FullMetal Alchemist: The Path of Never-ending Sadness

Chapter 2: 'Return'

"Sir, they're positive it's him."

Edwards eyes were still closed, he heard voices around him..

"Are they sure? Only one of his limbs are missing and the Edward we knew had two limbs missing. An arm and a leg." He heard doubt in this voice.

A mans voice on his left, a womans voice on his right. He was sure they were talking about him. It was strange...They sounded eerily familiar.

"They're very sure, General, they saw the exact same scars that our Edward had. There were a few new ones of course."

He identified one of the voices. Hawkeye..He confirmed.

"Well we wont know for sure until he wakes up."

Roy Mustang. Edwards eyes fluttered open, he looked to his left. There, sat a suprised Mustang. But something was different...He only had one eye. "Hm, nice eye-patch there, Mustang." He managed to pull off a smile. "Suits you."

Mustang's expression then changed from suprised to relaxed. "Welcome back, FullMetal."

Eds eyes veered to the other side of the bed and saw Hawkeye, smiling that rare smile that he barely ever saw. "It's nice to see you, Edward." She greeted softly.

He nodded in response and sat himself up. He felt a sharp pain in his right arm and grimaced. Ed paused. His right hand gripped the sheets tightly and he looked down at his flesh arm in amazement. "I...My arm..." He lifted it up infront of him and examined it. There were bandages covering it, but it was flesh. His flesh. The sharp pain went through it again and he lowered it slowly back onto the bed. He glanced up at both Hawkeye and Mustang. Yes, yes...It was them. He grinned brightly. He was back, the FullMetal Alchemist was back. But then...What happened to Alfons?

Mustang interupted his thoughts. "Edward? Are you alright?" He asked.

Ed blinked. "Yeah, I'm fine." He replied hesitantly. He scanned the room for any other people but there was no one. Al was missing. "Where's Al?"

Hawkeye proceeded to answer his question. "He doesn't know you're back yet, Ed." She exchanged a look with Mustang, and looked at him again. "Would you like us to tell him?"

"Yeah, that would be great.." Ed held back, she could'nt be a lieutenant still right?

As if she read his mind Hawkeye suddenly said, "I'm a Colonel now, Edward. And Roy's a General." She stood up from her chair. "Now if you'll excuse me." She stepped out of the room and gently closed the door. Leaving Mustang and Edward alone.

Ed smirked at the man beside him. "Still just a General, Mustang?" He shook his head. "I'm dissapointed, I would've thought you'd be Fuhrer by now."

Mustang frowned. "It takes a while for people to rise to the top, Edward." He replied. "Especially when their goal is that high."

The blonde shrugged. "I'm still dissapointed." He looked at the dent in the cloth beside his right leg. He did'nt get his leg back, but that did'nt matter now. He was home. "Automail." He said.

Mustang looked at him strangely. "What?"

"I said, I want automail." He demanded.

"You can wait until Al and Winry get here, can't you?"

"But that'll take two days! I can't wait that long!" He sighed and layed himself back down. "But I guess I'll wait, I don't want Winrys wrench in my face that soon." He groaned. Great. The wrench, he forgot about that.

There was a few minutes of silence. Not awkward, but not exactly settling either. Mustang decided to ask the question he'd been wanting to ask since he had heard of Edwards arrival at the hospital. "So," he started. "Where have you been these last two years?"

Ed was obviously ready for the question, because he immediately started talking about another world without alchemy, a place called London and the familiar faces that he had seen.

***

Alphonse Elric and Winry Rockbell were at the train station, waiting patiently for their scheduled ride to Central. Thoughts were rushing through Al's head. It was'nt suprising, considering that he had just gotten informed of his brothers return.

He had so many questions to ask him, and equally many things to tell him. He'd searched all these years far and wide for Ed. And now, he was here. Al remembered the call he had gotten just two hours ago, from Colonel Hawkeye...


Al was in the kitchen at the time, preparing lunch for Winry and Granny Pinako when all of a sudden the phone rang. He decided to answer it, since Winry and Granny were busy in the automail shop. He picked up the phone and held it to his ear. "Hello? Rockbell residence."

"Hello, Alphonse. It's me, Colonel Hawkeye."

Colonel Hawkeye..Al had met her once before. And he was told that she, along with some other Military personel, had helped himself and his brother on their journey. "Hello Colonel!" He finally answered. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. Listen, I have something important to tell you, Alphonse." Her voice was'nt urgent, but Al could tell that it was still important.

"Yes? What is it?" He responded curiously.

"It's your brother, Alphonse, he's come back."

Al gasped. His brother was back? His heart-beats were slowly getting faster and faster. He looked around. There was no one here. "R-really?!" He stuttered from the excitement. "When?!"

"Just a few days ago. He's here in the hospital awake and he wants to see you."

"In the hospital?" Al sounded worried. "Is he okay? Is he hurt?"

"He's fine, just some bruises and cuts. There was a bullet wound in his right shoulder, though."

Al sighed in relief. Good, he was'nt hurt that much. "Well, I guess I'll be heading over there with Winry then." Al remembered Winry saying that Ed had needed automail because he lost his arm and leg after that night. And, knowing him, he would demand for it straight away. "Alright , thank you Colonel."

"Goodbye Alphonse."

Al put the phone down and ran to the shop, forgetting the lunch he was cooking in the kitchen.


Al turned to Winry, who was sitting on a bench. Her box of tools sat beside her. She had jumped for joy when Al told her the news. But he knew that instead of welcoming brother back normally, she would throw a hissy fit and start shouting at him. It's fine. He thought It's totally fine. She wont go that hard on him would she? Al gazed up at the clear blue sky. "I'm coming, Ed.." He whispered to himself.

"Brother.."


Yay! done with chapter 2...See you in Chapter 3!!! Whe chapters will get longer as we go on, don't worry!

Rai-Lyne