"My name is Alexander… Alexander Hamilton, and you are in the middle of the American Revolution."
oooOOOoooOOOooo
A long pause passed between the two before Edward busted out laughing, instantly regretting it when pain shot through his chest, making him keel over again.
Edward turned to look at the strange man, amusement still in his eyes, despite the pain. The blond felt another urge to laugh at the look of confusion on the man's face.
"I'm sorry," Edward said, sitting up and taking a deep breath to suppress the laughter and pain, "I shouldn't be laughing. It's just, you said Amestris wrong. How you could get it wrong, I don't know, but that is definitely not how it's pronounced."
"Amestris," Alexander said the word slowly, as if tasting the way it felt on his tongue, "Is that what the Indians are calling America these days? Amestris?"
Shaking his head as if to clear away unnecessary thoughts, Alexander wasted no time waiting for Edward to process the question, and instead changed the topic.
"I've given you my name, now it's only fair that you return the favor."
Edward couldn't hide the smirk that appeared on his face. "Equivalent Exchange," he muttered.
This has to be a game. That's it! Roy is just playing a game! He's not being serious in the slightest!
"The names Edward Elric. The Edward Elric, Hero of Amestris. You've probably heard of me," Ed spoke with great pride at declaring his title, knowing that Roy would be pleased he was not suffering from amnesia.
But his declaration did not have the effect he expected on the other man. In fact, there was no way to judge his reaction because he had turned his face away again to stare at the entrance to the flap.
"I'm sorry, but I've not the faintest idea who you are," Alexander mumbled, before turning back with a blank look on his face.
He isn't lying… He has no clue who I am. He really isn't Roy!
"Elric, that's an interesting name, I've never met an Elric before. It has an almost… Germanic ring to it," Alexander was saying, oblivious to the struggle taking place in Ed's head.
"I don't know what Germanic means," Edward says off-handedly, not paying too much attention to the words the other man was saying at this point, "Elric is… was my mother's name, she was Amestrian. My father was from Xerxes."
"Was? Edward… are you an orphan?" Alexander picked up on the use of past tense, a look of sorrow filling his face.
Those words pulled him out of his trance. Edward looked over at the unfamiliar-familiar looking man, forgetting for a moment that this man knew nothing about him.
"I guess you could say I'm an orphan, although I've never really felt that way. My father had left when my brother and I had been really little. Our mom died when I was ten, from a disease. We found our dad a few years later, but he died during the Great Amestrian War, I was sixteen during that time."
Alexander's eyes are wide as he stares at the blond man sitting in front of him. "You're just like me," he whispers in awe, before quickly moving to explain what he meant, "My father left me and my mother when I was younger. Not long after that, the two of us got really sick. I had gotten better, but… my mother didn't make it. I have no clue where my father is, for all I know, he's dead. So pretty much, I'm an orphan as well."
What am I supposed to say to something like that? There are thousands of orphans in the world, big whoop. Our job isn't to sit down and mourn what we don't have, our job is to make it so that others don't have to feel our pain as well.
"You said this is a war, a war against who?" Edward looked back at the man, still so many questions swimming in his head.
"Why, against the British, of course," Alexander stated as if the fact should already be known by all.
"Okay, leaving out the fact that I have no clue who the British even are, why are you fighting against them? What did they do wrong?"
Alexander's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but he answered the question anyways. "We are fighting for our freedom from the royal crown! They are unfairly taxing us for simple things that should not be priced so high!"
Ed took a second to sort out his thoughts before asking his next question, "What kind of leadership will you have then? If you win your freedom that is."
A slight twitch of an eye, a subtle crease between the eyebrows, and finally turning his gaze completely away, was all the answer Alexander Hamilton could give the blond man.
"I thought as much," Edward said with a smug look on his face, before letting it drop and continuing, "My country got into a huge civil war a while back. Our leader, we called him Fuhrer Bradley, he was corrupt and evil. He was leading our country into ruin, and our country isn't even that old. A small band of my friends and I rebelled, taking down Bradley. It's been three years since the induction of the new Fuhrer, but we're still hard at work rebuilding, and flushing out Bradley's corrupt politicians. We're hoping someday to make the country into a democracy, so everyone has a say on who can lead."
Edward was no longer staring at anything in particular, just off into his own memories. So when he finally refocused on where he is, he missed the look that Alexander had given him.
What felt like eternity passed between the two of them before Alexander finally stood up.
"You're not on the British side," he mused, "But you're not on our side. But, you do have experience we could use in battle…" finally looking down again at Edward, all that could be seen on his shadowed face was the wicked smile growing steadily larger, "Edward Elric, I believe it is time for you to meet the general."
oooOOOoooOOOooo
Ed followed the Roy look-a-like, making every attempt to ignore the pain shooting through his chest as he made to keep up with the quick paced man in front of him, weaving his way through the city of tents.
The blond couldn't help looking around at his surroundings, priding himself in his ability to use only hearing to determine his location.
After what felt like forever was spent walking, Alexander ducked into a tent in the middle of the tent city, which looked no different than any of the others surrounding it.
Hesitating for a split second, Ed decided to trust Alexander, and followed him inside.
Upon entry, Ed found himself under the scrutiny of five sets of eyes. Alexander, having stopped inside the entrance to wait for him, was one of them, the other four belonged to four men standing around a table, looking to have been discussing a very important matter.
Nodding slightly at the fact that Edward had been brave enough to follow him in, Alexander turned towards the four men watching them, and spoke.
"General, may I present to you Edward Elric. Our wounded John Doe. Edward," He turned back to Ed at this point to speak to him, "This is General George Washington, John Laurens, Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin."
"Elric," The General spoke first, picking up on the unfamiliar name, "that sounds Germanic."
Humor could be heard in Alexander's voice as he said, "He claims is Amestrian."
By this point, Edward had stopped listening to their conversation, instead he was too busy staring at the four men standing in front of him.
The first one, the General, had long blond hair, and bright gold eyes, with a powerful jaw line, looking very much like Edwards own father, Van Hohenheim. The man standing directly next to him, the one called Laurens, could not be mistaken in the slightest, even if it had been years since he had last seen the face of Maes Hughes. Standing beside him, Lafayette was both familiar looking and at the same time as not, Ed felt like he had seen that blond-haired brown-eyed man before, but he couldn't place where. Finally, Benjamin Franklin, after years of having not been able to see the face, Edward had spent enough time in the past three years studying the face to recognize his own brother on sight.
"Hamilton," a voice Ed recognized, but did not expect to hear in the tent spoke up. Edward's head snapped around, searching for the source of the voice, only to find it coming from the man named Lafayette. "I've already told you before, that's not my name."
Edward's eyes remain wide as it dawns on him why this man looked so familiar.
Hamilton released a short laugh, looking unapologetic as he apologized, "Sorry, but if we're to keep up your guise, it only seems right to help influence it."
"You're a woman," Edward whispers, looking into the face of Riza Hawkeye.
Lafayette quirked an eyebrow before turning his gaze back on Hamilton.
"He's a perceptive one," the General observes, scrutinizing Edward with those piercing gold eyes. "Come closer boy."
Edward slowly walked towards the group, conscious of all eyes watching him.
"Where are you from boy?" Washington asks with no grandeur.
"Amestris. It's a young country bordering the countries of Drachma, Creta, and Aerugo. To the east of it is a dessert that separates us from Xing."
A shared look passed among the four at the table, before Washington turned back to Ed.
"None of those places exist. Now I'll ask you one more time boy, and no funny business this time. Where are you from?" The cold intensity in Washington's voice made the atmosphere in the tent drop a few degrees.
Not one to back down under pressure, Edward raised his chin and stared dead in the eyes of the General as he declared, "I am from Amestris. My name is Edward Elric, I have a younger brother, his name is Alphonse Elric. Our mother's name was Trisha Elric and our father's name was Van Hohenheim. I am married to Roy Mustang, Fuhrer of Amestris; Alphonse is married to May Chang, princess of Xing. I am a Major in the Amestrian military-"
Edward realized to late that he should not have mentioned that last part as a he hears the cocking of a gun from behind him, knowing without looking that Alexander had it pointing at his head.
So, I decided that if I was going to mess with Hamilton, I would just go all out.
For those of you who got confused in that part with their descriptions:
- George Washington is Van Hohenheim
- John Lauranes is Maes Hughes
- Marquis de Lafayette is Riza Hawkeye (pretending to be a man)
- Ben Franklin is Alphonse Elric
You don't need to tell me, I already know the ages and appearances are all off, I know. I'm having fun with "Rewriting History".
As you can see I am having fun writing this now because this chapter is going out only a day after the last chapter went out.
Thank you so much for reading.
Please leave a review, they make me feel loved (even the flames)!
And have a wonderful day!