Author's note: Please read Chapter 20 of The Clier Path before reading this! Warning, this may contain strong language!
'Knock knock!' Sparks grinned as he stepped on through to the kitchen, but as he caught sight of Alphonse's hunched form, it faded a little. Alphonse was leaning over a bowl of glop, slowly stirring the head of the spoon around in the lumpy mixture, staring into it with a downcast gaze.
As he heard the footsteps, he glanced up towards him, gave him a straight lipped look and stared down into the cream-coloured swirls he was making once again.
'Hey Reggie,' Sparks smiled as he sat down beside him, but all he got was a mumbled greeting in response. Sparks' own smile fell, and he looked at him oddly, 'why the long face?'
Alphonse gave a heavy sigh before letting his spoon drop into the glop, and slowly the head of it sank towards the bottom of the bowl, "it's nothing, really." And he forced a small smile to surface.
'Sure it isn't,' Sparks smirked, 'what's up, are you homesick?'
His eyes narrowed a little on the thought, before shaking his head, "No, well, I am a little, but it's not that."
'Do you miss your family? Your mom, dad, brothers or sisters?'
"Well, not necessarily," he frowned, and started fiddling with the spoon handle, "but that's not the problem."
'Then what's the problem?' Sparks grinned, giving Alphonse's arm a gentle punch, 'if you're not home or family sick, then what is there to worry about?'
He suddenly dropped the spoon, let it fall, sink and drown entirely in the glop, "I've had no screen time at all! My stupid big brother's been taking it!"
Sparks flinched away from him, surprised, 'r-really? That's what you're worried about…?'
"Don't be absurd!" Alphonse scowled, "of course I am! I was used to it before! I mean, Edward was the focus! He was the title character! But at least I was right there with him! I could take it then! But now? We're apart! So who has to give away their time? Good old reliable Alphonse! He won't mind!" he breathed quickly, heavily.
'Hey, come on now!' Sparks laughed awkwardly, fanning the enraged teenager, 'it's not that bad! You are still a character after all; someone will take notice of you.'
"But when? When will that be?" he crowed, "I'm so stupid! How could I have been so naïve to think that getting my body back would instantaneously result in more screen time? Of course that's not enough!"
'You know, if it's because you're bored, we could always play some games.' Sparks suggested, 'how about a game of spot the tune! That was great fun last time, right?'
"Of course it wasn't! The only tunes you put on were modern 22nd Century crap! I mean, how am I supposed to know any of it? I've been listening to classical music for the majority of my life!"
'That's true.' Sparks admitted, 'you were born in 1900 after all.'
"You know what, it doesn't matter!" he shot up to his feet, "I don't know why I told you! I should've known that you of all people wouldn't understand!" he climbed over the seat and strolled for the door, "if anyone wants me, I'll be in my room!" he screamed before slamming the door.
Then, the door opened again, to reveal a confused Ghost.
'What the hell was that about?' he asked, staring towards the door he had come from.
He wiped a fake tear from his eyes, 'they grow up so fast.' Sparks sniffed.
Author's note: In reality, I doubt Alphonse would get so worked up over something as trivial as screen-time, but it is fun to think of what he would be like if he did get upset over something like this. But if we were to think of Fullmetal alchemist as a live-action series and Edward and Alphonse were a part of the cast, then I'm pretty sure Alphonse wouldn't mind the overall lack of screen-time as, in many instances, Edward and Alphonse share it anyway and when they're apart, Alphonse gets some of his own focus as well.
Through all of the chapters it seems, ever since Chapter 12, Alphonse has hardly been mentioned at all; actually, I'm lying. He's not appeared at all for a while now. It seems unfair as, ever since then, we've heard a lot from Havoc in Chapter 15, we've been keeping a narrow eye on Trinity, and we've been following Link since Chapter 13 before following the Osiris, Father got his own section in Chapter 17 and Roy got a whole chapter to himself in Chapter 18! Alphonse though hasn't had anything.
In my defence though, Alphonse hasn't done anything spectacular since I have to take into account (thanks to helpful reviews) that Red pills/Zionites aren't allowed to serve a ship until they're 18 years old. Edward is an exception though because he's the One of the Beta-Matrix, and it seems that with him all good moral rules are thrown out of the window. Mouse is not exception to anything, because I imagine that he's as young as 19; he looks that age in The Matrix. I think I made a mistake on his age earlier in the chapters, but let it be known that he is in fact 19, and I won't hear any buts about it, not even from myself.
Even though Alphonse is on a ship (which could be argued as serving it), he's not actually on any missions, so you could deem him a useless liability in the eyes of Captain Niobe. He hasn't had any plot to forward so far, so why have I kept him alive since Chapter 6? It's very important! I think I will have to dedicate a whole section to him later on, but I will work something out none the less. But for now, he's just got an omake.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that, and sorry if it wasn't very funny.
Ophelia Davis
