Not in chronological order, but the boys' ages will be listed at the top of every chapter.

Edward 5, Alphonse 4

Edward's reasoning following his mother's death, and his attempt to keep his promise to watch over his brother.

Alone

Ed was scared. He couldn't say he was scared, of course, because he was the big brother. He promised Mom that he would watch after Al. Al was sitting next to him as they stared at the stone over their mother, she was all gone now. No one was home to make them dinner, or draw their bath, or give them hugs, or kiss their injuries.

It was up to Edward now. He promised. He was going to make it alright. Al was crying quietly next to him, scared and hungry. Ed decided then there was only one way to fix this, he was going to bring Mom back. Mom loved them, she never ever wanted to leave them. If Dad had been here, he could have saved her, because he could do anything. Ed remembered, better than Al, that what Dad could do was amazing.

But then he just left, without even looking at them he had walked away and let Mom die, so Ed decided. They didn't need Dad. He left, not like Mom who left accidentally. Ed sighed, Al wanted to know what they were going to do now, and Ed didn't know himself. He wasn't allowed to turn on the stove or anything! How were they going to eat without Mom?

Ed told Al they would bring mom back, and Al finally stopped crying. Then Ed swallowed the pain deep in his chest and took his brother to Winry's house to beg for dinner because wasn't allowed to cook. Granny tried to make Ed drink his milk, and he nearly cried then. Mom never made him. She said as long as he kept eating his cheese and yogurt, he could skip the milk. Granny KNEW that was Mom's rule, but she tried to make him anyway, so as soon as they finished eating and washing the dishes (Because how else was Ed going to pay Granny back? Mom always said you had to do your part.) Ed leads his brother home.

They ignored the empty room down the hall, now closed up tight, and brushed their teeth before crawling into bed. Al sniffled beside him again, so Ed hugged him and sang their mom's lullaby until Al's sniffles turned to snores. Ed sighed again gently extracting himself from his brother's grip to run to the bathroom and then check the locks.

Mom always said it was important to check all the locks and make sure the stove was off before she went to bed. Ed hadn't touched the stove, but it still seemed important. After all, he wasn't entirely certain how his mom would have forgotten to turn it off therefore it was completely possible that sometimes they just turn on.

After he had checked over everything, Ed yawned widely and wandered into Mom's room. He made the bed, because no one had bothered when they took her away. He picked up her dress that she had been wearing when she fell down and folded it before placing it in her dresser. Then without meaning to he found the letters.

Ed sat down and read through them, before he made up his mind. He walked outside to the firepit where Mom burned the weeds and lit it with the matches. He told Mom he was sorry for messing with the matches, then shredded the letters before throwing them into the flames.

He sat there on the ground until the fire had burnt itself out and he buried the last of the ash with a thin layer of dirt like Mom taught them. Finally, Ed wandered back into the house, now cold and tired as he relocked the door and climbed back into his bed.

The next morning, Ed scrabbled around in the pantry until he found two apples and a bunch of granola. Al sat quietly at the table, thanking Ed when Ed set a bowl in front of him. Ed and Al ate in silence, before Al said, "Who's going to cook for us now Brother?"

"Don't worry about it Al, I'm going to get Granny to teach me how to cook." Ed said confidently. After all, cooking couldn't be harder than Alchemy.

Ed left Al to do the dishes as he walked down to Granny's house and knocked on the door. As soon as Granny answered, Ed demanded that she teach him how to cook. She agreed, so he nodded stiffly and rushed back to the house to give Al the good news and maybe now he had a chance to stop Al from being sad.

The next few days were spent with Granny teaching Ed the basics of cooking and baking. She made him promise to be careful not to burn down the house, Ed agreed. She carefully wrote out the instructions for him, as well as making each meal with him and Winry. Al sitting in the corner reading silently.

Granny mentioned picking the vegetables in Mom's garden so that they could prepare for winter. Ed agreed to let Granny and Winry help them with it. He swore though that from ow on, he would take care of it all himself. Ed thought again about sending Al to live with Winry all the time, and he worried about being completely alone.

They eventually managed to pull in the whole crop, Granny promised to can as much as she could. It wasn't the same as Mom, but it was close, which was enough to get them through for now. Granny was standing outside smoking her pipe while Al and Winry carried the last two baskets down to the cellar. She had asked Ed to stay.

It was silent for a few minutes before she smiled tiredly down at the small boy. "I know we've had this talk before Edward, but winter is coming. I think you and Al should come stay with Winry and me."

"I promised Mom I'd take care of Al Granny." Ed said simply. He wanted to give in and let Granny help, but he couldn't break his promise.

"I promised your mom I would watch after you both. Just until spring, then if you would prefer to go back to sleeping at your own house, I'd understand." Granny said.

"Okay. But you gotta keep teaching me to cook."

"I'll teach you to cook kid. I'll teach you to wash and mend your clothes too. It doesn't seem like it Edward, I know it doesn't, but it's going to be okay." Granny said, hugging the small boy. "Now. Lets get your stuff together. We have a lot to do before dinner."