Summary: A snowfall in Central echoes a memory from Edward's past. A memory that leaves him with a warmth in his heart - and ice cold snowballs on the rest of him. One-shot. Brotherly!fic.

It was snowing. It didn't take a scientist to figure this much out.

White, fluffy flakes issued from even whiter, fluffier clouds above, and Edward stood on the steps leading up to the hotel he and his brother had stayed at last night, staring upwards, blinking.

It was snowing in Central City. It never snowed in Central City.

"Brother!" Al's shout caught him off-guard, and he spun around towards his brother's voice, but when he did, he lost his balance on cold, slippery ice and tumbled - quite unceremoniously - down the frozen steps, with a muffled "Ack!" of surprise. He landed in a snowdrift that was larger than he was (though he'd kill anyone who dared point it out), which broke his fall, but shattered his pride.

"Sheesh!" Edward growled out, stomping to his feet as Alphonse hurried - without slipping - down the stairs. "You could at least warn me if you're gonna jump me like that!"

"Sorry, Brother!" said Alphonse, while Edward only scowled and continued trying to dust snow off his hair and red coat. "I forgot you were so uncoordinated in the snow!"

"Oh, shut up!" snapped Edward, and he flipped his scarf over his shoulder and started down the street, tailed by the clanking armor that was his younger brother.

…

"Big brother!"

A weight dipped the edge of his bed suddenly one cold, winter morning, and Edward tried his best to ignore it. "Al, go away," Edward groaned loudly, reaching over blindly, attempting to shove his five year old brother away. "It's too early. Go back to sleep."

"You always say that! And it's not early!" said Al, and this time, instead of simply jumping on the bed, Alphonse took it upon himself to jump on Edward instead. "Wake up!" Al insisted, kneeling atop his brother and shaking his shoulders furiously. "Wake up wake up wake up!"

"Agh!" Edward sat up, shoved Alphonse off him, and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles. Alphonse bounced back and sat eagerly on the edge of the bed, looking ready to burst from excitement. "Okay, I'm up," Edward said. "What's so important?"

"Look, Ed!" said Alphonse, leaping off the bed and charging for the window. "Look! It's snowing!"

Edward frowned, swung his legs over the side of his bed, and followed his little brother over. "Snowing? You're kidding. We never get snow, Al."

"Look!" Alphonse insisted, grabbing Edward by his wrist and yanking him towards the window. "See for yourself!"

Edward relented and pressed his nose against the glass, copied by Alphonse. Sure enough, there was snow, and tons of it. The rest of the town's children were out already, constructing snowpeople and laughing in glee. Edward's face brightened, and he and his brother smiled.

In unison, they turned to each other, proclaimed, "Yay, snow!" and charged downstairs without another word.

Roughly two minutes later, Edward and Alphonse had put on their snow boots, coats, and gloves, and were just about to race each other outside when a voice from behind stopped them.

"Going out to enjoy the snow, are you?" their mother said, stepping into the living room, broom in hand. Edward and Alphonse nodded eagerly, and she smiled kindly, ruffling their hair in turn. "Don't forget this, Ed," their mother told him, reaching and grabbing a bright red scarf from the coat hook and securing it around his neck. "You don't want to get too cold."

Edward blushed and nodded; he always forgot his scarf. It was embarrassing, especially considering the fact that his little brother Alphonse never forgot his.

"Thanks, Mom!" Edward said, raising a gloved hand to wave, and he and Alphonse finally charged outside into the white, Edward's too-long scarf billowing behind him.

…

Edward reached up absentmindedly and fiddled with a loose string of his now faded, threadbare scarf, one of his few belongings to have escaped the fires of the house he and his brother burned to the ground. At the time, Edward had told his brother - and everyone else - that he brought the scarf in his suitcase only because one never knew when they'd have to take a trip North, or anywhere else with harsh, cold weather, and that there was nothing sentimental about the scarf whatsoever.

But in his heart, he knew better, and judging by his little brother's lack of comment, Alphonse did, too.

"Just look at all this snow, Brother!" said little brother exclaimed, holding out a gauntlet of a hand to catch flakes as they fell. "If this keeps up, they'll have to plow the streets just to make a clear road!"

"Yeah," Edward said, putting his hands behind his bead. "Snow's something we never got much of back home. It's a nice change."

It always was.

They passed a small cart on the side of the street selling candies and hot chocolate, surrounded by little kids; peppermint and chocolate, a brilliant combination, in Edward's mind. Something even more ingenious than milk in stew.

He smiled fondly.

…

"You paid for it last time, Brother!" Alphonse complained, as Edward handed the stout old man behind the cart a small handful of copper coins. "I want to do it!"

"No can do," said Edward, taking two cups of hot cocoa and two candy canes from the seller, handing one of each to Alphonse, who took them grudgingly. "I'm the big brother which means I get to make the rules."

"That's no fair!" Alphonse shot back, stomping his little foot in the snow, but Edward was already walking away, pretending not to hear him. "Hey! Ed! Wait for me!" And he tore after his big brother, being careful not to spill his hot chocolate as he did so.

…

Edward smiled and kept on down the lane with his younger brother, occasionally looking back over his shoulder at the small group of children buying goodies. It was hard to remember a time he and his little brother had been that carefree, that innocent. It was amazing how quickly things could change.

It was amazing how quickly things had changed.

As they passed a somewhat larger clump of snow, Edward paused, while Alphonse continued on, not noticing his brother's hesitation. Edward took a moment to think over a plan, and then, he grinned, made sure Alphonse wasn't looking, then made a break for the pile of snow.

"You know, Brother, this reminds me of when we were little," Alphonse was saying, though Edward ignored him, busy with gathering as much snow as he could and compiling it into a hard, frozen ball.

He bared his teeth in a crazy, feral grin, and pulled back his arm, his fingers closed around his ammunition…

"Don't you remember?" Alphonse said, blissfully unaware. "We built snowmen and had snowball fi - AH!"

Edward's ice assault smacked him right in the head and knocked his helmet clean off. They were lucky the street was abandoned, or there would have been lots of questions concerning Al's unusual body that Edward couldn't - wouldn't - answer.

"My head!" Alphonse shrieked indignantly, and Edward cackled hysterically. "Brother!" Alphonse sounded offended, angry now, as he grabbed his head and shoved it back into place "You did that on purpose!"

"Ha ha ha!" Edward gawked, clapping his hands together, still grinning. "If that was on purpose, then this is an accident!"

He slammed his palms into the snowdrift and sent dozens of snowballs flying at his younger brother. Alphonse shouted something unintelligible in surprise and put up his arms to shield himself (even though his body of armor already did a good job of that).

Edward cackled and pointed, barely able to keep himself straight with the force of his laughter. Alphonse lowered his arms and clapped his hands together, eyes bearing into Edward's, and only then did Edward's laughter stop.

"Oh, so that's how you wanna play it?" said Alphonse challengingly. "Well, two can play at that game!"

He smacked his armored hands to the ground, and a wave of snow came rushing straight towards Edward.

Edward wasn't laughing anymore.

"OH, HECK NO!" Edward shrieked, trying to make a run for it, but to no avail. The ice and snow crashed over him, engulfed him, and with a final muffled, strangled screech, everything was quiet.

Alphonse straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest, expecting Edward to pop out of the snow any moment and shout a thousand colorful insults at his younger brother.

But he didn't. Alphonse waited a minute or two, impatiently, but then, his impatience turned into worry. It was just snow, right? Then why wasn't Edward reappearing?

"Hey, Ed? …Brother?"

…

"Ouch!" Alphonse yelled, reaching up to cover his face, which had been assaulted by a snowball thrown by his oh so loving big brother. "Hey, Ed, that hurt! Mom said no head-shots!"

"I wasn't aiming for your head!" Edward protested, tossing a second snowball carelessly into the air a few times before throwing it at his brother. Alphonse squeaked and dove, hands over his head, and Edward's ammunition flew straight over his head.

"That time, you were!" Alphonse shouted.

"I was not!"

"You were, too!"

"I was not!"

"You were, too!" This time, Alphonse bundled as much snow as he could into a ball, squeezed all excess water out of it to form a perfect base-ball-like iceball, and hurled it straight at his big brother's head. It smacked Edward dead on target, and Edward was spun around by the mere force of the shot. After that, he hit the snow-covered ground flat on his face. He was still.

Alphonse took in a sharp breath.

"...Brother?"

...

"Brother!" Alphonse shouted, and now, he was digging frantically through the snow, using alchemy whenever convenient to push aside huge drifts. When he still didn't get any response from his older brother, his panic intensified. He'd never forgive himself if he'd hurt his brother over something stupid like snow.

"Ed! Edward! Where are you!?"

He was just about to shout again, when large, blue, lightning-like tendrils darted across the surface of the snow, and before Alphonse could back away, the powdery snow hardened into stone-cold ice around his ankles, preventing movement.

Alphonse should have felt relieved, but in the end, he felt more annoyed than anything.

"Edward, you jerk! I was worried about you!"

Edward leapt out from underneath a powdery snowdrift and brushed off his hands casually. "And I thank you for your concern, brother mine!" he said with a mock bow, clapping his hands. "That snow wave of yours was pretty neat. Allow me to return the favor!"

He slammed his hands into the snow, so that his palms sank all the way down to asphalt, and the snow rose and jerked like a large picnic blanket being spread out. Alphonse tried to move out of the way, but since his ankles were stuck and he didn't have enough time to transmute himself out, there was no escaping.

"You're so mean, Brother!" he complained, because there wasn't much else he could do.

"It's called winning!" Edward protested.

"Oh really," Alphonse said, and he clapped his hands. Time for round two.

…

"Ed!" Al cried, running over to where his brother had fallen and wasn't getting up. "Ed, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you! Please don't be dead, please don't be-"

He knelt down and grabbed Ed's shoulder, prepared to turn him over, when Edward suddenly sat up, grabbed the back of Al's shirt, and stuffed a large handful of snow straight down his back. Alphonse shrieked and leapt to his feet, spinning around a few times to try and get the snow out of his clothes. Ed, meanwhile, got to his feet, grinning.

"Brother!" Alphonse protested, spinning around. "I thought you were hurt!"

"It did hurt!" Edward said, rubbing the side of his head where his brother's ice-ball had met skin. "It hurt a lot!"

"I thought you were seriously hurt!" Alphonse cried. "I thought we'd have to take you to see Mr. and Mrs. Rockbell!"

Edward scoffed and rolled his eyes. Alphonse glared darkly and, without thinking about what he was doing, charged, tackled his brother to the ground, and sent them both tumbling into a large snowdrift nearby.

…

"I GIVE UP! I GIVE UP! YOU WIN! DANG IT ALPHONSE I SAID YOU WIN!"

Honestly, Edward never stood much of a chance against his brother; knowing this, he didn't know what had possessed him to throw that first snowball to begin with, but now he regretted it all the more, as Alphonse held him by the back of his trench coat, so that his legs dangled nearly three feet off the ground.

"I know," said Alphonse innocently, "I'm just looking for a nice snowdrift to put you in until you cool down some."

Edward crossed his arms firmly over his chest, wondering how his sweet, kind little brother could be so insanely evil.

"Ooh, how about this one?" said Alphonse, spinning and pointing towards a large one at the end of the street. "It's even taller than you are!"

"I hate you. You'd sell out your own brother, to a snowdrift."

"Yes, well, this brother deserves it every now and then."

Edward sighed, but he couldn't really argue with that.

…

It was later on in the evening. Edward was sitting on the porch, alone, sipping hot cocoa made by his mother, watching the stars, occasionally seeing a meteor pass by.

He heard their front door open, and he turned around to look. Alphonse stepped outside, still in his winter clothes, also carrying a small mug of cocoa. "Brother?" he said quietly, making his way over.

"Yeah, what is it?" Ed asked, and Al sat next to him, looking down at his snowboots, almost guiltily.

"I'm sorry I threw that snowball at you," Al said. "And pushed you into the snowdrift."

"Nah, I deserved it," said Edward reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. I was the one who started it, anyways."

Alphonse paused, smiled softly, and then nodded, turning his eyes back into the dark, starry night sky. Edward followed his gaze, waited a beat or two, and then noticed something he hadn't before.

"Al? Where's your scarf?"

Alphonse reached up, touching his bare neck, where a blue scarf had once been. "Oh...I don't know," he said. "Maybe I lost it in the snow somewhere."

Edward sighed heavily, pretending to be exasperated, and he pulled his own scarf off his neck and threw it at Al. Al caught it and looked up at his older brother, silently questioning.

"You can wear it for now," Edward said, "but I expect it back, you hear me?"

Alphonse blinked at him once, twice, and then, his smile came back, and he wound the red scarf around his neck. "Okay," he said. "Thanks, Brother."

Edward grunted in response, and the two set their eyes on the heavens, watching as the stars twinkled above, seemingly without a care in the world.

…

"...We used to have fights like that all the time, didn't we?" Edward said, sitting as close to the small wood stove in their hotel room as he could without burning himself; his soaking wet trench coat was laid across the back of a nearby chair. "I remember nearly all of them."

Alphonse was sitting across from his brother, using a towel to dry off his armor before it rusted; Ed had dried his own automail earlier. "Yeah," said Alphonse, "I remember, too. We never got much snow back home, so when we did, it was special. We always used it as an excuse to attack each other."

Edward smiled softly. "You're talking in past-tense," he said. "As if we've stopped doing it." He paused a moment, letting a comfortable silence befall the room. "You know, despite everything that's happened...it's amazing that despite everything, some things never change."

Just as it was amazing how much had changed, there were so many things that remained intact all these years. Like Edward's bond with his brother; their ceaseless bantering; Winry, their childhood friend; and Edward's scarf, still wound around his neck. It was a little damp, but managed to avoid most of Alphonse's attacks by unconsciously hiding beneath Ed's trench coat.

Edward paused again, thinking.

And then, he pulled off his scarf and tossed it over to Alphonse. Just like before, Alphonse caught it.

"Keep it," Edward said firmly, reaching up and squeezing icy water out of his hair. He could almost feel Alphonse's protest coming, so he countered it before it even came. "Who knows," Edward said, shrugging so he looked indifferent. "When we get your body back, you might need it."

Alphonse waited a beat or two. They both knew that when Al got his body back, a scarf would be the least of their thoughts. Scarves were cheap, easy to get, from either a thrift store or a shopping facility. They would have no trouble buying one.

But Al knew Ed's true reasons, like he always did. The words behind the words; the unspoken truth hidden behind a mask of carelessness; words he spoke without opening his mouth at all.

I care about you. Never forget that.

He always cared, when they were little and now when they were older. Edward never said it out loud - no, he was a little too prideful to do that - but he said it in his actions, and that was enough.

"...Thank you, Brother."

Edward shrugged. "That's what I'm here for."

Author's Notes:

This was supposed to be really happy and then it turned out being...different. I'm happy with this fic even if it's not entirely what I was expecting it to be, and I hope you guys enjoyed it, too. I proof-read most of it, but I'm sure there are still some things I missed; I've never been the best editor. Derp. :P

This was supposed to be short, but it ended up being quite long - 8 pages, actually! I'm happy with how this turned out, so I hope you all enjoyed the long read. It was supposed to be short, like I said, but oh well. :)

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this! :D Drop me a review if you please! :D

Cheers! ("Oh snap, snap! Spark, spark! It's time to light up the diggy-diggy dark!")

-BeyondTheClouds777