FIC: Nomads of the Green Country

[sonjajade]

Prompt: Write a weird crossover fic, be as seamless as possible (Pleased to say I tied for 3rd!)
Title: Nomads of the Green Country
Author: Sonja Jade
Series: Brotherhood/Manga, Mushishi
Word Count: 6,398
Rating: K/G
Character(s): Al/Mei and others, Ginko and others
Summary: While travelling across the behemoth nation of Xing, the Dragon’s Pulse somehow ‘flickers’ and the alkahestric research party finds itself wandering a lush, green land where a strange looking man is their guide, and neither side is sure what to believe…

Warnings: This is post canon FMA, during the bamboo forest episode of Mushishi, “Inside the Cage”.
Author's Notes: I love Ginko to pieces.  I’ve wanted to do a crossover fic for a while now, so glad I finally have a reason to!  Many of the VA’s for FMA also worked on Mushishi, specifically Travis Willingham (Roy, Ginko) Vic Mignogna (Ed, Kisuke), Colleen Klinkenbeard (Riza, Setsu) and Monica Rial (Mei Chang, Kisuke and Setsu’s daughter).  It will be mentioned, just didn’t want to confuse anyone who hadn’t seen the show.

Thanks to alchemyotaku75  for beta-ing and being generally awesome ;)

 

Xing, in comparison to Amestris, was an entire world unto itself.  It had to be three, no four times bigger than the land that Alphonse Elric hailed from.  Hell, in many of the places they travelled to, there wasn’t running water, electricity, or even decent housing.  He remembered reading once that just a hundred years ago, houses were hardly more than logs that had been split and sealed with a mixture of mud and dung.  The huts and shacks in the most primitive parts of Xing were little more than lean-to type structures, many of them roofed in tree branches and thick mats of grass.  There’d been more than one night that he and Mei, Jerso, and Zampano had spent out of doors, even in the rain, and it wasn’t any surprise when they found they would have to make camp out in the wilderness again.  This time, however, they had nice canvas tents, which sometimes were better than the shanties they had seen along the way.

 

As nightfall approached, the weary once-soldiers bedded down for the night, and Al and Mei had taken to sitting with each other quietly until the fire died down enough to be considered safe to leave unattended.  The night was clear, and Mei giggled in her fiancé’s lap.  “They say the further from civilization you get, the closer you get to the barrier between this world and the next.”

 

Al cradled the girl closer and kissed the top of her head.  “I think that was just a story to keep good little girls from running away from home.”

 

“I dunno, Al…” she said quietly.  “Isn’t there something about this forest that feels kinda… off?  Check the dragon’s pulse…  It feels weird, like Amestris’ used to.”  A small, tanned hand wormed out of their blanket and gently touched the ground.  “It feels like it’s throbbing just a beat behind the right pulse…  Almost like they’re overlapping each other or echoing off one another.”

 

Out of curiosity, Al reached down to the ground too.  A quick feel of the energy beneath him and he nodded.  “Yeah.  That’s odd.  Maybe we’re close to a magnetic anomaly or something.  I guess we’ll find out in the morning what to expect.”  The girl in his arms yawned and he gathered her up and stood.  “Alright, time for bed, my princess.”  They went inside the large, single room tent and laid down for an undisturbed night’s rest.

 

The next day, Jerso commented, “Everything seems so vivid…  Is it just me, or does everything suddenly seem so green and vibrant?”  They took a look around, sunlight dappling through the sea of foliage around them, and it did appear as if everything was a might bit greener, more lush and healthier.

 

“Look, I think we’re on the edge of a bamboo forest,” Mei said as Xiao Mei bounded from her shoulder and shimmied up a stalk with her mouth open and munching as she went.  “Maybe that’s why everything feels so much greener.  The color of the bamboo leaves might be playing tricks with our eyes,” she offered.

 

Al shrugged.  Botany wasn’t his strong subject by any means, and though Zampano used to grow a hell of a nice tomato garden back in his teenage years, he certainly couldn’t tell you a thing about these exotic Xingese plants.  Mei called Xiao Mei to her side, much to the panda’s dismay, and they continued trekking along a well worn path to whatever lay ahead of them.

 

The forest was thick, nothing but green stalks as far as the eye could see in any direction.  Critters scurried here and there, birds flew overhead, and the conversation was light and jovial.  Just as the sun began to set on the travelers, there was a loud crunch and what sounded like a stalk falling to the ground, then swearing in an oddly familiar voice, but in Xingese.  Al halted them.  “What the hell was that?” he asked, trying to figure out why that voice sounded so recognizable.

 

Zampano lifted his glasses so that he might see into the distance a bit more clearly.  He scanned the direction the sound had come from, then checked carefully once more…  “Someone’s there, looks like an old man.”

 

“An old man?  In the middle of this?” Jerso asked.  “We should go check on him, sounds like one of the stalks fell.  He might be hurt or something.”  The two men set off at a jog toward the person the older of the two men saw, and Mei and Al trotted along quickly behind them.

 

A hundred or so yards away, the stranger in the distance that Zampano had spotted was busy glaring at the long stretch of bamboo that narrowly missed him.  “Dammit,” the white headed man muttered.  “Damned ancient forest…”  He kicked the stalk that had nearly caught him across the back, then immediately regretted it when his worn out shoes didn’t protect his foot as he’d expected.  “Dammit!” he yelped, kicking around his sore foot in the air for a moment.  He heard steps rushing towards him, yet held his ground.  After all, he’d been lost in this forest for two weeks now (granted, this time it was on purpose), thanks to that Kisuke guy and the white bamboo stalk, the magarudaki, who spawned a daughter with a human woman, an oniko, who was now a mother herself.  Honestly, he wasn’t expecting to encounter anyone out here, and when Ginko looked up to find two stout men running towards him, shouting in a language he couldn’t understand, he was really quite surprised.  The larger, dark skinned of the two smacked the other one on the arm and then the next words that came from the one in the glasses were heavily accented, but understandable.

 

“Are you hurt!?”

 

Ah, they must’ve heard the stalk falling.  “Yes, I’m alright!” he called back, pulling a cigarette from his pocket.  He lit it with a match and let the smoke encircle his head as he waited for these strange looking nomads to catch up to him.  They seemed harmless enough, and Ginko, despite his wandering, loner disposition, was a people person.  He wanted to find out who these people were, where they came from, what they were doing…  Must just be the nature of a mushi master, because they were all like that.

 

There was a stout looking blonde man with eyes as gold as the sun running with a young lady who looked more like people he’d seen before, more like the other people of this country.  She spoke that other language to her companion, said something in a very annoyed voice, swatting the bespectacled man on his arm rather forcefully, then she bowed to Ginko and said smoothly, “I apologize for my companions, from a distance they thought you were an old man.”

 

Ginko chuckled as he flicked his ashes toward his feet.  “Not a problem, I’m sure from a distance I look about sixty or so.  So, I have to ask…  It’s not often I see people wearing the same style of clothing as I do.  I have to special order it when I’m in the port village, yet you came from the opposite direction.  Where are you from?”

 

Mei smiled.  “We are from the Imperial City, my fiancé and two friends here hail from Amestris, originally.”

 

“Amestris?” the mushi master asked.  Al’s eyes narrowed and he listened more intently.  He had heard that voice say that word before…  Who on earth was he confusing this man for?  Another drag from his home made looking smoke and the white headed man with the vibrant green eyes continued, “Sounds Latin; Roman.  Is it a new province in Italy?”

 

Al blinked.  “Where’s Italy?”

 

Ginko grinned at him.  “Nice try, everyone knows where Italy is.”  When he saw the party look at each other with confused faces, he furrowed his brows.  “Y’know, that country shaped like a boot?  Not far from Greece and France and Austria?  Near the Mediterranean Sea?”

 

The girl sank to her knees, hands at her face and the young man dropping quickly down beside her, asking if she was alright.  “Al, we did it…  We crossed into the next world…  We’re not in our right world anymore, we crossed the border from our world to the next!”

 

“Mei that’s ridiculous, how could we possibly-”

 

“I told you the pulse was wrong!  I told you something wasn’t right!”  She wailed and tears sprung from her eyes.  “How are we going to get back home!?  What about all our research?  A-and the birth of Ed and Winry’s first baby, and-”

 

The broad shouldered young man cradled his would-be wife against him and shushed her.  Ginko looked up at the other two men standing helpless nearby.  With a sigh, he said, “I think we might need to share some information between us.  Let’s find a place where we can sit down for a bit.”  The ex-soldiers nodded, shouldered their packs and assisted Al in getting Mei under control enough to change their position.

 

They walked until they found a clearing, then Ginko motioned for everyone to take a seat.  He began by introducing himself, and his profession.  “I’m a mushi master.  I research the behavior of different kinds of mushi and aid those suffering from their… mischief.”

 

“Forgive me Mr. Ginko-” Al began.

 

“Just Ginko.  I don’t have a last name, and don’t even remember my father’s name to make one up.  Ginko will do just fine,” he said as he opened a bamboo water jug and took a drink.

 

“Ginko- We don’t have mushi or mushi masters where we’re from.  Could you explain, if it’s not too much trouble that is, what in the world is a mushi?”

 

He sighed.  “I’ve told this story many times.”  He lit a cigarette, it’s aroma unlike the stinking sticks of smoldering sheep dip that Havoc smoked, but woodsy, natural, calming.  “They dwell unseen in the shadows, a host of creatures completely different from the flora and fauna that are familiar to us; an invisible world of life within our own.  Since the dawn of humanity, these phantoms have inspired fear in those who can’t understand, and have over the ages have come to be known as mushi.  Let me give you an analogy to help explain.”

 

Ginko held up his hand, his fingers splayed as if he were counting to five.  “Say these four fingers represent animal life and the thumb represents plant life.  Human beings would be here, at the end of this blood vessel,” he pointed to the tip of his middle finger, “the farthest point from your heart.”  He dragged his index finger down.  “As you move away from there to your palm, you find the lower forms of life; beings that aren’t very intelligent, lowest on the food chain…  They’re seemingly useless, but life nonetheless.  The veins and vessels of your palm are closer together, but still separate.  But when you get to your wrist, all your blood vessels combine into one.  This is where you would find fungi and microorganisms, and it becomes harder and harder to distinguish between plant and animal life.”  The travelling party sat watching and listening intently with open eyes and ears.  “Even so, there’s still life beyond that,” he said as he continued to trace the vein in his arm to the elbow.  “And if you keep going all the way up your arm and past your shoulder,” he traced over to his heart, “and you get to this point, at the place that’s closest to your heart, right here… these creatures are the mushi.”

 

“Life in its purest form,” Mei said quietly.

 

“Basically.  Because of their nature, their shapes and appearances are ambiguous.  Some you can see, some you can’t.”  He took a drag from his cigarette.  “Some are transparent, like a ghost.  But when you consider that most ghosts are actually mushi, it makes a lot of sense.  Some can even take on human form…”  He leveled his green eyed stare at the four people in front of him.  “And that brings us full circle.  What if the four of you are simply mushi in human form?”

 

Jerso and Zampano shared a sidelong glance…  They certainly weren’t mushi, but they certainly weren’t human either, or at least not one hundred percent human.  Mei sat up a little straighter.  “I can assure you that we are not mushi.  My name is Mei Chang, I am the seventeenth princess of Xing and an alkahestry master.  My fiancé, Alphonse Elric,” she gestured to the man whose arm was lightly resting around her lower back, “is an alchemist.  Jerso and Zampano there, are what we call chimaeras.  An unethical alchemist transmuted their bodies with the bodies of a toad and a warthog and sort of mushed the traits of both into one body, and Al and I are working together to find a way to undo what’s been done, as well as expand our knowledge of our respective sciences.”

 

Ginko blew out a puff of smoke.  “And, who hail from a world entirely different from this one.  Where the hell are Xing and Amestris?  What’s alkahestry?  And what’s it got to do with alchemy?”

 

Al spoke as Zampano produced a map from their pack.  There was a map of Amestris, one of Xing, one of the known parts of their world…  Al explained the science of alchemy, of harnessing the diastrophic energy that is released from the movement and collision of tectonic plates deep within the Earth's crust to power transmutation.  Basically, alchemy from Amestris uses this energy from the earth to deconstruct, rearrange, and reconstruct matter, any matter, not just base metals as Ginko had believed, into anything else (except gold, by law).  Ginko shared that the alchemy of his world was a farce.  It was all an elaborate mystical scheme in which blacksmiths and pseudo-scientists from hundreds of years ago claimed they could transmute metals like lead, copper and nickel into gold, and that in those days, gold was wealth, and wealth was power.  Though both versions of alchemy mention a Philosopher’s Stone, in Amestrian alchemy, it wasn’t a requirement, merely a way around the law of equivalent exchange.  In Ginko’s version of alchemy, no transmutation of any kind could be performed without it, and the ingredients to make one were so rare and hard to find, that many people gave up before they even got started.

 

Mei explained that alkahestry was similar, but fundamentally different.  Instead of utilizing the energy in the earth’s crust, alkahestry uses the energy of the entire planet, that its surface energy flows across and through the land, similarly to how blood courses throughout a body or how a river flows down from a mountain top to the soil below.  Alkahestrists can read the flow of that energy, or chi.  They know the ‘entrances’ and ‘exits’ of it, and by simply riding the chi like you would a wave of water, you can transmute something nearby or far away.  Because it’s based on life energy, it’s quite useful in the medical professions.  She mentioned that they didn’t use a Philosopher’s Stone at all, but rather most alkahestrical medicine elixirs always varied from one transmutation to the next in hopes of discovering the Elixir of Life, or immortality.  “To my knowledge, no one’s ever discovered it though.  From what Al’s told me, the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life are likely the same thing, just in different states of matter,” explained Mei.

 

Al spent several more minutes talking about the Philosopher’s Stone, how they were gruesomely made, and how there had been a law made that banned the production of such a thing.  He went on to say, though, that if there were a more humane way to make one, that building houses and creating up to date infrastructure would be a cinch.  Alchemy was even about to step into the foray of the as of yet unknown advances of the automobile industry, and Mei finally stopped him before he continued into everyday practical uses.  “Al, he’s a wandering researcher like us, spare him all the details, alright?”  He nodded with a quick apology for being long winded, and Mei said, “Alright, I think it’s safe to say that my group and I aren’t in Xing anymore.  Uh, where are we, incidentally?”

 

Ginko smiled.  “The Land of the Rising Sun, Japan.  Though I’m pretty sure we’re near Okayama, we might be closer to Hyogo.  In either case, we both appear to be lost and stuck in this bamboo forest.  It’s actually the work of a mushi I’m investigating, if you’d care to see one close up.”

 

Mei and Al both stood and seemed eager to see what a mushi looked like, though Zampano and Jerso seemed hesitant.  Ginko assured them they would be fine, that it wasn’t a human parasite mushi like the ah and un, or malicious like the imanin no hawai.  “It’s as harmless as the rest of the forest, it’s a parasite of the flora here, and semi sentient.”  Ginko explained that the stalk was controlling the entire forest, and anything that drank its water would also fall under its control.  “You’ll still be able to escape, so long as you don’t drink the water from this place.  But as long as you’re near me, it’ll control you, too.”

 

They wandered for over an hour before finding it, and when they did, Mei was the first one to get close to it.  “Careful, Mei…” Ginko called.  “It can impregnate you, then you’d be stuck here as well, forever."  Immediately, as if he’d told her the thing had some kind of contagious disease, she leapt backwards and stood close to Al.  Ginko circled it, touching its seemingly glowing white skin.  “I’m certain this is what’s causing that young man’s problem.  I’m almost sure if he could cut this stalk down, that he’d be able to return to his village.”

 

Mei felt a ‘thud’ through the chi in the Dragon’s Pulse.  She dropped her hand to the ground and said, “I think it can understand you, at least a little.”  She closed her eyes.  “It feels like it’s sad, or disappointed or something.”

 

Ginko nodded and patted it lovingly.  “It’s probably knows that its daughter isn’t happy.  The woman’s name is Setsu, she’s the wife of the man I’ve been staying with, Kisuke.  Kisuke became stuck in this forest when he was a little boy, and he’s been unable to leave ever since.”  He looked to the large mushi before him.  “It’s not that anyone wants you to die, they just would like to be able to come and go as they please.  That’s all.”

 

Al wandered to the magarudaki, his eyes asking if it was alright to do so.  Ginko nodded, and Al’s hands touched gently.  “It’s warm.”

 

“It’s probably agitated by the emotional unrest it’s been feeling lately.”  He gave the stalk a pat.  “You don’t suppose there could be way to fix this with alkahestry or alchemy do you?”

 

Al shook his head.  “Not with alchemy there isn’t.  Even if I knew how to break it down and reshape it, I don’t think it would break whatever bond it has with its child and grandchild.”

 

Mei nodded.  “Even though it’s organic life at its most basic form, I can’t wipe its memory, and nothing can sever the bond between a parent and a child.  Even in death, the two are drawn to each other.  I’m afraid I have no answers for you.”

 

Ginko sighed.  “I have a feeling that Kisuke won’t ever get to see the village again, and the only way that he could ever see it is if the stalk somehow dies.  It would break him free from the prison, but the fate of Setsu and their little girl…”

 

“Why does he want to leave so badly?” Jerso asked.  “If his family is here, why leave?”

 

“I don’t want to leave forever,” another familiar voice said.  Al looked up with wide eyes… That sounded just like…

 

“Edward?” Mei asked quietly.

 

A man with short dark hair and dark eyes came forward out of the sea of green.  “I’d like to check on my sister, maybe get some supplies and maybe something nice for my wife and daughter.  I wouldn’t be gone forever.  I only want to be able to come and go like I did when I was a child here.”  Kisuke looked at the foreigners.  “I see more outsiders have come.  Are you friends of Ginko’s?”

 

Just as Mei opened her mouth to answer, Ginko replied, “Something like that.  We’re trying to find a way to solve this that leaves everyone happy.”

 

Kisuke smiled.  “I see.  Well, Setsu has dinner almost finished if you’d like to come up for a bite to eat.  And there should be enough room for you all to stay the night, if you’d like.”

 

“Daddy!!” a little girl’s voice called.  “Mama says she can’t reach the pickling crock!”  The girl caught sight of the tiny panda riding on Mei’s shoulder, Xiao Mei caught sight of the adorable little girl, and as she was gasping at the darling little creature, Xiao Mei bounded over to her.  “Oh gosh, what a cute little thing you are!” she squealed as the bear leaped into her arms.  Mei introduced her, told the child it was alright to play together when she begged to do so, and the others smiled as the pair raced back to the house.

 

Kisuke smiled.  “Sorry, excuse me.  And I’ll be sure she doesn’t hurt your pet, miss.”  He turned and trotted back toward his home, calling over his shoulder, “Don’t let your dinner get cold!”  The group watched him disappear from sight down a slight slope, then Ginko turned back to them.

 

“The less he knows, the better.  He wouldn’t understand and it would just start rumors that he’s crazy if he does ever get out of here.”  He pulled out another cigarette, but didn’t light it, only chewed it a little in his mouth.  “Well, I guess we better get down there and wash up for dinner.  Hope you guys like roast rabbit.”

 

Dinner was wonderful.  Kisuke and Setsu were gracious hosts, their daughter eager for stories from the travelers, and all of them were happy for the company of new faces.  The Xing group was glad to sleep indoors for the first time in quite a while.  When morning came, Setsu made a simple soup for breakfast, and then the newcomers and Kisuke went once again to the magarudaki.

 

“You say it’s sentient?” Kisuke asked in his odd Edward-grown-up voice.

 

“We think it’s partially aware of what’s going on, maybe just picking up on our emotions.  Might even understand some words,” Ginko answered, the smoke of his cigarette floating on the gentle late summer wind.  “Al, do you think you could try to rearrange its structure alchemically?  Maybe just sever its ties to the forest?”

 

Al took a deep breath.  “I can try to feel out what’s going on at the roots, but I can’t promise anything…”  He clapped his hands together and placed them gently on the ground, feeling out the roots beneath the soil.  Ginko and Kisuke watched as the dirt seemed to jostle around the base of the mushi.  Suddenly, Al drew his hands back with a hiss and the dirt settled immediately.  “Bastard shocked me!”

 

Ginko shook his head, his hand landing on the stalk.  “Now, now.  Please understand, what we want here is just for you to peacefully allow at least Kisuke to come and go from this forest in order to care for your daughter and granddaughter better.  No one wants you to die or leave.  We’re trying to find a way here, you could cooperate you know…”

 

Al looked down at his hands, red and a little blistered at the surge of energy that had come through the ground and into his palms from the magarudaki stalk.  “Actually, you might have Mei come down here and try to communicate with it through its chi.  She might be able to talk with it on a level we can’t speak on.”

 

Ginko gave a grunt.  “My only concern is her womb.  All you two need is to get back home and find her pregnant with a bamboo shoot.  I’m pretty sure in your world that would be the worst thing to happen to either of you.  You could even be killed for it if anyone found out.  I want to avoid that if possible.”

 

“Maybe Setsu knows how she was conceived,” Kisuke mused aloud.  “If she knew how it happened, maybe that would give us a little insight into how Mei’s talent’s can be used.”

 

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!  Five ribboned kunai suddenly stuck fast around the stalk’s base, and when the three men looked up, Mei had drawn an alkahestry circle in the dirt with the toe of her shoe, a good distance away from the mushi.  “I can attempt it from here, if you think this is a safe enough distance.”  Ginko noticed she was at least twenty yards away and safely out of reach from any of the other normal bamboo stalks.  He gave a hesitant nod and she knelt down, her hands bringing both circles to crackling life.

 

Al trotted closer to her, ready to break her contact if anything suspicious should happen.  She didn’t speak out loud, but her face kept quirking into strange expressions.  She whispered, “That’s not fair,” and “But she does love you…”  Then her eyes opened and she looked behind her, seemingly staring into nothing, then tried to verbally convince the mushi one last time to release its hold on the family in the forest.  “All they want is to be able to come and go at will.  Then… so be it.”  Her hands lifted from the circle and she immediately turned and marked a large ‘X’ and an arrow in the dirt.  She looked up with a half grin at Al.  “Found the exit, it’s that way.”

 

“Let’s tell them what you found first, and then we’ll be on our way,” Al said quietly.  “I really can’t wait to get back home.  This place and this… mushi…  They both give me the creeps.”  Mei nodded as he helped her to her feet.  They met Ginko halfway between the magarudaki and her alkahestry array and Mei shook her head in defeat.

 

“It’s adamant that it is protecting them, that the villagers’ energy feels threatening to its family,” she said to the man who’d been kind enough to house and feed them for the night.  “I think if Ginko can free himself, maybe he could arrange for a go between to come and go for you, Kisuke.”

 

Kisuke gave a sad grin to the ground.  “I appreciate you trying to make it see reason.  It’s more than I could have hoped for.  I appreciate it.”  Setsu wandered closer, carrying their daughter piggy-back.  Her eyes were kind but sad, and when she spoke, Al’s eyes widened in recognition…  ‘That sounds like… Hawkeye…’  He knew she’d sounded familiar at dinner, but couldn’t quite place it.

 

“Yes, your unorthodox methods were greatly appreciated.  But our life isn’t so terrible that we’d… think of cutting the stalk down or anything…”  Mei thought the woman’s eyes betrayed her words, but didn’t say anything.  Instead, she simply smiled and apologized for not being able to do anything about the problem, but wished them good luck.

 

“Forgive me,” the young lady said, “but could I speak to Ginko alone for a moment?”  The others looked at each other, nodded to Mei, and then followed Kisuke and his family back to their home for some tea.  “Al, you stay; this sort of involves you, too.”  He stepped back to her side and waited for the others to be out of earshot.  “Alright, since we tried to use our arts to solve your problem, maybe you could use your art to solve ours.  Is there any way you can try to separate our chimera friends back into their separate entities?”

 

Ginko grinned.  “What do you think I was doing after dinner last night when I offered them both on of my cigarettes?”  He pulled one out and handed it to Mei to inspect.  “It’s a specific blend that I make myself.  As a mushi master, and one who has been so affected by mushi, I attract them to me.  The cigarettes help to drive them off so that I don’t get infested myself.”  The girl smelled of the tobacco and herbs within, passing it to Al, who asked if he could try it.  Ginko lit it for him and watched as he coughed and gagged, then took a second, smaller puff and seemed to savor the taste a bit before passing it to Mei to sample.  “If it had been any kind of mushi keeping them in that state, even if I couldn’t immediately see it, it would have been driven from them, and they would have been able to return to normal very easily, or least show signs that they could transform back into whole humans.”

 

Mei sighed.  “Well, thank you for trying.  It’s more than I could have asked for, anyway.”  They stood quietly for a moment.  “I’ve found the way back to our world.  The Dragon’s Pulse is strongest at a point about a half a mile or so that way,” she pointed behind her.  “We probably should get back there.”

 

Ginko agreed with her.  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to accompany you to the spot.”  Al and Mei both thought it would be interesting to see what would happen, and after they’d gone back to the house to fetch Jerso and Zampano, they’d thanked the strange trapped family (Al bowing deeply and telling Kisuke that his voice sounded just like his brother’s, except calmer and kinder, and that it gave him hope that Ed could become that way one day).  The five of them, along with little Xiao Mei, walked to the rift between the two worlds.

 

The closer they got, Mei and Al could both feel the Dragon’s Pulse becoming clearer and more distinct.  That echoing feeling they’d had noticed here the night before they wandered into this bamboo forest was returning, letting them know they were headed in the right direction.  Ginko on the other hand, while he could not feel any kind of energy, could see the mushi…  He could see them flocking to and panicking at not being able to penetrate the barrier between their worlds.  As his smoke floated through the air and helped to disperse them elsewhere, he looked behind to see a multitude of them, hanging back and seemingly upset that even they were limited to this forest.

 

Then, to his surprise, he could actually see the doorway; a shimmering pale gold light reminiscent of the light river he’d seen before, and he could see the dull and faded foliage of Xing on the other side…  “This is as far as I go,” he said gently.

 

“Can you feel it?” Al asked.

 

“I can see it, and I’m not ready to cross over just yet.”  He peered through the doorway, chancing a single step closer.  He saw nothing but plants and jungle, a stray bird flew past his field of vision, but it was what he didn’t see that made his heart leap…

 

No mushi.

 

The creatures who had taunted him all his life were absent from that world, meaning all he would have to do is step inside, and he could settle down in one place, give up smoking, find a profession that didn’t lend itself to traversing the land endlessly, and sleeping outdoors most nights.  He could find a woman… have a family…  Ginko could live a normal life.  It was tempting.  Oh, it was so tempting.  He took a slow step back.  “Can you promise me something?” he asked, suddenly very quiet.

 

Mei gave him a concerned look.  “What is it?”

 

“First, tell me what day was it when you came here.”  His eyes were dancing, some unseen thought streaking through his mind and causing the gears in his head to turn.

 

“Tuesday August 21, 1917,” Zampano said.

 

Ginko nodded with a grin.  “Good, time’s the same in both our worlds.  Now here’s what I want you to promise me.  Meet me back here at this very same place, on your side of the barrier, though.  Meet me in exactly three years on August 22 1920.”  The four of them nodded.

 

“One of us will be here for sure,” Al said with a finality that none of the others questioned.  When Alphonse Elric made up his mind, it was made.  “We’ll try to make a marker on the other side, a sign or something, and we’ll mark it’s location on our map.”

 

“Are you thinking of coming over?” Jerso asked.

 

With a grin, Ginko answered, “Yeah…  I think I will.  And I think I want to stay over there, but there are a few things I need to take care of first before I can go.”  He was so tempted to just follow them through, but he couldn’t…  not without Io anyway, and he was pretty sure that if he could convince her to go with him, then all they ever hoped for could be just on the other side of that shimmering doorway.  “I need to get back…  Need to think on this magarudaki situation a bit longer, I’ll begin my final trek across these lands.  Good luck to you, and I’ll see you in a few years.”  They all waved goodbye to one another, then the Xingese party slipped through the door and walked through the dense flora, stopping at the nearest boulder.  Zampano motioned back to the mushi master that the marker would be there.  Ginko pulled out his compass and marked the location from the house.  Nodding to his new friends, he gave a final wave, then wandered back to the mushi stalk, deciding to break the news to Kisuke that the only way to break its spell was to cut it down.

 

In Xing, after the location of the portal had been marked expertly on the map, Al looked up and laughed, “Am I the only one who thought that man sounded exactly like Mustang?”

 

Jerso shook his head.  “No, I caught that, too.  And that Kisuke guy sounding exactly like your brother was just really weird.  We all know Ed could never talk that gently, not even to a dying grandmother.”

 

Mei giggled at that.  “And what about his wife!  She sounded like Mustang’s lieutenant, what’s-her-name… the blonde…”

 

“Riza Hawkeye,” the guys said in unison.

 

“Yeah, that’s her.  They sounded just alike.  Really uncanny…”

 

Al nudged his bride to be.  “Y’know, that little girl… sounded to me like a little Xingese princess I met when I was a tin can,” he goaded.  “I bet you sounded just like her at that age.”

 

She smirked.  “Maybe.  Let’s just go.  Maybe we should head back to the palace and take a break.  Then we can start in another direction, what do you guys think?”  They all agreed, and began their long journey back to the Imperial City.

 

************

 

Three years later:

 

Ginko stood with his wife on their side of the doorway, his hand pressed gently against her back.  “I don’t know if we’ll be able to come back or not, Io,” he said.  She turned her head toward him and smiled.

 

“I know.  As long as I’m with you, it’s alright.  Especially if it means we can settle down and start a family together.”  Ginko gave her a relieved smile and took her hand.  They stepped through together, and though the change was gradual, it was definitely monumental.

 

Five paces from the portal and Ginko began to feel… free.  The constant noise of the mushi was slipping away, the weight of their constant presence was lifting, and it even felt like his breathing was easier, despite the years of chain smoking homemade cigarettes.  He had expected something like that to happen, but not to such a degree, and he was completely unprepared for what happened next.  Io looked over at him and stopped in her tracks.  She watched his snow white hair slowly darken; silver then pewter, then dark gray and finally a dark, rich black.  But when he began to see things in stereo, his jaw dropped.

 

“I-Io, my eye… what color is it?” he asked after he yanked a few silken strands from his head to see for himself the color transformation.  He felt his wife’s hands come to his face, cool and soft, and she brushed his bangs away…

 

Two dark brown eyes looked back at her, wide in amazement and disbelief…  “They…  They’re brown, Ginko.”  Io gave a sobbing kind of laugh and cradled his face in her hands.  “You have two lovely brown eyes.”

 

“Ginko!?” a voice called from a distance.  “Ginko, is that you!?”

 

The former mushi master looked up with a broad smile.  “Yeah…  Yeah, it’s me!”  He grabbed Io and kissed her hard, then grabbed her hand and tugged her along behind him, running toward the one he remembered as Al was calling from.  When they came into the small clearing, Ginko was all smiles as he observed Al’s puzzled face.

 

“What happened to your hair?” The alchemist with the sunshine eyes asked.

 

“My appearance had been the result of an incident I had with a mushi when I was still a boy.  But your world…  There’s no mushi here.  I must’ve been cleansed of the effect when I stepped through.”  He looked down at the woman beside him, beaming at her.  “Al, I’d like for you to meet my wife, Io.”

 

Al smiled and bowed to the grinning, dark headed woman clinging gently to Ginko’s arm.  “Hello, Io.  My name is Alphonse Elric.”  Mei called out a greeting from their camp and waved, the burden of her pregnancy making it uncomfortable for her to move.  “That’s my wife, Mei,” Al said proudly.  He turned and stuck his hand out in an Amestrian greeting, and was relieved when Ginko grinned and shook it.  With a wide smile, Al said happily, “Welcome to Xing!”

 

Comments

[haganeneko.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the tie!

This is such a wonderful story--you've so perfectly captured the mood and pace of Mushi-Shi and flawlessly blended it with FMA! This goes on my list of favorite fanfics!

I'm glad I could help out with the beta!

[sonjajade.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! I couldn't have done it without ya!
*huggles*