The Story So Far
Several years after he crossed the Gate, Al published a book titled Amestris, in which he documented the lives of him and his brother from a fictional standpoint. Not long after publication, he received word that he had been invited to New York University as a student in the International Literature Exchange Program. Ed is unwilling to leave his brother, but Noa chooses not to go with them, instead leaving Ed with a kiss on the cheek and the reassurance, "You will love again."
Al takes classes at NYU, while Ed, having not been invited, does not. Ed struggles with guilty thoughts and, merely days after they arrive, he tries to drown himself in a bathtub; Al saves him, and the experience leaves both of them terrified. Al is scared at the idea of losing his brother, and Ed is terrified of himself.
Eventually Al returns to classes under the insistence that Ed look for a job. While doing so, he helps a girl named Rebecca out of a tight spot, only to discover that she lives with none other than this world's version of Roy Mustang himself, who then offers Ed a job as an automobile mechanic. Stunned, Ed agrees, and finds out that Winry Rockbell also works for Roy, except that she prefers to be called Winnie.
Ed is still haunted by dreams of his past life, which have returned tenfold now that he has left Noa. The guilt of leaving her is overwhelming, but at the same time he can't help but believe she must hate him for leaving her without a fight.
Ed discovers soon that Roy Mustang is married to Riza Hawkeye, and they have a small child. Roy and Riza run a home for girls without one; Winry and Rebecca are two such girls.
The cold snap of winter comes and in January Al falls sick, a pale, skinny look about him. The sickness lingers for a long time. By then, he had been spending a lot of time with Rebecca, whom Ed helped before. About this same time, Ed learns that Rebecca is sick with a condition that is slowly eating her life away, and she has, at by some estimates, ten years left.
Understandably, Ed has been somewhat chasing after Winry since he met her, although she has responded coldly. He learns that, in this world, Winry had a younger brother named Michael who was killed about six month prior because of implication with a bootlegging business. They are in American in the 1920s, during the Prohibition, so alcohol is generally considered illegal, although it isn't difficult to get a hold of it at esteemed institutions like NYU. Michael was completely head-over-heels, obsessively in love with Rebecca before he was killed. He was like a son to Roy.
Over the course of several days, Al has totally fallen in love with Rebecca. She flatters him and touches him, which no girl has ever done to him, and the emotions in his sixteen-year-old body completely overwhelm him.
Rebecca runs away, but a day later Roy finds her in a shady part of town, being harassed by a crass, drunken man. Against his better judgment, he attacks the man and brings Rebecca home safely. The next day the man comes to the mechanics garage and Roy is arrested for assault. Ed goes with Riza, Rebecca and Winry to try and talk the police into letting Roy go. Rebecca's stepfather shows up at the police station and demands that she come with him. Al arrives, politely insinuates that the man is a drunk, and posts bail for Roy, effectively saving the day.
The day after this, Ed and Al get into an argument over their worlds and their past. They both apologize. Neither one of them mean it.
Following this argument, Ed chooses to move out of the apartment he shares with Al and he moves into Roy Mustang's large house, which he uses to house girls with no home of their own.
There he meets the girls of the house. He meets a girl named Lillian, who just recently immigrated from England, where she had known the counterpart of Ed. Sadly, he tells her that he is not the same person she knew, although he can't tell her why. He also meets Irene Tucker, the mother of Nina Tucker, whose fate in this world was not the same as in Ed's. He also meets Margaret, who loves to gossip, Shauna, who idolizes Rebecca, Fiona, who has some kind of mental disorder, Helena, who presses a gun into his hands and begs him to take it so she doesn't use it, and Daley, who is massively pregnant, and lastly, he meets Anne, a soft-spoken artist who abhors conflict.
Not long after Ed arrives, Rebecca leaves to live with Al. Winry, who has since struck up a relationship with Ed, is Rebecca's best friend, and she tells Ed just how terrible Rebecca really is. She tells him how manipulative Rebecca is, and that Rebecca is playing Al.
Daley's baby is born and it reminds Ed of the life he could have had, if he had stayed in his own world, or more recently, if he had stayed with Noa. He tells Winry about this and she becomes cold towards him.
And then Winry shows up at the garage with Rebecca, Al, and most of the girls in tow. They're arguing about something, and as far as Ed can tell, it has something to do with Al. But he doesn't get a chance to find out, because Rebecca's stepfather shows up again, this time with a gun in his hand. Taking the gun from the office of the garage, Winry threatens to shoot him as he holds the gun to Rebecca's head.
He gets shot in the hand, drops the gun and runs. Winry follows him, furious and outraged. She is determined to kill him, but in the end she doesn't and Ed realizes that he doesn't need this Winry, not in the way that he had always needed the Winry of his old world. He comes to accept the world he is living in as his own world.
Ed moves out into his own apartment, and soon he's visited by Al, whom he hasn't spoken to in weeks. Al is slightly unwell, and equally frantic. It is difficult to live with Rebecca, as he has been, and the pressure she puts on him is starting to take its toll.
Around that same time, Rebecca comes to Ed and confesses how lost she feels with Al. How much she doesn't want to disappoint him. However bitchy Becca may have been in the past, Ed begins to feel compassion for her, as if seeing a glimpse of the real Rebecca.
Not long after this, Rebecca comes to Ed again. She says Al has been locking himself away in his office, obsessing over a wooden circle that Ed gave to Al for Christmas about a year ago. Ed refuses to tell her what Al may be doing, and she attempts to seduce him, but her kisses don't work and she leaves, but not before Winry lashes out and gives her a bruise on the side of her face.
Later, insanity reflected in his eyes, Al visits Ed, asking about a bruise that Rebecca claimed Ed had given her. Al tells Ed that he doesn't feel right, that he can't be right, because his body was lost for so long, and he could not have been given back the same one for fair trade. He implies that he wishes Ed could have lived happily without him. There is an inescapable air of awkwardness between them. Al leaves a journal with his brother and asks Ed to read it.
The journal spells out Al's plan to open the Gate. Whether or not Equivalent Exchange exists, Al believes that it is possible. He believes that a remnant of the Philosopher's Stone is attached to his soul, and that is how he will be able to open the Gate. Ed quickly confronts him about this. Al admits that a sacrifice would be needed, but he's not about to use himself. He tells Ed that, if he were to use anyone, it would have to be Rebecca, because he's not blind and he can see that she's using him, that she doesn't really love him. But he can't force himself to leave her. Not unless he could go home.
Al promises not to do anything until he and Ed discuss it more. Rebecca threatens Ed. As Ed is driving through the city with Roy, he spots a familiar face on the docks.
Noa has arrived in America. She sent many letters but never received a reply, and she decided that it would be best to find out, for sure, whether or not Ed still loved her at all, like he had said he did. Of course, a part of her knew that he would, especially because he is a father now. He had left before she knew she was expecting. He hates himself for leaving. He expects her to hate him as well. But she doesn't.
Ed and Noa visit Al, who's shocked and upset that Noa has returned. He still has a crazy, manic look in his eye. He says he has something to show them. Telling Rebecca to leave them alone, he shows Ed and Noa a small package. A package containing all of Noa's letters to Ed.
Expect five or six more chapters of Fullmetal Alchemist: Dead and then an epilogue that will reveal something new about this whole story.
I have decided that there will, in fact, be a character death. You can thank The Catching Light Alchemist (.net/u/2464274/) for helping me make that decision. It might be Becca. But then again, there are so many characters to choose from, there is a high likelihood that it might not be. What do you think?
My dear readers, if at this point you choose to stop reading, I won't hold it against you. I have been a terrible, terrible author and I should have dedicated myself to this project more, and kept updating regularly. Alas, life got in the way and I have not. If your interest has waned, I can't blame you, because first I took an eight month break and now it's been more than three months. With this update I'm posting a oneshot about Winnie and Becca, because I didn't want to disappoint you with just a summary. However, five pages of chapter 28 are written. If not by the end of the weekend, that chapter will be posted in a few days, and from then on the action speeds up and I won't be able to leave it alone, I hope. Do not fear! Dead will be finished before the end of 2010. If, of course, anyone is still interested /:
I love you all. Your feedback has been the one thing that has helped me to improve my writing the most. THANK YOU. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Words really can't express my gratitude.
Also, I want to specifically shout out to Alex, my very own Catching Light Alchemist. I haven't talked to you in forever and I want to publicly say that I'm sorry and I shall reply to your emails, I have tons of stuff to tell you. TONS.
Finally: as of November 1st, I will be changing my penname to Jayne Foyer. However much I love my current penname, it's a reflection of myself 4 years ago, when I got it, and I've changed very much since then. I just want you all to know that if you see anything posted by Jayne Foyer, it's still me. 3
Thank you.