Cry

It was said that sometimes, it's important to just have a good, long cry and let it all go. There were times that he wanted so desperately to believe that, and so, he often reflected on that line, when times seemed harsh and rough. He found it very ironic though. It was impossible for him to cry. Even if he wanted to so badly that it hurt, he could not cry. He did not have eyes through which to the let tears flow. He did not have a mouth that allowed him to cry out in pain. He could not show what he felt. He was empty inside.

"Al!" called the voice from behind him. It jarred him from his thoughts, and caused him to turn in the direction of the person he knew so well.

The voice belonged to none other than his brother, Edward Elric. The sun that shone in the early winter afternoon bounced off of Edward's golden hair, and glittered a brilliant reflection from his equally golden eyes. He was dressed all in black, as usual, save for his white gloves and vibrant red coat. A light breeze blew past him, trying to take his coat and golden locks with it, and the young boy shivered, clasping the open ends of his red coat together to futilely protect himself from the cold. The golden eyes looked up at him, expectant and waiting.

"Are you coming, Al?" Edward asked, his voice becoming a little gruff. After speaking, he let loose a few rough coughs, causing Al to rush to him, placing one arm on either side of him.

"Are you ok, Nii-san?" Alphonse asked.

"Yeah, looks like I just have a small cold, though," he said when the fit had subsided.

"We should get you to an inn or something then, before it gets worse."

Edward agreed without much of a fuss and the two continued to walk along the frozen path that lay before them, leading to a town that had been their target for the past week. Rumour had it that Scar had withdrawn into a snow village in the northern mountains. Just the fact that Scar was involved had decided for Edward, but when the rumour continued to say that he either had a complete Philosopher's Stone, or had access to it, the young blonde-haired teen had practically raced out the door, ready to go, although he was only in his black tank top. Alphonse had had to catch him and point out that they needed their things before they left, and after a minute, he calmed and became rational again. However, the train did not lead all the way to the town, and Alphonse and his brother had to result to walking the rest of the way.

Before long, the two boys had reached the town that was their destination, and found an inn. Edward decided that it was a good idea to not tell them that he was a State Alchemist, seeing as such proclamations had gotten them kicked out of their fair share of lodgings. Once they were in their room, Al told his brother to go to sleep and rest, to prevent his cold from worsening. Scar could wait a night or so.

When Ed was comfortably in bed and resting, Al relaxed a little. He sat on his bed, a book written on Alchemy, which they had borrowed from the library, was on his lap. He opened it up and attempted to read it, but he couldn't hold his concentration on the words for very long. He kept glancing at Edward, who was snoring by now. Every now and again, the blonde-haired chibi would be racked by more rough coughs, his body nearly convulsing with their ferocity. Alphonse became terribly worried, but he was no doctor; there was really nothing that he could do. He had to keep himself from rushing to him and checking to see if he was ok or darting out the door and calling for a doctor. Edward had told him earlier that calling a doctor was out of the question. Truth was, the young alchemist hated doctors. Al wasn't quite so sure of the reason why, but he thought it had something to with the fact that the doctors could not save their mother.

"Nii-san, just how long have you been sick?" Al asked the dark room as Edward coughed again. "It'd better not be for a really long time and you just didn't tell me."

Of course, he received no answer, and he sighed and tried once again to focus on the book, but to no avail. His gaze once again returned to Edward, and he stared at him for a long moment.

"Nii-san, you're such a strong person," he said to his sleeping brother. "After what happened to Nina and Barry the Chopper, I don't think I've ever seen you crying. Not once. Even after Lab 5, or when we saw Dad again, or when you learned about Mr. Hughes. Or, perhaps you have cried, maybe a whole lot, but you just won't let me see. You didn't even cry that much when Mom died. I cried the most, and you stared at her grave, scheming to bring her back. I didn't see you cry during the surgery to get your automail, or even while you were bleeding on the floor of the basement, after the transmutation. For dealing with everything like this and still being able to smile, you are a strong person, Nii-san.

"But it's ok to cry, too. I think you should know that. Even though you're strong, you claim you're not strong enough, because people close to you still get hurt. But... Nii-san... being strong also means that you have the strength to cry when it's right. I may seem very indifferent to some things, but it hurts me too, you know? I just... I can't show it. So, I have no choice but to hold it in, but you don't have to on my account, Nii-san. I hope you know that."

The next day, it was off to find Scar. Alphonse argued that his brother should continue to rest, but Ed claimed that he was feeling much better. Al watched him during breakfast and whilst he was dressing and braiding his hair, trying to catch him coughing badly, so that he had a plausible argument to convince his brother, but that time came only once. When Al pointed out that his Nii-san was still quite sick after the coughing fit subsided, Edward said that it wasn't a big deal, saying that was the first time all day. The argument lasted until it was time to leave, and at long last, Al gave in and the two ventured back out into the snowy world, in search of Scar.

It wasn't difficult to find the place where Scar had supposedly been staying. It was a shabby little hotel, with part of the roof blowing off in the fierce winter wind and one of the windows broken on the side. When they asked about the scarred man, they directed them to a room on the second floor of the three story building.

When knocking provided no answer from the rumoured occupant of the room, they twisted the doorknob to find it unlocked and opened the door. The room was empty. The bed was made up as though it had remained unused throughout the night. The only sign that someone had been in there was a little mud on the wooden floors that protested every movement with an angry groan and a small box on the night stand.

Edward's gaze was held fast onto the little box. It really wasn't that extravagantly decorated, but it was very noticeable. The exterior was probably wooden, but it was covered in a red cloth. The edges were lined with bronze, the lining engraved with images that were obviously carved with great care. It was latched tight, much to Edward's disappointment, and when he tried to pick the lock, it proved to have little success. At long last, he concluded that the box was either sealed shut with Alchemy, or some other means. Frustrated, the young alchemist slapped his hands together and placed them on the box, forcing it open. Inside was a small, red stone, glowing in what little light poured in from the window, by the small amount of sunlight that graced the world on such a cloudy day.

"Is this really it?" Edward said aloud, more to himself than anyone. Alphonse, who had been standing guard, stepped in and looked at the little red stone.

"Yes it is, and for seeing it, you must die now," declared Scar's voice from behind Alphonse.

The younger Elric gasped in surprise. How could Scar have gotten behind him so quickly? He had only glanced away for a second, attracted to the light of the stone, and now, the infamous State Alchemist killer was directly behind him, a dangerous scowl etched across his features.

Alphonse dodged just Scar flew past him, his right arm outstretched towards his brother, ignoring the young boy who had been standing guard moments before. Either Scar was unconcerned with Alphonse at the moment, or he was so full of hatred for Edward for finding the Stone and trying to take it away that he was focused purely on the blonde chibi.

Edward would not be taken by surprise so easily, however, and swiftly dodged the first attack, grabbing the Stone whilst doing so. This angered Scar even more, and he attacked a second time, screaming in rage. Alphonse grabbed his arm this time, topping the man, who growled at him in response. The man struggled to free himself, but found that the grip was almost uncharacteristically tight, and was unable to do so.

"I will not let you hurt Nii-san anymore," Alphonse declared, tightening his grip. "Moreover, I won't stand idly by and do nothing whilst you try to kill him."

For a long moment, it seemed as though Scar was stuck, and could nothing. After all, his weapon was being held by a vise-like grip, and he couldn't very well move it, and to the knowledge of the boys, he possessed little to no hand-to-hand combat prowess. However, the assumption was wrong, and Scar whirled around and kicked off the head off the armour. This did not faze the child, however, and he continued to hold fast to the man's arm. He nodded to his brother, who nodded in return and jumped out the window. Scar growled again, and tried to pull himself away once more, but once again, the attempt was in vain. He succeeded only in popping the joint from its socket.

"Kuso," he grumbled, clutching his arm. "You're just going to take it and run away then?"

"Yes, I'm sorry. But we've needed the Stone for a very long time now," Alphonse replied, before he followed his brother, who was waiting for him just below.

"Hurry up, Al!" he called, stepping back to allow his otouto-chan room to land.

Alphonse nodded and leapt from the window, landing a few feet away from Edward with a thud! With another nod of agreement from the brothers, they sped away as fast as their legs would carry them through the dense snow.

Before Alphonse knew where he was, and had the time to take in everything that had just happened, he and his brother were in the woods outside of the little snowy town. Edward was breathing heavily, and it was only at Al's insistence that he had ceased from running to catch his breath.

"You're sick," Al said quietly, taking a step towards his brother. "And you shouldn't strain yourself even more."

"I'm ok," Edward said sternly. Nevertheless, he leaned against a small tree and slunk down its trunk, seating himself in the cold, wet snow.

Alphonse stood there, watching his brother carefully, and then stood, leaning against a tree as well, as though he too, were worn out from the run.

"So...now what?" Alphonse asked.

Edward only sighed and opened his left palm, revealing the small, blood red stone.

"Everything we've worked for for all these years. All the crap we've had to go through... everything we've seen. It was all for this. Just a little red stone," Edward said quietly, his eyes narrowing as though it pained him greatly just to speak the truth of everything that had happened so long, and yet not so long ago.

"I wonder how Scar-san got the Stone in the first place," Alphonse wondered aloud.

"That's not important," Edward said, standing. He took a step towards his brother, a wavering version of his all famous smile clinging almost desperately to his young features. "What's important now is that we have it, and we can use it to get you back to normal."

The next thing Alphonse remembered was a bright flash of red light. It was so intense, it illuminated the entire forest around him, and threatened to blind him, had he not shielded his eyes. And then, there was darkness. And cold. Yes, it was so very cold. And then, a voice. It seemed so distant, he strained to hear it, and slowly opened his eyes. He was still in the forest. His gaze was met with wide and golden fear, and he realized that frightful orbs that stared back at him belonged to his brother. Slowly, he sat up and looked around, then to his legs, his arms, and then back to his brother. He watched as the dam broke in his Nii-san, and tears flowed freely from his eyes, streaming down his cheeks. He looked again at himself, or rather, what he could see of himself. He did not see harsh, cold metal limbs, an unfeeling body that concealed his every emotion. No, he saw flesh, and he felt the cold air and the frigidness of the snow as it touched his delicate skin. It was then that he realized that he once again had the body he could no longer remember; the one thing that he and his brother had endured so much for.

Once again, the old saying came back to him, and he gave a soft smile. He felt all the restraints give way within himself, and he embraced his brother, and did the one thing he could not for many many long years. He cried.

So...This story took a lot longer than I had expected it to...which is a bad thing, coz I usually like to write these really fast so I can move on to everything else. But I've been so busy lately! SO I haven't really had any ANY time to write at all, which is kinda a bad thing for me, coz all my ideas just go away...and whatnot stuff. Soo...! Yep. I hope you enjoyed this story...It was kinda a spur of the moment kinda thing when I wrote it, and I think I was just in one of my moods...but I really don't remember anymore, so...yeah. But anyway...I really hope you enjoyed it! And for those of you who are waiting for chapter 34 of The Sins That Bind Us, I ask that you be patient...there's a lot going on, and I don't know how much writing time I'll have in the future. In any case. Until next time, Ja ne!