Chapter Ten

Rhoswen was awoken with a start, but not by Pinako's shouting at Edward. Rather, she was woken by Edward's yelp when he woke up. She opened her eyes and looked over to him—he was covered in sweat, looking like he'd seen a ghost. She sat up and half-stumbled to his bed, plopping down onto his legs without regard for his comfort.

"What the hell's your problem?" he growled, sitting upright. "Go on somewhere, I'm trying to wake up!"

She yawned silently in response to his question, and got up again. This time she went to her bag, pulling out a washcloth. Becoming more conscious, she quickly made her way over to him again and wiped the sweat from his forehead and neck.

"I don't need you to do that."

The young woman shot him a look before she continued. They stopped and looked at each other for a few moments, before they listened in to the conversation on the other side of the door.

"I need to tell you something important, Pinako," Hohenheim said, a twinge of sorrow in his voice. "Something terrible is going to happen in this country soon. You should escape while you can."

"This country's lousy with terrible things," the old woman replied. "And I can't leave. I've got other people who need me here in case they want to come home."

The man sighed. "I've given you my warning." His footsteps were growing faint.

"Hey, Hohenheim, wait! Try not to be such a stranger, alright?"

The door creaked open. Was he really leaving even though he just got here?

The two looked out the window as he walked down the path, eventually disappearing into the hills. Rhoswen had so many questions to ask, but she didn't know where to begin. She thought her relationship with her dad could be tense sometimes, but this… She saw now that she really did have it easy, even as a bastard.

The three sat down and began to eat silently. It was getting cloudy outside. Rhoswen was finally going to experience what the country smelled like in the rain. Usually, she would avoid the bad weather, but for some reason she had a new appreciation for everything… she supposed that failing human transmutation would do that to a person.

"I heard the conversation between you and Hohenheim." Edward's voice was devoid of all feeling. "I need your help with something, Granny."

"Which conversation?" she asked, packing tobacco into her pipe. "Your father and I talked about a few things last night."

Rhoswen was confused. She supposed she had been asleep during this conversation. "The one about our mother," Edward growled. Rhoswen raised a brow. "Does he really think that might not be our mom buried out there?

"Edward—"

"No, I heard him. I barely slept last night because of it. Damn it, I have to know."

"I don't think you need to do this, Ed, especially since Rhoswen is here under your care."

"Screw it, she can come, too." Edward looked in the young woman's direction. "You remember your brother, don't you? Isn't that who you brought back?"

Rhoswen's eyes widened. That's who she had tried to bring back, yes. She nodded slowly. "Last night, Hohenheim said that the thing I brought back might not have been my mother at all." His eyes were cold now. His expression was scaring her. "So we're going to find out the truth. Wouldn't you want to find out?"

She couldn't say anything. She remembered well what she had brought back. But the body had been incinerated by her father…

But she'd brought back Tuck… hadn't she?

"Come on," he said, standing abruptly. "We're going to dig it up. Today."

The walk was silent. Dark clouds above them blotted the sky. Edward led the way, Rhoswen and Pinako following behind.

He led them to the ruins of his childhood home, the one he'd burned to the ground when he was just a child. Rhoswen gazed at it all, taking in every detail, with hitched breath.

"You're not really gonna dig it up, are you, Ed?" Pinako asked.

Edward hunched over, gripping the shoulder of his automail arm. Rhoswen strode over to him in concern, placing a hand on his back. She wished she could ask what was bothering him.

"Why don't we go back?" the old woman asked.

"No," Edward breathed, attempting to straighten up. "My stumps are aching from the weather—it's about to rain." He looked up at the sky. "Let's just hurry up and do this."

When the rain started coming down, Edward began to retch. Rhoswen could only watch as he ignored Pinako's pleas to return to the house, saying he wasn't going to run away. She couldn't believe that he was going to go through all of this because of his father being an ass.

She and Pinako watched him dig and dig furiously, spewing his guts a few more times in the process. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She didn't think soldiers had this sort of determination. Edward was her age, barely old enough to be living on his own and yet, here he was, digging up the thing that had caused him so much misery and pain and sadness.

He gasped, reaching down into the ground and pulling something out of the dug earth. He raced over and began to furiously wash whatever it was, removing the dirt and whatever else was attached to it.

Rhoswen had never seen such fear in his eyes when he turned to Pinako to tell her what he'd discovered.

The skeleton they'd dug up was barely complete, much less human. It couldn't have possibly been Edward's mother. Pinako looked it over, and they realized that Hohenheim had been right; Edward had failed in even bringing his mother back.

Edward fell to his knees and looked to the sky, mumbling something she was too far away to hear. And then his face fell into his hands and he was laughing. "It was impossible all along!" he exclaimed.

She began to make her way to the house after that. There was no way that she could listen to the rest of the conversation.

That meant that she'd failed, too. She hadn't brought back her brother… who… or what had she brought back from the other side? Had it even been human? She couldn't even remember if it had been alive when she created it. It was blowing her mind, making her dizzy. What was that thing, if it wasn't her brother? How could she have been so stupid?

It was almost nightfall by the time Edward entered the bedroom. "Come on." He threw a coat at her. "We're going back to Central. Your dad wants you to stick with me, fine. But you have to do what I say and don't disappear because you can't exactly call and tell me where you went."

So they were off on a train to Central. Rhoswen sat across from him, eyes on her lap. She left her cello with Pinako; she didn't feel the desire to play music and she had more instruments at her father's place if she needed them.

"Look, I'm sorry about your brother," he said finally. Her emerald orbs met his golden ones. "I've gone through what you're going through, Rhoswen, and I know it hurts. Just know that in time, you will get better. And once I've restored myself and my brother, I'll help to make sure you get fixed, too."

Rhoswen reached into her pocket for her pencil and notepad. She supposed she should learn how to write a little faster if this was how she was going to communicate from now on. "Do you really mean that? You'll actually help me? What I did was my fault."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not obligated, you know. I just want to, don't be such a brat—"

This time she jumped across the seat and embraced him, tears streaming down her face. It was the first time since the transmutation.

Edward rested his automail hand on her head, and the other pulled her closer as she cried silently into his chest. He stroked her hair slowly and didn't say anything for awhile.

"It's okay," he said softly to her. "Now you know that your brother didn't suffer twice. It's okay."

This helped, but it didn't stop her tears. She continued to cry in his arms until the train stopped at the station in Central.

When she moved away, his gloved hands wiped her tears from her face. His expression was so soft, and the serious streak in his eyes was long gone.

"I promise that I'm going to help you through this." She'd never heard him use that tone before. "Just stay by my side and don't go anywhere."

She weakly smiled, and at that moment she wished she could laugh.

He'd taken her hand when they were off the train. When she made a face and pulled away, his face turned red.

"Shut up," he said, and grabbed her hand again. "Not my fault in his letter your daddy made you out to be such a baby."

You're just looking for an excuse to hold my hand. Oh, how she so desperately wanted to say those words.

She complied, and they held hands until they entered the building. They made their way to Al's room and when Edward opened the door…

The armor that was his little brother was missing an arm. And apparently, half of his face. And he was all scratched and dented up, too.

"W-What the hell!?"