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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
- 4
- 5
- 6
Five
Edward Elric settled himself in a corner of the main plaza in Central and folded his arms over his chest. He kept his hood drawn over his face, which drew a few looks from passers-by, but otherwise, no one really bothered him. He watched the crowds mill about and smiled despite the terrible feeling aching in his chest. After he'd gone to ground, after the military had found his room, Ed had received a nameless letter with a time and a meeting location only. He knew what it was about, just as he knew if he didn't show up, then they'd carry through with their threats toward Alphonse. They'd already proven to him that if he didn't obey, if he didn't do as they told him to do, then Alphonse was as good as dead.
Ed closed his eyes for a moment to keep that memory at bay. It was too fresh, too close to tearing open the wounds he'd received when he'd first lost his brother due to his childhood foolishness to when he was stuck for two years in Germany, and finally to little more than a year ago, when the Académie showed up on their doorstep and demanded Edward help them with their scheme. And because they had Alphonse, Ed had agreed to be their assassin. He hated that he had to do it, hated that he couldn't figure out a way not to do it, hated that he couldn't find any clue as to where the Académie had made their base or where they were holding Alphonse. He couldn't even try to find out. If he did-
"Your brother sends his regards."
Ed didn't turn at the sound of the deep voice. He didn't react at all and give the man the satisfaction of seeing him jump. "He better be okay."
"He's fine. Still alive, and I'm sure you're anxious to keep him that way."
Now Ed did turn around and look at the man behind him. Tall and broad shouldered, with skin nearly as dark as an Ishbalan, the man looked the part of a mercenary. Ed had dealt with him before, when the Académie was originally trying to persuade him and Alphonse to help them. Which both Elrics had refused, especially since the Académie had had a few fingers in the Thule Society pie. What his name was, Ed couldn't bring himself to care. The bastard was the only key he had to his brother right now. "Do you want to dig that verbal knife even deeper or do you want to tell me why you've called me here? I mean, it's not like I'm being hunted or anything."
The man's eyes narrowed. "You were sloppy."
"I don't know about your methods, but if you're interrupted, you'd probably be messy too."
"You were followed."
"Again, if you were interrupted and continued on anyway, you'd probably followed, too. I wasn't caught, I wasn't seen, so you can quit with the incompetency shit and tell me what Olivier told you to tell me."
The man scowled. "Fine. He wants you to hurry up with your task. Now that the Amestris military has caught on, and has linked the cases, he wants the timetable stepped up. And I was also told to tell you that the Central military had brought in your younger self and his brother to investigate. I hope you understand what it means if they catch you."
Ed clenched his fists and remained quiet. Then he said, "I understand. And you tell Olivier he better honor his word when I'm done, or I'll tear him apart. And since we're in my world, you know I'm telling the truth."
The man bared his teeth at the unmasked threat in Ed's words. Yes, while the Académie had Alphonse in their hands, Ed was their puppet, jumping when he was told to jump and killing whom he was told to kill. But despite having Alphonse as their prisoner, it didn't give them total control over him. If they hurt Alphonse, Edward would show them exactly what a State Alchemist would do, and he didn't care who he had to bury to get to his brother.
The two stared at each other for a little longer, then the man lifted his hand and poked a finger hard into Ed's chest. "Just do what you're told. Don't get caught. And if you have to destroy yourself and your other little brother, you do it."
"Just because we're in another timeline doesn't mean we can mess with it as we please."
"Spare me the science babble. I don't care. Just know we mean what we say."
"Like I can forget.” Ed whispered as the man walked away, vanishing into the crowd. He turned away and melted into the crowd himself, walking slowly through the city.
He let his thoughts wander because it was the only thing he could do to keep his body moving aimlessly rather than heading toward the next target on the ever-shorter list. His thoughts, though, turned to how he got in this quagmire in the first place.
It all started after he and Al decided to stay in Germany instead of heading back to Amestris after the Thule Society had opened the gate, which was subsequently destroyed. From there, they'd traveled to various other places, working on various projects to make a living. But Ed, as always, had begun to wonder if there was some way they could communicate with the other side, and had begun going through the calculations and science that would be needed. Alphonse had helped him with those calculations and finding materials and checking equations when Ed stayed up too late to be able to hold a pencil. And then Ed had stumbled upon a translocation equation via alchemy, though in a world that alchemy didn't exist, the Elrics had to devise another way of using their translocation "alchemy".
They'd started small, with inanimate objects. First in their lab, which had been an abandoned warehouse, they'd harnessed electricity to power lights strung in an alchemical circle. It had been a joke, really, to set the lights up that way, but something had happened that neither of the brothers had been expecting - the experiment worked. The book that had been their test subject went from one end of the warehouse to the other. It was such a shock to them that for a while they just stood there and stared at the book. Then they scrambled to figure out how they'd achieved it, and eventually came upon the answer. Little did they know that the Académie had been following them since the Thule Society's fall. Little did they know that their success in their experiment would cause them the trouble they were in now.
Their success in the warehouse had caused them to test range, and the entire time they were being watched. Once they'd experimented successfully in translocating various objects various distances, the Académie had struck. They'd taken Alphonse, snatching the eighteen year old right off the street. Ed hadn't even known Alphonse was missing until Olivier had showed up at his doorstep with Alphonse's jacket. That had made the nineteen year old Edward Elric quite angry, but all it took was Olivier's quiet command and the sound of a round being loaded into the chamber of a pistol to get Ed to come quietly. The Elric brothers had been loaded into the same truck and then driven to an undisclosed location.
Olivier had then proceeded to tell the boys his plan, and he fully expected their cooperation. Ed and Al had both stared at the man; Olivier wasn't exactly imposing, nor did he come across as psychotic. He was of average height, with a mop of brown hair that was always messy, like he'd just rolled out of bed and hadn't bothered to brush it. His eyes were a smoky green, hidden behind glasses. Always dressed impeccably, Olivier commanded loyalty not by cruelty or harshness but by knowing how far he could push a man before the man would snap.
Olivier hadn't threatened Alphonse right away. The Elric brothers weren't stupid; with access to the Académie's technology and resources, their experiments could actually work in bridging the gap between the two worlds. But there was no way to know for sure, not without human test subjects, and that Edward wasn't willing to do. A botched escape attempt had resulted in Olivier finally displayed some temper.
Ed's body still shook as he remembered what had happened that night, how with anger and shaking hands he'd made the transmutation circle around Olivier and some of his goons - and Alphonse, who knelt between Olivier be a guard. When Ed refused to go further with the experiment, Olivier had produced a pistol, loaded a single bullet into the chamber and spun it. Then he pressed the barrel against Alphonse's head. "One in six," Olivier said, "one in six chance this bullet meets his head. Do you want to take that chance?" And the bastard pulled the trigger.
Click.
Ed had done it, powered up the machine and had activated the electricity and tried to explain they'd never done this with living things, but he was ignored. And then Olivier and the rest of them had disappeared in a crackle of lightning, leaving Ed alone with those of the Académie who had stayed behind. And that was a problem. So Ed had activated the circle again and had leaped into the opened "gateway" himself. It was a frightening tumble, and when he's landed, he realized too late that he'd made a mistake with the first experiment. He'd ended up in his own timeline Amestris - Alphonse had ended up in this one.
How had the elder Elric finally caught up? The short answer was that he could now use the formulas that he'd created in the other world along with his alchemy. He'd needed help, of course, and had gone to the only person he trusted for it. Roy had wanted to come too, but Ed had managed to convince him not to. His cheeks flared red, an emotion he quickly pushed away. Roy would be so mad at him, and if he ever returned to his Amestris, the Flame Alchemist certainly would give him the sharp side of his tongue. As insurance, though, if something did happen to him, Ed had left his notes and formulas on the translocation alchemy with Roy, in a code only Roy would be able to break.
And if Roy did break it, he'd be after Ed like a bloodhound.
Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Between the two of us, we could get Alphonse back and destroy the Académie. But how to explain the blood on his hands? How to explain what he'd done to get Alphonse back? Would Roy even understand?
Ed stopped walking in front of a large building and looked up at the ten foot high wrought iron gate. In his musings, he'd arrived at his destination, the scene of his next killing. He knew he shouldn't strike now, not with the army racing to station guards at the workplaces and residences of his remaining targets. Shouldn't draw attention to himself right now, not when his fifteen year old self, and his brother, were hunting him too.
"But I'm this far into hell," Ed whispered to himself, "and to stop now would get Alphonse killed." He stepped closer to the gate, studying the interior yard and looking for any cameras or patrols. His only advantage was to be striking now, when they were still scrambling. But that was a short lived advantage, because the more people he killed, the closer a confrontation would become. It was a chess game, and eventually there would be a checkmate.
Ed moved along the fence, pretending to be just another face in the crowd, looking for a secluded place to get through. He, of course, didn't know if his target was here or not, but it wouldn't hurt to look. If he wasn't here, then he'd be at home, and if he wasn't at home, then Ed's job would get that much more difficult. He found an adjoining alley and studied the walls. Close enough for what he intended. He braced his hands on one end and his feet on the other, and then he began to scale the wall hand over hand until he reached the roof. He took a moment to catch his breath, look out onto the cityscape of Central, and then steel himself for the next step of his task.
- 4
- 5
- 6
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Time's Scar