Good Night
by BridgitKiido

Disclaimer: I don’t own Fullmetal Alchemist. That honor belongs to Hiromu Arakawa. Though it is becoming more and more apparent that the Maes!Pride idea is my own…

Timeline Note: This fic is AU, taking place many years after the end of Excessive Pride. Nothing from chapters 70 and onward applies here… heck, nothing from around chapter 64 or so onward applies here.

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70 years. 70 years had Father waited. 70 years, during which his plans had nearly come to fruition… and failed. 70 years, in which Philosopher’s Stone after Philosopher’s Stone had been destroyed, until only three remained… and even then, only two of them were available.

70 years since Pride had left Amestris.

Father had patiently awaited his favored son’s return for all these years. Not once had he sent a search party. He had sent letters with Greed, since there had been an agreement, but even Greed’s human host had eventually failed him.

And then, one day, Pride returned, not looking a day older than the day he left. His voice, however, seemed strained, as his greeting, “Hello, Father,” made him sound far older than he looked.

“You have returned,” Father replied, looking up from his meditations.

“Yes,” the homunculus replied with a resigned sigh. “And you may do with me what you wish.”

“Very well.”

And thus did Father lead his son to the wheel and break him, reducing him back to his most basic form – the Philosopher’s Stone he had been born from.

The Stone trickled through the machinery, into a wine glass. As Father picked up the glass and raised it to his lips, he whispered, “Return to me, Pride.”

And thus did he drink.

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The family had lived happily. They had never been particularly wealthy, but none of them had particularly cared.

Elysia had grown to be a beautiful woman and, eventually, had married a handsome man named Ren, a successful merchant. They had given birth to a pair of twin girls, who each eventually began families of their own.

Unfortunately, Gracia was taken by a disease after thirty years of living in Xing. The doctors did everything they could, but all of the stress that she had felt during her life had taken its toll, and she succumbed after a long battle.

Elysia died thirty-five years later, from an accident involving a spooked dog and slippery rocks in the river.

Maes had never gone back on his promise – he had never told anyone anything more than they had already figured out about his identity, the homunculi, and their plans. In fact, even his own grandchildren had no idea that he was anything other than a human.

He had left in good conscience, deciding to, rather than fake his death, disappear without a trace or explanation one day. With any luck, they would give up looking after a few days, assuming that, due to his age, he had simply died in a place where he would not be found.

And when he had left, he had been fully prepared to die. Gracia and Elysia were gone, after all, and with that, what else did he have to live for?

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All of this flashed before Father in an instant, and the old man frowned sadly in memory of his first son, the only true homunculus who had even dared to try to love.

From his hand, he extracted the fragments of Pride’s Stone that still remained.

“Pride.”

The only pieces that remained were tiny, almost dust-like particles, barely hanging on to their physical form. Envy had been correct when he had surmised that Pride only had one life left – and Father had just crushed the final one.

A slight breeze picked up, and the pieces of the Stone flew out of his hand in a cascade of red before dissolving into the air. Father sighed, allowing the dust to fly away, and turned away.

“Good night, my son. May you meet your angels in the next life.”

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Author’s Note: Today happens to be my 17th birthday. Yes, it’s been year since I posted “Known as Monsters.” (Where has the time gone, I wonder…) As a sort of gift from me to you, I wrote this little one-shot as a sort of sequel to “Excessive Pride.”

And I’m still hanging on to Maes!Pride. I don’t care that canon Pride’s identity has been revealed – I don’t trust those eyes. This is marked as AU nonetheless, however.

On this particular fic, flamers will get a stern talking to. Constructive criticism is welcome and requested, but please, no cries of “Maes!Pride is a hoax!” or “Your ideas are stupid!”. Because I don’t really want to be insulted on my birthday.

I do hope you liked it though.