The Empath Alchemist {Edward Elric X Reader}

30

In all of (Y/n)'s incredibly long and eventful fifteen years of life, she'd encountered innumerable distressing sensations. Her body would react to each circumstance in the same manner, due to the empathetic influence that flowed through it as well as her mind.

It began with a shiver. Bumps would arise across her cool skin, and trail from the base of her neck, down the curve of her spine, and would dissipate just above her tailbone. The rest of her muscles would stiffen, in fear of moving or disrupting such a dire warning. The arch in her back would curve as her shoulders pushed backward and lifted her chest into proper posture, leading her to notice just how often she slouched when she sat, walked, or stood. The young girl's face had always been a clear sign that danger was imposing, as well. Her eyes would blow wide, unblinking, and her jaw would lock. Her brows pulled together like two opposite ends of a magnet, and they would stay there until the feeling of alarm faded away.

The intensity of the shivers would vary. For example, they'd reached an entirely new level of intensity after she'd sensed her first Homunculus. In regards to less perilous dangers, her shivers' intensity would barely reach the middle of her spine. It all varied in accordance to what kind of threat she was facing, and she'd accustomed herself to differentiating the seriousness behind the danger that inspired each and every shiver.

But this time, it was different.

(Y/n) felt unwelcome in this space, as if her very presence were to inspire a cataclysmic event. She wasn't supposed to be here, and her body was screaming at her to grab Edward and run. And she would have if her body could move, if she could lift her arm to push herself away from Edward's protective hold. The Mustang was paralyzed with fear as a pair of cold, dead eyes were attempting to subdue her with their very glare.

(Y/n) wasn't sure what she had expected meeting Father for the first time to be like. Maybe in her wildest dreams, she would have stood before him, head tilted high and eyes gleaming with confidence, as she told him just how foolish he was for threatening the lives of those she loved. In her mind, she would have willed herself to pull her sword and hold it to his neck with a hardened expression, until she saw a flicker of uncertainty and insecurity flash through his dim orbs. She would have turned her back to him and walked out of the destitute base stifling a prideful smile, only to return to conquer the being that wished to hold the sun in his palm.

Instead, her reality heavily combated the fantasy she'd conjured up in her head. Edward held her to him in his lap, his eyes boring so harshly into Father's head that (Y/n) could feel his gaze cutting past her ear. The shiver that rolled down her spine had shook her nerves and stripped her ability to strategize from her once adaptive mind. Her breath caught in her throat, and Ed caught the way her clothing shook along with her body's trembles. His eyes slowly cast down to the back of her head upon feeling how her figure wobbled within his hold, and his brows loosened a tad whilst he loosened his metal fingers around her waist.

This place held an energy that could only be described as the depths of all hell, that could possibly be unleashed onto an already dreadful existence in eight days. The combination of the chimeras that hissed lowly in response to their detection of the youngest state alchemists within their precious base and the towering individual whose body squirmed with the souls of a society that existed long ago made the Mustang's stomach churn and twist. Her nose flared as her empty stomach conjured whatever contents within it to rise.

This wasn't right, nothing about this picture was right. (Y/n) had seen Truth, therefore she was now terribly aware of the souls that lingered within the Homunculus' body. Though Hohenheim held the same stone within his chest consisting of the same peoples as Father, something was different about the way they rested within his being. Now that (Y/n) was able to detect the lifeforms beyond the Philosopher's Stone, she could see how the souls either rested or squirmed in devastation and everlasting pain.