"We just have to live and be content while we can." Edward

"This time I have an attack made just for you!"

It was Al who went forward, who lunged at Scar to deter him from reaching Ed, more vulnerable to any of Scar's attacks. Ed could follow his reasoning, that he was made of metal, that Scar had done so little damage the last time the two had come into contact.

So Al ran forward and cut across, a huge, sweeping motion that took down most any foe he'd come across in the past few years. He, who used to be so good at alchemy, who could transmute as fast as Ed, rarely used the art anymore. Why bother, when with just one swipe he could take down any antagonist?

But Scar's cry made Ed's legs turn to jelly, and when Al's body got blown apart, when his arm was distintegrated and his body crushed, Ed's heart stopped beating in his chest.

Because…and he should have figured this out earlier…there was still a way for Al to die. He was much more impervious to that last dark horse than Ed, who could be felled by beast or man, guns and poison, but he could still be killed, the last of his soul ripped from the inadequate metal body, if the transmutation ruin was broken.

Ed's eyes went wide, nearly popped from his skull as Al was thrown across the alley as if he were actually a thirteen-year-old boy and not three-hundred-pounds of heavy metal. And when Al skidded to a stop, his head hitting the brick of a building with a hollow thud, Ed was sure, for the first time in years, that Al was dead.

He screamed as his heart broke, tore down the middle and shredded in parts again. Al wasn't moving, had stopped moving when Scar put his arm on his body. Which could only mean he was…

Ed lunged, blinded by loss and grief and so much anger. He forgot that he was a dog of the state, that he had sworn to do no harm, that Dr. Marco was still gaping on the other side of the alley. All he knew was the most important thing in his life had just been blown up before his eyes.

Scar grasped his hand, held it there with a strength that was surprising. Few people could catch his metal arm, let alone hold it still while he was in such a rage. "By clasping your hands you make an array with your body and circulate the alchemic reaction within. I know your secret and without this sinful arm you can't transmute quickly. That is your weakness."

And Ed watched as his arm was blown to bits. Pain lasted for only an instant before the automated nerve endings were fried, and Ed was left staggering back by the force of the blow, landing on his stomach, too winded and defeated to move.

"Brother!" But that was impossible. Al's body had been blown up, his seal crushed. He couldn't be calling to him. He couldn't… "Get up brother! Run! Get out of here!"

As if he could. As if Ed were made to leave his little brother behind as a plaything for Scar. He was, as the Ishbalan had pointed out, a sin against nature. There was no way he'd survive in a fight against such blind faith, not with half a body.

Ed staggered upright, doing so only out of deference to his brother. He would not, could not, die in the alley like a coward, huddling in a puddle and waiting for the worst to be over. He'd promised, after all. He'd promised to get Al's body back.

And damnit, he couldn't break that promise!

"I will give you a moment to pray." The low voice could have been sincere if there wasn't that implication, silent, lethal, behind the words. And then I'll kill you.

Ed stared at the ground, holding his torn arm as if to keep non-existant blood from pouring. It was an immediate reaction, genetic. "Thanks for the gesture." He spat out, glancing at Al. The metal mouth was open, the only emotion the armor allowed Al to show. "But I don't believe. Stopped a long time ago."

A sudden thought hit and he again looked at Al, winging a silent prayer to a God he'd denounced not three seconds ago. "Back in the tunnel, you told me you had an older brother, right?"

"Correct Fullmetal." That voice was so measured, condescending, but now something like anger, hurt, betrayal slipped into the words. Not unlike the emotions Ed himself was feeling. "He was killed by a state alchemist."

Ed could almost relate, almost sympathize, but this guy had killed Nina and plenty of other people. He deserved nothing. "Well, I'm the oldest brother." He couldn't look at Al, just down at the ground, unable to bear the boy's reaction. "So take my life and go. That's an equivalent exchange don't you think?"

"No!" Al couldn't understand, couldn't know what Ed had felt in those moments when he'd been forced to endure without the bright spark of a boy, in those minutes before the Gate. "You just said yourself, a life doesn't equal a life!"

"You stay out of this, Al!" Ed called, ferocity snapping into his voice as his heart fell to the ground with the rain, breaking not for his own fate but for his brother's. No brother should have to live without the other. It wasn't fair.

Ed looked up at Scar. "He's not a State Alchemist I should be enough." He closed his eyes, trying to ignore Al's cries, his pleas.

Scar examined him. "I promise before God I won't hurt your brother." And for some reason, Ed believed him, believed that he wouldn't go back on his word. Maybe because he knew taking Ed from Al was more damage than he or his arm could ever inflict.

"But you should listen to him, Fullmetal. One life does not equal another. There is nothing in this world that can equal the loss of my brother and my people. Nothing will make it easier to bear."

Maybe they were alike, in a strange way. Because Ed knew that nothing would be ever equal the pain of losing Al. Not his severed arm and leg, not his automail, not watching countless people die. He'd lost his heart to Al, and pieces kept crumbling into oblivion.

He wondered if Scar had lost his heart with his brother. If he'd cared that much. "Why are you murdering all those people?" He really couldn't understand. Maybe he and Scar had had the same trigger point, maybe they cared just as much, but Ed could never go around killing people in some vigilante form of justice.

"Brother?" Even in his grief, Al couldn't refer to Ed by anything else. God, he'd miss that, more than anything else, he'd miss being Al's brother. "Brother, what are you doing, get out of here!" Ed couldn't even look at Al. He felt so wrong, so terrible, but he coudlnt' take it back. Not if it meant that Al could live. "

"We're all we've got, remember? We're all we've got!"

Something like tears slid down Ed's cheeks, except that he cried so rarely he couldn't quite recognize them anymore. I'm sorry, Al, he thought, feeling Scar's hand on his head.

"I can't do this." Al's plea nearly made Ed lose his resolve, and broke his heart again. For the last time. "No!"

The last word came out as Scar's hand turned red, as Ed felt the power of alchemy float about him. Al. He thought, giving the last of his heart to his little brother.

And then all Hell broke loose.

The dialogue at the end of that episode is our absolute favorite but it just didn't fit.

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