A/N: Hey guys, dullazboi here. So after reading so many different types of fan-fic (full metal alchemist related), I have decided to grow a pair and write my own. So this is my first fan-fic, set after the promised day. It's a mix of the first anime and the second anime/manga so I hope all goes well and that I don't epically fail..

Also, flames are welcome, as it will help me be a better write I hope *crosses fingers*. enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own full metal alchemist and its characters as well as any of the items that will be used in this story.

4/29/13: So I decided to reread this chapter, and surprisingly I found a whole lot of grammatical and spelling errors lol. so hopefully I fixed all of them!Thanks for reading! Also fixed some formatting =]

Present day

Date: May 28th, 1944

Location: unknown

A young man lays wide eyed as he stares at the ceiling of this dark hole they called a home. Years of running, hiding and escaping death is starting to take its toll on him as he turned uncomfortably on his side to stare at the boy who has stuck by his side since the beginning of this nightmare. Noticing his sleeping form, the young man decides not to wake the boy and sits up to once again survey the area around him. He along with a dozen others have been hiding out in an abandoned home for the past few days to avoid the patrols that were out searching endlessly for them. The house was quite hidden from view as it was literally situated in a bowl, with hills surrounding them from all sides. Despite the fact that the house was hidden from view, if anyone were to ever find them it would make escape nearly impossible; however, the young man took the assumption that because hiding in this house was near suicidal, that the officers of the raiding parties would think so too and thus not think that they would occupy the old building. So far things were finally going according to his plan.

"Damn I wonder how long it's been since we escaped that hellish country" the young man asked himself as he laid back down. Using his left hand as a pillow, he placed his right hand about a foot away from his face and began staring absentmindedly at his it, moving his fingers and forming a fist every now and then as if it's been years since he's experienced these hearing a familiar voice, the state of sleep begins to lift from another young man.

"Mmm… Brother what are you still doing up? You need to try and get some rest, we got a long day tomorrow" said the younger brother as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, not turning to look at his older brother, who was sleeping on the spot to his right. When the younger brother didn't get a response, his eyes golden eyes quickly went from drowsy to sharp alertness as he sat up slightly and continued to keep calling out to his older sibling

"Brother...Brother... ED!"

"Wha?... What Al?" replied Ed as he blinked a few times and shook his head slightly, a clear indication that his thoughts were interrupted. He barely turned his head to face his younger brother, letting him know that he was listening.

However even though his brother was facing him, Al didn't think that he really did have his attention but decided to go ahead and try to find out what was on his mind anyway.

"Are you thinking about home brother?" asked Al who, after all these years of running still have yet to dissect his brother's mental state. I really wonder what he always thinks about after everything that's happened.

"Yeah Al... you can say that I am" said Ed as his golden orbs immediately drifted back to his right hand.

Heh… So that's what he's always been thinking about. Al thought to himself as he noticed how deep in thought his brother was as he stared at his right hand. The memory brought upon a slight smile to the younger brother as his eyes slowly shifted to the ground, and he was glad that it was dark enough that Ed didn't notice. Even though brother's right arm is made of flesh again, he must miss her a lot. Lost in his own world, Al didn't notice Ed shifting his body towards him.

"Sometimes I still find it hard to believe our luck..." Ed's sudden words caused Al to look up, seeing that his older brother now had his full attention to him, lying on his left side and supporting his head with his left arm.

"I know what you mean brother," Al managed to get out as he also shifted his body towards Ed and mimicked his position.

"I thought that we were finally home free and away from all these things that kept trying to kill us," Ed finally said "only to have this thrown at us, it's like a slap to the face..."

Al began to sit up to try and get into a more comfortable position but was finding it hard, "I know brother, but right now the most we can do is survive long enough for us to find a way home."

"Al, you shouldn't even be up right now," said Ed as he closed the gap between his younger brother, "Your body still isn't up to full strength yet from being in the gate for so long"

"I'm fine brother, it's been a while since that happened" Al responded "and plus I'm strong enough to handle my own right now, but I'm just worried about what's going to happen, that's all."

"Look let me worry about that ok Al? Just get some rest... you'll need it more than I will" Ed said as he tried to help Al back into his makeshift bed of cold hard concrete and a jacket as a blanket.

As the younger brother began to once again drift off into his own realm, Ed manages to allow a small smile to grace his lips as he reminisced at all of the hardships that they both went through so that he can finally see his younger brother sleeping in flesh and bone and not an empty suit of armor.

I didn't think it would turn of like this thought Ed as he got on his knees and slowly stood up knowing that sleep won't come to him tonight. We've been through hell and back too many times to remember. And now were placed into another one. Ed looked took a glance his little brother as determination flashed through his eyes. Guess we'll just have to make one more trip.

A loud crash from upstairs shook Ed out of his thoughts and his first instinct was to run upstairs and bash the sentry that made the noise. However, he glided across the room instead of acting on impulse which is what would've happened if he was younger. When he reached the staircase he ran into the sentry that volunteered to keep look out while the others slept.

"Samuel, what the hell happened?" Ed said in a dangerously low voice "this better be important if you risked waking up everyone up after what they've been through today"

"Yes I know, and you told me to not bother you unless it was an emergency but Ed you need to see this," Samuel pointed his chin back up the stairs "we might need to end up waking everyone up and getting the hell out of here" he told Ed as they quietly ran up the stairs. They reached a boarded up window at the end of a small hallway that had the entire view of the grasslands and Samuel handed Ed his binoculars

"Alright Samuel you need to tell me what the hell's going on" Ed whispered as he snatched the binoculars from his sentry, "if this is some kind of sick joke then... then..." Ed trailed off and couldn't manage to find his voice once he looked into the binoculars as his jaw dropped at the sight before him, the need to use the binoculars instantly became pointless.

About 30 foot soldiers and 4 panzer tanks equipped with high intensity search lights were slowly marching down the hills towards their house. From Ed's point of view they formed a horizontal line as a way to prevent any escape and to also cover the most ground as they slowly crawled. The search lights were slowly sweeping left and right, not hitting their house just yet and the actions looked all too familiar to the young man as they have experienced this plenty of times when they were running from these bastards.

They're most likely combing the area. Ed did a quick sweep and instinctively put the binoculars down knowing that there's no longer any use for it. Shit, we won't last long if they caught up to us, some plan this is turning out to be. He quickly turned back to Samuel.

"Samuel!"

"Yeah?"

"Run downstairs and wake everyone up. Judging by how slow their moving we might have a chance of sneaking out of here before those lights hit us. Get everyone prepped and ready to move the hell out!" Ed was starting to raise his voice and as Samuel ran down the stairs, he looked back out of the window to try and calculate any routes of escape and determine casualty rates for taking those routes.

Damn, no good, he scanned the field once more, we'll get spotted as soon as we step foot out of this house. Damn it what have I just done to all of these people!?.. Another thing to add to his list of mistakes and regrets as Ed sighed heavily. He looked blankly up at the cloudless yet starlit night sky and took a deep breath, reveling at the thought of how peaceful it can actually be if the war wasn't going on.

They're almost like the stars and skies from back home, when it was just the three of us and I still had her with me. The sudden thought of his mechanic slowly brought back some bittersweet memories as he once again became lost in his thoughts as he accidently allowed himself to remember. How she used to always smell like machine oil and lilacs, how she always manages to get some of that oil smudged on her face which Ed thought made her look even cuter, how her laughter was so contagious that it always made him want to giggle with her, and how her smile was able to light up anyone's day especially his and how seeing it always gave him a warm fuzzy feeling in his stomach. What I would give to see her smile one more time Ed reminisced sadly, I was forced out of my world without so much as a goodbye to her…

Unfortunately, the low rumbling of the tank's caterpillar tracks and murmuring shattered Ed's dream and preferred reality as he was forced back into the world of who-knows-where. He shook his head and replaced his expressionless face into the kill-or-be-killed look he always puts on before heading off into battle.

Damn it, no! Ed pounded his left fist onto the decaying window sill while his right hand maintained a vice grip on the binoculars and growled angrily, I won't let us get captured and sent off to some camp. Ed took one more quick look up the night sky as he made another promise to himself, I will see you again, even if it's the last thing I do. He then pivoted himself quickly and ran out of the room.

Ed ran downstairs to catch up to Samuel and arrived to find that everyone was wide awake with Samuel standing by the front door, occasionally looking through the splintered wood to check how close the search party was. Ed looked around and found Al sitting in the middle of the floor trying to comfort one of the escapees.

"Al!" Ed yelled as he ran to his brother's side

"What's going on brother?" asked Al as he began to stand up, "what was that noise earlier too?"

"Al, we got to go. Those sadistic bastards are closing in on us" Ed began "we need to get everyone up and out of this house before they finish combing the area and start searching the house"

"What? But how is that possible?" Al's eyes grew with fear after what his brother had said, "I was sure that we didn't leave any trails that could've led them back here to us!" Al could see the beads of sweat beginning to form on his brother's forehead as the situation just become that much more dangerous.

"I don't know Al, but they're here and we got to move!"

Al shot up instantly but became disorientated from the sudden movement, Crap, too quick. I really hope brother didn't see that. However the fact that Al was forced to sit back down told the younger brother otherwise.

"Al, you alright!?" asked Ed as he took a step toward him with his left arm extended in case Al decided to topple over after noticing his uneasy get up. Crap too late, Al kicked himself in the head for that slip-up, now brother will be all worried about me and not everyone else.

"I'm fine brother" was all Al could manage to say without making his brother worry even more, as he placed the palm of his hand on his forehead. He already has enough lives on his hands as of this moment.

"Alright Al, just don't overdo it ok?" Ed said with a worried look on his face as he retracted back to his original position and walked over to talk to Samuel but continued to throw worried glances at his brother. After about the twentieth time, Al got tired of his brother's over-protectiveness and threw him an a-ok in the form of a crumpled up shirt which landed square at the elder's face.

"What the hell was that for Al?" Ed angrily grabbed the shirt from his face and threw it back at his younger brother.

"Brother, I told you I'm fine so please don't worry about me" Al got up slowly this time and walked over to Ed as he stared determinedly at his golden irises. The older ex-alchemist was slightly taken aback by Al's strength as he now stood almost head to head with him, eyes burning with a never ending fire and willpower. Samuel decided it was best to leave the situation to attend to the other refugees and return once the brothers have cooled down somewhat.

In retrospect, it was surprising to see how much the brother's have changed since their arrival to this world. Despite Ed's height complex he was actually one of the tallest people there, with Al following shortly behind him. Ed still sported his long hair, however it was longer now and he didn't wear it in a braid anymore as he figured that it took too much time to prepare so a ponytail had to suffice, while Al's hair was more maturely cut but it was slowly growing out due to their constant running. Both brothers' bodies were lean and chiseled as a result a seemingly endless amount of physical training; rehabilitation in Al's case. Their faces no longer containing the childhood roundness but is instead sharp and well defined with scattered scars, with Ed having more scars on his body and face than Al's. While the older brother wore a slight scowl on his face, inwardly he was extremely proud at just who his brother had become and gave him a slight downward nod.

"Ok Al, get everyone ready while Samuel and I head back up". Upon hearing his name, Samuel, who was crouching down to talk to one of the others quickly took his eyes off the person and shifted his gaze towards the older brother, who was signaling with his head to head back upstairs. Samuel then got up quickly and jogged over to follow Ed, who was already running back upstairs.

As Al got everyone ready to move, Ed and Samuel went back upstairs to see just how much closer the search party has gotten since the splintered wood on the main floor didn't provide a reliable view. After noticing the search party had ceased movement, Ed felt his heart stop as he took a look at Samuel who wore the same horrified expression. Leaving Samuel to look out the front window Ed swiftly ran to the back of the house and reached a room which stood another boarded up window and saw 1 of the panzer tanks with their lights aimed at the house. Ed quickly returned and shoved Samuel aside as he looked out the window that Samuel was looking through and saw a similar scene. He quickly realized the formation and the fact that they were out of time. Each panzer tank took a side of the house with all of them pointing their search lights at their designated target, and 10 soldiers positioned by the front door while the rest fanned out to provide support. Ed gulped slightly as sweat began to trickle down his neck, causing his hairs to stand on end. Even the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs was enough to startle the man.

"What's happening outside brother?" the voice caused Ed to jump as he quickly turned around and saw Al at the top of the stairs with his right hand on the rail and his left foot still on the second step. With his golden eyes shimmering in the dark like a cat, Ed could quickly tell that his brother was starting to get extremely worried and figured out that he had to come up to see the situation for himself. Ed quickly waved his brother over so that he could peek through the boarded window. Al took his long strides and closed the distance within a few steps as Ed moved over to let Al peek through. Al gasped slightly as he took a step back and glanced over at Ed and Samuel, all three of them thinking the same thing: That there's nothing that they could do and they fear that this was only the beginning of something catastrophic.

"They got the house surrounded with about 10 storm troopers ready to break in" his voice cutting through the silence and reaching to Samuel and Al as they both turned to give their full attention to Ed. Ed kept his voice to a whisper as he stood with his back against the window and leaned in slightly to look back outside.

"And there" his head turned back to Al as he pointed to one of the panzer tanks "is the damn bastard whose been hunting us all this time." Al followed his brother's line of sight and noticed the same man they had met when they first ran into Samuel and the others.

The man on the panzer tank was dressed in all black, with a matching black officer's cap. He also noticed something that wasn't there when they had met last time. A pin on the officer's right pectoral was glimmering in the light as he shifted his position to bark out orders while pointing in multiple directions. Al looked around and noticed that most of the soldiers were dressed in similar attire, minus the officer's cap but was instead wearing the standard black helmet, and they all had the same pin on their right pectoral, two slivers which Al thought looked like lightning bolts. Sweat was beginning to form on his forehead and neck as fear shot through him, sending chills down his spine. He looked at his older brother with deep worry on his face.

"So what do we do?" asked Al. He remembered the looks of hopelessness and desperation that everyone had. Al thought back to the sight of some praying, some beginning to cry while others just sat there with a hopeless look in their eyes. Those thoughts sent another uneasy chill up his spine.

"We move everyone to the basement and get ready to fight if we have to" Ed said with a hint of fear in his voice, which broke Al out of his thoughts. Al could not imagine the trouble that's going to unfold and wondered what was going through Ed's head as he noticed his brother staring outside with glazed eyes at all the soldiers getting ready to capture them.

Everyone has their limitations, even if they are as strong as brother, Al thought to himself as he recollected all the times of how Ed was strong for the both of them, refusing to show signs of weakness and shedding any tears. However now was different, Alchemy no longer existed and Ed was severely limited in terms of his fighting styles as most of it relied on the sacred art.

How are we going to get ourselves out of this one? Ed thought to himself as he continued to look at the armed men. Despite the fact that these weapons existed back home in Amestris, there was something about them that made them more ruthless and dangerously advanced. The thought then materialized in his head as he remembered the one thing that they did not have back home: A vehicle that had the ability to lift off the ground and cut through the air with precise aerodynamics that the people of this world dubbed as an "aircraft". The first time they encountered these types of vehicles, Ed thought that the world was surely going to end. After a few years, Ed and Al realized that these vehicles were new weapons of war and that the world was their guinea pig, used to test out the most advanced and new weapons technology that had the ability to ultimately annihilate the world.

The depressing thoughts quickly began to flood the young man's mind, however, out of sheer willpower he was able to force the memories back into the dam that he had built to suppress them hopefully keeping them locked for the time being. Ed exited his realm of anguish and quickly turned to Al and Samuel who began to stare at him with concern written all over their faces. His eyes quickly returning to its once fiery gold, he managed to straighten out and let out a breath he didn't know he was able to hold for so long.

"Alright, let's get everyone down to the basement as soon as possible" Ed told Al and Samuel, who nodded in agreement.

"Let's go" he told everyone once they ran back downstairs to meet with everyone else. However, when they were met with dead eyes and blank expressions, it really got the older brother's blood boiling.

"I said move!" he bellowed as he pointed down the steps that led to the basement, and at once everyone shot up and ran downstairs towards the basement leaving only Al, Samuel and himself.

"Whatever it takes Al!" Ed told his younger brother once everyone was downstairs "we survive this and return home."

"Yeah" was all Al was able to spew out.

Samuel stood there looking at the brothers with the gold hair and eyes, eyes that filled with determination and fire that he did not see in the other refugees.

"Look guys" he finally said putting both his hands on the brothers shoulders "I know you're not from this world and I cannot tell you how much I am grateful for what you have done for me and my family" Samuel could no longer look the brothers in eye, especially the elder one as tears were starting to well up in his brown eyes. "Who knows where we would be if...if…" but he couldn't finish his sentence as his voice began breaking up.

Both Ed and Al were taken aback by Samuels' unusual display of emotion. Samuel was considered by his family as the rock, the foundation, the strongest one out of all of them because he would never let anything get to him. The fact that Samuel was showing this side of himself to the Elric brothers must mean that he really trusts them. However, they both began to wonder how Samuel figured out that they weren't from this world as they never discussed this topic before, but pushing that thought aside both of them looked at Samuel's slumped position and a smirk grew on Ed's face.

"We will get through this" Ed said, returning the gesture that was placed upon him earlier "I promise". Heh… another promise to add to my list. He mentally slapped himself for making another promise but he seriously was not going to let anything happen to them even if it meant sacrificing his limbs all over again.

Samuel looked up, his eyes making contact with the eyes of Ed first, and then at Al's who smiled reassuringly.

"Brother always keeps his promises" he said jerking a thumb over to Ed.

"Yeah" Samuel said as his first smile of the night came into view "let's go". The trio then entered the basement and braced themselves for what might be their last stand.

Situated on top of the Panzer tank that was facing the front of the house was the leader of the search party. "According to intelligence, the Elric brothers should be hiding in this building along with about 12 others" he said to himself as he got off the tank to join the assault team, "but hiding in this place is damn near suicide, normally I would've just looked past this kill zone and move on but I am to bring the Elric brothers or my entire unit might suffer. So I am not taking any chances with those two."

"Everybody listen up!" he yelled at the 10 storm troopers once he stood in front of the ranks, "the führer has ordered us to keep the Elric brothers as alive as possible." He stopped in front of the house and turned to the front door,

"Execute the rest" and with the forward motion of his hand the storm troopers did what their name intended,

We've got them now the officer thought to himself as a sly grin found its way to his face.