A/N: This is sort of a 'Memories' type thing chapter. But he will end up going to save Al this chappy, I promise. Just some cute memories from the past to get away from all of the darkness! Please review!

IIIII

Edward ended up getting up at five o' clock in the morning, opening up the desk once again to start another letter. It had been so much easier to start the last one to Al then this one. What could he say? Well, almost what he said to Al, but a bit different. But why was he still stumped at the simplest of things? It wasn't fun to write these types of things. He hated doing it. But it had to be done. If he really were going to die, he had to say goodbye, atleast one last time, and leave something behind for the ones that he loved.

It wasn't long until the basket was filled with messed up letters. Edward sighed. This was harder then he thought. He looked at the clock in the room. Six o' clock now. Since he was going to go today, he'd better get this done before Winry came into the room. He started scribbling pictures on another piece of paper just so he could get back his thoughts.

I hope Al is doing okay. I mean, there isn't a way they couldn't hurt him, right? Edward thought hopefully, but shook his head, Except...they could be filling his head with lies. They're good at telling lies, Edward let his thoughts drift but it quickly turned to anger. I know that I have to go there today. But I'm...scared. I shouldn't be though. Why can't I just be brave? I'm sure Al would be brave. Then again there's no way he could be hurt. He's all metal.

Edward scribbled some more on the drawing paper. He wanted to play the hero but was it regular to be so nervous? How could the hero be nervous?

I'm kind of tired of being the hero, though. I just never thought that I would have to save Al. He's usually so strong. They did use underhanded tricks to get their way. Using Elisia was hitting way below the belt, Edward kept on thinking. I remember when Al and I used to play the hero's when we were younger...that was fun.

(Flashback)

Al pulled out a small cooking bowl and put it firmly over his head. He pushed it up a bit so he could see his brother who had another bowl over his head too with a spatula in his hand. Al rummaged again in the cupboard to see what he could use. His little body almost ended up in the bottom cupboard as he tried to find the perfect thing. He ended up pulling out a large wooden spoon. He just liked the feel of it in his chubby little hands.

Edward asked "Are you ready, Al?" as Al backed up from the cupboard.

The boy nodded, the bowl covering his face once again. That's when their mother Trisha came into the room with a confused look. "What are my boys doing wearing my bowls on their heads?" She asked with a small giggle.

"We're the hero's. We have to go save the princess!" cheered Al from behind his bowl.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure that you'll save her just in time," Trisha said.

"Yep! Oh, and I hope that you don't mind that we used one of your dolls as the princess mom. N-Not that she'll be hurt or anything."

"Where is the doll?"

"We threw her up on the second highest tree branch."

"Just get her back in one piece and you don't have to do extra chores."

"Awww..." the two boys whined.

They walked out to the backyard and next to the laundry that was hung out to dry was the large tree that they threw the doll up into. They hadn't thought to check if she was damaged or anything. The two just hoped not.

Then they wondered what in the world made them think they could climb trees. Al hated heights and Edward couldn't climb worth squat. So they sat at the bottom of the tree trying to figure out a new (not to mention careful) way to get the doll down so they didn't have to do extra chores.

"Any ideas?" asked Ed.

Al pulled his bowl up again to see his brother. "Nope."

"You can climb, can't you?"

"Yeah. I can."

"Then why aren't you climbing already or do you want us to get extra chores?"

"No way! I'm not climbing that high! What if I fall?"

"You're wearing a helmet."

Al crossed his arms. "Thank you so much for caring about my safety, brother," he said sarcastically.

"Look, if you fall, I'll catch you, alright?" Edward tried to make a deal with his younger brother. "We are supposed to be heroes! We have to do whatever we can to save the princess and if that means climbing a tree then we have to be brave!"

"Then you climb it," huffed Al.

"I told you, I can't climb," he replied. He forced Al to stand up and pushed him over to the first branch that was as high as his chest. "Now get to climbing and throw her down to me."

Al gulped and started climbing the branches. Slowly but carefully he made his way to the second highest branch. It wasn't that high but to a six year old it was like a hundred-foot-drop to the ground. He sat on the branch, comfortably sitting in the crook of the tree, and picked up the porcelain doll.

He waved it in victory "I got her, brother! I got her!"

"Is she hurt?" Ed asked.

Al looked her over. "No!"

Edward held out his hands "Now throw her down to me!" He soon had the doll in his hands and set her at the trees edge.

"Umm...brother? How do I get down?" nervously said Al.

"Climb down."

"But I don't like heiiiiggghhhttssss!" He whined, kicking his feet. One of his boots fell off and hit Ed square on top of the head. "Ah! Brother! are you okay!"

"If I hadn't been wearing this helmet I could have been laying here with a cracked skull!" He exaggerated immensely. "Now just get down here! I'm getting bored of this game and this bowl is starting to feel heavy!"

"Easy for you to say. You aren't the one stuck up a bazillion feet up in the air."

"You are not stuck a bazillion feet in the air! And bazillion is not a number!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not, now get down here!"

Al took of his other boot and threw it at Edward, who barely dodged it. "Meanie head!" Al shouted as he began to climb down.

"I am sooooo going to hurt you when you get down here," growled Ed.

Al fell on his behind after jumping backwards off the last tree branch. He thought he was safe but he was very wrong. Edward picked up his spatula and started chasing Al around the yard.

"Moooommmm!" cried Al as he reached the front door.

Edward got to his brother and smacked him on the head with the spatula. "Don't whine to mom. You threw your shoe at me!"

"Only because you're a meanie head!" Al stuck his tongue out and started running again. After a minute it turned into not a revenge chase, but just a playful chase, like brothers usually do.

"I'm gonna' get you!" Edward shouted playfully.

"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" Al replied.

Trisha opened the front door to see her boys wrestling on the ground. She smiled softly as she closed the door.

(End of Flashback)

A knock on the door brought Ed back to reality. His head snapped up to find Winry holding a tray with a breakfast for two on it. She had a cross look on her face probably due to him not being in bed.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Ed asked as he shoved the note and a pen into his boxers pocket.

"And why aren't you in bed? This is a breakfast for you that I made and it was supposed to be in bed. Ya' know. Breakfast in bed?" She pointed to his bed in an orderly fashion after she set the meal on a chair sitting next to it. "In bed!"

"Geesh, going commando on me?" Ed rolled his eyes as he headed into the bed. He snuggled comfortably under the covers and looked at the breakfast as she set it on his lap. His eyebrow twitched.

Upon seeing that twitch, Winry asked, "What's wrong?"

"Everything's fine...except for..." He slid the milk to her side "I don't like milk. You drink it."

It was her turn for her eyebrow to twitch. Winry said in a forceful tone, "You are going to drink this milk, Edward, and you are going to like it."

"I hate milk! It tastes like vomit!" he complained.

"It does not! It's good for you! That's why you won't drink it! Don't you want to get any taller?" Winry watched as he sent dagger death glares her way for the tragically true 'taller' comment.

Edward stayed silent as he ate his breakfast. Winry asked out of the blue, "When I came in here you seemed to be deep in thought. What were you thinking about?"

"The past. When Al and I were little. We used to put bowls on our heads, take spoons and spatulas, and claim we were going to go save the princess. You've played with us before. You should know how strange we were."

"Yeah..." Winry sighed. She perked up with a smile as she said "Remember that time that your mom hid Easter Baskets around your house for each of us and would do 'Hot' and 'Cold' until we found it?"

"Yeah. That was fun."

"Until Al got sick..." Winry reminded with a small smile. "Why was he so secretive about those things?"

"I don't think he wanted us to worry," Edward said with a smile. "He's always been selfless..."

(Flashback)

It was another exciting Easter at the Elric house and even better this year because Winry came over to play. Trisha hid the last Easter Basket as the kids waited excitedly in the kitchen, talking about what treat they would eat first and what present they would hope to get. The brunette mother came into the kitchen to the three delighted children.

"Alright, who wants to go first?" Trisha asked.

All of them raised their hands.

"Hey! I wanna' go first!" complained Ed.

"The oldest should go first," claimed Winry.

"You're only older then me by two months," Ed reminded.

"But that's still older then you," Winry stuck her tongue out at her best friend. (A/N: Winry is the same age as Ed, right? I hope I got that right!) "And that has to count for something!"

"But-" Edward was cut off by his mother whom he wouldn't dare argue with.

"Alright. I'll let Winry go first since she's the guest today," Trisha said. She heard a groan from Edward and Al just sat there, staring at the ground. "Al? Are you okay, sweetie?"

"Huh? O-Oh. I'm a bit tired, is all."

"Lets get started!" Winry cheered happily.

They started going down the hall but Al didn't follow. Ed came back to his little brother as his mother and Winry searched. "Are you okay Al? Aren't you coming?"

Al rested his head on the table. "I'll just wait my turn. Sorry, brother."

"It's alright," Ed nodded and went off to find Winry and his mom.

The searching went on for five minutes until Winry got into the backyard. She got closer and closer to the laundry basket full of clean clothes and when she topped in front of it, Trisha said "You've got it!"

Winry pulled back some clothes to find a basket full of chocolates, some small roses, and a small stuffed bear with a heart on it's chest. She pulled it out with a grateful smile towards Trisha. Ever since her parents went to war to help the soldiers Trisha had been acting like a mother to her.

"Thank you so much!" Winry hugged Trisha's leg.

"My turn! My turn!" Edward announced.

They headed back into the house and heard a loud 'THUMP' in the kitchen. They were extremely confused. Trisha asked, "Ed? Where's Alphonse?"

"He's in the kitchen..." Edward replied slowly.

All three of them rushed into the kitchen to see that Al was passed out, on the floor. Winry and Ed gasped in a bit of horror, seeing that he had cut his cheek on the table on the way down so there was blood smeared on the floor. Trisha scooped her son up and headed up towards his and Edward's bedroom. Winry and Ed followed wondering what was wrong with their friend/brother.

Trisha set him on his bed then tucked the sheets around his body. She felt his forehead with a saddened look on her face.

"No wonder he didn't join us, he's got a temperature," informed Trisha.

"Why didn't he say anything!" an upset Winry asked.

Al's eyes opened, aware that he was being stared at, but unaware of how he got into his bed, "W-What happened?"

"You passed out," huffed Ed. "Nice going, doofus. You should have told us you weren't feeling good. Then you wouldn't have gotten hurt!"

"I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I just didn't want to ruin Easter especially since this is the first time Winry came over and I didn't want Mom to feel like she planned this all for nothing. Plus I really wanted to just have fun. I didn't think that I would pass out or anything, really, I didn't, otherwise I would have gone back to bed. I don't want you guys to be angry at me either. I'm really, really, really, really sorry," he rambled. He stopped once his mother put a finger over his mouth.

"Shhh...it's alright. We'll see how you feel later, okay?"

Al nodded.

"Come on, Winry, Edward, I'll set it up so you can paint eggs downstairs. I'll be back up with some medicine for you, alright, Alphonse?" his mother said kindly.

But, to each of their surprise, Al had fallen back asleep.

(End of Flashback)

"I remember that. You wouldn't leave Al's side. We had to paint eggs upstairs in your room," giggled Winry.

The conversation of childhood memories went in until the afternoon. 1:00 o' clock got to be and Winry went downstairs to heat up some curry for a quick lunch since Ed planned to take a short nap then go for Al.

Winry set the tray on Edward's lap with a smile. His eyebrow twitched again. She asked heatedly "What's wrong now!"

"You still got me milk," he snapped.

"You have to drink milk to get strong bones! You won't get any taller otherwise, you know this, right?"

"I don't think drinking this crap will make me have a growth spurt, no! I've never heard of it doing that!" Ed crossed his arms. "I didn't even drink the one from this morning so what did you expect? Me to turn around this afternoon? I don't think so. I'd rather have water."

"You are so stubborn," Winry said, picking up his milk. "I'll get you water then."

The blonde boy had a confused look on his face. "W-What? Your getting me water? Your actually doing that for me?"

"Sure, why not?" Winry said with a smile.

"Wow. Thanks. I never thought you'd give in like that."

"It's nothing. Really," she said as she headed out of the door. As she closed it a few tears slipped down her cheeks, Especially since I might never see you again after this. It's the least I can do...

IIIII

That small nap soon passed, his internal clock waking him up at three. He took in a deep breath. This was it. Time to go.

He got dressed. He really wasn't in any hurry. Then again he didn't want to do it so slowly. Edward knew that Hughes and Gracia were looking forward to the safe return of their daughter. Then Edward was looking forward to seeing that his brother was alright.

He took out that small note again and scribbled an extra piece on it. With a smile, Edward called for Hughes to come upstairs, that he needed to talk to him. The man was up in a hurry.

"What is it Edward?" Hughes asked as he came into the room.

He held out the note. "I need you to give this to Winry if I don't happen to make it out alive...okay?"

"What are you talking about? You're not going to die. You are way to tough to die by the hands of those freaks."

"It's just in case. I don't plan to die or anything," he spat impatiently. He saw the worry swimming in the Major's eyes. "Hughes, don't worry. I'll get your daughter back. And, look, I'm sorry she got involved in this..." Ed ran his fingers through his hair as if he were trying to look for an excuse not to look Hughes in the eyes "...and I'm sorry you had to get hurt."

"Don't apologize. I trust you to do the right thing," Hughes placed a hand on Ed's shoulder "Just don't be to reckless alright? I've never actually told anyone this, much less you, but you've sort of been like a son to me. Same goes for Al. And Hawkeye thinks of you two likes sons also. So don't go doing anything I wouldn't do, okay?"

Edward smirked "So that means I can do anything I want, right?"

"Heh. Still a smart aleck, eh? I'll let it slip by this time. So, you should get going. I know how important getting your brother back is to you."

Edward nodded then headed downstairs. He waved to Gracia and Armstrong who were drinking tea in the front room. Winry came out of the kitchen with tears in her eyes. She hugged Edward once again but didn't want to let go.

"Ed...please, I'm begging you, be careful," Winry said through her tears.

"Right," Ed rubbed her back. "I give you all my promise that they will return. And I will do my best to do the same."

IIIII

"Apartment 606, Gorge St," whispered Ed as he stood in front of the building. This was it. He shook his head, getting rid of any negative thoughts.

He got into the five foot apartment building and everything seemed to be as normal as possible. To the left was the common room and to the right was a small bar. What seemed to be standing out was a pair of red eyes in the common room.

"Cahts! Come out!" shouted Edward at the Albino woman.

She stood up with a smirk. Many looked at the two as if they were a bit nuts. Cahts walked over to Edward, who had a stone-cold determined look on his face.

"So...Mr. Elric. Still trying to be a hero?" she asked.

"I'm not trying. I am the hero," he replied.

A punch was thrown by the woman and he easily dodged it. She shouted as she swung once again "You aren't the hero, you are a fool!"

"We'll see about that!" as he ducked down. With a smirk from the woman upon seeing that he was still as fast as ever the fight continued.

IIIII

A/N: I actually had to re-do this chapter. I accidentally saved over it. I think it turned out better this time because the last one didn't have the flashbacks. I'm sort of glad I had to re-do it. I didn't really mind that I had to either because I have such fun writing it! And I am trying to improve my fight scenes…really, I am! I'll do my best :salute:

'Pay attention to the cracked streets and the broken homes

Some call it slums some call it nice

I'd like to take you through a waste land I'd like to call my home

Welcome to Paradise' - Welcome to Paradise, Green Day