towerofanimus | these truths are not gated

Entry tags:

these truths are not gated

Characters: [OU] Alphonse Elric and YOU?
Setting: Room 1-08, and then exploring the tower. Just mention where you are in your subject or tag!
Format: I'll mimic you.
Summary: Al wakes up in the Tower, and wonders what the fudgsicle is going on.
Warnings: Copious amounts of puppy dog faces? welkrj idk, none on Al's end! Will edit if anything happens.

As soon as the sleep paralysis had worn off, Alphonse was sitting bolt upright in his bed with a start, breathing hard and fast--

...

Where...?

Disoriented, his eyes quickly seek out his surroundings, but... he doesn't recognize anything. Not a single thing, and when he turns his head, he finds something odd and vaguely tight around his neck. Fingers lift to investigate, and...

A choker? Some kind of collar or tubing? He's even more perplexed and bewildered, simply confused and at odds as he almost numbly finds his feet with caution. Had someone kidnapped him...? But he doesn't remember anything unusual before he had fallen asleep, and... aside from the addition to his anatomy, he doesn't appear to be injured.

When he tests it, he finds the door isn't locked, either. (He's completely missed that handy little note, hasn't he?)

Al is wary and on his guard, uneasy -- concerned as he carefully pokes his head out of the door and into the corridor. This is all so strange... what exactly is going on here? It looks like it might take a little exploration before he can find out...

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[Al mulls this over thoughtfully, before giving a decisive nod of agreement.]

I would know if you weren't... you, Ed.

[he knows Ed will understand.]

[Ed nods. Yeah, he definitely gets it.]

Right. Which just raises the question of how our entire world could be destroyed. If the world was destroyed when I was taken, you might still be here, but you would be sixteen. If it was destroyed after I was taken then the events that happened in your past couldn't have happened. I wouldn't have been there, so I couldn't have been the one who got your body back and after you woke me up, you would've been asking me where the hell I ran off to for two years.

It just doesn't make sense.

[nodding again. he agrees with all of his big (little?) brother's deductions.]

It doesn't make sense for sure...

[--wait! he tilts his head curiously at him again.]

How long have you been here, brother?

[He chews on his lip, brow furrowing as he thinks]

A little over two months. It's easy to lose track of time after awhile.

Two months?

[a long while... he definitely would have noticed if Ed were missing at all, nevermind for such a long period of time.]

Do you think if whoever took us can do something like bend time as well as space? If they're able to pull people from different worlds, then something like that doesn't sound as far-fetched...

[...okay, it still sounded far-fetched, but he's sitting here with his brother two years younger than he was an hour ago in some strange tower, collared.]

Yeah, give or take.

[He leans forward, tapping the side of his face as he tosses that around in his head]

I wouldn't rule it out. There's actually someone I met here who goes by the Doctor. No idea what his real name is, apparently I wouldn't be able to pronounce it or something like that. But he's a Time Lord. He's actually able to travel anywhere he wants to in all of space and time. Sounds like a load of crap, but after everything we've seen and from what I've learned after being stuck here for two months, it's easier to believe.

I'll have to ask him about that later. He might be able to explain it.

Edited 2011-10-17 07:33 (UTC)

A Time Lord...

[ahhh, now he's all curious! this sounds amazing as much as it sounds crazy, and that hunger to figure out the mystery is genetic. he's sure Ed feels it too. he leans forward a bit, turning the note over before setting it on the nightstand.]

So there are other people trapped here like us, some from different worlds... and some of them have doppelgangers.

[this is very strange. very. ...strange.]

Has anyone taken responsibility for all this?

[See that grin? It is the classic Elric "THIS IS FASCINATING AND I NEED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT EVERYTHING SO I'M GOING TO AWW YEAH" grin. This tower one big mystery to solve, it was a challenge and Ed never backs down from a challenge. People were getting hurt here -- they were being manipulated and used and lied to and experimented on -- if anything that made his desire to figure this place out even stronger.

Yeah. Definitely genetic.]

Not yet. All we know about our "savior" is in that note.

Edited 2011-10-17 07:53 (UTC)

Not much of a savior, are they...

[he rubs the back of his head with a quiet chuckle. he definitely recognizes that smile.]

Well, whatever the reason we're here... I'm glad we're together again.

[he doesn't like the thought of Ed here all on his lonesome; it just wasn't the way things should be... especially if this place has the potential to be dangerous.]

Definitely not.

[A softer smile replaces the grin -- happy, appreciative, maybe even, at least for now, a little content.]

Me too, Al.

[haha. it's so strange! his brother is smaller than he remembers... it makes him realize how much Ed has grown, even though it's happened in that gradual way one doesn't notice.]

What's the last thing you remember from home?

[Ed's breath catches in his chest -- it was barely noticeable, but it hitched and caught in his throat, something akin to a grimace coloring his face. A hand instinctively moves and rests against his stomach, his body tensing as he remembers every. Single. Detail. of his last moments in Amestris.]

... Waking up at the bottom of a mine shaft.

[his eyes follow the gesture with a little furrow at his brow.]

Mine shaft...

[he really was years behind him. it was a surreal thing to think about, even if the proof was in Brother's appearance.]

You got hurt, didn't you?

[:|... :|]

... Yeah. Yeah, I did.

[and then his face falls a little more. ;( Ed...]

What happened...?

[fff don't make that face D: he will HUG YOU IF YOU MAKE KICKED PUPPY FACES, DON'T TEMPT HIM...]

[HE CAN'T HELP IT OK. IT WAS KIND OF TRAUMATIC.

Ed can't bring himself to look Al in the eye, instead he focuses at a point on the opposite wall.]

Not long after Winry left with Dr. Marcoh and the others, I got in a fight with Kimblee. I got the Stone away from him, but the bastard had another one and he knew I wasn't gonna kill him. Fell down a mineshaft, there was a lot of left over material from before it was abandoned and when I came to there was...

[He hesitates. How the hell is he supposed to put this in a way that won't make Al freak out? He knows he survives, that much is obvious, but still. This wasn't exactly pleasant.]

... There was a support beam running through my stomach.

[--w... wait...]

[...a support... beam, running through his--]

[LSKJDFLKJSDLKFJ

WOEIURLKJSLDKJF INTERNAL KEYSMASHING as he grips his brother's sleeve, looking more than a little angry.]

--And you never told me?! Brother! How could you keep something like that to yourself?!

[YEAH HE'S TOTALLY BLAMING YOU FOR STUFF YOU DIDN'T EVEN DO YET

TAKE THAT]

[And Al wonders why he never told him. Well, it's not like Ed's actually had the chance to tell him all about his super duper happy fun impalement times yet. Hell, until a few minutes ago Ed didn't think he lived through it.

But this? This is exactly why Ed knows he wouldn't have told Al under different circumstances. This reaction right here. He lived, what happened there didn't matter, it would just make Al worry about him and that was the last thing he wanted. Because really, this was never about him -- this was about putting their lives back together, getting Al his body back. As long as he didn't die, what happened to him wasn't important.

He rips his sleeve out of Al's hand. No, he absolutely would NOT take that.]

Because it doesn't matter! I didn't die down there! [You're proof of that, Al.]

You didn't, but you could've! If it had been me, wouldn't you want to know?!

[>: >: >: EDWARD ELRIC YOU ARE SO BAD.]

That's different! [HE IS THE BEST HYPOCRITE]

It is not different! Don't be stupid, Brother! You can't set double standards like that!

Yes I can! Whatever happens to me doesn't matter. If I got a paper cut doing research there wouldn't be a reason for me to tell you about it, in the grand scheme of things one stupid cut isn't important. I would never purposely do something to get myself killed and I'll never use a Stone, I promised you that much, but I'll do whatever I have to do to get your body back. I'll give up whatever I need to because it doesn't matter. I'm still your older brother, damn it!

[E... EDWARD. he looks torn between grabbing him and throttling him for being a stupid jerk and upset at having to hear his brother's pain not yet absolved in his memory.]

So you think getting our bodies back negates all the pain you suffered along the way? Yours and mine?

We would both do what it takes to protect each other! That's never been a question, has it? But how could you ever say the sacrifices along the way don't matter? Every single thing you gave up to help me get back in my body makes me that much more grateful to have it, brother! Don't you dare devalue everything you've done! Every papercut, every bruise... every little scrape matters, you-- jerk!

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