Never enough...
"... I'm just kind of reflecting, I guess…" Al said. "On everything that's happened since we came home."
"A lot's changed, that's for sure." Manami hummed. "Yet everything is still the same, here. It's nice."
She didn't see, but Al's eyes widened in that moment.
Everything… was still the same here.
In that moment, Al realized why he was feeling strange…
"... brother?"
"... yeah?"
"..." Al looked down for a moment, then turned to look to Ed. "Have you been happy?"
"What kind of question is that?" Ed smiled nervously back to his younger brother. "Of course I have been."
"Of course…" Al chuckled weakly, looking down again. "Maybe I used the wrong choice of words... but, you never felt like... there could be more?"
"..."
Never enough...
"Al and I got one more bit of news for everyone. We wanted to save this for last, because it's pretty big."
"Brother and I were talking on the roof earlier, and… we decided that we want to travel the world!"
"We're leaving next month!"
"I take it… you're not looking forward to them leaving either, then."
"... is that bad?" Manami asked Winry, biting her lip. "I've been doing my best to not make it obvious to Al, but…"
"No, it's not bad… silly." Winry chuckled softly. "If I'm going to be honest… I don't really want them to leave either…"
Never enough...
"The Eastern Islands…" Al looked to Manami, seeing that her lips were pursed. "You told me once before that Ling thought someone in your family was from there, right?"
"Yeah…" Manami hummed, her eyes scanning over the map in front of them. "I think he said an island called 'Nihon…'"
For me...
"I can't say I'm spending as much time with Winry as I should be, either." Ed shrugged again. "We've spent so much time together over these last two years, that I feel like I should be relearning how it is without her. Who knows, maybe it'll soften the blow."
Manami watched as he turned away to look out to the trees in the distance.
"... for her, or for you?" She asked.
Ed's eyes narrowed. "... for whoever it'd help the most, I guess."
For me...
There was that feeling again… the only word Manami could describe it as was "unfulfilled."
It wasn't that she didn't enjoy performing. She loved playing these concerts. Granted, the sudden burst of public attention was something to get used to… but that was only really something that she had to worry about when in Central.
But then she started to think about performing at these concerts… the thought of coming out in a beautiful gown, playing a beautiful piano, then looking out to the audience…
An audience that Al wouldn't be a part of.
"..."
... for me...
"... I love you, Manami." Al murmured.
"..."
"... more than anything."
"... I love you too, Alphonse…" Manami whispered. "More than anything."
Author's Note:
I wanted to thank everyone who read this to the end, from the bottom of my heart. Thanks especially to those who followed, favorited, and left positive reviews on this story. It's really thanks to you guys that I was confident enough to see to the end of this story. I'm eternally grateful. I hope you guys will like the sequel series as much as this one!
Look out for "The Wind Alchemist: Promised Future," coming soon!