Something More
Chapter 1
Central Headquarters was a mess of disbelief and grief. Blood stained the once clean halls, the trail leading to a certain area of a certain Colonel. Roy Mustang stood with his other subordinates in shocked disbelief as he watched the youngest of the Elric brothers scream and cry.
"R-Roy…" Riza trailed off, for the first time in her life tears was trailing down her cheeks. Roy turned is head away and bit his lip. He wasn't going to cry damnit. He was Colonel Roy Mustang the Flame Alchemist. He did not cry. But god…this was too much. He had to deal with the pain of the war, and the death of his most trusted friend, Maes Hughes. And now, Fullmetal had been taken from him to.
He choked slightly, and despite his best effort, tears welled up in his eyes, causing an unpleasant burn. How could this have happened? He had just been sitting contently in his office, anticipating when Fullmetal would come in to deliver his report from his two week mission. He was thinking of what to tease the boy with when he heard the screaming.
The sight that greeted him when he ran out of the office was something he would never forget. Edward Elric was lying limply in his brother's arms, blood pouring from him in rivers. It was wrong, so terribly wrong. Ed was never still. The small teen was always moving about, not liking to be in inactivity for very long. And Roy remembered how the boy would bounce around his room just because he was bored.
And those eyes. Those lifeless Golden eyes going blank as they looked at him, pleaded at him to take care of Al. God…..The tears finally came out and the sob that was building in his throat came out in harsh, gulping gasps. He was never going to see him again, never hear Ed yell at him for calling him short, or for being such a bastard. Never will he see those eyes light up again just because of a new lead he had on the stone. Never was he going to see the way Ed smiled just for people he cared for. Never was he going to see those eyes glaring at him, promising extreme pain.
And suddenly, the screaming stopped. Roy turned slowly; almost afraid of what he was going to see. Al was no longer screaming, in fact, he was doing nothing at all. The stunning silence was so chilling.
"Alphonse…" Roy approached the young Elric but paused when the large bulk of armor stood up, his brother still in his arms. Blood stained the armor, but Roy paid no attention to it. All he could see was Ed's head, limp against his brother's chest, face pale, and lips blue. He looked…….
"Alphonse." Roy cleared his throat and tried again looking away. "We need….we need to know what happened…" He trailed off. He knew it was harsh to pry into what happened now, but he wanted, no needed to know.
"Scar." The voice was so emotionless that everyone cringed. Al was stuck in the armor, but at least he still had emotion in his voice. "Brother protected me from Scar."
Roy clinched his fists. That bastard. It was bad enough that he was going around killing state alchemists, but to kill a child.
"We need to make funeral arrangements." Riza finally said. Al nodded and turned away from them.
Everyone else slowly looked at one another. Something was wrong with Al's behavior, but they hoped it wasn't what they thought it was.
Roy was suspicious of Al's behavior. When they had lowered Ed's coffin into the ground, he hadn't reacted at all. He was way to calm for Roy's comfort. But maybe he was being stupid. When Al wouldn't leave, all Roy could do was leave him alone at the gravesite.
The circle was large and very detailed, but Al didn't care about that. The array was different than from the first time, because Al had become better at understanding alchemy, but it would do. It had taken months to get what he had, and he was proud of his accomplishments. Sure, everyone was worried about his new, aggressive behavior, but he had no choice. He placed all the ingredients in the middle of the circle.
The red water.
The half formed philosopher stone.
The ashes from Greed's bones.
Blood from all remaining homunculi.
A lock of Ed's hair.
And last but not least, what the military called taboo. He knew it was wrong to use that, but he wanted his brother to come back strong, so he wouldn't get hurt.
He stared at the ingredients, before placing his hands on the array and concentrating. The bright light didn't bother him at all, but with it, came an image of Ed. Al loved it when his brother looked at him. Ed's eyes reminded him of the sun, the beautiful golden orbs filling your soul with warmth and love. And with this image, came something his brother had said to him once.
"You know why I like the sun so much Al?"
Ed swung his feet to and fro as he sat on the ledge of Central Headquarters roof, his young face tilted up towards the sun and his hands placed behind him to hold his balance.
"Why brother?" Al watched his brother carefully, afraid that his brother would move too much and fall from the roof. Ed turned those wonderful golden eyes to him and smiled.
"Because it reminds me of mom. When she smiled, it was like the sun only came up because of it."
He brushed golden locks from his eyes. "You see Al, the sun is something constant in your life. You can always depend on it to rise every morning. You can always depend on it to light your way for you; no matter how hard it is to get there through your own personal darkness. When someone dies, the sun doesn't stop shining."
Al realized that this talk had something more to it, something very important. Ed hugged his brother's metal arm and looked deeply into his glowing red eyes.
"Al, what I'm trying to say is that if...if anything happens to me...don't make my mistake. Don't make me into one of them…"
And Al had laughed it off, saying that nothing was going to happen, but even he couldn't miss the sad gleam in his brother's eyes.
And that's when Al realized. His brother had known that he was going to die; he had known what Al would try to do as a result. And as the light brightened farther, all he could do was regret.
"What have I done….."
