This here *gestures at fic* is the result of what happens when I listen to sad music (Kyoudai from FMA - it's a beautiful song, somewhat nostalgic but pretty depressive), am obsessed with two animes (FMA and Naruto), is stuck on Magik: Childhood Memories, and start to muse about the similarities between Ed and Sasuke. I'm guessing that they're around 11 now, since Ed's already tried the transmutation, and it's before Sasuke's graduated. I'd originally wanted to do something about them meeting as little kids (just after Ed's mother died), then again after the transmutation, but that didn't work. So fic's sort-of written as if they were little kids still.

Disclaimer: Do you think I would be writing fanfiction if I owned these two mangas/animes? No, I don't think so.

Chapter One – The Bond that Connects Us

A lesson without pain is meaningless.

For you cannot gain something without sacrificing something else in return...

The moon was full, its silver rays shining softly upon golden locks. The sleeping boy shifted slightly in his sleep. He looked as though he slept blissfully, without a care in the world. It could not have been further from the truth.

The image is burned into his mind; his mother, the only one to stay by him and his brother, lies still on the floor, spilled fruits around her, like spider web around a flower. She looks dead, and although he knows perfectly well it's a dream, just a recurring memory, he runs to her. But, like every time he dreams, it's as though he is moving through honey; his arms feel heavy and she seems so far away. He can't move, so he stands there, as if paralysed. Then Alphonse is suddenly behind him, pushing him aside to get to their mother. His brother turns back momentarily, golden-brown eyes stained with accusation.

In his brother's eyes, he catches the reflection of another memory. A hand, pale in the fading light, reaches for him and hope blossoms in his chest. 'Oka-san...' He stretches his hand to the creature hidden in the mist, longing for the embrace of someone gone. Then, he recoils, the budding hope turning to ashes, as he catches a glimpse of his creation. Hideous, a monster. But that would have all been alright, had it still been his mother, still had her soul. But it didn't.

Struggling to move, he pulled himself over to an armour on the wall with his arms, biting back winces and resisting urges to flinch as exposed tissue and bone complained from the exposure to the air. In his dream, he didn't wrap cloth around what was now a stump instead of a leg, emotions ruling his head, instead dipping a finger in the blood that still streamed, he drew with practised precision a circle, then the lines within, and finally the soul. He clapped his hands, offering himself wholeheartedly to the Gate. For a second Alphonse was back, in the suit of armour, and he froze against the bitter emotions raging in his brother's eyes. Hatred, disgust, scorn. Horror, fear.

The accusation in his eyes, before the lights there flickered and went out. He felt his brother's soul leave the armour, rejected by the steel suit. With only one arm, he could no longer use alchemy. That which they had loved had only ended up destroying them.

He's had this dream before, multiple times, and he's well aware that it is a dream, but it doesn't change that it feels like reality. The hurt in Al's eyes. The accusation, the disgust. The hatred.

A world away, a dark-haired boy fidgets in his sleep, tossing and turning as he relives a nightmare. The full moon shines in his mind's eye, a dark silhouette the only thing that block's it's light. He runs through the place he knew only as 'home', its paths stained with the blood of his kin. His heart cries for the old lady, Uruchi, and Teyaki, and he can still smell the smell of fresh bread from the bakery she owned, mixed in with the stench of death. He keeps running through the streets, hoping beyond hope that somehow, this time, when he gets home, his parents won't breathe their last before him, that his older brother wouldn't be standing over them, emotionless, although he knows that Itachi most certainly will. Because that is how nightmares work; magnifying horrors that your mind thinks up, replaying them when they couldn't be made worse.

They wake, jolting up in bed, blankets wrapped around them uncomfortably tight, almost strangling them. Together, they sound shaky sighs, run their hands through their hair, and wish for a parent's loving touch- the one that sooths away fears, and guides them back to dreamless sleep. It never comes.

The sun rises slowly, as if taunting them, taking its time at slowly erasing the darkness around them, slowly warming the cold that has crept into their bones. Together, they turn their searching faces up to the sky, turn haunted eyes too old for children their age to the rising sun. The shadows fade away for now, but they always return when the sun sets. But then, the sun will always rise to erase them again. They will make it through, though it is not for absurd reasons such as others telling them that they must, people who don't understand them have no real right to tell them what they must or mustn't do. Rather, it's because they have a reason to go on; brothers that bind them firmly to reality, keeping them sane.

And although they would never meet, although the paths they had chosen would never cross or go so near each other, for an instant, they felt as if they were not alone anymore. That someone, somewhere understood them, had been there too, had faced the same feelings they had. And you see, it wasn't really a matter of whether or not that they must go on, just simply that that one moment had given them the strength so that they could go on. And although they are worlds apart, as they trace the outlines of sunlight illuminating the sky, they smile. Because they, even if for just a moment, are not alone anymore. Because there are others to whom they are alike.

But once you have overcome it and made it your own...

You will gain an irreplaceable Fullmetal heart.

I begin to notice more and more that when I write, I'll usually change from past to present and back again way too much in one paragraph. Anyway, what you do think? There is a review button just there... =)

EDIT (9 April 2012): So, because some people have asked about it, I was originally planning to do a collection of one-shots (or something similar..), but never got around to it- and was too lazy to remove the title so there it'll stay. Slight edit of grammar and minor, minor word changes.