The rain poured down over the quiet Japanese country side. It hadn't rained in a while so it was a nice change. Ed had always thought that rain during the summer was nice. It was refreshing.
He let it splash onto his face as he rested against the trunk of a tree, growing near the side of the road. He closed his eyes and tried to take in the atmosphere. The silence and the calm was nice every now and again.
"I wonder how long the weather'll stay like this," he thought out loud. "Maybe mom can finally grow some crops and make a little money back home."
At the thought of his family, he remembered that his father hadn't been home for months when he left.
"Who am I kidding. She had been so sick when I left, god knows how she's doing now, and that bastard probably hasn't even bothered to come back."
He hated himself for leaving his deathly ill mother at home by herself, but he had sworn an oath to his brother, and he wasn't the type to break promises, even when the promises sometimes made him feel like shit.
It had been four months since his brother had died and he left home. He barely took anything with him. He didn't want to be reminded of his life before his resolve. All he had taken, was his brother's old sword.
He shook the rain out of his golden hair that was tied in a ponytail and stood himself up to get back on his journey. There was a small town a few miles from here. Hopefully, some of the townsfolk would be knowledgeable, not to mention friendly, enough to give him some information.
The whole purpose of Ed's journey was to find out information about the organization that had attacked his family, killed his brother and taken his right arm. Up to now, all he had gotten was a name. Homunculi. Whenever he asked someone about them, they always pointed him in the direction of the imperial library in Central Edo.
To be truthful, he wanted to avoid the Imperial City until a complete last resort. A few years ago, Ed and his brother had served under Emperor Bradley, the current ruler of the country of Japan. All he cared about was military might and conquering new land. He was a modern day "Alexander the Great" and the merciless conquering was not exactly in Ed's biggest ideals.
By the time he and his brother left the Imperial City, they were both pretty high up. Ed was commander of a platoon, and Alphonse ranked just below him. They were two of the few who actually gained an audience, and the trust, of Emperor Bradley himself.
He didn't regret leaving at all. Bradley was on a power trip and was becoming more and more violent. He would send entire platoons just to conquer, and often destroy, small undeveloped villages. One day, the emperor had asked Ed's platoon to do the same. Ed refused saying the military was on a power trip and that they were killing for no reason.
His actions had led him to where he was now. His brother was dead, he had lost his arm, and he had become little more than a wanderer. All he had now was a sword, and purpose. It was all he needed to keep going.
When he reached the small town, he headed for the first place he always headed in every town. The bar. It had been weeks since he had any saké. He could only hope that the little amount of money he had left was enough to pay for a small bottle.
He sat himself on a dusty old bar-stool and placed his order. "Just a small bottle of saké. I can't pay for any more than that."
The bartender eyed Edward suspiciously. "Are you even old enough to be drinking this stuff? You look like you're barely fifteen years old being that short and all."
"I'm eighteen thank you very much!" He yelled in annoyance. "Call me small one more time and I'll burn this whole place down!"
The bartender laughed at his little outburst and got him his sake. "Alright, if you say so. You look like you've travelled for a while. Where you from?"
Ed poured some sake into a cup and drank deeply. "A little town outside Edo. Resembool. Ever hear of it?"
The bartender went back to tending to customers and washing the counter. "I might have. Definitely sounds familiar. Although I haven't been up to Edo in ages. Always being patrolled by the Imperials. So damn uncomfortable when you're always being watched or told what to do."
Ed smiled slightly and poured himself another cup. "You can say that again."
"I can see why you skipped town. The emperor's on a power trip. Taking what he wants and destroying what he doesn't. Soon enough there's not going to be anything left. Someone's gotta do something. Soon enough, there's not gonna be anything left of this country."
"I wouldn't try it." Ed answered quietly. "They have the same principle for people. If someone stands up, they get rid of them. That's how I lost my arm. This country's really gone to the dogs."
The bartender eyed the stump that had replaced his right arm. "That's quite the wound. How'd you lose it? Defending the country? Bar fight?"
"I lost it after I decide to stop serving Bradley's agenda. I've already lost so much. What's another arm, when you think about it? All I've got left is revenge."
The bartender sighed and went back to serving his customers. "Don't let revenge consume you. Even if you've lost everything, revenge will only drag you down further. If I were you, I'd just go back home and try to find some other meaning in life, Mister… I'm sorry what'd you say your name was?"
"I didn't." Ed muttered as he poured one last cup of saké.
The bartender eyed him suspiciously. "I swear you look so familiar. Then again, not too many people have golden hair and eyes, so it might just be my imagination."
If the bartender was getting suspicious, Ed decided it was time that he left. "Here's what I owe you. Thanks for the drink."
Before he walked out, he remembered why he had stopped in the first place. "Actually, perhaps you could give me some information on something."
"I don't see why not. What do you want to know?"
"I'm looking for information on a certain organization. The Homunculi. Ever heard of them?"
A look of fear crossed the bartender's face and he looked around nervously, like he was worried that someone was watching him. He leaned in closer and whispered, "Wait for me in the back room. I'll be there shortly."
Jackpot, thought Ed as he walked over to the back room.
"Alright," began the bartender "I don't know much. All I know is this."
He pulled out a scrap of paper from behind a clutter of empty sake bottles. "This is a letter, signed by the Emperor himself. I came across it two years ago on my last trip to Edo. It had been left out in the rain and had fallen in the mud, so it's mostly illegible. All I can decipher now is a couple random words, the emperor's signature, and the one it was addressed to."
Ed took the piece of paper and went over it carefully. "Central… The chosen… Promised… Motion…" He said as he wrote down the words that were still legible. "You said there was a name, but I don't see anything. Where do you see a name?"
The bartender pointed near the top of the page. The word was written smaller, as if to become less eye-catching and was smudged to the point he could barely read it. No wonder he over looked it, but it was still there clear as day. Homunculus.
"That's pretty close to Homunculi, isn't it?" whispered the bartender. "I don't know what this means, or even who the Homunculi are, but the letter seemed important, so I kept it. Thought I could use it for blackmail or something. I guess that was a good idea."
Ed gave the scrap of paper back and tucked the one on which he wrote into his pouch. "You have no idea how helpful this has been. I can't possibly thank you enough."
"Hey, whoa! Information, especially the kind with connections to the Imperial bloodline, doesn't come free. I'd better at least get a tip!"
Ed sighed and pulled the last few coins out of his pouch. "Here, One-thousand five hundred yen. That's all I got."
"Then I guess it'll have to do." Grinned the bartender.
Ed muttered a curse under his breath and headed out of the bar. The rain had ceased, but the skies were still overcast. He was kind of disappointed when the cool shower wasn't there to greet him.
He pulled the small piece of parchment out of his empty coin pouch and looked at the words one more time. What did they mean? Why did the emperor have connections to this organization? Well, at least he had more information to go on now.