Ugh… an update after… a few months. Yeah, I suck at updates, but this time I have an excuse! I couldn't think of anything to write… Yeah, this is one of those stories where I have vague ideas for the plotline, but no clue as to how to lead up to those events. So, if anyone has any reasonable suggestions for plotline, I won't necessarily use what you say exactly, but it'll help me get ideas…

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Ugh… I must have slept wrong last night, I can't feel my arm at all… Oh, wait, it's not there… Wait, why is my arm gone? Why is this metal thing here instead? Al… what happened to me? What happened to you? Who… who am I? I know my name, and I know my brother, but what about everything else? Why is it gone…?

Ed closed his eyes again and gripped his head as he lay on his side in the unfamiliar bed. He wanted to wake up, he wished he could just wake up and realize it was a dream and remember everything again. But somehow, he knew this wasn't a dream. He really didn't know who he was. All he has was a name. Two names, actually, and a brother who might be able to tell him what was going on…

"Brother? Are you okay?"

Ed sighed and let go of his head before sitting up so that he could face his brother. "I feel fine, Al…"

"Then what's wrong?"

Ed swung his legs over the side of the bed, noting that his left one seemed to be the same as his right arm. Apparently he had fallen asleep in his clothes the night before.

"Al, I…" Ed trailed off. How could he tell his brother that he didn't remember anything? Somehow, the idea of it made Ed feel terrible.

There was a knock on the door, and it opened to reveal a man with scruffy hair. He looked familiar, but Ed didn't know why. Al seemed to trust him, though, so Ed decided he didn't mean them any harm. Besides, he was polite enough to knock…

"Hey, guys. You ready for today?"

Al nodded, but Ed was confused. "What's today?"

The man blinked and raised an eyebrow at Ed. "We're going to try and find a way to get you back home. Don't you remember?"

Ed shook his head. "No."

Al and the man exchanged glances, and Ed began to feel like him losing his memories wasn't just a one-time thing. "Brother," Al began in a cautious voice. "Do you remember where we are?"

Ed shook his head.

"What about the reason why I'm like this?" Al asked, beating a metal hand on the armor.

Ed bit his lip and glanced nervously at the man before slowly shaking his head. "Sorry, Al. I don't remember anything."

Ed didn't miss the nervous glance that Al and the other man shared. Somehow, he got the feelings whatever was wrong with him was worse than just a case of amnesia.

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"He lost it again?" Storm asked

"Yep," Logan replied. After finding out that Ed had amnesia for the second time since arriving, he and Al had taken the young alchemist to Professor Xavier's office. Logan was standing outside in the hallway, telling Storm what had happened.

"What happened?"

"Al didn't see anything unusual last night, so I don't think we can answer that just yet. I don't think it's as bad this time, though."

"What makes you say that?"

"He remembers his brother. He didn't last time, but now he does."

"But he doesn't remember anything else?"

Logan sighed. "Nope. He just gave me a blank stare when I went into their room this morning. He didn't recognize me at all."

"Or maybe he just didn't want to see you?"

Logan rolled his eyes. "Oh, real funny. No, Al tested him on just about everything he could think of to make sure he really didn't remember. At least he remembers that he doesn't like people making fun of his height…"

"You sure that's a good thing?" Storm asked, a vague smirk on her face.

Logan laughed and leaned against the wall. "Well, if his personality's intact, then doesn't mean he has a better chance of remembering?"

"Well, yeah, but the fact that this is happening in the first place… Let's just hope the professor knows what's going on. I think Ed's had enough problems for a while."

Just then, the door to the office opened, and the brothers came out, followed by Prof. Xavier. He looked up at Storm with a serious face.

"Would you find Jean and come downstairs? This is a bigger problem than I had anticipated."

Storm nodded and walked off. Ed kept his eyes lowered, and Al was resting a hand on Ed's shoulder.

"Well, let's head down, shall we?"

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Ed stared in awe at the large metal hallway they were walking through. Even though he didn't remember anything about himself, he knew that he had definitely never seen anything like this. It seemed very futuristic to him.

They stopped in front of a metal door, which opened in seconds and revealed something that looked like a medical room. Ed cautiously followed the others inside and managed not to jump when the door closed behind him.

At the professor's instruction, Ed lay down on a weird table-looking thingy and waited for someone else to arrive. He felt so awkward…

"Relax, Edward. You're going to be fine."

Ed didn't believe that, but he didn't want to be rude by saying so. Instead, he stared at the ceiling, occasionally glancing over at his brother, trying desperately to remember.

Eventually, someone else came into the room, a woman whom Ed presumed was Dr. Jean Grey. She spoke quietly with Professor Xavier for a while before the two of them began doing random tests. After a while, they let him sit up, and he waited quietly for an explanation.

"Well, Edward," the professor began. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with your mind that would cause this."

Ed exchanged a nervous glance with his brother. "Then…"

"There's something else that's responsible. At the moment, however, I can't say what it is."

"…I see." Ed felt he did a good job of hiding his disappointment. "So… what now?"

"We'll have to see if we can find the cause of this. I can help you retrieve your memories for the time being, but I can't guarantee that this won't happen again. It would be best if you stayed here until we know the cause of all this."

Ed nodded. Even though he knew there was something else he needed to do, he wouldn't be able to do it unless he remembered who he was, and he had a feeling Al agreed with him.

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So that's why I remembered Al through all this… I promised I wouldn't forget him ever again…

Ed slowly opened his eyes. The first time he'd gone through this hadn't been too big of a problem, since he'd already been remembering details about his life, but this time…

"Brother?"

Ed looked up and smiled at Al. "Hey."

"Do you remember now?"

"Yeah." Ed looked around at the room he was in. It was the same room as usual, and light streamed in from the window behind him. "How long have I been out?"

"Since yesterday. They said you were out for a while last time, too."

Ed nodded as he sat up. "Yeah."

"They also said you didn't remember me last time."

"No, I didn't."

"I wonder why you didn't forget me this time."

Ed smiled at his brother. "I swore I wouldn't forget you again." Ed looked around the room, spotted his clothes, and got dressed. "Anyway, what now? I mean, it's not like we can go anywhere…"

"Well, we'll just have to be helpful around here. We really do owe these people a lot, brother."

Ed sat back down and looked out the window, to where a bunch of people his age were playing basketball. "Yeah…"

"So, you remember now?"

Ed started at this voice from the doorway and looked up. Scott was leaning against the doorframe.

"Of course I do," Ed muttered.

"Good. The professor's going to be busy for the next few days, which means you're gonna have to wait for this little mystery to be solved."

Ed glared at Scott, not as much because of the bad news as because something about him just pissed Ed off. The older man simply shrugged and turned to leave. "If you're bored, then go be social for once in your life. There's plenty of people to talk to."

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"Why do you think this is happening?" Bobby asked as he tossed a ball back onto the nearby basketball court. The kid who caught it shouted out a thanks before going back to the game.

Ed shrugged. "Beats me. I guess it could be worse, though."

"Yeah? You're taking this pretty well, Ed," Rogue said from the other side of Bobby.

"My life's been full of disappointments. If I let everything that goes wrong bother me, then I'll probably go insane."

"You know, I think we've all known that feeling at one point or another," Rogue said. "Just about everyone here has been disappointed by someone."

Ed pulled his legs up onto the wall on which the three of them sat. "I never knew what it was like to be hated for your abilities until I joined the military."

"It's kind of weird," Al added. He was standing on the ground next to Ed, his shoulders even with where the others were perched. "We've always been on the side that does the persecuting. I can't help wondering what it would be like if people back home had been more tolerant."

Ed sighed. "It would have happened either way, Al. Religious arguments are just an easy excuse for war."

"What was that?"

Ed started and nearly fell off the wall. He'd forgotten that Bobby and Marie (I KNOW HER REAL NAME NOW!) were sitting right next to them. "N-nothing, just some issues from back home…"

"Well, yeah, but you mentioned w-" Marie's sentence was interrupted by an explosion that took out a portion of the building behind the basketball court, accompanied by a shriek of horror. This time, all three teens nearly fell off the wall.

"What happened?!" came a shout from behind them. Scott and Storm came running up, seeming to take in the scene quickly. Ed smoothly dropped to the ground as the two adults approached one of the kids who had been playing basketball. She seemed more terrified than the rest.

"W-we were playing basketball, and I missed and it hit the wall, and i-it just exploded! I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry, that's happened to all of us," Storm said.

"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay. Everyone's all right, and we can fix this easily."

Scott rolled his eyes, a gesture that went unnoticed by all. "That's easy for you to say. Oh well, I guess I'll just call the… Ed, what are you doing?"

Ed had made his way over to the collapsed section of the building, and he now looked back with a blank face before bringing his hands together. "Fixing the wall."

"You can fix this?" Storm asked.

In response, Ed placed his hands on the rubble on the ground, causing the usual light to emit from the stone. A moment later, the wall was completely reconstructed, and Ed leaned against it, a smug smirk on his face.

"Well, that's something I haven't seen before," Storm remarked as she approached the wall. "It looks exactly the same."

Scott looked at Ed's face, turned pointedly away and began walking away from the area. "Yeah, it's impressive," Ed heard him mutter. He smiled.

"Thanks, Ed," Storm said before walking off as well. Ed watched her go for a moment before walking back to the wall. The girl who had exploded it gave Ed a grateful smile before they went back to their game.

"That's pretty cool," Marie said as Ed stepped on Al's outstretched hands and climbed back onto the wall. "Too bad you aren't staying here permanently, otherwise we could get away with so much…"

Ed laughed evilly at that. "And you think I'd assist you in your petty little games? Waugh!"

Al pushed his brother back up onto the wall, letting go of the leg he had pulled on as he did so. "Jeez, brother, you're acting like a moron."

"And that gives you the right to try and kill me?!" Ed shouted, pulling his legs up out of Al's reach as best he could. "What are you laughing at?" he snapped at Bobby and Marie.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Ed sighed and rolled his eyes. "And people wonder why I don't hang out with people my age," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

Ed shrugged.

"Um, anyway, you said something about war?" Marie asked.

Ed gave a slight nod. "Our country's been at war since before we were born. Nothing new and exciting there."

"Okay…"

Ed realized that he hadn't answered their question, but he ignored that. There was no way he'd tell them about the fate of his country. No way at all.

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Yeah. Now to update the like 20 other stories that need to be updated. -sigh-