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Time's Scar	By : RotSeele Category: Fullmetal Alchemist > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 828 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist. I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Time's Scar
- 2-Two
- 3-Three
- 4-Four
- 5-Five
- 6-Six
- 7-Seven
- 8-Eight
- 9-Nine
- 10-Ten
- 11-Eleven
- 12-Twelve
- 13-Thirteen
- 14-Fourteen
- 15-Fifteen
- 16-Sixteen
- 17-Seventeen
- 18-Eighteen
- 19-Epilogue
- 14
- 15
- 16
Fifteen
Alphonse came to slowly. It took him a moment to remember what had happened to him. Edward had gone to help Elric while he and Roy had given chase to the woman who had attacked him in the alley. She had taken one look at him and had recognized him instantly. He saw the moment her mind landed on that fact, the fact that she's destroyed his armor, and the fact that someone had put him back together. Then he saw the moment that she figured out who he was, even before the Colonel called out his name.
His last memory was trying to keep a building from crushing Roy. After that... after that, he was waking up here.
Slowly, Alphonse pushed himself up and stared around at the room he was in. It was little more than a prison cell. He had a cot and not much else. The door was a crosshatch of metal bars, thicker than any he'd seen before. Slowly, Alphonse stood and moved toward the door. He studied the bars, then reached to touch them.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Alphonse felt his heart skip a beat. He peered out across the hall and went completely still. Sitting on the floor of the cell opposite his was a boy about eighteen years old, with short dark blonde hair and gold eyes. His lips were curled in a kind smile. Alphonse inhaled sharply. "You're-"
"It's been a long time since I've seen that armor." The older Alphonse said. "I used to both hate and love it."
Alphonse nodded. He'd felt the same over the course of time he'd been in the armor. "I see Brother was able to save you."
"Brother always keeps his promises." There was something else, something that pained the other Alphonse, but he didn't say anything. Instead he smiled. "So you shouldn't worry. They'll come for us."
"You know your brother is here?"
"Mhm. And I know what he's done."
"You forgive him?"
"Brother always takes the tasks that would hurt him more than others." The older Alphonse said quietly. "He takes scars onto his soul so I don't have to. I might hate what he has to do, or what he chooses to do, but he's my brother and I love him. And I do what I can to protect him, too."
"But all those people..." Alphonse trailed off. "They won't come back."
"I know. But I also know Ed will live with that for the rest of his life, and it will haunt him. I know he'd bring them back if he could. If he could turn back time, he'd do that in a heartbeat. But he can't. Neither can I. I have to accept his actions, even if I don't like them. You'll understand some day."
Alphonse blinked. "You love him that much?"
"He's my older brother."
There was silence for a time. Then Alphonse asked, "What does Olivier want with us?"
The older Alphonse looked pained for a moment. "He wants to merge our worlds into one. Doing so would require a great amount of energy, not to mention sacrifices for the equivalent exchange. The only people who can do that are you, me, and our brothers."
"The Colonel." Alphonse said quietly.
"What?"
"The Colonel. I mean, your Colonel. He came here looking for you. He figured out Elric's - I mean, Ed's, but he told us to call him Elric so there wasn't any confusion - and came here looking for your brother to help him find you."
The older Alphonse nodded slowly. "Sounds like the Colonel."
"If Olivier wants to merge the worlds, he just has to wait." Alphonse said.
The older Alphonse gave a little smile. "He can wait as long as he wants to. The only one who can really perform the alchemy he wants is my brother, and even then I don't think Ed would sacrifice even more for a madman's dream."
Alphonse nodded. "So are we waiting for them to come to us?"
"Funny you should ask." The older Alphonse got to his feet and moved toward the cot that was in his cell. He removed a piece of metal that looked like it had been painstakingly shaped into a key over long hours. "Olivier has sensors on the bars that detect alchemy, so I made this. Of course, we may very well get caught before we can escape, so if we choose to do this, we only get one shot."
Alphonse understood. If they escaped and were caught, it was a very good possibility tar Olivier would just have them killed. Or, if he wanted them kept alive for his final plan, he could separate them until he was ready to use them. If they succeeded, then they would be able to escape and meet up with their brothers and the Colonels, and then they would be able to put a stop to Olivier's plans. He looked into his older self's golden eyes and realized he had no intention of escaping to rejoin his brother; if he escaped, he would be going deeper into the lion's den to put an end to Olivier's plans to spare his brother even more scars.
"Do you still want to do this?" The older Alphonse asked.
Alphonse looked his older self in the eyes and said, "Get me out of here."
Elric jogged lightly down to the small dune they were using as an observation point. Ed was already crouched there with Roy and Mustang, who had shown up a few minutes later. The three of them looked up at his approach, and he nodded to each of them before he settled down beside Mustang.
"How was it?" Mustang asked.
"As bad guy lairs go, pretty standard."
"Defenses?"
"He's got armed guards patrolling the grounds. I recognize most of them as the original group I sent over. Some are new, probably recruited here." Elric rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I didn't see any sign of Alphonse. Either of them. But then I couldn't get inside. The building's huge."
Roy chuckled humorlessly. "It used to house ammunition and vehicles during the war with Ishbal. It was decommissioned when the war ended."
"Looks like Olivier made it suit him." Ed commented. "Any clue how to get inside it without alerting anyone that we're coming?"
"Doubt it." Elric said. "Even if we manage to get past the patrols, there's no telling what's on the inside. Olivier's not stupid. He's probably got traps set specifically for us. If we get in, we're going to have to fight."
"We're going to have to fight anyway." Mustang pointed out.
Roy looked at his other self. "I'd rather not make a spectacle out of it though. If we can get in without alerting anyone, we should try."
Ed looked across the expanse between them and the building they wanted to get into. It seemed like an impossible task, to get from here to there without being seen. He knew they would have to fight eventually. Whether it was the main bad guy or the underlings, they would eventually have to do something to defend themselves. Or go on the offensive. But he didn't know how to avoid the possibility of combat before they were ready to fight.
And Olivier's probably waiting for us to come in, guns blazing. Ed thought. He looked at Elric and saw an expression on his face that says he'd thought the same thing.
"What if we went underground?" Elric asked after a minute. They all looked at him. "I mean, we make a tunnel from here to there. If we do it right, we should be able to come up right beneath the place and be inside before anyone can react."
"Do you think we have the skill for such alchemy?" Mustang asked.
"Four of us doing it might cause problems, but if only two of us do it, we might have a chance." Elric replied.
"I guess that's you two, then."
Ed blinked. "Why us?"
Elric looked at his younger self. "Do you really want me to answer that question?"
Ed opened his mouth, hesitated, then closed his mouth and shook his head. It was obvious why - his and Elric's height would afford them the greatest advantage to working alchemy in small spaces. He didn't like it - he rarely enjoyed having his height pointed out - but he'd live with it this time. He looked at Roy. "What are you gonna do?"
"I guess we'll provide a distraction." Roy said. "You two worry about getting in from underground. Find your brothers. We'll take care of the men on the outside and try to meet you inside."
Elric looked at Mustang for a long moment. When the one-eyed man nodded, Elric nodded too. "Don't get killed." He said softly.
"I won't." Mustang replied. "Get going."
The two Elrics kept low as they raced from their hiding place, trying to get as close as they could without breaching the perimeter set by some of the patrols. When they were close enough, Elric started the alchemy, transmuting the ground into solid stone that led down into the ground. He didn't need to teach his younger self the next step of the alchemy; the boy was already performing it, easing the dirt up from the tunnel's mouth to form a solid wall of stone.
Down they went for a good ten feet or so before they started easing the tunnel toward the building. About halfway, they felt the tunnel shake as something began above their heads. They could only assume the two Colonels had started their assault, working to distract the Académie and keep them from noticing anything that might be going on inside the building. Even with the extra time being bought for them, Ed and Elric had to move methodically and slowly so that the tunnel didn't collapse on top of them and bury them beneath tons of dirt. They took turns, carefully layering their alchemy to make the foundations strong. Time was insubstantial, but a constant clock always ran in the back of Elric's head, wondering how much longer they had until they reached the building, or if Mustang was buying them enough time. He also wondered how long Alphonse had been imprisoned, and he wondered if his resourceful little brother had managed to free himself. If he had, then their task would become harder or easier depending on who found the younger Elrics first.
"I think we're here." Ed said. His voice seemed to echo, even though he was whispering. "Now do we go up?"
"We go up." Elric agreed. "Just be careful."
"I know." Ed clapped his hands together and pressed them to the dirt above his head.
Slowly, the dirt began to fold backwards as if it were made of liquid. It was painstakingly slow, but Elric said nothing, merely taking over when it seemed Ed had gotten through enough layers of dirt. They kept their systematic pattern, moving slowly until the dirt was cleared away and they found concrete. Then Elric clapped his hands, and began to burrow their way through the concrete floor.
They emerged into a spacious room. It was sparsely furnished, and looked like it had been made in haste. Elric looked around but saw no one. He hauled himself out of the hole he'd made, then reached for Ed and pulled him up too.
Somewhere distant, they could hear yelling.
"Looks like Roy's keeping his word." Ed whispered.
"Looks like. So let's keep ours."
The two hurried out of the room, keeping careful watch for anyone or anything that might alert Olivier to their presence. Elric seemed to have a good idea of where to go, so Ed followed along quietly, though he was straining his ears to try and pick up any sound that seemed out of place.
The warehouse that had once held munitions and vehicles had long since undergone a change. What was once open space had been made over into various rooms and halls, which made their task even harder. They didn't risk using their alchemy to bust through the walls, knowing it might alert the wrong people. Finally, they stopped at a ladder and stared up at it.
"Do we go up?" Ed asked.
"Do we have a choice?" Elric replied.
Slowly the pair began to climb, being careful not to climb too quickly and end up alerting someone to the noise. Of course, with the commotion going on outside, they really didn't have to worry about running into anyone.
They reached the top of the ladder and ended up on a catwalk that barely allowed one person to safely walk across it let alone two. They moved single file, with Ed watching their backs. The catwalk took them to a landing that looked like an observation deck, and what it looked over made Edward whistle lowly. Below them was a giant transmutation circle. Just by reading the symbols, Ed knew that this circle was meant to deal with translocation alchemy. There were lightning rods set at each cardinal point of the circle, and wires running from those rods to a giant generator. As far as Ed could see, there wasn't anyone around, but he knew that was probably only because no one expected anyone to get this far.
"What do we do about that?" Ed whispered, pointing to the circle.
"Nothing."
"What? Why?"
"It's not complete." Elric said lowly. "He's missing several important sequences, and he's missing the only person who knows how to actually perform the alchemy. He can draw it and experiment with it all he wants, but he'll never get it right." He tapped his head. "Everything is in here."
"Which is why he took Alphonse, isn't it?"
Elric nodded. "We'd do anything for our brothers." He lifted his right hand for emphasis. "Olivier got me to do it the first time, but I screwed up somehow and sent them here. I won't do it again."
Edward watched Elric for a time, then turned his gaze to the rest of the room. "So what do we do?"
Elric shifted and turned to look above them, where a huge glass window overlooked the entire room. "I guess we'll try to make our way up there."
Ed followed his older self off the platform and to the set of stairs set into one wall. As they headed up, the heard an explosion above them and ran the last few steps up the stairs. When they reached the top, the dust was just beginning to settle, and Ed felt a relieved from spread across his face.
Standing at the opposite end of the hall, on the other side of a blown out wall, stood both Alphonse the armor and Alphonse the young man. They grinned at their older brothers, but never had the chance to greet them properly. Alchemical light flared, and the floor collapsed beneath them all.
- 14
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- 16
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Time's Scar