This piece is going to be an experiment. I found the Ten Things challenge on LiveJournal and decided to adapt it to my own purposes. I've included a few references to my other work (as an enticement to get you to read it ;) ). This is set in the first anime continuity, so I'm ignoring Brotherhood for now, and maybe borrowing occasionally from the manga.

As always, these characters aren't mine, I'll return them to Arakawa-san in something close to the condition they were when I borrowed them.

Let me know what you think. Reviews are always welcome and very much appreciated. Flames, as always, will be directed to the appropriate alchemist.

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Ten Things Edward Elric Never Wanted to Think About

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1. War.

He hated the idea that he might have to actually go fight and kill for his country. The idea of taking a life horrified him, and if he was killed in action, Alphonse would be left without protection.

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2. Winry.

Even though he eventually fell in love with and married another woman, he couldn't bring himself to think of her, simply because he would always wonder what would have happened if he'd stayed.

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3. Fear

He had been terrified since he recovered from the automail surgery that Alphonse hated him for what had happened, but it took until after Laboratory Five for them to discuss it.

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4. Hohenheim.

That bastard abandoned him, his brother, and his mother when he was little because he was so afraid of dying first. He didn't like to think that he could possibly do the same to his own wife someday.

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5. His mother.

He didn't know what she would have thought about what he and Alphonse did, but he though that she would have been terribly disappointed.

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6. The Gate.

He had seen the Truth when he tried to bring his mother back, but it would take him a lifetime to understand it.

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7. August 13, 1913.

The sheer humiliation of needing a rescue during a rescue mission was a massive blow to his ego. Alphonse dragging him out of there kicking and screaming certainly didn't help any.

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8. Izumi Curtis.

She had taught him and Alphonse well, but her tactics had left the two of them traumatized for years afterward, Even twenty years after she died, her name was still terrifying.

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9. The Philosopher's Stone

The idea that he needed to sacrifice anyone's lives to make the Stone was horrible. All the more reason for him and Alphonse to find another way to make it...somehow.

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10. Failure.

It was never an option. It had been a possibility when they tried to bring their mother back, but now, he couldn't even consider it. Al would be stuck in the armor forever if he did.

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