Heroes of the People
Disclaimer: FullMetal Alchemist may be D4 5hi7, but it's not mine.
Chapter 1: How It Began
"Alright Al, are you ready?" The young blonde boy asked his brother.
"Um, Ed? Are you sure we can do this? I mean, the body ingredients seem right, but what about a soul?" Alphonse asked his brother. Edward rolled his eyes.
"Relax, alright? Hold out your finger." When Alphonse looked at him in alarm, Edward took out a knife and pricked his own finger, then pricked Alphonse's finger as well. "Our blood for her soul, ours from hers. That seems like a fair trade to me, don't you think?" Alphonse nodded, still looking slightly nervous, but sure that his older brother knew what he was doing. They knelt, and then placed their hands on the transmutation circle etched into the floor to activate it. The mound of components in the center of the circle started to glow, then shift and move. The Elric brothers looked at each other, ecstatic. It was working!
But then the blue light that the transmutation was emitting turned red, causing the boys to pale in terror.
"Umm…. Ed, I think something's really wrong here….." The moment these words reached Edward's ears, he heard a terrified scream escape his brother's lips.
"Al, what's…? OH GOD!" Ed screamed as he watched as Alphonse was torn apart by the energy of their transmutation. He recovered himself and lunged, only to find that his own leg was being broken down by the same reaction that was tearing at Al's entire body. "AL, HANG ON!" Ed screamed as he struggled to reach Alphonse before he was completely consumed. He heard the door open and a cry of shock and horror, and without needing to look in order to know who it was he screamed.
"CAIN, HELP AL, PLEASE! SAVE MY LITTLE BROTHER!" Cain didn't even hesitate a moment before darting forward and tried to grab hold of Al's outstretched hand, but it dissolved as Cain's hand wrapped around it.
"No! AL!" Cain cried as Alphonse vanished. Alphonse could only scream in horror as his body was molecularized and destroyed. Cain turned to Ed, tears streaking his face. "Ed, what just happened? You… tried to bring your mom back?" Ed didn't respond. "Ed, answer me!" ED looked at Cain with a grief stricken face.
"Cain, I just….. I just killed my little brother. I killed him myself. I KILLED ALPHONSE!" Edward wailed.
"No, Ed…" Ed looked at him in confusion. "I did. This is my fault. If I hadn't convinced you two to try and resurrect your mom, he'd still be here." Cain and Ed sank to the floor, both in tears. "Wait, did you… did you succeed?" They both looked over toward where Ed and Al had piled the components for their transmutation.
When they saw what took up that space, they screamed in terror.
We saw the outcome of our mistake, the product of the stupidity of our youth. And when we looked into that creature's eyes…..
We saw our folly.
We knew fear…
And we knew that we had to make things right again. We'd do whatever it took to get Al's body back, get him out of that metal that we'd sealed him into. We would get Ed's arm and leg back. My eye…..?
"This is the price I pay for betraying the trust of my best friends. From this day forth, my left eye shall remain closed, and my sight shall never return."
I still hold to that declaration, many years later.
And I always will…..
A/N: IT'S DONE! Finally, I've finished the prologue chapter for this story. I may not update this one often, but trust me, I WILL. I'm just focusing most of my efforts on Mysterious Familiars- Check it out, tell me what you think. I LIVE on your reviews, leave me one. Just make damn sure that it's not like those jackasses who leave me flames for Mysterious Familiars- something along the lines of: "Your fic sucks because you're treating a couple of characters bad." Other than that, tell me what you think.
Yeah, you. The person sitting on your ass in that chair. It's just one click and a few keystrokes. Go ahead; you know you wanna…..