The environment around him changed. Just a few moments ago, he was standing in a room with his brother, his teacher, his father and his boss. Now he was zooming through a strange landscape. He had felt this before, many years ago. Then he suddenly remembered it. He was in the gate.
"Edward! Time to get up for school honey!" Ed rubbed his hand over his eyes. He sat up. As he started to wake up more he realised that he had no idea where he was, or even what day it was. He studied the room for a few moments before he heard the voice calling him again.
"Ed, are you up yet? Breakfast is ready." He slowly climbed out of the bed and exited the room. When he entered the hallway, he saw many gadgets that he had never seen before. He studied them before hearing a faint scream come from the room next to him. He peeked in the door and saw a boy who looked about the same age as him. He studied the boy for a second more before realising.
"Alphonse?" The last time he had seen his brother in the flesh is when he was 11. He walked into the room and closed the door. He studied the boy. He was staring at his hands.
"Ed, what's happening?" Ed's face lifted.
"Is it really you Al?" The younger of the two nodded.
"I have a body, and Ed look!" The boy pointed to Ed's arm and leg. The arm and leg that haven't been there since he was 11. Ed studied his hand while Al took his time scanning over his body. There was a knock at the door. A young woman entered, holding some clothes. She smiled.
"Well I'm glad to see you two finally decided to wake up. Here's your uniforms. Now hurry up and get dressed, we have a meeting with the principal at nine." Both of the boys were staring at the woman, jaws hanging open. She looked at their expressions and laughed.
"What's wrong with you two today? Are you worried about starting your new school?" They both looked at each other before Al got up. He walked over and hugged the woman.
"No mum, we are just happy to see you." Ed joined in the group hug. She laughed.
"Well that's nice. Thank you honey, now hurry up and get ready for school." She kissed them both on the forehead and left. They sat there for a minute more. Ed got up and grabbed his clothes. He stopped before leaving.
"I don't know where we are or what's going on, but for the first time in a long time, we can be a family again."
"Are you positive it's her brother?"
"I'm more sure than anything else in the world." Ed left and both the boys got ready for school. The more they moved around their rooms looking for the items their mother had told them to put in their bags, the more items they didn't recognize. They picked up several. Al pressed a button on one object and it shocked him. He threw it across the room and it landed near a box of some sort. They both went down the stairs and searched for the kitchen. They followed the sound of what they thought was a radio. They entered the kitchen and took a seat at the table. A man entered the room holding a newspaper. He didn't look up while he walked over and gave their mum a hug then sat down. He looked up slightly. Upon seeing the two boys, he almost fell backwards off his chair. The boys were gobsmacked once again. The man studied them for a moment more.
"Honey, didn't you have to go see the doctor before you took the boys to school?" She looked at the clock and almost spat her coffee out.
"That late already! I'll be back in time to take you boys to school." She grabbed her coat, kissed each of them on the head before running out the door. They looked out the window and saw what they thought was a car. It looked so different to all the other cars they had ever seen. The car backed out and drove down the road. The boys turned to look at the man. Al spoke first.
"Dad?" The man nodded. Al sighed with relief. Ed looked at him.
"What's going on? Where are we? What are all these weird things?" He held up a toaster, demonstrating his point. The man took the toaster from his hands and placed it down on the counter. He looked up.
"What is the last thing you boys remember before waking up?"
"Al, you, Roy, Teacher and I were all in the room with that crazy scientist guy, then there was a flash and we all started disappearing. After that, I woke up here, wherever this is." He looked at Al.
"The same for you?" Al nodded.
"Dad, what's going on?" The man folded his arms on the table.
"Listen closely. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but what I do know is that we are no longer in our own world anymore. All these weird gadgets and things have been invented. I asked your mother about where we were and she said we live in the town of Houston, somewhere in Europe." The boy's look puzzled.
"I don't know of this place called Europe." Ed looked at the newspaper. He grabbed it and looked at the date.
"Why does this paper say that?" He pointed to the date in the corner. Hoenheim sighed.
"I believe that after we were all engulfed, the gate brought us here. We have been brought to the year 2010." Both of the boy's eyes widened. Ed started rattling his brain. Al stood and walked around the kitchen.
"But dad, if that was true, then why do I have my body back? And why does Ed have his limbs back? It doesn't make sense!" Ed looked up.
"It doesn't make sense. It can't be logically explained." Hoenheim sighed a deep sigh.
"Also, alchemy doesn't exist in this world." Ed stared in horror.
"No alchemy?" He shook his head. Ed fell down into his seat. Al was still pondering over the fact. He looked over to his dad, a small glint of understanding in his eye.
"Dad, I have a theory."
"A theory? What kind of theory?" He took a seat at the table.
"When we arrived here, wherever we are, Brother and I had all our body parts back. Do you remember when we last saw you in Resembool and we went on a little camping trip?
"Yes, why?"
"Remember you told me that if we returned everything we ever made, we might be able to get our bodies back?"
"Yes. What are you thinking Al?"
"Maybe, because we can't use alchemy, it's an equivalent exchange. No alchemy, but in return we get our bodies back." Ed was smiling to himself.
"You know Al, I think you got smarter. I promised you I'd get your body back, and if this is what we have to do then we can survive this."
"Yeah, you're right brother. But I feel like we are forgetting something..." Ed stood up.
"If we're here, that means that Mustang and Teacher are too! But where could they be?" Hoenheim picked up his newspaper.
"We'll have to worry about this later, you're mother's home." The boys peered out the window and saw their mother walking up the pathway. They ran to the door to meet her. After quick hello's, Hoenheim was off to work and Trisha was taking the boy's to their new school.
The school was huge. Ed's mouth fell open at the sight. Al nudged his arm to pull him out of his distraction. They followed Trisha up the stairs to the main office. A small old woman walked out from behind the counter to greet us.
"Good Morning, how may I help you?"
"Hi, I'm Trisha Elric. My sons are starting here today. Would you be able to help us?"
"Ah yes, Edward and Alphonse. Welcome to Greenfield High School. I'll just go find your year advisor to help get you started." The old woman left, pointing us over to a small waiting area. Trisha took a seat and started to read a magazine. Ed leant close to Al's ear.
"Who did that nice old lady remind you of?"
"Dante?" He nodded.
"I have a theory as well you know." Just as he was about to explain to his brother, a young man walked over to them.
"Hi boys, my name's Mr Yao, I will be Edward's year advisor. Which one of you two is Edward?" Ed held his hand out.
"Hi sir, I'm Edward. May I ask a question?"
"Of course. What's up?"
"Why are you only my year advisor?"
"Oh. Well you are 16, am I correct?"
"Yeah."
"And Alphonse is 15?"
"Yeah, so?"
"That means that you are in different years. Ed, you're in year 10, and Al is in year 9." Ed didn't know what this guy was talking about. He just smiled and nodded. Mr Yao gave Ed his timetable and went to show him around. Al had to wait a little while longer before a young woman entered the room. She approached Al and handed him a timetable.
"Hi Alphonse, my name is Miss Hawkeye. I'll be your year advisor. That's your timetable, and if you'll follow me I'll show you around and introduce you to your teachers." She smiled and motioned for him to follow her out of the office.
While Mr Yao was showing Ed around, he bumped into the new teacher. The man looked lost.
"Ahhh, Mr Mustang?" The man looked over.
"Yeah, I believe I am supposed to start working here today." Mr Yao nodded and offered to help show him to his staffroom. Roy noticed the small boy standing next to the teacher.
"Uh, Mr Yao, would you mind going and fetching my folder from the front office?"
"Sure Mr Mustang, I'll be back in five." With a wave he walked off towards the office. Roy turned to Ed.
"So Fullmetal, looks like I'm your new teacher."
"What the hell are you talking about? Yesterday, we were battling that creepy doctor guy and all his minions, and now we are here! Al and I have our original bodies back, but we have to go to school! There is no alchemy and there are all these strange new contraptions everywhere. What is going on?" Roy simply chuckled.
"Edward, have you noticed how large this school is?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"100 years ago, at this very spot, is where Central headquarters once stood." Ed's eyes widened.
"Are you saying that we are in the future?" He nodded.
"Sort of. Our two worlds shared the same history until that event that sent us here. After that, according to the records, one world advanced in alchemy, the other in machinery. I guess you would call it a parallel universe." Roy was lost in his theories. Ed clicked in front of his face.
"Yo, Mustang, wake up. Ling's coming back." Mr Yao walked around the corner, holding a bright pink folder. He smiled as he handed it to Roy.
"Here you go. It has your class schedule and class lists. Also it has the keys to all the facilities around the school. Your first class is in lab 2 in about 10 minutes. It seems that Mr Elric is in your class also. Would you mind showing him where to go? I have to prepare for my class."
Sure Mr Yao, thank you." With a quick wave and a smile, he walked around the corner. Roy started to walk down the corridor. He was examining his timetable as he walked.
"Are you coming Edward?" Ed started to follow him, trying to mentally prepare for what was ahead of him.
"I always figured you for a pink sort of man Mustang." Mustang simply ignored the remark.
"It's Mr Mustang to you," was the last thing he said before arriving at the classroom.