Chapter Text
Trisha is a very proud mother. Proud of Edward in all ways any mother could be.
From the very moment he was born, she knew, he'd be great. Great at anything he wished to be.
“Anything but alchemy”, she whispered to the night, rocking him to sleep. “Anything but that.”
He was a loud toddler, wailing and crying but never without reason. He was clingy, tugging at her hair when she carried him, and later on when he grew, at her dress.
He was born in the snow of 1889. And for a baby born in winter, he grew to be healthy and warm. He was always loud, attentive, and driven. He was also active, zapping from one place to another with wide eyes that looked at Resembool with interest that could pick everything apart.
Once, she found him staring at Hohenheim’s study with interest and she pulled him apart before he figured out what it was. He was intelligent like that. “But why mommmmm?” He had whined. She doesn’t remember what she said.
What she does remember, is entering his study the very same night. She stared at the shelves filled with books. Wishing she could burn them and take them away from her son.
In the end, nothing she did prevented Alchemy from finding him. Even if Resembool is a small town, alchemy is well-known in Amestris. He found out and excitedly told her. She had wanted to cry.
He was six at the time.
He continued to grow, and so did his curiosity. Resembool’s library grew small, and so he turned to her. He was ten, so he still came to her.
He was ten when she first gave him one of Hohenheim’s books.
And he devoured it, soaking every word and array like a sponge. A few months later, he asked for another book. And she saw his eyes, shining and pleading, filled with life and interest, and love for this science. She gave it to him.
A year later, Ed pulled her apart from the kitchen and sat her at the table with all the seriousness an eleven-year-old could muster.
“Mom. Look.” Solemnly, he pulled out a block of clay, a piece of paper, and a pen. “Mom, focus because this is amazing,”
She knew where this was going, but instead of apprehension, her heart fluttered with happiness at the excitement in his face. “What is this Ed?”
“This is clay, mom. Clayyyyyyy from Mister Hans of the store. It made up of-” She heard all his rant about the components of clay, the structure of the array, and how it all worked.
“-everything is equivalent Mom, so I'll take this an-” She saw Hohenheim but also saw herself. She saw his passion but she also saw her tenacity. She saw she still loved Hohenheim, even if he left.
“-owwwwww see. This is what happens.” He placed his hands on the array, and blue light shone in plain daylight.
Once the alchemy was gone, she saw a little duck made of the previous lump of clay. A miracle she never expected, even if she still dreams of his return, to see it again.
At eleven, her son did his first transmutation.
“Seee Mom, see that. I just did that.” Ed said, taking the duck, jumping off the chair with the new duck and then handing it to her.
She loves Ed and still loves his father—Hohenheim, who left. Who left for some reason she knew, was because of this science her son loved so much. Behind the things he hid, and continues to hide.
“You did Ed.” She took her son in her arms and hugged him. “You did.”
They celebrated that night.
A year later, war bloomed in the south, and she was glad it was far from her and her son. The Rockbells left, wanting to help, leaving their two-year-old Winry to Pinako. She took Edward with her the next day, just so he would meet Winry, and learn how to help.
Sometimes she wondered, is Hohenheim there? Is he in that war? Yet, she never ruminated about it for long. He'd survive.
When Ed turned fifteen, she let Ed enter Hohenheim's office. She saw no point in keeping it closed, as she had given a grand part of his books one by one to Ed. At least this way, he’d get to explore as much as he wanted.
That day; she sat him down, and told him about his father. Who he was. How she loved him, and how he left.
Ed simply mulled it over and said. “He made you happy. I guess that is enough for now.”
And that was it.
For all of Ed’s temper. (All hers.) he left it at that. Never to be mentioned again.
But, she knows Ed doesn’t like Hohenheim. Not with how he pulled his face in a frown and pursed his lips as he entered the office for the first time.
Yet, Ed is an alchemist and respects knowledge. So he leaves it like that.
He grew up, feeling nothing for a father he never saw.
Around this time, Winry was already a five-year-old with a big smiles and a kind heart. Ed never said, but he had a soft spot for her, constantly spoiling her rotten. She was like a small sister to him.
Trisha wished Hohenheim was here to see his son grow to be a great person, alchemist, and friend.
She wishes she could give him a brother. She wants another son, to nurture another boy or girl that can accompany her and Ed. That can support Ed when she isn’t around. But Hohenheim isn’t here. So she only wishes.
When Ed was sixteen, she began to worry.
War continued. Ishval did not back down. Neither did Amestris. She saw newspaper after newspaper narrating the events.
She knew Ed was of age. She knew he could be drafted. So, from then on, she waited and waited for a letter to come and take Ed away.
Ed noticed and he comforted her with a smile. “It’ll be fine, Mom. They probably don’t even know I exist.” He said, grinning and laughing. “‘Sides, I’m not leaving this little girl on her own. She needs someone she can pester about automail.” He ruffled Winry’s hair, and she pouted, glaring at him before breaking into a fit of chuckles. “Pipsqueak.”
“Heyyy!” Winry said, eyes widening and pouting again.
Ed left to drop Winry off with Pinako, leaving her wishing this could last a little longer.
On Ed’s eigheenth birthday, they celebrated with Pinako and Winry and a couple of neighbors. They sang and cut a cake.
The next day, an officer of the military passed through town asking for the alchemist living in Resembool. Apparently, word of voice had reached East City about a genius Alchemist. A self-taught genius, proficient and innovative with his arrays. An Alchemist who knew arrays like the back of his hand, his area of expertise being everything. She wished Ed never took after Hohenheim in this. She, and everyone she knew, tried to hide Ed. Tried to be tight-lipped. Guarded.
Nothing worked. They found out and Ed’s existence as an alchemist was revealed to the military, to the recruiters.
She cried that night. And wished she could just tuck Ed away from that hell. But she couldn’t even get his father to stay. What could she even do?
The next day, Ed took her out for a walk. They visited Winry. Ed kept her entertained while she talked to Pinako. They returned home, ate, and then sat down.
They talked. Talked about what would happen while he was on duty, what they’d do when he came back. And what- and what she’d do if he… didn’t. Ed was methodical about it. Careful, patient, and regretful though he never voiced the last. He looked reluctant, but he knew there was nothing he could do.
They planned. Then, they waited.
He was called to East City and came back with a silver clock and a nickname. She wants to erase the picture of him in the uniform from her mind.
“Apparently, I am the second alchemist to enter this young.” He said to her. At the moment they were sitting on the porch of the house. She was looking at him, and he stared at that damned silver clock. He was dressed in blues, and she could do nothing about it. He chuckled but it sounded distant. “Always breaking records anywhere I go right?”
She wished he didn’t.
He came and went, claiming a family member needed special care as an excuse. For my power, he said to her, they leave me off the hook.
When he could, he continued to play with Winry, working off jobs and studying at the library as he had always done. They ate dinner, talked, and slept.
She saw him grow stronger and more cautious. His back getting tenser and straighter with the need to resist all the weight that fell on him.
He came and went between East City and Resembool, and Trisha missed him every day he was gone.
The new year rolled in. They celebrated. She deluded herself into thinking they avoided war. That Ed would not see the frontlines. Ed was wary but matched her energy with smiles and loud laughter.
On the first day of 1908, Amestrian Führer King Bradley issued the executive order #3066.
That morning Ed hugged her, hugged her so hard she could hardly breathe.
A letter arrived a month later, hidden underneath the piles of newspapers. It said:
Major Edward Elric, also known as the Golden Alchemist, is hereby directed to present himself at South City’s military base camp to serve his duties as State Alchemist in the Ishvalan War, as demanded by Executive Order #3066.
Failure to comply will lead to execution by gunfire for betraying and deserting his duties to Amestris.
Signed: Führer King Bradley.
Ed crushed the letter in his fist and walked outside. He shouted his lungs out. She cried.
She helped him pack, but there wasn’t much she could add to the luggage. Nothing that would protect him over there. When she wasn't looking, he took a photo of all of them together. She never noticed.
She walked him to Pinako’s place and saw him promise Winry he’d return, to play with her, help with her automails, and make new friends. Winry cried and Pinako had to take her inside just so she wouldn’t run after him.
She took Ed towards the train station, looking at him one last time before he marched towards hell and sand. They hugged, and no words could be said. She cried on her shoulder and so did he. Both enjoyed the last few seconds together.
“Take care, Ed.”
My son, my pride. Please, please, don’t die. Come back to me. Alive.
“I promise Mom. I’ll come back.”
The train left and she stood there, hoping that the determination in his eyes was enough to help him pull through.