The Cracks in Time and Space
Things happen because they are meant to happen.
Things happen in order to cause other things to happen.
Things always have a reason for happening.
That is the one, fundamental law of the universe. For as long as man can remember, this law of "cause-and-effect" has dictated the flow of all timelines. If many things relies on another thing to happen, that other thing can and must happen. These are what are known as "fixed points in time".
By definition, a fixed point in time is an event that is set in stone. Completely unmovable, untouched by time and space whatsoever, without which the entire timeline would collapse. These fixed points are actual events that tie many other events together. If they do not happen, those events do not happen. And if those events do not happen, the events that are connected to them would not happen. This would set off a chain reaction of massive proportions, one that would threaten all of reality itself.
Then again,you already know that. That's just common knowledge. Is it not?
No.
Perhaps not.
That's not something everyone knows.
But just because you don't know something doesn't mean it isn't there.
Or that it isn't important.
In fact, a fixed point in time is where this story begins. The story of the innocents that were soaked in blood, and how in the ensuing chaos, a crack was opened.
One of many cracks.
The cracks in time and space.
The people screamed like banshees, like they were less than human beings.
All around the city, millions of people began collapsing, as though something was forcefully being pulled out of them. The scene was horrific in every way possible; one child was even on the verge of tears upon seeing his mother cough and gag before him.
Within seconds, the unknown cause of the travesty had spread towards each corner of the city, engulfing everything in its path. Nobody was safe; no man, no woman, no children, and no animal. All were lost, destined to suffer through this unspeakable and unforgivable tragedy.
And just as soon as it had begun, it ended. The nightmare was over. But the damage had already been done.
The ground was now littered with bodies. They did not budge, merely lying face down in the dirt. Two men with blonde hair lay sprawled over a pack of manure they had been carrying. A girl who had been playing with her friends had fallen into a ditch, her neck snapped by the fall.
Even though she had died long before her body had even touched the ground.
There was a bright, shining light coming from a building in the center of the city. Somewhere near the stairs, just before the center of one of the rooms, lay a white, shining crack in the middle of the floor...
Tales of the Wanderer: The Signers
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist
Part 1: The First Crack
About 400 years later...
"Here, Edward. I want you to take this. You do know how to you it, don't you?" Hawkeye outstretched her hand and revealed the object to Edward.
Ed gasped a bit when he saw what it was. It was a loaded pistol. A gun.
"A weapon," Alphonse finished out loud, as if he had just read his brother's mind. "For killing people."
"Yes, but it's also a weapon for protecting your lives," Hawkeye finished.
Ed felt as if a stone had dropped into his heart. Sure, he was willing to do anything to prevent Gluttony from escaping, but this? No, he had never even considered the possibility that they would have to resort to such means.
Gritting his teeth together, he thought about before, when he and Al had fought Scar again, when he had to protect Winry from ruining herself. He remembered what he had said to her, why she couldn't kill Scar or anyone else:
Flashback
Grabbing Winry's hands into his own, Ed continued. "It's your hands. They weren't meant to kill.
End Flashback
Then Ed's mind wandered to later on, at the train station, when Winry was about to return to Rush Valley:
Flashback
"No dying, okay?" Winry said, outstreching her head out the window.
End Flashback
After a few moments, Ed gave up. "I'll take it." He outstreached his human hand to the Lieutenant, and she placed the killing machine in his hand. This was no time for moral or ethical debates; there would be plenty of time for that AFTER he and Al were restored in their original bodies.
Ling looked into the window. "Look after Lan Fan." He then left to rejoin Ed, Al, and the panda bear.
Lan Fan heard her master's voice, and called out to him, a white cloth on her forehead and her face all red and sweaty.
"Wait! My lord!" The girl cried out in vain.
After the boys disappeared into the forest, Mustang looked over to Knox, who was sitting next to him. "Let's go." The doctor did not respond for a moment. Mustang repeated again. "I said let's go!"
After further hesitation, Knox cursed, "Damn! What are they thinking!" Starting the car, he continued. "Those three are gonna get themselves killed!
And with that, the four of them drove off into the distance, letting the fates of chance decide where the winds of time would take them.
Whatever the hell that meant.
Explosions were happening everywhere. Bits and patches of land were being consumed left and right, followed by surges of red electricity. This was no doubt the handiwork of the Homunculus, Gluttony.
The monster was on a rampage; nothing could stop him. He would not rest until he had eaten the body of the man who took his precious Lust away from him.
"Mustang! Where are you, Mustang! You killed Lust! You will pay!"
The monster inside Gluttony roared like a rampaging wildebeest, ready to ravage his prey like a dog ravages a toy he's grown weary of.
And of course, Ed and the others just happened to be hiding behind the trees on the verge of peeing in their pants.
Except for Al, of course.
"I know I said we'd stay and all, but that's seriously freaky!" Ed commented, his voice queasy and riddled with a slight twinge of fear.
"He seems to be a bit angry." Ling added, his voice also queasy.
"How are we gonna catch him?" Al asked.
All of a sudden, they heard a noise behind them. The three of them turned around, Ling drawing his sword in retaliation.
It was a black dog, staring at them with a menacing grin. Before the trio could even believe what they were seeing, the dog spoke its first words.
"Stop it! Now, Gluttony!"
Ed gasped in surprise at what he had just witnessed. "A talking dog?"
However, as if to prove him wrong, the dog retaliated. "Hey! Long time no see!"
Placing his upper paws on the ground with a thud, the dog was soon coated in a field of red electrical energy. Ed recognized it as the same red energy that Gluttony had expelled out of his monstrous hole.
And now he knew who the dog really was.
Slowly rising up to his two feet, the dog completely changed his appearance until he was the splitting image of Envy, the shape-shifing homunculus. Once the transformation was complete, Envy narrowed his eyes and stared at the alchemist, baring one of his usual, sadistic smiles:
"How are you, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"
Meanwhile, Gluttony was standing behind his brother and the meals he was talking too. All of a sudden, something amazing happened. Deep inside Gluttony's belly, where the eye was, a white crack started to form in the black pupil. Slowly, it began to eat up everything in a bright flash of white, blinding light.
It reached as far as the trees and the bushes around him. It reached as far as to where the soul bonded to the suit of armor was. It reached as far as the shape-shifting man made his reappearance after a period of absence.
It may even have reached as far as the end of the forest...
All of a sudden, they heard a noise behind them. The three of them turned around, Ling drawing his sword in retaliation.
It was a black dog, staring at them with a menacing grin. Before the trio could even believe what they were seeing, the dog spoke its first words.
"Stop it! Now, Gluttony!"
Ed gasped in surprise at what he had just witnessed. "A talking dog?"
However, as if to prove him wrong, the dog retaliated. "Hey! Long time no see!"
Placing his upper paws on the ground with a thud, the dog was soon coated in a field of red electrical energy. Ed recognized it as the same red energy that Gluttony had expelled out of his monstrous hole.
And now he knew who the dog really was.
Slowly rising up to his two feet, the dog completely changed his appearance until he was the splitting image of Envy, the shape-shifing homunculus. Once the transformation was complete, Envy narrowed his eyes and stared at the alchemist, baring one of his usual, sadistic smiles:
"How are you, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"
And it never, ever stopped shining. It burned so bright it brought back time.
All of a sudden, they heard a noise behind them. The three of them turned around, Ling drawing his sword in retaliation.
It was a black dog, staring at them with a menacing grin. Before the trio could even believe what they were seeing, the dog spoke its first words.
"Stop it! Now, Gluttony!"
Ed gasped in surprise at what he had just witnessed. "A talking dog?"
However, as if to prove him wrong, the dog retaliated. "Hey! Long time no see!"
Placing his upper paws on the ground with a thud, the dog was soon coated in a field of red electrical energy. Ed recognized it as the same red energy that Gluttony had expelled out of his monstrous hole.
And now he knew who the dog really was.
Slowly rising up to his two feet, the dog completely changed his appearance until he was the splitting image of Envy, the shape-shifing homunculus. Once the transformation was complete, Envy narrowed his eyes and stared at the alchemist, baring one of his usual, sadistic smiles:
"How are you, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"
Never ceasing. Never fading. Never dying.
All of a sudden, they heard a noise behind them. The three of them turned around, Ling drawing his sword in retaliation.
It was a black dog, staring at them with a menacing grin. Before the trio could even believe what they were seeing, the dog spoke its first words.
"Stop it! Now, Gluttony!"
Ed gasped in surprise at what he had just witnessed. "A talking dog?"
However, as if to prove him wrong, the dog retaliated. "Hey! Long time no see!"
Placing his upper paws on the ground with a thud, the dog was soon coated in a field of red electrical energy. Ed recognized it as the same red energy that Gluttony had expelled out of his monstrous hole.
And now he knew who the dog really was.
Slowly rising up to his two feet, the dog completely changed his appearance until he was the splitting image of Envy, the shape-shifing homunculus. Once the transformation was complete, Envy narrowed his eyes and stared at the alchemist, baring one of his usual, sadistic smiles:
"How are you, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"
It was light that kept the world turning, in a never ending cycle of time and space
All of a sudden, they heard a noise behind them. The three of them turned around, Ling drawing his sword in retaliation.
It was a black dog, staring at them with a menacing grin. Before the trio could even believe what they were seeing, the dog spoke its first words.
"Stop it! Now, Gluttony!"
Ed gasped in surprise at what he had just witnessed. "A talking dog?"
However, as if to prove him wrong, the dog retaliated. "Hey! Long time no see!"
Placing his upper paws on the ground with a thud, the dog was soon coated in a field of red electrical energy. Ed recognized it as the same red energy that Gluttony had expelled out of his monstrous hole.
And now he knew who the dog really was.
Slowly rising up to his two feet, the dog completely changed his appearance until he was the splitting image of Envy, the shape-shifing homunculus. Once the transformation was complete, Envy narrowed his eyes and stared at the alchemist, baring one of his usual, sadistic smiles:
"How are you, Fullmetal Pipsqueak?"
But everything must come to an end sometime.
This was the first crack in time.
This is where this terrible and ill-fated journey began.
In a little forest in the middle of nowhere.
The boy, Edward Elric, is the fifteen-year-old son of Trisha Elric and Van Hohenheim. He, along with his brother Alphonse, have done the unspeakable crime of going against the ways of God, by trying to bring back the long-lost soul of their mother, who died of illness when they were wee childs. Their father had left them long before then, so they had no one to care for them in their small little town called Resembool, save for the old woman Pinako Rockbell and her granddaughter Winry.
The aforementioned incident left Edward maimed, taking his left leg as punishment for his sins against God. This act deprived him of the right to stand on his own without the help of others, stripping him of his pride. His brother, on the other hand, got the worst of God's wrath. The failed act of revival left Alphonse without a body, so that he could not feel the warmth of his mother he so desperately craved. The boy would have been lost to darkness, trapped forever in the void of nothingness, had Ed not sacrificed his right arm to save the only piece of his brother he could: his soul.
By carving his own blood into a discarded suit of armor, Edward prolonged his brother's life and kept him alive, so he did not have to suffer the burden of his failure alone. And thus, the boys would remain standing in shame, forever haunted by how they had given up everything... for nothing.
But then a man came. Roy Mustang. He showed Edward the error of his ways. He gave him a reason to start fighting again, and offered him a position as State Alchemist in the Amestrian Military. With this, Edward would not only be the youngest State Alchemist ever, but he would also be given new rights and privileges, and the chance to possibly find the one thing that could restore him and his brother to normal: the Philosopher's Stone.
But it would not be an easy task.
He would have to face scorn and prejudice by many people in many different places, seen as a "dog of the military" or a "human weapon", or a foolish boy who sold his soul to devils. The irony of this would soon become relevant.
In addition, the journey would be tumultuous. The brothers would have to face horrors of unspeakable nature. They would have to life a life on the road, never truly belonging anywhere. And they would keep on running, running, until bloodshed and violence would be like a blessing to them, to ease themselves from the horrors that still plagued their heart.
But Edward took that chance. He loved his brother more than anything in the world. And he would do anything to restore him to normal, even if he had to die to do it, or travel as far as the ends of the earth itself.
Poor boy.
If only he knew how far he would actually go...
Meanwhile, many miles away, in a land forgotten by time, a man stood in the ruins, waiting and watching.
There were no people anywhere besides him. There never had been. For many centuries now, this land was untouched by the sands of time.
The man wore a blue cloak which fluttered in the breeze. It looked like a Xingese cloak, whatever the hell those looked like. It had a hood on it, and the inside of the cloak was covered in black, almost as if it was insulated. Underneath the cloak, the man wore a tattered black linen shirt with scars all over it, though it seemed to be in an alright condition. On his neck, he wore a black choker that was starting to come apart at the seams. Finally, he had tri-colored hair; purple at the edges, black in the middle, and yellow at the bangs, which stuck up like they were knives.
Opening his mouth for the first time in ages, the man spoke up.
"Guess it's that time of the century again."
The man then took his hand and clapped them together. It was time for his waiting to pay off...
To be continued...