Disclaimer: I don't own any of them. Not making any money of this. Love the idea of Ed and Roy. Please leave me a review if you like the story.

Author's Comment:

As I write this chapter, we're coming up on the 3000 hits mark. I am absolutely blown away at the reception this story is receiving and where it's gone, given that it started with just one scene in my head that wouldn't go away (and for the curious, it would be the end of Chapter 5, when Roy and Ed/Auric meet again for the first time since Al's restoration). A huge Thank You to all of you wonderful readers, you've made a girl very, very happy.


Chapter 9: Deja Vu All Over Again

"No, no, that can't be right."

"Really," drawled Roy, eyes narrowing in anticipation as one hand reached up absently to rub at his temple. "You're awfully confident for someone who's only been doing this a week." While the two one-hour teaching sessions he squeezed into his schedule daily were in many ways the highlight of his day – and certainly the most satisfying part of it, given the quickness of Auric's mind – it had been a very long day. He had spent a good part of it overseeing some basic offensive training for the civilian alchemist draftees, many of who were still going to be nothing more than cannon fodder on the frontlines, he thought morosely. At least Auric's lessons had been progressing well and his powers were easily starting to rival that of any State Alchemist, even if his theoretical knowledge was sketchy in parts. On the latter matter however, both Roy and Al thought privately that was the least of their worries. The real issue was Auric's unwillingness to actually utilize his powers. Oh, he revelled in the intellectual challenge of trying to master this new field and integrate it with his knowledge of Gating, but despite his instinctive grasp of alchemy, he still preferred to rely on the skills he was sure of. Roy couldn't really blame him. His Gatekeeping skills were all Auric had known for as long as he could remember, after all.

Auric snorted. "Please. Don't insult me. I'm suffering from amnesia, not a lobotomy." His right hand moved swiftly over the paper, diagramming a series of alchemic transformations. "There, you see? Your way takes too much time. If you did it this way and then used a stabilized five-point elemental pentagram array, you'd be done in half the time with twice the conversion ratio."

Roy shook his head indulgently. "That's been thought of before, youngling."

"Who are you calling short?" snapped Auric testily, then flushed in annoyance when he caught Roy's smirk. "Will you quit with the diminutives, I'm pretty sure verbal abuse was not part of our contract! Anyway, if it's a known transformation, why isn't it used?"

"Because no one's ever been able to stabilize a system of five elements. Well, that's not entirely true – there are rumours that alchemists in Xing have mastered it for healing purposes, but there's something too foreign about that concept to fit into our system of alchemy, it seems," explained Roy patiently.

Auric looked uncertain. "That can't be right."

Roy repressed a sigh. "Why not?"

The younger man shrugged. "Because I do it all the time."

Roy choked on a sip of cold coffee. "What?"

"Gates. They're essentially based on a similar concept to a five-point array. You can only open one if you balance all five elements – shui, huo, jin, mu, tu - and achieve that stable state we call kong," Auric said offhandedly. He propped his chin up on his hands, looking up at Roy through long, dark lashes. He'd had a long day too – studying alchemy, getting a better feel for the power structure and political landscape of Amestris, helping Maes with a couple of investigations and shadowing Al on an assignment in which the new Earth Moving Alchemist had lived up to his new moniker, essentially terraforming an entire barren plain while pursuing a rogue alchemist who had been holding the farmers of the region hostage to his whims by destroying their only means of livelihood. The casual way Al had transformed acres of land made Auric shudder every time he thought about it – he knew Al had control of his powers and would never use them maliciously – but it was still a little unnerving. One thing to know what alchemy could do, quite another to see it actually happening. He didn't think it would ever become instinctive for him.

It never occurred to him that that was exactly what people thought when they looked at him.

Roy sat back in his chair, shaking his head in astonishment. "Just whenever I think I've finally got your measure, you never fail to come up with something new to surprise me, Fullm…Auric." He cursed himself mentally for the slip. He really should call it a day, but he knew Hawkeye would happily put a couple of holes in his hide if he didn't finish these training exercise reports. Auric was looking at him with a dawning realization in his eyes.

"The overlap in your mind is increasing, isn't it?" Auric asked softly. "Ever since we started this…alchemy crash course, or whatever you want to call it. I can see it in people's faces – whenever I'm working on something related to alchemy, their attitudes change. It's like they have Ed back for a moment."

Roy was silent, considering. "Yes," he said finally. "I'm sorry. It's not very fair to you."

Auric acknowledged the sentiment with a resigned nod. "C'est la vie." He stood gracefully, pulling his Gatekeeper bearing about him like a suit of armour. "Not that matters as long as you honour our contract. Shall we take up the issue of the five-point array tomorrow? You look tired. And I promised I would spar with Major Armstrong tonight."

Roy watched the blonde man leave his office, shaking his head gently at what had just happened. Auric had just upended a known scientific fact, stomped all over it, and then shrugged it off as an everyday occurrence. A prodigy indeed.


Alphonse Elric leaned up against the back wall of the gym as he watched Auric and Armstrong spar. He sometimes trained with them to keep fit, but when it came to hand-to-hand, he knew to leave it to the experts. Armstrong's shirt had long since been discarded, and Al swore that if he narrowed his eyes and tilted his head just so, he could see pink sparkles coming off the man's bulging, rippling muscles. This go-around, the Major had chosen a single bokken as his weapon. In contrast, Auric's body was held in a relaxed yet ready stance, two practice sais in his hands as he circled his opponent, a serene expression on his face. No alchemy was permitted in these practices since the main focus of the two men was the training of their physical bodies. That and no one wanted to deal with the paperwork that would be involved if they destroyed the gym. Captain Hawkeye would not be amused.

"Ugh," Armstrong grunted as they clashed, neatly avoiding what would have been a bruising blow from the hilt of Auric's sai. "So, the General's lessons are going well?"

Auric nodded, ducking a swing and blocking with his sais in reverse position. "As well as can be expected – he's actually a pretty good instructor, but you didn't hear that from me. Found out something odd today though." He loved these practices with Armstrong, who was proving to be a good friend. For one thing, Armstrong was one of the few people who simply accepted him as Auric and didn't seem to want or need him to be anyone else.

"What?" asked Al interestedly. He was happy, if unsurprised, at the speed with which Auric was mastering Alchemy. It made him feel as though he was that much closer to getting Ed back.

"Well, it seems you guys don't – or can't – stabilize a system of five elements." Auric lunged forward trying to trap Armstrong's weapon in the tines of his sais.

Armstrong nodded, anticipating Auric's attack in the nick of time. "Can't be done, lad. It was an Armstrong back in the 1700s who wrote the definitive work on…."

"I can do it," Auric interrupted hurriedly to stave off another history lesson. "It's how I open Gates." He brought his hands up defensively before noticing that Armstrong had stopped and was staring at him agape. Hell. He always forgot that behind that beefy, stolid soldier exterior was the mind of a renowned State Alchemist. Al swallowed a couple of times, but a fanatical light shone in his eyes. Auric winced, knowing what was coming. Alchemists…obsessive bookworms, all of them. "It's no big deal…really…."

"Let's go research this now!" Al was tugging at his arm, and wonder of wonders, Armstrong was already pulling on his shirt, intent on investigating this challenge to his family legacy.

Auric sighed, unable to resist not one, but two State Alchemists making puppy-dog eyes at him. "Can we at least get dinner first?"


The array on the sheet of paper spread out between the three men made a sad little sound as it sparked and fizzled into smoke. Again.

Al sighed. "You see, it's no good. Every time I try to activate the fifth element, I lose control of the whole."

Armstrong's pink face corrugated like a thoughtful bulldog as he tugged absently at one end of his moustache, his thick fingers stained with ink and chalk. "Could it be a mistake in the array? Although this is the seventh configuration we've tried." He looked over at Auric, who shrugged noncommittally and closed the book he had been flipping through, a thick tome titled Being A Learned Explanation Of Pentacles, Unicorns & Other Symbols by one Frederick Philippe Armstrong.

"I wouldn't know, I don't use arrays when I Gate. You two are the experts on this stuff."

"Why don't you try activating the array?" asked Al hopefully.

Auric grimaced. "I'm used to having another person be my beacon, Al, not a circle on a piece of paper." He knew that part of his reluctance stemmed from an unreasonable feeling that this was just one more way this world was conspiring to take away the one thing he felt like he could cling to as being his and his alone. While the rational part of his mind was pointing out that the array was simply a medium of sorts the way his beads had been, the tired and hence irrational part of his mind was resentfully sniping that it wasn't bad enough everyone wanted him to be someone else and to learn alchemy, now they wanted to take over Gatekeeping too? "Teleporting is one thing, but activating a Gate…I just don't think I can do it this way, and anyway, you need two people to open a Gate."

"But one of you starts by sending out a beacon," Al pointed out. "You have to be able to stabilize the five elements at that point, don't you?" Auric's head snapped up and his golden eyes glared into Al's soft grey ones. Busted again. And a tactical error since he'd never been able to refuse Alp…Al anything when he looked at him with that affectionate mix of hope and faith.

"Do you remember everything I tell you?" Auric finally muttered peevishly, looking away.

"Yes, pretty much. Since we were children," smiled Al, seemingly oblivious to the sulkiness in Auric's voice. "You're my big brother after all, why wouldn't I listen to you? Besides, you liked that…you said it helped to be able to discuss things with me."

"Fine, fine," sighed Auric. "I'll give it a shot. It probably won't work, and then we can all go to bed, all right? Give me that damned array."

Armstrong pushed over a fresh sheet that he had just inked. "Here, use this one. I've made some modifications: rearranged the order of elements, added a couple of stabilizing runes, nothing too fancy."

"The order shouldn't matter," replied the Gatekeeper absently, flexing his fingers. "But thank you." Al and Armstrong watched hopefully as Auric stretched his hand towards the array, his eyes becoming distant and unfocused, an intent expression on his face as though he were listening for something only he could hear. The air began to hum and thicken and it became an effort to draw breath. Still Auric stood there, unmoving, relaxed, just waiting, thought Al dazedly, and then he seemed to find what he was looking for because a smile of satisfaction spread over his face. "Kai!" he snapped, putting his palm down squarely in the centre of the array, which immediately crackled and began to glow.

Al stared at the glowing array in fascination. He didn't know how he knew, but he could almost…feel the five elements of water, fire, metal, wood and earth entwining and combining within the array, held in check by the man who stood before them. Auric's eyes refocused and he blinked a couple of times, then looked across the glowing array at Al and Armstrong. "Hey. It worked."

"I wonder," rumbled Armstrong. "Now that it is activated, can you pass control of it to someone else?"

Auric grunted sceptically, interested despite himself. "Hmm. I don't know. That obviously doesn't work when you yourself are acting as the beacon, but since the array is external…" he trailed off thoughtfully. "Al, come here and hold out your hands over the array. No, the other way, palms up."

Obediently the young State Alchemist did as instructed. Auric took his palm from the array, brows knitting in concentration to maintain control over the elements he was bending to his will. He held his hands over Al's, palms down, barely touching, and Al's lips parted in wonder as he felt something pass between them. The closest thing he could liken it to was being handed a very warm, taut pair of reins with a set of very fiery horses on the other end. Auric smiled encouragingly, yellow eyes glinting in the light of the array. "Don't worry, I'll be able to ground it if you lose control. But you'll be fine, Al. Just focus on holding on."

Al gulped and nodded. Strangely enough, he wasn't afraid. And he had never felt closer to Auric than he did right here, right now. A memory surfaced. Two little boys, climbing a tall tree to get closer to the sky. The littler of the two looking down and starting to panic, because the ground seems so very far away. A shaft of sunlight through the trees lights up the golden hair and eyes of the slightly older boy on a branch just below, looking up reassuringly. "You'll be fine, Al. Just hold on. I'm right here." He had stopped shaking immediately, knowing his brother was there watching over him. And they had climbed to the very top of the tree and sat up there watching clouds go by and dreaming of the places they would go and the things they would see. Together. Forever.

"Alphonse-kun." He realized that Auric had stepped away some time ago and that Armstrong was addressing him. "Look. You're stabilizing it yourself."

"Really? Wow!" Al gasped at the power thrumming through his hands. He stared in wonderment at the array, but suddenly blanched. "I'm…I'm losing control!"

In a trice, Auric had rushed forward and slammed both palms to the array, gritting his teeth as he grounded the residual charge through his body and into the ground. Armstrong could feel the tremors beneath his feet as the energies Auric had summoned dissipated without a will to hold them in check.

"I'm sorry," Al said, chagrined. "It takes a lot more focus than I'm used to having to maintain. It's so different from the usual arrays."

"No worries," sighed Auric, falling into a chair limply. "It's hard for most people the first time, and this is outside of your experience. And before you ask, yes, I was an exception. Go figure." He bit his lip, trying to slow his breathing. Armstrong narrowed his eyes, standing and coming around the table to kneel solicitously in front of him.

"Auric-kun…you don't look well. Perhaps the strain of stabilizing the array was too much?"

Auric let out a harsh bark of amusement. "No offence, Armstrong, but this was a piddly little beacon. I've moved armies across continents and between worlds." He took a deep breath. "No, I'm just tired. I don't know what it is."

"Mama was always tired before…before she…" Al didn't finish. Armstrong was abruptly struck by how young the two brothers looked in the flickering candlelight as they stared at each other. Too young to have seen and done all that they had done.

"Don't be silly, Al. I'm fine. I promise." Auric's eyes were solemn. "I've never broken a promise, have I?"

Al's stormy gaze finally softened. "No. No, you haven't."

"Oh good. I was fishing – I wouldn't remember!" Auric's brilliant smile turned teasing. "Come on, let's try this again, you've got me curious now. If I activate an array and turn it over to you to stabilize, I wonder if I can use that as a beacon to open a gate?"

Smiling fondly at the two young men, Armstrong decided that it would be all right for an Armstrong's work to be discredited as long as it was another Armstrong who wrote the new definitive reference work on the subject. He unscrewed his pen and started taking notes.