Return
"Ed?"
"…."
"Brother?"
"Mmmph."
"Are you awake?"
Edward opened one eye. "Well I am now" he grumbled from his reclined position.
Edward slowly sat up and looked around the interior of the train he and his younger brother were riding in. It was nothing elaborate. The identical brown seats were offset by a much darker brown carpet. Overhead was a metal rack, with Edward's suitcase on it. The slightly grimy windows revealed the gently rolling hills outside, dotted with cattle.
Several moments of silence passed before Alphonse spoke again and the gentle clack-clack of the moving train could be heard in the stillness.
"Well, I was thinking…" began Alphonse, but he stopped and gave his brother a nervous look.
Edward's gaze flickered from the window to his brother. "Spit it out Al."
Alphonse gave a startled clank and tried to start again. "Um, well, I was just thinking about our searching. It's been a couple years… and I thought maybe we should just take a break from it for a while. Maybe if we stopped searching for a short time something-"
"No." interrupted Edward.
"But why not?" asked Alphonse.
"I'm sure we're getting closer to finding the stone, we just have to keep searching."
Al looked worriedly at his older brother. "It seems like all of this searching for the stone is all that is ever on your mind" he said. "Even when we went to visit Winry it seemed like you were distracted the whole time."
Edward frowned, but said nothing.
"I just thought we could take a small break" said Alphonse. "Maybe the colonel could find something for us to do in the north; I've heard the cities up there have beautiful flowers in the spring and a lot of festivals."
Edward was still gazing out of the window.
"Are you listening to me Ed?" asked Al.
"This is exactly the reason we need to find the stone! You can't enjoy any of those things if you don't have a normal body!" Edward said as he turned away from the window.
They locked eyes for a minute, Ed's golden eyes meeting Al's metal helmet. Alphonse looked away from his brother's sharp gaze and said softly "I just want you to be happy."
Edward sighed. "Once we find the philosopher's stone and I can return us to our original bodies, then everything will be back to normal." He paused then asked "Are you happy Al?"
Alphonse was unsure how to answer the question. He did not want say no and have his brother become even more fanatic about finding the stone, but he did not want to say yes, because his brother would probably refuse to believe him. There was only one way to answer this delicate question. "If I could have a cat…"
Edward rolled his eyes and said "You know we can't keep a cat where we live."
There was silence for several minutes as neither boy spoke. Edward went back to staring out the window and Alphonse looked thoughtfully at his brother.
"Brother, is there another reason besides getting our bodies back you want to find the stone?" asked Alphonse.
"What do you mean?" said Edward.
"Well, whenever we encounter any sort of situation you can't fix you always say that when you find the stone everything will be better" Alphonse said shrewdly. Alphonse's comment seemed to touch the heart of the matter as Edward crossed his arms and looked down towards the floor of the train. "Edward?" asked Alphonse.
"I just...want to make everything right again." Edward said so softly Alphonse could barely hear him. Still staring at the floor of the train, he added "I have to correct my mistakes, if I find the stone then I can correct most of them; equivalent exchange. All of the people that have been affected by my stupid mistakes…especially you Al."
"Brother don't be ridiculous. I've made just as many mistakes as you and besides I'm partially responsible for the body I have now."
"NO!" exclaimed Edward as he glared at his younger brother "it's my fault! I have to fix it!"
"No, it's my fault too brother."
"It's mine!"
"No! it's mine."
They glowered at each other.
Al started to laugh suddenly. Edward scowled and said "Why are you finding this funny?"
"Do you remember when we used to argue like this when we were at home Ed? Except we were always arguing about who would get to help Mom with the laundry and stuff like that."
Edward laughed too and said "Yeah, I guess some things never change."
"Remember what Mom would do when we argued like that? She would make a game out of it and all three of us would work together" Alphonse said. Edward smiled and Al added tentatively "Maybe we can have a little fun while we look for the stone, right?" he asked.
"Alright Al," said Edward "You win this time; I'll ask the colonel if he can find some information on the stone in the northern part of the country."
"While you are asking about that you should ask about keeping a cat too" Alphonse added hopefully.
Edward laughed and said "You never give up, do you Al?"