Ch. 1 - Silenced
"Ed? Brother?!" The seventeen year old alchemist lies flat on his back, gasping for breath as his brother's suit of armor clashed its way towards him. He saw the shadowed figure of his younger brother looming over him as the soul kneeled down next to him. "Edward! Brother! Say something…please!" He heard his brother beg, gently scooping him up in his arms as the metal boy stood. As Al stood there, awaiting a response from his brother, Ed could feel the cold body of steel shaking…scared and afraid.
"A- Al…I- ngh…!" The severely bleeding alchemist attempted to tell his brother something, but failed when a visible trail of blood seeped from the older boy's mouth after a loud cough. The pint-sized alchemist had been trying to find some way of getting his brother back to normal, but met up with the homunculi along the way. After what seemed like a never-ending scuffle between Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, and Lust; Ed and Al had already been able to finally rid themselves of their homunculus they created. Sloth was no more. Of course, the others weren't particularly happy with that, and Lust decided to end it there and then. The raven-haired female had snuck up behind Ed and extended her claws, piercing the alchemist's neck just as the boy's feet had come back in contact with the ground. Almost every one of the others looked shocked, but none so much so as the face of the eldest Elric brother. The others, figuring the boy was as good as gone, left without so much as a word to the teen, leaving him there for his younger brother to find once he finally tracked Ed down.
"D-don't speak, brother…s-save your strength! W-we need to get h-help!" Alphonse cried desperately, rushing out of the cave and out into the sunlight. The boy dashed over the ground with his older brother resting in his arms, Edward's neck and clothes splotched with blood. The body of armor bearing the boy's soul immediately ran into the nearest hospital, startling the patients and various nurses around. "Please…s-somebody help him! H-he's going to bleed to death…!" The young teen pleaded, only receiving terrified stares and looks from everyone around them. Al was about to run off when a doctor yelled for him to wait, the man looking frantic as he directed the panicky suit of armor into a room to set the seriously
weakened Elric down on a hospital bed. Al was shooed out of the room as a bunch of assistants filed into the room in a hurried fashion…all he could do now was wait. Sitting outside of the room to wait, he took turns between fidgeting his thumbs and walking back and forth in front of the door as he heard several harsh yells erupt from his brother's throat…ones that were almost painful to the ears. He could only imagine what the elder, golden-haired boy was going through. Suddenly after several hours it seemed, the door was thrown open to reveal the very tired doctor splattered here and there with what appeared to be the Ed's blood, which didn't sink in too well with Al. "…Doctor, my brother! Is he- is he all right?!" The worried sibling asked, fearing nothing but the worst as the doctor lowered his head.
"I've done all I can for the boy, but his vocal chords and trachea were damaged beyond repair. I don't know, he may never sound quite like he did anymore. In fact, I'm sorry m'boy, but your brother may never even become capable of speaking again…" The doctor informed Alphonse sadly, causing the boy of steel to fall silent and peer through the partially open door behind the man, spotting his brother lying on the bed, tired and unmoving. Alphonse thanked the doctor and the man allowed him to sit in the room with his brother so long as he stayed quiet and let the teen rest.
"Brother…this is- this is all my fault, isn't it? If I had found you sooner, and if you hadn't been looking for a way to get me back to normal…this- this wouldn't have happened…" The guilt-ridden younger teen admitted as he gazed sadly and thoughtfully at the alchemist who lie in front of him on the hospital bed, confined for quite a while to the small, white room which smelled heavily of medicines and sterilizing solutions. 'This isn't you, Ed…this wouldn't be you at all. Our Ed hates hospitals just about as much as he hates milk, and if conscious, he'd most likely have tried to get out of being here in any ways possible. Please, Ed…please get better soon. I- I can't stand seeing you so silent like this; I don't know if I'd ever get used to it if you were to become silenced like this forever.'