Summary: This fic is a "what-if" based on the similarities in appearance between movie!Coraline Jones and Marie Kanker. What if they were the same person? This fic contains the mystery of how this came to be in my crossover world. Rated M for dark themes, major character death from within the Coraline cast (Swear there's a happy ending though folks, please don't shy away!), and maybe a couple of lemons near the end of the story, after all that plot is out of the way. ;P
Pairings: Edd/Marie, Wybie/Coraline, Edd/Coraline and Wybie/Marie if you tilt your head like the Cat from Coraline does lol, Ed/May, Eddy/Lee, and eventually will end with Eddy/Sarah and Rolf/Lee. ^^ Also mentions Kevin/Nazz.
READ AFTER SUMMARY PLEASE =) : Okay, first to understand this story, you have to know it isn't strictly true to Coraline or Ed, Edd and Eddy canon, while also trying to be as much so as I can for both. What I'm doing is mixing Coraline's movie and novel canon, to make this work for the Ed Edd n Eddy crossover. And with Ed Edd n Eddy, I am sticking to canon almost 100% in terms of dialogue, fourth wall breaking aside, but it will also be a slightly more realistic version in terms of the violence. Not too much so though. But say, instead of Eddy being bounced off his brother's trailer like a ball at the end of the movie, in my story his brother will have smashed his head against the wall of his trailer at close range, and instead of throwing Eddy over his shoulder on top of Double D and flattening him into the ground, he'll have smashed their faces together in a mock kiss/headbutt(since he's a homophobe and all). In addition, I will also be giving most of the characters that don't have surnames my own little made-up last names.
As for the differences in Coraline's canon. First of all, I am going with the basic movie design of Coraline, but as I mentioned, I'll be treating the characters in a slightly (sliiiiightly!) more realistic view than each version's canon. For example, in the movie version, she has blue hair and looks a lot like Marie, which is the basis for this whole story. XD But in the simplistic pictures in the novel's illustrations, the race is kind of ambiguous. The picture on the cover gives her auburn-brown hair, but then in a few of the black and white pictures in the book, she and her parents actually look like they could be some kind of Asian. So to create the blue hair in a real life way, I'm having Coraline/Marie be a mix of races, as will all the characters be of course, but she will have inherited a rare color of bluish-black hair from a Japanese ancestor from her mother's side, her mother being a mix of that and a few Western races. Coraline/Marie's father in this story will resemble his version from the Coraline graphic novel, with blonde hair. He is May's uncle from her father's side, and that is how Marie is physically connected to the true Kanker sisters, Lee and May. ;)
The character Wyborne and the Lovat family's inclusion into the movie storyline will be in this story. However, I will be using the book's faerie child character instead of the movie's third ghost girl. So the three ghost children in my story are the ghost boy, little Ms. Lovat, and the faerie girl.
The part of the book where Coraline's father protects her from the wasps nest is also included, because I felt it was a powerful scene and should never have been cut from the movie, and I will mention it in this story. 9_9; Also, Coraline's ending is going to be a mix of the novel and the movie ending, with both Coraline and Wybie, BUT instead of the nighttime attack where they crush the Beldam's right hand, it's stylized like the novel's ending, where Coraline and Wybie trick the hand into falling down the well by faking a tea party and placing the key as bait on a tablecloth balanced over the well.
Okay, I believe that's all that needs to be known for now, but if you have any questions that I can answer without giving away too much plot, ask and I'll answer if I can. Well, on to the story! =)
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Eddward Marion DaSilva stood at the steps of his high school, which he had been looking upon much more carefully recently, studying all the details of the building so that his memories of it, mostly fond, would hopefully last after he'd left. He was two months away from graduation. Well, truthfully he could have graduated high school years ago if he'd wanted to. But he didn't want to. He didn't want to leave his lovable platonic life mates, Edward Horace Sanderson, aka "Ed", and Edmund Skipper Yorkman, aka "Eddy" (Or "Dorkman", to Kevin) , any sooner than he had to. But he would soon have to leave them, and all the other children of the cul-de-sac, just after summer's end. His parents had been saving since his birth for college, and even though some of their son's accidentally destructive escapades had set them back a few times, they had never wavered, knowing the boy was simply exploring his world and finding his niche, and was bound to get into trouble every once in a while, despite otherwise being the perfect son.
And the perfect friend to boot. Ed had been held back one year as a child, and so despite being older by a year than Edd and Eddy, he was graduating in their year. But he'd been dangerously close to not doing so, had Edd not stepped in and tutored him. Now Ed was proudly ordering his graduation gown and cap, and talking excitedly about exploring the idea of getting into agriculture, one of the subjects Ed did excel at due to his love for animals. He even convinced the school to stop Pig Castration Day after the fiasco the lovable lump's freak-out had caused.
Eddy, on the other hand, had long since learned that legitimate business made far more money than schemes ever would, and had concentrated on improving his grades enough to make it into business school and had been holding a typical teenage burger joint job since he was old enough to have one to save money for it. Eddy was never a genius like Edd, and even had moments where he was even dumber than Ed, but he was highly creative and energetic, and it would take him far now that his head and heart were both in the right places.
As for Eddward, he had thought a lot about what he wanted to do with his life, had been thinking about it for a long time. He'd known he wanted to do good for the world. But he also wanted to see all of the world he was doing good for. Of course traveling across the world would be expensive, so he would also need to choose a profession that paid well enough for it. He'd come to the conclusion that, having been blessed with higher intellect, he ought to pursue a career that utilized as much of it as possible. As a young child his first dream was to be a doctor, with the simple and childish but also noble ambition of making sick people better. But the multitude of painful conditions and diseases and germs had scared him away from it for a while. In his later childhood years and adolescence he would explore several hundred different ideas with his friends, who also taught him not to be such a pansy about germs and pain.
Which was good for him, because despite being a pansy, Eddward was a natural explorer. He loved learning new things, and as he learned time and time again from his friends and their adventures, there was many, many things that could never be learned from a book. Like the fact that germs usually didn't kill you, that not everyone lived in spotless homes with supportive parents, and most of them had no more issues than Eddward himself still had in those pristine conditions. He'd had so much fun during his childhood, playing with his friends and learning about them, learning what made them tick and why. Eddward had many plans for his future, but he'd decided the first of them would be to get his degree in psychology. He would be helping people by helping them learn about themselves, and eventually be making enough money from it to have trips to exotic places.
But he didn't reminisce just about his two best pals, even if they were the main character's in his life's play, or his own decisions for that life of his. He also recalled Nazz Van Bartonschmeer, the typical unattainably perfect girl. Only, Edd had been so lucky to have attained her, if just briefly, at the beginning of the last year. She'd had a big fight with Kevin, and to everyone's shock, had asked Edd out on the rebound. She'd told him she'd always thought he was a nice guy, and wanted to get to know him better. He of course had agreed, too shocked by his luck to think twice about it.
He learned things about Nazz in return - That he'd inspired her as a child to seriously pursue a career as a dentist, and that her fight with Kevin was because he was against this choice. But Kevin eventually came to his senses, and by then Nazz had long since realized that she'd made a mistake with Edd, and vice versa with him. They were too different, and she found herself becoming bored with him, despite her best effort to appear interested and supportive of his long-winded theories and ideas. And he had to admit, her rants about her daily beauty regimen was only interesting the first six or seven times he heard it. They ended the relation amicably, with only the slightest of hurt feelings, and still maintained their friendship after those wounds too had healed.
Thinking about Nazz then led Eddward to think about Marie Kanker, which cause him to sigh deeply. Marie. She was so very different now than she had been as a girl. During his courtship with Nazz, Edd had briefly wondered a time or two, if Marie might possibly get jealous and cause some kind of scene. But she didn't. In fact, Marie hadn't spoken any more than a few neutral lines, such as "excuse me" or to ask the answer to a complex problem, since the end of the second year of high school. Ever since that incident had occurred, which the Eds had collectively dubbed, "The Day We Made The Kankers Hate Us".
On that day, the Eds had been exploring the junkyard for parts, not for a scheme though, but for a science project. A very important project for Ed and Eddy, which would make the deciding factor in whether or not they would be passing that class. They'd been scouring the filth all day, and had just been about to give up when they stumbled upon the piece they'd been searching so hard for - An old propeller fan. Old and broken, but salvageable for what they needed it for. Eddy had crowed triumphantly, and the second his hand was on the device, Marie had grabbed the other end.
Marie was partly at fault for what happened, but Edd and Eddy both felt deep shame whenever they remembered it. She'd initiated a game of tug-o-war over the fan, with Eddy and Edd fighting to keep their grips on the fan while Lee and May kept Ed distracted. Edd and Eddy were both having their masculine pride shamed in that one girl was more than enough to keep the two of them from obtaining their prize. No matter how hard they tugged, Marie just laughed and kept her grip.
Tired of it soon enough, Eddy whispered subtly to Edd, "Hey sockhead - If she wants it so much, lets just give it to her! On the count of three!" Edd should have protested, he should have cared as well as known that Marie would get hurt by the action Eddy had suggested, even if he had no way of knowing how much she would be hurt. He certainly should not have let his dark side, his desire to get even, take control of his fingers, letting them slip at the sound of "three". The fan flew back at Marie, who was holding the heaviest part of it, the base. The hard, heavy plastic hit her right in the eye, the eye she always had covered by her hair. Edd was doubly ashamed to admit the pleasure he felt that first second, seeing her finally get her what-for, and he and Eddy were about to laugh aloud at her misfortune, until she let out a sudden, loud, and painful cry. The pain shocked her so much that she fell back onto the oily dirt. She dropped the fan and reached for her eye, and to Edd and Eddy's sobering shock, she began to scream and sob.
Lee and May immediately forgot about Ed, rushing to their sister's aid. Lee growled and shoved Eddy aside to get to Marie, shouting back at them even though she was focused on cradling and comforting her sister, "What the hell is wrong with you?"
If Edd and Eddy hadn't already felt guilty enough, Ed grabbed the both of them by the scruffs of their necks, and dragged them away from the scene to the other end of the junkyard, where he unceremoniously threw both of them into the back of their van/clubhouse. Luckily the waterbed broke their fall, but their luck didn't last long. As soon as Ed had closed the door behind him, he first grabbed Eddy, whom he knew would run away if he saw what was coming first, as opposed to Edd, who would watch and cower. The taller, stronger male mercilessly socked the shorter one across the jaw, causing their skinny friend to gasp in utter shock at their normally gentle protector's display of violence. Eddy backed away into a corner, shivering, while Ed reached for Double D. It hurt Ed far more to have to teach this friend his lesson, and he couldn't even find it within himself to give him the same rough treatment as the other. Still, he grabbed the other boy's arms and held him down securely, socking him hard three times on the arm until he was sure a sufficiently painful bruise would be left behind. But of course the physical pain would not outlast the emotional pain, the "puppy dog with it's tail between it's legs" feeling they'd have for days after the upcoming scolding.
"You guys are total assholes!" Ed had shouted at them right after releasing Edd, who had tears streaming down his face. "I can't believe you just did that! You guys hurt a girl! A GIRL! You DO NOT," In his anger he reached over and socked Double D again in the opposite arm, then reached over to Eddy and gave him another sock on one of his arm's too. "Hit girls!" He finished, tears now streaming down his face too at having to do that to his friends.
The three of them sat there crying for a few minutes, until Ed finally spoke up again. "We are going to the trailer park tomorrow, and you two are going to apologize." It was not a request, and they knew it.
Eddward sighed shakily, the sound wet from phlegm. "Of course…" Eddy didn't say anything, but he didn't protest either.
The next day Ed dragged them to the trailer park as he promise, knocking on the trailer door himself. Lee answered the door, and immediately growled at the trio like a pit bull. "Why the hell are you here? Haven't you done enough damage already?"
Edd was the first to speak up, the one full of the most guilt and regret. "Please Lee, we came to apologize. We're really sorry. Can we please speak to Marie?"
She glared at them a moment before deciding to allow it. She hollered for her sister, "MARIE! The wife beaters are here to see you!" Edd winced at the new nickname, but didn't say anything about it.
When Marie came to the door, she seemed as though she'd changed somehow. Normally she would be annoyed and showing it freely, but today she looked at the boys with a tiredness and sadness that made Edd feel even worse. "Yeah?" She said simply, her voice almost a whisper, leaning against the door frame while she waited, arms crossed.
"Marie," Edd began, twiddling his fingers in nervousness. "Words truly cannot express to you how sorry I am, but I will try... What we did yesterday was beyond shameful, beyond apprehensible. I should have known better. I should have acted better. I have no excuse for my behavior, I can only say I am truly, truly sorry…"
She listened to him, not saying anything, simply waiting. She continued to wait after he was through, and Ed nudged Eddy to get him started. Eddy sighed, kicking the dirt lightly. "…Sorry, Marie." He said simply. Ed nudged him again, indicating that he expected more than that. Eddy sighed, "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. How's your eye, by the way?" He asked this flippantly, since he didn't actually believe she'd been hurt as badly as she made it seem.
She stared at them for a few seconds after he asked that. Then, without a word, she reached up towards her face, and pulled the curtain of bangs to the side and behind her ear. All three Ed's immediately gasped in horror at what they saw. A deep scar ran across her eye, slightly slanted like a slash bar from a computer keyboard down across the middle of the eyeball, which was milky with blindness.
Edd was the first to recover enough to speak, and he used his voice to gasp out in horror, "Oh god, Marie, please tell me we didn't do that!" If he weren't so shocked by the gruesome injury he would have realized that the scar was an old one, and they couldn't have inflicted it only yesterday.
But she answered the stupid question anyways. "No, Double D." Her voice was quiet and listless, patient even. So completely unlike her. "It's an old scar. But it still hurts whenever someone touches it. And it hurts like a son of a whore when someone hits it with a blunt, heavy object." She added pointedly, and Eddward felt his already overwhelming guilt increase, as well as curiosity, wondering how the ghastly scar had been acquired. But he restrained his curiosity, focusing on his guilt.
Ed, however, did not do this. Thankfully, he voiced the curiosity first, in his sweet simple concerned way, before Eddy brayed the question out like a demand. "Uh, Marie, how did you get that nasty booboo?" His eyes actually misted up with concern.
Marie paused at that. Lee and May approached, having been listening the whole time of course. Lee was about to butt in, but Marie piped up before she did, "Honestly? I don't remember." Lee begrudgingly backed off just a step. Marie continued, "So, look… Old injury you couldn't have known anything about aside, I know I kind of still deserved it. I've probably had it coming for while, after everything I've done to you. We've done to you." Lee and May stiffened at that, but remained silent, for once, considering the circumstances.
Edd gasped, "Oh Marie, please don't say that! I-" But she cut him off.
"Just shut up and listen please, Double D." She requested, with no anger in her voice, only deep fatigue. "I did deserve it. That doesn't mean you weren't wrong too. But… This whole… Girl versus Boy, Love versus Hate kind of thing we've got going between us… I guess it got old for you guys a long time ago. And I understand, me and the girls can be real bitches sometimes…" Again, Edd was tempted to disagree with her for some reason, but she continued without his input. "Our stupid little pranks and teasing go too far most of the time, but… You have to know, even though we've been stupid and hurt you when we didn't mean to, we always really, truly liked you too... Maybe love at first sight is a little naïve, but that's just what it was. We loved you guys from the first time we saw you. Loved you most of the time after that, too." Though she was speaking to all three of them, her good eye was locked on Edd's the entire time. He blushed at that look in the chocolate brown eye, his heart secretly wondering if that love still remained. Secretly wishing for it. She sighed, a long, heavy sigh. "…But it's probably best if you just stay away from us from now on. And we'll stay away from you."
Edd didn't know why he filled with dread at her suggestion. But then it wasn't the prospect that scared him, but the circumstances that had caused them. Despite never feeling as strongly towards the three as they did for them, he didn't want their relationship to end like this, with all this bad blood. But Marie made it clear they had no choice in the matter, closing the door on them.
Since then a startling change had overcome Marie. She slowly became withdrawn, quiet and antisocial over the course of the next couple of years, to the point where she hardly spoke to anyone but her sisters anymore, not just the Eds. Even quicker than her talkative nature, she lost all but all of her former energy and enthusiasm for causing pain. She would stand aside quietly now as Lee and May would continue to uphold their reputations as the school badasses.
And while she was focusing more on her schoolwork, and therefore increasing her already decent grades, overall the change was a worrisome one. Eddward had almost a time or two longed to approach her despite her wishes, and ask her if anything was wrong. But when he so much as looked at Marie, Lee and May would start to stare him down, silently warning him not to try it.
Eddy, on the other hand, wasn't worried about it. "People change, Double D. Besides, aren't you just glad the Kankers aren't bugging us anymore?" Edd had quietly agreed, but inside, deep down, he truly didn't. He didn't miss getting his ass handed to him or being embarrassed by unwanted displays of affection, but he missed Marie's vibrant personality. He missed her smile. Sometimes, he even missed the affection a little bit, after his hormones finally started kicking in.
But there was nothing to be done about it. The sisters made it clear they weren't invited into their lives anymore. So Edd filed away the memories in a small corner of his brain, labeled, "Regrets.", and focused on his own life.
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The next Sunday his parents had off, they drove Eddward out to visit his future college. It was relatively close by, his mother worried about him being too far from home, but it was still about a five hour drive. But it was a good college. An expensive college. So Eddward knew he had to make not just a good impression, but the best impression. He was dressed in brand new clothing his parents had so graciously supplied, a luxurious cashmere sweater in a color that resembled a cross between lime green and olive green, with a mustard yellow, almost gold, colored tie. Tan khaki slacks and white shoes adorned his lower half, and since he unfortunately could not wear his old ski hat to open house, his parents had been kind enough as to get him a matching olive green beret to hide what his ski hat usually did. The ensemble really made his lovely green eyes pop out. Those eyes were what girls usually liked best about him, besides his intelligence, not that he knew that yet though. But the girls on campus were giving him the eye, although he was focused on the scholarly aspect, of course. He practically drooled over the classes, all the advanced textbooks and facilities, the old building smell, the people and the (mostly) intelligent conversation.
After a while his parents left him to continue his tour with a small group of volunteer students while they spoke with the dean. He found himself getting along as well as could be expected with the group. There was a few other would-be students there besides Eddward too, and they all took turns telling them their names and where they were from. When it got to his turn, he laid out his part, not expecting it to gain any attention. But it did.
"Peach Creek?" One of the older students spoke up. "I got a cousin that lives down there. Hey, have you ever heard of the Kanker Sisters? Me and my cousin had a run in with them years back when I was still in high school, and those crazy chicks whooped our butts!" Despite the negative nature of the statement, the older male laughed.
Eddward sweated, caught off guard and propelled to honesty before he could think twice about it. "Y-Yeah, I know them…"
Another boy cut in, "Hey I think I know of them too! There's a redhead, Lee, right?"
Another boy nodded, "Yeah, and a blonde, May. Always the beautiful ones that are crazy, eh?"
Eddward waited a moment for the third and most obvious sister to be mentioned, but they didn't. Compelled to be her representative for some reason, he cleared his throat, "Aheh, don't forget Marie! Possibly both the craziest and most beautiful, eh?" He blushed at having admitted the part about her being beautiful. Though, since hitting puberty, Edd had started to see the beauty in most girls, including all three of the Kanker sisters.
But the other students just gave him a blank stare. "Marie?" One echoed. Another chimed in, "Who's she?"
Edd's eyes went wide and he blinked owlishly several times, "M-Marie Kanker. The other Kanker sister?" How could they not know about Marie if they knew about Lee and May? Marie may have become withdrawn over the years, but she certainly hadn't been around the time they claimed to have had their run-ins with the sisters. Back then she would have never let her sisters outshine her so much that she'd ever be forgotten. He wondered if perhaps she'd been in a sick day, but that didn't explain why none of the three students that knew of the Kankers didn't remember her.
And they continued to blink back in confusion, not recognition. "There's a third Kanker sister?" "I've only ever heard of Lee and May…" And, "Are you sure you're not thinking of May?" They began to chorus one at a time.
He answered the last one, "No, I know May too, I'm speaking of Marie Kanker? Black hair, with a bit of blue in it?"
They continued to look confused, trying to recall the girl, but not able to. Edd had been about to temporarily let the mystery go, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He looked back and restrained the urge to gulp. It was one of the professors. He was a dark-haired older man with a few gray hairs mixed in, with very plain-looking, black-rimmed, rectangular glasses. He was smiling, but it was a tight smile, a forced smile. "Why hello, Mr. DaSilva! I've heard all sorts of good things about you. I'm Professor Lockman. Might I have a word with you in private?" He requested, and of course Eddward followed him, still reeling from the confusion of the conversation with the students.
When they arrived at the professors classroom, devoid of students for the time being, Lockman started to speak first, still in that falsely friendly manner, with the tightness underneath that suggested the conversation was a serious one. "I must say, Mr. DaSilva, I'm surprised someone of your intellectual caliber has met the likes of… Marie Kanker." Eddward did a double take as Marie came up once again, this time from the professor, who not only knew of her, but said her name the way one speaks of something frightening and dangerous. Then he added, a venomous note in that still friendly banter charade he was masking himself with, "Trailer park trash, isn't she?"
What a pompous ass, Edd thought. As if anyone said 'trailer park trash', it was just 'trailer trash'. And even if Eddy had called them that more than a few times before, and Edd had never minded, at this moment he felt protective of Marie. But he didn't say what he truly felt. He didn't want to get on people's bad side before he'd even started school. Instead, he simply mumbled, "Um. She lives in a trailer, yes."
The professor continued without Eddward's approval of his opinion. "Yes, dreadful. I happen to know her mother too. Complete slut, if you ask me."
"I didn't." Edd couldn't help quipping, before he could stop himself. Even if this might be one of his future professors, calling people's mother's names was just too low, and Edd wanted no part in the direction of where this conversation was going.
The professor simply smiled, and 'politely' rerouted the conversation to get to his point. "Yes, well. Frankly Mr. DaSilva this is simple how things are to work: You are not to speak of the Kankers, especially Marie, again at this school or anywhere near it. If you do, rest assured you will regret it." He left that threat very ambiguous, Edd thought, and then, good god, what on Earth could Marie possibly have to do with all this?
He couldn't help but voice his thoughts. "Professor Lockman, may I at least ask you why Marie Kanker is worth such a fuss?
The man laughed, "Why of course, that's only fair! But may I lead my answer to your question with another question? You're a completely rational person, aren't you Mr. DaSilva? You don't believe in silly things like ghosts, demons, or the devil, do you?"
Well, he could argue briefly about this psychological aspect of the subject, that things like that could seem very real to certain people, but instead he just gave the simplest and overall mostly truthful answer. "No, I don't."
"Neither did I, before I met Marie." He deadpanned, and Eddward couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. The man continued, "To be completely honest, Marie Kanker scares the shit out of me. And DaSilva, I was in Vietnam. I do NOT fucking scare easy." Marie not only terrified the man, but apparently brought the academic to swear like a sailor. Edd started to feel himself shake a little, but controlled it well enough, and continued to stare at the man with as much neutrality as he could manage. The psychopath continued, "I get nightmares every time I think about her. I'm going to have nightmares tonight. Nightmares distract me from my work. So, please do not bring her up again. Okay?" He smiled again, and just for the sake of getting out of the crazy man's sight faster, Eddward agreed. "Fantastic! That's it, then. You may go now." He excused him, getting to his paperwork with a whistle.
Edd left immediately, his mind already quite distracted from the current information it had been given. First the students didn't even remember Marie, and then one of the professors treated her as if she were evil incarnate. True, Edd found the girl to be quite intimidating, but the professor 's sentiment seemed to be going far overboard. He exited the classroom, and right outside the door, yet another professor was waiting for him, apparently having been listening to them. This one was a woman, about Lockman's age, with gray-streaked brown hair pulled into a scholarly bun. She also wore glasses, but they were feminine, designer glasses. They were metallic red, also rectangular in shape, but slanted, and the sides of the frames had the design of a rose with white rhinestones set in it. Despite being an older woman, Eddward couldn't help but notice she had a very pretty face, even if her shapely lips were set in a serious line. He cursed his hormones and focused himself.
"Ex-" He began, about to excuse himself and walk around her, when she quickly put a finger to her lips to shush him. Without yet introducing herself, she used that same finger to beckon him to follow her as she began to walk down the hall. He did so, and a few classes down she led him into another room, presumably her class, which was also empty at this time. She sat down at her desk, and he stood in front of it. "Good day, Mr. DaSilva. I am Professor Freeman. First, I'd like to congratulate you on being accepted to our fine university, and I hope you don't let the likes Mr. Lockman deter you from it. Secondly," She went on without his input, "If I may be so bold, may I please inquire as to your honest assessment of the nature of your relationship with Marie Kanker?" She sounded a bit nervous, but was hiding it well enough with her starchy professionalism.
Eddward blushed. As embarrassing as it was to admit, he answered her truthfully, hoping that this professor could shed a little light on the mystery Marie had somehow made of herself here. "Well… I've known her since I was twelve years old. She had a crush on me for a few years, but recently she seems to have lost interest in me." He squirmed, then on an impulse added the extra thought he had in mind. "Actually, she's lost interest in a lot recently…"
The professor seemed interested in that, and also worried. "Would you say she is exhibiting signs of depression?"
Edd blinked. "Er, well… Perhaps a mild depression, yes…"
Now she definitely looked more worried. "I was afraid of that." She mumbled. "Mr. DaSilva… Do you care about Marie?"
How could he not? Even if she was an intimidating bully, well, so was Eddy, and he still considered him his co-best friend. How could he not care about the girl who'd given and taken his first kiss? He didn't tell the professor that, but he said, "Um, well… I don't think I ever felt quite the same way as Marie felt for me," Professor Freeman raised an eyebrow at the 'I don't think' and 'quite' parts of that, but didn't comment and let him continue. "But I've known her so long, and we've been through some wacky situations before, so I'd have to say I consider her my friend… So, yes, I do…" He blushed a little at admitting it.
Freeman put her index fingers together and tapped her lip, thoughtful. "…I suppose that will have to do." She murmured to herself, then directed her attention back to Eddward. "Mr. DaSilva, I realize this is very unorthodox, but I would like to give you something. To be more specific, I would like to -entrust- you with something." Edd straightened himself out even more than he already was, trying to look trustworthy. She stared at him, right in the eyes, for a moment, before deciding. "…Naturally, Mr. DaSilva, as a psychologist, one is supposed to keep almost all things a patient says in strict confidentiality, which I intend to uphold. But considering the special circumstances involved, I feel you do deserve what explanation I can give you." At that, Professor Freeman rummaged through the top drawer in her desk, procuring a key. Using that, she opened one of the bottom drawers, pulling it all the way out to the back, where she rummaged some more before she pulled out a strange little packet of papers. It looked like a child's school assignment from elementary school, made of construction paper with drawings in pencil and color pencil. She placed it on the desk and turned it around so Eddward could read it. In big letters, the cover read: "To The Twitchy-Witchy Girl I Love." With hearts of different colors drawn around the text. A red string of yarn crossed over it longways and sideways, securing it's contents.
Eddward blushed a little, knowing this was something much more precious and personal than someone else's diary. "What is this?"
Freeman slowly sighed, and carefully began. "…That book was written years ago by a young boy. A boy who loved Marie very much, and whom she loved in return." It was a sweet story so far, but Freeman was starting to look sick. Scared, even, and it made Eddward worry about what was to come. She paused for a moment before she went on. "…As I mentioned, I cannot give you all the details, and they are so disturbing that I do not think you would want to hear them anyways. But…" She paused again, steeling herself before she went on again. "The boy died, under highly unnatural circumstances. Marie was there to witness his death, and was injured quite badly herself. She lost sight in one eye." Edd's eyes went wide and his throat tightened hearing that, sympathy surging inside of him for Marie and the boy, and dreading just what "disturbing" and "highly unnatural" could mean to a psychologist. Freeman went on, "Marie suffered a very serious bout of depression from the incident, to say the least. She even had to be placed on suicide watch." At that Eddward outright gasped. A girl as old as Marie was then being suicidal was highly unnatural itself. Though it explained the students not knowing her - She'd probably been admitted at that time. "Eventually it became obvious that Marie would not be able to recover from the incident. It was deemed that the best thing that could be done for her would be to erase her memories of both the incident, and the boy entirely. The procedure is an experimental even now, but it was deemed a success in her case. She showed dramatic improvement afterwards, and was allowed to go home to her sisters. But of course, there has always been the possibility of a relapse. At the same time though, it's been years since the incident, and this mild depression you mentioned is more likely just a simple case of teenaged hormones. I believe as long as she doesn't seem suicidal again, she ought to still be fine?" She looked at him inquiringly at that.
Eddward shook his head quickly, to assure her as much as himself. "No, I don't think she's suicidal at all!" Though he suddenly felt the need to make sure this was the case.
Freeman nodded. "That's good to hear." She closed the drawer and locked it again, placing the key in it's rightful spot. "Now I assume you realized this already, but I will say it anyways - You must never show Marie this book or it's contents. More than anything, this book could cause her to relapse."
Edd couldn't help but voice the question that nagged his mind. "But… Professor Freeman, why do you want me to have it?" It would be as safe with him as it was with her, he would make sure of it, but he still wondered.
She smiled sadly, picking up the book and looking at it deeply, as if seeing something more than just it's cover. "…Truthfully, I have always felt guilty having it in my possession. This book was meant for Co-" She stopped herself suddenly, as if she'd made a mistake. Eddward didn't think anything of it at the moment. She continued almost normally, "-Kanker. Marie Kanker. It was meant for her, written with love for her. It belongs with her, but since that is not possible, I would like for it to at least be with someone she loved." She explained, handing the book to him.
Eddward blushed at that, especially the word 'loved'. But he took the handmade book with great care and held it against his chest. "I understand. I promise I'll take good care of it, Professor."
"Thank you Mr. DaSilva. You have my confidence, so please don't misplace it." She answered him in a tone of voice that was part pleading and part warning. "Now, I believe I've kept you long enough, I'm sure you'll have people wondering where you are by now. Good day, and good luck."
Eddward nodded, feeling that despite liking Professor Freeman much more than He-Hoped-Dearly-He-Didn't-Get-Stuck-With-Professor-Lockman, she still scared him almost as much. He quickly exited the classroom, this time more carefully than before. He almost expected a third professor to ambush him and tell him Lee was actually a space alien or something equally as absurd, but this did not happen. He made his way back to his parents without further incident, but plenty to fill his head with in the meantime. The words and attitudes of the two professors confused, shocked and scared him. All the way from the point he reunited with his parents, and all through the remainder of the tour and the drive home, he wondered and worried about Marie. Not a moment went by that she wasn't at least in the back of his mind, while he distractedly answered when people spoke to him. His parents of course noticed and asked him if he felt alright on the ride home. He answered truthfully but vaguely that he did not feel well. His mother insisted he eat something, accounting his mood to simply being out all day without time for proper nutrition between.
When they got home, she immediately set to making her family a quick and easy spaghetti dinner. Though he still worried about Marie, his mother was right after all, he had been awful hungry, and the hot meal made him feel better physically, if not mentally. But Isabella saw that her son was still unwell, and she spoke soothingly to him before bed about what she thought was the matter. Eddward decided not to trouble her with the terrible truths he'd learned that day, mostly because he knew he hardly knew the "truth" yet anyways.
"I know you must be nervous about going to a school so far away. It's a big change. But I know you'll do extraordinarily, as you always do." She smiled, those beautiful green eyes of hers sparkling. Eddward always felt blessed to have inherited them. She then gave him a foot massage, to comfort him after his long, tiring day. He sighed and leaned back against his pillows, his mother's plush, pliant hands relaxing away the aches of the long tours. It temporarily soothed away the stress on Eddward's mind, allowing him to fall asleep.
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