Beyond the Gate
By Crystal Green
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to the great creators of FMA except my cat Sergeant.
A/N: I saw the current episode of FMA, Death and wanted to make up a story on what happened to the other Ed. So I didand I think it came out better than I expected. Yes, there is more to the story. It might take me a while to update though. I'm sort of lazy.Oh, and one more thing before you read it, the things that are both Italic and Bold are things I took directically from the show. Yes, it is the exact dialog and I thought I outa put it in there for kicks. It acutaly adds some suspense to the story XD
Chapter 1: Zeppelins
I was laying in my bed on top of my cream colored covers with my feet on my pillow and my hands behind my head, staring at the ceiling waiting for something interesting to happen. My golden and gray cat, Sergeant, was sleeping next to my head curled up in a ball purring softly. Sergeant is my only actual friend since I couldn't make friends at the school I went to. Luckily it was Saturday and I didn't have to go to school today. I hate going to school. My mother thinks they will have to close it until the wars over because the bombs are dropping really close to our city. My fatherjust came homefrom helping in the war a couple ofdays ago.I have no earthly idea where my little brother Alphonseis right now and I could really care less.
It was around nine in the morning and all you could see for miles was the gray clouds mixed in with smoke from explosions and fires from the war. I sat up in my bed and put my bare feet on the cold floor. A shiver ran through me, all the way up my spine. I stood up and looked around my room. It was fairly small even though it only had three things in it: a dresser, with a mirror above it, and my bed, which had the window above it. The dresser was next to the door so my bed had to be on the opposite side of the room. I pulled open the top drawer of my dresser and got out a pair of socks and sat back down on the bed to put them on, left one then the right. Next, I kneeled down to get my shoes out from under my bed. As I was down there about to grab my shoes I noticed a mouse was chewing on my shoelaces.
I woke Sergeant up and showed him the mouse. He scared it away as well as chased it out of my room. I grabbed my boots, sat back down on the bed and put them on, left one then the right. I stood back up and grabbed the comb that was on my dresser and started combing my blonde hair. My hair is short but with my cat's bad habit of playing with it, I have to constantly comb the cat drool out of it. That stuff is as thick as hair gel.
I decided to go out for breakfast this morning. I went out of my room, down the hall and to the kitchen. My green-eyed, burnet hair colored mother was tending to her windowsill garden just next to the kitchen sink. She had her hair tied up with a white ribbon this morning probably to not get the dirt in it. She was wearing a light purple dress that had lace on the collar, sleeves and bottom of it. She was wearing a tan apron over it and had seed bags and a small hand held shovel in her pockets of it.
"Mom, I'm going out for breakfast today" I said, "I'll be back later. Is there anything you want me to go get?"
"Okay, could you bring a newspaper home, you know I like to keep up with the war your father is helping to win." She said in a sweet voice.
"Alright." I responded as I opened the door and walked out.
"Be safe." She said as I closed the door.
I was walking down the street looking at all the shops; Truckee's Lunchin', The Lunch Wagon, Sliced Cold Cooked Meats, Bernie's Bakery, Gordon's Flophouse, Blue Plate Board and Breakfast.
'I think I'll have a pastry today', I thought. I walked into the shop called Bernie's Bakery. I've been there many times before. They have some of the best muffins you'll ever taste in there.
I walked into the shop. There was a counter on my right with many different kinds of pastries displayed. On my left were some tables and chairs. A couple and their kid who looked to be about three were sitting at one of the tables having breakfast.
"Hey Bernie." I said to the tall man behind the counter.
He had short red hair that was spiked, a slight beard, and green eyes. He was slightly chubby but he always said it was muscle not flab. He was wearing a tan short-sleeved top with brown baggy pants. Over his shirt he was wearing a stained white apron to not get his clothes dirty.
"Hey Edward. You want your usual today?" He asked me with a smile.
"Yup." I said.
"So, have you herd anything about your dad?" Bernie asked me as he grabbed a bag out from underneath the counter.
"He came home two days ago."
"Well, how is he?"
"He hasn't lost any limbs if that's what you mean."
"That's good to know. If your father ever has to go back to war you know were all here for everybody who has someone in that wretched war."
"Yeah we know, thanks."
He grabbed a muffin off the display case and put it in a bag. I pulled out two silver coins from my pocket and handed them to him.
"Thanks Bernie." I said.
"See ya tomorrow right?" He asked.
"Yeah, see ya." I said and waved to him as I walked out the door.
I was walking down the street while eating my breakfast and admiring the scenery. There were a couple cars that went by me; they went in opposite directions of each other. One car was blue and the other black. A yellow muddy dog was on the other side of the street it looked like an under fed Great Dane. A man was walking in the opposite direction of me. He had a black leather coat that was zipped up, his hands were in the pockets, and brown slacks. The houses were all the same brown-red color and the ones that had flags out had them at half mass. No one knew if anyone had died yet but they knew people were dieing no matter whose side they were on.
I had finished my muffin and put the bag in a near by trashcan. The trashcan was all rusted and was over filled. I guess the people who maintain the trashcans were out at war. Most of the people had been drafted to fight in the war weather they wanted to go or not.
I then herd someone screaming.
"What the hell?" I said looking around. It sounded as if it were coming from above me.
"Ah..!"
I looked up and it was like I was looking in a mirror at myself but with a black tank top on, longer braided hair and a metal left arm.
Come on!
Wait! What's going on here old man? What is this place? Where are we?
Wait, What? Edward, you're not sounding like yourself.
Funny, I don't feel like myself either and what is this city? What's happened to my body? Did Dante do this?
Transmute, does that word mean anything to you?
Of cores it does!
But how did you get here?
Yeah, good question.
We'll talk later
What's attacking?
Zeppelins!
Zep-what?
"Where the hell am I? The last thing I remember is another me falling from the sky on me. Damn that was weird."
I looked around to see where the hell I was. There was nothing but black in all directions. I walked for quite a while in the direction I was facing and I came upon a boy who was running. He looked like the one who had fell on me earlier.
"Hello?" I asked.
The boy stopped and put his hands on his head.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I think I'm in someone else's body!" He said.
He looked up and continued running. I decided not to follow him and look around again. The only thing out there was a door to my left. It was an antique wooden door. I touched it and felt the pattern carved into it. It was black with what appeared to be dark green vines all up the door. The vines had lighter green leaves and flowers that were many different colors. They weren't big flowers; they were small and simple for some reason. The door handle had the same vine pattern as the door but it was copper instead of wood and it wasn't painted.
I looked on the other side of the door to see if it lead anywhere but all it was, was a door. Out in the middle of nowhere. All by itself. Nothing was attached to it at all.
Out of curiosity I decided to open the door just to see what would happen. On the other side there was a grass field with a house, a road and a couple of trees in the field.
"That's an amazing door if it can take me from nothing to a country house." I said to myself.
I walked around for a while to get a good look at my surroundings. I bent down and felt the grass. It was soft and had leftover dew from the night before on it.
"Wow, they sure do take care of their grass here unlike the people who take care of the city park's grass."
I've never seen country grass. Where I live all there is, is pavement, cement, and dirt roads. There is wild grass but that's outside of the city.
I walked to the front of the house and looked around.
"Mommy, mommy, look what I drew for you!" I heard someone say. It sounded like a child.
"Hello?" I asked as I walked toward the voice.
"That's very nice dear. Thank you." I herd a woman say.
Around the side of the house was what looked like a younger version of me, Alphonse, and our mother sitting in the grass drawing.
"What? How is this possible? We've never even gone out of the city before. What is this place?" I said to myself.
The three of them sitting in the grass didn't even look up at me. They just continued to sit there drawing. I stared at them for a few more minutes then, they just faded away into thin air. I turned around and walked back toward the front of the house to find a young girl with long blonde hair and a short old woman with gray hair that was in a bun walking up to the steps of the house. The young girl had two boxes in her hands that were wrapped up in wrapping paper and had ribbons on them.
"You think they'll like the presents?" The blonde asked.
"Of course they will Winery. They always like anything you give them." The old woman responded.
The girl opened the door to the house and said, "Happy birthday Edward, happy birthday Alphonse!"
Then, just like the mother and children, they faded away too.
"What the hell is going on here? Am I seeing things? And why did they look like me and Al when we were little?" I asked in to the blue sky above me.
I wanted to see if there was anything else around so I started walking into a field. I didn't walk far but I did reach a river with a tree next to it and a young boy with light burnet hair sitting on the ground. An older boy with short blonde hair walked up to him. The younger one quickly jumped up and faced the blonde, ready to fight.
"Come on Al." Was all the older one said to him.
"Why do they look like me and Alphonse?" I asked myself as I stared at the two boys who didn't even acknowledge me standing there.
The older one turned toward the house and started walking. The younger Alphonse look-a-like stared at the me look-a-like for a couple of seconds, smiled, then ran up to him and walked with him toward the house.
I followed them to the house but then they disappeared once they stepped onto the doormat.
The sky got really dark with clouds and it started to rain. I walked up to the house seeking shelter from the rain. I looked through the window and saw a bright blue light from an open door inside that looked to go to a basement. I herd people screaming inside.
"Hey!" I tried to open the door handle, "Dammit, locked!" Who ever was inside might have needed my help! I needed to get inside!
I kept pounding on the door to try and have someone open it for me but no one came. A few minutes later, what looked like a seven-foot tall suit of armor was running towards the door with the boy that looked like me in its arms. The suit of armor opened the door and I saw the boy's left arm and right leg were missing. The armor ran down the road toward another house in the distance.
"Help!" The suit of armor kept yelling as he ran down the road.
I just stared blankly at the armor with the me look-a-like in its arms running down the road.
It looks like a Zeppelin's been hit.
The scenery around me started to fade away all of a sudden.
"Hey, wait! I want to see more! Hey!" I shouted at what ever showed me the things I just saw.
Everything went black again. I closed my eyes and opened them again. I found myself lying on my belly on a dirt road. Something heavy and large was burning my back. I couldn't move. When I attempted to look around, my eyes were watering because of the smoke from the fire that was all around me. I herd something snap and a pile of burning wood fell on me. Now the entire back of my body was burning. The debris was crushing me.
"He..coughcough" I started coughing as I tried to call out for help. I couldn't breath. My vision was going blurry and my head was feeling light.
Someone, anyone, please help me. Dad, I need your help...
Master, the gate, it's still here!
Ahhhh!
Edward?
Brother?
Alphonse? Hu? My auto mail, I'm really here? But, does that mean the other Ed had to die? His life traded for mine?
A/N: Wow, that was the longest chapter I've ever written. Boy are my fingers tired of typing.