The Price of Life [Fullmetal Alchemist]

Chapter Thirty Nine

The Way of the North

 •••

Since all three were already there, the boys decided to help her pack in her room. It's not like she needed it; all she really had was her journal, some clothes, and other miscellaneous, but needed items. She also found some of her old transmutation gloves. She had no use for them now but decided to take them just in case. The rest of her actual stuff was still at Roy's.

"All of that looks like light clothes," Al comments as she packs.

"Here." Ed disassembles her suitcase and grabs her green jacket and the pillow she had been provided by the Bradleys. With a quick clap of the hands, there's suddenly soft, warm feathers adorning the inside of the hood. He presents it to Sonia and she smiles gratefully.

"Thank you, Ed," she says sincerely, and the way her lips curl up so genuinely makes the boy look away, hoping his face doesn't look as red as it feels.

"One more thing," she mutters to herself, taking out an extra pair of pants she had stored away. She transmutes the plaid fabric into a scarf with little tassels. "Perfect."

With all her things are packed they say goodbye to Mrs. Bradley and Selim with the promise to come back safe and sound. Sonia had a feeling that the promise would be difficult to keep.

•••

Sonia was wide awake for the entire trip. She was fascinated by the snow and how quickly it fell once they were deep into the North. She sat alone in the train seat while the brothers were on the other side of the aisle. Usually, she would have squeezed in next to the older brother, but Sonia wanted the window seat to see the snow and Ed wouldn't budge, probably wanting the same view. She quickly became irritated when he dozed off to sleep immediately after the train departed.

Once the train stopped, Al woke up his brother and they left the train. Ed, being reckless and eager to stir up more trouble, got off quickly and ran down a flight of stairs only to fall on his butt by the slippery ice. Not only that, while he was trying to get a grip, he latched onto Sonia's coat and pulled her down with him. The ice to her body was a shocker and hurt quite a lot.

"Ed, you dumbass!" she yells at him, grabbing onto the beam for the stairs and pulling herself up carefully. Ed gets up as well, rubbing his now-sore rear end.

"Are you two okay?" Al asks, earnest.

They both just grumble and glare at each other. The armor giggles.

"Let's just head towards the fort, okay boys?" She takes the lead, walking to where she thinks is north.

"The fort is this way, genius," Ed calls to her, pointing in the opposite direction.

"I knew that," she scoffs, her face turning redder than it already was from the cold. "It was a test for you two."

"Uh huh," he says flatly, unbelieving. "Let's go."

They headed in the same direction for quite some time, not seeing many people. Eventually though, they caught a man with a horse carrying items who said he could take the three to just about they were headed. They took the invite without question, and soon enough they were in front of a wooden fence. Sonia was fiddling with the horse and scratching its head as the boys looked ahead to the rest of their journey. Up ahead was a barely noticeable trail. It was a little hard to tell; there was just so much snow!

The brothers said their farewells and thank yous to the kind man and they had a small conversation that Sonia didn't pay attention to while she put on her scarf she had made in Central.

"We'll be there soon, right? I can't stand the damn cold." Ed griped as they followed the trail. The scenery was mostly white, the only pops of color being the pine trees spread about. But they, too, seemed like they were about to be swallowed by all the snow coming down on them.