"I still can't believe that we are doing this, Al! I mean, it is her fault that we-" Edward complained for what seemed like the thousandth time.
"Brother, you heard what she said. She can't even control those visions. It's not her fault that they come true! Besides, I think that girl wasn't telling us the whole story." Alphonse replied. The brothers came to a stop outside of a large house at the top of a hill a few miles from the city. With its clean white walls and its tall, square shape, it looked a bit like the house that the brothers had grown up in. But that was a long time ago; all that remained of their home was ashes and dirt. Not even the huge oak trees that shaded the roof in the summer were left untouched by the raging fire the boys had set when they left their hometown.
His hand making a harsh clang as he knocked on the wooden door, Edward turned to Al. "Well, if she doesn't tell us everything this time, I'm gunna beat the information out of her!"
A tall man with dark brown hair and greenish-yellow eyes opened the door slowly. "Ah, you must be the Elric brothers. I recognize you from my sister's art. I take it she has talked to you? Well? How did it go?" He gazed at the boys with amused curiosity, and then smiled. "Never mind, why don't you come in; you are just in time for dinner. Iggy made stew! By the way, I am Alexander," He said happily.
Edward and Alphonse slowly followed the man into the house. Inside, there was a large, open living room with several couches and a big fireplace. Alex led them through a doorway and into a warm, cheery kitchen. The rich smells of vegetables and beef wafted around the room, and about a dozen people waited eagerly at the table in the corner and around the countertops.
"It's ready," said a bored looking boy by the stove. Spoon in hand, he began serving up the fragrant dish into bowls along the counter. One by one, he deposited them into the hands of the waiting people.
"Thanks, Ig," I said, standing up and ruffling his strawberry blonde hair. "I don't know what I would do without you and your mad cooking skills. However," I handed my bowl to Edward. "I don't think that I will eat today."
"Oh, that just figures. You make me, the poor blind boy, slave around in the kitchen, and then refuse to eat the results of my hard laboring." Crossing his arms, Iggy propped his feet up on the table and glowered.
"Iggy!" A dark-skinned girl leaning against the doors of the pantry chided him with her mouth half full. "You know that she eats almost as little as Al! Besides, if Demi was the one in charge of our meals, we would all die of food poisoning."
"Wait, you know about my body?" Alphonse said in surprise. All of the eyes in the room swiveled to focus on him, and he rubbed his armored head in embarrassment at being the center of attention.
"I don't appreciate that jab at my cooking, Nudge," I grumpily said, giving her a faux glare. Then I turned to Alphonse and patted him on the head like I did Iggy. "I know that it must seem really creepy, seeing as you have never met us before, but we all know everything about you." I smiled kindly at him; I knew that Alphonse needed motherly love.
"Yeah! We have all read what Demi has written!" An angelic looking boy piped up from the table.
"I haven't. I don't know a thing about any of her stories," said a disgruntled looking teenager dressed all in white from his seat under the table with a train set.
"That's because all you care about are you stupid toys, you little twit!" A scarred man rebutted, annoyance on his face.
Trying to settle our little family squabbles, I clapped my hands together and said cheerily, "Let's all introduce ourselves. I am Demi, the guy who brought you in is Alex, my younger twin brother. Iggy is our fantastic blind cook, and he loves to make bombs with Gazzy, that cute little angel over there. Nudge is my best girlfriend slash sister, and we are all from my first story, Maximum Ride. The guy under the table is Near, the blonde with the wicked awesome scar in Mello, Matt, Mello's best friend, is the dude in the vest, and L slash Ryuzaki is in the living room, eating cake. They are all from Death Note. If you remember the worldwide Kira phenomenon, these are the people who solved the crimes. Zero is currently hiding upstairs like the depressed little vampire that he is, and he is from Vampire Knight, my second book." I paused and took a deep breath.
"Don't forget our special talents, Demi." Turning to the Edward and Alphonse, Nudge gazed at them with calm, dark eyes. "Everyone from Maximum Ride was subject to dangerous experiments by the government. In secret, seven children had bird DNA grafted into them at a young age. We are all only ninety-eight percent human. And here's the best part," she said, leaning forward with a triumphant grin on her pretty face, "We can fly."
"Wait… What?" Golden eyes wide, Edward looked from Nudge to me then back again in shock.
"Yeah. We have birdie wings!" Gazzy said, standing up in his chair excitedly. I gave him a you-sit-your-butt-right-back-down-mister look and sighed. This explanation would take a while, I could just tell.
"So you are chimeras?" Alphonse asked, looking at us sadly. I could here the pity in his voice.
"Well, yes and no. You see, we aren't alchemic chimeras made from alchemy. We were created biologically, with avian DNA. We were born with wings, light, hollow bones, and stronger hearts and lungs. Of course, as I took part in Vampire Knight, as the pureblood girl Yuki, I am only around seventy percent human. The rest is avian and vampire." I was used to explaining all of this; I had told all of the Death Note and Vampire Knight people. This was maybe the sixth time I had told my tale.
"Everyone here has accepted me for who I am. They have all forgiven me for what I have done, intentionally or not. We all live together in one happy family, more or less. Now I must ask you," I said calmly, looking from Alphonse to Edward, trying to gauge their emotions. Edward looked shocked and a bit confused, but with Alphonse it was hard to tell. "Will you do the same? Can you? I understand if you can't, but you don't know what it would mean to me if you did. Besides," I turned to leave, heading up to my room on the second floor. "I can help you get your bodies back."