The hallways of AMS 310 were long and brightly lit, trophy cases and framed certificates occasionally decorated the walls, proving the school's prestigious standing in academic and physical achievements. Edward snorted quietly to himself. Trophies and certificates meant nothing in the real world. Out there, it was simply just a case of kill, or be killed, and trophies and certificates weren't going to help you one bit, considering how you can't just stand around waving such things, shouting that you're the best.

It was that sort of idiocy that got people killed, both figuratively and literally.

Fortunately for Edward and Alphonse, none of them had made any such mistake.

On second thoughts, Ed corrected himself. He had already done that. Al hadn't, but he had. Why else would he and Al have been on the run for four years?

After locating Alphonse's classroom, he quickly dropped his little brother off, before giving him a quick hug and walked off, waving. And then came problem of locating his own classroom in that maze of a school.

Was it him, or did it seem that he has absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever when it came to navigating his way in a building? Apparently so. And ironically, while he had been gallivanting around all those countries -places where he should be getting lost- he somehow is able to find is way around perfectly.

Edward was so caught up in his own thoughts, that he didn't even notice the figure approaching quickly from the opposite direction.

It had all happened so fast, so Ed hadn't the chance to move out of the way, which naturally resulted in the inevitable crash, eliciting yelps if shock from the two of them as they fell backwards

"OW!" Huh, apparently the person Ed had ran into was a girl. "Watch where you're going...!" Both of them trailed off, taking in the features of the person they had bumped into. Ed's eyes widened to almost impossible proportions. That long blonde hair, and those crystal blue eyes that seemed to sparkle with excitement and energy. Suddenly, he was five again, arguing that Chemistry was better then Mechanics with a pretty blonde girl of the same age.

"Winry?"

"Ed?"

I thought I'd never see her again!

There was moment of silence as they took in the new information, before an all too familiar wrench clobbered his skull three seconds later, completely destroying any mood that had been there previously.

"Ed, you idiot!" Winry exclaimed, tears glistening at the corner of her eyes, threatening to spill as she held up a rather threatening wrench. Well, she hadn't changed much, seeing as how he was on the floor, clutching his head in agony from the blow he had recieved.

"Damn it, Winry!" Edward moaned as he sat up. Well, he was going to have one hell of a headache tomorrow, well, he would unless Winry decided to murder him with the wrench. "I see you after four years, and the first thing you do, is give me migraine with your wrench!"

"That's because you deserve it, Chemistry freak! All you did was leave a note, and then disappear with Al! Don't you know how worried I was?! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, YOU IDIOT?!" Winry barked, brandishing her wrench as Ed cowered at her volume. Speaking of Winry's wrench, why was she carrying it around in the first place?

"Uh... Sightseeing?" Ed offered lamely, almost meekly, his response sounding more of a question then an answer, before he mentally smacked himself at how lame his response had sounded. In his defense, his head's most recent encounter with Winry's damn wrench had killed off a few brain cells and was still trying to regain it's bearings. Plus, it was either that, or telling Winry the truth, which was not happening anytime soon, since he couldnt just go up to her and say, "Hey, Winry! The reason why me and Al just upped and left was because of something stupid I did, which resulted in me trying to hide from some crackpot organization!"

Right, because that would turn out so well. Edward mentally scoffed at the idea, taking in it's sheer stupidity. Beside, as the phrase says, ignorance is bliss, and quite frankly, Edward wholeheartedly agreed.

Winry lowered her wrench slowly, but no before shooting a look at the offending person that clearly meant, "You're hiding something, and I will find out, even if I have to beat it out of you!

Ed barely managed to suppress the shudder that shook through him. Huh, funny that despite having met numerous psychopaths of all kinds during his last four years of travel, Winry was one of the scariest people on his list. But she wasn't the scariest. That position belonged to... Teacher!

This time, Ed couldn't suppress the shudder that rocked through him.

"I missed you, Chemistry freak!" Winry laughed, tears falling from her sky blue eyes, pulling Ed in a embrace.

Ed paused for a moment, the tip of his ears reddening, before he grinned awkwardly. "I guess I missed you too, Gearhead."

Winry released Ed from her embrace, before wiped her tears of happiness away and plastered a cheery smile on her face.

"So, where are you headed to? I mean, if you're here, it must mean that you're attending classes here, right?" Winry asked cheerfully, as Ed gaped at her sudden mood change. Honestly, he didn't understand girls at all. What's with their mood changes?

"Well, I'm supposed to be at class 2-1." Ed paused, before adding a side note. "Uh, you wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?" He flushed red, embarrassed at having to ask for help.

Winry giggled. "You haven't changed at all, have you? Oh well, I'm headed there too so follow me!"

Her fingers latched around Ed's own, and she began pulling him along, ignoring the yelp of surprise from said person from the sudden physical contact.

Halfway there, Ed broke the silence with a question that he had pondering on. "Say, Winry? Didn't you live in Resembool? I mean, Central is at least a hundred miles away from Resembool, so why are you attending school here?"

Winry paused. "Well," She began, drawing out the 'l'. "Central had much more opportunities for me to pursue a degree in mechanics then back in Resembool, so Granny Pinako let me come to school here on the condition that I come and visit her sometimes. How about you, Ed?"

That question for a loop for a second, because really. Why had he come here? He stumbled over his words slightly as his mind was working at ludicrous speed to come up with an answer.

"Uh... Um... Because of the library? I heard they had some interesting books on Chemsistry." Once agin, Ed really wanted to slap himself for such a stupid explanation.

Luckily for him, however, Winry seemed to accept his answer, but not before muttering under her breath, "Chemistry geek."

"Hey!" Ed retorted. "That's rich coming from someone who travelled such a long distance just to attend school, Gearhead!"

"Chemistry freak!"

"Mechanic nut!"

"Shorty!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SUB-ATOMIC SHRIMP?! I'M AS TALL AS YOU!" (That's not true. He's a full six centimeters shorter then Winry.)

"NO, YOU AREN'T! I'M STILL TALLER THEN YOU!"

"Not fighting, are we?"

The new arrival's voice jerked the two squabbling teens out if their argument, looking around for the source guiltily.

The source of the voice came from a tall man of about twenty nine or so. He had sharp onyx eyes with hai of the same color, some of which hung over his eyes. He had an air of superiority and cockiness around him, which caused Ed to instantly dislike him.

"Not at all, Mr Mustang!" Winry blushed beet red in embarrassment, ducking her head.

"I should hope so, Ms Rockbell." The now named Mustang smirked, before noticing Edward.

"Ah, you must be the new student. Edward Heiderich, I presume?"

A confused expression crossed Winry's face.

"Heiderich? It's El-" However, she was cut off by Edward hissing a soft, "Later!", an action that did not go unnoticed by Mustang, who narrowed his eyes slightly before continuing.

"Huh, you don't look like you're fifteen."

Edward went rigid, his eye twitching dangerously before he spoke, fighting to keep his voice calm when he was indeed seething with rage. This Mustang character had better no be implying what Ed thought he was! "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, aren't you a little short to be fifteen?"

The inevitable explosion was just as explosive as all others. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MOUSY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK, YOU JERK?!"

However, Mustang didn't even flinch at this as he smirked. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you two in class." Before he turned around and walked away, his words slowly sinking in.

"Wait a second... 'See you in class'?" Edward repeated, a feeling of dread growing in his stomach as he silently begged Winry to tell him that he hadn't heard what he thought ht had heard.

"Yes, Ed. Mr Mustang will be seeing us in class because we're in his class."

Well, so much for hoping.

"WHAT?! Noooo...!" Ed whined pathetically as he sulked in the corner over his misfortune, growing mushrooms, which therefore caused him to notice the incoming object that his head loathed meeting with.

WHACK!

"OW! Winry, what did you do that for?!"

"THAT, EDWARD ELRIC, WAS FOR BEING RUDE TO A TEACHER!"

LINE BREAK

Alphonse sat down at a vacant lunch table to wait for his brother, a lunch tray and book in hand. His class had been let out early due to the fact that one of his teachers called in sigk that day. The book's cover was battered and weathered, and the pages were crinkled and occasionally ripped. He had retread this one hundreds if times over, and yet he still persisted in reading it.

Why?

It was simple. It was a storybook that he and Ed had written five years ago, just one year before everything went to hell. Their peaceful lives, their childhood, their home, everything, right down the drain. That book, it was the last thing they carried that was from their past. The rest were ashes. But still, it was comforting to know that they hadn't lost everything, that there was still one more thing they had to hold on to.

The book consisted of a total of three hundred pages, and in each page, a story was written out. Everything written in, was what Ed and Al had wanted to do when they grew up. Travel the world, and see new things.

Alphonse smiled wistfully. Well, they had seen the world, alright. Just not how they had wanted to.

Turning the cover over with great care, the first page could be seen, filled with words tht had been so lovingly written all those years ago.

There was once two brothers who wanted to see the world...

[A/N Annnnnnd... Cut! I know, that chapter was filler-ish but really, I wanted to put it in. And quite frankly, I don't think it turned out that well. Also, I don't know why I wrote that last bit. Maybe Alphonse is a little too OOC? Bah, whatever.

Ah, Winry! I always like her character so I decided to put her in. Uh, I don't actually plan on doing an actual EdWin pairing as in, kissing and other stuff because I can't write it, but I will be putting subtle hints that you might miss if you blink. You have to squint, but it's there alright.

Mustang, well actually, he was a last minute edition to this. Don't ask why I put him in this chapter because quite frankly, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Lastly, reviews! I love reviews, so I thank everyone who reviewed. Personally, I like reviews better then Follows or Favourites because I'm writing stories to improve my English, but still, I love Follows and Favourites all the same because it's nice to know my works are appreciated, so thank to everyone who did!

Well, signing off!

~ Gwntan12]