Log x1

[rocketridehome.livejournal.com]

[He gasped. Where was this? Hadn't he been talking to Heiderich just moments ago? His eyes widened in horror, then disbelief, and denial. No. No. No. Why this again? He'd just managed to convince himself that he was settled in Germany now, that Amestris was far behind him, and now...]

What the-- Where the fuck is this?! Is anyone around?!

[He sinks down to his knees, eyes unseeing.]

Not again. Not again. Shouldn't have fucked around with that array. Damned thing worked. In Germany. Alchemic energy in Germany... Shit.

Comments

[rocketridehome.livejournal.com]

I am...? [Ed looks confused.] I don't know either. I didn't expect the Gate to open to another world.

[His eyes dart around, as if wondering whether it's safe to tell this person that he's performed forbidden alchemy, but then again, what the heck. It's not like it poses any more danger to him right?]

I did a forbidden transmutation to bind my brother's soul back to his body, so the Gate was supposed to take my own body as its fee, but it just dumped me all the way in that other world.

[contract_star]

[Hei shares your confusion, don't worry.]

But the Gate tends to kill people who go inside...

Fee...you mean like an obeisance?

[And now Hei is on guard.] You're a Contractor?

[rocketridehome.livejournal.com]

[He shrugs] I know that. I don't know why it didn't kill me for performing such a transmutation. There wasn't any equivalent exchange, not that I could see. And it's just what I meant. A fee. My body in exchange for my brother's.

[Blank look] ... Huh? What's a Contractor?

[contract_star]

[Hei's brain just broke a little.]

...

Um. We might be talking about different Gates. [Pinches the bridge of his nose.] Let's back up a little. My Gate is Hell's Gate, in Tokyo. It appeared ten years ago. It's a realm of absolute chaos.

And your Gate? What is your Gate like?

[rocketridehome.livejournal.com]

[He looks a bit sheepish.]

Sorry. I just got kind of wary when you mentioned the word 'gate'.

It's a huge stone gate. You can't access it through normal means, you need to have an array that opens it up, or places you right there to see the Gate. And there's an eye there, that oversees everything that happens there, and black arms... [His voice becomes softer.] Black arms that take their toll from you just for opening your way to the Gate.

[contract_star]

[Sighs, half relieved, half disappointed.] No, it's okay. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions.

[Gives a grim sort of smile.] Your Gate sounds about as bad as my Gate. [Long pause.] But you said...you were using it to try and get your brother back?

[rocketridehome.livejournal.com]

[Hesitant nod] Ummm... Yeah. The Gate took my brother's body some years ago, and we've been trying to find a way to get it back.

What's Hell's Gate though? What's it do in that Tokyo place?

[contract_star]

But...how did he survive?

The Gate, it's...[Pause, trying to think of how to explain.]...it shouldn't exist. It's a place that defies logic and physics. Anything can happen there, like...stone flowers that grow like any other flower. They...say that the Gate can return what you've lost. But it's a lie. Everything about the Gate is a lie.

...When it appeared ten years ago, all of the stars in the sky were replaced with false stars. That's the kind of power it has.

There was another Gate, too--Heaven's Gate--but it's...gone now.

[rocketridehome.livejournal.com]

I sealed his soul to a suit of armour while we tried to return him his body. [Forced bland look- what the hell was he doing, not being discreet about that kind of risky business? But amidst all the chaos and insanity here, somehow Ed feels that it's not really a big deal to say things that would have gotten him into a mental asylum in Germany.]

... Stone flowers? [Wry smile] It's always like that, isn't it? You think something will grant you your dearest wishes, but it'll always just screw you over.

And Heaven's... Gate? How was that like? [lifted eyebrow]

[contract_star]

[Soft smile.] Then you saved his life. And in the end he got his body back? [Hei is very good at totally accepting the apparently impossible.]

In my experience, it is. I certainly didn't find what I wanted to find when I went there.

Heaven's Gate was...basically the same thing. The same total chaos. It was in Brazil at first. Except it disappeared ten years ago...something happened and it just vanished, along with South America.