Disclaimer: I don't own the universe of the Fullmetal Alchemist. Only my lovely OC's and my plot!
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
"Eternal Snow"
Edward x OC
February, 1924
"Ari's birthday is coming up, brother," Alphonse commented as he stirred the soup he was cooking. "What are you going to get her?"
Edward was sitting at the dining table, finishing off some paperwork he had brought home from the research office. The old geezers were really making him work this time. He didn't think there would come a day when he would be sick of reading but it was beginning to happen.
"What?"
He hadn't heard a word he'd said, Alphonse noticed sweat dropping. "Ari's birthday, gift ideas?"
"Oh!" Edward shook his head, prying his eyes off the papers and closing all the books around him. "Uh... dunno... I've kinda been playing with this idea around in my head but I still dunno..."
"What idea?" He asked curiously.
Edward blushed and scratched his chin with a finger. He wondered if he should be talking about Aria with his brother when everytime they did he felt like he was walking on eggshells. It wasn't really fair to Alphonse that they were keeping things from, he knew that but he also didn't want to hurt him. Still, it wasn't like he could backtrack now. "I wanted to take her to Xing..." He answered carefully.
Alphonse snapped his head around to look at him with wide eyes. "To Xing? Why?"
"She's never been there and I know she's really into foreign cultures so I thought she would like to see it." He chuckled as he pictured it in his mind. "Hell, I bet she's gonna love Ling."
The younger brother fell into silence for a moment. He turned back to the stove to stir the boiling pot some more, staring at it intently as if he was expecting it to suddenly come alive and eat him. "You're right," he muttered in a low voice. "She'd love that..."
Edward was quick to catch on to the change in his attitude. "You don't sound very convinced," he pointed out with a frown.
"No, that's not it... It's just that I was thinking about buying her something silly like jewelry or a trinket like the ones she has at home... it didn't even cross my mind to do something like that..."
"There's nothing wrong with jewelry or trinkets, Al, she loves them, especially if they come from you." His frown deepened.
"I know... she's a lot like mom in that way, isn't she?"
Edward felt a painful pang in his heart and he lowered his gaze to the table. His eyes softened ever so gently as he pictured Aria smiling down at him, her sea green eyes reminding him painfully of his mother's. "Yeah, she is..." he whispered.
"That's probably why she likes everything you give her better..." Alphonse muttered bitterly.
Edward scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means exactly that. She's been wearing that necklace you gave her every single day, I don't think she even takes it off when she goes into the shower, but she hardly wears anything I've given her."
"Come on Al, you're not being serious are you?" He stared at his brother unbelievably. "You wanna have a jealous fit now?"
Alphonse clenched his hands and he faced his brother head on. "No, what I want is for my brother to be honest with me about this for once!" He wailed. "Did you think I wouldn't notice how you felt? You know I like Aria, brother, I've liked her since I got my body back. It was really tough for me to be away all these years and not seeing her every day!"
"Tough for you? You don't know the first thing about tough!" Edward stood up. The dragging of the chair let out a piercing screech, making Alphonse flinch. "You weren't the one who had your soul ripped apart because you couldn't stay with her twelve years ago. You didn't spend every single moment trying to be strong for everyone and having to lock away all the fear, the terror of waking up one day and find the other half of yourself dead somewhere because the enemy discovered your connection to her. You didn't hurt the woman you loved too many times to count because you had to keep her safe. You didn't, Alphonse - I did!" He growled angrily. "So don't stand there talking to me about tough because you have no right to."
The room went deadly silent. Terrifyingly silent. They had never fought like that. They bickered often but never to the point of hurting each other's feelings. None of them knew how to react, but they didn't want to back down either.
"So unfair... this is so unfair...!" Alphonse shook his head as if in denial. "You say I don't have a right but that's not fair because I never even stood a chance, did I? You took her all for yourself right from the start!"
"I didn't take her, Al! It's complicated! It's really fucking complicated!"
Suddenly he was hit with realization like a slap in the face. Alphonse glowered with an entirely new rage. "It was her! You slept with her! That's why you two weren't talking... God dammit, how could you brother?!"
"How could I?" He repeated blazingly. "You ask me that like I stole her from you!"
"You did! You drew this invisible restraining circle around her and kept her all to yourself right from when we were kids! You didn't even give her the chance to choose me!"
"She wouldn't have chosen you!" Edward shouted slamming his fist on the table. Alphonse widened his eyes deeply wounded and he immediately regretted the words that had come out of his mouth. "Fuck, Al...! I'm sorry... I didn't mean it like that... fuck!"
"Oh yeah? Then how did you mean it?" His face became terrifyingly blank. His usually warm dark golden eyes pinned down Edward and froze him inside.
"Look I'm sorry, Al, but it's complicated - I told you that before... what I have with Aria isn't something as simple as love... it's deeper and it's messy and complex... it's not something that we can control... being around each other isn't just wonderful, it's horribly painful too..."
There was a pause. When the smoke coming from the soup became black, Edward moved quickly to turn the fire off. Next to him, Alphonse slid down the counter and fell on the floor of the kitchen. For a few moments, he just sat there with his head on his knees.
Edward loathed seeing his younger brother like that, but there was nothing he could do. Alphonse needed to process everything at his own pace. He needed to hurt so that he could move forward in a new direction. Even though anyone would tell him the logical thing to do would be to step down and let Alphonse try to win Aria over, Edward would never do that. He loved his brother fiercely but he would never let go of her - not again.
The younger brother sighed exhaustedly. "I hate this... I hate this whole thing... but I don't want to stay mad at you, brother..."
"I don't want that either, Al... and I especially don't want you to hate me..."
Alphonse snorted softly. "I could never hate you, you idiot... I shouldn't have said those things to you either, brother, I'm sorry... after everything you gave me, I was being greedy, I wanted you to give me Ari too but she isn't something to be given..." He sighed again. "Geez, envy is such an ugly thing..."
"You saw him up-close so you should've known that already."
Both brothers chuckled at the inside joke. "Yeah, I guess you're right," Alphonse said, lifting his head to lean it back against the cabinet door. "Can you blame me, though? Aria is something truly out of this world..."
Edward sat down next to him, propping his arms on his knees, gathering his hands together. "She sure is..."
"I guess I sort of understand why she fell in love with you instead of me," he started, there was still a bitter edge to his voice. "She's different than you yet at the same time she is also very much like you. Sometimes when I'm talking to her it's almost like I'm talking with you. It's so weird!" He laughed softly as he imagined Aria in his head. "And you're calmer when you're around her, you look... peaceful. I think it makes her happy to know she can make you feel like that..."
Edward smiled. "I do feel at peace when she's around. She makes me want to be a better man... a man worthy of her."
"You are worthy of her, brother! Never think you're not!"
"I've hurt her so much, Al... she barely trusts me around her. I'm terrified to do something that'll make her push me away again."
"Aria pulls away when she feels uncertain. Maybe you should tell her how you feel, tell her everything so she can feel safer," Alphonse offered.
"I can't tell her... not yet... it would involve telling her a lot of other complicated things and then she would definitely never want to see me again. I wanna wait until she feels comfortable with me. Then I'll tell her everything."
"If you wait too long to tell her, you're going to lose her. And if you hurt her again, brother, I swear I will take her away." Alphonse gave Edward a serious and meaningful look, so he would know he wasn't just saying it. "So you have to figure out what you're going to do because if you don't, you'll lose her either way."
Edward didn't answer. He knew that...
"Happy birthday, babe!"
Kara threw her arms around Aria as soon as she arrived to Lyra's lovely restaurant, knocking the wind out of her. She giggled and hugged her back.
"Thanks, Kay!" She gave her friend a once over and nodded approvingly. Kara was wearing a gorgeous tight fitting grey dress that stopped just above the knees. "You look very nice! I'm so happy to see you off that cast...
"Me too, I hated feeling so useless... I mean did they have to break my right arm, couldn't have been the left?"
Aria swatted her arm. "Don't joke about that! Geez... I'm grateful we have Alphonse, his alkahestry techniques really sped up your recovery."
The older woman agreed silently and they both gulped down the rest of their Mimosas.
It was Kara who introduced her to drinking when she was about seventeen. Kara was always trying to get her to go out with her. Since she was older than Aria the dark and crowded bars were a regular routine for her but Aria was always the type of girl who would rather stay at home studying. One day she actually convinced her to come. After a couple drinks, Aria figured it wasn't so bad. Occasionally.
"Wow, this place looks really nice, Lyra!" Alphonse walked inside, flailing his arms around happily. Edward wasn't coming with him. It made her frown. He must've noticed it because he immediately explained, "brother is running a little late, but don't worry, he's definitely coming!"
Aria nodded, shrugging off her silly worry. After all, she didn't own Edward. They weren't in a relationship either. They simply were more affectionate towards each other. Well Edward was more prone to being touchy-touchy than her, she at least tried to be discreet about it, especially if they were in public.
The restaurant did look nice. She looked around to keep her mind occupied, noticing the white and lavender balloons scattered around in little bouquets and the sparkly ribbons decorating the bar and some of the booths. Lyra had insisted on throwing her a birthday party at her charming bistro place which, for Aria, it was insane because between her daughter Siri and the newborn Mick the woman barely had any time to breathe. But she insisted and you simply don't argue with a motherly figure like Lyra.
Since Aria didn't want anything formal, she decided to skip on the usual full course meal and helped Lyra setting a buffet table. It was looking very mouthwatering. Aria was proud of herself, she had cooked at least half of the dishes and desserts. And they had to be good because she had caught one or two glances of Lyra's husband - Tim - stealing a couple of her homemade mushrooms with cream filling, not to mention Siri who hadn't stopped popping chocolate chips in her mouth since she got there.
Something fell on top of her head. She grabbed the small box and glanced at the younger Elric who was plopping down next to her, raising an eyebrow.
"It's your gift, dummy," he explained with a smile.
Curious, Aria ripped the red wrapping and tiny golden bow and opened the box. There was a pair of earrings nestling in a black velvet pillow, two little diamond teardrops that glittered under the light. "Oh my God, Alphonse...!" She gaped at the expensive gift. "They're beautiful! You shouldn't have spent so much money on me!"
Alphonse shook his head. "Don't think about that. If you like them that's all that matters."
"Like them? Are you joking? I love them!"
He watched her take off the earrings she was wearing to switch them for her new ones with a gentle smile. There was a throbbing pain in his heart, making everything inside of him ache. However, as Aria beamed up at him with such heart-warming happiness, he somehow felt it was easier to bear.
"Thank you so much, Alphonse!" She leaned in and placed a tender kiss on his flushed cheek.
"You're welcome!" He squeaked.
Aria scanned his face intently, making him squirm in his seat. "What's wrong? You look different..."
There's just no deceiving you is there? He fought the urge to roll his eyes. Sometimes he wondered if Aria had any kind of sixth sense. Or maybe she was just smarter than everyone else. "Don't worry about it, Ari, it's your birthday."
"Oh you know our little Ariana is always worried about something," chimed in Kara as she came behind her friend and hugged her. "One of these days you're gonna wake up and look in the mirror and you're gonna be terrified of your own wrinkly reflection, don't you think so?"
Aria scrunched her nose and tried to shove her off. "I think you should stop drinking on an empty stomach, that's what I think. You're getting tipsy, Kara."
"Aww you're no fun, babe!" She pouted, making Alphonse chuckle. "See? Golden boy likes tipsy Kara!"
"Tipsy Kara is fine, it's the full on drunk one I'm worried about." Aria gave a little shove to send her friend towards the buffet table. "Go get something to eat before you start climbing on the tables to sing."
They watched her make her way to the food and kept an eye on her to make sure she ate. She shook her head amused.
"She's really funny," Alphonse commented. Aria hummed in agreement as she popped a cherry tomato from her salad in her mouth. She propped her chin her hand, watching Siri making silly faces at her brother who was all snuggled up in their mother's arms. He was such a cutie. He was waving his little chubby arms and chortling adorably.
A few more people arrived during the next hours, including Winry, Granny Pinako and Joseph. The last one had decided to pester her about going out on date with him for nearly fifteen minutes until she was saved by Siri who wanted to play with her. Aria could've kissed the little girl. She loved her friend but he could be extremely exasperating with his advances.
Siri was incredibly mature for her young seven years old. She read a lot and she knew from Lyra that she was also already capable of performing the basics of alchemy. So Aria asked for her to show a few tricks and the little girl was absolutely thrilled with the idea. She darted to her father to get a piece of chalk and then hurried back to her, crouching down to draw her clumsy transmutation circle.
That's how Edward saw her when walked into the restaurant. She was kneeling down in front of Siri with crooked figurines gathered around them and she was grinning as she edged her on, encouraging her to make more toys. Suddenly he didn't feel the tiredness of work anymore. He felt immensely happy. When she looked up, finally realizing his presence, her sea green eyes twinkled and the smile flourishing on her lips made his heart jump. Aria stood up, straightening her high-waist white pleated skirt and re-adjusting her off-the-shoulders crop blouse. The indie pattern in brown shades made her flowing auburn curls shimmer with golden and copper highlights, he noticed. As she walked towards him, his pulse raced like it always did - like it always would.
"You're late," she pointed out accusingly.
"I know." His eyes softened. "Happy birthday, Ari."
She blushed, smiling timidly. "Thank you, Edward," she whispered.
Suddenly feeling the burning sensation of being watched, they both stepped away from each other. Just slightly. Aria tugged on his hand and pulled him with her to the bar, where Kara and Alphonse were chatting animatedly. The two of them peered up as they joined them.
"Took you long enough, brother!"
Edward rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah, my boss has been busting my ass off at work... we're trying to create a way to use the source of alchemy that flows though the earth to generate wireless electricity. It's not going very well so they're taking it out on me and making me research through really old Eastern scrolls..." He sighed, feeling tired again. "They're not very helpful though..."
"There's a whole section of books on Eastern alchemy and alkahestry in my store," Aria said. "I've had them shipped from Dong. It's an ancient sacred town on the East side of Xing, so I don't think you could've read them yet. They're in Xingese but I can help you translate them."
Kara stared at her baffled. "You can read Xingese?" Aria shrugged with a smirk. "Sheesh, you never cease to surprise me, babe!"
Edward agreed silently. After such a long time, he felt like he still didn't know all there was to the woman he loved. "Yeah, I'll stop by for them then. Thanks, Ari." He smiled gratefully.
"Speaking of Xing..." Alphonse elbowed his brother on the ribs, looking at Aria pointedly, "don't you have something to give to Ari?"
Aria eyed them suspiciously. "What have you been scheming?"
"Nothing!" They both said. Edward continued, "I have something for you. Here-" He gave her an envelope and a few papers clamped together by a clip on the left top edge. Aria decided to first open the envelope. There were two train tickets to the East City and then two more to Clayhiff, which was on the border of the country, making frontier with the desert.
Next, she took a look at the papers. The first was a railroad map of Amestris, the train line from East City to Clayhiff was marked in red and Ishval was circled in red as well. The second one was a map of Xing and she immediately recognized the names of the cities and temple villages Edward had encircled. They were places she had always wanted to visit because of their ancient history and profound connection to old traditions.
Aria met Edward's golden eyes questioningly. "It's your birthday gift, uh... I want to take you to Xing..." He mumbled nervously, his face growing hot. Aria gaped at him which didn't particularly help his increasing anxiety. "I-I bought tickets for Clayhiff instead of Cameron because I thought you might like to stop in Ishval and see how things are going..."
She felt her throat close and her words slip away. It was too much... her heart felt like it was going to explode. She fought back the tears that were threatening to fall, hanging her head down, letting her hair shield her face.
Alphonse and Kara had gone expectantly quiet, trying to figure out if she was happy or not. Which was what Edward was urgently doing as well. Aria didn't look happy. Was it such a wrong idea? Shit!, he thought, what if had screwed up everything? He was put out of his misery when she lifted her head. He stopped breathing. Aria was crying but she had the most wonderful genuinely happy smile he had ever seen, it lit up everything in the room.
"I-it's a-amazing..." she croaked out in the middle of soft sobs, "y-you're a-amazing, Edward...! God, I l-love it! I love i-it so m-much!"
Alphonse smiled softly as Aria flung her arms around his brother's neck, thanking him over and over again. This was right. He could see it. Aria belonged with Edward. He had been blind before because watching them now he didn't know how it was possible for him to not have seen the way they looked at each other. She was his world, and he was hers.
But he was still in love with her.
So guys what did you think?
Al finally finds out about Edward and Aria! It was really hard writing this, for me personally because I absolutely adore Al and I hate when he's hurting, but I had to. It's all part of a process. I actually changed a couple things from the first draft I posted here because I realized Al just couldn't forget his love for Aria that easily, I mean that's not how love works, right? It's incredibly difficult to get over someone whom you loved for such a long time, especially when that someone is your best friend.
