Edward Elric mourned.

Mourned for his past, and his future.

Then the anger roared to life from nowhere.

Hughes, he growled, eyes burning with hatred. This...he should have known.

The man always steered clear of alchemy...why would he, Edward Elric, a chimera made from the very thing, be any different? Exactly, he wouldn't. He wasn't.

Some small part of him knew it was his own fault, that everything was his fault, but the rest? The rest wanted to push every little thing on Hughes.

And that side was winning. It was doing it so easily, taking his anger and grief and all in between, using it as energy to fuel this single idea. Hughes must die.

His family too, right in front of him preferably. That, he thought, would reduce the man to a sobbing mess. A dangerous one, at that, for Ed had no doubt that he would full on try to kill him.

Maybe they would kill each other...yes, that would be the best thing. With the Hughes family eliminated, and his own, disgusting, changed form gone as well, no one would be hurt by either of them again.

He was shaking. Not from the cold, permeating the room -although that may have been a part of it- but rather from the consistent buzz of energy coursing through his veins.

A smile twitched at his lips.

Funny...he used to despise killing, and here he was, nearly high off of the thought of revenge. His wings pushed through the skin of his back, hands turning into talons. This. This is who he was. What he was.

The door to his room opened a crack, and Al's voice filtered through. "Brother..?" The black leather of Al's gauntlet grasped at the door, and Ed's eyes grew predatory.

A smile stretched over his face.

Al stepped into the room, and Ed lurched drunkenly towards him. Ed slammed into his brothers metal body with a crash, talons raking down, tearing deep gouges into the metal with a shriek of complaint. The noise only drove him further off the edge. Al stumbled back, pleading with Ed. 'Don't do this!' And, 'Brother, please!' Were the only things Ed registered.

Some small part of him screamed for it to all stop, that this was his brother for fucks sake.

A talon slashed upwards, hooking his brothers helmet and sending it spinning across the room with a clatter. "Brother!" Al pleaded, as Ed practically shoved the armour to the ground, lurching on top of it and grinning ferally.

A claw tapped at the blood seal that held Al to this world. "Al, Al, Al..." Ed crooned, his voice raspy. "Always to trusting, weren't you?"

He started scraping, his nail slowly chipping away at the long since dried blood.

Al sobbed, merely a sound without expression. Not that he could show them anyways. "Broth-!"

The claw cut upwards, breaking the seal.

Ed smirked, ignoring the now screaming voice inside their mind and moved towards the window. Unlatching the window, he pushed it open and climbed through. Dropping to the ground, he was grateful that he hadn't thought to put a shirt on on this overly warm night, as his wings were able to easily tuck in until he had enough speed.

Once he did, he snapped them open, leaping forward, and allowing the muscles in them to lift him, supporting his body as he rose through the air.

--

Alphonse was scared.

That thing...whatever it was, that had not been his brother. His brother had been trapped inside his mind, but had been powerless against the monster.

And that same monster had broken Al's seal.

Here he was, standing in front of the gate he had only barely started remembering in his armor, with a white figure sitting in front of him.

It seemed to frown suddenly, a large, nasty and disapproving look. "This was not how it was supposed to play out, young alchemist. Not at all. You were not supposed to die." The voice echoed.

All Al had eyes on, however, was the skinny, small body that was his own, sitting in front of yet another gate.

The voice was mirthless as the figure stood. "Yes, I do suppose you'll be needing that, won't you, young alchemist? It is not often I return things without a physical toll...however," They said, that last syllable echoing. "You will be doing me a favor...A favor for a favor, I might say."

And all went black.

He was awoken by sunlig-

Sunlight? Warmth?

The floor was cool beneath his hands.

His hands.

He shot up, eyes wide, and breath coming in disbelieving pants.

Breathing.

Pain.

His back cracked, the temporary pain shooting up his spine.

His stomach growled loudly.

Hungry.

He pushed himself to his feet, marveling over the feeling of cold flooring beneath his bare feet before he realized something.

He was skin and bone. His ribs jutted out, each one seeable. He ran a hand, tipped by a long nail, down his chest.

He could count each one.

Feel each one.

He crossed shakily over to his brothers dresser, pulling out one of the longer shirts and struggling with it until it fell over his frame, with him practically drowning in the material that went down to his knees almost.

Leaning against the wall, knees and body shaking, trembling, like a leaf in a hurricane, he wanted to cry suddenly.

His brother was gone.

Or, at least, trapped inside his own mind.

The memories of the last night slowly returned.

His brothers insane, feral grin as he had raked knife like claws at Al.

And had broken his seal without a second thought.

And then the Truth had given him his body back, after having Alphonse agree to stop Edward.

He couldn't...

He couldn't...

He couldn't...

He...

Could.

Determination spread through him.

He would fix his brother, set things straight.

But he couldn't like this.

He staggered out of the room, leaning on the wall the whole way to Winry's room, raising his skeletal, spindly, spider like hand in front of him and knocked softly on the door.

It opened a few minutes later.

And Al was face to face with a shocked Winry, who had tears of joy and disbelief and amazement and so many other things pooling in her eyes, streaming down in silver streams down her face.

"Alphonse..?"

--1070 Words--

Sucky chapter. I know. Comments are appreciated though ^°^
                                    ~The_Sin_Pride