Summary: ONESHOT. SPOILERS. After jumping in through The Gate after his brother, Al finds himself stuck in between the two worlds, where someone has been waiting to meet him.

Warning: Spoilers for the end of the first series and the Conqueror of Shamballa movie.

A/N: My first FMA story! Probably not one of my best but I enjoyed writing it, especially because I had the chance to portray Al and Alfons the way I see them. I hope that you guys find it enjoyable enough.

This is set near the end of the movie, right after the battle with the invaders from Munich. I really hope both Al and Alfons are in character.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters. All rights go to their respectful owners.

Between the Worlds

When Alphonse opened his eyes, all he could see was a bright, blinding white. He winced and shut them again instinctively, bringing a hand up to his face so that he could squint though the gaps between his fingers.

Still, even after his eyes had begun to adjust, all he could see was a pure, endless, overwhelmingly bright white.

Groaning, Al pushed himself upright, rubbing at the sharp pain at the back of his head where he was sure something must have whacked him within the last ten minutes.

What . . . what happened . . .? the question swirled through his foggy mind as he attempted looking around him again, but he could see nothing, nothing but an unending supply of space.

Struggling slightly, Al staggered to his feet, fighting to keep his balance. He tried thinking back, tried to figure out how he'd gotten here—wherever 'here' was—tried to work out what the last thing in his memories was. Vaguely, he could remember himself screaming, crying as he struggled in Mustang's arms, screaming his brother's name . . .

. . . His brother . . .

His brother?

Edward!

With renewed vigour, Al's head snapped up, his eyes searching desperately around him in an attempt to find his brother, heart pounding in his ears.

"Brother!" he called, his voice slightly frail and obviously panicked, the tones echoing back at him—bouncing off of non-existent walls that Al couldn't see for miles no matter how hard he squinted. "Brother, where are you?" He was silent for a moment, listening for a response, but all he could hear was his own voice echoing back at him, the question repeating itself until it settled itself in his now more alert mind.

"Where am I?" he murmured.

A laugh made Al jump, and he spun on his heel, instantly slipping into a fighting stance should the need to protect himself arise.

"I would have thought that you, of all people would have known the answer to that," someone said, amusement clear in the warm tones. Al turned in the direction he thought he could hear the voice coming from—a difficult feat, considering how it echoed off of walls that he doubted actually existed, and making it sound as though the voice was coming from all around him.

Al's fighting stance deepened, gritting his teeth as he struggled to keep himself on guard. He looked around him cautiously, but there was no one.

More laughter. "You really are just like him," the voice murmured in wonder. "Always ready to stand tall and fight should the need arise."

Al flushed, his hands lowering a bit. No, he wasn't like that. He didn't like fighting. It was just something that was unavoidable in a place like Amestris, where peace and serenity was difficult to juggle with politics and the threat of war constantly on the horizon.

"W-what are you talking about?" he asked the voice. "Who are you? Why are you hiding from me?"

Before his very eyes, a boy materialized, looking calm and at peace, smiling and watching him with gentle sapphire eyes as though he had always been standing there.

"I wasn't hiding," the boy said simply, his open orbs reflecting the truth in his eyes that he was no immediate danger to anyone.

Al gasped as he looked at the boy, taking in his features with wide eyes.

Is that . . . is that me?

"You're his little brother, aren't you? Alphonse," the boy said, letting him gawk for the moment at the uncanny resemblance that even he, now, couldn't deny. Chuckling slightly with no real humour, he said, "He was right; we really do look the same. Well, except for the eyes and the hair, of course. You look a lot more like him in that department."

Al gulped, now completely relaxing his fighting stance. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"I know all about you," Al's almost-mirror image said, smiling slightly in an attempt to eliminate some of the creepiness that came with that statement. "He told me everything about you."

"He?" Al murmured, frowning, before realization struck him and his bronze eyes widened. "Brother!"

"Yes," the boy confirmed. "Edward."

"Where is he?" Al asked desperately, unconsciously stepping closer to the boy and grabbing him by the scruffs of his shirt. "Do you know where I can find him? Do you know where he is?"

The boy laughed lightly, sapphire orbs never losing their tranquillity. "Relax, Edward is fine. He should be back on the other side of the gate right now." At this, the boy's eyes saddened. "Probably killing himself over the fact that he'd never see you again."

Al shook his head violently, wondering how this boy could be so calm when he himself felt like falling apart.

"No! No, that can't be right!" he said fiercely, almost desperately. He could feel his eyes filling with tears as fear that he'd lose his brother again filled his heart. "I followed him! I jumped onto his ship at the last minute! I should have gone back with him!"

"Don't worry," the boy said softly, soothingly. "You'll be with him again soon. I just needed to meet you before I go. The Gate seemed to have some pity for me and granted me my one last dying wish."

Taking a deep breath, they boy's smile slipped from his face completely for the first time, his kind sapphire eyes hardening slightly with seriousness.

"Alphonse, I've known your brother for two years now. I've been there for him as he adjusted to a whole new world, even though I didn't know it at the time. I'm probably one of the only people he ever trusted on the other side of the gate." He saddened, chest deflating as he seemed to shrink in on himself. "Even if it was only because I reminded him of you, he trusted me enough to tell me all about you and your friends, about your world and what you've been through together. And I never believed him, no matter how much he insisted that it was true. I . . . laughed at him." He frowned, eyes becoming unfocused for a moment before settling on Al again.

"You have no idea how sorry I am. I wish I could have been a better friend," he said softly, regretfully, but his face brightened once again with a smile. "It's alright, though. Everything worked out in the end. Even though I intended for him to stay in his world, at least he has you now, and that's all he really needs. He missed you so much."

Al frowned, shaking his head. Questions kept whirling in his head. Who are you? How do you know Brother? Where are we? Is this where The Gate is? How did you get here? But he couldn't voice one question before the next popped up, so all that he could end up saying was a confused and slightly disoriented, "I don't understand."

The boy shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I just wanted to tell you, Alphonse," he started, his hands landing on Al's shoulders, holding him in place and looking him dead in the eye, "I probably wasn't the most supportive of friends to your brother, but I really did care about him a lot. What happens to him matters to me, and I want him to be happy. In the short time that I'd known him, I hadn't once seen him smile a genuinely happy smile before the day that he'd come home saying that he saw you again." He grinned, for the first time not sadly or peacefully, but more in a friendly, fond kind of way. "I've always wanted to feel as though I'd accomplished something in this world, even though I knew that my time in it would be short. But just by giving my first real friend the one thing he'd longed for for so long is enough to make me feel like my life wasn't entirely wasted."

He placed a hand on Al's head, ruffling his light brown hair a little and closing his eyes, grinning like he'd known Al all his life. "Just take care of him for me, alright? Take care of him the way I couldn't. I'm sure that just by staying by his side, you'll already be making him happy. You always did seem to be the centre of his world."

He stepped back, kind blue eyes meeting Al's again. "You should probably go. I don't think The Gate likes waiting very much."

Just as he said that, Al was suddenly aware of several black tendrils slowly encircling his limbs, the hand-shaped tips closing in countless tiny fists around the material of his clothes. Al threw a glance over his shoulder, seeing—with fear gripping his heart; he'll never forget the smirking faces and cold blue eyes of the creatures that had taken his body away—The Gate standing tall and in sharp contrast with the surrounding whiteness of the area, where there had previously been nothing but emptiness.

Frantically, Al looked back at the boy, who was still standing there, smiling kindly as he watched the younger of the two being taken away.

"Wait!" Al cried desperately as he felt himself being pulled backwards, towards The Gate, reaching for the boy. "What about you? You can't just stay here!"

The boy shook his head. "My time on Earth is up. It's been up for a while now. Besides, there can't be two of us in one world. Edward only needs one little brother, after all."

More inky black tendrils snaked themselves around Al—around his shoulders, his waist, his ankles, his neck. They were pulling more forcefully at him now—while the boy just stood there, smile never wavering.

"I-I don't even know your name!" Al cried, still reaching out to the boy, even as he was now almost completely submerged in the blackness of the gate, the doors slowly starting to creak close.

"My name is Alfons," the boy said. Al gasped, never taking his eyes off of the boy. "Alfons Heidrich."

That was the last thing Al ever heard him say. And that gentle, resigned smile was the last expression he ever saw on his face.

Then the doors slammed shut, and he was drowned in darkness.

A/N: It's Equivalent Exchange: I wrote you guys a story, so now you have to send me a review in return.

. . . Nah, I'm just kidding. Please review if you have the time. Tell me where I can improve, of if I did something wrong or inaccurate. It would be very much appreciated :o)