Winter
Winter. Crisp cool air lent a fresh quality to the gray sky, especially in the countryside. The hillsides, usually emerald and lively beneath the sun, were frosted with snow like little powdered cakes. Together, they formed a patchwork of seemingly endless whiteness, stretching on and on towards a horizon that one could hardly see by squinting. The snow was relatively untouched, too. Unlike in the city, where snow only inhabited the edges of streets and the roofs of some buildings, the snow here was everywhere, fresh and solid and clean, never before stepped on by the boots of city dwellers.
Edward Elric was not pleased about it, though. He and Al had chosen to stick close to the train tracks. The ground was trustworthy there and didn't have random dips and uneven surfaces. The train itself hadn't passed by in a good many years; folks from the city just had never really bothered to come back for the railroad ties. Ed was frowning in concentration, taking each step very precisely, and making sure to stamp down the walls of snow that existed between his footprints. It would make the trail easier to walk back down later. His hands were formed into tight fists. The gloves really weren't keeping them warm enough, but he wouldn't readily admit to being cold.
Alphonse clanked patiently along behind him. Neither had spoken in quite some time. Ed seemed far too engrossed in the task at hand, besides. He had asked once before if Ed would rather that he walk first to make a path through the sixteen inches of powder, but the boy had irately insisted the snow 'had it coming anyway' and proceeded to stomp through it.
Additionally, they hadn't seen any kind of a building in awhile, and Al was beginning to worry that getting off the train when they did was a stupid idea. The next stop had only been a little while away, and it would have decreased the amount of walking considerably. So much for that now.
Ed came to a sudden stop, and Al partially stumbled, almost crashing into him. "Something the matter, Big Brother?" he queried, peering into the distance over Ed's blond head, hoping to see something besides miles and miles of blinding white.
"No, nothing," mumbled Ed. He wrung his hands together for a moment, but Al didn't see. He could hardly feel his fingers, and started to suspect his hands would be just as warm without the gloves as they were with them. The automail hand was lucky—at least it wasn't suffering from the cold. However, his left hand was cold enough to make up for both of them.
"Are you cold?"
"No!"
"Then why did we stop?"
"Shut up." Stomp, stomp.
Al sighed and followed him. There was only a small break in conversation. Al was tired of the quiet. He got enough of it at night. "Sure is pretty out here, isn't it?"
"I guess. Hurts my eyes, though." Pause. "I feel like taking a break."
Ed turned, looking around for something that he could possibly sit on. As nothing in nature was making itself readily available, he cleared a patch of ground of some snow with his boot, took his suitcase from Al, and plunked it down. It would do well enough. Sitting down atop it, he looked up at Al, a solid wall of steel towering over him. He was almost pitiable; so huge and awkward on the outside despite being so small on the inside. Looking around, there was nothing but the two of them and the snow. When they were little, they'd spent many a winter day playing on the rolling snowy hills of their hometown until it got dark out. Nothing beat their brother-versus-brother snowball fights, either. As a team, they could beat anybody, but against each other, they'd go for hours without a champion.
"How far do you think we have to walk?"
"Huh?" Ed snapped out of his thoughts. "Oh… I dunno. Not much farther, I hope. We've been walking less than an hour and I'm already sick of the scenery." He sighed and rose to his feet, setting his suitcase upright and brushing the snow off it. "Well, I guess we'd better start moving again."
"If you say so."
What happened next happened a little too quickly for either of them to fully comprehend. More or less, the brothers both attempted to move onto the same area of space at the same time. Ed hooked his jacket on Al's armor and pulled one way, whilst Al pulled in a slight other direction, and before they knew what was going on, Ed had landed on the railroad tracks and Al had fallen into the snow bank opposite it. There was a large and awkward pause as they both wondered what happened. Edward got up first, inspecting his jacket for any damage—there was, of course, not much.
"Al?" he asked tentatively.
The massive suit of armor remained slumped in the pile of snow for a moment. "Clumsy!" he laughed, seizing a large handful of snow and hurling it right at Ed's face.
Ed looked shocked for a moment, but then writhed in discomfort as lumps of snow made their way off his face and down the collar of his shirt. "Aaah! Cold! I hate you, Al!" He bent over and grabbed some snow, too. Finding himself unable to pack the powder into much of a ball, he just whipped it right at his brother as it was. It made a satisfying splat as it hit the chest plate.
"Oh, now you're going to get it!" Al said, feigning anger. He rose up, all seven feet, two inches of him, took off his helmet, scooped up a load of snow and flung it right at the other alchemist. Ed shielded himself with his arms.
"Hah! Nice try!" He clapped his hands together and pressed them to the ground. In a flash of alchemic lightning, a wall of snow rose up in front of him, just high enough for him to have a good view over. However, Al didn't plan on giving up so easily.
And so the war raged on.
The sky grew dark overhead, clear and cold and royal blue. Shadows were long, trailing behind whatever existed in the scenery to beget them. Ed and Al lay on their backs in the packed down snow, staring into the space above them. Ed's chest still rose and fell just slightly from the snow fight that had lasted for hours. There was, of course, no winner. All around them, the snow had been formed into spectacular shapes by their alchemy; some shapes simple and used as defense, others elaborate and strange and only forged as entertainment. Neither spoke now, but Ed was smiling and knew that if Al were capable, he would have been, too.
"You're a second-rate alchemist, Al," he said in playful scorn. "You spend all your time around me, and you can't make a decent fort."
"You wish." Al's face was obviously devoid of expression, but his voice smiled instead. There was a creak, and he sat up, realizing fully just how long they'd lost track of time for. There was definitely no way they'd catch a train today. It was already at least six o'clock. He felt no sense of urgency despite the tardiness, however. "We should go now, I think."
"Yeah." Ed got up, brushing clumped snow off the back of his red jacket and handing his suitcase over to his brother. There was an expectant sort of a pause. "…Good game, Al."
"Thanks. You were good, too."
"I haven't lost it, haha…"
Nothing else was said; the conversation melted away after that. The two started back on track, headed in the direction of the nearest town once again, leaving behind them all of their strange sculptures in the winter wonderland. Something felt different now. A lone breeze blew chilly air across the frosted hills, and stars began to dot the velvet blanket of sky. It was still cold out as they walked; in fact, the temperature had sunk since earlier… but Ed hardly felt the cold at all.
END