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Descent	By : ZaKai Category: Fullmetal Alchemist > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 14665 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
Disclaimer � Yes,
I own them all.� That�s why I�m writing
fan fiction.� (This disclaimer will only
be posted once.� That should suffice for
the rest of the story.)

A/N � PLEASE READ
THIS BEFORE BEGINNING THE STORY OR YOU MAY BE CONFUSED AS TO WHAT IS GOING ON.
- This story takes place after Al gets his body back.� It does not, however, follow the storyline in
the later part of the series.� This story
splits off from the series in episode 32 after Al and Ed fight with wrath on
the island.� Things are different in this
story after that point.�

Ed and Al do visit Dante but the visit is uneventful and so
is the rest of their visit with Izumi.�
They look for Scar (you�ll remember that they were originally going to
go find Scar before they were found by Izumi) but are unable to locate him, so
the search for the stone continued.�

By the time Ed an Al reach the ages of seventeen and
sixteen, Scar is still killing State Alchemists, all the homunculi are still at
large (Pride and Sloth are still unknown by anyone other than the other
homunculi) and Ed and Al have found a way, independent of the stone, to get
Al�s body back.� The two teenagers were
found, unconscious and taken to Central City�s military hospital.� That is where this story begins.� ��

---

If you want to post this story somewhere, please ask first.

---

�Descent

n.

Progress
downward, as in station, virtue, and the like, from a higher to a lower state,
from the more, to the less important,

from the better� �

to the worse�

Descent

Chapter
One

Awakenings

A beeping sound and hushed murmurs brought him slowly into
awareness.� He was lying down, in a bed
it seemed.� Covers were drawn up under
his arms and over his chest.� The air in
the room was cool, but not so much as to be unpleasant.� He wanted to sink back into the dark oblivion
from which his mind had just emerged, but the beeping and the murmuring, which
he couldn�t quite make out, kept him from doing so.

With an effort he opened his eyes, and blinked a couple of
times.� It wasn�t bright; in fact it
seemed the only light in the room came from a small source behind him� a lamp
perhaps?� No, he blinked because the
world was blurry in his vision and blinking was the only thing he could think
of to help the situation.� As his eyes
began to clear, he started to make out the lines and little dots that marred
the off white ceiling.�

A touch on his arm made him aware that the murmuring had disappeared
and only the beeping remained.� Slowly, he
slid his gaze to his left and military blue filled his view.� His eyes traveled up the well made uniform
and settled on dark, worried eyes.�

�How are you feeling, Edward(1)?� the man beside him asked
in a whisper.

Edward? he thought
vaguely.�

It took him a moment to associate the name with himself, but
it seemed right, so his mind moved on to the question.� How did he feel?� After a moment of contemplation he realized
he felt tired.� Oh, he felt sore too, but
foremost he felt tired.� He thought
perhaps he should open his mouth to say so, but nothing happened.� The truth was that he was having a hard
enough time keeping his eyes open.�

The man�s mouth turned down into a slight frown, lips
pressing slightly, and his eyebrows crinkled a bit, slightly moving a few
strands of the black hair that rested lightly against his forehead.� Edward blinked, once� twice� as his vision
started to get blurry once again, making it difficult to continue keeping the
man in focus.� The touch on his arm had
moved into a soft rubbing motion.� It was
comforting� the touch of another.� He let
his eyes close completely.

�What am I thinking� what the hell am I thinking...��

The soft words uttered by the other man traveled with him as
he began his slow descent back into darkness.��

;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;

Al stuffed another bite of the hospital cafeteria�s unidentifiable
breaded meat patty in his mouth, earning him a look of disgust from his blonde table
companion.� According to Winry, eating
metal shavings tasted better than what the hospital cafeteria served.� Al figured Winry must be over
exaggerating.� He didn�t really think she
would eat metal shavings.� He stopped
chewing for a moment and gazed at her.�

At least� he didn�t think��

�What?� Winry asked, seeing the look on his face.

Al shook his head and began chewing again.� He was being stupid, he thought with a grin.� That was just his old friend
exaggerating.� He nodded to himself and
turned his attention back to his food.�

It really was great to eat again.� Even the mystery meat on his plate couldn�t lessen
the wonders of it all.� The complex
tastes on his tongue; sweet, sour, bitter, salty, they all came to him in a
rush that still overwhelmed him at times.�
The first meal he had eaten since getting his body back had been
ecstasy.� He had started crying and Winry
had asked about it, but what could he say?�
That the soup resembling pond water was so tasty that he couldn�t
contain his emotions?�

Of course that wasn�t the whole truth.

It was the wonders of being able to use the senses he had
been denied over the past six years that had brought the tears.� Winry would have understood, Al was sure of
it, but he couldn�t put it into words.�
Nothing seemed right.

He fidgeted in his seat, feeling the hard chair beneath him,
and a delighted smile came to his lips.� Such
simple things, but such wonderful things; the chair, the fork in his hand, the
clothing on his body, the soft socks and the hard shoes that encased his feet,
the cool air of the hospital on his exposed skin�

Then there was the smell of the food cooking in the kitchen,
the smell of the people sitting in the cafeteria. �Some of the people smelled of sweat or
perfume.� There was also the smell of the
hospital, the smell of the sick and the smell of sanitizer, the smell of his
meal and of Winry�s tea.� Or even his own
smell; the smell of lye soap and the powder that Alicia Hughes had spilled on
him that morning.

It was all so wonderful, but frightening at the same
time.� Al was grateful that he had been
able to see and hear when his soul had been attached to the armor.� Not only because he had use of those
abilities during that time, but also because regaining three senses at once was
overwhelming, but all five at once� he couldn�t even imagine it� ��

He looked up at Winry for a moment, watching her as she sipped
at her tea.� She had been the first
person he saw when he woke up� when he realized his older brother had succeeded
in getting his body back.�

He remembered waking, feeling the soreness that seemed to
overpower him.� It was all so strange� so
foreign� all of it.� The feel of the air,
the smell of the hospital, the bad �morning� taste in his mouth, the hospital clothes,
the bed beneath him, the sheets and blanket above, the feel of the IV needle
piercing his arm, the sound of the life support machine beeping behind him�� He remembered turning his head and seeing
Winry�s back facing him as she sat near Ed�s bed.�

The sandy haired teen wondered, as he speared one of the
broccoli pieces, if Winry had ever sat near his bed during the weeks he had
been unconscious.�

Maybe� he thought
hopefully, then frowned.�

Probably not�

But since the time he had woken, Winry spent an increasing
amount with him.� He smiled at that
thought, but shook a finger at himself mentally, almost immediately.� He did feel bad for Ed, that Winry spent less
time near his bed now�� Not that his
brother was aware of the change.� He was
asleep after all, and Al was awake� he was sure Ed wouldn�t want him to be
lonely�� Plus they had both been in the
same room, after all.� If Ed had woken,
Winry would have known immediately.�

Winry would have
known immediately�

Al frowned at the almost empty plate.� That had been when he was staying at the
hospital.� He had been discharged almost
a week ago now.� Even so, he still spent
most of his time at the hospital during his waking hours.� Mrs. Hughes had been kind enough to let Al
and Winry stay at her house when they weren�t at the hospital.� Such a nice woman� Mrs. Hughes� and Al had
bonded almost immediately with Alicia; the girl hadn�t recognized Al, having
never seen him not as armor.�

He began pushing the food around with his fork.�

Ed still slept though...�

The doctors were unsure when or if his older brother would
wake.� Also, Ed still wasn�t whole.� The automail limbs still remained.�

It didn�t seem fair�

A hand on his arm made him look up.� Winry smiled a small smile and said, �He�ll
be okay.� Don�t worry Al.� He will.��

The brown eyed alchemist nodded.� How did she do that?� How did she seem to know what he was thinking
sometimes?� He guessed it was some sort
of woman thing.� Mrs. Hughes seemed to be
able to do that too� and his mother�� Al
shook his head.� He didn�t want his
thoughts to go in that direction right now.�

�Are you sure you don�t want anything?� Al asked. �

Winry shook her head.�
�No way!� I�ll wait for Mrs.
Hughes� cooking.�� She grinned.� �But you should go ahead and eat more here,
that way there will be enough dinner for the rest of us tonight!��

They both laughed at that.�

The first time Al had looked in a mirror, he had been
shocked to see the face looking back at him.�
His body had matured from the ten year old body he had lost into a
sixteen year old one.� In a way, he was
grateful.� After all, his mind had
matured in that suit of armor, it would be a bit inconvenient to be stuck in
such a young body.

On the other hand, he had missed
some of the things associated with growing into a man.� Not that it was that big of a deal, in fact
it seemed a stupid thing to be sad about, but he wouldn�t have the complete
puberty experience.� Oh it�s not like he
missed everything, but there would be no voice fluctuations for him.� His voice had already deepened.� Also, Al had grown in height; taller than Lieutenant
Hawkeye; shorter than Colonel Mustang and it seemed he might not be done
growing either.� It had been bound to
happen.� He had already been surpassing
Ed in height before the fateful transmutation six years ago��

His older brother was not going
to be pleased about that.

Being in a sixteen year old body did have its drawbacks
though.� One of which was that he always
seemed to be hungry.� Not that he
minded.� He had missed eating.� Once, Winry had pronounced the unfairness of
it all that Al could eat so much and not gain any weight.�

Al was just about to make a reply to Winry�s teasing jab
when Lieutenant Hawkeye approached their table at a brisk pace.� Winry looked about to say something to the
blonde woman when the Lieutenant held up her hand.

�The colonel sent me to collect you.�

Al sat up straight, and his heart began to pound in his
chest as fear and hope filled him.

Her face softened slightly and she said, �Your brother has
awakened.�

;-;-;-;-;-;-;

�Winry folded her arms
beneath her breasts and glared at the dark haired man before her.� It was so unfair!� Al was near Ed almost every hour of every day
and the only one who got to be there when he woke up was one of her least
favorite people.� Well, and Lieutenant
Hawkeye� At least Colonel Mustang had the decency to send her to fetch them as
soon as they had realized Ed had woken.�

�Did he say anything?� Al asked anxiously.

The black haired man shook his head with a look of regret.� �I�m sorry Alphonse.� He just looked at me then fell back asleep.�

Al�s eager face fell in disappointment.� �Oh��

�Don�t worry.� I�ve
already spoken with one of the doctors and she said now that Fullmetal has
woken once, he�ll wake again.� He�s
recovering.� Take comfort in that.�

Al nodded and looked at his brother with a sad, forlorn
expression.� Winry felt compassion well
up within her.� The taller of the two
Elrics looked exhausted.� He would spend
even his sleeping hours with Ed if the hospital would allow him to stay
overnight.� Night time visits were
permissible, but not overnight stays.�

The sound of a throat clearing caught her attention and she
turned to see the colonel place his hat on his head.� �Well, I have other business to attend to,� he
said briskly

The sandy haired teenager nodded absently.� It didn�t really matter to him if anyone from
the military visited Ed or not.� In fact,
Winry had a suspicion that Al would have preferred it if military personnel
didn�t visit at all.� He often voiced the
hope that Ed would turn in his resignation after he recovered.� Never �if� he recovered.� No, not with Al.� It was always, �When Ed recovered�.

Colonel Mustang briefly rested a hand on Al�s shoulder as he
walked past the taller of the two Elrics, then made his way to the door.�

�Lieutenant.��

Lieutenant Hawkeye said nothing, only followed the man out
the door.

;-;-;-;-;-;-;

�� don�t know if I�m going to play against her anymore.� I think she cheats.� I think
so anyway.� I�m not sure�� Now if I was playing against you I�d know for sure that I was being cheated�
but I�ll still play against you, even if you can�t play fair� when you wake
up��

Al fell silent as he stared at his brother, still lying
unconscious on the hospital bed.� It had
been four days since the colonel said that Ed had woken, and for four long days
Al had sat by Ed�s bed, hoping against hope that his brother would wake again.

He sighed, leaned forward in his chair, put his arms on the
bed beside Ed and rested his head on his arms.�
Soon it would be time to go back to the Hughes� house for the
night.� Winry had left the hospital early
to fix a few things for Mrs. Hughes in return for her generosity, but she would
come back soon to get him for dinner.�

Al felt a slight movement beside him and for a moment his
breath caught.� Perhaps he had just thought he had felt movement�� Hesitantly, Al lifted his head and felt a
wave of relief and excitement wash over him as his eyes fixed onto Ed�s golden
ones.� For a few moments the two just
stared at each other.� Al at a loss for
what to say, Ed seemingly confused��

He doesn�t know who I
am! �Al realized in an instant.�

�Brother(2)� It�s me� Alphonse�.�

Ed just stared dumbly at him for a moment.� Then his eyes widened, and began to search
Al�s face in wonder and relief.� �Al�.?�
he croaked.�

Al grinned and nodded.�
�My body must have aged in The Gate, brother.� That�s why I look older,� he explained,
watching as his brother�s lips curved up into a smile.

�It worked�� the short alchemist whispered hoarsely.� Al could see tears form in his brother�s
eyes.

Ed reached up with his right arm to touch Al�s face and the smile
vanished as his eyes rested on the cool metal surface of the automail; the dim
light from the small lamp behind the bed causing it to reflect a dull
shine.�

Al watched the changes in his brother�s face.� He felt a pressure in his chest and felt the
urge to cry, but didn�t.� �I don�t know
why you didn�t get your arm and leg back brother...� his voice trailed
off.� The words didn�t sound right.� They sounded lame and inadequate. He just
didn�t know what to say.

Still looking at his upraised arm Ed said, �Al�� Suddenly, a fit of coughing struck and he
broke off what he was about to say.�

�Let me get you some water, brother.� You�re just not used to talking.�� Al got up to fetch a cup of water and said
over his shoulder, �You�ve been asleep for weeks.�

The sandy haired teen left the room and asked one of the
orderlies, an older lady with a kind disposition, for a cup of water.� She told Al to stay where he was and she
would be back in a moment.�

Al sighed and looked at the door.� He didn�t know what to say�� Why hadn�t his brother gotten his limbs
back?� He felt guilty that he should be
whole while Ed wasn�t, but Al didn�t know how to help.� Truthfully, Al couldn�t remember how he had
gotten his body back.�

He remembered his brother�s solemness, a solemness that had
lasted for almost two weeks.� Ed hadn�t
been unpleasant to be around during that time, but he had seemed� withdrawn�
depressed� and then there was the night that Ed had come to him and said that
he thought he knew how he could get Al his body back.�

He had seemed� resigned�

Ed hadn�t explained to Al what he was going to do; he had
said that he�d tell him later.� He remembered
Ed taking him to an abandoned building, but after that� the memories disappear�

He supposed he could ask Ed about it, but now wasn�t the
right time, and besides�� Al had a heavy
feeling in his heart that he wasn�t really sure he wanted to know�

The orderly returned with the water and Al politely thanked
her.� As he reentered the room, he
noticed that Ed was still laying where he had left him, eyes staring at the
ceiling, the automail arm resting on the mattress, fist clenched.� Al looked down at his brother and felt a pang
in his heart when he saw wet streaks from Ed�s eyes, down his cheeks.�

�Brother�� Was all Al
could say as he helped lift Ed�s head to a position where he could drink some
of the water.�

�Al�� Ed began again when his head rested on the pillow
again.� �It�s not fair�� I�m so happy you have your body back� You
don�t know how much but� I�.�

�I know, brother,� Al replied.� He felt the same way.� It just wasn�t fair that he had his body back
and Ed didn�t.� He frowned as another
tear slid down Ed�s cheek.

�It�s just not fair�� Ed repeated softly.

Al laid a hand on Ed�s leg, trying to convey how much he
cared for his brother, trying to comfort him.�
He could feel his brother shaking beneath his touch and opened his mouth
to say something when a sob burst from Ed.

�Dammit Al!� the blond alchemist exclaimed, slamming his flesh
and blood fist into the mattress, punctuating his words.� �It�s not fair!� It�s just not fair!� You�ve got to be at least five fucking inches taller than me now!� It�s just not fair!� �

--

1 � In the English version, Mustang does call Ed by his name
every once in a while.� I don�t think
this is true of the Japanese version thought.�
However, in this respect I�m going to follow the English version.

2 � You�ll notice I don�t have Al calling Ed �Nii-San�, but
�Brother�.� If I were writing this in
Japanese I would use the term (which in reality should be translated into
�older brother�, �otouto� is �younger brother� but older siblings in Japan generally
just use the younger sibling�s name, etc.�
I�m not going to go into the dynamics of it all�) but I�m not.� Ed and Al are not Japanese and therefore will
not start spouting out Japanese words such as nii-san, baka, etc., in this
story.

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Descent