Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.
I sat back in the couch next to Ling, watching him and Lan Fan eat as I licked a green apple lollipop. Mm, CANDY~
I heard someone knock on the door and stood up, walking over to lean on the wall next to Al. I had a feeling who the person was.
Once Ed spotted Al and I, his eye twitched.
"WHAT THE HELL?" He yelled, going over to us and looking us up and down. I guess we looked a bit worse for wear, Al's armor damaged and missing an arm, and I with my white cast on my upper right arm and band-aids in random places on my body. It didn't help that I was wearing a short-sleeve shirt and knee-high shorts.
"WHAT HAPPENED? AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Ed half asked half yelled as he turned to Ling.
"Eating a delicious lunch." Ling said through a mouthful of some kind of bird. Ed kicked him and Lan Fan out, slamming the door and continuing to spaz over Al and I.
And so, Al explained everything that happened to Ed.
"The hummonculus and Barry the Chopper, and just to throw a cherry on top you find out your body might reject your soul."
"SHORTSTUFF! Shut up and repair Al's armor already!"I said. Ed went on a small "short" rant before getting ready to fix Al. Before he could, I used my good arm to hold out a small package wrapped in black cloth. Ed looked at it curiously.
"Here," I said around my lollipop, "I picked up some parts of Al's armor." Al was surprised, but Ed gladly took it and quickly repaired Al.
"Thank you." Al said, flexing his arm which Ed had bound back on. I took my lollipop out of my mouth, smiling and winking at Al.
"Don't mention it," I said, popping the lollipop back in my mouth. Al nodded, blushing adorably. He was like an extremely lovable little brother! CUTE~
I sensed a vengeful aura coming out of Ed as he looked suspiciously between us. Al was oblivious but I felt another smile creep onto my face.
"Are you ok?" Ed asked, referring to my physical condition. I gave him a look.
"Fifteen small burns, twenty-three scratches, and two big gashes right here," I said, pointing to my the cast on my arm, "Where four of my major muscles were torn and sewed back together, and most likely all of them will scar. Except for my beauty being ruined, I'm fine." I sighed, then looked longingly into nothing. "There goes my modeling career."
"Ouch." Ed said, wincing as I listed my injuries. I snorted.
"You think I'm bad? Lieutenant Havoc and Mustang are both staying in the hospital," I said, "I only had to stay there for a few hours while they stitched up my wounds, but both of them had to stay a night. I don't think they'll be getting out for a while, either. But anyway," I said, looking Ed in the eyes, "I think now that you're here, you better tell them what you discovered in Resembool. I was waiting for you to explain." I said, sighing. Now more depression. Great.
Ed sat down and looked at Al.
"Al, I got to tell you something." Ed said. I walked to the door, and drew everyone's attention.
"I'm sorry," I said sadly, "I can't take any more drama. Gracia is going to kill me, so might as well get it over with. Continue, Ed. Oh and bye." I said, slipping out the door. I couldn't bear with a lot right now. I was still hurting because of Barry's death. But I just wanted to do something to lift a load off my shoulders. I can't take so much stress.
I was going to confront the Colonel.
"Hey guys!" I said, popping my head in the room Mustang and Havoc shared.
"Lynette," Hawkeye said, slightly surprised. I smiled at her.
"The idiots giving you any trouble?" I asked. Mustang and Havoc protested but Hawkeye smiled lightly at me.
"Come on in." She said, opening the door. I strode in to stand next to Hawkeye, closing the door behind me.
"Okay, there is something I have forgotten to say to both of you." I said, walking to stand in front of both men's bed's. I saluted with my left hand, since my right was injured.
" Forgive me if this is harsh!" I said, taking a deep breath. I looked both them in the eyes.
"YOU DAMN MORONS!" I yelled at them, "YOU ANT BRAINED DUMBASSES! HOW COULD YOU ALLOW YOURSELVES TO GET HURT LIKE THIS? DO YOU KNOW HOW STUPID THAT WAS? BOTH OF YOU COULD'VE DIED! AND WHERE WOULD WE BE THEN?!" I panted slightly after my big explosion. Both men blinked, surprised, sheepish, and but mostly dumbfounded and fearful.
"Ok, we deserved that." Havoc admitted.
"Oh, if you weren't hurt this bad," I said, my eye twitching as I have them a black look, "I'd freeze your legs off." Both men paled, knowing I probably would've.
"She's already yelled at us!" Mustang complained, pointing to Hawkeye. I have her a thumbs up which she returned. I'm glad Hawkeye and I are now good friends. I mentally snickered. She's like the Colonel's strict wife and I'm like his younger sister/cousin. We are the women of Mustang's group. Of course we gotta be strict.
"Sometimes I think all women are against me." Havoc said, a slightly depressing aura. I snickered.
"Don't feel bad. Women are against everyone, even their own." I laughed. Once I was done, I bit my lip and gulped.
"Um... Colonel Roy? Riza? Jean?" I said, looking at each of them as I said their names, "I have something to tell you."
"What?" Mustang asked. I took a very deep breath.
"I want to tell you this because I trust you fully now. You might hate me for this, but I don't want to lie to you anymore." I said, drawing their attention for real. They all looked at me, intent but slightly shocked I was actually hiding something from them. The air was thick with stress, but I pushed myself on so I could get through this and lift a pound off the ton of weights that I carried on my shoulders. I was doing this to feel better after.
"I've been lying to you this whole time about who I really am." I said, and everyone's stares became more intense. Mustangs stare sharpened, Havoc became suspicious, and Hawkeye just outright stared.
"I am from a dimension on the other side of the Gate of Truth." My words caught everyone off guard. They all stared at me incredulously, like I was on fire.
"WHAT?!" They all exclaimed simultaneously. I flinched at their voices.
"Is that even possible?" Mustang asked, alarmed.
"How the hell are you here?" Havoc said, surprised.
"How did you get here?" Hawkeye exclaimed. They all stared at me, expecting an answer. I sighed.
"I'll start with my life on the other side." I said. I really didn't want to remember everyone but I had no choice. "I grew up in a big house in an extremely safe town, living with both parents, my brother, and my beloved dog. I had lots of friends, but my best friends were named Katya and Emma. I took martial arts lessons since I was six instead of doing a sport. I loved writing fantasy stories and reading." I finished my summary of my current life to continue on with my little explanation, "My world is much more advanced than yours. No, we don't have alchemy, and no, we don't have automail, but we have so much more technology. We have airplanes, which are machines that let us fly in the air, really fast fuel-efficient cars, a lot of nuclear weapons, wireless phones, and computers and televisions." I described, shocking them all AGAIN. This is when I get to what happened. "One day, I fell asleep in my bed, and had a weird dream of this Gate thing. But I woke up in an alleyway in East City, wandering around until life decides to laugh at me and have me bump into the murderers that got me recognized by the military. And you know everything after that." I took a shaky breath, "My friends and family have probably been freaking out for a while. I haven't been seen for a couple months, after all." Tears spilled down my cheeks as I thought. "I haven't seen anyone I've known for long time. I'm not used to walking down city streets by myself. I'm not used to fighting real people with weapons or super powers. I'm not used to loosing so much. I'm sorry for lying. If you hate me, I understand. Thanks for listening, anyway." I said, sniffling as I edged to the door. Just as I was about to leave, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Lynette." Hawkeye said softly, "We would never hate you. Thank you for telling us the truth." I turned to look at her, then at Havoc, then Mustang. They all wore the same expression. With an emotion I would only realize much, much later what it was.
"Well, that was unexpected." Mustang said bluntly, braking the awkward silence. I giggled with Hawkeye and Havoc jointing in until we all had burst out in full blown petals of laughter.
Once we calmed down, I glanced at Mustang.
"Why did you tell us sooner?" Mustang asked normally.
"I didn't fully trust you before this." I said sheepishly. "It's hard to know who I can trust in this political mess."
"Do the Elric brothers know?" Hawkeye asked. I nodded.
"I told them before we snuck into the fifth laboratory." I said. Mustang huffed.
"I guess you trust them more than you trust us." Mustang said.
"I trusted them first because I could trust someone my age better than I could trust an adult. But I trust you guys now." I said. Havoc snorted.
"You probably trusted them first because you liked them first." Havoc stated, and I blushed.
"Well, she is in love with the shrimp, after all." Mustang said. I looked at everyone, shocked.
"I am?" I asked dumbly. Everyone nodded simultaneously.
"It's obvious," Havoc said.
"It's easy to spot," Hawkeye continued.
"And you're too easy to read." Mustang finished. I looked at them in stupor. No way...
"I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH ED!" I protested. I looked at Mustang. "How would I know I'm in love?"
"I don't know." He shrugged. Havoc had the same answer. Hawkeye was the one to really give me a good answer.
"It's when you can't take your eyes off them, you feel safe with them, and you treasure every moment you share. Most importantly, you wish for their happiness, even if it isn't with you." Hawkeye said. Mustang, Havoc and I blinked, dumbfounded and surprised.
"Then you're telling me I'm in love with Emma and Katya too?" I said in realization. Hawkeye looked at me, slightly exasperated as the men sweat dropped.
"No," she said to my relief, "it's more of a thing you would feel for a guy. Like your heart pounding rapidly in your chest when your near him. You only care about yout friends like your sisters." Hawkeye said.
"But that's just hormones," I countered, "I've encountered those little monsters before. I usually only hold my preferences within a year or two before I switch them out. Besides," I said sadly,"I'm going to go back to my world after this whole conspiracy is over. I'm surprised I promised to even stay that long, even when I know a way to get home."
"You know a way to get home?" Mustang said. I nodded.
"Yes, but it'd take a while to gather the materials, even if I know where to find them." I said. I actually needed a philosopher stone, and I didn't feel bad at all when I though of using it. It didn't bother me the philosopher stone was made of humans. At first, I thought of myself as actually being cold blooded, but now I realized it wasn't that I didn't care. It was just that I was so unused to the idea of death and cruelty that my brain wasn't able to comprehend the enormity of the loss. Dumbing it down, I couldn't realize how big using the philosopher stone impacted the people in it.
"Then go. Get what you need to go back and hurry." Mustang ordered. I looked at him, shocked.
"I can't! I promised... And plus, I told you I'd be here! I want to be here when you become the Fuhrer. I want to help you change this country. I promised I'd follow you through hell, and I'm not giving up at the start!" I protested, aggravated. Mustang sighed.
"I'd be better if you were back in your world. You'd be safer. I don't want a twelve year old fighting the dangerous people we're up against. You might get hurt. Go back. This is an order!"
"Screw orders! And if I'm not here, you'll get mauled. Which sounds better?" I retorted, "I'm not leaving. I have too many promises to keep. Besides, I have people I had promised to protect. And if you so as mention sending me back one more time," I threatened menacingly, "I'll defalcate your hubristic narcissist ass." I, proud with my choice of words, grinned as they all stared at me like I was speaking a different language. Lets just say I knew quite a bit of complex words that many adults didn't know.
"... What's that supposed to mean?" Havoc asked dumbly. I snickered.
"I can disparage you without your awareness." I said. Saying big words made me feel smarter. I like to use big words to make me sound smarter... Oh, I mean I enjoy using gargantuan idioms to fabricate intelligence.
"... That was an insult, wasn't it?" Hawkeye said. I looked at her in amazement.
"How'd you guess?"
"I know what narcissist means."
"Damn."
"What does defalcate mean?" Mustang asked.
"Defalcate is the verb form of the word defenestration, which is a noun, and defenestration as a noun means the act of throwing a thing or person out of a window." I said gleefully, making everyone sweat drop.
"Where the hell did you learn all this?" Havoc asked.
"I read a dictionary." Cue another group sweat drop.
"You're crazy." Havoc muttered.
"Psh, I have people tell me that every day. You just don't want to be around me while I'm on a sugar high." I said. I could see Mustang make a note to himself not to give me too much sugar.
"Well, I still have to face Gracia's wrath when I get back." I chuckled slightly, "So I better be going. Oh, and before I forget, I got these for you two." I said, giving them each a reddish-orange daffodil. "It might be girly but I just wanted to give you something colorful to look at while you stay in this bleak room. If you have any new missions or schemes, call me. And with that I better be going. See you later." I said, saluting with my left hand. Mustang chuckled to himself and waved slightly as I walked out the door.
"Oh," I said, popping my head back in for a moment, gaining eye contact with Havoc, "Get better. You better catch up. Seeya." I finally disappeared out the door, walking out of the building. I pulled out a new map Ed had got me when he returned to Resembool and used it to find my way back to the Hughes place. I guess it was really like my home now.
Since Hughes was gone, he left me the responsibility to take care of his family. I already had a lot of research grant money, so I used that to help supply for Gracia and Elicia. Gracia was a stay-home mom, so my money supported them. Plus I was the only thing protecting them while Hughes was gone. They were my family now.
I thought about this as I weaves through crowded streets, glancing at my map every once in a while.
"Hey Gracia." I said as I walked in the kitchen. She turned around and smiled at me.
"About time you got back." She said as I moved toward the hallway to my room. I paused.
"Where's Elicia?" I asked, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. Gracia couldn't see my face.
"She's in the livingroom." Gracia said.
I spun around, sliding a blade out of a hidden pocket in my shorts and holding it to Gracia's throat.
"Envy, where are they?" I snarled. Gracia sighed as red lightning crackled around her.
"They're fine," Envy said, changing into his regular green-haired form, "The Hughes woman brought the brat shopping with her. "
"In other words, you just wanted to mess with me?" I asked, sweat dropping. Envy nodded but pouted.
"You're no fun. You didn't even freak out." Envy said. I rolled my eyes.
"Sadist."
"Moron."
"Skirt-wearing freak."
"Girl with no common sense."
"Spikey-haired bastard."
"Immature bitch."
"Purple-eyed monster."
"Snot-nose brat."
"Old-ass fugly maniac."
"Smart ass."
"Dumbass."
"Pain in the ass."
"Smart-mouth idiot."
"That doesn't make sense."
"... YOU don't make sense!"
"I don't think you do either."
"... Touché. That doesn't change the fact you're an insufferable prick."
"And it doesn't change the fact your an annoying thing."
"I AM NOT A THING! Seriously..." I said, rubbing the back of my neck, "I sometimes wonder why I even put up with you." I sighed as I opened a cabinet and retrieved a small container of pickles, struggling to open the jar. The lid was unmoving as if it were glued on the jar.
"Here," Envy said, taking the jar and opening it with a flick of his wrist. I looked at him strangely, taking the jar and taking a bite of a sweet pickle about the size of my finger.
"Thank you." I said cautiously. Envy grinned at me.
"What, I can't do anything selfless?" Envy said. I gave him a look.
"No," I answered bluntly. Envy sweat dropped, but patted my head as he walked by.
"We're gonna need your help soon." Envy said, disappearing into the hallway. I chomped on a pickle, and decided to sneak into Gracia's bedroom.
I had been there before, to move Gracia to her bed, but I never got a good look at her room, the one she and Maes used to share.
It was a light bluish teal color, with a colorful quilt laid out on the bed. There was a beautifully carved bureau made of some type of white bleached wood, and the top was littered with makeup and other small things. And right next to the bureau was a matching full-length mirror.
I stepped in front of it to look at myself. It was the first time I had gotten a clear view of myself since I got here.
I had gotten much skinnier. Lost maybe around twenty pounds. I pulled up my shirt to reveal my stomach, which now looked flatter. My arms and legs had more tones muscles, and it looked odd to me. My hair had gone from shoulder-length to a few inches down my back. I put my shirt back down and looked at my face. It had also gotten skinnier. My facial features had sharpened, and my eyes seemed wider. I had changed a lot. I used to be childishly chubby, with short hair and a rounder face, but it had all changed. Probably because of all the fighting, running, and sleeping I've been doing while I was here. I also had been eating less, too.
I didn't like it. In my mind, I had always wanted to get skinnier, and in fact, it did make me much prettier. But not like this. I wanted to gain beauty by my own determination, not unintentionally. It was upsetting to me.
Disturbed, I jammed the top of the jar back on and walked out of the room, leaving no trace I was there.
I replaced the pickles, loosing my previous appetite. I walked to my room and flopped down on my bed, face snuggling into a pillow.
I think life likes to throw me lemons on purpose. I thought, and bad ones, too. But I know what I'm going to do with those lemons. Something that'll leave everyone wondering how the hell I did it.
I'm gonna make orange juice.
Hey guys! CHAPTER FORTY ALREADY! WOOOOH! HAPPY LATE THANKSGIVING AND HAPPY BLACK FRIDAY! I love and hate the holidays. It's basically a scheme to make us loose weight over the year just to gain it all back at once. But at least the food is delicious! And its a nice opportunity to gather the family together. I don't get to see them that often, so I love every moment I can spend with everyone! Actually, my cousin and brother teamed up against me when we were going to play hide and seek. (I WILL NEVER BE TOO OLD FOR THAT GAME!) Anyway, they both scared the shit outta me. Multiple times. By hiding in dark places and popping out at me. Nearly gave me a heart attack.
Anyway, how's the story? I think it's going well. And it was only a few days ago when my best friend pointed out that Lynette hadn't told Roy, Havoc, or Riza about her real identity! I guess it had slipped my mind, but I chose to fix it now. Haha, funny! Questions, comments, concerns?
My lovely readers, please review~
Thanks!