Chapter Text
Moms Made Fullmetal 2020 Day 7
Word Count: 1308
Author: Katie/Ally; RealityBreakGirl
Rating: G
Characters: Sheska, Sheska’s Mother
Prompt: Change/New Beginnings/Farewell
Summary: Sheska’s mother reflects on a life lesson she tried to teach her daughter—that in every farewell, there is a new beginning. She knows that Sheska will have a wonderful new beginning even as she gives her daughter her last farewell
Author’s Note: I have worked in some personal headcanons about Sheska and her family in this story. The most important one to know is that I headcanon that “Sheska” is her first name and she goes by it because her last name is very long and very hard to most Amestrians. I also headcanon that her family came from an area near the Drachman boarder that was independent a couple of generations or so back, but was taken over by Amestris.
Change/New Beginnings/Farewell
Change was inevitable. It happened all the time in life. Some was good, some was bad, and some depended on your perspective. But change still happened, and no matter the change, you needed to live through it. You needed to push on, adapt, and survive. You needed to see the new beginnings that came with each farewell. That was something that Ruta “Ruth” Brzęczyszczykiewicz had tried to impart to her daughter, Sheska. Change had been a constant in their lives from the beginning. Some were good, positive changes, like better places to live or better jobs. Some were hard, negative changes, like loss or her own failing health. And some changes were neither good nor bad, but simply change, like graduations, or going new places. Those changes depended on how you reacted to them.
Ruth had always tried to stay positive, to teach Sheska to find the good in the changes, and to always be kind. Life was full of farewells, but with those often came new beginnings, if you looked for them. She had tried to teach her daughter how to look for the new beginnings in the farewells, although Sheska had trouble with it at times. Her Sheska was a ball of nerves, and Ruth had calmed her down and talked her through more then one panic or anxiety attack by asking Sheska to focus on the good that could come from things. Sheska tried hard to do the best that she could in remembering this, and Ruth appreciated it. She had appreciated it even more over the years as her health had failed and Sheska stepped up to be a caregiver and support to her mother.
But it couldn’t last forever.
Ruth had been trying to prepare her Sheska for this change for along time. Of all the changes that Sheska had experienced in her life, loss was always the hardest for her. This loss, Ruth’s own death, wasn’t going to be an easy one for Sheska by any means. But while Ruth was worried about how her Sheska would take this, she wasn’t as worried as she had been previously. Because she could see a new beginning forming for her daughter, even as her own final farewell drew near.
Ruth had always been the only one looking after her Sheska. Her father had died when Sheska was just a baby, and most of their other family was gone as well. It had been the two of them, alone, and Ruth had made the decision to move further into Amestris with Sheska, managing to make her way to Central City eventually. There would be better opportunities there, she was sure. It wasn’t easy to raise a child alone and find work that made them enough money to live on, but Ruth had done the best she could. Of course, it had only gotten harder when she had realized just how gifted Sheska was. But Ruth had been determined not to waste that gift and had taken little Sheska to everything she could manage to help her daughter learn and experience as much as she could. The library had been a common stop, but anytime there was something free or very cheap that she could take her daughter to, she had. She loved to see the light Sheska’s eyes shine as she experienced or learned new things.
It wasn’t all easy, especially as Sheska grew and her giftedness led to some trouble fitting in with other children her own age. But Ruth was proud of her daughter. She had persevered through all of her trials. Even when Ruth’s own health had begun to fail, Sheska had panicked a little, but she had stepped up to help care for her mother. She had worked hard to try to get her to a decent hospital when it became apparent that Ruth’s care was too much for Sheska to handle alone. A lucky encounter had allowed her Sheska to put Ruth into a better place, and also given her a job—a job she still had, and a good one too!
Ruth was so proud of her Sheska.
And now? She could see new beginnings for her Sheska. The past couple of years Sheska had blossomed while Ruth could feel herself fading. Things hadn’t been the same since the day of the eclipse, Ruth could tell. It had set something in motion that she knew was going to end her life. But she kept it to herself, watching her Sheska instead. Sheska had made friends, true friends, and that thrilled Ruth. She brought her friends by, introducing Ruth to many people. There was even one young man that kept showing up with Sheska, and Ruth could tell that the two cared deeply for one another, or would soon, anyway.
Her Sheska finally had everything. She had a stable job. She had friends. She had a young man. She had her books. There was only one thing left to set her free from.
“My Sheska…”
“Mom!” Sheska’s teary face looked back at her. “I’m here mom!”
“I know,” Ruth said. “I want you to know, that I am so very proud of you.”
“I know, mom,” There were tears in Sheska’s voice. “But I need you to stay with me, okay? I—I’m not ready to be alone.”
Ruth smiled, and reached her hand out to pat Sheska’s cheek. “But you are not alone. You have so many wonderful friends, my Sheska. You have that kind boss of yours, and his two sisters that look like him. You have the older woman and her little girl. You have the two girls you work with in your office. You have that polite young woman who always has guns on her, and the man who looks at her with undying love in his eyes. You have the man that smells like smoke, and the one who pretends he does not care when he does. And there is the one that knows almost as much as you do as well. And the pretty young lady with the dark short hair, and the young man with all the brothers and sisters. And you have your young man, who fixed my radio.”
She smiled at her daughter again. “Sheska, even if I’m not here like this, you are not alone. You have been richly blessed by all the friends that you have. You won’t be alone.” She smiled and let the smile reach her eyes, although her hand was feeling heavy and she had to lower it. Sheska caught it in her own hands and gave in a squeeze. “I know that they will take good care of you.”
“But I need you too! I don’t want to say goodbye to you Mom! You’re my world!”
“And you are mine, my Sheska,” her voice was getting lighter. “But it’s time for you to find a new world.”
She could see Sheska crying, her tears harder, and she gave her daughter’s hands a squeeze.
“Remember what I taught you. In every farewell, there is a new beginning. Change happens in life—its if we choose to dwell on the farewell or the new beginning that matters the most.”
“I’ll remember,” Her Sheska was sobbing now, and Ruth hated to bring her so much pain. But it was simply the way it was. “I’ll always remember.”
Ruth closed her eyes, and her lips curved up in a gentle smile. “Good, my Sheska,” her voice was very quiet now, but she knew her daughter heard every word. “Your new beginning will be wonderful.”
Ruth felt strangely light then. Something was happening. She wasn’t sure what, but it was. All she knew, was that she was glad she had gotten out her last farewell to her daughter.
Now it was time for a new beginning for her as well.