Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Voice Of Reason ❯ Big Mistakes ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

“Granny, do you want me to set the table?” Cleobella asked sweetly, she was now nine years old. Her golden hair was tied back in a loose ponytail her bangs swept to the side showing her warm big golden eyes. She wore a thin skinny strapped dress that stopped at her knees, it was pale pink. Around her neck was a small pendant with a butterfly on it connected to a silver chain.

 

“Yes, that would be helpful dear.” Pinako answered from the kitchen where she and Winry, now eleven, cooked their dinner. “Where are the boys?” She asked noticing that the had yet to come for dinner.

 

“They’re at the house, said that there was something they were working on.” Leo answered as she placed forks next to the plates, she walked to the kitchen wearing a frown.

 

“Did they say what is was they’re working on?” Pinako asked setting down the ladle by the pot of stew she was making. Leo shook her head, Winry frowned also.

 

“So they didn’t tell you either?” She grumbled, “Man, why are they always keeping secrets?!”

 

“Everytime I asked them they said the same thing, ‘It’s a surprise.’” The younger girl shrugged helplessly. “Whatever that means…, Granny can I try the stew?” She asked reaching for the ladle, Pinako lightly smacked her hand away.

 

“I’m just about to serve it.” She said with a smile, Leo pouted and nodded. “Why don’t you and Winry go sit down, I’ll be there in a second.”

 

“Okay,” Leo walked to the table with Winry and sat down next to her, she set her head on her hand as she stared out the window. “I wonder what they’re doing…” She mumbled to no one in particular.

 

“Yeah, me too…” Winry muttered glumly, “Hey I’ve been wondering something.” She said suddenly after a moment of silence passed.

 

“What’s that?” Leo turned to Winry.

 

“Remember that one time when Al fell through that old bridge by the river?”

 

“Yeah, what about it?” Leo shifted in her chair.

 

“You came running with your mom even before we got him out of the water, how did you know something was wrong even before we made it out of the river?” Winry asked looking at the table while drumming her fingers. “I hadn’t thought about it at the time but after a bit I thought how strange it was that you somehow knew something had happened.” Leo shifted again in her seat, she hadn’t noticed it before but ever since she let her brothers go to the house alone she had as sense of unease for some reason. It was faint at first but now she could feel it strongly, something felt very wrong to her.

 

“Well,” Leo started, “It’s hard to explain but, for as long as I can remember I’ve always had a special connection with Ed and Al… It’s sorta like a gut feeling, I felt like something was very wrong and I was uneasy... “ She looked back out the window and sighed trying to ignore the feeling of dread coming from the back of her mind. “I think it’s the same for them to but I’m not to sure, I only feel it when something bad is going to happen..” Leo began to fiddle with her pendant as she tried to think harder about just how her connection with her brothers worked.

 

“I see…” Was all Winry said, she wished she wasn’t an only and was always a bit jealous of the Elric siblings because of their family bond. It was quiet again for a moment, Leo was left with her thoughts as the feeling of unease. Her thought were momentarily interrupted when it started to rain outside and Pinako finally came in with the stew and they began to eat. Leo thanked her and brought the spoon to her lips but dropped it with, it fell with a clatter to the table. The other females in the room looked to her startled by the noise, Leo hadn’t moved to pick up the spoon she sat frozen in her chair with wide eyes that stared ahead.

 

“Leo? What the matter, honey?” Pinako asked but received no reply, Winry reached out to touch her shoulder but the younger girl abruptly stood up and made a mad dash for the door before they could even bother trying to stop her. “What was that all about?” Pinako asked with confusion written across her face, she turned to Winry. Winry wore a worried frown on her face, knowing that couldn’t mean anything good.

 

 

 

 

Leo continued to ran, her bare feet splashing through the puddles growing rapidly as the rain poured down rapidly. Her hair had fallen out and flew into her face, her lungs ached and burned her breathing came out in rapid short puffs but she kept running. She felt the fear of her brothers, both of them, she felt so much fear it was hard for her to know who it belonged to. She was scared herself by the fact that she could fully feel the fear of her elder brothers, she was scared of what she was going to find. She had finally made it to the house that held so many memories for her and her brothers, she rushed through the front door panic in her wide eyes.

 

“Ed!? Al!?” She called out, she heard screams coming from the back of the house. Father’s office! She raced to the room, she saw a violet light flashing from underneath the door but she did not hesitate to storm in. The sight she saw would forever be burned into her mind, she saw Edward reaching towards the middle of the transmutation circle for Alphonse who was being dragged into the center of some kind of portal by thousands of small black hands. Al made eye contact with Leo before seeming to disintegrate before her very eyes.

 

“Alphonse!” Ed and Leo cried at the same time, Ed turned at the sound of his baby sister’s voice. “Leo! Get out of here!” He shouted in warning, the hands seeming to be done with Al began to come for Ed wrapping around his leg and begun to drag him just as they had done to Al. Leo rushed to grab her brother’s hand, she reached out and clasped both of her small hands around his slightly larger one.

 

“Ed!” Leo cried tears brimming in her eyes, the hands warped and twisted up the small boys arm but didn’t stop at the end of his fingers. They proceeded to latch onto his sisters limbs as well.

 

“Let go you’ll be dragged in to!” He shouted.

 

“No!” She shouted and pulled harder trying with all her might to get him to safety, the hands were stronger though and her efforts were in vain. Soon they were both pulled in and enveloped in white light. Before she seemed to disappear into the light she could barely make out the voice of her brother screaming her name.

 

 

 

It felt as if all the knowledge from everywhere in the world was drilling it’s way into her skull, she cried out in pain, begged it to stop. Images flew past her, some familiar some not. Somewhere in the back of her head she was wondering if her brothers were going through the same thing as her, she held her head in her hands screaming for her mother, father, anyone to make the pain stop.

 

And suddenly it did.

 

She opened her eyes only seeing an empty white space behind her was a gate, and in front of her stood a transparent figure that held a grin upon its face. Leo backed up and bumped into the gate, she looked up at it curiously, “What was that?” She asked her voice barely above a whisper, she turned back to the figure and pointed at it. “What are you?” She asked as fear began to pool at the bottom of her gut, she had a bad feeling about this place.

 

“My, my, aren’t you a smart one. Not ‘who’ but ‘what’. So you know I’m not human…” It said its grin never faltering, “I am called many things, some refer to me as ‘God’, or ‘the Universe.” It drawled. “But you may call me ‘Truth’.” It gestured to the gate behind her. “That in there is also the truth, one may not see it without paying a toll.” It sneered.

 

“What toll?” Leo asked, suddenly the gate opened the same small black hands came reaching out for her, they grabbed onto her legs and arms holding her in place before she could think to run. She opened her mouth to scream but the sound was stopped short when more hands shoved their way into her mouth and went down her throat. She squirmed, trying to get free. Muffled shouts and gagging could be heard from her, she felt one of the hands clutch onto something inside of her but she wasn’t sure what is was. They began to tug lightly and a dull pain filled her though, then with one harsh final pull she felt something tear and the pain escalated to the point it was unbearable, the hands slipped back up her throat and out of her mouth hold onto something small. Blood dripped from it as the hands gave it to the Truth, it smile grew as it examined the object in its hands.

 

“Pleasure doing business with, young alchemist.” It waved its hand and the many hands still holding onto Leo pulled her into the gate once more, she had no more strength to fight against them and let proceed to drag her back into the darkness that filled the inside of the gate.

 

 

 

 

Leo coughed and felt herself begin to vomit, her throat felt as if it was being burned from the inside out. She heard heavy, hollow footsteps rush towards her and felt the owner of those footstep prop her up so she could breath better. They kept calling her name, and lightly shaking her. Her throat hurt to much to respond, she was lifted up and she could feel that whoever was holding her was also holding someone else. They began to run their best while holding two people, she could make out some words of reassurance and a lot of apologizes. Leo wonder if Ed and Al were okay, did they have to pay a toll to? What was taken from them? Too tired to think anymore Leo fell blissfully unconscious again.

 

 

 

 

Leo woke up some time later in a bed not on the floor of her father’s office like she thought she would.

 

When did I get here…? She thought a she sat up slowly, she looked over to the bed next to her and saw Ed sleeping in it. Was it just a dream..? She remembered holding onto him as they were literally being torn apart before each other’s eyes. Her eyes drifted to a large suit of armor that sat in the corner seeming to stare at its hands, Was that always there? To her surprise it moved and stared straight at her, the eyes hole glowing a soft red.

 

“Oh good, you’re awake.” It spoke with in Al’s voice shocking her momentarily, the armor stood up surprisingly quiet and approached her. Leo looked up at, with a look of awe. Who was this stranger and why did he sound so much like her brother? “You probably don’t recognize me but, it’s me, Al.” It said sadly, Leo eyes widened. Before she could ask what happened, he spoke again. “I lost my body, brother sacrificed his arm to bond my soul in this armor.” He lifted up the helmet to show that it was hollow inside, Leo covered her mouth with her hand as tears welled up in her eyes. She looked to her brother sleeping and noticed that bandages were wrapped around her chest and the socket where his arm used to be. “When I woke up I saw brother bleeding and you were coughing up blood, Leo what was taken from you?” He asked, Leo looked back at him and touched her throat as she remembered the hands forcing their way down and ripping something out… Tears fell from Leo’s eyes as if became clear as to just what was taken from her, she scooted to the edge of the bed and reached for the nightstand that was in the middle of the space between the beds and opened to drawer before rummaging through and pulling out a piece of paper and a pen. She turned back to Al after she hastily scribbled down something and handed him the paper as more tears fell, Al took the paper with shaking hands and read it slowly. He gasped and looked back up at Leo, and let out a noise that sounded like a choked sob. On the paper were four words that spelled out her curse.

               They took my voice.