Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Veritas Hominum ❯ Across the Divide ( Chapter 11 )

A/N: This is a project for my English class, and since its due in a few weeks, I'll try and update at least once or twice a day. Thanks for all the great reviews!

 

ooo

 

Across the Divide

 

Santa Fe, 1936

 

He was running as fast as he could. The hot, noonday sun of the New Mexico desert beat down on him making him sweat profusely. Ignoring the growing concentration of sand in his boots, he continued to run through the dunes.

 

I have to get to the lab before they do, he thought. He was briefly reminded of his annoyance that he had been forced to build his lab out in the middle of nowhere, but perhaps it was a good thing. It would take the enemy a few more hours to find it.

 

The assholes. They had no idea what they were doing and were drunk on the ideals of their own superiority and immortality. Ed had hoped that after his escape from Germany to the United States they would have stopped chasing him, but it seems that once the Thule Society takes an interest in you, they tend to be reticent to let you go.

 

The telegram he had received earlier that day was still fresh in his mind.

 

Edward Elric,

 

We have Paracelsus. Return to Berlin at once.

 

“Paracelsus,” he spat. “They thought they were being cute.” He'd read somewhere that there had been a famous alchemist in the sixteenth century by the name of Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim who had used the nickname of Paracelsus.

 

The assholes had his father. And Edward knew what they wanted.

 

He reached the door to the lab and threw himself inside. It was just as he'd left it, so no one had beaten him there. He breathed a sigh of relief. His project lay in its case, untouched. He gingerly picked it up, studying his masterpiece - Winry would have been proud - it was a perfect melding of alchemy and mechanics.

 

He had meant for it to be a source of electrical power for the world, but since the American government was funding his research, they required that he create a weapon in secret first before beginning research on any practical function.

 

It had been so simple, really: when a stress is applied to a system at equilibrium the system will adjust to relieve the stress.

 

In Amestris, he had been taught the law of equivalent exchange in alchemy. This world also had a law of equivalent exchange, but it was called something else: the Law of Conservation of Mass. Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. However, what Amestris alchemists were unaware of was that energy can't be created or destroyed either and energy was what fueled their transmutations.

 

Amestris alchemists also were unaware of a more important rule: the system doesn't work one way. If the life energies of the people in this world fueled the alchemic transmutations in Amestris, in order for the equilibrium to be maintained the energy must flow back the other direction somehow.

 

It just took Ed awhile to find out how to harness it. Once he had, the American government assured him that anything he needed would be his. Cold fusion was an impressive feat, and he would be well compensated for his efforts, even if he was a German scientist on the run from the Nazi Party.

 

He checked the device for any signs of tampering and was about to put it down when something on it caught his eye. He turned it over and bright red numbers blinking, counting down to zero.

 

Somebody tripped it. It had to have been the Americans. They knew they were after me.

 

The timer blinked 5, then 4, then 3…

 

His last thought was of Winry and Al and home. He closed his eyes, and the world went black.