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tampered2008-01-30 05:39 am
opfern.livejournal.com) wrote in tampered2008-01-30 05:39 am
Log; Complete
When; January 29th [After the subway bombing].
Rating; PG
Characters; Edward Elric [![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chrysopoeia] & Alfons Heiderich [opfern].
Summary; After deciding to follow Ed to the explosion siteto keep him out of trouble, he learns just what Envy did to him across the Gate. And they share a stupid squishy moment.
Log;
Alfons should have known that his lungs couldn't take all that smoke, but he had been so intent on helping the others while trying to keep Edward safe that it just...hadn't even entered his mind. And at first, he really did manage, clutching his shoulder back tightly to his chest as he watched Edward work his 'magic', so to speak. It was a relief to know that Ishida had gotten out safely, and that there were plenty of people down there helping.
But there were...so many dead bodies. It reminded Alfons of the great war... No, wait, what had it been called in the text books. World War I. Perhaps the City hadn't left him completely jaded, if he could still feel so ill at the sight of dead bodies.
At least they were able to help a few out of the underground before Alfons used up his scrolls and finally lost enough oxygen to make breathing damn near impossible. He could barely make it up the subway's steps before he collapsed near one of the abandoned information boxes, covering his mouth and hoping his coughs would subside before long. He really wasn't much help like this.
~*~
Even if they had come from different worlds originally, they were both children of War, Edward more so than Alfons in fact. A dog of a military; he would never shake off that title from the past in his head, he'd accepted it after all. It had meant he'd seen a lot of terrible things and been directly involved with worse. But Alfons didn't need to know about any of that if he hadn't been told already by another version of himself. It was hard to know what Ed was and wasn't keeping a secret from the other boy.
Even for someone with perfectly healthy lungs, the smoke was bound to affect their breathing on some level. Ed was certainly sensing the difference but he could certainly bear it well enough and claim he'd known worse. It didn't take too long to discovered that was not the case for Alfons, however.
"Alfons!" He scrambled up the stairs behind the other teen, kneeling down beside him and frowning somewhere between concern and annoyance that Alfons let himself get into such a state. His right arm slid around Alfons' shoulders carefully, helping him to sit up properly as he narrowed a glare upon him further "Idiot... You should have known you'd get like this if you went down there. Why'd you push yourself like that?"
~*~
He really couldn't muster up a decent response at first, aside from offering Edward a sheepish glance before another coughing fit took over. It felt like his lungs were being slowly shredded apart from the inside out. God. It was really no surprise that when he was finally able to inhale a raspy breath, his hand fell away to reveal blood splotched on his palm.
With one last choking cough, he reached up to wipe at his mouth with his sleeve. "I wanted to help," he croaked out weakly. "I'm tired of having to sit around and do nothing. It was different back home... I had something else to focus on there." Plus, he hadn't wanted Ed to go into that mess unsupervised, but Alfons decided to keep that to himself.
"I can go back in... I'm better now."
~*~
Sadly, Edward was not easily convinced by such a poor excuse and it showed in the way he eyed Alfons through an unimpressed stare. He'd seen that condition become worse and worse in Alfons since he'd known him, and again recently in himself during a recent curse. Oh yes, that was right, he had to yell at him for that as well... He'd add that to the list of things to chew Alfons out about later.
"You're hopeless." Ed muttered, flopping himself down on the floor beside his friend then and huffing in an impatient manner "Get yourself together properly and we'll talk but there's no point in forcing yourself back down there if you're just going to end up like this all over again." He glanced to the side then, scoffing lightly "You're not fooling me, you know. I know you want to help but getting yourself sick like this again won't make things any easier." Apparently, that was Edward for 'Stop making me worry, you idiot'.
~*~
He wanted to argue, but even Alfons knew he was at his limit, and so he stayed put, crouched on his knees as he slowly tried to regain his composure. "...Mm. You're right. Perhaps it would have been better if you'd come here with your brother or Mustang."
Still, Alfons was glad he was there with Edward... It was hard to get time alone with him now, so he did cherish it, even if it was under such morbid circumstances. He really had to wonder just who would plant a bomb in the subway like that... So many people killed. How well would Edward's brother have handled that?
Slumping back against a pillar, Alfons shut his eyes and steadied his breaths, though his voice was still raspy. "You said you'd tell me...about what Envy said."
~*~
Edward rolled his eyes slightly, it wasn't that he doubted either Roy or Al in the slightest, quite the opposite in fact, but he didn't want to really in-debt himself to Mustang. Additionally, he didn't want to subject Al to those kinds of sights if he could help it. He recalled his younger brother finding the conflict hard to handle without his memories and it had been painful to watch. Ed could lock up the disgust he sometimes felt toward people and their destructive ways, but that was why he had originally taken on the position in the military over Alphonse.
He pulled a face at Alfons then, discomfort of course displaying as annoyance as he snorted a little and looked away quickly "I said 'maybe', actually." He didn't even let a beat form before continuing "Why do you want to know about that right now? Can't it wait?"
~*~
Alfons made a face of his own, opening his eyes to glare a bit. "Because I just found out about it, and it's not a matter easily forgotten! What exactly are we waiting for? Pigs to fly?" He paused, then sighed. Actually, that could happen any day now, with how backwards the City was.
Then he thought about it another moment and shook his head, reaching up to press his hand against the pillar for support as he tried to stand up. "Forget it... We both have our secrets. Maybe it's best kept that way."
As Alfons looked around, he really wondered what else he could do to help. He had used up all of his scrolls, and the last time they had been down there, he had seen nothing but a few dead bodies. Maybe everyone was finally out...that could be rescued, anyhow.
~*~
Out the corner of his eye, Ed glared at him slightly before standing up easily as well, keeping his back to Alfons as he scanned his eyes around the area in the opposite direction. He'd already decided that he didn't want Envy twisting any truths about him or Al to anyone, least of all Alfons. The world he had come from and the world he knew with Alfons were completely different after all. He'd told him stories, of course, but he had never believed him off the bat. Why would he? Regardless, he didn't want Envy poisoning the facts and had decided he'd tell Alfons about that particular event... He just hadn't expected him to ask so soon.
"Before I met you," He began quietly but in a steady voice, it wasn’t something he was going to add unnecessary emotion to "I came to your world once before, briefly. It's a long story and I'll tell you the details later if you want to know, but yes, Envy killed me once before in our world. He is--" He stopped himself, deciding he didn't like the idea of referring to him as anything even remotely like family "Never mind. Yeah, he killed me and it sent me through the gate to your world again. Al brought me back. I didn't want to lose him to the gate so I... willingly sent myself back through the gate to restore him in our world."
Running a hand through his bangs, he found it was a lot harder to talk about that than he thought, especially when trying to make it swift and simple. Glancing back over his shoulder at Alfons he shrugged a little.
"I'm not sure what you were expecting... Was that even close?"
~*~
Alfons noticed his knees feeling weak yet again as he stared at Edward. He had heard many outrageous stories of Edward's world, and heard a couple less unsavory ones while in the City... But he really hadn't told him these sorts of details, or anything in-depth on the Homunculus. To be told this much made his heart hurt, if only because it explained one of the many more reasons Edward was the way he was.
"You two sacrificed yourselves for each other... He was even able to bring you back to life? Your world... It's amazing." It was hard to hide the emotion in his eyes as he looked at the other, struggling to keep his composure. Pushing away from the pillar, Alfons lifted a hand as if to reach for his face, only to think better of it, letting his hand clap down onto Ed's shoulder instead. "You're amazing."
~*~
A slight flush fell upon Edward's cheeks as he shifted his weight slightly and made an uncomfortable noise of perhaps reluctant embarrassment as he brought a hand to the back of his neck sheepishly "That's a bit much. It's not really... Er... W-well, that's to say--"
His arm lowered then, his expression altering a little. Praise was all well and good when it was deserving and Ed wasn't above agreeing with others when they said he'd done a good job, but that aside he knew what he was in this case.
"I'm really not, Alfons. I don't know how much you really know about my world, the laws of alchemy, or anything like that, but I'm a sinner by almost every definition." He lifted his right arm then, eyeing where the light reflected off the metal showing through between the material of his white gloves and the sleeve of his coat. "I'm just way too lucky for my own good. That's all."
~*~
Alfons glanced to Edward's right arm. He knew from his previous visit to the City that he had lost it and his leg when attempting to bring his mother back to life, but that was all he knew of that event. Even the aftermath was something he was blissfully unaware of, so perhaps he wasn't quite as aware of just what Edward meant by sinning, but...
"I don't really know what equates as 'sinning' in your world, but you were just a boy who wanted to see his mother again." He tried to offer a reassuring smile. "I'm sure if I'd had the chance, I would have attempted the same thing for my parents." Perhaps Alfons was only being comforting because he knew he was a sinner as well, by the strictest definition, anyhow. Just what he and Edward had done together, well... If he had believed in Hell, he was sure he was there already.
"But since when did you care about those religious labels? You are who you are, Edward. It's skill that got you where you are today, not luck."
~*~
"It's nothing to do with religion," he protested, almost like a whine as he put a hand over his eyes and leant his head back slightly. "It's... hard to explain. I didn't mean it like that." Ugh... This was exactly why he would have rather done the whole thing somewhere enclosed, an apartment somewhere or over coffee, not at the entrance to a subway just after a terrorist attack. It didn't help that Envy and that Thunderwoman or whoever she was had stroked his fur the wrong way.
He let his hand drag down his face then, agitated and frustrated as he usually was when he would much rather have skipped over something and avoided talking about it. It he was going to talk about something he would have preferred some time to get his thoughts together exactly "And my skills are--" He paused then, about ready to punch himself if he dared say his ability was anything to do with his father.
Ahhh, well, Alfons left it wide open there and he'd rather be a cocky bastard in that area if he could. So he forced up a grin, folding his arms over his chest.
"Heh, maybe you're right about that after all! Good thing I've got you here to remind me of that stuff, huh?" Maybe he'd talk about it properly some other time when he was sure of how he wanted to address it.
~*~
Alfons smiled again. For a moment there, Edward had really seemed agitated, and the German was worried that he had made it far worse with his awful timing...but when the alchemist donned his cocky grin once more, relief flooded him. The last thing he wanted was Edward doubting himself.
Even if it meant bringing back the egomaniac in him, he much preferred it when Edward acted this way. "Right. Good thing." Dropping his hand from Edward's shoulder, he stepped to the side and waved his hand towards the subway's entrance.
"One more go? My lungs can take it. We might as well be sure we've helped as many as we can in this area before moving on."
~*~
Maybe Ed was a little grateful that Alfons wasn't poking some of the subjects brought up too much for the moment, maybe when Ed mentioned casually that the other Scientist knew him well he wasn't kidding as much as he liked to make out. Still, if there was a genuine smile somewhere on his face it was hidden behind the smirk.
He clicked his fingers lightly before leveling his forefinger at Alfons pointedly, setting a hard stare upon him to show he was in no mood for humouring him with that cough.
"If I get even the slightest hint that you're about to cough up a lung in there, if I hear so much as a wheeze from you, I'm dragging you out again, kicking, screaming or otherwise. Got it?"
~*~
The warning got another, more genuine grin out of him as he held up both hands submissively. "Right, right! I got it." He knew there was no talking Ed out of this one, so he would just go along with it and deal with it when it happened. This would be difficult, but he would do his best. If he could handle being around someone he was in love with and pretend that nothing had ever existed between them... Then surely he could suppress a cough or two. Edward Elric wasn't the only one who could cover up secrets.
"Now, come on." Alfons reached out to grab Edward around the shoulders, pulling him alongside back towards the stairs. "You have to go be a hero."
Rating; PG
Characters; Edward Elric [
chrysopoeia] & Alfons Heiderich [opfern]. Summary; After deciding to follow Ed to the explosion site
Log;
Alfons should have known that his lungs couldn't take all that smoke, but he had been so intent on helping the others while trying to keep Edward safe that it just...hadn't even entered his mind. And at first, he really did manage, clutching his shoulder back tightly to his chest as he watched Edward work his 'magic', so to speak. It was a relief to know that Ishida had gotten out safely, and that there were plenty of people down there helping.
But there were...so many dead bodies. It reminded Alfons of the great war... No, wait, what had it been called in the text books. World War I. Perhaps the City hadn't left him completely jaded, if he could still feel so ill at the sight of dead bodies.
At least they were able to help a few out of the underground before Alfons used up his scrolls and finally lost enough oxygen to make breathing damn near impossible. He could barely make it up the subway's steps before he collapsed near one of the abandoned information boxes, covering his mouth and hoping his coughs would subside before long. He really wasn't much help like this.
Even if they had come from different worlds originally, they were both children of War, Edward more so than Alfons in fact. A dog of a military; he would never shake off that title from the past in his head, he'd accepted it after all. It had meant he'd seen a lot of terrible things and been directly involved with worse. But Alfons didn't need to know about any of that if he hadn't been told already by another version of himself. It was hard to know what Ed was and wasn't keeping a secret from the other boy.
Even for someone with perfectly healthy lungs, the smoke was bound to affect their breathing on some level. Ed was certainly sensing the difference but he could certainly bear it well enough and claim he'd known worse. It didn't take too long to discovered that was not the case for Alfons, however.
"Alfons!" He scrambled up the stairs behind the other teen, kneeling down beside him and frowning somewhere between concern and annoyance that Alfons let himself get into such a state. His right arm slid around Alfons' shoulders carefully, helping him to sit up properly as he narrowed a glare upon him further "Idiot... You should have known you'd get like this if you went down there. Why'd you push yourself like that?"
He really couldn't muster up a decent response at first, aside from offering Edward a sheepish glance before another coughing fit took over. It felt like his lungs were being slowly shredded apart from the inside out. God. It was really no surprise that when he was finally able to inhale a raspy breath, his hand fell away to reveal blood splotched on his palm.
With one last choking cough, he reached up to wipe at his mouth with his sleeve. "I wanted to help," he croaked out weakly. "I'm tired of having to sit around and do nothing. It was different back home... I had something else to focus on there." Plus, he hadn't wanted Ed to go into that mess unsupervised, but Alfons decided to keep that to himself.
"I can go back in... I'm better now."
Sadly, Edward was not easily convinced by such a poor excuse and it showed in the way he eyed Alfons through an unimpressed stare. He'd seen that condition become worse and worse in Alfons since he'd known him, and again recently in himself during a recent curse. Oh yes, that was right, he had to yell at him for that as well... He'd add that to the list of things to chew Alfons out about later.
"You're hopeless." Ed muttered, flopping himself down on the floor beside his friend then and huffing in an impatient manner "Get yourself together properly and we'll talk but there's no point in forcing yourself back down there if you're just going to end up like this all over again." He glanced to the side then, scoffing lightly "You're not fooling me, you know. I know you want to help but getting yourself sick like this again won't make things any easier." Apparently, that was Edward for 'Stop making me worry, you idiot'.
He wanted to argue, but even Alfons knew he was at his limit, and so he stayed put, crouched on his knees as he slowly tried to regain his composure. "...Mm. You're right. Perhaps it would have been better if you'd come here with your brother or Mustang."
Still, Alfons was glad he was there with Edward... It was hard to get time alone with him now, so he did cherish it, even if it was under such morbid circumstances. He really had to wonder just who would plant a bomb in the subway like that... So many people killed. How well would Edward's brother have handled that?
Slumping back against a pillar, Alfons shut his eyes and steadied his breaths, though his voice was still raspy. "You said you'd tell me...about what Envy said."
Edward rolled his eyes slightly, it wasn't that he doubted either Roy or Al in the slightest, quite the opposite in fact, but he didn't want to really in-debt himself to Mustang. Additionally, he didn't want to subject Al to those kinds of sights if he could help it. He recalled his younger brother finding the conflict hard to handle without his memories and it had been painful to watch. Ed could lock up the disgust he sometimes felt toward people and their destructive ways, but that was why he had originally taken on the position in the military over Alphonse.
He pulled a face at Alfons then, discomfort of course displaying as annoyance as he snorted a little and looked away quickly "I said 'maybe', actually." He didn't even let a beat form before continuing "Why do you want to know about that right now? Can't it wait?"
Alfons made a face of his own, opening his eyes to glare a bit. "Because I just found out about it, and it's not a matter easily forgotten! What exactly are we waiting for? Pigs to fly?" He paused, then sighed. Actually, that could happen any day now, with how backwards the City was.
Then he thought about it another moment and shook his head, reaching up to press his hand against the pillar for support as he tried to stand up. "Forget it... We both have our secrets. Maybe it's best kept that way."
As Alfons looked around, he really wondered what else he could do to help. He had used up all of his scrolls, and the last time they had been down there, he had seen nothing but a few dead bodies. Maybe everyone was finally out...that could be rescued, anyhow.
Out the corner of his eye, Ed glared at him slightly before standing up easily as well, keeping his back to Alfons as he scanned his eyes around the area in the opposite direction. He'd already decided that he didn't want Envy twisting any truths about him or Al to anyone, least of all Alfons. The world he had come from and the world he knew with Alfons were completely different after all. He'd told him stories, of course, but he had never believed him off the bat. Why would he? Regardless, he didn't want Envy poisoning the facts and had decided he'd tell Alfons about that particular event... He just hadn't expected him to ask so soon.
"Before I met you," He began quietly but in a steady voice, it wasn’t something he was going to add unnecessary emotion to "I came to your world once before, briefly. It's a long story and I'll tell you the details later if you want to know, but yes, Envy killed me once before in our world. He is--" He stopped himself, deciding he didn't like the idea of referring to him as anything even remotely like family "Never mind. Yeah, he killed me and it sent me through the gate to your world again. Al brought me back. I didn't want to lose him to the gate so I... willingly sent myself back through the gate to restore him in our world."
Running a hand through his bangs, he found it was a lot harder to talk about that than he thought, especially when trying to make it swift and simple. Glancing back over his shoulder at Alfons he shrugged a little.
"I'm not sure what you were expecting... Was that even close?"
Alfons noticed his knees feeling weak yet again as he stared at Edward. He had heard many outrageous stories of Edward's world, and heard a couple less unsavory ones while in the City... But he really hadn't told him these sorts of details, or anything in-depth on the Homunculus. To be told this much made his heart hurt, if only because it explained one of the many more reasons Edward was the way he was.
"You two sacrificed yourselves for each other... He was even able to bring you back to life? Your world... It's amazing." It was hard to hide the emotion in his eyes as he looked at the other, struggling to keep his composure. Pushing away from the pillar, Alfons lifted a hand as if to reach for his face, only to think better of it, letting his hand clap down onto Ed's shoulder instead. "You're amazing."
A slight flush fell upon Edward's cheeks as he shifted his weight slightly and made an uncomfortable noise of perhaps reluctant embarrassment as he brought a hand to the back of his neck sheepishly "That's a bit much. It's not really... Er... W-well, that's to say--"
His arm lowered then, his expression altering a little. Praise was all well and good when it was deserving and Ed wasn't above agreeing with others when they said he'd done a good job, but that aside he knew what he was in this case.
"I'm really not, Alfons. I don't know how much you really know about my world, the laws of alchemy, or anything like that, but I'm a sinner by almost every definition." He lifted his right arm then, eyeing where the light reflected off the metal showing through between the material of his white gloves and the sleeve of his coat. "I'm just way too lucky for my own good. That's all."
Alfons glanced to Edward's right arm. He knew from his previous visit to the City that he had lost it and his leg when attempting to bring his mother back to life, but that was all he knew of that event. Even the aftermath was something he was blissfully unaware of, so perhaps he wasn't quite as aware of just what Edward meant by sinning, but...
"I don't really know what equates as 'sinning' in your world, but you were just a boy who wanted to see his mother again." He tried to offer a reassuring smile. "I'm sure if I'd had the chance, I would have attempted the same thing for my parents." Perhaps Alfons was only being comforting because he knew he was a sinner as well, by the strictest definition, anyhow. Just what he and Edward had done together, well... If he had believed in Hell, he was sure he was there already.
"But since when did you care about those religious labels? You are who you are, Edward. It's skill that got you where you are today, not luck."
"It's nothing to do with religion," he protested, almost like a whine as he put a hand over his eyes and leant his head back slightly. "It's... hard to explain. I didn't mean it like that." Ugh... This was exactly why he would have rather done the whole thing somewhere enclosed, an apartment somewhere or over coffee, not at the entrance to a subway just after a terrorist attack. It didn't help that Envy and that Thunderwoman or whoever she was had stroked his fur the wrong way.
He let his hand drag down his face then, agitated and frustrated as he usually was when he would much rather have skipped over something and avoided talking about it. It he was going to talk about something he would have preferred some time to get his thoughts together exactly "And my skills are--" He paused then, about ready to punch himself if he dared say his ability was anything to do with his father.
Ahhh, well, Alfons left it wide open there and he'd rather be a cocky bastard in that area if he could. So he forced up a grin, folding his arms over his chest.
"Heh, maybe you're right about that after all! Good thing I've got you here to remind me of that stuff, huh?" Maybe he'd talk about it properly some other time when he was sure of how he wanted to address it.
Alfons smiled again. For a moment there, Edward had really seemed agitated, and the German was worried that he had made it far worse with his awful timing...but when the alchemist donned his cocky grin once more, relief flooded him. The last thing he wanted was Edward doubting himself.
Even if it meant bringing back the egomaniac in him, he much preferred it when Edward acted this way. "Right. Good thing." Dropping his hand from Edward's shoulder, he stepped to the side and waved his hand towards the subway's entrance.
"One more go? My lungs can take it. We might as well be sure we've helped as many as we can in this area before moving on."
Maybe Ed was a little grateful that Alfons wasn't poking some of the subjects brought up too much for the moment, maybe when Ed mentioned casually that the other Scientist knew him well he wasn't kidding as much as he liked to make out. Still, if there was a genuine smile somewhere on his face it was hidden behind the smirk.
He clicked his fingers lightly before leveling his forefinger at Alfons pointedly, setting a hard stare upon him to show he was in no mood for humouring him with that cough.
"If I get even the slightest hint that you're about to cough up a lung in there, if I hear so much as a wheeze from you, I'm dragging you out again, kicking, screaming or otherwise. Got it?"
The warning got another, more genuine grin out of him as he held up both hands submissively. "Right, right! I got it." He knew there was no talking Ed out of this one, so he would just go along with it and deal with it when it happened. This would be difficult, but he would do his best. If he could handle being around someone he was in love with and pretend that nothing had ever existed between them... Then surely he could suppress a cough or two. Edward Elric wasn't the only one who could cover up secrets.
"Now, come on." Alfons reached out to grab Edward around the shoulders, pulling him alongside back towards the stairs. "You have to go be a hero."