A/N: New story! Yeah, I put some of the others on hiatus because I kind of want to focus on this thingy. It's basically my Post-Brotherhood version which will involve plenty of new characters - allies AND villains - and some other stuff. Plus, I just loveee tall!Ed and normal!Al, so yeah. There WILL be some non-canon romance, but don't worry, it won't be the main focus. And it's gonna be flowing normally and things... I'm reaaally sleepy...
I'd appreciate if you could tell me if you think that I've made Ed and/or Al a bit OOC. :)
:xx- CHAPTER I –xx:
[ middle ]
"Nothing that's written in any of these books is going to help me." Ed rubbed his palm against the top of his head, groaning lightly. A pile of open books and ripped papers was scattered around him and Al glanced at him meekly, with a helpless smile.
"Another thing to do would be to stop being lazy and doing things manually?" the younger Elric suggested and Ed snorted.
"It's not that," he retorted.
Al pushed a few books aside, narrowing his golden eyes as the sun crept through the window, almost blinding him. He looked down solemnly and nodded slowly.
"I'd miss Alchemy, too," he said simply and shut closed the lecture entitled "Manual for Alchemy".
...
"Winry," Ed began, looking for support into his brother's eyes – and surprisingly, Ed happened to be taller than Al just by his antenna. The girl blinked, her eyebrow arching. She didn't say anything because it was clear that they needed time to gather what they wanted to say. Eventually, Ed let out a small sigh and continued nonchalantly, "Me and Al have decided… we want to travel."
"Huh? All of sudden?" Winry placed her palms on her hips, scanning the two with curiosity glistening in her blue eyes.
"…It's not really like that," Al said and nudged Ed with his elbow lightly. "We want to continue studying Alchemy. Well, one of us has to even start over – " he broke into a light snicker when Ed gave him a wary look.
Eventually, Ed managed to bring himself to look into Winry's eyes. "I don't know how much it will take. It will take as much as we need to." The corner of his lips twitched when she did a sudden movement which concluded to be a mere attempt to brush some of her hair out of her face.
She waved her hand a few times. "I understand," she grumbled and then approached the brothers, placing her hands on one of each of their shoulders, a smile lighting up her face. "You've sacrificed enough. The fight and the struggles are gone. Just go on and pursue your dreams."
Both stood dumbfounded for a moment. Returning the smile, Al placed his hand on Winry's as he nodded and whispered a, "Thank you". Ed had to clear his throat, his head lowering slightly to overshadow the pink tint from his cheeks.
"Yeah," he grumbled, "Thanks, Winry."
...
"What are you going to do, Brother?" Al inquired, watching Ed bounce around the room and carelessly hurtling clothes and other objects into a travel suitcase. He stopped, however, for a moment and grinned, stretching lightly.
"I think I want to visit the West, you know," he replied and glanced out through the window. The Earth was round. He closed his eyes and traveled swiftly, trying to imagine what continued to stretch beyond the green fields of Risembool, beyond Amestris' blue sky. When his eyes opened again, he rubbed the back of his head, chuckling. "Besides the unexplored Alchemy there, I also heard the food is great, man."
Al blinked and stretched a bittersweet smile, "Then I guess we won't be seeing each other for a while, huh…"
Ed slammed his suitcase close. He eyed Al for a second and lifted a brow. "Ah, I see. You want to visit May?" he teased. Much to his delight, there was a hint of red in Al's cheeks as he held out his arms, in a defensive manner.
"N-No, it's not – " he bit his lip lightly, " …I want to go to East. And since I'll be there, I'll just stop to say hi."
"Great," Ed yawned and flopped on his back on the bed, staring at the light bulb which hung from the ceiling, "You do that, Al."
There was a moment of silence, which foreshadowed the joy that the two struggled to maintain.
And then Al spoke, "We've been together so much."
"Yeah."
"It's kind of difficult – "
"I know."
Their glances met and the grave look in Ed's eyes made Al sigh slightly. He approached his brother, who now took a sitting position, and joined him – back to back, avoiding to see any memories roll through any of their eyes.
Al held up his hand. He started moving his fingers, he clenched and unclenched his fist and let a little smile wipe his lips. "We've been through all of this to get our bodies back. And we did! And I know that we've been together, because only one could understand another. So thank you, brother."
Ed flinched lightly, his wide eyes staring in Al's direction. Slowly, Ed's head lowered and his fists clenched over his legs. "Yeah…let's live normally." He raised one of his fists and gently bumped it in Al's shoulder, with a wide grin. "Thanks, Al! Just continue that –what-do-do-after-I-get-my-body-back list of yours."
Al nodded swiftly as Ed shot up to his feet, a frown appearing on his face.
"I'll go West, you'll go East," he said.
Al cried out, "Don't return until you get your Alchemy back!"
"And you," Ed pointed a finger at Al, "Steal all of Xing's Alchemy knowledge!"
"I will!"
"And one day," Ed stopped briefly and both him and Al could feel that the excitement now faded somewhere in the background, like a little flicker which would only be the spark of their adventurous fire, "After we've traveled the world, after we've learned all that was to be learned, we'll meet again. Right in the middle."
Al stood up, holding out his clenched fist, "Right in the middle. See you then, brother."
With a subtle smirk, Ed held out his own fist and bumped, gently, his knuckles against Al's.
...
There was a piano, notes flowing smoothly and slowly, in harmony. A voice went over, ghostly yet peaceful, which bent after the rhythm. The sound was trapped, inside a medium sized wooden box. Ed had his eyes closed for a moment, cutting himself off from the rest of the world – the anxious buzzing, chit chatting, steps… But one by one, the notes led him to a place which he wasn't really willing to go to right now…
His eyes opened and met his own reflection in the mirror inside the box. He was still the same Edward Elric, the boy with long blond hair and golden eyes. Except now he was wearing his hair only in a pony-tail, except he didn't have an automail anymore, except he didn't have his Alchemy anymore, except… he was a young man now, almost 20 years old.
And, of course, he was considerably taller.
Ed smirked and flicked the box closed, handing it back to the seller.
"You don't want it?" she said, disappointed, and pursed out her lips.
Ed raised a brow and eyed the woman, then looked at the box again. Shaking his head slowly, he lifted a palm, "Nah, thanks. I have to save some money."
She took the music box with a sigh, "Alright, fine."
He rotated his shoulders and frowned slightly, grumbling as he did so. Some of the clothes he'd hurriedly packed about an year ago were definitely too small for him now. He had to spend a big part of his money on new clothes. However, it was pretty difficult to find a shirt or a coat which fit him well since apparently he'd grown most around his shoulders, which now turned out to be rather broad.
"Hey!" the woman called after Ed. He blinked. "Stop by anytime you want, will you?"
A bit confused, yet grateful, Ed smiled sheepishly, "Yeah. I will – "
"I'm going to bring my niece along! She's looking for a boyfriend and I'm sure a fine, young lad like you would make her mama happy!" she squealed towards the end and Ed jolted, his eye twitching.
"Eh…" he stammered and awkwardly stepped away, "Yeah, that's very flattering, but –"
"She adores tall men!"
"…"
Ed opened his arms and raised his shoulders, "Well, who wouldn't? I'd love me too." There was a round of laughter from the woman and slowly, Ed proceeded to continue. Over the journey, he collected different objects from the cities and towns he'd stopped in. And the last stop was Karma City, Aerugo. His luck was that the train which was supposed to take him to the next destination – which was a country neighboring Aerugo – had a delay of a day. And that day, a souvenir fair came in town.
Karma was definitely an interesting city. It had a very aristocratic air to it, which could be found all over Aerugo, in fact. The reason could have been that it was a monarchy and a rather old country, not known for anything in particular other than its extravagant balls and myths.
"Oh man, I wish I could find a myth book…" Ed mumbled, looking around for a shelf with books.
But there was something that really troubled Ed. It was the fact that he didn't make an entry visa for Aerugo. One wasn't required if he had to spend exactly 24 hours in the country, but since he wasn't…
He heard the music box's song again and he stopped.
Did I just walk around in a circle? Ed pondered with a bothered frown. He slipped his hands into his pockets and stretched a long gaze over his shoulder, the woman who tried to sell the box entering his sight again.
His mouth turned into a straight line. If she sees me again, she'll take it as if I accepted seeing that niece of hers…He winced lightly, his fists clenching inside the pockets, Yeah… As if…
The woman puffed her cheeks, blaring out with exasperation, "You don't want it either?!"
"Ah, no..."
Ed felt a pump inside his chest.
"I'll give you a sale for it! Come on…"
"I… Okay, then. I wanted to buy something for a friend of mine, anyway – "
"Al!" Ed called out hastily.
Quickly, Al slid his head out, his face rather blank. Blinking for a few moments – he tried to convince himself that it wasn't an illusion of sorts – his lips slowly slipped into a large smile, then a smirk and then in an elated grin.
"Brother!" he exclaimed and handed the payment for the box to the woman, took the object and then rushed towards Ed – who was rushing towards him.
And then, after a moment, they met and without worrying about anything that was to come or that already had been, they jumped in each other's arms, chuckling, nudging, pushing one another.
"Brother, you've…!" Al paused and glanced at a sparkling Ed, who had his ears all wide in expectation for a praise, "You didn't really grow any taller…"
Ed twitched. "Hey!" he held a palm above his head and drew a line towards Al, trying to measure the height, "Is this seriously the first thing you say to your older brother after this time?" There was a difference of about three fingers between the two, but again, the antenna made up for it.
Ed decided to brush aside the height topic and grumbled, silently blaming his leg automail for the lack of growth. Al arched his brows.
"What's wrong with the leg?" he questioned.
Ed pressed his palms against the leg, stretching and bending it – exercising. It hurt him a little bit, but there was nothing that could be done. "It doesn't seem like it suits me anymore…" he replied lowly.
Al was lost. "Why not go see Winry?"
Ed cringed.
"…Then, why not call her here?"
"I can't do that," Ed replied grimly, quickly leaving his automail be.
"Brother…" Al said softly and eyed him with disapproval, "Whatever happened with you and her, it shouldn't affect you professionally."
Ed almost toppled over when a rushed person knocked against his shoulder. Gritting his teeth, he turned to face the aggressor, but he or she was already gone. Ed blinked and glanced around. The fair had turned into a real hustle. The vendors were gathering their merchandise as quickly as possible, scattering into the narrow alleys between the old, classy buildings.
"Something is going on…" Al said lowly and Ed nodded.
"It's probably the police. Many of them should be illegally selling objects here."
There was a pause, then –
"Oh God!" Ed panicked, bringing the feeling of dread in Al's eyes, "The police?! I don't have a visa!"
"C-Calm down, brother!" Al cried out, shaking him by the collar and also restraining him from just running off to a hideout together with the vendors, "I have a visa."
Ed clapped his palms together and rubbed them together, pleased, "You're my savior, Alphonse!"
Al took the card from his pocket. He blinked.
"Oh – "
"What's with that?! I don't like hearing the 'oh'!"
"It expired two hours ago."
"…"
Ed cupped his hands on his cheeks and growled, "Then just make one using Alchemy!"
"What?!" Al jolted, "I can't do that!"
"Of course you can, you can use Alchemy."
"Yes, I… No, that's not what I meant! It's illegal."
Ed drew closer, his eyes suspiciously scanning the zone. He placed a palm in front of his mouth, "It's not illegal if we don't get caught…"
Al snapped, "Quit putting us in troublesome situations already!"
"Ahem."
It wasn't Ed who said that. It wasn't Al who said that either. Wide eyed, the two turned to the source of the sound and they met the bull eyes of an officer.
"Mister beloved officer~" Ed purred out, pulling out a fan and casually fluttering it towards the man, "How are you today?"
He held out a hand. "May I see an identity card, please?"
A boulder fell on Ed's head, holding the fan tighter, "I, eh… I'm from Amestris…"
The officer arched a brow. "Then, can I see a visa?"
"You see," Al bumped in and held out his expired card, "It was available until a few hours ago, but we can't leave..."
"Yeah!" Ed jumped, "Our train towards Bastile is delayed!"
The officer sighed. He started searching his jacket's pockets, shaking his head. And then, in a flicker, as if the sun had blinded him for a moment, Ed saw the man's contour explode into pools of blood, which contrasted with the blue sky. He froze and, instinctively, him and Al attempted defense stances towards each other.
That's right…Ed thought when the officer hit the ground, splashing in a red puddle, I heard a shot.
A/N: This was it! Woot, woot! I loved writing this chapter, me loves some Ed and Al brotherly fluff. And it won't stop here, yeah! Anyway, 'til the next chapter. I can't guarantee that it will be like this one, length wise or that it will come out tomorrow or other day.
Don't forget to review. :)