EDWARD

"You know, I really am glad we have a secluded castle as a headquarters," Erwin remarked as he and Zoe Hanji watched Edward struggle through basic 3DMG exercises. He sighed, "I never thought I'd hear myself way that, and now I've said it twice within a month." He shook his head, smiling slightly.

What exactly were the perks of this place? Ed wondered as he tried (largely unsuccessfully) to swing through the trees behind the castle fortress. He was feeling awfully sore, the harness was too tight for his liking and he'd slammed into far more trees than he wanted to. He'd been in a training crash-course for the past two and a half weeks and he honestly felt like he would explode. He hurt everywhere, and his perfectionist tendencies were cursing him for not getting everything right. He hadn't gotten much sleep (granted, he was used to that) and he'd been beaten practically to a pulp every day. More and more he was grateful that he and Al had been sparring partners; his younger brother was a much more formidable opponent than most everyone in the Survey Corps. That being said, he was severely out of practice. Maybe having a secluded castle fortress wasn't so bad. Here, fewer people would be able to see him fail.

As he swung around a tree with an utter lack of grace, he saw Erwin raise a hand as a signal to land. Landings were very possibly his weakest point, and in a blur of legs and grappling wires, Ed landed flat on his face. Groaning in annoyance, he pushed himself to his feet and hobbled over to the commander.

"You are looking better," Erwin began.

"Yeah right," Ed scoffed, stubbornly refusing to look at his commander.

"Edward, look at me." The young blond ignored him. "You've only been doing this for two weeks. Everyone else here has been training for years. We don't expect you to be perfect right off."

"Levi does."

"Hanji, you're not helping."

"Sorry."

Erwin sighed and willed himself to focus. "When you're turning, lean into your outside foot. It'll help you. And remember that however you balance your weight will directly affect how much you turn. Try again."

Ed knew all of this; he'd been told repeatedly that he needed to balance his weight more efficiently. As he jumped into the air again he spitefully wondered if Erwin would fly so well if he had body parts that weighed significantly more than they should. Automail was designed to be lightweight, but it was always going to be heavier than flesh. However, he'd never actually noticed its weight until he was forced to fly through the trees like some sort of human-bird.

He realized too late that his wandering thoughts had caused him to lose focus, and he was headed straight for a tree.

…

If flying was bad, trying to be social was worse. Most everyone was entirely cold to him, with the exception of Zoe Hanji. She was a little over-enthusiastic when it came to interacting with the small, blond boy. Thankfully, her enthusiastic, curious nature was the perfect gateway for him to glean information about where the hell he was.

He was sitting down to dinner with Hanji and her squad (by invitation), Hanji looking thrilled for the company and everyone else looking mildly annoyed.

"Er, squad leader," Ed began, fumbling to turn his question into a coherent sentence.

"mhmm?" Hanji answered, her mouth stuffed with food.

"What… year is this?"

"851"

"That was a bad question. What is the, er… history of this place?"

Hanji slammed her spoon down. "Well why didn't you just ask?!" Ed sighed internally, because he had… "Well, about a century and a half ago titans started showing up, so the 'Europeans'" she took special care to emphasize the word, and even then, she pronounced it wrong, "built these three walls to protect themselves. They took 60-ish years to build, and by the time they were finished, most of humanity was dead. So the survivors locked themselves in here, and we lived peacefully for a century."

"Yeah, but before the titans. What happened then?"

Hanji was thoughtful. "I don't really know. I didn't get to read as much history as I wanted to when I broke into the King's library. But I think that human civilization was really advanced, and there were giant metal flying machines that people could drive IN THE SKY and little metal wagons that didn't need horse-power and stuff like that, but then people started getting really violent toward each other and there were three world wars. They restarted the calendar in 2043, after the third world war."

"Er… does the year 1921 have any meaning to you?"

"Well, it was about three years after the end of the First World War, or 'The Great War' as it was called. Um… not really though."

Ed sat back against his chair. "Damn…" he muttered in seeming awe.

"What is it?"

"I traveled 2,000 years in the future. My retarded little machine couldn't manage to open the gate, but it rocketed me two thousand years into the future."

"Really? So are you from 1921 then?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"That's so cool! Did they really have flying thingymajiggers?"

"Yeah, they were mainly used for war, though."

"Oh." There was a thoughtful silence for a few moments before Zoe's ever-racing mind decided to jump to a new topic. "So we're heading outside the wall tomorrow."

"What?" one of the members of her squad said, nearly spitting out his soup.

"You heard me." Hanji smiled nearly psychotically. "Erwin is taking a few squads out tomorrow to check the wall were Edward broke in."

"Um… can't we check from the inside? And second, isn't that a job for the Garrison?" the same guy asked.

"We already checked from the inside, the Garrison doesn't know about Ed or his wall-melting powers, they're still busy cleaning up Eren's mess inside Wall Sina, and we want to scout the area to make sure titans aren't congregating near the potential weakness in the wall." Hanji slammed the butt of her spoon on the table and grinned triumphantly. "One breath!"

"Is he coming?" another squad member of her squad asked, gesturing to Ed.

"Erwin thinks he should. If luck is in our favor, we won't have to use maneuvering gear, so he'll probably be fine."

Internally, Ed scoffed. Luck had utterly abandoned him long, long ago. Luck wasn't going to be in their favor, he could already have foretold that.

…

"You know, there's a reason Al and I walked everywhere," Ed grumbled as he attempted to climb onto the horse provided for him.

"Need some help?" Jean taunted, steering his horse over to where Ed was struggling.

"Shut it, horse face." Ed snapped, pointedly avoiding looking at Jean. The short jokes had been unrelenting ever since he showed up. Erwin and Hanji always insisted that it was just people using him as an outlet for all the pent-up short jokes that would have been directed at Levi. Since Ed was both (barely) shorter than the corporal and an easy target, he got picked on. A lot.

"Whatever you say, but if you need a stool, just call." Jean smirked before riding over to where the other new recruits were preparing for the trip.

"I hate him…" Ed muttered, finally hoisting himself onto the horse. Hanji, already mounted, rode over to Ed.

"You're going to be riding with Corporal Rivaille. We're leaving soon, you should go find him." Hanji smiled and rode away to her squad when he nodded his understanding.

Corporal Grumpy Pants. (He'd taken Connie and Sasha's nickname for him to heart. It was surprisingly accurate). The corporal had never been particularly cruel toward him; he maintained a cold distance, just as everyone else did. Erwin had repeatedly mentioned that it was normal for Levi, and he actually was quite fond of Ed. Naturally , he was doubtful of the corporal's supposed affection for him. As he neared where Levi and his squad were waiting to leave, his heart fell. Eren was in Levi's squad. EREN. His cousin. Edward really didn't want to hate him, but Eren was just such an ornery stick in the mud that he couldn't help it.

"Erwin expects us to go check this thing out, but if we leave then everyone will know something's up and the Military Police will be riding our asses before we know it." Eren whined.

"Erwin knows what he's doing. No one will know anything." Levi assured him, his eyes scanning the crowd before he found Edward riding toward him. "There you are brat. I was wondering if you would show."

Eren groaned, "Heichou, does he have to ride with us?"

"Yes, he does. You know, you two are so similar, it's a wonder you don't get along."

"Maybe we're too similar," Ed mumbled. It was true, the logical part of his brain insisted that he and his cousin were both too stubborn and quick to anger to get along. Ed smiled slightly remembering just how stubborn Karla and his own mother had been.

"What are you smirking at, bitch?" Eren demanded, glaring at the blond.

"I'm older than you, I have my rights."

"You can't be."

"Hell yeah I am. I turn seventeen in a few weeks. How old are you?"

Eren looked away in frustrated shame.

"Stop bickering for frak's sake. We're leaving." Levi said, throwing threatening glances at both boys.

"But Heichou, how are we getting out?" Eren again asked.

The corners of Levi's mouth turned up playfully. "You'll see."

Erwin led them off the castle grounds through the tick forest. Oftentimes, they split up into small groups to pass through populated areas, so as not to draw attention to themselves. Even though they were still in mankind's territory, tension hung in the air.

As they neared the wall, Erwin fell back to ride with Levi's squad. He paralleled his horse to Ed's. "You ready?" He asked softly.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Ed replied.

"Good. Come up with me then." Erwin spurred his horse into a faster trot, Ed at his heels. The commander nodded to Levi as they rode away to the front of the pack.

"Where the hell is he going?" Eren asked.

"With Erwin. How many questions are you going to ask?" Levi responded.

By the time he and Erwin reached the front of the group, they were faced with Wall Rose towering above their heads.

"Okay Ed, Work your magic."

"It's not magic," Ed mumbled as he slid off his horse and walked toward the wall. Behind him, he could tell Hanji was practically shaking with excitement. He rested his hands on the cool stone and felt the alchemic energy gather at his fingertips. He pulled his hands back, clapped, and quickly slammed his gloved palms against the wall as an electric current ran down his arms and into the stone, burning a hole large enough for a horse and rider to pass through. The air stopped buzzing for a moment as Ed stared at the outside world through this hole. The nasty, yellow goo coated the ground. His knees felt weak. He turned around to face the Scouting Legion. "The ground is going to be really sticky and nasty, but it's okay to pass."

Erwin smiled gratefully and led the procession through. Ed leaned up against the wall and watched people pass as he fought to make his head stop spinning. Alchemy was never this taxing back home. He looked up in time to see Eren glaring at him as he rode through the hole in the wall. Feeling defiant, Ed grinned and half-saluted the boy.

Three members were left behind to make sure the wall sealed totally, so Ed took theirs and his horses and led them through the hole before turning and sealing it again. Moments later, the last three members swung over the wall by use of 3DMG bearing news that the wall was sealed totally.

Ed clambered back onto his horse and rode over to Levi. Erwin gave the order to move south along the wall, and they were off. Levi's company rode in silence for a while, and it was obviously making Eren uncomfortable. They were nearing the place where Ed had broken through the wall. Glancing west, he could barely make out the town where he had crash landed. He shivered. Hopefully he wouldn't have to see another titan any time soon (though that was hardly likely). It wasn't long before he realized he wasn't shivering from his haunting memories. The warm alchemic tingle he had become accustomed to feeling was gone. Glancing around, he pulled the green cloak tighter around him.

"You okay?" Levi asked, barely glancing at the boy.

"Fine, yeah. Something's just… not right."

It hit him like a wave, and left him gasping for air. He bent over his horse's neck, shuddering under the weight of the flood of souls. Something was definitely not right. The last time he'd felt this was… the gate was here. It was open. He had to get to it. Without much room for thought, he turned his horse and galloped westward toward the source of the flood.

"Elric! Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Levi called after him as Ed spurred his horse into an all-out run. The flood was lessening. He couldn't lose the signal. People were chasing him down, they would drag him back. He couldn't go back, not now. He had to find the gate. The town was getting closer, but so were the people chasing him.

"Edward! Slow the hell down!"

"You can't run off, you'll die!"

Another wave of energy hit him. Shock waves? His lungs felt like they were being crushed and his skin burned. But he was so close.

He reached the city and darted between buildings, both trying to locate the source of the shock wave (which had faded by now) and lose the two officers following him. He succeeded in losing the two officers by jumping off his horse and sending it in another direction while he ran toward the center of the city.

He heard a scream and began sprinting (the best he could) toward it. He turned a corner and saw a 7-meter titan with a hungry grin reaching into a broken, two-story building. Someone had to be in that building, the titan wouldn't reach in there for nothing. He knew he had about zero chance of killing the thing, he could barely control his maneuver gear as it was. Suddenly he wished he hadn't lost those two much more experienced officers.

Pulling two swords out of the sheaths at his sides, he kicked the maneuver gear into action and zoomed upward toward the titan's head. He needed to make a gash in its neck. How?! Thankfully it was distracted and didn't see Ed approaching. Unfortunately, he was unbalanced and crashed into the titan rather than slicing it. One of his two swords stuck deep in the side of the beast's neck and then, red blood began spewing from the wound. It evaporated quickly and Ed was engulfed in steam. He coughed, clinging to the sword as the titan thrashed and yelled in pain. He needed to kill it, but he was struggling not be thrown off as it was. He was losing his grip on the sword, and in a last-ditch effort, he clapped his hands together and pressed them to the titan's skin. It yelled and evaporated completely.

He realized almost too late that he was falling, and activated his 3DMG just in time. He clumsily pulled himself up to the hole in the second story of the building, and rolled onto the floor.

"Ed?" he heard someone gasp from inside the wooden, sunlit room. Alarmed, he whipped around and was met with clear, blue eyes he never thought he'd see again.

"Winry?"