Chapter Seven: The Quarrel of Depression

Ed sat on Kiyomaro's bed, watching Kiyomaro do his homework. Umagon was still asleep in his doghouse, and Gash was in the kitchen looking for snacks to give them. Kanchome and Folgore had already gone back to Italy and Sunbeam went back to his engineering job.

Kiyomaro left the room. Ed watched him go down the stairs. Once he was sure Kiyomaro couldn't see him, he looked at Kiyomaro's homework. There were a lot of numbers and letters. Ed read the directions and the examples. He understood them, so he took a separate sheet of paper from the pile of scrap paper and completed all the problems.

Kiyomaro came back. He sat down in his chair and looked at his homework.

"My homework…" he said. "Who the hell did my homework?"

Kiyomaro started flipping out. He raised his fists into the air and yelled. His chair tipped back so much that it fell. He stopped yelling.

"Did you do my homework, Ed?" Kiyomaro asked.

"Maybe," said Ed.

"Ed…"

"Yeah. It was easy."

"You, without an education, understood this?"

"Yeah."

"You may have understood it, but that doesn't mean you got it all right." Kiyomaro got up, picked the chair up, and sat back down. He checked Ed's work. His eyes got bigger and bigger with each problem. He turned and looked at Ed with disbelieving eyes. "You…got them all right…"

Ed was silent. He didn't really care.

"Well, you certainly saved me time. I'll copy them all down." Kiyomaro picked up his pencil and looked at Ed's work, then at his homework. He continued this pattern for a few minutes, and then put his pencil down.

Gash ran in, his hands filled with small candies.

"I got the snacks!" he said. He held out his hand to Ed. "Pick."

"I don't want anything," said Ed.

"Uh…okay… Kiyomaro, do you want something?"

"No thanks, Gash," replied Kiyomaro.

"Aww, that's not fair! It took me ten minutes to pick out snacks, and you guys don't want any?"

"Umagon might want something," Ed said.

Gash thought for a moment. "You're right!" He ran back downstairs, yelling, "Hey, Umagon!"

"Wow," Kiyomaro said. "You know how to get rid of Gash, too."

"I guess so," said Ed. "Anyway, I'm going out for a ride on my skateboard. See ya, Kiyomaro."

"You're leaving already?"

"Yeah."

"…Alright. Bye, then."

Ed took his skateboard and left. He saw Gash pushing his candy-filled hand into Umagon's face with a pleading face while Umagon shook his head. Gash turned around.

"Oh, you're going home, Ed?" Gash said.

"Meru?" Umagon merued.

"Yup."

"Okay, bye!" said Gash.

"Meru-meru!" Umagon said goodbye.

"See ya," Ed said, hopping on his skateboard and riding out towards the park.

He stopped in front of the park and watched a young boy running around, chasing a butterfly. The boy tripped and fell. He started crying. His mother ran over and picked him up, embracing him and kissing him.

Ed didn't feel too well. He turned around and skateboarded back to Megumi's house. The door was unlocked, so he picked up his skateboard and went inside. He ran up to his room and closed the door. He climbed on his bed and lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. He didn't remember his mother or father's face, but he yearned for them badly.

Megumi was very motherly, but she wasn't the same. It just didn't have that same feeling.

The door was opened. It was Tio.

"Hey, Ed," she said. "You didn't even say that you were home."

Ed continued to stare at the ceiling.

"Are you okay?"

Ed didn't look at her or say anything.

"What's wrong with you?"

Ed remained motionless.

"Fine. If you won't talk, I'll get Megumi to get something out of you when she gets home." She walked out of the room, closing the door.

Tio walked down the stairs. She had an idea of what was wrong with Ed, but she didn't want to talk to him about it. Even though Tio was similar to Ed in a way, Megumi would do a better job talking to him about it.

Tio went in her room and sat on her bed. She thought back to when Megumi saved her from drowning. Megumi had taken her to a hospital, and she wouldn't tell Megumi anything. This was exactly how Ed was acting.

Ed thought about his childhood. How his parents loved him, but just threw him away like that. He was angry, but he still wanted to see their faces. He thought about how his father taught him to ride a skateboard, and when his father let Ed ride on his motorcycle with him. He remembered his father promising to teach him how to ride a motorcycle.

Ed's mother was firm and caring like Megumi. She made the best cake in the world. Ed loved trying to sneak out with the cake and eat it, but his mother always caught him. At night, his mother would tuck him in and read him stories.

Ed wanted to go back to those times so bad. He thought he was by thinking about it, but in the back of his mind, he knew it would never become a reality.

Megumi rushed home from another short day of work. She left Tio and Ed alone for the day, and she needed to get home quickly to see if they were still home. She had told both of them that they could go out, but had to be home before the streetlights came on. It was a test of trust between them.

Megumi unlocked the door with her key and went inside.

"I'm home!" she said, slipping her shoes off.

Tio opened her bedroom door and went up to Megumi.

"Hi, Megumi," she said. "Um…there's something wrong with Ed… He came home from Kiyomaro's house and just went in his room. I went up there, but he didn't notice me. He hasn't come out since he came here. It's like…when we had just met, and I didn't say anything."

"I remember," Megumi said.

"Uh…can you do something?"

"I can try." She went upstairs and knocked on Ed's bedroom door. "Ed-kun, are you in there? It's me."

Silence.

"I'm coming in." She opened the door.

Ed lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. He didn't look at her. She looked in his eyes. They were distant.

"Can you hear me, Ed-kun?" Megumi nudged him, but he still didn't move. She sat next to him and waited for a while to see if he would take any notice to her, but he didn't. He remained in the same position.

Tio came in. She looked at Ed.

"He hasn't done anything, huh?" she said.

"No," Megumi said.

"I'm going to get Al and Winry. They're adopted, so they should know."

"Thanks, Tio."

"No problem." Tio ran down the stairs and left. Minutes later, she ran back upstairs with Al and Winry following. They crowded around Ed.

"This…" Winry said. "He's depressed."

"Depressed?" Megumi said.

"Yes," said Al. "He's thinking about his biological parents. He misses them. Winry and I had periods like this, too."

"Don't worry," Winry said. "He should be back to normal soon."

"How long?" Tio asked.

"It depends," Al said. "It could take a couple of hours, or it could take a week."

"A week…" Megumi said.

"Really, don't worry," Winry said. "Just check up on him occasionally. It doesn't look like he's going anywhere right now, so we should just leave him alone."

"But…what about eating and everything?"

"He can't feel or hear right now," Al said. "Seriously, we should leave him alone. There's nothing we can do."

Tio and Megumi reluctantly left Ed alone. Al and Winry followed.

Ed had to see his parents again. The feeling was irresistible, the memories too vivid to leave alone. He had to leave Tio and Megumi to find them.

He climbed out of bed. He took his skateboard, alchemic gloves, and alchemy book. He went downstairs. He unlocked and opened the front door. He locked and closed it so Megumi would just think he went to someone's house.

He skateboarded away. He didn't know where he was going. He just knew that he had to find his parents. It was the beginning of being alone again.

"Where are you going, Ed-kun?"

Ed turned around. Megumi was following him. He skateboarded faster. He heard Megumi start running.

"Ed-kun, please stop."

Ed skateboarded as fast as he could, but Megumi kept up with him. She jumped on the back of his skateboard. She tried to reach for Ed, but the skateboard flipped over from the extra weight. Both of them fell. Ed's book slid away from him, and his skateboard flipped over next to Megumi. Ed lay on his side. Megumi was flat on her face, her long hair spread out.

Ed got up and picked up his book and skateboard. He ran behind a solid wall to the right of them and hid in a bush.

Megumi got up and looked around. Ed was nowhere in sight.

"Ed-kun!" she yelled. No answer.

A wall surrounded an empty lot. She walked in front of it. She stood on her toes and looked behind it. There was only a bush. But she decided to check the bush to see if Ed was in it. She went around the wall where the bush was. She put her hands in it, touching something. It didn't move, so she tickled it. She heard it laugh. The bush shook.

"Come out, Ed-kun," Megumi said.

Ed didn't come out. Megumi pulled Ed out of the bush. Ed eased himself out of Megumi's grasp, but she brought himself to his level, wrapped both arms around his stomach and pulled him into her, embracing him tightly.

"What's wrong?" she said. "You haven't been yourself lately. Everyone's worried."

Ed bit her hand. Megumi drew her hand back. She looked at blood seep out of the bite marks. Ed jumped the wall and ran. Megumi jumped the wall and ran after him. She caught him by the collar and sat on her knees, pulling him into another hug.

"Is it about your parents?" she asked. "Tio told me about it after you both got home from Winry's house."

"…Yeah…" Ed mumbled.

"Why don't you tell me about it?"

Ed couldn't. No matter what he or Megumi did, he could hardly say anything.

"It's okay if you tell me," Megumi said. "I understand."

Rage built up inside Ed. He couldn't believe she had just said that. The rage burst out.

"You…understand?" Ed yelled. He pushed himself off of Megumi, whose grip wasn't as tight as it was before. He closed his eyes. "You don't understand a damn thing! Your parents didn't abandon you! You…" He stopped yelling and looked at Megumi. Her eyes were full of worry and pain. But, despite this, he couldn't bring himself to stop screaming at her. "You have a better life than me! You're an idol! You have a great life!"

And with that, he ran away into a dark alley. Megumi didn't follow him, as she was deeply hurt by what he had said. Once he was sure she couldn't see him, he jumped on a trash can and then jumped on the roof of a building. He was sure Megumi couldn't see him.

"Ed-kun!" Megumi ran past him, below him in the alley. "Where are you? Ed…" Her voice trailed off as she went farther and farther away from him. Then, she ran back past him in the alley. "Ed-kun! Ed-kun…" She stopped and looked at the ground, trembling. She sat down on a street corner that Ed could see from the roof and buried her head in her hands.

Ed assumed that she was crying. He felt a little bad about what he had said. Then, he remembered the time when he had accompanied her on her day at school and work and how tough it was for her.

"Idols don't have great lives…" he said. He jumped from the building and went over to Megumi, but stood a fair distance behind her. He dropped his skateboard. The sound of the skateboard falling made Megumi turn around. Her eyes were spilling over with tears.

"Ed-kun…" she said. Before he could react, Megumi had wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. Ed hugged her back.

They walked home together. Ed leaned against Megumi's legs as they walked. He was so sleepy from yelling and skateboarding. His head drooped.

"You wanted to know what happened at that concert, right?"

Ed lifted his head back up. "I did."

"Well, there was a demon named Mars and his partner, Rembrant, who came to one of my concerts through the back entrance. He had been hunting down Tio for quite some time to burn her book. Tio was there, waiting for me to get finished with my concert. Gash-kun was there as well. He was trying to get in through another entrance because Kiyomaro-kun had left him alone, and the guards wouldn't let him in without an adult.

"Mars was attacking Tio. Fortunately, Gash-kun defended her until I came. Gash-kun left to get Kiyomaro-kun. While I was fighting, I got knocked unconscious by one of Mars's attacks.

"When I woke up, Kiyomaro-kun was fighting Mars. We worked together to burn Mars's book. Then, we made a promise that we would help each other until the end of the battle. And that's how we became friends."

Megumi heard snoring. She looked at Ed. He was sleeping against her legs. She picked him up and carried him all the way home. She had forgotten to lock the door, so she opened it, went inside, then locked and closed it. She went upstairs in Ed's room and pulled back the bed's covers. She carefully laid Ed in the bed on his back. Then, she tucked him in. She left his room, closing the door. She went in her room and collapsed on her bed, immediately falling asleep.

Tio came in Megumi's room. She pulled the covers on Megumi. Then, she went in her room and fell back asleep.

Ed dreamed about Megumi; how she cared for him, how nice she was to him.

He had to make it up to her. But how?