Chapter 1 : Follow
A small boy trudged down the beaten village streets. His blonde hair waved back and forth in its braid, contrasting nicely with his bright red coat and the dull surroundings. Everywhere he looked there was the glint of metal, of steel and iron. The windowpanes of the many small windows, more like holes in the wall really, were all made of the stuff. Just like the doorposts, roof tiles, even some of the doormats had small iron threads woven through the fabric.
This was what it meant to live in the fully iron city.
He passed by the prison, one of the few buildings in the city that still looked new and shiny. As one of the most important buildings in the city it was always kept in tiptop condition, not a single spot visible on its reflective surface. Unlike the blackened surface of the cold iron pole placed in the middle of the village square. Just like the prison this was one of the most frequented places in the village but no matter how hard people tried to clean it and scrub away the soot, it wouldn't leave and thus it remained stained black forever. It was fitting the boy thought, that the pole would forever reflect the blackened stains it had left on his heart.
He tore his gaze away from the blackened metal and kept walking, ignoring the many villagers staring at him. He was used to it.
Everywhere he went people would stare at him, if not for the burned and scarred flesh of his hand then for his reputation as one of the village outcasts. It did not matter though, there were only a few people who mattered to him and they didn't care about his hand or his reputation. They were all the same after all.
There was Pinako, the old woman he lived with. Winry, her daughter. His brother, Alphonse. All of them outcasts, all of them in the same boat and all for mostly the same reason: The Fae.
Pinako because she never showed up to the burnings, refused to speak bad of the Fae and sheltered the other three from harm. Ed didn't always like her, she was a crazy old bat in his opinion, but he did respect her. If only because she got that same look in her eyes when watching the burning pole that his mother had always had.
Winry… well Winry's story was something completely different. When she was younger she had been kidnapped by the Fae but somehow she had managed to escape. At first she had been hailed as a village hero, proof that ordinary humans truly could conquer the fae. That had soon changed however when the villagers found out she wouldn't speak a single bad word about her former captors, nor would she tell them how she had escaped or where the fae hid. The adoration had quickly turned to spite and then to cruelty and now Winry was one of the most hated individuals in the city. If not for her amazing skills as a smithy the people would have probably burned her a long time ago. Still, being the best smith in a city made of iron had its perks and no one had tried to harm her yet, not after that one time so long ago at least...
The boy shook his head, trying to rid himself of the negative thoughts, trying to think of happier things.
His little brother, Alphonse, for example. Al was a bright child, always smiling and kind and he wouldn't hurt a fly. Needless to say that with his past and personality he did not like the almost monthly burnings one bit. In the beginning some of the people had tried to convince the sweet boy to come stay over at their place, leave behind the freaks that had adopted him and tried to 'save him' as they'd called it. Al would have none of it though and, in his customary polite tone, had kindly told them to fuck off. Well, he hadn't told them to fuck off exactly, Al probably didn't even know what those words meant, but that's what it came down to and he could honestly say he was proud of his little brother.
Then there was him, the last of their little band of outcasts: Edward Elric, son of Trisha Elric, faerie captive and Hohenheim Elric, a family abandoning bastard. With a far more serious and uncaring personality than his brother it wasn't hard to figure out why Ed wasn't the most liked person in the village. His burned hand and leg did nothing to help him either. To the villagers the burned flesh was a sign of his alliance to the faerie and his willingness to help them, moving in with the Rockbells had only solidified that idea for them.
Ed heaved a sigh, ignoring the many suspicious looks this earned him and opened the door to the town bakery. A small iron bell sounded its hollow clanging when he entered but Ed just ignored it. Quickly and quietly he made his way over to the counter, scowling when he met the baker's eyes. The man glared back and had just opened his mouth, probably to tell him to get out, when the door opened and the small bell started its hollow clanging again.
The baker closed his mouth and turned to the other customer with a warm, welcoming smile, obviously choosing to ignore Ed for now. Ed tssked under his breath and was about to leave, he'd just have to find some bread somewhere else when he saw who had entered. For a minute his frown deepened but then he came up with an idea and slowly he started smiling.
"Hey bastard!" He called out, earning himself another glare from the baker who immediately started making excuses to the tall black haired male Ed had addressed, while at the same time telling Ed to get out. Ed just ignored him and walked over to the taller male who'd turned around now, military uniform perfectly ironed, a small scowl on his face.
"Elric," He answered with a small nod, obviously less than pleased to see the other, but much more composed than the angry shopkeeper. His was more of a quiet disdain than the open hatred of the baker.
"You always jump the queue, bastard?" Ed grunted out, pushing himself before the other.
The other just stared at him, eyebrow raised, before flicking his coal black gaze back to the angry baker and then back at Ed again, a look of dawning understanding filling his eyes. He kept up the indifferent act though and when he spoke it was in that same disdainful tone. "I'm sorry, I just didn't see you there." The 'because you're so small' was not spoken but instead lingered in the air, more than clear from the other's tone and gaze.
"WHO'S SO SMALL A FLEA WOULDN'T NOTICE HIM?!" Ed yelled out, causing another angry yell from the baker for him to shut up and a satisfied look to flash through the Colonel's face.
"My, my Elric, no need to get so upset," The man said, though it was more than obvious that he'd expected the reaction and enjoyed riling the other up. "Here, to make it up to you I'll let you go first, how's that?" He gestured to the counter and Ed grumpily took his place, at least his plan had worked.
He placed his order and the baker could do nothing but comply, not with the 'great' Colonel Roy Mustang looking expectantly at him like that.
Once he got his order Ed quickly left the stuffy bakery and shitty company behind. He'd have to find another way to get bread from now on, there was no way the baker would let him come back after that. He was just lucky Mustang showed up or he would have been kicked out without anything at all, not that he'd ever tell the bastard that.
Roy Mustang and Edward Elric had a complicated past. On the one hand the bastard was the village pride, a hero of the Ishbalan purge. Nicknamed 'The Flame', not only because of the many Faerie he'd uncovered and burned, but also because he managed to light a fire in every woman's heart. He was the village's most coveted bachelor and a true perv in Ed's opinion.
The only reason the two tolerated each other at all was Winry. For some reason Ed couldn't even begin to comprehend Winry liked the bastard and the Colonel tolerated her, if barely. It wasn't exactly the most conventional friendship, but a friendship it was and so Ed tried to tolerate the other male to keep Winry happy. He knew how hard it was for her to make friends after all.
Ed was pulled from his reverie by the sound of light footsteps coming up behind him, he immediately recognized the soft thread and turned around with a smile, just in time to catch his little brother before he slammed into him. Sometimes Al could be such a kid.
He ruffled Al's hair before softly pushing him away from him, "Hey Al, what's up?" He asked, knowing his brother wouldn't come out into the village unless he had business there.
"Auntie Pinako told me I should go make sure you didn't forget the milk again," Al answered, a slightly scolding look taking over his features when he mentioned Ed's regular habit of 'forgetting' to get the dairy products when he went shopping.
Ed scratched the back of his neck sheepishly as he looked at the bag with bread and a couple of greens hanging by his side. Al followed his gaze and let out a resigned sigh. "The old hag knows me too well," Ed grumbled as his brother grabbed his hand and started dragging him back to the centre of the village where the dairy shop was located.
"I'm sorry brother," Al replied sweetly, obviously not sorry at all, "but I actually like milk."
Ed let out another heavy sigh and let himself be dragged back to the store without any further protests, today was really not a good day for the oldest Elric.
All was silent as two figures made their way through the vast woods surrounding the fully iron city. The sparse moonlight falling through the cracks in the foliage illuminated their perfect pale skin and caused deep purple eyes to flash every time the light caught them.
One of the figures moved determinedly, a single minded focus coloring his steps. The other, smaller, shade moved less elegantly, seeming almost like he was hurrying after the first shade, but still quietly.
Eventually the second shade managed to catch up with the first and grabbed his arm, pulling him to a stop. The taller figure seemed none too pleased with this, wrenched his arm free and pushed the other away from him. The small shadow fell to the ground with a huff but scrambled back up immediately, calling out to the other as he did so, "Wait!"
Disturbed by the obnoxiously loud call the first shadow turned back from where he'd returned to walking and waited, crossing his arms impatiently as he did so.
The smaller figure, seeing he had the other's attention immediately ran over to him and took hold of his arm again. This caused the other to let out a displeased noise, but the small figure ignored him and continued in a pleading voice, "Please don't do this."
The other tssked and tried to wrestle free again, obviously not moved by the small shade's plea.
Getting desperate the smaller shade just tightened his grip though and hung on for all he could. "Please," He continued begging, "We can go anywhere you want, anywhere except here. Please not here, Envy, not here."
The other, now identified as Envy, scoffed before finally giving up on getting the other to let go and glared down at the other. "You know I can't do that." He hissed out. "You know why. You of all people should know that." The last words were hissed with such scorn that the little boy could do nothing but let go, liquid shimmering in his violet eyes.
"I do," He said quietly and looked away, secretly wiping his eyes when he thought the other wasn't looking.
"Then let's go," Envy grunted out, looking at the sky. "We don't have much time left."
The little boy just nodded and followed, no longer making a fuss and together the two slipped back into the woods.
Follow.
That was the first thing Edward Elric thought upon waking.
Follow.
Sleep dazed he turned around, only to find a small shadow standing by his bedside and then he knew, he should…
Follow. The shadow whispered again in his mind and Ed subconsciously nodded his head in agreement.
He kicked off his blankets and stood, waiting obediently in front of the shade. Somewhere he knew this wasn't normal, that this shade shouldn't be here in the middle of the night, in his bedroom. Somewhere he knew, but that didn't matter, nothing mattered. All that mattered was that he should Follow.
The shade looked deep into the glazed over eyes of its captive and nodded slightly. At that sign a second shade broke away from the other shadows in the corner and moved over to the bed. Ed didn't notice though, he was completely focused on the first shade, on following.
And so he didn't notice when the second shade softly touched his forehead and started to change, shrinking and shifting until there stood not a second shade, but a second Edward Elric.
Seeing that the transformation was complete the first shade nodded once more to the Ed duplicate before turning to the window and disappearing back into the woods.
The real Edward stood there for a second, dazed, before following and disappearing just like the shade into the woods.
Back in the room Envy smiled as he watched the two leave, before walking over and closing the window, hissing as the iron made contact with his skin briefly. He ignored it though, still much too pleased with the happenings for him to get bothered over such a small thing.
The window closed, he returned to the bed and slid underneath the covers.
Tomorrow would be a big day for him.
AN/ Kay, and thats it! The first official chapter :) It's still mostly a set up with the different characters and all, but we got the plot moving. Now let's see how the boys like their new lives huh? Anyways I'd like to thank you all for the great support, reviews, faves alerts and just for plain reading and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as well. See ya next chappie! xXx Mai (and yes, I know. Very boring, standard AN but I just got back from vacation in Switserland and I'm pretty tired right now :)
