Endless Night
By ALBA

FANDOM: Full Metal Alchemist

RATING: G

SUMMARY: A father is supposed to love his children forever, right?

DISCLAIMER: I do not own these characters. SquareEnix does. I just took them out for a spin. I'll put them back later, once Roy has his clothes back on. ;)

AUTHOR'S NOTES: No spoilers. Just a bit of Al-fic. The song I based it on just *called* to me, and I've included some of the lyrics at the bottom.

DEDICATION: For Al fans, because he gets no love.

*****

Endless Night

The stars shone, black and cold. Through the open window, cool night air washed the room and it's two occupants, only one of whom was awake. The elder of the two slept, blissfully unaware of the turmoil in the younger boy's mind.

"Nii-san, I wish I could talk to you..." Sighing heavily, the younger looked out at the stars again. "But you won't understand. You hate Father too much to understand me. I know why you hate him, but he's our *father*. We shouldn't hate our father, no matter how sad he made Mom and how much he hurt us." Getting up from his window perch, the boy slipped silently out of the room and down the stairs. The first floor was dark and the boy crept out the front door to find a spot on the soft, dewy grass beneath the apple tree in the front yard.

"I wish Father were here," he whispered to himself. "I wish Father was here so Mom wouldn't be sad and Nii-san wouldn't be angry. I wish Father was here so he could teach us alchemy and we'd be a family again. Is that too much to ask? All I want is for all of us to be happy!

"We were a family.... the four of us. You, Mom, Nii-san and me. You took Nii-san and me on our first fishing trip. Do you remember that? I caught four fish, and you were so proud of me! Even Nii-san was happy, even though he only caught two fish. But you told him that his were just as good as mine, because his were bigger than mine, so it evened out in the end.

"And Mom baked apple pies all the time because she knew you loved them. Nii-san and I would pick the best apples and she would make the biggest pie she could, so we could all share.

"Do you remember when Winry broke her leg last summer? Nii-san was laughing at her because she couldn't run after him and you took her side, scolding him until he apologized. I think that was the first time Nii-san apologized to Winry for anything! Maybe it was good that she had to stay sitting down, or else she would have fallen and broken her other leg in surprise." The boy smiled fondly at the memory.

"I also remember the day you left. You kissed Mom and told her you'd be back later. You lied to her, Father! You didn't come back that day. You didn't come back ever." The boy looked up at the stars, his eyes briefly taking on a look of intense pain. "Father, why did you leave us behind? Did I do something wrong? Did Nii-san and I make you mad somehow? Were we such horrible sons that you couldn't stand to look at us anymore? Did you hate us so much?

"You made Mom sad when you didn't come back, did you know that? She cried for a week after she realized that you weren't coming back, and didn't even get out of bed. She just stared at the wall and cried. Sometimes I'd hear her call your name in her sleep. She always sounded so sad when she did that. It hurt to hear her. And she hasn't made apple pie since, probably because it reminds her too much of you.

"Nii-san won't even let me mention your name, he's so angry. He shouts a lot now, and breaks things when he thinks Mom and I aren't around. He tore up a picture of the four of us the other day and threw it in the pond. I found it before Mom did and hid the pieces. She's sad enough has it is. I feel so alone, Father. I need you."

"Why did you leave?" The boy nearly shouted, glaring accusingly at the dark sky. "You're our Father! You're supposed to be there for us, supposed to love us!" He broke down in tears, burrowing his head into his arms, uncaring of the fact that the position he was in caused his night clothes to become damp from the dew. "Why?" he sobbed. "Why don't you love us?"

Arms surrounded him. "Don't cry, Alphonse," his brother's voice said softly. "I don't like it when you cry."

Alphonse quickly wiped his tears away. "Sorry, Nii-san."

"Don't be sorry. I just don't like that you're sad because of him." At his brother's look of surprise, the elder smiled sadly. "I heard you, you know. Every word, from the time you were in our room until just now."

"I miss Father, Edward," Alphonse said softly, clutching his brother tighter, his use of his brother's name betraying his true distress. "Did he hate us? Is that why he left?"

"I don't know." Edward stroked Alphonse's hair. "I don't know why he left, but I don't think it was our fault. I don't think it was Mom's either."

"Then why? I thought a Father was supposed to love his family, and always be there for them."

"So did I." Edward pulled back a little. "We'll find him someday, Alphonse. And we'll make him see just how much he hurt us. We'll make him apologize to Mom, make him tell us why he did this."

"Will that make it stop hurting?"

"No, but it's the best we can hope for. We can't make him come back, but we can learn to live without him until he does." Edward smiled at Alphonse. "And you'll always have me. I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise, Nii-san?"

"I promise." Pulling Edward back towards him, Alphonse snuggled into his brother's arms before drifting off to sleep, exhausted by both emotion and tears. As dawn broke, that's where their mother found them - asleep on the front lawn, clutching each other like lifelines, tears-stained faces turned towards the sun.

You promised you'd be there
Whenever I needed you
Whenever I call your name,
You're not anywhere.
I'm trying to hold on,
Just waiting to hear your voice
One word, just a word will do
To end this nightmare...
"Endless Night", the Lion King (Broadway)

/END