Hey guys, welcome back to Frost and Fullmetal!
Thanks so much to FullMentalBreakdown (Thank you so much! Haha yeah, I have a bit of a soft spot for weird crossovers, admittedly, and I've been excited to share this one for a while! I hope you continue to enjoy! :D) for reviewing!
And now, on with the chapter!
~ 3 ~
To Resembool
In retrospect, Jack decided, agreeing to go with the Elric brothers in the first place had been a bit of a mistake on his part. He supposed that he had felt a bit bad for them in the beginning, seeing as they were a couple of kids that seemed to be all on their own, but allowing them to interrogate him had only gotten him stuck in a frustratingly difficult situation. Though he still admittedly felt somewhat bad, especially after watching Edward nearly be killed, he knew that walking away was his only reasonable option at that point.
"Curse my soft heart, I guess," he mumbled sarcastically to himself as he left the group of military police officers behind him. He wasn't entirely sure how they all failed to notice him leaving, especially since he didn't seem to be invisible in this world, but he wasn't about to complain about not being stopped.
He had a snow globe to find.
Jack lifted his head slightly and addressed the very night air itself - the one aspect of home that had seemed to follow him to this strange place. "Hey, Wind. Any sign of that snow globe?"
A breeze lightly ruffled his hair in response, and a deep frown came to the albino boy's face.
"Broken…? Damn it…" He took a deep breath in, then sighed heavily. "Well...at least we know where it is. It's a start, anyway...thanks, Wind."
With that, he began walking faster, knowing that it likely wouldn't take long for the Elrics or the two soldiers with them to try and catch up with him. He was honestly surprised they hadn't done so already, but once again, he wasn't going to complain. All he really wanted to do now was find the dropped snow globe and disappear.
How ironic.
"Should've made more of an effort to stay out of sight to begin with," he mumbled to himself as he stepped into an alleyway near the building he had first appeared on top of. "But then again...how was I supposed to know they'd be able to see me? That apparently everyone is able to see me here…? Ugh...guess these things work differently in a world that doesn't even have magic…"
The alley was dark, but Jack's eyes quickly took on a soft blue glow, allowing him to see properly without trouble. His gaze swept over the area as he moved further into it, until finally, it came to rest on a noticeably cracked glass orb on the ground.
"And...there it is," he sighed, kneeling down to examine the glass more carefully. Sure enough, it was clearly a broken snow globe. Spidering cracks covered the glass, and a few shards had fallen off the rest of the orb altogether, allowing some of the liquid inside to leak out. Jack carefully moved said shards back into place before covering the entire globe with a thick layer of ice to prevent further damage. He lifted a hand to rub his forehead, sighing once more in exasperation. "At least it didn't shatter completely, but...there's no way it'll work in this state, and ice isn't gonna fix it entirely…what am I gonna do…?"
"Sounds like you need some help, jackass!" an annoyingly familiar voice rang out from behind him.
Jack's expression immediately dulled. "Figures…" he muttered under his breath. The boy stood up and, without turning around, called out to the distinctly Edward-sounding newcomer, "Just 'Jack' is fine, thanks. Also, how long have you been following me?"
Though he couldn't see it, Jack was sure Ed was rolling his eyes. "Doesn't matter!" the alchemist shouted back. "Point is, you've got something there that's broken, right? Well, I can fix it!"
Jack arched an eyebrow, allowed the glow in his eyes to fade, and turned around to face the younger boy standing back at the entrance to the alleyway. "And the catch?" he asked dully.
Edward smirked. "Obvious, isn't it? You have to come with me and answer any questions I have. Truthfully this time! And then, I'll fix your little glass thing for you."
Jack scowled slightly. "How many times do I have to tell you? I did tell you the truth. I don't know what else you want from me here!"
Ed merely scoffed and shook his head. "Huh. Guess you don't want that thing fixed then, huh?" He turned on his heel and began to walk away.
Jack's eyes widened. "Wait!" he called, one arm outstretched. Edward stopped moving, looking over his shoulder with a knowing grin, and Jack momentarily felt a nagging urge to punch something.
But still, it wasn't like he had a choice in the matter.
"...okay," Jack sighed, after a long pause. "I'll come with you. I still don't think I'll be able to tell you whatever it is that you want to hear, but...I'll see what I can do. Anything to get my snow globe fixed…"
The younger boy's grin widened as he turned back around fully to face Jack. "Great! Knew you'd come around. Now come on! I managed to get that bastard colonel to get off your case for now - you're welcome, by the way - but Al's waiting for us, and we've got a train to catch!"
One of Jack's dark eyebrows lifted in curiosity. "A train? To where?"
Even as he spoke, Ed turned around once more, beginning to walk in presumably Al's direction, giving Jack no choice but to follow. "To Resembool! I need my mechanic to make me a new arm...again...otherwise I can't fix your snow globe thing. Kinda need two arms for that." He shook his head. "But that's not for you to worry about. You just have to answer my questions truthfully and we'll be good."
Jack couldn't help but heave a long-suffering sigh. "Uh huh...got it."
He found himself unable to shake the feeling that he was in for a long, frustrating journey.
()()()()
The first hour or so of the train ride was awkward, to say the least. Edward had fallen asleep almost the moment the three boys had sat down (which, Jack conceded, made sense, seeing as he apparently hadn't slept all night), leaving Jack and Alphonse sitting in uncomfortable silence. The younger Elric brother seemed to have no idea what to say to the albino boy - not that Jack blamed him, especially after the "not from your world" comment he had made before.
In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have said something as astonishing as that with no regard for any future consequences, but it was far too late for regrets now.
After Al shifted uncomfortably for about the thirtieth time, his armor creaking with each movement, Jack finally decided that he'd had enough. He straightened in his seat and looked up at Al's expressionless helmet, eyebrows raised. "Okay...so clearly, something's on your mind, but you don't want to say it. You know you're allowed to talk to me, right? I know I'm probably not what you're used to here, but...I don't bite or anything." He paused. "Frostbite aside, anyway."
"O-Oh!" the younger Elric exclaimed, jumping a bit in his seat as though surprised he had been read so easily. "Oh, no, I didn't mean to...that is to say, um…"
Jack merely arched an eyebrow as he waited for the nervous boy to find his words.
Alphonse laced his gloved fingers together anxiously. "I...I guess I'm just wondering what you meant when you said that last thing to my brother...about not being from our world…? Because it can't mean what I think it does...can it?"
Jack couldn't help but smirk. "Oh yeah?" he asked evasively. "And...what do you think it means?"
"Well, um…" Al hesitated for a few moments before reluctantly continuing. "It sounds like you're saying that you...came here from somewhere else entirely. Somewhere that doesn't exist in the same space as everything Brother and I know. Somewhere...where the 'magic' you've been talking about really does exist…"
"Heh...you're a smart kid, you know that?" Jack chuckled lightly. "And a lot more open-minded than your brother, to boot." He nodded at the armored boy with a sly grin on his face. "You hit the nail right on the head. I'm from an entirely separate world from this one. And I got here through a magic portal."
As expected, however, this only served to further confuse Alphonse.
"But...but how is that possible!?" he exclaimed, trying to keep his voice as low as possible while still expressing his shock. "Listen, I...I want to believe you, I do, and I really don't think you're lying, but...well, it all just sounds so…"
"Impossible?" Jack finished for him.
"Y-Yeah…" Al confirmed.
The albino boy let out a deep sigh, nodding slowly. "Yeah...I get that. Honestly, even most people where I come from don't actually believe in magic. Lots of little kids do, of course, but...adult humans generally don't."
Alphonse's helmet tilted to the side slightly in curiosity. "Um...adult humans? You say that as if you're…" His voice lowered considerably as realization struck. "...not human…"
Jack smirked and softened his voice to match Al's whisper. "Guilty as charged."
()()()()
Edward generally considered himself a master of feigning sleep. What with the sheer amount of times Winry had tried forcing him to rest during his year of recovery from automail surgery, he had managed to put in a lot of practice pretending to fall asleep until she finally left him alone.
Had he not been such an expert, he might have fallen right out of his seat at Jack's revelation and destroyed the whole ruse. Instead, Ed remained as still as he could manage, his breathing slow and steady despite the quickening of his heart rate and racing of his thoughts.
Not human? Then what exactly was Jack supposed to be? Not a chimera - there wasn't a single feature about him that resembled an animal. A homunculus, then…? But no, he looked nothing like the others Ed and Al had come across, and didn't act like them at all either. But then...what?
Careful not to open his eyes completely, Edward squinted through his lashes at the strange boy sitting across from him and Al. At first glance, Jack certainly looked human enough. However, the more Ed studied him, the more details he noticed that were just barely off.
He was too pale, for one thing. He had just the slightest bit of color in his cheeks, but the rest of his skin was almost tinted gray, as though he was constantly on the verge of death. The dark circles under his eyes and his extremely thin frame only emphasized that image, and Ed considered it a wonder that Jack was able to act as lively as he did when his body was practically wraithlike.
His electric blue eyes, though, contrasted heavily with the rest of his features. Instead of being dull and colorless like the rest of him, they were almost too bright, to the point of actually being mildly unsettling. In fact, they practically glowed.
Edward forced himself to suppress a shudder. Something was wrong with this guy, he just knew it.
He just had to figure out what exactly it was.
Ed let his eyes slide completely shut once more, returning his focus to listening in on his brother and Jack's conversation without being caught. Jack seemed to be considerably more forthright with information if Al was the one asking, so Ed didn't want to have to get involved unless it was completely necessary.
Which would include having to jump up and yell at (and potentially punch) Jack if he said something too stupid - something that was sure to happen eventually.
Meanwhile, as Edward was fighting back a grin at the thought of punching the strange boy's irritatingly smug smirk off his face, Alphonse seemed to be growing more flustered by the moment.
"Not...not human…" the armored boy repeated in a strained whisper so as to avoid other passengers overhearing them. "But then...what are you!? Er...sorry, that might be rude, I mean...who are you!? I don't...I don't understand…!"
Jack chuckled a bit, sounding mildly sheepish. "Well...some of that is a bit hard to explain, I'll admit. And um...probably best not spoken too loudly in public, you know?"
"Oh…I guess that's true…" Al agreed reluctantly, though Ed knew that his little brother's mind had to be buzzing with as many questions as his was.
"Don't worry, though...I s'pose I can tell you eventually." Jack gave a sigh. "...I'm sure your brother wants to wring as many answers as he can out of me one way or another."
Edward suppressed a snort. Damn right he did.
"Right...um...sorry about him, by the way." Alphonse added meekly. "Brother can be pretty abrasive at times, I know, but...he really does mean well, I promise."
There was a brief silence before Jack answered. "Mhm...yeah, I know the type. No worries. Not like I'm gonna hold a grudge or anything. Though...can I ask, what exactly are you two trying to find out? Why do you need me here? I don't think you ever actually told me."
Ed felt Al stiffen beside him.
"Oh, um…" the younger Elric began hesitantly. "Well...it's kind of a long story...and I guess it's also something that shouldn't be spoken too loudly in public, so I can't tell you yet...sorry…"
"Mhm...well, fair enough," Jack replied nonchalantly. "We've all got our secrets, I guess."
"R-Right…"
With that, the two of them fell silent. Edward released a long, silent breath that he didn't think he'd consciously been holding. He knew it was probably hypocritical of him, given how much information he was actively trying to pry out of Jack, but he'd sooner snap off his other automail limb and face double the wrath of Winry than have to explain his and Al's past to some dumbass magician, or whatever Jack was supposed to be.
Well, that might have been an exaggeration. Winry was terrifying enough when he only came home with one broken limb. Ed was halfway convinced that she'd tear his remaining flesh limbs off if he ever dared to come crawling to her with both pieces of automail damaged or missing.
Although come to think of it, it hadn't been that long at all since he'd last forced her to build an entire arm from scratch after Scar destroyed it. Would she even believe him when he'd tell her that the only reason it had happened at all was that his ports had been aching due to the impending rain? No, she would probably just call him reckless...throw a wrench at his head...bury him in the ground and dance on his grave…
Ed gulped, the dread of his mechanic's impending ire temporarily pushing the thoughts of nonexistent magic and smug albino morons out of his mind. He had far more pressing things to worry about at the moment.
Like the fact that Winry was almost certainly going to kill him.
()()()()
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO YOUR AUTOMAIL!?"
Edward cringed as Winry's enraged, high-pitched voice pierced his ears. The fact that he'd been expecting this didn't make it any easier to deal with.
"Technically speaking…" he mumbled, edging his way behind Alphonse in case Winry started throwing wrenches. "I didn't do anything. It...was an accident."
The girl stared at him in a mixture of anger and disbelief. "Are you serious!?" she exclaimed. "Ed, I literally just made you an entirely new arm! And you went out and got it destroyed again!"
"I-It wasn't my fault!" Edward insisted, leaning out from behind his brother to glare at her. "We got attacked! And I would've been fine if it hadn't been about to rain, 'cause it was making my ports ache - not that rain would've made me as useless as that bastard colonel, obviously, but it's still an inconvenience, and - !"
THUD.
...well, it wasn't a wrench, but with Winry's throwing arm, even the rubber ball she had been using to play with Den before they approached was turned into quite the painful projectile.
"OW!" Ed shouted as he stumbled back, putting a hand to his forehead where the ball had hit. "What the hell was that for, Winry!?"
"I was hoping it would knock some sense into you!" she retorted. "If you had some, maybe you wouldn't constantly be breaking your automail!"
"HEY! I told you, it wasn't my fault!"
"As if I'm gonna believe that! You're always so reckless!"
"You always say that!"
"Well, it's always true!"
"It is not!"
"Is too!"
"Brother, Winry!" Alphonse suddenly blurted out, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "Please! Do we really have to do this every time we come home!?"
"YES!" the two of them shouted simultaneously before shooting matching scowls at one another.
Winry crossed her arms and looked away. "We wouldn't have to do this if someone would bother taking care of his automail for a change," she stated primly.
Ed glared at her. "Or maybe if someone wasn't such a gearhead, she'd realize that accidents happen and it's not my fault!"
"Or we could all just stop yelling and go inside!" Al quickly exclaimed before Winry could retort. "Come on...you two don't want to fight in front of our guest, right?"
Winry blinked, her anger momentarily fading in favor of confusion. "Guest?" she repeated, arching an eyebrow. "What guest?"
"I wouldn't call him that," Edward grumbled bitterly.
"Be nice, Brother," Al chided briefly. "Anyway...Winry, this is Jack." With that, the armored boy stepped to the side, revealing Jack behind him...currently sitting in the grass, laughing quietly to himself as the Rockbells' dog, Den, licked his face. When he noticed the attention on him, the albino simply looked up and blinked, continuing to pet Den's head as he did so.
Edward's expression dulled considerably.
"The hell are you doing on the ground?" he deadpanned impatiently, wondering if everything unsettling he had observed about Jack on the train was just his imagination. Right now, all he looked like was a particularly tall child.
Jack took a moment to look down at Den, then back up at Edward, his expression mostly blank (Edward figured there likely wasn't much going on in the dumbass's head, after all). "...petting the dog," he stated simply. Almost as though to support his answer, Den barked.
...now Edward was starting to wonder if Jack was an actual child.
Nevertheless, he simply shook his head and scowled. "Well knock it off!" he snapped. "You can pet the dog all you want later, once I'm done questioning you!"
"Questioning him?" Winry asked suspiciously. "What does that mean? Who is this?"
"Well," Jack began before Ed could answer, hopping up off the ground in one swift motion. "The name's Jack Frost. And I'm currently being held hostage for information that I probably don't even actually have."
Winry's head immediately snapped back to glare at Ed. "I'm sorry, hostage!?" she exclaimed. "What's that supposed to mean!?"
"Oh my God," Edward groaned, dragging his hand down his own face and glaring at Jack. "Would you stop saying things like that!? First you tell Mustang we kidnapped you, now you're saying we're holding you hostage!? Seriously!?"
Jack shrugged. "I mean...it's kind of true."
"No it isn't!" Ed insisted.
Jack arched an eyebrow. "Okay. Then let me leave."
Edward opened his mouth to speak, then faltered. After a few moments, the young alchemist simply scowled and said, "Shut up. You can't even go anywhere without my help, and I can't help you without a right arm! So just suck it up and cooperate until then!"
The older boy, as irritatingly aloof as ever, shrugged again. "Okay. Wasn't really planning on doing anything else anyway."
"Well...good!" Ed declared somewhat awkwardly. "Then...we can talk while Winry starts working on my new arm!"
"Not so fast, Ed!" Winry interrupted, putting her hands on her hips and fixing him with a sharp stare. "Look, I don't know what's going on with you, or with him - " She gestured at Jack. " - or whatever. But! If there's one thing I do know, it's that I'm charging you double the price for your arm!"
"D-Double!?" the boy spluttered incredulously. "Why!?"
"Because like I said! I just made you an arm from scratch, and now you're forcing me to make you another one! I deserve some serious compensation for that!"
"Or you're just a greedy gearhead!"
"Shut up, reckless alchemy freak!"
"NEVER!"