Chapter Four

"What was the exchange?"

Ed stared up at his father blankly, wondering why of the people in his life, the man didn't spark even a semblance of emotion in him.

Truth had warned him that becoming a living homunculus would dull his emotions to those that weren't his family, but he had expected Hohenheim to be one of the people that didn't. The man had always invoked strong emotions in him, from hatred to abandonment, his heart aching every time he thought of both of his parents and the times before the man had walked out of their life and he and Al had committed their taboo.

Now, as they stood in the man's study, there was nothing, not even a spark of the hatred he was used to whenever he saw the man.

He tilted his head, then sighed.

"There were multiple terms, mostly from Truth, not me."

Amber eyes, much like his own, drifted toward his arms, taking in the lack of steel, and thin wiry muscle.

"What happened at the Gate?"
Al and Winry looked at him as well, the young couple having been silent as they watched the stared down between the two elder Elric males.

"Brother?" Al asked when it seemed Ed wouldn't respond.

Warmth flared in the homunculus' chest. "I tried to give up my alchemy to get Al's body back…Truth refused. Instead, it said we had been wrongly charged for your crimes," he shot his father a look, "so it offered an alternative. Al could have his body back if me, Al and five others were sent back to the past to relive our lives and try to prevent the war. I got to keep my arm."

Winry from and looked at his clothed legs, her blue eyes watering.

"What about your leg?"

He shrugged, unrepentant for his actions. "Still automail."

Hohenheim frowned. "Who were the five others?"

"You and Winry, obviously. Probably Riza, Roy, and Jean."

"Your team?"

Ed nodded, his heart clenching as he thought of the happenings of the moment.

His husband was stuck in a war that still haunted his dreams and he was stuck in a child's body, in a house full of ghosts and bad memories. The markings of the philosopher's stone within him burned on his skin, even though they were invisible to all but him. All the same, he couldn't find it in himself to regret what he did. He could only hope that Roy and the others would forgive him for making them relive the trauma they'd only just started to heal from.

His father stared down at him, lips pursed, then sighed.

"What else?"

"What else?" He parroted and the man nodded.

"What were the other terms?"

"There weren't any."

All three of the other time-travelers scowled at his blatant lie, but he didn't care. As long as Al and Roy were safe, he would do whatever he needed to do.

They didn't need to know the gritty details.

His eyes flashed in the low light of his father's office, and the philosopher stone's marking burned against his skin.

It was worth it.

All of it was worth it.

*/*

Roy,

By the time you get this your memories should be fully melded with your past self's. If so I just want to say, I'm so sorry. I just wanted Truth sent us back, that was the price that I paid to get Alphonse's body back. Me, you, Al, Winry, Havoc and Hawkeye. It was selfish and I should regret it but I...I don't. We have a second chance, another chance to save those we lost. To prevent Father from ever rising. I know you and the others have just started to heal from Ishval, and it hurts me more than you'll ever know to be the reason you have to be in that place again. I can only hope you forgive me. Stay strong.

I love you.

E.E

Onyx eyes softened as they took in the elegant scrawl written before him, almost able to hear his lover's voice as he read. The letter couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

He'd been drowning in this hell, surrounded by his living nightmares, and only Maes and Hawkeye had kept him from putting his service pistol to his head and pulling the trigger. That, and the belief that if he did, his angry pipsqueak of a husband would find him and bring him back for the express purpose of kicking his ass.

Reading the words on the paper, almost able to hear the sorrow and pain in them, he felt absolved. Like he could breathe.

Ed was safe.

He was here. He was safe

And he was hiding something.

He'd never seen the Gate, had never performed human transmutation, but he knew from the tales his husband had told him late at night that there was more a price than just reliving their lives and he would figure it out.

The sound of gunfire sounded outside his tent and he sighed, flinching at the screams that followed.

As soon as he left this godforsaken war.

Folding the letter, he pressed a chaste kiss to the paper and tucked it into his uniform jacket, hoping that he would live long enough to write his lover back.

It only occurred to him, as he was leaving the tent that the age difference was more pronounced now, and that his lover was a child once more.

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the thought.

*/*

Screaming.

The sound rang throughout their small home awakening nearly all of the occupants in a panic.

Only one of them recognized the sound.

Brother!

Al shot up in his bed and looked over at his elder brother's to find the blonde asleep and thrashing violently. Sweat dotted the older male's skin as he screamed his agony to the world in a way he hardly ever did when he was awake.

Their bedroom door burst open, and their parents entered in a panic just as Ed shot awake.

His gold eyes were wide, but hollow, the scream stopping abruptly in the wake of his awareness.

"B-brother?" Al called, trembling slightly. Years had passed since his brother had sounded like that in one of his nightmares and he had only ever seen his brother's eyes so empty after Nina's death.

Slowly, as if moving through a sludge, the blonde looked up at him. Then around him, his gaze landing on their parents as if he didn't know them.

And didn't care to.

"Sorry."

"Wh-what was that?" Their mother whispered, teary eyes wide as she observed her eldest son. Al felt his heart clench.

Trisha Elric was one of Ed's biggest demons, especially as he'd been the only one to see the abomination their failed attempt at human transmutation had wrought. He'd been the one to kill the beast and clean it up before Al woke in the armor that had served as his prison and salvation every year afterwards.

A brittle smile crossed Ed's lips, so fake that everyone in the room nearly flinched away from him.

"Just...a really bad dream."

Liar.

Al looked away, wondering how much longer his brother would lie to them and why he had bothered to do so in the first place.

A sudden realization struck him.

Since their mother's death in their original lifetime, Ed had only ever lied to him to protect him and somehow he knew this was no different.

So, what was Ed protecting them from?

And why?

TBC...