It was the dead of night, and only the cool moonlight allowed us to see one another. Myself, Sheryl, Toriado, Wisely, and Adam where the only ones here.
"So what should we do about what happened to Wisely?" Sheryl complained, gesturing to the burn marks and broken bones of the youngest of our group. "They could have killed him!"
Wisely shrank back nervously behind Toraido, unsure what his role was here after the brutal beating he had just endured not 2 days ago.
Adam looked away, as if the moon would give him answers. "I don't know, ok? I know we can't let this keep happening but it's not that simple." He was tense. He might have been the oldest, but not by much. We were just a group of guys in their late teens, dealing with the recent loss of both our parents.
"Well, maybe we should strike back!" Sheryl said "We need to show them we can't be pushed around! My Road could be next if they'd go after wisely."
Wisely shook his head furiously "That will just make them more afraid of us for not being human, they'll kill us in our sleep…." He whined. "We need to show them we're just like them."
Adam looked at Wisely calmly "You're good at heart Wisely, but we've all been trying to do that since the day you were born. They won't accept us no matter what. I'm afraid Sheryl is right, though we're not strong enough, and he put it in a rather hasty and barbaric way…."
Toriado spoke up, which he rarely did, keeping his eyes to the ground. "I wish dad where here…."
"But he's not…." Sheryl said. "We have to take action."
I looked over at Sheryl. "But what you plan will get us all killed. It's not going to make our lives any easier. I hate to say it but unless someone's got an ace up their sleeves we have to go….we can't stay here."
Everyone looked down solemnly, unsure what to do. We were afraid.
"But if we leave, more will come." Toriado said emotionlessly.
Silence again.
"but…." Sheryl raised his head. "What if we….could talk to dad?"
Wisely glared "Talk to dad that's crazy! He's dead….there's nothing we can do about what happened. Joido's right lets go."
"But you forget." Sheryl replies "we have an alchemist among us, one that has done such things before."
Everyone's eyes went to Adam, and he looked back stubbornly. "Is that really what you want from me? Bringing back moms soul on rare occasions is one thing, and it still drains my life by months at a time just for an hour, but bringing back a damned man for power, are you sure?"
"What other choice do we have?" Sheryl questions. "They said they would come for us in 3 days." He got close to my brother "Besides you have a talent for it! Most people die on the slightest attempt at human sorcery, it's a sign. This is meant to happen." He grinned.
Adam glared "I know very well what powers the dead can bring, but there is ALWAYS a price. We can't just ask for advice from him for such a high tole."
"I doubt dad will hurt us with a curse, why would he?" Sheryl asked.
"It's not about cursing, it's about equivalence. Here the weight in my words. This is a bad idea."Adam replied.
Toraido piped in "If we did, who would get this power anyway?"
Sheryl boasted "Me of course, it was my plan."
I glared "like hell you will Sheryl. Dad would rather pick me." Despite my nervousness I wanted to get back at the humans just as much. Having some awesome unthinkable power would be nice, despite the risk.
"I think I'm the least likely to abuse it…." Toraido stated.
We all argued until Adam stepped in.
"SILENCE!" he yelled teeth bared. "I am the oldest, I have my alchemy, I'll talk to Noah."
"But we-" Sheryl was cut off.
"You don't know what you're doing, what you're messing with. If he requests you I'll let you know." Adam said.
"….but you already have alchemy." Wisely chimed.
"Which is exactly why this is MY responsibility. I've already had power over normal humans. I know how to control myself." He explained.
I looked at him skeptically "But your depressed, obsessive about appearance, completely mad and most importantly you can't even keep food down."
Adam glared and grabbed my collar "You shut up about my Bulimia you asshole! More importantly I'm more suited than a gutter tramp nobody that ran away for a few years cause he couldn't take "the pressure" of living at home. I've raised every damn member of our family cause dad was never here and mom was sick all the time! Even though I'm your fucking brother I never had the TIME to be as immature as all of you!"
Everyone was shocked. He never yelled at us like that, and now that I thought about it, he was right. Come to think of it, I couldn't even remember what my father looked like. Suddenly he collapsed to his knees and I rushed over, followed by Sheryl. His eyes where flowing over with tears.
"….just get off me…." He gritted his teeth.
We backed off. Sheryl was the first to speak.
"….your right. We'll back off." He looked down defeated. "When should we prepare for summoning?"
"You won't be." He replied. "I'm going tonight, alone. I'll meet you in the morning with the outcome; we have no time to lose."
Sheryl nodded and turned away to leave, along with Wisely and Toriado. I hung back as they left into the dark.
"I sorry." I said looking away.
"I'm sorry." Adam smiled sadly. "I know that's not the reason you left."
"But it is what you told everyone, isn't it?" I looked back at him nervously.
"Yeah." He wiped the tears stains from his face with his sleeve. "I figured, since it was a mistake after all."
"but it wasn't." I thought. That's why I ran.
He reached over to me and wiped away some of my own tears. "Your still a little kid you know that, crying over misjudgments." He smiled. "It's not like it matters, a mistake like that, right? That is what we said when you came back."
"yeah I know…." I hugged my brother briefly, burring my head in his chest and taking in his scent. "just don't get killed or something stupid like that."
He laughed a bit "I'll be fine." His green eyes flickered under his blond bangs and he hugged me back. "Don't worry I'll be home in the morning."
"I know, you don't have to say it again." I turned and walked away back to the house. Little did I realize that would be the last time I would see him human for years to come.
I woke up feeling a twinge of guilt in my stomach. I opened my eyes tiredly and buried myself deeper under the blankets.
"It's really cold." I thought. I didn't want to get up until I remembered whose room I was in.
"Holy shit-" I said falling out of the bed, covering my lower parts with the blanket, desperately looking for my pants and underwear. I see a shadow at the door.
"Looking for something?" Road twirled my underwear around her finger, smiling cruelly.
"This is not what it looks like…." Outside I kept calm but inside I was panicked.
"She can't find out about last night she can't!" I thought.
I quickly ran over to road, keeping the blanket over my junk. "Give it back." I grabbed for the underwear, but she put it beyond my reach.
"Ah-ah-ah." She taunted. "First the story, then you get your underwear."
"Why are you even here road?! This isn't even your house!" I exclaimed.
"I come here all the time, lessons and all. I get bored in the house with Sheryl all day can you blame me?"
I looked away a bit pissed. "You SHOULD be at school." I thought bitterly.
"Well he is terrible…." I admitted "anyway there's no story to tell, nothing happened." I said keeping my eyes steady.
"oh? Then explain away tyki-chan~" she grinned "I'd love to see you get out of this one."
I smacked myself in the face mentally. "what do I tell her?" I thought up an excuse quickly.
"my rooms under construction." I said nonchalantly "it's been messed up ever since the ark was re-created and I got sick of sleeping on the couch so I came in here. Is that strange to you?"
"That you'd risk coming in HIS room, yes. You know how he is if you wake him up." She went back to looking evil "That still doesn't explain your underwear."
I looked away for a moment panicked. "i- um….was hot. I just took them off so I could cool down is all."
"and your shirt?" she pointed.
"so I wanted to keep my shirt on what's the problem with that?" I asked emotionlessly.
"It's a bit strange to go pants before shirt unless you're fooling around…." She purred.
"That's NOT it! It's just…." I looked down, seeing the brim of one of the many scars Allen had given me. "….my scars where….bothering me…."
Roads eyes suddenly turned sympathetic. "You're not having trouble with your Noah-hood are you?" she asked.
"No….but I've been having strange dreams ever since that I can never remember." I replied, giving her pieces of the truth to get her off my trail.
"Dreams?" she said curiously "they could be memories, I can help!" she smiled ecstatically, tackling me even though I still didn't have pants. I struggled to keep the blanket between her and I.
"That's not necessary, I don't need your help." I pushed her off. "Now give me back my pants."
"But tyykkkiiii~" she complained. "I just wanna help for once."
"and let you wander about my brain unguarded? I think not." I glared, grabbing my clothing from her hand.
"You're no fun tyki!" she stuck her tongue out at me then ran out the room.