Spork111: Happy birthday
Animefan127: Hmmm, Ed is from Rizembool, Alphonse Heiderich is from Germany. In that chapter they are both in Munich together.
Eleventy-Nine: hehe. Are they gonna do it? Hmmmmm. #shameless plug# keep an eye out for my next story in the works, called "Zwanzig Fragen," which takes place in the same universe but centers entirely around Ed and Al H. You may find your question answered there.
Finding the Catch: Hard Truth
He was staring at himself.
Quickly he squeezed his eyes shut. "Go away," he heard his own voice say, and he cracked them open again. "You're not real, you can't be, go away!"
Panicked, Alphonse scrambled out of the bed, yanking the blankets off with him.
His self (because he did not know what else to call this animated reflection of his) sat up in bed, then threw himself down again, facing his pillow. "I'm closing my eyes," came the muffled words. "I'm counting to ten, no, I'm counting to a hundred, and when I'm done, you're not going to be here anymore!"
Not sure why he did it, Alphonse ducked into the bathroom and flicked on the light, staring at himself in the mirror. Maybe he was expecting his reflection not to be there anymore, as it was currently burying its head in the pillows back in the bed.
It was him. This was his face as he saw it in his mind's eye, as he had last seen his reflection at Winry's house in Altenburg. Long, bronze colored hair tied back. The half man, half child's face of a teenager. Large, deep grey eyes. He ran back to the bedroom.
"Who are you?" he demanded of the person in the bed.
He lifted his head from the pillow. "Am I dead?" he asked, shocking Alphonse. Dead. That was one explanation he had yet to entertain. "What happened? Where's Ed?"
His breath caught in his throat. "You know Ed?" he asked hopefully.
"Of course I know Ed, he's my-" his not-reflection stopped. "Who are you?"
Part of his mind wanted to giggle hysterically, wanted to say, no fair, I asked you first! His heart was racing but he forced himself to remain calm. Whatever was going on, he was going to figure it out. "I'm Alphonse Elric," he said clearly, watching the shock and something like horror flood over the other man's face. "Where's my brother?"
Suddenly there was a loud knocking at the door. "Stay there," he was ordered, and the man grabbed a shirt and hurried to answer it, closing the bedroom door tightly. Alphonse stood for a moment, then opened the door just a crack and peered out.
It was Mr. Silleman, the man who had taken him to the burned down lab yesterday. "Alphonse," he was saying, "Are you all right? You look like you've seen a ghost!"
The other Alphonse glanced back at the bedroom door, then turned back to the man in the doorway. "I'm fine," he said breathlessly. "What's going on, all I remember is getting ready to leave the lab with Ed and then everything was on fire-"
The man's eyes widened. "You remember!" he exclaimed. "You know about the lab, you know where you are, you know how old you are?"
Alphonse nodded impatiently. "Of course I know those things, but… there was an explosion, wasn't there?"
"You were in the hospital yesterday. You couldn't remember anything," Mr. Silleman said slowly.
"Well I remember everything now," Al said, his voice rising. "But what happened to Edward?"
Mr. Silleman cleared his throat. "We, ah, were hoping that when you regained your memories, you would tell us Edward wasn't with you in the lab," he began.
Alphonse paled.
"The entire building was destroyed," he said quietly. "I'm sorry."
Alphonse stood, staring at the now closed front door. Slowly, he walked over to the couch, and sat down.
Al opened the bedroom door and stepped cautiously out, sitting down in the chair facing his other self. "You're Alphonse Heiderich," he said carefully, beginning to piece things together.
The other Alphonse jumped. "What of it?" he asked, his voice flat. "Leave me alone, whatever you are. I've just lost my best friend."
"Edward's my brother," he whispered. "And-" here he hesitated. "I don't think he's dead."
The older Alphonse leaned back against the cushions, his expression dazed. "Edward's brother," he said softly, "looks just like me." Suddenly he clutched his head in his hands. "Oh my god." He cringed. "When he said I look like his brother- oh my god."