Rain on Christmas.

It took a while before anyone noticed.

A whole two hours of Edward being completely silent and still in the same chair
was what it took before anyone even noticed it.

- MOOOOM!Nina yelled as she tugged on her father's coat, trying to pull him
to wake him up.

Winry stopped and looked in the direction of her youngest daughter.

- Nina? What is it? Winry asked as she stopped her discussion with Al.

- Dad won't wake up and I want him to join us in our games!Nina answered her
mother impatiently. Definitively her father's impatience.

- He won't? Winry said a bit confused and that made Mei and Al turn around as
well. Mei especially fast considering that they were expecting a third child in
May.

- Okay honey, time to wake up. Stop ignoring your daughters pleas and go and
play with them. You have been neglecting them all evening, now go and play.
Winry said demandingly as she walked up towards the two.

No response.

Just silence.

- MOOM!Nina yelled.

- EDWARD ELRIC!WAKE UP!Winry roared and the whole house stopped.

No response. Not even a flinch or a winch.

Winry just stopped when her husband didn't even react.

- Edward...Winry said confused and concerned.

Then she looked down at her daughter.

- DAAAD!WAKE UP!Nina yelled almost desperately.

Al looked into the direction of the kid's rooms. They had stopped playing. And
now they were coming into the main hall as well. Confused and concerned looks
all across their faces.

Nina was crying out of anger as she continued to yell at her stubborn father to
wake up.

- DAAD!WAKE UP!WAKE UP DAD!Nina yelled, then she fell to
her knees, holding her father's hand tightly.

- Nina...Al said wearily.

Alphonse walked up to his still not moving or reacting brother who just laid
back there in the chair, a pleased and warm smile on his face. Even thou his
mouth was closed, he was smilling with his whole face.

- Brother...Your daughter is crying for you...Al said and placed a hand
on Ed's right shoulder and tugged it a bit.

But after just one moment he stopped.

Something was off.

Al reached to the hand Nina had pulled down.

Cold.

Al gasped with his entire body and then quickly placed a hand on Edward's
throat. And froze.

Everyone just stopped when they saw how Alphonse froze.

They could see the realization dawn on him.

With a tear-filled look he turned to Winry.

Then he fell to his knees.

- Bro...brother...Alphonse said completely breathless as he slumped
together.

Nina looked at her uncle just fall to his knees.

- Uncle Alphonse...? Nina asked.

- He...He...Alphonse struggled, then he just fell towards the chair
and put his hands on his brother's arm.

Winry fell to her knees, the realization shacking her entire body.

The kids quickly hurried to their parents sides.

- What...What is wrong with him...? Maes asked frightened.

This was the first time he had seen his uncle cry and the first time he had
seen his mother cry of sadness.

- He is...Alphonse couldn't finish his sentence.

Mei walked up to Maes and for a moment thought about saying something.

Maes was only five.

She did not know how to say it.

- What have you done now father? You have made both mother and uncle cry!?Edwin
yelled at his father, but his father didn't even react to his son's harsh
words. Both condescending and blaming.

- MOVE IT FATHER!GET UP AND APOLOGICE TO UNCLE AL, NINA AND MOM!Edwin
snapped.

Edward did not react.

- He...He...Alphonse sobbed out.

- He...can't...Alphonse whispered out trying to quench a sob.

- He can't...move...?Edwin said shocked, his temper completely gone.

- Not...Not anymore...Winry said and buried herself in her son's
side.

- What...What do you mean...WHAT DO YOU MEAN UNCLE AL!?Edwin yelled
paniced, a look of fear and dawning realisation striking him to.

Tears where welling up in his eyes to.

Al put his hands to cover from the rain.

- Trisha...Elric...Al shuddered through a sob and Trisha looked up at
him.

- Wh-what is it? Trisha whispered out worried.

- ...The first...Alphonse said and then the rain contined.

Trisha gasped.

Everyone gasped.

Now they understood.

And now it was raining.

Edwin looked at his crying mother, and with tears overwhelming him, he just
turned his head to look at his smiling father.

Maes, Nina, Trisha, Clara and Mia hurried to their father and uncle's side.

Trisha bursted into tears on her father's lap.

Then everyone stopped when they heard a fist hit the floor.

Everyone looked around and saw Winry.

- What...What kind of father abandons his children!...Winry yelled out
in tears of both sorrow and anger.

Alphonse gasped.

A door was closed in the morning sun.

Then Winry stopped for a moment and looked at Al.

He was shacking.

- Al...Winry said wearily.

- Don't...Don't...Don't...say that...This is...This
is nothing like that. Al said trying to hold back the rain, but the river banks
were overflowing.

Winry's clenched fists hit the floor again.

- WHAT KIND OF HUSBAND DIES AND LEAVES HIS CHILDREN BEHIND ON
CHRISTMASS!Winry roared out and then she just hit the floor, hitting the
floor with her hands as she cried.

- Dad...Edwin said with a broken heart as he turned from his mother and
looked at his father.

He was still smiling. So contently. So warmly. So happy .So...so pleased.

- Dad...Edwin chirped out with a broken voice, and then he walked out in the
rain.

His fists were shacking...

It may be snowing, but it still rained.

Edwin turned to his siblings and cousins.

Then he turned to look at his father in the chair again.

He then looked at his mother, uncle and aunt.

It was raining as Edward Elric was smiling.

- ...Why...?Edwin asked through his sobs...Alphonse and Winry
stopped crying for a moment and looked at Edwin. Thou it was raining, there was
a fire blazing.

- Why are you...Why are you smiling...?Edwin asked his father that no
longer could answer.

- Why are you smiling?...WHY ARE YOU SMILLING?!Edwin roared towards
his father with the same sort of fire that Edward once had held in him.

Then Edwin fell to his knees.

The fire gone.

- ...Why...?Edwin asked as he did not even look at his father anymore
as he let the rain come down.

Maes looked at his brother and then his mother and then his family.

He looked at the smile through his own teary eyes.

Maes just looked at that soft, warm, pleased and proud smile that his father
wore.

His father had been wearing that smile all day. Whenever anybody had ever
looked at him and even when they weren't looking at him, he had been smilling
that soft smile at everyone.

Maes rain drops joined the other rain drops as he tried to mimic his father's
smile.

He fell to his knees and sat down before his brother.

Maes turned his head downwards and even thou nobody in the household belived in
God, Maes prayed that his father would get a safe passing.

When he was done, everyone was looking at him.

- Maes...Winry said trying to calm her tears.

Maes only nodded and gave her the same smile Edward was giving everyone and
then turned to his father.

Maes only nodded towards his father when he approved of him.

Then he got up and without a word walked up to the sofa and jumped into it, put
his hands together and watched his sleeping father rest contently at his
favourit spot in the house.

Everyone was looking at him.

A fire had dried Maes tears.

He had been dried from the rain.

He smiled the same as his father.

And then everyone looked at his father.

- Why? Why is he smiling while we are weeping? Why is he smilling when he is
dead? Maes asked. Not accusing or blaming. Not even in a curious fashion. But
in a determined fashion. A way that made it sound like the five year old boy
knew all the answers in the world.

- Why? Edwin asked his little brother.

Maes only smiled and waved as he answered.

- Van Hohenheim. Grandpa Van Hohenheim. Maes had answered like it should be
obvious and everyone shifted from looking on him and looking at Edward.

Then Trisha throwed a wrench at her younger brother for being so vague.

- TRISHA!Winry yelled angrily.

Maes rubbed his head as he got back up in his little spot.

Everyone looked at Edward once again.
- Hohenheim...Father...? Alphonse asked as he got back to his feets,
walked up to the sofa and sat down next to Maes.

Maes only nodded.

- It should be obvious why he is smiling. It should have been obvious why he
was smilling like that all night. And why he was so quiet all day. Maes said
after some time, still looking proudly at his father still slumped over in the
chair, still the warm and proud expression on his face.
- Hohenheim...Alphonse repeated.
- He cried for his family...Because he loved them and they loved him. Maes
said before Alphonse had gathered the information.
Everyone looked at the proud little boy and then at the man in the chair.
Could that be true? Could that really be why?
- Aren't we our father's pride? Maes asked his siblings and they all looked at
him, nodded and then looked at their father before looking back at Maes and
nodded again.

Winry, Mei and Alphonse looked Edward as he sat contently in the chair.

Relaxed and at ease.

Yes, his smile was proud, but pride did not dominate his feathers nor his
smile.

It was something else.
- That is true...Alphonse started and everyone looked at him and started
to recover themselves, throwing quick glances at the smile on Edward's lips.
- But why doesn't it feel as proud as it usually does whenever he smiles at
you. And why is he smiling at all of us if you were his pride...Alphonse
said, his voice was shacking once again as he planted his face in his palms as
he looked in his brother's direction.
- Why is he even smiling...If you weren't even here in the room...Why
is he even smilling at all...Winry said sitting in the chair turned
towards the other chair and faced the door, her hands were joined together.
It was raining once again.
- Mom...Nina said and walked up to her mother's side.
- Why...Why is he smiling like that...Why...Winry asked and
looked towards her husband and then towards the ring on his ring finger and
then to the ring on her own ring finger.
- Why are you smiling as you leave us behind without you...Winry said
whimpering and the rain became a drizzle.

And then the door flung open and a cold winter wind blew through the entire
house.

- Yo Elrics!Roy Mustang said sheepishly as he and Riza Mustang walked through
the door, the cold winter world outside blasting through the warmth in the
house.

Their two children appeared behind them.

Maya and Dan Mustang.

But when everyone in the house looked up at them, the snow was rain.

Roy and Riza just stopped in their tracks.

They looked towards the crowd.
Roy sighted out defeated as Dan closed the door behind them.
- Why is it always that we have such a bad timing on christmass?...Roy
sighted out defeated and hung of his cold coat.
- What is it now? Why is it raining? Riza asked when she saw that everyone
sitting around the living room had red eyes of sorrow looking at the four.
- It's...Edward...Winry said and looked down.
No one greeted them.
This was a bad sign.
And the Mustang's noticed it.

- What has Fullmetal's short temperament done now? Roy asked as he hanged away
his and his family's outdoor clothes and then walked up to Edward sitting in
his chair.

No reaction whatsoever.

Riza had noticed that while everyone shivered whimpered when the cold air had
blasted through the house, the man in the chair had not even reacted.
- He is...Winry said as new tears came flowing.
Dan went to her side.
- Fullmetal...Your whole family is crying...What have you done now?!Roy
said a bit frustrated and placed a hand on Edward's shoulder while Riza did the
same on Edward's wrist.
Then all the worst fears were meet and the frustration died like a match in
water.
- Edward...Roy said shocked and took a few steps back until he collapsed
onto a kitchen chair.
He slumped together and held his head with his left hand, his eyes shut tight.
- Dad...Mom...Maya asked worried as she looked at how her parents just
slumped together after having touched Uncle Ed.
- Edward...Roy said beneath his breath.
- ...He is...Winry tried to say through a sob.
- Dead...Al said with a heavy sight and just folded his hands over his
face.

Dan and Maya just stopped and looked at the man smiling contently in the chair.
Looking completely relaxed.