Chapter Text
Entering into the stadium, Ed lagged behind Class 1-C, almost blending in to Class 1-D. Husband's voice booms over the speakers, declaring each class loudly as they stepped onto the grass. Ed's got his boot cuffs secured onto his shoes and his holsters wrapped around his right shoulder and thigh, knives tucked securely in them. His bracers are laced tight around his forearms. There should be no need to use any of his stuff in the first round, but it's best to have them.
He's studied the formatting of the past Sports Festivals. The first event tends to be something of a free-for-all, most often a race of some sort. Their way of limiting contestants is cutting past a certain place finisher, the average being about forty to fifty people.
Ed doesn't doubt he'll make it through the first round. The second round though... that tends to be a team game, which means he's already gotten the disadvantage, not knowing anyone here. He'll have to take the time to spot potential allies during the first event.
When the class gets to their spot where they're standing, Ed takes a second to look around. The stadium's gigantic, stands filled to the brim with people and flashing lights. Ed's no stranger to a crowd, he practically beat Father up in front of one, but the video recordings never looked at the bleachers. He might have underestimated this even more than he thought he had.
"I feel like we're just here to the hero class look good," a girl in front of him mutters to a friend. Ed's inclined to agree. The Hero Course is the shining star of UA's prestigious school, so no wonder it's got an event to make them known.
"Now the introductory speech!"
Ed's attention is drawn the stage, and he immediately regrets all of his decisions. If he thought the other's "hero costumes" were bad, this one was the absolute worst of them all. He forgot her name, but the umpire's hero name is something along the lines of Twilight. Not exactly, but he'll go with that. Her Quirk releases a sleeping gas from her skin, but there's no way any of that needed to be seen, especially in an event for teenagers. Are those... handcuffs on her wrist? Okay, there has to be an infinitely better way to advertise a sleeping gas Quirk. This is not predator island. He's vaguely disgusted by the fawning in the stands.
"Silence, everyone! And now for the student pledge, we have, Bakugou Katsuki!"
A burst of murmurs come from the class closest to the stage as a blond kid walks up to the stage, hands in pocket. He leans into the mic, almost like he's bored and says "I just want to say... I'm going to win this."
Ed's eyebrows lift up in surprise as annoyed and angry shouts burst out from beside him. Wow. How straightforward. Ed kinda likes this guy. Mustang would have an aneurysm if he ever came close to him, Ed thinks. His type of person.
"Why would you say that?! You're supposed to be representing us!" A dark haired guy with glasses and a stiff body at the front shouts at Bakugou. His response is with the same bored look "Not my fault you're all just stepping stones to my victory."
He steps down from the stage, hands back in his pockets, pushing back to the place he was. As arrogant as that display seemed, the guy doesn't seem fazed by all the negative attention. Not quite overconfidence, but more trust in one's ability. Ed's got a feeling he'll be one of the front runners.
"Without further ado, time for us to get started! The first fateful game of the festival!"
A digital spinner appears above Twilight's head, before landing on OBSTACLE RACE. Twilight explains the details. Around the stadium, various obstacles, unlimited Quirk use.
Ed bites the inside of his cheek as they push all the participants to the entrance of the course. He sees a problem. There's too many students to fit through that small entrance. Either you get a head start at the front or lag behind. Anywhere else and you get trampled in the large crowd.
Ed pushes his way forward as far as he can, but there's no getting in front of the two hero-course classes. Forty students in front of him to begin with isn't the best, but he'll deal with it. He goes to the far left, because having a wall will be good leverage. Falling could be the worst possible scenario here.
The lights count them off, and soon as the third green light is lit, Ed, along with the rest of the year, sprints forward.
He manages to get ahead of a few of the people in front of him on speed, but the lead he has isn't the best. It doesn't help that he can feel the people running on his heels.
There's a sudden gust of freezing cold air that has Ed's eyes widening. He's still next to the wall, so he grabs a knife smoothly from its holster, jumping high and digging it into the concrete, holding on by stabbing one of his boot cuffs in as well.
There are two ways this could've gone. Either Ed slowed himself down, or his instincts were right and someone tried to sabotage the people behind them.
Let it be known that Ed's instincts are amazing.
The floor freezes to ice, a layer of frost decorating the walls, and trapping everyone who happened to be on the ground. Foul move, but unfortunately really smart. Ed breathes a sigh of relief, jumping down and carrying forward once again.
It's easier to move through the tunnel now that people are frozen in place, and the small spikes on the bottom of his boot cuffs make for good grips on the slippery ice. While others are sliding around, trying not to fall, Ed can freely run farther.
He gets out of the tunnel not far behind hero-course, but slows at a peculiar sight.
Is that guy... getting carried by people?
A purple haired guy with eyebags comparable to Eyebags seems to be the calmest person on earth, getting carried across the ice by three people. The curious thing is that all three of them have blank, white eyes.
Ed makes a mental note and runs forward.
"Okay, this is getting ridiculous," Ed mutters. The ice on the floor just doesn't stop. It just keeps going. What. It's not like it's a problem for him, but it's almost insane how much the person who's done this wants to disadvantage everyone else.
He hears shouting ahead, something about dirty tricks and an attack, which probably means the guy in front is close, assuming it was the person who did all this. The person shouting is mid-air when he goes around the corner. Ed gets a front row seat to a guy with purple balls for a hair getting tossed to the side by a robot.
Speaking of robots.
"Holy shit," Ed says, pausing in place, much like everyone else.
"Aren't those the zero-pointers from the entrance exam?!" Someone exclaims.
Wait, they had to fight these to get into the school? What is Nedzu doing? All of these people are insane!
No one else has moved towards them yet. Not even the guy with the ice Quirk, who Ed is guessing is the guy with the red and white hair, frost spreading over one side of his body. But it won't be like that for long.
Ed will admit that robots are not things he has experience with. He doesn't know how they work in the slightest. Especially multiple that are the size of buildings.
But as Teacher always said, the best way to confront something you don't understand is straight on, no shortcuts, no extra shit, and no overthinking. And she'd be disappointed if Ed just kept standing there. So, Ed resorts to the tried-and-true method of all ages.
He fucking runs for it.
—————
Hizashi's having a great time being the commentator. The fact that he managed to bribe Shouta up here is even better. If he didn't become a hero, maybe a sports commentator would've been the path of his heart.
"Obstacles have shown up!" He shouts into the microphone, wide grin on his face as he hears his voice echo through the stadium "What will our students do about the robots?! Eraser, any words?"
Shouta sends a glare at him, before leaning forward "Those who tried for UA's hero course through the General Exam will remember these particular robots. They're huge hunks of metal who like to locate a target and attack. That's it."
"You heard it, folks! Let's see how they're doin— Hold on. Am I seeing things or is that a kid running straight towards them?!"
Hizashi is in fact, not seeing things. The cameras zoom in, though he's already recognized which student it was running.
"That's not just any kid! This, folks, is Edward Elric from Class 1-C! If you're wondering why you've never seen him before, it's because today's actually his first day at UA High! Boy, is he making a good first-impression! He's really running fast!"
Shouta looks at the camera feed with tired eyes. He mutters, far enough for the mic to not pick it up "I realize Nedzu told him to get to the third round, but I didn't think that involved risking his life by being the target of all those zero-pointers. He has to realize he doesn't have to be in first to keep going, right?"
Hizashi leans back for a second, chuckling "Well, I don't think he's ever seen robots before. He had to ask me how to turn on a computer, once. Also, he's apparently got family watching."
Shouta just sighs in response.
Hizashi turns back to the feed, leaning right back into the mic as the video plays through "Miraculously, it seems Elric is dodging all the robots! They keep bumping into each other before they can hit him! What luck!"
"I doubt it's anything close to luck, rather just sheer willpower," Shouta says in the mic "Like I said before, they're just big hunks of metal, and Elric's a small target. Grabbing an ant is hard when there's other humans trying to grab it too. It's easier to attack at the entrance, where there are more ants gathered together, which is why all of them are still there. They're too scared or cautious to go ahead, and it's making them more of an easy target."
"Well, either way, he's in first place! Wait, what's that behind him?" Hizashi redirects "WOAH! Todoroki from 1-A has just frozen a zero-pointer down in one shot! And what's that? Is that a warning he's saying?!"
The frozen zero-pointer comes crashing down on a few students as they try to take advantage of the temporary opening. Shouta says, for their own reassurance "It was Kirishima and Testutetsu. They'll be fine."
"WOW!" Hizashi exclaims "That move was both offensive and defensive! No wonder he got in through recommendation! He's a tactical genius!"
"It's an impressive move," Shouta admits in a rare moment of praise "He's never faced one of them before yet was able to use the robot to his advantage. More thought out and clever than Elric's approach, but time is important in this event and Elric's still ahead."
"Ahhh, you really can't just say something nice about one of your students without bringing them down, can you, Eraser?" Hizashi says in a disappointed tone.
"The feedback's good for them."
"Looks like the kids from different classes are working together to get through the robots! So far, it seems Class 1-A takes the majority in the lead, the next being Class B, with the exception of our current leader, who's close to our next obstacle, Todoroki close behind! Eraserhead, what're your thoughts on this? What are you teaching your kids for them to be this hardcore?"
"It's to be expected. Class A doesn't spend a lot of time standing around. They experienced a villain attack firsthand, and that's not something to be taken lightly. They've taken their fear from that and used it to drown out their hesitation. It's not something that can be taught."
"Such beautiful words! And with that, our leader makes it to the next obstacle! Ladies, Gentlemen, and everyone in between, I present to you, THE FALL!"
—————
Ed heard Eyebag's stupid ant comment. He's pissed about it, but in between running through a horde of robots and trying not die, there was no real time to explode about it.
He's not that small! How dare he get compared to a fucking ant!?!
The decent thing about the announcing, though, is that Ed gets a vague location of where the Ice guy is, which is close enough to be a threat, as well as how far he is from the next obstacle, which is... right in front of him.
Holy hell, these people are insane. The view in front of Ed is a bunch of separated dirt platforms, far enough that Ed wouldn't even be able to jump half the length. The only thing connecting them are ropes, and the rest is a deep drop.
Ed looks around, but he doesn't have much time before the Ice guy catches up. It was a miracle that Ed's plan of booking it had worked insanely well, but his luck wasn't going to last long if he didn't get going.
He's got better arm strength than he does balance. Ed takes off his gloves because his grip is going to be better with them off. He grabs onto the rope in front of him and drops down, before going across the rope like he's doing monkey bars on a playground. He can already feel the rope burn forming on his palms by the time he's across the first rope. Once he's on the platform, he looks back to Ice guy running up to the first rope.
Ed makes a split-second decision. He grabs a knife from one of his holsters and slices through the rope behind him.
—————
"Todoroki's made it to the next obstacle! Elric's still ahead, having made it one platform farther— WAIT! Did he just cut through one of the ropes?!"
"HELL YEAH!" Al shouts, before bursting into a fit of coughs. He's given a glass of water by Sig and a stern look from Teacher. He laughs sheepishly.
Originally, Al was going to find a way to record Ed participating in the event and then show Teacher when Al got out of the hospital and visited her and Sig in Dublith. It was mainly a threat to make sure Ed didn't half-ass it, but Teacher had called to check up one day and decided she'd come and watch Ed live herself once Al told her about it. Al hadn't gotten the chance to write back and tell Ed, but as long as he tries his best, he shouldn't get the wrath of Teacher.
And everything was translated into English or Japanese, which gave Al a good opportunity to practice both languages as he translated to Teacher and Sig.
So far, Ed's been doing good, which is surprising given the crazy stuff the other students have been doing. Teacher and Al had both yelled at Ed through the television when he ran straight into field of robots, Al of concern for his brother and Teacher of approval of his tactics.
"I always say the best way to confront something is straight on!" She declared "And it works!"
Al was just surprised that it had actually worked.
The rope section is straightforward enough, and Ed's not the best on balance, so his way of going across it is the best option for him.
"Good move, cutting the rope," Teacher nods "The Todoroki kid won't need it with his... ice, because he can make a path himself, but it'll end up helping others. It would more logical for him to use ropes and now he can't use the most direct path."
The Todoroki kid seems to realize this and scowls at Ed, who's already half-way across the second rope. He takes one of the ropes going more diagonally, stepping forward and sliding across it by freezing it as he moves forward. Ed's sliced through his second rope.
"He's still going across a lot faster than Brother is able to, though," Al comments.
"I suppose that can't be helped," Teacher says, shaking her head.
Ed seems to realize this, spotting Todoroki. The rope he's going about to go across connects directly to Ed's platform. He slices through it and throws himself onto his next rope.
Someone in the crowd shouts out "Hey, how does he have knives to begin with?!"
Al thinks that compared to the Quirks some of these kids have, knives are the least worrying thing Ed can have. The Todoroki kid's already sabotaged over half the participants by freezing them in place, so Al thinks his brother can stand to cut a few ropes.
"Elric's gone through the proper paperwork for his support items," the bandaged-up announcer says.
But of course, that works too. Al doesn't know what support items are supposed to be, but if it lets Ed keep the knives Teacher made for him, he won't question it.
—————
Ed can hear explosions. It's filling him with so much confidence. Note the sarcasm.
So far he's on a rinse and repeat routine. Climb to the next platform as fast as possible, look back to see where the Ice guy is, and cut off the ropes to prevent him from going forward. The Ice guy keeps getting closer. It's not comforting.
Ed finally makes it to the last rope and slices through the rope he just went across. He looks back for the Ice guy, only for his eyes to get dragged skyward instead.
...There's another guy. Flying by setting off explosions behind him. Yelling so loud Ed can hear him from down here.
It's a fucking mini-Kimblee. The guy who had been on stage earlier is a fucking mini-Kimblee.
"I swear to Truth, everywhere I go there's a guy obsessed with blowing shit up," he mutters.
Ed doesn't even bother with the Ice guy at this point, dropping down once again and climbing across as fast as possible. His palms hurt like hell and they're probably bleeding the tiniest bit from the rope burn, but it's the last rope so he'll deal with it.
He throws himself back up onto the other side of the obstacle, slicing through the rope in one, clean movement, and doesn't look back before launching forward into a run. The course is four kilometers around the stadium and each obstacle has been about a kilometer apart from each other, which means there should only be one more main obstacle. It won't be much longer till he gets to it.
The explosions are getting closer, and Ed feels a sudden burst of cold air once again.
—————
"Our leading three are leagues ahead of the competition!" Hizashi declares "Elric and Todoroki are done with the second obstacle and Bakugou is almost there while the rest of our competitors are still at the beginning of the canyon! Eraser, do you have any thoughts?"
"Bakugou and Todoroki are both powerhouses in their own right. It's no wonder they're doing well," Shouta says "What's curious is that Elric is beating them purely because he was able to get a head start in the beginning and hasn't given up the lead. Back in The Fall, he cut off Todoroki's main routes while taking the shortest one himself. He's making quick, decisive moves that are able to keep him in the lead. He's likely physically stronger than both Bakugou and Todoroki, but their Quirk usage is why they're catching up with him. I don't know if he's going to stay in the lead much longer."
Hizashi is the slightest bit concerned for Edward. He's gotten attached to the kid, so what? The past week all he's seen the kid do was research in the library with almost scary focus. He's heard about Edward's leg, and he's got a faint scar on his face that looks suspiciously like it was caused by knife, not to mention the scar he saw on the kid's forearm this morning. This is his first time seeing him in action, and it is...concerning.
"Speaking of staying in the lead! Todoroki's going all out on the ice, today! He freezes the ground again! One of Elric's legs is stuck in this ice! Bakugou's getting closer!"
—————
Ed is pissed at his normal leg. He timed his jump wrong and got caught in this stupid ice. And he knew it was coming! He hacks at it with his other spiked shoe, one of his knives in hand. The Ice guy is getting closer, and the mini-Kimblee apparently isn't far behind.
He drops down and starts going at it with the knife, cracking the ice right above his boot cuff. He unclips it right as the Ice guy catches up. Ed sweeps his automail leg at shins as a last-ditch effort, managing to trip him into a roll. Ed pushes forward again, but he's still behind the Ice guy.
He curses as he almost slips on the ice. He's only got one boot cuff now, but taking the time to dig through more of the ice would've pushed him farther behind.
The odd thing Ed has noticed is that it's only Ice guy's right side that's producing the ice. When he'd been sliding over the ropes, it was his right leg always in front, and even now, the ice is spreading out from his right foot.
Maybe... if Ed just shifted to the left...
—————
"TODOROKI IS IN THE LEAD!"
"NO! EDWARD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! I TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THIS."
"BROTHER, DO BETTER! YOU CAN'T FAIL HERE OF ALL PLACES!!!!"
"...He can't hear you two."
"HE CAN IF WE SHOUT LOUD ENOUGH!"
"ELRIC BROTHER TELEPATHY CONVENIENTLY AWAKEN!"
—————
"Todoroki and Elric are neck and neck as they approach the last obstacle!"
Ed is trying his hardest to get ahead. Moving the left worked pretty well, because the Ice guy now has to reach across his body to try and freeze him. He's barely managed to not get stuck to the floor, and he's blocking Ice guy's swings with his bracer. His knives are securely in his holster, and he can't reach for any of them without giving Ice guy an opening. He regrets having put the one in his hand away earlier.
He barely notices the signs until he steps on a bump in the dirt. His eyes widen as he feels a click under his foot and is five steps away in a split second. Ice guy does the same in the other direction, and two bright pink explosions erupt in between them.
Ed curses. All of these people are insane.
"Everyone might want to tread carefully, because you're stepping onto a MINEFIELD! If you look carefully, you can see those little guys buried in the dirt, so keep your eyes on the ground! And don't worry, these bombs were created for the game, so they'll be loud and flashy, but they're not that powerful. Just enough to make you wet your pants!"
This field is ridiculously big. Ed's betting there's over a hundred of these buried everywhere. There's no getting around them, and the only rule is that they aren't allowed to go off the course. The only way is through.
Ice guy has already started tip-toeing his way through. Ed takes small, quick steps, making sure to map out where's going to put his legs before he steps there. It's a ridiculously slow process, made to disadvantage the people in the front. The unfortunate thing is that Ed's balance is still shit.
Ed can hear mini-Kimblee before he sees him, low to the ground but still flying with the power of his explosions. He goes straight for Ice guy, who's ahead of both of them. They start pushing at each other while still trying to go forward, which slows them down. Better for Ed, who's starting to hear voices farther back. The rest of the participants have made it.
He hears more explosions behind him as he makes more, quicker steps forward. He needs to find a way to slow down mini-Kimblee and Ice guy. His knives are out of the question, because people might riot if he started throwing knives at people.
But there's another thing he could throw...
—————
"Bakugou and Todoroki are fighting each other for the lead! Can they stop each other while still avoiding the rest of the mines?!"
This is getting tense. Hizashi can't keep up with all of it. The cameras are focusing on Bakugou and Todoroki right now, and Edward isn't in frame, so he isn't quite sure what's going on with him. It's stressful.
Suddenly, the camera picks up sudden movement on the other side of the field. It's a large explosion, much bigger than what should come from one mine. On top of it is a head of green hair, flying on a piece of... robot?
"It seems Midoriya Izuku from Class A has taken a shortcut and blown himself up and over the competition!!" Hizashi yells into the mic, fully standing at this turn of events "AND WHAT IS THIS? An explosion just came from one of our leaders! Did they get careless and step on a mine?"
"No," Shouta says from beside him, almost in disbelief "Bakugou just got hit in the head with a mine. Elric threw a mine at Bakugou's head."
The cameras turn to Edward, who's got another cream colored mine in hand while he makes his way forward. He reels his arm back and throws it, arcing across the sky. It lands in the dust left behind by the previous one and blows up once again. Bakugou and Todoroki are lost in cloud formed, giving Edward enough time to catch up.
Midoriya's still in the sky, but he's close to landing at this point. Bakugou, Edward, and Todoroki emerge from the dust at the same time. Bakugou's yelling and setting off explosions, but Hizashi can't tell if it's at Todoroki or Edward. Probably both. Edward flinches and moves away from Bakugou, nearly bumping into Todoroki, who grabs onto his bracer, a layer of ice encrusting it immediately. Edward pulls out of his grip roughly and elbows him in the stomach.
Bakugo loses some of his balance with his explosions and grabs onto Edward's bare upper arm. Multiple things happen then:
Edward flinches as an explosion goes off against his skin. And another, stronger one. Bakugo's other hand that's propelling him forward lets off an unprecedently large, uncontrolled explosion, something it seems none of the three were expecting as Bakugo stumbles straight onto the ground, stray explosions mixing with set off bombs. Edward and Todoroki take cover just in time to not get pushed back.
"An uncharacteristic display of an uncontrolled quirk from Bakugo?!"
That's when Midoriya gets closer and closer to the ground, and then he shifts his body suddenly and slams the piece of robot he's got directly onto the ground in front of them. The three of them, including Bakugo who's recovered in record time, have the same expression on their face of pure surprise before they brace themselves in the split second before the mines go off.
"And Midoriya sets off a whole bunch of mines in the leading three's faces! How are they going to recover?!"
Edward gets sent to the back of the dust cloud, while Bakugo and Todoroki are pushed to either side. Midoriya uses his momentum from the explosion to launch forward, putting him in the lead. The other three get up and through the dust cloud in an instant, completely forgetting about each other, all their eyes trained dead ahead at Midoriya's back.
Todoroki creates an ice path that Edward follows him on while Bakugou takes to the air again with his explosions. Once they get off the minefield, it's truly a free-for-all until they get into the exit.
"AND WE HAVE OUR CHAMPION, MIDORIYA IZUKU! IN SECOND IS TODOROKI SHOUTO, THIRD IS BAKUGOU KATSUKI, AND FOURTH IS EDWARD ELRIC!"
—————
Ed falls face first into the grass as soon as he gets out of the way of the exit. All his hard work and he gets fourth place. He's so disappointed in himself. Where had that other guy even come from?
He groans into the grass as he realizes Al is watching this. He's going to hold this over Ed's head forever, wasn't he? And he was so close too...
Fucking mini-Kimblee. Setting off an explosion in his face. Ed is going to sue for emotional distress. Ed regrets everything he thought about liking the guy's attitude earlier. The skin on his upper arm is raw and peeling because of his stupid explosions, and Ed isn't forgetting about that. There was something wrong with that entire exchange. The way his explosions immediately started amping up when he touched Ed's skin... there was something wrong with it. But he has an objective right now and it takes priority, so he'll check up on that later.
Fucking Ice guy. Ed's lost one of his boot cuffs! He liked those! All of that and he still got fourth!
Truth, he's tired. That took a lot out of him. Ed could've sworn his stamina was better. All his adrenaline has worn off and now he's just breathing crazy heavy. Wasn't physical therapy supposed to put him back into proper shape? Holy Truth, how bad did he get in those months in the hospital? Why is he this tired?
More people fill into the stadium, and Ed gets nudged in the side. He turns his head to see a green-haired boy with freckles on his cheeks. Fucking first place. Ed is going to bite him if he tries nudging him again.
Freckles looks genuinely concerned for Ed. Like a little puppy. Hah. Ed would laugh if his face wasn't half smushed into the grass.
"Are you okay?"
Nope. Ed is not okay. Because the moment Teacher sees this, she's going to find a way to teleport to Japan so she can kick Ed's ass and tell him all the things he did wrong. He is going to die soon. Maybe he should start getting his will ready. Eh, what would it even say? He'd leave everything to Al anyway. Maybe a "Sorry Ling, I did like you...a lot" letter. Make sure the Military gave compensation to Winry and Granny. Tell Al to punch Mustang in the face for him. He'd have to do it, it's Ed's will.
"Sure," he says instead. He turns his face back into the grass and screams a little.
—————
The nurses have to come into the room.
Not because they were screaming loud. No, they were warned about that beforehand.
It's because the screaming stopped.
Al is staring out the window in contemplation of his life.
Teacher in leaning into her husband, who has a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. She bangs her forehead against his chest twice. She has the same look of contemplation on her face.
Sig sends an apologetic look at the nurses. They're all crowded around the door.
The TV keeps playing.