Nina's Snowman
The day was not only freezing, but blinding as well. A layer of snow had fallen overnight, covering every nook and cranny of the world in clean white that reflected beams of light. Indoors seemed dreary compared to the brightness outside.
The combination of freezing and blinding weather into one day was not a pleasant thought for Edward Elric.
"I already told you I don't want to go outside," Ed moaned, tugging backwards on the small force that was dragging him towards the door.
"You can't stay cooped up inside all day, Littler Big Brother!" Nina chirped in reply. "You have to come outside and help us build a snowman!"
"You know, if you weren't a little kid, you wouldn't be able to get away so easily with making 'littler' part of my name," Ed grumbled as he dug his feet into the ground and wonder how such a small girl could be so powerful.
"Bigger Big Brother wants you to come outside too," Nina continued, completely oblivious to Ed's mutterings about height. "And Alexander too! Come outside and play with us!"
"Alright, fine, if it will get you to stop bothering me," Ed groaned, pulling away from Nina. The small girl giggled and clapped her hands together.
"Don't forget your gloves!"
"I know," Ed said with a half a chuckle and a roll to his eyes. Sometimes Nina made him wonder if she was really the older sibling between them and had just happened to be encased in a very small body.
"Okay?" Ed said, readjusting his gloves and red coat. Nina looked at him and tapped a finger to her chin.
"You forgot a scarf and hat!" she declared after a minute. Ed frowned.
"I don't own a hat and scarf."
"You can borrow Daddy's!"
"Uh, sure. Wait, wha-?" Ed didn't have the chance to say any more in protest as Nina ran over to the coat hooks by the door and threw a thick brown scarf and a pair of matching earmuffs at Ed.
"Nina, I don't think I need-"
"Littler Big Brother cannot get cold," Nina said firmly, shaking a finger at Ed. "If Littler Big Brother gets cold, he might get sick and then he won't be able to do well on his test."
Ed chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, I guess you have a point there," he said as he pulled on the thick wollen scarf.
"Very good. Now we go outside."
"Oka- Agh!" Ed was cut off mid-sentence as Nina grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door.
Ed winced as he walked outside. The snow was even more blinding in person than when seen through the window. Al was crouching beside a large snowball and looked up at their loud approach,
"Ah, I see you convinced the hermit to come outside," Al chuckled. Ed scowled and jammed his hands in his pockets.
"Oh, shut up, Al," Ed snapped back. "Nina practically dragged me out here."
"Good for her," Al laughed. "You needed to get out of that dreary house sometime." Ed stuck out his tongue in reply.
"Littler Big Brother! Help us build the snowman!" Nina said, pulling Ed closer to the large snowball.
"Okay, fine," Ed said with an overly dramatic sigh and a roll to his eyes. He was just about to crouch in the snow and help Al roll the huge snowball when a flying yellow blur came out of nowhere and knocked Ed to the ground.
"Ack! Alexander!" Ed moaned, squirming under the large yellow dog. Alexander seemed content simply lying on top of Ed's chest.
"Alexander!" Nina said, putting her hands on her hips. Alexander looked up at her and wagged his tail even more. "Littler Big Brother has to help us build our snowman. You're very naughty, Alexander."
Alexander barked and climbed off Ed to instead lunge for Nina and slobber over her face. The little girl squealed and fell backwards into the snow. Meanwhile, Ed stood up and brushed the snow off his clothes.
"So much for staying warm," he muttered with a chuckle. "So, what's up with this snowman that's caused such a commotion?"
"Alexander, you naughty dog! Where did that come from?" Ed and Al looked up from the snowman to see Nina tugging at a white object Alexander had clutched in his teeth. Judging from the snow piled around the dog, the white object had been buried in the snow until only a few moments earlier.
Ed watched Nina tug at the object for a couple minutes, and then realized in horror that the white object clutched in Alexander's teeth was one of his very own pairs of boxers. The blood drained from Ed's face before he growled and lunged forward.
"Where the hell did those come from?! Did you go digging around in my suitcase?! Alexander, you stupid mutt! Give those back now!" Ed yelled as he leaped towards the huge dog. Alexander wagged his tail happily and started running in the opposite direction, which only made Ed chase the dog around the yard while yelling a stream of curses and insults the entire time he ran.
By the time Ed had finally retrieved his boxers, Nina and Alphonse were putting the finishing touches to their snowman. Ed, panting heavily and clutching his boxers in one hand, breathed heavily as he walked up to where Nina and Al were crouched in the snow. He then sighed loudly and collapsed backwards.
"Is Littler Big Brother tired?" Nina asked as she walked over to where Ed was and stared down at him.
"Yes." Ed sighed and closed his eyes. "I'm very tired."
"Does Littler Big Brother want to play?"
Ed frowned and kept his eyes closed. "Nina, I just said I'm tired. Let me rest for a while. Then maybe I'll play with you some more."
"Does Littler Big Brother want to play?"
"Nina…"
"Is Littler Big Brother going to save me?"
Ed woke with a shout. He took a minute to look around the room before he realized how tightly he was clutching the sheets. He sighed and slowly loosened his grip, trying to slow his breathing as well.
"Brother? Are you alright?"
Ed groaned internally at the sound of his brother's voice. He rubbed his eyes and inhaled deeply before turning to look over at Al.
"I'm fine, Al. I just had a… bad dream."
"Bad?" Al cocked his head to one side. "You were laughing in your sleep earlier."
Ed winced. "Was I?" he then sighed and held a hand to his forehead. "I… It's nothing, Al. Don't worry about it."
"Brother, please," Al sighed, and Ed winced again. "You don't have to tell me about the dream you had if you don't want to, but don't try to tell me it was nothing when it obviously wasn't."
"I…" Ed hesitated, biting his lip and frowning. "I… I had a dream about Nina." Al stayed silent and only watched Ed intently, so he took a deep breath and continued, "It… It was that day we played in the snow and found out that Alexander had stolen my boxers from my room."
Al chuckled. "I remember that day. That underwear was never really the same."
"Hell no," Ed snorted as he pushed himself out of bed. "I never wore those boxers after that day either."
Al laughed and shook his head. "Then why did you bother fighting Alexander for them?"
"I didn't know they would be so messed up at the time!" Ed protested, putting his hands on his hips and glaring at Al. "Besides, how was the dog going to learn not to do that again otherwise?" Al chuckled and shook his head, letting a moment of silence settle over them.
"Brother…"
"Mmhm?" Ed didn't look up from combing his hair.
"You didn't do anything wrong. You didn't make any of the choices that lead to her death." Ed stopped in mid-brush and froze, completely forgot about his hair and let the comb fall to the ground. He slowly turned around and stared up at Al with hard golden eyes.
"Maybe I didn't make those choices, but I didn't save her either," Ed said softly. "If I didn't save her, then it's not possible that I didn't nothing wrong." He then paused and pulled his pair of pants off the floor. He slowly pulled them on and then looked back up at Al again. "We have to be out of here before nine o'clock," Ed said so softly that Al barely caught it. "After that we get on the next train out of here, got it?" Al nodded, and then Ed walked into the bathroom, letting the door slam behind him.
"It wasn't your fault," Al whispered to the empty room. "I wish you would see that."
Inside the safety of the bathroom, Edward Elric leaned against the wooden door, and slumped to the floor before he held his head in his hands and cried silently.
Yeah, it got a lot sadder towards the end. I'm sorry! I meant for this to be a lighthearted and happy fic the whole way through, but Ed got all emo at the end... –cry-
Anyway, I was originally planning on something completely different for this. This was a submission for a contest by edward-elric on deviantART. (XD A club for FMA fans) You had to include Ed, winter, and "Where'd that __ come from?" I started out with it centering around Winry, Al and Ed at first, but after a few times of trying and failing at that, the focus started changing to Nina and Alexander instead and making Winry leave the picture. Sorry to you Win fans.
In my case, the "Wha-?" object I settled on was Ed's boxers. –snickers- Down, fangirls, down!
Oh, and I don't own FMA, doi.