"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" The scream ripped through the night air like a rusted knife used in one too many murders. I dashed down the hallway toward my brothers room, or what he uses as a room, being a suit of armor he really couldn't do much, but he did dream. I pushed the creaky door open just far enough to see inside the dim room.
"Al? You okay?" I asked through the crack, suddenly conscious that I was only in my thin, white, nightgown; my dark brown hair was down and trailed to my waist in curls. I saw my little brother sitting upright on his bed, shaking in his armored body.
"A...Alice, is...is that y...you?" His normally young, sweet voice was racked with fear.
"Al, what's wrong?" I wasn't really surprised that my voice was steady and sure, after all I had coped with constant nightmares after our mom died. I walked into the room and sat down on the bed next to my little brother, well in age that is, in his armored body he towered over both Ed and me even though we were older than him. I reached up and placed my hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him, but he just went right on shaking.
"Alice, I had a nightmare again." His voice was still filled with terror as he looked at me with his glowing red eyes.
"I know Al, I know. Why don't you try to get some more sleep?" I asked him with a pleading look in my eyes. I always had time for my brothers, but it had been a long day and I was dozing off even as I spoke to him.
"No! I mean..." he stammered trying to think of an excuse for not wanting to be alone, he could see how tired I was and was trying to be brave.
"Al," I spoke up, getting his attention, "Do you want me to sing you moms lullaby?" The moment the words came out of my mouth I knew that answer, both Ed and Al loved to hear mom's old lullaby that she used to sing to us when we were sick, back when she was still alive. Al just nodded and stopped shaking so much.
I began to sing the song that had been engraved into my mind ever since I first sang it to my brothers... "Brave one, you done me proud. It's been a hard run, but it's all over now, and when the storm come, into your heart. I know that, the winds blow you down from the start. Sleep child, it'll be alright, for when it's morning, we say goodbye to the night. Rest child, good dreams you'll keep, for we all know, you're just going to sleep." I smiled, seeing that about halfway through the song, Al had fallen fast asleep.
I planted a single kiss on his metal forehead and stood up from the bed and silently walked out of the room, careful not to make the door creak too much. I glided down the hallway back to my room. I changed into my usual clothes: a black shirt and dark blue pants, then I slipped on my usual dark green coat and my black shoes. I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep again so I wandered the long, dark halls of the military building central. I came out in the cafe where breakfast would be served later. I knew that I couldn't fall back asleep so I took one of the seats at one of the 20 empty tables.
"Can't sleep?" A voice asked quizzically behind me. I spun around so fast that I almost went right past the person that had spoken.
"Ed? What are you doing up at this hour?" I asked my older brother.
"What am I doing up? What are you doing up?" He retorted back at me.
"Al had a nightmare." I knew that was all I had to say and he would understand. All three of us had been plagued by nightmares after our mom died, we still get them sometimes.
"Well, I guess we can't help that," he started, locking his fingers together behind his head and sat down next to me, "Do you want to go for a midnight run?" He finished with a pleading look in his eyes.
"Why not, Al's asleep and it looks like the guards are too, by the way we got nothing else to do." I stood and he followed suit. I walked over to the large double doors that led out to the courtyard and the streets of central beyond. I quickly dashed over the courtyard to the streets on the great city, not wanting to be caught by the (hopefully) sleeping guards that would question our whereabouts until we just gave up. I giggled a little when I saw Ed making faces at the guard, then mouthed at him to hurry up!
"What was that all about?" I asked him in a superior tone.
He just shrugged at me, "What? I may be 15 now, but that doesn't mean I can't have any fun!" He locked his fingers behind his head again and kept on walking (I didn't really know how to explain that, so just think Naruto!") We kept walking until we were by the piers, the water was a dark, bluish gray color and there were no boats in sight. The road we were walking on had turned from pavement into gravel mixed with dirt.
"Alice?" I turned to look at my older brother.
"What is it?" I asked him.
"What's it like to be the awkward middle child?" He looked at the completely confused look on my face before cracking a huge grin and darted from my swinging arm that tried to swat his head in annoyance. He twirled around so that he was running backward and made a face at me.
"That's it!" I ran after my older brother with a smile plastered on my face. I chased him down the docks and to the fields beyond. I must have chased him for half an hour before I finally tried and tripped him neatly so that he would fall to the wildflower covered ground in a heap.
"Hahaha, how long has it been since we last had fun?" Ed asked me as he shifted to lay on his back looking up at the starry sky.
"I honestly don't know. Before we became State Alchemists, before we came here, before Nina... you know..." I stammered trying to find the words that my mouth just couldn't form, I couldn't do it.
Ed sat up and put his hand on my shoulder, gazing into my broken eyes. "Nina's gone, but she'll never be forgotten." I smiled at the words my older brother spoke to me.