"The power of equivalent exchange; the magical power dad had. I can do it, Henrietta! I can do
alchemy!" Hughey's large smile was in dark contrast to his little sister's look of horror.
The boy stood from his knelt position on the ground to only extend the object he had crafted so
perfectly.
Henrietta recoiled in slight fear as though it were poisonous.
"You've been reading dad's books again?" She spoke with just a whisper, "Mom said it was dangerous,
Hughey! You can't do it!"
Hughey's smile dropped as he realized his small accomplishment would go unappreciated with his
sister. The brother let the twig crown drop to the ground before his steps trampled it. The snap of the
frail wood signaled his annoyance.
"Who knew you would be such a wimp, Henry. Can't you at least try to think for yourself? Mom's
wrong."
The very thought of her brother's abandoning steps out of the brush sent tears welling to Henrietta's
eyes.
"Wait, Hughey!" She cried out to stop him.
Hughes glared back at his sister with baby blue bullets.
"And you're not telling mom. Or dad. If you do, maybe I won't save you from the pond again." With his
threat out, the boy took off down the nearby dirt path that ran up to his home. The poorly lit road didn't
bother him, but Henrietta could never walk up it by herself. Hughey's mother always made sure he was
there to help his little sister, but at this point, he didn't really care. She could take the bridge with a
single lamp post if she was so scared of the dark. Sure, it was out of the way how it circled to their
house around the back, and it even wasn't well supported by the beams, but Henry was the one to
worry about that.
Hughey slowed his steps as he came to the door. While his breathing was still ragged, and he really
should have waited to step in, a single voice propelled his silent feet to listen.
"... He's been getting into the study again. What if he's reading those books?" The voice of his worried
mother spoke to an unseen individual. Hughey didn't need to guess who this mystery person was,
because as soon as he spoke, the voice was matched to a face.
"Hughey? Don't worry about him. He knows the rules, and he's a good kid, so he won't cause any
trouble."
The famous man known for saving anyone Hughey had ever met, and the famous alchemist now turned
normal, his father, Edward Elric, had returned home.
A laugh of the man erupted from the kitchen.
"And what's the big deal if he does? It's not like a little alchemy could kill him. He could even fix your
earrings you've been complaining about. I read those books when I was younger, too." He was most
likely holding Winry, Hughes knew. Whenever his mother talked of her worries about them, his tall and
supportive father would hold her closely from behind. Sometimes he would even whisper words that
she could only hear. Hughes could never figure out those words, but whatever they were, they always
made his mother smile.
"I don't know, Ed, it's just.."
"What happened to me when I was a kid? Winry, we have good, smart kids, and we're not half bad
parents. Unlike me, Hughes has his father. I won't let anything happen, okay?"
The sentence seemed to put the woman at rest, as a slight shuffling of plates was heard.
"Okay." Winry laughed.
Hughey took a few soundless steps back towards the screen door. He slammed it to the lock as though
his presence in the house was a new one.
"I'm home, mom!" He announced for all to hear.
Hughes stepped into the kitchen to finally set his eyes upon his idolized father. He could barely hide his
excitement over the event, but he remained calm to not set off his mother's suspicion.
Oddly enough, his mother was alone peering over the stove. No father resided in the room Hughey had
expected him to be.
"Hey, honey. What's up?" Winry glanced over her shoulder with a warm smile for her returning son. She
held a steaming pot over the sink as she emptied the water from it.
Hughey narrowed his eyes slightly.
Had he been wanting his father to come back so bad that he dreamt of it?
A sudden feeling of large hands at his sides woke the boy up. He was lifted into the air and onto a body
just behind his. Before a word of warning to his mother could be issued, the smirking face of the man
who had placed him on his shoulders was seen.
Long golden hair as thick as the wheat stalks in the fields was tied back into a low ponytail with no
particular detail paid to the hairstyle. A freshly shaved face showed no stubble, just as the boy
preferred it. Honey eyes stared down with a certain warmth and closeness that could only be shared
between a son and father.
"Dad!" He had been completely off guard in anticipation to see his father. Hughey smiled brightly at his
spot on his father's shoulders. The two often played a game involving the riding of Edward. It was
always so nice to see the country in a higher position than his own height.
"What have you been up to? Any new fishing spots?" Edward laughed.
"Hughey, where is Henrietta?" Winry interrupted her husband's usual questions for one of her own. She
pointed suspicious eyes towards her son.
Hughes avoided her prying pupils to instead face the ground.
"She's.. Over Mary's." He lied quite obviously.
Winry approached the two with a sour face still stuck to Hughes.
"You left her alone again, didn't you? You're her big brother, mister. You need to protect her."
Was there anything this woman did not worry about? Her thoughts were always pointed towards
others and not towards herself. Sometimes that fact really annoyed Hughes.
The boy was lifted from his father's grasp and back onto the floor. He turned to face Edward, expecting
a rather stern look as well.
No such expression lie on his father's face. It was quite the opposite, honestly. An understanding smile
was set on her lips.
"You're being mean to Henrietta again? Didn't mom tell you to stop? C'mon, let's go find her."
Never did this man try to be a parent that had forgotten he was once a child. He always knew just how
much to punish Hughes and what ways would truly mean most to the boy. Perhaps that was the
reason Hughes admired and strove to be so much like his father. If only he could show him the alchemy
he was able to do. He could be just like daddy in all respects. Except for his eyes, anyway.
"Don't take too long, you two. Dinner will get cold." Winry let the two stride out of the kitchen and into
the warm night air turned chilly by a simple breeze.
Edward made sure to close the screen door tightly so it might not whip into the wall. Winry was always
yelling at him for such things, after all. It was better to just listen to her rather than get hit by whatever
object she found most appropriate at the time.
"Man, it's nice to actually walk after that many train rides." Hughes' father stretched out his arm
muscles before descending from the wooden patio. The man took only a second to grab his child's stray
hand before walking onwards. Normally, Winry was the one to grip Hughey's hand too tightly or too
often, and he always found himself pulling away. But for some reason, when Edward held his strong
grab onto his son's hand, the boy took a bit of pleasure in it.
He could never really be too close to the man.
"How was uncle Mustang?" Hughey glanced up towards his father's now dark face. It truly had become
dark in the time since Hughey had arrived home. He wondered how Henrietta's scream had not been
heard yet.
"He's still the grouchy old man you know. Maybe your mom will let me show you around the barracks
next time I go." Edward smiled just a bit at the thought of seeing his old friend again. Really, nothing
much had changed between the two's relationship. Even if Ed was several inches taller than the man,
he would still be remembered as "Shorty." Funny how such a hated nickname could become so much
like a treasure in just a few years time.
Hughes' face lit up at those words. His smile returned as his blue eyes shone.
"Really? Is it as cool as you say it is?"
Edward nodded.
"Yeah, it is. Where did you say your sister was again?" He drifted the subject back to the current task
at hand.
Even with mention of his sister, the smile on Hughey's face didn't waver.
"Oh, she's going across the bridge around our house, I think. She's such a baby she had to go to the
only one with a light!" His slight joke did not give him a laugh from his father. Instead of any response,
the walking ceased from his father. The two stopped dead in the middle of the road as Edward looked
down to his son with wide eyes.
"W-What?" Hughey had to ask. The stare he was getting from his father was anything but pleasant.
The amount of worry and anxiety conveyed in the dark honey pupils made his skin crawl.
"The one closed off? The one not repaired fully yet, Hughey?" His voice was a small whisper compared
to the silence surrounding the both of them.
Hughey could only nod to answer the question.
The hand holding onto his was dropped in an instant as Hughey's father's feet picked up from where
they had left off. However, instead of the light pace the two were walking at, the man now held onto a
desperate run. His large steps pounded into the dirt as he strode forward.
"Dad!" Hughey yelled after him.
The man did not stop for a single moment and instead settled on an overpowering shout.
"Get your mother, Hughey! Do it now!" It was not a request.
But Hughey did not take it as such.
He found himself instead running towards his father's side, though he could never hope to catch up
with the sprint Edward was running. He instead trailed behind as the two finally came close to the
bridge in question. The sound of rushing water swept into both ears as the destination was met.
Hughey stopped next to his breathless father as both their sights stared forward to the ruin they saw.
While the side handrails were still going all the way across to the other side of the land mass, the
middle section of the bridge now held a hole that ran straight down to the rushing water below. It was
an unavoidable gap that anyone not paying attention could fall into, even with the lit lamp. The various
signs warning passerby's of the danger were simply thrown to the side of the bridge as though they
were an annoyance and not something capable of saving a life.
Edward threw himself down the side of the bridge and towards the water.
"HENRIETTA! HENRIETTA, WHERE ARE YOU!?" His harsh screams cut into the side of the brother still
standing near the entrance of the bridge. Every muscle froze in Hughey as his harsh words spoken to
his sister were remembered.
I did this I did this I did this I did this I did this I did this...
The words seemed to repeat endlessly in his mind as the sound of splashing water went through his
ears.
She was just a mere shape holding onto a nearby rock when Ed saw her. She didn't move an inch even
as he directed his shouts towards her. No voice was risen to answer her father.
Edward dove head first into the river his daughter was fighting against. The cold chill resonating
throughout his body was driven away by the burn he felt as he moved his arms back and forth, his legs
up and down. He fought against all forces as he closed in on his target, on his unmoving daughter.
Her body was so cold and wet. Even her hair had been pulled apart by the harsh pulls of the river. It
now hung across both her face and the rock her body was stuck onto. While her head was above the
surface, every few seconds a rush of cool water would wash over her entire being. There was no way
to tell whether or not the girl was still with him.
Edward fought back any panic as he latched an arm around Henrietta. He once again fought against the
crushing and cruel waves of water, only this time, he had another head to keep above the liquid.
The father pulled his daughter to the shore and propped her along the sweet grass and wildflowers. He
stared down, the dangerous situation only replaced with worry and grief. Her entire body was chilled
and her clothes were soaked and so heavy. It was a wonder how she had just sunk to the bottom of
the river and drifted along endlessly until someone had spotted the body.
Were her closed eyes signaling just unconsciousness? Or were they...
Edward was too crushed by the situation to speak. His mind skittered around with millions of thoughts
of just what he should do.
"Henrietta..!" The cut off cry of a woman worked it's way into Ed's heart as his sights focused slightly up
the hill.
Winry's wide blue eyes were of a horror Edward had never seen in them. It was terror and fear all
wrapped into panic of a mother at risk of losing her child.
The woman nearly stumbled down to the river as well as she dove to her daughter.
"S-She hasn't been in long, right? She just fell in, right? She's so cold. Ed, her eyes are.." The woman
placed a finger under the girl's jaw to measure and hope she could feel at least something under there.
A slight light worked it's way to Winry's blurry eyes.
"S-She's got a pulse! It's weak and I can barely feel it, but it's there. Oh, god, Ed. We need to help her!
Lift her chin up!" Winry was quick to realize the problem, though her husband was less quick on the
ball.
Edward simply stared down to the cold and empty face of his dying daughter.
"Edward!" Winry nearly let another scream come to her mouth.
"Ed, we need to save her! Please!"
His quick nod seemed to snap the man back into the situation at hand. He complied with the woman
and lifted the child's head to a slight tilt.
Winry gently placed her hand under her daughter's breastbone and began to press into her chest. The
quick and hard jabs went on for far too long than Edward could remember. Every time, Henrietta's head
would jolt forward in his hands as though she would come to life, but that was not the case, as gusts of
water would also stream from her mouth to crush his hopes.
Winry took her hands from the child's chest as she leaned her ear down towards Henry's mouth.
The tears that had welled up in the woman's eyes now streamed down the side of her face to drop
onto her daughter's clothes.
"Oh, god, she's breathing, Ed. She's breathing.." Winry lost all strength as her head collapsed into her
own arms. Her body jolted every few seconds as small sobs and whimpers.
Edward Elric perhaps felt relief wash over his body in those words. The man collapsed backwards into
the sweet grass and flowers growing wildly along the shore. He closed his eyes in exhaustion as the
words reassured him for what felt like hours.
She's breathing, Ed.. She's breathing..