Not my first story ever written, however, first thing I've written in almost… three years? That sounds about right. So, be easy on me. I don't own anything except my own original ideas, which should be fairly obvious. Happy reading!


Of Men and Birds

~Prologue~


"Edward?" Her eyes were closed and her voice was only a whisper on the breeze.

"Yes?"

"Where do you think we go when we die?" I opened my eyes, just a tad, to see what she was doing; to see what might've brought about this thought. The sun was bright, we were lying with our backs in the grass and arms stretched out wide. Not a cloud in the sky and the breeze was gentle. The leaves in the tree branch above our heads rustled a tad, a blue bird was in its nest with its hatchlings. They were preparing to take their first flight into the world. I turned my head over slightly to look at the girl beside me. She was staring at the birds.

Before that moment, I wouldn't have even acknowledged the question. I didn't believe in life after death or reincarnation or that we go to some great big place in the sky. I believed wholly in science and logic. None of that is logical. But lying there in that calm and quiet place, I didn't know if I could've told her that when we die that's it. I didn't think I could tell her that we just cease in existence, get buried and rot. I knew she'd want more than that. What could I have possibly said to her to not ruin that moment?

"I don't really know." That was all I could think of.

"You're lying, but okay." Her gaze was still set on the blue birds and a slight smile crept across her lips. Her smile made me smile.

"Well, what do you think happens?"

She took a long, deep breath. "Well, I think, we all become free." She turned her head to face me suddenly and whispered with pale pink lips, "Like birds." All I could do was smile and look back to the sky. The leaves rustled again.

"Edward, look." A pale finger pointed straight to the baby birds. "It's ready." I redirected my gaze and sure enough, a tiny little blue bird, mother at side, sat at the edge of its nest and prepared itself briefly before taking flight. The mother bird chirped after it as it soared off into the distance. "One day, I hope to be a bird."That caught my interest a tad.

"Why a bird? They're not all that special. If, when we die, we're reincarnated into animals I think I'd much rather prefer a lion or something." Her brows furrowed and she huffed a bit but then seemed to consider it.

"I suppose a lion would suit you. Fiery, strong, protective," My smile widened, I was always a sucker for flattery. "Full of pride." My puffed up chest seemed to deflate rather quickly after that one and a bit of that fire came out.

"Yeah, well—" Almost immediately onyx black eyes were staring down at me from above and as quickly as I had gotten worked up, my anger had diminished.

"Pride can be a good thing. Too much pride is dangerous, but you have just the right amount. I do have one problem with you being a lion though."

"And that is?" Her eyes grew dewy and an almost unnoticeable pink hue colored her pale cheeks as she looked away. "Well? Spit it out."

"I, I want to be a bird and if, if you're a lion…" I raised an eyebrow. I didn't know what she was getting at back then. How could I have possibly been so daft?


Now we were in a much different position. There was no happiness now. Al stood next to me, arm over my shoulder. I was staring at the grass. It was shriveled and dead, much like the pale girl in white lying cold in a casket made of dark cherry wood lined in white cotton material. We were under the same tree now except there were no pale, silvery wisps of hair flowing in the breeze, no quiet humming or shining bright eyes turning to greet me. The sun was hidden behind the clouds and not even the birds chirped on this sorrowful day. The only sound was Winry's quiet sobs. Today reminded me of the day we buried our mother except now Al and I were better at hiding our tears. The only evidence of our crying was the tiny tear drops on our shoes.

Soon enough she was buried, everyone had said their final words. Winry and Pinako had already headed back down towards the house. Al took a deep breath. "Brother," He was near tears again. So was I. "I, I'm going to head back towards the house. T-To give you some, some," His tears overtook his words. All I could do was grip his arm and nod, letting him know it was fine. I knew he wasn't heading towards the house. He needed alone time too. I thought every tear I could cry had already come and gone, I was wrong. We buried her facing east; I didn't realize it until the sun rose the next day. I decided to head back to Pinako's then.

Everyone was still in bed when I got back. I knew I'd never be able to sleep so I sat on the porch and watched the sunrise. It was a beautiful thing, she would've liked it. She liked things like that, simple things.

"Brother." A hand weighed on my right shoulder. I couldn't feel it but I knew it was there. I couldn't bring myself to words. "I couldn't sleep." All I could do was nod in response; I couldn't even face my own brother less possibly bring myself to tears again. He sat down on the dirty flooring next to my chair on the porch. "Remember the first day we met her?"

I did.


Short first chapter, I don't feel too great about that but I want to start the next chapter from the beginning. Oh, and yes, I know there are probably one million grammatical errors, I'm sorry, I really suck at that. Constructive criticism is welcome and if anyone knows of a great beta that'd be really cool if you could send them my way. Thanks for reading, again, and please review (: