The Ties That Bind
Chapter Three:
The Brother That Is

Not even death could part the Elric Brothers. That had been proven beyond all shadow of doubt. Edward survived transmuting his brother's soul to save him. Alphonse sacrificed himself to save his dead brother. Edward just turned around and sacrificed himself to pull Alphonse's mind, body, and soul out of the Gate again.

So why did it surprise Winry that Edward had somehow managed to affix his soul to a body just to come back and see Alphonse again? How could she have doubted his return? She might not know much about alchemy, but she did understand the Elric Brothers. So what if the body Edward now had was supposed to be a Homunculus, an evil being created from alchemy without a soul? He still had his, so that really didn't matter, did it?

He was her Edward, and he was Alphonse's Edward. And she couldn't stop the tears. She held them both close, Edward and Alphonse, her two best friends... No, her two brothers, and could only try to stifle her sobs as Alphonse's incoherent apologies and Edward's comforting mixed with them.

They did eventually break apart, though, and got down to trying to uncover the mysteries. Winry sat not a foot away in the chair Alphonse had previously sat in, and Al himself sat right on the edge of the bed. An awkward silence hovered around for a tense half-minute before Edward started talking.

"Why do you look so young, Al?" Alphonse shrugged at the question.

"I'm not too sure myself, but I do have some theories. I was returned to this body when you sacrificed yourself, but I didn't remember anything from when my soul was sealed inside the armor. I just woke up, and Rose was bringing me back here. Rose and Winry helped explain what had happened to us, so I started trying to find a way to bring you back by searching through your notes, but I hadn't found anything yet."

"Wait... You lost all your memories from after I transmuted your soul?" Al laughed a bit at Edward's reaction.

"Don't worry, though. I got them back, yesterday in fact. I think it was when I saw the Gate, but it might have been after you opened them." Alphonse shrugged again a bit. "I didn't even realize it until late last night. But what about you? You said something about Dad, but what exactly happened?"

"Dante sent Hohenheim across the Gate a few days after he left us after you had become the Stone, and I ended up where he was when I sacrificed myself. He told me that our alchemy didn't work, but I wasn't about to take his word for it. I tried everything I could think of, but discovered the power of our blood by complete accident. He then finally figured out how to draw a circle with enough power to get me back across the Gate to here, but only by offering himself for the equivalency." Edward had grown quieter by the end, before sighing and continuing.

"He told me that he didn't care what happened to himself in the end, but he wanted to get me home, no matter what. He said it wasn't out of forgiveness, but more of a promise to Mom. I won't ever be able to forgive him, anyway, but at least he earned my respect."

Silence reigned for another minute or so, until Edward's stomach decided it wanted food and made that fact known, very loudly. The three all laughed a bit.

"I'll go tell Granny about everything and bring up some food. It should all be done by now." Winry said with a smile and reluctantly left. Alphonse turned back to his brother.

"Brother..." Edward cut him off.

"Don't worry. I want real food. Remember when we first brought Wrath off the island? He could eat our food, and it wasn't until after he was fed incomplete Philosopher's Stones that he became all evil and stuff... So as long as I stay away from them, I think I'll be okay." Alphonse nodded a bit before smirking.

"You haven't lost your touch." Edward shot a glare at him.

"Did you think I would? They didn't call me a genius for nothing, you know!" Both brothers started laughing. "By the way, what happened to the arm and leg I made?"

"Winry took them, I think. I know that she ranted a bit after seeing them, though. She made it very clear they were pieces of crap."

"Jee thanks. I designed those myself. Hohenheim made them, and designed all the hookups though. I hate them, but automail doesn't exist on the other side of the Gate. The best they have are wooden prosthetics and I wasn't about to stoop that low." Edward scoffed. Winry came in at that moment, balancing two trays in her arms. How she had gotten the door open was a mystery. She sat both trays on the edge of Edward's bed. The trays had a plate of standard breakfast food, and a glass of milk/juice (Edward's was juice, and Alphonse's was milk. Funny side note: Alphonse loves milk almost as much as Edward hates it.).

"How long have you had those crappy replacement limbs?" Winry asked as Edward and Alphonse began eating. Ed swallowed what bit of food that was in his mouth before answering her.

"About four months, I think. It took me a month to draw out the concepts and Hohenheim another month to actually make them."

"So, you designed them yourself?" He nodded. "Well, at least you didn't go to some hack-job engineer to get those. But thanks to them we're going to have to do a little corrective surgery on your ports. They've been shifted and some of the original surgery could be undone if we try to connect new automail to them." Edward looked at her in horror.

"How much corrective surgery?" Winry sighed.

"A bunch. And on nearly all of the connections on your leg, and little over half of the ones on your arm. We can't even attach a wooden prosthetic to your leg because of the way the ports have been shifted."

"Great."

"Don't look so glum, Ed. I've been apprenticing with Dominic, you know the guy who made Paninya's automail, and he taught me how to make your automail super-light without sacrificing more than 10 percent of its strength and durability. At least with lighter automail you might start growing finally!" Winry smirked as a vein popped on Edward's forehead. "I mean, you're practically the same height you were when you were twelve."

"Stop callin' me small!"

To Be Continued
This is sorta just a set-up for the next chapter, as well as an excuse to put in some rather fluffy stuff. I also couldn't resist the tiny short rant there at the end. :)

Next time: Explanations to an Officer on Wednesday, May 7, 2008!
Yes, I'm changing my update schedual. I'll now update on both Saturdays and Wednesdays.

Thank you to my... reviewer. I'm increasing my updates for you, tekawolf!

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Shadow Kat-Lyn