How to Breathe, Rain and Tears

{I'm never gonna drop this book simply because finding dropped books that could have been great irritates me, but my new position has been costing me more time than I originally assumed so rates will shuffle around a bit. Side note, I've already figured out what I'm going to write after this is done, which is nice because I basically create the first chapter of a new book every week at this point. I'm going to die as a fanfiction writer hobbyist, aren't I? Anyway, I think my style in the future will be making whole books first and releasing them in bulk later. It'll spare me from schedules and spare readers from waits.}

A square-faced man with dark hair standing sharply and perfectly straight on his aging head looks sternly at the documents on his desk. He does this with only one eye, trying to burn a hole in the page while his other one stays hidden beneath the eye patch.

'A human... a strangely talented one... has lingered past the edge of my vision. Reportedly, he has committed the taboo and has great skill as an Alchemist. What was taken remains to be seen. He also may have a philosopher's stone, yet his Alchemical light is gold. No stone would do this, he might use a different power than the earth. A man like this won't stay hidden for long, though I wish he would stay put like a good little human until the time comes. I must report this to Father. The third sacrifice has been found.'

Wrath shuffles the papers of the folder he received from the thorough investigations of a young and ambitious Lieutenant Colonel Mustang.

Details of the Resembool City Library, also known as the Library of Greed, were thoroughly documented by Mustang. Strangely enough, Mustang was reported to have left with nothing. He reportedly could not find anything special or worthwhile about the ordinary library.

This was a lie. Clone Yuri would not let Roy leave with anything for the state, only making sure that he promised to only leave with books he would keep secret for himself. The day after his visit to the Nightingale family, the Flame Alchemist had left with an interesting book. Alkahestry, and Fluid Shaping of Transmutation.

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"So? What kind of meaning have you found in the symbol?"

Yuri was unwilling to let them use his symbol until they gave him their philosophy, much like Izumi Curtis herself if not a bit less extreme.

Ed's contentment morphed into a pondering and serious stare. He knew his answer, but being confident enough to tell it to its creator was a different story.

"The Tower is the path the Alchemist or the Alkahestrist walks, and the height of it is determined by factors like luck and talent, dedication and knowledge. The higher you climb, the more you'll be able to see the world for what it is. You said we breathe the world around us in, but asked what we would breathe out. The only thing we can breathe out will still be part of the world, it will still be the same because we and the air are both products of the same world. It's being able to observe as much of it as possible that becomes the privilege after climbing the Tower."

'So Al answered first, huh? He got a small reality check but still arrived at his own more selfish version of one is all. He wants to be a bigger part of the All.'

Yuri gave no indication of approval or disapproval, only acknowledgment, before moving his attention towards Ed. The small frown on his brow indicated a different worldview.

"And what about you, Ed?"

He looked up and gave his own. "You called the Tower calamity too, a tribulation. I think reaching past it and overcoming it is the key to pulling from the world and shaping it how you desire. Everyone has their own Tower to get over, not just Alchemists. Hell, I'll break mine when I'm done with it!"

"Nii-san!" Al grew alarmed at his curse and Ed grew a bit nervous for talking like aunt Toni before he relaxed at Yuri's reaction.

Yuri couldn't help crack a small smile, which got Al slightly worried as if he was in the wrong and his brother was right.

"Good job, both of you!" Yuri cleared the misunderstanding.

Al tilted his head. "But which one of us was right?"

Yuri cocked a brow. "I didn't say there was only one answer, did I?"

Al decided to discover however many answers there were to the symbol, while Ed clenched his fist after he knew he wasn't wrong and steeled that conviction.

The days trickled into weeks and the weeks to months. Ed and Al, two seven-year-olds, held the strength of three men each and were nearly fully-fledged alchemists in their own right. Al excelled at shaping his environment. So much so, that Yuri doubted any normal Alchemist could fight Al without knowing him first unless they were willing to end a kid no questions asked.

He once turned a 15-foot square concrete patch Yuri had constructed into a pool of lava before shaping it and flash freezing it. Granted, those two moves had sapped his energy dry because he was using Alkahestry to help try to move it, but it was beyond impressive for a kid. Al had gotten more than a few mineral, stone, wood, and water formulae and circles under his belt. You have to know what a circle is supposed to do to activate it, after all.

Ed had worked on one specific circle for months while Yuri trained him and taught him the theory behind it while helping him work through it. A plus and a minus sign bordered either side of a crazy-looking circle with a jagged bisection running down the middle of an earth and an air triangle which crossed together like a black widow sign.

Yuri watched with almost as much childlike glee as Ed did when he snapped the fingers in the glove with that circle on it. A lightning bolt exited the fingertips and flashed with blue brilliance to hit the target ahead of him and shatter it into burning splinters.

Yuri, Al, Toni, and Ally clapped like hell after Ed summoned a bolt during the blue and Ed dumbly looked at his target.

'The main problem was making sure it didn't arc through him and back down to earth, now the circle won't hurt him unless he's in a metal box or under impure water or trapped in ice made from it.'

But Ed had other formulae he was taught for other variables. In fact, he had asked what Roy Mustang had on his glove and Yuri let the kid play with fire while keeping an eye on him. He was no Mustang, but he was getting there. Of course, a certain talk followed.

Yuri learned magic in a world where death met every corner and highwaymen sought lives and got away with it often. He knew how to defend himself, and he killed while showing mercy to those he could afford to. But the circles Ed leaned to had a stigma of operating in the thought process of combat, and would excel the most there. Electricity and fire were good tools to have, but Ed was unwilling to take a life with them unless he found it necessary.

Yes, found it necessary. They had no idea if they were ever going to take a life, and didn't even want to, but Yuri had told them repeatedly that there are things out there that don't care about humanity and should be put down. Threats out there that will act with impunity. Situations out there that would make mercy a wrong decision. But they were only 7, so it was said lightly and not very often. Like an introduction to the realities of the wider Omniverse.

Ed and Al would often study alone while the rest of the house was occupied. The owner of the library would often leave them homework, not even involved in alchemy but regular science and a little bit of math sprinkled with real-world money to help them in that area. It was during these times, away from Yuri's lessons and Toni's studio time, and Ally's hands-on crafts, that these kinds of conversations would play out.

"Do you think we can do it any time soon?"

"I think so. We need to ask for some kind of Chi battery from Uncle, maybe he can give us one each on our birthdays, and we can get to work."

"Why aren't we asking Uncle if it's possible, or even smart?"

"Our old textbooks and even his are all saying the same thing. It's taboo, a bad idea, a sin. Asking him will only clue him in that we want to try. That we've been trying so hard in his classes for this reason in the first place."

"He hasn't taught us anything about organic manipulation even when I've asked, I think he has a clue already."

"Maybe he doesn't know either."

"We saw him reconnect a severed leg on Den back then, Alkahestry is a healing art first. He knows. What happens if there's a rebound we can't stand or an accident we weren't aware of that these books refuse to talk about? Some of the warnings are pretty cryptic."

"Sometimes you make me forget who the older brother is. Fine, I'll ask him. Right after we ask him for the batteries so we are prepared for his refusal."

"Right. I hope they can hold enough, who knows how much we need to pay the toll for this kind of thing."

"Let's just fill them to the maximum, overpaying might save us for later."

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Spring, 1906

It was raining. Storming, actually. The droplets were falling heavily and the hilly regions of Resembool were redirecting the flow of all that water to the now overflowing and aptly named Rain River.

As the Rain River was winding through one of the normal residential areas it did at terrible speeds, it diverted off course and was attempting to rise and flood a good-sized portion of town. The people had already reacted quickly by piling sandbags and shoveling trenches, but it wasn't enough.

A burly and somewhat heavyset tanned man was helping his much smaller and skinnier wife weave through a crowd of nervous onlookers wearing raincoats and parkas to stave off gaining ten pounds of water weight. As she did so, the tides broke through the sandbag barrier with a great noise of rushing water and the volunteers had to run away from being engulfed. At this rate, more than a few homes would suffer.

"Are you sure you're up for it?" Sig asked his wife as he helped her get there. He had faith she could survive the elements, but he wished she would avoid this kind of strain more often.

"I'll handle it quickly, dear, don't wo-"

As she was talking, a commotion of contained jubilee broke out in the crowd as they gathered a bit of hope.

"The librarian is here!"

"Mr. Nightingale-!"

"Thank you for comi-!"

Izumi Curtis followed the reason for the crowd's reaction and saw a man break through it to walk towards the incoming tide. Wavy hair even blacker than hers graced his head while golden eyes looked calmly and peacefully forward, his three-piece suit and the coat around him were as black as his hair with a yellow tie around his neck, his similar boots were quickly soaked. Oh, no they weren't. There were tongues of golden lightning flickering around them and keeping the water at bay. As soon as the man showed his back to them, the symbol on the back of his coat made her eyes widen involuntarily.

'Is that... the Eye of Truth?!'

She focused more closely and realized that the symbol was a Tower and a symbol at its peak with a circle around it and going through the symbol. She shook off the illusion she thought she saw and kept watching, but two children could be seen riding the coattails of the man.

One in a red coat with the same symbol and less immaculate attire, another in a blue coat and the same style. Likely his students, she presumed, but what is an Alchemist who can afford two proteges doing in this backwater she randomly crossed paths with? He seemed too young to retire.

The kids seemed to be discussing who could deal with it first, just as the man lazily stopped them and himself in their tracks. He rose his foot lightly into the air and stepped back down, a wave of golden lightning spread from him and slithered through the water forward as a three-foot thick wall of stone sprouted from the ground and took the shape of the mudbank at the edge. The water had stopped, and the crowd had clapped for their local hero once more in the midst of the deafening rain.

Yuri turned around and leaned down to the brothers as he said, "Good men don't brag or discuss a plainly good deed first, they do it quickly and without fanfare, expecting nothing in return."

Ed looked back at the clapping crowd. "So that isn't fanfare?"

Yuri laughed lightly, "They are allowed to appreciate when they see a good deed, but the approval of the masses is not why good deeds should be done."

Ed and Al looked to each other and shrugged. Al stomped his foot and the socks he was wearing helped him go to work. All the water that had climbed the bank evaporated in a giant burst of steam, including the water in the brothers' shoes. Ed raised his gloved hand and a snap sounded out and echoed past the crowd even in the open space. A burst of wind captured and pressed the steam into the air and dispersed it.

"We going home?"

"Yup, let's go guys," Yuri said, but as they were walking his head tilted to see the character he knew was coming. The Curtis couple was holding eye contact with him, Sig with respect, and Izumi like she wanted to pry him open and figure out his secrets.

That is until she leaned over and coughed out a cup of blood.

Yuri stopped dead in his tracks and narrowed his eyes. That shit was closer to the anime levels of blood than should be healthy, how the hell does she live like that?!

He turned on his heels and started walking towards her as Sig was patting her back and trying to help, but eventually realized the man was coming and warned her. By the time she leaned back up to check, the crowd had split and Yuri was standing right in front of her.

Yuri glanced down at her abdomen and then back up to her eye level. "Which parts did they take?"

Izumi went from widened eyes to a deep frown in split seconds. "So you really did it too, huh?" She said weakly, wiping her mouth and inwardly wondering how he knew with a glance. "You first, bub, equivalent exchange and all that."

Yuri smiled and shook his head. "That wasn't why I asked, but I've worked with less."

Without warning, Yuri thrust his hand to her stomach faster than they could see and rested his fingers on it. Golden lightning flared and the crowd exclaimed, entirely unsure of the situation.

Sig reacted quickly, raising his fist and throwing his full power to strike Yuri's head and get him off of her. It was clear he was another committer of the taboo, but his motives were questionable.

With his other hand, Yuri perfectly blocked the strike from Sig and he recoiled back as if he had run into a steel wall. Izumi opened her creased eyes and watched the strongest man she ever knew fly away from a block. She wanted to raise her own counterattack, but she wasn't in any pain. She felt her insides shift around as if they were being refilled, she felt the uncomfortable amount of blood sloshing around in the wrong place slick back into an area she no longer felt, she felt itchy for a moment as new material started taking the space up. In a few seconds, before Sig had even gotten off the floor, she felt normal again.

Sig was about to get up and make a mad charge while the crowd gave them a wide berth and murmured in fear, but Yuri let his hand off and Izumi held her hand to him.

She looked up at Yuri to confirm what he had did, and he merely nodded and said, "Maybe it's time for you two can try again. You'll be happy with the result."

Izumi's cold hard shell cracked with full bloom and her eyes grew glassy and wet, Sig raised his giant body with remarkable speed and trotted over. Yuri tried to turn around, but Izumi strut forward and brought him in a grateful and teary hug. Unfortunately, Sig followed quickly and wrapped them both like a father bear.

"Alright, alright, I'm in a suit I'm plenty stuffy enough."

Ed and Al knew that Yuri had healed her somehow, and looked to each other. Al raised his brow as if to say 'I told you so' and Ed conceded and nodded as if to say 'fine'.

"I don't know how you did it, but if there is anything we can do to ever repay you, please let us know. I feel better already, you've given me plenty help even if what you said ends up being wrong!"

"I'm quite confident I'm taken care of your...problem...ma'am. And I will not be asking for payment, Truth already took it from you. Then I will be off," Yuri fled the sticky feely situation and left them to celebrate on their own in a likely very intimate setting before he remembered one last detail.

He pretended to pull a letter from inside his vest, Alchemized a message on it, and said "One more thing!" above the crowd of onlookers who were figuring it out, before throwing the letter in a perfect arc to them. Izumi caught it with some confusion, thinking that he had paid them too for some reason!

"We don't need anything more!"

"Oh, you'll need that! Trust me!" And Yuri walked off, sparing himself from another group hug with strangers as they opened the note and inspected the letter.

[Nothing that comes from the bid of Human Transmutation is truly what was wanted, or attempted. Whoever you attempted to bring back was not them, neither in body or soul. Merely a fake, another punishment.]

Izumi held her mouth with her hand and wept, tears of joy and relief uncontrollably joined the continuing rain as she smiled and Sig pulled her in another joyous hug from behind as he too cried his heart out. Their son did not suffer from her mistake, their son did not come back as a wretched mix of grotesque pain only to die again. She did not kill her son again. They looked up to see the man who had taken their burdens had already left, and they continued shedding happy tears in his wake.

As they were walking away, Ed asked Yuri, "Who is Truth?" and Yuri nearly facepalmed himself.