Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or its characters, nor do I own or claim to own the FMA movie. I am just a fan. My ideas are original. If I use another show's ideas or themes, I will list them at the bottom of the chapter. However, I do not intentionally base my work on the work of others.

Author's note: Just a few facts to get you into the story. First, this story takes place three years after the movie, so five years after the anime series. Therefore, the year is 1925, and Ed is 20, and Al is 19.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: The Calm

Ed was sitting on his bed resting against the headboard. He was flipping through the newspaper, but he wasn't taking anything in. He was afraid to think about anything. He didn't want to think about her.

Edward had always felt guilty about Noa's death. He always thought that if he spent more time with her.

How hard would it have been to visit her once or twice a week? I just assumed she was fine. Why would she have been? She really believed she could have been happy in our world…

He laid the paper on his lap, closed his eyes, and leaned back.

Noa… I only hope you've finally found happiness.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Real smart, Al. Why did you have to bring it up? He was in a good mood." Al was clearing the table and muttering to himself under his breath.

Maybe that's why Brother had his dream again? He was thinking about Rose and the gate subconsciously.

Ed hadn't told Al all of the happenings of that fateful October day. He never mentioned their father's presence, nor did he tell him of Rose's involvement. He only told Al that Rose wanted to cross over, and that she was kidnapped to lure Ed to the Thule organization. As usual, Ed wanted to protect his brother from the harsh reality. As far as Al knew, Dante killed their father many years earlier.

Well, I'd better go in and talk to him.

Al opened the bedroom door a crack, and whispered in, "Brother? I- I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have…"

From inside he heard Ed's voice, and it was happy. "Don't be silly, Al! I knew what today was, and I'm not upset at you. You don't need to apologize!"

Al opened the door fully, and smiled at his brother.

"What do you say we just take a break from the libraries? We can start tomorrow. Besides, we need to get more acquainted with this city. The United States is very different from Europe."

"Really!" Al was excited. As much as he loved exploring and researching with his brother, he wanted a day off to spend doing nothing of importance.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

After their full day of nothing, the two brothers sat down for dinner at a restaurant. The food in New York was quite different than what they had grown familiar with in London. However, Edward and Alphonse didn't have a hard time eating it – they never had a hard time finishing off what was put in front of them.

Alphonse was just as hungry as his brother, but he was able to restrain himself from shovelling food into his face with both hands. His brother, on the hand, was a different matter. Edward had two forks, one in each hand, from which he was taking successive bites from between breaths. Al noticed a few of the waiters staring in amazement at him.

"I've never seen anyone eat so much before!" one of the waiters exclaimed.

Finally, Edward had eaten enough. He leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily. "Oh man, that was good." Ed's stomach began to make sounds of contentment. "Oops. Heh heh heh."

Al just smiled.

Edward thought about telling Al about his dream last night, but he didn't want to ruin the moment. Good food shouldn't be ruined with such serious conversation he thought to himself.

In the distance, he could hear birds calling to each other.

"So brother, what should we do next?" Al asked Ed.

The sun was starting to go down. The winter months didn't allow for much daylight.

"Well, I was thinking…" Just then, Al felt a sharp pain in his right arm. It shot up his shoulder and made him stop mid-sentence. He tried his best not to grimace – he didn't want to alarm Al.

"Brother? What is it? Are you alright? I told you to eat slower…" Al could tell that something was hurting his brother – he had grimaced slightly.

"I'm fine. I guess that chicken isn't agreeing with me." Ed looked up quickly to make sure his brother bought his lie. His shoulder kept throbbing with the pain. Ed quickly stood up. "I'm just going to splash some water on my face in the bathroom. Here," he threw a bag of money on the table, "pay the waiter, and I'll meet you out front."

Al took the money and waited for the server to come back. Meanwhile, Ed tried his best to stand up and keep from doubling over in pain. He needed to get to the bathroom fast. He wanted to check out his arm.

Maybe something got loose? But how? I haven't needed to use it for anything.

That thought made Ed feel worse. For the past three years, all of their studying and researching hadn't gotten them any closer to finding that uranium bomb. Not to mention they couldn't perform alchemy anymore.

When Ed got to the back of the restaurant, he realized there were many doors, but none of them said 'Mens'.

Damn it… I'll just try this one.

Clutching his right shoulder, Ed pushed through the heavy door. He found himself in the back alley of the restaurant. There was a single light flickering above him. Other than that, he couldn't see very much else beyond what the light illuminated.

"Ah, good enough" he muttered. He let the door close shut. He didn't even care if he had been locked out. Right now, the only thing he wanted to do was stop the pain. Although the pain was nowhere near the pain of attaching his arm, it was still quite agonizing.

Ed tore off the skin-like glove he wore from the wrist, and he opened and closed his hand. He inspected his arm, and noticed that the pain had begun to subside. He let his arm drop to his side, and let out a sigh of relief.

I can't let anything happen to this arm. It's the last thing I have from where I come from… other than Al, of course… and Winry. At the same time, Ed knew it was the last thing that reminded him of his mistakes.

Just then, some muffled voices and hurried footsteps broke the silence. Ed looked in vain into the dark path to his right, from where the noises were coming from.

And then, suddenly – without warning – a figure lunged at him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please R/R! I hope you enjoyed it so far. I need to know if this story is worth continuing! I have a lot of stuff coming up – like the beginning of school and stuff – so I don't know how much I'll be able to write in the near future. Let me know what you think. I'm sorry to leave it hanging like this, but I thought it would be better like this.