Chronology

by Lady Norbert

Chronology: A form of time measurement consisting of studying the past.

A/N: Welcome to whatever this is. I fully admit I hadn't planned on extending the Elemental Chess series quite so far. But the idea was niggling at me for a little while, encouraged by Tumblr of course, and one night I had an amazing flash of inspiration. So here comes the next generation of alchemists, as this story focuses primarily on the kids you met when you read The Game of Three Generals. You'll see the Mustang twins, Ed and Winry's five kids (Arakawa did say that they have a large family), and some characters you'll be meeting for the first time.

This will update slowly, because I'm still untangling the nightmare into which the characters plunge. But the first several chapters will be fun, I promise. This first chapter is more of a prologue than anything, which accounts for it being so short.

As usual, the title and chapter titles are all going to fit a theme. In this go-round, all the titles are related to time travel. Prepare for the unexpected, kids. Even I don't quite know where we're going for this final installment... but I do know when.

Many thanks are owed to a number of people, including my fellow author "stupidsexymustang," who helped me select the title and is the one whom I am tormenting with future knowledge. (She says "NO!" a lot.) Thanks also to my dear friend Emma, with whom I have passed many happy hours plotting FMA stories that no one but ourselves will ever see. The two youngest Elric children are named in honor of these two ladies. Thanks to all my FMA loving followers on Tumblr. And as usual, thanks to Andrea for dragging me into this fandom kicking and screaming; this is all your fault, again.

Chapter One: Reference Frame

Reference frame: A (possibly imaginary) laboratory for making physical measurements, which moves through the Universe in some particular manner.

"Are they here yet?"

It is perhaps the eighth time Lucas Elric has heard the question since breakfast, and it takes all of his considerable force of will not to growl at the speaker. Had it been anyone else, he might not have restrained himself; but for six-year-old Danielle, he can be patient.

"If they were," he says, "do you think I'd still be up here?" His long limbs are draped among the branches of the tree in the front yard, a book in his hands itching to be read. Luke is seventeen, the eldest of Ed and Winry's brood of five, and the grin he bestows on his youngest sister is almost identical to their father's. "They'll be here. Just you wait."

"It takes forever," she complains, looking up at him with a frown. Her expression almost immediately shifts into something more crafty. It's a little unsettling, he thinks. "Are you gonna kiss Riana this time?"

"You keep those ideas to yourself," he grumbles. "Look, why don't you go see what Emma's doing while you're waiting? I'm trying to read."

"Can I come up? Will you read to me?"

"No. It's alchemy."

She huffs. "It's always alchemy," she grouses, and turns to run back into the house. He shakes his golden head and resumes his studies.

For as long as Luke can remember, there have been a few certain things in his life. His mother is an automail surgeon, one of the finest in the nation (not that he's biased), and his father has an automail leg which causes him a lot of discomfort when the weather is bad. They live in the same small community in southern Amestris where his parents grew up, and until her death his great-grandmother Pinako had been the head of the family. His only uncle, Alphonse, is married to a Xingese princess named May and they usually live on the far side of the Xerxes desert; if he strains his memory very hard, he has some vague recollection of their Amestrian wedding when he was a small boy. Aunt May's brother is the Emperor of Xing, and so Luke and his brother and sisters are sort of royalty by association, or so their father likes to say.

Another thing which has always been true, in his memories, is that Roy Mustang is the leader of Amestris. Initially, and this is stretching back farther than Luke can remember clearly, he was appointed to the rank of Fuhrer Auxiliary. He held that title while his grandfather-in-law, a crusty and twinkly-eyed creature whom Luke remembers as "Grummy," occupied the top post. Grummy died in the same year that Luke's only brother Curtis was born, and Roy inherited what he likes to call the big chair. By the time Danielle came along five years later, Roy had made great strides toward turning Amestris into a democracy, which is apparently what he and his wife Riza have wanted to do since they were not much older than Luke is now. With every passing year, the country increases its freedoms, and in return the grateful people keep authorizing Roy to stay where he is and do what he does.

It's a little confusing to Luke, if he thinks about it too much. He's not that interested in politics.

It's the arrival of these famous people, among others, which has little Danielle so impatient. Every summer, the 'extended family' selects a week during which they all more or less invade Resembool, and for several days the Elric home is a cacophony of noise and affection. The Emperor and Empress rarely manage to get so far west, but they usually send Fu, their eldest, along with May and Alphonse for the gathering. The Mustangs are always accompanied by the same men who served under Roy in the military for many years, as well as their families; and of course the guest list never fails to include Sig and Izumi Curtis, Luke's honorary grandparents, for whom his younger brother was named.

These are the constant faces, but others have been known to arrive too. Gracia Hughes, the widow of Roy's best friend, occasionally travels with the Mustangs, as her grown daughter Elysia sometimes does as well. Assorted soldiers may make the trek from the Ishval Command center, like Colonel Miles or Lieutenant Colonel Douglas, as well as some of the others from Central City who were allied to the Mustangs without serving under them directly - Colonel Alex Armstrong in particular hates to miss the festivities. Twice, even the fabled Major General Armstrong descended on them from the Briggs Fortress, and Luke had privately decided that he had never seen anything more beautiful or more terrifying than this woman.

But there are two guests on their way who are more important to Luke than any other, and he has trouble concealing his own impatience to see them. Brendan and Riana, Roy and Riza's fifteen-year-old twins, have always been two of the most significant people in his life. Brendan is Luke's best friend, and the only person his own age who fully understands and shares his own passion for alchemy. As to Riana, Luke calculates that he was maybe eight or nine years old when he concluded that he was going to marry her when they grew up. Uncle Al finds this hilarious, since apparently his father came to the same conclusion about his mother at an even earlier age.

Luke doesn't care who laughs, as long as Riana herself doesn't. He'll need to discuss it with her eventually, of course; he just wants to have the rest of his future planned out better before he does. Curt and Lily are both coming along well as their mother's automail apprentices, but Luke's heart firmly belongs to alchemy - a fact which both pleases and worries his father. Why Ed would be concerned, Luke isn't sure. The State Alchemist Program isn't what it used to be, after all. The members of that elite group aren't regarded as living weapons under Roy's governance, but rather are considered the country's foremost scholars. It's for this reason that Luke wants to join them so badly - so he can spend his time researching new ways to use alchemy to help improve the lives of the Amestrian people. That's the future he envisions for himself, the future he wants to offer Riana. Of course, if she doesn't want to share it with him, he won't press the issue; he respects her independence, and her own pursuits. At present, however, she doesn't seem opposed to the idea.

Perhaps an hour after chasing off his sister, Luke realizes he's been staring at the same page of his book without actually reading it. What prompted him to dwell in such reflections, he's not sure. It doesn't really matter. He closes his book and, with practiced ease, swings himself down from the tree. He starts for the house, then pauses when a new sound disrupts the tranquility of the countryside. Turning, he peers down the road, where a rising dust cloud suggests the approach of an automobile - and there can only be one reason why one of those might be nearing his home when Rockbell Automail is closed for business. An Elric grin stretches slowly across his face, and he runs to open the front door and shout the alarm to his siblings.

"They're here!"

The four younger children come swarming out of the large house and launch themselves at the new arrivals. Sig and Izumi immediately start fussing over their adopted clan, ruffling hair and kissing foreheads and commenting on who has grown how much. Roy and Brendan are helping Ed take suitcases out of the trunk of his old car, and Luke can hardly hear anyone for the way everyone is talking at once. A second vehicle is now in evidence behind the first, bearing the Havocs and the Falmans and whoever else has joined the proceedings.

It's loud and ridiculous and crowded. The sensory overload is immediate. He could never live this way all the time; he'd go mad, and he suspects his father would too.

But father and son agree that for one week every year, it's actually perfect.