Wlcome to Regressae ad Alteram Partem! Hey guys. This is going to have a bunch of curse words in it, so be warned. Also, the title means 'going home from the other side'. Thank you for choosing this story to read! Please review!
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Ed groaned, swallowing the coppery taste of his blood. "Fucking Gate, with that stupid fucking price. Fuck Equivalent Exchange. Just fuck it all. Hate that stupid place. Stupid God you are. Yeah, you Motherfucker, I'm talking to you! I hope you can hear me, and stop laughing your fucking ass off! God-damnit, I can fucking hear it in my head! Aaagh!"
Needless to say, Ed was mad. Pissed, infuriated, livid. How he hated Truth. And he voiced it out loud again and man that felt good because Truth really was a bastard and - where the fuck am i?
"Marie!" he heard a voice yell, and fuck he didn't have any other choice but to endure it because he could barely move let alone escape. Yeah, dying could do that to a person. "The light went this way!"
It was a girl, Ed realized belatedly. A young one, if the lightness and innocence he heard in it had anything to do with it. "Okay, lead the way, Lenalee," he heard, and the deep rumble with what sounded like a Drachman accent interlaced with it sent a shiver down his spine. Please, don't let them be enemies.
Glancing to the place where he heard the voices, Ed stared until he saw a head appear over the outcropping of a hill. It was a girl - the same girl he heard earlier. As she ran closer, her face and body got bigger and clearer, and Ed could make out a greenish tinge to her dark hair, and what looked like Xingese features. And she was beautiful. Like, really, really, really pretty.
Following the girl came a giant of a man, with what looked like ear mufflers on his head. He had Drachman features that fit his voice and accent. Both of them were wearing black coats with red trimming, and what looked like a very elaborate cross patched onto the front, left breast. It looked like something a cult would make its members wear.
"Lenalee, I hear ragged breathing. Is a person there?" the man asked when they were a tad closer.
"Yeah," the girl gasped, and Ed was forced to wait until they were barreling down on him. The girl collapsed to her knees, and she took a long look at his eyes until saying, "He has golden eyes like a Noah's."
"He's not one," the man said before he could ask what the hell a Noah was. "He doesn't have their evil aura I feel when we're around them."
Okay, Ed understood that he was on the opposite side of the Gate and trapped on another world with likely no possible way back to his brother - if he was even alive. Yes, he understood that. But he was angry, hurt, tired and hungry all at once. And to top it all off, he still didn't have his limbs back - he could feel the stumps on his arm and leg, and earlier, he caught a sight of his automail before he collapsed on the grassy ground in the middle of nowhere before he passing out.
So no one could really blame him if he yelled a bit, right?
"I don't know what the fuck a Noah is, and I don't know who the hell you are, but if you're just going to sit there and talk about me like I'm not here, then leave," he growled, bearing his teeth and narrowing his eyes at the pair - though he could tell it was a lost cause on the man because he could smell the blindness wafing off of him.
The girl cracked a smile, and he could see tears well up in her eyes. Great. She was crying. "He reminds me of Kanda," she said softly to the man, and Ed narrowed his eyes more because she specifically did what he said not to and fuck, who the hell was Kanda? He caught the man wince and the girl give him an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, my name is Lenalee Lee, and this is Noise Marie. We're Exorcists of the Black Order."
Finally, some of his questions were being answered. But then again, a new one was just brought up. "What is that - like a cult or somethin''?" Really, if they said yes he was going to laugh.
"No," the girl said, and an amused smile crawled up her face, and Ed could see a light sparking in her earlier dull eyes. "But I can tell you more about the Order if you let us help you." It seemed like she was reading his mind.
Ed took back what he meant about 'fuck Equivalent Exchange'. He loved it. He quickly agreed and when the girl held out her hand for him to take, he smiled at her sheepishly. If he could he would be scratching the back of his head - one, it hurt too much because of the bump, and two, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to control his automail enough to even move the fingers on it, let alone release the pressure a bit.
"Sorry, I can't move my left arm, and if I grabbed you with my right I'd end up breaking your hand." Yeah, sum it up in that blunt statement, he chided himself while keeping up his sheepish facade.
Confused expressions washed over the pair's faces, but another look - understanding? - crossed Marie's. "Ah, your right arm is metal, isn't it? I can hear the gears moving."
"Yeah," he muttered, wincing when he moved his left one. Lenalee noticed and a concerned look took over her features.
"Marie, can you help me lift him?" she asked, and Ed gritted his teeth. There she went again, talking about when he was clearly in front of her. No matter how pretty she was, Ed hated it.
"Yes," the broad backed man said. He walked up to Ed and leaned down, grabbing onto his metal arm with one hand while sliding his other under Ed's shoulders, not seeing the blond wince. "I need you to help me, or I can't left you properly," Marie said, slowly easing Ed upwards.
He gasped at the pain flashing through his body like alchemical waves after a gone wrong transmutation. Oh, lord help him, it hurt. Like, a lot.
"It's alright," he gasped, and out the corner of his eye, he could see Lenalee wincing with him, and Ed wondered briefly if she was an empath like Al. Pausing for a moment, Ed let his brother's name sink in, and he felt tears well up in his eyes at a sharper pain, this one much more painful than his physical torment at that moment.
The girl, most likely sensing his distress, stood up and rushed forward to help. "If you don't mind me asking, what's your name?" she asked, and Ed almost laughed bitterly. What a poor way to get his mind off of his internal pain.
"Edward Eric," he replied, gasping when a jostle on Marie's part rubbed his arm's broken bones against each other. He heard Marie mutter "sorry" and he guessed that he forgave the man. It wasnt his fault Ed was injured. "Call me Ed."
"Okay Ed, can you tell me what happened to you so we can know what we're dealing with?" Lenelee asked, and finally - finally - Ed was on his feet again. Tentively, Lenalee let go of him and stood back, and Ed let a little more than half of his weight lean on Marie for support.
"Can't remember," Ed grunted when they started moving. "I woke up here, and then I heard you guys." It was utterly complete lie, but he couldn't very well tell them that he was from another world could he? Well, yeah, he could, but then they'd just leave him for dead because they thought he was crazy.
"Well, don't worry Ed," Lenalee said, smiling at him. Ed could tell it was fake, and he had to wonder what was so bad that it took the light out of this girl's eyes. She was too pretty and too nice to be so sad and dull. So internally, he took it upon himself to bring her out of whatever depression she was in. That way, he could see her real smile and - though he hasn't even heard the fake one - laugh. "You're in good hands now. The Order will take care of you until you're better. And they'll help you find your way back and what happened to you."
Ed's heart sank at this. There was no way back, as far as he could tell. But then he mentally shook himself. What kind of thinking was that? He was going to do everything he could to get back to his brother, he decided. And for a moment he was reminded of what it was like when he and Al were chasing after the Stone. His heart writhed in the pit of his stomach.
It was way too painful to think about that right then.
"So, you guys gonna tell me what this 'order' is?" he asked instead, grinning at Lenalee cheekily.
There. He could see a hint of that spark that just seemed so natural in her eyes. Beautiful. She giggled though, and Ed could immediately tell it was the fake one. C'mon, he was so close! "The Order is an organization that works for the Vatican. Exorcists, me and Marie and others, have what we call Innocence."
She glanced at Ed to see if he was listening, and he nodded encouragingly, breath only hitching once when he took his next step on his right leg. "Innocence is what we call God's Crystal. It was sent by God himself to destroy the Noah - which are the Noah family of the original Noah's Ark. The Millineum Earl is the head of this family, and he creates akuma, which is Japanese for demon. They are made up of three things," at this she held up her hand, counting down from three fingers as she talked, "sorrow, a soul, and a machine.
"They are sad creatures," she continued, and Ed had to mentally shake himself out of it when she mentioned souls. "If a person dies, the sorrow of a loved one can call out to the Earl if it is strong enough, and he manipulates you into thinking that you can bring that person back to life." Her eyes grew dark, and Ed could feel the unnaturally cold temperature in the warm afternoon, even with the sun's rays beating down on his back. He repressed a shiver that threatened to roll down his spine and alert Marie to his discomfort..
One can never bring back the dead, Ed thought solemnly. He needed to clear this up somehow - to tell Lenalee that he knows, and to ensure her that he will never try. He didn't know why he felt this, but seeing the girl so sad and downtrodden was making his heart feel like an entire soccer team stomped on it - with cleats. Spiky ones. Painful.
"The dead can't ever be brought back," Ed said solemnly, and Lenalee glanced at him in surprise. His eyes, he made sure, showed her how much he thought that the truth. "It's impossible. No one should fool themselves into thinking that they can rip a soul out of heaven and stick it into a body without concequences."
Lenelee could see through him, he could tell. He felt like she could see all of his past mistakes and failures and all of his regrets. He wished he could go back in time and never suggest that they could bring his mom back. How much he wished.
"You sound like you have experience," Marie murmured, and with a shock Ed remembered where he was and who was with him.
"Yeah," he whispered, and Lenalee's eyes grew sad and haunted again. He wondered if she had experience as well - even Marie. "I do."
They walked in silence for a while, until Ed remembered a detail in their earlier conversation. "Hey, earlier you said I reminded you of someone. Who? Will I meet him - wait, it is him right? I shouldn't remind you of a girl!"
Lenalee's eyes grew sad once more, even though there was a spark of amusement hidden within their depths. "Yes, you remind me of someone. Don't worry, Kanda is a man. In fact, he is - or was if one were to look at it - he was my best friend. Or, I guess older brother would be a better description." Lenalee smiled, and Ed could see the pain that laid behind it.
"When you growled at us earlier," she giggled at Ed's face at this description of his earlier tone, and his heart warmed, "you just reminded me of him. He has long hair, too, but his is a lot longer. And black.
"And he would growl at everyone and everything, and he would try to have as little attachments as he could get, but of course we wouldn't let him hide from us. His Innocence had to do with a sword, and if anyone called him by his given name, "Ed felt Marie tense, and for a fleeting moment wondered why before he was swept into Lenalee's story again, "he'd threaten them. All of the Finders were terrified of him, and every time he walked down the hallways, they would run in the opposite way he was going.
"But Kanda had a big heart, no matter the insults he threw at people." Lenalee smiled big, and a spark grew in her eyes, and Ed silently encouraged it to grow into a roaring bonfire instead of that tiny, itty bitty flame. "It was just a matter of getting past all of his defenses. Once you were in, he threw his trust at you so completely that it was almost suffocating in its intensity."
's laugh on his back. "Yes, that is quite true, though he wouldn't show it in mushy words or feelings. And quite a lot of people called him an insufferable ass."
Ed had to laugh at this, because he was reminded of himself and greatly of the Colenal. Oh, yes, he couldnt tell them how many times he was called that or how many times he's called the Colenal that. "I've been called that so many times in my life that I can't even believe I haven't turned into a real ass - donkey or the literal part of the human anatomy."
They both laughed with him, and Ed wondered why he was so open with these people when he couldn't even talk freely while he was in his own Country - his own world! But he guessed it had something to do with the way these people seemed so desperate and gasping for a pick-me-up, or just some new face to trust in general. The aura around these two was so great and painful that he could almost feel it - he felt like he could suffocate or even cut the air with butterknife.
They grew into silence once more and Ed thought that even though it hurt to even take a step, he didn't want this walk to end. He was able to talk with these people and connect with them through sorrows they all had in their lives, and he found it so easy to forget what just happened to him. These people understood what it was like to be in pain. And though he wished they weren't sad or regretful at all, one finds company in misery. And he found that to be so true.
When only a few moments had passed, Ed was struck with a thought - a couple actually - and he asked without filtering his thoughts before they flew out of his mouth. "You talk about this Kind a like he is gone. What happened?" And when he realized what he said, and the hitching of breaths and gasps he heard from the other two, his eyes widened and he rushed to take it all back. "I-I mean - of, God, I'm so - jeez, I didn't mean - I'm sorry -"
Lenalee cut him off with a sweet-sad smile and a soft tone. "It's okay, Ed. You're curious - that's nothing to be ashamed of. Marie, would you like to tell him since you knew Kanda more?"
"Sure, Lena," Marie said, just as soft. Ed waited patiently for the man to gather his thoughts. "Recently, we were all in a huge battle that has a great deal to do with the war we're in now. I wasn't there, but from the rumors and the reports from those that were there, Kanda was one of the main incorperators of the battle. His past was brought up harshly, and a person very close to him wasn't dead like he thought. If my calculations were correct, this Alma was an akuma. And from the rumors, he was probably the most powerful akuma ever created.
"Alma had a grudge against the Order, a hatred that is entirely understandable because if I was in his or Kanda's situation, I would hat the Order, too, with every fiber of my being." Here he paused, and Ed got the impression that he needed to collect himself from painful thoughts.
"Alma also had a deep hatred and love - don't ask me how it's possible, but it is - he had a love and hate for Kanda. Alma was dead set on destroying him for some reason - I'm rusty on the details. They battled for quite a while, and Kanda's life force was diminishing from what I heard.
"And before I go any further, I need to tell you that Kanda was not a complete human. Alma wasn't either, and I'll never understand what it is they went through in their childhood, but I can tell you that I was going to be an experiment, too, if Kanda hadn't saved me." Marie sighed, and Ed tried to wrap his mind around the information he was being given. Were Kanda and Alma both chimeras? What kind of experiments were they?
"Kanda and Alma both have life force - a time limit I guess you could say. They only had a limited amount of time to live, and they were using it up to heal their wounds faster. Someone told me - I forget whom - someone told me that Alma self destructed to get rid of Kanda onoe and for all. They told me that a huge crater had been left there, with Kanda standing and Alma on the floor. But," here Marie's voice got softer, and Ed told himself that this story was rel. This really happened. "But they said that Kanda started to crack, like a plate of glass would. They said that he crumbled to pieces.
"And Allen, his lover and a very, very good friend of ours, he told me that Kanda and Alma weren't dead after that." There was a sad tinge to Allen'oe and for all. They told me that a huge crater had be"He said that Alma was still alive, and he turned into dark matter. Allen also told me that he sent them through the Ark - you'll understand what that is later, if you stay long enough - he sent them through the Ark to someplace safe. And we don't know if Kanda is alive at all, because he is lost to us.
"But Allen said he went through the gate with a smile," Marie continued, and either he didn't notice the way Ed tensed at the word 'gate' or he just ignored it, "and I belive that if he did, at least he was happy when he died."
Ed let the story sink in, and when it finally clicked in his brain that these people had powered like alchemy and demons and they are currently in a war, he was pretty much on the verge of freaking out. Because holy mother of chicken this really happened and poor Kanda and what was this gate that Marie talked about and what was the Ark he mentioned and oh lord almighty this was real. He was living in a fairy tail.
"I'm sorry about Kanda," he just said, noticing how Lenalee started crying softly after the story was over. He gave no hints as to what his thoughts were, and he reached inside of him for the sympathy and sadness he felt for the and their loss. "I really am," and the sincerity in his voice rang true.
"Thank you, Ed," Lenalee whispered. "And I wouldn't worry too much about your injuries any longer, because we made it to the Order."
Ed ripped his eyes off of the pretty girl and glanced ahead of him to see a tower - literally - towering over them. Ed never felt more like a midget - and Goddamnit he wasn't short!
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And that's a wrap for now! I hope you liked it!