So, I have a challenger for depressing fictions! Bring it on! I just called my dear Sense Marauder, and we have decided to wage war with you, SilenceShouting! I gladly begin our three way war with this fic of depression! I would also very much like to thank you, no one has ever really responded to me with a retaliation fic! I appreciate the recognition! ITALIC WRITING MEANS IT'S FROM AL'S POINT OF VIEW. (Caps because who actually reads Author's Notes?)
Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, sadly….it only adds the the depression I fit here.
"Brother…" I whisper to Edward.
"Al…." He says back weakly.
"Brother, I don't want to hurt anymore…." I say to him. "How did we end up like this in the first place?" I ask him. But I already know the answer. The reason we, the Elric brothers, were lying in a hospital room, dying, was because of a single stupid mistake.
~6 hours ago~
"Alright Al, you ready to go see Mustang and the Brigadier General?" Edward asked.
"Yep!" Alphonse said. The brother hauled their bags onto the train, and took a seat near the middle of the car. They watched a little blonde girl play with a stuffed cat. She waved at them, and they waved back.
We were never supposed to be on that train, we were supposed to be on the train coming the next day. But we got a call from Mr. Mustang, saying that the date for the East-North joint training at Briggs had moved up, and that they'd like to see us longer before leaving. They were supervising the event, and reporting directly to Fuhrer Grumman.
Edward stared out the window. He watched the hills of Risembool pass by. He smiled, looking at his brother, now flesh and bone after several long years. Alphonse sat calmly, reading an alchemy book. "I can't wait to see Mr. Mustang and Ms. Hawkeye." He said happily.
"I know. Been a while eh? The jerk's become a General!" Ed laughed.
"Mm hmm." Al agreed. He looked out the window. "Brother? Has there always been a bridge there?" He asked, pointing to a bridge for the train up a ways.
It had been awhile since we'd been to Central. I'd forgotten a lot of the train routes, but Brother knew almost every train in Amestris. Who'd have known that getting on this train would be the worst mistake of our lives?
"No, it's always been there Al, don't worry." Edward sighed, resting back in the seat.
Alphonse still stared at the fast approaching bridge. "Something's wrong Brother." He said.
"What is it?" He asked, opening a single eye.
"I don't know, it just doesn't feel right." He said.
"Well, I don't ever remember there being a canyon on the way to Central…." Edward said, looking out at the red and orange rocky canyon.
Alphonse looked closer at the wooden bridge, and watched someone light a small lantern by it. They threw it down, and the bridge lit up with flames. "Brother!" He yelled. "The bridge!" He exclaimed, just as it exploded.
"There's no time Al, transmute something!" Edward told him.
"Oh no!" Al thought. "Brother can't do alchemy anymore! What do I do, I…I…?" He asked himself. A large chunk of wood burst off the bridge as they passed over. Al could already feel the train sinking. The chunk broke through their window. "Brother!" Al screamed, pushing him to the side.
Edward looked up, to see Alphonse on top of him, the wood piercing straight through his left shoulder. "A-Alphonse?" Ed asked.
Al winced, spitting up blood, and fell to the side. "ALPHONSE!" Edward yelled. Al frowned at his brother in pain. Edward felt the train sink lower and lower into the canyon they had passed. "No, not like this! Please." Ed cried. He hugged his brother and cried as the train fell off the bridge. Edward's heart was breaking peace by peace. His brother's blood soaking his shirt, the little blonde girl crying for her mother. It was too much. And then….
CRASH. The train hit the ground, hard.
That's what happened. A mere few hours ago I was sitting happily with my brother on a train to see our friends, and then this happened to us. Why us? Why those innocent people? What did we do?
"Al…..Al!" Edward yelled. He could barely see at all. The busted glass from the windows had torn his left eye up. He looked down at himself. There wasn't an inch of him that wasn't covered in broken glass, most of it impaling him. "I…I can't move my legs!" Edward freaked. He looked at himself again, to see part of their seats impaling him through his stomach. "That's probably why." He said, tears streaming down his face. "Hello! Is anyone alive?" He called. He heard a small wimpier, and saw the little girl with blonde pigtails cowering off to the side.
"M-Me." she said.
"Can you find my brother?" Ed asked. "I can't move, he's got gold hair and gold eyes, please, just find him for me!" Ed begged.
"O-Okay." She said. She crawled amongst the wreckage, and gasped. "Mommy!" She cried, standing there. She put a hand over her mouth, tears running down her face. "Daddy.." She stood there, sobbing for a few minutes. She eventually moved on, realizing there was nothing she could do. "Mr." She called. "I think I found your brother. He's alive I think." She sobbed.
Ed did his best to sit up. He looked over to see his brother lying a few dozen feet away. He looked up and saw the blue uniforms of the military gathering at the burned bridge. "HELP!" He yelled.
"There's a couple of kids down there!" A man yelled.
The men came down to the wreckage. They picked up Edward and Alphonse. Edward looked at his brother. Alphonse still had the chunk of wood in his shoulder, but he was still breathing. The men had to pry the little girl away from the brothers.
Alphonse woke up in the white hospital room. He tried to rub his head with his left arm, and found that he couldn't move it. Why was that? Al looked at his shoulder. His arm had been cut off!
I couldn't believe my eyes. Seeing only a stump for my arm. The wood had put too big of a hole in my shoulder for me to keep it, so they cut it off. I looked over at the table, and saw a bag reading: Alphonse Elric. There it was, in that black plastic bag, waiting for someone to come and take it. "Brother…" I cried.
I heard him respond. "Alphonse, are you alright?" He asked.
"They took my arm off Brother!" I said, desperately.
"Yeah I know. Are you okay though?" He asked.
"No, I'm in pain, my shoulder hurts." I responded. "And you?"
"I can't see out of my left eye at all." Edward told him.
"What else?" I could tell there was something else wrong with him, that he wasn't telling the whole truth.
"I can't feel my legs." I heard my elder brother say.
"R-Really?" I ask. He remained silent, and I knew he wasn't lying.
"Ed! Al!" I heard Ms. Hawkeye yell. "Boys!" She cried. She fell to her knees at my bedside. "I'm so sorry, if we'd never asked you to get on that train…you-"
"There's not use crying about it Brigadier General Hawkeye. What's done is done, we don't blame you or General Mustang for what happened." I hear brother say.
Mr. Mustang walked in. "Suicide bombers took the train over before you even left the station. They put the train on a different route, diverting it from Central."
"Explains the canyon." Brother sighed.
Ms. Hawkeye couldn't stand to see us. She didn't stop crying until Mr. Mustang took her out of our room. We had another visitor that day. The little blonde girl. She sat with us, and refused to get leave.
I wince as I sit up, and brother does the same. "Brother…" I whisper to him.
"Al…" I hear him reply.
"I don't want to hurt anymore brother." I say sadly.
"I know how you feel." He said. "Hey, little girl." He directed. "Go down the hall, there should be a supply closet. Grab the bottles marked with barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium chloride. All three should be on one bottle." He says. I look at him in surprise. The little girl nods and leaves. I give him a worried look.
"Relax, the nurses and doctors don't hang around this area at night." He says.
"Are you sure brother?" I ask.
"I'm not asking you to do it Al, actually I'd prefer if you didn't. But I'm going to." He says to me.
"No no!" I say back. "We'll do it together." I shakily get up and go to the cabinet of our room and grab two syringes. The little girl comes back with the bottles, and bloody hands. I figure that she broke the glass to get inside. "Thank you." I tell her.
"You're welcome." She says sadly. "Thank you a lot, for being with me." She said.
"Of course." Edward says to her.
I hand the things to him, and he pours the lethal mixture into the syringes. I look at him sadly as I take mine, and he sets the bottles to the side. I go and sit on his bed, so we can be together. We link our arms at the elbow, and point the needles at our hearts. "You'll always be the best brother I could hope for." I say to him.
He nods. "And you're the best brother to me."
"Ready?" I ask.
"Yeah."
"One." I say.
"Two." He says.
"Three." We say together. We press the needles to our hearts, and inject the liquid. I throw my syringe to the side quickly, and move to hold my brother's hand. We wait for the end, holding hands, and the end comes quickly.
"Sir, are you sure we should be waking them at this hour?" Riza asked her commanding officer.
"Fullmetal'll probably be up anyways." Roy said. They stop when a doctor rushes into Ed and Al's room. Mustang and Hawkeye share brief glances before running inside.
As soon as they see the pair of golden blondes lying dead on Ed's hospital bed, Riza collapses. Roy catches her, and they cry together. A little girl stands in the corner of the room. She had reported the brothers' deaths to the nurses outside.
"Edward! Alphonse!" Riza gasps.
Roy fights to hold back his tears.
Edward and Alphonse are carried out by the workers, and the janitors clean up the room. Roy and Riza go home together, and sit in silence.
Winry's hand shook as the voice talked to her on the telephone. She dropped the receiver, leaving it dangling of the table instead of hanging up.
It was a very short funeral. The little girl stood with Roy and Riza as Edward and Alphonse were put into a little cemetery in Risembool. Winry sat by their graves, talking to the headstones as if it were really Ed and Al standing in front of her. A man came up to Roy and Riza. "We found this in the pocket of Alphonse's hospital clothes. We figured you'd want to see it." He said.
Dear Ms. Hawkeye and Mr. Mustang,
I'm really sorry for the trouble we must be causing you at the moment. Don't worry about a special service or anything, and don't worry about us. We chose this. Me and Brother were just in too much pain. We've lived good lives, we've met all our goals, and we got to meet some incredible people. If you see her at all, the little blonde girl, (I never got the chance to ask her what her name was) help her out. She helped us out quite a bit. It's come to my understanding that both her parents were killed in the train incident, and that she doesn't have anyone to go to. As a final wish of sorts, give her a good home. It doesn't have to be you, just make sure she's taken care of.
Good Luck, and Goodbye,
Alphonse Elric
Riza stared over at the little girl. She handed the letter to Roy, and walked over to her. "Hello." She said.
"Hello." The little girl sighed.
"You knew the brothers?" Riza asked.
"Only a little bit." She said.
"Do you have anywhere to stay? A place to go maybe?"
"No, it's just me now." She said, wiping a tear from her face.
"Why don't you stay with me? I'm Riza Hawkeye, a good friend of Ed and Al's, the two boys." She smiled, holding out her hand.
The little girl looked up at her in amazement. "I'm Annalee." She said.
Roy looked over at Riza from where he stood with the man, and he gasped. There were Ed and Al, standing by that little girl. The brothers smiled, and waved at Roy. When Annalee hugged Riza tightly, Ed and Al each put a hand on her shoulders, and slowly disappeared.
Riza walked over to Roy with Annalee asleep in her arms. "What's the matter? Sir, you're all wet." She said, pointing out his tears
"Of course Lieutenant. That's what happens when it rains." He said, once again putting on his military hat, and once again walking away from the grave of a friend.
Nothing ever really changes. There are the same kinds of people in the world, always. People that live, people that die, people that are saved, and people that are lost. But, occasionally, there's one or two people that get to do all these together, and with no one else. I think I realized that in my last moments. I lived with my brother, I died with my brother, we both lost a lot that was dear to us and yet me and my brother were able to save ourselves from our suffering. We're a pair, him and I, and I don't think anything in the world could change that. Yep, some things are just unable to change….
That made me depressed…I don't know about you….so, tell me what you think…y'know, review an' stuff..