Thanks, Shadow Dreamer 27, I'm glad you are enjoying it. Thank you so much, SnufflesWillRise! Trust me, what you said didn't sound dumb, I'm very conscious of sensory imagery and think it tells as much of the story and paint a mood as dialogue and action does.
I truly appreciate the responses. :)
Of Love
Over the din of the busy marketplace was an incoherent string of grunts and curses that trailed the older of the Elric brothers as he stormed down the street. At the disconcerting sight, people jumped out of the blond haired youth's way as his red coat fluttered out like wings.
Far less distress lit the eyes of many market goers when they saw the tall, armored body of Alphonse clattering as he quickly walked a short distance behind. "Brother, wait up!" he called.
Ed just growled. "Call me a pipsqueak…I'll show him…I'll—"
"He didn't call you a pipsqueak."
Spinning sharply about, his teeth gnashing as he stood there tensely glaring at his younger sibling. Then throwing his arms up in the air, he launched into a bad impression of Colonel Mustang. "You know you should stand up so I can see you—"
"Brother," Al said, feeling rather exasperated. The Colonel would continue to do that as long as Ed reacted. Why could Ed not just be calm?
Ed kept grumbling as the younger, but very much larger, sibling approached and laid a big metal and leather formed hand on Ed's blond head. He evenly announced, "You are short."
Fire lit Ed's eyes. "You're just tall."
Al laughed. "That's not my fault." Then more seriously, he added, "You shouldn't let him get to you." Even as he spoke the words, he knew, as always, they would go unheeded.
Heavily sighing, Ed waved dismissively at the thought and then perked up. Raising his face to the slight breeze, he sniffed the air. A bright smile spread across his face as if the fury of moments earlier had never happened. "Hurry up, I want to beat the rush."
"The rush for what?"
"The noodle stand."
"But wouldn't it have been easier to eat at the mess hall?"
"With all those stuffy military people?"
"I don't think MSG Fury or Lt. Breda are stuffy. They are pretty nice and they did invite us to join them." Al inwardly frowned as Ed's pace did not slow. He tried calling out, but once Ed was determined there was little stopping him.
The breeze picked up slightly and Al paused as canopies rippled and scarves blew about. Shoppers paused to hold onto the goods until the gust passed. Though he could not enjoy the feel of the wind against his skin and did not quite remember it, the air rushing through gaps in his armor stirred something in him. He twisted in the middle of the market, catching sight of curious eyes as locals of East City looked at him but he had been to the market many times, so they often did not pay him too much attention. Some through paused to smile and wave.
There was something in the air. Something unnatural. It reminded him of the energy that charged the air the night they tried to bring their mother back. And though he knew it to be impossible, he felt chill.
The hollow echo of his feet thudded against the pavement as he raced through the busy street toward the noodle stand nestled between two fresh fruit peddlers. Spying Ed's red coat, he sighed in relief as he joined his brother.
"Where've you been?" Ed asked as he lazily he sipped an orange drink through a straw.
Past Ed sat a quiet figure wrapped in a deep green shawl drinking a cup of coffee. She paid them no attention.
"I was just…I was looking at something," he said as he sat down on a small stool that looked as if it would barely support his weight. He was about to say more to Ed but stopped when he noticed his brother's golden gaze following movement behind the stand. "Oh," he whispered.
It was Nara, the young woman who helped her father with the noodle stand. Al knew she was sweet on Ed. She was tall and always smiling and even Al had to admit, easy on the eyes. Everything seemed to shimmer when she looked at them.
"Ed!" She happily called from the back.
Ed straightened. "Hello, Nara," he said with a smile and a blush.
Yup, thought Al, he was smitten by her, even if she was older. Though, he admitted he was too.
"Al!" she said in that always cheerful tone as she leaned against the counter and looked at the two boys. "I see you still like wearing that suit."
"Um, yeah," Al said feeling rather embarrassed.
"Al!" came another, little, voice from behind the counter and a small hand gripped the edge.
Nara met Ed's gaze with those sparkly eyes. He glanced away, quite red cheeked. Kneeling down, she picked up her three-year-old daughter, Emma. The little girl clutched her mother's neck. She looked like a tiny version of Nara, with the same big brown eyes and dark auburn hair.
"Hello, Emma," Al said, waving at the little girl.
"Metal man!" she cheered.
Nara pressed against the counter and held her hand out toward the brothers revealing a ring on her finger. "Look!" she said excitedly.
"Those boy's don't care," her father teased from the cook stove.
"Pretty," Emma cooed as she reached for the ring.
Ed looked at her hand and blinked a few times.
"Aren't you going to congratulate me?" she asked. "Stuart asked me to marry him."
Al instinctively reached out and grabbed Ed by the jacket to keep his stunned brother from falling off the chair. "Congratulations!" he said in his tinny voice.
"Yeah, congratulations," Ed said, adding on a wide grin.
And though Al did not think Nara noticed, he did. He caught the heartbreak in Ed's voice.
The truth was, Al was glad for Nara and Emma. They deserved to be happy. Nara's first husband was a soldier and had been killed just before Emma was born. He felt sad for the little girl, never knowing her father. Stuart, he had seen a few times at the noodle stand and around Eastern HQ, for he was a soldier as well, but he seemed like a nice guy.
"Leave those boys alone and serve them their food," Nara's father called from the shadows of the kitchen area. "Come on, Emma, come back here and play so your mother can do her job."
"Yes!" the little girl squealed as her mother set her feet firmly on the ground and she ran excitedly back to where her grandfather was.
The wind blew, sending dust stirring through the air. The flames of the cook stove brightened as the wind pulled burning embers from the open fire. They glowed and turned to ash, blowing across the bar, dancing like devils before the two brothers.
"She is young," a woman said from the far end of the counter. "I pray she knows only happiness with this man who has stolen her heart."
Ed laughed. "Our mother, after our father left, used to say it wasn't love if it didn't hurt."
"The words of a woman scorned." The wind blew the green shawl that ensconced the woman's face back revealing her long silver streaked hair and sad features. She set her hot tea down and smiled but never looked in the brothers' direction.
Al could see the palm of her left hand and spied several transmutation circles painted on her flesh. From the fragments he saw, he could not make out their purpose.
"Yes, your mother is correct. True love hurts and losing it, for whatever reason is an unbearable pain. Having it taken away from you, having the life of your loved one slip away in your arms is agony." She watched little Emma happily playing with a doll at the back of the sheltered building. "I doubt though, that it can be any more painful than that of loosing a child."
For a moment, Al thought of Winry and how she said it was different that her parents were dead and never coming back while their father had just run away. Winry seemed to hurt more because of it.
When their mother died, he understood that pain.
"We can sort of understand," Ed said quietly.
"Yes, I suspect you can."
Al was about to ask what she meant when he heard the loud footsteps of someone quickly approaching.
A young, black uniformed officer stopped before the stand and saluted to Ed. "Major Elric, sir!"
Ed grimaced as he turned. "Yes?"
"Colonel Mustang orders—"
"A dog of the State?" the woman at the counter snarled. Her distant, sad demeanor changed instantly as fierce eyes glared at the brothers. "They send children after me?"
In a flash the ground exploded as Ed responded with blinding fast speed to the woman's unprovoked attack. Beneath him, the street hardened into a wave of metal, protecting against the spears of glass that shot up tearing through the earth and wooden counter. The sheer force of the attack sent him flying back and slamming into Al who turned quickly, his metal body shielding his brother from the follow up attack.
"Wait!" Al called as Ed squirmed loose only to find the woman fleeing through the street.
"Get help!" Ed barked at the startled officer before he raced off after her.
"Brother!" Al called as he got to his feet and chased after the two.