The Ties That Bind
Epilouge:
The Brother That Came Home
"Brother?" Alphonse asked, coming out onto the balcony of the Rockbell house. He stretched a bit and looked around, noticing a ladder nearby but not his brother. "I could've sworn he came out here..."
"I'm up here!" Ed called in a carrying-whisper. Al looked toward the sound of the voice, and found himself staring back toward the house and up. "On the roof!"
"Why are you up there?" Al asked, immitating his brother's volume, taking care not to be too loud. It was nearly midnight, and Pinako or Winry would kill both brothers if they woke them up. Alphonse walked over to the ladder and, after checking that it was at a suitable angle, climbed up it enough to see onto the roof, where he spied his brother. Edward was stretched out comfortably with his arms above his head. Alphonse saw a line of small squares jutting out of the roof of the house, and noticed that his brother was using one of those to keep himself on the roof.
"Thinking."
"Mind if I join you?" Edward looked over at his brother.
"Of course not." He said with a smile. Alphonse climbed the rest of the way up the ladder and, using the stones as steps, settled himself comfortably and quietly a few feet away from his brother.
"Aren't you cold out here? I mean, it is winter after all..." Al asked after a few minutes of silence, gazing up at the stars. While Alphonse was dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and thick pants with socks, his brother was wearing a sleeveless shirt and thin pants with no socks or shoes.
"Not really... I got used to the cold while living up north, so this isn't so bad."
"Up north? Like near Mount Briggs?"
"Not that far north. Just about a two-day walk north of New Optain."
"So that's where you were for a year. What did you do?" Alphonse asked, curious as to what his brother was doing to pass the time while his memories came back.
"I didn't tell you yet?" Edward asked, a bit surprised. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. We were busy with your automail and too happy you were back to ask anything more than if you were alright." Even though Edward did regain many of his memories, he still wasn't quite normal yet. His personality was split between Edward and someone else. He was still as stubborn and loud as Edward, but he appologized quickly and was gentle, especially around Al and Winry. He was slowly gaining back bits of his old personality, but he caught them offguard often, like when he appologized for the simplest of things. Over the last few days since he had been home, however, he was becoming more and more like the old Edward; he had even thrown a short rant the day before.
"Okay... So, what I've been up too..." Edward looked back up at the stars and just let the words come to him. "I really didn't know where I was going, but I stayed in the town after I found it. It was small, and it's a lot like Resembool, except it's a coal-mining town instead of a farming town. I got a job at a bakery there, and lived with the young couple who ran it. They reminded me of the Hughes, minus children. Everyone in the town was nice, and everybody knew everybody and what everybody was doing, like they do here. They welcomed me easily, but were always curious about my automail, no matter how many times I explained everything about it. No one had ever seen automail there, but they accepted it after a few days and were really nice to me. A bunch of the miners would gather at the bakery, and we got to be good friends, all of us. They kept joking that I needed to come work in the mines with them, but I wouldn't ever joke about that with them. It was just too dangerous a job with too tiny a chance that I wouldn't get hurt. After all, I did promise you I'd come back, and I always try to avoid breaking my promises..." Edward fell silent, and continued to gaze up at the stars. Alphonse didn't try to question his brother for several minutes, and enjoyed the comfortable quiet between the two.
"...So... What are you going to do now, Ed?" He asked after a long stretch. "You're too much the Full Metal Alchemist to stay here for long..." He said with a small laugh. Ed laughed a bit with him, but fell silent, thinking.
"...Yeah... I'm thinking about going back to the military once I turn ninteen next year... Oh! That reminds me, I met with Roy on the way back here."
"Really? How?"
"He was doing a surprise inspection of East Headquarters, and I stopped by there to call him and tell him I wanted an extended leave of absense from work."
"What'd he say?"
"Nothing much. Just the same egotistical crap about being my supierior and making sure to tell him where I was and if I was okay and all that crap... And I've apparently been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. He told me he'd cover for me as long as I didn't use my military funds too heavily. Like I'd go overboard on spending..." Ed said rolling his eyes. Al laughed a bit.
"You don't have to go back anymore."
"I know I don't have to, but I think I want to. We really helped out a bunch of people, and it's nice knowing that we left a mark on others... not just those closest to us..." Ed fell silent a moment before sitting up. Alphonse, noticing the movement in the corner of his eye, turned to watch his brother, who was now holding his automail shoulder with his left hand.
"What's wrong?" He rolled his shoulder a bit and grimaced. Alphonse noticed his fingers start twitching, and Ed winced every time.
"I'm not sure, but my shoulder port's been aching for a while now."
"What! Why didn't you say something before!" Alphonse exclaimed, sitting up to look at his brother clearer.
"It's not that bad, and I honestly forgot about it. The last time it got like this was on the train the day before it pulled into the station here." He started going through his rehab excersises quickly before shaking out his hand and curling it into a fist. His pinky twitched a few times but other than that everything seemed normal.
"I think a current's jumping wires..." Alphonse bit back a yawn. "It shouldn't be too hard to fix..."
"I'll let you take it apart in the morning and fully disect me if you want, but you're getting in the bed now. You've been sitting up late and you always get up at the crack of dawn."
"You need sleep just as much as I do, I can tell. You haven't been sleeping well lately, I can hear you tossing around in your sleep a bunch. What's wrong?" Alphonse asked, and Edward looked up at the sky, avoiding his eyes.
"Bad memories." He said quietly after a stretch. "I told you I don't have all my memories back yet, and the worse ones come back at night." Alphonse nodded, knowing how hard this was for his brother to admit. He hated admitting that he was weak, and being plauged by nightmares was certainly a weakness in the older Elric's mind.
"I understand, Brother." Alphonse smiled a bit. "So let's get to sleep so Winry can royally beat you tomorrow morning for not telling us about your automail earlier." Edward nodded and the brothers climbed off the roof quietly (Edward transmuted the roof back to normal while standing on the ladder) before each went into their separate rooms.
Unbeknownst to either Elric, Winry had heard nearly the entire conversation. She had been working on a new design for automail at her desk in her room when she had decided to get up and stretch a bit. She had walked over to the window and opened it a bit when she heard Edward's voice drift down to her in an appology. She listened to the rest of the conversation, and had to hold back her tears.
'No, Winry, you can't feel sorry for him. He hates that. He'll be back to normal soon and he'll be able to tell you pity him. No, no more pittying him. He's going to be all right soon, and then he and Alphonse will run off to who-knows-where and do who-knows-what and get into all sorts of trouble just like they used too... but... I won't stay here and wait on them anymore...'
"I won't loose you again."
The End!
Finally! I am very sorry to everyone who's been waiting on this for so long! I wasn't home to upload this chapter on the day I promised, and when I got home, my internet was shut off. I think they went out of buisness without sending out a notification to anyone, so it's taken me until now to actually get this uploaded. I hope I haven't kept people in too much suspense waiting on this.
Anyways, that's it. All done. I don't know if I'm actually going to continue this or not, because I haven't worked on it since I posted the last chapter. I'm actually working on a Full Metal Alchemist crossover at the moment, and if I ever get it typed up I'll post it when I'm done with it.
Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and/or added me to your favorites/alerts list. I planned on posting a big list, but I don't have very long to post this. Thanks a million to everyone anyways!
Well, it's been fun everyone and I hope to see you all next time!
Shadow Kat-Lyn