A Nano fic

[baroqueangel]

Probably the only fic I'll post before the end of Nano, mainly because I just felt like it. I've only just finished it.

Title: If only…
Pairing/Characters:Al, Ed, Roy (Roy/Ed if you squint)
Rating: PG-13
Warning:Character death, so much angst
Words: 1007
Summary: Al was too late to save him.
A.N:Can you tell what kind of mood I’m in yet?

The tears ran freely down his cheeks, how could this have happened? This wasn’t supposed to be how it all ended. If only he had made it in time. If only he had got there a few hours earlier. He could have saved him, he could have stopped them from hurting him, stopped them from turning him into this.

He looked into the eyes of the chimera before him, searching for any sign of his brother but the only thing that belonged to Ed was the colour of the creature’s eyes. Gold stared back at him but it was a cold gold, devoid of anything but hate and anger. It was after blood and Al needed to be on guard but how could he be when all he wanted was to lay down and die, right here where his brother’s life had ended.

Sure, technically Ed was still alive but what kind of life was this? This wasn’t like the chimeras they’d met working with Greed, this was closer to Tucker’s work, only unlike Nina, this chimera didn’t talk, it just growled.

Al took in the room around him, a human transmutation circle was painted on the floor, faded and obviously older then their original intelligence had thought. Blood covered some of the lines and words, some old and dried, some fresh, Ed’s blood more than likely. This thought caused Al more distress, his brother had been tortured here and turned into this thing and Al had been unable to stop it.

He looked around the room more, taking in what he could see passed the tears clouding his eyes while keeping an eye on chimera Ed. There were bodies, four of them, the technicians that worked in this lab, one of them the alchemist that they had been chasing down. They had claw marks covering what areas of the bodies Al could see. Ed had obviously chosen to critique their work quite severely. The sight should sadden Al more and he knows it but he just can’t seem to bring himself to care about the misfortunes of these bastards that had done something so unthinkable to anyone, especially Ed.

Al wanted to throw up, since getting back his body he sometimes missed the times when he didn’t have a sense of smell. The smell of the fresh blood mixed with what was probably dried blood from countless other victims as well as other bodily fluids was making him feel nauseous.

Ed circled him, growling deep in his throat, looking for an opening to attack. Al kept watch on him while taking in the rest of the room. All he needed was something to jump out at him and say ‘this is how you reverse this and get your brother back’ but he knew there wasn’t going to be anything like that. He wasn’t that lucky.

Ed lunged and Al dodged on reflex, ducking the biting teeth and sharp claws without any real effort.

"Ed, please stop.” Al prayed that the pleading would get through, that some part of his brother was alive but when the Ed thing lunged for his throat he knew it was over. He knew what he had to do. Ed would be mad if he died after what they had gone through to get him back in the first place. Ed would be angry if Al allowed him to hurt anybody else thanks to what he would call being careless and screwing up. They cleaned up their own messes after all.

“Ed, I’m sorry.” The words got stuck in his throat almost causing him to choke but not stopping him from being wary for Ed’s next attack. When Ed lunged at him again, Al was ready.

He ducked under the sharp claws and even sharper teeth, clapped his hands and slammed them on to the floor. Blue light shone around the room and spiked stalactites sprung up from the ground to impale the Ed thing’s body. It struggled for less than a minute before it gave up the fight and fell limp, blood flowing down the rock to pool slowly on the floor.

More tears flowed down Al’s cheeks as he retracted the spiked rocks and the chimera’s body hit the floor. He gathered the creature into his arms, hugging it to him and wept. He knew that his brother had been dead from the second the other alchemist had preformed the human transmutation but he also knew that he would never forgive himself for this.

Ed was dead and it was his fault. His fault because he had been late, his fault because he had not gathered enough information. His fault because he had just stabbed his only brother through the heart. How was he going to tell Winry?

When Mustang and the rest of the team arrived not ten minutes later, armed soldiers in tow, he took one look at the body clutched to Al’s chest and at Al’s tear streaked face and he knew.

"Al…?” He couldn’t ask, he didn’t want to know.“

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Roy pulled Al away from the bloody corpse with great difficulty, Al not wanting to let go of what was left of his brother. He handed him over to Hawkeye and the woman hugged him tightly to her chest as she walked him towards the exit, taking him away from that dismal room and not caring that her uniform was being soaked through with Ed’s blood. A single tear escaped her eye as she tried to comfort the distraught Elric boy.

Roy looked down at the corpse of what had once been Edward Elric and, by the look of it, a few different animals. Tears began falling down his cheeks and he hung his head slightly to hide them from his men, it wouldn’t do to be seen crying by anyone that was not a part of his own personal staff.

He had been too late, this was all his fault, and nobody would ever make him believe otherwise.