Chapter two

Ed just stared at him. "What do you mean that you're dead if he isn't born?!" Ed might not be a father as of yet, he barely knew the kid in front of him, he had no urge to make this boy in the first place right now, he couldn't actually imagine having this kid in just four years, and much less as a result of doing THAT with WINRY on his BIRTHDAY as a PRESENT.

But the thought that his future son could die if Mustang didn't get drunk on his inauguration party, and that it would be therefore his own fault for letting that happen, was sickening.

Dex looked down at that. "It was just a stroll with a pram at the right time at the right place so that I got pulled back and thereby didn't get flattened by a car... If they weren't walking with their baby because they didn't have one, then I'd be dead."

Ed felt horror course through him at that. "Why were you there in the first place? If you were young enough for Leopold to be in a pram, then I shouldn't have let you go out on your own." Ed didn't dare include Winry, the thought of them living together and having kids and everything was just too weird.

Winry, however, hit Ed with a wrench. "So you're suggesting that I'd let him leave?!" she demanded, Granny instantly taking over the task of treating the wound, looking slightly like she was enjoying the scene.

"WINRY!" Ed shouted, pressing his hands to his aching head. "I'M NOT SUGGESTING ANYTHING!"

Dex began laughing at the sight of them, before grunting with pain as the needle was pushed through his skin.

Ed paused. If he really was this boy's father, then he ought to comfort him, shouldn't he?

He reached out and took his right hand just as Winry grabbed his left, and Ed blushed, but backing out now wasn't really an option.

Dex gave them a small smile. "You still th-think you can't be parents in four years?"

Ed was blushing. Winry was blushing. Granny was chuckling. Dext was smirking through pained hisses.

"You still didn't answer why we'd let you go alone like that," Ed said, trying not to focus on the very uncomfortable things about this.

Dex looked down. "'Cos April was five and had just got into alchemy and Andrea was two and learning to speak and I was seven and not as dependent on you two as my sisters were and I was seven..." he said quietly, sounding embarrassed.

"...Meaning that you were feeling left out and wanted some attention," Granny said quietly. "I guess it's only natural, so did you run away from home?"

Ed felt his stomach clench at the thought of making his kid feel like he was constantly overlooked. After how his own childhood had been, to think that he hadn't been following Mom's example was horrible.

"No, I was getting pretty good at alchemy and I was sparring some with Dad and so I figured that... That I'd go to the Führer and convince him to let me join the military as the youngest ever recruit they'd had. Even younger than you, and since I kinda knew the Führer, I figured I had a shot because he had been the one to recruit you after all. Like I said, I was seven, my logic was a bit off..." He sighed loudly and let out a pained whimper and squeezed Ed's hand tighter. "I ran in the direction of the Presidential Estate and suddenly found myself stumbling because one of my shoelaces had gone up when I turned around the corner of a building. I fell into the road just as a car came driving around the same corner, when I suddenly felt someone grab me around the waist and save me at the last second. I was put back on my feet by Havoc who was escorting the Führer and his family together with Breda. It was a really odd conversation and I ended up being escorted back to our home after being given a firm "no" from all four of them as well as a plaster on my knee by the Führer of Amestris. It's the stupidest thing I've ever done, so you don't need to tell me that. And you two weren't giving me less attention than my sisters, it was just that going from getting half of the attention to a third of it made me a bit jealous, I guess... Like I said: I was seven."

Ed sighed. That shouldn't have happened, but he wasn't going to reprimand him for something like that when the kid must already have got the talking-to by his father eight years previously. "So you're an alchemist?"

Dex kept looking down. "No. Stopped doing alchemy after that. Stopped sparring too, 'cos you talked to me and I guess I had an epiphany of sorts that I didn't need to just be a second you to be good. It's why it needs to happen like it did... And I don't know the date or the time of day, meaning that you won't actually be certain of when to stop me from leaving." His voice suddenly turned into a whisper. "Plus I don't want to risk having the most important conversation of my life spoiled by being forced upon my Dad to give me, so I really don't wanna tell you more about it than I already have."

Dex ran up the stairs in tears, slumping on to his bed, crying into his pillow.

He heard a sigh and a couple of knocks on his open bedroom door. "Hey, kiddo, mind if we talk?" Dad asked.

Dex didn't even answer. He wasn't good enough for anyone. And now Dad was here to tell him off for what he had done. When he tries to make him proud, he ends up almost getting killed and being told off by the most powerful man in the country. "Yes! I wanna be alone!"

"I'm not really gonna let that happen, you know," Dad said, walking over and gently sitting down next to him, suddenly lying down on his stomach and leaning over Dex with his arms on either side of him, holding himself up, but still resting on top of him. Dad always did that as a way to tell Dex that he wasn't allowed to leave. Then he rested his head on the pillow next to Dex's left cheek. "You know, this position really isn't ideal, so how about we do this..." he began, before he suddenly grabbed Dex and rolled them over. And so Dad was lying on his back and hugging Dex tightly to him where he lay on top of his chest. "...Instead?... I think this is much better, don't you? And you still get to lie on your stomach and everything."

"S-stop it, D-Dad!" Dex said, feeling anger and despair at the same time and he tried to get loose.

"Nope. Not happening. Not until we've talked. So here's the thing I've been wondering about: Do you like alchemy?"

Dex wasn't sure if he should answer truthfully.

Dad seemed to have guessed what he was thinking, and he began stroking Dex's hair, sighing. "Thought so. I've seen the way you work. You understand the concepts, and you're getting good at it, but you're missing the passion. You don't have fun with it, do you?"

"I wanna be like you, Dad, and make you proud."

Dad chuckled slightly. "Well, kiddo, if you haven't noticed, I'm not an alchemist anymore, am I? I gave that up in favour of my family and loved ones. If you don't wanna be an alchemist, then don't be one. Because I'm proud of you. I'm so very proud of you. And I want you to do what you want and like. So what do you want to do? What would you have fun with?"

Dex stopped struggling and just sank into the hug. What did he want to do? He liked to sometimes go upstairs and make noises with the piano. He enjoyed the sound, the feeling it gave him. It was like the rush that Dad described from doing alchemy. The power that surged through his fingers through the sounds he produced. It was like magic. "Can I getta learn to play the piano?"

Dad chuckled again. "Thought you'd say that. We've been looking into piano teachers for the past few weeks already. We finally found one yesterday who can come here in three days. And there's a guy coming in tomorrow to tune the piano."

Dex paused. "You knew? But I thought you were too busy with April and Andrea?"

"Dexter Rockbell Elric: your mom and me have been listening to you playing in the attic for the past three months. We just wanted to make sure that it wasn't just a passing phase, but it's not. Because you get that smile on your face every time you do it. That's your alchemy. That's your automail. So you choose your own path."

"So I don't hafta be an alchemist to make you proud?"

"Of course not! I'm proud of you no matter what, so how about we go upstairs and make some noise?"

They had spent two hours straight as Dex had sat there on Dad's lap as they had made a very odd piece of music together.

Dex felt another tear run down his cheek. Dad had to be really worried by now.

Roy sat in his office, reading through a sheet of paper from a large stack of documents to prepare for a very pointless meeting that was in three hours.

And even if he had read through this particular page ten times now, the information just didn't seem to stick at all. His mind could only remember about three out of every twenty words or so. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to documents to go up in smoke, preferably by his own hand.

But Hawkeye would shoot him if he did.

The phone on his desk rang, and he grabbed it in hopes of getting the glorious news that the meeting had been cancelled. "General Mustang speaking."

"Sir, Alphonse Elric is calling from an outside line, do you accept the call?"

Roy was surprised. He had given the Elrics an emergency code in order to contact him in case of an emergency, but he hadn't exactly expected them to have run into trouble after just six months. "Yes, of course, put him through."

There was a click. "Hello? General?" came the youngest Elric's voice through the phone. Roy was still sort of amused by how Al's voice had changed after he had got back into his body. He finally sounded like a teenager. Last time he'd heard from them had been a month ago when Roy had been promoted to Brigadier General, and Alphonse had decided to send him a postcard with his congratulations and a box of chocolates. Edward had sent him a book on how to care for old horses.

"Yes, hello, Alphonse, is there some wrong?" Roy asked.

"Uhm, if you could come out here to Resembool, then that would be great. We could really use the help of an extra alchemist that we can trust, because we've met someone who have some theories on time-travel alchemy and he's really shy and doesn't want to go to the city. If you could find any information the military has available on the subject and come here as soon as possible, then that would be great, because our guest is in danger."

Roy paused. "Alphonse, hang on for a second."

"Of course, sir," Al said urgently.

Roy waved his hand at Hawkeye and then used it to cover the mouthpiece. "Hawkeye, get me any available research documents on time-travel alchemy and look up when the next train to Resembool leaves. The Elrics have run into someone who could be in considerable danger and need backup. We can't trust just anyone and I'm the nearest available alchemist."

And I might just get out of the meeting this way.

And if the theories were sound, which it very much sounded like, then this was highly important. Because if people could actually manipulate time, then this was in fact a matter of national security.

"Yes, sir," Hawkeye said, her eyes betraying her alarm at the thought of someone holding that much power.

Roy wasn't at the meeting three hours later, but in a compartment on the train that would reach Resembool in twelve hours.

"There you are, Dexter, all done," Granny announced, now done fastening the bandages on his arm. "How does that feel?"

"Okay, I guess. Could I have something to drink?" Dex asked her. He still felt his stomach clench that Granny was actually right there. He'd missed her. He'd missed her a lot for these past four years. "And thanks for patching me up." Then he sighed, pulling the now empty lollipop stick out of his mouth. He was fighting a fierce inner battle and then he just leant forwards and pulled her into a hug, not wanting to care about how she didn't actually know him, or that he was basically being pretty creepy.

But he'd missed her and he'd missed her hugs.

Den growled at him, probably for "attacking" his mistress.

Granny put her arms around him. "Knock it off, Den," she said sharply, before her tone softened in a kind of curious sternness. "You know, he's worse with you than even Hohenheim."

Dex just closed his eyes, feeling his stomach clench as well as a few new tears.

"Yeah, I remember that," Dad suddenly said. "Uh, have I told you about him, Dex?"

"Yeah. You told me two years ago. I know all about the Promised Day and the stuff surrounding it," Dex told him.

"Oh, good. Well, I guess it makes sense that he's reacting like he does because you haven't actually been born yet. He can tell that there's something off about you being here, just like there was something off about Hohenheim. But he'll calm down."

"Good."

"I'll go get you something for the pain," Mom said, leaving the room in awkward silence.

Dad was the first one to speak up. "Uh, so ... uhm, sorry about nearly strangling you till you blacked out. Does it hurt?"

Dex knew that lying was pretty pointless, but he still felt awkward about it. And even if he understood it and didn't blame him, he still didn't exactly like the way that he now knew what it was like to have Dad strangle him. "A bit. I don't exactly blame you, though... I guess my entrance was a bit alarming and everybody keep telling us how similar you and me are. After all, we both thought the other was Envy, you just had a bit more of a muscular and physical advantage."

"Dammit, you're trying to make me feel bad, aren't you?" Dad said with a sort of annoyed, awkward chuckle.

Dex smiled slightly, hugging Granny tighter with his uninjured. She just began stroking his back in response. "Kinda. Your dog could have just messed up my first gig, call it equivalent exchange for emotional and physical trauma."

Granny began chuckling at that. "I guess we'll have to put the empty patient's cot inside with your father and uncle."

"Oh, yeah, thanks," Dex told her.

"Granny, are you two seriously conspiring against me and Al?" Dad asked.

"I'm not very keen on putting my great-grandson in a room where he has no protection from whomever it was that brought him here. He is in a definite level of danger, so I'd rather have him under your guard."

Dex pulled out of the hug at that, dread filling him. "What if I die here?! What if we can't get me back?! What's gonna happen?! Because if this is the past and I can't get back, then that means that I'm probably dead in four years because I never grew up together with an older me!" He stood up, staring about him wildly. "I can't... I can't die here! I can't stay here! I have a family waiting for me!" He stared straight at Dad. "What if it takes months?! Years even?! I need to get back!"

"Hey, Dex, it's okay," Dad said, reaching forwards and grabbing his shoulders as Granny began packing up the medical supplies. "We're gonna get you back home, we're Elrics after all. We make the impossible possible, right?"

Dex gave a weak nod. "Y-yeah... And Dad and Mom's never gonna give up. Or Uncle Al and Aunt May."

"General Mustang's coming with the Farmer's Train tonight," Uncle Al suddenly said as he walked back inside the living room.

Dex looked at him. "What's that?"

Dad smiled slightly. "It's a local nickname for the express train for the Eastern countryside. It's the Farmer's Train because it arrives here at three in the morning, letting the farmers arriving to walk back to their homes and change before eating their breakfasts in time to start their workdays. That means that come morning, we'll have three minds working on getting you back home."

Dex nodded and watched as Mom returned with painkillers in one hand and a glass of orange fizzy drink in her other and handed them to him. Dex swallowed them gratefully, not failing to notice the awkward tension in the air, especially between Mom and Dad. "Hey, I'll let you guys think for a bit and just let things sink in... Thanks for the help..." Then he looked down at Granny. "Uh, you have that piano, right?"

She smiled at him at that. "It's down in the basement. I'm afraid that it might need some tuning, but it makes enough noise to work. However, I don't think you should use that arm of yours."

Dex shrugged. "If Dad can get two automail limbs at the same time and be done with rehabilitation in a year, then I can play the piano with a dog bite. You fixed it well and the bandaging helps a lot. Besides, distractions always work wonders, and playing the piano is a favourite in my experience." And so he walked off and downstairs, finding that beloved instrument of his, before he sat down in front of it. He lifted the wooden lid covering the keys, breathing in the scent. He always had this ritual when sitting down by a piano. He would remove the lid, then take about twenty seconds to just breathe, relaxing his shoulders, taking in the scent with closed eyes and just imagining that in this entire room, there were just three things: himself, the piano and the stool he was sitting on. Everything else was just mist. And then he'd begin running his fingers over the keys, testing out their sound, still keeping that mental picture.

And then he'd play.

He didn't fail to notice that the piano was in need of some tuning, but it worked all the same. All the keys worked even if a couple of them were a bit slow and needed to be pushed down properly to make sound, but he took notice of which ones they were, creating a mental map. His arm hurt, but not enough for it to stop him from playing. Causing the pain and being in control of it yourself was better than when others caused it even if you trusted them. Because the fear was much less present.

And so he picked a piece from his mental library, placed his hands on the keys, and then he was just merging with the piano.

Al found himself to be constantly enjoying the awkwardness between Ed and Winry. He was worried and at a loss and felt himself blushing every time he thought about May, but Brother and Winry seemed to have lost their ability to speak to each other completely, too afraid to even make eye contact.

"What did you tell Mustang? You didn't really tell him that my son from the future has travelled through time, right?" Ed asked.

"No, but I kind of made it sound like there's an alchemist who may or may not have some sound theories on time-travel alchemy," Al told him. "It's a lie, I know that, but we'll actually be the ones to find out how to travel through time by alchemy once we're getting him back."

"To think that it's even possible..." Winry began in an awed and fearful whisper. "I mean, travelling through time... Imagine how much power one would hold if you could change history... You're going to destroy the research once Dex is back home, right?"

"We'll have to, that's too dangerous to keep around," Al agreed immediately.

The sound of piano keys being tested out was suddenly audible, and they all paused to listen. "He's got a concert in two months, that was what he said, right?" Winry asked.

"Yeah," Ed said. "You think he's any good? He seemed pretty nervous and didn't want to talk about it much. I guess he's trying to calm his nerves by at least practising for when he gets home."

Then there was silence. "I guess he's finding the right keys," Winry said.

"...Hang on, he said first gig, that means paying audience, doesn't it?" Al suddenly said.

Ed suddenly lit up. "Al, I bet you five thousand cens that he's a prodigy."

Al looked at him in shock. "I'm not betting against my future nephew!"

Then they all went quiet as the playing suddenly began.

...And just listened to the music for five minutes straight with their mouths open. Dex was a prodigy and then some.

Then Granny began laughing. "Well, Ed, Winry, it seems like you two have produced another kid who's going to be famous before sixteen. You better get him back home in time for that concert of his."

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