Log; Complete

[opfern.livejournal.com]

When; September 29th [Midday].
Rating; PG [Woe and Angst].
Characters; Edward Elric [deduced] & Alfons Heiderich [opfern].
Summary; Cirucci could only detain Alfons for so long. Alfons finds Ed, but Ed doesn't have a clue who Alfons is.
Log;

While he hadn't been gone long enough to miss anyone in particular, at least in his mind, he was aware that he had been gone for a couple weeks now. Cirucci had insisted that nobody but her had missed him, but... He knew that even if Winry and Alphonse didn't care, he still had kittens to care for.

At least he had washed his clothes and been able to shower before sneaking out of her apartment. He still couldn't figure out why she had been so adamant about him staying. 'You won't come back.' ...What was that supposed to mean? Why wouldn't he?

Having picked up a few books from the library on the way home, Alfons was forced to nudge the front door shut with his foot as he clutched at the book bag with both hands. ...Alright, maybe a little more than a few.

"I'm home!" he called out nervously as he headed up the stairs, only to be suddenly tripped up by both Ciro and Tony. With a laugh, he stumbled the rest of the way up the stairs before reaching the top and crouching to pet the kittens. "Well at least you two missed me... Alphonse has been feeding you, hasn't he?"


Transported into a new city; a new world. Finding out that half the people he knew had been thrown there too. That they were all now trapped. None of the past few days had made the slightest bit of sense to him. However, amongst all the chaos, there'd been one note of relief. He'd found his brother there. Alphonse, with his own body back. It was proof that things had to work out in the end. There had to have been a way to return his younger brother to normal.

He'd been abandoned a few hours ago. Al had head off shopping, Winry had returned to a store she ran. That'd left him with the day free to go exploring, and that'd been just what he'd done.

At least until he'd run into the third alien-looking creature. That'd soon sent him home in a hurry. ...not that he'd been scared. Of course not. There were just better things he could be doing at home!

Currently holed up inside the apartment, Ed had taken the opportunity of being alone to go on a different kind of exploration. This time it involved the microwave...which now lay in pieces on the table in his room. It was something he Al had pointed out to him earlier, and so he'd taken the chance to get a better look at said appliance. Taking it apart had been easy. Putting it together on the other hand...

The sudden call of someone returning home caused Ed to almost bolt up from his seat and begin scraping all the pieces into a pile, which were covered over with his coat. "I-I'll be out in a second!" He was going to get in trouble.


As he stepped into the kitchen, Alfons blinked at the mess. Or...something that looked like it could be a mess, but it was hard to tell with that red coat covering it up. Someone wearing...leather? Oh dear. And his hair was in a braid...

"Oh! I'm sorry, I hadn't realized they had a guest... Did you break something?" He chuckled and stepped around the mess to crouch down in front of him. Lord, he was still sore. That Tatsuki had insisted on an early morning lessons. Alfons had only just returned... Couldn't he catch a break? "Don't worry about it. I'm sure Alphonse can fix it with his...alchemy..."

The words trailed off as soon as he focused on the other person's face. "Oh my...God... Edward!" Utterly unable to contain himself, Alfons ignored the hazardous pieces between them and practically tackled the other, grabbing him in a tight hug. "Edward, Edward! You came back! No wonder Cirucci was keeping me away... She really can be so petty sometimes. I missed you!"


The sound of approaching footsteps caused Ed's movements to speed up, the casing managing to make it partly under the hood by the time the new arrival had entered the room. Looking up at Alfons, he tried to give an innocent look, which was soon replaced with confusion. The older boy looked somewhat...familiar, but they'd never met before. Had they?

"You know Al?" Any further questions were quickly cut off as Ed found himself under attack! Or at least something close to it. He turned rigid, shocked at the strangers sudden compulsion to hug him. "GET OFF!" Finally getting control over his limbs again, Ed took a tight grip of the boys arms, tugging on them to try and free himself. At the same time, he began scurrying backwards, his head smacking into the cupboard behind him in his hurry to get away. "Who the hell are you?!"


Already a bit bruised from the martial arts lesson experienced earlier that day, he flinched and jerked back at the rough handling as Edward tried to...shove him away?! Alarmed, he stood back up and rubbed at his sore arm, tightly gripping the book bag in his other.

"...Edward?" Was it not him? No, he knew it was him. There was no mistaking that voice, or those eyes. How many times had he looked into those eyes, or touched that hair?

Was there a curse going on? He had already experienced half the day and so far nobody had acted out of sorts or reported a curse. So what was going on? Ed looked like a wild animal who was cornered. Was he...angry?

Then it hit him, what was so off. The facial features were...softer. The clothing was so very different. That hair... A braid? He could recall Edward's stories of his past, and so he had always had a picture in his head of what he must have looked like. This was...frighteningly similar.

Terribly so.

His grip on the bag weakened as he stared down at the teen in horror. This Edward was...younger than him! Meaning... "...You...don't know who I am." His voice sounded hollow. It wasn't a question.


The other boy knew who he was. Or at least, he knew both his and his brothers' names. He knew where they lived, and had gotten in without any trouble. It seemed as though this stranger actually knew them. But there was one problem. They'd never actually met before.

Taking the brief moment of freedom to make a move, Ed was up onto his feet, his eyes narrowed on the blond. He didn't seem dangerous, but then neither had a lot of the people he knew. It didn't hurt to be weary. Holding his hands a few inches apart, he waited, looking for a sign that things were going to get worse. Or, as was a scarier thought to him, that the blond was going to try and hug him again.

"I wouldn't have asked if I knew. So who are you?" And why did he look like Ed had just kicked a puppy?


It possibly would have been less painful if he had just been stabbed in the heart. As the situation at hand absorbed, he understood things a little better. Why Winry and Alphonse hadn't contacted him as soon as he returned. Why Cirucci had actually kept him away. She had been stalling. Stalling.

Feeling ill, the bag slipped completely then, crashing to the ground and sending various books on cooking and rocketry every which way. "You haven't left your world yet...before coming here. You were still with Winry...and your brother, weren't you? You're..." ...shorter, Alfons wanted to say, but he bit that comment back.

"...Younger. So you haven't met me yet... Do you even know rockets exist yet?" Light headed now, not willing to accept this, he stepped closer yet, as if unaware of the threat that Edward's posture suggested. Instead he simply moved in to reach out to touch Ed's right hand, gripping the automail beneath the glove to push it aside and lean down for a kiss. Not thinking, he wasn't thinking, but he just couldn't...accept this.


His gaze dropped to the abandoned bag, eyes drifting across the unfamiliar titles that littered the ground. Rockets? "You know Winry too?" He couldn't help but frown at that. His past experience with those who knew both the Elrics and Winry hadn't gone well. This stranger coming in with similar information didn't give him much reason to trust the man.

"I said, who are you?" The sudden move for his hand made Ed flinch, both limbs being pulled back before they were finally clapped together, a blade being formed out of his right arm. It was held up in front of him in an obvious threat. He still hadn't been given an answer, even after all this time. Fights had started for a lot less before.


The alchemy use made him quickly draw back. He had seen Edward turn his arm into a weapon like that before, but the realization that Edward was now using it against him was too much. He was being regarded as an enemy... And even worse. A stranger.

With a wince, he stumbled back and shook his head. Oh, he hoped it was a curse... Then this Hell would only last 24 hours. But honestly, nobody else had mentioned a curse...!

"I... I'm..." He realized how ridiculous it would be to say his name aloud. Edward would hear it the wrong way. Alfons? Alphonse. "...I'm not anyone...you know."

Saying it out loud nearly made him choke on his next words as he quickly backed up even more. "I'm sorry. There's been a misunderstanding. I'll leave." Alfons' teeth clenched, and he turned to quickly dart off down the hall.

He couldn't pack it all, but he could at least throw what he needed into a suit case in record time and get the hell out of there. He couldn't stay in the same building as this...let alone share a room.


Not anyone he knew? Well that part was obvious. But at least Ed had finally gotten the point across. To have a stranger break in to their house (because he refused to think he'd gotten in any other way), then attack him (because hugs were attacks), and then try to look hurt when he reacted badly, he was lucky that Ed hadn't actually attacked yet.

Watching as the other turned to leave, Ed took a moment before clapping his hands and returning his automail to normal again. Following out after the stranger, Ed scowled as he realized Alfons was heading into his room. "What the-" Sprinting down the hallway, Ed almost slid past the entrance as he came to a halt, staring inside.

...He was taking the clothes that Ed had found sitting in there when he'd turned up. Did that mean they were his? But then, why were they in his room in the first place? "...Who are you?" It was the same question yet again. Only this time, the anger had been replaced with confusion. He wanted to know what was going on.


Alfons just shook his head as he emptied out the drawers that were his, shoving the clothing into the suitcase haphazardly. "Drop it, Edward! I don't know how long you've been here, but I'm sure people have told you that you've been here before. You might not remember, because..."

God, it made no sense. "Because it hasn't happened yet. You haven't met me yet." The stress was too much. As he stood to shove past Edward to go fetch some of his things from the bathroom, he coughed into the back of his hand. After grabbing his toothbrush, he stalked back to the bedroom, not even able to look at Ed anymore.

"Ask Winry and Alphonse if you want to know who I am. You'll trust their word better than mine. Ciro! Tony!"


"So I met you here then?" He couldn't help but scowl as he found himself being shoved out of the way. Continuing to trail after Alfons, Ed ended up walking in a circle as he returned to the door frame again. If they hadn't met yet, then that could've meant that he was from the other version of Amestris. The one that Al and the Colonel came from. "You're not from the military though, so did we meet you on the way?"

He watched impassively as the cats were called. Something he'd believed belonged to his brother since he'd found them there. "Why were you living in my room though?" As smart as he may've been at times, there were many things that went right over his head. And this was definitely one of them. "I'm not asking them, I'm asking you. So answer the questions!"


"No, not in your world, and not here. In my world. You were trapped in my world for a couple of years before you...found a way to return to your brother." Biting his lip, he packed what little else he could fit in the suitcase before shutting it.

He cringed when asked why they shared a room, and instead grabbed up Ciro when he went trotting by. The kitten flailed, ever the jumpy one, as Alfons carried him over to put him in the cat carrier that sat at the bottom of the closet. Maybe he would just leave Tony. Alphonse liked kittens so much, after all...

"We were sharing a room because you convinced me to move back in with you. After months and months, I finally did...only for you to get up and leave! And then you return like this..." He knew it wasn't Ed's fault. It was the stupid City's fault. He hated it!

Feeling like he was falling apart all over the place, he didn't even know what to do with himself as he grabbed the suitcase and cat carrier, moving to go past him again. "Alphonse can keep Tony if he wants. He likes your brother better, anyway."


A fourth world? He'd only just gotten over the fact that there was an alternate version of Amestris. But to then find out there was another world that had to have been...connected to his own world too? It didn't make any sense. "I met you there." There words came out quietly, more of a statement than a question. That meant they were friends, in some version of time. And now...

"Sorry." The one word slipped out as he finally looked to the blond without a trace of anger left. By him returning, Alfons had lost a friend, all because he couldn't remember. "...you're still friends with Al and Winry thought, right?" So he didn't have to leave. Not really. ...as uncomfortable as it may've been.


Ed's apology winded him, and it made him pause to look at him. Really look at him. Poor Edward... He didn't know what was going on at all. Realizing just how unfair he was acting, Alfons set the suitcase and cat carrier down, Ciro scratching at the inside to be let out.

"...Yes. But they'll understand why I left. ...Can I...?"

He stepped closer, only to hesitate warily, not wanting to have that alchemical blade brandished once more. "May I try something? I won't hurt you."


They may understand, but they probably wouldn't be happy about it. After all, if they'd been living with Alfons for that long already, it'd be a change to find the blond suddenly absent from their home.

At the others approach, he took an unwanted step backwards, still not comfortable with having Alfons around. Especially him being so close after his earlier actions. He remained silent for a few moments, simply looking up at Alfons as he tried to come to some kind of decision. "...if you tell me your name first."


The smile he offered then was melancholy. Edward was...so stubborn. "Alfons Heiderich. Now may I...?"

Stepping closer, the young man reached out to brush his fingers against Ed's bangs before letting his hands settle on his shoulder. He head to lean so far over just to be eye level with him, and his back was already sore enough, but...

"I didn't get to say this before. I don't know what I was scared of... I convinced myself to say it should you ever return, and here you are, even if you don't know me. Please forgive me for being so selfish and indulging like this..."

Too afraid that Ed would end up sucker punching him if he let it carry on too long, Alfons tipped his head to the side to let their lips touch just for a moment, gentle but firm. Then he rested his cooler forehead against Edward's, keeping his eyes shut, because he could never look at someone who perceived him as a stranger and still say this.

"Edward Elric, I love you." His heart, had it been capable of beating, would have certainly been erratic at this point. Immediately after saying so, he dropped his hands and took a few steps back. "That's why I can't stay. Do you understand?"


He would've been lying if he didn't say that the name had caught him off-guard. Alfons? Of all the things the blond could be called. The sudden feeling of hands moving to his shoulders was enough to snap him back to attention, only to find himself surprised once again as he found a pair of blue eyes mere inches away.

The phrase 'caught like a deer in headlights' had never fit a situation better after Alfons' next move. He was kissing him?

Unable to help himself, Ed was soon scrambling backwards yet again. He knew it was going to hurt the other more than he already had, but this was one thing he wasn't able to help. Not when he was still trying to admit to himself how he felt about a certain automail mechanic.

"...Sorry." He'd said it once already, but it was all he could muster just then. Whatever had happened between the two of them hadn't happened with him yet. He didn't even know the boy who supposedly...loved...him. "...Yeah. I understand."


It hurt. How could a heart that didn't beat anymore hurt so much? And here he was trying to give Cirucci back her heart... What a cruel person he was, to wish this kind of pain on her.

His voice threatened to crack as he whispered out, now staring at the ground again, "Please don't hurt Winry. She cares for you...so very much."

Biting his lip, Alfons moved to grab the suitcase and cat carrier again, turning away from Edward and hurrying down the stairs. He wasn't sure on where he would go, but he knew he needed to get away. Winry's words from their one conversation still burned in his mind as the door slammed open and he rushed off.

"Seems like the best rival won, eh?"

...Yes. It seemed so.