A/N: I'd like to thank all the people who were nice enough to review Chapter 2 with a great big ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU! (Which is, "Thank you oh so very much" :P) And now...we shall return to the fanfic!

Disclaimer: I still own zilch related to Fullmetal Alchemist. In case anyone forgets. :D

Chapter Three: Broken Dreams

[Been walking my mind to an easy time, my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around
Well, there's hours of time on the telephone lines to talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground]

I had to admit, ever since I escaped from the hospital (I thought of it as an escape, rather than as running away from it) I'd felt rebellious. Of course, riding in the passenger seat of a pickup truck next to a tattooed driver had boosted the feeling. The driver, who gave his name as "Singe," was a burly, middle-aged man with several tattoos covering his arms, plus a few on his neck. He'd offered me a ride straight to Rizenbul Village, the town I'd grown up in. "I've got ter drop off a few packages fer the Rockbells. They'd be the family that makes prosthetics from automail? Apparently, the granddaughter who works there—Minnie, I think her name is—is, like, a mechanical genius. I'd s'pose you've heard o' her, if yeh know anyone with automail prosthetics."

"Yeah," I said softly, "I've heard of the Rockbells. Though I'm pretty sure the girl's name is Winry."

"Ah, Winry, Minnie, same difference!" said Singe, shrugging his shoulders. "Anyway, if yeh know the address where the Rockbells live, yeh could direct me to there house."

"Sure thing," I mumbled. I really didn't want to think about going back to the Rockbell's house, and, for a while, pondered the excuse I'd give when we arrived at the house and no one was there. I blankly stared out the windshield of the truck, watching the sun dipping into the west. It would be dark in a couple of hours, and I'd have to spend the night at the house. Before I'd left the hospital, I pocketed the house key Granny Pinako had given me, for the times when Ed and I went out to pay her and Winry a visit. I turned it over in my hands, half-wondering if I should destroy it like Niisan did to our old house...

"Hey, kid, is this the Rockbell house?" I looked up. Sure enough, we had pulled up in front of the low-slung farmhouse I'd been to so many times before.

"Yeah, that's it," I said, with a nod.

"Don't look like nobody's there," Singe speculated, looking at the vacant yard, where normally the Rockbells had some of their farm animals out.

"I guess you could leave the packages in the barn behind the house," I offered. "Not that many people come around in these parts; shippers always leave the automail parts in that barn. Plus, I'll be around and I'll make sure no one comes and takes anything."

"Alrigh', then, that's what I'll do with them," he said. We unloaded the packages into the barn. Before Singe went back in his truck, I thanked him for driving me out to Rizenbul. "No problem," he said with a small smile. Then he got in his truck and was gone.

For a few minutes, I just stood in the yard by the barn, staring out into the sunset. I'd have to work quickly before the sun set, and it got too dark. I wandered towards the Rockbell's flower garden, and picked a handful of choice flowers. I didn't want to go empty-handed. I walked down the main road, picking wildflowers as I went. My feet knew the path, and as I walked down the road, I could picture Ed and me walking along this same path other times. It led to the cemetery where our mother was buried. I guess this is where Niisan's funeral will be, I thought with a pang of sadness. I reached Mother's grave quickly. With my hands, I dusted off her tombstone, and laid down some of the flowers I'd picked.

"Well, Okaasan, I guess Ed will finally be able to see your smile again," I said quietly. Tears came back to my eyes, but I brushed them away quickly. "Please take care of him." I had other things I wanted to say, but it was painful for me to say what was on my mind. I wanted to tell her how Ed and I had cared for each other for the last seven years, how Niisan had been the best older brother he could be. Inside, I knew she knew these things already. I turned and left the cemetery, and continued to walk down the road.

The sunset had painted the sky crimson and yellow. I hurried on, determined to find the burned lot where our house had stood before it grew any darker. It was not far from the cemetery, only a short walk. It was on a small hill, and as I looked up, I could see it in the distance. I broke into a run, the setting sun on my back. As I neared it, I could see that amid the charred pieces of wood a few flowers had begun to poke out of the ground. Still, there was a dim outline of the foundation of the house, and I walked around it until I had located the back of the house. Twenty paces away from it, marked with only a stone, was the grave where the homunculus Ed failed to properly transmute—it would have been our mother, had everything worked out—was buried. That time, Niisan and I had failed to transmute a person, but had kept our lives. This time, while the alchemy had succeeded, Ed had lost his life in the process.

"Ed couldn't transmute you completely, could he?" I asked the grave. "But in the end, we were both alive—me, a little worse for the wear, grant it, but we were both alive." I paused, and then continued: "I think when he failed to transmute you, he got scared that his knowledge of alchemy wasn't as complete as he wanted it to be. He asked me once, you know, if I blamed him for being bonded to a suit of armor. I was glad to be alive," I admitted, with a short laugh, "and of course I couldn't blame him for anything. But I think the experience weighed on him. And this time, when he tried to restore my body and rectify his mistakes, he must have sensed something would go wrong. He didn't want me to turn out like...you." I gestured to the grave. My eyes were getting moist again, and I felt the aching in the back of my head return.

I slumped to the ground. "I hate you!" I yelled. "I hate that we considered doing something we couldn't do!" I wanted to die and be with my mother and Niisan. "I hate you..." I sobbed, "and I hate myself because of that." It was getting darker, but I didn't care. I let the night wash over me, and let my tears flow freely. And then, out of nowhere, I heard a voice...Winry's...

"Alphonse-kun, it's alright," she said gently. "I think we all feel that way...sometimes..." Her arms embraced me, and I allowed her to give me a tight hug.

Hi, it's Neko Majin again! I just want to say thanks to all who reviewed "Fire and Rain" so far, your comments have really helped me in the writing of this chapter. I promise that the final fourth chapter will come out very soon, as soon as I get the chance to write down all my great thoughts and ideas!