Summary:

AU/Anime-verse/Gen: Edward Elric died bringing Al back. Then, a year after his brother's death, Al sees Ed again – only this time, with a new Ouroboros tattoo on his right hand…


I don't own Ed or Al or any affiliated and recognized characters in FMA.


Just to clear things up before anyone starts reading and goes 'what the heck is this?', this chapter is an interlude to the story and this takes place before our first chapter. :) Thanks.


Interlude 1

2 WEEKS AGO

"What? I'm not doing this! I've got better things to do! Like finding a Philosopher's Stone!" Edward Elric shouted, as he menacingly waved a piece of paper above his head. "I'm too busy for some stupid military routine checkup of some completely random location!"

"Fullmetal," Colonel Roy Mustang said boredly as he signed another piece of paper. "You do realize that it's an official order from the Amestrian Military Council."

After the death of Fuhrer King Bradley and the revelation of his true identity as a homunculus (which was still being kept deeply under wraps; the public was told that the Fuhrer was assassinated), Amestris's government decided that it was too risky to invest the colossal power of the military into just one individual, and so the position of 'Fuhrer' had been disbanded. The Amestrian Military Council quickly rose up to take the Fuhrer's leadership position and its seven members were now in charge of the military.

Incidentially, Mustang was a part of the Council.

"You're using your Council position to give me all your dirty work! Why can't you just do it, you lazy jerk?" Ed snapped in return, glaring daggers at his superior officer.

"Unfortunately, being a good leader for the Amestrian military is a challenging role," drawled Mustang. "The Council believes that I no longer have much time for field work and so have had them assigned to you. You should be flattered that they think that you are capable enough to complete them."

Ed snorted, lazing on the hard office armchairs. "Good leader, yeah right. You're as irresponsible as they come. I saw Fuery forging your signature on a stack of papers when I came in. And you're blaming the Council for this now? Well then, I'm so flattered that I'm going to get sent out to do your dirty work for you, you bastard."

"Respect your superiors, Fullmetal."

"I'll respect my superiors when I see them, Flame."

A sigh. "As enlightening as this banter is, Fullmetal, I really do have work to do. Would you please kindly get out of my office?"

"If I don't do the mission, I'll gladly get out."

There was no response from the Colonel, and Ed smirked triumphantly as he got up from the office couch. "That's settled, then! I'm not doing it, and I'm getting out right now! I've handed my report in, so bye!"

Ed brushed the invisible lint off his pants as he easily ambled his way towards the office doors.

"Hold it right there, Fullmetal. That's an order."

Shit.

Mustang laid down his pen and steepled his fingers, resting his elbows on the desk, looking at Ed through his lashes. Ed gritted his teeth at the deceptively innocent look. It was everything that the colonel wasn't.

"Let me be frank with you, Fullmetal. I don't care if you do it or not, but I think that you should know that the rest of the Council is very aware that the assignment has been given to you." His dark gaze was searching and deep as they met Ed's. There was a meaningful pause. "But it's your watch on the line after all; I'm not going to tell you to do anything."

Damn!

Ed growled frustratedly and disbelievingly. "What? I can't believe you! What did you say?"

Did he really say that he would take my watch away if I don't do this?

"You heard me," Roy Mustang said mildly as he looked through a stack of papers. "Assignments are assignments, Fullmetal, and it's the obligation of every soldier in the military to complete them. And if they don't...well, no one's irreplaceable. Not even the 'Hero of the People'."

"You can't just take away my watch just because you're feeling lazy for a few days! Mustang, I have a very good lead on the Philosopher's Stone! This might be it! Give me a break from all this military bullshit, okay?"

"Fullmetal, you're a dog of a military and the last I checked, dogs follow their masters' orders. If the military tells you to roll, Fullmetal, you roll. You don't sit around complaining that you have something to fetch. By the way, I think you will find that I have been very busy for the past few days."

"That's only because it's your ass getting in the First Lieutenant's firing zone if you don't get the Amestrian Military Council papers done!" Ed exclaimed indignantly, before brightening up. Ed felt a bit better (just a bit, really) imagining Mustang getting shot by Lieutenant Hawkeye, who thought it nothing short of the highest honor that Mustang – Mustang, a mere colonel, a complete bastard, of all people – would be one of the elite seven of the Military Council…

Okay, seeing Hawkeye's bullet in the imaginary Mustang's head made Ed feel a lot better. But it wasn't really his fault for being so amused at the mental image when he shouldn't, because Mustang was such a bastard and bastards always got what they deserved. It was the law of karma, wasn't it? – what goes around, comes around. And since Mustang was being such a jerk to Ed right now…

Ed suppressed a gleeful smile at all the things that the universe could inflict on his commanding officer. Getting hit by a stray cab; getting shot at in the forehead by Lieutenant Hawkeye for missing paperwork deadline; accidentally drinking bitterly vile poison instead of his usual coffee; burning himself with his own hot flames; the people of Amestris stampeding on Mustang. The possibilities were endless, because Mustang was just that cruel.

"If that's what you think, Fullmetal," Mustang said, sighing exaggeratedly, interrupting Ed's mental tirade. He then took out his State Alchemist watch and checking the time with it. "Are you staying in my office just to sulk about your orders, Fullmetal? Because I have work to do and I really don't have the time for your petty, childish temper tantrums."

A pause.

"Who are you calling so small that he's practically a little girl?" Ed shrieked incoherently, his face flushing into a bright shade of fire engine red.

The Colonel lifted his eyes upwards towards the heavens, exhaling, before returning to his paperwork. He muttered, "I don't know where Fullmetal gets half of that from." He elaborately signed his name on one of them, before he looked directly at Ed with those patronizing eyes that Ed hated.

"Little girl or not, Fullmetal –"

"I'm not a little girl! Maybe it's time you got your eyes checked out, old man!"

"There's nothing wrong with being a little girl, Fullmetal," Mustang commented blandly, signing another piece of paper. "Haven't you met Elicia Hughes? Quite the little charmer. I think you would get along with her quite well."

Mustang's darkly intelligent eyes were all wide and earnest – and he looked as innocent as someone jaded like Mustang could look; which pissed Ed off, because Mustang was so clearly mocking him.

So he did the only thing that he could do without losing his State Alchemist watch: he fumed. He practically frothed at the mouth.

Mustang smirked at his reaction, and Ed was forced to slowly watch as the smirk turned into deep, throaty chuckles.

"Stop laughing, you bastard!" Ed demanded, scowling furiously. "It's not funny!"

Mustang composed himself and, with a serious face, he continued to speak. "Well, you've got a week to complete the mission, Fullmetal. Now, I do believe that your brother is waiting for you outside right now."

Right. It wasn't as if Ed was waiting for an apology or anything, because everyone knew that Mustang was a cocky, arrogant bastard who didn't have the word 'apologize' in his personal dictionary. Which begged the question, why the hell did Mustang's subordinates respect him so much, anyway?

Because Ed sure as hell didn't, not anymore, not after this; he gave the Colonel a glare for the last time, before angrily stomping out of his office.


"We can't!" Gloved fingers clutched at the military phone desperately.

"Alphonse, you've been listening to me for the past five minutes, you have to realize that this is ridiculous –"

"I know, Winry! It's just that…we can't." Hopelessness and despair, mingled with determination...

"Well, why can't you? You have to take a break sometime and might as well be now –"

"Winry, we can't! I mean...Brother's getting a mission from the Colonel right now, we've got a new lead and everything..."

"Al, that's what you said two years ago! You've had hundreds of leads! Just...just give this one up, okay? For me and for Granny. It's her birthday, Al. She wants it to spend it with her family. Please." Frustration.

"Winry..." Reluctant, longing, wistful...

"Al?" Ed called out and then blinked bemusedly as he watched his brother garble out a quick "Goodbye, it was nice talking to you!" to the phone before slamming the receiver back down.

"Uh, was that Winry?"

"Um…y-yes, Brother," Al stuttered. He seemed somewhat dazed by the conversation.

"Well, what did she want?" Ed raised his eyebrows. "Sounded like you two were having a pretty serious conversation to me."

"It's…It was…It's nothing," Al stumbled over the words. "What did the Colonel want, Brother?"

"He's sending me on another mission," Ed grumbled crossly,deciding not to comment on Al's sudden subject change. "Just when we've almost got another lead, too. What a jerk, eh? He says that I've got a week, which means that it'll take a few days. Let's do it and get it over with. And then we can get cracking with the Philosopher's Stone again, just like always. This lead will turn out to be the right one. Probably."

Al nodded dutifully. "Yes, of course, Brother."

But Al's voice was now edged in doubt, his steps were heavier than usual, and his armor was as slumped as metal could go; and to think that Al was optimistic about their current lead and completely fine a few hours ago…

Ed tried to laugh it off. "Come on, Al. We've exhausted all the other leads. This one's got to be the right one."

His brother didn't respond.

"Al?" Ed said suspiciously, blinking. "Are you sure your conversation with Winry was nothing?"

"It's – it's really nothing, Brother! It just got me thinking about…other things…" Al hastily said, straightening. He gave a bout of nervous laughter.

Ed stopped at hearing Al's anxious chuckles and turned around to face the seven-foot-tall suit of armor with a raised brow. "Al. Now I know something's wrong. What is it?"

Al visibly drooped, defeated, and Ed gave himself a mental pat on the back; usually his brother was a lot harder to crack. "It's just that – Brother, everyone's been asking me about it, and I've been thinking…it's been years. And we still don't have the Philosopher's Stone... Maybe…maybe it's not for us."

Ed frowned at his brother, tensing instinctively. "Al, are you telling me that we should just give up?" he asked incredulously, in a skeptical and confused tone of voice. "You can't be serious!"

"Brother –"

"No, listen to me, Al," Ed said flatly and determinedly. "We've gone too far to turn back now. There's no choice but to move forward. That was what we agreed on when we burned down our house."

And that's what's engraved in my State Alchemist watch.

"I suppose you're right, Brother," Al finally concurred, but spoke as if something was still bothering him.

Ed hated it when Al was like this. It was true, it had been a few years since the beginning of their quest – but they had no choice but to carry on. Nobody understood it. Colonel Mustang had expressed his doubts about Ed and Al ever truly finding the elusive Philosopher's Stone time after time. Second Lieutenant Ross – who frequently comforted the boys after one false lead after another – always asked them with her expressive eyes: "Why do you keep putting yourselves through suffering and disappointment like this?". Even Winry and Pinako thought that the Philosopher's Stone was a lost cause, and had quietly begged Ed and Al to return home. Winry had even quietly reminded him that her parents had been in the military front lines, just like Ed, and they never made it back home to Resembool.

They just don't understand, Ed had told himself desperately at the time. But Al does. And I do. And we're the only ones that matter.

And now, not even Al really, truly understood what they had to do. Was Ed really alone on this crazy quest of his?

The thought depressed him and dampened his already low spirits.

"Brother –" Al sounded stricken, as if he could see how much his words devastated Ed.

Ed interrupted Al before he could get any further. "We'll just check out this place, okay? It'll be quick," Ed promised, trying to change the subject.

"Brother –" Al sighed as he glanced away from Ed's suddenly dejected expression. "Don't look at me like that. I…I was just trying to be realistic. It has been years. And I thought maybe we should reconsider a bit…you know, look for another option for returning you to your normal body."

"Of course you were," Ed murmured, ducking his head so that his bangs hid his face. He distracted himself by reading the case file for his current mission. It seemed simple enough; a routine, authorized, surprise break-in at one of the military warehouses that were supposedly empty.

They always were. Ed would have chased after their lead on the Philosopher's Stone and made up his report at the end of the week, if not for the fact that military end-of-assignment reports had to be detailed and precise; Mustang probably knew every detail of that place and would have realized Ed's report was a fake after the first exaggerated line.

"I was!"

"Al…" He sighed, closing the file. He tried his best to avoid looking at his brother. "Can we not talk about it right now?"

"Brother…"Al's voice slowly trailed off. "I – I guess so. But we are going to talk about this later, right?" Al said determinedly.

"Okay," Ed replied, knowing not to argue against his brother when Al used that tone. He put the file next to him, folded his arms, and thought carefully about the mission – about the warehouse – about anything but what Al just said. "So we're going to have to break in and do a quick check up at Warehouse group D, number twelve. It's the biggest one that they've closed down so far, and the file says that it's been quiet for a few years now. I think that the best course of action would be to break in, get out and tell the bastard that everything's fine –" Ed's voice slowly trailed off.

Something's not right, his instincts told him as he stiffened and put himself in the ideal fighting stance. Something's really not right.

"Brother, someone's coming!" Al whispered.

Ed's mind raced. He was in the Central Headquarters, one of the safest places in Amestris. The bastard Fuhrer Bradley, also known as the homunculus 'Pride', had already been taken care of by his poor son and Mustang ("Perhaps the bastard is good for something afterall," Ed had reluctantly concluded after first hearing of Bradley's demise). And Juliet Douglas – no – Trisha Elric – no – Sloth – Ed had killed with Wrath's unwitting help. He turned the water-based monster, who was wearing the face of his very own mother, into ethanol.

Ed bit his lip. He would rather die and never know life again than be reborn as a homunculus.

A thundering of footsteps (Ed started to visibly cower, as did Al – what if Teacher and Sig Curtis were here?) and Ed held his breath.

"Edwaaard Elriiiic!"

Ed groaned and immediately relaxed from his stance. There was only one person who could possibly be annoying enough to call his name out like that, and no amount of fighting could ever get him out of that person's strongholds anyway.

"It is I, Alex Louis Armstrong!" Armstrong said brightly, twinkling. "And I am honored to be accompanying you and Alphonse in this venture towards the warehouse! We shall start planning for this mission immediately! May I suggest –"

"Not interested!" Ed quickly butted in, trying to edge his way out of the situation. He tried to move away from the major, behind his brother (Al could defend himself against Armstrong but I can't, Ed's mind rationalized, stubbornly ignoring the reason why he couldn't – and Ed wasn't in denial about his height like Al and Winry frequently claimed).

"But Brother, maybe Major Armstrong can help us!" Al suggested unhelpfully as he unknowingly moved out of Ed's reach, towards the major. "Then we can finish the mission sooner and then we can go on with our search for the –"

"Of course I will be of use to you, Alphonse Elric!" Armstrong puffed up like a male peacock, much to Ed's horror. "After all, I have learned all the Armstrong family's military secrets – secrets that have been passed down the Armstrong family line from generations!"

"I see," Ed said weakly.

"Do you, Edward Elric?" Strong hands grabbed him, lifted him off his feet, and forced Ed's gold eyes to look into Armstrong's baby blue, dark-lashed ones. "I'm not so sure that you do!"

"Uh…Major Armstrong?" Al said in a timid voice. "I'm sure Brother sees it."

To Ed's relief, Armstrong let him go.

"So…what are the Armstrong family military secrets?"

Armstrong visibly perked up again. "Oh, yes! The Armstrong family's military secrets that have been passed down the Armstrong family line from generations and generations –"

"Major," interrupted a dry, feminine voice. "I thought the colonel's orders were to guard the Elric brothers in their mission, not chat to them about the Armstrong lineage outside his door."

"First Lieutenant Hawkeye!" Ed and Al exclaimed, jumping several feet into the air.

"Lieutenant Hawkeye!" Armstrong boomed at the same time.

Ed and Al gulped at her searchingly hard gaze as her brown eyes scrutinized them. Ed shivered. No, he wasn't cowering at the sight of her gun. Not at all.

She inclined her head, her coat neatly folded in her arms. "It's nice seeing you two again, but don't you have a mission to complete?" Her brown eyes looked at them meaningfully.

"Yes sir!" the boys replied obediently.

"Of course, lieutenant," Armstrong said.

She smiled grimly at them. "Very well then; good luck on your mission, Elrics, Major Armstrong. I'll see you later."

The trio, with baited breaths, watched Riza Hawkeye stalk off, no doubt to harass Mustang about his lack of work output. In reality, it was just a few steps to the colonel's door; but in Ed and Al's minds, it took forever. Nobody wanted to be on the other end of her gun; it was a well-shared sentiment around Central Headquarters.

"Quite the strong woman," Armstrong grunted as she finally disappeared into Mustang's office. "We really should start planning for the assignment."

Ed smiled guiltily. "Of course, Major Armstrong. Let's discuss this tomorrow." Because Al and I will finish the mission tonight.

"Are you not feeling well, Edward Elric?" Armstrong's annoyingly twinkly brow creased in genuine concern. "Let me show you –"

"Ah, it's nothing a good nap won't fix," Ed interrupted, grabbing hold of his brother's armored arm as he ran away from Major Armstrong, who was already preparing to strip. "We'll see you tomorrow then!"

"Brother –" Al protested as he was dragged along unwillingly. Of course. Al always knew what Ed was planning in advance; according to Ed's brother, he could always tell by the 'look in his eyes' which gave him away.

"Not here, Al!" Ed hissed.

Al sighed glumly at the determined, desperate look on his brother's face. "I'm not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?"

Ed made no response as he continued to pull Al out of the Central Headquarters.

"Major Armstrong really isn't that bad," Al added earnestly. "He's saved us a few times too, Brother. Wouldn't it be a bit mean to just leave him behind?"

Silence.

"All right, Brother," Al said morosely. "I guess we're going alone, huh?"

"That's right," Ed finally responded, very sweetly and brightly. "Now come on, we've got a mission to complete!"


Author's Notes:

I do apologize if this chapter disappointed you. :( I've been really sick lately from a particularly nasty bug that I caught on vacation; I'm due to be admitted into hospital for a week maybe, without Internet access - because of this, I was in a huge rush to finish it (so the middle and latter parts might not even make sense) and did not edit this at all. I do promise that I will come back to this interlude and edit it, depending on how I feel about it after I get better.

That being said, if you did not like this chapter, please tell me :) After I get better and out of the hospital, I will first edit this interlude and then post the fourth chapter (which has been started).

I'll try my very best to get the fourth chapter out, but I hope you guys understand that there will be no guarantees. :( It might take from two weeks to a month, but definitely no longer than that.

I'm so, so sorry! :(


Unfortunately, I am not able to respond to individual reviews at this time (for obvious reasons). I promise to address all of them - the reviews from this interlude and last chapter - when I post the fourth chapter. But for now, I would like to say a very quick thank you to:

DotTheAmazing, pi-or-pie, crazycomedian, Jinxometer, no name, Unnoticed Observer, NX-Loveless-XN


Also, Jinxometer has very kindly written a short oneshot inspired by Ouroboros! It's a very good, really touching and sweet oneshot, it's about Al meeting Ed again in the Gate, so do feel free to check it out and tell Jinxometer what you think of it!