A/N: Yeah, I dunno. Dream sequence FTW.

His hair was lighter- his eyes were a paler blue. But looking at him, Alphonse felt the strangest sensation of nostalgia.

This was him.

The tall stranger was staring at him, taking him in; he didn't speak for long moments, and Alphonse didn't either. He felt like he was intruding, that this dream belonged to the stranger, not to him. So he stood silently and allowed himself to be scrutinized.

And finally the not-stranger smiled. It looked like it hurt.

"You're his little brother."

The way he said it- the way his voice got a little lower and his eyes softened- Alphonse knew he had to be talking about Ed. Alphonse had never known another person to have such a strong affect on anyone the way his brother did. So he nodded, because they both knew who he meant.

And the taller of the two laughed a little. "I can't believe I'm meeting you. He talks about you every day."

Because it was his brother, and he was so starved of him, Alphonse ventured to ask, "How do you know him?"

The pale-eyed stranger's smile was sweet. "He's my best friend. I know his head is full of other things- other people and other worlds- but to me, he's- " He hesitated and Alphonse felt compelled to smile at him.

"Yeah, he's like that."

The stranger shook his head a little ruefully. "That's why I'm jealous of you. I know it sounds awful, but I am. You're his center of gravity." He glanced away from Alphonse up at the white abyss above them. "You're the one he'll always return to."

Alphonse felt that anger from the past two years seep into his chest, filling up the aching hollow left by inequivalency- the anger at everything he knew being called into question, everything he didn't know being left unsaid-

At people who told him to give up, because his brother was gone. People who told him to move on.

And the anger was verging upon desperation lately because Alphonse had him back and he wouldn't lose him again ever.

"He's mine." He clenched his fists so tightly they hurt and couldn't help that his voice had risen. "He's my brother! I just- I just got him back, I need him, you don't- " It shouldn't have been so hard to say it. "He's- he's the center of my world, too. I'm so... so lost without him."

He was crying in front of the jealous stranger, and he didn't care. He didn't understand why no one seemed to get it-

"Alphonse- hey, Alphonse, I'm sorry." Calloused and gentle hands were guiding his face back up, and the stranger looked upset but still smiling. "Please don't cry, Ed would beat me up if he found out." He let go so Alphonse could wipe his eyes and sighed. "I would never think about keeping the two of you apart. I died sending him home to you."

Alphonse would wonder when he woke up if it was the strange white abyss that made everything feel so detached and far away. A drunken sort of calm, with looming clarity that wasn't close enough yet to be dangerous.

He would wonder, because anger melted into something less fierce without any sort of a struggle, and he tilted his head to ask the question, "You sent him home?" Back to me?

It wasn't as strange to think the stranger had died in the act. The abyss felt a lot like the Gate, and being inside the Gate was a lot like being dead. It was harder to believe the stranger had chosen to give Ed back, after knowing him.

The stranger with sad blue eyes smiled, and clapped Alphonse on the shoulder.

"Get your brother to tell you that story sometime. I think we're just about done here."

He was right- the abyss was becoming brighter. It was odd, to think absolute whiteness stood a chance of becoming even whiter still, but it was, and Alphonse could feel his eyes beginning to tear from the brilliance of it. But he had to ask, because he had to know, so he reached out and caught the stranger's sleeve.

"What did this mean?"

"From one Alfons to another?" The man winked, and Alphonse stared understanding in the face. "I'm sure it has a lot to do with Ed."