Prose Alchemist

Title: Blood Ties (3/14: Blood)
Author: 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.

( Chapter III: Blood )

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

Title: Blood Ties (1/14: Encounter)
Author: 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.
Notes: This story started with a simple idea. Instead of a dragon, what if a homunculus would actually become a vampire on the non-alchemic side of the Gate, preying on human life in the form of blood rather than Philosopher’s Stones? Things snowballed from there into a full-fledged AU. Along the way, this also became a means of writing my own ending to FMA, as a substitute for the bizarreness and lingering injustices of CoS. Here, the story of the Elric brothers’ journey reaches the conclusion (or not quite?) that I would like to have seen.
That said, you can forget everything about CoS here. This story opens at the same point, two years after the end of the series; but other than that and certain functional details of alchemy, the only element I’ve retained from the movie is Noa, and my interpretation of her is nothing like her film characterization. So as you read, please bear in mind that even the most minor differences from CoS are not oversights on my part, but deliberate rewrites. (Yes, including Ed’s braid. *g*)
My sincerest thanks goes to kristensk, who followed along through the process of writing this beast and gave invaluable moral support; and to mokka_kahvi, the artist I was teamed with for the FMA Big Bang, who created wonderful illustrations. Thank you also to readers who are kind enough to leave feedback! This is by far the longest and most complex fanfiction story I’ve ever written, so reader response to the work I put into it is especially valued.

( Chapter I: Encounter )

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