It's Not Alchemy, It's Chemistry* (Elricest)

come pick up your package, pipsqueak

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Morning in January had finally arrived. It had been another three years since the Rockbells had taken the graft, and Ed received a phone call that Al's body was now ready. It was functional about six months ago, but taking the extra time to finalize the details was crucial.

Ed snuck from the hallway back into the apartment. It was hard for him to hide his excitement, but he managed.

"Al..." He poked the armored boy, who even still refused to remove his armor, even while sleeping. Rather than draping blankets over the outside of his suit, he would reach out a small hand and stuff the the inside of the metal lining with soft pillows and blankets.

He rolled his eyes and put his face against a gap near the neck line of the helmet. "Aaaaaa~llllll~, wake up, or you're gonna sleep through the dayyy!" he sang into the helmet, and heard a few groans from the awakening boy.

"Good morning..." Alphonse rubbed his eyes underneath the armor, and ejected the blanket and pillows from the helmet.

"Winry said a package was delivered to the shop back in Resembool with my name on it, so I have to go pick it up. Do you want to come with me?" He kneeled next to the bed and leaned on his arms, talking quietly to the freshly-woken brother.

"Yeah... Sure, brother." He muttered, and Ed backed up so that his brother could get out of bed.

Al wondered how his body was coming along back in Resembool, but decided not to ask, since bringing up the subject of his body generally discomforted Ed to the point of apologizing for several minutes afterward.

After dressing and getting ready, they purchased their train tickets at the station, and were soon shipped [heh] back to the rural village they grew up in. It was a few hours before they arrived at the Rockbells', who greeted them both in hugs.

"So, where's the package for brother that you mentioned?" Al asked.

"Huh?" Winry put her hands on her hips, pretending to scratch her head. "We haven't gotten any packages recently, but we do have something for one of you..." She lead the boys inside, and gestured for them to follow a staircase into a lower level. "Sorry that it's so dark, the lights take a little while to come on sometimes." That was a lie. Winry just wanted to add suspense to see Al's reaction.

Once the boys reached the bottom of the stairs, Winry acted as if she were lifting some sort of heavy lever or crank. "Ugh.... Rrgh, hold on a minute..." She flipped up the basic light switch with her index finger. "Phew! I got it, you guys!" The lights flickered until settling on a solid blue-white hue.

Alphonse's eyes widened. So did Ed's, but he was fixed on his brother's reaction.

"I-It's..." Al held his armor hands up to his mouth. "It's... Me..." His eyes felt as if they would pop out of his head if he opened them any further. "It looks... E-Exactly like me..."

Sobs of happiness sounded from the metal interior. "W-Winry... Ed... I can't believe--"

"I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE HAPPY ALPHONSE!" Winry shrieked from across the room and threw herself at the Elric brother into a metallic hug. "I KNEW YOU WOULD LIKE IT!" She buried her face in his armor chest. "Wahhhaaaah!"

Ed grew emotional from this entire exchange. He smiled softly. It looked exactly like Alphonse, down to the freckle. The skin was obviously more pale than his old body, since it had not seen the light of day in its lifetime.

"Winry, this really is... Truly staggering." Ed muttered in awe as he stared at the body that floated in liquid in the large glass vat.

Said biologist pulled away from Al, revealing a swollen-with-tears face and pointing accusingly to Edward. "Stop being so aloof and hug your brother!"

Ed's smile widened and wrapped his arms delightfully against his brother's outer armor. "You're going to get your body back, Alphonse." Now he felt the waterworks from his eyes as the suit held him back in pure faith.

Winry once again threw herself at the brothers, gluing together the group hug even more. They laughed and cried in unison until Pinako had heard enough racket from upstairs.

"Remember! You can't just put him in the thing. You're going to have to expose the body slowly to the air, and water it with that liquid it's sitting in until it acclimates." The old lady called from upstairs.

"Okay!" Winry called back, and hopped over to the vat that the body floated. "Alright, let me show you what she means by that." She said, cheerfully. "So, tonight we can life it out a tiny bit, exposing a bit of the forehead. And every couple of hours, we need to scoop up some of the Phenoxyethanol that it's soaking in right now and pour it on the exposed areas to make sure the skin doesn't dry out. So, basically, your own body is your zen garden for the next few days, just don't forget to water it! Well, 'water' is not necessarily the best word, but for lack of a better term... It works."

The brothers nodded in unison. "Winry, thank you so much. And Ed... Your arm..."

"Don't worry about me!" he barked. "My arm should be none of your concern. For now, please just be careful in your old body until we can get you into this one." He sighed. Why did his brother have to be so concerned with everyone else over himself!?

"Well, both of you, how could I ever repay you?"

Winry and Ed exchanged deadpanned looks. "Are you being for real right now, Alphonse?" Winry pulled the ocular lens of a microscope out of who knows where and threw it at the poor suit of armor.

"Ey! He's gotta survive long enough to test the damn body!" Ed jumped in front of his brother, playfully glaring at the blonde girl.

Winry sighed and looked off to the side in disappointment, placing the pair of tweezers that she was about to hurl back on the table next to her. "Alllllriiiiight."

As Winry elevated the body from the tube about three or four inches, Al couldn't help feel a bit embarrassed. He knew it was silly to feel that way, but the body was, y'know, naked. And the way that Ed and Winry gawked over the thing made him feel a little uncomfortable, considering that would mean they had both seen him *gasp* in the nude... That is, assuming the operation would go as planned.

After raising the body the appropriate amount, Winry gave a confirming look to the brothers, and led them upstairs for dinner. The three spent six days raising the body out of the vat and watering it every few hours until it was finally raised from the vat completely. At some point, Ed felt a bit sorry for Alphonse's lack of clothes, and asked Winry if he could borrow a sterile hospital gown to drape over the stabilizing body, to which she laughed an "Of course!"

And now, the day had arrived that they had all waited so long for.

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