A New Senshi: Chapter 10.1 - Something Is Horribly Wrong Here

As they travelled through the portal Natalie felt a sharp tug in her chest like something was pulling at her very soul. When they came out, she collapsed on the floor clutching her chest. She felt like she was having a heart attack. Edward seeing her that way knelt down beside her. “Natalie, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know, but it feels like someone just tried to rip my heart out,” she said sounding a little bit winded. “I’ve never felt like that coming through a portal.”
“I told you this boy would only cause you trouble,” said a voice that Natalie recognized almost immediately.
“Yuko?” she said as she tried to get to her feet. Edward hooked his arms under hers to help. “What are you doing here?”
Yuko just shook her head. “You’re not where you think you are my dear. You’ve landed in my shop again.”
“How? Did you high jack me again?”
“This isn’t my doing. Come, let’s make ourselves more comfortable and I’ll explain.”
“But…”
“No buts,” Yuko said as she motioned for Watanuki. “Help our guests to my lounge Watanuki and then bring refreshments, they’re going to be here for awhile.”
Watanuki didn’t argue as he took one side of Natalie while Edward held the other. Together they helped her walk into lounge and sat her in one of the prepared chairs. Once she was safely seated, Watanuki indicated that Edward should have a seat in the chair beside her. Edward did as Watanuki indicated and then Watanuki disappeared into the next room. Yuko had yet to join them.
“Where are we?” Edward asked, keeping his voice quiet. “Who are these people?”
“This is a shop that exists in a world between worlds,” Natalie answered, finally starting to feel better. “The lady you saw is Yuko, she runs this place and the gentleman that helped you get me in here is Watanuki her assistant.”
“How did we end up here? Given that you said this a world between worlds, I’m guessing this isn’t your world.”
“You’re right, it’s not and I have no idea how we ended up here or why. To be honest, I never wanted to come back here at all.”
“Back here? You’ve been here before?”
Natalie sighed exasperated. “Weren’t you listening when we arrived?” she asked sounding a bit annoyed.
“Sorry, but I was a little distracted worrying about you,” he snapped back at her.
Natalie took a deep breath. She couldn’t blame him for getting a bit annoyed at her and she knew the reason he snapped was her fault. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful,” she said looking at him, her eyes soft and apologetic.
Edward shook his head. “It’s alright, I get it. I didn’t mean to snap either.”
Natalie smiled warily. “But to answer your question, yes, I have been here before. It was right before I came to your world. Evidently someone paid a price for me to come here to get this,” she said holding out her necklace. “She also told me about my taboo, the one about taking people from their own worlds.”
“So she’s the one that left out exactly what would happen?”
Natalie nodded. “Yeah, she just told me what I told you.”
That was the moment that Yuko came into the room. “And now you’ve seen what would happen if you broke that taboo though I’m sure you don’t understand it yet,” she said as she sat down on her couch.
“Excuse me?” Natalie asked.
“You took this young man here from his world and now you’ll find out the price you’ve paid for that.”
“Hey wait a second!” Edward exclaimed as he stood up from his chair. “She didn’t take me anywhere, I went on my own. I’m the one that jumped the portal even after she told me not to!”
Yuko sighed sounding a bit annoyed. “Sit down and calm yourself young man, I said I was going to explain.”
Natalie reached out and tugged on Edward’s jacket. When he looked back at her he could see in her eyes that the best thing for him to do was sit back down and not push it any further.
“Now, were should I begin?” Yuko said lighting her pipe and then taking a drag from it. “Well do you remember when I said you’d lose something precious to you if you every broke the taboo and removed someone from their world?”
Natalie nodded. “Yeah, but you never said what exactly I’d lose.”
“Well you were trying to go home when you were yanked from the space between worlds and dropped here correct?”
“Yes, get to the point Yuko…”
Yuko chuckled. “I’m surprised you didn’t figure it out. Your price is simply this; you broke the taboo so the price you have to pay is your home.”
Natalie’s jaw dropped leaving her speechless temporarily. She felt like she’d been kicked in the stomach, her breath catching in her throat. “Wait… are… are you saying…” Natalie started.
“Wait a minute, are you saying because I went with her she’s not allowed to go home anymore?” Edward finished.
Yuko sat back with her pipe in her fingers. “That’s exactly right.”
“But how is that a fair and equal price? I’m the one that gave up on my home and went with her, punish me!”
Natalie reached over and put her hand on his arm. “No, I should never have allowed the chance for you to do what you did. I was careless so no matter what, it’s my price to pay.”
Edward looked over at her, there were tears streaming down her cheeks but the look in her eyes wasn’t what he’d expected. He couldn’t explain it. He expected her to be sad but that’s not what he saw. It looked like regret, like she’d just plain given up. “Natalie?”
She didn’t look at him as she got up. “Yuko, I need some air. Is it safe for me to walk around here?”
“It is. Outside of the fence is just Japan so no one should give you trouble.”
“Thank you, I’ll be back in awhile then…” she said leaving not waiting for Edward or anyone else.
Edward stood up and made to go after her. Yuko stood and grabbed his shoulder before he could get anywhere. “I wouldn’t…”
Edward pulled away from her. “How could you just expect me to NOT go after her?! She can’t be alone right now!”
“She has a lot to think about Mr. Elric and right now you’re not exactly the best person to be talking to her all things considered.”
Edward grabbed Yuko’s collar, the look of determination in his eyes. “That’s exactly why I’m the only one who CAN talk to her right now.” He pushed Yuko back down on the couch and ran out after Natalie. He couldn’t let her give up all together, just like she wouldn’t let him give up. She’d given up so much for him; it wasn’t fair for her to shoulder this entire burden alone.

A New Senshi: Chapter 9.7 - Welcome Home

Alphonse and the other Edward came back in the room in time to see Natalie transform. They both looked at her amazed.
Natalie couldn’t help but to chuckle at them. “I told you guys I was uniquely gifted. Now once I open the portal you have to stay with me meaning you’re going to at least have to keep a hold of someone who’s holding onto me. Whatever you do, don’t let go.”
“What happened if one of us does?” Alphonse asked.
“You could be lost in the world between worlds forever. I don’t want that and neither do you,” she replied rather bluntly. “Are we ready to do this?”
They nodded and Natalie held out her staff creating the portal. Natalie took the hand of both Edwards, one on each side of her and Alphonse held onto his brother. Carefully they entered the portal.
When they came out on the other side, someone tripped and all of them went tumbling to the ground. Natalie couldn’t help but to laugh. This is how her and Edward had come out the first time he’d come through with her too.
Getting up and dusting herself off Natalie transformed back. The others got to their feet as well. The other Edward and Alphonse stood stone still when they saw that familiar yellow house of the hill. “Is that what I think it is?” the other Edward asked.
Natalie smiled and nodded. “Winry’s house? Yes it is. Just so you know though we didn’t tell her we were doing this just in case we failed to bring you back so she’d going to be plenty surprised.”
“Follow us to the house but let us get her alright? We’d like this to be as big of a surprise as we can manage.”
Alphonse and the other Edward didn’t argue and they made their way up the road to the house. The other Edward and Alphonse waited at the bottom of the stairs as Natalie and Edward went up and knocked on the door.
Winry opened it and looked a little surprised to them and so soon. “What are you two doing back here so soon? He didn’t mess up his leg already did he?”
They both laughed. “No, we actually came with a surprise for you,” Edward said as he and Natalie took a step to the side making it so she could see the other Edward and Alphonse behind them.
“Hi Winry, we’re home,” the other Edward said, grinning at her.
“Yeah, we’re back, Winry,” Alphonse chimed in smiling.
Winry couldn’t believe her eyes. “Is this a dream?” she asked softly.
Natalie shook her head. “No, they’re really here. When we left we went to the other world and got them. This was the best way we could think of to thank you for helping us.”
Winry walked past them and down the stairs to the other Edward and Alphonse. She stood there for a moment looking at them before throwing her arms around them both and hugging them tight. “Welcome home,” she said now starting to cry. Both them put their arms around her too hugging her back.
Edward put his arm around Natalie’s shoulders and pulled her close. “We did a good thing,” he said as they watched their reunion.
Natalie rested her head against his shoulder and smiled. “Yeah we did but now they’re on their own.”
“Yeah, well I think they’re going to be fine. Besides, it’s not like we can stay here with them anyway. I don’t want to feel like I did back in that other world again. That and didn’t you mention something about wanting to go back to your own world for awhile?”
“And take you with me silly.”
“Of course.”
“I want you to meet my mom and my best friends Amy and Katie. They’re never going to believe any of this. They’ve gotta be pretty worried about me by now too. I just disappeared right before their eyes.”
“I want to meet them too,” he said smiling. “And I’m sure they’re fine. Hey, for all they know you’ve only been gone an hour. One thing I’ve noticed is that time doesn’t always seem to run the same from world to world.”
“That’s very possible.”
After a few minutes, Winry, Alphonse, and the other Edward came up to Edward and Natalie. “I don’t know how to thank you two,” Winry said, hugging them.
“You don’t have to thank us; you fixed up Ed’s leg no questions asked. You didn’t even question where we came from, you just trusted us. There’s no equal for that,” Natalie replied.
“Brother and I want to thank you guys too. If you hadn’t come there to get us well…”
“We were living our lives to have minimum impact there because we didn’t belong there. You brought us back here where we belong. You guys pretty much gave us our lives back,” finished the other Edward.
Edward fielded this one. “We couldn’t let Winry stay here alone. I’m just glad you guys agreed to come back. But now that’s taken care of, we really should be going all things considered.”
Winry shook her head. “No, come inside and at least have dinner with us before you go.”
Natalie and Edward looked at each other. “What do you think Ed? How are you feeling?”
“I’ll be alright that long I think so if you want to stay we can.”
“Good!” Winry laced her arm through Natalie’s at the elbow and dragged her into the house to help her.
Edward made to follow them but the other Edward stopped him. “Hold on a second,” he said digging in his pocket for something. “I want you to have something, give it to Natalie when you think it’s a good time to.” He then handed a little bag.
Edward opened it up and a ring fell into his hand. It was silver with red jewel in the middle; the silver forming what looked like little vines around the stone and within the stone was what looked like a transmutation circle. “Where…”
“I picked it up awhile back. The transmutation circle in means nothing now but it still looks good.”
“Why not give it to Winry?”
Edward shook his head. “She has no appreciation for alchemy so I don’t think she’d really like the circle in the stone but I think Natalie would appreciate it more. That and it’s my way of repaying you. I know it doesn’t equal putting your life on the line but…”
Edward put the ring back in the bag and put it in his pocket he then extended his hand to the other Edward who took it. They shook hands and just as they were finished Alphonse came over and put his arm around both of them basically hugging them both. “Come on you two, let’s get inside.”
They all spent the evening eating and drinking and having fun but then it was time for Natalie and Edward to go. After saying their good-byes, knowing that they would probably never be back here, they made their way outside.
“OK Natalie, you ready to go home?” Edward asked smiling at her.
“Yeah,” she said as she opened the portal and they both stepped through.

A New Senshi: Chapter 9.6 - You Have To Decide

Alphonse and the other Edward took him into their room to lie down. When they came back out Natalie rushed over to them. “How is he?”
Alphonse sighed. “He’s resting. What happened?”
Natalie took a deep breath. “I was afraid something like this might happen. He’s been in the same space with you,” she said looking at the other Edward, “too long. If we don’t do something soon he may vanish.”
Edward looked at her. “Vanish?”
“Yeah, it’s something that can happen when two of the same people are in the same space for too long. It’s sort of like a cosmic reconciling and since you’re the one most likely to be the one that belongs here it’s trying to reconcile him into you. We can’t let that happen…”
“What do we do about it though?” Alphonse asked.
“There’s only one thing I can do, get him away from you guys but there’s only two ways that can happen. Either you guys come with us back to Resembool now and then we leave from there as quickly as possible or we just leave, leaving you guys here. I really don’t want the latter though considering Ed risked himself to come here and help me find you two. It was because of him that I was even able to. Remember those headaches you were getting earlier Edward?”
He nodded. “Yeah but what’s that got to do with anything and how did you know about that?”
“Well that was Ed seeing through your eyes. That’s how we were able to follow you and find you here. For him it was like when you first came to this world Edward, when you were in the body of the Edward that belonged to this world. Remember how it felt being in that body that didn’t belong to you, that’s how it felt for Ed but he could do it from his own body because it was here too instead of just his soul being here.”
Edward closed his eyes shaking his head. “This is heavy stuff. I don’t want anything to happen to him but…”
“Damn it Edward! Not this again! Do I have to slug you again?”
“No! No, it’s just…”
Natalie shook her head. “Look Edward, I came from an alternate world of this one. This one is actually also the past to the world I came from and I’ll tell you something, nothing you do here will make any difference I can promise you that. If you go back you can at least make someone’s world a bit happier. Like I said before, Winry needs you and Alphonse too. She didn’t even get to say good-bye to you two before you left her, how fair is that?”
Edward and Alphonse both lowered their heads. They knew that Natalie had a point.
“Please you guys, let us help you set things right,” Natalie said softly. Hearing her own words she remembered that she never said good-bye to her own mom before coming on this journey, Amy and Katie too. After this maybe it would be good for her and Edward to go back to her world for a bit after this.
Edward looked to Alphonse who smiled and nodded to his brother. “Alright Natalie, we’ll go back with you.”
Natalie smiled. “Good, thank you. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to go as soon as I can get Ed back on his feet. I hope you understand.”
“That’s fine, there really aren’t any loose ends we have to deal with here anyway,” Edward replied.
“Alphonse, would you come with me to help me get Ed up? I have a feeling this might not be easy and I don’t think I should have both Edward’s that close together until I absolutely have to.”
Alphonse agrees and they went into the bedroom to get Edward. When they came in he was sleeping soundly, Natalie couldn’t help but to smile. Alphonse caught it. “You really care about him huh?”
“Yeah, seems everyone we meet notices,” she said with a chuckle.
“That’s a good thing. I’m actually glad he has someone like you. I know he’s not my brother but I can’t help but feel the same way about him as I do for Brother.”
“That’s understandable; he is your brother in a sense. Actually you and he are probably physically about the same age if I remember right. He may actually be younger.”
“Me older than Ed? Now that’s funny!” Alphonse said with a laugh.
Natalie couldn’t help but laugh as well. “Well he’s only 17…”
“Then he’s the same physical age as me though actually I’m 20. Those four years my body spent in the gate world were taken away when Brother saved me from there. I didn’t even get my memory of those years back until I came here with Brother three years ago. It’s all pretty confusing.”
Natalie just chuckled. “Yeah I can see how it would be.” She looked at Alphonse, “You know it’s actually thanks to you that he’s here with me at all, well his younger brother Alphonse. If he hadn’t pushed him he wouldn’t have come with me in the first place. His Winry wasn’t as patient as yours is and it nearly broke his heart completely when he lost her. His Alphonse pushed him to take a chance on me…”
“Both Eds are pretty stubborn and pig headed aren’t they?”
“Yeah they are,” she said looking over at him and smiling. That smile vanished quickly though because when she looked over it looked like she could see through Edward.
She rushed over and threw her arms around him, holding onto him tightly. The motion jolted him awake. “Hey! What was that for?” he asked confused.
Natalie didn’t say a word; she just continued to hold onto him for dear life, tears of panic running down her cheeks. Alphonse luckily had seen it too. “It looked like you were going to disappear…”
Edward’s eyes got wide and he held onto Natalie almost as tightly as she was holding onto him. He’d almost disappeared? He couldn’t do that, not now.
Alphonse walked over and put his hand on Edward’s shoulder. “I think we need to get you out of here as soon as possible. Brother and I have agreed to go back to Resembool with you guys and I think we should go get him and get out of here.”
Edward nodded. “I think you might right Alphonse…” he said, gently rubbing Natalie’s back trying to ease her panic. Alphonse took that as his cue to go get the other Edward.
Edward forced Natalie to let him go so he could look at her. “Come on Natalie, get it together. I’m fine, see I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere.”
“But I saw it, I could see right through you.”
“You can’t now though can you?” She shook her head. “Then see I’m fine now. Alphonse went to go get Ed and we’re going to leave. The sooner we them back the sooner we can move on too OK? Everything will be fine.”
“I was thinking of taking you to my world,” she said softly.
“I’d like that but first let’s make it through this alright? You ready to go?”
Natalie looked into his eyes and pulled him forward to kiss her. “Now I am,” she said with a smile.
Edward just chuckled and shook his head. “You’re hopeless.”

A New Senshi: Chapter 9.5 - Sometimes Things Work Too Well

Thankfully the feeling passed quickly enough and Natalie was able to get Edward back to his feet. “That was the weirdest thing I think I’ve ever seen,” Edward said. “But at least we know we found the right place.”
Natalie nodded. “Yeah, but that scared the crap of me Ed.”
“Scared the crap out of you? Scared the crap out of ME… I wasn’t expecting that to happen and right after we showed up no less. Though hopefully it’ll help us find them faster.”
“Maybe, what else did you see besides Alphonse? Did you see any landmarks or signs?”
Edward closed his eyes and tried to think. “Al was sitting at a table; it looked like he was talking to someone. If I had to guess it was probably the other Edward. It was definitely outside.”
Natalie had an idea, she pulled out her card. “You wait here, I don’t want to risk anyone here seeing you, and it might get confusing especially if they know the other Edward. We can keep in touch with this,” she said holding up her card, “and if you have another one of those vision things let me know.”
“Where are you going?” Edward knew better than to argue with her about going with her. She was right anyway, the last thing they wanted to do was make this more complicated than they had to.
“I’m going to see if there’s an open air café around here. If that happened to you right after getting here I’m figuring we have to be at least close. I won’t wander far without coming back to get you, promise.”
Edward nodded. “Alright, just be careful. If he’s as much like me as I think he is, he might not trust you right away.”
“I know, I’m ready for that,” she said as she gave him a kiss. “Besides, I wasn’t planning to say anything to him right away; I just want to find him so we can follow him. When they’re somewhere it’s safe to talk then we’ll talk to them together.”
Edward sat down on a crate that was in the alley while Natalie walked out of the alley and on to the main street. What part of the city were they in anyway? She cursed herself for not paying more attention in school. Oh well, she figured they couldn’t be anywhere too bad, at least she hoped they weren’t. She walked past little shops in the first floors of what looked to be apartment buildings. Most of the shop keepers who saw her smiled at her as she walked by. They were certainly friendlier than she’d expected them to be.
She walked for awhile, covering about one block in every direction and was just about to give up and go back and get Edward when she saw a little deli with tables outside. Natalie kept her distance and tried to scan the tables. She hoped she hadn’t taken too long to find this place and lost them. She didn’t even know if she had the right place to begin with but she was in luck. She took out her card and closed her eyes.
“Ed, I found them… but they look like they’re getting ready to leave.”
“Then teleport me to you and we can follow them.”
Natalie looked for somewhere she could hide and open the circle to bring him to her. She found what looked like an open garage door and slipped inside. Closing her eyes she activated the card and a circle appeared in front if her, a moment later Edward was standing there.
“That feels even weirder than the portal I swear.”
“Yeah well it works right?”
Before he could answer her he closed his eyes and held his head. “It’s happening again…”
“Go with it for now. I have a feeling fighting it might make it worse.”
“Easy for you to say… they’re getting up…” Edward trying to focus on what he was seeing. “It sounds like Alphonse said something about an apartment and that I don’t look well…” And just as quickly as it had started it stopped. Edward looked at Natalie, “Come on, we have to hurry or we’ll lose them.”
They hurried back out onto the street in time to see the other Edward and Alphonse leave the table and head towards them. They ducked back into the room until Edward and Alphonse had gone by and then they followed them for about two blocks to an apartment building. There were a few times Natalie noticed Edward look back, she hoped they weren’t on to them. There were so many people on the street, how could they be right?
Natalie and Edward stayed outside, sitting on a bench that was on the opposite side of the street from the building Edward and Alphonse went into.
“Are we going to go in there?” Edward asked.
Natalie shook her head. “Not yet, I want to see if they’re going to be sticking around or not. There’s no sence going up there if they’re only going to be leaving again.”
“Good point…” he said just before another vision hit him. It seemed more intense this time. He could hear Alphonse clearly this time.
“Brother, are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yeah Al, it’s just a headache. Just came out of nowhere though.”
“Shouldn’t you go lay down?”
“No, I know someone was following us earlier… I want to know who they were.”
Natalie looked Edward. “What are you seeing?”
He waved her off; he needed to concentrate on what the other Edward was saying.
Alphonse got up and went to the window. Natalie saw him there. “Damn it Ed, Al’s looking out here, we have to go something…” she did the only thing she could think of and flipped his hood over his head so Alphonse wouldn’t recognize him. She tried to sit there like she was just enjoying the afternoon air.
“The other Edward knows we were following them,” Edward said to Natalie. “He’s trying to convince Alphonse that he’s not just being paranoid.”
Natalie sighed heavily. “Damn, I thought he might have been on to us. I noticed him look back a few times on the way here. There’s no help for it I guess, let’s head up there and say hello then.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I’m gonna tell ya, being closer to him has made these things I’m seeing more intense, I don’t know if being in the same room would be a good idea.”
“You want me to go up there alone? I can if that’s what you want…”
Edward shook his head. “No, I don’t want you to go alone though I’m pretty sure neither of them would hurt you, it’s just going to be a lot harder to explain things to them without me there.”
“That’s a true but then it might complicate things… you know, let’s go up there but keep your face hidden for now. I don’t want to freak them out until we have to.”
Edward nodded. “To get to the one they’re in we’ll have to go the top of the stairs and knock on the last door on the right side.”
“Got it, come on, let’s go.”
They got up and went into the building. Natalie went to were Edward had said and looked at the door, 103. She couldn’t help but see the irony of them being in this room. “This is it right?” she asked.
“Yup, Alphonse is the only one up. He managed to convince the other Edward to go lay down. Seems he gets a headache whenever I’m seeing through his eyes.”
“So you’re not connected right now?”
“I don’t think so; I’m only seeing what I see with my own eyes.”
“Good…” she said as she knocked on the door. Natalie took a deep breath, she had knocked but she had no idea what she was going to say to Alphonse. Edward saw the look on her face and took down his hood, changing his mind about their plan. “What are you doing?!”
“I have an idea, let me handle this,” he said stepping up to the door and staying in front of Natalie.
A moment later the door opened and Alphonse was standing there. “Can I help…” his voice cut off the instant he saw Edward. “Who are you?” he asked his face going pale and looking like he might faint.
Edward took a deep breath. “Well let’s just say we’re friends of a Ms. Winry Rockbell…” he said as he took off his jacket to show Alphonse the symbol on the back. “We’ve come here from Resembool.”
Alphonse eyed him suspiciously. “Ed… you might want to come out here…” he called to his brother.
A moment later the other Edward was standing behind Alphonse looking over his shoulder. He instantly noticed the jacket and looked into his own eyes. “What the hell is going on here? Who are you and why do you have my face?”
Natalie put her hand on Edward’s shoulder. “Let me handle this one… it’s pretty simple actually but I think it would be best if we didn’t talk about it out here where anyone could hear us. You have my word though that we didn’t come here to hurt you.”
Alphonse looked back at the other Edward who nodded. The other Edward went and sat down at the table and Alphonse moved out of the way letting Natalie and Edward in then closing the door behind him.
The other Edward looked at them trying to figure this one out. “Sit down you two…” he said sternly. Natalie didn’t hesitate to do as he asked but Edward did. He was starting to feel light headed and it wasn’t like earlier when he was having the visions. Once he was able to clear his head he sat down as well.
“OK, first things first, who are you?” the other Edward asked.
Natalie took a deep breath and rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “Well my name is Natalie Simon and this is going to be a bit difficult to understand but his name is Edward Elric, same as yours. He’s actually another you, from an Amestris that is parallel to the one you and Alphonse came from.”
“How is that possible?” Alphonse asked.
“Simple actually, we’re dimensional travelers. I have a very unique gift that lets me go where I’d like no matter what world the place exists in. We actually just came from your Amestris. I’m sure you understand the possibility of other worlds existing and that in those worlds there could be people that look like other people you know. I know you saw that when you first came over to this side Edward. Hughs, Gracia, even that film maker that looked like Bradley…”
“How do you know about that?” the other Edward asked.
“I told you, we’re travelers from other worlds too. The fact that this Ed is sitting here, he’s real just like you are. Remember when you first saw this world Edward? Didn’t you see the world through a different Edward’s eyes until the zeppelin crashed and killed him? And the Alphonse that was originally from this world, you stayed with him until the trouble with the Nazis and wanting to destroy your world. Wasn’t it because of him that you were able to go back and see your own brother Alphonse again? You can’t tell me you don’t believe any of this is possible.”
“But how did you open the gate and come here? We destroyed it three years ago,” Alphonse said.
“We didn’t come through that way. Like I said, I have the ability on my own and Ed and I came here to get you two. Winry needs you guys, she’s alone there now.”
The look on the Edward’s face turned sad. “We can’t…”
“Why not? I can take you back, safe and sound. You don’t belong here, either of you and you have people back in Amestris that love you and miss you. Why won’t you go back?” Natalie insisted.
Even Alphonse looked at his brother. “She’s right Brother, if it’s safe why can’t we go back?”
He didn’t answer. Natalie saw the look in his eyes, she knew that look. It was guilt. She got up and went over to him. When he looked up at her, she punching him square in the jaw. “You idiot! Stop feeling like you can’t go back there because of what happened! Winry needs you and you have a chance to go back to her! Damn it! Stop making her cry you dumb ass!”
Alphonse and her Edward’s eyes both went wide. He leaned over to Alphonse. “Scary when she’s mad isn’t she?” he said with a laugh.
Alphonse nodded. “Just like Winry… no wonder you two get along so well.”
They let Natalie and the other Edward hash this out and talked a bit. Edward was actually thankful to be able to talk to Alphonse again even if it wasn’t exactly his little brother.
The other Edward got up and got into Natalie’s face. He was taller than her but she didn’t back away from him, didn’t even give him an inch. “Damn it! What did you do that for?!” he exclaimed rubbing his jaw where she’d clocked him.
“Someone had to you stubborn ass. What’s so important here that you can’t leave it and go home? Tell me that Edward Elric.” Natalie stared intensely into his eyes.
He couldn’t help but notice the look in her crimson eyes looked a lot like Scar’s had once upon a time when he’d seen him in Lior and he’d been determined to sacrifice the lives of all of them to create the stone. It frightened him a little but he wasn’t going to let that on to her. He couldn’t come up with an answer though because she had been right, he didn’t want to go back because he felt guilty for leaving Winry again.
Alphonse went over to his brother. “Brother, I think we should believe them. They took a big risk coming here I mean look…” he pointed at Edward. “He came here knowing full well that you were here and that something bad might happen to him… and he trusts this girl completely so… well if another version of you trusts in her, why shouldn’t we?”
“But how do we know he’s really another version of me?”
Edward took a deep breath getting frustrated. Now he knew how everyone else must have felt dealing with him all the time. “Look, I’ll show you something…” He lifted up his pants leg to show him his automail leg. “Look at the work… first you of all people should know you can’t get anything like this here and second you should recognize the workmanship…”
The other Edward lifted up his pants leg and compared the two. They were nearly identical. “Winry…”
Edward nodded. “Yeah, Winry made mine too and your Winry just fixed it for me. I know we can be stubborn assholes but come on Ed… this is even too much for me to take…”
Natalie and Alphonse looked at each other. Neither one could believe that had just come out of Edward’s mouth. It was almost as epic as him admitting he was short.
The other Edward sighed heavily. “Damn it.”
“Come on, I can tell you don’t…” he paused mid sentence and closed his eyes. All of the sudden he didn’t feel right.
“Ed? Ed, everything OK?” Natalie said going over to him. She had no sooner gotten there than he collapsed into her. “Ed!”

A New Senshi: Chapter 9.4 - Good-Bye For Now

The next morning Winry came downstairs with Edward’s leg completely finished. She’d pulled an all-nighter to get it done. Neither of them were too surprised, it didn’t matter what Winry it was, she would bend over backwards to get Edward’s automail fixed.
“Come on Ed, let’s go,” Winry said patting the chair.
Knowing he didn’t have a choice he got up into the chair. “Just warn me when you’re ready to attach the nerves…” he said knowing full well she wouldn’t.
Natalie sat in the chair next to Winry’s work table and waited.
Winry went to work removing the spare and then attaching his again. “OK Ed, one, two…” and before she said three she locked down the nerve connection.
Edward let out a yelp of pain then gritted his teeth. “That’s always the part I hate…” he said still wincing as Winry made all of the final adjustments. “I thought I told you to warn me first!”
“Oh quit being such a baby Ed,” she said she tightened down the last of the connections. “Natalie, can you give me a hand? We need to move him over to the couch so he can rest and let his nerves adjust again.”
Natalie hopped up and went over to help Winry hold him up while they moved him over to the couch. He lay there, still wincing. His nerves must have been doing summersaults. Natalie had never actually seen that pained look on his face before. “Is this normal?” she asked Winry.
Winry nodded. “Yeah, most actually scream more than he did. Seems he has the same determination as the other Ed. He wouldn’t allow himself to cry or cry out when we attached his automail either. I wish he would just let it out though, it would be a lot easier on him if he did…”
“No,” he said still holding his eyes shut against the pain. Natalie and Winry both just shook their heads at him. Sometimes he was just too stubborn for his own good.
It didn’t take long for Edward to pass out. Natalie sat down on the couch with Edward and brushed his bangs out of his face. Carefully she lifted him a bit so that he could rest his head on her lap. Even given the fact that he was in pain when he passed out he still looked so peaceful when he slept.
“Thank you…” Wintry said lowering her head a bit as she sat down in the chair at her work table.
“For what?”
“For bringing him here. It’s good to know that at least one version of Ed got to be happy since I have no idea what’s happened to the one I know. Also, for loving this Ed just the way he is. He’s strong no doubt but he also needs someone who is going to stay with him even when he finally breaks down and shows his weakness, at least if he’s as much like the one I know as I think he is.”
Natalie chuckled and smiled. “You don’t have to thank me for that. He can be a stubborn pain in the butt, that’s true, but loving him… well that just seemed to come naturally to me.”
Winry smiled. “That’s the way it should be. Just promise me you’ll always take care of him. He deserves that.”
“Of course I will…” Natalie couldn’t help but think of when Edward had been nearly killed and she’d met him and his mother in that in between world. Trisha had made her promise the same thing then too. Edward really did have a lot of people that cared for him even if he didn’t always realize it. She looked down at him again, sleeping in her lap. “Besides, if I don’t take care of him, who will?” she said, running her hand over his forehead and brushing his hair back again.
Her touch made him slowly wake up. He seemed a bit surprised to look up and see Natalie smiling down at him. “Hey…” he said still half asleep smiling at her.
“How are you feeling?” she asked him.
Slowly he sat up and turned so he could put his feet on the floor. He started flexing the toes on his automail foot before standing up on it. When he was sure it was alright he started to stretch it out. “Feels a lot better, thanks Winry,” he said with a smile as he grabbed his pants and boots and put them back on.
Winry chuckled. “You’re welcome; just try not to be so rough on it oh and…”
“Don’t forget the maintenance, yeah, yeah I know…” he said sounding a bit exasperated. Didn’t matter what Winry it was, he always got this speech from her.
“Yeah well if you don’t you’re going to end up back here and I know how much you hate interrupting your little adventures just to get fixed up…”
Edward couldn’t help but to laugh. “I wish I could meet your Ed,” he said winking at Natalie. “Sounds like he’s more like me than I thought.”
Winry just laughed. “No you don’t, you two would just kill each other for no other reason than proving who was more stubborn.” This comment made Natalie almost lose it laughing.
“What’s so funny?!” Edward shot back at her.
“She has you pegged Ed, that’s all.”
He just shook his head. “Whatever…” he said looking a bit embarrassed.
“Now that you’re all set, we should get moving Ed,” Natalie said changing the subject. “If we’re going to get to that little task we had planned.”
“Oh yeah, you’re right,” he said heading upstairs to get their jackets.
“You don’t have to leave so soon you know,” Winry said to Natalie.
She shook her head. “No, we do, but don’t worry I know you’ll see us again,” she said with a smile. “I know it.”
Winry smiled though there seemed to be sadness in it. She actually doubted Natalie’s words. “Yeah when he breaks his leg again and you guys can’t go back home to fix it…”
“No, we’ll be back just to be back. Remember, I’m the one that makes this world jumping stuff happen,” she said with a wink. “We’ll come visit you again.”
Just then Edward came down the stairs. Natalie looked over at him just in time to see her jacket coming flying at her. “Hey! Warn me first!” she said as she grabbed it.
“Come on, we gotta go,” he said pulling his jacket on. He then went over to Winry and gave her hug. “It’s going to be alright, thank you for everything.”
Winry hugged him back and then lightly pushed him away. “You guys be careful OK? Now get going,” she said with a sad smile.
“We will!” he said as he and Natalie went out the door.
Winry stood in the door watching them as they walked down the road. Natalie knew she was but it didn’t matter, she knew their secret so as long as no one else was around they didn’t need to go hide. She took her pen and transformed.
“Ok Ed, you ready to try this?”
He nodded firmly, “Yup, let’s give this a try.”
“Alright,” she said as she pointed her staff. “Put your hand on mine and then I’ll open the portal. Hopefully my theory works and we’ll end up close to where the other Ed and Al are…”
Edward put his hand on hers as she asked him to and Natalie concentrated on the other world and on Edward and Alphonse. When the portal opened, they stepped through, Edward making sure to keep a hold of the staff until they were through.
When they emerged they were on a stone street in an alley. A car rumbled by them out on the main street. Natalie guessed it had to be from the 1920’s. Then she looked around and recognized the place from pictures she’d seen in her history books, the buildings, the clothes. They were in New York in the later part of the 20’s. Wow, if they had succeeded in landing where Edward and Alphonse were, those two had travelled a long way from Germany over the last three years. Natalie quickly changed back and looked for Edward.
“Ed, I think we made it…” she said as she turned around. When she did, Edward was on his knees holding his head. “Ed!!!” she exclaimed kneeling down beside him.
“I’m alright, just a little dizzy. It feels like I’m looking through someone else’s eyes… and I see… Alphonse…”

A New Senshi: Chapter 9.3 - Nothing's Easy

They managed to return to Winry’s without incident after visiting the cemetery. When they came in, Winry wasn’t downstairs at the work table where they had figured she would be.
“Ed, would you go see if you can find her? I’ll see about putting something together for dinner,” Natalie said to him as she started towards the kitchen.
“Why? I’m sure she’s fine. Besides, do you think it’s the best idea for me of all people to talk to her? I mean considering…”
Natalie shook her head. “I actually think that’s the perfect reason for you to go talk to her. Winry misses her Ed and maybe having you talk to her might help ease that pain a little. But then we don’t know if anything is even wrong… but…”
“I know what you mean. OK, fine, I’ll see if I can find her.”
“Thanks Ed,” she said walking back over and giving him a quick kiss.
Edward just chuckled a bit. “The things I let you talk me into,” he muttered under his breath and went upstairs to start looking for her there.
When he got into the upstairs hallway he noticed that the door he figured was hers, since that it was the same as it had been in his world, was closed. Taking a chance he knocked on it. “Winry, are you in there?”
At first he didn’t hear anything but after a moment the knob on the door turned and the door opened. “Ed, what can I do for you?” she asked. It was clear that she had been crying.
“Mind if I come in?”
She nodded and moved out of the way allowing him to come inside. He could see that she had his leg on the work table in here. She was as much of a work-a-holic as his Winry had been. For now he stood against the wall.
Winry had followed him into the room, leaving the door open for the moment. She went right to sitting at the work table and tinkering.
“Everything OK?” he asked her. “Natalie and I were worried about you when we didn’t see you when we got back.”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” she said softly not looking at him. It was hard for her to look at Edward. He looked the same as her Edward did the last time she’d seen him. She figured he had to be about the same age as her Edward had been when he’d gone back to that other world with Alphonse. That’s what made it all the harder for her to look at him. “I promised to have this done for you tomorrow and I usually work better in here so…”
Edward sighed. “You’re lying, I can tell Winry. You can’t hide it any better than the Winry I know can. Now come on, what’s bothering you?”
Winry put down her tools and turned in the chair to look at him. “I’m just having a hard time with this OK? I haven’t seen your face, well actually his face, in three years. I had just finally started to believe that I was never going to see him again and then you two show up here. I know you’re not the Edward I knew but it still doesn’t make it any easier. I miss him and I miss Alphonse a lot, especially now that…” her voice trailed off and she turned back away from him.
“Since Granny Pinako died…”
Winry nodded. “They all left me behind here, they left me alone…”
Edward couldn’t see it but he was pretty sure that she’d started crying again. He’d never been able to handle the sight of Winry crying and that hadn’t changed. He had to do something so he went over and put his hand on her shoulder. He didn’t want to do anything too personal but he couldn’t just let it go without doing anything. “I’m sure they didn’t want to leave you Winry…”
She just sighed and put her hand over his on her shoulder. “I know that. In the case of Ed and Al, well, I know they just did what they needed to do, they always did.”
“Sounds like Al and I. Seems your Ed and Al are a lot like us… what happened to them anyway?”
Winry took a deep breath. “Where do I start? I guess the best way to explain it was that Al sacrificed himself to bring Ed back after Envy killed him. Once he’d defeated Dante who was trying to use the philosopher’s stone so she could transfer her soul again, Ed then tried to sacrifice himself to bring Al back. He succeeded in bringing back Al at the age he was when they’d first tried to bring their mom back and Al didn’t remember a thing about traveling with Ed and their journey for the philosopher’s stone and he had no idea where Ed was. We all knew that Ed was gone but we didn’t believe that he was dead, none more so than Alphonse. He went back and studied with Izumi and three years ago Al managed to open the gate to the other world at the same time they were able to open the gate on the other side. Ed came back long enough to stop the army from the other world that came through and send them back. But he couldn’t stay here and at the time I didn’t know why. Later General Mustang told me what had happened after Ed and Al went after the commander of the airship army. After they defeated her Ed tried to go back to the other world alone to close the gate there. Alphonse stowed away and went with him. He couldn’t stand being without his brother again, not after he’d searched and studied so hard to get him back. “
Edward shook his head. “Reminds me of what Al and I went through…” he said softly.
Winry looked at him. “Tell me about it?”
Edward finally took a seat on the bed figuring it would probably be best at this point. “Well we didn’t have all the other world stuff to deal with…” He paused noticing that Winry had given him a questioning look. “The traveling worlds thing didn’t start until I met Natalie… so anyway, in our Amestris there was this guy called Father, who was basically a homunculus clone of my father who was trying to create a giant philosopher’s stone inside himself so that he could be God. He almost destroyed the entire country using me, Alphonse, my father, Izumi and Mustang as sacrifices to open the portal. My father managed to counter his circle giving everyone in Amestris their souls back but he was still powerful. He fought back, trying to kill us all again. We got pretty beat up; I ended up busting up my automail arm and getting my left one run through with a steel reinforcing bar. Al had been almost completely disintegrated and Father was just about to kill me when he decided to trade his soul so I could get my right arm back. This way I could use my alchemy again and get myself free. With everyone’s help I was able to finish off Father then I went back to the gate and gave up my alchemy to get Alphonse back, body and soul.”
Winry just sat there taking it all in. “The events were different but you all went through hell. At least you got to be together with Alphonse in your own world though. Wait a minute, if you said you gave up your alchemy to get your Al back, how did you have it now to fix your leg?”
“I have Natalie to thank for that, she got it back for me shortly after I met her. She paid a pretty hefty toll to get it back too…” Edward’s face turned a bit sad remembering what she’d given up for him.
“You care about her a lot don’t you Ed?”
Edward nodded. “Yeah, she helped me pull myself back together and didn’t give up on me. After Al and I got what we were looking for things sort of fell apart for me. I have to admit, I cared about the Winry in my world a lot too but I was a stubborn idiot and lost her. If I hadn’t had to hold it together for Alphonse while he recovered from having his body trapped in the gate world for four years, I would have completely self destructed. When Natalie came into my life, well it was like I got a second chance…”
“Was this why you didn’t go back to your own world to see your Winry to have her fix this?” she said holding up his leg.
Edward blushed a bit embarrassed. “Partially, I’m just not ready to face that yet. The other part is I don’t want Natalie decking Winry with her own wrench…”
Winry couldn’t help but to laugh. “Well I’m glad to know that at least one version of us ended up happy.”
“Don’t count out your own happiness yet OK Winry?” he said as he got up and gave her a hug. “You never know when things will change for the better.”
Just then Natalie knocked on the door. “Hey, dinner’s ready,” she said with a smile. She’d heard the last part of the conversation where he told her not to give up, before knocking on the door.
“Oh! I didn’t… I’m sorry!” Winry said getting up from the workbench, almost knocking Edward over as she did. Luckily he was able to catch himself before he fell on his rear end.
“Don’t sweat it,” Natalie said smiling. “You’re helping us out; the least I could do was make dinner right?”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling back. She headed out of the room and downstairs.
Natalie waited at the door for Edward. “Everything go alright?”
Edward sighed then smiled. “Yeah, she told me what happened to the Ed and Al of this world and I told her what happened to Al and I. It just makes me believe more that we’re doing the right thing in trying to go get them and bring them back here.”

A New Senshi: Chapter 9.2 - We Can't Let Things Stay This Way

Once the spare leg had been attached to Winry’s satisfaction, she took his and started working on it. Edward got dressed again and was going to put on his jacket when Natalie stopped him.
“You better not, that red jacket will be likely to draw attention and we don’t want that. If you want a jacket take mine,” she said taking hers off and handing it to him. “It’s probably better anyway. I can walk around here and not be noticed but you, well without the hood someone might recognize you like Winry did. We can’t risk that if you insist on going out.”
Edward sighed but he knew she was right. He took her jacket and put it on, pulling the hood up over his head. Once he was all set and sure that he’d be alright walking they said good-bye to Winry for now and left.
As they walked down the road, Edward couldn’t help but to notice how much this Resembool was like his.
“So where are we going?” Natalie asked him.
“To the cemetery, I want to see something.”
“If Pinako is there?”
Edward nodded. “Yeah…”
As they walked Edward looked up to where the old house had been. His eyes couldn’t believe what he was seeing, the charred remains of a house and a tree. It was exactly the same. Without thinking he went up towards it, Natalie following after him.
He stopped where the front door once was and just looked. Natalie came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder. “The Ed and Al from this world did the same thing as you did after getting your State Alchemist’s Certification. Their journey started a lot like yours did.”
“So Mom died here too and they tried to bring her back just like we did…” he said sadly.
“Yeah, doesn’t seem to matter what world you live in sometimes. There are just things that are meant to happen no matter what,” she said as she hugged him. “Come on, we should go…”
It took him a minute to get moving but finally they left. When they got to the cemetery they split up to look around. Natalie found Trisha’s grave and stopped for a moment. She was actually glad she found it instead of Edward. She knelt down and put her hand on the marker stone, a tear running down her cheek. “I’ll bring them back…” she said softly then got up to keep looking around.
“Natalie! Over here!” she heard Edward call. When she joined him she found that he was standing at the graves of Winry’s parents and beside them was another stone. “Damn it Granny Pinako… why did you leave her alone?” he asked, his fists clenched in anger. He then looked at Natalie. “This isn’t right. I know she’s not the Winry I knew but I can’t just let this stand this way. There’s got to be something we can do, it kills me to see her look that lonely.”
“I was one step ahead of you Ed,” she said softly. “That’s what I was thinking about earlier when we were back at the house. I was thinking of a way to go to the other world and get Edward and Alphonse and bring them back without putting you in danger. I want to make this right because I don’t like seeing her like that either.”
“Did you come up with anything more?”
Natalie shook her head. “No, but then I don’t know I’d even be able to find them without your help. I know what world I have to go to but I don’t know where in it they are.”
“How could I help with that?”
Natalie took a minute to think about this, she knew she was going to word it wrong and it was going to sound cold and she didn’t want to do that. Finally she just gave up though and spit it out the way she was thinking about it. “Well since you’re the same person, just from a different place, a different version, your soul might be linked to his somehow. If it is and you help me open the portal, it might just take us right to them.”
“But how do you know that Alphonse will be with him?”
“Why do you even doubt that he will be? They’re in a world that’s not theirs, and they’re as close as you and your brother are, maybe more so. Alphonse will be with him, I’m sure of it.”
“Well that still leaves the problem of what could happen to me if I’m in the same place as my other self…”
“It does. It’s a huge gamble and I don’t want to risk something happening to you because you’re together.”
Edward closed his eyes and thought about this. He played it over and over in his head. “Well no matter what I think of it still involves my having to be around him at some point or another. Like you said, you’ll have better luck finding them if I’m with you.” He looked up at the clouds passing overhead and took a deep breath. This was a lot to deal with but they had to do the right thing and bring them back. “Don’t be mad at me Natalie but I’m willing to take the risk and go get them for her. I know something bad might happen to me but I can’t just leave this and not try. I know that I would never want to know what your face would look like being alone like she is.”
“But doing this could very well make that happen,” she said softly trying not to cry. “But I know what you mean. Plus, this was my idea to begin with but…”
Edward hugged her tight, which made her lose it and start crying. “All we can do is try. If for a second we think things are going to go bad we leave OK? Neither one of us is going to accept this until we see if we can do it or not.”
She buried her face in his chest. “You’re right but promise me that if you feel even the least bit like something isn’t right and I can’t see it you’ll tell me.”
“I promise.”
Taking a few deep breaths, Natalie regained her composure. “Alright then, we’ll give this a try and see what happens.”
“So it’s settled, once the repairs are done on my automail then we’ll get going.”
Natalie nodded. There was a part of her that had a bad feeling about this but she had never liked nor agreed with this story ending the way it had. It didn’t help seeing Winry the way she was either which convinced her she had to change the ending and bring this world’s Edward and Alphonse back. She just wished that she didn’t have to put her own Edward at risk to pull it off.