The wind... It moaned against the window panes. The world swirled around me. Tears swiveled down my cheek. I reached out, into the churning air. It whipped against my hand, leaving little burning patters over my skin. I saw glass... A wall stretching out for miles in front of me. My fingertips touched the tips of the glass, and a cold, burning chill rippled through my skin and froze my feet to their spot. I flipped my head around, feeling a pair of hot eyes burning holes through my skin. Envy stood behind me with a wicked grin, but he said nothing. My eyes swerved back to the wall, where a figure limped out of the shadows.
His hair was matted and frayed, and the weight of the world bared down on him. His eyes... Those eyes... His scrawny hand lifted up from his side with strength that he seemed to pull out of nowhere. His fingers brushed against the surface until they were layered against mine.
"Alphonse!" I screamed, reaching my other hand in a fist to bang against the glass. He only shook his head, and brought his left hand to his heart. He brought it back down and held it out, away from the window, but close enough for me to see it. A puddle of crimson blood sat in his palm, and trickled slowly through his fingers until a drop hit the floor, where it sizzled. He closed his eyes and shook his head again.
I banged my metal fist against the glass again, feeling it shake under pressure. I heard Envy's shallow laugh ring behind me, and I went to turn and punch him in the face when I heard a bang sound from the glass. I turned back to see Al's eyes open, and his fist pressed against the wall, with his right hand still locked in place from the beginning. His head was gently swaying, and his lips parted and formed around a word. A word I knew all too well.
Brother.
I leaned forward and placed my hand back on his. I had to be his brother. I had to be the one who comforted him.
The walls of this place were black, except for that wall... That clouded glass wall. I looked up, and scanned the wall. I placed my right hand a distance away from my left, and lifted my feet at an angel so the tips of my boots touched it. I placed my right hand a few inches higher, then my right, and lifted my feet.
I heard three more slams of Al's tiny fist against the wall, but I kept on crawling. The wind stung against my bare face, and my hands were chilled to a burn. A continued slamming each of his fists gently into the wall, shaking his head and mouthing two different words as he went.
No! No, Brother, no!
The words ran shallow through my mind as I lifted my feet once more, and my head peeked up an inch away from the top of the wall. I smiled at my feat.
"No, Edward! Get back down, please!" Al screamed, almost on his knees while he begged.
I opened my mouth to call something back, but a blast of black smoke filled my lungs, and the air whipped at me, knocking me off my balance and sending me hurtling down to the floor. I tried to scream out as I dropped that twenty feet, but... My lungs burned and my vision blurred and it felt as if I would never feel my heartbeat again.
Four more loud bangs... One bang for each of the painful years Al had to suffer trapped inside of that armor, and now... I was trapped behind that glass, compleatly immobile, with Envy's laughing to top it off.
My eyes snapped open as a new breath filled my lungs. I sat up in bed, placing one hand over my heart. I felt it skipping wildly, and I closed my eyes, my chest heaving.
"What's wrong-"
There was that same, hollow plea of a voice ringing through my ears again.
"-Brother?"
Oh, God, how I loved that word. I never realized how much so... I could only faintly smile. It was sad... I was supposed to be the one who made him fall back asleep at night when he had nightmares. I was supposed to be the one who warned and tried to stop him from doing reckless things...
When all I ever did was sit back and watch in horror.
... It's funny, really.
How you think that your nightmares couldn't get worse-...
-And that your pain is the worst of anything in the world-...
-And that it's only you who suffers it.
Until you see a real nightmare though somebody else's eyes, that is.
Then you realize your bad dreams must look like a fairy-tale...
... I really do wish there was something I could do for him, other than promise things...