Disclaimers: Fullmetal Alchemist does not belong to me.
Spoilers for the end of the series.
Strangers
It's hard to imagine.
I went to bed dreaming of my bright future.
I woke up feeling like I should cry and never stop.
The room looked so familiar. Everything about it seemed as if I knew it, but I couldn't place any of it.
Nothing.
Not a thing.
And I was alone.
Winry had come to see me after a while, her hair pulled back so I wouldn't notice how long it had gotten. It was hard not to notice how much she'd changed. She didn't say much of anything at first, just sat on the bed next to me. She asked me how I felt, and asked if I remembered her. I told her I felt fine, and that I wouldn't dare forget her. She laughed. Then she started asking me questions I didn't understand. When I couldn't answer, she took me in her arms and told me everything she could. She could only tell me what she knew, and she couldn't answer my most important question — where was niisan?
I still haven't cried.
It's hard, sometimes, but I manage. What hurts the most is niisan's absence. I don't care about the time I lost. The memories I no longer have. I don't care… Except for one. I can't remember my brother's face. When I think of niisan, I see him as I've always seen him. I see him as a child. No one has any pictures. Descriptions can only go so far. The only family I have left, and everyone else knows him better than I do. Strangers — at least, to me they're strangers — speak of him from time to time. They talk about how handsome he's become, how strong. They talk about how he's still short, still rude, and still hot-headed.
But niisan hasn't changed! He hasn't 'become' anything!
This person they speak of — the 'fullmetal alchemist' — isn't my brother.
He's nothing more than a stranger to me.
Edward Elric, 16 years old, is nothing to me.
