Sorrows of the Heart

Chapter 5

Gazing over the rippling beauty of the local river, Al calmed. He listened to the happy gurgle of the water sliding over the rocks, and looked through the crystal clear water to the smooth, colored stones below. Closing his "eyes", Al sunk far into his memory, remembering the feel of the wind against his skin, the smell of the damp riverbank, the feel of the river water beneath his feet… He always had hope. He always had Ed talking to him, or snoring lightly beside him, or even just his presence to reassure him that everything would be okay. Without his older brother, Al was lost. And yet, he knew that he didn't have the heart to help his brother remember their past. He couldn't force that horrible past on Ed, not if he didn't have to.

Yet, being without Ed left him in bit of a dilemma. Where would he go next? How would he find the philosopher's stone? Sure, Al knew a fair bit about Alchemy, more than most fourteen-year-olds, but he was nothing to Ed. Besides, how could he leave Ed in the town alone? What if the homunculi came back? Ed would have no way to defend himself, and no idea that the homunculi were evil.

Al sighed, drawing a circle in the damp earth beside him. What to do? Well, there was always the chance he could ask someone for help…. but who? Winry was miles away, and knew even less about alchemy than he did. She wouldn't be able to do much defending Ed either. The military would insist on bringing Ed back into his old life, defeating everything he was trying to accomplish. Sensei? She was even farther away than Winry, and she was probably too busy saving cities from floods to help.

No one could help him. He had only one obvious choice; give up his dream of becoming human again. Someone had to protect Ed, and Al seemed to be the only one available. Still, there was the possibility that Al could find someone to help him in the future. Perhaps guarding Ed was the best thing he could do. It would give him plenty of time to think, and eventually he would come up with a decent solution. Eventually…

Ed trudged home, deep in thought with the puzzle of his past still swirling around in his head. Finally he had the time to think things out. He had been found being taken away by a man in armor, and a suit of armor claimed to know him. But in the armor was his brother, or so he claimed. Besides, how could he be the older brother to someone big enough to wear a suit of armor? And there was the memory he had in the tree. He called to something that sounded like armor. He called it Al. Wasn't Al short for Alphonse? Jerome said he'd fought to get Ed away from the armor, but maybe he was exaggerating. Maybe Alphonse had been bringing him to get help, but Jerome had though he was hurting Ed. It was possible… but the whole thing held no memories for him. He needed to find Alphonse and ask him some questions. Surely he was still around. Surely.

Nearby, a friend from school waved to Ed, and he waved back absently. He barely registered the town around him. In fact, it wasn't until he had walked into someone that he realized he wasn't alone.

"Sorry." he mumbled, continuing on.

"Wait!" called the man, but Ed was deep in though, and the current of people was pushing the man in blue farther and farther away.

"Boy!" called Jerome from the other end of the marketplace, and Ed lifted his head automatically.

"Yeah?" he asked, trotting up to the old man.

"You're late. Dinner isn't going to make itself, you know." Jerome scolded, leading Ed away from the marketplace.

"Sorry." Ed mumbled, staring at the ground as he walked, watching the little stones kick out from beneath his feet.

"Boy, what's wrong with you today?" asked Jerome.

"Nothing. I'm just… a little distracted I guess."

"Alright, I'll let it slip this one time. But don't get used to it, I won't always go this easy on you."

"I know." Ed said. "I know."

"Falman, did you find anything?" demanded a male voice on the phone.

"Maybe, I'm not sure." replied Falman.

"What do you mean maybe? You either found him or you didn't."

"I found someone who looked just like him, sir. Only the clothes weren't right, and…"

"Did you question him?"

"I couldn't sir, the crowd carried me away."

"Find him, Falman."

"Yes Colonel."

AN: Short chapter, I know. That's why it was posted, what, two days after the other one? Thanks to Angel-of-Music1331, crazyanimefreak15, Isisoftheunderground, and PsycoNeko15 for all the wonderful reviews! Thanks for the grammar alert by the way, I'll have to go back and check up on that. But for now I'll just post this chapter, and repost a few of the earlier chapters which have been changed around a bit. It might not be too important just yet, but you might want to over the earlier chapters again sometime in the future.

Also, for those diehard spellers out there, what is the correct spelling for Warrant Officer Falman? Is that even the American rank? I don't have any of my American volumes right now, so all I can go off is my English subbed season two. According to that, Falman is Warrant Officer Faruman. I just don't remember what the name was translated into.

Thanks for reading!

T.K.