Chapter eight: Auschwitz (Alphonse POV)

I wanted to stay with brother no matter what. The whole idea of being at the concentration camps scared me. Officer Hughes had always told us stories about them and how the Nazis were taking the Jews to them. Where they were beaten and used like animals to work for them until death.

I would always have nightmares of them. Large metal buildings with people stacked up, blood everywhere, mothers and children crying. Officer Hughes had only been to a camp once, but he said he would never forget the horrors.

Now, here we are.

Trapped and left to die.

The train left after they made sure everyone was unloaded. They put us into different groups and separated us, male and female. I saw Tucker talking to the officers about Nina, but never heard what happened. Brother and I were placed somewhere else.

A few men looked us over, asking us questions before we got to this spot. They asked us our ages and then sent us off. It was really weird. Why does our age matter?

"Name?" One officer said as he approached our group. Brother was first and answered quite proudly. Then age. Then health. Last it was occupation. He said he was a local scientist, though he wasn't very well known. They bought it then moved onto me.

"Name?"

"Alphonse Elric, sir."

"Are you a relative to that one?" He pointed to my brother.

"Yes sir, we're brothers."

The man seemed to smile then move on, "are you in good health?"

"Yes sir," I answered in a nice loud voice.

"What is your age?"

"I'm twenty sir," it was mostly true. I had to lie a little or else, things could get messy.

"What was your occupation?"

Oh no. I hadn't though about that. I had no idea what to say. "I um...well, you see..." I had nothing.

"He's my lab partner during my experiences. A scientist in training," brother spoke up.

The man looked over at Edward with a glare then turned back to me, "that true?"

"Yes sir," I nodded.

That seemed to be enough for him as he moved onto the next person. I let out a sigh of relief and mentally thanked Ed. If he hadn't said anything I could have been in big trouble.

It was a little while later. We were all just standing there, not moving, watching other groups pass us. It was getting hotter out and there was no clouds in the sky. None I could see anyway. Then, another man stepped up and went in front of us.

"Anyone sick or crippled needs to move this way," he said motioning to his left. I glanced over at brother a moment to see if he would move. He was considered a 'cripple' by this world's standards; though he never acted like it. He stiffened a little from what I could see, but didn't move. One or two men in our group shifted and went to that side, leaving me and my brother alone.

"Everyone else, this way!" They shouted and pointed off to the right. We nodded in unison then walked towards the right. I felt much better after we were moving again, but it was only the beginning.

I felt a gasp escape my lips as I looked on ahead. Far off in the distance I could see it. Where we were wasn't Auschwitz, just a sub-camp or something. That was Auschwitz in the distance; past the barbed wire.

There was a huge sign above it on an arch: Arbeit Macht Frei. It was German so I couldn't read it very well. I understood the word 'free' in there. Something, something, free. I wanted to turn back and ask my brother, but there would have been no point.

Both of us were speechless.

The place we entered through those gates was Hell, so I could only imagine the place we were going. I got nosey, so I began to look around. I saw soldiers of all types wandering around, shouting orders and striking others that had just gotten off the train.

The camp was muddy all around the bottom, so I was thankful to have shoes. There were house looking building here and there; though a house wasn't exactly what they were. More like big warehouses and barracks. As we continued to move, I finally could see where that awful burning flesh smell was coming from.

There was a huge pit off to the side. Our left actually. I looked over at it, my eyes growing wide and my body began shaking. I felt sick to my stomach, angry, I felt sorrow; all at once. Brother looked over and had, not the same expression, but a cold one. More rage and hate than I had.

The pit was a crematory. That was the only real way to describe it. The flames were high and in all colors. Not just red and orange tint, but blue and green in places also. Brother once told me that a flame will change colors depending on what chemicals are in it. I could only imagine what they fed the fire with, then I saw it.

A huge truck was there and many men were unloading it, and throwing the contents into the fire. I felt the tears fall now as my breath stopped. They were throwing children! Little babies and children! I could hear their screams from here. Brother made a fist, but didn't move as he looked away.

I couldn't stop from staring until I felt my whole body shaking. I felt as though I was going to break down right there and start screaming out in both fear and rage.

I didn't as a pair of strong arms grabbed me and forced me to look away. I looked at the owner and realized it was brother. He had his eyes closed as if to hold tears and anger back. I just stared at him as I tried to retrieve my breath again. "Br..." I tried to choke out. I couldn't manage. It was one of those times I just wanted to hold onto him and cry, but I didn't get a chance as a SS man came over and pushed us.

"Move!" He shouted and we began to move again. They were moving us towards one barrack. Our new home I assumed. It didn't matter, I was too busy trying to get the picture out of my mind. Babies, no older than a year even, were being fed into that fire. Then there were children that couldn't have been older than six. Pushed and forced into the flames.

I had never felt true hate before. Sure, there were times I was mad; like when Tucker had changed Nina. Like when brother was fighting mom. Like when that homunculus, Envy, killed my brother. That hate was nowhere near the pain I felt now. The hate was so great...

I knew brother had to have been feeling the same hate if not greater, but he didn't speak nor did he budge.

It was early in the day still, so instead of taking us to a barrack to sleep, they took us to a warehouse looking building. Pushing and loading us in, they left us there. We just stood there for a long time, a whole lot of us were there. Some were talking amongst themselves and others, like brother and myself, were silent but stayed close. I was watching the ground, wondering if I could sit; but some people were yelling at the boys that did sit down, so I stayed standing.

"Brother are we-?" I started to say but a SS officer came in a while later, whip at hand. I went silent like the rest and straightened up. He just eyed us for a long time and I felt like some kind of animal. Maybe this was what a chimera breed felt like.

"Everyone! Strip down!" He shouted suddenly, cracking the whip on a person in the front. For no reason either; I was thankful for being in the back with my brother. "Hold onto belts and shoes!" He shouted again.

The people all began to shuffle around. I watched them for a while then looked at brother who seemed hesitant. "Brother, what are they doing?" I whispered so quietly, even I could hardly hear it.

"Checking us...looking to see how physically strong we are." He replied as he began unbuttoning his shirt. I felt the breath leave me again. I knew I was fine, but brother... He hadn't moved to the left with the other cripples. What if they took him away from me? He couldn't hide his automail without clothes on.

I started to cry as I began to strip down also. First my coat. Then my shirt until I was topless. I moved onto my pants, but was slow. I was never one to change in front of people. Even brother. No one was watching me, but I still felt strange. I turned back to brother to see how he was doing. He had gotten his coat off and you could see some automail. Like I said before though, no one was watching.

The SS man started moving in to check us and I quickly stripped down. I was just worried about brother. They were going to take him away from me!

Suddenly, another man came running into the room. He started shouting things to the SS man, who turned and nodded. When the other man left, he turned back to us, "strip down and put on these clothes!" He said as he pointed to a corner. A pile of clothes was there; why no one saw them before I will never know.

Then the man left us.

I started crying again. Hiccuping softly as I rubbed my eyes. It had to have been a miracle, and brother knew it. He let out a long sigh, as though he had been holding his breath the whole time. We kept our clothes one, leaving our coats behind us as he grabbed some of our new clothes. Stripes. That was all they were.

Some were bigger than others, but we didn't care. We just grabbed some. I slipped off my pants and slipped the new ones on, then the shirt. The pants were fine, but the shirt was a little snug. I didn't complain though. Brother was quick to slip his clothes off then back on. His seemed to fit just fine and I was glad the sleeves were long. You couldn't see his automail.

Even his hand that stuck out was covered with his thin white colored gloves. The ones that made the automail look somewhat like skin. Hopefully they would never find out.

Then we were standing again. No one moved, no one spoke. No one said anything. I looked at the crowd that was gathered and realized that we were nothing but a big mass of stripes. Maybe that was what they wanted.

Next, we were suppose to go the barber. A new SS man came and got us and took us to the building. They shaved us and no one was to protest. It made me sad to watch them cut brother's hair off. Even the days brother complained about having so much, he really did like having it. Now the both of us were shaved like everyone else.

Stripes and no hair. That was the mass we were now. I could hardly even recognize my brother from the rest of them. He stayed close though no matter what, and once in a while he would grab my hand to guide me. I didn't object.

Then, they ordered us to run. Run? Run where? I didn't ask aloud though as we did as we were told. I kept unbuttoning my shirt at the bottom just enough so I could breath regularly. It was hard, I should have gotten a different shirt. I didn't speak though as we ran. If we fell behind, they would beat us. If we fell to the ground, they would shoot us. We had to keep going.

So we did.

Thankfully, brother and I were in good enough shape to keep going. Even when we got tired we kept pushing ourselves. When one of us started falling behind, the other would push the other harder. It was mostly me tagging behind, but brother would fall back a little so we would be even again. I was lucky to have him.

After running for what seemed like hours, the men stopped us and lead us to a barrack. It was muddy and almost nothing but four walls and a roof. A roof that was cracked in the corners so the sun could come in to bake the mud ground. It wasn't the best place.

We just stood there again, and when an SS man came by and told you to do something you did. He walked over to brother after a while as glared at him, pointing to his feet. "Shoes!" He shouted. Brother didn't say anything again as he got down and took off his muddy shoes, handing them to the man. The man took them then kept going. He walked by me, and I shuffled to take my shoes off, but he ignored me.

When he passed I opened my mouth to tell him about them, but brother grabbed my hand and shook his head. "Keep them," he whispered. I didn't say anything but nodded and went back to standing straight once more.

Standing. Running. Listening to orders. That was our day. We did nothing else but go from barrack to barrack. Listening to the men or we would have been beaten. Finally, they took us to another barrack and told us to rest up for tomorrow.

I was so happy I wanted to cry, but I had already used up my tears. I sat down against the wall with my brother and together we leaned against each other. Brother closed his eyes and took in a deep and calming breath as he reached out and took my hand. I didn't even feel it. I was too numb from the running and standing.

Instead, I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

This was Hell. I knew we had to get out. I just didn't know how.

So there we go. Chapters seven and eight. Fun. So, like I told Mustard Gal, I just bought and read the book Night by Elie Wiesel. I kind of felt it as necessary for the story. Unfortunately, some thing, especially this chapter, are going to sound like of like that. I promise you though! I won't make it the same. In fact, it'll be very different later on. I get into some more detail than him anyway right? Oh who knows...
Anyway! I just have to say this out loud: I FEEL TERRIBLE FOR CUTTING THEIR PRETTY HAIR! I am such a fangirl, and I wanted to avoid it, but...I had to shave the brothers. ;-; It was the hardest thing ever to type. How can someone just cut their hair?! Maybe I'm just a freak...
Another thing: Remember, this is not an elricest story! I do have fluff stuff here and there, but I promise, no elricest. If you want elricest, go somewhere else.
Also, I know they probably wouldn't just leave them in the barrack while they were changing, but come on! I had to do something so Ed wouldn't get caught! I explain it all later on so if your like...dying in a corner of a heart attack because I did that; please don't. It all has a purpose. There's a reason they left. There's a reason I didn't let Ed get caught. There's a reason for Al's shirt. THERE IS A REASON! Just be patient, okay?

RxR

- Kori