The Envious Beast and Metal Contraption (FMA 03) (Rough Draft WIP)

Ch. 1 Awakening (Prologue)

(A/N: Finally starting one of my fanfic drafts! This is just a prologue as the title states, I tend to make them short, so don't worry if the word count looks a bit sad, I tend to write chapters that are a few thousand words at a time. Oh, this also starts with Al's POV, so enjoy the rough piece! Hope you don't mind the cover, I made that myself too but it was the last of the 3 I made, and I honestly didn't know what to do for it, was going for the whole truth-implodes-your-brain-with-knowledge kinda thing, but the memories are corrupted.)

Inky blackness was all he saw. No thoughts occupied his mind in the slightest. A soundless void with tendrils grasping and wiggling into his mind. It was dull. Empty.

It was then a single thought occurred to him, or rather a feeling. A physical sensation actually. Air filling his lungs in steady slow drags. He was breathing.

Breathing

He didn't know why but that idea sounded so surreal to him. To breathe is a natural process, right?

To breathe is to be alive.

Another thought that came to him that got his brow to furrow. He didn't even know if that's what he was doing. Was he awake or asleep? Unconscious?

Could he even move?

If the coldness on his back was anything to go by he'd say he might be on the cusp of awakening. Hard ground beneath him.

How did he even know who he was?

His thoughts suddenly became preoccupied with a surge of memories, images flitting in and out over and over. Sensations filling him with unkempt emotions that he couldn't quite explain.

Blond hair and golden eyes. Looking oh so familiar, and reminded him of a mirror. A reflection, a face.

Alphonse Elric. That's who he was.

More images, playing like a movie reel swam in his head. He had a brother, that much he knew, and a mother. But it brought a pang to his chest when he thought of her.

More memories, sounds and stories filled his brain. Memories of being young, memories that were so close, yet felt so far away for some reason. He was happy, his brother by his side, a determined spark alight between them.

They wanted to get their mother back. And it all seemed so simple.

So why did his stomach drop at that thought...?

They were right there, so close. But then there was nothing but screams and pain. Terror flooded his nerves, twitching and tingling, electric shocks causing him to reach out to grasp his brother's hand-!

And then there was nothing. The reel snapped short. Leaving an everlasting dread in its place.

Mom? He whimpered to himself, strangled through his tightened throat.

Where did she go? Where did Ed go?

He heard a call, faint, so far off it didn't register.

Am I dead too...?

He couldn't be. He could feel the harsh ground under him. He was breathing. The pounding in his ears began, frantic like a butterfly trying to stay afloat, beating against the flow.

Where am I?

The calling had come closer now, a voice calling out he had never heard before yet still sounded familiar. The sweeping of dirt from cautious feet turning as frantic as the voice soon became, a second set of feet not too far behind.

He didn't know whether to try calling out to them too, his throat closing in with tongue gone dry, he wasn't sure he could if he tried.

It didn't matter though. A warmth had enveloped him on both sides, a tingling sensation when one of them checked for what he can assume is his pulse. The other a voice over him, shaking him slightly and with warm droplets falling on his face. Were they crying? It made his own heart twist at the thought.

"Al-!" The voice finally pushed through the never ending darkness. It shed light into his mind, feeling the weighted limbs of his start to surge back into a much more bearable state. He still didn't know who it was.

"Al...?" A hand, soft and warm. It caused him to twitch, squinted eyes being thrusted into the light of the sun as they slowly opened. A blurry visage of a woman above him, blond and red faced, a few tired blinks revealing teary blue eyes that stared into his own.

(A/N: Hoped it wasn't too bad of a prologue start, I want to see my own writing develop over time so I hope you guys don't mind the fact it's only going to be a draft. No revisions or edits unless I feel the need too, even then I might just add the part in italics or bold along with the original, or separate a whole new page for a scene and stuff it here. It's kinda for feed-back purposes, I don't really expect many to like how this is written.)