Man, it's been awhile. Sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter, but I was away on vacation over the past week (forgot to mention that in the last chapter ;P) so I couldn't really work on this fic.
As for future updates, I can't be sure when I'll get around to the next chapters. This is because I got to finish coding some stuff which I've been putting off for some time now, and since school starts soon.
Anyways, hopefully this chapter will make up for the wait. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Chapter 3: The First Sign
The gentle prattle of light rain on the windowsill awoke Winry to a new day. She stretched out her arms happily and snuggled further under the covers, realizing that no strange dreams haunted her last night. As Ed recommended, she kept her mind off all the events that took place over the past days, and the end result was a long awaited, peaceful night's rest. She sighed comfortably, looking forward to a great day, regardless that the weather would not be on her side once again.
It was still quite early in the morning, therefore Winry decided to do herself a favor and sleep in. Since all of her propriety auto-mail work was very near completion, she now had some free time to spend at her will. True, Ed's auto-mail was still nowhere near done, but he said so himself that she could work on it later.
Winry allowed her mind to drift off as she enjoyed some quiet time to herself. However, she couldn't really describe her feelings at the moment with regards to the nightmares. Part of her wanted to find out who the murderer could be, though she wasn't sure if she would ever know through her nightmares alone, and the other part just wanted the dreams to end. Even though the nightmares apparently subsided for the time being, she knew that all of the incidents, including the questionable writing, that happened in the previous days were for real, meaning that she still had to be careful in case anymore suspicious activity took place.
Her mind returned to those two statements, still questioning their true purpose. She actually wasn't sure if the messages were directed specifically at her, but either way, they both applied to Ed and herself. Those gruesome messages told her that something was going to happen, and she had to admit that there was no excuse to believe otherwise. Winry wasn't sure what the person behind this whole situation had in mind for the two of them, but judging by fact that he went as far as leaving cryptic passages in blood told her that they were dealing with a serious madman. But whatever his plan was, Winry could only hope that Ed would be alright in the end, not caring about her own wellbeing.
However, thinking of Ed brought her to another subject of thought. She couldn't directly classify her feelings toward the alchemist as of yet, but something inside her heart told Winry that he was more than just a childhood friend. She remembered his compassion the day before when he comforted her, and she couldn't help but blush when he touched her cheek. It was almost as though another side of him had emerged that night, a side that had been locked away for years.
Through his arrogant and stubborn personality, she still saw the same fun-loving Edward that she grew up with. His obsession with alchemy, however, partially masked his once true self, but hopefully in due time, she prayed that he would return to how he used to be.
It wasn't as though she disliked the person that he had become, but she knew that Ed had a task that needed to be accomplished, and emotions would have to be put aside. Restoring the two brothers' respective bodies was obviously paramount to him, and she knew that he wouldn't give up easily. But maybe once his task was accomplished, he would return home and settle for a slightly less demanding life.
Winry actually began to wonder what would have happened if Ed wasn't crazy enough to attempt human transmutation. Well, for one thing, life would obviously be simpler for the two of them. No wild and potentially dangerous adventures, no long waits in between his visits, and a practically worry-free life were only a few of the possibilities. She wasn't sure as to why she was dwelling on the topic, but she just couldn't help imaging the serene life that she longed for.
But the longer she stayed on the topic, the more memories of that dark day somehow came flooding back to her, causing tears to form in the corners of her eyes. For a reason unknown to her, she felt a sliver of guilt when it came to that failed transmutation. If only she knew what Ed and Al were planning, if by some miracle she found out, then she could have somehow talked them out of it, thereby sparing them this morbid future. But back then, she couldn't even begin to comprehend the sheer powers of alchemy. No wonder Ed was fascinated by it, seeing that he could revive his beloved mother through the science's abilities.
The blonde mechanic immediately realized that her thinking brought her to the verge of crying, and therefore she forcibly wiped the salty tears that now threatened to escape her eyes. She mentally shook herself, casting aside the morose thoughts that seemingly overtook her mind. There was no way that she going to trouble herself today with such memories, but instead she was going to enjoy the day, one way or another. Winry was actually planning on spending most of the available time with Ed, even if it meant having to manually drag him out of his research.
At that last thought, Winry hopped out of bed with newfound energy and went ahead to dress herself for the day. The task was done in a moment's time, leaving her to see if Ed had already awaken, though she predicted that he would still be fast asleep.
"Ed, are you up yet?" Winry called out as she reached the living room. After receiving no reply, she went over to the spare bedroom that he was staying in, expecting to see him snoring away in his sleep. However, Winry was bewildered to see that Ed wasn't even in the room. She controlled herself as to not rush to negative conclusions, and instead assumed the he maybe went outside.
Upon reaching the kitchen, in hopes of getting a quick breakfast, she saw a lone piece of paper with writing on it taped to the refrigerator. Winry curiously picked it up and read it, relieved to see the sloppy writing that obviously belonged to Ed. The note was terse, but it confirmed her predictions:
Dear Winry,
Went out for a walk. Back in a few minutes.
-Ed
Winry sighed, knowing that in Ed's world, "a few minutes" would turn out to be more like an hour or two. Now with the alchemist gone for the moment, she found herself with nothing to do. There was the option of finishing up Ed's auto-mail, but she knew that once she started working, there was no stopping her. Seeing that nothing could be done, Winry gave one more frustrated sigh and resorted to waiting for Ed.
She was heading to the living room with a thick manual on auto-mail in her hand when Den, who's presence was rather limited during the past days, came charging at her from the nearby hallway, nearly knocking the book out of the mechanic's hands.
"What's gotten into you?" Winry curiously questioned the overly energetic dog, gently petting his head. She was rather surprised to see Den this active, considering that he was usually sleeping in isolation these days.
At first, Winry assumed that he must be sick, but then again, he didn't exhibit any signs of disease. In addition to that, he would normally be pouncing all over Ed and Al when they arrived earlier in the week, but instead he slept through whole days on end. Winry was actually beginning to worry slightly about Den's phenomenally instant change in behavior, but she ultimately attributed that to the weather, which seemed to be bringing everyone's moods down.
Winry sat down on the couch and began rereading her book for the twentieth time, trying to ignore Den's obstreperous actions of apparent playfulness. Den was indeed a dog with much life, but she had never seen him this active. Winry assumed that he acquired his energy as a result of the excessive sleep he received, but she couldn't help wondering if maybe there was something else going on here.
It was only a matter of time until Den's antics would start to irritate Winry, and she didn't have any clue as to how to calm him down. He obviously wasn't hungry nor thirsty, and playing with him indoors would be disastrous considering his current state. Just as Winry was mulling over possible options, Den dashed over to the back door and barked loudly several times, requesting to go outdoors. Considering that the sparse rain had faded away earlier, letting the animate dog outside would solve Winry's predicament.
'Maybe some exercise will help him relax for awhile,' Winry concluded, gladly opening the back door and allowing Den to run free for the time.
She watched the spirited Den roll around with joy in the grass, but her thoughts were abruptly disturbed when she heard the sound of something metallic hitting a wooden surface from inside the house. At first, she thought that Ed might be responsible for it, but then she remembered that he wasn't inside at the time. Naturally, she had to find out the source of that disturbance.
Knowing that Den wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, Winry slowly closed the back door and returned to the kitchen, only to freeze in shock. There, lying on the large table, was the same knife that at one point was lodged in her front door. She was sure that she threw the damn thing outside the day before, but how could it get back inside the house? It became a possibility to her that the murderer might be right inside the house at this very moment waiting for his opportunity to strike, but that was a chance that she had to take.
She carefully picked up the utensil and slowly crept into the living room, holding the knife for protection. Winry knew that she shouldn't have taken it, but at least she would have some sort of defense in case the murderer was armed.
The living room itself looked exactly the way she left it, but it had lost its sense of comfort. The only source of light came from the windows, though it was limited considering that the blinds were half closed. Winry glanced around the room, trying to find anything that looked suspicious. Upon finding nothing, she continued on to the spare bedrooms.
Her footsteps echoed in the hallway as she made her way to Ed's room first. Winry knew that Ed wouldn't be too trilled to know that she was sneaking around his room, but this was for his own good. The blonde mechanic opened the door ever so slightly and peeked inside, trying to see if the murderer might be already waiting. Seeing nothing, she pushed the door open the remainder of the way and got to searching the room.
Apparently, after a few moments worth of investigation, the murderer wasn't there, nor did any of the other bedrooms yield him. The only remaining rooms were hers and Pinako's, both of which Winry hoped were unoccupied at the time. She grew more anxious as the situation progressed, especially once she reached the landing of the stairs.
Winry quietly made her way to the entrance of her bedroom. The wooden door was slightly ajar, which saved her the trouble of opening it initially. She scanned the interior of the room through the limited amount of viewing space, but froze when she saw something moving inside. Though the visibility was severely reduced, Winry could easily make out a vague, moving shadow that was being cast on her bed.
Small beads of sweat started to form on her forehead, and the blonde mechanic clutched the knife as if for dear life. She wasn't nearly as intrepid as Ed, and the fact that a potentially dangerous murderer was only a matter of feet away made opening the simple door a difficult task. Then again, the longer she delayed confronting the murderer, the longer her suffering would be.
Pure fear was coursing through her very soul, and Winry wasn't sure if she could pull through with what she wanted to do. Her own life could end if she stepped into that room, but she could also spare the lives of countless others from this crazed person. After a few seconds of debating, Winry was finally able to partially surmount her fear.
With a shaking hand, she reached out and slowly pushed the door open. Winry swallowed hard and jumped into her own bedroom, the knife held tightly in her grasp. She poised herself in a threatening manner, facing the source of the shadow, but the entire effort was for naught. There was no other human here except her; a light breeze coming out of her open window was causing the curtains on either side of it to flutter freely, which attributed to the shadow's existence.
However, one detail did manage to get itself caught by her careful eyes. Winry was positive that her only window was closed when she woke up, but how did it then manage to get open? Could it be that the murderer was indeed in her room at one point, but somehow made his escape via the window? Then again, that seemed unlikely since falling a height this large would certainly not be easy on the person's legs.
It almost seemed as if question after question piled in her mind, and none of them had an obvious answer. The blood writing, the notes, and the strange events all started to become a big blur, mering into one unanswerable mystery. However, Winry didn't really care about the incidents as much compared to finding out who the person behind all this was. It was like she needed to know, almost as if the murderer was trying to get her to find out. But if that was the case, then the murderer was succeeding.
While Winry was battling with her thoughts, a loud knock on the front door brought her back to reality. It was obviously Ed that was requesting entry, and it would be quite awkward for him to see her running around the house with a knife.
"One second!" Winry yelled, rushing back to the kitchen where she tossed the knife in a drawer. She wasn't going to reveal what happened during his absence in order to avoid the alchemist asking her a barrage of questions that she didn't want to answer.
"What kept you?" Ed inquired as the blonde mechanic finally opened the front door.
"I should ask you the same question," Winry replied, resisting the urge to bash him with her wrench as punishment for keeping her waiting.
Ed sighed as he took off his red coat, taking a seat on the living room couch in an exhausted manner. "Well, I wanted to think some stuff over, so I went out for awhile. That's about it."
"Oh," was all she could say, but Winry couldn't help but wonder what was on his mind. She succumbed to her curiosity, and went ahead with her interrogation, "What were you thinking about?"
The alchemist looked over at her with surprise, apparently not expecting her to pursue the subject. "I was trying to figure out exactly what's been going on here lately. I still wonder who might be responsible, but I just can't picture anyone based on what you told me last night."
Winry found it arduous to avoid mentioning the sudden appearance of that knife earlier, but she knew that eventually Ed would find out. She wasn't sure why she found it necessary to tell him, but keeping secrets just wasn't something that she liked to do.
She kept her voice low and serious as she spoke. "Ed, did you see anyone on your way back here?"
"Not anyone that I can recall. Why do you ask?"
"Because something is going on here," she continued, causing Ed to sit up from his slouching position, "Last night, when I found the note on the door, it was actually pinned with a knife. I threw that knife away outside, and today, I saw it lying on the kitchen table after I let Den play outside."
"Why didn't you tell me about it last night?" Ed questioned, perplexed at the words that he was hearing.
"I don't know," Winry replied truthfully, "I just wanted you to have a good time staying here. I didn't want to trouble you with murderers and so on." She looked away, tears once again starting to form in her eyes.
Ed was at a loss. It turned out that Winry didn't tell him everything in their discussion the night before, and this fact actually disturbed him more than the knife itself. He knew that keeping secrets would be counterproductive, but he was rather astonished that Winry didn't disclose this particular bit. He was also grateful that Winry tried to make his vacation uneventful, but hiding this sort of information was slightly over the edge.
"Winry, you need to tell me these things," he replied, hoping that Winry wouldn't condemn his own secrecy again, "I'm happy that you try to make my here time enjoyable, but this is really something that shouldn't be kept hidden. Now, is there anything else?"
His intentions were good, and Winry knew that. He wasn't trying to invade her privacy, but rather keep the two of them safe. "Yeah, there is another thing."
Ed smiled at her cooperation, and listened intently. "And what might that be?"
Winry took a deep breath and began to reveal the writing in blood. "Remember the first time I dragged you out of bed three nights ago? Well, I told you about some strange writing on my window, but you didn't see it."
Upon taking another breath to calm herself, Winry continued with her story, "It really does exist, but somehow it disappears in a few moments. And don't ask me how, it just does. Anyway, I saw that same writing again the night after that. Something was on my mind, so I went down to the living room in the middle of the night and I saw more writing on this table." She motioned with her hand to the innocent coffee table.
"What did the writing say?" Ed questioned.
"The first message said that you will be the first, probably referring to me," Winry recalled, "And the other one said that your friend will be next, which I assumed must be you."
The alchemist thought about the message, not really understanding what it was saying. The words were simple enough, but the meaning was still an enigma to him. The message could really refer to anyone, including Al and Pinako, but it really fit Winry and himself the best. If that was true, then what could the person want with the two of them?
"One more thing," Winry said, snapping Ed out of his thoughtful moment, "The messages were w-written in blood. I-I wasn't sure how, but I'm positive that it was blood."
Ed had to let her last words sink in before he finally grasped what she had said.
'In blood? But, how?' He couldn't come up with a possible way that the person achieved this, but the real question was why. Why bother writing something in blood? Maybe to give a scare, but other than that, there was no reason.
Additionally, the author of the messages somehow defied the laws of physics. Being able to erase entire sentence fragments in mere seconds warranted some attention. This could actually give a clue as to who might have written those messages, since obviously not many people were able to write and erase with such unreal speed.
"Ed, you know what's going on, right?" Winry spoke up out of nowhere, startling the alchemist.
He hadn't really expected her to ask that sort of question, and he didn't want to reveal that he was clueless for Winry's sake. "Uh, not exactly. But I think I'm finally starting to figure out the person who was doing all of this." This was a lie, but Ed knew better than to sadden the poor girl even more.
"And besides, I'm-" Ed never got to finish his sentence as a piercing howl erupted near the back of the house.
Winry's face went pale as she realized that Den was still outside. "Oh God, I completely forgot about bringing Den back inside!"
Ed, upon hearing this, immediately dashed through the house and stopped right before the back door. Winry caught up in a matter of seconds, but Ed disallowed her from nearing the door.
"Winry, we don't know who we're dealing with here. Stay back for your own safety," the alchemist commanded in a serious tone. Winry didn't bother trying to argue and resorted to standing a few feet away.
For practical reasons, Ed transmuted his auto-mail arm into his trademark blade. He slowly opened the back door, chancing a peek outside. Seeing that an ambush was not in order, he swung the door open the remainder of the way, just enough for him to get a clear view of the backyard.
What he saw next completely sickened him. There on the lawn was Den, or rather what was left of him. The dog's limbs were severed completely off the body and scattered throughout the grass. The auto-mail limb, along with the other three limbs, was lying a few feet from the body. As for the body itself, a large lateral cut was made along the soft underside, exposing many of the internal organs. As a matter of fact, some of the organs were removed and carelessly thrown not far from the corpse itself. The ribs were all missing and nowhere to be found.
Den's head, which was lying near the stairs to the door, was also decapitated with its eyes gouged out and the jaw snapped off, both apparently were also nowhere near the skull. The skull itself was partially split in two, revealing parts of the brain. Den's blood was splattered all over the once green grass and against the walls of the house. But the centerpiece of this whole scene was a lone knife that was lodged into the upper skull.
Feeling himself go slightly dizzy, Ed turned around and slammed the door shut. Winry could tell that something terrible had happened, and so she dared to ask.
"Ed, what happened?"
The question was simple, but Ed somehow had lost his ability to speak. What he saw back there would undoubtedly break Winry's very heart, but he found no way to avoid telling her.
"Winry, for the love of God, don't look back there," he replied in an attempt to stall her, still feeling shaken up.
Winry didn't accept his request, and instead started heading for the closed door. She found her progress halted as Ed placed two firm hands on both of her shoulders. "What happened? Please, tell me," she pleaded softly, but the alchemist remained firm.
Ed removed his hands off her shoulders and looked at Winry with very serious, yet pain-stricken eyes. "It's Den. He's... he's dead."
His words tore directly at her soul. She just had to see for herself, refusing to believe Ed's claim at first. It couldn't be true, but then again, Ed didn't appear as though he was lying. His face was now paler than her own, and he appeared very troubled.
"H-How?" was her question.
She received no reply, and instead kept staring at Ed. He silently debated whether or not he should allow her to see the massacre, but there seemed no way to talk his way out of this one. Ed was sure that Winry wanted to see Den's corpse, and hiding whatever was left of it was not an option. In fact, it would be only a matter of time until Winry figured out for herself what truly happened.
Ed gazed at the floor, not daring to look at Winry's expression any longer. "I-I could show you, since he is your dog after all, but you w-won't like what you'll see." His voice was lifeless and quiet, which told Winry that whatever was outside must be terrible.
Winry instead kept quiet and went over to the door herself. Ed gritted his teeth and moved away so that she could have all the room that she needed. He turned himself around at the sound of the door opening, not daring to see Winry's face after what she was about to witness.
It felt like an eternity before Ed heard the door slowly close, and in turn he looked over to see Winry's reaction. However, she had her back turned toward him, but Ed could easily make out the glistening tears falling from her face. Her entire body was shaking, possibly from fear, anger, and sadness all at once.
"Winry?" he asked to see if she was alright, but she remained silent for a few more seconds. Without so much as a reply, Winry darted past him and ran the remainder of the way to her room. Ed flinched as he heard her bedroom door slam shut, understanding the pain that she must be going through.
He tried to take his mind off Winry, knowing that she needed some time alone. Instead, he turned his attention to Den's death site. As hard as it was, Ed had to do something about the gory scene. Obviously, the corpse had to be disposed of, and that was his first goal. Ed pulled out a few large bags from a nearby closet and proceeded outside.
The vile scent of flesh immediately filled his nose, and it already became physically and emotionally difficult to concentrate. Ignoring the temptations to vomit, Ed went about picking up the various portions of Den's body, placing each in a separate bag, with the exception of the auto-mail leg. When he reached the skull, which he purposely saved for last, Ed pulled out the knife and quickly examined it before stashing the the remainder of the head in the bag.
Was this the knife that Winry was talking about? Either way, he decided that it would be wise to save the thing. Besides the knife, there was another thing that bothered him about this whole incident. From the time that he heard Den's final call for help to the time that he actually reached the dead dog was no more than a minute's difference. This meant that the murderer had to initially kill Den, cut off his limbs, decapitate the head, mangle with the body, and manage to get away all in about sixty seconds.
The knife itself, with its five-inch long blade, wasn't very sharp, meaning that cutting through solid bone should have taken some time. The auto-mail limb was detachable, so that saved the murderer five seconds at most. Unless this guy had superhuman strength, which was very unlikely, the murderer must have used the aid of an alibi or some kind of ability.
Ed also wondered as to why the person would go through the trouble of butchering a dog to pieces if his intentions were to kill it. A simple stab to the throat with the knife would have done the job easily, not to mention cleanly. It became apparent that the murderer was demonstrating his recklessness, and Ed was thankful that he didn't strike down a person yet.
The alchemist decided to push his theories to the back of his mind for now. He pocketed the knife and left the tied-up bags outside near the back door before returning into the house. Ed left the splattered blood for the rain to take care of, considering that the dark clouds, which replaced the previously gray ones, were about to yield rain.
Ed placed the bloodstained auto-mail leg on the living room table, knowing that Winry would probably want to keep it. The alchemist sighed, not really pleased with the way his vacation was going. Den's death really didn't affect him as much as it did to Winry. He assumed that everything he'd experienced on his journeys had somewhat lessened the shock of seeing a lifeless corpse. But then again, the passing away of a close animal would eventually swing in full force in the later months.
Winry still remained in her room, mourning the death of her beloved pet. Ed decided to check up on her, hoping that she wasn't going to fall into depression or something equally as bad. He knocked lightly on her door upon reaching it, though there was no response, however, with the exception of muffled sobs coming from the other side. Ed sighed, knowing this wasn't going to be easy, and opened the door, shutting it directly after entering.
Winry was lying curled up on her bed, facing opposite of Ed, hugging a pillow as she cried. The alchemist hated seeing her in this state, and therefore went over to her bedside. She acknowledged his presence, and made an attempt to stifle some of her tears.
"Why d-did he kill h-him?" She choked out, "D-Den never did a-anything to that guy."
"I'm not sure, but now we do know what this person is capable of," Ed replied as he sat down on edge of the bed.
The blonde mechanic sat up, still unable to quash the constant streams of tears flowing from her eyes. She finally spoke after a brief silence, "This is all my fault."
This comment caught Ed completely off guard. "Winry, don't be ridiculous! There is no way that Den's death was your fault. I mean, it's not like-"
He was interrupted by Winry as she lunged at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his body. "Yes it is! I never should have left him alone with a lunatic killer running around!" She started crying uncontrollably into his chest, unable to suppress the feelings of guilt that had somehow fabricated themselves in her heart.
Ed was rather taken back by her sudden action, but felt sympathy towards her nonetheless. He returned the embrace, though rather hesitantly at first, disregarding the fact that hugs were not really his preference.
"Don't blame yourself. How were you supposed to know what would happen?" Ed spoke gently, running his flesh hand soothingly along her back. He knew that he wasn't very good at consoling people, but he had to at least try for Winry's sake.
"I-I just know that I could've done something," she replied with difficulty, holding on tighter.
The alchemist remained silent until Winry's tears subsided somewhat. "You and I both know firsthand how it feels to lose someone that you love. I know how it feels to realize that you'll never see that person alive again, nor is there anyway that they'll ever come back. You can also apply those feelings to Den, in a way."
Winry buried her face further into Ed's chest, understanding his words. "Yeah, but I just can't believe that something like this would happen. I don't see who would be cruel enough to slaughter an innocent dog," she whispered, closing her eyes slightly.
"I promise that I'll find this killer, whoever it might be," Ed replied, running a hand through Winry's hair. Though he still was rather clueless as to who was responsible for Den's untimely death, Ed was determined to make the murderer pay dearly.
To a degree, Winry felt rather satisfied that Ed wasn't going to let the murderer get away with such a crime. However, this meant that he would undoubtedly immerse himself in dangerous activities in order to hunt down Den's attacker. The last thing she wanted was for Ed to end up injured in the process.
"I'm just thankful that it wasn't you who was lying all cut-up back there," Ed said softly, resting his head on top of hers. In reality, he wasn't sure what to think if he saw Winry's body massacred in the grass. But he was sure, however, that he would spare her such a fate.
Winry sighed, knowing that Den's slaughter would spark another string of gruesome nightmares. The scene of his death would forever stay painted in her mind, no matter how badly she would like to erase it. She had to admit, however, that Ed was right; it was impossible for her to save Den.
The blonde mechanic curled up close to Ed, feeling safe in his protective arms. Outside, the foreboding clouds unleashed another wave of cold rain, washing away Den's blood. Though the dog's death would eventually be overcome, it would remain embedded in both Ed's and Winry's minds.
Bleh, you're gonna hate me for writing that. ;( Anyways, please drop a review if you have some time. ;P And of course, the reviewers:
Midnight Moon: Lol, thanks!
Hersheyz Kissez: Thanks. :)
EdxWinry: Sorry for taking so long to update... again. :( Anyways, thanks for reviewing, and hopefully I'll upload the next chapter sometime before I die. xD
C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only: If I told you that now, then it would give away the remainder of the plot. ;) Like I said before, it will take some time before this whole concept of revenge in this fic will be made obvious. ;P
Brickwall847: Heh, thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm glad that you like this fic so much. ;)
tamashiix: Thanks for the review. ;P
Apathetic Empath2: Lol. :P Thanks for the compliment about the previous chapter. ;)
As for the whole letter business, I agree with you about the dialogue now that I read it over. Personally, I struggle when writing those kinds of tense moments. ;)
The OOC'ness is actually going to show up a few more times throughout this fic, but not intentionally of course. The reason behind this is that I started writing tons of OOC fanfics in the past (most of them I didn't upload to this site) and now it's become one of those habits. ;P Bleh, it's hard to explain, but hopefully we'll see even less of it in the future. ;D
Once again, I thank you for reviewing. :) Feel free to ask any questions, and I'll get to answering them by the time the next chapter comes around.
Yugata Tenshi: Thanks for pointing out that OOC bit in the previous chapter. I'm trying to limit down on the OOC, but it's going to slip from time to time, hope you don't mind. ;) Anyways, thanks for reviewing!
And that's it for today. :) See you next chapter.
