guys i have not had inspiration like this in practically a year and i'm so happy. for the first time in forever i'm actually writing ahead of posting (on 28 rn)! it's exhilarating and I hope it lasts long enough to do the last three prompts XD
anyway...
Ch 26: Came back wrong
Rated T for imagery
Characters: Pinako, Winry
Timeline: general
Notes: Is it wrong to do two human transmutation related chapters in a row? Nah…it's the catalyst of the series. Except this time, it's the Rockbells' turn to talk about it! And I'm not making it nearly as gory or intense as Ed and Al's chapters…still a bit of disturbing imagery because it's sort of inevitable, but definitely not on the same level. Takes place the day after The Incident (or sometime between chapters 1 and 2 of Simple Things for my own timeline. Time to keep building up that headcanon *upside down smile emoji*)
It's five in the morning, and Pinako has gotten zero sleep. The boys had shown up at around nine the previous night, and it wasn't until close to midnight that the chaos finally settled down. Pinako had talked to Alphonse, sent Winry to bed, and set up a little pallet in Surgical to be close to a still-critical Edward. Despite the emotional and physical exhaustion, her duty (and fear) kept her checking him every half hour to make sure he was still breathing, and at four, she gave up the idea of sleep altogether.
Since then, her mind has been racing with the events of the night, including the knowledge that her precious adoptive grandsons had attempted to resurrect their mother, and that was what put them in such states. She just can't get the thought out of her head, and is slowly becoming stir-crazy. The pictures in her mind of what might lay at the Elric house are tormenting her, and she knows she has to go and see for herself…But she also doesn't want to leave Edward. She battles with herself for several minutes before deciding to thoroughly check Ed and go from there. She examines all of his vitals, and while he's still clearly in distress (because he's just suffered two sudden, violent amputations), the readings are decent enough that, logically, she knows the initial danger has passed. She's still hesitant to leave him, worried that the moment she does, he'll be knocking on death's door again, but she really can't handle waiting any longer. Despite never being the most religious woman, she says a quick prayer to whoever might be listening, grabs a lantern, and starts out toward the Elric house.
The early morning sky is still dark, with not even the first sign of sunrise on the horizon. Pinako makes the familiar trek to the boys' house through rain-soaked grass, dread building with every step. The front door is open, and when she gets to it, she realizes it's broken. She pictures the new Alphonse barreling through it and breaking the hinges, too afraid and focused on getting help to care; he'd very nearly done the same thing to several doors in her own home. The foyer is filled with rainwater from the night's storm and the interior ominously dark.
Pinako flips the switch by the door and the entryway bulb lights up, flickering slightly. Nothing looks terribly out of place in the living area as she walks through, except for a picture frame knocked off the wall by the staircase. Pinako swallows, the sense of dread intensifying in her gut as she looks at the stairs. Despite not having any real way of knowing, she's immediately drawn toward it as the source of the unsettling feelings. Her heart begins pounding nervously, and at the edge of one of the furthest puddles of rainwater, she spots a drop of blood that hadn't been washed away. She gets closer, noticing more small red stains leading toward the basement stairs, and imagines Edward, limp in his brother's arms and dripping blood. It seems like her sixth sense was right in leading her this way.
At the top of the basement stairs, Pinako hesitates. There's a foul stench in the air, coming up from the lower level. Pinako is a doctor; she knows what "human" smells like, and it's not this. It's like an alarm has been set off in her brain, and the only way she can describe the sensation is wrong. Human transmutation is alchemy's greatest sin; everyone knows that, no matter how inept they are in the field. And, brash as it might be, she can say without a doubt that the very air in this house radiates "sin". Pinako swallows her fear and continues down the steps, right into the heart of it all.
When she gets to the bottom, she finds that the light switches no longer work. Grateful to still have her lantern, she turns the corner into the main room of the cellar—and freezes. The sight is absolutely horrific, and all she can do is stare for a moment. She's seen a lot in her time, but nothing in her mental catalog can compare to this, because the thing in front of her simply isn't human. She puts a hand to her mouth, and it's only through her experience as a medical professional that she doesn't throw up. The sense of wrong is overwhelming. She already couldn't fathom how the same alchemy that made trinkets and toys could tear one boy apart and eradicate the other entirely; she never imagined it capable of creating something so horrific and inhuman.
Immediately, she knows she has to get it out. She can't let it stay in this house. Those boys wanted their mother, but this… She can only pray that poor young woman didn't suffer, and that the body her sons made died the moment it came into existence. Pinako prods the corpse with her foot, ensuring there's no signs of life; she's not sure how it could possibly be alive, given what it looks like, but with everything she's seen in the past eight hours, she has to be certain. Blessedly, the creature—because she just can't think of it as Trisha—truly is dead. Pinako sets down her lantern, grabs ahold of one of the malformed legs, and starts dragging it away. Being mostly bones, it's not too heavy (especially for someone who works with automail). Pinako gets it up the stairs and outside, leaving a solid trail of slightly off-color blood through the house.
Once outside, she momentarily contemplates what to do; she can't imagine anyone but herself coming near the Elrics' for a while, so she could leave it be for now—go home, make sure the kids are fine…But she honestly doesn't think she can go back without finishing what she's started. She wants it done and over, so she can focus on helping the briefly goes back into the house and searches the closet containing Trisha's old gardening tools. She leaves with a shovel and gloves, taking everything around back. Then, she starts digging.
She's honestly not sure where the stamina comes from, but by the time the sun has just begun rising, she's already dug a foot into the ground. She's been described as "very spry" for a woman in her sixty-first year, but she's also running on no sleep; she can only imagine it's a combination of adrenaline and sheer determination. Even still, digging a grave is not "quick work", and she estimates it's been about two hours by the time she deems the hole "good enough". It's probably just shy of two feet deep, and she's lucky the corpse is missing parts of its limbs (disturbingly, the same ones as Ed, it seems like) or its grave may not have been long enough. Pinako shoves the monstrous body into the hole and replaces the piles of displaced dirt. It's not pretty by any means, but it'll do its job. Trisha already has a perfect grave at the cemetery, and that's the one she deserves; for both her and her sons' sakes.
Pinako returns the shovel and gloves to their closet, before deciding to go downstairs one more time and search for any signs of Al's body or Ed's limbs. Amidst the dark, not-quite-human gore, she notes patches of brighter blood smeared on the floor and back wall—Edward's blood, she has to assume. She also finds the clothing Alphonse was wearing yesterday, stained but apparently undamaged, as well as one of Ed's shoes. The majority of the furniture in the room is upturned and in disarray, and there's an empty spot where one of Hohenheim's antique armor sets had been. But even with all of that, there's not a single remnant of the boys' actual missing parts. Somehow, the confirmation that Al's entire body and Ed's arm and leg simply ceased to exist is ten times more disturbing than if Pinako had stumbled on their severed remains. Despite her obvious pride in the Elrics' abilities, Pinako has always been a little wary of the power of alchemy…but its potential to literally erase whole human beings utterly vexes her. She leaves feeling even more unsettled than before. After wedging the front door shut, she starts back toward home, getting there shortly before eight.
When she opens the door, Winry immediately bombards her with questions. Pinako wasn't expecting her to be up, as the girl usually wakes around eight-thirty during summer, but she supposes it makes sense. She's probably just as riled up as Pinako due to last night's events, and also couldn't sleep as much as usual.
"Where were you?! I checked on Al when I got up and he told me to go away," Winry says, going a mile a minute. "But I asked him what happened yesterday and he said him and Ed brought their mom back with alchemy! Is it true? Is Auntie Trisha here?!"
"Winry…" Pinako starts, but her granddaughter is still going, her eyes wide with concern and fear.
"Is that where you were? Were you helping her? Is she okay? Why're your clothes all dirty? Are Ed and Al okay? Al wouldn't say anything else, and Ed's still unconscious! He's—they're scaring me, Grandma!"
"Winry!" Pinako yells before the girl can completely spiral. Winry quiets, eyes pleading for an explanation. Pinako pulls off her glasses, rubbing the bridge of her nose and sighing deeply. "Ed and Al did not bring Trisha back to life."
"But…Al said…"
"It wasn't her, sweet girl." Pinako touches Winry's arm.
"But then…what…" Winry struggles for words, unable to grasp the meaning of her grandmother's words. She'd been freaking out for half an hour over the potential return of Trisha Elric, and Pinako was saying it "wasn't her"?
"I went to their house, like you said," Pinako continues gently. "Trisha wasn't there. Those two made something, but it wasn't their mother. I took care of it."
Winry stares blankly at Pinako for a minute, registering the pain and exhaustion in her grandmother's eyes and voice. Suddenly, the dirt covering her clothes and hands makes sense, and Winry's chest deflates. "So…So Auntie Trisha's not here? And Ed and Al…" Her lip trembles.
"I know, Winry…It's alright. We'll be alright, and so will those boys. We'll all figure it out together." Pinako squeezes Winry's arm. "...You said Al told you to go away?"
"Yeah…" the girl answers, her voice strained. "He said he wanted to be alone…"
Pinako doesn't blame him; if she was in his position, she doesn't think she could process everything in one night. For now, she'll let him be, and try talking later; there's still a lot to be done this morning with the other Elric brother. "Alright…and you checked on Ed? You said he's unconscious, so alive?"
"Mm-hm…"
"Okay…I'm going to shower really fast, then we can get Ed fully instated."
Hearing her friend's name and "instated" in the same sentence still sounds foreign to Winry's ears, despite having operated on him herself last night. "Like…a patient?"
Pinako doesn't like the sound of it either, but it's a heartbreaking reality. "Yes. He's going to need everything we've got to heal from this. While I'm showering, start prepping Bed One. I won't be long." She quickly kisses Winry's head before going upstairs.
The road ahead of the Elrics and Rockbells is a long and uncertain one, but, in a way, it always has been. No matter how rocky things get, they always manage to come out the other side.
had to force stop yet again cause i would've just kept going and described the whole rest of the day haha
I can't be the only one who freaking loves pinako and wishes she got more screen time...I also love how ed and al thought of winry's parents as an aunt and uncle (and obviously her grandmother as their own); so clearly, winry must have thought of trisha as an aunt in a similar way