It had been four days.
No one had managed to find the two brothers. Edward's wheel chair had been located over by the boy's old house, along with a strange transmutation circle. Other than that they had disappeared without a trace.
Sig found that at this point it seemed pretty obvious what had happened. Izumi's stupid pupils had disobeyed her again, and if Alphonse were here at the moment she would have taken the liberty to smash his face in. But he wasn't there. As far as anyone could tell, he and Edward weren't anywhere.
The minute they'd found the note, Roy, Winry and Pinako, had immediately gone out to find the two boys. An hour or so laters when they found the circle and Edward's chair, they assumed the worst. All that was really left to do now was to wait. Wait and see if Edward and Alphonse came back, or if they really had...
"My stupid, stupid students..." Izumi murmured staring off at nothing. Sig, looked over at her. The two of them had come on the second day, after Winry had called them. Izumi had read Al's note, then crumpled it and thrown it away, saying Alphonse was a good for nothing moron who who knew no more about alchemy than his damn brother.
She had spent the last day stationed in the Rockbell living room, thinking. On a few occasions she would mutter something to herself, but mostly she was silent. Sig knew how she felt. For her, it was as if she was losing her baby all over again. She was too proud to admit it, but this had hit her hard. She wasn't the only one though.
Life at the Rockbell house had had all but halted. Winry who was usually busying herself with automail parts and different types of mechanics, spent most of her time wandering around Risembool by herself, like she expected Ed and Al to just appear. Pinako had closed the bussiness temporarily, and was also neglecting work that should have been done.
Sig had been trying to help Pinako with whatever it was she needed. He preferred to be of some use. On the morning of the third day Sig had been in the kitchen using his talents as a butcher to help prepare dinner for later. Izumi was also present, but she was sitting at the table staring out the kitchen window. Winry wandered in.
"Did anyone found anything while I was asleep?" she asked. She probably knew the answer though. Izumi shook her head, but continued to stare. Winry looked disheartened. She took a seat at the table as well, and began fiddling with one of the salt shakers.
"Hopes not lost yet, right?" she asked quietly, talking more to herself than to Izumi or Sig. "I mean...Al gave something right? So
there's still a chance-"
"Let me ask you something." Izumi cut off. "Which is better? Having one of them back? Or neither?"
"What?" Winry's brow creased in a confused expression.
"If you had to choose, would you let them both go to their deaths, or would you let one live without the other."
Winry looked at Izumi, "One of them should live right? I mean at-least one of them is alive"
"I don't agree..." Izumi mused.
Winry's wide eyes narrowed, and the softness of her voice began to freeze over. "You'd just let the two of them die?" she asked, "That's not-"
"Those boys doomed themselves the minute they tried to bring their mother back."
"How can you say that?" Winry shouted. From where he was standing Sig could see tears beginning to well in her eyes. "The two of them worked so hard and they never once lost hope that they could get their bodies back."
"Really?" Izumi snapped. "Look at their actions and tell me they didn't lose hope."
Winry stopped. A few drops of water had fallen on to the table cloth and were soaking in.
A silence fell over the room. Izumi sighed. "Edward knew," she continued "he knew in his heart it would take more than a philosophers stone to save Alphonse. He tried to ignore it for all those years, but in the end all he did was destroy himself. And and as for Alphonse his actions were no different." Izumi's gaze was somewhere faraway, and her voice had become almost like a whisper. "Those two, they can only bring each other back so many times. The two of them should die together, and finally end this cycle of trying to save the other one."
Winry stared at Izumi, her eyes looked wide and frightened. It was apparent she was now wondering if Izumi was right. "No...no th-that can't be right..." Her shoulders began to shake.
Izumi glanced over at her sadly. "You love them don't you?"
Winry paused when she heard that, and she suddenly began to steady herself. She looked up, her eyes were fiery and determined.
"Edward and Alphonse wouldn't die and be happy!" her fists clenched and her teeth were tightly gritted. "I'm not waiting for one of them, I'm waiting for both." She stood up and took a deep breath. "Maybe you don't believe they can do it, and maybe they don't either, but I won't lose hope yet. I don't want to!"
Izumi looked surprised by Winry's proclamation. The room was silent. The tension radiated in every corner, and Sig
could feel the two glaring at the other.
The silence was broken by the sound of a phone ringing.
"That's General Mustang..." Winry said out loud, the fiery anger evaporating. The general who had been unable to escape his duties back in Central, (to his utter disappointment) had been calling close to every other hour. Winry turned and rushed to pick it up, leaving Sig and Izumi alone.
Sig waited patiently for Izumi to speak, focusing on his meat.
"Silly girl..." Izumi sighed as she turned back to the window.
"You want to believe they'll both comeback too, don't you?" Sig stated kindly. "Don't bother hiding it I know to you to well."
"Wishes and dreams are the same as doing nothing." Izumi snapped.
Sig sighed, "Do you really believe they'd be happy to have died together."
Izumi was silent and contemplative. "I don't know..." was all she said. "I can think about it and rationalize it, but in reality I guess I don't know..."
Sig abandoned his work and went and wrapped his arms around her. There were drops of water on Izumi's side of the table cloth as well.
