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Piglitt Fullmetal Works worth a read, Timey Whimey
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2021-04-25
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2022-12-29
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Make a Deal to Fix your Mistakes

Chapter 11

Summary:

Ed gets his new moniker

Notes:

It's been so *humid* the last few days and the heat has fried my brain

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

One of Mustang's team must have gone to tell him the news, because by the time Roy and Ed make it to the closest hotel, Maes is walking through the lobby behind them. "Roy, were you not going to tell me you got a child to try out for the military?" 

Roy looks down at Ed, about to ask him what he wants to do, but he finds that Ed is already opening his mouth. "Do you have any pictures of Nina?" Usually Roy would warn people against asking to see Maes's pictures, but he assumes Ed knows what he's getting himself in to and is okay with the ensuing rant. 

Maes stares down at Ed in shock before lifting his head slightly to look at Roy, who just minutely shakes his head. Silently telling him not to ask about it right now. Understanding what Roy is telling him, he looks back down at Ed. He makes a show of checking his coat pockets before answering, before shaking his head. "Sorry. I don't have them on me right now." Lie. He always has pictures of his girls on him, the child seems to know this, based on the subtle eyebrow raise, but he doesn't call him out on it. "Tell you what. You get checked in and put your stuff in your room and we can go over to my house to meet her okay?"

Ed nods his head before looking down at the number on his room key. Without a second of hesitation he walks up towards the stairs after throwing a signal over his hand towards Mustang. A military signal. Maes sneaks a look over at Roy to see if he's ready to talk yet. But he sees that, no, he won't be getting any answers yet. So the 2 wait by the check in desk for Ed to walk back down the stairs. 

A 5 minute wait later, and Ed reappears back in the lobby. "I don't know if whichever of his team told you this, but my name is Edward Elric." 

Maes turns from Roy to look over at Ed. "They didn't. I was told your name was Ed and that was about it. It's nice to meet you Ed, my name's Maes Hughes." 

Ed nods his head and starts walking towards the main doors. "I know." Roy snorts slightly before following the golden figure out in to the streets of Central. 

The walk to Maes's home is quiet as Maes tries to figure out who this boy is. He has a few ideas by the time they make it to his house, but he'll keep them to himself for now, because he did promise that Ed could see Nina. So instead of finally asking Mustang who the hell this child is, he walks further in to the house and announces to Gracia that they have visitors. "Gracia! Roy's here!" 

Gracia walks out of the kitchen with Elicia balanced on her hip and Nina walking behind her, holding a small stuffed animal. "Welcome home, dear." She turns to face Roy, not having spotted Ed yet. "It's nice to see you Roy." Roy returns the greeting before turning down to look at Ed. 

The movement draws Gracia's attention to Ed. "Maes, Roy. Who is this child?" 

Ed speaks up to prevent either Roy or Maes getting chewed out by Gracia. She seems like a woman who can really put someone in their place. "I'm Edward Elric. I'm trying out to become a State Alchemist tomorrow." Gracia turns her head from Edward to Roy with a glare as Nina leaves the safety of Gracia's shadow to walk over to Ed. 

"Ed....ward? Are you a friend of Mr Mustang?" Ed flinches slightly as she calls out to him. 

He hides it spectacularly in his opinion. "In a way yeah." He kneels down in front of her. "You can call me Ed okay? Because you're special." He gestures down at her toy. "What's this guy called?" 

Nina looks down at the toy in her arms. "I don't know. I haven't thought of a good name yet." 

Ed hesitates for a second before speaking again. "What about Alexander? A good name for such a precious toy." 

Nina looks down at her toy with a curious look. She stares at it for a few seconds before looking up at Ed with a smile and a few quick nods. "Alexander." She turns the toy around so it's face to face with her. "I like it."

A few more minutes pass before Ed decides Maes is overdue for an explanation so he, says a quick goodbye to Elicia before standing up and looking over at Maes. "I assume you want an explanation right?" Maes just nods his head and leads Ed and Roy to his study at the back of the house. 

The next hour or so is spent explaining everything to Hughes, while Ed drives home how important it is that Maes doesn't start poking around in places he shouldn't be. Maes refuses to accept that at the start because it's part of his job to stick his nose in to other people's business. And that was how he saved Nina from her father. 

Ed snaps at the mention of Nina. "No it isn't!" Maes's eyes widen as Ed starts shouting. "You only knew to look for Nina because of me! Because I knew what that bastard would end up doing to her if she stayed with him. You know how I know that? Because she died. The last time I saw Nina she was a Chimera, she had been fused with the dog Tucker bought her to keep her out of sight. I was too late to save her last time. I wasn't quick enough to put the pieces together in time, I only figured it out after she had been turned when she couldn't be turned back. I was 13 when that happened. That shit stuck with me for the rest of my life, I named my daughter after her!" Maes opens his mouth to apologise, because he knows Ed is right. He is the reason they were able to save Nina, because he had the foresight to tell Roy about her. But Ed isn't done yelling at him yet. "And before you admit that I'm right about that, because I know that I am. I want you to know that you died in my last life too. Which was also my fault because I was the one to tell you about the Homunculus. You went snooping and you got killed. I wasn't even told that you were killed because this one seemed it fit to lie to me about it." He points a finger at Mustang. "Not just that! Your death nearly drove him over the edge. He burnt out one of the Homunculi's stone because he thought she was the one that killed you. When he found out which one did kill you, he burnt out their tongue multiple times because he got lost in his fury. Hawkeye couldn't or wouldn't pull him out of his rage so I had to be the one to do it. If you die on me again because you wouldn't listen to me. I will pull your Soul back through the Gate this time and keep you here until you apologise to me, Gracia and your two daughters." 

A few harsh breaths escape Ed after his rant. But before either Roy or Maes can do anything to placate him, he opens his mouth to speak again. "Sorry. I haven't had an outburst like that in years I just.... I don't want to fail you again. If I let a single one of the people who died last time die this time, then I'll never forgive myself. What's the point of doing this all again if I'm just going to let you die. I might as well just complete my deal with Truth and then live out the rest of my life like Hohenheim did. Like a fucking ghost that never interacts with anyone more than is strictly necessary."

Maes places a hand on Ed's shoulder. "You don't need to apologise, you're right. I don't understand what these monsters are or how dangerous. You do. You've already survived them. I won't look in to anything okay? I just ask that you keep me updated so I don't feel the need to." 

Ed nods his head slowly. "Okay. Okay I can do that. I'm going to head back to the hotel. I still need to figure out what to show Bradley tomorrow."

Maes accepts and leads Ed to the front door. "Edward." He turns his head slightly to look at Roy. "What was your moniker last time?" 

Ed casts a glance down at his arm before looking back up at Roy. "If I survive this whole ordeal, maybe I'll tell you." With that he opens the door and walks out in to the early evening streets of Central. 

Once Ed makes it back to his hotel room, Ed spends the rest of the night thinking out a plan for tomorrow. He could technically attack Bradley again. But he doesn't think his body would be any match for him right now. Which gets him to make a note to talk to Teacher about some sparring training. Or Riza, or Scar if he can get him on side quick enough. Maybe even Greed, he was a hell of a fighter last time. But he scratches that idea out quickly, from his last contact with the former Homunculus, he's only just starting to get a hold back on his powers, he doesn't want to distract him from that. 

When morning arrives, Ed still only has a vague plan of action for his practical test in front of Bradley. When he meets up with Mustang the man asks him if he has an idea of what he's going to do yet. So of course Ed lies and says he does. 

The test they had him sit was even easier than it was last time and he's done in an hour and a half, cutting his original time in to pieces. The last time he sat that exam it took him almost 3 hours. Which if he remembers correctly was still far too fast for a child to complete it, if they were even meant to be able to at all. Roy is still waiting for him outside the exam hall and is staring at him with a small amount of fear. Ed just grins at him, so Roy clears his throat and starts talking. "What are you going to do about the physical exam? Won't they ask about your tattoo? The sign you got from 'Truth'?"

Ed snorts at the finger quotes and tone Roy uses whenever he mentions Truth. He's never called Ed out on their existence, because well, something clearly allowed Ed to travel back in time but apparently Roy still has trouble believing that it was a God. Or as close to one as one can be without being a God. "So you did have a brain by this point." Roy just stares at him in annoyance which causes Ed to snicker. "Okay fine. I'm just gonna lie. I mean the mark is the symbol for the sun, and have you taken a single look at me? I'm literally a child of Xerxes. I'll just say it was an ancient Xerexian tradition that my parents wanted to uphold since the colouring came through so strong through 'all the generations'. There's only two people alive that could prove me wrong, one was in a flask and wouldn't know and the other was a slave and probably wouldn't know. So you know, it's pretty safe." 

Roy just shakes his head in dismay as they walk towards the room for the physical examination. "Well, have fun. Shouldn't take long but we're going straight to the examination hall after this." Ed nods his head in understanding before opening the door. 

The physical really doesn't take long. He takes his shirt off as he did last time, before pulling up the leg of his pants to show them his automail. They ask him about his tattoo and he immediately feeds them the lie he formed out in the corridor. They accept it quickly and wave him out after checking that he doesn't have any other tattoos or injuries 

He shrugs his jacket back on as he opens the door out in to the hall. Roy nods his head in acknowledgment before starting down the hallway towards the practical room. He points his finger at the double doors before walking up the stairs so he can watch from the balcony. Ed lets watches him leave for a second before opening the doors.

As Ed walks over to the spot in between the 2 guards, he forces himself to decide on a plan. He has a couple pieces of chalk wrapped in his pocket for the possibility that he didn't want to show of his no array Alchemy. 

He makes his decision in the split second it takes for the guard to ask him if he had anything to draw arrays with. He just nods his head and pulls out the pieces of chalk. He draws a circle on to the ground and crouches down in front of it. He claps his hands and touches them to the circle before standing up to guide the creation of the spear properly. Partly for show, but also partly because what he wants to create will need some concentration so he doesn't get distracted and create the original symbol. 

What he draws from the ground of the examination room is an ornamental spear or more accurately a staff. The base of the staff is solid, which splits out in to a Flamel. Instead of the detached crown and wings that usually finish it off, he's created the ouroboros at the top of spear, but instead of the star in the middle he instead formed the Alchemical symbol for the sun. Bradley stares at Ed for a second, assessing him. Ed holds the staff out in front of him, spins it 3 times and bangs it on the middle of his array. The motion activates the array again and the staff melts away in to the floor. The array glows as it melts in to the floor as Ed keeps it active the whole time, focusing to make sure he doesn't leave any transmutation marks on the floor. 

Bradley stares at Ed in concentration, and Ed makes sure to match his stare. "You're talented for such a young child." 

Ed nods his head, still refusing to break eye contact with him. "Thank you." He thinks for a second whether being snarky is worth it, before checking himself and remembering it's basically always worth it. So he adds on at the end. "I've been surrounded by Alchemy since I was barely five. It's in my blood." 

The Fuhrer raises an eyebrow before stepping down off of his pedestal and walks towards the small hallway followed by his 2 guards. "I'm expecting big things from you, Elric." 

After waiting for Bradley to leave the hall, Ed turns around and heads for the double doors behind him. Roy is already there waiting for him, and turns to lead them towards his office. 

They wait there for a few hours for Ed's pocket watch to be delivered there. It's not a shock to Ed when Bradley himself comes to deliver it. "I thought I could make the trip myself, in order to congratulate the youngest ever state Alchemist." Bradley holds out the box containing his watch (read; leash) and a rolled up piece of paper. Once they've been handed over, Bradley bids Mustang farewell. He stops at the door for a second to look back over at them. "I heard you have a tattoo in celebration of your Xerexian colouring but I must admit, I am surprised to see the colour come out so strongly after so many generations." 

Ed raises an eyebrow at him, against what would be most people's better judgement. "Yeah, well my parents were certainly pleased to see it before they died. But I'm sure you know how genetics work, Fuhrer Bradley, certain genes can go unseen in family trees for decades before popping up in one child." Bradley stares at him again before turning away and finally leaving the room. 

Ed wastes no time in throwing his watch to the other side of the couch he's sat on before unrolling the parchment. He skips the entire thing, already knowing what it says, to look down at his new moniker. He lets out a sharp laugh once he's seen it. "What is it?" 

Roy looks over at him from where he's resting against his desk. Ed lets out a few more laughs before answering. "Bradley still has a sick sense of humour." 

When Roy just raises an eyebrow at him in question, Ed throws the paper over to him. 

"Shining blood." 

Notes:

Quick warning that I'm not currently 100% sold on his title (I may no longer feel like this in like a day) so it may change.

It probably won't because even as I'm posting this I'm growing fonder of the name but I thought I should give you a heads up just in case