A/n- Just give it a chance, please! It'll get better in the next chapter…I just had to set up the scene. ..

Edward gazed emptily out the train's window, smiling despondently back at the girl from his childhood memories. Winry waved him off with a sad tight-lipped smile from behind the foggy window, just as she had done the last time… and the time before that. And now, it seemed to be getting harder and harder to leave behind these memories, and most hurtfully, Al. They had gotten the body back, but as Equivalent Exchange demanded, sacrifices had to be made, and this time, in the form of his little brother's memories. It had become too painful for Ed to look Al in the face, knowing deep inside that his little bother didn't remember him, and hearing the innocent voice tone the name "Ed", instead of "brother", or the occasional affectionate "Idiot". Sometimes it's more wounding to know the truth. Alphonse Rockbell sounded better than Alphonse Elric anyway. He was no longer one of the famous "Elric Brothers", because frankly, that was all in the past, and now, to Al, he was nothing more than the subdued boy who resembled himself, who's sad smile was ultimately washed away with a mask of stone.

"My, what a pretty face she has! Don't look so down, honey. You'll see her again, I'm sure. She must be your girlfriend, yes?" One of the blond attendants leaned forward to smile compassionately down at the boy, her hand resting tenderly on his shoulder. Only a couple months ago, he would have choked up and beaten the woman senseless for such unintelligent thoughts, but now, it just didn't matter anymore.

"Yeah, something like that." How was he supposed to explain anything that had happened anyway? How could she fathom the hurt attached to severing the last remnants to a childhood filled with blissful naivete? He hadn't noticed that the train had begun to progress forward, but now the landscape slid by outside the window, a vacuum, sucking away his past one last time. He wasn't planning on going back, not ever.

"Where you headed to, all by yourself?" Her tone was not judgmental or mocking, only for some reason unknown to Ed, was concerned, understanding. How could she understand what she couldn't possibly comprehend?

"I don't know yet. Maybe Central. I… know some people there who may remember me.

Black hair and black eyes…a pile of paperwork, and an annoying smirk.

The deadly gun, and the equally deadly owner. How many times did they have to hide under desks from it? From her?

The posse, with a little scrap of a soldier in glasses too large for his face, tagging along after them.

Mustang.

Hawkeye.

Breda, Havoc, Fuery… Falman. The gang.

…and maybe even the only family he had left.

Though he would never admit it, the military was the only place he could go back to now. The only people who would take him in without question, his second home.

"You're with the state." It wasn't a question. Ed's head snapped up to look at her amused eyes with his own startled orbs, and she smiled again, pointing pertly at the small pocket watch that he had all but disregarded. It was his memories, a keepsake of a life forgotten, that he carried with him always, if only because Al didn't have any of his own.

"Once upon a time, yeah, I was." He looked back out of the window, involuntarily running his fingers over the smooth and familiar textures. "They don't remember me anymore though. It's," he paused a second before continuing. "It's been a while." Only a matter of a year or so, really, but the military had played out what they needed from the two brothers, and it was possible that in that time they had become unserviceable. Thrown away just as carelessly as a child's toy, but in the end, that's all they had ever been. Puppets of the military, dancing into the hands of the operator, and even then, only on command. He still remembered the excuse they gave the as they walked out the door on their last search for the stone. They would only be gone a couple months or so. Research, they had called it then. Despite ample warning, they hadn't come back. What more did they have to lose?

"You know," Anneka, as the nameplate on her uniform declared in a neat bolt type, rested a delicate finger on her chin in a gesture of ponderance. "I saw some men in uniform board only a couple stations ago. They may still be here, if you'd like me to check. My, What a lively troop they were, waving those watches around to anyone passing! Green as grass, and their uniforms still crisp from the factory."

Ed smiled thinly in acknowledgment to the woman's attempts to lighten the mood.

"Thank for the offer, but I'll pass. I still need to think up some sorta good excuse to shove down the Colonel's throat when I get back-"

The door to their last compartment slammed open with such impact that the windows rattled their protest, and it was a wonder that they stayed intact.

"Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist?" The speaker, obviously a soldier of low rank and a high air of confidence strode into the room, crumbs from an discernibly hastily eaten lunch falling randomly from his chin and crumpled uniform to litter the floor in clumps.

"Speak of the morons. And here they are, in the flesh." Still not standing from his window seat position, Edward tilted his head to allow for a better view of the man and the two other soldiers flanking him.

"Edward Elric?" The man sniffed airily, more crumbs falling off his face almost in tune with his movements.

"Yeah, that's me. Or it was last time I checked, anyway. Who's asking?" One eyebrow raised ever so slightly, completing a bored air of languor.

"Fullmetal Alchemist, by order of the Fuhrer, we're placing you under arrest as of now for violating the Alchemist's code, section 1.75 B, which I believe falls under the category of Human Transmutation. We're taking you back to Central with us for further investigation."

A/n- I'm really interested in finishing this, but in order to do that, I need some feedback! Did you like it? No? Why or why not? Should I start over, or just forget the idea? Again, just give me a chance, and I'll prove it CAN get better! Please stick with me here!

-Tasha

(I'm the evil cousin…buahahaha! Fear me!)