Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Oh, I am incredibly lucky; another lovely person has conjured up a rather sweet rendition Dragon!Roy bending his head to Mage!Ed. I highly recommend it: http:/annalwagner(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Dragon-for-Demus-151188703

"Oh stars. Oh, stars, no!"

Edward raised his hands, hurriedly chanting a spell to soften the Dragon's fall; the last glittering motes of magic shimmering dull, like the reflected light from a dirty coin, and flickered out. Roy crashed to the ground, the behemoth fallen, wings crumpling beneath him, and lay still.

Powerless, now, utterly exhausted, Edward staggered to his feet, tears burning, blinding in his eyes, and ran, stumbling, to the Dragon's side. Pearl-eyes were barely open, the black pupil slit narrow as Roy struggled to focus. Blood, brackish-black with poison, gushed from the Dragon's heaving chest, slicking the ground, coating Edward's robes as he knelt in the filth beside his friend. Trembling hands settled on the softer scales of Roy's nose and the Dragon coughed, yet more blood dribbling between curved fangs to cover his jaw.

"I…am felled, Mage," Roy gasped, in between pained growls. His claws twitched, skin rippling as he tried to move, and drooped, lifeless. "Y-you…" he began, then his words disappeared into an agonized whine. Edward shushed him, stroking nerveless hands over Roy's snout, trying to soothe him. The bright metal of his right hand gleamed, a mocking parody of his failed spell.

"Do not speak," the Mage said, voice unsteady. "You must not waste your strength, I have only to remove this sword and you sh-shall-"

Burning tears erupted into sobs without warning, choking Edward's speech, and he dashed angrily at his eyes, breath shattering in his throat even as he tried to suppress his sobs. Under his hands, Roy's skin moved with the slight curling of the Dragon's lips. "I will…leave…one mourner…at…least," the Dragon managed to croak out, his eyes sliding closed.

Urgency gripped Edward by the stomach, wrenched in his gut, and he pounded his fist against the Dragon's scales. "No! No, you can't just die! It's not-"

"Fair?" Roy interrupted, the deep bass of his voice a mere whisper, hissed between teeth that were already beginning to clench with death. "Ever…hopeful, Edward…Fare you…well."

The mighty black head lolled back, pitiful magnificence in the dust, and Edward bowed his head. "Roy," he said softly, pleadingly. "Roy,"

"Brother!"

The last thudthudthud of approaching feet, the clank of armour, large, familiar hands yanking him to his feet, and his cheek was pressed to frigid armour, strong arms crushing him in an embrace he knew as well as the rush of his own breathing. "Brother," Alphonse said, tears in his voice. "Oh, brother, you're alive."

"Al," the Mage sniffed, his right hand screeched as he curled it into a fist on his brother's armour. "Al, he's dead. He's, he's dead, and all he wanted was to fly again, but now he's dead."

Stillness. The tiniest slackening of the muscles about him, stillness that told of horror. "Oh stars," Alphonse breathed, into his hair. "The beast, it- it wasn't attacking?"

In a moment, Edward knew; all the Knight had seen was the maddened rush of a monster on his defenceless brother, the unstoppable, deadly force of a beast unleashed, and he'd acted with the speed that had saved both of their lives so many times. "He just wanted to fly," the Mage repeated, numbly, staring past the metal chest he was pressed to and gazing at the unmoving form of his friend.

"Then…why do you hesitate? Dragonsbane does not kill instantly, you could recall him, like you did with-"

"Even…even if I hadn't exhausted my magical resources…it would take…" the Mage broke off, his voice stuttering to silence as he pressed his forehead to the cold breastplate. "It would take an army…"

"An army, like the battalion of battle-casters I brought with me?"

For a moment, Edward didn't move, didn't even breathe. Then, slowly, infinitesimally slowly, the bright-gold head lifted, and he met his brother's gaze. "Battle-casters."

"Yes."

"You brought battle-casters."

"Uh-huh."

"You…" Edward paused, unable to wrap his considerable mind around the concept. "You came to my rescue with a hired squadron of mercenary combat Mages."

"Yes."

Alphonse ducked as his big brother swung at his head with his steel arm. "What, you thought I couldn't handle it by myself?" the Fullmetal Mage shrieked, indignant.

Laughing, the Knight grabbed at his brother's wrists and hoisted them above his head, grateful, once again, for his greater height as Edward struggled helplessly. "Regardless of your injured pride, brother, there is an entire battalion of fit, trained Mages, all with their magic reserves full to brimming, all itching to cast, all disciplined to take orders, and all at your disposal."

Edward was silent for a heartbeat, then he yanked his arms free, scrambled away from his brother and sprinted outside, bellowing at the top of his lungs.

Burning fire, the low crackle of warming flames, and the scratching of a quill pen. The founding Mage of the Hawkeye Cascade, Edward Fullmetal of Elric, paused in his labours to run a critical eye over the text before him.

For nigh-on five years now, he and his fellow Hawkeye Mages had undertaken the painstaking, arduous task of seeking out and communicating with the reclusive Dragons of Amestris, with a hope that they might one day bring Dragons and humans together in fellowship. The Hawkeye Cascade, which now stood officially alongside Quicksilver, Starshade, Turquall, Lytefire and Ressylion as the Sixth Mage Order, was Edward's creation, his life, and it distinguished itself from the others with its particular focus upon Dragon magic and that most dangerous, lost force; wildmagic.

Progress was slow. Long years offered little reward for seemingly-endless toil. Of the many Dragons living about Amestris alone, only two had been receptive to their overtures, and these were lesser, baser beasts, more like animals than humans, and nothing at all like that one particular Dragon… Edward's eyes strayed to his official seal, the stamp of a Dragon reared onto its hind legs, wings spread, a gout of flame spilling from its lips. He sealed his letters with black wax, always, in that Dragon's honour…

"Edward!"

Frowning at the interruption, the Fullmetal Mage clambered stiffly to his feet, groaning as sleepy muscles protested, and made his way to the window. Outside, dominating even the great space of the Palace of Light's largest courtyard, Roy grinned to see him. "I am bored, Fullmetal one!" the Dragon called, mockingly, as he reared onto his hind legs, reminiscent of his depiction on Edward's seal, and braced his foreclaws on the Mage's tower. "Too long have you spent with your papers, when we have important work to be about. Shall we fly, my liege?"

I shall not say they lived happily ever after; a fractious wizard and an aggravating dragon never a peaceful union make. Suffice it to say that they lived, forever after, in their land far far away, under golden dawns and rainy skies, and the fierce burn of a fairytale sunset.

THE END