"Get a move on, Fullmetal! You're going to be late!" General Mustang ordered, pounding on the door to the bathroom at the Rockbell residence. Roy was in his dress blues, Captain Hawkeye holding his hat under her arm. She too was in her dress blues.
"Fullmetal are you even in there?!" Roy yelled. Pinako Rockbell then passed by, her pipe in her mouth.
"If you're looking for Ed, he's not here." Pinako said casually.
"What?! That idiot! Where is he?!" Roy asked impatiently.
"Yeah, we come all this way to attend the pipsqueak's nuptials and he's not even here." Lt. Havoc groaned. He and the rest of the Mustang Unit were all present in their dress blue uniforms. Even Black Hayate had a black bow tie collar.
"We can't exactly start without him. And a missing groom is never a good sign at a wedding." Breda commented.
"I hope he comes back soon. Emperor Yao can't hold out much longer." Fuery commented, looking into the kitchen where Ling Yao was half passed out on the floor from hunger, Lan Fan quickly feeding him some of the appetizers.
"Can't start without Winry either you know." Pinako replied, taking a drag of her pipe.
"What? Winry's missing too?" Sheska asked.
"Along with Alphonse and Princess Chang." Lieutenant Ross said as she and Denny entered, also in dress blues. They were followed immediately by Colonel Armstrong.
"Isn't it tragic?! A love so supposedly unbreakable only to be dashed away at the last minute!" Armstrong blubbered, sparkling inexplicably.
"Oh no, nothing like that Colonel. They're all together." Pinako said, confusing everyone.
"Ms. Rockbell, you know where they are, don't you?" Hawkeye asked as Pinako took a deep breath.
"They're paying one last visit to their parents." Pinako replied, everyone falling silent and looking towards the window.
…
(AC: Epilogue ~A New Journey~ - FMA:B OST 3)
Edward and Alphonse, both in their best dress suits stood at the foot of the graves of Van Hohenheim and Trisha Elric while Winry, wearing a beautiful white dress, stood at the graves of her parents, Urey and Sara Rockbell. May was carefully maintaining a position between wherever Ed and Winry were standing, using a large Xingese umbrella to hide Winry from Ed's view, taking the whole "never-see-the-bride-before-the-wedding" rule too literally.
"Well…" Ed said softly, a tear running down his face.
"Hard to believe it all started six years ago." Al said as Ed gave a nod, both of them smiling.
"Yeah. But man did we have four wild years." Ed replied.
"It worked out in the end though. We got our bodies back…well mostly." Al replied, looking at Ed's leg.
"Nah, it just gives me an excuse to marry my cute automail mechanic." Ed said cheekily. Winry heard him and shot him a sly smirk from behind the umbrella.
"Well, Mom…Dad…" Ed said, forcing himself to call Hohenheim 'dad.'
"I hope you're all smiling down at us from heaven right now." Al said.
"Yeah. You, Colonel Hughes, Nina, and everyone we ever lost." Ed added.
"We'll never be able to forget any of you. The pain of losing each of you will always be there, but as long as we have each other, that pain can be replaced by the good memories we all had together." Al said as Ed took a deep breath.
"We just hope you'll keep watching over us from heaven." Ed said. He and Al both remained silent for a moment before Ed quietly checked his watch, checking the time, and then pocketing the watch.
"Come on, Al. It's time." Ed said as Al walked to the entrance of the cemetery but Ed walked over towards Winry and May, making sure to stay on his side of the umbrella.
"So hey, I know this is a little late, Mr. Rockbell, but is it alright if I marry your daughter?" Ed asked as Winry let out a snort of laughter.
"Ed! Come on, that wasn't right." Winry said, giggling.
"Then why are you laughing Miss Rockbell?" Ed asked tauntingly.
"I don't know! I guess I'm a little giggly today! And why'd you call me Miss. Rockbell?" Winry asked.
"Because for the next few minutes you still are, Miss. Rockbell." Ed said as Winry smiled towards him.
"Yeah…I guess so." Winry said.
"Hey, you guys better hurry up! I think I just saw Teacher look this way!" Al called from the cemetery entrance, causing Ed to shake.
"Damn that makes me more nervous than the wedding!" Ed said before feeling a warm hand gently take hold of his.
"Don't worry Ed. I'll be right there with you." Winry said, Ed trying to look towards her but unable to as May kept a fan shoved between them, Xiao Mei helping. Ed took a deep breath and they started heading towards the entrance, meeting up with Al along the way.
"So I have to ask. How exactly did Ed propose to you, Winry?" May asked.
"Clumsily. He treated it like an alchemy thing. He was real flustered about it though. Then he made fun of me for getting all flustered when I said yes." Winry said as Ed snickered.
"You should've seen it Al! She was incredible! She knocked Equivalent Exchange flat on its butt with just a few words!" Ed snickered. Even Winry was laughing about it.
"Really Ed! To treat even a marriage proposal like alchemy! How do you propose we deal with things like, oh I dunno, raising kids for example?" Winry asked, still laughing.
"Easy. Equivalent Exchange. We both do half the raising so that way it evens out." Ed replied.
"I don't think you have to worry about being a good mother, Winry. After all, look at all the experience you've had just taking care of Ed." Al commented with a grin. Winry was snickering now but Ed just smiled with a roll of the eyes.
"Huh, someone wants to be stripped of the title of 'best man' doesn't he?" Ed asked with a smirk.
"Too late for that, brother." Al said as they began to approach the Rockbell House. As they looked up at the house, Ed paused with a smile on his face as Winry and May headed on up to the house.
"What's wrong brother?" Al asked.
"Just think, we used to walk up this road several times whenever I'd bust my automail. It was from this very house that we began our long journey together, Al. Now we're walking up this road to start a new journey." Ed said as Al smiled, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Yeah. But I have a feeling we'll like this journey a lot more." Alphonse said as Edward gave a nod.
"And it won't just be me and you. It'll be Winry, and May…all of our friends." Edward said.
"Yeah. So come on Alphonse. Let's go start a new journey." Edward said as they started up the road, about to start another journey…
…another journey as the Fullmetal Alchemist.
The End
Well I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please sign in/register and leave a review. Maybe one day I'll return to Amestris and the world of Fullmetal Alchemist but only time will tell.
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