Yeah, still need to get to my reviews... I will get them done. It's just difficult with my laptop being out of commission. But anyway, here's the final chapter for Shifting... it's about half the size, but I saw no reason to make it longer. I am officially done with chimera season.

Now I need to go get the first chapter of Circa up.

Again, you may or may not need tissues. Since I warn people you usually don't end up needing them, but who knows. Now off I go to mess with Circa, before I start ranting like I want to. I've had a bad day and I'm a bit annoyed at everything.

I'm at least feeling nice enough right now to thank everyone for the feedback you've given, even if things didn't always go the way you wanted them to. I hope to see a lot of you again. You gave me more reviews than I think even Believe In Me got, so thank you for your support.

Chapter Forty Six

Sixty-Four Years Later

"Where are they…? Dad?" A woman called out, setting her car keys on the table in the foyer.

"I dunno… maybe they're outside?" The man who'd entered after her suggested as he closed the door. "Or asleep still. Personally I think being late for work for the first time in sixty-six years is nothing they should be ashamed of. I'd want to sleep in too, it's so gloomy today."

She supposed her brother had a point. "Well I'll check upstairs." She said, and headed up the stairwell.

"I'll go check outside." The brother decided, and headed for the kitchen.

Upstairs, Roy Elric, current Fuhrer of Amestris for the longest period of peace and prosperity the country had ever known, was lying next to his husband. He held one cold hand in his as he stared blankly at the lidded gold eyes he would never see again.

Sometime during the night, Edward had left him. The one he loved would never breathe again, never speak to him again, never be there again to dry the tears that couldn't seem to stop trickling from his eyes. He didn't even realize he was crying, he couldn't feel anything beyond the numbing grief that had stolen over him. He didn't want to feel anything else.

All he wanted to do, was lay here beside his mate until it was over for him as well. He never, in the eighty plus years he'd known Edward, had wanted to part from him. He wanted to follow Edward. Nothing else mattered to him… Edward was his everything.

"Dad…?"

Roy heard his daughter's voice, but didn't give any sign that he had. It bounced off of him like water, fading into the background of the world that was hazy and lost to him.

She crept closer, one hand over her mouth as the scene hit her in the pit of her stomach. "No… NO! Please…" she ran over to the bed, hurriedly checking her father's pulse.

Roy knew she was there, but he didn't know what she was saying or doing. He didn't care. He was already fading out, all he could see was Edward. All he could feel was Edward. His memory heard Edward laughing, and the tears only came faster.

How long it was before the brother appeared wasn't known. But he quickly raced to the bedside, and slowly nodded as he gathered his crying sister to him. He knew what was happening, and his heart broke even more as he looked over at his dad who was immobile in his grief. "He's going to follow father." He whispered.

Their daughter nodded numbly, and mustered herself together to stand on her own. "I know it's the wolf in him… but he still has human left."

Her brother nodded, knowing where she was going with that. "But the human in him wants this too."

Roy knew they were there, even though he didn't know what they were talking about. He could still only hear Edward. But he would speak to his children one last time, before he followed Edward. "Jamie, Ben, I'm going to find Edward again. But I want you to do something…" Roy paused as a silent sob jerked through him. "Don't let us be buried. Burn our bodies, and take the ashes to the northern mountains. We want to go home."

Ben nodded stiffly as he held his sister tighter. "We'll take you home, dad. Go find him… he misses you."

"I love you both… and I'm sorry I never told you the truth about me…" Roy's eyes continued to glaze over. "This is the only way I can be at peace again."

Jamie crept from her brother's hold to lay her hand gently on top of her parent's clasped ones. "Don't make father wait. It's okay… your heart isn't here anymore. Go to him."

Roy felt the cold blanketing him, along with a sense of peace he'd only known with Edward. The last thing he saw before he willingly let the darkness take him, was Edward. As he had always wanted it to be.

It wasn't so bad… this dying business. Not when he wanted to die so that he might have one last time in which he could see Edward. It was his dearest wish. He could have never seen the light of day again anyway locked inside the cell that would have been his world without Edward. It felt almost like he was floating on a relaxing sea of emptiness.

Jamie's head bowed as tears flowed from her eyes and splashed down onto the covers still lying over her parents. "They're gone..." She choked out.

Ben nodded, grieving himself. "We always knew this day would come. If father died first." He said, though the words didn't lessen the pain he felt as he sank wearily to the ground, holding his head in his hands.

"I'm not so sure." Jamie whispered sadly, as she brushed some of the tears from Roy's pale cheeks. "I think dad would have given up the will to live as well. They always were closer than the average couple. Even if dad wasn't a chimera… I think he began to have the heart of a wolf."

Ben nodded slowly, and took a deep breath as he fought back the tears. "We have work to do. The people will want to bury them." And he stood up to take his dad's transmutation gloves from the bedside table and pull them on.

"And the snows will be coming soon." Jamie said and began to help her brother. They could grieve properly after they made sure that their dad's dying wish was kept.

Home Again

"Roy."

Roy had been standing numbly overlooking the scene of his two children that played like a movie reel in a strange cloud of mist. He couldn't hear what they were saying or doing, but he felt a small comfort in watching them. But when his name was called he turned quickly, but stayed where he was in uncertainty. "Is this a dream?"

Edward smiled at him, and extended his hand. "Sort of."

Roy took a hesitant step forward. "What the hell is this then?"

"Just another dimension for our souls which are projecting bodies for us." Edward explained, "the Gate told me it's because I'm scientific, not religious."

"The Gate?" Roy frowned as he finally took Edward's hand in his, hardly daring to believe this was actually real. Or that they both looked as young again as they had when they'd first wed.

Edward nodded. "We're bound together forever, you've said so yourself. We cannot be split apart. I would have waited an eternity to see you again."

Roy faltered for a few seconds, torn between what to say or do, before he finally swept his mate up in a tight hug. He was afraid to let go as he began to cry all over again. "And what price does the Gate demand for this?" He asked as they clung to each other.

Edward rested his head against Roy's chest with a contented sigh. "It turns out the one thing even the Gate can't put a price on, is love."

"I'll always love you." Roy whispered, "I couldn't stand to go one without you. I just hope they understand."

"They do." Edward reassured him, knowing he was talking about their children. "They knew you were a chimera. We just never told you. They know why you followed me."

Roy sighed in relief, and pulled away enough to kiss Edward gently on the forehead. "I will love you until the end of time, whenever that may be."

Edward smiled up at him, and wrapped his arms around Roy's neck. "Well I have a very good idea of what we can do while we wait to find out."

Laughing, Roy brushed a lock of blond hair from the beautiful golden eyes shining up at him. "Each time I am born again, you are always more beautiful." And he smilingly bent down to capture Ed's lips in a gentle kiss as the blond blushed.

Life is short, love is forever. For the two men who had continuously defied the pursuit of a normal life, they gained an abnormal afterlife. They knew that they would never be apart again.

'Till death do us part seemed such a weak phrase.

In death shall we never part seemed much more appropriate.