An/:Okay sooo, new story! I'm real excited for this one, 's got one hell of a plot. But more about that at the end, for now just some necessities and then please enjoy!

Disclaimer : I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, this disclaimer counts for the whole story.

Warning: This story will contain mentions and descriptions of violence, inluding live burnings. These scenes will not be very graphic but consider yourselves warned.

Prologue : Gray

A dead silence reigned in the village square as the woman was led to the blackened iron stake in the middle, a bag covering her head. The sky was dark, an oppressive gray, and Ed knew it would rain later on that day. Next to him his little brother shivered and snuggled deeper into his thin gray sweater.

Everything seemed gray that day.

His father, stood next to them, was dressed in his best gray suit, a grim expression on his bearded face. Everything was gray, but what stood out to Ed were not the gray suits nor the gray sky above them but the gray expressions everyone had. No one looked happy, no one smiled, no, instead all of them watched with a grim determination as the woman was dragged to the middle of the square and led up the rickety wooden steps, before being tied to the stake. The bag on her head was finally pulled off, her identity revealed, and Ed gasped.

That woman was their mother.

Besides him Alphonse let out a startled yell and tried to run forward but their father grabbed his small arm and held him back. Ed didn't notice though, he was too busy wondering what their mother could possibly be doing up there.

When their father had come to wake him and his brother up that morning he hadn't told them what was going on. Only that they should get dressed as quickly as possible and thrown their current, grey, apparel at them. The boys had wondered then what was going on and why their mother wasn't waking them up, as was usual, but their pleas had gone ignored.

Now, barely a half an hour later they were all huddled in the square, staring as their mother was being tied to the pole. Ed had never known what that stake was used for, he'd asked once but when he did there had been such a look of sorrow in his mother's eyes when she told him that 'he'd find out when he was older' that he hadn't dared to ask again. All he knew was that that pillar made his mother sad and now she was tied to it.

Something was wrong, horribly, horribly wrong.

Ed turned to his father and tugged on his sleeve trying to get his attention. After a few pulls he succeeded and the man looked down at him. "Daddy?" He asked, "Why is mommy up there?"

His father's face seemed to turn even more grim at his words and he grimaced, pulling his sleeve from the little boy's grasp before turning back to the stake. "That thing is not your mother."

Ed looked back at the woman as well and tilted his head, considering. No matter how he looked at it that was his mother tied to the stake there. Confusion took a hold of him and he started tugging on his father's sleeve again, but the man was too busy holding back his little brother to pay any attention to him.

Starting to feel desperate Ed turned to the people around them. There, only a little ways of stood the baker and his wife. The couple had always been very nice to Ed and Al and the woman had often sneaked them some pastries when her husband wasn't looking.

Thinking they might want to answer his questions Ed ran over to them as fast as his chubby little legs could carry him. His father, distracted as he was, did not notice.

Once he reached them Ed immediately tapped the woman's arm, startled she looked down, only to see the little Elric and her face immediately morphed into a look of pity.

"Yes Edward?" She asked, talking quietly as though talking too loud might somehow hurt her.

"What are they going to do to mom?" He asked, an uncharacteristicly serious expression on his childish face.

"Oh sweetie, that thing's not your mother," The woman said, pity clear in her voice.

Her words did not help Ed's confusion at all, and apparently the woman noticed because she continued, "That thing is a monster."

Ed startled, how could his mommy be a monster? Still he knew monsters existed. He'd heard some of the adults talking about them when they thought he wasn't listening. But how could his mother be one of them? Deciding he would think on that later he turned back to the woman, there was still something he needed to know.

"But what are they going to do with her?"

The woman's face twisted into an ugly sneer, and Ed almost lost his balance. He never knew that kind woman could look so frightening.

"They'll burn it of course. It's what these creatures deserve."

Now Ed really did lose his balance and he fell back as if slapped. Horrified he turned his eyes back to the stake, a pyre he knew now, and watched as a black-haired man in the military uniform lowered a match to the wood gathered at the foot of the stake.

The flames soon caught and started to spread. Ed couldn't believe it. They really were going to burn his mother!

He let out a startled yell as the realization finally hit and before the baker's wife could help him up he'd already sprung to his feet and was running through the crowd. For once he was glad for his small size as it enabled him to push his way through a lot faster and before he knew it he was out of the crowd.

He could see the flames spreading, rapidly and knew he had to hurry. Without even wasting another second he slipped through the arms of the black-haired male that had lit the fire and ran up the rickety wooden stairs to the foot of the pyre. Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and, before he could start hesitating, jumped into the flames, desperately reaching for his mother.

He could hear her calling out to him, telling him to stay away, but he wouldn't listen, and before he knew it the flames surrounded him and the only thing he could hear was the roar of the fire, and the only thing he felt was the heat of the flames.

He reached out blindly and felt his arm make contact with something solid, the stake perhaps, but then, suddenly, he was pulled away. Away from the fire and the heat, but, more importantly away from his mother.

He struggled weakly against the arms pulling him back, barely conscious of his actions, only hearing the harsh, piercing screams of his mother as the fire finally reached her.

Eventually he gave up struggling and just lay there, in the arms of the black-haired soldier that had lit the pyre and watched as his mother writhed amidst the flames. Suddenly the screams stopped and a wave of water came splashing through the fire. Most of it evaporated before it reached the crowd but a few drops splashed on Ed's cheeks and joined the water already there in creating small trails down his face.

Ed ignored them though, he just kept staring at the burning bright orange flames that had smothered his mother, and, as he finally succumbed to sweet oblivion, found himself thinking that he would never be discontented with gray ever again.

An/ And that's it for now, If you've read till here then I hope you've enjoyed. Now a bit more explanation about this story's concept. It's based on the myths about faeries/fae/fairies and especially on the myths about changelings. I'll summarize it here but its really just the basics, more info will be revealed throughout the story, though you can always ask if somethings not clear.

According to mythology faeries would sometimes come to human towns/settlements and steal their children, mostly infants from their cribs. In the place of these stolen children they'd leave one of their own children. These switched children were called changelings. What exactly happened to the children is not clear, but you'll figure out soon enough what route I plan to take ;)

Hmm real long AN but it's necessary for now,It's only the prologue after all. I promise to keep 'em shorter in future chapters though. If you want future chapters that is…;)

Anyways please let me know what you think and till next chapter (I hope)!

xXxMai