Chapter 10: The ball is dropped

Classes seemed to roll by for Double D, that little fiasco with Marie had a bigger impact on him than he would like. Not that he liked to openly judge people, he could have criticized her smoking habit but he would prefer not to. There were only a few minutes left before lunch period and all of his thoughts were now focused on how he will explain Ed's behavior. As his thoughts continued the bell rang.

He packed his bags and luckily Eddy was not in his class which is good because he out of everyone else would have noticed the underlying anxiety on his poker face. This of course would lead to a bombardment of questions and jokes on his encounter with Marie.

Double D sighed again as he headed for the library to meet May and Nazz, that's when the faint scent of smoke and ashes filled his sensitive nose as he was coming on a water fountain. He groaned inwardly and ducked his head quickly to the fountain and pretended to drink from it.

Marie was right beside him with her arm stretched out; she gave him an irritated looked. "Are you doing that on purpose!?"She said angrily.

It was the second time that she tried to sneak up on him that day and he avoided her second attempt to put him in a headlock. Double D stood up and gazed at her, his face showed confusion

"Whatever do you mean Marie?" He answered innocently with a smile.

Marie just glared at him for a few seconds "you know damn we-"

Marie was cut off by his outstretched palm, signaling her to stop so he could speak.

"I'm sorry Marie but I do not have the time to speak with you as I have some very urgent matters to attend to." She went to speak again but was promptly cut off by his words "now if you'll excuse me." He then briskly paced away, leaving her.

Marie's scowl returned and she clenched her fist, she stomped in his direction to punch his face. She was in arms length but stopped when he unexpectedly turned to face her.

"You may join me if you wish; I believe I may be able to answer some of your questions." He emphasized the word 'some' and his voice sounded sincere.

Marie's scowl lessened but her angry expression didn't go away, she put her hands in her jacket pocket "finally" she said annoyed.

Double D then proceeded to walk to his destination with Marie in tow.

"So where ya going anyway?"

"I am heading towards the library." He replied

She scoffed with a smile "of course you are."

'Same old Double D, where else would he go?' She thought while they entered.

What Marie didn't expect to see in the library was Eddy, Nazz and May sitting around the table. Now she was confused and it looked like he was too at least about one particular person present.

"Eddy, why are you here?" He asked confusedly whilst approaching them.

"Aw c'mon sockhead if you're gonna explain things you're gonna need a wingman just in case." He replied with a grin but it lessened upon seeing Marie standing several feet behind him.

"What's she doing here?" Eddy pointed to Marie.

Nazz and May shuffled over to see who he was talking about and both were surprised.

"Marie!?" She half yelled receiving several "Shh's" from the few persons scattered in the library. May covered her mouth in embarrassment; Marie chuckled before walking over to sit down on the vacant side of the round table.

Eddy and Double D sat on one end, May and Nazz sat opposite to them and Marie was between them to Double D's left.

"Marie, what are you doing here?" May asked quietly while lowering her head looking at her.

"I believe she is here for the same reasons you are May." Double D answered as the girls looked at him. "She's here for answers." He finished.

"Then why's Eddy here." She asked looking at him as he leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head.

He smirked "that's obvious" he began "if sockhead's gonna spill the beans I wanna be here to watch and pickup if he gets too chicken to pull through." That comment earned Eddy a glare from him but he ignored it. "So you gonna tell em or what?"

Double D sighed "alright then, about Ed." He spent the next 6 minutes explaining Ed's meditative state, how he trained his mind to be normal and how his coma is only temporary. He didn't comment on any of his ramblings that day as he felt Ed himself would have to reveal that.

May and Nazz's expression told him how hard to believe their story was bad enough but Nazz's next question was where things got a bit complicated.

"Where'd he learn to do that?"

"They were thought to him by our…teacher..in…China." he replied hesitantly.

"Wait a minute" Marie interrupted "you mean that place where you told me you guys were for 5 years?"

He nodded "Tian Shan, we ended up there after we…crashed. We were taken in by an elderly man by the name of Chun Ma Sigund who nursed our wounds inside of a temple carved in the other side of the mountain."

Now Marie was completely interested now as were everyone else, they leaned in closer.

"And.." Nazz asked. Double D was now officially nervous and Eddy could see it.

"Guess that's my cue" he said with a smirk. Now everyone's attention was geared towards Eddy.

"And we decided to stay after he healed us."

"But why?" May asked a little pleadingly

"Why not?" Eddy shot back with a frown. "Why would anyone want to come back to a place filled with people who hate you?" Nazz visibly recoiled

"I mean yeah sure I deserve it, thinking back then I was a real asshole who was asking to be knocked down a few notches, all because I was some stupid kid who thought that acting like his douchebag older brother could actually make me have friends." He said solemnly and for a moment he actually looked sad.

Eddy's confession was unexpected. "Eddy" Nazz began "I'm so-

"Save it Nazz" he interrupted with zero maliciousness "I don't anyone's pity I left those thoughts behind a long time ago. Anyway, yeah we decided to stay with Sensei." Eddy's term for Chun Ma gave him raised eyebrows.

"Sensei means teacher." Double D interjected.

"Yeah and after the crash, the three of us decided that we didn't want to stay the way we were, we needed to change and he helped us, thought us and trained us to do just that. It didn't matter how long it would take and we didn't care, after all everyone already thought we were dead" his scowled "and I doubt many even cared." Eddy said the last word venomously.

"What exactly did you guys learn over there?" Marie said, taking in the story

Eddy grinned at this and Double D could just feel his anxiety rising as he used his hand to cover his face.

"Oh we learned lots like: Chinese history, their language, heck sockhead here can speak Japanese." They glanced at Edd who averted his eyes even though they weren't visible to them. Eddy continued "meditation techniques, kungfu, blacksmithing and even the entire Chinese and American highschool curriculum." Eddy finished.

The girls' mouths were agape as Eddy's words slowly sunk in. Marie was processing everything and one thing caught her attention.

"You guys know kungfu?" Her words earned her shocked expression from May and Nazz who looked at Eddy incredulously, expecting an answer. Double D slowly glanced at Eddy.

He shrugged "yeah we do, how else you think we could apply those breathing exercises?" He answered as if it was obvious. "Not to mention how me and sockhead got these." He grin as he yanked Double D's out of his seat and lifted both their shirts up to reveal finely tone six packs.

The girls each gasped all of them with a hue of red on their cheeks.

Double D yanked his arm back "that was not necessary Eddy!" he yelled silently.

Eddy only laughed at him lowly "aw c'mon Double D, I was just having some fun." He feigned innocence.

Double D looked at the girls who were staring at them still red. He cleared his throat "ahem, well seeing as we've answered your questions, we will take our leave now as it is our lunch break." He finished somewhat awkwardly. Doesn't matter how much he trains, suddenly flashing his chest in front of girls would make him nervous/embarrassed.

"W-wait Eddy" Nazz finally said "why didn't you defend yourself when Kevin beat you up?"

Eddy raised his eyebrows "because I don't wanna waste my breath on old shovel chin, he's just not worth it and I'm bigger than starting a fight with some idiot who can't let go." He finished.

Nazz was impressed and confused with his reply, so Double D interjected "Our Sifu has thought us not to abuse our gifts." Eddy looked at him irritated that he would mess up his 'profound' words like that. "That and Eddy was being the better man by not entertaining Kevin's need for a physical confrontation." He finished as he and Eddy smiled at each other, Eddy giving him a nod of approval.

With that they left the library, Nazz was blown away by their words and went to get May so they could get lunch but stopped when she reached next to her.

"What's wrong with May?" Nazz asked Marie.

Marie shrugged "beats me" she waved her hand in front of May who had a dreamy expression but didn't even blink. "She's probably thinking how Ed looked under his shirt or something." She said after she swore hearts were popping out of her sister.

Now annoyed Marie slammed May's head hard on the table earning another round of 'shhs' which Marie ignored and said "wake up stupid."

May shot up holding her bruised forehead "ow, what the hell's your problem Marie?"

Marie got up "hey I'm not the pervert imagining what some guy looks like shirtless." She remarked upon exiting the door.

May's face turned several shades of red before covering up in embarrassment. Nazz could only giggle at her friend's reaction.


Meanwhile Eddy and Double D decided to eat outside since they both packed lunches today. While eating Double D couldn't help but inwardly thanking the heavens that they didn't ask about the crash itself, not that he had a problem with telling them about what he learned in Tian Shan but it's so close to the crash and very terrible memories that he didn't want to talk about it.


The ground was soft, cold like ice. Double D's eyes opened slowly, the first thing he noticed was smoke. He tried to get up but felt a pain in his head, he immediately grabbed for it but noticed that only one of his arms did. Double D sat up in panic and looked to his left arm, sure enough it was there but he couldn't feel it or better yet just couldn't move it. He clutched it but yelped in pain and after utilizing his medical skills he made a deduction

"Oh d-d-d-dear i-i-t's d-d-disloca-cated!" He exclaimed with the cold affecting his words.

Unlike the other kids who had higher amounts of body fat and could withstand cold temperature to some degree, Eddward Hawking did not. He is highly susceptible because he rarely ever eats any fatty foods and thanks to his parents' upbringing never will, that is the reason why his winter sweater is so ridiculously large and thick.

But now he was in an environment that is surely in the minus degrees, he could literally die any second from frost bite, he eyed the fire caused by crash and made his way to it. His body was shivering but it didn't matter, his focus was on survival which happens to come in the form of that fire. He was so focused that he tripped on something in the snow and fell face first.

He shouted from the pain it caused his arm before lying on his back panting. He sat up to see what he tripped on but nothing could prepare him for what he saw.

"GAAAAHH" He screamed and scooted away from the corpse now in front of him.

How couldn't he have noticed it before, it was partially covered in snow but there was a pool of blood next to it that soaked into the snow making it red, it's eyes were closed. Then the cold started to affect his breathing and Double D's initial goal came to mind, he turned around to trudge through the snow.

*GASP* he heard behind and turned around to his disbelief to find the woman gasping for air while shuddering, after a looking around a bit, her panicked eyes stared at him for a few seconds

"H-h-help m-me" escaped her quivering lips.

Double D looked on for a moment but quickly complied, even though his arm was dislocated and she was at least two feet taller than him he managed to the best of his abilities to put her arm over his shoulder. She limped along with him to the heat source. After arriving she held her side while they both placed their arm against the fire.

Double D immediately took notice of her wound and began to worry.

"E-excuse me miss?" She glanced at him. "Pardon my asking but may I see that wound?" He asked sheepishly but took notice of her hesitation "I-it's alright I m-may be y-y-younger but I assure you I h-have medical experience." He assured her. She nodded slowly. "T-thank you m-miss…?"

"Charlotte." She finished.

"M-my name is Eddward."

With introductions out of the way she began to slowly lift her shirt, he couldn't help but blush as it slowly revealed her curves. That soon went away and a gasp escaped his lips, her wound was now black, a clear sign of frostbite and it encompassed most of her left side.

"H-how bad is it?" She asked worriedly.

Double D looked at her, he opened his mouth to reply but words wouldn't come out and the girl knew that his face of dread couldn't be good.

"I'm going to die aren't I?" She asked softly.

Double D could only look down and the girl began sobbing hysterically but not loudly. Double D couldn't, no wouldn't say anything to try and cheer her up as it would be an insult. So he sat there as Charlotte came to terms with her own mortality. Just then in the middle of her sobs a loud crash was heard, Double D stood facing the distance and soon enough he heard it

"ED, DOUBLE D!" his best friend Eddy was alive.


Marie walked on the road aimlessly while thinking, sure enough her question as to why they stayed away was answered, it wasn't that complicated an answer as she thought. They needed to change and this Chun guy helped them, so why the hell did Double D make it seem like it would kill him to answer something Eddy answered simply, yeesh.

Then it hit her, "the fucking crash." She smacked her forehead "why the hell didn't I ask him about the fucki-"

"Hey skank!" She was cut off from her outburst by a rude comment veered towards her.

Marie turned around with a scowl to see a guy with brown hair and a bandaged nose glaring at her. Marie squinted her eyes but then relinquished

"Who the fuck are you asshole?"

The man grinned "what you don't remember the last guy to fuck you bitch?"

Marie smirked "Nah. I only remembered the ones who are good. You must have really sucked if I can't even remember your face." She quipped while folding her arms

His grinned completely vanished, replaced with a scowl "you broke my nose you bitch!" he growled.

Marie scoffed "cry me a river pansy." She went to leave but felt a hand on her shoulder

"You think I'm gonna let you just walk awa-"His comment was cut off as Marie elbowed him in the side of his jaw.

"Do not fucking touch me" she spat

The man held his jaw for a moment but raised his fists to attack.

'oh I love it when they come back for more.' Marie thought before tossing her bag aside.

He went to punch her but she dodged and jabbed him in the face. He recovered and went for her face again but she gut punched him hard. The boy dropped to his knees coughing and Marie could only laugh at him

"Man I must have been wasted if I slept with a pussy like you" She quipped before turning her back to retrieve her bag. Once again a hand turned her around quickly and before she could react a fist hit her jaw hard, she lost balance and her back slammed against the wall.

The guy had a satisfied smirk and was panting but the smirk slowly disappeared as Marie slowly turned her head to him. She had an ecstatic grin, her left cheek was bruised and a small amount of blood trickled down the lower corner of her mouth. Marie used her thumb to wipe away the blood then stared at it then at him.

"Oh I'm gonna enjoy this." She spat to the side and approached the man who began to step back but she lunged at him.

A few minutes later

The man slammed against the wall with multiple bruises a bloody nose and a black eye and that was just his face. He dropped to the ground in a fetal position and Marie kicked him in the gut, he wasn't even fighting back anymore she let out a frustrated sigh and left for her bag again.

"This ain't over skank" she heard him say as he got up but she didn't see him, she had her back turned, ignoring him. "I know where you and your sisters live." He continued but was cut off when Marie slammed his neck against the wall with her forearm.

Marie gave him a death glare and produced a box cutter from her pocket and held it against his face. "You come near my house, or even touch my sisters and I'll cut you into pieces and mail em to your friends and family. Got it?"

She was sure she was convincing cause he was shitting bricks now. "Gimme your wallet" she said threateningly to which he quickly handed her. She shoved him aside, took his money then tossed his wallet, picked up her bag and went home with a wide smile. 'Beat up some jerk and I got 50 bucks from it, not bad.'


At school the bell for last period rang and Eddy knew what that meant, he had to check out the club Double D recommended. With that he went about finding the room, since yet again they didn't have the same class at the end and Eddy asked to do this alone. Honestly he didn't want to hear his friend nagging him about how it would be a good experience and all that spiel, he just wanted to do this and get it over with.

Finding the room wasn't hard since it was a classroom on the other side of campus, he arrived and opened the door, and some people were already inside along with an older kid probably a senior. He was smartly dressed kinda like Double D, his brown hair was neatly combed he wore a white dress shirt tucked in a brown pants, his shoes were shined. Now that he thought about he looked like a guy who works in an office, all he needs now is a suite jacket and he'd pass for a CEO.

"Yes how may I help you?" The man asked.

'He even talks like him' Eddy thought as he approached him. "Yeah this is the entrepreneurial club right?"

"Yes it is" he replied with a smile "are you interested in joining?"

Eddy moved his head side to side indicating a 'maybe' "yeah let's just say I'm thinking about it."

He chuckled "I see, alright then my name's Benjamin Jones but you can call me Ben." He stretched his hand out for a shake and eddy gladly obliged

"The name's Eddy McGee." He replied

"Nice, firm handshake you got there Eddy" he complimented. "You can take a seat wherever, we're just waiting on our last member to join us, she's usually late.

Eddy shrugged and took a seat in the middle of the room, there were already 6 persons in here including Ben three more guys and 2 girls. His thoughts were disrupted when the door opened and Ben tapped his watch while looking disappointedly at the last member

"You're late again, Lee." He said sadly.

Eddy immediately turned to see her and there she was, red curls and everything, still wearing tight jeans and a not so tight shirt but it still showed her features.

"Hey waddya want from me? Not my fault the teacher took so damn long" she instantly picked up Eddy gaze and returned one of shock.

Eddy didn't seem angry at her or even shocked so much as curious to know why Lee Kanker is even in a club.

"Ah yes, this is Eddy McGee," Ben interrupted her gaze"he is interested in our society and will be joining us today."

Lee glanced at Ben then at Eddy who smirked at her "right" she said slowly as she sat down.

1 hour and 30 minutes later

The club was now over and to be honest Eddy actually enjoyed it, they were talking about how business work and he could feel ideas for them come on. The club stimulated his old ways but on a larger scale, it was relaxing being around like minded people and shocking how Lee was so in tuned with them. He'd thought she would just sit at the back observing them but she actually took part in the proceedings and she was serious about it too.

The final verdict for when Ben asked him what he thought, Eddy smirked "sign me up Benny boy." Ben actually laughed at his nickname and proceeded to add him to the club.

He got congratulated from the rest of the club members except Lee who just looked on with a smirk before exiting, Eddy soon left and with curiosity getting the better of him he followed after Lee. He soon found himself walking beside her with a calm expression which surprised her

"Shouldn't you be walking with your friends?" She asked while looking around as if to expect them but mentally slapped herself for saying friends.

Eddy gave her an amused look "I told sockhead not to wait up since his parents would grill him about being late and Ed's still in the hospital, thank your sister for me by the way." He replied cheekily.

Lee was a little put off by his reaction she was sure he would make a scene out of it "yeah she told me about that. Sorry." She said lowly.

Eddy gave her a feigned shocked expression "Lee Kanker apologizing, well shit the world must be ending." He quipped

His joke made her frown, she didn't enjoy apologizing to anybody for anything, it made her seem weak and she couldn't stand looking weak especially in front of a man.

"Yeah you don't have to worry about him; he'll pull through just like sockhead told her and Marie at lunch. This is just one more thing he has to figure out on his own."

This caught Lee's attention "what'd you mean Marie? She was at school?"

Eddy raised an eyebrow "huh yeah, she stopped sockhead from coming inside in the morning to talk about something. Heck she practically followed behind him when he went to the library, he said she wanted answers too?"

"Answers about what?"

He shrugged "hell if I know. But enough about that, what the heck are you doing in a business club?" he asked curiously.

Lee's expression became hardened "ain't it obvious, I wanna be in a business." She answered vaguely.

"Bullshit!" Eddy began "you never cared about that stuff before or at least from what I figured 5 years ago."

Lee looked up "it ain't too hard to believe that I don't wanna stay in a trailer the rest of my life."

No more words were said and Eddy didn't need to hear anymore, he was impressed by her growth and now had a higher opinion of his former tormenter.

He nodded "I can respect that" he began earning a glance from her "you know most people just go about their days like they have the rest of their lives to sort their future out. They're probably thinking play now then work later, idiots." He said under his breath.

He glanced at lee who was now looking at him "at least you have the sense to work now for a better future then relax. Just do yourself a favor Lee" His expression became stern "don't push yourself too hard and live a little cause life is short and you never know when it might end."

Lee's visible eye widened as he continued "and take it from someone who's been to the other side, there ain't nothing waiting for you over there so make the most you can here." Eddy then faced forward with a melancholy expression.

It took a while but Lee responded "you mean you actually?"

"Yep."

"What's that like?" She asked genuinely curious.

Eddy stopped and looked at her seriously, he could see the anxiety in her eyes "nothing" he finally replied.

Lee's brows furrowed "what the hell you mean nothing?"

"I mean" he began with his voice serious "there's nothing after you take that last breath, no heaven, no hell, no grim reaper, no out of body experience none of that other religious or spiritual bullshit. It's just pure darkness, a dreamless sleep that you never wake up from." As Eddy spoke this he seemed to just stare in the distance, recalling the sensation of death, he unconsciously traced his scar under his shirt.

"I'm sorry Eddy." Lee spoke

Eddy looked at her and saw the genuineness in her eyes "yeah don't apologize anymore Lee, it makes you look weird and kinda pathetic."

Lee was shocked but then it turned to anger "What'd you just call me asshole." She grabbed his shirt

"And there's the red curly haired she devil who used to torture me that I know and hate" he teased with a smirk.

Lee held him there scowling with her other fist clenched, Eddy spoke "don't change who you are on my account, Kanker." He had a sly smirk.

Lee's scowl didn't dissipate she moved her face closer to his "don't ever call me that again squirt."

Eddy's smirk turned to a grin "whatever you say red. Now get your grubby paws off me."

Lee dropped him and he started smoothing out his shirt as she stomped off leaving his grinning face. Unknown to him was that Lee was also grinning behind her curls.

To Be Continued…..


Author's notes: Now this chapter is promising, I honestly believe that out of all the relationship Eddy's and Lee's is the only one that isn't explored the most, which is kinda sad cause there is so much potential, you just have to know how to approach it. Does it seem cliché, maybe but at least I'm actually writing it and besides we haven't gotten to the interesting parts yet.

Okay I know this chapter was late and I apologize, I've been writing three chapters of three different fanfics, at the same time. DO I have to? Hell no. but at the same time these are some really good ideas so I find myself less interested in Return of The Eds, not to worry though I've got a few chapters written already in cases like this.

And with school around the corner *sigh* updates might get late like this or worst case I might go on an hiatus. But knowing me I'd probably write chapters for months until the holiday for me to open the floodgates and release the chapters, it's how I compensate, hopefully I can manage.

But until that time comes I hope you guys enjoyed this one, next time more will be revealed.