~Inhuman~
By: 26 Combo
It had become a normal part of life, really. Alphonse could see it in everyone that passed by him, whether it be a faint glint in their eye or a turn of the head. One way or another the people around him continuously revealed their surprise as if they weren't looking at something human. And it wasn't just the looks either - he had grown to accept the repeated questions of, "Don't you want something to eat?" or, "Why don't you take that suit of armor off?"
But it wasn't the questions themselves that made him want to cry, it was the odd and confused looks that followed; almost as if they viewed him as inhuman or abnormal. That's what hurt the most.
"Alphonse," Edward repeated in an impatient tone. It was apparent that the blond had repeated himself several times.
"Sorry brother," Al said, "I was just thinking."
Edward gave a weak smile and set down the piece of paper he was studying. Breaking Marcoh's "cook book" was much harder than they had originally thought.
"Well," Ed breathed out, leaning back in his chair until only the back two legs supported him. "We should take a break from cracking this code. My brain's fried."
"Yeah...,"
The elder Elric observed his brother with a frown. He often forgot that Al was his little brother - the tall suit of armor and mature, collected personality was a stark, misleading contrast.
"You sure you're okay?"
Large leather gloves released the book they were holding, shaking ever so slightly to reveal the slightest glimpse of physical emotion. "Do you think we'll ever find the Philosopher's Stone?"
Ed knitted his brows together and sat up, the front legs of his chair touching down on the floor again. "Of course we will. I promised you we would, remember?"
"I know," Al reassured with little confidence. "I was just thinking about getting my body back, that's all."
The red-coated alchemist frowned, "Why do you sound so down about it? Aren't you excited to get you're old body back?"
If their eyes could meet, Edward would see tears beginning to swell up in his brother's gaze. But he couldn't - all the elder could see were the empty eyeholes of a suit of armor, filled with a faint speck of crimson light. The only proof of a living soul inhabiting the empty shell.
"You... you still think I'm human, right brother?"
Edward Elric gave a small smile, not realizing how much it impacted his little brother right then and there. "Of course I do; that's why we've spent days trying to crack this damned alchemy code. Why do you ask?"
If Al could cry and smile at the same time, he would have. Amongst every frown, glance, stare, or whisper that came from insensitive people, there was the smile of his dear brother. And it wasn't just Ed, either - it was Winry and Granny and Mustang, and everyone else too. They continued to support their journey... but most of all they never changed their view of him.
They were alchemists, and alchemists lived their life off of facts and proven laws. It was proven that most people saw him as unlovable or weird, but it was also a fact that Ed saw him as a human being. It was Edward who hugged him, who laughed with him and talked to him like a person instead of a mannequin. His big brother saw the human in him, and that was enough to overcome the pain of rejection.
"Brother I-," Al paused, observing the sleeping blonde in front of him. They had been working day and night to uncover the secret of the philosophers stone, and it was apparent that the lack of sleep had caught up to Edward.
"Thank you," he whispered, reaching over and running his thick leather hands through his brother's soft hair. They were each other's anchors in a sea of madness and confusion, and though it was the blood seal that alchemically kept his soul in this world, it was his brother that kept him alive.
And that was enough.