AN: I'M SO SORRY, THIS WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE SO DANG LATE!

So this is what happened: I had the rough draft of this chapter written after I had posted chapter 2. But the thing is, I had left Al out of the chapter. I had him be somewhere else. Only after realizing I really wanted Al in this fanfic I decided to do a small rewrite. Wasn't supposed to be anything major.

But then I got lazy and soon I lost my motivation to write and well what do you know it's 2019!

Uhhh, happy new year? Hehehe whoops…

Anyways, I'm back now and finally uploading the epilogue of my Nina Lives AU. Hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own FMA

It's been seven years since that fateful day Edward and Alphonse Elric saved Nina Tucker from a fate worse than death and took her to Resembool to be cared for by the Rockbells.

A lot had happened in those seven years. After officially being adopted by Pinako and going from Nina Tucker to Nina Rockbell, the girl soon became a staple in the little yellow house. She would do chores with Pinako, such as learning to garden and clean the house, and on some days Winry would take her down to their shop and teach her the basics about automail.

Nina was too young to understand the finer details of the trade—and the Rockbell women had a feeling the little girl wasn't even interested in taking it up either—but she was always willing to help if they needed it. She would learn the names of tools and hand them to one of the ladies should they ask, and if a patient was in pain she was trusted to help them feel better.

Sometime during all this, Nina found a calling in helping people. Not as an engineer though, but in something that the Elrics knew to be in her blood.

Alchemy.

It started some time after the brothers returned from their journey. They would spend countless hours talking to the girl about what it was they were doing since they left her in her new family's care. Some details were excluded, but the girl found out why Big Brother Al didn't wear his armor and Big Brother Ed's right arm wasn't made of automail anymore.

She had been sad to learn Big Brother Ed couldn't perform alchemy anymore, but upon seeing how happy the young man was, Nina's sadness evaporated. If Edward was happy, then she was happy too!

The next two years had been one of the best of Nina's life. Having the brothers in the house was never dull. It was amusing watching Ed try and perform every day things without his alchemy, and it was interesting to watch Al perform daily exercises to get his body back in shape. She had decided to learn how to cook because Winry had told her that Al needed the nutrients to be healthier. She wanted to give back to one of her older brothers, so it was the least she could do. "Equivalent Exchange," they always say. She felt immensely proud when Alphonse ate up all the simple recipes she made with her adopted older sister and praised her for it.

When she overheard the brothers talking about different forms of alchemy, Nina's interest suddenly piqued.

"What's alkehestry?" she had inquired them one night.

"It's healing alchemy," Al replied. "You know how we can make things out of other things?" at the five-year-old's nod, Al continued, "Well, people who use alkehestry can take a booboo and make it better!"

It was the simplest explanation for a child. Nina's eyes lit up.

"Wow! Can I learn that?"

Ed and Al blinked.

"You want to learn alchemy?" Ed asked, looking a little uncomfortable. Nina wasn't quite sure why, though.

Nina pondered over the question before saying, "Well, not really the stuff you and daddy did," (she wondered why the Elric Brothers flinch when she mentioned her late father….), "but I want to heal. I want to learn medicine, like Granny Pinako and Big Sis Winry!"

The brothers looked at her, looked at each other, then back to her before they startled her with their shouts of joy.

"That's great, Nina!" Al exclaimed.

"Yeah, and with Granny and Winry as your teachers, there's no doubt in my mind you'll be the greatest doctor ever!" Ed encouraged.

Nina beamed at the praise.

"Brother, if she were to learn Alkehestry, she could really make a difference in the medical field!" Al said, now shifting the conversation to just him and his older brother.

"I know! Man, if only that Bean Girl wasn't all the way in Xing…" Ed trailed off. He then shook his head, "Oh well, one thing at a time. I'm gonna tell Granny and Winry the good news."

Ed rushed out of the room, Al and Nina hearing his loud voice proclaim to the rest of the house's residents of Nina's decision for her career. Al chuckled at his brother's antics, but then his face became pensive. Nina gave him a confused look.

"What's the matter, Big Brother Al?" she asked him.

Al remembered where he was and gave the little girl a reassuring smile, "It's okay, Nina, I was just thinking. My brother and I, we don't know much about Alkehestry—much less how to perform it. If you were going to learn, we'd have to find you a teacher…"

It seemed to be the biggest roadblock. Alkehestry was taught in the East. Nina was only five and just got settled in Resembool. It wouldn't be ideal to pack her up and take her across the desert just to find a teacher. Al didn't like that idea, and he knew Edward would be against it. After the Promise Day, his older brother was ecstatic to finally go back home to see the Rockbells and Nina. He wouldn't want her to go away for a long time. And going with her would be out of the question as Al's body was still recovering from his time in the Gate, and Ed's automail wouldn't be able to handle the harsh conditions of the desert heat…

He was taken out of his musings when he felt a pat on his head. He looked to find his surrogate little sister on the bed with him, ruffling his gold locks.

"Don't worry about it. It'll all work out!" she joyfully said, a large grin on her face. Al returned it with a grin of his own.

"You're right. I shouldn't think so hard about it. You're still young after all. We've got time."

After many discussions, the Elric Brothers came to a decision.

There was so much about the world and alchemy they didn't know. Alchemy was supposed to be for the people, but not many alchemists in the world follow that principle. So they decided to go on another quest: this time to gain knowledge in hopes that instead of the simple zero sum of "Equivalent Exchange," they could give back that one extra.

It was also an opportunity for Alphonse to learn Alkehestry. Not just for his own benefit, but for Nina's. She was dead set on learning medicine, and while Winry's parents' old medical books were a good start, she really wanted to help people by using healing alchemy as well.

That was another decision the boys made: they'd teach Nina alchemy. They were hesitant at first—the sole reason she was under their care in the first place was because of a harmful use of alchemy—but they warmed up to the idea upon making their plans.

Once Ed's journey to the West was finished, he would become Nina's teacher; mentoring her in basic alchemy as a foundation before Alphonse stepped in to teach her what he learned about Alkehestry. Hand-to-hand combat was also a must. Winry raised an eyebrow at that one.

"Are you expecting her to be like you two and get in fights?"

"It teaches discipline." Edward had retorted, "Besides, it'll be good just in case some chumps try and pull a fast one on her."

It was a rough start. While Nina was a very bright girl, Edward found just how much more advanced he and Al were at her age. She could read, but bigger words were harder to pronounce and most of the books and notes Edward had grown up reading were more for a college level than elementary school level. He wouldn't allow that to discourage Nina though, so he took all the books he was planning to use for her teachings and rewrote them for her to better understand.

Winry—now his wife at this point—had to laugh at the young man, "At this rate, you could get a job at the schoolhouse by teaching the kids Alchemy for Beginners." Edward just rolled his eyes at her.

A few years came and went and everyone's efforts were paying off.

Nina—now eleven years old—was becoming quite the prodigy ("Expect nothing less from a Rockbell!" her Big Brother Ed would boast). She was learning all she could about medicine; and after witnessing countless automail port surgeries and the recovery process for the patients, she decided that she would focus on the surgical field rather than a family practice.

She was still studying Alkehestry, and was making much progress. Alphonse was a good teacher and would always help her if she was struggling. It also helped that his girlfriend, May, was a master at the art therefore could help teach Nina in greater detail. Sadly, May was mostly in Xing than Amestris, so she couldn't stay very often to help with Nina's studies. However, the railroads to Xing were becoming more accessible for tourists, so the brothers were always talking in hopes of visiting the exotic country more often.

Currently, Nina was on the sofa of her home reading the latest book on Alkehestry that Al had given to her. He was upstairs writing a letter to May (he would have called her, but Edward forbade his brother to raise their phone bill higher than it should be). Pinako had gone to town to do some maintenance on one of her clients as well as catch up with some old friends. She had told her family not to wait up on her, which led Nina to believe that her adoptive grandmother's "catching up" had to do with sitting around the fire and sharing a few drinks. Sometimes she forgot the old woman was well in her eighties and often complained of arthritis…

Next to her on the couch was Edward Elric, twenty-two years old and rocking his infant daughter in his arms. Other than teaching Nina alchemy, the man had taken to a quiet life taking care of his growing family and doing housework while his hardworking wife ran her automail business. Nina chuckled every time she thought about how her oldest brother had changed. He still had a temper on him and his recklessness didn't let up much, but he had a more mature air about him that sometimes made him seem older than he actually was.

On the floor in front of them was Thomas, Edward and Winry's son. When the couple announced their first pregnancy, Nina was ecstatic. She grabbed all the books she could about pregnancy and babies because she found the miracle of life so fascinating (this would lead to Ed momentarily freaking out and awkwardly asking Winry if Nina had "the talk" yet, to which his wife rolled her eyes and replied, "Yes, Ed, we had the talk. God, you're such a baby sometimes!"). She was also determined to take care of her adoptive older sister as much as possible.

When Thomas was finally born, Nina instantly adored him, nobly declaring that she'd protect him with her life and be the best aunt ever! Thomas became attached to Nina as well, lovingly referring to her as his "Auntie Nina."

"Daddy! Auntie Nina! Look what I made!" the toddler cried happily, showing his family the block tower he made. Once he got the reaction he sought for, he knocked the blocks back down, ready to start again.

Ed chuckled at his son's antics before going back to coo at his daughter. Nina smiled at the sight. Edward really was a good father.

Father…

Nina's thoughts began to stray. Seven years. It had been seven years since her father died and the Elric Brothers took her to Resembool to be adopted by the Rockbells. The experience has been nothing but great for the girl, but she can't help but think back to her deceased parent.

She was only four, so details were always fuzzy. And whenever she asked her adoptive family about her father, they always got weird looks on their face. Like they didn't like talking about him.

Pinako and Winry would give strained smiles and generic answers ("Oh, we didn't know him but we heard he was a smart man and an alchemist."),but if she were to ask Ed and Al about her father they tended to change the topic immediately.

Edward would always get an angry look on his face too. She remembered when she was five she had declared it was her father's birthday (a date she no longer remembered, sadly) and asked Granny Pinako if they could bake a cake in his honor. The sudden scrape of a chair drew her attention and she saw Ed storm out of the room. She asked Al and Winry if she had done something wrong, to which they assured she was fine and that Ed had…personal issues going on. Nina wasn't sure what they meant, but she dropped the topic. She didn't want Big Brother Edward to be angry with her.

Despite her fuzzy memory she did distinctly remember some things about her father. His face, and the stubble he would have on his chin during early mornings. How he laughed when she ran around the yard playing with Alexander. His soft voice speaking to her as he ruffled her newly braided hair. But out of all these random snippets, there was one thing about her father she remembered with absolute clarity:

The last time she saw him.

She remembered Edward and Alphonse playing with her that day, waving goodbye to her and promising to play with her again the next day. She remembered her daddy being sad because the military was going to give him some kind of exam (honestly, to this day Nina still didn't understand the military and State Alchemists despite the many stories Edward told her) before hugging her and tucking her into bed that night.

She then remembered being shaken awake, her drowsy mind seeing her daddy stare at her in the moonlight.

"Daddy?" she had asked, rubbing the sleep from her tired eyes, "What's the matter?"

"Nina," her father said, "I'm sorry to wake you up, but daddy is having some trouble right now with his experiments. Would you like to help me?"

The offer perked Nina right up. She always wanted to spend time with her father. He was always too busy and always said she couldn't help because she was "too young," so to have him ask her to help him made her very happy.

She nodded eagerly, "Uh-huh! Uh-huh! I'd love to help you!"

Her father smiled, "Good girl. Bring Alexander along. He'll be of much help to me, too."

"Okay!" Nina cheered and called for her dog to follow her into her father's study.

This was where the memory gets fuzzier due to Nina being awake past her bedtime. She recalled her father having her move some books around in his study, but afterwards he just had her and Alexander sit in the middle of the floor while he drew with chalk. Nina thought she fell asleep because the next thing she knew, she was in Alphonse's metal arms and he was shushing her and telling her to go back to sleep. She had wondered where Edward was but sleep overcame her and the next time she woke up, she was in a hotel room with her older brothers and Alexander, her father nowhere in sight. It wouldn't be until the next day that she'd find out he had suddenly died.

"Yo, Squirt, you awake?"

Nina was startled out of her reminiscing to see Edward giving her a curious look. The baby was no longer in his arms but in her bassinet next to the couch. Thomas was also staring at her, his blocks forgotten.

"Sorry, Big Bro. I was spacing out," she chuckled.

Ed chuckled too, "That's fine. I kept trying to talk to you, but you wouldn't answer. I'm about to cook up some supper, you in the mood for anything?"

Nina shook her head, "Anything's fine with me. What do you want, Thomas?"

Thomas's eyes lit up, "S'ghetti!"

Nina laughed at the three year old's attempt to say "spaghetti," while Ed rolled his eyes, "Oh no, little man, we've had spaghetti three nights in a row now. Let's try to feed you something new."

Thomas stuck his tongue out at his father, who childishly stuck his out back. Nina watched the pair and couldn't help but wonder if she and her father were that playful back then…

"Hey, don't space out on us again, Nina," Ed chastised her. "What are you thinking about anyway?"

Nina bit her lip. In her experience, mentioning her father around Big Brother Edward wasn't a good idea. But considering she wasn't a child anymore (no matter what anyone else would tell her), she decided that she had a right to know about the man who raised her for the first four years of her life.

"I was… Well, I was thinking about my dad."

Just as she thought, Edward stiffened, a sour look coming to his face. Before he could huff and spout some excuse for them to not talk about the late Shou Tucker, Nina said, "Seeing you with Thomas and Iris makes me think about him. I don't remember much about him, but I want to. You knew him, what was he like?"

Her words gave Ed pause, and she could see the conflicting emotions on his face. Nina didn't understand. Why did Big Brother Ed hate her father so much? Was he not as good a person as her childish mind perceived him? Another memory popped into her head, a memory of Edward telling her that she wouldn't be able to live with her father anymore because he did a "bad thing," but she still didn't understand. What was the bad thing?

Edward sighed and motioned for Thomas, "Go down to the workshop and help your mother out."

Thomas tilted his head in confusion, "Huh? Why?"

Edward replied, "Chances are your stubborn mom will forget that it's dinnertime and go on about how she can't eat because of her orders. It'll be good for you to help her out so she can get done in time to eat. So go on, get!"

Thomas nodded, always eager to help his mother out with building her automail. He may have gotten Ed's looks, but his interest in all things machinery were a Rockbell trait.

Once he was out of the room, Ed made sure baby Iris was still asleep before he called up the stairs to his brother, "Yo, Al! You might wanna come down here!"

Nina heard some shuffling and Alphonse—much more physically strong than he was six years ago—came down the stairs.

"What's up, Brother? Is dinner ready?"

Ed gave his brother a tired smile, a seriousness in his eyes that neither Al nor Nina missed, "It's time."

Al blinked. Nina half expected him to ask if Edward was talking about dinner, but when Ed tilted his head in her direction, realization dawned on Al.

"Oh. I see."

Nina raised an eyebrow at the serious atmosphere. Alphonse noticed her expression and gave her a small smile while ruffling her hair playfully. As he sat down on one of the living room chairs, he indicated for his brother to proceed. Edward turned toward his surrogate little sister.

"I was hoping to avoid this conversation as long as I could. Me and Al always talked about how this day would come, but I honestly thought you'd be older when it happened."

Nina pouted, "I am older. I'm not a kid anymore!"

The brothers chuckled. "No, I guess not," Ed said. "I was your age when I decided to join the military, and I didn't consider myself a kid back then either. I guess you take more after me than I thought."

Nina smiled at the tender moment, but then turned the conversation back on track, "What was my father like? Why do you two never want to talk about him?"

Alphonse shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he watched his brother. Edward's face turned stoic, a shadow going over his eyes as if he was going back in time. Nina had seen that look before, but nowadays it was a rare sight.

"Nina, what do you remember of the last time you saw your father?" Al carefully asked, taking over for his brother.

Nina raised an eyebrow at the question but answered him, "You and Big Bro Ed had left for the evening. Daddy was sad about some test he was going to have—"

"The State Alchemist assessment." Ed supplied.

"Right, his assessment. Anyways, I went to bed, but he woke me up sometime later. He asked me to help him with his work—some kind of experiment. He wanted me to have Alexander help too." Nina paused, a realization coming to her, "Now that I think about it, that sounds strange. My father was a State Alchemist. Why would he want the help of a four-year-old and a dog? Maybe I dreamed that?"

Ed shook his head solemnly, remembering what Al told him when Nina had briefly roused while Ed was beating up Shou Tucker, "No, Nina. That wasn't a dream. He really got you out of bed to ask for your and Alexander's help."

Nina blinked, "That's odd. Well, either way, I don't remember doing much. Just helping him move some stuff around in the room and sitting in the middle of the floor with Alexander. I remember daddy drawing with chalk—"

It suddenly hit Nina what the chalk was for. She's an alchemist now; she should have caught on sooner! Her father was using chalk to draw a transmutation circle.

But… Wait, wasn't he drawing around the place she and Alexander were sleeping?

Ed and Al stayed silent as they watched Nina connect the dots. Edward had been dreading this for seven years. He, Al, and the Rockbells avoided it as much as they could because they all agreed she was too young to learn the harsh truth. She should have some respect for her late father, right? Well, Ed would disagree, but all the same Nina didn't need the heartache of learning who her father really was. It was just too much for a little girl.

She's older now, but Ed can't help but still wonder if this was the right time. He met his little brother's eyes, silently asking him this. Al, obviously understanding the turmoil his older brother was feeling, softened his eyes and gave a slight nod of his head. This was the right thing to do. Nina should not be kept in the dark about this any longer.

'Well, now or never, I guess…'

"Big Brother Ed," he heard Nina whisper shakily, "I remember you and Big Brother Al being there that night. What were you two doing? What was my daddy doing?"

Ed thought about his answer, "I…well, to tell you the truth I was really paranoid that night. About your father, that is. I convinced Al to go with me back to your house so we could spy on him—"

"Spy? Why?"

Ed huffed; this kid wasn't making this easy. He shot another glance at his brother, who silently waved him to continue. Damn. Edward decided to go for a different tactic.

"Nina, do you remember your mother?"

Nina's eyes widened. Where did that come from?

"Not really. I recall they fought a lot, mostly about daddy trying to get a job. One day I woke up and she wasn't around anymore. Whenever I asked, daddy just said she was living with her parents, but then Granny Pinako told me that wasn't true…"

Despite not knowing much about her mother, young Nina did remember her father saying she was away. A few weeks after living with the Rockbells she had asked if she would be able to see her mother now that her father was gone. Winry had bit her lip and turned to her Grandmother, who bluntly—though in her own gentle way—informed Nina that Shou had lied to her and her mother had passed away a long time ago.

Nina had been distraught. So both of her parents were gone? She was considered an orphan now?

Demanding why she hadn't known until now, Winry had picked the distressed girl up into her arms and held her. Winry had proffered that maybe her father wanted to keep the truth from her to protect her. Maybe Shou didn't want to see his little girl sad.

That had been enough for four-year-old Nina at the time, but now that she's older…

Come to think of it, wasn't the day her mother died also the day her father became a State Alchemist? But that didn't make any sense! How could she have died? She didn't think her mother had a tragic illness. Did she?

The pensive look on the brothers faces told Nina the reason for her death was something much more elaborate.

"How did she die? Do you know?"

Ed and Al shared another meaningful look toward each other. Almost like they were silently debating with each other. That made Nina frustrated. Why did those two have to be so…so…secretiveall the time?! She was getting more questions than answers, and Ed's cryptic wording and Al's silence were just making things worse!

"Arrrrgh! This is going nowhere!" she yelled out, causing her older brothers to jump. "I don't understand! What happened to my mother? What was my father doing? Why did you bring me to Resembool? Stop avoiding my questions and just tell me, please!""

The silence continued between the brothers. Finally Al stood up from his spot and put a supporting hand to his older brother's shoulder, "Brother, let's stop beating around the bush. Like you said, it's time she knew."

Ed nodded and took a deep breath. He just hoped that after all is said and done she didn't hate him for keeping her in the dark all these years…

"Your father wanted to become a State Alchemist really bad, Nina. In his desperation, he decided to take your mother and an animal and combine them into a chimera. He passed it off to the military as the first chimera to ever speak the human tongue. She died not long after the transmutation, refusing to eat or drink anything.

"Two years later, Al and I met you father in order to learn about bio-alchemy. He was told that if he didn't give satisfactory results to the military for his assessment, then his license would be revoked. His behavior and his failed results were fishy to me, so I forced Al to go with me back to the house to spy on him. We found him about to perform a transmutation…"

He had paused his explanation to gauge the girl's reaction. Her eyes were wide and her mouth a thin line. What he was telling her was putting her in shock, but he had to power through. She deserved the truth.

"Nina, he was about to turn you and Alexander into a chimera."

He wasn't sure what he expected her to do. He expected her to yell, scream, throw things, punch him, or something. Instead, Nina just stared at the floor, processing what she was told.

"I see…" she says in a whisper, no evidence of emotion found in her voice. "So that's why…"

"Nina, we're so sorry we kept this from you." Al apologized.

"Really sorry." Ed added, "You were just a little girl. None of us knew how to break it to you. We—"

"It's okay, guys," she interrupted them. The brothers looked to her and to see a small (obviously fake) smile on her face. "You both were trying to protect me. I probably would have done the same thing in your shoes. But you told me the truth when I asked, and for that I'm grateful."

The boys knew she was holding herself back. She was trying to keep face and be strong in front of them. Edward should know what that's like; he's an expert at hiding his emotions after all.

"Do you…" she begins, biting her lip as if she's afraid of what she's about to ask, "Do you think he even loved me?"

Edward's eyes widened. Honestly, it was a legitimate question. It was one Edward constantly asked himself during those years Hohenheim was missing from his life. Granted, Edward got his answer that yes, his father loved him and his brother despite the decisions he made. Nina, however, will never know due to Tucker's early demise.

Alphonse shifted back and forth, a sad and sympathetic look on his face as he stared at Nina. He turned to his brother, as if asking him if he knew the answer to the question. Thinking hard, Edward ventured to give an answer.

"I think he did."

Nina gave him a curious glance while Alphonse stared at him in shock. The younger Elric wasn't expecting thisfrom his brother of all people.

Ed rubbed the back of his head. This was hard to say. "I mean, I think your dad was a shitty person and he totally got what was coming to him," he winced at the frown Nina gave him, "but I'm sure he did love you. He just… He lost himself in his work. He was focused on being an alchemist that he forgot what it was like to be a human. He forwent his morals for the sake of keeping what he had. In the end, he grew to love alchemy more than he loved his own daughter. And for that, he paid the price."

Al frowned, giving the ground a hard stare, "I personally don't know for sure, but I do agree somewhat with Ed. It's hard to imagine a parent hurting their child; but if they are driven to it by their own ambitions…well…"

Nina nodded, satisfied with the brothers' answer to her question, but her demeanor was still melancholy. Ed didn't blame her. To find out your father's work was more important to him than his daughter is a tough pill to swallow. He wished he could lie to her, to say something to make Shou not seem like the worst human being on the planet, but that isn't fair to her and it would be against Ed's own standards as well.

Deciding that his little sister was in need of comfort, Edward pulled Nina into an embrace. Alphonse followed his brother's lead and wrapped his sturdy arms around Nina and Ed. Ed felt her stiffen, but slowly relaxed.

Swallowing his pride, Ed decided to tell Nina another truth; one he constantly thought of when he looked at Nina and saw how happy she was in her new life.

"I know you're sad right now, Squirt. That's okay; you have every right to be. But I want you to remember something. Your dad was shitty, but there is one good thing that happened when he made his big, stupid mistake: it led you to our family."

It was a pretty cheesy thing for Edward Elric to say (he purposefully ignore Al's snort), but it came from the heart and that's what mattered to Nina. Returning her surrogate older brothers' embrace, Nina allowed her emotions to take over and she sobbed hard into Ed's chest. Ed rubbed soothing circles into her back, allowing her to let it all out. He and his brother shared a bittersweet smile. This was reminiscent of the day Nina found out her father died (though, at least this group hug wasn't held back by cold metal exteriors).

"Mama, why is Auntie Nina crying?" came the frantic voice of Ed's son. He glanced over the couch and saw Thomas and Winry in the doorway, Thomas tugging on his mother's pant-leg and looking distressed.

Winry shushed the toddler and shot Ed a cautionary look, mentally asking him if everything was okay. Ed returned the look with one of his own that told her yes, everything was fine, but they needed to be alone. Thankfully his wife understood and gently pushed Thomas into the kitchen and away from the scene between his father, uncle, and aunt. With their son out of the room, Winry quietly moved to the bassinette to pick up Iris and take her into the kitchen, leaving Ed, Al, and Nina completely alone.

Ed's not sure how long he, Al, and Nina sat there holding each other. Nina's sobs ebbed away into sniffles and hiccups but she still clutched the Elrics like they were her lifelines. Eventually, the preteen quieted and gently pried herself away from her older brothers.

Her eyes were bloodshot, face blotchy from all the crying, and Ed could clearly see the emotional exhaustion in her body language, but was pleasantly surprised to see the genuine smile on Nina's face.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked. Dumbest question of the century if you asked him, but what else would you say after you spent—he checked the clock—fifteen minutes holding someone who was bawling their eyes out?

Nina gave a dry chuckle, but her smile still remained, "It's going take some time to adjust to the truth, but I'll be okay eventually. I have you two and everyone else to help me through it, right?"

"Of course!" Al said, giving Nina a quick peck on the top of her head.

Edward grinned and ruffled her hair, "Right. We're always here for you, kid. We always have been."

"I know. Thank you, Big Brother Edward and Big Brother Alphonse. For everything."

Nina shared another quick hug with both boys before Ed called out, "Okay, Tom, you can stop spying on us. She's okay."

Nina yelped as a little blond blur rushed from the kitchen and into her lap.

"Auntie Nina, are you okay? You were crying and sad and I didn't like it! Don't be sad, Auntie Nina, you can have my piece of apple pie if you want it."

Nina laughed at the toddler and settled him more comfortably in her lap as she hugged him, "Aww, Tom, that's so sweet of you. I feel better now, so you shouldn't worry. Your daddy and uncle are the best at making people feel better."

"I'd say Brother did most of the work," Al grinned. "It's hard to believe but he does have a way with words."

"The hell is that supposed to mean?" Ed muttered to his little brother, a pout on his face. Al laughed.

"Ed does have a knack for making people feel better, doesn't he?" Winry chimed in, shifting her daughter on her hip as she gave her husband a kiss on the cheek. "If you three are feeling up for it, supper is ready. Thomas thoughtfully suggested we make Nina's favorite tonight."

"Yeah, I'm famished!" Nina proclaimed, picking Thomas up in her arms as she stood up, "Come on, Tom, you can sit next to me."

With a cheer, the preteen and her nephew went into the kitchen. Alphonse chuckled and followed after them. Edward and Winry watched them leave, Winry noticing a thoughtful look on the ex-alchemist's face.

"How did it go?"

Ed shrugged, "It was rough. I'm glad Al was here to help out, though. I don't know if I could have done it without him here."

"Do you think she's really okay?"

"Right now? Not really. She's aware of the truth though, so we just have to support her through it."

Winry nodded, "I don't think that'll be a problem."

"Nah," he agreed.

Things went back to their regular routine that night. The Rockbell-Elrics ate their meal as a family, telling stories and laughing at the children's antics. Later, Winry and Edward put their children to bed before the mechanic went back to doing some late night work. Meanwhile, the Elric brothers and Nina sat in the living room—the elderly Den and Alexander napping at their feet—to discuss alchemy and alkehestry notes.

Afterwards, Nina would call it a night. She bid her foster family goodnight and went to her room and crawl into her bed. In the dark of her room, she allowed her mind to wander to the day's events and her family.

What her father did to her was inexcusable and will leave a lasting effect on her and her view of him.

But Edward was right. Despite his mistake, she was thankful it led to her family.

AN: The ending to this was supposed to be more lighthearted, but I put down writing for a few weeks and when I finally came back to it I had forgotten what exactly I wanted to write for it. I'm pretty satisfied with this one though.

The hardest thing about writing this was how to write Nina and her reaction to finding out how much of a piece of shit her father really was. I thought about her finding out younger than eleven, but I had to consider the development of a child's mind and if they could comprehend heavy things like your only parent lying to and manipulating you so he could keep his stupid job for his own selfish needs. I feel like that's a good reason for the brothers and the Rockbells to keep her in the dark for so long too: would Nina be able to comprehend and understand the truth at a young age?

I'm no child psychologist, so I'm probably off base. And even the reaction I ended up giving Nina in the fic is probably not exactly realistic either. I do hope it's somewhat satisfactory in the end.

OH, before I forget, let me talk about Ed and Winry's kids. The named "Thomas" was inspired by a piece of fanart. I loved the name a lot and adopted it. The artist said the name was inspired by another fanfic but I don't know what fic that was. As for "Iris," well... I honestly couldn't think of anything better tbh.

Anyways, that concludes my Nina Lives AU. I have more headcanons for this universe that I would love to put into an anthology collection, but alas, it probably won't happen (I mean, it did take almost a literal year to get this chapter uploaded...). Maybe someday though...

Review if you liked it, and constructive criticism is welcome. Have a nice day!