Chapter Text
The world was a hazy blur of color around him, whirring by as an indescribable kaleidoscope.
Life was going a mile a minute and showed no signs of hitting the breaks. Everything had been shifted into second gear since Edward came across his father in Resembool. From finding Lieutenant Ross alive in Xerxes to figuring out that the thing his brother and him transmuted wasn’t actually their mother at all– it felt like the moment Ed got some answers he was left with even more questions. But all of the thousands of issues he was trying to solve on his own were silenced when he got back to his hotel room in Central. Seeing Winry and Al safe was all he needed to know he was on the right path, even if his brother was a little worse for wear. Hell, even seeing that stupid prince and his servant was reassuring. But besides knowing they were all okay, there was something else that gave the Elric brothers all hope– the corpse they transmuted was proof they could get their bodies back.
It meant that Al was still alive, his body and soul bound by his spirit that tethered them from beyond the portal of truth. The same principle could be applied to his own missing limbs. But with the death of Lust, Alphonse also had even more unexpected news. When Mustang and Havoc first confronted her, she was in the middle of healing herself. Her form had been recovering from various gashes carved into her skin, they were deep cuts resulting from someone who fought with a sword. He described it as having to be from a single person, as no other kinds of injuries were present.
Edward’s eyes widened, the warm light from their room’s ceiling lamp reflected orange in his golden irises. “What are you implying? That one person took her on alone?!” He questioned in clear disbelief. “Was he able to tell if they were an alchemist?”
His brother shook his helmet. “Mustang didn’t see any transmutation marks, all of her injuries were even too. So if it were an alchemist they had to have been doing the same attack over and over again, she would’ve noticed something like that fairly quickly,” Al denied. Ed flopped onto his bed unceremoniously with his arms outstretched, he was joined by his brother soon after.
“So, just a swordsman, right? How good was this guy then?! Not even Ling could fend off a homunculus on his own!” He pushed his bangs from his face as he gestured his shock. “And where were they when you all were up against her?”
Al sat up, he wasn’t finished talking by the time Edward started his barrage of questions. He turned to watch Winry who was pointedly tinkering away at the desk in the far corner; she found it best to focus on her own things than to try to understand the alchemist gibberish they were spouting to each other. Someone had to make sure Ed didn’t destroy her next improvements to his automail.
“Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Havoc were able to get some of their questions answered before we fought her. The first one they asked was about where they went. All she said was that they ran off after she played dead and mentioned wanting to hunt them down… before Mustang, well, you know. As it turns out, there were two of them there, but only one that fought. My guess is that the other was just providing support to their friend,” Al explained.
“Huh? Two people?” Ed tilted his chin towards his brother as if he had the answer to his questions.
He nodded. “But that’s not even the most interesting part– Mustang told us that she called one a sniveling runt and the other a…” He hesitated. “...potential sacrifice .”
Instantaneously, Edward shot up to his feet. Whatever shock was on his face before paled in comparison to how he was now. Flaxen fair stood on end and he was void of any color. His skin crawled at the phrase. “So they’re like us then,” He concluded, hands balling into fists. “I thought you said they weren’t an alchemist?”
“I did. She said they were a potential sacrifice. That means they might not have been through the portal yet,” Alphonse refuted.
“But why single them out then? What makes them so special if they haven’t seen it yet?” He started pacing back and forth on the squeaky wood floors.
Thanks to Ed’s stomping, Al was cut off by Winry who had been tolerating them both up to this point. “It’s eleven at night you two! You can figure out whoever this is in the morning, okay?! You both had a hell of a day so you need to rest!” She hollered while brandishing a wrench.
“Yes, ma’am!” The two brothers yelped and hung their heads apologetically so as to not further encourage her rage. Winry rolled her eyes and moved into the separate room that was conjoined with theirs, slamming the wood door behind her.
Soon enough, Ed found the will to go to bed himself and crawled under the covers. His brother sat on the floor beside him with a soft clunk. “Winry’s right, brother. You should get some sleep. I’ve got all night to think this over,” He advised and there was a soft sadness underneath his usual caring self. Edward was reminded of his brother’s plight. What he told him about not wanting to stay up alone at night echoed in his head like shotgun fire. To lose a couple limbs was nothing in comparison to being completely bodiless. Not eating, sleeping, or feeling… for years? It was a hell that Edward blamed himself for putting him through every day.
However, despite that ever present guilt, he managed to drift into slumber. Not because he was tired, but because Al needed him to. He had to support both of their bodies as best as he could. Just as Alphonse promised to make sure to keep him out of trouble for both of their sakes. After all, that’s what brothers were supposed to do, look out for each other.
—
That next morning, the Elric brothers were startled by a sharp rapping at their door. A stern voice announced herself through it, “It’s Lieutenant Hawkeye. Wake up,” She commanded.
“Yeah, yeah, we heard ya loud and clear,” Edward sarcastically responded as he shrugged on his clothes and tightened his braid that he chose to sleep on for convenience’s sake. When he was ready, Al opened the door for her and she continued to stand at attention outside it. The brothers had come to know that this meant she needed them to go with her for some reason or another.
“We apprehended two people this morning when they tried to pass through checkpoints without proper documentation. Lieutenant Breda had them transferred to Central under suspicion that they could be the fugitives Lust was fighting prior to our meeting with her,” She explained and the two looked at each other with the same concerned shock. Ed figured Mustang had his men look all over Central last night in the hopes that they’d try to escape Central through a checkpoint. That man's persistence was impressive, but he expected nothing less from the Colonel. “It’s been a couple hours since, but we haven’t started an interrogation yet because Colonel Mustang thought the two of you should be present.”
Edward and Al both knew that the only reason Mustang held off was because of the single word they were hung up on the previous night, sacrifice . And the only resident experts they had in the subject of human transmutation were the two of them. “...I admire his generosity,” Ed mocked with an eye roll. Riza shrugged with a knowing smile.
The two boys waved in the direction of the other room, unsure if their guest was still asleep or not. “See ya later, Winry!” Alphonse chimed and in return she made some sort of half-asleep grunt of acknowledgment. Once they knew they didn’t commit another one of their infamous Irish goodbyes, they left with Hawkeye.
She led the two of them out of the hotel and to her car, which then sped towards the nearest federal building. Soon after showing the guards posted outside of the complex their identification, the three of them were walking down a flight of soulless stone stairs. Finally, after a few minutes, they reached the basement floor. It was a long hallway with cells large enough to house groups of people inside lined across from one another. They trailed Hawkeye until she reached the end of the ominous hallway. A small metal door sat in the middle of the negative space of a cement wall. She pulled its handle down and opened it, revealing a small interrogation room flooded by harsh fluorescent lighting.
Inside the room was a table with people seated on either side of it. The single audio recorder that was positioned in the corner of the ceiling had since been burnt to a crisp, as to not leave any trace left behind about what they were going to be discussing. Edward easily assumed that was Mustang’s doing. His assumption was proven right as the raven haired man sat square in the seat closest to the doorway. “Good, you’re right on time,” He said. “Take a seat, Fullmetal,” Mustang gestured to the metal chair beside him and Ed did as instructed, shutting and locking the door behind him as they came into the space. Behind the two of them, his brother and the Lieutenant stood.
When he was settled, Edward’s eyes fell onto who was across from them. On the left was a boy younger than Al, probably only eleven or twelve years old, with his bangs swept over and across his face. He tugged at the orange scarf on his neck as he sneered across at the four of them. Beside the kid was someone who was entirely in contrast to him. The other prisoner was no older than Ed himself but appeared to be from a completely different background and upbringing. His dark hair was longer than his own, exploding from the ponytail on the back of his head and the patterned robes he wore were torn at the edges barely covering his tall, broad form. Both boys looked like they had done nothing but live in nature for the past couple months.
But after looking into the older one’s doll-like face for a moment, he realized what had been so fascinating about him in the first place. Edward allowed himself to glance further around his appearance and stopped at his handcuff bound wrists. His hand rested perfectly still and at every joint on his textureless fingers there was a fabricated seam. His arms weren’t real, nor were they automail. They were wooden .
After a few seconds of tense silence, the youngest spoke up. “Well are ya gonna interrogate us already or just stare?!” He hissed, clearly annoyed.
Edward snapped out of his thoughts and back to the present situation, he had all the information he needed to begin. “How come your arms are wooden?” He asked completely careless of how rude it could’ve come off as. Alphonse facepalmed.
“Eh?! That’s none of your business!” The little kid barked back.
Mustang cleared his throat, eyes shooting daggers at the kid. “He wasn’t asking you.”
The child crossed his arms, unaffected by Colonel Mustang’s glare. “Yeah? Well, bro can’t talk, jackasses. What else ya wanna know?” He scoffed.
Edward tried to speak but instead was cut off by Riza who seemed to be the only one there who cared for professionalism. “How about your names?” She asked patiently.
The older one turned to the boy and bobbed his head. The kid nodded back, some sort of silent agreement being struck between them. “...I’m Dororo and this is my brother, Hyakkimaru,” The child answered.
Alphonse seemed eerily quiet up until this point, finally speaking up once they introduced themselves. He looked towards the older prisoner with some sort of understanding. He could tell something about him that not even his brother could notice. “Hyakkimaru, you can’t see, can you? And if I had to guess you can’t smell or feel either. I’d even bet that the legs you have are prosthetics too,” He assumed and Dororo seemed shocked to hear something so insightful come from one of them.
“How did you—?” He muttered looking between his brother and Al for some obvious sign that wasn’t there. He was joined by everyone’s surprise as well when Hyakkimaru nodded once more to confirm his guesses, unbothered by them pointing these aspects of himself out.
Edward furrowed his brows, clearly distressed. “How much of yourself did you have to give away? What were you trying to do?” He asked in regards to what he thought to be another case of human transmutation.
The youngest chimed in again, offended at such a presumption. “The hell are you talking about?! He didn’t give away anything! And he’s already gotten his hearing, touch, and left leg back!” Retorted Dororo passionately.
“T-That’s impossible…” Mustang looked at Edward for some kind of explanation but was disappointed to see the same look of confusion aimed towards him as well. He quickly took out a pen and notebook from his coat pocket, placing them in front of Hyakkimaru. His younger brother seemed to understand what this meant and helped position his wooden fingers to hold the pen so he could write. “I don’t think we’re all on the same page here. I’m going to need you to explain everything about yourself,” The Colonel demanded.
Slowly, the room watched as Hyakkimaru’s hand wrote on the paper with unsteady handwriting. But what he put down wasn’t at all what he was asked for.
“The one on the left is missing an arm and a leg. Tall one is a bodiless soul inside metal. Both are only part human.”
As if they couldn’t be more shocked, the sightless man seemed to see Ed and Al clearly. So clearly in fact, that his third sentence confused them utterly. Edward figured he should bring up how he thought they were only part human later, but for now he was able to settle for the assumption that he just meant they were missing parts of their body.
“…What the hell?” Ed asked dumbly.
Dororo’s face grew a proud smirk, beaming at his brother’s astute commentary. “He can see, just not in the traditional sense. He sees the color and shapes of souls. I don’t fully understand it myself since he can’t really explain it to me, but trust me it helps see through a lot of disguises! Ha ha!” He chuckled before getting serious again, waving a hand towards the Elrics. “What I don’t get is why he hasn’t tried to attack either of you yet since y’ain’t like the rest of us,” He nonchalantly said with a shrug of his shoulders, going along with his brother’s observation
Alphonse’s hands gripped his helmet, exasperated. “Attack us?!?!” He gasped, clearly worried.
Dororo looked bored by their surprise, as if they somehow knew what he did. “Yeah, he’s not exactly cuffed, ya know.”
As if to demonstrate his point, Hyakkimaru removed his full prosthetic out from his wooden forearm to reveal a sharp blade that was sheathed beneath it. It was long enough to be the one that could’ve been used against Lust. The two officers jumped and readied themselves after he revealed the weapon, afraid he was planning to use it. Only for Hyakki to briefly place it over his mouth to gesture a shush at his brother, before returning the blade from where it hid inside his wooden hand. After this with everyone but his own sibling on edge, he wrote again, this time further clarifying for them what Dororo was yammering about before.
“You’re neither demons or monsters. I won’t hurt you.”
Edward eased up when the enigmatic fugitive bowed his head and smiled softly at everyone. He couldn’t explain why, but he was compelled by him. He wanted to learn more, he had to. Hyakkimaru was a mystery and as an alchemist he desired nothing more than the truth and knowledge. He grinned back, albeit more toothy and feral than his counterpart. “So that’s why you fought Lust. You saw what she actually was.”
“Lust?” Dororo echoed.
Alphonse raised a hand slightly to chime in. “The scary woman with the crawl hands.” The kid nodded, connecting the name with her face. He continued. “You know… she didn’t truly die when you left her, right?”
Ignoring his brother’s disbelief, Hyakkimaru turned away like he was embarrassed by this and then slowly nodded. So he did know that he didn’t kill her after all.
“You didn’t destroy the stone inside Lust’s body. That’s how she regenerates,” Mustang told him and Hyakkimaru’s expression stiffened. He snapped his fingers and lit a small flame on his index finger. It was no bigger than what a lighter would make, but he used it to perpetuate his point. “It took some effort, but I was able to finish the job. She shouldn’t be an issue for us anymore.”
Hyakkimaru took up the pen once more, struggling to grasp it at first.
“I felt when you killed her. My ability to feel returned as soon as she died. Thank you.”
Edward threw his hands in the air with a hastily revelation. “That’s what I don’t get! How come you’re getting your body back piece by piece after killing the homunculi and other monsters?! What kind of trade did you make with Truth?!” He stood from his seat in a huff.
Hyakkimaru winced at his suddenly loud accusatory voice. He dropped the pen and attempted to cover his ears with his bound hands, straining from the sound. Alphonse put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, stilling him. When he realized his mistake, he covered his mouth guiltily and carefully sat back down. The room got quiet and the only one who spoke was Dororo who outstretched his hands to the Lieutenant in a silent plea. “Can you please take these things off so I can help him? We’ve already shown that they’re useless,” His voice was hushed but urgent.
The Colonel glanced towards Hawkeye and she curtly nodded, bringing the key towards both the prisoners’ handcuffs. Once their hands were free, the child stood on his seat to use his own hands to cover Hyakkimaru’s ears so he could write. Eventually when the ringing pain left, he shook his brother’s hands off and Dororo sat back down. “Hyakki just got his hearing back not so long ago, he’s still not used to sound all that much. Even my voice annoys him sometimes,” He explained thoughtfully and everyone noted that they should be quieter.
Hyakkimaru flipped the page to face the group again when he finished answering Edward’s questions. If his pursed frown was any proof, he was getting tired of this interrogation.
“I don’t know who “Truth” is and I never made any kind of deal… but my father did. My body was fed to various different demons and fiends in return for him to be powerful. Now I fight to get my body back, every one that is killed restores the piece they took from me.”
The officers and Elric brothers fell quiet as they considered what Hyakkimaru said. Did he even go through the portal at all? Was it possible that he was sent through it before birth? And was it because he wasn’t born yet, that Truth took everything of his and scattered them to every supernatural beast out there? That is, if Truth was even involved with him at all.
The brothers didn’t believe in a God, but they did know that whatever natural order Truth aimed to keep in balance was so important that he was willing to sentence someone to a life of constant battle. That was the difference between the three of them– their bodies were still alive somewhere out there, they just had to find them. But Hyakkimaru was doomed to leave corpses in his wake in order to regain his own piece by piece.
This torment was something none of them could empathize with. No one except Alphonse, of course. He was the only one there who truly understood what it felt like to be trapped inside his own form, he seemed to understand how it felt to lose almost all of your senses. Both he and Hyakkimaru were forced to inhabit bodies that weren’t entirely their own.
Al’s relaxing voice brought a much needed levity to the room. He sounded almost as if he were coaxing a wounded animal out of its cave. “I lost my body too, so I know it must be hard for you to only have only one limb back. Even as a soul bound to this suit of armor, I’m still able to hear, speak, and see somehow. I envy how you can feel pain just as you envy all of our speech and sight. But… You and your brother don’t have to deal with this all alone, you know,” He started carefully, easing him in so his older brother could finish his explanation.
Edward took his right glove off and rolled up his sleeve, showing the child his automail since he already knew that his brother could tell one of his arms wasn’t real. He looked down at his arm as he turned it back and forth. The painful memory of when his brother and him tried to bring back their mother came to him as he gazed at it. It was the same lesson he forced himself to internalize no matter how much it hurt him to think about. The same principle he wasn’t sure the two siblings understood.
“In this world there’s one rule that binds all of us, the Law of Equivalent Exchange. When something is created, something of equal value must be taken away. Hyakkimaru, it seems like you’re stuck between this exchange like my brother is–”
Heckling laughter erupted from the child as he pointed at the both of them. “You’re brothers ?!” He interrupted.
Ed laughed a little too, used to this response. “Yeah, Edward and Alphonse Elric. Something similar to your brother happened to both of us. We lost our bodies and have been trying to get them back for the past couple years now. This is Colonel Mustang, he’s an alchemist just like us. Him, Lieutenant Hawkeye, and us are all here to help you. We’re going to get you out of here too. We just needed to make sure you were really the two that fought Lust.”
Ed placed his hands to the table, he felt like anything was possible now that they met these two fugitives. They were two of the last few missing pieces to the whole puzzle. “Since you were what your father offered in his deal, only you can take back what you’re owed from those he gave it to. But you already knew that,” He carded his hands through his hair absentmindedly. “We gave ourselves in exchange to bring back someone that we couldn’t and in return we got something that never actually existed in the first place. That’s why we have to earn our bodies back straight from the source,” Edward sighed before he got to his point, it was hard for him not to lose people when he started spouting alchemist jargon. “...Hyakkimaru, you’re the only person who’s survived human transmutation.”
The two other siblings turned to each other with tilted heads and raised eyebrows. Thankfully, the Colonel unconsciously clarified what human transmutation entailed for them. “I thought you just found out that bringing a human back from the dead was impossible , Fullmetal,” His expression tensed at the implication he made.
He agreed, crossing his arms. “It is, that’s still true. But no one thought to use it to do the opposite.”
“What are you implying, brother?” Alphonse asked.
Instead of answering him, Hyakkimaru held up the notebook with what he wrote down as they were speaking. The look on his porcelain face was grave, his glassy hazel eyes were squinted and his bangs fell in his face in disarray.
“Resurrecting the dead is impossible. But killing the living is.”
Ed smirked, despite himself. Having come to the same conclusion as he had, he elaborated further for the group. “The reason Hyakkimaru is alive is because human transmutation will never work. If it did, he wouldn’t be here right now. It was because of that impossibility that his father and whoever he made his deal with failed to kill him,” He explained, looking at the long haired pseudo-samurai with a beaming, yet slightly arrogant, smile.
By some miracle, Hyakkimaru smiled back at him, an expression that was just as unexpected the second time as it was the first time he witnessed it. It was like he could hear the happiness and pride in his voice, so he knew he should be smiling too. His angled features softened and for a brief second Edward could see his true self behind all that was taken from him. There was hope and a stubborn willpower there, not just for himself but for all of them. Being allowed that subtle vulnerability made Edward’s chest tighten and heart stop. He couldn’t help but think about how awe inspiring Hyakkimaru was, in Ed’s eyes he was incredible.
Dororo placed his hands to the table and stood on his seat again, thrilled even if he hardly understood what they were talking about. “So what you’re saying is that there’s a chance my bro can get his body back faster?!” He chirped.
He nodded, grinning towards him. “A better one than either of us. Hell, he might be our ticket to figuring out how we can get ours back ourselves!” Ed crowed, gesturing his excitement by pumping his fist in the air.
Alphonse’s tinny voice echoed his sentiment. “We won’t stop until we get our bodies back and we’ll do whatever we can to help your brother get his back too. Alright?” He chimed and Dororo nodded his head vigorously, ponytail trailing back and forth in the air.
“It seems like we’ve done our job here,” Hawkeye commented with a tired smile. “You boys wait here while I get the transport ready. We need to find you a new place to stay outside of Central since Dororo and Hyakkimaru are still fugitives,” She turned towards the door and opened it, allowing for the interrogation room light to spill out into the dark hall for a final time.
“Wait, we're living with you two?!?!” Dororo crowed.
“Would you rather stay in a cell?” She offered back and he made a grossed out face at her, sticking out his tongue. They are stood up one after another in order to follow the senior officers out the room.
As they were walking Alphonse turned to Mustang and walked in stride with him to keep his attention. “What about Winry? If it's not safe here for the two of them, it's not for her either!” He urged.
He fixed his gloves as he walked, pulling on the seams to fit it tighter. “You can take her and the kid to the station this evening, put them on the first train back to Rush Valley. The fighter needs to stay though. Wherever we move you will be our new rendezvous point for when things go bad… and they will ,” He decided and while Al agreed, all of them were stopped by their new companion who stood in front of them with one arm outstretched to block them all and the other holding his younger brother's hand.
In a voice as loud as he could muster, Dororo retorted in a way that none of them could challenge. Between his determination and Hyakkimaru’s stern look, it seemed like a done deal. So, as he jabbed his thumb in the middle of his chest to point toward himself, Dororo demanded:
“My bro ain’t going anywhere if I’m not with ‘em!”