fandom: fullmetal alchemist (brotherhood)
pairing/characters: edward elric, alphonse elric, winry rockbell, scar
rating: K+
A/N: I literally wrote this to rebecca on my phone and sent it as a text to make her cry. originally I was going to bury this and pretend it never existed but jessica and harmony convinced me to post it. enjoy (?) reviews are so very appreciated.
i. Ed is dying. On good days, he's wrinkled and old, lying on that old creaky bed by the window in the Rockbell house. On bad days he sleeps and forgets that he's still alive. Winry and Al sit quietly on either side of him when they can. They know it will be soon, but they don't tell him. Ed will keep fighting to the end, whether he knows it or not. But one day, one of those days the light from the window makes his hair shine silvery gold, he looks up at Al and smiles brokenly.
"Ah damn, Al. It's too late for me. But this life has been enough. Yeah, that's enough."
ii. He's buried smack dab in front of Trisha and Hohenheim's grave. Winry likes to say they're watching over him and she does so often, brushing her hair out of her face with shaky hands that used to build mountains to stand on and fists to fight with.
iii. Sometimes Al visits too, but less often. He has a teaching job, he has a wife that never stops moving, he has a daughter who has has a family of her own now. When he does find time to travel to Resembool, he doesn't bring flowers, just a stool to sit on and questions. He talks to the headstone the same way he once talked to his brother, quiet respect evident in his gold eyes that are marked with laugh lines.
iv. Al meets Scar at Ed's grave one time. Scar is ancient now, his russet skin hanging off his body like leather bags. There's some sort of quiet understanding between them. They stand side by side, staring at the headstone ("Edward Elric, Fullmetal and a Father"). They never speak because they know exactly who they are. The little brothers that were left behind.