"Hey, Al... I've...wanted to ask you something for a while...but I've been afraid to ask."
"What is it?"
Al, Al... My little brother... How I miss you. How long has it been since I've seen your face? Has it only been four years? It feels like ten at least. I want to look into your soft grey eyes – so much like Mom's – once more. I want to make you laugh, that laugh that used to always chase away my gloom. You hardly ever laugh now, and even when you do, your laughter is pained and forced. Whenever you speak, your cheerful little voice is tarnished by the tinny echo of your cold prison.
That armor...does it weary you? Are you tired of looking out at the world through eye-slits? Do you want to be rid of your clanking joints and heavy, thumping footfalls? Because I do. I don't want to have to talk to an expressionless heap of metal any more. I don't want to reach out for you and feel cold steel instead of warm flesh. No... Not anymore.
Do you realize how much I want to hug you? Can you understand how I long to squeeze my little brother, so hard and so long that his eyes start to water and he starts to choke for breath? I want to roll in the dust like we used to do, and race each other home. I want to smell your sweat, to splash the washing water at you till we're both soaking wet. I want to wake in the middle of the night and hear your slow, even breathing, to know that you are sleeping soundly. You can't sleep now, can you? I know you pretend to so I won't feel awkward, but I can tell that it's fake.
"Um..."
But the more I ache for you, the more I realize...it's all my fault. I was the one who convinced you to join me in trying to bring Mom back. I urged you on all those times when you wondered if we should even be doing this. And I was the one who... I drew the transmutation circle, I threw you away for the slim chance that I might get to see a brief glimpse of Mom. And I tore your soul from the body that was sucked away. I imprisoned you in that hideous cage that bears the merest semblance to a human body. Would you have wanted me to let you go? Would you have liked to die rather than live this life of constant pain? Do you hate me, Al?
"Say it."
"No, it's okay."
Al, I'm so sorry... I look at the forbidding visor that makes up your face, and all my courage runs away. I could never say all these things to you. I know I should, but I...I'm scared of your answer. Because if you said that you would rather join your body in death, I...I wouldn't be able to do it. I can't let you go, Al. I need you. I need a little brother to be angry with, to fight with, to laugh with... I need my Alphonse to drive me on into the sunset. Without you...I wouldn't have any more reason to go on. I couldn't continue as a dog of the military if I didn't have a purpose in mind. So I'll stay silent and keep these pressing questions inside, and maybe you can stay by my side for a little longer. Because without you, Al...I would fall to pieces.