The Armored Alchemist
Chapter 1- The Alkahestran
Fan fiction by ccatclaw
Greetings to all my fan fiction viewers,
Thank you for your continued support of my stories. I've had this particular one in my head for awhile now. I've been eager to start writing it, but I wanted to complete Cinos the Hedgehog first. Now that Cinos the Hedgehog is finally completed, I can now start my brotherhood fic.
This story takes place after brotherhood. Before Edward and Winry have their two children, and live peacefully together. Alphonse had gone off to Xing to learn alkahestry from May Chang. Al and May had become great friends, but hence the term "friends". I never shipped Al and May, I always shipped him with Julia Crichton from the movie, Sacred Star of Milos. But I do intend to include May in this fic. I don't care for her at all, but she is part of the story, and people do like her, so I can't neglect her completely.
(I personally think Ling should have gotten Shou Mai lol)
But enough talk, and more story time.
Also, what about Jerso and Zampano? Didn't they wish to go with Alphonse to Xing? Did they ever bodies back? You'll just have to read to find out.
Disclaimer- I do not own FMA or FMAB
Thank you and enjoy.
Alphonse Elric blinked his eyes open. He immediately realized that he wasn't back home in Resembool, he was in the foreign country of Xing now, and he was living with May's family, the Changs.
The Chang clan was poor compared to all the other clans of Xing. Lin Yao had been appointed to emperor almost immediately after he returned. But he promised to share some of his wealth with all of the clans. It would take awhile, but Al could already see that the Changs were better off day by day. They had more food on the table, a bigger population, and a stable empire thanks to Emperor Lin Yao.
Al had been living in Xing for a year, and a lot had happened since then. May for one had gone through a huge growth spurt. She was literally a foot taller than she had been when Al first met her. Even compared to his brother, Edward, who used to be a short, bad tempered teenager. May was about three feet tall, and now, she easily exceeded four, close to five feet tall.
Al could hear Jerso and Zampano snoring in the room next door. Those two were back to normal now. May had used some strange sort of alkahestry healing power to change them from chimera to human again. But they were still here in Xing. Al got the feeling that they were afraid to go back to their families. There must be so many doubts and questions in their minds. Their families had been told they were dead once they'd been injured then experimented on during the Ishbalan Civil War, so there was an extremely good chance that their families had moved on with their lives since then. The war had taken place when Al was only about four to five years old. That was over ten years ago. Jerso and Zampano's wives could easily have remarried by now. Or even more dramatic, what if they died during that time?
But the more they sat around, the more their families forget them. But Al could never bring himself to tell them that.
A small knock on his bedroom door brought him back, "Alphonse? Are you awake?"
Al immediately recognized the voice of May Chang. He stretched and answered back,
"Yeah, just about. Gimme a minute".
"Sure".
Al sat up and got dressed. He grabbed a pair of trousers that May's cousin had laid out for him the night before and a plain tee shirt. He slipped on his usual sneakers and waistcoat, straightened out his hair a little, and opened the door.
May was waiting for him patiently with a bright smile on her face. Her little panda, Shou Mei, was perched on her shoulder, imitating May's smile and practically any action she performed.
"Morning," Al said, "Sleep well?"
May nodded, "So, you said you needed help with the knives?"
May was very on top of things. Al had asked her for help last night in some alkahestry. She was an expert, and Al was getting the hang of it. He'd been drawing transmutation circles since he was four, so alkahestry circles weren't a problem either. But he never understood May's concept of throwing knives in the alignment of her circles. He had his own set, but he couldn't figure them out.
It probably had something to do with how small and coordinated May was compared to him. Al had been used to a large suit of armor until quite recently, but he was a pretty sly suit of armor. You can get used to anything as long as you practice. But Al needed to get used to his human body again. It was like a baby learning how to walk.
Al nodded, "Yes please".
"Okay," May led him down the stairs and into the main hall. A few of May's family members were gathered in the dining area, drinking tea and socializing. They all gave friendly waves when they saw Al and May.
They walked out to the backyard, where Al usually practiced his alkahestry.
"Okay Alphonse, I'll demonstrate again," May said.
Al tried to watch carefully as May prepared herself mentally, then moved her feet quickly while also drawing an alkahestry circle with her shoes. Once the circle was drawn, she jumped out of the way just as quickly. Then, motioning with her eyes to Alphonse, she slowly put a knife in each of her ten fingers. Then she slowly flung them at the circle. Al stared with admiration as each knife hit the edges of the circle head on. The illuminating blue light appeared and a billow of smoke filled the yard.
Startled, Al coughed. His eyes stinging from all the smoke.
"Oh, sorry!" May said.
He heard the scuffling of her feet as she made another circle twice as fast, which cleared the smoke away.
The air cleared and their surroundings became visible again.
"Sorry about that," May apologized, "I guess I should have said something, huh?"
"It would have been nice," Al chuckled, "But that's alright. I suppose I'll try now".
"Okay," May said, "Here, you draw the circles perfectly. My mother wants a cherry blossom tree right in our backyard. You can spawn one with alkahestry".
"Oh, right," Al had forgotten that Xinghese Alkahestry went beyond just medicine. It was also used for gardening, some forms of self defense, and cleansing.
He pictured the circle in his mind as he prepared to scathe the ground with his shoe. Then his foot slid across the soil, imprinting the ground with the circle.
"Good," May said, "Now, the knives".
Al nodded. He put a knife between each of his fingers and prepared himself mentally.
I can do this.
Then he leaped away, and swiftly flung the knives toward the circle. He landed next to May, then turned around sharply to see if his throwing had been accurate.
It was a good try, but not quite.
Al stared with disappointment when he saw that only about five of the knives were in the right place. The others were either stuck into the wrong part of the circle, puncturing the indentations and messing up the alkahestric circle, or scattered outside of it.
Al sighed with frustration. He had been trying to get this right for weeks. It seemed no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't be as swift as May was with those knives.
"You're getting better," May said gently.
"You don't have to be nice," Al said, "I know I fail at this".
"No, really," May said, "I've been recording you're progress each time you try this. Last time, you had four of the knives in the correct spots, and this time you have five. It's not much but it's an improvement, Alphonse. This stuff isn't easy, it takes practice".
Al really wanted to be a natural at this, like he was in alchemy. But he knew May was right. Alkahestry and alchemy were two different forms of science. Each was different with varying properties.
All of a sudden May's sister stepped outside, "Alphonse? You have a phone call".
Al turned around abruptly, "A phone call? For me?"
"Yes, he addresses himself as Mr. Edward Elric, your brother," she said.
Ed's calling me? Why? Did something happen?
"Um, okay. Thank you," Al said, then turned back to May, "Excuse me for a minute, May".
May nodded him off and he went inside.
Kairu, May's sister, handed him the house phone.
"Hello? Ed?"
The other line was a little suppressed, but Al could just make out the familiarity of his brother's voice on the other end, "Al? Hi".
"Hello," Al said again, "What's up? Did something happen?"
"What? No," Ed said, "Nothing happened, jeez, why do you always assume I'm calling to report a problem?"
"Okay Ed, sorry," Al chuckled, "Alright, what's up?"
"Well...I...uh," Ed stumbled, "Ur..."
"What? Did you break your automail leg?"
"Dammit Al! No!"
"Then out with it!"
"Alright fine," Ed sighed, then spoke quickly, "I waited to tell you this but I figured you should be the first to know. Before I got on the train to Drachma I...proposed to Winry".
Al gasped.
The line was silent for awhile. Al could hear Ed's embarrassment from the other end. His short breaths and swallows of discomfort. But it was good discomfort, he had worked up the nerve to ask Winry something he had been wanting to ask her since they were children!
"So," Al finally had the nerve to ask the question, "What did she say?"
There was a pause on the other end as Ed swallowed nervously, but Al was surprised when he heard him burst out laughing, "I told her about equivalent exchange, that I would give my life to her if she gave half of hers to me. Then she said, oh my god, do you have to treat everything like alchemy? How about I just give you my whole life?"
Al laughed so hard that the Changs shot him amused yet puzzled looks. He caught his breath, "Winry said that?"
"Yeah, I'm not kidding," Ed said, "She's incredible, isn't she? And then I just couldn't help but laugh".
"Ed that's just immature".
"Okay but she knocked equivalent exchange right on its ass in just a few words!" Ed said, "Wanna know what she said after? She said, well, maybe not all of it. How about seventy? Seventy five? No, that's not enough. Oh, eighty five, eighty five is a good number!"
"That's outrageous," Al said, "You sure you're not making this up?"
"Of course not! Ask Winry," Ed said, "Although she probably won't admit to it".
"She probably wouldn't, but anyway," Al teased, "When's the wedding, lover boy?"
"Well...I...uh..."
"Ed?"
"Yes, Al, well, I don't really know yet," Ed admitted, "I mean, I didn't even have a ring for her".
"YOU IDIOT!" Al screamed.
"What? I needed the money for the train ride!"
"That's no excuse," Al lectured him, "You should know, that as a gentlemen, the lady always comes first. How did she let you get away without you giving her a ring?"
"Good question," Ed sighed, "But as for a ring, I have it. I'll present it to her when I get back to Resembool".
"When will you go back?"
"Sooner rather than later," Ed replied, "I'm reading up on a few things here. There's apparently this thing called water alchemy that used to be popular in Drachman studies, but for some reason it has become a dead art. I'm just a researcher now, but maybe you can give it a try?"
"I wouldn't mind, that sounds interesting," Al noted, "Keep up the good work".
"Speaking of, how's the alkahestry going?" Ed asked.
Al sighed, "Well, I have the circles down pat. But I can't figure those knives out".
"Yeah, those knives are pretty different from what we used to do," Ed agreed, "But I'm sure you'll get them at some point. May's a good teacher".
"Yeah," Al said, "Well, anyway, I should probably get back to training. I don't want to keep May waiting too long. But brother, congratulations, I'm proud of you, even if you screwed up with the engagement ring".
"I don't know whether that's praise or criticism," Ed mumbled, "But thanks. I'll see you soon?"
"Yeah, probably," Al said, "Thanks for calling. Good luck, Ed".
"Yeah, wish me luck," Ed said, "Hopefully she hasn't thought about the missing ring. I happen to like my head and I don't want it punctured with a wrench".
Al smiled, "Well that's Winry for ya. But I'm sure she'll let you live".
"Yeah, later Al," Ed said.
"Goodbye brother".
May took the news with surprise. She claimed that she never saw any of that coming. Al thought it was obvious, but maybe May didn't look for that kind of stuff.
He had decided not to tell Ed about his future plans. He had been thinking about it constantly, and he knew that was what he wanted to do. He wanted to become a state alchemist, like Edward once was, and serve his country. From the looks of things, Roy Mustang would probably become the next fuhrer. The current one was old enough to begin with, and Mustang had a lot of good leadership qualities. Al took interest in the fact that he wanted to make amends with the Ishbalans. Major Miles and Scar had also agreed to help him rebuild the nation this way. Since Major Miles had convinced Scar to help him, Scar had also become a state alchemist. Al couldn't have imagined that somebody who used to kill state alchemists in the name of "justice" and out of pure vengeance for his people's suffering would become a dog of the military. But people could change.
Ed probably wouldn't approve of Al wanting to join the military. Even though his older brother had taken that path at such a young age. But Al wanted this. He felt that if he was going to repay all his friends in Amestris for helping him and his brother get their original bodies back, he could do that by serving the military as a noble soldier.
He hadn't told May this, but he was planning to leave Xing soon. He had already spent almost a year there, and there was so much more to see. He could tell May would be disappointed, she had been hospitable to him and he was grateful for that. But it was time to move on.
Al had been thinking about stopping by Milos, he wondered how Julia was. He hadn't seen her since the beginning of he and Ed's journey. Of course, Julia wouldn't recognize him until she heard his voice. She met him as an empty suit of armor. Ed had promised her that they would visit another time, and tell her what they found.
They had a found a lot.
Al was back in flesh and blood, and Ed had reclaimed his arm and was taller. The two boys were older now, and this would come as a great surprise to Julia.
"Alphonse, do you want lunch?"
Al turned around and saw May standing in the doorway.
"Sure," Al said.
May led him down to the usual large dining table where the Chang family ate. Kairu had done the cooking tonight, the usual udon soup with noodles and vegetables.
Al and May both sat down next to each other.
"Thanks Kairu," Al said, "Looks great".
"Oh, you're very welcome Al," Kairu replied, "Mother, father, would you like more?"
May's parents were a petite, middle aged couple. The two were very mellow, just like the rest of the Changs. May's father, Seiji Chang, had been pleased by Al's polite attitude toward them. Her mother, Maya Chang, whom May was named after, was a Pinako-sized woman who spoke very softly.
Today at lunch was probably the best time to reveal his plans. May's family would support him without a doubt. Maybe even May might come along with him. His alkahestry still needed work anyway.
"Listen, Al," Al blinked with surprise when May addressed him as "Al", usually she called him by his full name, Alphonse. Either way, Al didn't care,
"Yes?"
"The knives, you don't have to do it the way I do," May said, "You know that right? It takes a lot of coordination. I was also trained in Xinghese combat since I was little, so that's probably why I do it that way. You can also place the kunai knives on the circle by hand".
Al sighed, "Yes I know, but I wanna do it like you if I can. What if there's ever a crucial situation where I have to?"
"We'll work on it," May smiled, "I was just letting you know your options".
"I see, thank you for that".
Al took a bowl and served himself some udon soup. May did the same as the soup was passed around. Al took his chopsticks and began eating.
Kairu was a great cook, as well as the rest of the Changs. But Al had been eating Xinghese cuisine for a long time. He missed Winry's apple pie that she had learned from Gracia Hughes.
A pang of sadness stung Al as he was reminded of Gracia's husband, Maes Hughes, who had helped him and Ed on their quest to get their bodies back. Because of them, Hughes had been killed by the homunculus Envy for finding out too much information that they didn't want him to know.
Elicia Hughes, Maes and Gracia's daughter, was now five years old. Al couldn't believe how big she was getting, and she'd probably grown even more since he was away. He couldn't wait to visit them again.
Elicia was the spitting image of her mother. But her personality reflected that of her father. She still remembered her father and missed him dearly. Maes had obsessed and bragged about her more than any father should, but Al had never seen a better parent.
"Listen, May, everyone," Al finally worked up the courage, "I have something to say".
Everybody looked up from their soup and slurped the last of their noodles.
Seiji didn't look too happy to have his meal interrupted, but he politely set down his chopsticks and gazed expectantly at Al.
"It's been a long time," Al said, "And I have some future goals. I think it's about time I travel back to Amestris. I want to join the military and become a state alchemist who can also use alkahestry".
Al waited, his heart beating frantically. What if the Changs were upset at him for leaving?
To his surprise, Seiji smiled, "Well, that's some goal. Good luck, son. Use your skills that our daughter taught you to benefit your country, as we will benefit our own with the alchemy you have brought to us".
"T-thank you sir," Al said.
"It was nice having you," Maya said, "Come back and visit sometime".
"I hope my cooking didn't get too repetitive," Kairu laughed.
Al looked over at May, who had a smile on her face. But he could see the disappointment and hurt in her eyes as well.
"Also, there's something else," Al turned to May, "It's up to you, May. But would you like to come back to Amestris with me? I know my alkahestry needs work, and there's still a few more things you should know about alchemy".
May's face brightened, "I would love to Al. But right now, I have business in Xing. Emperor Ling Yao is still getting used to running the country, and I'm a representative under him. But someday I will join you back in Amestris. I'll let you keep those alkahestry books and kunai knives I lent you so you can practice alkahestry while you're away".
"Thank you," Al said, "And May, you can keep those alchemy books. Edward has access to the central library, it was just rebuilt I heard. I can always get more".
"Yay! Thank you, Alphonse!" May threw her arms around his neck. Grinning awkwardly, Al hugged back gently.
"When will you be leaving?" Seiji asked.
May let go and Al turned around, "I was thinking later tomorrow evening. It gives me some time to pack up".
"You sure you won't need more time to pack everything up, sweetheart?" Maya asked.
Al smiled, "No ma'am, tonight and tomorrow is more than enough time. I'm used to packing quickly and rushing out the door. My brother and I have been doing it since we were younger".
The Changs all smiled and they finished lunch. Al offered to help Kairu with the dishes once more, and this time she accepted. Once they finished, Al ran upstairs to his room and began to get his belongings together.
It's been a nice ride, Xing. I haven't seen Amestris since I first got my body back, it'll be nice to come back and visit everybody again. May and family, thank you for everything, and try not to miss me too much.
To be continued
What did you think? Sorry if this chapter was a little boring, but the first chapter is always kinda introductory for me so I can help refresh the reader's mind of what's happening so they can enjoy the further and more interesting chapters. The next chapter will probably be in Ed's perspective, so look forward to it. I should probably have it up by the end of July or earlier if possible. Thank you for reading, and if you liked it, or have some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, I would love to hear about it in some REVIEWS below. Thanks again and have a wonderful summer!
-cCatclaw