Hikari: I don't own FMA, but I do own this story...I think...I hope. Enjoy!

You Can Walk

When the blue light faded away, I thought I would see my brother there, with his face smiling kindly, his body finally fixed. Sure, he had been given a body, but it was only temporary and his time was running out. But this time, it was supposed to be permanent. This time it was supposed to work. But this time, I completely failed. This time, I lost him, the only person who made my life worth living. The person I had worked for most of my life to fix. No, not fix, return. To make him normal again. But I failed, and now he is gone and it is all my fault.

"I failed," Ed gasped into the wet ground. It was raining, the sky was crying. It was crying for the lose of Alfonse Elric, the good Elric brother, the one who deserved better.

"Fullmetal," Roy said, coming up behind the boy. "What in the name of the God you don't believe in are you doing?"

"I failed," Ed repeated, not looking like he took any notice of the man behind him, but Roy knew that he did. He was observant, even like this.

"We all fail at some point Fullmetal," Roy said softly, crouching down next to the sobbing boy. "But we have to keep moving forward. Look, you have two strong legs, you can keep going. Remember, some people aren't even that lucky."

"But I don't have Al," Ed muttered. "I have nothing to go forward to."

"You have your own life to go forward into," Roy replied. "The one you gave up for nine years now. You deserve to live your own life for once."

"It's raining," Ed said softly, brushing the words aside. "The sky is crying. It did the same thing when we tried to bring Mother back. It cried for us and her, now it's doing it again. It's crying for Al, because it knows he deserved better. It knows I failed. It knows."

"Come on Ed, we need to get you inside," Roy sighed, helping the broken boy to his unsteady feet. "You'll get sick if you stay out here. You can come back to my house for now. I'll take you home when the rain stops."

"It'll never stop," Ed said seriously, but his face was smiling. It was a deranged sort of smile, a far cry from his usual carefree look. Twisted, sick, those words would better describe the smile curling his mouth. He was sick. His mind was twisted. He had just lost his everything.

Roy understood this. He had seen how the boy acted towards his brother, they were the closest siblings he had ever seen. They really loved each other. And when one was hurt, the other could feel it. Even when Alfonse was in the amour, he could feel the pain his brother felt. Their bond was that strong.

"The sky'll cry until I'm gone with it," Ed continued after a few minutes, they were well on their way back to Roy's house by now. Somehow, Roy did not doubt the boy's words. Perhaps the sky would continue to cry until the elder Elric joined his younger brother. Maybe even nature felt their connection.

"Let's just keep going," Roy urged. "I don't want you to get sick."

"I already am sick," Ed smiled that deranged smile again, yet spoke his words in total seriousness. Yes, he was sick. Very sick.

"We're here," Roy said after a few more minutes of silence. His house was modest, two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, and living room. Nothing too fancy, but it was enough to get him by. He was thankful for that extra room tonight. At least Ed would have a place to sleep.

"Do you want dinner?" Roy asked softly. It was as if anything louder might shatter the broken boy. In fact, Roy was almost sure it would.

"I'm not hungry," Ed frowned. Then he went down the hall to the extra bedroom. He knew where it was because he had slept there once before. When he and Al got into a bad fight and they both needed time to vent. Ed came here. He was not exactly polite, but it was good enough for Roy. It was nice having an actual houseguest instead of all his dates. Ed gave him someone to talk to who actually had a brain, something not many of his dates really had.

Roy frowned at the boy's retreating back, but let him go anyway. He just needed some time, that was all. He fixed himself a quick dinner and retired for the night.

The storm had let up sometime in the early hours of the morning, Roy had awoken to the sudden end, and found he could not get back to sleep. But morning came soon enough.

Roy rose from his bed and went down the hall. He was not surprised when he did not get an answer when he knocked on Ed's door. The boy was probably still sleeping, he went through a lot last night.

So Roy proceeded to the kitchen and made himself some coffee, he would get the boy up for lunch. Fortunately, he had the day off today. With coffee in hand, Roy made his way into the living room and picked up the latest novel he had been reading. It was not that good, but it gave him something to do to pass the time on days like this.

Roy found himself waking up to the sound of his clock chiming twelve noon, and rose from his chair. He would fix lunch and then get Ed, so that he would not have to wait for food. He fixed two small portions, hardly enough for two people.

Then he walked down the hallway and knocked on Ed's door again. Upon hearing nothing, he went into the room. He was not surprised to find Ed on the floor, his wrists sliced open. He bent down to look at the sight. Back when Hughes was still alive, he taught Roy a few things about estimating the time of death of suicide victims. Roy never figured out why. But as he bent down to look, he came to the conclusion that the sky really did not stop crying until the elder Elric had passed. It was just as he had said.

Roy closed the boy's eyes and took the blade out of his hand. Then he walked down the hall and called Emergency Services.

He went into the kitchen to wait for them to arrive. As he sat down at the table, he mixed the two plates of food, it was just perfect for one person. No, he was not surprised to find the elder Elric deceased, the sky had stopped crying after-all, because the brothers' bond was just that strong.

Hikari: I hope you enjoyed! Please read and review!