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[ Rushing headfirst into a conflict with only a minimal plan and hoping it works is truly the Elric way.

That is to say, following Wrath down to the ruins of the underground city was enough of a gamble. Wrath may have spent the past three years living in the woods outside of Risembool like an angry feral kitten, but he was still, you know, one of the homunculi. Though, Rose had told Alphonse that he had given them some vital help against Envy and Dante, so what little remains of Al's kiddish gullibility these days extended to thinking okay, I'll give him a chance, what do I have to lose at this point?

Uh. A lot, apparently. He was not expecting to have to deal with the 100 foot tall abomination that used to be Gluttony trying to eat them both, nor was he expecting Wrath to just...lay down and die. "You were willing to sacrifice yourself to get your brother back, right? I'm not going to let that happen again."

(Look. Look. It's not his fault that he and Ed have the kind of relationship where they'd jump in front of a train for each other, it's the sheer amount of bullshit they've been through. Which, a few years ago, included having to dig up their mom's grave and use one of her bones to kill the homunculus wearing her face, who they made, by the way, that was nice to find out. Not that Al remembers that at the moment, but he will momentarily. Truly, nothing nice ever happens in the 03 universe!!)

When Alphonse puts his hands down, he's not sure how this is going to work, or what's going to pop out of the other side--well, he's hoping to suddenly have Ed tumbling out, of course, but things never happen the easy way. For all he knows, it'll be Ed but catatonic, or it'll take half of the environment around him, or the worst of all--nothing. To have gotten this far and sacrificed this much and just have no result...it might break him a little.

Still, he's holding out hope. He may have become an unhinged little gremlin in the 3 years since Ed vanished, but he's still Al, which means he's still got his ever-present optimism! It's just...you know, less blind optimism, now.

Anyway. There are lots of hands. There's always so many weird, grabby little hands when the Gate is involved, and it skeeves him out, because he can remember the hands grabbing him that night when they were kids, pulling him away from the basement and out of Ed's grasp, past a doorway that no one was ever meant to cross more than once.

And yet.

And yet.

Here he is crossing it a third time.

The circle flashes again, and he's being subtly tugged past the threshold. His feet skid into the blackness beyond the doors, and he almost screams, but--he finds a hand inside that's solid, one that's attached to a real arm and not a spindly tendril. Putting all of his weight into tugging on the arm, he throws himself backward, back through the doorway, and lands on the concrete courtyard hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

He doesn't register the fact that he's still gripping Ed's arm with more force than is probably necessary, but uh, give him a minute. Three years worth of stuck-in-a-suit-of-armor memories just zoomed back into his noggin and he needs a moment--several moments, maybe a few months worth of moments for the entire thing with Sloth--to process it.

So, um. Welcome to the empty underground city ruins that Definitely Isn't Xerxes, Ed?? It was already in pretty bad shape, but Gluttony and Wrath wrecked the surrounding area even more, and there's a waterway nearby filled with red stones. Al is laying on his back kind of staring at the sky with a raptured look on his face, but he's breathing, at least. ]

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[Edward hadn't wanted to have to use Envy's Stone. But it had seemed to be the only way to try get them out of there. Out of Gluttony. He isn't entirely sure what to expect short of vaguely remembering his initial experience with the Gate, with Truth back when they had tried to resurrect Trisha.

He...certainly isn't expecting this. He isn't sure if he should panic and try pull back or not when he feels a hand at his arm. But then, there's a lot of hands involved with the Gate so it is harder to tell. He just lets it happen. Hoping that Ling and Envy make it out as well. He tumbles out of the Gate, barely initially registering where he is and just who had pulled him out. At least not initially as he just. Lies facedown on the ground, the floor, taking a moment to catch his breath before he eventually shifts in glancing around. Scrambling to get up at least to his hands and knees.]

Ling? Al? Alphonse....?

[He is pretty much right next to Al, but he doesn't immediately register just who it is. The other having slightly darker hair. Let alone that the last he saw Al, he had still been in the armour.]

[ Meanwhile a few dimensions away 03 Ed with his crappy clockwork automail and dapper 1920s suit tumbles out of Gluttony's mouth, rest in pieces..........

Edward calling his name snaps him out of his stupor--the names and faces of everyone he'd forgotten about flit around his head, Scar and Hughes and Lyra, Clara and the Tringhams, Nina--and he sits up. ]

I...it worked...

[ Al freezes, his hands slipping off of Ed's arm. It's not that he didn't expect it to work, it's more the reality of it. Seeing Ed through the other Al's eyes when he sleeps or projecting his mind into the other world through the suit of armor isn't the same as the tangibility of being in the same room. ]

It--it's me. I'm here.

[ His hands hover in the air. There's something weird about this that his racing mind isn't putting together, but--whatever! If Ed got a haircut or bought some new shoes overnight, that's the least of his problems. ]

A-Al....? Is that really...?

[He has no idea what was going on. Where Ling and Envy were. Gluttony for that matter. How Al had gotten his body back? Just how long had they been stuck in Gluttony? And where was this? Not that Ed is too concerned about their surroundings, upon getting hit with this. That Al was back in his original body somehow? He supposes the longer hair makes sense if his body had been at the Gate all these years, not being able to have cut it. He takes a moment in glancing to the other as in ensuring Al was alright. Or that this was real, as he reaches his left, flesh hand to Alphonse.]

How -- when....?

[He looks a little different. But Ed's not necessarily immediately suspicious on that. He hasn't seen Al's physical body in years at this point. Nor does he immediately comment on the clothing. He simply blinks, staring as it sinks in. Al. In his original body again. Ed has no idea when or how that happened, but. He's not about to really question it too much. He's almost feeling that threatening sting of tears in stunned, confused relief.]

[ Al only hesitates for a fraction of a second before he's clasping Ed's hand in both of his own. Three years since Ed vanished, plus three years stuck in that armor. It feels absolutely wild that it's been six entire years since he's gotten to do something simple like use his actual hands to be able to clap Ed on the back, or whatever other assorted sibling violence a pair of 10 year olds get up to. Pushing your dumbass brother into a river just isn't the same when you can't even feel it. ]

It's really me, haha... I told you I'd find a way. [ Tears are welling up in the corners of his eyes, too, but he blinks them back. He'll get all blubbery later (when he realizes the zeppelin invasion mysteriously stopped and doesn't have that looming over his head anymore).]

Edited 2023-09-17 04:40 (UTC)

How did you....?

[Ed isn't immediately registering the differences. Isn't immediately registering that he himself is different to what this Al would have been expecting. Given he is probably slightly younger, his hair not quite so long. His missing boot that he and Ling ate, the bandage around his head from that annoying cut that keeps opening up all the time. He is still barely having it sink in that Al did it. He was back in his original body. That confirmed his theory that it was possible. He's just not yet entirely sure on the how. But he glances down to their hands. His auto-mail, his flesh one. Al's warm, soft hands. Not the armour. Not anymore. After three long years. He probably would be quicker to simply lean in and hug Al if he weren't still in such shock of it. As if him reaching, actually touching Al might break the illusion or dream or something.]

You're back...!

[The Al being back in his original body should have meant that Ed's arm was back doesn't sink in. He's not really caring about that. Al's body was always more the priority over Ed dealing with the auto-mail. That Al could eat again. Could sleep and feel again...]

[ He's not going to say as much, but he wasn't holding out hope that the Gate would be nice enough this time around to give Ed's limbs back, honestly. Al feels lucky that they're both here and haven't been even further dismembered for having the audacity to open the Gate for the third damn time. Poking at a hornet's nest half a dozen times and hoping you won't get stung feels like wishful thinking.

Although, now he's really wondering where those missing limbs actually are. Wrath had them for a few years, but then Dante ripped them off to summon the Gate, and...then it's a big fat question mark. He files that train of thought away for later.

...speaking of Wrath. Oh God. Al's eyes flick down to the courtyard flooring beneath them, which is currently splashed with a charmingly enormous amount of blood. ]

--we should probably get out of here. I'm not sure how structurally sound this place is, especially lately.

[ What with the earthquakes.

Al gets to his feet, and he'd rather not let go of Ed's hand (let him have this pls), so he moves to pull Ed up with him. That's what gets him to notice the differences.

....

It's the height difference, because of course it is. Didn't Ed get taller in the other world...? Al could have sworn Ed finally gained a few inches over him. And now he's shorter, again. Hmm. He's gonna keep that to himself for the time being, he doesn't wanna ruin the moment.

As for this one, yup: taller, but still looks pretty young, darker hair and eyes, wearing his best Ed cosplay...something is afoot here and it's not the missing shoe. ]

Hm? Is....that blood?

[It's probably not surprising that Ed barely registered the smell of it. That metallic coppery taste. He's been all but swimming in the stuff with Gluttony for however long, after all. But he does pause when Al glances down and he feels the wet, red blood on the floor. That he glances around, wondering exactly where they are as he lets Al get them back to their feet. It doesn't look familiar? He doesn't think. Maybe it almost reminds of Xerxes but this seemed to be underground or something so that couldn't be it.]

Where are we...?

Um...yeah, it's not mine, though. I'll explain later, okay?

[ Al pulls on his wrist, motioning towards the stairs. It's gonna be a long trip up. They should get started. ]

Is it that unrecognizable, now? It's the city underneath Central.

But what -- ?

[What happened then? Of course he is relieved Al seems fine, that it isn't his blood but at the same time, Ed can't help being confused. Concerned. It's a lot to take in, as he glances around while Al pulls him along.]

Underneath Central?

[The way Al asks and says that implies Ed should recognize this? Should he? He doesn't think he recalls this place. He's pretty sure he should remember an entire city down here. That would seem pretty important. He raises an eyebrow as he glances around, following Al and letting the other lead the way, letting Al keep holding to his hand, his wrist if the other wants to.]

[ He does indeed hold on, even as he glances up at the laughably long, layered staircase that descends into the rock ceiling far above them. ]

Watch your step. I think part of it got broken while I was down here.

[ Al blinks in confusion at the question, though, and he slows down his climbing to shoot Ed a bewildered look. ]

Uh...yeah? The one that Dante was hiding out in. I know we had a pretty bad time down here, but don't tell me you forgot about it already.

[ Not that there's anything particularly good to remember about this place, but Ed strikes him as the type to not want to forget about the important stuff.

...

Unless--no. No, that can't be. ]

Right....

[Ed turns his attention from their surroundings to keep an eye on his footing when Al says to be careful. He's still pretty sure he's injured from fighting Envy anyway so he's taking it slow regardless, with his arm and ribs and all.]

Huh? Dante? Who...? I don't remember a Dante....?

[He is well aware he has had knocks on the head and such, with the fighting and situations they have ended up in over the years but even so. Ed isn't sure he likes this uneasy feeling at him not seeming to remember what Al is talking about. Who he is referring to. It isn't quite as bad a feeling as when he confronted Tucker, but it was still there all the same, this sense of unease, of something not being quite right but he can't quite place it exactly.]

Where's Ling and Envy anyway? They had to have come with me, right?

[And Gluttony for that matter.]

[ Oh, this isn't good. Of course it wasn't going to be that easy to get Ed back, he should have known something would end up going wrong. His stomach is churning anxiously, and he can't help but feel like he's made yet another fatal miscalculation.

Al waits until they hit a landing area and lets go of Ed's wrist. He pauses for a minute, looking back down at the bloody courtyard. ]

You don't...remember Dante. Or this city. [ Envy makes sense, maybe, he disappeared into the Gate when Ed did, but who the hell is Ling? He might be tempted to ask Ed if he hit his head on the concrete again, but that sounds like a name. ]

Brother...what's the last thing you remember doing before I grabbed you?

No. I don't remember any Dante. The last I remember was the idiot prince of Xing and Envy. We were stuck inside Gluttony -- apparently he's a failed attempt to create a Gate or something because Father is insane like that. But I....I used Envy's Stone to get us out. To open the Gate so we could leave. Because otherwise we were going to die in there. It was the only way to get out after Gluttony swallowed us.

[He admits, and it's clear from his voice, his expression that he wasn't happy about having to resort to doing that. To using the Stone. It's something he had never wanted to do since finding out the truth about how they were made. Using people's lives, their souls. The only reason he had been convinced was that he couldn't let himself die there like that when Al was waiting on him. That he had his promise to fix things. That Ling had Lan Fan and Fuu waiting for him too. Ed isn't sure on Al's side of things. What he last remembers. What had happened down here, as they slowly make their way up the stairs even if currently pausing in talking.]

What about you?

[ Ohhhhhhh, boy did he fuck up.

He doesn't know what Xing has to do with any of this (isn't that the huge country on the other side of the Eastern desert? why would they send one of their princes to Amestris?), but the fact that Ed is bringing it up at all is what makes it all click. It's a country from this world. Not whatever world he'd been seeing in his dreams, the one that had names and places he never recognized. So, wouldn't that mean--

...

Al feels a cold chill run up his spine as the reality settles in. It was never going to be that easy. There's no way that they'd just get a freebie from the Gate. Using Wrath and Gluttony wasn't the exchange, it was just the key that started the ignition in the first place.

He barely registers the rest of Ed's explanation the first time, and has to take a moment to process it. Envy again, like always. He felt like they'd never not be dealing with Envy, even though he disappeared into Munich, too, and Al supposes that's fair, given the family fallout that seems to find them wherever they are.

Gluttony being a false Gate is the thing here that makes the most sense, and it almost makes Al laugh, because of course Dante would try something like that. Except, Ed doesn't remember her. If he doesn't remember her, then who's directing all of the homunculi behind the scenes? Their dad?

He has a million questions that he wants to ask about basically everything Ed just said, but he's going to start with the most important one. His voice has gotten deeper in the past few years, but right now, it comes out small and squeaky. ]

You...you were still in Amestris? Not Germany? Munich? The city with the rockets.

Germany? No, I was in Amestris still. I did leave once, to head to Xerxes, but no farther than that. I'm not sure I remember a Germany or Munich on the maps...?

[Yeah. This is not helping that growing sense of unease. That something isn't quite adding up. Ed hasn't seen Al's body at the Gate yet but he isn't sure on what is going on. Why this Al seems to remember things differently. And not just that he might remember more than Ed given they had figured getting his body back but that their memories don't seem to match up? Or at least. Ed's don't or haven't caught up to Alphonse's? He can't help being on edge, wondering on what else Al hasn't told him that might not match up.]

Why? What's going on...?

I don't know. [ He's not unfamiliar with working by the seat of his pants, but this is the sort of uneasy atmosphere that makes him feel nauseous.

It's only by this point that he notices the other weird thing happening right now. They were hurrying out of here, but the commotion topside stopped. Al squints up at the rock ceiling like it might be able to up and tell him what's going on. ]

Xerxes...?

[ He feels like he should be recognizing that name, but the look on his face makes it obvious that he doesn't. ]

This isn't...something must have gone wrong, I don't know what, but--there's no prince from Xing in Amestris, right now. [ That seems like something he'd have heard about from the military grapevine by now, even if Xing was trying not to publicize it. ] And I've never heard of any place called Xerxes.

It isn't like it was exactly well known. Ling snuck into Amestris with his bodyguards. You and your habit of picking up strays, you found him on the street. He's a mooch, but he's willing to help out sometimes, I guess. When it counts. But -- no? Xerxes, the city that disappeared overnight? I remember stories even as a kid.

[But then. It obviously was not like Hohenheim has gone telling everyone. That Ed is yet aware of their heritage in that regard for the reason behind their unique eye and hair colour. Ed can't help the sinking, confused feeling in his stomach as more of what they say both makes sense and confuses one or the other. Something isn't right. This might not be the right place? Somehow? He isn't sure what happened and neither it seems is Al but. Something isn't adding up.]

This isn't.....?

[Home. At least. Not his time? His version? Somehow, with the Gates. He's not had an issue before but then he only messed with using them twice before the situation with Gluttony. This isn't his Alphonse?]

[ Al scowls at that description of himself because excuse you, he does not always go picking up strays, they come to him and what is he supposed to do? Not take them in? ]

No, I remember reading about that. The city in the desert that vanished, and no one was ever able to find any trace of it. Is that its name...? Xerxes? And you're saying you've actually been there?

[ He should feel way more excited about solving a 400 year old mystery, damn. He's too keyed up for this.

Al shoves his hands into his pockets in an attempt to make them stop shaking. It barely works.

He doesn't wanna say it. Saying it feels like admitting that Ed Prime is probably lost out there in a universe he's ill-equipped to deal with. ]

...I don't think so. You--the you that I've been looking for, has been in the world on the other side of the Gate for the past three years.

[ Why can't there be more worlds out there, he guesses. ]

Yeah. I probably should have talked to Winry first about going there with the auto-mail though. But. I'm glad I went.

[Even if he had no idea where they were going or why, at the time. Thanks to Armstrong just basically kidnapping him for a while like that to take him to see Ross. That she was alright, that she was alive was a relief. Ed raises an eyebrow though at what Al says. Sure, the Gates were....weird. But he hadn't been considering the idea of other worlds on the other side. He just knows it as that weird void like place where he had a bunch of information shoved at him. Where he had seen the Truth. Where his Gate was, connected to his ability to use alchemy.]

Three years? I guess I never considered there might be other worlds on the other side of the Gate. So, what, you were trying to get him back and I showed up when I opened the Gate to get out of Gluttony?

[ ...... ]

Your arm got overheated again, didn't it? Or was it sand getting stuck in the cogs, this time?

[ Neener-neener. Ed sure gave him shit for getting stuck in the sand outside Liore, but now the shoe is on the other foot!! He's been vindicated.

At the mention of the other Ed, though, he visibly tenses. ]

When you put it like that, it sounds so simple. [ .... ] Mmmm. I'd been looking for a way to open the Gate again, without any human transmutation.

[ Turns out that's impossible! For given value of "human". ]

O-oi.....I mean. Both, really. But it isn't like I exactly had time to prepare or anything, with Armstrong just grabbing me and running off the way he did......

[It's just that there is something so familiar that it is easy to fall into that typical sibling defensiveness and banter and teasing. Even if this isn't the same Alphonse. It's an Alphonse which means Ed still has that same instinctive response somehow.]

If there is a way to do that, I haven't figured it. Yet.

[But. He's promised. And vowed to himself to fix things for Al at least. So. He's trying to figure a workaround. That isn't using the Stone. Ed rubs at the back of his neck, looking apologetic at bringing up the other Ed, aware that must be something of a sore topic for Alphonse, whatever had happened that his Edward ended up on the other side of the Gate.]

Closest thing I've come up with is trying to look into alkahestry from Xing.

Good to see the Major isn't any different, I guess. [ a short laugh

It gives Al a similar feeling, anyway. He's still stewing in that uneasy, panicked way, but going through the motions of their usual stupid banter is bizarrely soothing. He's gotten used to traveling alone, but it's not the same.

And it tells him that though this might not be the Ed he hoped to reach, it's still Ed.

He takes a breath and starts up the stairs again, motioning for Ed to follow him. He's really gotta see what's going on above ground. ]

There's a way...kind of. But this was my last shot at it. There's no way I can open it again, unless I... [ Unless he wants to pay the Gate's toll with his body parts. He drifts off, because he realizes he probably shouldn't say that in front of Ed. Not with the sort of relationship they have.

Al shakes his head. ]

Alkahestry...? I feel like I've heard of that before, but I can't place it.

I'm not sure his stunt leaving with me like that really helped things with Winry but. I guess I can't say I would really expect anything else from him, when it was supposed to be all hush.

[It wouldn't be good if everyone found out that Ross was out there, heading to Xing and all. That she was alive when officially, she was reported dead and all. But through everything, even if this was a different Alphonse, he was still very much Al. That Ed can't help having that familiarity all the same. In the casual teasing or the casual way he talks about things together. He follows without a second thought, figuring to head up and go with Al to try figure what was going on and how they could fix things.]

Unless what? Maybe I can help. Ah, that is, alkahestry is like a sort of medical alchemy? From what little I've gathered. It's from Xing.

What was supposed to be hush?

[ He's trying to picture Armstrong on a stealth mission.......no, it's not working, it's way too funny imagining him tossing Ed over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and sprinting off into the distance.

Al shakes his head again. He not-so-subtly skips over Ed's offer, because nothing good is going to come from that. It's fine, forget he said anything. :') ]

Wait, really? Why did we never think of looking into that...

[ To be fair, they were getting tied up in The Elric Family Gong Show by the time their research hit a brick wall. There was the whole thing with Greed, and then--hm. Going down this particular part of memory lane makes him walk faster, like getting back into the fresh air will help or something. Al could have lived with the particular memory of Bradley stabbing Martel to death while she was hanging out inside of his armor getting permanently scrubbed out. Definitely not one that he needed back, thanks! ]

That we were going to Xerxes. We were ah. Meeting someone, is all.

[Ed can't be sure on how things went down with regards to Hughes here. If Al went through that and the subsequent mess with Ross being framed for it. So he figures to maybe keep that quiet. Though honestly, Ed is tiny and light enough for Armstrong and the chimeras to easily run around carrying him like it was no big deal, so Al isn't actually that far off with that image.]

I wouldn't necessarily have thought of it if I hadn't met some people from Xing. I figure if I can ask that girl about it since she knows alkahestry.....

[While some things were different, Ed would at least be able to figure that. Martel had been killed back home for him as well. He'd spent a while cleaning up the aftermath of it, trying to help Al as best he could and keep his seal from getting messed up.]