#fma03

"You have no friends"

"Mom said not to talk about it anymore"

The Premise

A fanfic dealing with post-CoS events and the entire conversation of what would have happened to Ed in a Nazi ruled country. The inspiring/culmination being a Ed and Roy confrontation. The main question being, what motivates our character? beyond just Hitler bad. This we have to anchor in the events of CoS.

What happens in CoS historically

CoS is set during the early years of Hitler and has Ed closely linked with the Romani. So we are dealing with two historical strands here: general history of WW2 and the treatment of the Roma people during this period.

General History of World War II during CoS

CoS is set during the lead up of the Bier Hall Putsch and the actual event. Originally Hitler was sent to the meetings by the army to act as reconaisance and to monitor them. Here he met Dietrich Eckhart who was influential in the Thule Society. In the CoS supposedly the Thule Society is going to create a Uranium bomb (wikia sourced). CoS ends with Ed and Al trying to stop them.

Unfortunately writing a fic on this premise, stopping the bomb, would never work if I want to be realistic to history. The uranium bomb never took off, not because of sabotage, but because it didn't get enough funding, they'd kicked out the scientists (a lot of them were Jews) and they kind of denied Einstein's findings.

Also how do you even stop the development of a concept/idea? Maybe someone more creative can come up with a fic on this premise.

The Romani People

So instead I will angle it from the Romani people angle. Through this, Ed will end up in the opposition of Hitler because of his ties to the Romani people and not his opposition to the bomb.

The Romani people and their situation is quite complex because they were already persecuted during the Weimar republic. In a way the Holocaust was just a continuation of that. This is demonstrated by their current conceptualization of what happened, which varies. Some groups lack a collective memory of what happened and view it as the personal failing of specific Romani (see Ian Hancock and collective memory; note I said some, not all). So a substantial hurdle when writing is how to convince the Romani characters that the Holocaust is unlike other persecution.

Variation is a very important thing when dealing with the Romani. After a cursory reading (because this is not my speciality, I deal with the Jewish side), it is very clear that the Romani are quite varied and it matters. Basically in Germany it was mostly Sinti Romani. So that's what they will be. But they may interact with others so I need to see.On that note, the fact that both Jews and Romani were minorities and persecuted by Hitler did not mean that they got along. This often depended. This is why Ed's crew is gonna be mostly Romani

Concluding thoughts

This is where I am at. This is the post I will re-blog to follow up.

Next I need to determine a string of events that will put everything together and also connect Edward to the timeline.

I still need to figure out what to do with Alphonse so if you have any ideas let me know.

Sources

If anyone knows sources on the Romani people feel free to lemme know in the comments or DMS.

This is what I have so far:

Ed and Al die young on Earth post Conqueror of Shamballa.

They're too loud, too noticeable, and too prone to sticking their noses into other people's business and getting into trouble about it. They actively intend to go after weapons designed for Hitler's revolution! Two teens against an organized militant order!!

Even while spending time with Noah, they'd be living in a Romani community just before the Roma were collected for the camps. There's zero percent chance they just stand back and let their friends be taken.

And while Ed was determined to live in this world as a part of the world rather than apart from it, he's not going to be able to sit back and watch abuse happen right in front of him. Not after learning his lessons on apathy time and again. Only, they don't have alchemy in this world, they don't have their main form of offense and defense. All they have is martial arts and a hand gun against a growing army and state spies.

Maybe - maybe - they make it to 1939 and WWII, though the chances are slim in my opinion because there was plenty of unrest before war was officially declared.

If they do make it to the war? The best they can hope for is a quick death by bullet. The worst? They get rounded up with Noah's family, sent to the camps, and Ed's automail is immediately found out. The brothers are separated and Ed ends up in Joseph Mengele's labs, taken apart to see how he ticks, how his automail could be recreated. Tortured to death.

Maybe Al makes it through to the end of the war and is rescued when his camp is freed but no chance does Ed survive. And losing Ed like that - again - would drive Al utterly insane.

If I'm being really angsty, I think it would be thematically reasonable for Ed to die by Flammenwerfer 35.

Per wikipedia, quote: "This flamethrower, like all flamethrowers employed by the Wehrmacht, was exclusively used by sturmpionieres (assault pioneers); specialist pioneers who were to assist the infantry in an assault, by overcoming natural and man-made obstacles for the infantry, clearing enemy fortifications with flamethrowers and then destroying them with demolition charges."

And who do we know who would absolutely be using a flamethrower in war?

I bet Ed saw him coming, recognized him, and hesitated in shooting him just long enough for the flames to reach him.

@darkcrowprincess

Am I supposed to @ you for you to see this or do you get the answers either way? I've never had an ask before you. Did you get my other replies?

I am a Big proponent of the Ed fell first, Roy fell harder conspiracy. I think that would be foundational to their dynamic. My own fic I'm working on has that as well as Roy thinking of and treating Ed as an adult from the very beginning - which makes for some uncomfortable situations down the line though it all works out in the end.

"This is not part of the plan" is such a funny idea. Mr. Mastermind getting bitch slapped by feelings and not sure what to do with them.

Royai are THE power couple, I'm afraid. They set the standard.

How I see royed: two messed up people who see themselves in each make a mutual agreement where they both benefit and use each other. It just takes the younger a little while to catch up but he does.

Fuck, you are so right. Funnily enough, just before I saw this notification, I had been writing my version of the scene in 03 just after Ed helped Hughes with the terrorists on the train and:

Ed grit his teeth in frustration. He’d already blown up at [the Bastard] in the car for the bullshit he’d pulled with the train ride in. Telling Ed to get on the train heading for the South Provence mid-loop interchange rather than the one going directly from East to Central City like he’d planned was bullshit. Especially considering he knew there were fucking terrorists or something on the train. Bastard had just laughed at him for his frustration. Asked if he really thought the military would allow a ten year old — he was eleven, thankyouverymuch — to take the state exams without some proof that he was worth the resources to test. He said it like it was obvious, like Ed was a fool for not considering that — and why would he have? Bastard had promised to sponsor him after he was healed up; he never said anything about Ed having to prove himself to the generals just for the privilege to take the damned test. Just more proof that Ed couldn’t trust anything this guy said. Bastard had some secondary or tertiary agenda running beneath every word he spoke and Ed knew he wasn’t a priority to his schemes so much as a pawn to be played. Even as it pissed him off, Ed was mostly ok with that. It’s not like he was doing any different. He was using the Bastard just like the Bastard was using him. They understood each other that way. Didn’t mean Ed had to be happy about it.

That last bit is how I see their early relationship. They're using each other, they're each well aware of it, and they're both ok with that. It's a fairly equal quid-pro-quo dynamic that sees them both getting what they want/need without actually harming the other.

I can see Ed being really frustrated with Roy because he knows he's being used for something but can't always predict what the endgame for Roy's actions are whereas he's well aware that Roy knows his own motivations completely. But he doesn't try to stop being used because he still gets what he wants out of the exchange.

Despite his age, Roy always treated Ed like an adult - with all the respect and all the manipulation he gives to other adults as well.

I'm a RoyEd shipper myself so that's part of it but I always boggle at people who insist that Roy was like a parent to Ed. Just... Did we watch the same shows? No matter what iteration, 2003 or Brotherhood, they've got nothing like a parent-child relationship.

Where are people getting this? Roy puts that kid into danger and laughs about it. He shrugs when Ed goes missing in the north because he's got more important things to deal with. He straight up punched Ed when Ed questioned him about Maria Ross's death and told him to act like a soldier.