Chapter 1
A deal with Truth.
The Gate
Normal POV
Edward and Alphonse Elric were in deep shit…well according to Edward that is, after losing the fight against the Father of Homunculus they were sacrificed, worry filled their hearts for the fate of their teacher, friends from Xing, father and (Edward grudgingly) commanding officer. Now they stood in the very familiar white void that made the Gate.
Edward's POV
Edward double-face palmed himself as he kneeled on the ever white floor "Damn it we lost…we lost everything, Amestris will be gone" he muttered as he hit the said floor with his automail fist, he wished he could just go back in time and try to save the world again from that bastard Father but, while giving out a sigh in defeat, he knew that his dream was the dream of the devil in paradise.
The suit of armor that trapped his younger brother Alphonse's soul crouched beside him and tapped him soothingly on the back "Brother, maybe our sacrifice was not in vain, m-maybe our friends found a way to defeat Father" he said softly, but Edward knew his brother more than anyone else to understand that he was just as panicked and worried as he was, but he couldn't help the small sad smile that formed on his face after seeing his brother show of affection but unfortunately, his smile turned into a deep frown when he heard the childish, annoying and smug voice of someone both he and his younger brother know very well.
"Or maybe not" the white being that was the truth, world, God, universe, all, one and you said, his never faltering grin was the only thing visible in his body, Edward perceived as the Truth showed the gesture of cleaning its nails not giving a damn about their misery that bastard… Edward cursed inwardly.
Edward stepped forward and showed him the finger "Came to take my brother's soul and my remaining body or what?!" The Fullmetal Alchemist questioned angrily, he tried his best to piss off the Truth but that bastard kept on grinning the whole time.
The Truth grin widened into a mischievous one, much to Edward's frustration, "oh well I was going to give you guys a good deal but since you welcomed me rudely…" he was going to turn his back towards Edward and Alphonse but the latter stopped him from leaving them to their deaths.
"Please forgive my brother, and please tell us what the deal is" Al pleaded in a polite voice, Edward shook his head at his brother's antics like really Al nothing good can come from him… he thought silently cursing under his breath when the Truth turned to face them again.
Ed rolled his eyes, he knew himself that he cannot be not sarcastic "like what instead of taking our soul/body you will take my hair for example" he said shrugging frigging boredom, but come to think of it he did like his hair Oh shit me and my stupid sarcasm he involuntarily touched his hair as he thought that.
The Truth laughed amusingly "it would be funny to see you bald but no" Edward couldn't contain his sigh of relief at that he was soon brought back to main subject when he heard that nasty chuckle of Truth "you see…" he continued "the deal is I will send you two to another world and in a place that I doubt you would survive if you proved yourself worthy in that place I will then consider returning you back to your world and that would be just moments from you left so don't worry about your country being destroyed" he explained.
Edward resisted the urge to rub his ears with his fingers; The 'Truth' is giving a chance to live "I can't believe you are that generous, why you are helping us?" Ed asked, disbelieve clearly in his voice, he was one hundred percent sure that the truth was fooling them, if he was going to send them anywhere it would be hell.
The Truth nodded his trademark grin never leaving his white face "well you see, you guys are the most ones that survived me and the gate and I personally like people like you who are too much fun to play with, and to prove that I will let your younger brother have his body" he said grinning even wider that his face was going to crack, Ed cursed inwardly, he and his brother are not toys at the hands of Truth but he is going to give my brother's body back… he thought, if Truth haven't fucked up their life he would have hugged the guy or thing or whatever it is.
"Really Mr. Truth" Al said with an exited voice, Ed would have sworn that if his brother had a human body right now he would currently have wide eyes and mouth open a gap, he shook his head at the naïve that is his brother.
By Ed experience Mr. and Truth cannot be in one sentence so he kicked his brother's metal leg knowing that both he and his brother won't feel it (thanks for his high heal boots) "don't call him Mr. Truth Al!" he scoffed and then looked at the Truth while remembering the current state of his brother's body "my brother's body is too thin and week" he said sadly, blaming himself for it to be like that.
The Truth waved his white hand dismissively "don't worry about that his body will be as strong as before" he said in a half-mock tone, Edward snorted at the Truth's poor attempt of sounding nice, he saw when his younger brother rose his index finger thinking he was in a classroom.
"What about my brother hand and leg" Al asked his excitement never fading, Ed couldn't help but smile at his brother Even through his excitement of getting his body back he still didn't forget about my situation… Edward thought and soon he started blaming himself again for their states.
The Truth shook his head dismissively "that would be asking for too much, I'm not that generous" he said shrugging, Alphonse excitement went down a little, Edward could care less about his arm and leg anyway, as much as Al got his body back.
"Well at least Al will get his body back, that is if you didn't lie" he glared daggers at the Truth, he still can't trust that bastard at all but from deep down he hopped that the Truth is being completely serious about his proposition, he did miss his brother's face and his kind smile after all and he didn't want to die just yet, mind you.
The Truth giggled childishly "Well, one of my names is Truth so I can never lie, can I?" Edward rolled his eyes at that so, I'm called Fullmetal Alchemist and I'm only one third metal he mused as he noticed Truth waving his hand "see ya!" he called as the gate opened and the familiar tiny black hands shot toward Edward and Alphonse. Both he and his brother couldn't help but shout when they felt their body being deconstructed and everything went black.
Unknown Forest
Normal POV
Corporal Juno Piquel in the Cation Royal Army (CRA) was scouting the forest for any outsiders that have managed to land on the Outer Ring without being noticed by the hidden scouting towers, It was a really boring job in his four years serving at outpost five only two times a group of outsider were found and captured and both were as soon as the disembarked their ship, suddenly a purple hole in the sky appeared out of nowhere and two objects was thrown out of it "the Hell…" he muttered disbelievingly as he run towards the place where it dropped the objects which was about three kilometer from his current position "If that strange thing dropped something that threatens my beloved Cation Island than I need to check it out" he said to himself but the said strange thing soon disappeared from the sky like nothing have happened before he reached the quarter of his journey.
A different Place of the Unknown Forest
Edward's POV
As soon as Edward regained his conscious he got a severe headache as he opened his eyes and took his time to stand up "where are we…" he muttered rubbing his forehead in an attempt to reduce the headache, he suddenly remembered everything that happened with him and Al and started looking around frantically in an attempt to find his younger brother he soon noticed the familiar body of Al, blond hair and a healthy appearance he even wore some cloths good that Truth didn't lie he thought as he smiled genuinely and crouched beside his brother "Al wake up" he called out as shook his younger brother gently
Al slowly waked up and rubbed his eyes "Ed…" he mumbled but suddenly stopped, Ed noticed when Al looked at the hands that was rubbing his eyes a look of recognition appeared on his face, Ed guessed that the younger Elric remembered what happened between them and the Truth as well but that look was soon replaced with a wide grin when Al looked down at the rest of his body, he looked at Edward with twinkling eyes "my body I got it back!" he stated the obvious as he hugged his older brother.
Ed nodded with a wide smile as he broke from the brotherly hug "yeah you did" he said as he ruffled his younger brother hair, he wanted Al to feel his affection the affection that he couldn't convey for five hellish years, but the said affection was soon cut off by a strict voice of a male.
"You two!" the voice said in a commanding tone, both he and his younger brother turned towards the direction the voice came from and saw a man in his early forties he had a puffy brown hair and amber eyes, he was wearing some sort of army green and brown uniform he was pointing a strange advanced rifle that both brothers never saw before "raise your hands and tell me your ages" he ordered impatiently, Ed rose his eyebrows he had a lot of questions to ask this apparent soldier Where are we, why you want to arrest us and why you want our ages rather an our names but he was wise to not voice his thoughts right now since this soldier seemed to be in a bad mood.
Al raised his hands in surrender, being the obedient sibling and elbowed his older brother to do the same, Edward reluctantly mimicked his younger brother "I'm fifteen and my brother is sixteen" Al said politely giving the soldier a nervous smile.
The Soldier looked between the two as he stroked the goatee on his chin while pointing the rifle on the Elrics with the other hand "Are you sure your brother is sixteen he is shorter than you" Juno said disbelievingly, Edward Ignored Alphonse sweatdrop and the fact that Alphonse is STILL taller than him by a few inches and glared daggers at the soldier, his internal bomb started it's countdown 3…2…1…BOOM!
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT THAT HE CAN BE CRUSHED BY A FLEE!" he shouted and got ready to jump on the soldier ignoring the fact that he has a futuristic looking rifle (AK-47) pointed at him but Alphonse stopped him at last second.
The soldier frowned at the older Elric "I didn't say that!" he retorted, before returning to his usual glare at the Elrics, he waved his gun to a certain direction indicating them to move in front of him "now you will come with me without any resistance, outsiders" he spat the last word, Edward wondered if this soldier knew they were from a different world or was it something entirely different he made a mental note to research what the term 'outsider' meant in this place.
He sighed inwardly when noticed Al frowning at what the soldier said, his younger brother was against racism in all its types, he had always shown sympathy with the Ishvalans and how they were treated by Wrath's government "Outsiders, that's what you call people who are not from around here?" Al questioned in a rare fit of anger, Edward noticed when the soldier raised an eyebrow; Edward guessed that he was surprised at what Al said.
"Yes we do!" he exclaimed, Edward noted the loyalty to the soldier's homeland that laced his voice "now stop asking questions and come with me!" The soldier shouted showing that his patience was running thin, Alphonse started walking and the soldier looked at Edward expectantly, Edward shrugged at that and followed his brother we don't know if we can use alchemy here, moreover we need to survive in this world if we want to get back to ours, let us keep this act for now he thought as he walked through the clear path that was surrounded by the lush forest white the soldier was close behind.
End of Chapter 1
Explanation of underlined terms:
Cation Royal Army (CRA): It is the main army that protects Cation Island from outsiders and makes sure they don't go and inform the rest of the world about it.
Outer Ring: A huge Island that is shaped like a ring that surrounds the Main Cation Island, many CRA is stationed on it to capture any nosy outsiders.
Cation Island: An island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where the huge Cation tribe lives on, in fear of being colonized or attacked by the world superpowers, they have a strict law that forbids any outsider to know about the island's existence, the CRA and the Outer Ring helps to implement this law.