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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'
A/N: I got a number of people asking about Sig's calm qi, and the reason for it is... It amused me. He looks so scary, the neighbourhood kids try to creep around behind him, but he's got the calmest fucking qi. That's it. That's the whole secret. (Sorry for being misleading, though the questions did give me a giggle, which made me stop cackling for a moment, so there's that. ;)
Also, you people can start screeching for joy, now: Roy's back this chapter.
Chapter Seven
-0-
Someone knocked on the bedroom door about two hours after Al stormed out. Ed had, in the intervening time, dragged his mattress over to Al's and transmuted them together, then took his pillow and blanket and curled up in the corner where his bed had been to stare at the wall.
The door creaked open when he didn't respond. "Ed?" Teacher called.
Ed pulled his blanket over his head; he knew it was ridiculously childish, but he just wanted to fucking wallow for the rest of the night, okay? Stupid Al. He always pushed and pulled and found a way to get Ed to tell him the worst of his sins.
Teacher sighed and walked over, her sandals snapping against the floor with each step. She came to a stop behind him, was still for a second, then smacked the back of his head hard enough that he slammed his forehead into the wall.
Ed threw back the blanket and turned to glare up at her while he rubbed his forehead.
She glared right back. "Why did your brother storm out?"
Ed shrugged and turned back towards the wall.
Teacher grabbed his ponytail and pulled on it until he scrambled to his feet, eyes watering with pain. "Why," she said, tapping her foot loudly on the floor, while Ed pulled out his hair tie and rubbed at his aching head, "did Al storm out?"
Ed carefully put his hair back up in a much looser ponytail, then pulled out his journal and pen and wrote, 'I told him something he didn't want to hear'
"Which was?" Teacher demanded, and it was clear from her tone that she was as willing as Al had been to let this drop. "What you traded for his life?"
Oh, wonderful. She'd heard that part.
Ed grit his teeth, then wrote, 'I used a Philosopher's Stone to get him back from that place. Philosopher's Stones are made of people's souls'
Teacher took a moment to read that, then reached out to smack him again.
Ed dodged her. 'What else was I supposed to do?!' he mouthed angrily. 'He went through HELL last time!'
He didn't know how much, if any, of that she got, as her response was, "Idiot apprentice! Did you learn nothing from me?"
He scowled at her.
Teacher turned to the side and pointed towards the open bedroom door. "Go find your brother!"
Ed shook his head; no way he was going after Al when his brother probably didn't even want to look at him.
"Do you want dinner?" Teacher snapped, shoving her finger towards the door again.
Dinner? Ed wasn't particularly hungry, but Al might be. But Ed didn't need to face his brother to pass on the message.
Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, forcing himself to ignore Teacher's prickly qi next to him, Ed cast out for his brother's energy, found him in the general direction of the lake. Ed took another deep breath, then clapped his hands together and sent his transmutation down the line of the Dragon's Pulse that winded between them, forming a message in the ground next to his brother.
When he opened his eyes, he found Teacher frowning at his joined hands uncertainly. From experience with Al, he knew it looked pretty weird to see one of them performing distance alkahestry, since their arrays were internal. So long as a part of their body was in contact with the ground – or something through which the Dragon's Pulse could easily course, like water, or a tree, or (probably) a house – they could just stand still and clap. The energy would spark around their hands for a moment, then vanish to transmute wherever they'd sent it.
Speaking of, the floor at Ed's feet sparked and raised up slightly to form the words, 'NOT HUNGRY'.
Ed very firmly pointed to them, as though Teacher was likely to have missed their appearance.
Teacher blinked a few times, then shook her head and tried to smack him again, which he twisted around her to dodge. "Go–" she shouted, aiming for him again, and he dodged again "–find–" another hit aimed and dodged, straight out the bedroom door; shit "–your–" a kick this time.
Ed decided the better part of valour was running from the house.
He had about half a minute to stand in the side garden, before the door was pulled open behind him and Teacher shouted, "Now, Edward!"
Ed slumped and made his way to Kauroy Lake.
He found Al curled up at the end of the dock, looking miserable. He didn't look up, but from the way his qi had turned particularly prickly before Ed had made it to the land-side of the dock, it was clear his brother knew he was there.
"Go away," he muttered when Ed stopped next to him.
Ed crossed his arms over his chest and stared out over the lake; no way he was going back to Teacher empty-handed. Maybe, if he irritated Al enough by not moving–
Al rammed his body into Ed's legs, and he lost his balance and tumbled over to fall into the lake.
He'd waterproofed his journal after one too many rainstorms, so he wasn't worried about that – and, yes, that was his first concern, shut up – but his leg was metal, and while it was lighter than most, it and his kunai were weighing him down. He made one desperate grab for the dock, missed, and sank under the water.
Ed's mind went completely blank – Seriously?! This was how he was going to die?! – and all he could do was stare up past the water, towards the evening sky.
...perhaps this was his due, for everything. For Mustang and using those Stones to save Al, despite their promise, before. People knew what was coming, now; they could save themselves without him fucking everything up. Right?
The water churned around him in a rush, and then an arm was pulling at him, trying to bring them both back up towards the sky. They broke through for a moment, and Al gasped out, "Alkahestry!" before they went under again.
Ed's mind slammed into survival mode, at last, and supplied him with a water array that would essentially force them towards the shore, so he shoved his hands together and activated the array.
The water pushed them up and onto the shore, kindly pushing them slightly diagonally, so they wouldn't run into any boats or the extension of the dock, and they both took a moment to cough out lake water, once the water had receded to lap around their legs.
"Sorry," Al whispered, his head ducked forward so Ed couldn't see his expression in the light from the lanterns by the stairs up to the street. "I forgot about your leg."
Ed flopped back onto the sand and closed his eyes, feeling...listless. Near-death experiences were hardly new, but they at least usually left him feeling angry or desperate or something. Happy to be alive, at least.
"Brother?" Al asked, concern in his voice.
Ed sighed and forced himself to sit up, to turn and face his brother. :You know the armour in the study?: he signed.
Al's brow furrowed in confusion, but he nodded.
:Last time,: Ed admitted, since Al already knew the worst of it, :I traded my right arm for your soul and attached it to the armour. You couldn't eat or sleep, and the armour started rejecting your soul, by the Promised Day. I...couldn't do that again. To you.:
Al swallowed and sat up himself, curling around his knees. "But you...got me back? In the end?"
Ed nodded. :I traded my ability to do alchemy.:
Al looked like he'd been smacked. "You what? How could you give up your alchemy?"
Ed met his brother's wide stare and mouthed, 'You were more important.' Then he swallowed and looked away, blindly signed, :I would have again, but I'd have no chance against the–:
Al slammed into him, hugging him tight, even as they both fell back against the beach. "Stupid brother," he said with a sob, and Ed suspected his shirt would have been getting wet where Al had pressed his face against his shoulder, if it hadn't already been completely soaked. "Moron," Al continued as Ed, with some uncertainty, wrapped his arms back around his brother, "idiot, complete and utter–" He choked off the rest of that and tightened his hold on Ed. "Self-sacrificing idiot."
Ed closed his eyes and tightened his arms around Al.
He didn't know how long they lay like that, before Al finally pulled away and sat up, rubbing roughly at his eyes.
Ed sighed and touched his brother's shoulder, signing, :Teacher made me come look for you,: as soon as Al looked over at him.
Al quirked a tired smile at him. "You made another cave to hide in, didn't you?"
Ed grimaced and shrugged, which was as good as admitting that was true, then shoved himself to his feet and held down a hand to help his brother up.
Once he'd stood, Al groaned and dusted at his rear. "Sand."
Ed snorted; his brother had developed, during their trip back to Amestris, the unenviable talent of ending up with sand inside his clothing while he slept, no matter what they'd transmuted to cover the ground, or even how much of the ground they'd transmuted into stone. :Come on. You can wash it out in the shower.:
Al waited until they'd got to the street before asking, "Where did you get it? The Stone."
Ed swallowed and pointed down.
Al's steps stuttered and stopped.
Ed turned back towards him, found Al staring down at the ground with a broken expression, and stepped forward to lightly touch his chest. When Al looked up at him, Ed signed, :I don't know if it means anything to them, now, but I asked for their help, first.: He sighed, then added, a bit helplessly, :A State Alchemist who made a Philosopher's Stone under the homunculi's direction once asked me if it was better to use them for something good, like saving a life, or to leave them to suffer until someone far less kind pulled them out to be used in war.:
Al shook his head. "Suffer?"
Had he told his brother that part? That being turned into a Stone was, reportedly, constant agony? :When the Dwarf in the Flask succeeded, before that bastard's array activated and reversed it, everyone who got caught up in the transmutation said it had been like existing in a sea of agony.:
Al stared at him for a beat, then looked back down towards the ground for a moment, before looking back at Ed. "Okay," he said quietly, then clenched a fist and touched it to his chest. "I think...I can accept that. That, in exchange for letting me live, they were set free." He held his fist out towards Ed, his expression set. "They're our people, our clan; it's our duty to set them free, just as much as it is to keep Amestris safe. Let's do both."
Ed pressed his fist hard against Al's and mouthed, 'We will. We're going to save them all.'
Al shot him a fierce grin, and Ed felt one stretching across his face in return.
And, somehow, Ed still hadn't lost his brother.
Teacher was so not impressed when they came back wet and covered in sand, and she ordered them both to go shower. Ed made Al go first, since he knew how his brother felt about sand.
When he finally made it out to the table, everyone else had already served themselves, and he sighed as he sat down and followed suit. He'd just taken his second bite, when Al let out a whistle to catch his attention, then signed, :Why is your mattress missing?:
:It grew legs.:
:Brother.:
:Walked right out the front door.:
"Brother," Al stressed out loud.
"What are you two whispering about?" Teacher asked, looking between them a bit suspiciously.
:Can't actually whisper,: Ed signed, mostly because he could get away with talking back.
Al rolled his eyes. "Brother's trying to tell me his mattress walked out the front door."
Mason laughed.
Ed let out his best, loudest sigh. :Okay, fine. My mattress and your mattress fuc–:
"No!" Al shouted, reaching over and smacking his hands part way through that sign. "Not at the table. Are you incapable of manners?"
Ed just grinned while Mason laughed harder and Teacher snorted.
Al groaned and covered his face. "I cannot possibly be related to you," he moaned, before very obviously refusing to look at Ed for a while.
They managed to finish dinner without any more drama, but it also lacked the back-and-forth, generally good-natured sniping that Ed usually associated with meals at the Curtis' house, especially when Mason was in attendance. Which, well, he had a pretty good guess as to why, and when he and Al rose to start ferrying the dishes to the kitchen, Teacher reached out to catch Al's arm, while Mason caught Ed's. "Sit," Teacher ordered.
Ed and Al traded looks, then did so, Ed relaxing back in his chair, while Al sat tensely.
"I told both Sig and Mason," Teacher said flatly. "Sick or not, you can't expect me to just sit this out."
"I don't think that was ever the intention," Al offered, glancing at Ed, who shrugged. "If Brother had really been determined to keep you out of things, he'd never have agreed to visiting."
Ed leant forward and touched Al's shoulder, bringing him to look at him. :That said, she's as much a liability as she is a help, right now.:
"What do you mean, 'right now'?" Teacher asked with a frown, once Al had finished translating that.
Ed shrugged. :The bastard refined Xingan healing alkahestry and is a Philosopher's Stone.:
"Wait, Dad can help her?" Al realised.
:He did last time.:
"Your father?" Teacher asked.
Al shook his head. "Brother, could we do it? If it's just alkahestry–"
:I don't know, Al, I wasn't there,: Ed signed, shaking his head. :I only know what Teacher told me after: He said something about it being Xingan alchemy, then told her he was a Philosopher's Stone. Do you really want to chance hurting her?:
Al winced and shook his head. "No." He sighed and turned back to Teacher. "Our father, Van Hohenheim–"
"Hohenheim?" Teacher repeated, blinking. "I met him before, once. I had no idea he was your boys' father."
Al nodded. "He's a Philosopher's Stone–" Teacher stiffened and shot a look at Ed "–according to Brother, and helped develop Xingan healing alkahestry – alchemy – so he was able to do something last time, I guess. Brother doesn't know the exact details, so we have no way of knowing if the Stone was a necessary part of what he did."
Teacher looked between them. More specifically, she looked between their sashes, which they'd both cleaned and dried with alchemy, rather than going without. "Xing," she said. "That's where those are from, isn't it?"
Al nodded. "We spent the last two years there."
"Why?" Mason asked. "I know you said something about healing alchemy, but..." He shrugged.
Al frowned and rubbed at his nose. "I don't know how easily a non-alchemist can understand this," he offered, and Mason put on a knowing smile, "but Amestrisan alchemy and Xingan alkahestry use different energy sources. The Dwarf in the Flask has a way to disrupt Amestrisan alchemy, and while Brother knows of someone with access to an array that can counteract that ability, since we had the time, we decided to learn Xingan alchemy, which he can't affect."
"Disrupt how?" Teacher asked.
Al turned to Ed. "Shut it off?"
Ed nodded, while Teacher cursed and both Sig and Mason frowned. :The Philosopher's Stones can block our access,: he reminded Al, pointing to the floor.
Al's expression twisted with something very like heartbreak as he turned back to Teacher. "There's a layer of...energy, I guess, between us and the tectonic movements," he explained, clearly not quite willing to explain there were Stones under their feet, which Ed fully understood. "When he wants to, the Dwarf in the Flask can turn that energy into an impassable barrier."
"And then there's nothing to draw on to power our alchemy," Teacher said grimly. "What about your Xingan source?"
"They call it the Dragon's Pulse. It runs closer to the surface, above the energy barrier, so he doesn't have any control over it." Al shook his head. "I'd offer to teach you, but it took me almost seven months to figure out, and Brother was at it for a whole year."
Ed huffed.
"I take it you're not intending to stay," Teacher said.
Al shook his head, then shot Ed an uncertain look.
Ed grimaced and nodded; they may as well get this part out of the way now.
Al winced, then admitted, "There's a couple of things that are easier to do with a military licence."
Teacher's expression went flat. "You're going to become dogs."
Ed leant forward and met her stare, giving a firm nod.
Teacher stared at him for a long moment, while Al shifted uncertainly in his seat, and Mason nervously cleared his throat.
And then Teacher sat back. "You joined them before," she guessed.
Ed nodded and signed, :For a little over three years,: for Al to translate. :I know what I'm signing up for better than you do, probably.:
Teacher turned a hard stare on Al once he'd translated that, and Ed glanced over to find his brother sitting up straight under her gaze. "And you, Alphonse?"
"I'm tired of people trying to talk me out of this," Al retorted flatly.
Ed just sighed and rubbed at his face.
"You're both expelled," Teacher informed them coolly.
"Does that mean we don't have to do the dishes?" Al asked brightly. "Because I'm good with just going to bed–"
"Get in the kitchen," Teacher ordered with a scowl.
Al hurried ahead with his armful of dishes – it was even odds if he wanted to avoid Teacher's wrath, or snicker to himself out of view – while Ed moved a little slower to collect the pieces Al had missed.
"Ed," Teacher said, and he raised an eyebrow at her, "watch him. You're the only person who can stop him from making the wrong choices."
Ed put on a tired smile that communicated, he hoped, just how aware he was of that particular weight on his shoulders, then grabbed the last fork and went to join his brother in the kitchen.
Somehow, miraculously, when they returned to their room to sleep for the night, a new mattress that was big enough for him had appeared in the corner where Ed's bed usually was, made up with the pillow and blanket he'd curled up with earlier. He gave everything a suspicious once-over while Al snickered at his paranoia, before they both turned in for the night.
Surprising neither brother, Teacher woke them with the dawn and dragged them outside to 'beat some sense' into them. By her expression, she had assumed Ed's dodging the day before to have been a fluke, but both Ed and Al were plenty able to use the signals she was unknowingly giving off via her qi to dodge her strikes. In fact, the only blows she landed were the ones she delivered to both of them when they came to check on her after she'd vomited blood again.
Mason and Sig showed up shortly after they'd managed to get Teacher to sit down and rest, and Mason said, "So I guess Ed's way better, by now, but have you got any new tricks, Al?"
Al blinked. "One or two," he agreed, while signing awkwardly behind his back to Ed, :Water effect?:
Ed smirked and leant back against the wall as Al made a big show of setting one of his kunai in the middle of the ground. When Al casually glanced towards him, he nodded, and Al flashed him a smirk in response, before wiping his expression clear as he turned back towards his audience.
"Okay," Al said as he took three large steps to one side, opposite Ed. "One of the things you can do with Xingan alkahestry, is distance transmutations."
Teacher straightened slightly, looking interested.
"It requires access to the Dragon's Pulse, of course, and also an object that you've carried on your person for a while." He motioned towards the innocent kunai. "Our clan uses these knives, since you can toss them at a surface and they'll stick, but your focus can be pretty much anything." He took a deep breath and turned to face the kunai with a deep look of concentration that, Ed knew, was all for show. And then Al clapped his hands together and closed his eyes.
A stone horse with its head thrown back and mouth open started taking shape, expectedly slow, and Ed waited until the head was mostly finished, before subtly pressing his own hands together and drawing water up through the horse and out its mouth. Just a trickle, at first, growing stronger and arcing a little higher as more of the horse was completed. When Al finally opened his eyes, Ed manipulated the water spout curving out of the horse's mouth to twirl up above it and turn into mist, catching the weak morning sunlight and sparkling.
Mason clapped, clearly awed, while Sig nodded in approval.
Teacher said, "That is quite impressive."
Al rubbed at the back of his head, grinning, and admitted, "Brother helped."
With that permission, Ed manipulated the water to give the horse fangs, horns, and bat wings.
Al groaned while Mason let out a startled laugh. "Brother. At least pretend you have taste."
Ed snorted and carefully directed the water back into the ground before ending the transmutation. :Taste,: he informed his brother, :is overrated.:
Al rolled his eyes and stepped forward to collect his kunai and return his horse to the ground.
"Ed," Teacher called, and he and Al both looked at her. "How much control did you have over that water?"
Ed shrugged and signed, :Total,: for Al to translate.
"It's an Aerugonian array, translated for use with alkahestry," Al added as he clapped and his horse vanished back into the ground far quicker than it had been formed. "Brother says they're a little obsessed with water-based alchemy down there, but since they use the same energy source as Amestrisan alchemy, they're way more limited than Brother is." He huffed and shot Ed an amused look. "Really, no one is quite as good with water arrays as Brother; I can't do half his tricks, no matter what energy I use."
Ed shrugged. He didn't know where his water affinity had come from, honestly, but a part of him – which he preferred to keep shoved in a tightly locked box – wondered if it wasn't an attempt to have something in common with Mustang; most Amestrisan alchemists focussed on earth, if they focussed on any element, but Mustang had focussed on fire, so if Ed had his focus in water–
"That will certainly interest the military," Teacher pointed out, saving Ed from his thoughts.
He shook his head. :I have no intention in letting them know how good I am,: he signed, and Al translated it with a frown. :Just having seen 'that' should be enough to have Bradley accepting me, and the less they know we can do, the less we'll be watched.:
Al considered that for a moment, leaving off his translation. "Play down our knowledge?"
Ed nodded.
"Then, no distance alkahestry?"
:Do whatever you want, but keep it simple,: Ed returned. :Let your transmutations be slow, so they think there's still room for improvement, but not so slow that they think you're crap.:
Al rubbed at his face, then tossed Ed a pleading look. "Can you help me figure out what to do? I don't know where the middle ground is in my abilities. But you..."
:I do,: Ed admitted, giving his brother a considering look. He could screw him up, here and now. Give him an idea that would make the exam proctors turn him down, no matter what Bradley thinks. He could keep his brother out of the military entirely.
(He couldn't.)
He bit back a sigh. :Let's settle on what you want to do, first,: he suggested.
Al winced and nodded, dropping to the ground for what was clearly going to be a lengthy discussion. "Sorry," he offered to the three adults, while Ed came over to join him. "It looks like we're going to be debating exam possibilities for a while."
"We need to open the shop, anyway," Sig pointed out, "and Izumi should rest."
"I'll go open up, Boss," Mason promised before hurrying around to the shop's side door, leaving Sig to help Teacher inside.
Al turned to Ed. :What did you do for your exam?:
Ed tilted his head to the side and smirked. :I transmuted a staff from the ground and ran at Bradley with it.:
"Edward!" Al shouted, horrified.
Ed laughed and shook his head. :Him and Führer Bastard were the only two people who didn't freak out. Bradley just drew his sword and cut off the top of my spear, but he said he liked my guts.: He shrugged. :He's hardly going to die from one attack, so he acts like he has a great sense of humour and everything's a joke.:
Al groaned and slumped. :I'm not attacking our current Führer, homunculus or no.:
:I would have suggested against it, actually,: Ed agreed.
Al's expression turned suspicious. :You're not intending to do it again, are you?:
Ed smiled and shook his head. :No. I have a something else in mind. Something to tweak some very specific noses, without getting guns aimed at me.:
Al frowned at him for a moment, then gave an uncertain nod. :Okay. I guess.:
:But for YOU...: Ed leant forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, which made signing a little awkward, but he was used to signing in awkward positions, after two years living with people who didn't really do chairs. :Whatever you do, your code name will be based on it, so I'd suggest picking something you wouldn't mind being known for for the rest of your life.:
:State Alchemists get code names?: Al asked, clearly curious. But, then, Ed hadn't known about that either, before he'd received his.
:Remember when Führer Bastard introduced himself?: Ed prodded. :He called himself the 'Flame Alchemist'.:
"Oh." Al nodded, then gave Ed an interested look. :What was yours?:
Rather than trying to find a way to sign it, Ed pulled out a kunai and scratched 'Fullmetal' in the ground between them, upside down to him, so his brother could read it.
"Fullmetal," Al murmured. :Think you'll get it again?:
Ed couldn't stop a laugh at that, was glad his muteness meant no one could tell how bitter it was. :That me had an automail arm and attacked the Führer during his exam,: he pointed out. :He was careless and stupid and he cared more about finding a Philosopher's Stone than helping other people.: He used his hand to erase his old name, the one that Mustang had never quite stopped using, not even that night they'd shared a bed. :I'm not that boy any more, and I'll be happy if that name never makes a reappearance.:
Al watched him, coming to fuck only knew what conclusions, before shrugging and looking down at the space where Ed had written out his second name. :Okay,: he signed. :So, something I wouldn't mind having associated with me for the rest of my life.: He tilted his head to one side. :Cretan healing array?:
Ed blinked at that, interested. :Huh. That would get their interest, and it's weak enough to pass muster, so long as you actually use the tectonic movements and not the Dragon's Pulse.:
Al grimaced. :Yeah, that'll be the trick, won't it?:
Ed gave the kunai he'd used to write his name a quick twirl, then used it to break the skin of his left palm.
"Brother!" Al complained.
Ed caught his hands before he could clap them together. 'Cretan healing,' he mouthed sternly, before letting go and holding out his hand.
"You are not cutting yourself until I get this perfect," Al muttered as he clapped his hands together.
The light was green for a moment, before flickering and turning to blue, proving that Al had ended up defaulting to the Dragon's Pulse.
Ed sighed and, once the cut had finished closing, signed, :If hurting me makes you figure this out faster, that's what we're going to do.: Then he cut his palm again while Al sputtered. :Again.:
Al clenched his jaw and pressed his hands together.
The immediate blue light said this was going to take a while. Somehow, Ed kept from sighing.
They spent almost two weeks in Dublith, giving Teacher a crash course in the Dragon's Pulse, which she was struggling with, expectedly, and letting her try to beat them up when she wasn't ordered to bedrest. Al managed to sort out the Cretan healing array, and Ed surprised him with tests over the course of their stay, much to his brother's unending irritation, but it was clear that the practice was helping Al not automatically default to the Dragon's Pulse when dealing with healing. (And if he made a point of switching to Xingan healing once Ed had smiled in approval, to finish healing what marks the Cretan arrays had left, Ed couldn't really stop him; the last thing either of them needed was him going into the psychological evaluation with marks that could be taken as self-harm all over his hands.)
Eventually, though, Ed knew it was time for them to head for East City. Mason – either on the orders of the Curtises or of his own will, Ed wasn't certain which – procured train tickets for them, then refused to let Ed pay him back from their meagre funds. Which, great for their money uncertainties, but a glance toward his brother said he wasn't the only one who felt kind of bad for letting someone else pay their way, especially when that someone worked for Teacher, and it was to do something she very much didn't approve of.
The morning of the train, over breakfast, Al said, "Brother, do you know the number to the lieutenant colonel's office?"
:Colonel,: Ed corrected.
"You don't know that he got promoted."
:His promotion never had anything to do with us,: Ed returned, rolling his eyes. :I know the number for the East Command switchboard, though, yes.:
"They have a switchboard?"
"The military," Teacher offered flatly, "tends to prefer you don't use outside lines to contact specific offices."
"Oh." Al shrugged and nodded. "Okay."
After the breakfast dishes had been washed, Ed and Al took over the phone, Ed dialling, while his brother took the handset.
Al fiddled with the cord for a moment, once had Ed finished dialling and leant back against the wall, then straightened and somewhat nervously said, "Uhm, yes. I'm calling for Colonel Mustang or Lieutenant Hawkeye, whichever is available." Which was as Ed had couched, even finally giving in and using the rank the bastard had better have achieved by now. "Oh! Sorry, my name is Alphonse Elric. Yes, I'll hold."
:Deep breath,: Ed suggested.
Al took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His qi calmed slightly, and Ed quirked a smile at him; if he could take this particular duty out of his brother's hands, he would, but the most he could do was serve as emotional support.
"Lieutenant Hawkeye?" Al guessed, the line clearly being picked up. "Yes, ma'am, this is Alphonse Elric. My brother and I are on our way to East City to take the colonel up on his offer, if it's still open?" He was quiet for a moment, smiled slightly, then frowned. "Uhm, I'm not sure. One moment." He covered the mouthpiece with a finger. "Brother, do you know when we should be getting in to East City?"
Ed frowned and tilted his head as he did some quick mental figuring; they'd only gone from Dublith to East City a handful of times, and, usually, East City was just the switch-over point for the Resembool line, but if their train was due to leave Dublith that evening... :Friday morning? The exact time depends on when we finally pull out of Central Station.:
Al nodded and returned to the phone. "My brother says sometime Friday morning. Coming from Central? Okay. Yes, ma'am. Thank you." He gently set the receiver down, then said, "She said someone will meet us at the station and bring us to the command building, so we don't have to worry about trying to get past the gate guards."
Ed blinked and nodded; that was fairly sensible, actually. :Führer Bastard won't send anyone other than his team, so I'll recognise them.:
"Assuming he has the same team," Al cautioned. "You don't know what you changed by sending him that warning."
Ed sighed. :Fine. But I ALSO know all of the people in East Command that he'd be most likely to trust, so I still say we won't have any trouble spotting them.: He rolled his eyes. :Honestly, he'll probably send Hawkeye, since she knows what we look like.:
"I guess that's true..." Al agreed.
Ed shook his head. :We'll figure it out,: he decided. :For now, are you packed?:
Al groaned. "Mostly." Then he narrowed his eyes on Ed. "Are you?"
Ed grinned. :Mostly.:
Al rolled his eyes and led the way back to their room.
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