Alphonse Elric couldn't sleep. Partly because Granny's house was old so he heard every snore from his brother's room upstairs. Most importantly it was because after all these years of peace, death had come back into his life. Granny was old and her health had slowly been decreasing but it still took him by surprise. Now it was the night after her funeral and he was wide awake on the couch. Ed, Winry, and their three kids slept in Winry's old room and May got Ed and Al's old room. No one felt comfortable sleeping in Granny's room. Even the healing magic of Alkahestry can't stop the inevitable.

Al had been in Rush Valley at Ed and Winry's house when they received the phone call bearing the bad news. He wanted to see his new niece and had traveled down with Mei from Xing to see the new Elric baby Pinako. She was named after her great-grandmother…well late great-grandmother now. Alphonse also wanted to announce his engagement to Mei but he wasn't able to after hearing the news. Alphonse had been studying in Xing for many years. He was still a State Alchemist. Technically so was Edward, even though he couldn't use alchemy. He was called in to Capital every once in a while as a consultant. He mostly helped Winry in the shop. She knew he hated staying in one place so the family traveled a lot. They even went to Xing for a while. Most of both of the brother's travels ended up leading to Resembool at Granny's house. Only it wasn't Granny's house anymore. The town of Resembool seemed to hold his worst memories.

"Stop it Alphonse" he said to himself. "You're starting to sound as depressing as brother." With that, he forced his brain to remember all the good things about Resembool. Such as coming home battered and bruised, Winry hitting brother in the head with a wrench, and all the laughs shared in this very house. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

"Alphonse" whispered Mei. "Alphonse, wake up."

"Hmm" he groaned in reply.

"Winry and I are going to run to the store" she giggled. Alphonse opened one of his eyes to focus on the Xing princess. She was giggling at the water fall of drool he had down his cheek. "We'll be back soon ok?"

"Alright" he mumbled, pushing himself up.

"Winry's waiting outside so I better hurry…oh, and she wanted me to ask you if you'd mind asking Ed what's wrong with him. Apparently he's been unbearably moody for the past month and he won't tell her anything."

"Kay" he replied in a yawn. Mei stopped his yawn with a light kiss. "Bye" she chirped. With that, Al was alone…well sort of. He could still hear his brother's snoring upstairs. He watched May and Winry walk down the road for a while and when they disappeared he decided he should probably wake up his brother.

He considered knocking on the door but didn't want to wake baby Pinako, so he opened it as quietly as he could. Edward was leaned up against the headboard of the bed, his mouth wide open and his hand tucked under his shirt on his abdomen. Edward Jr., Ed and Winry's eldest child, was sprawled across his father's lap with his head hanging off the edge of the bed and his hand shoved under his shirt. He was named after Edward Sr. for a reason. Sara, their second kid, was sleeping tucked under her father's arm. Baby Pinako was asleep in her bassinet. Alphonse snuck past the sleeping baby to his brother. "Brother" he whispered. "Wake up." Ed snored in reply. Sara, however, peaked around her father's chest.

"Good morning Uncle Al" she said, rubbing her blue eyes. This woke Edward Jr., he did a face dive to the floor. The thump silenced Edward's snoring.

"Winry…Ed fell out of bed again" he muttered. "Oh, morning Alphonse. Where is Winry?" He leaned over and plucked his son off the ground.

"She went to the store…" he started to say but was interrupted by Sara.

"I wanted to go!" She pouted. "Mommy always takes me, why did she forget me?" Ed ruffled the top of her head.

"Why don't you two go down stairs with Uncle Al and have him make you some breakfast?" The kids nodded and with that Al was shoved out the room to make pancakes.

It didn't take long for Al to be completely covered in flower. Ed Jr. and Sara's 'help' ended up making a bigger mess. Somehow he managed to create a decent stack of pancakes just as his brother came down stairs holding the baby. Baby Pinako was born with slight defect in her arm. It's growth was stunted. With her mother being an automail engineer this wasn't much of a problem.

"Ed! Mom says we need to drink our milk!" Sara said shoving her brothers glass up to his face. "Otherwise you'll be short forever."

"I'm taller than you!"

"Yes, but your older. Papa, Ed won't drink his milk." Sara was only five but was quite a bit smarter than her brother. Ed Jr. was…well basically young Ed.

"Sara, he doesn't have to if he doesn't want to" Edward said with a smirk. Winry had banned him from sharing his opinion on milk with their children so he counted this as a victory. Breakfast went on as peaceful as possible. Edward was unusually quiet though. After he finished braiding Sara's hair he sent both of the kids outside to play. "I wonder what's taking them so long." Al had a pretty good guess they wanted to make sure the brothers had time to think.

"I don't know" he replied. He decided to get straight to the point. "What's wrong Brother? Is it Granny?" Edward looked up at him and sighed.

"Winry told you to talk to me didn't she?" Alphonse nodded. "No, it isn't the old lady. She wrote me a letter a while back saying I better take good care of her granddaughter and great-grand kids." So she did know. "Edward and Sara got into my library…apparently they started teaching about the war in school. Ed's only eight! Those bastards." Alphonse hadn't seen his brother get angry in a long time. Maybe he had just got good at hiding it. "They started reading about Alchemy and I didn't see the problem till they started using it, both of them. Only small things, like we use to do. Sara liked making stone birds but Ed has been building forts and repairing toys."

"So…are you teaching them?" Alphonse wasn't able to understand why his brother was so upset. It wasn't jealousy. His brother would never act like that. No, it was more fear.

"Not at first but I called Izumi and she said it's better that they learn how to control it then attempting anything dangerous." He let out a crazy laugh. "Because it's not dangerous enough just knowing? I hid every book on the taboos and weapons but how long till they find them?"

"I'm sorry brother" Alphonse replied. He had no idea how to help. Would he feel the same if his kids started following his footsteps? The front door slammed open and little Sara came running in with tears rolling down her face. She jumped into her father's lap.

"Ed pushed me" she sobbed. Edward Sr. seemed to sigh in relief. He must have been expecting the worse. "He wanted to play as you and Uncle Al but wouldn't let me play as you so he pushed me." Past experience lead Alphonse to believe Sara most likely provoked him.

"I swear you guys are making my hair fall out…where is he now?"

"On the roof." Edward put Sara on the couch next to the sleeping baby and rushed outside. Alphonse followed behind him, not knowing how an eight year old could climb on to the roof.

"Ed…" his father started to shout but ran into a pillar of dirt.

"Wow, you weren't joking when you said he was good" Alphonse replied, clapping his hands together to shrink the pillar back into the earth.

"Edward Elric" his father yelled, sounding very similar to many of the adults that use to yell at him as a boy. "Answer me!"

"I'm sorry" the boy cried. "She said I wasn't any good at alchemy" he sniffled. Seeing his son was in one piece, Edward started to calm down.

"It's alright, just stay there, I'm coming to get you." He looked around for a latter but just as he found one a clap echoed through the air and a warped, dirt stair case wound its way up to the roof. Ed Jr. ran down the steps in tears and hugged his father's metal leg. "Thanks Alphonse."

"Brother…that wasn't me."