Their lives here were normal.
Kain Fuery was an engineer. He was a customer favorite due to his kind nature and intelligence, and though he was almost always busy, he always made time for his friends. He had a girlfriend, this world's Sheska who worked as a librarian. They were scheduled to wed that fall, and Edward was invited.
Heymans Breda was a lawyer for one of the biggest firms in the city. His goofy and laid back character made people underestimate him, but him being intelligent and good at information gathering baffled them, and his strategical brain rendered him a great lawyer. Edward had attended a few of his cases and he wasn't surprised by how good the man was.
Vato Falman was a family man. He had a wife and kids. Two of them. A boy and a girl. He worked as a history professor at the local university and he was still as formal as Edward remembered him. He always bragged about his students and family.
Jean Havoc was a young reporter fresh out of the academy, but he had already made a name for himself. His objective way of thinking and highly descriptive writing skill captivated his readers and he was considered as one of the best. His inability to find a girlfriend still lingered though, and Edward found that comical.
Maes Hughes was still alive. He was a policeman and the people loved him. They trusted him. He was fast on solving cases and catching down criminals, making sure everyone was safe. He was married to Gracia, who owned a flower shop, and they had a three-year-old Elicia. He was the same as in Amestris, gushing about his family to everyone he met, and overly friendly – one might even say too friendly – but Edward didn't mind. He had missed the man.
Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye were college sweethearts. They had gotten married after graduation and now worked together at their own store. They had a child on the way, and Edward was truly happy for them. He knew they had feelings for each other back in his own world too, but due to strict military laws they couldn't act on them. This Roy also had the habit of making fun of Edward's height, but stopped eventually due to the look his pregnant and hormonal wife would give him. Yet to the young golden haired man it wasn't annoying, it was nostalgic and weirdly comforting.
Hohenheim Elric never left his family. Now Hohenheim Heidrich, he loved them and had secretly told Edward that he wished he had more kids to share his love with. He was a doctor, and he valued human life more than anything else.
Trisha Elric never died. Now Trisha Heidrich, Hohenheim had been able to fight and eventually cure her of her illness. She got to experience life as a simple housewife, she was truly content with it. She took care of her family and friends, and usually invited Edward over for dinner. The latter declined most of the times.
Alphonse Elric never lost his body, never died. Now Alfons Heidrich, he was a brilliant child with a love for rocket science. He loved animals and had 3 pet cats. He was kind and sweet. He liked being an only child. He had all the time in the world with his parents. Edward found it very childish, but the boy looked exactly like his brother. He couldn't do anything about it.
And that was hurting Edward Elric the most. This world – no, this might as well be a dream – was driving him insane. He knew these people, he knew them better than they knew themselves, yet they didn't know him. They never knew an Edward Elric, until the young boy who had lost too much before his life even began came along.
Edward Elric didn't exist here. He hadn't existed for years. He was a young man who had died when he was 15 in London, England. Edward Elric was a stranger, an outsider. The ghost of a boy who ceased to exist some time ago.
Edward Elric had everything, yet he had nothing. He had everyone he cares about next to him, but it wasn't them. They weren't fake, yet they weren't real. He loved and hated them at the same time. He felt as if he was living a dream, but it was reality.
A side of him wanted to tell them that he was Edward Elric, their friend, their son, their brother. He existed, he was real. He's not a stranger.
Another side of him wanted to leave. He wanted to disappear off the face of the earth, he wanted to be away from them. They would be better without him there. He was hurting himself more than he would ever hurt them. He wasn't there, his father stayed. He wasn't there, his mother didn't die. He wasn't there, Alphonse was whole, happy. He didn't deserve to be near them.
And the voices in his head agreed. They don't care about you, they want you gone, you want yourself gone, they chanted. They never stopped. Just leave.
Sacrifice them, a new voice appeared in the chaos that was his mind. Use their lives and fuel the gate, go back to your world. The other voices joined him. Do it, do it, do it, do it, kill them, they commanded him, and Edward was scared. Scared of himself.
This world is driving him insane. He wants to scream and cry, pull his hair out, he wants the voices to be gone. Do it, the voices in his head whispered softly into his ears. They're not your friends, they're strangers, you don't know them, they repeated over and over. They never left him alone, never gave him a break. They were always inside his mind, whispering words of encouragement again and again, driving him insane. He wanted them to stop, he begged them to stop, but they only laughed at his futile attempts to put an end to them. Maybe then you can go home, maybe you can make up for your mistakes, maybe, maybe, maybe. They never stopped and Edward was close to breaking. They're not your family.
He needed to get away, away from them. From everyone he cares about. From the voices in his head. Make them stop, he begged whatever God was out there, though unsure if God even heard him, please. He had done enough things in his lifetime to piss God off. He was nothing but a small arrogant boy, a boy who thought he was better than everyone else. He had blinded himself with false truths in order to justify his actions. He was no better than Dante. He had thought of himself better than the average human, just because he could do alchemy. He flew too close to the sun, and now he was falling down to earth in high velocity. And he would soon hit the ground, with a sickening crack, and his limbs would twist in directions they shouldn't, his blood will flow out of his body, painting a circle around him just like back then, his head will be open and his brains will be scattered all over for the world to see. Just how what he created that day was. An empty, dying shell of someone that used to exist.
But for him there was no salvation. No red stones to keep him alive, no special power to keep him alive. He was falling faster and faster, he could feel it. Terror was taking over him, he didn't want to fall. He didn't want to hit the ground. He didn't want to die. He wanted to live, he was scared.
Coughs mixed in his ragged breaths were echoing in the empty walls of his room in his apartment. He was suffocating, using his hands he clawed on his throat, trying to help himself breathe again as tears streamed down his eyes. He couldn't feel the pain, he only saw the blood on his fingers, the blood he always saw, his mother's blood, his brother's blood, Nina's blood, Hughes's blood, Scar's blood. The red substance mixed with his tears coated his ungloved hands, running down his forearms. There was so much of it, why was there so much of it? His neck was feeling so hot, so stuffy. He wanted to breathe, he didn't want to die.
He wrapped his hands around his own neck and clutched it tightly, coughing and wheezing. He wanted to leave, he wanted to disappear, to get away from them. The voices were right, none of them cared. You only have us, we care about you, they whispered sweetly, only we know what's good for you.
And he could breathe again. Short, sharp breaths turned into deep long ones. His tears dried up eventually and the pain hit in. Getting up from the floor he was laying on he made his way to the bathroom. He disinfected and bandaged his neck, and a few days later he was back to his normal, happy façade of Edward Elric, the young foreign boy with no family that everyone trusted.
They never questioned him being suddenly gone for short periods of time. They never questioned the bandages around his neck that appeared every once in a while.
He wanted to disappear. But Edward Elric cared, though he didn't want to. He cared way too much. And because he cared too much he couldn't leave them even if being near them was driving him insane.
So he let himself fall.