After pleading with the minstrel the adults managed to get a small amount of information out of him regarding the song he had played. He said it had once been used to lull, and ultimately kill Pandora. She had been afflicted with the same sort of brain pattern disorder that used the waves that the song gave off to knit a strange pattern in the brain that sent the victim into a coma, and induced the strange shakes.
Pandora has lasted 3 years with this affliction, and yet no one was able to place where the attacks were coming from or how she had pulled herself out of them. One day, they found her dead, settled into her favorite chair listening to a small wind up bird she had gotten as a birthday present a few years earlier. She had wept tears of blood it seemed and she had managed, through the horrible twitching, to write in blood upon the window two words: 'Music box.'
Thinking that the box, with its strange and sinister tune, had done this they sealed it away, giving the job of watching over the strange little ornament to a chimera guardian that a state alchemist had created in an experiment and then given to their poor town. The temple stood, rather small compared to some, dank and downtrodden in the middle of the city. However a golden plaque upon its doors gleamed as brightly as the first day they had set it, a rhyme glinting out of it's depths.
"Pandora's Box gave her joy,
And shone brightly every day,
But when it played the music,
She'd start to fade away.
Listen closely little ones,
And find the choice that's true,
Beyond these doors lies death and pain,
And poor Pandora's doom."
It seemed however after a while they found the windup toy gave the same effect on another child, and they had it dismantled and destroyed. This child died as well in time and the people thought perhaps the music box had been the cure. They attempted to get to it, but found the Chimera had taken rather well to its duties, seeming to need to complete it's life's work. But without the windup bird's mysterious song they had no reason to get it.
The Bard said that he too had found a silver wind up bird as a child, learning the tune by heart as it was a short and whimsical thing. It'd been crushed when his father had shut a door on it, as had his only joy in his life of poverty. He had played in several other places, but none of the adults seemed to have this odd effect, and he only played it rarely as it had a deep meaning to him he doubted anyone else would enjoy.
That day however he'd almost run out of songs, and remembering the tune he had played it, to his horror sending the 4 children into spasms. Edward had come into town sometime afterwards, was told this story as well, and was begged by the families of the children to get the artifact. After the usual spat about his height and age, he'd agreed.
By the time he'd finally been allowed into the temple gate by the sullen old man who still thought that the box was evil, only a single child remained alive, stronger it seemed than the others. Ed hurried into the temple, battling the fearsome guardian as it struggled to fulfill its life duty. It seemed to take the battle with distain, although it tried it's hardest even if it acted like it disagreed with everything it was being forced to do. The battle raged on for a short time before Edward managed to bring it down onto it's knees bleeding horribly.
It fell to the side slightly, panting hard and growled, showing its sharp fangs glinting in the light from the lights around the room. The Full Metal Alchemist, sensing its inability to go any farther moved towards the glinting object behind it, unwilling to end a life needlessly. Its snakelike tail whipped out tripping him and it scrabbled something into the dust that looked vaguely like "finish me, free me." When Ed hesitated it threw itself at him with the last vestiges of it's strength and forced him to bury his arm blade deep into its heart.
A quiet moment was shared between the two as Ed and Al looked on the fallen guard of Pandora's Box. The horse like beast, its golden claws curled under in death, looked almost fragile. Its long flowing golden mane shone like the sun, and its pristine white fur seemed softer somehow under the blood spatter from its wounds. Its cool blue eyes, saddened almost but still quietly proud, looked up at Ed and he could have sworn a faint smile tinged its muzzle.
Edward bowed his head, looking fairly troubled, as the creatures eyes fogged over in death and closed peacefully. Its great chest moved upwards as it drew in air in one last time before it gave a gentle sigh of release. Alphonse placed a hand on Ed's head and the blonde looked up. He eyes softened slightly then grew focused when he realized something from Al's look and he hurried to gather the small box in his palm.
Edward glared at it, its golden curves twinkling merrily. Such a small trinket had cost lives, and for what? He placed his finger on the tiny latch and pushed. It clicked quietly and slowly opened by itself, the inner bottom moved up and started turning, a strange melodious sound twinkling out of its depth. The charm on top of the turning plate looked up at him, it's eye sparkling with, Ed suddenly realized, Red Stones.
The charm itself was a small recreation of the lion on the front of State Alchemists watches. It sat there, a paw raised and claws extended, twisting slowly the light hitting it and making it look like molten gold. Edward turned back to Al, who looked slightly pleadingly at him, if an armor could accomplish that. Ed smiled slightly, casting off the look of doubt that had covered him to fool his brother.
"Let's go save her," Ed chirruped, sounding anything but sad. Al nodded, clanking slightly and they took off out of the temple towards a small hut based at the edge of the town. Ignoring the rants of the old man they quickly crossed the borders into the neighbor hood of the girl. Barely stopping outside her home Ed pushed the cloth door aside, walking into the room in a triumphant manner.
Under the covers, nestled in a bed, a child lay. The girl, a bit younger than Al, shivered and shook as if her muscles were struggling to work by themselves. Ed reopened the box and set it softly on her bedside table, the hideously sweet music twinkling from it again. He glanced up at the thin figure in the bed a worried look gracing his features as he doubted the music would really work.
Slowly the twitching from the girl slowed, then came to a stop. Her raspy breathing became calm once more. Her parents looked up at Edward gratefully, and he himself was smirking at a job well done. Green eyes flickered open, and the girl groaned, raising a hand to her head in pain. Edward sudden felt a wave of sadness, and didn't volunteer to explain what had happened, her parents knew well enough to tell her. He left, biting his lip as he heard her break into sobbing. One of her best friends now lay dead due to the song.
"You did all you could do brother," Al said, resting a hand on his older brother's shoulder fondly. In his eye Ed had been brave to take on such a east and to save a life was the best he could have done.
"If I had gotten past that man sooner," Edward growled, shaking his head and pulling his red jacket tighter around his shoulders, "I could have saved them all Al." He glanced up at his brother, a dark foreboding tinge to his golden eyes. Al's red eyes dimmed slightly in echoing sadness, they were fairly younger than him and Ed. He could understand why the situation had hit Edward so hard like that.
The suit of armor stayed silent, as Ed sighed once more and stepped away from the slightly warm leather sole of the hand on his shoulder. Looking up at the dark clouds scudding across the sky seemed to trigger something, as they peeled away allowing the sun drip down onto their heads. Hair glinting and made his way to the train station, his faithful brother tagging along clinking innocently. He had a report to make to Mustang over this business, weather or not he wanted to…
The End
((Author's notes: WTGOMF I wrote an Oneshot FMA Fanfic demmit and I like it! Review people. Just hit the shiny button and write me something. Reviews amuse me in ways that if my boyfriend amused me in those ways I'd go 'UNF!'
Izzy What boyfriend was that again?
…DREAM WRECKER!
Oh and Disclaimer; FMA, Al, and Ed are NOT mine. Everything else is. ))