WARNING: I don't know what I'm is my first ever attempt at an FMA fic, so I don't have much of a plot in mind... the story goes where it goes... but somehow I end up with oodles of plot anyway. So again: I do not know what I am doing.

Ed: That sounds dangerous.

Me: Yeah, well…

Ed: By the way, TheAmbitiousWriter doesn't own me or Al or anyone except for Kara, Kai, and their messed-up family.

Me: HEY! Don't sneak the disclaimer in without my permission! And who are you to talk about messed-up families?

Ed: *sniffle*

Me: Oops…

Chapter I

"So… so hungry…" Edward moaned, dragging himself through the sand. "I can't remember the last time I ate… and it's so hooooot…"

"Brother, you ate this morning," Alphonse replied, a hint of amusement in his metallic voice.

"But that was this morning! And now it's…" He squinted up, trying to discern where the sun was in the sky. "Afternoon?"

"Close. Soon it'll be evening."

"Evening?! Awww…"

"Don't worry, we're almost there." Ed could swear that his brother was doing all he could not to laugh. If he had a mouth, he would already be smiling ear to ear.

After shaking the sand out of his automail yet again, Edward abandoned the little pride he had left and asked Al to carry him.

"Carry you?" his little brother asked incredulously. "Are you serious?"

"C'mon, Al, I'm so hot! My automail is positively cooking me, and it keeps getting sand in it!"

"You think you've got a problem? I've gotten buried at least eight times now, brother!" They glared at each other for a few seconds before neither could stand it anymore and they both burst out laughing. "I'll carry you if you want me to, brother, but the town is right over there."

"No thanks, that's okay," Ed responded, picking up speed. If they didn't want to miss the train, they should probably hurry up… In a backwater village like this, the next one wouldn't come for a day and a half…

"Hurry up, Alphonse!" he called over his shoulder. "The train!"

"Oh, right!" Once the younger brother started off, Ed soon found himself rather far behind.

"Geez, Al! I didn't say leave me in the dust!" He was beginning to tire. At least Al didn't have to worry about that. But it was a nuisance at times… like now, for instance...

A loud blast of sound interrupted his thoughts. The train! If he hadn't been going quite as fast as he could before, now he was definitely running at top speed. He spotted the train station… there was Al, already on board… the train was pulling out…

"Faster, brother!" yelled Alphonse. "Hurry!" Ed was almost to the caboose now. He swung his suitcase up over the rail. Then, just as he ran out of platform, he leapt for the train, hand reaching out to grasp his brother's.

Thud.

What happened? Was he on the train? Who was yelling? As his scattered thoughts collected themselves, Ed realised it was his brother who was yelling. He picked himself up off the pavement (ouch) and looked up to see the train speeding away. Al already had one leg over the rail, preparing to jump off.

"No! Stay on the train!" Ed yelled, uncertain whether Al could hear him or not. "Tell Mustang why I'm late and give him the report I wrote up! If he doesn't get it he'll do something seriously sadistic to me!" The wind carried away most of Al's reply, but Ed got the gist of it.

"...ure...kay...other?"

"I'll catch the next train!" Ed shouted back, but the train was too far away for his brother to hear. The stranded alchemist sighed, and turned to go back into town to look for a place to stay.

That's when he realised his money was in his suitcase.

And Al had his suitcase…

Holy Hydrogen, why did these things always happen to him?

oOo

It didn't take long for Ed to figure out something was wrong. The streets were empty. He'd attributed this to the time of day, but he didn't even see parents calling their children in for dinner.

It was completely empty. No sign of life… anywhere. A ghost town.

"Okay, now I'm freaked out," he murmured. "Where is everyone?" Suddenly, Ed spotted a flash of colour out of the corner of his eye. He froze for a moment, then dashed after the rapidly retreating figure. "Hey! Wait!" he yelled. He sprinted around a corner and nearly crashed into a terrified-looking woman.

The alley she'd run into was a dead-end, and she obviously felt cornered. Though why exactly she was afraid of him, Edward had no idea.

"Why are you running?" he inquired, putting up both hands with the palms facing her and stepping back so she knew he wasn't going to hurt her.

Instead of answering, she sobbed and fell to her knees. "It's you…" she whispered fearfully. "The Xerxian with golden hair and eyes! Just like the prophecy said…"

"Huh? Xerxian?" As far as Ed knew, Xerxes and its people were long gone. And besides, there were loads of people with… well… actually, now that he thought about, though many Amestrians had blond hair, he'd never met anyone else with golden eyes like him and Alphonse. He turned his attention back to the woman, who was now whispering something.

"The man with eyes and hair of gold, Like that of great Xerxes of old…" She started crying. "Please don't kill me!"

"Woah! I'm not gonna kill you! I just missed my train and I need a place to stay tonight…" He never finished, due to the fact the the woman had taken his distractedness as an opportunity to get the heck out of there. Ed sighed.

"Just my luck. I get stuck in a town where apparently everyone thinks I'm trying to kill them." His eyebrow twitched. "And somehow I get the feeling that's not going to be the worst thing that happens while I'm here…"

oOo

Riza Hawkeye was having her day off. Meaning, of course, that Roy Mustang was getting no work done whatsoever. Unless you counted trying to prank-call Major Armstrong (which ended badly) or building a mini-fortress out of the paperwork he was supposed to be doing, until it collapsed and scared Breda out of his wits. The Colonel was startled by a sudden knock at the door; he quickly rearranged his paperwork so it looked like he was doing it instead of playing with it and called, "Come in!".

He was a little surprised to see Alphonse, carrying Ed's suitcase and looking rather anxious. "Alphonse? Where's your brother? Did something happen to Fullmetal?"

"Oh, um, no. He just missed the train."

"And you managed to catch said train, without him?" Roy frowned. "Where is he?"

"A village called Kaladuen, near the eastern desert."

"Huh? I've never heard of that village."

"It's pretty tiny… it's really only known for the train station there, which is the only one that close to the desert. In fact, the village is technically located in the desert."

"That would explain it." Roy sighed. "And I suppose this means he'll be late with his report… I wonder what I can make him do this time…" A smirk spread across the Colonel's face. "Admit his shortness in front of everyone?"

"Ah! Wait! I have his report here!" Al pulled a rather crinkled piece of paper out of Ed's suitcase. "He told me to give it to you for him…" Roy's face drooped. Was he disappointed? Al shuddered. How sadistic was he, anyway?

"Alright… I guess I owe Lieutenant Hawkeye a hundred cenz… drat…"

"You bet on when Brother would get his report in?!"

"Um. No." Roy hastily changed the subject. "Do you mind if I ask… is it hard to try and keep up with Fullmetal? I mean, the kid's always doing crazy stuff… Became a state alchemist at twelve, little though he was…" There was a gap in the conversation as both instinctively paused for Ed's rant about how he was not little and Colonel Bastard better shut his face before he got his butt kicked right through the paperwork he was supposed to be doing.

"Well, I guess it's always been like that," Alphonse replied. "Brother's always going as fast as he can, towards whatever objective he has in mind. When we were kids, it was getting our mother back, and now it's finding the Philosopher's Stone. He doesn't need two legs to run. Even with no legs, he'd keep pushing forward, faster than anyone… and I'm perfectly happy to follow along behind him," he added humbly. "That's how I learned to pay so much attention to details. Brother is always working so hard, going so fast that it's easy for him to miss things. The little things, the things you don't notice unless you're going slow enough. That's why I follow him at my slower pace… When he misses things, I can show them to him once he finally slows down." Al chuckled. "Wow, I didn't mean to get so metaphorical on you. Sorry, Colonel."

"That's quite alright, Alphonse. Out of interest, when will Fullmetal likely make it back?"

"Maybe… two days?"

"Two days?" He beckoned to Havoc. "Make sure Lieutenant Hawkeye doesn't come in tomorrow and we're golden!"

"Uh… golden for what?"

"Trust me, Alphonse," Havoc said seriously. "You do not want to know."

oOo

"Aaaaand now it's raining. In the desert. How often does that happen?" Edward glanced up at the grey clouds above him, succeeding only in getting his face wet. "The Truth must really hate me." He pulled his soaked red coat tighter around himself, shivering. Who knew the desert got so cold at night?

The moon shone dimly through the rain-clouds, illuminating everything with a sort of dirty grey light. The entire village looked like a monotone, grey, rainy blur. The only spot of colour was Edward, his red jacket and bright gold hair a stark contrast to the dark, colourless streets.

As the rain began to come down harder, Ed sighed and got to his feet. With a quick clap of his hands, he easily transmuted a small shelter from the rain using the wall next to him. However, the desert wind blew the rain in all directions, rendering the shelter rather useless.

The light from the alchemical reaction did not go unnoticed. Many faces appeared at windows only gasp in terror and duck down out of sight. This still befuddled Ed; he didn't think he looked like much of a threat, huddled out here in the cold and rain. With his luck, he'd probably get hypothermia and die.

His stomach rumbled loudly and he slumped against the wall, depressed. He'd tried to keep from thinking about his gnawing hunger by distracting his brain with other thoughts― Alphonse, Resembool, the Periodic Table of Elements― but at this point, the only thing going through his head was FOOOOOOD.

Which is why he thought he imagined the chunk of bread that hit him in the face.

"What the…" He hastily snatched the food off the ground so it wouldn't get too wet, looking around for who threw it. He didn't see anyone. Movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention, and he turned to see a little boy, about ten, hiding behind a corner.

"Thanks!" he called out, but the boy started and ran off, terrified. "Okay? Was that, like, some kind of special bread attack? 'Cos bread is nowhere near as good of ammunition as Al's head is…"

After devouring the bread in a few ravenous bites, Ed curled up under his makeshift shelter and slipped into a fitful sleep.

oOo

"Mister Alchemist? Hey, wake up, Mister Alchemist!" Ed felt someone shaking him. Still half-asleep, he groaned and turned over.

"Whaddya want Al…" he muttered tiredly. "M'asleep." He opened his golden eyes just a sliver, trying to remember where he was. As he caught sight of the person who had awoken him, recognition dawned on his face. "It's you! The one who threw that bread at me!"

The boy nodded, looking frightened. "Mister Alchemist, you need to get out of here… Please hurry!"

"Huh? Why? I can't leave until my train gets here."

"If you leave, then the prophecy won't come true and then nobody has to die!" The boy sniffed, on the verge of tears.

"I-I don't… I don't understand," Ed stammered. "What's this prophecy? Why is everyone so afraid of me?"

"Please, Mister Alchemist! My father said he was going to…" The boy choked back a sob. "I don't want anyone to die!" He looked solemnly up at Edward.

"I… When's the next train?"

"There's a cargo train leaving really soon! You can leave on that, right, Mister Alchemist?"

"You can just call me Ed. And thanks," he added, running for the train station.

"You're welcome, Mister Ed!" the boy called, waving. Edward smiled a little to himself.

He managed to clamber on board one of the cars just as the train pulled out. Settling back against a stack of hay, he pondered the strangeness of the village he had just left. What was this prophecy? Did it really refer to him? Ten minutes later found him still trying to solve the village's mystery. The thoughts in his brain just kept spiralling in a huge circle… He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and tried to find a more comfortable position in the hay.

Without warning, the car jerked violently and Ed's ears were blasted with the sound of something exploding. He leapt to his feet, but a second explosion tipped the car so suddenly that he was thrown through the air. He glimpsed fire and twisted metal, then there was a noise and someone was screaming, and why did his leg hurt so much? Quite suddenly, something struck the back of his head and he blacked out.

oOo

Hohenheim was extremely disconcerted. He'd woken up with a very odd feeling and he couldn't shake the sense that something was amiss. He felt like he'd forgotten something important.

Distracted, the man missed his footing and tumbled right into someone. "Oh! I'm so sorry, miss…"

"That's quite alright," replied the blond woman good-naturedly. She glanced up at his face and looked startled for a moment, brown eyes widening. Then she shook her head disbelievingly and smiled.

"Something wrong?"

"No, you just look like someone I know. That's all," she explained. "It's your eyes."

"My eyes?" Hohenheim was a little taken aback. His golden hair and eyes were traits of the Xerxians, gone extinct long, long ago. He'd never, not in all his time wandering Amestris and the surrounding countries, met anyone else with eyes like his.

Unless… "Might that someone be named Edward or Alphonse?" he inquired. The woman looked startled.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. Edward Elric." The man smiled wistfully. So they go by their mother's last name… The thought of Trisha made him morose, so he turned back to the woman.

"Next time you see him, you ought to compliment those eyes of his. After all, they're not exactly common." Hohenheim turned to leave.

"Might I ask how you know Edward?" the woman questioned curiously.

"I'm his father."

"I'm his father." The words rang in Riza's ears. How was that possible? She dropped her bag of groceries. His father… Ed had never even mentioned his father before, so Riza had automatically assumed… She snapped back to the present, calling after the blond-haired man.

"Wait―!" She stared at the street in front of her.

He had disappeared.

oOo

Al stood among the crowd of people at the train station, watching those who were getting off the train. Many of them shot him strange looks as they passed, but he paid them no heed. He was used to it by now.

After the flood of departing passengers slowed to a trickle, and there was still no sign of Ed, Alphonse began to worry. Surely nothing had happened? What could have caused him to miss the train a second time?

The last person disembarked and Ed was nowhere to be seen. Al searched the crowd futilely for his brother, still clinging to a shred of hope…

"Alphonse?" He whirled to see who had spoken. It was not in fact, Edward; instead, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes stood in front of him.

"Oh, hi, Mr. Hughes," Al greeted. "What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I was looking for you."

"For me? Why?"

"There's some news I think you should hear…" The Lieutenant Colonel pushed up his glasses. "There was a cargo train that passed through the village of Kaladuen yesterday. It's quite possible Edward tried to catch a lift to Central on that train."

"Really? In that case…"

"Alphonse." Mr. Hughes looked despondently at the huge suit of armour over the top of his glasses. "I'm sorry, but…"

Al felt the response coming, but he just couldn't believe it. There was no way…

"The train was blown up while crossing a gorge. There's very little chance he survived… I'm afraid your brother is dead."

oOo

Me: DUN DUN DUN! And so I end another chapter.

Ed: What the heck?! You killed me off?! So cruel!

Me: You might not be dead. You might just be severely injured.

Ed: *sarcastically* Oh, thanks. That's so much better.

Al: Brother, don't try to argue with TheAmbitiousWriter. They control the story and they could easily do some pretty terrible things to you.

Ed: Nothing more terrible than they've done already!

Me: Care to put that to the test? *smirk*

Al: RUN FOR IT BROTHER!

Ed: Don't have to tell me twice!