Chapter 2

I sat there in front of my window, reminiscing about what good times I'd spent in this small friendly town. Slowly I let my mind drift in and out of thoughts, and as the trees swayed in the fog and the dim sun set in front of my window I thought about one of the happiest memories I still remembered.

Slowly the image came to mind. I remember looking out this very same window on a bright sunny day. It was sweltering out side, so my mum had told me to stay indoors.

I looked out the window and stared at the bright wheat and corn fields. Then I noticed the brown haired boy from across the meadow coming up to our house with a bundle of flowers in his arms. Probably to swoon my mum for the wonderful dinner she'd made last night. He should go for younger women.

As he came into view I noticed a smudged of dirt on his cheek and then passed out of view as he came up onto the porch. I heard a knock downstairs and listened carefully. My mum answered the door and I could hear them talking. I couldn't make out what they were saying, I was counting down the slow seconds till he walked out the door.

I heard foot steps coming up the stairs and I slowly got up, thinking it was my mum. They knocked and I opened the door. Standing there was the boy with the bundle of wild flowers in his arms. This was such a surprise! No one ever gave me flowers before! He held them out to me and I gladly took them and put them beside the spinning globe on my desk. Then I stood in front of him, filled with joy. "Thank you" I said into the humid air that filled my room. He stared at me and smiled kindly. "You're welcome. I was helping my pa and I saw these gorgeous marigolds, you're favourite! I hope you like them." He said shyly. I could see the light lush touch his freckled cheeks. "Oh I love them" I said with a huge grin on my face.

Then he shifted his foot and spoke. "I-I got to go help pa in the fields. I'll see you later." He hesitated before turning to leave and suddenly found my hand on his cheek. I brushed it with my lips. I could see him blush a deeper shade of red and I pulled away, quickly. He left, and I sat back down in front of the window, sheepishly giddy. I could see him put a hand to his cheek as he walked toward the fields, and I swayed at the thought that I liked him. I stood in the window and yelled into the heat, "See you tonight!" and he turned and waved. I smiled and when I opened my eyes, I was back in the same foggy room of my 'second' home.

Edward stood in front of the door that was labeled Map Room. "Wow, I can't believe Mustang said yes." Ed had a flash back to what Roy had said when he asked him to see the Map Room. "Sure Fullmetal, I don't see why not, just tell me where you're going and I'll see if I can hook you up". Edward had flinched when he'd said that but he could always work around that part of the deal if need be. "Why are you surprised brother? Mustang is pretty reasonable if you ask me. I just can't believe you lied to him about need to access it for a lead on the stone. You know he'll find out sooner of later that you were using him. Then you'll owe him big time brother." Ed shrugged of Al's scolding. "Yea, yea. But he always sends us on wild goose chases. I's about time he owes me one." He put his hand on the handle and twisted it to the right. A cold draft flowed out from the room and gave Edward a shiver, reminding him of the dream. He slowly pushed the door open and walked in.

Alphonse followed in and stood by the doorway, wondering what his brother would be looking for in the Map Room. He closed the door behind him and walked up to the podium in the middle of the room, which Edward was standing in front of now. They looked down at the large map of Amestris. "So, what are we looking for, Brother?"

Edward looked up and stared at Al. "Oh right, well, I can't remember what the place is called exactly but I think it started with a D. Not Dubleth." Edward and Al both shuddered at the name and Ed continued. "Well I guess I'd better tell you. You'd find out sooner or later.". Ed sigh and paused for a long moment before explaining. " I - I had a dream on the train. It's not the first time. It's always the same. An old style house, a grey sky. And a girl in the window. BUt thi time the girl spoke to me.". Ed paused again, hesitant to continue as the memories blurred slightly. Al prompted him to continue. "This girl asked for my help Al, she said she was in some place, I can't remember where, but she sounded like she really needed my help." Edward shrugged. "That's why I asked if you believed in ghosts." Ed scratched his head and laughed. "It sounds so silly saying it. It's probably not even real."

"No brother, It sounds like it could be. If what you say is true, she's reaching out for help. Maybe she's not even a ghost." Ed considered his brothers words carefully. If she really did need help, how was she able to contact him? And better yet, Why?

"But that means you lied to the colonel, brother. You said you had a lead on the philosophers' stone!?" Alphonse protested. "Hey it's not his business," Ed confronted back. "Besides, her spirit might be here because of the stone, so it's not necessarily a lie." Edward said matter of factly.

Edward thought some more and then started wondering around the room, pulling out books and flipping through their dusty pages, and then returning them to their spot of the shelf. "D-D-Dar, no Duo, no that's not it." Edward was thinking really hard. In fact he was thinking so hard that 5 hours later he'd been through every book in the room and was now sitting at the table by the window.

"Brother, Maybe it's not in Amestris. What if the place no longer exists? WHat if it's in another country?"

"No way Al, If that was true then why would she be asking for help? I need to talk to her again."

He stared at the sealing, and waited for sleep to come. He had come to the conclusion that he must ask the girl for the directions he needed to find her, to help her. He sat there, thinking of nothing. Al had stopped talking after Edward had snapped and said that he was getting tired.

Al sat in silence, his usual hobby and thought of what his brother might be thinking of. He looked up, in what would have been a sad face and noticed that Edward had fallen asleep. His soft features creased with worry, yet at peace. Slowly he got up and found a blanket laying on the floor near his feet, and moved to put it on his brother. He then sat in silence once again, dreaming of the day he could return his brother to his body, and finally be able to dream again himself. Sometimes he felt so lonely watching every waking moment of the world while his brother drifted off. Sometimes he thought it wasn't fair, but remembered he was just as at fault as his brother, and it was thanks to Ed that he was even still alive. He thanked no one in particular every day that Ed had had the strength to do what he did. Al would wait patiently until he could once again dream as Ed did now.

Edward looked up at a grey sky; the blurry clouds passed overhead in an unfelt wind. The darker grass swayed around Edward as if in a dream. Edward slowly sat up and looked around him. He was in a field of grass, looking up at the dull sky. The trees and fields surrounding the slight hill were all shades of grey and tones of black, and the sky was the lightest grey you'd have ever thought existed. Turning left and right he could see old houses standing here and there between fields of grey wheat and corn. The houses appeared to look (in our view not his) Victorian, with fancy trimming, but not excessive.

Standing up Edward felt a sway in his steps and suddenly appeared in front of a darker, grey house. All the windows were a foreboding black, and hazy light seemed to halo the house. "Ugh, this looks grim." Edward whispered. His voice echoed in the landscape which sent a shiver down his back for a third time this day.

Edward looked back up at the house and reached for the handle in front of him. As he clasped his hand firmly around it he felt an electrifying jolt run up his arm and he was flung a few meters off the front porch. Edward sat up and shook his head. The pain from the jolt and the rough landing slowly ebbed from his head. "Ouch." He whispered again to be replied by another echo. He was surprised to feel pain in the dream, considering the breeze went unfelt. Peculiar.

He looked back up at the house and noticed a figure in the window to the left of the door on the second floor waving to him. He stood up and felt the sway again, but this time did move. He waved back. Then all of a sudden he felt and heard a voice in his head, humming quietly at first, then speaking to him. "Think of the room from last time and then you will come in. Close your eyes and imagine the room…" Edward heard these words, but they sounded distant to him. Unreal.

He thought about what the voice had said and did what he thought was the only thing to do. "I guess it's how you get around in this world." He thought aloud. So he imagined the room he had seen the girl in before, and he imagined her, standing in front of the window, the pale curtains flowing in the unfelt breeze, the bed in the corner, the chair and the desk. Then he felt the earth sway again and when he opened his eye's he saw the room, and the girl standing by the desk this time. Swirling her globe.

"So you finally came." She said softly. He face looked pleased as a small smile touched her thin lips. "I hoped I'd hear from you soon. Do you have any questions?" Said said with a heavy voice despite her previous pleasure at seeing him again.

"Well, I can't remember the place I'm looking for, I-" He paused, searching for the right words. "can you show me where it is again?" He asked.

"I told you, didn't I? It's not on any map. I'll show you again." She said in a whisper. She then pointed a long slender finger at the spinning globe and it stopped over a place that was across quite a large dessert. Edward moved in closer and saw a faint dot, long rubbed away, on the other side of it. Looking to the right of the dessert he saw in capital letters; AMESTRIS. "So it's... it's across the dessert?" Ed asked.

"Yes, it is Dream Meadows, pronounced Drem." She said. All this time she had not once turned to look at him. Suddenly there was a screech coming from the hall and a scratching noise arose from the other side of the door. A shadow crept across the room and she turned frighteningly towards the door. The scratching got louder and harder and then she screamed to Edward, "Go, you must. If they get you, you will die. Go now!" She yelled, her face hidden beneath the shadow of the room. Her voice was so full of terror Ed longed to understand what caused such fear in a dream.

Edward didn't know what to do, the noise that came from the door had rooted him to the spot. "But-" He interjected. "No go." She forced. As she said her last words she pushed him toward the window, and he felt himself hit against the glass and he felt the unfelt breeze. Suddenly he felt the breeze pull him away form the room, the girl, the house and the fields, and the world was in colour and he was sitting up in the map room, blanket on the floor and the darkness coming in from the window from outside.

"NO! DON'T GO!" He yelled instantly into the darkness and Alphonse stood up and walked over to him. "Brother, are you ok?" He asked with concern. He placed an armoured hand on his shoulder and waited. Edward looked at him and smiled weakly, sweet trickling down his face. "Al, it's Dream Meadow, it's on the other side of the East dessert. I found out, now we can go!" Edward said excitedly, shaking with either anticipation or fright, Al wasn't sure. Alphonse just looked at him, then stood up. "You must sleep some more before we go, or you'll not make it there awake." He said with a hint of a giggle and concern. Why had his brother looked so terrified as he woke up?

Edward did as he was told and when the morning came they went to the Colonel to tell him of there destination.

"So your going to Dream Meadow!? Interesting. The Military hasn't had many dealings with that town in about 3-400 years I believe, but it just so happens that I have a fellow going that way for me." Roy said matter of factly. Why didn't it surprise Edward that this was so. He was now unsure of his decision of telling Mustang, but it was to late now.

"Well where can I meet this fellow of yours?" Edward asked slowly. "He'll meet you at the train station now. And he's got a means of transport once you get to the end of the rails. Don't worry about a thing Fullmetal," Mustang said nonchalantly as Ed ground his teeth. "You'll get along just fine. I expect you to find something useful up there."

"Thanks, I guess your not going to tell me who it is, are you." Said Edward between his teeth. Mustang had a way of surprising Ed in ways he didn't like to be surprised. He already knew the answer to that.

"No, you'll recognize him right away. Anyway, here's your tickets. They'll be good for a round trip, destination undetermined till you get to the station. There a new kind of ticket the state is trying out. I purchased them for you, you should thank me."

"Edward glared at Roy as he laughed. If Mustang wasn't careful, Ed might burn him in his chair with only his glare. Alphonse then spoke up in his brothers' silence. "Thank you colonel, we appreciate all your help. We'll return as soon as we discover what's up there and give you a full report. We must be going now. Good Bye."

"Edward, be careful, ok," Roy said suddenly wearily. His dark eyes stared at Ed and Al very seriously.

"Ya sure, thanks! Bye Colonel." Ed waved lazily and walked out of the room followed by Alphonse.

Edward and Alphonse walked up to the station and handed the ticket man their tickets. Once on the platform they looked around for a second, looking for the familiar fellow that Mustang had hinted at and then, to Edwards's slight displeasure, they saw him. Suddenly a loud booming voice came from across the platform as their guide spotted them and a tall, muscular man in a military uniform and a small blonde mustache came running up to than and grabbed Edward into a back cracking bear hug.

"Edward and Alphonse Elric. How nice it is to see you again. When the Colonel told me you needed a guide I was so happy to oblige that I signed up right away. I've planned our means of transport and disguises for secrecy as well." Major Armstrong voiced.

"Thanks Major, but why would be need disguise? We don't need to hide ourselves. I mean, we're just going to a little town across the dessert." Edward said mater of factly.

"Of course we do. I heard the people there don't much like the Military. past dealings and all, and I need to go there to pick up some stuff anyway for Hughs. So it's on the way! Come on, the trains about to leave. We don't want to be late." He said and then practically dragged Edward and Alphonse onto the arriving train and off they were, to the Dessert passing. The last station of the train route.

Thank you soo much for reading, I've had so much fun typing it out I hope you enjoyed it!, Please post some reviews, if you have time. I like to read them and hear what you guys think of the story, and if you have any suggestions as to where it might go. Thank you again and I'll try hard to type up the next chapter soon!

Ok so this is finally the next chapter and as you know I do not own FMA or any characters. I hope you enjoy this next chapter and I look forward to hearing what you have to say about it.

Updated and edited!