A/N: three words.
Oh. My. God._
First of all, I'd like to thank ggtherescuer for leaving that awe-inspiring review as it helped me with my confidence towards this story. Actually making me think I am not that bad, but I think I'm getting over confident. I still think I need some improving but hopefully more and more people will like this story.
Most of the story from this point on may not come as fast as the last chapter, but fear not, For it will come!
Disclaimer: Again I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, it is owned by Hiromu Arakawa but I am a fan of the series.
"I hate to say this but… who are you?"
Winry gasped at the words while her eyes contracted to a minuscule size as the words rang in her head over, and over. She pulled away from the Ed to look him dead in the eyes. She hadn't realized it at first, but Ed was a bit taller than her, no more than 2 to 3 inches taller than her. She looked up straight into his Golden eyes through the paper thin glasses, now pushed back up to be flush with his face. His facial expression was showing no sign of recognition or familiarity. Instead, he portrayed a face as if they have never met before.
'No, we have never met before, at least in his eyes we haven't' Winry thought to herself, looking over all the minute detail of his facial features as well as his body. His face had indications of soot covering his entire face as well as a bandage on his lower left jawline. It was haphazardly stuck on his face and she could see signs of burns. Besides what she saw from behind, he was wearing a black vest over the white dress shirt he had on. Looking closer, she could see scorch marks on his White dress shirt as well as a gaping hole on the right leg, revealing his bare knee. His sleeves were pulled up to his elbows, revealing that he still had the automail arm she had given him the last time he had come back. She was certain that that was the last time she would ever see him again, preparing herself for the worst to come in the time to come.
But here he was, standing right in front of her, looking like he had a bump in with a complete stranger.
"Winry! I'm so sorry!" the voice came from somewhere behind her, quickly coming up behind her as the voice grew closer and closer.
"Al?" Winry said as she slowly turned to see the young Elric Brother running over. He was no longer wearing the black pants and red coat that resembled the older brother attire before he left. Instead, he was wearing beige dress pants and a white dress shirt similar to the one Ed was wearing. He had black tie on but just like the rest of his clothes, it showed signs of a fire of some sorts. The younger brother reached the pair, gasping for breath and bending over in exhaustion.
"If this is some kind of sick joke, it's not funny guys!" Winry almost yelled the words, her voice squeaking from the held back sobs. She almost wished it was joke, anything is better than this situation.
But all Al did was look down in solemn shame "It's no joke Winry. As much as I wish it was, but it is pure fact that Ed doesn't remember anything except for me." Winry's mind raced with multiple questions. 'How could this of happened? Why only Al? How did they get back? And how did only Ed loose his memory?' She was thinking all of this but all she can muster up was a soft and almost inaudible "Why?" Al Looked back up from the ground and gave a long sigh. "Why don't we find someplace where we can talk this over?"
They found a small Café and took a seat in there. They were sat down immediately as there weren't many customers. 'Oh, that's right, it's almost 4:45. I should really be getting home soon.' But she was determined to not go anywhere until Al explained what happened. Winry ordered a hot tea and Alphonse ordered decaf Coffee while Ed just sat on the inside of the booth looking out into the bustling city going by.
"I guess I should start on how we got here huh?" he looked at Winry but it was a clear sign that she wasn't going to answer, not that she needed to.
"It began about Three weeks ago when we got a lead about someone who was going to open a new portal to this world. He was an overzealous leader, who was following in the footsteps of the Thule Society. During his research and development of the new portal, he discovered a way to open the portal to Amestris without the need of both sides to make a sacrifice to open the Gate." He paused momentarily as the waitress came back with their drinks. Al nodded and thanked the waitress then proceeded to pour a spoonful of sugar and stirred the steaming liquid. He then took a sip of his coffee and continued with the story. "The man was insane; he wanted to invade Amestris in order to expand his country's borders as well as exploit the resources available in this world, saying it's some part of the 'Revolutionary Manifest Destiny', or RMD for short."
"Ed and I went to the Government of the Country and asked for their assistance in finding the bastard and putting a stop to his plan. We got a team of soldiers together and found out that he was hiding. Soon we were knee-deep in traps and supporters of the monster. We nearly lost everyone that came along before we actually found the portal prototype. He was an inventor so when he showed himself with a weapon of mass destruction that not even the military knew he had."
Ed looked back at His younger brother now interested in more of what he was saying. "The machine killed half of or men and pinned the other half behind cover, letting a barrage of bullets fly everywhere. We were nearly done for until Ed threw a grenade at the machine. Bad news is that the grenade didn't destroy the machine; good news is it was enough of a distraction for us to move in and pin him down. Ed took another grenade and threw it at the portal. Next thing I knew there was a white flash and I woke up on the lawn of our burnt down house next to Ed."
"So how did you know that Ed lost his memory?" Winry asked, still processing all the information that the Young Elric Brother just told her. Most of what he said didn't make sense to her as some the concepts in the story were too unbelievable. 'A machine of mass destruction? If that thing were to come to Amestris, we'd stand no chance at surviving.'
Al nodded in conformation at the question. "Well for starters he didn't know that the pile of ashes was our old house and that he kept asking me where we were."
Al looked into Winry's eyes and gave out a small sigh. "I know a lot of what I said makes no sense but you just got to believe me and not worry about what happened. The main thing we need to work on is getting Ed's memory back to normal. Whether or not he'll remember anything from the previous world is none of my concern."
Winry gave a puzzled look at the statement. "What makes you say that? Did something happen?"
Al finished off his coffee and shook his head at the question. "It's not about if something happened; it's a matter of what didn't happen. After I came to What Ed Called 'Earth', a war broke out between the country that we were in and the neighboring countries. We decided to leave the war stricken country as it was becoming unsafe to live there. We took a train to country to the west but it seemed like where ever we went, death and destruction would follow. No later than about a week after arriving, the military of the country we fled had invaded the peaceful and subtle country they called 'Paris'. Bombs dropped for weeks without end from airships bigger than anything that this world has ever made."
Al seemed to be getting more and more depressed as the story went on. "After the bombing had stopped, we had paid a shipping vessel to take us across the ocean to a neutral country that didn't want anything to do with the war going on over there. We were pretty comfortable in the peaceful country, that is until we learned about that monster and well, you know the rest." Al finished the story rubbing the back of his head, now glad that he got it off his chest.
Winry had now gotten her explanation and was now contempt. "Alright, why don't we go back to the Rosembool house and have a doctor take a look at Ed, maybe he can find a way to bring his memories back."
Before they got up to leave, Winry did a double take of the brothers. "And we need to get you a change of clothes… and a shower."
They got off the train station at around 5:36. Almost a full hour over the time Pinako wants her home.
"Oh that's right! Granny Pinako's is gonna have a kick when she sees that you guys are back."
Al's face grew a large grin at the thought of having Granny's home cooking and sped up his pace a bit more. Ed, on the other hand, had different things on his mind.
'Granny Pinako? Great, another person I can't remember.' He wasn't sure who this Pinako is, but whoever she is, he got this feeling of nostalgia and a flicker of annoyance. This new girl however, only filled him with regret and sadness, yet he didn't know why. But at certain moments, whenever she turned to look back at him, he would feel his heart rate speed up and his face getting hotter. 'Who is this girl? What was my relationship with her? Were we really just friends? So why do I feel like this?
They walked in bliss silence until they came up to a yellow, two story house. Ed could see on the porch stood an old woman, about the size of a small child he noticed, sweeping dust and stray leaves. 'Pinako', from who Ed assumes to be, looked up from her chore to see the blonde girl approach the house.
Granny Pinako drew a nasty scowl as she saw the teen walking up the stairs to the porch. "Well it's about damned time you got back, where were you? We still have those orders for new customers and you still haven't even begun the-" she looked behind the apologetic girl to see two men standing at the foot of the stairs. "Oh, I didn't know we had guests." She looked back at Winry now looking a bit surprised. "Are they here to make a order or did they help you out with something?"
"Uhh….Granny, do you not recognize them? It's Ed and Al. They returned through some unknown circumstances."
Granny looked back behind the girl and gasped, her mouth now gapped open as the two started to walk up the stairs. "It's nice to see you again Granny." Al said as he stood next to Winry and Ed standing in the back of the pair, away from eyesight. "Well, this is a lovely surprise. Welcome back Al." she pulled the tall boy into a hug, having al to bend down to one knee so that he can accept the generous hug. Pinako pulled away and walk past Al to be in front of Ed. Ed looked was wondering if the small lady would do to same to him. "Could to have you back… Short Stuff." She grinned as she said the insulting nickname. This made Ed's eye brow twitch. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT STUFF YOU WALKING GARDEN GNOME?"
"YOU'RE STILL AS SHORT AS YOU TEMPER." Pinako screamed back at the blonde.
Ed was about to let loose on the old hag when she let out a small chuckle. "You still hadn't changed. Even after all these years." She said with an outstretched hand ready to welcome back the elder brother.
Al interrupted the moment, with an extended index finger. "Uhh… Actually Granny, there's something we need to tell you."
A/N: okay first of all, There Is no such thing as a RMD. I made it up so don't get pissed at me and send PMs about my false history. I did involve the invasion of France which was a real event in WWII. Hopefully everyone knows that now so again,
PLEASE REVIEW! The story has really shot up over the last few days and I don't know if all of you are enjoying it so far. But please be patient especially since tomorrow's Mother's day and I might not get a chance to work on the next chapter. So expect the next release in the next 3 to 4 days.