A monstrous storm had blown its way over to the city of Munich, and the city had had nothing but black skies and rain-soaked streets for the past three days. Alphonse Elric stood in the middle of his living room with a frown, watching his distant older brother stare out the rain-dappled window with stoic eyes as the noise of his wife's persistent coughing and shallow breathing echoed down the hall.
I'm losing everyone….Alphonse thought with a sigh, his dark golden eyes warm with a mixture of sympathy and sorrow. The front door burst open just as a nasty bought of thunder rattled the little house.
He glanced up to see his two young boys, shivering and dripping in the doorway with exuberant smiles plastered on their rain-streaked faces. The boys tossed their bags aside and shut the door, panting from their close race home through the pouring rain.
"Hey dad," his eldest son, Marcoh, greeted him with a smile while shaking out his soaking blond hair.
Alphonse returned the smile, "Hey boys."
He patted Marcoh on the head while the youngest, Hugh, gave him an enthusiastic hug, only pulling away to excitedly inform his father of the adventures he and his brother had had on their way home from school.
"That sounds great, Hugh. So what'd you guys learn today?"
Hugh plopped down on a chair, stripping off his wet coat and shoes, "Well, Francis was telling me that it's impossible to go into space but I told him that's not right because you work with rockets and it is too possible and…"
Alphonse smiled and nodded, wandering off from his son's story only to glance at Marcoh. He had fished a water-logged apple out of his bag to eat, but instead stared at his uncle while turning the apple over in his hand repeatedly. Marcoh looked much more like his mother, Sophia, with olive-green eyes and shaggy, pale blond hair while Hugh had his father's slightly darker hair and darker golden eyes with a pale green undertone.
"Is Uncle Edward okay?"
Hugh turned curiously to his uncle, as if he hadn't known that he was sitting there until his brother had asked that question.
Alphonse looked over at his older brother once again…his eyes hadn't left from the window, not even when the boys came bursting through the door.
"He's just a little distracted…listen boys, why don't you go see your mother? I know that would make her really happy."
Their faces lit up with happiness and the two brothers nodded before wandering down the hall together, in search of their sickly mother.
This isn't how it was supposed to be…Alphonse thought with a sigh before crossing the room over to Edward. "Big brother?" although it was still the same Alphonse Elric, his voice had lost its high, innocent tone to be replaced by that of a gentle yet hardened man.
'"Hey Al," Edward whispered, his eyes never leaving the gray, rainy atmosphere of the outside world.
Al sat down silently beside his brother, trying t get over the shock of how much time had passed. They weren't old, no…not yet, but they were far from the children they'd been when their journey had first begun. Pale, barely visible, stubble dotted Edward's chin and upper jaw and slight creases had formed on his forehead where they had never existed before-although they were really only visible when one would squint and stare.
"We were so close to the sun," Edward murmured, not only looking but also sounding as distant and far away as ever. Alphonse placed a hand on his older brother's shoulder, "yeah. I know."
Alphonse leaned in closer, in hope that his words of encouragement would actually penetrate his brother's thick skull for once, "but the sun has shattered-there's nothing left but pieces…and now we're in the dark, and we've fallen down. I'm not going to deny it-I went through a bad time too, I lost sight of what's important as well but I can see clearly again, Ed. I'm standing up now; ready to fix the sun…but I can't do it alone. Let me help you up. Stop wallowing and do something about it. You have legs, so get up and use them."
For the first time since the rain had begun, Edward looked away from the window and into his brother's bright, determined eyes. A small smile crossed his lips as he pulled his brother into an unexpected hug, "thanks, Al."
Alphonse smiled as he pulled away, "Hey, someone's got to be there to keep you in check."
"But…I was thinking, Al…say that we do reopen the gate. Are we supposed to bring…Skyla…back here or…?"
Alphonse sighed, finishing his brother's sentence, "or do we go back to Amestris?"
"This isn't our home, but it is theirs," Edward nodded down the hall to where Al's wife and sons were chatting quietly, "and we can't just take them away from that."
He nodded, "I know…but," Alphonse paused, taking a moment to look out at the rain before turning back to Edward, "I think I have a plan."
