Equivalent Exchange : FMA : Roy Mustang + Alphonse Elric : PG
Title: Equivalent Exchange
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Characters: Roy Mustang, Alphonse Elric
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Spoilers for the end of FMA
Word Count: 585 Pending
Disclaimer: FMA isn't mine.
Permission to Archive: temps_mort, all others ask first.
Time taken: 20 minutes and I just couldn't do any more. Maybe I'll try some more another time. Sorry....
Status: Finished, I guess. Kind of in progress. Working with a beta right now.
Beta: curiosity
First written or posted on: February 03, 2007
Notes: Um, this was in response to the "Lie to Children" prompt on temps_mort as a meager attempt to start writing again. It kind of fails and ended up being crappy gen-fic. This is slightly AU in that it takes place after the end of FMA and ignores the FMA movie altogether. It also looks at a few changes in the end of the series, so some slight liberties have been taken. Oops.
I actually intend to use this as a base to flesh out something better later...except that you all know how my intentions work out...
Equivalent Exchange.
To get something, someone must first give something of equal value. This is the first basic principal of alchemy. It’s what all alchemists are taught and the first thing that all aspiring alchemists learn.
It is what the Elric brothers based their whole lives on.
It isn’t exactly the truth.
Roy Mustang looked over at the familiar stranger sitting on his couch. Alphonse Elric. Formerly a walking suit of armor. Mustang had recognized him on sight from a picture that Edward had shown him once - the boy didn’t seem to have physically aged much since then. Still, it was hard to look at him. It almost hurt.
It had been months since Edward had disappeared; Mustang had been informed that Alphonse had been restored, but with no recollection of what had transpired over the last few years. It seemed he knew nothing of his time in the armor at all.
That too, had been a lie.
“Help me.”
Simple, innocent words, but Al’s eyes said so much more than that. Mustang hadn’t needed him to elaborate - he knew what the boy was asking, and it was impossible.
Edward had traded himself for Alphonse - given his fully restored body as exchange for the body Al had lost the night the boys tried to resurrect their mother so many years ago. The day they learned that all the chemicals that make up a human body were not enough to bring back the dead.
Equivalent Exchange.
It’s only half the truth.
The pieces together didn’t even make a soulless body, let alone a completely resurrected person. Only a mess of pulsing tissue - a horrific nightmare that tried to speak and move but couldn’t. A nightmare that would never leave either of them as long as they lived. A nightmare that cost Edward an arm and a leg Alphonse his body in exchange for what they were missing to try to save both her and each other.
Somehow Edward had surpassed their previous effort. Alphonse hadn’t been dead, but his soul had been attached to a suit of armor since that night by a hastily drawn seal. A soul seal etched in blood that bound him to a physical ”body.”
Edward’s body for that which was lost.
And now Alphonse wanted to find a way to bring his brother back - body and soul.
He remembered everything, and he expected the man who had done so much for them in the past to help him.
The Colonel had connections, resources, knowledge. Things that Al himself was lacking. And he knew more than anyone else about what they’d done that night and all the things they’d done since then.
Al knew that the Colonel had known his brother better than anyone else he could possibly come to, and doing this alone wasn't an option anymore. He'd done all he could. Sensei had gone through the motions of teaching him again, but Al knew she saw right through the ruse after only a short time, so he'd come right out and asked her to take him to Central. She'd been angry, but eventually she'd conceded, and had taken him there. Although, she had taken the Colonel aside and spoken with him before allowing Alphonse to stay. He was, after all, a military man, and Al knew exactly how Sensei felt about the military.
“Help me, Taisa.”
How could Mustang say no?
And so the boy sat there on the couch in his office, waiting for some kind of response. Something that would give him what he needed. The problem was that Roy didn’t have the answers. He didn’t know what to tell the boy. What could he give him?
Should he tell the truth? That Al wasn’t alone in his desires?
Mustang had looked, he’d read everything he could and there just wasn’t anything to be found. If there had been books or records about something like this happening before, they’d been destroyed. He didn’t even have a starting point.
Maybe Alphonse did.
”I’ll help you, Alphonse. Tell me what you remember.”
Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist
Characters: Roy Mustang, Alphonse Elric
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Spoilers for the end of FMA
Word Count: 585 Pending
Disclaimer: FMA isn't mine.
Permission to Archive: temps_mort, all others ask first.
Time taken: 20 minutes and I just couldn't do any more. Maybe I'll try some more another time. Sorry....
Status: Finished, I guess. Kind of in progress. Working with a beta right now.
Beta: curiosity
First written or posted on: February 03, 2007
Notes: Um, this was in response to the "Lie to Children" prompt on temps_mort as a meager attempt to start writing again. It kind of fails and ended up being crappy gen-fic. This is slightly AU in that it takes place after the end of FMA and ignores the FMA movie altogether. It also looks at a few changes in the end of the series, so some slight liberties have been taken. Oops.
I actually intend to use this as a base to flesh out something better later...except that you all know how my intentions work out...
Equivalent Exchange.
To get something, someone must first give something of equal value. This is the first basic principal of alchemy. It’s what all alchemists are taught and the first thing that all aspiring alchemists learn.
It is what the Elric brothers based their whole lives on.
It isn’t exactly the truth.
Roy Mustang looked over at the familiar stranger sitting on his couch. Alphonse Elric. Formerly a walking suit of armor. Mustang had recognized him on sight from a picture that Edward had shown him once - the boy didn’t seem to have physically aged much since then. Still, it was hard to look at him. It almost hurt.
It had been months since Edward had disappeared; Mustang had been informed that Alphonse had been restored, but with no recollection of what had transpired over the last few years. It seemed he knew nothing of his time in the armor at all.
That too, had been a lie.
“Help me.”
Simple, innocent words, but Al’s eyes said so much more than that. Mustang hadn’t needed him to elaborate - he knew what the boy was asking, and it was impossible.
Edward had traded himself for Alphonse - given his fully restored body as exchange for the body Al had lost the night the boys tried to resurrect their mother so many years ago. The day they learned that all the chemicals that make up a human body were not enough to bring back the dead.
Equivalent Exchange.
It’s only half the truth.
The pieces together didn’t even make a soulless body, let alone a completely resurrected person. Only a mess of pulsing tissue - a horrific nightmare that tried to speak and move but couldn’t. A nightmare that would never leave either of them as long as they lived. A nightmare that cost Edward an arm and a leg Alphonse his body in exchange for what they were missing to try to save both her and each other.
Somehow Edward had surpassed their previous effort. Alphonse hadn’t been dead, but his soul had been attached to a suit of armor since that night by a hastily drawn seal. A soul seal etched in blood that bound him to a physical ”body.”
Edward’s body for that which was lost.
And now Alphonse wanted to find a way to bring his brother back - body and soul.
He remembered everything, and he expected the man who had done so much for them in the past to help him.
The Colonel had connections, resources, knowledge. Things that Al himself was lacking. And he knew more than anyone else about what they’d done that night and all the things they’d done since then.
Al knew that the Colonel had known his brother better than anyone else he could possibly come to, and doing this alone wasn't an option anymore. He'd done all he could. Sensei had gone through the motions of teaching him again, but Al knew she saw right through the ruse after only a short time, so he'd come right out and asked her to take him to Central. She'd been angry, but eventually she'd conceded, and had taken him there. Although, she had taken the Colonel aside and spoken with him before allowing Alphonse to stay. He was, after all, a military man, and Al knew exactly how Sensei felt about the military.
“Help me, Taisa.”
How could Mustang say no?
And so the boy sat there on the couch in his office, waiting for some kind of response. Something that would give him what he needed. The problem was that Roy didn’t have the answers. He didn’t know what to tell the boy. What could he give him?
Should he tell the truth? That Al wasn’t alone in his desires?
Mustang had looked, he’d read everything he could and there just wasn’t anything to be found. If there had been books or records about something like this happening before, they’d been destroyed. He didn’t even have a starting point.
Maybe Alphonse did.
”I’ll help you, Alphonse. Tell me what you remember.”