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prose_alchemistTitle: Blood Brothers (Epilogue)
Author:jordannamorgan
Archive Rights: Please request the author’s consent.
Rating/Warnings: PG for one rather gory scene, and scattered instances of dhampiric blood-drinking.
Characters: Alphonse, Edward, Noa, and my cast of “Hunter” alternate-world doubles.
Setting: This follows my story “Blood Ties”, but it assumes two events in that continuity did not happen: Ed and Noa were not made human again, and Ed was not returned to Amestris.
Summary: An alternative outcome to my story “Blood Ties”. Even as Edward tentatively begins to plan for a future in his dark new world, the dying Alphonse makes a choice that could reunite them once more—but at a great cost.
Disclaimer: They belong to Hiromu Arakawa. I’m just playing with them.
EPILOGUE
“London is as beautiful as I thought it would be,” Alphonse said serenely, gazing out across the Thames. “Even at night.”
At long last, Al was getting the exploratory walk through the streets of London that he had wanted. He traipsed cheerfully along the riverside walkway in the moonlight: admiring the architecture of the old buildings, reading the colorful signs, investigating new smells. Finally dressed in black Hunter clothes that were small enough for his underaged body, he looked indefinably more mature and graceful. Instead of the emaciated weakness he had shown when he arrived in this world, he was brimming with energy and strength.
Ed followed several paces behind his little brother, physically relaxed, but alert for any danger; and at Ed’s side walked Noa, just close enough for her sleeve to brush against his own now and then.
Sixteen days had passed since the Council’s verdict. During that time, the London Hunters had been away from the city they were charged with protecting, while they spent two weeks in Paris. The Elric brothers and their new comrades had presented their case for alchemy to the Council, and when it was met favorably, they began dispersing their alchemic knowledge to other Hunters—starting with the Councilors themselves. It was a tiring several days, as they carefully screened dozens of Hunter dhampirs who volunteered to become alchemists, and then shared blood and memories with them.
For now, actually using this new skill against vampires was a complicated and dangerous prospect. As easy as it was for dhampirs to gain the knowledge, they could only transmute with blood from human partners; while conversely, learning alchemy would take time for human Hunters. Perhaps a better system would take effect when enough humans were able to perform alchemy themselves, with the dhampirs serving to protect them and subdue their vampire targets. In the meantime, until human alchemists were trained and ready, the act of killing a vampire would take the combined powers of both Hunter races.
This was hardly the only challenge they faced. Although their visit to Paris was without incident, Ed had no doubt there would still be danger from those who opposed alchemy. More than that, when vampires realized they were now suddenly vulnerable to the Hunters’ new weapon, they were sure to fight back more viciously than ever before. If they continued to be selfishly solitary creatures, no one vampire would ever be undefeatable… but deep down, Ed felt a niggling fear of what might happen if they learned to work together for their survival.
The thought made Ed restless. He wanted to be on the offensive now, while the Hunters still held the element of surprise. He wanted as many vampires as possible to be eliminated quickly, before the threats the Hunters faced could organize themselves.
He wanted to have his hands on the job himself.
At least for now, that was out of the question. For the foreseeable future, the Elrics had been sent back to London, placed under a strict order of protection. Until the Hunters’ overall situation became more stable, the two teenagers’ minds were deemed far more valuable than their ability to fight firsthand.
“Sure, London’s great,” Ed muttered. “Only I’m starting to see why it was considered a punishment for Hughes to be assigned here. There are so many more vampires out there that need to be tracked down and taken out. What was the point of the Council accepting me as a Hunter, if they’re not going to let me hunt?”
Beside him, Noa gave a sympathetic chuckle. “You heard their reasoning, Ed. You and Al are the original source of alchemy in this world. The two of you have to be guarded at all costs—at least until we’ve readied enough alchemists to ensure that your knowledge will survive.”
“It’s not like we didn’t spread it to plenty of new alchemists in Paris.”
“But that isn’t the point. You’re more than just the first alchemists here. You’re… symbols.” Noa smiled gently at him. “As we work through all of this change and upheaval, the Hunters need an inspiration. Being the first to stand up to vampires in a way we never could before, and show us how to strike a killing blow… That means just as much as the knowledge of alchemy itself.”
Ed glanced at her with wry affection. “Somehow I think you’d make a way better figurehead than me.”
Noa shook her head. Unless it was his imagination, a glimmer of calm happiness seemed to have crept into her eyes.
“My place is at your side, Ed. I know that. I’ve always known—even before I ever saw you.”
Feeling a vague pang in his chest, Ed stopped walking, and faced Noa directly. Ahead of them, Al noticed that they had paused, but he didn’t intrude by moving back to where they stood. He waited for them instead, idly peering through the darkened windows of an antique shop.
“Noa…” Ed murmured, a little hesitantly.
He knew the words he wanted to say, but they had never come easily for him; not even toward Al, in a very different context. It shouldn’t have mattered, because Noa had already shared his feelings directly from his soul, but he still felt the need to express them in a more external way.
After a brief moment, her shining eyes darted away from his. She clasped her hands and continued walking, with another twitch of a smile.
“Actually, I have thought of something you can do until the Council clears you to hunt,” she remarked, rather casually. “You know things will be much simpler when human Hunters are trained as alchemists, but it will take them time to learn. Well, what they need for that… is a book of alchemy to learn from.”
Eyes widening, Ed halted again. “You mean Al and I should write it? An instruction book on the technique for killing vampires with alchemy?”
“You do know it better than anyone. Having a book to teach humans would help relieve that burden on the dhampir alchemists.” Noa frowned. “Of course, it could also fall into the wrong hands… but we already know rogue dhampirs can take the knowledge even more easily. There’s no reason not to give our human partners a resource that will help them learn more quickly.”
“Huh.” Ed gazed up at the night sky, scratching his chin, as he contemplated the proposal.
It certainly seemed like a sound plan. Even as the Hunters were making this awkward transition to alchemy, vampires and rogue dhampirs were still on the hunt. If human alchemy students had a book to study, it would reduce the amount of time dhampirs had to spend instructing them directly, and that would leave the dhampirs more free to focus on their normal duty of protecting innocent lives.
He was a little less sure of his fitness to write such a book himself. For all of his knowledge and natural talent, he was grudgingly aware that his mind was not exactly the most… organized. Even if he could put the necessary information in some semblance of order on paper, he wasn’t so certain he could make it simple enough for beginning students to handle.
But then, relatability was more Al’s area of skill. Ed knew he would be just as interested in this project. He could polish the manuscript properly, fill in the gaps Ed overlooked, make it readable and logical enough for a novice to follow. Between the two of them, maybe they could produce a suitable book. After all, they needed to cover only one grim subject. It was dangerous enough that dhampirs were gaining far broader alchemic knowledge from the Elric brothers’ memories. Unlike them, human Hunters could be given more limited information—and Ed planned to see that their curriculum was restricted to nothing more than the transmutation that would destroy vampires.
“Yeah… It’s not a bad idea. At least it’d be something to keep us busy for a while,” Ed mused.
Noa smiled gladly in response, and moved to step forward; and Ed felt the same stirring in his silent heart that had come a few moments before. Impulsively he reached out, the fingers of his left hand very gently catching her by the arm.
“But you know… maybe this time is good for something else, too. Maybe it’s a chance for us to think about…” He swallowed hard, gazing into Noa’s eyes. “About us.”
This time it was her eyes that widened, as her lips parted slightly in an expression of surprise and wonder.
“Ed… Do you really want that?”
Slowly and seriously, Edward nodded. His steel fingers tilted her chin up to kiss her. When she responded by melting happily into his arms, he held her, releasing a soft laugh of pure gladness and joy.
All of the evils in the world could wait. Just for a little while, he wanted to feel nothing but the love he felt now.
Finally, with some reluctance, he drew back a bit from Noa. He looked over her shoulder, toward his brother. “Hey, Al? Noa and I have a couple of ideas.”
“Yeah. I know. Did you forget how good my hearing is now?” Al smirked as he sauntered back to them from the bookstore window he had been browsing. “I heard everything you said. I think the alchemy book is a great plan. And as for your other idea…”
Al glanced toward the street corner where a small chapel stood, with light glowing through its stained glass windows. Then he abruptly seized Ed’s and Noa’s hands. They were both too startled to object as he pulled them over to the church’s heavy oak door, and knocked firmly.
Equally heavy steps could be heard inside. After a moment, the door creaked open—to present an imposing, bald-headed man in the clothes of a clergyman, whose kindly smile looked unfamiliar beneath his small eyes and large nose.
The three dhampirs glanced from the holy man to each other, with surprise spreading across their faces; and then, they started laughing.
“Good evening,” the man said in polite bemusement, raising his eyebrows at the unexplained mirth of his visitors. “I’m Parson Cornello. Is there something I can do for you?”
Alphonse, after a moment, was the first to swallow down his laughter. Smiling at the bewildered parson, he pushed Ed and Noa forward slightly, into the warm candlelight that spilled from the interior of the chapel.
“Pleased to meet you, sir. We’re here because my brother and his girl were wondering… Do you ever have weddings at night?”
Parson Cornello smiled at that, and ushered the three young Hunters inside.
LONDON, PRESENT DAY
Sometimes, when Edward Elric was gazing out over the moonlit city, he couldn’t help comparing the view to the one he had first known—more than ninety years ago.
Big Ben was the same, but he still wasn’t used to the massive wheel of the London Eye. He didn’t care for the lights and noises of traffic that now filled the streets at all hours, as society’s ever-increasing activity crowded upon the nocturnal domain of the Hunters. He didn’t care for the antennas and cell towers that sprouted on rooftops like weeds, or the bland, square modern buildings that had none of the character of the age-old capitol he had long ago chosen as his home.
For years, he and Alphonse and Noa had seen little of London. They had spent much of their time traveling, visiting other Hunter cells to teach them alchemy, or tracking down and eliminating especially nasty vampires themselves. Sometimes, it felt bittersweetly like the journeys he and his brother had shared in their own world.
World War II was the very worst time. The horrors of its predecessor, which Noa and so many of their friends had experienced firsthand, were magnified tenfold in those years of global madness. The Council was forced to flee from Paris before the Nazi occupation, relocating to London instead. Vampires flocked once more to humanity’s killing grounds in search of easy prey—incidentally creating thousands of newly turned dhampirs. Between their efforts to hunt vampires in the war zones, and to take in as many dhampir foundlings as possible before they could go rogue, the Hunters’ resources were strained to the limit… and there were darker, more terrible incidents, when Nazi scientists dabbled in the active development of dhampir soldiers. The Elrics and their comrades had personally taken part in many of the Hunters’ most crucial wartime missions, and seen things that no one should ever have had to see.
Since then, the relatively smaller wars and conflicts across the globe had created similar hotspots of vampiric activity, but not quite to the same degree. It was a recorded fact that after all these decades, there were fewer vampire-homunculi in the world than there had been then. This was due largely to the fact that the Hunters could now destroy them, and were doing so more quickly than new ones were appearing; but Ed liked to hope it also meant attempts at human transmutation had been reduced in his native world.
Occasionally, he and Al still explored theories on how to send some form of message through the Gate. To this day, they had never determined any method that would not cost a human life… and after so long, Ed sometimes even found himself questioning the value of the effort.
By now, everyone they had known in Amestris would be gone. Winry, General Mustang, Izumi Curtis: their friends and allies, all those who would have believed any message they could send, had by this time lived out their lives and passed on. Even little Elicia, if by chance she was still alive, would be close to a hundred years old.
Ed wondered if their world had seen the crush of changes this one had. He wondered if technology had consumed it too, or if it had somehow maintained a slower pace, preserved more of the comparative peace he now fondly remembered.
Certainly, there were moments of homesickness—but quite early on, Ed had ceased to be bitter about their fate. He had come to realize that this was where he and Al needed to be. There was a purpose for them here that went beyond anything they had known in their world. Back then, the quest they devoted themselves to had been about nothing but redeeming their own mistakes. Here, they were fighting for a greater cause… and it felt right.
“You’ve been quiet tonight,” Noa said gently at Ed’s side.
With a rueful smile, Ed turned to her and shrugged. “Just thinking, I guess.”
“Mmm.” Noa leaned closer to him and slipped an arm around his waist, prompting him to wrap his own left arm around her shoulders. “I usually worry about you more when you’re thinking than when you’re not thinking, you know.”
The remark earned a short laugh from Ed. He gave his wife an affectionate squeeze, resting his cheek against her hair. “I promise not to think in the middle of a fight, then.”
“When have you ever done that anyway?”
“Well, back when I could really use alchemy for more than killing vampires, I did have to calculate different arrays for—”
“That wasn’t thinking. With you, that was pure reflex.”
Edward ended the debate by placing his automail forefinger under her chin, to turn her face up to his and kiss her.
They were lingering in that moment of intimate sweetness when they heard the door open behind them. Alphonse sauntered out onto the roof, frowning in concentration: so absorbed by the digital tablet in his hands, he didn’t seem to notice the couple’s politely pulling away from each other.
It took more than thirty years after his arrival in this world, but Al’s body had finally matured to flawless young adulthood, and then ceased to age altogether. He was handsome, his figure slim and strong—and not unexpectedly, half a head taller than his big brother, which annoyed Ed to this day. More than that, Al was the most contented and well-adjusted dhampir Ed had ever known. He had somehow not only accepted, but embraced their condition and the life they led, truly believing it was far better than the grim alternatives he had faced alone in the world of their origins.
In spite of Ed’s misgivings, Al had also become a superb Hunter. The elder brother had feared what would happen when Al faced the prospect of destroying not only vampires, but once-human rogue dhampirs; yet it seemed as if the gentleness of his heart only strengthened his resolve. He wanted to give both of those lost creatures a compassionate release from existence, and he did so with a quiet, steady efficiency.
“We’ve gotten word from the Hunters in New York,” Al announced, tapping at his tablet. Technology was just one more thing he had taken to so much more easily than Ed had. “They lost a dhampir they were tracking, who they suspected of being a rogue. When they picked up his trail again, they found out he’d boarded a flight to Heathrow. It should be arriving in about an hour.”
Ed let out a groan. “You know, I told Bradley it was a bad idea to let Roy lead his own Hunter cell. The guy can’t do anything right.”
“Except save your life about fifty times in as many years…” Al muttered under his breath.
“And how many times did I save his? Two hundred?”
Noa chuckled. “Give him some credit, Ed. With the state of worldwide travel now, the New York cell does face some of the biggest challenges. Roy is doing the best job anyone could there.”
“Ten to one, Manhattan would be overrun with vampires and rogues if he didn’t have Riza to handle everything.”
“…Well.” Noa shrugged. “She’s part of it.”
“A big part,” Al conceded.
“I’m gonna have another talk with that guy,” Ed groused, narrowing his eyes. “In the meantime, I guess we’re heading for the airport, to catch the one that got away from him.”
With that, Ed slipped his hand into Noa’s, and they followed Al toward the stairwell—only to be met at the doorway by a lithe blonde woman.
“The car is waiting,” Marta informed them coolly. Then she glanced at Al, her eyes sparkling faintly with mischief. “And I’ve cleared away my duties to Councilor Bradley for the night. So I hope you don’t mind my coming along… to keep you out of trouble.”
A grin twitched across Al’s lips as he leaned forward and kissed her lightly. “Not at all.”
“You two,” Ed sniped, with a roll of his eyes. “I know it’s only been twenty years, but you’re not still newlyweds.”
“Oh, as if you old-timers weren’t being lovebirds up here when I walked out!” Al shot back.
Noa laughed softly, as she and Marta exchanged a knowing look. Then the two women seized their husbands by the arms, and began towing them down the stairs.
© 2015 Jordanna Morgan
CHAPTERS: I. - II. - III. - IV. - V. - Epilogue
Author:
jordannamorganArchive Rights: Please request the author’s consent.
Rating/Warnings: PG for one rather gory scene, and scattered instances of dhampiric blood-drinking.
Characters: Alphonse, Edward, Noa, and my cast of “Hunter” alternate-world doubles.
Setting: This follows my story “Blood Ties”, but it assumes two events in that continuity did not happen: Ed and Noa were not made human again, and Ed was not returned to Amestris.
Summary: An alternative outcome to my story “Blood Ties”. Even as Edward tentatively begins to plan for a future in his dark new world, the dying Alphonse makes a choice that could reunite them once more—but at a great cost.
Disclaimer: They belong to Hiromu Arakawa. I’m just playing with them.
“London is as beautiful as I thought it would be,” Alphonse said serenely, gazing out across the Thames. “Even at night.”
At long last, Al was getting the exploratory walk through the streets of London that he had wanted. He traipsed cheerfully along the riverside walkway in the moonlight: admiring the architecture of the old buildings, reading the colorful signs, investigating new smells. Finally dressed in black Hunter clothes that were small enough for his underaged body, he looked indefinably more mature and graceful. Instead of the emaciated weakness he had shown when he arrived in this world, he was brimming with energy and strength.
Ed followed several paces behind his little brother, physically relaxed, but alert for any danger; and at Ed’s side walked Noa, just close enough for her sleeve to brush against his own now and then.
Sixteen days had passed since the Council’s verdict. During that time, the London Hunters had been away from the city they were charged with protecting, while they spent two weeks in Paris. The Elric brothers and their new comrades had presented their case for alchemy to the Council, and when it was met favorably, they began dispersing their alchemic knowledge to other Hunters—starting with the Councilors themselves. It was a tiring several days, as they carefully screened dozens of Hunter dhampirs who volunteered to become alchemists, and then shared blood and memories with them.
For now, actually using this new skill against vampires was a complicated and dangerous prospect. As easy as it was for dhampirs to gain the knowledge, they could only transmute with blood from human partners; while conversely, learning alchemy would take time for human Hunters. Perhaps a better system would take effect when enough humans were able to perform alchemy themselves, with the dhampirs serving to protect them and subdue their vampire targets. In the meantime, until human alchemists were trained and ready, the act of killing a vampire would take the combined powers of both Hunter races.
This was hardly the only challenge they faced. Although their visit to Paris was without incident, Ed had no doubt there would still be danger from those who opposed alchemy. More than that, when vampires realized they were now suddenly vulnerable to the Hunters’ new weapon, they were sure to fight back more viciously than ever before. If they continued to be selfishly solitary creatures, no one vampire would ever be undefeatable… but deep down, Ed felt a niggling fear of what might happen if they learned to work together for their survival.
The thought made Ed restless. He wanted to be on the offensive now, while the Hunters still held the element of surprise. He wanted as many vampires as possible to be eliminated quickly, before the threats the Hunters faced could organize themselves.
He wanted to have his hands on the job himself.
At least for now, that was out of the question. For the foreseeable future, the Elrics had been sent back to London, placed under a strict order of protection. Until the Hunters’ overall situation became more stable, the two teenagers’ minds were deemed far more valuable than their ability to fight firsthand.
“Sure, London’s great,” Ed muttered. “Only I’m starting to see why it was considered a punishment for Hughes to be assigned here. There are so many more vampires out there that need to be tracked down and taken out. What was the point of the Council accepting me as a Hunter, if they’re not going to let me hunt?”
Beside him, Noa gave a sympathetic chuckle. “You heard their reasoning, Ed. You and Al are the original source of alchemy in this world. The two of you have to be guarded at all costs—at least until we’ve readied enough alchemists to ensure that your knowledge will survive.”
“It’s not like we didn’t spread it to plenty of new alchemists in Paris.”
“But that isn’t the point. You’re more than just the first alchemists here. You’re… symbols.” Noa smiled gently at him. “As we work through all of this change and upheaval, the Hunters need an inspiration. Being the first to stand up to vampires in a way we never could before, and show us how to strike a killing blow… That means just as much as the knowledge of alchemy itself.”
Ed glanced at her with wry affection. “Somehow I think you’d make a way better figurehead than me.”
Noa shook her head. Unless it was his imagination, a glimmer of calm happiness seemed to have crept into her eyes.
“My place is at your side, Ed. I know that. I’ve always known—even before I ever saw you.”
Feeling a vague pang in his chest, Ed stopped walking, and faced Noa directly. Ahead of them, Al noticed that they had paused, but he didn’t intrude by moving back to where they stood. He waited for them instead, idly peering through the darkened windows of an antique shop.
“Noa…” Ed murmured, a little hesitantly.
He knew the words he wanted to say, but they had never come easily for him; not even toward Al, in a very different context. It shouldn’t have mattered, because Noa had already shared his feelings directly from his soul, but he still felt the need to express them in a more external way.
After a brief moment, her shining eyes darted away from his. She clasped her hands and continued walking, with another twitch of a smile.
“Actually, I have thought of something you can do until the Council clears you to hunt,” she remarked, rather casually. “You know things will be much simpler when human Hunters are trained as alchemists, but it will take them time to learn. Well, what they need for that… is a book of alchemy to learn from.”
Eyes widening, Ed halted again. “You mean Al and I should write it? An instruction book on the technique for killing vampires with alchemy?”
“You do know it better than anyone. Having a book to teach humans would help relieve that burden on the dhampir alchemists.” Noa frowned. “Of course, it could also fall into the wrong hands… but we already know rogue dhampirs can take the knowledge even more easily. There’s no reason not to give our human partners a resource that will help them learn more quickly.”
“Huh.” Ed gazed up at the night sky, scratching his chin, as he contemplated the proposal.
It certainly seemed like a sound plan. Even as the Hunters were making this awkward transition to alchemy, vampires and rogue dhampirs were still on the hunt. If human alchemy students had a book to study, it would reduce the amount of time dhampirs had to spend instructing them directly, and that would leave the dhampirs more free to focus on their normal duty of protecting innocent lives.
He was a little less sure of his fitness to write such a book himself. For all of his knowledge and natural talent, he was grudgingly aware that his mind was not exactly the most… organized. Even if he could put the necessary information in some semblance of order on paper, he wasn’t so certain he could make it simple enough for beginning students to handle.
But then, relatability was more Al’s area of skill. Ed knew he would be just as interested in this project. He could polish the manuscript properly, fill in the gaps Ed overlooked, make it readable and logical enough for a novice to follow. Between the two of them, maybe they could produce a suitable book. After all, they needed to cover only one grim subject. It was dangerous enough that dhampirs were gaining far broader alchemic knowledge from the Elric brothers’ memories. Unlike them, human Hunters could be given more limited information—and Ed planned to see that their curriculum was restricted to nothing more than the transmutation that would destroy vampires.
“Yeah… It’s not a bad idea. At least it’d be something to keep us busy for a while,” Ed mused.
Noa smiled gladly in response, and moved to step forward; and Ed felt the same stirring in his silent heart that had come a few moments before. Impulsively he reached out, the fingers of his left hand very gently catching her by the arm.
“But you know… maybe this time is good for something else, too. Maybe it’s a chance for us to think about…” He swallowed hard, gazing into Noa’s eyes. “About us.”
This time it was her eyes that widened, as her lips parted slightly in an expression of surprise and wonder.
“Ed… Do you really want that?”
Slowly and seriously, Edward nodded. His steel fingers tilted her chin up to kiss her. When she responded by melting happily into his arms, he held her, releasing a soft laugh of pure gladness and joy.
All of the evils in the world could wait. Just for a little while, he wanted to feel nothing but the love he felt now.
Finally, with some reluctance, he drew back a bit from Noa. He looked over her shoulder, toward his brother. “Hey, Al? Noa and I have a couple of ideas.”
“Yeah. I know. Did you forget how good my hearing is now?” Al smirked as he sauntered back to them from the bookstore window he had been browsing. “I heard everything you said. I think the alchemy book is a great plan. And as for your other idea…”
Al glanced toward the street corner where a small chapel stood, with light glowing through its stained glass windows. Then he abruptly seized Ed’s and Noa’s hands. They were both too startled to object as he pulled them over to the church’s heavy oak door, and knocked firmly.
Equally heavy steps could be heard inside. After a moment, the door creaked open—to present an imposing, bald-headed man in the clothes of a clergyman, whose kindly smile looked unfamiliar beneath his small eyes and large nose.
The three dhampirs glanced from the holy man to each other, with surprise spreading across their faces; and then, they started laughing.
“Good evening,” the man said in polite bemusement, raising his eyebrows at the unexplained mirth of his visitors. “I’m Parson Cornello. Is there something I can do for you?”
Alphonse, after a moment, was the first to swallow down his laughter. Smiling at the bewildered parson, he pushed Ed and Noa forward slightly, into the warm candlelight that spilled from the interior of the chapel.
“Pleased to meet you, sir. We’re here because my brother and his girl were wondering… Do you ever have weddings at night?”
Parson Cornello smiled at that, and ushered the three young Hunters inside.
Sometimes, when Edward Elric was gazing out over the moonlit city, he couldn’t help comparing the view to the one he had first known—more than ninety years ago.
Big Ben was the same, but he still wasn’t used to the massive wheel of the London Eye. He didn’t care for the lights and noises of traffic that now filled the streets at all hours, as society’s ever-increasing activity crowded upon the nocturnal domain of the Hunters. He didn’t care for the antennas and cell towers that sprouted on rooftops like weeds, or the bland, square modern buildings that had none of the character of the age-old capitol he had long ago chosen as his home.
For years, he and Alphonse and Noa had seen little of London. They had spent much of their time traveling, visiting other Hunter cells to teach them alchemy, or tracking down and eliminating especially nasty vampires themselves. Sometimes, it felt bittersweetly like the journeys he and his brother had shared in their own world.
World War II was the very worst time. The horrors of its predecessor, which Noa and so many of their friends had experienced firsthand, were magnified tenfold in those years of global madness. The Council was forced to flee from Paris before the Nazi occupation, relocating to London instead. Vampires flocked once more to humanity’s killing grounds in search of easy prey—incidentally creating thousands of newly turned dhampirs. Between their efforts to hunt vampires in the war zones, and to take in as many dhampir foundlings as possible before they could go rogue, the Hunters’ resources were strained to the limit… and there were darker, more terrible incidents, when Nazi scientists dabbled in the active development of dhampir soldiers. The Elrics and their comrades had personally taken part in many of the Hunters’ most crucial wartime missions, and seen things that no one should ever have had to see.
Since then, the relatively smaller wars and conflicts across the globe had created similar hotspots of vampiric activity, but not quite to the same degree. It was a recorded fact that after all these decades, there were fewer vampire-homunculi in the world than there had been then. This was due largely to the fact that the Hunters could now destroy them, and were doing so more quickly than new ones were appearing; but Ed liked to hope it also meant attempts at human transmutation had been reduced in his native world.
Occasionally, he and Al still explored theories on how to send some form of message through the Gate. To this day, they had never determined any method that would not cost a human life… and after so long, Ed sometimes even found himself questioning the value of the effort.
By now, everyone they had known in Amestris would be gone. Winry, General Mustang, Izumi Curtis: their friends and allies, all those who would have believed any message they could send, had by this time lived out their lives and passed on. Even little Elicia, if by chance she was still alive, would be close to a hundred years old.
Ed wondered if their world had seen the crush of changes this one had. He wondered if technology had consumed it too, or if it had somehow maintained a slower pace, preserved more of the comparative peace he now fondly remembered.
Certainly, there were moments of homesickness—but quite early on, Ed had ceased to be bitter about their fate. He had come to realize that this was where he and Al needed to be. There was a purpose for them here that went beyond anything they had known in their world. Back then, the quest they devoted themselves to had been about nothing but redeeming their own mistakes. Here, they were fighting for a greater cause… and it felt right.
“You’ve been quiet tonight,” Noa said gently at Ed’s side.
With a rueful smile, Ed turned to her and shrugged. “Just thinking, I guess.”
“Mmm.” Noa leaned closer to him and slipped an arm around his waist, prompting him to wrap his own left arm around her shoulders. “I usually worry about you more when you’re thinking than when you’re not thinking, you know.”
The remark earned a short laugh from Ed. He gave his wife an affectionate squeeze, resting his cheek against her hair. “I promise not to think in the middle of a fight, then.”
“When have you ever done that anyway?”
“Well, back when I could really use alchemy for more than killing vampires, I did have to calculate different arrays for—”
“That wasn’t thinking. With you, that was pure reflex.”
Edward ended the debate by placing his automail forefinger under her chin, to turn her face up to his and kiss her.
They were lingering in that moment of intimate sweetness when they heard the door open behind them. Alphonse sauntered out onto the roof, frowning in concentration: so absorbed by the digital tablet in his hands, he didn’t seem to notice the couple’s politely pulling away from each other.
It took more than thirty years after his arrival in this world, but Al’s body had finally matured to flawless young adulthood, and then ceased to age altogether. He was handsome, his figure slim and strong—and not unexpectedly, half a head taller than his big brother, which annoyed Ed to this day. More than that, Al was the most contented and well-adjusted dhampir Ed had ever known. He had somehow not only accepted, but embraced their condition and the life they led, truly believing it was far better than the grim alternatives he had faced alone in the world of their origins.
In spite of Ed’s misgivings, Al had also become a superb Hunter. The elder brother had feared what would happen when Al faced the prospect of destroying not only vampires, but once-human rogue dhampirs; yet it seemed as if the gentleness of his heart only strengthened his resolve. He wanted to give both of those lost creatures a compassionate release from existence, and he did so with a quiet, steady efficiency.
“We’ve gotten word from the Hunters in New York,” Al announced, tapping at his tablet. Technology was just one more thing he had taken to so much more easily than Ed had. “They lost a dhampir they were tracking, who they suspected of being a rogue. When they picked up his trail again, they found out he’d boarded a flight to Heathrow. It should be arriving in about an hour.”
Ed let out a groan. “You know, I told Bradley it was a bad idea to let Roy lead his own Hunter cell. The guy can’t do anything right.”
“Except save your life about fifty times in as many years…” Al muttered under his breath.
“And how many times did I save his? Two hundred?”
Noa chuckled. “Give him some credit, Ed. With the state of worldwide travel now, the New York cell does face some of the biggest challenges. Roy is doing the best job anyone could there.”
“Ten to one, Manhattan would be overrun with vampires and rogues if he didn’t have Riza to handle everything.”
“…Well.” Noa shrugged. “She’s part of it.”
“A big part,” Al conceded.
“I’m gonna have another talk with that guy,” Ed groused, narrowing his eyes. “In the meantime, I guess we’re heading for the airport, to catch the one that got away from him.”
With that, Ed slipped his hand into Noa’s, and they followed Al toward the stairwell—only to be met at the doorway by a lithe blonde woman.
“The car is waiting,” Marta informed them coolly. Then she glanced at Al, her eyes sparkling faintly with mischief. “And I’ve cleared away my duties to Councilor Bradley for the night. So I hope you don’t mind my coming along… to keep you out of trouble.”
A grin twitched across Al’s lips as he leaned forward and kissed her lightly. “Not at all.”
“You two,” Ed sniped, with a roll of his eyes. “I know it’s only been twenty years, but you’re not still newlyweds.”
“Oh, as if you old-timers weren’t being lovebirds up here when I walked out!” Al shot back.
Noa laughed softly, as she and Marta exchanged a knowing look. Then the two women seized their husbands by the arms, and began towing them down the stairs.
© 2015 Jordanna Morgan
CHAPTERS: I. - II. - III. - IV. - V. - Epilogue