Mossmask: Not my best work, but you guys always get mad when I say that so I guess I'll just go along with you and pretend I'm awesome?

~Dash

Firsts
Fullmetal Alchemist fanfiction
by The Cinderninja

Very few people knew the true story of the Elric brothers' first transmutation. In fact, only two people ever had or ever would.

Most people assumed Edward had been the first to start sneaking books from his father's study. Most people assumed that Edward had been the one to spark the interest for alchemy in his younger brother. Most people assumed that Edward had been the first of the two to draw an array, and to successfully activate it. He was, after all, the more talented of the two when it came to alchemy. He had been even before he had seen the Truth.

These assumptions would all be wrong, however. Which is why it is wise not to assume.

Ed was sick. He was sick with a stomach flu, and he was sick of being sick. He hadn't been allowed out of bed in three days, and every time he tried to eat something it would come right back up again. His mother had been trying to only give him broths, but so far he had managed to maintain his hold over Al. The younger would sneak him food on demand.

Ed knew they'd have to be sneaky though – if their mom found out, he had no doubts that Al would switch sides in an instant. He didn't care that he couldn't hold it down – he'd be damned if Al got to eat a cookie and he didn't. But he'd seen the look on Al's face more then once – he was already starting to turn on him.

"I... I really don't think you should try to eat any more sweets, brother, you saw what happened last time! Maybe mom's right and you should just wait 'til you're better..."

"Nonsense!" He hissed, eyes narrowing dangerously. "You're walking down a dangerous path here, brother... you're not going to abandon me, are you?! In my time of need?" He gripped the front of his shirt with one hand, and raised the other in the air. "Even my own brother has betrayed me!" He cried. He then betrayed himself by keeling over to cough loudly into his sleeve before groaning.

"Damn flu." He whined.

Al squeaked, scandalized at his older brother's language. "No! I'm not betraying you! B-but, I just don't want you to start throwing up again... it didn't look very nice..."

"It wasn't..." Ed admitted. "But it's not fair! Home come you getta eat proper food while I get stuck with broth? Just 'cos a this stupid sickness."

Ed was too absorbed in his own misery to notice that after that day, Al made sure to only eat the same broth his brother got until he was allowed to eat solid food again.

It was the fourth day of Ed's flu when Al got the idea. His brother was bored, it was obvious. His brother got bored quicker then anyone else he knew. And it didn't matter how much you loved him – after being stuck in bed for four days, Ed became unbearable to anyone.

When Al wasn't feeling well, mom would read to him, and it always made him feel better. She had tried reading Ed the same story books she read him, but Ed had whined and said that the characters were being stupid. Ed didn't want to 'read childish books where the characters don't have half a brain and the stories don't make sense'. Al had wanted to point out that he enjoyed those books, but thought better of it.

So now, when mom had gone out to do shopping, and left Al in charge of his brother, he found himself balancing precariously on a stack of books nearly as tall as he was. He was in their father's study, somewhere they had never been allowed to go without their dad before. But he still hadn't come back yet and Al was getting kind of tired of waiting and he was sure dad wouldn't mind if things were just a little bit messier then he'd left them.

Besides, Al could clean it up later.

He had his eyes on a book all the way up on the fifth shelf. And it was huge. Al was sure his brother would love it. He had no idea what it was about, but that didn't matter. It was big, and brother liked big books.

Standing on his tip toes, Al's fingers just barely grazed the edges of the book. He grit his teeth and hopped, grabbing the corner of the book and yanking. His feet slipped as he landed again and the pile of books collapsed, sending Al tumbling to the floor in a flurry of paper and hard covers.

"Ow..." he muttered as a particularly sharp corner smacked him in the head. He turned to glare at the offending book, but immediately brightened when he saw which one it was. He sat down and pulled the book into his lap, opening it to the first page. He would need to make sure it was interesting, after all, before he showed brother. Or else Ed might just get mad at him.

The first page was nothing but a list of words and numbers, and lots of dots that he liked even though they kind of made him dizzy. He flipped the page. The first few were all like this, but finally he found a page of actual writing. He settled down to start reading. Alchemy is the science of understanding, deconstructing, and reconstructing matter. However, it is not an all-powerful art...

"Al! AL! Aaaaaaalll!" Al's head snapped up in surprise. That was Ed!

How long had he been reading? He'd completely lost track of time! What if mom came home? What if-

"AAAAAL."

Al shrieked and tossed the book aside, running out of the room and slamming the door behind him. "Ed? What is it?!" Al asked, half-panicked from his brother's desperate tone of voice. How long had he been calling out for him? What if he'd fallen out of bed? What if he was running a fever? What if he'd hurt himself? What if he was dying?

"Brother!" Al gasped, barging into his room.

Ed was sitting up in bed with his arms folded, looking cross. "Took you long enough!"

"What is it?" Al repeated, frightened.

"I'm hungry! Bring me some meat!"

Al kept reading the book on his own later that night. He finished it the next morning, and decided that even though there were still a few things he didn't get, and some of the bigger words confused him, he wanted to try this 'alchemy' out before he told his brother. It was rare that he kept something from Ed, and it exhilarated him just a bit, having a secret all of his own.

The first few times, nothing happened, so he read the book again. By now, he'd completely forgotten about bringing the book to his brother, or even finding him something to keep him busy. He didn't realize that Ed was starting to get suspicious, noticing the sudden lack of doting-little-brother to carry out his demands.

It was the day after Ed got better that Al finally got it right. He was very careful to make sure his circle was perfect. And then he drew a square inside of it. He was drawing with a big marker on a piece of white paper. He added a few more details. Once he was done, he checked it three times. Finally, he put his hands on the drawing. And it light up.

Al cheered excitedly and held up his prize – a deformed and oddly dense wad of paper. He didn't care that it resembled an oversized version of the spitballs his brother something made in class when their teachers weren't looking. He had done it! Alchemy!

"Al...?" He froze and turned to look at the door. And there was Ed. He was up and walking, and officially "cured", but he still looked exhausted and was a little weak from not eating very much the past week. He stared at Al with vaguely confused gold eyes.

"... What are you doing in here?" He frowned, looking around. Dad's study was a mess! There were books piled all over the floor and crumpled up papers thrown to all corners of the room. Was this where Al had been spending all his time? Dad was gonna kill them when he got back!

"... Alchemy?" Al squeaked.

Ed stared blankly. "... Sounds lame." He declared.

He turned and walked away, leaving Al standing alone in the middle of the room, feeling strangely pleased with himself and proudly clutching his deformed wad of paper.

Mossmask: Wow Ed is kind of a brat isn't he? Not really surprised though.

~Dash