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"But Brother! With the amount of trouble you get into, who's going to be there to help?" Alphonse's metallic voice echoed in the Rockbell home. "I don't want to be alone, Brother. It's bad enough at night," He said a bit softer, "I can't deal with you being gone in the daytime, too."

Edward deeply sighed, resting his feet upon a plum leg rest, sinking deeper into the white lounge couch. He adverted his eyes, "You know why I'm doing this, Al. It's for your own safety."

"You'd think after eleven years, I'd have enough common sense to at least take care of myself!" Alphonse stared at him with pleading soul fire eyes.

"Alphonse, I know what you're capable of, but we just can't risk anything happening. If it's just me, the chance of something bad happening reduces by half." Edward tugged at the collar of his shirt, "Just let me do this for you, alright?"

The gunmetal armor sat down next to his brother, struggling to argue further. "Brother, I want to be there every step of the way. It wasn't just you that failed to bring Mom back." Edward stiffened at the mention of the forbidden topic, Al noted. "I was there, too."

"I said no." Edward said quickly, standing up while enforcing a cold stare at his younger brother. "Alphonse, you're going to stay in Resembool and not get into any trouble. This is my journey, and I'm going alone."

The words make a muddled translation to Alphonse's ears. Before Alphonse could stop himself, he threw a fist back and hurled it towards the prodigy's left cheek, causing Edward to fall back.

Edward curled in on himself, holding his tender cheek. "Alphonse.." He murmured.

"How can you be so selfish, Edward?" Alphonse seemed to be at a struggle, fists shaking by his sides. "Am I nothing to you?" Before the injured alchemist could answer, the armored boy continued, "I only wanted to stay by your side. I don't see the problem! Unless you think I'm just going to get in the way. In that case, fine. Go alone, because I don't care anymore." Alphonse turned away and before Edward's eyes, his brother was gone.

Edward stared at the door in stun, sadness, anger, and regret. As badly as he wanted to chase after his brother, he knew this was only the beginning to this new found journey.

"Are you sure you don't want us to find him before you leave?" Winry asked the alchemist for the third time that day.

Edward smiled crookedly, the swelling in his cheek hadn't gone down just yet. "I told you, Win. I already made up my mind. Try to take good care of him, and keep him busy, will you? He broods a lot when he's not doing anything." Winry laughed almost humorlessly, "You make it sound like we're taking care of a cat or something."

"No, Al's nothing like a cat." Edward laughed, "Cats hate everybody, but the only person Al hates right now is me." He said in a humorous tone, but his smile held anything but humor.

Winry sighed. "I heard. Edward, you two are brothers. Shouldn't this journey be the two of you?" Or better yet, neither. "You brought yourselves into it, why can't you at least rely on Al for help?"

The alchemist shuffled his feet, "It's too late, Win. Besides, I doubt he'd want to be stuck with me for the next few months." Or years. "Besides, wouldn't you be happy to be stuck with the guy? You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

Winry rolled her eyes, "Of course we're happy to have him, but Edward, he's your brother. He'd drop us in a second if it meant being by your side. But if you're absolutely sure, well, we're not responsible if you just so happen to run into him in central."

"Right. I'll keep an eye out, then." He smirked, "But I should probably go, now. The train's leaving in ten minutes." Edward scratched the back of his head. Winry gaped.

"You MORON! You're going to miss it!"

"No I won't!"

"Yes you will!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"EDWARD!"

I need to stop writing stories I never finish. Thank you for reading the prologue to this story, and please review with opinions and ideas! 3