Hello! sorry for not writing for so long... FORGIVE ME!!! -bows- Ahem... It's just that I've had no inspiration, let alone the TIME to write, what with moving, school, assignments, tests, studying and with my computer losing everything...
-sigh...- Oh well... challenge that I found... can't remember where...
Edward stood with a single flower in his hand at the large iron gates that gave entrance to the Cemetery. He sighed as he pushed them open with a deafening CREAK, sending shivers down his spine.
As he walked through the sea of headstones, he counted each row to make sure he knew where he was going.
When Ed found it, he walked over to the large white angel, standing over a solid silver headstone. He stared at it, hoping that the deceased would come back, but he knew that wouldn't happen. Not again.
"Hey..." Ed said, mumbling slightly. "It's been a whole year, and I'm surprised that I've made it this far without trying to join you..."
He looked down at the ground, to notice he was still holding the flower.
"Oh, yeah. I brought you a flower. It's a lily. I thought you might like it, but you never really took much of an interest in flowers... You were always interested in cats more..." he said, loosening his grip on the lily.
Ed crouched down, making him closer to the grave. He placed the single white lily in front of the tombstone.
Ed sat in front of it and sobbed as he read the inscription out loud.
"Here lies Alphonse Elric. Words can't describe how wonderful he was. He was loved immensely by everyone, especially Winry Rockbell and Edward Elric."
He sobbed as he buried his face in his arms, replaying in his head the last time he ever saw his brother alive.
Edward had just restored Alphonse's body a few months ago and was on their third mission since then. They both walked through the empty town, looking at the dusty buildings.
"I wonder what happened to make all these people abandon their town..." Al pondered.
"Mustang said that a massive drought settled in and no crops would grow and there was no grass for their cattle to eat." Ed replied, kicking up red dust from the path.
"But Colonel Mustang also said that there was a lead here for another Philosophers Stone, didn't he?" Al asked, squinting his eyes against the dirt that was flying around.
"Yeah, he said that there was a State Alchemist working on a Philosophers Stone here, and planned to use it against Central HQ." Ed started, walking up to a large barn house.
He pushed open the large doors, continuing. "Luckily, someone tipped off Central and they caught him before he could finish it."
They walked into the barn house, to notice the whole interior was covered with transmutation circles.
As Ed walked in to look closer at the circles, Al stood at the entrance, warily looking around.
"Brother? I have a feeling that we're not the only ones here..." Al said, taking a few small steps inside towards Edward.
"Al, everything's fine. The whole town outside is deserted. What makes you think any different about in here?" Ed replied, looking at a circle, on which most of the paint had flaked off.
"T-that guy makes me think d-different!" Al yelled, pointing at a tall, thin man on a higher level of the barn.
Edward turned to look at the man, who was now swinging down on a length of rope.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Ed barked at the man, looking like he was about to rip his head off.
"Your Military was the ones who took my master away for making a Philosophers Stone. I have nearly completed his work and I will take the Stone to my master so he may fulfil his wish!" The man replied, getting into an attacking position.
"Damn it! No one told me that the guy had an accomplice! Geez, how many people's arses do I have to kick?" Ed complained, getting ready to fight.
Al kept to standing near the door while his brother and the man fought for the right to the Stone.
The man pulled a pocketknife out and tried to stab Ed, but Ed parried, transmuted his arm into his blade and cut the man's hand, making him drop the knife.
Behind them, Al drew a transmutation circle and trapped the man in a cage of rock.
"Good job, Al." Ed complimented, giving Al a thumbs-up.
"Now," Ed started, turning towards the man. "What is your name and why does your master want to overthrow Central Headquarters?"
The man sat, looking at the ground.
"My name?" He almost too calmly replied, looking up with an evil grin. "It's Jack."
Jack rose to his knees to reveal a transmutation circle. He touched his hands to it, making the cage disintegrate around him as he made another circle and used it to create a large knife. Jack raced towards Edward with the knife, and before Ed could stop him, he stabbed Ed in his side.
Ed sank to the ground, groaning in pain, while Jack removed the knife and looked menacingly at Alphonse.
"Now, now. What to do with you?" Jack taunted, wiping the blood off his knife with his shirt.
Ed saw this and attempted to tackle Jack, but only succeeded in tripping him up and losing his knife. Jack immediately turned around and punched Ed hard in the face.
"Please... Don't hurt him." Ed pleaded. "He's... My brother."
Jack walked over to his knife and picked it up. He then walked over to a terrified Alphonse and grabbed him by the shirt.
"Oh, why would I 'hurt' him?" Jack said sarcastically as Ed got up and ran over to them.
"Brother! Help me!" Al screamed, reaching out for him.
But Ed was too late.
Before he could get to him, Jack plunged his knife into Al's stomach several times and finished by stabbing him in the chest and leaving the knife there.
Ed pulled Jack off Al and proceeded to beat the crap out of him.
"B-brother..." Came a weak voice from behind Ed.
He turned to see his little brother, lying in a pool of his own blood, reaching out for him.
"Its okay, Al. I'm here, and we're gonna get you some help." Ed tried to reassure Al, talking fast.
"Brother... I'm scared... I don't w-want to die again..." Al said, holding onto his brother's hand tightly.
Ed fell to his knees and scooped Al into his arms. He held him and whispered "Don't worry... I promise I won't let you die on me. Never again."
Al's grip on Ed's hand loosened and Edward began panicking.
"C'mon Al, stay with me. You need to!" Ed demanded, shaking Al's shoulders.
"I'm s-sorry..." Al whispered, letting go of Ed's hand.
Ed placed Al on the ground, in front of him and shook his shoulders, trying to keep him awake.
"No, Alphonse. You can't leave me. I just got you back!" Ed panicked. "You can't leave!"
"I love you..." Al breathed. "Brother..."
Alphonse's eyes dulled and closed, as his breathing became shallow and finally, stopped.
Edward's eyes grew wide as he stared at his little brother, cold and unmoving.
As it started raining outside, Edward's cries of sadness could be heard.
"I'm sorry... Alphonse..." Ed spoke, wiping away his tears. "I broke my promise."
Clouds gathered and it started to rain, making the Cemetery gloomier than it already was. Edward looked up to the sky and thought 'That's no fair. I'm the one who's supposed to be crying...'
He leaned forward and picked up the helmet that rested on the grave, and hugged it as if he was hugging Alphonse.
A crunch of leaves behind him made him realise he wasn't the only person there.
A hand rested on his shoulder, the person trying to comfort him.
"You do know that if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here?" The person asked.
"Yes, I know. Now, go away Mustang." Edward replied, shrugging the hand off his shoulder.
"I was only seeing if you were okay, so-"Roy started.
"Okay? OKAY? You think I'm okay? Well I'm not! My only family is DEAD! Do you KNOW how hard that is for me?" Edward yelled, standing up and dropping the helmet, offended.
"No. I don't know how hard it is to lose family, but I know how hard it is to lose my best friend. So, if you ever need to talk, you know where I am." Roy replied, turning to leave.
"Wait..." Ed said, looking down shyly.
Roy turned around to see Edward on his knees, clutching the helmet.
"I suppose... I might want to talk... just a little bit." Ed said, looking down.
Roy smiled slightly and walked over to him, offering a hand.
"If you want to talk, maybe we should go somewhere a little less wet." He said, looking at the sky.
Ed shied away at first, but he took Roy's hand and pulled himself off the ground.
As they walked through the sea of tombstones, Roy suddenly stopped at one.
"Why did we stop here?" Edward asked, looking up at the Colonel.
"Oh, just visiting someone..." Roy replied, nonchalantly.
He stared at the ground where the person was buried, remembering all the good and bad memories he had with him.
"How are you supposed to push me to the top, when you're a higher rank than me...? Maes..." Roy whispered to himself, a tear creeping down his face.
He quickly wiped the tear away and kept walking, not talking or looking at Edward, who was still following him.
Ed and Roy ran under a small shelter just outside the Cemetery gates, just as it started to pour down with rain. They each sat on separate sides of the shelter, not looking at the other person.
"Edward?" Roy started, Ed looking up from the helmet slightly, "Have you ever thought of... You know..."
"No." Ed replied, staring at the helmet again. "I know it'd only end in disaster again..."
They sat in silence for a while, before Ed spoke up.
"What about you, Mustang?" Ed questioned. "Have you ever thought about it with Hughes? I mean, he WAS one of your only friends..."
"No, I wouldn't want to do that to him." Roy replied, feeling more down than he was.
"But..." Roy started, making Edward look up again. "I do consider you a friend, ya know."
Ed looked Roy in the face, and could tell he wasn't lying, just to make him feel better.
"Thank you." Ed replied.
Roy was surprised to hear him say that.
"The only real friends I've ever had were Al and Winry..." Ed mumbled, still staring at the helmet. "And even though I call you a bastard, a jack-ass, and every other name I can think of,"
Ed got up and slowly walked over to where Roy sat, leaving the helmet on his seat. He stood in front of him, wearing a genuine smile.
"I really do consider you a friend, Roy." Ed finished, sitting next to him on the wooden bench.
Ed and Roy sat there, smiling at each other and knowing that they didn't hate each other.
Then, Ed suddenly wrapped his arms around Roy and hugged him. Roy was taken aback by this, but slowly put his arms around the boy.
Ed started sobbing as Roy held him.
"It's funny," Edward said between sobs, "Alphonse always wanted us to be friends. But now, only after he's gone..."
Ed trailed off, continuing to sob into Roy's shoulder.
After a while, Ed calmed down and they sat in silence, except for the occasional crack of thunder from the, still dark and raining, sky.
"We should go home. It's getting late and the longer we sit here, the harder the rain will fall." Roy said, checking his watch.
"Okay…" Ed replied nonchalantly, getting up from the seat and walking to the other side of the shelter.
Roy stood and walked over to him, looking out in to the rain. Ed looked up at him.
"Um, Mustang?" Ed started, getting Roy's attention. "Would I be able to stay with you tonight?"
Edward looked down, pondering what Roy would say. Roy, on the other hand, knew exactly what he would say.
"Of course you can." Roy replied, still looking at the rain.
Roy smiled and started off, into the rain, with Ed following close behind him.
As they walked, Ed realised that he didn't hate the Flame Alchemist anymore. He looked up to him as a father and relied on him more than he thought.
They arrived at the Mustang residence, cold and soaked through.
After showing Ed to his room on the second floor and giving him some clothes to borrow, he came back down stairs and sat, very un-ceremonially, into the nearest armchair.
'I hope that Edward doesn't do anything stupid. I mean, he hasn't yet, but it's been a whole year...' Mustang thought as he waited for Edward to come back down.
While he did, he grabbed a random book from a table and started reading.
After getting about half way through the book, Roy put it down and glanced at his watch.
"Wow, it's that late? I better go check on Ed." Roy mumbled, getting up from the chair.
As he walked up the stairs, he noticed that the house was unnaturally silent.
He got to the spare room and opened the door slowly, to see Edward curled up on the bed, wearing a lage, baggy T-shirt and tracksuit pants.
'He looks so peaceful...' Roy thought, turning back to the hallway.
"Good night, Edward." Roy said quietly, stepping into the hall.
When he closed the door, he heard a small whisper that made him smile as he walked back down the stairs:
"Good night... Roy."
-sob...- So sad, but nice... That doesn't even make sense... PLEASE R&R! Flames will be used to light the candles in my house.