Chapter 2: Explanation to believe

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Before he opened his eyes, he felt a sharp pain sting across his back. Flinching, he slowly sat up, trying to see if you recgonized any of the place. But from what he saw, he couldn't recgonize it at all. The hut was small and could only fit about four people, although there were only three. There was a small fire in the center and small hole in the ceiling so they wouldn't choke on the smoke. There were two people sitting across from him. A blonde headed teenager and a metal suit of arm.

"Where am I?... And identify yourself," the man said commandingly.

"First, we are in an abondoned hut. Second, you should be the one identifying yourself first, considering that you attacked us first!" Edward said, raising his voice a little.

"Whatever. I'm Cloud. I seek revenge on a certain place." Suddenly, Al piped in, curious to what was going on.

"Which place? Why? Where do you come from? Are you going to kill us? How did you get here? What's with the wing and armor stuff?" Way too many questions Al had asked. Cloud was a little bit annoyed. Even Ed was annoyed and confused.

"Al, slow down! He can't answer twenty questions at once. Besides, he already got two bullets in the back so don't make things worse on him."

"I don't know the name. Because a military and some kind of state alchemists killed my alleys. I don't remember. Perhaps. I flew and ran at great speed. I was kind of casted a spell on and decided to wear the armor to intimmidate my foes... All in order for you. Any other questions?"

"Whoa! Hold the phone! Did you say State Alchemists?" Ed asked, shocked. Cloud nodded and leaned back on the wall. He didn't care about the pain in his back. He was rather used to pain.

"By any chance, do you know any... umm... what's your name again?" Cloud asked.

"I'm Edward Elric, age 15. This is my younger brother, Alphonse Elric, age 14," Ed explained. "We prefer Ed and Al, though."

"Did you say younger brother?" Cloud asked in a flash. Of course, Al knew where this was going. This happened a lot.

"Yeah. Got a problem?" Ed felt so annoyed by Cloud's attitude.

"Damn! If he is younger than you then you are so fricken short! I mean, I can understand a 13 year old the size of this. But a 15 year old? Holy crap! Go back to 4th grade, shrimp!" As Cloud teased Ed, Al whispered something to himself. ('This can't be good')

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT! I'M NOT SHORT! YOU'RE JUST TALL! YOU GOING TO CALL ME SOMETHING ELSE! HOW ABOUT KNEE HIGH TO A GRASSHOPPER! OR A TEEN WHO HAS TO USE AN ELEVATOR TO REACH A CUP OF MILK! OR A TEEN WHO DOESN'T EVEN DRINK MILK!" As Ed threw his major tantrum, he punched Cloud in the face, left then right. Being called short was Ed's weakness... And sometimes peoples pain.

"BROTHER!" Al yelled. "STOP PUNCHING HIM!" He quickly rushed over and restrained him. Ed kept struggling as Al held him back.

"DON'T YOU EVER CALL ME SMALL! I'LL BREAK DOWN YOUR FEET AND STICK 'EM ON YOUR HEAD! AL, PUT ME DOWN!"

"God... This kid... Has major issues," Cloud said between breaths of pain. As Ed started to settle down, Al released him.

"Please forgive me and my brother Cloud sir. He hates being called short. Everyone he pretty much meets calls him short. He gets very annoyed and has a habbit of attack people who call him short. So if you don't want to get attacked again then please don't call him short," Al said, trying not to sound like a fool.

"Whatever, but I got a question... How did you come to be in this suit of armor?" After what Cloud asked, Alphonse was speechless.

"I think it is best if brother explains," Al sighed. Hearing his name mentioned, Ed immidiatley rushed over.

"What? What? I heard my name called. What is it Al? Did Cloud harm you in anyway? Do you want-" Edward's sentence was cut off.

"No! No! Brother, Cloud just wants an explanation of how I got my soul encased in this armor," Al said. Ed sighed and sat down across from Cloud. There was blood running down Cloud's mouth, unnoticable due to the cape that covered his mouth. Although still reaching down from his mouth to his shoulder, it was still able to hang loose to his ankles.

"Well it all started when me and Al were still just kids," Ed started. "Me and Al were taught alchemy, and we would make some gifts to our mother. One day, we found our mother lying dead on the floor. We wanted her back so badly, and since we knew alchemy we thought that we could make human from scratch. Unfortunatley, we only broke the biggest rule of alchemy: Human transmutation. It was forbidden from alchemists. When we tried to bring her back, nothing went as we expected it to be. Al lost his entire body, and I lost my left leg. In order to at least bring my brother back, I had to transmute his soul into this suit of armor. That caused me to lose my right arm. In place of my lost limbs, I got new automail from a mecanic. Now my mecanic today is Winry."

After the explanation, Cloud was left with nothing but shock.

"Today, anyway, I am a full fledged Alchemist!" Ed added. "But I work as a military dog,"

"MILITARY!" Cloud immidiatley yelled.

"Brother, remember the people he is after," Al whispered to Edward. Ed gulped evily and stared blankly at Cloud.

"So you were part of the military all along and I never knew!" Cloud yelled. "How foolish of me! I should have killed the both of you when I awoke." Jumping to his feet, Cloud reached for his sword and lunged at the two brothers.

"AL! RUN!" Ed screamed as he darted out the door. Al followed right behind him.

"I knew this guy was trouble!" Ed said loudly. Cloud was right by their side, trying to slash them. The boys were actually good at dodging. Suddenly, Cloud slashed Ed's jacket and it fell behind.

"Al keep running, no matter what!" Ed commanded. With that, he skidded to a stop and rolled under Cloud's blade. He quickly snactched his jacket and leaped on Cloud's head.

"Coming through!" Ed yelled as he rushed forward to catch up to Al. As he did Al skidded to a hault.

"What are you... Never mind," Ed said with a little bit of fear in his voice. There was a huge boulder blocking their way.

"DIE!" Cloud suddenly yelled, slashing Ed's left arm. A large wound appeared. Blood trickled down his arm. He then let out a scream of pain.

"Brother! Are you ok, brother?" Al asked panicly.

"DAMNIT! DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M OK?" He replied. "I JUST GOT SLASHED BY A HUGE ASS SWORD!" Ed grasped his arm and flinched. Suddenly, Cloud grabbed him by the neck and rasied him eye level.

"You should have kept your trap shut," Cloud whispered. "But you couldn't. I could have spared you. You and the damn military killed my alleys for absolutley no reason what so ever. I seek revenge on that, and you and your brother will suffer!"

"NO! PUT HIM DOWN! PUT HIM DOWN!" Al screamed, trying to break Cloud's grip on his brother. Cloud just shoved him aside like nothing was there.

"Al... Run," Ed managed to choke out. He clapped his hands together and transmuted his automail arm into his blade. CRNNK! Ed jabbed his blade into the swordman's arm. A scream of pain was released from Cloud as he freed the grip of Ed.

"Brother!" A voice came from behind. Ed swung around and saw Al rushing toward him. The two brothers hugged. Al had to kneel down in order to hug Ed because of his height.

"Damn you!" Cloud screamed. "I won't allow you two to live!"

"Why must you take out your anger on all of Ametris!" Al screamed. "I don't know why the military killed your ally's, but me and my brother have nothing to do with it!"

"They killed them because they thought that my friends were terrorists. The way my friends dressed isn't like you people. Our ship got the Highwind isn't like the airships you people have. Next time, don't judge a book by its cover!"

"We'd be lucky if there is going to be a next time," Al added. "We'd be lucky if we got away from you." Cloud was speechless. Now he was debating if he should kill or spare the brothers. They were part of the military... Or at least Ed was... But they didn't have any clue what was going on at that particular time.

"The hell with it," Ed suddenly said. "If you are going to kill us, then go ahead. If we fought then we would die in the end." Al was shocked to what he was saying. Usually Ed wouldn't give up at all. But why would he give up all of a sudden? He barley even put in any effort.

"Why did you join the military in the first place, Ed?" Cloud suddenly asked.

"Because..." Ed stood proudly, as though he would convince Cloud completley. "I want to learn more on alchemy. The Philosiphers Stone is likely to restore my limbs. But most of all, I want to restore my brother's body. I want him to actually show face expressions. To know what it feels like to feel and taste. I just want my little brother to be free..." Cloud was once again speechless. He thought deeply of what Ed was saying. In metal armor, it would really be hard to feel and taste and have face expression.

"Let me help..." Cloud didn't look up at the boys when he said this.

"What are you talking about?" Ed asked, crossing his arms.

"I want to help you and your brother find this stone thing... Then... You have to help me with something..."

"And what would that be?" Al asked. "We will be happy to help you with anything, Cloud sir."

"There is someone named Sephiroth... He is in my world... Yes... We live in different worlds. Anyway, he is trying to destroy our world, and I could use as much help as I can get."

"Fine, but first I have a question," Ed said. "What was you and your teamates purposes to coming to this world?"

"We were in search of more help. Sephiroth has gained some sort mysterious power that makes him almost impossible to be destroyed by just me and my teamates... But... Only now I whole damn team is dead!" Cloud pounded his fist on a nearby tree several times before it collapsed.

"Cloud..." Al walked up to Cloud and stopped a foot in front of him. "Do you know for sure if they are dead?"

"I didn't witness their deaths, but from what I saw I noticed a lot of gun shots and explosions. Then everything cleared and I saw nothing... Only blood laying on the ground."

"Do you know for sure if it was there blood?" Ed suddenly asked. Hearing this made Cloud's eyes widen.

"I-I never thought of that..."

"Hey, don't worry. Maybe they are still alive somewhere... We will find them for sure!" Ed sounded confident. Cloud smiled and nodded.

"Ok, but if we don't find them then I will be very pissed."

"We will find them... don't worry, Cloud sir," Al said. When Cloud finished wrapping his arm in a bandage, they searched the area to see if they could find Cloud's team.

"Oh... My... God..." Cloud's eyes widened in shock as he saw a large airship in a clearing. There seemed to be no scratches or damages. Across the airship was the word Highwind. Cloud thought there was some hope of his team being alive after all.