Slayers: Equivalent Exchange!
By Usagi Uchiha aka Assassin-chan-Saku
Fandom: Full Metal Alchemist x Slayers. Edward x Lina.
Rated: T for teen because of some situations and some mild cursing.
Do not own: Full Metal Alchemist or Brotherhood, Slayers, Edward, Lina, Xelloss, Zelgadiss, Envy, Greed, Ling, Greed!Ling, Havoc, Mustang, Kimbely, Scar, etc.
Do own: Plot.
Characters that I wish never existed: Gourry, Amelia, Winry, Ranfan.
Warning: May contain OOCness, spoilers, and character bashing (Gourry, Amelia, Winry, Ranfan).
-Edward and Lina speaking together- River! You call that a gate?
/FullmetalDragonspooker/
-Ametris, year 1919- Tragic River Part 1, Edward Elric no more?-
Ah, train rides. The sound of the roaring engine, the noisy chattering of the passengers, the clunking of his metal brother's sudden but random movements, and the lovely smells of sulfur, coal and 15 trace elements. These were the reasons why Edward Elric just loved train rides. Not! He just hated train rides and the notion of it all! No one would shut their mouths and the weird noises and smells didn't help either. Someone even offered him a nice tall glass of milk. How many times did he have to tell the stupid masses? He did not like milk! It needed to die, well, it should not exist if someone stupidly wanted to point out that milk isn't alive. It is an inaniment object after all. Geez, who cares? Oh, that's right, the milk lovers. Even his brother Alphonse was included in this bunch of hooligans.
Edward gritted his teeth as he thought the noises were getting stronger and the smells were getting worse than they already were. It's like the military or the Homunculi paid these people to bother him while he just wanted a peaceful ride back to his hometown. Him, Edward Elric, fullmetal, the one who was picked on because of his height, the one who doesn't want anything to do with his own living parent Hohenheim, the one who has a half-brother homunculus named Envy, the one with the fake limbs, the one who placed his biological brother Alphonse's soul into a suit of armor, the one who missed his mom so much that he ignored everything in order to bring her back from the dead, the kid who was scared of a woman who was missing half of her organs, a boy so reckless that he did not think through difficult situations, the eldest brother that got constantly picked on by a morally bankrupt colonel, the one who was constantly in danger or was so close to dying.
The list went on and on in Edward's mind, flashing before his life. He was too young to have a mid-life crisis right? Edward was so concentrated in his own thoughts in his own little world that he failed to hear his brother's concerned pleas. Concentrating harder, so much that a headache formed, Edward had finally lost the little control that he had. His head begun to spin as he thought. 'Man! Why is this always happening to me? Clearly, this isn't a great life to have. I wish this never happened to me. Is this because I now somewhat doubt my only belief in Equivalent Exchange? I don't know!' "Nnnnrrggg!" screamed Edward as he abruptly got up from his train seat and ran to the trolley platform, where the moving train meet the earth below. Faint clinks could be heard as he spotted Al trying to catch up with him. Crap! Looking at Al with a short glance and then back at the passing Countryside, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. 'Sorry Al, but I am leaving" he said as he leapt off of the platform hoping for the feel of solid yet bumpy ground below.
Too bad he hasn't looking where he had jumped, however. He knew of his mistake when a sploosh sound rang in his ears and felt water droplets hit his tender face. He had unnoticingly fallen into a river and got swept away in the extremely fast current. Of course, he didn't go without a fight. Who wouldn't? As he kicked and splashed around in the incredibly fast current, he thought about all his grievances and added getting drowned in a river to his list. 'Please, I don't want to be Edward Elric anymore, I want to be someone else!'.
After that statement, a flash of blinding light engulfed Edward as he was transported to the gate, well he thought it was the gate anyway. The room was glaringly white and nothing was in the room except the faded copper gate and himself. Wait a minute! Where was that thing, no did it say that is was the maker of all things? Just thinking about it caused Edward to clasp his head with his hands, leaving him frustrated. This was no time to understand what that things was, he first needed to know what he was doing here. Last thing he knew was the he was being swept away in a river. Taking a deep breath, he peered around the seemingly empty room. Maybe this was the gate's way of saying 'chillax, Edward'? Yeah right! Suddenly the room raised about a few degrees, making it seem hotter than it was previously. Edward never noticed the temperature in the gate realm before, wait, did the room even have a temperature?
"Sit..." a voice called out to him. Next thing he knew, he spotted a lonely wooden chair made out of oak in the middle of the spacious realm. Then something or someone ghostly glided over to the empty chair, beckoning Edward to come over. Edward never seen something like the thing he was watching curiously right now. Was this the spirit of the gate? It couldn't be, can it? The long fanning golden hair, the sharp molten red eyes, the icy pale skin, and the plain but somewhat elegant black dress. Clearly this thing wasn't a thing but it wasn't a person either. Was this the gate's true form, hidden from the masses who went through it? How come it looked feminine? It wasn't like he was complaining but seriously! He couldn't let his guard up too easily. Narrowing his golden eyes in defiance, he promptly added in his answer.
"No, why should I?" The ghostly figure just grinned, showing vicious sharp teeth that shined in the glaring light, before saying the one word that it had said previously. "Sit..." The figure had added in more force onto the word as it lowly called out to Edward. Edward in response, audibly let out a quiet yelp before he thought through the situation. If this was the gate persona, it would be trouble if Edward didn't sit down in the chair like it asked him to. Heck, if he didn't sit down, he was sure that whatever this was could make him sit down if it wanted to. It was the gate, after all. So, to put it that way, Edward sighed as he walked towards the lonely chair. The deep footsteps that he took echoes in the white vastness of the room as Edward approached the wooden sitting device. He failed to notice that whatever was there had disappeared into thin air. Even with the mysterious thing gone, Edward didn't want to give it an incentive to come back and do something terrible to him. He sat down onto the chair and placed his hands on his knees, leaning forward in the process. Ok, he was sitting down but with the deafening silence Edward was loosing all the patience that he had left. The physical gate was a couple of paces away from him and yet he had to sit here, like a little kid. He was 16 years old for Alchemy's sake! He wanted to see the 'truth', to find out how to save his brother, so naturally, he tried to get up from the wooden contraption that he was sitting on.
Too bad that the movement triggered an unexpecting and invisible trap. A silver chain surrounded the blond alchemist and it bounded him to the chair permanently. The metal object crossed by his neck, around his legs and his hands were behind his back. "Nnnggg!" yelled Edward as he tried to struggle against the chains that trapped him. He sure didn't expect a trap like this, that's for sure. "I thought I told you to sit, Elric-kun" a voice whispered in his ears. It was that gate persona's voice! Arg! He knew something was fishy but he never knew it would turn out like this. He snorted and adverted his eyes to an unknown audience, while saying, "Well, I guess I can add this to my wonderness that is me". Of course, he was sarcastic about it but that was one defense against the stupidity that was going on.
"Don't be vain, I would do that to anyone who didn't follow my orders," echoed the voice of the gate persona in the vast distance of the realm. Ok, so it wasn't just him apparently. "So now what?" he asked to the thin air where he thought the low voice came from. "Wait, have patience..." Patience? That was the only thing that Edward seriously lacked. Well, first time for everything they say. Edward let go of the breath he was apparently holding and closed his eyes.
/FullmetalDragonspooker/
-Outskirts of Seyruun, year ?. Tragic River Part 2, Lina Inverse no more?-
Ah, what a day! Lina Inverse loved being chased by Cepheed knows what. Not! Today, it was a hoard of bounty hunters wanting her dead or alive. Behind her was her wacky companions that followed her everywhere like they were ducklings. There was Gourry Gabriev, a blond swordsman who was a volunteered bodyguard with a brain of a forgetful jellyfish. Second was Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, whom was a princess of a royal kingdom bent on justice, heroic deeds, and annoying speeches of friendship. Not to mention that she had a bigger bust than Lina did even though she was younger than the red headed sorceress. Next there was Zelgadiss, the blue haired, blue skinned moody Chimera. He's the grandson of a famous sorcerer, Rezo the red priest, who had gone mad with power. Zelgadiss was cursed by his grandfather as he was turned into a 1/3rd golem, 1/3rd lesser Mazoku, 1/3rd human monstrosity. It's sure to say that Zelgadiss harbors bad feelings about this and tries to the brink of madness to find a cure, not caring who he finds along the way to help him with is goals. Did you know that he spends his days hiding underneath a cloak to hide his appearance? Then there was the newest weirdo, Pokota, who looked like a Digimon reject with ears that had green fists attached to the ends of them. He was a prince of a ridiculous named Country called Taforashia. Needless to say, all of them gave Lina a huge headache when dealing with them.
As Lina ran pass a thicket, a whoosh sound rang in her ears, causing her to look around the forest path. Hmph! It was another annoyance that was flying dangerously right by her face. Xelloss, the trickster Mazoku that was a general and a priest working for a higher up Mazoku named Beast Master Zellas, circled around Lina's running form. Lina didn't have time to deal with him this time. "What do you want, you stupid fruitcake!" yelled Lina as she tried to swat Xelloss away from her like someone did to an insect. Xelloss frowned a bit before smiling. "Aww, Lina! I just wanted to see how you are doing today" he said with fake hurt in his voice. "How does it look like Xelloss?" Lina screeched as she ran even faster than she was previously running. He seriously didn't know that there was people who wanted Lina's head on a platter! Clearly, Xelloss didn't know how bad it seems to be Lina Inverse.
'Man, this day is getting worse and I am also quite hungry. No rest for the weary I guess. It would be nice to be someone else for a change. No one was it worse than I do'. An idea popped in Lina's head as she was thinking. She realized if she could get Xelloss to attack the mercenaries, Lina would be safe and sound. "Hey Xelloss!" she yelled at him to get his attention. Xelloss nodded quickly in Lina's direction, questioning what the red headed sorceress wanted. "Can you defeat these guys for me?" Lina asked as she began running backwards. Silence greeted her before Xelloss started to reply back. "I am afraid I can't miss Lina. For I am in a contract that says I only be a bystander in this situation" he said, letting out a heavy sigh. Lina was outraged and slightly hysterical at his statement. "What do you mean you can't? Answer me Xelloss!" Before Xelloss could say his famous 'It's a secret' line, Lina mistook a step and fell off a steep cliff. The incline of the cliff was at an angle so much that it made Lina tumble down it a spinning frenzy. Then at the end of the rough journey, she landed face first into an extremely large river. Up above in the forest edge, Xelloss was lost for words as he saw Lina being swept away by the rapid currents. "Oh dear! What a mess!" he finally said as the others caught up with him.
Lina tried to use her ray wing spell but water had filled in her lungs so she couldn't speak. 'Is this it?' Well, it wasn't much to begin with though. 'Being Lina Inverse is such a drag. I wish I was someone else' she thought as she slipped into an unconscious state.
/FullmetalDragonspooker/
-The gate, several hours later-
An audible ticking of a clock started to go on in Edward's mind. He could just feel the time slowly passing by as he just sat there, bound to the chair. Were the others worried about him? Was he in a coma or dead? All of these questions made Edward irritated and seriously wanting to get out of here. The only thing that caught Edward's attention was the echoing splash of water onto the glaringly white ground. He went to look around with limited movement because of his situation, but he had spotted a puddle of water. Well, this was odd that was sure. What Edward didn't except to see was a person lying in the Aquarius puddle. Was this another joke made by the gate? He seriously hoped not. Toying with him wouldn't be the wisest idea, that's for sure. Edward's thoughts got interrupted as the person started to gasp for air.
"Haaaccckk, cack, gaaah!" Lina coughed audibly, fighting for oxygen. She then sat up from her lying position and looked around curiously. Her eyes wandered over to the only thing that she saw in the glaringly white space. There was a boy chained to an odd wooden chair that looked like it was going to deteriorate or not. What caught Lina's interest was this kid wasn't that younger than her, maybe just two years apart age-wise. She glanced over him for a bit, as she was curious in who he was. Golden eyes sharply looked at her as she continued to stare. 'Hmph! Seriously, the sheer nerve of this guy! He has the gall to glare at me like that. Well, he's short, so maybe he has a complex' Lina evily grinned as she started to speak. "Ah, what do we have here? A scrawny pipsqueak!"
Edward heard a straw snap in his head as he heard himself being called short again. "WHO DID YOU CALL A PIPSQUEAK SO SMALL THAT HE CAN BE MISTAKEN FOR A GRAIN OF SAND?" Edward seethed as he tried to struggle out of the chained chair that he was in. He seriously wanted to strangle her! After some breaths of needed oxygen, Edward looked at the leering red head before him. Her eyes caught his attention because they were red in color, just like Scar and the Ishbalans. At least she didn't have the tan skin or the hatred that they harbored against him. Something else had caught Edward's attention. Oh ho! What's this? And to think she made fun of him because he was short. Here came the quirky payback that Edward wanted. "Well at least I'm not so flat that I look like an ironing board" Edward teased as he leered back at her smugly. Now it was Lina's turn to be seething. How dare he call her flat! That's it! It was time to teach him a lesson. Shoving an outreached hand towards the somewhat defenseless Edward, Lina uttered the words, "Fire Ball!". What happened next shocked Lina. There was no fireball. There wasn't even a small ember or smoke. She knew that she was low on energy because she was hungry but something should have happened. Well, she couldn't physically harm him so she decided to tease him again. She withdrew her extended hand back towards herself and then Lina quickly came up with an insult. "Well at least I'm not chained to a chair like a schooled brat" Lina cackled as she struck a weird pose. Edward hated to admit it but in the current situation, this girl got to walk around freely and he couldn't just because he messed up. Edward gave an audible tsk and looked towards the glaringly white floor.
Lina couldn't believe that he gave up that easily. Before she went closer, an object abruptly ran into the back of her legs and she fell backwards onto a wooden chair. This time a gold chain appeared and trapped her to the sitting device. "Huh, what?" Lina exclaimed as she fought against the chains. Now they both were in these ridiculous chains and they hardly knew what it was for. "So you both are done with the introductions, I guess I can tell you humans why you are here" said the ghostly figure as it reappeared in front of the two. 'Finally some answers' thought Edward. Lina, on the other hand, had wanted to ask the figure a question first. "LoN, is that you?" she asked, causing Edward to look at Lina curiously. "Yes, it is. How long has it been since we have met?" the ghastly figure replied as it swayed a bit. "Too long and I try not to remember. Thanks to you, I almost destroyed the world" Lina said as a bead of sweat ran down her face.
"That is not important right now though. I will tell you why I brought you two to this place" LoN quietly said as it looked at Edward and Lina. "Both of you wished that you were someone else, correct?" Edward and Lina nodded slightly before LoN spoke again. "So I thought, 'What could I do to make sure that you two know how good you have it'". Edward and Lina gave LoN a skeptical look before letting the ghostly thing talk again. LoN noticed the looks of disbelief on their faces but chose to ignore them. "So I have decided that the old switcheroo would do the trick". LoN looked in Edward's direction. "You will take the place of Lina Inverse. You will still have your own body so in actual truth, you would be her stand in". LoN then looked in Lina's direction. "That means you will be Edward Elric's substitute. You will still be Lina Inverse though". The two looked at each other as they thought the situation over. "Sound great". "Yeah". After those words of agreement the chains binding them disappeared and they were forced to stand back to back. "Now, walk into the vast distance. Lina walk East and Edward walk West" said LoN as it hovered in the middle of the glaringly white room. Both were confused but they started to walk in different directions.
Edward went a few yards before approaching a darkly colored sea. "What is this?" he wondered to himself out loud. "The Sea of Chaos" said LoN before it shoved Edward into the storming sea. Water had started to fill his lungs as soon as he was pushed into the sea and caused him to go into a state of unconscious. In the opposite direction, Lina came face to face with a faded copper gate. This surely felt like the Claire Manuscripts but not just that. Something else maybe? Suddenly, the doors of the mysterious gate opened slowly. What was inside was a vast darkness with creepy yellow eyes staring right at her. She froze with fear as shadow-like hands came towards where she was at. Running was out of the question as the hands grabbed her and started to drag Lina towards the dark abyss. The gate closed as soon as Lina was in it and faded from existence afterwards.
/FullmetalDragonspooker/
-Outskirts of Seyruun, year 19?, Ribarn River-
Edward woke up abruptly as he fought for some well-needed air. What in the world was that? He sat up from the lying position that he was in and looked into the night sky. Wait! When he left, it was daylight out and surely not this dark Where the hell was this place? He gingerly held his right arm but it felt oddly light in weight wise. His eyes widen when he saw his real right arm and left leg. When did this happen? He also noticed that his hair was absurdly long. It was so long, that it dragged on the solid ground around him. Edward also had something else different about him but he didn't have a mirror to check it out. "So now what?" Edward said out loud as he closed his eyes. Meanwhile, the companions of Lina finally caught up where Xelloss was located at. Gathering a few breaths of oxygen, Zelgadiss glared at Xelloss. "Where is Lina?" he growled. That's when Amelia piped in. "Yeah, where is miss Lina? I thought I saw her go in this direction". Xelloss was silent as he pointed to the river below. "She fell in that river and got carried away. Quite a surprise, I should say". Zelgadiss didn't believe the trickster priest at all. He probably pushed Lina out of spite. "I can't believe you. You shoved her off this cliff, didn't you?" said Zelgadiss as he gritted his teeth. Before anyone said anything else, Zelgadiss jumped down the cliff and the others besides Xelloss followed in pursuit. "Oh dear!" said Xelloss as he quietly walked away into the forest's depths. The others searched the river bed for Lina but didn't find a trace of her. A few moments later, Gourry shouted out, "Hey guys! I think I found Lina!" Zelgadiss and the others rushed over to where Gourry was. Indeed the person had a somewhat feminine face, long drooping locks and was quite short in height. There was a small problem though. This wasn't Lina Inverse, this was Edward Elric!
/FullmetalDragonspooker/
-Ametris Countryside, year 1919, Lake Jeorge-
Lina woke up suddenly like she was waking up from a nightmare. Where was this place? It looked just like her world but she didn't expect a roaring of an engine to invade her hearing. She got up to look at the scenery but quickly got pulled back towards the ground. Grunting, she looked around to see what pulled her towards the earth. Did gravity hate people here? She gasped as she looked at her right arm and her left leg. They were made of metal! How the hell did this happen? Damn! These things were heavy! She ran her left hand through her hair in frustration but quickly found out that her hair had been cut off. The hair went only a little bit past her shoulders and it was quite jagged. 'Oh boy...What did I sign up for?' Lina asked herself as she closed her eyes. All she could do was wait. Meanwhile, Alphonse finally managed to get off the train. He couldn't believe that his brother jumped off that train platform like that. He ran as fast as his metal suit legs could carry him and went along the lake shore, looking for Edward. After a few yards, he spotted the familiar automail that Edward used. Sure, it was Edward's automail but the problem was that it wasn't Edward that he found. It was Lina Inverse!
/FullmetalDragonspooker/
-Chapter 1 end-
STORY NOTES: Just to clear somethings up as this story is quite complexing. I am making Hughes to still be alive even though he's supposed to be dead. The Homunculi are paired up. It means that if there was different people being the same Homunculus, both are in Ed's world but will meet Lina separately to avoid confusion. I chose to have Envy as Ed's half-brother because I like it that way. The feminine Sloth is still has feelings for both the Elrics and the kid Wrath. Both Dante (in Lyra's body) and Father will take a more cynical role than the other Homunculi but will still have a word with Lina. Greed and Ling are separated but they can be fused again if they wanted to be. The chimeras that follow Greed are alive and Barry the Chopper is with them. Ling hangs around Greed's hideout because he hasn't become immortal yet and May hangs around Alphonse sometimes. Ranfan is dead. Hey, someone had to take Hughes' place. Winry gets a few small roles but is mostly out of the picture. Shou Tucker, Nina, Alexander (the dog) and Frank Archer are dead. Mustang's personality is a mix between serious and cocky in this. Izumi is still alive and makes Lina's life miserable. Armstrong, Olivia, Kimbely, and the other state Alchemists are still the same throughout. Scar and the Ishbalans are the same as well. Roze's personality is like the first series without the whole, 'I am going to be a new body for Dante' thing. All main characters and villains from the Slayers seasons are back again just to talk with Edward.
On how I made LoN, it was somewhat of a wishful thinking. I know that it has golden hair but the red eyes, and pale skin was my idea. The dress is an idea on how the Homunculi look when they come back from the gate so I believe that LoN would wear something similar. On how I came up with the chapter title, the Slayers episodes sometimes are like that when introducing the title so I thought it could work here. Both Ed and Lina say it in this version though.
LoN=Lord of Nightmares.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I am very surprised how this came out. I just kept writing and writing it seemed. I hope some people enjoyed it. I have never written a FMA or Slayers fanfiction by themselves yet alone adding them together. Please try to bear with me. I plan to incorporate both FMA series into this so expect some weird happenings. Please no flames or heavy criticism. Reviews would be nice. Thanks for reading this. If you are looking for more FMA/Slayers fun, look for a story named 'See Through My Eyes' by author, Zelas Metalium.
Edward: Die milk!
Me: Ah, yes. That too! xD Later!
Story typed- 8/21/10. 8 P.M.