Auther's Note: 'Scuse any mistakes...

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist...

Say, What's on your Mind. Why are you Crying?

The reason people lie is simple; They are afraid of the truth. After all, the exact opposite of a lie is the truth. Yes, of course people can be physically strong, that's an easy task that anyone can accomplish. But being mentally strong is much different. It's a power people either develop over time and learn through experience, or are just simply born with strength. Those who don't poses it, are left with one option; To lie. I had to lie to Al tonight, my best friend. I had to tip-toe past his sleeping form lying on his side next to the bed nearly one in the morning. And when he woke up, just as I was opening the door to leave, I told him I was thirsty and our sink wasn't working. Just a simple white lie like that.

I couldn't bring him with me, he would never let me go in the first place. Just try to stop me, and I understood why. But this was something I needed to do now, on my own. And as I ran through the darkness, with the over grown trees shading me from the moon light up above, the thought crossed me. Was I as strong as I thought I was?

With a small back pack strapped to my fragile shoulder, bouncing up and down, I ran heavily on the side walk barefoot. Inside it was the sheet from my bed at the motel, and the alchemy book I had saved. I hadn't fully recovered from the fire, both physically and mentally. My clothes still covered in ash and my long hair flew lose in the wind. I could still feel my entire body shake with fear, remembering the burning flames that destroyed our only home. The sidewalk was cemented on a small cliff, with the breeze from the river flowing beneath it. I was looking for Ed, and I knew exactly where he was.

Just a bit further now; So breezy for a summer night. Damn. I had almost fell right in a deep hole in the sidewalk. I could tell it was old, since it had many cracks through out it's length. I hadn't been this far out in town, I barley even knew there was a lake here. But I remember Ed had told me once he liked to visit it. No one came to this part of town, and the lake made it so peaceful; It was the perfect place to just be alone. He had said he always came here for the first two years living alone on this side of the gate. As I felt the night get later, I wanted to run faster. He had to be out here some where, and I had come so far. Dammit! I had almost fallen in another hole again. I seriously had to watch where I was going or I would fall right off the hill into the water.

When I first saw the blurry image so far away, crouching down at the very end of where the side walk ends, I could of swear I was imagining it. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw it fall to it's back to gaze up at the stars. I squinted to try and understand who this was; Was it really Edward? Yes, I could barely make out his long golden hair he had recently put up into a pony tale, but his golden eyes reflecting into the lake gave him away. I was suddenly scared to continue my task, but my feet kept moving. I walked at a slow pace closer, and closer to him. He was in such a daze, he didn't even realize I had slowly crept up behind him. My bare feet scraped against the cold, moist grass as my heavy breathing worried me. He would defiantly hear me, I was only about a foot away from him at this point. I stopped and sat on the ground, waiting for him to turn around. When he didn't, it was my turn to break the silence.

"If you don't say what's on your mind, it will only keep hurting..." I barley whispered, looking down at the green strands tickling my feet, already soaking my black shorts. I regretted what I had said right away, but I think it was what he needed to hear.

"I'm still living in a dream... Even with you and Al, it's still a damn dream." He spoke bluntly, still his eyes glued to the stars. I wasn't sure if I knew what he meant, but his voice scared me... it was full of sadness. He sounded as though he had been crying. It was a clear sky tonight, not one cloud was visible. We looked up at the sky together silently for a while, just thinking. We disappeared together in our own thoughts for a minute. Ten went by as if three hours had.

"Win..." A cracked, broken voice cut through the frozen air. I waited for him to continue. "Winry... how are we supposed to fix this fuck'en mess? We're stuck here, and helpless... We're only humans, what could we possibly do to be happy again?" My heart dropped. Wasn't he at least a little happy? He had Al and me, we we're hear with him. Baring the same sin he was, just like back in our world.

"We'll Ed... I guess we, we can move forward..." He sat up looking at me slightly surprised. "I'm not sure how, but we'll get through this. You, me and Al, here look... I brought you something..." I pulled out the alchemy book in from my back pack and handed it to him changing the subject, along with the long white sheet I raped around his back. He lifted the book up to his eye level, studying it closely.

"Who told you that?" He suddenly asked, gaining his voice back. I thought back to what I had said, puzzled by his comment.

"Told me... What?"

"To, move forward?"

"Um, Al did."

"Right..." He looked down at the book, and sighed a long, sad, sigh. It was then I started to cry. I wasn't exactly sure why I was at the time, but it was out of my control. "Why are you crying?" He grunted, his eyes back to the stars. He had asked me that before, I remember... Back in Risembool right after his entire auto mail had been completely crushed by who they called, 'scar'.

"Why don't you ever cry, E-Ed? A few tears every once in a while don't c-count..." He didn't even look at me, he just continued to let the sky soak in his feelings.

"Because if I seriously started to, I could never stop."

xxx