Fullmetal Alchemist AU, because I can. It'll follow the events of Brotherhood, but not in chronological order. At the beginning I'll say when the chapter takes /Featuring queer!zutara, also because I can. Specifically bisexual!transman!Zuko and genderfluid!Katara. Just casually writing in all my queer headcanons.

Just after "Alchemists' Anguish"

I've Seen My Angel Weak And Pale

1 - Melancholy: a feeling of pensive sadness.

I've seen the Monster at the door

no man should ever see,

and I've seen my angel weak and pale

and both of them are me.

-Leslie Fish and the Dehorn Crew "Enemy Within"

He finds her sitting on the edge of a fountain several streets from the apartment. Her hair is wet as she sits, slumped forward, hunched slightly to keep her face from the rain. He doesn't bother lifting her hood to keep her dry. The rain comforts her. Instead he sits beside her silently, trying to find the words to describe what's happened.

"She...she was a child." She says it haltingly. "She was a child and I couldn't...we couldn't save her."

"We didn't know," he manages to whisper after a moment. "We didn't – we couldn't – There was no way to tell. After two years. There wasn't anything left. He probably destroyed all the records, or didn't keep them."

Her lip trembles, and she can't hold back her tears any longer. They stream down, and she leans forward, sobbing. He nudges her closer to him, wiping her tears away from her face. It's only then that he realises what's different – she's not wearing the make up she usually wears, cobalt pigment in triangles across her cheekbones and chin (A Southern tradition, stolen from their Air Nomad neighbors, that stopped until recently, after the war, when it began making a comeback. Preserve what you can, and mourn the rest).

"You're not wearing your make up," he whispers.

She shakes her head sadly. "What's the point?" she asks. "It – it's to make my alchemy stronger, but what's the point in alchemy if I can't save a little girl?"

He takes a little while to decide what, and how, he's going to say next. "Because you couldn't save her," he says at last, "but that doesn't mean you can't save other people. We're only human, but – humans have done a lot, good and bad. And I think...I think that maybe alchemy can help us do more."

A trembling metal hand reaches up to the taller alchemist's breast and grasps his shirt. "I won't give up," the other whispers. "I promise. I'll keep looking for a way to help you, and I'll let everyone think I'm doing it for myself if it means keeping you safe."

He swallows the lump in his throat. "I'm not the only one who needs it," he tells her before pressing a kiss to her brow.

She leans into him. "I know," she assures him. "I'll help everyone I can."