Hey Lia and Saturn are back again! This chapter is getting more familliar with Al's wants and talk about alchemy. I hope you all enjoy this! Love you heaps, thanks for your lovely comments

Chapter Three: A burning curiosity

"Just look after her for now…" The blonde smiled, although Al's vision was quite blurred.

"I can't stand being here, it's like I took away your only hope… your only…" Al placed his hand to his head with sadness and grief. "I have to help you home."

"And you will."

"But Ed, aren't you angry?"

"The anger passed a while ago." Ed sighed. "I don't know what's wrong with me, but everything goes black when you wake up. I only feel that I am awake when you are asleep… am I dreaming as well?" The comment was enough to tear Al in two. What had he done to Ed? Where was Ed? When would this end? When could they both just go home?

The dreams… the guilt… the pain… could he take it anymore?

Al slowly slipped out of his dreamy trance and woke to the early light of the morning shining through the room's small window. It had been quite cold last night that he remembered. Which is why Winry had ran around the house like a maniac in trying to gather extra blankets for him to sleep with comfort. He tried to explain to the worried girl that this season that they were experiencing here in Amestris, was like summer where he was from… but she most definitely wouldn't have him catching a cold on her and stubbornly tucked the seven layers of blankets onto his bed.

He rolled his eyes and swung his legs over the bed lethargically, rubbing his eyes to escape the tiredness of the morning. She only treated him like a king because he was her one and only information source. He knew what was going to happen this morning and groaned with annoyance. He hadn't told her very much at all last night. After helping her with dinner (which was almost like a ritual of science) he had claimed that he had no energy to do anything but sleep, which was perfectly true. They measured out ever single ingredient for the simple dinner, leaving him completely dead on his feet. He'd had a long day… running through some gate, waking up in foreign place… meeting some beautiful but terribly terrifying woman, then having to make dinner perfectly… like it was some kind of exact science. How much more could he take of this?

He knew what the woman was planning this morning. She was going to get up and make him a huge breakfast. He could just see it now. Strawberries and cream, croissants and bagels, with melted cheese and ham, it was enough to make his mouth water thinking about it. She would then come in and dangle it in his face, and expect a whole Ed-overdose straight afterwards. Actually, Al was so confident that this was the way the morning was shaping up to begin that he was just going to lean back against his soft cushiony pillow and wait. Yes… that's what he'd do. He could enjoy being treated like a king while it lasted. He had to hold onto ever single skerrick of information while he could.

But unfortunately a whole hour had passed before he got bored of staring around the different room, and became even more restless when there was still no sign of her and her delicious breakfast. So he moaned in frustration and threw the covers back, storming outside of his new room with anger. He was even more confused when he saw her sitting down at the table eating her own breakfast, that he felt his fists tense at his sides with annoyance. He raised his eyebrows and strolled over to her as casually as he possible could, with a questioning gaze. He noticed she had her wrench hooked onto her pants and decided to be careful about the whole situation. He wasn't so dense as to yell out anything insane and be hit over the head with that horrible excuse for a tool straight after.

"Where is my breakfast?" He asked with disbelief. Great, there went his 'act cool' idea. He looked upon the mouth watering dish in front of her and tried not to faint with hunger. He desperately wanted food. With taste like this… he wanted to eat everything and discover what he had been missing out on his entire life.

She turned around slowly, complete horror on her gorgeous face. "Excuse me?" She shrieked with absolute rage. "How dare you talk to me like that? That has to be the rudest thing I have ever encountered… you didn't even say good morning!" She turned back around to her meal without even giving him the courtesy of a second glance, and left him standing there without any hope of saying the next sentence right. He didn't understand her at all and was too afraid to try and interpret what she meant in fear of angering her. Did she mean that if he had said good morning she would make it for him? Should he say it then ask her to make it? He was fighting a silent battle with himself when she finally spoke up and did the work in his mind for him with one simple sentence.

"The answer is no. You have two hands make it yourself."

He muttered and apology and flopped down into the seat opposite her, discovering that he hated her was not what was brothering him, the fact she didn't care was.

"Well, were I come from we tend to our guests. Sorry that I have better manners than you." This once again resulted in her raising her head with a less than pleasant expression plastered on her face, that was directed at no other than him.

"YOU ARE NOT A GUEST!" She stood up angrily and flung the bowl into the sink nearby. "You appeared out of the blue and I am taking care of you, because I am kind." Winry yelled with displeasure. "Ungrateful…!"

"No you are taking care of me because I know Edward and look like his brother." This sentence didn't faze her at all. She merely leant back and placed her hands on her hips, her lips curling up in a malicious grin. However the sentence got him thinking and he paused slightly. Where was this Al? Just how much did he look like him? Did he talk like him? Did he think… act like him? However his thoughts were cut off by the woman's evil laugh. Was she some type of monster? He gazed at her with an open mouth as she started to speak. He had never seen such behaviour from a young lady in his entire short eighteen years of his life.

"And if you think that I would just treat you like a king because you have information… think again. You either tell me what's going on in your own time… or I kick you out and you can go die on the streets for all I care." She turned around with one swift movement, creating a large gush of wind, and then stormed off with her nose in the air.

Okay so he had under-estimated her intelligence… big time.

After she had returned from her room dressed for a brand new day, Al's eyebrows slowly rose with puzzlement.

"You wear that to work on those metal things…?" He asked with slight uncertainty. If a woman was going to work in a summer dress and get oil, grease and who knows what else her beautiful clothes… he would swear the world was coming to an end.

"No silly, we are going to Central." Winry grinned, holding a large bag at her side that appeared to be empty… which could only mean one thing. He hoped this didn't mean what he thought it did and took a long sigh.

"Is that the main city around this place…?" He stood up from his chair and stumbled slightly, feeling the smell of this world creep into his nose again.

"Right, it's good to have a travelling partner. I don't usually go on my own."

It was when Winry said this that the tiny memory of Edward telling him about some lady crept back into his mind.

"Wait… where is your Grandma Pinaki, I think that's what Ed called her…" He scratched his head and smiled sheepishly as the young woman burst into laughter.

"Pinako, you were close." She ran to the side of the room quickly, her blonde hair flying out behind her as she did, and returned with a small piece of paper. Winry pointed to the woman in the middle of the picture and smiled broadly. "That's her. She just went on a small business trip. She is a renowned Auto-mail master after all." But Al's eyes were no longer viewing the proud old woman in the centre in the photo. They were glancing upon two young boys on the right hand side of her, both looking ahead with happiness. Winry noticed the boy's sudden silence and turned the picture in her direction to glance upon it, curious as to what his eyes were so infatuated with. After looking upon it, it didn't take her long to realise what his eyes were so fascinated with.

"He really does look like me…" Al trailed off, trying to cover up his unusual reaction to the young boy. There was no doubt the blonde was Edward. He may have been young but that bright determination had already started to burn in his eyes. Edward's eyes were his alone, and Al had never come across ones so intense. Winry nodded slightly and placed the picture back down on the nearby desk. "Where is he?" The sudden question caused Winry's head to snap in direction of the abrupt noise.

"Training. He is trying to regain his brother… who knows what he is up to at the moment. I see him every so often. He is really growing up, grown his hair long and everything…" She sighed heavily and turned her head to Al with a large smile on her face, not one of those 'truly happy' smiles however. He could tell she was trying hard to be strong and sobered slightly. "It's a shame Ed isn't here to watch him grow." Al bowed his head slightly with a respectful nod, deciding it wasn't the best time to start pestering her about his alternate personality.

"So when do we leave…?" The young man decided to ask, hoping to drop the sad aura the previous conversation had created.

"We should leave now." Winry sniffed, straightening herself up slightly. "The train leaves soon and it is quite a fair walk there. Al groaned as Winry headed towards the front door. A walk out in the country was just what he didn't need at the moment. This smell was going to drive him insane.

He found that as he walked along, blocking his nose was quite effective at keeping out the dizzying smell. He had to get used to breathing through his mouth though. Winry continued to turn her head to glance upon him with confusion or fear, he wasn't quite sure. Maybe he was considered weird in this world. Did the people hold their noses like this here? Or did he look like a complete idiot. He slowly lowered his fingers that were pinching his nose shut and blushed to some extent. But that didn't stop Winry from glancing at him curiously.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Al swiftly stopped walking and widened his eyes in response.

"Tell me something about where you are from." Winry enquired peacefully. Al beamed and placed his fingers up over his nose again. So that's what it was for. He trudged along next to her and sighed.

"You mean tell you something about Ed right?" Winry giggled at his response but shook her head with disagreement.

"I don't mind."

Al brought his hand down to his chin and stroked it lightly. "Well… it's more colourful here. There is this strong scent I can't seem to get out of my head, it's causing me to become dizzy and gives me a headache. Actually that's just probably you." Al laughed hysterically as she slapped him across the arm with fury. "JOKING!" He cried with desperation when he found his laughing did nothing to help the situation. "In Munich… we were just recovering from war. I think Ed found it difficult… it wasn't the life he wanted. Now he is stuck somewhere, and he keeps telling me that I am connected to him somehow. He talks to me in my dreams. Since I screwed up everything for him… I have to find a way to bring him back to where he belongs; I need to learn about alchemy." Winry looked up at him serenely as they continued to walk along the dusty road. He watched her nod slightly before she turned her head to gaze ahead.

"You really shouldn't be getting into Alchemy, it's a total disaster. It's the cause of all this in the first place. I never liked alchemy, even if I did sort of have a talent for it a while back." He noticed that her words had become gentler, as if she was looking back on a precious memory and tried not to sound too rude by his next comment.

"You believe me? You don't think this is all so far fetched, Ed and I connected, and the Gate…?" She shook her head.

"I have seen more than that. Edward explains everything to me, and I know what happened with the whole Gate issue thanks to Rose." Al froze slightly in his tracks. Rose. Her name was enough to spark a fire within him and he jumped in front of Winry with a grin. Alternate personalities… how could he have forgotten?

"What does Rose look like?" Al exclaimed happily, hoping with every fibre of his soul that they were thinking of a similar woman.

"Pink hair… purple eyes…" He could hear her continue with her words but his world suddenly sank. His Rose had black hair. He sighed over his stupidity and turned around, continuing to walk ahead. Nothing felt worse than getting your hopes up and loosing all chance the next second. It was going to have him in a sour mood for a while. "Why do you know her?" Winry asked when she saw the down look on her new friend's face.

"It's nothing." He paused for a moment before a determination ran through his veins and made its way up to his voice. "I need to learn alchemy Winry." She wasn't going to argue with his tone and she knew just how much he wanted to save Edward… and she couldn't disagree. Maybe in the end she would end up doing anything she could to help him on his quest for knowledge. It was just hard for her to watch people make the same mistakes with Alchemy over and over again. First Edward, now Al was off searching for some way to return his brother home. Now this young man wanted to help as well. Somewhere deep down, she knew that this man wanted to learn the secrets of their world. All she could do was guide him.

"Well…"

"I want to meet Ed's brother."

"Well you see…"

"This teacher that trained Ed, where is she? How can I talk to her?"

"IT'S NOT AS EASY AS YOU THINK!" Winry suddenly snapped, annoyed at being continually cut off by him. "Al is currently with his teacher that I know of. You can't just waltz up and disturb his training. And! From what I know, Izumi has only ever accepted two young children as her apprentices. Ed and Al. If you try, prepare to be beat up. She will give you a trail period in which you have to survive on an island with nothing for a month. Also, you still have no concept of alchemy what so ever. If you even want a chance I suggest reading up on it a bit first." After she had finished her huge speech on his lack of thought the girl took a huge breath of air and groaned with frustration.

Al understood what she was saying and merely rolled his eyes. "So should I pick up some books at a library… you have those right?" Al squinted his eyes with suspicion and watched as the girl help up the serious expression on her face. She would look much nicer if she smiled once in a while.

"Not necessary." She replied flatly. Al raised his eyebrow and stood back as she stepped into the room to buy the train tickets. They headed back out for the station and sat upon the nearest bench to wait. When she finally spoke up Al felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. "Ed practically lived at my house. I have plenty of books around the place, perfect for a beginner. But let me tell you, it's not something that someone from a foreign world could grasp. Most people here are born with natural talent and grow up with it. This is going to completely confuse you, if you even have the ability at all." Her words were harsh but he realised that she was only speaking the truth. It would hurt to expect success and fail. But if it failed, he would find another way for sure. He was connected to a genius in his dreams, he would find a way somehow.

"For now I think it's best if you just indulge in the culture of our world and get yourself familiar with places and people. It will help you in the long run." Winry stood up as the train came to a halt in front of them and looked down at the confused boy still sitting with a soft smile, the first smile he had seen for a while. "Right?"

He nodded quickly, flustered and embarrassed at his prolonged stare at the young woman. She reached out her hand and grinned as he took hold of it and stood up. "For now, just enjoy the day right?"

He laughed with her and stepped onto the train, ready for a day of journey and discovery.

Saturn Stars and Lialiakicks out!