Crusade!

HOLY FUCK I WROTE STUFF! That can mean only one thing:

FIC DUMP!

Title: The Brothers Elric and the Ishvar Crusade (Part 1/?)
Author: kaitou_marina
Beta: minako134 and chiba_yuriko
Rating: G
Genre: Fullmetal Alchemist fusion with Indiana Jones, AU, gen (for the most part), adventure
Pairing: None (though subtext may be used at will, but only light-heartedly XD)
Spoilers: None (it's an AU)
Notes: Dedicated to hime1999 as a part of her birthday present XD Fullmetal Alchemist stuck in a blender with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and set to frappe. Follows (very loosely) the chapters stops of the Last Crusade DVD. Liberal fucking with both anime and manga concepts and Indiana Jones to get everything to fit nicely. Familiarity with Indiana Jones is not needed to enjoy the fic, however, it does add a certain level of amusement. Um, not sure what else to say. XD THE FIRST CHAPTER IS FINALLY DONE! WHOOOOOOOO!

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Through another Gate, in another time...


It was easy to tell who the freshmen were on the first day of Professor Elric's class, because they stared or had their mouths hanging open. They were always shocked to discover that the archaeology genius (who had already earned his doctorate before the age of 22) and rumored adventurer and charmer was actually a very short, hot-tempered, bookworm-ish man in a tweed suit. One could almost hear the images they had of him in their minds shattering audibly.

Still, Edward Elric's classes were always crowded (especially with girls), because despite his stature, the students found him to be a very charismatic individual, and he taught his classes with intensity and clarity. It was amazing to watch his mind work.

Besides that, the students whispered amongst each other while exchanging winks and elbow nudges, if the man went off on one of his rumored adventures, the class would become independent study and an easy "A" at the drop of a hat.

Today it was Archaeology 101, and the professor was in top form with his lecture to the inexperienced students.

"Okay, listen all of you. Archaeology isn't about digging up dinosaurs. Geez, if you're looking for paleontology, it's down the hall. It's not always about digging holes either. I do most of my research in the library, as a matter of fact. Even if you were digging, there's no lost treasure or X marking the spot, got it? Archaeology is," he paused as he started scrawling the definition on the board in jagged strokes, "the study of human behavior..."

A hand shot up. Ed caught it out of the corner of his eye and turned, sweeping his long ponytail behind his shoulder as he adjusted the thin glasses perched on his nose, staring up into the staggered seats of the classroom.

"What is it... Clause was it?"

"Yes," said the girl, impressed the professor remembered her name so easily, much less pronounced it correctly, "We can't see what you're writing down there, could you write a little higher on the board?"

A murmur ran through the class. The girl was a freshman, obviously. The class watched as the professor's shoulders tensed in anger, and he whirled back around, grabbed an eraser and furiously rubbed out the previous writing. He started a bit higher and nearly made the the chalk shriek as he rewrote the world "archaeology."

"Better?"

"Um, not really."

Another murmur went through the class. The chalk was dragged down the board, and this time it did shriek, forcing all the students to cover their ears in a hurry.

"I see."

There was a tense moment before the professor grudgingly raised himself slightly onto his toes and reached up as high as he could and began to slowly, painstakingly write out the words again.

"Maybe you should use the chalk chuck for some extra reach," offered another (not so) helpful freshman.

The chalk snapped against the board. The class held their breath.

"Ah, Brother?" came a quiet voice from near the door. The students' eyes shifted over to find Alphonse Elric, the professor's younger brother, standing in the entryway. He walked over quickly and gave Ed a pacifying pat on the shoulder, handing him the chalk holder with an awkward grin. "See, it's not so bad."

Ed took a deep breath before roaring at his younger brother, "WHO'S SO SHORT HE HAS TO STAND ON A STOOL AND USE A STICK TO WRITE ON THE BOARD PROPERLY!?"

Fortunately for the students, the bell rang at that very moment. They wasted no time in vacating their seats and making their way out the door, nearly shoving each other so as not to be the last one left to face the professor's wrath. Ed screamed after them, waving the chalk chuck, "Hey, all of you! We're doing the frozen mummies of Drachma next week. You better do the reading or I'll... I'll... just do it!" The only answer was a slamming door.

Al sighed and put his hand back on Ed's shoulder. "You know you really should stop yelling at your students like that-"

"Like you'd understand, Mr. Museum Curator!" Ed snapped back.

"But Brother..." Al blinked when the shoulder disappeared from beneath his hand as Ed jerked away and began shuffling through the drawer of the desk at the front of the room. "Are you list-"

Ed waved off Al's inquiry, "Yeah, I heard you, but this is more important." His face split into a wide grin as he removed something wrapped in a wad of cloth with a dramatic flourish. "Al, this is it!"

Al's eyes widened, "It's..."

The cloth fell away to reveal a cross about the size of his palm, made of fine gold and filigree work. It caught the sunlight from the classroom window and a spatter of reflected gold shined off of Ed's forehead. "This is it, Al," he said again excitedly.

Al gently took the cross from Ed's hand, turning it over and over, inspecting it. After a moment, he looked up again, eyes wide. "There's no doubt about it, it's the Cross of Cornello!"

Ed's grin became all teeth. "That's right, the Cross of Cornello. Made from the gold of Old Xenotime, vanished into the lost city of Lior-"

"You went after it without me... again," said Al quietly.

"Huh?"

Al sighed and took the cloth from his brother's hand, wrapping the cross back up. "You keep running off to recover artifacts without me recently. It worries me when I come home and you're just suddenly not there. It worries Mr. Mustang as well."

"Huh? The Director doesn't have to worry about me. Besides, he's the one that sent the information about where it was."

"But we do worry! Brother, why do you keep taking the mail and information for yourself? Leaving without telling me? I thought we decided to become archaeologists together..." Al said, pouting thoroughly.

Ed scratched his head sheepishly. "Of course we did. But... yeah... well... You see, this time it was really dangerous, and-"

"How is that different from any other time?"

"Come on Al, just..."

"No, I'm not made of glass! You're not going to protect me by leaving me out. Besides, you always slack off when I'm not there, eating and sleeping too much."

"Hey! I do not. I worked really hard getting this thing!" Ed reached out to snatch the cross back, but Al held it just out of his reach, frowning disapprovingly.

"The bills that keep coming in speak for themselves, Brother. You're not leaving me out anymore."

Ed glared and reached for the cross again. "I just thought that after what happened last time that-"

Al blushed furiously. "That's cruel Brother, bringing that up! I'm... I'm not afraid of anything like that happening again!"

"Gimme the cross, Al."

"No, not until you say I can come with you again."

"All right, that's it!" And with that, Ed tackled his brother with all he had.

The door burst open a moment later and Ed's mousy secretary darted in, a cry of "Professor Elric!" dying on her lips as she witnessed the brothers locked in a match to the death over what appeared to be a wad of cloth. "Um..."

They both froze at the sound her voice, and Ed shrugged out of the headlock his brother had him in. Al straightened, flushing with embarrassment.

"Ah... ahahaha... Sheska! What is it?" said Ed, tugging his ponytail back into place.

The bespectacled woman grinned awkwardly. "Professor Elric, it's your office... because you've been gone..."

"Oh! I'm sure there are students that want to make appointments and stuff, right? I'll head over there right now." He gave his jacket a quick tug, setting it straight on his shoulders, and, catching Sheska by the shoulder, he guided them both out the door as he laughed awkwardly.

"Brother!" Al shouted after him, pocketing the cross.

"I'll see you at home later, Al!" Ed shut the door to the classroom and walked off to his office quickly. He didn't feel like getting his ass kicked by his younger brother at the moment.

Left behind again, Al sighed. He'd get him later, probably in the kitchen. Ed couldn't resist dinner after all.

The walk to Ed's office was punctuated with Sheska babbling and filling his hands with seemingly endless reams of paper.

"Here are your messages and assignments waiting to be graded and your mail." She loaded a bundle of envelopes into his arms, and a small package slid from between them and slithered to the floor. Ed accidentally kicked it with his foot before he quickly bent to pick it up, dumping everything she'd handed to him to the ground in the process.

"I'm sorry Professor Elric, let me help." said Sheska, kneeling down.

Ed picked up the crude brown package and looked it over. "Aquroya? I don't know anyone in Aquroya. Who did this come from?"

"I don't know," said Sheska, "it didn't come with a package slip, it was just in the mailbox... ah!" She snatched a small folded note from Ed's hand suddenly.

"Huh? What's that?" he asked.

"Nothing! Nothing! Just... uh... Professor Elric... could you, um, could you..." She twisted the note shyly between her hands before pressing the crumpled bit of paper back into Ed's palm. "Could you give this to your brother for me?"

Ed raised an eyebrow at her. "Sure, what is it?"

"Ah, it's nothing," she said insistently, grabbing it back from him again and shoving it into his coat pocket. "There! A ha ha..."

A thunder of footsteps echoed off the hallways as a crowd of students came around the corner. One of them caught sight of Ed and pointed, relief washing over his features. "There he is. Professor Elric!"

"Oh yes, these are the students who wanted to see you..." said Sheska falteringly, holding a hand out at the group.

Ed took one look at the crowd and his first instinct was to just run. There were easily 40 or 50 students there, each with varying degrees of frustration on their features. But, in light of the fact that he'd faced crowds of angry natives that were more intimidating, running now would just be downright cowardly. Right, he could handle this.

He stood up slowly, so as not to provoke them further, and cursed the disadvantage of having his arms full of papers. He cleared his throat. "Hello, everyone! I see you've been waiting patiently for me to get back to all of you... So! If you could all just organize yourselves by who was first..."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because the crowd was suddenly converging on him, shouting as a unit, "I was first! Me! See me first!" Both he and Sheska were swallowed up in the crush.

"Professor Elric, sign my transcript!"

"Doctor Elric, I need my grades!"

"Doctor!"

"Professor!"

"I need this!"

Forget it! Ed thought to himself, the natives were less intimidating than this! He dumped most of the papers he was carrying to make his escape easier. "Sheska, put everyone's name on a list in the order they came, and I'll see everyone in turn, okay?" he shouted at her, then ducked into the crowd and disappeared.

"Ah, Professor Elric wait!" he heard her crying after him, but he'd already slipped out of the back of the crowd and taken off down the hallway.

His office was just around the corner. Nearly vaulting over Sheska's desk, he dodged into his private space, slamming the door behind him. He leaned back against it and took a moment to catch his breath, brushing his bangs out of his face.

"It's a good thing I'm so short, they didn't even notice me ducking..." he muttered to himself before he realized what he was saying and smacked his head into the glass pane of the door in frustration. "Augh, no it's not!"

The only thing he'd actually managed to escape with was the small, dumpy brown package with simply "Aquroya" written where the return address would be. He shrugged and shoved it into his inner coat pocket.

The doorknob rattled ominously against his back. Turning his head slowly, his eyes widened in horror at the press of shapes just beyond the frosted glass of the office door. The crowd he'd thought he'd left in the hallway was now just outside, eagerly calling for him to open the door.

There was only one thing to do in this situation, really. All his experience adventuring had taught him well. Bolting across the room, he threw up the sash of the window to make his escape and leaped straight into the hydrangea bushes just outside. He landed with a rather undignified crash, and straightened as quickly as possible, glancing around to make sure no one had seen him.

The coast was clear. Untangling his ponytail from a particularly stubborn branch, he finally thrashed his way out of the bushes and strode off toward the parking lot, waving over his shoulder at the school building.

"There's always tomorrow, I'm outta here," he said with a self-satisfied grin.

As he reached the parking lot, a rather posh-looking set of wheels pulled up in the space in front of him. A woman with short, slicked-back blonde hair wearing a no-nonsense suit climbed out of the driver's side, her eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses.

"Doctor Elric?"

Ed looked her over before responding. "That's me." He quirked an eyebrow.

"The name's Martel," she said, taking her shades off with a flick. Something about her manner and eyes reminded Ed distinctly of a reptile such as a lizard or, perhaps more appropriately, a snake.

"Never heard of you," he said.

She laughed, "I'm not surprised, but I'm more than certain you've heard of my employer. I'm sure someone who moves in the archaeological circles that you do has heard the name 'Greed.'"

Ed most certainly had. There were few in his circle who didn't know it. No one knew the man's true name, only his nickname of "Greed," but it was an apt pseudonym nonetheless. He was notorious for snatching up some of the world's most prized artifacts for his own private collection. It was to the point where he was practically the sole rival of East City's museum. Hearing tales of the man nearly made his blood boil (those artifacts belonged in a museum!), but he'd never actually met him personally.

"What would a tomb raider like that want with an upstanding archaeologist like myself?" he said, giving her a skeptical look.

"Everything. Especially since he's familiar with your field of interest."

Ed's eyes widened. "I'm listening."

"Mr. Greed would like to invite you to his mansion this very minute, which is why I've been sent with transportation." She grinned and slid her sunglasses back on. "Since I have your attention, I trust you'll be coming along without a fuss?"

"Not without me, he won't."

Ed blinked at the sudden interruption, and turned to find Al standing just behind him.

"A... Al! How long have you been...!"

"Long enough, Brother."

Martel looked pleased.

"Well, well," she said, "here you both are. That certainly makes things easier. Of course you'd be asked to come along as well, Alphonse Elric. Mr. Greed wants both of your expertise."

Ed whirled back to face Martel. "Hey, I'll go, but leave my younger brother out of this."

Al grabbed his arm anxiously, "I told you you couldn't leave me out anymore..."

Ed's mind conjured up the image of what had happened to Al last time. He gulped. But Al's expression would book no argument. Ed remembered their professor saying once that she was weak against their determination and looking at Al's face now, he realized what she'd meant. He sighed and fluffed his ponytail sheepishly.

"Fine, no helping it. Al, let's go."

"Mm, good choice," Martel said slickly, opening the back door of the vehicle and offering them a seat. "Mr. Greed doesn't like to wait, so we'd best get going."

Al patted Ed on the back and smiled at him in thanks. Ed smiled back, but inside he was only hoping that he wouldn't regret this...

To Be Continued!

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You can read my initial notes on the draft of part one here.

Is there anywhere else I could be posting Indy!Ed? Like fma_gen or something?

EDIT: Apparently Hime and I are having a little inspiration trade XD:



They both froze at the sound her voice, and Ed shrugged out of the headlock his brother had him in. Al straightened, flushing with embarrassment.

"Ah... ahahaha... Sheska! What is it?" said Ed, tugging his ponytail back into place.

Oh thank you! <3<3

Title: Traum (Dream)
Author: kaitou_marina
Beta: None (was just sort of chucked out)
Rating: G
Genre: Drabble-ish, light romance, light m/m, sentimental
Pairing: Alfons/Ed
Spoilers: Well, it's in movie!verse, so that's kind of spoilery. Otherwise, no spoilers.
Notes: Inspired by this pic here by hime1999.

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The last thing Alfons ever expected to come out of Edward's mouth was a lullabye. And yet, when he came into the room, there Edward was, bent over his notes at the desk, humming almost in earnest. The melody died abruptly as he whirled to face Alfons, sticking his pen in his mouth sheepishly.

"Ah, you're back. I thought you'd be later," he slurred around it.

"Well, I got to hear something interesting by surprise," Alfons said with a chuckle.

Edward colored. "I just heard it through a window the other night when I was coming home. It-" and his face softened a little as he paused, as though considering if he was in the right mood for this conversation or not. "It was a little nostalgic. Something from my childhood, I think. Like a dream."

A dream...

"Everyone around here knows that song," said Alfons, turning away to take off his jacket. "It's pretty old and famous. So you've probably heard it around."

"Perhaps."

A slow smile stole over Alfons' face as his lips parted and he sang:

Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.
Der Vater hüt't die Schaf.
Die Mutter schüttelt's Bäumelein,
Da fällt herab ein Träumelein.
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf!

It was Edward's turn to blink in surprise at him. "Alfons?"

His smile widened as he stepped up behind Edward. It took all of his courage to slip his arms around him as he sang again. Edward stiffened for a moment, and then Alfons was rewarded by the relaxing of his shoulders and even a line or two of the song as their voices blended quietly for a few moments:

Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf.
Am Himmel ziehn die Schaf.
Die Sternlein sind die Lämmerlein,
Der Mond, der ist das Schäferlein.
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf!

Edward's arms met his with a whisper of cloth. The embrace was accepted. The silence in the room as the notes died away throbbed.

"Now that I think about it," Edward burst out with suddenly, as though he had to fill the void after the song with something, anything, words, "I think my mother used to sing that song to me."

"Mine too," replied Alfons.

Edward sank deeper into Alfons' arms and whispered "That can't be..."

I am not a dream, Edward.

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Ahaha, a snippet? XDDD;;; I didn't know how to end it. Translations of the German from here:

Sleep, baby, sleep.
Your father tends the sheep.
Your mother shakes the branches small,
Lovely dreams in showers fall.
Sleep, baby, sleep.

Sleep, baby, sleep.
Across the heavens move the sheep.
The little stars are lambs, I guess,
And the moon is the shepherdess.
Sleep, baby, sleep.

For some reason, Alfons makes me think of the moon.