Fullmetal Ninja [Chapter 2]
Apr. 15th, 2007 10:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
esp_dragonFandom: Fullmetal Alchemist/ Naruto crossover
Summary: Ed and Al tried to resurect their Mother but something went wrong. Not only did they fail, their bodies paying the price, but they are no longer in Amestris. They are in a world where all the natural rules aren't always obeyed...
Rating: K+
Notes: Much headshaking. Bah.
The end-ish bit could be the nurses panicking about the water tanks. Or maybe Naruto’s talk with Jiraiya.
Hmm, I feel like I've over-done it with the semi-colons.
Timelines: Naruto - just after Tsunade becomes Hokage. Fullmetal Alchemist - pre-canon.
Genre: General
Word count: 2,979
Total Word Count: 5,030
Status: Work in Progress
Naruto stared at the spot where his former teacher had just been standing in a few seconds before. He then glanced at the unfinished bowl that Iruka had left behind. He never did that. Not unless something really important had come up and he absolutely had to.
Iruka had sensed something, that was obvious. Naruto wouldn’t have noticed the whatever-it-was if he hadn’t been with Iruka at the time. Naruto grumbled to himself internally. His former teacher was still able to sense stuff that he couldn’t. How was he supposed to become the Hokage if he couldn’t even do what Iruka could do?
Even though, there was something that was making him feel slightly uneasy. It wasn’t the thing that that Iruka had sensed because Naruto was feeling it after Iruka had - or maybe he was just having some sort of delayed reaction. He was feeling uneasy, he didn’t know why and it was bugging the hell out of him.
Naruto decided to train instead of going in to see Sasuke at the hospital like he had been intending to do. He was fine since the old hag had seen him (or whatever passed for ‘fine’ in Sasuke’s world) and Sakura was with him anyway. Not that Sasuke would notice.
He grinned to himself. He’d get even better and once Sasuke was out of the hospital, wouldn’t he be in for a surprise?
:-:-:
Ed twitched but didn’t open his eyes. He subtly took in a deep breath and wondered - the room didn’t smell familiar. There was no smell of dusty books at least; that was almost a given at his house. He stretched his back a little and was surprised to feel that there was the softness of a bed beneath him and not the floor.
He heard a soft murmur of surprise. A creak of a chair. Ed scrunched up his eyes before opening them, eyes towards the sound. His vision was still a bit blurred but it wasn’t too bad. A few blinks later, his eyesight was nearly back to being completely normal.
There was a young woman sitting on the chair next to his bed. She had blonde hair that reached her collarbone; looking up higher, Ed saw that she had brown eyes and… a small blue diamond in the centre of her forehead? A tattoo perhaps? She looked at him curiously; he stared back at her, not intimidated. This seemed to amuse her for some reason to which, Ed glowered at her even more.
But this obviously wasn’t his bed (not that he and his brother usually used one). He turned his head away from the woman, searching around. This wasn’t even his bedroom! It was too white, too impersonal, too clean. There were a few books and other pieces of paper around about though, mostly on the floor that he could see from his vantage point. His next thought went to his brother. Where-?
As if sensing Ed’s growing agitation, the woman had stood up from her chair and moved the curtain that was drawn behind her. Behind the curtain was Al, prone, unconscious. Or maybe sleeping, Ed reasoned. Not hurt that badly, he hoped.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and was about to push himself off when the woman stopped him by placing a firm hand on his shoulder. Ed looked up at her in surprise. Why had she stopped him? He needed to make sure, to see with his own eyes that his brother was okay and not just from a distance. She looked sad for some reason, her eyes downcast slightly, shaking her head at him slowly.
It was when she started talking that Ed realised that he couldn’t understand a word that she was saying. Not one sounded even remotely familiar. He shook his head, as if that gesture would clear his head and make him understand. He hoped that he hadn’t hit his head or something and he could no longer comprehend what other people were saying. When he was looking at the woman again, she had an expectant expression on her face.
“Could you repeat that?” Ed asked her.
The woman blinked in surprise and then frowned quickly. She repeated what she had said, slower this time. Ed stared at her lips, but the words still didn’t make any sense. He shook his head to convey that he still didn’t understand what she was saying. He shrugged just in case he might be answering something by shaking his head.
She pointed to his legs.
Eyes following the finger, Ed saw the blanket still covering his legs. He continued looking and began to realise that something was very, very wrong. The limbs under the blanket were a little… lopsided. His right leg extended to the edge of the bed where he'd been about to get off consequently his foot dangled over into thin air. Staring at the left side however, there was the same lump in the blankets but it stopped short before reaching the edge and the blanket dipped alarmingly; as if there was nothing there.
Ed tore the blanket away from his body, not wanting to know what was underneath but the need to know was stronger. He felt the blood drain away from his face and it was as if his heart had stopped beating. His left leg was fine until it reached below his knee; after that, it ended with a stump swathed in bandages. Along with his heart, it suddenly felt a lot harder to breathe. Ed tried to feel if he could actually tell that he was missing his lower leg. He knew that he was sending signals from his brain but, obviously, nothing happened. He still thought that he had both legs, still thought that he could feel the toes in his left foot. He could still move his toes in his right foot though so, at least, there was no damage there.
‘Phantom limbs,’ Ed remembered Granny saying once. It was something she came across quite a lot when she was giving her services as an Automail mechanic. It was when a person, even though they knew they had the evidence right in front of them, even though they knew that they were missing a limb, they still thought that the missing limb was there and that they could feel it. It could be years before they stopped ‘feeling’ that limb; conversely, they could have been ‘fine’ without the limb and then suddenly the ‘feeling’ came back to it. Added to that, it could even feel painful and since it was all in the mind, painkillers wouldn't be able to help in any way whatsoever.
What had happened? Ed thought numbly. How had he lost his leg? What…?
The woman said something again, this time with a questioning lilt at the end.
Losing his track of thought, Ed scowled at her but he welcomed the distraction because it meant he wasn't thinking about that and he could start bringing his bodily functions (like breathing and his heart beating) back in order. “I don’t understand you,” he said slowly, pronouncing each syllable clearly. Not that there was much chance of her really understanding his words except through his tone.
She sighed but she was hiding a twitch at the corner of her mouth. She pointed to herself. “Tsunade,” she said clearly. “Hokage.” A small pause to check he understood. Right, her first name and second name. But why the big gap in between the two? He only looked young (and it obviously wasn't because he was short damnit) – he wasn’t dumb because of that. She then pointed to him. That was easy enough to get the meaning.
“Edward. Ed Elric.” He pointed to his brother. “Alphonse. Al Elric.”
Tsunade nodded to herself, repeating the names.
Ed glanced down at his leg again. He looked sharply to his brother and then to Tsunade. “Al! Did something happen to him too?” he asked quickly, the words tumbling out of his mouth.
She stared at him patiently before she shook her head, not knowing what he was saying.
Argh! How was he supposed to mime ‘Does my brother also have a limb missing?’ And then it came to him. He could have slapped himself; it was so easy! Ed pointed to Al and then to his missing limb. He looked up at Tsunade in what he hoped looked inquiringly.
She nodded, understanding. She then shook her head slowly. Ed’s heart lifted at that. Al wasn’t hurt! But why was she leaning forward? Tsunade tapped just below his left elbow, trailing down to his fingers.
He stared at his hand. He turned it over slowly, so that the palm was facing up. He clenched and unclenched it easily. Al had lost his left hand. How – Ed yelped as he was lifted by his armpits and carried easily to his brother’s bed. He was gently sat down at Al’s head.
Looking up at her in confusion, Ed saw a strange expression on Tsunade’s face. She looked at Al and then back to him. And then, he realised.
‘Look after him.’
Ed nodded resolutely. No wonder he didn’t recognise that look the first time – it wasn’t often he met other older siblings. But it wasn't as if he really needed to be told in the first place.
After making sure that Ed wouldn’t fall off of the bed accidentally, Tsunade swept up her scrolls (Why scrolls? Ed wondered. People actually used them?) and books and left the room with a wave and a smile.
Ed waved back at her uncertainly as she disappeared out the room. He glanced at Al, making sure that he was still resting peacefully; he was.
He rubbed at an eye tiredly. He may have woken up but that still didn’t mean he didn’t need to rest some more.
Checking on Al one more time, Ed carefully went under the blanket, making sure that he didn’t disturb his brother.
What had they been doing? Why were they missing limbs? The answer was there; he knew what it was. But his brain wasn’t co-operating. Just as the answer was about to come to him, Ed had closed his eyes and fallen fast asleep.
:-:-:
A clatter of shoes slapping on tiles. Raised voices. Hearing that, Al woke up with a start. The first thing he noticed was that there was a white tiled ceiling above his head. The second thing he noticed was that there was a warm body next to him. From the corner of his eyes, Al could tell that it was his elder brother sleeping next to him. When he tried to sit up, Al then noticed that something was decidedly missing when he fell on top of said elder brother with a yell.
“Ack!” Well, his brother was up now. “Al!” Ed said, his face shifting from surprise to worry when he saw who had woken him up. “Are you okay?”
Al grinned sheepishly. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Ed’s face softened, knowing that he was lying. “You’re not.”
Al wriggled off of Ed before he lifted his left arm to look at what was left of it. He was pleased that he could still move his elbow but… he just wasn’t processing the fact that he no longer had a left hand. He poked lightly at the stump and winced at the small jolts of pain that sped up his arm. Definitely not a trick or illusion of the mind. Ed’s hand clamped down on his wrist, just in case he tried to do it again.
“Don’t,” Ed said softly.
Al stared at it for another second before looking up at Ed.
“I’ve lost part of my left leg,” Ed supplied, Al not needing to actually ask.
Al nodded slowly, seeing the uneven lumps under the blanket now that he knew.
The two brothers glanced to the door as they heard people running past it. It was then that Al started to properly look around the room that he and his brother were in. “Brother, where are we?” he asked.
Ed shrugged. “Dunno. A hospital, by the looks of it. There was a nurse or doctor here before, when I woke up. Um… her name was…” He paused, a concentrated frown on his face. “Tsunade Hokage.” He said the name slowly, wrapping his tongue around the strange syllables. “She doesn’t speak the same language as us.” Ear cocked towards the door, Ed listened to the yelling that was drifting through the closed door. “I don’t think anyone here does.”
Al had been listening to the words also and had come to the same conclusion. “But why are people running around the hospital and shouting like that if this is a hospital?” Al wondered out loud. “They’d wake the people who’re meant to be resting.”
“Like us?” Ed asked wryly.
“Hmm,” Al agreed, a small smile forming.
The two were silent, listening to the voices that they didn’t understand. There was a pause in the shouting as the sound of running feet began again. It was quiet when the footfalls had faded away.
“What were we doing?” Ed whispered. It wasn’t because Ed didn’t want to disturb the peace that had been created from the absence of the racket but because he didn’t need to raise his voice to be heard. Ed had pushed himself up so that he was leaning on the headboard soon after he had woken up. Al had done the same, but he slouching a little bit more than Ed.
Al cast his mind to the last thing he remembered. He remembered being in his home but that was normal. Something more specific… Rain? Lightning – but lightning wasn’t blue was it? An Alchemy reaction then. But of… what…
“I remember,” Al croaked out.
Ed turned his head and looked at his brother in concern after seeing his face. “Wha-?” He was cut short when Al flung himself on his brother, a half-chocked back sob escaping his lips.
“Mother… We must have failed…” As soon as Al had finished the first word, he felt Ed tense. He felt Ed’s arms go around his shoulders and his breath through his hair. A tremble travelled up Ed’s body and his breathing came in gulps.
“It wasn’t enough,” Ed murmured. “Our blood wasn’t enough to bring her back.”
Al didn’t try too hard to hold back his tears. He clutched at the unfamiliar top Ed was wearing (assumedly from the hospital) with his remaining hand and he could already tell that he had left quite a wet patch where his head was. “But we calculated everything!” he exclaimed, his breath hitching and wavering at every word. He heart was feeling heavy from the realisation. They had failed to bring back their Mother.
Ed’s arms tightened around him. “What is the cost of a human soul?” Ed asked hypothetically. “We thought that our blood would be enough to bring back Mother. In theory, since we’re both her sons, there was a part of her in each of us.”
Al understood what Ed was meaning. “But that’s just biologically. Mother’s memories, her personality…”
His brother nodded. “Yeah,” he said faintly. “What can we give in exchange for a human soul? To make her exactly what she used to be like before? All we gave was a few droplets of blood.”
The two lapsed into silence again, finding comfort in each other’s arms. Al’s sniffles lessened as they stayed like that, the contact reminding him that all was not completely lost.
“Hey, Al?” Ed said after a few minutes.
“Yeah?”
“You remember his journals?”
There was only one person that Ed used that tone towards. “Father’s?”
A grunt. “Do you remember what he said in them… about the Philosopher’s Stone?”
Al paused, memories of cracking the code and what they had been able to glean afterwards coming up in his mind. He nodded. “They can bypass the Equivalent Exchange law. But that’s just a myth,” Al added with a frown.
Ed shrugged. “It had to come from somewhere right?”
He thought it over. In every legend and myth, there was said to be a grain of truth. If that was the case here…
Al looked up at Ed’s sigh. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t made the suggestion about bringing back Mum in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.” Al opened his mouth to protest. It wasn’t all Ed’s idea; Al had wanted to do it too. Ed continued before Al could say anything. “Once we find out where we are and we find a way to get around,” –Ed gestured towards his leg- “we’ll start looking for the Philosopher’s Stone to restore our bodies,” Ed said determinedly.
Al was silent for a few seconds. “When we find it… we could use it to bring back Mother too.”
Ed mulled it over. “Maybe. For all we know, the Philosopher’s Stone might not be as powerful as we think it is and we might have to choose between our bodies and Mother. If we restored our bodies and then used it to bring back Mother and it still wasn’t enough…” Ed trailed off, not needing to continue.
“Okay,” Al said firmly. It was going to be tough from now, Al knew, with parts of their bodies missing. But things could have been worse. Al shivered at the thought.
His older brother responded by bringing the blanket up further and wrapped it around them both. “Don’t worry Al,” he assured him. “We’ll be able to do it.”
Al gave his big brother a small smile. It was going to be hard but they were going to do it together and that was what mattered. He hugged his brother tighter.
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Summary: Ed and Al tried to resurect their Mother but something went wrong. Not only did they fail, their bodies paying the price, but they are no longer in Amestris. They are in a world where all the natural rules aren't always obeyed...
Rating: K+
Notes: Much headshaking. Bah.
The end-ish bit could be the nurses panicking about the water tanks. Or maybe Naruto’s talk with Jiraiya.
Hmm, I feel like I've over-done it with the semi-colons.
Timelines: Naruto - just after Tsunade becomes Hokage. Fullmetal Alchemist - pre-canon.
Genre: General
Word count: 2,979
Total Word Count: 5,030
Status: Work in Progress
Naruto stared at the spot where his former teacher had just been standing in a few seconds before. He then glanced at the unfinished bowl that Iruka had left behind. He never did that. Not unless something really important had come up and he absolutely had to.
Iruka had sensed something, that was obvious. Naruto wouldn’t have noticed the whatever-it-was if he hadn’t been with Iruka at the time. Naruto grumbled to himself internally. His former teacher was still able to sense stuff that he couldn’t. How was he supposed to become the Hokage if he couldn’t even do what Iruka could do?
Even though, there was something that was making him feel slightly uneasy. It wasn’t the thing that that Iruka had sensed because Naruto was feeling it after Iruka had - or maybe he was just having some sort of delayed reaction. He was feeling uneasy, he didn’t know why and it was bugging the hell out of him.
Naruto decided to train instead of going in to see Sasuke at the hospital like he had been intending to do. He was fine since the old hag had seen him (or whatever passed for ‘fine’ in Sasuke’s world) and Sakura was with him anyway. Not that Sasuke would notice.
He grinned to himself. He’d get even better and once Sasuke was out of the hospital, wouldn’t he be in for a surprise?
Ed twitched but didn’t open his eyes. He subtly took in a deep breath and wondered - the room didn’t smell familiar. There was no smell of dusty books at least; that was almost a given at his house. He stretched his back a little and was surprised to feel that there was the softness of a bed beneath him and not the floor.
He heard a soft murmur of surprise. A creak of a chair. Ed scrunched up his eyes before opening them, eyes towards the sound. His vision was still a bit blurred but it wasn’t too bad. A few blinks later, his eyesight was nearly back to being completely normal.
There was a young woman sitting on the chair next to his bed. She had blonde hair that reached her collarbone; looking up higher, Ed saw that she had brown eyes and… a small blue diamond in the centre of her forehead? A tattoo perhaps? She looked at him curiously; he stared back at her, not intimidated. This seemed to amuse her for some reason to which, Ed glowered at her even more.
But this obviously wasn’t his bed (not that he and his brother usually used one). He turned his head away from the woman, searching around. This wasn’t even his bedroom! It was too white, too impersonal, too clean. There were a few books and other pieces of paper around about though, mostly on the floor that he could see from his vantage point. His next thought went to his brother. Where-?
As if sensing Ed’s growing agitation, the woman had stood up from her chair and moved the curtain that was drawn behind her. Behind the curtain was Al, prone, unconscious. Or maybe sleeping, Ed reasoned. Not hurt that badly, he hoped.
He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and was about to push himself off when the woman stopped him by placing a firm hand on his shoulder. Ed looked up at her in surprise. Why had she stopped him? He needed to make sure, to see with his own eyes that his brother was okay and not just from a distance. She looked sad for some reason, her eyes downcast slightly, shaking her head at him slowly.
It was when she started talking that Ed realised that he couldn’t understand a word that she was saying. Not one sounded even remotely familiar. He shook his head, as if that gesture would clear his head and make him understand. He hoped that he hadn’t hit his head or something and he could no longer comprehend what other people were saying. When he was looking at the woman again, she had an expectant expression on her face.
“Could you repeat that?” Ed asked her.
The woman blinked in surprise and then frowned quickly. She repeated what she had said, slower this time. Ed stared at her lips, but the words still didn’t make any sense. He shook his head to convey that he still didn’t understand what she was saying. He shrugged just in case he might be answering something by shaking his head.
She pointed to his legs.
Eyes following the finger, Ed saw the blanket still covering his legs. He continued looking and began to realise that something was very, very wrong. The limbs under the blanket were a little… lopsided. His right leg extended to the edge of the bed where he'd been about to get off consequently his foot dangled over into thin air. Staring at the left side however, there was the same lump in the blankets but it stopped short before reaching the edge and the blanket dipped alarmingly; as if there was nothing there.
Ed tore the blanket away from his body, not wanting to know what was underneath but the need to know was stronger. He felt the blood drain away from his face and it was as if his heart had stopped beating. His left leg was fine until it reached below his knee; after that, it ended with a stump swathed in bandages. Along with his heart, it suddenly felt a lot harder to breathe. Ed tried to feel if he could actually tell that he was missing his lower leg. He knew that he was sending signals from his brain but, obviously, nothing happened. He still thought that he had both legs, still thought that he could feel the toes in his left foot. He could still move his toes in his right foot though so, at least, there was no damage there.
‘Phantom limbs,’ Ed remembered Granny saying once. It was something she came across quite a lot when she was giving her services as an Automail mechanic. It was when a person, even though they knew they had the evidence right in front of them, even though they knew that they were missing a limb, they still thought that the missing limb was there and that they could feel it. It could be years before they stopped ‘feeling’ that limb; conversely, they could have been ‘fine’ without the limb and then suddenly the ‘feeling’ came back to it. Added to that, it could even feel painful and since it was all in the mind, painkillers wouldn't be able to help in any way whatsoever.
What had happened? Ed thought numbly. How had he lost his leg? What…?
The woman said something again, this time with a questioning lilt at the end.
Losing his track of thought, Ed scowled at her but he welcomed the distraction because it meant he wasn't thinking about that and he could start bringing his bodily functions (like breathing and his heart beating) back in order. “I don’t understand you,” he said slowly, pronouncing each syllable clearly. Not that there was much chance of her really understanding his words except through his tone.
She sighed but she was hiding a twitch at the corner of her mouth. She pointed to herself. “Tsunade,” she said clearly. “Hokage.” A small pause to check he understood. Right, her first name and second name. But why the big gap in between the two? He only looked young (and it obviously wasn't because he was short damnit) – he wasn’t dumb because of that. She then pointed to him. That was easy enough to get the meaning.
“Edward. Ed Elric.” He pointed to his brother. “Alphonse. Al Elric.”
Tsunade nodded to herself, repeating the names.
Ed glanced down at his leg again. He looked sharply to his brother and then to Tsunade. “Al! Did something happen to him too?” he asked quickly, the words tumbling out of his mouth.
She stared at him patiently before she shook her head, not knowing what he was saying.
Argh! How was he supposed to mime ‘Does my brother also have a limb missing?’ And then it came to him. He could have slapped himself; it was so easy! Ed pointed to Al and then to his missing limb. He looked up at Tsunade in what he hoped looked inquiringly.
She nodded, understanding. She then shook her head slowly. Ed’s heart lifted at that. Al wasn’t hurt! But why was she leaning forward? Tsunade tapped just below his left elbow, trailing down to his fingers.
He stared at his hand. He turned it over slowly, so that the palm was facing up. He clenched and unclenched it easily. Al had lost his left hand. How – Ed yelped as he was lifted by his armpits and carried easily to his brother’s bed. He was gently sat down at Al’s head.
Looking up at her in confusion, Ed saw a strange expression on Tsunade’s face. She looked at Al and then back to him. And then, he realised.
‘Look after him.’
Ed nodded resolutely. No wonder he didn’t recognise that look the first time – it wasn’t often he met other older siblings. But it wasn't as if he really needed to be told in the first place.
After making sure that Ed wouldn’t fall off of the bed accidentally, Tsunade swept up her scrolls (Why scrolls? Ed wondered. People actually used them?) and books and left the room with a wave and a smile.
Ed waved back at her uncertainly as she disappeared out the room. He glanced at Al, making sure that he was still resting peacefully; he was.
He rubbed at an eye tiredly. He may have woken up but that still didn’t mean he didn’t need to rest some more.
Checking on Al one more time, Ed carefully went under the blanket, making sure that he didn’t disturb his brother.
What had they been doing? Why were they missing limbs? The answer was there; he knew what it was. But his brain wasn’t co-operating. Just as the answer was about to come to him, Ed had closed his eyes and fallen fast asleep.
A clatter of shoes slapping on tiles. Raised voices. Hearing that, Al woke up with a start. The first thing he noticed was that there was a white tiled ceiling above his head. The second thing he noticed was that there was a warm body next to him. From the corner of his eyes, Al could tell that it was his elder brother sleeping next to him. When he tried to sit up, Al then noticed that something was decidedly missing when he fell on top of said elder brother with a yell.
“Ack!” Well, his brother was up now. “Al!” Ed said, his face shifting from surprise to worry when he saw who had woken him up. “Are you okay?”
Al grinned sheepishly. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
Ed’s face softened, knowing that he was lying. “You’re not.”
Al wriggled off of Ed before he lifted his left arm to look at what was left of it. He was pleased that he could still move his elbow but… he just wasn’t processing the fact that he no longer had a left hand. He poked lightly at the stump and winced at the small jolts of pain that sped up his arm. Definitely not a trick or illusion of the mind. Ed’s hand clamped down on his wrist, just in case he tried to do it again.
“Don’t,” Ed said softly.
Al stared at it for another second before looking up at Ed.
“I’ve lost part of my left leg,” Ed supplied, Al not needing to actually ask.
Al nodded slowly, seeing the uneven lumps under the blanket now that he knew.
The two brothers glanced to the door as they heard people running past it. It was then that Al started to properly look around the room that he and his brother were in. “Brother, where are we?” he asked.
Ed shrugged. “Dunno. A hospital, by the looks of it. There was a nurse or doctor here before, when I woke up. Um… her name was…” He paused, a concentrated frown on his face. “Tsunade Hokage.” He said the name slowly, wrapping his tongue around the strange syllables. “She doesn’t speak the same language as us.” Ear cocked towards the door, Ed listened to the yelling that was drifting through the closed door. “I don’t think anyone here does.”
Al had been listening to the words also and had come to the same conclusion. “But why are people running around the hospital and shouting like that if this is a hospital?” Al wondered out loud. “They’d wake the people who’re meant to be resting.”
“Like us?” Ed asked wryly.
“Hmm,” Al agreed, a small smile forming.
The two were silent, listening to the voices that they didn’t understand. There was a pause in the shouting as the sound of running feet began again. It was quiet when the footfalls had faded away.
“What were we doing?” Ed whispered. It wasn’t because Ed didn’t want to disturb the peace that had been created from the absence of the racket but because he didn’t need to raise his voice to be heard. Ed had pushed himself up so that he was leaning on the headboard soon after he had woken up. Al had done the same, but he slouching a little bit more than Ed.
Al cast his mind to the last thing he remembered. He remembered being in his home but that was normal. Something more specific… Rain? Lightning – but lightning wasn’t blue was it? An Alchemy reaction then. But of… what…
“I remember,” Al croaked out.
Ed turned his head and looked at his brother in concern after seeing his face. “Wha-?” He was cut short when Al flung himself on his brother, a half-chocked back sob escaping his lips.
“Mother… We must have failed…” As soon as Al had finished the first word, he felt Ed tense. He felt Ed’s arms go around his shoulders and his breath through his hair. A tremble travelled up Ed’s body and his breathing came in gulps.
“It wasn’t enough,” Ed murmured. “Our blood wasn’t enough to bring her back.”
Al didn’t try too hard to hold back his tears. He clutched at the unfamiliar top Ed was wearing (assumedly from the hospital) with his remaining hand and he could already tell that he had left quite a wet patch where his head was. “But we calculated everything!” he exclaimed, his breath hitching and wavering at every word. He heart was feeling heavy from the realisation. They had failed to bring back their Mother.
Ed’s arms tightened around him. “What is the cost of a human soul?” Ed asked hypothetically. “We thought that our blood would be enough to bring back Mother. In theory, since we’re both her sons, there was a part of her in each of us.”
Al understood what Ed was meaning. “But that’s just biologically. Mother’s memories, her personality…”
His brother nodded. “Yeah,” he said faintly. “What can we give in exchange for a human soul? To make her exactly what she used to be like before? All we gave was a few droplets of blood.”
The two lapsed into silence again, finding comfort in each other’s arms. Al’s sniffles lessened as they stayed like that, the contact reminding him that all was not completely lost.
“Hey, Al?” Ed said after a few minutes.
“Yeah?”
“You remember his journals?”
There was only one person that Ed used that tone towards. “Father’s?”
A grunt. “Do you remember what he said in them… about the Philosopher’s Stone?”
Al paused, memories of cracking the code and what they had been able to glean afterwards coming up in his mind. He nodded. “They can bypass the Equivalent Exchange law. But that’s just a myth,” Al added with a frown.
Ed shrugged. “It had to come from somewhere right?”
He thought it over. In every legend and myth, there was said to be a grain of truth. If that was the case here…
Al looked up at Ed’s sigh. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t made the suggestion about bringing back Mum in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened.” Al opened his mouth to protest. It wasn’t all Ed’s idea; Al had wanted to do it too. Ed continued before Al could say anything. “Once we find out where we are and we find a way to get around,” –Ed gestured towards his leg- “we’ll start looking for the Philosopher’s Stone to restore our bodies,” Ed said determinedly.
Al was silent for a few seconds. “When we find it… we could use it to bring back Mother too.”
Ed mulled it over. “Maybe. For all we know, the Philosopher’s Stone might not be as powerful as we think it is and we might have to choose between our bodies and Mother. If we restored our bodies and then used it to bring back Mother and it still wasn’t enough…” Ed trailed off, not needing to continue.
“Okay,” Al said firmly. It was going to be tough from now, Al knew, with parts of their bodies missing. But things could have been worse. Al shivered at the thought.
His older brother responded by bringing the blanket up further and wrapped it around them both. “Don’t worry Al,” he assured him. “We’ll be able to do it.”
Al gave his big brother a small smile. It was going to be hard but they were going to do it together and that was what mattered. He hugged his brother tighter.
no subject
Date: Apr. 17th, 2007 12:28 am (UTC)I think there's an extra "left" in there?
Heh, interesting communication problems. That'll make things really...difficult. Unless...there are people in the Naruto world who actually do speak the same language as Ed and Al?