Uh, yeah, so if you've read one of my other stories, called "Separated," this is the sequel to that. I'm putting it as a separate story because I consider "Separated" a finished piece, and you don't necessarily have to read that story to understand this one. All you need to know is that Ed and Al regained their bodies, but Ed's shoulder and leg are both very scarred.

The other important fact is that Ed and Al gave up their memories in order to get out of the military without too many problems. If you've read the manga up to the most recent releases in Japan, then you'll know which problem I'm talking about. Oh yeah, and that means there's going to be spoilers for the manga.

So basically, Ed and Al are like their 10 and 11-year-old selves, only they're in their 15 and 16-year-old bodies. They're being sent home after being released or whatever from the military, and that's where this story begins.

And no, the organization from "Separated" won't be showing up in this. It may be mentioned, but I don't intend on using the characters from it, since… yeah… that'd be a little difficult…

Oh, and you should read "Separated" too, because it's good times, and this may make a tad more sense if you read it first. Of course, if you don't read it, you'll be discovering things at the same pace as Ed and Al, and that might be fun, right? Right? Hello?

Wow, this is the longest introduction for any story I've written. Anyhow, here goes: Forsaken Memories.

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Ed sat on the train with his brother, watching the trees and fields rush by. Someone from the military was sitting in the seat across from them. He didn't look familiar, but then again, nobody they had met since waking up in Central had looked familiar. Ed sighed. The black-haired man who had greeted him that first day had been really nice. He constantly found himself wishing he remembered who he was now.

Al seemed to share his feelings, but he didn't say anything. He just looked at the ceiling, staring at something Ed didn't see. The trip continued in silence.

After a while, the soldier left the small compartment they were riding in. Al finally turned to his brother. "Hey, Ed?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you think we forgot everything?"

Ed shifted so that he was facing his brother, and put his feet up on the seat. He was still a little concerned about how his leg looked. He must have something really bad to make it look like that. "I don't know. I mean, if it were just one of us, there'd probably be a good explanation, but with both of us like this, I… I just don't know."

"Maybe it has something to do with us getting our bodies. That Mustang guy did say we'd just now gotten them back."

"But how do we know we lost them in the first place? The military could just be lying to us to make us forget about human transmutation."

"We could ask Winry."

"She might be in on it too."

"But brother, what about your leg? And your shoulder? It looks like it was just sewn back on or something. And besides, I don't remember being this skinny. If my body was gone for so long, wouldn't it make sense that it wasn't getting any nutrition either?"

Ed closed his eyes. "I don't know anymore, Al. This is just too much for me to handle."

Al sighed. "Same here. I just want to go home and see Winry. I wonder what she's like now."

"Probably as obnoxious as ever," Ed muttered. Al laughed. The train kept moving, getting closer and closer to Resembool Station.

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When they got off, Ed saw Pinako waiting for them. The soldier said his farewell to the two boys and boarded the train again. The three began walking through Resembool to the Rockbell home.

"I heard from Colonel Mustang. You really don't remember anything that happened in the past five years?"

The two brothers shook their heads. "No."

"That really is too bad. Winy will be disappointed."

"What, she doesn't know?"

"No, I haven't called her yet. Oh," Pinako continued, seeing the confused looks on the boys' faces. "She's in Rush Valley now. Training to become a better automail mechanic. Although," Pinako said as she looked at Ed's right arm. "I don't think she'll stay much longer."

"What do you mean?" Ed asked.

"Oh, nothing."

When they finally arrived at the Rockbell house, Ed paused. "Why can't we go to our house?"

Pinako sighed. "You really don't remember, do you?"

"Remember what?"

"Come on. You're going to have to see it eventually. Might as well go now."

Ed and Al exchanged glances. Something about Pinako's tone worried them. What had happened to their house?

They walked down the road towards the house. Ed's eyes narrowed as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Their house wasn't there. The tree was still there, but it was bereft of leaves. Soon he realized it had been burned.

They finally arrived at the pile of rubble. Ed stared in horror as he realized what had happened. Their house was gone.

"What… how did this happen?" Ed asked numbly as Al began walking through the rubble.

"You did this."

"Why? Why would I do something like this?"

"Back then, nobody had any idea of whether you'd succeed in getting your bodies back. You did this so that you wouldn't turn back or give up."

Ed fell to his knees. "But, we're back now. What are we supposed to do from here? Where are we supposed to live?"

Pinako sighed and turned around. "It's obvious if you think about it. Come back whenever you're ready."

Ed continued to sit on the ground, staring at the charred remains of his childhood. He was having troubles thinking straight. Ever since waking up in Central, the idea that Mustang had given him, that he and his brother had indeed lost their bodies in a botched transmutation, seemed more and more a reality.

Al thought the same thing. After a few minutes, he turned to his brother. "This… this is really proof, isn't it? I mean, they wouldn't burn our house down just to prove a point, right?"

"Yeah," Ed agreed. "But there's still something off about this."

"I know. What if…"

"What if what?"

Al paused. "What if someone made us forget all that on purpose?"

Ed looked at his brother for a moment before laughing. "Yeah, right."

Al laughed too. "Yeah, there's no way someone could do that. Let's go back now. I'm hungry."

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As they walked back, Ed noticed a slight pain in his shoulder. He figured it was nothing and continued walking. Back at the house, Pinako was waiting for them with dinner ready. "I called Winry. She's going to take a long break from her job and come back for a while."

"Her job?" Ed asked.

"Didn't I already say this, Ed? She's been training in Rush Valley."

"Oh."

Ed's shoulder still hurt two days later, so he decided to ask Pinako about it. She had him sit down in the living room and take his shirt off. Ed sat patiently as she checked his arm. After a bit, she pulled out a magnet and placed it on his shoulder. Ed was surprised to see it stick.

"I suspected as much. There's still a part of the automail inside your body."

Al walked into the room with a bowl of ice cream. He walked up to Ed and put his spoon on Ed's back.

"What are you doing, Al?"

"I dunno. I just wanted to see if the metal in you was magnetic." Al let go of the spoon, which stuck to Ed's back. For a moment, there was an awkward silence.

"Whoa…" Ed said, looking at the spoon.

"You're magnetic!" Al said with a laugh.

"That can't be good," Pinako muttered as she poked the spoon. Ed could tell she was trying not to laugh. He yanked the spoon off and threw it at Al.

"Stop it with the spoons, okay, Al?"

But Al didn't stop. He spent the rest of the night tossing bits of metal (thankfully not sharp) at his brother, and cheered when one stuck. Eventually Ed got sick of dealing with it and went to bed.

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The next day, Winry finally got to Resembool. She walked slowly up to her home, wondering just what to expect. What were Ed and Al like now that they didn't remember anything that had happened? She sighed as she walked up to her house. Ed and Al were sitting on the stairs. They looked up as Winry approached.

Despite what she had been told, Winry couldn't help tearing up at the sight of Ed's right arm. She dropped her bag and hugged him as he stood up. She felt tears streaming down her face.

"Uh, Winry?" Ed asked, seeming very confused. "What's wrong?"

"You did it. You didn't break your promise."

Ed broke away after a moment. "What promise?" he asked.

Winry looked at Ed in confusion. "Oh, that's right, you don't remember…"

"Remember what? What did I promise?"

Winry smiled. "It doesn't matter now. You kept your promise, and now everything's fine."

"Except we don't remember anything that happened in the past five years. That's a little bit of a problem."

Winry picked up her bag and walked to the door. "Well, I'm sure there's some way for you to remember it."

"And guess what, Winry!" Al said with some excitement, pulling a spoon out of his pocket. Ed groaned.

"What, Ed's afraid of spoons now?"

"NO!" Ed practically shouted. Al laughed evilly.

"Even better," he said, putting the spoon on Ed's back. "Brother's a magnet!"

Winry laughed as Ed tried to pull the spoon off of his back. "That's… interesting… Oh, come on, Ed, you have to admit it's funny."

"Yeah, for you, maybe," Ed muttered as he grabbed the spoon. "You don't have to deal with Al throwing stuff at you every five seconds." Ed threw the spoon at Al, who easily caught it and stuck it back in his pocket.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Winry asked as she brought her bag up to her room. Ed shrugged.

"No idea. I want to see if I can find the reason for why we forgot everything, but I don't know where to look…"

"We could probably start by visiting that Mustang guy," Al said.

Winry sighed. "You guys… Do you really want to go back to the military?"

"What? It's not like we'll be joining or anything," Ed said.

"But still, back then…" Winry paused. "You guys were in a lot of danger. I don't want to see you get hurt."

Ed sighed. "Well, it'll be different now, won't it? I mean, since we don't remember anything…"

"Ed, please. You're back to normal now, so why do you need to push yourself?"

Al stepped forward. "Winry, we don't remember anything. Everything's changed around us and we don't know about any of it. Sure, it isn't that big of a problem right now, but what about later? What if we forgot something really important?"

Winry stared at Al. His eyes were very serious. She sighed. "I guess I can't stop you from doing this, huh? Oh well," she said. "I have a month off, so why don't we go to Central? Maybe Colonel Mustang will have an idea."

Ed and Al exchanged glances. "Wow, you're being nice," Ed said. Winry picked up a wrench from a workbench and placed it on Ed's chest, right next to his arm.

"It'll be nice having a magnet around. It's pretty strong, too. I wonder if that'll mess up your body at all."

Ed shrugged. "Well, it's pretty annoying at the moment."

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Tee hee. Ed is now Magna-Ed (credit goes to Jimmy for that one, if you ever read this, Jimmy. waves)