Hey there peoples. Look, I actually managed to update after not a super long wait. I have been in California for about two weeks and just got back though, which did take away quite a bit of my writing time, but now that I'm back I can get cracking again.

Chapter 28

Alphonse woke up the next morning and slowly started to go about his day. Leaving his room, he made his way to the kitchen and started cooking a breakfast for both himself and Selim. The boy was going back tomorrow afternoon, so he should try to make this day as fun as he could for him. He had said that he wanted to study more alchemy today, so they would definitely do that.

Placing two plates full of food down on the table, the blond man tried to think of what else they could possibly do today. Quickly, he walked to Selim's room in order to wake him up. Normally he would let him sleep in, but he figured that he'd want to get as much out of today as he possibly could.

A chill of dread ran through his body when he opened the door to find the room empty. Immediately he bolted into the bedroom, scanning it incase he might just be hiding, or for any signs of breaking in or out. Finding none, he quickly started out of the room.

"Selim?" he called, hoping dearly that he'd get an answer. There was no reason for him to really panic, he might just have woken up and got bored.

The blond man quickly started going through his house when he didn't receive any answer however, checking in every room that he could for the child.

His panicked heartbeat managed to slow once he opened the door to his study and saw the black haired child sitting in his desk chair. Alphonse couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief at the sight of him as he started into the room.

"Selim, what are you doing in here?" he asked, surprised when he didn't get an answer. Coming closer, he saw that the boy's head was slumped onto the desk, an open book acting as a pillow while he slept. The tall man chuckled as he slowly pulled the book out from underneath him and got ready to wake him up.

Before he did though, he caught sight of exactly what book it was that Selim had fallen asleep reading.

What the? Just how in the world did he expect to understand any of this? While it wasn't the most advanced alchemy book Alphonse had in the room, it was still miles above anything he'd taught the boy. Sure, he was moving much faster than Al might have anticipated, but if he could understand this stuff, that just wasn't human!

Very slowly, the blond man placed the book back down on the desk. He couldn't be thinking things like that. Sure, he guessed it was possibly for Selim to really be that advanced, but maybe the boy had just been trying to see if he could understand the higher level alchemy and found that he couldn't. It was perfectly reasonable to think it might just be something like that instead.

"Hey there sleepyhead, time to wake up," Alphonse said quietly, starting to shake Selim's shoulder softly. Reluctantly the boy's head raised and he opened his eyes, looking around the room with a confused expression plastered on his face, as if he couldn't remember ever coming in here. Slowly he turned towards Alphonse, beginning to rub at his eyes in order to wake up a bit more.

"G'morning," the boy mumbled sleepily, pushing himself off of the chair. Alphonse smiled and nodded at the child, starting out of the room with him in tow.

"I made breakfast for us, I figured you'd want to get as much as you could out of your last full day here," he explained. Selim nodded, seemingly more out of instinct that actually processing what the young man was saying. Once the two were seated and Selim started to eat, seeming a bit more awake now, Al started speaking once again.

"What were you doing in my study?" he asked, not sounding angry or anything like that, simply curious. The black haired boy seemed to stall for a moment as he thought, before finally answering him.

"I couldn't sleep. I got bored and decided to go look at some of your alchemy books, is that okay?" he asked. Al smiled and nodded, figuring that it had probably been something like that.

"It's fine, but I sort of doubt that you'd be able to understand the book you picked out with what I've been able to teach you so far. It's quite a few levels above where you are right now," he said, and a bit sheepishly the boy across from him nodded.

"Y-yeah, I didn't really understand anything. I just wanted to see if I could" Selim said. The young boy ate his food rather slowly as he thought. He hadn't meant to fall asleep again in the study, he guessed trying to work though that high level alchemy had taken up more of his energy than he originally imagined it would.

Glancing up at the man across from him, he knew that he'd been lying just slightly now. He didn't understand everything in that book, certainly, but it hadn't really been as terribly difficult as he knew it should have been. Although there were certain things he knew he'd never been taught, some of them just clicked in his head almost as if he had, but had simply forgotten about them.

Once they finished eating the blonde man stood up, asking Selim if he still wanted to have an alchemy lesson despite having looked at some stuff last night. The young boy instantly nodded, following Alphonse back into the study afterwards.

Much to Selim's surprise, and actual enjoyment, the rest of the day ended up being rather fun. Mr. Alphonse had a whole slew of things lined up for them to do, which managed to keep the young boy's mind occupied nearly the entire time. Sure, there were moments when he started to slip back into unpleasant thoughts, but soon enough the tall man would say or do something to distract him once again.

By the time it was night the young boy was actually tired for once. Not wanting to give himself any time to have his mind become worked up again, he quickly crawled into bed and fell asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, it felt strange. At five o'clock today he'd be put on a train heading back home. A sense of dread filled him at the idea. He'd have to deal with those constant guards again, combined with his new knowledge, he didn't know how well he'd be able to handle that.

He knew he had to pack up the few things he'd brought with him, but after breakfast he quickly rushed outside before Mr. Al could stop him. He just needed a few more moments, maybe an hour at most, to try to clear his head before he had to go back.

The black haired boy sighed as he slowly walked down the dirt path. He wasn't human, that much he could probably be certain about. So just what was he? How in the world was he supposed to find out while he was under lock and key? He wanted to ask Alphonse if he could maybe stay longer, but they'd already brought the train tickets. If he tried to run away and hide so that he wouldn't have to go back, he'd just get in trouble.

"Oh yay, I found you!" a loud voice called out, startling him. Quickly, Selim spun around to see just who it was, only to sigh in relief at the sight of Ethan crawling out between several stalks of corn.

"What are you doing? I thought you were grounded?" Selim asked, still surprised and confused by the presence of the younger child. The blond boy offered him a large smile as he answered.

"I snuck out. My parents are stupid if they think I'm not gonna say bye," Ethan explained, sounding rather proud of himself. Slowly Selim nodded, staring at the other boy as a million different options ran through his head.

Could he really trust the hyperactive boy to keep a secret? It would probably be much safer not to tell anyone. After all, Ethan was actually lucky enough to really be a normal kid. He shouldn't try to bother him by pushing his own burden onto someone else and expecting him not to tell anybody. This was just something he had to deal with on his own, no matter how much he didn't want to.

"Hey, Selim? You okay?" Ethan asked, cocking his head to the side as he looked over the silent boy. Reluctantly, Selim shook his head.

He should keep this to himself. He should be strong enough to deal with it all on his own, but he wasn't. He needed to let someone know what had happened, and right now the only person he could trust was the bouncing eight year old in front of him.

"No, I found out something about my dreams," he began to explain. Instantly the younger boy's eyes lit up with interest. Looking down the dirt path, there wasn't anyone around them right now, but Selim didn't want to chance anything.

"Do you know somewhere we can talk where no one else will find us?" he asked, and immediately Ethan started nodded. As Selim slightly suspected he would, the child grabbed onto his arm and started dragging him away. Much to the black haired boy's surprise though, he pulled him straight into the corn field.

"Ow! Ethan? Is this a good idea?" Selim asked, and once again the younger boy nodded, continuing to pull him forward as he answered.

"Yep! No one will find us in here," he said. It wasn't long before the two ended up in an area where a circle of the corn was flattened down, giving them just enough room to move around a bit and not be hit by the stalks.

"It's a hideout! I made it myself!" the blond explained. Slowly Selim nodded, a thought coming to his mind.

"What happens when the corn gets cut?" he asked. Ethan stared at him for a moment, as if he hadn't considered anything like that before. A few seconds later though, the child simply shrugged, not letting it get to him apparently.

"I'll just make it again when it grows back. Now, what did you find out? Something neat? Are the dreams real?" he started asked, and once again Selim nodded. He guessed that it qualified as neat.

"I'm almost positive the dreams are real," he said. Ethan nodded, staring at him intently.

"How do you know?" the younger boy asked. Selim sighed, once again remembering first controlling those strange black forms in the forest. Carefully, the boy took a few steps back, wanting to get as much space in between he and Ethan incase anything went wrong. He didn't want him to end up getting hurt or anything like that. Despite this though, the blond took another step forward towards him as he did, causing Selim to frown slightly.

"Do you think you could stand back, please? I don't really know how to control it yet, and I don't want you to get hurt," he explained. Ethan's eyes were practically the size of dinner plates at his request, but the boy did back up all the same.

Taking a deep breath, Selim tried to concentrate on the feelings of those strange forms inside of him. Just like in the forest, he felt a distinct shift downward inside of his body, causing him to shudder. Quickly getting himself back under control, he focused as hard as he could on the forms, pulling them with his mind out onto the ground and slithering up into the air.

Ethan watched the whole thing, a completely mystified look on his face. The younger boy's mouth hung open in shock as the black form shuddered and twisted in the air, as if he could just barely keep itself from completely collapsing.

Letting the shadow like form do just that, Selim felt it quickly retreat back inside of him, collapsing to his knees afterwards. He wasn't sure if it was from the shock of actually seeing them again, reminding him of so many horrible dreams and possibilities, or just the stress of having to focus so hard to get them to materialize.

"Selim!" Ethan called, quickly running over to him, sitting on the mat of broken corn stalks next to him. "Are you okay?" he asked, worry clear as day in his voice. Slowly Selim managed to nod. He was fine, controlling the shadows had just given him a small headache.

Ethan's face immediately lit up at that, and he bounced to his feet once again. Selim stayed where he was on the ground, content to just watch the younger boy practically jump around the small clearing as he pulled himself back together again.

"That was so cool! How did you do that? It didn't look like alchemy, was it? Can you do it again?" he started asking. Selim started chuckling at his excitement as he tried to answer all of his questions.

"I don't know, I just focus and it happens. I don't think it's alchemy, it doesn't really have anything in common with what Mr. Al's teaching me," he said, starting to push himself up to stand once again as well. "And I probably shouldn't try it again, it gave me a headache, and I passed out the first time," he said.

He was pretty sure the first time he'd passed out had just been from the shock of it all though, instead of any actual affect it might have had on his body. The blond boy in front of him just nodded though, seeming to accept that as an answered.

"That's still really, really cool though!" he insisted, and reluctantly Selim nodded.

"You can't tell anyone about this, I mean it. If someone found out, anyone, then they might try to kill me," he said, hoping dearly that Ethan would understand the severity of his situation. Once again the boy's eyes widened in shock, and he nodded slowly.

"K-kill you? But why?" he asked, but all Selim could do was shrug.

"I don't know, but they just would. So please, keep this a secret?" he asked once again. This time, Ethan smiled as he nodded quickly.

"Of course! You can count on me!" he declared. Selim couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. He certainly did hope he could count on him.

He didn't really have anyone else to turn to, after all.


And end of chapter. Yay, someone else knows about his shadows now, and Ethan gets another appearance before Selim gets shipped off back home. I do hope you guys liked the chapter. I know some people were starting to say the story's getting a little stale, so I hope that's not really the case anymore. I know that there's not a whole lot of action-fight scenes in this story, so I hope you all like the more emotional drama that it focuses on with Selim instead.

Well, as always thanks for reading and please review.