Hello one and all. Just how many Pride stories am I going to write? The world will never know! Ah well, the kid needs love. This takes place a few years after most of the one shots in Garden Chats, although you don't need to read them for this to make sense. It's also about seven years after the end of FMA, so Selim's around ten.

Disclaimer- I do not own Full Metal Alchemist, I could never be that amazing.

Chapter 1

Selim Bradley stared out his window impatiently. His mother had said Al was coming over today, and he wished he would hurry up and get there. Alphonse Elric had been a lot like an older brother to him over the years. He had never known his father, and although Al was not old enough to be his by far, it was still the closest thing he had. Glancing back to his bed he saw his cat, shadow, asleep on top of a stuffed doll. It was of a suit of armor, Al had given it to him years ago.

That suit of armor. It reminded him, maybe he should tell Al about those dreams he's been having once he showed up. He didn't tell his mother about them, because he was too old to be running to his mommy about nightmares, but telling Al was different.

Before he could get up to go grab his cat and the beat up old doll, a car pulling into the driveway caught his eye. Looking back out the window, he saw the car screech to a halt. Defiantly Al, he was a terrible driver. His mother trusted him with Al almost anywhere, except in a car with him behind the wheel.

About to run downstairs to greet him, he stopped. Looking back out the window, he saw a blond head stepping out of the passengers side. Leaning closer to the windowpane Selim frowned. Edward.

Don't ask him why, but Selim had never liked Al's brother all that much. When he was little, he had been terrified of the short blonde. It wasn't that he was mean, or anything like that, he just… Okay, he was still scared of him, but he didn't know why. It wasn't like he was a cowered, he wasn't afraid of many things at all, actually.

Turning away from the window he figured there was no helping it. He was already here. Walking down the stairs he could hear the front door open.

"Oh Edward, Alphonse, so glad you could come," Selim could hear his mother's voice from the front room. She was older then most of his friend's mothers, but he didn't mind. She was always so nice to him, and she was all he had family wise.

"No problem Mrs. B, what was it you wanted us to fix again?" Ed's voice this time. Oh, so they were here to fix something, that was understandable. There deck had collapsed about two weeks ago. His mother had been terrified when it happened. Selim had just come in off it, saying he heard a strange creaking noise, and when he shut the door, the whole left side of the deck had come down. She didn't let him anywhere near the rubble, no matter how careful he said he would be.

"The deck, it just fell down two weeks ago. Selim had just come off of it too, it was so scary." Selim stepped into the doorway, but didn't interrupt the adults.

"Well, thankfully nothing happened. Don't worry, we'll fix it in no time," Al said happily. Mrs. Bradley nodded.

"Thank you again," She said. Al looked over to where Selim was watching them and smiled.

"Hey there, didn't hear you come in," he said. Selim nodded, people always said that, apparently he was as quiet as his cat.

"Can I watch you guys work on the deck?" he hoped they said yes, and he also hoped they fixed it with alchemy. Ever since he was little he was fascinated with the stuff. Al promised to teach him when he was older. Al glanced over at his mother, who nodded.

"Sure," he said, and Selim ran out of the room to get his shoes. He wasn't surprised that Ed hadn't said anything, he didn't talk to him much. He wasn't sure what it was, but Edward, along with a few people from the military who came to visit his mother from time to time, all had this vibe around them. They didn't trust him for some reason, but he couldn't figure out why.

There was one women, he'd only seen her once or twice, but she didn't trust him in the least. She didn't show it very much though, but when he had first met her, just a few years ago, she'd tensed up. She was in the army, and Selim had seem her hand twitch towards the pistol she kept on her, and her eyes had gotten very cold. All this only lasted a second before she was back under control, and she greeted him politely.

"Selim, are you coming?" Al called from the other room. Tying his shoe quickly, Selim stood up.

"Yes!" and with that, ran after the two brothers. To Selim's disappointment, Al didn't fix the whole thing in one alchemic swoop. Al had told him several times that alchemy was not the answer to all of life's problems, and tried to prove that point as much as possible. After a few hours his mother came out with drinks and told the Elrics to take a break. The two brothers sat down next to Selim on the picnic table they had outside, and his mother went back into the house. She said it was too hot for her.

"So, how have you been Selim?" Al asked him. Selim thought a bit, he had wanted to tell Al about his strange dreams, but couldn't when Ed was there. Especially since Ed had been in the dreams. Shrugging, the young boy decided he would wait until the older brother had left.

"Good, you?" He asked. He hoped Al would tell him of some epic journey he had been on since he last visited. He would often tell him amazing stories about Xing and other countries to the east. Al had traveled quite a bit there, studying alchemy and many other things. Smiling, Al shrugged his shoulder like Selim had.

"Not much, no amazing adventure stories to tell you this time, I'm afraid," Al said, and took another sip of his lemonade. Selim just nodded. Ed wasn't saying much, he seemed to be thinking of something, which was fine by him, he would just talk to Al.

"How much longer do you think it'll take you to fix the deck?" Selim asked.

"We'd be done it already if Al would just use alchemy," Ed muttered. Selim frowned a bit. He knew Edward couldn't use alchemy, but what he couldn't understand was why he didn't just learn. His brother obviously had, and Al was always talking about how smart Ed was. Al shushed his brother quickly.

"It'll take a few days," Al told him. Selim just nodded, he knew if he asked why he didn't just use alchemy, he would get the same answer he always did.

"Gah, stupid cat!" Ed yelled suddenly, scaring both Selim and Alphonse. After the shock, Al just shook his head and giggled at his brother, who was trying in vain to get the cat off his lap.

"C'mere Shadow," Selim called, and the old cat walked up to him slowly. He'd had him as long as he could remember, and whenever Ed came over it was always the same. Al said his brother had never liked cats.

"Don't see why they let him have that cat, with that stupid name," Ed was grumbling, although the two other occupants of the table both heard him.

"Ed!" Al yelled, looking rather worried all of a sudden. Selim didn't get it though, but it wasn't entirely unsuspected. People, the same people who seemed afraid and untrusting of his, always appeared surprised at the name of his cat. He didn't get why though, but apparently Ed and Al did.

"Is something wrong with Shadow's name?" He asked. Maybe they would just tell him, and then he would know why soldiers and government officials seemed afraid of a little kid.

"There's nothing wrong with his name, Ed's just being stupid," Al said quickly. Selim could tell he was lying, he was a terrible liar. He didn't press the subject though. He'd just have to wait to find out why people were afraid of him.

Hesitantly his hand went up to the red circle in the middle of his forehead. Everyone said it was a birthmark, but he'd never seen a birthmark like that. People didn't like it when he asked questions though, so he tended not to. He would figure out everything on his own. He didn't believe the people who said there wasn't anything to figure out, even Al.

Sighing, Al stood up. "Well, we better get back to work, right brother?" Ed nodded and stood as well. After a few hours, the brothers stopped again. They'd gotten a lot done, even without alchemy. Selim was impressed. Following the two inside Selim watched as they said farewell to his mother, and promised to be back tomorrow to continue working on the deck.

Going up to his room Selim watched as their car pulled out. Apparently Ed was driving, because they backed out without swerving.

Sitting on his bed the small boy picked up the beat up armor plushy. It was exactly like the armor in his dream, although that armor had been attacking him. Yawning, Selim laid his head down. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night because of said dream, and decided he was going to take a nap. His mother would wake him up for dinner, she always did.

Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line

Well, there you have it. I feel so unoriginal, now three of my stories have dreams as a part of them. Well, more like two, but still. Well, I hope you like this so far. Please review.