Epilogue: Indifferent
Dancing bears, painted wings
Things I almost remember
And a song someone sings
Once Upon a December
xxxxxx
Someone holds me safe and warm
Horses prance through a silver storm
Figures dancing gracefully
Across my memory
xxxxxx
Far away, long ago
Glowing dim as an ember
Things my heart used to know
Once Upon a December
xxxxxx
Someone holds me safe and warm
Horses prance through a silver storm
Figures dancing gracefully
Across my memory
xxxxxx
Far away, long ago
Glowing dim as an ember
Things my heart used to know
Things it yearns to remember
xxxxxx
And a song someone sings
Once Upon a December
I stare across the infinite fields of my home many a day and wonder… why does it seem like I've been here before? It seems like there was this one place—I remember the smell of dewed grass, burned wood, hearing the spring and autumn birds singing—but… it was not here I perceived this. It was somewhere else. Somewhere far, far away, long, long ago. Where everything was peaceful, and there was always an adventure. I felt so calm there, and always complete; why didn't I feel that now?
The thing I remembered the most was a person. This person, laughing, smiling, happy… but who were they? I couldn't even recall their face. I also remember me laughing, smiling, happy, with them, too, but I was also jealous…
It had been so long since I slept from that time. Last I awoke, I was in my bed, mother distraught as I told her I couldn't remember a thing about the last months. Not even that it was new year's eve, my birthday.
I sigh, also, often, and wonder. Why is there this feeling of emptiness inside me? Why do I feel incomplete?
The bare trees whiz past as the snow flurries of winter collide on the windshield of my mother's car as they always do, and there was something about her as well. Even though I'm sure she knew what it was, she wouldn't tell me. All she said was I was different from the last time she had seen me, like I'd been swapped with a twin…
'Had it all been a dream?' That was the question I asked myself every day, and I found myself always answering, 'but whatever it was, it felt much more real than just a dream…' That's when I look down to my knees and the color of red catches my eye. On my sweatshirt, my favorite one, I see the many specks of dry blood on my chest, and my hair does not shawl my shoulders—it's much too short. I had had never cut my hair before in my life, and even my mother told me so. Now five lines scar my face, like a sharp, desperate hand groped my face. Where was it from? What world? This one? Or one completely different…?
Hashimoto Yearu returned to his home country knowing he could not stay in Amestris without being forced to serve the military. The Major General and all of his troops gave up their posts in Central City and now work in New Optain, secretly helping all others opposing the military, and Don… is always found in the graveyard, weeping over a grave without a name, none by his side and none to return to.
He waits for his time to face Ebla from the past in the future, but he shall not come. If you kill a beast in one time, it will not appear again for the rest of eternity. He lives a good life, quietly helping the smart and knowing militants to take down the Führer and his followers with Hakuro, but missing the one he loves.
He has not gotten over her, he has not found another, he will never love again. He won't even speak to the Fullmetal Alchemist and his brother because it reminds him too much of her. Every whisper, hiss, and shadow reminds him of her. His precious, Vorrina.
The pieces of Ebla that blast all directions at that scene followed Hashimoto to Aerugo looking for something that might help them unite again, but they will only live for another year or so before they eventually die off, and have barely any conscience now.
And with that, I believe it is time to conclude this story. Oh, but the Fullmetal Alchemist…? He goes on with completing his story, just as Nayru does with hers. There is nothing more for me, the Truth, to tell you.
Keep living your story the way you wish, but never forget to stay to the right one. If you just do exactly what you heart desires, if you would only listen to what you truly want, you will find that everything is right in your reach. It is always there for you to grasp, and all you need to do is just keep it there.
Stay true to your heart, and always, stay different.
"You're willing to cast it aside? To lower yourself to a simple human?" the Truth asked with glee he could not contain within his own amusement.
"What do you mean lower myself?" Edward asked as he stared at the portal behind him. "That's the only thing I've ever been. Just a simple human who couldn't save a little girl, not even with alchemy…"
And as Edward thought, was it really Nina that he was thinking about? Maybe it was Winry. Or was it the first little girl he had not been able to save? The one he had never learned the name of. The only one who was different from the others, who knew who he really was. Not the Fullmetal Alchemist, but Edward. Edward Elric, the foolish little boy who had attempted human transmutation, yet made it so it didn't matter to her. The only one he truly loved, and could never have.
He faced the Truth with sincere smile. "Who even needs alchemy when I have them?"
Truth's smile grew bigger. "You've done it! That's the right answer!"
Author's Note: Thank Hiromu Arakawa for Fullmetal Alchemist and Deana Carter for the song, not me. But I did write this whole story, so you can thank me for that.
Special thanks to ShadowNinja1011 for giving me the great idea for this story in the first place, my friends Rima Elric and Vee for helping me the whole way, again to Rima Elric for not letting me give up even when I doubted myself, and to you, all of my faithful readers, writers, and reviewers for giving me so many kind words. Thank you all again. I cannot thank you enough. Oh, and one more thing, to my sister for reading behind my back, even when I told her not to.
The end