Tourniquet(((COMPLETE)))
Five years. It had been five years since Ed lived in that world. Three years since he had last seen it. Three years since his brother had last lived there. To the day. It was never likely that they'd see home again, but for Ed, it was just another failure, another mistake.
Maybe I shouldn't have told Mustang to close the Gate...
Now, supposing he did, if we tried now, who knows what we'd sacrifice?
Al and I...
I have to protect our true home. I made a lot of promises to a lot of people, and I have to make sure what happened back then won't happen again.
Assuming Mustang hadn't succeded, well... Ed didn't count on that. Mustang wasn't what you'd call honest, but Ed never knew him to break a promise.
He had been fine until today, nothing was different, really... he had to find that damn bomb, and he and Al were just barely in time. They found the original, but the blueprint fell into someone else's hands without their knowledge, and they were plunged into what the papers called the War to End All Wars. Ed didn't find that likely. Someone else would power struggle and cause a petty argument that lead to a greater divide. As long as people were different, yet all desired power...
Things would never change. Ed had accepted that. It was somethng he had chosen to share with most everyone he knew, but Mustang had been the first person he'd told. He thought about that, his last real day on that side, the last time he saw Mustang and Rose and Hawkeye and Izumi and the Tringhams, the only people he'd admit to missing. All, again, because of a power struggle. Ed saw the pattern, and realized he was the mediator. That was fine. But once again, as was the last time, God or whoever had to drag Al into it too. Al was fucking drafted, and Ed couldn't save him because he was an amputee, thus not good enough to take his brothers place.
Ed knew Al wouldn't fight, he couldn't, but somehow, his letters home kept coming. A year into the war, Al had killed only once. He wrote home how he was so scared, how he could still see the man's face contorted in pain. Two months later, the letters stopped coming. Soon, Ed received a letter of a different kind. His brother was dead.
That was a week before Ed's fourth year anniversary, and he was alone. He was stuck in a podunk German town alone, far from Hughes and Gracia and Noah had been deported, hell, he coudn't even visit his brother or his best friend's graves. But he made it a year. He wasn't settled, he didn't like his life, and he was still such a miserable kid.
All he thought about was life back then, on the other side, about Winry, and Granny and Al and Mustang and Hughes... it was so much better back then, people cared for him, and he was always on the move. For the first time in his life, Edward Elric was at a standstill, and he didn't know how to keep moving.
Tonight, Ed had four cases of various alchohols and a pistol. He was going out one way or the other.
Beforehand, he'd always thought of suicide as the cowards way out, but lately, it seemed, the world would be better off without him. He'd reasoned with himself, gave himself a year to settle, to come out of his rut, but he hadn't. He was useless, it seemed. His world had stopped turning the day he'd gotten that letter.
Sometimes, he dreamt of his breif stay in the other Ed's body, how he was crushed by a zepplin...His feeble attempt to preform alchemy looked like Alfons did, when he knealt by the bed and prayed. He found it ironic, that he'd been asking for death on one side, and doing everything possible to live on the other. He dreamt of his fathers blood and a man with dark hair and an eyepatch. His life had been falling apart at the seams. He had so much to ask, he wanted to see if he could fix that eye, he wanted to see if Al was really dead...they never let him see the body.
He was so lost in thought that he hadn't realized two and a half of the cases were already gone. Suddenly, he was so tired..he lay back and closed his eyes.
The door to his cabin opened and he squinted up at his intruder. "You..."
"Shh...you can sleep, I'll carry you." The man smiled.
"What are you doing here, Mustang?"
"I've come to take you home." The man said factually, if a bit sadly. "Your brother is waiting."
"Al? Is he on the other side?"
"In a manner of speaking." Mustang said hitching one arm unger his knees and the other under his human arm. He lifted, and Ed understood.
His body remained behind. Mustang sighed and made his way back to the door.
"How did you die, Mustang?" Ed asked, really noticing that the man had both of his eyes for the first time.
"Doing what you asked of me. You could say I failed quite badly." Roy smiled sheepishly.
"I'm sorry--"
"No, no need to apologize. I'd gladly do it again." He set Ed down "Now, you need to walk for this part. A lot of people are waiting for you."
Ed noticed a rip in the air before him, a translucent space that seemed far brighter than the night sky around him. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"You said you'd do it again...?"
"Because you asked it of me." He looked up at Roy, and suddenly, Ed understood a bit more.
"You.."
"I never could say so..." Roy smiled "But let's go before we run out of time."
They stepped through the white expanse of light together, into a hilly place that looked much like Risembool. "So..." Ed sighed "Is this heaven or what?"
"I'm not sure." Roy shrugged. "But it's nice." They walked on a familiar wagon road, that led up to..
"My house..." Ed breathed.
As if on cue, the door opened and a slight, amber-haired form bolted towards them. "Brother!"
"Al?" Ed smiled "Al!" He met his brother with a warm embrace.
"Brother..."
"Hm?"
"You IDIOT!" Al yelled, punching him so hard he fell over "You fucking KILLED yourself!"
"Al..." Ed said, a bit shocked at his brother's choice of words, but before he could respond, Al had dropped to his knees and was crushing him in his arms.
"I'm sorry...I missed you."
"I...missed you too."
"Hello boys." Ed looked up to see his mother and Izumi, both carrying baskets of freshly picked fruit.
"Mom...?" Ed choked, jumping up to hug her.
She smiled "Hello Edward."
"And sensei?"
"That's not all..." Al smiled.
A small girl with red hair in two long braids, was dragging an older man behind her by the sleeve. "Mr. Hughes, look! Big Brother is her!."
"That he is." Hughes smiled, no longer needing glasses "Hey Roy."
Mustang waved "Maes."
"Who else is here?" Ed asked. "Scar?" The rest of the sins?"
"well, my boy is around here, somewhere." Izumi offered.
"I think he's at the library with Hoenheim and Eric." Ed's mother said.
"Eric?"
"You knew him as Envy." Al whispered.
"Oh, and Ishal." Trisha added
"Ishal?"
"Scar, and David, his brother, and Naima, or Lust." Al filled in the blanks
"So, everyone?"
"The library is in central, that's a way's away, but they should all be back tomorrow." Trisha smiled "Izumi and I are going to start cooking. We'll flash the lamp when dinner's ready."
"If you see Wrath, send him along" Izumi added.
"So, she never renamed him?"
Al shrugged "He seems to like it?"
"So...can someone explain this to me?"
"Let me try." Roy said. "Uh... this is basically the old world. Everyone you know who had died is here, but it's mainly just us. We don't not know anyone. Hughes, Izumi, Wrath, Nina, and I live in one house, the Rockbells home essentially. And your mother, father, and brothers live in your old home. Ishal lives alone, and hates being called Scar, and David and Naima, live on a great farm." Roy sighed "However, I was about to build another house, it is getting a bit crowded."
Ed smiled "I could help."
"You could." Roy agreed "You could even..."
"What?"
"Nevermind."
"No, you mean, like, move in with you...? You were going to say that right?"
"Well...I mean, it would be a waste of space if we built seperate houses. You could maybe build a house with your brother..."
"I don't think I've ever seen you so flustered." Ed grinned.
"I don't think I've ever seen you so...tall. So...would you?"
"Couldn't hurt." Ed shrugged. "I'll give it a shot. When are you going to start building?"
"Probably within the week."
"Uh... Al smiled as a large dog nosed his leg "How bout I give you guys a moment?" He led the dog away "Want to go for a walk, Alexander?"
Roy smiled "Have I scared you?"
"Huh? Oh, no! I mean, I... I missed you, Mustang..." Ed stared at the ground "I mean, I'll probably humiliate myself... but I liked you back then, you know. I still kinda do... And I thought maybe that was why...?"
"Edward.." Ed looked up at Roy. "Yes, okay? Yes...That's why. Ed, it's hard to explain or understand, but there was never time or occasion to tell you. I really don't know that much about you, only that you never revered me, or put me on a pedestal... and I adored you for that, honestly."
"You never treated me like an invalid, or a freak...I was a person, and you saw through the automail and the...anger. And...it was the same." Ed sighed, "So, now that logic is on it's head and we have nothing to hide and nothing to lose... wanna move in together?"
"Sounds like a plan."
A light began to flash from the second story, and Nina ran from the front door. "Dinners ready, big brother!"
Ed scooped her up "Well, let's go eat then." He turned around, ran to Roy, kissed him on the cheek, and laughed maniacally, back towards the house.
Roy touched his hand to his cheek, a bit shocked, then smiled, and chased him.
The afterlife was pretty freakin sweet.
Maybe I shouldn't have told Mustang to close the Gate...
Now, supposing he did, if we tried now, who knows what we'd sacrifice?
Al and I...
I have to protect our true home. I made a lot of promises to a lot of people, and I have to make sure what happened back then won't happen again.
Assuming Mustang hadn't succeded, well... Ed didn't count on that. Mustang wasn't what you'd call honest, but Ed never knew him to break a promise.
He had been fine until today, nothing was different, really... he had to find that damn bomb, and he and Al were just barely in time. They found the original, but the blueprint fell into someone else's hands without their knowledge, and they were plunged into what the papers called the War to End All Wars. Ed didn't find that likely. Someone else would power struggle and cause a petty argument that lead to a greater divide. As long as people were different, yet all desired power...
Things would never change. Ed had accepted that. It was somethng he had chosen to share with most everyone he knew, but Mustang had been the first person he'd told. He thought about that, his last real day on that side, the last time he saw Mustang and Rose and Hawkeye and Izumi and the Tringhams, the only people he'd admit to missing. All, again, because of a power struggle. Ed saw the pattern, and realized he was the mediator. That was fine. But once again, as was the last time, God or whoever had to drag Al into it too. Al was fucking drafted, and Ed couldn't save him because he was an amputee, thus not good enough to take his brothers place.
Ed knew Al wouldn't fight, he couldn't, but somehow, his letters home kept coming. A year into the war, Al had killed only once. He wrote home how he was so scared, how he could still see the man's face contorted in pain. Two months later, the letters stopped coming. Soon, Ed received a letter of a different kind. His brother was dead.
That was a week before Ed's fourth year anniversary, and he was alone. He was stuck in a podunk German town alone, far from Hughes and Gracia and Noah had been deported, hell, he coudn't even visit his brother or his best friend's graves. But he made it a year. He wasn't settled, he didn't like his life, and he was still such a miserable kid.
All he thought about was life back then, on the other side, about Winry, and Granny and Al and Mustang and Hughes... it was so much better back then, people cared for him, and he was always on the move. For the first time in his life, Edward Elric was at a standstill, and he didn't know how to keep moving.
Tonight, Ed had four cases of various alchohols and a pistol. He was going out one way or the other.
Beforehand, he'd always thought of suicide as the cowards way out, but lately, it seemed, the world would be better off without him. He'd reasoned with himself, gave himself a year to settle, to come out of his rut, but he hadn't. He was useless, it seemed. His world had stopped turning the day he'd gotten that letter.
Sometimes, he dreamt of his breif stay in the other Ed's body, how he was crushed by a zepplin...His feeble attempt to preform alchemy looked like Alfons did, when he knealt by the bed and prayed. He found it ironic, that he'd been asking for death on one side, and doing everything possible to live on the other. He dreamt of his fathers blood and a man with dark hair and an eyepatch. His life had been falling apart at the seams. He had so much to ask, he wanted to see if he could fix that eye, he wanted to see if Al was really dead...they never let him see the body.
He was so lost in thought that he hadn't realized two and a half of the cases were already gone. Suddenly, he was so tired..he lay back and closed his eyes.
The door to his cabin opened and he squinted up at his intruder. "You..."
"Shh...you can sleep, I'll carry you." The man smiled.
"What are you doing here, Mustang?"
"I've come to take you home." The man said factually, if a bit sadly. "Your brother is waiting."
"Al? Is he on the other side?"
"In a manner of speaking." Mustang said hitching one arm unger his knees and the other under his human arm. He lifted, and Ed understood.
His body remained behind. Mustang sighed and made his way back to the door.
"How did you die, Mustang?" Ed asked, really noticing that the man had both of his eyes for the first time.
"Doing what you asked of me. You could say I failed quite badly." Roy smiled sheepishly.
"I'm sorry--"
"No, no need to apologize. I'd gladly do it again." He set Ed down "Now, you need to walk for this part. A lot of people are waiting for you."
Ed noticed a rip in the air before him, a translucent space that seemed far brighter than the night sky around him. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"You said you'd do it again...?"
"Because you asked it of me." He looked up at Roy, and suddenly, Ed understood a bit more.
"You.."
"I never could say so..." Roy smiled "But let's go before we run out of time."
They stepped through the white expanse of light together, into a hilly place that looked much like Risembool. "So..." Ed sighed "Is this heaven or what?"
"I'm not sure." Roy shrugged. "But it's nice." They walked on a familiar wagon road, that led up to..
"My house..." Ed breathed.
As if on cue, the door opened and a slight, amber-haired form bolted towards them. "Brother!"
"Al?" Ed smiled "Al!" He met his brother with a warm embrace.
"Brother..."
"Hm?"
"You IDIOT!" Al yelled, punching him so hard he fell over "You fucking KILLED yourself!"
"Al..." Ed said, a bit shocked at his brother's choice of words, but before he could respond, Al had dropped to his knees and was crushing him in his arms.
"I'm sorry...I missed you."
"I...missed you too."
"Hello boys." Ed looked up to see his mother and Izumi, both carrying baskets of freshly picked fruit.
"Mom...?" Ed choked, jumping up to hug her.
She smiled "Hello Edward."
"And sensei?"
"That's not all..." Al smiled.
A small girl with red hair in two long braids, was dragging an older man behind her by the sleeve. "Mr. Hughes, look! Big Brother is her!."
"That he is." Hughes smiled, no longer needing glasses "Hey Roy."
Mustang waved "Maes."
"Who else is here?" Ed asked. "Scar?" The rest of the sins?"
"well, my boy is around here, somewhere." Izumi offered.
"I think he's at the library with Hoenheim and Eric." Ed's mother said.
"Eric?"
"You knew him as Envy." Al whispered.
"Oh, and Ishal." Trisha added
"Ishal?"
"Scar, and David, his brother, and Naima, or Lust." Al filled in the blanks
"So, everyone?"
"The library is in central, that's a way's away, but they should all be back tomorrow." Trisha smiled "Izumi and I are going to start cooking. We'll flash the lamp when dinner's ready."
"If you see Wrath, send him along" Izumi added.
"So, she never renamed him?"
Al shrugged "He seems to like it?"
"So...can someone explain this to me?"
"Let me try." Roy said. "Uh... this is basically the old world. Everyone you know who had died is here, but it's mainly just us. We don't not know anyone. Hughes, Izumi, Wrath, Nina, and I live in one house, the Rockbells home essentially. And your mother, father, and brothers live in your old home. Ishal lives alone, and hates being called Scar, and David and Naima, live on a great farm." Roy sighed "However, I was about to build another house, it is getting a bit crowded."
Ed smiled "I could help."
"You could." Roy agreed "You could even..."
"What?"
"Nevermind."
"No, you mean, like, move in with you...? You were going to say that right?"
"Well...I mean, it would be a waste of space if we built seperate houses. You could maybe build a house with your brother..."
"I don't think I've ever seen you so flustered." Ed grinned.
"I don't think I've ever seen you so...tall. So...would you?"
"Couldn't hurt." Ed shrugged. "I'll give it a shot. When are you going to start building?"
"Probably within the week."
"Uh... Al smiled as a large dog nosed his leg "How bout I give you guys a moment?" He led the dog away "Want to go for a walk, Alexander?"
Roy smiled "Have I scared you?"
"Huh? Oh, no! I mean, I... I missed you, Mustang..." Ed stared at the ground "I mean, I'll probably humiliate myself... but I liked you back then, you know. I still kinda do... And I thought maybe that was why...?"
"Edward.." Ed looked up at Roy. "Yes, okay? Yes...That's why. Ed, it's hard to explain or understand, but there was never time or occasion to tell you. I really don't know that much about you, only that you never revered me, or put me on a pedestal... and I adored you for that, honestly."
"You never treated me like an invalid, or a freak...I was a person, and you saw through the automail and the...anger. And...it was the same." Ed sighed, "So, now that logic is on it's head and we have nothing to hide and nothing to lose... wanna move in together?"
"Sounds like a plan."
A light began to flash from the second story, and Nina ran from the front door. "Dinners ready, big brother!"
Ed scooped her up "Well, let's go eat then." He turned around, ran to Roy, kissed him on the cheek, and laughed maniacally, back towards the house.
Roy touched his hand to his cheek, a bit shocked, then smiled, and chased him.
The afterlife was pretty freakin sweet.