For Freya Crescent

[armoured]

[The cold was what woke Al up from a dream about roast lamb, his stomach rumbling into the silence loudly.

Wait... why was it cold? He should be on the island with his brother, he should have woken up to the smell of cooking rabbit or fish, but he's somehow in a little wooden house and shivering violently with just his shorts and sleeveless shirt.]

Brother? ...Ed?

[A tentative pad into the next room revealed a huge pet that must belong to the person who lived here, though why they would put clothes on an animal was beyond him. Is it some sort of species of dog? It has to be, even if it looks more rodent-like, it's too big for anything else.

Thankfully he quite likes animals, so he bends down to offer a hand out in the hope this one is friendly. Maybe if he can not get eaten by the family pet, he can figure out whose home he's ended up in.]

Hey there, little guy. It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you.

Comments

[lancingintherain]

[as he flops over onto his butt, she leaps to her feet, startled into FIGHT MODE by his over-the-top reaction. She glances around, and behind her, thinking he's seen something awful, but she snaps back to look at him when she sees nothing there.]

What? What is it?

[she raises her fists defensively, and shifts into a fighting stance. She tries to raise her voice, too, to sound intimidating, but the panic she's trying to push down just makes it come out higher-pitched.]

Are you with them?

[armoured]

[This is it, he's gone insane at the tender age of seven, what a tragedy.

He rubs the back of his hand over his eyes fiercely as if to try and dispel the hallucination, but it doesn't work and she starts talking again in that all too real sounding voice.]

W-With who?

[His voice sounds tiny in comparison, faint as if he hasn't really committed to reply to this nonsense yet.]

[lancingintherain]

Them! Whoever's taken me.

[she takes a step towards him.]

Where're you from—Alexandria? Treno? ...There's a ransom, right? How much is it?

[armoured]

[He shakes his head dumbly, his eyes still fixed on her face as if she's either the eighth wonder of the world or the most terrifying monster that has ever been created.]

No, I... I'm lost too.

[Is this really happening? He feels so bizarre, half convinced this must be a dream.]

Are you real?

[lancingintherain]

[with how nervous she is and the way he's staring at her, she blushes bright enough for her ears to turn pinker at the tips.]

Huh? I—what? Of course I am...?

[she takes another step into his personal space, but more cautiously.]

...You all right? You don't look all right. [with a bit of fierceness:] ...But don't you dodge the question! Prove you were kidnapped, too, and I'll believe you.

[armoured]

[Maybe he hit his head or something? He kind of remembers reading about chimeras in some of the alchemical textbooks in his father's study, but all of them had been quite clear that they were spliced animals and incapable of speech or intelligent thought this way.]

How am I supposed to prove that?!

[Indignation startles him out of his shock for a moment.]

I don't exactly have a piece of paper on me that says: Alphonse Elric was kidnapped.