Cliff Top

All Edward wanted to do was get some firewood. A simple and easy task, you would assume. Then the tree went and almost squashed him.

"Ugh! Stupid tree!" he yelled, kicking the felled piece of wood. He quickly took his right glove off and transmuted his arm into a blade and began chopping the wood into smaller chunks. As his teacher said, anything that could be done without alchemy should be done without alchemy.

When he was finished, he decided that he could use a quick walk and headed for a cliff that he knew was nearby. He slipped his glove back on and took in the beautiful scenery around him. As the trees thinned, he caught glimpses of the sun beginning to set beneath the horizon and seemingly into the sea. He sighed in contentment as he took a moment to fully appreciate the view. He would have to take Al here tomorrow.

A snapping twig to his left made him turn sharply. But instead of the threat that he expected, a boy a few years older than him stepped from the wooded covering. Intrigued, he watched as the boy walked with his hands in his pockets towards the cliff edge.

The stranger had fairly dark brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a checkered shirt and dark blue jeans with walking boots. When he got to the cliff edge, he stopped and stood there.

All the while, Ed watched him. He wanted to know who he was, and why he was standing on the cliff. Finally, he decided to make his move and stepped out of the protection of the trees.

"Good evening, isn't it?"

The boy turned around, surprised to find that he wasn't alone. When he saw it was someone roughly his age, he seemed to relax a bit.

"Yeah. It's good to come up here to think."

Ed walked over to where the boy was standing and gazed out at the calm waters. "You sound like you do a lot of thinking."

The boy laughed dryly. "There's lots to think about."

The wind then decided to blow a particularly strong gust in their direction, making both boys shiver. They looked sideways at each other and smiled.

"What's your name?" asked Ed.

"Joe. Yours?"

"Ed."

Joe extended a hand for Ed to shake, but it was the right hand. Ed hesitated and Joe noticed this so he drew his hand back. Ed quickly tried to recover the handshake but Joe just smiled and laughed it off.

"We all have our secrets," he said by way of an explanation.

Suddenly, Ed felt a sense of familiarity with this boy. They obviously both had secrets that they would rather not share, but maybe that was it. Maybe they just needed someone to share with. Ed wasn't sure why, but he needed to confide in this stranger, and some sixth sense told him that Joe was trustworthy.

"Have you ever wished you could bring someone back?"

Joe turned to Ed, surprised by this statement. He turned his gaze to where Ed was looking, out to the horizon. "Yeah. But sometimes you just have to accept that it's this flow of the world. If we all lived forever, then why live at all?" There seemed to be a hidden meaning behind the statement, but Ed brushed it off.

He sighed. "I wish I'd been as level headed as you back then."

He sensed Joe stiffen. "You tried it, didn't you?"

Ed nodded. "We were only 10 and 11, my brother and I. We thought it was the answer to everything. We thought we could play God." He let out a horse laugh. "We payed the price for that."

Now it was Joe's turn to sigh. "I didn't want to become what I am. This was forced on me. I didn't know that they would blame his death on me, and I never planned to jump off this cliff and survive, never mind doing it twice. Now I can do things, like things from a science fiction movie. This is the only place I can go to pretend I'm normal."

Ed put a hand—his left hand, mind—on Joe's shoulder. "Guess we've both had pretty tough lives. You seem like a nice guy, use your science fiction powers to do something good with your life. I've got some firewood to get back."

With a pat to Joe's shoulder, Ed shoved his hands into his pockets and went to get the firewood. After a few seconds, he felt the automail port of his right arm being pulled and turned to see Joe holding his lower arm. Funny, he didn't seem to remember him moving there. Frowning, he shook it out of the other's grip and continued to walk into the trees.

Joe had obviously felt his automail, but he wasn't going to say anything about it, that Ed was sure of. And as the alchemist walked away, Joe himself wondered why he had confided in the younger boy so easily. He guessed it was because they seemed so alike, in ways.

"Hey!" Ed heard and whipped around. "Do you want a place to stay for the night?"

Joe's offer was a good one, but as always with him, he needed two things.

"I'll need to give you something in exchange." He smiled. "And there's one more thing I need to get before I go with you."

The cyborg smiled and nodded. "Go on, then. I'll be waiting."

Ed returned the gesture and dashed into the woods to find his brother. "Al!" he called. "Time to pack up! I've got somewhere for us to stay!"