Thanks to Jedi Goat, this work is readable. She is a wonderful beta. And thanks also to my mentor, Animaniac. She is excellent as well.

Please review if you read.

PLEASE READ: -Spoilers for the manga-This is an AU from Edwards's final meeting with "Truth" (where he lost his alchemic abilities and got Al's body back) on. There is an OC who plays a central part, but he is not a romantic interest of anyone's. There is nothing homosexual in this fiction; in fact it's as squeaky clean as a baboon's behind; rather, a dog's mouth. No, as though it was shot with UV radiation. Okay, let the stupidity ensue (further).

"There is another thing."

"What?"

"You have a final debt to settle before your brother gets his body back."

"What is it?"

"The thing you transmutated, it was not your mother. You know this."

"Yeah."

"Well, he wants his body back. And I can't give him his, because of you. "

"Well what do you want me to do about it?" Edward paused. "Wait, who wants..."

"Yours will do."

Before Edward realized, his heart began to still. Feeling, physicality was fading from his essence. Nothing of him was moving. His perception seemed to be rapidly altering. He couldn't sense time nor space any more. It was almost as if he were in one and many spots simultaneously.

My flesh, it's gone.

He didn't hear. He didn't see. He merely was conscious. And he became cognizant of so much in one moment. But in that instant, even quantity took on a different meaning.

Wait.

Edward found it strange, he wanted to halt whatever was happening, but there was no time to stop. Then again, why did he want that?

But, I won't see them again.

It didn't appear to matter any longer. His brother was getting his body back, and that was all he'd been aiming to achieve. As long as that was accomplished, as long as they were happy, their desires were granted, what did it mean that he should leave them?

They have each other. Al, Winry, they don't really need me.

Edward couldn't remember a reason. He didn't recall the limited, with infinity encompassing his soul.

Martin was. Tangibly. And he was engulfed in something, once very familiar, but presently he couldn't define it.

Its name, it's called darkness.

The blackness was foreboding, bleak, everywhere. Very unpleasant.

Abruptly he became aware of something else, again, once well known, but something nameless in his fragment of memory.

Unpleasant also; he wanted to be rid of it. How? There wasn't a way.

No …this is pain.

The sensation permeated his being, and internally erupted sadness, irritation, and anger.

This was also not supposed to be there. Its existence was useless, damaging. If only he knew how to make it go away.

Wait, pain is a feeling. I'm feeling.

Then he must be corporeal. He was imprisoned in a body again. Flesh, blood, nerves, marrow, all of it he was aware of in an instant. Emotions burst forth, so intertwined and violent he was incapable of discerning them.

I am, I am of matter.

Mass was his. He could touch; sense finitely.

He was within darkness. Therefore he was asleep.

Wake up.

Martin forced open his eyes, and was momentarily blinded. Light flooded everything, inducing discomfort. Energy had not been to him for so long.

After a bit he tried once more.

Above him there was a stark whiteness.

Around him was coldness.

Under him was something soft.

He smelled, sterilizing chemicals.

He heard, people, walking, talking.

He felt, threads, fabric, starched white sheets.

I'm in a hospital.

Automatically he started. Slowly and carefully he sat up, concentrating on every muscle used to accomplish this motion. He scrutinized his surroundings.

And spied a brunette boy slumped in a chair in the corner of the room.

The boy awakened at the moment Martin laid eyes on him, and he leapt to his feet.

The child was immediately beside Martin, and then he was embracing him.

Martin tensed, shocked at the forwardness and general speed of the kid.

Naturally, it was the person's following words that truly scared him.

"Brother", the boy said.

Brother?

It was then Martin began to acknowledge his present vessel. He was Caucasian, skin slightly tanned. His hair was a golden blonde and fell to his shoulders. The muscles were hard but not fully developed. He was an adolescent. And he shared the blood of this boy holding him if the child's reaction to his rising was any indication.

"Seriously, what were you thinking, you…" Alfonse's rant was cut off by the lump forming in his throat.

"Who are you?" Martin blinked with surprise at the sound of his own voice.

Martin felt the kid stiffen. Alfonse quickly met the eyes of his sibling, which were unmistakably clouded with confusion.

"Brother…"

Alfonse exhaled slowly, trying to keep himself collected, and reason his way through his present trial. He was failing miserably. The only consanguine family he had left in the world didn't know him. No, he merely didn't remember him.

Amnesia really isn't that bad…or unexpected, considering what he went through.

But then, Alfonse did not know in reality, what exactly the ordeal was that his sibling had endured. He was aware that it had involved "The Truth", or whatever that alchemic entity decided to call itself. Edward had told him that much about the meeting that transpired after the boy had been sucked into that abyss post human transmutation attempt.

Yet, his data went no further.

He sat back on the bench awkwardly. Some actions were still strangely difficult for him to execute properly without thinking through them. He had just become so used to that clunky armor, any smooth motion was hard.

Perhaps the most challenging part of his present circumstance was that Edward insisted that he was named Martin. Alfonse had no clue where that particular name could have come from. They had precious few people they called relatives, and not one possessed that moniker. Neither did any of their friends or acquaintances.

The teen sat incredibly still for what seemed to him an eternity, his mind despairingly blank.

Simply, he had no idea of what to do, and no inspiration impregnated his overstressed brain.

I guess there isn't anything I can do, except go home.

To what? Alphonse didn't think that he could continue a life without the person with whom he'd suffered his greatest agonies. In every stage of suffering there was that one person who made it possible to persist and hope. Trying to assume their past condition bereft of Edward, as Edward, was essentially doomed to fail from the start.

So, I can't go back. Winry and Granny, how could I explain it to them if I have no idea what's happened I?

Maybe after a day or two I'll get used to this.

He actually was not uncomfortable with his new container. It was strong and agile, despite the automail leg.

Spontaneously he jumped up, bringing his knees to his chest and then landing hard on his feet. When the automail met the floor a resounding "clank" pervaded the air. Martin glanced about himself self consciously. Satisfied no one had heard he turned back to his reflection in the full-length mirror.

He was satisfied with his circumstance+. Even if he was a child he was physically adept. He wasn't ugly. His body was healthy. In fact there was but one aspect of his new self that he truly couldn't be happy with:

Why am I so short?

Were the characters girly? Always am afraid of that. And the word "that" appeared quite a bit in here. What's a synonym for "that"?