Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Amestris doesn’t have quirks, it has alchemy. It has science. Because it’s cool and logical. Quirks aren’t fucking logical. Ed doesn’t like them.

He first found out about them on his post-Promise Day travels to Xing and some other neighboring countries. It seemed that the further he got from his home country, the more and more quirks popped up. He also got a glimpse into Xing’s “hero system” and it seemed to be very reminiscent of the State Alchemist program; starting at 18, kids are allowed to enlist in the military and begin training to start patrols for their assigned stations. The main difference he saw was that “heroes” weren’t automatically assigned a higher rank, like state alchemists were.

All in all, not that weird, once he got past the inherent shock of someone having a quirk in general. Really, it started getting weird the further and further he got from Amestris’ borders. Quirks got more fantastical and strayed further and further from the laws of alchemy that he’s known all his life- and, AND! People started having more and more chimeric features!

For some, it wasn’t truly noticeable. Some peoples’ irises were just slightly off when you really looked; like, crosshair details that encompassed the whole of the eye, or pupils that were shaped like hearts. Not all that weird. But then, he’d see someone with goat hooves for hands or the tails and claws of a lizard, and his mind would flash back to other chimeras he’s known and then he’d be sick. Because, well… it meant Nina never had to die. If there were people in the world who had a fucking toaster for a HEAD, then yeah. Nina probably didn’t have to die. But there was nothing he could do about that.

All this to say, when his allotted break from the military was over, and Mustang asked him back to Amestris, he felt relatively content with his knowledge of the world outside Amestris and he could just live the rest of his days vicariously through Al, who had moved to Xing. Al told him that “No, brother, I’m not moving to Xing because I like Mei. I want to study Alkahestry! I’ve told you this!” But Ed thinks that his little brother is a dirty rotten liar. (Besides, as soon as he announced he was moving, everyone back home placed bets on when the wedding invites will arrive in the mail. And Ed really needs Al to come to his senses soon because he has a lot of money riding on 3 years, 10 months, and 13 days. He got mocked for his specificity, but the rest of the team, those assholes, all chose dates within plus or minus two weeks of his. Assholes.)

His new job title (because of course Mustang wasn’t content with letting him stay as a simple state alchemist/researcher) was Head of State Alchemy. He essentially oversaw the selection, research, and placement of all the new state alchemists, as well as handling any erroneous alchemy problems that popped up. He saw a lot less fighting than he did in his days as a regular state alchemist, but he still found ways to make his days fun.

Ed was now the equivalent to a Brigadier General. It was a major jump up in rank, courtesy of his contributions on the Promised Day incident, and he once again made history as the youngest to ever hold this specific rank, but what else is new? The Colonel Bastard was now General Bastard, and was practically the Fuhrer in everything but name only. Every time Ed dropped by his office with a report, Mustang would lament him with tales of how he was “only making his constant paperwork problem worse!”, and Ed would remind of how he literally organized a coup and overthrew the last regime to specifically get this job. Then Mustang would bitch and moan some more, Hawkeye would say nothing but have a very specific look on her face like she regretted every decision she’s ever made that brought her here, and Ed would drag his feet around and sigh while waiting to be dismissed.

It was a very well-practiced song and dance.

So, imagine his surprise when he pops in one day and not only does Mustang not regale him with the various errors of his ways, but he also has a report in his left hand ready to be exchanged for Ed’s own.

“What’s all this about?” Ed asked as he grabbed the manila folder. The papers inside didn’t make the folder itself too thick, but the contents of said papers did make his eyebrows rise. “You’re actually giving me a mission?”

“We’ve received a request from the country of Japan. A hero was recently attacked by what they’re calling a ‘Nomu’.” Roy replied, pointing to corresponding notes in the open folder held in Ed’s hands. “This Nomu apparently showcased multiple quirks, which is said to be impossible, even for a country filled with the seemingly impossible.”

“Ok, what does this have to do with me, then?” As Ed began to leaf through the papers, skimming the notes and summaries of the report, he was getting an idea of where this was beginning to go and he didn’t like it.

“Since Amestris has opened its borders, more of the world has become aware of our alchemical power. In their letters to us,” Roy flipped to the last few pages, these ones type-written on thicker paper with a blocky-styled ‘UA’ logo on the top, “they’ve asked if it would be possible to use alchemy to combine multiple bodies and souls, and if so, if we might have… misplaced any alchemists who are knowledgeable in this area.”

Oh man, Ed really didn’t like where this was going, because- “As the Head of State Alchemy,” fuuuuuuuck, there it is. “The Fuhrer has assigned you this mission. Go out to Japan, determine if there are any missing alchemists- state or otherwise -and return them to Amestris to be tried in court.” He’s never hated this god damn General Bastard more in his life. “This is, of course, also a diplomatic mission, so you’ll need to be on your best behaviour.” Apparently Ed could hate the Bastard more because he followed that god awful statement with a shit-eating grin and- “You’ll also, of course, need to be in uniform for any official meetings and diplomatic events.”

Ed wanted to disconnect his metal arm and beat Mustang over the head with it. “Is it too late to be dishonourably discharged?” He hung his head in his hands as he sunk into the seat positioned in front of Mustang’s desk. 

He slowly started flipping the pages back and forth again, taking in more details as hit fate sunk in: a possible rogue alchemist skirting the lines of the taboo, a deadly chimera-adjacent creature, and to top it all off, he has to hang out at a high school. He never even went to regular school. 

Man, this was gonna fucking suck.

~

Nedzu was having a great time. His letters did indeed get through to Amestris, evidenced by the responses he received, and he was informed that they were sending the Head of State Alchemy- oooh, how fancy -equivalent to the rank of Brigadier General.

Nedzu wasn’t intimidated by the idea of a military presence, it wouldn’t be the first time UA had hosted a diplomat; if anything, the principal was looking forward to the argument that this would cause between himself and the Commission. He loved arguing with them especially; watching the complicated range of emotions flit across their face as they realized that they were never going to win the verbal battle. It was always a treat.

Their new ward would be here in a short two weeks! There was much planning to do, like who to send to collect the diplomat and where to keep him.

Chapter Text

In the, give or take, three years since the Promised Day, Amestris had updated a lot of their infrastructure, so travel to Xing’s borders only took about a week. He was given two weeks to get his ass to Japan and the first one was spent lightly studying Japanese and getting things in place for him to leave. He needed to order extra sets of automail from Winry, spare clothes, and a fuck ton of base materials so he could make whatever he was missing while he was away. He also packed the chemical reactions for anything he wasn’t used to transmuting for himself. 

The second week was mainly spent on the train to Xing and absolutely devoting himself to learning Japanese. After two weeks, Ed liked to think he had a pretty good grasp of his mission parameters and the Japanese language in general.  He couldn’t really do anything to practice besides reading and re-reading the books provided by the school he was going to, seeing as no one else in Amestris thought it necessary to learn the language. But he digresses.

The best part about going to Japan, really, was that he got to see Al, Mei, and Ling (and Lan Fan, he knew she was there somewhere) before heading off on his open-ended mission. Unfortunately, Al couldn’t travel with him out of the airport, but it was still nice to see him.

It took a full day of travel for him to reach Japan. It might have been more of a shock seeing so many sleek cars and large fluorescent screens if he hadn’t taken a year off to travel and see more technologically developed countries. Interestingly enough, no other countries seemed to have an equivalent version of their automail, or really anything even close to it, for that matter, so at least Amestris had that to lord over everyone else. 

Getting through the metal detectors in the airport had nearly started an international incident all on its own, but it helps to have a literal prince of the country by your side and advocating that “no, they’re not gonna turn into bombs, he needs them to walk and grab things”. It was still annoying, but all in all, he was allowed to get on the plane and truly get started on his journey to Japan.

The delegate sent to collect him from the airport carried a sign with his name printed on it in neat handwriting and waved as he noticed him approaching. The man himself seemed unassuming in his tan trench coat and matching fedora, but Ed knew better than to make any assumptions.

“Elric Edward? The Head of State Alchemy for Amestris?” The man’s eyebrows rose as he took in Ed’s appearance, clearly surprised that the person in front of him was a highly decorated military official. But no, his clothes couldn’t lie; he was in his bright blue Amestrian uniform and overcoat (at Mustang’s insistence, damn him) and extended his left hand to shake as he approached. “My name is Tsukauchi Naomasa, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Likewise. Are we headed straight to UA or do we need to start my paperwork first?” Retrieving his hand, he shoved it in his pocket and cocked his right hip as he stood in front of the man. He had been warned that when he arrived there would be a few documents that would need to be filed and general information to be recorded. Apparently, his basic military file wasn’t enough and they practically wanted his entire life history as well. He just wanted to get it over with.

“We can get all the necessary paperwork filled out at UA and I can file it after I leave.” With that, they began walking to a non-descript black car and the trunk opened automatically as they got closer. Shoving his bags in the trunk, Ed made his way to the passenger seat, and then promptly circled the car because apparently everything was backwards in this country. First their whole system for reading/writing was completely fucked, then the names were expressed backwards, I mean sure, why not have the cars be opposite. Ed shouldn’t have been as surprised as he was. 

As they got in the car, Tsukauchi giving off what sounded suspiciously like a chuckle, Ed pondered the implications of the cars all having the steering wheels on the opposite sides from what he saw in Xing. Did the manufacturers just make mirrored parts for every car? Were only specific cars mass manufactured to be mirrored to lower production costs? Wait. How much of the world actually drove on the left side versus the right? Was Xing the one with mirrored cars? Did-

“So, how old are you, Elric?” His thoughts were cut short as Tsukauchi decided to strike up a conversation as they drove.

“I’m 18.” He ignored the bugged out look in Tsukauchi’s eye and decided to answer the questions that were no doubt bouncing around in the man’s mind. “I joined the military, of my own volition, when I was 12. I had a goal to achieve and the military was the only thing that could offer me the resources I needed. Our military doesn’t make a habit of recruiting children, I was an exception in how I practically forced the hand of the officials.” 

There was more to it, of course, but he didn’t feel the need to explain the whole thing about how if he didn’t join the military then there would have been a much higher chance that he would’ve been charged with the crime of committing the taboo. There was also the whole circumstance of him being a sacrifice and whatnot, but again, that’s a lot of beans to spill during a first encounter.

His explanation as it stood didn’t seem to make the guy feel better at all. If anything, it seemed to send the man deeper into thought, evidenced by the lack of conversation until they got closer to the destination. There was 10 minutes of blissful silence before it was broken by another question. 

“So, we were given a lot of basic information on you; your name, rank, position, etc. but not really anything more.” Here, he was given a side-eye as Tsukauchi regarded him with a friendly smile on his face. “What do you like to do for fun?”

After a pause that was likely too long, as he considered what he wanted to say, Ed said, “I like to read. I used to spar with my brother in my free time, but he moved away.” He shrugged as he adjusted in his seat, trying to find the most comfortable position on his automail ports. A full day of pressure changes made things difficult to begin with, add on that he was now in a more humid environment, and the pain and discomfort was now becoming more and more prevalent. 

His ports should calm down a little once he’s been here for a while and gets more adjusted, but the first few weeks were probably gonna really fucking suck. Something must have shown on his face as he got himself situated because Tsukauchi started speaking up again. 

“Are you uncomfortable? I’m not sure how different our cars are here compared to what you have in Amestris.”

“I’m fine,” Tsukauchi gave him a weird look, as if he could tell that Ed wasn’t telling the full truth. “And the cars aren’t all that different. The driver and passenger sides are swapped, but beyond that, your cars are really just more modernized than what we have.”

“Ah, then is nothing that much of a shock? What’s the most surprising thing you’ve seen so far?”

“It’s not that nothing's shocking…” Ed gripped his chin with his left hand. “I think if I hadn’t taken a year to explore Xing, and small bits of our other neighboring countries, then I would be more surprised by the transportation, advanced technologies, and how the people look.”

Tsukauchi raised his brow as his eyes widened. Unbeknownst to Ed, Tsukauchi was trying to figure out how this kid had taken a year long vacation and still managed to become a Brigadier General. What the fuck. The math was not mathing. He’s not entirely convinced the math will ever math. 

“How the people look? What do you mean by that?”

“No one in Amestris, to my knowledge, has a quirk; so, you won’t see anyone who has any chimeric qualities because of a quirk.” There were, of course, people who had chimeric qualities because of some variation of human transportation, like Heinkel or Old-Greed’s crew, but nothing quirk-based. It was way more prevalent in Japan from what he’s seen as they drove to UA; Ed briefly wondered if they considered he might not be used to it and that’s why they sent such a non-descriptive chauffeur, and then promptly discarded the thought as he remembered how surprised Tsukauchi sounded when he mentioned it. 

“Chimeric?” They were approaching a large, iron gate and Tsukauchi pulled an ID pass from his coat pocket. He held it outside of the window, raising it up and angling it towards the top right of the gate. The gate opened and they passed through. “Oh! You must mean ‘mutant’, that’s what we call that type here.”

Eventually, they navigated from the gate to a car park and got out to go see the principal of the school, as well as a few select teachers. Ed got a few odd looks, presumably because his bright blue dress uniform stood out among the students like a sore thumb. His long coat billowed out behind him as they made their way to the principal’s office; it was the only part of his uniform that he actively liked, he just wished it was a different color.

They made their way to what seemed to be a small conference room, with an oval table in the middle and four adults scattered around it. All eyes flew to him and Tsukauchi the moment the door opened, taking in his appearance and military uniform. A rat like creature sat opposite from the door, at the head of the table, to his left was a figure with a large hat and overcoat and another person with long, bright, yellow hair styled upwards above his head. Why did he do that? That seemed unnecessary. To the right of the rat thing sat a person that was absolutely swamped in bandages. Was that a personal choice? Maybe it was a stylistic choice because of how his quirk worked. Ed assumed he’d find out soon enough.

Ed folded his arms across his chest and cocked his right hip as he stared down the rat, he didn’t have a scowl on his face but it was a close thing. Mustang’s reminder that he was “a diplomat Ed, please do try to make a good impression. You’re not dealing with people who are used to you, so you need to keep your attitude at least somewhat in check, you brat” ran through his head. Ed resented the brat comment, but he could at least concede that starting things off with him being an asshole probably wouldn’t help any developing relations between their two countries.

“Ah! You must be Elric Edward, the Fullmetal Alchemist! I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.” The rat thing spoke up, Edward assumed he must be the principal, Nedzu. How this tiny thing was a principal, Ed didn’t know. It had a wide smile on its face and was stretching a tiny paw up to wave at him.

Ed could never let Mustang meet Nedzu; he just knew that that Bastard would make all sorts of jokes at his expense. He was getting angry just thinking about it. He had grown significantly taller after the Promised Day incident, but years of insecurity didn’t just go away over night.

“Likewise.” Ed responded, unfolding his arms to stand more at attention and give a two fingered lazy salute to everyone in the room. “You can call me Ed or Fullmetal. I assume you’re Principal Nedzu?”

“Yes, that’s me! Am I a rat? A quokka? A very small bear? The world may never know!” The principal clapped his hands at the end of the speech and gestured using his left paw to the people sitting towards his left. “These are UA teachers and pro-heroes Snipe and Present Mic.” He gestured with his right paw to his right, “And this is UA teacher and pro-hero Eraserhead.”

With both paws still spread out, he continued, “Eraserhead’s class is the one that was attacked and he was present for the entirety of the incident. He personally fought-” The mummified man- Eraserhead, Ed mentally corrected himself -scoffed at the principal’s choice of words, but didn't feel the need to interrupt and explain himself, “the Nomu and is currently the head of our investigation here at UA. Snipe and Present Mic are also helping out on the case. There are some other teachers involved, but they couldn’t all attend due to having classes to teach. I am sure you will meet them all in time.”

Tsukauchi interjected next to him as they took their seats, Ed next to Eraserhead and Tsukauchi at the head of the table in front of the door. “I’m a detective with the local police force and assigned to the case as a point of contact with UA. We’ll share resources, but UA takes the lead in the actual investigation. When the villains are caught, they get sent to the police for due processing.”

Ed pinched the bridge of his nose as he took all of the information in; it seemed like they made the entire process needlessly complicated. Why have two different branches of law enforcement? Also, why let the school handle this investigation at all?? ‘Oh, yeah, the bad guys attacked the school so we’re just gonna let them handle the investigation and they’ll turn the bad guys over when they catch them :)’

It was unbelievably stupid. They should just have one (1) branch of government that handles all things related to law enforcement and that’s it! This is probably the sole reason he has to fill out a thousand pages of paperwork (oh god, he’s starting to sound like Mustang. Things just keep getting worse.)

Ed released the air in his lungs in a heavy sigh as he tilted his head back, still pinching the bridge of his nose. “Do you have the Nomu creature in custody?”

“Yes.” Tsukauchi answered, “it’s being held at the local police station, though it’s been unresponsive since the attack on UA ended.”

“Ok, I’ll need to see it.” Ed released his nose and turned his attention back on the rat. “I also want the most current information you have so that I can get up to date with where everyone is at in the investigation.”

The rat smiled serenely at him, “Of course! We’ll get that all squared away in time, but for now, why don’t we get any questions we might have out of the way and then we can move on to paperwork!”

Present Mic’s left arm shot into the air, straight as an arrow, as he leaned his top half over the table towards Ed, “How old are you?”

Ed scowled. Was this going to be a common thing? Maybe he should wear a mask over his entire face and just say it’s an Amestris tradition or something. 

“18. Why do you style your hair like that?” 

The man spluttered before muttering a very pouty “It looks cool…” as Snipe barked out a laugh beside him.

“I think we were all just expecting someone a little older.” The bandaged man cut in. Ed directed the full power of his scowl towards him. “As long as you’re capable of helping with the case, and defending yourself if need be, then I won’t raise any concern with you being here.”

Ed’s scowl lessened. 

“I’m the Head of State Alchemy for a reason. If there’s a rogue alchemist running loose, or alchemy involved at all, I’ll find them and bring them back to Amestris to stand trial.”

“Great!” The principal clapped his hands, pulling the attention of the room back to him, "Speaking of alchemy, I think we’re all curious to know more about it, would you mind explaining what it is you can do?”

“Alchemy can be used for a variety of things.” Ed began, “Back home, it was mostly used for combat, but we’ve started branching out and studying more applications. First and foremost: Alchemy is a science. The base concept for all transmutations is the Law of Equivalent Exchange. You can’t just make something out of nothing. For example:”

Ed clapped his hand and placed them on the table. Blue lightning arced across his hands and forearms as he raised a small shield from the wooden table. The lightning seemed to etch portions away from the base of the shield for design as the wood was being simultaneously pulled from and pushed back into the table. 

The shield was as long as Ed’s forearm and was wide enough for him to splay both his hands across the back. The two sides branched out from the bottom point and formed three points at the top that had symmetrical dips in between them. The shield had the same dragon crest etched onto it that was stamped into his watch. 

He passed the shield around as he began to explain, “This shield wasn’t made from nothing. I used the wood in the table to make it. Transmutations like that require a constant balancing of equations as I add and subtract mass from the new shape I want to make, as well as from the mass I’m starting from. If you’re using a starting point of something that has a larger amount of mass then what you’re trying to make, like using a portion of a large wooden table to make a small shield, then things are easier because you can just constantly pull without needing to worry too much about how much you’re taking. Then, when what you’re trying to make is finished, like the shield, you can put the excess back into the original source.”

Ed reached back for the shield and broke it in two before clapping again to transmute the first half back into the table. “It’s not enough to just know how to manipulate the shape of the mass, you also have to know what material you’re working with. I could still do exactly what I just did if this were a stone table, but the materials would be different, and thus the equations would be different.” Half of the whole was filled and he pointed at the smooth finish across the top. “If done perfectly, you can form and replace material without leaving any marks. There would be no discernible evidence that a transmutation occurred." 

He transmuted the other half of the shield back into the table, being sure to break a few carbonyl groups from the cellulose structure and release some extra water molecules. A rougher surface was left, evidence of a slightly improperly balanced transmutation. “These marks indicate a transmutation that’s improperly balanced as it’s finished. Most of the time, you can get away with an imbalanced equation, as long as what you’re forgetting to balance is part of the equations that form the structure of your transmuted object and not the overall composition. The end result doesn’t necessarily need to be pretty when you’re in a hurry, after all.” 

He clapped his hands once again to smooth out the table; it would be rude to leave it alchemically marked. “If the Nomu were in any way made by the help of transmutation, there’s very likely going to be marks left over. Biological transmutations are notoriously difficult to finish unaltered.”

“I see…” There was a gleam in the principal’s eye that Ed wasn’t entirely sure he liked. “And you’re doing all of these equations in your head? It must be very hard to keep track of it all.”

“Yes, most alchemists utilize arrays that help to perform specific aspects of transmutations in order to minimize the amount of equations they’ll need to keep track of. Arrays can be designed to target a specific material or chemical reaction to keep things broad, but most alchemists choose to specialize in a specific field.”

Eraserhead spoke up again, “Do you utilize arrays?”

“No. I’m really good at multi-tasking.” Eraserhead hummed at the explanation while the two other pro heroes spluttered. The detective just looked tired.

“You said that most alchemists choose to specialize in a specific field,” Pro-hero Snipe breached, “what’s your specialty?”

“Officially?” Ed smirked, “I specialize in transmuting stone and metal compounds, so just various types of earth. However, there’s a reason I oversee all of our State Alchemists and their research.” A grin began to form on his face; he does love to brag and Al wasn’t here to humble him. “I specialize in any and all types of alchemy. If I don’t know it, then I learn it.”

Ed’s smile began to fade and transform into a pout as he remembered, “There’s only one field of alchemy that I haven’t been able to reverse engineer, but even I’m not crazy enough to really attempt it beyond the theoretical.” Yet, he added mentally.

“”What field is that?” Present Mic asked, with an anxious look in his eye.

“Flame Alchemy. The only person in Amestris who is capable of using it is my old commanding officer.” Given that his new commanding officer was the Fuhrer himself, technically Mustang was still his CO, but on paper it was Grumman. He wasn’t about to explain that though.

The table fell silent for a bit as everyone seemed to digest everything that was said. Ed picked at the sleeve of his uniform; he was tired from travelling all day (really the better part of a week if you count his travel to get to Xing first) and he still had to file paperwork. And his ports were really starting to smart for his attention the longer he didn’t have anything to distract himself with. Ugh. Stupid humid atmosphere.

He began to rub his shoulder, as it hurt more because of the force of gravity acting against him to pull down on his arm. “Well. I’m very tired from travelling, so if we’re done with questions I would like to get all the paperwork squared away and rest for the day. Tomorrow I can start getting myself updated on where the investigation is.”

“Of course!” The principal produced two stacks of paperwork that he had been keeping next to him under the table. He pushed the thicker one towards him, “This is information for the police force and the Japanese government. Mostly diplomatic forms and expectations, consent waivers, and other things.” He pushed the thinner one over, “This is for UA. In order to avoid any red tape and work in a legal gray area, we are going to hire you on as a temporary, international substitute.

“You won’t be expected to teach any classes, though you’re welcome to if you’d like. You can also sit in on any classes, we just ask that you try not to cause any distractions for the students. Your ‘salary’ is room and board here on UA campus, and a stipend to buy whatever you need during your stay. You won’t officially be paid, as we don’t want any allegations of bribing a foreign military official, but if you need something, just let us know and we’ll do what we can.”

Ed half-listened as he leafed through the paperwork, filling out the customary fields for his name, age, rank, and quirk. He wasn’t really worried about how they wanted to play this for their own government. He knew that Mustang trusted him and wouldn’t blindly believe whatever bullshit any tabloids tried to spread. He would try to stay out of tabloids though. He didn’t have the same reputation here as he did in Amestris- he didn’t have any reputation here.

The rest of the government paperwork was summaries of their laws that most foreign diplomats might not be aware of. There were the obvious like not killing people, or break any other normal laws, but the one that caught his eye was about hero work. He couldn’t use a quirk without a license, even in self-defense he could get in trouble if he caused significant damage to a person or the surrounding area. Would it still apply if he had to use alchemy to fight, since it wasn’t technically a quirk?

He repeated the question out loud and the principal hummed an affirmative, explaining that while he was here, his alchemy would be treated the same way a quirk would be. They couldn’t just not hold him up to the scrutiny of the law because of the technicality that his massive destructive power was a scientific application and not a quirk. Maybe, if he wasn’t a foreign diplomat the outcome would be different. Some food for thought.

“So, how do I go about getting to legally use my alchemy?”

“Here on campus, you’re allowed to use it freely within reason. Don’t go breaking anything you can’t fix,” Ed snorted, “or making any unapproved changes, and there won’t be any issues.” Ed nodded in understanding, they weren’t really asking for much.

“Using it outside of UA is another matter. You’ll be granted some leeway, since being a teacher here grants basic approval for things like use in self defense, but if you do something like seek out a fight, then you could have all privileges revoked.”

The bandaged man leaned against the table, sighing before he spoke up, “However, if you are with another licensed hero and they grant you permission to use your quirk as you see fit, then they become responsible and will be held liable for all damages- bodily or otherwise.”

Interesting. So basically don’t get in any fights, and if he does, make sure he’s with another pro that will be willing to shoulder any blame. Looks like he’ll need to make some friends.

He continued to read through and fill out the paperwork, handing the appropriate stacks to the principal and the detective next to him. He was handed a pass by the rat, stating “This will grant you access to most areas. If the door doesn’t open for you, then you’re not allowed in.” and a plastic card for purchasing whatever he might need, if they don’t already have it on campus.

The detective left without much fanfare and he was led to where he would be staying by the mummified pro, Eraserhead. “Your bags were already moved from the car you came in and brought to your room, so you won’t need to worry about those.”

As they made it to the second floor, in front of a door with a label reading ‘Fullmetal’, Eraserhead pointed his right index finger downwards and said “I’m in the block of the apartments on the ground floor, and so is Present Mic. Every teacher apartment is labeled with their hero name. Snipe, who was in the meeting earlier, and Ectoplasm, who you haven’t met yet, are on the floor above you.” He pointed upwards before continuing, “There are others who live in this complex besides them, and I’m sure you’ll get to meet them in time.”

Ed nodded as he began making his way inside to his new living quarters. They were definitely much nicer than any of the government dorms he stayed in. It was pre-furnished with two rooms, a bed in one and a home office set up in the other, a living/dining room, kitchen, and bathroom; all had the expected amenities.

He nodded in approval. He had made much less work for much longer before, this shouldn’t be bad at all.

“Any questions?” He couldn’t see the man’s face, but Ed would bet anything (even eat his shoe, again) that it was meant to be more of a rhetorical question and he wanted nothing more than to leave. So Ed waved him off with an affirmation that, no, he was fine, and began to unpack his belongings.

First things first, he needs to get out of this awful fucking uniform.

Chapter Text

Aizawa wasn’t sure how to feel about the foreign diplomat. The kid is barely older than his current homeroom. And he’s a Brigadier General. What the fuck is going on in that country.

He had called Tsukauchi after showing Fullmetal to his apartment and asked if he knew anything else about the kid that wasn’t mentioned in the meeting. Apparently, Fullmetal had “forced the hand of the military officials”, his words, to let him join when he was 12 years old, because he had something he needed to do. Again. What the fuck.

He tried to force the thought of Ed being a literal child soldier from his brain as he faced his class full of twenty heroes in training. He would laugh at the irony if he wasn’t so tired.

He started the day fielding questions from his students about why All Might subbed for him during Hero training the day before, because of course his students would be unbearable when they know he’s only ever missed classes when he’s been grievously injured and physically incapable of attending class. A stern glare from him had the class dropping the topic, but he knew they would be back at it sooner rather than later.

After his homeroom, Aizawa spent his time up until lunch revising his lesson plans and grading papers that he had assigned to class 3A. He had assumed that their foreign diplomat would be cooped up all day going over all the information they’ve compiled in the investigation, and that they probably wouldn’t see him until tomorrow. So he’s surprised when he sees the young man poke his head into the teacher’s lounge and scan the occupants until his eyes make contact with Aizawa’s own.

Ed pushed the door open further and began making his way to Aizawa with a haphazard stack of paper in his hands. “Ah! I was looking for you. I tried the principal’s office first, but he shoved a map of the school in my hands and informed me that I would likely find you here.”

Aizawa noted that the man seemed to be more rested, the slight bags that had been forming under his eyes seemed to have gone away, and he appeared less tense than he had been in the meeting yesterday. His overall demeanor was more cheerful if the slight smile on his face as he spoke was anything to go by. 

He was also no longer in uniform, choosing instead to wear what looked like black combat boots, black leather pants, and a black form fitting top with a bright red jacket resting unzipped on top. There was a thin chain connected to a belt loop on his left side that led into the front left pocket of his pants.

Aizawa glanced back down to the papers in his hand, noting that his gloves from yesterday were still present. There was a barely noticeable design stitched into them; the same dragon crest that he engraved onto the shield yesterday and that was displayed as a patch on his military uniform. A requirement by his government or personal preference? “Is there something you need clarification on?” They had translated their documents to the best of their ability for him, but it was entirely possible that something had gotten mixed up.

“Yes. The notes from the case files state that you… took heavy damage from the Nomu and you weren’t awake for most of the fighting between it and some of the students before this All Might guy arrived.” Ed eyed him up and down in all his bandaged glory, “I want clarification on a few statements made by some of the students about how the Nomu moved and responded to orders. Seeing as they’re your students, I figured I should talk to you first before trying to go track anyone down.”

Clarification on the Nomu’s reactions and movements? What was it about the statements that indicated alchemical interference? “You think talking to my students can help determine if the Nomu was created by alchemy?”

“Yes.” Ed nodded his head decisively. His light demeanour began to shift into something more serious; his eyes becoming hard and his mouth setting into a thin line, foregoing the small smile it had been set in previously. “It would be a lot to try and explain right now, but the absence of reactions from the creature is actually more indicative of alchemy then not.”

Aizawa had to trust that Ed knew what he was talking about. He didn’t necessarily want to, but had to. They specifically requested an expert, and Ed is who was sent directly from the Fuhrer of their country. 

“Alright.” He didn’t want to agree. He didn’t want some random diplomat talking to his class, his kids, and he thinks that Ed knows that. He could already feel a migraine coming on; could already hear the questions he’s going to be bombarded with by his students. “Who do you want to talk to?”

~

After lunch, he has meaningless humanity courses that he could ace in his sleep. The only class he’s really looking forward to is their hero training. It’s a two hour long block that they only have three times a week, so Bakugou really fucking hates that instead of being able to go directly there and bash his classmate’s heads in, he has to wait outside the changing rooms with fucking Frog Face of all people.

Their sensei had been waiting in the hallway with some random extra, and there was no way he was a student because UA was strict as shit about uniforms, and his attire was too fucking bland and atrocious to be a hero costume. The extra stood with his hands shoved in his pockets and his hips cocked, head tilted up to the ceiling, acting like Bakugou was the one holding him up. 

Aizawa-sensei had pulled him aside on his way to hero-training and kept a hand on his shoulder as they waited for Frog Face. Apparently, Goldilocks here needed to speak to both of them about the Nomu. He endured the teasing of his passing classmates with his normal decorum, as they taunted him about being in trouble, with his lips curled into a sneer and his eyes filled with white hot rage. He’d get them back ten-fold when he was allowed to go back to class.

Frog Face stopped and stood next to him as soon as their sensei called out for her to wait, no hand on her shoulder needed to keep her from flying off the handle and storming off to hero-training. They still waited for a good five minutes after the rest of their classmates left for their course, until Goldilocks tilted his head back down, finally gracing them with his attention.

“Is there a room nearby that we can use? I can ask the questions in the hallway but I’d prefer to get the clarifications separately so they don’t accidentally influence each other’s memories.” He sounded young, and if he was asking questions about the USJ incident then he was almost definitely not a student. Bakugou narrowed his eyes as he glared at the new extra. 

“There’s a room down the hall on the left that we can use. Take your pick for who you’d like to speak with first.” The extra looked him up and down with a blank face before smirking, letting out a quick ‘heh’, and pointing at Frog Face. 

Aizawa turned to Frog Face, “Asui. Go with Fullmetal and answer his questions, you’re free to make your way back to your classmates when he releases you.” His sensei then turned his attention to him, “Bakugou, you’ll wait here with me until Fullmetal is ready to speak with you.”

Bakugou could explode on the spot right now.

His sensei immediately pulled out his yellow sleeping bag and set himself up against the wall as Bakugou began skulking in his hero costume. “So who’s this Fullmetal extra?” He grunted as he leant back against the wall with his arms hanging against his sides; he would cross them against his chest, but his wrist grenades made it difficult.

“He’s a substitute teacher here at UA.” Bakugou tried to channel all of his rage into his glare as he stared down at his teacher; that piece of shit extra was a sub?! “He was recently brought on to help with a facet of the investigation into the League of Villains.”

“Ok, so what the fuck does he need to talk with me for?”

“It seems like you’ll just need to wait and find out.”

He’ll say it again: he could explode on the spot right now.

~

“Hello Asui, I’m Fullmetal. I’m here to ask you some questions regarding the Nomu attack at the USJ.” Ed extended his left hand to the green girl as they sat at opposite ends of a desk.

“Nice to meet you, kero. Please call me Tsuyu.”

Tsuyu’s demeanor was calm and steady; she didn’t seem to be particularly worried about having to speak privately with a stranger. She likely placed a lot of trust in her teacher. “I know you’ve already given your statement of the attack to the police, but I’d like to ask you a few more questions about the Nomu itself. Are you ready to start?” Tsuyu nodded her confirmation and Ed leafed through his stack of papers until he reached one that he had pre-written questions on and readied his pen to write down her answers.

“Alright, can you describe to me how the Nomu looked?”

Tsuyu put her hand to her chin in thought. “It was very big, kero, about as big as All Might. Its torso and arms were bigger than its legs and its brain was exposed, kero.”

“When you say ‘exposed’, do you mean that the brain was open to the atmosphere or was there a see through covering?”

“It was open to the atmosphere, kero.”

“Great, thank you. Was there anything else that looked wrong about it or any feelings you got from it that you can’t quite explain?” It wasn’t sure-fire proof of alchemy, but most people were able to tell when something was specifically a chimera. Even the ones like Heinkel that shifted had a vague aura to them that was just not quite human. 

But, it’s different here. People normally look different and aren’t just generic human. That’s part of the reason he wanted to talk with someone who had a ‘mutant quirk’. Not only was Tsuyu an observer during the fight, so she likely got a good look at the creature, but she also had personal insight of behaviours typical to a mutant quirk.

“It was… empty, kero. I made direct eye contact with it from my hiding spot multiple times, kero, and it was like I didn’t register to it at all.”

“Alright.” Ed made a note. “You also stated to Detective Tsukauchi that it only engaged when it was ordered to by a villain- Shigaraki. Can you elaborate on what you meant by that?”

“My group was late to Aizawa-sensei’s fight, kero. We arrived when he was finishing up. The Nomu had been stationary next to a few other villains, kero, but when Shigaraki ordered the Nomu to attack, it immediately moved, kero.”

“It wasn’t moving at all before being ordered? No fidgeting or looking around?” Ed’s face was becoming more grim as he wrote down his notes.

“No. I didn’t notice it move a muscle until Shigaraki spoke, kero.”

“And there was no hesitation? What about when it was attacking Aizawa and was told to stop?”

Tsuyu flinched as she forced herself to recall watching her teacher be beaten to a pulp in front of her. As she remembered his limp body while the Nomu gripped his head. “...No, kero. It was like someone pressed a pause button on its movements.”

Ed made another note. “Alright, thank you, this has all been very helpful. I have no more questions.”

Tsuyu made to stand as Ed waved her away from his still seated position. As she reached for the door handle, Ed spoke up again with a grim smile on his face. “Ah, Tsusyu? Please don’t mention any of the questions we talked about to any of your other classmates.” He absently straightened out the piles of paper in front of himself. “If they won’t drop it, you can tell them to come ask me personally. Aizawa can direct them to where I’m at or set up a meeting.”

Tsuyu nodded her acceptance and left the room, no doubt preparing to be hounded with questions by the more curious of her classmates.

Ed sat in the silence of the room as he made a few more notes, physical and mental, before he went to grab the other student. Bakugou seemed far more impatient, so he could wait a bit longer.

He found the frog-girl’s comments concerning; it’s definitely like a poorly-made chimera to have no thoughts or movement, but it is odd that it would follow orders so well. It almost sounded like an inbetween state of an incomplete chimera and a fully-fledged one like Darius or Heinkel. Could this evolution be because of interference of a quirk? What was the effect of using alchemy to transmute a body that had unique characteristics, such as a quirk? 

Also, why leave the brain exposed? Was it the result of poor balancing of the structure? Not enough time to finish the transmutation? Stylistic choice? It would certainly be more intimidating to fight a creature that just had its brain open to the world. Did it not need it to process orders? Any level of brain exposure to air would damage the proteins, so why leave it exposed?

Did it eat? Did it sleep? How long before the attack was it made? Where did they store it?

These were all horrible, but necessary questions. Ed spent five minutes writing them down, and another five minutes writing base theoretical answers that he might be able to confirm when he sees the thing for himself.

He would’ve written down more, but he was interrupted by the door slamming open and a very angry 15 year old storming into the room. “Oi! Frog Face left 10 fucking minutes ago! I have shit I need to do so can we get started or what?!”

Is this how Mustang felt when Ed was under his command? Is this what Karma is? Now he has to work with a younger version of himself? He wants to think that he wasn’t ever nearly as rude as this fucking brat, but he would probably just be lieing to himself.

Ed scowled as he waved his hand towards the seat that Tsuyu had previously occupied. He may be in Mustang’s position, but that doesn’t mean he had the man’s patience or composure. “I was getting my notes in order you brat. But yes, we can get started.”

Bakugou bristled at being called a brat but threw himself into the chair regardless. “Fucking finally…” He mumbled as he glared at the man now sat in front of him. Bakugou watched as he shuffled and straightened out his papers. He couldn’t prove it, but it felt like Goldilocks was stalling just to piss him off.

Ed was definitely stalling just to piss him off. It was fun to watch the kid bristle, sue him.

“Alright.” Ed began, “Let’s get started. I’m Fullmetal. I was brought in to help investigate the Nomu and I have some questions regarding your original statement to Detective Tsukauchi.”

Ed was choosing to interpret Bakugou’s grunt as ‘yeah, sure, whatever, let’s get this show on the road.’

“Great. Can you describe the Nomu for me?”

“It was fucking big, as big as All Might. It was top heavy and muscular. Had claws and shit too.”

“Uh huh…” Ed gave a blank look to Bakugou, “Anything else about it that was weird?”

“Its brain was exposed? Fucking stupid if you ask me. You’re just showing off its weak point and begging for someone to exploit it.”

“Did you?”

Bakugou sneered, “Did I what?”

“Did you exploit that weak point?” Ed rifled through his notes, mostly for show, as he recalled in the original statement that this kid tried to fight the villains. “You were part of the fight, right? Did you try attacking its brain?”

“No, I was too fucking busy making sure that their shitty fucking warp gate couldn’t help them escape!”

Ed hummed in response, “I see… Well, in any case, you watched it fight. What was that like?”

“It tanked hits like they were fucking nothing. The Half-n-Half bastard-” Half-n-Half? Ed doesn’t have a good enough grasp on Aizawa’s students to know who that is. Context clues would have to do. “-froze it and kept it from moving, but it just ripped its own limbs off and fucking grew ‘em back. Didn’t even act like it hurt.”

“Did it move to attack on its own?”

“No. It waited until that fucking Handsy bastard sent it after someone.”

“Did it move at all until it was told?”

“No, it was fucking weird. Stood like a statue until it was given a target.” Bakugou’s palms crackled as he remembered the speed the creature had as it barreled towards him, intent on killing him.

“I see… Well, that adds evidence to some theories I’ve had. Thanks for the clarification, you’re free to go. Don’t tell any of your classmates about anything I asked you.” Ed glanced up at him lazily as he finished writing down some more notes.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ed looked back up to Bakugou. “You made me miss 30 minutes of hero training just to ask me like 3 fucking questions??”

Ed gripped his chin in mock-thought and smirked, “Yeah.” 

“I fucking hate you.”

Aizawa could hear Ed’s full laughter as he watched Bakugou storm down the hallway and to Gym Beta for hero training. He should have told Fullmetal to talk to Todoroki or Midoriya instead; it would have caused less of a headache.

Ed made his way towards Aizawa as the man tried to un-cocoon himself. He still had a grin stretching across his face as he asked "So, who's Half-n-Half?"

Aizawa sighed.