Fear, fear and jealousy as a Green Lion rampaged and became a familiar figure with long green hair, standing in a sea of white before an ominous stone door, and funny, it doesn't look that much like a gate up close.
Chasing, chasing or was it being chased? And running rampant as the world spiralled into green and crashed about, the roar following as running, sprinting, getting away became a more plausible option than staying. Near impossible though, tripping over purple snakes as still the green lion came at him, lunged, jaws wide, and disappeared in a puff of wind.
And white. White. WHITE! Everywhere white, consuming and ensnaring and passing through the clouds on a white swan's back feathers soft and silky but no definition of sight where swan ended and cloud began until the face etched itself upon the cloud in front of him, with dark shadows, until it disappeared once more in the gentle puff of the swan's wings. A small unsettlement.
And a slip! And spiralling, spiralling downwards from the ever darkening clouds into the blackness of night and further. Landing, quite unexpectedly on the pool of quicksilver, not sinking as it rejected his presence and flew upwards once more, but long tendrils of the substance flew, wrapped themselves around him. Upwards, outwards! Over and over and clasping, groping, holding too tight! Too tight! Can't breathe! And please let go! Please! But no, they would not let go.
Not even as the lightning spiralled ever closer and closer, some blue, one red dancing, dancing around in fear of him, ever cautious. Then, they struck, ripping, tearing, biting, pain! Pain! Painpainpainpainpain! And they all spiralled away the crackle the whinny of frightened horses and more and more fled, blood red staining the beautiful blue they were.
(Brief Authors note: No, I am NOT on drugs.)
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The train gave a sudden jolt, throwing Edward out of his resting state, alert and ever watchful.
Al gasped beside him. "Brother! Your eyes!" The metal of Al's suit gleamed as Edward looked into it, seeing within the reflection of a face, pale from the nightmare, with red eyes slowly fading to orange and gold once more. Edward gasped, his hand coming up to touch his face, brushing away a rouge spider thread as he did so.
"What the...?" He blinked, trying to convince himself that he had just imagined the red.
A gleam off Al re-alerted him to his brother's presence and he stared at the enchanted armour with a dumbstruck expression. Somehow, he knew that even though that metal helm was expressionless, that his brother felt the same way inside.
"Brother... Are you alright?" Edward nodded, unable to find the voice to speak as he stared out the window into the starry night sky. After the trip into the office to confront Mustang, Edward had been immediately placed on a train to a chicken farm just outside of East city.
"...Your mission is to watch it and look for abnormal activities. Strange reports have been coming from that area." Edward groaned inwardly. Somehow, he had the strange impression that the colonel just wanted him out of his hair. Edward glanced around the train, trying to distract himself from the thoughts of chickens, dreams and changing eye colours, though it didn't help.
All trains are pretty much the same, even when one was in a private car. There was a chair only just soft enough to sleep on, and only if you were truly tired (Ed was, and had fallen asleep near the start of the journey) an overhead luggage rack, where his brown suitcase had been stored, and panelled wooden walls, bare of anything, and completely lacking warmth. He looked out of the window; even as the train rattled and bumped is way along the tracks and watched the scenery fly by.
"Brother?" Al's voice was slightly worried, and Edward realised he was yet to answer the other's question.
"I'm fine, Al." He replied easily, staring at his gloved left hand as if it had become very interesting. "I'm just having a hard time sleeping recently is all." There was a weary edge to Ed's voice that Al hadn't heard since the day that their mother died, as if the whole world had come crashing down around them, and that Ed had started to realise that the world wasn't as black and white as he thought. There were shades of grey.
Al sighed. His brother was far from fine, but heaven be damned if Al would get any information out of him.
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Some time had passed, and Edward glanced over at the 'sleeping' form of Alphonse. He sighed, thinking that it couldn't be that far away until dawn, and cursing his inability to return to sleep.
He felt the train's movement beneath him begin to slow, and his eyebrows crinkled together in confusion. He gulped, his eyes darkening as the train thudded to a stop in the predawn light. At least two hours remained until his destination, and anger and worry flickered throughout his whole being, when he heard a familiar voice. "Fullmetal Alchemist, the great goddess Ishbala orders your blasphemy to be stopped."
He swore, loudly, his mid quickly jumping to one conclusion. "AL! Wake up! Now!" He threw open the compartment's window, a sleepy 'gluh?' coming from somewhere behind him as he leapt out of the train. A cold wind blew past his body, quickly stealing the heat from his metal limbs. He frantically looked around, searching for some sign of the voice he knew he recognised in the grove, densely populated with trees and shrubs.
"DAMN! There's too much cover here!" Al clambered out of the window behind him, his movements slow and sleepy. "Al, keep your back to the train." He warned, his eyes darting around the grove, and not looking at his brother.
"Brother what's..."
"Shh!" Al fell quiet, Edward knew why. His tone left no room to argue. A movement! There! On the left! Edward spun, clapping his hands quickly and slamming them to the ground, causing it to rise where the movement was, and leaping out of the tree to another, a tanned man with a cross shaped scar on his forehead stared.
The man looked at Edward with his piercing red eyes, the wind blowing his yellow jacket threateningly. Edward growled low in his throat. "Scar."
'Scar' smirked. "Fullmetal Alchemist." He acknowledged with a nod, leaping down from the branch and towards the boy.
"He's coming brother!" Al cried, as Edward spun to avoid the onslaught and clapped his hands once more, slamming them into a nearby tree.
And then, something most peculiar happened. Instead of the normally blue sparks that would fly when Ed preformed alchemy, red swarmed from the end of his metal limb and struck the ground. It trembled, and Ed was encompassed by fear. Was it possible that his alchemy could run out of control?
Scar yelled, and Edward spun, Al shook with fear. The Ishbal was holding his right hand as if it was in great pain, the muscles flexing uncontrollably, and the tattooed marks that covered it began to glow a strange ruby red. Something seemed to grip Edward, the wind suddenly changing direction, and pulling, pulling him in the direction of Scar's hand. Fear encompassed him, as Al and his surroundings seemed unaffected. It was only him that was being drawn! "Al, help me!"
"BROTHER!" Al threw a metal arm forward; catching Ed's outstretched hand as the wind grew so strong as to sweep the petit alchemist off his feet. "Don't worry, Brother, I won't let go!"
Fear was in Edward's eyes as he looked into Al's armour, and saw there, not his reflection, but his father's face, for a brief instant until it flashed and was gone again. The band flew out of his hair, and it all spiralled free, flying everywhere and tangling into knots which would be impossible to get out in the morning, if he lived past this point in his life. Tears of fear greater than anything Edward had ever known welled in his eyes, and were whipped by the wind towards Scar.
As soon as they struck the hand, Scar yelled in pain, and the wind died, The Ishbal man running away from the scene. Edward collapsed, feeling both physically and mentally drained, and panting hard. "What just happened, Al?" He asked, feeling the beginnings of blackness surrounding him. "What just happened? What's happening to me?"
"I... Don't know, Brother. Maybe Scar's just learnt a new way to use his arm? And he tried it on you?"
Edward remembered the fear in the tanned man's eyes as his arm swept Ed off his feet. His eyes slid closed.
Somehow, Ed doubted that that was any 'new technique.'
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Ooohh... Nasty, short chapter. Haku doesn't like this, that she doesn't. Haku promises to make the next chapter much longer.
So, who's figured out what's going on yet? I'd like to see a big raise of hands people. Come on, I practically gave it away!
I bet a lot of people are wondering about the dreams and going: WTF???? Well, see, that's where a bit of research would come in handy, you guys. Every single reference in the dreams has symbolic reference, and I'm going to post a list of the symbols I used once this fic is done. Which is about 3 chapters away. That's right; it's all down hill from here.
Anyways, feed a hungry Authoress? -Points at review box-