Shining Stars (A Fullmetal Alchemist FanFic)

The Toll Has Been Paid

Two girls ran silently into a abandoned shed, carrying two bags in their hands as they quickly shut the door behind them. One of them had dark brown curly hair, dark brown eyes and slightly tanned skin, dressed in a ragged shirt, pants and boots. The other had medium brown hair and blue-gray eyes, fair skin and was dressed in the same attire as the first girl.

They grabbed a basin and poured all the contents of the bags into the metal object and they both pricked their fingers, letting one drop of blood hit the mixture of materials from them both. They were taking a huge risk at attempting this, after all, the price for something so taboo such as this would be immediate death. But it was a risk they were willing to take.

"Alright sis! Ready to see Nia again?" the second girl, who was the older of the two, although she didn't act like it, asked.

"Yep! Let's do this Rachel!" the younger exclaimed. Both of them drew a transmutation circle under the basin before sitting at the edge of the circle and exchanged looks with each other before slamming their hands down onto the marks in sync with each other. The circle glowed blue, a sign that it was stable and over the sound of atoms breaking apart and recreating themselves, Rachel smiled at her friend.

"We're doing it! We're actually doing it, Cheryl!" she shouted. Cheryl returned the gesture and was about to make a comment when the circle glowed red, signifying that the procedure was unstable and that something was wrong. Then a huge eye appeared in the middle and slithering black hands began tearing away at the both of them.

Cheryl and Rachel screamed in agony and the younger watched in horror as she saw her sister's body disappear before her very eyes.

Rachel was thrown into a vast place of white and looked around in confusion before she saw someone in front of a gate, there were no features, just a white body with a black edge and a creepy smile.

"Where am I?" the blue-gray eyed girl asked before her memories flooded back to her, "Get me out of here! I need to get back to my sister! Where is she?!" she demanded. The mystery person just laughed.

"Sorry, but you can't. You have no body to go to, you're stuck here. Funny, you're the second permanent person to be here, lucky me."

Meanwhile, Cheryl was screaming out for her sister and she only just registered the pain in her arm and leg.

"Take anything! Take my eyes, my other leg, anything! Just get my sister back!" She screamed, suddenly feeling an immense pain in both her eyes.

Just as she said that she was suddenly in a room of white, endless white. She turned her head again and saw a gigantic gate. She frowned. She saw that white person and glared.

"Where the heck am I? And where is my sister?! And who the hell are you?" she yelled. The white figure laughed.

"Funny you should ask. I am the world, the universe, I am God, I am one, I am all, and I am you," he said, pointing at her, "and as as for your sister, the other fool who tried to commit human transmutation, she's about to go through the gate and to the other side."

"What the hell are you talking about?! I'm-" she started but soon she was hit with images of anything and everything all flowing past her as an incredible feeling surged through every fiber of her being. And the secret of how to commit proper human transmutation was there! It was so close! And all she had to do was reach...She was then brought back to the room of white, breathless.

"T-that...that was amazing! I have to see it one more time! Please show me!" she requested.

"Sorry, but that's all you can see with the toll you've given," he replied.

"Toll? What do you mean?" She asked.

"Surely you knew, it's the number one law in all alchemy!"

"What do y-" She froze, her dark brown eyes widening in realization, "Equivalent Exchange...but what exactly did I pay...?" Truth's grin got wider.

"One arm, one leg, and your eyes, exactly," he answered her. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers and soon felt pain in the mentioned body parts. With a scream, she was sent spiraling out of the room with the gate. For a moment, she caught a glimpse of her dear sister, standing beside a boy about their age, with blonde hair and gold eyes, before reaching desparately out at her.

"RACHEL!!!"

She crashed back to the physical world, feeling the pain increase tenfold and cried out at the sheer intensity of it. Her eyes were open, but she saw nothing but black, her left leg and arm felt lighter but felt stabbed with millions of needles all at once. Her right hand flew up to her eyes, nothing...there was nothing there! Her eyes were gone!

Trembling, she reached down to her left arm, nothing, just a small part of it. She reached for her left leg, nothing either. Nothing but extreme pain.

She only now then registered the thick, heavy smell of iron, overpowering her other senses with how strong it was, and the slippery wet liquid that was under her, coating her hands with it. Cheryl gagged, it didn't take a genius to guess what it was. It was blood.

Fatigue washed over her and her breathing came out labored and uneven, making her slowly move her self with her remaining limbs to where she remembered the door was.

The life essence seeped out from her wouds, making her fatigue increase. Her muscles screamed at her to stop moving, to stop overtaxing herself and just stop, but she refused.

"H...he...hel...p...me....s-some...bo..dy...p-please..." she cried out weakly, begging and hoping, that someone would come and save her. A passing nun had heard the grunts and groans coming from the shed, peering in through curiously before letting out an ear-piercing scream at the sight of the girl, with her empty black eye sockets where blood slid down from to the girl's cheeks, blood marks on the floor and covering the transmutation circle with its scarlet ink, the dark brown hair was in a disarray and hung over the girl's face creepily as she dragged herself limply forward with only an arm and leg.

The nun panicked and ran, heading straight for the church to call for the priest to exorcise the 'demon' that she discovered in the shed. Shortly afterwards, a farmer approached, having seen the strange light in the shed. He peered in, but unlike the nun, he only stopped and stared in horror.

Cheryl, who had heard footsteps, looked up, a pleading look on her face, tears of blood sliding down her cheeks, the presence or lack there of her eyes making it all the more creepy.

"Help..." she begged, voice strained and raspy, weak from screaming in pain and crying for help, "please...help..." Silently, the farmer ripped off parts of his shirt and formed it into a bandage, wrapping it around her leg tightly to stop her from bleeding any further as he picked her up.

"I don't know what you did but I'll help you. Just stay still until I get you to a doctor. Do you understand?" he asked. The brunette gave a weak nod.

"Thank...you...."she said, weakly. The farmer, whose name was William, just shifted his grip slightly, his heart breaking for the girl as he hurried to the town doctor not too far away from their current position.

"Doctor James! I need you to treat this girl right now! She is in serious danger!" William exclaimed as he burst into the clinic, which thankfully had no other people in. The bespectacled doctor turned his head and his green eyes landed on Cheryl who lay still in the arms of the farmer, breathing shallow and weak. His eyes widened before ushering them both in quickly.

"Set her on the surgical table with haste," the doctor instructed, gathering up his tools. The farmer did so and laid her there before moving away. The doctor then spoke to her in a calm and soft voice.

"I'm going to perform a surgery on you, it will be painful but please bear with it," he pushed in a cloth in her mouth gently for her to bite down on when it became too painful for her to bear before he began.

And for Cheryl, it was hell on earth.