Disclaimer: I own none of the FMA characters.

Chapter 1

Indications

The blinding lights flashed through the downpour and into through the windshield. A split second later, which seemed like an eternity. I hear a terrifying crushing sound. I feel the painful whiplash as we are violently thrown aside. I don't know how many times we flipped over. One . . . twice? All I know is that amid flipping over the roof of the car caved in. I felt stunned when the pliable metal ceiling smashed down upon my right arm and left leg. I screamed in agony as the car finally stopped pitching. For a moment, I heard nothing except for the whimpering of my little brother, Alphonse.

"Alphonse? Say something!" I called out despite the pain radiating from my limbs.

"Brother . . ." Alphonse's small voice responded.

"Are you all right?" I inquired anxiously.

"I-I'm fine, I suppose. Are Mother and Father okay?" Alphonse asked.

Fear suddenly thumped in my heart as I hesitantly looked towards the front seats. My eyes widened in fear and I let go of a strangled scream of terror to see my parent's bodies hanging from their seatbelts in a mangled mass of blood and flesh–

Edward bolted upright in his bed and frantically called out, "No, Mom! Dad!"

After a second, the blond-headed young man blinked his amber eyes, slowly realizing that again he dreamt of his past.

Ed lifted his metal prosthetic hand and placed it on his damp forehead, a shaky sigh escaping his lips.

"Brother?" a voice called from the doorway of his bedroom.

Ed's eyes lifted, seeing his fourteen-year-old brother, Alphonse, lingering by the door frame.

"Are you all right? I heard yelling . . ." Alphonse whispered, moving over to come sit on the foot of Edward's bed.

Ed shrugged and swung his metal and flesh legs over the edge of the bed and stood.

"You were having another nightmare about the wreck, weren't you?" the younger brother quietly asked.

"It's been seven years, Al," Ed muttered, pushing his blonde bangs back with his metal fingers in exhaustion, "When will I forget?"

"You'll never forget them, and neither will I. But the mourning needs to end. We need to celebrate the fact that they've gone onto a better place," Alphonse told Ed gently.

Ed's eyes raised to warily meet Alphonse's slate-colored irises.

"Sadness is something I cannot rid myself of, Al."

Though looking rather disappointed, Alphonse knowingly nodded and stood, motioning to Ed, "Come on, I've made breakfast. Let's eat before I go to school."

Edward trailed after Alphonse, musing, "You just didn't know them very well, Little Brother. How could you? You were only seven years old when the crash happened. Of course you would be able to come out of mourning quicker than I'm able to."

Edward's thoughts evaporated when he saw Alphonse stumble in front of him and fall to the ground.

Being like most older brothers, Edward only stopped and started to laugh at the ridiculous sight of his brother sprawled on the floor, merely by tripping over his own feet.

"Al–Are you all right?" gasped Ed through mirth.

Alphonse, red-faced, pushed himself off the ground and said, "Yeah . . . I just . . . got a little dizzy . . . "

"Be more careful, Kid," chuckled Ed, patting Al on the shoulder as he bypassed his younger brother to head to the kitchen.

"Okay, sure . . ." Al replied, bumbling in after Ed, a dazed and weary expression still on his face.

-x-

After Ed shooed his brother off to school, the nineteen-year-old guardian went into town to buy some much-needed groceries. Their budget was extremely limited on account of Edward being the only supporter of the small, broken Elric family. Alphonse hadn't reached the working age yet and as far as Ed knew, any other family members who financially assist them were nonexistent. So, the Elric brothers moved away from their parent's house and into an apartment to cut down expenses. It helped a little, but two teenage boys in a house happen to eat an unnatural amount of food and waste tons of electricity.

At the market, Edward plucked up a carton of milk and put it in the cart, grumbling about how much milk price went up. He began to search for the cheapest bread when his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled out his beaten-up, tacky cell phone and read the ID.

Winry Rockbell.

"Aw, man. Not right now . . . " Ed growled under his breath.

Winry Rockbell was a beautiful, blond eighteen-year-old, who knew Edward since they were both in diapers. She spent most of her time at Pinako's Car Repair and Automail Installation Shop, getting paid well by helping with their orders. Her skills in mechanics were unmatched and she took it upon herself to help Ed anytime he needed maintenance on his automail limbs.

Normally, Ed loved to hang around and chat with Winry. She didn't talk about girly things all the time, like Chappy bunnies or pink clothes. And even though he wasn't savvy on all the mechanic lingo, he still enjoyed talking to her about what he did know and learning about what he didn't understand. But today, he knew what this call was about, and he wasn't looking forward to discussing it.

"Hey, Winry," Ed mumbled into the receiver, finally picking out the cheapest loaf of bread he could find and tossing it into the cart.

"Hi, Edo," she replied.

Ed's face reddened at the nickname, simply because he could hear the smile behind her voice when she said the word. It made him feel nervous.

"I just wanted to let you know your payment for your last tuneup was due yesterday . . ." she continued, her voice seeming to lower, as if she was hiding that fact from someone who was around where she was.

"I know. I just need more time. I haven't gotten my latest paycheck yet and–"

"I know you're going through hard times right now, Edo. But you're not only late on this tuneup bill, but you never paid your last one either. If it were up to me, I would do your tune ups for free. But I work for a business, and I'm going to have to tell you I can't work on your arm and leg anymore," Winry answered, sounding as if she were on the brink of tears.

"Winry, please! I can't go without tuning up, but I really can't pay right now. I don't even know if I can pay last month's bill, along with this one! Isn't there anything you can accept to compensate–"

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be. I would do anything in the world for you, but there is no way I can work on your automail under the table. Automail is a fragile thing. The government stated that automail is not to be installed or repaired by anyone but a registered professional. It's illegal to work on it without being at a place like I work, and you have to pay money to have it fixed here or anywhere else," Winry said, sounded slightly angry this time.

"You know what? Screw your stupid tuneups! Just let my arm and leg rot off my body because of rust corrosion! See how you feel about legalities when something like that happens!" Ed shouted at the phone, getting a few strange looks from other shoppers.

"Edo, please–"

"Don't give me that! I'm going through a tough time right now and I don't have the money! Please, just give me a break this month!"

Winry gave a defeated growl on the other end of the line and angrily responded, "I can't do that!"

"Then I'm done with the tuneups!" Ed shouted into the phone.

In a tiny voice, Winry reminded him, "You, Alphonse, and I were going out to grab a bite to eat tonight, remember?"

"Forget it!"

"Edo–"

"Don't call me again! I'll pay those two bills as soon as possible, but don't expect me to call in for anymore appointments!"

Ed hung up on Winry, half thinking he should chuck the crummy cell phone across the market. He thought it would better not to, and began to slip it into his pocket again when it again began to vibrate. Without looking at the ID, Ed hit the ON button and growled into the receiver, "I told you, Winry. No more appointments–"

"Mr. Elric?" said a confused male voice.

Ed scowled and pulled the phone back to see the ID.

Hanatarou Junior High School.

"Damn . . ." thought Ed grimly.

The blond-headed man took a calming breath and replied in his most professional voice, "This is he."

"I'm Alphonse Elric's Principal, Master Ling. You are his guardian, Edward Elric, correct?"

Before the word 'duh' could spring to Ed's tongue, he quickly replied, "Yes, that's right."

"Well . . . I just wanted to say, first, that Alphonse is a wonderful student. He's hardworking and kind–"

"What's wrong?" Ed interrupted.

Ed might have been dense, but a principal didn't call merely to compliment him on his success at raising Alphonse.

"I–uh, we aren't entirely sure. You see, someone found the poor boy passed out in the bathroom earlier this morning–"

"Why didn't the school call me when this happened?" growled Ed, not really in the mood for incompetence on the school's part.

"Calm down, Mr. Elric. I understand your concern–"

"My concern?" squawked Ed, "He's all I've got! He's my life! Of course I'm concerned!"

"I understand this, but I assure you he's fine!" the principal hissed, "We just wanted to warn you before he gets home. His stomach has been paining him on and off all day, but he refused to come home."

"Send him home!" snapped Ed.

"But, sir, he refuses!"

"Tell him that he if he doesn't come home when I tell him to, he'll receive a pain that is worse than the one he has now!" Ed roared at the principal, ditching his cart and running outside to his car.

"Uh, Mr. Elric, as the principal, I don't believe it's my place to threaten–"

"Make him come home!" Ed's voice raised another octave.

"As you wish, sir. . ." the principal responded, "Thank you for your time."

Click.

-x-

"I've been having stomach pains for a while, Brother, I see no reason for concern."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Edward paced to and fro in front of Alphonse, who sat on their apartment's dingy couch.

"I really didn't want to worry you with pointless things," Alphonse whispered.

"Well, I'm as sure as hell worried now!" snarled Ed, throwing his hands up in the air furiously.

"I'm sorry . . ."

Edward gave a sarcastic chuckle, "Hah. You're sorry? You'll be even more sorry tomorrow. You're going to get a check up."

"A what?"

"A medical checkup. You'll not be in pain on my watch!" Ed replied harshly.

"Brother, you know as well as I that we hardly have any money," Alphonse returned.

"Eh. Then I'll pick up some extra hours at the lab," Ed cringed, thinking of more hours that would have to be spent assisting at the scientific lab.

He wasn't allowed to offer opinions or ideas to the 'real' scientists, even though he had many. He simply was allowed to fetch random items for the scientists as needed. Edward loathed to spend more time than necessary there. But, if it was for his little brother's welfare, he'd sell his soul to the lab.

"But you hate it there," Alphonse parried.

"Your well-being is more important than what I do and don't like doing."

"Thank you, Brother," Alphonse whispered, smiling as he lowered his head.

A word from Face: Well, as I said in the summary, I'm tweaking the story. I noticed a disgusting about of b-verbs, faulty sentence agreements, and typos that needed to be repaired. If there is anything that anyone feels should be added or taken away, now is the time to inform me.

Please r&r with kind comments, compliments, and constructive criticism. Thanks!