Five years. Five long years. So much has happened since she left. Though, I haven't put much thought into it until now. Al and I haven't spoken much of her since she left. But since this is the exact date she left five years ago, I guess it's normal that I'd think about it now.

Hmm… I know it's eating Al inside. He always puts that smile on his face and says he's alright. But deep down, I know that he had feelings for her. It's been quite obvious since we were kids. Always trying to improve his alchemy just to impress her. To me, I couldn't care less what Winry thought of my alchemy. Looking good isn't the important part of the science, but whatever. It made her smile, so I guess it was good enough for Al. But he's such an honest guy so it's puzzled me that he never told her.

Ah well. I guess it's not worth thinking about. I'll try to think of something else.

"Nii-san, where do you think Winry is?" Well that helped. Thanks, Al. Let's think now. If I try to divert him away from the topic or tell him not to talk about it, he'll get the wrong idea. So I guess I'll answer him. Shrugging at his question, I answered him with a simple "Don't know". Which was true. I hadn't had a clue.

Thinking about it now, I just got a little depressed. Which I'm trying to stop, since I'm the typical angst type of person.

I stared out the window, looking at the random cars drive by. Al kept that frown on his face. The same one he had the day after she left. Which killed me. I hate seeing him like that. I could tell he was worried. I'll admit that my mind has wondered to her a couple of times, and occasionally I'll worry, but she can take care of herself.

"Don't you think about her at all?" Al glanced at me. He didn't seem to understand the fact that I didn't want to talk about it.

"Al, she's probably moved on and made new friends." My younger brother nodded and sighed. I couldn't promise that she was thinking of us or even remembered us. That was just something I can only guess at.

Anyway.

I had to get out of the house. It was getting a bit hot in there and I needed to walk around. Maybe it'd get Al's mind off of Winry if we got outside. "Ne.. Al, why don't we get some fresh air? The heater is starting to get to me and I can use a brisk autumn breeze!"

Thankfully, I got him to smile. "Sounds good. I'll just grab my coat." I nodded and started for the door to wait for him. When he got his coat, he stared at me. "Er… nii-san…"

I looked up from my trance of watching dust race to the ground. "Hmm?"

"Aren't you going to bring a coat or something to cover you up? It's a bit cold outside." he blinked.

Shrugging, I opened the door and put my hands in my pockets. "I'll be alright." I said simply.

Al looked at me like I had three heads. "But nii-san--" I cut him off by messing his hair. "Al, I'll be alright." I put my normal grin on, making him feel better. He smiled and nodded. "But when you complain that your freezing, I'm just going to say I told you so!" He walked down the concrete steps and onto the sidewalk.

"Hmph! Do you think I will? Haha! Not me! I can withstand this weather!" I laughed proudly. I could! I'm awesome like that!

My brother laughed at me. "Nii-san, I bet you couldn't stay out here long for 2 hours without complaining that you were cold." Oh? I sense a challenge.

"Is that a dare, my younger brother?" I asked, arching a brow. He dare challenge me? HA! I will prove my brother wrong!

"Yes, it is a dare, my shorter older brother." He smirked.

…

He said it.

That… 's' word. I growled and stomped down the steps and looked up at him. "You're on!" I had to win. Because if I lose to my younger brother who's slightly taller than I am, I'd never be able to live with myself.

The autumn atmosphere was chilly, brisk, and cold. Not real cold; a comfortable cold. Like the cold you want when you had enough of summer heat. The relaxing kind. It was a nice feeling whenever I felt the breeze came in contact with my skin. I could tell Al enjoyed this too. He had that smile on.

We walked down a couple of blocks and came across a park. It wasn't a huge park, but a nice sized one for everyone, rather than just children. There was a playground with a couple of kids there. Al's face brightened up when we were within a yard of it.

"Oh nii-san!" he started with a big smile on his face, "Can we go? Please?" I couldn't really refuse; I was in the mood to go in there myself as well. "Why not?" I answered, smiling back at him and walking to it. Al nearly squealed. "Race you to the swings!" Hmm.. Another challenge? "Alright then!" I couldn't refuse that either.

We ran to the swings after some kids thought we were mad men. They got off and ran to their parents. I did feel a little bad, but they got over it. It was funny how they just went back on the other swings after being terrified before.

"Beat you, Al!" I said triumphantly as I claimed a swing as mine. Al laughed and shook his head when he got on the swing. "Remember when you and I would have a swinging contest and Winry always got worried that we'd fall off?" he asked me while we were trying to gain height on the swing.

Now that he mentioned it, I did remember that. It was this one time when Al and I had raced to a playground like this one. We got to the swings and I challenged Al to a swinging contest. The day was like today, which is a bit weird, but it was a great day for swinging. There was a gentle breeze and the sun shone brightly. A perfect day. Al and I swung and swung. We got to a point where we could see the houses beyond the park. Winry got a bit nervous that we would fall off, so she called to us and told us to come down. Al, being Al, got a bit scared as well and he lowered himself on the ground. Me, being well… me, continued to swing. Once Al got down, he got next to Winry and they both called my name and told me to get down. 'I can jump to the houses!' I remember saying. 'I'll be able to fly over there!' Too much innocence I guess. Children are like that all the time. Too naïve. Anyway, I jumped off and got a pretty good distance. Only, I didn't make it to the houses. I landed in a giant pile of leaves which were thankfully there. Because I would have had a nasty looking body if I landed on the concrete.

That memory was just refreshed in my mind. I haven't thought about that until now. I laughed at it. "Winry and I were so worried when you landed. We thought you broke at least your legs." Al said. They always were worried about me then. "I was a rambunctious kid at that time. Always getting you guys into trouble and--"

Al interrupted me. "Always getting yourself hurt!" That… was true. "Only cuts and bruises!" I countered. "Which were the size of your arm, nii-san!" He countered my counter. Alright, so I did get hurt a bit too much. But hey, I was 6, right? Al was 5 and Winry was 6. We always got into messes like that. It's what kids do! Then again, I wasn't exactly what you would call a normal kid. I was a bit more hyper than most children at my age. Taking advantage of my happiness, I guess?

Seeing that I put too much thought into it, Al tried to poke me while we swung. "Hey, want to see if we could land in that pile of leaves?" He asked, smiling at me with that Al smile of his. Never could I refuse him with that smile. Just gets to me. I nodded and put more strength in my legs to get higher. Ah, did that just help me relive that day. Looking back now, I don't think I would have done anything different. We had fun that day and I loved those leaves. They were sort of calling to me. Just asking to be jumped in.

After making sure we were both at the same level, Al and I let go of the swing and landed in the leaves. The pile was huge, so we had a soft landing. It felt like a giant pillow, so soft yet raspy since the leaves were dead. Al was the first to surface. "Nii-san this brings back so many memories!… Nii-san? Nii-san!" He searched frantically for me. Seeing this as a good time to surprise him, I grabbed a number of leaves and threw them at him. He was surprised, which was what I was aiming for. We threw some leaves at each other for a while and then settled down by just lying down on them.

The silence was nice for a while, however it was broken when Al had another memory spurt. "Do you remember, during that day?" he turned his body around to face me "When you landed in the leaves and nearly scared Winry and me to death?" I laughed, because I remember it oh so clearly. "Yes and then we played in them for hours" So easily amused we were. Ah I wish I was like that now.

"Mm, and then you got hit in the head!" He laughed while I was brought to silence. Yes, I was hit in the head. Because while we were playing in the leaves that day, Winry and I got into a little wrestling match. Which, being young as we were, was just a wrestling match between kids. It didn't look like anything else when we were younger. Anyway, we were wrestling and I managed to get myself on top of her. Sure for me, it meant victory, but… let's just say that girls shouldn't wear dresses while playing around. Because… heh, hard for me to choose remember it now, but I happened to get her dress up. As in, I saw what she was wearing underneath. Of course, I didn't mean to! It was a playful wrestle. Then she hit me. She smacked my head pretty hard. I remember the pain now. Hmm, even though it hurt, I smile at it now. How naïve we were.

"Ah, nii-san. We should get going. It's getting late and you're starting to shiver." Al poked me. Alright. It was getting a little cold. Just a little. And alright, wearing a t-shirt without a jacket isn't the smartest thing. Since it gets colder the later it gets.

The walk home was quiet. Not because it was cold, but because we were both thinking. When we got in front of the house, I was in a daze and we stood still. I couldn't help but just think about that day. Al was thinking about it too, because before he went in the house, he looked at me and said "That day… was a lot like this, wasn't it?" That was so true, it scared me. It was a lot like today. When we raced, when we went to the swings, when we jumped, when we wrestled, when we sat up and looked at the early evening sky.

Only today was different. Then, we had the next day to look forward to play again. Now… we just have tomorrow. The days were so peaceful then. We lived each day happily, not worrying about anything. Because we had each other. And no matter what happened, we knew that we would always be together.

But… that's not true now.

We're not all together.

Winry's not here.

And now… that I think about it… now that I actually put so much thought into it…

I… miss her. I miss her. I really, really miss her.

A lot.