#fma fanfiction
Summary: Xerxes falls and the only two survivors walk away from the dead city.
Homunculus is keen to make the most of the new human body he now wears, and he goes out into the world, still planning his ascension to godhood as he strips away his vices and turns them into homunculi.
Van Hohenheim believes he has become a monster, and he hides himself away, befriending the other abominations of the world, failed human transmutations doomed to agonising half-life without the intervention of a Philosopher’s Stone.
Years later, Homunculus meets Trisha Elric and sires two sons with her before vanishing into the night, whilst Hohenheim tries to foil his doppelgänger’s schemes.
Years after that, Edward and Alphonse Elric are caught up in the middle of it all…
A Father-Hohenheim role reversal switcheroo, following Mangahood’s main plot with elements of ‘03, based on the premise ‘what if Father was Ed and Al’s father and Hohenheim was the one hiding under Central?’
Rated:Teen
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Two
In hindsight, Ed realised that sneaking into an abandoned and structurally unsound building in which mysterious alchemical experiments had been conducted and secrets were still definitely being housed was not the best of ideas.
Especially not when they had snuck out from under their guard and had not told anyone where they were going.
And especially not when the abandoned building turned out to not be abandoned at all, and now Al was who knew where fighting who knew what and Ed was backed into a corner by What The Hell on one side and Even More What The Hell on the other, and to make matters even worse, now his arm had randomly stopped working.
This was definitely one of the worse scrapes that Ed had found himself in during his still rather short and hopefully not yet over life.
“Lust! Envy! I might have known that you two would be here. You’re like a vulture, aren’t you, Envy? Always looking for death and misery. Mind you, I think that vultures have slightly better dress sense.”
The figure who had given a final death to Slicer’s body and now had Ed on the back foot whirled around at this insult against their taste in fashion, and Ed took advantage of the brief moment of respite to take stock of the situation and the source of his unexpected reprieve. Two new figures had entered the room. One was a young man who had immediately gone toe to toe with the one Ed assumed was Lust, and the other…
It was the stranger from the fight with Scar in Eastern City, and they gave an exasperated sigh when they turned and saw Ed in the corner of the room.
“You’ve got to stop making a habit of this, you know,” they said. “I’ve never known anyone to get into as many life or death situations as you.”
Ed felt that this was a bit uncharitable since they’d only met twice, but he would admit that both times were indeed life or death, and twice in one month was still rather a lot of life or death situations for the average person to get into. He struggled back to his feet as the other newcomer ducked a skewering from Lust and took a running jump towards Envy, bowling them over.
“Well go on!” The golden-eyed stranger made shooing motions towards Ed. “You need to save your skin whilst you can, this place could collapse at any moment.”
“What about you?” What Ed really wanted to ask was who are you, but this wasn’t the time or place.
“You really don’t need to worry about us, now get out of here.” The stranger hopped lightly out of Lust’s reach. “You shouldn’t even be here in the first place! Why are you even here?”
Ed didn’t need further prompting and started to make his way towards the exit, still feeling woozy from the blood loss. His vision was starting to swim at the edges, and he could feel his legs beginning to tremble under him. This really wasn’t boding too well, and to make matters worse, they’d left their main source of help behind. At least if Ross and Brosh noticed that they were missing from their hotel room then they’d probably know where to look for them. He just needed to hope that they had noticed he and Al were missing, which, considering the pains they’d taken to escape, wasn’t a certainty.
He staggered, the noises of the fight behind him starting to swim, and he heard a commotion as he leaned against the wall, dragging himself along to try and keep going. He vaguely heard a long-suffering sigh, and vaguely felt himself being picked up like a ragdoll and draped over someone’s shoulder, and that someone moving far too fast to be truly human. Then everything was distant and dark and far away.
He could just about hear voices, and he could just about recognise Al’s voice exclaiming, and the mysterious stranger’s voice much closer to his ear.
“Please keep a better eye on him; we’re really not supposed to be doing this.”
Then everything was truly black.
X
“Something’s going on.”
Privately, Al thought that was something of an understatement, but he chose not to say anything to Hughes. They’d been holed up in Ed’s hospital room for close to an hour with Hughes and Armstrong, explaining what had been going on. A young lieutenant named Abrams had taken over door-guarding duty from Brosh and Ross, who definitely needed the break. Al felt a bit sorry for them.
“You say that this person was in Eastern when you were attacked by Scar?” Hughes pointed to the picture that Al had sketched of the mysterious stranger who’d turned up and then vanished in Eastern and had then carted an unconscious Ed out of the fifth laboratory just before it came down in ruins.
“Yes. They ran off as soon as the military arrived.” Al paused. “I get the impression they would have run off as soon as the military arrived last night, if they hadn’t had to hand Ed over.”
Ed snorted. “Way to give an injured guy a guilt trip, thanks, Al.”
“You know what I mean. They’re obviously not with the military, and it looks like they’re not with these people with the Ouroboros tattoos either.”
“Hmm.” Neither Hughes nor Armstrong spoke for a long while, Hughes continuing to peruse Al’s sketches of the Mysterious Friend, as Granny had called them, and their associate, and Ed’s pictures of the two people who had killed Slicer and attacked him inside the lab; the ones who had been referred to as Lust and Envy.
“Do you think that they’re following you?” Hughes asked eventually. “It seems unlikely that they’re allied with Scar considering what happened in Eastern, but someone tailing a State Alchemist is a cause for concern considering his patterns of behaviour.”
Ed thought about it for a long time before shaking his head slowly.
“No, I don’t think so. From the way they were talking in the lab, it seemed like my being there was incidental, I don’t think they were expecting to see me. I think they were more concerned with the other two than they were with me.”
“That still doesn’t explain their presence in Eastern,” Armstrong pointed out. “These other two with the Ouroboros weren’t anywhere to be seen on that day.”
“Yeah, that part doesn’t add up,” Ed agreed. “But I think last night was a coincidence.”
“If there’s one thing that I’ve learned since working in intelligence, it’s never to trust a coincidence,” Hughes said dryly. “You said these Ouroboros guys mentioned something about sacrifices?”
“Yeah, although I was kind of fighting for my life at the time so I wasn’t really paying much attention,” Ed sniped. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on with either of these two groups, I just know that we were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in all of it. They’re both opposed to each other and even though these guys jumped in to save us - twice, technically, if you count the time in Eastern as well - that’s no indication that they’re on our side or they can be trusted.”
“The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend,” Hughes agreed.
“And they’re not human,” Ed added. “None of them are. She’s got freaky fingers, that one heals instantly and these two are way too fast and strong to be human.”
“Well, that should make things easier to investigate,” Hughes quipped before gathering up all of the papers. “Well, I’ll keep looking into it. Nobody should be poking about in abandoned government labs in the middle of the night.” He gave Ed and Al a pointed look, and Al felt rather guilty at their deceit.
After Hughes and Armstrong left them alone, neither of them spoke for a long time, both still lost in their own thoughts and in the conclusions that Hughes had helped them to draw.
“You know, Al, I’ve been thinking,” Ed said eventually. “Once Winry’s fixed up my arm again, I think we’re going to have to go and see Teacher.”
Al startled at the thought. “Are you sure?”
“I can’t think of anyone else I would trust to tell us about the Philosopher’s Stone, and she’s not part of the military.”
“Are you absolutely sure?”
“Not at all, but I can’t see another choice.”
“She’s going to kill us.”
“Well, that’s a certainty. But I think that we might be able to get some answers before we die.”
Al sighed. He didn’t think that there was going to be any talking Ed out of this one, and he didn’t have a better idea.
“All right. Let’s go and see Teacher.”
X
“Central City Crisis Line, what’s your emergency?”
“I need an ambulance. A man’s been shot at close range in the phone booth I’m calling from in Central Park. He’s losing a lot of blood.”
“Is he still breathing?”
“Yes.”
Summary: Xerxes falls and the only two survivors walk away from the dead city.
Homunculus is keen to make the most of the new human body he now wears, and he goes out into the world, still planning his ascension to godhood as he strips away his vices and turns them into homunculi.
Van Hohenheim believes he has become a monster, and he hides himself away, befriending the other abominations of the world, failed human transmutations doomed to agonising half-life without the intervention of a Philosopher’s Stone.
Years later, Homunculus meets Trisha Elric and sires two sons with her before vanishing into the night, whilst Hohenheim tries to foil his doppelgänger’s schemes.
Years after that, Edward and Alphonse Elric are caught up in the middle of it all…
A Father-Hohenheim role reversal switcheroo, following Mangahood’s main plot with elements of ‘03, based on the premise ‘what if Father was Ed and Al’s father and Hohenheim was the one hiding under Central?’
Rated: Teen
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[AO3]
==
One
If it wasn’t for the stranger, Ed reflected, he might be dead. Staring up at the cloudless sky above Resembool, he remembered the mysterious figure who’d appeared during their altercation with Scar in Eastern City. They had only been there for a minute or so and they had disappeared as soon as the military had arrived; vanishing as quickly as they had come onto the scene as they dashed into the darkness of the alleyway they had jumped out of in the first place. Still, their presence had been enough to turn the tide, levelling the playing field and distracting Scar for long enough to allow Mustang and the others to come and take charge.
They hadn’t been an alchemist, at least, Ed hadn’t seen them use alchemy, but they were fast, and they were strong, and as Ed had looked on in a haze of pain and panic and my arm is destroyed and I have no defence and I’m about to die, he had caught a glimpse of their face beneath their hood - a sharp, angular, youthful face, with messy blonde hair.
The thing that struck Ed most, though, were the eyes.
“You’re thinking about the stranger again, aren’t you?”
Ed glanced sideways at Al, then looked back at the sky with a sigh.
“Yeah, I guess I am. I just can’t get over the eyes, you know? I’ve never seen anyone with our colour eyes before. Apart from, you know. Him.”
“Yeah.” Al gave a long sigh. “Do you think…” He trailed off, but Ed could follow the train of thought. He didn’t press the point, letting Al come round to it eventually. “Do you think they might be related to us? I mean, if our father had other children, then perhaps…”
Ed really didn’t want to think about it. It wasn’t that he was averse to the idea of having more family members, although it was a very strange concept to consider when his family had consisted of just Al and Mom for as long as he could remember. He just didn’t want to think about his father for any length of time. Especially not about where he might have gone, what he might have done, and whom he might have done it with. Ed didn’t even remember his father, he’d left that long ago. Hell, Al had never even met the man; he’d vanished into the ether whilst Mom had still been pregnant with him.
“Granny kept that photo, you know,” Al said presently, and Ed sat bolt upright.
“What?”
“That photo of our father, the one that Mom always kept. Granny snuck it before we burned the house.” Al paused, contemplative. “I think she wanted to keep it in case he ever showed up again so she wouldn’t forget what he looked like and she could beat him up.”
Ed snorted. “She’d have to wait in line.”
They fell back into silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts.
“Would you want to meet them?”
Ed raised an eyebrow. “Who, our potential half-sibling?”
“Yes. And any other potential half-siblings that might be out there.”
“I don’t want to think about us having any half-siblings at all, let alone more than one.” Ed scoffed. “Still, I suppose we could bond over weird eye colour and terrible fathers.”
“I think it would be interesting to meet them.” Al continued to muse. “Maybe they might be able to tell us more about him.”
“Maybe. I don’t want to know more about him, though. I know all I need to know. He left when I was tiny and you weren’t even born. He left Mom on her own with a toddler whilst she was pregnant. That’s all I know and all I want to know. I don’t care about anything else.”
“I know. A part of me feels the same way, but then, there’s a part of me that keeps asking why. Why did he leave?”
“Because he was an asshole.”
“Well, yeah, I guess. He never said anything to Mom, did he?”
“Nope. She woke up one morning and he’d vanished. It was like he was never there.”
“He saw, he conquered, he came, and then he buggered off.” Ed turned sharply on hearing Granny’s voice. “I thought you might be talking about him. Al told me about the mysterious friend who saved your skins.”
She held out the small snapshot as she came towards them, and Ed took it, passing it to Al without looking at it. It was the only photo of their father that existed, and despite everything, Mom had always kept it. It wasn’t out of any sentimental value, not really. She’d kept it more as a reminder of everything he’d done, leaving her high and dry with two children and no explanation.
She’d never liked to talk about him all that much, but sometimes she’d told them stories of the mysterious man who’d turned up out of the blue one day and swept her off her feet, a man with hair and eyes like the sun and brilliant alchemy to match. Sometimes Ed wondered if his and Al’s dabbling in alchemy had ever caused her pain to think of the memories of before they were born. She’d never shown anything but pride in their work, but it must have been a reminder every time they transmuted something.
“Well, if this mysterious friend is related to that bastard, then it sounds like they’ve certainly inherited the disappearing act genes.” Granny sighed. “You know, I can’t decide whether you chasing this thread would be a good idea or a bad one. There are big warning signs flashing everywhere I look; the same warning signs that started flashing when he came to town and began wooing Trisha in the first place. I always feel like I should have been able to do more to protect her, but if there’s one thing that can be said of your mother, she was a determined woman. You definitely get your stubbornness from her.”
Here Granny gave Ed a pointed look. “There’s a part of me that wants to just let the whole thing stay buried. He caused enough trouble when he was around, I don’t want him causing you two even more trouble now that he’s not around. At the same time, though, there’s another part of me that thinks maybe it would be good to find some more of his relatives.”
“We’ll be careful,” Ed said. “Whatever happens. Besides, we’ve got other threads to chase.” He thought of Dr Marcoh and his research hidden in Central Library, the key to the Philosopher’s Stone and potentially the key to getting their bodies back. That was far more important than chasing after potential half-siblings via their errant father.
Granny raised an eyebrow. “Hmm.”
“We have got other threads to chase!” Ed protested. “We have a new lead on the Philosopher’s Stone.”
“That wasn’t what I had an issue with,” Granny said dryly. “It was the ‘we’ll be careful’ part. I’ve never known two people less careful. I know you don’t do it intentionally, but I swear one of these days, you’re going to get yourselves into something that’s going to give me a heart attack.”
Al laughed. “Nothing could phase you enough to give you a heart attack, Granny.”
“You just keep believing that.” Granny snorted. “Anyway, Winry’s just finishing up with your arm, Ed. She should be ready in a few minutes. Then you can head off on whatever madcap adventure comes next.”
She left them alone once more, going back up to the house, and Ed fell to thinking again. Finding the Philosopher’s Stone was their first priority, and nothing would change that. Still… Even though Ed didn’t really have any desire to find any potential family members, not like Al did, he couldn’t help but be intrigued by the stranger. There was something about them that really wasn’t normal, something in their speed and agility that seemed… off. And how had they known that Ed and Al were in trouble and needed help anyway? It wasn’t like they were just passing by on the street, not when everywhere was so empty due to the rain and not when they’d appeared out of nowhere. Although Ed hadn’t been paying attention at the time, the more that he thought about it now that he had the leisure to do so, the more he came to the conclusion that the stranger had appeared and helped them purposefully. They’d known that he and Al were in trouble and needed someone to buy them just a few precious minutes.
It was still troubling though, and just as Granny had described, Ed could see the warnings flashing too. Why had they run off when the military had arrived? Why not stick around to make sure that Scar was incapacitated and that he and Al were all right? He couldn’t deny that the stranger had certainly helped them, and probably saved their lives, but they likely had their own agenda just as much as Scar did, even if Ed and Al weren’t currently on the wrong side of it.
He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, determined to focus on their mission in Central and the Philosopher’s Stone instead. He was sure that their meeting had not been a coincidence, and he wondered if they’d cross paths again, but that was a bridge they would cross when they came to it. They had more important things to think about right now.
He still couldn’t get those golden eyes out of his head, though.
X
“You know we’re not supposed to intervene like that. You’ve been at this far longer than I have, you know that secrecy is everything.”
“I know, but I had to. I didn’t think that the military would turn up in time and someone had to stop the poor kid from being exploded. Besides, it’s the Elrics. I can’t just leave them to their fates.”
“I know. Well… I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”
“Thank you.”
