A/N: Hey guys, it's really early in the morning for me, but I had to get this finished and up. I actually don't like this one as much as I'll Believe It When I See It, and unlike that story, the parts written at one in the morning aren't as good. But I had the idea and wanted to do it. This is a tribute to my sister, who I feel I have a pretty strong bond with. Yes, the two girls are us, and they are based off of us, with nothing that ISN'T like us (I was honest here!). We're told sorta often that we're like the Elric Brothers, so I was like: Hell, I'll do something!
Yeah, I noticed everything I posted thus far has been religious related, but that will be limited to oneshots. Very few of my multichaptered stories will have much reference to it.
Enjoy!
They say that true love can last throughout the ages. But when you listen to them you wouldn't think they meant it literally, did you? Well, the next time someone says that, you can pat them on the back and say, "You know, you're right!"
But what kind of love is really true? When one says 'True Love', you may think of two lovers, lying under the stars, or Romeo and Juliet, and their story of love at first sight.
Sure, that's a kind of true love, but there IS another. It is called the absolute love of a sibling. That is a love that can never be ripped in two, once sewn. It's a spider's web: stronger than any metal, but delicate and beautiful.
But in the world that I lived in, the one that continues to live on without me, not every sibling has that kind of relationship. Even 200 years after my death, not many have unlocked the secret of the absolute love of a sibling.
I miss my sibling, his name was Edward, I think. Honestly, I'm not sure. I think my name was Alphonse, so very long ago. I don't remember what my sibling, let's call him Edward, I like the ring of it, looked like, but I do remember how he made me feel; like I was protected, loved, he made me not feel so alone. I don't remember why we had been alone. But I remember the feeling of loneliness, how much it hurt.
That loneliness though, it was what brought us together. We did… something… terrible. I lost all feeling for a long time. (Well, considering the time that flew by so far wherever I am it's pretty short now!) But the only feeling I remember feeling is those feelings of unconstitutional love for Edward, and those same feelings he gave me.
I loved my brother.
In this place, this endless void, where I don't even truly know who I am, I always "worry", if even possible for someone in my state, that the Edward that I remember is my own made up person.
Lost within my thoughts, I felt a wrenching in my being. There was a sense of losing a part of myself, and, whether or not it was for protection or not…
I called his name.
I called for my imaginary brother, Edward.
After a long time of not really thinking, just dreaming, I've come to a strange conclusion.
I was SUPPOSED to be burned up in a void by now, but for some reason my soul is in Limbo! Yeah, Limbo, go figure, huh? (Wow, I think it took me about 200 years to figure that one out.) It makes me wonder what I did to balance out the good and evil. I don't remember much from when I was alive, except that I felt this unimaginable amount of guilt for something…
And I remember a person. He was always there beside me, and I remember loving him with all my heart, and soul. Maybe he's why I felt guilty. If I had done something to him, that would've taken off a coupla golden stars on my Goodness Record. Aw, jeez, now I want to remember his name! It was… damn it, it's on the tip of my metaphorical tongue! (I'm a mass of soul, I do NOT have a tongue.) Aw, even worse, I don't even remember MY name! Wait... there's something comin' to me... my name's Edward El– ! El... rich... nich.... EL-SCREW IT!
What was the other person's name though? Al. Al was what I called him, really, I think, so let's just leave that.
Well, Limbo here sucks. Even as a mass of soul, I can't float around. I can't even go to the living people and scare the "living" out of them! Okay, I'm joking, but seriously, it's boring here. But I know there's a reason I'm here. And, it has to do with Al. Did I do something to him before I died? I don't know!
But wait. Since when has there been a glowing over there? Never, not since I've been here. The glowing light, it just gets closer and closer, sorta creepy. I wish I could go check it out! Stupid mass of–
I felt myself being pulled in.
On the counter, crumbs of brownies were spilled and there was a half full glass of milk with some remnants of Oreo cookies being dipped.
"It's a good thing today's a Saturday, otherwise I'd be up all night with a sugar rush!"
"Yeah, wanna play Brawl? And, you're going to finish the milk, right Jordin?"
Jordin nodded. "But, Tyler, seriously, you should drink milk to get taller. It's bad enough that I'm your younger sister and taller than you..."
"Shu– shut up!"
"You shouldn't eschew it from your life forever."
"Stop saying words that I don't know the meaning to!" Tyler said, peeved. Jordin giggled.
The two of them were playing Wii for a little while. They gasped when one of them killed the other, and while on Co-op mode, would laugh as they jumped on the heads of Goombas. Occasionally, Jordin would move the controller as if she was the person battling. They both had their own victory dances for when they won, and their sorrowful phrases when they lost.
"Hey, Ty." Jordin called to her sister in-between rounds.
"Yeah?"
"Aren't our lives perfect?"
"Hmm?"
"I mean, we have loving parents that love us and each other, we have a big house, we get good stuff, go on lots of vacations, and you and I get along really well. Our lives are perfect."
Tyler paused the game at this point. "You're going on reading too deeply into stuff again."
"It's not reading too deeply into something, I'm not even reading into anything at all. But don't you agree?"
"Yeah, I guess." She waved her hand dismissively, ending the topic with: "Could you help me get this stupid braid holder out of my hair?"
Jordin walked over, always willing to help her sister out, no matter what. Even if Tyler was just dismissing what she was saying, she knew that they both had a bond.
At first, when they were real young, it wasn't very strong. But around the time that Jordin turned eleven and Tyler twelve, something "clicked", they became the best of friends, and never knew why. What was one's was the other's.
In a quick description, Tyler was the older sister. She had medium-length, thin, light brown hair which she always had up in a braid or a ponytail with two pieces of hair coming down each side (if not that then she's wearing a hat). She was the leader of the two, and much more brazen. She wasn't all too wonderful in academics except Science, where she was a wiz and in a biotech program. But more so, she was very good at drawing. In music she played Baritone/Euphonium and also creates her own music by ear on keyboard. Tyler prefers to go with the flow, and is not very mushy-gushy at all. She has a smart mouth that Jordin often kids will get her smacked. She also is the shorter one and hates when the fact is pointed out. *
Tyler was secretly thinking of what her sister had said though, and didn't even notice that the band was snarled and tangled in her hair. After a few tugs from behind though, she finally turned her head around.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I'm sorry TyPo," Jordin exclaimed, using her sister's nickname, "It's just really stuck… here." She held out a the band proudly, humming the Legend of Zelda "you got an item" theme off-key.
Tyler stood up, and Jordin let out a small moan.
"What?" Tyler asked.
"Dizzies. My head hurts. Can we go to bed?"
"Yeah, sure."
The two walked up the stairs, where Tyler walked into the first room--her room-- and mumbled goodnight to her sister, who shuffled into the next room down the hallway. She heard a muffled goodnight said to her.
Two doors closed simultaneously, and the two girls crawled into their beds, and both fell asleep near instantly.
It was then that they had their dream.
The white surrounding startled Tyler. Okay, so, this is a dream. Can I control myself? She instinctively touched her chest, where she felt her heart beating, no, pounding, but at a normal pace.
Hey, what the hell's going on here!? Someone shouted. Tyler looked around, and, in front of her, saw something materializing.
No, it wasn't something, it was someone.
A pair of legs were visible, then the hem of a black shirt, the hem of a black coat, the tips of fingers (one set was metal. That got a two pence worth of goggling), arms, and so forth until a head appeared. Long, golden blonde hair fell over his shoulders. When she glanced into his golden irises, a familiarity shook her. I know him from somewhere!
The guy (Seventeen, she guessed) smiled at her. You probably do. I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist, and you're my incarnate.
Her eyes narrowed menacingly. You can read my mind too? And, look, I don't believe in that religion, sorry.
His smile faded. Hey, look, it may be hard to believe, I don't believe it much either, but I mean, c'mon, you're… He was trying to think of something to say, vertically challenged.
THIS IS MY DREAM! I'M NOT SHORT, SO DON'T INSULT ME LIKE THAT! Besides, you're hardly one to talk.
He twitched, forcibly restraining himself to yell. "Let's just talk normally."
"You can?"
"I haven't been able to in awhile. But I need to ask you: Do you have a--"
He was stopped short when a small click was heard by them both. Jordin stood apart from them, a couple of feet away. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. "TYLER!" She ran over to her, and pulled her into a deep hug before Tyler could pull her off. "It was terrible! I- I- couldn't save you!"
"Save me from what?" Tyler chuckled/asked.
Jordin wiped a tear, and after a sniffle, told her story, "There was this guy, he had green hair, and it was formed to look like a palm tree, and he stabbed you! I couldn't get up! I was pinned to the ground. I kept screaming and screaming, and nobody could hear me, except for that guy, he grinned evily at me! Finally, I got up, and walked over to you. I suddenly had this awesome power, and, well, I clapped, stupid, huh? But I think it did something. Then, I was brought to these GIANT doors. It was even worse from there. They started taking everything from me, and I felt every bit of it! First, they took my fingers off, and, they kept stabbing me. They took my arms, my legs, even my eyeballs out of their sockets, but it didn't kill me, until they tore out my heart. I tried calling you for help, over and over again…" She hugged Tyler again, who told her it was just a dream.
The blonde-haired boy looked mortified. Is that what happened to Al while he was waiting for me to transmute him back? He ripped Jordin out of her death grip on Tyler. "Where is he?! Where's Al!? I saw him a couple of weeks ago, just before I died on the mission! You know!"
Jordin, scared out of wits, kicked him in stomach, screaming, "Get away from me!" She stumbled backwards, and fell.
Is my brother giving you a hard time? I apologize on his behalf. Another figure materialized, much quicker, and extended a hand to help her up. She grasped it, asking the fifteen looking year old, "Who are you?"
"I'm Alphonse, I lived previously, and no, you are not our incarnates. We just used your souls as gestalt to meet our own souls… but since your souls were a party of ours, I guess you could say you're our incarnates, but that's being broad." He turned to the blonde, and hugged him, "I missed you, Brother."
"Hey, Al, I missed you too. I never got to say goodbye."
"That's why we're here, Edward. Our souls were in Limbo because we still had to do something: Say goodbye. During that time, we forgot each other," here they noticed a pained look on Edward's face, "but the sudden jerk back made us remember everything. We had both finally gotten our bodies back, and we happily lived in Risembool for a month. Then, you were called away on a mission. You never came back, and I caught scarlet fever. I died, and, so did you."
"I caught the fever too…" Edward said quietly.
"But the fever is relatively simple to cure! Just how old are you!?"
"Well, I'll just say really old." Alphonse laughed. He turned somber again though, "We only have a certain amount of time, Brother. We really are just here to say goodbye."
"You can't expect me to see you here after so long, just to say goodbye."
"I have to." He turned to Tyler and Jordin, who had been left out, "Thank you, for letting us use your souls, temporarily, of course."
Jordin hugged him. "I don't know why, but you feel like my guardian angel, and you deserve a goodbye!" Tears formed at the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm being too emotional, I don't even know you."
"It's okay. I have to admit I like it. Is this how it feels to have Winry hug you, Brother?"
A blush crept up Edward's face, "NO!"
Tyler held out her hand to Edward, "I'm not hugging you. But, you do seem familiar." Edward took her hand and pumped it once.
The brothers gave each other another hug. "Goodbye doesn't seem like the right word to say." Edward said, the fringes of him blurring.
"I don't know then." Alphonse replied, his fringe burning slowly too.
Edward grabbed Alphonse's hand. "Where are we going after this?"
"Nowhere. Doesn't it suck to be right sometimes, Brother?"
Edward sighed. "But I knew it was coming, that's the lesson of an alchemist: We die, and our bodies become fertilizer for the ground."
"But I'm adding something to that: Unless, of course, your soul hasn't completed it's job, and it is brought back. I realize now the only reason you could bring me back was because I still had a purpose. That means those Homonculli did too. Hundreds of attempts to bring people back never worked. Those who did still had a purpose."
They both noticed that their shape was gone, but they still retained the mass of soul they had.
I found it. Edward's voice called.
Found what?
What to say.
What do you want to say, Brother?
I love you, Alphonse.
I love you too, Edward, my brother.
The girls watched as the souls slowly burned away.
"So that's what it is." Jordin said, interrupting a long silence.
"What is it?" Tyler replied.
"The Absolute Love of A Sibling. We don't even have it, but we're pretty damn close."
"Yeah. Hey, we won't ever talk about this when we wake up, right?"
"Right."
Well, I'm expecting a flame from Naethyn possibly, cause he's mad at me. But, did you notice that the religious aspect of this is TOTALLY different from I'll Believe It When I See It? Please review!