fmadrlj | All grown up...

Entry tags:

All grown up...

[Half a step ago, this Edward was walking along the streets of Central, on his way to Gracia's house. When his foot hits the pavement, he is still walking along the streets of Central...but those streets have changed, and something is very wrong.]

[Startled, then alarmed, he looks left and right, turns in a circle, darts down an alley that didn't exist a second ago to search there. He's recognizably Edward Elric, but older, in his mid-twenties at least, with the strong jaw and broad shoulders of a young man. And he's tall. There's no dodging the fact, even as his shoulders hunch and his golden eyes start to flash with fear. Spotting the nearest passerby, he shouts with a note of panicky fury in his voice:]

Where the hell are my kids?!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[That's. Unfortunate. He runs a hand through his bangs, a little frustrated vicariously.] Edward Elric.

[Ed's brows knit together instantly.] The hell you are.

[It can't be. He's dead, and he wouldn't be this stupid.]

Yep, I am. And I'm not the only one. You're not in Kansas anymore, pops.

[Alright, now this feels familiar. Impossible, maddening, and an unspeakably smug attempt to get his goat, but familiar. The hands that grab his doppleganger's collar now may not be steel, but they're doing a good impression of it.]

Envy. [He grits it through his teeth.] Where. Are. My. Children?

[Woah, that was sudden. Ed finds himself wishing that his double did have an automail arm; it'd make it a lot easier for him to push him away without having to hurt him.

He holds up his right arm, and a blade extends from the metal, ripping through his sleeve and glove.] I don't know what you think you're doing, but I. Didn't. Touch them. Now let me go.

[He flinches at the blade, but doesn't let go just yet. This man wants answers that make sense.]

What I think I'm doing? You shouldn't be here! I watched you kill yourself!

[Ed's eyes narrow at that]

You're crazy! We're not even from the same world, how could you watch-- [wait, what] I wouldn't kill myself, you crazy old bat! I have to help Al!

[He points the blade at the other Edward.] I don't want to have to hurt you.

[This feels wrong. If the kid was Envy, he wouldn't be warning him off--he'd already be on him in a sadistic little whirlwind. Edward struggles for a moment with a lion's share of confusion and anger, then reluctantly loosens his grip, not quite letting go.]

Can you prove you're not a homunculus?

[Flatly] No, since I don't even know what a homunculus is. [Keeps the blade pointed at him, but he's thinking a mile a minute to figure out how to get this psycho away from him. Metal pipes under the street... Street lamps not far from here...] So how about you just stop jumping to conclusions and attacking random kids.

[This is insane. But he isn't talking like a guilty man, or acting like Envy anymore, for that matter. Envy has never quite been able to stifle that streak of smugness when he knows he's got the advantage. Edward clenches his jaw and lets the kid go, stepping back.]

Sorry. You just... [A flicker of guilt keeps him from quite meeting the boy's eyes.] Homunculi are artificial humans, created with alchemy. I fought one called Envy once. It could change its shape to look like anyone. Even me.

[He makes a face.] What the hell am I supposed to think? There can't be two of me.

[Sigh] Okay, point. [Though he didn't attack the first other Ed he met and accuse him of being Mystique...]

You have parallel universe theory in your world? This place is pretty much living proof of it.

Parallel... [He looks around. There was a dizzying lurch and a flash, when the streets shifted. It wasn't entirely unlike passing through a Gate.]

[He ponders this for a moment. It's crazy, but no crazier than any other explanation for what's happening to him.] So...I'm in another world? Why? I haven't done practical alchemy in years.

Alchemy's got nothing to do with it. We don't even have the stuff in my world. It's all strings and branes and other sci-fi mumbo-jumbo.

Strings and brains? [He tilts his head, puzzled. It definitely doesn't sound like anything he's heard of, that's for sure, and between himself and Al they'd canvassed most of the alchemical knowledge in--]

Wait. Al. You said you needed to help Al. What's wrong? [And on the heels of that thought, he remembers:] And if I'm in this world, does that mean my kids are still back in our world?

I don't know a whole lot about it, really. And yeah, they are, I just said that. [Kid gets snappy when people attack him, sorry.]

He's in a wheelchair. I'm helping him learn how to use his legs again.

Oh, shit. [The idea of Al in a wheelchair is a terrible one.] That's...how did it happen?

Car crash. A few years ago.

God. [It takes him a moment to square with himself that this isn't "his" Alphonse, but still. Still.] I...I'm sorry.

Don't be. We're moving forward from there. He's making good progress, too.

[That does sound like them. Edward nods.] That's...good.

[With the Al-sense appeased, the father-sense comes back into play in very short order. He glances back at the alley he'd just searched, then out at the street, and--suddenly goes pale.]

Wait, does time stop when you switch worlds? Did I just...vanish? What if Theo runs out in the street? What if--oh, shit, I was carrying Sara!

Um-- it... might. I think Al and me came here from different times and neither of us noticed anything weird back home.

How old is Sara?

Eight months next week.

[His stomach is doing uncomfortable twisty things now. Oh, god, he doesn't even want to think about what...]

[Oh man.]

Look. Worrying about what could have happened isn't going to do any good. What we need to focus on is getting the hell out of here, and then you can worry all you want. Got it?

[That's about as comfortable to accept as a screwdriver up the automail socket, but Ed grits his teeth and nods. The...other him...has a point.]

How fast can I do that?

No clue. I've been here weeks. I'm studying alchemy to see if there's any way of moving between worlds.

no subject

no subject

no subject

I apologize for this in advance. ^^;

Haha <3

no subject

no subject

Whee, identities.

no subject

no subject

no subject

Cut Ed some slack, he's a little stressed right now. XD

Poor guy :(

no subject

no subject

No problem, so does this one. XD;

Hee

no subject

no subject

Have a frantic dad. >.>;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject