This Will Make Sense Later,
But something to keep in Mind:

~…~ = Taps/Morse Code
*...* = sign language
"..." = Speech
"/.../" = Mouthed
Italicized = Thoughts


~*~ Silent Love ~*~
Chapter 1: Escaping To... Wait, I'm getting Ahead Of Myself

What does it feel like when you love someone, but you know you can't get close to them? And the reason you can't get close to them, is because they're with someone who makes them happy, and vice versa. I want her to be happy. They are perfect for each other, and yet I can't help feel this way. But I'm getting ahead of myself. So how did all this start? Well it wasn't that long after my parents died...

~*~

I carried a food tray with some soup and orange juice on it to my sister's room. Hopefully she isn't too sneezy, I wouldn't want to get sick too. I opened the door quietly and despite her headache, she sat up.

"Oo's there?" she greeted me with a stuffy nose. This is my sister, Crystal. Most men in our town like her because they say she's drop dead gorgeous. Obviously they never have seen her when she's sick or wakes up in the morning. Haha, I'm kidding. Even then, she's as lovely as ever.

Crystal is beautiful, just like our mother was once. The only difference between the two was Crystal has dark indigo eyes instead of the rich blue my mother had. They even have that same glossy brown hair that is light enough to look slightly and I mean slightly, like blonde, something, I unfortunately, did not get from my mom's gene pool. I look more like my dad. Out of five kids, I'm about the only one who has most of his genetics -.-; He told me more than once that I look just like his younger sister with different colored eyes and pale skin. I rather have light colored hair. My dark hair makes me look so much paler than I am, it's not even funny. I have my mom's pale skin, and my father's dark hair, not a good combination, I think.

"Relax Crystal, It's only me."

"Oh, Awly, 'aht are you doing 'ere?" Did any of you understand that? I sure didn't at first. It took me a moment to realize she wanted to know why I was there. Heh, a stuffy nose makes you sound so funny. Her white glazed-over pupils looked in my direction, though I knew she couldn't see me.

"I brought you some soup. So where's Ishmael?" I asked her as I placed the tray on the bed board. You know that thing at the end of your bed that's like a table, yeah, that's what I put it on. I'm not sure what it's real purpose is, but I usually use it as a table. Okay, Moving on.

"You did? 'anks. Is'bael? I don't know, 'hy?"

"Because with how sick you are, you're going to burn yourself trying to get the spoon in your mouth."

"'Ey! I'm 27 years ol', I con fee' myself."

"You know you can't use alchemy in your condition." She didn't say anything, and pouted a bit as she lied back down on her pillow. "It's true and you know it," I snickered a bit as she scowled and crossed her arms.

"Just goh find Is'bael, alright," she said.

"Don't worry about it, Crystal. Plus you need to let your soup cool off, I made it too hot again," I laughed nervously. ^.^;; I always over cook the soup and make it too hot. What can I say; soup's only good when you scold your lips.

I stepped outside brushed my hands over a circle carved onto wall, just outside Crystal's bedroom. A rhythmic vibration went through the floor of the house and even through the walls. I repeated it, and then I sat there... Waiting. I waited a maximum of five minutes before I grew impatient, and decided to go look for the 25 year old. Stupid Ishmael. Never comes when you call him. I didn't even walk an inch away when I felt a hot breath on my neck. It gave me the chills and made my hair stand on end.

"Ish!" I screamed, knowing he can't hear me. I don't care; I HATE it when he doesn't that. It's so irritating. "How-many-times-do-I-have-to-tell-you-not-to-do-that?!"

"/I'm sorry,/" he mouthed. "/I can't understand you/" He snickered at me. Stupid older brother, why does he have to be so irritating at times?

"I know very well that you understood me!"

*Sorry, I can't hear you,* he motioned with his hands in sign language.

*Just go help Crystal,* I told him a little frustrated.

*Fine, whatever,* he smirked walking into her room. I sighed.

That's my older brother, Ishmael; I call him Ish for short. He has light brown hair that's a little darker then Crystals, with eyes just like hers, a dark indigo. When we stand next to each other, he stands a good head taller than me. Stupid, Ish, so dang tall. At least Sammy is only a few inches taller than me and looks almost exactly like Ishmael if she spiked her hair like him. Samantha is his twin, and she is currently at a boyfriend's house. I hate her boyfriend; he tries to boss me around like he's my dad or something. Arg.

~*~

I walked to my room and found Leonani there. I was about the only one she will talk to, and so she and I were always with each other. "Lea? Whatcha doing?"

*I can't find my old journal, have you seen it?* she asked with her hands. She had worry on her face as she looked around franticly, but at the same time careful not to destroy my room. This is my sister Leonani. She's the only one with bright violet eyes, from our grandmother on our mother's side mixed with our dad's eyes, and rich black hair that is slightly longer then her shoulders, from our father, but does she look like a ghost? No. She has fair skin, a fine tanned color like she's from a desert town or something. She looks much like our mother only with that black hair and fair skin. She's about three inches or so shorter than me, which is a bit of a surprise, considering I'm younger. She gets angry when anyone confuses me as the older sister. Ha, that's the only thing that she doesn't tolerate, otherwise she's pretty much cordial.

"No I haven't seen it, why?"

*Please tell me if you find it, okay?* she asked me.

"Sure thing," I smiled at her as she walked out, no doubt to search for the journal. The truth of the matter was that I had the little diary; it was the first journal she ever had. Since she can't speak, she's written everything down ever since she learned how to write. I wasn't exactly being nosey... alright I was. In my defense she lets me read some of her other journals from time to time. I'm just trying to figure out something I've been missing. I knew my sister Leonani, very well in fact. We would go visit "friends", or so we say, in far away towns, and other such things just so we could travel. Not to say we didn't have friends in other towns that took a while to get to, I just like to be on the road it's like an adventrue. In fact, this was one of those rare times that we came back home.

~*~

So right about now, you're probably wondering about my family, aren't you? Well let me explain things plainly so that there's no confusion about anything. As you could tell my eldest sister can't see. She's blind. Simple as that. My brother and Sammy, they're both deaf, and my sister Leonani, she's mute. Despite these disabilities, they've made it by just fine. All of us grew up pretty much like normal kids. But compared to my family, I always felt like the odd one out. Not only in appearance, but I was the most "capable" one for lack of a better word.

I remember when I was about five or something like that, I asked my mom: "Why am I different?" because I could see the diffference between me and the rest of my family. I could hear just fine, see better then twenty-twenty vision, and I was the loudest. -.-; Yes, me and my big mouth; how do you like that? But she said I was just perfect, not different at all. My father loved me to death, I was his special child.

But because of how my family was, or rather, is, I grew up with three various things. One: sign language of course. Two: Morse code. And Three: Brail. I even learned to read lips from my brother Ishmael. I know sign language is a given. I had to read it and use it each day of my life to communicate with my brothers and sister. But Morse code and brail are different. I learned these from Crystal. She used Morse code to communicate with Ishmael, whom she has a strong relationship with, when she's sick and can't use her alchemy to see. Because he can't hear it, she taps on his shoulder, or hand, something that allows him to feel her tap or whatever. I don't quite understand it, but you get the idea.

The twins and Crystal, they went to specific schools in Xing, the country my mother grew up in, that helped them with they're disabilities. But Leonani and myself, we went to just a regular public school. I remember, because of what we learned growing up, Lea and I would tap on the desk with our pencils, and give each other answers through Morse code. Shh, don't tell Mrs. Tweetter, it's our little secret. Okay?

So as you can see, we lived a pretty normal life, and get by pretty well. So how surprised do you think I was when some people came and took my older sisters and brother, and put Leonani and me in a foster home. They had no reason to do that. But they did. So Lea and I escaped from the foster home, and went to find some old friends of Crystal's. I'm pretty sure they would help; they were all really good friends and all. But, God, how I hated that one guy, but we need his help the most. Mainly cause he was the highest ranked. They were people of the military,a guy named Roy Mustang and his subordinates.