Here's chapter 5 guys! sorry it took so long! thanks everyone for the reviews.
Chapter 5: Surprise Guest
Michelle poked her head out into the living room, "Hey Al, aren't you coming?" He shook his head, "No I don't want you to sleep on the floor Michelle, you can have my bed, I'll sleep out here ok?"
Michelle smiled at his kind offer, "Thanks alot Al, that's really nice of you..." They said good night to eachother and Michelle entered the dark room that Ed had disappeared into about fifteen minutes ago..
She flicked the light on and saw Ed standing there with his shirt off and in nothing but his boxers. The two stared at eachother with wide eyes like they had just seen a ghost.
"I'm sooo sorry Ed, I should have knocked first!" She said apologetically, looking away with a red face. It was the first time she had seen his auto mail leg... and once again she found herself feeling sorry for him.
"It's ok... um.. did you need something?" He asked her, putting on a fake smile and trying to act like nothing was wrong.
"Well.. I just wanted to make sure you were ok..." She said, fighting off the temptation to look up again.
"I'm fine... where's Al anyway?" He asked her. She looked up, "Oh... he's elected to stay in the living room tonight... heh heh..."
He looked at her in question, wondering why. "Is something wrong with him?" She shook her head at his question, bashful to tell him that she wanted to stay in the same room with him that night..
"He didn't want me sleeping on the floor was all..." Ed's eyes widened, "You mean.. Y... You're sleeping in here?"
She nodded sheepishly, "I know you're really upset Ed, you don't have to hide it... I just want to comfort you is all..."
"You mean sleep like here in this room? With me?" Ed asked with surprise almost falling onto his bed. Michelle nodded in reply realizing how... wrong it sounded.
"But Michelle we can't do that." Edward said while shaking his head.
"Why?"
"B...-because, it just wouldn't be right..." Ed replied shaking his head back and forth, trying to hide his blush. His hair tie fell out and he cursed under his breath as he picked it up from the floor. "We just can't do that okay Michelle?" Ed said while taking his braid out of his hair and setting his hair tie on the night stand next to the bed.
"Ed it's not like we're going to sleep in the same bed together... I just want to talk.." She said, trying to convince him to let her stay.
"Ok ok..." He finally agreed. He never slept with a girl in the same room before.. He suddenly sighed, realizing how pathetic it was. But he just never had interest in that sort of thing before... nor the time.. it just wasn't ever really on his priority list. Maybe he was being a little too up-tight.
"Wow Ed, you're really over-reacting, you don't have to be so scared of me just because I'm a girl you know... No wonder you've never had a girlfriend before." She said, sitting on the bed opposite of Ed.
Ed looked down, obviously offended by what she had said. She noticed and stood up right away, instantly regretting what she had said to her friend. "Ed, I didn't mean it like that... actually... I'm surprised you've never had a girlfriend before..." She admitted hesitantly.
Ed looked at her, "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked her, wondering if that was a compliment he had just received from her.
"Well I'm not going lie.. I mean.. there's really nothing that isn't attractive about you so it just surprises me is all." She turned to the window as she said this so he couldn't see the blush creeping up on her.
His eyes widened at what she had said, "Um... thanks... I think.." He said, grinning widely. That was the biggest ego booster he had in a while.
"So... like.. I know you've never had a girlfriend.. but have you ever... looked at a girl?"
"What kind of question is that? Of coarse I've seen girls before, let's see there's you, Winry, Riza, Angie-"
"No silly, I didn't mean it that way... I mean have you ever LOOKED at a female as a woman? You know..."
"I don't know... I really don't think of things like that, I'm really busy with things..." He said and shrugged.
"So then have you ever... you know?" She asked him, wondering about his past with girls.
Ed sweatdropped. "... No, but I've read up on it and I don't see anything great about it so it's not really on my priority list." Edward said simply.
The two remained quiet for a while.. Ed spoke up finally, "Well? Have you?"She blushed and looked away.
"No! ... I decided long ago I'd rather wait until I fall in love."
"Love is just a feeling, like sadness, confusion, fear or even happiness, they all wear off. Love doesn't exist." Edwards said, as if it was nothing.
"You know, not everything can be explained by science Ed... because if what you just said was true... wouldn't that mean that the feeling you felt for your mother and feel towards your brother are just a temporary feeling?" Edward widened his eyes at this and Michelle continued to stare outside at the moon..
"I guess you got me there... fine... maybe love does exist. But not for me. Ok?" He said, starting to sound a little angry. Michelle sighed, why was he so stubborn about everything? 'I guess he's really not interested in me after all... forget it... forget it all...' She thought to herself as tears welled in her eyes. She decided maybe it would be better if she didn't stay in the same room that night.
She closed her eyes and turned, "Well... I'll let Al know he can come back in here then.." She really wanted to stay and talk to him about Envy, which was what she had originally planned, but she couldn't stay in there and cry in front of Ed. She headed for the door.
He caught her wrist with his metal arm as she passed him, "Wait... don't do that... I'd... I'd like it if you stayed.." He said quietly, pissed off at himself for making her feel bad.
"R... Really?" She asked him, her voice stuttering. The two stared at each other silently. He finally made up his mind about what he was thinking and began to pull her closer.
"What are you doing!" She asked, feeling her heart start beating four times faster, "Seeing if this love thing you keep talking about is real." He said with a smile before touching his lips to hers. He had totally caught her off guard with what he had just did.
She kissed him back, still surprised at what was happening. He wrapped his arms around her waist and the the kiss lasted about another minute and the two pulled away from each other. It was Ed's first kiss, and he had to admit, he enjoyed it.
'Wow... he's a really good kisser..' She thought to herself as she stared into his eyes. Was it really his first time kissing? She wondered. If so, he was a natural that was for sure.
Ed smiled sincerely wondering what these strange feelings were that he was beginning to have towards Michelle. Was it simply a state of mind? Or was it something beyond that? He wasn't exactly sure about any of the answers to those questions, but one thing he knew for certain was that he had never experienced this particular feeling before.
Michelle wanted to ask him what he was feeling and if he had found an answer to what he said before he kissed her, but she was scared of what the answer might be...
Ed's mind suddenly trailed off to what Scar had said about danger looking for Michelle and Angie. What did he mean by that? He snapped out of his thoughts when there was a loud knock on the main door. Ed and Michelle exchanged confused glances with each other. Who the heck would be there at one in the morning?
Ed quickly gathered his hair into a pony-tail and threw some clothes on and rushed to the door, Michelle behind him. Al was with them as well, also wondering who would show up at this time of night.
Michelle looked around for Angie, realizing her friend must have still been asleep. Ed opened the door finally and gasped when he saw who it was.
"What's wrong Ed I thought you'd be glad to see me!" Hughes said in his usual cheerful way.
"NO WAY! YOU'RE DEAD!" Edward shouted, 'Oh no! It's Envy! It's gotta be!' He thought frantically, instantly turning his metal arm into the sharp, deadly weapon that he had often used when in battle.
He noticed Hughes made no attempt at defending himself at all. He just stared and adjusted his glasses. He began to laugh, "Still as uptight as usual I see. How long has it been now? About four years?" Ed stared at him, confused as ever, there was no way this was Hughes.
But.. he knew Envy's attack style very well... wouldn't he have attacked by now? "Who are you?" Ed shouted in frustration.
Al suddenly walked forward, "You're not Hughes! Hughes is dead! Who are you really!" Al demanded.
Hughes sighed, "Didn't Roy tell you guys? I was never really dead. It was all just a special cover up by the government to make everyone think I was dead. It was to protect me until they were sure the threat was over. Even Gracia and Roy thought I was dead until just recently." He explained, scratching his head. Ed and Al looked at each other, wondering if he was telling the truth.
Ed's arm transformed back to normal, "Ok, if you're really Hughes, you can answer this question that only the real one would know." Hughes nodded, "Ok, that sounds fair to me." He said in agreement.
Edward narrowed his eyes, still suspicious. "Ok fine, what happened on my twelfth birthday?"
Hughes smiled widely, "My little Elisia was born! Hey! Speaking of Elisia! She's seven now!" Hughes pulled a bunch of pictures out, "Look at the new pictured we took together the other day! Isn't she cuuute?" Hughes said as he kissed the picture, a little heart bouncing off the photo when he did this.
"Wow! It really is you!" Al said happily, he ran up to Hughes and hugged him to his armor body. Ed smiled, he was very happy that Hughes wasn't dead.
"Well, I'm very glad to see you again Colonel Hughes... I can't believe Mustang didn't tell us.. what a jerk. So, what brings you here at one in the morning anyway?" Ed asked him, opening the door widely, welcoming Hughes in.
Hughes walked in, "Well Sheiska told me you were here. I just finished up some research on Scar Roy asked me to do. So I just thought I'd drop by and see how you all were doing, hey who's this!" Hughes asked curiously when he noticed Michelle.
She held her hand out politely to the tall man, "Hello Hughes sir, my name is Michelle. Nice to meet you!" She said bashfully.
They shook hands and he looked at Ed. Oh boy, Ed knew exactly what was coming next.
"Wow Ed! You sure found a hottie while I've been gone! So you thinkin about having kids yet?"
Ed's eyes practically popped out of his skull, "K... kids?" Al giggled at Ed's expression. Michelle's face turned a violent deep red. She couldn't believe what Hughes had just said! What a weirdo!
"Don't be ridiculous... she's just a friend..." Ed said, knowing instantly what he said had probably hurt Michelle. Damn it! Why wasn't he able to show affection for her in front of other people? He scolded himself. Ed didn't dare look at her either. He didn't want to see the hurt that lingered in her eyes.
The hurt quickly turned to anger. 'Who does he think he is playing with my emotions like they're not there? First he kisses me and then he says we're just friends?'
Michelle finally looked away from Ed and smiled at Hughes, "That's right, we're just friends. Besides, isn't Ed too young to have a girlfriend anyways?" She said, angry at Edward for acting like he was.
Usually, Ed would have thrown a fit at a comment like that, but he just took it without saying a word, 'I deserved that...' he thought to himself. Al looked at his brother and wondered why he wasn't retaliating with a snappy comeback.
Hughes sat down, "Man, the investigation's department isn't finding anything on Scar..." Michelle sat down next to Al and Ed looked up to Hughes, avoiding Michelle's eyes.
"Ummm we might just be able to help you with that..." Ed said grinning nervously. Hughes looked up raising an eyebrow, "What do ya mean Ed?"
Before he could answer, Scar revealed himself from the dark hallway, "I heard you all mention me, is there something you need?"
Ed sweatdropped and Hughes just stared, keeping his calm. "Alright Ed, what's going on here?" Hughes asked, knowing there had to be an explanation.
"Please don't freak out Hughes! Look, Scar isn't the one doing any of those recent killings... it's... Envy... he's taking the form of Scar and doing it..." Ed said, looking away from Hughes, knowing he wasn't going to believe it.
Hughes looked from Ed to Scar, "Is this true?" He asked, Hughes was very good at reading people, he was sure he'd be able to tell if Scar's answer was real or not.
Scar simply nodded, "I no longer am out to kill anyone except for this Envy person. I am here to help FullMetal find and destroy this sin against nature."
Hughes nodded, believing what Scar had told him. He turned his head back to Edward, "Ok, I believe you... but one question Ed... I thought homonculous weren't able to use alchemy. How is Envy doing it? And why would he be killing state alchemists?"
Ed thought about it for a minute, "Well to tell you the truth I don't really know how he's using alchemy... and I think the only reasons he's took Scar's form was so I would be sent after him... I know he's looking for me..." Ed said.
Hughes nodded and stood up, "Well I'll see you all later then, I'm going to be on my way home for now. And don't worry Ed I won't tell Roy anything about Scar being here."
Ed smiled in relief, "Thank you sir..." He said as he waved to Hughes. Hughes smiled back, "It was nice seeing you again Elric brothers, and nice meeting you Michelle." He said as he waved and made his exit.
"So Scar are you-" Ed stopped his sentence short when he looked back and he wasn't there. 'Guess he went back to bed...'
"Well Al you can sleep in your room, I've decided I'm just going to stay out here tonight..." Michelle said as she made herself comfortable on the couch and turned on her side.
Ed felt his stomach knot at her words. His guilt began to tug at his conscious, "Michelle I..." He sighed. Al looked at the two, confused. He knew something must have happened between his brother and Michelle.
"What's wrong with you two?" Al asked curiously. Ed looked at Al and prepared to ask him something he'd never thought he'd ask of Al.
"Al... please don't take this the wrong way ok? Umm... can you maybe leave the room for just a minute?"
Al suddenly felt happy when Ed asked him this. He knew that his brother wanted to talk to Michelle alone and for the first time, wasn't depending on him to be there when he needed to talk to someone else seriously.
Al smiled, (well more like his SOUL smiled), "No problem brother! I'd be more than happy to!" He said as he disappeared into the kitchen.
Ed stared into the kitchen with one eyebrow raised, 'Well what the hell has gotten into him? I didn't think that would make him happy.' He snapped out of his thoughts when he remembered Michelle.
Clearing his throat nervously, he got up from the couch opposite of her and sat down on the table next to her.
"Michelle.. can we talk?" He asked her, his courage finally built up enough so that he could talk to her.
She remained silent for a moment, the silence soon turning into an awkward one. "There's nothing to talk about..." She said finally.
He hung his head and sighed, "Michelle look, I'm not good with apologies... I never have been... but... I'm sorry for acting like a jerk..." Michelle sat up and stared at him.
Before she could answer, Angie walked into the living room with a tired expression and an empty cup. She noticed her two friends sitting up and she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"Hey you two, what's wrong?" She asked, stopping in her tracks, her eyes now wide and awake. Ed turned to Angie and Michelle looked in her direction.
"Oh hey Angie... what's up..." Ed asked with a slight smile, trying to hide his sadness, which was still apparent in his golden eyes.
Angie yawned her loud yawn, "Oh nothing much, just came out here to get a drink." She said as she turned her cup upside down to show them that it was empty.
Michelle cleared her throat, "So where's Scar?" She asked, trying to make conversation.
"Oh... he's asleep. We were talking earlier. He's not very talkative but he's really nice. Thank you Ed for not making too big of a deal out of the whole thing..." She said looking at Edward.
Ed turned back to Michelle's direction and slumped his shoulders, "Hey no problem... just don't let anyone else know about it... ok?"
Angie nodded in agreement, she was sure she could do that much. She noticed once again that something was disturbing Michelle and Ed.
"Sooooo what's going on here?" She asked as she walked over to the couch and sat down next to Michelle.
Neither Ed nor Michelle answered her question, they just sat there silently, not knowing how to answer.
"Come on you guys can tell little old me!" Angie said anxiously, trying to convince them to tell her.
"Nothing Angie... Ed was... just telling me about his day. Right Ed?" Michelle said smiling, trying to show him that she wasn't as mad anymore. He read her signs quite easily and smiled back.
"Right, and we were just about ready to go to sleep right Michelle?" He said winking at her.
'Does that mean he wants me to go with him? Meh.. I can't stay mad at him can I?' She stood up and nodded, following Ed down the hallway.
"Night Angie! NIGHT AL!" She said the last part extra loud so that Al could hear her in the kitchen.
Al came running out into the living room and looked at Angie. He sweatdropped when he noticed the other two were gone. "Does this mean I'm on the couch again?"
Angie laughed and shrugged, "I don't know, they both went in that room so I guess so."
Al nodded, "Well that's fine with me, I'm just glad they're not fighting anymore!"
Angie turned her head, "Damn it, no one ever tells me anything!"
"Well they didn't exactly tell me.. I could kinda just tell." Al responded quickly, making Angie cheer up again.
The two said good night to each other and parted. The dorm soon fell fast asleep, and with good reason. After all, they did have to wake up at seven in the morning. With it already drawing near three AM, four hours of sleep would hopefully be enough.
Will have 6 up soon!
