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: A Sense of Foreboding

Chapter 18

By: RomanceFanFicLover

After a nice night out with Winry, and a large midnight snack that she had prepared for him, Ed had felt ready to face anything when he woke up in the late afternoon. That is, until he remembered what day it was. When he glimpsed the semi-formal clothes that were splayed out on the chair across the room, all confidence was drained from him just as the blood drained from his face at the note taped to the shoes on the chair.

'Dear Ed, you better have remembered how to dance because Winry is ready to dance the night away at the dinner and dance party tonight. Don't forget to tuck in your shirt and comb your hair. Don't disappoint me or her. If you do…Just know that you've been warned you midget brat! Love, Auntie Pinako.'

With a groan, he collapsed onto the bed again. "Scary…" He muttered before clenching his eyes shut, willing sleep to claim him and take him away from the awaiting nightmare of the upcoming dance.

"Ed!"

He was waiting for sleep to come and claim him, sleep, not brothers!

"Ed!"

Damnit all; the voice was getting closer. He loved Al, really he did, but he was such a pain sometimes. And with that thought in mind, Ed watched as the door was flung open and Al's excited figure was placed inside the open space.

"Brother! They're going to have so much food at the dinner festival tonight! You should see the sample menu that Winry has! Oh, they have my favorites and your favorites. They even have those little cakes that Mom used to make…"

Maybe he could knock himself unconscious with that big bowl over there while Al was going over the details of the night…

"…oh and they- What are you doing, Brother?" Al stared at his elder brother as he repeatedly whacked himself with the large ceramic bowl from his bedside table. "You're going to hurt yourself that way! You could fall unconscious or something."

"He's too hard headed for that, Al."

"Auntie!"

Ed groaned again and let the bowl fall form his hands and cover his head with a loud thud of the inside hitting his skull.

"See? He didn't even flinch."

"Shut up you old hag."

"Ed!"

"Stupid midget brat."

"Miniature wrinkled bothersome woman!"

"Tiny alchemist punk."

"Auntie! Brother! Stop it!" When they both 'hmp'ed in agreement, Al continued. "Brother, it's almost four o'clock so you need to get ready." He turned to the elderly woman beside him. "Auntie, that man from this morning is coming by around six o'clock to get his automail arm and Winry told me that you haven't finished yet."

The short woman let out a colorful string of words and hobbled out of the room quickly but poked her head back into the room to warn Al. "Ed doesn't want to dance again, so you're going to have to push him into his clothes." After a thoughtful pause, she added, "Maybe even bathe the pathetic soul." She ducked back out the door as a pillow hurtled towards her head and nearly knocked her pipe out of her mouth.

"Stupid old-" Ed didn't get to finish his mumbled complaints as the pillow he had thrown came flying back into the room and wedged itself into every crevice of his face with a loud smack.

"Brother, why don't you want to dance? Winry said when it came down to it you were a real natural." Al leaned against the doorway and crossed his arms, giving Ed a disappointed glance. Ed muttered as a response and rubbed his pillow-slapped nose. "Really, she said that. Not to mention the fact that we all know that Winry is really looking forward to going to this night of the festival."

Ed grumbled grumpily and slid his legs out of the tangled sheets. "So?"

"So? What do you mean 'so'?" When he didn't receive a response, he plowed on ahead. "Or is your attitude because you want to-"

The recently favored weapon slapped Al in his face. He could hear Ed fuming and when the pillow finally slipped off his face, the muffled white was replaced with Ed's angered face.

"I told you to lay off that topic, Al!"

Before Al could come up with a response, another two pillows were flung at him and he had to step back a couple steps from the surprising force of the blow. In the few seconds it took him to collect himself and the weapons, Ed had slammed the door and locked it, leaving Al in the hallway.

"Brother, you're a real jerk sometimes!"

"Shut up!"

A happy giggle floated to him and Al turned to see Winry at the end of the hallway with a hair brush and make-up bag in hand. "Having fun, Al?"

Despite his slightly dampened mood, Al smiled warmly at his childhood friend and rolled his eyes playfully. She giggled again and headed towards her room, but turned back to him before entering.

"Make sure you get dressed up nicely, okay? I saw Nelly's dress and I feel green with envy!"

Al couldn't help the slight tremor that raged through his body at the name; he had had enough of that palm-tree haired freak. He nodded and ignored the cold and clammy feeling as he turned to his own bedroom. "Alright, Winry."

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Lucky for both Winry and himself, Ed was ready to go by the scheduled time that Pinako had set for them all to be downstairs in the living room and ready to go, and that included Nelly too.

Winry had donned a semi-formal white and black dress with stringy straps on her shoulders and across her back in an "X" design. Her hair was being held up with an old clip, but she left her bangs and sideburns down to frame her slightly makeup-dusted face. She had removed most of the studs in her ears and left two large silver hoops in their place to bring out the silver lining on her dress and shoes. Ed had to admit that it took a lot of self-control to keep from openly gaping at her, although it took some added Al-control to close his half opened mouth.

Al was also having some trouble refraining from staring openly at his own date; Nelly had decided to wear a casual red and orange dress that had a form-fitting top and a loose skirt. Her shoes were plain black and she also had two large hoop earrings adorning her ears. Her hair was left down and straightened to ensure that it was extra flat and possessed not even a single hint of frizz.

Much to Ed's relief, Pinako did not insist on taking a couple dozen pictures of the four of them, but instead opted for trying to get them out of the house as soon as possible. However that relief was short lived.

"Smile, Ed!"

He swallowed the irritated sound that pleaded with him to immerge, and instead smiled softly as he stood next to a glowing Winry. When the flash went off, Winry rushed to Nelly's side to coo at the Polaroid picture that immerged from the camera.

"It's funny; I though that the parent figure was supposed to get all mushy with the pictures." Al nodded his agreement and they waited patiently for the girls to clear away the pink sparkles that seemed to float around them; which reminded them eerily of an old companion...

The quick walk was refreshing and the cool breeze helped soothe Ed's frazzled nerves. He wasn't exactly sure why, but the idea of this dinner was making him nervous—as though something bad was going to happen that night.

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A/N: Dear Lord! I've been swamped with so many things and this chapter has been sitting on my computer for ages! It's a very small chapter and I'm sorry for that.

Xoxoxoxo!