The Cycle of Pain and Hope
By Teenangel
Summary: a different ending to FMA, from Alphonse getting his body back to far into the future. Mostly following the life of Ed's daughter. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia. Envy spoilers.
Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!
Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother.
Edward Elric stared out the train window, watching Central pass-by. He imagined leaving Central for good meant leaving behind all that had transpired, but as the city limits blinked out of sight an aura of despair still clung to his shoulders, weighing him down.
"Brother."
Ed smiled sadly at Al, and Al smiled back—with his lips, with his eyes, with the dimples in his soft warm cheeks. Al's helmet sat next to him, a momentum of their journey; Ed suspected Al was attached to his old body, like looking at your own corpse.
"Brother," Al repeated, "everything is gonna be fine now, right?"
Ed crossed his arms, "I can't guarantee that, but it does seem that way."
Al sensed tension in his Ed,"What are you thinking brother?"
He sighed and stared at the floor, "You—you'd think, the world could learn to be fine. But…dad, Dante, and teacher and Scar's brother, us, we all repeated the same mistakes, the same misery, the same pain. It's like an evil cycle, Al, a vindictive cycle that the human race can never escape."
"I don't believe that," said Al.
Ed remained silent.
XXXXX
They reached Risembool at sunset. The moment they got off the train a blur of blond hair, and a pale green summer dress streaked passed. Winry tackled Al into a hug and pulled him onto the ground. Ed raged with jealousy, why was he so easy to pass by?
"Ohmygod, Al!, ohmygodyouralive, Imeanyourback to your normal body, I never doubted Ed and you would find away, how long have you been like this, I missed you guys so much, why didn't you call, I cant believe how cute you look the girls in Risembol are gonna be crazy over you!"
"Winry," interrupted Ed, placing a cold hand on her shoulder, "Al, does need to breath."
"Yes, air, please," Al said grabbing Winry's arms off.
She released Al and stood up, "Ed, your arm, it's still—"
He flexed the metal joints. "Yeah, I've gotten used to it," he said, not wanting to go into details, "So, time to head home, eh."
"Yes, home," she whispered, and a mix of emotions played across her face. Ed was about to reach out, when she blasted, "AND YOU SHOULD STAY THIS TIME, HOME, AND NOT LEAVE AND HAVE ME WORRIED THAT YOU'LL GET HURT OR YOU WON'T COME BACK. NOT AGAIN EDWARD!" She grabbed his luggage and huffed off.
"Ow, my ears," Ed whined, "doesn't she know how to greet people!"
"She cares about you, brother," Al said and ran to catch Winry.
Ed scrunched his face and began to slowly follow them. He let them stay ahead of him, watching the way Winry's hair blew in the breeze, her smile, her laugh, her beautiful blue eyes. When they got to the house Ed paused in the yard.
Winry twirled around on the porch, "Ed, is something wrong…what are doing?"
"A present," he said, clapping his hands and putting them on the grass. The next second Winry found a circle of flowers being placed on top her head, and yellow eyes looking longing into her blue ones, as if they could mix like paint into a new color. "Not leaving this time, I swear."
"Come one, Ed," she took his hand, "Aunt Pinako made stew."
"YES, I LOVE STEW!"