Chapter Two
Winry and Rosé both grew over the next three years into thriving toddler girls.
They had their first years in a warm, loving, and full home. Between their parents' home visit doctor practice and their grandmother's at-home automail shop, they learned a lot about healing very early on - both the medical side and the mechanical side. They took an early interest in playing around with Pinako's safer little wrenches and tools and in "helping" their parents go around Resembool and do check-ups on patients.
Nervous patients were always delighted to see adorable little animated girls, so this was put up with. Rosé and Winry learned from all three adults not only an animation in healing and helping others, but a calm and matter of fact bedside manner. While their parents might be thought of more "qualitative" teachers, stern and mechanical Pinako was definitely more "quantitative."
Despite being the younger one, Winry became the "leader" sister. She had a mischievous sense of humor and a fiery spirit, she charged forward authoritatively, she made plans and decisions, and she could be quite vindictive.
Despite this, Rosé, the quieter one, was actually the one you had to watch out for. Soft-spoken and shy though she was, she was the one with the mightier and more frightening temper. Winry could be surprisingly quiet and neutral when the mood took her.
Winry was more serious and humorous; Rosé was warmer and more cheerful. They suited each other.
Both little girls grew up in a thriving home in beautiful rural Resembool, with pretty little dresses and neat, short hair. They only looked alike in one way - both were rather small, slim, and pixie-like.
Then the announcement came: Amestris had started a war with the neighboring country of Ishval. Doctors were needed.
Winry and Rosé would always remember peeking tentatively around the kitchen doorway unseen the dark rural night the decision was made. Their parents sat at the kitchen table with cups of tea, Pinako looking worried across from them.
"Can you look after them?" Yuriy asked seriously. "My girls?"
"Of course; I can't believe you even have to ask," said Granny Pinako scathingly. "But… must you really…?"
"They need doctors," said Sarah with deadly seriousness. "We have to go. The war needs us."
"Here's my question," said Pinako, sitting back skeptically. "Will you really be able to only help the Amestrian soldiers? Will you be able to turn away the Ishvalan soldiers if you need to?"
"... No," said Yuriy, looking down.
Pinako waited. Her eyes widened in realization as nothing changed and neither parent looked surprised.
"You're not going there to help the country," she realized. "You're just going there to help people… That's going to get you killed, you know," she added seriously.
"... Hopefully not," said Yuriy softly. "But some things are worth dying for."
"Yuriy, be serious, you have two young daughters and you have a mother and she's aging!" Pinako shouted suddenly. She sounded hoarse, old, and… frightened. For the first time, frightened.
Then she looked beyond the couple and saw the two terrified girls.
"Hold on," she said to the couple, and led the girls quietly back to their room. Then Pinako knelt down to look them in the eye. "From now on, your mother and father will be gone several months of every year. To the war front.
"I just need you to do one thing for them. For this family."
"What is it?" Rosé asked softly, looking upward with big eyes. Winry was silent, frightened.
"Don't tell anyone about what you just heard. Don't tell anyone even the story of how you were born. Best to keep everything… under wraps, concerning your parents and what they're doing. We don't need anyone suspecting your parents of anything, okay?"
"Because our birth story would already make them look helpful," Winry realized. "But… why is it illegal to save somebody's life?" She frowned, puzzled.
Pinako sighed. "I don't know," she said tiredly. "Never stop asking that question. And go to sleep."
She stood and left their shared bedroom, turning the light off.
Winry and Rosé were both crying the next day as their parents left with suitcases. "Oh, come on, we'll be back in a few months. What's all this?" said Sarah, kneeling down to them and smiling uneasily in front of the house. "You're both big, brave girls, right?"
"We'll be okay," said Yuriy seriously, hugging each of them. They breathed in the warm scent from his shirt. "And no matter what, I want you both to remember: never stop helping people, and we love you very much."
Rosé and Winry wanted to watch until their parents' backs were out of sight, but their visions kept blurring with tears. Finally, Pinako sadly took them both by the shoulder and led them back inside.
They didn't miss the one last worried glance she threw backward toward what remained to be seen of her son.
Trisha Elric and Pinako Rockbell sat inside the Rockbell home, tentatively letting the four children play in the other room: Winry, Rosé, Ed, and Al.
"It's just hard," said Trisha, obviously trying to put up a brave face. "He just… He got up one day and he left." She shrugged, trying to smile. "And now they don't have a father."
Her voice broke a little on the last sentence.
Pinako put a hand over her arm. "They'll be fine. You've got two strong boys out there," she said in concern. "What was Van Hohenheim ever any use for, anyway? All he knew was alchemy!"
"Oh - I'm sure you're right," said Trisha, smiling tearfully. "I just -" She looked back toward the other room. "I hope they get along," she whispered, leaning forward.
"It's true… both sets of siblings just lost a parent figure in some way. They're around the same age," said Pinako, shrugging hopefully. "Maybe they'll -"
And then there were sudden screeches and crashes from the living room. Pinako and Trisha both shouted out and ran to the doorway in alarm.
It… wasn't exactly an ideal situation at first glance. Ed was chasing around Winry, shouting. Finally, Winry threw something, distracted Ed, and threw herself at him, riding around on his back and grabbing fistfuls of hair as he ran around and shrieked.
Al had obviously try to show Rosé what looked like an insect trapped in tree sap. She had run away from it crying. He ran after her, obviously determined earnestly to show her its merits.
Both the boys had blond hair, but Al's was a soft straw color and Ed's was a deep gold. Ed had golden eyes like a cat's; Al had gentle hazel-grey. Ed's features were sharp; Al had a soft, heart-shaped face.
It was obvious still - they were brothers.
Trisha went to run forward in alarm at the disaster, but the more experienced Pinako raised an arm and squinted closer. "Wait a minute…" she whispered.
And then Ed at last tricked Winry by falling over and they both lay on the floor, shoving each other and laughing despite themselves. Rosé saw Al curl up in tears… so she inched her way back over and sat down next to him. He looked up, smiled, and showed her the bug. She looked it over nervously, obviously trying to make him happier. On the other side of the room, Winry had grabbed Ed's stuffed toy and held it smugly over his head. He was leaping for it, but strangely? He seemed to be having the time of his life.
"Oh, yes," said Pinako, breaking into a smile. "They'll do just fine. Natural troublemakers. Come on. Let's go finish our tea."
Trisha relaxed in relief and smiled, following Pinako back into the kitchen.
For several years, Sarah and Yuriy just kept coming back, miraculously undetected, for a certain portion of every year. No one in Resembool ever suspected what they were doing.
Van Hohenheim, on the other hand, never came back.
But the friendship between the two sets of siblings remained.
