Inspired by Vic Mignogna's English version of 'Brother'.
Song: Brother, sung by Vic Mignogna (A.K.A. Edwar's voice actor)
(Time passes between Good night & Lullaby. Ed is now a state alchemist, and their heading to Lior.)
Lullaby
Alphonse sat silently in the crumbling house staring silently out the shattered window. His armoured body glimmered lightly in the slight moonlight that shone into the room. It was getting rather late and they had needed a spot for Edward to rest and so Ed had chosen the best out of their current choices - an old, abandoned, crumbling shack. The shack only had two dusty rooms. The one held a bed but it was impossibly tiny, and so as not to crowd his brother he had slipped into the other room which was a little more spacious. Al sat there quietly trying to think of something to think of - it was to the point where he was running out of things to think of that didn't cause him any sort of depression. He hung his head, his armoured body making a scrathing sound as it rubbed against the wall. He listened intently to the sounds of night; the ocasional owl and a few crickets. None of these sounds consoled him of the lonely feeling he felt in the drap and dirty surroundings. He listened more intently and paused as he heard a voice from where Edward was sleeping.
"How can I repay you, brother mine?
How can I expect you to forgive?
Clinging to the past, I shed our blood, and shattered your chance to live... "
Al wanted to get up and see what was going on only his body wouldn't move. It was his brothers voice for sure but the tone was more in song rather than normal speaking - it also seemed rather depressed and gloomy. He listened more intently, wanting to hear more of the song, just to be sure that he was hearing properly.
"Though I knew the laws, I payed no heed.
How can I return your wasted breath?.
What I did not know has cost you dear, for there is no cure for death."
Al wanted to go comfort his brother, "There is still hope!" is what he wanted to claim, but the tone in the song kept him glued to where he sat. If he could have cried, he swore that he would of but his body didn't allow that kind of thing - he was merely a soul stuck in a body that is unable to express facial emotion - stuck in a stupid tin can.
"Beautiful mother, soft and sweet, once you were gone we were not complete.
Back through the years we reached for you,
Alas 'twas not meant to be.
And how can I make amends?
For all that I took from you?
I led you with hopeless dreams, my brother, I was a fool..."
Al sat there feeling very, very hollow. Was his brother this sad on the inside? Was he really blaming himself for both of their mistakes? Danm! He was really mentally kicking himself - of course Ed would feel like that until they got their bodies back.
"Don't cry for the past now, brother mine,
Neither you nor I are free from blame.
Nothing can erase the things we did, for the path we took was the same...
Beautiful mother, soft and sweet, once you were gone we were not complete.
Back through the years we reached for you,
Alas 'twas not meant to be..."
Al sifted silently, making sure his armour didn't scrape the walls, making sure that his foot falls were muffled by ditry cloths on the floor. The urge to comfort his brother was tearing him to shreds.
"My dreams made me blind and mute,
I long to return to that time...
I followed without a word,
My brother the fault is mine..."
Al set his hand on the door knob and went to turn it only to hear a little more. He froze, his hearing as keen as ever.
"So where do we go from here?
And how to forget and forgive?
What's gone is forever lost,
Now all we can do is live... "
Al opened to door silently and noticed Edward standing by the bed, leaning gloomily on an empty windowsill, his honey colured eyes dim with dipression. Al walked over, his feet clanking on the old hardwood floor, to catch Edward in a hug.
"It's alright nii-san. We're together. We'll get our bodies back and then everything will be alright." The mentally flinched at the metallic ring in his voice.
"I know Al." Edwad had slipped from Al's grasp and sat on the bed.
Al sighed and bid his brother a good night before heading to the door and pausing. he looked over to his brother. "Oh, and brother, you have an amazing voice."
Ed's attention snaped to Al, his face flushed. "You heard that?!"
Al laughed as he nodded. "Well good night, brother."
Edward nodded as Al left the room and sat where he was sitting before. Only one thought crossed his mind:
Someday... We'll be truly happy again.
He promised himself this for he never wanted to hear that lullaby ever again.
