Nightmares
Sixteen year old Winry Rockbell could do nothing but gently rubbed her friends and surrogate younger brothers back, as she spoke gentle words with no meaning.
It felt like her childhood all over again, when she, Ed and Al would have sleep over's and one of them would say something to Al that freaked him out.
It would always end up with either her or Ed, mostly Ed comforting Al from whatever nightmare he had.
Now though she was the only one left that Al would let this close, how must it feel to not remember four years of your life?
Well not completely she knew what this nightmare was about; it was the same as all the others.
Sometimes Al could remember things in the form of nightmares, small snippets of their life.
Sometimes things weren't bad he'd remember fun okay times, like pass lessons with Izumi or how much Winry tended to hit Ed with her wrench.
Ed. She frowned as Al began to calm down.
She missed him too but her pain was nothing compared to Al's, he'd been around Ed since birth it always had been that way.
And this nightmare proved just that, Al's nightmares were always ones involving Ed.
She shouldn't be surprised by that, Al's worse experiences had always been with his brother.
The last one had been snippets of his fight with Barry the Chopper, remembering even tiny parts of that psychopath had led to days of calming Al down.
"Are you ready to tell me now?" Winry gently asked the boy.
Alphonse looked up at Winry; it looked like he didn't want to but gave in rather quickly.
"W-winry, do you think brother could still be alive?" the question sounded rather fearful and unsure.
So it had been about Edward, but she didn't know why he sounded so scared.
There were times when Al would ask about his older brother and they kept almost nothing from him.
Well except the painful parts, Al was younger now after all he didn't remember the horrors completely anymore.
But despite that Alphonse would always insist that his brother was probably still alive somewhere.
But as Winry looked at tear filled green eyes, all she saw was unsure fear and pain.
Why couldn't anything in their lives be normal? Why Ed and Al were always put into these situations she didn't know?
Why was it that one innocent act of desperation led to this?
No one could ever answer Winry's questions as she focused on the task at hand.
"Why are you asking now Al, you always tell us that he's not gone" she tried to smile but it wouldn't come as the boy looked down.
"I-I remember something again, just bits and pieces" Winry held him tighter, it sounded liked Alphonse would break down again.
"What was it? Another fight?" they usually were moments were they were fighting.
Like the time he remembered being used as a hostage by the homunculi in lab 5, he only remembered his brother pleading for Al's life.
That had been enough though, for someone like Al remembering that would be enough to be a nightmare.
"The one that looked like a palm tree" Winry was pulled from her thoughts at that.
"Palm tree?" she asked as the boy nodded.
"He was there from the other nightmare he dressed funny and looked like a palm tree" Al tried to explain as best he could through shuddering breath and fragmented memories.
Something clicked quickly for Winry" you mean Envy" she tried to keep the anger out of her voice, that homunculus had been the cause of more than enough strife.
Al nodded as a breath turned into a sob" Envy I remember brother he was fighting and-"another sob cut him off.
Once again Winry took over in calming him down as she wondered what else was going to be said, this time this nightmare seemed to be the worse out of them all.
"And what Al? What happened?" she asked him gently ready to calm Al down like always before heading to her own room to glare at the ceiling at how unfair this all was to her friend.
Even she wasn't prepared for the answer, not this time.
"Brother was fighting then Envy h-he" Al shuddered not able to mention what happened but Winry knew by his next words" there was blood an-and brother, I don't remember but brother wasn't moving, he wasn't moving" sobbing once again filled the night air.
Winry was frozen stiff in place, she remembered when Rose told her how Envy had stabbed Edward and that had been the moment Al had given up his life for his brothers.
But after that when Ed got Al back, Rose told her Ed wasn't anywhere.
Their always was the possible he had died like Al had when he gave up his life for Ed's.
What could she say to Al about this, this was by far the worst thing he could remember.
"You're here Al because you saved Ed he's not dead" she wasn't so sure but she had to be the strong older sister, fit the role left by Edward.
No matter how much she may cherish it though, it wasn't the same.
She wasn't Ed no matter how much she tried or cared.
"But brother still died! He still died and maybe he's gone for good this time!" what could she say? Nothing Winry realized.
There really was nothing she could say, because even she wasn't sure if Ed was still alive.
"Al I can't tell you for sure but do you really think Ed would leave you alone on purpose?" she asked him softly hoping this could work.
She received a shake of the head" n-no, brother would never leave on purpose" he didn't understand what Winry was telling him.
"He may have died once Al, but I don't think he'd die a second time without a fight" This Winry knew was true" I bet you he's out their somewhere looking for you just as hard as you are" her words were firm because as much as she could deny it, she believed Ed was alive to somewhere.
"R-really?" Al asked looking at Winry with the most hopeful look on his face.
It broke her heart in more ways than one to see him like this, her little brother not by blood but loved just as much.
"You know Ed, he probably is still alive and it's up to you both to find each other" if Ed was alive somewhere maybe he was looking for a way home too, Winry refused to believe he wouldn't.
"I'll find brother, I know I will and once I go with teacher" Winry smiled at this, sometimes he was just like his brother.
"If you want to go learn you'll need sleep, how about it Al" she almost giggled at the tried yawn even with fresh tears on his now young face.
She wasn't sure if they ever would see Ed again, if Izumi could be more help to this but she'd always take care of Al.
After all, it's what big sisters were for.
Just another random idea