Disclaimer: Hiromi Arakawa owns Fullmetal Alchemist
The Golden Sun: Chapter One: A Perfect Circle
AN: This is the edling soulmate au that's been a longtime coming if you've been following the posts on my fanfic tumblr. It was originally just a fluffy piece but then the plot happened and now it's a full-fledged fic.
The soulmate side of the fic is only going to be mentioned occasionally at the start, until Ling shows up, but Ed and Ling is very much the pairing of this fic. Its basically a plot AU with a side of soulmate at this point.
Cover art is done by the lovely bi-edward on tumblr!
Edward Elric was born without a soulmark, but he didn't stay that way for long. His mother liked to tell the story about how it showed up when he was a few months old, the day his soulmate was born. The soulmark on the side of Ed's throat was simple, as soulmarks went, a thick circle with a solid dot in the center. It was the Xingese symbol for the sun. Maybe his soulmate was from Xing, or maybe things like soulmarks were really random, after all, Mom never met her soulmate, she hadn't even married Dad. Besides, not everyone had soulmates, Ed knew that well-enough. Dad hadn't, but Al's was a pair of intertwining snakes squarely between his shoulder blades.
Ed liked to remember the good old days as fondly as he could without tinging the memories with pain and loss. Like how he used to brush his mother's hair and ask her if his hair would ever be as long.
She'd laughed then, but she stopped requiring them to get their hair cut regularly, though Al still liked his short.
His hair had been just long enough to collect into a small ponytail at the base of his skull when she fell ill and died just as suddenly.
He had so much bitterness at a young age, especially concerning his father, but the one constant in his life was looking in the mirror and seeing the circle patterned against his skin. But finding his soulmate was never really a priority, not after Mom died, not after Al lost his body, not after he literally became half the boy he used to be.
(Al never spoke about his soulmark after he lost his body, but he had no way of knowing that in Xing on that very day Mei Chang awoke from a nightmare, terrified to find that her mark had vanished in the night and sobbing at the murder she thought her father had committed)
Al was his focus after their failed human transmutation. Ed didn't care what happened to him if it meant his little brother would regain the body he'd lost from Ed's conceit, from Ed's belief that they could recall the dead.
His soulmate would never know him if doing so cost him his life, and Ed thought he was okay with that, but he was never completely sure.
Ed was eleven and recovering from two amputations -equivalent exchange, little alchemist- when he was given an opportunity to get it all back.
Roy Mustang had hoisted him by the front of his shirt out of the wheelchair to yell at him about the transmutation circle he'd found in their house, and not five minutes later the military man was giving Ed an option to take his life in his hands and walk through a path paved in mud if he had to.
For Al he'd become a Dog of the Military, a State Alchemist. He'd search the earth for the Philosopher's Stone, he'd search it until he was bled dry.
Ed was twelve, sitting alone in the train heading for Central with a letter from the newly promoted Colonel Roy Mustang to explain things and ease his way into participating in the State Exam that certified State Alchemists.
He could still remember the conversation he'd had with Mustang over the phone.
"Lieutenant Colonel-"
"Its Colonel now. I was promoted while you were being slow," Mustang's air of superiority was easy to hear and Ed hoped his audible growl was clear as well. "What?"
"Why're you being so helpful?" Ed had so much doubt and disdain towards the military. Winry and Granny Pinako didn't like them because the military had been the one to escort Winry's parents to Ishval when they'd gone to help the wounded, and it had been the military to inform them about their deaths.
Ed didn't like the military, and if he'd had any other option with researching how to get Al's body back, he would've gone any other way, but as it was the military did seem to be the best option.
There had been a long silence following that before the Colonel skated over his question like it hadn't even been asked. "We'll see if you're as good as you think you are, Edward Elric." And then he hung up on Ed, leaving him blinking at the receiver.
It seemed like the Colonel was going through an awful lot of effort, if you asked Ed, and no one did that if they weren't getting anything in return. Equivalent Exchange. Right?
Ed leaned heavily on his shoulder, watching the fields pass as the train rumbled over the tracks. Even after the year of rehabilitation Ed still couldn't get used to not being able to feel anything under his hand or his foot. But one arm and one leg made of flesh was enough for him if it meant Al's soul remained bonded to that armor until he could get Al his body back.
With the military's resources he would be one step closer, that much he knew for sure.
Ed pulled the glove off his flesh hand, bringing it up to rub against where his soulmark was. He knew without looking in a mirror where it was despite there being no obvious ridges or curves for his fingers to follow. Ed had grown up with the mark permanently etched on his skin.
The mark was the reason he'd learned to speak Xingese in the first place. At first the symbol had interested him. Mom had laughed when they'd looked it up together, remarking how 'sun' made sense for him. She'd tapped under his eye, on top of his head, before pressing a kiss to his sun-dark cheek.
He wasn't even sure if his soulmate was even from Xing, but it had seemed like a good idea at the time, so…
Ed twisted a lock of his loose bangs around one finger with a sigh.
He wasn't going to worry about the whole soulmate thing until Al was back to normal.
Central was a bit like Dublith, where Teacher and Sig lived, only more bustling, with cars speeding down the streets and more of a smog in the air. It wasn't like Resembool at all.
Central Command was a massive building bearing the symbol of Amestris, a dragon on a large flag, and Ed lost count of the number of figures he saw in that blue uniform.
There were a pair of guards at the front gates that eyed Ed as he walked past, looking for the office to give the letter Colonel Mustang had written. Thankfully he found it without too much trouble; Ed thought he was a bit too anxious to formulate a sentence.
The woman in the office smiled kindly when she took the letter from him, read it more speedily than Ed could've, though she looked unsurprised. Ed supposed the Colonel might've given her a heads up. "Edward Elric. Looks like you're just in time for the State Exam. Take the doors to the left. Any available seat will do. Once the written exam is concluded, you will be graded immediately. If you pass you will move onto the practical exam where you will display your alchemy to several officials, do you understand?"
Her eyes were sharp. She reminded him vaguely of Teacher, though not nearly as terrifying. "Y-yes, ma'am."
She smiled and pointed him in the right direction and Ed practically ran to get to the doors, only just stopping short of making a fool of himself, cautiously opening the doors and entering.
There weren't very many people in the room, which was made more obvious by its largeness, but Ed could tell that he was easily the youngest. There was even a guy with long white hair and wrinkles, but most appeared to be middle-aged. Ed could see one particularly tired man with glasses that shone in the lighting.
Ed opted to steer clear of everyone and anyone, flicking his long braid over his shoulder as he sat down, trying not to feel too small (He mentally beat himself at the use of the word).
There were a few military personnel at the front of the room, a short stack of papers between them and a watch to keep an eye on the time.
"I didn't think they let little girls in to this exam," Ed's keen ears heard behind him.
He didn't know which pissed him off more. The fact that he was assumed to be a girl, or the fact that he was called little. His hair was long, he knew it was; it was longer than Winry's. But long hair wasn't an uncommon thing in Resembool and he knew that that bastard Hohenheim had long hair too (Ed tried not to think about Hohenheim too much, it just made him angrier and angrier).
Ed whipped around, fury arching across his face like a cresting wave. "You got something to say, fucker?" he absolutely snarled.
If Al had been there, Ed was sure he would've been up and restraining him before he barely got his ass out of the seat, but Al wasn't here, Al was in Resembool, waiting for Ed to succeed, waiting for Ed to get certified so they could begin their search to regain their (Al's) bodies.
As it was, Ed was ready to leap out of the chair and strangle the motherfucker but a voice rang out swiftly. "Quiet down!" One of the men at the front of the room barked and Ed twisted regretfully back around, his dark glower making it clear what his intentions had been to face the front. "Exam booklets will be passed out shortly. You will have three hours to complete the exam."
"No gloves allowed," one of the examiners said as they handed Ed a booklet and Ed looked down at his hands regretfully before complying, baring one hand of flesh and another of automail. The examiner appeared surprised, but he didn't comment on it.
"Your time begins…now."
Ed twisted his pencil in his left hand, suddenly wishing he'd worked more on his handwriting since he's had to switch to his left hand since the amputation of his right. Then he breathed out, opened the booklet and readied his pencil.
He's was going to kick this test's ass and no one was gonna be able to stop him.
Ed twitched impatiently in his seat as the proctor -the woman he'd given his letter from Mustang to earlier- went through his exam right in front of him, grading it without looking up.
She wasn't making a lot of marks…that was a good sign, right?
Then she finally put the packet down to survey him. "Congratulations, Edward Elric, you've passed the written exam."
A relieved smile broke across his lips. He couldn't really stop it from forming.
"We'll just send you off to the practical portion. If the proctors find your demonstration satisfactory, you'll be granted the title of State Alchemist."
One step closer to getting Al's body back. Ed could take anything they threw at him.
He followed another woman in the military uniform out of the room and into another spacious room.
There were a lot of people, most sitting on the balcony for the floor above. Ed's eyes flicked over the gathering of people. He could easily make out Mustang with his dark hair and eyes; he hadn't changed much since the day he had dragged him out of his wheelchair and changed the course of his life.
Ed shifted his eyes back to the front before he caught Mustang's smirk. The kid stood out like a beacon of sunlight in the darkness, with the blond hair and golden eyes, completely clothed in black. The fire he'd seen in the young amputee he'd shouted at a year ago had grown brighter and threatened to consume his entire being.
The two soldiers on either side of Ed saluted suddenly as a man entered. He was older than either of them, in the same uniform, but his was far more decorated. His thick mustache matched the dark hair just starting to gray and there were wrinkles around his eyes and mouth.
"Ah," the man said, "would that be a steel prosthetic?"
Ed touched his flesh hand to his metal wrist. Prosthetics weren't uncommon, but he couldn't exactly go around saying he'd lost it performing human transmutation. "'Happened during the Eastern Conflict," he smoothed over.
"I see," the man said. "So you had a rough time of it in Ishval?"
Ed's brow furrowed and he looked to the man on his right, pointing at the one who was speaking. "Who's he?"
The military personnel made an annoyed noise in the back of his throat. "That's the Fuhrer King Bradley."
Their leader, huh? Ed had never seen him before, let alone heard his name. He narrowed his eyes.
"Thank you," the Fuhrer said, "you may proceed with the examination."
"Do you need something to draw transmutation circles with?"
"I don't need that sort of thing," Ed said, raising his hands and clapping them together with a resounding ring before crouching to his feet, light crackling around him as he drew his hands up, bringing with them a spear made from the floor.
He could hear the mutterings of how he'd performed the transmutation without a circle, but all he did was grip the spear, narrow his eyes and race forward.
No one could say that Ed wasn't impertinent, with his spear at the throat of his country's leader, with numerous guns aimed at his person and not a single care in the world. Foolish or idiotic might suit him better.
"You know, there are some people who would see this as a good way to assassinate a VIP," Ed said, eyes sharp and bright, "in the future you might want to rethink how you conduct these examinations."
The Fuhrer raised a hand and the soldiers who had pointed their guns at Ed relaxed, drawing the weapons back. Ed decided as a show of good faith he'd do the same, drawing back his spear and settling its end against the ground, the tip pointing straight up.
The Fuhrer cupped his chin thoughtfully. "Hm, a curious thought."
"You disrespectful fool! You're disqualified!"
Ed barely had time to worry about those words from the soldier when the Fuhrer spoke over him.
"Don't decide that on your own," he said sharply to the man, "I understand he had no problem in the written exam and psychological test…from what I've seen, his skills are impressive, and he's got guts."
The Fuhrer turned away and Ed frowned. "He just doesn't know how big the world is."
And it was only then half of Ed's spear for to the ground, cut by a sharp blade and Ed tried not to gape too much, staring after the Fuhrer who now had an unsheathed sword at his side.
When the hell did he pull that out?
"What's with that look?" Colonel Mustang looked to his right-hand Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye was considering him with an expression he couldn't quite place.
"That was rather uncharacteristic of you, sir," was all Riza said, but his arched eyebrow earned him a further response. "I was expecting you to hold their mistake over his head."
Roy couldn't understand why an eleven and ten year old child would have performed alchemy's greatest taboo, and he'd been an alchemist a long time, had watched others fall in battle, especially in Ishval. He'd lost his teacher.
Edward had been wary, standing before him not moments earlier as Roy gave him the watch that all State Alchemists possessed and his official code name, issued by Fuhrer King Bradley himself (Fullmetal was a bit much, Roy thought, but he didn't doubt the name would suit him).
"He had the option to choose from a number of supervising officers," Roy said instead, looking out the window to watch the small golden-haired boy take the steps down. "Seems strange he'd pick someone who yelled at him the first time he met him."
Riza arched an eyebrow. "Maybe he chose you because you're the only one on the list he knows even slightly."
"And you think that shouting at someone the first time you meet them is a basis for a good relationship?" Roy asked archly. "No, that's not it." More likely he thought Roy was going to blab and a good way to keep him from talking would be to settle at working under him.
Roy doubted that there was anyone Ed hated more than himself right now.
There was no pride or anything of the like when Roy'd given him the watch, just careful determination and dark, dark pain. The certification was only a means to an end for him and Roy knew it. Roy had enlisted in the military with a purpose, and it was still a purpose he believed in, despite the blood on his hands.
The kid had a sharp tongue and the skills to back it up, but just how much Roy wasn't yet sure.
One thing was for certain, though, things were about to get interesting.
Ed was too wrapped up in his thoughts as he descended the stairs and headed out of the main gates, looking left and right to avoid getting hit by a car before dashing across the street that he didn't notice the attention he'd garnered.
The man had done a double-take at the sight of him, before raising a hand and snapping a quick picture, highlighting the side of Ed's neck as he'd turned, the soulmark on his throat clear black against sun-dark skin.
And he had no idea the significance of the moment or the picture or even his soulmark.
Edward Elric continued to walk, unaware of the target that had just been painted on his back.
The Emperor of Xing was not a kind or even a merciful man, that much had been obvious the day he assumed control of the country. He had a wife from each of the fifty clans of Xing and had once had twenty-four sons and nineteen daughters, but no longer. Assassinations were becoming commonplace and he found himself unsurprised and uncaring and the loss of Huang Zhao and Yun Song, the respective heir and heiress of two of the largest clans in Xing. More would fall before the end, he was certain of it, but it wasn't the dead that worried him, it was his twelfth son, Ling Yao that did.
The Yao clan was rather large and rumors had easily spread of Ling Yao's soulmark.
The Emperor had already had the soulmate of the Han, Tang, Sui, and Wu heirs and heiresses respectively killed in secret, another wouldn't be an issue.
What he liked even less was the symbol on his son's chest, the Xingese symbol of the sun, one of the symbols of the Emperor. The idea of the squalling infant succeeding him made him want to wretch.
Surprisingly, though, he never found Ling Yao's soulmate within Xing, so he sent his spies to other countries. The Emperor wasn't willing to let even one soulmate slip through the cracks; he'd have all of them killed before any of his offspring hit adulthood and he'd accept nothing less.
But it was years before he heard anything about someone bearing the matching mark to Ling Yao. In that time Mei Chang's mark on the center of her palm had vanished, which was a relief because the Emperor was already expending so much effort for one soulmate that two would be irritating. (The Qian and Xi heiresses had long since lost their soulmates to the Emperors assassins)
One was successful from Amestris, sending a photograph back of a boy with sun-kissed skin and golden hair and eyes, wearing a crimson coat. The picture was of the boy alone, his head turned, the mark on his neck clear to see, identical in every way to Ling Yao's.
It was enough for him to order his assassin to kill the boy on sight the next time he saw him.
The Emperor would be taking no chances.
An offspring with an imperial symbol as his soulmark with a soulmate blessed by the sun with golden hair and eyes that people of Xing would consider to be a perfect being…it would be better if they never met. It would be better if they both died.
But was he so cold-hearted that he would have his own son be killed, if necessary?
The answer, as always, was a quick and resolute yes.
Ling Yao was born with a soulmark directly over his heart, a circle with a dot in the center. The sun. Fuu told him that it probably meant that his soulmate was from Xing and that it was a good sign. The sun was a symbol of the Emperor…the Emperor who was Ling's father, who he only met once, the day he came to examine the mark over his heart.
It was only later that Fu explained that his father had any soulmates of his children found and killed. Soulmarks were a dangerous thing to have and gave people silly ideas about love and their place in the world. The Emperor liked inspiring that kind of fear and Ling hated him.
He hoped the Emperor never found his soulmate.
Ling was sure that he'd only felt true fear one day when he was eleven, when the mark on his chest faded suddenly so that the rich black had become a faint grey. Fading marks, everyone knew, meant that your soulmate was dying.
Terror ran through his veins instead of blood. Their luck had run out, he thought, the Emperor had finally succeeded and Ling would have to get used to the idea that the one the gods considered his equal, the soul akin to his own, was gone.
It took a few days, though, but the color returned to the mark and Ling would remember the profound relief at the sight of the mark on his chest, black once more.
Unfortunately for them both, however, it would not be the first time either witnessed their marks fading almost completely.
In Amestris, Edward Elric flicked his braid down his back and straightened the red coat that would soon be considered his trademark, gripping his trunk, full of his meager positions, while extending a hand in time with Al's as they waved goodbye to Winry and Granny, ready to start the next chapter of their life that would lead them down the path of returning their bodies to normal once more.
In Xing, Ling Yao dutifully followed Fu's careful direction as he guided his new dao to follow the movement of his arm, to become an extension of his arm.
Though their paths were separate now, fate had a funny way of guiding people together when they needed it most, and it would only be then that Edward Elric would be able to take comfort in the presence of his soulmate, but for now it was safer that neither knew of each other's presence, a fact both would remark on later in life.
They were part of a perfect circle, alone and winding until the end was reached, right where it began, and one day the circle would be complete.
But for now, they both started on their separate journeys under the golden sun.
AN: First chapter is done! Let me know what you guys think! This is a very plot-fic, now, and incredibly AU, so expect to see a lot of scene changes. You'll see a lot of the Mustang gang from the start, but the focus is on the Elrics mostly, with just occasional moments with Ling up until he's actually introduced. There's gonna be a lot of Parental feels with the Mustang gang, that's so sure :)
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!