He smiled.
Alphonse smiled up at his brother, tears streaking down his pale cheeks to match his brother's as the older cradled the malnourished body in his arms. Finally, FINALLY, years of trying to atone and finally it has been done! Alphonse was restored, everything was okay with the rise of Father stopped. Everyone was alive, everyone was safe, everyone was... as happy as they could be in their state. Roy Mustang really had gone blind from the Gate, and Riza was in the hospital. Ling, or Greed, had fled somewhere while being pursued by Ran Fan. Mei Ling was on healing the soldiers outside, Izumi kissing her husband once he stormed in and saw that his wife was okay.
It could have been called a perfect moment for the world, that had once died and was reborn after a tragedy and meddling with god itself.
Edward tried to hold Alphonse as close and tight as he could without hurting him, knowing that medical treatment was on its way and Alphonse was back to being in a human body. Sure he'd need some majorly long recovery time and possible therapy, but he'd be Edward's baby brother in the flesh and it'd be literally. He felt as if nothing could harm them at this moment in time, where everything felt whole once more. He had messed up with his mother, but he promised to never do it with his pure, sweet little brother that meant so much to him. They'd always be together, even when they've grown up. Even when they're getting busier, even in middle-age, old age, and death would they be brothers. Edward knew he'd be willing to give up anything for Alphonse and the latter the same, for nothing tore them apart.
"Ed! Al!" Winry suddenly cried, finding them in the room of carnage while panting heavily. Her eyes widened as she realized what Edward was holding, with golden hair as his own, even longer than his own, and a delicate little body that had once been stripped away for years. Alphonse was entirely cradled in Edward's lap, being held to affectionately and tenderly. It brought tears to Winry's lovely blue eyes as she saw them.
The room they were in was in complete shambles, the roof broken in by Scar and Father's chessboard crushed beyond repair. The fool's chair was even demolished, along with the sinful body after Father tried to take on god. He succeed for a while, but it didn't last. You can't defy the laws of nature, alchemy forbids it, and all the souls of the world tore the being apart. And after that ordeal, somewhere in the world, a little child and her mother woke up off the floor, and they could smell the apple pie they had baked in the oven buzz.
"Winry, look, look, it's Alphonse! Al, he's for real!" Edward cried, glad to see his childhood friend here to relish in the achievement. Winry sprinted towards them as Alphonse found the strength to tilt his head up. His eyes were so bright, the same color as Edward's, but somehow they could always shine brighter. "Al?"
"Brother-"
BAM!
Have you ever felt like the world's in slow-motion when something happens? Be it good or bad, everything's dead in its tracks as you're still confused of what just happened. Edward was just about to cry with more tears of joy, having been able to share such with Alphonse, until a horrid gun shot went off. He didn't realize what happened until those gleaming eyes of his brother's stopped blinking and faded to a dead hue. A dead hue...
"Al?" Maybe he was just denying this as he tried to shake the figure awake slowly. "Al? Al, speak to me, Al! Al! Al! Alphonse! Alphonse, talk! Do something, Al, what happened? ALPHONSE!" The movements got rougher until Alphonse's head fell onto his chest and he saw a hole in the back of it, blood seeping out of it. Looking up, Edward was horrified.
In Winry's haste to greet them, she tripped over a gun and it's safety was off. One little accident was enough to make Edward's world crumble as he saw the guilt and fear on Winry's easily-readable features. She shook her head, whispering, "No," over in a slight mantra while her hands grasped her hair. New tears streamed down both of the friend's cheeks, but they could never, ever, be ones of jubilant joy again. "No, Ed, I'm so sorry!" Both of them honestly knew a simple sorry would not pay the price for what had been done.
The bullet had destroyed Alphonse's brain and skull, maybe even his nervous system from the way it entered. The fragile link that kept his soul in touch with his body, the link that was killed. The messy, long blond hair that Alphonse had was stained with his own blood. He could bleed now, and it was such a shame.
Edward didn't know how he should take this. How could he, his brother was man-slaughtered by his friend! When they had tried to revive their mother, she had died years before and such a feat was for the stupid, children. But Alphonse had hope. The young man had hope, he had hopes, dreams, and he had a big heart! Edward couldn't think about this, he knew he would spring out at Winry with such a fury he'll never speak to her again, much less accept her name in his vocabulary, but she was his friend. He had known her for years, this was a mistake. Just like the time Edward saw the face of the thing his brother was trapped in, which he thought was his mother.
So the golden-eyed male just clutched the deceased body to his chest, trying not to break the terribly frail bones, and cried. He knew his body shook, and he was letting out such a wretched racket like a starved dog, but he found it fit that his sorrow wasn't able to be expressed in just words. In the back of his mind, Alphonse's body grew a little colder.
Winry was devastated as well, Alphonse was like her little brother too! He was selfless, noble, and the calm-headed one when either she or Edward went berserk. Now, the little angel was killed off. She felt so horrible to do this, as well as disgusted with herself for what she was thinking right now. With her murder of Edward's brother, he will never return her love for him, and she wondered why she was thinking of that at this minute.
Everyone's attention had been attracted to the sobbing boy, who was too foolish to be a man and yet too sinful to be a child. Izumi looked at the sight, and silently cried with Sig and anyone else who knew why someone was clutching a dead boy and crying.
One soldier mistook Alphonse's long hair as a woman's and humbly said, "Such a shame, losing your lover like that." Izumi punched him out, and she still didn't think it was enough.
A lone man got off the train at the small station. He was painfully obvious to the people that lived there, many waving him hello, which he returned casually. The man wore a black tuxedo, long hair recently cut and trailing just below his shoulders in a braid like when he was younger and not by himself in this place he once could call 'home'.
Where was his home when his family was not there to greet him?
His mother died of her illness and his father died to bring down a monster. His little brother died from a bullet in the head.
So now, with some red roses in a fake right hand, Edward silently made his way to the graveyard. Forward, left, up, until he stood in front of an old tombstone. "Hi mom."
The voice was deep, with a hint of rasp, and it had a richness to his that just added to the handsome man. He was well in his early 20's now, grown much taller and matched his blinded friend's own height well. Taking a flower out of the bouquet he bought, he laid it down gently on the ground before the marker as he turned to the next one beside it. There wasn't a body underneath, but it still meant something to him. "Hi... dad."
Why pull a grudge over a dead man? Edward performed the same act to the grave as he turned to the last one, which had an old, rusted metal helmet over it as well as a pocket watch in the same pitiful state. Sometimes Edward wishes the eyes would glow red just so he knew the person was still with him, but a pipe dream was still a pipe dream. "Hi Al."
The man laid the entire bundle of soft, velvety roses down on the ground where he knew his brother's body was. Now, instead of looking down, Edward looked up to the afternoon sky. He didn't care how long he waited until stars revealed themselves to him, a certain light in his eyes that had once always been in them until it faded with his brother's death. Edward had everything to lose and everything to gain, and after years of gambling it, he finally lost, and it hurt to this day even.
"How are you, now? Are you happy up there, mom, dad, Al?" If someone walked by, they'd see this single young man had gone crazy and they'd mutter it while going on their way. Maybe Edward was crazy, or maybe he was acting normal for a person in his situation. "I got a job as a writer. It's really nice since I wrote about our search for the Philosopher's stone, with a little twist... Yeah, I cut it off in a deus ex machina and everyone lives happily ever after. I didn't sad stories now, and I still don't." Truth was, Edward wasn't even able to write about it. He had cried and ruined the paper.
"Say Al, did you find a cat you like up there? I'm sure you're taking care of it well, but when I get up there, keep it away from my stuff," the man joked lightly. "Though, maybe I won't get up there, maybe I'll be dragged to hell." He was already imagining hands like the Gate's grabbing him from the underworld, yanking him down and watching as his family sadly waved goodbye to him. He didn't deserve to be up there.
After a while of mad-man talk to the sky, Edward noted the stars that matched his brother's eyes so well begin to disappear. So he turned and was about to leave, but looked back at the grave. He walked over to the side of it and picked up the dirty helmet salvaged from the rest of the temporary body it had served. He gently kissed it and whispered, "I'm sorry, Al, for what happened to you. Just remember how much I love you, brother mine." And maybe, after he said those words and set the helm back down to gather more rust, he was a little stronger for he got up and walked back out of the cemetery without crying like last time.
Now all he could do was live.
Note (3/10/10)- Depends on how you took that 'I love you' this can either be incest or brotherly love, whichever you pick. I had so much fun writing this, it actually felt like a possible ending if the creator wasn't so into happy endings. They're all gonna survive, meh. Hope you liked it, though. And if you are wondering where Winry came from, then lets just say that she stayed in Central before so it doesn't look like she took a train from Rush Valley.
Also made this for a breather because I've had some major blockage on writing and art, so why not make this up as I go? ONE MORE THING, if I did ever own Full Metal Alchemist, you will never, ever get a happy ending from it. Ever.
May all your beef-flavored wishes come true,
Cat