Written for the Yule Exchange at FMA Gift Exchange, for the prompt: Ed and Al, "The first yule after the end, quiet gifts for each other. Not elricest, just happy to be together and "whole."
Al was right there, and Ed was being dragged back through the Gate, and he was fighting, screaming "I'm coming back for you, Al! I'm coming back for you!"
But Al looked sad. "It's too late, Brother," he said, and then he was bleeding from his mouth and nose and eyes. "You waited too long," he said, his voice echoing. "You killed me, just like you killed Mom." And then she was there, too, twisted and dripping with blood-
"Brother!"
They were dying- they were dead, and there was nothing he could do-
"Brother!"
Ed came awake gasping, his shoulders shaking.
"Brother," Al said, his voice full of concern.
"Ah," Ed sighed, willing his body to relax. "Sorry, Al. Did I wake you?"
"It's okay, Brother," Al said. "I don't mind."
Ed sat up, covering his face with his hands. "No it's not," he said. "You need your sleep. You're still getting over that damned lung infection. I'll- sleep somewhere else, or something. Maybe I can take one of the patient cots."
"Lung inflammation," Al corrected, gently. "It's okay, Ed. I don't want you to sleep somewhere else. I'd worry. Anyway," he said, smiling, "it's past dawn. I was hoping I'd get to give you something before everyone else got up."
Ed leaned back, grabbing a hairtie from the bedside table. "Yeah?" he said.
"A present," Al said, smiling. He rummaged around in his footlocker. "For Longest Night."
"You're supposed to give those at dusk," Ed protested, pulling his hair back into a ponytail.
"I don't care," Al said. "Move over." He sat down next to Ed, leaning back against the wall. "This is for you."
The package was small. Ed shook it a little, and then tore the paper wrapping off of it. His breath caught: it was a silver watch. He turned it over. There was a grinning skull embossed on the front, with the script letters "E.E." underneath it.
"You lost your other watch," Al said, shyly. "I saw the skull, and I thought-"
"I love it," Ed said, smiling, looking over at his brother. "You're right- I guess I need a new watch."
Al smiled. "I thought you'd like it," he said. Suddenly, his face contorted and he bent over, coughing into his arm.
Ed's hands clenched around the watch. He hated seeing Al sick like this. He cleared his throat as Al's coughing fit subsided. "I guess I should give you your present, too. Equivalent exchange, right?" He opened the top drawer of his dresser and pulled a small package out from under his socks. "Here, Al." He flushed. "I hope you like it."
He watched as Al peeled the wrapping away carefully. His fingers were still so thin, even these months later. The winter sicknesses weren't doing him any favors, either. Ed was terrified that he'd lose Al to a disease, after everything they'd been through.
Al looked down at his present. "Polansky's Principles of Elemental Transmutation," he read, his face lighting up. "Ed- thank you!"
Ed shrugged. "I saw it in a bookstore in Barlow a while back. I thought you might appreciate something to read while you rest up."
Al sighed. "I feel like I don't do anything but rest these days. But thank you, Brother." He smiled.
"I wanted you to know," Ed said, blushing, and looking away. He hated talking about things like this. "Anyway, you don't have to avoid alchemy around me. I'm not an alchemist anymore, but that doesn't mean you can't be one. If you want. You can be anything you want to be now, Al, you don't owe your life to anyone. Not even me. Okay?" His voice grew fierce as he finished.
Al laughed. "Okay, Brother. I understand."
"Okay," Ed said, and looked back at the watch in his hand.
Al reached out, and put a hand on Ed's shoulder. "You too, Brother, okay?"
Ed laughed. "Me too what?"
Al got that stubborn look on his face. "You don't owe your life to anyone, either," he said. "Especially not me."
Ed stared at him for a moment, and then reached out to ruffle his hair. "I'm just glad we're both here," he said. "We finally got your body back, and here we are."
Al smiled. "I knew you'd find a way, Brother," he said, softly.
In the distance, they could hear Winry calling them for breakfast.