"Did you hear? The alchemist and the Ishbalan died yesterday?"
"Really? What about their daughter?"
"She's still alive, but the poor thing is all alone."
"How did they die?"
"They were gunned down and right in front of the girl, no less."
"Where is their daughter?"
"She locked herself inside the home and hasn't come out since."
"Doesn't she have any kin?"
"The Ishbalans are dying on daily bases. The alchemists probably won't want a child who's half-Ishbalan."
"So what will happen to her?"
"She'll probably end up being dragged to an orphanage."
Kimiya shut the window in an attempt to drown out the voices that kept gossiping about her. She drew the curtains tight; making sure no light entered the room.
"No one will send me to an orphanage," she said. "I will bring my parents back."
Kimiya walked toward the center of the room. It smelled of the ingredients that made up a human.
"How hard can human transmutation be?" she said. "It'll be just like baking a cake."
Kimiya sifted through the ingredients and checked the circles. Everything was in place. She knelt in front of the circle on the floor and clapped her hands on the floor. The circles began to glow.
"It's working!" she exclaimed.
Outside, everyone clustered around the house. It was just beginning to hail, but the townsfolk didn't move. The windows began to shatter and that finally made them step back.
"The girl is attempting a human transmutation!" a horrified voice cried.
"Let's get out of here!"
Terrified, everyone ran as far away from the house as possible. Inside, Kimiya hadn't noticed that everything made of glass was shattering.
"I'm sure it's almost ready."
Kimiya flinched. Something had just quickly slashed her arm. It felt more like an odd pinch, but after a couple of seconds, the scratch started to burn.
"Ow."
Two pinches on each arm. Then four more. Six more. Eight more. Ten more. The pain escalated drastically. Kimiya cried out and stood up. She saw what had pinched her. Hands. Millions of tiny hands. Shards of glass attacked her legs. Screaming and crying at the same time, she fell down. Kimiya tried to stand, but more of the hands grabbed her legs.
"Let me go!" she cried. "Please, let me go!"
The skylight broke and a sharp shard of glass landed on her left foot, severing the toes. After a moment, everything vanished. Suddenly, the light appeared once more. Kimiya blinked. The world was white. Too white.
"Where am I?" she asked.
"You're here," a voice said.
Kimiya turned and saw someone with wavy honey brown hair staring at her. It was a girl, a very young girl.
"Who are you?" Kimiya asked with a trembling voice.
The girl giggled. "I'm not here and I'm not there, but I'm everywhere. Not human, demon, angel, homunculus, or tennyo."
Kimiya didn't have time to react. The little hands grabbed her and started to drag her towards the gate.
Horrified, Kimiya screamed.
"Help me!" she cried. "Help me, please!"
Laughing, the girl waved goodbye.
"Goodbye, foolish Ishbalan alchemist girl."
Kimiya closed her eyes, willing herself not to look.
Don't look! Don't look! Don't look . . .
Kimiya awoke, confused and disoriented. Her arms and legs ached and she couldn't move her left foot. She looked around at the mess she had created. There was nothing that wasn't covered with blood, but that didn't worry her.
"The transmutation. Did it work?"
The smoke hadn't yet cleared. Kimiya tried walking toward it, but every time she put pressure on her left foot, it left her shrieking so she hopped toward the circle.
"Mother? Father?"
"Kimiya?" a voice croaked.
Kimiya smiled. "Mother?"
A hand reached out and grabbed her. Kimiya gasped. The hand had skin clinging loosely to it, like it wasn't attached to the hand anymore, and the fingernails were falling off.
"Let go!"
The hand tightened its grip instead. Two figures rose out of the mist. Kimiya shut her eyes tight and screamed. Another hand grabbed her. This one's hand felt strong and its fingernails sliced deep into her flesh. Kimiya opened her eyes wide and saw blood splurging from her wrist.
"OW! Let go! Please!"
The hands lifted her up in the air and Kimiya got a good look at their faces. The faces were almost exactly like that of her parents. The mother had a very pale face and her hair was slightly longer, but there was a hideous facial scar on her forehead. The skin there was split and blood and some sort of yellow goo fell out of it. The father had a huge, gaping hole where his eye should've been. It was a black void; blood and remains of the eye fell out of the hole.
"Why?" they asked in unison. "Why did you bring us back?"
The mother's hand let go of her arm and grabbed her throat. Kimiya chocked.
"Let me go!"
Kimiya kicked them in the face and the homunculi dropped her. Kimiya landed on the ground with a thud. She scrambled toward the door. The mother hand formed into a hatchet and tried to slice Kimiya. The hatchet narrowly missed her and only sliced off a bit of flesh. Heart pounding, Kimiya rolled over. The father blocked the door. Kimiya attempted running, but couldn't because of her severed toes. Every time she did, she only ended up falling. If she were to run away, she couldn't bend her knees. As difficult as it sounded, Kimiya did run. She couldn't feel the pain shooting through her legs or the blood running down her arms. All she could feel were the tears running down her face and the intense feeling of her heart pounding madly against her chest. The mother chased her around the room with her hatchet arm. Kimiya tripped over a huge shard of glass. She felt a slight wind on her right foot and then something cut through her flesh and bone.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The sound of her screaming didn't even faze the two homunculi. They closed in on her: one with a hatchet and the other with nails sharpened to a very fine and deadly point. Gasping, Kimiya ran toward a window and jumped out of it.
"I need . . . to get away!"
Her steps slowed down and she fell down a ditch. Breathing hard, she looked up, the sun nearly blinding her.
The homunculi were staring down at her.
Sweat mingled with her blood and tears. Kimiya lay perfectly still. Only one thought rang in her mind.
I'm going to die.
Trembling, Kimiya closed her eyes. The bright oranges and reds that still shone through faded.
"Itsumo no shisen ni kimi ga ite kokyuu ga dekiru Boku ni totte nara Sore dake deMou Juubun na hazu na no ni
Chippoke na boku wa kurikaesu ayamachi bakari Dorehodo tsuyosa wo te ni shitaraNani mo kizutsukezu sumu no?
Mayowazu ni Kono ai wo shinji ikiteyukuFusagaranu kizuguchi mo gyu'tto dakishimete
Futari wa aruki-tsuzukeru Ato ni wa modorenai kara Ima demo kono mune no oku Kesenai tsumi wa itamu kedoDarling. . ."
Kimiya lost consciousness.