Chapter Text
The smell of smoke and death drifted on the cool summer breeze. The smell was not uncommon to the people of the small village, but it was usually so far away that only the faint wisps could be caught.
Today, the air was thick with the stench of Death’s cooking. The putrid air hung over the village like a blanket, suffocating those trapped inside.
But the villagers weren’t trapped. They knew full well where the smell was coming from, but they weren’t willing to leave their homes to investigate. They thought it best to leave it alone, not out of cruelty, but out of fear.
One old woman wasn’t having it. Despite the creaking aches in her bones, she still rose from her chair.
“Marco!” she called.
“Yes ma’am!” A dark haired young man appeared from the kitchen. He had an apron on and the juices from some soup were dripping to the floor from the spoon he held.
“Come with me.” The old woman slipped her shoes on. Despite her old age, she was ready with her things in record time.
“Miss Rockbell…” Marco stood in the kitchen doorway, fidgeting. “It might be best if-”
“If you aren’t going, then I’ll go by myself,” the woman- Pinako Rockbell- said. She promptly turned and opened the door.
She hadn’t left the yard yet, when small feet could be heard pounding the wooden stairs.
“Granny!”
“Yes, Winry?”
The blond girl stood on the porch, her eyebrows drawn together in worry.
“Are you going to Ed and Al’s house?”
“Yes.”
“Can I come?”
Pinako nodded. She knew her granddaughter was too stubborn not to come. Besides, she felt as if this would be an experience for Winry. The world was ‘peaceful’ at the moment, but anything could happen. One moment, they could be relaxing at home, enjoying a home cooked meal, and the next, the army could be rounding up people for the next military invasion.
After hurriedly pulling on her shoes, Winry ran to catch up with Pinako. The two walked the road in silence. The birds overhead stopped their noise, listening to the sounds of the humans. A tense air had settled, with nothing penetrating it but the occasional cry of a small child.
Neither knew what they would find when they arrived. Pinako had a guess on the situation, but didn’t want to think of it, for fear of it coming true.
When they arrived at the Elric’s household, only ash and brick remained.
“Oh no…” Winry covered her mouth. The girl’s eyes had widened to the size of saucers.
Pinako tsked and shook her head. Turning toward the nearest houses, she shouted, “Get out here! You fools! Are you going to leave this family to suffer like this!?”
The houses didn’t move. They stayed silent, as if no one was home, not even the ants, the plants, or the birds. Not even a spirit.
Pinako tsked again and turned back to the ruins.
“Winry,” Pinako turned to the horrified girl. “I need you to help me find them.”
Winry’s face didn’t change, but she did lower her hands and nod slowly.
Pinako made her way to the wreckage. She noted that the few trees that surrounded the home were scorched, and the grass, ash. A large black circle surrounded the house, signifying that this home now belonged to Death.
Pinako stood in front of the house. She held out her hands and took a stance. She began making coaxing, soothing motions into the air. Water from a nearby river soon followed.
Pinako doused the ruins of the house with the water, and the ashes gave a strange sizzle. She hadn’t expected that the debris would still be hot, but she was glad that she had taken the precaution. Once the house was soaked, and then the water removed, she and Winry began searching through the wreckage.
Pinako internally berated herself. She had suspected that something like this would happen one day. After Hohenheim left a few months ago, Pinako had a feeling something would go wrong. She had suggested that Trisha and the boys come and stay with her and Winry until the man had come back from wherever he had gone. Trisha had brushed off her warnings and Pinako had a feeling that the woman knew more than she let on.
“Speak of the devil…” Pinako whispered.
She had just removed a pile of bricks from the area she guessed to have been the kitchen. Singed, dark hair spilled across a pale face. The rest of her body was covered in ash and for a brief, fleeting moment, Pinako thought the woman was somehow alive.
But the dark chasm burrowed deep in her chest would say otherwise. The skin had peeled back and sunk in, leaving what lay underneath to breath in the open air.
Pinako closed her eyes and balled up her hands into fists.
She could have done more. She should have done more. Pinako knew something like this would happen, and she didn’t do everything in her power to prevent it. Trisha was a nonbender and the boys didn’t know enough to properly protect themselves. If she had been here she could have kept them out of danger-
Something rustled in front of her.
Pinako opened her eyes to white. A curtain had been laid on the ground in front of her. Marco and another man stood next to her.
“We’ll get her out of here, Miss. Rockbell,” Marco said. The other man nodded. “You focus on finding the boys.”
Pinako gritted her teeth.
“It’s about time you boys got out here,” She said. “Leaving an old woman and a child to do this alone. Despicable.”
Marco gave her a sad smile.
“We are indebted to you, “ Marco held up his right hand, which was just a stump where his wrists were. “If you hadn’t saved me that day-”
“Blah, blah.” Pinako waved the men off. “You can go on thanking me later. For now, move her.”
“Yes, ma’am!” The two men, with the help of earthbending, carried the curtain away.
Pinako turned to Winry who was staring at her.
“Come on, now,” Pianko walked over to her. “You can go back home if you need to.”
Winry shook her head.
“You know that Ed and Al might not be better off than her?” Winry gave the woman a slow nod. “Alright then. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Two more men arrived to help the Rockbells search the debris. Not long after, one of the men found a hatch and Winry found a hand.
“Check to see if one of the boys are down there,” Pinako told the men. They nodded and Pinako made her way over to Winry.
The girl hadn’t moved since she had called out her discovery. She had her eyes closed and she was whispering, “...please, oh, please don’t be dead!”
Pinako embraced the girl. “Go back home, Winry.”
“But, Granny!”
“Go. Back. Home,” Pianko said, sternly. Looking down into Winry’s horror stricken face, she regretted allowing the girl to come. “You’ve helped me enough. Ready my reserve of spirit water, just in case.”
Tears formed in the corner of the girl’s eyes, but it wasn’t until she had ran off, that they flowed freely down her face.
Looking down at the hand, the boy, who she had not yet identified, she, too, hoped that the boy was alive.
Clearing away ashes and debris, Pinako came face to face with a pale, round face with dingy hair. The boy was lying face down on the floor, his hand outstretched. She saw that his hand was extended towards the place where she had found Trisha.
These poor boys , Pinako thought, pressing her fingers to the boy’s neck. She was relieved to feel the small strain of a heartbeat. They’ve been through so much, and yet, she knew there was more yet to come.
“I found him!”
Pianko watched as one of the men raised a child through the opening and into the waiting arms of the man on top. The man holding the child, pressed his fingers to the boy’s neck.
“He’s alive.”
Pinako felt herself sag to the ground. For a few seconds, she allowed herself to feel grief for what these boys had lost today, for what they would never gain back, and to feel the weight of the uncertain future that they would be faced with.
Eight seconds passed, and Pinako rose.
“Noah, take Alphonse to the house. Put him in one of the beds.”
Noah took the child in his arms away.
“Leroy.”
“On it, ma’am.” The other man shot out of the hole, and landed beside Pinako.
“Grab him.” Pianko watched as the man readied his foot. “Don’t earthbend! You might make it worse! Take him and put him in the pool.”
Leroy gave Pinako a brief look, then grabbed the boy. He sprinted off towards the Rockbell’s house.
“Be careful with him!” Pinko shouted. She jogged behind him.
As she left the Elric’s house, the scent of death still lingered. Pianko realized that the smell wasn’t coming from the house, but somewhere else- with someone else.
She pushed that out of her mind. She had two boys to see to. She could worry about the details later.