Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in posting this; I was out of town. To compensate, I'll put the next chapter up next week instead of waiting two weeks as usual. This short little thing took me forever to come up with. I mean, come on. When has Ed or Al ever betrayed the other? This was the best thing I could come up with, at any rate.
Timeline: None
Theme 13: Betrayal
My brother doesn't like to show his feelings. He likes to cover them up with appearances that are much easier to explain away. When he's feeling overwhelmed by all the attention he receives as a State Alchemist, he pretends to enjoy it and basks in his own glory. When he begins to lose hope of achieving his goal, he takes it out on Mustang or other military officers.
But my brother can never fool me. I can always tell what he's feeling inside. I can tell when his laughter is fake, and when it's genuine. I can tell when, really, he just wants to go home and shut out the rest of the world.
There are some things my brother tries to hide from me. Some are relatively innocuous, such as when he hides his full glass of milk and pretends he drank it, or when he cheats at cards by hiding trump cards up his sleeve. Others, however, are serious – like the infected cut on his arm he didn't tell me about because we were hot on the trail of the Philosopher's Stone. The infection turned out to be tetanus. That scared me more than I think my brother realized, but we managed to get him a treatment before it became too serious. I made my brother swear he'd never hide something like that from me again. (Of course, that only lasted till he got appendicitis.)
One time, when we were back in Risenpool for repairs, my brother was lying down and trying to recover from the intense pain of reattaching his limbs. He was in his usual feverish half-doze on the bed, and I was quietly straightening up the clothes he had left in a heap on the floor. When I picked up his leather pants, something shiny fell out of his pocket. I reached down to pick it up, and saw that it was his silver State Alchemist's watch. It had popped open when it fell, and I froze just as I reached my hand out for it. On the inside of the watch, just opposite the face of the clock, were etched the words Don't forget 3 Oct. 10.
I knew that date. I remembered it all too well. That was the day we burned down our house, and left Risenpool forever. Later that day, after my brother wasn't in pain anymore, I confronted him about the message. He gave me a look that pained me, almost as if he had said, You betrayed me. But all he said was, "Yeah, I'm pretty pathetic, aren't I? Carrying around a talisman to remind me of my resolve..."
"I don't think that's pathetic," I said. I'm not sure he believed me.
There have been several times when I have seen past my brother's many masks, seen his true thoughts and exposed them. Each time, I feel as though I'm betraying him, even if it's for his own good. But when I told Winry outright that my brother loved her, I knew (even through the death threats he glared my way) that this betrayal was the best possible thing for him.