Yay, another chapter! I hope you guys don't mind the filler. Well, it wasn't so much a filler as it was a mini chapter. Anyway! Like I've been saying, some stuff is gonna go down and I'm hoping that this chapter will give you a glimpse into the future of Al and Ed. Don't forget to thank my best friend for co-writing this with me. And finally, don't forget to pop in on my OHSHC fanfic. I've been in a rut with it, and if you have any ideas, they are welcomed and extremely loved. And I lied. This is the final thing. I have decided to do a lemon chapter, but it doesn't come until later, ALTHOUGH there may be some touching and stuff before that, which is why I rated this fanfic M for Mature.

And a side note. Just to make sure you all know my thought of the train cars, it's like the one from Harry Potter. They're individual with doors separating them from the main corridor.

Now, we shall go on with the story!

"Brother, wake up. It's time to go." I shake the lump awake, sighing as I get a muffled reply. "Wake up! Master Izumi called." At this he shot up, his eyes wide in fear. Of all the people Brother is scared of (which isn't a very large list) Master Izumi is at the top.

"What did you just say?"

"She found out about my State Alchemist test!" I lift up the luggage, sliding it into my chest. "If we're not there by tomorrow afternoon, she's going to come find us herself." At this he launches from the bed and darts into the bathroom, quickly emerging dressed and his toothbrush in his mouth.

"When is the train leaving?" I follow him out the door, grabbing a bottle of water from the dining table as we bypass through the kitchen. Whenever I wake him up he's never so energetic. Maybe I should threaten him more often...

"In ten minutes."

"Crap! Are we gonna make it?"

"We should. The train station is right there." I push open the doors of the station, Brother gargling the water behind me, spitting into the grass, running to catch up.

"Hurry! If we miss it we'll have to... I don't even want to imagine what she'll do to us." At this, I agree. Master Izumi can be terrifying when she's angry, especially to Brother and I. We've been her pupils since we were young, and even though we don't keep in constant contact, she can be extremely protective. I guess you could say we're the children she's never had.

"Calm down, Brother. She can't be that angry."

"Alphonse, did I hear what I think I just heard?" I sit down opposite him, the luggage safely stored away above us.

"Well... She doesn't seem all that mean..."

"When I put you in that hunk of arm, did you lose part of your memory? She's terrible when she's angry! Do you remember when she was training us and she blew me back into a wall because I wasn't paying attention?"

"Oh... Well... Yeah..."

"Exactly! She's a nightmare." He squirms in his seat, his face slowly returning back to its original color. When I told him about the call, he went absolutely pale.

"Winry can be just as bad."

"Oh don't even get me started on her! She may not be as bad, but she gets back at me in worse ways. I break my automail, but she makes it better and then attaches without even warning me. Do you know how badly that hurts?"

"I'm going to guess a lot..." At this last statement I lean back in my seat, letting him rant for a while until he's petered out. I'm half listening, half not as I begin to drift away into my own little world and then, I begin to fantasize. What will it be like when I get my body back? What will it be like when I get to hug people again? As I'm in the middle of thinking, all of a sudden, everything goes dark.

I'm not entirely sure what happened to make everything go black... But as soon as it did, I could see the Gate. Not a normal gate for a garden, but the Gate to the Truth. In front of it, sat me body... Thin and frail and... Weak. Hollow hips, sullen cheeks... My body looked like it was dying.

"My soul... You have returned, finally?" I step back as a voice erupts from it. The voice is my own, but at the same time... It's not. It's sad, yet hopeful... But pained. I look at the frail thing and shake my head, turning my back to it.

"Why are you leaving me, Soul?"

"Brother and I decided... We'd get our bodies back at the same time."

"But you're here with me now! You can take this chance!"

"I have nothing to exchange! If I take you back now, then I'll be sucked in forever, won't I?" Would I be sucked in? The basic, fundamental rule of alchemy was equivalent exchange. If I were to take my body now... Wouldn't that mean that the Truth would suck me into the Gate and I would be amongst the dead and lifeless? It would, wouldn't it?

I glance back at my body, which has resumed it's sitting position. "You are right, Soul..." As I take a step away, I hear him whisper something. I turn to look at him, but he vanished, along with the Gate. Now everything is dark, like it was a split second before I saw the Gate.

"Alphonse! Alphonse!" I hear a screaming voice all around me and a vigorous shaking... Is it my voice? No... It's deeper. Is it Edward's voice? Yes, yes it is... But where's it coming from? From above? Maybe. From below? No. It's definitely from above.

"ALPHONSE!" At this final shout I'm thrust from the blackness and seemingly transported back to Earth, light swimming across my vision as I still see my body in my mind's eye.

"What?"

"Are you... Okay?"

"I'm... Fine..." Was I fine? Was I really? I didn't fall asleep... It's not possible. Is my body rejecting my soul? Probably... It happened to Barry... "Are we here?"

"Yeah. We pulled in just a minute ago. Man, you scared me."

"Don't worry, I just zoned out again." I chuckle and try to blow it off as nothing big, but I silently thank the Lord I don't have a face so he can't see the fear all over my face.