AN: Well this is an idea that has been cooking in my head for some time. And its summer so I have plenty of time to work on this.
I hope you all enjoy this and please let me know if I should continue. I don't have a beta so all mistakes are my own.
Warnings for this chapter: Violence.
Disclaimer: Do not own.
Introduction:
The sky had taken on a red cast to it as the advancing army slowly approached the great stone walls of the castle. A blonde man dressed in blood red robes stood on the great walls watching the advance. Energy coursed through the earth, charging the air. A sense of foreboding lay heavy in the air. The man's army was at his back down in the by the gates and spaced along the wall and castle waiting for the advancing army to make its attack.
The man turned slightly at the sound of footsteps approaching, still keeping the army in his line of vision.
"My Lord." The Raven haired man who just approached said tilting his head in respect.
"I have a job for you Mustang," the man in red said, "Take my wife and my sons and get them out of here."
The man addressed as Mustang gave him a confused look, "Sire surely the will not breach the walls? We have the best alchemists in the world guarding this place."
Sighing the blonde looked up to the sky, "I fear my brother may have something we have never seen before." He turned back to the scene before him, "The plan we discussed Mustang, do it. If all goes well we can bring the back, but I fear the worst."
Mustang nodded and went to collect the queen and the young princes.
He led the queen through a series of underground tunnels, his hand clutching the older prince's as the younger prince cried in his mother's arms.
An explosion shook the walls around them causing the older prince to move closer to him as the younger cried louder.
"We're almost there not too much farther now." He said as much to reassure himself as the others.
Five minutes later and three more explosions saw them come into a large chamber. A transmutation circle took up most of the floor.
The queen walked into the circle, Mustang gently pushed the elder prince to fallow his mother.
Looking up Mustang met the sad eyes of the queen, "Each prince will return when they turn sixteen if we do not come get them first and then we will come for you."
The queen gave a sad smile, "You know as well as I Mustang, with this sickness I will not live much longer, promise me you will look after my boys."
Mustang nodded, "Of course my queen."
Then he put his hands to the circle and a flash of light consumed the room.
Ed quietly stepped down the stairs, taking care not to step in the middle of the third step to the bottom, aware of the shrill squeak it would make if he did.
This was his ritual every morning before he went to school, trying desperately not to wake his foster mother, one Mary Gloss. She was a portly woman in her late fifties with graying hair and a temper that made rabid dogs seem nice .She was passed out on the couch after another heavy night of drinking. Although the women was kind enough to take him and his younger brother in after their mother lost her battle to cancer, the women had a cruel streak a mile long. On so much medication because she was sick herself, she would drink herself into a stupor and thoroughly beat him if he so much as made a noise in the morning.
Not for the first time was he glad that his little brother, Alphonse, was in a boarding school across the country. Ever the self sacrificing brother, he had given up going to the school because they could only afford to send one brother. Ed had easily let his brother go and endured the torture himself, content that his brother at least was happy and above all else safe.
The door clicked shut behind the blonde who then began to run; it looked like rain and he did not feel like getting caught up in the storm and having to spend his whole day in wet clothes.
Rose Wood High was an impressive stone building that seemed to tower over its students. The building itself was the tallest and most immense structure in the small town and Ed hated it almost as much as he hated his own house. As an orphan he moved to the small town at the tender age of nine, when most children had already made friends and formed their small groups, Ed was an outsider, an anomaly. His bright blonde hair and gold eyes made him an instant outsider, and earned him the title of school freak. He had no friends, but he really honestly did not care at all. After one short comment and a thrashing administered by said blonde later, people tended to leave him alone.
And Ed was fine with that, he really was.
School was an uneventful affair as always. Teachers droned on about subjects that the Elric already knew or could understand in the first few minutes of class. Everyone avoided him and he ignored the whispered comments about him in the halls as he passed.
The day was over before he knew it and he was left standing outside his home, glaring at the structure and willing it to disappear, naturally it refused.
Sighing he opened the door, safe in the knowledge that the women was working at the shop until five.
"Edward!" A voice from within the house reached his ears. Ed caught off guard because Izumi was never home at this time did not have time to bolt up the stairs to the relative safety of his room.
The blow to his face came from out of nowhere and Ed caught off guard fell back hitting his head on the bottom step of the staircase. He took the beating like he always did, without complaint. He forced his body to relax. If he put up a fight the beating would only go on longer.
Soon the women relented and went stumbling off toward the back of the house were the kitchen, and the fridge full of alcohol, was located.
Slowly the blonde boy dragged himself up the stairs and to his small room. He pulled the pan of water from under his bed with the supply of towels he kept there for times like this.
The blonde boy slowly dragged the towel now soaked in water over his face, carefully whipping the blood off.
Checking himself in the mirror that hung against the far wall, he could see that both his eyes were blackened and his nose was broke again. Quickly he grabbed his nose and pulled it back into place, holding in the cry of pain as tears filled his eyes.
Not for the first time Ed felt out of place in the world. He always felt deep in his heart he was meant for something great, what he could not say. He didn't feel right in his own skin most of the time.
The vivid dreams didn't help either.
For years now he had the same recurring dream. A bright blue sky was the backdrop for a grand castle, towers that soared high into the sky, great stone walls gleaming in the bright sunlight. It always felt like home, it felt safe. As if the great stone walls would surround him and protect him. But the dream always changed, the sky would turn dark and red, fire and screams would erupt from the inside of the walls. Ancient forms of what Ed could only guess was pure energy charged the air as the castle seemed to suddenly implode. Then he would wake with a start in a cold sweat, tangled in his sheets on his small bed, with a feeling of deep sole wrenching pain. As if he was there and knew those people.
Then there was the feeling that came with the thought of his sixteenth birthday. As If something more would come of it other than being able to drive.
Slowly Ed changed out of the blood stained clothes letting the shirt and pants fall into a basket with other clothes that held a hint of the rusty red of his blood.
He dragged himself into bed not caring that it was still too early. Before sleep claimed him he whispered to the empty room, "Happy sixteenth Ed".
Slowly Ed became aware of a bright light. He grumbled and rolled over thinking that he had left the blinds to his room open again. The blonde became aware that what he was laying on was most defiantly not his bed; his bed did not have rocks in it.
He blinked his eyes open slowly then sat up abruptly.
Bright sunlight shined down from a deep blue sky, lighting what he could only assume to be some sort of courtyard.
Taking in his surroundings the blonde had an odd sense of deja-vu. The stones that littered the space were of the same white from his dream. Walls still surrounded the area he was in but the great structures from his dream were no crumbling and nature had taken back much of the stone structure. Grass and weeds poked through the holes in the stone.
Still the sight was breath taking.
Edward slowly became aware of the fact that although he had gone to bed in nothing but his boxers he was now wearing clothes.
Looking down at himself he noticed a black tank top over a pair of leather jeans that fit almost perfectly. Black combat boots adorned his feet, finishing the outfit. Ed was undecided on the whole look, really the leather in particular.
Ed caught movement out of the corner of his eye and whirled around. A man stood before him, he had dark raven locks that fell into eyes that were so blue they were almost black and he was dressed in a tattered blue uniform.
"Hello Edward." The man before him said, "Welcome to Amestris."