This is another idea I had and couldn't hold myself back. That's what the inspiration devils get to me, they don't leave me alone. It won't be much, just a few short/snippets here and there as Ed, Al and co realize Ed's a Homunculus. I got inspired by 2003's Wrath.
"speech"
'thinking'
===Ed and Al (age 6 and 5 respectively)===
"Haah...haaaa...haaaa-! Gah!" - Ed was lost and scared.
He had been running through the dark forest for a long time before he finally tripped on a crooked root and fell. He scrambled to his feet and winced, his ankle was sprained.
'No! I-I can't! I have to keep running and get back to mom and Al. I have to. I can't die here!'
He heard the sound of footsteps cruching leaves behind him and the bark of a dog. He goes even faster, almost as if his ankle is alright. He heard the sound of flowing water in front of him and soon in front of him was a river. He either had to jump or let himself be captured. He hesitated for a bit but that has enough for his pursuer to spot him.
"Get him!" - a deep gravelly voice shouted.
The dog's leash was released and it bolted towards Ed. Ed was scared and ran towards the river but the dog was faster than the boy. The german shepherd mix viciously bit and pulled him by the calf. He tried to get free but was futile. His pursuer calmly walked towards him. The tall and bearded man, with hairy arms, dishelved appearance, boots and long coat approached the boy, in his hand was a metal pipe.
"Damn brat! You gave me too much trouble! Good thing you are useful, otherwise yer brain would've been splattered long ago. Let go!" - he shouted.
The dog let go but before Ed could do anything, the man hit him hard on the head with the pipe. Ed blacked out by the time his head smacked the hard, damp grownd.
...
He was hurting, he was cold...he couldn't move...where was he...? Ed tried to look around but couldn't see. He tried to shout but was gagged. As he came to, he realized he was blindfolded, tied up and on something hard and cold. He shifted a bit and, yep, it was stone.
'Wwhere am I?!...!...I've been captured by that bad man again. And he's tied me up this time. Damn!'
=Flashback=
"Ed! Where are you going?"
"I'm going out for a bit mom!"
"OK, but don't go too far and stick to routes you know! Your brother is sick and I have to watch him, so would you be kind and get some bread from Pinako's house?"
"Yes, I'll mom!"
Ed happyly ran out. He played around a bit and was about to go and see Winry at her house when he saw a bunch of very pretty flowers. He always thought picking flowers was too girly but thinking about how his mom's face would light up if he brings them to her, he decided to take them with him. He looked around, there was no one around and was eerily quiet.
He gulped nervously and slowly made his way to the edge of the small forest, if you could call it that, considering it was just a thick patch of trees surrounded by grasslands. There was an old wooden fence put around it in order for cattle and sheep to not wander and get lost in it. He crouched and crawled below the fence. Ed soon reached the flowers and kneeled. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, so he didn't notice someone had sneeked behind him untill it was too late. A large and calloused hand scooped him in a strong grip while another pressed a cloth to his face. He struggled but fell asleep.
He woke up at sunset in a metal cage in a dusty and smelly basement. There were other cages in there. Some had half-dead looking people, others had scary and grotesque monsters, but the scariest ones were the empty bloodstained ones. There were also a lot of scattered papers about alchemy, Ed couldn't read them but he had seen the circles in his father's books. He stood up and looked around. He had to escape. Just then Ed noticed the cage's door hadn't been locked because it was slightly opened. The man that had kidnapped him also wasn't there.
The man hadn't thought Ed would be up so fast with the dose of chloroform he inhaled but aparently he had underestimated Ed's metabolism. As quietly as he could, Ed opened the door and exited the cage. He climbed a few crates and reached the only window in the basement. He was big enough to get through.
'Just a little bit and I'll be out!' - Ed thought as he crawled out of the window.
Luck wasn't on his side that day. He had just gotten out and was about to close the window when the bearded man entered the basement.
"Wah! How did ya get out damned brat?!" - he sputtered and threw the wine bottle he was holding on the grownd, smashing it.
Ed scrambled away from the window and ran away into the forest. He ran and ran, untill it hit him. This wasn't the small forest but some other place. Ed didn't want to be caught by the man, so he ran even faster, trying to outrun him or find an inhabitable place.
=end=
"MHHHHHH! Ruuuuh!" (Ed trying to scream through the piece of cloth)
Ed thrashed and struggled in desperation. His efforts were rewarded soon.
"Shut it!" - the man kicked Ed.
Be it for good or bad, the blindfold fell off. Ed was greeted by the man's furious face. The man spat at him and moved next to the desk in the corner of the room. It was old, full of books and papers. A few empty wine bottles were also scattered around.
Having his eyes wandering around Ed realised he was in the centre of a transmutation circle. It was bigged and more complicated than anything he had seen.
"Banned they say...no talent they say! I'll show those damned swines from the Central! I'm way better than them! After my work is done, I'll be recorded in history! Hahahahaha!" - he lauched with a crazy look.
The man was obviously tipsy from the wine. Ed had realized he was about to be used as a material in a transmutation. He definetely didn't ant that! Although he knew nothing about the circle, he remembered that if a circle was damaged, wiped out or destroyed, the transmutation should stop or fail.
'If it means winning some more time, I'll do it!'
While the man wasn't looking and was still mumbling to himself, Ed did his best to wipe out lines from the circle.
"Now, let's start!"
The man sherply turned around and clapped his hands. With a trained motion he put them on the circle and it lit up. Ed squirmed even more, trying desperately to wipe some more of the lines. He even spilled some things that were aparently placed behind him. Nothing worked. The last thing he heard before the pain and darkness consumed him, was the wet spat behind him and the man's crazed chuckle.
...
Darkness...many eyes open...hands...hands...hands. Reaching...and reaching...tearing into him...pulling him apart. Pain...PAIN!
"GYAAAH!"
Mom...Al...Winry...Pinako baa-san...
"We're waiting! Have a nice trip nii-san!" ...Al.
"When you get back, we'll have a tasty meat stew!" ...mom.
"Have some srespect! And stop running around my workshop! Go outside!" ...Pinkao baa-san
"Ed, you dummy! I hate you! *throws a doll in his face*" ...Winry.
'I-I can't die here! Let me go...let me GOOOOOO!'
=With Winry and Pinako=
"Grr...Where is she?! It's getting late." - Pinako was impatiently waiting.
"Who are you waiting for granny?"
"For Ms. Elric. She asked me to buy some bread for her because she was too busy. She was supposed to have come by now."
"Maybe something happened?"
"Hmm...You may be right. Wait a bit."
Pinako went to the phone and dialed a number.
[Hello?]
"It's me Pinako."
[Oh, Pinako! Sorry I couldn't come. Al caught the flu and I'm looking after him.]
"There's no problem."
[Ah, has Ed arrived yet? You can give him the bread.]
"Ed? He's not here?"
[He's still not there?! He should have arrived long ago!]
"I have a bad feeling. You look after Al and we'll go search for Ed."
[OK, I will. I just hope nothing bad happened.]
"Me too..."
Pinako closed the phone.
"Winry! We're going out! Take two lamps and a few wrenches! Ed may be in trouble."
They searched untill it got dark and the moon was high up. In the end there was no trace of Ed. Unwillingly Winry went to sleep. Pinako had threatened her with taking all her stuff and banning her from going out for a week in order to get her to have some sleep.
The next morning Winry woke up as soon as the sun rose. She dressed up and went to the kitchen. Her grandma was already there. She hadn't went to sleep at all, judging from the dark circles under her eyes.
"Winry, sit and eat some eggs."
"No! I'm going to look for Ed!"
"We'll both go! But not without eating breakfast. You won't have any strenght otherwise."
"Ugh. Fine!"
She quickly gulped down her breakfast and headed out. She opened the door but froze. On their verand was Ed, sprawled, face down and with bloodied clothes on.
"Kyaaa!"
"What's it Winry?!" - Pinako looked out of the door and also froze.
After a moment Pinako picked Ed up and brought him inside.
"I-Is he going to be fine granny?"
"Yes, don't worry. I'll make sure he's fine."
...
"Huh?"
Ed sat up and looked around. He was in clead clothes and in a familiar room.
'This is Winry's house...How did I get here?'
The door opened. Winry entered the room and the moment she saw him awake, she beamed and clomped around his neck.
"Ed! I'm so glad you're OK. You just wouldn't wake up!"
"WWinnry! You're suffocating me!" - he struggled to get away from the girl.
"Ed!"
"Al! Mom!" - he beamed as his family entered the room.
In the big group hug they all laughed and smiled. Eventually Winry was called by her grandma, leaving the Elrics alone.
"We were so worried nii-chan! I thought something bad happened!"
"Yeah, what exactly happened dear? You aren't hurting anywhere, right?"
"No, mom, I'm fine."
"Good. Can you please tell me what happened? Winry had found you sleeping on the stairs in front of the house this morning."
"Well...I went out and headed for Winry's house. I was passing near the small forest and then...and then..."
Ed tried to remember but nothing came to him, no memories, only black and the feelings: fear and dread.
"I-I can't remember!"
"Not even a thing? Where you were? Who put the tattoo on you?" - his mother inquired.
"Tattoo?! What tattoo?" - Ed was panicking.
"Here!" Al placed a hand on the back of his neck, just below his hairline "It's quite small and strange. We didn't notice it untill we had to wash your hair."
"Let me see!"
They had to use 2 mirrors and struggled quite a bit to put them in the right angle for Ed to just be able to see the mark. A snake eating it's own tail. (Ouboros.) Ed's brain added.
"But, God, what kind of psycho marks children like...like some property!" - his mother was furstrated, even furious.
"You can't do much. Our best chance is to inform the police and hope they get caught as soon as possible. Now, who's up for lunch?" - Pinako asked from the door.
They all agreed and went to the kitchen. The whole matter about the tattoo on Ed's neck was forgotten. After all "What's happened happened." and there was no point fretting over it. After that Ed grew his hair longer and began puting it in a low braid.
===Timeskip===
Their mom was dead. As the last people left her grave's side, leaving the two boys alone, they couldn't hold it anymore and they fell on their knees, crying. They swore they'd return their mother, one way or another.
You know what happened next. They studied alchemy under Izumi Curtis for some time and gained a lot of experience. The ouboros tattoo was almost completely forgotten due to the events and it was treated more like a birthmark than something that had been put there by someone. The nonchalant attitude and low ponytail of Ed made the mark practically nonexistent, so no one noticed a thing, even Izumi.
After completing their training, the two boys decided to return and try to ressurect their mother. However...
The alchemic reaction started as they both touched the circle. It was going well untill the colour of the reaction changed and an omnious wind appeared.
"Aaaah! Nii-san! Your leg!" - Al shouted.
Ed looked down to see small black hads disintegrating his left leg. He struggled to get away but at that time even more hand shot out and lunged at Ed.
'Oh, no! What have we done?' - Ed thought.
Suddenly he was pushed out of the way by Al. The hands grabbed the younger brother and pulled him inside the gate.
"Al nooooOOOO!" - Ed desperately tried to reach his brother on one leg but it was futile.
Al was gone and the thing that emerged from the transmutation was not their mother.
"Sorry...Al..." Ed whispered when suddenly pain erupted from his head "Guh...GAAAH!"
He fell and convulsed on the floor, his leg had stopped bleeding, closed by red sparks. An unimaginable amount of knoledge appeared in his mind. Like the reel of a movie, everything passed quickly untill it reached an almost unintelligible part.
...
"I-I c-'t d-e yeeettttttttttttttttt!"
Hands...black...pulling...fear...despair...hope...
"Am-ng...hehe...will...impo-le to esca=e!...NO!... T- can't ... I'- e-, go-, Truth! ...You...see...fat-!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" - he?...scre-oared?...and reached out.
Ripping...free...light...escape...screams...
"Y-u actua-y ma-ed...! We'-l see ea-ot-er ag-in...li-le H...u...n..."
...
Ed gasped as the stream of information was abruptly cut painfully.
'What was that...and the end...!'
*h...haaahkh!*
The thing had taked a raspy breath and jerked up a bit. Ed looked at it in disgust and as if something else was telling him what to do, he clapped his hands and proceeded to destroy it. After that, just to be safe, he set it on fire using some oil and a matchstick.
'I know what to do...sorry Al! I-I can't loose you too!'
Ed dragged himself towards the empty suit of armour, the thought of being with his brother the only thing in his head. He easily removed the heavy armour from it's stand, not noticing his increased strenght at all or the almost nonexistent glow emmitting from the ouboros on the back of his head.
(Not that he could anyway, being on the back of his nech, hidden by hair and all.)
He had to puncture his finger multiple times to make the seal on the armour, the wound stopped bleeding almost instantly. Finally he finished the seal and clapped his hands again.
"I'm giving my right hand! Please, Al...I can't loose you!"
He activated the reaction and immediately a blinding light filled the basement.
=Al POV=
I open my eyes. I feel heavy and weightless at the same time. What a strange feeling...
"Nii-san!" - I sat up and heard loud clanking.
I look down and see armour. Before I can panic over the fact a groan snaps me out of it. There, on the grownd lays Ed, his leg and arm missing. He looked extremely pale and fatigued.
"A-al...I'm sorry..." - he says to me and faints.
'I-I have to find help! Someone...Pinako baa-chan!'
...
Not late after I had arrived to their house and given Ed to be checked up.
"Don't worry Al...I-I'm sure Ed'll be fine! He's not bleeding, right?" - Winry tried to reassure me but I wasn't convinced.
There was too much blood on his clothes and the floor after all.
=end POV=
The sound of chirping birds woke Ed up. He was laying on a bed and for a few moments he didn't register anything. Suddenly he sits up so fast he gets dizzy. He looks around and spots the slumped armour leaning on the wall across the bed.
The events of the previous night then hit him. They had failed and Al had sacrificed himself. He clenched his fists in grief and cried quietly for a while.
"Sorry...Al...it's all my fault!"
=On the road to Resembool, in a car=
"So, the famous Elric brothers live here?" - Roy Mustang asks.
"Yes, according to our informants they had returned here two weeks ago." - the driver, a man with glasses and beard answered.
"Finally! They had been avoiding us for what? A year, two? Or maybe more? I can't wait to give them the invitation and be back to doing less work!" - Roy stretched and poped his neck.
He had been given the order to give an oficcial invitation to the Elrics to attend the exam and maybe join the militay. He would have refused but it was a direct order from the Furer. And to be honest, that guy scared Roy quite a bit. Now THAT was something!
After a bit more driving on the bumpy dirt road, the car stopped in front of the Elrics' house.
'It's a nice place. Even a swing in front. I wonder if they're living with someone else?' - Roy mused.
"Sir? SIR!"
"Yes?!" - Roy got startled.
"I was calling you for a while. What should I do? Should I wait or go somewhere else?" - the man asked from the driver's seat.
"You may leave. I'll walk a bit. I'll meet you at the inn we reserved."
"OK. Good luck sir!"
The man drove away and Roy returned to his task. He knocked on the door but there was no response. He circled around the place slowly but no signs of life were inside the small house.
'Strange...they should have returned more than 2 weeks ago but it's like they were barely here...Huh?'
Roy noticed a door that probably led to the basement, or something like that. He lightly pushed and yep! It was open. He gulped and steeled himself. Roy put his gloves on and headed down. Just as he reached the bottom of the steps he saw the glint of an oil lamp. He lit it up and looked around more carefully. There were books, dust, cobwebs but what made his heart skip a beat was the transmutation circle and the blood...so much blood.
"What the hell happened...?"
"Something bad that's none of your buisness Mr. Military man." - an old woman's voice sounded behind him.
He turned around and readied himself to attack.
"Who are you?!" - he asked the short old woman.
"Pinako Rockbell, the current guardian of the boys. And who are you?"
"Colonel Mustang from the Amestrian state military."
"Hmm...a big shot then? What are you doing here then? I dobt someone like you would come just to sightsee?"
"I can ask you the same. Where are the Elrics? I'm looking for them." - he lowered his hands in a peaceful way.
"They are at my house." she sighed and rubbed the back of her neck "I came here to take some clean clothes for them. To my surprise, someone has entered the basement. I was thinking of knocking you out at some point." just now he noticed the wrench in her hand "But! Now that you are here, you'll help me with the luggage!" - she ordered him and went up the steps.
"Haah?" - is rebooting, please wait...
...
When Roy arrived at Rockball's house/workshop he hadn't expected what he saw. From the reports on their achievents and reputation he had thought they are at least legal adults but what he saw was two boys not even 16. One of them in a wheelchair without an arm and a leg, the other without a body. They had attempted human transmutation and paid the price.
'I guess everyone makes mistakes, no matter if we want or not...' Roy remembered the war but quickly shoved the memories away for some other time '...but that boy, heh...he's something else.'
"Well...there's nothing more I can do right now. I'll be going but know you are invited. My office's phone number and that of Central is inside the folder. Have a nice day." - he headed out.
Ed hadn't reacted at all, still staring at his lap, while Al was trembling a little.
"Hey!" Winry stopped him outside "Why are you so blunt? They've lost so much and now you want them to become soldiers?! What...!" - she was interrupted by Roy's hand.
"Haven't you seen his eyes? That boy, Edward's eyes are that of a fighter! Just by looking at the flames in them I can tell he's not given up. He'll get up, even stronger than before!" - he turned his back and walked away.
...
Everyone knows what happens after that. Ed gets automail. He makes a fast recovery and is moving like new in 9 months. He and Al then decide to go to Central.
...
Ed waited on a chair in the almost empty room. There were some soldiers watching him as he waited for the so called 'jury'. When they arrived he was asked many questions, also it turned out that the Furer himself had come.
"Someone may try and do something if you are unprepared, right?" - Ed asked as he pointed the newly transmuted spear at the Furer's throat.
Bradley just laughed and didn't look disturbed by the weapon.
"I like you! So brazen and you have guts! You are accepted."
"Bbut sit! He..." - one of the other men tried to speak.
Bradley silenced him by raising his hand. He then patted Ed on the shoulder and turned around, leaving for his next assignment.
"...Also, I'm not so vulnerable, even at my age. Haha!"
Just then the spear's top fell apart and they noticed the sword in Bradley's hand.
"When did he?!" - Ed shouted.
...
Ed was returning home to pack his and Al's stuff and say goodbye. He was looking at the open fields full of sheep from the train's window. His brain kept returning to his meeting with the Furer. The guy made him feel a certain way, somrthing he hadn't felt before. There was also the slight tingling he felt at the place there his mark was. It had started when he did the spear stunt and ended when King Bradley patted his shoulder. At that moment it was as if a jolt of electricity or even lightning had struck him, making him stiffen up for a moment.
'Back then...it was like this...thing passed through me...it was...I don't know...anger...pain? I better be careful around him.'
He rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly, not noticing the faint sparks it emitted at the moment of touch.
===Timeskip===
Everything was going well. Ed was now 15 and Al was 14. Three years of service and they had close to no clues about the Philosopher's stone. Of course, they had encountered that fake priest and his counterfeit stone. It was understandable Ed was a bit furstrated. Add that bastard Tucker and Scar to the mix and it becomes a recipe for a bad time.
After their fight and total defeat by Scar, Ed was left without arm and Al with more than half his body disintegrated. The worst thing was that Ed kinda knew the attack was coming. He knew about Scar but still wandered around, practically shouting 'Here I am! Come and get me!' . Thankfully Major Armstrong had saved them in time. Ed new he should be happy but he felt uneasy. All because of an event during the battle...
=Flashback=
Ed was fighting Scar and was getting a bit better at dodging him. He kept his distance and used the street to transmute spikes, blockades and weapons. Scar roared in rage and went after Ed's head. Ed got prepared to catch it, he was going to use his automail.
Alchemic red sparks danced across Scar's hand but as it got close to Ed's face a sudden jolt of electricity shot through his body. The world seemed to slow down. Everything became colourless, dull grays, whites and black. They served as a backgrownd to some multi-color kights and sparkles, waves and threads that sprung to life around him. Some were dimm, some were bright, some were stationary, others moved slowly like a river. He looked at Scar, he was moving at a snail's pace, from a bright light in his chest multiple 'roots' spread throuh his body and out as thin strings. His right hand however is blood red, unlike the rest of his body. He looks at it and he feels like he is 'pulled' deeper in it.
'GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!'
Multiple screams and wails snap him out and the world returns to normal. He stumbles a bit and lifts his automail and in a flash it's blown to pieces. Scar prepares to finish the job but just then Major Armstrong saves them.
=end=
'What was that back then?...Some kind of adrenaline induced vision or something else...? One thing is for sure, it came from one place and spread through my whole body. And the place it came from...'
Ed rubbed the back of his neck, trying to feel for something being amiss but his skin was fine. This meant he wasn't hit by anything which leaves...
'The tattoo...But why?! I never had any problems with it, heck I even forgot it was there at some point. Is there something fishy about that tattoo after all? Who knows what creep put it there. Also the time I was missing is still blank...'
"...e've arrived! Let's go out and stretch our legs!" - Armstrong's jovat tone snapped him out of his musings.
'Oh! Right, we were going to Resembool to get my arm fixed.'
Ed stood up and stretched, his back popping at the motion.
"Come on Edward! Let's stretch our bodies and get food!" - Armstrong flexed, sparkle and all.
Ed followed him out of the train.
...
Unexpectedly in the small town they met an old aquitance of the Major. Dr. Markoh, an alchemist, that also had been in the war against Ishbala. They chased him around for a while but managed to talk with him in the end. He was not convinced they weren't enemies but after hearinf Ed and Al's story he gave them a note and asked them to leave, not telling anyone of their encounter.