--It's rather painful to see Ed so broken like this - a shadow of what he once was, of what we know him to be.--

Is it bad that this makes me really happy? Because there were times when I was writing this that I wondered if I was properly conveying how awful it is that Ed is in this state. I tried to make it everything I personally wouldn't want to see. Because (hopefully) that makes it that much better when things do finally turn around ;)

--Is Al, either in armor or in the flesh, in this btw?--

Where Al is is the million dollar question here. But, I promise he's not dead, and he *will* be in the story.

And, thank you for reading!