First time readers of my works! Please note that I have Edward (and sometimes other characters, depending on the story) swear. Sometimes it's excessive. If this isn't something you want to read, please press the back button and exit the story. Thanks! FullmetalBitch xx
Ed felt a grin start forming on his face when he felt the four familiar presences in his mind that had been steadily growing stronger throughout the day now feel as though they were minutes away from him. He glanced around the loungeroom at Pinako's and spied Al on the other couch. Neither Chester nor Ayala were in the house, both having decided to leave their humans in favour of exploring the woods across the road from Pinako's property line. Den had decided to spend his time curled up next to Ed while Pinako tended to the butcher – who had once again managed to take off some of his fingers while carving up the beast he'd just culled for a client. Winry wasn't home, too busy in Rush Valley at the moment to join Ed, Al, and the two Animals on their weeklong holiday at Pinako's. Strictly speaking, it was less of a holiday and more of an excuse for Pinako to check that Ed and Al were recovering well after Promised Day with her own eyes. When the request had come, Ed had almost rolled his eyes at the fact that it had been over a year since Promised Day and Pinako was still worried about ill-effects appearing.
They were all due to go back in three days' time but they were expecting visitors for the weekend. According to Nala, Mustang had some paperwork that Ed needed to complete regarding a previous mission that had resulted in six destroyed cars, ten partially destroyed cars, three severely damaged buildings, one building with mild structural damage, and twelve criminals and their Animals with injuries that ranged from barely existent to critical. Apparently, Mustang had had that paperwork sitting on his desk since the day after Ed handed in his scrawled mission report two weeks ago and had neglected to have Ed complete it in the time between receiving it and now. Soren had gleefully reported that Hawkeye had become exceptionally trigger-happy the previous day when Mustang had sheepishly asked her to purchase the pair of them and their Animals tickets to Resembool so Mustang could have Ed do the paperwork and he could hand it in before the deadline to do so passed and Mustang wound up facing some kind of consequence for it. Ed got the feeling there was something else – a more serious something else – that prompted the trip to Resembool but he figured that if Nala and Soren weren't telling him through the bond, it couldn't be that serious so he'd decided to leave the interrogation for when they were there in person.
Their other visitors were the Hughes', who had heard about Mustang's plans – Ed wasn't sure if Nala had beaten him to telling Leo and Lilith or not about Mustang's forgetfulness and Hawkeye's displeasure – and had decided to accompany Mustang and Hawkeye to Resembool that weekend so they could have a break from the city. Of course, they'd been nice enough to call Pinako first and ask whether she had the room for five extra people and four extra Animals. After assuring them she did, the Hughes' had booked their tickets the same day Hawkeye had procured the tickets for herself and Mustang. They'd all left Central early that morning and Nala had been all too keen to keep Ed up to date on the train journey to Resembool.
As soon as he sensed that Nala, Soren, Leo, and Lilith were only a handful of minutes away, Ed pulled himself up on the couch, apologising to Den as he did so, and started for the door, ignoring Al's grin. The teasing Ed had received from his younger brother during the day over Ed's visible excitement at having their visitors over had resulted in – despite Ed's insistence that he was only excited to see Elysia, the Animals, Hawkeye, and Gracia – Al ending up with a bruise the size of Ed's automail fist on his shoulder and Ed with an aching rib as a consequence of Al's pointy elbow connecting harshly with it. Ayala and Chester had both told their humans that they were idiots and to knock it off before Pinako came into the room and found them rough-housing inside.
"Are they nearly here?" Ayala asked as Ed, now accompanied by Den, headed for the door.
Ed rolled his eyes even though he knew his wolf couldn't see him. It wasn't like Ayala couldn't sense the whole group getting closer to the Rockbell's driveway. He would've been more surprised to find out that she wasn't currently stalking them from inside the tree-line of the forest to see if any of them would notice her. "Yeah, only a few minutes away," Ed told her as he and Den headed down the stairs and started down the gravel drive. "Are you gonna come out and greet them or are you going to test your stealth skills?" he asked.
Ayala hummed in his mind indecisively. "I dunno yet. I'll see how I feel when they're near the last corner," Ayala told him.
"I'll be coming up the road from the direction of our land," Chester warned Ed before the blonde could say anything to his wolf. "I wanted to explore a bit further out than Ayala did and ended up coming onto our property border," he said before Ed could ask.
"Fair enough," Ed responded, golden eyes habitually scanning the area around him for signs of danger, even though he knew there wouldn't be any. "See you in a couple of minutes." The two Animals acknowledged him before their attention went back to whatever they were doing.
"It'll be interesting to see how much Elysia has grown since I last saw her," Den commented as the pair continued on their way down the drive to greet their visitors. "Ayala told me she's mostly grown out of her habit of squealing at pitches that hurt our ears so I'm looking forward to seeing if Ayala's right about that," Den chuckled, even as he shuddered slightly at the memory of the last time he was with Elysia and the little girl had nearly burst his eardrums with her excitement.
"She definitely has," Ed reassured the old dog, chuckling with amusement. Before Ed could comment any further, he suddenly felt a massive surge of alchemic energy nearby. Spinning on his heel and his hands readied to clap if he needed to transmute for any reason, Ed's eyes once again scanned his surroundings for signs of trouble but came up empty. He relaxed out of his stance a little but held himself ready for action while Den used his superior sight to try and find whatever had made Ed react that way. "Did you guys feel that?" Ed asked the Animals, including Nala, as he continued watching for whatever caused the surge.
"Yeah. It felt massive. What was it?" Ayala asked and Ed could feel her making her way to where he and Den were standing. Chester and Nala both quickly echoed Ayala's words and Chester informed Ed that Al had also felt it and was on his way.
"Good," Ed responded to Chester before he addressed the three of them. "It was an alchemic surge. It didn't feel too far away from where I'm standing," he told them, "but I can't see what caused it. When you lot turn up, we'll go investigate. I don't need Elysia catching sight of me taking off and trying to follow me to see what's happening," he said in response to the feelings of surprise and shock he could sense through their bonds.
"I'll be there shortly," Ayala promised.
"Roy knows and I've told Soren, Leo, and Lilith, who have warned their humans. We are only seconds away," Nala assured Ed, "but Elysia took off running to greet you before we could stop her," she warned him.
"Al is nearly to you and I'm not far behind," Chester reported and Ed felt himself relax with relief a little. At least he would have backup in a matter of moments if something as dangerous as a homunculous came at him as a result of that surge.
"BIG BROTHER ED!" The excited shriek from Elysia – thankfully at a pitch that Den found acceptable – had Ed turning around and grinning at the little girl approaching them rapidly. He trusted that the Animals around him would warn him of any danger so Ed grinned easily back at Elysia and caught her when she threw herself into his arms for a hug. "I missed you, big brother!" Elysia informed him as she tightened her grip around his neck.
"We've only been gone for four days, you know," Ed laughed as he hugged her tightly.
"I know but it's been forever!" Elysia whined dramatically, causing Ed's laughter to keep going.
The alchemic surge and the unknown cause of it was still on Ed's mind but the appearance of his adopted little sister had apparently pushed it to the back of his mind up until the moment several voices called out to him. However, it was one voice that really caught his attention. The person who greeted him sounded happy and excited to see him but most notably, they sounded like they were familiar, friendly even, with him which confused Ed since there was nothing familiar about the voice calling out to him. Ed turned, placing Elysia on the ground and pushing her behind him as he did so, and came face to face with a group of the weirdest looking people and animals he'd seen.
The six humans were dressed in clothing that Ed didn't recognise and the woman, though young in appearance, had thick hair that was the same white Ayala had been before their bond was formed. While the white hair wasn't unusual on a person who was as young as this woman appeared to be – there were plenty of Ishvalens who had white hair, after all – it was the fact that her eyes weren't red that made it stranger to Ed. But the oddest thing about the whole group were the lions with them. There were five of them, leaving Ed to wonder which person didn't have their Animal with them, and each of them were easily twice as big as Nala was and all of them were completely different colours with there being one red lion, one green one, one coloured yellow, one blue, and the last one black. All of the lions had piercing, almost unnatural yellow eyes, and they were all looking at him with a confusion that mirrored the expressions on the humans' faces when Ed didn't greet them back.
Ed took all of this in within the handful of moments it took for him to step in front of Elysia and get into his fighting stance. Den was baring his teeth at the strangers, hackles up and standing just off to Ed's right. "Who the fuck are you?" Ed snarled, muscles tensed as he prepared himself to leap into the fight. He could feel Elysia gripping the back of his black jacket and he knew without looking that she would be peeking out from behind him with confusion and fear in her eyes. He could sense Nala, Leo, and Lilith approaching rapidly, no doubt followed closely by their humans and Hawkeye. He knew without looking up that Soren was circling above them, sending reports of what he could see straight to his human who was undoubtedly passing the information onto everyone else.
"Ed?" one of the humans, the brunette who Ed thought had called out to him earlier, said, his voice unsure and tone a mix of confused and worried.
"How do you know who I am?" Ed asked, eyes flicking to every single person and Animal standing in front of him. All of the humans had their hands raised in some sort of placating manner while the lions seemed to be torn between looking as non-threatening as possible and protecting the people with them. The only exception was the black-haired teenager, who looked like he was debating on whether he should hold his hands up in a placating manner or reach for something hidden on him. The black- and white-haired man with them nudged the raven-haired boy and gave him a look that had the teenager raising his hands higher as he somehow glared and pouted at the same time.
Al had joined them now but he was standing between the group and the house rather than standing next to Den or his brother. "Ed, what's going on?" Al asked as he took up his own fighting stance, eyeing the group warily.
"Dunno, Al. They just turned up," Ed told him, eyes never leaving the group. The sound of rushing footsteps crunching on the gravel told Ed that the others had arrived. "El," Ed said, still not taking his eyes off those in front of him, "get to your mother," he ordered gently. "Den's gonna go with you," he said before the little girl could try and argue.
"Are you sure?" Den asked, his suspicion lacing his voice as he kept snarling at the group.
Ed nodded. "Ayala's about to turn up and Nala and Leo will pass you before you're even a quarter of the way to Miss Gracia," Ed told him, keeping the conversation quiet. Den huffed in response before he left Ed's peripheral vision and led Elysia away. Ed almost sighed in relief when he heard the soft but quick footsteps of Elysia leaving him. Just as he'd predicted, Nala and Leo appeared on either side of him, their lips lifted in protective snarls.
"What the hell kind of lions are those?" Nala asked flummoxed, though she showed no outward signs of her shock.
The appearance of Leo and Nala had the group in front of him startle noticeably, like they hadn't expected or known of the lioness or the fox. "What is going on here?" the smallest human asked, identifying themselves quickly as female as she took in the two Animals.
"Um, I don't want to alarm anyone," the biggest person said, their voice wavering in barely-suppressed fear and nervousness, "but there is a leopard behind us and they don't look friendly," he told his group, causing most of them to turn to see what he was talking about.
By them doing so, Ed was afforded a glimpse of Chester stalking closer to the group, his lips lifted in a feral snarl as his puffed tail twitched backwards and forwards as he approached. "Can you get yourself to Al without leaving you or him open to attack?" Ed asked the leopard silently.
"Yeah, I can. I don't think these guys are armed," Chester reported. The news shocked Ed but he let it go as he watched Chester slowly start creeping at an angle that would get him to Al as Ed had asked.
Noise from his left almost had Ed glancing in that direction but he managed to keep his focus on the group in front of him, allowing him to witness the complete shock they felt when Ayala made herself known. Like Al, she didn't move so she was right next to Ed but stayed on his left to prevent anyone from escaping into the woods easily if this broke into a fight. Just as she started snarling in warning, Ed felt three familiar presences behind him and relaxed minutely now that he knew Mustang, Hughes, and Hawkeye were there and ready to assist him.
"General Mustang? Captain Hawkeye?" one of the people – the one that looked the oldest, aside from the white-haired woman – asked, voice soft and Ed wondered if he'd even meant to say their names. Judging from the slight widening of his eyes, the man didn't.
"Do we know you?" Mustang asked coolly from somewhere behind and to Ed's left. There was the subtle clicking that told Ed Hawkeye had disengaged the safety of her pistol.
"From the reaction of Ed and the appearance of all these animals, no, I don't think you know us," the man said, sounding a little upset about that, "but we know you. Or," he said before Ed could say anything, "I think it would be more accurate to say we know another version of you," he told them. At the confused looks Ed knew everyone, including himself, was giving him, the man elaborated. "We're a team known as Voltron and about eight months ago, we met Edward Elric and Roy Mustang for the first time," he explained, "however I think it's safe to say that we met an Edward Elric and Roy Mustang from an alternate dimension to yours and we have somehow ended up in your world rather than theirs," he clarified.
Ed knew for certain that his jaw had dropped and he was willing to bet that even Mustang's and Hawkeye's masks hadn't covered their shock. "What kind of science-fiction bullshit is that?" Ed asked, unable to stop himself. Though not a popular topic in the science world, there was the odd scientist that had theorised about worlds that existed somewhere else that was identical in almost every single way to theirs but with one significant difference. Like the majority of scientists and people, Ed had written those oddballs off as just that, oddballs.
The oldest male in the group smiled in what seemed like a fond way at Ed before he seemed to realise he was doing so and the fond familiarity made Ed feel a little uncomfortable. "It seems to be true," the man said. "How else would you explain us knowing you but you knowing nothing about us?" he asked.
"Uh, maybe you're a bunch of giant weirdos with too much time on their hands to stalk people?" Ed suggested sarcastically. He hadn't shifted an inch out of his fighting stance and neither had Al. He knew that Hughes and Mustang were both in their defensive stances while Hawkeye was surely off Mustang's left with her pistol levelled to shoot one of the people in front of him fatally.
The man who'd been doing most of the speaking seemed to grimace apologetically before he said, "your three most reoccurring nightmares are the night you and Alphonse got your injuries, Nina and Alexander and what happened to them, and Hughes."
Ed reeled back like he'd been physically struck and Ayala, Nala, and Chester all loosed snarls or roars of warning. Ed could feel the worried looks from those behind him and he felt Nala's press against his left thigh while Ayala debated whether she should rush to his side or stay where she was. He quickly told her to stay there. "Lucky guesses," Ed snapped. "Anyone who's done any kind of research into me would be able to guess that. Those three events were pretty significant," he said, unable to admit just how traumatic they all were despite the fact that the three adults behind him and Al knew exactly how much each one tore at him.
The man nodded before saying, "how about that fact that on the night you lost your leg, you sacrificed your arm so that you could bond Al's soul to a suit of armour that belonged to your father that was in the basement after the array backfired? You used your own blood to do so and you drew the array on the back of the armour's neck, on the inside of it to protect it from the elements."
Ed felt his breath catch in his throat and he couldn't help but look at Al, who was looking equally as freaked out as he was. The only people who knew about Al's array and the fact that his physical body wasn't in the armour were either dead or someone Ed trusted completely to keep the information to themselves even under the threat of death so there should no way for this random person to know that. "How the hell did you know that?" Ed couldn't help but ask, his voice a touch shakier than he would've liked.
The man's eyes shone with sympathy and Ed felt himself want to punch him. "Because you told me about it a few days after we met you. Or another version of you did at least," he told him and this time, Ed couldn't help but believe him.
However, just because he was starting to believe the man, it didn't mean Ed was willing to trust him so he glanced over his left shoulder – making sure the group didn't leave his peripheral vision – and looked at Mustang, silently asking for his thoughts on the matter. Mustang locked gazes with him before nodding almost imperceptibly. "Do you have any proof of your claims? Physical proof that can't be mistaken for thorough investigation into Fullmetal and his family?" Mustang asked, stepping forward a few steps so he was in line with Ed, on Nala's other side.
The smallest figure made some sort of affirmative noise before she pulled the backpack she had over her shoulders off one arm so she could start digging into it. "We have photos of us with our Ed," she explained, producing a thin, flat object that Ed didn't recognise and couldn't even hazard a guess as to what it was called. "I can show you them, if you want?" she suggested, the object held almost like a peace offering towards them.
Ed and Mustang shared another glance before Mustang gave another, near invisible nod. "Keep an eye on them," Ed instructed the Animals while Mustang gestured for Hawkeye and Hughes to keep their guards up as the pair approached the group.
The lanky brunette who'd called out to Ed was watching him with a sadness that had Ed mildly uncomfortable. It was like he was mourning a friend who looked eerily like Ed and the blonde had to bite his tongue to stop himself from snapping at him. Ayala was split between watching her human and watching the group but she didn't move an inch from her position until Ed was close enough to the people and lions in front of them that they could touch him. Once he was within reach of them, that was when she gave into her instinct to be close to Ed and headed for him, snarling at the lions who looked at her as she approached. Ed reached down to ruffle her ears once she was against his other leg, Nala having stuck to his left side, and she spotted emotions that ranged from jealousy to what she thought was grief in the lions' eyes.
"Let's see it," Ed said, eyes still flicking suspiciously between the members of the group. He'd already tried reaching out to the lions – something of a habit with him now – but it was like they didn't exist, which meant they had to have been normal animals, not Spirit Animals. However, something told him that these lions were anything except ordinary and it wasn't their sizing or colouring that had him thinking that.
The object was held up by the girl holding it so that Mustang, Ed, and the two Animals could see their reflections in the black glass. Before Ed could say anything, the girl did something and the glass seemed to flicker, causing Ed to almost jerk back in shock. The girl bowed her head slightly over the object while she tapped on it a few times. By the time she looked back up, Ed and Mustang's jaws had dropped because they were suddenly looking at a photo of themselves surrounded by the people standing in front of them. Ed could see Al, Hawkeye, Gracia, Elysia, and the rest of the team standing around them as well and from how the black and blue lions were pressed against the Ed in the photo, Ed had to assume they were close to him.
"I don't understand," Ed admitted, glancing at Mustang to see his reaction. "We've never met you before. I would've at least remembered them," he said, gesturing to the lions.
The man with the black-and-white hair cleared his throat, getting Ed's attention back on him. "Our Ed is bonded with the lions," he told them, shocking Ed once more. "They told us they didn't think something was right when we appeared but they couldn't figure out what it was. They could sense Ed and they could sense you close by and you must be similar enough to our Ed to have confused them until we spotted you," he explained. "They don't think you're our Ed and we've definitely never met him," he pointed to Hughes, who looked mildly shocked, "or the animals with you. With the exception of Den but in our Ed's world, that Den has an automail leg," he told them.
Out everything that the man had just said, the most surprising things were the mentions of Hughes and Den. "Why haven't you met Hughes? And what the hell happened to Den?" Ed asked, brow furrowing in confusion as he glanced behind him at Hughes and in the direction he knew Den and Lilith were with Gracia and Elysia.
Something flickered across the man's face at Ed's first question but it was gone too quickly for Ed to figure out what it was. "I'm not sure what happened to Den, actually. I've never asked," he admitted before looking questioningly at his team but none of them seemed to know the answer either.
"Brother?" Al called from where he was still standing in his fighting stance and Ed knew exactly what Al was asking without his younger brother saying anything else.
"Ayala? Nala? Chester? Soren? Leo?" Ed called, unable to make up his mind about what he should be doing right now. "What do you guys think?" he asked, not bothering to use his bond since he knew that each Animal, with the exception of Ayala, would talk directly to him and their respective human.
"I think we can trust them," Ayala told him, her golden eyes flicking over each person and lion.
"I don't think they're going to try anything to hurt us," Chester said. "I'm not picking up that kind of vibe from them. They seemed genuinely hurt and upset that you didn't know them," he added. The way Al shifted – slightly relaxing his stance – told Ed that he agreed with Chester's words.
"Even if they tried something, it's not like we couldn't take them," Nala said confidently, causing Ed and Mustang to snort at her.
"I agree with the others. I don't think they're here to cause us any trouble," Leo said after contemplating for a few moments.
"I didn't see anything from above that looked suspicious but you should keep an eye on the one with the red jacket. I think he planned on reaching for a weapon before the other one stopped him," Soren said, still circling above them, flying as slow as he possibly could so he could keep a sharp eye on everyone.
"Thanks for the heads up, Soren," Ed said before he finally looked at Mustang, Hughes, and Hawkeye. He already knew Al's opinion from his brother's relaxed fighting stance but he would admit that knowing what the others were thinking would be nice.
Hughes and Hawkeye both gave him a nod as they lowered their respective weapons and moved out of their own defensive positions. Soren came in at Hawkeye's silent summons and landed on her shoulder, his keen eyes staying on the group. It was only when Mustang gave a small tilt of his head that Ed relaxed enough to nod at the group. "Alright, everyone seems to agree that you aren't going to try and kill us but you should know that if you do try, you won't be very successful," Ed said, earning an eyeroll from his brother and a soft snort from Mustang. Most surprisingly though, was that the fact that his comment seemed to garner several amused and poorly-hidden fond looks from the strangers.
Alphonse and Chester used the opportunity the end of the stand-off gave them to move so they were standing beside Ed and Ayala. Al was being less than subtle as he looked inquisitively at the flat object that held the picture of the alternate Ed, Al, Hughes women, and team, and the short girl who'd shown Ed and Mustang the picture smirked as she held it back up to show Al the content. Al shook his head in amazement as he took in the other him. "That's crazy," he muttered, his eyes glued to the screen.
"You're telling us," the brunette who had been first to greet Ed laughed. His chuckle sounded slightly forced and the biggest teenager – the one with the orange headband – pulled him into a side-hug that the brunette melted into. The blue lion pressed up against him as well and Ed couldn't help but assume that that meant that particular lion was his.
"I guess we should probably introduce ourselves, huh?" the back-and-white-haired man said, rubbing the back of his head in a sheepish manner. "It must be kind of weird not knowing who we are when we know most of your names," he said.
"Just a little," Ed said dryly, getting a couple of chuckles for his words.
"Right. Well, I'm Shiro and this here is Black," the man – Shiro, apparently – said, scratching the ear of the black-coloured lion, who leaned into it slightly. He then gestured to the raven-haired teenager Soren had said to keep an eye on and said, "this is Keith and his lion, Red." Keith didn't look happy about the introduction but Ed decided not to take offense to it considering none of them likely thought that they would be introducing themselves to an alternate him today. "That's Lance and Hunk and their lions are Blue and Yellow." Lance – the brunette – and Hunk – the bigger boy who'd spotted Chester first – waved helpfully when their names were said. "Pidge is the one who showed you the picture off her tablet," Shiro said just as Pidge started packing away the aforementioned tablet, "and her lion is Green." The aforementioned lion wasn't paying attention to the humans she was being introduced to, far too interested in the Animals by their sides. "And finally, this is Princess Allura, our team's leader and the leader of the coalition we fight for," Shiro said, finishing off the introductions.
Ed found himself studying each person so he would remember their names. The lions were easy to remember since they were named after their colouring so Ed wasn't too worried about them. "Why are all of your Animals the same species?" Ed asked, glancing at Allura. "Was that a requirement for them to join your coalition? And where's yours?" he asked, ignoring the hissed "brother!" from an appalled Alphonse.
Shiro wasn't the only one to be looking at him in confusion. "What do you mean by "Animals"?" Pidge asked curiously, though her green eyes were already flicking between Ed and the Animals around him as though making the connection.
"Your Spirit Animals," Ed clarified, though his tone made it obvious that he thought he really didn't need to be doing so.
"We don't have Spirit Animals," Shiro told him, causing Ed to frown before glancing pointedly at Black before back at Shiro. "They're our Lions but they aren't our Spirit Animals. I'm not even sure I entirely understand what that term means in your world," Shiro admitted.
"A Spirit Animal is the physical embodiment of a person's soul," Ed told them, the frown still in place. "They're your other half, the missing piece that makes you whole. They're the perfect complement to a person. Everyone on this planet over the ages of 13 has a Spirit Animal, with a few rare exceptions who get theirs a couple of years later," Ed explained.
"We're bonded to our Lions but they definitely aren't our Spirit Animals. In our world, a Spirit Animal is the term used by certain religions when talking about a teacher or messenger that comes to a person in the form of an animal, sometimes in a dream, and helps them through life. They're not always there and they're not always tangible," Shiro told them.
"How did you bond to your lions if they aren't Spirit Animals?" Alphonse asked, obviously not believing them about the lions not being like Ayala or Chester.
"No, they're telling the truth, Al," Ed told his brother before any of the strangers could ask. "I reached out to them when they first arrived – you know it's a habit, stop looking at me like that, Al – and I couldn't sense them. Their size and colouring sure as shit meant they weren't just average lions but until Shiro confirmed they weren't Spirit Animals, I wasn't sure what to think of them," he explained.
"We've talked about you reaching out to unknown Spirit Animals before, Fullmetal," Mustang sighed.
Ed threw a withering glare at him. "We've also talked about how your orders are stupid and it's in my best interest to never listen to you," he snarked back.
Mustang opened his mouth to retort when three of the strangers let out muffled chuckles. "It's good to know there are some things that stay the same no matter what," Lance said, eyes sparkling with mirth.
"It makes sense that he's a bastard in every universe," Ed said, nodding as though this made complete sense. Mustang rolled his eyes while Hughes snorted from behind him.
"Brother!" Al hissed but went completely ignored by Ed.
"What do you mean by "reaching out"?" Pidge asked curiously.
"Of the entire population of Amestris – and as far as we know, the world – only two people have the knowledge needed so that they can bond with other people's Spirit Animals," Mustang answered before Ed or Al could. "Fullmetal and his brother are those two people."
"Usually if I'm facing off against a criminal I know minimal information about, I reach out to their Animal. I never bond with them but by reaching out, I can usually glean their surface thoughts and most of the time, those thoughts are about what their human is planning to do, which helps me figure out what I'm going to do," Ed expanded on Mustang's answer. "Sometimes the criminals I go up against have a cat or dog or some other species that's also a common pet so I reach out to see if they're an ordinary animal or if they're a Spirit Animal. Sometimes that can help me factor in how in sync the pair will be," he said. "It's certainly helped me and Ayala in more than a few fights," he added with a casual shrug.
"Ayala?" Hunk repeated, tone confused and Ed placed a hand on Ayala's head.
"My wolf," Ed told them. "She's my bonded partner," he added unnecessarily.
"Nice to meet you, Ayala," Hunk said, echoed quickly by the others.
"She's beautiful," Lance said sincerely. "I hope you don't mind me asking though but why is she that colour? I don't know of any wolf species even close to that colouring," he said, looking mildly worried that he might be overstepping a line.
Ayala preened at the praise while Ed rolled his eyes at her. "It's fine," he told the brunette, who seemed to almost melt in relief. "Part of our bond. We don't know for sure but our bond is exceptionally strong and there are a few quirks with it that we've never seen in another bonded pair before – Al and Chester being excepted there," he explained.
"Chester's the leopard," Al said, gesturing to him before anyone could ask. Chester was sitting next to Al, his tail wrapped around his paws as he watched the strangers with seemingly unblinking eyes. More than a few of the strangers seemed unsettled by this display and only Ed and Al knew just how pleased Chester was with their reactions.
"And the others?" Keith asked, speaking for the first time, eyes looking between Nala, Soren, and Leo.
"Nala is the lioness and to her greatest shame, she's bonded to Mustang," Ed said, grinning when Mustang's irked grumbling could be heard from behind him. Even though Nala was chuckling in Ed's mind, he saw her lean up against Mustang and saw the man sigh before he scratched her ears, a display of affection he rarely showed in front of strangers. "Soren is Captain Hawkeye's Animal and Leo is bonded to Hughes," Ed said, finishing the introduction.
Ed noticed the way Shiro's eyes flicked over Ed's right shoulder to where Hughes was standing but the blonde couldn't decipher the emotions in the man's eyes. What he could make out was the lack of recognition. Though it appeared that Shiro had heard Hughes' name before – which made sense since he'd named Hughes as one of Ed's most reoccurring nightmares – it seemed as though he'd never met Hughes himself. "How come you've never met Hughes before?" Ed asked, eyes narrowing slightly. From the lack of surprise from the Amestrians and Animals with him, he knew they'd noticed as well.
Shiro shifted slightly, obviously unsure of whether he should answer the question. However, Black did something to catch his attention and that seemed to help Shiro with his decision. He visibly steeled himself before saying, "in our Ed's world, Hughes was killed by Envy the night he tried to pass information on to General Mustang."
Ed visibly flinched as he heard three sharp gasps from Hughes, Mustang, and Hawkeye. He saw Al grasp his right arm and both Chester and Ayala leaned up against him. "I guess without Ayala or Leo, the me of that world didn't know Hughes was in trouble," Ed said, doing his best not to sound shaken by this information. He was now very glad that Gracia and Elysia weren't in earshot of this conversation though he knew Lilith was keeping Gracia apprised of everything.
Shiro gave him a look filled with so much sympathy that Ed knew he'd seen through his admittedly poorly constructed mask. "From what I've been told, he was in Dublith with Alphonse when it happened. He had no idea until he got back to Central," he told Ed. There was something in the way Shiro glanced at Mustang for a moment that told Ed there was a bit more to it than that but he wasn't about to press for the information. Hughes nearly getting himself killed for uncovering information he was only searching for because of Ed was bad enough. Ed didn't think he'd be able to hear about what happened in the other Amestris without hurting something.
"Ed, it's not your fault," Hughes said softly, startling Ed when he placed a hand on Ed's left shoulder, though his voice came from Ed's right.
Ed looked over his shoulder a gave Hughes a small smile. "So you keep telling me," he said with a small huff. Knowing that in another dimension his nightmares of failing to save Hughes were actually a reality had him upset in a way he'd never been before. Ayala, Chester and Nala all made sure they were touching him somehow in order to comfort him, for which he was grateful for.
"Wait, Brother stayed in Central because he was hurt during the fight in Laboratory Five here," Al said, his face screwing up in confusion and pulling Ed out of his dark thoughts. "Did that fight not happen in the other world?" he asked.
"No, it did," Lance was the one to answer, "but from what our Ed told us, Envy knocked him out after his fight with the Slicer Brothers and got him out before the building collapsed. He was only in hospital for a few days," he told them. "I take it the fight went a bit differently here?"
Ed made a face at the idea of Envy carrying him anywhere. "Yeah, for one I had Chester with me so he helped me out against the Slicer Brothers then again against Envy and Lust when they turned up," Ed said. "Secondly, Envy blew up the building with me still inside. Dunno whether he had any plans on making sure I survived that but I got Chester and constructed a shelter over us before the building came down," Ed told them, shrugging nonchalantly. It had been over 18 months since Laboratory Five had been destroyed and Ed would still only ever admit that he'd been the one to press the trigger on the pain of death and maybe not even then. The lectures he'd get from Alphonse and everyone else would likely be worse than whatever anyone else could do to him.
"Then proceeded to almost bleed out while waiting for Ayala and me to get to you," Al hissed, though there was no venom in his voice.
"Not the worst injuries I've suffered and it'll undoubtedly not be the last time I'm almost crushed by a building so move on already," Ed said, shrugging his shoulders.
"You were in the hospital for weeks!" Al exclaimed.
"Yeah, because Doctor Overland overreacted! I was fine after a few days! I could've been released!" Ed argued back, causing Al to actually growl in his throat.
"Boys," Hawkeye said warningly, effectively getting them to stop arguing with just the one word.
When Ed heard the soft snort of amusement from Mustang, he "accidentally" elbowed him in the gut as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He smirked at the glare and mutters he got from his boss and he paid no attention to the exasperated sigh Alphonse gave. "So how'd you end up here?" Ed asked the group.
Allura was the one to answer this time. "I'm not entirely sure," she said, her accent causing the Amestrians to startle slightly. Sure the others had a soft accent indicating they definitely weren't Amestrian or Xingese or from any other known country but Ed realised they'd all expected the strangers to speak with the same accent. "Perhaps there was a miscalculation?" she asked, looking at Pidge for reasons Ed didn't know.
Pidge scowled at Allura. "Of course there was nothing wrong with the calculations," she snapped at the princess. "Dad and Matt had used those same calculations dozens of times to send us over to Ed. Nothing should've gone wrong with them this time," she said defensively, her green eyes flashing with a spark of anger.
Allura held her hands up placatingly. "I apologise, Pidge, but it is the most logical conclusion," Allura said calmly.
"Wait, didn't Coran say something about there being one of those dangerous space storms brewing nearby the ship?" Lance piped up suddenly. "Could that have done something to the trans-dimensional teleduv?" he asked, looking between Pidge and Allura.
Allura's brow furrowed slightly in doubt. "I believe it could have but Coran told us that the storm was quite a distance from us. Even if it was close enough, our shielding should've protected the Castle from any damage for a while," she told him.
"But storms have a way of sneaking up on people quickly," Hunk said, looking a tad nervous about doing so. "Sometimes back home, we could think a storm was hours away only for it to suddenly hit us not even an hour later," he said. Lance nodded emphatically beside him.
"Coran did say that it was one of the biggest storms he'd witnessed," Shiro added. "He even joked about whether the shielding would hold up against it when he spoke to me about it," he told the princess.
"Perhaps the storm did hit us sooner than anticipated and interfered with the machine," Allura conceded.
"So some sort of machine brought you here?" Al asked and received nods from the strangers. None of them expanded on what the machine was but Ed figured he would've been more surprised if they had. "Can it take you home?" Al asked.
"Oh, most certainly," Allura assured him, holding up her wrist where a device sat on it. "However, I need to replenish this device with my alchemic energy so that I can signal the teleduv. Once I do that, our friends on the other side will link the machine up with this device and I can open a portal that'll take us back to our Castle directly," she told them.
"You're an alchemist?" Ed asked surprised. He wouldn't have thought any of them would be able to use alchemy and he wasn't entirely sure why he hadn't.
Allura gave him a small smile. "I am. I'm not awfully efficient at it yet but our Ed has given me what tips he could considering how different our alchemies are and Red has been giving me additional assistance as well," she told him, smiling warmly at the Red Lion, who was pretending like she wasn't pleased with the praise. "However, I know enough alchemy for what I need to do," she assured him. "The only downside is that I require two days to be able to funnel enough energy into my wrist device without endangering myself," she divulged.
"So you won't be going anywhere for two days?" Ed asked, not awfully thrilled with the prospect. He had no clue how he was going to keep these people and their lions a secret and he certainly didn't think telling the military about people who could travel between dimensions was a good idea. As much as he trusted Grumman and most of the new generals, he was sure there were a couple of bad seeds still in the ranks and he really wanted the only fighting to happen this week be between him and Al when they sparred. He didn't appreciate the surprised looks he got from Ayala and Chester when they sensed those thoughts.
"I'm afraid not," Allura said, looking and sounding very apologetic about this predicament.
Ed sighed as mentally went through the two options they had. They could set this team – Voltron, Ed thought they'd called themselves – up at the hotel in Resembool. The lions would get some odd looks but no one would ask any questions since most locals didn't ask questions about someone's Animal without the topic being broached by that person and there would be no reason for anyone to make the assumption that these lions were the Spirit Animals of some of the group just as Ed had. However, the thing that was stopping Ed from offering to pay for a two night stay at the hotel was mainly the strangers' clothing. The colouring and sizes of the lions was odd enough but throw the style of their clothing into the mix? That was bound to get some peoples' curiosities piqued and Ed couldn't be certain that the soldiers manning the Resembool outpost wouldn't be some of those people. Word would reach Central by the end of the day and then that would likely create a whole mess Ed certainly didn't want to deal with and would assume Mustang wouldn't either. That really only left one alternative and Ed gave a sigh.
"Guess we're talking to Granny about putting up some strangers," Ed told Al unenthusiastically.
Rather than calling his brother out on his tone, Al had a matching expression on his face. "I don't think she'll have enough room for everyone, Brother," he said.
"Yeah, but if we all offer to stay at the hotel for the next couple of nights, she will," Ed pointed out, gesturing to himself, Al, Mustang, Hawkeye, Hughes, and in the general direction of Gracia and Elysia as he spoke.
Al's expression turned contemplative. "People will ask why we're not staying at Granny's," he said.
Ed rolled his eyes. "We'll just tell them to keep their noses out of our business," Ed said. "Or we can say we got sick of her shit and decided to spend the last few days of our holiday in town to avoid it," he suggested, shrugging a shoulder. He laughed as he took a step back to avoid Al's half-hearted punch, making sure he stepped around Nala to avoid stepping on her as he did so.
"We don't want to put you guys out. We can stay-" Shiro started offering but both Ed and Al stopped him with a shake of their heads.
"No, you guys would stick out too much and start the rumours flying," Al said.
"They'll undoubtedly get to Central before dark since the soldiers here have nothing better to do with their time than gossip with those back in Central," Ed said, rolling his eyes, "which means we'd likely have to deal with some dickhead general with an inflated sense of self-importance come down to visit and I have no inclination of dealing with that kind of shit for another four days," Ed informed them. "You lot can stay with Granny – so long as she's good with it – or you can camp in her backyard but those are your only options," Ed told them firmly.
There was no small amount of amusement and familiarity at Ed's words and tone amongst the strangers. All of them looked like they still wanted to protest but Allura put a stop to it. "We understand and we appreciate the offer," she told Ed. "If Pinako would be willing to house us for the next two nights, we would be very grateful," she said sincerely.
"It's going to take some time getting used to the fact that you apparently know everything about us," Ed said, shaking his head slightly before he turned to Hughes. "You wanna bring Miss Gracia and Elysia up to Granny's? We can talk about all of this further there," he said.
Hughes glanced at the group with suspicion still visible in his expression but he nodded. "Wouldn't be fair to my beautiful girls if I left them standing in the middle of the road without an explanation," he said, ruffling Ed's hair and getting a snarl for his efforts. "I'll meet you all up at the house," he said before he and Leo promptly turned on their heels and headed down the road.
"Do you want me to go ahead and tell Granny what's happening?" Al asked Ed but the older Elric shook his head.
"Nah, I've told Den what's been happening and Den told her. She knows and if Den is to be believed, she isn't awfully impressed," Ed told him, rolling his eyes.
"What about the butcher?" Al asked, remembering the patient currently getting his fingers stitched back on.
"He'll be so doped up on painkillers that he won't know which way is up by the time he leaves," Ed said dismissively. "Annika will be too focused on making sure he gets home to care about anyone else in Granny's house," Ed added.
The mention of the bay thoroughbred mare that was the butcher's Animal seemed to have Al convinced since he nodded and offered no more arguments. "If Granny agrees to let them stay the next two nights, Chester and I will head into town and book our rooms," Al offered.
"Yeah, if you two want to walk instead of just calling the hotel like a normal person, that's fine," Ed said, grinning when Al rolled his eyes and flipped his brother off. He turned to the group and motioned for them to follow him and Al while their Animals trotted ahead. He knew without asking that Mustang, Nala, and Hawkeye would bring up the rear while Soren soared overhead to keep an eye on everything. "Let's go introduce you to the Granny Pinako of our world."
A/N - So this is just a short three-chapter crossover of my two AUs that I wrote after Nooodlen on Ao3 gave me the idea. I promise I will start posting my SA x Marvel story after this one is fully published and I am sorry that this story wasn't published straight away. I decided I wasn't happy with how I'd written the story so I completely gutted it and rewrote it. I really hope you guys enjoy this one and please let me know what you think to it! See you next week!