New life
By Gozilla
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Disclaimer: I don't own anything and I don't have anything. So don't sue me!
Please excuse my poor English. -
Reviews are most welcomed!!
Enjoy!!
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A/N: Thank you so much to all of you who read and reviewed the story!! Please feel free to review and comment!
Summary: This is an A/U fic. The Elric brothers had finally found the philosopher's stone. In the transmutation to restore Al's body, something went very wrong. Will the Elric brothers live to start their new lives?
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-Two hours later-
After making sure both Winry and her grandma were asleep, the two brothers quietly sneaked out from the window and went to a deserted mansion not far from the Rockbell's house.
They quickly drew a large complex alchemist pattern on the floor and put a tray containing all the 'ingredients' for an teenage human body near the centre of the pattern.
With Edward's instruction, Al lied in the centre of the pattern. "Niisan? Are we going to succeed?" Al asked nervously.
Edward looked at Al and smiled confidently, "Yes, Al, we will succeed. I will make sure that."
"Hm." Al nodded. He trusted his brother with all his heart.
Edward stood at the edge of the pattern and took out the philosopher's stone from his pocket. He looked at the small stone which they had spent the past six year searching. He then turned to look at the armoured body of his brother. Fire of determination burnt inside Edward's eyes as he clapped his hands together, with the philosopher's stone between his hands.
Flashes after flashes of lightning filled the large living room of a deserted mansion. The alchemist pattern emitted blindingly bright lights. The philosopher's stone, on the other hand, shone with eerie red light.
With his eyes closed, Edward concentrated all his energy to guide the tremendous power hidden in the red stone towards the alchemist pattern.
The reaction continued for several minutes before Edward suddenly sensed a familiar sensation over his body. He immediately remembered it was the same feeling he had just before the rebound of energy during their attempt to transmute their mother seven years ago.
Horrified, Edward opened his eye to check on the philosopher's stone. To his ultimate fear, he saw the philosopher's stone became to dim and a crack as thin as a hair was developing across the stone.
The philosopher's stone is not powerfully enough to complete the process!! Edward instantly realised. He turned to look at alchemist pattern. It was still emitting bright lights, though not as strong as it initially did. In the middle, the 'ingredients' were having some violent reactions with Al's armoured body.
Edward knew that, if the reaction stops now, Al would probably become a half-human and half-monster creature, just like his mother, his nightmare.
I will not let this happen again! Edward shook his head in determination. He knew what he must do.
Edward took off his jacket and tore away the bandages over his torso. He bit on his index finger, creating a bleeding wound. He used his blood to draw three alchemist patterns on his body, one on his forehead, one on his chest and one on his stomach.
Edward clapped his hands and put them over the alchemist pattern on his chest. "As I said before, take whatever you want." he whispered, "Take my arm, my leg, my heart, or even my life. Just don't take Al away. He is my only brother. Don't take him away."
With that, the alchemist patterns on Edward's body began to emit bright red light. The previous dimming philosopher's stone began to shine bright again.
"Come back, my brother."
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The first feeling Al had was the cold. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around his body, trying to retain as much body heat as possible. Suddenly, he realized that it was the very first time he could feel the elements for a long time.
Al quickly opened his eyes and sat up from the cold stone floor. Amused, he looked at his now fleshy body, no more armour. He smiled broadly and checked his body.
"I am human again!" he cried happily. He stood and found that, although he was shorter than the time he was in the armoured body, he was significantly taller comparing to the time he and his brother tried to restore their mother.
Thinking of his brother, Al looked around excitedly for his brother. "Niisan! Niisan! We succeeded! Look at me! I am restored! Niisan! We succeeded..."
Al's smile froze as he saw a bloodied body lying just outside of the alchemist pattern.
"Niisan!!!"
Al rushed to hold his unconscious brother in his arms. Edward was lying in the middle of a pool of his own blood.
To his horror, Al found that Edward's remaining limbs, his left arm and right leg, were missing. The wounds were bleeding heavily. Frantically, Al took a few pieces of the bandages lying nearby and tied them tightly around the wounds, trying to slow down the bleeding.
"Niisan! Niisan! Wake up! Please!" Al almost shouted in fear.
Edward slowly opened his eyes.
"Al?" Edward whispered weakly.
"Niisan! What happened?" Al said through his tearful eyes.
Edward ignored the question and looked at Al's restored body through his clouded eyes and smiled. He touched Al' face with his auto mail hand, "I guess we have finally made it..."
"Niisan! What happened? How... how come..."
"The philosopher's stone was not powerful enough to completely restore your body." Edward whispered, smiling bitterly. He was quickly losing his consciousness due to the massive blood loss. "So I added a little bit of price to..." he was unable to finish the sentence as he threw up a mouthful of blood. "I guess those greedy bastards took some of my internal organs too..." he said as he finally gave in to the welcoming darkness.
"Niisan! NIISAN!!!!!"
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Winry and her grandma were woken by the shouting of a strange, and yet familiar, voice approaching the house. Just as they had got up and went to the living room, the door flew opened.
A tall and slim youth, with extraordinarily pale skin, golden-brown eyes and hair, stood at the door, panting heavily. He was wearing clothes which was obviously being put on in extreme rush. (A/N: of course the brothers got some clothes ready for Al before they perform the ritual -)
But what horrified the two was the bloodied body the youth was holding. Edward lied unconscious in the youth's arms, with his remaining real arm and leg missing, and blood all over his body.
"Grandma! Winry!" the youth begged, "Please, please help niisan!!"
"Al... Alphonse?" grandma asked. Winry was too shocked and confused to say anything.
"Yes, it's me, Alphonse." Al answered. "Niisan had successfully restored my body. But... but he paid the price with his arm, leg and some of his internal organs. Please, grandma, save my brother! I can't lose him!"
"Winry! Al!" grandma shouted, forcing Winry out of the shock. "Go and help me get the medicine and lots of warm clean water. We need to clean dress Edward's wounds. Come on! Don't just stand there! Move it!"
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"What are you doing, Winry?" grandma shouted.
"I am taking off the auto mail limbs from Edward!" Winry replied nervously. She was still in the state of shock, but she had mostly recovered her logical mind. She was about to take off the damaged auto mail arm from Edward's body. "The heavy auto mail will burden Ed's body. I need to take them off or they may kill him!"
"No, leave them on."
"Grandma!" Winry shouted, her eyes filled with fearful tears. "Ed is dying! We must try everything to save him!"
"You might just kill him by taking the auto mail limbs away." grandma said calmly. "What do you think will happen if Ed wakes up and find that he has lost all his limbs? Though I am sure he is well aware of the fact, we can save him from the ultimate blow by allowing him to at least move around with his auto mail limbs. And we can't afford to give him the shock of connecting the auto mail limbs in his weakened condition."
"Grandma..." Winry looked at the floor, sadness filled her heart. "But... what if he couldn't survive this..."
"Don't worry, Winry." grandma said gently. "We all knew how strong Ed's mind is, even when he was only 12. He will survive this. He will."
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Edward slowly opened his eyes and was greeted by the bright morning sun. He tried to raise his left arm to block the sun but found no response.
Oh, yes, I have paid the price with my remaining arm and leg left... he slowly remembered the incidence. To his surprise, he found that he could move his right arm, though it was almost too heavy for him to lift in his weakened condition. To surprise him more, he found that the auto mail arm was basically repaired.
"Niisan! You are awake!" came a familiar voice.
Edward turned to the source of the voice and found a golden-haired youth, like himself, standing beside his bed. "Al..." Edward couldn't help but smile. It was his dream came true – his brother's body was restored.
Before Edward could say another word, sharp pain exploded inside him. Involuntarily, he curled into a ball as an attempt to block out the pain.
"Niisan! What is going on?" Al was frightened.
Edward threw out a mouthful of blood and started coughing violently.
"Niisan!" Al cried. "I am going to get Winry and grandma!" he said as he turned to the door. He stopped as he felt someone holding his arm.
It was Edward.
"No, Al... please... stay... with me..." Edward said weakly between the violent coughing.
Al was tore between staying with his brother and going to get help. Eventually, he decided to stay. Al sat on the edge of the bed and supported his brother to sit in order to help him to breath. Al let Edward's chin resting on his shoulder while he started massaging Edward's back, trying to smooth the coughing.
Gradually, Edward's coughing ceased, leaving him breathless and exhausted. Al gently helped Edward to lie on the bed.
A sheet of sweat covered Edward's face. He panted heavily as he struggled to draw air to his oxygen-starved body. It took him a few minutes before he was able to breathe normally. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see Al crying.
"Why are you crying, Al?" Edward asked, worried. "Are you all right? Are you hurt? Are you in pain?"
"No, niisan, I am not hurt."
"Then... why are you crying?"
"I am worried about you, niisan." Al replied, wiping the tears. "You have been in a coma for a whole week. I thought... I thought you might never wake up again."
"A week?" Edward could not believe that he had been unconscious for so long. Everything, especially the transmutation, seemed like yesterday to him.
Edward noticed that Al was still sobbing quietly. "Silly Al, don't be a child. Look, I am fine and awake. There is nothing to worry about."
"No, niisan, you are not fine!" Al suddenly exploded. "Not only that you did not use the philosopher's stone to restore your arm and leg, you have lost your remaining limbs and some of your internal organs because of me! It is all my fault!" tears starting to roll down Al's pale cheek again.
Edward was surprised by the sudden explosion of his brother. He smiled weakly and said, "Al, come here."
Al approached his brother obediently. Putting his auto mail hand behind Al's head, Edward gently pushed his brother's face towards his, until their foreheads touched another's.
Feeling the body heat of his brother, Edward closed his eyes and smiled. "It is not your fault, Al. This is my choice. Ever since our failure in transmuting mother, my only goal is to fully restore your body. It was my sin that made you suffered. I was the one who should have lost my whole body, not you. There is no difference in having one or two more auto mail limbs. The most important thing is that you have your body back."
Al was speechless. He always thought that his brother had been fighting so hard for the restoration of both of their bodies, not just his.
"Thank you, niisan." Al could not stop the tears. "For everything you have done for me."
"Al, I am glad to live to see you in whole again." Edward whispered. It was then another wave of excruciating pain assaulted him from the inside, which was much more severe than the previous ones. He let go of Al and curled up tightly.
"Niisan!!" Al shouted, thoroughly scared.
Edward had never experienced such intensive pain. It was like he was being ripped apart from the inside. Before he could stop it, he coughed a mouthful of blood, spilling over Al's face and clothes.
"Niisan!!" Al could do nothing but to watch his brother suffering in front of his eyes. He held Edward closely to his body, wishing and praying for the pain to go.
"No..." Edward weakly pushed Al away. "Blood... over... you..."
"I don't care!" Al shouted as he cried, "Don't leave me, niisan. Please don't leave me. Please..."
"I am sorry... Al..." Edward whispered as he lost hold of the last consciousness, "I am sorry..." He said as he went completely limp in his brother's embrace.
"No... niisan... please... don't leave me..."Al's heartbreaking urge echoed across the room.
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End of Chapter 2
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
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