CHAPTER 1 of Standing in the Rain

How… is he doing that? That man, whenever he places his arm on something, it drastically alters the activity of the molecules of any water in the thing-freezing, heating, or changing its shape at his will. Does it have something to do with the circular array on the metal on his arm? Is that… a transmutation circle from the books on alchemy at the libraries in Azarath? It must be, and that means… Oh no, I've gone through the wrong portal! This isn't the Earth I was meant to arrive at! This must be Amestris!

I almost gasp as the alchemist freezes the water in one man's body, and boils the next man. Stepping back further into the shadows to ensure I'm hidden, I begin trying to think of a way to stop this man. Suddenly, a spear almost stabs the alchemist. "That's alchemy," cries the man as he barely avoids being hit by it.

"What a nasty thing to do," calls the voice of a small, blond man as he walks into the alley. Well, I call him small, but as far as I can tell he's only a few inches shorter than me.

The first man begins talking, growing more excited as he does. "You of all people should know great things require great sacrifice. Isn't that the law of equivalent exchange?"

"Save your breath," begins the smaller one angrily, "the laws of alchemy don't justify murder!" Then he claps his hands together, forming bright blue sparks, and grabs the spear. It changes form in his hand, becoming a spiked club that he points at the first man. Was that also alchemy? It seemed to be, but he had no visible circle. Unless…

"No transmutation circle," gasps the first man.

The blond one smirks at him and says, "Don't be too impressed. Now!" At his signal, a large man in armor appears behind the first man, blocking his only exit, and forcing him onto his back. The blond one strikes with his club, and the man has to hold it back with his metal-covered arm. Pushing away the club, he jumps up and strikes the armored man. He grabs the small one's club when he tries to swing it and places a hand on the boy's hand. I want to help, but I can't move in time. Blue sparks show up as the man tries alchemy. The smaller one is forced back a few steps, and his coat is ruined, revealing why it didn't work. He has a metal arm.

"What," cries the first man, "No! I had you! Any water there should have boiled!"

The short one glares up at him, waving off the armored one's worry. "If it's any consolation, you ruined my coat." Then he tears off the red garment dramatically.

"An automail arm! A young, gifted alchemist; one who doesn't use transmutation circles, and who has an automail right arm," I wonder briefly why the man keeps repeating these facts, "I know you. You are the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric!"

Fullmetal? Who came up with that?

Suddenly, the first man turns to the armored one, "Soo… it's not you?" This peeves off the short one, Edward, and I wonder if he gets that a lot.

Awkwardly, the armored one replies, "Oh! Uhmm… no! I'm his younger brother, Alphonse!" Younger? Weird.

"But he's a runt," says the first man, confused. Why is this so hard for him to grasp? Varying height is a fact of life, is it not? Edward jumps at this.

"OH YEA, CAN A RUNT DO THIS?" He claps his hands again and touches the floor. The first man is suddenly trapped in the extended bit of the walls beside him.

The first man didn't really seem to notice. "I'd heard the stories, but still, I didn't imagine this! The Fullmetal Alchemist is just a little kid?" Edward glared and clapped, forming a giant hand from the alley wall to send the first man flying.

While he did this he cried, "DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!"

Gently, his brother Alphonse said, "You know brother; I don't think he was referring to your height that time."

"Well even if he wasn't, he still pissed me off," seethed Edward. I found some amusement in how irritated the boy seems.

Suddenly, a man in a blue uniform appears in the alley, beaming. I wonder if he sees the men sharing his uniform that lie dead on the ground. "So you're the one we hear all of the stories about, the Fullmetal Alchemist! You're as good as they say, thanks for the help!" As more uniformed men walk down the alley, Alphonse struggles to explain that it's not him. I almost smile, before remembering myself and stuffing down my emotions.

"Um… You're welcome but… I'm really not the one you should be thanking." Ed appeared then, with his coat fixed.

"Let's get goin' Al, we've got a train to catch."

"Oh! Okay… I mean, if you think it's alright to leave." I turned my attention to the soldiers marching away with the now handcuffed murderer, wondering how they'd handle him for his crimes. Suddenly, he pulled off one of his gloves with his other hand, and my eyes widened as I say a circle drawn on his palm. Catching sight of the puddles beside him as he was falling, I jump out of the alley. Just as he begins the alchemy to form the steam, I place a barrier of my black energy over myself and the toy boys in front of me, forming a bubble that the steam can't enter. The boys gasp in surprise, looking around for the source of it. Just as the steam encases the bubble, they find me behind them. I realize how suspicious I must look with my black leotard and blue cape, hood obscuring the features on my face; my hands are thrown out, glowing black with the use of my powers.

Edward and his brother gasp and Edward cries, "Who are you?"

I quirk one eyebrow at his question. Noticing that the steam has mostly cleared out of the bubble, I draw the energy back into myself and lower my arms. "I'm no one," I respond carefully.

"How did you do that," asks Alphonse as he watches the energy disappear.

"It's what I do," I respond with a shrug, "And it doesn't matter. That steam I shielded you from was created by the guy you just captured, and he's getting away."

Ed, realizing I'm telling the truth, cries, "Damn it, now's he's really pissed me off! You," he says, turning back to me, "stay with us! This conversation isn't over!" I blink out of surprise. He wants me near him? Probably just to question me, but… I comply. I follow them silently as they go to the large buildings in the center of town, that I assume are the military headquarters, and into the office of a man with black hair and high ranking.

"So, you underestimated your opponent, Fullmetal," taunts the man.

Edward glares into space and mutters, "Who is this guy, anyway?"

The man smirks, "You'd know that if you listened to the briefing like I told you to. But no, you had to go charging right after him-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," interrupts Edward. I almost smirk at how uncomfortable he is as I watch from my place in a dark corner of the office. "Alright? I'm sorry, okay, whatever."

The man chuckles, "Next time a superior tells you to pay attention, you might just try it. Now then, his name is Isaac McDougal, or as he was known back in the day, Isaac the Freezer. He's a former State Alchemist."

"Former," wonders Edward.

"That's right. He served in the Ishvallan War, and during that time, he gave us no signs that he'd turn traitor. But after, he immediately resigned and went into hiding. He's been working with the Anti-Establishment movement ever since." As he spoke, the officer stood from his desk and walked to look out the window. Turning around, he locks his eyes one Edward. "Taking him in is top-priority. Whether he's dead or alive: that's up to him."

Looking away, Edward muttered, "No way, I'm not killin' anyone for you."

"And that's your choice," responded the man, "your orders are simply to help us contain him. That's all." Then he smirked. "Off-topic, who's the lady you brought in with you?"

My eyes widened a bit as they all turned to look at me, but I quickly returned my face to an emotionless mask. "I'm Raven," I responded. "I was in the alley when McDougal arrived, and I saw what went down."

Edward told the officer with an odd tone, "When McDougal created the steam to escape, she did something pretty interesting to shield Al and I from it."

"Oh yea," Began the man, looking right into my eyes, "Want to show us what you did, Miss Raven?"

I considered just teleporting away for a moment, but something inside of me made me comply. Moving so that my cloak opened and fell behind my arms, I spread my arms out wide and focused my energy. My hands began to glow with the black energy, and it encased the table between the brothers. I brought my arms together in front of me, exaggerating my movements for show, and threw them both to the right. The table went flying across the room in the same direction, and I pulled my energy back into myself.

"What was that," asked the man.

"My powers. To put it simply, the black energy you see is a manipulation of my soul, the energy of which I can use to move objects, create barriers, levitate, and more."

"Levitate?" The man's eyes widened as he repeated my words. Frowning lightly because he didn't believe me, I raised up into the air, flew across the room to where the table had landed, and dropped down.

"How can you do these things," asks the man as he walks towards me. He stops when he's just a foot in front of me, and I'm forced to look up at him, making my hood fall off of my head. I can feel all of their shock as they take in my purple hair and eyes and the bright read chakra on the center of my forehead.

Frowning lightly, I back up until I'm not looking right up to face him, and use my powers to pull my hood back up. "I'm not from here." The tense silence seems never-ending, when suddenly, a man bursts through the door.

"Roy! How goes? I heard you let them put you in charge of catching the Freezer, huh? One hell of a nasty assignment! But hey, could be your chance to earn that promotion to central!" 'Roy' seemed more than irked that the man had shown up, and I could see why. The emotions rolling off of that man were so unbridled that I had to readjust all of my mental barriers the moment he walked in, and a headache is already beginning to set in from him. "Oh say, looks like my timing was perfect! You two are the Elric brothers, right?" He ran up to Alphonse and began excitedly shaking his hand. "Wow, it's an honor to finally meet the youngest State Alchemist ever. You're a real legend around here! I'm Lt. Col. Maes Hughes, a pleasure!"

"Uh… um," Alphonse began, unsure how to say this, "You want Edward! I'm actually his younger brother Alphonse!"

"WHAT? You're the Fullmetal Alchemist? Sorry: I had no idea you'd be so…" I sighed in relief as he finally stopped talking and watched Roy cross the room to face Hughes.

"Hughes," called Roy.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing here? Go home."

"Actually, I'm here on official business. You, Elrics, I understand that you two don't have a place to stay, which means you'll have to come with me." He said this especially seriously, and I could just feel the mirth at his small joke pouring out of him. He reaches into his jacket for something, and the brothers freak, but it's only a piece of paper. Unconsciously, I cross the room until I'm standing behind Edward, just to get a look at it. It's a picture of a woman and a small child, who both look… happy. Grinning, he almost squealed, "My wife Gracia and my daughter Elysia-we'd love to have you over!" I tilted my head to the side a bit in confusion. At the mention of his family, his emotions seemed to triple in how powerful they were; I had never felt something so strong come from one simple man. "And who's this young lady?" I widened my eyes, realizing that I had walked right in front of him. They all looked at me again. Everything was silent, until-

"She's our friend, Raven," said Alphonse, looking pointedly at his brother. Edward paused a moment, before nodding agreement. I don't know what to do. Friend? They only just met me! By whose definition am I 'friend' material?

Hughes grins excitedly and says to me, "Then you'll have to come with us, I'm sure Gracia and Elysia would love to meet you too!" I blinked repeatedly, trying to understand why everyone was being so excepting of me. Don't they know? Can't they tell that I'm a monster who doesn't deserve their kindness? Eventually, I nod slowly. Grinning with renewed vigor, Hughes marches over and grabs my hand, pulling me out of the room. Out of panic, I grip Edward's wrist as we pass him, eyes wide as Hughes pulls both of us behind him. Alphonse follows, his amusement overwhelming my senses.

Soon, we arrive at his house, and are faced with a child. She's small and blond and small and her emotions are even more powerful that Hughes's. My head is pounding, and I stare at the small child with my confusion written clearly across my face. Somewhere along the way, my hood got pulled down, so everyone can see. She had already decided that Edward was Alphonse's little brother, and then she saw me. I heard Hughes introduce me to her, but I still didn't move. Suddenly, Edward appears right next to me and whispers loudly in my ear, "She's a child, not a bomb. You're supposed to say hello!"

I looked away from the girl and faced the boy, slightly surprised at how close his face suddenly was to mine. Instead of showing my surprise though, I glared at him. He paled considerably and backed away until he was hiding behind his brother. Turning back to the child, I muttered, "Hello."

She giggled and pointed at me, announcing "Big sister," before moving forward and wrapping her arms around my bare legs. The touch amplified her emotions broke down part of my mental barriers. Because of this, my eyes glowed bright white for a moment and my black energy encased the nearest vase, making it explode. Everyone jumped in surprise and, somehow connecting the dots of what cause it, Edward jumped out from behind his brother, peeling the little girl off of my legs as gently as he could. I just stood there, shock evident on my features. I only snapped out of it once I heard Edward apologizing profusely to the Hughes. I took a deep breath and watched as Edward fixed the vase with alchemy.

"Oh, it's fine," insisted Mrs. Hughes. I pull my hood back up to hide the blush forming on my face, and move back into Alphonse's shadow, which he pretends not to notice.

"I hope you three are hungry," begins Hughes, "Gracia's cooking is delicious!" We all sit down around a table laden with pies and salads and things that I don't quite know what they are. Mrs. Hughes pours everyone a glass of tea and sits down next to her husband. Edward's face lights up excitedly as he sees it all. "Okay, eat up," says Hughes.

"Okay!" Edward digs in immediately. "Wow," he says around a full mouth, " you weren't kiddin', this is great!"

"Don't be shy," says Gracia, "eat all you want!" Edward has no qualms about this, but Alphonse isn't eating, and neither am I, though I have at least taken a few sips of the tea (which is much better than the tasteless leaves the Monks would boil in Azarath.

"Alphonse," chuckles Hughes, "How're you going to eat wearing that armor? Take it off, relax!" This simple sentence makes Edward and Alphonse both stiffen, and I suddenly realize something that should have been obvious before.

"He's not allowed to; he has to wear it all of the time! It's uh- it's part of his Alchemy training," stuttered Edward as Alphonse makes unintelligible noises.

After a few moments of Edward babbling on about his excuse, which everyone but the child can tell is a blatant lie, Hughes says, "Alright! Well… Raven, why aren't you eating?"

I pause as I wonder exactly what to tell him. "I'm fasting," I mumble.

He smiles, "Oh you're religious?"

I pause, feeling compelled to tell him the truth. "No, but I was raised by Monks."

Edward and Alphonse simply stare at me as Hughes smiles and says, "Cool!"

That night, in the guest bedroom, there were two beds. Edward and Alphonse tried to make a show of confusion about beds. "It's alright," I told them, "I don't need to sleep. Keep it down though, I'm going to be meditating over here." I walked to the other side of the room from the beds and raised myself into the air, sitting in the lotus position and closing my eyes. Before I could start, Edward asks, "So you were really raised by monks?"

I open one eye and watch his curious expression for a moment, before nodding and closing the eye again. Before he can say something else, I begin to chant my mantra quietly, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos. Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…" I was only mildly aware of the brother whispering later in the night, as the world slipped away from me.

The next thing I was truly aware of was, "Raven!"

My eyes flew opened and I cried out, shocked, scrambling for balance for a moment before landing harshly on my butt. I looked around for who had disturbed me, and saw Edward standing in front of me, laughing so hard that he was barely standing upright. I glare at him for a moment, and he stop laughing, but the mirth is still evident in his features. Standing, I ask, "What time is it?"

"It's seven a.m., time for us to start working on finding the Freezer. Are you coming?" Holding back my surprise that they still want me to help them, I nod.

Not long after leaving the Hughes residence, we were taken by some soldiers to the scene of McDougal's latest murder.

"How awful," muttered Alphonse.

"Looks like a steam explosion, raise the temperature of water fast enough it expands with the force of a bomb blast, and the human body is seventy percent water," explains Edward. He begins walking away as he talks, and Alphonse and I follow, "Let's hurry. We have to find him before he hurts anyone else." Sudden explosions in an alley behind us make us turn around and run towards them.

Running into the alley, I see McDougal and a large, muscular man with a baby face that Edward and Alphonse seem to know. "Major!" cries Alphonse, gaining the men's attention.

McDougal throws an open water canister at us that explodes into steam, and before it can expand, I catch all of the water in a small bubble of my powers. The force of the expanding water as it becomes steam makes me shake slightly, but I keep the bubble intact until it all dissipates, and drop the bubble once it does.

"Thanks," cry Edward and Alphonse as they, and the baby-faced man, run after McDougal. I fly towards after them, catching up quickly to see that they lost him anyway. We continued searching all day, but as the sun went down, we still had no results.

Later that night, after Edward had a sudden idea, the brothers and I surrounded the Alley he fought the man I learned to be Armstrong in. We waited a while, but now Edward's hunch is paying off. I watch from above as Edward and Alphonse each cover one end of the alley. Squinting, I saw that McDougal, had uncovered a transmutation circle that he must have drawn earlier. Suddenly, he triggers it, and I have to fly backwards quickly to avoid being struck by the red energy that shoots into the sky. Around the city, I see many other identical red beams shooting up into the sky from other alleyways. What is he doing? Transmutation of such a massive scale, what will this cause? All of the moisture in the air around the circle begins freezing. And Edward and Alphonse are just standing there! Why aren't they moving?

I can hear them yelling about the true intent of the military but I don't pay it much attention. Suddenly, Alphonse jumps right over the ice wall between him, McDougal, and his brother, almost landing on McDougall himself, and begins attacking him, sending him flying into the street with a powerful kick. Edward asks him where his Philosopher's Stone is and, seemingly in response, McDougal makes the decorative pool behind him form a growing iceberg that he rides. Edward and Alphonse begin running and I fly as fast as I can towards them. Landing, My eyes glow white as I form a plate of black energy beneath their and my feet and use it to hold us all up in the air, ready to take off at a moment's notice.

"Thanks," said Edward. I see Armstrong behind us, making a show of punching the growing iceberg, and it just redirects through some buildings.

We can see from the sky as more walls of ice go straight through buildings and streets. "The ice walls," cries Alphonse.

"There merging," Edward saying, thinking out loud. "If they all meet in the middle… Aw, damn it! It's Central Command! He's gonna freeze it over! Major," he calls down to Armstrong, "We'll try to slow him town, can you take care of the circles?"

"Consider them erased, I'm on it," he replies.

"Not so fast," cries Edward as I bring my energy back into myself and we drop onto the ice behind him. McDougal tries to send a wall of ice at us and Edward cries, "Two can play that game," before breaking all of the ice under McDougal, sending him towards the ground.

Which some quick alchemy, he gets back onto the iceberg and grabs Alphonse's head, blowing it off of his body. "Alphonse," cries Edward. They both flip away from McDougal, Alphonse kicking him in the chin in the process, and they stand at the ready. Not all that surprised because I figured out that Alphonse is just a soul bonded to a suit of armor yesterday, I grab his head and fly over to them, placing it on his body quickly, to which he says, "Thanks Raven!"

McDougal, so shocked that he can't move, mutters, "There's no one in there; it's empty! But that… that could only be true if his soul was bonded to the armor. So you lost your arm, and you lost your body! Ha, I see! It all makes sense now. You fools committed the ultimate taboo! You attempted human transmutation, didn't you! Alchemy's one and only unforgivable sin!"

Everything is silent, and the emotions coming from Edward are so dark, so jumbled… so guilty. Finally, he says, "You know, there are some lines you really shouldn't cross," he says darkly as he stares down at the ground. Suddenly, he runs forward and slams McDougal's head into the ground, jumping back when he counters by creating ice spikes where Edward was a moment ago. Alphonse jumps forward, smashing the spikes, and strikes McDougal, knocking him off the side of the ice. The both slide down the slanted edge to meet him and I follow silently, just watching.

At the bottom, McDougal struggles to lift himself from the ground as blood trails down his forehead and arm. "Give it up," demands Edward, "There's no water for you to use here!" The look on McDougal's face when he says that doesn't bode well.

"You've forgotten something. I have all of the water I need, seventy percent of my body!" Edward gasps, eyes widening in disbelief. McDougal throws his arm out and the two trails of blood down his arm freeze and shoot forward, piercing Edward in his flesh arm. Alphonse yells his brother's name and smashes the frozen blood, disconnecting McDougal from Edward. No!

Without controlling it, I land on the ground and run at McDougal, yelling, "No one harms my friends!" He stands, eyes wide as he stares at me. I don't give him time to run.

I can feel my eyes glowing bright white as the black energy forms around my hands and about twenty, very heavy objects in the vicinity. Cars, lamp posts, poles, and bits of pavement become encased in my black energy. Focusing my energy, I cry, "Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" and all of the objects are flying right at McDougal from every direction. In the blink of an eye, he's buried beneath them all. I can feel all of his twist, insane, angry, scared emotions as they begin fading and realize that he's dying. No! Before my powers leave the objects, I left them off of him and run towards his body. He's unconscious, but now that he's freed, he'll have enough time to be found by the soldiers and taken under their care. I don't know if they'll kill him, but I won't.

Turning around, I walk towards the brothers. Alphonse is supporting Edward who is sitting, holding his shoulder, and they're staring at me with shock and apprehension. I run towards them and kneel down in front of Edward, looking him in the eyes. "Did… is he dead?"

He wanted to ask if I killed him. I recognize vaguely that my hood is down but I don't pull it up. "No, unconscious. He'll need medical attention in the next hour though, or he's gone." Edward nods before looking past me at all of the red lights from the transmutation circles. I look too, just in time to see them fade. He grins and turns his attention back to me, grinning. I don't smile, but I want to. After a moment, I make a decision. "Alphonse, let go of him," I say. Curious, Alphonse complies. They both give me a weird look as I gently put one arm behind Edward's shoulders and one arm in front of them, and make Edward lay down. Pulling his hand away from the wound, I try to get a good look at it. The cloth from his coat and shirt are in the way so I help him take off that arm of the coat before I tear the cloth of the shirt away from the area, making the two small holes in it one big one.

"What are you-" begins Edward, but I cut him off with a look. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath and center my energy. When I open my eyes I know they are glowing bright white. Slowly, I lower both of my hands to the holes in his shoulder, and a pale blue energy encases them. In the back of my mind I recognize that numerous soldiers and military personnel have arrived, but I focus on the task ahead of me. I can feel in my mind as the muscle and tissue slowly knits itself back together, and then the skin. After what feels like an eternity but was really only two minutes, my eyes return to normal, the blue glow recedes, and I sit back. I can hear six different people gasp, four besides Alphonse and Edward, and look around at the crowd that has gathered. Around us stand Hughes, Armstrong, Roy, and the blond woman that is always by Roy's side.

"How did you-" Alphonse, Edward, Roy, Hughes, and the blond woman all mutter, only to be cut off by Armstrong.

"Impressive! I admire your skill in healing young lady!" Blushing lightly, I pull my hood up and stand, only to have my exit blocked by Roy.

"Do you have anything to do with the pile of items around the Freezer, and his condition?" I nod. "Thank you."

We stayed at Hughes's house again that night. Edward sat himself on the bed closer to the window, with Alphonse sitting on the floor between the two beds, and I sat on the other one. We had been pretty much silent since I healed Edward, but I know that now there will be some talking.

Looking into my eyes, Edward says, "When we were little, our dad abandoned us and our mother eventually grew sick and died. We were young, and foolish, and alchemy prodigies. After spending a few years training with a woman named Izumi, we came home, and committed the ultimate sin. Even though all we wanted was to see her smile again, nothing can excuse the fact that we tried human transmutation to bring our mother back-and failed. I lost my leg," he pulled up his left pants leg enough to show me some of the metal, "and Al lost his whole body. I gave my arm to get him, and bonded his soul to this suit of armor. Since then, we've been searching for a way to get our original bodies back. I got my State Alchemist title when I was twelve. We've heard of this this-a Philosopher's Stone-that allows you to perform alchemy, ignoring the rules of equivalent exchange. If we could get one, I would be able to get Al his body back." As Edward tells me this, I can feel all of the emotions from his past, all of the guilt, anger, and all of the hope he had, and Alphonse has similar emotions as well. I don't know what to say.

"And yours, too," says Alphonse.

"Yeah," agrees Edward as he smiles at his brother. After a few moments of silence, the brothers turn back to me expectantly. Wondering what to tell them, I sigh and lower my hood.

"I was raised in a dimension called Azarath."

Immediately, Edward interrupts, "Dimension? As in another world?"

"Yes. Well, technically. If you use the term world to apply more loosely than a planet. This dimension was found a very long time ago by humans from another Earth, one where technology was advanced instead of alchemy."

"How many other worlds are there," asks Alphonse.

"I don't know for sure, but there are many. Azarath is a dimension made of a race of pacifist monks, and it's named after the Goddess Azar. Growing up, I was trained by them not to feel emotions-"

"That's terrible," Alphonse interrupted me again.

I go on as if he hadn't spoken, "Because if I do, my powers go out of control. If I feel some-anything-my powers will react. I was so shaken yesterday when meeting Elysia because I had never known emotions like hers; such raw, powerful emotions like those of a child, or even the love that the two of you hold for each other… I am an empath, meaning that I sense the emotions of those around me. If I don't keep my mental barriers up, those emotions can affect my own. The monks in Azarath were always calm, and while my mother was in the dimension also, I never really saw her. If I did see her, the emotions she held for me were akin to those you may hold for an acquaintance. I left Azarath only yesterday, and the portal I made was supposed to send me to the other Earth, but it sent me here instead." After I finish speaking, there is silence. The emotions coming from the brothers ranged from guilt to anger, but the largest one from both of them is pity. Finally, Alphonse speaks.

"I'm sorry."

"Just as you two don't want others to pity you; I don't want you to pity me. And I don't want you to feel any guilt when you have a strong emotion, either. I can handle it, and you need it." They both nod, and an awkward, heavy silence settles over the room. I spend it debating mentally whether to sleep or meditate. While I don't particularly need to sleep for a few more days so long as I meditate, my back and thigh muscles still ache from sitting so rigidly for so many hours. After around thirty seconds, I decide to sleep. "I'm going to sleep," I announce, simply to break the tension, and I remove my cloak and the golden belt inlaid with red gems. I kick off my boots and add them to the small pile next to the bed I am on before slipping under the covers and closing me eyes.

I can hear the smirk in Edward's voice as he says, "I thought you didn't sleep."

Opening one eye, I glance over at him as he removes his coat and shoes before also slipping under the covers of his bed. "Only occasionally," I respond as I suppress a smile of my own. Closing my eye again, I turn over onto my side and drift off into darkness.

Yup, an Author's Note at the end, I am that tacky. Anyways, I just want to thank you, whoever you are who reads this, for reading, and ask you to please review! I will be posting more chapters soon, and I'm planning for them to be pretty much 1 chapter per episode, so I would work even faster than I already am to write more if you guys review! until next time!