Post-movie, only without Roy going to be miserable in the snow. Also, I have my doubts about whether I'm right about what they wanted to do with the Gate. It has been a long time since I watched the movie because it upsets me. Just bear with me, okay?


It had taken so long... Edward Elric had been in Germany for a total of six years. He'd made it back to Amestris two years in, of course, but it was very brief and he hadn't had much of a chance to take it in or appreciate it. After going back to Germany, with Al following this time, they'd spent four years researching how to destroy the Gate from their side without using alchemy.

And after these four years, they'd finally managed it, but it hadn't happened quite how they'd expected. After Edward and Alphonse had destroyed it, they'd both blacked out, and they couldn't remember anything after that.


Alphonse was the first to wake up. He'd awoken in a bed in Resembool, with a bed next to him containing his apparently unconscious older brother.

He'd sat up awkwardly and frowned in confusion, rubbing his eyes in order to focus properly.

"Wha...?" he said, looking around. He recognised this room. It was a room in the Rockbells' house, he recognised it immediately. He'd spent a lot of time in this room, though admittedly he didn't remember it having beds in it. Although, Al conceded, he had been absent for the past four years.

He wriggled upright and eased himself out of bed, trying to ignore the stiffness overwhelming his body.

He padded over towards the door and cracked it open, and was greeted with a gasp.

The gasp belonged to Winry, who had been coming out of her bedroom that was next to the room Ed and Al had been put up in.

"Alphonse!" she squeaked out, running up to him and throwing her arms around his shoulder. "Oh my God, I thought you'd never wake up! I never thought you'd come back either! Oh I'm so glad you're alright..." She pulled away and sighed. "I mean... well... how did you do it? You and Edward said you'd destroy the Gate from the other side. Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted you're home, but does this mean you abandoned your mission?"

Al smiled shyly. "We were there four years, we weren't willing to give up after that long. That said... I'm not really sure what happened. One minute we were outside the Gate and attempting to seal it, next minute... we're here."

Winry just smiled at him for a moment.

"What?" he asked, slightly nervously. Her intent stare was unnerving him.

Her smile widened warmly. "Your voice has just gotten deeper, that's all," she giggled.

Al didn't know what to say, and so just stood there blushing.

"Um... your brother, Alphonse. Has he woken up too?"

"Brother was out cold when I got up just now. Is he okay? When will he wake up?"

"Well I don't know," Winry's smile faded. "I mean, we didn't know that either of you would ever wake up. I'm just surprised you're up now..."

"How long was I down for?"

"I found you two six days ago in one of the nearby fields and you were unconscious then."

"In one of the fields... how did we get there?"

Winry paused for a bit. "I don't know. Well, maybe you succeeded in your mission to destroy the portal between worlds and you were forced back here because you don't belong... on the other side."

Al shrugged, not being able to think of any other logical explanation of how they'd made it back. "I guess so..." He trailed off. "I hope Brother's okay."

Winry smile came back. "I'm sure he is! Hey, you are, right? That's a good sign, it means that chances are he's alright too..." There was a hint of doubt in her voice, but her tone was still optimistic and cheerful, which rubbed off on Al and made him feel better about whatever this situation was as well. "Oh, wow, I'm just so happy you're alright, you're here!" She pulled him down into a forceful hug again. "I missed you two so much..."

Alphonse brought his arms up slowly to return the hug rather than just stand there like a statue. Somehow, when she was hugging him, the entire situation seemed a whole lot brighter.


Alphonse had barely moved from Edward's side for the past three days, other than when it was absolutely necessary. He hadn't wanted to leave him. He said he wanted to be there when Ed woke up. On the fourth day, Winry came in the morning, as usual, to ask Al is he wanted to come down to breakfast or if she should bring it up to him again.

He glanced up with anxious eyes. "I saw Brother shift slightly. That's new."

Winry sighed. "I know you want to stay by his side but he'll be okay if he wakes up without you here. You woke up alone too, didn't you? And you were fine."

"Well, I saw that Brother was next to me... it's kinda different."

"Um... I guess... look, I'll bring breakfast up to you Alphonse, okay? Just consider what you're doing and ask yourself if it's really necessary."

"It is necessary... I know you don't get it Winry, but just try to understand how I feel. I don't want to leave him yet."

Winry sighed, again, and hastily exited the room. She knew deep down that she was never going to convince Alphonse to leave Ed's side, but that didn't mean she couldn't try.

She was just pouring herself some tea when she heard a high-pitched squealing sort of sound from upstairs. She flinched and nearly dropped the teapot, thankfully regaining her composure just in time to avoiding smashing the china all over the tiles of her kitchen. Winry set the teapot down nervously with shaking hands and headed upstairs and quickly as she could without being too loud about it.

Edward had apparently opened his eyes, the shriek coming from Al as he noticed the movement.

When Winry opened the door to the room, Al had thrown himself against Ed and was hugging him.

"Thank goodness you're okay Brother!" he was saying. Winry smiled softly and stepped into the room.

"So Edward, you finally woke up?" she said pleasantly, bringing herself to Al's side and prying him off of his stunned-looking brother who was now sitting up in bed.

"I... eh... huh?" Ed said intelligently, bringing his hand up to shakily rub the back of his head with his prosthetic arm.

Winry giggled. "You were unconscious for about ten days there, Ed. You feeling alright?"

"...groggy," Ed grunted and blinked. "Uh... Winry? What are... what just happened?"

Al just smiled. "Brother, I think we might have done it."

Edward seemed to come round a little more. "You mean... the Gate...?" he said slowly, as if he didn't dare hope it to be true.

Alphonse nodded.

"Oh hell, Al, are you sure?" he said, sounding a bit more like himself and less like a half-asleep zombie.

"Well, no," admitted Al uneasily. "But I really think we did. Think about it, why else would we be back in Am-"

"Wait, Winry?!" Ed interrupted him. "Al, are we in Resembool?! What the hell happened?! Someone has to explain this to me!"

"I'm trying to, Brother!" Al said indignantly. "If you'd only listen! I think we managed to do it. If you remember? Can you?"

"I think so... I remember being outside the Gate... and... it's all a bit blurry." Winry tilted her head to one side. He didn't really sound how she remembered. He sounded quieter. Basically more adult, more mature, which she knew she should have expected after six years, but he seemed so out of character it was a little upsetting for her. Her image of Ed was still of the sixteen-year-old he'd been when he'd left, and to a lesser extent of how he was when he came back to Amestris at eighteen, and of course now after an additional four years he'd changed a lot, more than she'd realised.

"Yes, it is for me too. But while you were unconscious, me and Winry were discussing it, and we think that we succeeded, but because we don't belong in Germany, on that side of the Gate, we were somehow forced back into Amestris."

A fire seemed to light behind Ed's eyes.

"Do you think it's permanent?" he said testily, as if not wanting to get his hopes up. "I don't want to... I don't want to settle in here if we're just going to have to go back."

"I think it is, Brother. I mean of course I'm not sure... but I really get this feeling that we're here for good."

"Ah, hell," Edward said, stretching out. "I feel like shit. Mind if I go take a shower, Win?"

"Oh, of course!" Winry stood up abruptly. She showed Ed where the bathroom was, and he thanked her and scuttled in as fast as he could.

"You think things could maybe go back to normal now?" Al asked, approaching her from behind. She turned and grinned.

"I hope so," she said. "It's been far too long, Alphonse. You don't know how much I missed you and Edward..." She gave him another hug. She'd been doing that a lot recently. Al realised that it was probably her wanting to make sure that he was real, that he wasn't going away again. He didn't seem to notice how much affection was behind it.

Meanwhile Ed had got into the shower, already planning what he was going to as soon as he felt up to it.

His plan was to go to Central. There was a certain someone there who he wanted to see.

It may have been six years, but his feelings hadn't changed. He'd always vowed that should he ever make it back to Amestris, he would confront a certain Roy Mustang about... about whatever this was he'd been feeling. And hell if he was backing out now.


That absolutely did not turn out how I wanted it to. D: I wanted to make it a one-shot but then I thought, maybe I'll split it up... anyone think this is worth continuing? If it isn't I'll probably carry on anyway but it'd be nice to see what you guys think.

I apologise for any errors, I wrote this when I was very tired and I wasn't fully concentrating. I tried to catch all of them when I reread it... I'll try and fix any that I missed as soon as I can.

Review to make me very, very happy?