Merry Christmas, I guess. I don't particularly care for the holiday and would rather not celebrate it, but I know that there are people that would appreciate it if I wished them a happy holidays, so might as well. Here I take us back to my favorite character from Ed, Edd and Eddy, Double D. I just really relate to this guy, maybe it's because I like how enerist and polite he is. He's just so likeable and was a great straight man for zanier Ed and Eddy. He also worked well off of Rolf and Kevin and I feel that he would've worked well as a solo character as much as he did as part of an ensemble. The main reason I'm working on Marie as the main character instead of Double-D is two fold. First, I want to work on my ability to write female characters and second, he doesn't provide me as many interesting story telling avenues that haven't been done by other good writers. Check out "To Ed is Human, To Forgive is Kanker.", "Some are Born Lucky.", "Bad Girls with Big Hearts.", "NotEd to self.", "Misrepresentations.", "Ed, Edd and Eddy: Summer Camp Love." and "Ed, Edd and Eddy: A Weekend Alone." to see what I mean (also there's this really good crossover fic between Ed, Edd and Eddy and Devilman: Crybaby. It has a Tvtropes page and everything, seriously check it out!). So I thought, lets focus on a tale where they're not really together but still find love with each other. Add in my love of crossover fics and things were off to the races. Now, I'm just doing the one chapter right now, time hasn't exactly passed far enough for me to do more than one chapter in the Peach Creek at this time, but there will be more Peach Creek chapters in a row in the future, I'm thinking either after they meet Fluffy or after the first Quidditch matches that allows for more time to pass between set pieces. I hope you enjoy it and I do not own Ed, Edd and Eddy or Harry Potter, AT&T, Warner Media and J.K. Rowling do.
Why do I feel empty?
The drone of the crowd buzzed in Double-D's ears as he put his morning text books in his locker and retrieved a brown paper bag from it's depths. As he gently closed the door and joined the rest of the throng that was headed towards the cafeteria he pulled out a notepad and flipped through it eagerly. His first Latin class was later that day and he was looking forward to it, and was planning on practicing some Latin greetings during study hall that day. As he entered the cafeteria he spotted his friends already sitting by themselves at the end of one of the long tables. They had appeared to have gotten the school lunches, as Ed was chowing down on what seemed to be some kind of brown meat while Eddy was lazily eating a few slices of pepperoni pizza.
"Salutations gentlemen, how are you on this wonderful school day?" he asked cheerfully. Eddy glared at him. "What's so great about school? If anything, this is even worse than the previous one. At least then we had recess." Eddy bit angrily into a slice, tearing into the stiff piece of cheese and cardboard with the ferocity of a rottweiler. "On top of that, I have to do a book report on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by next week and because you're in different classes than Ed and I are, I can't crib off of ya." Double-D frowned. "Eddy, you need to start doing your own work at some point. I'm not going to be there to bail you out anymore. Besides, the allegory in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is so easy to spot that even Ed shouldn't have a hard time with this." Eddy huffed and turned back towards his meal.
Double-D sat down and pulled from his bag a grilled chicken salad, a bottle of apple juice and a tub of greek yogurt as he joined his friends in their midday meal. "I tell ya, what is the point of what we're learning?" Eddy said through a mouthful of pizza. "It's not like we're going to need most of this at some point, especially considering what most of us want to be when we grow up. Who cares if I don't know how to use the quadratic equation? It's not like I'm going to be a physicist or mathematician anyway." Double-D gave Eddy a slight glare, but he couldn't really argue with his logic. "Because if the school gets a high test rating from us on our end of the year exams, the government will give the school more money for their programs." "WHAT?!" Eddy shouted abrasively. "You mean I'm being used to get somebody else more money for a product that I don't need?!" "Well I wouldn't put it like that, you do need an education Eddy if you want to survive in society." Eddy growled and put his head on the table. "Besides Eddy, I find education to be rather illuminating. They anatomy of different species, the culture of civilizations got by, the ideas presented in literature, they are all just so fascinating! In fact just the other day I was reading about the dichotomy of the golden spiral in architecture. You would not believe how many buildings implement it somewhere in their design. For example ..."
Eddy tuned Double-D out as he kept rambling about what seemed to be some famous Renaissance church that he didn't know about or care to know about. He started to look around the cafeteria, glowering at the people around the hall. His gaze lingered at the bit of table that held most of the rest of the cul-de-sac kids. Kevin was making a joke that was getting a laugh out of Nazz and Rolf, while Johnny was looking at him in slight confusion. He growled as he watched Nazz lean into Kevin's shoulder, the slight blush on his face matching the hat he wore on his head.
Eddy turned away, disgusted at the sight he just witnessed. 'What on earth does she see in him?' he groused. 'She don't know what she's missing.' As he looked around, he spotted Lee and May, sitting at a round table by themselves along the edges of the cafeteria, away from the rest of the school. 'Would've probably had her by now if it weren't for her.' His blazing glare bore into the back of Lee's head, unyielding loathing oozing out of every orifice. He had good reason to hate her, as she had made his life a living hell for the better part of three years now. Double-D maybe able to at least be cordial with his Kanker while she was molesting him, but after Lee tried to sexually assault him the shower, he would never forgive her, let alone like her.
Speaking of Kankers, Eddy didn't see a familiar lock of blue hair amongst the sisters. Thinking back on it, he hadn't seen her in almost a month. While Lee and May had kept up their antics of chasing, stalking, battery, assault, smothering, sexual harassment and bullying, Marie had seemed to have disappeared since she set the Spinner on fire (he was never able to get a straight answer on how she was able to accomplish this, other than it had seemed to spontaneously combust). She didn't chase Double-D with her sisters, she didn't bully any of the other kids, she wasn't even seen bumming around the junkyard or the construction site. It was almost as if she had never existed.
Eddy turned back and saw that Double-D had finished. "Hey Sockhead, what did you do to get your Kanker off your back?" Double-D looked at Eddy quizzically. "I didn't do anything Eddy. Her mother just transferred her to another school." Eddy looked at Double-D confused. "What? How on earth did a Kanker get transferred? I would've thought she would've been held back a year." "Oh Eddy," Ed said cluelessly. "Didn't you know that Marie was the number two student in the school? She was on the honor list and everything." Eddy and Double-D looked at Ed in stunned silence. "Ed, how do you know that?" Double-D asked. "A little birdy told me Double-D."
The two of them stared exasperatingly at Ed before shaking themselves out of their confusion. "Okay, but that still doesn't answer my question. Why did Ms. Kanker transfer her daughter?" "From what she told me, apparently her dad went to the school that she sent her to and she wanted her to experience it." Double-D said meekly. "That's it?" Eddy asked irritably. "I don't see the other Kanker's being sent to their dad's schools in order to experience it. Where is this school anyway?" "Scotland I think." "WHAT?!" Eddy shouted, causing the entire lunchroom to go silent at how loud he was. "WHAT UTTER BULL CRAP! HOW ON EARTH DID YOU GET SO LUCKY AS TO HAVE YOUR KANKER SENT TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FRICKING OCEAN?!"
Double-D looked around and saw that almost every eye in the cafeteria was suddenly on them. Some were looking at them with looks of surprised glee like Johnny, others with silent contempt like Kevin and others were looking at them with confused indifference like Rolf. The only ones who weren't looking at them were the remaining Kanker sisters, who took their lunch and walked stoically out of the lunch room, Double-D catching a glimpse of a tear rolling down May's face.
"Eddy," Double-D whispered sternly. "I can understand your frustration but can you keep your voice down? You're making a scene." Eddy swiveled his beady eyes around the room before slumping bitterly back in his seat. "It's just not fair. How come the best of the Kanker has to leave while the worst one stays." Double-D was shocked. "Best?" Eddy rolled his eyes. "Comparatively speaking. She's the only one that hasn't broken into any of our houses and anyone that completely destroys a school can't be all bad." "Your logic is an inspiration to us all Eddy." Double-D snarked dryly. "I know right." Double-D tuned out Eddy's ramblings and focused on his salad.
The rest of the day went by rather quickly for Double-D. Latin was rather interesting as the teacher had them translating simple sentences, greetings and back and forth conversations mostly. He was also able to have an enjoyable discussion on Shakespeare's Coriolanus and was looking forward to spending the next month reading the play in detail. As the final bell rang at 3:00, he was almost disappointed that they were going home. He killed that thought as he went to his locker to get his briefcase and jacket. It was only the second day of school, he had an entire school year to enjoy.
As he took his things out of his locker, he reflexly looked over his right shoulder and then peeked behind the locker door. No one was there. Double-D shook his head and took his things out of his locker. He didn't know why he kept doing this. Maybe it was because of paranoia or muscle memory but he seemed to always be on edge. He had been doing this for a month now, but nothing had happened to him so far. 'I can't believe I've gotten used to getting attacked by Kankers that it's abnormal when I'm not being attacked by them.' Not that Double-D missed them. As much as he sympathized with his friends when they were under attack during the last few weeks, he couldn't help but privately admit that it felt good that he was being ignored. But still…
Double-D exited the school building. The hot air of the late summer had arrived during the day, forcing Double-D to carry his brown jacket under his arm. He knew that he needn't wait for Ed and Eddy as they were at football tryouts, Eddy being determined not to be relegated to the school mascot again this year, so he felt that he could just leave now and get started on his lab reports for next monday. As he was turning the corner he saw an unusual sight.
It was May. She was throwing an old tennis ball against the side of the school building, catching it as it bounced off the brick wall and back into her hands before hurling it back. Lee was nowhere to be seen. Double-D watched for a good few seconds, his curiosity peaked as he had never seen a Kanker sister alone outside of class.
"Um, hello." May bobbled the tennis ball as it returned to her, dropping it on the ground before turning to the sudden voice. "Oh, uh, hi." May stammered. Double-D was put off slightly by this, as he never assumed a Kanker to be shy. "You don't have to worry about me, I was just passing through and I just saw you by yourself." he said politely. "Where is your sister by the way, I thought you would've been together." May rubbed her arm, refusing to look at his face. "Lee got into a fight with an eighth grader. He thought that he could take on an infamous Kanker sister and 'show her her place.' she spat hateful. She then smirked, reminding Double-D that although she was acting vulnerable in front of him, she was still a Kanker. "He had to be taken to the hospital with two broken limbs and a cracked rib cage, so she got a month of detention." 'That explains the sirens that showed up an hour ago.' he mused. "So I guess you're just waiting for her." May picked the ball up off the ground. "Partly." She then looked towards the horizon. "But mostly I just don't want to be home right now."
The sad glint in her eyes were all he needed to know. "Want to go to the park?" he asked tentatively. May looked at him for a moment, perplexed, before melancholy settled over her eyes again. "Okay."
The two of them walked in silence, Double-D slightly panicking as he castized himself. 'Curse my bleeding heart, why am I doing this? I mean I know why, but I just willingly allowed myself to go somewhere voluntarily with a Kanker! What on earth am I thinking?!' He looked at May out of the corner of his eyes, watching her walking morosely ahead of him. 'I can't leave now either, mother would be so mad at me if she found out. Besides, I couldn't properly call myself a gentleman if I don't try to help her.'
The two of them walked for a good half an hour, as the school wasn't really far from where they lived. They went over to the broken set of swings near the edge of the park near the construction site. The two of them sat down on the remaining two functioning seats of the swing set and just sat there, a cool breeze lightly rustling the trees nearby.
"How of things going on back home?" Double-D asked timidly, almost forcing the words out of his mouth. May smiled a bit. "Asking a girl about her feelings? How flattering." She batted her eyes at him. "Can you stop trying to flirt with me, I'm being serious." He then looked around. "Besides, I don't want people to see you doing that with me, remember that Valentine's Day two years ago?" May winced. Nobody knew what had happened that day, though Rolf claimed that mountain pixies had drugged everyone with amphroxiacs (with Sarah and Jimmy flinching whenever they were in ear shot). While it was funny that Eddy had fallen in love with Plank and that Ed had fallen in love with a sandwich, the whole situation had gotten out of control when Edd and May had been the first to fall under that hypnotic sway. Even after they had been cured, May couldn't deny that despite her love for her Big Ed, there was still something about Double-D that attracted her to him.
"Things back home are fine." she lied. She tried to sound fine but even she noticed that it sounded forced. Double-D raised an eyebrow, his face silently expressing 'Really?'. May looked away, unable to look him in the eye. "No. In fact things haven't been well for awhile now. Ever since that letter came." Double-D saw many things blossom from May's eyes. Anger, loneliness, jealousy, loathing and most prominently, regret. "I take it Marie's acceptance letter wasn't well received?" A tear ran down May's face. "No." she replied somborly.
Double-D gazed at May as she was consumed by her melancholy. In the times that she and her sisters had bullied or molested them, he would sometimes forget that they were human beings like him, and looking at May now, he realized that that was something that he needed to never do again. Looking at May right now was no different than looking at any other sad little girl that was having a bad time at home.
"Do you miss her?" May nodded weakly. "It's not just that though, something happened." May again nodded. "Something that you were involved in?" May nodded again, her lips trembling. Double-D shifted in his seat, so that he was giving May his full attention. "May, I know that we don't have the best relationship, but I need you to talk to me." May nodded again and whipped the tears from her eyes with her knuckle. "We pushed her away. I don't know if it's because of resentment, or some other reason, but Lee and I just pushed her away and when I realized what I was doing, I was just too ashamed of myself to reach back out to her before she left." Her eyes looked back up and saw some of the Cul-de-Sac kids were enjoying the afternoon by playing a game of street hockey. "It's not as if she wanted to leave us. If anything she wanted to even less than we did, she just accepted the inevitable before the rest of us did." "Yeah," Double-D said, the image of scorching flames flashing across his memory banks, "I think I can understand. But I have to ask, why just her? I know your mother didn't want to send her away and that Marie wanted to go with you to Peach Creek Junior High, so why did she send her instead of all of you." May glared at him. "Why do you care?!" she shouted. "Shouldn't you be glad that you don't have to deal with her. I know you don't like her, and for good reason! So why. Do. You. Care!?"
Double-D paused to think. Why did he care? While he was always taught by mother to turn the other cheek and to be polite to others, Marie was one of only three people that he felt that he couldn't do that for (the others being Lee and Kevin). He didn't like her and at times there were instances where he hated her. While he was able to keep his restraint with Marie's mother, he couldn't help feeling a bit smug whenever Eddy complained about the Kankers. In fact he hadn't felt this relaxed since before he met the Kankers in that trailer all those years ago. He slept better, he felt more confident in his works and there were fewer bruises on his body at the end of each week (not that they weren't there, when one gets involved in one of Eddy's scams you tend to get hurt often). Why did he care if his life was so much better now? At that moment, an image of tear stained hazel eyes filled his vision as clear if it had been reflected back by a mirror.
"Because I can't help but sympathize with someone who needs help. Any help, and I would never be able to forgive myself if I don't offer that person my hand." It was true, he did genuinely feel that way, he just didn't think May needed to hear his main reason. May's eyes softened before she turned away and scoffed. "Of course, the kind and noble Eddward Vincent. Always the polite one, always needing to be nice to everyone, even the people he hates." Double-D frowned. "I don't hate you. Fear you definitely, but I don't hate you." May looked at him sceptically. "Look, I know that sounds crazy, but you're not a bad person in my mind. Naive and a natural follower but I do believe that you mean well." May still looked at him sceptically. He sighed. "I wouldn't have kept the valentine you gave me if I didn't."
May's eyes widened slightly, and her face turned a light pink. She turned and stared at her feet, unable to look him in the eye. "Uh, thanks. I didn't think you would've kept it when we returned to our senses." Double-D smiled. "I wouldn't have done it. Even if it had been given by Marie I would've kept it, because it was given out of kindness and consideration, and I appreciate that." May blushed a deeper pink, but smiled at the complement.
Double-D then decided to bring the topic of the conversation back to the original point. "You said that you pushed Marie away earlier." He stated tentatively. "May I ask why?" May frowned slightly, her hands clenched tightly on the chains of the swing. "You know how my sisters and I have different fathers?" Double-D nodded, his mind flashing back to their first meeting when they told he and his friends that they had been put in their dads bathrobes. "Lee and I know very little about ours. Heck, I only know my father's name, mom refuses to talk about him at all. Marie, on the other hand knows nearly everything about her father, mother keeps pictures of him in the house and now Marie gets to go to the same place that he went to school. I know that mom tries not to let it show but she clearly shows which one of us is the favorite." she ranted, her voice rising in volume and intensity as she got closer to the end. She took several deep, gulping breaths in order to calm down, but Double-D noticed that she was still tense, her hands clenching and unclenching the chains as she scowled.
"I take it that that seemed to be one step too far?" Double-D asked timidly. May huffed. "It's aggravating! She never shoved it in our faces but it's clear as day whenever she has these private times with mom, or when she gets another story about her dad. There's always this joyful grin or appreciative smile whenever she's compared to him. And...and..." May temper was snuffed as easily as if a wood fire had been by dirt. She looked down, ashamed and despondent. "And I hate that. Not so much as her learning about her dad and me not learning about mine. Mom probably has a good reason to not tell me, I get that. But my sister, when she sent back that letter I was afraid." Double-D looked confused. "Of what?" May sniffed. "That she'll change. That she won't be my sister anymore."
Double-D stared at May as she wiped her eyes. "I know, it's stupid. God I realized that after a week that that wouldn't be true. And so what if she does change, she'll still be my sister, I care about her too much to let that happen. But, it's just been us for most of our lives. The Kanker Sisters. Us against everybody. I knew that we'd end up forging our own paths eventually, I just thought we had a little longer."
Double-D slowly and anxiously extended his hand and placed it on May's shoulder. Her head swung up, glancing between his hand and his face in disbelief. "What you're feeling isn't stupid." he stated firmly, his hand clutching her shoulder to keep it from shaking. "I'll admit that she will change, it happens as we grow up. The people that we were when we were eleven will be vastly different from the people we'll be when we're seventeen. And it's natural for you, for anyone really to have separation anxiety in a situation like this. I'm sure if you wrote to Marie she'll understand. And you especially shouldn't be ashamed of being resentful towards your mother because she favors one sibling, however unintentionally over you." He sighed as he caught his breath, his adrenaline levels receding. "You shouldn't feel ashamed for being jealous."
May didn't really know how to react to this. He was right, but hearing Double-D tell her this was still a bit surreal to her. She numbly nodded. Double-D removed his hand from her shoulder and the two returned to sitting silently on the swings. May swung her legs back and forth, tempted to move the swing, but eventually decided against it. She looked over at Double-D, who was looking at the blue sky, lost in his own thoughts. "Hey," she said quietly. Double-D looked back over. "Do you think we can talk again? This feels nice." Double-D saw the honesty in her eyes as she said this and surprisingly, he agreed with her. "Yeah, maybe we can meet like this. Just ourselves, talking." "Yeah," May whispered, a calm joy inflected by her voice. "I'd like that.
May rose from her seat. "I'm gonna go write a letter to Marie. I hope that she isn't too miserable over there." She turned to Double-D, now feeling very awkward with him. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." "Right." Double-D stammered. "See ya tomorrow." May turned and took off, climbed over the chainlink fence and took off down a dirt path into the woods and out of sight.
Double-D left the park and wandered over towards the Cul-de-Sac. The game of street hockey had ended and he saw Rolf harvesting some wheat while Jimmy and Sarah were playing fashion runway with Nazz. It was a peaceful day, one of the most peaceful he's had in years and yet something now felt off about it. He looked over at a bush near his house at the very edge of the Cul-de-Sac and checked it. No one was there, yet for some reason he wasn't relieved that nobody was there, but disappointed. This wasn't the first time he did this or felt this. If anything it had become a regular occurrence over the last few weeks. He entered his house, trying to figure out why.
'Why do I feel like this? It can't have been from the talk with May, I felt this way before this.' he thought as he moved up the stairs towards his room. He opened his door and went over to his desk. 'I can't focus on that right now. I need to start on these lab sheets.' As he sat down and reach into his bag, he felt a piece of paper with some soft strands on it. He withdrew his hand and saw that it was a lock of blue hair taped to it. He flipped the note over and read So you don't forget her. May. He smiled for a second before his eyes widened in fear. 'Oh god I miss her don't I?'
Sorry for the short chapter, I was working everyday for an entire week before Christmas and it took ten days to get this much. Before you ask, Edd/May isn't end game, but since it's common to have multiple relationships in a lifetime, I will include shades of it and Edd/Nazz as I want them involved in the story more. Hogwarts is the next two chapters and I hope you enjoy all of it. A Happy Holidays for all of you and I'll see you next time!
