Chapter 1.7: A Home-cooked Meal

The door to the farmhouse suddenly creaked open, causing Ren to tense up, half-expecting another strange monster to pop out. What he wasn't expecting was to find an old lady with curly grey hair and tiny round glasses to walk out onto the patio. She adjusted her glasses, peering at each of them one at a time. "Oh dear," she said, placing a hand on her cheek, as a small pink dog peered out from between her legs. "Are you travelers?"

"T-travelers?" Edward repeated, incredulously. "Do you get many travelers?"

"Well… no," she admitted. After some silence passed, she asked, "Would you like to come in?"

Everyone exchanged a look. "If… you would allow us," Mikasa finally said, bowing her head slightly to be polite.

"Of course." She chuckled. "I've never had seven people join us for dinner." She turned to the inside of the house and yelled, "Eustace. We have guests! Could you please set the table?!"

"Quiet, woman!" Came a nasally and cranky voice from inside. "I'm trying to get the stupid telly to work. God dang thing…!"

"Alrighty then," the lady said without missing a beat, walking inside her home with the dog following close behind. "Courage, be a dear, and set the table for our guests, please." The pink dog, whose name was apparently Courage, bounded away. The lady looked back at the worn-out group. "Are you coming inside?"

They all exchanged a look. "S-sure," Mami said, being the first one to follow her inside. One by one, they entered the house.

It was small, cramped, but homey and warm. Ren felt himself relax unconsciously. For the first time since waking up in that tower, he felt truly safe in a way.

In what he assumed as the living room, a stick of an old man was currently pounding his fist against an old television. "God dang technology," Eustace muttered, completely ignoring his guests. "I want to see some funnies!"

"Ignore Eustace," the old lady said. "He's just having trouble with the television. It hasn't been working since yesterday afternoon."

Takuya blinked. "Yesterday afternoon?" he echoed. "Isn't that when we all woke up inside that tower?"

"It is," Mami agreed.

Toph leaned over to whisper into Mine's ear. "Hey… what's a television?"

"Uh…" Mine shrugged. "No idea."

The eight of them were led into a small dining room. The table was small, but the lady had brought out extra chairs for them to sit at and it was piled with food. No Japanese food like Ren was used to, but there was gravy, mashed potatoes, and even fried chicken. "This is…" he said slowly, as his stomach rumbled. "Thank you, Miss…"

"Oh, you can just call me Muriel, dearie." Muriel patted his cheek. "Just eat up. I'm sure you've had a long journey if y'all have been walking all this time. The nearest town is far without a vehicle."

"Town?" Mine noted, as they all sat down, tentatively poking the food, as if it would explode in their faces.

Morgana hoped off Ren's shoulder and onto the floor, where the pink dog, Courage, placed a small plate of food in front of the cat. Morgana blinked. "T-thanks," he said uncertainly, momentarily forgetting that the dog probably couldn't hear him speak.

Courage nodded and left Morgana to eat in peace.

"Yes the…" Muriel's face went slack for a moment. "I-I'm sorry, dears… It seems like I've forgotten exactly how to get to the town."

Mikasa frowned. "You forgot?"

"Do you know anything about that giant eyed monster?" Mami asked, doing her best to describe the thing in one simple sentence.

Muriel's eyes lit up in recognition. "Oh yes!" she said nodding rapidly. "I believe they introduced themselves as Crowds."

Toph narrowed her eyes. "Crowds? And they introduced themselves to you?"

"Yes, they were quite nice." Muriel chuckled. Morgana noticed that Courage, who had been normally cheery since they arrived now looked a little apprehensive at the mention of the Crowds.

"Do you know what they are?" Mami asked.

Muriel grew quiet. "No, I couldn't tell you," she finally said after a moment. "I apologize for now being much help…"

"Oh um…" Mami suddenly felt a little guilty. "You don't need to worry about that. I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"Yes well…" She smiled softly. "Let's forget about all that now," she insisted, kindly. "I'm sure you are all starving. Eat up now! Besides Eustace isn't going to have anything until he fixes the telly, so there's more for you!"

"This is great!" Edward had already piled some chicken onto his plate and was now chowing down. "Finally, some actual food!"

Mine looked disgusted. "Do you have any tact?" she hissed.

Edward rolled his eyes. "Listen I haven't eaten anything since I left Fort Briggs," he explained, before tossing a piece of chicken in his mouth and chewing. After he was done, he continued, "The last thing I had was that candy Ren had."

"Would you like more?" Muriel asked sweetly.

Edward's eyes lit up. "You're way nicer than that old hag." Who Edward was referring to was lost to Ren.

They ate in silence for a little while, with only the sounds of Eustace kicking the television in the background. Finally, after a little while, Ren cleared his throat. "Excuse me," he said, still curious. "Do you know where we are?"

Muriel blinked. "You're in my home of course."

"Not like that." Mine rolled her eyes. "What is this place? What the hell was with the monsters that attacked us? Why is everything around here so barren?"

"Oh." Muriel blinked. "Well, I would have to assume it's because of that god."

They all stopped what they were doing to stare at Muriel. "God?" Ren repeated.

"Yes…" Muriel said slowly. "I believe… well it is rather hard to describe…"

"What is its name?" Edward asked.

"Well it's very big…" she continued. "Like a very deep ocean… you can't see its bottom. Very… very vast." She fell quiet and it took Ren a moment to realize that she was waiting for them to say something.

"Ok…" he said slowly. "But what's its name?"

Muriel's face scrunched up in confusion. "Its name…?" she asked. "I-I don't think it has a name. It's a very big… and empty," she added. "It has a lot of space." She frowned. "I'm sorry for not being as much help as you wanted me to be. My memory isn't as great as it used to be…"

"No… it's alright. Don't worry about it," Ren assured her, but he couldn't help but think about what she had described. A god with no name? And the way that she described it made little sense. It didn't sound like she was describing a person. Ren had faced two supposed gods in his lifetime, a surprising feat for someone his age, but neither one sounded anything like the one that Muriel had described.

Takuya poked his food, his appetite now thoroughly ruined. "A god…" he muttered.

Mine nudged him. "Eat," she ordered as he looked at her in surprise. "There's no use thinking about it. Better just to get some food in yourself."

"R-right." Takuya picked his spoon back up and began to shovel some more of the potatoes into his mouth. It wasn't anything special, but after eating only candy for the past day, it was a godsend.

The only one who had yet to touch their food was Mikasa. She looked to be deep in thought to Ren, but he couldn't guess what was on her mind. Finally, she looked Muriel straight in the eyes. "Do you mind if we stay the night?" she asked much to Ren's surprise. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind.

Muriel gave her a wide smile. "Of course, dearie!" she said cheerfully. "I know how much trouble it is to travel this world. You're free to stay as long as you need!"

"Muriel!" Came the obnoxious voice of Eustace from the other room. "Get over here! And bring the ladder!"

"Coming!" Muriel gave her guests a warm smile. "Feel free to have as much as you'd like." She and the pink dog left, leaving the eight of them alone.

Edward swallowed some of the chicken. "They're nice," he noted.

"Why'd you ask that?" Toph asked Mikasa.

Mikasa was silent for a moment. "I think we need to talk about what we're going to do next."

"Wha d'ya meem?" Takuya asked, talking with food in his mouth.

"She's allowing us to stay in her house as long as we need," Mikasa noted. "If all three of them have been here for an entire day with nothing happening, then it might be safe here."

"You think that we should stay here for the time being," Ren surmised. "Instead of risking our lives fighting whatever else is out there."

"You can't be serious!" Mine exclaimed. "We can take whatever that thing was! What did she call it… the Crowds?"

"We barely understand what it was," Edward grumbled. "Neither do we know anything about that serpent." He sighed. "We're basically traveling around blind. If Ms. Muriel's offer was genuine maybe you should stay here for safety."

"You?" Takuya raised an eyebrow.

"I can't stay here," Edward explained. "I have my younger brother, Alphonse to think about and the rest of my country. I have a responsibility."

"I'm much the same," Mikasa agreed. "I have my duty to the Survey Corps and Eren…" She looked at the others. "I need to find a way back. But if you just are trying to survive, then it might be best to stay here."

They all exchanged a look. "Muriel mentioned a god…" Ren said slowly, placing a hand to his chin.

"A god, huh?" Morgana muttered. "Well, it's not like we haven't faced our fair share of those."

"She didn't really give us a name," Toph pointed out. "All she did was describe it. Badly. Didn't even make any sense."

"You're not that powerful to face a god yourself, aren't you?" Mine said dryly to Mikasa.

"I can take care of myself," Mikasa said curtly.

A strange tension settled among the group, only broken by Takuya looking defiantly at Mikasa. "I want to keep going! I'm not about to give up and run away like a coward again!" he exclaimed. "Besides we took down that sea serpent together! If we work together then there's nothing we can't do!"

"Look how that worked when we were fighting the Crowds," Edward muttered.

"Listen I'm not about to stay here with that grump of a man," Toph said. "I want to get back to my friends."

"I have people I left too," Mami said, wringing her hands. "They must be scared out of their minds about the fact that I disappeared. I can't imagine what they're going through right now without a mentor to guide them."

"The food is great and all, but I'm not staying here," Mine insisted. "Takumi…" She huffed. "Well, I need to get back to someone that's all."

"A lover?" teased Toph.

Mine flushed. "S-shut up!"

"I don't think anyone has any desire to stay here," Ren explained. "We all have people waiting for us back at our respective homes."

Mikasa was silent for a moment before nodding. "Alright. I suppose we started together in that tower. No reason for us to split up now." She leaned back in her chair. "In that case, we should at least stay here and the rest of the night. We'll leave in the morning."

"We can't exactly go back to where the Crowds are," Edward reasoned. "So, I guess we're going to have to keep walking."

"She mentioned a town," Ren noted.

"She also didn't know how to get there," Mine argued.

Ren was about to say something but suddenly felt something tug on his pants. Glancing down, he noticed Courage. The pink dog had apparently returned while they were talking. Ren glanced at Morgana, thinking that maybe he would know what Courage wanted.

Morgana, however, just tilted his head to the head. "I think he wants to show you something?" the cat said uncertainly.

Courage pulled a thin old yellow folded piece of paper from behind him. He unfolded it into a map about twice his size and handed it to Ren. Ren glanced at it for a moment and, after making some space on the table, placed it down for everyone to see.

Humorously it was a pretty undetailed and empty map. There were only three real notable places of interest detailed on it. Ren could see the house and windmill in the top left corner along with the field of telephone poles hugging the left edge of the map. In the middle of the map was a collection of buildings, just small enough for Ren to assume that it was a town.

Edward glanced at the compass and scale that were tucked in the bottom right of the map. "Judging from the scale…" he said slowly. "That isn't that far. About a day of walking, if we left in the morning."

Ren looked down at Courage and smiled. "Thanks. You really helped us out."

Courage gave him a toothy grin and bounded out of the dining room, clearly pleased with himself.

"Right then." Ren looked back on the others and couldn't help but smirk. "I suppose we have our destination."

Xxx

The idea that Muriel and Courage could betray them had crossed Ren's mind several times before he fell asleep, but it proved to be unfounded. All of them had slept rather peacefully, with the girls in the guest room and the boys sleeping on the living room floor, with Morgana curled up nearby. Nothing was amiss when they woke up.

In fact, as they were getting ready to leave, Ren was suddenly handed a bunch of food, both leftover and newly made, by Muriel. "Don't worry about it, dear," she said before he could protest. "You have a long journey ahead of you. It's the least I can do to help."

Ren glanced at Edward, who was the closest at the time, for help, but the young alchemist just shrugged. "Better to just accept," he said. "She's not going to take 'no,' for an answer."

Ren sighed and bowed his head. "Thank you," he said politely. "We'll be sure to stay safe." He stored the food in his duffel bag. There was enough for about two or three days if they rationed it carefully.

"Thank you for taking care of us," Mami said as they were leaving. Only Muriel and Courage were outside, seeing them off. Eustace hadn't even bothered to get out of bed.

"Of course, dear," Muriel said. "Do be careful. Make sure you don't trip and fall off the edge of the world."

Edward chuckled. "Edge of the world?" he repeated. "Now that's a good one."

"We'll be sure to be careful," Mikasa promised.

They turned to leave, as Morgana hopped back onto Ren's shoulder. After they were decently far away and waving from Takuya and Mami had stopped, Morgana glanced back at the house to see Courage still jumping up and down while waving.

"Bye!"

Morgana did a double-take. Did…. Did Courage just speak…?

…

Nah. Morgana shook his head. He must have just been hearing things.

They walked until the sun was high in the air, before breaking for lunch. After a brief discussion, they chose to finish the food that would most quickly spoil, leaving the rest for later. They ate in silence and it wasn't long until their trek continued.

As they walked a thin layer of fog formed around them. Ren had thought that it was another attack, but no. Nothing happened and so they trudged on across the flat wasteland until the sun was low on the horizon.

"I thought we would be there by now," Takuya finally grumbled.

Edward rubbed his eyes. "I don't understand…" he said. "I swear we should've reached it by now. So why-?"

Suddenly Toph stiffened. "Everybody STOP!" Everyone stumbled and turned to look at her, but Edward, surprised at the sudden shout, stumbled about two steps and looked like he was about to fall. Toph stomped her left foot and twisted it, as a mound of earth rose from the ground, twisted around Edward's ankles to hold him in place as he fell forward.

"Ah!" Edward slammed into the ground, but, surprisingly, his head met no resistance. The fog around him scattered and he found himself staring right down into a sheer cliff face and a blue void. "Ahhhh! Get me up! Get me up!"

Toph scoffed and, using the earthbending, twisted the earth around him so that his head was hanging over a cliff.

Edward clutched his heart. "I thought I was going to die!" he exclaimed.

"You're welcome, you know," Toph said.

"Y-Yeah, th-thanks…" Edward nervously glanced at the edge.

Takuya went to the edge and peered down. "Oh," he said in a small voice. "I guess she was being serious."

"That's impossible…" Morgana muttered. "Just…" The fog slowly dissipated into clear air, as they were finally able to see what was in front of them. Or what wasn't.

A sheer cliff gave way to a pale blue void in front of them. Glancing over the edge, Ren couldn't even see an end, just an endless space of nothing.

"The edge of the world…" Mami whispered.

"Just what kind of world is this?" Morgana whispered.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

One of my resolutions was to prove that the Earth was flat in fanfiction. And lo and behold, I accomplished my resolution.

Reviews are appreciated.

-Heroi Oscura