Desert Gold
is a Fullmetal Alchemist oneshot that explores what could have happened if Trisha had been Ishvalan. It is a lengthy 20k story.
The Elric brothers have always known they were half-Ishvalan, but they've never been free to be open about it. Their neighbors hid the duo's ethnic background from outsiders. The brothers grew up as normal, happy boys and members of their community until they ventured outside of Resembool. There, Edward and Alphonse began to notice how people like his family were treated.
Desert Gold provides examples of:
- Alternate Universe Fic: The Elric brothers are half-Ishvalan through Trisha.
- Adaptation Name Change: Downplayed with the Elric family. They all use Amestrian names but their birth names are Ishvalan. Trisha Elric is Hadiya of the Elrikhs. Edward and Alphonse Elric are Zahir and Imad (of the) Elrkh(s).
- Category Traitor: An Ishvalan kidnapper who holds Roy hostage calls Edward a "traitor" for siding with the military.
- Culturally Religious: Edward and Alphonse (but especially Ed) are secular Ishvalans. Trisha wasn't the most devout Ishvalan and didn't push her religion on them as much as other parents.
- Half-Breed Discrimination: Edward gets called a "half-breed child" by an Ishvalan.
- Heroic BSoD: Roy's knee-jerk reaction when Edward outs himself as Ishvalan in front of him. He suffers another one when the brothers decide to forgive him for being a major actor in the Ishval genocide.
- Hiding Your Heritage:
- Growing up, people in Resembool hid the Elric brothers secret by stating that their skin was tanned and their hair sun-bleached due to their outdoorsy ways. When they spoke Ishvalan outdoors, their tongue was passed off as gibberish.
- Trisha hid her Ishvalan heritage by preferring to stay inside.
- I've Come Too Far: Roy loathes himself for slaughtering so many helpless Ishvalan civilians. When Edward forgives him, he suffers a breakdown and gets drunk, unable to understand why the teen would do that.
- Named by the Adaptation: Scar's name is given as "Asad".
- Naturalized Name: Edward and Alphonse's real names are Zahir and Imad Elrikh. Trisha's name was Hadiya of the Elrikhs (it was originally "Atiya" but the writer retconned it with an edit).
- Not So Stoic: Upon hearing Ed and Al speak Ishvalan, Riza looks at them with a wide-eyed expression. Edward notes that it's the most expressive he's seen her.
- Patchwork Fic: Truth from the manga canon is mentioned but it's also mentioned that Ed and Al are Amestrian like in the 2003 anime's canon.
- Race Lift: The brothers are half-Ishvalan and half-Amestrian. They have darker skin and lighter hair than in canon, but their eye colours are still gold. In canon, they're half-Amestrian and half-Xerxesian in manga canon and full Amestrian in the 2003 anime's canon.
- Related in the Adaptation: Scar is kin with the Elric brothers, but their exact relationship is not mentioned.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Fuery grew up with three half-Ishvalan siblings living next door — they were spared from being killed because their father was wealthy — and stayed in touch with them, so he noticed small things about the Elric brothers that hinted at their heritage. He kept quiet because he figured it wasn't his secret to tell.
- Shamed by a Mob: The Elric brothers flee towards the Ishvalan ghetto when Scar attempts to murder them, allowing the community to call the Serial Killer out on his misguided revenge and reveal it would have led him to hurt his own kinsmen.
