FMA Meets DGM (2.0)

Edward Elric and his brother were wandering through a city in Germany. Despite having lived in Germany on the other side of the gate for quite some time, Ed wasn't familiar with this particular city's name. Currently, he and his brother were looking for yet another way back home. They weren't in any rush, though. Now that they were back together, there was no hurry for the dynamic duo to get back through the gate.

As they walked, Edward scanned the crowded streets. He saw a Winry lookalike, but didn't comment to Alphonse. It wasn't a surprise anymore to see lookalikes. After all, they'd seen a Scar and Lust just the other day. The similarity in looks but differences in personality was still strange, but both were starting to get used to it.

It was looking away from Winry that made him spot it. "Hey, Al," he said, stopping in his tracks. He gestured to the strange white thing no one else seemed to notice in the alleyway. "What do you think that is?"

It was like a bunch of polygons loosly connected by some kind of gravitational force. On one of the polygons there was the mathematical symbol for infinity. And though it seemed strange, it was like it was calling to Ed.

"Let's get a closer look." Ed crossed the street when no cars were coming and stopped when he reached the sidewalk. Closer up, the polygon puzzle was much taller and a little wider than a human being. To top off the strangest of no one noticing, the polygon was giving off a faint glow. He took a few steps closer and reached out a hand to touch it.

His hand passed right through the closest polygon. Ed let out a small gasp and pulled his hand out. His hand was perfectly fine, but he'd gotten the distinct feeling that it had been detached from his body. It was like when he'd passed through the gate. "Al... I think this is a gate..."

"Not the gate," Ed replied with a shake of his head. "A gate. I don't know why it's here, and I sure as hell have no idea where it leads." He frowned up at the collection of polygons. It didn't look like the gate between his home and this world, but it definitely was a real gate. Where it led, though, and whether they'd be able to get back was a complete mystery.

Well, it's now or never. Edward turned to his brother. "Should we go through and see what's on the other side?" He turned back to the gate. "We might not be able to get back if we go through. Just remember that, Al." It was true Ed wanted to get home, but was it worth the risk of going through to a strange gate and possibly getting stuck in a new world? He thought it was, but he also hadn't seen his home in years. Al, on the other hand, had more to lose. "What do you think? Should we go?"

Ed nodded. "Then let's go together at the same time. On three. One... Two... Three." He closed his eyes and took the step through the gate side-by-side with his brother.

And then nothing. Ed didn't feel or smell anything for a good four seconds. For a moment, he wondered if this had been a mistake and that his stupid sighting had gotten them both killed. Then, his senses returned all at once. He blinked at the bright sunlight on the other side of the gate. They were certainly somewhere else--it had been cloudy that day back in Germany. He spun around.

The gate they'd seen in Germany was now a plain looking door. The only similarity was the infinity symbol above the doorframe. He turned to Alphonse and said, "I don't know where we are, but we're definitely not in Germany anymore."

As if reading his brother's mind, Ed clapped his hands together and touched the nearby flowers in their pot. The plants instantly became a rope. "It works," he said before a wide grin spread across his face. He tied the end of the rope to the doorknob and held the other end. "Let's go check this place out. We'll use the rope to guide us back here, and if we need more," he added, "there seem to be flower pots every couple of feet."

"One way to find out." Ed walked as far as his flower-rope would allow-which tankfully reached the next pot a couple meters away. He transmuted another rope, tied it to the first, and they continued this way. Halfway through the walk, Edward was thankful he'd thought up the rope idea. Everything looked the same in the strange Mediteranian-type city except for the numbers above the doorways. He also realized something else during there walk. There weren't any people, nor signs that anyone had lived in the city except for the neatly tended flower pots he was destroying for the sake of not getting lost.

Just as he noticed this, he heard voices. "Al," he hissed, grabbed his brother and ducking into a nearby doorway. He held a finger to his lips, signaling to Alphonse to be silent.

They'd gotten out of the way just in time, too. Three people--a girl, a boy with white hair, and a tall guy with red hair--were walking down the street. All three were in some sort of black uniform Edward had never seen. The silver cross over their chests, though, made it obvious that they were from some sort of religious organization, possibly an army.

That's me being paranoid, Ed told himself, though he did curse himself for the rope that left off in the middle of the street next to their hiding place. He'd been caught up in so many wars, he was just thinking that. Maybe they were from a religious school or something. Those had existed in Germany and Amestris, though there were fewer in the latter country. He certainly hoped they were from a religious school and not an army. If they were religious, he could BS them being miracle workers with their alchemy. If they were soldiers, they would just dub his alchemy a new type of weapon and either kill them both on the spot or force the brothers to join their ranks. If they couldn't get away, that is. He braced himself to run for it, hoping his brother would get the silent cue.

Ed shook his head. There was no way going up on the roof would be a good idea. He couldn't see any guns on the uniformed people, but that didn't mean they didn't have laser vision or something. This was a different world, after all.

Lenalee was pretending to listen to Lavi, but this was the twelth time that Lavi had brought up how everything in the ark was the same, so she didn't realize right away what he was talking about when he mentioned a rope. "What are you talking about?" Then she saw the multicolored rope in his hand. It was green and red and all sorts of pastel colors. She looked around the street for the reason for the rope. "Hey, all the flowers are missing."

It was true. Every single flower pot that once held colorful marigolds and snap dragons and other kinds of flowers were now empty. "What's going on?" She turned to Allen, the only person besides the Earl and the Noah who knew anything about the Ark they were in.

"Then where'd the rope come from?" she asked. "Unless someone put it--" She stopped herself and eyed the rope. She then noticed that the colorful rope was exactly the same colors the flowers had been. "Holy... I think that rope's made out of the flowers." She walked over and stood next to Lavi to get a closer look.

There was some movement from the corner of her eye. She turned toward it, and the two Elric brothers were busted. She activated her Dark Boots. "Who are you two?!"

Ed clapped his hands and transformed his automail into a blade. "Name's Edward Elric," he said bravely, hoping on the inside that perhaps they were just in some strange place of their home world and that they'd heard of the infamous Fullmetal Alchemist. "Who're you?"

Despite the redhaired one's assurance, Edward didn't transmute his arm back to normal. "We were in Germany when we saw a weird bunch of polygons making up a shape with an infinity symbol on it. We went to check it out, and when we did, I tried to touch it and my arm passed through. We decided to see where my arm went. When we went through, we ended up here. Where is here, anyway?"