The morning sun bathed Resembool in golden light as the wind swept across the wheat fields. From the top of the Elric family's sloped roof, Auron sat cross-legged, still and calm, silver-gold eyes scanning the horizon like a guardian watching the world he never asked for but now claimed as his own.
The chakra in his body pulsed rhythmically—warm and alive. His senses reached far, picking up every bird flutter, every crackling leaf, and even the gentle heartbeat of the cow grazing near the barn. His eyes glowed faintly, revealing the chakra network of the life around him. It was subtle—barely there unless you knew what to look for.
Below, Edward and Alphonse were arguing again.
"Ed, you can't just hit the gears when they don't work!" Alphonse shouted, holding up a half-dismantled toy robot, its pieces scattered across the dirt. "You'll break it!"
"It was stuck!" Ed snapped back, oil on his cheek and hair tied back sloppily. "Sometimes you have to show it who's boss!"
Auron smiled and flipped off the roof effortlessly, landing in a quiet thud behind them. "Maybe show it who's boss after learning how it works?"
Ed glared. "Ugh, you sound like Winry."
"She's smarter than you, so thank you," Auron said coolly, picking up one of the gears and rotating it with precision. His fingers moved like an artist—delicate, exact. He could already see the fault in the alignment, so he fixed it without transmutation or tools, just intuition and a deep understanding of energy and motion.
Alphonse blinked. "How do you always do that?"
"Practice," Auron lied.
What he didn't say was that his fused eyes—those impossible creations of another world—could break down anything he saw into patterns, formulas, weaknesses. Whether it was human anatomy, machinery, or emotions… he saw everything.
He wished he didn't.
That afternoon, Winry stopped by with a basket of spare bolts and biscuits from her grandmother. She caught sight of Auron working on Ed's automail schematic and paused. "That's not how I designed the knee joint…"
Auron glanced up. "I know. But the torque stress from Ed's jumps would eventually crack it if it stays like that."
She frowned, biting her lip, then inspected the change closer. "…You're right. Huh. That's actually… brilliant."
Ed stomped over. "Stop making me look dumb in front of Winry!"
Winry rolled her eyes. "Ed, you do that yourself."
Auron laughed, and it wasn't forced this time. For a moment, he could forget that his power—his otherworldly, chakra-fueled fusion of dojutsu—was dormant inside him, waiting for a reason to burn the sky.
But fate always had a cruel sense of humor.
That night, Trisha Elric began to cough again.
The boys sat at her bedside, silent, while Pinako fetched medicine and warm towels. Ed clenched his fists. Al held her hand.
Auron… watched. He saw the energy fading from her. Her chakra network was flickering like a dying flame. No doctor would understand. No alchemist could fix it. He knew—because even with his rippled eyes activated, even with his chakra flaring and analyzing every part of her, he could do nothing.
His silver-gold eyes began to shimmer. And for the first time in years, his tomoe rotated. His Rinnegan patterns overlaid the glow. The lightning began to crackle faintly at the edges of his vision.
And Trisha's tired eyes opened.
She saw him—really saw him. Her lips trembled.
"…Those eyes," she whispered. "So much… power."
Auron's breath caught. He had never activated them in front of anyone. Not even her.
"Promise me… you won't lose yourself to it," she said, her voice barely audible.
He held her hand, eyes dimming, tears on his lashes. "I promise."
She smiled… and fell asleep.
Later that night, when the others were sleeping, Auron stepped into the cold field behind the house. Lightning flared in a circle around him as he activated both fused eyes fully. Violet and red light erupted from the pupils, casting eerie shadows across the grass.
He clenched his fists. "Why give me this power… if I can't save the people who matter?"
The wind didn't answer.
He stared at his reflection in the still water of the well. His eyes—once alien—were now part of him. The concentric ripples of the Rinnegan spun with Mangekyō tomoe burning in their cores. And in their glow, he saw both truth and pain.
Auron Elric.
Reborn from another world.
Brother of Edward and Alphonse.
Bearer of chakra and eyes not meant for this universe.
The hidden guardian. The third flame.
And one day… this world would need him.
But not yet.
Tonight, he let the power fade.
Tomorrow, the mask of the quiet genius would return.