Ch. 10: Equations

"What the hell are you doing here old man?"

From across the room Hohenheim's face fell. "That's no way to speak to your father!"

Ed's response was a grunt as he moved to retrieve his bags left on the steps outside.

"Start acting like one and maybe I'll treat you like one," Ed called, shutting the door and moving to the kitchen where he began putting things away.

Hohenheim merely smiled and moved to help Ed unpack. "Where is Alfons today?"

"He's at some convention for the day," Ed replied offhandedly, scowling at the bottle of milk he was transporting to the ice box.

Hohenheim hummed in understanding and voiced, "I'm sure he will enjoy it then. And, it will give us a chance to catch up. Isn't that wonderful?"

Narrowing his eyes, Ed frowned at his smiling father.

"What happened?" Ed asked suspiciously. Hohenheim didn't visit often, but when he did it was usually bad news he carried.

"Can't I just visit my son?" the bearded man tried, his voice lined with innocence that held no sway over Ed.

"No."

The man eyed his stubborn son for a moment before finally giving in. "Fine then, lets just get it out and over with."

Ed couldn't help the dark feelings that settled over him as he tried to prepare himself for the information he was about to receive. The two had decided quite awhile ago that they worked better separately, mostly because Hohenheim liked to keep most his secrets to himself and Ed found he didn't want to be around him extended periods of time. While he had mostly forgiven him for being gone so much throughout his life, there still was the slight resentment for making his mother worry.

He guessed Hohenheim still held a certain amount of guilt over his past. Ed knew he would, and did, and therefore supplied that his father was probably not that different.

In the end they were all they had; the last physical evidence of a life they used to have. And they would work together till the end to try and get back what they lost. Even if they did things separately, they kept in touch and Ed knew if needed, his father would drop everything to help him out of any jam.

After helping himself to a cup of coffee, Hohenheim took a seat in the other room and Ed followed suit, sitting in a chair opposite the bearded man.

"I still haven't been able to locate him because I still have no idea what form he may be in. However…," he paused, setting his cup aside and leaning his chin against his interlocked hands. "Now there are even larger problems rising."

"What now?" Ed asked wearily, his face falling.

"The alters." came the blunt reply and Ed stiffened. "I've been seeing more of them. Their frequency of appearance is increasing, and this worries me."

"Who…?" Ed prompted, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

Hohenheim leaned back to scratch his beard thoughtfully. "My most recent encounter was with an alternate King Bradley, though, I must say this fellow was more peace loving thankfully."

Even so, Ed thought with a frown, I don't think I could trust someone that resembled a monster like King Bradley.

"Well who cares? They are just look-alikes, it doesn't matter does it?" Ed tried hopefully, even while deep down, he doubted his own words.

"Look-alikes that are appearing more often is evidence that it does matter, Edward." Hohenheim corrected, shaking his head. "Between us, we have encountered nine alters, half of which we saw this year alone."

Ed sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Ten." he amended before looking away.

"Ten?" Hohenheim blinked, his mouth tugging down into a frown at the news.

"I sort of…saw another alter just this past week."

Ed hadn't wanted to breach this topic with his father, at least not while he was still trying to deal with it himself. Knowing his father, he'd want to know everything. Of course, he therefore wasn't all that shocked at his father's next question, though he couldn't say he was happy to hear it.

"Oh? Who was it this time?"

For a brief moment, Ed selfishly wanted to lie, to say it was someone else, but then the moment passed and his rational self knew he had to tell the truth.

"Winry." he said quietly, but he was happy to hear evenness in his voice.

Looking over to him, Hohenheim's eyes softened as he nodded in understanding. He could remember how awkward it had been when they first met Alfons, and no doubt Ed would have had similar trouble meeting a girl he had been friends with all of his life.

"Ah, I see. And what's her story?"

Ed shrugged and toed the rug beneath him with the his boot. "She's working in the pub nearby. Al and I eat there a lot, and one night she was just there."

"Is she originally from Munich?" Hohenheim questioned and Ed frowned in confusion.

"No, I don't think so. Why?"

"It's one thing for the alters to just live here originally, but for them to come from other places, even other countries, to this place is too much of a coincidence."

"…what are you saying?" Ed wondered, furrowing his brows as his mind tried to put everything together.

"I'm saying that they are being drawn to us. Things happen to lead them to where we are." Hohenheim replied, and Ed couldn't help but note a certain weariness about the man.

"Why? Why would they be...drawn to us?"

"I…am not exactly sure, but I do have a theory." the man began, pushing up his glasses before starting. "This world is connected to Amestris, but usually both places work independently of each other. Or at least they did work independently. That was until Dante and I began experimenting with the Gate. I'm sure you remember when you saw the Gate for the first time?"

Ed nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, how could I forget? I saw so many things, most of them I didn't understand at all."

"Images," Hohenheim agreed, closing his eyes briefly as if remembering them. "Images we could not understand because they were not of our own world. And there was a pull, wasn't there? A desire to know the truth."

With a shudder Ed nodded again while the memories made his stomach knot painfully. He felt nauseous as an image of a door and hollow eyed creatures presented itself in his mind.

"The truth was behind the Gate…" he whispered, his yes locked on the rug below.

"Yes." Hohenheim agreed, his voice calm and under control and Ed couldn't help but envy him. "The truth behind those images was behind the Gate because they were images of this world. It wasn't the kind of understanding we were looking for, was it? Learning about a different world is much different than having real knowledge. But, that really is beside the point." Hohenheim finished with a lighter tone and Ed couldn't stop himself from choking on his coffee.

"Would you get to the point?!"

"Oh, of course! As I was saying, we know the two worlds are connected. But then, we moved through the Gate and we began to affect this world. Think of it as a giant equation that is usually balanced. On one side of the equal sign is Amestris, the other this world. We were two variables subtracted from Amestris and added to the other side. That would cause an imbalance in the equation, and it would then try to equalize itself however it could. This world is trying to compensate for us and that's why we are encountering the alters. This world is trying to make itself resemble Amestris."

In his mind Ed could picture a giant equation with Amestris on one said and the Earth on the other. He could picture himself subtracted from one said and crossing to the other side through the Gate that kept the two sides equalized.

"So Amestirs would be affected as well?" Ed realized with a start, looking worriedly to his father.

Hohenheim rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "Probably, though I can't say how it is being affected. But it seems this side is heading towards a dire future, which may be caused by us."

"You mean the war? But you can't mean we are causing a war!" Ed exclaimed, his eyes wide as he wished it to be untrue.

It can't be…we couldn't have caused that much damage!

"Indirectly, I believe we are. We are sending this world into chaos just by our presence. And whats worse, Amestris could face a similar fate from our absence. Don't you see? We sent everything unbalanced."

"It's not like we aren't trying to get back! What will happen if there isn't a way? What if it's impossible to get back? How will the balance be attained?" the boy cried, rising to his feet while his clenched fists shook.

Hohenheim shrugged calmly and replied, "The deletion of the problem would set things straight. Either we find a way back to Amestris, or…"

"We die." Ed supplied, his eyes darkening and his shoulders slumping hopelessly.

Why couldn't anything go right for him? Why did he always cause such problems for everyone?

"Hmm…luckily, this is just a theory!" Hohenheim brightened with a smile, his eyes crinkling.

Ed just shook his head and replied in a dry tone, "A theory that is probably right."

"Probably."

"How long do you think we have?" Ed finally asked, slumping down to his seat once more.

"It's hard to say at this point, but if a war does start then there is a good chance we will die anyways, unless we leave the country."

"There could be war in Amestris too." Ed pointed out with a shake of his head. "I should have just died like I had intended to. My life for Al's body and there wouldn't be any more problems."

Hohenheim looked sadly at his son. It wasn't something any father wanted to hear from their children. Their own child wishing they were dead…

"I imagine there is a reason for you still being alive Edward." he voiced softly but truthfully.

Ed snorted and shook his head in disbelief. "Pssh, yeah, to slowly destroy both worlds because I'm in the wrong place? Death would have been more kind."

"Death is rarely kind, Ed," Hohenheim said sternly. "It's not hopeless for you. I vowed to do everything to send you back, and I will. Did you ever think there could be forces working on the other side trying to get you back as well?"

"It would only cause more problems. I'd rather they just think I'm dead." Ed replied flatly and Hohenheim smiled.

"Alphonse can be just as stubborn as you when he wants to be, and I doubt he will believe you are dead until he sees a body. There's also Roy Mustang, who is very influential, don't make that face! Whether you agree or not he is a smart man who has no doubt been investigating the incident."

"Alphonse shouldn't worry about me, he should look after Winry. And Mustang, he only cares about being Fuhrer so I doubt he'd lose any sleep over me being gone. Just one less thing in his way." Ed argued, stubbornly wanting believe a man like Roy Mustang would give a care over his absence.

"You never know. The solution to getting us home could already be in motion, we just don't know it yet. Until things become clearer, we need to keep working like we have been."

"And what do we do about the alters?" Ed asked, an eyebrow raised in question.

"Not much we can do. I'm guessing they will continue to be drawn to us so we will cross paths with them more often."

"I've had too many run-ins with this other Winry as it is! I don't want it be become even more frequent!"

Hohenheim chuckled and placed his hand on Ed's shoulder. "Winry has always been headstrong. If this alter is anything like the real thing there's nothing you can do short of fleeing the country to get away from her."

"…Thanks for being no help at all!" the boy yelled sarcastically while his father just smiled.

"Of course. Well, I'll continue my search in the meantime. If her hear anything that you think is related to him-"

Flippantly, Ed waved a hand. "Yeah yeah, I know, I'll contact you the usual way."

"Good boy." Hohenheim replied, affectionately patting his son on the head as the boy waved him off. "I'm off, I'll check back her in a few weeks."

"Fine, whatever." Ed grumped as he tried to flatten his ruffled hair.

"Oh, and Ed?" Hohenheim called from the doorway causing the boy to look over. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

Face reddening Ed waved a fist in the air and yelled back, "I plan to do the opposite of what you would do!"

Hohenheim chuckled and waved, and then he was gone, leaving Ed watching the wood on the back of the door.

"Stupid old man…be careful."

A/N: Really sorry for the wait, but I hope the chapter was ok. I hope its easy to picture the whole equation thing. Its sorta how I view the two worlds and the gate, and it's very important for the story. I of course couldn't leave out our beloved Hohenheim of light. Oh, and about him, well, you'll just have to wait and see unless you can figure it out. Actually I imagine most will know right away, I'm not very good at being subtle /sigh/..

For the next chapter it will be back to Winry, though I haven't decided what all exactly will happen. So just stay tuned.

Thanks for the reviews and keep em coming!

--Miss Soupy