A/N: I would like to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter as well as everyone who added this story to their favourites and follows.

"Dinner is ready, Ed, Al!" Emma yelled as she placed the pot of beef stew onto the dining room table. Wiping her eyebrows, the blond-haired girl took a seat on the dining room table and pulled out her father's journal from underneath the table. It would be a long time before those two brother of hers would come downstairs to eat the dinner she prepared for them. These days, her two brothers were locked up in their father's study, trying to figure out how to bring the dead back to life, and never coming out until she dragged them by the ear to the dining hall. It was still a terrible idea if you asked her but those brothers of her were not budging from the idea.

Look Emmy, if we use these formula and study protein synthesis then Al and me can crack it.

Those were her brother's exact words when she questioned him about how his pointless project was going. She had been tempted to yell at him, to tell him no matter how much he and Al tried to study the human body and its building block that it was a pointless thing to do. Unless they could create a soul to replace their mother's soul then this research of her brothers would be nothing short but pointless.

Now if they were talking about sealing then there would be a chance but even then Emma wouldn't recommend it. No matter how much she wanted to see her beautiful mother's smiling face, she would not be willing to sacrifice a human life to do it. Sure, she could use a corpse but Emma didn't feel comfortable with it, not when she knew she could control her mother. The last thing she wanted was to control her mother or to have so little time with her.

No, it was better for everyone's sake that she kept their mother dead.

"What did you make this time?" Alphonse asked, snapping her out of her train of thought. "Is it stew? It smells like your beef stew! You almost never make your beef stew! What is the special occasion, Emmy?"

The blonde blinked her eyes and stared at her baby brother, noticing there were dark circles underneath his eyes, before glancing at her twin, who was already opening the pot of stew. The slowness in his arms, the yawning and especially the dark circles in his eyes told her that the boy had refused to listen to her advice about getting some sleep. Why must he be so stubborn? The girl couldn't help but ask herself as she snatched the cover from her brother's hands. Placing it on the table, she grabbed hold of the bowls and begin to pour it for her two brothers.

Her twin and younger brother shot her a grateful look before digging into the meal like they have never eaten a meal before. Should she have called Winry and Granny to eat with them? No, if she had called them then the old lady would begin to notice something was wrong. She might not know Alchemy but Pinako was sharp enough to know when something was wrong. She would notice there was a tension between her brothers and her, would know that her brothers weren't getting enough sleep and would ask her why.

"You guys need all the nutrients you can get if you are planning to continue studying the way you have been for the past couple of months," Emma explained, pouring herself a large portion of the beef stew into her bowl. "Honestly, don't you think you need to slow down you two? I am not telling you to give up 'cause I know you won't listen to me but you still need sleep. You are lucky we already know everything we are learning in school or else the teachers would kill you two for sleeping and talking during class."

"Every second is important, Emmy," Edward said. He shoved the beef into his mouth and continued on. "Al and me need to use all the time that we got if we want to bring her back. The faster we figure things out, the more time we have with mother."

"What about Winry?"

"What about her?"

"She's our friend," Emma said, folding her arms against her chest as she glared down at her older twin brother. "Don't you think you have been spending too much time studying and not enough time playing with her? She keeps asking me about what you two are doing and I don't have the courage to tell her about your crazy plans."

"It isn't crazy, Emma!"

"Then what do you call bringing someone back to life? Sane!" Her two brothers opened their mouth to yell at her but the blonde just shook her head and stared at the picture of their smiling mother. "I don't even know why I even bother telling you guys that it isn't going to work. It has been six months since she died, Ed, Al, maybe it is time for you guys to accept the fact that she is gone and she is never coming back. You can't bring the dead back to life."

"Look at this and tell me that it is impossible!" Edward snarled, pulling out the small notebook she gave him for their birthday and shoving it in her face.

Emma thinned her lips, snatched the book from his hands, and began to read the notes her brother created. The equations made sense, the percentage of the components in the human body also made sense though she would need to double check that but there was a few things missing in her brother's notes. The material needed for the human body wasn't there yet nor could she see him mention anything about the human soul. If he truly was going to go through with this crazy plan then where was the equivalent exchange for the soul?

There was nothing in the world similar to a soul but Emma would have thought her big brother would have taken it to consideration.

"You didn't mention anything about the soul," Emma stated, sliding the notes to her brother. "If you can create the body then how are you going to create the soul? You do know that there is nothing in the world which is equivalent to a soul right?"

"Al and me are searching for the material needed for that," Edward informed her.

"He's never going to accept the fact that it is an impossible wish, is he Naruto?" Kurama asked as she forced herself to nod at her brother's words. The nine-tailed fox sounded so amused that Emma was just tempted to hit the fox with a pan because this wasn't funny. These two brothers of her were ignoring her wisdom and were planning to do something that could ruin them. A soul could never truly come back to life. "I wonder how he will react when he finds out it was all for nothing."

"It'll kill him," Emma answered, staring down at her pot before glancing at her two brothers, who were too busy talking about their plans to notice she wasn't eating. "He has been spending so much time researching on this topic that it is going to kill him when he finds out that he was doing the impossible. You know Kurama, I wonder if any of my friends had the same thoughts as Edward."

"They probably did," Kurama said somberly. "Losing someone they love will make them this crazy. Even we, tailed beasts, wished we could bring the dead back to life."

The only problem is that it is impossible to bring the dead back to life, Emma mused to herself, staring at her reflection on her bowl of stew. Even the Second Hokage's jutsu could only bring the dead back to life for only a limited length of time, using the corpses of people that was dead. If her brothers did something like that then it might be possible with Alchemy but the blonde doubt Edward and Alphonse's equation could do that much. No, it was not what her dear brothers wanted.

They wanted their mother to stay with them forever and ever, which was something that could never happen. Everyone dies in the end and that was a fact her siblings could not change with alchemy.

"Big sister, aren't you hungry?" Alphonse asked, snapping her out of her train of thought.

Emma blinked her eyes and stared at her youngest brother's golden eyes, which shone with so much worry and concern along with a little bit of fear. Was he afraid she was going to fade like their mother did? It wouldn't surprise her if Alphonse was recalling every small hint that could have told him that Trisha had been dying. Unlike her, her baby brother was observant and sensitive to changes in their family.

"I ate a bit before I called you guys down," Emma reassured her brother. "I'm just thinking about your insane idea of bringing Mum back."

"It has barely been five minutes since you called it insane! I showed you that we're making progress with our idea!" Edward complained, slamming his fist on the table. "Why do you keep thinking about it? Can't we not talk about it for the rest of the meal? Al and me need to go back to work on it."

Because I want you to live your life like Mum wanted you and Al do, because I have a feeling that the Truth is going to make your life hell for doing something like this, Emma thought, clenching her hand into a fist. She didn't have much memories about the time between her death and rebirth but she did know about Truth. He had been somewhat of a mystery to her, never looking at her with sympathy but never talking above her.

The only thing she could say about Truth was that he had taken one glimpse of her life before declaring to her that she deserved a second chance in life.

"I think about it because I've a bad feeling about it," Emma admitted, earning furrowed eyebrows from her two brothers. "I know you think that I don't believe in your ability to bring Mum back but it isn't the case. I just feel like you're doing something God-like and that God will punish you for thinking that you are above him."

"Since when did you start believing in religion?" Edward asked, pouring himself the jug of orange juice that she had set up on the table. "You once told Mum that you weren't ever going near the church because you didn't have faith in God. Now that Mum is gone, you start to believe in God!"

"I always believed in God," Emma informed her twin, folding her arms against her chest. "When I said I didn't have faith in him, it means I don't expect him to fix all of our problems or that he would answer our prayers. There is a point in which all that alchemy that we read can't make sense of anything else. How did the universe started? How did things began? There are things that science just can't explain. I believed there is a higher being out there and I believe that higher being would not happy once you accomplish what you set out to do."

"Well he can kiss my ass!" Edward yelled, stomping his foot. "Why the hell did he take away our mother and let bad people live? Why her? Why couldn't he take someone else? How could you be so dumb to believe in him!"

Because it was their mother's time, because Truth didn't think like them and finally because everyone's death was predestined. He took away the people that already had their death decided from the moment they were born. Also it wasn't dumb for her to believe, not when she, herself, was a reincarnated soul. Those were Emma's answers to her brother's questions but she could not say those words to him. Why would she? No matter what she said, Edward would try to counteract every answer she had.

No, it was better for her to keep her real answer to herself.

"One day if you ever see God, you would ask him that question for you because I know you won't accept my answer to your question," Emma finally said, taking a deep breath. "Until then, you try to find the answer to your question. Now eat your meal and go back to that important work of yours so that your dumb sister will go over to see Winry and Pinako."

"Emma, I didn't mean…"

"Just be quiet Edward Elric, you told me what you think of me," Edward flinched at the use of his full name and normally Emma would be all too happy to see him scared but she was just too fed up. Why did she even bother trying to talk some sense into him when he didn't want to listen? She was a stupid girl for thinking he would listen to her.

"Emma, Edward didn't mean to call you that!" Alphonse said as she stood up from her seat. "And it's late late!"

"Alphonse, I'm a big girl who can take care of herself," Emma declared evenly. "Our dear brother told me what he thinks of his little sister who doesn't want to see him be beaten over something that is impossible. If I stay here any longer, I might just do something very stupid so it is better I go see Winry and Pinko."

"Emma…"

"You two are cleaning up for yourself."

And with those words, Emma left her two brothers gawking at her and headed to her room to take her sleepover stuff.

It was better for her to be away from her brothers then to do something stupid like saying words that would hurt their feelings.

Emma Elric had never been a normal child that was something Pinako noticed from the moment she saw the smiling baby. She did not think like that because of how smart the baby had been or from the way she talked. No, she believed the girl wasn't a normal child because of her blue eyes. With Edward, Alphonse and Winry, their eyes still held that childish glint but Emma's eyes had always seemed older than everyone else.

She was an adult stuck in a child's body, Pinako mused to herself as she stared at the photo of Emma and her granddaughter playing with the building blocks.

Ring

Pinako blinked her eyes, stared at the clock and then to the door, wondering who would be coming to their house at eight o'clock in the evening. Taking a deep breath, the tiny old woman jumped off her seat and headed towards the door, shooting a warning look at Winry, who was staring at the door with eagerness. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.

To her surprise, it was Emma standing in front of her house with a sleeping bag in one hand and a bag filled with clothes in the other hand. The sadness and tiredness in the girl's blue eyes told Pinako that the girl must have gotten into a fight with her brothers again.

"What were you arguing with Edward and Alphonse about this time, Emma?" Pinako asked as she gestured for the little girl to come into the house. The blonde blinked her eyes but made no attempt to answer her question, just staring at the ground before looking back at her. "Emma, tell me what were you two fighting about?"

"Edward called me dumb because I didn't agree with his idea," Emma said but Pinako knew from the hunched shoulder that there was more to the story. No, there was always more to the story but the girl would never talk about it.

In some ways, Emma reminded Pinako of her father with her secretiveness.

"And you decided to come here instead of talking it out with Edward?" Pinako said, raising her eyebrows at her. "You know your brother doesn't mean what he says."

"Mum used to say that Edward needed to learn how to control his mouth and I agree," Emma said, flickering her eyes at Winry. "I'm not as smart as him but it doesn't mean he can ignore what I'm saying!"

"Emmy, what was the idea that you guys were arguing about?" Winry asked, dropping her toys to the ground and heading towards the upset girl. "And you're a lot smarter then Edward! You're better then him when it comes to Maths."

"We were arguing about God," Emma answered, clenching her hands into a fist. "Big brother doesn't believe God is real because he took Mum away from us and I told him that God did exist. He called me stupid for believing in him. He is blaming God for every bad thing that is happening to us! He doesn't try to be grateful that we have each other, that we have you guys! He doesn't know how lucky we are to have at least known our mother!"

Pinako felt her heart break at the girl's words and not for the first time, she felt sympathy for this small girl in front of her. Emma was barely six years old and already she had to act like the grown up for her siblings. Instead of letting this old woman help her with taking care of her brothers and her, the little girl was doing all the things that an adult should do. She was the one cooking the food, the one cleaning the laundry and the one making sure her brothers were behaving well. Not once did this girl complain about the unfairness of her life.

Instead, she was looking at the positive of her life.

"Emma, Edward doesn't think like you," Pinako said to the blond-haired girl. "You're right to think that you're lucky to have known your mother but you are still six-years-old. You lost your mother too soon. It is okay for Edward to complain about how unfair it is because you three are still young."

"There are kids out there that doesn't know the love of a mother," Emma sniffed and Pinako felt her lips twitched when Winry rushed over to give the blond-haired girl a hug. "There are kids out there that have it worse then us."

"Emmy…" Winry said, looking at Emma with sadness.

"I miss Mummy too," Emma admitted and for the first time since their mother's death, Pinako saw the girl sobbing her heart out. "I miss hearing Mummy kissing my pain away. I miss having her talk about how Daddy, Ed and Al would hate any boy coming to ask me out! I miss having her hugs and her cooking! I was the only one who knew Mummy was dying! Mummy begged me not to tell Ed and Al because they couldn't pretend things were fine! It was unfair for her to ask me of this! I didn't want to pretend things were fine! I wanted them to know the truth too!"

She knew the whole time.

Pinako had always wondered if Emma knew the truth about her mother's illness. It hadn't escaped her notice how the young girl was always careful around her mother but she just pushed the thought away. She just presumed the girl was just sensitive but now she knew better. The girl had found out about her mother's sickness long before her brothers did and instead of telling Edward and Alphonse, she kept it to herself like Trisha wanted.

No wonder Emma hadn't cried her heart out during the funeral.

She must have been crying herself to sleep the whole time Trisha had been dying.

"You knew Aunt Trisha was dying? How?" Winry asked, looking down at the shorter girl. "Didn't she suddenly get sick?"

"She had been sick for the past year," Emma admitted, rubbing her eyes. "Mum was good at pretending that everything was fine but I noticed she wasn't acting like herself. Mum kept forgetting things , she had been vomiting every morning and she didn't eat like before. Ed and Al didn't notice these things because they aren't like me. They don't notice small things but I did and it worried me. It is for that reason I asked you for the medic book."

"And Aunt Trisha asked you to keep it a secret from Ed and Al? Why? They deserved to know too!" Winry cried, looking at the shaking girl.

"She wanted to make her last year on this world count," Emma whispered, rubbing her eyes. "If Ed and Al knew, they would never be happy and Mummy wanted her last year to be filled with happiness and laughter. I can't argue against her because I wanted Mummy to be happy."

"Did my Mum and Dad know about it?" Winry asked, clenching her hands into a fist.

"Yup, why do you think Mum come here a lot? Or why we had dinner here? Sometimes Mum was just too sick and tired to do it," Emma admitted. "Uncle Yuriy did everything he can to make Mum better but Mum had an incurable sickness. At least, he made her pain more bearable. I think she would have been more happy if Dad had been here with her."

Yes, Trisha would have been happier but Van Hohenheim never replied to Pinako's letters about Trisha being sick. The man didn't even check on his three young kids, instead he was making his middle child act like the parent for them. It wasn't fair for a girl this young to experience so much pain. She deserved to act her age.

"You are going to stay here for the night, Emma," Pinako finally said. "And tomorrow morning, I'm going to have a talk with Edward about what not to say to you. The brat should be grateful that you are taking care of him."

"He will apologize to me tomorrow; he always does," Emma protested. "You shouldn't talk to him about it."

"Edward needs to understand that you also miss your mother and that you are human too," Pinako said, shaking her head. "He needs to understand it is wrong to call his younger sister dumb for not agreeing with his ideas. It doesn't matter that he is grieving too. The both of you had lost your mother."

"Granny…"

"I'll make you some hot milk while you and Winry do your homework," Pinako said, walking to the stove. "Knowing you, you spent most of the day doing the housework and cooking dinner before coming here."

"Granny…"

"Yes, Emma?"

"Thank you for letting me stay the night! I'll make it up to you tomorrow!"

And when that girl smiled, Pinako couldn't help but think that the world was just a little bit warmer because there was something about Emma's smile that made you want to protect it. Maybe, it was because of how rare it was to see her smile these days or maybe it was how tired the girl was but for whatever reason, this old lady would do a lot of things to make sure the girl kept on smiling like that.

"Edward and you have been fighting a lot these days," Winry stated as Emma burrowed herself deep into her sleeping blanket. The two of them were currently laying down on her bedroom's floor with two jugs of hot milk on her bedroom stand. "Were you two really fighting about God?"

"Yup, my brother decided that God doesn't exist anymore because Mum is gone," Emma answered, looking out at the night sky which was a habit that Winry knew the older girl did when she was upset. It was just like Edward to say something so hurtful to his sister. Maybe it was a twin brother and sister thing since her two friends only seemed to do it to each other and not to Alphonse. In fact, Winry had never seen Emma fight with her younger brother about anything.

Maybe it was because Alphonse knew that Emma had too much on her plate.

"And you think God exist which is why Edward called you dumb? Isn't it a bit silly for you two to be fighting about this?" Winry asked, looking up at the ceiling. "Mum and Dad say that everyone has their right to believe in anything they want."

"Tell that to Edward," Emma said, looking at the window. "He thinks it is God's fault that Mum died. He thinks God is like us humans but he isn't like us. Sometimes God can be merciful and allow you a second chance in life. Maybe Mum had been reborn into another life or maybe she is just waiting for Dad before moving on. It isn't wrong to believe in God, is it?"

"Edward is hurting too, Emma," Winry reminded the blonde. "Aunt Trisha was everything to him too. You knew before him that she was dying so you had time to accept it...Edward didn't have that. I still don't understand how you could keep it from him. The two of you never keep secrets from each other so why then? You never care about promises."

It was still hard for her to swallow the fact that Emma would do something like this to Edward and Alphonse. Her friend was a lot of things, strange, sweet and funny but not a secretive. She always talked about the importance of being truthful in school so why would she care about it? There were even times when her friend broke promises because she didn't think it was that important.

Why was this promise different?

"I wanted to break my promise but every time I thought about how I would feel if I were in Mum's shoes," Emma whispered, holding her hand up in the air. "If I were dying then I would want my last memories to be of happiness. I would want to die with a smile on my face, with no regrets...and so I thought if my brothers didn't know that it could happen. There were times when I wanted to yell at Ed and Al for being so happy when Mum was dying but then I always stopped myself from doing that. She deserved to have memories filled with happiness."

"But you were the one hurting in the end," Winry pointed out, rolling herself to the side to have a better look at her friend. "Today was the first day I saw you cry about Aunt Trisha's death. In her funeral, you never once shed a tear and I thought you were so brave for doing that…"

"Brave?" Emma laughed and shook her head. "It was taking all my will power not to break down, Winry. I wanted to cry so badly but my brothers were already crying their heart out and someone needed to be the strong one. Besides, I think even if I did break down that no tears were going to come out from me. I spent one year crying about Mum's upcoming death…"

"Why didn't you tell me then? Why did you keep quiet about it? Leave Ed and Al to one side, why didn't you tell me? We're friends aren't we? Why keep it a secret from me?"

"Would you have been able to keep it a secret from my brothers?"

Winry frowned and shook her head, earning a bitter smile from her friend. Okay, looking at her friend's point of view made sense. If Emma had told her the truth then she would have told Edward and Alphonse that their mother was dying. If not because she didn't want her friend to suffer alone then because those two deserved to know the truth. If her two other friends knew everything then would their pain be a little bit less? Would things be alright between her three friends if Edward and Alphonse knew the truth? She didn't know the answer to that question.

"Edward and Alphonse deserved to know the truth, Emma," Winry softly said. "Maybe their pain would go away if they knew Aunt Trisha had been dying for a long time."

"Maybe or maybe they would hate me for keeping it a secret," Emma said, closing her eyes. "Even though I promise Mum, I should have told them when it was getting really bad but I wanted her last days to be filled with happiness. I didn't want her…"

Winry furrowed her eyebrows and gestured for her friend to continue on but the blond-haired girl just shook her head and stared blankly at the ceiling. What didn't she want? Her Mum to be sad in her last days? No, she already mentioned that. Did she not want to worry Aunt Trisha? Maybe that was what her friend wanted to say. Though in the back of her mind, she felt like there was more in her friend's reasoning to keep it a secret.

Whatever it was, she would not push her for it.

"Hey Winry, you wanna hear a story?"

Winry blinked her eyes. "What kind of story?"

"About a girl who wanted to prove the world wrong," Emma whispered, looking so sad that Winry wanted to hug her friend again. "About a girl who saved the world from monsters with her best friends and about the girl who kept believing in God even when things went wrong."

"I would like to hear the story."

And so Winry listened to Emma's tales about Naruto, the little girl who never had much love and who just wanted to be loved in return. She felt her heart break at the parts where the heroine lost her godfather and felt amazement at how the heroine kept believing in the God, who took everything from her. To keep going when things went wrong, Naruto was truly a warrior princess.

"And Naruto lived happily ever after with her friends." Emma finished, grinning widely at her.

"What about her prince?" Winry asked, yawning as she glanced out at the clock. "Didn't Naruto find her prince like the princesses that Aunt Trisha used to tell us?"

"Naruto doesn't need a prince to find her happily ever after," Emma answered, closing her eyes. "All Naruto needed were her friends to be happy, because all she ever wanted was to be accepted and those friends gave it to her. To Naruto, her happily ever after were her friends and her dream."

"Do you think I can be like the character in your story?" Winry asked, earning a surprised look from Emma. "Even when things went to hell, she still kept on believing in God and not once she gave up on her dream. Do you think if I put my mind on it that I can be somebody? I'm not like Ed or Al or even you, I don't have interest in Alchemy but I want to be like Granny. I want to be the best automail mechanic."

"I think you can be better than the character in my story," Emma answered, grinning. "Because Naruto didn't have anybody who helped her reach the top; it took her a long time to find the one person who would help her. You, on the other hand, have everyone to help you achieve your dream. I'll help you achieve your dream Winry, believe it!"

But what is your dream?

That was Winry's thought as she stared in her friend's turquoise eyes that shone with so much belief. In the back of her mind, the blond-haired girl knew her friend was never going to be like her brothers. Emma didn't have the patience to stay still and study like her two brothers. No, her best friend loved to wander around. If Edward and Alphonse were studying then her friend would always explore or be telling stories to the other kids. She was always the one asking people about their dreams but not once did her friend talk about her own dream.

Tomorrow, Winry was going to ask her friend about her dreams for the future.

For now, she would allow Emma to steer the conversation to the music that she had heard in the radio.

Questions & Answers:

Q: Does Emma stay in Resembool or does she go with Ed and Al when they study under Izumi Curtis?

A: As of now, I have decided that Emma wouldn't go with Ed and Al but I also can't see her staying in Resembool. So I am still debating about what I'm going to make her do while those two are away. If anything, I can see her studying Alchemy by herself but I might change my mind later. I will see where this story will take me.

Q: Will Emma become a regular state alchemist like Ed? Or will she be already in the Military as an associate of Mustang, the Furer or Olivier? Or will she be an explorer like Scar and Ling?

A: You will just have to wait and see.

Q: Will Emma be practicing a unique aspect of Alchemy or will she be well rounded or will she make her own Alchemy?

A: It has already been hinted but Emma is trying to make her own type of Alchemy with combining her knowledge of Alchemy with her knowledge on sealing.

A/N: Please review to tell me what you think about this chapter and the relationships between the characters . Also, do continue to ask me questions about the story and tell me if the characters are being out of character.