BORN: a Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic by yanocchi
Standard disclaimers apply
It was loud. Cacophonous noises rose from everywhere. Battle; the thunder of guns and the cries of agony. But this was Amestris, and laced with the ordinary deafening row were the skin-prickling sounds of alchemy.
Here, though, it just FELT loud. The noise drowned out any thought.
And then, sensation.
For the first time in years, he could FEEL. Hot air on his bare skin, pricking at the hair on his arms and legs. Despite the heat he felt chilled. A stray spark, carried by the surge of battle, landed on his chest. For the first time in years he felt pain. He cried out – half in joy, half in pain. The light stung his eyes and he squeezed the shut. For a long teetering moment he lay there, reveling in the grit of the earth beneath his body, the way the breeze pushed at his hair, the sounds as they hammered against his ears. Gunpowder and ozone. He FELT his chest expand with breath and then he spoke with his own throat:
"Brother!"
Then he felt it. The one thing he had longer for over the numb, empty years. The thing that he ached to feel every night as he sat, sleepless and alone. More than apple pie, more than sunlight, more than rain, more than anything, he had missed this: his brother's arms.
They went around his body shoulders, clutched at his hair. They were so warm, so strong and yet so soft. His own weakened arms reached up, trembling with the effort. To embrace another human! But he couldn't do it. He was too weak.
His brother pulled him up, cradling him, sobbing and laughed inarticulately. Then another set of arms encircled them both. He felt the silken fall of a girl's hair. He hands trembled as they tenderly guided his arms around his brother's neck.
He felt them. The prickling behind his eyes. They rolled down his cheeks, dampening his brother's shoulder.
His tears.
"Brother," he gasped again. "I'm back."
"I know," his brother replied in a voice choked with emotion. "Welcome home."
They were all crying, babbling, laughing. More hands touched him; his face, his shoulders. Fabric was wrapped around him. It smelled of sulfur. He managed to slowly, gingerly open his eyes a crack. Two blonde heads wavered in and out of focus. He could see the tracks their tears had made through the grit on their faces. Behind them other shadowy faces moved, half remembered yet somehow unfamiliar.
"Al," his brother said, voice still rough with unshed tears. "It's okay now. You can sleep."
He closed his eyes with a trembling sigh and, finally, he slept. As he drifted off he felt the words float into his mind, like slowly rising bubbles.
'Ah. So this is what it's like to be born.'
ATOGAKI: Um, hi guys. Remember me? I don't... nervous grin
Bet'cha didn't know I read Hagaren. To be perfectly honest, I'd forgotten about this one. I found it in an old notebook today while I was looking for another old notebook (old half-filled notebooks breed like mold, I swear). It still looked pretty good, and it didn't take that long to type up, so I figured why not. It must have written this over a year ago, and I can't remember what I was thinking at the time.
This is normally where I'd say "Don't worry! I'll update soon!" but I'm sure you're sick of hearing that. How's this: Stick around. Maybe I'll post something eventually. XD
