ooc: sorry that it took so long to get the second chapter up, but i have been to lazy to do anything. So here it is. BTW i do not own fullmetal alchemist, i wish i did but sadly i do not.
It was early in the morning, and Charlie was deep in thought. She had conversed with Armstrong late into the night about the fight that had happened the previous day, and though she was tired, she was unable to sleep. She chose to walk back to the Elric/White house, preferring not to wake Armstrong at five in the morning. Instead, she had taken a bunch of short cuts, and through her shoes and pants were wet from dew, the long walk had given her time to clear her head.
"At least I won't break down the second I see Ed…" she muttered softly under her breath, now realizing how glad she was that she'd had all that alone time. She climbed the stairs to the front door, kicking the 'welcome' mat over to the side and picking up the small silver key that was kept well hidden. She unlocked the door and set the key down on the end table to the left of the front entrance, not bothering to put the welcome mat back in its place. "Eli's such a cleaning freak, she'll be happy to have something to do." Charlie smirked at her comment before a high voice coming from a figure on the staircase made her jump.
"Thanks Charlie. You don't think it's bad enough cleaning up after Ed?" Eli asked. Charlie sighed.
"Honestly, I wouldn't know. He's changed so much, I can't do anything right, really." Eli shook her head.
"Well you know, he feels the same way." Charlie gave her a curious look.
"How would you know?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at her white-and-blonde-haired friend.
"Oh, there are a few ways. Al tells me things, and, well…" She gave an elusive shrug after trailing off, as if to say something stupid and predictable like 'yeah I eavesdrop…but I ALSO drop Eves…'
Charlie sighed and rolled her eyes, following her friend to the kitchen. Eli began to ramble off beverages that were contained in the fridge while Charlie took a seat at the table, which was littered with various old food articles.
"Chai Tea? Green Tea? Soy Milk? Tomato Juice?" Charlie cringed violently. "Oh, right…you're allergic to tomatoes. Sorry…hmm…what else do we have? How about p…" She paused, eyes widened as she pulled her head out of the fridge, an appalled look on her face. "PRUNE JUICE!?!?" Eli screamed.
"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH…" Charlie snapped, narrowing her eyes. Eli winced.
"Sorry…" she said. With a shrug, she closed the fridge door. "Well…I could make coffee?" Eli offered. She didn't wait for a response before she pulled out two mugs and started up the coffee pot.
"Yeah." Charlie grunted. "Thanks." Eli gave her a small smile, letting out a soft sigh. "So I heard you and Ed got into fights yesterday…two different kinds, I've been told…" Charlie nodded, her face turning bitter.
"Yeah, I just don't understand. He really has changed, and so have I. I mean, I still care about him…but, I just don't know if he's the same Edward Elric that I looked forward to having as company again." Eli sighed softly—again
"Well, it's been almost six years. He thought you were dead, or never coming back. It shattered him, Charlie, it really did." She spoke rather impersonally, which made Charlie look at her with curiously suspicious expression. "You left without a trace —for them, at least." At this, Charlie narrowed her eyes – again.
"What about you? I didn't tell anyone where I was going, or anything. Not even…you." She paused, and noticed that Eli looked a bit downcast at that statement. "I do regret it – not telling you, or the others. I just needed time…" She trailed off, but shook her head to bring herself back to reality. "But still, how did you know I'd be back." Eli grinned.
"You're going to be MAD…" She sighed. "But, when you left so suddenly after the whole Philosopher Stone thing ended – I mean, you left like a day or so after, come on, I can't just leave you go just like that—" She paused to try and snap her fingers. She found herself unable to complete the task, so after a good minute and a 'AHEM' from Charlie, she continued. "—So I followed you to the station as you shadow…Oh don't give me that look!" Charlie had done the drop-jaw-I-can't-believe-you-did-that expression. "You've don't worse." At this, Charlie stopped , solemnly admitting to the fact. "Anywho, you talk to yourself—a lot…" Eli narrowed her eyes. "It's kinda scary, actually…you said stuff like, 'I'll be back…I have to go back', and so I knew you'd be back."
"Eli, it's been six years." Charlie explained, not sure if her friend realized this.
"So?" Eli smiled faintly before she turned to clean off the table…which would probably turn out to be a harder task than expected. Charlie shook her head. Eli surprised her sometimes; even after all she went through, the good side of her could still shine through without the bad. The ingenuousness she'd always been known for still came out—though, instead of all the time, it was only once and a while now. It almost warmed her heart to know that her friend was so loyal to her as to wait six years, and believe in her without a doubt.
Hey, when you've gotten through realizing that you lived 16 years of your life with half a soul, accept the fact, and then painfully become a whole person again and live through the shock of it, you can turn out to be pretty surprising and awe-filling.
"You shock and appall me, Eli." Charlie stated.
"Thanks!" Eli said cheerily. However, the cheeriness soon faded as she looked at the table. "Oh…not again…" Looking at a rather disgusting mess that Ed and Al obviously left on the table, Charlie grinned.
"They left you a present." She commented smugly. Eli glowered.
"I told them the last time, when they go on a mad raid of the kitchen they need to clean it up! I'm not a friggin maid!" She narrowed her eyes angrily, then let out a heavy sigh. "Man, if only you'd stuck around a few more years…I could have gotten some sort of house with you instead of these slobs." With disgust visible on her face, Eli picked up a banana peel, along with various other things, and flung them across the room towards the trash can.
Charlie nodded vaguely as she sat and watched her friend clean up the mess. "Slobs indeed."
"Slobs?" A bleary-eyed Al stepped into the kitchen, but was soon reduced to the floor as he slipped and fell. "Ow!" He exclaimed. Eli gasped.
"Al, are you alright!?" She asked, running over to him hurriedly. The tall blonde boy stood up with the help of Eli, brushing off his pale blue-and-white pinstriped pajama bottoms. "Yeah. I wasn't looking where I was going, and I think I stepped on something…" Charlie, Eli and Al looked down to Al's feet. There was nothing there.
"Are you sure?" Charlie asked, now joining the two over at the spot where Al had fallen. Al nodded.
"Yeah, I felt it. It was squishy. Maybe it went down the hall." Al turned around to observe the floor of the hall, and that's when Eli and Charlie saw it: there was a banana peel stuck to Al's butt. After a glance at each other and an awkward pause, Charlie burst out laughing, unable to stop. Eli called down the hall to Al.
"Al, we found it." She said, her face a bit remorseful.
"Really, where?" He asked. Eli pointed to his hindquarters. He peeled off the banana peel, looking at it with vague awe. "How did it—" He began, but Charlie cut him off.
"Eli missed the trash can." Al sighed, giving Eli a look.
"What?!" She exclaimed. "It was your stinky banana peel!" Al nodded.
"True, true." He grinned sheepishly. "I was going to clean it up…but I…uh….sorta forgot." Eli frowned. "What?! I had to feed the cats!" Eli smiled.
"Oh. That's okay then." Yet again, Charlie was astounded. Eli was amazingly forgiving sometimes…it was scary. Charlie could have cut off her arm, and told her she was really, really didn't mean to do it and offer to make her one out of twigs, and Eli would break down in tears, smothering her in forgiving hugs while she nearly died from blood loss. Eli had always seemed somewhat…inhuman…but, in a way, she was. Actually, the most human Charlie had ever seen her was right after the merging…she had been moody, depressed, and anti-social—basically exactly like Charlie now. The sound of throat clearing from in the hallway caught her attention. It was Ed.
ooc: cliff hanger!!!! again sorry for taking forever. The third chapter will be up when ever i get an idea for what should happen.
