Title: The Forged Alchemist

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Summary: The Homunculus have left Amestris in shambles, and the new Fuhrer is an incompetent who is leading the country to downfall. When all hope is lost, Edward puts to the test a theoretical array, and enter Edwin Auric, the son of Hohenheim of Light, and elder half brother to Edward and Alphonse Elric.

Chapter 9

Four Years Later….

Edward flushed with humiliation as his brother's foot tapped impatiently, tawny eyes staring down at him in clear disapproval; blue clad arms cross over his chest. Really, did Mustang really have to send him South so his brother could scold him in front of all of Southern City? It wasn't even his fault that the building had been destroyed! The structure was already in poor shape and on the verge of collapse even before he'd arrived! All he'd done was get thrown into it by the rogue alchemist!

"Well, Edward?" Edwin said calmly, "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"It wasn't even my fault this time!"

"Edward," Edwin sighed, "You've been the cause of the destruction of almost three hundred and eighty six public buildings since you were certified as a State Alchemist."

"It's not my fault!" Edward cried, "If anything was damaged it was by sheer accident!"

"Edward Michael Elric von Hohenheim!" Edwin roared, "That is not something to be proud of! The state is not made of money! Most of the missions you are sent on shouldn't even become a situation in which you have to level the countryside to have everything turn out alright in the first place!"

Edward shifted uncomfortably, well aware that his brother's Lieutenants, while at a discrete distance away, were well within earshot and they were on a busy platform in Southern Station.

"Understood sir," he mumbled.

Edwin sighed and ran a gloved hand through golden bangs and shook his head, strands of gold from his ponytail swaying with the movement. "Come on, kid, let's get you settled for the time being. You can take off to chase the lead I've got for you tomorrow."

Edward's eyes brightened, and behind him, Al shook his head. Really, he had trouble telling the difference between his brothers sometimes. Already there were moments when the armor bound boy was truly concerned that the differences between them would one day cease to exist because Edward hero worshipped Edwin, and there were already bets going around in the military about how long it would be before Edward gave up researching the Philosopher's Stone and started trying to find a way to quite literally become Edwin instead. The problem was that Colonel Edwin Auric did absolutely nothing to discourage his brother's hero worship, instead, encouraging it and then exploiting it to his greatest advantage, and Major Edward Elric followed his elder half brother's every lead unconditionally like a very obedient puppy. Al sighed and followed his two elder brothers out of the train station. As if the shift in affections between Edwin and Mustang wasn't enough.

~*~

"Do you think the kid's going to be alright?" Havoc asked from around his unlit cigarette. "I mean, Colonel Auric's not the sort to take insubordination like you do. I once saw him swat a Private with his saber for a sloppy salute back in Central."

"Fullmetal will be fine," Roy scribbled a signature on a bit of paperwork absently, "Forge won't hurt him, just humiliate him in front of his staff at the very least."

"And at worst?"

"Fullmetal will be humiliated in front of the entire city and possibly other higher ranking officers."

~*~

Southern City Military Headquarters

"This particular lead is not so much a lead as it is a long term mission," Edwin said as he sealed his office and began going through drawers. "There is a very important back story to this particular tangent that we're going on, so pay attention." He pulled out a rather thick file, and Edward blanched.

"Brother…" Alphonse said quietly, "That's a very large dossier."

Edwin looked up and raised an elegantly sculpted brow. "I told you, didn't I?" he asked, "That there is a back story to this? It started four hundred years ago, and as I have no doubt one of the three of us will be procreating in the future, the effects of what we are discussing will likely continue rather far into the future. It concerns our family, or more specifically, our father, after all."

"Our father?!" Alphonse leaned forward in his chair.

"What does that bastard have to do with anything?!" Edward roared, leaping to his feet.

Edwin frowned, "Edward…"

For once, the frown and warning tone did not work, and the diminutive blonde continued raving angrily. Edwin sighed and decided on plan B.

"Geez," he mock sighed, "Who'd have thought something so small could be so loud?"

Which, unfortunately, did not work as it normally did with Edwin as it sent Edward off on another rant instead. Edwin sighed and leaned back in his chair, feeling the beginnings of a tension headache forming. The well worn manner of getting Ed back on track, teasing, wasn't working, that meant the usual methods were not going to be useful against the child. Very well, perhaps it was time to stop coddling Edward and take a leaf out of Izumi's book.

"Alphonse, I will have to ask you to step outside for a moment," Edwin murmured as he stripped off his parade gloves and pulled on a pair of aged ignition gloves.

Alphonse took one look at the circle, then the dark look on his half-brother's face and quickly agreed and scurried out of the inner office.

~*~

"Alphonse?" First Lieutenant Alicia Pembrooke, a willowy woman with dark hair and emerald eyes studied Alphonse from behind delicate wire rimmed glasses. "Is something wrong?"

"Honored Brother…" Alphonse breathed, unknowingly falling into the more formal speech used by residents of East Amestris when dealing with family affairs, "Honored Brother put on a very aged pair of ignition gloves… Nothing like the ones he normally wears, but similar to Colonel Mustang's…"

Pembrooke's eyes narrowed. She and the other two officers, one of whom was the grandson of the Fuhrer before Bradley, had been honored by the chance to work for the Forge Alchemist, honored to be the ones he trusted to carry out his will, and to help him build a new future out of the misty remnants of the one he'd left behind. But there were little things, such as now, that irked her. Her Commanding Officer had been careless again! There was too much at stake for Auric to slip up like that, even in the presence of his own flesh and blood!

"Those gloves," she said carefully, "were a gift to Colonel Auric from his old mentor."

There! Let Alphonse be wily enough to catch the subtle warning in her words. Goodness only knew that Edward rarely did, which was surreal, because there was very little that Edwin Auric missed. And like all of the Forge Alchemist's staff, Pembrooke knew that Edwin Auric was the man that Edward Elric could become, and maybe it was best that Edward couldn't read such subtle nuances, because it meant he would suffer the losses that made Edwin Auric the man he is today.

"Alright," Alphonse nodded, "I won't say anything about Brother's gloves."

Pembrooke gave a little mental sigh of relief and glanced over her shoulder at Corporal Gideon Ryver who raised an eyebrow and nodded while Second Lieutenant Lisa Pryce shrugged with a small, nearly indiscernible smile. She released a breath slowly. Alright. Crisis averted. For now.

~*~

Edward finally wound down after a bit, only to find that Alphonse was gone, and that the entire office was swathed in privacy arrays and fireproofing and other protective arrays.

"Uh…"

"En garde, Major," Edwin murmured, and lunged at his former self, drawing his officer's saber and slashing at the teen in one fluid movement.

"Ack!" Edward scrambled backward as a tongue of flame scorched the wall just beside his ear.

"I've told you before, haven't I?" Edwin said calmly as he tripped Edward and used the saber to pin him to the wall, "That just because Mustang will tolerate your behavior does not mean that I will? I gave you a conditional, child that I would help you, but you must be on your best behavior, because there is too much at stake for your tantrums. Well, enough is enough. I have coddled you over much, I fear. As such, I will have to save Colonel Mustang and myself some headaches and take advantage of your presence here to beat some obedience into your head."

"Aw… shit…" Edward groaned as the saber was pulled out of the wall. "This is going to hurt, isn't it?"

Edwin's smile was cold as he said calmly, "Only if you don't learn quickly."

~*~

Roy Mustang raised an elegant black eyebrow as the bruised child limped into his office. "What happened to you, Ed?" he asked, "You look like something chewed you up and spat you back out."

"This. Is. All. Your. Fault." Edward growled, pointing an accusing finger at the Colonel.

Roy smirked. Edwin had called ahead to tell him that he'd spent some time trying to beat some obedience into the child's head, and that while it was unlikely that the lesson would stick, but it would at least cut down on the collateral damage for a while. "Shall I assume you had an eventful stay in Southern City? How is your brother by the way?"

"You know full well how Edwin is," Edward snarled through clenched teeth, "I heard him call you before I left."

Roy shook his head, fighting the urge to just grin at the teen's disgruntled face. Honestly! Was this what Edwin was like as a child? Wow! Certainly the war that resulted in Edwin Auric's existence would have been traumatic enough to completely change the blonde's behavioral patterns, but wow! Edwin Auric was almost impossible to rile up, Roy knew that the newly promoted Colonel missed him, or his version of him, and so he tended to just take the teasing and just smile distantly, a hint of nostalgia in his posture.

"Did you get a good lead from him then?"

"No." Edward growled. "Brother refused to give it to me and said he'd leave it to your discretion. And it was such a thick dossier… It's probably a solid lead, too!"

Roy blinked. A thick dossier? Was it possible that Edwin had been planning on telling the boys about what was happening? He tuned out Edward's ranting and reached for the phone, completely missing when Edward fell silent and gave him a concerned look.

"Colonel?"

"In a moment, Ed," Roy said absently as he waited to be patched through.

~*~

Edwin Auric leaned on the railing that bordered the roof of the Southern Headquarters, a lit cigarette dangling from his lips as he gazed out over the city. He knew the Flame Alchemist well enough to know that he'd be receiving a call once Edward let slip how thick the dossier he'd withheld from the child as punishment was. He'd never looked at the contents, even though he'd known that the dossier was more for his benefit than anything, but it would be the fastest way of transferring the necessary information to the young Fullmetal. He knew himself better than anyone, and he didn't try to deny to himself that he was trying to distance himself from the past, letting things come as they would. It wasn't even as if he could do anything from Southern City beyond trying to coordinate the people he'd approached with the news of what the future held in store.

He took the cigarette from his lips and exhaled a stream of smoke with a satisfied smile as he glanced at the telegram in his hand. Well, at least the stage was set. All he needed was to have his staff pack, get to Central, accompany the Fuhrer to Eastern City, and see how a more authority obedient Edward would deal with Scar, and then return to Central for the duration of what was to come.

"Sir?"

Edwin turned his head so he could study his Lieutenant from the corner of his eye. "Yes, Lieutenant Pembrooke. What is it?"

"Colonel Mustang is on the line. He's asking for you, sir."

Edwin straightened and nodded, putting out the cigarette on the railing, and tossing it into the trash as he made his way to the door. "Was he very concerned about the dossier I withheld from Edward the other day?"

"I do not know sir," Pembrooke murmured, "Colonel Mustang did not see fit to confide in me."

~*~

"You couldn't have just given it to him in Southern City?"

"No fear," Edwin replied, "He'll get it soon enough. Expect me in Eastern City after Edward returns from Liore."

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

"Liore…" Edwin murmured, "Is the second location in this country where the Philosopher's Stone may be made. One in Xerxes, one in Liore, only in Amestris can a legend be brought to life twice in the same millennium…"

"I haven't heard of this. Is there something you want to tell me, Ed?"

"Your reaction needs to be honest. I'm sorry, Roy."

"I'm going to be in the dark for a while, aren't I?"

"Right up until you end up chasing the Elric Brothers into Risembool and meet Hohenheim of Light."

"Do I want to know?"

"You may have no choice. Some things in this world is inevitable, my friend."

~*~

TBC…