Disclaimer: I do not own FMA. This is a mix between the manga (Brotherhood to those familiar only to the anime) and complete AU.

Dark clouds roiled above the earth like the coils of a great serpent, twisting and sliding. Water fell in heavy sheets and lightning licked at the fringes of clouds, accompanied by a distance rumbling sound. It was during this stormy night that Edward Elric, age sixteen, was booted out of the Rockbell residence. He leapt to his feet and whipped around to face the door just in time for his suitcase to fly out and hit him in the face, knocking him back onto the muddy ground.

"I am not a ditz!" Winry shouted after him and then slammed the door closed, barring him from the warm and dry confines of the house.

Groaning, Edward Elric shoved his suitcase off of him and sat up, letting out an exclamation of disgust as he noticed the mud that clung tenaciously to him and the fact that he was only become more and more wet. Cold too, the shelterless alchemist thought to himself as he tugged his trademark cloak closer to his body despite the filth on it. He shuddered at a loud peal of thunder and looked up, seeing the lightning flick through the dark mass above.

With a strand of grumbled curses followed by a retired sight, Ed picked himself up and looked to the door. Stooping down, he hefted his suitcase up by the handle and walked over to the door, rapping on it with the knuckles of his metal hand. There wasn't a single response. So now they were just pretending to ignore him, were they?

Stalking over to the side of the house, he looked into a window that lit a patch of ground outside with lamplight streaming through. From a crack in the curtains framing it, he could just see his younger brother arguing with Winry. Was Al trying to defend him? Oh, he had such a great sibling!

His momentarily uplifted face turned to a scowl as he saw Alphonse hang his head and start dragging his feet to the stairs. Looks like Winry had gotten her way again.

Sniffing, partly from insult and partly from a cold he was sure he felt coming on, Edward shifted his suitcase to his automail hand and slung it over his shoulder, walking off. There was a forest nearby, just beyond a meadow that was really lovely during nice weather, and he figured he could take shelter in the hollow of a tree for a night. He had put up with worse, and he did have his alchemy.

However, halfway through the meadow, pushing his way through long grasses that waved and thrashed violently in a picking up wind, he heard the oddest sound, as if a herd of horses were rampaging through right next to him. He swore he could even feel the vibrations! However, looking around he spotted nothing. He was all by his lonesome self, in a dark expanse of wild grass that suddenly seemed much larger than it had been before.

Shivering, Edward moved to continue for the forest, but could only manage to take one step before a high-pitched whinny of terror sounded in his ears. Next thing he knew, he was passing out as a white-hot pain erupted from his forehead.