It was dead of night. Two quiet figures walked in the shadows of the abandoned section of the university. Taking out a piece of chalk, the shorter of the two drew a circle onto a wall, adding small details around it. Then he bit his thumb, drawing blood, and pressed his hand to the wall.
A blue light hid the morphing section of wall, creating an arch to allow the two to get into the building without any problems. Another flash of blue light appeared and the arch was gone and the wall was back as it was.
Inside, the two walked calmly down into hidden depths of the building. They had been there 5 years earlier when they had been reunited, and now they were planning on their return to their own world.
The Elric brothers were finally going home.
Edward took the lead and made his way through the catacomb-like maze of a building, Alphonse following closely behind his brother. Soon they found themselves in the bottom of a circular pit, the remains of the destructive forces scattered about randomly. After 5 years of disuse wood had begun to rot and the iron beams were showing early signs of rusting. Knowing what they would need to do, the brothers got to work quickly to clean up the area.
Al walked up to a piece of wood and drew a small transmutation circle. Using a similar technique as his brother did earlier, Al bit through the skin on his thumb and pressed on the circle. Blue light filled the air. The life force in the blood was enough to power the alchemic reactions. In seconds the wood looked brand new, having been restored by the elements in the air.
Turning to Edward, Alphonse asked, "How are you doing over there, brother?"
A flash of blue appeared briefly. When it was gone, Edward pulled his hand away from the restored iron rods.
"I'm becoming more and more thankful that you are so goddamn persistent, Al. Without you, I would still be thinking that alchemy would be useless to attempt." Ed admitted.
"Heh, you probably would have figured it out eventually." Al told him. "You had been living without alchemy for longer than I had and you were more adjusted to functioning without it. I just… I don't think I would really be able to live without it, to be honest."
Shrugging his shoulders, Ed told him, "Maybe so."
"Come on, Fullmetal," Al teased, using Ed's old moniker teasingly. "Let's get this done with. I want to get home."
"Alright, Blood Seal." Ed rolled his eyes and Al smiled. After their rediscovery of alchemy, Ed had decided that Al was deserving of an 'alchemist name', despite the fact that they were titles given to State Alchemists. Al's proficiency with his use of blood seals before he came this world and the fact that he was the one who discovered the use of blood as a power source inspired the name. Al was the one who chose the name, despite the Ed's initial protests.
He didn't want to be reminded that he had used a blood seal to attach his brother's soul to a suit of armor. Al had lived that way for four years.
After a couple of hours of cleaning, they briefly turned their attention to where Envy's dead body was decaying. It hadn't deteriorated like the other homunculus, but they suspected it had to do with the fact they were in another world. It was just as well; otherwise they wouldn't be able to open the gate in the first place. After securing the carcass in place, the Elric brothers turned their attention to other needs.
Soon the sun started to shine into the arena-like pit, the two stood in the middle appreciating the long night's work.
"It's too bad that alchemy takes so much more work here." Al commented.
Ed shrugged. "It's probably why it became a dead practice. It takes a lot more energy than it would on our side of the gate. The energy is coming from our blood and from the natural energy around us."
Al smiled as the brothers went to collect the rocket that they had brought down during the night. It taken well over an hour for them to bring it down the different parts and re-assemble them, but it the task wasn't hard. They didn't use alchemy because they were trying to conserve their energy.
When they had set up the two-person rocket so that it was angled to aim directly into the area where the portal was set up, the two started their next task: completing the transmutation circle. Of course, for two boy genii of alchemy this was a fairly simple task. Ed had redrawn the circle on a smaller scale for them to study a while ago, and it was then that they had made a rather important discovery.
They had been making plans to return to Amestris for a month now when Ed redrew the transmutation circle that could get them there. He sat at their kitchen table, silently studying the circle when a thought hit him.
"Hey, the portal on the other side has been closed, right?" Al looked up at Ed from across the room. "Before, the soldiers didn't survive. We won't be able to get through."
Al looked down sheepishly, quickly finding his twiddling thumbs more appealing to watch than his brother's questioning eyes. Too bad he could still feel the piercing golden eyes gaze. "Well… I kind of lied to you… I didn't exactly tell Mustang to close the portal..."
"WHAT? But what if-"
"Take it easy brother!" Al interrupted. "No one here will discover the connection again. Remember, this place will be destroyed once we enter the portal, so no one will be able to follow us through. And we destroyed that cult's original research, remember? So they won't be able to reconstruct the portal. It will be dead, once and for all. . Once we're through Envy's body will be destroyed as well. Without a humonculus, it is impossible to open the Gate. That's why I put those transmutation circles up there. They will activate once we leave this world."
Ed rubbed his forehead. It was nice to be with his brother, but his ability to be able to know exactly what Ed was thinking at times was uncanny. "Ugh… I just wish you had told me. I would have been okay with knowing this after all. I just want to be careful." He told Al.
His brother nodded in understanding. He said, "I know, but we've already taken care of that Uranium bomb here. We promised to take care of that before we would try this. What do we have left to do here in this world? I think that it's worth it to try and get back." Al paused before adding, "Even if it means risking death to see our friends again."
Ed nodded solemnly in agreement.
Al frowned. "I did tell Mustang to keep watch over the portal… so it is easily possible that it's been closed. We don't know if the portal is still open on that side…"
With a grin Ed said, "I guess we'll just have to reconfigure this circle then. If we are working on the assumption that we're going to have to open up one side and punch through the other."
"Yeah," Al said. "We might be able to make it so that we would be able to pass through easily though… kind of like when you came through the first time."
"You mean to the other Ed's body?" Ed asked warily.
Al shook his head. "No, I mean like when you first came here to stay, in your own. You obviously survived the trip, so it must mean that there is a way to pass through without the same consequences. Maybe something that could explain how Envy got here in the first place."
"That's true," Ed nodded. "A different type of exchange. I wonder what it would take though? And what makes it different?"
They sat in silence. Both trying to understand and reason what could be the equiv-
"Willingness."
Al looked at Ed in confusion. "What? What do you mean?"
Ed frowned slightly. "It isn't the right word to describe what I mean. But think about it—when I first came here in and possessed the other Ed, I had actually died, right? I didn't really want to come here. But the second time, I was willing to sacrifice everything to get across if it meant that you would be back. I wanted it bad enough to get across… apparently. At least, well, do you get what I'm trying to say?"
Al processed what he was being told. "I think so… and then, when Envy came over he must have wanted it bad enough as well. He knew that father was on this side, so he was willing to give up everything so he could get over here to kill him!"
"Well, something like that. I don't know about Father… how did he get over here?" Al asked his brother.
Ed shrugged. "It's not like I understand the man. Look, I might not be angry with Hohenheim anymore, I don't know how he thinks, and I'm not going try to."
Al dropped the subject, knowing that discussing the subject with Ed was useless. And it was true—neither of them knew what could have motivated Hohenheim's actions or what could have caused him to get to this side of the gate.
They never did find out why Hohenheim made it to this side of the gate, but boys did discover that they would not need to worry about the portal on the other side being open or not. Ed reconfigured the transmutation array, adding in symbols that would tell it to create a tunnel that went all the way through the gate to the other side. They would still need enough energy and power to get all the way through, but that was what the rocket was for.
That, and they were sure that it would allow them to escape the creatures that they had dubbed 'the Children of the Gate'.
It didn't take long for them to complete the revised transmutation circle. After a quick double check—one from each brother—Edward and Alphonse stood next to the edge of the circle.
Two golden eyes met each other. Two nods. Two bites—and broken skin. Two drops of blood.
A flash of blue-gold light. The carcass glowed vibrantly. The portal appeared.
An engine started up. A beam broke from the pressure of the portal. The two-person rocket took off. The portal shuttered.
And they disappeared into a radiant light just before it shimmered out of existence and the building collapsed in destruction.
Chapter 2 of 3.
Word Count: 1830 words
Total Word Count: 2851 words
Author's Note:
It seems that as I'm writing this, the chapter seemed to get away from me. The third and final chapter is going to be a whole lot longer than this one, that's for sure. They're going to have to handle the changes that Amestris has gone through, after all! That, and the wrath of Winry, hehehe…
As I said before, I hope I did a good job of keeping them in character, although I feel like I might of redeemed Ed from any injustice that I may have done to him in his portrayal in the first chapter. But, looking at how I've written it, I feel like they seemed to have switched roles/attitudes. Al is willing to take more risks and Ed is more cautious, but if you've seen the end the Conquerors of Shambala, then I think that you would probably agree with me that Ed did seem to be a lot more wary/cautious and Al was willing to take more risks (He did, after all open that gate, when Ed wasn't going to on the other side). They did spend time apart from each other and learned different things and grew up differently, after all.
I must let you know that the last installment of this 3-part chapter will probably be excessively long. I wouldn't expect it to come out anytime soon, if I were you. I'm expecting it to at least be as long as each of these last two chapters combined because I have a lot of stuff I want to cover for them to have to get through. I was considering having it be 4 chapters, but I distinctly want this to be a 3-part story about them Rediscovering (nearly) everything they have held dear: Alchemy, a way home (via the Gate, which is not really something dear to them), and Amestris' itself.
Now, for my disclaimer: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist, Edward (Ed) Elric, or Alphonse (Al) Elric.
(I do own the moniker Blood Seal that I gave Alphonse, however! Please don't steal it from me! However, you may ask permission to use it if you would like to.)