Fullmetal Alchemist © Hiromu Arakawa

REBIRTH

This kind of rebirth not only brought him back the chance to live again, but also the chance to relive the pain, the suffering, the glory, the struggle, the joy, the agony, and everything else that caught in between the web of thoughts and emotions that was called LIFE. But this prize didn't come free, and he paid a lot of debts to the world as he walked on the empty roads of dead things, familiar things, that he couldn't return to.

Edward and Alphonse wandered the streets of Munich, in search for adventure. Adventure they have been craving for. Their last adventure had been quite a while back, after all. 11 years had passed since then, since that event that crossed their paths again, when the border between Shamballa and Earth had been crushed together, and the balance was barely held by a little weak and vulnerable string.

Edward wore a loose red polo shirt that was a size bigger than he is, but he didn't care. He also wore faded loose jeans and a pair of rubber shoes that were white and red. Alphonse wore jeans the same style but a bit darker, rubber shoes that were black and white, and a white shirt with a child's artwork of a cat drawn on it. (Edward made sarcastic and hater comments when Alphonse picked the shirt from the cheap store, but Edward couldn't change his mind so he still bought Alphonse the shirt.)

Munich was bustling with life. And it could be easily seen just from where they stood; there was an apparent and beautiful image of life, and people who were enjoying it. Stores were open to offer candy and food and delight, children walking home from a tiring day at school, toddlers tottering and tattering all around, mothers chattering and offering rumours to be passed around. The life there, and the kind of life to experience, was somehow so diverse. Different nationalities with so many colors splattered around.

But despite a 1934 setting in what seemed to be a perfect place to grow up in that peaceful neighbourhood, a tense atmosphere wrapped around the setting thickly, and it was starting to suffocate Edward and Alphonse. They could sense it, those malignant, discriminating stares that stayed in the cold eyes of the policemen that stood in scattered places around the town plaza.

The stares were creepy. More than creepy, it was blood-chilling. Edward didn't like it at all.

Edward changed. Not much emotionally and attitude-wise, but surely he'd changed and matured physically and mentally. Well, he ought to, at 29. He didn't look too old though, and he was proud of that.

Alphonse meanwhile still radiated the younger glow and aura. He wasn't too much younger than Edward, but the age difference did a lot to stress his youth. He still had that child-like beat while he walked on the cobblestone paths—happy, jolly, and cheerful.

So whenever Edward would tease Alphonse about 'growing up', Alphonse would redirect the statement to Ed's height, which would push Edward into retreating in the silence of shutting up to save his face.

Eleven years had passed, and that was how they spent their days.

But still they hoped. They pored through an endless number of books, trying to find a solution, a clue, a reason. They looked for traces of magic and homunculi and a parallel world; they looked for alchemy and Liore and Risembool; and the world they left behind which carried the name of Shamballa.

Edward thought they were just wasting their time and their energy, breaking their hearts. They closed the gates with the most absurd, unthinkable, no-alchemy, hands-on method they could think of—and it was so stupid yet so brilliant that they did not want to even remember. They were damn well sure they would ever bother to try to open the gate ever again—and no one would open it up for them from the other side.

And then all of it suddenly happened in a millisecond. Edward's fast golden eyes caught sight of something fleetingly as they walked through the park that seemed to be tainted in sepia. "Wait," he said firmly in a strong voice, although it was only a mere whisper as to not catch too much attention.

"Brother?" Al's voice was meek, weak, and on the worried side. His brother was tense as a rock—it was almost like he was ready to spring to action, like a cheetah on the hunt. And bust some dudes with his awesomer-than-awesome alchemy.

Well, everything above wasn't a lie save for the last sentence because it would be impossible.

Ed continued to scour for that figure that he saw, and didn't expect to see in that barren place he was forced to call 'home' because that was all he could return to. But he saw it. And it was like a gift from the gods he did not believe in….

It was her.

"WINRY!"

Ed was quick to dash toward the blonde figure his mind shouted as extremely familiar; too fast that Alphonse didn't get the chance to warn him of the real awkward situation that'll happen if he did not—

"WINRY!"

Ed, in Al's eyes, suddenly shrunk into a ten-year-old. It was like they switched roles—now it was Edward who was hyper and childish, and Alphonse who looked at him from the shadows silently, enjoying the show.

The girl pushed Edward roughly away from her body, to break contact with his tight—and loving?—embrace. Ed's tears that welled in the corner of his eyes due to the joy were stopped from flowing upon seeing the unwavering irritation on the girl's flushed face.

"Win…ry?"

And that was when everything finally hit him hard like a train ready to run over his exhausted body. They were in a separate universe with the most familiar of faces who belonged to people they loved and cared for—but they weren't the people themselves.

Thus, the hug was not for her.

Definitely.

Because she wans't winry.

"Oh god—geez—did I—Oh god, I'm sor—"

THWACCKKK!

There went the throb of his head, and that comfortable, long-missed sound of solid hitting flesh, of being whacked with something hard. Only before it was a metal wrench, now it was a bag.

Oh, would you stop dreaming Ed?

"Oww—oww—oww…." He murmured softly, rubbing the part of his head that he felt turn tender. He kneeled to the ground, almost falling over to the grass to roll like a puppy, but he decided to keep composure and just sit there.

He heard Alphonse laugh softly from under a tree ten to twelve meters away. He frowned a little in displeasure. Alphonse was going to get a lot of scolding later..

Oh, but it was nice—the beauty of déjà vu.

Edward watched as the girl stood firm, apparently still waiting for an apology he owed her badly. He knew he had to; he wasn't stupid. Only he didn't know exactly how he was supposed to do that, and soon he started to murmur incoherently a mix of 'sorry' and 'I thought you were someone else.' Something like 'Seisg-o-ohmteto-rny-eheo-lrsueow-yeur', perhaps?

He could almost hear Al's scolding voice. Get your ass out there and apologize!

"Oh…oh… geez I'm so sorry, I thought you were someone else… I—I don't know how to make it up to you—dinner tonight maybe?"

Alphonse was left utterly surprised and speechless at his older brother's words of 'apology.' More than an apology, it was an invitation. And it wasn't an ordinary invitation; it was an invitation to their house. He thought Edward would continue on muttering and go all muffled and shy on his sorries but he just… He just invited a girl to dinner!

The first girl he'd ever invited over!

"Germans really have no respect!" the girl shouted loudly, causing the nearby policemen to glance at her, and Edward to tense respectively. She glared down at him with bluish eyes that were familiar to hers, but not the same.

"Shh, shh…." he said, slowly standing up—ignoring the still-throbbing pain—to be taller than her for around 2 inches. He put his hand on her shoulder defensively, still going on with his "shh" noises.

"Listen," he said. "I can see those men over there, and they're looking at you badly. They must've been offended with what you said," he explained with an amazingly tender voice. "You know what we can do now? Drag my arm and bring me to your home. We can get out of this safely."

"And then what? You're going to hurt me? Gag me? You're going to steal my home then give me over to them?" she asked rebelliously, digging her heels under the dirt of the grass. Her voice was a hushed whisper, so silent it almost sounded like a bare hiss to Edward.

From a distance, the police shouted to Ed, "Hey Mr. Elric! Beware of them Jews okay?"

Edward raised a hand, not bothering to face them—a signature gesture of his—and said, "Yes I will officer! This one doesn't bite, I think!"

With that he turned around to the girl again. The girl had this fearful look in her eye as she stared at him, almost pleading. She seemed to realize that her life was in Edward's palm already. "So you're Jew. I'll take you to your home, away from their stares," he said, ready to move.

But she continued to resist. "Germans are liars!" she hissed under her breath, but it was loud enough that Edward could hear. She looked down, eyes covered by the shadow of her blonde bangs. Edward wondered what they were hiding.

Edward only laughed a little at her remark. "I'm not exactly 'German.'"

"But you're one of them," she said, hissing the last word for stressing. She knew that he knew what she meant. It was something in his eyes.

The military-slash-police Nazi guards took a step toward the arguing couple, and Edward started to panic.

"No, I'm not. I don't even know what 'they' are. C'mon," Edward said.

The girl tried to take away Edward's hold, but he was too strong. "No!"

That time, Edward was losing patience, and time. An angry squad of policemen started to walk toward the girl and him. He knew what would happen if she continued to argue.

"Do you want to live?" he demanded. "Do you?"

"Yes!" she answered back angrily. "Of course I do! I'm all that's left!"

With that, Edward locked his arms around her. Her reaction was to close her eyes and want to fight back, but she knew what he could do. She knew that her life simply hung on the life that time, so she did not fight back. She simply couldn't.

"Sir, is there a prob—"

"No, we're fine, officer," Edward stated simply. He shifted position and put his left arm over her shoulders. She reddened. The officers stared at them, eyes narrowing slightly, before walking back away again.

Visibly relaxing, Edward called to his brother. "Al!"

He walked over, keeping pace as they walked away from the dangerous stares of the police. "Hi," he said with a smile. "I'm Alphonse."

"Lise," the girl answered with a faint, forced smile as she squirmed uneasily under Edward's heavy yet caring hands. (He couldn't let go yet, as the officers were still keeping a wary eye on both of them.) "Annelise Kirsten." She turned her face to Edward. Because of the position they had to put up, their faces were too close for comfort. But she played along with his game. "And what's your name, oh-great saviour who just saved me from a certain death?"

Edward turned to her with a childish glare that Alphonse had never seen on him in a long while. He didn't react or burst as Alphonse expected though—maybe because Edward knew of discipline; they weren't far enough from the Jew-hating police yet, after all.

"Edward Elric," he answered silently, trying his hardest to sound nice. All the good words stuck in his throat—it choked him. "Nice meeting you."

"Mmhmm…" she hummed in a sing-song voice. Her shoulders relaxed under his hold, and Edward was utterly surprised. "Now that we can be friends, I'd like to thank you for saving me." Her sudden change in attitude certainly shocked Edward. But somehow it did not bother him. He even liked it.

His mind drifted off. He remembered days past. He remembered Mapusa, the look-alike of that homunculus, and what he had told him years back when Shamballa was threatening to cross with Earth…

Maybe what he'd said was right. And true, after all. Maybe that National Socialist Party is bad news.

A/N: Thank you for reading the story. XD

[[Edit: I already fixed the date. That was a fail. 1923+11 really is 1934. xD]]

AND NOW YOU ARE FINISHED. YOU MUST REVIEW! REVIEWERS GET VIRTUAL KISSES AND COOKIES FROM NONE OTHER THAN EDWARD ELRIC.

I send Loves :)