Warnings and Disclaimers: Any and all characters from the anime or manga Fullmetal Alchemist do not belong to me. I only torture them for some stories. There may be some teenage content in the story but it is very limited. This story is set after the movie which means there are some spoilers and if you have no idea what any of this may be about, then don't come crying to me please. It's not my fault, I warned you -:sheepish grin:-.

Seasons

Autumn: Picturesque

Chapter 17

By: RomanceFanFicLover

"No!"

"Al, just drop it okay?"

"No! You can't do this, Ed."

"Would you just drop it?"

"Ed you can't, I'll never forgive you."

"Then don't!"

Winry watched as Ed stomped away from her view and Al followed him, still shouting negatives and threats.

"I wonder what's up with them." A whine near her left knee caught her attention. "Boys are crazy, ne Den?"

Reaching down a hand to pet the dog, Winry giggled softly when he licked it in return. With a short, heavy sigh she led Den out of the workroom and returned to the workbench.

"Brother, you can't."

"Al?"

"Yes, Brother."

"Drop it."

"No!"

"Oh Al, please just shut up about it."

Slamming down her wrench in dismay, Winry got up and prepared the electric saw. At the moment she'd do anything to shut those two up. She sighed in relief as the saw drowned out the rest of their conversation. Sometimes those two really went at it and it was unbearable to endure their shouting matches.

"There, you see? No one wants to listen to you yelling at me! Just drop it, Al."

Hurrying upstairs, Ed made haste to alchemize his door shut and turn up the radio in the room. Just as he suspected, Al followed him and was now ruthlessly banging on his door.

Sighing, Ed flopped back into the fluffy comforter that Pinako had bought for all the rooms. It was girly, but it was nice to sleep in and muffle the noises of a persistent brother banging at your door.

He rolled over and stared at the ceiling. He wasn't that bad right? It wasn't that bad of an idea, I mean after all, he was a genius.

A gentle breeze floated through the slightly opened window and Ed breathed in the dancing autumn scents. Pumpkin was the dominating smell but there were underlying smells of cooked foods, cut grass, fresh rain to come and bursting autumn flowers.

Risembool really was a beautiful place. It would be a shame to leave. Ed sighed deeply and closed his eyes. He faintly realized that Al had left his door, but it didn't really matter at the moment…he was just so…tired.

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Winry half sighed and half growled in annoyance. "Will you two just lay off whatever it is you're fighting about!" She slammed their plates of food down in front of them, but they ignored it and continued to glare at each other across the table. "Geez, you guys never grow up!"

She quickly returned to the kitchen to help her grandmother bring out bowls of food. Balancing three bowls in her arms, Winry stumbled back to the table and placed them down with a slight thud. She glared at the two of them in turn, they had already finished eating in the few seconds she was gone, yet they were still glaring.

"Would you like seconds?" She gave in, there was no stopping them. When they both nodded and blindly held out their plates, she sighed and refilled them. "I'll go get the potatoes."

When she reentered the kitchen, she turned to her grandmother. "Granny, they're hopeless." She threw up her arms in exasperation and took the bowl of potatoes and the dish of corn.

"There, there Winry. They might have matured, but that doesn't make them mature. Do you understand?"

She scowled and turned back to the dining room with a grumpy "No."

When she sat down and properly focused her eyes on the two of them, she almost dropped her fork in surprise. Al was glaring at Ed and Ed had resigned to poking his food. "Ed? Are you-?"

"I'm not hungry. Auntie Pinako can I be excused from the table?" This time she did drop her fork; Ed was using his manners to get away from the table!

She glared at Al who looked slightly guilty, but still kept his glare on his brother. "Ed…"

Pinako calmly took Ed's plate and nodded with a sweet smile. "Of course Ed, just make sure you eat something later." He nodded and went into the living room.

Before Al could even blink innocently, both Winry and Pinako's devastating glares were upon him. "What did you do?" They both hissed at him.

Laughing nervously, he looked up at them. "May I please be excused from the-?"

"No!" Winry angrily chopped up her steak and Pinako plopped the salad onto her plate with a loud huff of annoyance.

The silence was suffocating, but Winry didn't care. She was too worried about Ed; so worried that she almost missed out on what Al had mumbled dejectedly at his plate. "I-It's just…Brother wants to do something that I think he shouldn't and-"

Pinako put her knife down forcefully, startling Al out of his confession. Her glare softened and she nodded reassuringly at him. "Don't worry, Al. Ed is old enough to make his own decisions. You don't have to, and shouldn't, try to aid him in his decisions and choices. Instead, you should support him in an understanding way; even if you don't like his decision."

Winry looked from her grandmother to Al, they seemed to have reached some kind of understanding but she was still lost. "What's going on?" She murmured suspiciously as the two resumed their meal.

The evening was just as uneventful and not even Al was choosing his outfit for the dinner and dancing that would be occurring the next night. Winry was incredibly bored, and she needed a distraction.

"Ed, I was thinking, do you want me to add metal heels to your boots? It could make you look less-shrimpish."

"I'm not short."

Well that was dull.

"Al have you decided what to wear to the second day of the Festival?" she tried instead.

He shook his head in a negative and reburied his nose in his book. Defeated, Winry looked over at Pinako. "Granny, do we have any work to do?"

"No, this week is sort of like a vacation because of the Festival. Don't you remember last year?"

Bowing her head, Winry shook her head in a negative; similar to Al's lifeless action. "I forgot." Sighing, Winry slumped down in her chair. Since when did these two get so…blah?

"Ed, want to go for a walk?"

"Sure."

Yes! Finally! Winry jumped up and grabbed Ed's arm pulling him towards the coat rack. Once she was done and he was half-done, she yanked him out the door and jumped out into the crisp night air.

Inside, Al turned sad eyes to Pinako. "Auntie, I don't think he should…"

Offering a small smile, Pinako readjusted her glasses. "They both need to grow up, Al. Don't underestimate Ed's choices." Al nodded in understanding and continued with his book.

Understanding had never been so hard; not even in the first years of their alchemy study.

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'Maybe being inside and bored was better then being outside and bored.' Winry thought sulkily as the five minute silence continued into a six minute silence. 'At least it's warmer inside.'

"Winry?"

She blinked and turned to Ed who was looking off into the distance. "Yeah, Ed?"

She smiled in relief as he gave her a mischievous grin. "Want to go swing?" He pointed off in the distance where two sings were hung on a large tree. She nodded enthusiastically and he grabbed her hand, pulling her with him.

Winry tried to concentrate on her relief rather then the tingling sensation that flew up her arm at the contact of his hand. When that didn't work, she tried to concentrate on the cool wind that bit at her cheeks as they ran down to the tree. It worked a little better, but a blush was still lingering on her face when he let go and hopped on one of the swings.

They swung together, laughing and remembering past times, happier times. When the laughter wound down and their lungs were too tired to even continue giving their bodies enough energy to swing properly, they sat together and let the wind push them lightly.

Suddenly, Ed laughed again. "I can't remember the last time I was on a swing." He grinned up at the sky, eyes sparkling with the light of the moon.

She looked up as well, a small smile playing with her lips. "Me neither." He looked at her in surprise. "I've been so busy, trying to improve my automail skills and worrying about you and Al all the time. There was no time to even think about swinging."

He nodded in understanding and pushed himself lightly with his feet. She giggled and he looked at her. "What?" He continued pushing off against the ground and she giggled harder. He glared at her. "What?"

When her giggles wound down, she looked up at him. "I remember when you couldn't touch the ground on the swings and you got mad at Al because he could." His glare intensified and he pushed off the ground triumphantly.

Her grin faltered as a thought ran across her mind.

"Hey, Ed?"

He stopped swinging at the hesitance in her voice. "Yeah?" He watched as she slowly began to swing again, her head bowed.

"You don't like the past very much, do you?"

He thought about it for a minute, playing with the thought and looked at her questioningly. "No, I don't. Why?"

She ignored him and continued swinging. Scowling, he got up and grabbed the ropes of her swing. She glared at him and he glared back as he began twisting the ropes around each other.

Winry gasped as she realized what he was doing, "Ed! Don't…" It was too late and she span around wildly and he un-twirled the rope. "...spin me...!"

He grinned as he watched her golden hair flying about and her laughter rang out into the night. When she stopped, he grabbed a hold of the rope and glared at her. "Are you going to tell me why now?"

She giggled and grinned up at him. "Nope!"

The spinning continued until Winry couldn't take it anymore and collapsed to the ground in a fit of laughter. "Okay! Okay! I'll tell you!" She gulped the air around her, trying to calm her searing lungs and pounding heart.

He lay back in the grass beside her, gazing up at the stars. "Well? Come on, tell me." He glared at her as she closed her eyes and rested her head on her arms.

"Hmm…not yet." She smothered a yawn with one hand and took Ed's usual sleeping position. She yawned again but stopped as Ed poked her in her belly, leaning over her with a glare.

"Tell me."

His tone was serious but his smile was playful. She nodded and yawned once more before explaining. "You don't talk about your memories and stuff like that. You only live in the present and the future."

"So? What's wrong with that?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing is wrong with it. It's just…do you still remember anything? Or have you forgotten it?"

Ed leaned off his arm and lay down beside her again, heaving a thoughtful sigh. "Well…people never really forget anything. They can't recall it quickly if they don't frequently think about it, though. That's sort of what my memories are like. They're there but they area a bit dusty and dulled."

"Oh! Like an old photograph!" She turned to him, grinning, and he smiled back at her.

"Yeah, like an old photograph."

The silence that settled over them was comfortable and they watched the stars in a peaceful trance. After a few minutes, Winry smiled softly and pointed out the little dipper. Ed pointed out the big dipper, happy that he had found the bigger version.

They fell into silence again and Winry thought over Ed's previous words. 'Like photographs…' She closed her eyes as a warm breeze unexpectedly drifted by them.

"I like photographs."

He snorted. "I thought you liked automail."

"I can like automail and photographs! Honestly Ed, you're such a simpleton."

He snorted again and changed the position of his legs before speaking again. "Why do you like photographs?"

Winry smiled, she had been waiting for him to ask that. "Because they keep memories so that they never get dusty and dull. Because they keep a person with you. I guess, because they make people happy; just like automail."

He snorted yet again and she glared at him before snapping, "If you keep doing that you're going to get snot on yourself." He grimaced at that but refrained from snorting again; just in case.

The next hour or so was spent in relative silence and stargazing. A cold breeze bit at Winry's hands and she shivered before turning to Ed. "Hey, Ed? What time is it?"

He grunted and shrugged. "Late?"

"Shouldn't we go inside?" He grunted again and closed his eyes. "Ed…!" He snored lightly, but she knew it was fake. She stood up and went to crouch at his side. "Idiot!" She elbowed him on teh head and his eyes popped open immediately.

"Ow! What the hell!" He snarled at her as she stood up, holding his injured head in his hands.

She stomped her foot in annoyance. "I'm cold! Bring me home!"

He shot a deadly glare at her. "You're big enough, you can go by yourself!" He shouted, getting up to stand in front of her.

She gasped with an offended expression before returning to a glare. "Did you just call me fat!" She hissed angrily.

"Argh! Forget it, just walk!" He yelled as he threw his hands up in the air in annoyance.

The argument was quick, friendly and very familiar. Winry laughed and grinned at him, latching onto his arm. "Okay!"

He looked at her and raised his eyebrow a bit. "Stupid Machine Freak."

"Short Alchemy Geek."

"That's it! You're walking home by yourself!" He let go of her arm and stomped off away from her.

She pulled out a carefully hidden wrench and chased after him. "How can you just leave a girl to walk home alone at night! You have no manners or common sense Edward Elric!"

Although she seemed extremely upset on the outside, she was incredibly relieved on the inside. Whatever happened between him and Al was probably not very important but it disrupted the balance of everything inside the house. So maybe, just maybe, their little walk was enough to lift Ed's spirits. If she could do that, she felt she could do anything.

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A/N: I finally updated! –tears of joy- It took so long! But I did it! Hmm, but what could Ed be up to? –evil author grin-

Xoxoxoxo!