Mossmask: I was never particularly fond of this concept, but so many of my friends kept suggesting I write something along these lines so I finally decided to try it. And I have to admit - the moment I actually started writing, my opinion did a complete 180 and now I really like this idea... heh.

~Dash Out

Role Reversal
Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction
by The Cinderninja

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Ed gave a weary sigh as he shut the book. Of course. He hadn't thought of the possibility of a rebound before. But... with a transmutation that powerful... of course. Of course there was the possibility of a rebound. If anything went wrong, the transmutation could turn deadly quickly.

A transmutation requiring that much energy would take too much if they got it wrong. If they missed even a single rune, or made one small miscalculation. It was a risk he was willing to take. But... he glanced behind himself at the messy blond hair of his younger brother, who had fallen asleep on the floor with a book open on his face. Was it a risk he was willing to let Al take...?

A few more days and he was ready. He signed his name on the last of his papers and folded it up. "That's it." He announced, startling his brother. He stood. "It's done."

"Brother?" He felt Al's eyes on him, and turned around with a wide grin, refusing to show any of his misgivings.

"I'm ready." He explained. "Come on, Al." He didn't say where he was going. He simply turned and marched out of their father's study, and Al followed him. Of course Al followed him. Al didn't even wonder why they were leaving, if they were ready, when all of the stuff for the transmutation was back there in the room.

Didn't question it until Ed abruptly stopped beside him. He stumbled two more steps before turning around in confusion, just in time to see the wooden door slam shut in his face.

"B-brother?" He asked, startled. He reached up to turn the knob, but in the seconds before he gripped it, he heard the tell tale shhck of the latch sliding into place. "Hey! Open the door!"

"Sorry, Al." Ed's voice sounded from the other side of the door. He sounded so close, he was only inches away, with nothing but the solid wood door between them. "I should only be a few minutes."

"No, hey! Wait! I worked on this too! You can't do it by yourself! It's not fair!" Al pounded on the door with his fists, indignant. "What are you doing?"

Ed sighed. "It's too dangerous, Al."

"Dangerous? How can-" But Ed had already walked away and started piling elements on the floor. As soon as Al realized shouting and pounding on the door wasn't going to get him anywhere, he turned to run to his bedroom to find his spare chalk that hadn't come with him into the study.

He was coming back down the hall when Ed's screaming started. He practically threw himself to the floor in front of the door and scrawled a transmutation circle on the wood as fast as his trembling hands could. He kept yelling for Ed to tell him what was happening but he got no answer besides terrified screams. And Al had never heard sounds like that come from his brother before. Not even Teacher had ever made Ed sound that frightened.

The wood opened itself up to let him through, and Al crawled through the hole only to be blinded by the light of an alchemical reaction. It's red it shouldn't be red why is it red.

He raced across the room and grabbed his brother's hand. He had no idea what he was looking at or how did it get here or why was this happening. But frankly, he didn't care. What he cared about was his brother's hand slipping away from his no matter how much he tightened his grip. Little black hands were wrapped around Ed's ankles and waist, and the more Al pulled, the more they pulled back. Ed was coming apart into a million pieces everywhere the black strands touched his skin.

"AL! What are you doing?!" Ed cried frantically, actually trying to swat Al's hands away.

"Saving you, you idiot!" Al shouted, resolutely ignoring the burning sensation as the black tentacle limbs found their way to him and started binding his wrists.

"You'll be caught up in the rebound! Get the hell out of here!" And then Ed was gone.

Al didn't freeze. He didn't stare in shocked silence. He didn't freak out or wonder what he was going to do. He threw himself right into that light after his brother because he'd be damned if he let Ed go on without him.

When Al opened his eyes again, he was nowhere. Literally nowhere. Nothing but whiteness surrounded him. Ed wasn't there. "Ed!" He shouted, not at all caring about where he had ended up. The real problem here was that he should have ended up with his brother. "Ed, where are you?!"

Then he met the Truth. It asked if he shouldn't be more concerned about himself, which Al scoffed at. It didn't seem at all impressed by Al's selflessness. Then the Gate opened and Al finally realized that maybe he should be at least a little bit frightened.

But by then the little hands had wrapped around his body and were dragging him backwards, so all he could do was scream for his brother. He saw the Truth. He saw his mom, and his brother, and all of Amestris, and whole lot of other stuff too he didn't care a lot about but he couldn't shut his eyes if he tried and there was a noise that started off as a quiet garbled whisper like water bubbling in a really shallow stream but then it got louder and louder until it was hissing and roaring and drowning everything else out and then right when he realized it was his own screaming it all stopped.

He was on his hands and knees panting for breath, eyes wide. It was only then that he realized how relieved he was to see his arms and legs all there, because he'd just seen his whole body deconstructed when he went through the Gate. And he still didn't know where Ed was.

"My brother." He repeated. Last time he asked, he got tossed into the stupid Gate. Not what he'd been hoping for. "Where is he?" Maybe this time the stupid thing would give him a straight answer.

The Truth laughed at him because didn't I just show you? and then he felt like he was falling even though he hadn't moved an inch from where he knelt. It made him dizzy and sick and he sat up suddenly, like waking from a dream where you've fallen off of something only to throw yourself halfway across the room. Only he couldn't throw himself halfway anywhere because he had nothing to throw himself with. Half his leg was missing. Now he remembered.

Everything seemed more clear now that he was back then it did in that place he'd been. He couldn't think straight in there. But he remembered now. The Truth telling him that was the toll. For being tossed through some Gate he hadn't even wanted to open- Ed. Where was Ed?

Al sat up and whirled around, only now realizing that for all his trouble, Ed still wasn't here. Al set his jaw and shook his head, because that couldn't be true. He wouldn't let it be. He knew where his brother was. That was what he'd asked the thing in there. He'd asked it where Ed was, and it had shown him.

He crawled over to the suit of armor in the corner and kicked it over with his remaining leg. The adrenaline running through him right now was enough to keep his missing leg from becoming anything more then a dull throbbing and an inconvenience to mobility, but he knew that wouldn't last.

He wore, for the first time, the wild grin that was usually only present on Ed's face, as he drew the circle in his own blood. He grinned because he knew it would work. He knew, because he'd seen the Truth, and the Truth had shown him exactly what to do. He'd asked for his brother and it had given him this instead.

He activated the array knowing exactly what he'd be giving and what he'd be getting back. He didn't think it was equivalent – his brother's soul was worth far more then a single limb. He didn't really care what the exchange rate was though, so long as it worked.

Even so, it wasn't until he heard his brother's voice and knew he was safe that he finally let himself relax and give into the growing darkness, and let the heaviness in his two remaining limbs weigh him down.

"Ugh... what... Al? Al? What happened?! AL!"

He cracked one eye open and grinned slightly. "Uuuuh... alchemy stuff." He explained groggily. "Saved you. More on that later." And then he passed out for real.