Written by Jordanna Morgan, Blood Ties
(also here on Fanfiction Dot Net) is the first work in the Tiesverse.
Two years after coming to London, Edward is on his own again. His father has ran off, leaving Ed to his own devices. One night he comes across someone he thought he'd never see again: Envy, and no an alter version either. But, it's not the Envy he normally knows. It's the eerily similar looking Envy he saw just before dying.
Envy wounds Edward in their fight. He then proceeds to bite Ed's neck. Nearly dead, Edward is saved by a young woman around his age. This woman, Noa, is a dhampir. In order to save Ed's life, she must turn Edward into a dhampir too.
Tiesverse is an AU sequel to Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) that starts soon after Edward ends up on the other side of the Gate. It's not canon to The Movie and instead deviates after the final episode.
Blood Ties provides examples of:
- Adapted Out: Amongst the changes, Edward never meets Alfons.
- Alternate Universe Fic: Conqueror of Shamballa never happened. Instead, Ed ended up in Britain and became involved with vampires.
- Bittersweet Ending:
- Blood Ties ends with Edward across the Gate, however Noa is presumed dead. She isn't. She's actually still in London, back fo being a dhampir and inhabiting Francesca's body.
- Blood Ties' alternate ending, Blood Brothers, ends on a similarly bittersweet end. Edward and Alphonse are reunited but Alphonse is stuck in London and is a dhampir. In the epilogue, Edward has resigned himself to living on this side of the Gate, because all his friends are dead by now.
- Death by Adaptation: Prior to the story, the alter versions of Gracia and Elicia were killed by the vampire that turned Maes into a dhampir.
- Death of a Child: The alter version of Hughes' daughter Elicia was killed by a vampire.
- Dhampyr: Dhampirs in the Tiesverse are humans infected with vampire blood. Unlike vampires, dhampirs burn in sunlight. They're also functionly immortal, however they can be killed.
- Distant Epilogue: Blood Brothers ends with a timeskip nearly 100 years in the future.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Francesca used to be called "Sheska", but she can't stand to hear the name anymore due to its negative association with her ex-boyfriend.
- Eternal Love:
- Roy's lover Riza gets turned into a dhampir.
- In Blood Brothers, Edward and Noa live together as dhampirs.
- Fan Verse: The fan-verse is called "Tiesverse".
- Heroic Sacrifice:
- Hohenheim sacrifices himself to the Gate so that Ed and Noa can become human again.
- Noa sacrifices herself, which allows Ed to cross the Gate. However, she ends up surviving by occupying the body of the recently deceased Francesca.
- Hot Gypsy Woman: Deconstructed. Noa's attractiveness combined with her ethnicity leads to her being raped, beaten, and left for dead during the Great War.
- Official Couple: Blood Ties ends on Edward/Noa, Mason/Winry, and Roy/Riza.
- Parental Substitute:
- Hughes treats Noa similarly to a daughter. This includes an overprotectiveness about her.
- It's implied that Roy has a father-like relationship with Edward.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Homunculus turn into vampires when they cross the Gate. These vampires have the ability to steal memories and they also have no problem with walking around in the sun.
- Omniglot: Edward's Teen Genius extends to learning languages easily. He speaks fluent English, French, and Romani.
- Rape as Backstory: Noa was separated from her family during the Great War. A group of men raped her and beat her up. A Hunter, Hughes' alter, took pity on her and broke taboo to save her.
- Spell My Name With An S: The canonical spelling of Noa's name is "Noah".
- Vegetarian Vampire: Dhampirs prefer to hunt animals than humans. The Hunters that Ed meet use a butcher, Sig Curtis, as a means of getting blood.
- Younger Than They Look: Alphonse is sixteen but doesn't look his age after regaining his body.
