Disclaimers and Warnings: My name is not Hiromu Arakawa; therefore, I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters, although I wish I owned Ed!!! This fic is pure Edxwin and some hints of RoyxRiza if you don't like the pairings don't read!
Welcome home?
The phone pierced the silence in Riza's home. 'What now?' Riza thought catching the phone in mid ring.
"Hello, Hawkeye speaking."
"Riza you need to change your greeting. How are you?" A familiar voice said.
"Roy Mustang, do not try to sweet talk me. Please. What is it?" Riza asked rolling her eyes. Blake Hayate walked up to Riza and sat down. Riza scratched the pup's head turning her focus from Roy's flirtatious attitude.
"There have been sightings of Alchemy on Jack Island. I pulled a few strings and we get to go together." Roy said ignoring Riza's complaint of him sweet-talking. He smirked.
"Isn't Jack Island where the Elrics were sent when Izumi was training them?" Riza asked smiling as Black Hayate looked up at her.
"Yeah, get your uniform on and meet me in Dublith." Roy said hanging up before Riza could answer. The hum of an open line rang in Riza's ears, she sat on her bed. In one hour she was waiting at the old dock, the moonlight glistening on the lake.
"Beautiful, huh?" The voice made Riza jump.
"Roy!" She said angrily tugging at his uniform. The two officers got in the rickety old boat and set off for Jack Island. It was not long before they reached the island. The two walked for a while, when Roy spun Riza around. She tried to pull away but the stubborn Colonel would not let her out of his grasp. Roy pushed her against a near by tree and gazed into her red-brown eyes. She began to blush, so did he. They stayed in this position for a while, gazing into each other's eyes.
"You know, you sure are beautiful in the moonlight." Roy said smirking. Riza looked down, and blushed a bright crimson. Roy put his hand on her chin and pulled her into a kiss. He was quite surprised when she kissed back. The kiss was held for what seemed like hours and when the two finally separated, Riza punched Roy lightly.
"Sweet talker." Was all she said; then she regained her composure and continued walking. Riza gasped at what she saw. It was the center of the island, but there were three figures lying on the ground.
"What is it Riz…" Roy gasped also. One of the figures stood up, he had a familiar outline, the hair was uncombed and long, two pieces stood up, and the moonlight hit him just so you could see his eyes. The boy's eyes were purple, a homunculus? No it couldn't be. Another figure stood up, this one a bit shorter, and a familiar antenna stood up. Riza ran in front of the Colonel and hugged the last figure to stand up. This one had a red coat.
"Alphonse!" Riza called. "Edward." She said looking to the next figure, "and Wrath." Riza finished rubbing the last figure's head. Then that old familiar voice was heard.
"What's Colonel Sarcasm doing here?"
"Edward?" Roy asked not hesitating to give Ed a 'manly hug'. (The kind where they barley touch bodies and smack each other on the back.) Ed smiled and said,
"I didn't know you loved me, Colonel." Roy smacked Ed atop his head.
"You look unusually taller." Roy smirked.
"What? You think I'm a runt. I'm nineteen now!" Ed said angrily.
"You are no where near as tall as you imagined you would be. Remember, brother back in Xenotime when you thought Russel was nineteen?" Al asked grinning. Ed turned up his nose about to say something smart when he remembered what Russel had said that really ticked him off.
-----
Ed and Al get in the basement and begin to go over the plan. The door swings open and two boys stand there. One looking angry.
"By any chance are you the ones…" Al tries to ask.
"Stealing our names?" Ed finishes loudly.
"I take it that means you are the real Ed, in the suit." Russel says nonchalantly. Al points to himself.
"Me?"
"No, you dolt! I'm Ed, not him! Why does everybody always think that?" Ed asks angrily waving his hands in the air.
"Huh? So you're the older brother?" Fletcher, the younger of the false Elrics, asks.
"RIGHT!" Ed screams as Fletcher hides behind his older brother.
"Try to tone it down a notch," Russel says smirking. Ed snarls. "Or the gunman will realize you're here. How bizarre, the real younger brother wears a suit of armor to protect himself. It's hard to believe you're only fourteen." Russel says walking towards the real brothers.
"How do you know so much about us?" Al asks threateningly. Russel stops in front of Ed.
"You wanna start somethin' with me?" Ed asks, fists clenched.
"No I don't want to fight with you, Ed so why don't you turn around and go home? And leave us to take care of things around here." Russel asks still smirking.
"That's not the way you beg someone to do something." Ed points to the ground, not taking his eyes of Russel. "On your knees." Ed commands. The two stare at each other as Ed starts repeatedly pointing to the ground. "I said get down on the ground!" Russel shrugs,
"What? So we can see eye to eye. Surely you must be used to people looking down on you." Ed's face gets fire red. He attempts to punch Russel numerous times but keeps missing, Russel does not stop smiling. The two fight and the real Elrics are soon kicked out. Ed and Al are sitting on a moonlit hill.
"You know, I wonder what those brother's real names are. Or if they're really even brothers at all. And I wonder if the older brother is actually much older than you are or…" Al doesn't finish his sentence, before he is punched over by Ed.
"Size doesn't mean anything!" Ed says angrily.
------
"Who are you calling a super midget that makes you want to step on him?!" Ed asked coming back to the present. Replacing Al's face with Russel's.
"What a spaz," Wrath said, pointing out Ed's slow remark. "It's almost as bad as when you saw me for the first time.
------
"Is someone out there?" Izumi, the Elric's teacher, asks looking up from the Elrics toward the bushes.
"What are you talking about? Of course there is, someone was out there when we were kids too." Ed pointed out. The brothers had previously been to the island when they were first starting Alchemy training.
"We figured it was just the same guy in the mask as before." Alphonse pointed out. There had been a masked man attacking them on the island when they were kids, claiming it was his island.
"Impossible, since I was the brute in the mask back then." Mason, a worker at Izumi's butcher shop and the man that brought Izumi on the boat, replied.
"Wait a minute that was you the whole time?" Ed asked screaming.
"Yes, I sent him to make sure you didn't die." Izumi said coolly.
"He nearly killed us!" Ed screamed.
"It looks like we don't have time to discuss this right now." Izumi said looking toward the bushes. A boy dressed in the same clothes as Ed had appeared, smiling.
"You really don't know who this is?" Al asked inquisitively.
"Trust me, if we were gonna send someone here with you, it wouldn't be a kid. I would have just come to look after you myself like last time." Mason explained shaking his head.
"Look after us? You tried to kill us!" Al said in a squeaky voice.
"I was just doing my job," Mason said quickly. "Izumi told me to toughen you up a little bit." Ed got mad.
"Nearly dieing of starvation and getting our asses beat was supposed to toughen us up?"
"How can you do that to kids? What kind of monster are you?" Al asked still in the high-pitched voice.
"Stop pitching a fit about the past and think of someone other than yourselves!" Izumi said after a few minutes of silence.
"Yes ma'am," Ed and Al said in unison. Izumi began to walk toward the bushes.
"Teacher?" Ed asked worried about what the wild boy would do.
"He's just a kid; he probably climbed in someone's boat and drifted here on accident. I'm sure his parents are looking for him. I'll find out." Izumi said she then began to cough up blood. (At that time, neither of the brothers knew why she was doing that. Turns out that's what killed her, internal problems.) The wild boy panics and bends down to get a rock. He then transmutes it to his hand; both Elric brothers look toward the blue light.
"Brother, that light!" Al points out.
"That kid's an alchemist!" Ed claims getting up and running towards the kid.
"Ed, wait!" Izumi calls after him; however, Ed tackles the boy to find out some answers. The boy cries out attempting to push Ed off him. Ed is too persistent and pins him down harder.
"Listen, you!" Ed screams grabbing the boy's right fist. The boy hits Ed in the head, with what seems like a rock. "You turned your own fist into stone?" Ed asks realizing that's what the boy was transmuting. The boy continues to struggle. Another transmutation light, this time the boy's clothes turn into leaves, leaving him naked and shivering; the stone falls off his hand too. "What just happened? His clothes!" Ed proclaims stumbling backwards. The little boy begins to cry.
"What are you doing, he's just a kid." Izumi says putting her jacket around him.
"But he's an Alchemist!" Ed says, confused. "What if somebody sent him here to spy on us?"
"Spy on us? Don't you think you think you're being a little bit paranoid, Ed?" Izumi asked taking the kid into her arms.
The flashback comes forward to when Wrath goes bad
The boy had been told by Envy what he truly was, a homunculus. A homunculus is a being with no soul, a fake human.
"Either because of love or out of foolish curiosity, human transmutations are attempted. And when these attempts all backfire, a different life is created. A being that has its own body and mind, but no soul. That is how the damned are born. That is a homunculus!" The boy states, with a different voice now, he sounds more sinister and mature. "I remember it, I can picture it all, the only thing I could do was sit and wait in the absolute darkness inside the gate, I just kept waiting, and waiting, all the while my body was slowly growing, and one day, an idiot dropped by! He had already given his leg and now he had stuck his arm across the threshold, he was screaming and crying 'Give me back my little brother'! I took his limbs for myself. After a long time, I was able to open the gate with my newfound power. And finally came out of the darkness. "This can't be," Ed stated, taken aback by this kid. "Thank you, for the arm and leg! Thank you, for this incomplete life! Nothing can match my gratitude. Not even my hate. Now, give me your entire body. Once I have that I'll be a real human." The boy finishes this and fights with Ed and Al. The boy manages to escape. On the beach Sloth, one of the seven Homunculi, speaks of the boy's name, Wrath
------
Wrath clears his throat, bringing the other two back to the present, Wrath begins to imitate Ed's voice
"But he's an Alchemist…"
"Shut up I was curious!" Ed said angrily
"Yeah, just a little too curious." Al said taunting Ed's stubborn curiosity. Ed snorted again and began to walk toward the lake. He was tired of Crap-hole Island, a name the brothers had come up with while they were kids.
"Hey shorty where are ya going?" Roy asked forcing a smirk. "Shorty?! What else do you want to call me: a half-pint-bean-sprout midget?! I'm still growing you Pyro idiot! Or are you calling me a mousy little pipsqueak!? Who did you say was a super-ultra short kid?! Who did you call an ultra hyperactive midget?! Who did you call miniature size?! Who did you call a shorty who's so small that he's barely visible and hard to target?! Who did you call a shorty that has to be looked through a magnifying glass to actually be seen?! Who are you calling a bean?! Who are you calling a super midget that makes you want to step on him?! Or, I'm so small that you can't see me amongst the grains of sand. DON'T CALL ME SMALL! I'LL BREAK DOWN YOUR FEET AND STICK THEM TO YOUR HEAD! WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MICRO-SIZED HALF-PINT WHO DIDN'T GROW UP BECAUSE HE DOESN'T DRINK MILK?! WHO ARE YOU CALLING THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS' TINIEST SHORTY!?! WHO ARE YOU SAYING WOULD LOSE TO A HEIGHT CONTEST TO A FLEA? ARE YOU COMPARING ME TO A BUG TRYING TO ESCAPE THE IMPENDING WRATH OF YOUR SHOE, BUT DOESN'T DIE BECAUSE WHEN IT GETS STEPPED ON IT GETS STUCK IN THE CREASE OF YOUR SHOE!?! WHATEVER IT IS… DON'T CALL ME SHORT!"
"Three," Wrath said holding up three fingers.
"Three what?" Al asked getting confused.
"Three breaths, Ed only took three breaths." Wrath said still holding up his fingers.
"I'm glad you guys are having fun reminiscing, but we need to get you kids home. Or at least somewhere to stay." Riza said motioning to the boat. Usually Ed would rant about Riza considering him a kid but he was getting a little hoarse from ranting about his height. Plus Ed wanted to be in a warm bed. Ed began to walk toward the water, leading the way. Wrath came up beside him.
"Hey, I'm sorry." Wrath said looking down at the ground. His jet-black hair shimmered in the moonlight. His big purple eyes were fixated on a pebble he was kicking.
"For what?" Ed asked rubbing Wrath's head.
"Making you feel bad." Wrath began to use hand gestures, Ed stared at Wrath's right hand. "I shouldn't have done..."
"Wrath, look at your hand!" Ed proclaimed.
"Huh?" Wrath said holding both hands up, and upon closer examination Wrath saw he had his own arm and leg. Wrath dropped to his knees on the soft earth.
"Wrath?" Ed asked worried. Soon spots appeared on the ground. Wrath was crying. Ed closed his eyes, Wrath's cry hadn't changed much from the day Izumi 'saved' him.
"I'm… human." Wrath said getting choked up. He put his hands to his face and sobbed. Ed had sympathy for him. Wrath had never been a human and now he was pure human, he had a soul.
"What's wrong?" Riza asks as she takes Wrath into a comforting hug. "Ed, what did you do!" Riza said threateningly.
"Riza, I'm human." Wrath said into Riza's shoulder. Roy climbed into the boat. Al and Ed helped Wrath into the boat along with Riza.
-----
Ed stood on the Rockbell porch, with Al and Wrath, hoping that Winry wouldn't kill him. His hand shot up to the door and he knocked. Wrath noticed a curtain pull back then close quickly. The door opened and Pinako welcomed the boys in
"Wrath and Al you two can share a room. Ed, I hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch." Wrath and Al started up the stairs.
"Granny don't worry about it I'll be fine." Ed said holding a hand up.
"Quiet, boys Winry is up working on an auto-mail project." Pinako said to Wrath and Al. As soon as Pinako went back into her room, Ed looked around. It had been so long since he saw this place. The digital clock flashed 1:00a.m. and Winry was still working? Was Winry the reason that Ed's hand had shot up to the door? Did he still love her? 'I'll go see her.' Ed thought making his way upstairs. He stopped at her door. He knocked with his knuckle softly.
"Come in." The voice Ed longed to hear said. Ed opened the door hesitantly and walked over to her. She looked up at him, pausing in amazement. She was in her black tube top, her hair in a loose ponytail. Her deep blue eyes reflected his golden eyes.
"Ed!" Winry proclaimed pulling out and lifting her wrench up to strike him. Ed grabbed her wrist, holding her hand high in the air. Then he closed the gap between them. "Ed," Winry said dreamily. "What took ya?!" She shouted clonking him on the head with her trusty wrench. Ed went down. The impact at close range did not feel too nice.
-----
Ed's honey colored eyes fluttered open. He let out a yawn. When he did, his head hurt. Ed brought his hand up under his antenna and felt a bump. He cried out in agony, something stirred beside him. Ed looked over and saw Winry. Wait… Winry? What was she doing next to Ed? He pulled his hand from his forehead and saw a wedding ring. Wedding?