Okay, this is very, very incesty. I mean, all first-anime EdxEnvy is, but this hints at Elricest as well. If you don't like that, I suggest skipping this one :P Or at least don't say I didn't warn you.
Also, it got really, really geeky. Sorry. XD If you don't get the hydrogen thing, look it up.
TheAUWalker: Glad to hear it! I really enjoyed writing it, so it's awesome that somebody has it as a favourite. Thanks for reviewing :) (Also, I'll assume by your username that you like AUs - I've got a community dedicated to 'em. The AU Club - you should go take a look.)
what-is-the-color-of-love: Glad you liked the chap :) And they're all good songs, you should look them up - especially if you're a fan of Linkin Park. Thanks for reviewing :)
Fairyboydammit: Ed as a masochist is part of my headcanon :3 And thanks, it's good that I can write the power exchange well since that's the whole reason I love Edvy. Taking control from the bottom is the best, I almost always write Ed like that. What a lot of fanfiction writers misinterpret about BDSM is that it's all about sexual gratification, while the control parts of it especially are more about the emotional release that goes with it. It's possible to have a BDSM scenario without any 'typical' sex, for example. The sexual charge itself comes from the innate trust that comes from putting your well-being - in some cases your life - into somebody else's hands. Stripping away all the usual pretenses. I'm glad I was able to write a convincing scenario, I've seen some pretty bad ones on here. Thank you for reviewing as always! (And do I need to up the rating? 'Secrets' was pushing it already for a T rating.)
71. Blood
If I had lived a human life, Edward might have been my great-grandchild instead of my brother. Actually, he would have been something like my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchild. Thirteen generations.
I told him that, and I couldn't help but feel proud that I'd worked it out all on my own. He laughed. He thought it was cute. But he quickly changed the subject, because he didn't like remembering who I was.
I'm Envy to him. Instead of William Elric...and I should be okay with that. I'm Envy. William is nothing but a long-forgotten memory, resuscitated in a second-rate fashion in me.
But I can't help but wonder.
Blood calls to blood.
I know why he fears admitting it. That I am, in the end, part of his family. The family that has until now been just him and his brother - a tiny, spinning hydrogen atom, one electron and one proton, spinning wildly in the winds of fate. Add me in - the neutron, the outsider - and suddenly it becomes too heavy and the center cannot hold.
(It's funny, the things I remember being taught. Four hundred years can't erase the bastard's words as he told me these things.)
Blood calls to blood.
And he doesn't want me in his circle. He doesn't want my love (if I had any to spare), or my protection (if I was offering it), or to give any of his in return. All he wants is my skin, my fingers, my lips and all the parts of this body that was crafted to fit this mind that doesn't belong.
He has nothing to spare, after all, when it comes to emotions. Everything comes to Alphonse, and even if I sometimes want to cry out, "But I'm your brother too!" I don't.
Because I'm not.
This blood that flows in me still sparks with the transmutation that birthed me.
It isn't the same blood that flows in his veins, after all.
So he and Al will keep on spinning, keep on holding, and I'll be the shadow they cast upon the ground. He will hold me and pretend that I'm Al in flesh and blood - and sometimes I'll even play along with the charade.
But still, I wonder.
Blood calls to blood.