Don the Armour

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or its characters. They belong to Hiromu Arakawa and the respective companies, although I created the original characters featured in Don The Armour. I am grateful to be able to create a story from this beautiful concept.

The titles of all my stories on begin with A, B, C...and now D. It's a curse, and I promise, completely unintentional.

Just saying - who else would love a spin-off anime of Al's POV in Brotherhood? But I'd probably cry for each time that Al couldn't... Ah damn these feels.

Please enjoy!

Chapter 1 - Save the One You Must

Truth's void

Equivalent Exchange. A law consisting of equal output and input both physically and mentally. A penalty to remind humans of their place in this world, all of the naive alchemists who thought they would succeed at resurrecting the dead.

One had given his entire body, the other only a leg at the beginning of their journey.

One then gave a leg and his alchemy to God, the other only returning to his body at the end.

Does that sound equivalent? To a human, more than equivalent. But there were laws that had to be obeyed.

The Elric brothers had more to give...

Summer 1917 in Amestris - Central City

The crowds roared. Thousands of people filled the stadium, cheering on their favourite teams. Some called out the name of a famous athlete or the name of the country that they supported. Alphonse Elric was cheering on his brother.

Sitting near the front of the stadium, Al was hunched over a particularly miniscule stall. On his left, the Rockbell mechanic was shrieking every Amestrian competitor's name; Al smiled awkwardly, wondering if "enthusiastic" was an understatement to Winry's excitement. She had even dyed the ends of her hair a vibrant white and green painted the same green and white colours of the Amestrian flag on her cheek for Truth's sake. All Al could do was roll his eyes, and attempt to become absorbed into the Games as she did. The seat on his right was currently vacant. He couldn't even speak about May. His Xingese companion had fidgeted through the entire of the first half of today's events (Al didn't remember what these were) and at the halfway interval, she was pouring her rendezvous awe in the gift shop. If Winry Rockbell was obsessed, May Chang bordered insane.

There was one cause for this pandemonium - The Amestrian Games. Ever since Father had been stopped almost two years ago and the military had withdrawn its forces from its neighbouring countries, Amestris had become a land to prosper. Trade flourished, communications had advanced leaps and bounds (Al scowled at the hurdles he saw on the racing track) and its people were at peace. And so these Games had been revived, as a way to secure the bonds forged between these countries: Aerugo, Xing, Creta, Drachma, Amestris and Ishval.

The first Games had been like an introduction to a story and now the second Games was the climax. There had been more hype, more planning and more events this year than the first Games could have imagined, so much so that May had planned her annual visit to Amestris to coincide with her favourite events. How much money she was spending in the gift shop Al could not fathom, but her seat had been vacant for nearly a full hour.

Al cringed in his seat, wishing for a quiet afternoon home in Resembool, sitting on the rooftop and watching the stars. Instead he had the flashing lights of the stadium in place of the stars and the never-ending gossip which resonated throughout the open-air building.

When would they shut up?

Al harrumphed silently in the too small stall. He rubbed his eyes and blamed his glumness on his tiredness. He hadn't slept well last night. Someone had to do the worrying in the family. And Al only hoped that his worries were due to tiredness alone.

Ed definitely couldn't. He was backstage preparing for the interval's main show in the Games – a State Alchemist performance. Ed couldn't use alchemy. But Ed wouldn't be called "useless". So Ed would participate in the performance as a mentor to the other alchemists, many of whom were over twice as old as his eighteen years.

It was strange though – why would the military need to prove their strength through the State Alchemists? Why wouldn't the military just ask any alchemist to stage the performance? Al subtly shook his head – he had to enjoy this moment and stop worrying like a parent. After all, the brothers did not have much time left together.

The brothers had decided to head east and west respectively to discover more secrets about alchemy, and they were due to depart in a month. This was the last summer that they would spend together as a family in what could be years. If Ed wanted to go to the games…Al would follow and watch over his brother, as he had always done. At these Games, Ed would be heralded by his title of Fullmetal Alchemist, a legend engraved into Amestris' history, even without the ability to use alchemy.

To Al, Ed was Ed.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Al heard a shuffle to his right and listened to the rushed apologies of "sorry!" and "excuse me!" as May returned to her seat. Her eyes glimmered as she shoved all of the trinkets she had purchased into Al's face. "They're lovely…" he muttered back and placed them on her enormous pile of merchandise. The panda Shao May handed them hastily back to Al, her cunning eyes missing nothing.

Winry started to tug at Al's shoulder, whispering "it's about to start!" and the chatter began to dissolve into silence in the stadium. It was afternoon, but the stadium suddenly felt dark and mystifying as the bright lights were dimmed. A spotlight materialised above Al and he looked up to be temporarily blinded. The beam of light shone at the Official's Box, where the Fuhrer Grumman and other country leaders stood together in a line united. The Amestrian leader stepped up to a podium, his blue military uniform glowing abstractly in the light and started to address the hushed crowd. The uneasiness stirred in Al again – butterflies tumbling around his insides.

"I am proud to introduce the State Alchemists of Amestris, some of the most talented scientists in this country. They're here to uphold their motto – be thou for the people, but today, ladies and gentlemen, they are here for your entertainment!" Grumman smirked and raised a hand. The lights dimmed to nothing.

The crowds froze, and everyone held their breath. No children stirred, no banners blew in the stadium. Time itself seemed to have frozen. Al's legs were cramping beneath him and he was equally as restless. But as soon as the lighting remerged and he saw the raw materials for transmutations scattered across the floor, Al's eyes scanned the field for the golden-haired individual. The three, four including the panda, companions were in prime position to see all of the events. They had enough elevation to see over other spectator's heads without being so far away that all of the athletes on the track were the size of ants. Even with Ed's shorter-than-average height, Al spotted his brother with ease.

Edward Elric stood with his back turned to Alphonse, ponytail not even quivering in the still air. His hands were raised above his head, and his signature red cloak blazed like a sun-struck torch. And all eyes were upon him. The palms of his hands inched closer together until they were almost directly above his head. In the last second, they thrust forwards into a clap, and the sound had barely reached Al when the performance was unleashed.

There was a blur of colour and crackles in the air, blue sparks igniting in every direction. Rock pillars were forged from the bare earth, sculptures etched from fractured glass. Ed acted as a conductor to this alchemic orchestra, with each movement flawlessly planned, deftly moving from one transmutation into the next like a water dancer. Some of the designs that were created, which Al swore was the flamel snake that was his teacher Izumi Curtis' emblem, the same mark on the back of Ed's cloak. Of course Ed had to add his own flair to the performance.

In one corner, the Major Alex Louis Armstrong sparkled like an electric current, channelling his artistic alchemy into the ground, creating structures lacking neither in grace nor finesse. The only problem with his sculptures was that they resembled his hulking form, so Al couldn't credit the Major for his originality. But all of the structures became swathed in a blanket of smoke, when a phoenix of flame erupted from a snap of fingers. Brigadier General Mustang had joined the music. The phoenix danced between the transmuted objects like it was in an obstacle course, swiftly diving between them with flawless ease. As the phoenix vanished in glistening embers in the centre of the stadium, the crowds too awed to speak in the finale of this show, it left in its track glowing rings indicating its path of flight.

Then there was the uproar of applause. All of the alchemists came to the centre to take a final bow. Ed turned around, caught Al's eye and beamed.

But it seemed that the brothers had only endured a fraction of the hell that Hell had proposed for them.

They were still paying for that one fatal mistake of resurrecting their mother.

Seven years on, and they were still fucking paying.

The earth started to shake. Lights flickered. A child screamed in the stadium.

Debris from the rock formations collided into the centre of the stadium, over the alchemists. Ed started to shout something, but vanished beneath the cloud of dust rising. Everyone started moving, but Al stared, vertigo reeling around his mind. It was like he was falling from a height, trapped in motion sickness. Trapped in that stall.

Al registered May shaking him. "Get up, Al. They need your help!" The voice was like a dream. "They're down there – Al. You might be the only one able to save them. Your brother is down there!"

"Brother!" Al jumped from his seat and raced down the stairs like he was being chased by a tornado. May and Shao May scampered to keep up with him to no avail.

Al's feet skidded across the rubble and he landed roughly on his back. He clapped his hands to transmute and remove the debris. But his vision suddenly faltered. The back of his eyes were brandished with white. In the stadium, cries pierced the air ever louder; guns were shot into the sky to calm the ruckus. Nothing changed.

Al's mind wasn't there. He was at the Gate. Ed was there, a limp mass. Unmoving, still, frozen. He couldn't be - no way, no way!

Truth smirked, "What will you sacrifice, Alphonse Elric? What will you sacrifice…for your beloved brother?"

Al shuddered. What was left for them to pay?

But Al would pay anything. Everything. In a heartbeat.