"Al! Al!" the young boy cried, tears streaming down his cheeks, his right arm outstretched for something in the dark blue light. "Al!" The boy's screaming voice shook, his ruffled blond hair turning a bit green with the blue light. Nothing returned his screams, though he kept screaming. "Al!" All he could say was that short, two letter name. He pounded his right hand on the ground in a fist, shaking his fear. "Al…" The young boy carefully moved closer to the armor in the corner, tears falling even more down his cheeks as he did so. "I want my brother back…Give me back my brother!" he screamed, starting to shuffle his way around the armor, creating a Transmutation-Circle out of his own blood. The young boy carefully dipped his finger in the puddle of blood again, starting to draw a Circle on the armor. "I want my brother back! Give Al back!" he cried, shaking even more, carefully clapping his hands together, pressing his palms to the Circle on the ground, a flash of blue light encircling the armor, the boy appearing on the verge of blacking out.
"Brother?" the armor asked quietly from across the small isle in the train. His helmet was titled slightly to the side, red spheres glowing where one's eyes would be. He watched the boy across from him gaze silently out the window. The boy across from him had his golden hair tied back in a braid, his right elbow leaning against the small window sill, his white-gloved hand propping his head up. His golden eyes shifted from outside to the armor across from him, a small smile creeping his lips.
"Yeah, Al?" he asked quietly, lifting his head slightly. He shifted slightly in his seat, his small smile still creeping his lips. He watched the gray suit of armor, who watched him back.
"You…just…looked out of it, that's all, brother," the armor replied, glancing away sheepishly out the window. IYou appeared to have been thinking about something…/I he thought silently to himself.
"Oh…Sorry, Al. Must be a bit tired…Mustang's really got me working hard, y'know?" The blond boy chuckled softly, turning his gaze back to the rushing scenery outside.
The armor carefully knocked on the door, carrying the young blond boy, who was bleeding to death. It was raining, and the armor shook slightly. The door opened, an old, short woman standing behind it with a cigarette in her mouth. She simply watched the armor and the young boy in it's arms. "Please…he's going to bleed to death…I don't want him to die…" the armor whispered, his voice shaking, his gaze on the old woman. "Please…Help him…" A young girl looked up from the kitchen table, her gaze falling on the injured boy. Her breath caught and tears formed in her eyes. "Please help him…He's going to die…"
The blond boy winced slightly, his small smile fading. His gaze was distant, and he shook a small bit, though hid it easily from the armor across from him. "Why did we try…?" he whispered to himself, trying to make sure that the armor across from him didn't hear anything that he said.
The armor turned his helmet to the side, looking at the blond boy. "Brother…?" he asked quietly, watching him again with a concerned feeling. Something was up, and something the boy wasn't telling him was going on.
"It's…nothing, Al…" the boy replied quietly, tightening his left hand into a fist. He swallowed hard, his gaze becoming a bit more hard, turning from a soft, distant gaze, to a slight glare. "It's nothing…"
"It's something, Brother," the armor replied, carefully placing a hand on the boy's knee, but pulled back when the boy shifted it out from under his hand. "You never were a good liar…"
"I know, Al. It's just…Why'd we do it? Why did we try? We knew it was Forbidden for a reason…" the boy replied, pulling his elbow from the window, letting his arm flop over his thigh, like the other one.
"Because we wanted to see her smile again, Ed…We wanted to see Mom's smile again…Tha---!" The armor jumped when the boy named Ed looked up, shaking slightly.
"I should have listened to you, Al…I shouldn't have tried to push you into doing it…you lost your body for it - and I lost my arm and leg. I promise you we'll get our bodies back. We will. I promise," Ed replied, cutting the armor off.
The blond boy screamed in pain, hearing the sound of an electric screwdriver, feeling the screw dig into his collarbone. "Ed! Are you sure you want to do this?" the young girl asked, biting her lower lip, watching the boy's pain. The boy screamed for a few seconds more before finally hanging his head, his face going dark.
"This pain is nothing…" he whispered, glancing at the girl, "Nothing compared to what Al had to endure…" He bit his lip as he felt the screws going into his arm again, seeming to try hard not to scream again. The young girl winced, watching the boy with fear and concern in her bright blue eyes.
"Brother…We're going to find the Stone, no matter what. We know what we did was wrong. We know the dangers. We may die trying. It's a risk we're willing to take," Al replied quietly. He shifted his position slightly.
"I know that, Al. I promise you we'll find it. We've still got plenty of time ahead of us…" Ed nodded slightly, chuckling a bit at himself. "Reminds me of the time when Winry tried to get us to swim with her in the river…D'you remember that?"
"Yeah…That was kinda funny…" Al replied in partial agreement. He would smile if he could - but only his soul, memories, and emotions were bound to the armor - not facial expressions or age.
Ed smiled sadly and folded his hands behind his head, leaning backwards into his seat.
The young blond girl giggled, already wearing a bright pink one-piece bathing suit. She sat at the edge of the river, her legs dangling in the water. "C'mon Ed, Al! C'mon in! The water isn't that cold!" she giggled, waving for the two boys - who stood in their trunks - to come over to her.
"No way, Winry! What if something happened? Something bad!" the blond boy frowned, folding his arms across his chest. He had a large scar half-way on his right upper arm. A boy who was an inch or two shorter than the blond boy stood silently, looking extremely embarrassed.
"Do we have to, Winry…?" the shorter boy asked quietly, shrinking slightly. He had a towel wrapped around his shoulders, hugging it tightly.
"C'mon! What are you two afraid of? You're nine year-old boys, for crying-out-loud!" the girl giggled, standing up, walking over to them, grabbing a wrist each. "C'mon, it'll be fun!" The boys both attempted to pull back, but the girl ended up pulling them closer to the river.
"Winry!" they both cried, tensing, their toes over the edge of the river now. "Please don't!" The girl named Winry giggled again, quickly moving to behind them after letting go of their wrists, shoving them forward, causing them to fall into the river, their knees hitting first. The shorter one - Alphonse - gasped and bit his lower lip, shaking slightly as his knees scraped some rocks in the river.
"Al!" The taller one - Edward - gasped, having landed harshly on his own knees and hands. "Al, are you alright?" he asked softly, carefully placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.
Al responded with a weak weep, a few tears forming in his eyes. "Brother…" he whispered, looking up at Ed.
"Al…" Ed mumbled, carefully helping the younger boy to his feet, leading him out of the water. "I told you it was a bad idea, Winry!" he growled slightly, glaring a bit at the girl.
"I-I'm sorry!" she gasped, watching Ed and Al with worried eyes. "I d-didn't mean it! Y-You know I didn't mean to h-hurt Al!" The girl had tears in her own eyes, and she started shaking. Edward carefully sat Alphonse down in the grass, carefully looking over his knees.
"It just looks like a small cut, Al…If we keep some pressure on it, it might stop bleeding…" Ed told Al encouragingly, a small, brotherly smile creeping his lips. Al nodded slightly, carefully pressing his hands to his knees. "There ya go…Keep your hands on your knees like that…" He carefully pressed his hands on top of Al's, to make sure he applied pressure.
Edward sighed slightly. "Must've hurt…" he said quietly, glancing out the window.
"It did for a bit…But…it went away after a while," Al replied quietly. The armor sighed, turning his gaze to the window again.
Ed nodded slightly, continuing to watch the racing scenery. "Hey, we've got a long while before we actually get to Central again…Remember our first attempt at alchemy?" the older brother asked with a small smile.
"Yeah…I really did think mom would be really upset with us…" Al replied, but there was a hint of confusion in his voice. He didn't seem to get the jump from how Ed went from Central to their first attempt at alchemy.
"All we need to do is this…" the older blond boy said with a wide smile, a piece of white chalk in his hand. He started to make a small circle, dust a section off, another section about two inches away, and did so until the circle had three marks like that. Glancing occasionally at the book that was wide open next to him, he adjusted the space in between the lines. He added triangles where the dusted off marks were. He started adding more circles inside the larger one, being very careful. "You need to make a transmutation circle just like this, first!"
"A trans…what now?" the younger boy asked, looking confused at is older brother's methods. "How's that going to help the toy…?"
"Gimme the toy and I'll show you!" the older one replied, smiling a bit wider, holding a hand out as if to beckon for something. The younger boy jumped and carefully picked up the broken toy that sat in front of him. "Place it in the center of the circle," he heard the older boy say softly. The younger boy nodded slightly and carefully set the toy in the center of the circle, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands for a few seconds.
"Are you sure it'll work, Brother…?" he asked, biting his lip slightly as he watched the older boy.
"Al, it'll work! Trust me!" the older boy grinned and glanced at the book again, nodding slightly. "Mkay…" He clapped his hands together once, only to press his palms to the edge of the circle. A blue light appeared and encased the broken toy, the boy's hands, and the circle. He gasped slightly, but stayed still, his eyes going slightly wide with excitement.
"B-Brother!" the younger boy gasped, reaching to pull his brother from the circle. He received a small shove from his brother's shoulder, and stayed still, biting his lip. "Brother…"
"Al, shhh, it's going to work! It's working!" he replied in a shushed voice. "It's working…" The blue light faded and the older boy carefully removed his hands, smiling wide at the toy that had previously been broken. "See!"
"But…How…?" The younger boy seemed at a loss, carefully taking the toy from the ground, turning it over in his hands.
"C'mon! Let's go show mom!" The older boy grinned, grabbing the wrist of the younger, getting to his feet, pulling him out of the research room.
"How'd we manage to break that toy, Al?" Edward asked, chuckling softly. His eyes had closed,
though he still had his hands folded behind his head, leaning backwards into the seat. He had folded his left leg on top of his right, bouncing his foot slightly.
"I…think we had dropped it on the ground inside the house on a rainy day…" Alphonse replied quietly, keeping his gaze out the window. He hadn't moved, save for his head turning, but that was it.
"I think you're right…" Ed replied with a small nod of his head. He yawned, tilting his head to the side to stretch his neck, holding it for a few seconds, only to switch sides.
"Brother! It's time to wake up!" Al grinned, hovering over his older brother, who was curled up in a ball with his covers in the corner of the bed. "Brother! Mom's making breakfast! You said you wanted to invite Winry over!"
Edward shrinked slightly into his ball, groaning slightly. "Five more minutes…" he mumbled, pulling the covers closer to himself. "Wait…Winry? What?" He blinked his eyes open, looking a bit confused. Lifting his head from his pillow, he watched Al, who was grinning in an 'I-knew-it' way.
"Yeah! You said you wanted to invite Winry over for breakfast today. You'd better hurry - she might have already eaten by the time you get up!" Al chuckled softly, quickly darting out of the room.
"Al!" Edward gasped, squirming out of his ball of blankets, running after his younger brother. The older boy only wore an overly-large white t-shirt and blue shorts - his lazy clothes. "Alphonse!
He was answered with a chuckle once her reached the kitchen, a woman at the table. She was much taller than to two boys, her hair a nice long brown that reached her mid-back. She had a soft smile, one that only a mother had. She was starting to pour three glasses of milk.
"You have to catch me first, Brother!" Alphonse chuckled, clutching the woman's skirts, only to quickly let go, running to the front door to open it and run away.
"Now, boys, breakfast is almo--!" the woman started, but she gasped slightly before finishing, quickly setting the milk down. "Edward!" The older boy had run past the woman, running after Alphonse.
"Come back here!" Edward called, running out the front door after his younger brother. "C'mon! Get back here!"
"No! You have to catch me first!" Alphonse replied with a wide grin, chuckling as he ran towards Winry's home. As soon as Edward realized this, he skidded to a halt, gasping as his feet rubbed against the rocks.
"Al! What are you doing?!" he gasped, watching his younger brother advance on Winry's house. Al was feet away from the house, Ed being several feet behind him. "Al! Don't kno--!!"
Al chuckled as he knocked on the door, glancing back at Edward. "C'mon, Brother!" He smiled innocently, watching his older brother stand in the road in his sleepwear. Edward groaned, only to run at Alphonse again, pulling him into a brotherly hug - Mostly to hide the fact that he wasn't wearing actual pants from Winry. "Broth--!"
A young girl with bright blond hair and blue eyes peeked her head out the door, smiling sweetly. "Ed! Al! What'cha doing over here at this time? Shouldn't you be having breakfast?" the girl asked innocently.
"That's…uhm…what we came to ask y-you, Winry! If…if you'd like to have breakfast with us at our place…" Edward replied embarrassedly, inching a bit behind his younger brother, who snickered.
"Oh…well…Me and Gram already had breakfast…Sorry, Ed. Maybe tomorrow!" the girl smiled regretfully, slipping back inside her home with a giggle.
"Brother, you're blushing," Al snickered when he glanced at his older brother's face. Ed groaned and buried his face in Al's shoulder.
"Hanks." he mumbled, his voice barely audible.
"C'mon, we should get home before the/I milkI gets warm," Al teased, quickly pulling from Ed, running back down the path they had come from.
"Alphonse!" Edward gasped, darting after his younger brother, his face turning a bit more red as he started after him again.
Alphonse would have smiled, watching his brother's arms fall from their position behind his head into his lap. The younger boy carefully pulled Edward's left leg from atop his right one, only to gently swing his legs up on the seat. Al carefully repositioned the sleeping Edward in a more comfortable position on the seat he had previously been awake on. "Sweet dreams, Brother…" he whispered, sitting back in his seat again once he was pleased with Ed's position.