One shot! Hope you like it, I kinda just came up with it and wrote it down...it had a lot more potential...oh well.
Reviews would be nice, but not neccassary.
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Families aren't supposed to be so broken.
So shattered.
So Lost.
No, they were supposed to be complete.
They were supposed to greet you with open arms when you came back home, and to help heal you when your hopes have shattered. They were supposed to be there when you needed someone to talk to, they were supposed to comfort you when everything went wrong…
But the Elrics were nothing like that. Sure, Ed and his brother loved each other as brothers should but…
Where was the greeting with open arms?
Where was their home?
Where was their family when they were shattered?
Besides each other, who was there to talk to?
Where was the comfort when everything went wrong, like it always did?
Their home had burned to ash, their mother could no longer be there to make them feel welcomed.
Their father had left them ages ago, and Ed was nowhere close to forgiving him.
Envy hated they're guts, and they hated his.
There was no comfort when things went wrong, only consequences.
There really was no family. Ed and Al was all the family they had left…or at least, by blood anyways. Yeah, there was always Pinako and Winry, but they weren't literally part of the Elric family.
No, they were a family of different sorts. The Elrics yearned for a family that shared the same blood, the same last name.
But that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
"Stupid rain." Ed muttered under his breath, trudging through the soaked streets. Alphonse followed after him, making small metallic sounds as he did so.
"This must be a poor town. The Roads have holes everywhere in them." Al said, avoiding the water filled holes as best as he could.
"Yeah, I noticed." Ed replied, nearly falling into one. His pants were already muddy from falling into previous holes before.
"Boys! Time to come in!" the Elrics turned slightly to see a women calling from her doorstep. They watched as two younger boys rushed towards her, covered in mud.
"Brother pushed me!" one of them said, pointing to who they guessed to be the older of the two.
"Did not! You tripped!" the other shot back. The mother just sighed, smiling down at them.
"Come on, we'll continue this later once you two are cleaned up for dinner." She said, leading them inside. "Take off your shoes."
"Okay mom!" the two brothers said in unison, doing as they were told before all three of them disappeared into the house.
Ed stared at the closed door a moment before turning back around and continuing to walk. Al sighed, waiting a moment before following his brother.
"Today's the day." Al said, knowing that his brother would know what he was talking about.
"What day?" Ed deadpanned, not looking at Al at all but staring straight ahead with dull eyes.
"You know what I'm talking about." It was silent a moment before Ed sighed.
"Yeah Al, I know…" he said, stopping as he looked into the sky.
"It's the day mom died…" Al continued before looking into the sky as well. "…do you think it's raining today because she's crying?"
"Don't be stupid Al. It doesn't rain when someone cries."
"But maybe…maybe she is crying Ed." Al said, his voice small as if he too were about to cry. Of course, it was impossible for a suite of armor to cry.
"Mom wouldn't cry for someone like us."
"You're wrong!" Al cried out. "She loves us…."
"Al, we tried to bring her back and look what happened." He said. "We had to kill her, Al! All because of what we did…because of us…she had to die again!" Ed turned towards his brother, his voice having raised to a shout.
"…we just wanted to have our mom back." Al said, his voice shrinking once again.
"Yeah well, we failed." Ed said, turning away. "Now come on."
"I wonder where dad is?" Al said, not following after his brother. Ed stopped, scoffing.
"Who cares?" he said, not facing Al.
"Ed…"
"Listen, can we just stop talking about the past and get a move on?!" Ed shouted, stomping off. All Al could do was sigh before walking behind his brother.
"Are we going to visit her today?" Al asked after a few minutes of silence.
"No. Mustang wants us in Central." Ed replied.
"When have you actually wanted to go?" Ed remained silent as they made it to a train station. The conversation dropped, the Elrics boarding the train on their way to Central HQ.
"What do you want?" Ed asked, walking into Roy Mustang's office with his brother once they made it to HQ.
"Hello FullMetal." Roy said, leaning forward with his chin resting on his hand.
"Well? Why the hell did you call us back to Central?" Ed demanded, not in a good mood at all. Being in the same room as Roy didn't help either.
"I want you to go somewhere." Roy replied.
"Where?" Al asked curiously.
"Risembool." Ed and Al simply stared at Roy.
"Why?" Ed asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Simple, really. I want you to visit your mother." Roy said, smirking just a little but not in a taunting way as to insult them. "Children have to visit home once in a while."
"What?!" Ed shouted, shocked at the order given to him. "Why would you-?!"
"Think of it as a rare vacation trip. Tell Pinako and Winry hi for me." Roy interrupted, his smirk growing a considerable amount.
"And if we refuse?"
"Your fired." Ed glared at the higher ranked officer before turning away. "Fine, whatever. Come on Al." he said, pulling Alphonse out with him.
Al really couldn't have been happier.
"Looks who's here." Ed smiled a little as Pinako looked up at him, smoking her pipe. "It's about time you came to visit."
"Yeah, we're here to see mom." Ed explained shortly.
"Edward!" Ed looked up with wide eyes, not having enough time to react before a wrench hit him in the head.
He fell backwards, a large bump growing on his skull as Winry glared from the top window. "Would it kill you to visit more often?!" she screamed.
"Apparently, yes!" Ed shouted back as he sat up, rubbing his head sorely. Al just sighed as a small fight erupted between the two.
"Granma Pinako, do you have any flowers we could give to mom?" Al asked, ignoring the shouts coming from Ed and Winry.
Pinako thought a moment, looking down in concentration. "Yes, I believe I do." She said. "I'll be back in a moment."
Pinako disappeared inside the house, leaving Al with the bickering Edward and Winry. It had stopped raining, but the clouds were still there meaning it could pour again at any time.
"Here you go Alphonse." Pinako said, handing him a bunch of daisies. Ed stopped fighting with Winry once he saw all of the flowers, his mood changing from furious to solemn in a few moments.
"Thank you Granma Pinako!" Al said cheerfully. She nodded in return.
"What are the flowers for?" Winry yelled down, seeing how she hadn't heard they were visiting they're departed mother.
"Our mom." Al said. Her face saddened almost immediately, her eyes traveling to Ed who stood with his head down so his bangs shadowed his face.
"Come on, let's go already." He said, turning around and stalking off.
"Thanks again!" Al called before following his brother.
"Poor boys…" Pinako muttered before walking back inside her house.
"…Ed…Al…" Winry whispered under her breath, closing the window as she watched the two Elric's backs disappear.
"I miss her." Al said, laying the flowers on the grave. Ed didn't reply as he stared at the tombstone.
Trisha Elric…mom.
"…Al…" Al looked Ed's way. "Are families meant to be so broken?" he asked, his eyes still shadowed by his bangs.
"What do you mean?" Al asked in confusion.
"…are families meant to be so hopeless and broken?" Ed repeated, looking at his brother. "Our mom is gone, our dad left us, Envy is our damned half brother." He was nearly shouting by now.
"Why the hell is our family so messed up?!" he screamed, glaring into the sky.
"Brother…" Al looked at his brother, watching as Ed continued.
"We don't have a house, none of our family is together besides you and me but you lost your body and it's all my fault! Envy is a homunculus our father made, and our dad is some body jumping freak! Mom was the only normal one in the whole family, but she's gone now!" Ed clenched his teeth and curled his fists.
"Dammit Al…why is this happening to us?" he growled in frustration.
"…I don't know Ed…" Al said, his brother's words dawning on him. Silence lapsed between the two as the hours past. The sun eventually went down as they stood there staring at the grave.
Where's the comfort when things went wrong…
Ed looked up into the sky, his eyes landing on the moon.
…just like it always did?
"Brother…we should go back to Granma Pinako's." Al said, looking down at his brother. Ed remained silent.
Were families really meant to be so broken and helpless?
"Ed?" Al called out, but still no reply.
Why is this happening to us? Where is our home?
A few raindrops fell from the sky, eventually turning into a downpour.
Did it rain because she was crying? Is mom really crying for sinners like us?
"Hey Al." Al looked at his brother who was smiling just barely. "It does rain when someone cries." He whispered. Al couldn't see what he meant, but only because the rain hid Ed's own tears.
"Our family is broken beyond repair…but we're going to try and do the impossible like we did with mom. I don't know if it will turn out better, or if it will turn out worse…but I know families weren't meant to be this broken…so we need to at least try and fix it by getting our bodies back, Al." Ed said, now thoroughly soaked.
"'Brother?" Al was a little confused to Ed's speech.
"We can't bring mom back, we aren't even going to try to get Envy as part of our family…and dad….no…." Ed sighed. "But, I think we can be a complete family by just being brothers…so I'm going to get your body back. I promise, Al."
"…and I'll get your arm and leg back too." Al said determinedly.
Ed laughed a little. "We got a long ways to go before our family is anywhere near complete."
"Yeah, I guess we do." Al said a little amused yet still serious.
"But we'll do it for mom." Ed whispered. "She doesn't want our family to be like this."
"Granma Pinako and Winry are part of our family too, right?" Al asked.
"Yeah…I guess they are." Ed smiled.
"And a lot of people in the military are our family too, like Riza, right?" Al asked again.
"…yeah…even that damned Mustang." Ed looked at Al. "You know what that means right?"
"That we've had a family this whole time?" Al would've smiled if he had the ability to.
"And they're all waiting on us," Ed said. "to get your body back." Al nodded.
"And yours." The two brothers laughed just a little as the rain stopped, the clouds moving on to another location so the starry night sky was visible.
"Look, mom stopped crying." Al said, looking up into the sky. Ed just smiled, looking up.
Mom didn't want us to have a broken family, because families aren't supposed to be broken…
She wanted us to have a complete family…
Seems like we've had that family this whole time.