I do not own anything except this idea.
Promised Day
Father has finally got the power of God, but Hohenheim, with the aid of souls of other Xerxians', destroyed the philosopher's stone he had just created. Father needs more souls to keep his power but what he is getting is heavy assault from a teenage boy. Father isn't concerned that the soul inside the suit of armor is gone but it clearly does to this young boy. The adolescent is filled with anger, this young alchemist can destroy him, who has the power of the god but Father will not accept this. He still has a chance or at least he can get another chance.
.
There is just one thing in Edward's mind: that he has to destroy this homunculus. All his friends are here with him, cheering for him, however, one voice is missing, one he wants to hear - his brother's voice, which is silent now because the suit of armor is lying on the ground motionless. There is no longer a soul inside it. It is just a suit of armor, nothing else. Al's last words echoing in his mind, "You better win, Brother". It was all because of this Humonculus, he deserves to die. He deserves to die! Ed always used to believe that he will never take a life but now it doesn't matter. He will kill him. It is because of him that he lost his little brother. He deserves to die! He must die! Ed lands his last fist into the face of the beast but as soon as his arm makes contact with his face, a bright light comes out of the artificial human blinding Edward so intensely he loses all consciousness.
.
"Brother".
This was not supposed to happen. He was not supposed to lose consciousness.
"Brother".
I have to kill him. I have to destroy the one who stole my only brother from me.
"Brother".
Even though he is gone, Al's voice is still inside Ed's mind. He can still hear him.
"Brother".
But he is gone, he will never come back.
"BROTHER!"
That loud shout was enough for Ed to regain his consciousness. He is not in the middle of a battle anymore but in a garden that is calm and peaceful. He is sitting on the grass, the sky greying while the evening turns into night. Soft little hands were wrapped around his left arm.
"Brother?"
Al, could it really be him? Never had this voice filled him with such optimism.
At his brother's touch, Edward turns slowly, hopeful that his little brother has returned, but afraid that his mind is playing a cruel trick on him, and that his brother is truly lost to him forever. With a last deep breath, Edward opens his eyes and is surprised to see a little boy holding onto him.
This is Al, this is really Al.
Despite the tears cascading down Al's face, Edward's joy pushes away any doubt, and an exuberant smile breaks free.
Al is back, and in his actual human body; just as it was before we did it - the thing which completely changed our lives
Nothing in the world could tempt Edward away from this fantasy, in which his dearest desire and wish had come true.
"Al, you all right?"
Al just nods slowly. Tears still running from his eyes he tightens his grip on his big brother's arm.
Ed put his hand on top of his little brother's head. "Don't cry. Everything is fine now"
"Brother, you fell down. I tried to wake you up, but you didn't answer. I got scared", Al said everything as fast as he could and with eyes full of tears, tightening his grip even more.
"I am fine. Sorry to scare you but you scared me too.", that's the moment when Ed's gaze moves down to his leg, his left leg, his leg made of flesh and bones. Why does he have his leg? Al made the trade for his arm only so why does he have his leg, too?
"How did I scare you?", Al asks, finally loosening his grip a little and looking at Ed.
"Al, my leg?"
"What about your leg?"
Why is Al asking this? Isn't he shocked to see this normal leg? Now Ed notices something else. His body is small, smaller than it should be. This is a little weird.
"Ed, Al, you need to come with me", calls a loud but sweet feminine voice from a distance behind Ed. He turns around to see the source of the voice. A little girl with short, bright blond hair and blue eyes.
"Winry?", Just one word slips out of Ed's mouth. Why is she small too?
"Come fast, Granny asked me to bring you back to your house", Winry shouts again for them to come.
"Granny is in our house?", Ed doesn't think before asking this question but soon gets lost in his thoughts. His house, is she really talking about his house? Images of ashes on the ground come to his mind. Now there are only ashes where his house used to be.
"Brother, let's go", Al's voice brings Ed back to the current time.
When the three of them arrive in front of their house, Ed got shocked to see his house, his own house. Exactly as it once was. Ed hesitates a little at the entry but Winry literally pushes him inside. As soon as Ed enters the house he starts looking at everything as if he is seeing it for the first time but Winry doesn't let him enjoy watching every detail of the house because she drags him inside to his mother's room.
Now he has his worst memory in front of him. His mother is lying on the bed; her skin is pale. She slowly tries to stretch her shaking hands towards her boys. He remembers this, he has seen this before. Many years have passed but his memories are still fresh, he could recognize every detail including where everybody is standing and what they are doing. Everything is exactly the same. Today is the day when his mother is going to die. This thought breaks Ed completely; he has to see her die all over again. he is still unable to save her.
Trisha's boys are now holding her shaking hands, looking only at her. Al is unable to understand anything while Ed looks like he knows everything. She holds their hands as tightly as she can with her loose and shaking hands.
"You both have to... live. I have... saved some money... for this... eventually. Take care... of each other", these are the only words his mother is able to say before she becomes silent. Teardrops start falling from Al's eyes, but Ed is angry and frustrated. Why does he have to see this again? Why? He rips his hand out of his mother's lifeless hand and runs away at the maximum speed his small body could muster. He can hear voices behind him, calling for him but he doesn't acknowledge them. He just can't experience all that pain again which he had years ago.
Ed is running away from his own home, as far as he can, from the same home which he misses the most. During his run, he sees some long-forgotten things. First is Mr. Grant's shop, where he used to buy chocolate as a child. After two after's of his mother's death, Mr. Grunt, attempting to repair the roof, feel and succumbed to his injuries. But today he is alive and working in his shop. He smiles towards Ed, but Ed is not in the condition of smiling, knowing exactly what is going to happen to him next two years. He starts running again but is forced to stop once again by seeing another familiar face, Mrs. Rosey. An old weak woman with no family; She spends most of her time either talking to village children or with animals. When she notices Ed, she smiles at him and brings her hand forward towards him with candy. She motions for Ed to come forward and take the candy, but he can't. He remembers her death too. She died at the same time when everybody was busy with Mr. Grant's funeral. She was struggling with pain, but no one was there to help her. The scene when Ed saw the dead body of this lady flashes in front of his eyes. He can't take it. He can't so he runs away.
"Hey, relax", comes the sweet voice of Anney, since Ed just bumped into her while running. Anney is 5 years older than Ed and is very sweet but she died too, 4 years from now, during the rebellion of Ishbal, some shootings occur in Resembool. She is killed by one of those Ishbalans but today she is here. She is alive.
"Ed, are you alright? You have just been staring at me for a minute." But Ed can't reply to her. He runs away from her too.
Why is he seeing all these faces? Why is this happening? He doesn't want to face the same fate again. He doesn't want to see all of them die again in front of him. He reaches a place that usually scares a small child of his age but for him, it is the most comfortable place in the world - the graveyard where his mother was buried. He used to spend most of his time there, standing in front of her grave. But today that place is empty. There is no grave. The graveyard is missing many graves which he remembered to be existing there but now those people are alive so why would they require a grave?
He sits in his usual spot and can imagine everything how it used to be.
The sound of a crying little girl comes to his ears. He turns to look at the noise. She is the same age as he currently is and crying in front of her parents' graves. Ed remembers her, she was in his class. Her name was Elena, the shyest girl in the school. Ed had also made fun of her many times but now he can't do it because now he knows exactly how it feels to have no family. Because now he has also seen his mother's death in front of him, too. In his childhood, when he realized it, it was too late because when his mother died, Elena had also died on the same day. He always regretted it, too, but now he has the chance to at least apologize to her.
She is sitting there with her favorite teddy bear in her hands, looking at her parents' graves when Ed approaches there and sits silently near her without the courage to make eye contact. she too averts her gazes.
"I'm sorry Elena, for making fun of you in school", Ed states in a single breath without looking at her. He feels even more hurt when Elena stands up and runs away from him, but she accidentally drops her teddy bear while trying to run away. The teddy bear which she can't leave for a second is lying there in front of him. Now he notices that one arm of her teddy bear is broken. Has it always been broken? Has she really always carried a teddy bear with one broken arm? Even if she can't forgive him, he can still do this for her. He can at least fix this teddy bear. He stands up from his sitting position to go near the teddy bear. After clapping his hands, he touches the teddy bear. Actually, he is not sure whether this will work or not, but it does. Bright light flashes from the teddy bear which hinders him from seeing anything around him.
Ed shields his eyes from the intensely bright light, and when could finally open them, he finds himself not in the graveyard, but in a place that is completely white, or a white void. Ed remembers this place because he has visited this place three separate times. Once while trying to bring back his mother, a second time when attaching Al's soul to the armor, and a third time while coming out of Gluttony's belly. Today he is here again, in the Portal of Truth, and in front of him stands the figure which haunts his dreams.
Something white but with the outline of a boy exactly like Ed is standing there, but it is not laughing as it always does.
"So, are you going to tell me why I am here?", Ed blurts out at his face. Today he is not afraid of it as he was when he visited the first time.
"Dwarf in the flask Homunculus", Truth starts with an angry tone, "First of all, he stole God's power, then reversed the time"
"That means I really am back in time. I am 5 years old.", A little smile comes on Ed's face, "That means I've got another chance to save everyone". Images of all those people who have died return back to his mind: Elena, Mr. Grant, Mrs. Rosey, Anney, Mr. and Mrs. Rockbell, Nina, Mr. Hughes, and Al... but what about mom?
Truth tries to say something but Ed cuts him off.
"Hey, bastard, if you were really sending me back to the past then would it kill you to take me back a few more years so I could save mom too?!", Ed spits without hearing what Truth wants to say.
Finally, Truth gets the chance to speak, "You can't save her! You can't save anybody"
The smile on Ed's face changes into an expression of anger, "What do you mean?"
"Everything is going to be the same, who is supposed to die will die and whatever is supposed to be lost will be lost. Five sacrifices will again be used. Again, Dwarf in the flask will steal my power but this time he will not reverse time. He'll die by your hands", he replies pointing towards the shocked child.
"What the f**k? If I am in the past then I am going to save everyone, and this includes defeating that copy of my old man too. And about your sacrifices, this time I am not going to perform human transmutation, and neither will Al, and that means that bastard will not get five sacrifices", Ed replies in his anger.
Truth laughs loudly, "You really think you can change the fate of the whole world?", It laughs again.
"Maybe not of the whole world, but I will change the fate of my loved ones, at least"
Again, loud laughter.
"TRUTH", Ed shouts with all his power, "I will protect everyone around me and I will change their fate".
"Then it will be fun to watch you try".
With Truth's laughter, small, black hands come out of the gate from behind Ed and take him. Ed lets them take him peacefully.
So what do you think about it?