"You where reading those strange books in class again," Winry chastised. "You've got to pay attention,"

"Say's the girl who fell asleep in class again," Edward countered.

Three children walked home from school, past green fields and blue skys. Three children, the embodiment of innocence, thought that their future would be bright as gold. How wrong they where.

Two brothers, and their best friend, who had been together since the beginning. Two brothers who lost their mother, lived with their friend, and was taken care of by her grandmother. Their best friend wasn't without tragedy either. A year ago, she had lost both her parents to a war. But they got by. They still embodied innocence, they still walked past blue sky's, and they still thought their future gleamed gold.

"What were you reading about anyways?" Winry asked.

Human Transmutation...

"It's a secrete," Alphonse responded pleasantly. After all, the two brothers couldn't have their friend ratting out on them to her grandmother.

"It's none of your business Winry," Edward snapped. He had always been the more aggressive of the two brothers.

"Aw, you guys are always keeping secretes!" Winry pouted.

Al ran up to catch up with his elder brother. "Bye Winry!" He shouted to his friend.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" She suddenly shouted. "Granny wanted me to tell you we're making stew tonight!"

Al pumped his fist into the air, "Yay, stew!"

Ed gave her a small wave without turning around. "Alright! We'll be there!"

Winry watched them as they left to go to their house. I wonder what they keep reading about... She thought. She was about to turn and go back to her house, when she noticed something on the ground; a book on human alchemy. It must've dropped out of their bag. She thought. She then picked the book up, and began to run after him.

Meanwhile, Ed and Al hiked through the hills to their house. The two boys plotted and planned, because they had a goal to bring their dead mother back to life.

"Whoever invented stew was a genius!" Ed declared. "It's even got milk in it and it still taste good!"

"So that makes it genius?" Al replied sarcastically.

"Someone decided to put milk in soup," Ed continued, ignoring his little brothers comment. "That's a leap of imagination; just the kind a scientist needs!"

"I guess that's right..."

"Of course it is! Just one leap, that's all it takes! Just one leap to find the secrete to a successful Human Transmutation!" Ed cheered.

"Human Transmutation!" A shocked voice suddenly said from behind them. They turned around to see Winry standing behind them. They where caught. "It's forbidden!" She snapped.

"Winry, what are you doing here?" Al asked cautiously.

"You where eavesdropping, weren't you!?" Ed snapped, growing angry.

"No, I just saw this on the ground!" Winry told them, referring to their lost book. "It dropped out of your bag, I just wanted to return it! I didn't mean to eavesdrop,"

Ed marched up to her, a scowl on his face, until the two of them where so close they nearly butted heads. "You pick-pocked it out of Al's bag, didn't you?" Ed snapped. "Just so you can listen into our secrete!" Winry had never seen Ed look more angry.

"No I didn't!" She snapped back.

"Brother, lay off," Al demanded. "When has Winry ever lied to us?"

Never. "Fine. But if you tell Granny I'm gonna kick your ass!" Ed threatened.

"I'm not gonna tell Granny!" Winry yelled back. "You want to bring back your mom, right?"

"Yeah, and we're gonna succeed too!" Ed shouted. The two boys where about to walk away, when, after a long pause, Winry suddenly shouted a response back at them;

"Good! Because I want to bring my parents back too!"

Ed and Al turned around and took a look at her. She was completely serious. "Yeah," Ed assured her with a smile, "We'll bring your parents back after we bring back our mom,"

"No!" Winry shouted. "Teach me alchemy! I want to bring my parents back myself!"

"We don't need your help," Ed told her.

"I don't care. When my parents come back, I want to know it's because I saved them," Winry demanded.

She stood glaring at them, her stair unwavering. Ed really didn't want to deal with teaching the gearhead alchemy, but if it would keep her quiet...

"Fine," Ed grumbled. "Come on,"

"Yay!" Winry cheered, following her friends up the hill to get to their house.

"But you better take this seriously!" Ed demanded.

"I will. I'll put everything I have into bringing my parents back!" Winry promised.

"And you'll have to give up automail for alchemy," Ed informed her.

Winry stopped in her tracks.

"What?" She said sadly.

"Do you want this or not?" Ed demanded from her.

"Yes! I want this more than anything!" Winry assured him.

"Then you'll have to put everything into it. All your time, all your talent, all your effort has to be devoted to alchemy. It's the only way we're gonna be able to bring our parents back,"

Winry stood still, obviously thinking hard about it. Considering the risk. The sacrifice. The benefit. The benefit outweighed everything.

"Yes, I'll do it. I'll devote everything to Alchemy, and I will bring my mom and dad back to life!" She declared.

And that was the beginning of three friends journey. And the beginning of the worst mistake of their lives.

~

The transmutation had gone wrong. Horribly wrong. Winry felt blood pool around her arms. Ed couldn't feel his leg. Al was no where to be seen.

Ed screamed a blood curling scream. Winry quickly stood up. She had to grab him some bandages. She hoped that maybe Aunt Trisha would be able to help them as well.

"Mom... mom help me..." Ed begged. But when he looked into the center of the circle, he didn't see his mom; he saw a nightmare.

Ed screamed once again. Winry ran over to him, and turned to see what he saw. "Aunt Trisha?" She squeaked out in a fearful voice.

The creature in the center of the circle that was supposed to be Trisha reached out to them, gurgling and coughing up blood. It's limb suddenly went limp, and more blood spewed from it. Ed held onto his bleeding leg.

"This... this wasn't supposed to happen!" He cried.

Winry looked to the corner, seeing a pile of bandages. She ran over to grab them. "Hold on Ed! Don't bleed out on me yet!" She shouted, trying to keep calm. She heard her best friend throwing up. She finally got to the bandages. However, when she tried to grab them, she found her hands weren't moving.

"I can't grab them!" She shouted out, starting to panic. She had lost all feeling, all movement, in her hands, and she wouldn't be able to help her friend. He could bleed out and die. And then Alphonse...

"Alphonse... where's Alphonse?!" Ed cried in despair. He turned to see a pile of Al's empty clothing, laying in the dust.

"Alphonse... Winry... I'm sorry," Ed cried. "No, no, no, no, no!" Ed crawled over to the large suit of armor in the corner of the room. He tipped it over, and crawled to the inside of it's neck. He was loosing so much blood. But he could use that blood.

He drew a transmutation circle into the neck of the armor. "You won't take him too!" He shouted to seemingly no one. "He's my little brother! Give him back! Take my leg! Take my arm! Take my heart! Take anything you can have it!" Edward finished his transmutation circle, his only hope of saving his brother. "Just give him back! He's my little brother, he's all I have left!"

Edward clapped his hands together, and a gleam of light appeared between them. Winry watched from the sidelines as the light spread across the entire room, blinding her. She watched as Ed fell into a trance, his arm unraveling and disappearing.

Ed looked through the blinding white light to see a figure silhouetted with black in the distance. It smiled as an arm of flesh appeared on it's white arm. "Back for more, young alchemist?"

~

Three children thought that they would have a future of blue sky's and shining gold. Instead, because of the worst mistake they ever made, they where violently shoved down the path of pain and misery, whether they liked it or not.