Sin

Chapter 2 finally rewritten... And a thousand times better!

Chapter 2:

Al had become a Nationally Certified Alchemist in order to find his brother.

Alphonse Elric had always been interested in alchemy, but it was mostly his brother who feuled that flame, encouraging him every step of the way with his own burning obsession for the science. Ed was so passionate about it he could spend practically every waking moment studying the most difficult texts in order to find one thing or another. Al had managed to keep up at first, but quickly fell behind and would stare out the window as he waited for Ed to look up in excitement and share a new, interesting piece of information. Al had done the chores and fed his brother when Ed forgot to do either, leaving his sibling to his devices.

Those memories came from a long time ago, but it was even longer in this world than in the one Al remembered. He was missing his memory from the time he had supposedly had his soul attached to a suit of armour. Even then, when Al had not been flesh and blood, Ed had cared for him, and had even sacrificed himself to finally bring Al back to normal, unaware of the hole in the boy's memory. As far as many people were convinced, Ed was dead. When a person has been missing for four years, there isn't a very high chance they will be coming back. But Al was as devoted to Ed as Ed had been to alchemy, and Al became just as devoted to the latter for the sake of the former.

Alchemy was the way to get back to his brother - Al could feel that somehow in his very core. He had to be alive, else Al would waste his entire life looking for him. He didn't care - he wanted his brother back.

Al walked down the street of a town he couldn't remember the name of that hadn't been far from Central, his hands stuffed deep into the pockets of his long, tan leather jacket. He was simply looking out for any conspicuous individuals who might be out kidnapping little girls in the red of dusk as he walked back from a dessert shop he had discovered when coming in to Central to take his exam. He had gone back alone after passing the test to celebrate with a sundae. This time, the owner of the store had recognised.

"Alicia..." Al said in a sing-song way as he analyzed his surroundings. "If you come back, I'll buy you a banana split!"

With messy black hair and tattered clothing, the pair looked like they had been living in the crevace between two buildings for about a week. Noting how unhealthy they appeared, Al approached cautiously, praising himself for succeeding in being as observant as he had intended.

The man looked as if he may have been a strong one, once upon a time, but he was very ill and thin. Frail, Al observed that he was sweating and panting labouriously. He wasn't much more than skin and bones anymore, and he sat with his head back against the brick wall behind him, his feet stretched out before, and touched the paralell wall with his socked feet.

The boy with him actually appeared to be the more healthy of the two, where he slept with his head resting on the man's thigh like a pillow. His hair was very long and matted as a result of lack of care. He was almost just as thin and frail-looking, save for the high-quality automail Al registered as taking up one of the boy's arms and one leg. How in the world could they have afforded that?

It came to him suddenly - the perfect and obvious conclusion. In a freak accident, the boy had lost his limbs and his father had worked night and day, selling their posessions and - unwisely - destroying their lives in order to allow his child a chance to be normal. Oh, human beings were such wonderful things! Willing to sacrifice everything for each other, forgetting to consider the losses they might suffer as an individual! Al, feuled by inspiration was suddenly determined to help these people. As he stepped forward to lend a helping hand back to his hotel room, the boy's violet eyes shot open and he sprung to his feet.

"Stay away from us!" He screamed as he slashed aggressively against the air with his auto-mail arm. "Go away!"

"Shhh..." Al coaxed, holding up his hands defensively as he glanced down to the man the boy was guarding, who hadn't yet returned to conciousness as the boy had. "I want to help you."

"No!" He shreiked, stepping back but leaning forward offensively.

"Are you sure?" Al asked, gesturing to the unconcious man. "You might need my help. This man is very sick. He could die if we don't get him to people who could help him."

"Daddy won't die!" He cried, "Daddy can't die!" The boy squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head violently. Al could see that he had somehow hit a nerve. "I... I can take care of him!"

"Can you?" Al asked, slowly lowering his hands to his sides as he realized the threat was mostly gone. "Can you get him fresh water? Good food? Blankets, or a place to sleep? Because I can."

The boy stared intensely at Al, sending a chill down the older boy's spine.

"We can take him to my hotel room," Al said, his voice soft and reassuring. "There, we can give him a comfortable place to sleep, and we can take care of him together! No one is going to take him away from us. I promise." Al advanced a few steps and the short boy bristled defensively. He was a live wire... Al had to be very careful. "Do you trust me?"

The boy hesitated, his eyes flickering from his father to Al, back and forth. "Is Daddy going to die?" He asked, his voice soft with concern although his aggression remained bold in his posture and eyes.

"Not if you let me help you," Al replied.

Sin stared at his reflection to see a man he couldn't remember. He moved his hand slowly in front of him to make sure the face he was looking at was actually his. He couldn't remember anything about himself at all. He felt perfectly useless and somewhat vulnerable, there was something unnerving about... not knowing who you were. Where was he, anyway? How did he get there? Would either statement make any sense to him even if he knew?

"You're finally awake," the young man murmured from inside the small room. He had fallen asleep on a chair in the corner of the room with a book open on his lap. He seemed perfectly at ease, even with a complete stranger sleeping in his room. "Are you feeling better?" Now that he was standing next to him in the bathroom doorway, the boy was a lot taller than he had previously assumed.

"Who am I?" Sin asked with little hesitation.

The boy shrugged, a polite and awkward smile on his face as he averted his eyes. "I don't know."

Sin looked him up and down. The boy was wearing lots of whites and browns, the cloth light and breathing to match the warm climate, and a long duster that was likely to be his - seeing as there was no other - hung on the back of the chair he had been sitting in. He was reasonably muscular, and his body language was reasonably confident, but not aggressive. "How did I get here?"

"I carried you," he replied. "I found you sick and unconcious in an alleyway in the middle of town with your son. I chose to take care of you," the young man glanced over his shoulder at the even smaller boy who was sleeping on the bed. "After he let me, at least."

"My son?" Sin gazed back into the mirror, tilting his head to try to memorize his own face before moving past the boy and into the bedroom of the hotel. He stepped aside and watched as Sin passed and move to study the boy asleep on the bed. It was very dark and presumably very late. He had been sleeping in that bed when he awoke not long before, and he must have missed the sensation of having the child pressed against his back, but now the child was positioned stretched across the whole of the mattress.

"Can you remember his face?" The young man asked from across the room.

"No," Sin admitted reluctantly. "I can't even remember my own."

"What about your name?" He asked, moving to the other side of the bed, where he stood facing Sin.

Sin shook his head slowly.

"Well, it will probably come back to you eventually," the blonde boy reassured with a smile. "You were really sick. Besides, your son will know. Anyway, my name is Al. Alphonse Elric. I'm a Nationally Certified Alchemist."

Sin nodded. "I apologize. I wish I could offer you my own."

"Give it time," Al said with a reaffirming nod as he turned to walk back to the chair he had been sleeping in previously. It was a stiff wooden rocking chair that the blonde had cusioned using all the free pillows he could find that weren't being used on the bed. He'd chosen to lend out his bed as well instead of taking the best for himself. "I'm just completely relieved to see you're feeling better now. I found you both two days ago, and it's been a real... challenge trying to take care of your son, take care of you and get any work done. He was doing a good job on his own, but he doesn't seem to have much experience caring about others and it was hard trying to get him to sit still for more than five minutes, but the way he was worried about you tells me that he seems to have been raised well."

Sin nodded, completely oblivious to what he should say. He had already stated he couldn't remember anything about the boy, or even himself. He was surprised he had recalled a way for them to communicate.

Al finally sat down in his chair across the room and he stared absently toward the lit lamp as he placed his book back in it's position on his lap. "I came here looking for a friend's daughter. So far I've scanned the entire town a few times over, solved some problems the military posts here were having, and I've still come up with nothing. I don't know what else to do. All that's left is for me to sit around here all day and wait for Central to get my report and send me some orders."

Sin couldn't think of anything to say, so instead he moved to the bed. The sleeping boy didn't notice as the mattress sunk slightly with his weight. In spite his small size, Sin himself was rather tall and there was no space for him to lay down with the boy stretched out the way he was. He could easily pick him up and put him elsewhere, but he instead chose to sit in silence and watch how peacefully he slept.

"Actually, I'm suffering from amnesia myself," Sin realized rather quickly that it was the boy's way to clear the air. Sin began to forsee a lot of Al talking in the future. "I can't remember anything from eight to four years ago. I'd like to tell you that I can understand what you're going through, but even since the beginning, I had a recollection of the earlier years of my life. I don't know if anything I say will be of any reassurance to you, but I'll do whatever I can to help you both."