Chapter Thirteen

Al knows that he should be happy that Ed's escaped now - he's hopefully safe, and missing on leg - but Al can't bring himself to stop needing his brother, nor missing him.

So he lives his life with a lot of emptiness in his heart.

He's been hanging out with Winry a lot lately, and he's come to learn properly in the ways of Alchemy from his new teacher, Mrs. Izumi Curtis, though she has a baby boy at home, and the lessons he is so eager for are often short, as well as few and far between.

Albert Middleton passes away one late summer, leaving Al with a grieving Sara who no longer cares about how Al uses her money, or much else at all, really.

Life is relatively well, but Al no longer feels good about anything, and worries about his missing brother consume his every waking thought.

He often dreams of meeting Edward at night.

When Al is fifteen, he joins the military as a state alchemist, seeing it only as a way for him to look for his brother.

His commanding officer is a man named Roy Mustang who, despite his heartless composure, seems to like him very much. Alphonse knows that Roy killed a lot of people in the war, but despite this intimidating fact, he respects - maybe even looks up to - Mustang an awful lot.

Because of his kind nature and his tendency to help others - even at such a young age - he becomes known as a 'hero of the people'.

When Al is sixteen, he formally begins to search tirelessly for his brother, though often he is very lonely and his heart misses Winry a lot.

No longer is he double-checking every blonde boy who walks past, checking dark corners and always, constantly feeling so far away. He has a map and he's made his mind up to search everywhere on it until he's found Ed.

He knows that it's most likely Ed would have fled Amestris, so he starts with the countries beyond the border.

Then finally, in his third month in Xing, he catches wind of a promising rumour...

I walk into the automail shop quietly, though a bell above the door chimes when the door closes anyways.

I'm unbearably nervous.

A young Amestrian man with an automail leg? Yes, he runs a very successful automail shop just down the road. Yes, he does have blonde hair...

The waiting room is empty. I wait in tense silence for a few minutes before a gruff (familiar?) voice calls out.

"Hey Russell, can you come an' give me a hand with this?"

I don't dare answer.

It does sound... So much like him.

After more silence, where I venture further in the shop, the voice calls out again.

"Russell, that is you, isn't it?"

I clear my throat and take shaky steps closer to the source of the voice, my heart beating a million miles an hour.

"Um, I don't think Russell's here."

There's more uncomfortable silence that both stabs and stifles me. I've stopped my slow trek to listen for a response.

"Come here." The callous command cuts through the thing air like a blade.

I make my way to the room with only a few minor wrong-turns.

When I get inside, softly brushing hair out of my face, I hear a sharp, shocked intake of breath and I instantly just know.

When I look at Ed - for the first time in six years - I stop myself from looking at his automail port and missing leg, but focus instead on everything else about him: mature, grown, lean and handsome looking, I barely recognise the brother that once sacrificed his freedom for my health and safety.

Though he stole his freedom back eventually.

"A-Alphonse?"

I nod, tears welling up in my eyes.

"Whoa, how... How did you...?"

I don't even notice myself stumbling closer until hugging myself to Ed, sobbing with such strong relief into the crook of his neck.

"I-it took me this long to find you..." Six years, in fact. "But brother, oh, I finally have!"

Ed wraps his arms around me slowly and firmly - I can feel how strong and sure his grip is.

"I... I can't believe you're really here, Al... I thought I'd never see you again." His voice is so low it's barely audible.

"I was always looking for you..." I mumble, waves of exhaustion crashing over me.

Ed lets me go and I take a step back, beaming with relief and joy.

"My god... You've grown up so much, Al!" He says with a smile, one hand wrapping around his automail port, as if to hide it from view.

"What do you mean? Look at you, brother!"

Though I meant it as a compliment, Ed's gaze drops down to the stump which he is clutching so tightly. I smile sadly.

"My friend told me about you leg. Her dad was the man who treated you. She was so happy that she got to help you too... You were the first person she ever properly helped... I... Came to see you, but you'd already left. But - but then, once I knew you still alive, I promised myself that I would find you again one day! Even if you told me... To get lost afterwards..." I trail off, not meeting my brothers gaze.

Even though it seems like he's been happy to see me so far, I can't shake off the doubt that he doesn't want to, or that he left because he doesn't care about me.

"Alphonse, I didn't even want to leave my life as a slave, just because I could still see you. Russell... My friend took me away with him that night, and I was very sick. By the time I knew what was going on, there was no logical way I could return, so I... I escaped Amestris, but not a day went by when I wasn't thinking about you, wondering how you were doing and what sort of life you were making for yourself. I'm sorry if you thought I abandoned you, Al."

My heart soars.

"I knew there was some reason, Ed!" I exclaim, rushing forward to hug him again. "I missed you, brother."

He smirks, pulling my weight off of his missing leg.

"I missed you too, Al."

TOO MUCH DIALOGUE...! *Blows up*

...Whew, anyway. Sorry this is so choppy and raw, but I'll probably have time to clean it up on the weekend. Just thought I'd post it anyway, no?

BTW... This isn't the end... Yet.