Fic- Beware What You Ask For
Title: Beware What You Ask For
Author:
cornerofmadness
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Hiromu Arakawa owns all rights.
Warnings: Spooky bedtime stories
Word count:
Summary: Ed’s son insists on a proper Autumn horror story from his Uncle Al and Uncle Roy.
A/N: This was written for the 2017 edition of
spook_me challenge (thanks again to those who make this great challenge happen). I always have fun with this challenge. My prompt was ‘scarecrow,’ and it’s not exactly a terrifying story (unless you’re a little kid), but it was a blast to write. You can see the picture that inspired it here Happy Halloween!
XXX
“Come on, tell us a scary story,” Zach, Ed’s son wheedled, bouncing on a chair cushion. “Maybe one about a scarecrow.” He shot that to his little sister, Evie, who meeped, covering her eyes.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Al said, patting Evie’s back. He sat next to her on the couch, counting the minutes before he could legitimately say ‘time to go to bed,’ and actually have an adult conversation with Roy who’d come all the way the Resembool to see him now that Al was back from Xing. But then Winry had a very long, very bad day, and Roy suggested Ed take her out. They could watch the kids. He’d brought his daughter, Rue, anyhow while her twin brothers stayed in Central with Gracia. Al didn’t usually mind babysitting but his nephew was his father all over again and that meant nothing good.
“It’s spooky time,” Zach argued. “Everyone tells ghosts stories this time of year.”
“You just want to scare the girls,” Al countered. Zach’s eyes slid to Evie and Rue, lighting up like a sunrise. A grin so much like his father’s spread across Zach’s little face.
“That’s just chilling,” Roy muttered. “Go ahead, Al. He’s right. A cool autumn night is the perfect time for a scary story.”
“And if Rue is too scared to sleep?”
Roy waved him off with a scarred hand. “Riza is off in Briggs teaching survival school with Olivia. All I have to worry about is a sleepless night.”
“Be it on your head.” Al jabbed a finger at him. “Why don’t you start the story then?”
“We can take turns. It began in a small town, not unlike Resembool.” Roy sipped the warm cider Al had made in hopes of making Zach sleepy. Warm milk would have been better but once again, like father, like son. “Something stalked the night, and its favorite prey was little boys.”
Zach rolled his eyes. “Why is it always boys? How come monsters don’t like to chase little girls?”
“’Cause we’re too smart for monsters and boys are dumb!” Rue shot back.
“There you have it.” Roy chuckled. “But this monster liked girls too. He’d carry them off, and they’d be found in the corn fields if they were found at all.”
Suddenly lightning lit up the window and thunder cracked making them all jump.
“Granny was right about it raining tonight,” Al murmured. Roy nodded then gestured to Al who picked up the story. “This went on for months, with all manner of people disappearing, mostly kids but farmers too, housewives. The town was terrified.”
“How come no one knew what it was?” Zach interrupted.
“Because it came at night,” Roy replied. “No one saw it, just the destruction it left behind. What they didn’t know was there was an alchemist in town.”
“Did he save them?” Evie asked hopefully.
“Not this one. He wanted desperately to be a State Alchemist.”
“Like you, daddy!” Rue clapped her hands.
“Like me and like Zach’s dad, but it is very hard to become a State Alchemist, and there was a war on so he knew it needed to be a type of alchemy that a soldier could use.” Roy looked to Al.
“This alchemy was the worst kind, restoring life to dead tissue,” Al said as his nephew popped off the chair.
“That can’t happen!”
“It’s possible, but forbidden and dangerous,” Roy replied.
“Not scary.” Zach crossed his arms, jutting his chin out. “You promised scary.”
“Shambling alchemically induced pseudo life isn’t scary?” Al arched his eyebrows. “Not even when they come for you in the middle of the night?”
Zach slashed his head back and forth. “Nope.”
“Really? What if they were hidden about the town as scarecrows?” Roy asked, and Evie squealed, hiding her head under a pillow.
“Sissy,” Zach and Rue said in one voice. Evie squealed again, kicking her feet.
“How could they be scarecrows?” Zach asked.
“The alchemist couldn’t control what he’d created but he knew he wouldn’t need to. The military would love to have soldiers who couldn’t be killed a second time,” Al said as more thunder rolled.
“So he lashed these animated corpses to scarecrow poles to hide them in plain sight until he could go for the alchemy exam. However, there was intelligence left in them because they were human once. Enough that they could get themselves free and lumber about killing.” Roy lurched off the couch, shambling toward Zach arms outstretched. The boy tried to play it cool but his eyes went huge. Rue clapped her hands, laughing. Al decided she was even scarier than Zach was.
“And if they catch you, it’s all over.” Roy curled his hands into claws, and Zach jumped.
“They’re soulless monsters and all they leave of their victims could fit into a thimble,” Al added, deepening his voice like a silver screen villain.
Evie tossed aside her pillow. “No!”
“Never turn your back on a scarecrow,” Roy said as more lightning lit up the patch of yard they could see outside the window.
“Someone’s out dere!” Evie cried.
“It’s a scarecrow,” Rue bellowed.
Evie and Zach shrieked, racing for the staircase. Al popped off the couch, going to the window.
“Did you see anything, Roy?”
“No.” His dark eyes danced as if he was happy they’d scared the pee out of the kids.
Al turned his gaze toward the ceiling, hoping Zach was happy with himself now. “We better get up there.”
Roy scooped up his daughter who was staring out the window, oddly unperturbed. Al jogged up the steps with Roy following, carrying Rue. Zach and Evie were cowering on their parents’ bed.
“Oh, good, that’s the perfect place to hide from roving scarecrows.” Roy grinned. “Uncle Al will go get your pajamas and then you two can get under the covers. You’ll be safe there.”
“What are you doing?” Al hissed.
“You wanted them in bed.” Roy shrugged, gesturing one handed to them as he shifted Rue on his hip with the other arm. “They’re in bed.”
“You said the scarecrows could get us in the house!” Zach cried.
“That’s why you need to hide under the covers,” Roy replied.
Zach slithered off the bed, tugging Evie after him. He ripped the covers down.
“Go get those PJs, Al.”
Al darted off. When he got back, Rue was sitting on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs, and Roy had the siblings out of their clothes. He and Al helped them into their nightclothes. Zach and Evie immediately got under the covers and pulled them up over their heads.
“We’ll be right downstairs, making sure the scarecrows don’t get in,” Al said, feeling sorry even though Zach had begged for the scary story.
They got downstairs just as Ed and Winry came through the door. Winry smiled at them.
“Were they good?” she asked.
“Of course,” Al said at the same time Ed said, “Are they ever?”
“They’re in bed,” Roy said. “I guess we’ll be leaving.”
“I see your little one is still awake.” Winry came over, and ruffled Rue’s dark hair as Ed ascended the stairs.
“She’s a night owl. Riza and I have given up sleep.”
“She says you sleep in your office.” Winry grinned.
“That too. Well, I’d best head back to the inn,” Roy said.
“Well, thank you both. It was a nice night out for us. We appreciate it, and I wish you’d reconsider staying here, Al. We do have a spare room.”
Al shook his head. “You and Ed need your privacy. I’m only here a few days before I go to Central so I’m happy to stay at the inn this time. When I come back for longer, I’ll stay.”
“Hey!” Ed reappeared on the landing. “Why are the kids in my bad shaking like leaves?”
“Gotta go, bye!” Roy slipped out the front door and was gone.
Coward! Al thought a millisecond before deciding Roy had the right idea. “Who knows with kids? Something about scary scarecrows. See you in the morning.”
Al raced out after Roy who was already halfway down the walk. He caught up easily. “We better move quick.”
“Already ahead of you.” Roy handed Al Rue, and dug out his car keys. He wasted no time unlocking the doors, and they drove off as fast as humanly possible before Winry caught up with them. Ed was loud but Winry was the one with the dead-eye aim.
Al held Rue snugly as Roy executed the short drive to the inn. “We are so dead tomorrow.”
“Plot out how much blame you can put on your nephew.”
“We’re the adults,” Al reminded him.
“We could always catch the first train to Central in the morning.”
“Tempting. One question though, why wasn’t Rue scared?”
Roy snorted. “By a scarecrow? Your niece and nephew might be a mostly fierce combination of Elric-Rockbell traits but my daughter is the best of Riza Hawkeye. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a scarecrow to rattle her.” He leaned a little closer as he pulled into the Inn’s parking lot. “It takes spiders.”
Al laughed, rousing the girl who had started to drowse on his lap. “And I think I know something scarier than scarecrows and spiders.”
“Oh?” Roy slid out of the car and walked around so he could take Rue from Al.
“Your daughter marrying my nephew twenty years from now.”
Roy shuddered. “There goes sleep tonight.”
“And now you know how the kids feel.”
“Thanks for the terror. We should do this again sometime, Al.”
“Like Winry and Ed will ever trust those kids to us again.”
Roy laughed, waving goodbye as he went inside the inn. Al stood outside for a few moments longer. There were plenty of scarecrows in Resembool. Yep, his brother was going to kill him. Smiling, Al trundled inside to find his own room. Maybe next time Zach wouldn’t ask for a scary story. Nah, never happen.
Author:
cornerofmadness
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Hiromu Arakawa owns all rights.
Warnings: Spooky bedtime stories
Word count:
Summary: Ed’s son insists on a proper Autumn horror story from his Uncle Al and Uncle Roy.
A/N: This was written for the 2017 edition of
spook_me challenge (thanks again to those who make this great challenge happen). I always have fun with this challenge. My prompt was ‘scarecrow,’ and it’s not exactly a terrifying story (unless you’re a little kid), but it was a blast to write. You can see the picture that inspired it here Happy Halloween!
XXX
“Come on, tell us a scary story,” Zach, Ed’s son wheedled, bouncing on a chair cushion. “Maybe one about a scarecrow.” He shot that to his little sister, Evie, who meeped, covering her eyes.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Al said, patting Evie’s back. He sat next to her on the couch, counting the minutes before he could legitimately say ‘time to go to bed,’ and actually have an adult conversation with Roy who’d come all the way the Resembool to see him now that Al was back from Xing. But then Winry had a very long, very bad day, and Roy suggested Ed take her out. They could watch the kids. He’d brought his daughter, Rue, anyhow while her twin brothers stayed in Central with Gracia. Al didn’t usually mind babysitting but his nephew was his father all over again and that meant nothing good.
“It’s spooky time,” Zach argued. “Everyone tells ghosts stories this time of year.”
“You just want to scare the girls,” Al countered. Zach’s eyes slid to Evie and Rue, lighting up like a sunrise. A grin so much like his father’s spread across Zach’s little face.
“That’s just chilling,” Roy muttered. “Go ahead, Al. He’s right. A cool autumn night is the perfect time for a scary story.”
“And if Rue is too scared to sleep?”
Roy waved him off with a scarred hand. “Riza is off in Briggs teaching survival school with Olivia. All I have to worry about is a sleepless night.”
“Be it on your head.” Al jabbed a finger at him. “Why don’t you start the story then?”
“We can take turns. It began in a small town, not unlike Resembool.” Roy sipped the warm cider Al had made in hopes of making Zach sleepy. Warm milk would have been better but once again, like father, like son. “Something stalked the night, and its favorite prey was little boys.”
Zach rolled his eyes. “Why is it always boys? How come monsters don’t like to chase little girls?”
“’Cause we’re too smart for monsters and boys are dumb!” Rue shot back.
“There you have it.” Roy chuckled. “But this monster liked girls too. He’d carry them off, and they’d be found in the corn fields if they were found at all.”
Suddenly lightning lit up the window and thunder cracked making them all jump.
“Granny was right about it raining tonight,” Al murmured. Roy nodded then gestured to Al who picked up the story. “This went on for months, with all manner of people disappearing, mostly kids but farmers too, housewives. The town was terrified.”
“How come no one knew what it was?” Zach interrupted.
“Because it came at night,” Roy replied. “No one saw it, just the destruction it left behind. What they didn’t know was there was an alchemist in town.”
“Did he save them?” Evie asked hopefully.
“Not this one. He wanted desperately to be a State Alchemist.”
“Like you, daddy!” Rue clapped her hands.
“Like me and like Zach’s dad, but it is very hard to become a State Alchemist, and there was a war on so he knew it needed to be a type of alchemy that a soldier could use.” Roy looked to Al.
“This alchemy was the worst kind, restoring life to dead tissue,” Al said as his nephew popped off the chair.
“That can’t happen!”
“It’s possible, but forbidden and dangerous,” Roy replied.
“Not scary.” Zach crossed his arms, jutting his chin out. “You promised scary.”
“Shambling alchemically induced pseudo life isn’t scary?” Al arched his eyebrows. “Not even when they come for you in the middle of the night?”
Zach slashed his head back and forth. “Nope.”
“Really? What if they were hidden about the town as scarecrows?” Roy asked, and Evie squealed, hiding her head under a pillow.
“Sissy,” Zach and Rue said in one voice. Evie squealed again, kicking her feet.
“How could they be scarecrows?” Zach asked.
“The alchemist couldn’t control what he’d created but he knew he wouldn’t need to. The military would love to have soldiers who couldn’t be killed a second time,” Al said as more thunder rolled.
“So he lashed these animated corpses to scarecrow poles to hide them in plain sight until he could go for the alchemy exam. However, there was intelligence left in them because they were human once. Enough that they could get themselves free and lumber about killing.” Roy lurched off the couch, shambling toward Zach arms outstretched. The boy tried to play it cool but his eyes went huge. Rue clapped her hands, laughing. Al decided she was even scarier than Zach was.
“And if they catch you, it’s all over.” Roy curled his hands into claws, and Zach jumped.
“They’re soulless monsters and all they leave of their victims could fit into a thimble,” Al added, deepening his voice like a silver screen villain.
Evie tossed aside her pillow. “No!”
“Never turn your back on a scarecrow,” Roy said as more lightning lit up the patch of yard they could see outside the window.
“Someone’s out dere!” Evie cried.
“It’s a scarecrow,” Rue bellowed.
Evie and Zach shrieked, racing for the staircase. Al popped off the couch, going to the window.
“Did you see anything, Roy?”
“No.” His dark eyes danced as if he was happy they’d scared the pee out of the kids.
Al turned his gaze toward the ceiling, hoping Zach was happy with himself now. “We better get up there.”
Roy scooped up his daughter who was staring out the window, oddly unperturbed. Al jogged up the steps with Roy following, carrying Rue. Zach and Evie were cowering on their parents’ bed.
“Oh, good, that’s the perfect place to hide from roving scarecrows.” Roy grinned. “Uncle Al will go get your pajamas and then you two can get under the covers. You’ll be safe there.”
“What are you doing?” Al hissed.
“You wanted them in bed.” Roy shrugged, gesturing one handed to them as he shifted Rue on his hip with the other arm. “They’re in bed.”
“You said the scarecrows could get us in the house!” Zach cried.
“That’s why you need to hide under the covers,” Roy replied.
Zach slithered off the bed, tugging Evie after him. He ripped the covers down.
“Go get those PJs, Al.”
Al darted off. When he got back, Rue was sitting on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs, and Roy had the siblings out of their clothes. He and Al helped them into their nightclothes. Zach and Evie immediately got under the covers and pulled them up over their heads.
“We’ll be right downstairs, making sure the scarecrows don’t get in,” Al said, feeling sorry even though Zach had begged for the scary story.
They got downstairs just as Ed and Winry came through the door. Winry smiled at them.
“Were they good?” she asked.
“Of course,” Al said at the same time Ed said, “Are they ever?”
“They’re in bed,” Roy said. “I guess we’ll be leaving.”
“I see your little one is still awake.” Winry came over, and ruffled Rue’s dark hair as Ed ascended the stairs.
“She’s a night owl. Riza and I have given up sleep.”
“She says you sleep in your office.” Winry grinned.
“That too. Well, I’d best head back to the inn,” Roy said.
“Well, thank you both. It was a nice night out for us. We appreciate it, and I wish you’d reconsider staying here, Al. We do have a spare room.”
Al shook his head. “You and Ed need your privacy. I’m only here a few days before I go to Central so I’m happy to stay at the inn this time. When I come back for longer, I’ll stay.”
“Hey!” Ed reappeared on the landing. “Why are the kids in my bad shaking like leaves?”
“Gotta go, bye!” Roy slipped out the front door and was gone.
Coward! Al thought a millisecond before deciding Roy had the right idea. “Who knows with kids? Something about scary scarecrows. See you in the morning.”
Al raced out after Roy who was already halfway down the walk. He caught up easily. “We better move quick.”
“Already ahead of you.” Roy handed Al Rue, and dug out his car keys. He wasted no time unlocking the doors, and they drove off as fast as humanly possible before Winry caught up with them. Ed was loud but Winry was the one with the dead-eye aim.
Al held Rue snugly as Roy executed the short drive to the inn. “We are so dead tomorrow.”
“Plot out how much blame you can put on your nephew.”
“We’re the adults,” Al reminded him.
“We could always catch the first train to Central in the morning.”
“Tempting. One question though, why wasn’t Rue scared?”
Roy snorted. “By a scarecrow? Your niece and nephew might be a mostly fierce combination of Elric-Rockbell traits but my daughter is the best of Riza Hawkeye. It’s going to take a hell of a lot more than a scarecrow to rattle her.” He leaned a little closer as he pulled into the Inn’s parking lot. “It takes spiders.”
Al laughed, rousing the girl who had started to drowse on his lap. “And I think I know something scarier than scarecrows and spiders.”
“Oh?” Roy slid out of the car and walked around so he could take Rue from Al.
“Your daughter marrying my nephew twenty years from now.”
Roy shuddered. “There goes sleep tonight.”
“And now you know how the kids feel.”
“Thanks for the terror. We should do this again sometime, Al.”
“Like Winry and Ed will ever trust those kids to us again.”
Roy laughed, waving goodbye as he went inside the inn. Al stood outside for a few moments longer. There were plenty of scarecrows in Resembool. Yep, his brother was going to kill him. Smiling, Al trundled inside to find his own room. Maybe next time Zach wouldn’t ask for a scary story. Nah, never happen.