Al stretched his arms out as he waited in front of the Inn. Winry had ran inside to go to the bathroom- she always did have the bladder of a squirrel. Al tried not to sigh as he thought about everything that had happened. He couldn't help but feel bad for Ed. Everything was ripped from him. What could Ed have done?

He could have done something, Al countered himself bitterly. He was recalling how useless Ed was when Mom left and Dad was passed out. Ed just froze and cried. Useless.

A smack in the face hit Al and left him seeing colors. It took him a minute to realize that it wasn't a mental or made-up slap in the face. He blinked and widened his eyes as the black spots faded. He finally saw his mom. She was standing there, her hand still up and reddening from slapping Al. "M-?" Al couldn't finish the word as his awe and surprise and pain shut him up.

"Don't talk about your brother that way," Mom's stern voice was on the verge of tears.

"What do you mean?" Al asked as he reached out gingerly to touch his cheeks.

"You were mumbling about how useless he was!" Trisha's face was full of disgust. "How could you say that?"

"I didn't," Al defended himself right before realizing that he had been mumbling what he was thinking. "I guess I was," Al muttered more to himself.

"I'm sorry," he said the same time his mom did.

"I didn't mean to hit you."

"I didn't mean to insult Ed."

Al and Trisha looked at each other and they both gave a warm, yet fake, smile. Trisha flickered to the door as she heard it open- Winry was walking out with a faint tune that was familiar. Trisha was gone when Al turned his attention back to Mom. "Wh-?"

Al swallowed his surprise as Winry wrapped her arms around him. He smiled at her. "Hey. I thought you were buying the whole building."

Winry scoffed humorously. "Are you saying I take forever?"

"Perhaps," Al managed to get out just as Winry leaned in to kiss him. Winry and Al had been getting closer everyday, but Al didn't announce his love for her until Ed left.

"Shall we go walk around Central?" Al asked with a gentle smile.

Winry giggled in the way she did. "Sure!" Winry hugged Al's arm and brought herself closer to him as they toured the streets. They didn't get far before a military officer ran up to Al.

The officer was a little taller than Al with caramel hair and blue eyes that weren't pale nor super dark and dazzling. He had the usual uniform on and the black boots, but he was also wearing a necklace with a navy stone on it and a silver chain. "Hey, are you Ed's brother?"

"Uh, yeah," Al replied.

"I'm Cooper, a friend of his. Do you know where he went?" Cooper would have flashed a smile to show he was really friendly, but he was running out of time.

"He went to the military building. Dunno where inside of it or why." Al tucked his hand into his pants pocket. "Sorry I'm not much help."

"It's good enough," Cooper said breathily before running off towards the building. He stopped right before he disappeared in the crowd of people approaching. "Thanks!" He called as he waved his hand around and continued running.

"Odd one, isn't he?" Winry asked Al as they turned to continue walking.

"I wonder..." Al looked at the ground as they walked through the dispersing crowd. "Was he really a friend of Ed's? And if so, what would be so important that he'd be rushing?"

"Huh..." Winry mumbled as she lifted her right hand to her chin and pressed Al closer to her with the right hand that was at his left waist. "What would be important?"

Al bit his lip. Ed was disrupting their date when he wasn't even there. Damn Ed. You are determined to stop me from being happy, aren't you?

Al welcomed Winry's quick peck on his cheek. "Want to check out that shop?" He moved his chin towards the store- a three-story one that looked really fancy. Winry breathed in sharply before cheering.

"Totally!" She nodded her head before running ahead and barging to the door. Al walked to the side of the rode, by a stand, and snatched a single White Lily. It was curled up with perfection.

Winry ran back to Al just after he brought his arm behind his back to hide the beautiful flower. "It's not open," Winry frowned and wrapped her arms around Al. "I don't know how I'll survive," she mused.

"Perhaps this'll help," Al grinned ear to ear as he brought the White Lily between their faces. Winry dropped her arms and leaned back before dancing in glee.

"You're so romantic," she mused as she picked up the lily and kissed Al. "I love you, you know that?" Winry was by his side, swinging his arm with her's.

Al smiled to her warmly. "I love you too."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Cooper placed his hands on his knees as he leaned forward, breathing harder than he had in a long while. "Damn, Edward." Cooper wiped his forehead before forcing himself into a full sprint. He was in the military building, running around to find Ed. He couldn't call him up with the office ladies- then everyone would know he needed to chat with Ed, and he was just a regular soldier.

Cooper cursed under his breath as he peered into a couple hallways out of the corner of his eye. Cooper recalled the paper he had found taped on his door. It had an odd symbol- a dragon-like thing eating its tail outside a triangle surrounded by arrows. It was an odd shade of pink-red as well.

A figure loomed above him and hit Cooper in the neck. Cooper's death was supposed to be painless. That wasn't going to happen. "Stupid scum," an odd voice cackled. He grabbed Cooper by the collar. "Don't get blood on my hair," he muttered. Blood would be very noticeable on his palm-tree like green hair.

I changed this chapter because I didn't want Cooper to be plot-important. He's just a plot filler.