Author's Note: Okay, so far I have three reviews and like six hits. Not too bad but not too great. Let's just see how this chapter goes over, shall we?
Standard disclaimers apply, please R&R:)
The old woman furrowed her brow as the person in the suit of armor stumbled backwards. "Who are you?" asked the boy again.
"Brother!" cried the larger person. But before he could say anything else, the old woman held her hand out in front of him, silencing his cries.
"So," she whispered. "You really can't remember, can you?"
"What're you talking about? What am I supposed to remember?" asked the boy skeptically.
"Do you even know what your name is?" sighed the woman, shaking her head.
"Of course I do, it's—" the boy stopped and turned away. "My name is…" he shook his head. "So I can't think of it right now, but it'll come back to me." He gazed up at the old woman with a determined look. "What about you? Who are you people?"
The old woman grinned broadly, bringing her cane back in front of her. "My name is Pinako Rockbell and I am your mechanic." She stated proudly.
The boy gave her a cynic look, laughing a little. "My mechanic?" he snorted. "What do you 'mechanic' for me?"
Pinako frowned. "You don't remember that either, eh?" she asked knowingly. The boy shook his head. She sighed and raised a withered hand to point at him. "There, take a look at your right arm."
Hesitantly, the boy glanced down at his right arm, but there wasn't anything unusual about it. But there was something glimmering faintly under the long white sleeve of his nightshirt. So he pulled it up a little, and he wished very much that he hadn't. Once the fabric was out of the way, he could very clearly see that the glimmer had been a metal arm. But why? Why did he have a metal arm? Why wasn't it flesh and bone? He grasped the steel appendage tightly with his other hand; it was cold and lifeless, like it wasn't his own. He couldn't even feel anything through it. "What is this…?" he whispered hollowly.
"What happened to my arm?" he demanded, addressing the old woman.
"Just take it easy, there's no need to be scared." said the woman calmly, leaning a little closer to the boy.
"No need?" he screamed frantically, quickly scooting to the other end of the bed. "How can you say that? My entire arm is missing!" he slid on leg out from underneath him self and set it down onto the cold wooden floor. "How could this happen? What could have possibly—" he stopped suddenly. For a moment, he just stood there, leaning over the bed, still grasping his right arm. His eyes were dilated and his mouth hung open as if he were about to say something, but the words never came.
"Edward," whispered the old woman cautiously, taking a few steps closer to him.
"My leg, too?" he hissed under his breath. Slowly, he tapped his left foot against the wooden floor. The boy swallowed hard as he realized that unlike his other foot, he couldn't feel the frigidness of the wooden planks beneath him. "What happened to me…?" he choked out slowly, trying to keep his voice steady.
"Brother, please," begged the suit of armor. "Please just calm down."
"Don't tell me what to do!" yelled the boy, suddenly rushing back against the wall. "How can you tell me to calm down?" he stumbled over to the chair that had the bloodstained clothes draped over it. "How do you know what this feels like?" he grasped the clothes in his left hand and shook it in his fist before the other people. "What happened to me? What is all this?" he threw the garments away and staggered over to the dresser and pressed his hands palm down onto it, holding back tears that threatened to fall from his confused state. "I just… want to know what's going on…" he said in a strangled voice.
"Brother, do you really think that I can't understand you?" asked the armor, coming towards the boy.
"Alphonse," hissed the woman cautiously. "I don't think you should."
The armor looked back at the woman for a moment. "If he can't remember, than he has the right to know." He turned back to the boy, still coming nearer. "Brother, I'd know what this feels like, if I could feel anything myself."
The boy pressed back against the dresser, pinned between this strange person and the solid object, desperate to get away. He watched in complete horror as the person before him took hold of his helmet on either side and slowly lifted it off the rest of his suit. He then leaned forward to reveal the hollowness of his body to the boy. "Now do you see how I can understand, brother?" he asked seriously, latching his head back into place.
The breath of the boy seemed to leave his body all at once. He shook his head and tried even harder to pass through the dresser behind him, and as he did, his sweating palm caused him to lose his grip on the wooden edge. He slipped his footing and swiftly fell to the floor, hitting first his back on the dresser and then his head, causing his vision to black out. The last thing he heard before losing his consciousness completely was the suit of armor calling out "brother!"
End Note: So…How was it? I guess it's kinda boring so far, since not much has happened, but hopefully it'll get better. …If I continue. Please tell me what 'ya think! I love reviews!