"It's been a long time, hasn't it, brother?" the soft, sweet voice of Alphonse Elric broke the silence as he joined his brother Edward on the roof of his house.

"Yeah," Ed stared up at the vast night sky, "I guess that's what happens when you run off to Xing with the princess."

"Hey," Al gave his brother a light shove, "What about you? You got to win the fight over which one of us was going to marry Winry."

"And don't you forget it," the older brother grinned with thoughts of the annoying girl next door in his head, "Believe me. She doesn't let me."

"But you know what I meant, Ed," Al corrected him, "Do you realize what today is?"

Edward knew exactly what his younger brother meant. And even worse, he remembered what today was. The one day the brothers Elric could never ever forget. The one day that kept Edward up at night and gave Alphonse years of nightmares. But also the day they forced themselves to move forward instead of wallowing in their sorrow. To regain what was lost. As much of it as they could anyway.

"Yeah," Ed let out a heavy sigh, "I know."

"But look on the bright side, brother," Al put things into perspective, "Things got better. We're living proof of that. Am I walking around in armor anymore?"

"No."

"Is your arm a prosthetic anymore?"

"No."

"Even our house went back to the way it was," he pointed out, laying on its roof.

"Yeah," Ed scoffed, "It's not a pile of ashes and rubble anymore."

"It's been a long time since that day," Al rested his head on the shingles the two of them laid together.

"It has been," Edward raised his hand up, studying the flesh and skin and bone that took the place of his automail, "It's too bad I'm not all flesh and blood, but I'll take what I can get. I got you back, didn't I? Just like I promised."

"And I'm truly grateful," Alphonse took a moment to appreciate the body his brother gave him back. He winced at the memory of how frail and fragile it once was. Over time, though, it grew stronger, healthier...And he didn't like to brag, but it was also two inches taller than his older brother, "We got better, didn't we?"

"That we did," a smile finally graced Edward's face on this very solemn day in the Elric family history.

"And think of all the people we met," Al went on, "All the people who helped us out of the goodness of their hearts."

"I don't know," Edward grumbled a bit, "I'm pretty sure that some of them weren't doing it out of kindness."

Things between Edward and his old superior weren't exactly good yet. Even after all this time. Especially after Mustang assumed the position of Fuhrer. Every once in a while, Edward would get letters from Central from the desk of the Fuhrer himself, trying to convince him to come back to Headquarters. Not even with his rank intact. Not even doing military work. Mostly for things like cleaning Mustang's office or being his secretary or running small errands just to keep him busy. Edward knew they weren't sincere job offers and they were meant to be insults.

Little did he know, though, Mustang truly missed him. The entire team did. Things in Central weren't the same without everyone's favorite loose cannon alchemist around. No matter how hard Mustang tried, Edward had a job at the automail shop. And he had gotten pretty good, too. Winry was impressed that he was such a quick study. Without his alchemy, Edward figured he had to get good at something. Why not help those who were in the same position he was once in?

"Say what you want about Mustang," Al giggled, "You know we would've been goners a few times without him."

"Thanks, Al," Edward groaned, "The bode of confidence is appreciated. Have you seen him lately?"

"When I came back to Amestris," Al told, "I did stop in Central first. Not just to see Mustang, though."

"Check in on Gracia?" he figured.

"Yep," he nodded, "Still as sweet and kind as she ever was."

"And Elicia?" Edward wondered, "I haven't seen her in a while. She must be getting big."

"Oh, yeah," Al smiled, "And by the way, brother, I have a message for you."

"Let me guess," he rolled his eyes, "From our esteemed Fuhrer? I already told him I'm not putting on a miniskirt for him."

"No," Al clarified, "He sends his regards. And a mission."

"A mission?" Ed perked up, "What kind of a mission? And I'm not doing duct work again. We lived and learned with that."

"No," Al shook his head, "He wants you to try and relearn alchemy."

"What do you mean?" he wondered, "I'm pretty sure I couldn't conjure a matrix if I wanted to."

"When Mei and I were lying in bed the other night," Al explained, "I asked her about that. The matrices for alchemy and alkahestry are two different arrays. It may not be the alchemy we're used to, but it's a shot. I told Mustang about it and he asked me if I'd ask you to learn. He'd even give you your State Alchemist title back."

"Alkahestry, huh...?" Edward had given it a thought once or twice before, "And I'm sure Mei would be more than happy to teach me, right?"

"Of course," Al chimed. Then, the relationship between Edward and his sister-in-law popped into his head and his smile faded, "I can talk her into it."

"Maybe I can get back into it," he sighed, "Maybe after all this time, I should get back to work. Don't get me wrong, working at the automail shop is great. Even though anytime there's downtime in the shop, Winry can't help but tinker with my leg for her amusement…"

"But it's not the same." If anyone would understand his brother's anguish, it was Alphonse, "Please, brother. Give Mustang's offer some consideration."

Edward weighed the pros and cons in his head. It was either stay at the automail shop and serve as his wife's guinea pig or go back to Central and be Mustang's whipping post. Ultimately, it was his decision. Then, he got to thinking. He told himself he didn't need alchemy anymore, but maybe…Just maybe…Alchemy needed him again. And if he were to study alkahestry, he'd be able to come back to the automail shop and help a lot more people. And he'd be able to repay his debts to the ones he and his brother had lost along the way.

"Come on," Edward kept his answer to himself, "Let's go back inside."

"Alright." Edward didn't need to say anything. Alphonse knew. He saw a fire in his brother's eyes that he hadn't seen in a long time. The answer was obvious. While Alphonse was in the Fuhrer's office, Mustang told him it was an offer that Edward couldn't refuse.

And he couldn't wait to tell him he was right.

A/N: Happy Fullmetal Day, internet! My gift from me to you. A little one-shot about one of my favorite pairs of brothers that deserve all the love in the world with a few headcanons sprinkled in. At least, I think this is a one-shot. Honestly, I kind of left it open to run with it. But not now. Maybe some other time. I did that with my Death Note fic. Maybe I can do that with this, too. But regardless of all that, I have an Ouran update to post today, too, that I haven't gotten started on yet. See you later! xx