When Ed first blinked open his eyes, the first thing he saw was the suit of armour standing over him protectively. Then he heard a soft snore and stared at the form of his sleeping brother with wide eyes.
"Al?" Ed whispered, shocked.
The younger brother yawned. "Hi brother." He chirped brightly.
"Al? Did you follow me down here?" Ed asked, full of some horrible, painful hope.
"Yeah, I heard you screaming. It sounded like somone's name- 'Nina' I think. Then I followed the crashes down here, and you looked cold and lonely so..." Al trailed off sheepishly with a nervous laugh.
"Why?" Ed croaked. Al... You're supposed to be free from this. Don't follow me into the dark. Never follow me in anything again.
Look where it got you before.
"Because we're brothers. Duh. You've been acting weird and looking sad since you fainted. Then you panicked in class and didn't use a circle to transmute, so I think something's going on. Just remember that we're in this together, okay brother?" Al smiled, his voice sounding all too familiar.
"You better win, big brother."
"Hey Al... I'm sorry." Ed said softly, staring at the feet of the armour, unable to meet his brother's eyes as they undoubtably clouded over with confusion.
Still, seeing the innocence and bonds that weren't there didn't hurt nearly as much as seeing two empty eyes filled with shadows in an empty helmet every time he closed his eyes.
"For what? You haven't done anything wrong brother." Al said simply, as he had always done every time Ed had apologised for a false lead, for another fruitless, bitter ending.
For everything. Dragging you into everything. Being unable to pull you back out after you gave everything all for someone like me.
"When I transmuted the classroom the other day. You looked scared. I'm sorry." Ed said with far more guilt than Al felt the small apology deserved.
"Huh? I was scared because you looked scared." Al laughed, seeing the confusion on his brother's face.
"Oh. Sorry." Ed said with a small smile. "Hey Al, there's this alchemist who's just settled down here, and she's really good! Maybe we could get her to teach us." Ed said with a bright smile. Then he swallowed away the bitterness from his next words. "Maybe we could surprise mum and dad with what we've learned!"
"That sounds great!" Al said happily, trying to hide his relief that his brother was acting normally again.
"Yeah, and we could bring Winry too!" Ed laughed. He carried on laughing, and his younger brother joined in, though not for the same reason as Ed.
The older brother who had tried to carry the world on his shoulders laughed away weeks and weeks of hurt as he realised that Al was Al, no matter what. His younger brother wasn't so far away after all.
Ed, still not being allowed back to school, had taken to visiting Izumi instead. Of course, Trisha didn't know that the person Ed was learning from was an alchemist, but was instead a tutor, and was happy to help for the week Ed was excluded.
Trisha hadn't been happy, in any sense of the word, about Ed's little stunt. He had been grounded, with no alchemy or books allowed for as long as he was excluded.
Except he was learning alchemy, so he was directly going against his mother's wishes, and his insides boiled over with the guilt.
At the same time, he was happy. He was able to talk to Al like the future never happened, like everything was fine. Like Al wasn't forced to spend long nights lonely and unfeeling.
Of course, Izumi was thrilled to have her two students back, and a new face egar to learn, even if she didn't say anything. She couldn't, not without ruining everything.
So Ed and Izumi hurt through smiling faces, as they remembered the pain behind each circle, the darkness behind the flashes of light, and kept on the happy mask to hide the fact they were crumbling away.
Winry knew a little, not everything, not in detail, but enough to look uneasy as the transmutations flared to life.
Al tried not to feel anything wrong. But occasionally, just occasionally, he would feel fear, as the feeling drifted by like smoke. He couldn't remember the fire, flying too close to the sun. He couldn't see the two burning next to him.
"You can feel it, can't you?" Ed asked quietly after one of their lessons, and Al had gone on ahead to talk to Winry about one of the newest transmutations. "The Truth."
"Yes. It's distant, but it's there." Izumi whispered. "It isn't happy." Her hands curled over her swollen stomach protectively.
Ed stared at his brother, gaze fierce and protective. Burning with love, fueled by loss.
"No." He agreed, clenching his fist. "It isn't."
When Ed was allowed back to school, and allowed to do alchemy again, they resumed learning alchemy at the back of the classroom, although they toned it down so they wouldn't get caught.
"So how do you do it just by clapping your hands?" Al asked curiously one lesson.
"The clapping symbolises the connecting of the circle." Winry mumbled, remembering one of her lessons with ease.
"But what about the runes?" Al finished, tilting his head to the side.
"I suppose you could say that I am the runes." Ed shrugged, remembering what their teacher had said.
"How do you learn to do it?" Al pestered, eyes huge. Ed smiled inwardly, remembering how they had looked at Izumi exactly like that. Then his stomach dropped as he knew what he had to say.
"You can't. You have to see the Truth." Ed said flatly. His next words tasted like dust. "It has to be equivalent."
Far away, he could feel It frown, rage twisting It's face. The humans... How dare they talk about the very laws they shattered!
"But what is the Truth?" Al groaned.
"It's... Everything. Don't look for it Al, please." Ed begged, remembering his brother's starving body with the blank gaze in the endless, lonely, white place. He remembered how it was all his fault.
He remembered how he couldn't fix it. How he'd failed.
"It isn't worth it." He finished, staring at his flesh arm, for one instant seeing metal. And you'll never know the price, Winry, Alphone. Not if I have anything to say about it.
Winry was staring at him with shock. She knew about the Gate, she knew about the power it contained. She hadn't expected the bitterness, the sadness or the fear. Whatever the gate was, it was bad.
And everything Ed had faced, he'd had Al to share with, the anchor to keep him sane. Now that Al was gone, and the younger Elric was free, and could, and if she knew Ed, would, be kept safe from everything that had scarred them both so deeply.
Now he was scared... Of the gate, maybe of the future...
Yes Winry knew the Fullmetal alchemist too, but she also knew the boy behind the fearsome name, who still wasn't sure if it was okay to be scared.
But she knew about his determination and resolve. She knew that Ed was plotting to try and save them all, to try and stop everything before it happened.
And this time, she refused to let him shoulder the burden alone.
Roy strode through the ashes, eyes narrowed against the smoke still in the air. He had remembered this particular segment, like every other, terrified faces, wide eyes and screams.
It was too quiet as he walked, but he knew that the Ishvallans were still alive, because the air only smelt of smoke, and nothing more. This was so different. He hadn't killed anyone yet, and he felt lighter than he had in years.
He was still weighed down by the nightmares, still woke up screaming and choking on the words 'I'm sorry' because they wouldn't fix anything, and when faced with the ashes, and the screams, they were far too small, fragile and it was too late.
Except the nightmares were distant, like through a layer of water, soothing the burns, distorting the screams. Maybe it was because he knew his hands were clean, and that made all the difference.
It had taken him a while to track down the exact position of these two brothers, and in all honsesty, he wasn't too happy about it, but he knew it was their best bet.
They had a war to win.
Roy forced his features into a polite mask, but clenched his fists, before knocking on the door that kept him out, and he really hoped that Hawkeye was in a position to save him if this turned ugly.
A pair of red eyes greeted him, and for a second, they blazed with some horrifying anger that sent chills up his spine, but then the eyes turned to a much less dangerous confusion.
Roy cleared his throat, decidind to try and clear the tense silence, after all, they had been allies once, how hard could this be?
"Hello Scar, it's been a while?"
Becase there was no way he was losing this war, if it meant saving everyone.