Perhaps the one thing Edward valued most when he traveled to Dublith with Izumi, Sig and his brother was the random quizzes that Izumi threw at them. Being able to answer each question accurately and with speed and then being able to witness the both grudging appreciation and slight pride in his teachers eyes filled him with a joy he hadn't known in a long while.

The other was how Izumi didn't mind his muteness, helping him work around it instead of treating it like a disability and coddling him. When they sparred, she seemed surprised that Edward knew so much already, and would usually go full out. When either he or Alphonse got hurt, they saw the maternal side to Izumi, the smiles, the hugs, the gentle bandaging of the scrape.

She also saw right through Ed's defenses, cornering him one night to ask him about why he flinched at times, why she could hear muffled crying from him when he was in the shower and why his eyes didn't hold the normal, happy look of a child.

So, with much reluctance and a cold look to him so that he didn't break down and cry in front of her, he told her, wrote, rather, his story, skipping a few details. after all, she didn't need to know how he had frozen up, how he had been too weak. How he had just lay in misery for ages until Alec had finished with him.

Midway through this, he had an attack curling inwards in himself to try and alleviate the searing pain, and then he watched as tears first pooled in Izumi's eyes, and then streamed slowly down her face. He was reminded then that she had lost her own child, and that she had always had a soft spot for children. Hearing this must be killing her, he thought, letting out a breath of surprised air when she gathered him in her arms like the child he resembled but wasn't. 

"I'm sorry you had to go through that..." She murmured, holding him gently, as if afraid that his small body would shatter irreparably if she held him too tightly.

'But I lived.' He traced on her skin. 'I might not be as whole as I want to be, but I'm still alive.'

"That you are, Edward, that you are."

---

A year came and went, and Edward and Alphonse bid farewell to Izumi. They had learnt what they needed, well, Al had, and they were headed back to Resembool now. This time, Al would be safe.

The train ride was dull, with Ed and Al playing cards or sleeping the whole ride. However, when they arrived back I their home town, they were pleasantly surprised to see that it had not changed at all...not that they had really expected it to. The hills were just as green, the sky just as perfectly blue, the hustle of people moving both to and from the train...it was home. Ed and Al shared a grin.

They practically sprinted the entire way to the house they had mostly vacated after Trisha's death, showing off to each other by doing flips and somersaults the entire way.

It seemed as though nothing in the world could harm the two boys.

--

Maes was crying.

Earlier he had cried in a sort of numb disbelief, but now he cried in a sort of disbelieving happiness.

They had managed to resuscitate Roy ad drain the fluid. Sure, his friend was a little more than drugged at the moment, drifting in and out of a drugged sleep, but he was alive, and that was all that mattered.

He had waited until he was assured that his friend was as stable as he could get at the moment before leaving to find a phone so he could notify Riza and his darling wife about Roy's miraculous recovery. Wiping his eyes with a goofy sort of grin, he set off with a bounce in his step, cheerfully asking where the nearest phone was hen he found a nurse. Following the given directions, he called Riza first.

Giving her a short update, he hug up and dialed the new number.

It took maybe three rings at the most for his sweet Gracia to answer the phone, and her voice, caring and gentle, had all of his remaining stress sliding from his shoulders.

"Roy's going to be fine," Hughes said, and he could practically see his wife's happy smile.

"Of course he is, he's Roy." She said, laughing softly as she did. It was a common and widely known fact that Roy could be stubborn as a bull when he needed to, and even in some cases when he didn't.

The conversation stayed to light topics, bringing a smile to both of their faces until Hughes was--ever so politely--informed that other people needed to use the phone too...which was a lie. There was no one else waiting for it.

--

Edward stood before the figure he knew as Truth once more, a slight smile on his face.

"Alchemist," The Truth greeted.

Ed nodded.

"You've come for your brother, haven't you?" Al, scared and confused, stood behind Truth. Once again, Ed nodded.

"Very well. You may have him."

Shadowy hands began to grab at him, pulling him into the gate. Edward didn't struggle. He had done this enough to know that it was futile.

They took his legs first. Then his kidney. His arm. They moved over his eyes, and the reels of information around him started to first loose a few colors, then go completely colorless...and then started to go blurry.

When they stopped, he could still see, but everything was in various shades of black and gray, and the outline of both Truth and his little brother seemed blurred.

And even then he still had a smile on his face.

Alphonse was allowed to go with him, shaking and upset but no worse for wear.

And Edward was happy.

He blacked out from blood loss as soon as they reappeared back in the cellar of their house, but he was happy.

Because Alphonse was safe.

--1007 Words--

Eheh...don't kill me? I mean...Roy didn't actually die...Al's fine...you all knew that Ed was going to lose more stuff...0-0 Stay creepy, My nightmares!