Chapter-3 A Courtyard Chat
Okay, I hope ur all likin' this fic so far:D Anyways, this is a fairly long chappie, one of my faves in here, and there's also Rose and Ed clashing! Well, anyways, it's a good long chappie so, enjoy the it!...
One week with Elizabeth in the Alchemy army's HQ had finally, and slowly gone by.
It was late. Night had fallen and Ed was in his bedroom, reading up on more Alchemy techniques 'n such.
Suddenly, he looked over to his wall, he could hardly believe that the intolerable guest he'd already grown to hate was sleeping only a few feet away from him.
But, he had no choice, it was either this, or death.
But as of right now, Ed would probably rather die, than be stuck with Elizabeth's complaining for the next two months.
Ed placed his book on the bed, and walked over to the window.
It was a beautiful cloudless night in the midst of the crisp fall season. A full moon adorned the sky, and a light breeze caressed the trees and shrubbery down below.
Just then, he harkened a knock on his door, and whirled around.
"Hmm?"
He mumbled briefly to himself before inviting his guest in.
Shockingly enough, it was Elizabeth, standing there, clad only in a long lavender nightgown and a long sky blue robe.
Ed gazed at her, eyes wide at how different she looked.
Ed had never seen Elizabeth during the nighttime hours, and now that he'd seen her like this for the first time, he was actually somewhat disappointed that he never had before.
Her usually curled brown hair was now straight, with a small wavy curve on the edges, and it came down to almost her hips. And her face was no longer decorated with it's bright red lipstick and peachy blush.
It was almost as if Elizabeth were, normal.
And he liked it.
As Elizabeth stepped in, Ed was still speechless in shock. He then closed the door, and turned away form her, trying to hide his heavy blushing.
"So, uh, what do you want, anyway?" Ed asked as the seventeen year old approached him.
"Ed, let's go for a walk." She said calmly as she opened the door, and looked at him expectantly.
Ed simply grabbed his red coat, and quietly followed her through the dark, and silent corridors.
Elizabeth took Ed outback to the courtyard, and then into a smaller section he'd never been in before.
"What is this place?" Ed asked in a whisper as he gazed about his new surroundings.
There was a small, elegant fountain in the middle, with a round crest of benches circling it, everywhere else was just white wooden arches, rose bushes, an a series of tall square bushes centered next to a grand old weeping willow tree. Which also had a white bench beneath it.
As Elizabeth walked on, something painted elegantly on the first arch caught his eye.
There, above the first entrance arch, Ed climbed up one of the square bushed, and tore away some of the ivy and dirt, to reveal, in pink cursive letters- "Elizabeth's Garden-'1898." Ed said to himself, as Elizabeth cleared her throat from down below, getting his attention.
"Oh, uh, sorry, Elizabeth. But, just out of curiosity, why does it say 1898?" Ed asked, Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.
"You honestly don't know? It's my birth year you dolt." Elizabeth finished as Ed looked around.
"Wow, a yacht, a garden pavilion, a luxury suite here, you really must've been the favorite, huh?" Ed said, as Elizabeth's smirk slowly changed to a look of sadness.
"Ed, let's just say, that my past, wasn't all it's cracked up to be, okay?" Elizabeth replied, choking back a sea of tears.
"Well, that's enough of that, I invited you out here for a walk, and that's what we're going to do!" Elizabeth said persistently, as she grabbed Ed's arm, and dragged him through the rest of the pavilion.
They soon stopped, after at least an hour or so of walking, and went back to the fountain's edge for a break.
Both of them were gazing down into the clear waters, at their moonlit reflections.
Elizabeth then ran her gloved hand through the water slowly.
"Ed, what kinds of things do you see when you look in there?" Elizabeth asked as Ed peered down into the watery depths, and then back up to Elizabeth.
His golden brown eyes were now wide, and fixated on her cool blue ones.
Elizabeth's pale face was adorned with a lovely pale bluish shade from the light of the moon in the background.
Ed was now blushing even heavier than he had before, and there was simply no hiding it.
Elizabeth's face then moved closer to his, and vice versa.
But Ed quickly pulled away when he heard a rustle in the bushes. And there he saw her, Rose, with small yet undeniable tears of scorn flowing down her cheeks.
"Ed, how could you?" Rose cried out as she ran away, Ed then shot up, are ran after her as fast as he could, leaving Elizabeth to sit there alone.
Ed finally caught up to her at the main gate.
Placing a single hand on her shoulder, rose slowly turned around.
"Rose! No! I swear! What you just saw be-between me and-and her! It was nothing! I was just sentenced to guard her. And, and I've already told you, we're just friends." Ed finished, as Rose opened up the gate and turned to leave.
"Yeah, well, some friend you are!" Rose cried out as she tore off for home.
Ed, just stood there, feeling like a complete jackass.
He then closed the gate, and returned to get Elizabeth, whom was still there, waiting for him when he got back.
"Come on, Ed, let's go back." Elizabeth said quietly as she took Ed's hand, and then looked at him, and pulled away.
When they arrived back inside, little did they know, Riza had been watching then from her bay windowed room the whole time.
"Oh Ed, what've you done. The girl can only take so much more before she gets herself nearly killed again." Riza finished, sipping a small bit of her coffee before getting back to her paperwork.
The next morning, Elizabeth wasn't up as early as normal.
It was already 8:42 and she was still asleep.
As Ed and Al walked along the halls, a door beside them suddenly opened, and the face of Riza Hawkeye appeared.
"Ed, you and I need to have a serious talk." Riza began as Ed cringed nervously, and walked into the office.
Al, sat outside the door, waited, and tried to gather as much info as he could from there.
"God damnit! She just HAD to talk me into this shit! And Riza probably knows everything now! Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!" Ed cursed silently to himself as he took a seat at the large table.
"Alright Ed, well, I will admit it, I did see the little 'midnight rendezvous' between you and Elizabeth last night. And, contrary to what you may think, I'm not going to punish you. I just wanted you to understand her more." Riza began.
"Understand her? What's to understand? She's a conniving, heartless, little bi- Ed was then cut off when Riza raised a hand, signaling him to be silent.
"Well Edward, if she's so conniving and heartless, then why did you come an inch from kissing her last night?" Riza asked.
She definitely had Ed in a tight spot now. So, he just didn't bother to answer.
"All I wanted you to know, is why she is, the way she is. I want you to see the past, through her eyes." Riza began, as she placed two fingers on Ed's forehead, and chanted for a few moments, and with that, Ed's eyes became all white and vacant looking.
"H-Hey! What the hell is going on? I-I can't see!" Ed cried out, as a picture of an elegant manor appeared before his eyes.
But the manor was not only in his head, he was standing right in front of it, with Riza at his side.
"Riza, wh-what the hell is this?" Ed asked as he and Riza passed though one of the 3-pairs of double doors in the front of the large home.
"Well Ed, it's a simple time Alchemy spell, it'll ware off in about thirty minutes or less, but that's enough time to she you everything.
"But hey, what year is this anyway?" Ed asked again.
"1898." Riza replied as the two transparent figures stood in the elegant Victorian styled living room.
And a few moments later, the front door opened, revealing two rambunctious boys, engaged in boisterous play, and wrestling as they came through the door.
"You see the one with the bluish black hair? That's will, and the red head is Mitchell, they're Elizabeth's brothers." Riza began.
After the two boys, two rather strict looking people emerged.
The mother, wearing an intricate belled out dress and holding a navy blue parasol with white tassels, much like the white one Elizabeth had been seen with the day she and Ed met. Her red hair was tied back into a tight bun, and she wore bright red lipstick to match it.
And flowing her, came the father, with dark brown hair, and a matching moustache.
He was wearing a rich, black suit, and a frown on his face.
"Who're the stiffs?" ed asked, as Riza pointed them out.
"Elizabeth's parents, Jade, and Jason II." She finished, as an older man entered, baby in arms.
"And that, is professor Jason Flagstaff himself, and Elizabeth." Riza pointed out as the kind looking old man, dressed in a blue suit and grayish black dress pants walked in smiling at his little granddaughter.
"Jade ear, why don't you hold her?" Mr. Flagstaff asked, offering his infant granddaughter to his daughter in law.
"Agh, come now, father, I can't have her dirtying my dress, and that's the last thing I wanted!" Jade said, as she took her hat and swatted her father in law, and her own daughter away.
Mr. Flagstaff shook his head, and tried to soothe the crying baby.
Ed's eyes were wide.
"You see Ed, her parents never liked her, and, she was actually somewhat of an accident. And her parents had always doted their love and respects towards her brothers, they're actually fraternal twins, which they meant to have and stop there. And this is part of why Elizabeth is always so angry." Riza finished as she and Ed skipped up a few years, to Elizabeth's early childhood.
The year, was 1903, Elizabeth was now five.
As can safely be assumed, the manor hadn't changed all that much.
The five year old Elizabeth scampered down the stairs, clad in a red, white, and pink dress with bloomers and shoes, along with a red hair ribbon to match.
Tugging on her father's suit sleeve, she got swatted away, and fell to the floor.
"Agh, do be more careful, you clumsy little fool." Her mother scowled as her father gazed down at her.
"Yes, please do. And, why don't you just go run off and play, uh, Emily, or, uh, was it, Erika?" Her father asked himself as Elizabeth sadly walked away.
This angered Ed.
He retracted his arm-blade and ran after her father, slicing right through him, without any damage at all. As a matter of fact, he didn't even seem to notice.
"What?" Ed whispered, as he placed his hand in, and then out of Elizabeth's father's back.
Riza walked over to him.
"You see Ed, this is a flashback from someone else's past, we cannot interfere, and no one here can see, hear, or feel us." Riza said, as she brought them to one last flashback.
It was now 1908, Elizabeth was ten.
It was a stormy afternoon, and Elizabeth was sitting out on the front steps with her little white parasol.
Inside, loud arguing could be heard from the family, and then Elizabeth's grandfather, and his servants emerged, with all of Elizabeth's bags.
"And you keep that freak away from here! Do you hear me! NEVER COME BACK!" Elizabeth's enraged mother shouted before slamming the door on the two.
Her makeup was smeared all over her face, and her elegant red hair was a nasty mess.
"Wh-What happened here?" Ed asked as the flashback began to slowly fade away.
"When Elizabeth was ten, she discovered her Alchemy powers, wind, water, and ice. Believe it or not, Envy, was her second cousin, later disowned from the family after attempting to murder Elizabeth. And he is also one of the people you were assigned to protect Elizabeth from. And after she lost control, her parents, mostly her mother, abused and abandoned her for her grandfather to take up." Riza finished as the office's interior reappeared before them.
Ed jolted back in his seat.
"Wow, a-all this time, and-and you were the only one here that knew?" Ed asked as Riza nodded.
While Ed just sat there, he still couldn't believe what he had seen, and that there was still so much more.
AN Time!- So, what did u think? I put a lot of time and work into this chappie! So if u don't review, u will pay! :D No, but seriously, review, as previously stated, I'm lacking them right now damnit!
