Lost
Chapter 1
Travels

Summery: Alternate ending to the anime. Ed looses all of his memories and is teleported to a small town in South Amestris. After a year of recovering, he goes to Central and meets the people who he should remember, but can't. What will Winry do?

Spoilers: I don't own Full Metal Alchemist or its characters.

"Ow."

He sat up, eyes watering against the sun's light that poured into the room from the window. Pushing his blond bangs out of his eyes with his left hand, he swung his legs from under the blankets and onto the floor. The cool wooden floor was a relief from the scorching sun that beat down on his bed.

His golden eyes darted to the door as someone knocked, "Come in." he said, standing up from the bed and grabbing a shirt from his bedside table and quickly pulling it on.

The door creaked open and an aging woman, in about her forties, stood in the threshold. She smiled kindly at him.. but he could tell that smile held humor in it. Her graying mousy brown hair was tied up in a bun, she was wearing a dress and an apron, as usual. Nothing really changed about her or the other people in this town. It was dull.

"Breakfast is ready, Edward." the woman said in a kind voice, going to turn away, "You may want to fix your shirt, honey." As she left, he blinked and looked down.

"I'm not a morning person." Edward murmured, seeing his shirt on backward, and skillfully turned it around without having to take it off. He finished getting dressed all the way and grabbed his red coat from the hook next to the bed. He didn't know why he liked the coat so much, it made him feel comfortable, he guessed. Why red though? He could never really figure out why he liked red so much.

Shrugging, Ed slipped on his thin red coat and walked out the room that he currently occupied, down the hall and into a small room, a combined kitchen and dining room. He joined the other three people sitting at the rectangular table. The two older people were chatting about what they were going to do that day, while their sixteen-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, sat quietly across from him, eating her food. She was pretty, she even indirectly flirted with him from time to time. But he had never found himself feeling any real compassion for the slightly younger brunette over his year's stay with the family.

"Mister Winstone's cough is getting worse. I don't know what I'm going to do exactly." the old doctor told his wife, "If it gets too serious, I might have to send him to the Rush Valley, we just don't have the right medicine since hardly anyone gets sick like that around here." he furrowed his brows.

And Edward found a spot where he could suggest his idea, again, "If you'd let me leave this town, I could find more medical staff... you know.... I'm sure I have some friends somewhere...."

He was cut off by Doctor Ronald's fierce look, "I still don't think it's a good idea for you to be traveling around, Edward. Your body may be in good shape, but that automail of yours may not hold up. Besides, you've lost you're memory. You don't know your way around Amestris like you used to."

Ed frowned deeply, then pointed out, "If I don't travel around, how will I get my automail repaired? You haven't got a mechanic here. Besides... I've saved up enough money for me to get from here to Central, and even go to some towns in between. And if I don't travel around, I'll never remember anything at all. And the stories you've told me. They're just stories. I don't even know if they're true or not."

They were all staring at him. Doctor Ronald opened his mouth to retort, but his daughter cut him off.

"I think you should let him go, Father." Elizabet said, twirling her fork, bored, "I don't blame him at all for wanting to leave and regain his memory. Heck, I don't even wanna stay here. But I'm not eighteen yet, so I'm forced to tough it out. Edward on the other hand, he's not even your kid. It feels like you're just holding him back." she paused and stabbed a piece of pancake, "Yeah, we've all heard the story. We can believe it all we want. But he's the main character in them, he has the right to know what exactly happened from the mouths of his loved ones." Ed met her eye, she smirked and popped the pancake piece into her mouth. Being two of the younger occupants of the tiny village, they learned to communicate through eye contact. It helped a lot sometimes.

Doctor Ronald sighed, "Alright, I guess she's right. I can't keep you here any longer if you don't want to stay."

Ed grinned widely, but only nodded his appreciation.

He stood with Elizabeth, Mrs. Ronald, and five other teens(only other teens) he had met and befriended in the village on the train platform, saying their goodbyes. They were all around him, telling him their bittersweet goodbyes.

"Come back once and a while if you want a good meal." Mrs. Ronald smiled. Edward grinned warily at her. She vaguely just reminded him of something or someone but he just couldn't remember who. And then he felt someone tap his shoulder. He glanced to the side.

Elizabeth stood there, smiling sadly. She suddenly got onto her toes and kissed him innocently on the cheek. His face grew slightly warm at her action. No one, he could remember, ever showed him such affection, not even a mother or a father. She stepped back, blushing just somewhat.

"Good luck, Big Brother." she grinned, toothily.

"Yeah." Ed murmured, feeling awkward. He turned away to get on the train with his tiny bag over his shoulder. Big Brother. It sounded so familiar. But he swore no one had ever called him that before.

He sat down in a seat where he could still see the seven people on the platform still. They waved, Ed only nodded back as the train began moving.

"Come back soon, Big Brother!" he heard Elizabeth yell to him. Ed looked at her and smirked. He watched the platform until it disappeared.

The train whistle blew loudly. It had taken him a day by train to get to Rush Valley. Maybe he could find something for his automail here.

Ed walked with the pace of the crowd, keeping his head low in his hood. The harsh sun beat down upon them all, people probably looked at him oddly for wearing his beloved coat. He kept his right hand hidden also. He heard from the Ronalds that there were mechanics in this city that would literally drool over automail they hadn't seen before. And Ed didn't want to have a lot of attention drawn to him.

There were many automail shops he passed, all of them filled with people and expensive items. Edward had to find one that wasn't crowded with automail fanatics. This would be hard.

But after about an hour of searching, the blond came across a little shop. It was definitely nothing fancy, but not exactly run down, either. There wasn't many windows, but it looked like there weren't many people inside. Edward decided to risk it and entered the shop. Inside, it was just like the outside, nothing fancy. A young tanned lady sat behind the counter in combat boots, military-green patterned pants, and a black tank top. Tom-boy enough for you? She was half asleep and hadn't seemed to have noticed him walk in. Ed stepped forward to address her when a gruff voice stopped him.

"You here to pick something up?" an old man said, coming out from the back room.

Ed suddenly felt small when he saw the huge man. He wasn't small or anything. Not in the least! He had grown in the last year, quite a bit actually. Growth spurts were wonderful things.

"No, I was hoping to get some oil for my arm. It hasn't had maintenance for about a year now..." Edward told him, flinching slightly.

"A year." the man frowned, "Can I see your arm?"

Ed hesitated for a moment, then rolled up the right sleeve of his coat some to show the mechanic his arm. The man grabbed his arm and rotated it. He frowned suddenly, "This is... Miss Winry's work."

"Who?" Edward questioned.

"You don't know your own mechanic?" the old man shot at him.

Edward cringed slightly, "You see... I sorta... I lost my memory a while back...."

The man's frown only deepened, "She only made automail for a few people. Her favorite client disappeared just over a year ago."

"Is that so?"

"You wouldn't happen to be him, would you?"

"Nope, just a normal guy who's lost his memory." Ed smirked slightly, hood still covering the upper part of his face, "Think I could get some oil, and maybe Miss Winry's whereabouts?"

The man sighed, "I'll oil it for you. Oiling is free for any customer here. And as for Miss Winry.... I'll tell you where you can find friends of hers who'll tell you where you can find her. I don't keep track of her." The man motioned Edward to the counter and had him lay his arm across it.

"You can find quite a few of her friends up in Central." the man told him, carefully squirting oil into the elbow and other joints of Ed's arm. "That feel better?" he asked as he finished. Ed moved his arm around and nodded.

"Thanks for that." Ed said, standing up, "I'll just be going now." he went to leave but was stopped by the man's gruff voice oncee again.

"What about your left leg?"

Edward looked back around at him, swallowing slightly, "How did you know my left leg was automail?"

"By the way you're walking." The man snorted, "Its joints are stiff too, correct?"

The blond looked away, pulling his hood down farther. "Yeah, I guess it is a little."

"Then come on, let me oil it."

Again, Edward hesitated before rolling up his pant leg and putting his leg up onto the counter for the man to oil. When he finished, it was easier to move like his arm had been. Edward backed away once he was ready to leave again, "I have no more automail body parts. So I'm off to Central now." He took a few steps back, "Thanks, old man." Edward quickly left the shop, holding his hood down.

He briskly walked down the streets of Rush Valley, noticing the difference in his walking since his leg got oiled, to get back to the train station. How long would it take for him to get to Central?

Ed entered the train station. He looked up at the large clock. Noon. His eyes drifted away from the huge clock, to a sign nearby. It read; Northern, Eight Days; Eastern, Five Days; Western, Four Days; Southern, Twelve Hours; Central, Two Days and a half days.

"Two days and a half to get to Central. A train leaves at five minutes past every two hours..." Edward whipped around, realizing that the train he had to catch would be leaving in less then five minutes. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." he cursed, pushing his way through the crowded platform, holding his hood to make sure it wouldn't fall off. Three minutes passed by quickly as he rushed toward the train. One more passed by by the time he got to the train and almost literally flew through the threshold.

He landed catlike on the train's floor. His jump had caused his hood to come off his head, but he pulled it back up before the employee at the door could recognize him. "Phew, made it." Ed said, standing up and straightening out his coat. The train employee stared at him oddly as he walked down the into the public car. Ed shrugged off the man's weird look. He had made it onto the train heading to Central, that's all that mattered to him.

Ed plopped down in an empty seat and sighed, resting his head against the window. He'd arrive in Central at in two days, around midnight. He closed his eyes and just rested there.... What the hell was he going to do for two days?

Eventually, two days and a half passed. The large clock tower off in the distance chimed 12 midnight throughout the city. Edward yawned widely as he walked down the streets, his tiny bag swung over his shoulder. He had to find a place to sleep. He didn't exactly want to sleep outside. He hadn't slept outside since that one day when Elizabeth had been pissed off at him and locked him out of the Ronald's house. It wasn't the best experience ever waking up on hot desert soil the next day, especially with metal limbs.

But this wasn't a desert.

Central had to have a park somewhere, with nice green grass. And it being late Spring helped a lot. Yeah, it'd be like camping out under the stars. Just without his skin being in flames the next morning.

Ed began to walk aimlessly, trying to find someone to ask for directions. As he drew closer to an alley way, he heard a woman shriek and saw her run out of it, only just to trip over her feet and fall to the sidewalk. Edward was confused for a moment, seeing the absolute terror in her eyes, as if she were going to die in the next minute or so. And then, from the alley way, he saw a long knife reflect off a street lamp. He understood her terror.

"So... the rumors are true that Central has another mass murderer." he dropped his beg carelessly, there as nothing in it that was breakable, and waited for the man to come out of the shadows. And when he did, Ed swore his face HAD to be covered by a mask. It just didn't look HUMAN. It had eyes and a nose and a mouth... but it was just so screwed up. The man-thing raised its knife to the woman. "Now." he thought. Ed darted forward, in front of the helpless woman, holding up his right arm just in time for the knife to come in contact of it instead of her, "Picking on innocent ladies isn't nice, you know." he growled.

The mass-murderer pushed harder down on the knife, trying to slice his arm in two. Edward smirked. He jumped up and kicked the man in the side with his left leg, sending him into the wall of a store. He landed on the ground, squatting in front of the woman, his back to her. He stood up and finally took of his coat and tossing it to the side. "I suggest you run now," he told her, "Run home as fast as you can and call the police. Don't use a pay phone, they're not all that reliable."

"But..." the woman stammered, obviously too shocked to move, "Shouldn't that have knocked him out?"

Ed shook his head, still not showing his face to her, "Things like that aren't going to give up that easily and quickly." he suddenly clapped his hands, a bright blue aura appearing as he ran his left hand over his automail arm and transmuting it into his famous weapon. "Hurry, he's going to recover from that blow soon." And then he looked at her over his shoulder, smirking, "Let the Fullmetal Alchemist handle this!"

AN: Oh wow. x_x Chapter one got loooong. I didn't expect it to get to 5 pages. And then I was planning on putting the fight scene against the unnamed mass-murderer(who was originally going to be a drunk man, but a mass-murderer would have been more... dramatic I guess. XD) and another scene where poor Eddie gets discovered. But I had to draw the line with a cliffhanger. Oops? XD

By the way, I'm still trying to figure out what should be the second genre for this fic. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. :3