Chapter Two: How it all Fell Apart

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"Big Brothers! Wait for me!" yelled Nick. He was running after his brothers with his two short little legs, eager to catch up. The three brothers were running home from school, eager to see their mother. Ahead, Ed and Alphonse were laughing as they raced home.

It had been about four years since Nick was found by the Elric's. The villagers of Resembool couldn't even remember a time when Nick wasn't with the Elric family. Most believed that he was the third son of the Elric couple, which was true in the all of the ways that counted. If anyone asked, Nick was the youngest Elric brother.

A lot had happened since the Elric's had found Nick. They had searched high and low for Nick's original family, but no one stepped forward. Trisha even went so far as to travel to neighboring towns to ask around and even then Nicholas was not claimed. So the Eric's adopted him, which made Ed and Al ecstatic to have a younger brother to dote on. Nick never did regain his memory, and soon he forgot all about wanting to find his birth family. Nick loved his family so much sometimes he was afraid that this was some sort of dream, and one day he would wake up and never see them again.

That was Nick's greatest fear. To lose his family. To be abandoned again.

Nick especially loved his mother. He would help her whenever he could, and make sure she was resting and helping her cook. One of Nick's favorite things to do was cook. Mixing things together and making delicious foods for people to enjoy. He always beamed with pride when Edward or Alphonse would complement his cooking. His brothers were his favorite playmates, and so was Winry. His big brothers always played with Winry and him, and once they even fought over who would marry Winry! Ed won, (though Nick thought that Winry didn't really like being fought over like that, because she hit Ed with a wrench).

Nick shook his head at these thoughts as he raced after his brothers on the road home with a huge grin on his face. He couldn't wait to practice his alchemy with Ed and Alphonse. Whenever they used alchemy it always made mother happy and proud of them.

Nick even met their father once. It was about a year after he was found on the side of the road. One day when the boys came home from school, there he was. At the kitchen table was their father. Nicholas immediately felt a rush of insecurity. He had thought about it before. What if Ed and Al's father didn't like him, accept him?

All of his worry and anxiety was lifted though when the man with golden eyes just smiled at him, petted his head, and said, "So this is my youngest son." After that Nick just grinned ear to ear and talked non-stop the rest of the day.

He was sad though when Edward and Alphonse told him that father wasn't around a lot. This was one of the reasons that Nick helped out his mother so much. He knew how sad father leaving made his mother.

Nicholas never brought it up with his brothers. Edward had a long standing grudge with father. He also didn't want to give Alphonse another reason to doubt the man when he knew Alphonse wanted to have a somewhat positive relationship with father.

Nick came back from his thoughts when he reached the house. Ed and Al had already reached mother.

"Boys, you're home! How was school?" their mother said as she knelt down and smiled at them.

Nick excitedly began to tell her exactly that. "Mom, mom guess what! Today at school we learned how it rained see there is a thing called evaporation and-" Nick rambled on and on as his mother smiled down at him and listened patiently as he explained how the water cycle worked and all of its phases. Ed and Al had already left to begin their alchemy study. When Nicholas finished he kissed her cheek and asked if she needed any help.

She just sighed. "Honey I am not a cripple. I'll be fine making dinner on my own. Now why don't you see what your brothers are up to. God knows what kind of fights they get into." Nick nodded and ran to the study.

Sure enough, mother was right. They were fighting. When he got there they were arguing over the best way to draw an alchemic circle to convert dirt into metal. The only difference was a few second variation in activation time. Nick sighed, no matter how smart his brothers may be, they would always act more stupid than him.

"Seriously big brothers! Does it really matter as long as the circle is drawn correctly? A few seconds difference between the way you draw them is not a big deal at this age!" Nick scolded them with a cute little pout on his face. His big brothers just smiled sheepishly at him and apologized.

"Now onto the next chapter of the book, the everyday uses of alchemy..." Edward said as he went on to explain the chapter to his two younger brothers with a content smile on his face.

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Nick could remember when it all started to fall apart. His image that this happiness would last forever was shattered the day Edward, Alphonse, and he found mother passed out on the floor.

Frantically, Edward went to find granny and Al immediately went to her side. Nick just stared at her in horror. His beloved mother. How could he not of known that she was sick? Nick was with her the most. How could he not have noticed? He sat next to her until granny came with the doctor with an anguished look on his face. Alphonse had managed to wake her as the doctor started to check her over. When asked, Nicholas and Alphonse both helped their mother to bed along with the doctor.

It turns out that she had been sick for a long time. For two years now, the doctor said. There was nothing he could do. It was just too advanced.

Nick just curled into a ball and started crying. His brothers looked at their mother with shock. How had this happened? Why had it happened? They were going to be a family forever! Why…why…

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The day mother died was a blur. Edward couldn't wake her that morning. Al went to go and get Granny while Nicholas couldn't even cry. He just ran from the house. He knew she was dead. His beautiful, kind mother was dead and he had been able to do nothing. Edward was screaming at her to come back while Alphonse just started to cry in the corner of the room. Nick just ran. He ran until he couldn't think. Ran until he couldn't feel. It was just him and the wind. This way he could pretend that his mama was still here. That he still had time to cook for her and read to her and to show off his and brothers' alchemy to make her smile. To make her favorite flowers that their father used to give her, even though father stopped visiting a long time ago. This way he didn't have to admit that she was gone. Even though she was. Gone. Forever.

Nick ran until he literally could run no more.

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"Brother what are we going to do? We can't find Nick, mother...mother is..is gone, and-" Alphonse couldn't finish because he was crying to hard.

Edward himself was trying not to cry. He should have known, should have helped her in some way, and should have stopped Nick when he had the chance. This was all his fault. If only he knew more about alchemy, found some way to heal her...then his little brothers didn't have to suffer this way.

Edward went over to Alphonse. "Don't worry Al we will find him...don't worry I will find a way to fix this mess...just please don't cry..." said Edward, not realizing that tears streamed from his eyes as well.

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The day of her funeral was a hard one. The ceremony was a heart-wrenching one, with Winry crying and Granny standing strong. Nick curled up on mother's grave, not moving an inch. Edward and Alphonse standing next to him trying to be strong, but failing. They missed her so much.

Edward sighed painfully. Nicholas hadn't been the same since she died. When he and Alphonse found him the day mother had died, Nick was lifeless. It was like all the happiness in Nick was wiped from him.

Ed had gotten angry at him for not answering him and he slapped him, trying to get some kind of reaction. Nick broke down completely and the three of them just sat in the middle of the field they found him in and cried together. Nick, crying for losing the only mother he had ever known, Alphonse for almost losing Nick along with mother, and Edward for the hopelessness of the situation and knowing that after today nothing would ever be the same.

Ed picked up the pieces of himself and his brothers and did the best he could. And here they were. They still went to school, had their meals at granny and Winry's and went home, home with no mom.

The three brothers stayed long after the funeral was over. Nick still hadn't spoken a word or moved. He and Alphonse sat next to him.

Al turned to him. "Ed lets go home. I'm cold and so is Nick. What are we going to do? I mean...Mom always knew what to do...Mom would know how to wake Nick up. I want mom back." said Al looking miserable while hugging Nicholas.

'Me too.' Ed thought. Wait, mom back...bring her back...back from the dead...alchemy...that's it!

"Al, Nick! I know what to do! We will bring her back. Back from the dead!" At this Al and Nick looked at him. "How?" Nick said in a timid voice, daring to hope his mother could come back.

"Alchemy, equivalent exchange! I can't believe we haven't thought of this before! I mean there has to be a way to bring her back through alchemy. All we have to do is find a teacher to teach us the proper ins and outs of alchemy and we can research the rest ourselves! Dad's library is bound to have a book on human transmutation." Ed looked at his brothers with hope for the first time since mother got sick and sighed in relief. They could fix this. They could see her again.

Finally, Edward knew what to do. He would bring his mother back for him and his brothers. "But isn't bringing back the dead a taboo big brother? No alchemist will teach us something like that." Alphonse said, afraid to even hope for something like this. "Then we keep it a secret; say that we want to learn for purely academic purposes! I don't know. We will figure it out when it comes up. I just know that we will bring her back." Ed said with a determined look in his eyes.

All during this Nick finally moved from his place on the grave. He stood up and looked at his older brothers. With a determined look, he nodded to them. He would bring her back. No matter the cost.

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Since the day of the boy's mother's funeral, they have had one goal.

To bring her back.

To go against all laws of alchemy and commit the ultimate taboo. To attempt human transmutation.

The first year after her death, all Al, Ed, and Nick did was study. They studied their father's books at school, home, and they even made games to help each other understand the concept they had a hard time figuring out. More importantly they kept it a secret from everyone, including their best friend Winry and Granny.

Sometime later, they found teacher.

Her name was Izumi Curtis. They found her during flood season at Resembool and the boys were trying hard to protect the town with their alchemy, but self-study could only go so far. In the end their inexperience was their down fall. Then out of nowhere came teacher and her husband to save the day. The boys were so awed after they saw her display of alchemy that they immediately asked to become her students but she turned them down...harshly. It took begging and Nick and Alphonse's puppy dog eyes to get her to soften and agree to their request. After that they went to live with Izumi and her husband in Dublith to study alchemy more in depth. The brothers ended up being there for two years. That was the first time in a long time that the boys had all been happy.

In those two years they worked constantly under the teachings of Izumi, from the survival test on the island to studying all-nighters. They also had to learn hand to hand combat training. Even the youngest of them, Nick, kept up with his brothers. They were prodigies through and through. They understood concepts and applied them to their alchemy in ways most adults couldn't hope to understand. Everyday Ed, Al, and Nick trained their bodies, minds, and alchemy to the fullest. Soon hand to hand combat became second nature and alchemy circles were child's play.

In those two years Izumi taught those boys all she knew and then some. When she declared that she could teach them no more. They had to learn the rest from experience.

After being sent home to Resembool, they began the process that would bring back their mother.

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When they got back from teacher's house, it took another three months to gather the supplies to attempt the human transmutation. A lot of studying, gathering of the supplies needed to perform the transmutation while trying not to be suspicious around Winry and Granny was difficult to say in the least, but somehow they pulled it off. All three of them wanted to make sure that they didn't mess up the delicate process that was human transmutation.

Nick, Ed, and Alphonse all gathered around the circle that Ed had just finished making.

"Ok the circle is finished and doubled checked for mistakes. All right, next is the chemical makeup of the human body. Thirty-five liters of water, twenty kilograms of carbon, four liters of ammonia, one-and-a-half kilograms of lime, eight hundred grams of phosphorus, two hundred and fifty grams of salt, one hundred grams of nitrate, eighty grams of sulfur, seven-and-a-half grams of fluorine, five grams of iron, three grams of silicon…and a drop of both my blood and Alphonse for DNA. I think everything is here…anything missing Nick, Al?" Ed said while double checking is notes for the millionth time.

Nick, who was now nine years old, shook his blonde tufted head. In the two years they had been with teacher he had become lean with muscle and his blue eyes sparkled with a new found intelligence and childhood innocence. He had grown a bit but he was still a good four inches shorter than Edward much to his dislike.

Alphonse, who was now ten years old, also shook his head no. Al had grown quite a bit in the years they had trained with teacher. He too had become lean with muscle and his eyes shone with a spark of maturity that came with being the middle child, but also with an innocence that could never be erased. Their unshakable faith in their eldest brother was never in question in these two years the brothers had been together.

"Brother I think everything is in order." Alphonse hesitated before continuing. "Are you sure we should do this? I mean it has to be taboo for some reason right? I know I've said this before but-"Nick cut him off.

"Don't worry Alphonse it's like Ed said before, it's just no one has dared to go against it. I mean how do you know it's not possible until you test it out, right?" Nick said with a reassuring smile.

"Nick's right Al. Don't worry we have gone over every possible step to this transmutation. All three of us have double and triple checked each other's work. Soon we will have mom back and everything will be ok." Ed looked over to his worried brother. "Just watch soon our biggest worry will be on keeping each other out of trouble and how to outdo each other to make mom smile. It will be just like when we were little." Ed flashed Alphonse with a reassuring smile before the three brothers turned back to the circle.

Ed turned to his two little brothers. "You guys ready?" Nick nodded and after a few seconds hesitation so did Alphonse.

"On the count of three. One. Two. Three!"

In synchronization all three brothers clapped their hands and slammed them onto the transmutation circle. Almost instantly the power of the human transmutation filled the air and in that single moment all three of the boys' lives had been drastically changed forever.

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