my first full-metal alchemist fanfic and it's an edxwinry one-shot! hope you enjoy it.

okay, so story behind this one-shot. it was actually a dream i had recently (true contents of which i will not reveal), which i tweaked a bit to follow an actual fma fanfic. mind you, i didn't tweak much at all, so this is almost pure eightdimensions dream, haha. save for the fma characters of course.

DISCLAIMER: all characters, settings, etc. belong to hiromu arakawa. storyline is mine, so if you steal i will kill you... until you're dead.

I stepped into his room. It had a familiar feel to it, like I'd been there countless times before. And I had. Laughing, talking, just being together, even if he spent the whole time making fun of me. But it was nice. The room was familiar to me… until now. Now, it was void of all life. The charismatic person who had occupied the room previously had gone and taken the familiarity with him. Even though the room was filled with cabinets, drawers and a bed, it felt empty now.

I had only woken up this early to go down and say goodbye before he left for the military, but he told me to go to his room after he'd left. The reason he even mentioned it was beyond me. I probably meant less to him than he ever did to me. Don't get me wrong. We were as close as blood-related siblings. But to him it was only that. Nothing more.

It was a brief goodbye. We barely spared a glance at each other as he turned his heel and walked down the path away from Granny's house with Al beside him, belittling him as usual, and his trunk over his shoulder, also belittling him as usual.

I saw his silhouette turn and give me one more look before disappearing into the distance. We only said one word to each other.

Goodbye.

The room felt drained. Like it needed something in order to keep its support, but didn't know what. After Ed had left, the room lay soulless. Little did I know that that person had the same effect on myself. Little did I know. In fact, I had no idea.

I stepped towards his writing desk and glanced at the papers he previously spent hours working on under the dim lamp light. The lamp was still on in the bright daylight. The only object in the room that still had a life. If you could even call a machine living.

There was only one paper left on the desk that was written in his own handwriting, amidst all the newspaper clippings and alchemy research papers. I remembered seeing him write this only a couple of days before he left. He had the light on past midnight and was grudgingly pushing away his fatigue to the back of his mind to finish his writing. When I peeked into his room to ask what he was up to so late, he quickly covered the paper with his metallic hand and told me to mind my own business as usual. I bothered him countless times the day after, but how he kept it hidden so well in my own house was beyond me.

Days before.

What could have kept him up so late that night? But I couldn't help but read his message to me. His words I never got to hear before he left. His feelings I never understood. Never knew.

"You're fat. You're ugly. You're an auto-mail otaku. You suck at cooking. You're the most annoying girl I've ever befriended in my short (This was fiercely scratched out and replaced with just) life. And you're so not cute. But I love you. I've always had. Always will. I just didn't understand it before. Didn't want to believe it. Didn't want you to know. After what happened to Al, I didn't deserve to love. I didn't deserve to be loved. But I was selfish. My mind couldn't help it. I was always thinking about you, even if I was just making fun of you. The times I talked to you were the times I looked forward to everyday. Even though we're going to be so far apart. In distance. In life. I can't hold it back. I know it's not right to be feeling it now, to be saying this now. But before I leave the day after tomorrow, I just had to tell you. Even if it's too late. I love you. Will you wait for me?"

The words he never got to tell me echoed in my mind. The look he gave me before leaving Resembool. I didn't realize it until now. It wasn't the glare he usually flashed me. What was it? A look of longing?

Why would he tell me now? After he had already left? I thought I had accepted that he would never return my feelings. I thought I had forgotten about him. Even though in the back of my mind I still longed for his love. But now I have it here in my hands. In the form of this worn sheet of paper with his near obscure handwriting scrawled all over it. He tells me he loves me and now I don't know what to do. What to think.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the opening of the door behind me. I was about to turn around when I realized tears were now pouring down my face. "When is he coming back, Granny Pinako?" I asked her, standing resolutely before Ed's desk, his letter clenched tight in my hand.

She told me she didn't know. The military was a harsh world. It could be a month. A year. Two years. Several.

I didn't realize how much I'd miss him until he was gone.

But now I know. No matter how long it takes. I'd wait for him.

Even if it takes a lifetime.

okay, apart from the fact that ed was way sweet in his letter, hopefullly i didn't make him too OOC, haha. and yes, i know it does not take them a lifetime to meet again. lifetime refers to until ed finally puts down his gigantic alchemy search for the truth and settles down. however long that takes.

well, writing this was fun and slightly depressing but i hope you all liked it :)

reviews are awesome. ergo, if reviews are awesome and you clicked the review box, you will be showered with awesomeness. however, if you actually type a "review" and proceed to click the "submit" button, you will explode with godliness. all because reviews are awesome. i make aristotle look stupid.