A/N On The Universe: Okay this is kind of following cannon from the movie verse Conqueror of Shamballa. Where Ed and Alphonse are stuck in OUR world (Parallel world of earth) but instead of them being stuck in 1923, its 2013. AND they are in America, not Germany.
A/N On Reviews: I adore getting feedback and constructive criticism, but I do have one request to make. When commenting, please bear in mind that your comments and suggestions, both good and bad, are your opinion only, rather than (in general) a statement of fact. It is easy to accidentally insult or offend an author by sounding demanding and entitled in a written review, and I know that is never anyone's intention. By all means tell me if you think something seems a bit off, but give a moment's thought to how the tone of your review might be received. Thanks!
Rating Information - Rated "MA" overall due to scenes of an explicit or disturbing nature later on. Meaning Boy on boy, with incest dabbled into there. If you do not enjoy these types of stories, you may press the back button. But if you do enjoy this type of 'kink' then please stay put. Thing are about to get bumpy in here.
Warning: Adult language. Implied adult situation.
-You've-been-warned.-
Always and Forever.
Edward's forehead rests on his steering wheel, his breathing heavy as he tries to calm his shaking nerves. A yawning chasm growing by the second in his chest.
It had been a huge mistake. One huge - dreadful - mistake coming here. Edward knew the minute arriving at their apartment how apparent the mistake truly was, and of course, he didn't heed to his inner voice. No, instead he dove head first into shallow waters…
From the moment his lips touched Alphonse's, Edward had been lost in the inertia of the moment. His angry cries still lingering in his ears, 'You're my brother!' before their mouths meld together.
His chest hurts when he thinks of it. How sweet the feeling of his brother pressed against him after so long. His sweet, sweet cries muffled in Ed's neck and hair as he mouths at Al's neck. The taste of Alphonse on his tongue. —He didn't even remember how he ended up on his knees in front of his brother, nor how Alphonse's cock got into his mouth. Only that he wanted... needed to feel his younger brother quivering beneath his fingers tips.
Then… then...
That knock.
That dastardly knock ruined the fragile constructed moment. Turning all the heady emotion into something disgustingly sour, and soon after Edward's self-restraint came slithering back into view, making him pull away from his trembling sibling.
'It was a mistake… a tasteless mistake.' Ed thinks with his stomach churning from guilt. 'I should have never come here… I am weak… powerless.'
'Monster…'
'Defiler…'
And to make matter worse, when he hears Alphonse talking to… to… Reese moments later. Edward feels the exact instant the little, green-beast called jealousy, taking over his body. In that frozen span of time, standing in the shadow of the hallway, listening to their conversation like a creepy stalker; Edward wants to rip into Reese. Even though Edward knows firsthand about the previous night, about Reese being the one to comforting Al, 'doting on him… loving him.'
Edward hates him for it. Disdains Reese's easy going smile. Reese's voice as he talks to Alphonse, reassuring him that it's all Reese's fault (the only thing Edward agrees with). He hates him for having the audacity to touch Alphonse, let alone in such an intimate fashion. And when he hears Reese admitting to have taken advantage of Alphonse, Edward see red. His vision blurred and before he realizes his body is moving and he's rushing Reese.
Looking back on it in hindsight; it wasn't the best choice of action. Only making matters worse.
Edward's flesh hand throbs in annoyance, his skin on his knuckles split open and raw. He sighs as he inspects the damage, 'I shouldn't have punch Al.' He thinks, flexing his hand, as he watches bruises blooming under his skin like storm clouds gathering.
'He just made me so, fucking, angry…' he thinks with his teeth bared in a hiss as he moves his fingers. 'It couldn't be nearly as painful as Alphonse bottom lip though. Edward cringes at his thoughts. I hit him really hard. '
He really didn't mean to punch his younger brother. He'd just been so angry, Alphonse words hit home and had a fallout effect.
["…yet, here you are, showing up and looking for more handouts and table scraps…"]
The words didn't even sound anything like Alphonse. But by then, everything had already spun completely out of control. Neither one of the Elric brothers happen to sound like themselves, nor were they acting befitting to character.
'Inexcusable, no justification. I should've have never… ever hit him in anger. Should have never came here in the first place… Everything is so fucked… he's my little brother.'
"Fuck…" Ed exclaims with a punch to the center of his steering wheel when the urge took over… and again when the searing-pain in his hand isn't enough to mask the agony in his heart. Everything is broken. The entirety of Edward's world is shattered and torn to shreds.
"Fuck, fuck. Fuck!" he bellows, punctuating each word with a fist to his steering wheel. His hand by now is bleeding profusely, a mess of scraped skin and frustrating bruises. He sat back with shaking hands to exhale an unsteady lungful. The realization he needs to calm down is ever present, only it's intolerably hard to find his center. Still he fights to steady himself.
'I need to leave…' he imperatively contemplates. 'The sooner the better.'
A large piece of himself wants to rush back into the apartment. To throw himself to his knees and beg for forgiveness; to wrap himself around Alphonse and never let anyone else touch what belongs to him.
Morally speaking, he really shouldn't. Logistically he could never.
It's his selfishness speaking again. He disregards it, taking another deep, settling breath.
The itch is current though, the longing to throw everything to the winds, to let his desires and demons control his life. To be greedy and lustful with his wants; his love for his younger brother. He feels it in his legs, bouncing to the beat of his homecoming.
'I need to leave before I do something I know I would regret…'
He is not going to think about Alphonse, and his endearing smile and bright eyes, and the yawning ache he feels every time he thinks about Al sweet kisses.
'Just drive away…'
'Drive away.'
Turning the key in the ignition his truck roars to life, but he can't bring himself to shift into drive and pull away. Instead he remains parked, white knuckling the steering wheel and staring ahead into nothing.
"Drive away…" Edward growls at himself, his eyes feeling hot and prickly… 'Leave before more damage can be committed.'
'Monster…'
'Freak…'
Edward must be disturbed, something wrong and twisted inside to not want to leave. Despite all the damage that had already been done, he wanted to stay and; 'do what? Cause more harm. '
Closing his eyes, Edward could feel the phantom press of Alphonse's mouth against his own. He could— could feel the subtle touch of a kiss to his brother's lips, could feel the tease of Al's lips until they open, until he could slip his tongue inside and tangle with Alphonse's lithe, wet muscle. To just breathe him in. To just exist in a sparse moment solely belonging to them.
He could… could almost imagine—
"No." he sobs out, trying to catch his run away mind. This line of thinking is detrimental, and Edward needs to nip it in the butt.
Shifting the gears into drive, he pulls away from the curb without so much a single glance back. His heart aching, and bleeding the entire time.
Unbeknownst to Edward, a pair of wretched hazel-eyes watches him leave through the third story window.
Arriving at Alfons's house took no time at all. By the time Edward enters the door, his anger has barely dissipated. His flesh hand throbs to the beat of his heart, it only adds ire on top of his already terrible mood.
Alfons is in the kitchen. The loud clanking of pots and pans gives him away.
"Is that you, Edward?" He calls out when he hears the front door open and close.
"Y-yeah… It's me." He grouses with an exhalation following, kicking his boots off haphazardly, he shrugs out of his coat before hanging it up in the closet.
"How did it go?" Heiderich asks, coming around the corner from the kitchen, a terrycloth towel hanging from his hands.
Edward shrugs insouciantly, heading for the staircase. He is planning on using the upstairs bathroom to wash his hand and treat the wound without his friend seeing it.
"Ed~ward…"He goads when he receives no answer, "tell me— Shit. Edward? Your hand is bleeding…
Of course Alfons notices something is wrong, his keen eyes ever present.
"It's nothing…" He tries for indifference but only fails and hiss when he realizes his left cheek – fucking – hurts as well.
"Why is your hand bleeding? You've also have bruising on your cheek. What happened? Are you alright?"
Edward didn't even realize (until just a second ago) his face is also wounded. 'Al's back hand must have hurt worse than I recognize. '
"I got into it with Alphonse." He says as if it's a palpable explanation.
Alfons blinks owlishly and carefully looks away. "Come into the kitchen. Let me clean you up…" he insists, turning and walking back through the arches into the other room.
Edward exhales, there's no reason to try and argue with the taller male; Ed knows his friend would never let it go without an explanation. Begrudgingly, he makes his way into the large kitchen. Alfons must be baking. Pie pans and pie crusts litter the counter-tops. The sweet aroma of cooked cherries filters through the room. It makes Edward mouth water; 'Alfons's pies are the best.'
'He only cooks when he's worried or stressed, though.' Edward reminds himself astutely. 'This is somehow my fault…' He ponders with guilt cultivating in his stomach as he wanders into the kitchen. Heiderich ambles over seconds later, first-aid kit in hand and a frown still on his face.
"Go wash your hands," Heiderich orders Edward before he turns his attention to the white box on the table.
Edward listens, but not before giving his friend a hard, knowing glance. 'He's obviously upset…'
Once his hands are clean, and most of the dry blood washed away, Edward returns to the table. Alfons has all the supplies laid out on the surface. Ed see's the bright orange bottle of antiseptic and cringes, knowing this is going to fucking suck.
Alfons is already sitting, another chair is angled towards his with direct intentions for Edward to join him. He glances over shoulder when he hears the water tap shut off and Ed's irregular gait.
"Sit."
And Edward does.
"Give me your hand." Alfons says evenly, looking down towards the table.
Agitation blooms in Ed's chest. "I don't understand why I can't do it myself…" he grumbles, all the while reluctantly raising his flesh hand to the table top.
Alfons glances pointedly over his brow, already starting to assess the damage to Edward's knuckles. "Because we both know, you would've just washed your hands and skipped the antiseptic all together…"
"That shit fucking burns…"
Alfons rolls his eyes indifferently. "As it should. It cleans bacteria and keeps infection away— it shouldn't feel good." Heiderich states tersely while dabbing the - dreaded - antiseptic over the raw skin with a soaked cotton ball.
"Well if it did feel good," Ed pauses to hiss as the burn seeps into his redden knuckles, "I might actually want to use it."
"Delusions… Delusions of grandeur." Alfons lilts, his lips lifting on the edges slightly. Setting down the bloody cotton ball, he reaches for the spool of gauze.
The silence echoes through the room as Edward's hand is coiled in clean bandages. The air light is with the scent of cherry pie cooking in the oven.
"I'm not going to ask what happened…" Alfons says moments later, taping the edges of gauze into place. Edward feels the beginning of humiliation gurgling in his stomach.
"It's not my place to pry nor is it to question…"
Their eyes catch on one another, curious gold on the saddest of blue.
"Is Alphonse alright?"
Edward's world tilts sideways.
"Excuse me?" Edward questions with the fall of his stomach.
"I-it's just…" Alfons hectically bumbles over his words, hand fidgeting putting things away in the first aid kit. "With the amount of damage on your knuckles… I noticed… I just thought…. It c-couldn't have been made by one punch."
Edward opens his mouth before snapping it closed in disbelief. 'Is he asking if I…' "Are you insinuating I beat Alphonse and then left him? Rest assure that is not what happened."
A look of utter bewilderment crosses Alfons's face. "No… God no— nothing like that! You would never— I know that…"
Heiderich rubs a hand over his face. "Look, all I'm asking is if you think he's alright? Presumably, he's the one you hit?"
Edward nods, letting his eyes fall to the floor. His cheeks flush with shame, "I only hit him once. The rest of the damage was self-inflicted."
Alfons eyes flicks to Ed's bandaged hand and then to his face, "How about your cheek? Did he—?" Heiderich voice trailed off, gesturing towards Ed's wound on his cheekbone.
"Yeah," Edward's metal hand found his injured cheek. He touches the purple flecked flesh causing a pain breath to escape him. "He definitely gave as much as he got."
"Hmm." Alfons hums before gathering himself to stand. "Do you want me to take a look at it?"
"No. It's just a bruise." Edward replies, absently caressing his injured cheek.
"Well, at least let me get you an ice-pack; otherwise it's going to swell." Heiderich concedes, making his way over towards the refrigerator in the corner of the room.
"I said I'm fine, Alfons." Ed groused doping his hands into his lap.
Opening the freezer, Alfons pulls out a frozen bag of peas, before wrapping it in a terry-cloth rag from the drawer. "And I said, you aren't." Heiderich demands pressing the ice-pack into his injured friend's cheek, before walking away to wash his hands at the sink. Edward grunts at the punitive treatment, but begrudgingly holds the damp cloth to his bruising wound.
Edward recognizes there is a slight section of himself to which he actually wants his face to swell and throb in pain. 'A befitting punishment,' he thinks, dragging the damp cloth along his wounded flesh. An annoying pulsation of pain follows in the wake of the cold compress. 'Suitable.' He thinks again, tracking his friend's movement in the small kitchen. 'I can only imagine how Alphonse is feeling… I hit him with no regards of my strength. I made him bleed...' The metallic taste of it still resides on Edward's tongue. A stolen kiss, to which should never have come to pass.
'…Disgusting…'
'…Monster…'
A shrill ringing interrupts Edward's backsliding reverie. Edward recognizes almost instantaneously it as a timer for Alfons's baking pies, and his friend silences the noise with a press of a button. The aroma of baked cherries wafts into the air as Heiderich pulls the pie out of the piping oven and places it on a cooling rack next to the stove.
It smells mouthwatering delicious.
In the same motion Heiderich places another uncooked pie into the oven and starts the timer again. Edward watches his friend. 'How many has he already made?' Ed wonders silently with guilt gathering in his stomach as he began counting the pies on the counter-tops.
"What's with the pies?"
Alfons stiffens at Edward's inquiry, his hands pausing in their action of rolling raw pie crust into a flat, circle. "What do you mean?" he replies, thinly resuming his aborted action with vigor.
Edward sighs worryingly while setting the melting bag of peas to the table top. "Don't play coy… Why are you baking?"
"I don't understand what you mean—"
"—Alfons, the only time you bake is when you're seriously stressed out." Edward retorts, pushing away from the table and walking towards the counter the other male is standing at. "Seriously; what gives?"
Heiderich wouldn't look up, wouldn't make eye contact; he just continues on with his task. Seconds later he let out a large exhalation, and sets the rolling-pin aside.
"I told you I wouldn't pry." Alfons admits as he gingerly picks up the rolled-pie crust to place it into an empty pie pan. "So, I'm not going too."
"All this…" Edward motions around kitchen with his metal hands, indicating to all the baked pies littering the counter tops. "…is about my problems with my sibling, isn't it?" Edward deduces with ease.
Alfons scarcely constructed visage crumbles like the pie crust in his hands as his anger manifest itself. "Is it such a hard thing to believe?" He yells with an expletive falling out his mouth at the ruined mess before him. The taller blond throws it into the trash with a little more force than needed. He presses his hands into the counter top and allows his head to fall towards his chest. Taking a deep breath, he visibly calms himself.
"I said I wouldn't ask… I-I-I said I wouldn't pry…" Heiderich admits finally raising his sky-blue eyes to level them with Edward's, "but I need to tell you something."
Edward feels his blood pressure mounting dramatically. "Well… out with it."
Alfons cringes subtly and closes his eyes as he begins to talk. "Do you remember when I went to your house a couple days ago?"
Ed's blond eyebrows strum together in confusion, "Of course I do."
"Well when I was there, Alphonse was in the shower, he didn't know I was in the house."
"Ok~ay…" Edward responses while crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"When he wasn't in his room, I kind of went in and stole his hairbrush…" Alfons admits with a cringe.
"Why would you—"
"— I needed it for a DNA test."
"Excuse me?" Ed blinks expressionlessly towards Heiderich.
"I have a friend who works in a genealogical lab downtown, she owed me a favor for feeding her cat when she was out of town." Alfons's words jumble together as he hurriedly spits them out, "That point is mute… what I mean to say is, I asked her to run a DNA test* for me."
"Why would you need—"
"—on you and Alphonse…"
Ice cold comprehension washes over Edward. "Y-you did what?" he scoffs indignantly.
"The results came in today…"
The stony hands of reality grip Edward's stomach and his eyes darken, cheeks flush as though he's holding in his building rage. "Alfons—."
The other male is looking at Ed with such vivid hope shining in his blue, blue eyes. "Edward." Alfons says moving away from the counter to stand in front of his friend. He looks down before flicking his eyes to Ed's reddening face, "You and Alphonse aren't related. Not a single one of you chromosome match."
Edward is at a disbelief. 'It can't be true…' He thinks as he rocks rearward into the counters at his back. "I-I-I— that can't… I don't understand." 'That makes no sense.' "I have memories of Alphonse childhood and mine. Of my mother holding Al as a tiny baby… her baby… my brother… That can't— cannot be right?"
"What ever happened on the opposite side of the gate, changed Alphonse structurally. It's the only conclusion."
A massive tidal wave of frustration so unlike anything Edward has every felt washes over him, consumes him and seemingly drowns him under the sudden amount of information.
"Let me see it. I need to see the results with my own eyes." Determination surges forward. Knowledge; the key to understanding. Edward needs to see it for himself.
Alfons nods mutely, moving towards a manila envelope (Edward hadn't noticed before) resting on the table. Retrieving it, he hands it over to his friend.
"This is everything, I know." He confesses in a quiet rasp.
Edward rips it out of Heiderich hands.
A stack of papers stapled together resided inside. The pages are full of medical terminology to which Edward couldn't even attempt to decipher through. It was the last page that held the report.
'Even though siblings share half their DNA, they can share any number of markers in a DNA test.They might match up at all of them or only some.More likely, they will match up at some number in between.
Because these tests look at so few markers, by chance, one sibling might end up sharing only some DNA at the markers tested.Or they might not share any DNA at all.
In the case you provided for us Mr. Heiderich, Subject A and Subject B have no known markers matched.
'0% DNA matched'
Edward's heart drops to the floor as he reads the last sentence. A solid stone weighed in his stomach.
0% DNA matched
Zero percent.
Zero.
0%.
Al and Ed are not related, at least not by blood; or so said this piece of paper.
He couldn't manage to wrap his brain around it. The logic behind it, let alone the realistic factors are broken and flawed at the very least. In no way should this… this… mistake have ever occurred, nor could it exist in all reality... The science held no grounds factually. It all made no sense. 'How could someone be related to one another in a single moment, and then not, in the next?'
Edward has memories of Alphonse growing alongside him as children. Playing, and bickering like young sibling do occasionally. Memories of playing in father's study and reading old Alchemy texts aloud when Alphonse was too young to read yet. Or later years, when Al would read quietly sitting next to Edward studying in another book.
Of times spent out playing in the yard as mother did the laundry…
Or night spent huddled together under linen sheets, to hide from the raging storms shaking their bedroom window.
So many things, so many memories, so much time… 'Is it a lie? My whole life but a sham? Could the gate really hold that much power?'
"Edward you need to breathe…"
Heiderich's blurry face came into view, making Edward realize he'd sat down at the kitchen table without noticing.
"I-I-I…" he shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs of improbability from his mind. His hands were still clutching at the genetic report in his hands, shaking from the strain of his grip. Uncurling his fingers he lays the crinkle sheets down onto the surface of the table.
"This isn't… plausible, Alfons." He confesses with confusion clearly in his voice. He raises his eyes from the papers on the table, beseeching his friend for answer he couldn't manage to find himself. "Is my whole life a falsehood?"
Alfons makes a discordant noise in his throat as he kneels down in front his defeated friend. "No, Edward. No. Your life is so much more than that…" he avows with sincerity held in every word. "You gave up something exceedingly important for a chance for Alphonse to live a normal life; for him to start anew. And maybe, just maybe… for your bravery you are being paid in full, for atonement of your selfless sacrifice."
"Th-that's not how it works…"
"Maybe it does…" Heiderich shrugs, dropping his eyes from Edward shining yellow glare before standing and walking away, "The evidence in right before you. How can you deny it?"
Anger swirls into vivid color, "Why do you even care?" Edward shouts out, though he looks slightly shamefaced even as he says it. When Heiderich merely stares at him, Ed sighs and closes his burning eyes.
"I-I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." Raking his hands over his face, Edward drops his head to the surface of the table. Edward hears Alfons moving through the room, but can't bring himself to look towards his friend.
"I know it doesn't feel like it now," Heiderich says seconds later, fiddling with a pie pan on the countertops, "this is going to get better."
"I highly doubt that" Edward grumbles with his face still buried in his arms on the table.
"—just think when you tell Alphonse."
Ed stomach twist at friend's words. 'I haven't even thought of that... Al can't know…' He acts upon first instinct and he replies, "I'm not going to."
"What- Why—? He has a right to know, Edward. This involves him as much as it does you."
'Because I do not deserve him,' Edward thinks, lifting his head from his arms. Alfons is staring at him, eyes not blinking as he looks at Ed, puzzled. Something deep within Edward curls up wire-tight and tense. "Because it's fucking wrong—."
"Edward…" Alfons complains before sighing and dropping his chin to his chest in defeat; palms flattened on the counter-top. "—you know what, fine. Be miserable. See how that works out for you…" he announces in a harsh voice, throwing the dish towel in his hands to the sink before walking towards the door.
"He's my brother—"
"No! No he isn't!" Heiderich shouts raising his voice in frustration. "In every sense of the word, he isn't any longer." He demands, taking a step back towards Edward. "You are no longer bound by blood." He implores with such sadness in his eyes and voice, "Why can you see this?"
'It's too good to be true…' "Because it can't be true." The thought didn't even feel complete, but the words for a further explanation escapes him.
"How many times can you deny something, before it becomes the truth Edward?"
Edward's rips his eyes away from Alfons's with an actual physical tearing sensation, swinging down to fix them guiltily on the cold table. His eyes land on the manila envelope.
"Promise me." Ed pleads with his eyes pressing shut. A moment later he opens them looking up towards his irate friend. "Promise me, you won't tell him. He mustn't know."
Something along the lines of disgust and understanding passes behind Alfons's blue gaze. His face softens along the edges as lets out a weary exhale, "Fine I won't; but honestly Edward, how long can you live with yourself, knowing what you know?"
He already knew the answer to such a loaded question. He didn't even have to go looking very far for the outcome. It clung to the very precipice of his consciousness. He wouldn't survive for very long, he would shrivel and die on the inside. He would say nothing to only become a darker shade of jade in his empty world.
The one thing he knew though, without a shadow of doubt, he would persevere. Not for himself; namely for Alphonse, because he deserves so much better in life than his fucked up (not) brother. . .
Edward would endure for Alphonse.
Always and forever.
To be continued. . .
Passion is momentary; love is enduring.
- John Wooden
A/N: I've done hours of DNA research. It's actually rather intriguing, but let me spare if you're not into such pass times. I honestly did more reading about it then I should have referencing for the chapter, I just got lost in it all. Heh. It's like an onion, you open one article, to open another, to another, and onward. Really interesting. So, technically what Heiderich did with the Elric brother's DNA, couldn't really happen in 'real life'for a true genetic test. You would need DNA from both of the brother's parent (as well as their own DNA) to actually do a DNA test to confirm if they are, indeed, related. Mother(s) are always encouraged to participate in the test because it helps exclude her genetic contribution making the comparison easier to find.
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