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.


Chapter 18: Gate Of Truth

Auric skidded to a halt just outside the encampment, chest heaving more in panic than from actual physical exertion. What was he thinking? How was he going to find Al without help? Fifteen minutes ago – Al and those damned zombies could be anywhere by now. He growled in frustration. Think, Auric, think! He'd let his guard down, let himself go soft – this was why Gatekeepers did not get involved with outsiders, damn it, it clouded the mind and allowed fear to impair judgement. Even as he berated himself though, he knew that Al's case was different. Blood was blood. And there was no way he was going to break his promise to Winry now. Shoving the guilt aside, he closed his eyes and welcomed the shadowy darkness that descended as he calmed himself and drew upon all his training to achieve that eerie focus that enabled Gatekeepers to cross space and tap into the Earth's energies. Clarity descended with trained swiftness: Al was with the Homunculi. The Homunculi each had a Philosopher's Stone as the core of their lifeforce and power. He could sense that energy and use it as a marker to teleport himself to Al. No problem. "Just like finding a beacon," he breathed to himself. "Come on, Gatekeeper, pull yourself together." So he would have to go in blind, with no knowledge of the number of hostiles he was facing. He'd been in worse situations before, right? Although for some annoying reason, nothing remotely similar was coming to mind immediately….

The Gatekeeper shrugged irritably at himself and cast his mind out into the ether, searching for an energy signature that he hoped would lead him to his wayward brother. Wait for it…wait…patience was key…and then he felt a flare in the ether. There it was! As he felt the familiar tug of teleportation begin, the overriding thought in Auric's mind was that when this was all over, he was definitely going to have to sit down and have a chat with young Alphonse, something along the lines of, "How to tell if your brother is actually a Homunculus in disguise and why you should not go off with him if he is." Alchemists. Naïve idiots, the lot of them.


For some reason, the overriding thought in Alphonse Elric's mind, apart from staying alive to see his wife and daughter again, was that when – not if, but when – his brother found him, he was so going to get a lecture about being a naïve idiot. Ed had always been extraordinarily good at delivering martyred, older-brother-type sermons that left you feeling incredibly stupid and inconsiderate, and he suspected Auric would be too. It was actually an incredibly comforting thought, since his brother would actually have to find him in order to deliver said lecture. Hence Alphonse's certainty about the "when."

But until then, he was stuck in the open, in the middle of a binding array drawn with his blood which prevented him from using alchemy or stepping out of the array, with a very testy-looking, pint-sized Homunculus named Wrath glaring at him. Not so good. He really did look a lot like Teacher though – they had the same scowl.

"He's not coming," snarled Wrath accusingly, and for a horrified instant Al thought that Wrath had read his mind. But then Envy strolled forward lazily, shaking off Ed's appearance and tossing his hair back as it darkened from wheat to green-black. He smirked at Al in an obscene parody of the grin Ed would wear when making his little brother complicit in some new scheme, eyes flickering contentedly over the swelling welts on Al's cheek and temple where he had been clouted viciously.

"He'll come. You know Al's the most important person to him in the world."

"He'd better," sulked the younger Homunculus. "Otherwise I'll have to take this one's body instead. And then my arms and legs won't match, and I might not get my soul."

That was the point of all this? To get the rest of Ed's body in order to get a soul? Perhaps it was the concussion, but Al found himself sniggering out loud hysterically. "Who on earth came up with that stupid plan? You can't get a soul by taking someone's body!"

Envy's eyes glittered. "Don't listen to him, Wrath. It'll work. We'll give the Gate chibi-san's soul, and Equivalent Exchange means you'll get one in return."

"Oh please," Al scoffed, curling into a ball and shutting his eyes as he tried to make the ringing in his ears go away. "Who would be the expert on this stuff? Me, the State Alchemist who's been to the Gate and back twice thanks to Ed, or a badly-dressed Homunculus who looks like one of the uglier aspidistras in General Mustang's office?"

Envy cocked his head to one side interestedly. "Hey, if you hit this one enough, he starts to sound like the chibi-san!" He leaned in and smacked the back of Al's head experimentally. Al gritted his teeth and stayed silent. The Homunculus sighed disappointedly. "You're no fun. Chibi-san would have been swearing up a blue streak for that."

"It worked for you!" Wrath was looming over Al now just outside the array, he could tell from the proximity of the voice and the shadow that fell over his closed eyelids. "How else did I get my arm and leg?"

"Brother gave up his arm to bind my soul to this plane, not to get a soul for me," Al corrected. "And why am I explaining all this to you anyway? Go do whatever you want – you'll fail. I doubt you'll even be able to get the Gate open."

"I have before!" stormed the little Homunculus, stamping his foot.

"You were already at the Gate. It's not as easy to open it from this side," Al said shortly. "Now will you please be quiet? My head hurts."

Envy wrapped a comforting arm around the trembling Wrath. "Don't worry, Wrath. He's just trying to scare you, that's all. It'll work. And even if you can't open it…we'll have an expert here, remember? Chibi-san will do anything to keep Al safe. Even sacrifice himself – again. You know, Al, it's amazing he still loves you after all the trouble you constantly put him through. He'd probably have had a much happier life if he didn't have to worry about you all the time." He watched the young man wince at the telling shot in satisfaction.

Al wrapped his arms tighter around his knees and rocked himself back and forth. Envy had unknowingly struck a much deeper nerve than the one he had been targeting. The Homunculi didn't know about Auric, of course, but Al had to admit that Auric was a lot calmer, more centred, more at peace with himself and the world than Ed had ever been – and he wondered how much of that could be attributed to not having to constantly worry over Al. "I'm sorry, brother," he whispered miserably.

"Fight now, be sorry later," came the terse reply. "And then we're going to have to have a talk about wandering off without me. Or with me, as the case may be."

Al's grey eyes snapped open. His brother was standing there, arms akimbo, golden eyes flashing and brows knitted together in a manner that indicated that he was Very. Pissed. Off.

Yep, he was so going to get a lecture. Al had never been happier in his life about that.

Envy smirked. "See, told you he'd come."


Roy forced himself to be calm as he waited for the scouts to return. A stunned MP corporal had reported that the Fullmetal Alchemist had run out of the camp, stopped, cast around – and then suddenly disappeared. Which meant that they couldn't track him, resulting in lost time as men had to be sent ahead to recce the area. He rubbed the bridge of his nose as he felt a tension headache setting in. When this was all over, he was definitely going to have to sit down and have a chat with Auric, something along the lines of, "Proper Policies and Procedures for alerting your CO before running off to single-handedly save the day." Despite the intervening four years, he was pretty sure he still had it down pat, although he also knew that the probability that it would have any lasting effect on Auric was minimal, given that it had never worked on Ed. But the venting always made him feel marginally better anyway. And if not, there was always make-up se….

"Sir." Hawkeye had popped up by his elbow in time to cut that line of thought off. "One of the scouts reports he's found the Homunculus Lust. He says she's contained – looks like Edward was able to trap her in an array. About a mile that way." She fell into step beside him as he turned in that direction.

"I'm surprised Fullmetal was able to take the time to draw an array," Roy remarked absently as he checked his pocket for the lighter Auric had thoughtfully given him. His hand was still aching, and he wouldn't be winning sprints anytime soon, but at least his ribs were hurting slightly less now.

"Oh, he didn't, sir," Hawkeye said in amusement. "It seems he's integrated some of Auric's techniques into his own – according to the scout, she's surrounded by four throwing stars in a four-point array. He nearly picked one up before he realized that there were arrays engraved into the metal. I'm no alchemist, but it looks like Edward took a leap and created a binding array out of four smaller arrays." She smiled reminiscently. "Remember when he was little, sir? 'They say he's a real prodigy,' – well, I guess he never grew out of that."

Roy nodded. "Detail a couple of men to stand guard over Lust, warn them about not disturbing the array. And remind me to put a commendation in that scout's file – men who can think intelligently on their feet like that are hard to come by." He kept his face neutral, but a little flicker of hope grew stronger within him. Auric had been able to tap into his alchemic abilities to create solutions on the fly – that required a lot more skill than simple transmutation. Maybe some subconscious part of him was starting to remember. Maybe everything would turn out all right after all. And then the telltale crackling of alchemic energy in the distance made him break into a run.


"Lust must be falling down on the job," Envy sighed sorrowfully, shaking his head. "I knew we should have let Sloth take care of this. She was supposed to let us know you were coming, chibi-san." Wrath nodded in agreement as he peeked out from behind the older Sin and ran his eyes greedily over the blonde man's body.

"Who are you calling a midget so small he needs to be announced so that you don't trip over him when you go to meet him?" snapped Auric incredulously. "And this is coming from a walking dwarf palm two inches shorter than I am? There's a new low right there!" For some reason, he was having trouble controlling his temper - something about this Homunculus just rubbed him the wrong way. It was as though something inside him was fighting to get out, and he was becoming increasingly disinclined to stop it.

Al groaned. "Brother…fight now, be upset later? And could you, um…."

"Oh, right, sorry," Auric muttered. Without taking his eyes off the annoying Sin, Auric moved his foot enough to rub out a portion of the Array. The invisible barrier that had been holding Al vanished, and the younger Elric sighed in relief as he slowly stood and staggered out of the array, holding a hand to his head. His brother spared him a glance. "You feeling all right?"

"I've been through worse," Al said phlegmatically. "He hits like a girl, anyway. Acts like one, too." That earned him a bark of laughter from Auric, who threw an arm around Al's shoulders.

"Come on, Al. Playtime's over, time to…" and the rest of what he was going to say was cut off as Wrath hurled himself upon the object of his desire in a shrieking blur of limbs and hair. The surprise sent the Gatekeeper to the ground, but he rolled with the impact, coming up on top of the young Sin. "You know, I normally like kids, but you're being a real brat," he spat out as he struggled to pin the wriggling Homunculus.

"Watch out, brother, Wrath doesn't need an array to perform alchemy either," cautioned Al worriedly. "He's got your arm and leg and…oh no you don't!" and the Earth Moving Alchemist slapped his hands together and sent a bolt of alchemic energy shooting towards Envy as the older Homunculus edged towards the fighting duo on the ground. "Hurry up and take care of Wrath and let's go!"

"I want the rest of your body!" wailed Wrath, managing to kick Auric in the stomach with surprising force.

Auric gritted his teeth as he absorbed the impact and thanked his lucky stars that he had been keeping in training with Armstrong. If you could take a punch from the Strong Arm Alchemist, you could take most things thrown at you. "Yeah? Take a number. It's a real pain being this good-looking sometimes. And by the way, the fact that you have my arm and leg is truly disgusting. I'd take them back, but I don't do second-hand body parts."

"That begs the question of what you do do, but we can leave that for another time. Good to see that all your scrapping hasn't dented your ego, Fullmetal," came a familiar sarcastic drawl. Al ducked another swing by Envy and looked up in relief.

"General Mustang! Captain Hawkeye!" He could see a platoon of men fanning out behind them to secure the area. A beefy young grunt put a snarling Envy in a headlock as Hawkeye clapped a gun to the Sin's head.

"One twitch and I'll put this magazine through your skull," she informed him cheerfully. "Please do give me an excuse. I have plenty of spare ammunition."

Auric rolled his eyes at the dramatic entrance. "About time you showed up, bastard General. Getting soft in your old age?"

Roy's lips twitched. "I don't believe so. But you're welcome to help me find out."

That earned him an irritated - if reluctantly amused - glare. "Mind. Out of gutter. Now," ordered Auric. "You're embarrassing the young ones." And indeed, when Roy looked around, Al was looking absolutely mortified, as were many of the younger men, who were scratching the backs of their necks and looking away in embarrassment. While they knew of the General's reputation, it was one thing to hear about it and quite another to see it in action. He shrugged.

"They're going to have to learn about the birds and the bees at some point, Fullmetal - Al's already a father after all."

"So not the point, idiot. Oh…excuse me," and he coolly backhanded the young Sin who had just tried to bite his hand. "No biting! Didn't your mother ever teach you that it's bad manners?"

Wrath's eyes widened in shock. "Your arm!"

"What can I say, I outgrew my old one," Auric said wryly. "You might say that the one you have is from an obsolete model. But I wouldn't worry – you won't be needing it much longer." His face grew serious. "Sorry, kid. You didn't ask to be dragged into all this, and you deserve better, but hopefully you'll find some peace on the other side."

"No!" A panicked cry rent the air, and Sloth was suddenly there, becoming a spinning waterspout as she rushed towards Wrath. "You won't hurt him!"

Time suddenly seemed to slow for all present there, like the last few seconds before a train wreck, when everything becomes awfully, painfully clear as inexorable forces converge.

Al bit his lip and fought back tears. Even though he knew the Homunculus wasn't really his mother, she looked so much like her, and the note of maternal fury in her voice tugged at his heartstrings. Oh mama, I'm so sorry, he thought even as he took a breath and began to bring his hands together.

Roy was already flicking open his lighter as a sad smile graced his lips. "Last I checked, hydrogen and oxygen were both highly inflammable gases. Time to put theory into practice, eh, Fullmetal?"

Auric turned, startled. Why did Sloth's voice call up such odd feelings in his breast? Longing…and regret…and guilt, overwhelming guilt – his hands trembled and Wrath took the opportunity to break free of his grasp. "You're coming with me!" the young Sin screamed, and he brought his right arm and left leg together, resulting in a sudden explosion of alchemic energy that radiated across the sky and seared the retinas of all who saw it. "I will have a soul!"

Stupid, stupid, stupid, thought Auric dazedly. Lost control, lost focus, distracted by all these people…what is going on? Who am I? A jumble of voices seemed to well up inside his mind and he had to fight the urge to cover his ears and scream so that they would be drowned out, would be silent, would stop, please stop, every one of you just stop telling me who you think I am! And then one voice, louder than the rest, more urgent, more desperate, broke through the haze.

"Brother!" How often had he heard that voice calling out to him in entreaty?

And something in Auric snapped as he remembered a day not so long ago, heard the familiar cries of "Auric!" and "Make way for the Gatekeeper!"

Alp. Dead. The Gate had taken him. Al. Dead. The Gate had taken…no, no - he had wrestled Al's soul back from the Gate, hadn't he? He shook his head in confusion as disjointed memories crashed upon each other like waves dashing against the dikes that held them back from the lands beyond. The Gate of Truth. Part of him recognized it and another part of him was completely blank. One part of him raged: how many more times would he have to pay for that mistake? Another part whimpered: if only he could remember what that mistake had been…. And then the obdurate core of his being reasserted itself, clinging to the one thing it knew, knew with a stubborn certainty: every time this Gate showed up, it took Al. He couldn't let it take Al again. Not again.

And so as Wrath activated the array that would force open the Gate of Truth, Auric threw himself at the young Homunculus and clasped the Sin to him, drawing energy from him, letting it pass through his body, bending it to his will – and then a white explosion seemed to take place in his brain as he connected directly to the Gate. He barely heard the scream of pain as the young Homunculus disintegrated in the energy stream,every fibre of his being straining to the task of yanking the other end of the energy stream towards himself, the only way he knew to close a Gatestream without anyone on the other side. He could almost sense a detached consciousness on the other side, an inhuman, curious presence that considered his efforts judiciously…and then suddenly seemed to come to a decision of sorts and reached out and plucked away the floodgates that had been holding back memory….

Every nerve in his body screamed in protest at the sensory overload as memory rushed back into his brain and coursed through his veins. The pain was overwhelming, and spots swam before his eyes as his newly reborn mind struggled to process the sudden unfamiliar wave of physical sensation, but even so, he felt a flare of triumph in his chest. I did it, he thought furiously, I've come back. I've come back! And then just as suddenly as memory had returned, he felt it being drawn back into the Gate, and his consciousness with it. The blonde man struggled against the undertow, flinging out his hands desperately like a drowning man seeking an oar as he convulsed, digging and clawing at the ground as if to hold himself in this plane of existence by brute force, but he knew it was useless as his body began to relax involuntarily. Guess this is it – again – he thought groggily. Hell. At least Al is all right. He turned his head, seeking his brother, but instead his eyes fell on the form of a dark-haired man wreathed in flames. His sight was failing, the images before his eyes beginning to blur, but he knew without a doubt who it was, recognized the person who had always been the source of his strength in the spinning chaos of space and time that had become his existence and his all-too-brief present. And so as his eyes darkened and he felt his soul being pulled into the limbo of the Gate, he reached out, only wanting to see that face one last time, to hear the voice he had missed for so long.

"Roy!"

The man spun around in surprise as he heard his name, eyes widening as they met a hauntingly familiar gaze from which the light was already fading. The look of recognition in those golden eyes pierced his heart like a spear, bringing him to his knees as he reached out despairingly. He didn't know how, or why, or what had just happened, but he knew those eyes, that look, knew the spirit behind them that burned as fiercely as a shooting star in its last moments. "Ed! No!"

"Sorry, Roy…I'm so sorry…." And with that, Edward Elric's head lolled to one side as his chest fell gently in one last soft sigh. His wide-open eyes were dull and vacant, his mouth slack, his face frozen in an expression of mild surprise. From behind him, Roy heard a gut-wrenching cry of agony as Alphonse Elric witnessed the sacrifice of his brother to the Gate of Truth for a second time. And then he fell forward onto his hands, his eyes never leaving Ed's pale face as a tidal wave of self-recrimination and loathing washed out through the gaping hole left in his chest from having his heart ripped out. He had failed to keep Ed safe. Again.

Reach out to me
Call out my name
And I would bring you back again
Today