***I'm Going to Sleep for a Year***

Central, Amestris, January 1920

Ed flopped down in the dorm room bed, face first into the pillow. Since Monday afternoon, he had spent the whole week being debriefed by the Council of Generals. His days had been filled with questions, and his nights had been spent under guard. Even his meals had been 'working lunches,' so he couldn't leave then either.

The council had asked him about the most mundane details of his life in Germany as well as the harder questions he had prepped for. The Generals had all seemed to have a difficult time understanding the logistics of traversing between worlds, which he'd figured was good. He had tried to be circumspect in the details, thanks to Kai's tutelage, not wanting them to get any bright ideas.

-8-

"No," Ed had said again, emphatically this time, losing patience. "In the end, we were the only ones who could have opened even a temporary path between worlds."

"And why is that, Elric?" Hakuro had scornfully jeered. "Is it because you are so smart we are supposed to be in awe of your genius?"

"No," Ed had breathed irritably, gritting his teeth. Then he had calmed himself before continuing, "it is because we were the only ones on that side of the gate that were originally from this side. Most alchemy doesn't work on that side of the gate. The pathways between worlds can only be opened by an alchemist from beyond the gate. In other words, side A will only open to side B if someone from side B is already on side A and opens it from side A."

"What do you mean 'most alchemy' doesn't work?" Brigadier General Avro from Alchemic Affairs had wanted to know, twisting his already artfully curving eyebrow.

"Only blood alchemy used by an alchemist from this side works correctly," Ed had explained succinctly trying to stifle further exploration into that thought.

"So you did all that without alchemy?" Avro had said in awe and the room had broken into low murmurs.

When the room had calmed again, The Chairman had deduced the price Ed had paid.

"Is that why your arm was sliced upon arrival? You were paying the price to get your brother home with your life's blood?" The clever Assemblyman in the expensive three-piece suit had charged.

Ed had sat in quiet, not answering, and the room had taken his silence as confirmation. He had mentioned his intent to get Al home as his impetus for returning to Amestris yesterday or the day before; he'd been unable to remember which day it had been. They had become an amalgam in his head. However, he could see his silent admission had him rising in the council members' estimations; Mustang had just given Ed a look like he had not expected anything less, even if it had annoyed him.

"Then explain how Thule opened the portal in the first place. If it requires an alchemist from our side to be there to open it, then you must have opened it for them!" Hakuro had demanded Ed's culpability, like a dog refusing to let go of a tattered bone.

"I did not," Ed had said coldly, biting his tongue to stop himself from cursing the fucker out and reminding himself to not let the complete asshat rile him up into letting slip something he hadn't wanted them to know. "Lives were lost to pay for the interdimensional doorway they used, lives I was unable to save," he had replied with remorse. He had wondered if his father's soul and those of the three homunculi had suffered when they had powered the portal. "An old alchemist who had been marooned there was captured and used as fuel; his name was Hohenheim." There had been no reason to explain the presence and destruction of the homunculi; they were all dead anyways.

Out of the corner of his eye, he had spied Mustang. His CO had known Hohenheim was Ed's father, but the Brigadier General's expression hadn't given way any foreknowledge. The rest of the room had broken out into a loud cacophony of questions.

"Hohenheim?!" "Hohenheim?" "That man?" "Hohenheim?!" "How do you know that name?"

Good. Ed had known his father's name would prompt the Generals to focus on the missing man rather than ask further logistical inquiries, so he'd had to use that card. He hadn't wanted to bring it up unless he had needed to, but Hakuro's unrelenting questions had made the decision for him.

"He was already on their side of the gate when I arrived. He was killed opening the doorway," Ed had supplied, hoping that the information would keep the focus off of more logistically sensitive topics.

"Then how did either of you get to the other side in the first place?" Hakuro had asked with smug satisfaction, as if catching Ed in a lie.

The Major General had been on Ed's last nerve. He hadn't wanted to tell the Major General, or anyone else for that matter, that to open the doorway from this side you needed to perform human transmutation on a living human being, so instead he had allowed himself to answer with agitation.

"Look, I don't make the rules. You'd have to ask the dead alchemist responsible for sending us to the other side how she did it," he had easily side stepped the question. He would never tell them the truth.

"Did you kill her, Fullmetal?" The serious question had come from Major General Bell who was in charge of the Labor Department.

"No. All evidence suggests that she was killed by a creature she'd alchemically turned rabid," Ed had replied, remembering what Al had deduced before trying to bring Ed home, that Gluttony had devoured Dante whole along with half the elevator floor that connected the Fuhrer's office with the Forgotten City.

Ed had wondered absently if that passage had been discovered or not. Maybe when he got out of the endless game of 20 Questions he'd make sure the route was secure. He had needed to decide what he was going to do with himself now that he was back…

-8-

Ed turned over now to look at the ceiling of his dorm room. Man, was he glad it was over. It was expected that he would report to Mustang on Monday morning. For what, he really didn't know; he had been too tired to ask. All he knew was that he was officially out of being sequestered as of an hour ago.

He looked over at Al's empty bed, missing his brother. Since Ed was in custody, he wasn't allowed to talk to anyone, even his old CO. However, Mustang had passed a message to him through a newly promoted Sargent Whitworth: Al had been staying with Gracia and Elicia all week. His brother was safe. With that in mind, hopefully Al wouldn't mind if Ed called him later. He was beat. Kicking off his shoes, he rolled onto his back and fell asleep within seconds.

***Feeling better***

Central, Amestris, January 1920

Alphonse made his way through the halls of the dorms. He was so happy he was nearly skipping in his new, longer stride. His brother had survived a week of nonstop questions, and now they were free. Now they were home!

He slowed as he neared his brother's room. It would be great to see Brother again. Double checking that he had the right room. He knocked and waited.

Alphonse had woken up three days after they had arrived back in Amestris surrounded by his brother and a security patrol in the small hospital facility under lockdown. At least Brother and he had been in the same room. He had ached all over, and had been awkward and uncoordinated.

Brother had just laughed at the scene. When he had stopped, Brother had told him he finally looked his age, and Alphonse had nearly fallen out of bed to get to a mirror. He really did look 19! Square jaw, plump lower lip, straight nose, big olive eyes, and now an extra six inches taller.

So what if his growing pains had been excruciating, only ebbing slowly as time went by? Considering all they had been through, here he was: home, in his flesh and bones body with all his memories, and looking his age all for the first time in nine years!

Brother had felt bad that the gate had taken four years off of Alphonse's life, but that's not how he had seen it. Alphonse had thought of it as a gift to finally be back to where he should have been had that night in Resembool never happened. The only reminders that it had all been real had been Ed's automail and the fact that they had been surrounded by military guards.

Ever since they had left Germany and woken up in Amestris, Alphonse had begun to feel like himself again. After he had watched Brother slice open his own arm just for Alphonse's sake, to make sure Brother got him home safe, his anger had nearly vanished. While Brother had risked his life again, Alphonse understood it now.

All that he had been left with was his sense of loss and guilt. Alphonse could not be mad at Ed for not appreciating their father the way Alphonse would have done. He had been sad for the lost opportunities instead. He had been guilty of far worse, and he had deserved his physical pain as his body adjusted to its new size, in small recompense for letting in an invading army, killing thousands.

He knocked again on his brother's door. He thought about his guilt over opening the portal and unleashing hell on Central. It was ever present, but he would find a way to atone.

While he had prepared the cocktail of Brother's blood and anticoagulants they had used as the price to get home, Alphonse had realized he'd always been good around blood and people. He'd never been squeamish around wounds either. Who knew how many times Brother had been injured and Alphonse had had to patch him up while on the road? Alphonse could also put people at ease, making them feel better. Maybe he could learn the skills he would need to really make a difference in people's lives and pay back what little he could. It was just like Dr. Marco had said; there was no way to repay the debt, but he would do what he could.

Alphonse opened the unlocked door to find his brother asleep on his back, hand under his shirt over his stomach, with his mouth wide open. Alphonse smiled as he retreated out of the room. He could see his brother tomorrow.