Alternative Choice.
By Rebecca Mason.
Authors Notes: So in the last chapter.. Shou and Alexander have now become ingredients in Shou's own experiment for a new talking chimera ..what will become of them now?'Wandering through the darkness.'
Shou Tucker and Alexander belong to Hiromu Arakawa.
Chapter 3.
After the bright light had enveloped Shou and Alexander, both had slipped from consciousness.. it was now that Shou found himself standing in a dark and extremely quiet place.
Looking down at himself, he found to his surprise that he was naked..yet nothing was detailed, he wondered where he was.. it definately wasn't in his lab..was he still alive?
" Where am I?" was all he said to himself, he then heard as his voice echoed all over the place, gradually fading into a low murmur...and then silence once again.
Shou's eyes then widened as he remembered that Alexander had been standing next to him just as the transmutation had started.
Yet now the dog was no-where to be seen..surely he was alright?!
" Alexander!" Shou called out into the darkness, hoping that the big dog would respond and come running..but no bark sounded and Alexander didn't come.
Gulping slightly, Shou began to walk forward slowly although his senses were still slightly numbed from when the light had struck both him and Alexander so he had no idea what direction he should take.
He could feel his feet touching nothing as he went forward..was he even going forward?
Shou started to wonder if he was actually getting anywhere, he heard no footsteps what-so-ever, no indication that he'd made any further progress.
" I just want to get out of here...please, please show me a way out!" he called up to the darkened heavens, pleading for someone, anyone, anything to help him.
Now he could now feel himself trembling out of nervousness, fear...he felt like a little child that had been left all alone in the dark with not even a night-light for comfort.
Was this how Nina would of felt if Shou had used her as an ingredient? surely she would of been spared this horrid experience, this must of been someone's punishment for old Shou Tucker's past wrong-doing's...it just had to be.
He didn't know for sure, but he couldn't let the fear take him over completely, there had to be someway out of this unbearable place.
All of a sudden, that's when he saw it.. it was small, but it was definately there in the so-called distance...a small dot of light.
Shou breathed a sigh of relief.
" Thank you.." he then smiled and began to run towards it, although he felt slightly uneasy about where this light would lead him, at the moment only one hope went through his head.
" Please let it lead out of this place.." he muttered quietly to himself as he felt his legs graduallly pick up speed, he could definately tell that he was running now.
The light seemed to be coming closer now, the small dot was forever growing bigger.
As he carried on running, he could feel a comforting warmth welcoming his every step.
All of a sudden the familiar sound of paws could be heard padding behind Shou, they very soon caught up to him.
And with the sound of a bark, Shou looked to see that Alexander was back and running alongside him.
" Alexander, thank goodness you're alive!" he said in a relieved tone and once again looked ahead of himself as he ran on.
" I was worried where you'd gone off to..."
Alexander just barked in response; he seemed to be smiling as he ran along, the warmth also welcomed him too.
Like Shou, he had also been wandering around in the dark place..and was incredibly thankful when he'd spotted the light.
He wondered if taking this path would guide them back to the lab, he certainly hoped so; the minute they got back, he'd go and check on Nina and oddly enough, he felt that Shou would as well...he didn't know how, but it was like their minds were becoming linked with one another.
Shou began to realise the same thing at exactly the same time Alexander had, he felt like the two of them should stop running, then maybe he'd be able to find the reason for this.
Yet something seemed to beckon to him to keep running.. for both of them to keep running..so they did.
" We'll find out where this goes, right boy?" Shou asked with a small grin as he once again looked to the big dog.
Alexander looked to Shou and barked what seemed to be a 'Yeah!' in response, the warmth was now all around them as the reached the source of the light, it looked like a big white portal.
He could feel that they needed to go through it..and so did Shou, words didn't need to be exchanged between the two of them as they ran on.
And with that, both man and dog dived headlong into the portal's light.
Once inside the portal, Shou couldn't help but gasp in awe.
Everything was so bright, it was overwhelming.. yet at the same time, the warmth in the place was very comforting and eased away any anxiety that Shou may of had.
He then looked to see that Alexander had trotted ahead of him..and was now running over to what seemed to be an open door.
" Alexander? ..hey wait for me" Shou called out and began to run after the dog.
However it was too late, Alexander had gone through the door before Shou had a chance to stop him.
Smacking his forehead slightly and a defeated sigh escaping his mouth, Shou then arrived at the door and stood in front of it for a while.
It was then, that he pondered if he should go in or not.. it looked like a harmless-enough door, but there was no telling what was on the other side.
" Well.. I didn't hear Alexander howl in pain.. so there's nothing life-threatening through there.." he then gulped.
" I hope.."
After a few more minutes of standing there worrying about what things were through the door, Shou then clenched one hand and looked up with a determined expression.
" I have to see what's on the other side...it's my job as an alchemi- no...as a person, to find out the unknown! regardless of how fatal it may be for me" he added the last part in an uneasy tone.
The determined expression faded slightly.. but his mind was made up now, he was going to head through that door; no matter what it held, he couldn't back out now.
He then put his other hand on the door's handle as he got ready to step over the threshold.
Bracing himself for the worst, Shou then stepped over the door's threshold; it was only after he heard the door close behind him, that he opened his eyes again.
He was surprised to find himself in a small yet cosy living room.
It had a rather old looking couch in the middle of the room, a few other chairs were against the wall...and the fireplace was housing a small fire.
Looking to the ground, Shou saw that the floorboards were exposed; yet there was round patterned rug over where the couch was.
As he looked up at the ceiling he realised that it seemed so far away, he couldn't even reach it with his own hands! why did everything seem so much bigger all of a sudden?
Shou was taken aback as realisation flooded in about this house; he knew this place very well, but it wasn't the living room in the mansion, nor was it the living room that was in his and his wife's old house.
" My....my" he stuttered slightly as he slowly sank onto his knees.
" My parent's house..." he said quietly to himself.
To be continued!
Authors Notes: Wow..I never even planned on making *this* chapter XD; but it's sort of like a pathway between chapter 2 and chapter 4 (which will be a flashback of Shou's life) just to clear up any confusion that this chapter may of caused.