First Fragment
Title: The Xerxian
Fandom: FullMetal Alchemist
Pairing: none
Rating: K+
Genre: adventure, horror, supernatural
Warnings: AU, spoilers
Author’s Note: The basis of this fic is mostly mangaverse, which I’m most familiar with, but I used Dante as well, because it made more sense than an OC, and she’s not an important part anyway. If you haven’t read all of the manga or watched all of Brotherhood, then this might not make sense.
Disclaimer: All characters are copyright to their respective copyright holders.
Summary: Edward has always known that people, in general, are stupid, so he liked to avoid them. Now, there’s no one left to avoid.
“Always be smarter than the people who hire you.”
-Lena Horne
First Fragment
The Xerxian
Hohenhiem had-not fallen in love, exactly-adored Dante. He held attraction and affection for her and, considering how much he desired a family, the following devotion and passion was not unwarranted. They married and had a child, named Edward.
Dante loved alchemy, though she was at a loss to understand it. Van sometimes wondered if it wasn’t the science she liked so much as the power it brought. He cared for his wife, but he wasn’t blind to her faults-mostly being that she was very materialistic. Greedy, as it were.
Thankfully, Edward spent little time with her. She pampered the boy constantly, but he didn’t seem to like it. He busied himself poring over his father’s books and scrolls, absorbing information like a sponge, and, whenever he could, he would follow Van around as he worked.
Edward wasn’t fond of Homunculus, but neither was he one to reject a fellow intellectual, brash as he often was. Homunculus often helped Van to keep Edward out of the way by wrapping the child in alchemic debates, but Van thought that, maybe, his son was perfectly aware of his work for the King of Xerxes.
He didn’t mind though. His son was smart and a good person.
---
“The boy shouldn’t be here,” Homunculus muttered disapprovingly. “He wasn’t entered as a part of the equation, to be this close to the center.”
Van sighed. Edward had followed him to work again, but this was the moment when the King would become immortal.
(Ed didn’t like it-said that people weren’t supposed to live forever, and had told the King that he’d regret it-and there had been many arguments about the wrongness of the entire circle. But Van asserted that they were scientists who didn’t hold feeling over logic, and was ultimately able to sway his son with the promise of knowledge.)
Right now, Ed wanted to see the ritual completed and insisted on being present, despite how uneasy he looked about the whole thing.
“Edward,” Van chided, then decided against it. It was amazing how much easier it was to take care of his son before his wife’s accident. “You can stay here if you stand over there.” He indicated to a point behind him just inside the inner circle, which should be safe according to the calculations.
Edward grinned and nodded obediently, though there was a look in his eyes that made Van feel worried. Homunculus was still disapproving, but seemed satisfied at the distance.
---
When Edward wakes up, he’s alone, covered in a layer of dirt, as though he’d been half-heartedly buried alive. The dirt is saturated with his blood, pouring from his right arm and left leg (or, rather, lack thereof) and as he turns and sees a stone at his head, he realizes that he had been. Alphonse, his cat, lies still next to him, without breath or heartbeat.
The bleeding is sluggish now, speeding up as he moves, painstakingly crawls on one hand and one knee to… wherever. The city looked as it always did, but instead of the bustling marketplaces and busy roads, there were bodies and silence. It was difficult to maneuver with the loss of his limbs, but despite the significant amount of blood he’d lost, he barely felt dizzy, and was able to at least bandage himself up.
Days passed, then weeks, and he lived off the remnants of the resources left behind by dead. Soon, he left, hoping to make that he could make it to another city-one that still lived.
Bonath, though, wasn’t living either. There had been rumours about several of the outer cities of Xerxes, but it appeared that they were true. After dragging himself across the desert, he found that all the people of Xerxes had perished.
Except, of course, for three. Homunculus, no doubt, was the one behind it. Edward, too, had survived, somehow-perhaps it was because he’d sneaked too close to his father-and the center of the circle-when the array was being activated. And then, his father, Van Hohenhiem-the man who had abandoned his son, buried alive in a poorly dug grave.
A/N:
So I’d been pondering Van having a family like he wanted back before Xerxes was destroyed. Here, Ed becomes a sort of partial Philosopher’s Stone like Hohenhiem did, but incomplete because he wasn’t in the very center. I can imagine Van thinking his son was dead and burying him, and Edward waking up covered in dirt and bleeding all over and feeling abandoned (since we all know he had abandonment issues).
I can also see Ed living hundreds of years as a not-quite immortal and just happening to meet Trisha, his sort-of stepmother and his half-brother, Alphonse.
Ed: He named you after my cat!
Trisha: Maybe he thought you had better naming skills that he did.
Al: I like cats!
Edward will adore them, of course.
I don’t want to change the plot drastically, so their personalities will be the same, but there’ll probably be more hurt for both Ed and Van. Edward will have centuries of resentment stemmed from his abandonment issues and Hohenhiem, of course, won’t even know that Ed is still alive. I’m thinking foregoing pairing entirely, but there’ll be all the known characters (Rose & co. in Liore, Youswell, Scar, Mustang and crew, etc.) This isn’t going to be a series, but I’ll probably come up with some things to add to the plotline every once in a while. If anyone gets any ideas from this or would like to contribute to the story itself, please send me a link and I will add it to this post so everyone can enjoy!
Fandom: FullMetal Alchemist
Pairing: none
Rating: K+
Genre: adventure, horror, supernatural
Warnings: AU, spoilers
Author’s Note: The basis of this fic is mostly mangaverse, which I’m most familiar with, but I used Dante as well, because it made more sense than an OC, and she’s not an important part anyway. If you haven’t read all of the manga or watched all of Brotherhood, then this might not make sense.
Disclaimer: All characters are copyright to their respective copyright holders.
Summary: Edward has always known that people, in general, are stupid, so he liked to avoid them. Now, there’s no one left to avoid.
“Always be smarter than the people who hire you.”
-Lena Horne
First Fragment
The Xerxian
Hohenhiem had-not fallen in love, exactly-adored Dante. He held attraction and affection for her and, considering how much he desired a family, the following devotion and passion was not unwarranted. They married and had a child, named Edward.
Dante loved alchemy, though she was at a loss to understand it. Van sometimes wondered if it wasn’t the science she liked so much as the power it brought. He cared for his wife, but he wasn’t blind to her faults-mostly being that she was very materialistic. Greedy, as it were.
Thankfully, Edward spent little time with her. She pampered the boy constantly, but he didn’t seem to like it. He busied himself poring over his father’s books and scrolls, absorbing information like a sponge, and, whenever he could, he would follow Van around as he worked.
Edward wasn’t fond of Homunculus, but neither was he one to reject a fellow intellectual, brash as he often was. Homunculus often helped Van to keep Edward out of the way by wrapping the child in alchemic debates, but Van thought that, maybe, his son was perfectly aware of his work for the King of Xerxes.
He didn’t mind though. His son was smart and a good person.
---
“The boy shouldn’t be here,” Homunculus muttered disapprovingly. “He wasn’t entered as a part of the equation, to be this close to the center.”
Van sighed. Edward had followed him to work again, but this was the moment when the King would become immortal.
(Ed didn’t like it-said that people weren’t supposed to live forever, and had told the King that he’d regret it-and there had been many arguments about the wrongness of the entire circle. But Van asserted that they were scientists who didn’t hold feeling over logic, and was ultimately able to sway his son with the promise of knowledge.)
Right now, Ed wanted to see the ritual completed and insisted on being present, despite how uneasy he looked about the whole thing.
“Edward,” Van chided, then decided against it. It was amazing how much easier it was to take care of his son before his wife’s accident. “You can stay here if you stand over there.” He indicated to a point behind him just inside the inner circle, which should be safe according to the calculations.
Edward grinned and nodded obediently, though there was a look in his eyes that made Van feel worried. Homunculus was still disapproving, but seemed satisfied at the distance.
---
When Edward wakes up, he’s alone, covered in a layer of dirt, as though he’d been half-heartedly buried alive. The dirt is saturated with his blood, pouring from his right arm and left leg (or, rather, lack thereof) and as he turns and sees a stone at his head, he realizes that he had been. Alphonse, his cat, lies still next to him, without breath or heartbeat.
The bleeding is sluggish now, speeding up as he moves, painstakingly crawls on one hand and one knee to… wherever. The city looked as it always did, but instead of the bustling marketplaces and busy roads, there were bodies and silence. It was difficult to maneuver with the loss of his limbs, but despite the significant amount of blood he’d lost, he barely felt dizzy, and was able to at least bandage himself up.
Days passed, then weeks, and he lived off the remnants of the resources left behind by dead. Soon, he left, hoping to make that he could make it to another city-one that still lived.
Bonath, though, wasn’t living either. There had been rumours about several of the outer cities of Xerxes, but it appeared that they were true. After dragging himself across the desert, he found that all the people of Xerxes had perished.
Except, of course, for three. Homunculus, no doubt, was the one behind it. Edward, too, had survived, somehow-perhaps it was because he’d sneaked too close to his father-and the center of the circle-when the array was being activated. And then, his father, Van Hohenhiem-the man who had abandoned his son, buried alive in a poorly dug grave.
A/N:
So I’d been pondering Van having a family like he wanted back before Xerxes was destroyed. Here, Ed becomes a sort of partial Philosopher’s Stone like Hohenhiem did, but incomplete because he wasn’t in the very center. I can imagine Van thinking his son was dead and burying him, and Edward waking up covered in dirt and bleeding all over and feeling abandoned (since we all know he had abandonment issues).
I can also see Ed living hundreds of years as a not-quite immortal and just happening to meet Trisha, his sort-of stepmother and his half-brother, Alphonse.
Ed: He named you after my cat!
Trisha: Maybe he thought you had better naming skills that he did.
Al: I like cats!
Edward will adore them, of course.
I don’t want to change the plot drastically, so their personalities will be the same, but there’ll probably be more hurt for both Ed and Van. Edward will have centuries of resentment stemmed from his abandonment issues and Hohenhiem, of course, won’t even know that Ed is still alive. I’m thinking foregoing pairing entirely, but there’ll be all the known characters (Rose & co. in Liore, Youswell, Scar, Mustang and crew, etc.) This isn’t going to be a series, but I’ll probably come up with some things to add to the plotline every once in a while. If anyone gets any ideas from this or would like to contribute to the story itself, please send me a link and I will add it to this post so everyone can enjoy!