18 May 1919

Alphonse Elric woke up abruptly, heart pounding so hard in his chest it hurt.

Within seconds he was getting out of his bed and rushing across the hall, flinging the door open to find…

He let all the air leave his lungs, sinking against the door frame. Everything was alright.

He touched a hand to his chest as his heart beat slowly returned to its usual tempo, only vaguely recognizing the fact that yes, he had a heart, and yes it was beating. It had been four years since the Promised Day, so Al was mostly used to the sensation. There were moments when he really thought about how fortunate he was and how amazing it was to have a body after so long. It took him about a year to not start crying or laughing every time he experienced something for the first time again.

Ed snored and this time Al let himself smile.

There had been so many times the past four years that he thought— No. He couldn't think like that. Ed was here. He was alive, and even mostly intact. It was better than most brothers could claim.

Al swallowed the lump in his throat at the memory of the soldiers, wave after wave of them, bruised, bloody, bandaged, but most of all so broken inside…

The Great War had broken everyone.

Four years of pointless fighting, escalating until it seemed like the entire world had been involved. Allies and conquered nations alike, ancient grudges and new grievances driving more and more men to throw their lives away. Most of the men that didn't die weren't too far away from it.

But not Ed.

"You had the same dream, didn't you?"

Al jumped a little, but almost wasn't surprised when he turned around and found Winry standing there, clutching a bath robe closed in front of her.

He didn't have to ask what dream she was talking about.

"Yeah."

"I knew that he was alright, but I just…"

"You had to see with your own eyes."

"Exactly.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. Al was still concentrating on getting his heart rate back to normal. Even with the reassurance that Ed was there, the panic couldn't quite leave him.

"I'm so pathetic," Winry whispered, brushing some of her hair behind an ear. Despite the fact that she had probably just gotten out of bed, her hair was still relatively smooth. That was odd, usually Winry had terrific bedhead.

"What are you talking about Winry? I came running over here when I woke up too."

"Not just because of that, Al," Winry whispered. "It's not just… I'm… I can't sleep most nights. I stay up for hours, just trying to find some way to get some sleep. But every time I close my eyes all I can see is that hospital. All I can see are the men and I can still hear their screams—" To Al's alarm, he noticed tears springing up in the corners of her eyes.

"Hey," he said quickly, pulling her into his arms. "You're not pathetic, Winry, not at all."

"I'm standing here crying, hardly able to sleep. How is that not pathetic? I hardly have the right to cry, especially when he's not. You're not. After everything he went through… I'm supposed to be strong for you two boys."

"You are, Winry. You always have been."

She pressed her face against his shoulder. "Then why are you the one comforting me?"

"Because I'm returning the favor. You… even when you weren't here, you were being strong for me. I could have made it through this war without knowing that you were out there helping people. Your letters helped me get through it."

"I feel like I broke out there though. How am I supposed to help you or Ed when I can't even get it together myself?"

"Winry," Al said firmly, grabbing her arms and pushing her away so he could stare directly into her eyes. "You did not break. I've seen men that broke. Men that can hardly even pull their lives together. They literally can't even move without being afraid of dying. You're moving on. You're picking up where you left off. You're doing something. So is Ed."

"So are you," she responded, and Al couldn't help the twinge of guilt.

"Yeah, so am I," he said softly, but then he said more firmly, "But that's a good thing. We're only broken if we can't get up and move forward. But we are moving forward. We are. Our legs are still working, so we need to use them to move forward."

Winry blinked, and then swore.

That wasn't exactly the response that Al was expecting.

"Excuse me?"

"I still haven't made the plating for Ed's new leg! I make him a perfectly good replacement for the one he lost out there, and then he goes and breaks it within the first year being home! That idiot!"

Al sighed, shook his head, then laughed.

"I think you're perfectly fine, Winry. As long as you have Ed around to beat up, you'll be just fine."

"I do not beat him up!"

Al raised an eyebrow at her, and she smiled sheepishly. "I only give him what he deserves." Al laughed again, and this time Winry joined in with him. Then Ed shifted in his bed from the other room, and the laughing intensified (if quieted).

Her smile turned tender after a bit though.

"Oh Al… What am I going to do when you're gone? What are we going to do?"

"You're going to get married and have three kids before I can come back properly," Al responded, smirking halfheartedly. That caused Winry to snort and smack him on the shoulder.

"Never mind, you can get out of here."

Al grinned.

He still wasn't quite sure how he was going to go without this. Gently bantering with his almost sister at… what time was it? Four in the morning? It seemed like as soon as he made his decision, a thousand reasons started popping up as to why he couldn't leave. It was just moments like this that he wasn't sure he'd be able to go without. Bantering with Winry in the early morning, arguing with Ed over milk (it didn't matter if he had spent years living off food a lot more foul than milk, Ed still wouldn't drink it), even just being able to see Ed sitting outside with the sun on his face, shining in his gold hair. He would miss watching the way that Ed and Winry interacted with each other. Leaving meant that he would probably miss them finally admitted to themselves and each other that they loved each other. Being away would also cut off his ability to visit his parents and Granny.

"Al? Are you alright?"

"Hmm?"

"You were staring at me funny," Winry clarified, looking at him with concern now. "Are you alright?"

"What? Oh… I was just thinking about how much I'll miss this when I'm in Xing."

"Oh."

Silence fell between them. Winry had been avoiding the topic as much as she could recently. It was almost as if she was in denial. Ed was approaching it with almost callous distance, but Winry got emotional whenever it was brought up. 'We just got back together, why do we have to be separated again?'

"You don't have to go, you know," she offered after a while of the silence.

"We've been over this, Winry," he said softly.

"I know," she said, sighing. "You feel like it's something you need to do. You need to take your own steps to get over the war, and you think going to Xing and learning more about alkahestry will help you."

"Have we really had this argument so many times that you can quote me?"

"Apparently so."

"I'm sorry, Winry."

"I know, Al."

He sighed. There really didn't seem to be a way to win. He didn't want to leave, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel drawn to Xing. He wasn't sure what it was, exactly. They had made so many friends from Xing, and they had been their allies during the war, and he had heard so much of it. His fascination and desire to learn alkahestry had never waned. He wouldn't deny that yes he wanted to see Mei — and Ling, and Lan Fan of course. He had no idea how any of them were doing. News had been more or less completely cut off.

It also just seemed like… a place where he could… not start over, but like he said, move on. Continue. He had dreamed before the war of being able to go there and study one day. Now that it was over, he felt like he almost needed to go there to move past the war. Only once he traveled and learned there would he have the proof to himself that the war really and truly was over. He also felt obligated to continue to research alkahestric applications for reversing chimeraism. Even if it wouldn't be any good to Jerso and Zampano now, he wanted to help people. He needed to.

"I'll make breakfast," he volunteered.

"Al, it's four thirty in the morning."

"Is it that late? I thought it was just barely four."

She shook her head then, after a moment's pause, shrugged. "It's not like I'll be able to get back to sleep anyways. And maybe the smell of food will get Ed up so he can get a start on the chores I have for him to do."

"And you're sure you two are getting married anytime soon?"

"Shut up, Al."

Al grinned as Winry turned on her heel and marched back to her room, probably to get dressed for the rest of the day. Even though he had just promised to go cook breakfast, Al couldn't help himself from turning around and taking a peek in the doorway to Ed's room.

The blond was still sleeping peacefully.

He took a breath and walked towards the stairs.

Breakfast wasn't going to cook itself. Especially not this early in the morning.

He started first on getting some bacon cooking. If the smell of that didn't manage to get Ed up, then nothing would. And it took longer and kept longer than the eggs. Toast was also fairly easy and quick to get ready.

Al always made sure to do his best cooking though. After the food both Winry and Ed, but Ed in particular, had to endure out there, it was his pleasure to feed them both good food. Though apparently the men in the makeshift hospitals Winry volunteered at during the war used to all chip in to get the right ingredients for her to make one of her apple pies. According to her, the pies were better medicine than anything else the nurses could have given the men. She had seen full grown, war hardened, bloody and injured soldiers cry just at the sight of one.

Winry joined him just as he was cracking the eggs open, dressed and hair brushed. "What do you need me to do?"

"You could start the toast," he said, smiling at her. She nodded and got to work slicing some bread.

Sure enough the smell ended up drawing Ed downstairs a couple of minutes before breakfast was ready.

They ate as the sun was just breaking over the horizon.

No one said very much, but the silence was comforting. They didn't need to say anything.

"Winry." The automail mechanic looked up when Ed addressed her.

"Yes, Ed?"

He frowned, opened his mouth and then closed it, all the while starting to turn pink. "You know… You're one of the strongest people I know. No matter what happens you're always trying to help other people. And you've always tried to help me and Al."

Winry looked surprised at Ed's sudden words. Al certainly was. It wasn't like Ed to be sensitive or eloquent.

"So… you're not pathetic."

A look of understanding must have crossed both of their faces because Ed flushed an even darker color of red.

"I have trouble sleeping too. And you two aren't quiet."

Al stared at his brother, who quickly ducked his head and began shoveling more eggs into his mouth. Even after Al got his body back, despite the fact that Ed only had one body to provide nourishment for, he still ate for two. If he wasn't as active as he was he probably would have easily become fat.

"Ed…"

"What?" he snapped defensively. Al glanced at Winry, who seemed to understand exactly what he was getting at.

So when Al moved to pull his brother into a hug (eliciting a quick squawk of protest) he wasn't alone.

The sun finally rose completely in time to shine on the three wrapped in each other's embraces.

The Great War was over.

Armistice had been declared.

The four year long war that started with Amestris and Drachma but grew to encompass the whole world in a tangled web of alliances and grudges until no one even knew why they were fighting anymore… was over.

But it seemed that it would never stop coming back to destroy Hua Pang's life.

That notion had never been more clear to him than as he kneeled there at his parents' burial site.

He had not been there to bury him. His invalid cousin that hadn't been a part of the war had done that. Hua hadn't even known that they were dead.

They died as a result of one of the plagues that had wiped out so many following the war. It seemed that so many men from all over the world camping together and then bringing back diseases had been devastating back home.

Hua wouldn't know. When Amestris admitted defeat and surrendered to Drachma, Xing did likewise, despite how much territory they'd gained in the East. The double surrender had ended the war, but while his fellow soldiers had all been sent home with the Empress's blessing, he had been rotting away in a prison cell in Goddanpi.

Apparently the Goddanpiese had not taken kindly to being occupied and took it out on all of the Xingese soldiers that didn't manage to get out of the country before reinforcements from Vihayan had them overrun.

He had been whipped, beaten, nearly drowned, stabbed, starved, and even fed human flesh. He had endured torture, slept without a blanket in weather cold enough to kill a man, watched friends and comrades die, and dreamed of rescue that seemed certain to never come.

Then it had.

He had been told upon arriving back in Xing that he was a hero that had fought and suffered for his Empress and country.

Hua Pang stood up.

A hero, they called him. A pride to the nation.

Words.

I'm not going to be spending too much time describing the background information about the war. If you're really confused about what's going on, feel free to PM me and I'll explain more. If you're generally interested about reading more about it, I have a one shot called 'Broken Men' on my profile and add me to your alert list so that if I ever most more about it you can be one of the first to know!

*Housekeeping note: updates are not going to be coming as religiously as they did with the GFTS trilogy. Sorry, but... life.