Author's Note: This was another one of those hard prompts. My first thought was to write about some prank the brothers did when they were kids, and that filled me with dread, because I've never been a very mischievous person, and have never pulled a prank in my life, so I have no idea how to go about writing a prank. After much thought, however, I found an easier (and more original!) way out. I was sort of inspired by a scene in Susanna Clark's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, in which a magician calls up a fairy to bring a girl back from the dead. In return, the fairy demands half of someone's life. Somehow or other, the way that conversation played out just reminded me of Ed talking to 'Truth', so with a little thought I came up with this fairy tale-type story. I'll also admit that the part in the middle was somewhat influenced by Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies.

Timeline: None

Theme 38: Mischief

Once upon a time in the faraway land of Amestris, there lived a young sorcerer named Edward. Since childhood he and his younger brother Alphonse had studied their spells, but before they had even come of age, their mother took ill and died in the night. Grief-stricken, the two brothers took down their books of spells and searched for one particular incantation. They searched, day and night, without ceasing, until finally Edward found the spell at the end of one ancient, dusty tome.

The brothers eagerly drew a magic circle in pearly white magic dust, stepped into the middle and spoke the age-old words of power. A golden light, bright as the sun, shone up from the magic dust, and the brothers felt the thrill of the power. Gradually, however, that rich golden light turned dark, and the air grew thick about them. Then the air was rent in two with a great ripping sound, and the veil that hangs between this world and the world of fae was torn in two.

Edward and Alphonse looked on in wonder as a figure stepped out of the swirling hole between the worlds. It was a faerie, a mere blank silhouette of nothingness, a void in a world of matter. Its features were obscured, or else it had no features – nothing but a wide, grinning smile that sent chills down the brothers' spines. "You have called me, and I have come," the faerie said, and his voice made no sound. "What service do you wish of me?"

"Please," Alphonse said, plucking up his courage, "We would like you to bring our mother back to us…if you can."

"Of course I can," the faerie said, its smile widening, "for a price: the thing you treasure most in this world."

"No price would be too great," Edward said rashly. "We would trade anything to see our mother again!"

"Very well." And, to their horror, their mother appeared in that very room – dead, rotting, with worms crawling through her eye sockets. The faerie had done as they had requested: He had brought their mother to them, straight from the grave.

"And now for your payment." The faerie's hand reached out and grasped Alphonse's.

Before Alphonse could do more than scream out, "Brother!" the faerie had pulled him through the rift into the other world. Edward saw with horror what he had done. With his words, he had condemned his own brother.

"Give him back!" Edward shouted at the faerie. Tears welled up in his eyes as the knowledge crashed down on him that he was alone, and that it was all his fault. "Please give him back!" he sobbed. "This isn't what I wanted!"

"No?" the faerie said, still grinning with some secret mischief. "Then I will make a deal with you: If you can tell me what my name is, I will bring your brother back. I will give you one try, and if you fail…I will take you as well."

"All right," Edward said, curling his hands into fists. "But don't you dare hurt my brother!"

"Of course. I am not an unreasonable faerie. I will even give you a riddle to help you:

"Hearken now to my call

All is one, one is all

I'm what you see before your eyes

I am the Truth, I tell no lies

Call me Devil, call me God

Call me strange or call me odd

But you will never guess my name

I make the rules; this is my game

Some call me 'world', others say 'universe'

Some say I'm a blessing, others a curse

I'm a faerie, yes it's true

I am me...and I am you."

The faerie continued to smile that infernal grin as he spoke his riddle in a sing-song voice. "When you have the answer, call me up again." He stepped through the rift back to his own world, his smile fading away last of all.

Edward racked his brains. He pored through every last tome he owned. He muttered to himself, wrote out the riddle forwards and backwards and sideways, but try as he might he could make no sense of it. What on earth could the faerie's name be? He knew he had to be absolutely sure of himself; he only had one chance, and he would not squander it when his brother hung in the balance.

Finally Edward realized that the answer could not be found in his little house, and he set out to traverse the world and seek the answer to his riddle. He wandered from place to place, scouring cities and wastelands alike for the answer. He gained much knowledge from his wanderings, but no matter where he went he could never find the knowledge he sought.

For five long years he searched fruitlessly, until one day he crossed an empty field in the uncivilized wilderness. Suddenly, a black stallion came tearing straight towards him, nearly running Edward over. Edward leapt out of the way, and the stallion reared up on its hind legs, whinnying in surprise. "Who goes there?" it cried. "A human?"

"My name is Edward," was all the sorcerer could think to say.

"I am called Mustang," the wild horse said, puffing and blowing from his hard gallop.

"If I may ask," said Edward, "where were you going in such a hurry?"

"I am searching for power!" the horse called Mustang neighed. "Magic strong enough to protect my herd!"

"Why, what does it need protecting from?"

Mustang snorted in disgust. "There is a stallion who calls himself King – a strong horse, much larger and stronger than I – who is threatening my herd. He means to take the mares for his own, beat the foals into submission…and he has set his eyes on my mate." Mustang's large dark eyes flamed with anger.

Edward thought for a moment, then said, "I may be able to help you…if you will help me."

Mustang shook his mane. "If you can help me find the power to protect those under my authority, then I will do anything for you."

"Very well," Edward said, and pulled out his pouch of magic dust. "I will wake the fire in your soul," he said, sprinkling the white powder all over Mustang's body. "Use it only for the right purposes, for it is a dreadful power."

Then he spoke the ancient words, and the magic powder soaked into the horse's skin. Mustang shook himself, and suddenly his mane and tail erupted in flames that licked his body, yet did not consume him. He stamped his feet, and sparks flew from his hooves, charring the grass around him. He snorted, and out of his nostrils shot plumes of fire. A slow, triumphant smile lit up his face. "Now I have the power to protect the ones I care about!"

Before Edward could stop him, Mustang began to gallop back in the direction he had come from. Edward sped after him, using a spell of swiftness to keep up. But it would have been easy to follow him, for Mustang left a swathe of burned ground in his wake. Finally they came to a stop on a hill where a small herd of wild horses grazed. Even as they approached, another herd came out of the trees, led by a huge, muscular stallion with only one eye. This had to be the one who called himself King.

As soon as he saw the one-eyed stallion, Mustang reared up on his hind legs, neighing and spewing out flames. As all the horses turned to look fearfully at him, Mustang charged towards the King. The King, however, stood firm. As Mustang approached, the King turned swiftly around and lashed out with his back legs, colliding with Mustang's front legs and sending the fiery stallion sprawling. The King raced forward for the kill, but Mustang opened his mouth and sent flames roaring out at his enemy. The King managed to leap aside at the last moment, but the fire singed his tail.

The two stallions fought in this manner for a long time, dodging and kicking and (in Mustang's case) burning the ground all around. Finally the King began to tire, but Edward's magic kept Mustang's weariness at bay. The King melted back into the middle of his herd, who stood their ground to protect him though they rolled their eyes in terror. At first Mustang tried to push through them to get at the King, but they fought hard against him and would not let him through.

The King, safe in the middle of his herd, began to laugh. "You see, Mustang? You are powerless against me and my specially trained herd. I will destroy your herd till the name of Mustang will be forgotten!"

Mustang reared up onto his hind legs, neighing shrilly with rage. Flames burst from him, engulfing the horses at the front of the King's guard. Mustang continued to spew out flames, till the whole herd went up in flames and the screams of dying, burning horses filled the air. And the King screamed loudest.

His wrath satisfied, Mustang's flames died down. Nothing was left of the enemy herd but ashes. Mustang turned shakily to face his herd, but the terrified horses turned and bolted away from him, never to be seen again. Only five horses remained, one of them a sleek chestnut mare with sharp eyes. She approached him and rubbed their heads together. "The others' departure was the price you had to pay to protect us. To save your herd, you had to destroy it."

Mustang wandered off alone and remained distant from his herd for the rest of that day. Edward waited, and what was left of the herd welcomed him when they heard he had helped Mustang. They offered him what unburned grass there still was in the clearing, and that night they all fell asleep under the stars. Early the next morning, when most of the horses were still sleeping, Mustang nudged Edward awake. His eyes, which had burned with such an intensity of feeling the day before, now smoldered like embers that had been covered with dirt. There was sorrow within him now, but he had mastered it. It would not douse the flames of his soul.

"I have come to hold up my end of the bargain," Mustang said. "What is it you need help with?"

Edward briefly explained the situation, and for a long while Mustang was silent. Finally he spoke. "I know very little about magic, and even less about faeries. But I have heard of a wise man who lives at the end of the world. They say there is nothing he does not know. He is called the Golden Man; according to the stories, he is an immortal who came from the sun itself."

"Do you know the way?" Edward asked eagerly.

"No, but I daresay between the two of us we will be able to find him. And you will move much faster if you ride on my back."

So Edward climbed onto the stallion's back, and Mustang set off at a canter. Soon his herd was out of sight. "Aren't you sorry to leave your herd like this?" Edward asked.

"Yes," Mustang panted as he ran. "But you said it has already been five years since your brother was taken. I know that if I were in your position, I would be desperate to save him."

Edward said nothing. For what could he say to that?

And so Edward and Mustang began their quest to find the Golden Man. After many days, they came at last to the end of the world, where the sun is so bright as it rises that everything looks golden. A little house stood on a hill there, and before the house stood a man who glowed in the light of the sun. At first Edward could hardly look at him in the bright light, but as he drew nearer the sun climbed higher in the sky, taking the golden glare with it. When he could see again, Edward saw that the man had golden hair and golden eyes, but other than that he appeared to be a normal human. His house looked familiar, but Edward couldn't remember why.

"Are you the Golden Man?" Edward asked eagerly, dismounting from Mustang.

"Some call me that," the man replied. There was an odd look in his golden eyes. "I have been waiting for you, Edward."

"How do you know my name?" Edward gasped in surprise.

The Golden Man made no reply, but beckoned Edward inside. As he led the young sorcerer through the house, Edward couldn't shake the feeling that he had been in that house before. Finally the Golden Man stopped in a room filled with tomes and magical instruments. On one wall hung a large portrait. "Does this portrait mean anything to you?" he asked.

Edward looked at it and gasped with surprise. It was identical to the portrait that hung in his own study, the portrait of his family before his father had disappeared and his mother had died. He looked between the visage of his father and that of the Golden Man who stood before him.

They were one and the same.

"You are…my father?"

The Golden Man made no reply. There was no need.

After a moment, the Golden Man said, "I know why you have come. I have been watching you from afar; I have seen all your exploits, and…I am very proud of you, my son. But now it is time for me to make up for the mistakes in my past. I will give you the knowledge you seek."

"You know the faerie's name?" Edward asked, hardly daring to hope. "What is it?"

The Golden Man smiled sadly. "Close your eyes, and listen."

So Edward closed his eyes and listened with all his might. But as he stood there, straining his ears, he could hear nothing. No sound, not even the whispering of a breeze or the rustling of cloth. The entire world seemed to be silent.

Finally Edward opened his eyes, intending to demand that the Golden Man tell him plainly what the name was. But, to his astonishment, he discovered that the Golden Man was gone. Edward stood in the study of his own house, where he had summoned the faerie so many years before. Then he realized why the Golden Man's house had seemed so familiar: it, like the portrait, was an identical copy of this house.

Edward looked at the portrait that hung on his wall, and it almost seemed that his father smiled out at him. And as he gazed on the infant face of his younger brother, lost now for nearly six years, Edward realized what the faerie's name was.

Losing no time, Edward pulled out his pouch of magic dust and made a magic circle, just as he and his brother had so many years ago. Then he stepped into the middle, spoke the words of power, and watched as the golden light sprang up, then darkened. The rift between the worlds opened up, and out stepped that same faerie, that same silhouette of nothingness, with that same mischievous smile.

"You have called me, and I have come," it said. "It has been a long time."

"Is my brother unharmed?" Edward asked with a threatening glare.

"Of course. We faeries always keep our promises. Are you ready with your answer?"

"I am. This is your name." And he fell silent, standing as still as possible, staring straight into the void where eyes would normally be.

The faerie grinned back at him for a long time, until finally he said, "Well? What is my name?"

For an instant, fear struck Edward's heart. What if the Golden Man had been wrong? "You have no name."

The faerie's smile faltered, then disappeared into the void. "Is that your answer?" it said, and though its voice made no sound, it was like a whisper.

"Yes."

There was a long moment of silence, until finally the faerie said in disgust, "And it took you six years to come up with this answer? Very well. As a faerie, I am bound to keep my promises. Do not call me up again; I wish to see your face no more."

With that, he stepped backwards through the rift, and as he did the blank silhouette seemed to fill in, until Alphonse stood there in its place. And Alphonse was grinning, but this smile had no mischief. It was filled with love.

And so the sorcerer brothers lived happily ever after, and never called up another faerie again.