Chapter Text
“I take it you’re here to retrieve your brother? Just how do you plan on pulling an entire human out of here? What’s your payment? Do you intend to offer your own body?”
“Yeah I’ve got your payment right here” Ed pointed at the Gate behind him. “So, go ahead and take it!”
For the first time ever, Truth seemed taken off guard.
“This thing is my portal of Truth so I get to make the decision on how it’s used. Is that right?” Ed said with a smug grin. Quickly, Truth’s look of surprise morphed into a knowing cackle.
“It’s come to that.” The cackle intensifies . “And you’re sure about this? You do realize you’ll never be able to perform alchemy again without your portal.”
For the first time since arriving, Ed turned to look at the Gate and smiled. “I’m aware of that. This Portal, I know it contains every secret alchemy has to offer. However, it also led me astray. I saw the Truth that lies within it and became convinced I could solve everything with Alchemy, but I couldn’t possibly have been more wrong. That was just arrogance.”
“You’re willing to cast it aside? To lower yourself to a simple human.” Truth asked gleefully.
“What do you mean lower myself? That’s the only thing I’ve ever been. Just a simple human who couldn’t save a little girl, not even with alchemy.”
“You’re sure you’ll be alright without it? Think carefully now.”
Still smiling, Ed had to think of all the people he had befriended over his journey, every single one of them waiting for him to come home, invested in his struggles. He turned to look at Truth properly again and offered it a bright grin. “Who even needs Alchemy, when I’ve got them?”
“You’ve done it! That’s the right answer!” Ed clapped and turned around to deconstruct his gate.
“But”
He stopped in his tracks, moments before making contact. He could feel the alchemic energy waiting to be released.
“But what? You said that was the right answer! What else could there be?”
“Nothing really. You really have beaten me. Congratulations Edward Elric!” Ed turned back again to through an incredulous look at the grinning god.
“Then why stop me, you bastard? I’m so close to finally taking Al home”
“Well, I have a deal to offer to you. More equivalent exchange, if you will” Oh no, here it goes “In addition to your brother’s body you can have everything else I’ve taken from your friends over the years. As you know, I do like to keep the originals around. There’s a version of me with your teacher’s insides floating around. It’s quite macabre, really. You could get back your leg, your Colonel’s eyesight and those insides I mentioned. I’ll even throw in some life energy for your dear dying dad. He’s been such a help in getting rid of that pesky little Dwarf, wouldn’t you agree? What do you say? I know you’re resigned to walking around on automail until the day you die, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
Ed really couldn’t care less about his leg. Winry would probably get depressed if she had nothing to fix, but the Bastard’s eyesight? Compared to the other sacrifices, he had done nothing to deserve that particular brand of equivalent exchange. And he knew that Hohenheim and Teacher would most likely not last much longer. If nothing else, it would give Al the chance to have a father he can hug with his own body for a while longer.
“This offer is too good to be true. What do you want in exchange? Nothing I have could be worth all of that.” Suspicion clear in his voice.
“What I want from you is a year of your time, dear Mr. Al-che-mist.”
“Huh?” that was not what he had expected.
“Like you said, nothing you have is worth all of these traded body parts, but you must have realized that the things I trade in are not measured in weight or numbers. You could say I trade in potential, with the occasional dash of dark irony. For my own personal amusement, of course. Your time, applied to the right situations could yield incredible results. You see, I am a bit bored around here. With your brother gone, I’ll need new entertainment. And you, my dear Edward Elric, are one of the most amusing of all.” They paused “Especially for one so small.”
“Shut up!”, Ed was growing impatient, “Your bullshit blabbering is nice’n all, but you still haven’t actually explained to me what you want. I could be home right now.”
“ Ah yes of course. Always such a short temper.” Ed’s eye twitched “That door behind you? You think it only leads back to your world? Think again! You really aren’t that special in the grand scheme of things. If all I did was wait around for your world’s alchemists to come around and play, I would die of boredom”
What a drama queen. Ed wasn’t entirely shocked though. The physicists at Central U had been yammering on about potential parallel universes for years now. Not exactly his wheelhouse, but he did leaf through the occasional Central Science magazine. He had neglected his subscription in recent months though. Hard to tell them your home address, when you’re fucking around in the forest as a state fugitive. He bet Central U’s physics department would shit a brick if he went up to them and said “Hey Suckers, The humanoid arbiter of alchemy, aka God confirmed you’re right! K, Bye!”
“ One of these universes..., well let’s just say there are a few things there that could do with a nudge in the right direction. What a prime opportunity to have some fun for you and me, hm? Can’t tell you what they are of course. That would spoil the surprise. And I do so love surprises. I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually. I can already imagine the look on your face when you do. Either way, I’ll send you there, you’ll do some things for me and after one year you’ll be back to Amestris and your family will have all their body parts back. Easy Breezy, Mr. Al-che-mist. Your brother gets to go home immediately, of course.” Truth had stood up at this point and Ed could see that his leg, like his arm, wasn’t in particularly good shape.
Ed stared at Truth incredulously. Truth couldn’t be for real. They themselves had said that they weren’t telling him the whole truth, but Ed also didn’t think they were lying. Ed wasn’t even sure they could rescind on a deal once it was made. If the arbiter of equivalent exchange declared your deal equivalent exchange, it had to be, right? One year of his time for what amounted to longer lives for Hohenheim and Teacher and giving Mustang back what was unfairly stolen. He did owe the bastard 520 cens after all. He wouldn’t really mind not having to deal with phantom pains ever again either, if he was being completely honest. Also that thing still attached to Truth desperately needed some physiotherapy. He could deal with one year.
“I’ll do it under one condition. You’ll tell Al exactly what is going on. I don’t want him to think I sacrificed my life for him. You’ll tell him I’ll be back in one year on the dot and that the others will have their bodies restored.”
“ No problem Mr. Al-che-mist. Your demand won’t even cost you extra. I’ll tell him the full and honest Truth.” they snickered. “ Deal?” they said and extended what used to be Ed’s arm in invitation.
Ed stepped towards the grinning bastard and took the offered hand. The moment he touched it, he felt the air shift behind him and he moved to spin around, but what looked like a copy of Truth had already shoved their hand into his back and his brain exploded with pain. If he had thought going for the Portal of Truth was an intense experience, it had nothing on this. He collapsed on the floor clutching his throbbing head. Millions of images flooded his brain, while hearing Truths cackle from seemingly everywhere.
“What are you doing, you see-through asshole?” he managed to grit out through clenched teeth. He felt like he was about to die.
“ Didn’t I mention? I’m coming with you on your little trip. So much more engaging, than just watching from above.” Their voice echoing right between his ears.
Before he could register what that meant, the Gate opened behind him and familiar black hands shot out and wrapped around his limbs. In too much pain and all too aware that nothing he could do would stop them, he didn’t fight for once and let them drag him into the darkness.
“Oh, and I forgot to mention the magic.” he heard that multi-layered voice call out gleefully before he finally lost consciousness.