Flip. Flip. Scribble. Flip. Flip. Scribble. Monotonous sounds filled a small hotel room in downtown Central. A small bluebird perched on a small branch outside the window and peered curiously at the room's inhabitants.
"Hmmmm….." Sharp golden eyes narrowed. Strands of golden hair drifted over Edward's eyes- he swatted them away impatiently. His automail hand cricked as he rubbed a page absentmindedly as if he could solve the page's code by just staring.
"Is something wrong?" A gentle mechanical voice questioned. Al shifted his attention away from the stack of papers in his hands to his keen –albeit reckless- older brother.
"Not wrong… just odd. Here, look at this." Ed shoved a single sheet into Al's large armored hands. "Two small carrots, sliced. Three medium-sized russet potatoes, quartered. Half a sweet onion, sliced. Two cloves of garlic, minced. Two medium beef sirloin steaks. Sauté the minced garlic in olive oil on high for one minute until fragrant, then add in the sliced sweet onion and cook until they are translucent and golden. Take out the onions and garlic and add the steaks. Turn the heat down to medium and slowly roast them in the pan, turning them periodically. Once the steaks are browned but still raw, add the potatoes, carrots, garlic, and onion. Add water if needed. Once the potatoes are cooked through, take everything out of the pan and serve on individual plates. Reserve gravy for later use.' Al read out loud.
"Brother, what do you think this means?" Al asked.
Ed sighed and rubbed his head in exhaustion. "There are five ingredients in the recipe, so that suggests a pentagram design, or five components, or five circumferences," he muttered tiredly, picking up a pen and sketching a pentagram transmutation circle on the margin.
"The recipe mentioned saving the gravy for later use. The recipes in this stack all use sauces of some sort- Worchester Sauce, mayonnaise, soy sauce…" Al gestured over to his stack of alchemical notes.
"Ah. The sauce could be the philosopher's stone itself- remember? Marco's stone acted like a liquid." Ed thought out loud. With a sigh, he rocked back on his chair and watched as the blades on the ceiling fan swirled around lazily. He willed his mind to move- to banish the dust clogging his thoughts to the farthest reaches of his head. Alas, that command his brain did not follow, and now all he could do was stare mindlessly at the papers in front of him- papers that would point him to the fabled Philosopher's Stone.
Six days. It has been six days since he got his hands on those notes, perhaps through sheer dumb luck, but he had done it. Six days, and he still haven't gotten anywhere. Through the brothers' relentless efforts, they have managed to coax tiny morsels from within the encrypted confines of Marcoh's cookbook, but the key ingredient and the whole array are still missing.
'Darn that Marcoh! Why couldn't he have made the code easier to crack?!' Ed thought, his infamous temper rearing its ugly head.
'Losing your temper now will not get you anywhere. Your anger is not productive in the slightest,' the more rational part of him pointed out.
Ed sighed and got up. He stretched his arms, then his neck, and lastly, his waist. It was late at night, and his two guards should be asleep.
"Al, I'm going to take a walk. I'll be back in half an hour or so."
Hopefully, the comfortable night air will clear his mind. Goodness knows he could use any help at this point- he was certainly desperate enough.
"Okay, Brother. Be careful." Al waved his hand in goodbye and picked up another stack of notes.
Ed pushed his chair back and tiptoed out, nodding to the snoring Sergeant Brosh on his way out.
Central was as busy as ever. Cars raced down the streets, crisscrossing every corner of the bustling city. Laughter and sounds of chatting filled the air, even at this hour of the night. Little fireflies fluttered in the darkness- as beautiful and as ephemeral as fairies. Even so, there was an odd sort of tranquility that filled the cool night air- one of a different sort than the comfort found in Risembol.
Slowly he made his way to the nearby plaza, where people gather around cafe tables and benches, spilling out of pubs and bars. Usually, he avoided people- he could deal with one person. One person is exactly that- one person. A crowd of people, on the other hand, is an animal with neither sense nor identity. But tonight, he purposely made his way toward the animal. Just for tonight, Ed wanted to remind himself what being with other people is like. Isolation was dangerous- he knew that very well. Avoiding other people was to avoid humanity, and that brings out his demons- demons that he didn't even know he had. Perhaps he can even let his troubled thoughts drain away, so he may lose himself within the mass of people. Maybe even pretend to be a normal person without the weight of the world upon his shoulders.
'It must be nice to be normal,' he thought wistfully. Immediately, he mentally snuffed the thought out of existence. It was by his own hands that he ended up this way- no one else is to blame. It was his responsibility to fix this, and fix it he will.
Ed was at the entrance of the plaza when he suddenly heard a woman near him shout loudly.
"There's a person falling from the sky!"
Ed's first reflex was to dodge, but the absurdity of the statement made him pause. There's a what falling from where? Unfortunately, he dodged a little too late- a wall of pain slammed into his back; the world faded to black.
Ed's consciousness slowly roused from its sleep; his eyelids seemed heavier than usual- heavier than lead, even. He groaned in pain and tried to lift them with little success. His automail worked perfectly though, much to his relief. Even without opening his eyes, he knew that he was back in the hotel room, on his bed. The fan overhead spun leisurely, making soft swooshing sounds. The bed he was lying on was soft- a softness that he has grown familiar with over the past week. The real question was who found him and how.
'Al, maybe,' he mused to himself and moved his automail limbs, preparing to check their full functions.
"Ah, you're awake. How are you feeling?" An unfamiliar voice said from beside him. The voice was a light tenor with a slight twinge of an unfamiliar accent.
The thought of an unfamiliar presence in his room woke him up quicker than ice water. Whoever the intruder was, he lacked a presence, and that made him dangerous. Adrenaline shot through his veins, and before his mind could catch up to his body, he threw his covers in the general direction of the voice and leapt into a fighting stance. Ed blinked, but did not loosen his stance. He bounced slightly on the balls of his feet as the mattress squeaked in protest.
The unknown figure struggled and flailed in the sleets before untangling himself from the confining fabric.
"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you. Sheesh, you'd think the world was out to get you or something." The mysterious male sounded annoyed.
Ed studied the figure in front of him carefully. The mystery person was a man who looked to be around Ed's age, maybe a little older. Unruly dark brown hair stuck up at more angles than Ed thought was possible, and he had lithe muscles. The brightest green eyes Ed has ever seen peered directly at his own golden ones.
Upon receiving no visible, the teenager continued, seemingly unconcerned with Ed's hostility. "I apologize for not notifying you of my presence, but you were unconscious. What is the last thing you remember? You hit your head pretty hard."
Yeah, thanks to you, Ed thought to himself. He hesitated for a moment, trying to recall his latest memories. "I went out for a walk and some idiot fell out of the sky and knocked me out," he said bluntly. "What time is it?" He asked as an afterthought.
The man barked out a laugh. "Knocked you out alright- I accidentally cracked three of your ribs and ruptured your spleen. Sorry 'bout that." The stranger shrugged sheepishly.
Now it was Ed's turn to be annoyed. What luck he must have, to get fallen upon by a man who appeared out of nowhere. He hoped that the man did not leave a dent on the pavement- otherwise he would have to explain to the Colonel why there was an imprint of himself in the middle of a plaza. Seriously though, the probability of a person falling out of the sky and landing to him was next to none.
Ed narrowed his eyes. He seriously doubted the odd man's claims. Unless his nerves are dead or the man was lying (which Ed doubted since he recalled how intense the pain was), he should be in a world of agony right about now. So why wasn't he? He wasn't all bandaged up either, and the sudden movement didn't hurt him at all. If his ribs were fractured, he shouldn't be able to breathe without pain, and he was able to move quickly without any sign of injury.
"What happened?" Ed asked instead. 'And where is Al? There's no way he missed the commotion just now.' he thought with a frown.
"To me, or to you?" The man asked in return while pulling up a chair. Ed's expression was still closed off an unreadable.
"Well, I guess I'll start with you first, since your part's simpler." The man ran a hand through his hair with practiced ease.
'A nervous gesture or habit of sorts,' Ed noted.
"I landed on you by accident, which knocked you out. I carried you to a bench in the plaza and tried to assess the damage when a blonde man in a military uniform came up to me and said that he's been looking for you. He was rather worried when he saw you unconscious. I told him that I lived in one of the apartments overlooking the plaza and that I slipped when I was trying to trim one of my vines. I offered to carry you to your residence since I was the one who injured you, but he insisted that a civilian like me would not have the training to lift you all the way back. Plus, he said that I would not know the way. He only let me follow you since I told him I have medical experience. I do feel obligated to heal you, not that I don't know how to. I'm well versed in medical science and alchemy, you see. He carried you to your bed, and I started healing your injuries." The man recounted while Ed listened keenly. "I met your brother, by the way. He seemed exasperated and worried about you. He saw me healing you and seemed rather fascinated by my work, so he wouldn't let me leave." The man explained.
Ed had a disbelieving look plastered on his face. Sergeant Brosh really would believe anything you said to him. When the man mentioned alchemy, his eyes were immediately drawn to the floor. No chalk marks.
"Go on. What really happened to you? People don't fall out of nowhere." Ed urged him on with an eyebrow raised, suddenly curious about the supposedly skilled alchemist. He doubted the man was telling the truth- he was in the middle of the plaza; there was no way a person falling from the nearby apartments would have landed on him.
"Well" the man scowled, "My godfather has a really bad sense of humor; he bodily threw me out of the Gate so that I would freefall out of the sky. Really, I apologize for the inconvenience he caused."
Ed gave him a blank stare. Surely the man was drunk- either that or he was hallucinating. "What kind of gate opens up in the sky?" Ed asked sarcastically.
"Oh, I assure you- plenty of gates open up in the weirdest places," the man said authoritatively. "But in this case, this is a gate you should be very familiar with, Alchemist." Harry added, looking pointedly at the pentagram designs lying on the table.
Ed frowned- what sort of gate would he- His mind screeched to a halt. Maybe he really did hit his head too hard; after all, there was no way a civilian- or an average alchemist would know of that gate. "Who are you?" he demanded, not at all pleased by the lies he was being fed.
The man blinked and grinned, which was not a pleasant sight. It sent icy pangs of fear down Ed's spine and to every nerve in his body. If he had hackles, they would be raised. "I'm glad you asked. I am what you call "the world." I am "Space." I am "God." I am the "Truth." I am "All." I am "One." And I... am "You." The man said nonchalantly, crossing his hands on his knees as if the words leaving his mouth were nothing out of the ordinary.
Ed was unnerved . That man repeated what the Truth said to him, word for word. No one else knew; he had never repeated what It said to him to anyone. The absurdity of it all finally dawned on him, and his body collapsed under the tide of emotions: Ed burst out in laughter. He laughed, he laughed, he laughed. He kept laughing and laughing. Then he stopped. "Cut the bullshit. Who are you?" He accused, shifting back into a martial arts stance.
The Truth rolled his eyes. "Why does everyone accuse me of lying? You want proof? Fine. I took your left leg and your brother's whole body when you kids tried to resurrect your mother. I then took your right harm when you pulled your brother's soul out of the gate. Your left leg has an inch and a half scar right below the knee from when you scraped it while running over a bridge. You have a circular birthmark above your fourth toe on your left leg. Your right arm's pinky is slightly crooked from when you broke it and didn't set it correctly. Your right outer elbow has a mole. Need I continue?" He asked sarcastically.
"No." Ed paused and said shortly. "There's no need." Despite every fiber of his body refusing to accept this being's words, it was hard to deny them.
"Good." The Truth smiled at him and got up. "Might I also suggest that resurrecting the dead is a phenomenally stupid idea and that you two were lucky to be alive. You don't know how close you were- if you were half a minute later, Alphonse would have crossed over to the other side. As it was, he was halfway there when you got to him." The Truth got up and brushed the dust off his pants.
Ed swallowed as his limbs began shaking. That night was starting to come back in flashes, but there is one thing he must bring himself to ask before the Truth disappears again.
"Then Al's body-" he began shakily.
"Calm down, Edward. I'm not here to smite you or anything like that. If I was, you wouldn't be here. I don't blame you- you committed a cardinal sin, and as the Truth, I am bound to exact a toll on all those who do so." Harry said. "To answer your question, Alphonse's body is still between the gates- exactly where his soul was extracted. Without the soul, the body will not move on to the other side. Though you may want hurry up about getting his body back. The longer Alphonse waits, the more time he will have to spend readjusting to his body- if you manage to get it back.
Alphonse is probably worried sick by now. I'll go get him. Oh, by the way, you may call me Harry." He waved and promptly walked out of the door.
For a while, Ed sat, stupefied. The Truth fell from the sky. The Truth fell on him. The Truth looks like a perfectly normal human being. The Truth is called Harry. Just exactly how bizarre is his life going to be? More importantly, Al's body is alive. Al's body is still reachable. Suddenly, he felt as if a great weight was lifted from his shoulders.
"Brother, how are you feeling?" Al said as he gently pushed open the door.
"Like I got a good night's sleep, surprisingly...and maybe a bit weirded out." Ed's mouth move on its own accord, his brain on autopilot.
"Brother?" Al waved a large armored hand in front of Ed's face.
"Stop that." Ed said, annoyed. He casually swatted the hand away. The usual grumpiness was back.
"Just checking." Al sounded playful, even though he couldn't physically grin.
An awkward silence filled the small hotel room as the fan swirled on.
"So... Is that what the Truth looks like?" Al asked awkwardly.
"No. He was much more..." Ed couldn't find the right word to describe the odd, creepy, amorphous form that he saw; he tried to use his arms to illustrate what the Truth looked like. Al looked at him in confusion. An upside-down octopus? "Well, he wasn't called Harry either."
"Haha, I thought not. Did you notice the way he said his name?" He remakred. Many people didn't realize this, but Al was even better at reading people than Ed. His quiet made him a better observer than Ed, a trait that was furthered when he became a suit of armor.
"Yeah." Ed looked thoughtful. "He sounded like he hasn't said that name in a while. That's his real name- I'm sure of it." Both of them had heard and taken enough aliases to hear the voice enunciation difference between true names and fake names.
Then the brothers stopped to ponder about the sheer absurdity of the statement. The Truth had a name? The Truth had a name? The Truth had a name.
Ed held his forehead; why must his life be so complicated? "There is no logic to be found in any of this. Six hours ago, we couldn't even imagine the Truth having a face, let alone a name."
Al gave a weak chuckle. "It's hard to believe that this happened. Brother, you can't seem to take care of yourself at all."
Ed grumbled under his breath and crossed his arms. "I'm innocent" he insisted. 'This time anyways', he thought. "I never thought a person would free fall out of the sky. Besides, I'm fine now." His mind picked over everything that Harry said.
"He said he healed me, but how? There weren't any transmutation marks- I checked."
"Actually, that's why I invited him to stay . All he did was touch you on the collarbone, and then it was healed. He did that with the other fractures too! No transmutation circle, sound, or anything. I'm not sure if it's alchemy, even." Al said unsurely.
Ed tsked and rubbed his back, as if willing for any remnants of pain to appear "That man is a pain!"
Al laughed. "You've only met him, Brother."
"That doesn't make him any less troublesome." Ed sighed for what felt like the upteenth time. "How are the notes going?"
Al shook his head. "No luck, Brother."
Ed got up and flexed his automail hand. "We'd better get back to it tomorrow then. Thanks to that unexpected nuisance, we've wasted a lot of time. I've got some questions to ask our unwelcomed guest."
Al nodded. "Don't stay up too late, okay? You were injured, after all."
Ed flashed Al a grin. "Don't worry; I won't." He walked out the door and closed it behind him, very much intent on interrogating the Truth.
It took Ed a while to find where the Truth was; for a while, he thought that the man had left. Ed's mismatched feet carried him upstairs to the roof, where he found the previously amorphous being. The sight that greeted Ed made him rub his eyes. Harry, as he prefers to be called, was absolutely surrounded in fireflies. Fireflies everywhere- on his messy hair, clinging to his hooded jacket, on his knees, on his shoes, even on his hands and nose. Oddly enough, the man didn't seem to mind the miniature winged lanterns.
Ed stayed where he was and observed the dream-like scene in silence. Slowly, the man opened his eyes and spoke softly- to the bugs.
"The night is ending soon. Thank you for visiting me," he smiled gently at the cloud of insects "Good luck!" he said and one by one, the bugs left him, chasing the receding night.
Harry turned his attention on Ed, who was still standing by the stairs. He gestured for Ed to take a seat, which he did. "So... I assume you have some questions? I'd be surprised if you didn't actually." He chuckled, "You alchemists are so interesting; no matter how hard or horrible, you keep searching for the truth." He looked up and observed the lightening sky. "Ask what you will. Whether or not I will answer is another matter."
Ed swallowed nervously, gathering up his courage. "Why are you here?" he asked curiously. "Who's guarding the gate if you're here?" he continued, counting the questions with his fingers. "Why did you heal me?"
Harry looked unfazed by the questions. "Now isn't that the million dollar question?" he said, referring to the first question Ed asked. He laid down on the roof and stretched out his long limbs.
"My godfather is guarding the gate- well, at least he was my godfather when I was alive, a good couple of millennia ago. Now he's just a soul residing in the Gate. Nonetheless, I pulled him out, sat him down, and told him I need a favor. He agreed to help me, but in return, he laughed and tossed me out the Gate. Bastard" he said fondly.
Ed seemed surprised that the Truth was human once upon a time. He had a nagging suspicion that it was the case- given the man's very human habits and speech, but one thing to suspect, and another to confirm.
Harry continued as if he did not notice Ed's surprise. "As for why I healed you... it's only polite since I fell on you and broke your bones. It was an accident, but since you were so kind to break my fall, the least I could do is fix the damage." He said sarcastically. "It wouldn't have killed me if you dodged though. I can't die even if I wanted to." He looked wistfully at the sky.
Ed's heart skipped a beat. 'Immortality. There is a true immortal in front of his eyes. How?' Ed's mind burned with the desire to know, but he had a hunch that the man would not answer. He would not fall to the temptation- not again.
"As for why I am here... I'm glad you asked that. It's a very good question. The main reason is you." He said, pointing at a shocked Ed. "You did something in the future that absolutely upset the balance in life, and I am here to fix that imbalance. I don't particularly mind being here since it has been many centuries since I have last had a breath of fresh air. I suppose I can tell you a bit of the future as return for Alphonse's hospitality. Would you like to know?" The green eyes were sharp.
Ed sat down on the roof. "Since I assume you will be changing things, it would not be the future anymore, right? I doubt knowledge of the true future would come as such a cheap price." He shrugged.
Harry chuckled. "Clever boy. You're right- I do intend to change things around, so the future isn't accurate, per se. It is merely one of the many paths that are open to you. Do you want to know it?"
Ed nodded in a 'why not?' gesture.
"In the future- or rather, a future, you two pursued the Philosopher's stone. It led you and the people around you into a spiraling path of pain and misery. You and your friends ended up saving the world, but your success came at a steep price. You retrieved Alphonse's body, but not your leg. The price you paid was far too great for Alphonse's body- or even both of your limbs, had you ask for those as well. I will not tell you what you offered to me since I will not accept it a second time. I only accepted the exchange because you were rather desperate at the time. Both of you got married and had a couple of kids each. Mustang eventually became Fuhrer; he was the best Fuhrer in Amestris' history." he shrugged.
Ed could hardly believe what he was saying. This was his future? Yet, he felt a surge of happiness well up inside his soul. He would get Al's body back! He could do it. He could. It was hard to believe that him, a child of sixteen from Risembol could save the world. Heck, even Bastard Colonel got his dream. Suddenly, the notes didn't seem to matter so much anymore.
"Who do I save the world from?" Ed's mind dissected Harry's words.
"That you don't have to worry about," Harry said firmly. "I will take care of that particular matter before the year is over. I have let things lie for far too long, and to have a child fix my mess is inexcusable. Don't look at me like that- you are a child, even though you may have the strength and soul of someone much older."
Ed scowled at Harry. He is not a child- he has not been one since he had his innocence stripped away from him.
"Don't pout at me. Even though you're just a kid, you're quite interesting. In the end, you were the only person to defeat me- adult or otherwise. You are one of the few humans to have passed through the gate more than once and still lived to tell the tale. It has gotten quite fond of you." Harry got up nimbly and stretched in a rather feline manner.
Ed wondered how the Gate could have any feelings, let alone be fond of him of all people.
Then Harry suddenly turned serious. "You guys haven't cracked Marcoh's code yet, right? Give it up." Ed leapt up to object, but his legs acted on their own- they folded and shifted back into a sitting posture. "Sit back down, Edward. I was not finished." Harry continued as if taking command of someone else's body was something he did on a daily basis. "You won't want to know what's in Marcoh's research. There's a reason why he tries so hard to repent, you know. He was right to call it the devil's research. He truly tries his best to repent, and in the end he avoided hell. You two won't use it anyways- especially not if you know how they are made. It's not something that children should know." His eyes were shadowed pits of green, his faced pinched. Ed looked at him, baffled and a bit offended.
"Anyways, don't worry your pretty little head over it. I'll be staying in the room next to yours." He said nonchalantly and held up a pair of keys along with Ed's wallet. "Thanks for your hospitality," Harry smirked.
"Who are you calling a micro-mini little speck of dust?! And give me back my wallet, you bastard!" Ed shouted after him. Harry only laughed in reply.
In his own room (which he rented using Ed's money, much to the blonde boy's anger), Harry was well aware of the eyes watching him from the shadows. He took off his jacket and massaged his shoulders- a very human gesture. Before the shadow could retreat, Harry caught onto one of the tendrils. The tendril flinched, surprised at being caught.
"Pride, is it? It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry to say that you can't see what's going to happen next. But for now, I have use for you. Imperio," Harry whispered darkly to the shadow. The black sliver went slack in Harry's hands.
"You will behave as normal and will carry out your father's orders as you would usually do so. When you report to your father about me, tell him that I am called Harry James Potter and that I am a travelling alchemist from the East. I met the Elrics while doing so, and I am a confirmed human sacrifice. It is for this reason that I help the Elrics with their quest. You will first report to me. Before you report to him about any information regarding me or my actions. You will otherwise ignore everything I do as unnecessary and too trivial to report" Harry iterated. He knew that the homunculus would ask about him, and through Pride, he will be able control the amount and quality of the information flow. He knew without a doubt that "Father" greatly relied on Pride as his eyes above ground and has thus gotten lazy.
"That is all- you may return," Harry ordered as the immortal child slipped away.
"So you know what the stones are made of now. Are you happy now?" Edward was unruffled by Harry's entry through the window. He did not even acknowledge the deity's presence.
The boy continued to sulk, his eyes downcast. Neither of the brothers replied him. In silence, they sat- still as statues.
Harry sighed and rubbed his head in exasperation. "I told you guys not to dig. It would be best if you just left this mess well alone, especially since I'm here to sort everything out." He really wished that the stubborn duo would listen to him for once. It would be best if they left the stone well alone. The more they did, the less he could interfere on their behalf.
Silence. Seeing how both of them seemed rather lifeless, he waved his arm and conjured a steaming hot meal. Both brothers looked surprised to see the laws of physics so blatantly broken, but did not speak.
"Eat." He ordered Edward. "Don't make me take over your body again, brat. You won't like it," Harry threatened. And he would too- just as he used to half-force his own children to eat when they sulked. Memories of James, Al, and Lily resurfaced. 'It must be the exposure to the mortal realm,' Harry mentally frowned as he shoved them away. Reluctantly, the boy accepted the offered meal and started picking at it.
The older teen's eyes softened, and he sat down on the floor next to Al.
"It can't be helped, I guess." He cracked a smile when he saw Edward eating ferociously. "See? You are hungry. You have got to take better care of your body, you know."
Edward put his fork down with a clatter, catching Harry's attention. "Do you... ever hate sinners?" He asked Harry quietly.
Al looked down and hugged his knees tightly.
Harry looked at both brothers unblinkingly. "What brought this on?" He asked jokingly. Harry paused when he saw how serious the teenagers were. "No, I suppose I don't. I might not like, or agree with what they do, and I might not be able to empathize with their reasons, but I don't hate them. Sinners break the rules, and I am honor-bound as the Truth to exact a toll matching the gravity of the crime. It's nothing personal." Harry got up and faced Al. He laid a hand gently on his shoulder.
"I don't hate you two. I can hardly hate anyone- a god like me does not deserve emotions. Whatever human empathy I might have had once upon of a time is all gone by now. An empathetic god is an unstable one." Harry chuckled darkly. Ed's eyes were wide with an unreadable emotion.
"Then your memories…"
"My memories as human? They still exist though they do not surface often. They are still as clear as ever, with names and faces that I cannot forget. I treasure those memories, though I feel no happiness nor sadness from them." Harry shrugged.
The expression on Ed's face was one that could almost be pity. "Don't you miss them?" Alphonse asked, laying a hand on his armor.
Harry thought he would ask that since Alphonse's body prevented him from enjoying many things. "I suppose," Harry shrugged. "You can't miss something you don't remember. Losing them was not my choice, but it was necessary. Not many people pass through the Gate, and the majority of those who do will die. I am tasked with either killing them or scarring them- to handle sinners is my job. But what would you have me do if the sinners in question are two young children?" Harry glanced at Ed, who looked away. "Or a grieving mother? A loyal brother? If I was more empathetic, I would not have been able to exact a price." Harry admitted.
Silence overtook the room for several minutes.
"But don't be so hard on yourself. Have faith in what you can do. Humans make mistake, but what gives them strength is their ability to rise up from those mistakes." He smiled at Al.
He silently walked up to Ed and ruffled his hair. The teenager flinched slightly, but Harry ignored the action. "I know what both of you can do; I've seen what the future could be. It's yours, if you want it. Nothing is impossible." Ed shoved his hand away gruffly and began fixing his hair. Harry laughed.
"This won't be the worst secret you'll find, and it won't be your last one. Though arguably, it may be your worst one." He sat back down and watched the fan above them spin.
A loud commotion jolted the three of them out of their reveries. The brothers suddenly jumped; Ed's face suddenly drained of color.
A rhino? Harry thought sarcastically as he watched the doorknob wobble and squeak in pain. Before long, the door itself broke.
"I have come, Edward Elric!" It was no rhino, but a man... with sparkles and curly blonde hair. Clearly, he must have left the human race alone for far too long if evolution ended up producing… that.
He blinked at the movable blonde mountain in front of him and turned to Edward. "Who's the nutjob?" Harry asked.
Needless to say, introductions didn't go that well. It started innocuously enough, but Harry saw no harm in letting the man know of his true identity. The Armstrongs played a vital role in stopping Father, and in return, Harry blessed their family for a couple hundred generations.
However, "I'm the Truth" didn't exactly sit too well with the Strong Arm Alchemist. Like with Edward, he had to reveal several personal secrets for the man to give him the benefit of a doubt (the Elrics, of course, were listening in). Harry performed miracles and broke every alchemical law in existence. Anymore, and he would have to bend over backwards to prove his identity. Once the shock settled down, Harry told Major Armstrong of his alias.
"If anyone asks, I'm a travelling alchemist who transmutes without needing to use circles or formulas," Harry nibbled on an apple. "Do you honestly think I need those tools to transmute?" Harry asked when Ed looked sharply at him. "Technically, I don't even need to move to transmute, but advertising this particular ability is just asking for trouble. I'd rather just pass my power off as one I attained from seeing the contents of the Gate. Revealing myself as the Truth to every alchemist would just land me in an asylum" Harry said.
"The Truth..." Edward mumbled, reacting to something Major Armstrong said.
"Hm?" Harry turned his head to the blonde.
"No, not you." Edward flapped his hand absentmindedly, causing Harry to pout. "The Truth behind the Truth... That was what Marcoh said." Harry sighed.
"I thought I told you brats to drop it. Why wouldn't you stubborn fools just take my advice for once? It's the only thing I'll offer for free." Harry grumbled.
"Since you're warning me to stop, that means I'm on the right track." Edward said, completely ignoring Harry's advice and twisting it into something else entirely.
Harry sulked through the discussion.
"You again?!" Edward pointed and shouted (quietly) at Harry, who had his arms crossed leisurely above his head. "How did you get in?!" The brothers had snuck out of their hotel room against the adults' advice and successfully infiltrated Laboratory Five.
"Yes, me." He rolled his eyes. "I teleported, of course." He shrugged at the Elrics' huge-eyed stares at his disregard for physics.
"You teleported." Harry nodded. "Of course," Ed rolled his eyes sarcastically. "You know what? Forget this. We have come too far to turn back now."
"Oh I know. I'm not here to convince you to go back- the choice has always been yours to make. I just tried to dissuade you from it. I've got other business in Laboratory Five." Harry said matter-of-factly.
"Don't get too roughed up, okay? I'm not healing any wounds you get this time." With a quiet pop, he disappeared. The Elrics blinked, rubbed their eyes, and then blinked some more.
"Forget breaking the laws of physics; he eats them for dinner," grumbled Edward. Al laughed quietly.
Harry gracefully sidestepped the debris lying in the abandoned, but well lighted, hallways. His steps made no sound as his legs led him to the library. He yanked open the dusty door and grinned at the sight of the packed bookshelves in front of him.
'It looks like I have quite a bit of work to do,' Harry thought to himself. 'I might as well start doing it. I haven't got time to waste.' He pulled out the Elder wand and unshrunk a large mokeskin bag that he had saved for this occasion. With another wave, Harry levitated the books off their shelves as one and began to stuff them into the bag.
The books- or rather, the evidence- will be quite useful for what he has planned, especially in the aftermath of Father's demise. He cannot simply let the country flail about while the military is destabilized. In fact, what Edward and his friends did last time was far too messy and far too public. This time he would set things straight.
"Well then... We don't need to make a stone here anymore, so shall we blow up the evidence?" Envy said casually to Lust. They made their way to the back to the laboratory, where the array was etched in stone.
Suddenly, the two paused; there was another person there. They two immediate went on defensive. The fullmetal brats were one thing, but an intruder of a different manner was unacceptable.
"Who are you?" Lust asked. Her nails elongated.
"Cozy place, right? You must be Lust" he nodded to her, earning a snarl in reply "and Envy." The homunculus tsked angrily at him.
"You should not be here." Envy accused. Neither of them made a move since the stranger was completely relaxed.
"No, I shouldn't." He grinned eerily.
"I'm not here to fight, you know." He said pointedly, staring at Lust's nails.
"Nonetheless, you know too much for an outsider." Lust moved in a flash, her nails aiming for his vitals.
"Down, Tiger." She was fast, he admitted, but he was faster still. He gripped her nails; on contact, they turned to dust. She gasped in surprise and snarled. She drew back while Envy sprung forth with a punch.
Harry dodge and kneed Envy in the gut, exactly where he kneed Ed. "Have a taste of your own medicine, will you?" Envy too, withdrew.
"Like I said, I'm not here to fight, and I doubt you could kill me anyways." He said, looking perfectly normal after the scuffle.
"You two will not remember my name, face, or any distinguishing characteristics, but you will remember that there was a stranger present." Harry intoned, casually riffling through the homunculi's minds. He turned his back to the homunculi, who were struggling to keep from forgetting. Envy leapt at his exposed back; Harry dodged effortlessly and flipped Envy away. "See ya. " With a cheeky wave, he teleported away, leaving two stunned creatures behind him.
"You're in the hospital again." Harry waltzed in with a bag of cookies and a basket of fruit. "I recall telling you not to get too beat up, Ed." Harry smirked when he saw that Ed was wrapped head to toe in casts and bandages.
Ed gave have a deadpan stare. "I know." He mumbled through his bandages. "I wasn't that badly hurt until Major Armstrong came to visit me." He scowled, but Harry did not notice it through the layers of bandages.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked amusedly. He set the cookies and fruits on the bedside table.
"… He hugged me." Ed muttered. His voice was barely audible past the full body cast.
"He hugged you?" Harry raised an eyebrow; what do they feed kids these days? People here are really weird, he noted to himself.
Ed nodded reluctantly.
"He's a big teddy bear on the inside, isn't he?" He laughed. "Anyways, I bought you a basket of fruits. It's what visitors bring to patients in the hospital, right?"
"You bought it? With what money?" Ed asked curiously. Morphine has not dulled his wits in the slightest; he was sure the man hadn't stolen his wallet this time.
"My own- I would never steal your money for something like this," he grinned and ignored Ed's disbelieving stare. "As for how… I made some money" Harry started eating his own cookies; they smelled divine.
'As if,' Ed thought with a smidge of suspicion. "If so, then why didn't you pay for your own hotel? Wait- you got a job?!" Ed gasped, or at least tried to. Strangely enough, Alphonse gave no reaction.
"Please, with what the state gives you a month for research, you could feed a family of four for a year and still have money left over. Don't be absurd. I didn't earn the money: I made it." Harry said matter-of-factly. He demonstrated by snapping his fingers and holding out a bag in the air. Coins and notes literally fell out of the air into the bag.
Of course, Ed thought tiredly. Is it still counterfeiting if the coins and notes are authentic? "How do you do that? Where's the equivalent exchange in that?"
Harry finished his first cookie and reached for a second one. "I just do. Perks of the job, I guess you could say. There is no equivalent exchange because I'm not using alchemy. While I know the theories of alchemy well, I don't practice it. Equivalent exchange does not apply with my way of doing things."
"Then what are you using?" Ed's scientific mind was on overdrive. There were no transmutation marks on the currency, not that he had expected any.
"Ah, now that would be telling, wouldn't it? Don't worry your cute little head over it- this ability of mine is genetic, and my line has disappeared completely. Besides, it has been extinct for quite a few millennia now." Harry gave his trademark creepy grin, which immediately made Ed back off even though he wanted to throttle the man for calling him a micro-mini speck of dust. Bad things happen when the Truth grinned, or so he has learned.
"Alphonse, how are you? Are you alright?" Harry asked and laid a hand on the armor. The younger brother was oddly pensive.
"I'm fine." He said in a flat metallic tone. Harry narrowed his eyes. If you say so, he thought.
The door creaked open, and both Harry and Ed turned their heads (or at least tried to, in Ed's case) to the newcomers. In came Major Armstrong and a blond girl whom Ed seemed to recognize.
She immediately dropped her briefcase when she saw Ed in a full body cast. "No way!" She shouted, surprised. "I didn't hear anything about you getting hurt that badly!"
Harry half-listened as Ed peeled away the bandages and gave the girl an explanation. It turns out Major Armstrong did indeed hug him. Harry fought the urge to laugh- of all things the good major could do… Silently, he looked on as the two teenagers argued back and forth. Ah, to be young and in love, he thought wistfully. Glimpses of his time with Ginny drifted through his mind, each as vivid as the next.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Who are you?" The girl, had an abacus in her hand and was calculating quite enthusiastically, turned her attention to Harry. He blinked back into reality.
"I'm Harry Potter. I'm an alchemist friend of Ed and Al's; I met Ed not long ago at the plaza down town." He smiled winsomely at her, as it was only the polite thing to do. He noticed Ed shooting daggers at him from the corner of his eyes.
To the side, Edward seemed a bit baffled by the simplified version of his introduction. If falling out of the sky was his way of meeting people, then it was no wonder he did not socialize much.
"Oh, it's nice for Ed and Al to finally make some friends here. I'm Winry Rockbell. I've been friends with those two ever since we were kids." She smiled and shook his hand.
With introductions done, the conversation then quickly veered off to an odd direction... about Ed's hatred of milk. Halfway through, Harry couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. His laughter interrupted Ed mid-rant. "There's a very simple solution to all this drams," Harry gestured with a cookie in his hand. "Here, have this, Ed." He gave Ed the cookie in his hand, which was white and round.
Ed bit into it, chewed it for a bit, and swallowed. "It's good!" He exclaimed.
"Those are milk flavored cookies I made." Harry said. "There's flour, sugar, butter, eggs, salt, vanilla, and a lot of milk. See? An elegant solution to your dilemma." Harry handed the bag in his arms to Edward, who seemed eager to taste some more cookies... but the bag was empty.
In his mild anger, Edward balled up the brown paper bag and threw it at Harry. It hit him straight in the face, but the being just laughed it off. "If you like them that much, I can make more when we get back to the hotel."
Even in the midst of such a heated exchange, everyone noticed when Alphonse left the room. Silence swept through the room like a northern gale.
"Al has been acting strange." Ed said seriously.
Naturally, everyone had their own theory.
"He got a crush?" Sergeant Brosh suggested after his initial idea was rejected.
"He's worried?" Winry was clearly concerned.
"Al is always worried," Harry rebutted. "If I had a reckless older brother like Ed, I would be worried too."
"Hey!" Ed sqwaked indignantly. While he was chewing over the theories (some of which he rejected immediately, such as the one Sergeant Brosh suggested), Winry finished Ed's automail maintenance.
Another person barged in through the doors; Ed seems to be rather popular today, Harry mused.
"Hey Ed, you getting it on with a woman in your hospital room?" A black haired man -Lieutenant Colonel - asked tactlessly.
The statement was so sudden and out of place that Harry let out a laugh. Once again, Ed's side wound opened. At this rate, it's never going to heal, Harry thought amusedly.
She's only my automail mechanic!" Ed gritted his teeth. Even his antenna stood straighter.
"So you seduced your mechanic." Hughes inferred much to Ed's frustration. "You'll open your wounds that way," he noted when Ed started agonizing over the misconception.
"Ah Winry, this guy is Lieutenant Colonel Hughes. Lieutenant Colonel, this is Winry Rockbell, my mechanic.
That," Ed pointed towards Harry, who was still trying to hold in his laughter, "is Harry Potter, an alchemist acquaintance of mine." Ed lied through his teeth. Acquaintance his left foot.
"I'm Maes Hughes. It's nice to meet you. An alchemist, huh? The military's desperately in need of State Alchemists. Is there any chance you'd be interested? I doubt Ed and Al would hang around an alchemist who isn't worth his salt," He smiled.
Harry laughed and shook his hand. "I'm Harry Potter- pleased to meet you. Really? I didn't know that. I was a gatekeeper until quite recently, but it seems like I am now out of a job." He grinned. To his side, Ed choked.
"Oh really?" Hughes exclaimed, "You're pretty young for a gatekeeper! Well, my doors- and the military's doors- are always open for you."
"I'm a couple years older than Ed here." He smiled. Ed looked like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. A couple of years? Try a couple of millennia! "It's a bit of a family tradition, you see. I love to travel, so I left my job. I go visiting different countries every couple of years, and it just so happened that I met these two brothers here."
The conversation carried on lightly, and to Harry's surprise, he found Hughes to be rather pleasant (aka normal) company. The conversation would have continued (Harry wisely avoided the topic of kids or wives) on for longer if Winry's living arrangements did not come up. Seeing Winry's hesitance at staying in military dorms, Hughes generously offered up his own house... and promptly abducted Winry.
"Interesting company you keep", Harry noted once the kidnapped and the kidnapper were both gone.
Ed gave Harry with a flat look. "I don't want to hear that from a person who "goes to work" with a giant eye."
"Ah, touché."
"I didn't want this body!" Al shouted.
"Seems like I came at a wrong time." Harry cocked his head to the side. He had bumped into Winry on her way to the hospital, and the duo made a short trip to the nearby grocer's to pick up some food.
"And what proof is there that you're going to restore my body?" Al ranted on, to the surprise of Hughes.
Ed stuttered an excuse, which Al brushed aside. "Trust, huh? You're telling me to trust what with this hollow body?" Al continued rather cruelly. "There was something you were scared to tell me before, right? Could that have been something like my soul and memories were totally fake?"
After several more minutes, Ed slammed his fist onto his meal tray. "Is that what you've been thinking the whole time?" Al nodded hesitantly. "I see." Ed walked out of the room silently. From his spot beside Hughes, Harry frowned. A silent Ed was much more dangerous than an angry Ed.
Wintry seemingly materialized a wrench out of nowhere and began hitting Al's armor. "Al, you dummy! You don't know how Ed feels! That thing Ed was too scared to tell you was if you blamed him for what happened! In just what world is there an idiot who would be ready to throw away his life to make a fake little brother? Isn't he your only brother?" Winry was openly sobbing by the end of her emotional rant.
Harry took the opportunity to interject. "Al, do you know why you two failed?"
Al shook his head, wary at what the immortal would say.
"It was because you two failed to procure a soul. If you could not drag out an existing soul from the Gate, what made you think that you can create one?" Harry paused before continuing. "It's impossible for humans to create souls no matter what price is offered. Even tampering with the soul is a very high risk. Your brother is lucky to be alive, and you are luckier yet. Ed could have chosen to keep his arm, you know. He did not have to sacrifice another limb- he lost a lot of blood that day. Anymore, and he would have been in danger of hemorrhagic shock, and yet he chose to sever a limb for you."
Al looked down in shame.
"Are you really that desperate to restore your own body?" Harry asked. Al nodded. "Then you should do it yourself. It's not Ed's fault you are stuck like this- it is your own. Edward has been nice; he shoulders the responsibility himself and shields you from the truth, but you're just as much at fault as Ed is. You helped him draw the arrays. You added your blood to it. The two of you are accomplices as far as the deed goes. Do you really want your body back?" Harry asked. Behind him, Winry and Hughes looked uneasy. To the side, Sergeant Brosh shuddered.
"You can have it back if you offered up your soul. Equivalent exchange, right?" Harry patted Al's head. "Of course, then you would be stuck with a soulless body. I don't want to take another one of Ed's limbs. You know he'd give it up for you, but a limb is not equivalent to a full body. Now then, I think you should go chase after him." Harry smiled. " Now," he commanded strictly.
Al ran like someone lit his loincloth on fire. Winry ran after him at a slower pace, while Harry and Hughes merely walked up to the roof.
"You're not just an alchemist, are you?" Hughes said, pointing out the obvious.
"I can do alchemy; I'm just not the kind of alchemist you have in mind." Harry was unfazed.
Hughes stopped walking and turned around. "Then who are you?" he demanded.
Harry smiled. "That does seem to be the million dollar question around here. I assure you, you won't find me on the records. I mean no harm to the Elrics; if anything, they will not die, at least not on my watch. Ed had his injuries coming; I told him more than once not to go into that lab, not to dig into the whole affair with the stone... Did he listen? No." Harry grumbled. "I say he deserved every injury and some more."
"Hughes, there are powerful people behind all this: the laboratory, the philosopher's stone... everything. Don't dig more than you have to. Be careful, okay? You've got a family waiting for you to come home." He warned and continued walking.
Hughes, on the other hand, looked thoughtful. "But I never mentioned my family..."
Harry took out a pocket watch and flipped it open. Closed it. Flipped it open. Closed it. The rhythmic clicking of the pocket watch was a newfound habit of his- it helped him think and calmed his thoughts. Harry looked at the open watch in his hands- nine thirty. Ed, Al, and Wintry should still be on the train, he thought. The train was an overnight one.
Hughes should still be pulling overtime, given the amount of evidence that Intelligence still has to sort though.
"Ah, that's right." Harry exclaimed. "Today's the day Hughes end up digging too deep. I thought I told him not to dig... I have a feeling he's not going to listen. No one listens to me nowadays," Harry sighed.
"He really loves his daughter... " Harry mused. He got up from his seat and shook his head. "I'm such a bleeding heart." He berated himself and disappeared.
It shouldn't take too much effort to track the man down. Every soul on planet passes through his hands at some point, and Hughes' was no different. That particular soul was particularly excited to see the outside world. While the process of extracting a soul from the Gate should have taken a year and a day, Harry had put that particular soul on the fast track, if only to get away from his perpetual boasting. His fellow souls probably would have kicked him out before long anyways. Each and every soul has a different feel, a different color, a different aura. Tracking a person by his or her soul was like taking candy from a babe- easy enough that he could do it blindfolded.
With a purposely loud pop, he appeared in front of a public phone booth. The booth was dimply lit by the street lamps; the street itself was deserted.
Looks like I came at just the right time, Harry thought. The appariation pop did its job- both Envy and Hughes turned to look at him. Not surprisingly, both of them looked at him like he grew a second head.
"You!" Envy shouted vehemently. In the guise of Second Lieutenant Ross, his face was twisted with anger.
"Me." Harry shrugged and walked over to them with a wave. "Careful, if you do that too much, you'll get wrinkles." He pointed to Envy's facial contortion. Envy spat at him.
"What are you doing here? And what did you do to me?" He asked with a snarl, referring to his inability to recall the man's physical appearance until now. His finger never left the trigger, but Hughes seemed to be calculating his chances of escaping.
Harry rolled his eyes. "There's a coffee shop down the road. I didn't know it was illegal for me to buy a cup of coffee. I simply dropped in to say hi." His voice dripped with sarcasm. "And I just tweaked your memory a bit- nothing that will drop your IQ points, not that it would have made much of a difference. I can't have you people blabbing to your lovely father, can I?"
Envy snarled and closed in the distance between him and the frightened man. "Not going to do anything, are you? One move and this man goes." He held the gun up to the Hughe's head and grinned evilly.
Harry sighed. "You are so cliché. I don't have much time to waste on the likes of you." His voice turned serious and his eyes hardened. He looked down upon Envy like a human would a bug. Before the enraged homunculus could pull the trigger, he suddenly found himself without an arm.
"Looking for this?" Harry held up Envy's missing limb and pried the gun out. Once he got the gun, he tossed the limb into the bushes behind him.
"Tsk! I'll kill you!" Envy's voice turned deep, and his iris turned bright yellow. He held Hughes by the neck while his other arm regenerated. "Quit getting in our way, Bastard!"
Harry on the other hand, looked bored. "Do I look like I care? I ought to make a career out of derailing your plans." He snapped his fingers, and Envy froze.
"Imperio. Let Maes go, return back to your preferred form, step out of the phone booth, and return back to your father in Central. Tell him and Lust that you successfully killed Maes Hughes by imitating his wife." Harry commanded with absolute authority. "Oh, by the way, Obliviate. You killed Hughes; your job is done. We never had this conversation, and you did not see anyone. Now quit wasting my time and go away." Harry made shooing motions in Envy's general direction.
The arm around Hughe's neck loosened. Envy's entire body shook, trying to resist the commands, but he shifted back slowly. His hair lengthened, his features changed, his body changed, and before long, he back to his normal appearance. Envy's yellow eyes shone with hatred, but no sound came out of his snarling mouth. With one shaking step and another, Envy made his way out of the booth and out into the streets- he disappeared into the night.
Harry watched his retreating back and smirked in satisfaction. Not even a homunculus can resist the commands of the Truth. His body and the stone within him won't stand for it.
"Are you going to tell me who are really are now?"
Harry turned his attention back to the injured man, who was sitting on the floor in shock.
"In a bit. Your wounds need to be cleaned and dressed." Harry smiled and withdrew his bleeding hand from his pocket. "Since you're not in danger of bleeding out, that can wait for a bit while I fake your death. Hughes, I'll explain later. The military is no longer a safe place for you, so you will need to… disappear for a while. You might want to step out of here unless you fancy getting more blood on you."
Harry absentmindedly began shaping the air around him as a body replica of Hughes began to appear. He levitated the gun from where he tossed it and shot the soulless body in the chest. To add the finishing touches, he artfully splattered the blood all over the booth.
Hughes looked on with horrified eyes- seeing his death as what it could have been. "Wait! What about my wife and child?" he asked, panicked.
"You are a good husband and father, Maes Hughes. I will make sure they are safe." He said with conviction. Said with such determination, Hughes would hardly doubt his words if not for the fact that no sane person would be doing this. Harry conjured various gauzes and bandages; he knelt down by Hughes and began to dress his wounds.
"They need to be dressed before we travel." Harry muttered reluctantly. Hughes nodded in thanks and began to bandage himself up. The duo worked in silence, one stunned by the events that had just transpired, and the other confused by his own actions. Hughes' wounds were serious, and the man was already showing early signs of hypovolemia.
"Are your wounds treated?" Harry asked and slung Hughe's right arm over his shoulder. "Traveling will not be pleasant. I will heal you once I get you to a secure location."
Hughes nodded and winced. "They will be alright- for now." He assumed that by travelling, the enigma meant smuggling him out of the city- or even the country. He was of course mistaken when Harry promptly asked him not to throw up.
Hughes frowned. "Why would I want to-" he began when he suddenly felt squeezed, as if he was toothpaste in a tube. Never had he felt as claustrophobic as he did now, and his wounds ached in protest of the rough gesture. Still, Harry's grip around him was tight and unrelenting.
The first thing Hughes did when he finally found solid ground was to kiss it- quite literally. The second thing he did was empty his stomach- he had never felt sicker in his life. It seems like his host had anticipated his actions, for he promptly found his face hovering over the edge of an empty trash can.
"I knew this would happen." Harry's voice drifted over him- on his right. "I had hoped that you would not lose any more of your fluids since you are already hypovolemic from blood loss, but I suppose I was too optimistic. Are all of your limbs still in one piece?"
"I think so," Hughes shakily wiped his mouth with a blood stained sleeve. The fact that he had answered the question without hesitance was a mark of how truly extraordinary his evening has been.
"Good. Now, let me see your wounds. I had to keep them bandaged up; otherwise, you could have splinched- left a part of you behind." Harry said as an explanation. "I can heal them now and restore your blood volume." Harry laid his hands on Hughes' wounds, and to the man's surprise, they healed in an instant without even a scar.
"Your blood too," Harry murmured and put a hand over Hughes' abdomen. Immediately, he felt his heart rate slow down as his blood perfusion returned to normal. A healthy flush appeared on his skin, chasing away the unhealthy pallor.
Hughes gasped in amazement, hardly believing his eyes. "This… This isn't alchemy."
"No, it is not." Harry admitted. "I do not owe you anything, but I suppose an explanation would be nice since I did kidnap you. Are you up to listening? This is not a short tale"
Hughes nodded, glad that he would finally get some answers. He was tired, but he has felt worse before.
"Before I begin, I would like to ask you to keep an open mind. A lot of this is going to sound utterly impossible to you; it should be impossible, but I make a habit of making the impossible possible. Firstly, we are currently in my safe house. This house is as safe as safe houses can get since we are in a totally different dimension at the moment. It may look like the dimension you are familiar with, but I assure you- you will find no one here. Secondly, I just teleported here. That awful squeezing feeling would be your body being compressed and pulled through space. There was not a better option at the time, and anyone trying to track you will find no trace of your whereabouts." Harry held up two fingers.
Continuing on, the immortal ignored Hughes' wide open jaw. "As for who I am… Well, how much do you know of alchemy?" He asked.
"I know a bit- not enough to be an alchemist, but certainly more than the average civilian," Hughes mused- he had been Roy's friend for long enough to be on the receiving end of his rants on flame alchemy. He had done some research here and there- mostly related to the cases he had investigated in the past. Meeting the Elrics had prompted him to tackle human transmutation, not that he was able to understand more than a quarter of what he read.
"Alright," Harry nodded. "In that case, I should probably explain some things. Alchemists draw their power from knowledge. More specifically, from enlightenment- the more they know, the more powerful they get. Western alchemists use this knowledge to manipulate energy externally- through tectonic movements of the Earth, for instant. Eastern alchemists use their knowledge to manipulate energy internally- they work with the current of life that circulates within all living beings. Thus, the western alchemists specialize in non-organic chemistry, while the eastern ones specialize in medicine. In both cases, they follow the law of equivalent exchange- to accomplish a task, they must first offer an equivalent."
Hughes nodded, readily absorbing the information though not quite sure how that has to do with his savior's identity.
"However, the ultimate source of their power is still knowledge. As you know, knowledge has to come from somewhere. Facts don't just suddenly exist- they are discovered even though the source or creation of the observed phenomenon might not be known. The credibility of the knowledge is also a vital part alchemy. Tell me, do you know of any alchemists who are religious?" Harry steepled his fingers.
"No, actually," Hughes pondered.
"That would be because what they worship is not an imaginary deity. What they worship is the Truth- they worship the knowledge that they so strive for. This knowledge is all held within a gate- one also known as the Gate of Truth. The Truth's primary task is to guard the gate. Alchemists who commit the ultimate sin- human resurrection- are brought before the Gate and the Truth for judgment of their crimes. They are allowed to obtain knowledge held within the Gate- knowledge of the past, present, and future- but in return, they pay a steep price. In Alphonse's case, his entire body and soul. In Edward's case, his left leg. If they manage to return from the Gate, they gain great power- the ability to use alchemy without needing transmutation circles." Harry conjured a cup of coffee for himself and hot soup for Hughes. The man did not touch the food, though he nodded in thanks.
"So that explain Ed's prodigal ability, but what does that have to do with-" Hughes paused when he recalled Harry's first words to him. "No- impossible," Hughes breathed.
"Nothing is impossible. I am the Truth." Harry declared. "I am what you call "the world." I am "Space." I am "God." I am the "Truth." I am "All." I am "One." And I... am "You." And once upon a time- a very long time ago- I was human." Harry looked down at his hands, his eyes shadowed.
Hughes' breath caught- God was not what he had thought he would be. His mind struggled to catch up- "How long ago were you… alive?"
"I lost count after five millennia," Harry shrugged. "I was born Harry James Potter, to parents who married and died young. I grew up with my maternal aunt and her family. From the moment I was born until now, I have always been unable to die or stay dead. I suppose it was luck at first, but now I know it to be a curse. Nonetheless, I went to school, made friends, and married my childhood sweetheart. I had three beautiful children- two boys and a girl," Harry's eyes softened as he thought of his children.
Hughes could sympathize. In that moment, God seemed so very human.
"My life was not smooth sailing. Like I said, I survived multiple assassination attempts and had to fight in a war before I turned eighteen. In fact, I had to be the commander after the previous one died. Of course, I did not know what I was doing at the time" Harry chuckled humorlessly, "and along the way, I accidentally became immortal. I watched as my wife and children grew old and eventually died. I had to watch my world completely die out as our way of life became unsustainable. When the last of my people died, I appeared before a completely white space and a large gate. There, I was told that my role- in return for the immortality that I did not want- was to watch over the new world that would rise from the ashes of what was left of mine. I was told that I cannot interfere- that I was to collect payment from sinners no matter how grave or cruel. I was given no choice in the matter, and thus I as I was told for many millennia as my humanity bled away day by day." Harry's voice dropped to a whisper. "Besides knowledge, the Gate holds the souls of the dead- including those precious to me, people who I used to call by the name."
The horrified look on Hughes' face said more than any words can convey. "What- What changed?" He stuttered. Clearly, the Truth would not appear before him if his policy of non-interference carried on.
Harry's lips quirked up very slightly. "Edward Elric happened. I'm sure you know of the homunculi's plan for Amestris by now?"
Hughes nodded.
"Well, Ed stopped them. He… His soul is incredible. His drive and ambition knows no bounds. He is a fire that burns very brightly. Did you know- he crossed the Gate five times- more than any person ever did. I came back because he overpaid me when he finally crossed the Gate for the last time. He traded me his ability to use alchemy- all of his potential as an alchemist- for his younger brother's body. At the end of the day, the only thing he truly lost to me was his alchemy and his left leg. He was the only person to ever understand the truth and defeat me."
Hughes managed a weak grin, feeling a sense of pride welling up from knowing the man that Ed would grow to become.
"Since I was unable to repay my debt to him in the future, I returned to the past to prevent the actions that would lead to Ed taking the path that he did. What happened in the future was a close call- a very close one. Those people with the Oroboros tattoo- homunculi- are false immortals who have the philosopher's stone as their heart. There are seven of them in total, each named after a sin. They have incredible regenerative abilities along with their own special powers. Envy has the ability to change his form at will- as you know very well. Lust can elongate her nails and turn them into deadly weapons. Gluttony can swallow everything- he was actually an artificial Gate, one made in a bid to create the real one. Greed can harden his body- an ultimate shield, so to say. Sloth has incredible strength, and Pride has control over all shadows, using them as his eyes, ears, and weapons. Wrath… is human. He is the man known as King Bradley." Harry sipped his coffee.
"No…" Hughes gaped. He was right- the whole of military was corrupt, but he had not thought that Bradley would fall to such lengths.
"The circumstances behind "Wrath" are complicated. He was raised from birth to become King Bradley. He is the product of a Philosopher's Stone integrating successfully with a living being. The man- or rather, creature- behind all of this is the original Homunculus. He is a soul which has escaped from beyond the Gate. Apparently, he went to such lengths because he wants my job." Harry rolled his eyes. "Anyhow, he had the knowledge to create Philosopher's Stones, and he used it to turn all of Xerxes into one. That is why all of Xerxes disappeared in one night."
This is so cliché, Hughes thought as a bead of sweat slid down his neck.
"In the future, he would succeed in doing the same to Amestris. He thought that absorbing souls would give him the power to usurp me. He acquired more souls when he forced five people- Roy, Ed, and Al being three of the five- to open the gate through human transmutation. However, they had anticipated this and had a contingency plan- one that involved Lt. General Gruman, Major General Armstrong, and of course- Roy's armies. Together with Ed and Al's allies, they managed to execute a successful coup d' etat and unbalance the original homunculus to the point that he imploded from his own power. In the process, Roy lost his sight, and Al lost his soul to give Ed back his right arm. In the end, Ed offered his own Gate- his knowledge and ability to transmutate- to me in exchange for his brother. Dr. Tim Marcoh later healed Roy's eyes using the Philosopher's Stone he made during the Ishbal war- the Ishbalans were the source of many Philosopher's Stones for the army." Harry continued calmly.
Hughes shook- 'So that was why the military insisted on a full annihilation. And to think I was a part of it…'
"After the "Promised Day" had passed, Lt. General Gruman became the new Fuhrer, and Roy spearheaded the Ishbal Restoration Program. However, his reputation has been destroyed by his actions during the coup d'etat, and Gruman had a hard time earning the loyalty of all of the military while facing threats from the South, West, and North. Eventually, things settled one way or another, and Roy took the mantle of Fuhrer at the tender age of thirty-five. He was the best Fuhrer in all of Amestris' history- he ushered in an era of peace and prosperity. He truly fulfilled his dream of a beautiful future."
Hughes smiled deeply from the bottom of his heart. Even with his absence, he was glad that his friend was able to reach the top.
"However, the whole fiasco took too long and was too public. Setting it right is my second objective. I relied too much on you mortals to set the world straight. I will not make this mistake this time, and there is no need for the public to even know that a coup d'etat happened from within the military." Harry drained the last of his coffee and stood up.
"I assume this is where I would come in?" The Intelligence officer pointed to himself.
"Very astute of you. Yes, that is your purpose. Originally, I did not have plans to change your history. Make no mistake, I abhor people with murderer's eyes," Harry narrowed his own jewel-like ones as Hughes looked away in shame. "But you are a good father, and no child should grow up orphaned." Harry whispered.
Hughes paled. The thought of his precious Elicia orphaned was enough to send an arrow piercing through his heart. With him dead, who will take care of Glacia? Who will send Elicia to university? Who will pay for their house and their living expenses?
Thank God for small mercies, Hughes thought before catching the irony in his thought.
Instead, he nodded. "You have my thanks." He meant the words with all his heart. Even though he still had reservation about the situation he was in- there is no guarantee that he would be able to return to his wife and child- but at least he was safe for now, and they were as well.
The Truth waved his gratitude away. "Don't make a habit of counting on my empathy. By all accounts, I don't- or at least shouldn't- have any. If you truly wish to pay back this life debt to me, then help me change the future."
Hughes blinked in confusion. The future has already been changed; his presence here was the proof of that. Furthermore, the future did not sound like it needed much changing.
"Instead of waiting for you lot to blindly bump your way into the future, I have turned back time to take matter into my own hands, and the first thing we need is some good old dirt." Harry's grin gave Hughes no confidence whatsoever.
"This, is the greatest library that has ever and will ever be," Harry had to shout for his voice to be heard over the loud creaking of the large oak doors in front of him. When the doors opened, Hughes breath was suddenly stolen from him.
"This… This is amazing!" He gaped. It was a bookworm's paradise. Never had he seen a single room this large, and it was filled from floor to ceiling with endless shelves and volumes. There was no end in sight- merely occasional breaks in the columns for sofas and tables.
"Indeed," Harry smirked. "Everything that has ever been written in this world has a copy here. I have already filtered out the unnecessary grocery lists, directions, and miscellaneous lists, but there was still quite a lot of material, so I limited the criteria to only those pertaining to Amestris and government ranking officers. What I need you to do is find evidence."
"Evidence?" Hughes parroted as he accepted a short note from the deity. On it were several very familiar names.
"I have written down are the names of Fuhrer Bradley's personal cabinet of advisors. What I need you to do is to find evidence of their corruption using this library- be it moral corruption, monetary corruption… Whatever information that is publically humiliating or illegal barring anything that pertains to alchemy," Harry intoned. "Rest assured- all of them are corrupt to the core. You see, within the next year or so, Fuhrer Bradley will announce his retirement. His health has been steadily deteriorating, and he wishes to enjoy the remainder of his time with his wife and child. However, he worries over the country that he has given his life to and thus entrusted a very important task to one of the most promising ranking officers in the military- Colonel Roy Mustang," Harry absently twirled his finger in the air as he spoke.
Hughes eyes grew wide at Harry's plan.
"Bradley knew that Colonel Mustang was not directly under the command of any of the generals on his cabinet, and he trusted in the ability of his soldier to keep to orders. The task was to secretly investigate all members of his cabinet for any sign of corruption. If any was found, the cabinet members would be quietly replaced. Roy, who knew that he was far too noticeable of a figure to investigate the matter, entrusted you with the task- a suggestion that the Fuhrer accepted. Thus, the two of you faked your death- along with a full investigation under Roy's jurisdiction- to allow you freedom of movement. Upon your death, you will be given a promotion to Bridigar General from the Fuhrer to buy your silence. You will return roughly a year later with the evidence necessary to prove that all of the high ranking offers are corrupted. Before he retires, he replaces the cabinet and leaves the country in Roy's hands," Harry finished.
"I have no problems with this plan, but isn't this a bit too idealistic?" Hughes frowned. "The higher ranked you are, the more bribes you give and accept. Everyone has done the same. Furthermore, it is unheard of to promote a colonel to Fuhrer. People will say that Roy is too young and inexperienced to rule. He would not be able to earn the respect of those who rank higher than him."
"I will make it be known that Mustang has Bradley's favor- maybe raise him a rank or two for his service," Harry noted. "For the general populace, a message of peace will be Mustang's campaign. Having experienced a taste of war, Mustang will ascend to the role with intentions of stabilizing tensions in the North, South, and East. Roy was always meant to have the support of Xing… Ed and Al actually rescued one of Xing's princes- the one who will later become emperor. The royalty of Xing came to Amestris with the intention of finding the Philosopher's Stone, and in the future, Roy aids them greatly in the task. With new trade routes and alliances to the unexplored market of Xing, Roy will have the merchants backing him. A plan of stability and negotiation will placate the civilians, and a program to restore Ishbalan culture and population in their homelands will prove that Roy does follow through on his words."
"Still, that is a risky plan," Hughes contemplated.
"There will be no need to pass the position to General Gruman. He has a certain cunning about him that does not dull with age. I would not trust him to relinquish the position to Roy," Harry shrugged. "And besides, this is not a just a plan… this is the truth as it will happen."
Hughes rubbed his head. Who was he to argue with such logic? "Then why can't you force people to believe in Roy? Why do you have to go through such lengths to twist the future and convince them?"
"Simple. Humans were created with free will," Harry said shortly.
Mandy: This is version two of the draft for FMA/HP- it is very similar to the first one, except my style matured a bit, and I took out the OCs. OC fics, when well written, are very enjoyable to read, but I'm generally not a fan of OC fics. As always, this is unbetaed. The third draft will be the next chapter, so read through that (if you guys have time) and let me know what you think.