Chapter 3

"Stop!" yelled Al, "Brother stop! Come back!"

"Al?"

I looked around and all I could see was darkness. The rocks at my feet started slipping and falling as my body moved me closer and closer to the edge of the cliff. I couldn't stop moving and my body felt like it didn't belong to me anymore. I was confused. I shouldn't be here.

But despite his panic, I was glad to see he was Ok. The hands he reached toward me were no longer metal, his grey eyes were gleaming with tears. He was human again.

I looked behind me and saw something that seemed to put my mind at ease. If this was the force that was gonna take me, at least I knew Al was going to be Ok.

"Brother… please stop. You'll fall," pleaded Al.

"I can't. I can't stop it. I'm sorry," I answered.

It was then that a blonde woman with malicious purple eyes appeared behind Al and grabbed his shoulder. The fabric pulled enough to see his blood seal on his throat, and with one fluid motion, she brushed the red mark and Al collapsed.

"NO!! ALPHONSE!"

The Gate gave me one last tug and pulled me over the edge.

"ALPHONSE!!"

I screamed and flew up in the bed. My heart was beating in my skull and my breath wouldn't catch. Sitting there in the dark just made things worse. I couldn't bear the thought of losing Al and being alone. I couldn't handle it. It was just too much.

I brought my legs up to my chest and closed my eyes. I sighed and brushed tears and sweat off of my face. It was unbearable.

"Edward?" said a quiet voice from the corner of the room. Right after that, the room filled with light.

"What?" I said with my face turned to the wall. I brushed more tears out of my eyes and turned to the girl who turned on the light.

She looked every bit as scared as she should be. My guess was that she had been close when I woke up. Her big brown eyes were big and scared and her short brown hair was messy. She was wearing a pair of oversized boxers and a green tank top. She was hugging her arms and herself and was trying not to shake.

"What's going on Ed. Very weird things are happening," she said in a shaky voice.

"The nightmare? I'm sorry. It was just a bad dream," I said, trying to calm her down. I wish she didn't have to see that.

"No. Look," she said, her voice catching on the words. "There were blue sparks, and.. . and then that."

I looked at my right arm and wondered why I didn't notice sooner.

Where the mechanical arm used to be, there was skin. It was skin over muscle, and muscle over bone.

"No. No no no no no. This isn't right," I said as I rubbed my hand over my arm. It was real all right.

I pulled the blankets aside and looked at my leg. Where my arm was real, my leg was still the same as I remember it. It was the same cold metal that I'd grown to know. I didn't realize it until she came and held me close that I was hyperventilating. My breaths were making wheezing noises. Not long after that I blacked out, and the mystery girl was still holding me close.

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