lol: Spooky eh? Yeah, I guess so. That'll all be explained in this chapter
Fruitie: Thank you! (Hugs)
Kuropuu: Hee, hee, you'll see!
anime-girl98- Here ya go!
hyperdude- (pokes puddle of goo) Gosh…I hope you don't stain…XD
hanjuuluver- Whee! Hanjuuluver! (Hugs) Yup, I was feelin' angsty…and psycho (sinister grin). Keh, keh, keh
Yey! Reviews! (Hugs reviewers) I lobve you guys X3!
Chapter Three
--
"Then you've found me, though what you want with me, I don't know." Hoenheim said, "What is your name?"
"That's not important."
"Yes it is, how else will I be able to address you?" Hoenheim questioned, he knew that face but it wasn't possible, not after such a long time.
"I have no intention of telling you what my name is," the young man held out his hand, there was a transmutation circle on his palm; "I am though, going to kill you."
"Is that so? Tell me, why do you intend to kill me?"
"Because," the transmutation circle started glowing a faint red, "she told us too." There was a bright flash of red as the array was fully activated.
--
Liem and his mother made their way hastily up the path in the direction that the burning barn was in, it wasn't burning nearly as much as it had been but it was still in a state where many people needed to be there to try and put it out. Trisha looked around for her husband; Liem stood by a large oak tree not too far away, he watched in mild awe as the various people rushed by with buckets of water and such.
Just as Liem was about to make the decision to join his mother in her search for his father, there was a very loud, earth-shaking explosion. Everyone dropped to the ground, either from the ground shaking or from fear, Liem had been knocked off his feet. He remained lying on the ground with his arms over his head. That couldn't have been from the barn, finally mustering up what was left of his rattled nerves, Liem looked up.
"Y…you?"
"Get up!" it was the young man from the house, "I said get up!" he grabbed Liem by the arm and forced him to stand up.
"I…I…how…"
"Listen to me!"
"She stabbed you! My mother…stabbed…you."
"Yes…she did, and it really hurt." The young man turned and started walking, "Quick, you have to follow me."
Hesitantly, Liem followed him, why was this guy asking him to follow him? And, what was that explosion? Liem wanted to know exactly who this person was and why he tried to kill his mother, why did he look like the baby in the picture when he hates the sound of his own name?
They came around a corner and found Hoenheim, he was kneeling on the ground, Liem ran over to him,
"Father!"
"Liem…what are you doing here? Where's your mother?"
"…" Liem bit his lower lip, "I don't…know…she told me to wait, so I did. That's when there was this explosion."
"It's all right," Hoenheim got up slowly, "Why did the two of you come here?"
Liem side glanced at the young man quickly, as much as he wanted to answer that, something inside was preventing him from speaking. Hoenheim could tell he wanted to say something,
"Never mind, it's all right."
"Father…I think…my brothers' are alive." Liem looked down at the ground; Hoenheim smiled and patted him on the back.
"You know what Liem…I think…you're right." Hoenheim turned and looked in the direction the older young man had been and found he was gone. Liem turned to look in the same direction, he then turned to look in the direction the other young man had been, and he was gone too.
"Father…"
"Liem…we should find your mother." Hoenheim led Liem back to where he'd been waiting. They started looking around but Trisha was nowhere to be found, the barn had been completely extinguished and people where cleaning things up. That's when someone shouted,
"Somebody help! There's a person trapped under here!"
--
Like a crushing wave, the world seemed to crash down around Liem, shock induced silence and shadow numbed his senses as he and his father hastily made their way over. People where crowding around one particular area where debre from the barn had been rattled loose by the explosion, they where digging through it trying to get at the one trapped.
Liem pulled back, a very painful knot had started forming in his stomach as he watched his father run over to help. The world was spinning, everything had gone numb, he was seeing but not seeing, they pulled someone out from the rubble.
"Oh my god…Trisha."
--
-Four Years Later-
"Hey Winry." Liem waved as he walked up the path towards the Rockbell residence, Winry was standing on the porch with Den sitting next to her. She waved back,
"Hey Liem!"
"You want to go for a walk?"
"Sure."
The two started walking down the dirt path towards the river, Den was following close behind. They didn't talk too much but once they got to the edge of the river Winry asked,
"So, how's your alchemy coming along?"
"Oh fine," Liem shrugged, "How about your mechanics? Have you gotten any better?"
"Don't play smart with me, you know darn well that I've gotten better." Winry slapped him on the back. Liem just smirked and put his hands behind his head,
"All right then…"
"So…how have you been doing?" Liem raised an eyebrow and gave her a questioning glance, "Since your mother…"
"What? Died? Fine I guess, I've been mostly working on improving my alchemy and father seems to be more and more enthusiastic about it. Why?" Liem answered simply.
"It's been four years, nobody could figure out what caused the explosion…I was just wondering, that's all."
Liem sighed and lowered his arms, he picked up as rock and chucked it into the river, he picked up another rock and threw that in the river as well,
"Winry…I never told you about the photo we found in the attic on my twelfth birthday did I?"
"No…ever since the fire you haven't said much at all."
"The two boys in the picture are my older brothers."
"What…"
"They vanished before I was born," Liem muttered, "Then the night of the fire, I saw one of them…he came to our house just after my father left to help."
"Huh…"
"He attacked us and got stabbed, that's when my mother and I went to find my father…"
"Oh…"
"I believe it to be misplaced anger and hatred but…I can't help but think if he hadn't shown up, she wouldn't have died." Liem sighed and started walking back up the path. Winry sighed and followed him,
"Liem, listen,"
"I appreciate you listening Winry, but, I wasn't hoping for anything in return." Liem turned to look at her, "I'm not going to do anything about it, what's done is done, so long as I never see his face again I'll be fine."
"Wait, that's not what I was going to say," Winry glared, "I was wondering, since you have two older brothers, where was the second one?"
"I don't know…I just saw one." Liem shrugged, he knew that wasn't what she wanted to say so he answered her simply and left. He made his way back down the path towards his house when something flew past his head and landed in the ground just a few feet away from him. Liem froze and looked down, it was a rock, frowning Liem looked up and around for the one who threw it, he was of course alone on the path. Sighing he continued walking but stopped a second later,
"You again?" he muttered, "What do you want?"
"A moment of your time."
"Fine…but I want to ask you a question first."
"All right."
Liem looked up; he had a very serious glare in his eyes as he asked,
"Are you really…Alphonse?"
"…"
"Well?"
"I hate hearing that name…but yes…"
Liem walked up to the young man, who was now just slightly older looking then he was four years ago, and punched him in the face.
"You better have a damn good reason for showing your face here."
Alphonse, who was sitting on the ground now rubbing the side of his face with a very aggravated look, glared up at him. He then stood up and brushed the dirt and dust off his clothes as he replied,
"I want to talk to you…about what happened four years ago."
-To Be Continued-
Just thought I'd share this with everyone, I named Liem 'Liem' cause one of my favorite movie actors is Liam Neeson. Only when I was typing this I didn't realize that his name was spelled 'Liam' and not 'Liem' but by spelling his name with an 'e' instead of an 'a' makes it my own…yeah…ok. Review!