Disclaimer: No, no, no. FMA is not mine. But I won't mind if you give it to me as a present :)
Pairing: None.
Summary: Winter has come to Amestris, causing problems for some, but bringing people together.
Notes: This is my story contribution for this Christmas season. You could say it's my present to everyone at FFNet. A few days late, I know, but I do hope it is nice to read anyway. Please do review :)
A Story of Winter
Winter had come early to Amestris this year. In Central City, it had come quite suddenly, without much warning at all. One day, it had merely been cold; the next, the city found itself shrouded in a raging blizzard.
Ed and Al, who had been due to leave for Resinbool on the mid-morning train, found themselves literally stranded in the city – all train services had been suspended due to the heavy snowfall.
"We'll never get back to Resembool in time for Christmas now." Al wailed as he looked forlornly at the falling snow, which was already piling up on the ground in drifts that grew higher every minute.
Ed just nodded mutely. He was not really concerned about making the trip. Alphonse had been the one who had planned the entire trip this year, and the young teen had gotten very excited over it. Ed was just tagging along so that Winry could make improvements to his automail.
"What are we going to do now?" Al continued on. "Winry and Aunt Pinako will be so disappointed!"
"Well, I guess that we'll have to call them and let them know that we can't come this year then." Ed replied with a shrug. "And we should get back to the apartment too, before all this snow traps us here."
"How can you be so calm about it, brother?" Al almost yelled.
"What else can we do about it?" Ed asked as he turned to leave the station.
Al opened his mouth, thought for a moment, then decided that he had nothing much to say about that. He sighed, then picked up his suitcase and followed after his brother.
When the two brothers arrived back at the apartment that they were sharing, they found that the snowstorm had gotten ahead of them once more – The central heating was down, and although Ed tried, cursing and swearing along the way, no amount of alchemy could solve the problem.
"Now what are we going to do?" Al wailed once more, slumping onto the cold, hard ground by their door.
Ed did not reply, but stood looking out the window, deep in thought.
After several long moments of a silence that was only broken intermittently by the howling winds outside, Ed spoke up.
"Let's go find Mustang."
"It's snowing like crazy and we're practically freezing in the cold, and all you can think of is work?!" Al exclaimed.
"Of course not, little brother." Ed laughed, "Colonel Mustang has a very large and probably very warm house that is also probably stocked with enough food to feed the entire army. We'll just go over and impose on him."
"Oh." Al said.
"Anyway," Ed continued, as he picked up his suitcase, "Mustang's the Flame Alchemist, remember? It can't possibly be that cold around him, can it?"
Al laughed a little sheepishly, "I didn't quite think of that, brother."
"Never mind that now, Al," Ed said, "Let's just go find the Colonel and get ourselves warm again."
Sure enough, Colonel Mustang's home looked warm and cozy, and the man was more than happy to have the two young alchemists staying over. Well, more for Al than for Ed, in any case.
"Make sure you don't make a mess of my house, Fullmetal." The raven-haired man warned as Ed stepped into the spacious house.
"I'll only be making a mess if you insult me, Mustang." Ed stated, sweeping past the man and throwing himself onto the closest couch.
Mustang sighed.
"I'm sure brother won't make a mess, Colonel Mustang." Al spoke up, sounding rather apologetic as he looked over at his brother. "And thank you very much for letting us stay at your place."
"I can't quite possibly leave the two of you standing in the snow now, could I?" Mustang replied, smiling at the young teen.
"Anyway," he continued after a moment, "I don't think that you be the only ones this evening. Fuery called me just a few minutes ago to ask if he could come over. I said yes, of course."
"More company would be nice." Al said.
"If the storm gets much worse, more people might come here looking for shelter," Mustang muttered, frowning a little.
When Cain Fuery turned up a few minutes later, the small-sized man was not alone. Lieutenant Havoc was with him, and the two of them were shivering, and almost blue with the cold. Mustang ushered them in quickly, moving them over to the fireplace to let them warm up.
"Power's out at your place too, Havoc?" Mustang asked the taller man, who nodded. His teeth were chattering took much for him to speak.
A moment later, there was another knock on the front door. Al, who was the closest, hastened to open it. Lieutenant Hawkeye, all bundled up in scarves and a great overcoat, walked in. Black Hyate was in her arms, curled up into a ball.
"Thank you." Her muffled voice came from behind the scarves. "I'm sorry to say that this storm has defeated me as well."
"Join us by the fire then." Havoc, who had stopped shivering, spoke up. Hawkeye agreed at once.
"You don't think that there will be more people, do you?" Fuery asked the blond woman once she had gotten rid of all her scarves and had settled down by the roaring fire.
Hawkeye shook her head. "Not from our group, at least. The rest of them are all out of town, from what I can remember."
"Anyone wants a hot drink?" Al asked at that moment. "I'll make some."
The teen's question was immediately met by a chorus of agreements, and he went to the kitchen at once. Mustang, being a good host, followed at once to help.
"No milk!" Ed yelled to his brother.
After being warmed up nicely by the drinks and by the fire, they all soon felt drowsy, and Mustang went to see to the sleeping arrangements for his guests. Hawkeye, being the only woman, got her own room, of course. Ed and Al, being the youngest, got another room. Havoc, Fuery and Mustang, however, had to share one room.
"Are you sure the three of us can fit on your bed, boss?" Havoc asked skeptically.
"Why not, Havoc?" Mustang asked, smirking a little. "My bed is built to sleep much more than one person. What do you think, Fuery?"
"Erm…" The younger man blushed, but did not answer.
"Ah, well, never mind." Mustang continued, turning back to Havoc not wanting to embarrass him. "Just make sure you don't kick me of my bed Havoc."
Havoc snorted.
"Let's just hope that the storm stops soon."
They passed the night in their various rooms of the Colonel's home, most of them sleeping rather fitfully, with the gale blowing and gusting all around outside.
The next morning, contrary to their hopes, the blizzard raged on.
They ate breakfast, then lazed around, talking about work, about play, and about anything and everything they could think of.
Still, the blizzard raged on.
They lay around and dozed. They played games. Ed even tried to teach Fuery and Havoc some Alchemy, and Hawkeye tried to teach Ed and Al about guns.
And the blizzard raged on.
A day passed, then two. But there was no sign that the storm would stop anytime soon. And Christmas was fast approaching.
"We're going to be snowed in, at this rate!" Al exclaimed in despair the morning before Christmas as he looked out of the window into the swirling snow. "This is going to be such a miserable Christmas."
"Don't feel so unhappy, Al." Mustang, who, for once, was up early, told the boy. "I'm sure that tomorrow will be fun, snowstorm or no snowstorm. Just wait and see."
"Whatever do you mean?" Al asked curiously.
"It's a secret." The Colonel replied, smiling mysteriously.
When the group awoke on Christmas morning and went down to the main hall, they found that there was a pile of presents, each with a person's name on it, waiting for them by the fireplace.
"Is this what you meant, Colonel Mustang?" Al asked the raven-haired man, who was standing by the side as the rest of them went to get their presents.
"Of course, Al." He replied. "And that's not all."
Mustang then led the others into the kitchen, where he announced that they would be preparing a Christmas dinner together.
"It's only fun if we all work on this together." He said.
The others agreed, and got started immediately.
There was a surprisingly large amount of ingredients that could be found in the kitchen, and there was little difficulty for any of them to come up with something creative.
The flurry of activity in the kitchen lasted all day, with only short pauses for rest. Everybody was having great fun with the preparations and the cooking, joking and laughing all the way. Even the snowstorm, which continued to gust outside, was totally forgotten.
All too soon, they finished what they had to do, and with the table all set up, they sat down for dinner.
"Let's just hope all this food tastes as good as it looks." Quipped Havoc, who was looking hungrily at the food.
"Oh, it will, I'm sure of that." Mustang replied.
And so they ate, and found that the food tasted better that they though they could have made it.
"I definitely won't mind eating such food every day." Ed remarked as they finished dinner.
Al laughed. "If you ate food like that every day, brother, you would get fat."
Ed scowled at his younger brother, and the others laughed.
Once more, night had arrived. And with the food gone and presents opened, it was time for bed. Without all the fun and laughter, the snowstorm had been remembered once more.
"Snowstorms don't last forever, Al." Hawkeye, seeing the boy look out the window at the swirling snow, reassured him. "It'll stop soon."
"Really, Lieutenant Hawkeye?"
"Wish for it, Al, and I'm sure it will." She replied, smiling faintly.
True to Hawkeye's word, the blizzard did come to an end, two days after Christmas. A week and a half had already passed since the day Ed and Al had come to Mustang's home.
The morning had dawned silent. The wind had died down, and the snow had stopped falling.
"Well, finally." Al muttered as he looked out at the clearing skies.
"Finally indeed." Ed said as he came to stand by his brother. "Soon we'll be able to go home."
"You'll need to clear a path through the snow first before anyone can get anywhere." Mustang remarked from the couch where he was sitting. "Especially since the snow has piled up so high…"
"Are you trying to imply that I'm too short to walk out through the snow!?" Ed interrupted immediately.
The quarrel ensued soon after.
Al could only shake his head and sigh.
END
Note: I had originally wanted to post this on Christmas Day itself, but due to certain complications, I was unable to do so. But I still hope that you'll like the story! Pardon any minor errors I may have made. I checked, but I'm not prefect. Please do review to let me know how I have done with this little story. Thanks :)
Add. Note: Happy Holidays to all and Happy New Year as well! Hope everyone had a good Christmas!