At this point, I don't think it will follow the way the show went exactly. It will be more AU than I thought originally, but at least I'm admitting to it. However, I am going to keep certain key plot points such as Father's ultimate goal and similar roles the characters played.
As the story progresses onwards, I will try to explain why I chose some things over another.
Hopefully everyone likes the first full chapter! ^_^
The Elrics finally made their way to front gate of Central Headquarters. Edward's face was full of exhaustion, but Alphonse's brimmed with joy through the armor. "Brother, I can't wait to see Winry! It's been too long! I just hope we don't have something that happened like that freezing alchemist."
Both of them entered through the gate and headed to the front door. Alphonse had his own little strange dance of happiness while his armor clinked and clanked until a familiar face pummeled them. Literally, with a loud booming voice. "EDWARD! Aren't you so happy to see your true friend the Strongarm Alchemist?" Armstrong's robust arms strangled Edward to the point of suffocation.
"I can't breathe!"
After a couple of seconds, the little alchemist was gently placed onto the ground and he tried to breathe in big gulps of air from the lack of oxygen. His automail cracked and caused a great amount of pain, "Gagh! Man, that really hurts a lot!" Pain and shear agony filled his face as Alphonse tried to soothe him. Just as the big clanking armor got closer, Alphonse tripped over a fairly large stone and crushed his beloved brother.
"AL! YOU'RE MAKING IT WORSE!" he screamed like a banshee trying to wriggle away from the heavy armor. Armstrong's enormous hands were able to pick it up like a feather and placed him back down gently. However, Alphonse's helmet was turned backwards and he freaked out. He screamed until a wrench flew out of no where and then bounced off his armor and clobbered Edward in the head. Blood gushed from the wound and Ed's face was full of pain again. "Winry! Stop throwing those god damn wrenches. I swear you are going to accidentally kill me someday."
The young mechanic stepped outside of the front door with a face full of anger and rage. "Edward, you never really learned what it means to watch your step?" his face was twisted ready to scream again until Armstrong stopped everything. "It pains me to see two of the greatest people arguing against each other in the name of love." Winry and Edward blushed tremendously, but then an epiphany hit him. "I know I'm very glad to see you Winry, but I need to go talk to a certain someone about my progress because he holds the purse strings for my 'silly' adventures." The state military gave each alchemist their own allowance and let them accomplish whatever said task it was as long as it could help the military in any fashion such as Shou Tucker's human chimeras or Tim Marcoh's investigation into the Philosopher's Stone. Over the years Edward used it quite a bit, such as the massive amount of money he gave to Sheska, and his superior was constantly harassed about it. After a few minutes, Winry met up with Second Lieutenant Maria Ross and Soldier Denny Brosh for lunchtime while Edward had his worse fear became reality. Checking his progress. Immediately, Edward and Alphonse headed towards Mustang's office. Second by second, Edward dreaded the words that were to follow.
"Well, well FullMetal, you never cease to amuse me with your constant failures." Roy said with his usual sarcastic tone behind his desk with Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye on his left. The colonel was used to the puny state alchemist failing time after time. He threw some old military documents and lit it on fire with his spark-ignition gloves. The flames burned for awhile as he stared intensely with passion.
"Now then, I understand you and your brother are encountering some difficulties trying to find your silly stone and I keep on getting yelled at because of your stupid decisions. What are you going to do about it? At some point someone else will be pulling the purse strings and it won't be me." Roy's somber tone was unsettling at most. Ed was hesitant in his response as Riza responded with a blunt comment. "FullMetal, as of right now, the Führer will be in charge of your missions and allowance. You will not be able to, for awhile, leave the country until your goals are more redefined." her last phrase left a bitter aftertaste and it was something she always hated when she joined the military. Maybe, just maybe she could change the politics and let there be more freedom. Her whole life, her father, Berthold Hawkeye, meant so much to her. Nonetheless, for right now, she swallowed the bitter pill and pressed on with her duty.
A couple of knocks were heard at Mustang's door and an idle Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc almost conked out on his chair. "I'll get it. Who could it be at this time of day?" As soon as he almost reached for the doorknob it started turning. The shininess of the knob created strange illusions and made him think it was a ghost. "No, I don't want to die!" He curled his arms over the top of his head and closed his eyes tightly.
"No need to get all worked up Second Lieutenant Havoc." A small chuckle and a smile said calmly by the leader of Amestris.
Edward was a little stunned, with his face full of stress lines, that he would see the Führer this early. Please, please, don't take away my state license. If he does, then I'm going to raise hellfire over it.
The Führer went to go sit down on a couch and everyone else, including Edward, were a little nervous by his presence. Vato Falman, Hermans Breda, and Cain Fuery freaked out the most and did whatever they could not to screw up. They sat at their desks quietly and awaited their orders when they would be called on. Silence filled Roy's office until King Bradley stood up and looked firmly down at Edward. "If you are going to make a ton of ruckus in my military, you better be ready to pay for the consequences."
Crap, now I'm really screwed. Edward, being the teenager he was, was scared half to death and prepared in his head an elaborate apology and looked frantically at his brother. I'll just say that I'm still young and sometimes when you're young you make mistakes you don't mean. Yeah, that should work. Hopefully.
Braided blonde hair shot up vertically and Edward bowed ready to deliver his apology, but he got something else unexpected. A pat on his head by the ruler. "There's no need to be so formal about this." Bradley's laugh made Edward and everyone confused, even Riza. "Put it this way, I'm not entirely mad at you for what you've been doing so far with your license. I think the only thing we'll have to alter is your long-term goal which you'll be able to do later once you accomplish some short-term goals under the name of the military."
Alphonse's armor rattled anxiously and he wanted to say something, but he knew he couldn't say anything to an important leader or how Edward could make the situation ten-thousand times worse. Just keep your mouth shut once Edward stops acting like a knucklehead so we can get back to our work. All of a sudden something important hit him, their friend Maes Hughes. It almost seemed that a murder of a close friend and who was almost able to make a major connection to the Ishvalan Civil War was not a priority in comparison to Edward "acting up." Alphonse just had to say something about it or the topic would never be brought up at all.
Alphonse responded in a firm tone. "I'm sorry to interrupt you Führer, but something's been on my mind for awhile and I don't want to cause any problems."
Bradley walked over right by where Alphonse sat at and had a genuine smile. "You are also a part of this military family. Don't be afraid to say anything."
"Why hasn't the military looked further into the murder of Maes Hughes? Doesn't it seem a little strange the circumstances of his murder?"
Everyone else's eyes were wide open and were nervous what Bradley could possibly say next, however Roy remained stoic not showing any emotion. Be careful what you say, it could put you on the chopping block.
"Well, let me see if I can put this into simple terms you and your brother can understand. There is so much frenzy going on right now such as the Ishvalans and other strange activity, that I am doing all I can to have a team look into this."
Alphonse was semi-okay with that response. "I absolutely understand what you mean. I won't ask any other questions." However, as formal as he responded, he knew some things were not adding up and there was something else going on.
The impatient teen was getting tired of all these lectures and wanted to move on. "Can Al and I get going now? We won't leave Central City, we just want to walk around and think this over."
Alphonse smacked the back of his brother's head. "Don't be so rude and impatient like that. Especially in front of a important leader." He hated being embarrassed in any kind of situation.
"Don't worry Alphonse, I can kinda understand your brother getting slightly impatient,"tThe Führer said with a pleasing tone and stood up to leave towards the door, "when I was a teenager, impatience was never really in my vocabulary." Confusion shot through both Edward's and Alphonse's head. When was he ever a teenager?
The Elrics continued to stare at each other as the leader of Amestris slowly left Roy's office. A huge weight was lifted off everyone's shoulders as they all sighed in relief. There was that much tension and anxiety Edward needed to go outside to rethink about everything. Just as Edward was about to open the door, Mustang left him an important message. "FullMetal, be very careful out there. I know Scar is an important issue, but make wise decisions along whichever path it may be. Hopefully the right one."
Both alchemists nodded at each other as Alphonse scurried along to catch up with his pint-sized brother. "Brother, wait for me! You always do this to me!"
Heavy doors slammed loudly and Roy was very concerned about everything going on in his own home country. Maes is dead, Scar's on the loose, the military is acting oddly, and on top of all that the Homunculi are not making this any easier. But something tells me that Bradley is not giving me the whole story. He turned his head towards Riza and she leaned over to her him whisper. "Try to have someone watch over Edward and his brother just in case the Homunculi or Scar decides to make any trouble."
Immediately, Riza quickly left to go find Winry and warn her too.
While Riza made her way, Edward thought really hard about everything up to now. His childhood, the path for the Philosopher's stone, and recovering Alphonse's body. Love? Not at that time, but everything was just too much for one person to handle alone. But Edward forgot that he has a brother who would be willing to stick with him to the bitter end. "Why does the military make their alchemists act like dogs? If they get out of hand, reprimand them before they get put down. I knew the choice I made was not easy, however," Edward let those trailing words sit in his mind before another person popped up behind unexpectedly. A whiny prince who should go back to his country.
"Hey, Ed how ya doing? It's been awhile since I've seen you in Rush Valley." Ling said very casually with his smile and pleasing tone.
A couple seconds passed and rage escaped like flames from a dragon. "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE LING?!" Edward wanted to murder Ling for all the troubles he caused in Rush Valley and then something else hit him as to why the Führer stepped in. All of that money I spent on Ling's food. I don't think Bradley would have cared if I spent it on Sheska. She's a part of the military, Ling's not.
"You owe me big time you jerk!" Another ten seconds passed while Edward strangled Ling out anger. Just as Ling was about to pass out, a kunai was thrown from a distance and stopped Edward. "Who threw that?!"
Two ninjas with masks that represented each side of the yin-yang symbol ran to the young lord's dying help. The female one spoke up very formally, "My lord, are you okay? Would you like me to dispatch him?" she took a look who the instigator was and realized who he was. "Edward?"
"Of course it's me, who else walks around with an armored brother?" he retorted with a snarky tone. Lan Fan took off her mask just as Fu came around. "Well Edward, it's been awhile. I'm sorry for all of the trouble the young lord caused for you as well as mine and Lan Fan's actions."
Edward really tried to accept the apology honestly and sincerely, but his human and moralistic side came through to the end. "Alright, for right now I'll let off Ling easy, but you've got quite the debt to pay off once you get some money." The kunai was buried deep in the ground and the little alchemist and his armored brother went to go inspect it based on its design. Metal plates welded together so beautifully, it was something new to the Amestrians especially Alphonse. "Man Xing sounds like an awesome country. I would love to check it out some day and get their weapons and hopefully have some of their traditional food."
Joy brimmed from Alphonse, but Edward knew that the possibility for something like that to happen was none. Most of the time the older Elric would try to make the situation realistic, but young age can impact one's judgments. Instead, Edward kept his mouth shut for once and let Alphonse be happy in that moment.
Ling, Lan Fan, and Fu continued to accompany with Edward and Alphonse, but Edward remembered something from his encounter last with them. "So, how's that search for immortality going. I hope your luck is better than mine."
Ling's smile slowly faded away and sorrow set in, "No luck at all. We keep on going to back to square one and it's just not working out right."
"I'm sorry, I wish I could help you, but Al and I have an important mission to do for the military bastards." Edward shrugged his shoulders and gestured Alphonse to move on quickly. Big armor slowly jangled across the even tiles of Central City right along the shopping district.
/
"Ugh, where am I? I feel like I've been drugged. Maybe I need to cut back on the partying." a Homunculus said groggily with his eyes barely open, his arms stretched across some two-by-fours, and chained up.
An old, blonde Father calmly talked. "Welcome home, Greed, my son. It's been awhile, maybe a good couple hundred years."
For the past couple of decades Greed's been making his own trail enriched with women, wine, the finer things in life. Only a couple days ago, he barely remembers the horrendous encounter against King Bradley. The Ultimate Shield stood no chance against the Ultimate Eye, as Greed was torn to bits with the multiple stabs and slashes. Even worse Greed lost his closest friends, Martel, Roa, Dolcetto, Bido, and all of the other human-chimeras by the military's bloodied hands.
Greed was elevated a good twenty to thirty feet off the ground above a huge cauldron of a melting hot liquid. Orange blobs sloshed all over and nearly spilled over the edge. Right underneath his feet were the other Homunculi as he keenly looked at them. "Well, isn't it Lust the Lascivious, I'll let you pierce me with your Ultimate Spear any time of the day. And Gluttony the Voracious, still trying to find the right diet huh? And little Envy the Jealous, for the last time get a new outfit." after he was done mocking them, he scoured his little headquarters. "And where would Sloth the Indolent be these days?"
Lust sat right by a dilapidated boulder. "I know he's up north doing whatever work Father assigned him to do, but I bet he would love to slack off from it." However, Greed didn't notice another Homunculus right under his feet. "Well, who would you be?"
"My name is Wrath the Vicious." Bradley said in an undeterred tone. He got the moment to sneak away from the military within his office and debriefed Father on his latest decisions about the sacrifices.
"Führer King Bradley and Wrath, one in the same. Huh, who would've thought?"
Black leather pleats from Lust's dress shined greatly from the sunlight that barely broke through the battered ceiling and complemented her purple demon eyes. The world to her was only a canvas to create her utopia full of chaos and destruction. "Greed, you never make things easy. Why must you be a difficult child? You're supposed to be a role model for our younger siblings."
Greed never liked to be told what to do, but it never meant he was malicious about it. Even when he defected from the Homunculi, he could have been independent and hopefully lived an enteral life. "Like you're one to talk. You get told what to do and all I want to do is to live a free and easy life."
Father sat on his usual thrown and stood up to walk by his disappointment of a son. His age could be seen in his face as the original Homunculus and over time maybe he will be able to get the knowledge from God. Nonetheless, Father had some plans up his sleeves to obtain his ultimate goal. "Greed, normally I would punish those who decide to betray my family. However, I'm going to keep you chained just in case for the meanwhile until the 'others' get here?"
"Whatever old man, I'm immortal and when I get down from here," hidden anger came through a gritted sneer with his razor teeth, "I'm going to murder you for the pain you caused me as well as you Wrath, Bradley, whoever the fuck you are! You took away my possessions and they cannot be replaced that easily."
Swords pinged along the uneven concrete and Gluttony made his cooing sounds while no one payed attention to Greed at all. Envy dusted off the debris on his skort, "Well, I'm gonna see what the pipsqueak is up to and I will let Wrath or you Father know about anything." Black wispy hair with a slight green tinted flared as Envy ran to his assigned mission.
Lust and Gluttony left together for their assigned mission, but as the Führer was about to leave Father stopped him to have a brief word with him. "Listen I may know the whereabouts of Yugi Muto and his 'friends' when they get here, make the military aware that they are spies from Drachma and must be captured immediately. Make sure that they don't get harmed and that ungrateful brat stays out of our way."
"Understood."
Bradley slowly made his way to the elevator shaft, and Father went to go back sit down and gazed at Greed. "Someday my son, you will realize why I'm keeping you alive for now and how your powers will further increase our probabilities tremendously."
My goal, no, my dream will slowly come true and those humans will crumble at first sight of a new genesis that will lead to evolution and revolution.
Phew, this was the longest chapter I have ever wrote and now my author's notes will make this document longer. XD
Right off the bat, I really hope I wrote all of the FMA characters properly since this is the first time I'm writing an FMA crossover fanfic. The characters that gave me a bit of a headache were Greed and Lust surprisingly. I did not want to go into obvious cliches with both of them. My head cannon is that when Greed did defect from Father and everyone else, he just wanted to be his own person and not have anyone tell him what to do. Plus, he found great relief when he finally made friends and when Bradley and the military slaughtered them made Greed feel alone and isolated. With Lust on the other hand, I feel that she is very complex character beyond her name.
Man, I know Tanglepelt will give me crap over the Bradster...XD
Now then, serious business, since I'm writing this based more on the anime rather than the manga, the whole schpeal with Isaac McDougal was giving me a few headaches too. I wanted to imply and I'll thank Al for that!
*SPOILER FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN BROTHERHOOD BUT REALLY SHOULD (IT'S A MUST)* Maes Hughes death would have taken way too much time and energy out of me, so once again implying things will save me from doing that. Don't worry, his murder will still play a huge role like it did in the anime.
Greed's little description was pulled straight from the anime and I actually found that to be quite hilarious.
Don't worry, Riza talking to Winry will happen in the third chapter as the other fandom needs to make their appearance. Just to let you know, these chapters might take a week or two to write because of my college work, but hopefully I can finish Someone Has to Play the Bad Guy sometime mid-April.
Phew, made it through these author's notes please R&R! ^_^