Title: Baseline
Author: secondhandsaint
A/N: This story mixes ideas from both the manga and the original anime, though follows much more closely the latter. It disregards the movie as well as the portion of the plot involving Gate travel. This is an alternate to the end of the series.
Baseline
secondhandsaint
Prologue
The scent of electricity hung heavy in the air and stung his nose, the charge tingling across his skin and making the hairs on his neck stand on end. The lump in his throat was impossible to move when his throat was so dry and he flinched at the sting when he tried to swallow. It would have suited him better to feel the ground beneath his back, but all he felt was more electricity and the lack of a solid surface concerned him. Frowning, he pulled his heavy eyelids up and was met with white.
A familiar fear filled him and he frowned, heart sinking as he gazed at the great expanse of glowing nothing. He waited for some sort of sign, for the double set of stone doors to appear, for that all-knowing and always hungry form to appear to him.
Clenching his fists, he slowly sat up, motion surprisingly easy considering he was moving in a vacuum, and looked down at himself. He at least had the privilege of keeping his clothes on this time and he frowned once more to see that no one or nothing had come to greet him yet. This was so unlike the other times he'd been here, and it started to scare him slightly. Had he died again? The last time he had been forced into this place flashed through his mind and an ache in his chest caused his hand to raise pressed into the space just below his sternum. Nothing had greeted him then, either.
The thought weighs heavy on him and he sighs as he thinks of his dear little brother pressing his hands to the circle, him standing in the middle with the promise of being whole once again.
"You're not dead, Alchemist."
He whirls around, braid slapping him in the face at the force of it and his eyes narrow at the sight of the presence kneeling before him. The white creature, not human despite its shape, tilts its 'head' as it peers at him and he feels completely and frighteningly exposed. Taking a steadying breath, he clenches his jaw as the creature speaks again.
"You haven't learned a thing since your last visit, have you, Alchemist?"
He didn't know what the creature was talking about. The theory was sound, the circle was perfect. Everything about the transmutation had been calculated and recalculated and recalculated again for good measure. Equivalent exchange was down to the last microgram of matter and he himself had checked the purity of the elements.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Truth! Everything I needed to get my arm and leg back is here, it's a perfect equivalent exchange!"
The creature, Truth, tilts its head the other way this time and he feels like he has just become the punch line of a particularly bad joke. It made him uneasy and he shifts his weight from one foot to another as he waits. For a moment he doesn't think that he will get an elaboration when the creature in front of him stands straight and grins.
"I was referring to your brother."
This startles him and he gulps as the creature moves closer, the electric charge in the air becoming increasingly intense until he can feel the current dancing along his skin. It sets his teeth on edge and he fights the urge to step back.
"Your brother used the Philosopher's Stone within himself to bring you back from the dead, then you sacrificed yourself to do the same for him. Yet you both survived. Where is the equivalent exchange in that?"
Realization dawned on him. He had questioned since the day two years ago that he and his brother had been pulled from the lost city if they had succeeded in cheating Truth. After all, Truth was right: There was absolutely no equivalent exchange in them both being alive. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost.
The creature had begun to circle him, scanning him up and down, probably summing up what the price could be for another visit into Truth.
"And here you are, bartering once again for more when you of all are least deserving."
Now he understood. Truth had been biding its time, waiting until he would do something as foolish as attempt to restore himself back to flesh and bone. He should have never stepped into the circle.
"So greedy, Alchemist!"
The creature tisked in disapproval and reached out, nudging his back and stroking his shoulder, sending shocks across his nerves. Wincing, he stood as still as he could, not wanting to anger the one omniscient power that he believed in, that could take everything from him in an instant. Heart racing, the thought caused him to feel nauseous and he resented being taunted like this. The creature stopped and pulled the tie from his hair, letting golden locks fall loosely around his shoulders in waves and running glowing white fingers through the strands. The action puzzled him.
"Very pretty. Did you know, Alchemist that blonde hair is as close to a genetic baseline as the human race can get? "
Frustrated at the slow torment and the jump from one subject to another, he grit his teeth and glared at the creature before him. The thought that this thing would take his only remaining family from him made his blood boil.
"What do you want for my brother? What do I have to pay?"
The creature appeared to not have heard him and continued to run fingers through his hair, catching a knot occasionally and causing more shocks to shake his body when the creature's skin brushed his. Rather than addressing his question, it continued on.
"Anything less than blond would be pure white, which is the absence of pigment and requires a lack of genetic coding. And females, they're a genetic baseline too. Without it, the human race would have died out eons ago!"
He didn't understand why the Truth was telling him all this when he truly couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. Growling, he fought to keep himself from screaming at the creature, balling his fists so tight his nails threatened to break the skin.
"What do I have to pay? Dammit, what do you want me to give!"
The creature's hands stilled in his hair and for a moment he thought he had pushed too far. Then he felt the fingers unwind themselves from the strands and he was met with the creature face to face, all joking and torment aside.
"Fair trade. I will give you back your limbs and the tools you will need. In return, you will have ten months to repay the full price of your brother's life, given the provided conditions of course."
Golden eyes widened at the timeline and he shook his head. How could he do in ten months what had previously taken them five years to accomplish, and only then by sheer luck? It was an insane thing to ask coming from a supposedly always fair entity.
"Ten months is too short a time!"
Truth stepped back from him, turning and walking away as though suddenly disinterested in him. Scared that he would lose everything if the Truth couldn't be bothered, he stepped forward.
"Please, can't you give me just a little more time?"
The creature stopped and turned back to him, hands folded behind its back. The way it examined him made him gulp down his next breath of air.
"Ten months is plenty of time for what I have planned for you."
Shifting nervously on the spot, he weighed his options. The Truth was practically guaranteeing that he would be able to pay the price for his brother's life, and be given back his limbs. All he had to do was follow a few simple conditions. He couldn't help but feel there was a catch. But as his brother's face flashed through his mind's eye, he knew that if there was a price to be paid, he would gladly pay it for him. Frowning and bracing himself, he lifted his eyes to the creature.
"What conditions?"
The creature slowly began to grin and he felt his fear was confirmed. It was for his brother, he could do this, it was for his brother. Clenching his jaw, he watched as the creature drew closer, reaching out to cup his cheek.
"I've always wanted a baseline…"
He narrowed his eyes, not sure what to make of this and he shuddered at the way the Truth's eyes scanned down him. Drawing a breath, he was about to ask when the creature had disappeared and he was once again faced with the double set of doors, their all-seeing eye fixed on him. His heart dropped into his stomach and his body became cold.
"No…"
The doors swung open and he turned to run. Sticky hands caught him around the middle before he could make it far and he was dragged back towards the doors. Rather than the pain that he had become so accustomed to, he felt stifling heat surround his body as the hands slipped under his clothes.
"No! What are you doing! Stop-"
His words were cut off as one of the hands forced its way into his mouth, sliding down his throat and nearly choking him. Tears sprang to his eyes as he fought for air and tried to move in the heat surrounding him. He felt as though he was melting and being pushed back together. The sensation was oddly similar to what he felt when he was transmuting, only as though every time he had transmuted was compounded on top of each other into him. He struggled for breath and finally the hand in his throat released its grasp, pulling away and making him cough.
His screams burned and seemed to break and pitch. Hands tugged at his hair, his eyes, his waist, chest, legs, groin. With a sizzling pop, he felt the automail be removed from his leg and arm, only to be replaced with flesh, new and feeling.
"Alchemist, why do you fight? You're getting what you came for!"
The Truth's voice made him start and blink his eyes open, kicking against the hands that held him and gasping for air in the suffocating heat. He felt as though he were swimming in it, sinking, unable to catch his breath and he wonders if that was the Truth's intention? To trick him into paying the fare with his life?
All at once he hits the ground with a thud and a whimper, weak and sore. His first thought was to question what the Truth had taken, when the figure stepped in front of him. Moaning, he pushed himself up onto his hands.
His flesh hands, and it is only when he sees this that he notices something else. The fingers are longer, the bones more slender and the skin tone creamy white instead of tanned bronze. He glances up at the Truth to see it is grinning back at him and he shivers. Sitting back on his haunches, he turns his hands over in front of him, shaking as he stares down at himself.
His clothes are loose on his body, pants hanging low on his slim hips despite the belt keeping them up. His legs are still muscular, though thinner than their original shape and his boots feel two sizes too big. His shirt is hanging off of him like a rag, gaping in the front and when he puts his palms against his chest he feels swollen, aching and he flinches. His hair falls into his view, inches longer and blond yet so light it appears a soft baby yellow, wavy down his back.
"Yes, you're still alive."
The voice makes him look up to where the creature had been standing, only to find a reflection of a person in his clothes but could not be him… Could it? Slender, white arms and thing legs, just like the ones he felt. Long wavy blond hair and clothes far too big, just like his own. He raised his hand up to a high cheekbone and the reflection did the same. Golden doe eyes blinked back at him from under long lashes and when he gulped, full pink lips twitched.
"Remember Alchemist: You have ten months to repay the price of your brother's life."
Pulling his eyes away from the reflection of himself –herself?- in such a delicate body, he found himself staring into the eyes of the Truth. Lost for words, he could only stare as the creature grinned.
"If you fail, you and your brother are mine."
Everything went dark and Edward Elric felt herself be pulled into abyss.
As you can probably guess, this involves gender bending with plot. Before you write it off as a no-go, please at least stick around for the first chapter. Thanks.
SS