Ahhhhhhh! Sorry that I haven't been able to update. This chapter has been sitting half finished for a week. I had meant to get it out sooner, when I realized I REALLY had to practice for my chorus auditions, which were tonight. Because of that and a lot of homework, I wasn't able to get it out until now. Sorry for the wait! And now I am going to try something new that will hopefully continue on for the whole story, personal replies to reviews!
obsidianlight: Yes, that's for sure. Poor Roy, I do hope he makes it out alive. And, I'm glad you're looking forward to it, I am too! (Allen: I'm not.) Oh shush!
fantasyangel7: glad to hear there weren't many mistakes. I'm horrible with grammar and spelling anyway, so if I didn't have spell check on Word, it would have been a lot worse. I'm glad to hear it was well written, since that's something I try hard to do. AH! It is NOT easy writing about the gate at all! It's hard to imagine what it would be like there, and I always imagined it was like pure nothingness, so I tried getting that across in writing. And you'll just have to wait and see!
foreverforgotten5: So many questions! I would love to answer them, but like you said, they will be answered later! ;D Nothing short of dramatic, huh? Oh man, I hope it won't fail your expectations!
inupupby5: Ah, you see. This story COMPLETELY rewrites the end of the anime, and ignores the movie except for the parts I decide I'll keep. Therefore, the movie has not happened, and Envy was never transmuted into the gate.
Shmexiicake: Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your review meant a lot to me! That's exactly how I feel a lot of the times when searching fanfiction, and I'm honored you feel this story is among the well written out there. I am so glad to hear that my OCs are well written, because I trying so very hard not to turn them into Mary-Sues! I will try very hard not to let you down, and to update more!
To everyone else, icechampion, linkin-link, xXXnightshadexXx, and OPFAN thank you kindly for your reviews! Now read, enjoy, critique, and review! Again, I hurried to get this out, so if there are mistakes or badly worded areas, please tell me!
And I would like to add in, Edward WILL BE COMING IN NEXT CHAPTER!!! *parties*
Allen: (completely unenthusiastic) Yaaaaayy....
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Chapter Six: Communication Errors
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When had he fallen asleep? He couldn't recall…..
….what had he even been doing last? Had he been at home with his mother? Out with Alex or the twins? He couldn't think straight, his head muddled with wayward thoughts and haphazard tidbits of information. He saw his family and friends, things from years ago and things from recent weeks all scrambled together.
His head was pounding, and now that he thought about it, his entire body was sore; slowly he attempted to sit up, before falling once again against the cold, damp ground.
First things first, he decided: where was he? After a few minutes – or hours, maybe – with no answer, he attempted to open his eyes. Pain shot through his left eye, and he was suddenly aware of a throbbing on the left side of his face; immediately, he raised a hand to it, hissing in pain as his hand came in contact with some sort of sticky substance matting his hair and dripping down his neck.
Cursing and cringing in pain, he fought for a hand hold on the wall beside him with his free hand and attempted to stumble to his feet. His vision went bleary, and he fell hard against the ground once again, letting out a moan of agony.
He couldn't stay there, he knew that much; and so he tried again and again and again. All with the same results. Finally, he forced himself onto his knees, sore as they were, and crawled across the ground, using one hand to steady himself against the wall while the other stayed clutching the left side of his face. His vision was distorted and bleary and the stuff – blood? – dripping into his eye obstructed his view, but he was able to make out light a little ways from him. As he crawled closer to his exit, loud sounds reached him. They sounded familiar, something he had heard before, and he tried to figure out what the noises were as he crawled closer to them.
He reached the light and squinted as both his eyes and ears were assaulted; bright lights and shapes raced across his vision, but he was too disorientated to know what they were or even try to guess.
Taking a deep breath, he stood slowly, using both his hands to steady himself on the wall and pull himself up; although he swayed for a moment, he remained standing, and he started the trek towards the moving shapes, hoping one of them was a person who could help him.
A honking noise rung in his ears, rivaled by an even louder screeching of tires; spinning wildly to his left – and almost toppling over in the process – he watched as bright lights sped towards him, coming closer and closer until –
..
..
..
..
..
..
"¿Estas bien?! Ah dias, por favor, dime que estas bien! Lo siento mucho!
Perdoname!"
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The first thought in Allen's head as he awoke was 'Mom! Shut off the alarm!' and yet, for some reason, he couldn't forced the five simple words – words he probably shouted at least once every month – through his dry mouth. The beeping noise continued with its steady beat, and the more he listened to it, the less it seemed like his mother's alarm clock.
Allen felt sore, and there was something itchy covering his body in various places – bandages of sort he guessed; he was lying in bed on his back, his eyes still tightly shut and his head stuffy.
Slowly, he blinked open his eyes; the left side of his face stung slightly, and remained in shadow, Allen unable to see anything except through his bleary right eye. As he blinked slowly, he took in a small, clean room and himself in what appeared to be a sort of medical bed.
Glancing at himself, he saw countless minor bruises and bandages; sitting for a moment staring at his bandaged arm, Allen attempted to remember just what had happened. Unfortunately, no answer came to mind; Allen suddenly noticed the soft sound of peaceful breathes off to his left.
He glanced over with out turning his head, before remembering there was something restricting his view; turning slowly as not to cause himself any pain, Allen took in the sight of a young woman sleeping in a chair near the wall.
She had some of the darkest skin he had ever seen, reminding him of the Ishballan people he had occasionally seen before; dark brown hair fell across her shoulders until her mid-back, while some of it was pulled into two long braids on either side of her face. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed peacefully. He realized she looked as if she wasn't much older than his mother.
As Allen continued to stare at her, she awoke, and slowly blinked her brown eyes at him. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she scrambled to her feet, staring at him with a look of horror distorting her beautiful features.
"Usted esta despierto!" she cried, while he blinked at her in confusion. "¿Como te va? Cuanto lo siento!" Her voice was both concerned and filled with guilt, and Allen was unable to make out a word of what she said. He felt he should reply somehow, as she seemed to be very worried about him, but he had no idea what to say; she seemed to be speaking a foreign language, one that he had never heard before.
And so, he continued to stare at her with a look of wonder on his face. She stared back at him for a few minutes, before breaking down into poorly held back sobs and collapsing once again upon the chair. "Usted no puede oír!," she moaned hopelessly, and Allen couldn't help but grimace at her apparent guilt. "Este es mi culpa….¿Qué he hecho?"
"Er…..," Allen muttered, and she looked up at him. "I'm umm….I'm alright…" She blinked at him, and he hoped he had gotten the point across. If not, how was he supposed to help her if he had no clue what she was saying?
"Al…righ…t," the woman copied his word, slowly and with a little difficulty, her voice heavy with an accent. After a moment, she seemed to understand what he was attempting to tell her, and she smiled softly. "Bien."
An awkward silence proceeded this, and Allen coughed uncomfortably to break it. Again, his first attempt at conversation was a very unintelligent mumble.
The woman smiled at him in her small, soft way again; pointing at herself, she said, "Noah." Allen simply raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was trying to say. Frowning slightly, she again said, "Noah" and pointed at herself. After a few more times of repeating this, Allen's blue eyes widened as he finally realized the woman was attempting to let him know her name.
Smiling, Allen replied by making the same gesture towards himself and saying, "Allen." Noah smiled widely, hopped up out of her seat and hurried towards his bedside, and extended her hand for a handshake. Allen winced slightly as he shook her hand, while Noah happily repeated "Allen" in a singsong voice.
