Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or any of the Plot or characters, Arakawa does. I do, however, own any OCs, any plot I create, and any fangirl moments used against Ed.

Chapter 9

And so The Cogs Begin to Turn

(Ed)

The night ended quite suddenly for Ed. He had worn the same old clothes that he did the other night, and fallen asleep on the bed randomly, not exactly remembering a few things that should have been obvious until he woke up. One of these things being the leg and arm draped over him, and the small bit of wetness on his right shoulder, that was continuously seeping through the shirt. How he fell asleep with these disturbances? He blamed the bumpy train rides. Should he have fallen asleep like this? Probably not. Reason? He couldn't move without waking her up, and waking her up means morning rage. She was the only girl that could screw him over with physical pain other than teacher. His fear of the two was almost equal.

Now his problem came to a head when she yawned and moved her hand off of his chest to yawn. He didn't know he was holding his breath until he exhaled right after her hand raised. This breath was hitched once again when her left leg shifted slightly, pushing farther down in-between his legs. Then her body relaxed as her breath was released with her tension, and it turned out she wasn't waking up, just getting more comfortable, as she threw her arm around his neck and pulled it closer to her than before, her face buried into his neck. His eyes were as wide as quarters and frantically looking around the room for a way to get her to get off of him. His eyes landed on a rubber ball. His body reacted much faster than he would have expected, reaching for it with his metal arm, his fingers enclosing it, and throwing it to the other side of the room, smashing against the closet door harshly, making a loud enough noise for her to turn away from him, releasing his neck, to look for the noise. As her leg retreated, he rolled off the bed and to the floor, landing like a cat, in pushup position.

This move was what saved him from being spotted by Damien, who opened the door they forgot to lock in all their antics last night. "Trisha...?" He peered inside the room, "Are you Okay? I heard a crash." It sounded like he was walking towards the bed, to check on the drowsy girl.

This action on his part earned himself a hit to the face, as it sounded, and her yelling for him to get out. Her cry of anger was stopped short when Ed heard a movement, and she just stopped. "It's okay, Trish. It's only me you can stop this. Sshhh." The way he said 'Sshhh' annoyed the hell out of him, as he clenched his teeth.

What annoyed him more though, was that he seemed to tame her, as she replied sleepily, "Oh... Okay. Good morning."

"We're going to visit dad today."

"Good."

"So I need you to wake up and get ready for the day. I got your dress pressed, the purple one you got with mom."

"Mmmmmmmmmkaayy..." She yawned again, and stood up, walking to the bathroom and shutting the door at the same time Damien closed her bedroom door.

As Ed stood he began to wonder what Damien did to stop her rage, infuriated that her calm was so easily achieved.

(Trisha)

I woke up comfortable, and then startled. Damien was home this morning, thankfully. Damien always seems to keep me from flipping shit on him, and I don't know how he does it. I hate not knowing how he does it but I love being calm, it leaves me with more energy for the day.

I get into the shower and clean up, deciding i'm going to leave my hair down and straight, after all I'm visiting dad today.

It'll be five years tomorrow, but due to work, I'm going to go with Damien today instead of with my mom tomorrow. Ed decided he would just read on the internet about todays alchemy and how it differs from ours.

Speaking of Ed... I didn't see him after I woke up. I wonder where he was... I thought I had fallen asleep...

On him.

I finally zoned out of my home planet and let my mind wander all over the place. I thought of things I wouldn't remember in a few moments, and stuff I've known for a long time. I figured I should hang out with Zaidee again soon, considering she was probably worried about my mental stability, and what Envy would look like in blue instead of green. I began humming a tune to a song I wrote after a break up a while ago and finished up.

About ten minutes later I trotted out of the bathroom and decided to actually give a shit about where Ed was in relation to my brother, and where Envy was right now. I had a feeling again, a pang in my stomach in chest that told me he was going to do something soon. I suspected Ed was in trouble and looked around once or twice for good measure to check that he wasn't in my room.

"Good morning sunshine." Ed's voice rang. He stood up from behind the left side of my bed and nodded to the door, telling me silently that he was hiding from my brother. "How're you holding up?"

I wasn't really sure how to answer because of how sincere he sounded but just as a guess a replied, "My boobs are as perky as ever." Leave it to me to turn a serious question into a comedic scene.

Smooth moves, Trish.

"I-" Ed looked away and his hair fell astray.

"Sorry," I cut in. "Not being all angry leaves me a bit looser than I normally am."

Ed pulled a rogue hair behind his her and sighed, "This is your only break day, I hope you know."

"But-" I started.

"No. We are not focusing on me no matter what it means for me to get home. Remember, I know how you feel." Ed smiled quickly, no teeth showing.

"T- Thanks..." I looked down and shifted my feet. "Ed, I need you to be careful today. I can feel it, something is going to happen." I gripped the necklace in my hand tighter and looked to my closet. There hung my purple dress.

Now it seemed to resemble something like death, something painful. I didn't like it.

"Could you turn around momentarily, Ed?" I quietly asked him.

"U- uh.. Sure." He mumbled, turning the other way quickly.

I slipped on the dress, and looked over at Ed. "Could you zip this up?" I asked to break the silence, the room was heavy with the air of depression, and sadly asking Ed to do something weird didn't change that.

"Okay." He answered simply.

(Ed)

He didn't like the way things felt either. It felt.. Wrong. Something dark was looming over them. He didn't know how to describe it either, or pinpoint this dark feeling's target.

"I'll go grab you some food, I'll be right back. Stay here." Trisha slipped out of the room and down the stairs.

He paced the room once or twice, not exactly knowing what else he should be doing at the moment. He ran his fingers through his loose hair and sat on her bed.

Ed looked up, towards the ceiling. Envy.. He thought. What the hell do you want from me?

(Trisha)

The car door opened quietly. I watched the roof for any signs of movement, not seeing any at the moment. I pulled myself into my car and shut the door tightly. I put on my seat belt and looked up at my window. Ed was watching, even though I couldn't see him.

We drove away in silence, no radio or noise but the sound of the wheels moving. It had finally hit me, that we were visiting my father's grave. It was a scary thought, that he was dead. I still wasn't used to it.

I couldn't do anything but hate this dress. It was stupid. The color became something of distaste, if it had a flavor I sure as heck wouldn't eat it without a fight. I wanted to rip it to pieces, burn it, throw it off a cliff. I felt as if this dress was the cause of my father's death.

God damnit. I thought. "Are we there yet?" I pushed out. The car was even suffocating me now. I clutched my necklace very tightly. It was my lifeline right now, and without it I felt like I'd die.

"Just a few more minutes." Damien's voice was just as strained.

"Alright." It annoyed me that my mom never went to the grave with us. She always stayed home, going early in the morning. She could never bear the weight of me and my brother watching her break down at the grave. She was so strong, and I loved her for that, but I wish she could at least show us when she needed help.

We pulled in to a parking lot, a small one, to the left of the graveyard. We stepped out of the car, and stepped along the path.

Step, step, step.

I stepped through the motions now, my energy fading more and more with each step. A blanket of depression covered us. We had no words to say.

Damien grabbed my hand and squeezed it, a shaky bit of reassurance. He was telling me he was there and ready to protect me.

We rounded the last corner to the grave, and I squeezed my necklace so hard I figured it would break if it wasn't a Philosopher's stone. The metal was as hot as my hand, sweating profusely.

And before we even reached it, I stumbled forward and fell to my knees, the weight of the figurative blanket crushing me.

Sobs escaped from my throat, tears were jerked out of my eyes by the grave. seeing his name killed me inside. The grass surrounding it wanted my tears, It kept pulling them out of my eyes, drying me up inside. The headstone wanted my sobs, It pulled and yanked them out of my throat. My father was pulling me towards him, one sob, one tear at a time. He wanted all of me with him, and all I could do was allow it, falling onto all fours, looking down at the unforgiving grass that covered him up.

All Damien could do was watch with glazed over eyes. He was too hurt, and confused, maybe even unforgiven. He was mad at the thing that took our dad from us, mad that it couldn't wait any longer before taking him.

And so we sat there, for an hour, with reruns of feelings we couldn't hold back, waves coming and going, some were wars than others.

Damien threw the bouquet of flowers at the headstone at one point. "Fuck you," He had muttered, finally fed up with hearing my cries of agony.

That was when we lapsed into a quiet silence. Damien eventually sat next to me, and held me. It was an uncomfortable silence, and not even the warmth of my best friend, my brother, who had been through it all with me, could help it.

I leaned against him, my head on his shoulder. "This sucks."

"I second that." He put his arm around me and squeezed.

After a few more minutes of silence he spoke again. "You know.. I.. I think I'm in love with you." He looked away, his hand on mine being my only reassurance to the statement.

"You're.. what..?" I thought I heard him wrong. I shifted slightly.

"You heard me."

"I- I.. Damien." This wasn't what I expected.

"Look, I know it's wrong, but it just happened. I don't know when, but it did, and now I can't stop myself from wanting you. Seeing you cry today made me realize that even when everything goes wrong, something good can come out of it. So then I figured, hey, maybe this'll be something good coming out of rock bottom. Ya know? I figure things can't go anywhere but up." I looked at him with shimmering eyes.

"Damien-"

A rustle and short lack of sunlight alerted me to something wrong. I looked up and saw eye to eye with none other than Envy. "Hey there Trisha. Time to go. I've had enough of this gross love-fest." He grabbed my waist and pulled me forward, away from Damien, who was still sitting on the ground, not sure what to do about the situation.

"Let go of me!" I screeched. I pushed on his iron-grip arms to no avail. I struggled, and nothing would get him to release my grip. "God dammit, Envy! Let me go!"

"Stop this little girl." Envy commanded.

"Haven't you taken enough from me already? I don't want this!" Damien cried. He reached out for me, but Envy jumped backwards.

"Sorry buddy, Truth's not gonna give me a break? I can't give anything that could lead me home one either." Envy jumped up, ignoring my kicking and screaming. A few people noticed this occurrence, and none were apparently in the mood to call someone.

"Damien!" I called. Envy tried to cover my mouth, but I bit his fingers, causing him to retract and whack me on the back of the head sharply. My hand flew to my stone and I closed my eyes, trying to stop water from coming out. "G- Go find Ed! He'll be in my room! I'm so sorry!" And Envy hit me once more, causing me to black out.

(Ed)

"What?" Ed was speechless.

"She's gone!" Damien panted, on his knees. They were in the doorway between the hallway and Trisha's room. "Some guy," Pant, "Took her! Just- Just jumped off with her in his arms, blacked out."

"Wait, Envy?" Ed took a step forward, alarmed.

"That's what Trisha called him, yes." Damien was sweating heavily.

"Do you know anything? Where he took her? Why he did it? Come on, I need answers!" Ed growled slightly. If Envy had a hold on the stone.. Who knows what could happen.

"No, no I don't know anything!" He was crying too, Ed noticed. "Please, just save Trisha!"

"Consider it done."

(Trisha)

And Damien said things could only get better.

AGHHH I HATE LIFE! Anyway HI. It has been TOO LONG. And I just need to thank those who even bother to read this thing anymore, as I never update. I'm really sorry, though. Chemo has gotten worse, and it's impossible to write because my eyes are so sensitive to the light.

Anguish and pain! My favorite!:3 (psssssh no I'm not a sadist JEEZE) I like writing chapters like this because things 'can only get better'!

MMMMM next chapter we get a lot more insight into Trisha's family line. It'll me more plot points revealed next time!

Anyway...

Trisha: FINALLY you're BACK! *glomp*

Roku: Eeeew cuteness. Go get Envy...

Envy: She's evil when she wants to be..

Trisha: YOU. Were supposed to kidnap Ed. It's a better plot point. Now I'm a freaking maiden in distress. I'll have you know It'll be too easy to get me back now.

Roku: ... We'll see:3

Ed: GOD DAMNIT. Don't make this any harder on me than it already is.

Illiana: That's what she said! *runs away*

Ed: *Chases with bat*

Roku: OOOOKAY. Well, I guess we will see when I update, but no matter how long it takes, I WILL NOT DITCH!

I'd like to thank all of my reviewers:

~ LeFay Strent

~yyh-ygo-fma

~FullmetalEcho668

~Cursed Bunny

~Ed' .Kitten

~kid-kun

~xXRedPokerGirlxX

Also, all of y'all that favorites either me, the story, or alerted either, THANK YOU! I really appreciate all of you!

Also, if I forgot you, I'm VERY SORRY!

Envy: Now get lost.

Roku: After you review~! :3