A/N: Like always, I don't own either FFVII or FMA:B/manga. I'm only saying this once!
68 chapters of Salvation's Hands are sort of like spoilers for Fates of Worlds and vice versa, so just be aware of that. However, if your goal is the new third path of this monster crossover, Fates of Worlds—Dimensions, the fastest way to it is by reading the first 33 chapters of FoW, then skipping to FoWD when I start posting it in the new year (likely timeline is sometime in February). If you're planning to read all 3 paths, just keep in mind that chapter 33 of FoW is the separation point between FoW and FoWD, though you can still get to it by reading to chapter 68 of SH, then jumping over.
If you didn't read Catalyst Array first, you won't understand most of this story, so please go back and read it! I won't be re-introducing or re-describing people if they've been given new names or switched to a different canon name for main use.
For those who wanted to see other Amestrians land on Gaia, understand that Truth decided who passed through and why (there's a 'reason' involved which most people likely wouldn't suspect), but Truth isn't dictating their paths once on Gaia—that's more Minerva's territory or their own choice. Because Truth decided certain people would arrive on the Planet, there are reasons for each one of them to be there, no matter how impressive (or otherwise) you found them to be in FMA: Brotherhood or the manga, and about half of them didn't choose to cross over—they'd have been happy staying on the other side, and had, in fact, planned to stay in Amestris. Yes, Truth is high-handed. Did anyone actually think differently after watching/reading FMA:B?
Also, I admittedly was trying to pick characters I thought I'd be able to write reasonably well, and was thinking about what would happen to Amestris if, say, both Mustang and Armstrong (Olivier) were sent to Gaia—the result wouldn't have been good. As such, I really didn't like the idea of taking both of the leaders of the coup d'etat on Father, and Truth is a lot of things, but it's not stupid and I can't see it wanting Amestris to collapse in the name of saving Gaia.
As such, read on to find out the final list of who I chose!
A quick reminder (because it was only briefly mentioned after the raid on Deepground):
Zack (and nearly every other Second Class, except Kunzel and Luxiere) has been promoted to SOLDIER First Class, but because of the reason for promotion, he's still being 'mentored' by Angeal. Nearly every Third has also been promoted to Second Class. Only ten Thirds are still ranked as such—they're waiting for the new batch of Cadets to join them so the number of Thirds will start going up again.
Surprise Arrival
When the Highwind landed on the landing platform near the top of the Shinra building in Midgar around six that afternoon, there were some people already waiting for them there, including Reeve, Rufus, Reno, and Illis. Reno was clearly there as Rufus' guard while both Eden and Sephiroth were away. Some of the ones waiting there were clearly mechanics for Highwind maintenance, and some were other SOLDIERs greeting their comrades back and giving them reports and instructions. That was the first time Ed had seen so many Shinra employees wearing the black uniform Sora, Angeal, and Zack wore, and most of them without any additions to their uniform the way Genesis and Sephiroth had.
Yufi still looked a little ill and miserable as Eden, Felicia, and she walked off the Highwind behind Sephiroth, Angeal, and Zack, but she was at least more alert and aware than she had been while the Highwind had been in the air for its eight hour flight. The nine-year-old girl was clinging to his arm and using him to support her weight while she looked around carefully at her new surroundings. When the three SOLDIERs reached the bottom of the ramp, Rufus motioned them all over, so the six joined the four of them.
As they got within speaking range, Rufus said, "Director Lazard asked that I pass on to you a rather urgent request to head to his office, General, Commander." Both nodded with slight sighs and quickly headed for the door into the building, Zack following his mentor as usual. Rufus then faced Eden and said, "It'll be good to have you back, Eden. We had best begin with introductions, and you are best equipped to give them."
"Okay," the blond agreed a bit tiredly as he looked around at the group. His gaze went to Felicia and Yufi as he said, "These people are Rufus Shinra, President Shinra's son, Reno of the Turks, who is Rufus' guard currently, Reeve Tuesti, the Executive of Urban Development, and Illis of the Turks, who—I'm guessing has been assigned to act as the primary guard for the Princess." The last he directed at her questioningly, to which she gave a small nod of acknowledgment.
His gaze then went to Rufus and Reeve as he went on with the introductions. "This is Felicia Pereld, the leader of Gaia's Refuge—I'm sure you know what that is or you wouldn't be meeting with her." His gaze was on Reeve in amusement as he said that, and he received an amused smile and nod in reply, so looked down at Yufi. "And this young lady is Princess Yufi Kisaragi, Emperor Godo Kisaragi's daughter. Are you taking over from here, Illis?" Eden asked the black haired woman curiously.
Illis gave a smile and nod as she agreed, "I am." She then looked down at the girl to address her directly, "It's nice to meet you, Princess."
Yufi made a small face, then pouted as she looked up at Eden. "I really can't just have you as my guard?" At least she was finally starting to recover her own balance once she was back on something solid.
Felicia sighed, Eden held a hand to his head like it hurt, Reeve chuckled, Rufus snorted in amusement, and Reno laughed outright at the words, even as Illis blinked several times, then raised a questioning brow at the blond Turk.
Before she or her fellow Turk could say anything, Eden's PHS rang and he saw Tseng's number when he opened it. After a hesitant moment, he answered it with, "What do you need, Tseng?" The others stared in surprise.
"Have you arrived back in Midgar?" the man asked.
"Yeah, a few minutes ago. Why?"
"It looks like we need you in the interrogation rooms, Eden." After stating those words, the Wutain hung up, so the blond pulled his phone away from his face and stared at it in surprise for a moment.
He then looked up at Illis and Reno questioningly to ask, "Have either of you heard anything about a reason I'd be needed in the interrogation rooms?"
Reno shook his head as Rufus, Reeve, and Felicia traded apprehensive looks, the red haired man saying, "Guard duty keeps me somewhat outta the loop, yo."
"It might have to do with whoever they brought back from the raid Genesis returned from a few hours ago," Illis offered.
"...Oh, okay," the blond blinked, then looked down at the Wutain girl at his side. "Yufi, Shinra is very different from Wutai, and you won't see those differences here or with me. You need to go with Illis and get used to having her around, as well as learning about this new society you've decided to try living in. You also need to get signed in to the Academy so you can take lessons and meet other kids, like a girl your age named Shelke. Okay?"
The girl frowned a bit in puzzlement and asked, "Who's Shelke? You've never talked about her before."
Giving his head a shake, the younger Turk said, "It's up to Shelke to tell you her story if she wants to, but Princess—you had best rethink your definition of what constitutes a hard life before you decide to badmouth her, because her life has been much worse than yours. Frankly, the fact that she's still sane shows a mental and emotional strength you have yet to show me. There's a lot you need to learn, things you can't learn by staying attached at the hip to me."
Slowly, Yufi sighed and nodded, then looked at Illis in surprise as the woman held out a hand and said, "Let's go look around, then."
"Why are you being nice? I pretty much ignored you before!" the Wutain girl said, obviously confused.
Illis cocked her head to the side and said, "I once did the same thing to Tseng, when I had just gotten caught stealing. He gave me a chance, anyway. I consider it fair turnabout to give you that same chance. It's up to you whether you'll take it or not."
After a pause, the girl carefully released Eden and lifted her hand slowly up to the one Illis held out to her, gently taking it like she was afraid it would be withdrawn. When it wasn't, her grip tightened on the woman's hand and the lady Turk answered it with a firm grip as well, then led the nine-year-old inside. Once the door had shut and several more of the stream of SOLDIERs and Infantrymen who had been leaving the roof had left, Eden heaved a relieved sigh.
"I hope you never reacted like that after leaving my company," Rufus frowned faintly, and Eden gave a wry grin.
"I didn't. Then again, I never actually had to drag you over my knee and spank you, either. She's not a bad person, just...a mass of walking contradictions. And don't you lot have work to do, too?" the blond Turk asked in amusement.
"That we do," Reeve agreed, looking at Felicia as he extended a hand towards the doorway leading inside. "This way, please." He and Rufus led the way inside with Felicia and Reno following.
Eden went inside with them, but his path diverged from theirs at the elevator bank as they took one up to floor sixty-five from floor sixty and he took another to floor fifty-six, where many of the Turks' offices-made-interrogation-rooms were. When he got to the hall in question, he was surprised to see several Infantrymen standing at doors up and down the hall as guards, but Emma was standing outside the nearest room with a puzzled expression on her face as she eyed the door uncertainly. Being offices, the rooms didn't have windows looking into them from inside the building, so he had no idea which room he'd find Tseng in.
"Hey, Emma," he said to his fellow Turk. She turned to look at him with a nod, so he asked, "What's going on?"
"Commander Rhapsodos and his team brought back six people from a raid in the Slums, but he's not really sure how to take them. That's why they were brought here to be questioned independently, but it seems there are even more questions than answers the more they say. By the way, welcome back from Wutai, Eden," the woman explained, then finished off with a greeting.
"Okay...Thanks," the blond teen blinked. "And...which room is Tseng in, since he called for me to join him here?"
She pointed at the door in front of her, then said, "I really wish I knew why he bothered to bring back kids, though...None of them seem like Turk or SOLDIER material, or even as threats to Shinra."
"Kids?" the younger blond asked in surprise.
She nodded. "One of them is in here."
Drawing in a breath and bracing himself for something unpleasant, Eden opened the door as he asked, "You wanted to see—"
At that moment, he caught sight of the blond boy in the room and froze in complete shock as he stared at him. His mind couldn't even process what he was seeing, though he vaguely registered the boy running up to him and hugging him happily, even as Tseng and Genesis watched with raised brows. He hadn't closed the door, he recalled absently—only to realize the knob wasn't in his hand anymore and the door had closed behind him. Vaguely, he could hear the blond talking to him while still hugging him, but he was still too stunned to react and couldn't actually hear a word the boy was saying.
Suddenly, he felt a stinging sensation on the back of his head and yelped as his eyes turned in the direction the stinging had come from as he asked, "What the Hell, Tseng?" After all, it was the Wutain standing beside the two blonds.
"You went into shock, Eden," the black haired man answered dryly, then returned to his seat to the further side of the table, even as the blond boy drew back a bit to stare at the sixteen-year-old in surprise.
"Hey...why do they keep calling you 'Eden'?" the boy asked, expression puzzled.
For the first time, Ed was able to look at the other blond and see him clearly—and better yet, hear him clearly. The boy had cut his hair short in the style he'd had as a ten-year-old and had blue eyes. Despite being a year younger than Eden, he was equally as tall (or slightly taller) with a bit of a stronger build, though it wasn't the same kind of lean, hard muscle he'd had five years ago—yet. At the moment, he was wearing blue jeans and a plain, white t-shirt, but all of his features were stronger overall than Ed's. Otherwise, they were very much alike in appearance, though the younger was more relaxed and easy-going than the older.
A closer look around the room showed mostly what he'd have expected from an interrogation room: a single, fair-sized table and three chairs. Two of the chairs were to one side of the table, where Genesis sat in the nearer chair and Tseng sat in the further one, but the third chair, across the table from them, was unoccupied at the moment. On the table was a tray of mostly-eaten food, and the window which would have looked out over the city had been covered by some metal shutters which were to the inside of the window and locked with a digital mechanism at the top.
"They call me Eden because that's my name as a Turk," he said as he turned back to Alphonse—his younger brother. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"
"Through the Alchemist's Gate, just like you did. Except, it didn't turn out the way we thought it would, and we had less supplies and things when we came. It had to be better than your trip because you didn't even have supplies, and we were so worried about you!" Al replied eagerly.
"Through the..." His brain stalled momentarily once again before he yelled at Al, "You came after me, you threw your life away back home to come after me? Then what the Hell was the point of trying to save it?" The younger blond stared at him in shock. "And who's 'we'?" He proceeded to stumble over to the table, where Genesis jumped up in surprise and moved out of the way so Eden could collapse in his seat and rest his head in one hand, elbows braced on the table. "God, why did this have to happen now? I was just starting to settle in and—!"
Al just gaped at the helpless tone in his brother's voice before slowly shaking his head and asking, "You're angry we came to get you?"
"Get me?" the older blond asked with a snort. "Get me when this was obviously the price I paid for you to return to life after—after everything? What were you thinking?"
After a minute of silence, Al moved back to the seat across the table and sat down as he said, "I remembered what happened in that space. If you wanted to save me, you had to give up Amestris—your home, your family, your life there. You agreed to be sent away to some other world—" (Genesis and Tseng traded completely confused expressions which went unnoticed by the two blonds.) "—which was in danger, where you knew nothing and had nothing, but I was sent back to Amestris and dropped in the middle of the battlefield with Father and his minions. Well, what was left of it." He paused and said quietly and with feeling, "What I was thinking, what we were thinking, was that you had done so much for us, sacrificed so much for us, that we were going to do everything we could to find you and bring you home." Al paused again before asking, "How is that wrong?"
Eden felt fingers on his knee—Tseng's unless he and Genesis had traded seats. It reminded him of one of the basic creeds and rules his new employers lived by: Turks are family. Slowly shaking his head as he tried to process his thoughts and feelings, the blond Turk released a sigh and asked, "Al, what do you remember Truth saying when it told me the price I'd pay?" It occurred to him to wonder what Tseng and Genesis thought of how freely Al had just blurted out that they were from another world. If Al was being so careless, it was even possible he'd already said things like that to them. Why?
"What do you mean?" the younger blond asked in confusion.
"...When I gave up everything, it was a one-way trip, wasn't it?" He slowly looked up to see his brother's wide eyes. "This is a one-way trip. There's no going back. I never could have gone back, and all of you who are here now can't go back, either. Am I wrong to have assessed things that way?"
After a moment, a teary-eyed Alphonse answered quietly, "No." He then asked, "But you'd have come back if you could, right?"
"Now that's rubbing salt in an open wound," the older blond answered, closing his eyes for a moment—and remembering everyone in the Turks, the SOLDIERs he'd met, Felicia, Zirconaide, Shalua, Shelke, Aeris, Yufi, even Rufus. Finally, he released a sigh and looked up, his gaze even as he said, "But my answer is 'no'."
"No! But—how? Why?" Al gasped, leaning forward in dismay.
Crossing his arms and sitting back, Eden replied, "Truth wasn't kidding when he said these people needed help, and there are—a limited number of people who are even capable of figuring things out. But it's more than that, too, and why this is actually one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. Do you know anything about Shinra, the Turks, SOLDIER, or—well, any of the basic functionalities of this world's semi-government system?"
"Not much," Al admitted with a small face. "This is Shinra Headquarters and they pretty much act as the 'government,' I guess around most of the world. SOLDIERs have a uniform like the Commander's, and Turks wear black suits like yours. We're not really clear on their functions, though."
With a small shrug, the older blond explained, "The SOLDIERs count as Shinra's version of the State Alchemists. Infantrymen like the ones Genesis was commanding wear dark blue, but they have a different chain of command and belong to a different military division. The Turks are basically Shinra's version of the investigative branch of the Amestrian Military—in short, spies, murderers, kidnappers, guards, talent scouts...You name it, they do it."
"Did they force you to join because you had such impressive skills?" Al asked in alarm. Tseng snorted at the question as Genesis snickered into his hand and Eden gave his brother a wryly amused smile.
"No, Al. I joined entirely of my own will," the older brother answered, and the younger's jaw sagged open. "Listen, I turned up here with nothing, and it was only because this world's sentience, called Minerva, has been—practically plotting a whole system to help me get by that I found things to sell so I could get gear, food, and shelter. But by the time I got to Junon City, I'd been scouted by the Turks—usually, that would mean I was a SOLDIER Candidate, but in my case, they wanted me to join them, not SOLDIER. Their leader at the time was really lenient with me and gave me a lot of help without asking for anything in return, but the more I thought about the situation here and the people I was meeting, the more in favor of the Turks I became."
When Al just shook his head in confusion, Eden went on, "One reason to join was because it gave me back my ability to research and the income to do so—the same reasons I went for the State Alchemists. Turks have the prime place when it comes to knowing everything and manipulating it as they see fit, something SOLDIER doesn't have, and they've got connections to everyone from little girls in the Slums to the President and his dog."
"Eden, behave," Tseng cut in, lips twitching in amusement.
"What dog?" Genesis asked in bemusement.
"What, you never met Dark Nation when Rufus asked you to guard him?" the blond Turk asked the red haired man over his shoulder.
"Sorry, no. So, what dog?" Genesis asked again in reply.
"Dark Nation is a black Blood Taste from out in the wastes that I tamed for Rufus because he was lonely, or so he claimed," Tseng answered. "That was when I was still a Rookie, though."
"But Ed, that couldn't have been enough for you to join such horrible people..." Al cut in softly, blue eyes focused on his brother's golden. "Even the State Alchemists weren't that bad-off, even though they'd been ordered to do terrible things before..."
"Yeah, you're saying my family are 'such horrible people'," Eden said simply to his brother, whose eyes widened again. "I had no choice but to build a new life—I couldn't go back and I had no one and nothing, so what else would you have expected me to do? At the time, I had no idea I'd see any of the Turks as brothers and sisters, or one of them as a father figure, but that's what happened. No, before you ask, I wasn't replacing you, ever. My being told 'Turks are family' didn't happen until fairly recently because I couldn't have handled it any sooner, and it only came to my attention because one of my 'brothers' got all protective of me."
For a moment, the blond Turk stopped and leaned forward to rest his arms on the table as he gazed at the younger blond across from him. This was all still mind-boggling, and his brain was actually ready to engage in a complete systematic breakdown, something he was holding off only because he had to have this discussion now that it had been dropped on him.
"You have no idea just how screwed up I actually was, and these people are the ones helping me fix that. These so-called 'horrible people' go up against their superiors in my favor, work behind Shinra's back to try to fix as much as they're able to, and some have senses of honor even more impressive than Major Armstrong's. You don't know them or know anything about them, but for a dysfunctional family, they're way better than ours, because they don't go pissing off and making their siblings or kids or nieces and nephews or whatever handle things alone. Anything. It's not just about guarding one another's backs on missions, it's about helping one another sort out problems that need to be sorted—and oddly enough, I like being the one everyone protects for a change."
"You need it with how high-maintenance you are, though, Eden," Genesis informed him, looking amused.
"Yeah. You guys are the first ones to do something about that, though," the sixteen-year-old answered over his shoulder, sounding a little amused.
"But we did all that, too! Why would you choose them over us—they're not even your blood family," the fifteen-year-old blond asked, still confused and dismayed.
Returning his gaze to Al, the older of the two answered, "Don't think it's an easy choice, Al, because it's not. Amestris is safe now, and it's getting back on track because there were a lot of people formulating what they'd replace the existing system with. The people there may miss me and I miss them, but they don't need my help, they aren't relying on me for anything...And I actually think being there was hurting me more than helping me. Also, the more I think about it, the less I find I could willingly leave behind the bonds I have here.
"What I've been finding is that 'family' is way more than shared blood—it's feelings, experiences, understanding, tolerance, change. For me, nothing ever changed in Amestris, and part of the problem was exactly that dynamic—it was always up to me to protect or help everyone else...No one bothered to help me when I needed it, never forced me to face things that were wrong or slapped some sense into me. Well, a few people did, most of them entirely the wrong way, and the one who did me the most good is dead. Gaia and its people seem to be way more dynamic, flexible, and changing, and of the ones I've been meeting, they want me to be healthy and happy, not just take me for all I'm worth—kind of ironic given the basic functions of the Turks. They're like polar opposites, and how much I've grown here, as a person and in such a short time, is pretty much the proof. I'm not saying the Amestrians are bad people, just that—they were used to me, so didn't see anything wrong, I guess."
After a long silence, Al asked, "Does that mean you're going to cast us aside?" He had a strange expression in his eyes that time, like he was about to break.
"Who's the 'us'? You still haven't answered that," Eden asked in reply, not sure he was able to help them. If Al looked like he was about to break, Ed probably did, too.
With a small sigh, the younger boy recited, "Winry, Mei (1), Teacher, and Amal—you knew him as Scar (2)—then Miles, Liam, and Mick from Briggs, and Mustang, Hawkeye, and Fuery."
"Oh, Hell..." the older blond muttered, holding a hand to his forehead to ward off a headache on top of his brain's attempts to shut down. "Look, I need some time to work this out—I don't actually know what I'm able to do for you or not, and I don't want to promise something I can't be guaranteed I can give."
He then abruptly rose and walked out of the room, stopping in the hall near Emma as he leaned on the wall tiredly. She rested a hand on his shoulder to let him know he wasn't alone, that he had people who would help him. As much of a comfort it was to have the reminder, it wasn't staving off his pending shut-down or the throbbing in his head.
Notes:
(1) As noted very briefly in part one, the English spelling became 'May', but Xing is based on China, so her name should have been spelled Mei.
(2) At the end of Brotherhood, Scar became nameless again, and let Olivier Armstrong rename him—we never found out what she named him (if she did), so I completely made this up. I did think Amal, which means 'hopeful' in Arabic, would have suited the situation at the end of Brotherhood, and because I see the Ishbalans as similar in some ways to Arabs, my thought was that Armstrong would have wanted to honor his heritage in the hopes of helping to create a stronger bond between Amestrians and Ishbalans.