When it snows, Edward remembers Nina. Both awake and asleep, whenever it snows, Ed remembers Nina.
Cute little Nina. The very epitome of a perfect child.
He remembers the warmth her very presence seemed to emulate. It always had a way of making his heart feel that much lighter.
Sweet little Nina, playing in the first fallen snow of the season. The pure white of the ground a reflection, a synonym even, to the soul who played in its cold flakes.
Angelic little Nina.
No way in hell could someone ever want to hurt a creature so perfectly innocent.
That's how he remembered Nina when he was awake. Innocent, pure, cute, little, perfect, whole…that's how he wished he could only remember Nina.
But when he sleeps, when the frozen air turns rain into tiny things of ice, Ed remembers Nina very differently.
He remembers the basement laboratory of Tucker's home. He remembers the waves, the disgusting feeling of misused alchemy emitting from the very fibers of the room's walls. He remembers that eerie, horribly off red color the room was bathed in.
But the worst of it all, he remembers what Tucker had done to his perfect little girl.
In his dreams, Nina is contorted in a way that she and her dog fit mostly together. Their conjoined form in so much pain that at times all her voice would do was whine in protest to the agony that was her body.
He can still hear Nina growling -growling!- at him, warning him to stop hurting her father.
He remembers the hopelessness that filled his heart when Tucker tells him–They're too perfectly put together. You'll just end up killing her if you try to pull them apart- the truth of his design.
He remembers her being horded up like some animal. He remembers wondering why the officers either failed to realize or even acknowledge that she'd been a little human girl not but a few hours before.
He remembers the bloody, dark imprint her exploded body had made on the end of that alley's wall.
And this is when Ed wakes, sweating and always on the verge of tears.
It was night's like these that he wishes Alphonse wasn't always by he side. He really hates it that he still sobs over a little girl and her dog that he'd only known for a few short months of his life.
When it snows, Edward remembers Nina. Both awake and asleep, whenever it snows, Ed remembers Nina.
Sometimes, he wishes he couldn't remember her at all.