Hey you guys! Thank you so much for sticking with me, even though I am such a bad updater Now, I will respond to some of my most recent reviews.

rachLA: Believe me, I'm doing all I can to keep EJ away from the accursed Mary-Sue plauge; And I'm watching FMA again and again to make sure that I get Ed's character right on. Thanks for that review! :D

TaloRaFoReVeR253: I'm glad you like it! It's really cool that you have the same nickname as my OC, but I can assure you that it wasn't intentional. ;P

DoctorWhotaliaandtheOlympians: Thank you!

Chapter 9

~~EJ~~

Waking up the next morning was easy. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stretched from being in one position most of the night. I looked over at my alarm clock on the nightstand, turned off for summer vacation. It was only 5 in the morning, but I decided to go see Mom.

I only did this every so often, since Jeremiah had tried to forbid me from going. I felt that I owed it to Mom to know how I was doing, even if my brothers wouldn't; it just hurt them too much.

I dressed in my nicest clothes and tied my hair back in a fishtail braid. Tiptoeing past Jeremiahs' room on the second floor landing was the hard part: he's such a light sleeper. I did manage to make downstairs without trouble, when I heard an echo-y voice behind me say: "You're up early."

I slapped a hand over my mouth and one over my heart to keep it from leaping out of my chest.

"Don't scare me like that, Al! You almost gave me a heart attack." I said once I got my breath back. "You're up pretty early too, aren't you?"

Alphonse seemed surprised by my question. What was up with these two? I just didn't get why they would give each other these looks like they'd been caught red-handed.

"I couldn't fall asleep once I woke up." Al told me. I nodded in sympathy. I'd had enough nightmares to know how that felt. Your body wanted to sleep, but your mind was still scrambled from sheer terror so you couldn't fall back asleep.

"Where are you off to, anyways?" I looked up from the spot on the floor I didn't realize I'd been staring at.

"I'm going off to see someone. I'll be back later though." I responded to Al's question. I waved over my shoulder, and then snuck out the door.

I had a lot of time to think as I walked to where Mom was. For some reason, I had boys on the brain. Ick.

The way that DJ had been acting weirder than usual yesterday and almost started a fistfight with Ed, the fact that the two brothers telepathy powers were going haywire, and the one thought that I swore I'd pushed back so far it should've been nonexistent: Cole Dashman.

Cole and I had been a serious item a couple of years ago, but then I'd caught him kissing another girl at the Light Festival, and I swore I'd felt my heart shatter. He'd been trying to get me to take him back since then, but I still hadn't heard an "I'm sorry" from him.

In other words, Cole is the reason for my boy hiatus.

~~Elrics~~

Edward woke up the next morning to hear the sounds of kids running around. Al was already awake, due to the fact that his body wouldn't let him fall asleep.

"Morning, Brother."

"Hey, Al. Rough night?" Ed asked. It's hard to pull off a look when you don't have facial expressions, but Al was one of the few suits of armor that could.

"Very funny." The younger Elric said, but the two brothers started laughing anyways.

Once Ed was officially up and dressed, he found himself being tackled by a small body that had burst into the room and flung its arms around his neck.

"Mr. Edward!" Sara's voice echoed in Ed's ear. "Have you seen Cousin EJ?" The tiny girl looked at Ed with seriously huge brown eyes.

"She said she'd be back later. I ran into her this morning, but she didn't say where she was going." Alphonse interjected.

"She was up pretty early then." Edward noticed.

"Cousin EJ probably went to go see Aunt Vicky. She always does at the end of the year or when she wants to be alone." Sara noted, smiling big and revealing a couple of missing teeth that were starting to come in. (A/N: Are you allergic to adorable? 'Cause I am. XD)

"Who's Aunt Vicky?"

"EJ's mother." A man's voice came from the doorway. Gen. Mahan had his eyes cast down, but he still had that proud set in his shoulders from his days in the military; Ed had seen that in EJ the other day.

"If you boys don't mind, I'd like to talk to you after breakfast." The older man said, saying it like he'd just brought it up in conversation, but it offered a question as well.

"Of course sir." Alphonse said, getting a nod in acquiescence from his older brother, who set Sara down.

"You ready for this, Al?" Edward asked worriedly, standing before the door to General Mahan's study. Ed had heard stories about the Magnetic Alchemist from Colonel Mustang and how he was the reason most of the soldiers that had been fighting during the Ishvalan War had survived. Mahan had the ability to alter the polarity of metals and draw them to him, and he'd used that ability to attract most of the bullets that had been fired to him, or out of fallen soldiers.

Ed subconsciously clenched his right hand; he was mostly worried about what the general would say when he found out that Ed's entire arm was metal.

"I guess so. What do you think he's gonna say?" Alphonse's question shook Edward out of his own thoughts.

"Well if the two of you would get in here, you'd find out." The general's voice beckoned the two brothers forward into the room. Ed swallowed, feeling his heart start beating faster.

"Let's get right down to it, shall we? I'm General Thomas Mahan, the Magnetic Alchemist." The general smiled in a non-threatening way, but this had been the part that Ed was afraid of. His right arm felt inexplicably drawn to Mahan's, and there was resistance behind it.

"Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist." Edward responded; he felt like he could trust this old man with his secret. The real problem might occur once EJ found him out.

"So you're the 'Alchemist of the People', eh? I heard about the incident in Liore from some of the rookie soldiers on the border. All I can say is that you weren't what I was expecting." Mahan released Ed's hand, and the young alchemist pulled back.

"Oh really?" Edward felt his pulse quicken in anger.

"I was actually expecting someone-"

"Lemme guess: you were expecting someone taller?" Edward was about to go into one of his rants, when the general said: "I was expecting someone more mature, in all honesty."

That shut Ed up pretty fast.

"I've actually heard a lot about the two of you. I still keep in contact with my still-active military buddies, and I really couldn't believe it when they told me that a 12 year old child had passed the state alchemy exam."

"Brother is a prodigy." Alphonse said in support. The general smiled, but then his expression turned serious.

"I'll keep your secret in this room, if you boys tell me exactly who you tried to bring back."

B/N: Cliffy! I know, I know; I'm a horrible person for leaving you hanging like that. But I'm always working on this for you guys! And don't forget that Mr. Blue-Hyperlink does get lonely, which makes him very sad. Don't make him sad; PLEASE REVIEW!

~Sady Mordan~