A/N: This was written for the DeviantART Risembool Ranger group's writing contest. The theme was 'crossover'.

Edward Elric took a sip of coffee before giving a bored sigh and casually turning the page of his alchemy book. He normally enjoyed reading, but today he just wasn't in the mood for it.

The café was a bit noisy, a lot of odd folk were known to frequent it. At least that's what the waitress had said. In fact, some crazy shirtless guy with oddly shaped sunglasses had been thrown out just 15 minutes ago, all while shouting about the waiters not knowing who he was or something. It was pretty bizarre, to say the least.

Ed flipped the book shut and began staring out the window, his mind too deep in thought to focus on anything besides one person: his brother, Alphonse Elric.

He'd never forgiven himself for what happened to his little brother. Every time he had to crane his neck up to look Al in the eye, he felt a jab of pain and regret (along with impotent rage at being so much shorter, but that wasn't important). Ed briefly glanced down at his automail limb, recalling the days when it had him spitting blood and kept him awake at night with the constant aching, but the pain had long since dulled as he slowly got used to it's presence. His arm and leg weren't important to him anyway, this metal would serve as a constant reminder of the mistakes he had made. As long as Al got his body back, he could live with the painful check-ups and possibilities of faulty circuits and breakage.

He'd failed his younger brother once, and he'd vowed never to do it again. Everything else was secondary.

As Ed contemplated all of this, he heard the door opened and absently glanced upwards to see who had walked in.

The newcomer was tall ('taller than me', Ed thought miserably), and incredibly skinny. In fact, he was so thin, had his pitch black hair been longer, Ed might've mistaken him for a flat chested girl; his feminine facial features weren't much help. The only thing about him that ruined the effect were his eyes. They were violet in color (which Ed would've found odd were it not for his own gold eyes), and were full of a variety of emotions, almost all negative.

Even though he wasn't looking directly at him, Ed felt a chill go down his spine as he looked at those eyes, full of such pain and anger. As a military man, Ed had witnessed some pretty gruesome scenes, and he had to wonder if this young man had seen similar.

The waitress approached the young man, eyeing him the same way she'd done when Ed himself walked in. The blonde rolled his eyes at the memory, like he'd want some giggly fangirl anyway. He wasn't even interested in romance. As he thought this, the image of a blonde haired, blue eyed girl flashed across his mind's eye, but he quickly brushed it aside.

The waitress seated the violet eyed young man at the table right next to Ed's. This enabled the blonde to hear as the young man ordered a black coffee. Ed brought his eyes back down, considering trying to read his book again. He heard the black haired boy sigh and instinctively looked back up. The boy had his chair facing the back of the building, and appeared deep in thought. Ed blinked, a part of him wondering just what the boy was thinking about.

In seemed the boy was aware of his surroundings enough to notice Ed watching him, as he suddenly turned his head to look the blonde in the eye.

"Can I help you with something?" the boy asked, curtly.

Ed's lip twitched a bit, he didn't really like the boy's tone, "No, you just seemed troubled."

"And you care?"

"Not really," answered Ed, "I just have nothing else to do today besides people watching."

The boy snorted, "So then according to you, I'm the most interesting person here."

Ed raised an eyebrow, then glanced at the table directly across from them, where some guy with brown hair and a rather large supply of apples was attempting to inconspicuously talk to the air.

"Well, you're certainly the most normal," Ed answered upon looking back at the young man.

The boy made a 'hm' sound under his breath and then gave a slight nod.

"My names Edward," Ed said, forcing himself to smile, "but most people call me Ed."

"Lelouch," the violet eyed boy answered, "Just Lelouch, and I suppose we already have something in common. I had nothing better to do today either."

Ed took note of the boy's expression before he responded.

"I take it this isn't an everyday occurrence?"

Lelouch shook his head, "Not lately, waging war on a global superpower kind of eats up you're free time."

Ed's eyes widened, "Are you serious?"

The dark haired boy smirked and nodded.

"...why?" Ed asked. Some things were just too bizarre to warrent a diffent reaction.

At this Lelouch's smirk faded, and his face became solemn. Ed watched with interest as this sudden change came over his new acquaintance. He looked like he did when he first walked in the building, although with a little less anger and a lot more sadness.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Lelouch answered, softly.

Now it was Ed's turn to smirk, "Oh really, well I've heard some crazy things before, I doubt you could say anything that'd shock me."

Lelouch looked at him, then gave a sad smile.

"Okay then," he said, "I'm doing it for my younger sister."

Ed pursed his lips, but didn't answer, silently urging the boy to continue.

"My mother was killed when I was very young, and my sister was caught in the crossfire. She lost the ability to use her legs, and the trauma left her blinded. She still hasn't fully recovered," the boy paused for a moment, "when I confronted my father about it, he told me that he had no use for me or my sister. He called us weak, and then cast us aside to die in a foreign country."

Ed noted that Lelouch's hands had clenched into fists and his upper body was shaking with barely supressed rage.

"So this war with a global superpower you mentioned," Ed prompted him.

"My sister has always wished for a peaceful world where everyone would be treated with kindness and love. More than anything, I want to grant that wish," Lelouch answered, his anger subsiding a bit, "I know that one day she'll be able to see again, and when she opens her eyes for the first time, I want her to see a gentle world, free from tyranny."

The violet eyed boy finished his story and took a deep breath, while Ed quietly contemplated everything the boy had said.

'I'm starting to think I was wrong about him being 'normal',' Ed thought to himself. Wanting to make your sister happy was one thing, starting a war to accomplish it was... something else.

All questions about the dark haired youth's sanity aside, Ed strongly sympathized with his reasoning. Though he hadn't attempted to overthrow the Fuhrer or anything like that, wasn't he going to insane lengths for his younger sibling as well? Hadn't he vowed to make things right even if it meant his own death? He gazed into the boy's regretful eyes, and realized there was one big difference in their situations.

"Well, at least you didn't cause you're sister's pain," Ed stated.

Lelouch looked up at him, clearly confused. His confusion turned to surprise when Ed rolled up his sleeve to show the automail arm underneath.

"I did a stupid thing," Ed began, intentionally being vague as he was sure Lelouch had been, "and I lost my arm and leg. My younger brother lost his whole body, and he's only here now because I was lucky enough to find something to attach his soul to."

Ed stopped here as the waitress arrived to give the violet eyed boy his coffee, which he sipped quietly while waiting for Ed to go on.

"My brother can't eat or sleep or even feel anything anymore, and it's all because I thought I could play God. Everything I've done since then has been to try and fix my mistake, so that my brother can have a life again."

Lelouch nodded, "It looks like we have one more thing in common."

"Yeah, but at least you weren't the cause of your sisters hardships," Ed answered with a hint of self-loathing.

The dark haired boy's face twitched, as if annoyed by Ed's statement, "Does it make a difference?"

Ed shook his head, "No, but at least you can still look at your sister, and not hate yourself for what's happened to her."

Lelouch snorted into his coffee, "Are you kidding, of course I do."

"Why is that?"

"Because I do blame myself," Lelouch said, then shook his head a bit, as if clearing his thoughts, "well, I partially blame myself anyway. Mostly I blame my father for not protecting her and my mother, but there's always been a small part of me that wishes I'd been the one in my mother's arms that day.

"My sister is one of the only genuinely good and kind people I know, I can assure you that I'm no saint. To see her like this, in a wheelchair and reading from a Braille book, it makes me so angry. Not only at my father, but also at myself. She never deserved to get hurt, I deserve must worse, so why is she the one who has to suffer everyday?"

Ed clicked his tongue, "Well from what I'm hearing, you haven't had it all that easy either."

Lelouch glared at him, "but at least I can walk."

The blonde frowned and averted his eyes, 'And at least I can still sleep at night,' his mind whispered. Ed tried to force away the images of Al curled up in the corner at 3am gazing out the window aimlessly and waiting for his big brother to wake up. He couldn't even begin to imagine how lonely it must be, nor did he want to. The guilt was already strong enough.

He opened and closed his mouth again, the question on his lips deeply personal, he wasn't sure he should even voice it; but deep down inside, he had to know. So far this boy seemed just like him, and Ed wanted to know if Lelouch felt similarly to him about one very important issue.

"Lelouch," Ed began, the odd name passing through his lips clumsily as he only just became aware of how strange it really was, "I was wondering... do you ever wonder if your sister... well, if she resents you for being able to walk and see?"

The minute the question was out, Ed regretted asking it. At least until he saw Lelouch's expression, which wasn't angry, or offended like he'd expected, but rather thoughtful.

"Why, do you think your brother resents you?" the violet eyed boy asked.

Ed shrugged, "Sort of, I'm afraid that he blames me for what's happened to his body. I mean, I'd understand if he did..."

"Because you already blame yourself," Lelouch finished the thought for him, "Honestly, I don't really know. I wouldn't blame her if she did. Like I said, she never deserved what happened to her. She has a good heart, and she cares about everybody, even the people who've hurt us."

"Well if that's true," Ed responded, "then I guess she wouldn't be mad at you."

Lelouch nodded, "I'd like to think so... and I'm sure your brother doesn't blame you for whatever happened to him."

The blonde gasped a little, "What makes you say that?"

Lelouch smiled, "From the way you talk about him, he sounds a lot like my sister. If I'm right about that, then he'd never blame you."

Ed blinked, then gave a small smile of his own, "You know, I think you may be right about that."

"Either of you want refills?" a female voice from above them said, interrupting the conversation.

Both boys looked up at the teenaged waitress standing above them holding a steaming pot of coffee. Ed glanced at his empty cup and then at Lelouch, whose mug also appeared coffee free.

"No thanks," the violet eyed boy said, standing up, "I've got to be somewhere, actually."

The waitress pouted, then looked at Edward, "How about you?"

Ed shook his head and stood as well, "Thanks, but I have to leave now too, can I get the bill?"

"Don't worry about that," the waitress said before looking at Lelouch, "and don't you either, it's on the house."

She shot them both a flirtatious wink and then turned on a heel and walked off.

A quick glance at Lelouch showed that he was just as annoyed by the woman's antics as Ed was.

"I guess this is goodbye then," Ed said, holding out his hand for Lelouch to shake, "it was nice meeting you, Lelouch."

The taller boy smiled as he took the blonde's hand, "you too, Edward. Good luck getting your brother's body back."

"And good luck with your war," Ed answered, 'even if it is crazy.'

With those words, the two parties turned and walked away from each other, both back to their own lives, and both somehow knowing they would never meet again. Still as Ed walked out the right side door and Lelouch out the left, they took one last look at each other; two souls with different lives and different battles, but such similar missions. Each gave the other one last encouraging look before opening the doors and stepping into the outside world.

Ed took a deep breath of fresh air, and realized that Al didn't have that particular luxury either. For once though, this thought wasn't accompanied by feelings of hatred towards himself, but by hope and determination to fix his mistake, and someday see his brother's smiling face again.

And he knew that somewhere out there, his new friend would be working to give his little sister that peaceful world to one day open her eyes too. He could only hope Lelouch would succeed; Ed already knew he would.

As the blonde alchemist walked down the street, two old men playing chess stopped their game to watch him walk by.

"Can you believe that kid," one said to the other, "what was he doing in that old building anyway, don't he know it's condemned?"

The second shook his head, "Probably just a thrill seeker. Young people are always doing dangerous things like that, they think it's fun. Ya ask me, they're just idiots setting a bad example for all the little ones out there."

"That's the trouble with kids these days," the first man said as he moved his king forward, "no concept of responsibility."