-Apologies-
Summary- Heads or Tails. If given a chance would Ed go back and change the past? Two part story in Ed's point of view.
Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist. Nope, not at all.
Chapter One - Heads
Here I stand before this man who claims he is time itself.
I tell him that it is not possible to change the past, but he has already acquired my attention. He says that I have been given a second chance, to change the past and correct my failure. Human Transmutation. He has truly captured my attention now, though I wonder why I have been given another chance.
"This mirror will allow you to continue a life where your failure does not exist."
The object in question is held in his arms, though it's not very decorative there are a few patterns around the edges. I reach out for the mirror and as my fingers graze its surface it ripples like water. My hand plunges deeper into the water and astonished I pull it back out. For just one short moment, it wasn't automail anymore, but when I pulled it back out I was staring at cold, hard steel. After what seemed like an eternity I raised my head to look up at the man, but he is gone, the mirror seems to be floating on air. How had I not noticed that he had left? But then his voice echoes in my mind and I immediately forgot my confusion.
"Take your time little one, this choice is important."
I felt a brief flare of anger, it was almost an emotional instinct by now. Was he calling me short! Then I remember, when I always lost my temper, Al would always be there to hold me back. Why isn't he here with me? Hot tears fill my eyes and blur my surroundings while I try to swallow the lump in my throat and quell the knot in my stomach.
Al… Can I really fix my mistake? Return Alphonse to normal again? There is no answer so I look back to the mirror. Mist is now swirling around it, taunting me, reminding me how tired I am. Tired of my failure, my repeated mistakes, tired of being a dog of the military, tired of fighting the homunculi.
And beginning to become tired of life.
I reach out to the mirror again, this time I can feel it pulling me and I succumb to its wishes. My automail arm is the first thing to submerge beneath the liquid-like surface of the mirror and soon, everything becomes replaced with a different scenery. Now I can see a house in the distance, it looks very familiar, like our old house that we burned down before we left. And then I realize that it is our old house, and there is someone standing in front of it waving to me. Someone with sandy brown hair and cloudy grey eyes. Alphonse Elric, no longer just a suit of armor with a soul attached to it, but now a breathing, living person. He is waving me home. With a light feeling in my chest I wave back and he smiles, I can see it. No longer am I burdened with the heaviness of the automail I run to him and he welcomes me home. Brother to brother.
But somewhere in my heart I feel the need to apologize.
"I'm sorry Nina."
-
Hesitation, then added almost as an afterthought.
-
"I'm sorry Mustang."
End Chapter One-
