There was something so appealing about the outdoors. Alphonse simply could not resist the urge to seize these few moments of privacy and use them to the whim of the earth. Thoughts of his brother already sorted through and discarded, he followed, with a clear mind and beating heart, the path to the garden.
This sanctuary of Eden by the standards of the younger boy, a term the elder has long since appalled. Regardless Al had insisted upon an apple tree as the haven's centerpiece.
"Do you even know the story?" Golden cynicism had inquired.
"Yes," The words flowed from him now as they had that day, "it's about temptation."
Something about the glow in the other's eyes had disturbed the younger boy that day, it was only for a flash, liquid soul seeping through the honey-amber eyes of his brother.
"Temptation," repeated the flushed boy in manner so light, it billowed over the daisies, rushed through the peonies, and reverberated off the white wash fence. A few moments of solace, all the temptation needed.
Anticipation carried him to the center, the large apple tree growing higher with each passing day, surrounded by all means of lesser flowers, each bowing in turn as the breeze brushed against them, lowering themselves before the higher power, the greater strength.
Resting himself in the clearing underneath the great shade of the tree, the small patch of area set aside for leisure and reading, all the same in the minds of the Elrics. Leaning against the bark of the trunk, the rough texture digging into the loose covering of cloth the boy wore, he began his offering.
He never thought of anyone. Girls synonymous with trouble, men simply not his forte. Narcissism perhaps more apparent than it deserved to be. It didn't matter, love was different. He loved his brother in a sense. He loved others, in different ways. Though he loved this in a way he didn't recognize.
For this was different, release, indifference, temptation.
The first few touches like the start of rain, timid, fleeting, just barely containable.
Next came the downpour falling into the currents, rushing along, unsure of itself but never ceasing besides.
He felt the pressure rising, nerves lashing like waves in a storm. Rising, falling, building.
He was helpless against the tide, and the flood came in.
Breathing in the summer air and the scent of apples, taking it all with ragged breaths, cheek pressed to the familiar bark. Nothing so sweet as sap presenting itself as evidence of his fall into sin.
A love of nature twisted to new level of understanding. Alphonse smiled up at the high branches, pulling in on himself, and falling to slumber beneath the apples of the sweetest temptation.
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Okay so I know I've been missing for a WHILE, a lot has been going on. I'll write about it all later on my main page. For now, just enjoy the new story! Read and Review please! .
