They've been walking for hours according to JJ's phone, and Ed just keeps plowing forward like he's a machine. She and Derek are no slouches, but Ed striding through this like it's an inconvenience instead of sapping his energy with every additional step is making her feel like she's woefully out of shape. Ed has already stopped twice to refill their water and take a break, but it's clearly been for their benefit, not for his. She knows he's still young, but this is ridiculous.
Ed stops at the base of yet another dune—the poles he magically created running straight over it. JJ can't help it, she groans at the thought of climbing that dune. Derek turns and offers her a commiserating grimace. It's a relief that he's hating this as much as JJ is.
"Why don't we take another break?" Derek suggests as they stop where Ed is.
He glances at them, glances up at the dune, then shrugs. He claps—JJ is going to hear that sound in her nightmares, she's sure—then crouches to put his hands to the sand. JJ can't decide if she should just get used to Ed doing miracles or if she never wants to take for granted that he can just carve a literal hallway out of a dune so they can go through it instead of over it .
"Is there something you're not telling us about this desert that you're in such a hurry to get out of it?" JJ asks, managing not to bend over and brace her hands on her knees by sheer force of will.
Ed raises a sardonic eyebrow. "Other than it's a fucking huge desert hundreds of miles from civilization, and we might not die of thirst with me, but you can sure as shit starve . I don't know about you, but my stomach kind of wants to eat me from the inside out, so the sooner we get to the ruins, the better," he says.
A huge shadow passes by the end of the hall Ed made.
"Are you sure there's nothing dangerous in this desert?" JJ asks.
Ed must have caught it out of the corner of his eye too because he's tense and dropped into a ready stance. He claps his hands softly, then puts one hand on his metal arm, transforming it into a blade, which reminds her that she had his gun, and somewhere between the barn and here, she's lost it. But she and Derek both pull their guns, putting their backs to one another.
"There!" Derek calls, letting off a shot at a huge shadow above the dune. Whatever it is, it does not like being shot at, and it roars .
"Is that a lion ?" JJ asks, feeling her heart sink as the shadow starts moving down toward them.
A clap echoes across the desert, and Ed kneels, slamming his hands onto the sand. The ground underneath her and Derek starts to move, an elaborate cage raising around them. A hand reaches out of the dune and tries to grab the lion-thing—it can't be a lion because even for a lion, it's too big, and it's definitely not moving right—but the lion-thing dodges.
Ed doesn't stay still, taking off running. He claps again, this time doing a series of flips, each time his hands touch the sand, something appears out of the sand—towers, hands, a cage—but the lion-thing is fast and agile, and it must be intelligent, because before too long, Ed's metal arm is the only thing holding off that creature.
And it is a creature—some twisted amalgam of a man and a lion, and it would dwarf Derek. Next to Ed, it looks like a giant.
JJ doesn't realize she's fired until Ed yells, "Don't shoot!" ducking under the lion-man, making her miss. He dodges underneath, and comes up behind him, then snarls, "Chill the fuck out, you overgrown housecat!" And Ed literally kicks the lion-man in the ass, with his metal leg, if she's not mistaken. Before the lion-man can recover, Ed has clapped and hit the ground again, and this time, the hand that appears doesn't miss. "For fuck's sake, Heinkel! Do you really not recognize me?"
"Edward?" a woman's voice calls. JJ looks up to see a young woman standing at the top of the dune, a panda at her side, of all things.
Confusion crosses Ed's features, but he asks, "Mei?"
She's slim and clothed in what appear to be fine silks, but she dashes down the dune, the panda keeping pace with her.
"Mei! Stay back! It can't be the colonel!" the lion-man yells, and if JJ was confused and frightened before, hearing a man's voice come from that creature's mouth somehow makes it even worse .
"Fucking hell," Ed says, and he looks exasperated, dragging a hand over his face.
His moment of inattention is a mistake because although the woman has stopped, the panda doesn't and bowls into Ed, clamping down large jaws on Ed's metal shoulder.
" Ed! " JJ and Derek both yell, guns raising.
"Get the fuck off me!" Ed snarls, managing to get his foot under the panda and kick it off.
"Xiao-Mei!" the girl calls.
" That's Xiao-Mei?" Ed gapes. "What happened to the nasty little kitten thing that Al loved?"
The panda is back up on its feet, protectively in front of the young woman, but she has her hands over her mouth and looks like she might cry.
"Colonel?" the lion-man asks hesitantly. His voice is gruff and rumbly, but it carries a note of what sounds like cautious hope. "But you… have alchemy…"
Ed glances down at him, keeping an eye on the woman and the panda this time. "Yeah," he says. "Apparently if you get pulled through the gate, it kind of has to give you it back."
It means nothing to JJ, but it must mean something to the two people, because they both start crying, and the girl flings herself at Ed. She's smaller than he is, slight, and he catches her easily.
"It's really you?" she asks through tears.
"You're asking me that?" he returns, a soft smile on his face. "When I last saw you, you were still a little girl."
"You're still a jerk!" she announces, and Ed has to leap away to avoid a punch. They devolve into trading punches and blocks, both moving so fast JJ can't even track it. JJ had no idea that Ed could fight like this, and seeing him do it, like he expects to be able to, like he's enjoying it, is starting to shake the idea she ever knew Ed at all. He finally manages to trap Mei against his chest, both of his arms crossed over her torso.
"I missed you too, Mei," he says, then releases her.
Her lower lip trembles. "Jerk," she says, but there's no heat behind it.
"I know," he says. He lets her go, then claps and releases the lion-man and Derek and JJ both, rolling his metal shoulder to check it. "Your ugly cat still sucks," he adds.
Mei laughs, but it's tinged with a sob.
The lion-man sniffles and wraps his enormous arms around Ed's shoulders. "Colonel!"
Ed squawks as he's all but engulfed. "Damn furball!" he protests, flailing. "Let go of me!"
"We've been so worried," the lion-man says. His massive form subsides, and suddenly a blond man with distinctly European features is standing where the lion-man had been. JJ's brain might be breaking a little bit.
"Fucking sap," Ed says, but he looks like he's touched too, and he's stopped flailing. He pats the large man's shoulder. "It's way too fucking hot to have you all over me. Off," he says, but not unkindly.
JJ glances at Derek, and they both reluctantly put their guns away.
"Colonel?" Derek asks as the big man releases Ed, and Ed claps to restore his arm to its normal form.
"Oh, are these friends of yours?" Mei asks, rubbing under her eyes to clear the last tear remnants and straightening.
"Right," Ed says, apparently remembering his manners. "Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau, this is Mei Chang, Heinkel, and the panda's Xiao-Mei. Guys, Morgan and JJ. They're, uh, on my team from where I've been."
Mei bows regally, and JJ suddenly realizes there's a poise and near grandeur in the way she holds herself. "I'm Mei Chang," she introduces herself formally. "Princess of Xing, ambassador to Amestris."
Ed's eyebrow raises and he whistles. "Coming up in the world there," he says.
"Master Alphonse is also a Xing ambassador," she says, turning her attention back to Ed. "He's going to be so happy to see you!"
"Al's okay? And he's here?" he asks, something desperate coming into his eyes.
"He was just fine when I left," Mei says, taken aback by Ed's obvious concern.
Ed puts his hand over his heart and lets out a deep sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," he says. "But wait, what are you guys doing out in nowheresville?"
"Xerxes is being rebuilt as a waystation between Xing and Amestris," Mei explains, sounding pleased. "As part of the diplomatic pact between Xing and Amestris, Xerxes's governance is being given to the Ishvallans as a neutral third party."
That means nothing to JJ, but Mei looks smug about it, and Ed lights up in delight. "How the fuck did anyone manage to wrangle that out of the Fuhrer?"
"The Emperor insisted that restitution to the Ishvallans be included in order for diplomatic relations to open up. It's been a difficult negotiation, but our people are eager to have a route between Xing and Amestris, so we finally got it through about a year ago." Her enthusiasm dims a little. "I think it would have gone through much sooner if General Mustang had been able to help."
Ed puts a hand on her shoulder. "It's happening now, that's all that matters," he says. "Roy will be ecstatic when he finds out, I'm sure."
JJ has seen this happen before, seen people respond to Ed's encouragement like the sun has come to settle on them, but it always catches her a little off guard when it happens. Seeing Mei straighten and a soft pride infuse her eyes at the simple assurance is startling. "Where is the general?"
Ed's own brow furrows, and his own happiness dims. "I think he's still in JJ and Morgan's world," he says. "Where we've been for the last eight years." A fierce determination fills his eyes. "But I'll find a way to bring him back."
She gives him a small smile and a nod, and JJ isn't sure if her easy acceptance of Ed's ability is reassuring or unnerving. "Come on. We're only about ten miles from Xerxes. I'm sure you must all be starving," she says to them, then turns and leads the way through Ed's tunnel.
JJ has so many questions, she has no idea where to start, but when Derek says, "Colonel?" in a questioning tone toward Heinkel, who has pulled glasses out of his pocket and settled them on his face, she follows up with, "General?"
Heinkel eyes them, curious but cautious. "I reported to the lieutenant colonel before he disappeared eight years ago," he says. "We reported up through General Olivier Armstrong of the Amestris State Military. Before his promotion and transfer, the colonel reported up through Brigadier General Roy Mustang."
"Ed's a lieutenant colonel ?" JJ asks. "He was seventeen…" she trails off, not able to make the words when he came to our world come out of her throat. It's too surreal.
"State Alchemists are automatically conferred a rank equivalent to major," he explains.
"Ed said he was twelve when he joined the military," JJ says because there has to have been something lost in translation somehow.
"Yes," Heinkel says simply. "And he was promoted to lieutenant colonel when he was seventeen." He's still looking at them like he's not sure he trusts them, but he adds, "We shouldn't let them get too far ahead." He starts forward again.
"Your name is Heinkel, right?" she asks, wanting to ask about the lion thing but sure she shouldn't. "So Ed was your boss?" She has to jog to catch up to his long strides.
He gives her a sidelong glance. "Yes."
"Are you still with the military?"
"No."
"Because you were reporting to Ed?" Derek follows up her train of thought.
Heinkel pauses to roll his eyes, then gives them his full attention. "I stayed with the military because of Lieutenant Colonel Elric. When he and General Mustang went missing, I opted out."
JJ trades a look with Derek, then asks, "You stayed because of Ed? Or was it Mustang?"
This time, when Heinkel speaks, he meets her eyes. "General Mustang is a good man with good intentions, but he is a politician at heart. I would never stay for a politician."
"So you stayed for Ed," Derek says, stating the obvious conclusion. Heinkel inclines his head gravely. "Why?"
For a moment, she thinks he's not going to answer. Just as JJ opens her mouth to ask another question, Heinkel says, "I owe Edward Elric debts I cannot repay." He looks away from them, gazing at Ed's figure, as he stops and turns.
"Why are you lazing around back there? There's food at Xerxes!" Ed calls back.
"He was seventeen," Derek repeats. "He was just a kid."
Heinkel shakes his head. "I don't think Edward Elric has ever been just anything."
Without saying anything further, he hurries after Ed and Mei.
JJ stands next to Derek a moment and he sighs. "Do you feel like you've missed something?" he asks. "I mean, we've worked with Ed for nearly three years, and I just… I don't know that I understand."
"I think I'm starting to," JJ says, memories of odd times, of little moments, of instances where Ed did something she didn't expect, seemed wiser than she thought he should be, starting to come together. It had been a subtlety she had missed—Ed's wisdom. Used to Spencer's intelligence and wisdom, she had forgotten that he'd not always been wise, that Ed should be so wise so young. Why were things always so obvious in hindsight? "Let's catch up. I don't know about you, but I'm starving and it sounds like we've got another ten miles."
Derek sighs, but matches her pace to catch up to the others.