Chapter 2- Arriving in Taisho Town

The next morning,Edward opened his eyes to bright sunlight shining directly into his face.

"Agh… jeez, can't they cover that window?" He griped as he rubbed his eyes. Then he realized where he was. He was in a building of low quality. It looked to be a shack facing east. "Wait, a window? Al! Alphonse, where are you?" He shouted and threw the blanket covering him to the side, then he attempted to get out of bed; however, he was pushed back onto the bed.

"Stay down, kid. I wouldn't get up if I were you, kid," an older man told him as he pushed him back down. He had black hair with streaks of gray spread in it, telling Edward that he was past his forties. He wasn't the thinnest man Ed had ever seen, but he seemed to be a bit muscular; not unlike Izumi's husband. "Your brother's fine. He's over there," the man indicated as he looked to Al.

All was sitting on the ground with a wet blanket around him. He was staring at the ground. Ed looked to him and whispered, "Alphonse…"

"Brother, are you okay?"

"Yeah, Al, I'm fine. What about you? Your blood seal didn't get too wet, did it?"

"No, it's fine. Rain doesn't get inside of me very well. But… there's something I don't understand"

"What's that, Al?" Ed said as he rose from the bed slowly with a cringe of pain, but the man gently pushed him down again.

"I'm going to go get something to help you get better. I'll be back soon," the man said as he walked out of the room.

"Well… what was Wrath off to do so quickly?"

Edward looked up towards the ceiling as he thought about what Wrath had said earlier.

"It's a good thing for you I've got somewhere to be... Envy and Mommy are waiting for me…"

There was an uneasy silence in the room, but then the silence was broken by footsteps coming on the hard wood floor. Then Edward put his hands behind his head and smiled. "Well, I'm sure we're just blowing it out of proportion. I mean, it's not like we don't have places we need to be in the middle of a death match," he teased.

"Sit up," the man told Edward. Edward slowly sat up, and he saw a flower in the man's hand. "Now suck on this buttercup's stem."

Edward looked at the buttercup and then the man. "Why the hell would I want to do that?"

"Because I've seen this done before. Some flowers have healing properties."

"Just do it, Brother," Alphonse said.

"Aw, whatever…" Edward took the flower into his hand and looked it up and down. It was a regular buttercup. Nothing out of the ordinary about it. He then put the stem of it into his mouth and chewed on it. "Ugh! This is gross!"

"Yeah, the taste ain't so good, but it'll fix you up. At least that one kid can heal people with flowers. Weird kid, weird kid…" The man rambled.

Edward looked over to him. "Hey, pops, I never caught your name."

"Hm? Oh. My name's Steven. I've lived in this place all my life. I try to be a good Samaritan, so when your brother came up here carrying you while you dripped blood, hell… what choice did I have?"

"Yeah… well, thanks," Edward said as he looked at the ceiling and chewed on the flower.

"Mr. Steven, where exactly are we?" Alphonse asked.

"This here is Taisho Town, m'boy," Steven said with a grin.

"Taisho… I haven't studied much, but that's Japanese for symmetry, right?" Edward asked as the flower in his mouth slumped a bit.

"Sure is. We're all about equivalent exchange here in Taisho," he responded.

"But sir, this isn't Japan. Why is this place named after a Japanese word?" Alphonse asked as he looked up at Steven.

"Well, this is a Japanese immigrant town," he said. He then went over to the window and pulled the curtain across, revealing the golden morning sun that lit the whole room with its brilliance. As their eyes adjusted, Edward and Alphonse began to see many Japanese people, both young and old, going about their business. It looked like a page out of a storybook. Children were playing with Japanese toys, men were digging weeds from fields, and women were tending to infants. It looked as if modern technology had skipped them. "You see, these people came here after their economy was beginning to become corrupt. Many people supported the reformation of the economy, but some didn't. Those who opposed it came here for peace. They wanted things to stay just the same as they'd always know. I don't blame them one bit."

Edward propped his arm on the window, then held his head lazily with his hand. "So, you the only non-Japanese person here?"

"Well… no. There's one other person like us. It's the weird kid I mentioned earlier." Steven said as he looked out of the window.

"Oh yeah… flower power boy," Edward laughed.

"I wouldn't laugh at him if I were you. He's sixteen years old, but he has some kind of… uniqueness… that other people don't."

"Like what, sir?" Alphonse asked.

"Just… his aura isn't that of a normal person. You'll see when you meet him, if you decide to stay a bit longer," Steven said as he started to shut the window.

Edward spat the flower out before the window was closed. "Whaddya say, Al? Up to meeting a new person?"

"Why not? Its always good to meet new people," Alphonse replied.

"You guys rest for today. You can explore the town tomorrow," Steven said, then he closed the curtain and walked out of the room.

"Al…?" Edward asked.

"Yes, Brother?"

"What have we gotten ourselves into this time?" Edward smirked with a laugh.