The Other Side

He was dying, and the gate made him an offer. How could he refuse? He'd always wanted an adventure. Oneshot. Alternate Movie Ending

He laid there, gunshot bleeding him dry and his lungs hacking up flecks of blood. Truthfully, it wasn't the way he wanted to go, but, he supposed, it was better than wasting away slowly of consumption and at least he was going to die something of a hero.

His name would be remembered in history as a great rocket scientist, he'd made his mark on the world. Alas, death creeping on him, the people behind him in a mad panic, he wished that was enough. He was not content. He wished God had been kinder and allowed him to die an old man, perhaps in his sleep, with a wife he loved by his side.

Maybe he would have married the gypsy, Noa. She was certainly pretty and was not lacking in brains either, though she was shy and broken in soul. He could have fixed that, given her a place in the world and in turn he would have been cured of his loneliness. He imagined they would have had three children, a boy named after his best friend, Edward, and two little girls named after his mother and her mother.

Though his body was numb, he felt the icy presence coiling above his head and he opened his heavy eyelids to the black, eyed tentacle stretching from the portal on the ceiling.

Alfons Heidrich, it whispered, Come here… we will save you… and take you to…. the other side…

Amestris, huh? His lips quirked into a slight smile and a bit of life came back into his eyes. His breath barely passed his lips. "Well, Edward, I hope I'll see you there."

The black thing did not hesitate, countless others reaching down and pulling him into the gate. It was dark and it was frightening, but he welcomed it with open arms.

Truth be told, I really don't have any excuse for this. I know it's painfully short, but I had a thought about what might happen if Alfons Heidrich was taken to the other side of the gate before he died, and I hatched this. I don't actually plan of writing a full-length story on this, which I why I didn't bother making it longer, but if anyone else does, I would love to see it.

Read, review, and all that jazz,

Megii