Return, a fullmetal alchemist fanfic

A/N: This has been banging around in my head for quite some time now. So I decided to get it out and not have it bugging me anymore. This fic is set after the movie Conqueror of Shambala and is more of how it is possible for the Elrics to return to the other side of the gate. This has potential to become a multi-chapter story...but for now, I am keeping it as a one-shot. I've left it vague as to how the gate was opened when it was sealed by the brothers...however, I have left clues...so if anyone wants to figure it out...feel free! XD.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: See profile.

Written July 2010

Title: Return

1945, Japan

The wind whipped over them, almost bringing tears to their eyes. It brought simple, whispering brushes of feeling to the detached sense of calmness that they felt. They could only watch with the cold, clinical sense as they performed their orders.

There were four members on the team, all boarded on this single, small aircraft. Each had a different life waiting for them at the end of this – yet, they all had the same thoughts on their minds. Was sacrificing this many lives worth saving our own? Could our nation's security only be guaranteed through this one deed? Were there no other options?

And suddenly, the power of their actions slammed into them as the four of them gripped onto the handles of the vessels carefully – their first direct contact with the vessels since their boarding onto the aircraft. Their hands could be seen shaking and trembling, but one could only wonder if it was because of the weight of the vessels or the weight of their own actions.

Yet, ironically, those doubts were swiftly blown away from the men's minds at the sudden sound of a high-pitched whistle – the signal to release the containers into the unsuspecting city waiting below. The sound of the wind rushing past the open doors of the aircraft, which was so high up in altitude, seemed to magnify and resonate in their very bones, approaching deafening levels in just that mere moment, as if the world was dreading their actions and was reluctant for time to go on.

It was only but a moment, however, and a heartbeat later, the soldiers watched with trepidation as time once again rushed on and the world expanded, again, to include the yelling messages from their commander to evacuate the area immediately once the mission was completed.

But the soldiers could not move. They stayed perched beside the open doors and watched with a morbid curiosity at the containers that they had released. It was falling swiftly, spinning and slanting while tumbling down. With the soldiers' inability to move, it was as if fate was playing a cruel trick, making them witness and suffer the consequences of their actions alongside their victims.

When the first of the vessels reached the faint outlines of the tops of the buildings, the men didn't have but two heartbeats before their entire world changed. And ended.

The reaction within the vessels occurred rapidly, at an unprecedented rate. A dirt coloured mushroom cloud arose swiftly in the next few seconds, into the sky, visible for miles around. It acted as a beacon to let others know of what happened at Hiroshima within those few moments.

The soldiers, even, were caught in the backlash of the mushroom cloud, as it enveloped the air surrounding the aircraft and the aircraft itself, and suffocated everything and everyone within its grasp.

The first atomic bomb had been dropped. And it had achieved its purpose: the death of over a hundred thousand people.

Meanwhile, elsewhere...

A young man, with golden hair in a ponytail, was just walking through the fields to meet his brother – when it happened.

Alphonse froze as a flash of bright light surrounded him. Wide eyes in surprise and fear, his head whipped around to trail the series of lines emerging from the ground, following that flash of light. These lines emitted the same bright light and were being engraved into the ground around him in certain, specific designs, with Alphonse as the central, focal point. His eyes furrowed though as what formed from the lines was unmistakably a transmutation circle – something that shouldn't even exist in this world.

Al felt surprised at the sudden spurt of familiarity the transmutation circle produced in him and savoured the feeling, as this was what he had known since he was young but had lost later on. But he couldn't think and comprehend the situation more before the fields vanished from his sight.

His attention snapped back to the transmutation circle as it activated and made the world fade away. And he could only observe as the circle took him on a dizzying ride and transported him to stand in front of the huge, familiar Gate.

He noticed distantly that the Gate was open, with the barest of slits as if to not let anything out or escape. Yet, through that tiny opening, Alphonse could still see whatever lay beyond. And what greeted him wasn't disappointing.

Beyond the Gate, laid the vision of Central. The Army Headquarters had never looked so inviting until now. Even when peering past the ugly Gate, which had haunted his and his brother's lives incessantly and which had also made them sacrifice so much, Alphonse could only marvel at the sight of his home world. Having endured all these years of war on this strange planet riddled with such corruption and pollution, often times Alphonse had felt homesick and wished for the familiar surroundings of Amestris.

Just as the memories of their lives in Central flew through his mind, Alphonse's eyes widened as a jarring thought snapped him out of his stupor.

Why was the gate even in front of him? They had sealed it!

His eyes furrowed as his mind whirled and rushed to understand the situation. He was sure that was a transmutation circle and alchemy back there! But alchemy just didn't work in that world…

…Unless, Alphonse realized, it related to and involved the gate!

Alphonse's eyes widened again as he saw the Gate in front of him in a new light. However, after a moment, his eyebrows furrowed again as more questions flew through his head. Why did the gate even open? How did it open – last time, there was a sacrifice to open the gate, so how did it open now? Why and how was there a transmutation circle present in the first place? Who drew it? And why him? Why not his brother?

Why not…his brother…? – His BROTHER!

Where, in the world, was his brother!

Alphonse whirled around without hesitation at that realization and studied his surroundings. With fear and terror warring in his eyes, Alphonse turned away from the Gate and its pull, with effort, to search the white nothingness surrounding him for a way out and be back with this brother. He refused to go past the Gate, back to the world he came from, without his brother by his side.

However, all Alphonse could see was whiteness, a thick blanket that hid even the Earth world from his view, the world he was exiled to with his brother. Only the gate was present in this new dimension.

Then, Al became aware of something else: the Gate had never looked so tame or calm before. And he had never seen the Gate be open – however small the opening was – this long before it forcefully took action. Abruptly after that, Alphonse also noticed the draft and the breezes all rushing towards him, past him, and towards the gate. It wasn't strong enough to be a gale, far less weak actually, but it was enough for his ponytail to drift alongside the breeze and slide along his neck and jaw.

With these observations, Alphonse's mind worked to think up of answers and solutions, and a plan to get out of the Gate's dimension to return to his brother's side. He tried walking around, to see better through the nothingness. Yet, the Gate seemed to be moving with him, always at the same distance and parallel to his path.

Clenching his hands into fists and gritting his teeth in frustration, Al glared at the Gate, which continued to be - tenaciously and unrelentingly, at that – the source of both his brother's and his problems. It just wouldn't stop interfering with their lives!

After trying persistently to find an escape route from the Gate's dimension, but only to fail each time, Alphonse gave up his search and instead, decided to resist and retaliate the Gate's magnetic pull (which, actually, was about all he could do at that point). With a mulish expression on his face, similar to that of his brother's in fact, Alphonse sat down exactly where he was standing, in front of the Gate, and decided to stubbornly wait and see what the Gate would forcefully do to him.

Rather quickly, though, Alphonse's natural curiosity was testing the patience of his own mind and his thoughts turned completely analytical as he observed the Gate's dimension, the surrounding whiteness, and the Gate itself more closely. Once more, he began to notice subtle details. And as his mind focused more on the surroundings, fascinated by those little discoveries, Al became slowly anxious at the increasing rate with which the changes in this dimension were occurring.

He hadn't noticed it before because he was too preoccupied being upset about the predicament he was in and worrying over his brother, but it seemed like the whiteness was expanding little by little and that the Gate was opening micrometer by micrometer. In fact, he wouldn't even have noticed the gate opening more and ever so slowly, if it weren't for more of that vision of Central being revealed at a painfully gradual pace, beyond the Gate's doors.

Alphonse watched with a rapidly growing sense of fear as the pull became stronger, slowly but surely, and a well-known feeling started to grow in his stomach. He gasped as his palms and hands tingled, his fingers twitching the tiniest bit in response to the familiar, warm and soothing feeling of alchemy running through his veins again.

Now that he could experience and sense his alchemy again, his fear abated and Alphonse began to notice with a sense of awe, the silver streaks glowing with golden sparkles here and there that was flowing around him. As he followed their movements, though, Al frowned as he found all the glowing bands to be headed towards the same destination: the Gate.

The Gate, which was now open just a little wider than before, Alphonse noticed with increased alarm and agitation.

Warning bells began to fully sound in his head as the questions – Why was the Gate open for so long? And why wasn't it closing as is its natural tendency? – repeated in his thoughts. Yet all Alphonse could do without giving in to the Gate was resist it stubbornly and go against the pull.

Sometime later...

Alphonse didn't know how long he had sat there in the same spot, the only movement being his neck craning to see his surroundings while his eyes roamed around and attempted to observe every single detail of this dimension before any other significant change occurred.

But when it did, Alphonse was both relieved and panicked.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, the wind's strength increased greatly, to levels even stronger than that of a gale, maybe even rivalling a tornado's or a hurricane's. Al, unsuspecting it, almost toppled forward fully and fell splat on his face – almost. At the last moment, he caught himself on his hands and knees.

Just as he was raising his head, he spotted a flash of bright light fade from behind him through his peripheral vision. Snapping his neck and head towards it, regardless of the ends of his ponytail whipping into his face and eyes, Al's breath came out gasping and choking for a moment as he found his voice and attempted to call his brother's name over the howling and steady flow of the wind. He distantly noticed that the silver streaks were also flowing faster, at the same speed as the wind in fact – maybe the wind was the flow of the silver bands…? But Alphonse stopped paying attention to all that and concentrated on the sight of his brother only, who was in a similar pose as him, bent on his hands and knees.

As Edward lifted his head to survey his new surroundings, he immediately let out a loud yell of "Al!" after meeting his younger brother's eyes. Al replied back with a shouted "brother!" before they could speak no more over the wind, their voices being carried away so easily. But they didn't need to say anymore, all their worries having been expressed in those two words just then – like countless times before. Another bout of strong wind hit them both and they went flying through the gate.

And their world faded to black before both of them could even understand what had happened.

"Sir!"

Major-General Roy Mustang raised an amused eyebrow at the harried but pleased expression on his Deputy's face. Riza Hawkeye was not one to bang open the doors usually when entering his office, yet, strangely today, his officer had come barging in.

"Report."

"Sir, the Elric brothers have returned, Sir!" Hawkeye rushed to say.

The Major General's eyes widened and his expression immediately turned serious as he comprehended that news. Roy Mustang's first thought was an alarmed one: Hadn't they sealed the Gate? But in the next moment, Mustang cleared his mind and put off those questions for later, when he had the Elric brothers with him to better understand and find answers to those questions. He stood up and hastened to get around his desk, grabbing his coat that was hanging off the back of his chair in an afterthought, and hurried to follow after Hawkeye.

It had been over twenty years since both the Elric brothers had left this world and stayed on the other side of the Gate. Yet, was it coincidence that the brothers returned just when strange things were happening not merely in Central, but in the whole of Amestris? Roy Mustang could only wonder.

Recently, in the past few days, all the alchemists had noticed that their transmutation circles produced larger results than normal. That is, if they were to transmute with the intention of bringing water from the ground, what would usually be produced was little more than a cup of water, however now, a whole little river would form as a result. Mustang himself had noticed the effects, every time he activated his flame alchemy, it was a little harder to control and was hotter in temperature than before. It was mysterious and the Major General didn't know whether to be afraid of this new predicament or embrace it for its amplification effects.

Yet, nevertheless, the Flame Alchemist had missed the Elric brothers and life just wasn't interesting enough – nor exciting enough – without the Elric brothers around here to cause havoc and mayhem.

Hawkeye led him to the hospital. Apparently, the Elrics were transported there after having been found lying around, unconscious, in front of the main entrance to the Central Command Headquarters. Mustang could only be thankful that they were merely unconscious and not hurt worse after passing through the Gate.

His footsteps increased speed until he was half-walking and half-running. Only a mere hallway separated him and those brothers and it had been over twenty years. With a growing sense of excitement, Roy Mustang wondered how the two boys would react at the sight of him after all these years. They had all moved on with their lives and their bodies had undoubtedly aged – how would their changed appearances come across with the two brothers…? And, Roy thought with some amusement, would Ed have grown at all from the last time he had seen the two brothers together?

Now at the door to the brothers' specially assigned private room, Mustang paused a moment with his hand on the doorknob. He could hear Edward's voice whining the usual disgruntled complaints of being tied down to a hospital bed while Alphonse tried to appease him clearly from this position behind the door. It brought a sense of familiarity – like visiting his subordinates when they were injured on one of the missions that he, Roy Mustang, had assigned them.

But unable to wait a moment more, Roy turned the handle and opened the door. Entering, he peered around the door and took in the sight of the two Elric brothers. The Major General was vaguely surprised at the appearance of those two, as it supported the fact that they too had aged. But disregarding that, Roy Mustang addressed the two men (as he had realized after seeing them that they were no longer boys after twenty years) who were once his subordinates and who, he hoped, would be in the near future also.

"Fullmetal, Alphonse!"

Edward's head snapped towards him with a scowl already on his face. He reluctantly growled out a "Colonel" while Al let slip a smile and replied back with a much more pleasant "Colonel" than that of his brother's. This was their age-old, familiar routine: it brought with it the feeling that this was home to all present.

"Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric. Welcome back."

And with those simple words, the Elric brothers' adventures once again began in their home-world.