Yay! I got more reviews! Here's the Dementor scene, DUN DUN DDDDUUUUNNNN *cough* Yeah. So, thank you everyone who reviewed, and I'm glad a few of you are trying it out! :D Yup, this chapter has a lot of angst and blood in it mainly because it has the scene when they tried to transmute their mommy... I dunno why but that scene is so easy to write and I just had to put it in... (I'm a sadistic weirdo I hope u all know.) This is when I start mixing the manga and the anime, the Truth will be featured but other than that it follows the anime. Just thought I'd let you know.
Yeah, I'm tottally a cow with glasses MWAHAHA! No i'm not.
Chapter Three
"What's going on? We can't possibly be there yet!" Hermione gasped as she pulled herself to her feet, pushing back her frazzled hair with a thin hand as her eyes flitted about the grey darkness. Alphonse slowly stood, inching towards the glass door and sliding it open to poke his head into the hallway. Seeing others do the same, the younger Elric quickly shut the door and sat down again with a worried sigh.
"Everyone else is checking too, I guess we'll just have to wait 'till the train starts up again." Al informed everyone, glancing to his brother in a signal to say 'Get out of that fighting stance!'
Ed complied, sitting down as his gold eyes seemed to glow in the darkness, the only source of light. He let out an angry huff at the delay, only to freeze in shock as his breath misted before his face and disappeared in a puff.
"W-wow… suddenly its r-real c-c-cold." Harry whispered through chattering teeth as the temperature dropped dramatically. White frosty patterns began to spread themselves across the window, and Ed whispered curses as he furiously rubbed his right arm so it wouldn't freeze as well.
"Maybe we s-sh-should…" but Alphonse was cut off as a dark shadow drifted before the tinted doorway. Eyes widening in horror, almost everyone in the cabin froze or scooted backwards. They all hoped that the figure would just keep going, yet the shadow seemed to sense their fear as it halted. A gnarled hand reached from under a shadowy cloak, twisting drastically as it grabbed the door handle and slid the tinted glass away.
Immediately, a creature had shot into the small room. Faster than anyone could blink it had its skeleton like hand clasped around Edward's throat, pushing the boy against the icy glass. The first level of glass shattered beneath Ed's head, the ice immediately freezing over the sharp points of the glassy dent. Ed let out a startled cry at being assaulted so quickly, reaching up his right hand to claw at the frozen fingers around his neck that were only spreading more cold throughout him.
Al had shot up at once, racing forwards with a dismayed cry of, "Brother!" only to be knocked backwards into Hermione and Ron as another hand pushed out of the dark cloak and pushed against his chest.
The younger Elric gasped violently as the cold spread throughout him in a short second. He felt for a moment as if he'd never be happy again, ever. He was vaguely aware of Hermione pulling him backwards slowly, but he was only focused on reaching his brother.
Edward's eyes were dimming, their bright gold color dulling to a muddy fathomless auburn color. His other limbs had long gone limp, but the automail hand was still clawing weakly as the Dementor took in breath after breath of his happiness.
"Expecto Patronum!"
The compartment was filled with blinding light, and the Dementor let out an inhuman squeal as it backpedaled in the air and dropped Ed to the ground. The young alchemist crumpled immediately, his eyes shut and his breathing uneven as he laid on the carpeted ground.
Then everything went blissfully black.
"Stop! Stop it! It's too much!"
Everything was pouring into his mind. Pressing into every available space. The young alchemist cried out in pain as his head felt like it was being pressed from all sides.
"I didn't want this! Please! I can't take anymore! STOP!"
It didn't stop, it just kept flowing. Everything about the world twirled downwards in a spiral, reaching out and pulling itself into his brain.
Then it was over.
The boy blinked, glancing back at the huge Gate that stood before him, he walked forwards slightly. "So it is possible. Human transmutation is possible, but its just missing one vital step." Suddenly he was banging against the hard doors, willing for the tiny black hands to come out and snatch him away again. "You have to show me more! The Truth was in there, everything was in there!" The Gate didn't open, and no eyes stared back at him as he pounded harder and harder.
"I'm afraid I can't do that."
He spun around, facing the source of childish sing song voice, yet it held a raspy quality and made it sound more insane than innocent.
"I can only show you so much for your payment."
"Payment, what payment?"
"This, don't you remember?" The shadow stepped forwards, flesh and blood and bone suddenly beginning to materialize into a left leg. The boy glanced downwards, his eyes widening in horror as his own left leg dissolved from beneath him. His shoe spun away with nothing to hold onto, disappearing in the expanse of white as he turned to face the white figure again. It smiled insanely at him, a haunting smile with no other features to match as it pressed itself right in the boy's line of vision.
"It's the law of Equivalent Exchange, young Al-che-mist!"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The white room disappeared, replaced with a steamy study. Books and metal were scattered everywhere, and the boy took a moment to realize where he was before gripping at the bloody mass that had been his left leg.
A sharp gurgling sound drew his attention, and he staggered over on all… threes… to the center of the large ornate transmutation circle. "M-mom?" he gasped hopefully, but all hope died as his eyes fell upon the sight that would traumatize him forever. The boy let out another scream, this one full of pain, regret, and terror as his flopped away from the monster. It most certainly was
not his mother. It couldn't be…"No! This wasn't supposed to happen! Al, Al, ALPHONSE!" he whispered in a silent scream once he was safe enough distance away from the creature. His eyes fell upon a mass of empty clothes, and the young alchemist stared in shock for a moment as he continued to clutch his stump of a leg. Everything was happening so fast, why was this all happening?
He threw one last fearful and empty glance at the monster as it reached out a malformed hand to him, before he turned towards the suits of armor in the corner of the room.
"Please, take my leg, my arms, my heart. Anything!" he whispered as he managed to draw a blood seal and a few transmutation circles on himself and the armor in the time of a few minutes. "Just give him back!" he screamed to the Truth, "He's my little brother!" A flash of white, and the black hands reached out again. They grabbed at him, pulling at his limbs. The boy's right arm disintegrated before his very eyes, but he didn't care. Alphonse was waiting.
Then suddenly, he was slammed back into that old study. The monster reached out again at his reappearance, letting out a gurgling plea as he ignored it and pushed himself far against the wall. The large suit of armor loomed up abruptly, its head swinging around and its crimson eyes wide in what could only be described as terror. Then it saw Ed.
"Brother! What happened to you? W-what, what happened to me?" Alphonse cried, grabbing his brother's limp body and holding the small form close as more blood leaked from the older. The alchemist laughed shakily.
"Sorry Al, all I could get for my arm was your soul attached to the armor." he whispered, a sort of insane smile on his face as he grimaced through the pain.
"What about mom?"
The smile left, and he blinked through the haze at his little brother's new form. "Don't look… it, it wasn't human!" His eyes held so much terror that the little brother did not even think of disobeying.
The little brother did not look, only grabbed onto his shivering and twitching form as he stood to carry his brother to safety. But who could they go to? Teacher would hate them, their father was long gone, but… Winry, yes, Winry could help.
"Don't worry brother!" Al whispered to the older. Ed smiled, his gold eyes dimming to a murky brown.
"Not worrying… just… resting…" his eyes slid shut.
The next time those eyes opened, they were never true gold again.
Ed shot up with a sharp gasp, his face covered in a sheen of sweat as his murky gold eyes swung around to view the other members of the cabin. So, he was still on that train? To Hogwarts… that sounded right.
"Eat."
Suddenly something square and brown was shoved into his hands. Edward glanced down shakily, holding the large piece of candy up to his eyes. He glanced around, noticing Al already happily munching away at his own piece of chocolate.
"W-why?" he gasped to Professor Lupin, who he now identified as the one who had given him the chocolate.
"It helps you recover from a Dementor attack, now eat! I must go to the front car and report this." the shabby man said, grabbing his trunk from the rack and sliding the door open, "See you in class." and with that he was gone. Edward glanced at the chocolate again, carefully nibbling on a corner. In an instant warmth shot through his body, and he greedily gulped down the rest as Al laughed at him licking the brown sticky substance from his fingers.
"Brother, you know there's milk in that." Al informed the other, but Ed only grunted in response as he continued eating.
"So… what happened?" Harry asked after a moment, "What was that thing you think?" he added as an after thought.
"Dunno, but it was right scary." Ron hissed, his blue eyes wide as he glanced around them as if expecting a Dementor to pop out from the seat cushions.
"I felt so cold… Colder than I had felt in a long time." Al whispered, finishing off his chocolate and staring sadly at the floor. Ed quickly skirted from his seat to the one next to his brother, giving the younger a one arm hug in reassurance.
"I felt cold too. Hey, did you guys see the… did you see that?" the blond asked, suddenly weary and fearful, looking older and wiser than a thirteen year old.
"The… never mind." Ed said, pushing the memory of the Gate from his mind. He removed his left arm from his brother's thin shoulders, wrapping the strong fingers around his automail wrist in a silent act of comforting to himself. Al noticed, his eyes only filling with more worry as he recognized Ed's behavior as what he would always do after a nightmare of their mother. "I'm gonna go get into my robes." Edward suddenly announced, grabbing a small bag from his pocket that Roy had shrunk using magic and bolting out of the compartment, leaving a confused foursome in his wake.
You all know what to do. Press that little button right there that says review... yup, rrriiiggghhhtttt there.
