Hey, everybody, a super psyched AdventureAddict here yet again with another story. And for once, ONCE, I'm writing characters from other fantoms, yay! Just not in this chapter.

And I like Tennant. My like of Tennant and like of Ed is what made this thing happen in the first place. So no Eccleston or Smith here. (Unless I learn what Smith is like, since I have yet to watch season 5…)

Anyway, enough babbling. I don't own Ed or the Doctor, but I am holding them for ransom. If anyone is willing to pay as high of a price as I demand. ;) Hey, it's my story, so I can make whatever I like happen, right?

Chapter One - The Whispers of Memory

One could say that it all started with a telephone call. A simple, innocent little thing, really. At least, most of the time, they can be. But when Ed picked up the phone that Tuesday morning—because it just had to be a Tuesday; no one likes starting things on a Monday, after all—it was a phone call that was a million light years away from normal.

"Hello?" he said, crossed somewhere between somewhat bored and somewhat annoyed. He didn't like being dragged away from an alchemy book when he was in the middle of a chapter. Even though he was bored because he could have written the book in his sleep, but he still didn't like leaving a thought hanging, even a dull one.

"Time lord," a strangely echoey voice said on the other end. Ed held the phone slightly away from him in order to frown at it properly. Was this some sort of weird prank Al or Winry had cooked up? It did sound as if the person was speaking through a voice transformer.

"Ha ha," Ed said with a roll of his eyes. "Nice. You know, next time you decide to pull a prank on me, whoever you are, make sure to have it at least make some sort of sense. It's usually a whole lot funnier that way."

"We are coming for the time lord," the weird voice continued, not seeming to care about Ed's argument. Ed made a face at the phone.

"Why are you going on about some time whatsit?" Ed said with a sigh. "This has got to be the stupidest prank I've ever had pulled on me. Just give it up."

"The time lord is ours," the voice pressed. Obviously either dumb or absorbed in their own world. And still dumb even if it was that, because they were pulling a dumb prank to begin with.

"Fine, sure. Yours," Ed said with another eye roll. He jerked slightly at the sound of a click before the phone started beeping at him and saying that it had no connection. Ed frowned down at the receiver in his hand.

"The hell…?"

"Who was that, Brother?" Al said as he came out from he bedroom, a book clenched in his hand. Ed sighed. Great. So Al wasn't having his reading disturbed for stupid prank callers, but Ed had to deal with them. Ed decided to pin more of his suspicion on the origin of the prank on Al.

"I have no idea," Ed said as he went back to the sofa and his book. "Some dumbass saying that some time whatsit was his and how he's going to come out for a visit or something. Weirdo."

Ed was jerked out of his reading—yet again—by thump of Al's own book hitting the floor. Ed looked up with a frown. Surprisingly enough, Al actually looked worried from hearing about the stupid call. Either he wasn't a part of the prank and he was actually falling for it, or Al was a really good actor. Which was doubtful, considering how badly Al lied.

"Al, don't worry about it, it was just some stupid call. Probably just Mustang or one of his goons trying to—"

"What did they sound like?" Al asked, cutting Ed off. Ed shrugged confusedly. Why the hell did Al care? It was just a stupid prank, after all. Not even a good prank.

"No idea. It sounded like they were putting it all through a voice transformer or something."

That seemed to get Al even more upset than hearing about the call in the first place. Ed was just about to open his mouth and ask Al about what was going on when Al decided to ask him his own question first instead.

"Brother, where's your pocket watch?"

"Uh…" Ed quirked an eyebrow. "On my dresser in my room. Why?"

Before Al even got to hear that Ed wanted to know why Al suddenly had a fascination with his pocket watch, Al had dashed off to Ed's room. Probably to grab the stupid thing, though Ed had no idea why. Ed shut his book and set it on the sofa beside him. There was no way he was going to be able to come anywhere near finishing the chapter until he found out what was wrong with Al.

Al came back out with the small circle of metal clutched tightly in his hand. He shoved the watch at Ed.

"Brother, I…" Al paused with a sigh. "There's a lot going on, and I don't think I'll have time to explain it all by myself, and… Just open your pocket watch. I've tried to put this off as long as I could, but we've been hiding for four years now, and they're starting to catch on, and… Well, I can't take care of things all by myself anymore, so… Please open the watch. I need you."

Ed shook his head with a chuckle and took the watch from Al. He had no idea why him opening his pocket watch was so important. Maybe Al really was in on the prank. Maybe he had learned how to actually act.

"Al, you know as well as I do that this watch is sealed tight."

"You can open it. You need to open it. If Winry could open it that one time, then you can open it now."

Ed frowned. "What's so important about it, anyway? What do you think is in this watch that will help so much? Not to mention, what needs help in the first place? I get some beyond stupid prank call, and you start acting all weird on me. What's going on, Al?"

"Uh…" Al hesitated, fidgeting with his hands. "Just… trust me."

"Al, tell me something," Ed said, shaking the watch at his younger brother for emphasis. Al flinched. He hated it when he had to hide secrets from anyone he cared about, and Ed knew it. All Ed had to do was press him a little and Al would start telling him all about whatever it was that was going on.

"Al. What's in the watch?"

"Um… your memories."

"Uh, right," Ed said with a roll of his eyes. "Al, come on. I can remember everything about my past, no black spots or anything. Not to mention that the idea that a pocket watch could even hold something intangible like memories is ridiculous."

"Brother, would you please just open it?" Al said with an exasperated sigh. "I don't know how long we have to dally."

Ed shot Al a dirty look, then huffed and crossed his arms. "I don't think I want to do anything until you tell me just what the hell is going on."

"Brother, please!"

Ed kept silent, while Al stared at him for a desperate moment. Ed could tell that Al was silently begging him to just open the freaking watch, but he wasn't going to, oh no. He wasn't just going to let his younger brother push him around without telling him anything. If that stupid prank call signified that something bad was going to happen, then Ed wanted to know what the hell was going on, dammit!

After a minute, Al let out an aggravated huff, stood up and then crossed his arms. Ed huffed back. Okay, so an upset Al wasn't necessarily the best thing in the world to have around, but at least it meant he was making some sort of progress. Which was probably a good sign.

"Okay, fine. Have it your way," Al said with a wave of his hand. "You're not going to take it as well this way, but fine. Be a stubborn mule about it. Things would be so much easier if you would just open the freaking watch, but let's try doing it this way instead."

"Al," Ed said with an irritated huff of a sigh. "Would you stop talking in circles and just tell me something already?"

"Oh, you want to be told something?" Al snapped at him. "Okay, fine. Guess what? I'm not actually your brother!"

The infamous watch slipped from Ed's fingers and fell to the floor with a soft "click." Ed stared at his brother with a dumfounded expression. He didn't want to believe—no, he simply could not believe—that Al wasn't his brother. The two had spent all their lives together. They were inseparable, everyone said so. They did everything together. Hell, they even looked like they were related, at least, back when Al had had a flesh body. Sure, not identical or anything, but one could see the similarities between the two.

However, Al either didn't notice or didn't care about Ed's sudden state of shock. He had been provoked into a pissy mood, and once Al got into a pissy mood, it was very hard to get him back out of it.

"We're not half brothers either, before you try making that argument, and we're not even adoptive brothers," Al said as he waved his arms around frantically. "And if you want to keep going, we're not even the same species, okay?"

Ed quirked an eyebrow at that statement. He was starting to believe Al's ridiculous claim a little bit less. Because seriously, not the same species? Yeah, right. And besides, no one would be able to look at the Elric boys and believe that they weren't related. They even had similar habits.

"I have never had the pudgy cheeked, tan haired body that you insist you took away from me," Al continued, with quite a good deal of zest, Ed noted. Something had been bottled up in the guy, that was for sure.

"Sorry to burst your little 'Oh, I'm such a horrible body robbing big brother' pity bubble," Al babbled. Ed stared at him with one eyebrow raised. "I didn't have a body to begin with. You spend all your time moping over how I don't have a body, and all I can do is just sit and watch and not do anything because you're an idiotic, useless human!"

"What?" Ed blinked.

"Agh!" Al threw his hands up in the air, shook his head, and then turned back to Ed.

"Just open the watch, please," Al begged. "I can't explain this well on my own. If you open the watch, it will all come back to you."

"What the hell is supposed to come back?" Ed said with a frown.

"Memories," Al said with a sigh. "Real ones, not the made up stuff."

"Made up stuff?"

Al groaned. "See? There's no way I can explain this to you! It's way, way too much to try and make you understand in one sitting. Just open the watch, Brother, please. You could die if you don't, and I really don't want to see that happen just because of your stupid stubbornness, which I really wish was just a result of you turning human."

"Turning human?" Ed said as he stood up to look Al in the eye as best he could. "Al, what the hell is going on with you? I've always been human! I've always been your brother, and I always will be! You're just as normal and human as I am, and I'm sorry…" Ed paused and looked away.

"I know it's hard for you to be stuck in a body like that," Ed continued in a softer voice. "And I could understand why you would want to concoct some story to make it so that you were… some alien or whatever that had never had a body, but… I swear Al, I'm going to make things right again."

"Stop having your freaking pity party already!" Al groaned and clenched a fist to stop himself from slapping Ed. "Brother, haven't you ever wondered just why we couldn't get any closer to finding a way to getting our bodies back, no matter what we tried? It's because there's nothing to go back to in the first place!"

"Al, stop it, this is stupid!" Ed said with a heavy sigh.

"No, you stop it, you freaking idiot!" Al snapped back. "You're one of the last ones of your species! You've got a time lord trying to track you down and all sorts of other races out there trying to get rid of you too! And you could die if you don't open your watch! And I'm sure you've always wanted to die as a sniveling little brat."

"I'm not a brat!"

"You look like one to me," Al said as he put his hands on his hips. "Open your watch and prove that you're not some immature little brat if you're so sure!"

Ed felt his pulse throb. Al was really absorbed in the story he had concocted. He was willing to fight Ed to the death over this stupid story.

"What, do you think I'm stupid or something?" Al snapped. "Just open your pocket watch! If you're so sure that this is stupid, then open the watch and prove it!"

"I didn't say that you were stupid!"

"Oh, but you were thinking it."

"You don't know what I was thinking!"

"Oh, you'd be surprised."

Ed pouted and looked away from Al with a grumble. Al sighed, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Would you just open the watch already?" he snapped. Ed spun his head around to glare at Al.

"Why?" he snapped back. "What makes you so sure that everyone is after me, anyway?"

"Because you're important! They realize that you could change history, and they don't like it!"

"So… everyone is after… me?" Ed said slowly, as if he were indulging a child. Al nodded, and Ed made a face. "Al… don't you think that might be a bit… paranoid?"

Al groaned and threw his arms up in the air. "Sometimes there's a real reason to be paranoid!"

"But…" Ed frowned. "Al, you're saying that not only everyone in general is out to get me, but everyone in the entire universe wants my head on a platter?"

"Well, not everyone," Al said with a sigh. "But all the races that are out to destroy and conquer everything they can… yeah, they would like nothing more than for you to be dead."

Ed nodded in stunned horror while Al paused to collect his thoughts for a minute. Gibberish. His younger brother was spouting off absolute and total gibberish. Maybe he had to consider locking Al up in a mental hospital for a while. He hated the thought of it, but with the way Al was acting…

Al huffed, irritated by something. Ed frowned. It wasn't as if he had said anything about locking Al away. Maybe Al was getting mad at his own personal thoughts instead.

"It just… Doesn't make very much sense," Ed said slowly. "I mean… Winry's our best friend. And I remember years of being here. I don't remember anything about aliens or space or all of that stuff."

Al sighed and rolled his shoulders in an almost-shrug.

"It's hard to explain," he said with a sigh. "I really wish you would just open your watch."

A moment passed of Al watching Ed expectantly, and Ed not making any motion to grab the watch. Eventually, Ed sighed and said, "I… I don't understand."

Al threw his hands up in the air with an exasperated sigh. "Of course you don't! I don't think anyone would understand any of this if it was just thrown at them! That's why you really, really need to open that watch!"

"Al…" Ed placed a hand on Al, and then pulled it away as quickly as he put it there. "I… I want to understand, I just…"

"You do not. You don't want to understand any of this," Al said, shrinking back from Ed slightly. "You just want me to say it was all a story I made up, forget about all of it and go back to being a normal human like always."

"I'm not nor—" Ed sighed and cutting himself off and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just tell me what's wrong, Al. I want to hear it. Really."

Al sighed and crossed his arms, considering Ed for a minute.

"All your enemies are coming back, and we're going to have to fight them off," Al said with a sigh after he thought for a while. "Or… or… something, and I can't do it alone, I just really need help. And once you open that watch, you can… help me again, so, please, just trust me."

The two went silent for a while as Ed tried to figure out what Al was even trying to say. Had he not been getting enough attention or something lately? Was he concocting ridiculous stories just so Ed would pay attention to him?

Ed was jerked out of his thoughts by a loud sort of whooshing sound he had never heard before. Al took in a sharp breath and flew to the window.

"That would be the Doctor," he said breathlessly as he peeked through the curtains. "I can't see his TARDIS from here, but that was definitely the sound of one landing."

"A… what?" Ed said with a frown.

"TARDIS," Al said as he looked over his shoulder at Ed. "Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. T-A-R-D-I-S." Ed still looked just as confused by Al's explanation, if not even more confused, so Al sighed and tried again.

"A time machine crossed over with a spaceship. It looks like a… blue wooden box. And this man called the Doctor travels around in it, fixing things. He's been trying to… to lock you away, basically, so we ran here to hide from him."

"Uh…" Ed thought over the words. "He travels around in a spaceship…"

Al nodded.

"…Made out of wood?"

"Well, it's not all made out of wood, but the outside… Yeah, sure," Al eventually settled with a sigh.

"And it's a time machine too?"

"Yes."

Ed frowned. "You do know that that's completely impossible, Al, right? Wood would burn and maybe even explode under that sort of pressure."

"Well, it's just a disguise for the real ship," Al said with a sigh. "I'm not really sure exactly how it works, but I… Eh. It just looks like it's made out of wood, okay?"

Al decided not to point out that that was still under the assumption that time travel was possible. Which Ed normally wouldn't accept, but somehow, the thought of a wooden spaceship had pulled Ed away from thinking over just how impossible time travel would be.

There was another long moment of silence between the two. Ed tried his best not to show on his face just how crazy he thought Al sounded while he tried to think of some sort of plan of what to do. Maybe if he opened the watch, Al would see that there really was nothing in there and he could try and talk Al down. Then again, Al seemed pretty far gone. He might start acting like something magical had happened from opening a stupid ordinary watch, which might make him even more crazily fanatical. Ed frowned. Tough call.

He was interrupted out of his thoughts by a loud sigh from Al. He looked back up.

"I know what you're thinking."

Ed blinked in surprise. He then frowned. "Oh, yeah, what was I thinking?" Al rolled his eyes.

"I'm already crazy as it is, and then you were debating with yourself over whether or not you should open the watch when I'm acting so weird."

Ed frowned. How did Al always know what he was thinking, anyway?

What he really needed was some sort of proof. Al was convinced that he was some sort of… alien, or something. He needed something that wouldn't be able to be fudged very easily. Something that would easily show Al he was acting crazy.

"Well…" Ed made a face. "If you're some sort of alien whatever, then prove it!"

"Why?" Al said, crossing his arms.

"Cuz I won't open the watch until you do!"

"And what about if I do prove it?" Al said. "Would you open the watch?"

"Uh… yeah. Sure."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Will that actually get something through your thick human skull?"

"Uh… yeah. Right," Ed said with a grin and a nod. He didn't quite understand Al's exact word choice, but anything to get Al to realize he was being crazy. Al rolled his eyes with a shake of his head.

"Okay, fine," Al said with a heavy sigh. He then made a motion at Ed's abandoned pocket watch on the ground. Without a complaint, the watch picked itself up and flew directly into Al's hand, right in front of Ed's eyes.

It took a minute for it to sink into Ed's brain that Al had actually just moved something without touching it. Somehow, he had used his mind to summon a watch. His I'm-so-going-to-win-an-argument-for-once turned into something that was a cross between a grin and a horrified expression. He was too stunned to even bother wiping the grin off his face.

As soon as the information had fully sunk in, Ed was on his feet and out the door. Much to Al's dismay.

"You little freaking liar," Al muttered under his breath before running out the door to chase the idiot down.

Anyway, I've got a fair amount of this written already, have the entire plot figured out for not only this story arc, but a couple sequels as well, and this is one story I KNOW I will not be dropping out of boredom. ;) So look forward to an actual ending, everyone! Yay! Feel free to suggest things or whatever you feel like, and a new chapter will be coming in the near future.

On a side note, I'm doing something sort of fun for this story. I'm planning on making every chapter title a title based off of Doctor Who episodes from a random title generator. Kinda funny to see what comes out. ;)