The Return of the Elric Brothers

tle: The Return of the Elric Brothers (part 1)
Pairing: Edward Elric and Russell Tringham later on Alphonse Elric and Fletcher Tringham
DISCLAMERS: Fullmetal Alchemist is property of Hiromu Arakawa, Square Enix and Studio BONES. These characters aren\'t mine, I\'m just borrowing them for a little while.



Episode 1: Return to Neverland.

The first thing you noticed about the night was that the wind was howling, even though the sky was clear. Midnight was about to strike when two figures ran to the ancient circle of stones, so old that nobody was really sure who had put them there.

\"I hope this works!\" said the younger of the two, his blond ponytail whipping in the wind. \"I don\'t want to get arrested... Again...\" He looked around nervously, eyeing the millenium stones, they were silent yet spoke volumes about the realm of unknown territory.

\"Me neither!\" the one that was with him yelled over the wind. \"You have the artifacts? \"The other nodded. \"Great! Go place them over there... I have to place mine here.\" The older man walked towards a certain formation of upright rocks, as black as the inky night. He was a stark opposite of the dark rocks, his hair was golden and had a sheen that seemed to shine even in darkness. His eyes were also of a golden hue, a color that made some who saw him wonder if he were truly human. He didn\'t wear anything out of the ordinary -- brown pants, white shirt and a long brown trenchcoat -- but he wore them as if they were vestments fit for a King.

\"I hope the museum gets them back!\" The younger one did as he was told. The slightly taller boy had about the same hair and eyes as the other man, only a shade darker. He was nevertheless, handsome as his older sibling.

\"I don\'t frigging care, I want to go home....\" The eldest replied placing his own artifacts where they needed to be. \"Hurry Al... It\'s almost midnight!\" With a piece of chalk, he started to scribe words and ancient sigils. He was echoed by his brother, doing the same on his side. As they progressed, the sigils became more and more complicated, more intricate.The elder one was still working on his side when the younger one announced, \"I\'m done, Brother! What now?\" He went to stand next to his elder brother, his own brown trenchcoat flapping in the gale.

\"Go stand on the middle stone, Al! The Altar!\" Edward Elric replied. \"I\'ll be right with you!\" His huge coat snapped in the wind as he ran toward where his brother had pointed him and climbed on the stone, grabbing hold of his own luggage. They both looked around the circle of ancient stones that formed an ancient pagan ritual site. Ed didn\'t know how much magic had been performed here, but maybe it would be enough to help them get through the gate back home.

Al looked down at his watch. \"It\'s nearly midnight!\" They both waited anxiously, then Ed saw the lights of the guards that were keeping the stone circle. They were still far away, but Ed hoped they wouldn\'t interfere with the portal.

\"MIDNIGHT!\" yelled Al.But still nothing happened. They started to hear shots, they had been spotted. \"Brother!\"

\"Give it more time... we\'re at the equinox... The moon\'s almost in place Al... Give it a little time.\" Ed told him. He started to sweat, there were so close, so close. They couldn\'t give up now. They had to go back, this HAD to work.

\"We don\'t have time! The guards are coming!\" Al fidgeted, he usually was the calm one, but having guns pointed at him wasn\'t something he liked. He learned fast that men with guns usually were too happy to use them.

\"Stay right where you are Al...\" Ed warned him. \"If it works, I want you to be with me.\" There was no way Edward Elric was going to be seperated from his brother again. He and Al would go back to Amestris, together.

\"IF...it works...\" replied his younger brother. \"Remember last time you said that?\" Al eyed the guards who were getting dangerously close, weapons drawn and shouting for them to get off the stone.

\"Have a little faith in me Al... I did the research... What do we have to lose?\" Ed replied.

The guards shot a blast in the air. \"Our lives?...\"

\"Feh... I didn\'t think the English were so protective of a bunch of rocks... That librarian sure thought they were nothing but that...AH!...\" Ed smiled as the moon became perfectly aligned, its light bouncing off the objects they had placed earlier. The beams of light started to draw a pentagram around them. \"Get ready Al... this is it...\" The lights converged in a way that was scientifically impossible. But there it was, concentrating into a form that resembled a disk.

Al was a little more concerned about the guards who were now scared and demanding they cease and decist immediatly. He didn\'t like the way they swung and pointed their guns at them, they were scared, scared men and guns was never a mix Al liked.

\"Al.... LOOK!\" Al looked up and saw the disk forming over head, falling towards them. Edward grabbed his brother by his waist. \"Be ready to jump....\" The disk was closing in and they could start to see through it, like a fogged window that was clearing up as if the sun hit it. The could see a forest with buildings in the distance, and the landscape looked so familiar. . .

\"Brother...\" Al said nervously as he heard a bullet whistle near their heads. He heard another gunshot, heard a FPTANG! and saw a flash of white on his brother\'s arm. Al paled when he saw that his brother\'s automail had just ricocheted a bullet meant for him. \"EDWARD!!!\" he screamed.

\"Steady.... Ready... Set... GO JUMP!!!\" Going more on instinct and sheer desesperation, Al made his leap with his brother. As soon as they touched the \"window\" they were swallowed by it.

The guards arrived at the Altar of Stonehenge as the strange disk disapeared. There was no sign of the the two people who were standing on it less then a second ago. The glowing subsided, as the moon was no longer aligned perfectly.

\"What the hell...\" said one of the guards.

\"I... This is way too weird for me, chief... Where did these fellows disapear to?\" Another asked.

\"Only God knows... and the Devil has no doubts... We\'d better call the specialists... Don\'t touch anything...\" He warned the other two as he ran back to phone the proper authorities.

***************************

The brothers Elric fell unceremoniously on the ground, their bottoms made the first contact with Terra Firma. The both let out a few choice words and then looked around.

\"We\'re in the middle of nowhere...\" Al started. \"A forest...\"

Ed studied the landscape, then beamed. The mountains looked so familiar because he had seen the landscape so many times while he was travelling by train to get here. \"Al... we\'re near Xenotime!\"

Al studied the mountains Ed was pointing toward. \"Yes... Yes I think you\'re right, Brother!\"

Edward Elric\'s smile was brief. He had been away for four years, at least according to the calendars on the other side of the Gate. Had time flowed in the same way here? He looked down to the earth. Russell had probably moved on, found himself some girl and...

\"Brother?\" Al put his hand on his shoulder, but Ed brushed it away.

\"We can take a train from there to Central... Maybe Belsio can give us a loan.\" Ed walked towards the mountains.

Al frowned and followed him. He could only guess what his brother was thinking. He hadn\'t seen Russell since... He paused, trying to sort out his \"armor\" memories. When he passed through the Gate to get to the other world, all his memories he had when he was a suit of armor came back to him. But sometimes, it felt like they were someone else\'s memories and he had to actively search them.

His brother had fallen in love with Russell Tringham after the younger boy had impersonated him. Until his brother\'s disapearance, he would see Russell when he was able. Al knew they were very much in love. But when Ed disapeared and he himself was made flesh again, he\'s seen Russell and Fletcher only once. His own heart pinched because he had hurt Fletcher when he didn\'t recognize him. He felt bad, very bad now, not only because of Fletcher, but because it must have been terrible for Russell to see him in the flesh when Russell\'s love, Edward, was nowhere to be found. Alphonse vowed then and there to not rest till Ed and Russell were together again. His brother WOULD be happy, he had suffered long enough.

Both young men walked towards the montains, with their heads down, deep in thought. They came upon a clearing, and looking up, they saw the train tracks. They both looked at each other, then sprinted to them, smiles gracing their lips, their worries forgotten for the moment. Walking alongside the train tracks, they would get straight into Xenotime. With some luck, they might even hitch a free ride to town.

They both talked of the train rides they had frequently taken there, that a train was bound to come soon. They talked, grinning, about good memories, remembering those bittersweet times when they would come to Xenotime -- Ed, to escape the life of a State Alchemist and be with his lover; Al, to be with his best friend -- he remembered foundly the time he spent with Fletcher. He missed him more with each step.

Alas...

They had walked a few miles when they arrived at a huge, gaping hole in the middle of the track.

\"What... what could have made that?\" Al asked as his brother touched the smooth surface of the hole.

\"Whatever did it... Melted the sand and made it into glass.\" He looked at the wooden planks with an analytical scrutiny, it was nice for Al to see his brother in research mode. \"The wood was burned just on the other edge of the circle. The heat was intense enough to melt the tracks and fuse the sand into glass, but it cooled down pretty quickly so the woods from the planks didn\'t burn more than on the surface...\"

\"What kind of explosion does that?\" Al asked as he bend also study the phenomenon.

\"I\'m not sure...\" Ed got back up. \"I guess we can\'t count on a train to...\" Suddenly he tensed. \"Al... someone is watching us...\" He whispered, eyes darting from right to left,trying to assess how many people that were watching them.

Al continued to look at the hole, while still being on his guards. \"I noticed too, there are no more than three of them...\" he whispered back.

Ed smirked. \"No contest then...\"

Al smirked back. \"Hardly...\"

Both young men moved back-to-back as the three men charged with their guns drawn. They clapped their hands in unison and touched the ground, sending fists of rocks hurling towards the men who were charging. The three men were caught by surprise and never saw what hit them. They were shot back into the air and landed with a thud, they were all knocked out. Before it even started, the fight was over.

\"Glad to see I haven\'t lost my touch!\" Ed bragged.

Al shook his head, smilling. \"Good thing I was wearing my gloves too...\"

They tied up the men and Ed fused their weapons together. \"Not so high and mighty now... Are ya?\" One of the men woke up. \"Why did you attack us?\" Ed asked. \"I don\'t take too kindly to people shooting at me, you know.\" He sneered at the man, looking down at him from the vintage point of a captor. He looked at what they were wearing, it seemed like farmer clothes mixed in with discarded and worn millitary clothing whose insigna had been torn off. The men looked like a bunch of raggamuffin militia.

\"We had orders to shoot anyone that came to investigate the hole we made in the tracks,\" the man answered.

\"You guys did that? Why?\" Ed asked. But the man stayed silent. \"You\'re preventing people from getting out of Xenotime... aren\'t you?\" Still, the man stayed silent. Ed growled but the man wouldn\'t answer him anymore. His superiors probably scared them loyal.

\"I think we should leave and reach Xenotime as soon as we can.\" Ed told Al as he gagged the man and Al took care of the other two. They both carried the men into the forest. Ed clapped his hands together and made a cover for them with the bed of leaves. He knew the men wouldn\'t suffocate and someone passing by would see them moving. This was just giving Ed and his brother enough time to get away and not get unwanted attention.

Without a word, not as much as a nod, the brothers headed out towards Xenotime once again. This time, they choose to follow the tracks from a safe distance in the forest. They also moved more cautiously, in case another party of those men loomed around. They were weary of all movement, sometimes gasping when a fox bolted when they got too close. Unfortunatly, it would take them longer to reach Xenotime using this route, but it was mush safer this way.

\"I wonder why they want to cut off Xenotime...\" Ed said suddenly.

\"I was thinking about that.\" Al admited. \"mmmm... I\'m not sure but maybe.. It\'s related, I know that when I was in xenotime two years ago. They found a new gold source, I was sent there to investigate. Hawkeye also suggested I went to check because there\'s were people there that knew you.\"

\"Russell...\" Ed breathed.

Al nodded. \"And Fletcher... unfortunatly at the time, I couldn\'t remember them...\" Al closed his eyes, it hurt to remember their sad expression.

\"How... How was Russell?\" Ed dreaded to ask, yet couldn\'t help himself.

\"He... Now that I remember seeing him in our travels. He was sad, Brother... I think, I think he missed you, he missed you a lot. He wouldn\'t say anything about it but when I left he grabbed my arm, he squeezed it tightly. He made me promise to bring you back to Xenotime when I would find you.\" Al\'s heart pinched, when he now realized the implications, the amount of love Russell had for Edward.

Ed\'s face twisted in a way that Al thought he had just swallowed something bitter. \"Russ...\" He bit his lips. He had to hold back the tears, he didn\'t want to break down, but he missed Russell so much. He wanted his arms around him, he wanted them to be so close they would breathe the same air. He wanted to scream his name, but it all stayed bottled up inside him. He couldn\'t let go, not now. He knew one thing -- he had to get to Xenotime. He had to see Russell, he needed it as one needs air to breathe.

He and Al needed to get to Xenotime in a hurry, but the sun was getting low. If they hadn\'t encountered those men, Ed would have pushed on. But right now, it was safer to lie low for the night. To conserve their strength, just in case they encountered more men who wanted to prevent them from reaching their objective.

\"We should spend the night there...\" He gestured a small, shallow cavern. It wasn\'t much, but it was a shelter for the night. \"There\'s no way we\'re going to be able to reach Xenotime before nightfall on foot. And those guys over there must have already been found out, so they might shoot at anything that moves in the night.\"

\"We got a good head start...\" Alphonse said as he examined the shallow cavern.

\"Yeah but they\'ve got to have realized by now that we\'re heading towards Xenotime.\" Ed replied, he clapped his hand and made a pit of stone with a raised lip. \"There... we\'ll have to keep the fire small.\"

\"Are you sure we should make a fire, Brother? That would give away our position...\"

\"Mmm, true... I hope then that the night won\'t be too cold,\" Ed replied.

\"We can sleep next to each other... it\'s not like we haven\'t done it before,\" Al replied, getting the few thin blankets they had in their suitcases.

\"Hn...\" replied Ed thoughtfully. As the sun was setting, he looked in the direction of Xenotime.

\"Brother, I am sure he still thinks of you...\" Al offered.

\"Let\'s be realistic, Al,\" Ed huffed, annoyed. Why did Al always pick up on what he was thinking? \"It\'s been at least four years since I\'ve left. With our luck, it might be even more time!\" He turned to face his brother. \"I wouldn\'t blame him for moving on. Heck, even I wouldn\'t have waited so much for ME!\"

\"But you did, Brother. You did wait,\" Al countered.

\"Please... I was too busy to find a way back... too engrossed in studying books,\" Ed replied. He slipped into their improvised bed with Al. \"Besides, he\'s 18 now... Probably has to beat the women away with a stick....\" He rolled himself into a ball on his side. \"He... He probably forgot about me...\" But even as he said those words, Ed ardently wished he was wrong, that Russell would have waited for him. That he would see the blond and they would kiss passionately once more, like they had done so many times. He huddled himself in the blankets.

Al could hear Ed\'s voice crack. \"But... when I saw him two years ago, he thought I was you at first, you should have seen his face. He was so angry that you never told him where you were, when he spun me around.... I saw in his eyes that he realised his mistake... and... his eyes... they were so sad, Brother... I nearly cried.... I nearly did cry, especially when Fletcher looked at me with those sad eyes. I couldn\'t understand then, I didn\'t remember them at all. When I stepped inside the Gate, all my memories returned... that\'s when I realized how much it must have hurt them to see me. How much Russell was in pain... How much Fletcher was hurting also, that I was flesh, yet...\" He paused, looked over at his brother then heaved a sigh.

\"I\'m pouring my heart out about Russell and Fletcher and he falls ASLEEP!\" There was a mumbling next to him.

\"Yeah...some fresh strawberries with that pie... that would be good...\" Ed mumbled in his sleep.

Al shook his head, sighing and chuckling a little. His brother had the right idea, dreaming about food -- they would have to walk a lot tomorrow, and eating would help. It was just that his timing sucked -- the reality was, they hadn\'t eaten all day. Al\'s stomach started to growl. He knew both he and Ed would be ravenous when they finally arrived in Xenotime, and they had no money. They would have to use alchemy to do small work to get a meal. He sighed and his stomach grumbled yet again, he hit it a few times to quiet it. He decided that trying to sleep would probably be the best way to forget his hunger, and he pulled the covers on his side before Ed would steal them all.

*************************************

Al was stirred from his sleep in the middle of the night, someone was hugging him very closely and nuzzling his neck. It was nice yet, disturbing to him. A blush crept on his cheeks just as he was waking up, then he heard Ed\'s voice.

\"Mmmm... Russ....\" A metallic hand was making its way up his shirt. Alphonse Elric shivered, goosebumps rising on his skin, eyes opened wide as he saw his brother caressing him. He responded in the only way he could.

\"AAAAAAAH!!! BROTHER, WAKE UP!\" He pushed back Ed that was holding on to him. \"That\'s digusting! Let go of me! BROTHER!!!\" He slapped Ed in the face to wake him up.

Ed opened his eyes, squinting a bit. \"Russell?\"

Al freaked. \"I *AM* so *NOT* Russell!!!! Let go!!!\"

When he realised what he had just done, Edward Elric backpedalled all the way back to the wall of the cavern, eyes wide and his face all red. He felt ashamed how could he have done that to his own brother, he was dreaming about Russell and it felt so real. An awkward silence fell between the brothers. Finally, Ed said.

\"I... I think I\'m going to sleep here...\"

\"Brother... You don\'t have to do that...\" Al replied, feeling a bit guilty to have exploded like that. His brother missed Russell and thought he was him, surely he wouldn\'t do that again... right?

\"I do...\" Ed replied. He got up and took one of the blankets. \"Until I know for sure about Russell... I think it\'s better if I... stay away from you...\" He couldn\'t look Al in the eyes, he was ashamed of what he had just done. He returned to his corner and bundled in his blanket. He was happy they were in darkness, Al couldn\'t see how much he blushed and how much he was ashamed of what he had done. Ed wanted to sob, hugging himself, he realized just how much he missed Russell. He needed him like one needed to breathe.

Alphonse did the same, turning his back to him, thinking. He had shared a bed with Ed before and that had never happened. Was it because they were finally home? He knew Ed missed Russell, but he was too darn proud to admit it. Al looked back at Ed, the light of the moonlight shining down on his brother. He looked so sad and so ashamed, like he was the ghost image of his former self. The way he huddled in his blanket, sighing, Al could not help but think how much his brother needed Russell. He secretly prayed that Russell Tringham still was waiting for Ed. Four years was indeed a long time to wait... but... when you love someone... wouldn\'t you wait?

As he thought of his brother and Russell, he could see in his memories, the smile Ed on his face when he was with Russell. Oh, there was the occasionnal grumbling and fights, all couples experienced them, but the look of happiness that was dancing in his brother\'s eyes when he was with Russell was genuine. It was something that Al envied his brother. Maybe one day, he thought, I\'ll find someone that will make me feel like that. He was settling down to sleep when the last face he saw before heading for dreamland, was that of Fletcher, breaking into a smile, his eyes sprakling in the sunlight.

***********************************************

\"Hey, wake up, sleepy head...\" Ed\'s soft voice woke him up. There was also a wonderfull smell in the small cave: Food.

Al got up and saw that Ed had cooked a rabbit and there were also some small fruits that grew in the area. His mouth watered instantly.

\"Brother... You did that while I was asleep?\" Al asked, eyeing the food with envy.

\"Well... I... I did it as an apology for last night... and we do have to eat... I don\'t know about you, but I am famished!\"

Al\'s stomach grumbled, echoed by his older brother, Al laughed. \"Yeah, I think we\'re both pretty hungry all right! Thank you, Brother...\"

\"Hey... I got to look after you... You\'re still my little brother, you know...\" smirked Ed. Al nodded and they both devored the broiled rabbit and the fruits. After making short work of breakfast, they got ready to set up. Ed oiled his automail with the last drops of automail lubricant he had.

\"It\'s a good thing we got back... Guess we\'ll have to go see Winry soon.\" Ed pondered about the blond young woman, wondering if she had found her own calling. Ed smiled quietly, she probably did, she was always a strong and purposeful as a girl, she would remain so as a woman.

They quickly packed their suitases again and walked briskly to Xenotime. They both walked in silence, ever watchful of the things around them. They weren\'t being paranoid, but careful -- they were out in the open, and one false move could prove fatal.

As they approached Xenotime, they relaxed a bit and since the forest was clearing, they followed the tracks. But as they approached the city, they noticed that something looked different. Very different. Xenotime was now surrounded by a rock wall.Ed looked at it closely as they neared it. It was made of rocks and barbed vines were growing on it. From the look of it, Ed was sure it was made by alchemy, and he was sure it was the Tringhams\' doing.

They ran towards the huge metal gate and knocked on it. \"Hey....\" Ed yelled. \"Please... Let us in!\"

With a sound of metal sliding against metal, the Elric brothers saw a pair of eyes looking at them from a hole. \"What do you want?\"

\"We\'re travelers,\" Al said.

\"Yes, we want to sleep here for the night,\" Ed added.

\"Travellers...HAH! a Likely story... You\'re probably spies from the Rebellion,\" spat the man.

\"No sir... We were attacked by them...they took all our money and we were able to escape... I\'m a State Alchemist!\" Al showed his pocketwatch.

\"Mmmmm...\" The man was hesitant.

\"Listen, we know two people from this place... Go get them, they\'ll vouch for us!\" started Ed. \"Russell and Fletcher Tringham, go get them, they\'ll tell you we\'re not spies.\"

The man seemed surprised. \"Wait...\" The opening was slid shut. Both Ed and Al wondered if that meant they were going to open the door. They waited and waited after a while Ed was getting impatient and started to pound on the door. \"HEY!!!! Are you going to open the door or not?\"

\"Don\'t antagonize them, Brother! We need shelter for the night. Surely, they went to get Russell and Fletcher!\" Al replied.

Ed sighed, Al was right, but the wait was killing him, they were so close, yet so far. He tried to control himself, but when the time wore off and that might was starting to set in, Ed had just about enough. He was about to pound in the door again when the small opening slid open again.

Different eyes were looking at them. Ed frowned -- that wasn\'t Russell, but the eyes were familiar. The man asked, \"Show me your right arm.... I want to see your naked arm.\"

Ed and Al looked at each others and they both shed their coat, Al took off his jacket and Ed unbuttoned his sleeve and rolled it up. They both presented their arms, one flesh and the other was automail.

The man seemed satisfied. \"I do know them. Let them in, they are safe.\"

Ed and Al readjusted their clothing as the heavy door was opened. They were quickly ushered inside by armed men. Once inside, they were blinded by a harsh light pointed in their face.

\"Hey... what\'s the big idea?\" Ed said angrilly. \"Where\'s Russell and Fletcher Tringham?\"

\"They\'re dead. They died protecting the city from the Rebels,\" a sober voice said as a figure stepped forward.

\"D... Dead?... \" Ed fell to his knees. His gaze got glassy as he stared into space. No...Not Russell, not his Russell. After all this time... Ed could feel his heart sinking to the ground, his blood stilled in his veins, he felt like a disjointed doll. If Russell was dead...

\"Brother!\" Al kneeled next to his brother. He looked angrilly at the man who told his brother, the one he loved was dead. He gasped. \"Belsio...\"

\"Welcome back,\" Belsio said in a grave voice. \"You better follow me, I\'ll give you shelter for now.\"


End of episode 1