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“I’ll be back in a few minutes, so stand back and enjoy the show!” Ed Said clapping his hands together for what he thought would be the last time, as the alchemical light flared around him he slammed his hands to the ground, “Stop Ed!” “Elric!” “No Edward Elric” shouted Ling, Darius, Heinkel and Armstrong.

Once again he stood before Truth, “I take it you’re here to retrieve your Brother.” The White being said cheerfully, “you bet!” The Alchemist Stated boldly “and I’ve got your payment right here” he said gesturing to the floating door behind him, “As wonderful as a payment that would be human this time I’m going to offer you anther choice, when you and your brother attempted human transmutation I took to much, I was angry for your father’s sins and took more then I should have, your brother was only supposed to lose his right leg as you lost your left” the Truth sighed shaking is head as it continued to speak” as an apology and thanks for saving me I will give you to option, either you give up your alchemy and your brother and return to present, or I will send you and your brother to right after the first time I met you. Its your choice young alchemist.”

Ed stared in baffled shock at Truth “you mean I can go back and Al will still have his body?” “Correct, but as you are returning to right after I met you the first time I toll will still have to be payed, so you both will be missing legs.” Truth stated pleased. “I will on one condition, I will take the toll for both of us, Al doesn’t deserve to have to go through the pain of losing a limb.” Ed answer determinedly, “Deal young alchemist!” Truth said happily grin widening on his face but instead of it’s normal cruel smirk this one seemed to be of genuine happiness.

“go grab your brother and exit through his door that will send you back to the past. Good luck young alchemist!” The truth said cheerily to Ed, “I will.” Ed said happily as Truth disappeared in to nothing, as Ed walked towards Al with a small time one his face Al stood up and Ed said “That was crazy huh Al?” “Speak for yourself” the younger answered, as they walked towards Al’s gate he asked “so brother what did you exchange for me?” “You’ll find out in a minute!” The older answered cheerfully with a soft smile on his face.

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Alphonse was the first to wake up, he looked around the room as the last flashes of purple energy flared around him, as his gaze started to move towards the middle of the room a faint moan was heard from next to him, “don’t look” a soft voice said.

He looked over to the direction the voice was coming from and saw a 11 year old Ed lying in a pool of blood, “what happened brother!” Al shouted rushing over to his older brother. “I need you to transmute your over shirt in to bandages for me, Al” he answered breathing heavily “O-Okay brother.” Al replied shakily he quickly clapped his hands together and touched his white over shirt, as he quickly made his way over to ed he noticed the blood poring out of his missing arm and leg.

“Brother! What happened. Y-your Arm and your l-leg, they’re g-gone!” He yelled voice trembling “and w-why are you 11 again?!” He asked tightly wrapping the stumps, “Truth offered me a deal *cough* it turns out It too much when we tried to bring mom back.” he said wincing as the shirt turned bandages was wrapped around his arm “turns out you were only supposed to lose a leg” he said wheezing slightly “the deal was we were sent back to right after the failed transmutation with both of us missing a leg, but I couldn’t let that happed to you not after you just got your body back, so..” He trailed of as a coughing fit took over.

“Brother, we need to get you to Granny’s, tell me the rest on the way.” Al said helping his older brother up, “yeah thats probably a good idea.” Ed replied as he and his brother made their way to Pinako’s.

After that had made their way to the road leading between the two houses Ed started to talk again “like I was saying before I couldn’t bear to have you losing a leg, so I bargained with It so only I would be paying the toll.” “Brother! You idiot!” Al chastised him as they continued the trek to Pinako’s house “I would have been fine.” Al countered his brother’s logic “now come on just a little further.” He said encouragingly to his brother as they limped/walked there.

When there arrived to the door of Pinako’s house Al banged on it with his fist, as the door was opened by Pinako herself, he said desperately “please help him.” Right as Ed passed out in his arms “Ed.. Al?..” Winry said trailing of in shock as Pinako gasped.

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As Ed awaked he heard voices talking I the room next door, one he identified as Al the other two had to be Winry and Granny, as he sat up with a slight moan he heard the voices suddenly stop.

“Brother! You’re awake!” Al shouted happily running into the room, “yeah, I’m up. He answered groggily “Now that you’re both awake I would like to know exactly what happened.” Pinako stated sternly Ed and Al looked silently asking the other if they were okay with telling them the whole story.

“Okay but you may need sit down.” Al warned Pinako and Winry as the two sat down, Ed said as an after thought “were going to give you a simplified version, as we could be hear for days if we don’t. “Okay..” Winry said hesitantly “well the short version is this…” Al started “Al let me.” Ed said “Okay.” Al replied

“At ages 11 and 10 Al and I attempted Human Transmutation on mom,” Ed paused as Winry and Pinako gasped Ed continued “Al lost his body and I lost and arm and leg, I got automail and joined the state to look for a way to get Al’s body back, as we went on our journey we discovered corruption inside the military and took them down, now I can’t get into details as it will put you both at great risk.” “Ed you make it sound as if you and Al are not from this time.” Pinako interrupted Ed’s story “we are Al and I are 16 and 15, now if you would let me continue you shriveled up old hag. As I was saying we destroyed to corruption and Al sacrificed his soul to save me I tried to sacrifice my alchemy to save his body and soul, but I was offered a deal, in exchange for Al’s body and soul we were to be sent back in time and we would both lose a leg as price for the attempted transmutation of mom, but I made a deal so I would pay both tolls so Al and I were sent back here where we rushed over to your house.” “And you know to rest.” Al said as Pinkano and Winry stared shock.

“Well that explains some things.” Pinkao said “like how calm Al was when you two stumbled to my door half dead and covered in blood. “So you’re really from they future?” Winry asked in disbelief the boys looked at each other and nodded, while they were distracted looking at each other Winry pulled out twin wrenches and smacked each brother on the head “YOU IDOITS!” She yelled at the two Elrics “Ow Win what was that for!” Ed yelled as Al moaned and clutched his head in pain “You idiots!! What were you thinking trying human transmutation!” We’re sorry We’re sorry!!” The brother yelled in panic.

“Now that we’ve told you our story, Granny there’s some money in a closet in the house.” Ed started to say before Pinako interrupted him as he was taking a breath “don’t worry I’ll make sure no one gets it.” “That not what I’m asking, I want you to take it as payment for automail.’ Winry and Pinako gasped as Al shook his head slightly “Ed automail surgery is the most painful int he world, are you sure you want to do this?” Winry asked “I’ve done it once I can do it again.” Ed stated with determination in his voice.

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“Al..” Ed started to say “Yes brother?” The boy said shortly after, “I think before I get tied down by Bradley again we should head to Xing to learn Alkahestry, so The Dwarf in the Flash can’t turn our alchemy off.” Al nodded along as this seemed like a good ides to him “and…” Ed continued with a smirk “Then you can see Mei even sooner.” at this the younger brother blushed bright red while his brother laughed at his embarrassment.

“Boys, we have everything thing ready.” Pinako said coming in the room “Are you ready for this Ed?” The old women continued “ “Yeah” Ed said taking a deep breath “Lets do this.” Pinako walked over and she and Al transferred Ed from the bed to the wheelchair.

Grabbing the handles she started pushing the boy towards the operating room while Al watched with a proud but grim expression on his face.

One day later Ed had finally woken up, “Brother! You’re awake!” Al said joyously “Yeah. Hey granny when can I start on rehab.” The boy in the bed said with a soft but determined note in his voice “well.. you should be able to start in about two weeks in finish by time you’re 14.” Winry answered the question for her grandmother “I’ll finish in one years time.” The stubborn boy said with a fiery determination.

A short while after the boy had slipped into a restful sleep Al look at his big brother with a fierce look of love and pride for what he had given up for him, yet the boy could not help but feel a bit miffed for Ed talking payment for both of them.

A few hours later Ed was woken from his sleep by the dog barking while a faint “hush, Den don’t bark at our guests.” Was heard from the other room. “Those words they sound familiar”, the boy thought to himself “I wonder why then it clicked SHIT Mustang. I forgot all about him..An oh no Al’s all alone with him, and he was not happy last time” the young Alchemist stumbled out of the bed shuffling on his leg and using his arm to help move him self forward.

Just as he made his way into the room the door burst open a angry Man was seen shoving through the door,”where are the Elrics.” He said with irritation in his voice as he caught sight of Al at the table he started to make his way to the boy about to grab him by the scruff of his shirt when he heard a voice call out from the other side of the room “hey! I’m the one you want to talk to. Leave my little brother alone.” As the military officer turned towards. The voice of what he assumed must be the older brother he took in the form standing at the door way.

“Are you Edward Elric.” He asked with a slightly more calm note to his voice.

“Yeah, now if you want to yell at someone it will be me, leave my brother out of this.” They boy said protectively as the man marched forwards and said as calm has he could manage “we went to your house we saw the floor, what. did. You. Do.” He asked accentuating the last four words, the boy looked up him with fiery Golden eyes

“we tried human transmutation to bring our mom back.” At moment Al chose to speak up “but we failed, you can’t bring the dead back to life.” the boy answered sadly “I had guessed as much” the man said evenly, taking a glance at Ed’s missing limbs he said “and your limbs, why are they gone.”

“A toll, for the attempt at playing god or what even you want to call it.” The eldest said shaking his head slightly. “Come let’s sit, and you tell us the rest of he story” the blonde woman who come in the black hair man said gently trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

As the officers and the brothers sat opposite each other at the table the colonel said with a bit of awe in his voice “when the second lieutenant and I heard the rumors of two brilliant alchemists in this town, we came to investigate, the last thing I expected was a pair of children advanced enough to attempt human transmutation.” As the man looked at the boys he noticed the shorter one seemed to be holding back anger.

“Something I said shorty?” The man said teasingly, what he was not expecting was the child to suddenly explode shouting “WHO’RE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT NOT EVEN WITH A MICROSCOPE COULD YOU SEE HIM!!” The colonel started in shock for a second before bursting into laughter, “well..” He said sill slightly laughing “I think they’re plenty qualified to join the state if they choose.” the brothers looked to each other as if asking each other what to do.

“Thank you for the offer sir” Alphonse said after a few seconds of debate “but..” He continued “my brother I would like to travel to Xing, in order to study their Alkahestry, we heard it has medical properties and would like to learn more before trying to become State Alchemists.” “Very well” the man replied diplomatically.

“When you are ready come visit me at central, the name is..” “Lieutenant colonel Roy Mustang, yeah I know the ever famous Flame alchemist” Ed interrupted with a small smirk the man stared at the kid for ruining his dramatic exit, before returning the small smirk with a laugh, “well then kid I’ll see you and your brother in a few years, come on second lieutenant.” He said making his way to the door.

As the door closed Ed and Al looked at each other before bursting in laughter “I-I forgot how smug the colonel was!” The taller one of the two said “Yeah! His was so smug!” The shorter replied.

“Now down to business, I’m ready to start will my automail rehabilitation” Ed said finally having stopped laughing “all right, brother” Al said watching his older brother with pride.

Chapter Text

One year later

“Hey Al, I was thinking” Ed said standing up his metal limbs creaking slightly.

“when we go to Xing why don’t we try to stay with Mei’s clan, we could bring a gift so they will be more likely to accept us in.”
“yeah….” The younger answered “hey! I have an idea, dad used to have a some hand written journals in his study..” Al said with enthusiasm “what if we told them how we are sons of the western sage.” “Great idea! I once overheard Mei talking about how the legends say the western sage had golden hair and eyes.” Ed said getting excited too “and..” All continued the Ed’s thought “We could bring a picture of us with dad so they know were telling the truth.” “Yeah, boy it sure is handy we didn’t burn down the house!” To two brothers shared a small laugh at that fact.

Later that day the two boys made their way to their childhood home, as they arrived at the door step they took a deep breath looking at each other for a bit of comfort.

The two brothers walked in the door and took a moment to truly look around and reminisce, as they made their way to the study Al spotted the only photo they had of all four of them, he picked it up with a soft smile of his face taking a look at the smiling face of his mother, he took a moment to simply look at her face, as they had burned down their house it had been a long time since he has seen a good photo of his mom, as his eyes panned of the rest of the photo, he noticed himself as a baby with confused looked in his eye, and took a moment to softly chuckle at his younger self’s face, as his eye continued over the rest he saw his brother as a two year old looking still as mischievous as ever and smirked a bit at that fact.

When he finally looked at his dad he noticed some he never had before his dad was.. crying? Before he could contemplate the reason why he heard his brother call him from the other room.

“Hey Al!” The boy yelled “check it out! I found the old man’s journals!” “Coming brother!” He said tucking the photo in the bag he brought for some books and journals.

As he came into the room he saw his brother gathering up some books from the tallest shelf, “hey Al” the oldest said flipping trough a alchemy book “I think we should leave a note telling dad where we will be so he can still find us before the Promise Day.”

“Good idea, but we don’t want to make it too obvious, we should write it in Xingesse.” The younger put in his two cents “right, I hadn’t thought of that, but Al we don’t know Xingesse.” Ed pointed out

“um.. actually” Al half mumbled “when I was hanging out with Mei she took it upon herself to teach me her language.” “YOU MEAN YOU’VE KNOW XINGESSE THIS WHOLE TIME!!” Ed shouted in astonishment “yeah!” Al replied with an awkward laugh rubbing the back of his head.

“Well damn, this makes going to Xing a lot easier..” Ed said half laughing.

the two sat down at the kitchen table after grabbing some of Hohenheim’s journals and alchemy books, Al suddenly ran back the study to grab some pens and paper, when he came back the two sat down and started on their letters.

Ed’s letter

Hey bastard,

Al and I know all about Father and the homunculi, and are traveling to Xing to learn Alkahestry, and then heading to central.

We can’t tell you the whole story over letter we will meet in you in Liore three months before the Promise Day.

-Edward Elric

Al’s Letter

Hi Dad,

First off sorry for what ever brother is saying, and second he and I were foolish and attempted humans transmutation to bring Mom back to life, obviously as you know, it failed.

Now he and I are going to Xing then to Central to become State Alchemists, yes I know we will be right in the thick of Homunculi activity but we want to gather allies and keep an eye on Father.

We would like to meet with you three months before the promise day to discuss and come up with a plan.

Love,
Alphonse Elric

After finishing their letters the brothers hung then by string in the front door way so that their father would not miss seeing them, that being done the two headed upstair to pack their bags for the long journey ahead.

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Ok Ed thought looking over the list in his hand one last time

LIST:
Food X
Water X
Heat Repellant Wrap for Automail X
Luggage X
Al X
Bedding X
Chalk (Just in case I lose my arm) X
Toiletries X
Alchemy Books X
Bastard’s Journals X
Translation Book Made By Al (in case I forget a word) X

“Okay Al, we got every thing on the list!” Ed yelled to his brother as Al was packing up the wagon and camel they bought with the left over money. “Great!” The taller of the two shouted back “Ready to go” Al asked “yeah, come out to go say bye Winry and Granny.” Ed replied making his way to Pinako’s “okay!” Al yelled catching up quickly.

As two boys made their into the house Winry launched herself at them, “do you have to go?” She asked eye watering “Don’t worry Winry, it won’t be that long” Al said hugging his basically big sister “yeah Win.” Ed Replied also hugging in basically sister “and we’ll send you letters every week!” Ed said trying to lift the girl’s spirts.

“yeah! Every week!” Al said smiling “okay.. But you had better write or I’ll personally come there to beat you two myself!” The blonde said all of a sudden, no longer sad and instead angry “WE WILL WE WILL!!” The boys shouted together in fear of their friend’s wrench wielding wrath.

“BYE” the brothers yelled as Ed drove the camel in to to distance heading towards the great desert “bye!” Winry and Pinako yelled back waving as the boys road off in to the sunrise.

“Ugh..” Ed moaned lying in the back of the wagon, “its..so…hot…” he moaned miserably raising his heat resistant wrapped arm in the air trying too shield his as as much as possible from the sun, “this is why I hate deserts!” We complained to his brother who was taking his turn of driving the camel drawn wagon.

“Brother.” Al said chastising tone of voice, “beside we’re almost to the border.” “Fine, but let me drive for a while you’ve been driving for 4 hours straight.” Ed answer grumpily Al nodded in acknowledgment, the boys quickly switched places with Ed driving and Al riding in the back with all the food, water and luggage.

As they approached the boarder they noticed a group of Xingesse women gathering water from a well, they road their wagon up to the women, stepping off the brother approached the group Al leading they way as he was the most fluent in Xingesse, “hello!” He said waving as he and Ed wlked towards the women “hello, are you travelers?” Asked the closest woman “yes!” Al replied “do you know the direction the Chang clan lives?” “You young traveler you are in luck, my name is Violet my husband and I are the leaders of the Chang clan.” The Women answered with a kind smile on her face “wonderful!” Al exclaimed excitedly.

“I was wondering if my brother I could stay with your clan for while we are here in Xing?” He asked cautiously trying to to offend anyone as he was not accustomed to the cultural here in Xing, “I’m sorry dears but we are a small clan and don’t have any spare places for travelers.” Violet with hints of pity and sorrow in her voice,

“Don’t worry…” Ed spoke up for the first time finally comfortable enough to test his Xingesse “Al and I are the sons of the Western sage and have some of his hand written journals, as such we are accomplished Alchemists, so housing will not be a problem, as for food we are hard workers and willing to help out to earn our share.” He stated with a confident but slightly nervous edge to his voice.

“Of corse” and “how could we not have noticed” rang out from the surrounding women after the brief chattering had died down Violet spoke “ah yes, Golden hair and eyes said only to be had by the Western Sage, how could we have not noticed, yes you boys are welcome to stay here for as long as you want.” She said a smile on her face,

The brothers look at each other before asking one last question, “mrs, Chang I was wondering if we could learn Alkahestry here?” Al asked curiously already knowing that Mei knew Alkahestry but not sure if she could teach them,

“Why of course dears, anything for the sons of the Western sage.” Violet said with a small bit of awe in her voice “but..” She continued “before learning Alkahestry we need two get you two a house.” “Don’t worry..” Ed spoke up “just give us the materials and we can build one using alchemy!” He said with a bit of pride in his voice

“but..” Violet said confused “why do you want to learn Alkahestry if you already are masters in alchemy, I don’t know much about alchemy but from what I’ve heard from travelers it’s similar to Alkahestry. “Alchemy focuses in attack and defense while Alkahestry is more the long distance and medical practices, my brother and I want to learn all we can about Alkahestry and decided to make the journey to Xing to learn it.”

Al said doing his best to explain the differences “well in that case you should have my daughter teach you, she in the best Alkahest in the village.” Violet replied to the younger brother, “well then!..” Ed spoke up “lets go get settled in!” “Of corse right this way.” Violet said leading them in the direction of the village.

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As they walked the brothers noticed the desert landscape fading from desert to rocky mountains, “so, Mrs, Chang..” Al asked as the group was making their way across the rocky trail, Ed riding in the wagon with as many people they could fit in it. “If you want you can Call me Violet.” Violet said turning to look at the boy, before Al could reply Ed piped in “Hey Mrs, Chang how much further?” “Just a little longer, you see that fog ahead.” “Yeah…” “just passed that will be the Chang village.” After a pause Violet spoke up again “Oh yes, boys I forgot to ask in all of the excitement, what are your names.” “Oh! My name is Alphonse but everyone called me Al, and this is my brother..” “Older brother!” Ed cut in “yes older brother Edward Elric or as we call him Ed.” Al continued shaking his head at his brother’s antics.

The group continued to walk on the narrow mountain road twisting and turning its way through the mountain range, as they approached a large curve on the dangerous road a summer breeze swept away the morning fog revealing a small village nestled into the mountain side.

“Wow!!” Ed yelled attracting all eyes to turn to him, “That mountain is really REALLY TALL!!!!” Al simply shook his head at his siblings antics. “Yes,” Mrs, Chang said with a slight nod of the head and a laugh, “My clan have worked for hundreds of years carving away the mountain side, making paths and houses.” “That’s really impressive, the Chang’s must have lots of determination.” Al said admiring the intricate Xingese buildings practically carved into the mountain side, “Yeah!” Ed agreed “it must also be fantastic for defense, between the fog, and from the other side of the mountain range the buildings would be almost invisible!”.

Turning to look at the energetic eleven year old Violet smiled agreeing that yes it was a perfect defense from other clans.

When they had almost reached the village Mrs, Chang turned to the boys “I know you are interested in learning Alkahestry, currently we only had two Alkahests, Mr Lee and my eight yer old daughter Mei.” Before Al could even pipe up Ed Said “if we could Mrs, Chang we would prefer to learn from your daughter, it would be nice to have a teacher close to our age.” Al nodded his agreement in the background, with a surprised look the older women turned to the two boys, “of course! it makes sense. How about tonight you boys can stay at our house and meet Mei, as its getting late then tomorrow you boys can build a house if you want.”

“Sounds wonderful, thank you Mrs, Chang!” Al said looking up with a soft smile on his face little did Violet know it was not of the idea of resting for the night but instead of being able to see Mei. Ed catching on to what Al was smiling about turned to smirk at his brother, Al seeing how his brother was looking at his retorted with “keep looking at me like that and you’ll turn in to Mustang.” A smirk of his own slipped on to his face “OH yeah! Look at your own face!” Ed yelled acting offended.

Violet looked back at the bickering boys and smiled softly.

They finally arrived at the main house at sunset, it was just Ed, Al and Violet as the rest of the women had slipped off earlier to go to their own houses, Mrs, Chang walked up to the door knocking swiftly, the door creaked open and a black haired blur dashed out running up to Violet and hugging her deeply, “Mom!!” A childish voice yelled as the brothers stood in mild shock, as Violet stood up they saw in her arms Mei only about four years younger, “who are they?” She asked sounding confused not that Ed would blame her, he too would be a bit confused if two strange kinds came to his house.

“This is Edward and Alphonse Elric, they came here to learn Alkahestry from you.” Mrs. Chang said to her daughter “from me..?” Mei said looking up at the two of them since her mother had set her down. When Al nodded as that was all he could do as he was blushing so bad he couldn’t seem to get any words out, when Mei saw his nod her face erupted in a pink flush matching Al’s, looking at the blushing pair Ed and Violet shared a smirk.

“Come now, lets go have some dinner, we can talk more with some food in our stomachs.” The trio folowed her inside the house, as they rounded a corner the brothers gasped in delight at the food in front of them, seeing their faces Mei laughed “I guess you guys haven’t eating in awhile!” The boys looked at each other and shook their heads, that of course only made Mei laugh harder before long the brothers were joining in.

After the laughter had died down Violet came over “come on guys lets eat.” Walking over to the table the brothers sat next to each other, while Mei too her spot next to her mother and Al. “Dig in!” Mrs, Chang said.
As everyone was enjoying dinner nothing occurred to Al “hey Mei..” The boy started “Yes?” Mei replied “I was winding who made all this food?” “Well..” The girl stared say “I made it!” She finished with a smile handiing a bamboo stick to Xiao Mei “wow that amazing! You mean you made this all yourself!” The younger brother replied with awe at the compliment Mei face flush a soft shade of pink, “mh hm” she said nodding, “there turn are some amazing people in this world huh brother.” “Yup!” Ed said chiming in, with that they all went back to laughing and luring more about one another.

After dinner they all said goodnight and Ed and Al were lead to their room by Mrs, Chang “I know its not very big but it’s the only guest room we have, “it’s wonderful, thank you Violet.” Al said looking around the room, it is a pale yellow painted room with a queen sized bed and a bookcase. Ed walked over to the bed and immediately flopped down onto it, the younger of the two only shook his head at his brother’s antics. With a smile Violet made to leave the room before stopping in the door way.

“You boys seem to get along really well with Mei, If the room isn’t to small you’re welcome to stay here, I’m sure Mei would be delighted.” “Oh yes please! If you don’t mind?” Al said excitedly before realizing that they might be imposing, “Of course not!.” The woman replied “well.. at least let us help out with chores and stuff.” Ed added from the bed in the corner having not moved since they arrived in to bedroom. “That would be Wonderfull, Good night boys!” Violet said walking out the door. A “goodnight Mrs. Chang!” Was heard from both boys as she walked down the hall way.

“Hey, Al.” “yes brother.” They boys were in their sleeping ware laying in the bed together, “I was thinking since we’ve been sent to the past it means we can save Hughes and Nina.” Ed said looking at the ceiling “oh yeah!” Al said suddenly excitedly sitting up, “and Greed, also maybe we can stop Dwarf in the Flask from sending the Colonel through the portal!” Yeah! Ed said joining his brother sitting up, “but Al.. we have to be careful we need do things similar to last time or the Homunculi might gain the upper edge.” “You’re right.. but that doesn’t mean we won’t to everything in our power to save as many people as possible!” Al said “that right!” Ed replied. With that the brothers hugged goodnight before slowly drifting off the sleep, both with looks of fierce looks of determination on their faces.

Chapter Text

in the morning Al woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside the window, he took a moment to simply appreciate the warm feel of sun on his face and the slight smell of lilac that seemed to always follow Mei, at the thought of the Xingese Princess his face took on a pink hue.

He was so happy to have a chance to get to know Mei for a few more years before they had to deal with the homunculi, ‘yes’ he thought to himself ‘this time around things will be better’. Before he could even move he heard his brother stirring next to him.

As Ed woke up,nwhich took awhile, he was not a morning person Al said “hey brother..” “Yeah Al?” The boy replied groggily “do you think we could go make Mei and her mom breakfast? I think they would really enjoy it!” “Sure” the eldest replied standing up and making his way over to their trunks on the floor, “but first let’s get unpacked a bit.” Al simply nodded his agreement and came to stand next to his brother.

In no time at all the boys had finished unpacking, the books we lined up on the top three rows of the bookshelf with Ed and Al’s clothes on the bottom two, that finished the brothers quickly got dressed and made their way down stairs, as they walked through the dining room to what they assumed was the kitchen they quickly assessed the cooking situation.

“Al..” “yes brother?” “I’m going to go see what ingredients they have in stock, can you start heating the oven up?” Ed said making his way over to the pantry, “Sure!” Al called from over on his side of the room “I assume we’re making Mom’s pancakes?” A replying “Yup” was heard from deep inside the pantry.

Just as Al was washing his hands Ed walked of of the pantry arms laden with flour, sugar and vanilla extract, the older boy set the ingredients down and came to stand next to his brother by the sink and began to wash his hands too. As Ed was adding the ingredients to the bowl he had gotten out Al started melting the butter in a pan over the stove, while the butter was being melted Ed proceeded to the fridge for milk and eggs, holding his nose and pretending the milk was not actually milk Ed added them to the bowl.

While his brother stirred the pancake batter at high speeds Al poured the melted butter into a glass pan he had found in the cupboard, spreading it around with a pastry brush, once the butter had cooled down again forming a thick layer over the bottom of the pan Ed walked over with the mixing bowl, Al came up next to his older brother and together the two of them poured the contents of the bowl into the pan.

Having finished pour the batter in the brothers put the pan into the piping hot oven before finding a timer and setting it, while the Elrics waited for the Pancakes to finish cooking they went back into the dining room and began to set the table.

With that task completed Ed headed over to the pantry to get powdered sugar and syrup, “hey Al!” He called from inside the pantry “Yes brother?” The younger answered “Would go wake up Mei and Mr and mrs Chang and tell them breakfast will be ready in five?” “Sure!” Al replied making his way through the dining room and to the first door on the right, right next to theirs.

He knocked gently on the door, after a few seconds a sleepy voice replied ‘yes..?” “Good morning Mei, Ed wanted me to let you know breakfast would be ready in five minutes.” He said blushing when he heard the groggy girl’s voice, a small “thanks” was heard from inside before Al made his way over to the other door.

As he knocked a voice replied “yeah?” “Um,Mrs Chang, brother wanted me to let you know breakfast would be ready in five minutes.” “Thanks, we’ll be down in a minute.” Mrs, Chang said with a hint of a smile in her voice.

His task completed Al made his way back to the dining room to see Ed already sitting down at the table, plates at each spot each filled with a still steaming pancake.

Not long after Al had joined his brother at the table Mei came into the room followed not long after by her mother, they each took the same spot at the table as they had the night before, thanking the brothers for making breakfast, “it was the least we could do!” Al said when Mei had voiced her gratitude “Yeah!” Ed pipped in “what with you teaching us Alkahestry and letting us stay in your house it was the least we could do!”

After every one had finished breakfast Mei stood up announcing “all right! In one hour we start Alkahestry lessons!” Before striding out confidently Xiao Mei coping her on her shoulder, with a shared look the brothers jumped up ready to start the day.