Sorry it took me so long to update it haha. I've been stressed with school since we only have about a week and a half before school finally gets out! Thank god we get out before the elementary and middle school, that just makes me happy. This letter I decided to write once they had been in Germany for a while…of course Al is the one to write him! Everyone has to love dear sweet Al!

Ed frowned at the letter in front of him. The paper was thin and the writing was slightly slanted with hurriedly written words on the page. It seemed to Ed that the person had decided to write the letter before they had changed their mind, and that's why it was some what sloppy. He slowly opened it up and the first thing that came to mind was, Why was this letter by all this earlier letters that he had gotten?

Dear Brother,

It has been some time since we have last seen each other. You spend all your time locked in that library searching for a way to close the Gate. That's why I've decided to go on my own in search of some more information to help us. But not in the way that you are thinking brother.

I believe, Brother, that it would be best if we returned to Amestris. We can research a way to close the gates while we pass through them to be reunited with everyone that we care about. Even though we promised to cross over and close the gates here to Mustang, wouldn't it be better if we were to return? Don't deny that you don't want to. I know you stay up late, locked in the library trying to run away from the memories of all the people who are dear to us. Especially Winry.

I know you miss her brother. She is the only one who you physically cry over. You love her. You always have. You shouldn't have left her, especially since you two were in a relationship before…well before everything happened. I've heard you curse her before, whisper her name in your sleep, and wish that she was there to maintain your automail. So wouldn't it be better if we returned?

I want to see Winry again. And Granny Pinako. Den. Mustang. Hawkeye. The real Gracia. Elysia. Everyone in the military. Those people are our family. No one should ever be separated from their family. It's the same with what happened to us.

Didn't you want to cross over the gate to find me? Just like how I wanted to cross the gate to find you. It's the same feeling the we had then. They are family. They may act all different and odd, even strange at times, but they have always been there when we needed them. That's why we should go back. To be reunited with our family.

Don't even try to deny to me that your heart doesn't feel empty without them. My heart feels like it wants to explode every time I think about one of our old friends. I believed that we would be able to carry on over here, because we had each other. Now I realize though that we had a bigger family then we realized. It wasn't just the two of us anymore. We had Winry, Granny, the military, and all the people we had met on our travels. Those people are family to us. We should be with them, not over here dying each day that we arent near them.

I am concerned about your health Ed. Germany isn't the place for you, Amestris is. You do the same things as you did there, but here…you don't act like yourself. You act as though part of your soul has been taken away. That part I can only assume is the absence of Winry. Brother, no one here will never meet your expectations like she did. You're in love with her, just admit it, put down whatever book you are currently reading and come with me to the gate. Mustang probably wouldn't have destroyed it, yet. He like everyone else believes that we will come back home.

Are we going to disappoint them again, brother?

Alphonse Elric

Please brother don't get angry at me.

This letter had been written a couple of months after that had crossed the gate. At that time he had been trying with all his strength to close the gate. To end the thing that haunted his dreams, taunting him that he would never be able to go home ever again. He had studied in a blind fury desperately searching a way to close the gate. He had completely ignored Al after a while only staying in the dimly lit library, looking for some kind of answer.

He had missed all of his old friends more than any words can describe. But he had been used to not seeing them for years. When he returned though, it was a whole other story. That's when it came crashing into him about how much everyone really meant to him. He was fighting to be reunited with Al, but also without noticing it he was fighting to be joined with his friends also. But then he left.

That had been his choice to make so Ed couldn't have turned back then. There was no way he could return home and face her after leaving her so many times before. He feared that she wouldn't forgive him. He knew that she had probably already lost all faith in him after he left her the second time. When he thought about her not thinking about him anymore, he heart ached uncontrollably. His love not caring about him anymore, made life not worth living.

When Al had suggested going back to Amestris, Ed had thought about agreeing but decided against it. It was too late for him to fix everything that he had broke when he left. There was no point in returning anymore. Especially when he knew that Winry had probably found someone else to love besides him. So in this world they stayed much to Al's distaste. But Al wouldn't leave if Ed didn't, even though Ed told him that he could.

Now sitting there as an old man Ed wondered to himself what it would have been like it they had returned home. He wondered how everyone had changed since many years ago. Had Mustang and Hawkeye finally gotten married? How was Gracia Hughes and Elysia? Was Mustang Fuhrer? What had happened to all the military personal? Did Havoc finally had a steady girlfriend who didn't leave him for Mustang? And the question that haunted him the most…Had Winry gotten married?

Ed had gotten married to a girl who understood that his heart wouldn't never truly belong to her, and she was okay with that. So he wouldn't have been surprised if Winry had gotten married to some guy who didn't deserve her. Not that he had ever deserved her either. He didn't want her to be married, but he didn't want her to be alone either. His feelings were always changing constantly about her.

Ed chuckled to himself. "There's nothing I can do to change the past so I shouldn't worry about what happened in Amestris."

Even if he said that to himself he still thought about all the people there more than he did about the people here. Ed shook his head wanting to get rid of this lingering thoughts about if he had returned to Amestris and what his life would be like than. That wasn't his life, so he shouldn't worry about it anymore. Reading the letters wasn't helping him, but for some reason he couldn't stop himself from grabbing the next letter, hoping to get the thought of Winry happily married to some random guy out of his head.