After the final battle with Father, Ed, who was tired and exhausted both physically and mentally, fell unconscious. He had not attempted to bring Al back until days later, when he was fully recovered.
"Have you come for your brother?" Truth asked. "What will you give up this time?" Ignoring the nearly formless figure, Ed walked right passed him and up to the Gate that Truth was perpetually situated in front of.
"Here is the payment," he said, splaying his palm on the door. He turned to face the Truth. "My Gate of Truth."
"Will you be alright without your alchemy?" asked the guardian of the Gate.
"Even without it, I still have my friends," the sixteen-year-old answered with a grin. A similar one appeared on the Truth's face.
"That is the correct answer, alchemist," he said. Ed clapped his hands together. "You have beaten the Truth. Take it all." He pulled his hands apart, ready to perform his last act as the Fullmetal Alchemist.
"HOWEVER," the guardian's voice boomed. "You may not get back your brother."
It turned out that during the days Ed was out, Al's soul had passed through the gate and to the other side of it. Only his body and mind remained in the gate. There was no way for 'him' to pull Al's soul back from the other side, since his only purpose was to guard the Gate and to offer knowledge for a price. It was out of his power to interfere with the worlds. The only exception was when the Gate was summoned, but on the other side of where Al's soul had gone, no one knows alchemy. And since Al's mind was left behind, he has no memory of his life in Amestris and therefore, no memory of any alchemy.
Truth then gave Ed an offer that he knew he'll accept. The guardian offered to send Ed to the same world where Al had accidentally wandered into. When he find him, Ed could once again perform alchemy and bring them in front of the Gate. From there, they could then proceed with the I'll-offer-my-alchemy-in-exchange-for-Al's-body. Ed agreed and he was sent through.
He landed in "a barren, dry, and desolate land that is similar to Purgatory." Carefully standing up, he could also see mountains, caves and moreover, strange looking spheres. Shocked and bewildered, he then received the scare of his life when a gray looking thing appeared in front of him. It had "limbs are abnormally long and bulging yellow eyes with black irises." He later learned that he landed in the Shinigami Realm and that was a shinigami.
Asking around, Ed learned that, yes, his brother had arrived at the Shinigami Realm with no memory or whatsoever. Everyone was curious, as he was the only human looking soul. A few days after his arrival, however, that changed when the boy's soul pulsed wildly and unsteadily for a few times. After that, he literally morphed into a Shinigami-looking form. He was then given a Death Note, and from that moment on, one of the Shinigamis.
At this point of the story, Ed interrupted by asking what was Death Note. He then received the second shock of his life when he was given the answer. After Ed recovered from the shock, they continued the narrative.
A little while ago, however, the Shinigami, now known as Allen among them, dropped his Death Note into human world. Until he recovers his Death Note, he would not be able to return. Ed was then given the choice of whether staying to wait for Al to return, or go down to human world and take a look. He decided to take the matter into his own hands, as he always does and went down to the human world.
xxx
It was after he arrived that Ed realized he had no idea what to do. Was he supposed to go up to people and ask them have they seen a Shinigami that, oh, by the way, was invisible to anyone that haven't touched said Shinigami's Death Note?
Edward drifted about for a while, trying to learn as much as he could about the new world. He struggled to earn money, even guiltily picking pockets of those who looks rich a few times (he's not too shabby in that area) when he learned he was only allowed to perform alchemy once and that was for when he needed to go back to the Gate. Due to his lack of money, he found a place in the shadier parts of the town and stayed there for the night.
For the next few days, Ed spent most of his time either reading recent newspapers or digging up old ones to see if there was anything sounding like the use of Death Note such as unusual deaths. All he found, however, was series of murders of young, blond boys. Just as he was about to read more, a man looking in his early thirties approached him. The man called himself Aiber and he wanted Ed's cooperation. It turned out that he was working on the case of the murders of young boys. Ed happened to fit the bill of the victims and was in the area where they predicted the murderer would strike next. Aiber ended up hiring Ed to be the bait. It was a success and the murderer was caught.
It wasn't out of the goodness of his heart that Ed accepted the offer though. It was the money and the implication behind it. The sum Ed was given in exchange for his cooperation was outrageous, which proves that Aiber was probably incredibly rich and influential, everything Ed needed. Aiber had the money, the power, and more importantly, the information. He would probably be one of the first people to know anything about unusual cases such as deaths by the Death Note.
His point? Ed needed some way to stay in contact with the man. When he told Aiber that, however, he responded with he was married and had a son. It took a few seconds for Ed to figure out that one, and when he did, he was stuttering and was beet red. Ed then calmed down and carefully chose his words. He told Aiber that he was searching for someone and to do that, he needed to wide range of resources. When questioned about what was in for Aiber himself, Ed answered that he could be a bodyguard if needed. Had Aiber not seen Ed's skills with his own eyes during the case, he might have laughed out loud at such words coming from a kid like Ed. Which of course, he would then respond he's not a kid, he was sixteen, thank you very much.
But the truth was that Ed still looking very much like a fourteen year old, which could work in Aiber's advantage, should he hire him. Ed knew what Aiber did wasn't fully legal, due to his unorthodox way of solving the case. With a young, inexperienced looking kid like him, Ed could fool other to letting down their guards around him. Of course, they would also not take him seriously, which would work in their favor.
At that moment, his phone rang. Aiber excused himself when he saw the caller ID and walked off to an isolated area. When he returned, he said he will take Ed as his apprentice. When ask for what, he replied con-artist with a grin.
xxx
Over the next two months, Ed stayed in contact with Aiber. As promised, Aiber taught him some finer points of a con-artist. Although Ed believed he would never use it, he still learned as he would have more skills at his disposal.
Over the course of the two months, Ed also grew more comfortable around Aiber and vice versa. That didn't mean they knew a great deal about each other, however. Their lips on their private life were still as closed as ever. Both men had somethings they were hiding and were refusing to tell.
Ed took a great deal of effort in making sure no one find out about his automail. From what he had seen, they don't have such thing in this world. Exposing them would be dangerous and probably would earn him a one way trip to the experiment lab.
It was his teacher's "to train the spirit, first train the body" that gave him away. "Ed was taught to condition his body through regular workouts and sparring," but he just happened to not have anyone when it came to sparring. When Aiber went over to Ed's and saw him working out, he offered to spar with him.
"Due to Izumi's spartan training, Edward has become a particularly competent hand-to-hand fighter, able to hold his own against armed opponents and even skilled martial arts practitioners," so it came to no surprise that Aiber lost to Ed. The only problem was that "his steel right arm and left leg augment his fighting strength by adding to his defensive and offensive capabilities as well as his speed." Ed got a little too used to that, so when he and Aiber fought, Ed naturally made use of his steel leg. It eventually led to his secret getting out when Aiber realized the kicks were way too hard for a human leg to cause.
Ed refused to say anything on the subject and Aiber couldn't do anything about it. He still had to report it back to L, however. Well… Let's be honest here. He didn't have to. He was paid to do that though. On the day the case was resolved and he was about to leave, Ed asked to keep in contact with him. At the time, he joking replied and easily brushing it off.
However, when L called for the details of the case Aiber ended up telling him about Ed, as well as his surprisingly good self-defense and material arts. L was oddly pensive by the time Aiber was done. In the end, L gave him another job, which was to learn more about Ed and report it back to him.
At the time, Aiber honestly thought it would be an easy job. After all, he was the man L had personally (well, as personal as it could be without them meeting face to face) hired. He was known not only for his professional con-artist but also for his knowledge of psychology and ability "to get intimate with anyone he fixes his eyes on without a fail" that made him successful.
A week, honestly, was what he expected. After that, he wouldjust simply throw away the phone he used to stay in contact with Ed. If they ever meet on the street? Well, he could always say the boy wasn't the material to be a con-artist.
But it ended up taking two months to figure the boy out. "On the surface, Edward displays an immature sort of personality. He is decidedly stubborn and strong-willed, frequently letting his pettiness and vindictiveness get the better of him." "He was also rather quick-tempered, resorting more often to fisted violence than calm negotiation to settle disputes." And of course, one must not forget "the most noticeable of Edward's dispositional characteristics." It was "his Napoleonic denial of his shortness. Even in moments of relative composure, any and all references to his stature cause him to violently lose control of his emotions and lash out both verbally and physically."
Beneath all of that, however, was a boy that had gone through a lot. You could see it in his eyes. Sometimes, when he believe no one was watching or was just too tired to go on pretending anymore, his normally proud and straight shoulders would drop. At the time, you would think he was carrying something far too heavy on those not fully grown shoulders.
And while the kiddo may look like an everyday punk, he could sure keep a secret if he wanted to. He only gave the necessary information and hardly ever let anything slip. Evasion and giving out useless information was his specialty (because Ed had to learn something from Roy). Ed also had a very sharp mind, despite his emotions usually getting in the way. At L's request, Aiber left some puzzles lying around once in a while. Ed had managed to solve them all, which some even Aiber couldn't comprehend.
But he was getting off topic, wasn't he? Bottom line was that Ed wasn't what he really expected and he even ended up liking the kid. Telling L about his steel leg seem much like betrayal, although Aiber was pretty sure Ed suspect something, at the very least.
The decision was then made for him when L called and instead of requesting more information of Ed, he asked to set up a meeting for both of them. It didn't have to be straight-forward. It could be as coincidental as asking him to buy Aiber some coffee, preferably at a coffee shop nearby where there were cakes. Aiber took the suggestion and Ed was sent off to buy some coffee.
xxx
Days later found Edward by L's side, being trained to be Watari II to take some work load off of the original Watari. He was a perfect choice, really. Ed knew material arts (enough to even beat L, something that had L sulking for some time), was intelligent (L won in that category, although the subject on science varies. Ed has the upper hand at chemistry and biology) and had "an uncanny level of focus that allows him to effectively shut out everything from his surroundings and devote all of his considerable mental power to whatever problem demands his attention, especially in the case of books" (something L lacks, especially when he was bored).
L, of course, dumped all the boring cases on Ed and worked on the more interesting ones, claiming it was all training when in fact, the real training was learning different languages and working on fighting with different weapons including gun. As Ed spent half of his time doing training, the rest was spent looking through unusual cases and a small percent resting. Ed also began looking for evidence of harder cases as L grew to trust him a little more and vice versa. Instead of having Naomi Misora work on The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases, Ed ended up working on it instead. Watari also ended up dragging Ed around with him to get Ed used to working as L's proxy. They had even visited the Wammy's house.
The successors' reactions to Ed's presence were amusing, ranging from shocked to indignant to indifference. Of course, after they got over their initial first impression, Ed got along with everyone just fine. In fact, Ed was so well-liked that by their end of their visit, L wasn't the only one the heirs were sad to see going.
xxx
Time passed and Ryuk got bored, which made him drop his Death Note just for some excitement. Light picked it up and as he began experimenting with the note, Ed, who was monitoring for any unusual deaths, noticed it. He immediately started looking over it, determined to track this person down and hoping the Shinigami with the current owner of the Death Note was his brother. L, who was watching Ed closely, stored his unusual reaction in the back of his head.
When mysterious heart attacks of criminals increase, L's attention was caught, and it wasn't only because of the strange case itself. The fact that Ed had been gathering information related to the case even before it was considered as a case and not just some random coincident did not escape his mind, immediately causing him to be wary. He knew Ed was searching for someone but who that was, L never found out. Was the person he was searching for, in any way, related to the case? Ed, in a way, seemed to be waiting for those heart attacks and was even, dare he say, hopeful and delighted when he noticed it. What does that say about Ed?
While L was pondering on those questions, Light has some of his own. A few days after picking up Death Note, he met his Shinigami. Naturally, he was shocked at first, but he got over it fairly quickly. The Shinigami, Ryuk, was impressed by that, which really didn't help Light's ego. What deflated it soon after, however, was the fact that the Shinigami compared him to this other person called Ed.
Now, it wasn't comparisons Light minded but rather the person he was compared to, especially to unknown strangers. Unless he knew that person, how would he know whether he was being complimented or insulted? And it was only when he know the answer to the question would he be able to formulate a response.
So the main question of both L's and Light's was, just who is Edward Elric? Meanwhile, Ed, oblivious to the unintentional confusion he caused two geniuses, continued on following the only lead he has of his brother.
Notes:
- Ed arrived at the Shinigami Realm as a human with a solid body, not as a soul.
- Ed's left leg is still an automail, although he got his right arm back
The quoted phrases came directly from the FMA wikia and this is complete. I don't have any more ideas for this crossover. Anyone who is interested in continuing this, please contact me through review or PM.