Trust Within Itself: Prologue
Anime/Manga: Fullmetal Alchemist
Pairing: Either Parental!RoyEd or Yaoi!RoyEd, depending on how you wish to view it
Warnings: Rated PG-13 for violence and language
Beta: I have no beta, therefore this is not beta'd. Nor am I looking for a beta, so please don't ask.
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA. If I did, I would be super rich and I wouldn't be writing this stuff for free!
This is one of the fanfics available on Deviant Art. Therefore, it will never go above PG-13 and Roy and Ed's relationship will never go very far. However, I may create a sequel or branch story to this fic so that I can write some juicy lemons for their relationship in this story. Also, since this was originally on DA, some of the chapters may have some thing like "read the comments" or "read from the beginning" or something like that. Just ignore it. I'll try to get that all fixed sooner or later. Thanks! Enjoy the fic!
-October 1, 1899-
"EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! VAN HOENHEIM ACHIEVES GREAT ALCHEMICAL FEATS!"
Trisha Elric peered out the front window of her home. The newsboys were shouting the headline of the Risembool Journal continuously. Unfortunately, that meant more publicity for herself, her husband, and their eight-month-old son and soon-to-be born son. She rubbed her swelling stomach tenderly. She and her husband had decided on naming this one Alphonse. Baby Edward giggled and looked up at his mother from his sitting position on the front window sill. She sighed. Hoenheim was back researching in Central again. She missed him. If only he would settle down and stay home...
-February 3, 1900-
"EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! VAN HOENHEIM RETIRES!"
Edward giggled as he threw the small cushy dodgeball towards his mother, who smiled weakly and rolled it back to him gently. As of today, he was one year old. She couldn't focus on her beautiful son today. She was boiling over with anticipation, anxious to see her beloved today. Hoenheim had called in earlier today, briefly saying a happy birthday to his son before telling Trisha that he'd be arriving home today. With the discovery, he didn't need to stick around anymore. And he had collected enough money from his alchemical research to fund his family beyond the ends of their lives.
Trisha smiled at Edward, rubbed her swelling stomach, feeling for Alphonse's kick, and sighed. He was coming home today.
-June 13, 1902-
Hoenheim sighed. He couldn't keep living a lie. He had to leave. Now. Before any harm came to his wonderful family. His precious wife and his darling children would be better off without him around. He had made arrangements to move all the money he had into Trisha's account. As he quietly creaked open the door, he heard soft footsteps behind him. He turned around and his eyes met with his son's.
"Daddy? Where are you going? It's not morning yet."
"Edward, Daddy has to go. But you always have to remember that I love you. I love you and your mother and Alphonse very, very, very much. You three are my life. Now remember, be good to your brother. Take care of him and shield him with your own life. And please make sure your mother is well. Protect her. And never forget that I love you. Goodbye, Edward."
Edward stared up at the man for a moment and then nodded, gripping the side of the door to close it.
"Goodbye, Daddy," Edward knew, deep down inside his three-year-old heart that his father wouldn't be coming back. He may have been abnormally small for his age, but he was abnormally intelligent. He could already read and write at third grade level. He wasn't stupid. The boy ran to sit up on the front window sill and looked on down the path where he saw a human-shaped figure walking slowly away. A tear ran down his face.
"Goodbye, Father. Until we meet again."
-October 3, 1910-
There was a loud crash and a scream. Trisha sprinted to her boys' room. This was not happening! Not again! Why couldn't people leave them alone? They didn't even have much money left anyway! Hoenheim's Fortune was merely a myth at his point. And her sons were prodigies, but they were still below state alchemist level. Why?
"MOM! AL!" Eleven-year-old Edward, dressed in a tee shirt and his boxers, was dragging a half-asleep, ten-year-old Alphonse, in a footsie pajama, down the hall.
"MOM! COME ON!"
"Edward! Hurry! Take Alphonse and run to the Rockbells' house! GO!"
"Mom, you have to come with us! COME ON!"
"Edward, I am your mother, and I'm telling you to go! Do you WANT to die?"
"Mom..." Ed's eyes began to moisten and a lone tear escaped down his cheek. "Please..."
"Go, Edward. I won't ask you again." Trisha glared at her son right in the eye. Edward gulped and nodded. He began to run again, Alphonse in tow. The two had made it halfway down the block when they heard it.
It shattered their ear drums and curdled their blood. They flinched and whipped around to look at their home. The shriek was long gone, but it rang in their ears. Edward stood dumbfounded for a moment and then it hit him. He doubled over and fell to his knees. Rain began to pour down, matting his hair to his face. He snapped his head up and screamed.
"MMOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!"
"Brother! They're coming!" Alphonse, now fully awake, pointed towards their home.
"Shit. Al, go to the Rockbell's. I'll be a minute or two. I'm going to try out that alchemy stuff we've been reading about in dad's office."
"Brother! Please... don't leave me..." Alphonse whimpered.
"Never." Ed cracked his knuckles and huddled onto a dry area of sidewalk sheltered by a tree. He took out a piece of chalk that he always kept handy (don't ask where 0.o) and drew a certain circle out. It was the best he could do. This was the only one he really memorized. Taking a deep breath, he thumped his hands onto the edge of the circle.
"This is for mom."
Suddenly, the burglars tripped over a newly transmuted wall and hit their foreheads onto the sidewalk with a loud thump. Edward cringed and ran. He had done enough damage. He couldn't finish them off. He didn't have the heart.
He ran and cried. Cried for his mom, cried for breaking his promise to his father, cried for having to hurt those men, when suddenly, he felt a tug on the back of his shirt, pulling him into an alley.
"Hey little brat, you really hurt my friend back there. He might be dead, now. And I don't like that. So I'm going to kill you. Oh, but I'm not going to give you a mercifully quick death. I'm going to slowly cut off each of your limbs and you will be screaming for my mercy," the man brought a wicked smile upon his face while he held Ed up by his ankles, upside down. Ed desperately punched him in that one spot, causing the man to grunt in pain.
"Dammit, you runt, that fucking hurt. I think I'll cut off your right arm then, since that's what you used to punch me." Ed's eyes widened. He screamed as the blade pierced his flesh. Cold pain made it's way through his flesh and muscle and finally, through the bone. He screamed and struggled, tears falling from his face like waterfalls. In this part of town, no one would hear him scream. Or at least, they would ignore it.
"Next I'll do your leg." Ed whimpered and struggled even harder. The pain! Aw dammit, he was going to pass out. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Once again, he felt the edge of the blade slice through his left thigh, right above the knee. His tormentor was making his way through the bone when a gunshot rang out.
"Step away from the boy!" A blond woman in a military uniform gripped a pistol pointed at the man.
"Damn. Gotta go, shrimp!" The man began to run down the alley, hopping up a fire escape and disappearing into the night.
"Fuck! Entail a pursuit!" The woman with the gun began to run after him. "He's a wanted criminal. Dead or alive. Come one!" She yelled to four other men. They all began to pursuit the man, but Edward knew that he'd be long gone. The knife still in his leg, he pulled himself up into a standing position. Edward knew that taking out the blade would probably cause more bleeding. No matter the pain, he kept it in, trying to prevent bleeding to death. He ripped off the remains of his shirt and held it to where his arm should be. He swore and hobbled as quickly as he could towards the Rockbell's. They'd help him, he knew.
On his way out of the alley, he met eyes with a dark-haired man with slanting dark eyes. He walked towards him, offering him help or at least a ride, insisting that he'd go to a hospital, but Edward shook his head.
"No, I can take care of myself. The people I'm going to are very skilled doctors. They'll help me." Edward eyed the man one more time and hobbled away. The man stood their in silence for a second then shrugged.
Edward finally arrived on the Rockbell's porch. He had already lost a hell of a lot of blood. He rang the bell weekly and then collapsed unconscious.
Dr. Sara Rockbell opened the door and gasped. She scooped up Ed's little form and set him on the kitchen table.
"UREY! GET THE FUCK DOWN HERE! IT'S EDWARD! HE'S LOOSING BLOOD!"
Dr. Urey Rockbell hopped over the stairs railing with a medical instrument bag. The two got to work, stopping the bleeding and cutting off the rest of his leg. The knife had already gone through the bone marrow, it wasn't salvageable and most likely infected, anyway. It would be Ed's best interest to remove it and have Pinako install automail on, instead. Yes, that's what they would do.
-May 8, 1913-
"Hey! Shorty! Got any goods on ya? Hand everything you've got over or it's goodbye to your little brother here." The older boy smirked down at Edward. He had to be at least three years older then Edward, now fourteen. The guy's gang had thirteen-year-old Alphonse pinned up against a wall, where the poor kid was struggling, throwing useless punched at kicking into air.
"I'm telling you, Duke, your best choice is to put my brother down and leave us be. That way, I don't have to hurt anyone."
"Shut up, shrimp. This is your last chance."
"Don't call me small," Edward stuck out his tongue then clapped his hands together. "Al, watch out, okay," Ed called to his brother as he thumped his hands on the ground. The asphalt crumbled beneath the feet of Duke and his gang. They fell heavily onto the crumbled asphalt with a yelp. "Let's go, Al!" Alphonse nodded and sprang up to his feet, running after his brother. Ed had too big a heart to really hurt anyone. A clean escape would be enough for now.
After running for quite a bit, Edward stopped to rest. They were on the outskirts of Central Headquarters. Over the past three years, the brothers had studied alchemy as if their lives depended on it. They started out with Eastern HQ's library, sneaking into the alchemical research labs and state libraries at night. They had stayed with their family friends, Drs. Sara and Urey Rockbell, their daughter Winry, and old lady Pinako, who had fitted Edward with automail. They slowly started drifting away from home, hopping to different towns with state libraries with information on alchemy. The boys studied hard and Ed gained the ability to transmute without a circle, instead, simply clapping his hands together. They were known nationwide as "The Faceless Orphaned Elric Prodigies." No one really knew what they looked like accept for the fact that Edward, the eldest, was quite short and wore tight black clothes with a red coat with a black flamel on it. The younger was said to be about the same height, chubby with baby fat, and was always wearing khaki shorts, a tee shirt, an open button-down shirt, and had a necklace with a red flamel pendant. The older had bangs and a braid while the younger had side bangs and hair cut short. Slowly, the two had drifted into Central, staying at cheap motels or simply finding shelter in 24-hour libraries.
Panting, Ed smiled and turned to face his brother. He started to laugh, and was soon holding his sides, cracking up. Al stared at him funny at first and then his lips pulled into a small smile, grew bigger, and soon, he was cracking up alongside his older brother. Neither had a clue what was so funny, but that's how they usually were. Nothing really had much reason to them.
Edward smiled once he had regained composure. The sun was setting over Central City and the view was fantastic. This was nice. He hugged his little brother close and took his fist to rub his head. Al swatted him away playfully and looked up at him, smiling.
"Brother, I love you. Thanks for everything."
"I love too, Al. And that's my job. I made a promise along time ago to care and protect you and mom. It may be too late for mom, but I've got you. And I promise on top of that promise that I'll never let anything happen to you. You are my world."
To be continued...