I know you all have been patiently waiting for more, and I promise there will be! I just need to work on the storyboard some more, so please forgive me. In the meantime, I thought I would work on this chapter a little, I don't feel like this is my best work. :/
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One of Alphonse Elric's little known hobbies was reading fantasy novels. Yes, you read me right. Fantasy novels. Goblins, fairies, little evil gnomes shorter than his brother, Alphonse enjoyed reading about their mischievous selves. They were a nice break from the terrible world he found himself in. Of course, Al would never tell Ed that. Ed would laugh at him and tell him how unscientific it was. Sometimes, Ed could be a real killjoy.
So one day while (secretly) browsing the fantasy section of the Central Library while Ed was during whatever it was midgets do when they're not at home (go to secret midget ninja meetings), a small, red worn book caught Al's attention. It stood out from the dull, green and black books lined up so neatly. Gently pulling the novel off the shelf, the faint gold letters identified the book's title as The Labyrinth. They seemed to glimmer slightly in the low light of the library.
'The Labyrinth huh… this book looks interesting. It must be good if it's so well worn.' Al thought as he randomly opened it to a page to sample a few paragraphs.
Sarah had spun around. Now, in the great wall, she saw a huge, grotesquely designed gate. She stared at it almost accusingly. She could have sworn it had not been there before.
"There ain't no door, see?" Hoggle was explaining. "All you got to do now is find the key."
She looked back at him and then all around her. She saw at once that it was going to be no problem to find the key. Near her was a very small mat, and from each end of it an enormous key was sticking out. "Well," she said, "that's simple enough."
She went over to the key and tried to pick it up. She could just manage to get one end of it off the ground, or the other, but the whole key was too heavy for her to lift up to the keyhole in the gate. She glared at Hoggle.
'Wow, this is an awesome book! I can't wait to get home to read it!' Al was very particular about his books; he only ever checked one or two out at a time. They were easier to hide that way. This was one of those books that made his (metaphorical) heart stir, his fingers itch to turn the pages, his eyes light up to drink in the words.
Al rushed up to the librarian's desk as quickly as he could without making a terrible lot of noise. Of course, some of the patrons glared at him as he thundered past, but the librarian smiled at him, she understood that he didn't mean too. Al was her favorite patron, he was always so sweet.
The librarian examined the book as she stamped the return date...
"The Labyrinth? Wow it's been a long time since anyone has checked it out." The librarian said.
"Really? Why?" Al asked quizzically.
"For a while there was a rumor that anyone who read the book had a sibling that went missing. The rumors caused such an uproar that we put it close to the back so hopefully everyone would forget about the book and let the rumors die down." The librarian said in a lowered voice.
"Why not just get rid of the book?"
"Well, every time we tried we kept finding it back on the shelf the next morning. One of the librarians even threw it in the river."
Al's eyes widened. "Wow, that's a lot for a book." He wasn't sure he completely believed it; the book didn't look like it had been thrown in the river. It was certainly a lot of effort, just for a short book.
"Yeah well, the library was full of crazy people complaining to us about having a 'dangerous object' available for check out." What, did the book come armed with machine guns too?
With that, the librarian handed the book back to Alphonse. She smiled and said her farewell. Al bowed to her and headed home, it was only the little red book that was tucked under his arm.