Fanfic / Full Circle (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Full Circle is a completed Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction by Nike Femme.

Edward succeeded at restoring Alphonse's body, but at the cost of his own life. On the four year anniversary of the event, as Alphonse visits the destroyed remains of his childhood home, his seemingly alive and restored brother appears out of nowhere unconscious. Upon waking up, however, the man claims to be named Auric, and has no memories of being Edward Elric.

Not that they have much time to dwell on it, as a much larger crisis arises with a war between Amestris and Drachma, and all alchemists are conscripted and Alphonse is no exception.

Not related to the British-Canadian horror movie.

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This work contains examples for:

• 100% Heroism Rating: Edward is beloved by basically everyone, both in the military and civilians. At least one person considers trying to usurp Roy and become Fuhrer by gaining Edward's favor.
• Achievements in Ignorance: While studying Auric wonders why alchemists don't use arrays with all five elements. Roy tells him it's impossible to stabilize all of them, to which Auric replies, "That can't be right...I do it all the time."
  Auric had just upended a known scientific fact, stomped all over it, and then shrugged it off as an everyday occurrence.
• Actually, I Am Him: At a restaurant, a snooty maitre'd claims the Fuhrer-elect stops by on occasion. This is news to Roy, as he had never been there before and was currently trying to get a table.
• Amnesiac Dissonance: Downplayed; while the two personalities don't have huge alignment issues, Auric worries that remembering who he was before would destroy his current personality and he wonders how Edward can be such a hot-head.
• Amnesiac Resonance: No matter what memories he has, Auric/Edward is always very good at manipulating energies and is sensitive about his height.
• Assassination Attempt: Against Roy. Three times, in fact.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: While Auric is debating whether he wants to learn if he can do alchemy or if he wants to run away from everything from his old life, he thinks to himself he should have been careful what he he'd wished for. Now that he's being offered what he wanted so badly a few days before, he's terrified.
• Big Damn Heroes: Exploited; Maes figures if the Fullmetal Alchemist makes a sudden return at a crucial moment after being MIA for several years, then the troops will be inspired enough to keep going while demoralizing the enemy, something which Auric is willing to go along with.
• Blood from the Mouth: Auric coughs up blood due to the energy drain opening Gates causes. This stops after he absorbs some of the energy released after killings Pride.
• Bodyguard Crush: Auric's guild specifically forbids any relationships between their members and their clients, which he holds to even when he's in a different universe. That said, there's nothing stopping him from pursuing a former client....
• Chekhov's Skill: Auric mentions to Roy that he relies too much on fire and that he should consider the fact that water is composed of highly flammable gases. Roy would later use this to destroy Sloth.
• Convection, Schmonvection: Averted after Edward has to jump through a ring of fire; he's forced to take off his coat which is burning as a result and his hair is left considerably shorter.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Edward is left feeling adrift after accomplishing everything he had set out to do. Alphonse is safe, he has his memories back, the war is over, Roy is Fuhrer-elect, so now what? He's practically excited when he finds out about an assassination attempt.
• Drowning My Sorrows: After Edward's funeral, Roy had gone to a bar with Maes and gotten very, very drunk.
• Entertainingly Wrong: The Homunculi believe Edward has been dead for the last several years. Since they have no way of knowing he had been dragged to another dimension for that time, this is a perfectly reasonable assumption for them to have.
• Foreshadowing: While planning the swearing-in ceremony, an ambassador from Xing is mentioned a few chapters before being they show up. The ambassador turns out to be Ling.
• Held Gaze: Auric and Roy have a battle of wills the first time they meet via this trope, which lasts so long that Alphonse and Havoc start wondering if either of them will ever give up and try herding them away.
• Heroic Bastard: Roy, a fact which makes Edward feel pretty guilty upon discovery.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Edward restored Alphonse's body four years before the start of the story Auric sacrifices himself during the climax by grabbing Wrath to prevent him from sacrificing Alphonse to the Gate, and gets taken instead.
• Hidden Depths: Edward is surprised when Ling, that guy who bummed food off of him and grates on his every nerve, in capable to being wise and perceptive when he actually cares to bother.
• Identity Amnesia: After sacrificing himself to get Alphonse's body back, Edward is dumped in an alternate plane sans memories.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Jean takes one of these blows from Lust, though he does survive.
• Irony: Three separate people all independently assume Roy had seduced Edward, something which Auric finds hilarious as, even as an amnesiac, he knows it was the other way around.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: When Roy asks why Auric is so hesitant about trying alchemy for himself, Auric requests whiskey first, and downs his first shot.
  • After finding out they have Edward back but he has amnesia, Winry pours whiskey into her coffee before drinking it all in one gulp. Later, Fury and Havoc go to a bar for the same reason.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Roy releases Edward from their contract, not wanting him to be with him only through obligation.
• Kneel Before Frodo: At a diplomatic function, Ling declares Edward to be the qilin of Amestres (essentially a divine protector) and he along with his bodyguard bow to him, to Edward's embarrassment. This attitude towards him is only limited to people from Xing, as everyone else in the room is confused about what's going on.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: When Roy flirts with Auric in an attempt to rile him up, Auric instead flirts back. A stunned Riza tell a speechless Roy "Don't worry, sir…this…um…never happened."
• Make It Look Like an Accident: When General Hakuro tries assassinating Roy, he ops to make it look like he died of his injuries since an obvious murder would make him a martyr.
• Misplaced Wildlife: A plot point; when Alphonse points out the sound of a cricket chirping, after a beat Edward realizes there couldn't be any at that time of year and it's most likely a signal.
• Mundane Luxury: After a battle, Auric transmutes the mess hall's shitty tea/cocoa/whatever it was into coffee, to adulation.
• Must Have Caffeine: Whenever Roy is abruptly dragged out of bed, whatever the reason, one of he first things he demands is coffee.
• Name Amnesia: While he remembers snippets of his old life, Auric's real name wasn't one of them.
• Never-Forgotten Skill: Auric is still very skilled at using alchemy despite having amnesia for the last four years, partially due to the teleporting skills he's been using instead having some similarities and partially because of Amnesiac Resonance.
• Never Got to Say Goodbye: Alphonse theorizes that this trope is why Roy never got over Edward's death. Also applies to Winry, who found Edward's goodbye letter to her to be utterly insufficient considering the circumstances.
• Oh, Crap!: The reveal that the Fuhrer is Pride, who quickly subdues Roy, one of the best soldiers on the field.
  • Maes has a moment of this when he, Roy and Edward are discussing Edward's bodyguard duties.
  [Maes] looked over at Roy, whose eyes had gone from stunned to hooded and his face expressionless in the manner that generally meant he was about to do something incredibly self-sacrificing, or stupid, or possibly both. Uh-oh.
  • A comedic example occurs when a maitre'd at a restaurant realizes he just tried to kick out the Fullmetal Alchemist and the Fuhrur-elect.
• Precision F-Strike: Riza is taken aback when, after finding out Edward got himself stuck at the Gate again, Alphonse starts swearing like his brother
• Preppy Name: As part of his backstory, due to him being a bastard child, Roy got the name Mustang from his mother, while his father's name was Maximillian St. Just. Edward notes he'd never have associated with someone named Roy St. Just, stating that it screams inbreeding and snobbery.
• Rapid-Fire "No!": Edward does this and starts backing away when he realizes that he has to escort Ling to an official government function. He does this again when he realizes Ling is hitting on him.
• Recognition Failure: A restaurant owner manages to fail to recognize the Flame and Fullmetal Alchemists, the two most powerful, influential and decorated people in the country.
  • Edward would later not be recognized by Roy's father.
• Red Baron: Alphonse gets the title of the Earth Moving Alchemist.
• Replacement Goldfish: After losing his partner Alp, Auric has no problem latching onto Alphonse instead.
• Seen It All: Riza when she's unsurprised to see Edward apparently come back from the dead (again) and with Roy who's utterly non-pulsed at yet another attempted assassination on himself.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Envy shapeshifts into Edward to upset Alphonse during a fight.
• Shout-Out: While injured, Roy tries to act like "the very model of a modern Major-General." It would seem that in Amestris, Gilbert and Sullivan can be found.
• Side Bet: While Alphonse and Roy stare dumbfounded at Edward apparently coming back from the dead for the second time, Riza thinks to herself that her winnings will be enough for a new dress.
• Slain in Their Sleep: Part of the plan for the second assassination attempt.
• Smart People Know Latin: Roy's father, a snobby aristocrat, tries to invoke this by speaking Latin. Unfortunately, he pulled this on Edward, who's thoroughly unimpressed.
  "I can assure you that my knowledge of the Latin far outstrips yours. Professional hazard. But if it helps you feel better about yourself, hey, who am I to interfere?"
• Spared by the Adaptation: Maes Hughes is alive and running everything related to propaganda.
• Split-Personality Merge: Essentially what happens Edward/Auric remembers everything from both lives.
• Spotting the Thread: Auric spots a group of fake soldiers, noting that while they had insignia as if they were career military as well as combat medals, their uniforms were brand new, none of their gear was broken in, and their weapons were too good for government issued.
• A Storm Is Coming: Right before going out onto the battlefield, Auric says that a storm is moving in faster than expected and will be in by dawn.
• Teleportation: With his Gatekeeper abilities, Auric can easily teleport himself and another person just about anywhere. He can also open gates to transport goods or crowds of people, but it takes considerably more effort and he needs a partner on the other side.
• Tempting Fate: When Roy is forced to conscript Alphonse into the army, he thinks that if anything would prompt Edward to claw his way back from the dead and kill him, this would be it. When Alphonse shows up with Auric, Roy wonders if he should start running now.
• Throw the Book at Them: Edward prevents an assassination by chucking a heavy leather-bound copy of the Constitution at the shooter.
• Unexpected Successor: For someone who was not even in the running. Due to the demise of both of his heirs, the estate owned by St. Just would revert to government ownership upon his death. A government now bring run by Roy Mustang, his bastard son.
• Unstoppable Rage: Watching his brother seemingly die in front of him for the second time make Alphonse go on an absolute rampage. Envy is completely taken aback, and thinks to himself that Alphonse is supposed to be the nice one.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Exploited by an forward-thinking assassin who dumps a bucket of water on Roy. It also occurs during an ill-timed storm on a battlefield. After the second incident, Auric gives Roy a lighter so it doesn't happen a third time.
• Wistful Amnesia: Auric remembers a few scant memories from before that he writes, none of which make any sense to him until Alphonse is able to explain them.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Several characters expect Auric/Edward to be a Shonen-style Chaste Hero, which is patently incorrect.
• You Just Told Me: Auric manages to pull this on himself.
  Auric: Don't be silly, Al. I'm fine. I promise. I've never broken a promise, have I?
  Alphonse: No. No, you haven't.
  Auric: Oh good. I was fishing – I wouldn't remember!