Work Text:
“I don’t like it.”
Rin growled in frustration as he lifted his new prosthetic leg. Sae groaned as he arranged the small room from whatever was left of their house after it burnt.
“Get used to it, Rin. That's all we have right now.”
Rin grit his teeth. “Yeah… because you messed up.” he muttered bitterly.
Sae paused, lacing his boots. Rin’s words struck him with rage and a deep guilt. Because it was his fault.
It had been 2 days since Sae and Rin tried transmuting their parents, something absolutely forbidden in alchemy, and a sacrifice that wasn’t worth it. Sae had never believed the tall tales he heard about on the subject.
But he begged to differ now.
-
Screams of horror echo in the room, now on fire lit around the room. Sae opens his eyes and almost vomits at the sight before him. Rin, his precious little Rin, was barely recognizable. All four of his limbs were large puddles of blood. Rin yells in terror and pain for his older brother, the one who got him into this hell hole.
I killed my brother, Sae thinks. I killed my brother, I killed my brother, I killed-
Sae feels rage and some other larger than life emotion that he cannot explain. Everything blurs around them, with the only Sae remembers being his fingers sticky with their blood, and the shaky symbols being drawn, doing whatever he can to save his little Rin.
“Nii-chan! Nii-chan!!”
-
“Nii-chan!”
Sae snapped out of his memories and glanced at Rin again. “Huh?”
“I said, are you done lacing your pathetic limbs yet or not?!” he snapped. “God, you’re so clueless…”
Sae said nothing. He wanted to say something, anything and everything. He was so full of frustration and rage and grief and guilt and-
And if Sae hadn’t had such delusions of grandeur, of trying to get their parents back despite it being forbidden, impossible and dangerous, despite knowing the consequences of transmuting human beings…
Sae still did it.
And I dragged Rin into it too.
Sae looked down at his prosthetic arm and leg, then let his gaze travel over to Rin sitting on the bed beside him. All of Rin’s limbs had some sort of metal embedded in them. Rin’s left arm was completely replaced with shiny and metallic gears and wire, connecting the arm all together. His right leg was metal up until his knee, his left foot was completely replaced with an armoured boot, and Rin’s right shoulder was replaced with metal too.
Sae gulped. He stared at Rin’s face, which was sulking painfully as he moved his new limbs.
He caught a glimpse of Rin’s left eye. The light glinting off it from underneath his eyepatch pierced Sae’s own eyes too.
Rin winced as he moved his left arm, hissing as some of the metal dug into his flesh.
“Gah! Damn it…” He muttered. He sounded like he was on the verge of tears. His short dark hair covered most of his eyes, but his right good eye was still visible. His bottom lip trembled, and Sae could see the faint tug of skin where Rin was biting it gently, as if trying to hold back a sob.
“Rin…” the red haired boy tried to say something, anything reassuring, anything to salvage this hell hole of a situation.
But he couldn’t say a thing.
Instead, Rin clutched his prosthetic leg tighter. His voice broke as he spoke, a hoarse angry and grieved whisper;
“How will we be the best strikers in the world now?”
Sae’s heart almost stopped. All of a sudden, Rin looked different. Not like the brooding tall 16 year old teenager who was more metal than flesh…
But at the little Rin, the one with bright green boba eyes and a curiosity to everything in the world that enamoured him.
The little Rin that cried every time Sae left for school, scraped his knees, or missed a goal.
No… No, no, no…
“W-What…” Sae was shocked at how shaky his voice sounded. He tried biting his lip to suppress the devastated sound erupting from his throat, but failed miserably.
Said sad sound caused Rin’s teary eye to lift slightly to gaze at his older brother.
Sae clenched his fists and shut his eyes tight. He couldn’t see that face anymore.
“What… What have I done to you, Rin…?” he whimpered.
Those words echoed in their shared room, heavy and unsettling, guilty and torn. Rin widened his good eye slightly.
There they were, in the very room Sae committed the greatest sin of his life, the room where Rin questioned if their ambitious goals were any good for them…
Finally acknowledging the grief, the guilt, the utter hatred for the one who caused it all.
Sae’s hatred towards himself for incapacitating his precious little brother.
“Nii-chan…”
Rin’s small confused whisper was sharp enough to cut through Sae’s throat to release the sob he tried to keep down. He collapsed beside Rin and pulled him close. Rin let him, for he too, could no longer control his usual stoic body from the grief and tears it was releasing.
Sae whispered. “I should have been sacrificed instead of you…”
Rin shook his head vehemently and clutched Sae’s back tightly.”No! No, Nii-chan! Don’t… Don’t say stupid crap like that…” he sobbed.
Both of the brothers cried until their metal limbs were creaky and their eyes were heavy with tears. Rin rested his head on Sae’s chest, while Sae held him close, stroking his hair with his good hand and kissing the top of his head.
“I.. I promise, Rin. I promise I will restore your limbs.” he muttered firmly.
Rin nodded. “And I will restore yours, Nii-chan… I promise.”
Sae’s shoulders sagged with relief and fear. He didn’t want Rin to be in danger because of him. But he also found great comfort in having his only loved one by his side, so he wouldn’t be alone.
Sae hugged Rin tighter. The height difference didn’t matter much now. All that mattered was the soft breathing between them, the coldness of the metal limbs, and the warmth of the still breathing and beating blood they both shared.