Title: Here Without You
Author: Firebird
Characters: Al, Rose, Russell, Izumi
Pairing: None
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.

Al woke up feeling a cold floor beneath him and feeling a couple of unidentified, albeit soft, objects on him. 'Wha?' he thought foggily. He opened his eyes and blinked blearly at the unfamiliar ceiling. The unfamilar ceiling that was very high up.

He looked over to one side to see two people he didn't know having a hushed conversation. "Who--" He coughed and tried again. "Who are you? What's going on? Where's my brother?" The last came out in a semi-wail.

Rose and Russell jumped when Al spoke up and hurried over to him. They looked at each other when Al asked who they were then looked back at him.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Rose asked gently.

"Brother and I were doing a transmution but something went wrong and there was purple light everywhere."

"Sounds like a rebound to me," Russell muttered to Rose. He waved a hand when he saw her blank expression. "Never mind. I'll explain later. Suffice to say, those are bad."

He returned his attention to Al. "Your brother came here looking for you, and we came here looking for him. That's his shirt and jacket you've been covered with, by the way."

Al gave a startled look at his coverings. "But... they're too big," he said doubtfully. Russell choked back a laugh and turned it into a cough.

"Last time we saw either of you, your brother was sixteen and you were fifteen." Russell paused. "Although he was pretty short for his age."

Rose cut in. "We're friends of yours. Do you really not remember us?" Frightened, Al shook his head.

"Well, Fletcher's going to be disappointed," Russell said, his light tone belying his worry. "He's my little brother," he explained, seeing Al's confused look. "You and he got along pretty well." He paused. "Better than Ed and I."

"Anyway. You better put on at least the shirt. I'm going to go alchemize some pants for you from the curtains. They'll probably look weird but I'm just going for basic covering. Can't have you running around half naked after all."

Al looked uncertainly at the shirt before putting it on, tugging at the hem to pull it down. Russell returned with the pants and a strip of fabric for him to use as a belt a few minutes later. Rose raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? I specialize in botany, not clothes-making. It's not my fault they look bad," Russell defended himself. Rose just shook her head and pointedly turned her back on Al so he could put them on in relative privacy.

"What about Brother?" Al asked as he tied the make-shift belt.

"If he was still in the area, he would have appeared by now. Further conversation can wait until we're out of here and somewhere else. Where it's safer," Rose told him firmly.

Once they had gotten back up to the abandoned church, Fletcher had the predicted reaction of disappointment that Al didn't remember him. While Al was distracted by Fletcher telling him how they first met, Rose and Russell went back to talking.

"We're in over our heads. We're going to need some help."

"I agree. But who..?"

"Well, there were a couple of soldiers that--" Russell began.

"No. No soldiers," Rose cut in, cuddling her son to her breast. Russell gave her a confused look.

"Why not? The ones I have in mind helped out Ed--"

"I've had very bad experiences with soldiers."

Russell frowned but decided not to push it. "Uh, okay. Well, I guess there's their teacher, although I don't know how or where to find her..."

"Do the obvious thing and ask Alphonse where she lives?"

Russell shook his head. "Normally, yes, but since she's somewhere in Central right now and I got the impression that she lives somewhere else... Besides, not only would you and he stick out because of the way you're both dressed if either of you tried to go anywhere, I don't have much money."

"Also, I'm already here and have been listening to you for the last few minutes," a new voice coolly inserted. Rose and Russell both yelped in shock while in the background Al excitedly went "Teacher!" and launched himself towards her.

"W-when? H-how?" Russell stuttered, trying to convince his heart to slow down; certain that at least ten years of his life had just been shocked right out of him.

"If you were more alert to your surroundings, you'd know the 'when'," Izumi admonished. "As for 'how', if you'll recall, Edward showed me the page you had brought to show to him. Speaking of whom," her eyes narrowed, "where is he? And what happened to Alphonse?" Her arms tightened protectively around Al from where he was hugging her waist.

"We don't know the answer to either of those. That's why we were trying to decide what to do and who to go for in order to get help," Rose explained. Izumi's lips pressed together in a straight line. She thought for a moment before making a decision.

"First things first," she said briskly. "You're right about needing clothing so I shall deal with that and buying food. Secondly, you are all to stay right here until I return. Things are... a mess in the city right now. When I'm back, then we can decide what to do."

"And we can find out where Brother is?" Al asked, looking up at Izumi hopefully. Izumi hesitated for a moment.

"If we can, yes," she agreed.