Gee Golly Swell Farm Life
Chapter 1
A lovely girl of about 17 walked over to a tall orchard of trees. This girl had long flowing sandy brown hair with orange stripes, and beautiful blue eyes. She wore a pleated skirt that was made of a simple canvas material and a zonker green baby tee with a lime green alien on it. Under the picture of the alien was one word: Zim. This girl was quite shapely, and any teenage boy in his right mind would want her. That wasn't the only reason why she was sought after by 99.999 of the male population. She was also a wicked spit fire whose attitude couldn't be described adequately by any word in the Webster's English Dictionary. This girl could best any boy in the valley at arm wrestling; she could catch the most fish, and could run the full length of the valley in less then five minutes. She was considered a goddess. But in her own mind, she was nothing more than a performer, put up on stage daily for the crowds to enjoy. An empty shell that had a curled handle stabbed into its back. When you grabbed the handle, you would twist it in a clockwise manner as to wind up the shell so that it could perform its routine once again. She was nothing more than a toy, one that many enjoyed playing with. This girl was Amelia McDougall…
…A handsome man of about 20 graced the room with a sinister smile. He was finally ready to perform that utterly retched science, the one they called taboo. Everything was ready. He walked over to the center, and cut his hand deep with a very sharp knife. Crimson blood used out of the center of his palm and onto the ash black materials in a large pan. One whole ounce of his blood was scattered onto the whole pile. After this he took a step back and spoke in a loud clear voice:
"Bring back to me my true mother! The one who brought me into this world, the one whose womb I came from! Bring her to me here and now with this transmutation I am now to perform!"
He fell to his knees at the edge of the circle and slapped his hands down onto the cold brick floor on the transmutation array. A blinding swirl of lights appeared, at first gold, then purple, and then a horrifying crimson red. Something inside of him dissolved and disappeared, his right leg from the knee down was ripped from him by small writhing hands. The man screamed at the top of his lungs, while keeping his hands on the transmutation array firmly concentrating on his goal. He could not let this pain get in the way of what he had worked so hard for. He would NOT give up.
After what seemed like forever, the lights stopped, and the great mist that had clouded the room began to clear. The desperate man looked up while holing onto the bloody stump that had once been his right leg. What he saw tore at his very soul. Sitting in the pan in the middle of the array, was a very familiar body. Everything had gone as it was supposed to, except for the soul binding. The man hadn't been able to affix the soul to the body of his creation…suddenly he couldn't look at the result of his transmutation array anymore. In that pan in the middle of the room was a brunette man of the age of twenty, one with soft soulless blue eyes, pale skin and muscled torso. The alchemist whom now collapsed onto the cold brick floor sighed in disgust with himself.
"How ironic…" He rasped, the loss of blood making his vision fade, "The one person whom I have sought for so long, was already in this world…he was always with me in the one place I left foolishly so many years ago."
Two older men rushed into the room. One was tall and blonde and the other was slightly shorter with sandy brown hair. The blonde picked up the bloody man on the floor. This man, (the one who treaded into the realm of the gods, into human transmutation just a few moments ago) his name is James McDougall…
… Amelia continued to stare up into the sky with empty eyes. The cause of her emptiness was her older brother's disappearance so many years ago. She could barely remember her brother now or there adventures really. Her mind seemed clouded over on the subject of her brother. Maybe it was her mind's subconscious way of protecting itself. Amelia couldn't really tell. The harvesting had already been finished for spring, and the summer months were slowly catching up with the McDougall family. The summer harvest would begin soon and Amelia would finally have something to distract herself with. The teen stood, smoothing out her skirt and tugging down the hem of her t-shirt. Many people would call her family rich. In fact, she guessed it would be true. They certainly lived comfortably and never had to worry about money issues. But Amelia wasn't really sure of how much money they actually had, nor did she care for that matter. Her father gave her a monthly allowance that suited her needs. Whenever she went into two she could buy anything she wanted, whether it's the hottest new clothing or a brand new CD player or head phones. It didn't matter, because there was always more than enough money.
Amelia was going to go inside the house and veg out in her bedroom, when Hugh ran up to her. She withheld an annoyed sigh and looked up in time to greet the horn dog she grudgingly called a friend.
"What's up Hugh?" Amelia greeted, wearing a smug smirk on her face.
"Nothing in particular…" He returned the smirk to its fullest while holding his arms behind his back.
"What you got there? Are you here to give me a present, or to brag about something you have and I don't?" Amelia asked tonelessly.
"Actually I'm here to invite you to something." Hugh replied matter of factly.
"And what would that be?"
"The nickel back concert in central, front and center tickets." The teenage boy waved the tickets mockingly in her face.
Amelia immediately forgot her previous depression at the sight of the tickets to the concert she had only been dreaming of going to for months. She weighed her options; she could ask her parents or not ask and sneak out tomorrow night. The girl told her friend to wait right there and hurried over to the house. Inside, her father was sitting on the couch in front of the TV reading a newspaper and watching the news channel at the same time. Amelia walked up behind him and proposed the situation.
"Father?" She asked sweetly.
"Ugh." He grunted.
Good, if he had responded and turned around then there was no way she would be able to get away with the following conversation. If the man grunted then he was only semi-listening and thusly wouldn't put a lot of thought into his answers.
"If your beloved daughter were to sneak out to a concert tomorrow night and not be back to all hours of the morning, how much trouble would she get in?" Amelia questioned.
"She would be banned from joy for two weeks. Thank you for asking Amelia, what concert?" Phage McDougall turned around to face his daughter.
He turned off the TV and set his newspaper aside. Amelia swallowed nervously; she hadn't expected her dad to be smart today. Damn. The 40 year old man smirked knowingly and stared his daughter down.
"You know that Nickel Back concert I've been dying to go to for months!" Amelia queried dramatically not waiting for him to answer she continued, "Well, Hugh has two front row center seat tickets to the show and I really want to go, PLEASE DADDY!"
Amelia got on her knees and stuck out her bottom lip so far it might as well have been an airport runway because a Boeing 767 could have easily landed on it. She blinked her eyes cutely and held her hands together under her chin…
…She must really want to go to this concert Phage thought; she's pulling out the heavy artillery here. She's using the lip pout and the baby eyes, and she said 'daddy'. Phage knew that there was no way he would survive this without letting his daughter go to the concert. Well, if she was going to play the hard way than he would too.
"HONEY!" Phage called.
Jack McDougall rushed into the room, he surveyed the situation. The brunette calmly walked over and looked between the two. Phage looked like he was being resisting screaming out during some sort of medieval torture session.
"What does she want?" Jack asked, while crossing his arms over his apron-ed chest.
"She wants to go to a Nickel Back concert tomorrow night with Hugh." Phage squealed in pain and covered his face while muttering insanely, "See no evil, see no evil, see no evil…"
Jack shook his head and cheerfully told his daughter, "You can go to the concert."
Phage looked at his husband confused while Amelia began to jump into the air and whoop.
"But you have to take Steven and Mark with you." Jack added.
Amelia was in mid jump when her happiness was deflated, "What!"
"You heard me." Jack said firmly.
Amelia collapsed to the ground as if she'd been shot. Her body twitched on the ground to the point observers might have thought she was having spasms. She screamed into the floor.
"If Steven and Mark don't want to go then you can't go." Jack told his daughter before heading complacently back to the kitchen.
Phage watched his daughter continue to have seizures on the floor and decided it would be best to escape the house before she exploded. He had said it before and he said it again in his mind, raising teenagers is like trying to nail jello to a tree.
Chapter 2
Amelia was in extreme agony. She had wandered over to the dormitory earlier to see if Steven and Mark would go to the concert with her and Hugh. Both men promptly told her that they did in fact have better things to do then chaperone a date however amusing it would be to beat up a 20 year old boy that was hitting on their cute little Amelia. Said cute little Amelia was now seething with anger in her bedroom while blasting Nickel Back into her ears with her 'hate-the-world-device'. Life was cruel sometimes. Wait, scratch that. Life was cruel ALL the time. Amelia sighed heavily, allowing herself to fall back onto her bed. It had always been too big for her. When she was little she could curl up in the middle and have a good 3 foot radius of nothing around her. Now it was still big for her. Amelia could lay her head comfortably on the pillow and be laying with her arms stretched out as far as they could go above her head and have legs completely stretched out and she wouldn't be able to touch either end of the bed. Amelia was 5'7". There was no way in hell she was going to go to that concert and not have consequences later. Steven and Mark wouldn't go. That was her one legal way out of the situation. DAMN IT! She screeched mentally. Way to ruin any hopes of drooling over eye candy oh beloved parental units! Damnity damn damn damn! The teenage girl let out a thoroughly enraged groan before turning over so her bare belly was being pressed against clean white linen. Breathing in the calming scent of laundry soap, Amelia gave up hope of enjoying herself for the next three weeks. She was going to have to sneak out to go to the concert tomorrow night with Hugh…oh well, it would be worth it though.
The day after the concert marked the first day of summer harvesting. Amelia did not have a CD player, a book of any kind, computer access, TV viewing privileges, or any sort of fun instigating outlet available to her for the next three weeks. Oh well, it had definitely been worth it. The teen goddess smirked. The lead singer had thought she was hot, and even asked her if she wanted to see his hotel room. The flattery was nice, but in reality the girl knew she couldn't take him up on the offer. It went against her moral values, and she didn't feel like giving away her virginity to some guy (however drool worthy) that didn't deserve it. That was wrong on so many levels. Amelia picked another ripe peach from its place in the tall tree and set it in her already heavy basket. She had enough room for the rest that were on the tree she was working on.
The farm had grown a bit since a couple years ago. Since the new orchard over on the extremely fertile soil had started producing fruit there was so much fruit that they didn't have enough seed makers to handle the load. So, they bought two dozen more seed makers. There was a whole new room for just seed makers that had been added onto the tool room. Myishi farm was known in the big cities now as one of the top places to buy fruit seeds from. Every gardening shop in the big cities would come to the farm once a month and pick up a shipment of seeds and pay more than any small town stand would dream of. But picking the fruit was still a lot of work. Amelia's father refused to get the machines that were available that could help with the fruit picking during the busier seasons. He also didn't want to get any more farm hands. So the massive job was divided up amongst Amelia, Steven, Joey, Mark, Matt, Jimmy, and Timmy. There were a total of 4 summer trees in the smaller plot next to the house, and seven in bigger plot on the other side of the chicken coop. And a whopping 24 summer trees in the newest orchard where Amelia was currently standing. Finally done with that tree she headed over to the seed maker room and filled two seed makers with peaches. Then she went to check if any of the other seed makers had seeds ready to crate up. Three of them were ready. Amelia went over to the deep cabinet filled with large crates, she pulled out two. Then she took out four smaller ones that would fit inside the previous boxes she had carried out. The teen began sorting the seeds into different small wooden boxes. After that was done she put the smaller crates into the big ones, one on top of the other. This way they were now organized and easy to access. Amelia picked up the crates one at a time and put them in the area of the room set aside for the shipments. She labeled them for the correct store and then headed back out to the orchard with her basket.
Joey met her with a Cheshire cat grin. Amelia looked fondly at the man. He had always been one her favorites amongst the farm hands that lived with her family. In fact, they didn't just live with her family; they were a part of the family. The male had been significantly overweight when he had arrived on the farm, but now he was slim and trim, and even appeared to be getting some muscle from all the work. Amelia felt a sudden surge of nostalgia for the man waving at her under a pear tree. She ran so fast towards him that when she collided with him she brought them both to the ground. The girl had her arms around his neck and she sobbed into his shoulder. Joey awkwardly put his arms around her comfortingly. He murmured soothing words in her ear. Amelia knew that she was getting close to her time of the month…damn pre-menstrual mood swings! She raised her head and looked up into Joey's face. Dark green curls fell in front of embarrassed grey eyes. Amelia's eyes traced his narrow jaw, and his thin pale lips. She felt a sudden forward momentum take hold of her. But before her body did something she didn't want it to do, Amelia fought the urge and got up quickly. She offered Joey a hand.
"I'm sorry…uh, you tell any of the guys about this and you will die a slow painful death!" Amelia glared at him and he smirked at her.
"I wouldn't have to…hey guys, did you get all of that on camera?" Joey looked over to the wide open dormitory window where five amused faces looked on.
Amelia's face was on fire. They were so dead! Her callused hands curled into angry fists. She stomped over to the side of the dormitory. The boys laughed at her, and then she grabbed hold of the window and slammed it so hard they all fell backwards from the force. Screams of extreme pain could be heard by anyone within a 100 yard radius. Both parental units ran out of the house and over to the general vicinity from which the screams were emanating.
"Amelia!"
"What?" Amelia turned to look at her parents.
"You just earned yourself another week of grounding, young lady!" Jack shouted.
"But Mom, they were-"
"A week and a half." Jack's voice was daring his daughter to try and continue.
"Never mind."
Amelia took a few deep breaths, then picked up her basket and moved onto another tree to pick fruits. She was working late into the night, well past midnight. Now none of the boys were out to help her. The farm hands were inside being pampered by her mother and were being apologized to by her father. The teen growled loudly in the direction of the house. Just as she was about to pick another fruit from the tree, the memory of her face being so close to Joey's came back to her. An electric shock coursed through her entire body. What the hell? She had never felt this way about Joey before. The girl gasped, almost dropping her basket at the revelation that now filled her mind. She couldn't like Joey, could she? What was the point? It wasn't like anything would come of it. He was too old for her. He wasn't too old to be attractive. The man certainly was attractive, very much so. But if Amelia's feelings got stronger there was no way she could act on them. It would ruin the relationship they had, and not only that but Amelia's mother wouldn't allow it. She took a few deep breaths. Don't think about him, don't think about him…
One minute she was simply standing in front of him, the next she had her arms wrapped around his neck and her lips pressed against his. Her hands were his hair, and his hands were on the small of her back. He was doing something wonderful with his tongue in her mouth, and suddenly there was a hand on her bare stomach. Their tongues engaged in a wet sensuous dance, and their hands roamed all over their bodies. Moans of pleasure escaped both of them as their ministrations never stopped. It was as if they didn't need air, so there was no need to stop the kissing. Next thing she knew they were on the ground, and he was kissing up and down her neck, her jaw, behind her ear, the top of her…
"Amelia! Yoohoo, is anyone home?" Jimmy asked.
Amelia shook her head and looked around; the sun had just started rising. The six farm hands were gathered around her. Some of them were laughing, others were modestly hiding their amusement (AKA Timmy and Steven). She shot them all a poisonous glare.
"What's so funny?" She glared icily at all of the laughing men standing around her.
"I don't know, should we tell her guys?" Jimmy looked back at Mark, Matt, and a very embarrassed Joey.
Oh no, Amelia had a feeling she knew where this was heading.
"Well, you were sorta talking in your sleep," Jimmy started stopping to snigger into his hands.
Gods no, please not that… Amelia sent a prayer to any higher power that might have been gracious enough to listen.
"And you were kinda calling out Joey's name like you two were…you know…taking a roll in the hay." He winked at her.
Amelia's face was so red she must've resembled nothing better than the tomatoes they grew during the summer. Joey was blushing almost as much as she was .She stared at the ground for what seemed like hours, wishing they'd just go away, or moving onto a different plot to start chores. But they didn't, so she stood up and continued her work where she had left off when she fell asleep last night.
For the rest of the day, she ignored all of them, especially Joey. Amelia tried to avoid the green haired man like the plague, but it seemed that the rest of the farm hands were trying to make that as hard for her as possible. What was their problem? Were they some kind of sadists? Amelia finally collapsed onto her bed at around one in the morning. She just hoped that she didn't have another 'loud' dream like the one her 'friends' had so mercilessly teased her about all day. Her parent's room was right on the other side of the wall that the head of her bed was pressed up against. If they heard her; that was it…she would die of embarrassment. It was bad enough that the guys had heard her, now she would never live it down. She knew they weren't cruel enough to tell her parents about it, but that didn't mean that they weren't cruel enough to tease her about it for the rest of her life during work. Amelia pulled her work shirt over her head, and tugged off her jeans. Just as she was about to put on some comfy sweat pants and a white tummy shirt there was a knock on her door. Thinking it was probably just her Mom, Amelia called for the person to come in.
"Oh, uh…um, I'll come back later…sorry!" Joey was about to leave when Amelia stopped him.
"No, wait Joey." Amelia put on her pajamas really quick and shut the door before the man could leave.
"I'm sorry about…what happened." Amelia blushed a dark red, "I don't really want to feel this way, but I'm currently blaming it on P.M.S. so maybe it'll go away by next month. I know you're probably just as embarrassed as I am, maybe even more so. But nothing's going to happen, right?"
Joey looked down into her embarrassed face. Her eyes caught his, and suddenly it was as if she had just drank a gallon of anesthetic. The girl's body couldn't move no matter how much she told it to. What was going on? She could feel gravity pull their faces closer together. No, Amelia what are you doing! Her mind screeched. But the teen couldn't stop her body from doing what it was doing. She had no control. When their lips met all previous care was thrown to the wind. Amelia wrapped her arms around Joey's neck, and he wrapped his arms around her waist pulling them closer together. The kiss was soft and gentle, but slowly became more hungry and passionate. Amelia's bold tongue slipped between Joey's lips and he willing let her continue. Once her tongue was in his mouth he began to trace sensuous circles on it with his own tongue. Her soft moan was what broke the spell. Joey immediately let go of her and stopped the kiss. They were both breathless, staring wide eyed at each other. The man quickly left the room without a word, and Amelia could hear the front door open and close. She reached a shaking hand up to her lips. That had been her first kiss.
Amelia lay curled up in bed, trying to will sleep to come to her but to no avail. Thoughts of her and Joey's kiss still plagued her mind. She was torn. It had been her first kiss and she had hoped that it would be with some amazing boyfriend that she loved beyond reason. She had never imagined that her first kiss would belong to Joey, her loveable adopted brother since she was one. He was what, 16 years older then her? Wasn't that illegal? Oh my god… Amelia laid her face in her hands and quietly cried. She couldn't control her emotions right now! What if something happened? And after she was over her 'mood swing time' and she suddenly didn't feel anything for Joey? There was no way that she could let that happen!
The next day, Amelia and Joey both avoided each other even more then the day before. It seemed that the guys knew something was up, and that it wouldn't be a good idea to try and bug them anymore. Amelia had completely forgotten about being grounded, and the next couple of weeks passed by in a blur. When her parents handed back her CD player, her laptop, headphones, CDS, Mangas, books, and internet cable she looked at them as if she had never seen them before. What were these items? Had they once held some important place in her life? Her parents also told her that she could now watch TV if she wished. Amelia's mind asked confusedly what's a TV? How do I watch it? Why would I want to watch it? Is it normally a part of my everyday routine? Why would I care about this 'TV'? Her brain just couldn't remember what it was like before she had gotten so suddenly caught up in her newfound feelings for Joey. Even after her period was over, and the after shock week had passed, her feelings didn't go away. What the hell? Why was life so cruel? What did she do that was so horrible that now she had forgotten how to live properly? It was like she was a model of a product that just didn't work. Maybe this was how life really was, and she was never given the instruction manual? That's what I need, Amelia thought one day in August, Worst case scenario survival guide to unexpected crushes.
It was now mid August, and she had no idea what to do. Her feelings for Joey hadn't faded and she hadn't gone shopping in months. There was clearly something wrong with her. Her wardrobe was looking sickeningly familiar day in and day out. There was no new clothing. It would seem that her mind couldn't really comprehend the process. She would look at the contents of her closet, and then at her dresser drawers. Her eyes seemed to expect new clothing to appear out of thin air at their command. Maybe, if she stared at them long enough, she would get her way. Yes, that was it. Just stare…
"God Damn it!" Amelia shouted suddenly in the middle of crating up the milk from the milk room.
She couldn't take it anymore! Amelia was going shopping, that would take her mind off of Joey. As soon as her chores were done she was going into town, and getting a pedicure and a manicure. She was going to buy as many new pairs of jeans as she wanted, maybe she'd buy some new shoes, and skirts. She would also buy a new hair brush and some new hair bands. That was definitely what she was going to do.
Amelia walked through the store, looking at all of the different clothing racks. She picked up random t-shirts and ran to the fitting room where she immediately tried them on. Deciding she liked all of them, she put them in her shopping cart that was very quickly becoming full of clothes, shoes; make up, perfume, and nail polish.
Four hours and 6,597 G later…
Amelia was finally satisfied. She had managed to persuade some of the male employees at the store to help load her purchases into the large sturdy wooden cart she had brought with her. The cart was harnessed to 'Little Billy' Myishi Farm's new horse. Little Billy was a large intimidating Clydesdale draft horse. He had a dark onyx black coat and a chestnut mane and tail. His stockings were a shocking white, and his hooves were all about the size of dinner plates. Amelia's head was three inches below his shoulders. Even though Little Billy's appearance might be intimidating, everyone on Myishi Farm knew he was a sweet heart.
Once everything was loaded into the cart, Amelia climbed into the back and told Billy to start heading home. After she had given the instructions, the girl could lay back and relax. Little Billy knew the way home, and she wouldn't have to be constantly up and alert for any dangers. Little Billy was however sweet loveable, wouldn't think twice about protecting his master. The ride home was basically uneventful, and Amelia realized that Joey hadn't once entered her mind that day. She had stopped worrying about her crush on him, and actually focused on shopping. Amelia soon figured out that if she didn't think about it, and focused on doing something for herself, she felt much better. Wow, I can't believe it was that simple…Amelia thought in shock. She had spent her entire summer freaking about something, she could have easily solved in a matter of days. When she got home Amelia spent the evening showing her Mom all of the new things she had bought. She had a great time, and completely forgot about her supposed sickness.
Chapter 3
When James opened his eyes, he was lying down in a very uncomfortable bed. Everything around him was that annoying sterile shade of white. There was something missing where his left arm should've been, and where his right leg usually was. What had happened? James thought hard, he had prepared for the transmutation to bring back his mother. Then, he had proceeded as planned with the transmutation, but what had happened afterwards? The man continued to think. Suddenly his mentors came into the room, Alphonse looked concerned and Edward looked just plain angry. James started to sit up but Edward delivered a cruel backhand that sent him straight back down again.
"How dare you worry me like that you fool! You annoying, stupid, idiotic, apprentice! I can't believe you tried something so stupid! Even after we told you over and over again during your years of training not to! What is wrong with you!" Ed was screaming like an enraged mother at her child whom had just deliberately disobeyed her.
"…" James didn't speak for several minutes, taking in the absence of two very important parts of his body.
"What happened to me?" James questioned calmly.
"During the transmutation you lost your left arm and your right leg." Al all but whispered.
"What about the result? What about my mother?" James asked fearfully.
Ed frowned deeply before saying, "Your MOTHER was nothing more than a soulless clone of Jack at the age of 20. You transmuted the body perfectly but you couldn't bind the soul because it was already bound to the original body which is still alive."
James's eyes widened severely, all the memories of that night rushed back to him. He remembered looking up and seeing his Mom, the one and only lying in that blood stained pan. His eyes soft and emotionless, no soul behind them at all. James closed his eyes, his breaths coming out shaky. How could that be the answer? After all that he worked for, that was what it all came to? His mother was Jack McDougall, husband of Phage McDougall, both of which had raised him since birth. But he never thought it could be that simple…why? Why didn't he just believe them? Why did he have to waste ten years of his life away from his real family, chasing some stupid lie? James took a shaking right hand and placed it on the stump where his right leg used to be, feeling new skin grown, filling with bones and muscles and new nerves. Nothing was connected yet so it was still a bag of tissue basically. Next he did the same thing with his left arm. Skin, muscle, bone, and new nerves grew before his eyes. Al and Ed looked on wide eyed. James then clapped his right hand twice on his numb left and pressed it against his forearm. He winced, biting his tongue to keep from screaming as all of his bones, muscles, and new nerves in his left arm were all connected at the same time. The sudden surge of pain almost made him faint, but he focused clearly on the task at hand. James followed the same procedure with his right leg. Soon he was flexing the muscles and moving his new limbs around to test them out. They would probably be awkward for the next couple of days, but oh well.
James slid out of the uncomfortable hospital bed and walked over to his mentor, "This is going to hurt a little, but I would like to restore your arm and leg. If you would like me to that is…"
Ed nodded calmly, "I can take the pain, apprentice."
James knew that was Ed's way of saying 'if you don't restore my arm and leg right now I'm going to chew your head off. So he went about the task of sitting his mentor down on the hospital bed and removing his auto-mail. James did it the quicker way with Ed, it would probably be more painful but it was much faster then doing it the other way. Instead of connecting the nerves, muscles, and skin after they had been grown, he made it so that they would connect while they were growing. This hurt worse then attaching auto-mail, or anything else thought to be the most painful event in the world. James took a step back to admire his handy work. Ed's arm was restored, and so was his left leg from the knee down. It was a work of art. At the sign of purple sparkles sprouting, Ed stood up quick as lightening and slapped his apprentice in the face. Al had run to hide under the hospital bed as soon as he had seen the traits of Alex Armstrong appear in his James.
"How can you do this?" Ed asked.
"Well, it all started when I began practicing body transmutations on animals. I would kill an animal like a rabbit or a mouse and then bring them back to life. I would lose things like toes or fingers because of it." James explained, "The first time I lost one of my big toes, I had held the stump and cried out, wishing that my toe would come back and the pain would stop. Next thing I knew, I was holding my big toe, only I couldn't feel it."
Ed nodded, as did Al whom had come out from under the bed now.
"I remember you and Al talking about how you could perform transmutation without a circle because you had seen the gate. I remembered that when I had brought the mouse back to life, I had seen a tall ominous gate, and a million different things. So I tried clapping my hands…but I clapped twice because I couldn't remember exactly what you did. But suddenly, a fire ant bit me at the base of my big toe where I still had feeling. When I went to swat it away, I ended up grabbing my toe and all the feeling came back."
"I figured out quickly that I could restore my fingers and toes if I willed it hard enough, and focused clearly on how they looked right before they were taken. I would draw the proper elements from other parts of my body, and used them to grow new toes, or fingers…"
"…or arms or legs." Ed finished.
"Exactly, after that I would clap my hands twice and touch the numb part and all the nerve strands, muscles, and bones would connect. I had gotten pretty could at the fingers, and toes bit. But this was my first time restoring a whole arm, or leg." James told his mentors.
"Hmm. I guess after seeing the gate so many times, it must've become second nature to you. I wonder what other abilities you might have." Al pondered.
James looked over at the younger Elric brother intrigued by his statement. The apprentice thought back to all the strange things that had happened to him during his various transmutations. Once he could recall wandering around inside the gate just for the heck of it. For some reason, the souls inside didn't bother him, sometimes they would talk to him or follow him around. The cherubic black figures never harmed him, but more like watched him. It was as if they were afraid to touch him almost. Or maybe they had simply gotten used to the sight of him. James loved to visit the gate; the small souls would tell him things about the future, or even beyond the gate. The last time he had visited, when he had tried to bring back his 'mother' they were about to tell him something. They had said it was something they were shocked to discover themselves; they said they had thought he would like to know. Yes, the souls were just about to tell him what that thing was, when he had woken up so suddenly in the hospital room.
James thought about telling his mentors all of this, but then decided not to. He also knew that he could understand animals when they spoke. It must've come from killing and resurrecting so many animals. James had found that when he walked out into the sun his pupils would periodically slit. When he ate meet, often times his canine teeth would grow sharper. Once, he had been almost reached that state of mind where you weren't asleep but you weren't really awake…and he heard himself purring. It was odd, just the other day; he had heard some crows talking. Supposedly they had been talking to a Clydesdale horse just a couple days ago and he had been quite the nice horse to talk to. Apparently he lived on some farm or other, the name of it started with an M they were sure of it. James had gotten used to being approached by cats and dogs, and having conversations with pigeons. It was simply a part of his everyday routine now-a-days. James could imagine coming home to the farm, and being able to understand Bessie's moos, or Bob and Joe's wild barks. He quirked a smile at the thought, James decided he could tell his mentors about the animal thing…that would be alright.
"Well there is this one thing that I can do that's pretty weird." James chuckled at what he was about to tell the two brothers.
"What is it?"
"I can talk to animals."
"You can what!" Al asked.
"How did you learn to do that! Please tell me! I wish I could talk to animals." Al pleaded.
"You have to kill and resurrect a lot of animals, of all types, ranging from dogs, to cats, to pigeons, crows, mice, rats, snakes, etc." James explained, "But you know, some animals are pretty rude. There was this one mouse the other day that I said hello to, and he promptly told me to fuck off."
Ed laughed at this, Al looked absolutely mortified, and James cried 'it's true!' quite indignantly.
"I also show animal traits and random intervals. Like sometimes, when I'm eating meet my canine teeth sharpen, or if I'm walking out in the son my pupils will slit. Once when I got home after a late night of studying and researching, I curled up in bed and started purring. I think I ate a fly once, and hissed at someone." James rattled off of the weird things that he had done.
"Whoa, that's really strange. I guess some of your genes must have been spliced with those of the animals you resurrected." Al murmured.
"Probably, I can't wait to go home just for the sole purpose of talking to Bessie, and the dogs. That's gonna be hilarious." James laughed, running his hands through his hair.
Ed and Al shared an awkward look. James looked between them both confusedly…what was going on?
"Uh hey, did I say something or…?"
"You can't go home for another couple of months James." Ed said calmly.
"Why?"
"Your training technically still isn't finished. You have at least three more months of work left to do." Al told him.
James stared at the two men with a dumbstruck look on his face. A minute later, his mouth was set in a firm line and his eyes stubbornly bore a hole through the two brothers.
"No. I quit. I want to go home NOW. I absolutely refuse to keep training." James said dead pan.
"Are you sure? Don't you want to…?" Al trailed off at the look in James's eyes.
Al remembered the events of yesterday. The younger male would definitely want to go home as soon as possible, to see his mother and father, and his sister. His whole family hadn't seen him in ten years, much less received a letter from him, or a phone call. But there wasn't any way that James could go back right now. There was too much to be done.
"I'm sorry James, but you can't go back now. You only have three more months; if you've lasted ten years then you can take another twelve weeks." Ed told his apprentice firmly.
"But during those ten years, I didn't…I-I didn't know…" James bit back the quiver in his voice, forcing unshed tears to remain within him.
He couldn't cry in front of his mentors; that would be humiliating. James refused to cry, he wouldn't do it. But no matter how much he tried to stop the salty tears from leaking from his eyes, there were just some things that couldn't be stopped. James shoved his chin against his chest and stared at the floor. He choked back sobs as best as he could, but it didn't matter. His shoulders were shaking violently, and several of his tears had already fallen to the floor. Suddenly, James could feel warm arms around him. He knew who they belonged to. James clutched the red robes tightly in his hands, and buried his head into Ed's neck. He stopped holding back. Sobs racked his lithe form, as he cried against his mentor's neck. Edward wrapped his arms even tighter around his waist, all the while whispering sweet nothings in his ear. The Full Metal alchemist's blonde bangs tickled James's neck, and he shivered at the feeling. Suddenly, Ed pulled him back cupping James's chin his right hand. The younger male blushed as his mentor kissed his forehead softly. Ed trailed kisses down over his apprentice's closed eyes, his cheeks and lightly on his lips before pulling away. The blonde then proceeded to rub soothing circles on James's back, waist, hips, chest, and stomach. James couldn't help the purr that escaped him. He opened his eyes to see an astonished Al and a smirking Edward.
"What!" James exclaimed, "Every cat purrs when someone pets them."
At that Ed couldn't help but laugh. James lost some of his previous anger, smiling at his mentor. The man always seemed to find a way to cheer James up. ..
…James was bouncing off the walls. It was the last day of August. Tomorrow was the day that he was going home. He would get to see his family. He would be able to talk to everyone and finally make up for the ten years that he was gone. But most of all James wanted to apologize to his parents, and to tell his Mother everything. He needed to feel Mother's arms around him, and his soft loving voice. Damn it, he wouldn't mind a smack to the head with the good ol' frying pan if it meant home.
Ed suddenly walked into the room. He came up behind his apprentice, and nipped playfully at his ear. James instinctively purred. He hated that he did it, but he guessed that it couldn't be helped. Purring was one of the things that he did now, thanks to all of those resurrections of cats that he had performed. James almost couldn't believe that Ed was now his lover. It was something that had just happened, he wasn't really sure how, but it had. The 'mentor' and 'apprentice' relationship had faded, and had somehow melded into a boyfriend and boyfriend relationship instead. James had decided to bring Ed home with him. That way he could introduce him to his family as his boyfriend instead of his mentor. There was a significant difference.
Al on the other hand was going to stay in Central City. He had found a 'significant other' as well. But he certainly had decided on one that no one would have suspected. Roy Mustang did in fact have a weakness (besides the coffee which is his life source): Alphonse Elric. The colonel could be beaten, poisoned, and stabbed to death by someone and he still wouldn't do what they wanted. But if Al walked into his office and demanded that he take him shopping later, Roy would say 'Yes dear' like a good boyfriend without hesitation. In fact, they were quite cute together. Even Riza Hawkeye had said so herself. Most everyone was worried about what the blonde would say about the relationship between two since she had been in love with the colonel for many years. But it turned out that she was being very supportive. This was a good thing. If she hadn't been supportive, and tried to tear the two apart, or hurt Al in any way shape or form…well lets just say there would be no need for her to be cremated (she'd already be a pile of ashes).
Ed and James looked out on the valley from the top of the path leading into it. James was so happy he could barely suck air. He was finally coming home.
Chapter 4
James and Ed walked down into the valley. The 20 year old was getting more and more nervous with every step. What if they hated him? Or worse, what if they didn't even remember him? James almost felt like turning back. Ed saw the anxiousness on his boyfriend's face and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. James looked up at his mate and smiled thankfully. Together they continued walking. Celia looked up from her work, as did Vesta and Marlin. All three of them stared on in amazement.
"James? Edward? Is that you!" Celia called.
James turned and nodded, looking at the kind woman he hadn't seen in so long. Her adopted mother and uncle greeted him. The trio hopped over the small fence barring their fields from the main path. James grinned widely as he was pulled into a tight hug. Vesta greeted Ed the same way, surprising the young alchemist greatly.
"James, your family will be so happy to see you…" Celia's eyes watered, "I just can't believe you're back…after so long."
Celia took James in her arms again. She kissed him on the forehead. James felt the anxiousness in him wash away, to be replaced by an almost euphorically happy feeling bubbling up in his stomach. He returned the embrace, before telling her they would visit later. Celia nodded.
"How do they know me?" Ed whispered in James's ear once they were out of earshot.
"My dad probably told them about you. Don't worry about it, the whole valley most likely knows who you are." James replied.
"You say that as if it's a good thing." Ed smirked.
"It is, if you're going to be living here, then that means I'll have to introduce you to less people." James commented.
The two laughed together as they rounded the bend and took their first step on Myishi farm. James's eyes widened, he could see a huge orchard near the dormitories that hadn't been there when he left. Not only that, but…was that the tool shed? It looked a lot bigger then he remembered? Holy Shit! The house, it was gargantuan compare to their old home! There must be three floors in it. As James started walking towards the house, a girl probably three years younger then he hurried past him.
"Sorry, excuse me!" She called over her shoulder.
"Who was that?" Ed asked.
"I don't know." James said quietly.
"Whatever, let's keep going."
James and Ed both stood at the front door of James's home now. The brunette raised a shaky hand and knocked on the door…
…Amelia was not having a good day. A whole bunch of store owners were coming to the farm today to pick up their shipments. Bessie and the herd had wandered off again before she had been able to put them in the milking room! There was a lot of work to be done, and she didn't have the time to be chasing cows around, damn it. The guys had sent her off to fetch them while they gave Little Billy his weekly bath. Washing Little Billy was a job that required six people, it required six TALL people that was for sure. Amelia was skidded around the tool shed and ran past two oncoming men. They were tall, and strangely familiar. Probably some more store owners…oh well, I'll handle them when I get back. Amelia thought, as she ran right past them. She accidentally brushed one of the store owner's shoulders as she passed them.
"Sorry, excuse me!" Amelia called over her shoulder at them, hoping they would think she was rude.
In mid stride she reached down and rolled up one cuff of her working overalls quickly. The teen really didn't want to trip over the hems of her work clothes. That would be bad. Her overalls were a faded black, and had once belonged to her Dad. They were so baggy that she had pulled the top of the overalls' down and used the straps as a belt to keep up the pants part. Amelia hadn't really thought about what she was wearing this morning, she had just pulled out random clothes from her dresser that didn't smell too bad. There was too many things to do to worry about what she was wearing. She had tugged on an old grey tummy shirt that she had bought a long time ago. The hem of the shirt came down to just two inches above her navel, and was now clinging to her sweat soaked body.
"Bessie! Where are you? You need to come back to the farm so I can get the milking done and over with! Then I promise you can go back to wandering the valley!" Amelia cupped her hands around her mouth to make her voice louder.
"Moo!" Bessie cried indignantly, as though Amelia was interrupting something very important.
The teen found the herd lounging in the warm autumn sun near the pyro-twins' house. They were all lying on their sides, ignoring her. Damn it! This was not the time for them to ignore her.
"I'll put barb wire on the fence if you don't come back right now!" Amelia cried.
Bessie looked strangely at her before sighing. The cow mooed something to the rest of the herd and began leading them back towards the farm. Amelia stood waiting for them at the edge of the Inner Inn. From there she grabbed hold of Bessie's collar and yanked her towards the farm. When they arrived, she didn't see the guys in the field, or the store owners anywhere. Surely they would have dealt with the store owners that she had seen on her way out, right? There was a lot of work to do, they couldn't just take a break! There was no time for breaks today! What did they think they were doing!
Amelia set the cows up in a line outside of the milking room, and began pushing them one by one inside. After they were done, the whole herd instantly hopped over the fence and walked off the farm again. Amelia sighed, crating up the milk and taking it into the storage room to be shipped. After that was done, she decided to go inside the house and ask Mom and Dad if they knew where the guys had gone.
Once inside, she heard lots of noise coming from the kitchen. The girl groaned and walked through the large comfortable living room to the swinging kitchen door. She pushed the door to the side and walked in, seeing all of the guys and her parental units surrounding something 'really exciting' at the table. Amelia groaned.
"What's so god damn exciting that everyone decided to take a break today when we all know how much work there is to be done? Am I the only one who cares about the work that goes on here? I mean, seriously, come on!" Amelia yelled.
"Amelia, is that how you respond when your 'long lost brother' finally comes home?" A tall man stood up and walked through the crowd of farm hands towards Amelia.
Amelia gasped, covering her mouth with her hands she took a step back. When she felt her back hit the wall, she didn't care. James stood before her. He was taller then her, by a good five inches, his hair was still as untamed as it had been before…
Amelia good feel tears leak out of her eyes. Why had he finally decided to come back now, huh! Why couldn't he have come back earlier? What's the reason for coming home after they were all doing just fine without him! He smiled at her weakly, trying to get her to say something. But Amelia didn't have anything to say to him. How could he come home and just expect everything to be okay between them! She ran from the room, and up the grand stair case in the middle of the living room. The teen could barely keep herself from collapsing on the stairs. Five minutes later, she had locked herself in her room. She shakily picked up her favorite Metallica CD and put it into her boom-box. Amelia grabbed the volume knob and turned it to full blast, hiding herself behind the music. She curled up in her bed, singing the song that was playing so loudly around her. This had always helped her in the past, when she would think she saw her brother walk onto the farm, only to realize that it hadn't been him…but just another store owner from the city...
…James watched his baby sister look at him with tears in her eyes, her hands over her mouth. He tried to smile at her, trying desperately to get her to say something. The man looked on as his baby sister shook her head, cried out and ran from the room. She left him standing there, and awkward silence filled the air. Everyone had expected Amelia to be the happiest about James's return. No one had thought she would react the way she had. A few minutes later, loud music pounded from upstairs.
James turned to face his family, "I don't blame her for hating me…"
"Oh James, she doesn't hate you. I'm sure she just wasn't expecting you to come home right now." Jack told his son gently.
James wanted to believe his Mother, but seeing the confusion, the sadness, and the hurt in his sister's eyes at the sight of him told a different story. He felt Ed come and wrap his arms around him. James sighed and turned around, returning the embrace. Ed turned them so that he was leaning against the wall, and James was leaning on him.
"It'll be alright…" Ed whispered, rubbing his back in a comforting fashion.
"James, are you two…?"
James's eyes shot open, he hadn't told them yet that he and Ed were a couple. The brunette swiftly turned around, but Ed didn't let him leave the embrace. Apparently the older male planned on embarrassing him in front of his family. Ed moved his hands lower on James's waist, resting them over his navel, letting his fingers play with the hem of James's jeans. James blushed furiously, noting the knowing look that his father gave him.
"Mom and Dad, Ed and I are a couple, and have been for a little over three months now. I would like to ask your permission to live here, with him…" James had trouble not blushing as Ed continued to do wonderful things to him with his hands.
Phage smirked and Jack scowled. James knew that his Mother didn't approve, but what his Father was thinking, he couldn't really tell.
"Well, son its fine with me, but if you two happen to do anything while you're here use protection and keep the noise down." Phage winked at his son.
James blushed even more at that statement. But then, something hit him, "Why would we need to use protection? Dad I'm…"
"Yes I'm aware you're a guy, but you have most likely inherited the ability that your Mother and I have: the ability to produce children. I'm just saying that if anything happens, I don't think you want to get pregnant right now." Phage explained.
James felt insulted. It was as if his Dad assumed that he was the submissive one in the relationship. Of course he was the submissive partner in the relationship, but he hated it when his Father acted like he knew everything. Ed moved his face behind his love's and began swirling his tongue over James's soft skin. The brunette withheld the moan he felt like making at the things Ed was doing to him. He knew that his growing pleasure at Ed's ministrations would become quite visible to his parents if he didn't do something soon. James grabbed his lover's hands and pried them off of him, taking a few steps forward. Ed whined loudly at him.
"Aww, you're no fun James! You are so in trouble later!" Ed told him.
That was it, James couldn't take the embarrassment anymore. His parents and his adopted brothers were all laughing at him. Ed was the one who was going to be in trouble. James left the room and stomped into the living room. He picked up a pillow off of the couch, shoved his face into it, and screamed at the top of his lungs. James didn't hear Ed sneak up on him. The taller male tackled him. James cried out as he was taken down onto the couch. Ed straddled him and firmly pressed his lips against James's. The brunette cried out, and with as much willpower as he could muster he shoved Ed off of him. Ed looked confused, and slightly disappointed with his mate. James ignored this and angrily stormed up the stairs, following his mother's directions he soon reached the room they had kept prepared for him. The angry male would have stayed angry if he had not suddenly opened the door to his room. What he saw confused and shocked him. The floor was covered in envelopes, heavy envelopes that were obviously filled with letters. You couldn't see the floor, because every inch of it was covered in letters, even his bed had several covering it. Three particularly thick envelopes sat on a tall dresser on one side of the room. James walked into the middle of the room and picked up one of the envelopes, he carefully turned it over in his hands. His name was one it, as well as the address that Ed had given James's parents ten years ago. The top left hand corner had Amelia's name on it, as well as their home address. James picked up another letter, and another…they all had the same names and addresses on them. The one thing that disgusted him the most about all of these envelopes, they all had the same signature and 'return to sender' mark on them. The signature was his, these were all letters that he had ignored and sent back to his sister without even reading them.
Hearing footsteps on the stairs, James's head shot up, with his eyes glued to the doorway. Ed soon came into view, his face held the same confused expression at the sight of all the letters.
"What are all of these?" Ed asked calmly.
James opened his mouth, but no words came out. He could still hear his sister's music blaring from a couple rooms down the hall. James hadn't remembered returning these letters…probably because they stopped coming when he had turned nineteen, and didn't bother to remember the letters at all. He had been so focused on reaching his goal that he hadn't bothered to answer any of his sister's letters. James had thought that he wouldn't ever return to the farm, so why would it matter? His hands shook as he opened one of the letters. It told him that she couldn't wait for him to come to home, the handwriting was that of an eight year old maybe nine year old. The letter told him that she had started helping Dad on the farm and that the new orchard was bringing in a lot of money. Mommy and Daddy were going to make a new house soon, one that would have really big rooms for all of them. James saw the ink blur as his tears hit the parchment. Ed didn't walk over to him and wrap his arms around his shoulders. He knew that it wouldn't help, and that there was no point. James picked up another letter, reading that one too. Hysterically he picked up one letter after the other, reading every single one that he picked up. Each one he finished reading he would set on the table near the center of the room, for some reason it had no envelopes sitting on them.
Ed watched James read every single letter on the floor, bed and dresser. The brunette stayed in that room for hours, reading all of the letters. Periodically he would break out in heart wrenching sobs. He finished reading them all at about one in the morning. After that Ed told him that he should probably get some sleep. But James refused, he ran down the stairs, only to return with boxes upon boxes of envelopes, and a lot of pens. Ed had a theory about what James was about to do, but couldn't bare to think about it. The idea was too sad, and too frightening to think about. Ed eventually left the room, there was nothing he could do for his mate.
Everyone had gone back to work, Ed had decided to help as well. Amelia and James remained locked up in their rooms, not coming out for anything. Much later, James put four large boxes full of letters in front of Amelia's door. He picked the lock on the door and opened it, before walking solemnly down the stairs…
…Amelia looked up suddenly as she saw her door open. She hadn't come out since she had locked herself in her room yesterday afternoon. It was now four in the afternoon the next day, and someone had opened her door. Amelia wondered how, she had locked it from top to bottom with all the of pad locks, key locks, and every thing that she could…but someone had opened it. Curious, the teenager walked over to the door and opened it all the way. She moved her feet as to take a step out, but stopped when her toe hit something. Amelia looked down and saw four large crates full of something…were those letters? She picked up one letter and saw her name on it, along with her address and everything, printed neatly in ink. Amelia looked at the return address and saw that it was James's Central City address…there was his signature in the top left corner. She was speechless, on every single envelope was a return to sender sticker awaiting her signature. Tears streamed down her face, with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Amelia opened the envelope in her hands, and read the letter. It told her about what James had been studying, it had a date and everything, but the handwriting was way to mature for the date at the top of the page. He had written these recently, probably the other night. Had he answered every letter? Amelia gasped. She couldn't believe that he had written a response to all those letters that she had sent him so long ago. The girl eagerly hauled the boxes into her room and started reading all of the letters.
Later, Amelia walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Her family was sitting at the table: there was her Mom, Dad, and Steven, Joey, Mark, Matt, Jimmy, and Timmy. Then, there was the two members of that family that had finally come home: James and Edward. Amelia walked over to James, who was eyeing her wearily.
"I, uh…got your letters." Amelia looked down at the floor, shuffling her feet nervously.
James stood up and embraced her warmly, as though he had been with her every day of her life, he wrapped his arms around her as though he had never left. Amelia smiled, and hugged him back, burying her face in his chest. When they parted, James pulled out the chair next to his for her to sit down. Amelia sat down in the chair her brother proffered her and let him scoot her in. She looked around at the smiling faces of her family, her whole family. Amelia returned the smile.
"So Daddy, can I go on a date with Hugh this Friday?" Amelia asked.
Phage's grin instantly left, and Amelia laughed. The girl picked up a hot dog and took a bite without putting it in a hot dog bun or anything. She swallowed, smiling even more at her Mother.
"Amelia, we've already had this talk. You are NEVER dating!" Phage shouted.
Steven, Joey, Mark, Matt, Jimmy, Timmy, James, and Ed all nodded in agreement. Amelia pleaded with her Mother for help. Jack nodded at his daughter, and whispered something in his husband's ear. Phage's face paled.
Jack smiled warmly at his daughter, glared at his sons before saying, "You can go on a date with Hugh this Friday Amelia."
All the boys at the table except for Jack started shouting and snarling in protest. Amelia grinned widely and threw a victorious fist in the air.
"Score!"
Chapter 5
Amelia had made up the thing about Hugh the other night just to lighten the mood. Now she really needed Hugh to go on a date with her otherwise her brothers would think the worst. They were already sharpening their battle axes and getting extra ammo for their rifles. Damn brothers…she hoped they wouldn't kill Hugh. If they found out that he hadn't really asked her out, then they would kill him because he hadn't thought she was good enough for him. This wasn't true. Amelia was aware that Hugh, Rock, and Gustafa were all in on a bet to see when she would give in to Hugh's wooing. The girl was in a bind. What should she do?
"Hugh…I have a problem." Amelia said nervously, approaching her friend Thursday afternoon.
"And what would that be?" Hugh smirked at her, "But more importantly, why should I care?"
"Because it involves you and your possible death in the immediate future." Amelia spoke clearly.
"Well, that would be could reason for me to care. Now why am I going to die soon?" Hugh was barely paying attention, mostly because a lot of the conversations the two had had in the past involved these sorts of topics.
"I sorta told my family that you had asked me out on a date…and now my brothers want to kill you." Amelia said slowly.
Hugh looked up at her with shocked eyes, "You told them what! 'Melia, babe, I love you and all but I didn't ask you out. Why the hell did you tell them I asked you out!"
"I told them you asked me out to lighten the mood as a joke, but they all believed me and…well lets just say my brothers are all sharpening my battle axes right now."
"Great, this is just what I need to happen to me right now! If I left the valley and went into hiding how long do you think I'd have left to live?"
"Not very long."
"The easiest way for us to get this over with would to be to actually play along. Hugh, I'll tell you exactly what to do and what to say so that my brothers don't beat you into a bloody smear on the wall." Amelia told her friend.
"Are you sure?" Hugh looked like a frightened child who had just been convinced to go ghost hunting.
"I'm sure." Amelia said confidently.
Friday night, Amelia was not nearly as nervous as Hugh. She had told him what questions her brothers would most likely ask him, and what kind of answers they would like. Amelia had taught him how to act, what kind of things to say to her, and what things he should talk about at dinner. Hugh had politely asked Amelia within ear shot of Phage if he could meet her parents, because he had heard great things about Phage. Amelia's Dad immediately bought the conversation. Phage ended up talking to Hugh's Dad a few minutes later about having Hugh over on Friday night for dinner.
Amelia had dressed up, or at least to her, wearing a miniskirt a form fitting top and putting her hair up in a stylish bun was dressed up. She had highlighted her soft facial features with warm make-up. When she walked down the stairs into the living room where all of her brothers, father, and Hugh were waiting, Amelia almost groaned at their reaction. Hugh looked like he was gallantly fighting the urge to drool, while her Father smirked at her. The entire group of farm hands looked like they wanted to laugh and James was obviously in Sister Protection mode. Ed, looked like he could care less.
"Amelia, we have decided to postpone the execution of your boy toy!" Mark announced.
"Well that's a good thing!" Amelia replied, "That means that I won't have to set up the medieval torture device in the basement now, it's really bothersome to set up."
Mark sneered at her, "It seems that you have trained your boy well, he's too good to be true."
"Excuse me? I did not train Hugh at all! If anything I would have hoped you that you would execute him. I didn't say anything to him, I was all ready to watch you verbally pick him apart and he decides to be as unnervingly perfect around you as he is when he and I are alone together! That's not fair Hugh; I thought I told you to be atrocious!" Amelia retorted.
Hugh looked at her strangely before replying, "I could be atrocious, but that wouldn't be right. You could poison me, gas me, and stab me and I wouldn't be able to say a mean word to that beautiful face of yours."
Amelia withheld her shocked reaction at Hugh's words. She'd have to ask him about that line later, that one hadn't been apart of the script she'd prepared for him. Did he actually mean what he had said? Oh well, she'd find out later. Amelia smiled sweetly at him and put on a swooning face. Her family bought the act and Hugh winked at her.
The rest of the evening played out smoothly. When Hugh and Amelia stood together at the front door, they both knew that the Sister Protection team was watching. Hugh took her chin in his hand gently, and whispered something in her ear. When he drew back he smiled at her softly, before kissing both of her closed eyelids, her left cheek, and quickly on her lips. This was also not part of the script, but Amelia was enjoying it. Hugh drew her close into a warm embrace, and then he whispered a goodbye and walked off of the farm. Amelia walked back into the house and saw that her brothers and Father were both staring at her expectantly.
"What?" Amelia asked them.
"What do you say?" her brothers asked sternly.
"Thank you for not killing Hugh." She said politely, "Did he meet the requirements?"
"…" James glared at her stubbornly.
It wasn't until Ed elbowed him in the ribs that James announced the brother jury's verdict, "He's decent."
Amelia smiled at them, and then tackled James in a bone crushing hug, "Thank you big brother!"
James blushed, watching his baby sister run up the grand stair case to her room.
Chapter 6
Amelia had avoided Hugh after that night. Most girls would call her crazy. Hugh was extremely handsome, witty, charming…he was everything and Amelia had run for the hills at the possibility of going out with him for real. What was wrong with her? Amelia sighed, finishing her chores for the day she walked into the pasture where the girls were lying close together. It was getting closer to winter, and so the days that they were outside, the cows would lie close together in the grass to absorb each other's body heat. She walked over to Little Billy. The Clydesdale seemed to tower over everything on the farm. He was about as tall as the barn and as wide as the door. The family had to build a separate shelter for him, for when the winter months came. Sometimes Amelia felt bad for Little Billy; he had to be shut up in a single room all by himself when it snowed.
The teen spoke to the great horse softly, "Hi Little Billy, its time for me to take you out for your day's jaunt around the valley. I'm gonna have to ask you to kneel for me."
Little Billy looked down at her through one wispy chestnut forelock. His large sweet eyes gazed into hers. Amelia patted the loveable giant on the neck and waited while he knelt down on the ground. She then climbed onto his back and threw her arms around his neck. The girl tried not to scream when he stood and the ground suddenly seemed so far away. Little Billy easily stepped over the fence lining the pasture and trotted off of the farm. Amelia held on tight, guiding him towards the trail leading out of the valley. At a full gallop, they reached the trail in mere seconds. Once they almost reached the trail they looped around Vesta's farm and went up to the dig site. After this, they went back down along the river, over the bridge and down past the beach. This was their usual route. Little Billy automatically swept around the lab, around the blue bar and down to circle past Cody's trailer. Once the Clydesdale had looped around the trailer, he galloped up the hill with ease, soaring past the twin's hut. Billy horse shoes echoed on the cobblestone path with a resounding clatter. He reached the Villa and stopped in front of the large oak doors. Little Billy knelt down on the ground again for Amelia to get off. She patted the horse on neck and side. Then the teen told him that he could run anywhere he wanted in the valley as long as he was at home before sun set. Billy whinnied happily before swiftly running down the hill away from the villa.
"Amelia, I haven't seen you in ages!" Lumina cried, embracing her 'adopted niece' in the parlor.
"Yeah, I know. I'm really sorry about that. I would love to girl chat, but I need your help." Amelia said seriously.
"Well, Auntie Lumina is at your service! Let's go upstairs." The woman ran childishly up the grand stair case to her private room, Amelia hot on her trail.
When they had entered the large circular room, Lumina quickly closed and locked the door behind them. The room was large, and had a grand king sized bed in the middle of it piled high with lace comforters and fluffy pillows. The carpet was soft beneath Amelia's feet, and she once again admired the porcelain dolls in the glass case standing against the wall opposite her. Lumina sat on the bed, a can of whipped cream in hand, one large tub of Hagan daze (1), and two spoons that resembled nothing more than miniature shovels. Amelia climbed onto the bed and took a spoon, opening up the ice cream tub. The teen would have laughed at Lumina for the way she shot a dollop of whipped cream straight into her mouth if she had not done the same so many times before. Amelia was about to speak but Lumina stopped her.
The woman scooped a large spoonful of ice cream, held it close to her mouth and said, "Okay, go." (2)
"Well, the other night when I had dinner with the whole family for the first time you know…after…" Amelia started.
"James came home, right…keep going." Lumina filled in.
Amelia paused to fill her mouth with the luscious ice cream and indulge in its sweetness before continuing, "Everyone was acting so serious, I had to say something to lighten everyone up, you know like a joke."
"Right, of course." Lumina nodded, "Too much seriousness from too many people all at the same time is never a good thing."
"I asked my Dad if I could go on a date with Hugh on Friday night…as a joke but everyone believed me and took it seriously. My mom said yes, and my brothers got really into it, they were planning to kill him for even thinking of dating me. If I had told them it was just a joke, that Hugh never really asked me out, and then they would kill him because he HADN'T asked me out. It's like a horrible vicious cycle."
"Yeah, I can see how that would happen…but Amelia, really, Hugh! I mean, isn't he like your best friend since you liked to roll around in mud?" Lumina asked incredulously.
"Yeah, but that's why it was a joke. But anyway, I talked to Hugh about it and decided that the best way to get through this whole thing was just to play along. I trained Hugh up to say all the right things to my brothers and Dad, and he did okay. But he said some stuff that I hadn't prepared for him…" Amelia trailed off.
"He said stuff that wasn't in the script! Whoa, that means he either meant it, or was mad libbing. What did he say? Give me an example."
Amelia took a deep breath before mimicking Hugh, "I could be atrocious, but that wouldn't be right. You could poison me, gas me, and stab me and I wouldn't be able to say a mean word to that beautiful face of yours"
"Whoa, girl I think he's really into you." Lumina spoke earnestly to her niece.
"No! Not Hugh, he takes bets on whether or not I'll hit him on a certain day! He's…too…Hughish!" Amelia cried, shoveling as much ice cream into her mouth as possible.
"Okay…I can handle this, tell me…what happened at the end of the date? Did he kiss you good night? What did he do?" Lumina shot more whipped cream into her mouth after this question.
Amelia thought back onto how Hugh had said goodnight to her, and explained the romantic gestures in squealing girlish detail to her Auntie Lumina.
"Oh my gosh! That is so sickeningly sweet that it makes me sick!" Lumina squealed, at the same time shoveling ice cream into her mouth.
The two girls smiled at each other for a while, day dreaming. Amelia was the first to snap out of it.
"So, what do you think?" Amelia asked.
"Girl…he's head over heels for you." Lumina stated the following as a matter of fact not a possibility.
"But I don't like him…I think. What am I going to do?" Amelia asked.
"…" Lumina didn't say anything for a several minutes, a pondering look on her face.
Amelia could almost see the light bulb go on in her Aunt's head. Lumina bore her infamous evil genius expression and explained her thought pattern to Amelia.
"Play hard to get." Lumina said simply, "You dress up every day. Wear short skirts, the best, girliest tops that you can. Put your hair up, wear make up."
"Okay. Got it." Amelia replied.
"Tease him, do things you know will get him excited. Like bend over to tie your tennis shoes, instead of getting down on one knee. Accidentally drop an ice cube down you're shirt and then pull it out slowly." Lumina laughed at the possibilities.
"You're evil, you know that?" Amelia smirked.
"Trust me my dear, I know. I enjoy being evil." Lumina cackled maniacally, and then seconds later squirted an absurd amount of whipped cream into her mouth.
"Oh yeah, really evil." Amelia laughed.
The next day, Amelia put Lumina's plan into action. Hugh had more than once taken on a high pitched voice and claimed he had to go to the bathroom before running off. Lumina was right, this was a lot of fun. On one of the warmer autumn days, when they had been sitting down under the shade of one of the trees in the forest spring, Amelia dropped an ice cube down her shirt 'accidentally'. She had been about to put it in her mouth, when it slipped out of her grasp and down her low cut shirt. Amelia shivered at the sensation and slowly and tantalizingly pulled the ice out of her shirt. Her actions left a wet stripe up her cleavage. Hugh was blushing, and Amelia thought she heard a whimper escape him. The girl felt like laughing. She was having way too much fun. One day however, the tables were turned. It seemed that Hugh was smarter then Amelia gave him credit for.
Hugh had started to wear muscle shirts around her. When she came over to her house, and ask where they were going to hang out today, Hugh would whisper the place softly in her ear as though it were a secret. His breath would tickle her ear, and her neck…and Amelia would have to use all of her willpower to restrain the blush that had begun creeping onto her cheeks. You can't lose. C'mon Amelia you're better than this. You're better then him, he's a boy.
It had been a month since Hugh had come over to her house for dinner. Amelia walked outside the first Saturday evening in December. She wore a long white dress, with a slanted hem. The dress was elegant and simple; it was a winter dress so it had long sleeves with bell cuffs. The whole dress was made out of thick comfortable cotton, all except the graceful silver hood. The hood was made of silver satin. Her sandy brown hair had turned into bright orange over the past few months. It looked a lot like her father's hair now, and made her exceptionally pale skin stand out even more. Amelia had the hood pull up over her head to protect her from the snow that was currently falling from the sky. She walked up the slight hill to the forest spring. Once there, she gazed solemnly at the rippling water surrounding the bottom of the waterfall. So many memories of her child hood took place in the secret caverns behind that waterfall.
It was chilly out that evening, after all it was snowing. She held her sleeves tightly around her hands, trying to hold in some of the warmth. Amelia looked up into the sky and savored the feeling of snowflakes falling on her lips, her nose, forehead, and cheeks. Her hood fell off of her head, revealing the girl's long orange hair. She tore her gaze away from the sky at the sound of footsteps. Tucking a rebellious strand of hair behind her ear, the girl looked towards the path. There stood a tall male, with copper orange hair. His lean form moved towards her calmly. As he got closer, Amelia saw that it was Hugh. He looked concerned.
"Amelia, you shouldn't be out here, especially in that dress. You could catch hypothermia." Hugh told her.
Amelia took a few steps towards him, "I wouldn't…if you would keep me warm."
Amelia pressed herself against him, willing him to wrap his arms around her. When he didn't, she looked up at him strangely. His gaze was cold, just as cold as the snow falling around them.
"What's wrong?" She asked curiously.
"Do you have any feelings for me at all? Am I just some puppet that you feeling like toying with? Do you enjoy playing with my emotions?" Hugh asked bitterly.
Amelia looked shocked, "Hugh…I-"
"Just stop it alright. I'm tired of acting like this around you, and playing this stupid game!" Hugh shouted.
No one was around to hear them, but Amelia still recoiled from the volume and tone of his voice. She took a few steps away from him, looking at the ground.
"I'm…I'm really sorry Hugh. I do have feelings for you, and I shouldn't have acted like I did. I didn't mean to…" Amelia mentally slapped herself when she felt her voice crack.
"Well good." Hugh said dead pan, "Because if you weren't sorry, and you didn't have feelings for me…well, that would have really sucked."
Amelia looked up at Hugh, whom now stood in front of her, smirking. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a long deep kiss. Amelia had waited too long to do this. Hugh wrapped his arms around her waist, and they stayed like that; locked up in that one moment…their own brief eternity (3).
TBC…
Sorry I don't remember how to spell that name. But that has to be my all time favorite kind of ice cream. This moment where Lumina and Amelia are talking reminds me of something I've done with my best friends. When we're watching a particular sad moment of an anime, or just having a girl talk we sit around this huge bucket of ice cream and all eat out of the same tub. It's fun.
(2)I have actually done this, which is why I used it in this chapter. It brought back some pretty funny memories.
(3)This was actually the title of one of my oldest fanfiction series. It had been a beyblade series and I had six extremely long fanfictions all planned out and ready to write…but then I hit one of my infamous inspiration droughts. When I got my inspiration back, the idea of writing the Brief Eternity Chronicles as a fanficiton series died. But every once in a while, I like to use 'brief eternity' as an expression in some of my other fanfictions.