Hey, everybody! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews so far!Eleven reviews on just three chapters, impressive by my standards, heh.
Oh, and by the way, I realize that I sometimes conveniently ignore some of the "rules" set forth in the anime, such as that Edward can't do alchemy on this side of the Gate. Well, since this is my story world, I just decided that he CAN do alchemy on this side of the Gate! Ha!
Here's another disclaimer for you: I do not own FullMetal Alchemist. Huh, imagine that! That's just not right! Somebody call my lawyer, I need to find out why I don't own it, heh. Ok, I'm getting really ridiculous now. I just like to make these disclaimers readable. Enjoy the story.
Edward quickly grabbed a bucket, filled it with cold water, and splashed it on my mother. She awake with a start and gasped for breath.
"Will she be okay?" Edward asked the nurse.
"I-I think so," said the nurse, obviously uncomfortable around a body that housed two souls. This was why I didn't want it to come out, but what has happened has happened, and there was no turning back now.
Edward kneeled down next to my mom and held one of her hands. "Are you all right, Mrs. Greene? You had quite a shock," said Edward.
"I-I'm okay," my mom said, sitting up and pulling her hand away from Ed. "Why do you possess my daughter? What did she ever do to you?"
I wanted to speak right then, to defend Edward, but I couldn't fight against his soul. I knew that he wasn't intentionally blocking me from using my own body, he just didn't know his own strength.
"She…" Edward said, "She rescued me."
"She rescued you?" my mom said, "And this is how you repay her?"
"This is how she rescued me," said Edward, who then proceeded to tell her the whole story of his death and how he hadn't been able to move on up to the part where he was finally able to enter my body.
My mother grew silent. She was still sitting on the floor, cold and dripping wet, but she didn't move. She was contemplating all the information she'd just received in the last few minutes, and it was taking a while to sink in. Finally, she said, "How does Katie feel about this?"
"I'll let you ask her that yourself," said Edward. He closed his eyes, since that helped his concentration, and let go. I opened my eyes, and reached out to hold my mom's hand, which she pulled away from me.
"Mom, are you afraid of me?" I asked.
She was silent for a moment, then said, "Katie, is it really you?"
"Of course it's me!" I said, "I've been here all along, I just wasn't the one talking to you."
"K-Katie, how do you feel about this intrusion on his part? Do you want him to stay in you, or should we find someone to exorcise him from your body?" my mom said.
"Exorcise Edward?" I shouted, "Why, I wouldn't think of it. I admit that I was frightened at first, but I quit being afraid when I realized how gentle he was. Please, don't do anything to hurt him!"
"But in some of those episodes I've seen, he has gotten quite angry and violent," said my mom.
"Only when he had a just cause to do so," I said, "He's really gentle the rest of the time."
"I hope you're right, sweetheart. I don't want anything bad to happen to you," my mom said.
"I know I'm right, Mom," I said, grabbing one of my mom's hands and caressing it. She didn't pull away this time. "Just give Ed a chance. He'll be just like another member of the family soon, you'll see."
"I'll try for your sake, Katie," said my mom, "I just hope you're right. I don't know how your father's going to react to this though."
"Well, we'll worry about that later," I said, "Right now, we just need to get you home. Can you walk?"
"Yes, I can walk," my mom said. She grabbed hold of my hand, and I pulled her up. I then wrapped my arm around her back.
"I'll walk you home," I said, "You shouldn't walk alone right now."
"Th-Thanks," she said. The poor thing was still nervous around me. I desperately hoped that she would soon accept me and Edward. I was still worried about father though. How would he react?
My dad arrived home from work around 5:30. I had stayed home from school the rest of the day to take care of Mom, since she was exhausted from that big shock.
My dad was about to call for us when I came out into the living room, where he was, to tell him not to wake Mom up. Of course, he wanted to know what the matter was, so I told him that she had had a very hard day, and it would all be explained to him when she woke up.
He was confused, of course, but decided not to press the subject until later. So, he said, "Is there anything around to eat while we're waiting for her?"
I'd completely forgotten about food. "Oh well," Dad said, "Let's go out to the kitchen and make something."
We went to the kitchen and started looking in the cupboards to figure out what we had. He decided to make spaghetti, while I chose to make some salad. I began preparing the vegetables when Dad said, "Wouldn't it be easier if you took your auto-mail off?"
"Uh, no," I replied back.
"Well, why are you still wearing you costume, anyway? As far as I know, Halloween's over," he said.
I was about to reply when Mom walked into the room and said, "She has no choice."
My dad was taken aback, "What do you mean 'she has no choice'?"
Mom sat down at the dining room table, and continued to speak. "Have you ever heard that urban legend where kids that dress up as monsters on Halloween sometimes find that they can't remove their costumes and that they've become the monsters they were dressed up as?"
Dad laughed, "Yeah, I know that urban legend. It scared me to death up until the age of nine."
"Well," said Mom, "That's what has happened to our little girl."
Dad put down the spoon he was stirring with, and turned around and faced Mom. "What are you talking about?"
"The reason that she's still wearing part of her costume," said Mom, "Is because she can't take it off."
"Why not? Does she need a little help getting that auto-mail off?" asked Dad.
I grabbed hold of my auto-mail arm as an automatic reaction. "No," I said, "Don't touch my auto-mail. I'm not going to go through that twice in one day."
"Would someone please explain to me what's going on?" said Dad.
I got an idea that I though might speed things up. "Dad, pull my hair."
"What?" he asked.
"Just do it," I said, "Pull it off." Dad grabbed hold of my blond braid and gave it a sharp yank.
"Ow!" I said as my head jerked back.
"Alright, what going on here?" said Dad.
"Dear, don't you see?" said Mom, "She has become Edward Elric."
"Become Edward Elric!" said my dad, "What are you talking about?"
"Actually," I said, "It would be more accurate to say that this body now houses two souls. One of them being mind, the other one being Edward's."
My dad shook his head in disbelief. "You guys are talking like Edward Elric really exists." He turned back to his pot of water. "Why isn't this thing boiling yet?" he said.
(Go for it, Edward,) I said.
"So, I guess that seeing is believing," said Edward. He clapped his hands together and placed them on the handles of the pot. The water instantly burst into boiling.
"Did I really just see that?" asked Dad.
"Yes, you did," said Mom, "That was an alchemical transmutation."
My dad's jaw dropped, and his knees started to buckle. Ed rushed over and grabbed him before he could fall. "Please don't be afraid of me, Mr. Greene, I won't hurt anyone." Edward said.
"You're…Edward Elric?" my dad said. Edward just nodded. My dad's face turned white. "How…How did this happen?"
The three of us relayed the entire story to him, from the time that I bought the clothes to when I brought Mother home.
"Please, Mr. Greene, I just want to be accepted as part of your family," said Edward. "My family is long gone, and I need some place to call home."
My dad managed a weak smile. I was surprised at how well he was taking this news. He stepped over to me and put his hands on my arms.
"Edward," he said, "A long time ago, before Katie was born, my wife and I had decided that we wanted both a son and a daughter. When Katie was born, we got half of our wish, but my wife had an unfortunate accident rendering her unable to bear children.
"So, we thought our wish was lost forever. We learned to deal with the fact that there would never be a boy in our household, so we made sure to expose our little girl to as many different social activities as possible to make sure she learned how to get along with others, being an only child.
"However, we had always wished that we could have given a brother to Katie; someone who would be there for her, no matter what, just because she was his sister. But there was nothing that we could do about it. There has always been an empty role in this house where her brother should have been. Now you've stepped in to fill that role. So you see, son, you're a wish come true."
Without warning, my dad threw his arms around us. "I'm hugging both of you kids," he said, "Got that?"
"Got it," came the reply.
"Which one said that?" asked Dad, releasing us and staring into our eyes.
"It's still Edward speaking," said Edward," Katie hasn't asked to speak yet, so I'm still the one here."
"Well, I'm very glad to meet you, Edward. I'd always wished that I could have a son like Edward Elric," said Dad.
Edward choked, then said, "I-I've always wished for a father like you, Mr. Greene. You see, my father…"
"I know all about your father, and I'm so sorry that that had to happen to you," said Dad, "I understand your longing for a father. But please, stop trying to be so polite. Call us Mom and Dad."
"Okay…Dad," said Ed. Dad hugged us again, making sure to remind us that he was hugging both of us.
After we ate dinner, Dad sent us off to bed, so we wouldn't be late for school the next day. "But how can I go to school tomorrow, Dad?" I said, "You know what happened today."
"Your mother and I will work it out," said Dad, "But you need to get a good night's rest."
"I hope you can work it out," I said, "Good night, Daddy."
"I hope this doesn't bother Edward too much," said Dad. He bent down and kissed me on the forehead.
"He'll get used to it," I said.
He chuckled at that, then said, "Good night, angel." I started to walk up the stairs, when he called back, "Good night to you too, Edward."
Edward smiled. "Good night," he said, and then continued walking up the stairs.
"Your family's really nice," said Edward upon entering my room.
"I know they are," I said, "They're one in a million."
"I can't believe how quickly your dad came to accepting me," said Edward.
"I'm surprised too," I said, "But he has secretly always been a fan of yours. He never admitted it, but I could always tell."
"So I've got two fans in this household?" Edward said, "How's your Mom going to handle my presence here?"
"She'll come around," I said, "She just needs a little time."
"That's good," he said.
I turned off the lights and climbed into bed. Suddenly, Edward started convulsing. "Edward, are you okay?"
After a moment, the convulsing stopped. "Yeah," he said, "I'm fine."
"What happened?" I asked.
"I have no idea, but I hope it doesn't happen again," said Edward.
"I hope not," I said, "Anyway, good night, Ed."
"Good night," he said. Soon we were both asleep.
Wow, I thought that last chapter was long, but this one's nearly as long as that one! Heh, I don't even know how long these things are anymore.
Isn't it weird that Katie has such a perfect family? I don't know why I gave her such perfect parents (except that her mom kind of flips out on occasion, like my mom, heh), but I'm guessing that it's probably because I wish that my family had been that way. My family history has a lot of similarity to Edward's actually. You don't find many "perfect" families in stories these days, so I hope that you like that.
Heh, poor Ed, having to deal with all those kisses! That would certainly take some getting used to, especially if you had no choice but to receive them. Hehe…Take comfort though, he'll get used to it. If he wants to become part of the family, he has to get used to the "touchy-feely" tendencies of this family, so he'll be sure to get used to it.
Anyway, the next chapter should be up tomorrow, if nothing comes in between me and that. Please review until then. I can't know what people like unless they review!