Chapter Twenty-One – Concerning Kissing, Bets, and More Wishing

I went to bed that night without telling Ed or Al what I thought I had noticed. I was partially afraid of being told that I was wrong, of course Al didn't have wishing powers, you probably heard his wish and then wished it for him. Silly Rebecca.

But still… Al had wished for things to be easy. If I had been the one doing the wishing for him, I would have viewed "easy" in a much different way. I didn't entirely enjoy spilling out my feelings as the easy way of solving problems. "Easy" for me would have been Ed coming back in the room and giving me a hug.

Since I didn't know what at all to make over the situation, I decided not to say anything about it until I understood it better myself. So I went to bed that night feeling like I was going to explode from all the stress. It wasn't the best choice I had made, but I didn't want to deal with the situation. I just wanted all my problems to just go away, honestly.

I had trouble sleeping properly that night. All the bottled up stress ended up leading to tossing and turning for a couple hours before I finally managed to somewhat drift off, though it was nowhere near a comfortable sleep.

Next thing I knew, I was sitting in the Dublith kitchen the next morning, tapping my feet nervously. I had ended up deciding that I would just tell Ed and Al what I had noticed, and then hopefully they would deal with it and I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

"Hey, you look exhausted," a familiar voice said. I glanced up from staring at the table to see Ed standing in the doorway with Al and grinning at me. I smiled back somewhat weakly.

"I am," I muttered. Ed frowned and sat down next to me.

"Are you alright?"

I sighed and opened my mouth to try and say something, but then found that I wasn't at all sure what to say. Ed sighed and shook his head before he leaned forward slightly. I froze as I felt his warm breath wrap around my face. He smelled too good, he was too warm, why did have to be so tempting, for goodness sakes? I sighed and closed my eyes.

And then I felt two hands rest on either side of my face, holding me as if I were some sort of porcelain doll. I opened my eyes again out of surprise. I knew Ed wanted to make sure we kept up the illusion that we were dating in front of Al, but did he had to go that far?

"Tel me what's going on," he muttered. I bit my lip and tried to look away, but as soon as I tried to turn my head, his touch turned from gentle to firm, and he kept me from looking away. I blinked and stared at him.

"You've seemed upset recently," he muttered, and the thumb of his left hand started moving back and forth on my cheek. "I'm worried about you, Ray." I sighed and opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, he leaned forward even farther until he was so close that wouldn't have been able to respond if I wanted to.

Sheesh, was he ever close. Seriously, if he just slipped ever so slightly, we'd end up kissing. Heck, if I even tried talking, it would end up making my lips brush against his. So instead I settled for staring at him with huge eyes as I wondered what on earth he was doing. He sighed and his breath blew into my slightly open mouth.

And then all of a sudden he wasn't even that hair's breadth away from me. I squeaked slightly as his mouth pressed against mine. I had always had a problem with kisses with Joe. He had always seemed more intent on eating off my face than doing anything that actually felt nice. I had assumed that most kisses with guys were like that.

Except Ed's kiss was anything but. It was soft, like he was afraid of how I'd react, or if he'd break me, or something. And he didn't come anywhere near trying to eat off my face. In fact, he was pulling away before I barely even had a chance to register what was happening in the first place. I blinked and stared at Ed. He tried smiling nervously, but then the smile faded away.

And before I knew what I was doing, I was the one leaning towards him. I wasn't even aware of the choice I was making, I just felt an urge to make sure that it wasn't some fluke, that Ed really did kiss better than Joe ever had. It didn't even make sense. Joe was supposed to have been an experienced kisser, and Ed had never kissed a girl before in his life. Maybe Ed's kisses would start getting worse the more he knew what he was doing.

But then I was kissing him again, and I didn't have the time to think about it anymore. Ed's kiss wasn't quite as soft as the first kiss, maybe because I had been the one to start it and had reassured him that it was okay to kiss me?

My thoughts were racing a mile a minute. Okay, what exactly was I supposed to do? I wasn't my "first kiss," but it felt more like a first kiss than any kiss with Joe ever had. Wasn't I supposed to wrap my arms around his neck or something? Well, that did sound nice. Then I could touch his hair.

So I wrapped my arms around his neck while I tried to figure out what else I was supposed to do. Wasn't there supposed to be more movement than we were doing?

Oh, wait, Ed seemed to already understand that himself. He had wrapped his mouth around my bottom lip and almost seemed to be playing with it for a minute before he pulled away, breathed into my mouth, and then leaned back in to wrap his mouth around my upper lip.

Boy, for never having kissed a girl, he sure seemed to know what he was doing.

And hang on. If we were only kissing to keep up the illusion that we were dating, why was he putting so much effort into kissing? He could have just mashed his mouth against mine without doing much else, and it would have looked authentic to Al. Maybe it was because he had never kissed any sort of girl before, and he was excited to know what it was like.

And then he pulled away and looked at me. I felt myself whimper slightly and tighten my arms around his neck. Ed sighed with a slight smile.

"I want to know what's going on with you, Ray," he whispered. "Tell me what's been bothering you, and then I'll go back to kissing you, okay?"

I blinked. Why was he talking to me like that? It was so… weird to hear that sort of tone from Ed instead of Joe. Only Joe made it sound like he was saying that sort of thing out of obligation. Ed made it sound like…

And then it clicked in my head. I felt the blood drain from my face. Oh, man. It wasn't an illusion any more. It just wasn't. No way would Ed talk like that to keep up an illusion. He actually liked me. As more than just a friend. Oh, man. But he was Edward freaking Elric! How could he ever like me?

"Al made a wish and it came true," I blurted out before I knew what I was saying. Normally I wasn't the sort who like to solve problems that way, but something about realizing that Ed actually liked me and was worried about me and trusted me… it loosened my tongue slightly. Ed frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," I sighed, "that Al wished that we would solve our problems the 'easy way' and then you came bursting in the door and confessing to all sorts of feelings. I think Al has wishing powers too."

Ed dropped his hands from my shoulders and stared at me with a deep frown. "No, he doesn't."

"But—"

"If Al had wishing powers, he wouldn't still be stuck in that god dammed suit of armor!" Ed shouted at me before he stormed out of the room. Al glanced quickly between him and me before he started hurrying in the direction Ed went.

"He has a point, Rebecca," Al said before he ran out of the room calling after Ed to calm down.

I sank into one of the chairs by the table. Yes, he had a point. And I had just told Ed one stupid little suspicion, and it had made me lose him just as I finally realized that he actually liked me. So much for that. I didn't blame him. Who would want to keep liking me for very long anyway?

"Ray?"

But I just wanted him to go back to kissing me. I felt tears start rolling down my face. Why couldn't I just have an actual amazing guy for a boyfriend? A real boyfriend, not a "let's keep up the illusion" boyfriend.

"Ray."

I just wanted Ed back. I wouldn't tell him any more of my suspicions if it meant he would come back in the room.

"Rebecca, please."

I blinked. Wait, I knew that voice. I opened my eyes.

And in an instant, the dining room table was gone, and I was lying in my bed with Ed hanging over me, his hair out of its usual braid and hanging loose around his shoulders. He had both his hands on my shoulders and was frowning at me.

"You were having a nightmare," he muttered before he let go of me and sat on the edge of my bed. "Are you alright?"

I licked my lips and sat up. I couldn't even remember the dream I had been having. But my throat hurt, and my eyes felt as if I had just been crying. It sure did seem like I had just been having a nightmare. I bit my lip and looked up at Ed.

And something about how he was watching me made me break down. I felt my chin start wobbling—sheesh, had I been crying a lot recently—and then I leaned forward and buried myself against Ed's chest.

He was frozen for a minute before he sighed and wrapped his arms around me.

"I know, Ray, I know," he whispered. "Those must have been some pretty bad nightmares."

He was being too nice for Ed. I was half worried that I was just going from one dream to another. And I still didn't know what my nightmare had been about. It bothered me that it was right there on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't place what it had been about. I just knew that hugging Ed was extremely comforting.

"Don't leave me," I croaked out before I knew what I was saying. Ed's hands paused for a slight minute before I felt his chest move with a heavy sigh, and then he went back to rubbing my back.

"I won't," he muttered. "You're one of my best friends, Ray, I'm not going to leave you."

I blinked and pulled away from Ed to stare at him. "Best friends?" I repeated. Ed snorted slightly and grinned at me.

"Yeah, best friends."

I frowned and looked away from him to think over that idea. It was easy to sit in that room and remember just how far we had really come. I had started out by meeting Ed because he was mad that I was sleeping in "his" bed. And now I was sitting on the same bed with him, and he was there saying we were best friends.

"Whatever happened to hating me?" I croaked out as I wiped at my eyes. Ed chuckled.

"I guess we… moved past that," he said in a low tone. It was a little hard for me to hear. "You got a little hard to hate after a while."

I felt a smile creep across my face. Ed was so different from so many other people I knew. He was amazingly great to hang around.

Something about the moment, right then, felt like it would be perfect for me to just blurt out to Ed that I liked him in a more than just friends sort of way. I opened my mouth to try, but nothing came out. Ed watched me for a minute before he sighed and pulled me into a hug.

"Best friends," he whispered.

I shut my mouth again. I didn't have to tell him right away. I didn't have to ever tell him, really. I didn't want to ruin our friendship by admitting I wanted more. Even if a relationship with him for real would have been amazing, just being friends with Ed was too amazing in itself for me to want to do anything that could make me need to give it up.

So I stayed silent.

I ended up hugging Ed until I fell asleep again. Luckily, I didn't have any nightmares when I was sleeping in his lap. He seemed more okay with the whole situation than I ever thought he even could be. He just sat on my bed and stroked my hair until I fell asleep. Which was not hard to do when he was treating me like that. And also was probably part of the reason why I didn't have more nightmares.

When I woke up again, Ed's hand was still on top of my head, but no longer moving. And he was also very quiet. I grinned and glanced up at him. He was asleep. I smiled and put my head back down. I didn't really want to crawl out of his lap anyway, and I could use the excuse of saying that I hadn't wanted to wake him by moving around.

"Rebecca..." he muttered, and his hand clenched a chunk of my hair. I glanced up with a frown. His eyes were still closed, so he was still asleep. He was just talking in his sleep.

"No, not Rebecca," he muttered, and squirmed in his sleep. "Not her… take me instead… no… Rebecca!"

I sat up and looked at Ed. He still kept his hand gripping my hair. He looked like now he was the one having a nightmare. I bit my lip and leaned forward slightly.

"Ed, it's okay," I whispered.

"Rebecca..." The worried look on his face lessened somewhat, but he still looked upset. I sat there biting my lip and wondering what to do.

And then I decided that I wasn't going to stop myself from doing something just because I was worried about the message it could send. He was asleep, after all. He wouldn't know I was sending him messages of more than just friends.

So I leaned forward and place my hands on his cheeks. Ed stopped wriggling immediately.

"Ed, it's okay," I whispered. "I'm right here. I'm okay." He seemed to calm down slightly, but he also kept a look of strong worry on his face.

"Truth…" he muttered. "Take you… I can't let…"

I felt myself freeze for a minute, but I kept trying to comfort Ed as if nothing had happened. "It's alright, he can't get me. I'm right here."

Truth? He was dreaming that Truth was trying to "take me"? And then he was offering himself to be taken in exchange for me? But he was only supposed to have those sorts of dreams bout Al. Not about me.

He really had meant it when he had said we were best friends. I smiled slightly.

"Don't leave…" Ed muttered, making me snap out of my thoughts just in time to see him let go of my hair and shift in his position until he was the one in my lap. I felt myself freeze between a twist of excitement and of nervousness.

But as if that wasn't enough, he then wrapped his arms around me and snuggled his face deep against my belly. I squeaked in surprise, then sighed and looked down at him.

He was curled up in the fetal position around me, and burying his face against me still didn't hide the deep frown on his face. He looked so vulnerable. I sighed and started rubbing his hair like he had done for me when I had fallen asleep.

I had already gotten all the sleep I needed, so I wasn't able to do much of anything. I couldn't move because I didn't want to disturb Ed. I couldn't sleep because I wasn't tired. I couldn't even read because I couldn't reach my book, and Al wasn't there to hand it to me. I hadn't seen Al in the room all night, actually. I frowned. What was up with that? I thought Al was always wherever Ed was. Al wasn't still upset with Ed, was he?

So I ended up sitting with Ed for hours, rubbing at his hair and getting lost in my own thoughts. Every now and then, Ed would moan slightly and shift in his sleep, which was the cue for me to assure him that I was still there and still okay, don't worry. That seemed to usually calm him down before his dreams could get any worse.

Ed was still asleep by the time the clock hit ten o'clock in the morning. It was getting late and Ed still wasn't awake. I was beginning to worry that someone would come in to make sure we were getting up and would catch us curled up together. Not that it would matter anyway. Everyone in the house thought we were dating as it was.

"Rebecca…" Ed muttered in his sleep. I sighed and started rubbing his hair again, realizing I had paused as I had been thinking.

"It's okay, Ed. I'm still here. I'm not going to leave you."

Something about those words sounded very familiar. I licked my lips and tried to remember where I had heard them before.

And then it hit me. Ed had said the same words to me before I had fallen asleep in his lap. I smiled and looked down at him. So we had both said we weren't going to leave the other one. That was actually pretty comforting to know. It meant we would continue to be together until we decided for ourselves that we didn't want to be together.

Wait, that made it sound almost as if we were in a relationship. I frowned and bit my lip. Well, we were in a relationship, I suppose you could say, but that made it sound as if it were a romantic relationship. And it wasn't. We were friends—very close friends—but just friends.

"Rebecca?" Ed shifted beneath me.

"It's okay," I muttered out of habit. "I'm right here. It's okay."

A heavy sigh escaped from Ed and then he shifted again. I glanced down and noticed that for the first time in a while, I could actually see his bright golden eyes. I grinned and pulled my hand away from his hair.

"Well, good morning," I said. He groaned and sat up.

"Mornin'," he muttered. "…Sorry about that."

"You were just having nightmares. I thought I'd return the favor you gave me."

Ed paused for a minute. "Yeah… This is probably the first time I've woken up from nightmares without knowing I would be covered in bruises," he said as he started to slowly grin. I wanted to grin back at him, but his words sounded heavier than he was trying to make them.

"You're usually covered in bruises after you have nightmares?"

Ed paused and looked away. He had obviously been hoping I would glaze over that if he had treated it like it was no big deal. "Well… yeah. I usually thrash around a lot more and hit the wall, or my own automail… whatever's hard and nearby."

I frowned again. That didn't sound very pleasant at all. Even when I did have nightmares, I didn't normally end up with bruises from them. That was some pretty bad nightmares.

"Well, guess we should go eat breakfast," Ed said, trying to lighten the mood again as he stood up. I heard a creak from his automail as he did so. Maybe I was just over-worrying after he had mentioned that he got bruised so often during nightmares. I sighed and stood up. Ed glanced over at me and sighed as well.

"Look, Ray, it's no big deal. Just a few bruises, usually. And you stopped me from doing even that last night," he said. I bit my lip and glanced up. Ed grinned at me. "You were awesome for doing that."

Then I couldn't help but grin. Edward Elric had just called me awesome. I wanted to have a recording of that. That was enough to bring me out of almost any bad mood. Ed grinned back at me and headed for the door.

"Come on, I'm starving," he said, and then glanced around the room. "Hey, where has Al been all night, anyway?" I shrugged. I had been wondering the same thing myself while Ed had been asleep.

We headed down to the dining room, even though it was slightly past breakfast time. Izumi usually made something for breakfast, but that was around six in the morning. Which, did I need to mention, her schedule was insane? But then again, she and Sig probably needed to wake up early in order to open the meat shop on time.

"Guess they're all in the shop or something," Ed sighed when he noticed the dining room was empty. He ran a hand through his bangs, and then grinned and shrugged. "Eh, no matter, we can make breakfast for ourselves."

I snorted. "I thought that you burned everything you cooked! What are you going to make?"

Ed glanced at me and crosses his arms across his chest with a huff. "I do not burn everything I cook!"

"Says you," I laughed. I remembered the anime too vividly. Sure, he would say he could cook, and then he'd just burn it, and then Al would sigh and take over. That was just how the world worked.

"Do you wanna bet?" Ed said with half a growl to his voice as he stepped closer to me. I grinned at him.

"Sure, but I don't have money."

"The best bets aren't done with money," Ed said with a smirk. "If I can cook breakfast, then you…" he paused for a minute. I thought I saw a slight blush to his cheeks. What was he thinking about?

"You… can…" Ed paused and licked his lips. "Well… make cookies!"

I frowned. Make cookies? What sort of a prize was that, anyway? "I don't know how to make cookies," I said slowly. Ed sighed and waved his hand.

"If I win, it'll prove that I know how to cook anyway, and then I'll just teach you how to make cookies."

"Then why not just make them yourself?" I laughed. Ed made a face and stuck his tongue out at me.

"Because it's more fun this way."

I sighed and shook my head. "Alright, fine."

"What do you want if I ruin breakfast?"

Now there was a hard question. Anything I really wanted, I could just get by wishing. If wanted some sort of prize from Ed, it'd be something that included him having free will in the matter.

I felt my face drain slightly. What was I going to wish for, a kiss from him?

"Um… I don't care," I muttered. Ed turned from looking at the ingredients in the cupboard to give me a confused look.

"If you don't care, why are we having a bet in the first place?" he asked. I shrugged. "But there has to be something you want."

Yeah, I wanted to know if Ed actually liked me as more than a friend or not. But I didn't know how to make that into a wish.

Well… actually…

"If you ruin breakfast, I want you to answer any one question I ask of you truthfully," I blurted out before I realized what I was even saying. Ed stared at me for a minute and then smirked.

"Done. Too bad I'm going to win. I'm a bit curious what you want to ask."

I chuckled nervously and then stepped up to the counter Ed was standing at.

"Is there some way I can help?"

Ed glanced at me and blinked, then shrugged. "Sure, as long as you help little enough that you know for sure that I can cook."

I laughed. "Well, I can't cook anyway, so I'd hinder more than help your chances."

"Oh, I see how it is!" Ed said with a laugh. "You're just trying to stop me from getting my cookies!"

I laughed and then watched as Ed pulled out eggs and cheese and who knows what all else. He at least seemed comfortable in the kitchen, whether he could cook or not. And he seemed happy too. It was hard to not be happy watching him.

'I could easily get adjusted to this sort of life,' I thought with a grin as I watched him start slicing the cheese. 'If only every day were like this.'

"Stir," Ed commanded, making me jerk back to the present and grab a bowl from him. It looked like eggs with all sorts of other stuff in it. I chuckled and grabbed the spoon from Ed, and started stirring while he grabbed a frying pan and butter. I started humming to myself and shifted the bowl to my hip. It felt more comfortable that way.

And then there was a clang. I stopped stirring and looked up at Ed. He was staring at me and the frying pan was on the floor. I frowned and put the mixing bowl back on the corner.

"Ed? Are you okay?"

"You… You…" Ed stammered, then shook his head and swallowed. "What do you mean you don't know how to cook?"

"Huh?"

"You were stirring like you… and you were humming… and you put it on your hip… and…"

I blinked in surprise and Ed sank to his knees and buried his face in his hands. I frowned in surprise and then hurried to him and sat down in front of him.

"Ed? What's wrong?"

He pulled away from his hands and stared at me, then sighed heavily before he stood up again. I stood up as well.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"What happened?"

"I…" Ed trailed off and then looked at me. Something flashed across his face before he sighed and shook his head. "You just… you looked just like Mom for a minute."

I blinked. My hair was definitely too short to be like his mom's. I couldn't even put my hair in a ponytail, in the first place. I frowned and cocked my head to one side. Ed sighed and picked up the frying pan.

"She always stirred things balanced on her hip," he said a soft voice. "And she always sang while she cooked. And you just… it's nothing, I guess." I nodded slowly and then picked up the mixing bowl again, being sure not to put it on my hip or to hum while I stirred. Ed put butter in the frying pan and spread it around, then held out his hand for the mixing bowl. I handed it to him silently and watched him pour the eggs into the pan.

"She's the one who taught me how to cook," Ed whispered while he stirred the eggs.

Needless to say, the anime seemed to be wrong about Ed's cooking abilities. His eggs turned out wonderfully, enough so that I had a hard time not eating any more after I was full. But he didn't say a word about when I would have to bake cookies.

"Hey, what are you two doing?" Al asked as he walked in the room. Ed and I jerked and looked up at him, then at one another, and then we both shrugged in unison. Honestly, we hadn't really been doing much of anything. We had both been sitting together on the sofa and not saying a word to one another. I had figured Ed was so lost in his thoughts that I didn't want to disturb him.

"Did you guys get in a fight or something?" Al asked and cocked his head to one side. Ed and I glanced at one another and then back at Al.

"No," we said in unison. Al considered us for a minute, then sighed and sat down on the floor in front of us.

"Where have you been recently, anyway?" Ed sighed, leaning forward and resting his chin in the palm of his hand. Al shrugged.

"Well, you two weren't awake earlier, and then Teacher said she wanted to go grocery shopping and asked if I wanted to go with her, and I said I would."

"Yeah, but why weren't you in the room through the night?"

Al chuckled and shook his head. "Well, you may not realize it, Brother, but it can get a bit awkward to stay in the same room as you two during the night."

I blinked and cocked my head to one side. Why would it get awkward? I glanced over at Ed. He was staring at Al with wide eyes and a blush on his cheeks.

"But… we don't…" he coughed.

Al chuckled and shook his head. "Better safe than sorry with the way you two get." Ed coughed again and looked away from Al as his blush got darker. I frowned and looked at him.

"What's he talking about?"

"Nothing, Ray!" he said, waving his hands frantically. I frowned and shrugged. I wasn't sure why Ed didn't want to tell me whatever Al was talking about, but I figured it didn't really matter anyway.

And then from there, we fell into silence again. I sighed and looked away from Ed, and felt Al look between us.

"There's something definitely going on with you two," Al said with a sigh. Ed jerked, making his knee brush against mine.

"There's nothing wrong," Ed muttered. Al sighed and shook his head.

"Alright, that settles it. Talk. Both of you." I blinked and turned to look over at Al.

"I don't really know what to talk about," I sad with a frown. Al sighed and shook his head.

"Yes, you do. Just say whatever's on your mind."

A moment of silence passed between all three of us before Ed finally sighed and scratched the back of his head. Al and I both turned to look over at him. He shook his head and sighed again. Then I realized that Al was right. Something was definitely bothering at least Ed. He looked stressed.

"I've been keeping too much from you recently, Al," Ed said with another sigh. "I'm tired of all the secrets."

"Then tell me what's going on now."

"You won't believe me."

"You won't know for sure until you tell me and give me a chance to react."

Ed groaned and looked back up to stare at Al. Al stared back at him with a stony face, though that was majorly helped by the armor helmet.

"You're so stubborn," Ed muttered.

"So are you," Al said with a chuckle. Ed chuckled with him and shook his head.

"I guess you have a point there."

"So are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Ed paused and then looked over at me, as if he was waiting for some sort of approval or something. I grinned at him and nodded, hoping that would encourage him. Heck, if he needed to talk things out with Al in order to feel better, then I figured that he should talk. I didn't like seeing Ed so upset.

"Alright," Ed sighed. Another moment of silence passed between the three of us and Ed seemed to be organizing his thoughts while Al and I waited patiently for him to talk.

"Well, for starters, Rebecca has really strong… wishing powers," Ed sighed. "As in, she can wish for something, and it happens, no equivalent exchange or anything. And you used to know that she had these sorts of powers, but then you lost all your memories."

"I did?" Al blinked.

"Yeah. Everyone lost their memories of Ray, actually. I was the only one who remembered her," Ed said slowly. I licked my lips and nodded. Al continued being silent. "And then something changed, and suddenly everyone remembered her, but they remembered her as being my girlfriend."

"So you're saying that you two haven't actually been dating for five months?" Al said slowly. Ed closed his eyes and nodded. "But… I can remember it all so vividly, and… none of those memories are real?"

"Not as far as I know," Ed sighed. "It could always be that you have the real memories and Ray and I had all our memories wiped and replaced."

I blinked and thought over that for a minute before groaning. Ed and Al glanced over at me. "My brain's starting to hurt," I moaned. Al chuckled.

"Well… what are we supposed to do about this?" Al said after a minute. Ed sighed and shrugged.

"Hell if I know. I just want to know what's going on." Al nodded and looked over at me. I licked my lips and looked at my lap. Both Ed and Al would want me to talk about whatever I had on my mind, now that Ed had talked. And I actually had something that could help. But... I was worried about mentioning it. Some part of me worried that both brothers would stand up and walk out on me if I suggested that Al had wishing powers.

Well, if that happened, I could always wish that they would come back until we all worked everything out and completely understood one another. I sighed and nodded my head. That seemed like a plan, at least.

"I noticed something interesting earlier yesterday," I started slowly. Al nodded as a way of seeming to say that he wanted me to keep talking.

"Well, you know how I have wishing powers and all, right?" I said. Ed and Al both nodded, Ed slightly more enthusiastically than Al. "And do you remember yesterday when Ed stormed off for a while and then came back and started admitted to all sorts of feelings?"

"Yeah, I remember that," Ed said slowly. "That was weird as hell."

"Oh, that's what Brother was ranting about for a few minutes," Al said with a laugh. "He was going on about 'wishing' for a few minutes and I had no idea what he was referring to."

"Yeah," I said with a laugh. "But do you remember what you said right before he stormed back in, Al?" Al was silent for a few minutes and scratched his head.

"I just remember wishing that you two would solve things the easy way instead of making it so hard."

Ed inhaled sharply beside me. I glanced over at him. He stared at me for a minute and then looked back at Al.

"That would be the sort of easy way Al would want to get a problem fixed," he said slowly. He then turned and looked back at me. "What would be the 'easy way' for you for a problem to get solved?"

I licked my lips and thought for a minute. "The easy way would have been... well... probably you coming in and giving me a hug and saying it was okay and you were sorry, and then everyone would just forget about it." Ed snorted and shook his head.

"Yeah, I don't think you wished it for Al," he said with a chuckle. "Which means that... Al must have wishing powers too," Ed said slowly as he turned back to look at Al. Al was silent for a minute before he looked down at his own hand.

"But... then why don't you have your body back yet?" Ed said slowly. "Wouldn't you just wish for that and get it back?"

"Not until you get arm and leg back, Al responded firmly and almost instantly. Ed sighed and shook his head.

"Yeah, that would be why."

Silence passed over the three of us for a few minutes before Al clenched his hand in a fist and looked back up.

"But, Brother... then why haven't YOU gotten you body back yet? Wouldn't I just wish for you to get your body back first, and then we'd both be normal?" Ed winced and looked away.

"Well…" he sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Maybe it wouldn't work if… I dunno."

"What?" Al and I said together, both leaning forward. Ed sighed and looked back at us.

"Well, you know how I said that everyone lost their memories of Rebecca," he said slowly, phrasing it more like a statement than a question. I nodded slowly.

"Well... right before everyone suddenly forgot about her... I sort of... well, wished we could have a new start, basically."

I blinked and stared at Ed. Wait, was he just saying that he had wishing powers too? Did everyone suddenly have wishing powers? So I wasn't some crazy powerful freak? Wait, Ed was the one who had made everyone's memories of me disappear? Why would he even want that?

"Sorry, Ray," Ed muttered, scratching the back his head.

"It's okay," I said slowly. "It all worked out anyway, didn't it?"

"I guess."

"So…" Al said slowly, and we both looked over at him. "Then are you saying that maybe neither of us has our bodies back because I'm wishing for you to get yours back first, and you're wishing for me to get mine back first, and our wishes are cancelling one another out?"

Ed chuckled and nodded. "You catch on fast, Al."

I blinked and looked between the two. That was why they weren't getting their bodies back? They were just being stupid stubborn Elrics and both being ridiculous. I snorted and shook my head.

"So we all have wishing powers, then?" I said slowly. Ed sighed and looked away.

"I suppose so."

"So then who wished for you two to be dating?" Al said with half a chuckle. Ed and I both stiffened and snapped to look over at him. "I mean, it's pretty obvious that's another one of these wish things."

"What, really?"

"Naaah, I don't think so."

Ed and I both jerked and looked at one another, speaking frantically and over one another. So he didn't even want to think I liked him then. I sighed inwardly. Great.

"Have it your way," Al laughed. "So... what should we do now?"

"I don't know," Ed sighed and shook his head.

"Well, for starters, I wish I know all the same memories you guys have been talking about, so I could understand things better."

Ed and I blinked and stared at Al, who was still for a minute before he sighed and held a hand to his head.

"Well, I suppose that confirms that," he said with a chuckle. "I'm able to wish like Rebecca can."

"So you have your memories back?" Ed said, leaning forward. Al nodded. Ed was quiet before he grinned and leaned back on the sofa again.

"Awesome," he muttered. "Now we can think of a proper plan."

"Well, Envy was the one who first told us about Rebecca's wishing powers, right?" Al said slowly. Ed blinked and nodded. "Well, maybe he knows more than that."

"Good idea, Al," Ed said slowly. "The only trick to that would be making sure he wouldn't hurt Ray but that he would also be willing to talk about whatever he knows."

"Sounds tricky," I muttered. It was Envy we were talking about, after all. Ed sighed and nodded.

"But we'll figure something out," Ed said with a smirk. "We have been fighting this guy for a few years, anyway. And besides, we have three wishers among us, and he's got none."

I nodded and grinned. I wasn't sure what we were going to do, but I definitely trusted Ed to come up with a good plan.

Author's Note:

Woot! I actually got another chapter done! This makes me happy inside. I've also been planning out what's going to happen for the rest of the story. And we're actually getting close to the end! Whoo! Whaddya mean that makes you sad? Meh. Crazy readers.

I love Ray and Ed together. They'll be together eventually, I swear. Al's not going to let them get away with their avoidance much longer. Lol.

21 chapters?! Do you guys believe it? I sure don't. That's 63 of my normal sized fanfic chapters, oi.