I'm like half an hour after midnight... so I didn't make it quite on time, but I didn't wait until tomorrow tomorrow. And you know what, this chapter was actually a lot easier to write than I thought it would be. I've been DREADING this chapter, and it actually turned out pretty, just like, bam you got this.

GUYS AFTER THIS THERE IS ONLY 5 CHAPTER LEFT. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I don't usually do this, but these are the three songs that I listened to on repeat while writing this chapter: Stoick Saves Hiccup from the How To Train Your Dragon 2 Soundtrack, They Called It from the Avenger's soundtrack, and Requiem for the Brigadier General from the FMA OST. If you know what all these soundtracks have in common... you know what's happening in this chapter.

Also, my suggestion is that once you get about half way through, forget the first two and stick with Requiem for the Brigadier General. On constant repeat.

"Still hate taking your medicine, eh, Ed?"

The former Fullmetal Alchemist didn't dignify his brother with a response, instead grumbling as he took a generous swig from the glass of water beside him to wash down the taste of the medicine his wife had just forced him to swallow.

"I hate this."

Al smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. His gold eyes were still filled with watchful concern. "You always hated sitting still for too long unless you were studying something."

"That banana woman won't even let me get my hands on an alchemy book anymore. She's worried that I'm going to start getting too excited I'll blow my heart out or something."

Al didn't comment on the fact that even though Ed's youngest child Roy was 28 years old, he was still using banana as a replacement swear word. It really had become a part of his vocabulary. Then again, if Mei had bashed his head in with a wrench every time he swore for 30 years or so, he guessed it might have made its way into his vocabulary too.

"You know she's just worried about you. Ever since your fall—"

"Yeah, I know, I know," Ed brushed off, falling back on the pillows and staring up at the ceiling. He turned his head. "Remember those days back when I would mess up my arm or my leg again and we'd come back here?"

"And Winry would take your leg away?"

"Those were awful. I hated them."

"You were glad to be home," Al pointed out. "And you were glad to see Winry, of course."

Where 45 years ago, the comment would have made Ed turn bright red and maybe start spouting alchemic nonsense, now he just smiled. "Yeah. Yeah I was. I still hated the waiting around, though."

"You've always hated waiting around. Who was it who completed a recovery that should have taken two to three years in one?"

"Me."

"Because you were too stubborn for your own good."

Ed snorted, but didn't respond, closing his eyes. The sleeping aids were starting to kick in. Al waited a few more seconds for any sign that Ed was going to continue speaking before standing up as quietly as he could.

He froze when he heard his name however.

"Yeah, Brother?"

His gold eyes were open and staring directly at Al. "I'm going to die aren't I?"

"… don't say that Ed…"

"I don't want you to avoid the question, Al. You're the alkahestrist. I'm dying, right?"

He didn't answer but that was answer enough.

"How much time do you think I have?"

There was a lump in Al's throat that he had to clear before answering. "I don't know. As much as a couple of months… as few as maybe only a few days."

"But I'll wake up, right?"

"You'll wake up Brother. You're not leaving this world without a proper goodbye."

A small smile crossed Ed's face before he let his eyes close. "No, I'm not. See you in the morning, Al."

"I'll see you then, Brother."

Al closed the door behind him, keeping the room dark so that it would be easier for his brother to fall asleep. He was fairly confident in his diagnosis that Ed would be waking up in the morning. Enough that when he walked into the kitchen to find his wife and sister-in-law washing the dishes together in silence and they asked him how he was doing, he responded 'fine.'

He still had to pull his wife into a tight hug, despite the fact that her hands were soapy, though. She hugged him back all the same.

"What is it? Why is this happening?" she asked his chest.

"Do you remember Baschool?" Winry's shoulders stiffened. No doubt she had heard this from Ed already. Al hadn't come to the conclusion before his brother had explained it to him. The story related to him about the mine and the fight with Kimblee had been the last thing in his mind when it came to this.

"Ed got into a fight with Kimblee there. He blew up a portion of the mine, and one of the support beams impaled Ed right through his abdomen. He would have died down there, but Heinkle and Darius pulled out the beam… and Ed… used his own life force to close the wound. The same way you would use a Philosopher's Stone. He knew that it would take years off his life, but he took the risk to heal himself so that he could keep going.

"None of us knew how it would manifest itself, or just how many years he cut off. My best guess is that it took off something between five to ten years. He's only 59, but once you remember his automail, which has been a drain on his body since he was 11, and the five to ten years, he's got the strength and health of an average seventy, seventy five year old."

"So there's nothing we can do?"

Al shook his head. "For all intents and purposes… he's dying of old age. Alkahestry can't help that."

"How long?"

Al was surprised by the steel in Winry's voice. He was almost in tears just thinking about a world without his brother, and here she was being as practical as ever.

"As little as a few days, as much as a few months. It depends on how well the medicine works, how stubborn Ed is…"

"Well I think we all know Ed's got no end of stubbornness."

All three of them smiled at each other, before Al pulled his sister-in-law into a hug. "Mei and I will finish the dishes. You get some rest. You've been driving yourself crazy with worry." The blond relaxed into his embrace and nodded, leaving his arms to join her husband in bed.

Al rolled up his sleeves and plunged his hands down into the sink. Mei came up beside him and handed him a dish which he dutifully began to scrub. They worked in silence for a few quiet moments.

"… Al. What do you… how are you?"

"I don't know Mei. There's a part of me that's trying to figure out some way, any way to stop this, to try to figure out some way to save his life. But for all of the research I've done, for everything I've learned, I'm just as helpless as I was when we first came home and found our mother collapsed on the ground."

"But it is different," she said softly. "Ed's… lived a good life. He's done amazing things. He's loved, he has a family that loves him."

"I know. Mei, you think I don't know that?" His tone wasn't angry, just defeated. "I've told myself that a million times already. What if it were Ling? What if he were dying now, years before his time should be coming, all because you left your brother to face a maniac alone causing him to nearly die and sacrifice years of his life just so he could see you again?"

"Al, you can't blame yourself for this. If you hadn't come and warned us, we would have walked right into a trap at Briggs! We'd all be dead."

His shoulders sagged in defeat. Eventually, after seconds that dragged like minutes, "I don't want to lose my brother."

"I know, Al. I know."

"He was everything to me for so long…"

"We're in this together all the way. Don't forget that, we're gonna keep pushing forward, all the way. We'll make ourselves stronger, faster, and better until we get out bodies back."

Her hands found his shoulders and she dragged him down into a hug, rubbing his shoulders. He didn't cry, but he did hold onto her as if she was his only support in life anymore.

"I don't know how you handled no working for so long. I've been doing this for seven months now and I'm about to go nuts!"

"I wasn't exactly bored, Al, I was playing Daddy to five rambunctious kids while Mommy made automail."

"But once they started growing up and leaving?"

"That's when Winry and I started having fun again." Al made a face at his brother.

"I did not need to hear that." Ed chuckled before his face became serious again.

"I get where you're coming from though. Stuck in this bed, I think I am about to go nuts. If you weren't here chatting me up—"

"Chatting you up!"

"—I think I might just die from boredom right here a now, forget about a couple of weeks." Al pursed his lips, but Ed ignored him. "How's Emily doing? Is the pregnancy going alright for her?"

"Yes. We were worried about her because of… the circumstances of her own birth, but everything seems to be fine. They've decided that if it's a boy, they're going to name him Omer and if it's a girl, they're going to name her Adiya."

"Any ideas for middle names?"

"Not that they've told me or Mei. What about Tammy? Isn't her baby due soon?"

"In a couple of weeks, yeah. That's why she hasn't made it over here yet, or she would have. Benny's bringing his kids down sometime later this week, Sara said she'd come at about the same time. Ethan and Roy are trying to clear their schedule's so that it can be a bit of a family reunion."

"That'll be nice. Just one moment for you all to be together. Before…" The words stuck in Al's throat and he couldn't quite get them out.

"Exactly."

Al and Mei tried to stay out of the family's way for the most part. Every once in a while one of the children would break off to have a discussion with their aunt and uncle, and they were both happy to play the part of supervisor for the grandchildren outside so that the kids could spend more time with their father.

They even played the part of photographer when Ed and Winry finally got the entire family gathered together to take a family photograph.

Ed was seated in the middle in a wheelchair, the chair he had been confined to for the purpose of the reunion, and Winry sat next to him in a normal chair, holding Roy's youngest in her lap, and holding Ed's hand in his lap. The children and grandchildren were all gathered around them, some at their feet, some behind them, some at the sides.

"Are you all ready?" Al asked. Ed nodded. "Okay, One, two, three!"

"Are you all finally ready?" The photographer asked testily.

"Yes." Ed said, proudly brandishing two year old Benny at the camera, while Winry held five month old Sara in her arms and Al, Mei, Paninya, and Mr. Garfiel took their positions around the small family.

"Good. One. Two. Three."

Ed looked around at them all after the picture was taken and squeezed Winry's hand. "We did well, Winry."

"Oh, Ed," she breathed, leaning over and kissing the side of his forehead. "We did. We did well."

Everyone was reluctant to leave that day. Al could see that the older grandchildren were anxious to get home, though the younger ones were more than enthusiastic about staying at Grandma and Grandpa's as long as they could. The closer it got to the time when they all knew that it was time to part ways though, the harder they tried to keep the conversation flowing, to stay close for just a few moments longer.

The realization came closer and closer that this was probably the last time they would ever all be together.

Sara was the first to leave ,long after the apple pie had been consumed and the paper plates thrown away, and she cried as she kissed her father for last time. Each of her children got their own kisses and fond farewells, only the older ones really grasping the situation. Ethan left next, to much the same treatment, then Tammy, Roy and finally Benjamin.

Ed didn't cry at all throughout the goodbyes, only smiled. When the door finally closed behind Benjamin, Winry squeezed his hand tight, laid her head on his shoulder, and didn't say anything. She just sat there with her head on his shoulder.

"We did well, Win. We did well."

"Do you remember what you told me, Al, when I tried to sacrifice myself for you? When Scar tried to kill me?"

"Didn't I call you an idiot and punch you in the face?"

"I think you punched me, then called me an idiot. You told me to never give up and keep on living and learning. You were always wiser, little Brother."

"Then my arm fell off didn't it?"

"It did. Winry had to fork over a lot of scrap metal to make up for all the pieces of you we lost during that fight."

"… Winry's amazing."

"Don't I know it. Almost 40 years married to the woman and she never ceases to surprise me. And her pies have only gotten better!"

"I'm glad you two were able to get over your stubborn pride and get together. The only people who didn't see you two together was you two for a long time."

Ed shrugged, but the motion was lost in the fact that he was lying down in bed again. "We figured it out. And we were happy. We were very happy."

"You were."

"And you and Mei… she's great, Al. She's great. And your kids, and grandkids…"

"Yeah."

The silence that feel between them wasn't awkward or pregnant, it was comfortable. Called for. Like everything was right with the world again.

"'In order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost or destroyed.' What a load of banana."

Al grinned.

"I have never heard anything so stupid in my whole life. There is nothing, nothing equal to what we've gained."

"I don't know what I could have given up to deserve having a brother like you, Ed."

There was a knock on the door that kept Ed from responding, and Winry poked her head in. "Al, I was going to go to bed, but I can wait—"

"No, it's fine," Al said, standing. As he passed Winry she whispered a "Thank you" in his ear before focusing on Ed.

He only heard Ed whisper "I love you" to Winry before the door closed behind him.

Al woke up.

A deep sense of foreboding filled his soul, and he pulled himself out of Mei's arms and out of bed, moving down the stairs as quickly as he could. He heard Mei following after him, but didn't pay attention to her. He had to know, he had to know…

He opened the door quietly, just in case, just in case.

He took a few steps forward, and waited, waited for the sound to fall on his ears.

But finally, the truth manifested itself to him.

The sound in the room was of one person sleeping, not two.

They had woken Winry up, not sure of what to do. She hadn't seemed to quite understand what Mei was trying to tell her, until she turned to Ed and noticed what Al had. Then the tears came. The tears and the cries of "No, Ed! Ed!" She tried to shake him, as if that would wake him from the sleep he wouldn't ever wake up from. Eventually Mei had pulled Winry into her arms and let her sob there, a few of her tears joining the now widow.

Al hadn't cried. He surprised himself by not crying, but no tears would come. He stared at the body that was all that was left his brother.

It felt like losing his mother all over again.

He had lost so many lives through the years. His mother, Colonel Hughes, the father he had just gotten again, his own child, Teacher, Colonel Mustang.

None of them except his mother's came close to the crushing emptiness, the lost feeling that was now running its way through his heart, through his very veins till it reached every fiber of his being. How could life go on without his brother? What would he do? How could he move forward?

He must have done something in terms of funeral planning, he couldn't remember. Mei and Benny must have taken care of most of it because he and Winry certainly weren't in the shape to. He remembered clinging to Mei that night, crying into her shoulder as he didn't think he had ever cried before.

The funeral was actually a small affair. Al had seen it in the newspapers that his death had been announced, even though most people wouldn't give it much more than a passing mention. There were no parades as there were for Colonel Mustang. There was no affair. Just a meeting in the Resembool graveyard where his family and some close friends gathered to watch him be lowered into the ground.

He must have spoken, he wasn't quite sure. He remembered staring at a crowd of familiar faces. He remembered the condolences, and the tears. So many tears. And then finally the crowd dispersed, most of them to the house where there would be a gathering. Mei made to stay with him, but he told her that it would be fine to go.

"I'm cold, Ed."

"I'm cold, Ed."

Two little suit dressed boys, desolate, alone, afraid.

An old man, desolate, alone, afraid.

"You… were the bravest person I've ever known. The most selfless, the strongest, and… the wisest. I don't know what I'm going to do without you."

"Move forward. You've got a strong pair of legs, Rose. You should get up and use them."

"But you were my big brother. I've always looked up to you. Whenever I was lost or confused or I didn't know what to do you were always there. You were always there. You were my example."

"That's the only thing I've ever been. Just a simple human that couldn't save a little girl. Not even with alchemy."

"… I miss you already... Ed… How can I move on when it hurts so much?"

"There's no such thing as a painless lesson-they just don't exist. Sacrifices are necessary. You can't gain anything without losing something first. Although if you can endure that pain and walk away from it, you'll find that you now have a heart strong enough to overcome any obstacle."

"I love you, Ed. And I know… that… if there is any afterlife, you deserve the best of it. I hope you're with Mom and Dad. And Teacher and Hughes and Mustang. I hope… I hope you're happy. I hope you're happy where you are, Ed, because you deserve it."

"Yeah… a heart made Fullmetal."

"You deserve it."

Emily's baby is a boy, and his full name is Omer Edward Rahal. He was born 5 days before what would have been his Aunt and Uncle's 40th Wedding Anniversary.