This story is based on Brotherhood/manga, so where I find the manga better than Brotherhood, I will be using the plot from the manga.
Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist is the property of Hiromu Arakawa, but the original characters are 100% my own
Chapter one
The two siblings were walking side by side, saying goodbye to the house that they grew up in. After slowly walking throughout the building that, honestly speaking, had always been waaaay too big for a family of four, the two of them went to the front door. The old lady in the kitchen was smiling sadly at their behalf, but understood that right now, they needed to do this on their own.
"We'll just be taking a trip through the forest, and then we'll be ready to leave," Amelia said to her great aunt. She went outside, hand-in-hand with her little brother, and walked up the path they had helped creating throughout the years.
They walked in silence and stopped at the place where it all began two months ago. They stood in the clearing, both thinking about that night and all of the events that had followed. Amelia squeezed her little brother's hand when she saw the tears building in the corner of his eyes.
"It'll be okay, right Timothy?" she said softly.
"I guess so," he said slowly. He looked down sadly. "I just wish this never happened, that we could just leave it behind. I just want a fresh start"
"That can be arranged"
Timothy tried to place where the creepy voice had come from, but as he turned around to look, the forest around him had disappeared. Everything around him was white, except for the tall stone door with the strange drawings that was floating in front of him.
"Where am I? Amelia?" he said, turning around. He was met by a strange thing that seemed to be solid, and yet at the same time, not. It had a mouth, but other than that it was nothing more than a silhouette. "W-what are you?"
Timothy stared at the thing in horror. "I'm so glad you asked! I'm what you would call the Truth, or maybe God. I am all and I am one, which means I am also you."
"I will show you the truth."
The door behind him opened and Timothy turned around to be met with a giant eye. Black hands snaked around him and began dragging the terrified boy towards the open doors. He started thrashing against them, but there was no point. As the stone doors closed behind him, he heard the thing chuckling as it said "You really should be careful what you wish for."
Edward Elric was walking through the streets of Central, his brother Alphonse clanking beside him. It was a cool evening, which meant that he had already had to stop his little brother from picking up two stray cats and bringing them back to the hotel.
"Brother, I don't understand, how can you say that we can't take them home with us when it's so cold?"
"Al, I've told you before, there's a strict no-pets-allowed policy at the Military hotels. And besides, we don't have the time to take care of it anyways. We can't have cats roaming about expecting to be fed, when we can't even stay in the same place for two weeks."
Alphonse, admitting defeat, hung his head sadly, "I still think it's cruel to let them stay outside," he said dejectedly, but not loud enough for his brother to hear, as it would just start the argument once again. They were nearing the hotel when they heard it. An ear-splitting scream of pain came from around the corner of the building they were walking outside of. They both started running in the direction of the screams which were now accompanied by frantic pleading for help that seemed to come from someone other than the person screaming.
They rounded the corner in a matter of seconds and turned into a blind alley where two kids were sitting in a pool of blood. "Amelia! Help! Someone!" the youngest of them shouted, desperately trying to staunch the flow of blood that poured out from where the girl's legs should have been. Ed and Al gasped as they saw the two of them, and then Ed ran forward, ripping his coat off and began helping to stop the bleeding. The girl was screaming and crying while the boy was watching terrified as the brothers helped. "Please help her, she's my big sister!" the boy pleaded, tears running down his cheeks. Ed looked at the girl's legs, both of them ended at exactly the same spot, about four inches above the knees. The girl was almost out of it, her breathing ragged, and, as one can expect, not responding too well to the blood loss. Ed was mainly focused on keeping the girl conscious, rather than pressing the girl for information.
"Hey, breathe. Just take it easy," Ed was telling the hysterical girl. She had calmed down some, but that was most likely due to blood loss and almost passing out from the pain. He deemed the bandaging sufficient, and Al, being almost telepathically linked to his brother, lifted the girl into his arms, carrying her to the nearest hospital.
The boy was pale and didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings anymore. Ed calmly put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it'll be okay, she'll get help, Al's a fast runner. She'll get medical attention before you know it." The boy just stared up at him, desperately clinging to the hope his words brought him. "What's your name kid?" Ed asked as he helped the stranger to his feet.
"Timothy Hartwood." It was hardly more than a whisper.
"Well, Timothy, I'm Edward Elric." Ed was supporting the small boy, steering him forwards with a hand on each of his shoulders. "Can you tell me what happened here?"
The boy started crying "I-I don't know, I just came here, and Amelia was bleeding so much."
"Do you remember what happened before that?"
"White, everything was white. And there was this – thing."
Ed stopped walking, eyes wide. It all made sense now – well, not really – where was the transmutation circle? You don't just attempt human transmutation in a dark blind alley in the streets of Central. He turned the boy around, looking him up and down. "What did you pay?" As far as he could tell, there was nothing physically wrong with him.
"W-what do you mean, pay?"
"You saw the gate, no-one just gets a free peek, what did he take?"
"I don't know." Ed was obviously scaring the boy, but he didn't care right now.
"What did you do to open the gate? Where were you when you did it?"
"I don't know, I don't remember."
Ed felt a strong suspicion forming at the back of his mind. "What about where you came from?"
"I don't really remember, just trees."
"What about friends and family?"
"I don't remember. Only Amelia."
So that was it, the bastard had taken the boy's memories as payment. They started walking again. Ed studied him. He couldn't be much older than nine, maybe ten. He had brown hair and a round, freckled face with green eyes that shone of fear and worry. He wore a dark blue jacket and denim trousers. He generally looked like a normal, healthy boy, although short for his age.
Ed kept asking the boy questions, but seeing as how he remembered very little, the answers remained vague and gave little to go on. As a result, the conversation tended to be quite one-sided. They reached the hospital after five minutes, and after asking the lady at the reception desk, found Al sitting in a waiting area, looking much too large considering the small chairs.
"How is she?"
"They think she'll pull through, we got here quickly after it happened, she's in surgery right now."
"Good. Listen, Al, this is Timothy Hartwood."
"Pleased to meet you. I'm Edward's younger brother, Alphonse," he said with a gentle voice. The boy was obviously frightened by the seven-foot suit of armour, but he shook Al's hand all the same.
"Listen, Al, we need to talk, will you be okay here for a few minutes, Timothy?" The boy gave a little nod.
Ed and Al walked a little distance down the hall before Ed began to speak. "Al, I think they tried human transmutation."
"What? Brother, how do you know?"
"It's complicated, but there's something not right here, I mean, where is the transmutation circle for starters?"
"But Brother, if they tried human transmutation, what toll did he pay?"
"His memories, Al. if they don't involve his sister, he has no clue as to what has happened throughout his life. Which means we won't get to know much more before she wakes up."
They walked into the waiting room where Timothy was sitting, nervously twiddling his thumbs. The boy looked so lost and scared. Ed felt his big brother instincts kicking in. He sat down beside the small boy. Timothy's lips started moving, but no noise came out. He looked a bit embarrassed, before lifting his head up and looking straight at Ed.
"Thank you, Sirs, for saving Amelia," he said in a weak voice.
"Of course, it's nothing." Al's voice was smiling. "And you don't need to call us 'Sir', it's just Ed and Al."
"Oh, okay. It's just that Amelia has taught me to be polite when I meet new people."
"That's a really good rule, I guess Amelia's a good big sister," Ed said with a smile.
"She's the best. She's always looked after me. Even when we're not at the same school she's been there to stop people from bullying me. She can be really scary when she's angry, you know."
"Yeah, we know a couple of people like that." Ed had a mental picture of a flying wrench.
"Is it just you two, or what about your parents?" Ed was fishing for information.
"It's not just us, but I don't remember what our parents are like. All I know is that Amelia's been like a parent to me ever since I can remember. She'd read to me before going to sleep, and she'd even sing me to sleep if I needed it. She doesn't know any lullabies though, so she'd generally sing Queen songs."
"Queen?" the brothers' faces were two big question marks.
"You don't know them, they're pretty famous? If I had her phone I'd probably be able to show you some songs. You didn't happen to pick up her tote bag, did you?"
"Oh, yeah, I've got it here," Al said, turning away, discreetly fishing the bag out from behind his chest plate. It wasn't a very good idea to open the armour in public for everyone to see. He handed Timothy the bag, and the small boy brought out a small flat thing and held it up in front of him. The Elrics were eyeing the thing with wide eyes.
"it's a special trick, I have to sound like her 'cos it's voice activated you know."
"'Voice activated'?" Ed asked.
"Yeah, you know, it recognises her voice. I'll show you. Hey, Siri." He said the last two words with a more high-pitched voice.
"Hello. What can I help you with?" a male voice said suddenly. The brothers were awestruck.
"Play Queen on shuffle," Timothy instructed the mysterious object.
The thing confirmed his order, then suddenly it started playing a song that was nothing like what they'd ever heard before.
'I've paid my dues, time after time. I've done my sentence, but committed no crime.' the thing sang.
Ed grabbed the object, searching all over it, but couldn't find a blood seal. It also didn't seem likely that the two siblings had managed to bind at least five souls to this one object. Especially five souls including instruments. "How – how does it do that?" Ed asked dumbstruck.
"I don't know, it's just technology, you know?" Timothy was looking uncertainly up at them.
They didn't get to clearing up the matter, however, because right then the doctor appeared, and Timothy hastily clicked something on the object and it stopped singing.
"You the ones that brought in the young girl?"
"Yes, Sir. She's my big sister. How is she doing?"
"She'll be okay. She's out of surgery and resting. Apart from the missing limbs and the blood loss, she appears to have no further injuries."
"Can I go see her, Sir?"
"You may, however, there's a thing we'd like to know first."
"Okay, Sir."
"What's the patient's name?"
"Oh, it's Amelia, Amelia Hartwood."
"How old is she?"
"Sixteen, Sir."
"Do any of you know what happened?"
"I'm sorry, that's classified," Ed shot in.
The doctor looked surprised. "What do you mean?"
Ed took out his pocket watch and showed it to the doctor. "Edward Elric, State Alchemist. This is a part of an ongoing investigation, that's all you need to know."
"Well, okay, Sir." The doctor was quite taken aback at the revelation. "The patient's in room 308."
"Thank you."
The doctor nodded and left them to find their way on their own.
They walked into the room. Amelia was lying in a hospital bed, her face pale. It clashed violently with her red-brown hair and freckles. It was very easy to see that she and Timothy were related.
Timothy immediately ran over to her side and sat down beside her bed, holding her left hand in his, tears trailing down his cheeks.
Al looked at the boy, knowing his pain very well. He had felt the same way when he'd been watching over the unconscious Ed the first hours after their transmutation had failed.
He went over to the young boy, putting a hand on his shoulder in order to tell him that at least he wasn't alone.
Timothy's stomach grumbled, and Ed smiled sadly. "Listen Timothy, how about I go and grab you some dinner?"
"But I don't have any money."
"Don't worry about it, I've got plenty."
"But that wouldn't be right, you shouldn't have to buy me dinner, maybe Amelia has a wallet in her bag…"
Ed stood beside him and leant down to face him, putting his hand on Timothy's free shoulder. "Listen, kid, I insist. You just sit here and look after your big sister, alright?"
Timothy looked into those strong golden eyes and nodded. "Thanks, Ed."
"No problem."
Timothy was looking at his big sister, scared about what was going to happen. He didn't know where they were, or what had happened. He was stuck in a world where everything looked funny, sort of simplified. He would initially have passed all of this off as a dream, except for the fact that he'd never dreamt anything with such a consistent timeline. Also, he wasn't that creative. That was Amelia's department. And here he was, stuck in a hospital with his big sister unconscious while being looked after by a couple of strangers. He'd just gone along with what the Elric brothers suggested. He couldn't help but trusting them, not after looking into Ed's eyes. They said that he wanted to help, and so he followed his gut feeling. Alphonse seemed like a gentle soul, and they were good people, he was sure of that. His only problem was that Ed seemed to be keeping something from him, some explanation as to what had happened. He would have to ask him later. He would ask him after Amelia had woken up, maybe she would know something as well. There was one thing that completely baffled him, for what on earth was a State Alchemist?
"Hey, Al, how old are you and Ed?" Timothy asked suddenly.
"I'm fourteen, and Brother's fifteen. And you, Timothy, how old are you?"
"Ten." Timothy was silent for a little while. "Alphonse?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for bringing Amelia here. If it wasn't for you and Ed, she'd probably be dead right now. I don't know what I would do if that happened, so thank you so much for saving her."
"Of course, I'm just glad we got there in time."
"Do you think she will wake up soon?"
"Probably sometime tomorrow."
"Oh, okay."
Timothy had so many questions he wanted to ask, but he was afraid that they'd were things he had no business in asking. Like how Alphonse sounded like he was the same age as him, and how he fit inside that seven-foot suit of armour. Why was he wearing that armour in the first place? Why did a fifteen-year-old act so calmly to finding a girl suddenly missing two of her limbs?
Timothy was scared. He just wanted Amelia to wake up. Amelia always knew how to make things better, make things safer.
Ed came back into the hospital room, carrying a chicken dish and a bottle of orange juice. He handed them to the boy, sadly noticing how scared and small the boy was looking. The kid wasn't more than three foot eleven, but he somehow seemed even smaller in the way he was looking so helpless. Ed dragged a chair over and sat beside him, happily noticing that the boy was at least regaining some colour in his cheeks from the food.
There was something not quite right about all of this, and Ed wasn't going to leave these kids' side before he found out what had happened. They had obviously opened the Gate, and paid the toll, but that was it. They hadn't created the same dark creature that Ed and Al had, and there was no sign of a transmutation circle. It didn't make any sense. These two siblings were a mystery.
"Ed?" Timothy asked after finishing his meal.
"Yes?"
"What did you mean when you said you were a 'State Alchemist'? Alchemy doesn't exist anymore, it's all been replaced by chemistry and physics, or so Amelia says."
Ed was confused, but he guessed that the kid just didn't remember. "Alchemy is still around, heck, I use it every day. Both me and Alphonse are alchemists. I work for the Military as a State Alchemist."
"But the Military doesn't employ alchemists, does it? Or is it some sort of big secret?"
"Uhm, no. Quite the contrary actually. You've never heard of it before, not even from your sister?"
"No. All I know is that alchemy was the beginning of modern chemistry or something, although it was mainly focused around making gold from lead or creating the Philosopher's Stone. Amelia told me when she was in the middle of her Harry Potter phase a year ago."
Ed didn't know what to make of this, creating gold was strictly illegal and not many knew about the Philosopher's Stone, and here this ten year old kid was talking about it like it was common knowledge? And what did he mean by this 'Harry Potter phase'? None of this made any sense. Ed really didn't know what to say to the boy, so instead he picked up on something from before.
"Timothy, what was that singing thing you showed us earlier?"
"Oh, that was Amelia's phone."
"What?"
"She got it a few months ago, it's pretty new."
"That's not like any phone we've ever seen."
"Huh, that's odd, it's been around for at least a year."
"And what year was it released?" Ed said with a growing pit of dread in his stomach.
"2018, why?»
"Timothy, it's 1914."
"What?! No! How?!" The little kid stood up, shaking in panic and refusal. "You're lying, that can't be true!"
"Hey, listen, I'm having a hard time believing that you're from the future, but how exactly did you get here?" Ed said with his hands raised, trying to calm the boy down.
"I just remember saying that I wanted a fresh start, and that creepy thing said "that can be arranged" and all of a sudden everything was white and black hands grabbed me and pulled me into this big eye. And then it said that it would show me the truth and to be careful what you wish for."
Ed could see it all happening. It made more sense now. Somehow Truth had decided to grant this boy's wish and dragged him and his sister through hell. No, Truth was never fair. It had chosen to steal this kid's memories and Amelia's legs as payment for a truth they never even asked for. Ed was furious. At least him and Al had willingly tried to bring their mother back and paid the price for their arrogance, but these two? They were innocent.
Timothy started trembling in fear at the memory. Ed went over to a shelf and picked up a blanket. He draped it over the boy's shoulders, and Timothy accepted it with a weak "thanks" and held it tightly around himself. Ed helped him back into his chair, and they sat there in silence.
"What are we going to do? Where will we go? We have no money, no place to live, I don't even know where we are!" Timothy was suddenly saying. He was beginning to hyperventilate as the truth of their predicament sank in. Ed leant down before him, gripping his shoulders and staring him straight in the eyes.
"Take it easy, just breathe slowly. Everything will be okay. I'll start with the easiest question first: you're in Central. As for the rest of them, we'll find a solution, we won't just leave you two to find this out all on your own. So for now, just focus on breathing, okay?"
"O-okay, thank you, but where is Central?"
"Amestris?"
"Never heard of it."
"Where are you from, then?"
"I don't remember."
More silence.
Amelia was hurting. Her legs hurt. Why did they hurt? She opened her eyes. She was in a white room; the light was too bright. She squinted her eyes, grunting. She could just make out three people who were in the same room. She gradually opened her eyes and were met by the same intense gold ones she had seen the night before. "Good morning," the boy said.
"Mmm-morning." She yawned. She stretched and put down her arms, her left hand landing on her little brother's head. He was sleeping with his head on his crossed arms, his upper body laying on her bed. She ruffled his hair. He mumbled, but slept on all the same.
"W-what happened?" She asked after scrutinising her surroundings. And then yesterday's events came back to her. "Crap!" She swallowed drily, desperately feeling for her legs, but quickly reaching the stumps above where her knees once were situated. "No-n-n-n-no! Please God, no!" She was breathing heavily, desperately wishing this was a nightmare, but she knew it wasn't, she never dreamt like this. Timothy woke up and quickly squealed and threw himself around her neck. This apparently had some sort of soothing effect on her, and she quickly put her arms around her little brother. "Timothy! Are you okay?" She said, gently stroking his back.
"Yes, but what about you? Your legs are gone!"
"Well, no shit, Sherlock."
This had the effect she wished for, and the little boy made small sniffing noises, obviously appreciating the joke.
"Honestly, I'm far from okay, my legs are killing me, but right now, so's my curiosity. First of all, why are you looking all Pokémon-y?"
"I don't know, but Amelia, they say it's 1914 and that that thing sent us here through some 'Gate', please tell me you remember something about it. I just wanna go home, but I don't really remember what home's like anymore and I'm scared!"
"Hey, slow down! What do you mean 1914? It's 2019!"
"That's what I keep saying but apparently it is 1914, they even found a newspaper to prove it!"
"But people in 1914 didn't look like a Japanese cartoon! Something's obviously wrong here!"
She looked up at the golden-eyed boy, he was eyeing them with something between amusement and utter confusion.
"I'm sorry, Sirs, thank you for saving my life and looking after my little brother." She said, looking between the two of them.
"Please just call us Edward and Alphonse. I'm Ed and he's my little brother Al." Ed answered, pointing his right thumb at the suit of armour.
"Pleased to meet you. I'd offer you a handshake but it's a bit difficult under the circumstances," she said, gesturing her head towards the little boy that was still cradling his arms around her neck. He had obviously been worried sick.
Ed just smiled and nodded. Al gave a gentle metallic chuckle. Amelia could tell that Ed had many questions, and so did she, so maybe they would be able to help each other out. "Do any of you know what's going on?"
"We were hoping you could tell us. We already know from Timothy that you and him were walking through the forest outside your home, when Timothy uttered a wish about being able to get a fresh start, and suddenly he met the being I know as Truth. I would guess you met it too?"
"You mean the white thing that was surrounded by black particles that took my legs as a 'toll' for filling my head with science I had no interest in knowing?"
"That pretty much sums him up."
"Oh, God, I was hoping that was a nightmare."
"But that still doesn't explain how you ended up here though."
"All I know is that it said it was giving me a second chance, and suddenly I was pulled through the other side of these stone doors and next thing I knew I woke up here with my legs missing and there was blood everywhere. But what was that thing? I have never heard of it before and I refuse to accept it as God, even though it said it was. Why did it even show up? But most importantly, if it demands a toll, what did it take from Timothy? He looks fine?"
Ed looked at her sadly "we've talked to your brother, and we believe it took most of his memories. If they didn't involve you, he doesn't remember a thing. He has no idea about how he even feels about your parents or what his friends look like. Truth has basically erased more than fifty per cent of your brother's life."
"What?!" Amelia looked down at the little boy in her arms, and she felt him shaking. He was crying silently, clinging to her chest. "How – how is that even possible? How could that bastard even do that? What right does it have to do something like that to my little brother?"
"We alchemists live by a rule known as "equivalent exchange". It revolves around the principle that to gain, you need to give up something of equal value. I can only guess, but it would seem that it deemed your limbs sufficient payment in order to gain the knowledge the Gate contains and a new life on this world. Truth seems to take some sort of sick pleasure in taking ironic payment. Your brother wished for a new start, and so he forgot a large part of his former life, and you, what did you wish for?"
"I only want to take care of my little brother."
"And so it took away your ability to do so on your own. The Truth is a cruel sadistic bastard, I know all about it."
"What do you mean? And what do you mean by ´we alchemists´? Alchemy hasn't been popular for several centuries."
"Well, then there's that. You both seem to think that alchemy's a lost science, something that evolved into chemistry and physics, but I have a hard time believing that people will give up on alchemy in such a short time. Where did you say you were from?"
"We're from a little place outside of London called Upper Creston, not many have heard of it."
"And where's London?"
"What do you mean? London's the capital of England."
"Never heard of them."
"So where are we, you are speaking English after all?"
"Amestris. And we've never heard of this English, although you are speaking fluent Amestrian."
"Well, I've never heard of that, and I've been playing way too many levels of flag quizzes to have missed out on that one." Amelia was thinking, using every single one of her ´little grey cells´ as Poirot so eloquently puts it. "The only answer I can come up with that has at least a tiny bit of credence, would be that we haven't just travelled back in time, we're in a different dimension altogether. Although, this may make sense to me only because of all the hours of Doctor Who I've been watching."
"A different dimension? I don't know, doesn't that sound like a bit of a stretch?"
"Depends, show me some alchemy, and I'll give you an answer." Amelia was expecting him to say that they would need some hours to gather up equipment, and basically being brought a chemistry set. She did not expect Ed to just nod, clap his hands and put them to the floor. She was speechless when blue lightning started crackling around him and he made a chair from the floor and sat down on it like he hadn't just broken every single concept Amelia had of physics and their capabilities. "Wow. I think you just beat Harry Potter," Amelia said with wide eyes.
"What the hell does that mean?"
"Trust me, that's a big complement from her," Timothy said, eyes equally big to his sister's.
"How on earth did you do that?" Amelia asked awestruck.
"It's just science. I analysed the floor's original composition, deconstructed the required mass and reconstructed it as something else, in this case a chair."
"That's not science, that's science fiction sprinkled with magic!"
"It's not, at least not here." He seemed a bit affronted at the mention of the word 'magic'.
"What Brother means to say is that we harness the energy created by the earth's tectonic movements and utilise it in order to make transmutations that follow the three steps of alchemic reactions: analysis, deconstruction and reconstruction." It was the first time that Alphonse had spoken since she woke up, and she was quite startled by the noise.
"And as you can see by the floor, I had to use the floor's original components in order to make this chair, as you cannot create something out of nothing, which is all in accordance with the law of conservation of mass." Ed supplied.
Timothy was looking from one to the other, quite lost it would seem. Amelia could almost sort of understand what they were talking about, although the involved ´principles´ were completely lost to her. It kind of made sense, she guessed, but she was still pretty sure this was science fiction, no matter how fancy the terminology was.
Ed clapped his hands again, and the chair once again re-joined the floor, leaving no trace of the transmutation. "Well, that's it. Not my world. Not even close. Nope. Nuh-huh. Njet. Nein. Non. Not in a million years." Amelia said.
Ed just looked at her with a raised eyebrow and an otherwise smug look on his face.
Amelia just stared at him and the place where the chair had just been. She was contemplating the things that had just been said and thought about what Ed had spoken about earlier. "You spoke as though you have met this 'Truth' before, how did that happen?"
Ed's face darkened and Amelia was afraid she had said something she shouldn't have. Then Ed heaved a great sigh "You need to understand something. There's this taboo among all alchemists. It's called human transmutation. There has never been a recorded case of successfully bringing a person back to life. We thought that we could do it if we just had the right ingredients, but we never really contemplated the value of the human soul."
Amelia suddenly felt a lump form in the pit of her stomach. "Who was it that you tried to bring back to life?" she said quietly.
"Our Mom. She died when Ed was five and I was four." Al said.
"I'm sorry. What about your father?"
"That bastard left us a couple of years before that. He left us to deal with Mom's death all on our own. That was when the idea first came to me. I thought everything would be all right if we could just bring her back, and so we continued to study alchemy. We also found ourselves a teacher. Four years ago we deemed our knowledge sufficient, we had thought out every equation, every detail, but we never did pay much attention to the payment for the soul. And then the transmutation failed. I lost my leg and Al lost his entire body. I was able to exchange my arm for Al's soul, and I bound it to that suit of armour." At that moment Alphonse opened his chest plate to reveal that there was nothing inside. Nothing but some sort of red sigil. Timothy looked cautiously up at the drawing. "Th-that's blood?" he said in a whimper.
"Yes, Brother drew that with his own blood, it is the only thing that binds my existence to this earth," Alphonse said gravely.
"But how do you have limbs, Ed?" Amelia asked confused.
"Like this," Ed said simply, removing his right glove and rolling up his sleeve in order to show an arm made entirely out of metal. "I got my automail shortly after and joined the Military as a State Alchemist at the age of twelve in order to get access to the resources I needed to find a way to get Al's body back. It's my fault that it happened, and so it is my job to make things right, no matter how much time it takes, I will return Al to his body."
"Brother, I keep telling you, I was always with you, I wanted to see Mom's smile again just as much as you did, so stop blaming yourself. It's not just your job to make things right. It's mine as well and we'll get there someday, and when that day comes, we'll have both our bodies back to normal."
"Al, I – ", but Ed never got any further than that before Timothy, surprising every one of the room's occupants, slid off the side of the bed and quickly shuffled over to Ed and kicked him in his right shin. It wasn't a particularly hard kick, but it snapped Ed out of his apology.
"You're stupid," the boy said simply.
"What?" Ed said dumbstruck.
"You seem so smart with all your alchemic thingies and big words and then you start blaming yourself for something that two kids that were half my age would never even know about. You're obviously a great older brother, so you should just start believing in that. Otherwise you're just being stupid, and I will have to kick you again." The little boy was looking half angry, half exasperated.
"I – uh…"
"You know, Brother, he's right," Al said.
"Good. Now that that's settled, how is your arm metal? I've never seen anything like it before. It's kind of cool actually."
"It's automail, you don't have it where you're from?" Ed said, distracted by the sudden change of topic.
"No, we haven't seen anything like it, can I have a look?" Amelia said fascinated, still smiling at Timothy's actions.
"Uh, sure." He walked over to the bed holding his arm out for Amelia to look.
"How does it work? Can you feel it if someone hits you for instance?" Amelia said, intrigued by this strange metal contraption.
"It's connected to my nerves and picks up the signals sent from my brain. It can only pick up signals from me, not vice versa, so no, it won't hurt me."
"That is honestly one of the coolest things I have ever seen." Amelia said, smiling in awe. After a few seconds she withdrew her eyes from the shiny metal. She stared down into her lap, finally taking in the graveness of her situation. Her legs were really gone. "Can I ask you how much of your leg you lost?" she said in a much lower tone of voice. He was the only one in the room who probably understood what she was going through.
"About as much as you, actually."
"Do you know why it decided to take both of them?"
"I can only give you a theory. I think that maybe it took one as payment for bringing you here, and the other for letting you see the Truth."
"I didn't want this. I just wanna go home to Auntie Gwendolyn. She must be worried sick right now. What do we do now? We can't just leave our old life behind, no matter how refreshing that might seem at the moment."
"Can I ask what happened?"
"You know how you called your father a bastard? Well ours is as well. Two months ago our father murdered his assistant in cold blood after getting her pregnant. When our mother found out, he murdered her too. When we stumbled upon a piece of incriminating evidence, he kidnapped us and brought us to a derelict factory building. We managed to escape, although he shot me in the arm in the process." Amelia turned her left arm around in order to show the scar at the back of her arm just above the elbow. "We were about to leave our home for the last time when we were brought here instead."
"I'm sorry about your mother."
"There's no need. She was the charming sort of woman that was more interested in cheating on her lover instead of raising her two children." She said this in a low mutter in order for Timothy not to hear. Timothy didn't need to know what a disrespectful slut their mother really was, at least not yet. She would tell him, one day, but she wouldn't do so right now, not with everything else going on. She wasn't sure how much he remembered anymore, and so she would rather give him the impression that he was at least, if not loved, then prioritised. Amelia was scared for her brother, wondering just how much he had lost, how much of himself that would be changed. At least he seemed like the same sweet little boy that he ever was. She was just going to have to try to find out how much of him was lost, without treating him any different. "I was mostly raised by literature and our great aunt Gwendolyn. She is the greatest lady in the world. She's absolutely terrific. So yeah, both me and Timothy were neglected throughout our childhood, but at least we had her you know? And we had each other, which has been enough."
"I know the feeling, seems like you and Timothy have been looking out for each other in a pretty similar way to me and Al."
"Yeah, but we have to look after our little brothers, don't we? It's sort of in our job description. But it's worth it, and Timothy's a really good kid, I'm quite proud of him," Amelia said with a smile, before grimacing at a rather sharp flash of pain from her legs.
Ed nodded and turned around to see that Timothy and Alphonse were having their own conversation. Apparently they were comparing puppies to kittens. Amelia smiled at them, they seemed to get along already. At least Timothy seemed to be coping admirably with the situation. Amelia watched her little brother and came to a decision. She would do anything in order to look after her brother. "Hey, Ed?"
"Yes?"
"Would it be alright if we came along with you in order to find a way to retrieve what we lost and maybe find a way back home? I can't look after my little brother on my own anymore, not like this. I need help. I don't want Timothy to feel burdened by me. I know I'm asking a lot, but I just want to be there for him, you know?"
"This isn't a risk-free journey. It's dangerous and bloody. You might get hurt along the way."
"I kind of guessed that. I mean, you enlisted in the Military in order to get what you needed in order to even start this journey. It's not that I'm particularly drawn to danger, but I want the best outcome for Timothy, and that's not him having half his memory gone and a crippled big sister with no money. So please."
Timothy and Al were listening as well. Ed seemed to contemplate this for a long time, before giving a resigned sigh. "Fine, but no dying, okay?"
"I swear upon my honour as a big sister that I will do my damnedest not to die."
"I swear too," Timothy said, right hand on his chest, left hand in the air.
"Good."
"Thank you, both of you," Amelia said with a grateful smile. "So, do you have any ideas revolving around how to get our old bodies back?"
"We have been using leads that we've gained through the Military in regard to the Philosopher's Stone. We've been searching for the last three years, but we believe that if we find it, we will be able to use it to regain what we lost," Ed said.
"The Philosopher's Stone? As in red stone able to grant immortality and create gold?" Amelia asked surprised.
"Yes, it's a powerful alchemical substance that we hope will be enough to bypass the laws of equivalent exchange," Al supplied.
"Do you have any fresh leads?"
"We've heard rumours about this fake priest creating miracles in Liore. We're heading there in six days, I guess you'll be tagging along?" Ed asked.
"Uh-huh. How do we get there?"
"It's about a three-days' ride by train from here."
"Three days?" Timothy asked utterly shocked. "I thought three hours was a long time." He was looking uncertainly at Amelia.
Amelia shrugged. "Well, I guess we'll get to know each other better then."
Five days later
Maes Hughes was walking through the hallways at Central HQ, heading in the direction of Colonel Roy Mustang's temporary office. He found the door in question and flung it open. "Roy! How goes? Heard you let them put you in charge of catching the Freezer, Huh? One hell of a nasty assignment, but hey, could be your way to earn that promotion to Central." He suddenly noticed the room's two new occupants. "Oh, say! Looks like my timing was perfect! You two are the Elric brothers, right?" he leapt forwards, shaking both of the large suit of armour's hands. "Wow, it's an honour to finally meet the youngest State Alchemist ever. You're a real legend around here. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, it's a pleasure."
The suit of armour bowed its upper body, seeming to shrink a bit. "Uhm, you want Edward, I'm actually his younger brother Alphonse."
"WHAT?! You're the Fullmetal Alchemist? Sorry, I had no idea you'd be so – ", but he stopped at the glowering look that promised him ever-lasting damnation in a fiery pit of flame loving piranhas.
"Hughes!" Roy said, standing in front of his desk.
He straightened up "Yeah?"
"What are you doing here – go home."
"Actually, I'm here on official business." He turned towards the couch again with a warm smile. "You, Elrics, I understand that you two don't have a place to stay – which means you'll have to come with me." He looked at them strictly and fished out from his pocket the cutest little picture ever of the two most important girls in the whole world. For some reason they seemed to invoke a sort of fearful reaction from the two boys, but he paid them no heed. Hughes turned all soft and squeaky while smiling over the top of the picture. "My wife, Gracia and my daughter, Elicia, we'd love to have you."
Ed was looking at him, sweat drops running down his face in utmost fear. "Uhm – you see, uh we have this friend and we're picking her up from the hospital today and she and her brother doesn't have a place to stay, and we don't want to impose…"
Hughes just waved his hand quickly in order to stop him. "No problem, we have enough space for four guests. The more the merrier, right? We can even drive over to the hospital and pick them up, what do you say?"
"But you see, she's in a wheelchair…" Ed began once again.
"No worries, we'll just put the wheelchair in the trunk and you and you brother will just have to squeeze in tight in the back seat and we'll manage. I'm sure they'll appreciate it after a week of hospital food, Gracia's cooking is absolutely delicious. Now come on, off we go!"
Ed was sitting in the front seat next to Hughes while Al was taking up about two-thirds of the back seat. Ed was pretty uncomfortable, the man was basically a stranger and he was talking non-stop about his family, not letting him say much more than the occasional "uh-huh".
"You really should have seen her, barely two years old and already eating her birthday cake like she was royalty. Of course, she has always been my little princess, but it was so cute when she sat there with a bit of cream on her nose, and you know I just had to take a picture. I'll show it to you later when we get home, just remind me."
As if.
"So what about this girl we're picking up? Is she someone special?" Hughes asked with a teasing glint in his eye.
"What? No!"
"I just think it's sweet how you've agreed to pick her up from the hospital…"
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Lieutenant Colonel. She's just someone we met a week ago. She was in an accident and lost her legs and her little brother's got amnesia. They've lost their parents and they're on their own. We kind of know what they're going through, so we decided to help them, that's all."
"Oh, well that is very nice of you boys, I'm sure they appreciate your help. So, what kind of accident are we talking about?"
"Uhm, it was a hit and run, her little brother was almost run over by a car and she jumped out in front of it, pushing her brother away. He hit his head which is the cause of the amnesia," Ed lied quickly while Al was backing him up with "We got there right after it happened, and we helped them get to the hospital."
"Well, here we are, let's go find them, shall we?" Hughes said while parking the car.
Amelia was sitting her wheelchair in front of the reception desk, signing some papers. Timothy was standing beside her looking nervously around but lit up when he saw Ed and Al. He gave them a small wave and the three of them headed in the direction of the two Hartwoods.
"Hi, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes, it's a pleasure to meet you two."
"Amelia Hartwood," Amelia said with a slightly confused smile, taking in the uniformed man and his overly generous attitude while shaking his hand.
"Timothy Hartwood."
"And before I forget, this is my lovely wife and daughter! Aren't they just wonderful! They are my pride and joy. This here is a picture with Mommy's hat on, and here's Elicia's first meeting with a duck, and this here is…" and so he went on.
Amelia tugged at Ed's sleeve eyeing Hughes and his pictures sceptically. Ed leant down and she whispered "Uhm, Ed. Why is he here?"
"…But of course, you'll all get to meet them shortly and I can show you more pictures from our albums! We'll have so much fun!"
"Apparently we're staying with him tonight." Ed whispered back. The girl was looking horrified at the very thought of it.
"Do we have to?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Mustang threatened to court-martial me otherwise."
"Isn't that abuse of power?"
"He's still my superior officer."
"Crap."
The evening was actually very pleasant except for the whole 'let's look at some albums!'-thing. Amelia and Timothy seemed to enjoy themselves as well. They really only had one guest room, so the boys were put in one room, while Amelia was put in Elicia's room on the ground floor. Hughes was apologising about the fact that they only had two beds in the guest room. This of course, wasn't actually an issue, but Hughes wasn't to know that. Two spare mattresses were put into each of the rooms, and so everyone had a bed for the night. Timothy fell asleep easily, and Ed was asleep by twelve o'clock. He was, however, roughly pulled back from the clutches of sleep by the sound of screams and crying coming from the ground floor at about three AM.
The Elrics ran downstairs at almost the same time as the Gracia and Hughes. Elicia was shrieking her head off, obviously terrified, although there were other cries coming from the room as well. The two brothers were the first to open the door and ran in along with Gracia, who was quick to pick up her daughter and start soothing her, while the Elrics where sitting in front of Amelia who was clawing at the stumps of her legs moaning and crying with pain.
"It's phantom limb pain, seems like a quite severe attack," Ed said quickly, looking at Amelia and saw that she had been tearing at her bandages enough for the ones on her right foot to have turned red. Ed took her wrists to keep her from ruining the bandaging any further. "Hey, listen, Amelia, it's okay, I know it hurts, but you'll ruin the stitches if you're not careful.
"It hurts, but they're not even there to hurt anymore," Amelia moaned.
"I know, I know. Right now you just need to breathe. It will get better, so just breathe." Ed turned towards Hughes who was looking quite lost in the doorway, "Hughes, we need to rebandage her leg, and also, do you have any painkillers?" Hughes walked swiftly from the room. Ed gently lifted Amelia up from the mattress and carried her to the bathroom where it would be easier to assess the damage because of the lighting. Also, it gave Elicia an opportunity to go back to her room and sleep on once she had calmed down and the blood-stained mattress had been removed.
Timothy had woken up to find the room deserted while crying could be heard from downstairs. He stood at the top of the stairs to watch Ed carrying a bleeding Amelia into the bathroom. Timothy was standing there wide-eyed, until he reached a decision as to what he would do. Instead of walking directly to the bathroom, he took a detour to Elicia's bedroom and rooted through his big sister's tote bag. He once again did the Siri-trick, and before he knew it, Bohemian Rhapsody was playing. He held the phone out in front of him, and walked into the bathroom where Amelia was propped up against the bathtub having her right leg rebandaged. She had tears streaking down her cheeks, but she still reacted instinctively to the familiar sound of her favourite band. He stood there just holding the phone and turning the volume up, smiling reassuringly at his sister. Amelia seemed to appreciate the gesture and she visibly calmed at the sound of the music she so dearly loved. Instead of twitching and grimacing, she started gently tapping the rhythm of piano on the bathroom tiles, obviously trying to focus on the music instead of the pain.
Hughes was staring dumbstruck at the phone, but whether that was caused by the music itself or the fact that it was coming from the little gadget Timothy was holding in his hands as though it was the most natural thing in the world, he couldn't say. Ed nudged him in the shoulder, trying to get him to return to the bandaging he had frozen in the middle of, muttering a hasty "I'll explain it later."
Then came the opera section. Amelia started waving her fingers in the air according to how the music went, gently singing along. Ed and Hughes looked slightly scared at her, but then Ed shrugged, it was obviously helping her managing the pain.
"Amelia's been saying for the past two years that 'Queen is flowing through her veins' so I thought I'd give it a shot," Timothy said trying to explain his sister's odd change in behaviour. "She's got this thing about singing along to that opera section as long as she's not out in the general public."
"And also, I'm sort of overdoing it right now because it helps distracting my brain from the pain – mamma mia, mamma mia, mamma mia let me go! Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me-e-e, for me-e-e, for meeeeeeeeee!" Amelia commented/sang before banging her head from side to side along to the rhythm of the guitar.
"That's my sister for you."
"Uh-huh, well that's the bandaging done at least," Hughes said before sanding up and turning towards the sink in order to wash his hands. "And Elrics, I think you owe me an explanation in the morning. Now the only question that remains is what do we do about sleeping arrangements? We can't have Miss Hartwood sleeping on a blood-stained mattress. Also, I think you gave Elicia quite the fright, not that I'm blaming you of course, but I don't think it would be a good idea for the two of you to share the same room anymore."
"That's okay, Mr. Hughes, I won't be getting any more sleep tonight anyway. Thank you for all your help, and I'm so sorry about scaring your daughter. And for ruining the mattress. And for waking everybody up in the middle of the night in general." Amelia was still hurting quite a lot, but it was more manageable, especially now that she wasn't partially asleep. She was actually a bit embarrassed to be honest, and it didn't exactly help that that her phone was playing I'm Going Slightly Mad.
"Well, it's all okay Miss, is there anything more I can do to help?"
"I need someone to help me get into my wheelchair. And I need to wash my hands. Other than that I'm all set."
"I'll help her, I'm not tired either," Alphonse said from behind Timothy.
"Well, thank you Alphonse, I guess it's good night then," Hughes said with a wave to them all.
"Good night, Mr. Hughes," Amelia said.
Alphonse was kind of glad not to spend the night alone, although this wasn't exactly the kind of circumstances he'd been most happy about. Timothy had been sent upstairs by Amelia after a round of sincere thanks. That left Ed cleaning up the rest of the blood from the floor and Alphonse to carefully lift Amelia up by her armpits in order to get her high enough into the air in order to reach the sink and wash her hands. Ed went and got the wheelchair, and Gracia came back with a clean nightgown for Amelia, before she too went back to sleep. They had taken all of this very calmly, and they were obviously great people. Al could already tell that these people would be their friends for a long time. He lifted Amelia into the wheelchair after she had changed into the clean nightgown, and he wheeled her into the living room.
"Ed, you should probably get some more sleep, you have a killer to catch after all," Amelia said.
"I'm not really tired anymore."
"Yes you are, I can tell."
"Are you both sure you'll be alright?" Apparently his big brother already felt responsible for their charges/companions.
"Yes we are, go get some sleep, I'll be alright, and if I need more help, we'll come get you, okay?" Amelia said stubbornly.
"Fine, I'll see you in a few hours."
"Goodnight, Ed. And oh! Would you mind checking that Timothy's covered himself with his blanket? He's been sleeping rather badly for the last two months and kicks it off himself after a short time."
"Yeah, I'll see to that," his expression was slightly softer than it had been before.
"Thank you, and thank you for all your help tonight."
"No problem," he said with a wave and a yawn.
Amelia and Timothy very much enjoyed the next day with Gracia and Elicia. Amelia was drawing and reading to Elicia, while Gracia taught Timothy to bake the best chocolate cake Amelia had ever tasted. It was quite late that the phone started ringing, and Gracia called to tell them that Alphonse wanted a word.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Al. What is it? Why aren't you guys back yet?"
"Uh, well, you see, Brother's in the hospital right now."
"He's what?!"
"It's not serious, it's just that the killer we were chasing managed to stab him in the shoulder with this spike, and they want to keep him in for observation."
"We'll come see you tomorrow then."
"You don't have to if you're not feeling well, we just thought we ought to tell you so you don't worry."
"Well, thank you for letting us know, but it's no trouble, I'm feeling much better today."
"Okay, then I guess we'll see you tomorrow."
"Yes, see you tomorrow, and tell Ed to take care."
"I will, well, bye."
"Goodbye, Alphonse."
The next day saw the Hartwoods once again back at a hospital, although Amelia was glad that it wasn't her they were here for. They felt slightly out of place with all the soldiers milling about, so they were very happy when they found the room Ed was staying at. They knocked twice, and Amelia rolled in through the doors followed closely by Timothy.
"Hey guys, how are you doing?" Amelia said, rolling her wheelchair over to Ed's bed. She was pleased to see that he seemed to be doing alright, except for the bandage around his shoulder, and the fact that he was wearing light blue-green hospital clothes.
"It's not so bad, don't understand why I have to stay here for another night."
"Well, that's good, I guess." Amelia seemed to be pondering if she was going to say something, and then she opened her mouth "I just have to ask, is this a sight we're going to have to get used to?"
"Well, Brother does tend to get injured quite often, so probably."
"Wow, Al, don't sugar-coat it or anything." Ed seemed unusually grumpy. Maybe he wasn't very fond of hospitals.
"Ed, don't be an idiot, they have a right to know if they're going to come along with us."
"Fine, whatever."
"Oh, and we brought you something," Amelia said, remembering the paper bag that Timothy was carrying.
"I, uhm, made this for you," Timothy was saying blushing a bit. "As a thanks for looking out for me and Amelia for the last week. It's not much, but it's something." He gave the bag to Ed quickly before staring down at his feet as though he was furiously trying to remember every detail of his shoelaces.
Ed opened the bag and took out a slice of the cake they made yesterday and a 'get well soon' card which featured Al with a cat's head. "Al told me how you guys always fight about him picking up stray cats so I thought it would be funny."
"It's great, thanks," Ed said with a smile, ruffling Timothy's brown hair.
"By the way, we'll be leaving for Liore tomorrow, Al already got the tickets."
"Okay, sounds fine."
The door was suddenly flung open and a seven-foot man with a majestic blonde moustache and tears in his eyes barged into the room with an enormous bouquet of roses. "Greetings Edward Elric! When I heard you were in the hospital – I DARE SAY NO MORE!"
Everybody was cowering, Timothy actually whimpered and the Elrics were shaking.
"And as I suspected, you're in desperate need of my assistance!" And man actually threw his uniform jacket off, revealing fine-tuned muscles that seemed to be glistening. Everyone yelped.
"You need the example of a perfect physical specimen to inspire your recovery."
Everyone screamed.
"You see, you're looking livelier already!"
"WILL YOU GET OUT!" Edward shouted.
"He's sparkling, how does he sparkle?" Timothy whispered. He was absolutely terrified, there's something quite unnerving with meeting someone who's almost a whole metre taller than yourself, especially with this man's glistening physique.
"Oh, and who is this charming young lady and you must surely be her brother, you look so much alike. Allow me to present myself: I am Major Alex Louis Armstrong, I am honoured to meet you." The man bowed.
"Amelia Hartwood, this is my little brother Timothy." Amelia said.
"And how is it you are acquainted with Edward and his brother?"
"We met them a week ago. They were in an accident and we helped her get to a hospital." Ed said.
"HOW TRAGIC! Am I right in assuming that that is how you came to end up in that wheelchair?"
"Yes, Sir. Ed and Al saved my life."
"OH! HOW AWE-INSPIRING! YOU ARE TRULY AMAZING, ELRIC BROTHERS!"
"Why did you have to tell him that? Now he'll never let us go!" Ed whispered.
"Well, I'm sorry, what will you do about it?"
Ed got a mischievous glint in his eye.
"Oh, Major! We didn't tell you the full story. You see Amelia here jumped in front of a car, pushing away her brother while taking the blow for herself."
"You didn't." Amelia had a split-second flash of outrage, but then the Major had let the message sink in. Tears were gushing down his cheeks, sparkles set to max.
"OH! THERE IS TRULY NOTHING MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN THE LOVE BETWEEN SIBLINGS! ALLOW ME TO SHOW YOU MY GRATITUDE THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE LIKE YOU IN THIS WORLD, AMELIA HARTWOOD!" he swept her into an embrace, and Amelia was seriously regretting their cover story for how she lost her limbs as she swore she could hear her ribs creaking.
So, that's chapter one. I hope you enjoyed it, because I had such a great time writing this. I feel sort of bad for Amelia, because I've been writing her a lot over the last few years, but I just thought it would be so fun to put her and Timothy in FMA, but of course she had to pay the prize to get there, so I sort of feel like a horrible mother right now.
If you notice any mistakes, please let me know.
And also, please PM me if you feel like discussing anything FMA, I'm Norwegian, so I have nobody to discuss it with and it's driving me insane because it's my favourite series of all time!
Reviews are most certainly welcome.
I will try to keep the chapters approximately the same length, and I will upload chapters as I write them. I have difficulties with chronic migraines, so I won't set a specific date for the uploads, but seeing as how I'm on sick leave, I think I'll be able to upload quite often.