Authour's note: I am sorry for not writing for a while, adapting to not just civilian life but also college life at the same time is pretty hard. I also needed to get back into writing again so I wrote those few one shots first. y writing isn't yet up to par but I already had this chapter a quarter of the way finished before my trip so I decided to just finish it up even though it is a bit short. I also wanted to announce that along with writing again, I have started to research a bit for my own sake into alchemy itself and have found a lot of neat things. I am actually writing a forum about how actual alchemy relates to the characters and plots of the FMA brotherhood series. It is really interesting so I thought that I would just share my findings. If you would like to look at it I have the link to the forum on my profile. I am not done yet, still just writing some background knowledge of alchemy to get us started but I hope that it is something some people are interested in. I will also be trying to finish up a Sorcerer' Skill soon. I know I set that off for a very very long time but I will try to finish those last few chapters sometime soon.

The Tales and Tails of Elric

Chapter 25

Family

Long black arms sprouted up from the ground. They swirled to the sky around him and a deep purple glow started to ignite. Edward scrambled back through the black void in which he was trapped, trying to get away from the arms. But they were circling around, surrounding him. Suddenly the light which once was around him, started to break the earth, cracking different runes and circular designs into it. A transmutation circle glowed beneath him as the blackened world began to shake. Edward yelped and took several steps away as a blob began to morph and form in the center. Blood pooled out as bones cracked and grew and a monstrous face gasped for air into the nonexistant lungs. Edward covered his mouth to prevent him from puking as he saw the horror monstrosity in front of him. It chilled him to the bones and shattered something in the darkness of his mind.

"Edward why c-couldn't you fix me? Why my son?" the monster gagged and choked out as blood spewed out of its mouth. Edward's heart froze and he tried to stiffle his own scream as he turned to run away but he hit the edge of the transmutation circle where the black arms were waving through the air. They instantly shot down towards him and slammed him into the ground. He skidded a few yards back right to the center of the circle where the monster was waiting for him. He felt the baited breaths run down his neck as the black arms tightened and crawled up his arm. He tried to pull back but they were too strong around him. He felt tears run down his face as the monster laid its bloody and grimmy hand on his cheek. Edward flinched away and let out a whimper as it stared down at him. "Why couldn't you save your brother?"

Suddenly the monster pulled back and the arms shoved him down on the ground. Gallons of water started to pour out of the pitch black sky and pounded his body. Edward choked and gasped for as the transmutation circle acted like a glass and started to quickly fill up. His head quickly was covered by water and he couldn't breath. As the last breath of air left his lungs water rushed in and the darkness of the abyss took him.

Edward screamed as he jolted up out of his bed. He scrambled for something, anything to hold onto but his hands just came up full with blankets. His heart was pounding in his chest and rang in his ears as his mind tried to forcefully tell his body that it really was just a dream, or rather, a nightmare. That couldn't have been real, yet it truely looked so. Edward dropped his head into his hands as he took a deep breath in. Every sleep he had since he woke up in that hospital held a nightmare of the sorts. Each one of them were getting more terrorizing than the last. He couldn't wrap his mind around them nor could he shove them under the carpet and forget about them. They were just too realistic.

As he relaxed he drew his hands down from his wet face and stared at the blankets on the bed. Those weren't his. This wasn't his bed. Edward's ear suddenly twitched as he heard the light chinking of metal beside him.

"Brother are you alright?" he heard a childish voice say right next to him. He let out a little scream as he scrambled away from the mysterious voice. He misjudged the width of the bed and fell off of the opposite side. At first he was expecting to find the monster of his nightmares next to him, yelling at him for not saving whoever it was he was supposed to save. However, instead he found a giant suit of armour staring at him from the other side of the bed. He felt hell freeze over as he stared wide eyed at the dark and empty eyes that were watching him. "Brother-"

Edward let out another yelp as he inched backwards away from the suit of metal. The suit looked a little surprised, rather hurt and it started to round the corner of the bed cautiously.

"S-stay back," Edward yelled at it as he soon found his back hit the end of a dresser. The armour paused on its advancement and Edward slowly found the energy to force himself to his feet. He stood up cautiously, not tearing his eyes away from the suit of armour. "P-please, d-don't come any closer."

"E-ed...," the young voice in the armour said, deep feeling of hurt coming from it. Edward soon heard the armour start to tremble slightly, light clacking coming from its quivering joints. "D-don't you know wh-who I am?" He shook his head as he dared to take a glance to his right. The door was on the other wall but there was a chance he would be able to make it.

"E-ed, I am your little brother, Alphonse!" the armour cried softly as if urging him to remember. Edward froze and he started to feel his face heat up slightly. His brother... he knew he had a brother, he knew it. It was something he felt in his gut, but his brother died in the crash. His father died in the crash. His entire family died and now there were all of these people who were pretending to be them.

"D-don't you dare mock me!" Edward scolded the man. The armour timidly took a step back as if it was his turn to be frightened. Edward felt his eyes water up slightly as he glared down the suit of armour. "Don't you dare mock me. My brother died! H-he's dead! Don't you dare pretend to be him! F-first it is my father, n-now its my brother!"

"B-rother p-please remember-"

"Y-you kidnapped me! Y-you and all of those other people! Wh-why are you d-doing this to me? P-Please just let me go!" Edward yelled at him. He found the tears starting to pour down his face and his heart stopped as the armour seemed to overcome its shock and started towards him again. It was going to get him.

"Ed, listen to me-" he heard the giant say stiffly but as he came within a few feet, Edward chose that moment to bolt. He took a running sprint towards the door but just as he reached the door knob something snagged the collar of his shirt. He was yanked backward and Edward found his feet leave the ground. He kicked and flailed but the armour wouldn't put him down. "B-brother, you must listen to me-"

"You... Are... not... my... brother!" Edward growled as he slammed his fist into the armour's chest. He felt his breath choke as the tears broke down his face. He was trembling with every punch he delivered. Loud clangings rang in his ears and made him flinch away. The chest plate started to dent in yet the man inside was holding strong. Edward's punches started to tire and he felt a sob rack his throat. "Y-you aren't my brother," he gasped.

"Edward!" the armour scolded him. Edward felt his ears pin back as they were harrassed by the man's harsh voice. "I am not trying to hurt you, I just want you to remember! All of us, we are your friends, your family-"

"I said stop it!" Edward cried as he sent his automail arm up for a final punch. His fist collided with the armour's helmet and it went flying off. The armour dropped him in shock and Edward hit the floor with a thud. He scrammbled for the door and was able to open it an inch before a leather gloved hand slammed it shut. Edward yelped as he spun around to see the armour right up next to him, empty. He felt his jaw drop as he was breathless, speechless. There was nothing there. How could there be-

Edward let out a shock of pain as his mind seemed to explode. The blackness chipped slightly in his mind and flashes of colour seemed to spat and seep out of the darkness that coated his mind. He saw a bright burst of purple electricity and a small golden haired boy. That was his brother, he could tell. It just had to be. All of the world was telling him it was so. A stream of hope hit Edward through the stabbing pain and the darkness. He remembered what his brother looked like. However, it was quickly wiped away. The kid's body suddenly began to disintegrate and disappear. Piece by piece he witnessed his brother's body disitigrate to dust by those black spyndly arms. Another stab of pain shot through his mind and he looked up to see the empty suit of armour standing up.

"Brother-" it breathed but Edward stumbled and sprinted back into the bedroom away from the door. He spun around looking for somewhere to go, something to do. His mind was pounding in his skull so hard it felt like it was going to burst. He looked from one wall to the other. He staggered around trying to get away from the suit of armour, just to breath even. He braced the palm of his hand against his left temple to try and ease the pain but it was blinding.

"B-brother is-" the armour started. He heard the creaking suit take a couple steps towards him.

"Stay back!" he ordered him. "Leave me a-alone" He winced and let out another howl of pain as his mind gave him another attack. His mind suddenly went to a dark basement and a horrifying distorted dog. Edward's felt his heart stop as he realised that it was a chimera, a human chimera. He looked up and the armour was standing over the creature, hugging it softly. Edward felt his entire being freeze. It was there. The armour was there with the creation. He gasped and struggled to hold onto himself as pure terror started to settle in. Was he the alchemist? Edward remembered what Raven told him. He knew deep down that people would have been after him if they figured out he was turned into a chimera. They wanted his hide, they would have wanted to know what made him tick, but he didn't know how they found out so soon. There was no way. He hissed as he tried to clamp down on the pain swirling through his mind. He wanted to dig deeper, to find out what was going on but the sticky black of his mind started to seep back in . It suffocated and coated his memory quickly locking him out. His brain was pounding in his skull with threatened to break at any moment. A scream ripped through his throat as a knife seemed to enter his head.

"H-hold on, I-I'm going to go get help," he heard the armoured voice say. Clanking footsteps left the room and pounded through his head. His ears flattened out against his head as if to block out the noise just as the door slammed shut. Edward groaned as knives seemed to twist in his head. He struggled to force himself to his feet. He needed to move. He couldn't let the armour come back. However no sooner than he stood up, he collapsed to the ground again. He laid on the ground in a daze. His tail curled tighter around his waist where it was still hidden. He felt his body tremble as the pain ever so slowly throbbed. He growled at himself angrilly. He looked to his left and saw a closet. Edward slowly began to crawl towards it. He shakily made his way across the carpet before he heard footsteps approaching. His heart skipped a beat and Edward forced himself to his knees and opened the closet door. He quickly tumbled inside and shut the door behind him.

...

Roy raced into the room with his entire team in tow. Alphonse had woken the whole house in an attempt to help his brother. No one knew what was wrong with the boy. Alphonse just stated that he started to break down in pain. Roy was very scared for the boy. If he needed medical treatment, their team was not the best to be giving that and he doubted that in his frightened and blank state, Edward would be allowing them to come close enough to try. The worse possible scenarios were running through Roy's head as he opened the bedroom door but he wasn't ready for what he saw.

The entire room was empty. There was no sign of life in there and the bed that the boy had once occupied lied in a tangled mess of blankets and sheets. The boy must have run.

"Where is he, Alphonse?" Falman asked nervously as the team filed into the bare room.

"I-I don't know! H-he was crying in pain. I-I didn't know what was going on!" Alphonse cried in dispair.

"Alphonse, I thought you were going to stay with your brother to make sure nothing happened," Roy said softly. Alphonse's armour was trembling slightly as if he was about to cry, which they all knew he couldn't.

"I-I... I am s-sorry. Brother was hurting a-and... h-he's gone," Alphonse stumbled. Roy bit his lip. The young Elric was so distressed by his brother's second disappearance. He was sent into a motionless state for that entire week. Now thinking that he caused his brother to disappear for a third time, it must be destroying him. Roy looked around the room, carefully taking in every detail. The windows were shut and locked like they were when they laid Edward down to rest. The bathroom didn't have a window big enough for even Edward's size, and the door was closed when they had raced in.

"Everyone search the room. He's hiding somewhere. He didn't leave," Roy ordered them. They all picked different areas of the room to search. Roy chose the bed since that was where he found the boy so many different times, but it was empty. The bathroom was empty, thanks to Hawkeye and Falman. Underneath the desk was empty thanks to Fuery. Behind the furniture was empty thanks to Breda.

"Colonel!" the calm voice of Havoc called out to him from the door of the closet. Roy stood up from where he was kneeling on the ground and quietly walked over to where Jean was waiting. As he approached the closet door, he saw the wide golden eyes peer out from the darkness. It was Edward. He bent down and examined the boy. He was curled up in a tight ball on the floor but he seemed to be fine. His arms were over his head as if protecting it and his ears were flattened. Roy sighed as he took a seat in the door's frame. He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them to find the boy still there.

"Edward, are you hurt?" he asked the boy. There was no answer, only an eerie silence as the golden eyes stared at him, as if preparing for him to strike. He tried again, "Edward, do you need medical attention? Where does it hurt?" The boy didn't move nor answered, the golden eyes still on him.

"Sir, should we pull him out to make sure-"

"No," Roy answered, cutting off Havoc's question. Roy had seen the boy being dragged out of the barred cage in the labs enough times. All of the screams still hung in his ears as the terrified face of his subordinate was painted into his memory. Right now, Edward was frightened and cornered, in his mind, trapped. Being possibly hurt would have just made the boy more wary and even more so reluctant to be drawn out of the closet especially by force. "No," he repeated, "Give him his space."

"But what if he's injured, we can't just-"

"No Heymans, we can't, but pulling him out might just make it worse," Roy said. "We just need to wait." As if on cue, Hawkeye started to herd his subordinates out of the room. Not everyone needed to be there. They needed to give Edward some space. Alphonse teetered behind as if still in shock. Roy looked up at the armour with a worried glance. "You going to be alright Alphonse?" The boy didn't reply but instead quickly dashed out of the room. Roy wanted to chase after him, but he knew someone had to stay with Edward. He hoped that Hawkeye would atleast help the young Elric through this. Roy sighed and closed his eyes tiredly for a moment before turning back to Edward. To his surprise the boy had crawled a few inches closer to him upon hearing the others leave. His eyes were wide though and his ears were pinned back as if he was studying him.

"Edward,are you alright?" Roy finally asked him. The kid frowned instantly, and pulled back slightly from him.

"How does everyone know my name?" Edward retorted with a small sting to his tone.

"So I am guessing not," Roy huffed under his breath, just making the boy frown even more.

"What do you want with me?" he questioned defensively. Roy massaged his face tiredly as he stared at Edward, not really know how to answer it. The boy was obviously expecting some evil scheme like he wanted to experiment on the chimera or trick him into manipulating Raven into telling him all his secrets.

"I just..." Roy started but he didn't really know himself. Edward gave him a challenging look as he waited for a reply. He was fully defensive, his muscles tightened ready to strike. Roy couldn't believe what situation they had set themselves up for. Edward believed that they were the ones that kidnapped him. What happened to him? Even in the darkest depths of hell one should be able to look upon a familiar face and find comfort, but Edward couldn't see any of them. He had no one in this fucked up world of his. Roy wished the boy would just believe him, but he was too frightened, too angry for that.

"You made your brother upset," Roy muttered as he sat there in the doorway of the closet. The golden eyes hardened and narrowed as if he was furious at Roy for even saying that.

"Stop it! My brother's dead! J-just stop it," he growled.

"You brother's….?" Roy repeated as if he was trying to get the full picture of Edward's state. "Who the fuck ever told you that ludicrous story, Edward? Out of everything… I would have thought you would have remembered your own brother's face even now when he's in the armour. What happened to you?" Roy asked him. The kid's eyes widened at his accusations as a tiny fleck of shame flashed through his eyes. Roy massaged his face as he tried to calm himself down but it wasn't working. He found him, he found him after losing him for the second time, but he still felt like the boy was lost. Without his memories, who was he? "Why… Why… why can't you remember anything?" The boy's mouth closed and he just sat, curled up in the closet, keen eyes watching his every move. Roy shook his head as he stared back at the boy and closed his eyes slowly before he turned away. Those doctors did something to him. He should have stopped them, he should have been strong enough. He remembered the pure fear that was set into Edward's eyes as the men dragged him away. The kid was clawing to get to him, beggin to stay safe with him, but now Edward found him as the enemy. He saw all of them as the enemy. Roy took a huge shaky breath. "I… When they took you from me… I couldn't… I was scared and I couldn't help you… I was afraid I would never see you again, but…" Roy paused as he looked the kid over one last time over his shoulder. Aside from not remembering, aside from being scared, frightened, and confused beyond belief, they had him back. He was in good health, he was alive. For that Roy was truly thankful. He sighed and massaged his face as he cleared his throat, "I am glad to see you are alright," he muttered.

"I-I don't know wh-what you are talking about," Edward grumbled weakly with slight aggravation. Roy nodded his head knowing that that would be his answer.

"I know," he replied tiredly in defeat. Suddenly the door to the room opened and Alphonse came walking in with a bowl of leftover stew from the night before. It was steaming, having been warmed up for the next serving. He tiptoed over to the closet door where he was sitting as if trying not to frighten Edward and set the bowl of soup down in front of him. The clanging of the suit made Edward pull back into the closet a bit more as if to hide from the suit of armour. Roy caught absolute pure hatred in the boy's eyes as he glared up at his own little brother.

"C-colonel… I-I brought brother- I mean… Edward… s-some breakfast… I-I made sure he c-could s-stomach it," Alphonse sputtered as he had to restrain himself from the closest thing he could get to crying in that body. He didn't even call Edward his brother as if attempting not to insult him any farther. The armour's body shook and the metal pieces clacked hollowly. Roy sent Edward a glare as he picked up the bowl of stew and set in front of him. Edward stared at it like it was poison and salvation at the same time. He was undoubtedly starving, but suspicious of his captor's cooking. However Roy slowly saw the golden eyes turn from alert into a near trance as the sweet smell of the stew wafted into his nose. Suddenly a flash of pain flicked across Edward's face and he bent down grabbing his head as if it was going to explode. A curdled scream lept out from his throat and startled everyone.

"B-Brother!" Alphonse exclaimed as he made a move towards him but Edward curled back farther as he writhed in pain, a gargled sentence breaking out through the hollers of pain.

"N-no… NO!" he cried as he grasped his ears and dug his head down into the carpet as if that would soothe him. His body was shaking and Roy saw blood dripping from his ears where he was grasping them too hard, his fingernails digging into his skin. Roy quickly leapt forward and tried to pry the boy's hands off of his ears to prevent any further damage. "St-stop. L-let me go!" Edward cried. As he let go of his ears, the hands shot out and grabbed each a fistful of Roy's jacket and instantly yanked him down to the floor where he was writhing in pain. The boy needed something to hold onto, the closest thing just so happened to be him. The kid let out another scream as the pain was too much for him and the noise rattled through the Colonel's head. He was curled up in a ball as if trying to hide himself away from the torture that must have been running through his veins. Roy didn't know what was going on. He didn't know what was causing his subordinate so much pain, but worse, he didn't know what to do about it. As the initial jolts started to die off, Edward was left as a whimpering ball of gold and blue. Roy wrapped his arms around the boy and pulled him close. Edward, too weak and hurting to try and fight him, just let himself be comforted even by the man he presumed had kidnapped him. A shattering sob was caught in the boy's throat as Roy saw tears welt up in his eyes. They suddenly broke out and Edward burrowed his head into Roy's side as if to hide his tears. Roy found himself rubbing the boy's back gentle, not knowing what else to do. He looked up at his brother but the armour was just as confused as he was, but nearly a hundred times as worried.

"Everything will be alright, Edward. You are safe," Roy hummed softly trying to soothe the boy best he could yet even his words felt questionable to him. But whether it be to calm the boy down or ease his own nerves, Roy sincerely hoped that his words were true and he chose to believe in them fully. "Edward," he said as another sob wracked the boy's throat, "you are safe, you just might not know it yet."