Chapter 3: A Unforgivable Sin

I saw I was in a room with the boy at the gate.

He was screaming out, "It's gone! Oh God! What have I done!"

He looked toward the center of the circle and said, "M-mom please h-help me!"

He eyes widen when he saw the same black creature that I created take one breath and die in the same moment.

He looked beside him to see a empty set of clothes.

His eyes widen with horror and he yelled, "Alphonse, no!"

He began to crawl across the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Somehow he manages to tip over a suit of armor and knocked its head off.

He dips his hand in his blood and begins to draw...

A blood seal...

He's trying to bond someone's soul to armor...

He yelled out with tears streaming down his face, " No, dammit."

"You won't take him too. Give him back! He's my brother!"

H-his brother...

My god, he lost his brother...

"Take my leg. Take my arm! Take my heart, ANYTHING, YOU CAN HAVE IT!"

He cried out with pain and anger all at once, "Just give him back! He's my little brother, he's all I have left!"

He claps his hands and begins binding a the soul to the armor.

The armor sat up moments later, and boy was now missing his arm.

The armor wrapped the boy in a white blanket which immediately began to turn blood red.

The boy whispered out while tears rolled down his face, "I'm sorry Al...I'm sorry."

I woke up in a hospital bed, with my Mom and Vicky sitting at the edges.

It was a dream...

No it was too real...

The blonde boy...

Ed, is real, I just know it...

I looked up at my Mother.

Mom's arm was in a cast and she had a bunch of scrapes all over her.

She looked at me and said, "Timmy! Thank god your alright!"

I went to reach out to her, but then realized...

my arm...

it was gone...

I whispered, "It's gone..."

"It's really gone..."

Mom's eyes filled with tears as said shakily, "I'm so sorry sweetie... you lost your leg and arm... when that car hit you..."

She cried out, "I'm just glad your alive..."

"I couldn't stand to lose you and your father..."

I looked down and said, "Dad..."

Mom sighed and said, "He told me, to tell you..."

Her eyes filled with tears as she said, "How-w...much he love us..."

She whimpered with tears that seeped into the cuts on her face.

I said, "Don't cry Mom..."

"He wouldn't want to see us like this..."

Mom looked up and said, "Just the thought of him not being here makes me hurt..."

I nodded and said, "He loved us, but right now he's in a better place..."

Mom stared at me and said, "Timmy..."

I looked at Vicky who's green shirt was covered in blood and her head hanging low.

I said, "Thank you for saving me..."

She looked up and said with tears brimming her eyes, "But I-I couldn't-t save-e your..."

I put my hand up and said, "I'm just glad to be alive...And I wouldn't if it weren't for you..."

A doctor walked in and said, "Well young man, your very lucky. You'll be able to go home in a few hours, but you will need aid for the rest of your life..."

I sighed and said, "I saw that coming..."

The doctor looked at me and said, "But, I do have an alterative..."

"In about a year, we'll be trying out a new prosthetic which will physically attach to the nerve, and allows you to move it like it was real. Only catch it completely made of steel and requires yearly maintenance..."

I looked up and said, "I'll do it...I want to try it out..."

He nodded and said, "Good, Now Mrs. Turner and Ms. Vicky, I would like to speak to you in hall."

They stood up, walked into the hall, and closed the door. My fairies 'poofed' into the room.

Wanda looked at me with a sad and said, "Timmy..."

I looked up at her and said, "I am an idiot..."

Cosmo said, "No that's me..."

I replied, "I did something without thinking it through, and because of that..."

I held my hand on to what remained of my shoulder blade and said, "I paying for it..."

"This is price of my sin. This is what happened to those who break the taboo..."

Cosmo and Wanda hugged on me.

I looked up and said, "You know, I saw a boy while I was in there."

"He did it too, he tried to bring back his mother, he lost his arm and leg too..."

"His brother lost his entire body..."

I looked up and said, "I guess that what we get for trying to play God..."

The door began to open and Cosmo and Wanda disappeared.

Mom, Vicky, and a nurse walked back in with a wheelchair.

Mom said, "Let's go home, son."

I nodded and said, "Yeah, home sounds nice."

The nurse picked me up and set me in the wheelchair.

We went down the hallway of the hospital.

I looked up at Mom and asked, "What day is it Mom?"

She looked down and said, "It's Saturday evening sweetie."

I looked at her and asked, "Will I be able to go to school on Monday?"

She looked at me and said, "If you want..."

I nodded and said, "I do. I need to do something..."

"Thanks for pushing me around Wanda."

Wanda smiled in her human disguise and said, "Well, you need some one to help you., someone who understands what you did..."

I wheeled into the halls of my elementary school.

They all stared as I rode in with one of my t-shirt sleeves flat as well as a pant leg.

Aj and Chester walked up to me and Aj said, "Timmy..."

I nodded and said, "Hey guys..."

Chester looked at me and asked, "What happened?"

I said, "To put it simply, my family got in a bad car accident. I lost my limbs, Mom broke her arm and Dad..."

I paused and looked down as I said, "Died..."

The looked in complete shock and I said, "We need to get to class..."

Wanda began walking me down the hallway, once again.

We now stood at the threshold of Mr. Crocker's room.

Wanda looked at me and asked, "Are you ready for this?"

I nodded and said, "Yeah, let's go."

Wanda opened the door to see Mr. Crocker sat his desk grading papers.

I said, "Good morning, Mr. Crocker."

Crocker laughed and said without looking up, "Trying to get on my good side Turner? It won't work, your still giving the report."

I nodded and said, "Alright, Mr. Crocker, but if you don't mind, I like to introduce you to Mrs. Wanda Cigam, my personal aid."

He turned his head and asked, "Why do you need an aid Tu..."

He looked dead on at me as I said, "She helps me get around, and is teaching me to write with my right hand while I adjust to this..."

He looked at me in horror and said, "My god...what happened..."

I replied, "I lost my limbs and my father in one day..."

He stare at me and said, "You don't have to..."

I looked up and said, "I will do it. I had to do something while I was in the hospital, so I got it done..."

The classroom soon filled up with my classmates, who all seem to be talking about me.

Wanda rolled me to the front and said, "I was told on Friday to give a report on alchemy, so here it is."

I took a deep breath and said from memory, "Alchemy is the science of understanding, deconstructing and reconstructing matter."

"However, it is not an all powerful art. It is impossible to create something out of nothing."

"If one wishes to obtain something, something of equal value must be given."

"This is the law of equivalent exchange. The basis of all alchemy."

"In accordance with this law, there is a taboo among alchemists. Human transmutation is strictly forbidden, for that steps in to God's domain."

"Playing with life and death is the realm of the taboo. For what could equal the value of a human soul?"

I had Wanda pull out a the transmutation circle I drew and I said, "This is a basic matrix of a transmutation circle, and by putting my energy into it..."

She sat the circle down and placed a piece of paper on it.

I pressed my good arm on it and said, "I can transmute..."

The circle lit up and the paper folded itself into a little paper crane.

The stared in awe as the transmutation completed itself.

I gasped for air as I sat back and said, "It's easier to use when you have two arms..."

"But that the basis of the science. Any questions?"

A bunch of hands went up.

I then said, "That aren't about my missing arm and leg..."

Half the hands went down.

I pointed to Aj and he asked, "Can anyone use alchemy?"

I nodded and said, "Yes, but you need to know what exactly your material is made up of, down to the microgram or risk it backfiring on you, in what's called a rebound."

"Rebounds can be very dangerous, especially when dealing with unknown substances..."

I pointed toward Chad and he asked, "Why is Human Transmutation forbidden?"

I said quietly, "It's extremely unethical. Trying to bring back the dead is impossible anyway..."

The sat quite for a moment and I said, "Next question."

Veronica was next and she asked, "What's equivalent exchange?"

I replied, "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange."

"You give something up to gain something."

Then finally there was Trixie who asked, "Do you intend to still use alchemy?"

I nodded and said, "Yes, I do, but it will get a lot easier when I get my prosthesis in a year."

She looked up and said, "I have one more question for you."

She paused and asked, "Can you show us how to do that one circle?"

I smiled and said, "I would be glad to, but I think I may be cutting into class time."

Mr. Crocker shook his head and said, "No, I would like to see this as well."

I smiled and said, "Well let's start with what paper is made of..."