maskormenacelogs | closed. our dreams all start to fade

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closed. our dreams all start to fade

WHO: Al Elric, Ed Elric and Winry Rockbell
WHERE: A hotel
WHEN: Tuesday night
WHAT: They've been apart for a while and there are some things they need to talk about, things they don't want to talk about in a public place.
WARNINGS: Ed. Will update if needed.

The floor of the hotel room isn't really any different from the dozens of others Al has sat on before. Not that he can feel it anyway. It's just another floor to him, another place to spend one more night awake. Sometimes he watches over Ed while other nights, Al goes over his journal. He looks at the lists of foods he wants to eat when he gets his body back or makes another entry of their journey to return their bodies to normal. On rare nights that seem really long Al will read the old entries but he doesn't like to look back that often.

Tonight, in a strange place, he'll watch over his family. That's how it will go for a while because none of them trust this new world. But before that there is something he needed to do. Something he hadn't wanted to do while they were still participating in the government swear-in ceremony and training. Though it was more than that.

Al hadn't wanted to believe what that piece of paper had told him. The new 'power' he'd gotten upon his arrival here. Where was the exchange for it? Was it being here in this world or would there be another price? Despite the fact that what he'd wanted for years was in reach, Al couldn't bring himself to try it - just in case. Once he had it, it wouldn't be easy to go back. If he was reacting this way, Al could just imagine how his brother and Winry would take it. They'd be mad when they realized it probably wasn't permanent.

Yet he can't put it off forever. He's going to have to tell them eventually. At least now they couldn't walk back into that government building and use violence to calm their rage.

So Al is sitting with his file resting on one of his legs with it open. Ever since they left the training day, Al has been especially quiet - even for him and he's been staring at the file for several minutes. If one didn't know better, they might think that his soul had returned back to its body. Finally he lifted his head.

"Brother?" That tinny voice sounded softer than usual - as if he can preemptively strike the emotions that will follow.

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Ed is trying to read up on the files as best he can too, going over notes he and Al have made while sitting on the bed cross-legged next to Winry. Occasionally, he asks them questions on what they think about this place, the powers and how they work. How they got here, what they last recalled from home. There's a lot to figure here, if they want to learn more about this place and work out how to get back home somehow. Of course he is used to Al sitting there or watching over him at night as usual. Though he hopes that won't be for too much longer. He just has to get home and beat that bearded bastard, get Al his body back with the Promised Day. But he has to get home first to do that.

But he's noticed Al seems unusually quiet. It almost reminds him of the hospital, when he'd been talking to Barry. If Ed seems uneasy about it, he tries not to show it. Though, of course, with Al and Winry, they've known him forever and can probably tell the little cues.

"Yeah? What's up, Al?" he asks, pausing in his reading and looking over to the suit of armor curiously.

This may not be exactly like that time when he wasn't even sure he was real but it was still just as serious. And the first people to know should be Ed and Winry. They were both family. Al knew that even here Ed wouldn't stop searching for a way to get his body back while Winry did what she could to support them both. Or that they wouldn't stop worrying about the fact that his soul kept leaving this vessel. Thankfully it hasn't happened yet but there's always the possibility.

But Al does notice those little cues. He's seen them all his life and the first memory that does pop up in that time in the hospital. That isn't something neither of them want to live through again so it's time to just say it.

So he put the file they'd put together on him on the bed next to Ed's leg. "They gave me a power." Like his brother, Al didn't see alchemy as a power it was science. So right there next to it was the phrase 'human form'. "It seems like they might be able to change a person's body."

Al met someone who said they weren't normally human and he's not exactly sure if he should believe that. They had only just met and Al didn't know much about them even if she did seem nice.

Winry wasn't sure about these powers, either. She wanted to try them out...but she wasn't even sure how to do that. And she wasn't the one who was used to researching for hours and hours at a time. So she sat next to Ed, trying to read the information, and feeling more and more lost as she did.

Which generally made her angry.

Turning her attention to Alphonse, she cocked her head. "What do you mean, change a person's body?"

"Change a person's body, how?"

Ed's not entirely sure what Al means, but that does get his attention. He stops, placing the notes he was reading at his lap as he focuses on his brother, a small frown at his features. If this was anything like human transmutation there had to be some sort of price, surely. He's not entirely sure he's comfortable with the idea of Al trying, his stomach turning at the very idea and mention of changing anyone's body. His eyes widen a little before his brows furrow, lips pursed as he unconsciously tenses.

He knew what Ed was thinking - mostly because he was thinking it himself. They had tried human transmutation and they ended up like this. Even their government had messed with it and look at all the consequences of that. There had been a little girl they hadn't been able to save, more chimeras than a person could count on one hand, and even people like Al who no longer had a human body at all. And that was just scratching the surface of all the terrible things it had done recently. All of that had come at a price. So why would this be any different?

Though Al has a pretty good idea of what the price would be for his new power. "I met someone who had become human upon arriving here. And...my new power is to become human."

If they could turn someone human entirely, then they could have done it for Al. Instead they made it a power which means that he can't be human all the time. To be able to become human for short periods at a time only to have to return to not feeling, eating or sleeping was a terrible price - one Al's not sure he can pay.

"What!?" Winry leaped off the bed, her jaw dropping. How could that happen? How did it even work? She couldn't even begin to fathom it.

"Al..." She wasn't understanding all of it. Maybe because, when they get back home - if they got back home - if they weren't all - no, she wasn't thinking that, no. But Alphonse could become human here, but he wouldn't be human back home.

"You....how do you mean?"

Become human. Al already is human. Unless he means the power to have a human body again. But how? How would that work? His body is back at the Gate. And the toll -- what would be the catch? Ed's not so sure about this, if it does imply Al getting his normal body back. But more for the price. Of course he's wanted Al to get his normal body back. Ever since that night he's striven towards that goal. He's bled for it. Spent years researching some way to get it back. How to pay the toll equivalent. And yet here, this place would just.....give it as a power? No. There's definitely some sort of catch. That's the only thing that keeps him from being ecstatic over this news, the implications here. And if they did this, what would it mean back home? Would Al still have the armor? He doubts this power would transfer back home too.

They were all thinking the same thing. Somehow Al doubted that this power would be something he'd be able to do when they left this place. Would they even remember being here? Would they remember anything that happened? He doesn't have the answers to these questions. Al can't even properly answer if there is a price or what it could possibly be - all he had were theories.

Ed has a broad expanse of what he saw as human - because of Al. Because he was a soul animating an old suit of armor. They both saw him as a human being despite his outer appearance. "Physically. I could have a human body."

Though Al isn't sure if it would be his body, the one that was waiting by the Gate for its soul to come back, the one that kept pulling at his soul. If he tried it, maybe he'd be able to tell but there are too many unknowns for him to test it. Ed gave an arm just to bring his soul back into the living world - what if it had some sort of backlash on his brother?

"This...could be amazing or awful." Winry gave the boys both a concerned look, wondering just how much it could hurt. Not just Al, but Ed, too. He'd told them his theories about Al's body.

"Human. Right. I don't suppose there might be others, with the same or similar powers? It's worth looking into first. Before we actually try anything. I don't know how this works, exactly. And I don't want to risk anything with this. What the toll might be."

He's not considering that there might be none. How different this place is in comparison to home, whether it still obeys the Laws and would require any sort of toll in exchange. The idea of it is just so engrained in him that Ed automatically assumes it would likely be the case. Which is why he is so wary about this news. His lips purse and he frowns, considering. His hands raising to his chin as his elbows rest on his knees.

"N-not that this isn't...amazing, Al. It is. I don't don't want to find this has some sort of catch to it. But of course I'm...happy at the chance. We just need to see if we can figure details on this first. You understand?"

"The only person I met who had anything similar was someone who became human when they arrived here."

Which Al would have preferred, honestly. He would rather be human all the time even if it was into that weak, skinny body. Even if he knew how to change, he wouldn't. What if it made his connection to the suit of armor even weaker and he was pulled away more? Sometimes, there was just too great of a risk.

"I understand, brother. I want to know more about it first too. We don't know enough for me to risk it." Al wanted to be happy about his new power - maybe even should be happy after wanting this for the last four years, but it was hard when there was too much unknown.

"And if you - we - test it...how do we know something bad might not happen?" Winry was just going to voice her concerns. "And how is that...a power?" Her own powers almost made sense. They'd protect her. But Al just being a human..."Would you still be able to use your alchemy in a human body?"

"The alchemy isn't what I'm worried about necessarily. It's more if there is some sort of catch with this. And if it'd be a permanent thing or if he could change between being human or not."

Because it's one thing to give him the power to turn human. But Ed is still not sure what this might mean, exactly. What would happen to the armor then? Would Al be in his body in that same condition Ed saw it in at the Gate? There were so many uncertainties, so many risks.

"Just be patient a bit longer while we try figure out more about this, Al. I promise one way or another, we're getting your body back."

"There might be other people with a similar power. Ones I haven't met yet. Maybe they can give us some information on it." Al would much rather have information than try to test it himself. "Alchemy doesn't depend on my physical body."

Al shook his head. "I wouldn't even know how to change if I wanted to. Or if I could stay that way." If he could, Al might not ever go back to being a suit of armor again.

Part of him does want to just try it, the part of him that hates the nights alone and is afraid that one of these times his soul won't come back. But it's overruled by the part that trusts his brother. Ed has promised to get his body back and Al trusts in that. "I know, brother."

Winry sighed softly, looking between the pair of them. "Al, I want to see your body, but I want you to be safe, too." She laid her hand his shoulder, avoiding the spikes. A tingling sensation in her palm startled her, and she jerked her hand back. She rubbed her palm with her thumb, making a face.

"Talking to people might be the best idea!"

"That's what I figure. We'll look into it. See what we can find out, first."

Ed agrees, it's best to be sure they know what this means. What the consequences might be and just how this power works, if they can. Research first, ask around. He knows Al hates it. Or, at least, certain aspects of that armor. Not eating or sleeping. But it's what they have to work with for now until they know more about this power. He's not intending for this to be permanent. He has a promise to keep, after all. He frowns a bit when Winry touches Al's shoulder and pulls back quickly.

"You okay, Winry?"

"I can wait and ask around."

Not eating and sleeping were the worst parts about being like this but ever since his soul started being pulled away it wasn't so terrible anymore. If he could avoid that, then Al would take the downside of being this way. Besides, he knows that Ed wouldn't stop until he found a way to return him to normal.

When Winry pulled her hand away, Al looked up at her. He hadn't noticed anything when she touched him.

Winry cradled her hand against her chest, confusion writ on her face. "I...you told us your power, Al, and Ed's is...alchemy, right?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Mine is the ability to manipulate metal, and some sort of healing." She tossed her bangs slightly to indicate she had no idea what either of them actually meant, but. "When I touched your shoulder, Al, I could feel you in the metal. Not just the steel, I could feel you."

At the last, her expression warmed to a smile. Al's soul was so bright and warm, even in the matrix of stainless steel.

"You.....wait, what?"

Ed isn't quite sure he understands the metal part, or at least where she was able to feel Alphonse. The healing is probably self explanatory enough, and made sense with her medical background of sorts at least. He's just not quite sure what to make of the metal power exactly. How it worked, how similar it might be to his alchemy. There's a frown at his features in confusion as he looks to Winry.

"Are there details in the files?"

All Al can manage to do is stare at Winry for a long moment. He could understand if she could feel the metal of his armor but to feel the part of him that was bonded to it was impossible.

What did that mean exactly? Would she be able to touch him without feeling his soul? Al might not be able to feel her touch but if he pretends hard enough, he can imagine the feeling. If he could frown, he'd be doing it now.

"The only thing they put in the files about our new powers is the name of it. There's no explanation of how to use it or even what it is exactly." At least, that's how his came.

Winry looked between the brothers again. "Maybe because metal itself is inert...but Al's suit has his soul attached?" She wasn't a scientist, nor an alchemist. She was guessing. "I haven't really touched any other metal yet."

Now she turned her gaze toward Ed's arm, wondering if she'd be able to feel the nerve attachments that controlled his automail.

"Hm. Right. Mine just said 'alchemy'. But to me that's....pretty self explanatory. Not like yours. Or Winry's."

He considers that for a moment, listening as Winry tries to explain as best she can. His own gaze follows hers, to his arm and he takes off his jacket, auto-mail bare in just his tank top singlet.

"Try my arm?" That was different. There's no soul there, but he's not entirely sure how her whole metal thing works, exactly. The more they learn about these powers, the better prepared they are. The more likely they use them safely. He gestures for her to come over to him at the edge of the bed where he sits, outstretching his arm to her.

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closed. our dreams all start to fade

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