A/N: I don't own Full Metal Alchemist. Specifically one-shot and probably slightly AU, seeing as how I have yet to finish the series.

At Last

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I hope you don't mind me wearing your watch, brother. I know you were very protective of it, and for a good reason, not just because it showed you were a State Alchemist. I don't know why I wear it…maybe because it comforts me. Makes me feel safe. Even when I was immortal and just a big walking suit of armor, it was still you who made me feel safe, not my own abilities. Just one word from you could calm my frayed nerves and make me believe that everything would be alright.

Well, you lied to me, brother. Everything isn't all right. You shouldn't have-

…I'm sorry. You don't deserve to be scolded. You deserve so much better…you deserve…God, Ed, you deserve life. This, this can't be happening. It defies all my logic.

Everyone is worried about me. I haven't been eating much, you see, so I've gotten a little thin. Nothing life-threatening, I promise, but I just haven't been able to find it in myself to chew and swallow. It feels like I'm betraying you somehow, by wanting to live when you died.

I can't help but laugh at that thought. If you were here right now, you'd either scold me or give me a big-brotherly talking-to and set me straight with a single smile that lights up the skies. I think that's probably what I miss the most about you…not your wisdom, or your words, your smell, your face, your fierce loyalty to your family and friends-

I have to stop…I'm crying. Like a baby. But I'm laughing at the same time. If someone who didn't know we were brothers were listening to me, they'd think we were lovers or something. A very disturbing thought, now that I dwell on it, but what can I do? I'm not going to say I didn't love you more than anything.

Since Mom died, it was always just us. You and me. No one really took care of us except ourselves. Yes, we were in the care of Master Izumi, but let's face it, without each other she probably would have killed us. She almost killed us as it is, ha ha.

I'm amazed I can still smile, let alone laugh. If anyone had asked me a year ago what I would do if you died, I would have told them without hesitation that I would have followed you as soon as I found out. There was a point in time that I wanted to kill myself, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't destroy this perfect body you gave yours up for.

It's working really well, brother. Not an ache or a pain yet. Your best work yet.

I hope you and Mother are enjoying yourselves, leaving poor Alphonse down here to tread in the hot summer heat. I hope you made this body well enough so that I don't melt, because it sure feels like I'm going to.

…I bet Mom's very proud of you.

"Proud of us, you mean…"

Yeah, proud of us. She always liked it when we made her presents, and look what she's gotten; a son up in heaven to keep her company and another down here as living proof of the greatest Alchemic achievement of history, and brother to the legendary Fullmetal Alchemist.

Yep, you're a legend now. Whenever I go to the military shindigs Brigader General (he got a promotion) Mustang forces me to show my mug at, the entire time I'm grilled about you. What you're like, what our adventures were like, how you look, how you act…sometimes they even ask me about me, and what it was like being in a suit of armor. I can't really answer that, though. It was like…being in a suit of armor. Like not being made up of flesh and bone.

Colonel (promotions all around, it seems!) Hawkeye thought that I would be offended that everyone always asks me about you, but I'm actually really grateful and honored to be able to tell others about you. I want to write a book about what we did together, but so much of it was illegal that I don't think I will, ha ha ha. Or I'll write it, and order Winry to get it published after my death so I won't get incarcerated, although I'm positive Mustang would find a way to get me out of it anyways. I just don't want to live with that kind of reputation, as cowardly as it seems. I'm not as strong as you, Ed.

Are you pleased that I made sure that you were buried next to Mom? They wanted to bury you in the State Alchemist Graveyard, next to the military brass, so your grave would be open to the public so that everyone could mourn.

I think that's the only time I lost my temper and shouted at military personnel. I told them that the public would have to mourn your death without a grave to visit, because you would be home with me and laid to rest right next to our mother. You're on the right side of her, and I already reserved the plot to her left for me. I wanted to make sure that we stayed a family. And I also made sure that your funeral and all information regarding the location of your grave were kept secret, so that strangers wouldn't go tromping all around your and Mom's graves just to read your tombstone or say that they stood on the grave of 'Fullmetal.'

What the point of a stupid tombstone? They don't say anything that really matters. Some people say that tombstones are used to remind us of the ones we love, but that's crap. If your gravemarker was supposed to remind me of who you are, it's doing a piss-poor job. It doesn't even say much, just Here lies Edward "Fullmetal" Elric, beloved son, brother and friend. He will be remembered always for his bravery, loyalty, and sacrifice. It doesn't say anything about how your eyes were the oddest shade of gold, or that when you laughed, everyone else couldn't help but smile. It doesn't say that you always smelled like rain and books and cold metal, or that even Winry was jealous of how good your hair always looked. There isn't a single word about how easily you lose your temper, or how protective you were of Mother and I, or about how kind you were, despite what everyone believed. It doesn't even say how much I love you.

Don't even bother to tell me to stop crying, brother. You know better than I do that it's not going to be possible. You never cried, but both you and I know that if I had died instead of you, you would have never stopped sobbing. We're important to each other, and I'm actually kind of angry with you, that you could think that I'd be all right with losing my only family in the world.

You've always been the audacious sort, though, so I can never stay mad at you.

I was actually tempted to bind your soul to something before you died, but then it occurred to me how angry you'd be with me. Not because I would curse you to the miserable experience I had just escaped, but because I would be forced to give up something of my own, a part of my body that you tried so hard to create. Besides, you were selfless enough to give up your life, and it would be disrespectful of me not to let you. I was thinking pretty calmly at the time, if I remember correctly. It's actually very strange, because I couldn't think properly for the month after. Everything was muddled without you there to clear it up.

Well, it's getting dark and I'm getting hungry. I've enjoyed this talk with you; I'll be back tomorrow to talk some more. Maybe I'll tell you about what Mustang said to me about you after you died…he was a lot more choked up that you'd think he'd be. He actually cried.

I'll see you tomorrow, Ed, after I talk with Mother. You two have fun, okay? I love you both very much. Goodbye.

"Al."

The old man, laying prone in the large white bed turned his head slightly to the left, staring at an oddly bright beam of light shining through the curtains of his window. The light shifted, taking on a faintly humaniod shape. Slowly, the 'head' of the light sprouted messy bangs, and coloring faded into the figure, giving it a translucent sheen, like stained glass. A white shirt with no sleeves and loose drawstring pants, much like the military hospital clothes, formed around the body, falling into unnecessary wrinkles as the cloth folded around the curves and angles of the person's frame. The figure blinked golden eyes, their color enhanced by the sunlight, and laughed at the incredulity of the elderly gentleman in the bed. "Well, you've looked better, little brother."

"Ed," the aged Elric breathed, unable to say more, reaching towards the figure with trembling, bony fingers.

Edward laughed lightly again, the sound enhanced past its usual musical quality into that of the sound of a thousand peals of giggles, chuckles, snickers. It was as if every happy feeling and sound had been thrown into a bowl and roughly mixed, so that the separate elements could be noted, but still it formed something entirely new. It was the most beautiful sound Alphonse had ever heard, and the tears on his face spoke of this more than he ever could with his ailing health. "Yeah, kind of surprising, huh? Still look a dashing sixteen, if I do say so myself." The glowing, etheral teenager twisted, as if peering at himself in a mirror. "Can't say the same for you, wrinkly old man. Even old Granny Pinako looks better than you, and that's saying something. She's doing great, by the way. Having tea and crumpets with Mom as we speak. I insisted that they wait for you, but they are selfish old ladies and you know how they must have their way."

"You came for me," Al rasped, choking on his own words and the emotion thick in the air.

Ed's face, although difficult to stare directly at due to the shine, took on a sympathetic smile. "Of course I did, dummy. I'm here to take you with me. Usually the One makes these kinds of appearances, but since he's a bit sick of seeing us, he told me to fetch you instead. Well, I woulda come anyways…no one plays around with my baby brother's soul but me, as we have seen by past events." That wonderful, glorious, breathtaking sound came from his mouth again, and it was all Alphonse could do not to collapse into a fit of giddy and appreciative tears. "Anyways, Mom was rather cross with me for coming to see here so early. She slapped me quite hard, and gave me a very fierce talking-to, but then she just started to cry and hugged me for approximately…two years. Over here time, not over there time. There is no over there time, as you should know."

"It's…my time…" Alphonse smiled to himself, wrinkles increasing ten-fold. "I'm happy…get to see…everyone again…"

"Oh, yeah, it's a party over there!" Edward paced over to his brother's bedside, hands on his hips and grinning down, gold eyes sparkling without a trace of the guilt or sorrow they held during his times alive, the sight so comforting that Alphonse began to cry anew. "Everyone's eager to see you; Mom, Sensei, Granny Pinako, all our military buddies, Winry and Hughes too. We're all pissed off that you decided to live a long and healthy life." And Ed's bright fingers were curling around his wrist, chasing away all the painful ache from his body. "C'mon. No more waiting."

With a slight tug, Ed's hand pulled through Al's wrist, leaving the pale and wrinkling limb lying on the bedsheets, bringing with him a wrist larger than his own, translucent, glowing just as his own was. Soon followed the rest of the arm, then the chest and eventually Alphonse's entire soul was sitting at the edge of the bed, looking no older than eighteen, the ghost gazing curiously at his body lying on the bed. "Wh-why don't I look old?" he asked his brother, glancing down at his young palms and clenching his fists.

Edward flicked a lock of his dangling sunflower-yellow hair over his shoulder, smiling down at his little brother. "When you die and your soul is removed to acsend, you retain the age in which you looked the best. You obviously were quite the stud at eighteenish, and since I didn't live past sixteen, that's where I am." Ed chuckled, and although the sound was still wonderful to Al's ears, it wasn't nearly as overwhelming as it once was. "Besides, there is no way I could possibly look better."

Alphonse stood, glancing down idly at his body and noticing that he was in the same attire as his brother, not to mention at least eight inches taller. "Brother…"

"Yes?" Ed smiled up into Alphonse's face.

"I'm taller than you." Expecting a tantrum, Alphonse braced himself for the explosion sure to come.

He was not disappointed.

"How dare you call your big brother something so miniscule that you need a high-power microscope to even catch the merest of glimpses of?!" As Ed ranted and raved in true Ed-fashion, Alphonse felt his grin growing larger and larger. With two quick steps, Alphonse closed the distance between them and he grabbed Ed, forcing him into what would be a crushing, suffocating hug had they needed to breathe. Ed immediately fell silent, his chin over Alphonse's shoulder, feeling it shake with his younger brother's sobs. Despite their height difference, Ed was obviously the elder, and he showed this by gnarling his fingers into Alphonse's dirty blonde locks, the other patting his back soothingly. "It's all right," Edward whispered, attempting to comfort his brother. "Don't cry, Al. Everything's fine now."

"I know," Alphonse choked out, sniffling, his cheek pressed against Edward's ear. "I know it is…I'm just…I've waited for so long to see you again."

They parted, Alphonse digging the heels of his palms into his eyes as Edward rubbed his arm. "Well, look at me then! Stop blubbering like a girl and look over at me." Alphonse lifted his face and smiled shakily, earning an approving nod from his sibling. "There, see? You're seeing me again. And if you'll stop stalling and get a move on, we'll go see Mom and everyone else."

"C-can I say goodbye to my kids? And my grandchildren?" Al asked hopefully, but Edward shook his head sadly.

"Sorry, no-can-do, little brother. Against policy to visit living relatives after you've died, save special cases. That's why I never properly said goodbye to you after I died. I couldn't go see you." Ed smiled ruefully. "It's actually rare for family members to retrieve one another at the time of death, but I suppose the One felt he owed us something." Edward glanced to the side for a moment, debating, then timidly slipped his hand into Alphonse's and tugged. "Let's go."

Al cast one last wistful look towards the doorwayof his room before smiling down at his brother, giving his fingers a loving squeeze. "Lead the way…just like you always did before."

Alphonse was buried to the left of his mother two days later, a small funeral closed to only friends and family, his grave marked with a simple marble tombstone that read only Alphonse Elric, beloved husband, father, grandfather, son, brother and friend. He rests in peace. The week after, press caught wind of his passing away, and a newspapers across the country sold out with the front-page article labeled Elric Brothers United at Last.

A/N: Awww. I haven't seen or read all of Fullmetal, so forgive me for any misconceptions. This idea grabbed me by the hair and yanked whilst simultaneously giving me the Al-Puppy-Eyes, and I couldn't let it go. If you can, I would suggest listening to Alter Bridge's "In Loving Memory." This plot was inspired by that song.