A/N : Well first off I would like to say this one chapter has been a while in coming, it was an old idea of mine that I had immediately conjured after viewing the fma movie CoS , I had gotten bored of it and kinda quit. A certain friend of mine says that this could become an epic tale and urged me to continue so here we are. This fic definitely takes off a few years after the events of CoS and the brothers now older and (hopefully wiser.) find themselves in another strange predicament. Forgive me if i get the time line wrong, the movie confuses me. Anyway Ed is around 20-21 while Al about 18-19 , hope that helps. Also I know nothing of the manga or the events that happend in it, so dont expect any reference from them, strictly anime based. If ppl respond well(or even at all :) to this story, then I may consider continuing it. With all that said ty for dropping by, hope you enjoy and please review^^ cya later:P.

Sept 1st, 1938

Dear Journal,

I am so confused…nothing makes any sense these days. My whole life has toppled upside down in the time span of less than an entire month and I--I am powerless to even decipher exactly what it is that is happening all around me. I feel helpless…almost to the point where I would frequently imagine myself as a child once again…watching her life spill away right before my very eyes. Feigning strength and unbearable but determined resolve, all for my brothers sake, is starting to eat away at me now…and I feel so weak and pathetic for it.

Nothing seems to work out anymore.

No matter how many smiles I crack or how many pep talks I spew, I can practically see the once burning youthful ambiance he would regard everyone with,including me,(most of the times)deteriorate ever so slowly from his gradually diminishing demeanor. And to be truthful, I'm missing it so damn much…this isn't to say that I too am not dabbling dangerously on the brink of insanity. At first I was in denial, not just about our current conditions but about everything that was coming into play all around us; but as each day expired before me and with each glare my sibling and I exchanged, I can no longer continue to ignore the shrouded and confusing truths…no matter how horrid they may appear.

Also I would like to take note of this recent development that has been haunting me inexorably over the past week and a half; I know not of its origin's or even how it came to be, I only know that it feeds hungrily on the fibers of my very intellect, making it rather difficult to maintain prolonged mental activities without fear of having my cranium slit open by a searing pain.

I have given this situation as much thought as I am currently aloud, and yet still have no clue to as how I have obtained such an mysterious ailment. I can only try to ignore it for the time being and double my efforts on gathering sustainable footholds of knowledge regarding our most recent predicament.

Admittedly I can not pretend that the pressure is not getting to me, even the trivial and simple seeming acts of just finding a meal throughout the daily hours, is becoming some what of a part time job to say the least…though I do not tell him…I skip meals occasionally so that Al can eat and be full--and hell ensue if he ever found out.

There is another more personal issue that may be contributing to my discomfort, but as of now I am sure that I am not even ready to contemplate it, let alone carve the very words and painful memories into both this book and my already emaciated brain….

Alchemy would have made this entire disturbing scenario so much more bearable--so much more believable…but there never was or is any alchemy in this world right? If so, then how can I feasibly begin to explain the increasingly strange occurrences that have been appearing so noticeably over the past few weeks?

Which resolves me to my last question…why us? Why only the Elric's…the two world hopping brothers--who have already sacrificed so much…be the only ones left cruelly behind to suffer?

---

Edward shut the thin and tattered note book with slightly trembling hands, painfully aware of the piercing orbs of his brothers inspecting pupils upon him, observing his every move. Deliberately ignoring any eye-contact that might have transpired itself between the two, he then continued with stowing the expensive black fountain pen he had been writing with, inside the spotless and spacious confines of his flowing dark blue trench coat.

A prolonged silence between them prevailed, while a blood red sun suspended imposingly above the monotonous, multi colored evening air showered both humans and the sublimely drab shadowed buildings surrounding them, with a faint shade of rusty crimson.

Edward issued a low emanating sigh, stretching for a moment to relieve his weary bones before collapsing heavily to the mound of charred rubble he had been sitting recently upon. Effectively alleviating himself against the conspicuous noises his brother was emitting provocatively from behind the cover of his turned back , Ed contented himself with taking in his suppressive surroundings, inclining his brazened countenance slowly from side to side as he did so.

He never liked what he saw.

With a slight frown turning his lips, he observed disconsolately the oppressive image of the dark and abandoned city streets, lining the equally depressing grime soaked buildings which reared there blackened heads up eerily around them from all sides.

It looked as though all life had been drained from the planet.

After about a minute of empty routine observation, did he finally lower his gaze with a low sigh toward the black and gleaming tops of his highly polished buckled boots, given to him by Al as a birthday present about 2 years ago; there condition to this day remained impeccable.

He tapped a rhythm less beat atop a quivering vein affixed just before his left ear on the side of his pulsing temples, fore the tell tale signs of an oncoming and rapidly increasing "migraine" attack was on the arise.

Why had he even looked? It had been pointless to do so; just like what Al had told him…

All he had managed to accomplish, if it were even possible, was to damper his already very dour mood. Perhaps it was a false sense of hope that compelled him to observe intently his current surroundings every morning, noon and night.

Just what was he waiting to see? What was it that he was searching for?

Maybe just maybe he was expecting…change?

That when he awoke to the macabre and chilling mornings that greeted him unfailingly each day, that he would somehow come to find that this world--his world--had been magically placed back to normal? And all worries, problems and complications attached to his shattered life would just group together and disappear on a whim? Like a fairy tale?

A frail attempt at an uncaring smirk played alluringly across the edges of Ed's briskly chapped lips at this notion; for some reason he had found that last thought to be ever so morbidly humorous--which was quite sad when he began to think about it.

Blissfully oblivious in his own light contemplations, he sent a leather encased finger sliding through the slightly disheveled tangles of his bright golden blonde hair. Dulled in his temporary unawareness he allowed involuntarily for the treasured notebook still held loosely in his right hand to slip gently form his diminished grasp and bounce harmlessly against the gravel where it came to an abrupt halt, its delicate thread bound covers fluttering open with a soft jolt.

Edward was scarcely aware of the rapidly moving physique of the man behind him, and only when his seething brain finally registered the fact that something had happened that ougtht naught to have happened, did he ultimately leap to his feet with an urgency so extreme, one would have thought that something much more valuable than a dusty old journal had been taken from him.

"I didn't know this was a diary. I thought you said you were documenting our days and what ever strange occurrences we might discover in them?"

Edward's righteous fury suddenly petered out in a dull and bleary haze, until he could not even recall exactly what it was that he had even been angry about. He froze mid-sequence in his aimless intentions, practically feeling as his previously tightened jaw, slackened and dropped down an sliver of an inch animating spectacularly his expressions of complete and utter shock. He supposed he might appear a comical figure, both arms raised at his sides as though he were smack in the middle of running a marathon, right foot stuck out in front of him suspended in mid-air not yet allowed to make contact with the uneven track of ground beneath it.

One oblivious other could understandably misinterpret this odd gesture and suggest to themselves, that it looked as though the boy were attempting to climb an invisible flight of stairs.

His brother had dealt him a very low blow, and it stirred Ed down to his of now writhing blood to know that his sibling knew he might injure him with those words, and yet still, deliberately, had chosen to pick at the partially healed wound.

Ed caught himself and lowered his tense limbs back to there original positions, although his right hand was clenched tightly and trembling ever so slightly a faint metallic sound emitting dully from it.

"Please Al, I know these past few weeks have been rough...especially for you...,"he said softly, intent on sustaining the rather awkward eye contact he and his sibling had some how managed conjure. It was necessary, he had to show him that he wasn't playing around, that he hadn't lost his mind...that he was still the same Edward he had come know through all the short, hard years, "Just please Al, give me back the book...don't say what were both thinking---please...".

And it was with the resolved and burning semblance his brother was now regarding him with, that reminded Ed of a man who he had used to despise so much, that made him fully realize the potential and chilling capability of the person standing before him.

Fully upright back straight, Alphonse measured up at just a bit over six feet, with broad shoulders, handsomely carved features more like his father than mother and sporting a well toned physique, he was a wall of a man and not to be taking lightly in neither wit or athleticism. It didn't take much allotment for Ed to comprehend that this was no longer Alphonse his caring and supportive "baby brother" no...his personality along with his body had grown out of that a while ago...he was an entirely independent individual of his own right.

"Brother, tell me why now?," his voice never stuttered nor wavered like Ed's had, it rang out cold and clear like the wary toll of a ringing bell shattering all secretive silence.

Edward steadied himself, pondering his siblings question. He honestly had no idea what Al meant to say, by announcing that bold remark.

"...Why what?"

Alphonse clenched his eye lids shut and sucked in a steadying breath in what Ed supposed was slight agitation, when he finally opened them Ed found the tiny muscles in his own face twitching nervously and had to muster every ounce of will power he had, to not break contact with the now clearly scorn laced deep amber eyes Al was now scrutinizing him with.

"Don't act like you live in an oblivious bubble brother, it doesn't suit you as an alchemist..." he carried off calmly, severing their feeble connection with a casual crack of his veined neck, his sturdy hands traveling purposefully toward his flowing blond hair, which he pulled into a tail and continued to tie into a small knot.

"Don't forget were powerless here Al...," Ed blurted in a hurried undertone, his eyes scarring the now blackening skies shadowing them.

"Powerless,?" Al scoffed, repeating his question indignantly as though it were the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard."No brother, you mean normal--it seems you have become too dependent on your practice with alchemy, so now without it your moping around and refusing to move on, like a ghost, hollow and pathetic."

"And whats that supposed to mean!?" Edward demanded, his voice rising with emotion and his features lacing with renewed anger, his chest rising heavily for some reason.

Al's countenance changed, and for a breath freezing moment Ed could practically see the familiar, beaming and pragmatic youth of his late sibling rise to the surface for a brief time before subsiding into the expressionless visage of the man before him.

Al remained silent.

His now clouded eyes tracing irregular patterns in the charred rubble around them; Ed found once again his body relaxing and a new sentiment that was not born of rage settled over him.

Shame.

He blinked rapidly, a pyramid of pain building in the center of his temple, he lost awareness temporarily--his chest stiffened. Al was standing directly in front of him, so close was his brethren that Ed could actually count each and every pearl of shining liquid wending its way down the elaborate slopes of his concerned features.

"Al--" Ed never got to voice his thoughts, for the air in his lungs was being forcibly constricted by the robust arms of his "bigger" younger brother; Al had drawn him into a deathtrap of an embrace. "What it means brother," he spoke solemnly into Edward's right ear"Is that I'm afraid of losing you...".

Ed didn't know what to say or do, he just stood there immobile feeling even more repulsive of his own person with each passing second. Al released and produced the fine leather hand book in shaking palms, its battered cover blanketed in silvery tears.

"Forgive me Edward, i was just trying to...i grew tired of seeing you so depressed--just meant to talk some--," Ed halted his siblings apologetic ramblings with a stable finger, an affectionate smile spanning his lips,"No need to say anymore...brother, thank you".

Al blinked for a moment stunned, then quickly dried his face against the sleeve of his white button up shirt, the enduring countenance he had worn earlier, materializing out of nowhere, returning his brothers warm smile as he did so.

Ed out stretched his hand, the confusion that he had been experiencing before, dissipating now that he knew what his brother had been trying to accomplish all along. He took the journal calmly from Al's hands and just when he began to pocket it, a single strong gust of wind manifested somewhere from the west and blew open the back cover of the weathered tome, releasing from its manifolds a tiny photograph.

Al immediately lunged for it and successfully retrieved it; Ed both despised and adored him for the action.

Ed watched as his brothers eyes took in the beautiful image of the bright eyed blond in the picture, totting a black duffel bag in one hand the other occupied by a familiar hefty wrench both Ed and Alphonse would never soon forget. There pupils connecting once again, Ed steeled his breath, hoping beyond hope that Al wouldn't say what they both were undoubtedly thinking...amazingly his brother contented himself with an understanding nod returning the picture to him.

Edward awarded the pretty girl one last perhaps longing once-over, before returning her within his valued booklet, releasing a pent up sigh.

"So where to now Ed,?" came Al's crisp voice, breaking the suppressive silence,"It's nearly dark, we'll have to find shelter soon...remember those howls in the night? Its not safe out here."

Ed replied with a comprehensive nod, stretching his weary bones again. "Then lets be off".

They rounded the street corner simultaneously, each delved in there own personal mental activities.

"Stop where you are," a gravelly voice growled menacingly from behind there turned backs. The chilling sound of a gun cocking shot them both back to reality, and both found themselves being shoved unceremoniously to the ground, panic starting to ensue.

"Now listen here boys, the names Angel and if you don't want your anal cavities pumped full of buck shot, I suggest you do as I say, calmly".

To (hopefully) be continued.