Title: Selfish Child
Author: Sofipitch
Series: Manga/Brotherhood
Word Count: exactly 250
Rating: G
Characters: Edward, Alphonse, mentions of Ling and Hoenhiem
Summary: A part of him wished that he could have taken the easy way out.
Warnings: MAJOR SPOILERS!
A/N: Don't you love how the manga directly states that Edward wouldn't give himself up as opposed to the decision made in the 2003 anime?
Subject: prompt 171, stone, "Selfish Child"
He had had the chance to use a different alternative, to use the lost souls from Ishval and Xerxes to his advantage. He didn't have to give up his alchemy. And for a second he didn't want to. He wanted to be selfish, he wanted to act like the child he was.
But he wasn't a child anymore, or at least mentally. No one had treated him like a child since he joined the military. And even if some had tried to make him realize his true age, they were eventually all be put down to realize that they couldn't treat him that way. That he was to be treated like an adult, even if he was only twelve years old.
Ling, the man who was destined to be future emperor of Xing, offered to give up the only thing that would allow him to become ruler. His father, this own father, had offered his life, his life in exchange for Alphonse's. They all cared for Alphonse so much that they were willing to give all they had. And he should too. He should give Alphonse the rest of what he had.
He wished he could have taken the easy way out, but life wasn't that simple. But when he saw Alphonse smile for the first time, he knew it had all been worth it. And when he saw Alphonse simile, he saw the souls of Ishval and Xerxes smiling with him, thanking Edward for not using them so selfishly.