What One May Never See Chapter Eleven: Teacher and stress, a fullmetal alchemist fanfic

Chapter Eleven:

Teacher (and stress)

"Hello… Teacher…"

Izumi Curtis stared intently at Ed for several moments before her expression darkened, and all hell broke loose.

"What do you think you're doing here?!" she raged as she suddenly kicked Ed forcefully in the face, sending the boy flying a good thirty feet before he crashed down to the ground. Annora fearfully pressed herself up against the wall of the house, praying silently to any kind and loving god that might happen to be in the area that Izumi wouldn't step outside of the front door and see her and Al hugging the wall next to the door.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God," Al muttered shakily as his entire body quivered violently while Annora went an interesting shade of white when she peeked around the corner and caught sight of the furious look on Izumi Curtis's face. Her right eye developed a noticeable twitch as she nervously glanced over at Al.

"We're gonna die," she muttered faintly as all of the blood drained from her face, no longer paying any attention to the scenario going on only a few feet away.

"I thought that I told you never to come back!!" Izumi growled, her dark eyes flashing with fury as she fixed Ed with a scathing look.

"Teacher…"

"I told you that I am no longer your teacher!!"

The woman froze just as she was about to lecture Ed further when Annora accidentally let out a small cry of fear. Without batting an eyelash, she suddenly reached over and grabbed Annora by the wrist before sending her flying straight into Ed. The two teens collided with a sickening smack before they both collapsed in a heap on the ground.

WHUMP!

"Owww…" Ed groaned as he sat up while Annora lay in his lap with her eyes spinning dizzily, barely conscious. "That hurt."

"I think I broke something…" Annora responded faintly as she tried not to pass out. "It might be one of my ribs, but I'm not sure."

Izumi stared at Annora in obvious surprise before she strode over to where the two teens lay and looked at them closely. Ed gently eased Annora off his lap before he stood up, helping the girl to her feet as he did so.

Izumi crossed her arms over her chest as she fixed Ed with a questioning look, not noticing Al sneak up behind her.

"Well Edward, out of all the things that I would have ever expected you to do, bringing a girl with you here certainly isn't one of them. That, and you deciding to become a dog of the military," she pointed out rather nonchalantly. Ed looked rather nervous as he gave a shamefaced shrug.

"Teacher, I said I'm sorry," he muttered, only to be kicked in the face once again by Izumi.

"If 'Sorry' was enough, there would be no need for HELL!!" the woman raged, her dark eyes absolutely blazing with uncontrolled fury as she glared at Ed's bruised and bloody form. Annora looked at the older woman for a few seconds before she went and hid behind the safety of Al's armored bulk.

"Scary," she whispered nervously to the fifteen-year old. "Your teacher's really scary."

"You don't know the half of it," Al muttered back.

Izumi waited patiently until Ed had regained consciousness before she asked her next question.

"Did you get her pregnant?" she demanded, glancing over at Annora. Ed stared at his old alchemy teacher for several seconds before he realized what she had just said.

"WHAT?!" he yelped. "What makes you…why… how…?"

"No, I am not pregnant," Annora growled as she fought to keep her steadily rising temper in check, her eyes narrowed dangerously as she glared at the older woman. "At least not the last time I checked, seeing as I'm still a v-"

Al clapped a hand over her mouth, cutting the teenager off before she could finish her comment.

"Annora, please don't cause any more trouble than we're already in," the fifteen-year old pleaded. "Teacher's really angry with us this time."

Annora waited until the possessed suit of armor removed his gauntleted hand from her mouth before she responded.

"Why, because you guys came back and she told you not to?"

"Yes," Al whimpered as his entire body shook with fear. "She's really mad."

(AN: In this chapter, Ed and Al did not come back and tell Izumi that they were sorry and they wanted to know more about alchemy like they did in the anime. They got on the train and went back to Central after that whole mess with Wrath, and therefore did not encounter Greed, yet.)

Annora pulled a face as she shot Al a dirty look. "That still doesn't give her the right to assume that the only reason you two came here is because I'm pregnant, which I'm not!"

Izumi heard Annora's little outburst and turned around slowly to face the girl, her dark eyes narrowed dangerously as she scrutinized the teenager closely. Annora looked Izumi straight in the eye, mentally readying herself to have her ass kicked again for shooting her mouth off. Instead, the woman merely crossed her arms over her chest and fixed Annora with a searching look.

"Forgive me for my earlier conclusion," she stated as she stuck out her right hand, which Annora shook after a moment's hesitation. "Usually when my two idiot pupils show up, they're either in trouble, or trouble soon follows them."

"Yeah, that sounds like Ed all over," Annora muttered wryly, much to the annoyance of a certain State Alchemist. "Every time we turn around, at least one of us is in deep trouble." 'And the past few times, it's been me,' the sixteen-year old thought grimly.

Izumi arched an eyebrow at Annora's response before she sent Ed a piercing look.

"So, would you care to tell me how this young lady came to be in your company?" she asked in a deceptively calm tone. Ed flinched; he remembered that tone all too well. That was his old alchemy teacher's infamous 'tell me what the hell is going on before I beat it out of you' voice, and he knew that his answer was not going to please Izumi one bit.

"Umm… well, something happened in Central a few months ago and… Annora has kind of been in Al's and my custody since then…" Ed trailed off weakly when he caught sight of the murderous expression on Izumi's face. Annora glanced over at the older woman before she subtly scooted behind the closest large tree for cover; and she had thought that her mom was scary when she was mad…

"Custody?" Izumi snarled, her eyes flashing darkly with uncontrolled fury. "What do you mean by that?!"

Al let out a frightened squeak while Ed shook visibly in his shoes; this had been the part that he had been dreading.

"She was being chased by a homunculus, and the Colonel told Al and I that we had to keep an eye on her…" Ed stammered nervously, only to have Izumi punch him in the face. All the blood drained from Annora's face as she watched Ed go flying before he hit the ground, obviously unconscious. The sixteen-year old was silently contemplating any possible escape routes when Izumi came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder gently. Annora jumped slightly in surprise as she spun around to face the older woman, who merely regarded her with calm interest.

"Why don't we go inside and sit down. I'm sure that there's more to your story than what Edward is tell-" Izumi suddenly erupted into a coughing fit, hastily covering her mouth with both hands. Annora thought at first that the woman had allergies or something along those lines, but when an inhuman amount of blood came up and splattered the ground as Izumi coughed, the teenager knew immediately that something was horribly wrong.

"Ma'am, are you alright?!" Annora cried out as she rushed over to Izumi's side while she fell to her knees, coughing violently. Panic surged through the girl when she recognized the tell-tale signs of one of the most feared diseases in history as she spun around to face Alphonse "Al, get over here!!"

"Teacher!" the fifteen-year old yelped as he ran over towards where Annora and his former alchemy teacher were, only to be bypassed by a familiar burly form. Sig Curtis ran over to his wife's side and picked her up easily in his huge arms, leaving the three teens behind as he carried Izumi inside. Annora glanced over uneasily at Al, while Ed, who was still out cold, groaned.

"What was that all about?" she asked uncertainly. "Does your teacher have …tuberculosis?"

"No, something happened to her when she was younger and… she lost some of her internal organs," Al explained hesitantly as he picked up Ed's unconscious form, giving Annora the distinct impression that the younger boy was hiding something. "That's why she's coughing up blood, not because of tuberculosis."

Annora heaved a sigh of relief just as Mason came out and looked at them curiously.

"Hey, why are you guys still out here?" he asked, clearly puzzled. "Why don't you all come inside; it's chilly out there."

With surprising caution, Al carried Ed into the Curtis's house, followed closely by Annora.

'Why do I always seem to get myself into these insane situations?' the girl groaned mentally as she followed Al. For some strange reason, she had a sinking feeling that this was not going to be a fun visit.

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Ed looked incredibly nervous as he stared at the door to the room where Izumi was currently resting after her 'attack'. Annora and Al were standing behind him, the former with a curiously restrained expression on her face as she fixed Ed with a slightly pitying look.

"Hey, Ed?" she asked hesitantly, catching the teenage alchemist's attention. "Look, I… I'm sorry for dragging you up to the front door earlier."

Ed raised both eyebrows as he gave Annora a slightly smug look.

"Now will you listen to me when I tell you not to do something?" he demanded, only to have Annora scowl and give him 'the finger' in response.

"You jerk! I just apologized to you, and that's the response? What else did you expect me to do; get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness?!"

"That would be nice," Ed shot back sarcastically, watching with obvious interest as Annora's face flushed angrily.

"Screw you!"

"No thanks."

Annora's right eye developed a noticeable twitch as she fixed the boy with a death glare, her patience fraying at a dangerous rate. Just as the girl was about to reach over and wrap her hands around the Fullmetal Alchemist's throat, Izumi's voice came through the door.

"Edward, could you please send your friend in here?"

The blood drained from Annora's face as she regarded the wooden door in front of her in audible horror while Ed looked somewhat nervous. Annora gulped before she took a step forward and grasped the doorknob firmly, pushing the door open and going inside before shutting it firmly behind her. The sixteen-year old looked steadily at the woman lying in bed in front of her, not knowing why she was in here. Izumi raised an eyebrow in question before she spoke.

"Why don't you pull up a chair and sit down?" she asked, indicating to a spot right next to the bed. "No need to be afraid, I don't bite."

'Yeah right,' Annora thought wryly, but she did as she was asked. Izumi waited until the teenager had taken a seat before she spoke.

"I would greatly appreciate it if you would tell me how it came to be that you are now traveling with my idiot apprentices. I could understand it if you were a friend that they had known since childhood, but if I were to go by Edward's earlier statement, that is obviously not the case," the formidable woman pointed out, the tone of her voice indicating that she would not accept any lies. Annora felt a few beads of sweat drip down the back of her neck as she stared at Izumi nervously. She automatically thought back to when Ed had told her not to tell people where she was from, after her little outburst at the Rockbell's.

"Dammit, Annora! You can't keep insisting that you're from some place in a country that doesn't exist!" Ed pointed out for what seemed like the thousandth time. "People are going to think you're nuts if you keep saying junk like that."

Annora groaned and rolled her eyes as she tried not to lose her temper. "So are you trying to tell me that you think I'm crazy?" she snapped waspishly, her eyes flashing darkly with anger.

"No…" Ed hesitated before he heaved a sigh of obvious exasperation. "Just… keep your hometown to yourself, okay? At least that way we won't have anyone asking funny questions."

Annora gulped, and was about to make something up when her cell phone started to ring, causing both her and Izumi to jump. The teenager glanced down at her pocket before she gave the older woman an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, please excuse me for a few minutes," she muttered as she got up out of her chair and hastily exited the room, leaving behind a very confused alchemist. Annora ducked outside and stood behind a tree in the front yard before she opened her phone to answer it.

"Hello?" she asked tentatively, only to be almost knocked over from the force of the colossal shriek that came from the other end.

"Annora, are you really there?! Are you really in Amestris?!!"

The sixteen-year old stared at the cell phone for a few seconds before it finally registered as to who was calling her.

"Katie?" she asked hesitantly. "How the hell did you manage to call me?"

"I'm calling from my home phone!" Katie announced proudly, to which Annora let out a heartfelt groan. "So, where are you right now?"

"In a torture chamber," Annora shot back sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. Katie let out a horrified gasp at her friend's sarcastic comment, and started to babble uncontrollably.

"Oh my God, we need to get you out of there!! Are you in Lab 5?! Is anyone trying to use you as a test subject?! Have any of those sick military freaks tried to turn you into a chimera?!!"

"Geez Katie, take a chill pill," Annora muttered as she tried not to laugh. "I was being a smart ass, okay? I'm not in mortal danger or anything like that; I'm actually in Dublith with Ed and Al." She paused for a moment before another thought struck her. "What the hell's a chimera anyway?"

"Seriously?" the other girl queried, the tone of her voice somewhat dubious as she ignored Annora's question. "So you've met the Dragon Lady already?"

"The who?" Annora asked incredulously. "Wait a sec; are you talking about Ed and Al's old alchemy teacher?"

"If you mean Izumi Curtis, then yes."

"Why do you call her the Dragon Lady?"

"Because she's friggin' scary!!"

"Okaaay… that makes a lot of sense Kate," Annora responded sarcastically. "You don't even know the woman! I think you need to stop reading all of the anime crap or whatever the hell it is, because it's rotting your brain."

"Anime does not rot my brain!" Katie protested angrily.

"I think there are some medical studies that would argue against that statement," Annora muttered under her breath. Katie ignored her friend's comment as she continued to lecture.

"Besides, you don't read anime, you watch it! Manga is the stuff that you read!"

"Big flippin' whoop. Might I also remind you of the fact that you lending me that stupid comic book is part of the reason why I'm in so much hot water in the first place?"

"Don't blame me for your problems! You're the one that's so closed minded!"

"And you're the one that's obsessed with fictional characters that don't exist!!"

"If they don't exist, then where are you now?"

"Probably in the closest loony bin under heavy sedation, which explains the detailed hallucinations."

Katie let out a frustrated growl as she glared at the phone in her hands before she started yelling at a high pitch right into Annora's ear.

"BELIEVE IT OR NOT, YOU ARE IN AMESTRIS, SO STOP YELLING AT ME AND ENJOY YOURSELF!!!"

Annora held the cell phone a reasonable distance away from her ear, wincing at the pitch that Katie's voice was going up to. After a few moments, Katie finally ran out of breath, and all the anger and frustration that had been building up inside Annora for the past month and a half came loose as she exploded.

"DAMMIT KATIE, I DON'T WANT TO BE HERE! I'M NOT LIKE YOU, OKAY?! I JUST WANT TO GO HOME AND DO NORMAL STUFF INSTEAD OF HAVING TO WORRY ABOUT THE STUPID FREAK THAT ATTACKED ME MY FIRST DAY HERE, AND HAVING TO DEAL WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER… CRAP!! I WANT TO GO HOME!!!"

There was dead silence on the other end of the line, and Annora felt tears of shame well up in her eyes as she tried to get a grip on herself.

"Katie, I miss my house, I miss my parents, I miss everything about home," she sniffed before she gave a dry laugh. "Hell, I even miss school. The truth is… I just wanna go home. I don't belong here. Now you on the other hand, you'd be having the time of your life here."

"I'm sorry Annora… I didn't know that you wanted to come home that badly," Katie admitted hesitantly. "Besides, I don't think I'd be having that much fun without you being here with me."

"Really?"

"Really."

Annora let out a weak chuckle before she gave a faint grin. "Yeah, well if you were here with me, you'd probably be really mad about the prank I pulled on Mustang a few weeks ago."

"What did you do?"

"Besides passing out over two hundred posters of him wearing a miniskirt, and re-gifting a thong that he sent me as payback for the posters to a certain trigger-happy Lieutenant, nothing."

There was another stretch of heavy silence before Katie let out an enraged shriek.

"You did WHAT?!"

"Oh wow, would you look at the time? Gotta go, talk to you later!"

"No, we talk NOW!" Katie raged. "What did you do to Roy-kun?!"

"Umm… nothing permanently damaging."

"…"

"Katie… why are you being so quiet?"

"… You should be really glad that you're in Amestris right now, because I'm going to kill you when you get back."

Annora gave a disbelieving snort and rolled her eyes. "Yeah right; you and what army? Katie, all I have to do is duct-tape you to the wall and I'm good."

"Is that your solution to everything?" Katie muttered darkly.

"Yep. Duct tape, bailing wire, and zip ties; the universal solution to every problem," Annora quipped with a smirk on her face. "You can fix pretty much anything with those materials."

A noise behind the girl startled her, and Annora accidentally hit the speakerphone button, causing Katie's portion of the conversation to be heard. Annora spun around to find Ed standing behind her with a strange look on his face, just as Katie continued talking.

"Really Annora, all I need is acid and I'll melt through the duct tape," she rambled while Ed then switched his attention from Annora to the phone.

"Is that your nut-job of a friend?" he asked, and Annora nodded empathetically in response.

"Was that Ed?" Katie asked before she started yelling at the top of her lungs. "SHUT UP, SHRIMPY, OTHERWISE I'LL SET THE DRAGON LADY LOOSE ON YOU!!!"

"What?!" Ed yelped, causing Annora to drop her cell phone as she attempted to hold her friend back so he wouldn't mutilate the inanimate piece of technology. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING A SHRIMPY LITTLE MIDGET THAT CAN'T SEE OVER CUT GRASS WITHOUT A STEPSTOOL?!!"

"Shut up, otherwise Izumi'll kick your ass with a spatula!!" Katie shot back. "Beware the wrath of the Dragon Lady!"

Annora was just about to fire back a comment when both teenagers suddenly became aware of a murderous presence behind them. The sixteen-year old gulped before she looked behind her, and went dead white when she saw Izumi standing behind her and Ed with her fists clenched.

"What was that?" she asked deliberately, flames practically fanning out from behind her. Annora, if at all humanly possible, went even whiter as she stared at incensed woman nervously.

"That… that was my friend… she called me… she's heard of you or something… I don't know…" Annora stammered as Ed slowly backed away. He was smart enough to know that all hell was about to break loose, and he did not want to be around when that happened. Izumi, surprisingly, merely strolled over to where Annora's phone lay on the grass and picked it up, inspecting it closely before she started shouting.

(AN: All of you who know Izumi really well, you might know what's coming next.)

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, DISRESPECTING YOUR ELDERS LIKE THAT?!! I WANT TO KNOW WHAT ON EARTH POSSESSED YOU TO MAKE UP A NAME LIKE 'DRAGON LADY', AND WHY ARE YOU SPREADING IT AROUND TO MY STUDENT?!! DON'T YOU EVER CALL THIS NUMBER AGAIN; OTHERWISE I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN!!!"

"Yes ma'am," Katie whimpered before she hung up, thoroughly chastised. Annora blinked several times, shaking slightly, before Izumi handed her phone back to her.

"Take care of that," she instructed as she went back inside the house, leaving behind two teenagers that were completely scared out of their minds standing out in the back yard.

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The next day

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Ed smirked as he stared at the bottle of shampoo that he currently held in his hands, his golden eyes flashing with demonic humor. So Annora thought that she was the only one that could pull pranks, did she? The teenage alchemist let out a low chuckle as he put his hands together and transmuted the contents to do something entirely different than what the manufacturers had intended. Ed gently set the bottle back down into Annora's backpack, taking care not to disturb anything else.

The alchemist quietly snuck out of the room that Annora was using while they were staying with the Curtis's. That morning Ed had woken up to find magnetic letters stuck to his automail arm, spelling out the word 'tiny'. To put it lightly, he had gone ballistic, at least until he had gotten an excellent idea on how to get the girl back.

Now, all he had to do was wait…

Surprisingly, it didn't take that long for Ed's prank to come to fruition; only a few hours at most. The real indication that his trick had worked came while he and Al were downstairs talking to Izumi.

"Teacher, do you believe that… there might be another world out there… beyond the Gate?" Ed asked. Izumi shot her former pupil a strange look in response.

"Why do you ask that?"

"Just out of curiosity!" the teenager protested, suddenly nervous. He really did not want to admit that some of the things Annora had told him and Al were unnerving, and she didn't seem like she was crazy. Izumi was just about to answer him when a piercing shriek rent the air, the sound coming from the upstairs bathroom.

"ED, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!"

"Damn!" Ed hissed as he jumped out of his seat and shot for the front door just as Annora came flying down the stairs, her still-wet hair flaring out behind her as she tore after the alchemist. Al blinked in surprise as he stared after the girl, obviously confused.

"Since when was her hair blonde?" he muttered. Sounds from out in the front yard attracted the fifteen-year old's attention, and he and Izumi went over to a window to watch the ensuing chaos taking place.

"Ed, get down here!" Annora snarled, her brown eyes flashing dangerously beneath reddish-blonde bangs as she glared up at the alchemist, who was currently sitting up in a tree.

"Sorry, not gonna happen," the boy shot back, smirking slightly. If looks could mutilate, Al would have been taking his brother's remains back to Colonel Mustang in a matchbox. Annora muttered what sounded like an obscenity under her breath as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at Ed.

"Ed, either come down right now so I can kill you, or I'll come up and make sure that you leave this world screaming like a girl," she hissed. "You had no right to put hair dye in my shampoo!!!"

"And you had no right writing 'tiny' on my arm with magnetic letters!" he retorted sharply.

"At least they were removable! Hair dye takes months to come out!!!"

"Stop making such a big deal. All I did was change the components in your shampoo; it'll come out in a few days."

"Like hell it will!!!"

Ed made an incredibly rude gesture, serving to only further incense the girl. Annora was contemplating just climbing up after her friend and killing him in the tree with any available materials that might be at hand when an evil idea came to her. The sixteen-year old looked up at the boy and smiled pleasantly before she yanked on her gloves with the transmutation circles on them and clapped her hands together before placing them on the tree trunk. With a sickening 'crack', the part of the branch that Ed was sitting on separated from the rest of the tree and fell to the ground, dumping the alchemist flat on his ass.

The Fullmetal Alchemist sprang to his feet, only to come face-to-face with Annora, who was still smiling. A cold shudder of dread passed through Ed's body as he hurriedly backed up right into the tree he had been sitting in, his wide golden eyes fixed on the girl in front of him. The thought that Annora, in her complete and total rage, had finally lost her mind, came to him, causing Ed to freak out even more.

"I am going to get you back for this, Edward," she said sweetly as Ed contemplated scrambling up the tree trunk like a cat just to get away from her. "And when I do, I can assure you that you will never forget it in a million years. Until then, you will spend every. Single. Moment looking over your shoulder and wondering when the hell I'm going to Kick. Your. ASS. Got it?"

Ed let out a frightened squeak in response, which was totally unlike him. Annora seemed to take this as a 'yes', and turned around without another word, going back into the house. Al and Izumi both stared at the girl as she disappeared up the stairs before the younger Elric ventured outside. Ed looked over at his younger brother, and then at his former alchemy teacher before he swallowed loudly.

"Teacher, I think I'm going to sleep outside to night," he stated shakily before he added under his breath. "Where it's safe."

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Surprisingly, Ed slept out in the backyard, not one, but two nights in a row. On the third night, he still didn't want to go back inside to sleep, but Izumi had politely, (politely meaning she had threatened to beat him within an inch of his life), insisted that he sleep inside that night since it was supposed to rain. Al had backed her up, and so Ed found himself sitting in bed staring at the door nervously at two in the morning. The reason he was up and awake at this hour was because his room was just down the hall from Annora's, and he was scared shitless at the thought of what the girl might do to him.

When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart

Just as Ed was about to get up and seal off the door as an extra precaution, he heard footsteps padding down the hall softly. The teenager silently got off the bed and went over to the door, pressing his ear against it in an effort to discern just who or what was roaming about in the middle of the night. After a moment, there were the faint sounds of someone going down the stairs and out the back door. Ed silently debated on finding out who had gone outside, and then decided that it would be better if he just snuck after the person instead of using his usual tactless approach.

It didn't take long for him to go from his room to the back yard, although Ed kept jumping whenever a sharp crack of thunder echoed overhead. Storms had always made him nervous ever since he and Al had tried, and failed to bring their mother back to life. Rain was slamming up against the house in unyielding sheets when the teenage alchemist peeked through the window in an attempt to see if anyone was out back, and Ed could barely make out the blurred smudge of color out underneath one of the oak trees. The next lightning flash lit up the landscape like it was daytime, and revealed the unknown individual to be Annora, huddled up on a large flat rock underneath the tree while watching the storm that raged around her intently.

I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you
It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore

"That idiot," Ed grumbled as he opened the door and stepped out into the tempest. "Doesn't she know that the tree she's sitting under could act like a damn lightning rod and electrocute her?"

It wasn't until he got closer that he saw that the girl was shivering violently, her currently pale tresses clinging damply to her face and shoulders as her entire frame shook. The teenage alchemist chose not to say anything as he walked up to where Annora was sitting and sat down next to her.

"You know, you probably shouldn't be out here in your pajamas," he pointed out slowly. "You could get sick."

Annora gave a short, harsh laugh in response as she stared straight ahead, her chin resting on her knees, which were pulled up to her chest as she watched the storm.

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

"Just leave me alone, okay?" she muttered, her dark brown eyes focused on some point ahead of her. "I'm not in the mood to listen to you lecture me right now."

Ed raised an eyebrow in disbelief as he gave the girl an incredulous look. "I thought you wanted an excuse to get in a fight with me. So why are you ignoring the opportunity right now?"

"Dammit Ed, just leave me the hell alone!" Annora growled, chocolate eyes flashing in barely concealed anger as her right hand clenched the loose fabric of her nightgown tightly. "I don't want to talk to you right now!"

When you feel all alone
And a loyal friend is hard to find
You're caught in a one way street
With the monsters in your head

"Yeah, well you're going to get electrocuted if you don't come inside soon," the teenage alchemist pointed out seriously. "Why are you even out here in the first place anyway?"

A large lightning bolt flashed overhead, lighting up the entire landscape and causing Annora to flinch, before thunder boomed loudly. Ed watched the girl closely as she began to shake slightly once again, her eyes riveted unseeingly on some object in the distance. Recognizing immediately the signs of a waking nightmare, Ed made up his mind and gently, but firmly, placed a hand on the teen's shoulder.

"Annora, what's wrong?" he asked. The sixteen-year old didn't answer for a few seconds, but after the next flash of lightning, she finally gave a muttered response.

"I couldn't sleep," she mumbled lamely, her cheeks burning slightly due to how hollow her response sounded even to her own ears. Ed raised an eyebrow skeptically as he gave the girl a knowing look.

"Bullshit," he stated simply. A ghost of a smile crossed Annora's face at her friend's comment before she replied.

"Why yes, bulls do shit. Cows shit too, but they don't brag abut it."

When hopes and dreams are far away and
You feel like you can't face the day

Ed blinked before he gave a snort of barely suppressed laughter.

"Where do you come up with this stuff?" he asked after chuckling for a bit. Annora shrugged in response, her expression once again distant.

"I don't know. Just impulse I guess."

The boy gave Annora a searching look, his golden eyes narrowed slightly. Annora didn't pay any attention to him as she stared out at the storm raging around them. For a while neither of them said anything, but after several minutes, Annora began to speak softly.

"Do you ever wonder what's out there that may lie beyond what we see?" she asked quietly. Ed stared at the sixteen-year old like she had taken leave of her senses.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't you wonder if there's another world out there, where things that people claim to be impossible here are achievable there?"

"Not this again," Ed groaned in annoyance as he shook his head. "Haven't you ever heard of flogging a dead horse?"

"Dammit Ed, I'm being serious!" Annora growled as she fixed the boy with an angry glare. "You keep telling me that all of the stuff that I keep repeatedly telling you about where I live either doesn't exist or isn't possible. Haven't I given you enough proof with the textbooks I've showed you and my computer?"

"Your books could have been printed by any idiot desperate enough to make a few sen, and any skilled alchemist could construct something like your computer," Ed pointed out stubbornly. "Not to mention the fact that there's no such thing as another world. That kind of stuff belongs in myths and fairy tales, not the real world. Besides, aren't you a little old to believe in crap like that?"

Because there has always been heartache and pain
And when it's over you'll breathe again
You'll breath again

Annora turned an interesting shade of red as she fought to not lose her temper, although it was all she could do not to reach out and belt Ed upside the head with her fist. Instead, she let out a frustrated sigh and stood up before heading inside without saying a single word. Ed watched her go with a puzzled look on his face, completely at a loss for why the girl had left.

When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please
To tame your wild wild heart

Once she had returned to her room, Annora sat down on her bed and pulled her pillow up to her chest, burying her face into its soft surface before she started to cry. She had no idea why it hurt her so badly for Edward not to believe what she said, but that still didn't help get rid of the pain. At that moment, Annora felt more alone and isolated than she had in her entire life. The sixteen-year old cried for several minutes, not only out of sheer frustration, but homesickness as well. She had no friends or family here, and her only connections to the world that she had always known were her cell-phone and laptop. Take those away, and she would never be able to talk to her parents or friends again.

"I hate this," she finally muttered after all her tears had been spent, and she withdrew her tearstained face from the somewhat soggy pillow. "I'm stuck in another world that supposedly only exists inside of a damn book, the person that I consider to be my friend thinks I'm a whack job, and I keep having dreams about that stupid Gate. Who the hell did I piss off to deserve this?! Every single time I turn around, something else happens, and more bullshit gets thrown at me!"

Annora choked back a sob as her grip on the pillow tightened, almost as though it were a lifeline.

"I'm tired of this," she whispered into the inky darkness surrounding her, the expression in her chocolate eyes pained. "I want to go home."

'At first, once I got over the fact that I was inside one of Katie's books, it was fun. But now…'

When nothing gave her an answer, the teenager lay down on the bed and pulled the covers back over her. Just before she drifted off to sleep, Annora muttered one last thing.

"Please, I just want to go home. That's all I ask."

You're not alone

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Ed sat outside in the rain for several minutes, contemplating why Annora had acted the way she did. He was well aware of the fact that as far as a normal teenage boys go, both he and Al were sorely lacking any experience in dealing with girls, aside from Winry that is. But still, Annora's actions defied any and all logic that could possibly be applied to what she was talking about.

"I just don't get her," Ed muttered as he began to massage the bridge of his nose. "I swear that she PMS's every damn day."

The teenager sighed as he watched the storm rage around him for a few more moments before he got up and went back inside. There was no use in him getting electrocuted just because he was brooding outside during an electrical storm.

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The next morning at breakfast, Annora and Ed were both unusually silent. Well, at least Annora was to Ed. The sixteen-year old refused to talk to the alchemist unless she absolutely had to, and this was immediately noticed by Izumi and Al. After breakfast, Izumi pulled her former pupil aside and began to interrogate him.

"Alright, Edward, what's going on?" the woman demanded as she forced him to sit down. Ed shrank down in his chair, watching his alchemy teacher nervously.

"What are you talking about, Teacher?" he asked, only to be silenced by the piercing glare that she shot at him.

"I believe you know exactly what I'm talking about. Your friend seems to be incredibly reluctant to speak to you, and I'm curious as to why."

Ed winced at Izumi's statement; he hadn't realized that it was that obvious. Izumi arched a dark eyebrow delicately as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well?"

"We… had an argument," Ed finally admitted. "That's probably why she's mad at me."

"About?"

"Something stupid."

Izumi let out a soft sigh as she closed her eyes. She knew that Edward could be blunt sometimes, but this obviously went far beyond that. Opening her eyes, the alchemist fixed her student with an intense look.

"One thing you need to learn, Edward, is that it can be very hurtful when you try to confide in a friend, and they won't listen to you," she pointed out sternly.

Ed's golden eyes widened in shock as he stared at his alchemy teacher as she turned around and walked away, leaving him to mull over what she had just told him.

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Woohoo!!! I've finally completed chapter eleven, and I hope eveyone likes it. I've also got some cool news for anyone that wants to hear it. Another author my the name of 'Lost and Never Found' contacted me, and asked me to co-author a story with her. The story is on her profile, and so far I think it's good. It's called 'Toe-shoes and Rabid Fandom', and it's a Fullmetal Alchemist fan fiction.

Anyways, on to the reviews!!!

Reviews

CrazedNeko: Thanks for the compliment!

Syldoran: Yay, I now have a bunch of votes for Greed appearing in the next chapter, so that's what will happen. There is a warning though; I pretty much took Annora and inserted her into the two episodes with Greed in them and tweaked things around a bit, so I don't know who it will turn out. It should be interesting though, especially when Annora's cutting sarcasm is inserted.

richard9311: Yeah, I took a little too long in writing this chapter, but I updated again! Thank you so much for being one of my most consistant reviewers.

Misu Sumi: Thanks for your vote, it helps a lot. Izumi is scary as hell, so I feel sorry for Annora, Ed, and Al. They're going to need some serious counseling after this chapter.

Kamisori Kaze no Renkinjutsu: What exactly is dirtboarding? I've never heard of it.

Mimori Kiryu: Thank you.

I'm A Pure Evil: Nope, she's completely clueless about the world of FMA.

Arella no Renyel: Here's some more rhyming for you.

I pledege alligance to the flag, that Colonel Mustang is a fag…

Mei Fire: I loathe Mary Sues within every fiber of my being, so that's no problem for me not creating them.

Zilo's Blue Pen: Izumi is dangerous, and Katie had better know some powerful gods if she ever meets Izumi face-to-face.

Lost and Never Found: I updated, and I'll be sending you the next chapter soon.

Syn-chan: Why thank you, that means a lot to me.

Mew Sarin Alchemist: I listen to Breaking Benjamin, Linkin Park, Three Days Grace, and a few other bands. I kind of like hard rock.

The lyrics belong to Crash and Burn by Savage Garden.