"I think that's the last one", Al thought aloud. He took a step back from the bookcase, carrying about a dozen or so books. If he could hide them before Ed came home, then maybe things wouldn't be okay, but they would be better. Anything was better than the temptation of hope Ed's idea was causing. Wanting to hope, but fearing the result…

Al shook his head as if to clear it. He turned to leave the room when Ed burst into the room and promptly collided with him. The boys went down in a heap as the books thudded to the floor all around them.

"Yeesh, Al! Watch where you're going", Ed complained, rubbing his head and propping himself up on one elbow. Al regarded the ceiling with blank confusion as to what on Amestris just happened. "Sorry brother."

Ed got up and held his right hand out to his brother. Sighing, Al took it and got off the cold stone floor. After Al was on his feet, Ed finally took note of the fallen books.

"Al…what's all this?" he demanded, picking up an open book that lay at his feet. "Um…well…" Al stammered. He didn't want to tell his older brother that he was about to hide all of the books that even mentioned human alchemy.

It seemed he wouldn't have to, since Ed exclaimed, "Al, these books all have something to do with human transmutation! I was going to get them all together, and here you've already gone and done it." He beamed proudly at his younger brother, who nodded mutely.

"Well, this is great! I was going to talk to you about this later today, but I guess we can do it now," Ed chuckled. Al shrugged. "Okay, sure."

Ed plopped down on the floor and reached for the tattered old journal. Al gasped. Ed looked up, his golden eyes questioning. "Al?"

At first, Al couldn't respond. Then, slowly he answered, "That's Dad's old journal. Maybe we should ask him before we use it, brother…" he broke off, due to the furious sparks in his brother's eyes.

"If he didn't want anybody to read it, he shouldn't have written it. Besides, he had to know that we'd read it sometime when he ditched us", Ed spat the words. Al flinched away from his brother's sudden anger.

Still glaring, Ed continued. "He gave up any parental authority when he up and left us. The angry tone of his voice warned Al not to say anything more on the subject, but he ignored his instinct in order for another shot at reason.

"But, even so, he would know better than us how to do it, right? Maybe he could help us figure out how to do the transmutation…" Al swallowed, trying not to give into the tears already welling in his eyes. He took a deep breath, and bowed his head. Ed waited patiently, so Al could get it out of his system. "I really think we should ask him first," Al said, looking Ed full in the face. "Just…ask him…is all," he finished lamely, now focusing on Ed's right shoulder so he wouldn't have to see Ed's reaction.

To his intense surprise, he heard Ed chuckle darkly. Al saw that his brother was looking at the stone floor with a bitter, ironic smile. "You really think he would tell us?" he hissed through his clenched teeth. Al didn't dare answer. He too turned his embarrassed gaze to the floor.

His head snapped up when he heard Ed get to his feet. "Brother, I…I'm sorry-" he started to say, but broke off when he saw Ed shake his head.

"Don't worry about it, Al. We'll talk about it later. Why don't we go to the bakery and get an apple pie?"

"Go to…what?"

"Why don't we go to the bakery and get an apple pie?" Ed repeated impatiently, gesturing towards the door. "We need something to take our minds off this whole mess for a while. Besides, I know that apple's your favorite."

Al didn't know how to respond; he simply continued to stare perplexedly at his brother, who grinned. "Come on, let's go," he urged, tugging Al by the hand. "We'll get a pie and then we'll do some research about human alchemy. It'll be as easy as…well, pie!"

Al's eyebrows came together as they reached the front door. He pulled his hand out of Ed's grasp and said, "Okay, you've officially lost it brother. It's not going to be easy at all." He crossed his arms as Ed turned back towards him. "I'm not having any part of this until we've had some proper alchemical training. If you think we can do this without some kind of guidance, you're completely off your rocker. I'm not going anywhere if you're going to start talking crazy."

Ed sighed. "I know we need training, but before we look into that, we need to see what we can do on our own first. Consider it…preliminary research," he said impatiently, reaching into his allowance jar that was situated on a shelf in the lowest kitchen cupboard. Even now he insisted that it was a location of convenience and not necessity.

Al still hadn't moved away from the door. He watched his brother rifle through the jar's contents. Though he was still upset, Al felt a pang of remorse. Ed was just trying to be a good brother was all. He sighed and his arms fell to his sides.

Ed looked up as his brother's eyes filled with tears. "Al? We will find a teacher. Honest, we will. I…" Ed stopped short. He was going to say "I'll try my best to find one", but that just wasn't god enough. He squared his shoulders and said in a loud voice, "I promise you, we will find a teacher. We won't do this blind, Al. Of course we'll find a teacher."

Al rubbed his eyes. "Really?" he smiled a watery smile.

"I promise."

Al grinned, and Ed breathed a sigh of relief. Ed was more relieved than Al could have possibly guessed; Al was completely on his side now, and Ed knew he was unlikely to hesitate as much as he had before. And, though Ed didn't realize it yet, having Al's confidence gave a huge boost to his own that would have crumbled without Al's support.

"Let's go get some pie!" Ed crowed, locking the door and leading the way to town.