Prologue

...But by the time Edward had rounded the corner, his eyes met the grisly sight of his little brother, his sweet innocent baby brother, lying motionless on the cold, wet concrete of the dark and lonely alley. There was blood, too much blood, gruesomely sprayed across the wall and trailed down to where the little boy had sunken to the ground in defeat, sitting limp in a puddle of his own life that was no longer flowing openly as it had been before.

The golden eyes of the famous alchemist, which had seen countless numbers of corpses and dismembered messes, shrunk to small amber dots in utter shock. The scream… it had been Alphonse'? He never would have guessed such a scream could be produced by some so quiet such as his sibling. The shock of the realization was overwhelming and the teenager was frozen, his mind willing his belligerent muscles to move, which they flatly refused to do.

The blood, the enormous puddle of blood was not growing bigger, nor was Alphonse moving. Was he dead? Edward couldn't tell from where he stood. Surely, he had not been the only one who had heard the scream. Why was he the only one there then? Why wasn't anybody else coming to help? Were people afraid that they would become the next victim? Had people really become that selfish? Edward knew that people were exceedingly self-centered, always acting out of self-interest rather than morality, and he was guilty of that as well, but he had never realized just how selfish people could be, or how blind.

He had not the slightest idea how long he had been standing in the end of the alley, nor did he care, when his legs finally chose to comply with his brain's pleas to move, and began to push him onward on their own accord. "Alphonse… Alphonse… Alphonse…' A very monotonous thought process went through his head at the time being. Only two words were able to push through the hazy fog of shock that clouded his brilliant mind. 'Alphonse… Alphonse… Alphonse… Brother…'

Pupils dilated, Edward stared at his precious, beloved, adorable younger sibling, who's blood-soaked body was too pale and too still. He had dealt with situations similar to this one in the past, in a sense, but not quite. In previous encounters with victims of violence, he had never been in contact with the person beforehand, nor was he afterward; however, not only did he know the victim of this attack, but it was his brother, his only family left, his whole heart, the person he had dedicated his entire life to protect. He loved his brother more than anything in the whole world. This could not possibly be happing. It could not possibly be real.

At least, Edward wished it was not.

He gaped at the small body before his feet, his breath coming in short, ragid gasps. Part of his mind was telling him not to check for a pulse. If he clung to the thought that Alphonse was alive without gaining any conflicted evidence that would prove that theory to be false, it had to be so. He had to be alive, yet the other half of his brain was screaming at him to take his sibling by the shoulders and shake him back into consciousness and listen for the soft, rhythmic thumbing of his sacred heartbeat. What to do? What to do? His brain was lost in the sight before him, unable to comprehend, nor judge, nor control any sort of motion. No action was taken, and he stood still, wide-eyed. 'Alphonse… Alphonse… Alphonse… My brother…. Alphonse…'

Time seemed to speed up, yet go so slow all at once, and the rain that fell on him, the wind that painfully chilled his fingers vanished from his awareness entirely. Nothing registered in the young man's scrambling, paralyzed brain, which, only for a moment, began to deny that the small boy in front of him was, in fact, not actually his little brother at all, but a complete stranger, someone he had never met before, someone that meant nothing to him. However, the light brown hair held back in a low ponytail along with the red jacket left no room for any argument. There was no denying that the small body belonged to Alphonse Elric.

His knees buckled underneath this suddenly unbearable weight, as if a large, grand piano had descended from the sky and landed upon his head, adding about one thousand pounds to his own original weight, and he collapsed before the limp body popped up against the bloody brick wall behind him. 'It can't… It can't… It can't…' Two new words introduced themselves to the black void that Edward's brain had become, caving in on itself, devouring any logic that it had once possessed. The body that he was staring at was his brother, his brother his baby brother, his only family, his heart, his brother. How could that be? His little brother was always so smart, so intuitive, and so strong. Surely he would have been able to fight back? Surely whoever had done this to him did not leave without injury? There was no blood, other than Alphonse' to corroborate this theory, though.

Perhaps, had he done it to himself? Impossible. Edward refused to believe that his brother would do something as radical as that. He knew Alphonse, and he knew him extremely well. He knew his baby sibling was a happy boy, who loved everyone, especially Edward, and loved life. The boy had so much to live for with as much brain-power as he had. At the age of ten, Edward considered the boy to be a genius. He read college level books in only two days, whereas most ten year olds hardly had the attention span to read novellas over one hundred pages. He understood things on a higher level than anyone Edward had ever known, and Alphonse was the most caring person he could think of. Certainly, even if he had wanted to take his own life, he would keep living out of pure love for Edward, knowing what it would do to him if he lost his brother. No, it was not right. Something was missing. What had happened here? What had happened to his baby brother? How could he have let something like this happen to he person he was supposed to protect? Was he really that much of a failure as an older brother?

The shock seemed to be too much for the alchemist. He was shaking violently and he felt nauseous, his head dizzy with vicious swarms of thoughts deafeningly buzzing about as his brain began to regain a portion of its function. 'Who did this to my brother? Why did they do it? Why...? Why...? He's all I have left...' What should he do? What should he do? His brother, his sweet baby brother, his whole life, his heart, was propped up against a brick wall, motionless, and possibly dead. What should he do? What could he do? He was panicked, and his mind could not come to a conclusion. Something,something,something. He had to do something, something to save his little brother, something to make up for how he had failed to protect him! Something, but what? What could he do? What could he do if his brother was already dead? What use would it be to call for help? What use would he be?

His stomach could not handle the shock he had been put through, and his arms and legs grew minds of their own. Edward somehow managed to crawl mindlessly to the side of the dumpster, which was just a couple of feet away from his baby brother's motionless body, and he retched. How had he failed to protect his brother? How? He loved his brother more than anything in the entire world. He did everything the could to keep him safe. How could this have happened? How? And who? Who did this? Who the hell had the audacity to lay their filthy hands on his beloved brother? Tears bubbled from his eyes and cascaded down his cheeks, and there was a burning in Edward's fingers along with the nearly irresistible urge to punch the assailant's face in. Noone touched his brother. Noone hurt his brother. Noone so much as told his brother to shut up without word from Edward. He let nobody he did not trust near his brother, but then, how could something like this possibly...

"Ku~... Nngh..."

Edward's head shot up immediately, and his heart began to pound, his brain violently snatched from his thoughtful reverie. Had his mind just played a trick on him? Were his ears deceiving him? He could have sworn he had just heard his brother cough and moan. His brother was alive? Alphonse was alive? How could that be? There was so much blood, too much blood,but the miracles didn't stop there. Edward's wide eyes grew wider as he stared at his baby brother as he started to move, started to shift in discomfort. Alphonse was alive! His sweet, precious baby brother was alive! The shock was nearly as overpowering as it had been when Edward had thought that he had lost Alphonse, everything that he lived for, and this revelation snapped his brain back into the reality of the situation. If his brother was alive, and, by the looks of it, severely wounded, he needed to get help immediately.

"Alphonse!" Edward screamed as his limbs, with the minds they had seemed to sprout only moments prior, carried him, with as much speed as they muster, over to his brother, who he gathered into his arms in one fluid motion. He sobbed openly in relief, pressing his younger sibling to his body as firmly as he could manage with arms that were trembling, his fingers running through his damp, light brown hair. The boy's skin felt so cold to the touch, and Edward could feel him shivering, but he was alive. Only moments ago, he had been sure that Alphonse had been dead, been so sure he would never hear his little brother's voice again, been so sure that he had committed the ultimate betrayal and let his brother perish. The sense of relief he felt was indescribable.

The boy in his arms pressed into his chest, searching for warmth, and weak hands grabbed at Edward's clothing, but his tiny brother's eyes remained closed, a desperate expression knitting his eyebrows. Edward instantaneously obliged to this action and unbuttoned his coat, wrapping it around his sibling. "I'm here, Al! I'm right here! You're gonna' be okay! I'll get you help!" His frantic voice sounded strange even to his own ears, seeming very out of place in such a quiet alley, and in response, a small, nearly inaudible, whimper gurgled from Alphonse' throat as he pressed even farther into the elder Elric, as if he wanted to be absorbed. "Just stay with me, Alphonse! Don't you dare die on me, you hear? I'm going to-" The sound of his sibling moaning cut him off abruptly, and Edward kissed his forehead, trying to soothe him. "C'mon, Al, talk to me. Tell me what hurts." He whispered, but Alphonse only continued to writhe and whimper piteously, appearing to be in a significant amount of pain, uncomprehending of the world around him.

With another choked sob, Edward slid his prosthetic right arm under Alphonse' legs, keeping his left under the boy's neck to offer support, and stood up. Immediately, his little brother stirred in his arms weakly, as if trying to break free of his grasp, and whimpered, his face contorting to display an expression of pain and desperation. Edward felt something break in his chest, and his own expression changed, morphing into an agonized sadness. "Sh... I know it hurts, Al... Just hang in there... I'm right here. Your big brother, Ed, is right here to protect you. You're safe now. I won't let anything hurt you ever again. I promise. I'm so sorry."