FMA fic: Backdoor Heroes

[syolen]

Title: Backdoor Heroes
Summary: To some, Edward and Alphonse Elric's lives were the stuff of legends. Al sometimes wondered if there would ever be books and songs written about them, knights in shining armor on a noble quest for Truth and Right.
Timeline: Pre-Lab Five in the first anime 'verse.
Rating:  PG
Word count: About 4,700.
Warnings: AU, only not really. Edward (i.e. a bit of language).
Disclaimer: So very not mine.
Note: Written for  jordannamorgan who made a bid on my offer at helpthesouth. She said I could post it around, so here it is! :)



Backdoor Heroes

Sails fully unfolded, the Black Hayate moved swiftly along the shores of Amestris. If the map was right - and Mustang's maps were always right - the bay they were looking for was merely a few more miles away. It was no wonder that so few people knew about it: here Amestris was all bare cliffs and sand, concealed rocks, and the sea held no fish. Commercial routes lay much farther up north, closer to the currents that made trade with Xing and Aerugo that much easier.

Edward was sure that Falman could have cited dozens of other perfectly rational reasons, and the less rational ones, too. He himself had heard some of these stories. Like always at port, rum helping, sailors talked and all were adamant they knew the Real Truth. Edward had heard of sea monsters that haunted the waters on the southern coast of Amestris. He had heard of voices echoing hollowly through the cliffs. Ships that had mysteriously disappeared.

Ed had more or less discretely scoffed at these stories. What he knew to be true was that most sailors were nothing if not superstitious. He was a man of science. He didn't believe. He demonstrated. So, when looking for a ship and a crew to take them on this little excursion, the Elric brothers had been pleasantly surprised to meet Havoc and Fuery at a tavern, and even happier to learn that Mustang's crew didn't have any other engagements at the moment. These guys knew their job; Ed and Al had often received their help over the years. And they were not superstitious.

But, whatever worked. As it was, the lookout up in the crow's nest hadn't caught sight of another sail in three days.

All the better.

The boys had business in the remote bay, and they didn't want to be disturbed.

A chill of excitement ran down Edward's back. They were close, so close he could taste their success on the wind and surf. At. Long. Last.

From the way the armor rattled, Ed knew that Alphonse was feeling it too. If all went well, this would be it, the conclusion of years of hardships, research and disappointments. If all went well, the return trip would take them all the way home. The brothers almost didn't dare hope.

"To your posts!" Mustang's shout interrupted Ed's thoughts. "We're getting close to the pass, boys. You know this won't be a funny ride." The pass that led to the bay. The crew knew it to be tricky, narrowed by rocks and sandbanks. Tricky enough that Mustang himself moved to replace Havoc at the helm. Eye patch limiting his vision or not, he was still the most skilled navigator on board and Hawkeye, standing beside him, would be sure to notice anything Mustang missed.

They were lucky that the sea was quiet today, and the tide and wind on their side. The passage was not impossible, but no one wanted unnecessary complications.

The Black Hayate entered the pass, Mustang barking orders to reduce the sails. The sea itself seemed to swell in there. Pushed up the cliffs by the current, it rocked the ship uncomfortably and Ed was relieved to notice that he was not the only one gripping the rail for support. His gaze went from the pass before him, to the crew - Breda was standing at the prow as an extra pair of eyes, goodgoodgood - to Al - standing closer to the center of the deck to protect his armor from too much corrosive salted water - and to Mustang. The man was gripping the helm tightly, single eye trained in front of him. So far so…

Almost good.

The Hayate rocked harder than ever, a sinister crack telling everyone they'd hit a rock, the impact strong enough to make several men lose balance.

"Careful, Mustang! You're gonna get us killed here!" Ed snarled.

"It's Captain Mustang to you, midget!"

"Who're you calling a…" Ed's retort was cut short by Breda's shout: "Watch out!"

All heads whirled around just in time to see two gigantic water… arms coming at them. They reached over the boat's deck, swirled to try and grab something, someone. The waves rocked the Hayate again; the arms left a huge tear in one of the sails.

"Fuck, those things are dangerous!" Edward's eyes followed them as they retracted. That was when he discovered their owner. She… no, it looked female, but it certainly didn't look human; it was perched on a rock at the bottom of the cliff, staring at the Black Hayate with greedy eyes half hidden by long dark hair. Its smile revealed two rows of sharp pointed teeth. The lower part of its body was a fish tail and Edward's keen eyes did not miss what looked like a red dragon tattoo above its left breast.

"A siren…" Al whispered. Like the other sailors, he had got closer to the rail to see what was going on. "So they're real after all…"

The word ran back and forth between the men. Superstitious or not, they had all heard the stories of good sailors dragged to their doom at the bottom of the ocean. The thing before their eyes just gave them that much more weight.

As the ship passed in front of it, the siren jumped back into the sea, swimming past them with impressive speed and climbing on top of another rock ahead of the Hayate. Alphonse stared at the creature, unable to tear his gaze away from it. There was no missing the fact that the thing's arms were now hanging below the surface. Water seemed to coil up around them, soon reached the siren's shoulders…

"It's recharging, watch out!"

Everyone simultaneously jumped back, just in time to avoid the two water arms once again thrown at them.

Knowing what to expect this time, both Elric brothers quickly clapped their hands and slammed them to the wooden deck, aiming to freeze the arms. Hawkeye and Havoc readied their guns and shot while Mustang snapped his fingers, fully intent on vaporizing the things. All hit. The siren screamed a high, ear-piercing cry. The Black Hayate rocked one last time; the frozen arms broke, ice blocks falling onto the deck.

Fuery ran to the rail, only to see the siren disappear below the surface. A flash of sunlight reflecting off the scales of its tail told him it was headed back towards the open sea, apparently admitting defeat. The young sailor then looked to his right to make sure no other surprises awaited them.

"Is the way clear, Kain?" Mustang had resumed his post at the helm.

Fuery's answer released a collective sigh of relief. "Aye, Captain! I don't see anything suspicious, and we're almost through the pass!"

Indeed, the waves carried the Black Hayate beyond the cliffs into a vast circular bay.  Here, the waters were calm. Gentle waves rolled slowly to a beach covered by pebbles. The bay was mostly hidden in shadows. High walls of stone blocked the rays of the late afternoon sun.

The Black Hayate moved further into the bay until Mustang gave orders to cast the anchor and Havoc, Fuery and Breda hurried to ready a dinghy. They, Mustang, Hawkeye, Falman, and the Elric brothers then took place in it. Mustang's second coming with them was no small relief for the brothers. As a woman, Hawkeye's presence among Mustang's crew had often been questioned. The superstitious sailors, they all thought that women on board were a bad omen. Ed and Al had long ago discovered that Hawkeye was a bad omen… for anyone who would try to attack them. That siren had seen it first hand. With her straight back, her calculating eyes and dead-on aim, Hawkeye was almost as scary as Teacher. Mustang's faded old map told them that they should head for a cave on the far side of the beach, but there was no guessing what they would find in there.

Once on the shore, they quickly found the entrance of the cave. Even in the growing evening shadows, it was impossible to miss the big black mouth, high and wide enough that even Alphonse could easily walk inside it.

"Well, according to the map, this is it", Mustang said. "Hawkeye and I will go in front. Havoc, Breda, Falman, you get the rear. Fuery, we'll need you close with the hurricane lamp. Boys, if you see anything moving in those shadows, I count on you to let us know. There could be more of those things we saw earlier."

Both brothers nodded in agreement as the sailors readied their weapons. There was something comforting in their cool, almost military efficiency, especially after the recent attack.

One by one, they entered the cave, senses on alert. The hurricane lamp created sharp contrast and long shadows and it was too easy to imagine more deformed monsters lurking in them, ready to jump at their throats. The sound of Alphonse's footsteps resonated all around them, making them even more nervous. Mustang tensely rubbed his fingertips together, ready to snap. Hawkeye held her gun in front of her, poised to pull the trigger if need be.

They progressed slowly, agonizingly slowly, but they reached the end of the cave without trouble. There was a door there, embedded in the rock, just like indicated on the map. Mustang had been right, as usual. He was annoying like that.

It was a double door, huge, reaching almost up to the roof. There were markings carved into it, but they had been eroded over the years and neither Ed nor Al was able to decipher them.

Havoc raised the obvious question: "What's a door doing here?"

No answer came and, shrugging, the elder Elric ran his hand over it. No one could explain why there was a door at this particular place, but what interested the brothers was what it was said to lead to. Reaching the middle of it, Edward tried pushing it open with one hand, then both. When it didn't budge, he hit it shoulder first, putting all of his weight on it. Alphonse reached to help him but just as he put all of his strength into it, the door opened, and both brothers fell forward into…

… sand?

Alphonse looked up and around him. Sand. Sand everywhere, and a blindingly blue sky above him. Ed was right beside him, eyes wide and turning frantically on his heels again and again, mouth opened. They were no longer in the cave, Mustang's crew was nowhere in sight, and no matter how hard Al rattled his figurative brain, no logical explanation to this prodigy presented itself.

Edward was the one to put it into words: "Where the fuck are we? What happened?" He screamed, his voice shrill. This was beyond him, too.

They tried walking back to see if they would find the door, they tried transmuting a door, they tried digging, they tried screaming at the top of their lungs some more... Nothing. They really were stranded in the middle of some desert.

With no clue as to how to get out of it.

Taking advantage of his full height, Alphonse looked around again, searching for a sign, for anything… still nothing. Except maybe…

"Brother, there's a dune over there that's weirdly shaped…" He lifted his arm to point at it, "Maybe there's something under it? We could check."

Edward looked suspiciously at the dune before nodding. "I suppose we don't have anything better to do anyway…" he grumbled.

The dune wasn't far, but the sand slowed them down. Ed was growling and muttering the whole way: "Damn automail, weighing me down… There better not be any quicksand or I'll go under in a minute… And it's too hot… I could fry an egg on my arm plate, but then Winry would get mad and oh fuck now I'm hungry…"

"Brother, will you shut up?" Alphonse cut in curtly, "You're wasting saliva, water, in a desert. Shut up. And look, we're here."

They now stood in front of the dune, and surely enough, it was weirdly shaped. It seemed to have an overhang when all the others had a smooth curve, although the sand rounded its angles.

"It looks like it is hiding something…" Al whispered.

In unison, both brothers reached to wipe some sand out of the way, to get a better view of what was beneath it.

Under the sand, they discovered stone. It was cut into bricks, made of granite, maybe. Encouraged by this, they moved faster, cleaning up more stone bricks until they revealed the full structure.

"Another door?" Ed's voice was disbelieving, and suspicious. Doors and gates had never been their friends, and all they had gone through that day wasn't about to change that opinion.

"And look, Brother, it seems to have the same marks that other door in the cave had". Mimicking his older brother's earlier actions, Alphonse ran his hand over the rocks that shaped the doorframe. There were indeed the same intricate carvings but, like in the cave, time and natural erosion had made them unreadable.

"Well, if a door like that got us here, maybe this one will get us out", Ed ventured, "Let's see if we can open it."

Nodding, Al moved his hands to the center of the door and pushed. The door didn't budge, not even when Ed leant all the weight of his metal limbs to it.

"This isn't working", he grumbled, "Move back, Al, I'll try something else…"

Alphonse did as told. Ed clapped his hands and touched them to the door, transmuting it open. The fading blue glow of the transmutation revealed a staircase, pitch black against the glare of the sun outside. The stairs seemed to be made of the same stone, polished and particularly slippery. No source of light was visible, not that the brothers had expected any.

"This doesn't look like a way out…" Alphonse's voice was disappointed. Whatever he had expected, this was not it.

"No, it doesn't, but what else can we do, Al? There's nothing in this desert. I say we go down."

Taking the lead, Edward made it down the first step, half-expecting the whole thing to collapse. When nothing happened, he took a second step, then a third. "C'mon, Al! You're going to get left behind!"

"Ah… ah, right!"

There was one advantage to not having real eyes, Alphonse noted: one didn't need to wait for them to get used to the darkness. In three big steps, he caught up with Ed, who was still slowly going down the staircase.

Then came the twist.

The door closed behind them, leaving the brothers in complete darkness. And then, a voice resonated in the cave, low and grating.

What you are looking for awaits at the very end of the path, it said, but touch anything else, and you will meet your demise, fools.

The brothers stayed perfectly still until the echo died down.

"This was…" Al started.

"Weird." Ed supplied.

"But not all that surprising."

"Completely scientifically impossible."

"Just like a door in a cave opening into a desert."

"Yeah, we've seen stranger things today…"

"Brother, it said that what we're looking for is at the end of the path. Could it be…?"

"Only one way to know, Al. Let's get to the bottom of this." Literally.

If anything, the voice had straightened the boys' resolve. They resumed their progression, step by step. Edward kept one hand on the wall and the other in front of him. Al also kept contact with the wall, his other hand resting on Ed's shoulder. Now was not the time to be separated.

A few steps down, Al's hand bumped into something hard attached to the wall. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a long-forgotten torch that he promptly alighted. "Well, that will make things easier. Hurry up, Al, let's get done with this".

Now able to see where they were going, the brothers quickly reached the bottom of the stairs. From there, the path moved into a room so wide that Ed could not make out the walls by the dim light of his torch. Still, it was enough to locate another torch, this one on a stand a few fit in front of them. The brothers discovered more of them, regularly spaced on both sides of the path. The more of them they lit, the more they realized that the room they were in was in fact an enormous high-ceiled chamber supported by tall pillars. Al craned his would-be eyes higher, and higher, and higher, until the pillars disappeared in the darkness.

"Brother, those have to be at least a hundred feet tall…" Alphonse had all but whispered, yet his words resonated in the oppressive silence of the place.

"Look over here, Al…" There was even more awe in Edward's voice than there had been in Alphonse's. There, barely reached by the light of the torches, shone… jewels. Mountains of gold. Rivers of silver. Tables and chests made of precious wood. Gems spilt as far as their eyes could see. It was a treasure beyond imagination, amassed over centuries. Upon closer inspection, Edward recognized objects from different periods of the history of Amestris. Curiosity winning over, he and Al separated, gorging themselves on childlike wonder. They wandered around the enormous pile of precious objects, trying to guess the limits of it and looking for clues as to who could have possibly brought them there. Thinking he had spotted something, Ed reached out, about to grab what looked like an older, more ornate version of the pocket watch at his hip.

"No touchy…!" A voice, yet another voice hissed, sending a shiver up Edward's back and making the plates of Al's armor rattle.

"No touching anything, kids, or you will be doomed!"

Edward heard the creature moving. Its footsteps were slow and heavy. Very heavy. As if they belonged to an animal effectively sized to the hall. A whooshing sound accompanied them. A… tail?

It took all of Teacher's training for Alphonse to turn around - an enemy is better looked in the eye! - and face the thing.

It stood right behind the light provided by the torches, but that wasn't enough to hide how hideous it was. It looked like an oversized lizard, a lizard with too many legs and a mangy dog's head, its long tail whipping the air behind it.

"He was about to touch it, that still counts, doesn't it?" A boy stepped from behind the monster and pointed at Edward. He looked human despite his wild hair and wilder eyes, but the way he smiled when he looked at the Elric brothers told them he was decidedly not on their side.

"I think it does, Wrath", the monster replied and that was the only warning the brothers got before the kid - Wrath - attacked them. Arms stretching unbelievably long, he shot for Edward who barely had time to dodge before the other monster was on him. Edward flipped backwards, putting space and a few seconds more between them, transmuting his automail arm into a blade as he landed.

But the giant lizard whirled around, and his tail got Ed just below the ribs, sending him rolling on the floor.

"Brother!" Alphonse, who had been waiting for an opening to join the fight, jumped in between his brother and the two monsters. His armor resounded loudly when the wild boy's arms hit it and Al tried his very best to stay between the lizard and Ed. Out of the corner of his would-be eyes, he saw Ed getting back up and falling into a defensive position. Al fell back, moving to stand at Ed's side.

Then it was the lizard again, encouraged by the shouts of "Get them, Envy!" coming from Wrath. He tried biting Ed once, missed, tried getting Al, missed again. The brothers kept moving, avoiding his attacks and Wrath's.

Dodging, but not winning. Gradually, they moved back towards the wall opposite the side of the room they had come from.

A sharp cry announced that Wrath was coming at them with renewed energy. This time, when he hit Alphonse's armor, the sound was that of metal clashing against metal. In the semi-darkness, it took the boy a few seconds to realize that his opponent had found a sword - no, not simply found, he had fused himself to the blade that was now the perfect extension of his arm. Wrath attacked again, but this kind of fight Alphonse was more used to; he had sparred with Ed often enough for this.

Alphonse blocked a blow and landed one of his own on the monster's shoulder, but that didn't seem to phase it. Instead, it only seemed to increase its anger and violence. The strikes rained on Alphonse faster and harder. The younger Elric blocked and parried, for once grateful for his metal body but, barely able to distinguish his enemy as he was, a proper retaliation was impossible.

"We can't win this, Brother, not when we can't see them!" Alphonse was right, Edward knew Alphonse was right, but the monsters were standing between them and the only possible exit he knew of…

"Let's make a run for it, Al!" He shouted. That would hopefully buy them a little time. The brothers broke the fight at once. They ran and ran and slalomed between piles of gems and gold they could barely distinguish in the dark, lit only by the reflected light of the torches they had left behind.

Still, they could hear Wrath and Envy hot on their heels and that was all the incentive they needed. And then, there, ahead of them, they saw a spot that seemed darker than the rest. As they got closer to it, Ed realized what it really was.

"We're at the wall, Al! And there's an opening in it!" As it was, their only chance. They sprinted towards it but, when it spoke, Envy's voice was still much too close for there liking. "They've discovered the passage, we can't let them get in! They can't find the…"

The what, the Elric brothers didn't know. They dove inside the passage, barely escaping Envy's jaws as they clamped right behind them one last time. The giant lizard slammed into the wall, sending rocks down and blocking entry - or exit - but Ed and Al hadn't waited for him. They only stopped when Wrath's muffled voice reached their ears. "Now we can't get them!"

"Well," Ed gasped between breaths, "that was close. Now what?"

"There's light coming from there, Brother", Al replied. Turning towards him, Ed could distinguish his brother pointing at something. Indeed, a red glow illuminated the end of the passage, a few meters away.

There was no going back the other way, so they did the only thing they could: move forward.

Slowly, very slowly, listening for the slightest noise and fearing another attack, they crept towards the exit of the passage. When they reached it, Alphonse risked a cautious look on the other side. There was another cave, much smaller than the previous one - they could actually see the other end of this one.

The room was empty save for the short pillar of stone, carved and polished by the years, which stood in its center. And, on top of it and emitting the red glow…

"The Philosopher's Stone…!", they whispered together.

The awe they had felt when discovering the riches of the previous room didn't even begin to compare to the excitement, joy and relief that now ran through them.

"This is it, Al," Ed croaked, his throat suddenly to tight to speak, "this is really it". Alphonse could only nod in reply.

Not blinking for fear it would disappear, Edward walked towards it. He reached the pillar and gazed at the Stone as Alphonse joined him. It was small, smaller than his fist and shone like a liquid ruby.

Edward extended his shaking flesh hand, part of him thinking that this was too easy, part of him somewhat disappointed that the culmination of their quest wasn't more epic, but mostly just wanting to grab the damn thing and be done with it. But as soon as his fingers brushed the Stone, an electric shock ran through his arm. He heard a sharp cry - it was Al, what was wrong? - and, as he turned to look at his brother, the air in his lungs, Alphonse, himself, the whole cave around them, were sucked into the Stone.

Whirlwind, and a million images flashing in front of the brothers' eyes, and they were floating or falling or ascending, until they heard the creaking hinges of a door. They stopped, suspended in mid air for a second before things started accelerating again. This time the images had some measure of logic to themselves.

Ed and Al were knights dressed in white, a red cross embroidered on their chests, traveling the known world in search of the sacred relic that would grant them immortality.

They were cutting their way through a primeval forest - the cries and buzz of animals deafening but the Golden City lay farther ahead, and how could a whole city be turned to gold if it wasn't for the Stone?

Edward was chasing windmills while Alphonse tried to reason him.

Trying to localize an ancient city at the bottom of the sea, so far advanced for its time - until its power had turned against it.

More cities and more worlds and they were always this close to succeeding when the scenery changed and they had to start all over again.

Alphonse started. No more bright lights and strange sights. Gone were the exotic locations and creatures. There was only a dark barrack room instead, partially illuminated by streetlights. And there, to his left, was Brother, sound asleep in his bed and snoring lightly.

Slowly shaking his head, the youngest Elric stood up from his crouch in a corner of the room and moved to the window, opening the curtains only so that he could look outside. The recent images were still spinning in his mind. For all of their details, they were not real. They had only been a dream or, at least, as close to a dream as Alphonse could come. It happened more frequently now; as if it were an ability he had developed over the years trapped in his armor. His mind would blank and somehow detach itself from the real world. The deeper Al fell into this trance, the brighter and more precise the images would get. They surfaced at random and he never tried to control them. His theory was that they came from all these images he had seen in the Gate on that fateful night in Resembool. His body, locked behind the Gate, could still have some kind of connection with them, and pass them to his soul. Still, they had never been so close to the brothers' actual life as this night.

Absentmindedly looking at the very few passersby in the street, all hurrying towards their destinations, Alphonse tried to remember this latest dream as clearly as he could. He and Ed were all too familiar with the quest, the almost succeeding, almost-there-but-not-quite, only to start over again. Al didn't believe in curses or premonitory dreams. One day, they would actually get there, and get their bodies back. There was just no other way.

It would still be long, of course. They were but a boy and his brother. Sometimes, their lives reminded Alphonse of the stories he had read as a child. But big epics always end well for the main characters, as long as they keep their heads firmly on their shoulders. So Alphonse would keep Hope safely tucked away in his armor, resonating in his voice and strumming the threads binding his soul.