Title : Whispers of a Nightmare

Genre : Anime/Manga

Category : Full Metal Alchemist

Disclaimer : Nope, this one belongs to someone else as well.

Summary : Takes place after the incident with Nina. Something's wrong with Ed, and Al just can't quite figure out what it is. Serious situations and angst ensue.

Warnings : Angst, mild language, violence, and other issues that shall go unnamed for now. I don't want to give away too much of the plot just yet, now do I? ;)

Rating : T

Chapter 3 : The Consequence of a Mistake

"What!" Edward exclaimed, eyes dancing wildly with anger and fright. "You did what? Why, Al? I told you I was alright! There was no need to call…him!" he added, gesturing towards who knew where with a pointed index finger, red continuing to paint his cheeks.

"But Brother-"

"How could you do such a thing? It's not as if I don't look incompetent enough…and now Colonel Bas-"

"What was I supposed to do, Brother?" Al asked innocently, hurt in his tone. "You haven't eaten anything since we've been here, and then you passed out on me! What was I supposed to do?" he questioned again, this time a bit louder than before.

"You told him that? Why?" the blonde alchemist shot back, completely rearranging his brother's words around in his head. "How many times do I have to tell you, Al, that I'm fine! F-I-N-E, fine!" he shouted, a hint of annoyance in his voice. His golden eyes burned with anger, though they were watery at the same time. He could feel his heart drop to his feet, knowing that the worst was yet to come. He hated it when they fought. But sometimes, it just couldn't be helped, no matter how strong their bond was.

"Fine? You call passing out in my arms fine?" Al shot back, hints of anger haunting his tone. "And having a nightmare about Mom? You call that fine too? Apparently, Brother, our definition of the word fine is totally different," he quipped, staring down at the older blonde.

"Al…," Edward mumbled, on the verge of tears. He was trying so hard to hide the pain…so hard.

"Oh, and Brother, when I get my body back," he paused, turning back before he exited the room. "If I get my body back, I'll make sure to pass out in your arms and see how you like it." He gave Edward one last glance before disappearing behind the door.

"Al!" Edward called out, his hands clenched into small fists at his sides, shaking with anger. "Al, that's not fair!" he shouted, his voice cracking on the last word. "You know that's not fair," he muttered to himself, a rogue tear tumbling down his distraught cheek.

He wanted to break down right then and there; scream and shout out to the whole world that it was his fault that his brother's body was lost somewhere in the depths of time and that he would be the one responsible to get it back. But he knew he could scream all he wanted, and no one would actually hear him.

Flashes of the dream passed through his mind, stirring the fire that was already bubbling inside. His mother's eyes…those cold, lifeless eyes… He knew they would be the force that drove him to get it all back. That and the fact that his brother was in more pain than he could ever imagine. If only he could tell Al that…

More of the saltine substance started to trickle down his cheeks, and once again, he swatted it away as though it were a fly buzzing in his ear. Even if the day would come when they finally succeeded in their quest, he'd always have it drilled in his system that it was his fault to begin with. His and his alone.

He cut his thoughts short, not knowing how long he had been standing there. And if what Al said was true, Mustang would be there any minute now, waiting to chew him up and spit him out, and then come back for more. He was in no mood to hear it; but then again, was he ever?

With a hushed sigh, he exited the room, making his way to the train station. The sky had decided to stop with its own tears, though the color it cast was still a dull grey, reflecting in those golden eyes. The clouds were rumbling in the distance, signaling that the heavens might not be over their pain yet.

He let his bangs fall in his face as he made his way through the semi-crowded streets, his shoulders slumped in defeat. Reluctantly, he entered the train station, just in time to see the locomotive pull up to the platform. His body stiffened as he made his way towards the small group that had come off, anger searing his brow as two familiar blue uniforms came into view.

One was that of First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye; looking as stern and trigger ready as ever. The other of course being Lieutenant Colonel Mustang himself, his usual smug mug touched by anger, his eyebrows also in decline. He muttered something just out of Edward's hearing, and whatever it was, it was sure to be a smart remark, regardless if the boy could hear it or not.

Though he was not one of formal traditions, the young State Alchemist gave his superiors their proper salute, resenting the military and being one of it's dogs all the while. He gave a half-hearted bow in their direction, not caring if his nose touched the floor or not. He opened his mouth to say something to his usual companion, but then the realization hit him that the steel suit of armor was not by his side, rendering him temporarily speechless. He kept his mouth shut instead.

He waited for the outburst. The oncoming threats and putdowns and short jokes, but none befell his ears. He blinked once, then looked up, realizing both of his superiors had walked straight past him. "Hey!" he called out, running up behind them, his red jacket flowing behind him.

"Oh, sorry, didn't see you standing there, Full Metal," Mustang stated, then added, "Must've missed you." Hints of the Flame Alchemist's trademark smirk were there, just not enough to put on a worthy show.

Edward wanted to give a retort to this, something with the words hate, bastard, and Mustang in it; quite possibly in that order, or even a Who you callin' so short that a needle in a hay stack's easier to find than you?; but the anger he felt was towards himself and not his superior, not completely anyways. So he let it go and decided to grit his teeth instead.

"You might as well go back to Central because I've got this completely under control," Edward attempted a fake air of confidence, trying ever so snidely to wipe it in the Colonel's face, though the attempt failed.

"That's all nice and fine, Edward, but from the sound of things, you don't," Mustang shot back, his voice hovering on the edge of anger, a shout preparing to leave his throat.

"Sir, not here," Hawkeye warned in a hushed tone, giving the Colonel a sideways glance as she readjusted her suitcase.

With evident reluctance, the Colonel kept quiet the entire way to the inn, keeping Edward within his sight at all times.

As soon as they had reached the entrance to their rooms, the Colonel nodded at his second in command and she disappeared into an adjoining room. Without even giving Edward so much as a warning, he pushed the blonde alchemist into his own room, the air of tension already skyrocketing between the two.

Edward landed with a light thump on the hard-mattress bed, his eyes widening momentarily behind his bangs. He could feel his body go taut, preparing for the avalanche that was about to crush him. Any second now…

"You'd better tell me what's going on right now, Edward, or I promise you this will not be a polite conversation," Mustang began, turning to face the somewhat shaken Full Metal. "I sent you out here for a reason; to get a job done and solve a case. Now I understand that this might be one of your first, but your previous signs of intelligence and skill led me to believe that you could handle this. Why is it that you can't?" he questioned, standing in front of the already hot-tempered boy, a curious look in his onyx eyes.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Colonel," he spat, a scowl taking over his youthful features. "I've only been here a week--"

"And that's plenty of time for you to have taken care of this!" Mustang interjected, folding his arms across his chest. "I don't understand Full Metal. Are you too young to handle the responsibilities that your job entitles? Was I wrong to assign you such a case? Perhaps I should have made you stay in Central and sent a more qualified alchemist in your place. Someone with more experience…" his voice trailed off, his eyes filling with a mysterious air.

Edward sat there, motionless, taking it all in. His eyes were flavored with an anger so deep, that instead of releasing it as he normally did, he bottled it up, keeping a tight lid on things. In the back of his mind, a voice kept repeating, You deserve this, you know you do. And he listened to it, basking in its mocking tone, irritated by its truth. He kept silent, impatiently waiting for the Colonel to continue.

"So you've got nothing to say to that? Nothing at all?" He continued without waiting for a response, studying the boy carefully with his soul-piercing orbs. "Your brother tells me that you passed out, and that you haven't been eating. Care to fill me in?" he inquired, raising a curious eyebrow, his hands clasped behind his blue uniform.

"I just had a little headache. That's all," he talked through a clenched jaw, his eyes narrowing with each word. This was not territory that he wanted to be in, nor a boundary he wanted to cross, but the Colonel was known for his substantial interrogations if the person wasn't consumed by flames by the time he was done with them.

"A little headache caused you to fall unconscious for eight hours? Edward, may I remind you that I've been serving in the military for more than half your life span, and have more than enough common sense to know that's a lie. Now, shall I hear the truth, or will you be leaving on the next train to Central?" he asked casually, his jet black eyes dancing with delight. He leaned against the adjacent dresser, crossing his arms once more.

"What do you want me to say?" he shouted, finally giving into the heat that was nearly disintegrating his system, standing to his feet. "I got a little dizzy, and I fell. Is that my fault? Maybe it's the air around here," he mumbled, a scowl whipping across his face as he too folded his arms, knowing that was the lamest excuse he could have ever come up with.

"How long's it been?" Mustang questioned, still casually positioned against the wooden décor.

"How long's it been since what?" Edward shot back, face distorted in confusion, his golden eyes lit with fire.

"Since you've eaten anything. A week?" he offered, giving the kid a once over. Edward didn't look too much different than the last time he'd seen him. Maybe a little pale, and the addition of dark circles under his eyes, and that cherubic look he had to his face was kind of disappearing…

"I don't know what you're talking about," he grumbled, his jaw clenched in irritation. He could feel his chest tightening at the coolness of Mustang's words. He knew he was only seconds away from either screaming his head off or running out the door. Either one was sounding more and more appealing as the seconds drifted on.

"You don't seem to know much these days, do you?" he chided, a devious smile creeping across the corners of his mouth.

That did it. That was it.

"What do you care for anyways?" the exclamation parted the blonde's lips, his hair filtering about his reddening face. "Excuse me for not solving the case as soon as I got here! And excuse me for having a little headache! I only had it because of you!" he screamed, uncalled for tears spilling onto his cheeks. He immediately took off out of the room, only to bump into Hawkeye who had been waiting patiently at the door.

"Edward?" her voice questioned faintly through his ears as he brushed away from her and ran down the hall, tears falling at his feet. His red jacket flew behind him as he hurriedly rushed down the wooden staircase at out of the main entrance, right into a gust of wind and a downpour of rain.

He didn't care where he went, as long as it was away from that damned Mustang. But then a second thought occurred to him the moment he stepped foot into the rousing storm; Al! His heart began to go into overdrive as his legs carried him through the near blinding rain, the only thing on his mind finding his brother.

How could I have been so stupid? I was so caught up with the Colonel that I didn't think to check on Al! What is wrong with me?

His mind raced with the possibilities of where his brother could be, though he was ultimately drawing no conclusions. He didn't know the town at all, and hardly remembered the places they had been during their short stay. As the minutes wasted by, hopelessness slowly started to confiscate his weary soul. He was getting no where and fast.

Where are you, Al? Where could you have gone?

He was getting soaked, the rain splattering him without showing any mercy whatsoever. His already fitting clothes were becoming even more so and then some, sticking to his small body like a second skin. His jacket had become heavy and uncomfortable, weighing him down and slowing his speed significantly. And even though he'd had eight hours of sleep--if you could call it that, he still felt sluggish and worn down, the small burst of adrenaline he'd acquired slipping away through his fingertips.

His golden hair was a dull blonde in the shadow of the grey sky, matted to his face and slightly obscuring his vision at the same time. He could feel himself slowing down, his body getting the better of him. His footsteps started to drag and finally he felt himself coming to a complete stop, coming to rest underneath the awning of a nearby shop.

He shakily leaned against the brick wall, only to find his legs unwilling to support him anymore. Slowly, he slid down it, giving into the weakness that invaded his bloodstream. He carefully pulled his knees up to his chin, the chill of the air finally hitting him. He shivered, a pained look creeping across his features.

He felt more than helpless, he felt insignificant as well. Woe filled his golden eyes, tears creeping in behind it. He shook his head with a wistful smile on his lips, burying his face in his knees. For the first time in his life, he felt small; pathetic. He could feel his lips quiver as he tried to fight another round of unwanted tears, but they won again, his body tensing as they fell.

Stray drops of rain made their welcome under the awning with the thanks of more gusts of wind, he almost laughing at the irony of it. He couldn't even hide from the rain, so how the hell could he possibly hide from himself?

He shook the thought away, letting it drown in the back of his mind, hoping it would eventually disappear, as with all his other thoughts of worry. But he knew that aspiration would also come to pass as fruitless as well, there wasn't even a point of trying.

He was just about to let himself drown in all his other sorrows as a sound caught his ear. His head jerked up as he heard footsteps splashing through the puddles of rain that had littered the ground. His first thought was that Mustang had chased after him, possibly given him a head start to give him some time to think, clear his head; but these were not the steady, cool footsteps that Mustang would have given off. They were more erratic and jumbled, as though the person didn't know where he or she were going and were just trying to get away from something.

His body tensed even more as they drew nearer, his heart nearly burrowing a hole straight out of his pounding chest. His eyes widened as the person finally came into view, the look on their face frightening him even more.

It was a man, and the terrified expression on his face spoke volumes, resonating chills down the State Alchemist's spine. He looked to be around the age of forty, though at the moment, possibly even older, his face scrunched up in a look of utter horror and confusion. The stranger's black hair lay flat on his forehead, sweat more than likely mingling with the rain that was coming down on him. His clothes, looking like that of a normal villager's were torn in a few spots, blood leaking out of the holes. But his eyes, his eyes were what made Edward freeze. They were the lightest shade of blue he'd ever seen, indicating that more than likely the man was blind.

The thirteen year old was stuck, glued to the ground and unable to move anything; paralyzed just as he was in the nightmare. The rain continued to pour down on him, rolling down his cheeks and dripping to the ground, creating small ripples in the puddle below. His golden eyes could do nothing more than watch the horrific scene play out before him, somewhere in the depths of his mind already knowing the outcome, though he could do nothing to effect it.

The man's steps became even more scattered until he finally tripped, water splashing up around him, seemingly consuming his thin frame. He hit the ground hard, a weak groan escaping his quivering lips. He was trying to push himself up, though his strength was waning. That's when Edward heard the next set of footsteps.

They were soft at first, tickling his eardrums with their eerie rhythm. He felt his small body tighten even more as they drew closer, his attention slowly drifting back to the man that lay only feet from him. He wanted to reach out, to help the man up--something, but he was still paralyzed, remnants of the nightmare coming back to haunt him. The only thing he could manage were a few quiet sobs, everything else was lost on him.

In the next moment, it was as though everything became completely and utterly silent; he was deaf to the world. He watched in his state of paralysis as the second stranger came into view, a dark shadow looming over him, evil emanating off of it. It moved slowly but precisely, a long black cloak consuming the person that wore it, making Edward unable to tell who it was or what they looked like; but at the moment, he wasn't exactly concentrating on that aspect either.

The person seemingly moved in slow motion, though they caught up with the fallen villager rather quickly. Though the rain continued to fall, it were as though it too had stopped in mid-air, frozen in the moment of time.

A low moan escaped Edward's throat, though the cloaked figure didn't appear to hear it, apparently consumed by the crime they were about to commit. Or they chose to ignore it, either way, the State Alchemist was the most frightened he'd been since that day…

Steadily, an arm reached out from behind the dark cloak, an arm made of steal; of metal. It's image reflected in Edward's golden eyes, he unable to process the picture that was set before him. He watched in horror as the hand casually made its way to the writhing man's chest, right to the exact spot where his heart was, buried under muscle and skin.

"No, please no," the man begged, his voice hoarse, apparently from the previous struggle he had escaped from. "Please, Kania, I won't tell anyone…I won't…I---" His pleas were cut off with a blood-curdling scream that filled the cold air as his heart was replaced with metal. All the blood that had been flowing through the man's veins came to a standstill, his eyes nearly popping out as an aftereffect. His face was frozen in terror, still looking up at the cloaked figure before him.

The color seemingly drained from his skin the moment his soul had passed, becoming as pale as the moonlight that was trying so desperately to break through the thick clouds that hung overhead.

A dormant cry lay in Edward's throat, his mouth open at the sight in front of him. Small whirls of mist departed through his lips as his breath became visible at the steady dropping temperatures. His golden eyes widened even more as the cloaked figure turned his way, a hood still hiding its features.

Tears tumbled down his cheeks as he realized he still couldn't move, his body literally feeling frozen from the cold. A few misplaced hairs swam into his vision as the murderer stared him down, Edward only being able to make out the emerald green eyes that lay in the darkness under the hood. He watched them glimmer by an invisible light, his breath catching in his chest as it slowly moved towards him, the eerie melody of its steps creeping upon him.

He tried to force his unresponsive body to move, to do something; but it still mocked him, paralyzed by fear. He could feel something rising in his throat, unsure of what it was. He felt another tear run ragged down his cheek, quite possibly the last one to escape the confines of his eyes. It didn't take long for the short life that he did have to flash before his eyes.

He saw the metallic hand coming straight for his chest, and yet there was nothing he could do about it but sit there like a good boy and observe. Thoughts raced through his mind faster than he could catch.

What about Al…the past…look what you've done…make things right…gotta make things right…Mom…I'm so sorry…Please don't hate me…Nina…I'm sorry I couldn't save you…Brother!…I'm supposed to get you your body back…Al…I'm so sorry…Please forgive me…

He was trembling as he felt the hand make it to his chest. A cold so deep, so chilled, ran throughout his entire body, another violent shiver wracking his limbs. It felt as though he was buried in the heart of a blizzard with no hope of survival. He could hear his heart beating in his ears, louder than it ever had before.

Al…

Tha-thump.

Please forgive me…

Tha-thump.

I love you…

Tha….

Darkness slowly coveted his vision as the cold eased over his body.

Author's note : Ahh, I have no idea why this chapter seemed so hard to write. I had it all planned out in my head, then for some reason, I just kept getting distracted. Oh, well, I'm pretty sure it turned out the way I wanted. Hopefully, you guys agree. Once again, thank you for your kind reviews. I think they're the reason this chapter came out so fast, fast for me anyway. ; ) Alright, please let me know if it was good, bad, totally sucked or whatever. I look forward to hearing from you all once again! Oh, and one small side note : some things may not be explained at first and might not make any sense whatsoever at the moment, but in chapters to come. Hopefully, that last sentence made sense. Later! ; )