According to the save info on my computer, I finished this in November and then forgot about it. Oops...

Alphonse was sitting on the sofa, staring off into space when Roy got back. The house had grown dark, but the boy hadn't bothered getting up to switch even a single light on. Roy took his coat off and frowned as he flicked the light on – Alphonse didn't seem to notice at all, not even flinching when the light hit his eyes. The only move the young Elric made was to hand Roy an envelope.

"What's this?"

The boy shook his head, and Roy saw he had his own letter held tightly in his other hand. The envelope tearing was loud in the quiet room.

Mustang,

So apparently I did it. Made the asshole decision. If things have gone to plan, Al should be back in his body now. Chances are I won't know if it worked or not, so I'm kind of hoping for the best right now, but if things have gone the way I think they will I won't be there to watch out for him anymore. Could you? Please? I know I've asked a lot of you these past few years, but he's my little brother – I can't leave him completely on his own, y'know?

Whatever you do, don't ever let him join the military. He doesn't need to go through that on top of everything else.

Al's letter has everything I know so far about what might happen, so if you want to know you should ask him. He'll probably want to talk about it anyway.

I'm not good at signing off on this sort of thing, so… Thanks. For everything.

Ed.

Roy gripped the paper so tight it crumpled and curled around his hand. "When did these come through?"

"They came today." Alphonse's voice was barely more than a whisper. "Apparently Ed gave them to some friends of ours before everything happened, but they couldn't find me for a while. So they came today." There was a pause before Alphonse held out his letter to Roy. "He sounds scared, Colonel."

Roy read through it once quickly then again a little slower, paying attention to each word as he went and sinking down into the armchair. When he looked up, Alphonse still hadn't moved.

"I wish he hadn't done it," the boy whispered. "I could have stayed in the armour."

"No you couldn't," Roy sighed. "We're not blind, Al, you weren't okay in that thing and the link holding your soul was getting weaker. If the link didn't break soon, you would."

"I just want my brother back."

"I know."

(-)

After another couple of weeks Alphonse returned to Risembool. Roy's crew all went to the train station to say goodbye, and he made promises to keep in touch with all of them. A phone call a few months later told them he was going to spend some time with Izumi, but after that there was nothing for a while.

It had been almost a year since they fought Father. Roy and the soldiers fighting with him on the Promised Day were told that their trials for crimes in Ishbal were to be postponed indefinitely due to the work they had put into restructuring the country and rebuilding Ishbal. Roy had wanted to argue against it, to insist that they be tried alongside their peers, but his men reminded him that he was more use to Ishbal untried than behind bars.

Accounts surfaced of soldiers who enjoyed their work during the war in the East. Ones who laughed as they beat children, and others who raped women then beat them a few weeks later to prevent any pregnancies continuing. Other people came forward too in support of Roy and his soldiers. Some were Ishballan, some weren't, but all of them had either seen Roy and his men conduct themselves well when faced with angry Ishballans, or had been told about his plans by a young hot-tempered alchemist. Each time he heard a new report claiming Fullmetal had convinced someone that Roy was a good person, he couldn't decide whether to snort in disbelief or smile. He usually settled for raising an eyebrow and making a crack about Edward being too short to catch people's attention on his own and using Roy's name to do it instead.

A parade was being arranged to mark the anniversary of the Promised Day. Alphonse had been invited as an honorary attendee, but Roy couldn't track him down to let him know. All Winry and Izumi knew was that he left to go traveling a month ago and didn't say where he was going or when he would be back.

"I think he'll end up in Central, though," Winry said, the line crackling as she spoke. "He mentioned something about wanting to study medicine."

"Not again…" Roy muttered.

"Not for that. I'd kill him myself if I thought he was doing it for that. While he was here he kept talking about wanting to help people, and wanted to find out if there was a way to safely use alchemy to heal injuries. A bit like what Mei does? I don't know, they always lose me when they start talking alchemy." There was a pause. "Al does. Al loses me when he talks about alchemy." Her voiced hitched as she spoke.

"Will you let him know about the parade if you speak to him before tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Yeah, of course."

(-)

"You got tall."

Havoc was standing with his arm around Alphonse's shoulders; the boy now came up to just below Havoc's chin, and he looked like he was still growing.

"Sure you didn't shrink?" Alphonse grinned as he greeted the soldier.

The door creaked open and the rest of the soldiers piled into the office, Roy bringing up the rear. They all stood still for a minute before greeting Alphonse as enthusiastically as their dress uniforms would allow. Falman waved from an appropriate distance, Breda slapped his back, Fuery bounced on his toes as he asked how the younger Elric was, and Hawkeye rested her hands on his shoulders and smiled. Roy was last, and used one hand to shake Alphonse's and the other to squeeze his shoulder.

"We've been trying to get hold of you for the last few weeks," Roy said.

"Yeah, I decided to go travelling for a bit. I saw about the parade in the newspaper and kind of assumed I should be here. I wasn't wrong, was I?"

"Not at all. It starts in just under two hours, though. You're supposed to be up on the podium with me and Fuhrer Grumman, but I haven't been told that you need to do anything. Just stand there and try to not look too bored."

Havoc pulled a face. "Good luck."

Alphonse had a suit on, but he still felt underdressed next to the impressive blue uniforms and sashes. It only got worse as they began the walk down to the parade grounds.

"So Winry said you might be staying in Central for a while," Hawkeye said.

"Yeah, I'm going to try and get into the medical school, but I don't know if they'll take me – I kind of stopped going to school when I was six, so I don't have any of the qualifications."

"Your reputation should be enough to get you in."

"If it isn't, I'd be more than happy to write a letter of recommendation," Roy said.

"Thanks."

The parade was quiet and respectful, with Ishballans included in several sections and a short silence towards the end. A baby somewhere in the crowd kept crying, the sound echoing off the surrounding buildings until the silence was over and the shifting and speeches began again. Alphonse's back was aching from standing straight for so long, so when everyone began to file out of the grounds he took the chance to lean against a nearby railing.

It was the same every year after that, with some minor changes. After two years, once the country was almost completely settled, Roy took over as Fuhrer. Occasionally he would ask Alphonse if he wanted to make a speech at the next parade, but the answer was always no – he had too much studying.

The trouble started during the fifth parade.