Well...for some reason the chapter didn't appear...so here we go again, I'm updating. It did this once before; I updated, but the alert wasn't sent out. Anyway, here's the second part the the flash back.

I had to find some way to make up for that horrible cliffhanger in the last chapter. Two updates so soon should make up for it huh?

Chapter 20 - Redemption!
"Wait a second." Aria chimed in. "If you died then...how come your here?" She seemed relatively confused.

Ed smiled. "Yeah, I was kind of confused when I came back. They had to explain it to me a couple times for it to sink in." He looked to his brother. "You're going to have to tell the rest of it, sadly, I don't remember any of what happened after Envy stabbed me."

Al nodded and sighed. "Right after brother got stabbed..." Al thought hard to conger up the words to tell them what happened.

"Edward?" Rose's soft voice emanated through. "Edward!!!" She screamed in disbelief. She held her hands up to her face and took a step back. "No..."

Al tilted his head up to look in Ed's direction. "Brother?!" Al's body, who's body seemed to sit up all on it's own, though almost completely gone from Gluttony devouring it. There were no legs left to his armor and Gluttony was threatening to dispose of him entirely. "I don't think so!" Al, in a fit of anger grabbed Gluttony by his face and with a great flash of light, Gluttony had disappeared completely. "Brother." With the rest of his armor now restored he slowly stood up and approached Edward who was no lying lifelessly on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Dante handed the baby off to Rose who held him tightly. "You're ruining everything!" Dante clapped her hands.

Al held a hand out in her direction, without another movement the floor was changed, no longer was the circle that he was bound in visible, the circle had gone and a new circle appeared beneath Dante. The floor warpped and wrapped itself around her, rendering her useless. He turned, without hesitation and pointed his hand at Envy, who was now closing in fast.

In a flash, the floor sprung up and impaled Envy in all of his seal markers. One through each shoulder, one through the very center of his chest, one through his forehead and lastly, through his Oraborus tattoo on his leg. Envy tried his hardest to move, but nothing, he had been bound. He slumped his head back. "Bastard." Slowly he closed his eyes and slipped into an unconscious state, hovering a few feet above the floor, suspended by the spikes.

Al lowered his head and clenched his fists. "Brother..." Al knelt down beside him and touched his face. "There's still a little color in his cheeks...I know I can bring him back...but first..." He stood up again. "I have to summon the gate." Al held his arms straight out at his sides and concentrated. "No...I...I don't have enough. The stone's too weak." His eyes glowed red with the power of the stone, but for some reason, it still wasn't enough.

He turned his attention to Dante. "If it wasn't for you none of this would have happened. I deserve some sort of redemption for all we've gone through."

Dante wiggled in the tight grasp of the transmuted floor. "Don't you dare come near me! You fool!" She screamed at him. "You could kill us both! Don't be stupid."

Al shook his head. "I don't care...Ed died for me and my mistakes...now if I have to suffer to bring him back, then fine, he deserves it." Al stood in front of her and raised his hands to her face. Rose, who was standing nearby stepped back and averted her gaze. "I'll use you to summon the gate...I'll use what I can to bring Ed back, and then...and only then, if there's enough...I'll restore myself." Dante shut her eyes and lowered her head. "Alright." Al concentrated once again and with a brilliant flash of light, Dante disappeared and before Al stood the gate, towering to say the least. The rest of the room seemed to be hazed over in yellow light.

Al approached the door. "Now..." He placed his hands, his leather clad hands, on the door and began to pull with all his strength. "I have to get Ed's soul back from here." He struggled for a moment, but then stopped when he felt a knock at the door. "What the?" He took a step back. Fortunately not a moment too soon, the right side of the door flew open and slammed against the pillar that held it fast.

Through the darkness he could see something, or maybe someone, coming through the void. "Alphonse!" He head his father's voice resonate through the door. Al felt his body become weak and it quickly crumpled to the floor. There was a loud struggling yell and then finally Hohenheim appeared through the gate and in his arms, he was carrying someone.

Hohenheim stepped through the gate and knelt down on the floor, the trip through the gate was taxing and he needed to catch his breath. Alphonse could only move his arms. "Dad?" He backed his body up using only his arms. "What's going on?" Hohenheim stood up, a body cradled carefully in his arms. It had sandy blond hair that was long; the body looked to be starving to death, the ribs were showing through. Al stared in awe, could this life form really be what he thought it was. Was that him? "Is that?" He could help but feel this sinking feeling.

It was indeed Al's body, apparently it had aged while trapped within the gate. Not only had it aged, but it didn't receive any sustenance, it was starving to death. There wasn't very much left to him. "Al." Hohenheim smiled, laying the body down on the floor in a sitting position. It was alive and breathing, but it's eyes looked as though it was dead. it had no soul after all, so it was no surprise. He body had on a brown pair of pants and a small t-shirt, it looked as though his father transmuted his coat into something for his body to wear. He was glad he retained what little dignity he had left.

"My soul..." The semi-lifeless form spoke, it seemed to startle Hohenheim somewhat. "I have to..." The body began to move of it's own accord. Slowly, it rose to it's feet and with careful steps, and like a magnet, was drawn to his soul. It approached the vessel where his soul had been trapped for the past four years.

"No! I can't! Not yet! Not before I help Edward!" (1)Alphonse tried to get away form the soulless body, but it was no use, without his legs he just wasn't quick enough. "No!" He gave one last desperate yell in hopes the body would stop coming toward him. But no, Al's body had already clapped it's hand together and placed them on the empty suit of armor that Al's soul had come to call his body for the last long while.

Hohenheim was powerless to do anything, that tread through the gate left him out of breath and immobile. "..." He could only watch on in confusion as Al rejected the one thing that he had been striving for all this time.

"Finally..." Al's soulless body spoke once again. A brilliant bright light engulfed them both and caused Hohenheim to shield his eyes. There were a few alchemic flashes of lightening and then the gate, seemed to make a low growling noise. As quickly as it happened, the light faded away as did the gate. It was the moment of truth, did the philosopher's stone work?

"Alphonse?!" Hohenheim yelled. "Alpho--" He stopped short when his eyes readjusted to the light in the room. He could see Al standing there, his fists clenched tight. "Are you alright."

Al nodded. "Yeah...I'm fine...but Ed..." He had tears streaming down his face and dropping down onto the floor. "There's not enough to bring him back." Al sobbed somewhat.

"Edward?" Hohenheim looked around the room. He saw Rose stuck, scared, over in the corner with her baby; Envy in suspended animation impaled on spikes from the floor and finally, his gaze turned to his son who was laying on the floor, dead. "What happened?" Hohenheim managed to stand up.

Al swallowed hard. "He was fighting Envy...and he got stabbed." Al sobbed again, the tears just pouring from his eyes. Having not felt anything in the last ling while, it was relieving to know that he finally had his body back and could experience emotion once again. But did it have to be this kind of emotion? Sorrow. Al slowly approached his brother laying on the floor. "Ed?..." He knelt down and slid an arm under his head and his other arm under his legs. Carefully, he stood back up.

"Alphonse...are you OK, can you handle that?" Hohenheim asked, a twinge of sadness in his voice. He knew because of his actions, it now costed his oldest son's life. If he had just looked out for Al's best interest instead of his own, maybe Ed could have been saved. Hohenheim reached a hand up to where his shoulder had once been rotting away; from the gate, he was able to retrieve his lost soul and repair his body and bring Al's body back. All with a little power of the stone to spare. Had he have known that Edward was in the condition that he was in, he wouldn't have done it.

Al began walking toward the Exit. "Let's get back to the surface...I remember the way." He carried Ed in his arms. He was rather heavy with the Automail and all, but it was only a small burden.

Rose came out from where her and Ravi had been hiding and followed Hohenheim and Al out of the desolate city.

"You are to shoot and kill on sight. The Homunculus wear dark clothing, have dark hair and have also somewhere on their bodies have an Oraborus tattoo." Roy shouted out his orders to the small pavilion he had been given to retrieve the Elric brothers. He quickly winced from the pain of the wound above his left eye. Had it have been an inch over and down, he would have lost his eye. "Alright men!" He turned toward the opening in the church alter. "...Wait..." He looked down the stairs to see a figure walking toward them. "Hold on, I think we might just have to call this whole thing off." Roy starred patiently as the figure got closer and closer. To his surprise, it was Hohenheim of Light.

"At ease soldiers, they're alright." Roy smiled wide, had anything happened to Ed and Al, he never would have forgiven himself.

Just then Riza came up beside Roy. "Did you say they're here?" Roy nodded, Riza smiled. "That's a relief, I found out that the underground cavern is like a maze. We might have had trouble finding them." She crossed her arms and awaited their arrival.

Hohenheim was the first to come through the door in the alter. "Finally. Al?" He looked back, Al was right there behind him. "Can you manage?"

Al now appeared through the door. "I'm OK."

Roy and Riza stood there in shock. "Alphonse?!" They said in union. Then they saw him, Al's body had been restored. He looked a lot like Ed, except a little younger and he had a softer look to his eyes. His hair, along with hi seyes, were a few shades darker than Edwards.

Al nodded. "Yeah...it's me." He half smiled and then looked down at Ed, the half smile quickly faded again.

"I see Ed's overdone it again." Roy smirked as he placed his fists on his hips.

"Not quite..." Al choked out.

Roy raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" Al's expression darkened as he knelt down to the flood and laid his brother down in front of the alter. Blood streaked and stained Al's arms and cloths, shedding some light on what he meant. The room fell deadly silent. "No..." Roy's voice sounded out in the silence. It was low and in denial. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

You thought I was going to finish the flashback huh!? No, no way. Not yet anyway. One more chapter and I'll get this all coming together! You'll love it! I know you will. So don't lose faith in me just yet! I'm the creative genius at work!

Anyway, regarding the (1) in there...I tried writing that line, but then had to start over again cause I kept not making sense and laughing at what I was writing.

"Alphonse tried to get away from himself, he was took quick for himself and he lunged at himself full speed. His body held onto him tightly, Al was completely beside himself in what he was going to do." (pun, pun, pun!)

Yeah...I'm a bitch, making jokes at a time like this, oh well. I know that it turns out happy in the end, so it's OK.

Review and tell me what you think please! o
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