Alphonse Elric was a little depressed.

Sure, he was happy for his brother. Edward had handed in his resignation notice to Colonel - no, Brigadier General - Mustang, who had no choice but to accept it, seeing as Ed couldn't do alchemy anymore. Ed told Winry about it, and she decided to throw a retirement party for him at the gym of the Resembool High School (Home of the Tigers). Al stood on one side of the ballroom and watched the festivities.

Everyone Al had ever met was there. Roy and Riza had, against Ed's wishes, gotten invites, and they brought along the rest of Team Mustang. Alexander Louis Armstrong had shown up, which wasn't surprising, and so had Olivier, which was. When Ed had seen her walk in, with her slasher smirk, Al could describe his expression as "Holy crap". Al had privately chatted with her for a few minutes, and it turned out that she just wanted to screw with Mustang.

Denny Brosh and Maria Ross had shown up as well. Denny had brought his younger siblings, who were slowly nudging him towards asking Maria to dance. Jerso, Zampano, Darius and Heinkel had shown up, dragging Yoki along for the ride. At one point, Jerso and Zampano had wandered over to Alphonse and asked if they were still on for the trip to Xing. "Yeah, we're set," Al confirmed. "I've set up appointments with teachers and medics who might be able to help you two."

"Thanks, boss," Jerso said. "How's the... er..."

"The everything?" Al finished for him. Jerso nodded sheepishly. "It's recovering. Managed to start walking up and down the stairs a few weeks ago." Al grinned and flexed his biceps. "Soon, you guys are gonna have to watch for these bad boys."

Zampano and Jerso laughed and excused themselves. Darius and Heinkel were showing some kids how to play "Pin the Tail On The Yoki" and someone had to step in. "Not to stop them," Zampano explained, "to show them how to do it right."

As Al laughed and waved them on, the pain in his leg started again. He grabbed his crutch and hobbled over to a chair at one of the tables and all but collapsed into it. Al bit his lip to stop from grunting in pain as the leg quivered and shook. It would be a few minutes before the spasms stopped. Dr. Knocs said that his body would heal gradually, but he hadn't expected it to be this slow. It had been six months since his brother had gotten Al's body back. He was still working out the kinks. Moving was painful, and so was dancing. So Alphonse Elric sat in his chair, laid his crutch to the side, watched the partygoers dance, and tried not to feel too depressed for himself.

Suddenly, a voice boomed, "EDWARD ELRIC!" Smoke filled the room, and a woman - no, it was Armstrong - screamed. "Get behind me!" Ed yelled, and pushed Winry to his back, standing between her and whatever was coming for him. Al struggled to his feet, but his leg gave out and he slammed back down into the seat. He couldn't do anything except watch as the smoke cleared out and Ed's worst nightmare stood in the remains.

Ling Yao.

"You were having a party and didn't invite me?!" he yelled good-naturedly as he strode up to the gaping former State Alchemist. He reached around and shook Winry's hand. "Hi there, Ling Yao, Emperor of Xing, nice to meetcha."

Ed was waking up. "How-what-"

Ling clapped Ed on the shoulder. "Let's get this party started!" He gestured at DJ Paninya, who grinned and started playing some jaunty music.

Behind where Armstrong and Sig were standing, a shadow flitted. Lan Fan burst from between them, not saying a word. She nodded at Al, then looked at Ling with an expression somewhere between "annoyed" and "amused".

"YOU CAN'T BE HERE!" Ed shouted, finally snapping out of his daze. "YOU HAVE A COUNTRY TO RUN!"

Ling pffted. "They can wait for a few hours. Nice to see you in one piece!" He looked Ed up and down. "Or at least, two pieces."

"RAAGH!" Ed started chasing Ling around the ballroom. Everyone erupted in laughter. "I STILL HAVE ONE METAL FOOT TO KICK YOUR ASS WITH!"

As far as Al knew, Lan Fan and Winry had never met before, but they gave each other a long-suffering look that only people with idiot boyfriends could do, and they started trying to reign Ed and Ling in.

Behind him, Al heard a noise, and the chair next to him was pulled out. May Chang sat down next to him and beamed at him. "Hi, Alphonse!"

Al felt his cheeks heating up as he grinned back. "Hey, May! Nice to see you in Amestris."

"Yes, well." May shrugged. "Ling suggested that we crash Ed's party, and I just tagged along. Lan Fan tried to stop him, but... well, you've met Ling Yao."

Al snorted. "I definitely have."

May looked him up and down. "You're looking good."

Al definitely didn't feel good, but he decided to not let her know that. "You too. It's been, what, six months? And you've already grown a foot." She had also swapped her pink robe for a red... something that looked amazing on her.

May smiled sheepishly. "I thought tall thoughts. You've cut your hair."

"Figured that if I did, Ed would follow suit," Al joked. "Silly me, I forgot that he marches to his own drum."

May laughed. It was a pretty laugh for a pretty girl.

Ling had finally escaped Ed's wrath and slid over. "Hey, there, Al! How's the body?"

"Good," he replied. "How's Xing?"

Ling rolled his eyes. "Bleh. Too... dictatorship-y. I'm thinking of turning it into a constitutional democracy. Think of it!" He wrapped an arm around Al's shoulder and gestured in the air. "President Yao!"

"Has a nice ring to it," Al said, laughing while May grinned. "What about First Lady Lan Fan?"

"It's a work in progress, my friend," Ling replied confidently. "She's head-over-heels."

"It's a very slow work in progress, my brother," May noted and gestured over to Lan Fan, who was chatting with Winry about automail and sneaking glances at Ling every few seconds.

As Al laughed, Ling said, with good-humored offense, "No one asked for your opinion, dear sister. If you don't mind, I need to get back to wooing her." He walked over with one of his megawatt grins.

"He is a very entertaining individual," Al noted.

"Don't encourage him," May groaned. "I have to deal with him nonstop. So who are all the people here?"

"Well, the two buff guys are Alex Armstrong and Sig Curtis," Al said. "Armstrong's sister, Olivier, and Sig's wife, Izumi, are over there, talking..." The horror of a friendship between those two terrified Al to his core, but he pushed on. "Paninya's DJing..."

And for the next hour, the two talked and chatted. Eventually, Ed looked at the two of them, and an idea started forming in his mind. He whispered something to Paninya, who grinned devilishly.

Over the speakers, a slow song started playing. People started grabbing dance partners. Jean Havoc winked at Rebecca Catalina, who rolled her eyes, grabbed his hand and dragged him out. Denny finally stammered out an invitation to Maria, who accepted, much to the cheers of Denny's siblings. Roy politely asked Riza to, and she smiled and said, "Of course." Ed was snickering at the two of them when Pinako poked him in the back.

"This is the part," she stage-whispered, "where midgets like you ask my lovely granddaughter to dance."

Ed froze as he realized that his plan had backfired on him. Winry smiled innocently and batted her eyes at Ed. She was beautiful. Then he remembered what Pinako had called him . "Who are you calling a midget, you ant-sized pea-brained-" Ed started to sputter. Winry laughed and dragged him to the dance floor.

Ling was following Lan Fan along, pleading with her to dance with him. Lan Fan looked at May and Al with a small smile, and Al could tell that she was screwing with Ling.

May looked at Al, and a twinkle formed in her eye. She stood up and offered Al a hand. "Dance with me."

Al nearly toppled out of his seat. "I mean, uh-" Of course he wanted to say yes. He really wanted to say yes, and to grab her hand, and to follow her out to the floor. But his leg ached and he didn't want to collapse on her. "Doctor Knocs told me no physical activity. Doctor's orders."

May pretended to consider it. "Hmm. Well, that's a shame. Too bad we don't have another doctor - oh wait! We do!"

"We do?"

"Me! This doctor orders you to dance for physical conditioning."

"Uh-"

"Alphonse Elric, stand up and dance with me." She was grinning hugely.

"Whelp," he said, taking her hand, "I can't say no to that."

And so she dragged him onto the floor, and Al forgot all about the pain in his legs, and his arms, and the rest of his body.

He put his hands on her waist, and she put hers around his neck, and Al realized that he had missed this, back when he was in a suit of armor, missed the feeling of touch, missed the feeling of affection.

And Alphonse Elric wasn't depressed anymore.