Disclaimer: Yeah, I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Note: Movie spoilers ahead! Oh noes! Yeah, and there was soem thought over how to spell his name. However I went with the actual German spelling of the name.
Gravestone
Edward stood in the graveyard, staring at the gravestone in silence. Such scenes seemed so familiar to him; he seemed to visit these sites often. But for once this was not for a relative, or a relative of a close friend. It was a close friend.
Looking solemnly at the rock, he uttered the name on it quietly; 'Alfons Heiderich'. The name of a man whom he had spent nearly three years with, whom had been the only comfort he had in that time, as he looked so hard for a way to return to his world, to be reunited with his little brother. But Heiderich had been like a little brother to him, and so he was filled with sorrow to see his friend dead.
Noah had told him how when she had lay down the body, a look of sheer horror had crossed Ed's face when he saw the wound, and the blood staining his white shirt. That soon became a moment that Ed would look back on, and hate himself for it. Not only had it been entirely his fault that Heiderich had died…why, oh why had the fool tried to help so much? He would've lived longer if he had just continued on with his own life, forgetting about Ed and his plight-but no; Heiderich was too kind a man. The other reason Ed hated himself was because it had been scarcely a minute later when he had been able to be happy again, reunited with his brother. He had brought it up talking to Noah many a times, and she would scold him gently for thinking that it was a bad thing. She reminded him that it was so that he could be reunited with his brother that Heiderich had died, and so it was the least Edward could do to be happy that his brother was with him. Ed always reluctantly agreed.
There was another thing Ed realized though, that probably made it better for him to die this way, though it was a reason he cared not to remind Noah of-he could tell she cared a lot for their friend… the way she hugged his body so tight after he died, something that would have spiralled the live Heiderich into a coughing fit for sure. The thing Ed realized was that he would have only lived a few more years at most anyway, the way his sickness was going and that may just have led to a painful death, as it was already hard for Heiderich to breathe sometimes. But with this death, Heiderich had looked so at peace, and some claimed that he had died with a smile on his face.
With a sigh, Ed's gaze moved momentarily to the cloudy blue sky.
Ed had heard Noah talking with Alphonse in the hallway, once. 'He visits…the grave frequently. Even more than I do.' Noah had remarked quietly. The tone in his voice hinted that his little brother was smiling, 'I think it's an apology. To Heiderich, to me, to himself and to mom. He hasn't visited her grave in years, and that gives him yet another thing to feel guilty about.' Noah then asked what had happened to their mother, but Al refused to speak of it, and Edward understood why his little brother was sensitive to the subject still.
"Edward!" a voice called from behind, followed by a 'brother!' He looked back to Noah and Al as they ran up to him, "It's getting late…you should come home."
Ed nodded, "I'll be back in a minute, alright?"
Noah nodded, turning around, "Come on, Alphonse." She said, turning and walking with Al back.
Ed bent down to the gravestone quickly, turning and chasing after them.
The clouds began to part, the sun shine beating down like a mother's gentle smile to the picture of Alfons Heiderich that lay in front of his gravestone, where in the corner of the picture Edward had placed a picture of himself and Heiderich goofing off, the best picture of the two of them together.