A/N: If you've read this before, it's because I've re-uploaded it as a one-shot due to my doubt in it ever being finished, since I completely lost the plans for it. But, oh well, since what's here is the best and I think works. I'm very proud of this. :D

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"Why don't you just give up!?" Strong, if a little wavering, and through his words his proud grin was clear.

"Because... because one day I'll beat you!" A breathless cry of determination, something that suggested no smile, but simple eagerness.

A laugh. "How do you know!?"

"Because I do!"

A surprised cry caught sharply in Al's throat. He slammed heavily on the swathe of burgundy leaves which shielded the gravel beneath from the light of day, and whirled his head around to spot the cause of his trip; just behind him was a dent in the blanket, where his foot had scuffed the leaves. By means of boasting, Ed's cackle rang out through Al's ears. Without a moment's further hesitation, Al scrambled to his feet, young, clumsy hands forcing him from the ground.

Feet pounded through the woods. The first, the speediest, were the older boy's property, something he wouldn't give up for the world if it meant losing to his younger brother. Al was faltering behind, undecided on whether he was willing to risk tripping again by sprinting. This commotion was a characteristic scene for the brothers, a circumstance both boys, regardless of the way they acted, enjoyed. They would charge through the house like a hurricane and burst into the back yard, Ed would throw open the gate and race out onto the hill. By the time Al had finished putting on his shoes, he would have to re-open the gate with some means of struggle and gradually run out after his brother, his tongue stuck out in concentration in a confident expression that made him all the more lovable.

"Come on, Al, surely you can do better than THIS!?" Ed shouted back. He was so far forward now that for Al to even be aware he'd spoken Ed knew he had to shout. That, or he just enjoyed rubbing it in his younger sibling's face that he was winning the race to the river - again.

Al said nothing. He was focused, fed-up with losing or at least losing by a long way. His verdict to bullet through the forest was long chosen.

Ed threw his arms up and gave a triumphant shout the moment he emerged into the tepid afternoon. He spun around repeatedly, his golden eyes stealing glimpses of everything around him; the river, shimmering blue in the struggling sunlight, the usually vibrant grass dull-coloured where the light didn't reach it, their house, welcoming even from the outside, and finally the trees, in which Al pelted through where the light failed to shine.

"Brother! Stop showing off!"

Al carried on yelling as he came closer and closer. In amongst the noise, Ed stopped dead, and froze with such tension it was as if someone had encased him in stone. His jaw dropped slightly, allowing a pathetic gasp to be emitted.

"ED!"

The final word of his jeers done, Al threw himself on Ed, full-blast from behind. They both tumbled to the ground, Al whining that Ed always won and never stopped to wait, while Ed fought meekly to keep his gaze on what he saw.

"Al, get off!" he roughly pushed his brother off and jumped up.

"Ow! Ed," Al stepped beside his brother. He repeated Ed's name, but received no signal that Ed was aware he had spoken at all.

Thinking it through, Al followed Ed's stare. His whole body jumped and he yelped in a sudden flash of fear, hurdling himself behind the safety of his brother. Hiding behind Ed had been a first reaction, perhaps something subconscious and something he was so inured to that even if he hated doing it, there was an air that spelled comfort when the pair was together.

Atop the hill that stood proud before the pair was a figure; clearly a woman, dressed in navy blue. But the thing that frightened the two boys was that she was staring directly at them, and brandishing a long, blackish-brown object in her hands. She held it up and as she held the glass to her eye, Ed realised that what she was aiming at them wasn't something innocent.

"Al, come on, let's go!" Ed spun around, but couldn't dare turn his back on the stranger and had to repeatedly glance back at her over his shoulder.

Neither boy could make themselves move. Their legs were frozen to the spot. Ed desperately shook Al by the shoulders, fidgeting from foot to foot to keep himself moving. He couldn't let fear get in the way while Al was there; for both Ed's pride and his brother's safety.

"Al, come on, please! She's got a gun!"

Finally, the nine year old moved his legs. Ed grabbed the advantage and abrasively spun his brother around, keeping hold of the shoulder of his top as they both turned to run.

"We'll go back to the house," Ed decided.

"But, but it's that way," Al replied as best he could, not only afraid but having trouble keeping up with Ed.

"I know, but we'll have to go the long way! We can't go that way while there's a lady there that we don't know," Ed was trying with every word to make his speech calm, to make it hide his own shock of fear, but more so as not to scare Al anymore.

"But, Brother--"

"WHAT, Al?" Ed winced at himself for shouting. Losing his temper may have been a habit, but he was still human enough to know when he yelled in the worst situations. "Look, that woman had a gun, and she was aiming it at us. Do you know what could happen if she shoots us?"

Al didn't reply. Those last few words had been like a bullet in his chest anyway, and even though Ed couldn't see his brother's alarmed expression, he knew it was there and he knew there was a million better choices of words to have used instead of the ones that came out.

Bang.

Both boys yelled out, Ed yanking his brother to the ground automatically. Al was shaking violently from the moment the sound came; not a simple 'bang' as if when young children are playing with pencils supposed to be weapons - no, it was something much, much more guilty and darker than that. A deep, hostile echo, its own nightmare in just one second. That child's bad dream echoed throughout the woods and rattled into the boys' senses.

Neither of them held any thoughts in their minds, aside from one, one word which every spot of fear-induced determination inside them gripped to for life; home.

They stayed motionless on the ground for what seemed like hours, apprehending the next trio of shots. Ed had been shifting forward inch by inch, painstakingly slowly, and praying, assuming Al would follow. The final bullet scuffed the leaves stirringly close to Ed's bare arm. He yelled in fright and rolled over onto his back, hands smothered over his face. He lay as still as he could for a moment, attempting to calm his heavy, rocky breathing.

"Al?" he questioned quietly into the open.

He sat up, still knowingly trying to stay low just in case they were still being watched. Al was exactly where they had dropped down, only about two feet behind Ed. He was still, his forehead resting on his tightly-linked fingers. Suddenly Ed regretted leaving him, even by a tiny length. He was obviously too scared to even tell him to wait.

"A-Al? Come on, we have to go, r-right now," Ed could hear his voice stuttering and cracking, and however much he despised the quietness of it, he couldn't have changed it if he tried. Which he did. "Al? Come on, get up,"

Tears were being pushed into his blurred eyes with every gentle shake he gave to Al, and received no response.

"Oh, o-o-oh, n-n..." the words snapped like twigs as Ed tried to talk. Al's red top was darkened scarlet in the center of his back, where the fabric fell apart slightly to reveal a slight but eye-catching glint of gold. "Al!" Ed immediately called out, nudging and shaking him brutally. "Al! Come on, Al, get up already! AL!"

Ed lifted himself to his feet, Al's wrist in both his hands. Without the slightest idea which direction he was going in, he stepped backwards, dragging Al with him.

"Al, come on, get up, Al! AL! You can't die!" Ed let Al's arm fall to the ground limply. "Al! Al! Just GET UP, AL!"

He didn't have to think about it. He had no idea what he was doing and in that respect he couldn't think about it. Ed reached down and turned Al onto his front, glancing frenziedly all over his brother. His eyes were closed and that was somewhat comforting; wasn't it? When someone dies, their eyes are open, right? Right. So Al wasn't dead. He was just... unconscious, or immobilized, and right there was begging Ed not to give up on him.

"Come on then, Al,"

Ed bent down beside his brother and draped Al's arm around his shoulders. He struggled to his feet and almost lost his balance with Al's weight on only one side of him. Al was young, but Ed was only young in contrast, and so he couldn't carry his brother forever. But the thing that had him running, or limping awkwardly, through the forest, was when one final bullet was dug into the tree beside them.

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A/N: Thanks for reading! :D Reviews? :D