Disclaimer: I don't own the FMA characters; I just made up their birthday dates too.

January

I felt the sunlight pierced through the window, I knew nothing what happened. My head aches badly. Maybe there was a New Year's Eve party; maybe Edward might have made me drink some alcohol and I must have passed out. Although, my head isn't the only place I ache, but also my whole body. Second, I wouldn't believe that my own brother, who cares so much for me, would do that. Last but not least, my mouth doesn't taste like any vomit or alcohol. Other than that, my breath doesn't smell too good so I better wake up to brush my teeth. It's not like I never wake up early just to brush my teeth, in fact, I brush my teeth everyday. It was time to open my eyes and wake up.

As I did so, I saw the ceiling was different. My heart started to beat harder. Was I taken elsewhere? But I seemed to recognize this place, it seems oddly familiar. I sat up cautiously to make sure I wasn't with some rapist or criminal of the sort. I spotted another single bed not too far off from the one I was in although there was much space in between to walk through. There was a blond man on the bed, resting, snoring slightly. Recognizing his body traits and his automail limbs, I assumed that it was Edward. My heart stopped racing as I simply got up quietly, going to the bathroom, trying not to wake my older brother.

I entered the bathroom to notice we were in the military base in Central. I was nervous. What if brother had knocked me out and done something out of the ordinary? Were we not originally in Germany with Hitler gaining control with his Nazi democratic party? Did Edward really managed to bring us back in Shambala? My concerns were now directed to my brother and no longer for my bad breath. I ran to him and shook slightly, tears developing in my eyes.

"Nii-san… Nii-san… Nii-san!"

My voice cracked as I saw him open his eyes slowly, I feared what was to come. I hugged him gently.

"… You're alive, Brother."

I could feel his movements as I felt him sitting up, his hand patting my back for comfort. His mouth opened slightly and asked me in a confused tone.

"What… what's wrong, Al?"

I pulled away and gazed at him. His voice sounded just as his face looks. My eyebrows frowned slightly and wiped my tears.

"… Nii-san… why are we back in Central? Why aren't we in Germany…? How did thi---"

I was cut before I can ask my last question. Okay, maybe the third question before I finished.

"Al, relax. I don't know myself why we're back, but it's a good thing, no?"

He smiled and seemed to be acting like everything was great, like life was an ease. I kept on insisting on asking questions, I desperately wanted the answers to stop my concerns and my perplexity.

"… You mean… you don't know why… I mean how we got here? Isn't this what you did?"

That's when he blinked; he appeared more bewildered than I was. That's when I figured to drop the subject with a sigh and start asking questions that are, let's say, positive.

"I bet you can't wait until we got to Ressembol. I know someone who probably missed you… a lot."

I nudge him while smirking, gave him a little wink as I putted enthusiasm on that 'a lot'. He glared at me, turning his head away from my vision although I saw that slight blush appear on his cheeks. It was so obvious that he loved Winry, and it was really obvious that she loved Ed except they just won't tell each other how they feel. I bet they're even going out in secret. Foolish, I tell you, foolish.

"Shut up."

He mumbled as he stretched. I got up and left to my teeth brushing, although I worried of how Noah is reacting. Our sudden disappearance might be worrying her. I feel very guilty leaving her behind, but it's not like we know how we got here. I hope she'll be alright and that she doesn't worry too much about us. I closed the door and did the essentials of the morning. Maybe this was all a dream. It was somewhat too good to be true.

It has to be a dream… But… maybe I'm wrong.

When I came out, I saw my brother getting dressed in his old uniform. I have to say that black and red did suit him very well. Unfortunately, those clothes were getting to small for him. After all, he was gone to Germany for quite awhile, almost four years. That means that we were going for two years. Edward is now twenty years old and I'm in my sweet sixteen. Well, we're going to be. That's for sure. Edward's birthday is in October the fifth, for mine is November nineteenth. His gaze turned to me as he did a cheesy smile at me.

"I guess my clothes are too small for me."

He laughed shortly. I couldn't help but smile and mention:

"Well, I guess you've grown Nii-san."

I felt suddenly a cold glare threatening me.

"I was only mentioning… I wasn't saying you were short!"

A few veins appeared on my older brother's face, and then he started yelling at me.

"Short! SHORT! WHO YOU CALLING A SMALL SPECK OF DUST THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS! You should speak for yourself! You're an inch smaller than I am FOR YOUR INFORMATION ALPHONSE!"

Obviously, I knew this would occur. This huge fuss only to defend himself from the truth of his height. Unbelievable. He still looked frustrated; this made me feel uncomfortable and gloomy. His golden eyes showed guilt to my expression and looked away.

"… I'm sorry Al."

He mentioned with his head down. I forced a smile, walked to him and placing my hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and saw my smile. He couldn't help but to grin himself.

"Should we go pay a visit to Winry, Pinako and Den?"

I asked as we heard a knock on our door. Edward went to answer; he opened the door to see it was Riza.

"Good morning, Edward. Good morning, Alphonse."

She bowed her head to us once she greeted us and once we greeted back. Riza always had that serious yet cheerful smile on her face. I wondered if she knew we were gone, maybe she had the answers to my previous questions. Her regard was directed to my brother.

"Edward-kun, Mustang-san wishes to see you."

My brother's face fell apart. He sighed, one thing he probably didn't miss about Shambala was how Roy would say his witty comments about him. He dragged himself to Riza, his back crouched like a jumbo shrimp, his frown to his chin, his hands almost touching the ground, and lifting his heavy head… he looked like Havoc when he gets shot down by a girl. He looked upon me and said depressively:

"You stay here Al… I'll be back… hopefully soon."

I just nodded and glance at them leaving. As they closed the door, I sighed and sat down on my bed. I then notice I wasn't wearing much myself and Riza saw me half-naked. Gah! What should I wear? What should I wear? Maybe brother's old clothes do fit me, it's not like I grew very tall, I'm only an inch and a few dust taller than him when he was my age. I'll probably stay that way too. However, my height doesn't matter much to me, unlike Edward.

I searched in my brother's drawer and found a few clothing. Once I was slipping into the pants, I felt a presence watching me from the window; it made me quite uncomfortable. I wasn't sure to look or not, my instincts told me to but my heart dreaded of what it was. I cease all actions and glanced with the corner of my right eye. There, I saw a figure in the window frame outside. I turned around completely to see who it was but the figure vanished. I scampered to the window and gazed down. There was nothing. It was at least a three stories high apartment from the ground. Maybe it was my imagination that was playing tricks on me, at least I hope so.

After I finished dressing up, and may I say that Ed's clothes fits me like a glove, the door opened and gave me one of these scares. Maybe it was that figure. What did it want with me? Who was it? I screamed slightly and flinched on to my bed, my eyes closely shut as I was crouched into the beetle position. All I could hear was another person who was startle, probably by me, and it sounded quite familiar.

"Al! Why did you scream? You almost scared the living daylights out of me."

I opened my eyes and glanced at my brother who was heavy breathing and holding his chest. I came back into a normal sitting position. My head was down but my eyes were up to see Edward.

"… I'm sorry, Nii-san… I'm just paranoid. I saw a figure in the window and I thought you we---"

"Al… stop playing games. This window is about three stories high, there's no way someone just popped up in your window."

He sighed as he stayed in the door frame. My head rose and nodded slightly. I felt stupid for a moment there, although maybe my brother got it bad from Roy, it was probably that.

"I'm sorry."

I said again as I notice that he wasn't looking at me. Did I do something wrong? I sighed deeply. Edward started talking again.

"I'm off to the library. You stay here."

"Have you been assigned to something, Nii-san?"

He shook his head firmly and glanced at me.

"No. I just got a lot of studying to do. I might be late home tonight."

Edward walked up to me and gave me his wallet.

"You can go and buy yourself something to eat… or go to the military's cafeteria. Alright?"

He forced a smile and messed up my hair with his left hand.

"See ya."

He left before I could even ask him what he was studying about. Other than that, I was more intrigue about how Roy came back in command as Lieutenant Colonel. It's as if we came back in time. It's as if we never left for Germany. What was going on?

All long January, my mind continued to ponder on these thoughts as I tried to briefly remember what happened, how we got here in the first place. Ed was always gone to the library, studying who knows what. Today, I went outside to clear my head. I saw children playing in the snow. I cried. I cried because it reminded me of Nina. That poor innocent girl… she shouldn't have died. She'd be eleven now. Death is harsh, it followed me everywhere. It touched me once, but it was my choice and yet, I'm here. To imagine all the people who died around my brother and I. I believe that sometimes, we… are death.