"You ummm, you ahhh… you look like a girl." Al said hurriedly.
Ed raised an eyebrow.
"Do tell, Alphonse Elric. This is most interesting." His voice slid through a sarcastic smirk of the 'oh my, really, and I never noticed' kind. Al groaned and stood up. He was dead anyway.
"Right." He said and moved amongst the debris to find a clear spot. He knelt down to quickly draw a circle and activate it. Lights flashed and the ground shook slightly as he pulled the elements together. A long flat rectangular shape formed and slid out of the soil.
Ed walked across to where Al was and looked. Al had transmuted a mirror from the remains of their house. It was not very large but it served its purpose. Ed looked into it and saw… a girl. Wearing mens clothes.
His hair was still golden and pulled back in the tail he had favoured on the other side. But his face was thinner, cheek bones more defined and his eyes wide and large. His lips looked fuller and his jaw had lost its squareness. His neck appeared longer and disappeared into his shirt. His clothes were too big for him. His shoulders were not so broad anymore. Ed raised his hand and ran it across his chest. Oh yes, definitely female. But fortunately not largely so. He shuddered as he recalled some of the images Havoc had once thought to 'educate' him with. He pulled up his trouser leg. Yes definitely a real leg under there. The trousers were a bit longer than they had been but he realised that it was due to the new narrowness of his hips. And a more obvious place felt different too but he wasn't about to explore there with his brother standing right beside him.
His brother was right. He did look like a girl or more correctly, a young woman. After all, he was nineteen now.
"I don't feel like a girl." He said quietly still studying his reflection.
"But you look like one." Al replied just as quietly.
Both of them had the same thought and their eyes met in the mirror.
"No, don't say it Al." Ed said softly. "Not yet anyway."
Al nodded. No, neither of them wanted to consider the possible permanency of this.
"You sound like a girl, Brother." Al said after a small pause. "And you move like one, too."
"How the hell do you know how girls move, Al?" Ed asked him incredulously.
Al blushed. "Umm I watched Winry a lot." His brother openly gaped at him. "Well, it's true, Brother. Girls sway more in the hip area and their arms swing differently because their elbows are hinged for wider angles. Their posture tilts more because of the pelvic placement I think." Al's voice steadied and his blush faded as he went into theory mode. "I wonder if the density of the bones makes a difference. It could explain the balance of their gait when in heels and with the hip angle it would mean that…"
"Alphonse!"
True dawn dusted the hill in a soft light as they stood in the middle of their old home. One golden and one dark blond head glinted as they lifted their faces towards the sun.
"We should go." The lighter of the two voices now belonged to Ed. He looked at the ruins again and sighed, lifting his hand to his lips and ghosting a kiss to the air.
"This was always home to me, Al. No matter how many times I tried to deny it, to never look back." He laughed softly. "Do you remember what we said? That some memories should never leave traces? This place left more traces than I ever admitted to."
"I know, Brother." Al watched a shadow move as the sun rose higher. "That's why this was the only place to bring you back to."
Al had destroyed the array and collapsed the underground chamber. He had smoothed out the niche in the rubble where they had spent most of the night and collected his suitcase that still held all his notes and had his coat lying loose over his shoulders. Ed watched his brother move around, finally able to see his life's purpose clearly in the colours of dawnlight. He looked out across the familiar valley, feeling that he had indeed returned home when Al came to stand beside him.
"It hasn't changed at all," Ed murmured in an awed tone.
"It's been waiting for you," Al replied.
The sunrise captivated them both for a moment. It hung before their eyes, so bright it almost hurt. Then they turned to each other and smiled. It was time to move forward again.
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