The Flowing Alchemist [FMAB Fanfic]

5} The Past <edited>

(Y/N)'s PoV
Age 12

"Hey, (Y/N)! Let's go outside and play." Becky tugs on my sleeve while I sit in father's study and practice more alchemy.

"Did you ask Gran if we could?" You put down your chalk and turn your chair to face your younger sister.

"Uh...yeah. Sure I did!" She giggles, feigning innocence.

"Fine. We'll go and say goodbye together." I stand up and take Becky's hand, pulling her up the stairs to Grannies bedroom door. I knock gently on the cold wood and poke my head in, seeing her lying in her bed with a tatty book. She looks up from it and smiles at us.

"Ah, how are my little lovelies?" Becky pushed past me and into the room, jumping onto Grandma's bed.

"Oi, be careful you idiot!" I shout at her, mindful of Grannies frail state.
She wasn't that old, only in her late 60s. She had fallen ill last month, from an illness that was circulating around the northern towns. We tried sending a letter to father in Central to tell him but he never replied to it. She has been bedridden since she can't move too much or she'll collapse.

"She's fine (Y/N)! I'm tougher than I look." She smiles at me and cuddles Becky back.

"Yeah you say that but we both know it's a lie." I grumble under my breath and grannie shoots me a halfhearted glare.

"Grannie, can me and big sister go outside to play?" Becky pleads.

"As long as you are back before it gets dark! I don't want you running round town after sunset!"

"We'll be home in time for me to make tea, I don't want you getting out of that bed! Clear?" I point a finger at her and give her a stern look. She laughs at me and shoes us both away.

"Go and have some fun! Don't let this old hag stop you from enjoying yourself."

Becky and I race down the stairs and out the front door. We play for what seems like hours until we notice the light begin to fade. Becky lets out a big yawn and tugs on my arm. I look down at her and she raises both arms high into the air.

"Piggy back!" She calls out so I kneel down and make sure she is holding on tightly. I carry her back to the house and put her on the settee.

"I'm going to check on Grannie and then I'll be back down to make dinner, okay?"

"Mmmmm..." She mumbles, lying down and snuggling into the cushions. I chuckle softly and lightly tread up the stairs.

"Grannie, are you still-" I say this as I open the door but I am cut off upon seeing grandma sprawled on the floor, a thin trail of blood on her lips and down her chin.

I rush to her side and pull her head onto my lap, putting my fingers on her jugular trying to feel her pulse. Tears pour down my face, realising that I won't feel anything. I know she's dead, no living persons aura feels this...off. I try to be as delicate as I can as I pick up her body. Placing her on the bed freckled with little blood splats. Just as I'm about to leave, I see a pen nestled in between the pages of the book she had been reading. I pick it up and turn to the cover, the pen rested on a scribbled note.

(Y/N),
I can feel it coming, the pain is finally leaving me. I want you to know that I don't leave you willingly and I wish I could still be there for you. Although I haven't really been helping you lately. It's a lot for a 12 year old to deal with so I'm truly sorry. I don't want you to be angry, I wish for you to accept my parting from this life and to move on with your own. Becky may be a pain but you two are all each other have left so take good care of her. I love you both so much and I'm sorry for all the pain we have put you through. Your father would want me to tell you that he is....

The writing becomes unreadable and there are water splotches over the paper. Her tears, I soon realise. Finally there is a sharp line, presumably from where she fell down at the end. I pick up the book and hug it. It's the last thing she touched. I will bring her back, I'm not ready to let her go!

-----

The time has finally arrived. We have all the supplies and I know all the theory. I had also trained Becky as best I could. Today is the day.

"Ready?" I ask, looking down to Becky. She nods and we both put our hands on the circle. A bright blue light fills the room and we both smile. The light flickers and then flashes red. The room darkens and i feel a terrible pain in all four limbs. I close my eyes and open them to see complete white. I look around and see a white figure, only visible by its black aura.

"Ah, so you dare to open the portal. So be it alchemist." It says in an odd voice. A little confused I turn around and see a huge door opening and an eye protrude from the centre of it. Little, pitch black hands dart towards me and pull me in.

A series of pictures flash through my mind and then there is a sudden pain but also understanding. It felt as though my head is being split open due to the magnitude of information pouring into it.

"No! Stop! Make it stop! It hurts!" I scream but it continues, then in a flash it's over. The door closes and I sit on the floor, tears in my eyes.

"Now it's time for you to pay the toll."

"What toll? What was that?"

The thing smiles at me and I see the hands again. They pull away chunks of my limbs. I cry out in pain which radiates through my whole body. I look down and I have no legs, they are cut off at the knee. I go to grab the stumps but soon realise that my arms are both gone as well. Suddenly I'm back at the transmutation circle.

"BECKY!!!! Becky I-I-I'm so sorry..." I scream and scream her name but stop when I see her clothing lying on the floor. I feel my eyes and throat burn as I sob heavily, screaming all the while. I choke on my last scream and start to cough, black spots appearing in my vision. I hear distant calls and footsteps then a scream. The neighbours must have heard me and come to check on me. I black out just as they lift me onto a sheet one of them had brought over.

A lot happened in the next three months. I woke up in my neighbours' house with no limbs. A doctor had come to see me and stopped the bleeding in time. I was still passed out for 3days though. When I woke everyone gently explained to me that Becky was missing, which I knew wasn't true. I tried as best I could to explain but in the end I just screamed that she was dead and there was no point in looking for her which they believed. No one asked any questions after that.

Luckily for me there was an automail village a few miles away. I was put in a wheelchair and I got on a train there, accompanied by the kind husband of the woman next door who had found me. I got fitted with automail, I paid all the money I had left from grannies since I couldn't see any other way to spend it. The automail was amazing and only took me 2 months to get used to. I found a trainer in that town and he taught me to fight. He was kind to me but never let me win, not unless I earned it. To repay him for my training I would use my alchemy to do repairs and help out around town.

Everything was brightening up until I got a knock on my door. I opened it to two military uniforms. I didn't know it then but Roy and Hughes would then drag me off to central where I passed my state alchemist assessment and became Hughes' Lt. I was sworn to secrecy about what I had done since it was against the law. I got my pocket watch and I place one sheet of paper and a scrap of torn off cloth in it. I sealed it using my alchemy which I didn't need a circle for anymore. After I settled into my job I began to search for my father, he needed to know what happened.