Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Return ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

Prologue: Chances

 

“Brother, are you sure we should meet with them? I mean, I thought you said we couldn't go back.” Alphonse Elric tagged after his brother like so many times before into a shady looking bar. Moving swiftly, the golden haired boys choose a seat at the back, ordering food and drink to drive the cold of Germany's winter from their bones.

Edward didn't look up from the table, deep in thought from the message he had gotten from the mysterious people that had decided to show up on his doorstep. `If you'd like to see Amestris again, meet us at the Dragon's Head at midnight.' “Al, doesn't it strike you odd that they used our name instead of Shamballa? Maybe, maybe they're from there too. And if they know a way to get home without using alchemy, without sacrificing human life, don't you think it's worth investigating? If we can go home, I'd like to see Winry again, and the others at Central. Grandma Pinako too. Could you see Mustang's face when we walk into his office, like we just got back from some far off mission?” Edward was startled from his wanderings when the food was placed on the table, and the pair was joined by three people, two men and one woman.

“Please it, I understand that you came a long way to see us.” The woman waved her hand with a flourish, requesting drinks for herself and her companions. “My name is Ayra. (A-ra) I understand you are not from this world.”

Right down to business, but she moved with such grace and ease that it was easy to fall into it. “Perhaps. How do you know the name Amestris? Are you with the Thule society?”

“Heaven's no! Those crackpots aren't part of us. We, my fair-headed alchemist, are one-of-a-kind genuine gate travelers, and we have a proposition for you.” Ayra pulled a folder from her coat pocket. “I need you to understand something. You die there, you die. No going anywhere else. And if you choose to take the deal, you can not return to here.”

Edward closed his eyes, thinking about what he had gleaned from Ayra and the journal. “To be able to see my friends again, to use alchemy. Noah is married, and in America now with the other gypsies. The war is started, and it looks like we couldn't have stopped it, nor the atomic bomb. We've closed the gate and the Thule society is no longer a threat to us or our world. We move from place to place to avoid the war, and the Nazis. We no longer have a purpose here. If there is a chance to get home, I will take it. Alphonse makes his own choices.”

“I go where you go brother!” Alphonse readily agreed, also worked up about the prospect of going home.

“That's your answer then and when do we leave?” Edward slapped his palms together in an old and very inefficient habit.

“At dawn, gather your belonging and meet us at the 83 Street station. We can have someone take care of your apartment and other things. You won't becoming back of course, that's pretty much impossible.”

“Is there any chance that this could go wrong? That we would end up here in another time or something? Or another world altogether?” Al was always thinking in terms of might bes and what ifs. He was a theorist of the best kind, but sometimes Edward grew tired of his clinical outlook on life. Years of being a suit of armor had made him sometimes detached, but at others like a three year old kid in a toy store.

“Nothing is a certainty. But you can not gain without risk.” Ayra stood, motioning to her two followers to rise as well. “We look forward to helping you home.”

`As I look forward to going home.' Ed thought, watching as the three strangers left the bar.