Teacher
Teacher
Curtis Butchers
Dawn
Edward hated getting up before the sun, he especially hated getting up before his sons. Izumi had insisted however, that he accompany her today, and with the papers announcing the appointment of the new Council of Twelve it was likely they would receive word that they were cleared to return home either today or tomorrow. Today had also been declared a national holiday in celebration of the new council. The names of the twelve had not been released, which Ed knew meant that either Roy or Riza had made the cut, and considering he had been in on those meetings he assumed he owed his soon-to-be-stepmother a congratulations…he also needed to come up with a home name for her, because she couldn't be mom. He couldn't call her that, but it didn't feel right to call her Riza if she was married to Dad either.
"You're awfully quiet, don't tell me sitting at a desk has weakened you that much." Izumi said from in front of him, earning her a glare.
"I'm thinking." Ed said in reply. "I have a lot to think about actually."
"Think about setting a wedding date." Izumi said.
"…That's one of the things on my mind, yes." Ed said, now Winry joining the mental juggling competition in his head. The spring sounded like a good time to plan for. It was still six months away, giving them plenty of time to plan, and possibly invite Ling. Though if he invited Ling it was libel to become a whole big thing…though if Grumman got word of their planning (and he already had) it was going to be made into a thing anyway. If not for the fact that Winry would castrate him for suggesting it, he was tempted to just let the State plan it and he just show up.
Somehow, Izumi knew that thought had occurred to him. He knew thanks to the extremely loud glare she shot over her shoulder, though judging by the lack of yelling she either realized he'd already rejected the idea or she planned to tell Winry… he might not have to worry about any of this after all.
"Where are we going anyway?" Ed asked in an attempt to distract her and hopefully save his life…or at least keep his body (mostly) intact.
"My Teacher has requested I bring you for a visit." Izumi said. "She wishes to see how I faired as a Teacher."
"…You mean the one who stuck you up at Briggs in the winter?" Ed said, freezing in his tracks. He did NOT want to meet the kind of person who thought sticking a teenager alone in the mountains in the winter was a good idea. She might decide he need the same treatment.
"Hurry up. She's judging me, not you, based on you, not me, so don't let that desk job slow you down." Izumi said.
Ed was terrified. He'd known Izumi half his life. He'd heard the horror stories of her training. He had children to think of! Surely, they couldn't force a high(ish) ranking military officer into a thirty day training program.
They rounded the final corner and the trees split to reveal a rather large house with a well-manicured garden. An older woman sat in a wicker lawn chair under the shade of an umbrella, as what appeared to be a butler offered her a drink. Ed continued to internally panic. He'd seen the influence this class had on the military. It was entirely possible he was going to spend a month on a mountain.
They walked into the garden, Edward appearing far more composed than he actually was, and were invited to join the woman for tea. Once a table and two more chairs were carried out, and the table set with tea and a variety of pastries the butler and maids excused themselves, and Izumi finally spoke. "Teacher. It is good to see you again."
"Of course it is child." The woman said dismissively, and Ed bristled. Teacher-Izumi- had never once used that tone with him, even when she knew he had done terrible things and she expelled him, she had never used that tone. "Who have you brought me then?"
"Colonel Edward Mustang Elric ma'am." Ed answered before Teacher could, he was tired of this woman already. "Fullmetal"
"Ah yes, I've heard of you." She nodded and set down her glass. "Mustang -Elric? Have you ever heard the name Van Hohenheim?"
"I have." Ed said through gritted teeth.
"You look remarkably like him actually." She said.
"Teacher." Izumi interrupted, warning in her tone.
"Silence child." The elder woman snapped. "Tell me Edward Mustang Elric. Have you Ever met Hohenheim?"
"Unfortunately. He'd dead now though." Ed replied, trying to calm himself. He wasn't going to ask her in return, she was just trying to get under his skin. He knew damn well that he looked entirely too much like his biological father.
"Teacher, you knew the answer to that question by the time he was nine. I told you myself." Izumi said. "Just as you always instructed, when I finally took a student I came up here and told you everything about my new student while he took his first test."
"Silence." The woman said again, and Ed had had enough.
"Well, it is truly remarkable how well Izumi faired as both a teacher and a mother considering who taught her." Ed seethed.
"Izumi isn't a mother, she failed at that too." The woman replied and Izumi flinched.
"She was a second mother to my brother and me. Come on Teacher, you don't have to take this woman's shit, let's just go." Ed said standing.
"If you insist on insulting me boy, at least do me the courtesy of using my name." she replied sharply.
"Well you haven't exactly introduced yourself Lady, not that I give a damn." Ed said as he turned to walk away.
"Generally, I go by Dante Hohenheim these days." The woman said, and Ed froze. No, she couldn't be implying what he thought she was implying. It wasn't possible. She had to be lying. "That's right boy, you are the bastard son of my worthless cad of a husband and one of his whores."
"Don't speak about my mother like that!" Ed screamed wanting to hit the woman, old or not. "She was the most loving wonderful woman I have ever known."
"I'm sure she was, it's not like he ever chose wicked women when he went galivanting around. He was attempting to sire a spawn after all." The woman said dismissively. "I failed to give him one, so he went looking elsewhere."
"I'm leaving." Ed announced, he didn't wait to see if Izumi had followed him. He stormed out of the garden and down the path they had just climbed. He was enraged. He refused to admit the reason the path was suddenly so hard to see. It was the early hour, it wasn't tears. Ed wasn't about to cry over anything that man did. He already knew the man was a worthless bastard.
Izumi caught up to him just as he reached the edge of town. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a hug, but he pushed out of it. "Did you know all along? Is that why you took me as a student?"
"I didn't know until today Ed." Izumi replied trying again to hug him.
"Bullshit! Hohenheim is not a common name, and we gave it to you!" He screamed.
"She didn't!" Izumi replied. "I was her student for two years, I never met her husband and she didn't."
"Bullshit." Ed said again, pulling free from her and running the rest of the way to the house.
He arrived upstairs before she had reached their block and he rushed to his room, calling on the way into the woman's "Get packed, we're leaving." He entered his own room, and repeated himself before grabbing bag and just dumping a drawer into it, then grabbing the boys bags and doing the same. Roy looked concerned but packed his own bag as well as Al's who was in the shower. "What happened?" He asked as Ed started dressing William first.
"Izumi's teacher is my father's wife." Ed said, as he gently set his younger son on the bed and picked up the elder. "I can't stay here Dad."
"Okay." Roy replied, before opening the door and knocking at the bathroom. "Al, change of plans, we need to catch the next train. Ladies please hurry." He saw Izumi appear at the bottom of the stairs, so went back into the room and shut the door.
Ed finished dressing Yuery, who looked disgruntled and confused, as Roy came back over to him. Wordlessly, Roy offered his arms and Ed collapsed into his embrace. He finally allowed himself to cry. Not scream or sob or wail like he wanted to but allowed the tears to silently flow. Roy stroked his hair and murmured his normal assurances of love and caring. William and Yuery both crawled into the hug, which was also very common for them. Ed heard Izumi outside the door, but just buried his head harder into his Dad's chest.
"It shouldn't hurt. It shouldn't" Ed muttered. "I already knew he was a bastard. But a wife? Why?"
"I can't answer that, and I've seen it all growing up as I did. I've never understood it though." Roy said. "Are you sure Izumi knew though? It doesn't seem like her to keep something like that from you."
"She said she didn't, but bullshit. She also said she came and told Dante about us while we were still on the island. Why would she do that if she didn't know?" Ed said. "I can't think about it properly here. Can we just go? Please? I don't care where we go, just not here."
"Of course, we'll head straight to the station." Roy replied, outside the door it was growing louder as everyone gathered in the hallway. Apparently, everyone had listened though, because Izumi was asking them all to give her a chance to explain before they left.
Roy helped Ed put on the baby sling, and shooed the cat and dog into their carriers, before handing Ed the diaper bags and Yuery and grabbing the rest of the luggage himself. Outside of the room, Winry and Al were demanding to know what happened. "What happened is we were lied to. Al, Izumi's teacher was married to Hohenheim." Ed said before heading toward the stairs. "We're leaving. Now."
Everyone was quick to follow, and Izumi offered one last statement before they walked out the door. "I swear Ed, I never knew! She always said her name was Dante Flamel!"
Sig offered to help carry their luggage, and Ed reluctantly agreed, as they walked, Ed said "Judging by the papers this morning it should be safe to return to Central. I think we should just go home. Riza might want to stay at our place until we confirm it's safe though."
"Agreed." Roy took over the lead so that he could reach the ticket booth first. He quickly booked them a private car, and they all filed onto the train with ten minutes to spare. It was tighter than normal, and if the trip was going to be longer than a few hours he would have had to book two, as it was both William and Yuery would have to sit on someone's lap the entire time, and it was lucky that Al and Mei were both very thin.
On the left sat Roy, Riza, and Al with Yuery on Roy's lap. On the right sat Ed, Winry, and Mei with William on Ed's lap. Yuery spent the first few minutes before the train set off babbling to his brother about the train. William was babbling back just as excited and nowhere near as easy to understand.
The pet carriers, for lack of room, were placed under the window and the pets remained caged. The cat let them know that she was not impressed with the idea. As the train started moving the pets settled down, and the babies both yawned. Roy looked over at Ed again, to see how he was holding up, but before he could ask anything, AL cleared his throat.
"Umm. Brother. What did you mean back there? About His wife?" Al asked hesitantly.
"We got to the lady's place. She was very hostile. She kept making all these jabs at Izumi, so I told her to back off, and she turned her attention to me, which is when she said I didn't even know who I was talking to and said her name was Dante Hohenheim and that –" Ed said, then cutting himself off because he didn't want to repeat what the woman had said about his mother.
"And what Ed?" Winry asked. "She said something that upset enough to tear in and demand we leave."
"She said some really terrible things about Mom. She also said that Izumi had told her all about me and Al back when we were kids. So, excuse me if I don't believe Izumi that she didn't know because she admitted to telling her all about us!" Ed frowned, then cooed down at William who stiffened at his Dad's tone.
"I think we should let it rest for a few days, then I will call Izumi and get to the bottom of what she knew. I'll have Mei listen in, she's not as accurate over the phone but she should be able to tell if Izumi is lying." Al suggested.
"Do what you want Al." Ed said before leaning his head back to indicate he fully intended to pretend to sleep the rest of the trip. He was too stressed to actually sleep but it wouldn't be the first time he faked it either.
Everyone exchanged looks but let the matter drop. Ed could never tolerate anyone saying anything he perceived as an insult to his mother. He held the woman on a pedestal, and they all knew it. Not that she wasn't a wonderful person and a great mother. Everyone who knew her said she was, but Ed was very protective of her memory. Anyone who dared to suggest his mother was anything less than perfect ever was met with his anger.
Roy still remembered clearly an incident in Ed's first year, when he overheard a private in the cafeteria ask what kind of mother must she be to let her twelve year old join, and suggested she did not care. Ed had been suspended for two weeks, and on desk duty another two. The private in question declined pressing charges when Havoc visited him in the hospital waiting for them to set his arm. He informed the man that the boy was a war orphan and had been through a lot, and then reminded him that the boy was favored by both the Fuhrer and Mustang.
Ed never found out about that visit. Roy only found out about it a year ago when sharing a room with a very drugged Havoc. Roy, had also been to visit the man, apparently after Havoc. TO check on him and apologize for Ed's reaction, explaining the child had been on his own for awhile and suffered from trauma issues but Roy was working on it. The private had quickly admitted he was partly to blame, and Roy walked away without questioning their good fortune.
In the years since then Ed had mellowed enough that he no longer hit, honestly he hadn't meant to hit that hard then either, he was still getting used to automail, but insulting his mom was still a hair trigger for him. His brother and his height as well as his children could set of a rant at anytime.
Al didn't know what to think. Their Father had a wife? Why? He considered the odds of the woman being a liar and felt they were good. After all, Brother was rather famous and it wasn't the first time someone started rumors to undermine him. Al was even guilty of believing some of those rumors in the past which is why at this point he did his best to never believe any of them until he heard it from his brother, but then again he was hearing it from Brother.
Either way, the real question was why she decided to tell Brother. Clearly she must have some intent for something to have said it. The reason why she would do this now may simply be that he was dead now. He also couldn't defend himself for that reason. Al wondered, if maybe they had burnt any hope a
Of answers with their house.
He needed to call Granny when they got home. He would wait until Ed was busy, but he remembered vaguely that she had transferred some of Hohenheim's Journals while Brother was in Central tacking the Exam. Speaking of the Exam, he decided that would be the best distraction on them all. He turned to his brother and Dad and said in his most serious tone. "So, should I consider taking the State Alchemist Exam?"
"What the hell Al? Why?" Ed said.
"Absolutely not." Roy demanded.
"Why is it okay for Brother to be a State Alchemist, but not me?" Al sighed, it had worked perfectly.
"Because you aren't risking going to war Al! I can get all the research you could possibly need and I already know what I'm doing." Ed growled.
"I was there with you for all of it, as you like to point out. I already know too. Plus it's a lot safer than it was under Bradley." Al reasoned.
"You are not old enough or strong enough AL. It's bad enough I talked your brother into staying in the program, I'm not throwing you into it too." Roy pinched the bridge of his nose, "That is not to say Edward that I care any less about your safety than I do Alphonse's"
"No, I agree. I'm in. It's the life I chose, and the price I paid, but he needs to find his own path. I don't even know where this is coming from anyway, aren't you supposed to be part of that School Project?" Ed said as he turned back to Al.
"Well that it still a couple of years off, and I was just thinking that perhaps-"Al started but now Mei joined the others with a glare.
"Alphonse Elric! You can not join the military. If you really are that bored, you can return with me to Xing to finalize the plans for the School." Mei demanded.
"Okay." Al said, not understanding why both Dad and Ed started laughing, until they both cut themselves off at the glares received by Riza and Winry.
"This matter is closed." Roy added. "Until you reach the age of majority you would have to get my consent to attempt the Exam and I will not sign."
"Ed still isn't the age of majority. Not until he turns seventeen, why is he staying?" Al asked, frowning.
"Al, I was emancipated, I've technically been legally an adult since I joined. That's why Dad had to have my signature to adopt me, but he didn't need yours. It's also why we were able to travel so freely."
"This is true, though as your commanding officer I was also your acting next of kin and had to be asked before they could assign you anything until you reached fifteen, which is the State minimum standard for emancipation as revised after you managed to sneak through the cracks." Roy smirked, having been involved in both getting Ed through the test and suggesting the new law that also made drafting anyone under sixteen impossible. He wanted to make it older, but they wouldn't go for it. Al sighed, he'd distracted them all into a better moods, but now everyone was irritated with him. He wondered if it had been a fair trade after all.