Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of the characters

Prologue

Looking back, Edward could only remember noises.

He'd been woken up by shouts of alarm, followed by screams from people in the cars ahead of them. Metal grated against metal, screeching. Then the booming of explosions, one after the other. Al shouted his name in alarm. Then there was silence.

And no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember anything else.

Looking back, Al could remember everything in startling clarity. He had been watching as Ed gradually dozed off, then had turned his attention to the passing countryside. It was an empty, but comfortable silence, just like any other time. Then, something was wrong. A frightening amount of smoke flitted past the window, carrying echoes of alarm from the front of the train. Someone screamed, and metal grated against metal as the brake was pulled. But the train was still going too fast.

Ed jerked awake just as the first explosion went off. His mouth moved, but in the commotion, Al didn't hear what he said. Another explosion went off, closer now sending vibrations throughout the whole train, which rocked and swayed. Al shouted to his brother, reaching out and pulling him protectively against his metal chest. He threw himself onto the ground, his arms still around Ed shielding him with his whole body.

Then screaming, and falling, and blackness.

When Mustang heard of the train wreck, he grimaced. From the reports flooding in, it was bad. The worst that had happened in several years. The teams digging through the rubble had yet to find any survivors. The investigation was slow going, and the cause had yet to be determined. Or if it had been determined, Mustang had yet to hear of it.

He was still in headquarters at East City, in his office idly tapping his pen against the desk. Something didn't feel right.

This was confirmed, minutes later when Hawkeye strode into the room. Her expression tightened the knots in his stomach.

"Lieutenant?"

Her grave eyes met his. "Sir. About the train wreck earlier this morning."

"Yes?"

"The Elric brothers were on that train."

A/N

who's late to this party? I am!

I just finished watching FMA:B not so long ago, for the first time. And, oh boy.

So here I am. This is a super short chapter. More of a prologue/intro thing. I have an idea of where this fanfic could go. We'll see how this goes.

Thanks for reading.

Peace out,

JellydiAngelo