Hello! Just wanted to introduce myself as I am continuing this story from Tears of Eternal Darkness and I also wanted to let all of you know that this is only the second story that I have ever written, so please be kind to me! :P
I am currently ending a story and beginning its sequel soon, so maybe after reading this chapter, ... you could ... oh, I don't know ... perhaps ... maybe ... check it out for me? And tell me if I am doing a good job and should consider continue my hobby for writing stories?
Thanks a lot and I hope you enjoy this continuation of Al's Injury and Ed's Pain!
Also! I do not own anything related to Fullmetal Alchemist! Or the plot line created by Tears of Eternal Darkness! Only the plot line that continues from this chapter on!
Please read, enjoy and review before you leave!
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It was almost midnight and Ed still seemed to have trouble falling asleep again. It has happened lately; for three days now, Ed has not gotten a full night's sleep. No matter how many prescribed sleeping pills from the hotel doctors Ed took every 12 hours, no matter how much time the brothers spend to silence the room from outside or how much Al did NOT move his armor during the night, Edward Elric was becoming more and more sleep deprived.
"I wish I could do something to help you brother," Al thought as his brother once again turns over on the bed, trying to find a more comfortable place in the hotel room. His head bows down and his eyes dim as he feels helpless to aid his brother with his sleepless nights.
Al sat on the floor beside Ed's bed as the younger boy tries to fall asleep for once in the last four nights. Al wrecks his head around silently for any other way to help his brother fall asleep when he heard a hard knock on the door.
He got up to answer it and as his armor rattled as he walked towards the closed-door, Ed sits up on the bed and, clearly frustrated by the sound of his voice, complains, "I don't know why I bother anymore, Al. If I can't get sleep, I might as well spend time researching some leads I have!"
The room is silent just before the door is kicked off its hinges and hits Al, forcing him to topple over the couch right in front of the door and on the ground behind it, unbinding his helmet from the rest of his body. Ed yells as he holds the back of his head in agony and topples out of the bed wriggling in pain as a sharp pain crossed the back of his neck and head. As the pain fades, he glimpses two figures standing in the lite doorway.
The first one had a skinny hourglass figure with a seemingly big bust (aka boobs! DUH!) with a black dress and hair to match it. Her violet eyes with a slit as the pupil gleamed with malice at the scene in front of her and the other person didn't look any friendlier. The person looked like a male but after you see the clothes he/she was wearing, the smaller and wiry person looked more like a confused cross-dresser with the shorts-skirt and tank top to show off as much skin up top as possible.
The two brothers recognized the both of them immediately as they have met at previous battles beforehand. The tall woman with her breasts practically falling out of the top of her dress was Lust and the other was Envy and they were homunculi. A group of people that always seemed to turn up at the worst possible time and Envy seemed to have a score to settle with Edward that was unknown to the older brother.
They stood, or in Ed's case, sat there for a moment, staring at each other until Envy leaped forward to grapple with Edward while he was in a vulnerable position. Meanwhile, Lust took the moment to threaten Alphonse with an extended fingernail to his blood seal. He froze on the spot and could only look on as the struggle between the teenager and other being struggle for control.
Envy manages to grab Edward's hair with one hand and force him to his knees while holding his wrists behind his back with the other. Edward struggles but as Lust says aloud, "If you want your brother to remain in this world any longer, I suggest you quiet down and listen to us, Fullmetal."
Edward's eyes widen to the size of tea cups and his pupils shrink to pencil points. With a wrench from Envy to his hair and Lust's fingernail moves ever closer to his younger brother's blood seal behind his helmet, he relents and sags in Envy's hold.
His short bangs cover his eyes and he whispers to the now-quiet room, "What do you want?" Envy just lets him drop to the floor with a sadistic grin. He whirls around to look at Envy and then glances at the others in the room.
He questions to two beings, "What? I'm listening! So what do you want to tell me?!" Envy only chuckles before Lust answers. "We were told to give you a warning and to tell you something very interesting we learn on this recent trip of yours."
Edward seems wary of what is was that they learned then something pops into his brilliant young mind. "Did you cause that knife wound to appear on me?!"
Envy gives a low whistle and grunts, "Hoodoo! He is smart. I guess you aren't as dumb as I thought you were. As a matter of fact, that was us but not us." Edward turns and gives off a confused look, trying to grasp how that answered his question.
Lust speaks now to the young state alchemist, "We learned of an alchemical reaction that can actually transfers the pain and agony of one soul to another without any cost to the user of the alchemy. And it just happens that it is being used on you, young Elric."
Al gasps in shock as Edward is dumbfounded with this information. His mind grinds out everything that happened on the last mission. Nothing comes up until he remembers what occurred mere seconds before he was injured. His golden eyes widen in understanding, and as he does, Lust smirks and nods,"Yes, young alchemist. Say out loud and tell your brother whose pain and agony you are feeling now."
Al turns slightly to Lust in confusion and then angles back towards his brother, who is shaking on his hands and knees like a broken animal, and seemingly shaking his head. It looked like he was trying to shake the information out of his mind like bats in a bell tower.
The giant armor boy asks his smaller and older brother, "Ed, what are they talking about? Whose pain are you feeling right now?" Ed stops moving for a moment and murmurs something that Al couldnt' hear.
Al's voice sounds close to begging as he asks Edward what he said. Ed slowly lifts his head and Al sees that his eyes were full of tears and trying not to cry in front of his brother and worst enimies. Al tries again and again to comprehend what his brother discovered about the situation that he couldn't figure out. He is about to ask again when Ed turns his face fully towards Alphonse and replies, "Its yours, Al." Al's eyes widen a fraction and questions, "What?"
Ed looks at him with understanding and acceptance. "It was the knife, Al. The knife from the street performer. That knife wound on my hand matched your wound in the armor. It didn't hit me but it hit you Al. Do you understand?"
Al's gasp in shock and understanding was all that was needed for Ed as he finally spoke the truth out loud since discovering the cause of his recent aliments.
"You had the knife injury, Alphonse. And I received the pain that you would have felt from a knife cutting through your hand when the knife was not anywhere near my hand."
He glances down at the still bandaged hand and finishes, "From your injury to your soul and into my soul and then physically pain from that injury; I feel all your pain now."
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Thanks again for reading and just to let you know I stayed up until midnight getting this chapter done and I still have to study for two exams next week AND go to a full-day track meet tomor- Today actually! So, . . . :):):) YOU'RE WELCOME! :):):)
Anyway, I hope I can get the next chapter done before school tomorrow morning but if not, PLEASE do not kill me because I am a very busy college student and it is just as bad as high school and middle school schedules. Just hang tight and I will have it up as soon as humanly possible!
Yours truly,
White Hair and Violet Eyes
WH&VE