Curious

So I drew a picture of Emily and Berthold (Riza's parents)...
... here's a fucking essay to explain their past:

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<sub>Emily is the daughter of Grumman, who at this time is a Major in the military. He lives in Central for this is before his “demotion”. In his younger days he was primarily concerned with power and status and was quite greedy. He was married to a woman named Andrea, and the two had difficulties conceiving. Emily was their only child much to Grumman’s dismay; he wanted a son to carry on his name. Grumman was strict and proper; he sheltered his daughter and forced onto her an image of what he wanted her to be in order to make himself look good. Emily dislikes the way her father views her and feels unaccepted. She often clashes with Grumman and they get into spats quite often. Her mother doesn’t fully approve of the way Grumman treats Emily, but she stays quiet and doesn’t get involved. Emily feels alone.

Berthold’s mother died when he was young from an illness. His father is alive, but Berthold has cut ties with him. His father was an alchemist as well, teaching Berthold what he knew. But his father was cold and had high expectations, always pushing him and never finding him good enough. The relationship at a point became abusive. Berthold eventually moved out, and now lives in a lousy apartment in Central struggling to pay his bills. The only place offering him a grant at the moment is from the military; the military views Berthold as a very talented alchemist. They want nothing more than to harness his abilities and have him become a State Alchemist. Grumman in fact has been to Berthold a few times to recruit him in order to make himself look good for the higher ups, but Berthold won’t budge. He finds the military flawed and State Alchemist’s corrupt.

Emily is 16 at this point while Berthold is 25. Emily has always had an interest in alchemy, but her father forbids her from learning it. She hears from her father of his attempt of persuading Berthold to join the military, and Emily sees this as an opportunity. She sets out to find Berthold, and hears around town that he mostly frequents the library. At first, Berthold assumes that Emily is here to do the bidding of her father, but Emily assures him that that’s not that case. Instead she asks him for an apprenticeship. Berthold declines, saying he doesn’t have the time to teach a teenage girl alchemy. Emily pleads that she has no other options, saying all of the better alchemists in Central worked for the State and that she can’t trust them to not tell her father, but Berthold’s answer is final. Emily then says she can pay him as much as he’d like, and Berthold, having trouble keeping up with his rent, hesitantly accepts. Emily tells him that she can lie to her father and say the money is for a tutor for school. Berthold tells her they start tomorrow.

The two begin studying together. Berthold is quiet and focused, while Emily tries starting conversation and asking him questions. Berthold is used to spending his time alone, so he sees Emily to be rather pestering in a way, but finds himself somehow enjoying the company. Emily, who’s been neglected especially by her father, is happy to have Berthold’s attention, even if she’s paying him for it. She takes a liking to Berthold, and overtime begins having him accompany her out into town, noticing he seemingly reads every waking second. Berthold’s not used to this sort of thing and is flustered by it all; but after resistance always allows her to lead him out, subconsciously liking her presence. The two begin finding comfort in each other’s company, and Emily beings falling for him.

Berthold over time develops feelings for her as well, but is uncomfortable by it. Emily is almost 17 at this point, and Berthold is uneasy about feeling things for a minor. He’s also troubled due to who her father is. Berthold can tell the feelings are mutual because Emily is naïve and not exactly subtle, so Berthold takes the responsibility of dealing with the situation. He tells Emily he can’t teach her anymore, and that they must stop seeing each other. When Emily questions why, Berthold explains he’s been feeling things for her, and that he knows she’s been feeling the same, and that it isn’t right. Emily becomes upset and says she doesn’t care if they could get in trouble; if they cared for each other than it was enough. She admits that she’s in love with him, and he apologizes and shuts the door on her.

A week or so later, Berthold comes to Emily. Emily’s bitter to see him, but Berthold claims he made a mistake. He says he had been afraid by everything, but that he realized he didn’t want to be alone anymore, and that he didn’t care about anything else. Emily’s quiet. She ponders on him walking out on her again, and Berthold says that he can’t do anything to prove to Emily he won’t. After a moment she says she trusts him, and that she doesn’t want to be alone either. The two start seeing each other in secret, keeping Grumman in the dark.

However the secret comes into the light inevitably and Grumman confronts Emily, forbidding her to continue seeing Berthold. Berthold detests the military and lives a lower middle class life and is teaching Emily alchemy, something Grumman didn’t want her to learn. It didn’t help that Berthold was almost ten years older than her; he was an overprotective father claiming Emily to still be just a child. Emily goes to her room, upset. She and Berthold decide to meet at night, when Grumman was sure Emily was asleep.

A year or so later, Emily becomes pregnant. While they’re not in any situation to be able to raise a child, Emily wants to keep the baby. Berthold is hesitant about it and expresses that he wants to have a family with her, but that he has no means to provide for it. Emily says they don’t have to decide anything right away, and that they’d figure something out. A month or so later, Emily realizes her only option is to ask her father for help.

Grumman becomes furious. He had forbid Emily from seeing Berthold, and to top it off, she had stupidly gotten pregnant. Emily tries to brush off his anger and says that right now she needs his support, that they can’t raise it by their own means. Grumman tells her that’s exactly why she’s going to give it up. Emily refuses, and Grumman yells at her, telling her she’s tainting his name by having this horrible affair and having an illegitimate child. Emily says it’s the military’s fault Berthold is having trouble getting a grant for the first place; Grumman says that’s Berthold’s own fault, to which Emily retorts that Berthold has sense for not wanting to get involved with a place where everyone is nothing but awful power hungry scum. Grumman gets even angrier and tells Emily to know her place. Emily becomes upset, saying that even now Grumman is making this all about him, even when his own daughter is pleading to him for help.

The fighting continues, and Grumman refuses to help her with the baby. He claims that if she gives it up, he can provide for her here and give her a good life. Emily says she’d rather risk her chances on her own than live a life where she isn’t accepted and having to pretend to be something she’s not. The fight ends with Emily telling Grumman she hates him, and Grumman assures her the feelings are mutual, and that he couldn’t care less if she were to die or if something were to happen to baby. He tells her he never wants to see her again. Emily leaves slamming the door.

Upset, she goes to Berthold and tells him what happened. Berthold comforts her and tells her there might be some hope; that he’s heard rumors of someone non-military out east that might give him a grant. The two decide to move there and go through with having the baby, Berthold now having the means to get the money they need.

Emily and Grumman never hear from each other again.</sub>

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Sooo that's everything up until that point, the rest of their story I'll explain when I eventually draw a picture explaining how Roy and Riza were able to get married in our headcanon; there I'll explain Emily's death, what happened after that, also what happened to Grumman after all of this happened.

Sorry for the long comment, I wanted to keep it short but at the same time I didn't wanna leave anything out since their back story is important because of the reason I just said involving Roy and Riza's marriage.

For those who don't know it's stated that Riza is Grumman's granddaughter, and Riza states in the manga that both her parents were estranged from their families. So we tried to imagine why it was that way.

Anyways I hope you enoy, and even if you didn't have the patience to read, enjoy the art!

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Berthold Hawkeye (c) Hiromu Arakawa
Emily Grumman (c)
Art (c) Me