Heh, I guess I'm finally learning how to slow down in my story telling. I thought that the awesome chapter I have planned would have been in the first chapter. Then that turned out not to be the case, so I thought it would be in the second chapter. Wrong again. It'll be in the third chapter for sure. There's nothing else happening between the end of this chapter and the awesome scene, so look forward to that one, hehe. I'll write it up as soon as I can, because I don't want to lose the images in my mind. In the meantime, enjoy the story.

Disclaimer: My disclaimer muse doesn't seem to hang around much anymore, so I guess I should just boringly state that I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Muse: Okay, I'm here, did I make it?

Me: Yeah, just in time for the end of the disclaimer.

Muse: Ah, nuts. I'll improve my timing, I swear!

Me: Right, right.

He still couldn't believe he was doing this, even if it was for his little brother's benefit. It was so ridiculously unscientific that he would never have even considered it had the circumstances been slightly different. Basically, if his brother's health were not a concern, he would not be here.

"Brother, are you sure I can't just walk?" said Al as Ed hoisted him up by his waist and plopped him down into a wheelchair on the platform by the train. The younger boy blushed a bit at the treatment, but didn't fight. Ed was relieved that he didn't. It was hard enough having to force Al to just take all their treatment, he didn't want to have to fight him over it as well. He could only imagine how difficult this situation would be if the roles were reversed. Ed was not a very good patient, he knew.

"Al," said Ed patiently, but as if he were explaining something simple to a child, "If we don't let you walk around the house, what makes you think I'm going to let you walk around a city?" He made sure that Al was situated in his chair and then carefully pushed it over to the edge of the platform and lowered it down the steps, very slowly. It was a slightly bumpy ride, but at least Al wouldn't have to get down those steps on his own.

Once down the steps, Al shook his head, and then leaned back his head into the chair and sighed. He closed his eyes as Edward continued to push the chair forward. Ed frowned at the expression on his little brother's face. He understood it well. The boy was feeling useless, and possibly a bit depressed at not being able to do anything for himself. If only he could find a way to stabilize the transmutation, then Al could start healing and go back to his happy, healthy self.

"So where are we going, Brother?" Al said after a little while of silence. Ed relaxed his arms slightly which had become tense again during Al's silence and he forced a smile on his face.

"Well, I had no choice but to talk to the idiot," said Ed. Al chuckled slightly at his terminology. It was probably quite apparent who he was meaning. Now that Ed was no longer in the military, he had no obligation to respect his superiors, though he had rarely done so to Roy anyway, but he was even able to get away with calling him by his first name nowadays if he wanted.

"So what did Roy say?" asked Al, borrowing some liberties from Ed's recently military-less position.

Ed smirked, and then continued with what he was trying to explain. "He's not so sure he believes in this stuff either, but there is a woman in this town with a reputation for helping people. She doesn't call herself a psychic though...I think the word he used was 'shaman'."

"I've heard that term before," said Al, turning his head slightly to look at his brother, "That's almost the same thing, just slightly different."

"So is it close enough for your liking?" Ed asked with a hint of laughter in his voice.

Al closed his eyes again and smiled while nodding. He leaned his head back into the chair again and relaxed. In only a matter of moments, he was asleep. Ed sighed again as he looked down at his little brother. He had so little energy that he couldn't even stay awake when he wasn't using it to move around, and yet he would try so hard to use it like a normal person. It was painful to watch the boy suffer like this.

Ed gulped. He didn't believe in legitimate psychics by any means, but if this woman actually tried to help people, she might at least be able to come up with some good advice for the two of them. If nothing else, it would likely be a fun experience for Al at the very least. He'd try to put on a cheerful face for his little brother's sake so that he could enjoy it more.

Edward pushed Al up beside a small brown house and reached into his pocket to pull out a piece of paper. Roy had told him the address of the woman and had instructed him to write it down, which he did. It was a good thing he had done so too, as he wasn't familiar with this village. It appeared that this was the right house though, so he reached down and gently shook Al's shoulder.

"Al, wake up. We're here."

Al blinked sleepily and slowly looked up at the house before them. It wasn't very glamorous or in the slightest bit dramatic. A slight frown began to form on Al's face, and Ed caught the notion that must have been running through Al's mind. "Don't worry, Al," he said, "I'm sure that she's just an ordinary person with an extraordinary profession. The people who constantly flaunt their skills usually have nothing more to show than a magic show anyway."

Al looked up at his brother and nodded, though he didn't look quite convinced. Ed sighed. They would just have to see this woman through and discover whether she really was worth as much as Roy thought she was. He shrugged and looked around for a way to get Al up onto the porch when a woman's voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

"Hello, are you Edward Elric?"

Ed looked up in surprise and saw a rather normal looking in a plain blue dress standing on the porch. She looked at Ed's confused face and smiled, and then looked down at the wheelchair containing Al. "This must be your little brother. I'll help you get him up here." Without a word from Ed, she jumped down onto the ground, which was not exactly what Ed had expected from a woman in a dress, and she promptly grabbed one side of Al's wheelchair and hinted at Ed to grab the other side. Ed nodded, and together the two hoisted the chair up to the top of the porch.

"Th-Thanks," Ed said between breaths. His heart was racing after that little workout, which was understandable, considering how heavy Al and the wheelchair combined were. He didn't mind though, so long as Al didn't waste any of his own energy.

The woman extended her hand. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Luita, as I'm sure you know. Roy Mustang called and told me you would be here."

Ed stifled a chuckle and reached out to shake the woman's hand. So she hadn't known who they were from her own supposed psychic abilities, but at least she was being honest about it. He had a chance of respecting someone if they were honest about what they didn't know, even if they had an unscientific profession.

"Luita?" said Al, suddenly piping up, "Luita as in the song, 'Daydreamer Luita'?" The woman chuckled audibly and nodded, and Ed smiled too. Al knew just about every Amestrian folk song in existence, and even some from other countries as well. The boy even had his own violin that he had learned to play as a fiddle so that he could play all his favorite folk songs.

"So are you daydreamy?" Al asked again, probing with an amused smile on his face.

Fortunately, Luita didn't take offense at being associated with the song, and just smiled again in return. "I suppose all shamans are a bit daydreamy," she said, "It's part of the job description." Naturally, that made Al smile even more. He would enjoy finding someone with the attributes of one of his favorite folk songs. Maybe this trip wouldn't be so bad after all. The woman was a normal human being, at least.

The three made their way into her home, which for all appearances, seemed to be a normal home as well. "I have a special room I use for meetings like this," she said, "So I'll take you there. The energy is better in that room." Ed grunted under his breath. Of course she would have a preferred room. That room was probably rigged to produce special effects to get people to pay more for her services. All the same, this was for Al, regardless, so he shrugged and followed the woman.

The room turned out to be simply furnished with a table and a few chairs around. Various symbols from religious and spiritual practices adorned the walls. There were several shelves containing a variety of things ranging from crystals to herbs to tarot cards and other weird things. Ed scanned the room with his eyes, looking wildly for any cracks in the walls or floor where something might be able to pop out. Luita turned to him and chuckled.

"A bit of a skeptic, are we?"

Ed snapped his attention back to the woman and blushed. He didn't know what to say that wouldn't embarrass everyone involved. The woman smiled and simply waved him off, freeing him of having to say anything. He released his shoulders in relief.

"A lot of skeptics come in here. I don't mind, I'm used to it. I try to help people whether they believe what I say or not."

Edward felt embarrassed again, but he tried not to show it. The woman seemed like she was trying to be nice, so he could at least return the favor, especially since Al wanted to enjoy this. He seemed to be more at ease now that he was in a room filled with strange spiritual objects, so he expected a lot more to happen. Maybe something would, though Edward was sure it would only be a bunch of magic tricks. It might be worth dealing with it just to see Al smile though.

The three positioned themselves around the table, and the woman placed her hands face down in front of her and closed her eyes, saying nothing to the boys for a few minutes. Edward squirmed in his seat. He hoped this woman wasn't going to charge a bundle for all this wasted time. That was part of the reason he hated dealing with such people.

The woman finally opened her eyes again and looked at the two boys. "I see," she said. "You have two issues that you are dealing with: one on a personal level, and one on a large scale."

A tic formed in the corner of Ed's mouth. Nice try. Something that vague could apply to anything, so what if it was technically accurate? The woman looked directly at Edward then and said, "I can get more specific, but I usually wait a little longer before I do so, as it scares some people. Your little brother is ill, and you are concerned about the upcoming war, and want to intervene."

Ed's eyes opened wide and stared at the woman. Had she really just said all that? By the reaction on Al's face, she apparently had. There had to be some trick to it. Maybe she had just guessed what was on his mind. It wouldn't be that hard, considering how Al was in a wheelchair, and a man from the military had called her to inform her of their upcoming visit. He had to give the woman some credit though. She was quite good at her little shenanigans.

"Your illness isn't normal," continued the woman, now staring directly at Al. The look on her face seemed a little bit spaced out, as though she were really looking past the boy rather than right at him. "Your aura is constantly leaking energy. It's as if you're undecided whether you should live or die."

Ed let out an audible cry of exclamation and slammed his fists on the table before him. He wasn't meaning to be rude, but that last statement had just shocked him so much beyond reason. There had been no way she could have known that. Even Roy didn't know that much. Ed had only ever bothered telling him that Al was now back in his own body and that Al was now very sick, but he hadn't told him what the matter was. Roy wouldn't be able to help him in this issue, so there seemed to be no point in letting him in on this tidbit of information. For this woman to know something like that was extraordinary.

The woman turned back towards Edward and smiled, in spite of his reaction. There was definitely something strange going on with this woman, but did she honestly have abilities that had no scientific basis? He wasn't sure he could accept that, no matter how accurate she seemed to be.

The woman stood up and walked over to one of her shelves, picked up a bowl of something, and then came back to the table. She placed what seemed to be a large spoon or ladle of some sort into the bowl and scooped out some of the liquid. It appeared to be water, but Ed was sure that it wasn't. Luita looked up in Ed's and Al's general direction then and said, "I could tell you everything about yourselves, and it would not help you in your quest. You would be a lot better off discovering the information you need for yourselves."

"But-" Al began to protest, but Ed placed a hand on his shoulder to hopefully convey a message and calm him back down. Ed suspected that he knew what the woman was getting at, but he wanted to hear her say it herself rather than allow himself to jump to conclusions.

The woman lifted up the ladle and placed her free hand under it to catch any drips that may still be loose. "I have here an herb that will aid you in going on your own shamanic journey, and seeking out the answers to your own questions. Only your own soul knows the true question, and therefore, only your own soul will know the true answer when it receives it."

"Just a simple herb can do all that?" said Al, leaning forward eagerly. Ed placed a restraining hand on Al's chest once again to calm the boy down.

"Al, what she means is that she has a psychedelic drug."

"Oh," said Al, disappointedly.

Luita smiled patiently. "True, people call the herb a drug nowadays, but shamans and sages have used the herb for millenia to gain a glimpse into the Divine. It allows both your mind and your body to be awake simultaneously, so that the questioner can seek out the answers and remember them."

"Kind of like a waking dream?" said Al, still seeming intrigued, despite Ed's previous attempt to calm down his curiosity of such a thing. Ed sighed and rolled his eyes. Maybe he should just take Al and go before the boy got talked into taking drugs to go on some strange mind trip.

"Yes," said Ed, "That's all these people are experiencing, dreams!" He was starting to get impatient, and it was becoming evident in his voice, especially judging by the way Al turned and looked at him as soon as he had said that. He felt so low for behaving that way in front of his brother. His needed to remember to set a better example for him. He felt so low right then that he slid down a couple inches in his seat.

"Brother, surely you believe in dreams," said Al, "After all those times I've been able to talk about things I had no way of knowing because I'd dreampt about it, I would have thought you'd understood that."

"Ah!" said Ed, slapping a hand to his forehead in frustration, "But that's different, Al! You actually leave your body when you sleep."

"So does everybody," said Luita, suddenly butting into the conversation. She nodded towards Al, "His connection problem allows him to have more out of body experiences than the average person, but everyone leaves their body in their sleep."

Edward slumped back into his seat, sulking slightly with not knowing what to say. He crossed his arms and legs again, embarrassing himself slightly that he was acting like this in the company of someone else, but he brushed such feelings aside. After all, this person was trying to get them to take drugs! He had a right to act immature in the face of that.

Al finally turned to his brother, a determined expression set on his face. When Al got that look about him, who knew what he was going to say next. "Brother," he said, "I want to try it."

Ed flew out of his seat and was standing over Al in less than a second. "You what?" he shouted, "Absolutely out of the question, Al! I can't believe you even thought such a thing, especially with you in your condition."

"But it would only be the one time, Brother," said Al, waving his arms around for emphasis. "If this has any chance of helping us find answers, I want to try it."

"But drugs mess with a person's mind, Al! Those things can mess up your life if you're not careful!"

"I'd be careful, Brother. It would only be the one time."

"That's not the point, Al, don't you get it?" Ed leaned the top part of his body backwards and pulled at his hair in frustration. How could his little brother even consider something like this? He knew what drugs were, and he knew what they could do to a person. Al was no the sort to normally consider such a thing, so why now?

"Brother," said Al, looking down at his hands and letting out a sigh, causing Ed to come back to a normal standing position and look at the boy properly. "You and Winry have been trying to protect me, I realize, and I appreciate it, but that doesn't change what's happening here. I know that I'm dying. This could be our last chance to find out what's wrong and fix it before it's too late."

"Al..." said Ed, slowly lowering himself to his seat in shock. He gulped, but couldn't find any words to say. Al knew? He knew he was dying, and yet still managed to remain so happy and optimistic? Ed knew that he could never be like that in the face of death, and he had falsely assumed that Al wouldn't be able to be if he knew.

Tears tried to prick at Ed's eyes, but he managed to blink them away. He wasn't sure how long Al's courage would last, so he wasn't going to do anything to demean it. He had to remain strong for Al, under all circumstances.

"Al," Ed said again, looking up into his brother's face, "If this means so much to you, I guess that I can't stop you, but..." Ed breathed out and closed his eyes. He had to calm himself down and find the proper words to say, supposing there were any to go with this situation. "But if you must do it, let me go first and make sure it's safe."

Al smiled at Ed and nodded. Ed leaned back in his chair and sighed. What was he getting himself into now?

Hope you liked that. Feel free to leave some reviews if you want to, though you don't have to. I miss the hordes of reviews I used to get, hehe, don't know why they've slowed, but I'm not going to slow my writing just because I don't get enough praise. That would be stupid. I'm writing to write, so who cares how much feedback I get? Hehehe...The review section is always open to questions, comments, and suggestions, however, because those help me to become a better writer. No praise necessary! ((Hehe, now I sound like a contest announcer.)) Write what you want, or feel free not to write at all. I'm not going to kill you for reading without reviewing, lol. I'm just glad you read my story at all. Thank you, and I hope you come back soon, since I'll have the next chapter up soon.