Title: The Forged Alchemist

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Summary: The Homunculus have left Amestris in shambles, and the new Fuhrer is an incompetent who is leading the country to downfall. When all hope is lost, Edward puts to the test a theoretical array, and enter Edwin Auric, the son of Hohenheim of Light, and elder half brother to Edward and Alphonse Elric.

Chapter 13

Edward stared at the man that he'd grown up calling brother in shock. Edwin stood with his back to the teenager, gloved hands lightly gripping the railings as golden eyes swept over the city's skyline.

"That man…" he whispered, "He made and used a Philosopher's Stone?"

"Which led to the destruction of the City of Xerxes, the remains of which Central City is built on top of," Edwin agreed. "Hohenheim is not the main problem though. His old lover, Dante, and their mutual child, William, now known as the Homunculus Envy, are the problems we need to worry about. The Philosopher's Stone in Dante is loosing power, and she'll need a new one to keep the bodies she transfers herself into from rotting too quickly."

"But if that man…"

"Hohenheim is our father, regardless of whether you resent him or no," Edwin said firmly, "He would do anything for his sons and his wife, and he has made clear his intention to die wearing the face that Trisha fell in love with."

"Oh…" Edward looked down, ashamed, "He really did love mom, didn't he?"

"Yes," Edwin agreed, "Of all the women he'd ever had relations with; Trisha was perhaps the only one he truly loved."

The two stood in silence for a moment, and Edwin sucked in a breath between his teeth and said, "Shall I continue, or do you wish to ponder our father's past for a while longer?"

"Um… Go on?"

Edwin smirked, "A good choice. We'll make an officer out of you yet."

Edward made a face, "That's more your forte, Brother. Go on with the history lesson."

"History lesson?" Edwin spun around, setting an expression of mock hurt on his face, "And here I went through all the trouble of gathering this information for you, you impudent little brat, and you can't even appreciate it! My poor heart is utterly shattered by your callous disregard, little brother!"

"Who are you calling so short that he could be a dot on the i's in a history book!"

Edwin blinked, "I never said anything of the sort." Edward gave him a strange look and Edwin smiled and said, "In any case, Hohenheim and Dante had a son named William, who somehow managed to get into their lab and acted remarkably stupid for a teenaged son of a pair of alchemists and ate some mercury. Dante performed Human Transmutation and William became who we now know as Envy, and Hohenheim, disillusioned by his woman, left her. Where he went in the time between leaving Dante and Envy and meeting Trisha, only Hohenheim can confirm, but we do know that at some point between meeting Trisha and the arrival of his sons in the military, Hohenheim himself worked in the military for a while."

Edward smirked and said smugly, "That much is obvious brother. The military is very concerned about records after all."

"Arrogant brat," Edwin said fondly, "This is the part where things are going to start getting strange, little brother, so make yourself comfortable… No one could accurately say where Hohenheim had gone after he'd left his wife, but everyone knew that he'd spent some time working for the military, so when Trisha Elric fell ill, his sons began writing to the military hoping that their father's commanding officer would send the man home. Of course, not even the military knew where the man was, so the children's letters went unanswered."

"We never did that!" Edward protested.

Edwin rolled his eyes, "Not this time, you didn't," he agreed amicably, "because you had me, and you will understand why I'm telling what seems like a doctored version of our own history and how it impacts Amestris when I finish."

Edward gave his brother a sullen look and nodded. Edwin sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly before continuing.

"When Hohenheim's wife died, the two boys delved deeper into alchemy, going so far as to use the money their mother left behind to pay for lessons from a woman known as Izumi Curtis. She despised two things, Human Transmutation and State Alchemists."

"Sensei likes you just fine!" Edward protested.

"She tolerates me because we have a goal in common, that is to say, to keep you and Alphonse safe," Edwin retorted, "now stop interrupting."

Edward fell silent and motioned for his brother to continue.

"The boys were ten and nine years of age respectively when they returned home and did the unforgivable. The price for the act was that the eldest lost an arm and a leg while the youngest lost his entire body, and would have lost his soul as well, had his brother not sealed him in a suit of armor. The older boy passed out from blood loss and the soul bound armor took his brother to the family on the other side of the hill, and it was there that they first met him, the man who would change both of their fates forever. The Flame Alchemist, Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang."

Edward bit back a sarcastic remark once he noticed the distant look in Edwin's eyes and the slight nostalgic smile on his lips.

"He was a good man, strong, smart, willing to bend over backwards until his spine snapped for the sake of two children, the eldest of whom often annoyed him to no end, even going so far as to continuously throw away golden opportunities of promotion to protect the boys. He was constantly pushed them to their limits and beyond, and found ways to discipline them for insubordination and outright sedition that would satisfy their superiors and still not hinder their search for what they'd lost. He loved the boys dearly and found ways of showing it without putting all of them in danger, and eventually, though most people didn't realize it, came to love the elder of the two in a decidedly non-platonic fashion, and covered it up by pushing his youngest subordinate to new heights of fury with his teasing."

Edward marveled at the change in his brother's face, how tawny eyes lit up and a small, almost imperceptible smile curved on the corners of his lips. Normally stony features softened, and a gust of wind sent golden hair swaying, reflecting the sun in a golden nimbus about his face. For a brief moment, Edwin was stunning, and Edward saw in the older man's face a reflection of the past, of Hohenheim whenever he looked at his wife, and Edward knew in his heart that this was more than an apparition of the past, this was a premonition of his future; a future where life is good, and there is someone who made up his whole world in a way Alphonse never had. It was a premonition of someone whom he would be happy to spend his life with, to share joys and sorrows, someone who would understand him on a level at which the question of "How are you feeling?" was meant for confirmation of a suspicion. Edward suddenly understood why his brother never dated, and why, for all the intimacy between them, Roy Mustang and Edwin Auric were never more than very good friends.

"You're me," the teenager breathed, staring in awe as the older man turned toward him, tawny eyes cold, "You're the future. And you're in love in Roy Mustang."

"No, Edward," Edwin said gravely, "I am the future you will never have. I could have stopped you and Alphonse from attempting the forbidden, I could have kept you from ever meeting Roy Mustang. But Roy Mustang was the best thing that ever happened to me, and I was not going to deprive you of that. And yes, I'm in love with Roy Mustang, but I do not love him. The Roy Mustang who knows two different Ed Elrics is not the Roy Mustang I love. My Roy lost an eye when he killed Pride and led our unit when the war with Drachma started. My Roy gave me everything and kept nothing for himself, sending the only person he'd ever really loved away so our past could have a future. My Roy lost his best friend, a loss that we are trying to prevent today. I am not your future, Ed, but you are my past, and everything I could not have, you will have it, even if I must march into the Fuhrer's office and burn him until there's nothing left."

Maes Hughes leaned against the wall of the stairwell to the roof of the dormitories. The Lieutenant Colonel was not so much eavesdropping as preventing people from eavesdropping. His old friend was infamous for coming up with foundations for modern privacy and monitoring arrays, and had ways to counter all of them, if only because not even the combined efforts of the Elric Brothers and Edwin Auric had found a way to create a privacy and monitoring array with out Edwin's base. Something built out of a familiar base could always be circumvented by simply undoing the base, causing a cascade reaction that would lead to rebound and therefore the rendering useless of the array. And just because Edwin and Edward could overpower and undo any eavesdropping transmutation didn't mean that someone couldn't physically eavesdrop as well.

Of course, if he ended up with answers to some of the questions about the things that Edwin was not unlikely to leave out, that was good too. Maes smirked as he toyed with one of his throw knives. But of course, Edward came first, once the kid got his answers, then it would be Maes' turn. He was in intelligence for a reason, and he was tired of being kept in the dark, being fed only enough to satisfy his immediate curiosity, but not enough to be sure that his actions were not undoing some of Edwin and Roy's hard work without knowing.

The Lieutenant Colonel shifted his weight and winced as something crunched underfoot. He lifted his foot to reveal the crushed remains of some insect, and grimaced as he scraped the underside of his boot on the concrete stairs, casting furtive looks at the door as he did so. Edwin Auric was easygoing most of the time, but woe betide he whom was caught eavesdropping. And eavesdropping was exactly what Maes was doing.

Edwin's eyes flickered toward the door at the faint sound and Edward blinked.

"Brother?"

"It's nothing," Edwin smiled, "just the wind."

"But there's no wind!" Edward protested.

"No," Edwin grinned, "Just an old windbag." (In the stairwell, Maes stifled an indignant cry.)

Edward blinked. Blinked again, then tawny eyes widened in realization. "Ohhh…." He grinned, "He's going to kill you later."

"I can handle it," Edwin smirked, "I'm ten years younger after all." The smirk was instantly replaced by a solemn look and he said firmly, "Moving on."

Edward found himself following suit, shifting from amused and joking to solemn and attentive in an eye blink.

Three Hours Later…

"We don't have a great deal of time," Edwin said as he led the teenager to the door. "Search the First Branch of the National Library for Tim Marco's work. I suggest finding someone called Sheizka. She'll make life much easier."

Edwin paused as the array on his left glove glowed. He lifted his hand and studied the glow, and it seemed as if words scrolled across the back of his hand. His eyes suddenly took on the light of smugness and satisfaction. He dropped his hand and fixed Edward with an intense gold stare.

"Be careful, Edward," he said, "It seems a rebellion might be brewing. The people responsible were arrested a few days ago, but have escaped. Since I was the one who did the arresting, you'll need to be vigilant. You can't accomplish your goals if you are dead."

Central Headquarters….

"So Nathaniel Kruger and Lieutenant Kruger have disappeared from the holding cells?"

"Yes," a woman replied, "there are signs that their escape was aided by someone inside the military."

"Humph. This has Edwin Auric written all over it."

"Shall I arrange for his arrest, Pride?"

"No." A cruel smile spread over a pale face. "If he thinks this disorder will weaken us, he's wrong. Colonel Auric is a very big help, all that bloodshed just coming our way…"

"Of course."

Neither figure noticed the array hidden in the vents pulse softly as they recorded every word spoken and sent it to a corresponding array.

TBC…