Summary: What happens when your entire world falls apart, but you can't for the sake of the only person you have left? A tragic accident tears the Elric family assunder and it's up to the eldest son to pick up the pieces of his broken life and put it back together in hopes that atleast his brother might be able to lead a semi-normal life.
Rating: R for violence and graphic imagery.
Warnings: AU, some spoilers, violence, graphic imagery, angst, pain and suffering, there won't be a lot of happiness coming all that soon, so just be prepared ;p

Disclaimer: I own nothing that even remotely resembles FullMetal Alchemist, save for volumes 1-3 of the DVD's, volume 1 of the manga, three soundtracks, two issues of Newtype, two packs of trading cards, a silver pocketwatch, and, soon, the Hagaren Song File CD's for Roy Mustang and Edward Elric.
Notes: This fic takes place in an Alternate Universe, meaning a lot of the things you will encounter will not be the same as the actual series. For example, using the date on Ed's watch as a starting point, we can surmise that, in the series, Ed was born in 1899 and that the Ishbal Conflict, roughly, took place in and around 1906. The latter date will remain the same, however, the year of Ed's birth has been changed to 1888, which would make this particular installment of this fic in the year 1900, also, making Ed's age to be 12.

Why have I done this? Simple. As you will later find out, or, actually, as you will later read, as you are about to find out, this is a companion-fic. The idea came from a proposed RP in which Ed would be taking advantage of Roy, however the only point at which we know of where Roy would be easily taken advantage of is during the Ishbal Conflict (if you don't know what I'm talking about, best just to skip this fic, unless you don't mind spoilers), however, with the timeline as it is in the series -- and the fact that Ed is eight years old when this takes place -- it is rather impossible to do it within the actual series. So! It was decided that it would be an AU RP, in which Ed would have to be atleast 18 in order to make him an official soldier and send him off to Ishbal with Roy. Also, his past has changed (obviously), and that was the point of this fic. Originally I had just wanted to get his past straight in my head just to make sure that everything was consistant and would make sense, because I am just a bit anal when it comes to details; but it turned into a fic after I had to decide on a different reason he'd lost his limbs; because if I had kept his backstory the same as in the series, then the RP just wouldn't have worked right. So! I tweaked things around a bit (quite a bit, actually), and this is the first part of the result.

Next installment will be either after Ed wakes up in the hospital or a couple of years later, I haven't decided yet. And I hate to give myself a deadline, especially considering I'm not even sure what point in the timeline I'm going to set the next chapter in, because I'll probably just end up disappointing myself and anyone who's actually waiting on the next chapter, but, considering I really am looking forward to doing this RP and I refuse to do it until I've finished Ed's backstory, you should expect the next chapter up no later than next week .

Chapter One: Older Brother, 12 Younger Brother, 8

There was smoke everywhere. Clouds of dirt choked him every time him breathed in. There were people coughing and crying, moaning and, even more frightening, simply not making any sounds at all. And it was so hot.

But, that wasn't anything that concerned Ed, not yet anyway. The twelve-year-old was more concerned with the whimpering form beneath him.

"Al?" Damn but his voice sounded strained even to him. "Al, are you alright?"

"I'm...I'm alright." Came the whimpered reply, "But...but, Brother, your-"

"I know!" the older blonde retorted sharply. Yes, he knew. But if he didn't think about it, if he didn't look, then the pain wasn't so bad. Right now, Ed had to concentrate on how to get both he and his brother out of the twisted remains of the train.

"Brother?"

"Yeah?"

"...W-...where are...where are Mom and Dad?"

Ed looked down from where he'd been searching the train for an easy way out...and then across from them to where their parents had been sitting. "I can't see them." he answered truthfully. The large chunk of metal that had crushed his right arm was blocking his view. Of course, the older brother knew very well that, if he couldn't hear them calling for the two boys, then it was very likely that both were dead. "Al," he murmured before the younger boy could react, "Do you see the window behind us?"

He felt his brother shifting beneath him, he could also feel him beginning to shake almost violently with what he saw there. "Brother, your leg-"

"Alphonse!" he said sharply, cutting his brother off. "The window. Is the glass completely gone?" There wasn't an answer for a few moments. "Al-"

"Yes!" the boy answered finally, "It's all gone, there's nothing left in the window."

"Good." Ed breathed a slight sigh of relief. "So you'll be able to get out through it."

"What? No!" Alphonse stiffened beneath his brother. "Brother, I won't leave you here! I can't!"

"Al, don't argue with me, just go." Again there was no answer, but there was no movement either, and Ed was starting to get dizzy. "Look, I'll follow you in a second, okay? I just need to get this thing off my arm."

"Let me help you!"

"No!" Ed sighed and pressed a kiss to the younger boy's forehead. "You need to get out of here while you can. Can't you smell the smoke? I'll be out right behind you, just go."

"You promise?"

The older boy blinked down a bit in surprise at the question, and that, more than anything, proved to Al that his older brother hadn't been planning on coming out. "Brother," he frowned, his eyebrows furrowing in a look of determination whose only match was the one that his older brother had perfected years ago.

Ed was helpless against it, and immediately he began devising a plan to get himself out of the train as well. "Alright," he murmured, "I promise." The older blonde reached with his left arm to ruffle the younger blonde's hair. "Now go on."

Al nodded before carefully sliding out from beneath his older brother, pausing when the older boy winced, but each time he was reassured by Ed that he was fine and he continued on. By the time he was finally able to stand up, he noticed the blood seeping into his shorts and the bottom of his shirt from his brother's severed leg, but before he had the chance to squat down and examine it, Ed was shouting at him even more impatiently, and the younger blonde flashed his brother a worried glance before nodding, and he finally carefully made his way towards the window over all of the broken and blood-stained glass and he climbed onto a seat and out the window.

From the sound of voices shouting outside, Ed could tell that someone had shown up atleast, and hopefully they had called the police. But, now that he was sure that Alphonse would be taken care of, he had to turn his attention back to getting himself out of the train; he'd promised his brother, after all.

The older blonde turned back to the great hunk of steel crushing his arm and pushed against it with his left hand experimentally. The movement only caused lights to burst behind his eyes, so he stopped and lay there for a minute or so, trying to get his mind back in working order. Once the boy could see straight again, he turned his attention to the spot where his arm disappeared beneath the metal; he was actually quite lucky that it had missed his head, though just barely. In the meantime, if he even survived this, there was no doubt in his mind that he would lose his arm, and he'd already lost his leg.

That was it then. That was the only solution. Ed reached down to the stump that had once been his left leg, dipping his fingers in the puddle of blood beneath. There was no point in moving the metal away enough that he could pull out his useless arm, especially if it was only going to have to come off anyway, and it would just get in the way as he was trying to get out of the train. Clenching his teeth, Ed tore away his shirt, baring his shoulder, not even flinching as he saw the already discoloring skin, and his arm was already nearly half-torn off anyway. That just made it easier for him. The blonde carefully drew an array onto his shoulder using the blood on his fingers -- an array he'd only ever used a few times before, but knew would work, atleast for his purposes.

The three basic steps for Alchemy are Understanding, Decomposition, and Reconstruction. In order to transmute anything, you needed to understand the elements you are working with and how they are composed, then you must break them down, and then rebuild them as something else, using the power from the drawn array. However, Ed had realized something during one of his study sessions with their father: If part of the process was the breaking down of the elements involved, then wouldn't it be possible to simply stop the process there and then you'd have all of the basic components?

'Well, yes,' Hohenheim had answered, a little surprised that an eleven-year-old would even think of such a thing. 'Why do you ask?'

The blonde had shrugged, his gaze never turning away from the book he'd been reading. 'I was just thinking.' he murmured, not really thinking he'd suggested anything too spectacular. Surely if he'd thought of it, then other Alchemists had. 'It would probably be a good thing for architects or miners to know how to do. It would make things easier for them when they're trying to demolish buildings or dig mines.'

Hohenheim had made Edward promise to keep this idea to himself, and when the boy had asked him why he'd simply answered that, once Edward figured out 'why' himself, then he son could do whatever he liked with the idea.

The eldest son still didn't understand why, a year later, but he did know that he was capable of performing Alchemy like this. He had worked on it some with his father in private, and, while he hadn't perfected the technique as well as Hohenheim had, his skills were good enough that he could accomplish what he needed to in his present circumstances.

Ed thought back on everything his father had taught him as he placed his hand over the array and he gritted his teeth as it activated with a red glow. The sickening sound of tearing flesh was almost completely drowned out by the boy's cry as his arm was torn from his body.

Blood. There was so much blood. He had to stop the bleeding. The blonde thought he could hear voices nearby, shouting and getting louder. He really wished they would be quiet though, he could barely think straight as it was. Golden eyes glanced down at his shoulder, seeing the tatters of his shirt and he managed to tie the fabric over the bloodied stump using his left hand and his teeth. There wasn't anything he could really do about his leg, but Ed's vision was beginning to blur again, and he realized he didn't really have the time to worry about it; he still had to get out of the train.

Balancing himself on his left hand and right knee, Edward forced himself to crawl through the pool of blood and glass towards the window, not letting himself react to the shards of broken glass slicing away at his skin; though, then again, the cuts just might not have hurt as much as they should have, and this only made Edward move faster. He couldn't afford to pass out in here, not if he was going to keep his promise to his brother. If he passed out, then there was no telling when someone might find him, if at all, and he would most surely bleed to death.

He managed to get up onto the chair, though not without a lot of difficulty, and the blonde's head swam with the effort; but he couldn't let himself stop, not even to regain his balance. He didn't have much farther to go -- just through the window, and then he'd be out, he'd have kept his promise to his brother and then it would be up to those voices shouting outside. Ed reached over and grabbed a hold of the edge of the window and, gathering up all of his strength, he launched himself out.

The last thing Edward remembered was hitting the ground, hard, and then those voices were getting even louder. The blonde's eyes were getting heavier and he couldn't see much, except a lot of jumbled shadows and a bright light that kept flickering between them. When he finally couldn't keep his eyes open anymore, the voices faded away, as did the shadows and that light; all that was left was an empty silence, as if the entire world had suddenly just stopped moving -- had just died -- and, when he opened his eyes, there was nothing, not even he seemed to truly be there. The only thing that appeared to exist at all, that seemed more real than anything Edward could remember, was the massive stone doorway towering above him, and those doors opening before him.