Color Theorem

Summary: For someone who managed to become a State Alchemist at the age of 12, Ed sure was dense. A color collection for Fullmetal Alchemists one and only golden couple, Ed and Winry!
Author's Note: Er, I was actually looking up the color Azure and I found out some cool facts. Like Azurite is a mineral used for oil paints. I was going to use that as a prompt but then I discovered that it's very weak and literally falls apart at room temperature so I decided that, instead of tweaking it to fit the story, I'd just go with the Azure Tit. Besides, Al needs some more story time here ;)

I'm not sure if in the anime Winry ever left her earrings to Ed but in the manga she did, so just keep that in mind since he hasn't given them back yet.

Disclaimer: If I owned Fullmetal Alchemist, Scar would still have his brother.


011: Azure


"Brother! Brother! Wait up!"

Ed paused, tucking a small, thick book into his coats pocket. His old notebook packed full of alchemy notes and equations. It was useless in this alternate world but he still read up on it once in a while, for old times sake. He crammed his hands into his pockets and waited patiently for his brother to catch up, raising a brow when Alphonse pressed his hands on his knee's to catch his breath.

"Good," Al wheezed, taking deep breaths. This new body – or should he say, his original body – was still not used to strenuous physical activity. He often found himself in a sour mood because of this – he could barely run a mile while his brother could probably run five continuously. "I caught you in time!"

"What's wrong, Al?" Ed queried.

Al took out a ripped sheet of paper, holding it out in front of himself. "Grocery list," he smiled. "I have to stay behind to take the children to the park so I won't be able to go this time," he said apologetically.

Ed scowled. "You're still going back to that damn daycare center?" At first, Ed found his brother's actions around him suspicious – skirting around him, fidgeting whenever they were in the same room, and being fairly distracted while they discussed future strategies. Ed had discovered, after much thought, that Al had been feeling guilty.

For what? Going nearly every day to play and care for small children between the ages of five and ten in the daycare center a block away.

Ed had decided that, if hanging around snot nosed brats made him happy, they were way better than kittens (mostly because he couldn't take them home...) and let him continue with his "hobby".

"You said you didn't mind," Al frowned.

"I don't," Ed retorted. "It's just disturbing that a seventeen year old enjoys hanging out with brats than going out to, I don't know, hang out with friends? Like normal seventeen year olds do."

Al smiled, but this was a different smile. It was a smile that contained fatigue and dismay. It contained age and knowledge. It mocked Ed with it's twisted humor. Edward wondered if he would ever be able to grow comfortable with this new Al, this Al who had the body of a seventeen year old but the mind of a twenty-five year old.

"You know why I can't," Al said quietly. "We still have to find a way to go back... back there."

What he meant was back to Amestris, where the people were kind and nurturing; awe-struck by the science of Alchemy. Back to Central, where the cocky bastard of a colonel and his scary lieutenant Riza Hawkeye commanded the State Military. Back to Resembool, where Granny Pinako would blow rings of smoke into his face... where Winry would tweak with his automail, complaining about his lack-of-care for the thing.

Winry...

It never crossed his mind that he would miss her this badly. He wished to see her smile one last time, to have her embrace him whenever he returned from his missions for a maintenance check. He missed her cooking, her lame jokes, her constant prattle on automail advances and new metals. He missed the mindless smiles she'd give him whenever he caught her eye. He missed how she knew exactly how much food to give him, exactly what to add. He missed their banter, their stupid fights about nothing.

He would give anything to be hit on the head with her wrench again.

"Yeah," Ed said slowly, squeezing the paper in his hand. "Go back."

There was a short silence. Al gazed at his sibling with curious eyes and Ed avoided his gaze at all costs – focusing instead in the azure sky of the land called Russia.

Flocks of birds coated it, flapping their wings against the brutal wind that would not desist.

His eye caught one bird in particular, one that stood out from the rest; one that, in a sea of black and white, did not seemed deterred by the rest of the flock despite it's coat color. It was a small bird, very small. He probably wouldn't have caught it in that large group if it wasn't for the fact that it's bright wings stood out.

"Cyanistes caeruleus," Ed whispered, watching as it perched on a branch and puffed out it's feathers against the icy wind. Ed had seen birds like these in pet stores a lot when he wondered around the more busy streets of Russia or Germany. But he'd never seen one outside, all lonesome, like this.

"It's a beautiful bird," Al commented, watching it preen itself with fond eyes. "It'd be nice to own one – they say they're great acrobats," he joked.

"Forget it," Ed said flatly. "I'm up to here with all the damn stray cats and dogs you bring in when I'm not home."

"But broth—"

"Maybe." Ed stared at the passerine bird, who seemed to stare right back at him with curious eyes. "Maybe, when we find a way to go back, we can own one."

Al smiled wryly. "I highly doubt one of these birds exists in Amestris, Brother."

"You're right," he admitted, with a small smile,"but there must be a lookalike somewhere. Perhaps it goes by a different name, but I'm sure it'll look exactly the same."

"Yeah, maybe," Al conceded, albeit doubtfully.

Ed gave the bird one last look before turning back to his brother. "I bet Winry would love one."

Al stared wide-eyed at him, startled. It was a well-known fact to the young Elric that Edward never brought up the endearing mechanic or any other close friend unless truly necessary. It was too painful to think about their life back at Amestris and it was even more excruciating to see all the doubles that existed in this world; all of whom were splitting images from their friends, yet all owning a different set of beliefs, a different set of habits and speech, a different something.

Everything nowadays seemed too painful.

"I bet she would," Al answered cautiously. "Winry always liked animals."

Ed chuckled, digging his heel in the light blanket of snow beneath his feet. "Yeah, she did. Remember when she nearly chucked me out of the house when I kicked out Den for eating my steak?"

Al smiled, laughing at the memory. "Yeah, and you were too stubborn to apologize so you slept on the porch until grandma dragged you back inside."

Ed's smile widened to a grin. "I eventually apologized."

"A week later," Al snorted, shaking his head at his brother's antics. "She was really happy when you did," he added on a softer note. "She told me once that whenever you and her had those big fights, she'd always be afraid that you would never speak to her again."

Ed flexed his jaw and looked away, clenching his fists in his pockets. Winry should know that she meant too much to him for a petty fight to severe those bonds.

"She... she told me that the thought of you leaving her forever frightens her more than anything else," Al bit his lip, hoping that spilling this small piece of information would help his brother regain the determination he was so infamous for. Al didn't need to be a genius to know that Edward was losing hope on ever returning to Amestris.

It had been four years since they had left, after all.

"...I see." Ed said stonily. And Alphonse thought, for a split-second, that perhaps that had been a bad idea. That perhaps telling Edward this phobia of Winry's was wrong; he should have kept it to himself like she had intended it to. But then something happened, something that he hadn't seen since they had gotten his body back.

Edward smirked, his eyes ablaze with a renewed determination. It was the emotion he was so famous for, that blinding glint that many admired.

The determination that Izumi Curtis, their old alchemy teacher, sometimes rudely commented would get him killed one day if the short comments didn't do it first.

"Then I guess we better get working, Al," he grinned, beginning to walk away from him. "We wouldn't want to disappoint Winry, would we? She'd probably kick our asses' with that damn wrench of hers if we don't hurry!"

A slow, bright, smile wormed it's way onto Alphonse's face and he nodded fervently, releasing a grin of his own. "Yeah!"

As Ed walked away, clutching the earrings she had left in his care all those years ago, his eyes wondered back to the Azure Tit, which jumped perkily from branch to branch.

He would come back.

Because he wouldn't (couldn't) just give up when the most important person in his life was waiting for him to come back.