The Prologue/Arrival
As the bright light faded everyone came into view staring at each other in surprise. People from all over Amestris, even a couple from outside the country, were gathered together in this room. The room had comfortable-looking chairs and couches, tables, a kitchen in the back, and doors lining the walls. At the front of the room was a giant black screen bigger than anyone there had ever seen. Mustang looked around and saw everyone from his team, soldiers from Briggs, strangers in Xingese clothing, hell even Scar was there!
A yell of “What the Hell?!” broke the tense and confused silence. Everyone looked at the person who shouted and saw (Unsurprisingly) the young alchemist although it seemed some people didn’t recognize him. Once the silence was broken all hell broke loose. Mustang could make out Havoc yelling about Scar and saw him reach for his gun before realizing that it wasn’t there. Many people started looking for the thing they had on them only moments before when a loud shout drew everyone's attention once again.
“Edward Elric!” Shouted a woman only 3 people seemed to recognize. Riza took notice that her tattoo was the same one Edward had on his coat. Edward looked over to her with a seemingly panicked expression “T-Teacher?!¨ he stuttered out. “So I heard you went off and joined the military,” The woman said while cracking her knuckles. Both of the Elrics were practically shaking at that point and trying to plead their case.
The woman sighed and seemed to calm down then walked over to the brothers and put her hand out in a greeting motion. Edward slowly went to take her hand… when the woman grabbed him by the wrist and flipped him to the ground. “Brother!” The armored kid said worriedly but when the brother's apparent teacher turned to him he squeaked. Her face softened “Al? Oh my look how big you’ve grown!” When he reached out to her she moved out of the way and threw him to the ground as well. “You both need more training.”
Mustang sighs before taking charge and stepping between the brothers and their teacher “As amusing as this is, I think we should figure out where we are and how we got here.” All eyes turned to him with varying expressions. “I can answer that!” A voice spoke seemingly out of nowhere. While most people tried to see where the voice was coming from, two people seemed to recognize it. Those people were Edward Elric and the Teacher. The Colonel watched from between them as once the voice spoke the teacher tensed and stepped back and the young alchemist went from looking defiant to almost horrified in a matter of seconds.
“W-what do you want? '' The older Elric stuttered out, making everyone that knows him look at him in shock but he just ignored them. The strange voice responded in a teasing manner simply saying “All will be explained soon Little Alchemist.” Edward further shocked everyone who knew him when he didn’t react at all to being called little. “You have 30 minutes to get yourself seated and acquainted with each other before we get started.” Then the voice stopped responding.
Ed had to grab his still flesh wrist with his metal hand to stop his shaking. Many who knew the kid was looking at him with worry though he still paid them no mind. The stranger in a bright yellow shirt said, “Well I think that if we’re going to be here for a while we should at least know each other’s names.”
“I agree you are one of the only people here I’m not familiar with” Mustang replied trying to get the attention off the Elrics. “I’ll go first. I'm Colonel Roy Mustang and this is my team Riza Hawkeye, Jean Havoc, Heymans Breda, Vato Falman, and Kain Furey.” Everyone continued to introduce themselves and it seemed to be going fine (if not a little strange considering some of the strangers were Royalty) until one of the final strangers in the back introduced themself.
“My name is Van Hohenhime.”
Both Elrics turned to look at the man they haven’t seen him in years yet he still looks the same. The brothers had different reactions. Alphonse seemed happy and excited if not a bit nervous but Edward just looked pissed. “So…You’re still alive then.” The man sighed but nodded as the older Elric stood up and walked over to him. To the confusion of others, Al tried to get his brother to stop to no avail. Edward stopped in front of this Hohenheim person and they stared at each other… until Fullmetal brought his metal arm back and punched the man in the face before stomping off and sitting down on the other side of the room.
“Fullmetal. What the hell was that for? Do you know this man?” Mustang demanded using his Commander voice, something he rarely did with the two teens. Edward didn’t even look towards the Colonel or back at Hohenheim when someone helped him up. Alphonse still standing next to the Flame Alchemist softly answered the question. “He’s our father.”
Izumi looked over to the boy in shock “The one who walked out on you when you were kids?” Hohenheim had this resigned look on his face almost like he saw this coming. “Yeah that's the one” Ed responded his voice, a complete 180 of his younger brothers. The area was getting tense again, thankfully Riza saved the day. “How about we all sit down and figure out what this person wants with us.”
Everyone listened to her and sat down on the couches and chairs in four different rows. When everyone finally settled down the person spoke again. “Well, does anyone have any questions before we get started?” Havoc spoke up from beside the rest of team Mustang “Yeah who or what even are you?”
The voice simply laughed before answering “Who am I? I am so glad you asked! One name you might have for me is The World, or you might call me The Universe, or perhaps God, or perhaps the Truth. I am all and I am one.” Edward was once again trying to force himself to stop reacting every time Truth spoke. His answer only caused more confusion though for many different reasons. Most were wondering what this deity(?) wanted some of the more perspective ones wondered about Fullmetals apparent connection with it and Alphonse was remembering what Teacher always told them about one is all and all is one.
“I have a question as well… What's your connection with Fullmetal?” Mustang even if he wouldn’t admit it was worried about the young state alchemist. Edwards head shoots up at that looking at the his superior in shock and confusion. He takes a deep breath to stop his voice from wavering “Why do you think I have a connection with them?”
“Edward I have known you for almost five years now and I’ve never seen you have this sort of reaction to anything.” Ed just looks away at that not wanting to acknowledge his answer. The stranger- Truth had decided to finally answer Mustangs question “Well you’ll get the answer to that very soon.”
“What are we even doing here?” Olivier questioned she didn’t see the point in being here with these people. “Well you're here to watch the future of Amestris mainly focusing around one person.” Truth still spoke with that taunting voice that could put anyone on edge. Ed decided to ask what was on his mind even though he already guessed the answer “Who is it focusing on?”
“Why my little alchemist you of course!”