Golden Scales Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.

o.O.0.O.o

Al had just finished pushing the steel bed frame into the corner when a persistent question all but head-butted him.

"Granny?" Al asked tentatively.

The old woman let out a frustrated cry as the part she dropped skidded out of her reach. "What is it now, Al? And hand me that screw, would ya?"

The armor obeyed the command as he answered, "Well, um… I was thinking and… erm, what are we going to tell the military if they call Brother back before he's ready?"

The old woman took the screw from his gauntlet and resumed her work.

"You leave that to me." she replied, not even looking up. "Now why don't you do something useful, like handing me that screwdriver?"

He sighed, giving up. After completing Pinako's request, Al resumed setting up the doctor's quarters. As he laid out the sheets, he thought about what it felt like to re-grow a limb. Surely something of the like would be painful, but his brother showed no signs of discomfort these past few days. Not since they removed his prosthetics. Al had to wonder if Edward always harbored the amazing ability. He thought back when his brother was recovering from his first automail surgery, reflecting on how he'd managed it in one year. At the time, they'd all figured his undying determination flipped a switch of some sort. But now… now Alphonse wasn't so sure. After all, he'd always known his brother to be a quick healer. Maybe too quick.

The armor set the last pillow on the bed and nodded at his work. Glancing at the stairs, he remembered that his brother laid in the bathtub unchecked for at least an hour. Usually, the teen pruned up by then and called for assistance to get out. Alphonse silently laughed at the image his mind conjured up.

"I think I'll go check on Brother now." he told Pinako.

He received nothing but a wave in return. Sighing again, he started for the stairs.

Once he reached the bathroom door, he gave it a small knock.

"Brother?" he asked, "Are you ready to get out now?"

No response.

"Brother?" he asked again, a little louder.

Still no response.

Al placed his gauntlets on his hips and called, "Ed, if you fell asleep again I swear I'll—"

Suddenly Den started barking downstairs, cutting him off. If the armor had eyes, he would've rolled them.

Over the din of barking, Al continued, "Wake up, Brother! I'm coming in now…"

Thinking nothing of it, he stepped inside and opened the curtain. But what he found in the tub was far from what he expected: empty water.

Edward was gone.

o.O.0.O.o

Dark.

That's the first thing I registered.

It was dark. And cold. Very cold.

Also, pain. Dull, throbbing pain coursing through my body. Areas of numbness too, it felt like. I felt nothing from the waist down.

I couldn't move. I couldn't speak. And I couldn't have opened my eyes any wider. I felt myself blink in even intervals. But with each blink, I came no closer to taking in my unknown environment.

Weightless. Another thing I felt at the moment. Completely weightless, as if gravity ceased to grab purchase on me. It made no sense to me.

I tried to think. Squeezing my eyes shut, I concentrated. Nothing came to me. I harbored no clue about where I was, or how I got here. Only that the last thing I remembered was a dream. A dream of a moving ceiling, and a static porcelain wall.

Slowly, my senses creeped back to me. What felt like centuries later, I could finally make out a dim, square-shaped beam of light hitting a shiny floor. Soon the feeling of this floor underneath me registered on the flesh pinched between.

Maybe I wasn't floating after all.

A moment later, I felt a finger twitch. Voluntarily, I mimicked the movement. Sure enough, the same finger obeyed the command, albeit slowly. Small amounts of confusion ebbed away, replaced by relief. If I waited, I'd be able to move again.

And that I did. I waited a full imaginary century later.

Finally, my body racked with shivers and tremors, not unlike a dog shaking to dry itself. Yet, I still felt nothing beyond my hips.

Still blind as could be, I pushed myself almost upright, holding myself without my useless lower body. I felt worry now coursing through me. Was I paralyzed?

Time drew on and I began to remember different things. Choking in a bathtub. A curtain of blond hair floating next to the static porcelain wall. The dream, all over again. Still, I recalled nothing else.

Suddenly, a pounding headache attacked me. I winced at the pain, but slowly it dulled. Then it all started coming back to me.

I registered myself as weightless again as thousands upon thousands of images flashed behind my eyes. My golden eyes.

Needless to say, I flicked on the "freak-out switch" when the slideshow ended.

I still didn't know much about my current predicament, but I was rather grateful to remember passing out in the bathroom before… whatever this was.

Still confusedly blind, I propped myself up without much effort. I glanced around my black environment and figured that small patch of light was the only thing definite at the moment.

I tried to move towards it. The movement failed on the account that I still couldn't move my lower body. It was strange, since as far as I knew, I still had one leg.

The first noise I made since waking up, and it was a deep, guttural growl. I could not hear it, but felt it vibrate in my throat. Irritated, I moved to use my single arm, only to notice that it might not have been so single anymore.

Nerves from a previously non-existent part of me fired to life and registered the pressure of the floor beneath me. Again, my eyes could not have opened any wider.

Choosing to focus on that later, despite my surprise, I resumed my task: moving. Using -le gasp- both arms, I pulled myself closer to the square of light. I dully noted that the small dragging movement did more than I expected. I felt myself weightlessly sail towards the light, and saw said light grow in proximity.

Now I was really confused. It was almost as if I were…

Underwater.

But that was nonsense. Because then, how was I breathing?

No. I shook my head and clamped my jaw shut, blocking everything out. My vision tunneled as I effortlessly pulled myself to the square. As I got closer, I noticed two lines of darkness crossing through the light: window panes. Sure enough, I looked up and saw the source, fuzzily through my distorted vision, a window.

And if that wasn't enough, suddenly my hearing began tuning in to my surroundings. I halted for a moment and listened. I heard voices. Just… talking. Faint, as if behind a wall of glass.

I paused completely before my ears picked up a little bit of what was being said.

"… crawling with soldiers once they realize it's missing." one voice said.

"Don't worry." another answered, "It doesn't look anything like the boy they'll be looking for. Not anymore."

My eyes widened at that. Also, the voices sounded eerily far away and echo-y, as if they were contained in a glass room. Before I could think to do anything, the next voice spoke.

"Yes, and the military is just going to let us slide on by when they see we've got a creature like that with us."

Creature? What—

"We'll say we're from the circus or something. Besides, I don't think we'll have to deal with the military at all. We have to jump trains every other day for this to work, right?"

As I listened, my subconscious mind noticed that the feeling in my lower body had slowly returned. My mind reeled at what I was hearing, while, unknowingly, my "legs" were poised and ready for movement again.

"That's true." the first voice stated, "Speaking of jumping trains, are you ready for another jump, Amery?"

"Just about, Allephe. A few more hours, maybe."

"Good. It should be waking up any minute now. Aliss, why don't you go check on it?"

Panicking now, I aborted my previous task and pushed myself backwards. And backwards I went, until I felt myself reach a wall. The sound of echo-y footsteps rang through my environment. My heart racing, I slid myself to the side until finally I pressed my back into a corner and shut my eyes.

The footsteps drew closer, and instinctively, my eyes shot open to view my predator. Then something odd happened. Something that caused the rest of the world, including the footsteps, to melt away.

When I'd opened my eyes, I caught sight of a glint of gold in my lower peripheral vision. My eyes flicked down. I then noticed another square of moonlight right in front of me. Everything else was drowned out by darkness, yet the floor gleamed bright. But not golden.

Temporarily robbed of my ability to think, I frowned at the sudden mystery. I watched the square intently, deaf, and concentrated until I saw it again: gold.

What looked like a mass of gold swiped across the frame of light. I froze, thinking that something else was with me in the… room. The gold did not return, and during my pause, I finally noticed that the senses of my lower body returned. And when I pressed my "legs" to the floor, just to make sure, it was accompanied by perhaps the strangest feeling in the world.

Ever so slowly, almost terrified, I inched my lower half towards the square of light. And I couldn't have been more surprised when it finally got there.

A golden, scaly, dolphin-like fishtail gleamed beneath the moonlight.