Formerly a chapter in one of my other fics. Didn't fit, so now it's a one shot.
What was that sound? Things had been so peaceful since the Elric brothers had left, well, since FullMetal had left. He wasn't used to the sound of yelling and random explosions anymore, and he jumped a little at the noise. He figured that as the ranking official around here that he should go make sure that nothing important was damaged… but decided against it.
He remembered the last time he had made that fatal decision, he had ended up being humiliated by a fifteen-year-old midget and had spent a week in the hospital. He had spent weeks picking the splinters of the chairs out of the staff room walls, and the construction of rebuilding the north wing still wasn't complete. And on top of all that, he had sent the little brat into a breakdown of some sort, and Hawkeye still laughed slightly when the name FullMetal came up. But a little voice kept on telling him that FullMetal wasn't even here anymore, so why should he be afraid to check out what was going on?
As soon as he had found the source of the disturbance all he could think was Damn Logic! Apparently, he was wrong… he looked on in horror as the boys destroyed yet another section of his building. There was no mistaking them for anyone else… well, there was no mistaking FullMetal for anyone else, and anyone that had half a brain could tell that the other person was his brother.
Wait…They gotten their bodies back?
It was quite obvious that Al had been restored… one glance would confirm that.
He stood there and watched with amazement at the flawless combination of physical attack and alchemy, defense and offense, each boy taking the other's attack in stride. It was almost like music, watching them spar. At least he assumed they were sparring. He had never actually seen them fight before.
Ed sighed. He knew that there was no point in even trying; he was going to lose to his younger brother anyway. Without his automail arm now, he had nothing to protect him like he had before. He wasn't about to give up so easily, though. This was payback, as Al was still taller than him, despite being the younger of the two.
Al looked at the destruction that was the surrounding area.
"Brother…." He began, but was cut off when he had to block an attack.
"Brother!" He repeated a little more forcefully to make him listen.
"What?" Ed was annoyed; he had been stopped mid attack.
"Umn… I'd think we'd better call this a draw…" He saw Ed look out into the sea of destruction.
"E heh heh… yeah…" Ed scratched his head innocently.
Mustang had left the scene of devastation to try and organize someone to remodel part of the east wing too. He shook his head sadly.
Meanwhile, Ed and Al had found their old dorm where and how they had left it. Ed's bed was still covered in stacks and stacks of books. He flung them all onto the floor and flopped down onto his bed. Guess we won't be needing those anymore… It was a pleasant feeling. The first feeling that he had gotten in a while that wasn't guilt or regret, actually.
Even though it was the middle of the day, the two boys fell asleep quickly. When Al woke up it was dark. He looked at Ed, who was snoring and drooling slightly. He started to mumble in his sleep. And he still slept with his stomach exposed. There were just some habits that you never grew out of, Al supposed.
He walked out onto the stairs under the blanket of stars laid out for him to see. He gazed upwards and began to think back to that day when they had been sitting here, in this very spot in the pouring rain. He choked back his tears. Even with all the things that they had done, they still hadn't been able to save countless people. All the good that they had spread, one act of hatred was enough to offset it.
It was pointless to think of such things. What was said was said; what was done was gone and over with. There had never been any time for regrets before, and now.. now he was left with a feeling in the pit of his stomach that he tried painfully to ignore.
What they had gone through to get their bodies back… he never wanted to think about it again. He was determined to never regret any of his actions, but he couldn't ignore the emptiness that he felt inside. He almost wished that he was still bound to his suit of armor, rather than to have this feeling. Almost. At least now he could cry freely.
Ed wokegroggily, and the first thing that he had noticed was that Al was missing. He grabbed his jacket and ran out the door; he knew that he was a little overprotective, but Al was the only brother he was ever going to have. He dashed down the hallway, and came to the stairs outside the entrance. He stopped abruptly, seeing the dark shadowed figure of his brother, hunched over on the stairs. All he could hear was the sound of tears… tears… he hated seeing his bother suffer. He started to regret making his brother cry, to regret making him able to cry, but forced the thought from his mind. All he could do was stand there under the stars and the inviting cover of darkness and watch his younger sibling from a distance.
owari
'Taters
