Title: Coat
Author: Firebird
Characters: Alphonse & Izumi
Pairing: None.
Word Count: 495
Warning/Notes/Disclaimer: Characters are not mine and I am not making any money off this. However, they do belong to Hiromu Arakawa/Square ENIX, MBS, ANX, BONES, FUNimation Productions, Ltd.
Sucking on a needle-stabbed finger, Al looked at the coat he had been working on in satisfaction. At last, it was done. His new coat was just like Brother's. Now he just had to go tell Teacher.
Izumi just stared at him, an unreadable look in her eyes. "...I see."
"Now I can feel even closer to Brother when I go places and won't feel so alone!" Al said excitedly, before her reaction, or rather, lack of one, sank in. "T-teacher?" he faltered.
"Looking back, I suppose I should have taken your comment about growing out your hair as a warning sign," she said distantly, staring off over his shoulder as she mentally re-examined earlier events.
"What do you mean, a warning sign?" Al asked, feeling puzzled and a little hurt. He tugged nervously at his ponytail.
Izumi focused her gaze on him again. "What I mean is that you've taken your emulation of your brother to unhealthy levels. It's like you think that if you dress like him, look like him, perhaps even act like him, you can be him."
Alphonse gazed at her in horror. "You're wrong," he whispered, unsure if it was her he was trying to convince, or himself. He felt doubts about his motives and actions start gnawing at the corners of his mind.
"Am I?"
"Yes," he said, sounding unconvincing, even to himself.
Izumi was silent for a moment. "Then I think it's just as well that I was going to tell you that I have nothing left to teach you."
Al stared at her in shock, trying to process what he just heard. "I-- What?"
Izumi stared out the window. "At this point, further learning would be best accomplished by going and putting your skills into practice. As well as doing research that you can't do here because the books you need aren't available in Dublith, of course."
She pressed her lips together and returned her gaze to him. "I don't know how much time I have left, but I know it's not much. It would be best if you leave."
Al just looked at her, eyes shining with wetness, before whirling around and fleeing the room, ponytail streaming behind him.
Alphonse swiped at angry tears with a red sleeve as he filled his suitcase. He didn't have much to pack. A couple of changes of clothes, one or two books, his journal, and various papers. The rest of the books, he would leave behind, as they belonged to Izumi. He glanced around, making a last minute check for anything he may have forgotten, before slamming his suitcase shut and snapping the latches closed before storming out of the room, leaving the door open.
When he exited the house, he slung his suitcase over his shoulder and strode off, not looking back. But if he had, he would have seen two figures standing at a second story window, the taller with a comforting hand on the smaller one's shoulder.