Fullmetal Alchemist
The tears were hot and plentiful that morning; falling to the ground like a never ending waterfall. The pain he felt could only be described in one word; suffocating.
How did this happen? How could he let this happen? The questions circulated into a cyclone of both terror and guilt.
"A broken man will forever remain a broken man," the voice was familiar, but haunting. "Only a fool believes anything else."
"I...I thought…"
"You truly believed that you were anything but a broken man? That you held the knowledge or even the right to commit such a sin?" The voice echoed around him, filling the entire room with a new sense of fear. "No man can bring back the dead."
"No, that...that isn't true."
"No man, including yourself, could ever have that right. You are a fool. And only a fool dies for his sins."
"No, stop! This isn't right!"
"Are you a fool?"
"STOP!"
Air filled his lungs suddenly, his body erupting back to life. With a jerk of his body and a quick grasp of the chair's arm, Dan Elliot was ripped free from his previous terror. A quick sigh of relief was all it took for the man to realize that he was sitting comfortably on a train. The darkened room from earlier was nothing but a passing nightmare. In a matter of hours, he would forget about it and continue forward. Just like he always did.
"Sir?"
Turning toward the soft voice, he met eyes with a young woman. He relaxed a bit more into his chair before asking, "Is something wrong?"
"Oh, no." She responded, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. "But you're headed to Central, right?"
"That's right."
"Well, we should be coming in to the station in the next several minutes."
"Oh, thanks for the warning." With a soft nod, the young woman continued down the aisle - speaking with each and every passenger she passed. Dan, on the other hand, released yet another sigh and sank deeper into his chair. Pulling a crumpled paper out from the pocket of his black trench coat, he read the address quietly. Honestly, he hadn't expected to make it to this point in his life so soon. It was just as frightening as it was exciting.
Clenching his hand into a tight fist, he murmured, "Now I'm just one step closer to finding you."