Author's Notes

Sorry for the delay. To be honest, I got hooked on to CLAMP and totally forgot. But I had you wonderful reviewers to remind me.

Enjoy…and hope I keep on track with my updates from now on. And hopefully this didn't turn out completely crap. Mostly a filler chapter to link the first five chapters with the next arc.

In the Midst of a Dream World

Alfons Heiderich is shot in Munich. When he wakes up in the middle of what looks like a war, the first thing he thinks is that he's failed. In fact, that's the second thing he thinks too. Post CoS/Slightly AU on tech.

Alfons H& Roy M

Chapter 6

Alphonse and Alfons

Breathing was easier, but in consequence Alfons found it more difficult to pull himself from the realms of sleep. Perhaps it was because he had become used to awaking to the persistent scratchiness of his throat and an urge to spew the phlegm rising, and the new comfort was simply something that could not be abandoned.

However, when something poked his wrist, he decided he did, in fact, need to open his eyes…if only to find out what was disturbing his rest.

It was actually a who; a nurse was changing an intravenous needle on his arm.

For a moment, he blinked drowsily, somewhat annoyed that Edward had managed to succeed in dragging him to a doctor – until reality kicked in. He was in Central. The place he had only half believed in…or had been willing to believe in. Edward's home.

'Edward?' he asked aloud.

The nurse smiled at him. 'So, you're up,' she commented unnecessarily as she withdrew from the bed. 'Hungry?'

Alfons thought about that. 'Not particularly.' He was just drowsy, but no longer markedly fatigued.

'Well,' the lady responded cheerfully. 'You'll probably have more of an appetite at lunch time. Or perhaps dinner; I know nothing about alchemy I'm afraid and do not care to.'

'Uhh…'

'Ah, you're probably wandering where you are,' she pressed on. Evidently, she was quite talkative…and amiable. 'Central 've been quite busy with that mess yesterday too, so a lot of records have been mixed up and I'm afraid we were unable to contact your family –'

'That's okay,' the dirty-blond interrupted. There was a perfectly good reason after all why his family could not be contacted, and it had nothing to do with mixed-up records.

'Julia,' said a calm voice from the door, and the nurse jumped.

'Ah, Colonel Mustang-' She eyed the stars of his shirt. 'I mean Brigadier-'

The man held up a hand and the woman flushed. 'That's quite all right,' he said smoothly. 'I think we've known each other long enough to be past such formalities.'

Colonel Mustang? Alfons thought. He didn't look quite like how Edward had described him. "A pompous power-hungry arrogant jerk," was the words the nineteen year old had used. But there had been an insatiable amount of respect in it, and something else.

If he didn't want all his body parts intact, he would have suggested the other thought of this enigmatic man as a fatherly figure. Of course, it was more likely Edward would have erected his emotional wall and pretend it was nothing of the sort. Even when he talked about his brother, there was a sense of detachment…and yet, the pain in those golden eyes was unarguable.

Somewhere amidst that thought, the nurse had been dismissed and the Colonel's…no, Brigadier General's, face had turned impassive.

'Your name is Alphonse?' he asked, a tad gruffly. Mentally, he wondered how the Gate had managed to screw up so badly. Wasn't it ever going to give the Elrics' a break? 'Where's Fullmetal?'

'Fullmetal?' Alfons repeated, somewhat bewildered as he tried to remember ever hearing the word before. Perhaps Edward had mentioned it…but he told a great many tales about him and his brother, and most of them still didn't fit into the realm of reality. How could someone walk and talk after having holes shot into them for example?

Mustang frowned. 'Alphonse Elric?'

'Ahh…no.' So this man thought he was Edward's brother, whose name was…

Oh, that explained a great deal of the guy's general demeanour…particularly in his presence. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that bit of information; luckily, he was more occupied at the time with a thirst for knowledge.

'Alfons Heiderich,' the dirty blond introduced himself, making to straighten out his form…before wincing and deciding against it.

The military man's lips parted slightly at his predicament and a gloved hand twitched, but other than that he remained as he stood.

'Heiderich,' he repeated. There was little change in the tone, but the unmistakable signs of relief still existed. 'Thank the Gate…'

The German remembered Edward using the same phrase many a times…or variations in which he cursed this "Gate" instead. It was almost like a God…except Edward claimed to be an atheist.

The silence became somewhat awkward at that point.

Mustang sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair. It was a relief to know the boy before him wasn't Alphonse Elric; when Fuery had first informed him, he'd all but had a heart-attack. After all, the said boy had entrusted him with the future of their world to cross the Gate and be with his brother – all he knew of the phenomenon was there existed an alternate reality on its other side.

Time had, after all, been of the essence. And like all fate-defining days, the following one dragged with agonising slowness.

'You're Alfons Heiderich,' he repeated once more. 'Right. Where do you live?'

'Uhh…' He wondered if he should give his address out so freely, then remembered it probably wouldn't matter as he was in Edward's dream-world. Belatedly, he wondered if this was Noah's doing; her gift had turned out to be true after all. 'Munich.'

'Munich?' This time, Roy was flabbergasted. 'But that's – that's – ' For a moment, coherency left him. 'That's where Fullmetal was,' he finished, somewhat weakly, before smiling wryly. 'Edward Elric.'

Now things made a little sense.

'Edward was my roommate,' Alfons said, somewhat carefully as he closed his eyes. 'I just wanted him to get home. I didn't care about the war.'

'We all did.' Sympathy laced the tone. 'Alphonse wanted his brother back. Ms Rockbell wanted the two boys that ever mattered to her –' He broke off as he remembered his last sight of the girl he'd orphaned. What was she going to do now, with both Elrics gone from her life?

Thank the Gate the girl didn't know alchemy. The world didn't need another incident.

Or another you, the little voice in the back of his head commented snidely.

Shut up, he returned.

'Edward mentioned a girl named Winry,' Alfons interrupted his thoughts. 'He said she was going to kill him.'

Mustang snorted at that. It was good to know that, in some instances at least, Fullmetal hadn't changed.

'Let me guess,' he said with dim amusement. 'He messed up his automail again.'

'Automail?' the German repeated, before shaking his head. Really, this was all too confusing. Mustang's nest statement however made him rapidly forget that confusion.

'So you're from the other side of the Gate.'

'Gate?'

Mustang shifted his hand to rub his brow. This was going to take quite a bit of explaining…not to mention how the hell they were going to fix this after he'd destroyed the gate on this side. And that was, of course, assuming the Gate on the other side had not been destroyed as well.

'We'll leave that for now,' he sighed.

He wasn't quite sure what he was expecting thereafter, but it wasn't the teen's next statement.

'Perhaps you can explain then why I'm still alive.'

The alchemist couldn't help it. He froze.

It had seemed like a simple question when it sat upon his lips, but now that it was out in the open, the dirty-blond felt like retracting it. For one, he hadn't expected a man he'd never met to freeze up as he had. Second, now that he reconsidered his statement, it made him sound…well, suicidal.

Which he wasn't. But it was odd being alive after being shot in the chest…on top of a sickness that had been slowly killing him. He'd seen that yellow light after all.

Although he probably should have known better than to believe in "the light at the end of the tunnel".

But he really hadn't been expecting that reaction. Not in the slightest.

'And in Edward's world?' he tried, attempting to shift the conversation slightly…although he did want to know the truth of his survival and could not kid himself otherwise.

'Alkhestary,' the military man finally replied. 'The bullet wound was easily fixed, but the young princess from Xing fixed your lungs with their branch of Alchemy.'

He'd never heard of the first word, but Alchemy was what Edward had mentioned. Magic, he'd always thought of it as. And Edward would growl and vehemently rebuke that, claiming alchemy was a science and no less.

So focused he was on thinking of that, that he almost missed the reply to his second question.

'As for why you're here…I don't know.'

'As for why you're here…I don't know.'

And he truly didn't. It probably had something to do with alchemy, with the other world…no doubt the Elric brothers would know, but there was no way of getting to them now. Instead, they were gone, swallowed by the sky.

And a boy who wore the face masking Alphonse Elric (more so than his own, four years too young) was in their place. Almost as if filling the void left for that absence.

He found himself, as he left the hospital for Central Command, quite relieved he had never been particularly close to the younger of the two Elrics.

It was always Fullmetal, always Edward.

His eyes slanted slightly as the streets came to life; he'd chosen a time early in the morning so the world would still be half asleep before he arrived at work. At least some of the new paperwork would be completed before the hustle of city-life made it somewhat more difficult to concentrate.

He couldn't help it; he'd been in a remote outpost for two years after all.

But as he walked, he wondered if he should dive further into this mystery. To find out more about the other side of the Gate…if there was a boy who looked just like Alphonse, what else was there? He couldn't believe it was a time difference; Alphonse had told him it was the year 1923. Not enough for family members to inherit a resemblance so close, and Mrs Curtis had "kindly" informed him to their father's situation.

But knowledge, of any sort, was dangerous. Maybe it was best not to know. After all, the Gate was closed. So long as no-one performed a human transmutation again, the two worlds would be separate, with their own wars and their own sorrows. The Elrics were no longer a part of this one; the doppelganger was a final seal for that.

But, he thought wryly, looking at the darkness that remained on the streets. It is human nature to wish for the unattainable…

How long would it be, truly, before someone committed the taboo once again?