Author's Note: Okay, this is near the end of the anime series, from the end of episode 39 onwards. This is an AU story with a healthy dosage of angst (but not too much hopefully). Please review, it helps me so much and gives all the motivation in the world. Plus, reviewers often come up with amazing ideas.

Thanks for reading. Now... I hope you enjoy.

Ed walked out of the conference room, his brother in tow. His mind was ablaze with all that he'd just heard, and he was fuming. He was in no state of mind for calm thoughts and they all centred around one person: that bastard Colonel Mustang.

He didn't know why his 'superior' officer hadn't told him about Lior and the uprising that had arisen since he had overthrown that fake prophet, Cornello. He didn't know why he hadn't been told about the civil war that his actions had brought. He didn't know why no one had told him, and that was the worst part of the whole thing.

"Fullmetal, sir," came the call of Master Sergeant Kain Fuery.

Kain Fuery, the young soldier who had explained the situation in Lior to the Elric brothers. Ed felt that he should be grateful to him. And so, in keeping with that gratitude, Ed slowed, stopped and turned to face the young man.

"I, uh..." Kain faltered, seeing the dark look on Ed's face.

"What is it, Fuery?" Ed asked calmly, trying to ease some of his anger away so he didn't vent at the wrong person.

"Well, it's like this: the colonel wanted me to remind you that you need to attend a physical examination, seeing as you've missed the last five," Kain reported warily.

"Brother hasn't missed them," Al protested. "Whenever we're in a city with a military hospital, he goes in and has his check-up, don't you Brother?"

Al looked over to Ed, waiting for confirmation. What he ended up seeing was a very guilty look on his brother's face. The fact was, Al had never gone into the hospital with his brother, and such thoughts of people of the military giving him a rather intimate examination of his person... well, it made him feel quite queasy in his non-existent stomach.

And now, Al was realising that Ed had never actually gone into to see a doctor for those examinations.

"Brother!" Al whined. "You told me that you were up to date on your check-ups."

"Yeah, well, we've been busy, Al" Ed retorted defensively. "Besides, there's far more important things than a stupid check-up."

Kain Fuery glanced nervously between the two brothers. He knew they didn't fight very often, but this had the warning hints of turning nasty. He looked back at the conference room, where everyone was still discussing plans for Lior. He wondered if calling them for help would ease or escalate the situation.

"You're going to that examination, Brother," Al stated matter-of-factly.

"No, Al," Ed replied with the same tone. "I'm not."

Ed turned to continue walking down the hall and managed to take seven steps before he was grabbed from behind. Al had taken his brother's shoulders and was preparing himself for a fight, which strangely, didn't come.

Martel sat quietly in Al's armour. She wasn't entirely sure how to intervene, or if she should even try. She was fairly certain that the brothers had forgotten that she was there, so wrapped up in their argument as they were. However, when Al grabbed Ed and encountered no retaliation from his older brother, she decided now was a good time to remind them of her existence.

She quietly knocked on Al's armour, but she didn't receive any response, either because they hadn't heard her, or it was dangerous to respond. She looked through the grate in Al's armour, wondering what was going on.

All she could see was Ed standing still in his brother's grip. No, she corrected herself, he wasn't still. Edward was shaking, and Martel could see his left hand twitching erratically. This behaviour wasn't normal for the older brother, she knew that much, and she had a feeling that she knew why.

"Al..." she whispered quietly, encase anyone was nearby. "Something's wrong. Let him go."

Al moved his head slightly towards his chest, proving that he'd heard her. He then released his brother's shoulders and took a step back. He instantly realised that Martel was right; something was wrong, and his brother wasn't moving.

"B-Brother?" he asked timidly. "Brother, what's wrong?"

Ed's head twitched slightly as he registered his brother's voice and the sound of concern in that voice. He slowly turned round to face Alphonse. His expression was a mixture of absolute agony and the extreme effort to restrain the look of pain from overrunning his face, as it had done his body. He looked past Al to where Fuery was standing.

"Hey, Fuery," Ed called, his voice strangely calm and easy. "Is Mustang still in the conference room?"

"Uhh," Fuery stalled, turning his head to look at the colonel.

By now, Mustang had realised that something was going on in the corridor. He hadn't stuck his head out to see what was going on, knowing that it probably wouldn't be the smartest move. Instead, he resigned himself to listen to the limited amount of speech. But, hearing the Edward wanted to speak to him, Mustang nodded his head to Fuery.

"Yeah," Kain replied to Ed, facing the young alchemist. "Yeah. He's still in there."

"Fine," Ed sighed in resignation. "I'll tell him why I haven't had a check-up."

Slowly, Ed made his way back to the conference room. It was as if every step pained him, and he needed to force himself to keep placing one foot in front of the other. He ignored everything, his brother's attempts to talk to him, Kain's worried expression as he moved out of the way, or the startled and confused expressions of everyone in the room.

It wasn't until he sat down that he looked at Mustang. He saw a very unsure man in front of him, and Ed felt slightly proud that he'd finally gotten beneath that smug look that he had almost believed to be plastered onto the colonel's face.

He looked down and carefully undid the buttons of his long-sleeved jacket. He pulled his automail arm out of its sleeve first, and when his jacket was only covering his left shoulder and arm, he looked back to the colonel.

"This... This is why I haven't been to the last five examinations" he declared, pulling the jacket off the rest of his body.

Beside Mustang, Riza Hawkeye gasped loudly and raised her hand to cover her open mouth. There were several more gasps about the room, and the unlit cigarette fell from Havoc's shocked lips. No one could stop staring at what Edward was showing them.

There was a huge bruise that covered Ed's entire shoulder, only... it wasn't a bruise. The colouration was a mixture of red, green, brown, purple, and black. The shoulder looked slightly swollen and the skin looked like it was starting to flake.

It was painful just for everyone to look at it. No one wanted to even think about how Ed was coping with something like that.

"It's a later stage of the process," Ed explained nonchalantly.

"The... later stage?" Roy echoed, unable to believe that Edward was being so calm about this.

"What is that, Edward?" Riza asked, her eyes showing the shock that she was valiantly trying to keep out of her voice.

"It's the dues of the fallen," Ed answered. "It's the reminder that I've done something forbidden and, because of that, it's also reminding me of the time I've got left."

"WHAT?!" Al shrieked. "What do mean 'the time you've got left'?!"

"I'm rotting from the inside out, Al," Ed explained, looking sadly at the wavering lights in his brother's helmet. "Eventually, my body won't be able to keep itself together and I'll either break down and die or I'll die and then break down."

"No... You're wrong... it can't be..." Al muttered desperately. "The Stone bypasses the Law of Equivalent Exchange, it can help you! I know it can!"

"All this searching for the Philosopher's Stone... it was only going to be for you," Ed admitted. "Nothing's gonna help me, Al, not even the power of the Stone can undo what the Gate has done. All that matters now is stopping Scar and finding the Philosopher's Stone to restore your body. Once that's done, I'll be able to die knowing that I kept my promise to you."

Al didn't speak, and his armoured body was shaking. Within his torso, Martel had her hands over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't stop her body from shaking, and prayed that everyone outside in that very crowded room would think that it was Alphonse, and not some silent creature that lay inside his armour.

She didn't know exactly what was going on, but she had a feeling that this wasn't going to end happily.

Humankind cannot gain anything, without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange.

In those days, we really belived that to be the world's one and only truth...