jordannamorgan: Edward Elric, "Fullmetal Alchemist". For my "Blood Ties" fanfiction novel. (FMA Blood Ties)
[personal profile] jordannamorgan posting in [community profile] prose_alchemist
Title: Blood Ties (9/14: Revelations)
Author: [livejournal.com profile] jordannamorgan
Archive Rights: Please request the author’s consent.
Rating/Warnings: PG for fantasy violence and blood.
Characters: A whopping big ensemble across two worlds, although the strongest focus is on Ed.
Setting: First anime. Same timeframe as CoS, two years after the end of the series.
Summary: Alternative to Conqueror of Shamballa. An old enemy plunges Ed into the dark secrets of his new world, linked to the alchemy he thought lost to him—while in Amestris, Al faces a life-or-death choice. Will the nightmare Ed is drawn into provide the key to both their fates?
Disclaimer: They belong to Hiromu Arakawa. I’m just playing with them.



Edward was awakened by his own panicked thrashing against strong hands, and the rim of a glass bottle being forced into his mouth.

“It’s alright, Ed!”

Noa’s voice. He relaxed a little at the sound, almost involuntarily—and he quieted considerably more when he tasted blood. The thick fluid was fresh and soothingly warm, and as he gulped it with shameless eagerness, the grip he sensed on his arms was cautiously released.

His hazy sight came into focus. Noa was sitting close beside him on the edge of the bed; and it bemused him that he was lying on a proper bed, for the first time since he became a dhampir. As she lowered the now-empty bottle from his lips, he turned his head to see Jean Havoc standing nearby, and realized the Hunter had been the one holding him down a moment earlier.

Havoc did not look pleased to see him.

Noa cupped Ed’s cheek in her hand and studied his face, first intently, and then with growing relief. He realized uneasily that she was searching his eyes for recognition, for sanity… and he began to remember, if only through broken fragments of sensation. Hunger and rage and violence. The feel of his fangs piercing flesh.

Noa’s flesh. Again.

A wave of horrified nausea lurched in his stomach, and he made a sudden move to sit up. “Noa—”

Shh.” Her fingers touched his lips. “Lie still. You’ll be alright now… but you still haven’t healed completely.”

Ed blinked in confusion and sank back against the pillow, slowly realizing she was right: he hurt terribly. It felt as if there were shards of hot shrapnel in his stomach, and his flesh arm ached. A quick glance discovered bandages wrapped around his forearm and the middle of his body. He was healing rapidly—he could feel his bones and organs knitting together again—but it would still take hours for him to recover completely.

The pain troubled him less than other things that were wrong with him. He felt more animal than human, nervous and disoriented and vaguely trapped. His memory was an uncooperative jumble, especially where the last several hours were concerned, and it was still a struggle to think instead of reacting purely on instinct.

“I… I flipped?” he asked shakily.

Bad,” Havoc muttered, his voice hard. “I’m still amazed you’ve pulled yourself back together—and you only got the chance because Noa fed herself to you. Another second and we would’ve had to—”

“Jean, don’t,” Noa interrupted. She sounded tired, and Ed wondered with a shudder how close he had come to killing her.

“I’m sorry.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “And thanks. For stopping me, and if you couldn’t… for being willing to do what you had to.”

Noa’s hand rested lightly on his bare chest for a moment, and her voice was thick with suppressed emotion when she spoke. “Just rest, and try to clear your head. There’s so much we have to tell you when you’re stronger.”

A little reluctantly, Ed obeyed, and lay quietly as he tried to drag his mind up from the depths of primitive impulses. He wanted answers, but he wasn’t fit to take them in yet. He was confused as to why they were with the Hunters again—for this was their stronghold, he was sure. More than that, he sensed terrible, important things nagging at his memory, just beyond his grasp. Some of it would be the same information Noa had to impart; he had already taken it from her with her blood, but there was little chance of his sorting it out that way anytime soon. He was having enough trouble remembering what had happened to him.

Dimly he recalled doing battle with Envy. He knew something significant had happened during the fight, a terrible and tragic discovery, but it was nearly impossible to remember anything past the pain and the awful bloodlust at the end of it.

Ed changed tactics. Since the animal part of his nature was stubbornly refusing to subside, he tried to put it to work instead, and focused on the smells of the previous night instead of sights and conscious perceptions.

Blood, and lots of it. Envy’s subtle, chilling foulness. Scattered sniffs of the Hunters when they arrived on the scene. Gasoline and fire.

And—

A deep chill turned his undead blood even colder, and his eyes opened. He could almost…

No, not almost. He could smell it.

The cologne was not exactly the lingering ghost-fragrance that had permeated every room of his childhood home, but it was the closest thing to be found in this world. Now, with his senses as acute as they were, it could not completely hide from him the scent it was intended to mask: the faint, appalling bittersweetness of corrupted flesh.

Ed’s frantic, incredulous gaze sought the doorway of the room. There stood the man from the night before, the one he had glimpsed kneeling over Envy in a burst of light—alchemic light. He hovered diffidently at the threshold, tall and broad-shouldered, his long blond hair tied back at the nape of his neck, his golden gaze filled with sadness behind prim eyeglass lenses.

Van Hohenheim, Edward’s father, who he had believed dead at Envy’s hands.

For one instant, a soaring gladness and relief welled up in Ed’s heart… and then he remembered what he was, and what his father had seen him do. What he might even have done to Hohenheim himself, were it not for Noa’s intervention.

A fierce shudder wracked his wounded body, and he averted his face, overwhelmed with a crushing shame.

Dad…”

His eyes were screwed shut, but his animal-sharp senses filled in every detail of movement in the room. He heard Noa and Havoc move away from the bed, on their way to the door. Hohenheim waited for their exit, and then his firm footsteps approached. The familiar scents he exuded grew stronger as he sank onto a chair beside the bed—and somehow Ed measured the disease-scent well enough to know the breakdown of his father’s body had grown worse. The dhampir half-opened his eyes, staring only at Hohenheim’s coat buttons, wondering dully how much more deterioration was hidden beneath the well-tailored clothes that covered him from the neck down.

“Oh, Ed,” Hohenheim breathed, and reached out to stroke his son’s hair.

Instinctively Ed flinched away from the touch, heedless of the pain that shot through his wounds at the movement. For a moment Hohenheim’s expression was faintly hurt, but then he seemed to understand: Ed’s repulsion was not from his father, but from his own inhumanity, and the lethal impulses he struggled to control within himself.

With a heavy sigh, Hohenheim let his hand fall to his side, but his head tilted down a little to search Ed’s eyes. “It’s alright, Ed. Whatever may have happened to you, it doesn’t matter. You’re alive—that’s the only thing I care about.”

“I’m a monster,” Ed whispered.

“No you’re not. You’re a survivor, just like you’ve always been, and you’re still trying to fight for what you believe is right.” Hohenheim smiled sadly. “I’m proud of that, Ed.”

“Envy told me… he made me think you were dead,” Ed amended, in a flat voice. He vaguely realized now that Envy hadn’t explicitly claimed to have killed Hohenheim, or Noa either. In both cases, the homunculus merely implied it. He had wanted Ed to take those coy bluffs to his grave, the twist of a figurative knife in his heart to precede a literal one.

“He almost had me, a month ago. If it wasn’t for the Hunters, he might have—but it gave me the chance to learn the truth.” Hohenheim braced his hands on his knees, leaning forward gravely. “How much of that truth have you figured out?”

Slowly and with no little pain, Ed pushed himself up into a sitting position with his automail arm. He waved off Hohenheim’s move to help him.

“I know Envy turned into a vampire when he passed through the Gate,” he muttered. “Since there are more of them here, I guessed that a lot of attempted human transmutations from our world land here as vampires, instead of becoming real homunculi there. And since I used alchemy on him before, I thought Envy must be vulnerable to it because he came from the other side.”

Suddenly he remembered the terrible lesson of his failure against Envy the previous night. His face fell, and he gazed down bitterly at the palms of his hands, laying flesh fingers over steel.

“But it didn’t work last night… so that must mean dhampirs can’t perform alchemy at all. Not even on homunculi.”

His father blinked. “But Ed, that isn’t exactly true. You were right about everything else—but that’s not why your alchemy failed.”

Ed looked up sharply, eyes widening, as a surge of hope rose in his chest. “Then what’s the answer?”

“It’s this.”

Hohenheim extended his left hand, and Ed noticed for the first time that a bandage was wrapped around the palm. He remembered the previous night, the bloodscent mingled with his father’s other smells.

His mouth watered at the memory, and with a stifled choke, he glanced away quickly from the faint redness spotting through the gauze.

“Were you bleeding when you made your alchemy work against Envy?” he heard Hohenheim ask.

Distrustful of himself, of the easily-aroused predator prowling within him, Ed avoided looking directly at his father.

“I was dying.”

Hohenheim winced, but he nodded. “That was the key, then. Listen. I told you before how death in this world generates the power for alchemy in ours—but the Gate only processes that energy in one direction, from here to there. There’s no corresponding flow of power from our side to enable alchemy here. Even so, anything that originated in our world is still susceptible to being transmuted… but the life-energy to fuel the reaction has to come from a different source.”

“Blood,” Ed breathed slowly. “Oh, hell…”

“That’s right. Even though homunculi—or vampires—carry an incredible amount of energy from the lives they’ve consumed, human blood is still necessary here as a catalyst for alchemy. The more complex the transmutation, the more blood it takes.” Hohenheim looked delicately at Ed. “And I’m afraid dhampir blood doesn’t work. Only living human blood will do. That’s why you couldn’t transmute Envy last night.”

Ed let out a frustrated snarl, clenching his metal fist. “Then it’s still true. I can’t use alchemy.”

“Not exactly. I didn’t say it had to be your own blood.” Hohenheim’s bearded chin tipped downward as he regarded Ed grimly. “You could still perform transmutations using the blood of someone else.”

The suggestion sent a pulse of shock through Ed, and he gaped at his father. “Killing to use alchemy is no option either!”

“Ed, you saw me use it on Envy, and I’m still alive. Most transmutations would require far less than a fatal amount of blood. Of course it isn’t something to be taken lightly—but with a little help, alchemy is still within your reach, even now.”

Unsettled, Ed hesitated. Even if the blood was willingly given, the thought of using a human partner’s blood to transmute vampires frightened and bewildered him—and as he was now, high-strung with predatory urges that felt as if they would never fade, he feared he would endanger any donor who opened their veins to aid him. Few dhampirs who survived having flipped were ever quite right again. What if his stability never fully recovered, and he permanently remained this close to the edge of being overcome by his instincts?

But this wasn’t about him. It never really had been since the night he was turned. There was a far more important struggle than any he might face within himself, and that was the Hunters’ war against homunculi. If he could give them this weapon, enable them to destroy with alchemy the very evils alchemy had created… then he would triumph, and the pain of this second life would not have been in vain.

“Tell me one thing,” he said quietly, closing his eyes. “Can alchemy be used to kill vampires—without costing a human life?”

“Remember the basic principles of alchemy. It takes far less energy to break down a thing than to rebuild it.” Hohenheim sighed. “Yes, Ed… it’s possible to destroy homunculi in the form they take here. And the human who provides the blood for it would survive that transmutation.”

A tension released in Ed, almost like the feeling of sunset, and his body physically relaxed. He smiled brokenly and let himself sag against the headboard of the bed. Now he could give Noa the hope she had believed she would find in him, and the Hunters could slay the monsters that had been unleashed on their world by alchemy.

It was almost funny, really. The Hunters had searched for this answer for hundreds of years, but it had taken Ed only seven days to discover it. Seven days and the loss of his humanity… and in the end, his father was the one to have held the key.

Yet again, Hohenheim had come home too late.

“Where were you?” Edward asked, too tired to raise any anger in his voice. “Why did you disappear, and how did you find out all this?”

Hohenheim shrugged ruefully. “Maybe you never realized it, but for all this time, I’d been doing research of my own—looking for anything that might help you find a way home, no matter how fantastic it might seem. Last month, I stumbled on clues that made me begin to see a connection between homunculi and rumors of vampires. So I traveled to Paris, to find the Hunters’ Council…” His eyes darkened behind his glasses. “And that was where I crossed paths with Envy.”

“And you found out you could use alchemy on him, just like I did,” Ed murmured.

“Yes. But Envy still would have killed me if a Hunter hadn’t appeared. He saved me, and took me to the Council. They helped me piece together the truth about the things they know as vampires… and to study what was possible with alchemy.”

For a moment, Hohenheim paused cryptically. Then he spread his hands, and a rather forced lightness entered his tone. “There’s much more to tell, but not yet. I’m afraid I’ve already caused you too much excitement for now. They told me rest will help you heal, and I want you to be well when you hear what else I have to say.”

Ed’s interest was impatiently piqued, but he couldn’t bring himself to argue. Coping intelligently with this conversation had already made his head ache. What he wanted even more than a healed body was clarity of mind, and he suspected his form of rest would do more than anything to help further settle him. He gingerly slid down against the pillow and stretched out on the mattress, closing his eyes.

With the knowledge that he could teach the Hunters how to destroy vampires, he held the greatest victory he could have hoped for in his new life, but there was so much he had yet to understand. It puzzled him that he and Noa were apparently in the good graces of the Hunters again—unless it was his father’s presence that had changed things. Perhaps Hohenheim had already offered the secret of alchemy to the Council itself. Surely then they would have fallen over themselves to ensure that their savior’s son was treated well.

And Ed would be well and truly upstaged.

How typical it would be of his life. To find himself almost believing he could be the hero Noa thought he was, almost convinced the suffering he endured had a purpose… only to find it was not his father, but he who had been too late.

It didn’t matter now. Ed’s life was insignificant in the scheme of things, after all. It wasn’t important who first shared the knowledge, as long as it was received by those who would use it wisely in the battle against homunculi. That was all he wanted, the one hope he had lived for since his turning, when his own hopes had died with his mortal life.

He was only sorry to think Noa’s sacrifices for his sake might all have been wasted. She needn’t have broken the taboo of the Hunters for him, spilled her blood for him three times, suffered the pain of his past and watched those same memories tear her beloved leader’s mind apart…

Hughes.

Edward sat bolt upright as Envy’s hideous words chased themselves through his mind. How could he have forgotten that?

“What is it?” Hohenheim asked anxiously, startled out of a brown study by Ed’s sudden movement.

“Hughes…” Ed clenched his jaw, swung his legs over the edge of the bed, and stood up. “I’ve got to talk to Noa and the others.”

“Wait, Ed—”

But the younger alchemist didn’t wait. Although exertion painfully strained the healing muscles in his torso, there was nothing wrong with his legs. He snatched up a fresh shirt that lay folded on the bedside bureau, and wincingly pulled it on as he headed for the door.

He quickly stepped out into the hall… and stopped.

From Noa’s memories, he knew he was on the third floor of the former hotel, where the Hunters had left most of the rooms intact to serve as a dormitory. The elaborate Victorian architecture of the building was riddled with curious nooks and niches—and a few steps beyond the door, at the end of the hallway, he found himself facing such a random alcove. It had been left in its original arrangement as a sitting area, equipped with a few antique wicker chairs and a low table.

Noa and Havoc were there. Both were standing, as if they had paused to speak with someone after leaving Ed’s room; and when they turned to look at him, he caught sight of the man who was sitting in one of the chairs.

He was a tall man, with the suggestion of a powerful build beneath his black Hunter clothes. His skin was swarthy, his hair slick and black, and a mustache was perched above an enigmatic half-smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes.

Two eyes, where Ed had once been accustomed to seeing an eyepatch over the left one.

“Good morning, Mr. Elric,” said the facsimile of Füehrer Bradley, calmly and cheerfully. “It’s good to see you up and around… although I can’t honestly say you look very well just yet.”

Doubles of humans were something Ed had learned to deal with, but in his slow-witted condition, an apparent double of a homunculus was a little more than he could rationalize. He gaped and took a step back, only to bump into his father, who placed a steadying hand on his shoulder.

Ed’s reflexive, startled intake of breath captured the scent of the not-Bradley, and it registered as dhampir.

“I beg your pardon. Your father warned me that my face was apt to look… rather unpleasantly familiar to you. Not that I quite understand all of this Gate business—and in any case, I’m afraid it’s the only face I have.” The curve of the man’s lips deepened a bit more, and he rose urbanely to give Ed a small bow. “I’m Councilor Bradley. I was responsible for bringing your father here from Paris.”

For a long moment Ed continued to stare. Then he took another breath, deep and slow, and eyed Hohenheim over his shoulder.

“It’s alright,” Hohenheim sighed. “He’s a member of the Council—and more importantly, he’s the Hunter who saved me from Envy. You can trust him. I promise you that.”

“But how can there be a double of a homunculus here?” Ed demanded.

“Remember, the homunculus you knew was just a replica of a real man who had died. Councilor Bradley is that man’s counterpart.”

The explanation made sense—or it would have, Ed knew, if his mind was quite up to speed. Trying to think of this Bradley as something other than an enemy was still bizarre and somewhat difficult, but he could work through that later. For now there was a more urgent question, and he refocused himself with some effort.

He turned anxiously to Noa. “Where is Hughes?”

A look of pain flashed across Noa’s face. Her gaze fell, and Havoc touched her shoulder gently before fixing a grim stare on Ed.

“He’s gone rogue. When he found out what Kain did to help you and Noa run out on us, it sent him over the edge. He went out of his mind… and he killed the poor kid. Tore open his throat—and took his blood.”

Ed choked on the sudden rush of sick horror within him.

His fault. Even before the torture Envy had lovingly described, Hughes had already gone mad and killed Kain Fuery, and it was all Ed’s fault. The blood of that brave and innocent young Hunter was on no one’s hands but his own.

“Did you…” He closed his eyes and swallowed hard. “Did you put Hughes down?”

“We didn’t get the chance. He was wild—but he’s still got all the smarts of the guy who taught the rest of us everything we know. He took off out of here and disappeared, and we still haven’t found him.”

“Envy did,” Ed whispered. “He told me Hughes had tried to use alchemy on him. It didn’t work, but Envy said he didn’t kill him. Only that he… he left him starved for blood.”

With a half-sob that wrenched Ed’s heart, Noa turned away, hiding her face in her hands.

“You think Envy was telling you the truth that time?” Hohenheim asked.

“Yes. He told me too many details about the things he did to Hughes. If he was going to bother making up stuff like that just to upset me a little more, he would’ve done it about you and Noa, too.” Ed reluctantly raised his eyes to Havoc. “Did the police find a woman’s body drained of blood yesterday morning?”

Havoc flinched. “Yeah. We got that from our insider at the coroner’s office, but we… we weren’t sure it wasn’t the vampire.”

“It was Hughes. Envy cut him loose to watch him hunt… just for fun.” Ed’s fists clenched, and he could barely restrain his urge to smash the metal one through the nearest wall. “It means Hughes has killed at least two people now—because of me.”

“No, Ed.”

Noa’s voice was soft and trembling, but it was firm. She raised her head to look at him, and although tears were running down her cheeks, her eyes were resolute.

“You couldn’t have known this would happen. I was the one who knew Maes was barely holding himself together. It’s my fault for letting him keep going until he came apart… and it’s my job now to stop him. It’s the last thing I can do to keep my promise.”

Seeing the look in her eyes, Ed knew better than to argue. Noa intended to kill her guardian and teacher with her own hands, to give him peace because she loved him, and it would be a horrific cruelty to let her carry out that task herself—but keeping her from it would be more cruel. She was still a Hunter after all, and this was part of the duty she had embraced as the foundation of the life Hughes gave her.

There was a long and somber silence, and then Bradley spoke, rather delicately.

“We have other complications on our hands as well, Mr. Elric. I presume your father hasn’t yet told you the situation in Paris.”

“Situation?” Ed repeated in a dull voice, absently sidling forward to wilt into one of the chairs and relieve the aching stress on his wounds. He suddenly felt an awful fascination in wondering just how much worse things could get.

Bradley sat down on the edge of the table, back straight and arms folded, a leonine image of casual but powerful authority.

“Allow me to begin at the beginning. I came across your father while he was in the midst of an encounter with the vampire you call Envy. After I—shall we say, removed him temporarily from danger, and took him to the headquarters of the Council, he began to puzzle out this matter of the ‘alchemy’ of your world assailing ours with vampires. Of course we were skeptical of his story at first, and we couldn’t absorb his memories to verify it… but he is a very convincing man. Enough so that we took a chance on him, to let him test his theories about destroying vampires. It was agreed that if he succeeded, he would teach us that power, in exchange for…” Bradley smiled faintly at a sudden twitch from Hohenheim. “For helping him make a small experiment of his own. So, along with a team of our finest Hunters, we went to see what he could do with an especially nasty vampire we’d been chasing all over Russia for the last hundred years or so.”

“You didn’t mention that little field trip,” Ed remarked dourly, glancing at Hohenheim.

The elder alchemist shrugged helplessly. “I told you it would wait until you were rested—but you obviously had other ideas.”

To continue,” Bradley said pointedly. “We suffered losses on our mission, but in the end, Hohenheim achieved exactly what he’d promised—and I watched with my own eyes as he made that vampire simply cease to exist. So we returned to Paris in triumph, to report his success… but I’m sorry to say that in my absence, some of my colleagues had been doing a little too much thinking.

“If you do share your father’s ability, Mr. Elric, I’m sure you can understand that it’s frightening for those of us who have never seen such a thing. Hohenheim has warned us that the vast energy locked within vampires could be used for more than just to kill them—and that it might be misused in unspeakably dangerous ways. Never has there been a power like it in this world… and some of the Council members began to feel that perhaps there never should be. They questioned whether the destruction of vampires, an evil we at least understand, is truly worth the risk of alchemy falling into the wrong hands. And as for a few others, well… they were concerned that freely sharing the knowledge of how to kill vampires would undermine the Council’s leadership of the Hunters.”

“Why don’t you tell it like it is,” Ed muttered. “Some of the Council members have gotten pretty used to the power and money they control, and they don’t want to be put out of a job.”

“You’re very cynical, Mr. Elric—and also very astute.” Bradley sighed. “Yes, I’m afraid that was an ulterior motive in some cases. But the fears of others were genuine. I myself can understand the concern of what your alchemy might do to this world… but in our fight against an enemy that has caused so much misery, I don’t believe we can refuse to move forward.”

Ed smiled wanly at the familiar phrase.

“In any case,” Bradley went on, “the Council was divided, and that division soon became… violent. Two members even suggested that for the good of the world, Hohenheim should be killed to eliminate his knowledge.”

Had Ed possessed an entirely living heart, it would have skipped a beat. He shot a horrified glance at his father, but Hohenheim stood with an impassive expression, listening in silence to Bradley’s account.

“At that point, it was clear to me that I had to take Hohenheim out of Paris in secret, for his own safety. I brought him here because this Hunter post is lightly regarded by the Council… and because Maes Hughes was an old friend I trusted.” For a moment Bradley paused ruefully. Then he shook off that fleeting dismay, and gave Ed a keen glance.

“We also chose London because your father thought you might come looking for him here—and he was afraid Envy may have expected that as well. It seems he was right. I’m deeply sorry we were too late to spare you from what you’ve suffered.”

Bradley’s voice was sincere, and it surprised Ed to realize he accepted the good intentions of the Councilor.

“There’s no use being sorry for what’s past,” he replied, quietly but steadily. “All that matters is what’s ahead. You have the weapon you need to destroy vampires now.”

Bradley frowned. “I’m afraid that’s only partially true. We have both of you to teach us, but equipping other Hunters with that knowledge is another matter. At this moment, the rift between those who welcome alchemy and those who fear it is tearing the Council apart—and even if its supporters gain the upper hand in Paris, the same conflict would surely be repeated among the lower ranks of the Hunters. In time, the choice of whether to accept or reject this power could splinter every Hunter cell in the world… and my worst fear is that those who oppose it may decide alchemists are an even greater threat to society than vampires are.”

Ed’s eyes widened as he slowly realized the implications of Bradley’s words. “You’re talking about a civil war.”

“Or perhaps a revolution. I was a doctor in my human life, Mr. Elric. I would never have destroyed a life-saving drug just because an overdose would be poisonous—and I regard your alchemy the same way.” Bradley leaned forward. “Now that we have the chance to take our fight to the vampires, I believe we have to try. We have to take the risk and the responsibility, even if it means breaking away from those who have become too selfish or fearful to do the same.”

Noa looked up at Bradley, her eyes bright and hard. “You know how far I’ve already gone for my faith in this. I’m with you.”

“I guess anything’s better than what we’ve been doing,” Havoc murmured lazily.

Ed closed his eyes for a moment, his mind reeling under the weight of everything he had learned. He wondered now if the gift of alchemy would save this world after all… or destroy it. Given the ease with which knowledge passed between dhampirs, it was inevitable that it would fall into the wrong hands, and then it was very likely that people would die.

But people were already dying, or worse, at the hands of vampires and the rogue dhampirs they infected. Besides, alchemy was in the wrong hands every day on the other side of the Gate, and yet somehow that world had always managed to keep turning. Alchemists of good will, like himself and his brother and even Colonel Mustang, had always fought to tip the balance for what was right; and in this world, he knew Noa and Havoc and many others were prepared to do the same. Perhaps knowledge was a double-edged sword, but ignorance was no weapon at all, and he could never leave this world unarmed against the evil spawned by his fellow alchemists’ sins.

A sin he was guilty of himself.

“Okay,” he said softly, opening his eyes. “I can’t speak for my father, but if this is what you want… I’ll teach you. And I’ll share this fight with you, to the very end.”

He tried not to notice the way Noa looked at him, with shining eyes and that soft, dawning smile. She still thought he was a hero—but he knew better.

Hohenheim stepped closer. “Wait, Ed. You still haven’t heard everything. I’m willing to help you teach alchemy to Councilor Bradley and his supporters, because that’s the bargain I made. But when that work is done… it will be time for you to go home.”

Ed’s heart and mind were seized with a sudden shock so strong that he physically flinched back. His jaw sagged, and he stared up at his father, unable to fully take in those words.

“…What?”

“Bradley told you my part of the bargain was a chance to make an experiment. The entire reason I agreed to help the Hunters was because they could get me close enough to one of these homunculus-vampires. I didn’t just kill the one in Russia, Ed… I used its energy to open the Gate. Only for a few moments, but long enough to prove it could be done—and just long enough for someone to pass through it.”

Ed closed his eyes tightly. It was true, then. The theory he had conceived and willfully pushed away days ago—the one that had led Hughes into madness—was correct. The doorway leading back to their world could be opened.

Too late for him.

And the toll for setting foot on the threshold of that bridge…

“What did it cost?” Ed asked in a trembling whisper. “It couldn’t be just a little blood. The Gate would never be satisfied with that.” He opened his eyes, and felt them stinging with unfallen tears. “Who died for your experiment?”

Hohenheim winced, and slowly let out a deep sigh.

“It’s true. The transmutation required a human life. The man who gave himself for it was a Hunter, a scientist who had spent his life looking for a way to destroy vampires—and before that, a dhampir also died in the battle.” His gaze shifted away from Ed’s eyes. “The dhampir was named Kimbley… and the human’s name was Marcoh.”

After an agonizing moment of silence, Edward’s head dropped into his hands, and his body shook with a hard, ugly laugh of despair.

Grimacing at the reaction, Hohenheim reached out to touch his son’s flesh arm. “Ed—”

Don’t touch me.” Ed shied away, raising his automail arm, unconsciously echoing the defensive posture he had often used in their world—in times when the steel would bear a transmuted blade. “You murdered them.”

Bradley spoke up, calm and clear-voiced.

“Mr. Elric, before you judge your father so harshly, allow me to tell you the way it really happened. Marcoh had already been mortally wounded in the battle. Realizing he was dying, he insisted Hohenheim use him for the transmutation, to fulfill our bargain and let the experiment be made. As for Kimbley, he was killed while subduing the vampire—fighting to gain the proof that this evil could finally be destroyed. I witnessed it all, and I assure you, there was no dishonor in your father’s actions.”

The words were a cold comfort. Whatever benefit Bradley thought had been gained by their agreement, it was clear to Ed that Hohenheim was only using the Hunters. The people of this world meant nothing to him; he had no empathy for their struggle and suffering, no remorse for his share of the blame as an alchemist. Even if he did feel a sense of guilt toward his sons that he wanted to atone for by reuniting them, Ed himself could never accept that gift at the expense of a human life.

Much less could he forget his own poisoned blood, the contamination that now made him belong inexorably to this world.

“So what was your big plan?” he asked Hohenheim, his voice low and bitter, glaring down at his fists. “Who were you going to sacrifice to send me back? Was another life included in your deal with the Council?”

“The Hunters have nothing to do with this. It’s between you and me and Envy—because I owe it to him to give him peace, by destroying the monster I made of him. When I transmute him, I’ll open the Gate for you… and the only life I’ll give to pay the price is my own.”

No,” Ed snapped, looking up with hard eyes.

“Listen to me, Ed. You know what’s happening to me.” Hohenheim’s hand moved furtively to his chest, pressing against the hidden ruin of his flesh. “You know I don’t have much longer to live. At least let me give what’s left of my life to try to undo something of the wrong I’ve done, and give you back to your brother.”

“So my conscience can be guilty instead of yours?” Ed’s voice rose angrily. “No one is going to die to open the Gate—not even you. I won’t let anyone else sacrifice themselves for me and what I want! That price is too high to pay… and even if it wasn’t…” He flinched and looked away. “I could still never go home.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ed closed his eyes, taking a deep, shuddering breath. In his fragile state, the anger and disgust roiling in him were dangerous… but he needed his father to see.

With a sudden lunge, he was out of his chair, his automail fist seizing the elder alchemist’s coat to shove him against the wall. Burning crimson eyes met Hohenheim’s shocked golden ones, and Ed inhaled an intoxicating fear-scent through parted lips that revealed the sharp curves of his fangs. Behind him, he was aware of Noa starting forward with a gasp; but Havoc, oddly enough, had the insight to hold her back, while Bradley observed as impassively as a statue.

Look at me,” Ed growled in his father’s face. “I’m not human. I’m not even completely alive. I’m an undead thing with an instinct to kill… and someday, I might snap like Hughes did. And even if I never hurt anyone myself, one drop of my blood could lead to hundreds of monsters just like me. I won’t let that happen to our world—and I won’t let Al have to face what I’ve become. Never!”

On the last word, knowing he was far too close to the edge, Ed pushed himself away from Hohenheim. He returned to his chair and sank into it, shaking, his head bowed and fists clenched. With a tremendous effort, he struggled to shut down the emotions and impulses he had allowed to rise to the surface.

There was a heavy, chilled silence for a long moment before Hohenheim spoke again.

“Ed, it may be that in our world… alchemy could cure you.”

The man was impossible.

“Like it cured this?” Ed flexed his steel fingers, staring down at them emptily. “I won’t take that chance. I won’t gamble with other people’s lives anymore. The life I had is gone, and it’s not coming back. Whether I like it or not… I’m a part of this world now.”

“Then what do you plan to do?”

Slowly, Edward raised eyes that had softened once more to gold—looking not at his father, but at Noa. She stood frozen in apprehension, her own dark eyes brimming.

“I’ll become a Hunter,” he answered quietly, with a sad smile. “Alchemists made this mess. It’s only fair that an alchemist should help fix it. I’ll teach them how to kill the monsters we’ve sent here… and I’ll fight beside them, for as long as it takes.”

Noa’s tears spilled over, and she looked away from his eyes.

Hohenheim stepped forward, drawing near again; but not as close as before, Ed noticed, and he moved just a little more warily.

“Then you’ll be fighting that battle forever. Think about it. Even if you were to destroy every vampire that exists here now, there would still be alchemists on the other side who attempt human transmutation, and most of the abominations they create will go on emerging here. If you really want to help the Hunters, and prevent more homunculi from entering this world, the best thing you can do for them is go back—and teach our people the consequences of trying to raise the dead.”

Ed had not considered the ongoing creation of homunculus-vampires. He was silent for a long moment, thinking over that terrible prospect.

“No,” he said at last, and turned to Bradley. “I’m sorry, but I won’t risk spreading this infection to the other side of the Gate—not even to stop more vampires from being born. Now that we know how alchemy works here, we can study it. Maybe someday, we can even find a way to open the Gate without sacrificing a life, and send a message across… but I couldn’t be the one to carry it.”

Bradley inclined his head. “I respect that choice, Mr. Elric. Even if your world is unwittingly responsible for our hardship, no Hunter would wish our fate on your people.” He smiled ruefully. “As for you, I’m afraid all you’ll find with us is danger and an uncertain future… but if you truly wish to join us, no one would be more welcome.”

A thin smile touched Edward’s lips in return. He nodded once at Bradley, and looked to Noa for some sign of gladness; but she did not lift her downcast gaze to meet his.



© 2011 Jordanna Morgan


Chapters: 1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 :: 11 :: 12 :: 13 :: 14 :: Epilogue ::

Date: 2011-04-28 03:21 am (UTC)
amethyst_koneko: kitty Ed is love! (Default)
From: [personal profile] amethyst_koneko
*sigh* This is the story of Hohenheim's life - to always be a day late and a dollar short and always failing his boys, esp Ed. It was drastic and more than a little bit frightening to see but Ed showing his true colors, so to speak, was the only way to make Hohenheim see the error of his logic. Oh Hohenheim, Ed couldn't possibly go back the way he is now. Alchemy on its own is misused enough as it is. Adding a dhampir, a half homunculus, into the mix is just sheer insanity. :(

I see I was somewhat right in my guess last chapter about the alchemy. Blood is necessary and dhampirs can't perform alchemy, not without help anyway. :) At least the possibility that alchemy is still feasible still exists. I was surprised to see the Council in such an upheaval, on the verge of civil war no less, about the alchemy. One would think they'd embrace any weapon, esp one this effective, against vampires but apparently not. Leave it to Ed to always find himself in the middle of one crisis or another.

"...and I'll fight beside them, for as long as it takes." Be careful what you wish for Ed. Forever is a lot longer than you think it is. "...I'm afraid all you'll find with us is danger and an uncertain future." Alas such seems to be Ed's fate whether he's human or dhampir and why Noa can't look him in the eye. :(

Poor Kain. He didn't stand a chance. What a terrible way to go. ;_; I hope they find and put down Hughes soon. I hope Al is doing Ok. Well, as Ok as can be expected.

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