Edu: Yo everyone. I'm Eduard, and I'm the voice in Ayumi's head that she thinks is real.

Ayumi: o.o Wtf?! Edu!

Edu: Fine, fine, only kidding. Geez! I'm just her guardian. Well, one of them. The unannoying one.

Ayumi: ...yeah...whatever...anyway! I updated! Squee!

Edu: I helped. Otherwise she wouldn't do it.

Ayumi: Meh. Zomg, I love my English honors class. Everyone knows I'm a writer, and I'm learning new words to put in stories.

Edu: So what, you usually use the thesaurus anyway.

Ayumi: Not the point! So anyway, I based this chapter partially on a pic of Al in the Gate I saw on dA. It was awesomely drawn. X3 Okay, onto the chapter!

Edu: -meows-

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Al had always expected that when his blood seal was destroyed, it would be a slow fading of his soul. But it was nothing like that. Instead, a shot of white-hot pain exploded through his soul as he was ripped out of the metal body he had been inhabiting. Black arms grabbed his newly freed soul, pulling him out of his world and into the blank nothingness of the Gate, despite all his weak attempts to get free.

And then he was surrounded by white. The brightness hurt, and he had to squint to see. He lifted his hand to shield his eyes but stopped, staring through his now transparent flesh hand. He had a body again, at least a spiritual one, and it was his body when he was eight, just as he had left it. Wh-what? Did it really work?

He looked up. A distance away, he could see himself, no, his body, sitting on the ground, his knees curled up to his chest and his hands wrapped around his legs. It was the age it should be, a fourteen year old teen-aged boy. His body looked up at him and smiled dazedly, hazel eyes distanced and glazed. Al smiled shakily, tears pricking into his eyes. He wiped them away with his hand and ran- or glided towards his body. But he stopped abruptly as he got a clearer view. Something was wrong.

Something black snacked around Al's body, a bulge that could only be a head resting on his thin shoulder, small black fists tangled in his long, ragged bronze hair. It was like a deformed black baby, stretched and wrapped around his body like a leech. It lifted its ugly head and opened its eyes, slitted and violet. It smiled crudely with a mouth full of tiny, pointed teeth. His body also opened his mouth, moving to form words it didn't really say, as the voice came from the demonic infant,

"So, you've finally done it. It took you long enough." The infant purred, its voice sounding exactly like his, but shadowed with another voice, a crueler, raspier voice that seemed to mock him with every word.

"Wh-what are you?" Al managed to whisper, taking another step closer. He couldn't help it, even if he was frightened; the soul was bound for the body, and it felt like his was pulling him in.

Al's body bowed his head and smiled under his bangs. "I am but a child of the Gate, never given a name, nor a life. But you need to call me something, correct? Call me...Nikitou...it sounds innocent enough." He laughed, a dull but high pitched screeching cackle that Al recognize from when his body was taken from him so many years ago.

Nikitou looked up and tilted his head curiously. "Have you come to steal this body from me?" He asked slowly with malice and fear clinging to his words. Al shook his head. "It's not stealing...this is my body."

The Child hissed as a response, his head dropping into his supporting arms. "No! ...I'll never let you have it...this body is mine, and nobody will take it from me...I want to live..."

Al frowned sadly, taking another step forward. His body shuddered and looked up, his empty eyes now filled with grief. "I want to live!" He repeated. "It's dark thee...it's so dark...I don't want to go back in there."

"Isn't there anyway for you to stay alive?" Al questioned in sympathy. Nikitou stared at him for a bewildered moment, then broke into an excited, bony smile. "Yes! Yes, there is! We can share, your body, that is. I'll just be a residing spirit, no harm done, just until I can get a body of my own."

Al's frown deepened in confusion as he thought about it. "It won't be for that long, right?"

"Yes. I might be able to get strong enough to create a body of my own in that time."

Al sighed. No harm done helping a lost spirit, right? "Fine...as long as you promise my brother never finds out. I'm not sure how he'll take it."

"Yes! Yes, of course!" Nikitou replied happily, his eyes dancing in glee. He staggered to his feet and quickly closed the distance between the two. Al stared upward where his body and Nikitou's spirit already fused together, the blackness of Nikitou merging into his heart.

Nikitou lifted a small black hand and placed it on top of Al's head. "You shan't regret this, Alphonse." He promised. Al smiled; the both of them, body and soul, lifted their hands and pressed their palms together. There was a bright flash of light and they were gone.

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Zomg, I love how this chapter came out. X3 Squee! Okay, ending it quickly. Review replies!

agent000- Zomg, yay for (almost) spooking you! X3 That'll be my goal! To freaking creep you out+.+

Pastel Cupcake- X3 I know, don't you love Edward being evil?! IT'S SO SEXY! XD

InuyashaLuver1224- I love that phrase...'holy hell'...hehehe...

Awesome!- XD; I'll update faster next time then

blue-soljah- XD; Same thing.