Cold cold cold! [Ed/Al/Open]

[alphonse elric]

"B-b-b-brother!" Alphonse gasped, though he was bundled up tightly against the extreme cold, it was still freezing! He wore a thick black coat, matching pants, red gloves, a hat, a scarf and earmuffs and yet he still felt like he was going to freeze to death! He didn't want to complain though, for surely Edward would suggest that they turn back. He would just have to endure. Besides, a small part of him relished the cold, for it proved once again that was human.

"Brother! Where are you?" he asked, looking all around for Edward, he had gone off for...some reason. Alphonse stood there, looking for his brother and then, something struck him. It was that feeling of 'something isn't right'. "BROTHER!" He yelled, raising his voice as high as it would go. He saw a flash of red in the blinding whiteness and jogged toward it, "Ed is that you?" He called, then jumped back in shock "Oh......so that's why you went off." He muttered, quickly averting his eyes as Edward made loud protests and then, the audible zip of the boy's pants.

"Well if you had told me you had to go to the bathroom in the first place I wouldn't have gotten worried!" Alphonse shot back, "Anyway.... the storm is just getting worse!" he announced, taking a rope from his backpack, "Here." He said, tying one end around his middle and handing the other off to Edward, "Tie this around your waist brother. If we lose sight of each other, at least we'll be together."

Visibility was so low, he could barely see his brother, even though they were just a few feet away from each other. The wind howled, ice crystals sliced across Al's face, scratching it up. "Let's go uh...." he looked around and then he pointed, "This way!" He headed off, taking the lead. In the past, his large body would shield Edward's from the elements, but now both of them were fully exposed and it was getting dangerous.

"Hold on Ed." Alphonse muttered and then clapped his hands together and pressed them into the snow. Instantly, an igloo appeared in front of them. Al did it again, making another igloo and another and another until they were in a deep trench in the snow and finally, Al climbed out of the trench, using Edward as a stepping stool for extra height and joined all the snowdrifts together and created a large roof with a single opening at the top.

"There." He said with a smile, hopping down from Edward's shoulders "And now for a little fire." he sat down, removing his pack and taking out matches, dry wood and canned food. "And a little lunch too." He added with a laugh.

[edward elric]

Snow was everywhere as the train arrived in the north. The two set off, the journey in place as they moved. Throughout the move, Edward went to use to bathroom he heard his brother call out to him. Alphonse seemed worried and said he wouldn't had been if he had just told him where he would have went. "Didn't realize I needed your permission." He said in a joke kind of tune. It was all a joke but it was so nice, to be on the road again with Al.

The two was then tied to the waist with each other. "This is ridiculous Al. It's not like we can really lose each other here." Ed said but his younger brother wouldn't have it so there they were. Strapped to the waist as they walked through the blizzard. This was the North rule, Survival of the Fittest. He would have to bide by those rules or he would not survive. Just the way Briggs worked.

Ice had begun to scratch their faces but then Alphonse made an igloo and another until they had a trench with a roof over their head. In the back of his heart, Ed felt some jealously. "Ice alchemy. You've gotten better Alphonse." He said as he touched one of the walls. As he did so though, a bullet came through the wall and nearly took off his head as he got down. "Alphonse!!" He called as they were both ducked down. Bullets flew through the walls rapidly until it collapsed.

As Ed and Al pierced there was a group of men, all in Drachma clothing. "Announce your purpose here, Alchemists!!" One of the man said on the loud speaker as a mini tank pulled up and bullets continued to fly. The tank made a loading noise and without even a hesitation, Ed looked at Al as bullets continued to fly. "Come on Alphonse!"

After that, they began to run. Ed couldn't tell if his brother had done any alchemy to prevent any bullets but they just moved as fast as possible away from the Drachma soldiers. Finally they arrived behind a small hill made of rocks. "Guess things are getting really bad huh?"

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[alphonse elric]

"Thanks, it's really thanks to Mai though." Alphonse said sheepishly, "I mean, she's amazing! At....at alchemy I mean." He added quickly, glad that he wasn't blushing. "And we could have lost each other, without being able to see and no way to get our bearings, we could have easily walked right past each other without knowing it." He pointed out, surprised that Edward hadn't thought of that.

Suddenly, bullets flew through their shelter and Alphonse dove for the ground, his arms over his head. "Yeah no kidding!" he yelped, leaping to his feet and climbing out through the top, then rolled down the slope he'd created. "Ed! Why are we running? This makes us look guilty!" He shouted after him, "If we just explain who we are and what we're doing here, I'm sure Oliver will sort things out for us! And...and if not, Mustang can always get us out!" he added, dashing alongside Edward.

"Brother...." He said softly as they stopped to catch their breath. "I think we might have stumbled onto military territory, I mean ....we could be anywhere and with no real shelter and no way of knowing what time it is, we're kind of stuck out here. I think our best bet would be to go back and turn ourselves in. We can explain what happened and why I used alchemy and.....that we're friends of Oliver and Falman, he should still be stationed there."

He then fell silent, trying to listen for anything approaching, but it was impossible to hear much of anything over the howling wind. It was all too loud. "......Ed?" He asked, "You know how long these snowstorms can last. You know it'll only get colder at night and we're lost....admit it. We can just turn ourselves over to those guys and let them take us to Brigs. They know this land better than we do." he said, trying to reason with his brother.

He then sneezed and shuddered, it really was cold. He hadn't been expecting things to be quite so bad, and he knew Edward had to be cold as well. Hopefully, his brother would finally wise up and see the logic of his little brother's words. Otherwise, they'd be in for a very very long night.

[edward elric]

As the two ran, Al asked Ed why they were running. "Because Al, these guys aren't exactly asking for passports. They are shooting at us!" The elder brother screamed as their feet moved as quick as possible to get out of the dangerous situation. "They are Drachma, they probably think we are State Alchemist trying to make our way into the country." He said as he looked back some. Things were not looking good.

Alphonse began to say how he thought they should turn back. "Are you crazy!?" Ed asked with his eyes increased in size. They got very wide as he wondered just what his brother was thinking. "They aren't going to bring us to Briggs Al. Don't you remember what Kimblee did, how he killed an entire infantry unit of their's. They are gonna bring us back to their camp and torture us for information!' He tried to explain but then his younger brother gave him the examples of how they could die out there.

"Fine Al, but it's up to you if we get captured." Ed said as he pulled out a white towel he had. Quickly he jumped up to grab a twig off a dead tree and used rope to make a white flag out of it. "Hopefully this will stop them from shooting us." Ed said as he advanced forward the men aimed their guns when they met up again but saw the white flag.

Suddenly four men came up and roughly grabbed the two as they shoved them to the ground. Not saying anything, Ed was already beginning to get insanely pissed off.

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