Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ Disaster or Destiny? ❯ Confessions ( Chapter 17 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

It wasn’t too hard to find him. He looked to have just come out of the woods, and didn’t seem to be heading in any particular direction. I quickened my pace to catch up to him, the rain muffling my footsteps. He had his hands in his pockets, and his pace was slower than it usually was.

I waited until I was a few steps behind him. “Mind if I join you?”

He stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly turned around, looking at me doubtfully, as if unsure if I was really there. He was completely drenched, his bangs plastered to his face and his jacket clinging to his skin.

When he continued to just stand there staring at me, I walked up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and cocking my head questioningly to the side. “Surprised to see me?”

Without warning, he pulled me into a tight embrace.

After my initial surprise, I returned the gesture. “I guess that’s a yes?”

Despite his serious tone there was the hint of a grin on his face as he relaxed his hold a little so he could move back to look me in the eyes. “You’ve put me through hell the last few days, you know that?”

There was little space between his face and mine, and I fought back a blush. “Well, now you know how I felt when you were bed-ridden for this long.”

His expression was one of complete relief. “Yeah, but at least you knew I was going to wake up.”

I gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry, but it’s not like I could help it.”

From the way he was acting, I was almost expecting him to move in closer. My hopes were shattered, however, as a shout coming from H.Q. caused both of us to redirect our gaze to one of the second story windows. Havoc was leaning out of it, a smirk on face. “C’mon! Where’s the kiss?”

I was grateful when an annoyed looking Lieutenant Hawkeye shoved him away from the window, smiling at us apologetically as she passed it. I made a mental note to punch Havoc the next time I saw him.

Fortunately the akward silence that ensued was short-lived due to the appearance of Russell and Fletcher.

I smiled at both of them. “You guys didn’t have to stay, you know.”

“It’s the least I could do after you helped save Fletcher.” Russell said, glancing fondly at his little brother. “We just wanted to make sure you were going to be alright.” He shot a sly look in Ed‘s direction. “It’s a good thing you are too, ‘cause Ed over here was about to have a nervous breakdown.”

Ed’s eyes narrowed in response. “Shut up, Russell.”

Much to Ed‘s dismay, I failed at suppressing a laugh.

A rumbling in my stomach reminded me I hadn’t eaten in four days. “I have to eat something before I do anything else. You guys coming?”

They nodded, and we headed inside.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that nearly everyone I knew in H.Q. was happy and releived to see me up and going again. Even Mustang came down to say hi.

After a pleasant conversation and a good meal with everyone, I headed back to my lodgings with Ed, Russell and Fletcher, feeling happy and content, at least for the most part. I was still angry at Havoc for disrupting what was the closest Ed and I had ever come to a kiss.

I found out that since I’d been asleep, Ed and Al had kept me in their room while Russell and Fletcher had taken mine. Since they were leaving in the morning, we decided I’d just stay one more night with Ed and Al.

After changing into some dry clothes, I convinced Ed and Al to take a break from reading that night and to play me in cards instead. This time I joined the game on my own instead of on Al’s side, though I suspect doing so gave Ed the opportunity to cheat.

I glanced at him slyly over the top of my cards. “You know Ed, you’ve been awfully lucky in every single game we’ve played so far.”

He shrugged. “You guys just aren’t used to me winning ‘cause you’re always cheating together. This just proves I’m a better player.”

Al and I exchanged doubtful looks. Or at least, his face probably would’ve looked doubtful if I could’ve seen it. “Brother, remember when we went to Aquroya and I found out you’d been cheating? You promised you wouldn’t after that.”

I gave Ed an evil grin. “So, you have a history of cheating, huh?”

Ed nervously hid his face behind his cards. “Lay off, that was only one game.”

Al and I continued to eye Ed suspiciously until I shifted my position to keep my leg from falling asleep, and Al suddenly told me to stand up.

I looked at him questioningly. “Huh? Why?’

He sounded suspicious. “When you moved just now. I thought I saw some cards behind you.”

“What are you talking - ?” I turned around and sure enough, there was a hand of cards behind me. Al dove for them and looked them over.

“What do you know,” he said, looking through the cards and then showing them to Ed. “A perfect hand.”

Ed threw me a withering glare. “So, been blaming me while you cheated the whole time?”

I looked incredulously from Ed to Al. “I have no idea where those came from! I haven’t been cheating, I swear!”

Ed looked sadistically satisfied, having the blame put on someone else. “The sad thing is, you can’t even win when you cheat.”

Seeing no hint of mercy in Ed’s eyes, I turned to Al. “C’mon Al, you believe me don’t you?”

Al folded his arms. “I’d expect this from brother, but not from you.”

Ed leaned toward me, grinning maliciously. “C’mon just confess.”

I folded my arms defiantly and looked sternly at both of them. “No! I won’t confess to something I didn’t do!”

Ed smiled coyly over at Al. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to make her confess now, won’t we?”

Surprisingly, Al‘s voice was as mischievous as his brother‘s. “Looks that way.”

I backed up against the wall, Ed standing up and advancing towards me. “Wait a sec, what are you -"

Before I had a chance to do anything Ed charged at me, put each hand to one side of my waist and started tickling me. I briefly remembered a day a month or so ago, when he’d poked me in the side teasingly and I flinched, telling him I was ticklish there. I mentally kicked myself for ever giving him such dangerous information.

I fell into a fit of hysteria, laughing and crying at the same time, begging him to stop. I fought back as much as I could, but he had me pinned.

“Al, give me some help over here!” Ed yelled.

I managed to get out of his grasp, only to find there was nowhere to go. Ed made sure the door was blocked.

“Just confess, and we’ll stop.” Al said.

“But I didn’t do it!” I answered breathlessly, unable to suppress a smile despite the fact that they were ready to torture me until I confessed, which I couldn‘t do because I really had no idea how those cards got there. I had that strange feeling that only comes from being tickled or being threatened by it, when you’re having fun but dreading it all at the same time.

Ed shrugged. “Well, we gave you your chance.”

Al was the one to close in on me this time, and even though I ran, it didn’t take too long for him to catch me in the small room.

I struggled in Al’s grasp as he dragged me over to Ed, holding my wrists. I was completely defenseless now.

Ed started tickling again, and the fact that I’d lost the use of my hands made it even more unbearable.

I pleaded for him to stop in between bursts of laughter, until I finally came to a realization. Why hadn’t I figured it out earlier?

“Wait stop! I have something to say!” I said breathlessly.

Ed finally ceased his tortuous tickling to hear me out. “Finally going to confess?”

I looked up at Al, who was still holding me captive. “Al, remember when Ed got up to take his coat off, and he walked over to lay it on the bed?”

“Yeah I do, but what does - “ Al stopped in mid-sentence, slowly raising his face to meet Ed‘s. “Brother, you’re evil!”

This time Ed was the one to back up against the wall. “What are you talking about?”

Al realized my innocence and released my wrists. Ed shrank against the wall.

“You framed me! You put those cards behind me when you got up!”

He attempted to look innocent. “No I didn’t! What proof do you have of that?”

“The timing is proof enough. You’d won every game up to the point when you stood up, then you left your winning hand behind me to frame me because you planned on that being the last game and you didn’t need them anymore!”

“No…but…“ He fumbled around for an excuse, but it was too late. The look on his face confirmed my accusation.

Al and I both dove for the beds, each snatching a pillow. We rounded on Ed, attacking him with our new weapons. Before long, he escaped long enough to get one for himself, and it turned into an all-out war. Alliances were forgotten in the chaos, and soon it was every man for himself. Ed and I ignored the fact that Al couldn’t feel any of our attacks, and were just happy to hear him laugh. It made him feel like a kid again; a rare feeling for him ever since he’d been trapped in that armor.

Al was disappointed when Ed and I collapsed on one of the beds, exhausted.

“You’re tired already? C’mon, let’s go one more round. Please?”

Ed glanced at his brother, panting but smiling. “Al, you forget Marie and I don’t have limitless energy like you do.”

He sat down on the opposite bed. “Yeah I guess you’re right…well I suppose that means I win.”

“What?!” Ed and I yelled in unison.

I grinned at Al. “You just wait until we get your body back. Then we’ll have a rematch and see who the real victor is.”

Ed took on that familiar look of arrogance. “Once the battle’s not so one-sided, I’ll beat both of you no problem.”

Al chuckled. “Don’t kid yourself brother. You may be older but I’ve always been bigger. I‘ll be able to beat you.”

Ed suddenly seemed to regain his lost energy and jumped to his feet. “WHO ARE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP?”

I put a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to sit back down. “Calm down Ed, he didn’t say anything like that.”

The three of us finally stopped to take a look around, and burst out laughing. Two of the pillows had been torn and there were feathers everywhere. The sheets and blankets were scattered on the floor and hanging off the beds. There were various items strewn about the room, including Ed and I’s shoes, a lamp that had been knocked over but fortunately not broken, and some books.

When our bouts of laughter finally ceased, Ed and Al put the pillows back together with alchemy while I picked up everything else.

After everything was cleaned up, I crawled into bed with a book on biological alchemy. Ed noticed and inquired as to why I was reading it. “You know you won’t find anything on the Stone in there, right?”

“I know,” I answered. Bio-alchemy was something that would help Ed and Al‘s situation, not mine. But after that night, I wanted even more to help Al get back to normal. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ed smile, and could sense Al doing the same. I read until I couldn’t hold open my eyes any longer, and I let the book slide out of my hand.

I woke up to a bright ray of sunshine blanketing my bed. I rubbed my eyes and looked around the room, finding that I was alone. This proved to be to my advantage, as I blushed wildly in response to a glance out the window.

Russell and Ed were sparring, Fletcher and and Al watching from the sidelines. It looked to be a fight based solely on martial arts; neither one was using alchemy. As if just watching Ed fight wasn’t enough to attract my attention, he was doing it shirtless.

I ran outside and went to join Al and Russell on the sidelines to watch. Ed’s impenetrable focus kept him from noticing my presence.

They seemed to be evenly matched when it came to skill, but in strength Ed had the upper hand because of his auto-mail. Judging by the heavy breathing and the beads of sweat rolling down their faces, I assumed the fight had been going on for awhile.

Russell ran at Ed and threw another punch. Ed dodged his fist by a mere inch, losing his footing in the process and stumbling to one knee. Of course, being Ed, he was not without a back up plan. Before Russell even had a chance to turn around, Ed, still in a kneeling position, spun around on one foot, rising back up to a standing position while swinging out his other foot to kick Russell in the waist in the process. Russell flew to the ground, this time too tired to get back up. Ed held out a hand to his fallen opponent.

Russell allowed Ed to help him up, and brushed himself off. “Well Edward, I suppose height isn’t everything.”

Ed twitched at the height reference but accepted the compliment with a grin. “About damn time you figured that out.”

Russell chuckled and swept his hand across his sweaty forehead, turning to his brother. “I guess we should get going - “ He noticed me for the first time as he glanced over at Fletcher. “Great, another witness to my defeat.”

I smiled. “Don’t think of it as defeat, think of it as more of a temporary setback. Just work at it a little and you’ll be able to beat Ed next time.”

Ed raised an eyebrow. “I appreciate your confidence in my ability.”

I punched him playfully in the shoulder, trying to ignore my desire to finish what had been interrupted the day before because of Havoc. “You were amazing, as usual.”

Deprived of a reason to provide a witty comeback to the smart remark he’d expected, he just smiled instead.

Russell shrugged. “I have to agree, Ed. You’re a tough act to follow.” He held out a hand to Ed, who shook it and grinned.

“Never thought I’d hear that coming from you.”

“That’s not saying, of course, that I won’t take Marie’s advice and beat you next time.”

“We’ll see.” Ed replied confidently.

Russell and Fletcher thanked us again for our help, then left to catch their train.

After the two of them were out of sight, Ed turned to me. “How do you feel? Are you up to a spar while I’m warmed up?”

Of course, no matter how I felt, I couldn’t back down. “Alright, but cut me some slack, it’s been a while since we’ve done this.”

“Yeah, our training sessions haven’t exactly been as regular as I wanted them to be.” He took his usual beginning stance. “But I still expect a good effort from you.”

I imitated his stance and replied, “Well excuse me if I’m rusty from being in bed for four days with injuries that haven‘t fully healed.”

“Stop whining, you’ll be fine.”

I immediately knew I wasn’t going to last long when I ran at him, my legs as stiff as boards underneath me. I jabbed with my left hand instead of my right, hoping to catch him by surprise. It didn’t work.

“Nice try,” I heard behind me, right before his leg (the flesh and bone one of course, he was always careful not to use his metal limbs when he hit me) caught me in the side. I quickly rolled back onto my feet and tried another punch, but to no avail. In a split second he dodged my punch and ended up behind me, catching me in a headlock.

“You never taught me that one.” I said, struggling in his hold.

“I was planning on waiting until you got a little better. It’s not an easy move to pull on an experienced opponent.”

I was so close to him that I was immobilized, and there was no way I could get out of this one unless he loosened his hold. He had an arm around my neck, and the other was holding my arms behind me. In other words, the only thing that was really working was my mouth. It was either talk until he unconsciously eased up or try something a little more drastic. I decided on the latter, and did the first thing that came to mind. Ed’s face was so close to mine in the hold he had me in that it wasn’t hard to turn my head the slightest bit and plant a kiss on his cheek.

It worked. The kiss surprised him enough to cause his hold to loosen to the point where I could slip out. The moment I was free I spun around and kicked him in the side.

Still awestruck, his defense against my kick was unprepared and he landed on the ground. I was reminded of Al’s presence when he broke into a fit of laughter from the sidelines.

Ed jumped up, fuming and blushing furiously. It was hard not to join Al in his laughter.

“That was dirty!” The now scarlet-faced Ed yelled.

I managed to keep from laughing, but couldn’t suppress a grin. “All’s fair in love and war, Ed.”

Ed turned to Al, who was now rolling with laughter on the ground. “Al, back me up here!”

“Sorry, brother,” Al said when he regained the ability to speak, “But that was a brilliant move on Marie’s part.”

Ed scowled at both of us. “Well I think it was a cheap way to catch me off guard.”

I shrugged. “Maybe so, but who cares if it worked, right?”

I started walking back to my room and yelled back, “I’m gonna go change, I’ll meet you guys inside for breakfast.”

I got an okay from Al and silence from Ed in response.

I reached my door and moved to open it when someone from behind spun me around and pinned me against the wall. I found myself looking into familiar amber eyes. Ed placed his hands against the wall behind me, to either side of my head.

“You‘re going to pay for that.”

I hoped he couldn’t hear my heart beat quicken. “You’re the one who told me to do whatever it took to beat my enemy in a fight.”

He moved in a little closer, and it was all I could do to keep myself from moving in the rest of the way. “That wasn‘t exactly what I had in mind.”

I grinned evilly. “Admit it, you’re just mad ‘cause I beat you.”

“You’re pushing it, Marie,” he said in an unusually husky voice.

I was overwhelmed with hopeful anticipation. “So what’re you gonna do about it?”

I barely had time to finish my sentence as Ed closed the gap between us and pressed his lips against mine. He seemed timid somehow, as if nervous as to how I would react. I reassured him by throwing my arms around his neck and deepening the kiss.

This apparently increased his confidence and soon his hands had moved from the walls to my waist. Before long his tongue was running along my lips, requesting entry. I was surprised at his sudden boldness but eagerly granted it to him nonetheless. I moaned with pleasure as his tongue explored the inside of my mouth.

I’d been waiting for this for a long time, and now that it happened I couldn’t seem to get close enough to him. I kissed him hungrily, and his arms pulled me in even closer.

It seemed all too soon when Ed finally broke the kiss.

“I take it I was wrong in thinking you didn’t want that.”

I placed my hands on his chest, pushing away just far enough so I could look him in the eyes. “If you didn’t kiss me soon I was going to corner you and do it myself.”

He laughed. “I was half-expecting to get slapped, I had no idea how you would react.”

“Well it took you long enough to find out.”

He pulled me into another embrace, and leaned his head against my own. “That’s because I promised myself I
wouldn’t kiss you.”

I couldn’t help but show a little irritation in my voice. “God forbid you allow yourself to be a normal human being once in a while. It’s not like I’m going to keep you from doing what you need to do.”

He released me, a serious expression on his face now. “It’s not that Marie. Think about it, when we find the Stone and you leave, I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again.” He ran a hand along my cheek. “I knew that the moment I kissed you I wouldn’t be able to deny the way I felt any longer.”

Now that I knew how he felt and that he wanted me to come back, I thought Ed might have an idea as to how I could come back after I went home. Learning that he didn’t actually made me wonder if I’d be able to leave.

“Personally I think it’d be harder to let someone go without telling them how I felt.” Even though he knew, I couldn’t help but blush a little as I added, “I was going to tell you.”

“To tell you the truth, I really didn’t know if you’d want to hear something like that coming from me.” He slipped his hand around my waist again and pulled me to him, grinning slyly. “That little stunt you pulled earlier was what finally convinced me to tell you.”

I gave him another peck on the cheek. “See? It was a good idea.”

“It was still a dirty trick though.”

I rolled my eyes and went inside to change and the two of us went to join Al for breakfast. Ed had his usual black shirt and jacket back on.

On the way there, I asked, “Ed, don’t you think there’s a way for me to come back after I go home?”

His brow furrowed in though. “I’ve been thinking about that. I think if we just made a Stone like the one that got you here, we could use it the same way. Problem is, I didn’t find anything in those notes that talked about how to accomplish the actual process of going back and forth, did you?”

I shook my head and sighed. “No, maybe if I dig a bit more I can find something. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, helping Al is first priority.”

Ed smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Marie.”

I squeezed his shoulder affectionately. “I know how much getting Al back to normal means to you. And frankly, I can’t stand to see him like this either.”

After evading Al’s question as to what took us so long we both ate hungrily, having to play a game of rock, paper, scissors to determine who got the last muffin. I won, but ended up splitting it with Ed anyway. He was on my good side
today.

The three of us spent the rest of the afternoon in storage and file rooms in H.Q. looking at maps and deciding what our next move should be.

After hours of looking through papers, Al left for a few minutes to help Fuery with something. Ed threw down the papers in his hand in frustration, leaning against the wall and putting a hand to his forehead. “I don’t even know where to go
from here.”

“I have to say this isn’t exactly encouraging,” I agreed, glancing half-heartedly at some files. “We’ve visited all the useful places and seen everyone that might have any information…”

“The fact is, we’re out of leads, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get much better.” He moved over to a map on the wall. “We’ve been all around this stupid country and still haven’t come any closer.”

I walked over and wrapped my arms around his waist from behind, resting my chin on his shoulder. “I think it’s gotten to the point where searching’s not going to do us much good. We’re going to have to find a way to do it ourselves.”

He turned and gave me a quick kiss. “Well if you get any ideas let me know, ‘cause I’m fresh out.”

There was a knock on the door that was really more of a warning than a request, as someone entered without admittance.

“You two are happier to see each other than I thought,” said an all-too familiar voice.

I let go of Ed and turned around to see the smug face of Colonel Mustang.

Ed was irritated, to say the least. “What do you want?”

“I need to talk to you.”

Ed groaned. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I’m really not in the mood.”

“No, it cannot.”

I smiled at Ed when he turned to me. “Have fun.”

He scolwed when he didn’t get the show of sympathy he’d probably been expecting. “I appreiciate the concern,” he said sarcastically.

They left the room and I chuckled as I heard them walk down the hall.

“It’s about time you got a girl to keep you in line, Ed,” Mustang teased.

“Lay off, Mustang,” was Ed’s annoyed reply.

“That’s Colonel Mustang, Edward.”

Their voices disappeared as they turned the corner and I left to find Al.