Holy cow an early update!? I'm on a roll! Before we get to the story I'm gonna do review time!
A mysterious illusion: I love how enthusiastic you always are! :D
Rei-la-da: You just made my day. Thank you :D
H: That pen thing happened to me once too lol
drea: My...culture? I don't really have a culture I'm American. XD Well I guess there's always the superbowl, memorial day, 4th of july and thanksgiving.
Onto the chapter!
Als pov
The next morning the doctor said we could all go home. On our way home I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching us. I constantly threw glances over my shoulder.
"You okay Al?" Ed asked, picking up on my behavior. "It's nothing, nothing at all." I responded. I didn't want him to worry any more than he already was. It didn't work cause I felt him watching me too. I couldn't blame him, he did care about me.
"Care about you?" That voice said. I spun around and looked everywhere."Idiot you can't see me, because I'm you." The voice said before laughing. I vaguely felt someone shaking my shoulder.
"Hey Al, snap out of it!" Ed shouted, shaking me. I came out of my daze. "Oh, sorry about that." I apologized, smiling. Ed looked even more worried now. Usually I would tell him what's wrong, but today I couldn't. I had already made up my mind on what course of action I was willing to take to stop myself from hurting anyone else.
"Ed, when we get home I need to talk to you and Winry." I told them. "Uh, sure Al." Winry said. Ed didn't mind either. When we opened the door I pushed them towards the kitchen and we all sat down. "What is it Al?" they asked at the same time. They blushed which caused me to laugh.
"Anyways, I've figured out a way we can stop me from hurting anyone else!" I said, excitedly. They stared at me, shocked. "What do you mean?" Ed asked. "Well I figured that if we locked me in the basement-" I couldn't even finish telling my idea before Ed jumped out of his chair.
"WHAT? No way in hell is that going to happen!" He shouted, slamming his hands on the table. I coward away in my seat. He could be really scary when he was mad.
"Ed sit down or I'll get the wrench!" Winry threatened. He sat down, crossing his arms. As we both knew, Winry was way more terrifying when she was angry. "Al you can continue now." Winry told me. She pointed at Ed and said "And you better not interrupt him." After that I continued.
"It's just that way you could lock me in." Ed was growing more angry the more I suggested it. Winry held out her wrench at him to make sure he wouldn't act up. "And then I won't be able to hurt anybody so we can figure out how to solve this. You should tie me up also, to be safe." That was the last straw. Ed grabbed Winrys wrench and threw it behind him so he could freely yell at me.
Winry yelled at Ed, and Ed yelled at me. It was like a crazy cycle. Finally they settled down again. "Al, no. I'm not locking you down in the basement. I mean, how would you eat? Or use the restroom?" Ed asked. He had a point.
"I could always bring him food. And you could always wait outside the door when he uses the restroom." Winry suggested. Ed banged his head on the table repeatedly."Why are you supporting this Winry!?" Ed asked. Me and her looked at each other, I nodded, knowing what she wanted to tell him.
"Because I'd rather he do this than try to kill himself again." She stated. Ed fell out of his chair. "HE TRIED TO DO WHAT!?" He asked, looking at me. I nodded slowly. 'Poor brother having to take in all this at once.' I thought.
"Why would you do that Al?" He asked, not sounding angry, but heartbroken. It was rare for me to see Ed on the verge of tears. I instantly felt guilty, tears stinging my own eyes.
"I'm sorry, b-brother. I just, I didn't want to hurt you again." I explained. The tears were freely running down my cheeks. "Uh- geez Al don't cry. I hate it when you do that." He told me, placing a hand on my shoulder. I don't know how Ed was always so strong. All I could ever do was cry.
"You're such a weakling." The voice said. If there was something we could agree on, it was the fact I was so weak. I wiped my tears away and looked up at him. "Please, I'm asking you to make sure that I can't hurt anyone again. I couldn't bear it if I woke up and you or Winry were dead! Please, Ed." I begged. Ed was still for a moment, then he patted my head before speaking.
"If this is what you want Al. Don't worry, We'll solve this. I swear I won't rest until we do." He said, determined. He wasn't gonna give up, I could tell. I just had to have faith in him again.
Eds pov
I couldn't believe I was really locking Al in the basement. Fears ran through my mind such as if he ran out of oxygen, starved to death, or rats ate him. I knew all of those would never happen, but I still didn't want him doing this.
"Al, why don't we just lock you in your room?" I asked. He shook his head. "My room has windows. It wouldn't be hard to break them and then jump outside. Then I could do who knows what." He explained. He had a point.
"Still, does it have to be the basement?" I asked. "it's the only room with no windows and a lock." He replied. I sighed and unlocked the basement door. He walked inside without hesitation. He looked around and nodded.
"This will work, hopefully. You sure you don't want to tie me up?" He asked. I can't believe he asked me that. "I'm positive. No way could I do that." I told him. He sat down on the chair we moved in there. I also brought in blankets and pillows.
"But if you don't I could transmute or break the door down." He explained. I sighed. "No Al, I'm not tying you up." I said. "You have to! Please brother, you have to." He told me. "I can't do that!" I shouted back.
"Ed, please. You just have to tie me to this chair." He said. I shook my head. There was some rope in the corner of the basement. Al grabbed the rope and sat down on the chair. "Al, what are you doing?" I asked, curiously watching him.
"If you won't do it I will. I'll need some help tying my hands though." He told me. I had never seen Al so set on something in a long time. I just wished that he didn't have to be set on stopping himself at all cost.
"I can't believe I'm about to do this." I whispered. I walked over and snatched the rope away from him. I tied his chest to the chair, and then tied his hands, making sure the palms faced opposite directions.
"Thanks Ed." What the hell was he thanking me for? I just tied him up for gates sake! "I really don't like this." I told him. "I know, but I really appreciate that you tied me up anyways. If Winry asks, just tell her I forced you to."
"Okay." After making sure the knots were secured, I walked over to the door. I left the room and closed it. I turned the key and after the 'click' sound, walked away.
'Why,why,why did it come to this? I swear Al, you won't have to suffer for long.' I still hated the fact Al was a prisoner in my own house. I was walking to my study when Winry stopped me.
"Hey how'd it go?" She asked. "Well he forced me to tie him up, said it was the only way." I answered. She sighed. "That's just like Al. Not caring what happens to him as long as everyone else is ok." She told me.
"It's not the first time he was willing to lock himself up for the benefit of others. On the night before the promise day we were fighting with Pride. To stop Pride from interfering Al came up with the idea to lockhimself in a dome with the enemy." I told her.
"Wow, I don't think you told me that before. That sure does sound like him though.I'm gonna go keep him company. do we have a spare key to the basement?" She asked. I pulled out another basement key out of my pocket and handed it to her. Once she left I went into my study room to try to decode what that thing said at the house.
I wrote down what it told me word for word on a sheet of paper. I then got another piece of paper to write down my theories. The first thing it said was the "teas fantastic isn't it?" That could mean a number of things. I wrote down several theories but none of them made much sense.
'Wait, what if they're referring to Al?' I asked myself. I wrote that down and it made sense. It would translate to "Al is fantastic isn't he?" I wasn't so sure that was right but it was all I got.
The next thing it said was "it was too sweet at first so I had to add other ingredients." I came to the conclusion that once again it was talking about Al. "He was too sweet at first, so we had to add things to change him" is what seemed to make the most sense. There was the chance all this was just nonsense about tea. Still I had to try.
Next sentence was "The cookies and biscuits took a very long time, but in the end they turned out just right." Okay this mentioned two. Who else was involved in this? Were they like Al too? No, maybe this was still talking about Al and was meant to throw me off track. No way was I letting those things get the best of me. So in the end that sentence was nothing new still talking about how he was a success.
The third sentence was "I wasn't sure if I made the cookies right but I followed the instructions and it worked out." That one didn't seem too hard. I translated it to "i was unsure if it was successful, but I followed orders and it worked." So this leads to the fact someone else is operating all of this too. Just what was this project, and what was the purpose?
Fourth sentence was about dropping the cookies. I figured that was about someone else who was a victim like Al. Was a success at first, but there was a mistake and they died. It made sense, but just because it made sense didn't make it proof.
Fifth sentence they said the cookies got burned before coming out of the oven. It took me no time at all to figure this one out. The second victim died before being completed. Sixth sentence said how the third batch (Al) came out just right, meaning Al was a success. Finally I had a clue. This was a project, an experiment. It involved messing with peoples lives. What experiment was it? What was the purpose? Who was behind it? Instead of solving my questions this only created new ones.
"I guess this wasn't answers then." I muttered. "Something wrong Ed?" Winry asked from behind. I fell out of my chair, bringing some papers down with me. "Don't scare me like that Winry." I told her, dusting off my clothes. She laughed and handed me a plate full of food. "You've been working in here for hours, I thought I should bring you some dinner." I stared at her blankly. Had it really been that long?
"Eat up! I'm gonna go deliver some to Al too." I didn't reply, I was too distracted by picking up papers. When I turned around she was gone. 'Wait, is she gonna feed it to him? He can't use his hands tied up like that.' I wondered. I shrugged it off and looked over my notes to make sure there was nothing I missed.
Als pov
"I'll admit, this was clever. Locking yourself up like this prevents me from doing anything." The voice told me. I smiled. "Not so tough now, are you?" I asked him."I can still gain control of your body. Once I see an opportunity, I'll take it." It told me. "I'll make sure that opportunity never comes around the corner." I stated.
After a minute of silence I heard a knock on the door. "Al, it's me. I brought dinner!" Winry said, unlocking the door."Perfect." They said. Before I knew it I could only see blackness. I could hear what was going on, but I couldn't see or control it. "What did you do!?" I asked, searching for anything that could be a way out.
"What does it look like? I took control of your body again. Isn't it familiar? Oh that's right, you were unconscious. Well this time you'll stay conscious and remember everything. Enjoy the show." I was horrified. He took control of me so easily! Well as long as he stayed tied up there was nothing he could do. I stayed quiet to listen.
"Hey Winry, is that for me?" I heard "me" ask. "Yep! Eat up!" I heard her placing something down. "I'm sorry to cause so much trouble all the time." He said. I couldn't stand it! He was actually trying to pretend to be me!
'Please Winry, please notice that it's not me.' I said. I knew she couldn't hear me from where I was.
"I told you to stop thinking like that. It's no trouble at all! Now eat up!" She said cheerfully. "Um, I'm really sorry, but I can't. My hands are sort of..." He trailed off. "It's okay, I can feed you!" She suggested. "No, I couldn't ask you to do such a thing." He said. It all clicked. He was trying to get Winry to untie his hands!
'Winry, don't untie him! It's not me!' I shouted. It was hopeless. I was hopeless. I was always so easily controlled. "Well, I guess I can temporarily untie you. I'll even keep you company while you eat!" She said.
'NO WINRY! PLEASE DON'T!" I shouted as loud as I could. I ran around frantically looking for something, anything that could help me reach her! "Okay." He agreed. I heard the sound of someone picking at something. I knew she was trying to untie him.
'WINRY STOP! IT'S NOT ME! PLEASE STOP!' I knew nothing could stop her now. "This knot is tricky! Don't worry it will only take a minute." She told him. 'YOU JERK! IF YOU HURT ED OR WINRY I'LL-'
"You'll do what? You can't harm me." He was right. Before long I heard the ropes slipping off. "There we go! I-" Before she finished, I heard the sound of clapping.
'DONT!' I begged. I heard a large thud. After that I heard Winry coughing. "Thanks for untying me brat." He said.'YOU HURT HER DIDN'T YOU!? I'LL-''Wow you're way too annoying to keep conscious. Nighty night.' At that moment I felt extremely sleepy. I tried to stay awake, but it was a lost cause.
"Ed-ward run." I whispered before blacking out. I failed to protect them.
I'm not too happy with my writing in this chapter but I hope it's bearable. I have no clue where this story is heading so lets enjoy the ride shall we? Please leave a review/favorite/follow if you enjoyed! It's really appreciated!
