Heaven Wept
The night was cold and wet. The wind was relentless as it raged outside the two-story country house. There were people gathered inside, murmuring to each other. They worried about the health of the young woman inside the back bedroom. They knew she was dying, and who would take care of her two little boys?
Trisha Elric lay dying on her bed. The doctor had just left and only Winry and Aunt Pinako remained in the room, besides Alphonse and Edward. The boys were by her bed as they held her hands and she whispered her dying words to them.
"There's some money…in a closet. Use it, and take care…of each other." She said softly.
Edward's resolve trembled, but he quickly gained it back as he replied, "Don't be ridiculous. We'll use it with you."
She smiled weakly and said hoarsely, "Edward, would you be a dear and transmute something for your mother? Yes, I know…a ring of flowers would be nice. You see, your father…always… used to make them for me…"
Here she trailed off, her eyes closing one last time and her hand relaxing their hold on her sons' hands.
Outside the window, the clouds opened up and heaven wept.
Two young brothers, finally back from training with their Sensei, sat in their basement, alchemy supplies all around them. To the untrained eye, it looked like an ordinary science experiment. But…they knew how high the stakes in this game were, and that's why they were being especially careful. The chalk lines were drawn with superfluous care and consideration. The ingredients laid out with careful precision.
Finally, the two boys stand over the transmutation circle, their hands stretched out next to the knife, gleaming in the soft light. The knife slit their pale skin and the blood rolled quickly off their fingers to the floor, soaking into the ingredients.
The wind raged through the trees and the rain had already begun to pour. A dark figure stood outside the home, silently observing.
"There's something foul in the air." He said grimly.
The brothers, realizing it was far too late to turn back now, put their hands to the circle and watched as yellow light enveloped them. The hopeful grins on their faces were soon turned to ones of wariness and dread.
"Brother, something's going wrong here…" Alphonse said fretfully.
Edward glanced back at the circle for just a moment and heard a blood-curdling scream to the right of him. Thick black tentacles were snaking through his little brother, and bits of him were disappearing. He was getting pulled kicking and screaming towards an unearthly vortex. None of this mattered when he saw his brother getting ripped from him, disappearing before his eyes. He reached out with everything he had, the muscles in his arm straining to grab his brother, pull him back. Just as Alphonse vanished, Edward almost had his hand. The Gate closed and Edward was alone, but only until he noticed the abomination they had created, and he screamed.
Outside his world of terror, the clouds opened up and heaven wept.
Two teenage brothers, one part metal and part flesh, the other nothing but a soul attached to cold armor, stood outside a meatpacking plant where a serial killer had just been found. The older brother had slashes and cuts all over, his right shoulder still in pain from where he had to jam the artificial limb back in its port quickly. Edward put his head in his hands and cried intensely, the sobs coming up from deep within him, his brother placing a gentle hand on his back, moving in slow circles like their mother used to do. And when it began to rain they didn't move from their spot, letting it soak through.
Outside their tears, seen and felt, the clouds opened up and heaven wept.
Two teenage brothers, one seventeen, the other eighteen, sat on a bed in an inn, far from anything or anyone they once called home. The elder still had steel limbs, but the other finally had a flesh and bone body, one that could taste, and smell, and touch. And touch he did; he touched his older brother, kissing him senseless before pushing him down onto the hard bed. As hidden desires and forbidden love came rushing forth with each caress and whispered moan, the sun came out and warmed the damp earth, enticing people out to feel it's heat.
Outside their world of tenderness and hard-won happiness, the clouds departed and heaven smiled.
-fin-