Disclaimer: I do not own the song nor the anime
I am back!!!! Enjoy!
"We Are"
Take a listen through the window
Take a lover on the radio
Ask her if she's got an answer
Do you know
Time enough to get a good one
Though they never seem to get done
I am standing for a reason
Do you know
[Chorus
'Cause I don't know how
And I don't know where
We are we are
And I don't know why
I don't know if
We are we are
Seven days and not a return
Seven lives and not a thing learned
Take a lover on the highway
Do you know?
'Cause I am sleeping on a time bomb
And I am waiting for the light to come
You and I could get away now
Do you know
[Chorus
I get up sometimes
Like somebody else
Am I just wasting time
For somebody else
Take a listen through the window
Another lover on the radio
Ask her if she's got an answer
Do you know?
[Chorus
Chapter 1
"They see only their own shadows or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave"Plato
The sun rose high above the horizon as Al finally emerged from the house. It was nearly noon and he was late for once in his life. He sighed and pulled out the keys to his jeep, unlocking it and crawling inside. The floor was littered with Styrofoam coffee cups and old take out bags. The vehicle never used to be this messy inside. Al guessed it was all to make up for and take over part of his brother's old habits. Ed had always been the messier brother, though he was a year older.
Al sighed and put the key into the ignition, turning it over and starting to engine. He still couldn't help but think about Ed and how he'd always acted in certain situations. He missed his brother and he'd never forgive himself for what he did. He glanced at the clock in the dashboard and grimaced. He was going to be twenty minutes late. Winry was going to kill him.
Five minutes later he pulled up into the parking garage of the law firm he worked at. He frowned. He really hated his job. Now he was late and he'd have to make up an excuse for being late. All he really did was sit around at a desk scribbling down appointments and alerting the lawyer he worked for of new cases and visitors. Yes, Al was a secretary and he desperately wanted out.
He slipped his ID tag onto his shirt pocket and got out of the jeep, locking it before closing the door. Like anyone would want to steel the faded green jeep. It wasn't really all that great, barely even road worthy, but it got Al where he needed to be so he didn't mind much.
After entering the building he was greeted by fellow workers. He smiled and nodded in greeting, giving the occasional wave to some one or hello. He made his way over to sign in for the day. A blond looked up from her work at a desk and frowned.
"Alphonse Elric! You're late!" She screeched. A metal pen hit him in the head before he could even manage a strangled yelp. Sitting up, he ran a hand through his short sandy brown hair, his honey brown eyes glaring at the woman before him.
"Hello Winry…" He grumbled. Every one in the lobby stared at them for a few seconds before continuing on their ways.
"Al! You've never been late in your life! What's so different this time!?!" Al cut her off.
"My alarm didn't go off, ok!" Winry stopped and took in Al's figure. He looked thinner than he used to. His molten eyes held less fire and more guilt while his hair was short instead of the long ponytail everyone had become so accustomed to. Large circles under his eyes and slightly sunken face gave the impression he slept little and when he did it was haunted by nightmares and past happenings he wished to forget. Her gaze softened and she looked at him sadly. They had once been close. Not nearly as close as he and Ed, mind you, but still close. That had changed since the incident.
"Al…" He'd never snapped at her or anyone like that before. Al was normally level headed. "Are you ok?" She asked, biting her bottom lip in worry. He sighed and nodded. He looked down in silent guilt.
"Sorry about that Win… didn't mean to snap… I just haven't been sleeping is all."
"You eating all right?" He looked up at her and gave her a real smile, however small it was.
"Yes…"
"You sure?"
"I'm sure…"
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
The sparkling "stars" lit the way with their dim glow as two sole figures crawled inches below the crystals. Black fell out below them, hiding the wicked jaws that held sure death if one were to loose his footing. A pair of golden eyes was visible in the small glow cast from the ceiling. They looked around and met briefly with an equally shocking black pair. They nodded and kept moving, slightly slower than the last time. They scurried around the area a rock had begun to loosen up from and the first could feel the rocks grazing feather lightly across his back.
The second, slightly shorter followed his companion. It was deathly silent save for the slow echoing drip of water. Somewhere far below them, the golden eyed one could hear a small pool of water, possibly fresh water. He stopped and touched his hand to the barefooted heel of the black eyed being ahead of him. He got the signal and they began a slow descent down.
They didn't dare risk speaking here. Creatures would hear them. Their voices would scare away whatever creature they could kill for food or alert larger problems, something that would eat them. Living in this beautiful world was peaceful yet deadly. Death could greet you at anytime at anytime.
Their bare feet silently touched the smooth rock below them and they easily slid into a crouch on their knuckles and the balls of their feet. Silently, they slid from their knuckles and spread out their fingers, letting half their weight rest on the palms of their hands. It was easy to stay silent as they made their way over to where the faint sound of lapping came from. Whatever the creature was, it was large enough to feed them for a good week.
They crawled closer to it, both pulling a rough, make shift bone dagger. The white was barely visible in the black but still gave no reason for the creature to move. A rock moved and the two pounced. A squeal and the creature went down. A fire flared up on a branch the one with black eyes had been holding. They both looked down at their kill in the brand new light and found it a young white stage. The red eyes still gazing out a t the world with a glazed look. A cave deer was a high prize for the two hunters. A good source of meat and a good sign. Summer was here.
Golden eyes looked up and over to his companion and blinked. He was still getting used to the creamy pale skin of the people he lived with. The black eyes of the man with him were hidden behind slightly messy black hair. A well-muscled arm reached out and started to shift the stag to prepare it for moving.
Following his gaze, he looked through his own golden blond hair. His skin had once been a beautiful tan, but now it was pale and calloused. Black mud and water streaked his face and arms from climbing over the rocks. He silently sighed and looked around at the sparkling crystals and the pond water as it distorted the figure of the flames as the light danced across to the far end and the rocky shore along it. The other looked over at him.
"Ready?" He asked, his voice sounding suddenly very loud and out of place in the quiet. The blond nodded.
"Yeah…"
"Alright… Here… I'm going to lean down, you roll it onto my shoulder and balance it while it get it onto my back, deal?"
"You got it! Hey Roy…" The raven-haired man looked over at him, a signal for him to continue.
"Yes, Ed?"
"How long now would you say I've been here?" Roy sat back on his heels for a few seconds and screwed up his face slightly as he thought.
"Nearly a year… you've adapted better than most born here. You got guts kid…" Ed blinked and then nodded slightly.
"Thank you…" He said quietly. He hadn't seen Al in a year. He looked down slightly until Roy snapping his fingers brought him out of his daze. He blinked and then looked up mildly startled.
"Huh!? Wha-!?!"
"Sheesh kid… I give you a compliment and you go all hazy eyed on me." Roy said with a teasing smile. He knew what Ed had been thinking about and he tried to lighten the mood slightly. Ed gave him a small smile.
"Sorry… Roy." Roy snorted.
"Just help me with this before we have Crawlers all over us." Ed jumped over and began rolling the stag's body onto Roy's shoulder at the mention of Crawlers. He'd rather fall off the rocks than face one in person. He'd met, well more of found those that had and it turned him off the idea of wandering in unmarked areas.
With a grunt, Roy managed to lift the stag onto his back and stand in a crouch as he had before. He motioned towards a small path hunters used after making a kill and Ed followed him onto it, staying silent. They kept the small makeshift torch burning as they walked on in silence.
Ed kept glancing around nervously, watching the "stars" above him for any signs of creatures moving along the ceiling of this underground world.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Al sat up in his bed; his hair messed up in the back. He growled. He'd woken up again and this time he wasn't going to ignore it. He slid out the warm blankets and off the mattress, his feet hitting the cold wooden flooring before he made his way over to the office.
The room was messy to say the least. He'd tried many times to clean it but couldn't even if he'd wanted to. There was no way to organize the mess so he kept it the way it was and ignored the clutter the best he could. He approached the desk and lifted the cordless black phone from the receiver. He dialed a number on the glowing keypad, the numbers lighting up blue, and waited after setting the phone to his ear. A few rings later some one picked up.
"Hughes…" Came the tired response. A stifled yawn soon followed and Al smiled.
"Hey Maes…"
"Al!?! Do you have any idea what time it is?" He asked, Al guessed, nearly choking.
"Yes actually, it's three AM. I was calling to see if you were willing to go on a little trip with me…"
((The next day at noon))
Maes looked around and finally pulled off the road onto the lesser-used trail. The black Tahoe rolled over the small branches and rocks that made the trail imperfect. By the looks of it and the feel of the road some one had been through this way quite recently. He stopped when he saw the tell tale green jeep and pulled up beside it. There was Al, leaning against the front of the jeep and looking rather bored.
"Still driving that rust bucket?" Maes called from his car as he opened the door to step out. Al looked over at him and beamed. He looked considerably better than the last time that he'd seen him. This made Hughes smiled a little wider.
"Now… I brought my gear… are you seriously thinking of going back in there?" Al nodded.
"Yeah… I need to find him. When I do I'll be able to move on." Maes nodded, understanding exactly what he'd meant.
"Alright… thank you for dragging me along instead of going alone though. Makes me worry less about you." Al just laughed.
"I wouldn't leave you out of this if my life depended on it!"
"Good! Now! Let's go!" Al stopped him.
"Don't bother just yet. We're still waiting on Riza and Winry." Maes nodded. Figures he'd ask them to come along as well.
-0-0-0-0-
The cave mouth was large enough to spot from a short distance away so it hadn't taken them long to get there and in. Once inside the darkness began to creep up and around them as they slowly made their way further in. Their gear was mainly a safety precaution seeing as they could easily walk around.
Taking in the familiar air, Al remembered his visit here with Ed and sighed, a small smile gracing his lips. He'd never been big into caving himself, but his brother lived and breathed caves. His golden haired brother had dragged him along one trip and Al had enjoyed it. He was able to spend time with his brother like they used to as kids, just the two of them. After that they had gone every chance they could get. This had been their most recent trip about a year before hand. He could still remember the day they had entered the cave.
"Hey Al! Come here!" Ed's voice echoed off the rock walls. Light poured in from the opening twenty feet above him as he looked around. Al chuckled and finished lowering himself to the slightly sand covered ground. He unclipped himself and secured the rope to get out when the time came.
"What?" Ed grinned at him and pointed out the formations of Helictites forming on the sidewalls just a few yards in. Al gasped and trotted over to them, careful not to touch them or trip. Ed chuckled to himself. His brother was definitely caving material. He just hoped he'd never have to face the cruelties of the earth.
Al smiled and walked over to the same spot he'd found the formations the year they had gone there. He looked around and noticed the faint sparkling in the openings farther in. He looked over to the other three and grinned.
"This way…" Riza followed first, her blond hair kept in a tight bun and out of her red eyes. She was usually quiet and rarely said much unless it needed saying. She always kept a side arm with her and plenty of ammunition. She always answered it was out of habit if some one asked her about it. She was a well-known and highly respected cop in the town they all lived in.
Winry followed next, her blue eyes gazing past her loosely tied blind hair. It fell slightly out of the ponytail and into her eyes every now and then, making her blow it out of the way when it fell into her view.
Maes with his black hair followed last, bringing up the rear. His yellow green eyes gazed out through a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. There was something about the darkness and the never-ending black that worried him. He shrugged it off as an irrational fear and kept walking close to the group. Safety in numbers right?
A few hours later they were completely enveloped in darkness save for the light of their headlamps. They moved slowly across the uneven rocks and finally came to a stop when Al found where the rockslide had been. He looked it over and sighed.
"This is it… Ed died here…" Riza took a step forward and placed a hand on Al's shoulder.
"You alright?" He looked over at her gratefully.
"Yeah… thank you for coming… all three of you…"
"No pro-" Hughes stopped mid-sentence as a rock moved over towards one of the darkened walls. The group looked over towards it and found a pair of blood red eyes staring back at them. They stopped dead until a scream ripped it's way out of Winry's throat.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Ed's head shot up from the pool of water had been drinking from as he heard what sounded like a scream rip through the cave. It sounded like it was coming from the entrance of the cave. He stopped. This was just his luck. He was the only person he knew of that was close enough to the entrance and the ones under attack were clearly from the world outside. He grabbed his dagger and made his way towards the source.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Al dodged whatever it was that was thrown at him and hit the wall. His shoulder screamed in pain as he glanced around to find his friends scrambling around to get away from the creature as it slipped easily from rock to rock in an attempt to kill one of them. He glanced around at the ground and recognized the object thrown at him as being a large head seized rock. He shuddered as he thought of what would have happened had it hit him.
A hand reached out and pulled him away from another attack. He looked over about to thank either Riza or Hughes but instead came face to face with a pale looking Edward.
Ed didn't even have time to register who he'd saved. He looked around and recognized the creature as a crawler immediately. Jumping out of the shadows, Ed hissed. The Crawler looked over and bared its teeth at him before launching its full weight onto him.
He felt the rock surface below him and struggled to breathe as the wind was knocked out of him. Long, cruel claws ripped through his shoulder and he gasped, taking in air. That was all he needed. Stabbing the beast atop him through the eyes with his thumbs, it screeched and pulled back, one eye bleeding. Standing, Ed side stepped another slash and swung up onto a rock ledge before dropping down onto the Crawler's back and burying his dagger in the back of its neck.
With a beastly, blood curdling scream it collapsed and writhed on the rocky ground. Its eyes flashed around in its head as it looked around desperately trying to live. After a few seconds wait, Ed walked back over to it and snapped the neck when he knew it was weak enough to dare approach. Removing his dagger he turned his hardened glare on the group ahead of him.
"You shouldn't be… here…" He stopped as his eyes found the familiar faces of childhood friends and his brother. He stared in shock. Taking a step back, he shook his head in false disbelief.
"No… you can't… you can't really be here… I'm seeing things… ROY!!!!!" He looked over his shoulder and called out desperately. He needed some one to tell him that he was imagining it like he had the last time. He took another step back and his heel caught on a stone jutting up from the floor. He fell over and winced before trying to scramble back until his back was against the cave walls.
"ROY!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed, terror in every inch of his voice. Seconds later the raven-haired man appeared, jumping down from one of the crawl spaces just feet above Ed's head. He landed in front of him and bared the dagger at the group. They took a step back and Al looked over at his brother, clearly hurt.
"Brother..?" Ed clasped the sides of his head and shook it to rid the images.
"No! I'm not hearing it!" Tears streamed down his face and Al took a step forward, hand out to his brother. Roy slashed at his hand and Riza pulled him back roughly out of the way.
"Brother…" Al whispered in disbelief.
"I'm imagining this… I'm making it up…" Ed continuously whispered, rocking back and forth. Roy looked between the group and Ed. The people here were as clear as anything else was around him. He stood straight and sheathed the dagger once again. He gave one more glance at the group before turning and kneeling beside Ed, placing a hand on his shoulder and shaking him slightly.
"Ed…Ed…ED! They're here! You aren't seeing things! Ed, They're real!" He said, shaking him a little harder. Ed stopped and looked up.
"You mean… you can see them to?" Roy nodded.
"Yes… they're here, Ed… they really are here." Ed finally looked over at Al, confusion and fear still hidden in his honey colored eyes. Roy helped him up and Ed took a tentative step towards Al. Bursting into tears, Al rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Ed. His elder brother tensed for a brief few seconds and then seemed to relax and return the hug as well.
"Who are you?" Winry asked, stepping over to Roy. He gave her a flat look and then let his gaze sweep over the others.
"Roy…" He answered slightly monotone as he topped and tilted his head in slight confusion. Riza looked over at him to find him looking at her questioningly.
"Can I help you?"
"Your eyes… they're natural, yes?" She blinked and then nodded. Everyone had always thought them to be contacts. This surprised her slightly.
"Yes… why do you ask?" she said hesitantly, not sure what to make of this.
"They're the same color as the Crawler's… while here make sure you don't stare anyone in the eye. You could be stoned… or worse… thrown into the canyon." He said, giving her a warning that could possibly save her life, though she looked slightly offended.
Al finally released Ed and they took a step back to look around them. Ed smiled as he once again noticed his childhood friends. He looked over to Roy and beckoned the man over. He blinked but obeyed.
"Roy… this is my brother Alphonse. And these three are Winry, Maes, and Riza. Guys… this Roy." Ed said, making the introductions. They all waved or gave a nod or smile in greeting.
A screech sounded from somewhere close by and Roy frowned, as did Ed.
"We need to go in deeper. Crawlers enjoy hunting near the entrances and it's nearly dark. Tie a rope around your waists and I'll lead you guys through. Lights won't be a smart move around here. Roy, you lead?" Ed stated and then asked, turning to look at the taller man. He nodded.
"Yeah… stick close, stay quiet, and move fast and low."