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Chapter Text

The sun shone bright and clear above Dublith. Izumi carried two massive hunks of ham and beef over her shoulders, while Edward and Alphonse trailed behind her, bearing baskets filled with various meats from the shop. 

“Teacher, these are heavy!” Edward complained. Alphonse nodded in agreement, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead.

“This is part of your training. Helping me with trips like these will help your arms and legs get nice and strong,” Izumi replied. “You want to be strong enough to hold your own against your opponents, right?”

Edward huffed. “Yeah! But I thought we’d do more combat training…”

“This is combat training. It’s training you for combat.” She turned to face her two students, and gestured towards the side of the street where no one was walking. “Come, I’ll let you two have a small break while I explain something.”

The brothers hurried over, happily setting down their loads by where Izumi had put hers. They both looked up expectantly with wide, curious eyes.

“Fighting is more than what a lot of people make it out to be. It’s more than just knowing good moves to hurt or knock down your opponents,” Izumi explained. “It’s made up of lots of different components and skills that you have to learn. You two know alchemy arrays and circles?”

Edward and Alphonse nodded eagerly.

“Circles and arrays are made out of different shapes and symbols that come together to make a complete transmutation. Fighting, and most skills in life, are no different. I’ll use Sig as an example. 

“He’s very muscular. All that strength definitely helps him, but if he didn’t know how to use it, it would be pointless. As I said, it’s like alchemy. His muscles are one symbol in the array, his combat skills are another, and the way he thinks during a fight makes the final symbol. All of these come together to make a strong, competent fighter.

“It’s all connected. Understand?” 

The brothers looked at each other, exchanging a couple of whispers before looking back at their teacher. They nodded, and she could tell from the gleam in their eyes that they had absorbed the information. Still, making sure that they’d remember it wouldn’t hurt.

“Can you tell me what I said?” she asked, kneeling down so she was on eye level with them. 

“To be able to fight well, you must learn different skills and train yourself to do certain things. They are your symbols in your fighting alchemy array,” Alphonse began.

“And if you don’t, you’ll be useless, even if you can use lots of flashy moves,” Edward added. “You know, I think I’ve realised something!”

“Go on, Ed,” Izumi encouraged.

“Every alchemy circle, array, whatever, is made up of shapes and symbols… But they’re all different. So every fighter fights differently, too!”

Alphonse smiled and began talking. “Brother, that’s smart! Each person’s fighting style is their transmutation circle!”

“Well, it seems you two get it. You two are quite bright, be sure to make use of that.” Izumi stood, and took her meat. “Come on, we don’t have all day! Get your baskets, and let’s get moving!” she called, already leaving and looking over her shoulder with a grin. Scrambling to collect their baskets, the brothers followed.

Chapter Text

The students and their teacher arrived at their destination. It was a bar older than most of the town, maintained by volunteers and the few staff that were courageous enough to brave the regulars. The fact that it was still open was a miracle.

Izumi beckoned the brothers out the back, to a door marked ‘reserved for deliveries and staff.’

Edward shifted his basket to one hand, and held the door open for her and Alphonse while they went inside. 

“Alright, just put the baskets down by the counter,” Izumi called, setting down her load. “You two stay here, I need to go let the staff know I’ve brought in their order.”

“We want to come too, teacher!” Edward piped up, hurrying over before and dropping his basket before she could leave. 

“We?” Alphonse echoed. “I didn’t say I wanted to come!”

“What? Why not? She might teach us something new!”

“She’s not gonna be long! What would she have to teach us about talking to some random people? How to control your temper?”

“Hey! I can control my temper just fine!” Edward snapped, shaking his fists at his brother. 

“Brother is angry! Brother can’t control his temper!” Alphonse teased, jumping out of the way as Edward aimed a light punch at his arm. The two began running circles around Izumi, Alphonse poking fun at his older brother as he gave chase. “Maybe it’s because you’re short and all the anger gets compressed inside you!”

“Hey! Don’t call me short! I’m gonna grow super tall! Way taller than you!”

“Don’t be brats!” she snarled above the din, stepping between them. “Do you think someone who’s angry can fight in a real fight? Blind fury clouds your judgement, it can make you do things you’d regret. 

“You can come if you want, just don’t cause trouble.”

The brothers fell silent, frozen in place, processing what she had said. “Sorry, teacher!” the boys chorused. 

“I want to come now, I’ve changed my mind,” Alphonse added.

Izumi nodded, and set off to search for the staff, the two brothers trotting behind her like her shadow.

Before long, they came across a man in a red shirt roaming the bar. He wasn’t much shorter than Sig, and had shaggy, dirty blond hair that hung over his shoulders. 

“Excuse me, do you work here?” she asked, giving him a gentle tap on the shoulder.

“What? No, go away,” he grumbled, slapping her hand away. Izumi didn’t flinch, responding with nothing more than a glare as the man stalked off.

“Was he… drunk?” Alphonse murmured. Turning her attention to the brothers, she couldn’t help but notice that Edward’s brow was furrowed and his lip wobbled the slightest bit. Despite how much he acted like beyond his years, and perhaps he was in a way, he was still just a kid. 

“No, he wasn’t drunk. Just a horrible person,” she replied. “Come on, let’s keep looking for staff.”

Just as they were about to leave, she spotted the same man by a table across the room in the corner of her eye. He was talking to a woman, who was seated and was slowly edging away from him. Izumi had seen this situation before.

It made her blood boil.

She strode over, paying no mind to the small group of men that had joined the man from before. “Oh, there you are Dorothy, I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” she said casually, sitting besides the woman. Izumi put her arm around her shoulders and guided her away from the table, towards where Edward and Alphonse were watching intently. The woman looked at her, and smiled warmly.

“Where do you think you’re going?” one of the men growled, and grabbed Izumi’s braids.

Now he’s done it.

She pushed the woman out of harm’s way. Edward shouted, but Alphonse grabbed his shirt before he could charge in. “Look, teacher’s got it under control,” he said.

Izumi twisted and pinned her attacker’s arm in a painful position. He let go of her hair with a groan. Without a moment of hesitation, she forced him to the ground and slammed her hand over his head. Letting him fall, she went straight for the next man who was moving towards her. 

She aimed a fierce kick at his shin, making him drop to his knees. She followed it up with another kick with her knee, the blow landing directly on his nose. He crumpled, clutching his face.

Seeing two more men advancing, she sighed. “Do you idiots ever learn your lesson?” Izumi said, dropping into a fighting stance.

The first came at her, who she easily subdued with leg sweep and strong blow to the back of his head. The second had hesitated, giving her the perfect opening to knock him down as well. At this point, she was just going through the motions.

She turned to face the last man standing, surrounded by his friends who were either unconscious or too winded to move. He was the same man in the red shirt.

“Who the Hell are you?” he asked, his voice trembling.

Izumi smiled coldly. “A housewife.”

Chapter Text

Edward and Alphonse followed Izumi out of the bar as she talked to the woman she had helped. 

Their teacher turned to them and knelt down, gently resting her hand on Alphonse’s shoulder. “Alright, I need to make sure this woman is okay, then actually find some staff. Thanks for your help you two, can you go on to the shop and let Sig know I’ll be late?”

Edward nodded. Alphonse replied “yes, teacher!”

“Good. Watch yourself on the way back, if you see any of those men out and about, either run back to me or the shop, whatever’s closest.”

The brothers wandered down the street, quietly chattering amongst themselves.

“I wanna punch all of those stupid harassers! I don’t get it!” Edward grumbled. “She was obviously angry at those guys, and she fought them! That’s going back on the whole ‘someone who’s angry can’t fight’ thing, right?”

“She was angry, but she controlled it,” Alphonse said. He put his hand to his chin, furrowing his brow. “If you think about it… She used her transmutation circle to transmute her anger into fighting power!”

Edward stopped short. “I… I hadn’t thought of it like that,” he admitted. “I guess she did say blind fury and not, like, just really annoyed.” Starting to walk again, he continued. “Anger is a strong component to transmute into fighting power, since so much fighting is out of anger. Even a need to protect someone can stem out of anger. Those guys didn’t transmute their anger right, or didn’t have a full circle. Did you see how uncontrolled they were? No wonder she was able to beat them so easily.”

Alphonse nodded in agreement. “That makes sense! You’re really good at figuring things out! Now can you figure out how to get taller ?”

“Hey! My height is just fine!” Edward growled.

They ran down the street to the shop, laughing and shouting at each other.