Al's-best-friend: I am so sorry you guys! I didn't mean to take this long to update. Well, school is finally out for the summer so I can update sooner! I made the chapter a little longer and tried to focus on all of the characters. I worked real hard on this so I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: Oh yeah, the disclaimer…I don't own, seriously.
Marla groaned as she struggled to sit up. She started hacking up blood for a moment until she was thrown a few feet further landing painfully on the ground. She tried once again to sit up but failed miserably and started coughing once again with blood leaking out of her mouth. Her pursuer ran forward and kicked her stomach with hard, powerful jabs.
"Please…stop!"
Laughter rang in Marla's ears as she pleaded.
"Anna please stop!" Now her body was shaking with pain and confusion.
Anna stopped and looked down at the beaten girl with a crooked smile. She looked insane with her wild hair around her face and Marla's blood on her hands.
"Why should I? Wasn't it you who put me here? Wasn't it you who made me who I am today?" Anna's face now had a look of pure rage on it. She started kicking Marla again.
Marla began crying. She put her arms over her head and curled into a ball.
"You turned me into this when you tried to bring me back!" Anna was yelling now.
"I didn't know!" Marla chocked out as her tears began to flow faster, "If brother and I would have known..."
She was interrupted by Anna who, by now, had begun kicking harder. "Oh yes, dearest brother!" Her voice was full of sarcasm. "I really need to thank him too!"
"No!"
Anna suddenly vanished. Marla curled herself into a tighter ball and began sobbing.
"Marla?"
She flinched, expecting to see Anna again, but as she looked up she saw no one.
"Marla, wake up!"
Marla sat up slowly and pulled her shirt up slightly. She winced when she saw multi colored bruises.
"Marla!"
Marla looked up as she wiped blood and tears off her face. 'I remember that voice from somewhere.' She sat still for a moment and then, suddenly, she remembered.
"Alphonse?"
Her vision became blurry. She blinked a couple of times and rubbed her eyes. She felt her body go limp as she collapsed on the ground. She felt weird, like she had been drugged. Something was pulling her down. Marla tried to call out for help but found out that she couldn't speak. Marla thrashed around trying to move trying to do anything. She began to panic. The pain in her stomach and throat got worse.
Light shown down on her and she finally opened her eyes. Alphonse was sitting right next to her his head right above hers.
"What happened?" Marla whispered trying not to panic again, "Am I still dreaming?"
Al shook his head. "You had a nightmare though. Are you okay? You were crying."
Marla sat up and rubbed her face. Tears were there but, thankfully, no blood.
"Anna came…she...she..." Marla broke off putting her head into her hands shaking. "It felt so real Al, so real."
Al sat there confused. He gently pulled Marla out of his armor when she began crying in her sleep. Al had tried everything to wake her. He tried calling out her name, putting her in a sitting position, and even shaking her. He had been scared that something terrible was happening to her. He had grown used to Marla being the quiet girl who liked to pick fights with Terri and Ed. Yes, she could lose her temper at times but Al found it hard to believe anything could affect her deeply. And now she sat, in front of him scared to death.
"Marla, would you like to talk about it?"
Marla looked up at him and forced a fake smile. "I'm fine Al; it was just a silly dream."
Al frowned, "Do you think I wouldn't know if you were lying?"
Marla sighed, "I guess not."
Al looked up when he heard footsteps coming from behind the closed door.
Marla held her breath as the door creaked open to reveal…
Terri had always considered himself to be someone with a lot of patience. When he had a problem he would usually just sit back and take time to find the answer instead of freaking out. But, when you have a blonde mechanic sitting right across from you just waiting quietly for you to tell her your life's story, you get a little nervous.
On the other hand Winry was very excited. She was going to find out what had happened to Marla and why she followed the Elric brothers. She felt so happy to be finally let in on the secrets. But, now, as she sat on the seat across from Terri and watched him look like a fish out of water she had to admit she was a little nervous.
Terri and Winry had rushed out of the house not too long after Terri had promised to explain everything. They had walked to the train station and had been lucky enough to buy tickets to Central before the train arrived.
Terri cleared his throat and Winry looked up at him expectantly.
"I guess I should start at the beginning."
Winry nodded and gave him an encouraging smile.
Terri started speaking, softly at first then louder, "My family lived in a house practically in the middle of nowhere. There was me, Marla, mom, dad and…Anne. My father was a scientist. I remember he liked to boast about all the new…ahh…things he made. He made weird things like cures to earwax and an animal safe blow-dryer for the stray kittens. He was a little nutty at times, but never crazy, he had a good sense of humor and you couldn't help but love him. Mom was a florist; she always said that her flowers were like her children. She was very intelligent and calm. And always level headed, even when dad's self activating book page turner blew up in her face."
Winry smiled and leaned back in her chair to get comfortable.
Terri smiled back and reached up and pulled his hair, "I got her hair but, unlike mine, hers wasn't this messy."
Terri cleared his throat again and ran his fingers through his hair. Winry frowned as she noticed Terri's nervous behavior.
"Sorry, it's kind of hard to go back down memory lane…Um, and then there was Anna and Marla. You should have seen them Winry, they were inseparable, they did everything together and somehow they always found a way to drag me along. I remember I used to call them 'my trouble twins'." Terri smiled fondly, "You see mom and dad were good parents but they were always busy so, I was like the twins' babysitter."
"Did Marla and Anna look alike?" Winry asked, clearly liking the story.
"Yeah, but Anna she had blue eyes, not green. It was the only way I could tell them apart."
Terri sighed knowing he couldn't put off telling Winry any longer. "One day father was making a new fertilizer for mom. She tried it and to state it bluntly it was a disaster. All her beautiful plants and flowers withered and died in a matter of minutes. Father was devastated but mom just smacked him on the side of the head, told him it was alright, and then gave him a big hug. Somehow, it got into our water."
"Eww, the fertilizer?"
Terri nodded, "Anna…she was the only one who seemed to be affected by it. She got sick, sick enough to where father made her stay in her room all the time. It broke my poor mom's heart. It really affected Marla, her best friend, her twin was dieing. We called doctors in from everywhere and yet none of them could find a cure. Those cheap bastards took our money anyway."
Winry looked up at shock at the now angry Terri.
"Father locked himself in the basement and vowed to find a cure. Luckily, he made a pain reliever that worked." Terri's hands were shaking, "She looked like a little rag doll, so small and helpless, coughing all the time, high fever, nightmares. I woke up to her screams almost every night. Mom always slept outside Anne's closed door. She would sing to Anna till she fell asleep. It was my job to tell Marla why she couldn't see her sister, why her sister was in pain."
"I'm guessing Anna was contagious."
Terri nodded gripping his shaking hands, "Marla stopped talking to anyone, she stopped eating, and I had to beg her to eat." A dry sob left Terri's mouth, "She always had nightmares too, and she still does. She woke up one night begging me not to leave her."
Winry put her hand on top of Terri's shaking ones, "You don't…you can stop if you-"
"No…it is okay, I promised you didn't I?"
Winry bit her lower lip but nodded.
"Mom was also devastated; father caught her sneaking into Anne's room. Not soon after she also got sick too but she was happy that she was with her daughter again. Father got depressed and he ignored me and Marla. He got sick too. We had barley any money we couldn't risk getting a doctor, we would starve."
Terri looked so sad and pitiful and Winry felt a tear fall out of her eye.
Terri coughed, "I remember gigging their graves. Any way," Terri said forcing a smile, "Marla was looking through Father's old stuff and she found an alchemy book. We started studying, though it was hard because Marla still didn't talk. I found, at the back of the book, a theory of bringing back the dead. When I showed Marla that I saw her smile for the first time in a year. Three years later we tried to bring Anna back; it's no surprise that we failed. We tried working odd jobs so we could afford auto-mail. So, that led us to you." Terri said softly.
"Are you okay now, I mean Marla IS talking and eating."
"Yeah, after she saw what we created she-"
"WHAT? You let a ten year old see the body y'all made?"
Terri grimaced, "Yeah, it was pretty nasty. Blood and guts everywhere, we saw its insides, and its eye had somehow popped out"
Suddenly Winry's wrench collided with the side of Terri's face.
"Stop hitting me! I just told you my tragic story, you shouldn't hit me!" Terri whined as he rubbed his red cheek.
"Well, you are not sad anymore, right?" Winry said with hopeful eyes.
Terri turned around, "Whatever…"
From outside their compartment other passengers hid in fear of the wild screaming and the sound of metal hitting something painfully.
I giggled, barley containing my joy. I ran as fast as I could ignoring the pain in my legs and Envy's rude statement. I flung my arms around her middle and my smile widened as she returned my hug.
"Mommy I missed you!" I squealed as she smiled slightly at the name that I had given her, "It's not that I don't like to spend time with Envy or anything but after a while he gets sooo annoying! You should hear him talk 'It's all about me, me, me, me, me.' I mean come on! I think his name should have been Greed."
Envy snorted and looked around. "Where's Wrath?"
"He got bored, so I let him explore."
"Well, go find him, we have work to do, you know."
The older woman frowned slightly, "I think Sloth is right, you are wound up too tight. If you want something done, go do it yourself."
Sloth giggled again and flipped a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes. "I'll go find Wrath!"
And before Envy could protest she ran down the alleyway with a new burst of energy.
"It's kind of strange that a child with so much energy and mood swings is the new Sloth."
"Well," Envy said as he sat down, "between you and me Lust, I don't care as long as she is on our side."
Lust nodded as she walked down the path her 'daughter' had just taken, her heels making a light tapping noise.
Envy smiled evilly and stood up walking slowly behind her, "Well, at least everyone is finally here."
Edward sighed looking for the keys of his motel room. How could he loose them! Well, his pants didn't have pockets. He put the paper sack filled with food on the ground.
"It looks like I'll be getting in my way."
He clapped his hands together and smacked them on the door. A new lockless door handle replaced the new one. Ed smiled and picked up the sack with one hand and opened the door with the other. He stopped when he heard talking on the other side of the door and tensed. Was Al in danger? Well, there was only one way he could find out. Edward finished turning the handle and pushed the door open. His suspicious eyes scanned the room. All he saw was Marla and Al sitting frozen with wide eyes (A/n: Well, technically Al doesn't have eyes.) staring at him. Ed sighed happily, there was no danger it was only Marla. Wait? Huh? Ed did a back track and looked at Marla and Al, who were, at the moment, trying to become unnoticeable.
"Marla?"
Marla put on a big, goofy smile and waved.
Al's-best-friend: So, the new homunculi's name is Sloth. Yes, that is all of them! Everyone else is dead!
Terri: I can't believe you almost made me cry in front of a girl!
Al's-best-friend: -shrug- Sometimes crying is good for reliving stress.
Terri: Okay, readers, do you see that button down there? The one labeled review? Good. Now click it. Very good, now type in your option of this chapter. I know you want to!
Al's-best-friend: Good boy! –hands a cookie to Terri-
Terri –takes big bite out of cookie-
Al's-best-friend: I can be very persuasive with my minions.