Strength
The alchemist now known to most as 'Hohenheim of the Light' was not a strong man.
He knew he was a coward. A weak person who had been powerless to save his son, even when the boy gazed helplessly at him with pained eyes. Even as the dying blond gasped and begged for help, for anything.
Hohenheim was a weak man, who ignored his lover's cold expression as she eyed pretty young girls on the streets, searching... shopping... for the 'right one'. He was the person who had helped her achieve whatever petty and vain goals she had.
He was a fool who flew too close to the sun and got burned. Who pretended not to hear the terrified screams his victims let out as they disappeared in a flash of light. A pitiful creature who would use anyone... any soul... any bit of power... to achieve his goals.
Immortality.
For the longest time, he thought that was the most important thing. He, like any foolish man, feared the darkness of death and the unknown and would do anything to avoid it.
He had believed his wish to be to live forever... with the woman he thought he loved by his side, eternal and beautiful.
He was wrong.
It had taken hundreds of years for him to realize that. Far more time than any man needed or deserved.
It had also taken a pair of bright wry green eyes, a soft smile, and a strong and hopeful voice. His beloved's kind tinkling laugh, whispered endearments and dreams, and sweet-smelling arms around him... those were the things that finally let him see.
It had taken two sets of metallic, trusting, and wide eyes. Tiny arms reaching for him. A set of young vocal chords calling out to him.
'Daddy'
Hohenheim knew he was a weak man, he had known for ages. He also knew what he had to do now, to save the ones he loved.
Again he would be running away.
Trisha Elric had never thought of herself as strong woman.
She had always been the quiet one. The one who didn't speak up even when upset... a girl who followed others as a matter of course. 'Sweet and silly little Trisha' her family and friends called her.
Her best friend Sara was the first person she had followed behind, out of love and admiration of her friend's spirit and strong-will. Later, it was her wise husband, a mysterious man who had somehow waltzed into her life one day and took her heart and devotion.
She had relied on them. Trisha had needed someone to protect her, someone she could make happy. She was just that sort of person, the young woman had thought.
Now Sarah was dead and Hohenheim gone. On her darker days, she feared...knew... she would never see him again.
No matter how much she loved him.
Trisha thought she was weak, but she wouldn't give up. Her sons were relying on her now. To love them, raise them, and protect them. There was no way she could let herself fail them.
She was starting to have peculiar spells recently. Moments of dizziness and pain. They frightened her, but she had to put them out her mind. She couldn't afford to be weak 'Sweet and silly little Trisha' anymore.
Edward and Alphonse would see nothing but smiles and hope from her, this she vowed.
Trisha Elric would finally be strong.