I apologize for the delay. I forgot that I was going away for the week after I posted part one. Here's the second and final part.
Unchanged
Part Two
by Talia MT Ali
"Alphonse, a word?"
Al tore his gaze away from the dancing square to come back to his brother, who was looking distinctly Not Happy. In fact, Edward looked downright peeved, his irritation showing around his eyes.
"Sure, Brother," Al agreed, gesturing at an empty chair. "Have a seat."
Edward very obviously measured his height compared to Al's, and shook his head. "No, thanks."
Alphonse rubbed the back of his head, but kept his comments to himself. Truth be told, he had no idea why Edward would be angry. It was his wedding night, after all. He had been married today to the prettiest girl in Resembool (in Al's humble opinion). Unless it had something to do with the way he'd been on his feet for the last three hours, dancing with Winry and any other girl who asked. No - usually that sort of thing didn't bother Ed. He liked being popular. Besides, he would have taken the offered seat, height or no height, if his feet were that sore. It couldn't be Winry, because he would have taken the complaint directly to Winry if that were the case.
"I noticed that Winry has a new bracelet," Edward said abruptly, coming straight to the chase.
Al froze. Oh. That.
"Oh. Does she." Al couldn't make the statement into a question.
"Yes. It has an alchemical circle on it, Alphonse. Did you know that? It had an alchemical circle destined to turn the bracelet into a wrench, of all things." Edward's eyes were hard, sharp chunks of topaz accusation. "Why does Winry's bracelet have an array for a wrench on it, Alphonse?"
Al straightened slightly, encouraging himself, You're not guilty. "Because I put it there."
"Why?" The question was practically spat.
"Because she needed something new," Alphonse said defensively. "She was having an argument with her friend. I resolved it by transmuting her wrench."
"You transmuted her wrench."
"Yes. I didn't do any harm, brother," Al heard his voice turn pleading. "It was a simple array. You saw it yourself."
"You know how unpredictable alchemy can be, Al!" In return, Edward's voice was strained with emotion. The young man struggled with temper for another moment before spinning the previously offered chair around and sitting on it backwards. He sighed deeply and continued, "Why, Al? We made an agreement, didn't we?"
"Yeah," Al agreed, looking between his knees. He couldn't say any more.
"Eight years ago, we decided to put away our alchemy supplies, didn't we?" Edward pressed, in a low, calm voice. "You know why, Al. We can't play around with alchemy any more. It isn't a toy, or something that you fool around with. It shouldn't be used for trivial purposes. Someone else could get hurt because of us."
"But isn't alchemy supposed to be for the people?" It was Al's standard argument, but he had once again been drawn into this dance. Every time he did a bit of alchemy, he would have this lecture/debate/argument with Edward, and every time his older brother would end up winning the fight.
"We didn't learn alchemy for the people," Edward's response was as well-used as the roads around Resembool. "We learned alchemy to violate the first taboo. All of our alchemy is tainted by that."
"We should be able to get rid of that taint!" Al protested.
"We can't." Edward said, instantly cutting off anything his brother would have said. "We have to live with it and move on, but the reminder of our disaster will be with us for every day of our lives. You know this, Al!"
Alphonse raised a hand to hide his eyes. "I know, brother." And then, "You shouldn't be thinking about this on your wedding day. I'll just put Winry's wrench right..."
"You will not!" Edward burst out. "Haven't you been listening to anything I've been saying?"
"But I promised her that I'd put it back!" Al was startled into protesting.
"I'll put it back," Edward clarified. "And then no more alchemy, okay?"
"You'll put it back?" Al tilted his chin down to look closer at Edward. "Why can't I do it?"
"I'm your older brother," Edward said, his handy excuse for everything.
"So? I'm the one that made the array. I should be the one to fix it."
Edward motioned for Al to keep it down. "I'm her husband, so I should do it."
"It was my gift." Al returned, not lowering his voice as suggested. The husband excuse was a new one. "And it was my array. An alchemist shouldn't activate arrays that he has not drawn himself, right?"
"It's a simple array," Edward said stubbornly.
"Don't take stupid risks, brother!" Al hissed. "You do too much of that already!"
"Idiot," Edward tugged at his braid. "I'm just trying to keep you safe."
Touched as he was by that remark, Al thought Ed was a little touched in the head from the wedding. "Mou, idiot yourself! What would hurt me?"
"The array!"
"The array barely has any power. The worst rebound I would get is a little shock."
"Still."
"I am not going to be hurt from a little shock."
"You never know."
"I do know! Besides, I made that array perfectly. It wouldn't rebound."
"It could! Any array can rebound, even the ones that seem perfect..."
"Don't make this about mother!" Al was suddenly on his feet, looming over Edward.
"This isn't about mother!" Ed surged up on his chair so as not to be at that great a disadvantage. "This is about our crappy luck with seemingly 'perfect' arrays...!"
"That was one array eight years ago!" Al exclaimed. "When we were committing an alchemical taboo trying to revive the dead! That has nothing to do with a little metal transmutation array!"
"Why are you being so stubborn about this?" Edward demanded.
"What's the argument?"
Both brothers stopped dead and turned to face the wedding goddess, who looked patient but on the verge of thrashing them both. Winry placed her hands on her hips and looked between the two of them.
"Ah..." Al stuttered.
"Just a disagreement about al... phonse's... lack of dancing." Edward laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, sweating. "He should dance, don't you think?"
"Hm..." Winry looked between the two of them again and turned on her heel. "Ed, they want us to start off another dance, when you've convinced him."
The Elric brothers watched her go. When she was out of earshot, Alphonse said quietly, "You got married today, Brother."
"Yeah. So?" Edward's attention was firmly rooted on Winry's back. A small, possessive smile creased his face.
"You talk big about moving on from the past," Al said, still quiet. "But when are you going to move on past our sin?"
The smile dropped from Edward's face. He looked at Alphonse, really looked at him, the way that showed he was looking both at the rigid armor and the boy trapped within. The new husband took a long breath.
"I will move on the day I see you smile."
Al was physically knocked backwards, stumbling back a meter. He stared at his brother's determined face and despaired.
"You idiot." Al regained his feet and clenched his fists. "You idiot."
"Al..." Edward hopped down from his perch atop his chair and came towards his little brother.
"No... no, you fool." Al half-raised his clenched fists. Edward stopped outside out of arms reach. "That is exactly the feeling that got us into this in the first place!"
Edward's eyes widened and he let down his guard. Al was too irate to even bother trying to hit his brother, who could jump about like a monkey. Nearby guests turned their heads at the raised voice, but Al couldn't do much more than prevent his voice from getting louder.
"How can you stand there and look so pleased with saying it?" Al demanded. "I didn't say anything before, but I'll say it now, Brother! The circle of life! One is all and all is one! Didn't you listen to any of sensei's teachings? What is done is done. It's in the past. Get over it! You have a beautiful, loving wife and a new family to think about now!"
"Al..." Ed looked shocked. "How could you..."
"Move on, Brother!" Alphonse finally let his voice rise again. He spun on his heel and strode away from Edward, too furious to stand around and talk. His hollow, booming stride was quickly echoed by a lighter gait with a familiar sound... kknk tpt kknk tpt... the sound of Edward's automail leg against the dancing square. Al set out towards the radiant figure in white, pulling to a halt a respectful distance from Winry while she talked with some of the guests. When she caught sight of him and his clenched fists, she quickly excused herself.
"Al? Is something wrong?" Winry gave him a once-over, obviously noting his angry posture. "You know, you don't have to dance if you don't want to."
"I don't want to." Al confirmed. "I'm going to set your wrench straight again, if you don't mind."
"Al!"
"Damn it, Edward," It was the first time in living memory that Al hadn't addressed his brother with 'Nii-san' or a variant thereof. "I'm not ten years old any more. Better me than you, if something goes wrong."
Winry's eyes widened as she looked between the two brothers. Edward seemed temporarily paralyzed by Alphonse's usage of his name, but regained his bearings swiftly.
"Fine." Edward's face grew closed. "Fine. Do it, then. Forget all the promises we made and the lessons we told ourselves we learned."
"You're not listening," Alphonse gently took Winry's wrist and cupped his right hand around the transmuted wrench. "You should have learned from our mistake that living in the past is a critical mistake. Moving on is part of life."
Light flared, catching the eyes of bystanders. After a moment, Al held the restored wrench out to Winry, who took it with a grateful but uncertain smile. Her eyes flicked between the brothers, finally focusing on Edward. For the first time, Al felt glad that he wasn't obliged to explain this to her. Let Ed taste the edge of her tongue.
Of course, then the image of Ed actually tasting Winry's tongue came to him. He was glad metal couldn't blush.
"Thanks," Winry hefted her wrench, eying the side of Ed's head as if it were painted with a target. Al took the opportunity to excuse himself.
"I've got to go feed the cats," he invented the excuse, backing away. "Congratulations again."
Alphonse Elric fled the wedding party just as the sun touched the horizon.
Fin