Disclaimer: Own nada.
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea:
But we loved with a love that was more than love--
I and my Annabel Lee;
Witha love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a spulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me--
Yes!-- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee
--Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee
Al clasped his hands nervously, wondering hazily when Ed would stop screaming down the phone at Mustang. The gentle young boy had stopped listening to his brother after Ed had resorted to foul language to express his fury towards his superior. Not that Al could blame him-- there were several things he wanted to say to the Colonel too, and none of them were very Al-ish.
Al turned his head to look at Serena. She hadn't moved since they brought her in, nor had she spoken. Her eyes were horrifingly blank-- just a flat blue surface that stared at nothing in particular. Her face was slack and expressionless, and the only sound she made was the slight intake and outake of breath-- Serena must have forgotten how to breathe properly.
Ed had looked through Tsukino's research notes, and had been livid when he'd finished. He had dialed up Mustang and had begun shouting as soon as the other end picked up. Finally he slammed the phone down, ignoring the yells from the other line, and it was only then that Al saw his brother's eyes glimmered with unshed tears.
"Stupid," Ed whispered, his voice on the verge of cracking. "That goddamned stupid bastard, he didn't think we'd be able to handle the truth. He keeps treating us like kids, even when he knows we're not... Maybe if he'd said something, she wouldn't be this way."
A tear rolled down his cheek, making a clean track in the dirt and blood that he hadn't bothered to clean off yet. He hadn't bothered to change his torn and bloodstained clothes either, and he hadn't let go of the Philosopher's Stone they had found. Ed's grip on the Stone was so tight that Al cringed slightly, worrying that he would break it. But, really, who could blame him?
Flash
"Are you sure we should be doing this, brother?" Al whispered as Ed helped him through the window. Ed grinned, mischeif in his eyes.
"Of course! The old man just chucked us out a few hours ago, he won't be expecting us back already! He's throwing a party tonight, so we just get in, get Serena, and get out. Then we call the military and the Tsukinos get their asses hauled off to jail with no one the wiser!" Al sighed at his brother's entusiasm.
"You make it sound so simple..."
"Just keep quiet, okay? We don't want to get caught."
Al paused in front of the ballroom door and listened.
"Brother?" Ed turned, and eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, Al?"
"If Serena's father really is having a party, why isn't there anybody behind this door? There's no sound whatsoever coming out of there."
Just as Ed was about to answer, a woman's cry rang out from the hall next to them. The brothers quickly ran in the direction of the scream and stopped. There were so many people blocking the way. Ed shoved and elbowed his way through them, Al following and saying 'sorry' every few seconds. Fullmetal finally shoved a particularily annoying guy who refused to move out of his way--and froze. This was like a nightmare, only a hundred times worse, and no matter how many times he pinched himself, he wouldn't wake up.
Serena was sprawled facefirst in a spreading pool of blood, like a broken doll that someone had tossed down, tired of playing with it. Something glimmered in her right hand. It took Ed a moment to realize that it was a gun. On her left, a shining red stone winked at him innocently.
His throat seemed to have blocked itself, and he couldn't say a word. He didn't want to believe it. Serena...no... get up, please get up... Don't leave me, you can't leave me...I never got to tell you... how I really felt... Please, get up, say something, anything, I'm begging you...Don't go. Ed's thoughts whirled around, chasing themselves in circles and leading him straight back to the beginning.
There was more blood, a shining trail that led directly to Tsukino, whose whole right arm was being bandaged along with his leg. That explains the gun, Ed thought numbly. He looked from the alchemist to his daughter, and abruptly rage swelled up in him, threatening to engulf his very being.
Ed stalked forward and grabbed Tsukino by the neck, hoisting him up so they were eye to eye. The boy's golden eyes bore into the man's impassive brown ones, and Ed hated him even more for not showing the slightest bit of emotion. His grip on Tsukino's neck tightened.
"How could you?" Ed hissed, his eyes like the fires of Hell itself. "How could you do that to her? Damn it, what the fuck is wrong with you? You're a sick, twisted, disgusting bastard! How could you have done that to your own daughter!"
Tsukino simply arched an eyebrow. "She was expendable."
Ed trembled in shock and rage, his lips white. "Ex..pendable?" he whispered, almost as if he had never heard of such a word. Abruptly, his metal fist clenched and then connected harshly several times with the older man's face.
"How DARE you say something like that!" Ed shouted. "You're so goddamn blind! Any other man would have been proud to have a daughter like her! But NO, you're just too--" He struggled to find words to describe what the man--no, he wasn't worthy of being called a man-- was, and came up empty-handed. There was no word vile enough, sick enough, wrong enough to describe what he had done and what he was.
Tsukino gazed at him cooly, then said the words that ultimately sealed his fate. "Is that all?"
Ed snarled, wrenched Tsukino up by the neck, and flung him into the opposite wall, effectively knocking him unconcious. He advanced on him, clearly not done, until Al spoke up.
"Brother, she's still alive!" Ed's golden head snapped around, immediately spotting Serena, nestled in Al's arms. He let out a choked cry, stumbling forward, reaching for her. She said nothing.
"Serena," the young alchemist whispered. "Come on, quit faking...It's not funny anymore."
Serena didn't move, merely continued to gaze upward without any real interest. Ed hesitantly touched her face, cupping her cheek and turning her toward him. She gave no sign that she recognized either him or Al.
Ed broke down, sobbing softly as he buried his face against her shoulder, clutching at her frail form and whispering 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,' over and over again. He held her as if she were the only life preserver in a stormy sea. She did not embrace him back, merely lay there, unmoving and unfeeling.
Slowly, Ed detached himself from Serena and motioned for Al to follow him, picking up Tsukino's research notes and the Stone. The crowd immediately parted, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. Ilene glared up at them from beside her husband.
"You can't just leave him like this!" she shouted. Ed threw her a look of such withering scorn and contempt over his shoulder that the empty-headed woman shrank back in fear.
"Watch me," Ed said simply, walking out the door.
End flash
Al flipped through Tsukino's notes, his horror mounting with each page. The imprisonment of a human soul...It was cruelty beyond belief. Kind of ironic, coming from him, but he had chosen to live on like this until he could fix himself. Al looked over at Serena, who was being held by his brother. Ed cradled her, whispering softly and smoothing her hair away from her face. Ed glanced up at his brother, his golden eyes so tired and worn that he looked years older.
"Get some rest, Al. We're leaving for Central in the morning," he stated softly. Al's body clanked loudly as he jumped up and stared at his brother in flat-out shock.
"We can't just leave her--"
"We're not, Al," Ed said, still in that strange, soft tone. "We're taking her with us."
Ken Tsukino stared mutely up at the ceiling of the hospital bed he was on. A shadow flickered past his window, but he didn't notice it. Only when a soft giggle reached his ears did he sit up. No one was there.
Shadows flickered in the corner, and the soft giggle sounded again. Tsukino looked around wildly, and still saw nothing. Then he looked at the foot of his bed, and nearly fell off.
"Y-you--"
Serena Tsukino smiled brightly, arranging herself so that she was more comfortable. "Me," she agreed pleasantly.
"You can't be--your soul--"
"Was sucked out of my body, into a little red stone that you intended to use for your own greedy purposes," Serena said, her smile still pleasant, but her eyes had gained a hard, cynical glint.
"How-"
"What's wrong, Daddy Dearest? Sad to see your life's work crumbling down around you?" she mocked, resting her chin on her hand and favoring him with an eerie chesire cat smile.
"You--you're not her!" Tsukino stammered out. Serena stood up and stretched luxuriously, her eyes shut. When they opened again, she pinned Tsukino with a wicked smile.
"No, I'm not," she said amiably. Lightning crackled around her as her features shifted and she grew taller, until Serena wasn't Serena at all. Envy grinned maliciously at the shocked alchemist.
"Now that that's out of the way, we've got a little bone to pick with you," Envy said cheerfully. In a flash, Tsukino was being held up against the wall by his neck, gasping for air, with one hand on his throat and one on his shoulder. All signs of cheeriness from the sin were gone. His eyes were narrowed and his teeth were bared, fury etched in every outline of his face.
"Did you like it, you bastard? Did you enjoy watching her blood spill over your hands while she just lay there, waiting to die?" Envy ground out, staring at him in contempt.
Envy unknowingly gripped Tsukino's shoulder too hard, and the alchemist yelped as the bone shattered. The sin blinked in surprise, then groaned and rolled his eyes in annoyance.
"Forgot how fragile humans are..." he muttered to himself. He dropped Tsukino on the floor and kicked him viciously across the room into the far wall, making sure to connect with his shot-up arm.
"Oi, Lust!" He called out. "You done out there?"
Lust entered through the door, her claws dripping blood on the floor. Envy raised his eyebrows as the woman tossed her hair.
"I had to get rid of any witnesses, so they wouldn't connect Serena or the boys with any of this," she said calmly. Envy nodded in agreement, then smirked at Tsukino, who was trying to crawl towards the door.
"And where do you think you're going?" Lust said silkily, turning around and piercing Tsukino in the chest with her claws. He cried out in agony as the two sins advanced on him. For a long time, there were screams coming from that particular room.
By dawn, the screams had stopped, and the two shadows had retreated, satisfied with their work.
"He's WHAT!" Colonel Roy Mustang shouted down the phone. After listening for a few more moments, he shouted some more and hung up. Then he sighed and ran his hand through his dark hair, trying to fight off the oncoming headache.
Ken Tsukino had been found dead in this morning in a hospital bed, having clearly been tortured at length first. The brand of the homonculus had been burned into his forehead, with an expression of terror on his face. Mustang groaned and resisted the urge to bang his head on his desk. This was getting too complicated for his tastes.
Ed was furious with him, and undoubtedly Al was too. Maybe they would forgive him if they found out why he did it? Forgive and forget? Mustang almost snorted at the thought. Beat to a bloody pulp, fume at for a few days, then forgive was more Ed's style.
Mustang did feel a slight twinge of pain when he thought of what happened to the girl. No one deserved that fate. And knowing Ed, he would be on edge, snappish, and biting everyone's head off until she was cured.
He could only hope that they would understand.
Ed stared out the window expressionlessly, and Al gazed forward. Both of them were trying not to look at Serena, who sat next to Al so she wouldn't fall over and hurt herself. It had become sheer torture to look at a non-descript shell where a laughing, loving girl had once been.
The train slowed, then finally stopped. Al grabbed the suitcase and carefully helped Serena out of the seat. She stood there, staring straight ahead blankly until Ed took hold of her hand and led her off. She followed him, her hand limp and lifeless in his metal palm.
Armstrong, Hughes, Hawkeye and Mustang were waiting for them. All of them stared at Serena, who didn't even look at the military officers. Ed bristled slightly, wanting to yell that Serena wasn't some freak circus show that they could gawp at anytime they pleased, but he was just too tired. Finally, Hawkeye broke the silence, her voice unusually gentle.
"That's Serena, right?"
"Yeah," Ed said gruffly. Hesitant movement behind him made Fullmetal's head snap to the side. Serena haltingly moved closer to him, one jerky step at a time, before slowly, very, very slowly, resting her head on his shoulder. Her expression had not changed once.
Ed wrapped his arms around her, and even though she still didn't reciprocate, hope flared in his heart. Serena had moved on her own, of her own volition. There just had to be a way to bring her back.
Mustang watched, the slight twinge increased to several sharp pangs, creating a rythm. A rythm of guilt.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we--
Of many far wiser than we--
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee,
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautfiul Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee
--Serena's body unconciously wanted to be closer to her soul, which Ed is carrying around, combined with the fact that she loves Ed, made it possible for her to move on her own.
Woohoo, another chapter! I think this may be the fastest yet that I've updated! What do you think of the poem? I thought it went kind of well with this chapter... My humble thanks to all my great reviewers, and I urge you to read and review once more!
Next chapter: Serena's revival, well-kept secrets brought to light, and the pain of regret and hidden feelings.