Chapter 19 - Ch. 19 Izumi Curtis

Nova felt weird following the boys with how they were acting. Really.. How scary could one woman be?

Arriving at the shop, the door slowly opened and a large man stepped outside, looking rather intimidating until he noticed the boys. He placed a hand on Edwards head. "Good to see you, looks like you've grown some." He murmured quietly. Nova stood off to the side, nervously rubbing the cuff of her jacket with her thumb,having no ide how this would turn out. "Hey, Sid… good seeing you again…" Ed said with a bit of a smile. "I know I look different… but it's me, Alphonse." Al told the man, after all, he still had a body when they were last there. Sid blinked and glanced at Al when he spoke, and placed a hand on his head like he had his brother. "Looks like you've grown more than a little.." He murmured, then poked his head inside the window to tell Izumi the Elric's were there, then he glanced at the new arrival. "Who's your friend?" He asked quietly.

Nova shifted shyly where she stood. Ed smiled as he motioned for Nova to step forward. "This is Nova." He introduced proudly. "Nova, this is Sid Curtis." "She's the friend we talked about when we were kids." Al added. The brothers had talked about her a lot, it was hard not to. Sid blinked and slowly approached the girl, pausing when she shifted and rubbed her arm. "It's nice to finally meet you." He said calmly, slowly offering her his hand. Nova hesitantly took his hand and nodded, then lowered her eyes shyly. Sid however stepped aside when his wife slammed the door open and Izumi came outside, on the attack. "Hello idiot pupil! So, you're a dog of the military now?!"

Nova winced some and tucked herself behind the large burly man. Ed winced a bit as he looked at their teacher. "T-teacher!" he began to protest, only to find himself flat on his back on the ground. "You're pretty spry for someone on bedrest…" he groaned, knowing he would be feeling that for the rest of the day. Al held his hands up in surrender. "It's… it's not exactly like that… teacher…" Al tried explaining. Nova went to Edward and offered him a hand up. "You okay?" She asked quietly, sort of understanding why the boys feared her. She was definitely feisty.

The woman blinked and glanced at Al when he spoke. "Alphonse?" She asked, surprised. "My look how you've grown!" She said, opening her arms as a gesture to hug him. Al looked at her both in surprise and pleased as he went in for the hug and then also found himself on the ground. "T-teacher?" he looked up at the woman.
Izumi brushed her hands together. "Your skills are getting rusty.." She murmured, semi annoyed. "Yeah… we know…" Ed rubbed the back of his head a little as Al stood up. "Teacher, this is Nova…" he introduced her. "Nova, this is our teacher, Izumi Curtis." "We were hoping coming here for a bit would be alright…" Al said sheepishly.

Nova gave him a sheepish smile and lightly wrapped an arm around his arm as she wearily followed him up to the woman. She could tell by looking at the woman that she wasn't well, yet she acted fine. Izumi blinked and turned to the teen. "Nova?" She repeated quietly, remembering the boys talking about her as kids. "The same Nova you boys always talked about?" She asked curiously, offering the girl a small smile and offered her a hand. Nova averted her eyes shyly and gave Edward's arm a squeeze. "It's good to be back with them." She murmured softly, and Izumi chuckled. "Come, let's go inside." Izumi offered.

The brothers nodded at her question. They really couldn't remember how many times they spoke of their friend to their teacher, or how many times she told them to shut up. They followed their teacher and her husband into the shop, it hadn't changed a bit since they were children. Once inside, Izumi and the trio sat at the table while dinner was cooking, and Nova focused her eyes on the table. Izumi glanced at the boys. "I'm surprised you came back, to be honest." She admitted casually. "I've taught you everything I know." She spoke. The brothers shared a look, trying to figure out how to bring the topic up. "Well… you see… we wanted to see what you knew about the Philosopher's Stone…" Ed spoke softly, taking a sip of water.

Al was staring at the table in thought, the two brothers had talked about this at length the night before about what they could do now after everything that had happened. Izumi blinked. "The Philosopher's stone?" She repeated, her eyebrows knitting together some. "I don't know much about it, to be honest.. But there's a man I met who does, maybe he can help you?" She offered. "He said something about it being a part of a big dream of his." "His name is Van Hohenheim." Izumi said to them. Nova faded into the background a bit as they interacted.

The brothers turned to their teacher, surprised she met something who talked about it. As the woman continued speaking, revealing who it was they talked to, Ed's hands curled into fists. "No! No way in hell could he ever help us!" he said firmly, his voice cracking a little as he tried his best to curb his anger. He couldn't believe it… that bastard! At the confusion on everyone's faces decided to clear things up. "That's our father…" he admitted quietly. Al barely remembered their absent father, but he knew Ed resented the man. Nova startled some when Edward raised his voice, and Izumi blinked. "The same one that ran out on you as kids?" She asked quietly.

Nova lowered her eyes and gently placed a hand over Ed's balled hand. He never did mention his father, nor did she ever ask about him. Ed let out a long breath through his nose as he tried relaxing. At Nova's touch, he sighed and gently threaded their hands, giving her a squeeze while running a hand through his hair. "Yeah… that's him…" he confirmed, still not happy about it. "We really don't know much about him… but it wasn't long after he left that we met Nova, and when mom got sick…" Al spoke up, wondering what their father was up to. He always wondered why he left them. Nova stifled a frown as they spoke, not letting go of his hand.

Izumi soon stood, and knocked Edward on top of the head at his sulking. "We're eating dinner now." She said, then left to go into the kitchen with Sid so they could do just that. Ed grumbled a bit when she clocked him over the head, rubbing the spot with a sigh. He knew he was sulking, but the topic of their father was still a sore spot for him. "Need help?" he asked, calling towards the kitchen, when the three were left. Al shifted a bit, it was hard to keep a secret from their teacher, and he was nervous about them finding out about what they did. He knew Ed was as well, neither knew how she as going to take what they could do.

It was quiet during dinner, and after dinner, Nova followed the boys up to the guest room.

Nova sat on the edge of the secondary bed, staring at the floor. It wasn't like her to be this quiet, but she was uneasy about something and it was nagging at her, plus, she didn't know this woman. She had followed the boys here, so they could talk with her, but now she wasn't sure what to do with herself. Something felt off, and it bothered her. Ed had left Al to talk with Sid and their teacher, he was feeling a bit tired too, and planned on crashing after taking with Nova. He was worried about her and headed up to the room. "Hey, what's going on? You feeling okay?" he asked in concern and sat on the bed next to her.

Nova shook her head when he asked and she laid down on the bed, curling up some. "Something feels really wrong.. I don't know if it's just me, the city, or something else.." She murmured quietly. Ed frowned a little as he sat down next to her and gently pressed a hand to her head. "Is it something in the town here, or do you mean in Central?" he asked softly. "And anything I can do to help?" "I don't know.." Nova murmured. "All of the above, maybe?" She murmured wearily, and slowly reached her hand to rest over his hand on the bed. "But I don't like it.." She murmured quietly. "Can't stop thinking about Maes.." She murmured. Ed gave her hand a squeeze as he moved closer to her. "Whatever is going on, you won't have to face it alone." He promised her, gently pushing some hair from her face.

He hated when he couldn't help her out when she was feeling like this. Deciding to do something he often did when they were kids, he kicked off his shoes and shifted to lay on the bed next to her, wrapping her into his arms. Nova instinctively curled into him when he laid down next to her, and felt his arms around her. It didn't take very long for her to fall asleep like that.

Little did they know someone had gone for the Lieutenant Colonel's life that night, and had not for a neutral friend of hers, Envy would've succeeded in killing him. The man had been found left for dead, and was immidiately taken to a hospital for treatment.

When morning came, she slowly woke to the sound of the birds outside and nuzzled against Edward lightly, as to not wake him if he was still asleep. Ed fell asleep a little after Nova did, and tightened his arms around her when she nuzzled into him. He out a soft sigh, nuzzling the top of her head, lazily opening his eyes with a soft smile. "Morning." He murmured softly, feeling far too lazy to get up right away. Nova smiled some when he shifted, and glanced at him with a lazy smirk. "Morning.." She murmured quietly.

Ed smiled softly as he rested his forehead against hers lightly. "How are you feeling?" he asked softly, always worried about her, especially when she was feeling as she did last night. Nova lowered her eyes, knowing she couldn't lie to him. She wasn't feeling much better, and she was all the more weary about the nagging feeling she had yesterday. Ed nodded when he noticed her reaction, giving her a squeeze. "I get it, why don't you take today to rest and listen to Sid tell stories about me and Al during our time here training." He offered, not wanting her to overwhelm herself, plus, she would be safe at the store.

Nova shook her head lightly and glanced at him. "It doesn't work like that." She murmured softly. "Besides.. I'll feel better staying with you and Al." She murmured. Ed gave her a gentle squeeze. "I know, this is also a pretty quiet town too." He added with a little tease, smiling a bit at her. "Want to see if there's breakfast ready?" he asked softly. He didn't mind if she wanted to lay there for a bit. Nova nodded lightly and slowly pulled away from him so she could sit up, and tug on the hood of her jacket a little, since it had fallen off some. "Breakfast sounds good.." She said quietly.

She glanced at him. "You know.. You've had that look on your face since we got here.. You want to talk to her about something else, don't you?" She asked quietly. They didn't come here just to ask her about the stone, did they? Ed chuckled softly at her and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "You know us well… but we just don't know how to bring it up with her…" he admitted. How could he and Al tell their teacher what they did, how they weren't the same boys she and Sid knew. Nova gave him a soft smile and shook her head. "Hate to say it, but she might already know after yesterday's beating.." She murmured quietly.

"Better to just come out with it, rather than wait. Right?" She asked softly. Ed flopped onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. "I know… but it's hard to do that…" And it really was. With their teacher, they had immense respect for the woman, no matter how much she terrified them, and admitting what they did, they didn't want to disappoint her. Nova gave Ed a light nudge, not able to completely understand what he was going through, no matter how much she wanted to. "C'mon.. Let's go see if she's made breakfast." She murmured softly. Ed nodded his head and with lazy groan, got up. "Yeah, we might as well." He sighed, standing and stretched his body out. He turned to her and offered her a hand with a smile. Nova nodded and gave his hand a squeeze, before getting up and stretching as well. She followed him downstairs and was amazed by the breakfast that the woman and her husband had made.

After breakfast, Nova went outside with Edward to try to get him to talk to their teacher, and Izumi went on the attack. Nova easily dodged, and moved out of the way. Ed dodged the attack, still used to his teacher's way of doing things, and retaliated as usual as Al came out to see what was going on. He knew Nova wanted to talk with his teacher, but truthfully, he was scared to. Nova instinctively stood in front of Edward, her hood falling as she moved and Izumi paused. As angry as she was with her students for keeping their secret from her, her eyes fell onto the female teen, her expression softening into a rare sight. "I knew it.." She murmured, referring to how the three of them acted.

Nova pulled her hood back up and over her ears, and stepped back as if ready to bolt, and Izumi slowly placed a hand on top of her head. "Easy, it's alright." The woman spoke softly.