(Age 10)
The Elric siblings have the most wonderful mother. To them, they can only see the good. She's kind and caring, cooks well, reads them bedtime stories, and loves their alchemy. What more could they ask for? Even when she found the cuts on the eldest two's fingers, it blew over fairly quickly. She didn't know the whole story, and dropped it because it had been a few days after the cuts were made that she found them. The twins had since learned much about what they had done. It was human transmutation: a taboo. They had only done the first part, as Elizabeth had later read, but it was really for the better. There were also a few reversal methods listed, but none seemed very pleasant, and their blood connection wasn't hurting anything. So they let it be, and the connection faded to the backs of their minds, where it became just another part of themselves.
Their father had since stopped visiting. Entirely. Their mother had told them about how Hoenheim would come home to them every night, and how much he loves them all. Alphonse hangs onto every word about their father, he hopes for him to return even still. Elizabeth is doubtful, but despite Edward's hatred, she still wants everyone to be a family again. The eldest of the siblings, though, despised the man and had long since renounced his relation. He wished that there was a way to forget him entirely.
Trisha had sent her three little helpers to the farmer's market about twenty minutes towards town. She was running short on a few herbs and thought that if Elizabeth and Edward were with Alphonse, the three of them would all balance out and manage to stay out of trouble. And they did. If there was one thing that each of them could always do, it was keep a look out for the other two. Family for them was everything, especially after Hoenheim abandoned them.
"Last one home's a rotten egg!" Edward yelled playfully to Al, running before he even finished speaking. They had gotten the basketful of herbs and were nearly home now. Edward had ditched the basket with Elizabeth to race Alphonse, much to her dismay. The basket was a bit too big to run with, leaving her a few paces behind the boys as they raced through their front yard.
Worn out, Elizabeth dropped the basket to her side once she got up to the steps of their home with an exaggerated huff. Her bothers didn't skip a beat, though, as they disappeared through the front door without her. She caught her breath for a second before reaching for the basket to take it inside. In an instant, she was forced back, away from the house. Her brothers were on either side of her, pushing and pulling her to get her to run with them. The basket dropped again to the ground as she rushed along with them. They turned her away as quickly as possible, to prevent her from seeing what they had; their mother, collapsed on the floor inside.
The three of them ran as if there was no such thing as fatigue. They didn't know exactly where to run, until they had already turned down the path to their destination. Pinako was the best person for help. She wasn't exactly a doctor, but she was the only person in Resembool that had anything near the qualifications.
"Why?" Elizabeth cried out, nearly tripping on the road as she turned the corner to Pinako's home. Biting back tears, she thought of her mother on the ground. She thought of the possibility of her getting worse as they ran away. She was upset that she hadn't stayed to make sure that she didn't get worse. "Why was mo-m..?" Her voice was strangled by the lump in her throat, but Edward and Alphonse understood.
Alphonse was also on the verge of tears, visibly frightened, "Something's wrong," he wailed.
Edward glared at Alphonse as they reached Pinako's home. "Shut up." He hissed, making his way to the front door. He whipped around to face the other two, his face pale and his voice shaky, "There is nothing wrong with mom, and Granny will say the same!" And with that he turned on his heel and began to fervently beat on the door, hollering for Pinako to come out.
The woman answered within a few moments, but it seemed to drag on eternally. In those scarce moments, the three of them were flooded with irrational thoughts of Pinako being out of the house or worse, out of town. Thankfully, she did answer, and she was bombarded by three hysterical children that were frightened out of their minds over their mother. She was nearly dragged back, while Edward explained on the way what he and Alphonse found.
Pinako exited mom's room quietly and shut the door gently behind her. She shook her head with a slight, exasperated, "This isn't some over-night sickness. She's been hiding it for years."
The children had calmed down considerably, but the distress hadn't dissipated yet. None of them could comprehend how their mother had managed to hide something so serious. Elizabeth was the first to speak, her voice trembling with the question that none of them were sure they wanted to know the answer to, "Is she going to be okay?" Pinako's eyes softened at the girl, making her heart plummet. Each of the Elric's were familiar with that look, a look of pity. They saw it every time they had ever asked their mother about their father. Pinako didn't say anything for a long time. To the children, it felt like hours. In reality, it might have been a minute or two.
Before she could break the silence, an outburst of anger from Edward did. He swung his leg at a chair, resulting in a loud clatter. "You're lying!" he snarled, just loudly enough to be heard over the sound of the chair. He spoke quickly, not wanting to lose the momentum of his anger, "There's got to be something else," he insisted, "We have to be able to do something-" like a firework, his anger had taken off, exploded, and had fizzled out, leaving him with only his fear to show through in his voice, "Any..anything." His face flushed red, showing his struggle to reign in the bad feelings. He didn't want to cry, not now, not ever in front of Elizabeth and Alphonse.
Pinako rested a hand on his shoulder and smiled gently at him. She understood. They all did. He clutched onto her apron and cried into the woman willing to comfort him. Seconds later, she had three crying children all needing her arms to support them. And so they cried, sniffled, and composed themselves over the next few minutes. Pinako brought out drinks and had them sit at the table until they had all calmed down and no longer looked like puffy, red messes. It was then that she suggested that they all go in and visit with Trisha to help lift her spirits.
"Mom?" Elizabeth asked quietly, standing next to her mother in bed, "Are you okay?" She tried to keep her voice soft and calm, not wanting to disturb or worry her. She was scared that this little bit of time with her mother would be the last.
Trisha laughed lightly, the sound closer to forced, choppy breathing than laughter. "I'll be fine, dear," She assured her daughter softly. Her voice was strained and weak, and did nothing to assure any of her children. "Alphonse, come here sweetheart," she continued. Al stepped forward, blinking away tears. He didn't want to worry his mother either, but when he stepped forward the tears welled in his eyes again anyway, and he simply smiled for her despite them.
"Yes?" he asked quietly, as if had he spoken louder, his facade and mom would have shattered.
"I love you. You're my little boy, with a heart of gold. Don't let anyone change that, you understand, Alphonse? You never let someone make you think that you have to do something that you know is wrong. And if you're not sure what's right or wrong, follow your hea-" Trisha began coughing violently. The children cringed, wanting to help in any way possible but knowing that they could do nothing for her. The manner of speaking she was using scared all of them. Her words were sounding like goodbyes.
"Edward, Elizabeth." Trisha called. Pinako took Al out of the room and, with Al glancing back into the room once more, shut the door behind them. Edward and Elizabeth stood by their mother's side, their strong appearance crumbling without Alphonse's presence. Tears streaked their faces as they tried to keep quiet and listen to their mother.
Trisha cried also, but with much less of a fuss. The twins were struggling to keep their breathing under control, with sobs and hiccups preventing them from doing so. Only a few tears fell down from her eyes, as if she was sad because of what was happening, but had already come to terms with it. "Oh my babies," She said with a sigh, "I love you so much. Just like I love Alphonse. He really needs the two of you, you're his big brother and big sister." She lifted her hand to Edward's cheek, then to Elizabeth's. She pulled away from her daughter's face to hold up a lock of Elizabeth's golden hair, as if admiring the color. Her eyes filled with tears and she moved to ruffle Edward's hair.
An unexpected sob escaped Trisha, something the two had never heard before, "You look so much like him," She says, looking to Edward with sad eyes. Elizabeth braced for anger, but it never came. Edward just smiled and nodded, silently agreeing with her. The scene tore Elizabeth apart. She knew that it meant Edward really thought their mother was going to die.
The twins and Trisha eventually parted, as she needed to rest more. Once clear of Pinako, the Elric's made their way to Hoenheim's study. Edward and Elizabeth had decided to comb through the entire thing if they had to, they would send out as many letters to as many places as they needed to. They would contact Hoenheim, no matter what. They hoped that his very return would make Trisha better. More realistically, they knew that his return would comfort her, at the very least.
Edited.
