It is What it Is (FMA Fanfiction)

Resolve

Story: It Is What It Is, Chapter 13

I don't own FMA

((I hope this is good... I swear it probably sucks))

"Stupid brother..." Alphonse muttered, walking down the street, before finally sitting on a bench in a nearby park. "Doesn't he trust me?"

Throughout all the years Alphonse had been by Edward's side, Edward had only ever let him in so much. There were too many things that he still kept from him, even to this day.

"Edward can be quite stubborn at times, but he values your opinion more than you could ever know, Alphonse."

Alphonse jumped a bit when he heard Riza speak beside him. Her tone had been firm, but not angry. No, Riza was not mad at Alphonse for the way he had reacted. He was just a kid, and he was scared. His older brother, his only blood relative left in his direct life, who had been by his side for years, had been tearing his own skin to pieces. It was his first exposure to self-harm, no doubt. It's not like the boy could have possibly known what to do or how to react appropriately.

However, he still needed to know that he couldn't snap at Edward like that again, with him in in such a state of mind(or even at all).

"Ms. Riza, I..." Alphonse tried to say, but trailed off into silence. It wasn't like he didn't feel bad for getting into such an argument with Edward. In fact, he felt terrible. After all, he bore part of the responsibility for this, regardless of what Edward said.

"It's okay." Riza said, knowing what he wanted to say. "Everybody makes mistakes once in a while, even Roy and I, otherwise we wouldn't be able to grow as humans, right?" Riza said, with a small smile.

"Mn..." Alphonse uttered in uncertainty.

"Do you mind if I sit down beside you?" Riza asked after a minute.

"Oh, sure..." Alphonse scooted over a bit, so Riza could sit next to him. "So um... Do you by chance know how long he's been doing that to himself?"

"We can't be for sure, but we suspect it's been going on for at least several months." Riza gave the rough estimate that the doctors had given.

"Several months?" Alphonse exclaimed incredulously, before thinking about it for a second. Immediately, guilt consumed him. He'd suspected it it had been about that long, judging by Edward's scars, but to hear Riza confirm his suspicion gave it a whole new weight. "How did you... find out about it...?"

Riza hesitated for a moment on whether or not she should let him know what had happened, but after a moment, she scolded herself. Alphonse was his brother. He deserved to know.

So she told him.

"The other day... We found him nearly passed out in the bathroom of the house we were staying in. His arms were covered in cuts, and he... was in a pile of blood. We had to call an ambulance immediately and get him to the hospital."

"You mean... Ed almost died?!" Alphonse couldn't believe it. His frustration towards Edward for keeping everything from him only grew at this point, his self-blame along with it.

"In hindsight, yes." Riza admitted grimly. Immediately Alphonse's heart sunk at her confirmation.

"I can't believe I didn't notice anything. This is all my fault." Alphonse cursed himself.

"No, it's not." Riza tried to assure him.

"Yes it is!" Alphonse snapped at her, not realizing just how much like Edward he was sounding. "I'm his brother, I should have been there for him! I should have known that this was going on...!"

"You couldn't have possibly known...! Even Roy and I... We didn't know anything until it was too late..." Riza said, trying her best to keep herself calm, but it was suddenly obvious that she was just as frustrated as Alphonse over all this, if not more. "I understand that you're frustrated, and you feel responsible, but right now, we need to focus on what's best for your brother, not anything else."

At this, Alphonse lost all will to argue back, because he knew she was right.

"He's been afraid, you know..." Riza thought back over the past week, and especially into the past few days, a pained look in her eyes. "of how you would react when you found out. He worried about it constantly while he was in the hospital. Heck, he even begged Roy not to tell you, all because he was certain you were going to be mad at him. I know you were only worried, and didn't know any better, but Edward..."

Riza looked over at him, meeting his gaze, and not hesitating to be honest. "He took your reaction very much to heart, Alphonse."

Alphonse then realized his mistake. All that time, Edward had kept this from Alphonse because he was afraid of his reaction. Yet, even though Alphonse had simply been worried, he'd reacted in the exact same manner that Edward was afraid of him reacting in. As such, Alphonse had proved Edward's reluctance to not be unfounded, yet he had expected his brother to open up to him despite all that? Of course he wouldn't trust him when he was acting like that!

However, Alphonse scolded himself, deciding that he couldn't be focusing on what he had done wrong. He had to think about had what needed to be done now in the present to get Edward to stop wanting to hurt himself. That should have been his number one priority from the beginning, not the other trivial things like how long it had been going on, or why he hadn't told anybody.

With that resolve in mind, he uttered out one last thing, before getting up and heading back:

"Ms. Riza... Thank you. I finally realize what I have to do."

End of chapter.

A/N: I hope this came out decent(though it probably sucks since I hardly had much time to work on it), and I'm sorry it's so short. School has been a bitch and same with working at Walmart... I hardly have any time to myself anymore (I even have to get a root canal on Tuesday, which is gonna suck.) (I'll try to have a special scene with Roy and Ed next chapter, but if I don't, there will still be plenty soon enough. And if ya'll have any ideas or suggestions for possible future events feel free to share them with me.)

Happy holidays, everybody!