The Beginning
I own nothing but Zolf's parents' names and the plot. Wish I owned Zolfy... ;n;
This is mostly dealing with Kimblee's early years. Mostly his middle and high school years after this prologue is over with... Which it is.
"Hmm... that damn boy's at the damn alchemy again!" somebody yelled from inside a house not too far from Central Command in Amestris. James Kimblee, a sturdy built gentleman was once again yelling in a drunken rage through the house after having heard the sounds of alchemy from his son's room. His wife, Karen, whimpered softly when she heard her husband yelling again. She could hardly stand staying in the house let alone living with a man who beat his own son. Zolf J. Kimblee was a young boy of only three years old. He'd just learned alchemy from looking at the pictures in the alchemy books he read all the time. The young boy whimpered and tried to quickly hide all of his work when he heard his father's heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. He whimpered some more and sniffled, trying to hide under the bed. He flinched when he heard his door kicked open. The young alchemist turned and sniffled, looking pleadingly at his mother who stood in shock at the door.
"Mama! Don't let him do this please! Mama please help me!" Zolf managed to yelp out before he was lifted up. His father's face was a very bright shade of crimson by this point. He was furious with his son for learning what had been strictly forbidden, and now this whimpering child of his would get the punishment he deserved. James slapped his son hard across the face, followed soon after by hurling his own son roughly onto the bed. Zolf whimpered loudly, tears running down his small face. Cheeks stained with tears as his father continued the usual routine of whipping Zolf's back with the metal end of the belt his father always wore. Soon was followed by several swift kicks to the small boy's stomach, finished with Kimblee whimpering and crying as he crawled into bed, his father retreating back downstairs. His mother came soon in swiftly and tried to clean up the hurt boy, crying herself when she saw all the damage, even though it was the same everytime Zolf was caught using alchemy.
"M-mama... why do you let him do that to me...? He shouldn't... wish he was dead..." Zolf murmured around a swollen lip, whimpering when his mother tried to clean him up more. Karen nodded and sighed gently.
"Kiddo...? I... I might leave your father soon... I want you to be my strong little soldier boy, okay..? I know you can be strong, right?" she whispered as she tended to Zolf's broken lip. Kimblee nodded, tilting his head slightly in confusion before shaking his head vigerously.
"No mama... you have to take me with you! Please...? I don't wanna be left all alone with him, mommy... he'll beat me up worse cuz he'll blame me... please take me with you mama!" Zolf pleaded, hugging his mother tight when she shook her head. He shook under her soothing hand, which was currently rubbing his back.
"I love you, mama..." Kimblee whimpered as he slowly let his mother go, tears falling as he stood up with her, holding onto her hand. "I love you too, baby boy..." she whispered back, leading him outside to the balcony stairs before leaving her child there. Kimblee watched as his mother descended the stairs and left out the door, closing it quietly behind herself. Zolf ran to the roof to wave one last goodbye to his mother. He knew she didn't see it but it was all he had left.
"Right... bye mama... I love you... gotta get rid of the man that scared you away now..." Kimblee said as he climbed back inside, grabbing his chalk and walking quietly to where his dad usually slept. "You'll pay you... you...!" Kimble mumbled for lack of better curses. He quickly drew a combination of arrays he knew, knowing most dealt with very simple destruction. Zolf clapped and raised his hands over his head before slamming them on the array just as his dad woke up.
"You fucking bastard child, son of a bitch!" his father yelled. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THE FUCKING ALCHEMY YOU FUCKING LITTLE WORTHLESS WORM!" his father continued to yell. Zolf gasped and whimpered before running quickly up to his room, activating the small mines at his doorstep on his way into his now blocked off room. His father glared before stepping directly on one of the arrays, seeing red by now because of his ever present hate of his son. Zolf finally grinned, quickly running over and drawing the array's twin, activating both, enjoying that moment that he saw pain and fear pass over his father's face.
"Bye-bye you... bastard!" Zolf said as he was splattered with blood, his father's remains falling to the ground with a squishing sound. "Hope I made you proud mama... I killed the mean man... I... killed... someone... but now... I'm all alone." he whimpered, now realizing the consequences of his actions. He ran outside and then ran as far as he could along the streets, stumbling and whimpering whenever he got lost. "MAMA! I... I'm scared... I don't know what to do..." the young boy whimpered, slouching down in the alleyway, thouroughly lost and cold by now.
"Hey Auntie Christmas! Lookie! It looks like a lost kid! Can we keep 'im?" a high pitched voice asked. Zolf looked up to see a rather large intimidating woman and a small boy next to her. Kimblee sneezed then backed up slightly when a boy about his age came bounding forward, stopping and extending his hand. "Aww c'mon! I won't bite... 'm name's Roy Mustang! This here's my auntie! She takes care of me and lets me read all sorts of interesting books about alchemy!" Roy said, Zolf blinking and unsurely taking Roy's hand. "My name's Zolf Kimblee... my mom left my dad and I just killed my dad cuz he was the reason mom left... and he beat me all the time because I wanted to learn alchemy..." Kimblee whispered, whimpering when Roy gently patted him on the back. The young Mustang blinked and sighed. "Auntie! We can't just leave him out here all alone... he killed a bad man for the good of this city... please?" Roy asked, smiling happily up at Madame Christmas.
"Oh alright, Roy-boy. Just make sure you treat him nicely and let him look at those books with you okay?" Madame Christmas said, looking down at Zolf. Roy just nodded and grinned, practically dragging Zolf to the bar. Zolf smiled genuinely for the first time in a long while, glad to have made a friend, even if he was over enthusiastic and absolutely insane, as Zolf concluded in his first few weeks at staying in a bar.