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.S c o t o p h o b i a.

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The irrational fear of the dark.

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Alphonse Elric shivered under his covers. It was raining hard outside, the tiny droplets of water making soft, pitter-patter sounds against the windowsills and harsh winds sending tree branches to hit against the panes. He huddled his blanket closer to himself, trying to reserve as much body heat as he could.

A large thunder hit the sky outside, and Alphonse jumped with it, causing his blanket to tangle with his legs and his arms bare to the cold wind. He sat up, and rubbed his eyes, looking over to his older brother -

When he found that he couldn't see his older brother.

In fact, he couldn't see anything.

Looking around, everything was pitch black. It engulfed him, swarmed him, and he felt oddly cold. Like, cold as in someone pushed him into the river down the hill during winter and left him there in the middle of the night, a chill that seeped past his skin and touched his bones.

He did the only logical thing his mind would tell him; he ran.

He ran. And he kept running. And running. He run so much he could feel his lungs bleeding, his legs aching and begging him to stop. His body wanted to defy him; it wanted him to stay and rest, to lie down and never get up again with each shallow breath he took in.

He almost complied.

But Alphonse felt something take him over, something stop him. It made him feel like a block of ice, seeing as how cold he already was. He couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't do anything but watch.

And he kept thinking, what's happening to me? Am I going insane?

Because it was scaring him, so much. The place with no walls, no ceilings, no doors, no beginnings, no endings, and most importantly, no way out.

And so, he did the first thing he thought of, purely on instinct.

"Big brother!"

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Even when our eyes are closed, there's a whole world out there that lives outside ourselves and our dreams.

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Edward stared at his younger brother in surprise. He woke up immediately after hearing a bloodcurdling scream in the form of his name; to find his younger brother Alphonse latching on to him with such vigor it knocked him back on the bed.

"Ow, Al..." he whined childishly. But he stopped short after seeing that Alphonse was visibly shaking, trembling as if he was outside in the rain and not inside with Ed and their silent house. Then, after a moment, he heard the soft sobs, and a wetness on his chest.

"Al..." he started off hesitantly. Alphonse never got nightmares, and when he did, it was never this severe. Whatever he saw must have killed him in there. Edward sighed and sat up, wincing when Alphonse's grip became tighter on his shirt. He succeeded in sitting up, then awkwardly hugged his little brother like he'd seen his mom do before she died.

He didn't know what to say, because really, Al had never depended on him like this. It made him scared, scared to think of what could shake his little brother so badly.

He placed a hesitant hand on Alphonse's head, stroking it slightly and remembering what his mother did to him for nightmares.

"It was everywhere!" he heard Alphonse cry. It was so loud, and he jumped slightly as his wails became louder. "Brother, it was all so dark! I couldn't see anything! It was so cold..." He felt Alphonse shiver, and Edward felt at a loss for a moment before brightening up with an idea.

Edward pried his little brother off his shirt, to face with watery green eyes. He smiled kindly, "How 'bout you sleep with me tonight, Al?"

Alphonse's eyes widened, "Really?" He wasn't able to sleep with Edward since their smaller, childhood days, due to being 'big boys' now, even though he missed it. Edward nodded, and Al looked down, with a soft 'okay'.

In the morning, Alphonse Elric didn't let go of Edward Elric's hand for a whole week.

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