Aureate Bonds
Summary: Inside Gluttony, Edward took a gamble to get him, Ling, & Envy out of the unending dark. He used some of Envy's Stone & opened the Gate. But the equation turned out unbalanced & Ed… died. Yet Ed isn't the sort to be beaten easily & he swore he'd be back.
Ratings and Warnings: Rated "M" for sake of expediency and my typical writing style. Intermittent foul and 'descriptive' language, a bit of sarcasm, gender bending (Fem!Edward), mentions of homosexuality, occasional underage (though non-graphic) sex, etc.
Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or any other referenced materials, plain and simple. All non-original content is owned by all respective copyright owners. This is not being produced for money but rather for my own amusement.
Chapter Relevant References: Twilight
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Reviews: Thanks to Arisa Tokudome and FrostDragon9x for favoriting the story. Thank you to Inuyoukai52 and EchoMGeier for following. Thank you to Arisa Tokudome, Robinfyre, LFC, and love of Fanficts for reviewing.
Arisa Tokudome, seriously, about an hour after I posted, you reviewed. As for what you're asking after… You'll see. And while her essence is still quintessentially 'Edward', she is in truth more 'Evelyn' than 'Edward'. She is a different person. The same but different. And, yes, people will notice. I won't say who other than Al. Al's a given because he knows his brother so well. Honestly, I'm not sure who I'm more of a fan of… Ed or Al. I typically think of them as a singular unit but at the same time not, if you get my meaning. (And no, I totally didn't notice your gushing. I did compare your review to a sugar-fueled Evelyn, though. And for that reference, read on.)
Robinfyre, it isn't sentimental and pathetic to have two homes. And in some places this story is very hard to write because of all the emotions that need to occur. The human condition is rather fascinating. And that's what I do with my stories. Explore not so much the story but rather the human condition while having a general destination in mind.
LFC, I appreciate your comments. I try very hard to write well even if it is merely a story based on someone else's story. Bad grammar aggravates the shit out of me. Don't get me wrong, there are intentional grammatical errors in spoken or thought speech, but I try very hard to limit it to only that. Writing fast, I often wind up with a boatload of errors. My mind needs to throw it out, putting it in a safe place, and making sure that I can go back and push it around to a point I feel it's appropriate. You, as a reader, never will see the initial product. It's rough. I reread these chapters at least a half dozen times, tweaking at it and ensuring it fits with what I need it to do. As for update rates? I try to do it once every one to two weeks.
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Side Note: I noticed increasingly that I have stolen way too many names from real life about me. Chris and Tiffany, I know a brother and sister by those names. Adriana was filched from a former neighbor of my aunt's. Isaiah came from another person's kid. Bethany is a name of a friend of my sister. Peter and Evelyn are the names of my grandparents. Becky, Mathew, Warren, Jessica, Jeremy. All names of the people I know. I have known Brandons but Brandon, Samantha, and Amelia are three people that I more or less completely made up. They do not have names based on people I know. In fact, my real name has been slipped into the story, though I'm not the person I made her into. If you want to know my personality, you'd get a better read of it by compiling Sam, Brandon, and Amelia.
Also, I want to spank Le Confidant. Between your comments and me throwing a few words at my brother-in-law and him returning his own thoughts, you people keep giving me ideas. It means more to explore and thus more story. More story means more chances to not finish this. If I don't finish this, I blame you two. Grr.
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XII:
School passed in a fortunate bland haze for the most part, she got some money taped to her shirt in the range of sixty dollars or so, she got pinched but thankfully didn't immediately reach out and hit said idiots, and she got a shit ton of Valentines. Oh, and at one point Peter had decided to once again bodily hoist her up without her consent, throw her over his shoulder in a fireman carry, and proceeded to alert everyone in the general vicinity as he marched through school that it was her birthday as if half the school hadn't already known. He got punched for that as soon as he let her down.
The Valentines were discreetly disposed of, she wound up consuming enough sugar to make a number of people back away very slowly in order to not bring her chattering and jittery attention onto them, and by the end of her sugar rush she had effectively freaked a number of people out. And, no one else asked her to be their Valentine despite the liberal distribution of candy.
All in all, a very good day!
Of course, Peter still insisted on the party despite wild sugar-induced hilarity. Everyone that was marginally close to her came. Bethany, Allison, Adriana, Isaiah, Chris Reynolds, Christina Smith, and a few others appeared. Said party took place at Peter's house and with that party came Amelia's watchful eye. It wasn't like they did anything particularly spectacular, just played games and had pizza and the like, but she did watch out to make sure that no one slipped any alcohol or did anything overly stupid. As it was, Evelyn got a few trinkets that she took to. One had been, ironically enough, a fair duplication of the tiny horse charm she'd given Tiffany for her birthday and it had been from both her and her brother, Chris, who had offered the package in total embarrassment. Apparently, he'd not thought she was the sort to like the odd thing, but Evelyn immediately put it on immediately before telling him thank you and to tell Tiffany thank you, too. He probably had been hoping for a kiss, but she didn't bestow one. Peter had also gotten her a piece of jewelry. It was a silver dragon ear cuff and she slipped it on similarly to how she'd slipped on the necklace. She got some shirts from Amelia and she got some other doohickeys from everyone else, but she was particularly glad about her jewelry. Mouse, the Brown's dog, just licked at her and fawned over her when she scratched his ears.
Even though the evening had been enjoyable, Evelyn found herself tiring out and just wanting everyone to go away. Fortunately for her, as it was a school night, the party was disbanded about eight-ish. With a long stretch and a wide yawn, she made her tiredness known before she relaxed her body and flopped back into the couch.
"Tired?" chuckled Amelia as she came back from sticking Mouse outside, ruffling her bangs.
"Yes."
"Well, your momma and poppa said it was fine for you to stay here for the night." Evelyn looked up at her aunt standing over the couch. Peter had vanished to the bathroom for the minute and somehow the teen just knew Amelia was about to mess with her head. "And I say it's fine for you and Pete to stay in the same room."
Immediately, Evelyn turned scarlet as she felt the embarrassment rise up in her. "Are you seriously condoning…?" she asked weakly, letting the question trail off.
"Sorta," chuckled the heavyset brunette as she leaned onto the back of the couch and folded her arms comfortably before her as she did so along the upright. "I'd rather you than some other idiot girl. Sense you might not have in spades, but you're bright enough to make up for it." That backhanded compliment made the golden teen frown a bit. "And to make sure I don't wind up a grandma at age forty three, here."
And at that moment, Evelyn knew Amelia Brown was evil. Several foil packets all clearly labeled and very, very distinct as to what their contents happened to be were now in her lap and she felt a hot rush of blood to her face as she stared at them.
"Aunt Amy!"
"And make sure to put that piercing to good use!" chirped the woman and Evelyn howled another protesting noise as she tried to figure out what to do with the damned tins.
Her family was absolutely mortifying. Laughing, Amelia walked away as her son returned and the teenage girl hastily shoved the condoms into the most convenient place she could hide them. Down the front of her shirt. The couch was a little too modern to have the usual hiding spots and her pants didn't have pockets.
"What's with her?" wondered Peter, looking to where his mother had vanished into the kitchen, still notably laughing. Like most teens that didn't understand their parents, he wondered if she had finally gone senile or was just that out of touch with reality. When Evelyn didn't immediately respond, he looked to her and saw her beet red face. "What's with you?"
"Your mother is evil," she grunted, standing up. The motion caused Peter's eyes to track down, following the way leather moved along her bottom half. She'd long ago abandoned the red coat in favor of comfort over the course of the evening. "I'm going to go get a shower."
"You're staying the night?"
"Yeah." She arched a brow at him and noted the way he looked considerably lower than even her breasts. "What?" the alchemist asked archly before she could control her mouth. "See something you like?"
"Uh huh," he murmured distractedly. "So… Why leather?"
She shrugged. "Used to wear it all the time."
"Not as far as I remember."
"As my old self, dork."
"Ah… Well, wonder if boy you looked half as good as girl you does in those pants." Reminded of the sharp corners of foil digging at soft flesh, Evelyn fought against the blush that threatened to overtake her. And then she huffed and moved towards the bathroom.
"Whatever."
She never made it to the bathroom because a certain blue eyed, dark haired, glasses wearing behemoth decided it was fine to pick her up and carry her off like a Neanderthal.
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Waking up the next morning had been nice up until the point she recalled it was again a school day. Stretching languidly and casting a glance at the clock, she noted the time of five nineteen and then decided it was time to start moving. Sighing, she maneuvered up and looked back over her shoulder at the sprawled and still-asleep form of her sort-of boyfriend. It wasn't like they dated or even like they did anything particularly special other than mutual assistance with 'relief' like Hughes had done with Mustang, but he was 'sort of' her boyfriend.
Poking said boy in the cheek with a finger, she felt the faint signs of stubble poke back at her. "Hughes… Hughes…" He grumbled as she continued to poke at him. "Hughes, we gotta get up!"
"What time is it?"
"After five."
"Oh, fuck you and the horse you rode in on."
"We've got to go to school."
"Let's call in sick."
"Your mother wouldn't let us." He snorted. "She is the sadistic sort, remember?"
"Which means…?"
"Turn us out without clothes on and laugh at our naked asses?"
"No she wouldn't."
"'Accidentally' broadcast baby videos across our school during a presentation over law enforcement?" There wasn't a peep from Peter until he was suddenly moving and scrambling out of bed. She watched him reach for clothes in a flurry of effort, obviously not wanting the very plausible outcome to happen to him. Not like Evelyn overly feared her status being ruined by a quirky adoptive aunt, but Peter was still far too teenager-ish to completely abandon the idea that a high school social status mattered.
Oh, and it was great to sit back and watch him flail about. It gave her a great view of his bare backside.
Though that soon became hidden. Oh, well.
Standing fluidly, Evelyn also set about getting dressed. She couldn't reuse yesterday's clothes, but with the new shirts she'd gotten and the few other clothes she'd left over here in the past few months she had enough to dress nicely. And one of her new shirts even matched her coat, which she happily donned again but without leather pants or overly snug black shirt.
Before they exited the bedroom, Evelyn cheekily stole a kiss from Peter. Sure, it was wrong to be doing what she was doing, pushing a relationship to a new level only to cut it off, but it felt like neither teen could really help it. It was like a person being told they had a terminal illness. There was no issue taking as much as possible from the world, to make it as lasting and wonderful and incredible as possible. The only difference was, neither of them was going to die… hopefully in Evelyn's case. But they were going to be separated by time and space itself. Well, they would be if everything worked out.
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Wandering out of the school building, Evelyn scanned the parking lot as she tried to discern her mother's car. She'd gotten a text message - and had nearly lost her phone in the process because she'd forgotten to silence it - from Sam that she was going to be picked up after school. Evelyn wondered about the occasion as normally her mother worked until five. Finally spotting the Tahoe, she threaded through the parking lot to where it was. Normally, Sam drove the larger vehicle as she had less tight parking spaces to deal with. Brandon had to park at the precinct and thus chose to drive the much smaller Honda Civic.
Reaching the car, she smiled through the open window. "Hey!" Sam looked up from fiddling on her phone and returned the smile.
"Hey to you, too. What happened to yesterday's clothes?" It was clear she wasn't carrying an overly bulky bag. Opening the door and sliding in, the teen responded.
"Left them at Aunt Amy's."
"You didn't do anything I should know about last night, did you?" It was becoming an increasingly asked question as her parents weren't stupid. They could see their daughter was increasingly behaving in an 'unladylike manner', though thankfully there hadn't been any repeat incidences like the Ferris Wheel or like the other various things Evelyn had either broke, destroyed, or punched over time.
"Nothing to worry about," she returned.
"As your mother, I have every right to worry about you." Sensing that the entire conversation was about to go south soon, she changed the subject. "Bet you're wondering why I came to pick you up."
"Actually, yeah." As the older woman engaged the car into gear and maneuvering the vehicle from the parking lot, she began to speak.
"Well, we'd not given you your birthday present from us. We'd had a change of plans and thought you'd be fine over at Amy's." And she had been except for the part where she'd been a deviant again with Amy's encouragement. "So, your dad and I thought we'd sort of have a second party." Blinking, Evelyn looked over to her mother, going over that in her mind. Considering that it was Friday, it wasn't too far out of the realm of possibility.
"Oh?"
"Just the three of us. Your dad got some nice steaks last night and I thought we could grill them up and fix up all the other fun stuff, like baked potatoes. How does that sound?" Most other teens would have thought having a nice dinner with their parents, steak or no, at home as a 'party' would be boring.
"Sounds good." She wasn't most teens.
"And I even got a sur-prise for des-ser-rt," her mother sing-songed.
Curious now, Evelyn wondered what that evening would bring.
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Flour had gotten everywhere. It was in her hair, on her clothes, and liberally strewn everywhere within reaching distance. For some reason, Samantha had decided that they needed fresh yeast rolls, which was why she'd taken off early so that they could make them together. And, fortunately for Evelyn, she wasn't the only one covered with flour.
"You've got something on your face," Sam advised in a peculiarly serious manner though Evelyn could tell she was laughing. Self-consciously rubbing her cheek on her shoulder, the teen urged her mother into a fit of giggles. "It's just worse!"
"Well, you're no better!" pouted the alchemist.
"Come on, we need to get these rolls done."
"This is a disaster, Mom! Why couldn't we have store-bought them?"
"Because store-bought isn't as good."
Evelyn grumbled as she tried to smack flour off ineffectually. She couldn't disagree. There was a click and her head snapped up just in time to see Sam grinning at the screen of her phone. "Mom!"
"C'mon, Eddie. Smile!"
"I'm covered in flour."
"You look cute!"
"I'm not cute! I'm dirty!"
Sam huffed and spun around the island to sling an arm about her shoulders. "Fine. We'll be the flour girls for a picture. How about that? Can you stand taking a picture with your dear old mom?" Evelyn rolled her eyes only to have that image taken with yet another click from the out-held phone.
"You're not old," she rebuked.
"Good girl. Learn well-applied flattery and you shall go far." Sniggering in response to the dry humor, Evelyn gamely allowed a few more pictures to be taken. "Now to let our dough rise."
"So… Why is there flour all over the kitchen again?" asked Evelyn.
"Because I got a little ahead of myself."
"Scatter-brained engineer."
"Bookworm."
Sniggering again, the two began to work on the other parts of the meal though they remained covered in flour and occasionally took breaks to horse around. It was to this image that Brandon came home to some time later.
"What the…" He stared about in shock at the somewhat destroyed kitchen as the two females froze in the middle of rubbing flour into hair and clothes. There was flour everywhere and not just on them. The tiled floor was covered in the powder, there was streaks of it on the cabinets from where ill-conceived ideas of actually throwing a handful of the powder dampened a bit by water had spattered, and there was no such thing as a clean inch of counter except in the corners. And of course the two females were pale as ghosts.
Staring for a moment longer, Brandon just blinked and then quietly walked away. Evelyn and Sam gave each other a long look and then moved to peer into the living area when they heard the sound of laughter echo from the direction he'd gone. Sure enough, Brandon was sitting there, one hand pressed to his middle as he laughed so hard he was tearing up.
"Hon?" wondered Sam aloud, blinking at his reddening face. The lone male of the family seemed to try and stifle the belly laugh but did so only to the point he was giving muffled chuckles until he looked up to see them again and fell to out-and-out laughing once more.
The two women exchanged a long look. "I think we broke him," mused Evelyn.
"I think you're right," returned Sam.
There was a long moment only filled by laughter.
"Well, it's not fair he's the only clean one," hedged the mother.
"It's only right we help him, yeah?" grinned the daughter.
Immediately they turned to pounce. Brandon found himself being jumped by his two girls, both of whom happily smeared him with flour even as he yelped in horror and tried to get away though all he did was wedge further into the chair.
"No!" he cried, only to find his vest had a hand print on it in flour. "Wait!" His chair was now streaked liberally with white as the two attackers became less coated with the baking essential. "Oh," he groused after a moment. "I give up."
"We win!" chirped Evelyn before bouncing away. Sam notably stayed put. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up, alright?"
"Sounds good, princess," Brandon returned, pouting. "I need to, too, now."
"And we still have to clean the kitchen," sighed Sam, curling onto her husband's lap.
"So what possessed you two to throw flour everywhere?"
"Yeast rolls," drawled his wife. "We were having fun."
"Certainly looked like it." Evelyn grinned at the pair and then moved back to the kitchen to alchemize the flour out of her clothes. At least there she'd be able to knock it all off without upsetting anyone. After a moment, she started sweeping at the tile with a retrieved broom. This way she'd get a bit done while the food was cooking and not have as much to do later.
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Dinner came and went, topped off with a wonderful bit of an ice cream cake. It didn't look like much until they divvied it up and the teen realized how rich an ice cream cake could be. Turned out a little three-by-five cake was worth at least six servings. And as soon as they'd finished that, she'd gotten her present.
"Here," Sam said, holding out a slender flat box. Taking it and briefly examining the bright red paper tied off with gold ribbon, Evelyn found herself smiling. Red was her favorite color. Sliding the ribbon off and tearing the paper open revealed what she expected. It was a plain white jewelry box that was often used to hold either a bracelet or a necklace. Opening it revealed the former rather than the latter.
Taking it up, Evelyn examined the silver charm bracelet. It had a variety of charms on it already.
"We had it done up just for you," Sam told her. There were nine charms total and with the first few she realized they were all related to stories she'd learned here and had taken to. She saw a magnifying glass, an unmistakable TARDIS, a sword, a tiny Enterprise, a similarly tiny Millennium Falcon, a frying pan, a queen chess piece, a broom, and a tiny Serenity. And the one closest to the clasp was of a closed book.
The fact they'd given her such a gift in silver was amazing period, but the happiness of such a gift was cut off by the understanding this was going to be one of last gifts she got from them. As if reading her mind - and she'd not put it past her mother - Sam spoke again. "Do you think you'll be able to take it with you?" Looking up from examining the charms, she gave the two somber looking parents a small frown before giving a deliberate and determined smile.
"Absolutely. I wouldn't dare leave it behind." Her light tone was a little forced, but she supposed she could be forgiven. "Could you help me put this on?"
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The charm bracelet had been an odd weight at her wrist as she toyed with the tiny bits of metal. Of course, there'd be no way she'd be able to wear such a thing visibly while in that other world, but right now she could flaunt her gift. She'd gotten lightly teased by Peter, but he was just as aware the reason why it had been such an extravagant gift. The others of the group were just more firmly convinced Evelyn had the coolest parents.
"Man, I wish my mom would let me do all the things you do," bemoaned Adriana. Peter let out a snort. She looked over at him as he ate on his chili dog. "What?"
"You think…" He swallowed the bite he'd been chewing. "You think they let her get away with everything?" he laughed.
"Well, she got her tongue pierced," Bethany pointed out.
"Ed's more of an 'easier to ask forgiveness than permission' sort."
"Do not speak about me like I can't hear you."
"So, what else have you done?" asked Isaiah with a quick grin. "And got away with?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I've been grounded ten ways from Sunday, had my ass busted, and had every sort of permission revoked. I get away with nothing."
"Then what have you done and gotten in trouble for?"
"Would you like that list bulleted or numbered?" joked Peter.
"Cussing in public, taking God's name in vain, killing the microwave, getting my tongue pierced, punching that dude at the haunted house couple years ago, destroyed the kitchen… a few times, deciding I wanted to learn how a car worked, deciding I wanted to learn how a three hundred dollar camera worked, and a bunch of other stuff." She saw the confused look being directed at her. "You have no idea how boring it is to sit and just watch television."
"What about the time you decided to see if the Mentos and Coke thing was real in the kitchen?"
"Shaddup."
"Or how about the time you cut apart fireworks to fiddle with the powders inside and then ignited them?"
"Shaddup."
"And then there was that time you decided you were going to make a model airplane…"
"Hughes!"
"And flew it through a window… A closed window."
"Seriously?"
Evelyn frowned at the awed expression on Isaiah's face even as Peter delightedly continued. "The time you made a functioning flame thrower and torched part of the yard…"
"That was only once! Y'know, how about that time I made you run around in a pink ballerina tutu? Wanna repeat of that?" Alarmed, Peter motioned zipping his mouth shut.
"You really are crazy, Ed," winced Bethany. And then she considered other stories she'd heard. "Didn't you catch a wild snake once?"
"I remember that story," Adriana grunted. "A corn snake, right?"
Sighing, Evelyn returned to her lunch and hoped that they would stop bringing up past indiscretions soon. It really was boring to do things normal kids did. Sure, she did watch television but it barely held her interest except if it was educational or a favorite tale. Video games and a few comics had passed before her over time, but it was experimenting and building and doing things that usually had her parents cringing which kept her properly entertained. She was usually a season or two behind everyone else when it came to popular shows and was always more interested in scientific literature than fiction though she read her fair share of that, too.
Truth be told, yes, Evelyn was the sort to try to experience everything she could. Fifteen years of living here meant she had to do something and even studying alchemy and magic got boring. Practicing her fighting got boring, too, as she only needed a little time each day to run through forms and doing strength training exercises. School was only diversionary. Every teacher had pretty much given up on getting her to advance through the grades and all of them left her to her own devices. Band took very little time overall and she'd already mastered the flute due to her perfectionist drive. Languages got boring to learn once you understood how to learn them and homework was exceedingly dull. Between all of that and adding in her usual fitful sleep, she had an atrocious amount of time to spend otherwise. And doing nothing usually wound up with one of two results. Brooding over her previous life and experimenting. And usually brooding got depressing enough that she'd fall back on experimenting.
So what if she'd done some destruction along the way? At least she was having fun and still occupied with something other than just television or 'regular people' recreational reading. And she was still the Fullmetal Alchemist even if this was a new body.
The thought led her to patting her pocket where the altered clockwork watch resided. It had to get a little worn looking and she was thankful she had enough silver jewelry she'd not wanted to keep to alter it appropriately. That was one more thing that she could mark off her list of things that had to be completed and one step closer to going back to Amestris. And within it, she'd hidden the gift she'd gotten from Peter, mashing the ear cuff so that it'd fit.
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Toying with the watch incurred, of course, attention at home. She'd just been contemplating things that evening, sprawled on the couch and twisting the chain around into a tight coil before loosing the watch by which she wound it and observing how the light flashed off of the silver as it spun around and around. "You altered it?" Looking 'above' her and over the arm of the couch, she saw Brandon frowning at the redecorated silver.
"Had to," she replied. "I was going to use it as my license."
"License?" he asked. "For what?" His outstretched hand indicated that he wanted to look at it and she consented and handed it over.
"Being a State Alchemist. Every one of them had to carry that as a physical proof." Shifting to stuff her arms behind her head, she continued watching her father as he looked at it and was unsurprised when he tried to open it.
"It's stuck?"
"And allowed to wind down." He looked at her before making a shooing gesture. Obligingly, she sat up and gave him space to sit. He seemed tired, no doubt due to a difficult case he was working on, but still as intent as ever.
"Why?" A loaded question.
"Well… I never looked in it. Never opened it after October third, nineteen eleven." Honey brown eyes looked at her concernedly.
"What happened on October third?" Brandon asked slowly.
"That was the day… Al and I burned our childhood home down. There'd been nothing left for us. We'd virtually abandoned the place after the accident. Too many bad memories, you know?" She knew he was feeling along the altered raised face, inspecting the inscription on the back.
"I think… I understand," murmured the detective. She supposed he did on some level. "So, why a watch?"
"I dunno," she shrugged. "It's like your badge, I suppose."
"And the crest?"
"The animal's the crest of Amestris. The hexagram is linked to alchemy, symbolizing the four elements. Though the simple square configuration also holds to that logic, it doesn't look as fancy."
"And your second name's on the back."
"Mmhm…"
"Such an imposing name for a kid. 'Fullmetal'…" She smirked, her eyes not leaving the coffee table.
"I grew into it."
"So, why don't you open it anymore?"
"Because inside is a date that speaks of my greatest shame being burned down."
"Ah… Well…" He deposited the watch back into her hand. The chain rattled as it slithered free of her hand before reaching its end and jiggling wildly. Looking up at her father, she was met with him reaching to cup her cheek and smooth fingers along it. "You're something else, princess."
"Is that such a bad thing?"
"It is when you dig hunks out of my pocketbook for no good reason." There wasn't much she could say to that.
Still had to try, though. "I had very valid reasons for everything I've done!" His hand went up and promptly mussed her hair, eliciting a shout of horror.
"Keep telling yourself that, Ed. You might be able to convince someone someday." Evelyn wasn't really listening as she was concerned with something far more horrible.
"Stop messing up my hair!"
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Glaring out the window, Evelyn decided she didn't like rain. Period. She didn't like adverse weather at all. Yes, in this life barometric pressure changes didn't wreak havoc on ports, giving the infamous 'weather knee' from chronic pain due to changes in the atmosphere. She wasn't as temperature sensitive, which was actually great for re-learning how to swim. Automail wasn't exactly conducive to floating, after all, and Edward had taken to avoiding any water deeper than his knees for good reason.
"What did the rain do to you?" The question had her looking over to Peter right at her side. He seemed amused as he toyed with her hair. They were laid up one afternoon after school and it had rained off and on most of the day, culminating in a very wet bus ride home.
"Just bad memories," she sighed. "And it's depressing."
"Bad memories?" pressed the bespectacled teen, arching a brow.
"Yup. For some reason, some of my worst memories happened when it was raining." The day of the accident, for one. Nina, for another. Evelyn's mind skittered to when Adriana had jokingly put a long brown costume wig onto her yellow Labrador. It had immediately reminded her of the ruined child and caused her heart to thump painfully while the others laughed at the harmless fun. Fortunately, no one saw the way she'd reacted as they were too caught up with the sweet old animal looking about from beneath artificial tresses, but Evelyn still wished that she or Edward could have done something better than just send her off and let her die.
Even more sadly was the fact that she wasn't even sure she'd met the reincarnation of the girl. Nina had been killed such a short time before Peter and if she'd been immediately reincarnated she would have been fifteen or sixteen by now.
A slight tug on her hair drug her back to the present. "More stuff you won't tell me?" Looking back at Peter once more, for her gaze had drifted back to the window streaked with rain, she smiled slightly.
"Mmm," she hummed in confirmation. She sighed and allowed her head to drop to Peter's shoulder. "I'm going to miss this."
"You've got 'til September, right?" She hummed positively. "Don't go missing what you still have."
"Philosophical much?" the golden haired teen teased. She received a chuckle and a shrug.
"It's what I do in my off hours."
"Oh, Hughes," she laughed. "Don't ever change…"
"That's an awful thing to say. 'Don't ever change'? Are you telling me to die young or something?"
"No!" She was appalled he thought that way and shifted to move away. She was not allowed to get far.
Arms caught hold of her and tugged her back to where she had been and she growled slightly even as he spoke, "If you don't change, you don't grown and if you don't grow, you wind up not learning and if you don't learn, you're probably a lost cause." She grunted at that logic. It sounded pretty infallible. "And if you're a lost cause, it means you're likely on the short track to dying." That was not so infallible.
"That's ridiculous." He just grinned at her.
.
"So… What do you think?" Evelyn considered the pewter disk with its engraved runes. The disk was about forty millimeters in diameter and four millimeters thick. There was a hoop at the top solidly soldered to the round bit of metal, providing a place for the black silken cord to slip through. Said cord was long enough to encircle her neck and hang comfortably just below a neckline for most men's clothing. Finishing it off was a simple silvery lobster clasp on one end and a hoop on the other.
Etched on the surface were a number of enigmatic symbols that were a headache to pick apart but there was a definite theme of masculinity on one side and femininity on the other. It made her think of Janus, actually, the Roman deity of change, transitions, and dualities and the reason January was named as such. The tying in symbols on the female side essentially had 'conceal' connotations and on the male side, the masculine symbols were virtually left alone.
"If I'm reading this right, you made it so that I'm wearing a mask of energy to hide my female features?" she tendered.
"Yes. It only works if you believe it, though. Or project that thought. Centering the thought into the talisman helps promote the energies required to hide the truth. It doesn't work exceptionally well on those with sharper minds or eyes or know you too well. And it doesn't function if there's no skin contact. It relies on your natural presence. Sure, you could take it off and technically concentrate enough to keep it working, but it's essentially a perception filter and the further it is from you, the less effective it will do its job."
"I'm guessing you tested it out?"
Alethea grinned. "Yes, actually. And then I purged it of my energy so you could infuse it with yours so it can be keyed to you. Also, can't go flaunting about dressed as you are right now and hope to make everyone believe you to be a boy." Casting a glance down, Evelyn considered the mid-thigh length khaki shorts and the snug white tank top only partially concealed by a long sleeved button down jean shirt left open.
"Yeah. Suppose you're right. So, how well did it work?"
"I found it worked well in situations where people didn't know you as well. And if you can get people to make assumptions first, even better." Evelyn thought about that.
"In other words, work off a preexisting reputation?"
"Even if it's just a boy's name, like Eli or whatever you're planning on using as your name. Make it masculine, though."
"Like 'Edward'?"
Alethea gave the girl a long look. "Did you just seriously flip out that name? Every time I think 'Edward', I think of that damnable sparkle-pire from that stupid series, 'Twilight'." Evelyn winced. That was one movie and book series that had most sane people cringing over and she'd been born right after a majority of the craze had died down. There'd been a few unfortunate souls born with the names from the books in her grade and Evelyn had been seriously unhappy when it turned out her former life's name was considered top pickings for teasing.
"I was thinking of the original meaning," she muttered.
"Wealth guardian?" She nodded. It was a meaning that Edward had grown into without even realizing it. He was steadfast protective of those he loved, what he considered his 'wealth'. After all, for an orphan family was more valuable than anything else. "That's at least acceptable." Alethea then grinned. "And you fit it so well, too." Before Evelyn could react, the auburn haired woman reached out and pinched her cheek. "So cute!"
"I'm not cute!" she protested as she twisted away. Glaring at the unrepentantly amused woman, the teen rubbed at the spot where she'd been pinched with the back of her hand. "Geez. I don't let my parents get away with that crap. What makes you think I'd let you?"
"Poor, pitiful teenager. Always thinking they're the center of the universe."
"I don't think I'm the center of the universe," Evelyn returned. The shop owner arched a brow as if to say 'yeah, right'. "I'm not. If I was, then I'd have a lot more say with world affairs."
Taking up the amulet she'd dropped on the counter in an attempt to change the subject, Alethea considered the statement. "I suppose so," she drawled, looking at her handiwork. "So, tell me, mini-magician…"
"Who're you callin' so little she'd be flattened-"
"Why do you want to hide your gender?" continued Alethea, long used to Evelyn's short rants and pulling the teen up short. "I've been helping you out since you were six, teaching and guiding. I even did this…" She wiggled the talisman, setting the cord that was attached swinging. "Something I've never experimented with before, to help out your mysterious project that's been going on since you were at least four. Tell me, Evelyn. What's going on? I think I deserve an explanation." Green eyes evaluated a startled Evelyn carefully. "Or, how about I tell you my theory that I've been working on?"
"What theory?" came the wary response.
"First time I met you, you were muttering about time travel and dimension hopping. Stuff straight out of a sci-fi novel. And you wanted concrete methods of doing so. At four. Reading complex science books at four. Oh, don't give me that look," she spat, irritated by the way Evelyn seemed to fidget and seemed astonished. "Yeah, I took you for a five year old that day because I couldn't have taken you for older as you were too small. And you know it. You argued and reasoned like an adult. That's not something normal. And, over the years, you've devoured almost every book that has come through this store. Stuff that, for the most part, is immaterial and fleeting, you seemed to understand and extrapolate from. People get into magic for one reason and that's self-satisfaction. What need are you trying so hard to satisfy that it's taken over ten years to do? Or is it going to take longer?"
Evelyn sat down carefully, mind whirling and blank all at once. "It's all going to be done in September," she murmured.
"What's going to be done?"
"Thea, there's a reason why I've not explained the entirety of my project. It's because I've had to wait my entire life to get to a single point. In September, my project will be complete. And there will be two potential results."
"And they are?"
"I succeed… and get to a very specific place at a very specific time to fix things that need fixing. Or, I fail… and either remain here broken or die outright." Alethea considered this and frowned.
Leaning forward, she asked quietly, "What's so important that you'd risk your life for? Money?"
Evelyn shook her head slowly. "No. Family." Further perplexed, Alethea knitted her brows together. "Don't get me wrong. I love Mom and Dad. They have been amazing parents, but they aren't the ones that cling to a half-life each day."
"Who?"
"My brother."
"You don't have a brother." Her words were given somewhat flatly.
"Not here. Thea, I've never been what people here would define as 'normal'. Hell, my parents have trouble digesting it sometimes that I'd never really been halfway close to it. I play pretend every single day. I keep my head down as much as possible, but sometimes…" She shrugged.
"You're hedging," Alethea pointed out.
"So I am. But this…" She poked the pendant. "This will get me some of what I need when I leave here."
It seemed to come together in the other's head. "You… You weren't always a girl, were you?" she asked.
"I remember two lives. And that previous life had a task that wasn't finished. I refused to forget. My brother needs me." Running a hand through her hair, the alchemist sighed. "And he's not the only one. There's something wrong with my old world and I am one of the few capable of doing something about it."
There was a sudden somewhat disbelieving chuckle from Alethea. "You're telling me that you're some kind of fairy tale hero?" She sniggered again. At the bland look she got from Evelyn, she fell silent. "You're not joking, are you?"
"I'm not a hero," muttered the blonde. "Truth is, I couldn't save anyone."
"Your name was 'Edward', wasn't it?" pressed Alethea. Evelyn nodded, averting her gaze.
"Edward James Elric."
"Y'know, no one has ever proved reincarnation before," tendered the red-head.
"I know five people, including myself, that have been reborn. They, however, don't remember who they used to be."
"That's pretty impressive." Evelyn shrugged. "So, all this magic stuff… Why?"
"Because I need to go back exactly to where I had been, but the cost for that is extremely high. I'd die again if I didn't have enough for the equation. Not to mention…" She sighed. "Alchemy doesn't work that way. Human transmutation is iffy at best, deadly at worst. We'd been trapped in a sort of sub-dimension and the only way I'd been able to reason how to get out had been essentially to transmute myself." Glancing up at the older female, she noted the perfect 'o' her mouth was making. "You know, like turning something into itself. You're not really changing anything. Human transmutation triggers a sort of secondary reaction. My idea was to essentially use that secondary reaction as a way to get back to reality. Problem was, the method was shorted and not enough energy was put into the equation. As I was the last person through, I paid the price."
"This is some serious stuff."
"And it's been about fifteen, maybe sixteen, years since that moment. I figured if I could get close enough to the same age I'd been when I'd died, I could at least mask my gender shift from people that would take advantage of this situation, and do what I needed to do."
Alethea sat there in amazement. And then she shifted forward a bit. "That's… I swear that's something you could write a novel about!"
"I'd rather not."
"Come on," wheedled the woman. "Then I could write about it!" She paused at the look that the other was giving her.
"Let me tell you something, Alethea Gates," she growled softly and dangerously. "My life… Both my lives… They aren't sweet little fairy tales. I died, you idiot. I died at fifteen years old, fighting things that'd make you piss yourself! I fought tooth and nail just to stand back up and I won't have you trivializing my pain for your pleasure!"
"I… I…" The woman stuttered before offering, "I didn't mean to."
"Here's the payment. Thank you for your services." Dumping the cash onto the counter, Evelyn snatched up the pendant and stalked from the store. "Bye." Walking to the bus stop two blocks away, Evelyn concluded it was an abrupt end to a long relationship, but probably for the best, too.
.
.
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Author's Note: Still not condoning underage sex. Eddie's just misbehaving. Like usual.
Please review. I appreciate it.