SIXTH GAME: DAYS LATER

"Alphonse, come sit down. We need to speak with you."

Al took a seat, glaring silently at everyone that surrounded him; Winry, Roy, Havoc, Riza, Breda, Fuery, Falman...They were all there. "What do you want?" he asked coldly.

"Al, the fact that you still insist that your brother is alive is...Well, it's not good. We could understand it when you were sick; it's common knowledge that high fevers can give people weird thoughts and stuff like that, but you've been better for three days now. You don't have an excuse anymore. You need to move on."

Al clenched his fists. "Why don't you get it? I'm NOT delusional! I saw him! He's the cat; he got reincarnated as a cat, that cat you gave me! But now he's gone and I don't know where he is and you won't even help me find him! You haven't even noticed that he's missing!"

"Alphonse..." Winry put a hand on his shoulder. "Edward is dead. You need to move on. It's hard for us too, but he's GONE. Your life can still have meaning without him. Stop trying to fool yourself. You'll just end up getting more hurt."

The others nodded, agreeing with her.

"But..." Al said, his voice shaking. "But...But he's EDWARD! He's not dead, he CAN'T be dead! He's my brother and he wouldn't leave me! He WOULDN'T!"

Winry bit her lip and glanced around the room, silently asking for assistance. Havoc spoke.

"Al, tell us what exactly happened."

Al nodded purposefully. "This is what happened..."

When Al had gone back to bed (he went to sleep early and got up early as well, unlike the others in the house) and only Winry and the military members inhabited the living room, they were free to discuss the options.

"We need to make him understand that Edward is gone. He needs to move on," said Roy. "That will be our goal."

"We've already tried that," Winry pointed out. "This weird dream, or whatever it was, is making Al determined that Ed's still alive. There's probably some way to make him snap out of it, but I don't know what it is..."

Riza sighed. "I didn't think it would have to come to this...I really don't trust 'professionals', but in this situation, we really have no idea what we're doing, do we?"

It took a moment for her words to register in everyone's minds.

"So that's it, then?" Falman said, as he was the first one to realize their meaning. "Therapy?"

Havoc sighed. "Poor kid...He's only fifteen and he's already lost his entire family. It's no surprise that this has happened..."

"I just hope it all turns out okay.

"Edward of humans and cats! You sure have changed, hmm? If it wasn't for your voice, I wouldn't have been able to tell that it was you! You look a lot different, or maybe you don't like anything at all? I can't really tell, but from I can see you're just a bunch of fog or something. It's a bit strange, hmm? Any luck your brother? Oh, don't answer that; if you're out here all alone, then I guess-"

Ed's beating heart finally calmed itself, though his breathing was still uneven from fear. "Orpheus!" he exclaimed, a relieved, if slightly lopsided smile growing on his face. "Dammit, you fucking SCARED me! Why'd you have to jump out from the bushes like that, you nearly gave me a heart attack! Now help me get up, I need to get back to Al!" He gave a weak attempt to get the fallen tree off of him, pushing with all his strength, which wasn't much.

"So, what are you now exactly, hmm?" Orpheus asked, his tail flicking back and forth lazily as he watched the slight movement with patient interest. "I can't really see you and- Oh, you're a ghost, aren't you, hmm? Yeah, it all makes sense! You really just look like a bunch of fog, it's weird that you can't just walk through stuff and-"

"WHAT?" Ed yelled frantically, turning his head as much as he could, looking down at himself with horror. He could see right through himself, despite the fact that he was in a human form for the most part. "So that's what she meant..." he muttered shifting slightly under the heavy wood formed a sort of prison over him. "Orpheus, can't ghosts walk through stuff? I mean, I'm transparent and everything..." He completely ignored the fact that a little while ago, he wouldn't have believed in ghosts at all. First reincarnation, now this? If only life could be as simple and predictable as it was supposed be.

"Maybe you could if you thought about it, hmm? Like really thought about it." He walked over to the fallen tree with silent footsteps and stared into the small patch of mist that he knew to be Edward. "Ghosts are pretty weird, hmm?" He swiped his paw through the mist and watched it spread out to avoid his claws.

Ed yelped at the sudden pain. "Don't do that!" he said, wincing. The mist formed back together into the vague shape of a person again and the pain subsided to a dull ache.

"Sorry," said Orpheus indifferently. Ed glared at him, despite the fact that he knew Orpheus couldn't see it. He struggled against the branches again. "Hey, hey! Did you even hear what I said? Try to move through it! I bet you could, I mean, you ARE a ghost, hmm?"

"Alright, alright! Just shut up already!" Ed yelled angrily, although Orpheus showed no reaction. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as he assumed it necessary to have proper concentration to try something like this. Focusing only on the task at hand, he waited for the relief of no longer being under his stupid wooden 'prison' to arrive. It didn't happen.

"Relax," Orpheus suggested, watching with an amused expression on his face. Reluctantly, Ed to his surprise, the branches fell away and he found himself near Orpheus; he had rolled right through the barrier in his not-quite-solid state.

"There you go,"Orpheus stated simply. "Aren't you glad you listened to me?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Ed muttered standing up shakily. "Do you know where we are? That Fate person dropped me off in the middle of the woods, and I really need to be getting back to Al..."

"I dunno what you're talking about, but I believe I can tell you where we are." He squinted into the darkness that was only penetrated by a few weakly shining stars, attempting to find a point of reference so as to find his way back to wherever he had been before hearing Ed's angry yells. "So, where do you want to go?"

"Winry Rockbell's house. FAST."

"Alphonse," Winry immediately squeezed her eyes shut, unable to face Al's expression, even after hours of practicing what she would say to him while looking in the bathroom mirror that morning, "We've been talking to Dr. Howard, and we all think that it would be best for you to go...Somewhere else. Somewhere where you can get the kind of help that you need."

"Okay." Winry's eyebrows shot up her forehead.

"H-huh? You mean...You're okay with it?" she asked, disbelief evident in her voice.

Al nodded. His eyes were blank, and they refused to look at her face. "I don't want to be here anymore, if everyone's going to treat me like they do. No one believes me. You all act like...Like..." His voice broke and he rubbed his eyes on his wrist. Winry shut her eyes, giving herself a moment to collect her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, Al. I really am. But you really need to move on. You're going to come back when you stop-"

"I'm not coming back," Al said bluntly. "Not unless you admit that Ed is alive."

Winry's breath caught in her throat. "So that's it, then?" she said, smiling sadly. "I'll never see either of you again?"

"You could see us both," Al said. "You really could. But I guess you just don't want to." With that, he turned on his heel and strode quickly out of the room, leaving Winry with nothing but her own thoughts, which were, in her opinion, more than enough company.

They treated him exactly the same as they always had; kindly and with respect. Perhaps even more so than before. They owed it to him, for not believing him, for sending him away. But they couldn't deny the fact that they thought it was the right thing to do- that they KNEW it was the right thing to do. It was what he needed. He had to move on, even if they couldn't be there to help him.

They didn't know exactly where he would be going, so they allowed him to bring whatever he wished. It had to be as comfortable as possible for him. Only the best for him, only the best. Nothing less.

And so, even though they all privately agreed that it wasn't a good idea, they let him bring Ed's coat with him.

The tattered piece of crimson fabric that Al had hugged for the first few months after The Death like a baby hugged a blanket for the first few months after The Birth.

The entire day was spent saying good bye. He was getting ready to head out the door at eight that night. Winry was close to tears, and even the others, who were oh-so-good at hiding their emotions, were having a hard time keeping their grief from showing.

Al looked determined. Determined about what, they could only guess. Proving them wrong?

It was possible.

There was a knock on the door. Winry stiffened and squeezed her eyes shut, expecting the doctor to answer it, ready to whisk Al away to the mental home he had recommended.

With a loud creak, Roy pulled open the door to reveal...

...Absolutely no one.