Precious Memento

The second Al and Mustang left the library, I felt vomit traveling up my throat. As I puked, I closed my eyes and felt the tears spill. "Al doesn't belong here....I might lose him too..." I said in between lurches. Finally, I was able to sit up and breathe. I pushed the trashcan back under the desk with the side of my boot. Rubbing my forehead, I breathed out a sigh.

 

Too much anger again.

 

Mustang doesn't care about Al's well being. He's still young, he's still got his life ahead of him. But Mustang doesn't care about any of that. All he wants is Al to be another peg for the ladder on his climb to power. I found myself wondering if Mustang was still going to leave office now that he had an Elric brother in his militia. And if so, what would--

 

The melody filled the room.

 

I turned from my seat and saw the open pocketwatch on the ground. Had Al dropped it? And if he had, why didn't I hear it clink onto the floor? Being cautious, I held the watch in my hands.

 

"Edward....are you....trying to tell me something?" I asked outloud. But as I had expected, there was no answer.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"I got in! I'm a State Alchemist!" Al cheered as he stepped into my office. "Really? That's great! What's you alias?" I asked. Al smiled as he pulled up an empty chair to the front of my desk. "The Gentle-Hearted alchemist! Isn't that great? I'll find Nii-San now for sure!" he said as he placed a silver pocketwatch onto my desk. "Is this one yours?" I asked as I fingered the craftsmanship on the watch's bulk. "Yeah. The Colonel gave it to me. Oh! And it made me realize I was missing Nii-San's. Do you have it?" he asked, grabbing his watch and placing it into his coat pocket. I nodded. "Yeah. You must have dropped it on the floor in the library," I replied as I slid the watch over to him. Al smiled as he held it close to his chest. "I keep this one because I feel like I'll have Nii-San's courage with me. I know you made me promise to bring it back to you, but.." he began before he placed Ed's watch back onto my desk. His eyes showed that of hurt feelings and excitement. "...may I keep it? I feel like it's bringing me good fortune."

 

This made me think. How I had longed for Ed's watch while Al was gone. I remembered the nights where I'd hum the melody to myself. I flashed back to the days where I wished I had that piece of Ed with me again. I had given it to Al the day he left for alchemy training. I gave it to him and made him swear he'd return it to either me or Ed--whichever he bumped into first--in one piece. But now, looking at Al's expression, I felt my heart tear apart. The jealous part of me wanted to snatch the watch off the table and scream at him for being so ridculous. But the sane part of me wanted to smile and slip the watch into Al's hands. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Al is a very adorable boy. Even though he's 15, he has the face of a young child, and he's killer at the puppydog look. So this didn't help as he stared at me from across the desk.

 

Edward? What would you do? ....oh right. You'd be the one to take it because it's yours in the first place.

 

"Sure Al. You can keep it."