Here it is, the last chapter! Don't cry though, enough of you want a sequal to convince me to create one. (Heck, I would've done it with one request, heh.) I've already got one and a half chapters written of the sequal so far, but I can use all the suggestions and help I can get. I have no idea where I'm going on the story yet.

Anyway, enjoy this chapter, and let me know what you think, ok?

Disclaimer: I don't own FullMetal Alchemist. Hmmm...Can't think of a witty remark. Yep, my imagination's dead. Ok, my imagination's not dead, but my funnybone is dead. Heh. Ok, maybe I still have some funnyness in me somewhere, but it's not surfacing at the moment, unless you think this rambling is funny. Is it funny? I'm not sure if this is supposed to be funny or not.

Bright yellow light rose up out of the lines of the transmutation circle and created a vortex swirling all the way up to ceiling. Was I too late, or did I do this in time? As much as I hated waiting for those few minutes, I had no choice but to do so.

Finally, the light died down. As Edward had promised, my body wasn't harmed in any way, and his was formed perfectly, but was it alive?

"Edward?" I took his head and cradled it in my hands. "Edward, are you okay? Please wake up, Edward!"

A few moments of awkward silence followed. Finally, I felt a jolt in Edward's body, and he took a breath. He was alive!

After a few more moments, his eyes fluttered open. He looked at me, smiled, and then put his hand on his forehead and sat up.

"Man, I didn't know that getting your soul bound to a body would cause such a headache!" he said, "Why didn't Al ever tell me about that?"

"I didn't want you to feel back about it, Brother," I said.

Ed's jaw dropped, and he turned and looked at me. "What did you just say?"

I just smiled back. There wasn't any need to say anything.

"Are you…Al?" Edward asked. I nodded my head. "But how can that be? You said that you saw yourself attack me in your memory."

"I had misinterpreted that," I said, "I wasn't attacking you, Sloth was, inside me."

"Brother, I can't control my movements."

Edward didn't say anything more. Tears were coming to his eyes, and a smile played at the corners of his mouth. Without any warning, he got up and threw his arms around me. "Thank you," he sobbed.

We remained in that position for several minutes, just silently enjoying each other's company. The sun had now completely risen, so I could now see him clearly. Unless one were to count the time when my appearance changed somewhat to resemble his, this was the first time I'd actually seen him in this lifetime.

We could have stayed there for hours, but my family tends to get up early on Christmas day, and before long, we heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Edward…Brother," I chuckled, "Do you want them to see you now or later?"

"I'm sort of like your Christmas gift, aren't I?" said Edward, "I think it would be most fun to appear at gift giving time."

"Then you'd better hide," I said, "Because they're coming."

"Gotcha," he said. He got up and went and hid in the closet.

Just then, my mom opened the door. "Well, Merry Christmas, sweetheart. Would you like to come down and eat breakfast before the others get here?"

"Could I eat it up here, since it's Christmas?" I asked.

Mom chuckled. "I don't know why you want to eat up here so badly, but since it's Christmas, I'll let you break the rule this once."

"Thanks, Mom!" I gave her a quick hug as my way of saying "Merry Christmas", and ran downstairs to grab some breakfast.

I grabbed a lot more food than I normally would eat by myself, but Edward needed to eat too, after all. I carried it all back upstairs, while Mom made a comment about my being awfully hungry.

"The coast is clear," I said upon entering my room. Edward climbed out of the closet, and I handed him a plate of food.

He took the plate and exclaimed, "I can't believe that it's been nearly two months since I've eaten last!"

"If you think that's rough, try four years without eating," I said. We both enjoyed a hearty laugh over that.

"Of course," he said, "I still have you beat. I went several decades without eating."

I chuckled. "True, that," I said as I shoved yet another fork full of scrambled eggs in my mouth. "So, tell me, how did you ever wind up getting bound to your clothes, anyway?"

Edward placed his fork back on the plate and cleared his throat. "After I came to this side of the Gate, and gave up hope of ever seeing Al…you…again, I decided to make the most of it by helping other any way I could. After all, I had an advantage over just about everybody else, what with my knowing alchemy.

"Now, I'm sure you're aware that I seem to be a magnet for attracting enemies. Well, there was this one guy that wanted a lot of power, wealth, and glory, and I kept thwarting his plans.

"So, one day, he invited me to dinner, and without thinking, I accepted. He's apparently poisoned my drink though, because I passed out during the meal.

"I woke up later, feel very ill, and in a cold sweat. I knew I was dying. However, there was a woman that claimed that she might have a slight chance of curing me, if I was willing to let her try.

"She told me that the method was something like human transmutation, but modified a little bit, so that she could pull it off. She would pull out the person's soul, transmute their body, and then put the soul back into the body. I had nothing to lose, so I told her to go ahead and try.

"While she was performing the ritual, however, the man who had tried to kill me rushed into the room and shot her on the spot. She had only succeeded in pulling me partway out of my body; hence I was bound to my cloths. I could not reenter my body, because it was now dead.

"The man who killed me took my clothes and shaved my hair and threw them all in the street, hoping that people would trample of them. However, the people I'd helped recognized my clothes, so they took them into their houses and gave them a lot of respect.

"Over the years, however, the younger generation forgot all about me, and one by one, my clothes started ending up in second hand stores. That's where you eventually found me. I was really surprised at the time as well, since you only gravitated towards my clothes, which meant that you know about me. Up until that time, I had thought that I was completely forgotten."

"Wow," I said, 'I never would've guessed. I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

Edward smiled. "The long wait was worth it to be with you again. Of course, it will take a little getting use to the fact that my brother is now my sister."

I giggled. Yes, that would take some getting use to, indeed.

"Katie," my dad called, "Everyone's here."

"Okay, I'm coming," I said. I turned to Edward and said, "I'll see you in a little bit, when it's time to give MY present!"

Edward chuckled. "Okay, see you soon then…sis." I smiled, and then left the room.

My grandparents were sitting on the couch, while my Mom was sitting nearby, listening to Grandpa brag about his family's traditions. Oh yes, it was quite obvious who he had been in his past life.

I looked around the room. Many of my aunts and uncles and cousins were there, and so were…Tammie and Sheila!

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked, "I thought you would be with your families today."

"We are," said Tammie, "I convinced them to come here for the big event. Don't scold me; you said I could talk on Christmas."

"I won't scold you if you haven't told my parents," I said, "We want to surprise them."

"Don't worry, I didn't tell your folks," she said.

"Heh, did you know that my parents were YOUR parents in your last life?" I said.

"What?" said Tammie, "You're kidding!"

"No, I'm not," I said, "Then even remember their last name as well as how they died, but they don't believe that it's a past life memory."

"Wow, that's incredible!" Tammie said with a laugh in her voice.

Dad then walked into the room and motioned for everyone to quiet down. "Thank you all very much for coming. We got a lot more visitors than expected. Katie's gift must really be something." He gave me a wink. "Now we'll start the gift exchange. I'll pass out the presents."

So, Dad passed out all the presents, and we proceeded to open them up. I got a lot of very nice things, like perfume, jewelry, and pretty dresses. (Don't forget that I'm a girl in this life, after all.) Heh, this was a better haul than most years. Of course, I didn't really care what I got this year. I already had received the most priceless gift of all.

Finally, Dad said, "Katie, where's your gift?"

"It's still up in my room," I said.

"Well, would you be willing to get it? I'm just dying to find out what it is. It must be pretty good to attract this kind of crowd," said he.

I laughed. "Yes, it certainly is," I said, "But you might not believe your eyes when you first see it."

I ran out of the room and up the stairs. "Edward, we're ready for you," I said.

Edward stood up, as he'd been sitting on the floor. "I'm a little bit nervous. How are they going to react to my coming back from the dead?" he said.

"I don't know exactly," I said, "But they'll be supremely happy to see you again. I know that much."

"You're sure they'll accept me?" he said.

"Don't be such a worrier," I said, "They even accepted you when you were just a spirit possessing me. They'll be sure to accept you as you are now."

He smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right," I said, "Now come on, they're waiting for you."

We both headed down the stairs, and walked towards the living room. I told him to wait just outside the room until my signal.

I walked into the room. All eyes were upon me. "Ladies and gentlemen," I said (hey, this was a big moment), "I would like you to meet my brother, Edward." I motioned towards the door, and Edward stepped into the room.

A hush fell over the entire group. There was an awkward silence for several moments, as no one knew what to say. That is, until my grandma broke the silence by saying, "Well, he looks familiar."

To this my grandfather replied, "Of course he looks familiar. He has the same physical characteristics passed down through the Greene family for generations."

Now that the silence had been broken, people started talking again and clambering for Edward, trying to get a good look at him, whether they knew who he was or not.

Finally, Mom and Dad were able to get to him. "Edward," my dad said, "You're…You're alive…But how?"

"It's all thanks to Katie," said Edward.

"No, it's all thanks to you," I said, "I could never have done it without your help."

"But all I did was counsel you a bit," said Edward, 'You're the one who performed the transmutation."

"Katie performed a transmutation?" said Mom.

"Yes, she did," said Edward, "She knows alchemy now."

"Incredible!" said my mom.

Without warning, my dad wrapped his arms around Edward and said, "I'm so glad that you came back to us. I'm not going to lose you this time."

Edward apparently couldn't find anything to say. Mom couldn't either, so she just joined in the group hug while shedding tears of joy. I then joined in the group hug.

The idea ran through the crowd like a shockwave, because one by one, they all started joining in the group hug as well. They wanted to make the newcomer feel welcome.

Finally, when everyone tired of hugging and sat back in their seats, Dad looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, "Katie, you gave us the best Christmas present you could possibly have given us."

I choked back a sob. I was so happy that tears were running down my face, as well as the faces of most of those in the room.

My dad then turned his face back to Edward and said, "Son, welcome home."

So ends this fic. I hope that you all enjoyed it. I'll try to get the next fic up by tomorrow or so. I'm thinking of calling it "Me, Myself, and I". So, you can either put me on author alert, or check my profile periodically to see if I've posted it yet.

By the way, I need a little help on this next story. Katie and Ed live in a little town, which means that their Junior High and High school is one building. Frankly, I've never been to a public Junior High or High school, so I could really use some information on what a typical day is like. I was raised most of my school years in private school, and then was homeschooled through my highschool years. So, whenever I make someone go to school in my fics, I'm kind of just guessing. Any help you could give me to make the details more realistic would be most helpful.

Anyway, please review, and I hope to see you again in the sequal! Thanks for your loyalty and encouragement!