Through The Looking Glass Ch. 6
Author: Only_dani
Title: Though The Looking Glass Ch. 6
Rating: PG (for language)
Warnings: Spoilery abounds
Summary: Ed and Al just saved each other from the gate, but when they land in Karakura town and find that Shinigami are fighting Envy it turns their little world upside down. Rated M for adult situations and language but mostly will be PG. Possible het and Yaoi pairings in future chaps. WARNING: The pairings will be odd.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Fullmetal Alchemist and I dont make any money writing this, its simply the product of my over active imagination combined with my overwhelming urge to write.
I was fighting this chapter for quite a while, Urahara wasn't even going to show up but we all know how he likes to get his sticky little fingers into anything thats interesting. I finally gave up and let the man have his way so this chapter is dedicated to our favourite exiled Taichou - Urahara Kisuke.
Previous Chapters:
Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5
Chapter 6 - Always The Last to Know
stepped into the shoten yard and waved a quick hello to Jinta and Ururu who were sweeping the front steps and stepped inside the warmth of the shop. When he had mentioned to Rukia that he was going to spar with the Fullmetal kid she had insisted she come along and this morning she had left early, mentioning that she would bring Orihime with her. He was starting to look forward to sparring with the two new guys, the idea of not having Renji smashing Zabimaru at him at full tilt or Uryuu showing him indelicately all the places he left himself open from afar with that disdainful look made him itch for the coming fight and he allowed himself a small smile as he slipped into one of the adjacent rooms to drop off his body.
He headed for the ladder leading to the underground training area. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he found Fullmetal and his younger brother doing some kind of hand-to-hand technique that he had never seen before but looked very familiar to a martial art but he couldn't quite put his finger on which one. Renji was stretching while making small talk with Rukia and Orihime who were both sitting on a large rock. Uryuu sat a little off to the side next to Chad - wearing his Quincy whites the little showoff - and the two were chatting quietly together. Ichigo gave Chad one of his half-smiles and walked towards the two.
"Hey Chad I didn't know you were coming too." Ichigo said as he stuck Zangetsu into the dirt and started stretching. Chad gave a non-committal shrug.
"Uryuu picked me up on the way over." He said simply. Ichigo stopped stretching and furrowed his brow in thought.
"Why would Uryuu pick you up on the way? You guys don't live anywhere near each other." Ichigo said. He stopped in mid stretch when his eye landed between his two friends, and his eyes narrowed at what he saw.
"Uh… Chad why are you holding Uryuu's hand?"
The two boys flushed a little but Uryuu seemed to recover the quickest, pushing his glasses up his nose and giving Ichigo a withering look.
"Kurosaki are you truly that dense?" The question seemed on the sarcastic side and Ichigo gritted his teeth in order to keep from making his own biting comment. He needed to make sense of this new situation.
"I didn't ask you Quincy. Chad?" He asked, looking almost pleadingly to his friend. This could not be what it looked like… Could it? Chad looked up at Ichigo once more and gave another shrug and smiled a little before looking back to Uryuu.
"I like him." He said softly.
"And I like him back." Uryuu's hand tightened over Chads hand before giving Ichigo another haughty look that made Ichigo want to smack it right off the Quincy's face.
"You like Ishida?" Ichigo shouted incredulously, drawing stares from the rest of the group. How was this even possible? Uryuu was gay? Ishida Uryuu, the too-smart for his own good, perfectly spotless no matter what, clothes making… hand sewing… Never noticed any girls before Quincy.
Oh.
Ok so maybe for Uryuu it started to make a weird kind of sense. But that didn't explain Chad. His best friend was one of the most masculine guys he had ever known! He liked guitars, played in a band, had gotten a tattoo at like fifteen when no one else would even have the guts to do something like that… But now that he put more thought into it he couldn't really remember a time where Chad took interest in girls either. Not even when Matsumoto and Orihime had hugged each other tightly and bounced up and down together squealing happily about-- He grabbed his nose and staunched what could have been a very embarrassing nosebleed and looked back at his two friends.
"How long has this been going on?" He asked through his hand.
"Two weeks." Chad supplied.
"Two weeks?! How the heck did you keep everyone from knowing for two whole weeks?" He dropped his hand from his nose to land limply at his side. His brain felt like it was going to leak out of his ears and start pooling on the training ground.
"Actually Ichigo quite a few of us knew about them." Rukia said with a smile, overhearing the conversation.
"How the heck did you find out?" He asked swiveling his head towards the dark haired shinigami.
"When they left school the other day they were holding hands." She said as if it was the most simplistic thing in the world.
"Well I wasn't there for last class! I had to kill that hollow." By this time Renji had come up alongside him and gave him a well aimed jab in the ribs.
"What's the big deal anyways?" Renji asked.
"Whats the big deal?" Ichigo turned to the redhead with wide eyes. "Two of my best friends are… well together and Rukia found out before me!"
"Did you just say that I'm one of your best friends?" Uryuu asked with an arched brow and small smile. Probably one of those victory ones he always gave when Ichigo said something before thinking. Damn him and his noticing everything!
"Not helping Uryuu." He growled before turning to everyone. Ed and Al had come up on the other side of him, both with curious looks on their faces. "Ok who else knew about this before me?"
"I found out about a week ago when I saw them kissing… Somewhere." Orihime chirped and then frowned slightly and tipped her head to the side. "Sometimes I never remember to remember the good parts but I always forget to forget about the boring stuff."
Ichigo's brow furrowed further, if that were possible. "I don't even know what to say to that. Who else then?" Ichigo asked. Renji started to chuckle beside him.
"I figured it out when Uryuu started calling him Sado instead of Chad."
"Renji knew?" Ichigo asked in a high pitched voice. His brain wasn't going to leak out his ears, oh no, it was going to explode from his friends not telling him anything.
"I found out when Chad came with us on patrol the other day." Al said with a shrug.
"And Al told me after he got back." The blonde added. Ichigo started to sputter and stopped talking for a moment to catch his breath to the amusement of the rest of the group.
"So even the new guys knew before I did? This is… I mean-"
"You know Kurosaki you really are slow sometimes." Uryuu added rather unhelpfully.
"Yeah Ichigo what the fuck?" Renji chimed in.
"Lay off ya dickhead! I feel like my brain is gonna explode."
"Why would you feel that way? You're not bothered by this are you?" Uryuu asked, a small frown starting to form.
"What? No I'm just pissed I was the last to know!"
"You know I have to agree with Uryuu. You're kinda slow on the uptake sometimes Ichigo." Ed gave a laugh and nudged Ichigo on the shoulder.
"Oh yeah well you're…." Think of a good comeback, a really good comeback...
"SHORT!" Damn it. Ichigo cringed. However crappy he thought his comeback may have been the blonde reacted immediately, his face went pink and his eyes were huge.
"Who the fuck are you calling so short he could be compared to this pebble!" Ed yelled, seething rage.
"Nice comeback Kurosaki." Uryuu said sarcastically.
"That's not what he said brother." Al commented, trying to placate his older brother.
"Whatever, I'm kicking your ass now ya bean pole of a shinigami." Ed growled and started removing the white gloves he always wore.
"You think you could take me on?" Ichigo said pulling Zangetsu from the ground beside him and slinging it across his shoulder.
"Hell yeah I can! Al hold my gloves." Ed gave the gloves to his brother and clapped his hands, creating a two foot metal sword out of the metal of his arm.
"You can make a sword out of your hand?" Renji's eyes had widened at the length of blue steel protruding from Ed's arm.
"Alchemy can help me do all kinds of things. Like kicking his ass." Ed immediately replied, not looking away from Ichigo's eyes.
"That's some pretty big talk coming from someone so short." Ichigo groused while walking backwards toward a clearing in order to give more room for the two. He knew he probably shouldn't have said it but it was just too funny and honestly he kinda wanted to see the reaction in the kids face once more. Sure enough the gold eyes glittered with suppressed rage and his whole body seemed to vibrate with it.
"GAH! It's ON!" Ed cried and started running towards the redhead.
Ed came up to smash a bare metal foot into Ichigo's chin, which gave a loud clang with the force of it. His head snapped back before he could finish slamming his sword down at Ed. The kid was faster than he had anticipated. He rubbed the back of his hand against his chin, checking for blood. Thankfully there was none.
"You're quick." Ichigo said, tightening his hands on his zanpakuto.
"Damn right." Ed said in that cocksure voice of his before coming in for another attack. The metal sword that he made with alchemy came up close to Ichigo's neck. He blocked the strike, getting a well aimed kick to Ed's midsection. Ed fell back, breathing heavily and holding his side with his flesh arm. Ed paused, looking Ichigo over with intelligent gold eyes, intense and hard. The smirk was back. "So you don't rely solely on your weapon. That's good, I wouldn't want this fight to be over before I even got into it."
"What your gonna talk me to death or are we gonna do this?" Ichigo growled. Before he knew it Ed was in the air, catlike reflexes aiming a graceful overhead strike with his blade. Ichigo caught it but somehow the kid flipped or something because one of Ed's feet smashed into his shoulder before he bounced away, landing a few feet from him and out of the way of any zanpakuto attack.
Ichigo snarled and came in close, their swords clashed loudly and Ichigo got three more attacks in before the blonde bounced away again. He could see an opening and ran for it but before he reached the kid Ed clapped his hands and raised the earth under him at an outward angle making him jump out of the way of the oncoming terra firma.
"That's a sneaky move." Ichigo said as he landed on the other side of the earthen shelf, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
"I didn't want you to think you had to hold back on me." Ed gave what looked like a smile but was more a showing of teeth before he jumped over the wall, his blue steel sword aiming for Ichigo. The redhead smiled back and attacked the blonde. This time he had the upper hand and after a few strikes he was able to knock the kid down but the moment his back hit the training floor he rolled so only his shoulders touched the ground, threw his legs up and forward, snapping his upper body into the air to a crouch with his braid flying across his shoulder, sword at the ready.
"That was cool." He heard Renji say but ignored the comment. The fight became more insistent. Ichigo noticed Ed relied not only on his sword but also on hand-to-hand combat skills, throwing him a metal kick or a lightning fast punch that at first threw him off but he was starting to get the hang of his moves. One thing he prided himself on was never falling for the same trick twice, and the next time Ed's metal foot came towards his chin he brought up Zangetsu fast. The screech of metal on metal was loud and he pushed his zanpakuto forward hard, making Ed land back in another crouch. Ichigo didn't wait for the kid to regain his balance any further and came at him, sword swept to the side, ready for Ed's next attack.
Ed clapped his hands again and Ichigo jumped out of the way expecting another wall but he was wrong. An eight foot stone spike protruded from the ground, aimed directly at where he was only seconds ago.
"What the hell was that for? We're only supposed to be sparring! That coulda killed me!" Ichigo yelled, blinking sweat from his eyes.
"It wouldn't have killed you ya pussy. Besides I think you're holding back on me."
"Fine you want it? You got it!" Ichigo called out and jumped back in order to get the room he needed. He dropped his left hand to his side and gripped Zangetsu tight with the other. He flung his right arm out creating a wide arc, pushing his reiatsu into the blade.
"Getsuga… TENSHOU!" he cried out. The blue arc flung itself towards Ed. His eyes went wide and he could see the kid clap and slam his hands into the ground once more. A small thick wall was erected just milliseconds before the tenshou blast reached him, knocking down the top half of the wall and past to smash into one of the many stone hills surrounding them.
"I could have killed you?! You could have just killed me!" He heard Ed shout before he lifted a dusty face over the rubble of the half wall.
"You told me not to hold back so quit bitching. It's not like you're dead or anything." Ichigo rolled his eyes and slung his zanpakuto over his shoulder.
"It went right through the frickin' wall and into that boulder back there. If I hadn't ducked I would have!" Ed yelled back while dusting himself off.
"You know your kinda whiny for someone who was supposed to be in the military."
"Here we go." He heard Uryuu huff.
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo turned to the Quincy.
"It means your going to start another argument, this time with Ed. You seem to have a habit of doing that." Uryuu said in that annoying superior voice of his.
"This isn't even your fight so make yourself useful and don't say anything." Ichigo turned to address the archer and give him a look before turning back to Ed, now patting his pants down in the silently mutual pause in fighting.
"If you keep leaving yourself so pathetically open on your right side I might have to join in just to show you the superior power of the-"
"Yeah yeah you and that stupid Quincy power of yours." Ichigo cut him off, already knowing the words he would say.
"Now now you two, the idea of this was to spar with the two new boys instead of arguing amongst each other was it not?" A familiar voice called out near the stairs and Ichigo turned to see Urahara make his way over to the two fighters, hat in place and staff in hand.
"Coming to join in the festivities Urahara?" Renji asked, now sitting next to Al, just off to the side of Rukia. Urahara gave a small nod to the redhead but turned towards the two fighters to address them.
"You two fight well, I commend you both."
"Uh… Thanks Urahara." Ed said hesitantly.
"So you wanna join in or something?" Ichigo asked. Urahara smiled at the substitute shinigami.
"Actually I wanted to cut in for a moment. I have a proposition for Ed here."
Ed turned towards the older blonde and Ichigo was sure the guy looked like he was trying to calculate something behind his eyes.
"What kind of proposition?" Ed asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Urahara gave one of his ridiculously innocent seeming smiles.
"The kind that goes like this: We have a little sparring match of our own, just you and I. To make it interesting we'll put up some stakes for the winner."
"And these stakes you're talking about?"
"Information." Urahara replied immediately with a small nod. The smile was still there, seemingly innocent and ridiculously mischievous at the same time.
"What information do you have that we might want?" Al asked from across the way. Urahara turned to reply to the younger alchemist.
"Simple. I found some very interesting things from Yoruichi the other day. Things that might help you two get home." Urahara stated, the smile had changed a little now, he looked like a cat playing with a very entertaining mouse. Ichigo watched as the two alchemists tensed. There was a pause before Ed responded.
"I see. So if I win you tell me what I want to know and if you win I have to answer all your stupid questions." Ed surmised in a steely voice.
"Exactly! You're a very intelligent young man you know." Urahara turned back to Ed, flipping his fan open to hide the lower portion of his face so only his eyes were visible. "I'll tell you what, I'll sweeten the pot a little more for you. If for some crazy reason I win, I'll still tell you what I know."
"But not after I spill right?"
"It's a win-win situation." Urahara said with a laugh, gesturing widely with his hands.
"Yeah for you maybe." Ed grumbled but the gold eyes still hadn't left Urahara's. The older blonde gave a theatrical frown.
"Really Ed I would think getting home would be a top priority for you and your brother." He said in mock concern. Ichigo watched as Ed stole a quick glance to his brother and flicked back to the older blonde before lifting his chin.
"Fine I'll take your bet but I have a few conditions."
Urahara nodded. "I figured as much. Name them."
"First you have to take off that dumb hat and get rid of your fan." Ed said as he stepped around the half-wall and came to stand in front of Urahara. The older blonde gave a heavy sigh.
"Why does everyone hate my hat?" He said to no one in particular and raised his hand to remove the offending article and dropped the fan inside it. Seeing the man without his hat was strange, like a piece of armor was removed from the older man.
"Second: hand to hand fighting only. None of that getsuga whatever-the-hell that was that Ichigo used."
"Its getsuga tenshou." Ichigo corrected. Ed shrugged.
"Whatever."
"Alright I won't use my zanpakuto either. But if you're naming conditions then I have one for you as well. You can't use alchemy." Urahara walked towards the group of watching teens and dropped off hat, fan and staff, then walked back over to stand in front of the teen.
"So just fighter against fighter huh? I can deal with that." Ed nodded and clapped his hands, removing his three foot steel sword and returning his right arm to the mechanical one.
"I'm glad. Alright let's shake on this little endeavor of ours." Urahara gave another wide grin and held out his hand, his eyes glittering grey-green good humor. Ed hesitated for only a second before taking it in his own.
"Good luck Fullmetal." Ichigo said with a smirk. Ichigo had never really seen Urahara fight strictly hand to hand but had a feeling the guy was good.
"Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret this." He heard Ed say softly before turning around to get a good stance.
Ichigo took up a seat next to Renji to watch the fight. One thing was certain; this was something he didn't want to miss.
***
Ed's head was spinning as he turned to take up his opening stance. The man had info on how to get them home? How was that even possible! And if it was indeed true then how the hell did that information get into this asshole's hands, and who was this Yoruichi that he had a conversation with?
He knew this was a thinly veiled ploy for Urahara to get info out of Ed but damn it all if the hat wearing bastard didn't just get him to agree to this. The man knew the perfect bait too and was probably waiting for the right moment to spring this on him. The second Urahara mentioned the information his heart started thudding in his chest and he hoped the desperation he felt clawing at his insides wasn't written all over his face. Urahara had never actually come down to watch Ed and Al spar but that didn't mean the man had other means of observation. He and his brother had been here for just over a week and had been using this underground facility almost daily since getting here to train in the morning hours. He had to assume the man at least had an idea of how he fought, which meant Ed had to be a lot more particular about the fighting techniques he used. He had to fight with no screw ups, no openings, and no second chances.
No more holding back, fight like I'm fighting Al's armor. He thought to himself as he turned towards Urahara. The man was taking up his own stance now and Ed hardened his resolve. He wanted to get out of this fight, just get the man to tell him what he knew but those hard grey eyes showed that Ed was getting nothing out of Urahara if he didn't play along with his stupid little game and he grit his teeth that someone else was trying to pull his strings yet again. This was a fight he had to win no matter what. One thing he was damn certain of, he was not letting Urahara win. It simply wasn't an option. Not only would he have to tell everyone about the gate - which he now had a suspicion Urahara knew about which brought up another bunch of questions - but the reasons behind why the gate had come up in the first place, the underground city, Dante, Envy, the philosophers stone… The secrets he would have to spill gave him a cold spike of fear under his breastbone and he knew Urahara wouldn't be happy with just one of them. He'd want them all.
Urahara gave Ed a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. This is probably why he wears the hat.
"Would one of you like to administer the game on?" Urahara asked. Uryuu stood up and formed his bow.
"The fight starts the moment the arrow hits the ground between you two and will go on as long as needed. Don't fight dirty gentlemen. If you do I'll shoot another arrow and I can assure you it won't land on the ground." The last part was said with a sharp dark blue look at Urahara. The older blonde frowned.
"Such mistrust young Quincy." Urahara mourned. Ed ignored it, focusing instead on keeping his eyes on his opponent. The mans hands hung comfortably at his sides, his stance was easy and confident in his green robes and sandals. Ed frowned a little at that. He had removed his own shoes when he was doing his warm up spar with Al, it was easier to get a grip on the ground under him with bare feet. Urahara was going to fight still wearing wooden sandals?
Uryuu raised his bow, pulling back a glimmering blue arrow and releasing it to the ground precisely between the two fighters. Ed didn't waste any time and went straight for the older blonde. He threw his lower body into the air and used his hands for leverage on the ground under him and twisted his legs in a sweeping roundhouse kick that Urahara blocked, first his left foot, then his right. Both attacks were blocked by Urahara's forearms in a basic defense stance. Ed dropped his feet to the ground and used the momentum to vault his upper body up to throw a flurry of punches between face, chest, midsection and hip. All of them were blocked fast.
"Woah." He heard Ichigo's voice but had no time to comment back. The older man had taken up the offensive and his hands were fast. Almost all of his attacks were aimed at Ed's right side. He blocked an open handed jab at his ribs that he was sure was meant to wind him but wasn't expecting the smash on his right shoulder. He heard a hiss from Urahara before the man jumped back to put a little space between them.
"So your automail goes all the way to your shoulder I see."
"I thought you would have figured that out by now." Ed commented.
"Not really. Although I could have caught a glimpse of you in the shower at some point in time but even I'm not that perverted... At least not with underage types." Urahara gave another one of those creepy smiles.
"Riiiight." He heard Renji say sarcastically.
"So did you break two or three fingers on that hit?" Ed shot back, decidedly dodging the weird pervert comment. The older man gave a half shrug.
"Oh don't worry about me. Although I'm starting to understand why you're called Fullmetal. How far up your leg does that metal run by the way?" Urahara asked lightly.
"That's a question you'll never get the answer to because you're not gonna win." Ed gave a cocky grin to the older man and closed in on Urahara again.
This time Ed aimed low, he crouched down and came up fast with another flashing of fists trying to push the man off balance. Each attack was thrown off and with the next punch Urahara caught Ed's flesh arm in a vice grip. He was thrown roughly to the ground, his arm twisting painfully against his back.
"I think it's still fair game as to who will win don't you think?" Urahara's voice was dangerously close to Ed's ear and he put his metal arm under him and pushed up violently, aiming the back of his head at the laughing voice above him. The back of his head connected with something hard and he wrenched his flesh arm free with screaming muscles that would no doubt be bruised later and scrabbled away. After a few paces he pivoted on one foot to face Urahara. The man had a red spot on the side of his chin that Ed was sure would become a fantastic bruise if the back of Ed's head had anything to say about the matter. Fairs fair He thought.
The man was still smiling damn it! And Ed was starting to worry a little. The last two attacks he had used on Urahara hadn't revealed any real openings he could use to his advantage. The man was a pretty good wall of defense. He had a feeling Urahara's two fingers on his left hand were broken so that may help in defeating the older man. Ed came at him again feigning an attack on Urahara's right side but at the last second he switched to aim a kick to his left. His leg was caught and twisted painfully. Guess that means his fingers aren't broken. Instead of fighting the twist he let his body go with it and spun himself into the air in a whirl of contracted limbs to land a short distance away from the still smiling Urahara.
"Wow that looked really neat!" He heard Orihime call out. Someone responded to her but he tuned it out, directing all of his attention to the fight. This time though he decided to wait for Urahara to come to him. If he couldn't get to the mans left side then he would have to get the man to engage him and possibly find an opening that way.
He didn't have to wait very long. Urahara came up close to Ed's left, aiming quick, powerful strikes along his leg and midsection. Ed was able to block all of them except one, and it was the most painful. Urahara hit right in the juncture between thigh and metal and Ed let out a cry before jumping back.
He slid back a little ways and swallowed hard, realization dawning. Every attack Ed made never got through. The man seemed practically impenetrable! To make matters worse Urahara's attacks were not primarily made to knock him down or win outright. They were well placed; aiming to learn more about Ed without words, like where metal ended and flesh began. Urahara was barely even out of breath too and although he was bruised it would be nothing compared to what Ed would be sporting come morning.
The realization must have shown on his face because for a moment - just one fleeting moment - Urahara's expression dropped all pretenses. The look was cold, calculating and said everything Ed was dreading. I'm going to defeat you. And you know it. With a flash the look was gone, the smile was back in place but Ed had no doubts about what he saw.
"I could let you forfeit." Urahara said so softly Ed almost missed it.
"Not a chance old man." Ed growled. The comment seemed to affect the man and he flashed a rare genuine smile at the younger blonde.
"A fighter until the end. I like that." Urahara said, louder this time and came up fast for another attack. This one was different than all the others. His moves were lightning fast and hit with an ever increasing strength that had Ed sliding in the dirt with the force of them. He tried to get an attack in of his own but each time he tried another fist, another sandaled foot came at him. He was trying to keep up with the strikes and blows but they were almost too fast now. He received a blow to his solar plexus that whooshed all the air out of his lungs and pitched him backwards to land flat on his back. Within a blink of an eye Urahara was above him with a hand inches from his throat.
"I believe that makes me the winner!" Urahara said in a sing-song voice that just pissed Ed off more and knocked the hand away with a scowl.
"Fuck." Ed wheezed pathetically and decided he would say no more until he could get a full breath into his lungs.
Urahara got up from his stance over Ed and offered a hand to the younger blonde. Ed took it to get on shaky knees.
***
Ed tested his left arm, opening and closing his fist as the amber healing light disappeared. Orihime was actually quite good at healing with her powers and she had spent a few minutes with Urahara, then turned her gifts to Ed.
"Is that better?" She asked.
"Yeah actually, even the back of my head feels better." Ed gave her a rueful smile as he rubbed said appendage and got up from his seated position.
"I'm just glad I could help, you fought really well over there." Orihime said and gave another sweet smile.
"Not well enough though." Ed muttered to himself and started walking over to where Urahara was sitting with the rest of the group alongside Orihime.
"Ah Ed you fought gallantly! Please take a seat; we need to have a little talk, you and I." Urahara said in a disgustingly happy voice that Ed wanted to punch him for. The moment the fight had ended he had placed his hat back on his head and now was glittering good-natured shadowed grey eyes on Ed.
"Alright Urahara, ask your questions." Ed grumbled, taking a seat across from the hat man and between Al on his left, and Ichigo on his right in the loose circle the group had created.
"Let's start at the beginning then, where exactly are you from and how did you get here?"
"Like we said we're from Central City, Amestris but you won't find it on any of your maps. I know, I checked. From what Al and I gathered we come from a parallel world much like yours but with some obvious differences."
"And how you got here?" Urahara asked, tapping his closed fan against his chin.
Ed shrugged a little. "Through a gate and just… Landed here."
"You make it sound like it was an accident." Ichigo said, nudging Ed with his shoulder.
"Well it kinda was. The last time I went through the gate I ended up in some place called London. That's where our father was. He was actually thrown into the gate with no way out and eventually worked his way there."
"London? As in London England?" Uryuu asked, a small frown turning down the corners of his lips in confusion.
"Honestly I don't know, although the map Urahara has at the back of the shoten showed that there's a London England here so maybe. But when I was there a huge war was going on." Ed replied as he looked to Uryuu. The archer reacted immediately, his eyebrows shot up his forehead and his eyes went wide.
"There hasn't been a war in England in over half a century!"
"How did you get back?" Urahara asked.
"Well I'm not too sure about that either." Ed responded, looking back to the older blonde. "It was a life and death situation and I just… Clapped my hands." Ed shrugged a little.
"So you have the power to bring up this gate within yourself?" Urahara seemed intent now, his grey eyes piercing and fan all but forgotten in his hand.
"Yeah but I don't know how well it's gonna work in getting both Al and I home. Besides, going through that gate isn't exactly a picnic." Ed murmured.
"Especially since the doors are locked on this side." Urahara nodded a little in understanding.
"What?" Ed shouted in disbelief. "The gate has opened here before?"
Urahara nodded once more. "Yes its surprising isn't it? As it turns out there was some sort of commotion about four hundred years ago because of some stone. The doors to this unknown gate blew open and started pulling reishi through it into what I'm guessing is your world at very high concentrations. It was to such an extent that Yamamoto Sou-Taichou himself had to lock the doors down before it endangered all of soul society."
"Did you say four hundred years ago?" Al's voice was surprisingly harsh, cutting across the few murmurs in the group.
"Yes I did." Urahara said looking curiously at Al.
"Was this the only disturbance?" Ed asked. If the creation of the Philosophers stone pulled energy through this world once it could possibly have been a randomized fluke. If it happened both times though…
"A very intelligent question Ed, as I have come to expect from you." Urahara gave Ed a wide smile. "No it turns out there was another disturbance in recent history but the doors were luckily locked so no reishi was pulled through. Why do you ask?"
Ed and Al shared a long look. Al was the first to break it, looking very intently at a small rock near his foot.
"The Philosophers stone." Al breathed.
"This explains a lot more than I thought." Ed said quietly, resting his flesh hand on his chin in thought. This would explain the connection between this world and theirs. It wasn't some random occurrence that they landed here, it was because of the philosophers stone! More than likely it was because Al came to save him from the gate while he still had the stone in him. If he had showed up while Envy was travelling in the gate it was the most probable reason they came here.
"The philosopher's stone?" Urahara asked.
"Yes, it's a stone used by alchemists. As far as we know it was only made twice." Ed said absently while still trying to think things over.
"And twice is two times too many." Al added heavily.
"What's so great about this philosopher's stone anyways?" Ichigo asked looking between the two alchemists.
"Yeah and why would it try to suck all the spirit particles out of soul society?" Renji was also frowning in thought; he was looking just as bothered as Ed felt about the situation.
"The philosopher's stone has huge alchemic power. Having it means you're no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange!" Al commented intently, bringing his arms out and shaking them for emphasis.
"Its creation without sacrifice. But it comes at too high a price." Ed dropped his eyes to the same small pebble Al had found so much interest in only moments before.
"What kind of price would that be?" Urahara's question was light but the undertone was pure steel.
Ed sighed. He knew this was coming the moment he lost the fight. He lifted his head and looked straight at Urahara. If he was going to tell them, it might as well be as straightforward as possible.
"The main ingredient in the stone is human lives." Ed said simply. The moment the words left his mouth the entire circle of people erupted in astonished and shocked conversation.
"Everyone calm down!" Urahara yelled and tapped his staff on the ground in the centre of the circle, getting everyone's attention back to the situation at hand. "What do you mean 'human lives'?" Urahara's grim tone brooked no getting out of the answer. Al sat up a little and looked up at Urahara.
"There's only been two events of a philosophers stone being created. The first one was about four hundred years ago and an entire city was used in the creation of it. Not just one human life is used in its creation but thousands."
"And spirit particles are from people who have passed on from soul society." Rukia nodded slowly, her violet eyes bright and intelligent, taking in all the information. "So in a sense its taking spirit energy from not only your side, but ours as well, and at a highly concentrated source." Ed nodded towards her.
"What happened the second time?" Urahara asked, looking between the two alchemists seated across from him.
"It's not a pretty story." Ed sighed out.
"And the first one was?" Renji asked sarcastically. Ed turned to glare at the redhead.
"Hey you wanna hear the story or not?" Ed grumbled. Personally he would have been much happier in not talking about this at all but a deal was a deal, no matter how crappy it was.
"I'm listening; it's just - this is all so fucked up." Renji said lifting a hand to rub at his temples.
"You don't know the half of it." Ed replied. "The second time it happened they tried to use a war and put all the casualties to use for the stone."
"But it wasn't enough." Al added, taking up the story. "Eventually the stone was re-made again."
Ed nodded and looked over at Urahara "Another city was used - This one was called Liore. People we knew there - people whose faces I can still remember - their all gone, all because of that fucking stone."
"Were you two involved with the creation?" Urahara opened his fan slowly to brush it before his nose. Ed barked a quick bitter laugh at that.
"Not just involved, we've been chasing after that stone for six years. When we finally found out what the main component in the stone was we tried to stop it but we got too close. Way too close."
"What do you mean too close? Is that how you lost your arm and leg Ed?" Uryuu asked, lines of concern marring the pale skin between his brows. Ed hesitated and shared a look with Al. Bringing up that bit of information might be a little too much at the moment and the responding look his brother gave said pretty much the same thing. Too soon.
Urahara caught the shared look and snapped his fan shut and gave them both a hard look.
"You've told us this much so far, you might as well tell us the rest."
"We tried to stop it but it all blew up in our face is what happened." Ed murmured and folded his arms across his chest.
"And I became the philosopher's stone." Al said softly.
"What?" Ichigo and Chad said incredulously at the same time. Ed looked over at the two and nodded his head slowly at the admission.
"It's true; Al was caught in the centre of the city. An old friend realized he was going to die-"
"And he did the only thing he could - Transferred the transmutation circle onto my armor." Al finished.
"Do you have this stone here with you now?" Uryuu asked looking towards Al, dark blue eyes intent. The younger alchemist shook his head a little.
"No, it was used up when Ed and Envy…" There was a small pause where Al's shoulders tensed up, his shoulders rode up near his ears and tears started to glisten in the corners of his eyes. "He killed Ed! I had to use it!" He cried desperately.
"So Envy is from your side. I thought as much." Urahara murmured, head tipped in thought to shade his eyes completely from sight.
"Wait so that means you have hollows on your side as well?" Rukia asked.
"No, Envy isn't a hollow; at least he wasn't on our side. When he came through the gate he must have gone through some sort of change." Ed gave a little shake of his head. He was still unsure how that little issue happened.
"So what was he?" Chad asked softly from the far side of the circle. Once again the two boys hesitated, both their heads lowered and Ed sat back on his heels a little.
"We need the whole story if we're going to be fighting him." Renji groused.
"You want to know what Envy is?" He said softly, pain edging the words coming out of his mouth. "Water: 35 Liters, carbon: 20 kilograms, ammonia: 4 liters, lime: 1.5 kilograms, phosphorus: 800 grams, salt: 250 grams, saltpeter: 100 grams, sulphur: 80 grams, fluorine: 7.5 grams, iron: 5 grams, silicon: 3 grams and trace amounts from 15 other elements." He recited. He knew those measurements off by heart now. He would never be able to forget.
"What is that?" Orihime asked in her sweet voice. Urahara furrowed his brow in thought.
"If my math is correct that's what the average adult human body is composed of. But why… Oh no." Urahara's eyes went wide and looked almost disbelievingly between the two boys.
"I don't understand." Rukia said softly. Ed could hear Al sigh. God he hated having this conversation.
"There's a type of alchemy that's forbidden and it's called human transmutation. If the alchemist is desperate enough and has enough knowledge on the subject they can try to bring someone back."
"The thing is life only flows in one direction." Ed said in the same soft voice as his brother. "When people try to create human life there's nothing that can be traded for the soul. Nothing. So although the body is created the soul…"
"Are you saying you created Envy?" Uryuu's tone was low and thick with emotion.
"No we didn't but that's what he is. In our world they're called homunculi. They're human bodies without human souls." Al replied, looking the archer full in the face.
"Well if you didn't create him then who did?" Ichigo was looking pointedly between the two alchemists. Uryuu's eyes widened as a thought came to him.
"It was your father wasn't it. Why would he want to play God like that?" Uryuu looked almost ill at the information.
"Because Envy is our half-brother." Ed said in a flat voice. Just the simple memory of Envy showing him his true face was almost too much and he rubbed the small space between his brows with his flesh hand and took a deep steadying breath. He had found that out only moments before Envy had killed him.
"And I take it he's pissed that he was created." Renji's voice cut through Ed's thoughts and he nodded solemnly.
"Well it makes sense why he was transferred into a hollow's body when he came here. He's not a human soul. You see some hollows are actually born as hollows, just like some souls are born in soul society. His soul must match up to that of a hollow." Urahara mused aloud.
"Ok so if his body looks like a hollow then we should be able to kill him with a zanpakuto." Rukia directed her comment at Urahara. The older man nodded towards her.
"I'm almost sure of it."
"This is a lot of information to take in." Rukia murmured and got a few nods from the surrounding group. And we're not even half done if Urahara has anything to say about this, Ed thought.
"I have one or two more questions and then we can be done. Ed you said that you had destroyed others like him before?" Urahara asked. The eyes Ed met with this time held no mirth in them, they were almost apologetic as he asked the next question.
"Yes." Ed sighed. "In our world the homunculi lose power when they're around a piece of their original bodies. It reminds them of what they were and it weakens them. I killed when I had to. Even…. Even her." His voice cracked on the last syllable and swallowed convulsively. Al took his hand in quiet support and squeezed his hand.
"Her?" Ichigo asked curiously.
"Please don't make us say it." Al's hand was squeezing his tightly now. The tension within the circle of people was hard to deal with and there was a long pause before anyone spoke.
"You brought someone back didn't you?" Urahara finally asked, low voiced and almost reverently, if it wasn't for the content of the question.
"We were fools back then. We thought alchemy was the answer to it all. How wrong we were." Ed replied not looking up from his lap. He couldn't face the eyes that would be looking at him, judging him for the deeds he had done so long ago. "That's why I have these metal limbs and Al looks like he's ten when he should be sixteen."
"Doing a human transmutation opens a gate that should never be opened." Al stated. "We tried to bring mom back. We just wanted to see her smile again. But what we made that night wasn't… Wasn't - human." The last word was a whisper. Neither of them could say what it was, but it was wrong, an abomination to life itself. She was their sin, their foolish sin.
"I traded my left leg for mom's life and my right arm for Al's soul when the gate sucked him in. I put his soul in the only thing I could find at the time - a suit of armor. That's why I have automail Uryuu." He raised his right arm, still without gloves and the light flickered off the metal making it gleam grey-blue with the movement
"And when we came through the gate here my soul was transferred back to my body. I guess it was still in the gate." Al said sounding happy for the first time during this entire conversation.
"That's why you went chasing after the philosophers stone wasn't it?" Urahara asked.
"We needed it to put our bodies back to the way they were. Half the plan worked, Al got his body back. I can live with automail for the rest of my life happily knowing that he can eat and sleep again." He gave his brother a small smile and was relieved to have one given in return.
"Al you actually were the philosopher's stone, is that correct?" Urahara turned his shaded eyes to the younger alchemist, his eyes were calculating again and Ed started getting suspicious. Every time that man had that specific look something bad seemed to come of it.
"Well it was when I was in the armor but my soul was attached so yeah I guess. Why?" Al's tone was curious and almost sounded lighter after getting all the secrets out.
"You see, if your soul was attached to the armor at the same time as the philosopher's stone your soul might have a similar frequency to it."
"That's it! Urahara you're a genius!" Ed jumped to his feet. Urahara gave Ed a bright smile, showing a flash of white teeth.
"Finally someone recognizes my intellectual worth!"
"Ok can someone translate for me? I don't get geek speak." Ichigo looked at the blonde now starting to pace back and forth between the group of people in thought.
"It's simple Ichigo, all things carry a frequency - a vibration as it were. Our vibration runs differently then you because we're from a different world. What we would need in order to get home is match up the gate frequency with Al since he would have the strongest because of the philosopher's stone." He looked excitedly towards his brother and could see a mirroring excitement starting to glimmer in the caramel depths as well.
"But I thought Urahara said the gate was locked on this side." Renji said looking dubiously between the pacing Ed and the widely smiling hat-man.
"True but it was opened to this world, not soul society." Al murmured.
"That's right, which means we have a possibility of getting home. A real possibility. Holy shit Al we might actually be able to get home!" Ed cried and stopped pacing in front of his brother and Al got up as well, a huge smile plastered on his face. This was almost too good to be true!
"What I would recommend is testing this theory then." Urahara said as he also stood from the rock he was perched on and gave a small stretch. "Ed would you be able to bring the gate up?" He asked nonchalantly. Ed's eyes bugged in his head.
"Are you out of your damn mind?" Ed shouted. Urahara gave an amused snort.
"One minute he calls me a genius, the next he tells me I'm out of my mind."
"Opening that gate is easier said than done Urahara." Al's voice cut through the amusement.
"And it's not like walking through the shoten doors either." Ed added in the same tone.
"I'm starting to understand that." The older man gave a quick look at the two alchemists. "What I'm suggesting though is seeing if we can actually open the gate here and see if the frequency matches Al's reiatsu. That's all, no travelling."
"But how do we keep the hands from pulling us in?" Al asked looking worriedly between the two blondes.
"There are hands in the gate?" Orihime asked from her seat on the ground.
"There are many things in that gate. And I'm pretty sure none of them are good." Ed said giving her a quick look.
"I don't know if this is a good idea brother." Al's worried expression reminded him so much of the day they tried to bring their mother back that he had to swallow before replying and tried his best to give him a smile.
"It's a friggin' horrible idea Al." Ed shook his head then looked to the older blonde man. "Urahara we're gonna need a backup plan in case something goes wrong, like some way of closing that gate at a moment's notice."
"Hmm… I'll have to bring down Tessai for this then, he's a master of kidou and frightfully strong." Urahara murmured into his fan.
"That's the shinigami magic stuff that Renji's really bad at right?" Al asked inelegantly. Renji bristled at the comment.
"Hey back off little man! Now that I know you're actually sixteen I have no problem in kicking your ass."
"haha try it, I'll turn you into a rocking horse." Al lifted his chin a little and cracked his knuckles. Renji decided that discretion was a better part of valor and didn't say more but gave Al one more dark look.
"Will kidou actually work with this?" Ed asked. He barely even heard of this Kidou crap.
Urahara shrugged. "I don't see why not, it's helped with many things before, hell this entire training facility is protected with kidou barriers. No one even knows it's here because of it."
"Urahara, by any chance do you have something that can amplify reiatsu?" Ed asked looking hopefully at the older man.
"Oh I think I might be able to whip something up." Urahara said lightly but a mischievous glint was in those eyes that Ed didn't completely trust. He decidedly shook the feeling off and squared his shoulders. A plan was a plan, and he was damn happy to have one finally.
"Good. Ok Urahara, you go talk to Tessai and get that reiatsu amplifier," He pointed his hand towards the man, Urahara gave another smile and nodded his head, then headed for the stairs. "Chad we're probably going to need your help in getting the doors closed if anything happens," Chad nodded in understanding. "Ichigo, Renji, Rukia and Uryuu when it opens we're might need your weapons to keep the hands away from us so stay alert." The four nodded and started talking about strategies for placement. "Orihime your shield is gonna be needed too." Orihime nodded solemnly. "Al you help me find a circle that will bring this gate up and if anyone else comes down here when it happens- For fuck sakes, make sure they stay the hell away from those doors." Ed said pointing a finger in the direction of each person. Ichigo stood up and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"I can see how you could be a major now." Ichigo said and gave him a wry smile.
~TBC~
Title: Though The Looking Glass Ch. 6
Rating: PG (for language)
Warnings: Spoilery abounds
Summary: Ed and Al just saved each other from the gate, but when they land in Karakura town and find that Shinigami are fighting Envy it turns their little world upside down. Rated M for adult situations and language but mostly will be PG. Possible het and Yaoi pairings in future chaps. WARNING: The pairings will be odd.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Fullmetal Alchemist and I dont make any money writing this, its simply the product of my over active imagination combined with my overwhelming urge to write.
I was fighting this chapter for quite a while, Urahara wasn't even going to show up but we all know how he likes to get his sticky little fingers into anything thats interesting. I finally gave up and let the man have his way so this chapter is dedicated to our favourite exiled Taichou - Urahara Kisuke.
Previous Chapters:
Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5
Chapter 6 - Always The Last to Know
stepped into the shoten yard and waved a quick hello to Jinta and Ururu who were sweeping the front steps and stepped inside the warmth of the shop. When he had mentioned to Rukia that he was going to spar with the Fullmetal kid she had insisted she come along and this morning she had left early, mentioning that she would bring Orihime with her. He was starting to look forward to sparring with the two new guys, the idea of not having Renji smashing Zabimaru at him at full tilt or Uryuu showing him indelicately all the places he left himself open from afar with that disdainful look made him itch for the coming fight and he allowed himself a small smile as he slipped into one of the adjacent rooms to drop off his body.
He headed for the ladder leading to the underground training area. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he found Fullmetal and his younger brother doing some kind of hand-to-hand technique that he had never seen before but looked very familiar to a martial art but he couldn't quite put his finger on which one. Renji was stretching while making small talk with Rukia and Orihime who were both sitting on a large rock. Uryuu sat a little off to the side next to Chad - wearing his Quincy whites the little showoff - and the two were chatting quietly together. Ichigo gave Chad one of his half-smiles and walked towards the two.
"Hey Chad I didn't know you were coming too." Ichigo said as he stuck Zangetsu into the dirt and started stretching. Chad gave a non-committal shrug.
"Uryuu picked me up on the way over." He said simply. Ichigo stopped stretching and furrowed his brow in thought.
"Why would Uryuu pick you up on the way? You guys don't live anywhere near each other." Ichigo said. He stopped in mid stretch when his eye landed between his two friends, and his eyes narrowed at what he saw.
"Uh… Chad why are you holding Uryuu's hand?"
The two boys flushed a little but Uryuu seemed to recover the quickest, pushing his glasses up his nose and giving Ichigo a withering look.
"Kurosaki are you truly that dense?" The question seemed on the sarcastic side and Ichigo gritted his teeth in order to keep from making his own biting comment. He needed to make sense of this new situation.
"I didn't ask you Quincy. Chad?" He asked, looking almost pleadingly to his friend. This could not be what it looked like… Could it? Chad looked up at Ichigo once more and gave another shrug and smiled a little before looking back to Uryuu.
"I like him." He said softly.
"And I like him back." Uryuu's hand tightened over Chads hand before giving Ichigo another haughty look that made Ichigo want to smack it right off the Quincy's face.
"You like Ishida?" Ichigo shouted incredulously, drawing stares from the rest of the group. How was this even possible? Uryuu was gay? Ishida Uryuu, the too-smart for his own good, perfectly spotless no matter what, clothes making… hand sewing… Never noticed any girls before Quincy.
Oh.
Ok so maybe for Uryuu it started to make a weird kind of sense. But that didn't explain Chad. His best friend was one of the most masculine guys he had ever known! He liked guitars, played in a band, had gotten a tattoo at like fifteen when no one else would even have the guts to do something like that… But now that he put more thought into it he couldn't really remember a time where Chad took interest in girls either. Not even when Matsumoto and Orihime had hugged each other tightly and bounced up and down together squealing happily about-- He grabbed his nose and staunched what could have been a very embarrassing nosebleed and looked back at his two friends.
"How long has this been going on?" He asked through his hand.
"Two weeks." Chad supplied.
"Two weeks?! How the heck did you keep everyone from knowing for two whole weeks?" He dropped his hand from his nose to land limply at his side. His brain felt like it was going to leak out of his ears and start pooling on the training ground.
"Actually Ichigo quite a few of us knew about them." Rukia said with a smile, overhearing the conversation.
"How the heck did you find out?" He asked swiveling his head towards the dark haired shinigami.
"When they left school the other day they were holding hands." She said as if it was the most simplistic thing in the world.
"Well I wasn't there for last class! I had to kill that hollow." By this time Renji had come up alongside him and gave him a well aimed jab in the ribs.
"What's the big deal anyways?" Renji asked.
"Whats the big deal?" Ichigo turned to the redhead with wide eyes. "Two of my best friends are… well together and Rukia found out before me!"
"Did you just say that I'm one of your best friends?" Uryuu asked with an arched brow and small smile. Probably one of those victory ones he always gave when Ichigo said something before thinking. Damn him and his noticing everything!
"Not helping Uryuu." He growled before turning to everyone. Ed and Al had come up on the other side of him, both with curious looks on their faces. "Ok who else knew about this before me?"
"I found out about a week ago when I saw them kissing… Somewhere." Orihime chirped and then frowned slightly and tipped her head to the side. "Sometimes I never remember to remember the good parts but I always forget to forget about the boring stuff."
Ichigo's brow furrowed further, if that were possible. "I don't even know what to say to that. Who else then?" Ichigo asked. Renji started to chuckle beside him.
"I figured it out when Uryuu started calling him Sado instead of Chad."
"Renji knew?" Ichigo asked in a high pitched voice. His brain wasn't going to leak out his ears, oh no, it was going to explode from his friends not telling him anything.
"I found out when Chad came with us on patrol the other day." Al said with a shrug.
"And Al told me after he got back." The blonde added. Ichigo started to sputter and stopped talking for a moment to catch his breath to the amusement of the rest of the group.
"So even the new guys knew before I did? This is… I mean-"
"You know Kurosaki you really are slow sometimes." Uryuu added rather unhelpfully.
"Yeah Ichigo what the fuck?" Renji chimed in.
"Lay off ya dickhead! I feel like my brain is gonna explode."
"Why would you feel that way? You're not bothered by this are you?" Uryuu asked, a small frown starting to form.
"What? No I'm just pissed I was the last to know!"
"You know I have to agree with Uryuu. You're kinda slow on the uptake sometimes Ichigo." Ed gave a laugh and nudged Ichigo on the shoulder.
"Oh yeah well you're…." Think of a good comeback, a really good comeback...
"SHORT!" Damn it. Ichigo cringed. However crappy he thought his comeback may have been the blonde reacted immediately, his face went pink and his eyes were huge.
"Who the fuck are you calling so short he could be compared to this pebble!" Ed yelled, seething rage.
"Nice comeback Kurosaki." Uryuu said sarcastically.
"That's not what he said brother." Al commented, trying to placate his older brother.
"Whatever, I'm kicking your ass now ya bean pole of a shinigami." Ed growled and started removing the white gloves he always wore.
"You think you could take me on?" Ichigo said pulling Zangetsu from the ground beside him and slinging it across his shoulder.
"Hell yeah I can! Al hold my gloves." Ed gave the gloves to his brother and clapped his hands, creating a two foot metal sword out of the metal of his arm.
"You can make a sword out of your hand?" Renji's eyes had widened at the length of blue steel protruding from Ed's arm.
"Alchemy can help me do all kinds of things. Like kicking his ass." Ed immediately replied, not looking away from Ichigo's eyes.
"That's some pretty big talk coming from someone so short." Ichigo groused while walking backwards toward a clearing in order to give more room for the two. He knew he probably shouldn't have said it but it was just too funny and honestly he kinda wanted to see the reaction in the kids face once more. Sure enough the gold eyes glittered with suppressed rage and his whole body seemed to vibrate with it.
"GAH! It's ON!" Ed cried and started running towards the redhead.
Ed came up to smash a bare metal foot into Ichigo's chin, which gave a loud clang with the force of it. His head snapped back before he could finish slamming his sword down at Ed. The kid was faster than he had anticipated. He rubbed the back of his hand against his chin, checking for blood. Thankfully there was none.
"You're quick." Ichigo said, tightening his hands on his zanpakuto.
"Damn right." Ed said in that cocksure voice of his before coming in for another attack. The metal sword that he made with alchemy came up close to Ichigo's neck. He blocked the strike, getting a well aimed kick to Ed's midsection. Ed fell back, breathing heavily and holding his side with his flesh arm. Ed paused, looking Ichigo over with intelligent gold eyes, intense and hard. The smirk was back. "So you don't rely solely on your weapon. That's good, I wouldn't want this fight to be over before I even got into it."
"What your gonna talk me to death or are we gonna do this?" Ichigo growled. Before he knew it Ed was in the air, catlike reflexes aiming a graceful overhead strike with his blade. Ichigo caught it but somehow the kid flipped or something because one of Ed's feet smashed into his shoulder before he bounced away, landing a few feet from him and out of the way of any zanpakuto attack.
Ichigo snarled and came in close, their swords clashed loudly and Ichigo got three more attacks in before the blonde bounced away again. He could see an opening and ran for it but before he reached the kid Ed clapped his hands and raised the earth under him at an outward angle making him jump out of the way of the oncoming terra firma.
"That's a sneaky move." Ichigo said as he landed on the other side of the earthen shelf, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
"I didn't want you to think you had to hold back on me." Ed gave what looked like a smile but was more a showing of teeth before he jumped over the wall, his blue steel sword aiming for Ichigo. The redhead smiled back and attacked the blonde. This time he had the upper hand and after a few strikes he was able to knock the kid down but the moment his back hit the training floor he rolled so only his shoulders touched the ground, threw his legs up and forward, snapping his upper body into the air to a crouch with his braid flying across his shoulder, sword at the ready.
"That was cool." He heard Renji say but ignored the comment. The fight became more insistent. Ichigo noticed Ed relied not only on his sword but also on hand-to-hand combat skills, throwing him a metal kick or a lightning fast punch that at first threw him off but he was starting to get the hang of his moves. One thing he prided himself on was never falling for the same trick twice, and the next time Ed's metal foot came towards his chin he brought up Zangetsu fast. The screech of metal on metal was loud and he pushed his zanpakuto forward hard, making Ed land back in another crouch. Ichigo didn't wait for the kid to regain his balance any further and came at him, sword swept to the side, ready for Ed's next attack.
Ed clapped his hands again and Ichigo jumped out of the way expecting another wall but he was wrong. An eight foot stone spike protruded from the ground, aimed directly at where he was only seconds ago.
"What the hell was that for? We're only supposed to be sparring! That coulda killed me!" Ichigo yelled, blinking sweat from his eyes.
"It wouldn't have killed you ya pussy. Besides I think you're holding back on me."
"Fine you want it? You got it!" Ichigo called out and jumped back in order to get the room he needed. He dropped his left hand to his side and gripped Zangetsu tight with the other. He flung his right arm out creating a wide arc, pushing his reiatsu into the blade.
"Getsuga… TENSHOU!" he cried out. The blue arc flung itself towards Ed. His eyes went wide and he could see the kid clap and slam his hands into the ground once more. A small thick wall was erected just milliseconds before the tenshou blast reached him, knocking down the top half of the wall and past to smash into one of the many stone hills surrounding them.
"I could have killed you?! You could have just killed me!" He heard Ed shout before he lifted a dusty face over the rubble of the half wall.
"You told me not to hold back so quit bitching. It's not like you're dead or anything." Ichigo rolled his eyes and slung his zanpakuto over his shoulder.
"It went right through the frickin' wall and into that boulder back there. If I hadn't ducked I would have!" Ed yelled back while dusting himself off.
"You know your kinda whiny for someone who was supposed to be in the military."
"Here we go." He heard Uryuu huff.
"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo turned to the Quincy.
"It means your going to start another argument, this time with Ed. You seem to have a habit of doing that." Uryuu said in that annoying superior voice of his.
"This isn't even your fight so make yourself useful and don't say anything." Ichigo turned to address the archer and give him a look before turning back to Ed, now patting his pants down in the silently mutual pause in fighting.
"If you keep leaving yourself so pathetically open on your right side I might have to join in just to show you the superior power of the-"
"Yeah yeah you and that stupid Quincy power of yours." Ichigo cut him off, already knowing the words he would say.
"Now now you two, the idea of this was to spar with the two new boys instead of arguing amongst each other was it not?" A familiar voice called out near the stairs and Ichigo turned to see Urahara make his way over to the two fighters, hat in place and staff in hand.
"Coming to join in the festivities Urahara?" Renji asked, now sitting next to Al, just off to the side of Rukia. Urahara gave a small nod to the redhead but turned towards the two fighters to address them.
"You two fight well, I commend you both."
"Uh… Thanks Urahara." Ed said hesitantly.
"So you wanna join in or something?" Ichigo asked. Urahara smiled at the substitute shinigami.
"Actually I wanted to cut in for a moment. I have a proposition for Ed here."
Ed turned towards the older blonde and Ichigo was sure the guy looked like he was trying to calculate something behind his eyes.
"What kind of proposition?" Ed asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. Urahara gave one of his ridiculously innocent seeming smiles.
"The kind that goes like this: We have a little sparring match of our own, just you and I. To make it interesting we'll put up some stakes for the winner."
"And these stakes you're talking about?"
"Information." Urahara replied immediately with a small nod. The smile was still there, seemingly innocent and ridiculously mischievous at the same time.
"What information do you have that we might want?" Al asked from across the way. Urahara turned to reply to the younger alchemist.
"Simple. I found some very interesting things from Yoruichi the other day. Things that might help you two get home." Urahara stated, the smile had changed a little now, he looked like a cat playing with a very entertaining mouse. Ichigo watched as the two alchemists tensed. There was a pause before Ed responded.
"I see. So if I win you tell me what I want to know and if you win I have to answer all your stupid questions." Ed surmised in a steely voice.
"Exactly! You're a very intelligent young man you know." Urahara turned back to Ed, flipping his fan open to hide the lower portion of his face so only his eyes were visible. "I'll tell you what, I'll sweeten the pot a little more for you. If for some crazy reason I win, I'll still tell you what I know."
"But not after I spill right?"
"It's a win-win situation." Urahara said with a laugh, gesturing widely with his hands.
"Yeah for you maybe." Ed grumbled but the gold eyes still hadn't left Urahara's. The older blonde gave a theatrical frown.
"Really Ed I would think getting home would be a top priority for you and your brother." He said in mock concern. Ichigo watched as Ed stole a quick glance to his brother and flicked back to the older blonde before lifting his chin.
"Fine I'll take your bet but I have a few conditions."
Urahara nodded. "I figured as much. Name them."
"First you have to take off that dumb hat and get rid of your fan." Ed said as he stepped around the half-wall and came to stand in front of Urahara. The older blonde gave a heavy sigh.
"Why does everyone hate my hat?" He said to no one in particular and raised his hand to remove the offending article and dropped the fan inside it. Seeing the man without his hat was strange, like a piece of armor was removed from the older man.
"Second: hand to hand fighting only. None of that getsuga whatever-the-hell that was that Ichigo used."
"Its getsuga tenshou." Ichigo corrected. Ed shrugged.
"Whatever."
"Alright I won't use my zanpakuto either. But if you're naming conditions then I have one for you as well. You can't use alchemy." Urahara walked towards the group of watching teens and dropped off hat, fan and staff, then walked back over to stand in front of the teen.
"So just fighter against fighter huh? I can deal with that." Ed nodded and clapped his hands, removing his three foot steel sword and returning his right arm to the mechanical one.
"I'm glad. Alright let's shake on this little endeavor of ours." Urahara gave another wide grin and held out his hand, his eyes glittering grey-green good humor. Ed hesitated for only a second before taking it in his own.
"Good luck Fullmetal." Ichigo said with a smirk. Ichigo had never really seen Urahara fight strictly hand to hand but had a feeling the guy was good.
"Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret this." He heard Ed say softly before turning around to get a good stance.
Ichigo took up a seat next to Renji to watch the fight. One thing was certain; this was something he didn't want to miss.
***
Ed's head was spinning as he turned to take up his opening stance. The man had info on how to get them home? How was that even possible! And if it was indeed true then how the hell did that information get into this asshole's hands, and who was this Yoruichi that he had a conversation with?
He knew this was a thinly veiled ploy for Urahara to get info out of Ed but damn it all if the hat wearing bastard didn't just get him to agree to this. The man knew the perfect bait too and was probably waiting for the right moment to spring this on him. The second Urahara mentioned the information his heart started thudding in his chest and he hoped the desperation he felt clawing at his insides wasn't written all over his face. Urahara had never actually come down to watch Ed and Al spar but that didn't mean the man had other means of observation. He and his brother had been here for just over a week and had been using this underground facility almost daily since getting here to train in the morning hours. He had to assume the man at least had an idea of how he fought, which meant Ed had to be a lot more particular about the fighting techniques he used. He had to fight with no screw ups, no openings, and no second chances.
No more holding back, fight like I'm fighting Al's armor. He thought to himself as he turned towards Urahara. The man was taking up his own stance now and Ed hardened his resolve. He wanted to get out of this fight, just get the man to tell him what he knew but those hard grey eyes showed that Ed was getting nothing out of Urahara if he didn't play along with his stupid little game and he grit his teeth that someone else was trying to pull his strings yet again. This was a fight he had to win no matter what. One thing he was damn certain of, he was not letting Urahara win. It simply wasn't an option. Not only would he have to tell everyone about the gate - which he now had a suspicion Urahara knew about which brought up another bunch of questions - but the reasons behind why the gate had come up in the first place, the underground city, Dante, Envy, the philosophers stone… The secrets he would have to spill gave him a cold spike of fear under his breastbone and he knew Urahara wouldn't be happy with just one of them. He'd want them all.
Urahara gave Ed a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. This is probably why he wears the hat.
"Would one of you like to administer the game on?" Urahara asked. Uryuu stood up and formed his bow.
"The fight starts the moment the arrow hits the ground between you two and will go on as long as needed. Don't fight dirty gentlemen. If you do I'll shoot another arrow and I can assure you it won't land on the ground." The last part was said with a sharp dark blue look at Urahara. The older blonde frowned.
"Such mistrust young Quincy." Urahara mourned. Ed ignored it, focusing instead on keeping his eyes on his opponent. The mans hands hung comfortably at his sides, his stance was easy and confident in his green robes and sandals. Ed frowned a little at that. He had removed his own shoes when he was doing his warm up spar with Al, it was easier to get a grip on the ground under him with bare feet. Urahara was going to fight still wearing wooden sandals?
Uryuu raised his bow, pulling back a glimmering blue arrow and releasing it to the ground precisely between the two fighters. Ed didn't waste any time and went straight for the older blonde. He threw his lower body into the air and used his hands for leverage on the ground under him and twisted his legs in a sweeping roundhouse kick that Urahara blocked, first his left foot, then his right. Both attacks were blocked by Urahara's forearms in a basic defense stance. Ed dropped his feet to the ground and used the momentum to vault his upper body up to throw a flurry of punches between face, chest, midsection and hip. All of them were blocked fast.
"Woah." He heard Ichigo's voice but had no time to comment back. The older man had taken up the offensive and his hands were fast. Almost all of his attacks were aimed at Ed's right side. He blocked an open handed jab at his ribs that he was sure was meant to wind him but wasn't expecting the smash on his right shoulder. He heard a hiss from Urahara before the man jumped back to put a little space between them.
"So your automail goes all the way to your shoulder I see."
"I thought you would have figured that out by now." Ed commented.
"Not really. Although I could have caught a glimpse of you in the shower at some point in time but even I'm not that perverted... At least not with underage types." Urahara gave another one of those creepy smiles.
"Riiiight." He heard Renji say sarcastically.
"So did you break two or three fingers on that hit?" Ed shot back, decidedly dodging the weird pervert comment. The older man gave a half shrug.
"Oh don't worry about me. Although I'm starting to understand why you're called Fullmetal. How far up your leg does that metal run by the way?" Urahara asked lightly.
"That's a question you'll never get the answer to because you're not gonna win." Ed gave a cocky grin to the older man and closed in on Urahara again.
This time Ed aimed low, he crouched down and came up fast with another flashing of fists trying to push the man off balance. Each attack was thrown off and with the next punch Urahara caught Ed's flesh arm in a vice grip. He was thrown roughly to the ground, his arm twisting painfully against his back.
"I think it's still fair game as to who will win don't you think?" Urahara's voice was dangerously close to Ed's ear and he put his metal arm under him and pushed up violently, aiming the back of his head at the laughing voice above him. The back of his head connected with something hard and he wrenched his flesh arm free with screaming muscles that would no doubt be bruised later and scrabbled away. After a few paces he pivoted on one foot to face Urahara. The man had a red spot on the side of his chin that Ed was sure would become a fantastic bruise if the back of Ed's head had anything to say about the matter. Fairs fair He thought.
The man was still smiling damn it! And Ed was starting to worry a little. The last two attacks he had used on Urahara hadn't revealed any real openings he could use to his advantage. The man was a pretty good wall of defense. He had a feeling Urahara's two fingers on his left hand were broken so that may help in defeating the older man. Ed came at him again feigning an attack on Urahara's right side but at the last second he switched to aim a kick to his left. His leg was caught and twisted painfully. Guess that means his fingers aren't broken. Instead of fighting the twist he let his body go with it and spun himself into the air in a whirl of contracted limbs to land a short distance away from the still smiling Urahara.
"Wow that looked really neat!" He heard Orihime call out. Someone responded to her but he tuned it out, directing all of his attention to the fight. This time though he decided to wait for Urahara to come to him. If he couldn't get to the mans left side then he would have to get the man to engage him and possibly find an opening that way.
He didn't have to wait very long. Urahara came up close to Ed's left, aiming quick, powerful strikes along his leg and midsection. Ed was able to block all of them except one, and it was the most painful. Urahara hit right in the juncture between thigh and metal and Ed let out a cry before jumping back.
He slid back a little ways and swallowed hard, realization dawning. Every attack Ed made never got through. The man seemed practically impenetrable! To make matters worse Urahara's attacks were not primarily made to knock him down or win outright. They were well placed; aiming to learn more about Ed without words, like where metal ended and flesh began. Urahara was barely even out of breath too and although he was bruised it would be nothing compared to what Ed would be sporting come morning.
The realization must have shown on his face because for a moment - just one fleeting moment - Urahara's expression dropped all pretenses. The look was cold, calculating and said everything Ed was dreading. I'm going to defeat you. And you know it. With a flash the look was gone, the smile was back in place but Ed had no doubts about what he saw.
"I could let you forfeit." Urahara said so softly Ed almost missed it.
"Not a chance old man." Ed growled. The comment seemed to affect the man and he flashed a rare genuine smile at the younger blonde.
"A fighter until the end. I like that." Urahara said, louder this time and came up fast for another attack. This one was different than all the others. His moves were lightning fast and hit with an ever increasing strength that had Ed sliding in the dirt with the force of them. He tried to get an attack in of his own but each time he tried another fist, another sandaled foot came at him. He was trying to keep up with the strikes and blows but they were almost too fast now. He received a blow to his solar plexus that whooshed all the air out of his lungs and pitched him backwards to land flat on his back. Within a blink of an eye Urahara was above him with a hand inches from his throat.
"I believe that makes me the winner!" Urahara said in a sing-song voice that just pissed Ed off more and knocked the hand away with a scowl.
"Fuck." Ed wheezed pathetically and decided he would say no more until he could get a full breath into his lungs.
Urahara got up from his stance over Ed and offered a hand to the younger blonde. Ed took it to get on shaky knees.
***
Ed tested his left arm, opening and closing his fist as the amber healing light disappeared. Orihime was actually quite good at healing with her powers and she had spent a few minutes with Urahara, then turned her gifts to Ed.
"Is that better?" She asked.
"Yeah actually, even the back of my head feels better." Ed gave her a rueful smile as he rubbed said appendage and got up from his seated position.
"I'm just glad I could help, you fought really well over there." Orihime said and gave another sweet smile.
"Not well enough though." Ed muttered to himself and started walking over to where Urahara was sitting with the rest of the group alongside Orihime.
"Ah Ed you fought gallantly! Please take a seat; we need to have a little talk, you and I." Urahara said in a disgustingly happy voice that Ed wanted to punch him for. The moment the fight had ended he had placed his hat back on his head and now was glittering good-natured shadowed grey eyes on Ed.
"Alright Urahara, ask your questions." Ed grumbled, taking a seat across from the hat man and between Al on his left, and Ichigo on his right in the loose circle the group had created.
"Let's start at the beginning then, where exactly are you from and how did you get here?"
"Like we said we're from Central City, Amestris but you won't find it on any of your maps. I know, I checked. From what Al and I gathered we come from a parallel world much like yours but with some obvious differences."
"And how you got here?" Urahara asked, tapping his closed fan against his chin.
Ed shrugged a little. "Through a gate and just… Landed here."
"You make it sound like it was an accident." Ichigo said, nudging Ed with his shoulder.
"Well it kinda was. The last time I went through the gate I ended up in some place called London. That's where our father was. He was actually thrown into the gate with no way out and eventually worked his way there."
"London? As in London England?" Uryuu asked, a small frown turning down the corners of his lips in confusion.
"Honestly I don't know, although the map Urahara has at the back of the shoten showed that there's a London England here so maybe. But when I was there a huge war was going on." Ed replied as he looked to Uryuu. The archer reacted immediately, his eyebrows shot up his forehead and his eyes went wide.
"There hasn't been a war in England in over half a century!"
"How did you get back?" Urahara asked.
"Well I'm not too sure about that either." Ed responded, looking back to the older blonde. "It was a life and death situation and I just… Clapped my hands." Ed shrugged a little.
"So you have the power to bring up this gate within yourself?" Urahara seemed intent now, his grey eyes piercing and fan all but forgotten in his hand.
"Yeah but I don't know how well it's gonna work in getting both Al and I home. Besides, going through that gate isn't exactly a picnic." Ed murmured.
"Especially since the doors are locked on this side." Urahara nodded a little in understanding.
"What?" Ed shouted in disbelief. "The gate has opened here before?"
Urahara nodded once more. "Yes its surprising isn't it? As it turns out there was some sort of commotion about four hundred years ago because of some stone. The doors to this unknown gate blew open and started pulling reishi through it into what I'm guessing is your world at very high concentrations. It was to such an extent that Yamamoto Sou-Taichou himself had to lock the doors down before it endangered all of soul society."
"Did you say four hundred years ago?" Al's voice was surprisingly harsh, cutting across the few murmurs in the group.
"Yes I did." Urahara said looking curiously at Al.
"Was this the only disturbance?" Ed asked. If the creation of the Philosophers stone pulled energy through this world once it could possibly have been a randomized fluke. If it happened both times though…
"A very intelligent question Ed, as I have come to expect from you." Urahara gave Ed a wide smile. "No it turns out there was another disturbance in recent history but the doors were luckily locked so no reishi was pulled through. Why do you ask?"
Ed and Al shared a long look. Al was the first to break it, looking very intently at a small rock near his foot.
"The Philosophers stone." Al breathed.
"This explains a lot more than I thought." Ed said quietly, resting his flesh hand on his chin in thought. This would explain the connection between this world and theirs. It wasn't some random occurrence that they landed here, it was because of the philosophers stone! More than likely it was because Al came to save him from the gate while he still had the stone in him. If he had showed up while Envy was travelling in the gate it was the most probable reason they came here.
"The philosopher's stone?" Urahara asked.
"Yes, it's a stone used by alchemists. As far as we know it was only made twice." Ed said absently while still trying to think things over.
"And twice is two times too many." Al added heavily.
"What's so great about this philosopher's stone anyways?" Ichigo asked looking between the two alchemists.
"Yeah and why would it try to suck all the spirit particles out of soul society?" Renji was also frowning in thought; he was looking just as bothered as Ed felt about the situation.
"The philosopher's stone has huge alchemic power. Having it means you're no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange!" Al commented intently, bringing his arms out and shaking them for emphasis.
"Its creation without sacrifice. But it comes at too high a price." Ed dropped his eyes to the same small pebble Al had found so much interest in only moments before.
"What kind of price would that be?" Urahara's question was light but the undertone was pure steel.
Ed sighed. He knew this was coming the moment he lost the fight. He lifted his head and looked straight at Urahara. If he was going to tell them, it might as well be as straightforward as possible.
"The main ingredient in the stone is human lives." Ed said simply. The moment the words left his mouth the entire circle of people erupted in astonished and shocked conversation.
"Everyone calm down!" Urahara yelled and tapped his staff on the ground in the centre of the circle, getting everyone's attention back to the situation at hand. "What do you mean 'human lives'?" Urahara's grim tone brooked no getting out of the answer. Al sat up a little and looked up at Urahara.
"There's only been two events of a philosophers stone being created. The first one was about four hundred years ago and an entire city was used in the creation of it. Not just one human life is used in its creation but thousands."
"And spirit particles are from people who have passed on from soul society." Rukia nodded slowly, her violet eyes bright and intelligent, taking in all the information. "So in a sense its taking spirit energy from not only your side, but ours as well, and at a highly concentrated source." Ed nodded towards her.
"What happened the second time?" Urahara asked, looking between the two alchemists seated across from him.
"It's not a pretty story." Ed sighed out.
"And the first one was?" Renji asked sarcastically. Ed turned to glare at the redhead.
"Hey you wanna hear the story or not?" Ed grumbled. Personally he would have been much happier in not talking about this at all but a deal was a deal, no matter how crappy it was.
"I'm listening; it's just - this is all so fucked up." Renji said lifting a hand to rub at his temples.
"You don't know the half of it." Ed replied. "The second time it happened they tried to use a war and put all the casualties to use for the stone."
"But it wasn't enough." Al added, taking up the story. "Eventually the stone was re-made again."
Ed nodded and looked over at Urahara "Another city was used - This one was called Liore. People we knew there - people whose faces I can still remember - their all gone, all because of that fucking stone."
"Were you two involved with the creation?" Urahara opened his fan slowly to brush it before his nose. Ed barked a quick bitter laugh at that.
"Not just involved, we've been chasing after that stone for six years. When we finally found out what the main component in the stone was we tried to stop it but we got too close. Way too close."
"What do you mean too close? Is that how you lost your arm and leg Ed?" Uryuu asked, lines of concern marring the pale skin between his brows. Ed hesitated and shared a look with Al. Bringing up that bit of information might be a little too much at the moment and the responding look his brother gave said pretty much the same thing. Too soon.
Urahara caught the shared look and snapped his fan shut and gave them both a hard look.
"You've told us this much so far, you might as well tell us the rest."
"We tried to stop it but it all blew up in our face is what happened." Ed murmured and folded his arms across his chest.
"And I became the philosopher's stone." Al said softly.
"What?" Ichigo and Chad said incredulously at the same time. Ed looked over at the two and nodded his head slowly at the admission.
"It's true; Al was caught in the centre of the city. An old friend realized he was going to die-"
"And he did the only thing he could - Transferred the transmutation circle onto my armor." Al finished.
"Do you have this stone here with you now?" Uryuu asked looking towards Al, dark blue eyes intent. The younger alchemist shook his head a little.
"No, it was used up when Ed and Envy…" There was a small pause where Al's shoulders tensed up, his shoulders rode up near his ears and tears started to glisten in the corners of his eyes. "He killed Ed! I had to use it!" He cried desperately.
"So Envy is from your side. I thought as much." Urahara murmured, head tipped in thought to shade his eyes completely from sight.
"Wait so that means you have hollows on your side as well?" Rukia asked.
"No, Envy isn't a hollow; at least he wasn't on our side. When he came through the gate he must have gone through some sort of change." Ed gave a little shake of his head. He was still unsure how that little issue happened.
"So what was he?" Chad asked softly from the far side of the circle. Once again the two boys hesitated, both their heads lowered and Ed sat back on his heels a little.
"We need the whole story if we're going to be fighting him." Renji groused.
"You want to know what Envy is?" He said softly, pain edging the words coming out of his mouth. "Water: 35 Liters, carbon: 20 kilograms, ammonia: 4 liters, lime: 1.5 kilograms, phosphorus: 800 grams, salt: 250 grams, saltpeter: 100 grams, sulphur: 80 grams, fluorine: 7.5 grams, iron: 5 grams, silicon: 3 grams and trace amounts from 15 other elements." He recited. He knew those measurements off by heart now. He would never be able to forget.
"What is that?" Orihime asked in her sweet voice. Urahara furrowed his brow in thought.
"If my math is correct that's what the average adult human body is composed of. But why… Oh no." Urahara's eyes went wide and looked almost disbelievingly between the two boys.
"I don't understand." Rukia said softly. Ed could hear Al sigh. God he hated having this conversation.
"There's a type of alchemy that's forbidden and it's called human transmutation. If the alchemist is desperate enough and has enough knowledge on the subject they can try to bring someone back."
"The thing is life only flows in one direction." Ed said in the same soft voice as his brother. "When people try to create human life there's nothing that can be traded for the soul. Nothing. So although the body is created the soul…"
"Are you saying you created Envy?" Uryuu's tone was low and thick with emotion.
"No we didn't but that's what he is. In our world they're called homunculi. They're human bodies without human souls." Al replied, looking the archer full in the face.
"Well if you didn't create him then who did?" Ichigo was looking pointedly between the two alchemists. Uryuu's eyes widened as a thought came to him.
"It was your father wasn't it. Why would he want to play God like that?" Uryuu looked almost ill at the information.
"Because Envy is our half-brother." Ed said in a flat voice. Just the simple memory of Envy showing him his true face was almost too much and he rubbed the small space between his brows with his flesh hand and took a deep steadying breath. He had found that out only moments before Envy had killed him.
"And I take it he's pissed that he was created." Renji's voice cut through Ed's thoughts and he nodded solemnly.
"Well it makes sense why he was transferred into a hollow's body when he came here. He's not a human soul. You see some hollows are actually born as hollows, just like some souls are born in soul society. His soul must match up to that of a hollow." Urahara mused aloud.
"Ok so if his body looks like a hollow then we should be able to kill him with a zanpakuto." Rukia directed her comment at Urahara. The older man nodded towards her.
"I'm almost sure of it."
"This is a lot of information to take in." Rukia murmured and got a few nods from the surrounding group. And we're not even half done if Urahara has anything to say about this, Ed thought.
"I have one or two more questions and then we can be done. Ed you said that you had destroyed others like him before?" Urahara asked. The eyes Ed met with this time held no mirth in them, they were almost apologetic as he asked the next question.
"Yes." Ed sighed. "In our world the homunculi lose power when they're around a piece of their original bodies. It reminds them of what they were and it weakens them. I killed when I had to. Even…. Even her." His voice cracked on the last syllable and swallowed convulsively. Al took his hand in quiet support and squeezed his hand.
"Her?" Ichigo asked curiously.
"Please don't make us say it." Al's hand was squeezing his tightly now. The tension within the circle of people was hard to deal with and there was a long pause before anyone spoke.
"You brought someone back didn't you?" Urahara finally asked, low voiced and almost reverently, if it wasn't for the content of the question.
"We were fools back then. We thought alchemy was the answer to it all. How wrong we were." Ed replied not looking up from his lap. He couldn't face the eyes that would be looking at him, judging him for the deeds he had done so long ago. "That's why I have these metal limbs and Al looks like he's ten when he should be sixteen."
"Doing a human transmutation opens a gate that should never be opened." Al stated. "We tried to bring mom back. We just wanted to see her smile again. But what we made that night wasn't… Wasn't - human." The last word was a whisper. Neither of them could say what it was, but it was wrong, an abomination to life itself. She was their sin, their foolish sin.
"I traded my left leg for mom's life and my right arm for Al's soul when the gate sucked him in. I put his soul in the only thing I could find at the time - a suit of armor. That's why I have automail Uryuu." He raised his right arm, still without gloves and the light flickered off the metal making it gleam grey-blue with the movement
"And when we came through the gate here my soul was transferred back to my body. I guess it was still in the gate." Al said sounding happy for the first time during this entire conversation.
"That's why you went chasing after the philosophers stone wasn't it?" Urahara asked.
"We needed it to put our bodies back to the way they were. Half the plan worked, Al got his body back. I can live with automail for the rest of my life happily knowing that he can eat and sleep again." He gave his brother a small smile and was relieved to have one given in return.
"Al you actually were the philosopher's stone, is that correct?" Urahara turned his shaded eyes to the younger alchemist, his eyes were calculating again and Ed started getting suspicious. Every time that man had that specific look something bad seemed to come of it.
"Well it was when I was in the armor but my soul was attached so yeah I guess. Why?" Al's tone was curious and almost sounded lighter after getting all the secrets out.
"You see, if your soul was attached to the armor at the same time as the philosopher's stone your soul might have a similar frequency to it."
"That's it! Urahara you're a genius!" Ed jumped to his feet. Urahara gave Ed a bright smile, showing a flash of white teeth.
"Finally someone recognizes my intellectual worth!"
"Ok can someone translate for me? I don't get geek speak." Ichigo looked at the blonde now starting to pace back and forth between the group of people in thought.
"It's simple Ichigo, all things carry a frequency - a vibration as it were. Our vibration runs differently then you because we're from a different world. What we would need in order to get home is match up the gate frequency with Al since he would have the strongest because of the philosopher's stone." He looked excitedly towards his brother and could see a mirroring excitement starting to glimmer in the caramel depths as well.
"But I thought Urahara said the gate was locked on this side." Renji said looking dubiously between the pacing Ed and the widely smiling hat-man.
"True but it was opened to this world, not soul society." Al murmured.
"That's right, which means we have a possibility of getting home. A real possibility. Holy shit Al we might actually be able to get home!" Ed cried and stopped pacing in front of his brother and Al got up as well, a huge smile plastered on his face. This was almost too good to be true!
"What I would recommend is testing this theory then." Urahara said as he also stood from the rock he was perched on and gave a small stretch. "Ed would you be able to bring the gate up?" He asked nonchalantly. Ed's eyes bugged in his head.
"Are you out of your damn mind?" Ed shouted. Urahara gave an amused snort.
"One minute he calls me a genius, the next he tells me I'm out of my mind."
"Opening that gate is easier said than done Urahara." Al's voice cut through the amusement.
"And it's not like walking through the shoten doors either." Ed added in the same tone.
"I'm starting to understand that." The older man gave a quick look at the two alchemists. "What I'm suggesting though is seeing if we can actually open the gate here and see if the frequency matches Al's reiatsu. That's all, no travelling."
"But how do we keep the hands from pulling us in?" Al asked looking worriedly between the two blondes.
"There are hands in the gate?" Orihime asked from her seat on the ground.
"There are many things in that gate. And I'm pretty sure none of them are good." Ed said giving her a quick look.
"I don't know if this is a good idea brother." Al's worried expression reminded him so much of the day they tried to bring their mother back that he had to swallow before replying and tried his best to give him a smile.
"It's a friggin' horrible idea Al." Ed shook his head then looked to the older blonde man. "Urahara we're gonna need a backup plan in case something goes wrong, like some way of closing that gate at a moment's notice."
"Hmm… I'll have to bring down Tessai for this then, he's a master of kidou and frightfully strong." Urahara murmured into his fan.
"That's the shinigami magic stuff that Renji's really bad at right?" Al asked inelegantly. Renji bristled at the comment.
"Hey back off little man! Now that I know you're actually sixteen I have no problem in kicking your ass."
"haha try it, I'll turn you into a rocking horse." Al lifted his chin a little and cracked his knuckles. Renji decided that discretion was a better part of valor and didn't say more but gave Al one more dark look.
"Will kidou actually work with this?" Ed asked. He barely even heard of this Kidou crap.
Urahara shrugged. "I don't see why not, it's helped with many things before, hell this entire training facility is protected with kidou barriers. No one even knows it's here because of it."
"Urahara, by any chance do you have something that can amplify reiatsu?" Ed asked looking hopefully at the older man.
"Oh I think I might be able to whip something up." Urahara said lightly but a mischievous glint was in those eyes that Ed didn't completely trust. He decidedly shook the feeling off and squared his shoulders. A plan was a plan, and he was damn happy to have one finally.
"Good. Ok Urahara, you go talk to Tessai and get that reiatsu amplifier," He pointed his hand towards the man, Urahara gave another smile and nodded his head, then headed for the stairs. "Chad we're probably going to need your help in getting the doors closed if anything happens," Chad nodded in understanding. "Ichigo, Renji, Rukia and Uryuu when it opens we're might need your weapons to keep the hands away from us so stay alert." The four nodded and started talking about strategies for placement. "Orihime your shield is gonna be needed too." Orihime nodded solemnly. "Al you help me find a circle that will bring this gate up and if anyone else comes down here when it happens- For fuck sakes, make sure they stay the hell away from those doors." Ed said pointing a finger in the direction of each person. Ichigo stood up and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"I can see how you could be a major now." Ichigo said and gave him a wry smile.
~TBC~