Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I have tried a thousand times to leave. Every time I have failed. I have grown inside this disgusting, large mass of hands, eyes, and cruel smiles. I am merely a part of it, writhing around, begging to be set free.

All I do is think. I wonder what this is. What is this neverending blackness full of wriggling creatures? I look around and I see eyes. I see eyes that yearn to gaze upon the next fool that dares open the gate. I see the scattered smiles, full of sharp teeth waiting to laugh at the reckless humans who come to the gate, begging for a life that isn't theirs to be returned to them. I see the hands, arms extending, squirming around in this large horde, kept close together by the large doors of the gate. The hands that outstretch, longing to rip off a limb, to rip out a few organs, to take and take from those who come here, not knowing the consequences of trespassing upon ground not meant for a human to touch.

I think about what these creatures are. Are they souls? Souls of the dead? Souls yet to be born? Are they like me, people who were set here without a choice? Or are they gods? Are they all small parts of a larger entity? Are they just vessels, with no souls or thoughts of their own? I have no answers.

Sometimes I remember the cries of a baby. The sound echoes in my mind. Every time I hear it, I feel like I'm about to rip apart. I'm not sure if that makes sense, as I'm not sure if I actually have a physical form.

And occasionally, I remember a woman. She holds me, and it's the only warmth I have ever felt. I cry out to her. She lets go of me. I am then held by cold, tiny hands, pulling me into a hell no human could ever imagine.

Why did she put me here?

Every moment here is torture.

I hear a voice. The voice of a child. I move to the front of the cluster. A young child, with golden hair and eyes, stands before the gate. A body that looks rather similar to the child is sitting inside of the gate, among the violet eyes and waving hands.

The child's leg begins disappearing, and it starts to scream. The kid is gone. A leg starts to materialize inside the gate. Maybe I can take it and leave….

No. There's not enough time. The gate has already begun to close.

The child's cries begin again. It is not at the gate yet. But I hear it. Screaming to return its brother. But a price must be paid to access the gate again. The kid is back at the gate, and I help tear off its arm. The gate opens to take the limb into its void.

No.

This is mine.

I push the dark monsters off of me, off of the arm. I take the leg and run. The doors are closing, just a sliver of light is still visible, I have to make it I have to make it I HAVE TO MAKE IT-

The large, heavy doors of the gate close behind me. I sigh in relief.

Then, the doors open. Hands start to extend towards me at an alarming speed. I scream, and get up to run. A small hand touches my back.

My legs start to move faster than I thought they could. Each step hurts my feet. I've never walked before, much less run for my life. My lungs feel like they're about to collapse, my throat feels raw from the heavy breathing, my eyes sting from the air rushing into them as tears pour out and get left behind me. My body hurts, but I have to keep running, and maybe I'll get far enough away.

Is there even a way out of here?

White is overwhelming my sight. Everything seems to glow as I run, and I can see a glimpse of the world. I fall into the white and-

Where am I?

Where is this?

What is all this stuff surrounding me?

My body hurts. I'm not sure why. My heels feel sore. My throat feels cold and bare.

My hands are different colors. One of my arms is longer than the other. Are arms supposed to be like that?

My legs are different colors too.

I'm cold. It's raining. I'm wet. I don't want to be wet and cold.

Trees? I can go under a tree. Then the rain won't get on me.

I walk across the wet, grainy sand and underneath the nearest tree.

"Can't get me now, rain!" I yell victoriously. Then a large raindrop falls from a leaf and onto my head. My triumphant smile drops.

I sit down against the tree. My head leans back against the rough bark. How did I get here? Where did I come from?

I want to know. I'm so confused. I haven't done anything except move from the stone and sand over to the trees, yet my body is so tired and sore. My eyes won't stop trying to close.

Maybe I'll let them close.

Chapter Text

The Elric brothers arrived on the island, ignoring Winry's protests in the background. They turned around and looked upon the many plants covering the island. "Hey Brother, do you see that?" Al pointed towards something.

"See what?"

"The tree we used to mark the days back then."

Ed walked through the bright sand over to the tree and ran his flesh hand over the grooves in the bark that he made years ago.

“Yo, Al.”

“Hm?”

Ed’s expression darkened as a menacing smile found its way onto his face. “Should we run away?”

Al began frantically waving his arms, exclaiming “We can’t! After all, I can’t swim!”

Ed made a small noise of realization. “Come to think of it, neither can I.”

The two continued walking along the sand, coming to a stop to look upon their reflections in the water. “That’s right. We’re not the same as we used to be.” Edward remarked. “Not us.”

***

The boy watched as two figures in the distance made their way through the vegetation that covered the ground. The two of them seemed to be talking about something, but he wasn’t close enough to hear their conversation. The shorter of the two people was cutting through the plants with some large blade, which looked like it was part of their arm. They were also covered in something, so you couldn’t see much of his skin. The boy wondered if he could do something similar. While thinking, his eyes drifted to the larger of the two figures, which didn’t look like the other one at all. This one was large, shiny, and made a louder noise when they walked. The people didn’t seem to notice the boy at all, so he waited until they had left the area to begin collecting leaves from the ground. After a few minutes, he had a sufficient pile of leaves sitting in front of his feet. He tried to remember what the smaller person’s coverings looked like, and instinctively reached down with his right hand to touch the leaves. Suddenly there was a bright blue light, and the boy was donned in something similar to the person from earlier. Satisfied from this accomplishment, he decided to follow the two people around to see what else he could learn from them.

…It was also nice to see other people around for once.

He continued to watch as the two people made their way around the island. At one point they stopped by the water and the larger one just.. sat there for a while. They eventually stepped back onto the land, and water came pouring out of the figure’s chest and joints. He had never seen anyone do that before. He certainly couldn’t do that. Maybe there was a person in there, and the shiny outside was like the covers the other one was wearing, and that’s how all the water came pouring out? He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t think now would be a good time to approach them. The boy snapped himself out of his thoughts, and noticed that along with the water, some fish had also poured out onto the sand. The taller person started a fire and stuck some sticks through the fish, and placed them in the fire. The boy had never done that before, either. He really was discovering a lot today because of those two. He wished people would have come around sooner to show him these things.

The shorter of the two had already left, and the taller got up and walked away not long after. The boy knew he shouldn’t go over there, but the fish looked and smelled so good, he really couldn’t help it. He quickly ran over and ate the fish as fast as he could. He used his right hand for support while he ate the fish with his left, leaving a hand-shaped mark in the sand. Instinctively he went to cover it up, but the sound of the larger person’s footsteps coming closer made him pause, then run back into the bushes where he couldn’t be seen. That was close.

The boy waited as the larger person approached the other. This time, however, he was much closer and could make out the conversation.

“Brother!” The larger called.

“What’s the matter?” The other responded. Their ear was immediately grabbed by the larger person, and they shouted out in pain.

“Just come with me.” The taller said, continuing to drag the other towards the now snuffed out fire and fish scraps, as the other continued to yell out in pain.

“What is this?” The blonde asked, eyeing the spot the boy had just eaten at.

“Don’t give me ‘what is this?’ Don’t dig right in just because you’re hungry!” The other exclaimed in frustration.

“It wasn’t me.” The blonde replied. The taller one made a noise of confusion. “But… your handprint is right here.”

My handprint. The boy’s eyes widened, and he tried to hide even further into the bushes. I don’t want them to see me. Not yet. It’s still too… scary.

“Take a close look. This is a right hand.” The smaller one explained as they made a handprint with a hand that looked a lot like the same material as the covering the larger person had. “Sure enough, someone’s here.”

“Here? You don’t mean…”

“It’s possible Sensei brought them here for the same reason.”

Sensei? Who’s that? The boy wondered. The two people began to walk back into the forest, so the boy slowly backed away, trying to get more distance between him and them. He followed for while, watching them chase down animals and collect some of the plants.

The boy continued this pattern for the next few days, listening to conversations and watching the two explore the island.

Then one morning, two people arrived on the island. The boy remained hidden in the bushes as he watched the two people he had become familiar with sit on the sand in front of the new arrivals. He couldn’t really hear what they were saying, he wanted to get closer. He started moving through the bushes slowly, and their voices slowly became louder.

“In that case… Is someone there?” The boy’s eyes widened and he stilled.

“What are you talking about? Hasn’t someone been living on this island since long ago?” the blond asked, standing up.

The taller one moved their head to look at their companion, asking, “Do you think it could be that masked man from before?”

The other newcomer stepped forward, raising their hand. “That couldn’t be. The reason being, that was me.”

The boy was thoroughly confused now, while the two younger people stared in surprise. “What do you mean?” The shorter one questioned, now beginning to panic.

“Just in case, I had him keep watch, since I couldn’t let you die on me.” The older person explained.

The younger two began to stammer, “S-So then-”

The oldest narrowed their eyes. “Apparently, that doesn’t seem to be the case here.”

No point in hiding now, they know I’m here. The boy then stood up, and smiled at the group on the sand. They all looked at him in shock.

The larger one turned around to ask, “Did you arrange for him too, Mason-san?”

The other (Mason?) began to shake his head. “The only time I frightened you was three years ago. We couldn’t have you dying out here, so I came to keep watch.”

“Then why did you attack us?” the tallest asked.

“Ah, that was because Izumi-san told me to toughen you up a little.” Mason replied. Is the other one Izumi?

Now the short one turned around and shouted, “That wasn’t ‘a little,’ we were at death’s door!”

The taller one took a step forward. “That’s right! How could you have been so reckless with children?” They said in an accusatory tone.

Izumi had been getting more and more frustrated as the conversation went on. “Enough! Stop griping about something that happened ages ago!” She shouted, putting one fist in the other hand.

“WE’RE SORRY!!” The younger two cried out.
Izumi began to walk towards the boy. “Sensei?” the short one asked.

“He’s just a child. He probably just stole his parents’ boat or something and drifted here. If that’s the case-” she was promptly interrupted by coughing up blood.

The others looked at her with concern, and the boy began to step back. The younger two people ran forward to help her, which alarmed the boy. He looked around for something to defend himself with, and a rock caught his eye. Without really thinking, he fused the rock with his fist.

“Brother, that light!” the taller exclaimed.

“He’s an alchemist!” the shorter shouted, and began to run to the boy.

“Ed!” Izumi shouted after him.

The short one, Ed, tackled the boy to the ground and tried to pin him down. The boy grabbed Ed’s face and tried to push him off. Ed grabbed his wrist and moved his arm. He tried to say something, “Why you-” but was interrupted by the boy’s fist hitting him on the side of his head. He winced in pain, but grabbed the boy’s fist, wondering how he hit that hard. Ed looked at the fist covered in stone in confusion and shock. “You turned your own body into stone?” He didn’t really have time to process however, since he was immediately slapped in the face.

Suddenly, there was a clap and a flash of light, and the boy’s clothes turned back into leaves and the rock fell off of his hand, leaving him naked on the ground. Ed quickly got up, as he didn’t want to be straddling a naked child. “What’s with this guy? Where are his clothes?”

The boy began to cry on the ground, still very confused and scared. Izumi had finally gotten up and walked over to the boy. “What are you doing?! He’s just a child, you know!”

“But he might have been coming after us!” Ed tried to reason.
Izumi removed her jacket and put it over the boy, while asking, “Coming after you? At your ages, are you already such wanted men?”

“I’m not kidding around!” Ed exclaimed, but was ignored by Izumi, who picked up the boy and cradled him in her arms.

“Where did you come from? Where are your parents?” She asked softly, as the boy sobbed into her chest.

“I don’t know.”

“What’s your name?”

“I don’t know… I don’t know anything.” The boy began to sob harder. Izumi looked at him fondly.

“There, there. You don’t have to cry.” The boy’s cries quieted. “You’re all right now.” The boy wrapped his arms around her, relaxing. In return, Izumi hugged him a little tighter.

She began to carry him over to the boat, motioning for Ed and Al to follow. Everyone settled into a seat, and Mason began to row back to the town.

It was silent for the first few minutes, before the boy spoke up. “You’re Izumi-san, right?” He asked, looking up at her.

“Yes, I am. How did you know?” she inquired, surprised.

He tilted his head to the side. “I was listening.”

A small smile emerged on Izumi’s face. “Do you know who anyone else is?”

The boy pointed to the man rowing. “That’s Mason-san.” Then he pointed to the other two. “I don’t know the taller one’s name. But you called the shorter one Ed. It was nice to have something else to call him that wasn’t ‘the short one.’”
Ed was clearly not pleased with this, and began his usual tirade of “who are you calling short?!!!”

Everyone else laughed, while Al tried to calm his brother down.

“The taller one is Alphonse, but we just call him Al. The shorter one is Edward, but we call him Ed.” Izumi explained. Ed sat with his arms crossed, scowling, and mumbled something about “not being that short”.

Izumi looked down at the child in her arms, and then at the town they would be arriving at in mere minutes. She sighed and began to think of how she was going to tell her husband everything that happened.