Disclaimer: FMA is not mine, sadly.

Sakura-Angel: Haven't finished the series yet. Just finished Episode 25 and I couldn't help but write this little bit. Review?

Rain

I never took our friendship for granted.

I'd tell you to shut up about your darling daughter, I'd threaten to burn you to bits if you did something dangerous, I'd ignore your advice about getting a wife...

But I never once took what we had for granted.

I knew you knew.

You knew that behind all the death threats and the smirky protests, I was grateful. So grateful to have you there. Because you supported me. You promised me that you'd stay below me and push me up, help me rise. In spite of everything, you always had me covered, to the point that you...

I told myself that I wouldn't take anything for granted ever again after the war. Seeing an entire population of people lose everything they had - and have no chance of getting it back - really changed me.

I know most soldiers say that. The surviving ones, most of them, they come back broken and they say they'll never heal. But they do. And when the memories fade, when the smell of blood and the feel of grit in their mouths fades, so do their words. Their outlook on life just changes. Reverts.

But you saw me that day. I was broken, I knew it'd be a hard time healing. You see, I didn't want to cast aside my experiences, my memories, and that made it harder to heal.

I was a madman.

You slapped me awake.

You helped me help myself.

And for everything, I am thankful.

So I stood there after everyone had left, before you, ironically my superior, above me for once. Brigader General.

I said it outloud. You weren't supposed to be there. You weren't supposed to be anywhere but behind me, cracking a joke at why I was so pale.

But you weren't.

"It's starting to rain," I said.

The sky was clear.