This may be only a one shot, but I already have ideas on how it might evolve into more.
Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, or the His Dark Materials series.
Wounded Souls
Their bodies were only one of the reason's Edward Elric wanted to find the Philosopher's Stone.
Ever since the disastrous night they attempted to resurrect their mother, he had been able to see, things. There had been a hint of these ever since their mother died, the faint wisp of light and dust and the whisper of a heron's cry as Trisha breathed her last.
The next time had been on that horrible night they had tried to bring her back. As he lay bleeding on the floor, mind reeling from all the information he had been given, the cry of a wounded animal caught his ear. A creature that was desperately clinging to the floor, flicking between forms to try and hold on with paw, claw, talon and fang, as it bled out onto the seal. A second animal was nearby, part of it's leg missing, in the same place as Ed's bleeding leg.
It wasn't his blood that was used in the seal. It was that of the wounded creature next to the seal. Glowing eyes greeted him as the seal took hold, the cat cradled in his arm as the wounded one clung desperately to the armor.
Ed thought the sight of the animals was him hallucinating. His wounds were bandaged up, and his own spirit, his daemon as he started to think of her, slowly healed, but her limbs never returned. His brother's though stabilized, even if she refused to move more than a few feet from the suit of armor. Granny Pinako's raven was an imperious force around the house, while Winry's daemon, though still able to shift like the boy's seemed to prefer a jackrabbit, tough, mean, and smart. To the dull brass eyes of the mutilated boy, they were nothing more than hallucinations left over from his trip beyond the Gate.
It wasn't until after the Military came by, the tall man with the bright red salamander clinging to his glove that he was forced to snap out of his depression. If he was forced to become a dog of the military in order to save his brother, in order to restore both body and soul, then by the Gate, he would sell himself to the State.
"Are we doing the right thing?"
Ed looked up from his position on the guest bed, Al trying to sleep in the nest room over. His new automail limbs were finally working correctly, and they were departing for the Capital in the morning. He looked over at his daemon, currently a blackbird as she perched on the bed post. The automail on his body reflected on the bird, new flesh not true metal, but the shiny color of it, no matter what the form.
Ed shook his head after a minute. He still wasn't used to talking with the daemon. Unlike him, she tended to be quieter. Part of him still wondered if she wasn't all in his head. "The military is the best way to gain information. The library is second to none alone." He glanced away from his soul. "If they have any information that can help us, or anything on you and the other daemons, it'll be worth the pain."
The blackbird ruffled her wings, and Ed shook his head. "I hope that Colonel was telling the truth about everything in Central, whoever he was." He looked over at the bird, offering his arm for her to perch on. "Hell, even after a year, I don't know what to call you."
The bird smiled, jumping down to his lap in order to change into a lion cub. "Yes you do. You already know my name. You just have to think about it."
Ed blinked, then smiled as the name seemed to flow up from his heart. He wrapped an arm around the cub, lying back down with her across his chest as he murmured, "Adrasteia..."
Cat: Guardianship
Blackbird: The Gateway, Inner Call
Dog: Protection, Loyalty, Faithfulness
Heron: Loyal Love. Herons mate for life.
Hare: Intuition
Salamander: Fire, Renewal, Adaptability, Resourcefulness. Considered a powerful alchemical symbol.
Lion: Strength, Courage, Keeper of Underworld, Highest symbol of Alchemy. Ultimate Protector.
Raven: teacher, healing, protection, transformation, change in consciousness.
Adrasteia: Not inclined to run away.