Leave A Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Snow[flake]

It was cold, stepping off the train, my breath as transparent as the rest of me.

I pulled the coat Edward had made closer to myself; a warm, violet version of his own.

We walked, boots crunching snow, and soon Edward noticed my distraught expression.

He panicked, arm shielding near his face. "Y-you don't like the color I picked out?"

"N-no!" I put a gloved hand out, sure that I looked like some mirrored version of him. And then, with this thought, I realized the implication of my words. "I-I mean, it's fine! The color and all."

Ed relaxed, hair still a little frazzled. Lips slightly pinched, eyes slightly narrowed and wide at the same time.

"Fine," he said quietly, and both hands returned to the pocket of his furry coat.

We walked in the snow for a few minutes, the sound of our feet crunching the only sound we heard.

And then Al spoke.

"It's been a while since we were in Briggs, hasn't it, Brother?"

"Hm?" Ed looked up to his younger sibling, then with a one-shouldered shrug, continued speak. "Ah. Yeah, guess it has, hasn't it?"

I stayed quiet, noting how we'd been in light snow before, when we traveled to the cusp of the northern territory. But nothing quiet as white as this...

"Where are we going, again?" I asked, sure my nervousness was showing.

"Xaver," Ed answered, and we left it at that. "They're an alchemist in Northern Briggs. We should be able to slip in and slip out without 'rousing Major Armstrong."

True to his word, we were able to slip in fairly quietly; with a flash of his pocketwatch, we were mosying down secrete hallways and small pathways. Nothing out of the ordinary...

"ELRIC BROTHERS!"

Ed tensed up, completely in fear, as I looked in the direction of the voice. As booming as it was... it was familia-

"Major Armstrong!" Alphonse replied, and the large muscled man appeared.

"Oh how wonderful it is to see you two again! And your childhood friend!" I was pulled into a bone-crushing hug, tears streaking my blouse. "She is still with you after all this time! The loyalty, the kinship!"

Ed grinned, and then yelped as he too was pulled into a single hug. I breathed again, and caught sight of long blonde hair slipping away, into another hallway.

We spent a few more moments with Major Armstrong, and then we were finally led to the alchemic expert. Major Xaver, an Ishvalen man that was bent over flasks and beakers.

He looked up, as Edward approached.

"You must be the Fullmetal Alchemist," he said, and I was surprised he got the identification right. "I've... heard you were much shorter."

Ed grinned, passing a hand along the bottom of his nose. "Stories take time to get updated," he said, and Xaver gave a small nod.

"Please," he put a hand out to whatever what he was working on. "If there's anything I can do..."

"Do you know anything about changes in transmutation light?" Ed asked, voice solemn. "We're looking for red light, specifically?"

"Red light?" One hand came to a goteed chin. "No, I'm not sure I've ever heard of red light in a transmutation before..."

Al and Ed sighed.

"Sorry," Xaver concluded, and our stay was limited after that.

I thought about the meeting, what the alchemist had told us just before we left his presence.