MINOR SPOILERS FOR FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST BROTHERHOOD

Emma was about three years old when she discovered those books in the house.

But before we get into that let's explain some basic information. Emma lived in a, not large but also not small, orphanage. She thought of everyone there as her family, first there was Ray, the oldest, then Norman, herself, then Don and Gilda who were about one or two years old.

Isabella—Emma and her family's caretaker and Ray's biological mother—had said that they belonged to Ray's late father. The books always intrigued Emma, but she never actually read them until after she was four. So before then she would go through them, the circle patterns only made her curious. What did they mean? What did they do?

She learned how to read at four, and at any free chance she got she snuck into that room and read those books.

Turns out the books talked about this thing called Alchemy. Emma recalled hearing Isabella mention that word at least two or three times. Under her breath, on the phone with someone, and one time when she was talking to herself and didn't realize Emma was in the same room.

The books explained what Alchemy was, how it works, and how to use it. Her curiosity got the best of her and one day she snuck some chalk with her when she went into the room. She had grabbed two books—one explaining how to use Alchemy, and the other explaining a basic transmutation—and placed them open on the floor. With a smile she glanced at the circle on the first book and placed her chalk against the tile floor and—

"What're you doing here?"

Emma let out a yelp and dropped the chalk; she turned around quickly only see a familiar face standing at the door, his raven hair defying gravity and sticking up while his bangs covered his left eye. He was wearing a T-shirt with grey pants—he always wore socks inside the house—a bored expression on his face, and as always he had a book in his right hand.

"Ray! Hi! I didn't expect to see you here!" The younger girl said while sweat dropping. Ray sighed as he started to walk over to Emma.

"You know we're not allowed to draw on the floor." He said but Emma gave him this determined look.

"It's not drawing on the floor! It's Alchemy!"

Ray looked at her then scrunched his nose. "Alchemy?" He asked and Emma nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, look just watch!" She said and picked up the chalk again. She started with drawing the circle, then drew did the patterns. Then turning around she picked up the blade with her, she had been studying Alchemy for a while and the one that piqued her curiosity the most was Blood Alchemy, where you had to use your blood to create it into a solid.

She placed the blade against her left thumb and before Ray could protest or stop her, she sliced the blade against her skin, flinching a little at the pain. She heard something drop to the floor and before she realized it, Ray was kneeling in front of her holding her hand.

"Emma you idiot, why'd you do that!?" He yelled at her but she just gave him a nervous smile while scratching the back of her head.

"To transmute something! Look, just watch." She crawled past him and to the circle. She squeezed her thumb so the blood could land on the circle, and when a decent amount had landed on it, she clapped her hands together then placed them on top of the circle.

Magenta colored lightning appeared around the circle and Ray had to close his eyes a bit and look away, using his right arm to shield his view just a bit, while Emma stared at the at the lighting and circle with an amazed smile. And when it was over and Ray looked back at the circle he couldn't help but to let his jaw drop just a bit.

Instead of the blood Emma had put in the middle of the circle, there was now a flower. Every detail was precise, the petals looked thin but they were bunched up together making them look slightly thick, and the stem was just as thin as the petals. The entire thing looked like it was made out of a red glass.

"Is that a lavender flower?" He asked and Emma nodded in reply.

"Yep, I thought about that time when you got me a bunch of lavender flowers for my 4th birthday!"

Emma missed the slight blush that appeared on Ray's small, round cheeks. He promised her that he wouldn't tell his mother, and it became their little secret until they were thirteen years old.

---

Ray and Norman were five years old—Emma was still four—when summer came around and they learned that a women who was a mother to two older boys that lived near them passed away due to an epidemic that swept the country. A few weeks after that, Norman got the same sickness but luckily survived.

About four years later—when the trio was about eight or nine—they learned both parents of a young girl, who again lived near them, and is only a year or two older than them, passed away. While Emma and Ray didn't know them all that well, Norman and Isabella did as they would often visit when Norman got sick due to them both being doctors. And Norman and Isabella went to pay their respects.

When Norman and Isabella returned he told Ray and Emma that the young girl wasn't completely alone for she lived with her grandmother. He also said that in the middle of it those two boys who lost their mother earlier this year seemed to say with them a lot.

Emma knew who he was talking about, there were many times she was playing outside and saw them playing outside, and wanted to invite them to play with her family also. Yet, there was always something that was in the way. Despite how friendly Emma was, she couldn't bring herself to greet and invite them. And now with everything that happened, she highly doubted that she ever could.

Three after that the same boys disappeared. And despite not knowing them personally, Emma was worried about them. And Isabella explained to her that they left their small town, but were fine.

About a month or two after that one of their younger siblings, Conny, disappeared. News about her disappearance swept their small town and many people kept an eye open for her. Even the young girl—who Emma learned was named Winry—looked for their younger sibling.

Sometime after that, Norman got sick again. But it was bad; Isabella said the only way to help him was if he got medical attention in Central City. So they packed up a few things and left, before leaving she left Emma and Ray in charge—as they were the two oldest kids—and left. Yet, they didn't hear anything from them for two weeks and Emma's worry for her friend and mother figure grew.

A week later, they were visited by a man from the military, who informed them that a land slide had occurred. And that their bodies were yet to be found.

The sound of a tray dropping hit everyone's ears. And when they turned to the source, Ray stood in the middle of the room with wide eyes. He didn't bother to pick up the tray and ran upstairs.

Emma's heart had dropped, but she only nodded and thanked the man for informing them. She closed the door and when she turned to their family, she saw their eyes. She could read their eyes saying, 'what are we going to do?' but she gave them a reassuring smile and told them everything would be okay.

From that day forward, they were no longer an orphanage, but a family. There was Ray, the oldest, Emma, Don, Gilda, Lani, Thoma, Chris, Jemima, Phil, Shelly, and Carol—the youngest, she was a baby—they had each other. They had to be strong for each other. Ray and Emma worked in town while Don and Gilda took care of their younger siblings—though sometimes Ray and Emma took care of their siblings while Don and Gilda worked—and the younger children were, well kids. They worked together as a family.

But Ray—observant Ray—started to notice one day—when he and Emma were both thirteen—that Emma was acting strange. She would often sneak away to the shed for long periods of time. And when Ray would clean his late father's office he noticed some of the Alchemy books were missing—he had also started learning Alchemy in secret. Well so far he had only read about it, he hadn't actually transmuted anything yet.

Then one day he read about Human Transmutation, and his heart dropped. Human Transmutation was said to bring a person back from the dead. However it had never been done, the Law of Equivalent Exchange didn't work with it, what could even equal the price of a human soul? The answer came to Ray quickly, another human soul, even if it didn't work. Surely Emma wasn't going to attempt this taboo, right? He knew that to this day she still studied and practiced Alchemy in her free time to this day but, Human Transmutation had never been done before; it wasn't possible, so why would she ever try to attempt it?

But then, one day he and their family noticed when Emma was late for dinner. Ray had felt his heart drop once again, but he kept telling himself, "Emma is smart, she's not an idiot. She would never try that." He told the younger kids that he would check the shed and bring Emma back to eat. And then he walked out the front door.

Each and every step he took he could hear his heart beating, thumping in his ears. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he placed his hand on the door to the shed.

"Emma?" He called out her name only to be cut off by a gasp that left his mouth. His eyes widen and he felt like his heart left his body.

Her body lay in the center of the room, unmoving. There was blood on the floor in different places of the room, and a large circle drawn in chalk. The circle Ray had recognized as a Human Transmutation circle. But that wasn't what shook him up so much, what shook him to his core was the pool of blood under Emma's body.

"EMMA!!" He shouted—more like screamed—her name and ran to her side. Kneeling before her, he cradled her in his arms. His right hand cupped her cheek so he could look at her face for any injuries.

"Emma! Emma!!" He yelled, and it was then he noticed a large blood stain on both her skin and dress in the center of her chest. The fear coursing through his body was indescribable, he felt like his worst nightmare was coming true—and in a way, it was. The person he cared about the most was hurt, and on the verge of death. He started to place his right arm under her leg so he carry her bridal style to the house, but then he caught sight of what was in the center of the circle.

It was horrifying, there was no way in fucking hell that thing was even human. Ray would never forget what he saw there. He quickly looked away and turned his attention back to Emma. Using all his strength, he picked her up and ran back to the house.

---

When Emma opened her eyes, the first thing she felt was pain coursing through her entire body. She felt weak, like as if half of her strength was gone. Then the tune of a lullaby hit her ears. Using what little strength she had, she turned her head to the source of the song.

'What a beautiful, yet sorrowful tune.' She thought to herself.

When she fully turned her head to her left side, she saw a familiar boy sitting next to her—well more like next to the bed she was laying on.

"Ray...?" She asked, and the boy picked up his head. And Emma saw so many emotions flash through his eyes. His face scrunched up, like as if he was about to cry. But he didn't, instead he looked at her with worried face—Emma would never forget the look he gave her. She noticed the warmth coming from her hand and realized that Ray was holding it. And the first thing he said to her was.

"... Never do that again, please."

Emma stared at him for a few seconds until she nodded her head.

"I won't. But I guess I had to learn my lesson the hard way, huh...?"