Disclaimer: I do not own FMA.
WARNING: This story takes place after the Anime and the movie. There is a high probability of spoilers because of this. You have been warned.
Chapter One
Edward Elric slammed his hand down on the blueprints that he had been studying. "This won't work," he muttered. "Why can't he see that this approach is useless?"
"Maybe he just wants it to work so badly that he refuses to see it any other way."
Edward's eyes, the color of alchemized gold, moved to his brother. The younger Elric sat on the bed, scribbling something in a notebook.
"Yeah, well this way is just going to get them blown up," Ed mumbled as he returned his gaze to the paper before him.
"Brother, why do you think that we can't use alchemy here?"
Slowly, Edward looked back up. The notebook that Al had been writing in was angled to where he had a clear view of its contents. The transmutation circles scattered across the pages ranged from the most basic of beginners' alchemy to some of incredible complexity. Al stared at his older brother, waiting for an answer.
"No matter how many arrays you draw, they won't work, Al," Ed answered with a sigh. "I do not know why."
"I didn't ask didn't ask if you knew!" Al's eyes held the faint sheen of salt water. "I asked for your thoughts!"
Startled by his brother's outburst, Ed merely looked at Al for a moment before speaking. "I have no thoughts on the matter. We knew that by coming here we would lose it. You made the choice to follow me through the Gate. There is no going back."
Al hung his head. "I miss them," he finally blurted. "I wonder, sometimes, do they miss us?"
Ed walked over and sat beside Al on the bed. "Of course they miss us," He assured his brother. His voice was meant to be cheerful but the words had hit hard. He had not found a Winry-double on this side of the Gate, which merely solidified the fact that the mechanic was irreplaceable.
He put his arm around his brother's shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze. "Cheer up," he said with a smile. "We have to go convince these people that they need to change their design."
"And don't come back!" The man bellowed. Turning, he slammed the door.
Ed sat up and rubbed the rapidly growing bruise on his head with his prosthetic right hand. "Jerk," he muttered. "That guy must be stone blind if he thinks that that design is safe!"
"Brother…" Al's somewhat hesitant voice rose from beside him. "You were kind of bold in your approach-"
"I needed to be!" Ed felt irritation well up inside him. "That guy wasn't listening to me!"
"And hitting him helped things how, exactly?"
Ed's face went stony. This had been happening all too often. He missed Amestris, where he had been able to get away with almost anything. He missed being the Full Metal Alchemist. He missed-
Ed broke away from these thoughts. It didn't matter how much he missed the world that he came from. He couldn't go back.
It was somewhat funny, he realized, that only just this morning he had told his brother to move forward, and now he was feeling the same homesickness. A memory from when he and Al had both arrived in this world flashed, unbidden, through his mind.
"Another war will come."
"Yes."
Al looked at him with concern. "Is it ok for us to be involved?"
"We can't afford not to be. We are a part of this world now. We must move forward."
"Brother?" Al's question brought him back to the present. "Are you ok?"
Ed nodded in answer, and then he smiled. "I guess that I shouldn't do that anymore."
Al looked uncertain. "Are you sure that that knock to the head didn't rattle your brain?" He asked, putting his hand to his brother's forehead as if to check for a fever. Ed brushed both the hand and the question aside and got to his feet. "Let's head home," he said, "We'll let mush-brain back there figure out his own mistakes." Al followed his brother down the street.
A monolithic structure loomed into view before Edward Elric. Covered in vines, the massive black structure seemed ancient. It was the only structure in sight, for all else was shrouded in a yellowish fog. Even so, Ed had a feeling that if the fog were to dissipate, there would be nothing else in view then either.
"Why does this place seem so familiar?" He wondered aloud. Then his eyes registered the significance of the structure before him. "The Gate…" He breathed. As if in response to his words, the doors began to creak open. At his first glimpse of the eyes peering at him from within the gate, the elder Elric realized that this supposed 'dream' was all too real.
"Why am I seeing this place?" He called in desperation. The black tendrils snaked out of the opening, demanding the toll to pass the gate. "This was destroyed! Why am I seeing it?" A sound akin to laughter rolled out from the Gate's black maw; filled not with joy, but with mockery. The ropelike tendrils had almost reached him now; they were going to bind him! "Why do you still exist?" He screamed, and then the black ropes tightened about his body.
Ed was jerked awake by the sound of gunshots. A woman's scream split the night. "Noa!" He cried. Angry voices barked out orders downstairs. The blonde shot to his feet, golden eyes frantically searching the room. "Alphonse!" came his panicked cry, "Al!"
"Brother!"
His sibling's cry was all the initiative that Ed needed to bolt down the stairs. A red, flickering light made the shadows dance on the walls. Fire! His mind screamed. He ran down the wooden staircase with as much speed as he dared; and into madness.
Noa lay motionless on the floor, a red stain blossoming above her heart; Al was being dragged, a gun to his head, out of the door; the flames he had glimpsed on his way down were spreading quickly. But what made him stop, what made his blood feel like ice in his veins, was the emblem that the soldiers invading their home wore; A red circle surrounding a swastika.
Nazis! Ed couldn't move for a moment, and that moment was all that the soldiers needed to see him. They froze, staring at something. But what was it? The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. The automail that Winry gave him, it wasn't hidden!
By now the men had recovered from their shock. Ed finished his run down the stairs even as they moved forward on him. Dodging his clumsy grabs, he hit one of them with an uppercut. The soldier fell like a rock from the impact of steel against flesh.
Ed fought through the other men, but froze as the click of a readied gun sounded from his right. In his moment of hesitation, the man holding the gun stepped forward and pressed said weapon to Ed's temple. "By order of the government," he stated coldly, "You are under arrest."
A/N: So, yeah. The beginning of my fanfic. Hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter should be up soon. Please review if you have the time.