A/N: I was pretty much entirely responsible for this one, so if you feel you must flame anyone for making you cry, flame me. Kay is innocent. ~Ali

Ed couldn't believe it. He had spent his life working for this, given so much away. Five years were devoted to his goal, and at several points, he doubted that goal would ever come true. But it had. He had succeeded, and the empty suit of armor and attached soul were things of the past.

Ed trembled, staring apprehensively at the center of the array. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear the spots from his vision so he could see the result. He rubbed at his eyes, needing to know what had happened, needing to know if it had worked.

Instead of a large suit of armor, lying inside the array was a boy. The light touched gently on his closed eyelids and shone from his light brown hair. He looked just the way he had when he was ten.

"AL!" Ed shouted, and crawled forward. He shook his brother's shoulder, worry growing when Al didn't move. He shook harder and the form shifted a miniscule bit. Then the lids slid open, revealing grey eyes.

"Brother?" Al said, his voice rasping from years of disuse.

"AL!" Ed cried again and hugged his brother close. He was close to tears of joy. So many years of searching, hard work, and pain, and it had paid off. Finally he had completed his goal, and fixed his mistake. "You're warm Al," Ed whispered into his shoulder, trying to hide the tremble in his voice.

Al didn't respond. He sat crying in silence and clutching to Ed, marveling in the feel of his brother's arms around him and the tears that flowed down his face.

For the longest time they clung to each other, reluctant to let go. They feared that if they did, it would all disappear, and things would go back to the way they were.

Now Ed found himself in a state of shock. It had been a success, or he thought he had. There was no equivalent exchange, only pure unfairness. Unfairness that Al had been returned to his body, with a full and happy life ahead of him, only to die three months later.

Al had known. He put a smile on his face, laughed and smiled with old friends, and rejoiced in the return of his body. But it was all a cover. Inside, the cheerful boy had known he would die. Ed got the suspicion that he had unwittingly been the one who taught Al to hide his troubles so well.

Al hadn't told anyone. He was unstable. A soul wants to return to its original body, but after four years, had forgotten how it was supposed to fit. Sometimes his body and soul would deviate for moments at a time, before joining again. Al hid it well, and no one knew until the two separated permanently.

It was a normal day for the Elric brothers, or as normal as one can get with the Elric brothers. There had been teary reunions with people happy to see Al in a body again, several hours spent in the library, one shouting match with the bastard Colonel, and enough food consumed to feed a small army (primarily by Ed, although Al did eat a good share to make up for years without).

The two sat on opposite couches in their shared military dorm discussing, what else, alchemic theory. A disagreement broke out over a particularly controversial text they had both read.

"But brother, it doesn't fit equivalent exchange. The equations are skewed. The only way the one success makes sense is if they used a Philosopher's Sto…" Al's explanation ended abruptly, as if someone had pressed the mute button on the world. He slumped forward in his seat as if he was a puppet whose strings had been cut.

Ed nearly knocked over the table in his rush to get to his brother. "Al! AL! What's wrong?" He shook Al's shoulders hard, but his brother was limp as a rag doll. "AL SPEAK TO ME! COME ON AL! ALPHONSE!"

Then Ed noticed his brother's eyes: they had fogged over and dulled, the light in them gone out. "AL! NO!" He shouted, then dying down to a whispered plead, "Please Al, you can't die, you can't. Don't leave me here alone."

The door to the room flew open and Armstrong, Hawkeye, Mustang, Havoc, Breda and Fury pilled in, having heard the shouting. One look was all it took for them to know what had happened. Silent tears ran down Armstrong's pink face and the others fought to keep their composure as they pried the cold hand of Alphonse Elric from his brother's grasp.

"I'm so sorry Al," Ed finally spoke after everyone who attened the funeral had left, and the sun sunk low in the sky, tinting the world orange and red. It was too much like when their mother died, two boys standing alone by the graveside late into the evening. But this time, there was just one, and the memory of how they had leaned on each other then squeezed at his heart. A single tear escaped from his eye, rolled down his cheek and dropped onto the soil. "I'm so sorry."

He stood in silence for a long time thinking what the right words would be to say. Finally he spoke, allowing all the raw emotion to show in his voice. "I don't know how I'm going to live without you Al. But I'll try. I'll try to pick up the pieces and keep going, because that's what you would want for me. I don't know if it will work, but I'll try."

The sun had set and stars were starting to appear in the sky before he could tear his eyes away from the gravestone. "I wish I could have said goodbye. I love you, you know, and I'll never, ever forget you. I'm sorry." Then looking at the grave next to it, "Take care of him mom."

As he turned away, for just a moment, he thought he saw Al and his mother standing there with him, holding hands and smiling. The images waved and disappeared, as if blown away on the wind. Ed slowly moved off toward cemetery gate. Now the tears flowed freely, the tears hadn't wanted his brother to see. He had hidden them from view because, like always, he didn't want his brother to worry about him. "I'll see you again someday Al," he whispered, "I'm sure of it."