The house wasn't far from Winry and Pinako's.
So why did it seem to take forever to get there that morning?
Perhaps because Al, without realizing it was staring at everything around him as though he had never seen it before.
True, he was taller and he was sure looking at things from that kind of different perspective...
But...
There was something else, too.
It really...
It really looked different.
Things looked brighter. Beautiful. He saw a tree moving in the wind and the leaves looked as delicate and gorgeous as silk bells. The grass moved and like dancers stepping in time, wildflowers bowed left, then right. He stared at them-the white ones here, the red ones there. Gentle and lulling, he stared at them.
He had stopped then and looked up.
There-just beyond the low wooden fence he and Ed had helped build, there, standing silouetted in the morning light...
Was home...
"Excuse me." a voice said.
Al jumped and turned. There, standing short and bent over, was an old man.
"Mr. Schaefer!" Al said in surprised.
The old man's eyebrows raised. "Do I know you, son?" he said, then, as though answering his own question, added, "Although you do sound familair. That you do."
"It's me, Mr. Schaefer! I'm..." Then Al stopped cold.
"Yes? You're...what did you say? My hearing's a little off."
Al's voice suddenly took on a hollow edge. "Nothing. I'm sorry..."
Mr. Schaefer smiled kindly, but it was a smile reserved for a stranger..
But...
...Al and Ed had spent every Tuesday after school at Mr. Schaefer. He had a small library with serveral rare alchemy books. He would hand them, one by one, to the boys as they asked, and then, he would place before them fresh milk for Al and cranberry juice for Ed, and then there were cookies and then there were the times when he would look at Al and tell him how much he was growing and he would look at Ed and say how much he wasn't...
"Sir? Sir? Are you alright?" Schaefer was saying.
"Ah...Yes. Sorry. I...uh...I didn't sleep last night." That was true enough.
"I see..." Schaefer said.
"Was there something you wanted to ask?" Al said quickly because he was suddenly uncomfortable under the man's intent gaze. He wondered what would happen should the old man place his voice, and perhaps thinking that Al was playing a game in the old suit of armor remove his head only to find nothing inside.
"Yes! Yes!" The man clapped his hands, "My memory's also going, you see." He laughed. "Yes. I was wondering if you had seen two small boys around. I heard noises from their house last night and I thought perhaps they had returned home."
"Home...?"
"Yes...They had been gone for awhile. The older one was noisy, but they were such sweet kids. Poor kids, too, their mother...sweet soul...you see...she died. I think it crushed them...Poor things...Sir? Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes!" Al said, sounding too cheerful. "I'm sure she was a...sweet soul..."
"Yes...But...have you?"
"Have I...?"
"Seen them?"
Al hesitated. For a moment, he almost confessed, but in the end, he didn't. "I'm sorry. If I do, I'll tell them you're looking for them."
Schaefer smiled. "Thank you." he said and suddenly patted him gently on the shoulders, "Take care, stranger. It seems you need some rest."
"Yes...thank you."
Schaefer smiled broadly, warmly, and left.
Al stood still for a while, watching him go.
Everything around him still seemed beautiful, but it had changed again, dimmed somehow, became more distant to him...
Al stared at the flowers.
"Mother..." he whispered. "Make everything stay still...just for a moment...just so I can understand what's happened...please..."
In reply, the trees moved in the breeze, the grasses bowed.
The house waited in the distance, but Al, for a moment, remained where he was, and then the moment moved on without him.
He hadn't expected any solace.
Not after what he and his brother had done...
TO BE CONTINUED...
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I put the first two parts up and suddenly decided to write two more parts. Hope you guys like the story-don't worry more is coming soon! Please review:)