Hagane No Kokoro

Full Metal Hearts

Robin "Dreamseeker" Smith

Disclaimer/author's note - All Full Metal Alchemist characters belong to Hiromu Arakawa, and Maria is based on a real person (because I'm crazy like that). This fic will also contain characters from another story, but I'll put in their disclaimer when they show up. The only thing I own is this plot. Also, this contains spoilers for the end of FMA and the movie, Conquerers of Shambala. Consider yourself warned.

Chapter I - March 3, 1926, Austria

On a patch of green clover beside an old lone tree amongst the rolling hills of Vienna, Austria, under the westering sun, lay a young man. He wore black slacks, a white linen shirt, gray gloves and black boots. A brown coat lay discarded beside him. His legs were straight, his arms stretched to either side of him, and his long, blond hair spread loosely over the grass, flickering in the chill breeze. Beautiful, golden eyes gazed sleepily up at the clouds that passed overhead, and the sound of music touched his ears. He had heard singing while passing through this place before, but that had all been from the nearby convent. This was the voice of a single woman, and sounded closer than the abbey he had seen only from a distance. He might have drifted off to sleep then. It had been a long day, he was exhausted, and this place felt so peaceful, but the singing was growing distinctly louder. The man - not much more than a boy, really - sat up suddenly, earning a startled gasp in place of the music as the singer realized that she was not alone.

"Oh! Excuse me! I didn't see you!" The flustered woman backed up and was about to turn around and make a hasty retreat, but the man's voice stopped her.

"Wait, it's all right. I was enjoying your singing." He looked her over more carefully, noting that she was not much older than him, but that she was dressed in the same black and white outfit that the little figures he had seen in the abbey wore. "Are you a nun?"

"Y-yes. My name is Maria..." She still looked nervous, like a child caught disobeying her parents.

"I'm Edward," he told her, smiling amiably. "Edward Elric. It's nice to meet you, Maria. You know, you remind me of someone I used to know," he mused.

"Really? What was her name?"

"Rose. She was nun, like you. That's probably why." Slowly this time, so as not to startle her, he stood up and brushed himself off, then retrieved his coat and did the same to it. "Well, I should probably head home, or I'm liable to fall asleep and freeze during the night." He grinned to show he wasn't serious... not completely, anyway. "Take care, Maria," and he pulled on his coat and walked past her, waving his left hand goodbye without looking back.

The young woman named Maria watched his shrinking figure for a long time before returning to her own home in the abbey. She would never see Edward Elric again, and neither of them would make any difference in the story of the other, but it would be along time before she forgot the strange young man she had met in the hills, though as time passed, she would wonder if he had been real at all, or if Edward Elric was nothing more than a dream...

-

Al's concentration was broken by the creak of the front door opening and closing, followed by the approach of slightly uneven - and therefore unmistakable - footsteps. The young man looked up from his work expectantly until the form of his older brother appeared around the corner and stopped there, leaning back against the door frame, arms crossed and right knee bent. His long hair was mussed and he looked tired.

"Are you all right, Brother?" asked Al. In truth, he was just as tired, but lately Alphonse Elric seemed to be much more resilient than his sibling. That's what Noah had said, anyway.

"Yeah, I just need a break. What about you? Any luck?"

At that, Al grinned. "See for yourself." The room was mostly empty, save are desk covered in books and loose sheets of paper in one back corner, and a variety of differently sized stones in the other. Al, however, was pointing at the previously empty corner the the left of the entrance. Edward followed his gesture and visibly perked up at the sight of a pile of small objects. Curious, he stepped across the room for a closer looked. There were really only four things there: four little stone sculptures of a horse, a dog, a cat, and - to Ed's mild amusement - a familiar suite of armor. They were very simple and stylized, and there form rough as if they'd been made by a young child, but there very existence was enough to please Ed. He smiled, knowing that that alone would encourage his younger brother. Al tended to act like a loyal dog when it came to his brother - always ready to please. Ed sometimes wondered if Al relied on him a bit too much. If anything should happen to Ed...

He stopped that thought before it had a chance to finish. No, he would never leave his brother again, no matter what. He refused to even consider it. "This is great, Al. I know it's nothing like what we could do in the other world, but the fact that you can use alchemy at all in this world is a miracle."

Al beamed at the compliment and came over from the center of the room, crouching down to pick up the horse and examine it thoughtfully. "Brother... do you think we could do better if we worked together?"

"Probably," Ed paused to brush a lock of blond hair out of his face, ""but let's wait until tomorrow to try it. I'm really exhausted, and I bet you are too."

Al looked disappointed, but concerned at the same time. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll go make us some dinner and then we can sleep. It will work better when we're both rested, anyway."

Ed's stomach growled at the mention of food, and he eagerly accompanied Al to their small kitchen.

They had bought this house with money left by their father. It was little more than a cottage in a secluded place in Vienna, close enough to the border that they could cross it if the situation in Germany got too dangerous. Three years had passed since the incident with the Thule Organization. Ed was twenty years old now, and Al nineteen. They both looked a little younger than their true ages, though - Ed because he was short, and Al because his soul had been sealed inside a suite of armor for four years, and when he did regain his original body, it still looked the same age it had been when he lost it. Since they had been stuck in this world, the brothers had been surviving however they could, traveling with Noah and the other gypsies at first, then settling down when they found this cottage and decided to attempt to develop their alchemy in this world. Ed worked as a jack of all trades in the nearby town, earning money to substitute the slim remainders of their inheritance. Outwardly, the brothers had become resigned to living in this world, but although they never mentioned it, neither of them felt satisfied with their situation. There was a constant sense of waiting, as if they knew deep inside that this would not last for the rest of their lives, as if things would change drastically once again, and this was just a sort of limbo where they existed until that change came. It was frustrating, but by now the Elric brothers were used to that feeling. There was really no particular reason why they had decided to work on their alchemy here. It was just something to do in their spare time, and being able to use alchemy in this world could certainly prove useful, as long as they kept it secret.

As usual, these were the thoughts that drifted through Edwards mind as he lay in his small bed that night. He was soon asleep, though, and did not even hear it when Al came in and went to his own cot, curling up under the old red coat with the Flamel's Cross symbol on the back that he now used as a blanket.

-

"Hey Al, ready to try that experiment you mentioned last night?" Ed asked after they had eaten breakfast.

"Yeah!" Al cheered excitedly, bouncing out of the kitchen to what they called their workroom, where Al had been practicing alchemy the other night.

Ed shook his head at his brother's energy, but followed closely, his auto-mail clacking on the wooden floor each time he put his left foot down. He was still using the same arm and leg that Winry had given him on his last brief visit to the other world. It was old and a little bashed up, but he had managed to keep it from breaking over those three years. It was still better than what he could put together with materials from this world.

Ed dusted off the transmutation circle on the floor while Al struggled to drag a large rock - or small boulder - to the center of the circle from the collection of them that he had gathered for just this purpose. Even though neither of the brothers needed a transmutation circle to perform alchemy, they had found that using it combined with the technique they had learned from the gate lended more strength to their alchemy, and in this world they needed all the strength they could get.

"What should we make?" asked Al.

"A horse. We've done them so many times before that it should be easier. Let's just see how well-shaped and detailed we can get it by working together."

The two brothers nodded at each other, then faced the rock and, in perfect unison, clapped their hands together and then placed them on the rock's surface. The circle beneath their feet glowed with a blue light, and the boulder began to stretch and change shape. Then there was a flash, and for one instant, Edward saw a vision of the Gate standing before him, wide open. Then he was in the workroom again, lying flat on his back with Al hovering worriedly over him.

"Brother! Are you hurt!"

Ed groaned and pushed himself into a sitting position, placing his left hand on his forehead as if he had a headache. "Did you see anything just now?"

Al was looking more and more agitated. "I thought I saw the gate just now! Did you see it, too?"

"Yeah... and it was wide open." Cautiously, he looked himself over, but there did not appear to be anything wrong with him or Al. If they really had just faced the Gate, it must not have had time to draw them in or take anything from them.

Then Edward noticed the horse, or unicorn, rather. It was perfect, standing with its neck arched nobly and one front leg lifted high. Al had given it an elegantly detailed saddle and a wreath of flowers around its neck, each leaf and petal formed perfectly from the stone. Ed had shaped its long, spiraled horn that ended in a piercing, arrowhead-shaped tip. The beast was smooth, with well-built muscles and a flowing, rippling mane and tail. It was by far the best sculpture either of them had done, even in their own world.

The brothers gaped at the statue, then at each other. Without breaking eye contact with his sibling, Ed slowly brought his hands together again, then drew his left hand over his auto-mail right, easily changing it into the familiar blade weapon he had used so often in the past, then repeating the motions once again to restore it to the original metal hand. Their eyes widened further, and Al moved to fetch another rock and try his own test, but a knock on the door froze him in place. If anyone found out about their alchemy...

Taking a deep breath, Edward forced himself to relax just enough so that - hopefully - a stranger wouldn't notice that anything was out of the ordinary. He went to the front door, not sure whether he wanted to hurry or hesitate. Al fidgeted nervously behind him, which only made things worse.

As soon as he opened the door, a delicate, dark-skinned hand grabbed Ed and pulled him out into the cold spring morning. His heart caught in his throat for a moment, but it was only Noah.

"Yikes! What's the big idea? Are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?"

"Just come with me, both of you!"

"What? Ack! Noah, let go? What's going on?"

"No time to explain, just trust me!"

"Wait a minute," Ed yanked his auto-mail hand out of hers, though he was careful not to hurt her. "It's freezing out here. Al-" but Al had already dashed into their bedroom and returned, pulling on his brown coat. Instead of the other plain brown jacket that Ed had acquired in this world, Al handed him the old red coat they had both worn at one point or another. As Ed slipped it on, a slow smile spread over his features. He dug around in a pocket for his old gloves and pulled them on as well, flexing his auto-mail fingers and grinning outright. "Alright Noah, Alphonse... let's go."

The Full Metal Alchemist was back.

-

Instead of heading for the town, Noah led them away from it, going deeper into the foothills. The brothers had seen this place before. In fact, the gypsy was leading them straight towards a small but deep stone cave. Ed and Al had memorized its location in case they ever needed a place to hide, for whatever reason. It did not surprise them that Noah also knew of it, though, considering that she had been the one to find it in the first place, just after they had moved into the cottage.

Sure enough, she paused at the entrance to the cave and pointed inside. Edward took the lead then, stepping into the darkness. It was eerily quiet. None of the three were bold enough to break the silence. It seemed to take longer then it should have to reach the end, but once there, Edward still had to wait for his eyes to adjust completely to the lack of light before he could see what it was that had so excited Noah.

It was a door; a wooden one placed into the stone wall at the back of the cave. Edward reached forward and placed his hand lightly on the knob, remembering what had happened last time he had opened a door like this. Noah had pulled him through that door, but what would be waiting for him behind this one?

With exaggerated slowness he turned the knob until he felt a click, then pulled the door open. At first, there was nothing. Then the doorway was filled with a blinding white-gold light, and before he could react, Ed was pulled over the threshold.

For the second time that day, Edward Elric found himself lying on his back on the ground, arms stretched out to either side of him. To his confusion, he could see nothing but bright, endless blue, and then he levered himself up and realized that he was in the middle of a green meadow under a vast blue sky. The other two were there as well. Al was still unconscious, but Noah was sitting up and looking around herself in wonder. There was no sign of the door they had passed through. In fact, there was nothing man-made in sight. The meadow was bordered on two sides by trees full of birds and new Spring buds, and on a third by a coursing stream that reflected the perfect blue of the sky. Bird song and the soft sound of the wind filled the air, completing the picture of perfect peace.

Ed moved to his brother's side and shook him gently. "Hey Al, wake up," he murmured, golden eyes showing concern even though his brother looked perfectly healthy.

Al stirred, then opened his own copper eyes, blinking up at Edward. "What happened?"

"Hell if i know." Ed helped his brother up and then walked over to Noah. "You alright?"

She nodded and accepted the hand he held out to her, still looking bewildered as he pulled her to her feet. "Where are we?"

"I'm not sure, but -"

Al tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. When Ed face him, he saw astonishment and joy on Al's face. "Brother, don't you recognize this place?"

Edward scanned over his surroundings again. His eyes were narrowed in concentration at first, but then they snapped wide open. "This place... This is..."

Al nodded. "This is the stream outside of Rizenbool. Brother... We're home."

-

Winry Rockbell sat on the balcony, sipping tea from a cup she held and gazing out in the direction of the stream. She was thinking about the brothers again. They used to play in that stream when they were children, the three of them. Winry had thought that she would be over them after three years, but it was not so easy to forget the two people she cared about most, other than her grandmother, of course.

A flash of red emerging from the trees caught her attention, and for several moments she thought she was dreaming. It would not have been the first time she dreamed of their return. But the figure in red did not vanish, and was accompanied by another familiar figure, and one who was totally unfamiliar.

Winry leaped out of her chair, dropping her teacup without even noticing, and grasped the rail of the balcony, leaning out over it and staring until she was positive that the three approaching figures were not illusions. With a strangled cry, she whirled around and raced inside, taking the stairs three at a time and nearly falling on her face at the bottom. She caught herself on the wall and pushed off, bolting out the door and running for all she was worth towards the brothers. They had seen her, and were calling her name and waving their arms joyfully. Then, caught up in her excitement they started running side-by-side to meet her.

Winry had just enough sense at that point to slow down as she neared them so that, when she literally crashed into Edward and threw her arms around him, he was able to keep from falling over backwards by spinning her around once and then setting her down. Al laughed and patted Winry on the shoulder, causing her to turn around and hug him too.

"Ed! Al!" She was so excited that she had difficulty getting the words out. Finally, she shouted, "where have you been!"

Ed laughed and scratched the back of his head. "It's great to see you too, Winry, but where we've been is a very long story." His smile lessened, but did not vanish. "In fact, I have no idea how we got back, to tell you the truth."

"So what? You're back!" Winry turned back to him and caught both of his hands in hers, holding them tightly and looking into his eyes until he started to blush, then she hugged him again, effectively turning his face crimson. At that point, Noah caught up.

The gypsy looked at Al's smiling face, then at the exuberant display of affection going on between Ed and Winry. At that sight, Noah hung back shyly. She was happy for Edward and Alphonse, but part of her silently protested at the sight of the handsome older brother in another woman's arms; a woman he had known long before he met Noah, no less. In the three years she had spent helping the brothers adjust to life in her world, she had acknowledged her feelings for Edward - whether they be love or infatuation - but had never confronted him about it, or even asked Alphonse for advice. There was still something otherworldly about the Elric brothers - and no wonder - that made them seem somehow untouchable. Seeing Ed with a woman from his own world drove that feeling home. She actually considered turning around and going back to the meadow in hopes of finding the door again, but Al noticed the expression on her face and flashed her a winning smile before taking her hand and leading her in closer. "Winry, when you're done squeezing my brother to death, I'd like you to meet our friend, Noah," he said cheerily.

Winry released Ed again and blushed slightly herself. "Oh. Nice to meet you, Noah." She smiled and added, "don't look at me like that. I'm not going to eat you or anything!"

Al laughed and said, "wow, Winry, I really missed you. Brother did too, as you can see."

For his part, Ed was still blushing. Before the teasing could go any further, he cleared his throat and looked to the girl he had always secretly admired, now a young woman. "Well, Winry? Are you going to take us home?"

-

As soon as Winry opened the door, Ed found himself being tackled by a large black and white dog whose left forelimb was auto-mail. "Gah! Den, you mongrel! Get down already!" he complained, trying to fend off a very wet tongue.

Laughing, Al and Winry pulled the dog off of him, and Al - who was more of an animal person that Ed - ruffled the excited dog's fur and let it lick his hands and face, keeping him distracted so that he wouldn't trample them all in his canine enthusiasm.

Grinning broadly, Winry scooted past them to get inside, calling, "Grandma Pinako, they're back! Grandma, come see! Grandma Pin -" Winry froze in the doorway to her grandmother's bedroom. Ed and Al stopped behind her in confusion, unable to see what was beyond. They did notice when Winry's shoulders began to shake, though, and a dark, sinking feeling enveloped them.

Noah was the one who moved first, gently pushing past all three of them and walking into the room. Only Winry saw the darker woman kneel before the small, fallen body of her grandmother. Slowly - almost too slowly for Winry to bear - Noah place two fingers on the old woman's neck, then looked over her shoulder, eyes filled with sorrow, and shook her head. At that confirmation, Winry gasped and flung herself around into Edward's arms again, sobbing against his chest and clinging so tightly to the fabric of his coat that her knuckles turned white. Now he and Al could finally see past her, but they had already guessed by her reaction what was wrong. By the look of it, old Grandma Pinako had suffered a dizzy spell and collapsed, hitting her head on the dresser. The fall had killed her.

Feeling tears start to burn in his own eyes, Ed closed them and wrapped his arms around his friend, head bowed over her shoulder. He held her like that while she cried until Noah had laid the old woman's body on the bed and signaled for Al to lead the two back out into the living room. Ed guided Winry down onto the sofa without taking his arms from around her. There, she curled up against his side and cried out loud.

Eventually, after standing around feeling useless for a while, Noah placed a hand on Al's shoulder briefly and then walked into the kitchen with him following. Not a word had been spoken since Winry found Pinako, and Noah didn't want to break that silence by asking Al for help, so she started some water heating and opened cabinets at random until Al got the idea and, wiping away his own tears, showed her where to find cups. Then he reached into another cabinet and came out with a box of tea in one hand and one of hot chocolate mix in the other. Noah chose the chocolate when he offered them to her, and the pair waited quietly for the water to boil.

When they returned to the living room, each carrying two mugs full of hot chocolate, neither Ed nor Winry had moved, though the latter had calmed down and was now just resting in the comfort of Edward's embrace. Al set two cups for Ed and Winry on the little coffee table in front of the sofa and his brother gave him a faint, weary smile of thanks, then returned his full attention to Winry. Al and noah each took a chair on the other side of the table and sipped their drinks meditatively.

"Winry..."

At Ed's gentle urging, Winry finally pulled away from him and dragged her arm across her eyes to erase the tears. Soft, sympathetic golden eyes met and held hers, conveying more meaning than was possible with words, then Ed took one of the mugs carefully in his auto-mail hand and urged her to take it. After a moment, Winry accepted it and took a small taste, wisps of steam curling up and fading away amongst her pale tresses. She forced the tiniest of smiles, and even though it only lasted for a second, Ed saw and returned it. "Will you be alright?"

She sniffed once and nodded before taking another sip of hot chocolate. "Thank you, Ed," she murmured, her voice sounding stuffy from all the crying.

Impulsively, he hugged her once more, briefly, and then they sat side by side, taking comfort from each other's presence.

Alphonse and Noah had excused themselves and stepped outside, though Noah didn't think Ed or Winry had noticed. She tried to talk to Al, but he was just as morose as the two inside, and she soon gave up.

She was about to suggest that Al - being Ed's brother and Winry's friend - should go back inside, but something strange captured her attention. She thought it was a shadow at first, but it moved like a skulking animal, and there was no sign of what could be casting it. Besides that, it had large, glowing yellow eyes...

"Al!" she shouted as the shadowy creature pounced, landing in front of her and lashing out with sharp claws. She dodged its attack and gave it a good, hard kick, sending it flying backwards, but it was up again in no time.

At that point, Al moved in front of her, clapping his hands together and touching the ground, coming back up with a spear made of stone. When the shadow moved in for another attack, he swung at it, knocking it to the ground, then impaled it with the tip of his alchemical weapon. To his amazement, the creature faded away into nothing as it died. like a shadow amerced in light.

Al shuddered and glanced uncertainly back at Noah, reluctant to let go of his weapon. "Noah..." Are there things like that in your world?"

She shook her head, dark eyes wide. "I take it they're not from this world, either?"

Al copied her head shake. "I think we should tell my brother about this..."