Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist is © Arakawa Hiromu, Viz, Bones, Funimation, Square Enix, etc. This is a nonprofit fanwork.

Riding the Train
by Fushigi Kismet

The train followed the path of the river.

Ed almost let the familiar motion of the wheels rumbling along the tracks lull him to sleep.

Clickety-clack. Clickety-clack. Clickety-clack.

Almost, but not quite. Ed never slept on the train. Usually Al would be begging him for a game of cards or they would be talking, but even when Al had long since fallen asleep, Ed would sit and watch the world roll by.

It was the same here, he thought idly. The same trees, the same sky, the same water. He could almost pretend that he was home.

He wondered if in another hundred years the people in his world would learn to build machines that could soar through the air. He wondered if in another hundred the people in this world would learn to build machines that could replace limbs.

Maybe that was the trade. Alchemy for machinery. One type of science for another. Thinking of his other self, he winced. One life for another.

Had that been his own folly that had done it? It did no good to dwell on it. He was alive against all reason and he would make the most of it. And he would get home.

A gull wheeled by outside and he pressed his good hand to the glass, tracing its flight with his eyes.

Someday, he thought. Maybe someday soon.