THE SCROLL OF DEADALUS

Bright warm light assailed Edward’s senses and he opened his eyes slowly. Daylight was streaming in through the frosted windows and where he was lying happened to be where the sun shined at mid-morning. He crawled out from under the cabinet and stretched his aching muscles and listened to his joints crack as he loosened them up. Once his body felt more mobile, he found his way into a stall and proceeded to relieve himself and then went to the sink to wash up.
It was only when he went to comb out his hair and rebraid it that he got a good look at his face in the mirror. He looked like hell. The side of his face where Mustang had struck him was interesting shades of red and purple and the corner of his lip was split. His arm where he had been grabbed initially was also bruised and he had a few others in interesting places but none were even close to what was on his face. It was going to be impossible to keep what happened to him a secret from anyone. At least some of what happened to him.
Edward could tell people how his face got messed up without batting an eye. It was what happened after he got decked he couldn’t talk about at all.

To anyone
.
Especially Al. His brother would probably want to kill Mustang if he knew what the Colonel did to him. Edward couldn’t risk putting Alphonse into a position where he would lose it. He had been through too much already. Better to let him think the Colonel smacked him around a little for disobeying him rather than what really happened. Al could understand getting a beating for breaking the rules. Edward had disobeyed his commanding officer and got punished for it. That was something Al could live with.
It was a truth he was going to live with as well.

For now.

Edward pulled on his shirt and jacket. They were both still a little damp but not annoyingly so. He made himself look as sharp and military as he could before he left the bathroom to go face the world.
The first place he went was where he last saw his brother. Alphonse wasn’t where he left him but Edward wasn’t too surprised to find him gone. It had been many hours and no doubt Alphonse was told to wait for him back in the conference room where that scroll was.

The scroll…

Edward really didn’t want to deal with that just now. He knew he would have to translate the hideous thing but he was going to try and delay that action for as long as he could without getting caught. He did not want a repeat of what happened last night. But he also didn’t want the military to get their hands on something with such potential for destruction. If it weren’t so heavily guarded he would have shredded it by now.
There has to be a way to destroy that scroll! Edward’s mind was racing. So far, he and Al had never been left alone in the room with the scroll. If they got their moment alone, then he and Al would be able to render it nonexistent. They would probably wind up in the brig – or worse – for doing that but it would be worth it. He would rather lose his own life than be responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people.
The door to the conference room was open and Alphonse glomped Edward before he even had the chance to get through the doorway. Armstrong, the Strong Arm Alchemist was in there with him. His only response to the brotherly expression of affection was a solitary raised eyebrow.

“Brother!”

”Happy to see you too Al,” Edward managed to gasp out.

“Sorry,” Alphonse apologized as he released his too tight grip on Edward. “I was really
worried about you!

“I’m okay,” Edward said as he wandered back to where the scroll lay open on the table.

“The two of you are to remain here until the Colonel returns,” Armstrong told them.

“Where is he?” Edward asked.

“On the roof, I believe. That was his last position when he radioed here an hour ago.”

The roof…?

Edward hung his head. The dome! Mustang must have seen it and went up to investigate it more closely. Well, if he’s up there he won’t be down here to bother us, Edward thought.

“I have rounds to make. I’ll be back to check up on you two later.”

“Okay.” Edward responded as he watched the big man leave.

Edward looked down at the scroll. “I could burn this thing right now and-“

“Don’t Ed!” Alphonse cautioned.

“I know, Al,” Edward responded with a heavy sigh. “This thing cost me enough already.”

“Your face…” Alphonse ventured.

“It’ll be okay,” Edward responded his attention focused on the scroll.

“What happened?”

Edward looked up. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Alphonse made no reply. Edward sighed and once again resumed studying the scroll.

After a few minutes Alphonse edged closer and dared to ask, “The Colonel was really mad at you wasn’t he?”

Edward nodded. “If I did something like this back at our base you’d be visiting my butt in the brig.”

“So…he, um, hit you instead?”

Edward heaved a long sigh. “Look, Al, remember when we were little and we screwed up? How we’d get our butts whacked?”

Alphonse nodded slowly as he recalled those vague memories. He hadn’t been the one getting whacked as a rule. Edward was always the more mischievous of the two of them and had gotten into more than his share of trouble. He hadn’t always gotten punished for it but he did break the rules more often than Al.

“Well, let’s just say that this-“ Edward began indicating his bruised face. “Is the Army equivalent of a spanking.”

“Oh.”

“Al, we’re not kids anymore. When we screw up, there are going to be consequences. I knew if we got caught it would be my ass.”

“I just never though the Colonel would ever hit you,” Alphonse said quietly. “I know you’ve made him mad before but he never laid a hand on you. Ever.”

“I never disobeyed a direct order in wartime in the field before,” Edward explained. “If you ever read the manual, you would realize I got off easy. I could have been shot for this.”

Alphonse made no reply. Edward was more aware of the Army’s rules and regulations because as a State Alchemist he had to be. The idea they had actually done something that could have gotten Edward killed made Alphonse shiver. As this realization sunk in he got angry because Edward had done this knowing it could have gotten him shot as a traitor.
Alphonse gave Edward a blow to the stomach that knocked the wind out of the young Alchemist. “Don’t you ever do something this stupid again, you hear me?” he ordered.

Edward stood there clutching his chest and forcing his diaphragm to work. Alphonse was strong. He almost broke his breastbone with that shot. “Are you crazy?” Edward yelled incensed the moment he was able to breath.

“You knew if we got caught the Colonel could have had you shot and you still did as you pleased!” Alphonse retorted hotly. “How could you be so selfish? If you died, what would happen to me?”

Edward said nothing. His brother was right. He had done something incredibly stupid and selfish that could have resulted in them being separated forever. They had promised each other they would stay together and stay alive until they found a way to get their bodies back. Edward knew better than to do anything to break the promise he made his brother. If he felt bad before finding Al, he felt even worse now.

“I’m sorry,” Edward said quietly looking at the floor unable to face Alphonse.

“Promise me you’ll never do anything this dumb again!”

A half smile curled Edward’s lips. “I promise.”

Alphonse gently petted Edward on the head like he was a puppy.

“Stop that! I’m not one of your stupid cats!”

“Oh? You sure act like a cat. Nice one minute and a raging ball of fur the next!”

Edward glared at him for a split second before breaking into a grin. “Yeah, I guess I am kind of like a cat. Unpredictable!”

“And small”

“SHUT UP!”

Alphonse was laughing now. Edward HATED any remarks about his lack of height and watching him seethe was amusing. He rarely teased Edward about being short but sometimes he would if Edward did something to really annoy him so he deserved it.

“Laugh it up, rust bucket!” Edward grumped as he paced off towards the window. He looked out onto the empty street below and out onto the remains of what once had been a nice frontier town. There was a long silence between the two brothers before Edward said in a very serious tone, “We have to figure out what to do with that scroll.”

“The Colonel is expecting us to translate it,” Alphonse said.

“I know, Al, but I can’t! You’re more skilled in archaic symbols so I know you know how wrong this thing is. We just can’t let them have this. We can’t let anybody have this!”

“I know but what can we do?”

“There has got to be a way we can do what they want and do what’s right!” Edward stated. He turned his steely gaze on his brother. “Any ideas?”

Alphonse folded his arms and pondered for a long moment. “Gods, Ed, why can’t you ever ask me an easy question?”

Edward flashed him a wicked grin. “Because I can usually figure those out for myself.”

Both brothers were bent over the scroll. It unnerved them to even look at it let alone study the thing in detail. Alphonse pointed out a symbol saying, “That’s the trigger point.”

“Maybe we can do something with that,” Edward suggested. He examined the symbol and realized the equivalent one in modern terminology was two separate symbols. “I just thought of something. The modern equivalent of that trigger point needs two points equidistant to create the same effect and achieve balance. Mess one up and the whole thing will go to hell.”

“This is not a circle you would want to botch on purpose, Ed. The effects could be worse than what happened when we tried to bring Mom back!”

Edward grabbed some scratch paper and began to draw saying, “Let me demonstrate my idea and then tell me if I’m right or wrong. Okay?”

Alphonse nodded and watched as his brother sketched out the all-too-familiar base alchemical circle and then began to fill it with the modern equivalents of the ancient symbols. He worked furiously for a while and had the new scroll mostly done before handing it to Alphonse with a sheepish grin saying, “Um, you mind getting the last few? I kinda forgot what they mean.”

Alphonse looked at what was missing and cried, “I can’t believe you! You didn’t recognize the symbols for air and water? All the easy ones you forgot?”

“What can I say? This Army life is slowly turning my brain to pudding.”

“You’re really hopeless sometimes!”

Edward at least had the grace to be embarrassed. He let Alphonse finish what he started while he looked out the window and hung his head in shame. His skills were getting a little rusty. Since he became a State Alchemist he hardly ever did Alchemy the way he was taught. Only Alphonse used a drawn circle to perform his craft. And for this reason Alphonse was the more skilled when it came to Alchemical symbols and terminology.

“You know when we get back I think I’m going to try kicking it old school for a while,” Edward remarked. “Doing things with a circle like you do.”

“You do use a circle! Just not one you draw,” Alphonse reminded him.

“Yeah, well, I think I would remember my terminology better if I actually saw it and used it more often instead of relying on what’s already in my pea brain.”

Alphonse made no comment. He finished the new scroll and handed it back to Edward.

“Well?” he asked.

Edward sighed. “That’s it but I think I am going to add one small thing that will insure this thing is a one-shot wonder.”

“What?”

Edward took quill in hand and drew a symbol in the first of the inner rings where the lynch pins of the equation were written. Alphonse saw what he wrote and gasped. “A recursive element? Ed, they’re going to notice that!”

“Not if it’s written in Sanskrit and buried inside one of the lynch pins they won’t,” Edward assured him. “You know symbols can be layered in such a way that unless you are looking for a pair you won’t find them!”

“You’re assuming this scroll isn’t going to get examined by experts. Maybe the Colonel won’t figure it out but there are Alchemists working for the State who are lot more experienced than you. IF they find your dual symbol and figure out what it’s supposed to do-“

“I know,” Edward interrupted. “But I’m willing to take that chance. Look, we have to do something!”

“Well, what about this…?”

Alphonse got another sheet of parchment and began to draw. Edward watched in silence as Alphonse created completely from memory the circle they had been analyzing. Al, you should have taken the test to be a State Alchemist not me, Edward thought to himself while he watched his younger brother work. Maybe he was better at doing the actual transmutations, working the equations, doing all the math, but Alphonse was always better at the theory behind it all. He understood Alchemy. Edward just knew how to make it work.

When he was finished he handed his interpretation over to Edward. “Well?”

Edward studied his brother’s handiwork for a long moment. His somber expression slowly changed as the understanding of what Alphonse had done sunk in. When he finally looked up from the new scroll Edward Elric was positively beaming.

“Al, you’re brilliant!”

“I am?”

“Yes you are, Tin Head!” Edward exclaimed his gold eyes gleaming. “Linking the new scroll to the old one was a brilliant idea! You have to use both together in order to generate the effect. Plus your added hook that if you are actually stupid enough to try it both scrolls will self-destruct! Alphonse Elric, you are a fucking genius!”

Alphonse stood there staring at Edward too stunned to reply.

The door opened suddenly and Major Hawkeye entered. She eyed the two Elric brothers speculatively for a moment before asking, “Is everything all right?”

“Couldn’t be better!” Edward told her. He showed her the completed scroll. “You can tell the Colonel we have completed out assignment.”

“You can tell him yourself. He wants the two of you up on the roof pronto.”

Edward and Alphonse exchanged a meaningful look.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this…” Edward said as he followed Major Hawkeye out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More to come!