Prologue: I walked down the sidewalk, greeting anyone who passed with a smile. Just like mother told me to, I guess she was my adopted mother but she was still the only mother I cared about. I was happy, today big brother was coming home. Roy had been gone for a very long time and I couldn't wait to tell him my big secret, I promised I would tell him if he got home safe. He had gone away to check on something near the eastern border or something, he didn't really tell me much more than that. Big brother was a soldier, he was an alchemist. He could do magic with just a snap of his fingers, it was really cool and he showed me a few tricks before he left. He could make fire out of thin air! That's really cool right? Big brother could beat anyone, so I wasn't worried about him.
I wanted to be just like him when I got older. He always kept his cool, never ever backed away, and no matter what, he always took care of his friends. Like Hawkeye! Mother says that Roy would probably be dead by now if it weren't for her, and Mr. Hughes! He was a big help to Roy too! He had taken Roy home a lot when he had fallen asleep at his office, brought him coffee, and he also introduced me to his wife! She's a very nice lady and she had always played with me when I was younger, and visited often when Mr. Hughes was with big brother.
I skipped a little, practically leaping for joy. Soon I would be tackling big brother! I ducked into an alley way to get home quicker, Mother had told me to go to the park and play with my friends, but they had to go home early so I had to walk home alone. I didn't mind, I liked being alone, then I could think. A lot of times it was too loud to think! People bustling everywhere, muttering, yelling, and shoving. How could anyone think? But big brother could. He could think in the noise, he also yelled back at people. So I tried to think clearly in noisy areas and had become a bit of an expert at it! Not as much as big brother, but enough to function properly.
I even excelled more in school 'cause of it! I was several grades higher than my own because I could focus more, tune out white noise and all that stuff. I was only 11 but was in school with people who were 15. They were all really nice to me and I made a ton of friends, friends are great. Just like Roy's friends, my friends take care of me. But they had to go home, so that's why they didn't walk me home like usual.
I was thinking all this when a voice ahead of me made me stop, "Where do you think you're going so late at night, huh kid?" I almost ran away, my friends had told me scary stories about someone kidnapping young girls in alleyways late at night when they were alone. But then I remembered what big brother would do, he would stand his ground, fight back. So I stood up straighter, putting my hands into fists, and asked coolly, "Who are you? What do you want?" The man stepped further into the light and he was wearing weird clothing. Something that Mother would frown at for a guy to wear; he was barefoot with black cloth wrapped around the middle of his foot and his ankle, leaving his toes and heels free, he had on either short shorts or a black skirt, and he had a very small shirt that exposed his stomach.
His hair was kept out of his face by a black cloth wrapped around his head, but it spiked out, like a porcupine's quills, and it had a strange green tint to it. He also had black cloth wrapped around his palms.
He chuckled lightly and said, "You're pretty brave, for a human." I set my jaw, "Some 'humans' can be brave. And you say that like you aren't one." He laughed and spread his hands, "That's cause I ain't kid, and the humans I've seen quiver in fear at the sight of me." I scoffed, mimicking brother's pose that he gets when he's talking to someone he doesn't like, with my back straight and tall, my jaw set in defiance, and my feet spread shoulder-width apart. "Then you haven't met many humans have you?"
His mouth fell open in surprise and I heard a cool, slow, seductive voice behind me say, "Well, well, well. Seems as though the younger Mustang has the same attitude as her brother does, it does appear that it runs in the family doesn't it, Envy?" I turned my head coolly over my shoulder to see a woman dressed in a black figure hugging dress sauntering over to us. I turned back to Envy, "I asked you before, Envy. What do you want? And who's your friend?" The girl laughed and stepped next to Envy.
Envy crossed his arms and assumed the cocky expression he had on before, "Her? She's Lust, I'm Envy." I laughed haughtily, just like I had seen other people do, "Congrats smart guy, in case you didn't hear me before, I heard your name from 'Lust'? What's with the 7 deadly sins vibe goin' on?" Envy threw his head back and laughed arrogantly while Lust replied with a small smirk, "Because, our father chose us to be that way. And there are 7 of us, all 'sins' as you call us."
I clenched my fists tighter to keep from shaking, I smiled cockily at her, "You two still haven't my question, what do you want?" Lust smiled wickedly at me, "We just wanted to make sure a candidate for sacrifice was ready before we chose another." I fought against the shiver threatening to show, sacrifice? No way in hell. So I smirked at her, "Oh really? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm hard to kill." Envy laughed again, "Oh, not yet kid. We're just getting you ready, you've got a while before death comes to get ya. And I personally can't wait to hear your screams."
He snapped his fingers and someone else was dragged into the light, a women, terrified and bleeding. "Since you are the younger Mustang, we figured you be like you're big bro. You know how he's always saving the innocent and defenseless? Well, you're gonna do the same thing. You're going to save her life." He pointed to the ground where I stood, I looked down in rage to find…. A Human transmutation circle, that's right. I knew what it was. That's my secret. I knew how to do Alchemy, Roy didn't know, I was going to tell him tonight.
But this, is forbidden. I remember him telling me about two brothers doing it not two months ago, the older brother had lost his arm and his leg, the younger lost his whole body.
Where they going to make me do transmutation? No way. No. Then I felt big hands grab my arms, I kicked out on instinct but someone else grabbed me. They forced me to the ground, so that I was kneeling right in front of the circle, then the woman was dragged to the center and they shoved her down. One man who had been holding her pulled out a gun and shot her in the stomach, Envy laughed at my expression and I snarled at him, "Bastard! You play with life like it's a game! You're a sick Bastard!"
He strutted over to me and kicked me in the ribs, I doubled over and coughed up blood. Then he grabbed my hair and forced me to look at him, "I may be a bastard, but you are going to preform human transmutation on this women or she'll die. What will it be? Refuse and watch her die in pain? Or save her?" He threw my head back down and laughed, Lust laughed too. "So, Mustang, what will be your choice? Will you save her? Or will you watch her die? I don't really think you have a choice in the matter." She nodded to the two men holding me and they forced my hands together, then shoved them down to the circle. Blue energy crackled around me and I yelled, "NO!" Before the circle opened up in the form of an eye, from the center a thousand black hands flew at me. The tugged at me, ripping me apart, piece by piece.
I saw a blinding white light, and in front of me sat a vaguely humanoid thing. It sat cross legged, it looked at me without eyes and gave me a wide grin. "Well, hello Reyna Mustang. Preformed the taboo didn't you? Well then, you can see the truth. But, what will you give me in return hmm? Well, you use your senses plenty, how about I take one of them huh?" Before I could respond, the black hands flew at me again, ripping me apart again and dragging me through a door. I screamed in pain and suddenly I was back in the alley. I felt… wrong. I couldn't feel the cold, I knew I should've, but I just…. Didn't. I felt the pain everywhere in my body, but I didn't feel the cold ground, or the chilly air surrounding me.
I couldn't…. feel… it. I could still feel the solidity under me, and the thickness of air brushing my cheek, but not the temperature. It took the Elric's bodies, did it take my sense of temperature? Odd thing to take isn't it? I think I'm in shock, the ground started coming closer, I'm definitely in shock. Then I hit the ground and blacked out.
When I forced my eyes open I saw big brother running towards me, screaming for someone to help him. He kneeled next to me and took off his uniform coat hurriedly, he wrapped it around me and picked me up into his lap. I looked to where the hurt woman should have been to see… a dead body. She's dead. The transmutation didn't work, it wasn't meant to work. That's why it was a taboo, when a soul dies or is in the process of dying, there's nothing that can be exchanged for that. Nothing can become an equivalent exchange for a human soul. What was the point then? Why did, Envy and Lust, force me to do it? They had to have known it wouldn't work. But they still made me do it.
Roy was shaking me, he shouted, "Reyna! Reyna! Can you hear me?" I tried to nod, I was so…. Tired. "Yes." I choked out. He breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, thank God. What happened? Are you hurt anywhere? Who's the woman?" I coughed and felt the stickiness of blood on my lips, but couldn't feel the heat. "I think I broke my ribs, I don't know what happened Roy. I don't know who she is. But they made me…." I coughed up more blood, my skin felt like someone was sticking thousands of tiny needles into it. "Reyna? Reyna! Stay with me, who made you do what?" In answer, I pointed to the transmutation circle. Roy's mouth fell open in shock and his face paled in fear and anger, "They…." He could barely contain his rage, "They made you preform human transmutation?" I nodded and coughed.
I nodded again and felt tears flowing from my eyes, but again, I couldn't feel their cool sting. I just felt their weight, tasted the salt, and heard them drip from my chin. "I'm sorry brother. I couldn't stop them, I couldn't save her. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He hugged me to his chest as I sobbed, "Shh. Shh. It's okay, it wasn't your fault, I'll find who did this. I promise. But, what did you lose? Reyna, what did you lose in penance?" "I can't feel…." Another cough.
His arms tightened around me in panic, "You can't feel me? You can't feel this?" I shook my head, "No, brother, I feel you. But I can't, I can't feel the cold. I can't feel the temperature." Darkness began to swim in my vision again and I heard Roy shouting, "Reyna! Reyna don't you dare close your eyes! That's an order dammit! Stay with me!" But his voice was getting softer and softer, until it stopped completely.