Yeah, another one of my crossover fanfics. I'm not so sure about this one, though. It's definitely not my best work. I mean, it's okay, just not incredibly great. Just so ya know.

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Lost. Lost. I'm definitely lost. Where the hell am I? What's with this road? Why does it have lines on it? Is it for directing traffic? How did I even end up here? Where's my brother? Al? Where are you? Al?

These were the thoughts that were going through Ed's mind as he walked down the road. He had no idea how he had gotten here, all he knew was that he had been in the woods, and when he came out, there was nothing familiar anywhere. Just this road. He figured it had to lead somewhere, so he walked down it.

To his left was a river. Ed listened to the sounds it made as he walked. After a while, he heard a new sound along with it. This sound was more human. A human sound, one that Ed was plenty familiar with. He headed for the source, a girl about his age sitting by the river. Tears were streaming down her face.

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I don't want to be like this. That's the only thought in my head. I don't want to be different. I want to be normal. I want to go home and live with my parents. I don't want to be someplace where they emphasize that weird side of me. Why do they care so much about that? My parents love me, so why did they send me away? Do they not like being around me because I'm different? I don't want to be like this.

Maybe that's why I ran away. I didn't want to accept that I'm different.

She looked up at the boy standing behind her. He wasn't anybody she knew, although she'd only been at that school for a couple of days.

"Why are you crying?" he asked. He was friendly.

"You're not going to make me go back, are you?"

"Go back where?"

"Wait, you're not from that place?"

"What place?"

She tried to explain the idea of Xavier's school. The boy looked concerned, and after a while, he sat down beside her.

"Sounds nice."

"Mm-hmm."

"Why'd you run away?"

"I don't like being different. I'd rather act like I'm normal so I can stay with my friends and family. I hate being here."

"So you're just running away? Is your home nearby?"

"Well, no, it's really far away."

"Isn't it dangerous being out here on your own?"

"I can take care of myself."

The boy was quiet for a while. Then, he pulled up his right sleeve. She gasped as she saw the metal.

"You're different too?"

"I guess you could say that. I lost my arm using my abilities. This is just a replacement."

"What can you do?"

"I'm an alchemist."

"So you can make gold and stuff?"

"I could, but where I'm from, it's illegal to transmute gold."

"Oh. Can I see you use alchemy?"

"Sure." The boy clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground. There was a flash of light, and a small horse appeared. He picked it up and handed it to her.

"You know, I'm often in danger because of what I can do. I don't really know anything about this place, but I bet it's the same for you."

"What do you mean?"

"Personally, I don't care if you're different. You're still a person. But, not everybody's like that. Some people might hate you for what you can do. This is just a guess, but I think your parents sent you away so that you'd be able to grow up without having to deal with those people. You can be around people who respect you for who you are."

"But, people like me for who I am back home."

"Does everybody know about your abilities?"

"Well, no, but… I guess you're right. I'm afraid to tell them because some of them hate mutants."

The boy stood up. "See? Your parents didn't send you away to get rid of you. They just want you to be happy."

She stood up too. "You're right."

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going back. I don't want to stay at that school, but I can figure things out there better than I can out here. Thank you, umm…"

"My name's Edward Elric. You can just call me Ed, though."

"Thank you, Ed."

They began walking up the slope back to the road. Halfway up, Ed lost his footing and fell backwards. She was about to go down and help him when she heard someone calling her name.

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Where are you? Why did you run away? Come on, it shouldn't be this hard to find a runaway. He said she's around here, but where? Oh, I see you. Who is that with you? You shouldn't talk to strangers.

Storm got out of the car as the two began climbing back up to the road. She was about to call out when the boy tripped and fell. Definitely not graceful. She concentrated on helping her student, figuring the boy could get up on his own. He didn't, though. Scott went down to see what was up while Storm talked to the girl.

"Looks like he hit his head."

"Is it bad?"

"No blood, but… Hey, come check this out."

"Why don't you bring him up here?"

"Right." Scott carried the unconscious teenager up the hill and set him down next to the car. He pointed to the kid's right hand, which was made of metal. "Look at that."

"So, he's a mutant?"

"Unless there's such a thing as metal prosthetics."

"He said he was an alchemist. He even made something with alchemy."

Storm took the small horse the girl was holding out. The color matched the rocks down by the river, and it definitely looked brand new. She looked at the boy again. "He made this?"

"Uh-huh. He clapped his hands together and put them on the ground, and there was this flash of light, and then the horsey appeared."

"Really?" The two adults exchanged glances. What would they do with him? It's not like leaving him in the middle of nowhere was an option. On the other hand, though, they didn't know anything about him. He could easily be an enemy.

Eventually they decided to bring him back to the school. Even if he were an enemy, they could just keep an eye on him. Scott picked the kid up and placed him in the car.

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Owwww, my head hurts… Is it because I hit it so hard? Wait, how did I end up here? Where is here? Where's Al? Al? Where are you? No, he's not here. I'm alone. No, not alone. There's someone in here with me. It's not him, though.

Him… Who am I talking about? I just had it, but now I don't remember. Don't remember… What about my family? I don't remember any of their faces. None of their faces… and who am I? Why can't I remember even that? I know I have a name, but what is it?

He sat up and rubbed his head. As he did this, a man walked over to him. He looked sort of wolfish.

"Hey, Ed. You okay?"

Ed… so that's my name… Ed… Edward… Elric… Edward Elric? Is that my name? It sounds right to me. But how does he know it? Have I met him before? Of course, he doesn't look familiar…

"I'm fine now."

"Where are you from?"

Ed stared at the bed. "I don't remember."

"What do you mean, you don't remember?"

"I don't remember anything."

"Nothing at all?"

"No."

"Not even how you got that arm?"

Ed looked at his right arm. That's right, I lost my arm, but someone replaced it. Who, though? And why do I get the feeling that it was painful? Argh, this is driving me crazy!

"No. Not a clue."

"Jeez. That's gonna be a problem."

Gee, ya think?

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"He doesn't remember anything?"

"No, not really. All he really knows is his name."

"But nothing else?"

"Nope."

"He must have hit his head pretty hard back there."

"What a klutz."

"Oh, like you've never tripped before. Give the kid a break, Scott. He must feel terrible," Storm said.

The three of them were standing outside, trying to come up with a reason for Ed's sudden appearance. It wasn't strange to find someone like him, but there was something strange about him. It was as if he didn't belong on this world.

Storm had assigned Rogue to the task of explaining everything to Ed, and showing him around. It would be easier if he were with someone his own age. Besides, they wouldn't be able to do anything about the lost memory problem until someone with more knowledge in that area was around, and Professor Xavier and Jean Grey returned from their trip. Ed would just have to wait until then.

"So, we're sure he's a mutant?" Logan asked.

"Have you ever seen an arm like that before? Even if it's new technology, there's still the fact that he could be an alchemist. Even if it were nothing like being a mutant, if someone who was anti-mutant found him, they wouldn't care about that difference."

"So, assuming he is an alchemist, would he remember how to use it? I mean, if he doesn't remember anything…"

"There's still the fact that part of his body is made of metal. Since nobody here's heard of that kind of technology, it's doubtful that the rest of the world's heard of it."

"So… I guess we're just going to assume he is a mutant until the Professor gets back?"

"Yep."

"Good thing he's willing to believe that himself."

"No, I don't think it's that he's willing to believe he's a mutant, I think it's more that he doesn't care about the difference between mutants and humans."

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tee hee Ed the mutant.