(Age 16)

Elizabeth was sitting up in her bed the next morning, eating her pancakes and bacon. Edward had already inhaled his own breakfast, and was currently glaring at his milk.

"I've had enough of this!" He growled pointedly at the milk, "What the hell is milk even for?!" He scowled even more, adding, "I'm not drinking this!"

Elizabeth sighed, tired of listening to his rants, but as too deep in thought to take the time to tell him to suck it up and drink his milk. She was wondering if Havoc would actually go through with what he said he would, or if he'd take the cowardly way out.

"Hey, Al!" He called to the quiet armor sitting in the waiting chair across the open floor, "Drink this for me!" He ordered rashly, but as soon as he realized what he said, he backtracked and awkwardly added, "Er, I guess that won't work with that body."

Elizabeth cringed, Edward could be so insensitive sometimes. It was almost like he and Alphonse were polar opposites. Al looked away and curtly replied, "You have a real body, Brother, so drink it."

One little sentence from hi brother sent Ed into another rant, "If I don't like it, I don't like it!" He grumbled, "I'm not gonna die from not drinking milk, you know."

Elizabeth sighed once again, reasoning, "Edward, it really is good for you." He sent a glare her way and continued his rant, now including her.

"Fish really is good for you, Beth." He remarked, sending her another pointed look, "And even if I look like I'm not, I really am growing!" He groaned, as if remembering something unpleasant, "But everyone keeps saying I'm small, small, small!" Rolling his eyes, Edward gestured towards Alphonse freely, adding, "You're lucky, Al, because you're so huge."

Just as the door cracked open, Alphonse stood up angrily, knocking back his chair with a loud crash and snapping, "I didn't want this body!" Winry, who had just entered, stood with her mouth agape, trying to understand what just happened. Edward looked downward, ashamed and hiding his face with his hair. Elizabeth sat in her bed with an expression much like Winry's. She knew something must have been bothering him before, as Al doesn't lose his temper that easily.

Shaking like the little boy that they often forgot he was, Al repeated quieter, "I-I didn't want...this body."

Feeling guilty, Edward relented much faster to his brother than he would have to anyone else by admitting, "I'm sorry. It's my fault that you're like this," He glanced at Elizabeth, "That we're all like this." He sighed, "But the first thing we will do when we get the stone is restore your body, Al. I'll fix this."

"What proof do I have?" Al challenged. Though it made Elizabeth suspicious that Al would be so skeptical, Ed considered it a step toward calming his brother and making him feel more secured.

"Just trust me, Al." He replied, "I will restore you!"

"Trust?" Al reiterated incredulously, "With what can I trust?!" He snapped, "In alchemy, a human is made up of the body, mind, and soul. Has anyone ever proved that?" His tone dropped slightly, but stayed just as potent as he continued, "If you think about it, the memories of someone are just information. o you could artificially create them!"

With a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, Edward asked, "What?" Elizabeth's unease was also growing during this time, trying to wrap her head around his ideas and who he got them from. Her little brother wouldn't doubt them so much without an outside push.

"Before, when you were angry with Elizabeth, there was something you were going to tell me before the Major and our guards arrived, right? What were you going to say?" He asked urgently, but not stopping for an answer. "Were you going to tell me that I never really existed?"

Just like that, Elizabeth snapped. Not outwardly, but emotionally. All these years, she'd been hell-bent on not crying in front of him or appearing weak for him. She wanted to lean on him as little as possible so that when he finally stopped playing the role of a big brother and became a little brother, he would know he could count on her. But now, she wondered how long he had been harboring this. How long had had believed that he was fake? That she and Edward had created him for some sick reason? How little did he think of them?

"How do you prove that your little brother, 'Alphonse Elric' ever existed? Were you all just pretending around me, You, Elizabeth, Winry, Granny? Well brother!?" He was practically yelling by now, to a numb boy. The three witnessing his outburst were by far shocked and in a state of disbelief. A silence settled over the room.

A few moments later, a crash resounded through the room, shattering the painful silence. Edward had slammed his fists on the table where he had been eating, "Is that what you've thought all this time?" He asked, his emotions buried far from his voice and his eyes fr behind his hair, "Is that all you wanted to say?" When another moment of silence stood as his only reply, Edward stood and said, "I see." While passing his brother and walking out of the room.

"Ed!" Winry called, running down to the door, trying to get him to come back.

"You idiot!" Elizabeth screeched, getting up from her bed. Alphonse turned to face her. She held up her automail arm. "Do you see this thing?! Do you see this..." She yanked her collar down to the shoulder to show her scar, "This god-damned scar?!"

Breathing hard she paused only to gather her breath for another round. With fist up, she approached her little brother menacingly, "You're right! It's totally possible to create memories!" she exclaimed, "But do you honestly think that Edward would give up his right arm for a little brother that he was creating?!" she shook her head, "Who knows, maybe he would have. But here's the thing, would he have put me in danger? What do you think!"

Alphonse slumped to the ground, to Elizabeth's level and hugged her, "I think I want to stop. I don't want to remember carrying you two home," he whimpered regretfully, "There was so...so much blood. And we didn't know you were there. It scared me even more to find you outside than it was to wake up next to Edward in the same condition." he admitted.

Gingerly, Elizabeth wrapped her arms around him as well, putting her slender arms around his bulky, metal waist. She patted his back her vision blurring. She gave up on her sense of sight and closed her eyes, but still saw. Only what she saw now was completely different. She hugged a tall boy with long golden hair and eyes squeezed shut. He had tear tracks down his face and a red nose from crying. Elizabeth took a deep breath before it came out as a shaky sob, "I'll cry for you, Al. Because you can't, I'll cry for you."

He released her a moment after, and she sniffled and said, "I-I need to go. Winry has to explain things to you." Elizabeth cringed, "I doubt she'll be gentle." With that, Elizabeth walked out and told the guards she was headed to the hospital cafeteria.

After twenty minutes or so, Elizabeth stood from her table, where she had done absolutely nothing but sit and wait, and she head up to where she knew Edward would have gone off to, the rooftop. Hoping she had judged the time well, she peeked out and saw a fresh start to a fight between her brothers.

Edward was fierce and determined, while Alphonse was restrained and reluctant to fight. He was only dodging and blocking, not fighting back at at, leaving Ed on constant offence. A few minutes in, Edward ripped a bed sheet off of a clothes line and tossed it up in Al's face. He then kicked him, knocking him back completely. It was his first win against Al, and it was done shadily, but a win was a win.

As Alphonse removed the sheet, Edward relaxed considerably and plopped down, his head directed towards Al's They both laid there for a while talking about things that Elizabeth couldn't hear. Out of the bits and pieces she did catch, however, she knew they were alright now.

Just as she was ready to leave and let them talk it out, they began a new, more serious subject. Though inaudible, they lifted their fists to examine themselves while discussing something. Elizabeth figured it had something to do with the stone. They fist-bumped, ending their conversation with a whole new sense of accomplishment. Al jumped up first to help his hurt brother, and all was well again.

Elizabeth slipped away silently, passing Winry and Hughes with a smile on the way back to the hospital room.

Sorry it's short, but I wasn't feeling well and after that last break, I was like...not dealing with quotation marks. So I put it on 3rd person limited and decided to roll with it.

I think it's partly because I'm tired and partly because I'm emotional, but I cried when I wrote the 'I'll cry for you' part.