Summary: Edward and Izumi explain the Gate to Alphonse. Parody of the "door" scene from Charlie the Unicorn Three.
Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa. Charlie the Unicorn belongs to SecretAgentBob of the Youtube Community.
Alphonse sat at the table in the kitchen of the Curtis household. He and Edward had been kidnapped by- er… come to visit their old sensei, Izumi, while on the way to rush valley. Winry had come along, but Sig had asked her to run an errand for them. Izumi had questioned the boys as soon as they got there. After she had discovered that her students had gone and committed the Taboo, she had decided to beat some sense into them – literally. And as the hollow-armored boy sat at the table, he looked at his older brother, who sat with an ice pack held against his forehead, nursing a bruise from Izumi's "lecture."
Izumi had been watching the boys in silence, contemplating what to say or do next. As much as she would have enjoyed throwing them around some more, she didn't feel like paying for any hospital bills at the moment. Sighing to herself, she spoke up, breaking the silence. "So, did you see it?"
Edward looked up from where he was moping, a confused scowl on his face. "See what?" The way Izumi glared at him made him feel as though he had missed something obvious.
"The Gate."
"Gate? What Ga-" Edward stopped himself short as he realized what gate Izumi was referring to. "Oh, that gate. Yeah, I saw it."
Alphonse had only a slight idea as to what the two were discussing. The gate had been mentioned in their father's research books, on several occasions, but only Ed had been able to make sense of the cryptic notes, and had trouble explaining it in simpler terms that Al would understand. After about 5 minutes of listening about the gate, and waiting for the topic to switch, Al finally spoke. "I don't get it."
Both Izumi and Ed looked at Al, faces expressing surprise at his confusion. "You don't know what the gate is?" They asked simultaneously, somewhat disturbing Al.
"No," Al sighed, "I don't understand the gate. Will you please explain it?"
"Well," Izumi explained, "When you attempt a human transmutation, you usually end up finding yourself in a sort of limbo, a large, white space with a stone door. And that, the stone door, is what's known as the Gate."
"The Gate!" Ed proclaimed, rather dramatically, he might add.
So he should have seen this gate before? Strange, he couldn't remember anything after the transmutation going wrong, and him being grabbed at by small, black hands that extended out of what seemed to be a doorway, until he woke up in the bodiless armor. Perhaps that was where the hands came from. That had to be where his body was! "So, what's so special about this Gate then?"
"The Gate is everything!" They both proclaimed. Once again, the synchronized proclamations unnerved him. The Gate, whatever it really was, must be more important than he gave it credit for.
"All that once was and all that will be!" Izumi's overly dramatic expressions were bothering Al. She was acting rather outrageously.
"The Gate controls time and space! Love and death!" Ed's face had a disturbed look on it, the one someone normally gets during the telling of a horror story. He gazed at Al intensely, creeping him out a bit more.
"The Gate can see into your mind!" Al looked back at Izumi, wondering if maybe she had gone insane. Never had he seen her acting so… well, out of character, to say the least.
"The Gate can see into your sooul..." Ed's emphasis on the door's abilities, as well as his newly acquired high-pitched voice, made Al question his brother's sanity. Still, the fact that Izumi had been going along with it unnerved him. She rarely joked, and not about serious topics like this.
"R-Really? Th-The Gate can do all that?" Al had begun to grow nervous. This Gate was certainly a force to be reckoned with. Maybe it wasn't worth messing with it to get his body back. He could learn to adjust, really he could! He'd be a little upset about not being able to eat, smell, or touch anything, but having two out of five senses was better than nothing!
"Pfft, no." Ed and Izumi looked at Al as though he was the crazy one. Had he just been duped? He held back the urge to smack the palm of his hand to his forehead, sighing, as he stared at the two of them. They both went back to their Gate discussion, as though nothing had happened, leaving Al in the dust again. He should have known better than to trust his brother to answer him seriously. But Izumi? A joke like this was too out of character for her. Not sure what to make of the odd situation, he zoned out, waiting once more until the topic changed to something he would be able to give an opinion on.
A/N: Teehee, I just had to write this! Shortly after I uploaded the first chapter of Traces of Regret, I started writing chapter 2, only to be sidetracked into this little story. Pretty sure this has been done before. I think I've seen it done with Ed and Al talking about the Door to mustang, but I haven't seen anyone change 'door' to 'gate', nor have I seen anyone reference the scene where Ed and Izumi tried to explain the Gate to Al. I loved that scene. And while taking a break from chapter two, I decided to watch Charlie the Unicorn, and the door scene immediately reminded me of FMA :D Yeah, 'Cause FMA Is totally full of Powerful Doors (The Gate! :U) and Leoplurodons (Chimera! :D)