2. Edward Elric
"It's been so long... far too long. Wherever we go there's only prejudiced war. Hatred, pain and death everywhere. No hope for an approaching end and no sign of the Uranium Bomb. What hurts even more is the knowledge that..."
Edward growled and crumpled the piece of paper he had been writing on. The whole idea of a 'memoir' came from Alphonse, who insisted on Ed writing all his thoughts in a simple notebook. Yet page after page kept landing in the small wastepaper basket beneath the alchemist's wooden desk. The blond let out a shivering breath, stood up from an old creaky chair and put an extra plaid-coat on himself. Another bright idea of Alphonse – a small cottage in Schwarzwald Mountains, where they could peacefully study alchemy, at least as much as this world's rules allowed them to. Now, two years after closing the gate, the older brother was almost obsessed with the thought of finding another way of getting them back to their world. The memories of Winry, Rose, all his military friends and many more they had met during their search for the Philosophers' Stone were something that kept him moving on. But it was this very world and its cruelties that were the source of the immerse willingness to study unremittingly all day and night only to find one dead end after another. He could only do this much to keep himself from losing the last bits hope and going insane.
Edward sighed resignedly and headed towards their small kitchen. If truth be told the room was minuscule compared to the space designed for the laboratory and study. There was no more than an old rusty stove, a few cupboards, a small square table and two stools. Not that there was any specific reason for the second stool – Alphonse perpetually refused to drink coffee even in the cold mornings and they usually ate their meals together in the study while reading reports of inexplicable abnormalities from all around the world. Additionally, there weren't many people around who could spark a bit of interest in Edward. Hell, there weren't any people in the radius of a couple of miles at the very least. Therefore, without any other tenant to occupy the said stool, it was constantly used as a platform for any sort of litter in which Ed was interested at a current moment. As of that day, on top of old manuscripts that had led him to yet another dead end lied a yellow newspaper. On the front page was a photograph of an old man holding a Nobel Prize diploma. Ed put a kettle on the stove, sat on the unoccupied stool and smiled at the photo. The man's name was Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, an Austrian professor with whom he had led some research in the chemistry field. Who would have guessed the old man would be given a prize for their work on colloids. Yet Zsigmondy had repaid himself by placing Edward and Alphonse in Munich University as students in science and medicine field. They had even given some speeches on artificial limbs, with which Ed had become quite skilful. Thanks to the knowledge gained from his father and his friend – Winry Rockbell, he could now almost as perfectly restore his artificial arm as they used to.
"Ed!", a voice echoed through the study, a cold blow of wind accompanying it.
"Over here!", Edward exclaimed and soon a person in a thick coat was standing in the door frame. "Hey", he welcomed the newcomer.
"Hey", the other boy answered earnestly and took his hood off. It was a 15 year old boy, 5 years younger than Edward himself, yet already taller than the said alchemist. He had his blonde hair cut short and both his eyes and hair were only a shade darker than Edward's. His name was Alphonse Elric.
"Took you long enough", the older brother complained. "Where the hell have you been?", he grumbled.
"I've been to town", was Alphonse's explanation. He disappeared for a second and then came back without his coat. His frame was slender and he wore a white shirt accompanied with grey trousers and same coloured vest. "A letter came from the University." He held a paper in front of Ed's face. The alchemist snorted and snatched the letter out of his hands. They hadn't been to Munich for quite a long time, yet he had no idea why the professors would want to contact them.
Die Medizinische Klinik der Universität München, den 20. November 1925
Sehr geehrte Herren Elric,
Wir sind froh, dass wir Sie zu unsere Klinik einmal mehr herzlich einladen möchten können…
He let his eyes scan the text and sighed tiredly massaging his temples with his thumbs.
"Aww, they want us to give yet another speech for the forsaken students", he whined and let out a French curse. The younger blonde glared at him, yet didn't reprimand him for the curse, as the irritation was getting to him as well.
"Another one about artificial limbs?", he inquired.
"Nah, something about human psychology. Guess it's your turn", Ed said and smirked. He gave the paper back to the younger one and stood up. "You're up to going there on your own? I'm still not finished with the book about..."
"Oh, come on, Ed", Al cut him in mid-sentence, smiled and rolled his eyes. He faced the stove and took two cups from the cupboard – one for Ed's coffee and one for his tea. "Just admit it already that you're too lazy to go there."
Ed remained silent for a second, then erupted in a good-natured laughter and replied, "Can't keep anything from you, can I?" He came up to Al and put his auto-mail arm on the boys shoulders. "I can't help it that they're such a boring group of old g... oh, give me a break! Earl grey? You drink it every day! You've got any idea how much that stuff costs?" Ed took his arm off of Alphonse and rested both hands on his hips. He pouted slightly remembering the nice African coffee he had given up in order to buy the bloody tea.
"I know exactly how much it costs and that's why I will go and give the speech, so that I can buy even more of the stuff, simply to annoy you, dear brother", Al smiled sweetly and added an extra spoonful of sugar. "Besides", he added softly, "Christmas's in a month. Don't you think we should spend it with our friends in Munich?"
Ed glared his brother, yet couldn't catch his eyes.
"And since when do I celebrate this foolish corporate holiday? You know pretty well what I think of this sh..."
"I know! I know, but, brother", Al cut in with a sad face, "Think of it not as of a religious holiday, but as a good opportunity to spend time with the ones we care about."
"Exactly!", Edward exclaimed in response. "I've got you, we'll sit here and we won't waste those several days we could spend trying to work out how to get back to our real friends! To our world! Don't you get it? Those people in Munich are not the ones we love, they're just their alternate 'them'. They cannot replace the ones we've lost. Don't be foolish." At the end of the speech Ed's voice calmed a bit down, yet anger and grief lingered around him.
"I get it", Ad answered silently. "But you've got to understand that after all we've came through with them I'm pretty sure they're worth to be called our friends as well, despite the fact whose 'alternate them' they are", he let out a shivering breath and put a hand to his tired eyes.
"Either way, I'm staying here", the older brother stated and poured water into their cups. The smell of fresh coffee somewhat eased his nerves.
"Fine," Al barked. "Don't blame me if the matters take more time and I won't be able to come back here in time for Christmas. After all, it's just a normal day, isn't it?", he said sarcastically and left the kitchen with the mug of tea in his hands.
Ed looked into the door frame for a long time. Finally he sighed and took a sip of his coffee, momentarily grimacing. He put a few spoons of sugar into the black liquid and sighed yet again. This was going to be the worst Christmas ever.
The next morning found Edward sitting on the kitchen-stool and leaning on the table, cup of cold coffee long forgotten next to him.
"Oh, good morning, brother", Alphonse said in surprise, yawned and put a kettle on the stove.
"Good morning", the older boy muttered and yawned as well. "Don't come in yawning, it's contagious, you know?", he complained good-naturedly.
"Right, right", Al replied, still unsure whether to fuss about the previous day conversation. "So... um, would you like to go to Munich with me today?", he inquired falteringly. The older brother eyed him and finally smiled kindly.
"Yeah, I guess it won't hurt to make a short break. But, see this book?", he pointed at a book lying in front of him. It was old, rusted and missed quite a few pages. "I think I might have found something interesting. Some guy named Flamel used Izumi sensei's crest in his alchemy research. I think it's worth looking into. We'll take the book to Munich and maybe some professors there will be able to tell us more about it." He stood up and hit a hand high into the air. "Yeah! Finally getting somewhere!"
Alphonse eyed his brother. Ed's eyes were shining in anticipation, a wide grin was evident on his face. He hadn't changed much from childhood. Only his features were sharper now and hair longer. He also hadn't grown much, but enough not to be considered short. At long last Al reciprocated a smile.
"That's good", he nodded.
"Hell, I hate public transportation!", Edward exclaimed and threw himself at his bed at late Heindrich's apartment. They had kept it after his death, not only for the convenience of having a place to stay in Munich, but also because Edward didn't want anyone else to live there.
"Well, it would have taken us weeks to come here by foot, brother", Al reminded him and put down their luggage. They journey had been long indeed. After having gone to Büchertal by feet and catching a hitchhike to Bühl they had taken the train to Strasburg, where they had had a transfer to Munich. Altogether they had spent almost two days travelling and, needless to say, there hadn't been many mod cons.
"True, true", the older brother yawned. He took out his pocket watch and checked the hour – merely 2 PM. "So... we'd better get going, the professors don't take well to waiting too long", he lazily stood up and stretched. When he was about to touch the floor with his hands while having his legs straight, something in his right shoulder snapped and he winced.
"Ed!", Alphonse came up to him and helped him up. "It's your arm again, isn't it?"
"Yeah... seems like I gotta go visit the store once we're done with the professors", he admitted and smiled broadly. "But hey, it's right next to Hughes' apartment, we could pay them a visit once we're there!" Al reciprocated a smile.
"Sure, why not. Sounds like a good idea."
"Man, this building looks creepier each time we get here."
They stood in front of an old door with a sigh "Med.-Klinisches Institut.". On each side of the entrance were carved two snakes wreathed around some kind of an lantern. As Ed looked at their tongues entwined together he could feel gooseflesh on his back.
"Yeah, it does give me the creeps", the younger alchemist acknowledged. They went through the entrance and were instantly drawn into the crowd of students and professors. They tried to keep close together and after good quarter they finally got to the right room. Upon their entering a few men spun around and greeted them.
"Ah! Herren Elric!", the one of the oldest men exclaimed.
"Professor Spemann, good afternoon", Edward nodded his head.
"Professor Loewi, Herren Husserl and Scheler", Alphonse bid welcome to the rest of the known men.
Two men, seemingly the youngest, yet in their forties and fifties, came up to them as well.
"Oh, those are our sceptical Karls, as we often call them", Scheler laughed good-naturedly. "Karl Escherich and Karl von Frisch. They're both in the zoology field."
The zoologists nodded their heads and left the room without any further words. The brothers exchanged glances, but quickly regained their composure and smiled at the rest of the men in the room.
"So, what did you need us for?", Alphonse inquired.
"Ah, yes, we were hoping that...", Professor Loewi started explaining. Edward sighed and prepared himself for at least one hour of the boring talk of old men.