It was already dark when Alphonse returned to Kain Furey's dorm. After handing in the report, he had spent the rest of the day wandering the city, caught up in his thoughts and hoping that he would run into a homunculus.

He has been staying in Furey's dorm ever since Edward had died. He knew that he had a perfectly good apartment waiting for him, but he couldn't stand being in there without his brother. It was too lonely. The silence reminded him of what he had lost.

Being in Central HQ was even worse. He had never been there without Ed and kept expecting him to show up at any moment. But at least Mustang and Hawkeye were there. They had helped him a lot. Mustang was just as upset as Al was, so they understood each other's pain. Hawkeye was always there, providing silent support.

Al took off his shoes and hung up Edward's coat. No matter how often Al wore it, it would forever be his brother's coat. He would tie his hair back in honor of Ed, too, but his hair wasn't long enough.

"Hi, Al," Furey called from the kitchen. "You hungry?"

"Not really." Al put his bag down and sat down at the kitchen table. Kain was frying chicken over the stove. There was enough for the both of them. "You know, I told you that you didn't have to cook for me. I can take care of myself."

Kain shook his head. "You're my guest... Even though this room doesn't actually belong to me..." He looked up at Al. "Anyways, you don't have a job, do you?" Al couldn't get food without money, and he couldn't get money without a job.

"Not yet. The General won't let me join the military until I'm of age."

"Oh," was all Kain said. He went back to frying his chicken. Deciding it was done, he dished half of it out onto a plate. He put the rest in a plastic container. "Yours will be in the fridge, okay?"

"Okay."

Al liked living with Kain. He didn't pry or ask Al how he was feeling every few minutes. He knew when to give Al his space, and when to comfort him. Sometimes his gentle presence was all that Al needed. Of course, he had a stubborn side to him, to. It was hard to find, but it showed itself from time to time, like how he kept insisting on cooking for Al.

They got along well. Back before Al had moved in, he never would have imagined becoming friends with the quiet Master Sergeant who tended to fade into the background, outshone by more outgoing people like Roy or Havoc. But now they were the best of roommates.

When Al wasn't feeling so depressed, they would talk about science. Kain would show him how some of his machines worked, and Al would teach him a few transmutation circles. Kain was the best at transmuting metal, probably because he worked with it so much. Al liked learning how the machines worked. He filed the information away in his mind so that if anything ever broke, he could fix it with alchemy.

Kain poured himself a glass of milk and sat down across from Al. Al stared at the milk. He thought he heard Edward's voice in his head, screaming about 'disgusting opaque cow juice'. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He couldn't think about Ed. It was too painful.

He wanted to be able to think about his brother without hurting, but every good memory eventually led to the memory of finding Envy standing over Ed's body. The pool of blood around Ed was horrifyingly big.

"You're too late to save your little pipsqueak brother, kid." Envy smirked.

Al was in shock. No. He couldn't be too late. The blood wasn't Ed's. It couldn't be. He grabbed onto a thought that he knew was safe. "D-Don't call him little!"

Envy raised an eyebrow. "That's all you can say? Your brother's dead, and you defend his height? You really are a piece of work. I should kill you now, but I've already killed off one important sacrifice. You guys are rare. We can't spare another. Anyways, it'll be nice to see you in pain for the rest of your life. So bye-bye, kiddo!"

Envy climbed up a ladder, out of the underground passage.

Al rushed to his brother's side. He didn't care that the homunculus was getting away. All that mattered was his brother. "Ed... Edward! You can't be d-d..." He couldn't say it. He knelt in the pool of blood beside Edward's still warm body. Now that he had a closer look, there was no denying it. There was a huge hole right through Ed's chest. His heart was torn out.

Al started hyperventilating. He tried to fight the rising dread in his stomach, tried to convince himself that he was seeing things, or that this was all just a bad dream. It wasn't working. His gasps turned to sobs. Tears streamed down his face, four years worth of tears that he hadn't been able to release and that Ed had refused to. All their pain, all their hardship, for nothing. Ed had been through so much, only to die with an incomplete mission. He had restored Al's body, but not his own. It was wrong. So wrong. They always did things till the end, no matter what the odds. It was the way of the Elric brothers.

But now they would never complete their mission.

Al stared down at his own body, suddenly hating himself. It was all thanks to Ed's efforts that he could feel warmth and taste Winry's apple pie again. So why did he get to be restored, while Edward is dead? He wanted to give himself what he deserved and go join Ed, but he knew that that wasn't what his brother would've wanted. He had always made it all about Al. Al's safety, Al's body, Al's life. He wouldn't want Al to die without a good reason. Then I'll give it a good reason. It'll be for you, Brother.

Al unzipped his jacket and lay it over his brother's body, covering the horrible wound. He curled up on the sticky, blood-covered ground and grabbed Ed's arm. It was still warm, but not for long. He pulled himself closer, wanting to enjoy his brother's warmth one last time.

Laying there, cuddled up against his brother, Al tried to convince himself that he was still alive, that he was only sleeping.

The unnatural stillness told him otherwise.