pay you and Granny back.:
Winry frowned. "Ed, you don't–"
:Don't tell me what I can and can't do with my own money.:
"We know the materials for northern automail aren't cheap to come by," Al offered quietly. "Maybe up north, where it's needed, but not so much down here, and especially not out in Resembool. Granny wouldn't let Brother discuss payment with her, but we can't just let you two do the work for free."
Winry huffed and shook her head, dragging all of them to a stop in the middle of the road. "Look," she hissed, glaring between them. "You two are family. That means discounts."
:Discounts, fine, but not–:
Winry smacked Ed's hands. "Shut up, I'm not done." She narrowed her eyes on him and he held up his hands in surrender. "You know more about the south than either of us, probably; it gets hot down here during the summer, okay? And you're right about the material for northern automail not really being cost effective to use a lot of down here. That array you made? That's helping a lot of people, and I'm the only mechanic in the whole country who has the original copy, which means people come searching me out for it, even though we're up in the mountains and no one wants to deal with Master Dominic. Garfiel lets me come into town and take over his workshop once a day every other week, for a small fee, so I can add the array to people's current automail, without them needing to switch mechanics or come out and annoy Master Dominic. And Mr Hossenfeffer, as annoying as he is, pays me a commission for sending people to him, which is more than enough to cover borrowing Garfiel's workshop.
"I haven't even been an apprentice for two years, but I'm already making more money in a month, than most start-up mechanics make in a year. And that's because of your stupid-arse array." She shoved a finger against Ed's chest while he stared at her; he'd expected she'd get some interest, sure, but he knew the figures she was talking about, could make a pretty good guess as to how much she was charging for each array, and that was a lot of customers, way more than he could have ever figured. "That array has more than paid for your automail, Ed, even the tune-up. If you start doing crazy shit and breaking it on a regular basis or something, then we'll talk what you might owe me. But honestly, right now? Unless people suddenly stop asking for that array, or everyone else in Rush Valley finds a way to copy it and starts offering it, I'm not taking any money from you."
And then, proving that qi-sense wasn't fool-proof, she let go of both Ed and Al and hit them with spanners that she pulled from...Ed had no idea. He hadn't thought that dress had pockets.
"Idiots."
Al cleared his throat and, rubbing his head with a wince, offered, "Sorry, Winry. We just don't like the idea of skimping you, not when you're such an awesome mechanic."
"Flattery's not going to save you," Winry warned, though she looked slightly mollified.
Ed swallowed and admitted, :I didn't realise the array would be that popular. If you want to consider that my payment, okay. But–: he put on a hard look :–in return, if you've got any new automail tricks you need a tester for, you have to use me. Not weapons, I don't want them, but I know how to put automail through its paces, and if something's going to break, Al will be there to help me back. Deal?:
Winry made an uncertain face, like she really wanted to refuse, but she knew he'd just find some new angle. "Okay," she finally agreed. "If I come up with anything new that can be tested with a leg, I'll let Al know when he calls me, and you can come out here. But!" she added when Ed grinned, victorious. "If you break the test automail, you're not paying for it."
"How did I get involved in this discussion?" Al muttered, rubbing at his face. "Only you two would think trying to break stuff was a form of payment."
Ed and Winry glanced at each other. She sucked her lips in between her teeth, in an attempt to hide her grin, and Ed responded by raising both eyebrows at her, which got her giggling, and then he started laughing and they had to lean on each other to catch their breaths.
:Okay,: Ed agreed once he could. :I'll only try to pay you when I break something while doing something stupid in the field. Everything else we're calling square, unless something changes for you. Deal?: He held out his hand.
"Deal," she agreed, and they shook on it.
"Oh, good," Al said. "Can we go and try to catch our train, now?"
Winry glanced at a nearby clock and winced. "Whoops. Yeah, let's go. This way."
At the station, she pulled them both into a hug. "Both of you be careful, okay? And good luck with the exam!"
"We will, and thanks!" Al replied.
:You be careful, too,: Ed ordered, couldn't quite manage a smile. :If you need to go to ground, don't worry about us, just go.:
"I know," Winry whispered, sorrow in her eyes. And Ed kind of hated that he'd had her and Al both living under the shadow of this threat for three years, now, but he didn't have it within himself to stand back and watch them get hurt, all unknowing.
He hugged her tight, then turned and, catching Al's arm, dragged him into the station so they could get tickets. Which, okay, maybe it had been the armour, or maybe it was his own current disability, because this station manager charged them less than Ed knew it should have cost for tickets to Dublith, just like the one in Youswell had done for their tickets to Rush Valley.
:Brother?: Al signed as they joined the waiting crowd on the platform.
:Just thinking about our funds,: Ed offered.
Al frowned. :Will we have enough to get to East City?:
:We should. Not for a hotel, but we can see if Führer Bastard or any of his team are willing to put us up.: He shrugged in response to Al's worried look. :We'll figure it out.:
:We could have asked Winry for some money?:
:Did you just miss that argument?:
Al huffed. :BORROWING isn't the same as OWING, Brother.:
Ed rolled his eyes. :With my luck, she'll decide she owes me for making the damn array in the first place.:
:And testing it. And tweaking it for use in the cold.:
:If you'd rather walk, I'm happy to save the money on your ticket.:
:You're cruel,: Al signed, grinning widely; they both knew Ed would never take the train while Al had to walk.
Ed just rolled his eyes and shoved his brother forward as the train doors slid open to admit the crowd of passengers.
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