Hello there! So this is an idea I've entertained for far too long and had to get out before I could possibly continue on my Harry Potter/ FMA crossover (which I AM working on!)
I urge y'all to review my work. I greatly appreciate criticism, even harsh criticism, as I really do care about progressing my writing ability.
'A mother was taken from two loving sons, who paid dearly for her return. They knew the costs, but not to it's full extent once the blessings of a mother have been felt by the eldest could he and his brother be granted the mother that they lost.'
And with this proclamation ringing in her ears, Trisha Elric awoke. At first, everything was a painful surge of gaining back senses. She nearly screamed, but the feeling of a voice against her throat was foreign after decades in the realm of death. She lay perfectly still, willing herself not to move harshly until she was more familiar with the feeling.
It was incredibly cold, and the grass beneath her naked body felt dry and hard. She could barely see a thing, hinting at a present nighttime. She took a deep breath in, the cold air hitting her lungs like ice water. Very, very slowly, Trisha turned so that her back was against the ground. Up above her were the millions of clusters of stars that she remembered all so well from her home in Resembool.
She smiled, her tired lips heavy from under-use."I-I'm alive." She said as loudly as she could, which was pretty much just a whisper at that point. She felt no pain or sickness, either, which made her happy beyond belief.
The night was quiet, save for the few night creatures that lurked in the trees. This, plus her sensitive hearing, made it easy for the resurrected woman to pick up the noise of voices and footfall a far way off. By the sound of their voices it was a young man and woman.
The man said, "The crash came from over here, near the graves!"
Breaths, labored from running, and footsteps were heard approaching.
She did her best to signal them over by saying a (weak at best), "Help."
"What's that Al?" The woman asked.
"I didn't say anything, Win." The man said back.
Trisha jolted upon the recognition of her son's and Winry's names, instantly regretting moving so quickly, "Alphonse?" She called, voice getting slightly better, "Winry?"
A light (from a flashlight) shone behind Trisha and she had to close her eyes at the intensity of the light against her weak eyes.
"Who said tha- OH MY GOD, AL." Winry shouted. She made haste towards Trisha, getting to her knees beside the woman. "Mrs. Elric?!"
"W-Winry, please turn that light off, it's much too bright." Trisha pleaded in a hoarse whisper.
In response, Winry turned the flashlight away from them, instantly giving relief to Trisha's fragile eyes. She opened her eyes, finding the youngest Rockbell- now an adult- looking at her with extreme confusion. She looked incredibly like Sarah.
The sound of footfall stopped short behind Trisha's line of sight. She tried her best to turn her head towards the other person, but her weak neck muscles only brought her head about halfway back. There was a gasp, and the person sat beside Winry.
"Impossible." Al whispered, eyes growing teary. He looked so grown up, Trisha couldn't help but feel sad about how much time she missed with her son.
"Alphonse, honey, you're so grown up." She said, mustering the strength to bring her arm up to touch his cheek. Al instantly grabbed the hand, clenching it tightly.
"Mom, you're- you died! How can you come back?"
Trisha answered, "I'm not sure." A particularly cold gust of wind hit Trisha's body and she shivered against it.
"Good God, it's near freezing!" Winry exclaimed, taking off her long coat to drape it over Trisha. The warmth of the coat made Trisha's body practically melt with relief. "Can you stand up Mrs. Elric? We have to get inside."
Trisha shook her head, "My body has gone unused for many years- my muscles aren't used to any movement or supporting weight."
"Fine. Al, carry her home. You can stay in our guest room until you're up to moving again, Mrs. Elric."
Winry picked her flashlight back up and Al, as gently as humanly possible, lifted his mother from the stiff grass of the graveyard. Trisha instinctively moved towards the heat of her son's body, finding her shivering lessen.
The walk- well, more of a very slow run- back to Winry's house ended just as the sun was breaching the horizon. By that time, Trisha's eyes weren't as horribly sensitive, so the glow of the breaking morning was not as painful as it could have been. Trisha was surprised to find the house in the same location as her old house. However, this house looked different from the outside, and the old tree in the yard was dead and half-burnt.
Al noticed his mother's confusion and simply explained, "Brother and I made a big mistake, and in fixing it, tried our best to put our past behind us. That meant burning down the old house."
"Alphonse…" Trisha barely whispered, shocked, "What kind of a mistake…"
Al took a shaky breath, "I'll explain it later."
Inside the house, it was comfortably warm, but there were some electric lights on, which Trisha had to close her eyes tightly shut to.
"The guest room's lights are off, but we need to see the way there." Winry said apologetically.
"it's quite fine, I will have to get used to light eventually anyways." Trisha replied. They reached a dark room and Trisha opened her eyes again, right before she was laid down on an impossibly soft mattress, coat removed from her body. Al shielded his eyes, blushing, and Trisha realized that she was, in fact, still naked.
"Winry, you wouldn't happen to have a night dress or something?" Trisha asked.
"Oh, of course! Al, why don't you go get one for me?" Al nodded and went out of the room. She could hear some drawers opening and closing and footsteps before her reentered with a folded nightgown. "Here"
Bless his flusteredness, Al kept his eyes covered until Winry helped Trisha get the gown over her limp arms and torso and the blanket on top of all of it.
They both adjusted the pillows and Trisha until she was sitting up and she waved them off, "I can handle sitting, I'm pretty sure." She said.
"I don't get it- why did it take you so long to come back? The transmutation failed, we were certain." Al said.
Trisha was confused, "What transmutation?" She asked. The young adults paled and neither answered, looking at the blankets. Trisha understood then, "Oh my- Oh my goodness, Alphonse! You and Edward-"
Al nodded, not looking at Trisha's face, "We tried to bring you back to life when I was nine and Brother was ten. Until now, we believed we had failed. I mean, the results made sense for a complete failure."
"What happened? Why isn't Edward here?" Trisha was becoming frantic.
Winry stood and grabbed her arms, "No no no, Ed's in Central! He lives there- he wasn't taken in the transmutation."
Trisha let out a large breath, her nerves tingling from her anxiety. "I don't know much about alchemy, but there was always equivalence when Hohenheim talked about it. What was taken when you transmuted me, Al?"
"Well… my… body was taken, and Ed's leg. As you can see, we got my body back, but I was more or less a… walking suit of armor… for four years." Al explained, noticing how strange it sounded.
Trisha's heart hurt for the sorrow in her little boy's eyes. She opened her arms out, inviting him in. He readily hugged his mom, "I'm sorry! We- we didn't know how it would end. We thought nothing could go wrong- that our math was exact- everything was perfectly set up, but we didn't account for the soul- the part that was taken by the gate."
"Oh, Al, you know it's far too late for me to be angry at you for this- I'm absolutely certain you and Ed have learned your lesson by now. That's why I came back- you two learned your lesson and the extra equivalence was paid, so I was allowed to return." She said, stroking Al's hair.
"What extra equivalence?" Winry asked from the foot of the bed.
"There was a loud voice right before I woke up in the graveyard that said 'only when the blessings ofa mother have been felt by the eldest could he and his brother be granted the mother that they lost'." Trisha explained once Al had stepped back, wiping away a hidden tear. "It would be safe to assume that there was some extra pay, as one body and a leg seems to not be enough for a soul."
There was supple morning light flooding in through the bedroom window. The brightness grew so gradually that Trisha's eyes had become accustomed to it. It was the glint of this morning light that drew her attention to a detail on Al and Winry's hands she had neglected to notice before.
With an energy and accuracy she had yet to show in her time of resurrection, Trisha lunged forward and grabbed the young adults' hands, bringing them together to observe the matching rings.
Al and Winry gave little yelps of surprise, but when they noticed Trisha's attention on their wedding rings, blushed.
She looked up at the two, noticing their flustered faces. It would have been hard to force Trisha's smile off of her face. Upon her happy expression, Winry and Al looked relieved and smiled back.
"And here I thought Edward would end up marrying Winry." Trisha laughed. Al and Winry seemed to find that extremely hilarious, giving each other looks as if they were in on a huge inside joke. "I'm so happy for you two, come here!" She, in her still frail state, all but pulled Al and Winry into a warm hug. "My little sweeties, all grown up! How long have you been married?"
Winry answered once they were both, once again, sitting at the foot of Trisha's bed, "About… four and a half years, right Al?"
"Well, it's 1925… we married in… yeah that's right." Al assured.
Their conversation was cut to a close when Trisha's stomach let out a rather impatient growl, to which Trisha blushed.
Winry giggled, "Hungry, Mrs. Elric?"
"Well I haven't eaten in about twenty years, so I'd say I'm pretty hungry." Trisha replied, face still red.
"How about some soup? I would be wary to try anything heartier while your body is still readjusting." Winry suggested.
"That sounds lovely, and if you have some, would you mind brewing some tea? Any kind will do." Trisha suggested.
Winry nodded, "Right on it!" She left the room as the little clock on the bedside table hit 6 in the morning. She quickly popped her head in before descending the stairs to ask, "Should I phone Ed as well? He may not take to the situation lightly."
Al thought for a moment, "I'll call him in a bit, he's probably still asleep anyways." Winry nodded and left the room again.
"Why would Ed not take to the situation?" Trisha asked.
"oh… well, when we transmuted you back then, we kind of created this, um, non-human life called a 'homunculus'." Al explained.
Trisha nodded, "I know what those are, Hohenheim explained them to me before he left."
Al's eyes went wide, "You knew?"
She nodded, "I knew about your father's past, and about why he needed to leave. I had promised him that I'd explain it to you and Edward when you were old enough… but the time never came."
Al continued, "Well, we made the homunculus 'Sloth'. She looked exactly like you, and their creator, Dante (I don't doubt Dad told you about her) trained her to try and manipulate Brother into helping them make a philosopher's stone. Unsurprisingly, it got to him a lot, and he was the one who eventually had to destroy her."
Trisha gasped, hand over her mouth, "Oh my goodness, why were they after Edward?"
"They knew Dad wouldn't help, and that even if he tried to protect Brother and I, he couldn't because his body was rotting too quickly and he refused to jump into a new one. Plus, Brother is basically the most talented alchemist Amestris has seen, and he was already after the philosopher's stone to get my body back."
"And Hohenheim?"
Al looked away, "He gave up his life to give Ed a better one."
Trisha felt a pang of grief, even though she was expecting it. She knew that Hohenheim's body wasn't going to last forever, but knowing that her son had potentially seen him die… "How is Edward now?"
Al smiled, "Brother got a job with a bio-alchemical research lab in Central a while ago, and he can't really tell me specifically what they do, but he loves it. He's got a nice little family as well."
"He's married too?" Trisha asked as they heard careful footfall up the stairs.
Winry entered, holding a pot under one arm, and a tray in both hands. The tray held spoons, three empty bowls, a supposedly full teapot, and three teacups. Al hurriedly took the pot from her side before it crashed to the ground. He placed it on the floor.
"Do you mind if I make a table to put this stuff on?" Al asked Winry, who shrugged. He pulled out some chalk and, in the span of seconds, had transmuted a reasonably sized table that would fit the food.
"I figured it would be easier to bring all of the soup up separate from the bowls so that spillage would be less likely." Winry explained. She set out the bowls and served out generous portions of the stuff to each person. She opened the window to let the smell of the soup not be as strong, and handed Trisha a cup of warm tea.
Trisha's hands were a bit shaky, but she was able to get the tea to her mouth without spilling, reveling in the taste of herbs on her tongue, "Tell me about Edward's family. What's his wife like?"
Al and Winry stopped in their tracks before laughing loudly, nearly doubling over in amusement. Trisha took another sip of the tea, confused.
Winry gained her composure first, whilst Al was still shaken up with giggles. She explained, "I'm sorry, really. Ed's marriage wasn't… with a woman."
Trisha paused, teacup halfway to her mouth. Then her eyes grew wide as she registered exactly what Winry meant, "Oh my… Edward married another man? Is that quite legal?" She asked, mildly shocked. Of course, anything that made her son happy was fine with her, but she hadn't expected… Ed of all boys…
Al nodded, "Because of Ed, actually. Roy, his husband, is kind of a big deal over in the central military. That's how they met- Roy was Ed's SO when he was a State Alchemist."
Winry rolled her eyes and air quoted whilst saying, "'Kind of a big deal', Al, he's the Fürher."
"How long was Edward a State Alchemist?" Trisha asked.
"From when he was twelve through sixteen, so four years." Al answered.
"Twelve!" Trisha exclaimed. "They let a child into the military?"
"Only because he blew everyone else out of the water trying to get in! He needed the resources that the military could offer to get my body back. He never had to go to war or anything, Brother was mostly in the research field."
Trisha sighed, resting her face in her hands, "I shouldn't be so shocked, should I? You and Ed…
'Could you hand me my soup, Winry?"
"Sure," Winry gave the bowl to Trisha, who was pleased to find that she could lift her spoon more or less stably.
"I guess this is all on me for letting you two read your father's research books." Trisha commented after a spoonful. Trisha paused mid-spoon, recognizing Winry's passing comment on Edward's husband. "The Fürher?!"
So that's the first chapter! again, PLEASE comment if you found the pacing/ writing style to be off or not good in any way, I really want to improve how I write and I really appreciate criticism!
