oOo

Chapter Two

That night, Ed fell asleep quickly, back in his old, familiar bed by the window, stars shining down on him from the clear, night sky. As he first lay down, drawing the sheets over him, he thought of Winry again. And it seemed okay. Change was natural. And the rest of him, he thought, was still the same. He would always be the same to Winry: a brother to her, a friend. Come to think of it, that was the way it had always been. He would be the only one who new about this change of feeling. Maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

Around eleven o'clock, Ed woke up. He sat up, squinting into the darkness.

"Brother?" It was Al.

"Al, what are you doing up? What's-"

"Listen."

There were footsteps outside, someone walking up the wooden ramp to the side door. Ed leaned his head out of the open window just soon enough to see the door close. He sat back on the bed.

"What's going on?" Al asked.

"I don't know," Ed said. "I didn't see who it was, but someone just came inside the house-"

Footsteps on the stairs now. Ed slid out of bed and crept over to the bedroom door.

"On my signal," he whispered, "we open the door and jump whoever's out there."

"But what if it's Winry? What if she just went outside for a while?" Al asked.

"In the middle of the ni-!"

The footsteps stopped in the hall. Ed fell silent. He heard the door to the room next to his creak open.

"Hey, is that you?" Winry's voice was heard. Then a voice he hadn't heard before.

"Yeah, it's just me. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." It was a girl. Young, probably no older than Ed or Winry, and there was something oddly awake and alert about her voice, since she had just been caught sneaking around at night.

"It's okay," Winry said as she stepped into the hall. There a pause. "Where were you all day?"

"Just out, wandering around."

Another pause.

"Winry?"

"I told you you could stay here. They wouldn't mind," Winry said at last.

"Neh, It'd be too awkward."

"Would not!"

The girl laughed.

"Good night, Win," she said.

"Night."

And the door creaked the rest of the way open, and the girl stepped inside. Ed assumed Winry returned to her own room as well. Some movement was heard, the rustling of sheets, a lamp switching off, then silence. Ed stayed where he was for a moment, crouched by the door, then he stumbled his way back to bed.

"What the hell – was that?"

oOo

The events of the night were, of course, forgotten, as Ed was aroused from sleep by the warm, spring sunlight coming in through his open window. It was nearly eight o'clock, according to his pocket watch, and for him, this was sleeping in on the weekend.

"Morning, Al," he said routinely as he began to dress.

The armor stirred where it sat against the wall opposite the bed.

"Good morning," he replied and stood up.

Ed stretched.

"You ready for a full day?"

"Mhm." Al nodded.

Ed smiled at him then opened the door and headed downstairs.

"So, you two, what's on your military R & R schedule today?" Winry asked mockingly as she began to clear the table after breakfast.

Ed rose to help her, taking his plate over to the sink, and he started to wash the dishes.

"I was thinking that maybe sometime today, Brother and I could go visit Mom," Alphonse said timidly.

All movement stopped, and all the energy in the universe seemed to concentrate solely on the young, blonde boy standing at the counter.

"...Brother?"

Ed suddenly turned to face the others. He smiled.

"Good idea, Al," he said, and finishing the last of the dishes, turned and headed into the living room. Exchanging a surprised look with Winry, Al went after him. He found Ed casually sprawled on the couch, his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.

"Brother?"

"Hmm?"

"You really mean it?"

Ed looked over at him then back at the ceiling.

"Yeah," he replied, after a moment of thought. "We should go see her." He paused, stretching his right arm out in front of him. "We might as well, since we're here."

oOo

A sweet breeze blew over the landscape, spreading the scent of wildflowers and leaves. There was a strange wind in the cemetery, or maybe Edward just imagined it. The two brothers stood in silence over the grave, no emotions apparent of either of them. Ed knelt down in front of the headstone, fingering the dry, cracked petals of flowers that had been laid there in her memory.

Trisha Elric
1953-1989
Beloved Wife
Beloved Mother

Ed pulled out some of the weeds that had grown over the dark earth, then placed a single red rose by the headstone.

"Brother, look," Alphonse said.

Ed stood and went over to his brother. Al stood over another grave a few rows over from their mother's.

"It's Mr. Andrews's, Calvin's dad," Al said.

Ed read over the epitaph.

"Oh, yeah. I remember Cal. He was always working the farm for his father, because he was sick," he said.

Al nodded, then added softly, "I guess he did die from whatever he had. And it wasn't too long ago, either. Look." Al pointed to the date on the gravestone; the year of death had only been the year before.

"I can't believe it," Al muttered.

Ed stood there for a moment, then turned and started back for the dirt path leading out of the graveyard.

"A lot has happened since we've left. It's normal. It's not like the whole world would just stop dead like a clock, and only start up again when we came back to wind it up," he said, deadpan.

Al nodded, trudging along behind Ed.

"I know. One is all-"

"And all is one."

After walking for a minute, Ed veered to the left instead of continuing along the path.

"Brother?" Alphonse called.

"I'm going for a walk," Ed said. "Tell Winry and Pinako I'll be back by lunch."

Al nodded, knowing it was no use trying to sway his brother, and continued toward the Rockbells'.

Ed walked on for a while, past the farmlands and orchards, out into an open field with trees scattered along the hills – hills where he and his brother used to play as children. He tred on through the high grass up to the tallest hill, where two, great elm trees stood, their branches tangled within each others', growing into one another. There seemed to be a light music on the air, but then Ed realized he heard singing. As he neared the top of the hill, the words became clearer, and the voice, he thought, was the strangest – and most beautiful – he had ever heard.

"...You've learned your lines...
To scale and to time...
...Why must I remind you that I'm only best able?...
We're ordinary people, we can't help but to change as we walk
And make plans in the dark
And make haste with the boy who can't help but keep good people out.
As you talk to me, too much you're assuming.
We don't always want what's right..."

Reaching the top of the hill, Ed could see, sitting back against one of the trees, was a girl about his age, with long, dark brown hair and unusually pale skin. She was dressed simply, in a long indigo skirt and a faded, light purple peasant top with a white rose by the left shoulder; in her lap was an old, leather-bound book, open to a sketch. She looked up, hearing Ed approach.

"O-oh, I'm sorry. I just, thought I heard someone," Ed stammered, starting to turn away as his face deepened to a dark pink shade.

The girl smiled at him. Ed saw she had the most extraordinary eyes. They were different shades of blue, getting lighter towards the center of the iris, and then, around the pupil, was a magnificent light gold color.

"It's just me," the girl said, in an offhanded tone. "You're alright."

Reflex was to turn away and go home, Winry and the others would be waiting for him, anyway, but some other inner force kept Ed where he was. A slight smile crossed his face as he looked at the girl. She was...attractive, in a word, and not just because she was pretty. There was a feeling Ed got, just staring at her; something magnetic, a mutual, kind mien about them both.

Ed sat down beside her, hardly conscious of his action.

"You from around here?" the girl asked, her alluring eyes locked on his.

"Used to be," Edward said, then added dryly, "Now I'm in Central."

The girl laughed.

"The city, huh? Do you like it?"

Ed shrugged.

"It's okay. But it's completely different from Resembool."

She nodded.

"I'd imagine. There's no place quite like this."

Ed looked over at her.

"What about you? I've never seen you around here – then again, it's been awhile since I've lived here."

The girl gazed out over the field.

"I travel a lot. I hardly stay in one place for too long." She paused. "I think I've been almost everywhere by now," she laughed and sat back against the tree trunk. "But I'm from the city. And that's the only place I've stayed for more than a year or so at a time."

She looked over at Ed finally, the sunlight flashing in her eyes.

"Stupid, huh?"

Ed looked up, taken aback.

"What? No! I mean, I've kind of done the same thing. Me and my brother, we move around a lot too. We're..." He trailed off, choosing his words carefully. "...We're looking for something, and we just go where our search takes us."

The girl nodded. Ed looked over at the sketchbook she held. On the open page was an outline of the landscape from where they sat on the hill.

"That's good," Ed commented after a moment.

"Thanks," she replied, studying it herself. Then she grinned at Ed. "Look." She turned the page back to another drawing. It was similar to the first, but something was different.

"I drew this one last week, before the flowers opened up and the trees had all their new leaves," the girl said.

Ed smirked.

"It's beautiful," he said, marveling at the picture. It was in exact detail, like someone had outlined a photograph. "So, you draw?" he asked, later thinking how stupid and obvious a question that was.

The girl shrugged.

"Sometimes. And I write, and-"

"Sing."

"Oh, God, did you hear that?" the girl asked, a deep blush coming into her face.

Ed smiled at her.

"Just a little."

"Oh, God, I'm sorry, I-"

"Why are you sorry?" Ed interrupted.

"I...don't know..."

The blonde chuckled.

"What?" the girl asked, still blushing.

"Nothing. Don't be sorry. You were good," Ed said sincerely.

"Nah, not really."

"You were! I'm serious," Ed insisted, then asked, "What were you singing, anyway? I've never heard it before."

"Just this...thing, I don't know. I've just known it forever, and I like the words," she said simply. "It's a little sad, though. The lyrics can mean too many things," she added, somewhat cryptically.

Ed just nodded.

The girl closed her sketchbook then and slowly stood.

"I should go. It's almost time for lunch, and I haven't eaten anything since yesterday," she said, chuckling.

Ed stood as well, stretching slightly.

"Yeah, me too. If I'm late for another meal, you'll be seeing my name in tomorrow's obituaries."

The girl laughed.

"See you later," she said, starting down the hill.

Ed looked after her for a moment. Once she was a good distance away, he started back to Winry's, slightly disappointed that the girl wasn't going in his direction. A good way down the path, something hit him.

Oh...DAMN IT! She's taller than me!

A/N: Woo hoo! I finished! Sorry it took so long. Reason being that this chappie was going to be much longer than it is, but I cut out a lot of the crap I had written that happens after this and started chapter three with it instead. Lol. So yeah, this is a pretty bigass chapter, and I introduced a new, as of un-named, character, (the random girl by the tree). Yeah, and we're gonna have some fun with this next chapter. It's pretty obvious what's going on, but whatever. Predictability makes people feel smart XD so why be a killjoy and be all cryptic and shit? Amen. Mkay. I'm gonna go work on the next chappie and a bunch of random sonnets that I may turn into a poem fic. Meh...

And I definitely made up the mom's epitaph…Yeah. And the year of birth.

DISCLAIMER: Yeah, I don't own FMA or the song "Pressed in a Book" by The Shins. The 'ordinary people' line is kinda the outline of this fic, but I didn't tell y'all that in the summary cuz I didn't feel like it. Mkay. I'm done here.

-The Morbid Original