Somewhat Human (Fullmetal Alchemist)

29: Forseen Reunion

Back with the Elrics, they look to see what Mr. Curtis had found, " Devil's Nest..." Alphonse reads, Mr. Curtis turned the pin around to get a 360 view of it, " Maybe someone dropped it here." He hypothesizes, Edward hums and tries to remember a place by that name.

" It's the best lead we have so far, it won't hurt to check. I'll look at some old newspapers to see if it was mentioned anywhere." Izumi goes inside to look through the stack of newspapers they haven't thrown away yet. Edward looks through (Y/n)'s fanny-pack in search of some type of note but nothing of the sort was there.

The Elrics look at each other and Mr. Curtis could see the plan being told in their eyes, " What are you kids thinking?" Edward tightens the straps of the fanny-pack and answers, "We're going to look for the Devil's Nest ourselves." Mr. Curtis folds his arms, " We don't know if this place is related, it's incredibly risky." Despite having a good reason not to the Elrics don't waver on their idea.

" And so was kidnapping my best friend." Edward responds, with that the brothers turn and go looking for the Devil's Nest. Mr. Curtis knew it would be his head on the wall if he let them go but he had no idea how to shake their determination, thankfully Izumi comes to bail him out.

Izumi comes behind the Elrics and smacks them both on the head, "Where do you idiots think you're going!?" Edward rubs the spot he was hit and Alphonse confidently looks to Izumi, " To the Devil's Nest!" Izumi puts her hands on her hips and raises an eyebrow, "Do you even know where it is?" Both of the Elrics firmly shake their head, " Not a clue ma'am!"

For a split second Izumi swears she saw the Elrics as kids again looking at her with all the determination in the world, and when she blinked she saw the Elrics still. They were older and most definitely not wiser, but still looked at her with all the determination in the world.

These are the moments Izumi wished she didn't have such a spot for the Elrics when she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, " At least let me go with you." The Elrics look stunned and Izumi takes that as a yes, " Sweetheart watch the house while we're gone." Mr. Curtis nods and wishes them good luck before getting going inside.

" Alright, let's go." Izumi starts walking in the direction she thinks the Devil's Nest is and the Elrics follow her, " Where do we start?" Alphonse asks, Izumi looks around the street and reviews the format of the city, " Dublith isn't the biggest city we'll find her." Edward looks down at the fanny-pack and hopes Izumi is right.

Walking down the streets of Dublith was one of Alphonse's favorite things because of the abundance of strays, and the company. That's what was missing, (Y/n), it being just him and Edward reminded him of before they met her, but he didn't want to be reminded. Alphonse told himself (Y/n) would turn up eventually, the three of them never stayed anywhere for too long.

Of course, the first place they checked neither (Y/n) nor the Devil's Nest was there but they kept looking for the bar and would eventually find it after walking past the park where, at the time, (Y/n) was playing chess with Lust, ironic.

" Here it is." Alphonse mumbles as they approach the bar, Edward looked around and saw a flight of stairs, " Hey, look at those stairs." Everyone turned to where Edward was referring to and Izumi walked over to the stairs and touched the stone it was made out of, " You think (Y/n) made these when she escaped?" Edward asks, Izumi hums before nodding, " Most likely."

Izumi starts going up the stairs along with Alphonse, Edward on the other hand looks back at the bar, getting even with the owners for kidnapping (Y/n) was on his mind. Shaking off his thoughts he follows Izumi and Alphonse up the stairs, he'd rather have (Y/n) in front of him before thinking about talking to the owners.

Walking across the roofs Izumi suddenly speaks, " You've matured Ed." Edward looks at Izumi and blinks, " Huh?" Izumi looks at the sky and explains, " I noticed you debate going into the bar and getting revenge." Edward oh's and Alphonse mentally comments on how he wasn't surprised his brother thought of that.