Lilies For Her Grave
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA, nor the characters.
She'd always loved flowers. Lilies were her favorite, and so he transmuted white lilies for her grave. He remembered that whenever she'd come in from the garden with a fresh bouquet to place in the vase on the windowsill of their little kitchen, she often smiled and wistfully and said, "Your father always brought them to me when we were courting. When it was winter, he'd make them for me. They remind me of him."
To Edward, the memory of his father was nothing more than a tall, dark silhouette in a doorway, and as time passed, the memory had become increasingly hazy. Every time he looked in the mirror, he bitterly wondered how much he resembled his absent father.
As they stood over her tombstone, the mourners leaving, they felt lost and frightened and utterly alone. Abandoned. Mom was gone. They were orphans now. Edward knew she'd died of a broken heart. For years, she'd waited for her husband to come home to her, but he'd never come, despite the promises that he'd someday return to her written in the letters she'd kept hidden from her sons, for fear of getting their hopes up.
Memories rose within Edward as fresh tears sprung into his eyes. The sweet sound of her voice as she'd hum while doing chores, the way that the smell of herbs and spices would fill their small home whenever she cooked her stew, the lullabies she'd sing to Alphonse when a bad dream had frightened him and he couldn't sleep, her soft laughter at their silly antics, her kind smile, her gentle hand on his forehead as she cared for him while he was sick, her words of encouragement and praise as she watched them learn to perform alchemy.
He missed her so much. He missed everything about her. She had been their world.
Edward wanted her back. She couldn't leave them, not like this. He swore he would learn alchemy from a master. Then, when he had learned everything he could, he'd bring their mother back. He didn't care if it was forbidden, that it was breaking the rules, violated the laws of nature. Edward knew he'd sacrifice anything to have his mother back, the consequences be damned.
Little did he know that his and Alphonse's attempt at human alchemy would come at a terrible, horrifying cost that was beyond anything they imagined.
Fin.