Alex slowly opened his eyes to see a clear blue sky greeting him as he looked around to see that he was still on the battlefield as his head was resting on Akari's lap.

Akari saw him wake up and cried tears of joy as she hugged him tightly as everyone else walked over and gave sighs of relief.

As Alex was trying not to get bear hugged to death by a crying Akari and Uni who had also joined in, He saw Kunsil, Ed, Al, and Roy all walk up to him as Alex managed to get up.

"Here I thought me and Alphonse were the gutsy ones, yet here you are being the gutsiest one of all." Said Edward with a smirk ad Al nodded.

"Well gee. Didn't know this was a competition." Jokingly said Alex.

The three all chuckled together as Roy walked up and ruffled Alex's hair. "You got some moxy kid. I'm impressed. You remined me of myself in my younger years." Said Roy.

Alex simply chucklex until he turned to face Kunsil.

"Are you doing okay?" He asked.

"Physically I'm fine just a bit exhausted. Mentally though, it feels like my head's about to burst." Said Alex.

"I see. I'm glad to know our fight went well. Anyways, we should all head home and call it a day." He said.

Everyone nodded as they all left, glad the final fight had finally ended.

[A few days later]

4 days had passed since the final battle against Father.

As days passed by, the news media began to pick up on the story about the battle that had just unfolded and to everyone's shock, every media source from all four nations covered the news true to the source and didn't skew anything relating to the news as they were all perfectly fine with saying that Alex had been the one who ended the fight.

This caused Akari to jokingly tell Alex that he was no longer hated by everyone anymore to which Alex simply shrugged off.

Another thing that had happened was the renewal of the partnership between HQ, Kamno, and Hyperion as their deal had been brought back.

Cause of this, a massive effort began to remove any of the remaining rubble from the turn down HQ as they were all ready to build a new one.

With belp from Kamno, the Valkyries, and Kunsil, the clean up and building process went as smooth as possible.

Right now as the new HQ was being built, some people were taking breaks, three of them being Alex, Alphonse who has finally adjusted to life with his human body back as he regained shape and was back to normal,

With them also Edward Elric, who was laid out on the ground panting heavily for his life.

"Man. Seeing brother this exhausted makes me glad I didn't lose my use of alchemy." Said Alphonse as Alex nodded.

"Yeah. I'm no longer taking my use of Alchemy for granted." Said Alex.

Edward looked at them and just gave a disapproving look as he sat up.

"Oh shut it. Don't patronize me." Said Ed as Alex and Al laughed before Ed smiled and also let out a small laugh as he looked at his hands.

"To be honest, that day after we finally beat the bearded guy, I wasn't sure on how life would be without Alchemy. I thought I would've been heavily addicted so much that I'd immediately want it back, but, life's been good without Alchemy." Said Edward with a smile.

"Without the use of Alchemy, how are you gonna continue your job as a State Alchemist?" Asked Alex.

"Me and Ed both decided yesterday that soon we plan to go back to Amestris to broaden our view and knowledge of Alchemy even more." Said Alphonse.

"And while we're doing that, we'll be couting on you to keep eveeyone here, the Colonel included, in check. Think we can trust you to that promise?" Asked Edward as he helf a fist out.

"Sure thing. I'll keep HQ in check." Said Alex as fist bumped with Ed.

Their conversation was cut short however as Kunsil called their attention and said that work was gonna resume.

The three close friends all got up and walked back to work with one another.

[Later that night]

Alex had returned back to the apartment complex exhausted from work as he laid down onto the couch, not even closing the door.

After a bit he heard the door close as he saw Akari stand before him.

"Seems like your used up." She said.

"Yeah I am." Said Alex as he slowly sat up allowing his mom to sit next to him.

"I'm really proud of you. I'm truly grateful for the fight you put up against that monster." Said Akari referring to the battle against Father.

"Don't mention it. We were all giving it our all. It was to save humanity after all. It was only obvious that we'd stop at nothing to win. I mean Al gave up his soul, Ed gave up his use of Alchemy, and I literally had to battle above the heavens. If that doesn't prove that we did everything to win then I don't know what will." Confidently said Alex as Akari gave a smile.

"You know, we should all get together and celebrate our victory." Suggested Akari.

"Hm? Yeah your right. That sounds like a good idea, but, where would we have it and when? We're all busy building the new HQ and we can't have it so soon after the battle." Said Alex.

Akari began to think for behind she got her idea.

"In three months it'll be my birthday. We'll all get together that day. As for location, that's simple. It'll be the lone pink sakura tree on the hill at Lastation Central Park." Said Akari.

Alex chuckled as he expected Akari to pick that spot as she did love Sakura Trees a lot.

The two then agreed as Alex went to his room after bidding Akari good night and began to ask everyone he could, HQ, CPUs, Kamno, and the Valkyries.

Thankfully they all agreed much to Alex's relief as he placed his phone away, and slept for the night.

[TimeSkip: 3 Months Later, Akari's Birthday]

As the months passed by, Akari's birthday had arrived as everyone planned to get together at the hill at noon.

Alex and Akari were both ready pretty quickly and after asking her, Akari allowed Alex to go see Uni for a bit before the CPUs got ready.

So at the moment, Alex and Uni were together in her room as they began to chat with one another.

As Uni continuing to talk about whatever she was talking about, Alex tried to listen in but was slowly closing his eyes.

Suddenly Uni clapped her hands in his face as Alex was woken up.

"Hey now don't go sleeping on me cause my story is boring." Said Uni.

"S-Sorry. It isn't boring. I just, haven't been getting sleep recently." Said Alex.

"I could tell. How long has this been going on for? Your red eyes look lighter and you look a little pale." Said Uni.

"For the last few weeks. It's odd cause even though I sleep perfectly fine, I still feel drained." Said Alex.

"It's probably just all your exhaustion catching up to you from helping HQ." Said Uni ad Alex nodded in agreement.

After two months, tons of progress had been made into building the new Black Ops HQ building as it had been completed with a new interior, and more advanced security system and member identity.

Once it was done Roy had state that all HQ employees would return to work the tomorrow so they could enjoy the get together before returning to their duties.

Alex and Uni sat together, their fingets intertwined on the bed.

"Hey Alex, can you promise me something?" Asked Uni.

"Sure what is it?" He responded.

"W-Well, I was wondering if, that when you'd finally turn 18, if we could get engaged with marriage." Said Uni, a blush on her face.

Alex looked at her for a bit before chuckling. "If your willing to wait that long, then sure. I'll marry ya. Cause I know I'll definitely wait." Said Alex.

Uni smiled in complte joy as she gave Alex a crushing hug as Alex simply hugged back enduring the tightness of the hug.

After a bit, Alex's phone went off as he opened it and saw he received a message.

Mom: Come meet me at the Sakura Tree. I'm already here.

As Alex read that, he was shocked and suprised.

'Why's she there already? The get together is still only a few minutes away.' Thought Alex.

"Hey Uni. I gotta go. My mom needs me." Said Alex.

"Okay then. We all gotta start getting ready for the get together anyways. See ya in a few minutes." Said Uni.

The two bid each other farewell as Alex eventually left the Basilicom and began to walk his way to the hill at the park.

As he walked along the sidewalk, Alex noticed all the civilians, the people who would always walk passed him with disgusted looks, now walk past him with genuine happy faces as some even greeted him and wished him a happy day.

This was odd for Alex.

After all these years, he had went from loathed to loved by the public.

Deep down, Alex was genuinely happy knowing that he was finally accepted and broke down all the discrimination.

It truly felt like he had indeed succeeded at his 2nd opportunity in life.

After walking for a few more minutes,  Alex entered the park and made his way to the Sakura Tree hill.

As he walked, his vision began to get brighter a bit and he stumbled a bit before he closed his eyes and shook his head.

'Damn. I should've gotten more sleep last night.' Thought Alex.

BGM: Memories of the School from Persona 3

After a bit, he reached the base of the hill and looked up to see that staring down at him was his mom, Akari with a smile as Alex smiled back.

The two began to walk towards one another, ready to meet at the middle of the hill until Alex stumbled and almost fell before Akari ran up to him and held him in a hug.

"You should be more careful dummy." Jokingly said Akari as Alex chuckled softly.

"Sorry. Lack of sleep." Said Alex.

Akari helped Alex up the hill as they reached the top as Akari sat down in front of the tree, letting Alex's head rest on her lap.

"The breeze feels nice doesn't it?" Asked Akari as a gentle wind blew by, as Sakura Pedals danced with the wind around it.

"Yeah, they really do." Said Alex.

"From the moment you were born, I knew it was my duty in life, my reason and purpose to keep living, was to keep protecting you forever. When we finally reunited, I was so, so proud to see what a fine young man you had turned into. One who managed to make and forge strong and deep bonds." Said Akari as he placed a hand on Alex's hands, which was rested on top of his abdomen.

"You must be exhausted. You should get some rest now. I'll always be here for you. You'll be seeing everyone you ever met soon, too. You have nothing to worry about. I'll always be by your side, protecting you.

Alex heard a voice and slowly turned to his left as he saw all his friends, HQ, CPUs, Kamno, and Hyperion all approach the hill.

Alex smiled softly, before slowly closing his eyes, as he rested, and slept peacefully

BGM ends here

Ending Theme: Memories of You by Yumi Kawamura from Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

Author's Words

Wow.

So, this one, man.

At first, it didn't look like this book was going anymore.

I truly feared this book would suffer the same fate as Birth To The Flame and die out due to lack of updates.

Thankfully it didn't, as here we here at the ending.

I think out all of the stories I've written, this was the one I feel most proud of writing cause honestly, this book, this story was where I tried my absolute hardest.

Whether that worked out or not, is up to me to decide.

Regardless, I am truly thankful for you all sticking with me through all the initial delays up to the end.

If you didn't know, my co-writer and closest friend SCC_004 is going inactive on January 31st, 2021 which is tomorrow.

I just wanted to thank him for helping me make this and A 2nd Chance possible.

With out him, I would've never gotten my sprak to write again.

As for me, I might leave, I might stay, I might go on a break.

That decision will come in time.

As of now though, this is, for the meantime, the final story I'll write.

Thank you all for reading the conclusion of Alex Mustang's story.

Memento Mori

Final Chapter, Chapter 69: End