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“Damn it, it’s freezing up here! Why’d we have to go to Briggs?”
Al looked over at his brother angrily stomping in the snow. “You were the one who wanted to find that girl, brother. We’re just following her tracks.”
Ed growled and kicked at the snow. “Well that was before I knew I’d be freezing alive!”
“I don’t think it’ll be too much further. We’ve been walking for a while, I’m sure something will show up soon.” Al looked around, seeing nothing but snow in every direction. In all honesty, he was a little concerned about how long it’d been since he'd seen anything at all. It was a mountain, but the road they were following before had tapered off a while back. It had been going in a straight line, so the two of them had decided to keep going in the same direction. He was determined to remain optimistic since Ed certainly wasn’t going to.
“Brother… I can’t move my automail.”
Al turned around, just now realizing that Ed was no longer walking in step with him. He was standing stiffly in one place. Al rushed over to check on him. “Both your arm and leg?”
“Yeah. I don't really know what happened, they were working fine just a second ago.” Ed looked nervously down, unsure of what to do.
“Can you walk at all?”
“You think I’m just standing here because I want to?” Al saw the beginning spark of panic enter Ed’s eyes as he watched the snow swirling endlessly around them. It was time to get ahold of the situation before Ed was fully able to get there. He was immune to the cold, after all. He could get them out of this. Al picked Ed up and began carrying him princess style before he could stop him.
There was immediate resistance.
“GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME, DAMN IT!” Ed struggled as much as he could with his two good limbs, but Al had too good of a grasp on him.
“Calm down, brother. I have to carry you if you want to get out of this alive.”
“I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!”
“You can’t even walk on your own right now. Please just stop struggling and this will be a lot easier.”
After about 5 minutes of pointless struggle, Ed faded into an angry acceptance, all the while making it clear how much he didn’t need to be carried. Al sighed, both tired and relieved that he had decided to stop. They trekked on for a long time. The sun eventually started to set, and looking down he saw that Ed wasn’t doing great. The skin around his automail arm had turned black, and he had faded into a feverish sleep. The worry that Al had been trying to keep at bay washed over him. He quickened his pace and frantically looked around for any sign of the fort. There was nothing but an endless sea of white.
He had to find the fort, for Ed’s sake. Whatever happened, he was not going to lose his brother to this. Once again he quickened his pace, desperately hoping he was going in the right direction. By this point sun couldn’t be seen in the sky, and night was falling upon them quickly. ‘Please no, there’s no way he can survive a night in the mountains! Not like this!’ Al thought frantically, going into an all out run. In his panic, he almost ran directly into a wall. He stopped just in time, feeling relief flood through him. He’d found the fort.