Mr. SP: YAAAAYYYY!

Winry: What are you so happy about?

Mr. SP: I finally get to say my explanation this chapter!

Winry: (groans…)

Mr. SP: Don't worry—you're not around to hear it.

Winry: YAAAAYYYY! Stress free chappie for meeeee!

Emo Ed: One problem.

Mr. SP: What?

Emo Ed: I get to do a little bit of explaining, not you.

Mr. SP: Oh, for the love of--

Disclaimer: Chaaaaaaaa…IEEEEEEEEEE! Whaaaaa!
Chapter 7: Bored

"I...am...sooooooooo bored!" screamed Flirty Ed later that night. After their little outburst and multiple attempts to pick up any female officers, the Colonel had ordered all the Eds to remain in their quarters until further notice. That was six hours ago, and as everyone knows, Ed's attention span isn't the greatest.

"Then find something to do, Dim Wit." stated Smarty-Pants Ed, not even looking up from his book.

"Easy for you to say, you're so boring you always have something to do!"

"What do you mean 'boring'?" demanded the boy, finally taking his eyes off the thick pages.

"Ooh--I dunno, maybe that there's just no way in hell that you and me can be the same person!"

"Just shut up," came the strained voice of angry Ed. "You're not the only one who's bored out of his mind." The only way that this Ed had seemed to keep himself occupied was by constantly tapping his metal fingers one a coffee table, which didn't really improve smart Ed's mood.

"Why don't you all shut up?" squeaked Edwina, ruffling her hair. "It's bad enough that I have to stay in the same room as all you boys!"

"Whaddya mean all us boys? You're technically one too, you know!" pouted the seventh Ed, nibbling his knuckles because of the lack of food for the past six hours.

"Ew," gagged Edwina, "no WAY am I related to you!"

"Don't you get it? You ARE me!"

" NO WAY!"

"Stop it!" cried angry Ed, finally at the end of his patience. "Just all of you shut up!"

The room went into an awkward silence and after a moment, little Ed spoke up in his quiet voice. "Why don't we get along?" he asked, too awake to fall asleep, but too depressed by the rain outside to stay alert. "I mean...isn't it better to hear all this in our head instead of dragging everyone else into it?"

"I don't..." began Edwina slowly after a moment. "I don't want to go back. I like being able to say what I think. I like it that everyone knows the real me now."

"Yeah..." said angry Ed quietly, seemingly calmed down. "I'm glad that I don't have to bottle up all the time. This way, I don't have to make Al and Winry worry about me."

"I think you all should consider everything before making a decision on how you want all of us to live." They all turned to Emo Ed, who had stood up and moved to the center of the group. "I know... I know that I can only remember the bad things. Like, you," he pointed to little Ed, "you don't remember the day we tried to bring mom back, do you? To you, it's like she's still waiting at home for us, isn't it?" the child nodded sadly, not wanting to know what his older self was saying, making it sound like mom wasn't waiting at home for him. "Because for you," continued Emo Ed, "it hasn't happened yet. I mean, we all know who people are, but it's just certain things..." he turned to Flirty Ed. "Like you. You have it the best, don't you? Tell me; am I correct in thinking that you only remember the good things? Like when we and Al did our first alchemy for Winry? I bet you don't remember how that turned out, do you?" the boy turned away, confirming everything that had just been said without a word.

"How do we go back?" asked smart Ed, gazing determinedly at his darker self. "Without all these missing memories you keep blabbing about, how am I supposed to complete my calculations? What if I'm missing something vital? It could mean losing Al all together instead of getting his body back!"

"I don't want to!" cried Edwina, standing up, frightened. "I don't ever want to go back to that dark place--not ever!"

"Who cares what you want?" yelled smart Ed. "You're not even a real part of us! Why you even exist as you do is beyond me!"

Edwina's face scrunched up as she held back tears as best she could. "I'm not going back!" she choked out right before swinging the door open and dashing passed the two officers that had been standing guard.

"Stupid girl," muttered smart Ed under his breath.

"You're awful." spat the seventh Ed at the boy, chasing after Edwina.

"...Why do you want to be whole so desperately?"' asked flirty Ed quietly. "Why does it matter so much to you?"

"Why?" stated smart Ed darkly. "I'll tell you why, because if we're not whole, then we can get our limbs back. And if we can't get our limbs back, then we can't fix Al. And if we can't fix Al--"

"We can't live normally..."

"Exactly."

"But why...why do you have to be such a jerk about it? Maybe there isn't anything we can do!" shouted flirty Ed, also beginning to lose his temper with his smarter self. "Maybe it's just like teacher said--that we're making another mistake by trying to correct our last one! Why can't we just be content with our lives now? Why can't we live with the people we love and just forget about all of this?"

"Because that's not what we promised!" screamed the boy with glasses. "That day--that day we swore we'd get everything back to normal!"

"What day?" shrieked flirty Ed.

"That day! The..." he stopped. "It...it was..."

"3 October 10." came emo Ed's dark voice. "Check your watch--it's there."

"How--"

"It's an issue of memory." he said dully. "Now, I suggest that you two starting getting along, if you want to get back to normal, that is."

"What do you mean?" hissed smart Ed. His eyes widened and he shot his gaze over to flirty Ed. "YOU know how to return to normal?" he demanded.

"It's a memory issue." he stated sarcastically. "So I suggest that you start figuring it out on your own, 'cuz I don't think any of us that know are going to help you." With that, he marched out of the room.

"Do you know?" asked smart to emo after a moment.

"...Yes. But as long as I hold these memories, I don't wish to burden anyone else with them. So I too want to stay like this." Smart Ed scowled and turned away, muttering something less than kind about his other selves. "But," started Emo Ed, drawing the other boy's attention back to him once more, "I don't think our love-lust half can stay how he wants forever. Due to his nature, he'll betray himself one of these days..."

Smart Ed watched as Emo took the child's hand and left with him, probably to find something for the small boy to do.

"I'll help you," came the strained voice of angry Ed, the only other person remaining in the room.

Mr. Smarty-Pants raised an eyebrow at him, asking "I thought you liked it this way?"

The boy smiled weakly, gazing down at his trembling hand. "I do, but with the way I am...I'll cave sooner than later."

"So why help me now?"

Angry Ed looked up at the other and gave a disgusted smile. "I don't think I could calm down enough to actually tell you even if I wanted to. I'm just saying that when my time comes, I won't hold back." and then he too exited the room.

There was a crack of thunder outside as a flash of lightning illuminated the room momentarily. The lights flickered and smart Ed could hear the rain falling even faster. "Fine..." he muttered. "Then I'll do this on my own--no matter what it takes."

Al: ...That was kinda creepy.

Mr. SP: I'm just a creepy guy.

Emo Ed: Pancakes.

Mr. SP: NOT THAT CREEPY!-! NOT THAT CREEPY!-! (whimpers)

Winry: I thought this was supposed to be a stress-free chapter for me?

Me: Never.

Scar: Review!

Others: ...

Scar: What?

Flirty Ed: Why are you here?

Scar: (laughs maniacally) 'Cuz you and me gots a score to settle next chapter!

Flirty Ed: Whole-me or Me-me?

Scar: You-you.

Flirty Ed: SAVE ME!-!-!

Al: Don't worry Niisan, I--

Scar: Look at yourself. (Al does so and gasps) Mm-hmm…Now, remember things that haven't happened yet. (Al--does so and scowls) Now whaddya wanna do?

Al: Hurt Niisan!

Scar: There 'ya go.

Flirty Ed: Why do people hate me?