Dimensions
By: Kurama-Sweethart (Moe)
Warning(s): Spoiler for the SERIES AND MANGA. It isn't really based on either one alone, per say- but my own crazy rendition of the two. For example, the timeline is manga formatted- Cornello happened before Nina, and Ed is 15. However, the events that take place are in the anime format, when it comes to dialogue and happenings. Also, Mustang is Colonel as opposed to Major, as shown in the series. Obviously, in the beginning it is set before the death of Maes Hughes. Blah blah, I'm sure you get the idea.
Pairing(s): Blunt Roy x Ed in later chapters. Yaoi, Shonen-ai and probably some sex/smut along the way. Some possible Tringham love interests, as well.
Author's Note: I would like to single out one person to give my utmost thanks to: Requiem of Silence, who reviewed all three of the previous chapters. I was feeling very low and uninspired to write anymore with this fiction, and when their reviews just made me smile and motivated to keep writing. So anyway, thanks a lot Requiem! This fic would have come to an unfortunate stop if it hadn't been for you.

"And he went where?" Roy asked, struggling to keep his voice down. His knuckles were turning white from gripping the phone.

Hughes smiled. He knew telling the Colonel over the phone would save his life. "They went to Xenotime to do some research, is all. Nothing to get so worked up over."

Mustang growled. "You were supposed to keep an eye on them, not send them off on some stupid crusade!"

The Lieutenant rubbed the pads of his fingers with his thumbnail. "I didn't send them anywhere. I just told them that there might be someone there who could help them out. Besides, what could happen to them in that shitty, rundown old village?"

Ignoring his question, the Colonel rubbed his temples. "And you didn't think they'd run off to find out more?"

"Gee, Roy, I guess I just didn't think they would." Hughes shrugged, smirking. Yup, real good idea to use the phone.

Mustang held the mouthpiece out in front of him. "Hughes..."

"Anyway," The Lieutenant started, trying to change the topic. "I don't think the Elrics should be your main concern right now. I think you should find a nice young lady and-"

WHAM.

"Don't take it out on the phone, sir." Hawkeye said routinely. "Hughes really does have good intentions, with your benefit in mind."

The Colonel growled and let his forehead rest on a stack of papers. The blonde rolled her eyes and sat her clipboard down. It would be easier this way, really, thanks to Hughes. He'd gotten the Elrics out of the way for a while; giving Roy more chance to worry about climbing in ranks, especially with Edward. It was a good thing that the Fullmetal knew about Roy's feelings, too, she mused, so he could be wary. The Flame Alchemist was definitely a mystery- a closed book with a padlock. His feelings were always so… isolated.

"All those women," Hughes had told her. "Are just clever ruses so he won't be suspected. They don't let gay men become Fuhrer, you know." The Lieutenant Colonel had been forced to bear the truth when Hawkeye had questioned her commander's sexuality. "He's had an eye on Ed for a long time, but he's a proud man, keeping his morale in high places. I doubt that he'd try anything." He had paused and looked up at her. "At least, not for now."

That's why she had asked Hughes in the first place. He was closest to Roy; he was the most likely person to know the intimacy of the Colonel's love life. She had had her doubts, but she was no fool. She had seen how his gaze would linger on the younger alchemist when his back was turned, how he would suddenly catch himself staring and look away suddenly. But she had to be sure.

It's not as if she had a problem with it. Homosexuality was a part of life, a part of growing up and learning. When she was younger she had her own bouts of experimentation with other women, so it wasn't a foreign concept to her. She was just worried, not as much about Ed's gender, but his age. She had checked the records, and the Colonel was close to his mid-thirties now. If that didn't count as pedophilia, she didn't know what did.

"Hawkeye, call Major Armstrong in." Mustang asked suddenly, pulling her from her reverie.

"Major Armstrong is in East City now, sir." She replied mechanically. "I'm not sure if he is really too keen on babysitting."

He leaned back in his chair. "Than offer. If he doesn't take it, fine, but I'd feel safer if he was with them."

The Lieutenant bowed, making her way towards the door. "Yes sir."

"What the hell?" The impersonation accused, keeping a firm finger on his nostrils to stop the bleeding. He was much taller than Ed, with lopsided, bleach-blonde hair that curled stubbornly. His eyes were an icy blue and held a fierce look about them. "Ya don't beat the shit outta strangers! I didn't even do anything to you! I don't know you!"

Edward growled. "You're using my name, you bastard. I'm Edward Elric, The Fullmetal Alchemist! You're just some cheap impersonation."

"Brother," Al offered quietly, "He must have a good reason to use your name. Don't you think-"

"Shuddup, Al. This is between me and that guy pretending to be me." His right arm was already alchemically altered to create a large blade, half concealed under the folds of his crimson overcoat.

"Whoa, come on, Chief. Howabout you and me go up to my lab and settle this out like mature human beings. I mean, come on, you must be, what, twelve? Old enough to talk this out intelligently, right?" The impersonation smirked.

"I'M FIFTEEN, DAMMIT." The Fullmetal roared, lunging. "AND I AM NOT SHORT."

"Huh." The impersonation shrugged, quickly dodging Ed's first attack. "Coulda fooled me." This, however, was not a smart move. Ed, now blinded by rage at even being insinuated that he was short, began to toss his arm around wildly, hitting home a few times. The impersonation was quick, but unable to block the attacks, making it rather hard to fight back. After a long chase that lasted up the street and through a few alleys, it ended when both the real and fake Fullmetal Alchemists were out of breath. "Eh." The taller blonde muttered. "Let's call it a draw."

Ed growled. "Over my dead body, -- er," he fumbled for a name.

"Russell. Russell Tringham." He replied, slouched against a brick wall for support.

"Well then, Russell, we'll finish this later. There's some information I need to get-"

Suddenly, Al made his appearance, shaky from trying to crawl over many boxes sitting awkwardly in the alley with his large armor. "Russell Tringham? The one doing research on Dimensional Alchemy and the Red Water?"

He smirked. "The one and only."

Ed's jaw dropped. "You're the guy we're looking for? Why in the hell would you be using my name?"

Russell shrugged. "Hey, we couldn't very well use our real names, now could we? People would realize we were the ones working at the lab and we'd be thrown out or discovered by military dogs. Which, I guess, has already happened." He paused, leaning back to look up at the sky through the crack between the two tall buildings. "I figured if I used the name of a renowned State Alchemist, people would think I was investigating and not question what was going on up there in the Lab."

Ed stood up, transmuting his arm back to normal. "Hey, we're not doing this for the military. You're safe with us. "

Al nodded in agreement. "I take it the people here in Xenotime don't like the lab's studies very much, either."

"Its not like they know what we're experimenting with. I guess that's what scares them, not knowing what exactly we're doing. It's a pretty risky business, dodging military jackals and townspeople at once." He raised his hands in submission, grinning. "No offense to you,

Of course-"

"Wait," Al interrupted, "What do you mean 'we couldn't very well use our real names'? You mean there's two of you?"

Russell nodded. "Yeah, my little brother and I are in it together. Shit, which reminds me." He glanced up at the clock tower. "I should be heading back. You kids coming along?"

The Elric brothers glanced at each other and nodded. "Alright then, follow me." He commanded, picking his way from the alley and up a dirt road to the top of a hill, surrounded by trees. The lab was rather hard to see from the cover, which was probably intentional. It didn't want to be too conspicuous, after all.

Russell sighed. "I'm gonna have to make dinner from scratch, again. I was going to bring Sushi home, but I was a little... Distracted. " He smirked, eyeing the shorter alchemist, who only 'hmphed' in response.

They entered through a back door, which appeared to be the only door to the whole building. Once inside, the Elric brothers observed that there were plants every which way, different species and pots lining shelves. Books and notes lay scattered about the tables.

"It definitely looks like a research facility." Ed mumbled under his breath.

Russell waved his hand. "Eh, I guess so. The kitchen's in the other room, and we stay upstairs." He stopped, frowning and peeking into the other rooms. "Hey Fletcher! Where're ya at?"

"Upstairs, brother!" a small voice called from the other room. "I'll be down in a minute!"

The older Tringham motioned to the table, the only clear piece of furniture in the whole lower floor. "Sit, sit. I'll get started on dinner. So-" he paused to peer sternly at his guests. "Why do you want to know about Dimensional Alchemy so badly?"

Ed swallowed roughly and looked at his brother. Would some half-assed lie really fool him? Or should he just spill the truth? "To get back something we lost." He said finally.

Russell raised an eyebrow, but decided not to push it. "I guess everyone has their own reasons." He mused.

Al looked around the house warmly. "I take it you and your younger brother live here in the research facility."

"Yeah. Its really not that bad, and we do all right. The facility belonged to a friend of our dads, and we got it for a cheap price."

Ed leaned back against the chair. "Hey Al, where are we gonna stay tonight?" he asked, pulling the question from thin air. "We sorta ran into this town headfirst." Before anyone could answer, though, Fletcher padded into the room. The kid looked about Al's age (if he weren't in armor, that is) with flyaway blonde hair. His wide, blue eyes still held a look of naiveté about them.

"Oh! No worries! You can stay here with us- I don't mind. What about you, brother?" He jumped in, obviously having overheard the conversation.

The one that was spoken to shook his head, turning from the stove where he had been frying some vegetables and rice. "S'fine with me."

The Fullmetal leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head. "So what do you need all the plants for?"

Fletcher sat down in one of the chairs, swinging his legs absently. "For our alchemy. The energy that they feed on magnifies the alchemic arrays that we use for-" he stopped, giving a sudden anxious look at his older brother.

Russell smiled. "Its okay, Ed and Al know about our experiments with Dimensional Alchemy. That's actually what they're here for." His eyes darted to their guests.

The younger Tringham looked at the floor. "So they're the real Elric brothers." His voice was small and meager.

Ed leaned forward, resting his chin on a gloved fist. "So tell me more about how your plants empower your arrays."

"Well," Fletcher started, not as downcast since he realized that the real Elrics weren't mad that they had been using their names. "Plants have a heightened spiritual energy, which makes opening the vortexes easier. Plus, the Red Water we use for experiments sometimes needs root secretions or something."

Al leaned forward in his chair, as well. "Spiritual Energy?"

The older Tringham moved from his place at the sink, bringing bowls of fried rice to the Fullmetal Alchemist and his younger brother, after being waved away from the armored Elric, muttering something about not being hungry.

"That's right. There are two different kinds of energy- Alchemic Energy, in which Alchemists use to breakdown and reconstruct matter. The arrays you use are merely ways to concentrate that energy to make it easier to conduct the desired alchemic transmutation. Spiritual Energy is different, though, manipulated by things that aren't…human. Plants being one of them." Russell responded for his brother.

As soon as the food was within arms reach, Ed had begun scooping large bites into his mouth. The older Tringham raised an eyebrow. Al made a small noise, as if he were to scold his elder brother for his lack of manners, but thought against it. Instead, he decided to query about this new sort of alchemy further.

"So to manipulate spiritual energy, you'd have to have a whole new type of array, right?"

Russell nodded, swallowing. "Yeah. The arrays are much more complicated though, which is why we like to use plants in our transmutations. It helps to amplify the energy and ultimately make the transmutation easier."

"Exactly how far have you gotten using Dimensional Alchemy?" Edward asked through the side of his mouth, between spoonfuls of rice.

Fletcher looked downcast at the table, and Russell frowned. "Not far, unfortunately. I'm sure you know about the rips?"

Ed swallowed, but didn't take another bite. "Yeah."

The older Tringham cleared his throat. "Well, the rips in time aren't easy to control. You have to activate the arrays at the exact time that the space tears- and even then it's a struggle to hold it in place."

Al looked over to their hosts thoughtfully. "And what happens after you capture the rip?"

"That's the thing." Russell started, eyes growing darker and with increasing depth.

Fletcher glanced at his brother. "We're not sure." He finished.

Hopefully I'll be able to get into Ed's inner turmoil soon. The fic has started to stray from it's initial focus- the death of Nina Tucker. I swear I'll work her back in. More information and details thrown out there- I just had to put in Spiritual Energy. I'm a YuYuHakusho fan at heart, I couldn't resist. But don't cross your fingers- it's not going to be a crossover fic.

This whole fan fiction, let alone this chapter, took lots of time, effort and late nights to write. If you enjoy 'Dimensions'- you'd really show your support and make me uber happy if you left me a nice, constructive review on your way out. Thanks a lot, and thanks for reading!