A/N: Woo! Getting back in the groove now. I'd like to start off by thanking everyone who's reviewed this work so far. I'd like to go ahead and clear the air about a few things. First, this story IS a shipping fic, but of a slightly different nature than most you find here. Second, this story is (loosely) based on the actual story of Faust. But like Edd mentioned in chapter 1, there are many versions floating around... I wonder which ending I selected? I joke. You don't need to worry. The ending is already written.

Once more, thank you to everyone who reviewed. Your feedback and input is very valuable to me. ON WITH THE STORY, I SAY!

Chapter 7

The first floor hallway was as silent as the grave. Rolf shrank back against his locker, his eyes darting to and fro in fear. At this moment in time, he was quite willing to barter two (no, THREE!) of his chickens for a fair chance of survival. As soon as he'd emerged from his class with the Go-go Nazz girl, he had felt the urge to listen carefully, his instincts screaming a warning to him.

Holding up a chicken drumstick to his ear, he heard it. A great force of nature was headed his way, a hurricane of noise and fury that could not be stopped. Even if his chicken drumstick hadn't warned him of impending doom, he would've known he was in severe danger. How, one might ask? It was actually very simple.

If the Kankers were involved, it was dangerous by default. If the Kankers and Eds were involved, it was potentially catastrophic. And if the Eds had given the Kankers the slip... well, suffice to say, the sisters did not believe in stress balls.

"Hey, Lee!" the blonde one yelled, running into view. "I lost 'em!" The redhead answered with an animal noise that made Rolf flashback unpleasantly to the days of his youth.

"Not the walrus..." he whispered in horror, a mile-long look in his frightened eyes.

"Well, FIND 'EM, May!" Lee roared, emerging into view as well. Rolf tried to shrink back even more into the lockers, bending them. "I'm itchin' to give my little Ed some lovin'!"

"I would if you'd help!" May answered snappishly, to which Lee made a clever comeback through her fist. Behind them, Marie walked slowly, glancing from side to side with suspicion. The Eds had stopped leaving a trail of destruction three classrooms back, making it harder to track them.

Now, Marie was looking for their trail, but not to follow them. Rather, she was gonna try to mislead her sisters just a bit, maybe make a distraction or two. Just for the time being, until she thought of a more permanent solution to her little issue. Couldn't have her Oven Mitt using an incident with her sisters as an excuse to avoid paying her back, after all. Marie briefly considered letting her sisters in on her plan, then scratched the idea. Odds were, they'd try some variant of it on THEIR Eds, and a selfish part of Marie wanted to be the first to succeed at this.

"They'd probably screw it up anyway," she muttered, walking behind Lee. Still, maybe she'd be able to think up some sort of excuse for them to stay away from her love-muffin.

"What'd you say, Marie?" Lee asked.

"To get outta my way, wide-load!" Marie answered. Lee grumbled and, surprisingly enough, moved aside without further comment. Marie smirked and moved past her with a swagger, only to yelp as Lee's foot connected solidly with her backside. The older Kanker snickered maliciously, at least until Marie's fist swung into her stomach. Her response to that was to interrupt Marie's own gleeful laughter by throwing her at May. May's retaliation came in the form of an expertly thrown textbook to Lee's head.

Rolf decided he should probably sneak away while the three sisters battled it out. Surely even the Great Nano would understand that sometimes survival was more important than standing your ground, yes? Especially when unstoppable forces were involved, unlike sea cucumbers.

He dropped to the ground and crept away, narrowly avoiding becoming yet another innocent bystander in one of the Kankers' battles. The Jimmy boy had been introduced rather painfully to the cafeteria ladies' soup ladles last week in just such an incident, Rolf recalled.

"Rolf pities those Ed boys," he murmured, as a stray ruler embedded itself where his crotch had been not ten seconds ago. "Rolf pities them very much!"

The second floor hallway seemed empty at first glance. A cursory examination would have revealed recent footprints, a few puddles of sweat, and what resembled a disturbing mix of butter and gravy splattered liberally across the floor by some lockers, but that was to be expected. After all, the second floor was where Ed's locker was located.

More importantly, said locker was only one of three currently being used as hiding spots by three hapless teenagers.

"Are they gone, Double D?" Ed whispered urgently from inside his locker. The gravy and filth inside of his locker currently had him squished tight against the inside (not that he minded much), looking away from the grate at the top of the locker. Of course, he was also scared of looking.

"I'm not sure, Ed..." Edd whispered back from inside of his own locker. "I'm afraid to look."

"C'mon, Sockhead!" Eddy hissed, crammed inside the darkness of his locker as well. "Your locker's the closest to the other hallway! Just look!"

"But Eddy! What if they see me?! I'm no good at running!" Edd whined.

"Then you just run for it!"

"I JUST said I'm not-!"

"I AM ED!" Ed interrupted the beginning of their argument by ripping off the doors to both their lockers, a huge, dopey smile on his face. Edd had curled up into a shelf, looking like a contortionist of some sort, while Eddy was barely fitting inside his locker, squashed like a sardine in a can. "I think the coast is clear, guys!"

Edd and Eddy glanced at each other, equally baffled. They decided not to question it.

"Y-Yes, Ed, that seems to be the case..." Edd said, disentangling himself from his own limbs while Eddy popped out of his locker. Both stretched a little, trying to return feeling to their limbs while Ed reached into the mass of filth that was his locker and wrestled a muddy sandwich from the grasp of what looked like a mud-covered tentacle. Edd and Eddy looked on as Ed scarfed it down, smacking the tentacle when it tried to grasp the sandwich again.

"Lumpy, I think your food is going to eat you one of these days," Eddy commented, a mixture of disgust, awe, and amusement on his face to complement Edd's green complexion.

The hat-wearing young man turned to his locker and groaned in dismay.

"Oh, dear... Another locker, destroyed," he said, distraught. Eddy clapped him on the arm chummily.

"Don't worry about it, Double D. We can just chalk it up to the Kankers again. The teachers always buy that, no problemo."

"But I don't think it would be right to completely shirk our responsibilities like that, Eddy! We need to own up to our mistakes and-" the sound of approaching footsteps interrupted him. Rather, the voices accompanying them did.

"Are you SURE they went this way, May?!" Lee's growl reached them.

"Uh huh! I'd recognize Big Ed's smell anywhere!"

"And their lockers are this way, too!" Marie added.

Ed, Edd, n' Eddy looked at each other. And without a word, they took off like a rocket for their next class.

It was after their next lesson that Edd first noticed his new "shadow". He came out of the classroom shakily, half-expecting Kevin to appear and continue their little chat. But nothing happened. He waited by a set of lockers, glancing around fearfully as students milled around him, chattering endlessly.

Not even after the bell rung, signaling the start of the next period, did he so much as see Kevin's hat. Still, he HAD just wasted five minutes trying to spot the jock, and his class was elsewhere in the building. Edd broke into a run, silently cursing his fear and its effect on his timekeeping.

"Late late late late!" he murmured frantically, making his way to his next classroom quickly. Still, the distance gave him a bit of time to think. And as he did, he began to feel a bit cheery. He had considered asking the teacher to change the play at first, but now discarded the idea. If he did that now, just to appease Kevin, it would have meant he'd sold himself to Marie for nothing. At this point, it was probably best to just let the chips fall as they may. Besides, it looked like it was working, wasn't it?

The thought was uplifting. Kevin HAD been frightened, of that he was sure. Oh, not frightened enough to go away permanently. Edd wasn't THAT naive. But if Marie kept to her part of the deal (and Edd had a feeling she would. Not because she had a good moral compass, but because this would mean she'd "gotten" him fair and square), then he should be sufficiently cowed to at least keep his distance.

Edd was a little sorry it'd come to this. He didn't dislike Kevin, per se. It was true, he could be a damn jerk when he put his mind to it, but he was also a good friend on many other occasions. Ever since the incident with Eddy's brother some years back, they'd become much friendlier with each other. Edd often helped Kevin study, and the latter often invited him to play some football or basketball. They weren't the closest of friends, but they were on good terms.

Edd just hoped it could all go back to normal once this blew over. It was understandable that Kevin was angry... at least somewhat understandable. Nazz was a bit flirty, and although not officially together, she'd shown a certain predilection for the redheaded jock over the years. To have her so easily accept a role like this... it must have struck a chord with Kevin's pride. Kevin was overreacting, no doubt. But it was an overreaction that Edd could rationalize, and thus understand. Well, intellectually, at least.

All that said, Edd couldn't keep a feeling of satisfaction from creeping over him. In a play or not, he, the nerd, was going to kiss Nazz, the prettiest, coolest girl in school! He felt on top of the world when that thought entered his head, like nothing could bring him down. His shaky, running steps became a slightly more confident stride, and his worried frown switched into a happy, wide grin. Things were looking on the up and up for him!

But when he reached his classroom, he chanced to take a look around before entering. And just as his foot crossed the threshold into the room, he caught a glimpse of blue hair among the student body. Marie was watching him from across the hallway, leaning on a locker and smiling slyly.

With a feeling of dread coursing through his body, he entered the room and headed for his seat as quickly as his legs would allow, a half-mumbled apology to the surprised professor for his tardiness leaving his lips. He sat down and pulled open his binder, mindful of the glances he was getting from some of the other students.

"Oh, dear," he whispered to himself when the lesson began. "What have you gotten yourself into this time, Eddward?"

The rest of the periods passed without much incident. Of course, the moments in between classes became somewhat nerve-wracking for Edd. He had been used to running from Marie his whole preteen years, so having her shadow his every move kept him as tense as a loaded spring. His every muscle screamed at him to run away, and he was finding it hard not to comply with their requests.

And, he soon saw, he had not been hallucinating. Whenever he chanced to glance behind him in the hallway, he'd see Marie Kanker following several feet behind him. Far enough behind that it almost (ALMOST) looked like she wasn't actually following him, but close enough to step in if Kevin got too close, he supposed.

Even if it was for his benefit, it was still making his blood pressure skyrocket with anxiety. Even his friends were not exempt from this nervousness, he found out. Rolf had sidled up to him an hour or two later, trying to look as nonchalant as possible about it.

"Do not look now, big-in-the-brain Ed boy," he murmured out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes darting to and fro with fear and suspicion, "but one of the banshees-of-Valhalla Kankers is behind you, like a walrus preparing to pounce a swine!" He gulped solemnly, like he had taken an important decision. "Rolf may have put himself in peril by coming this close for the sake of warning the too-clever-for-his-hat Ed boy, but this son of a shepherd had to thank you for the help with the devilish numbers. Rolf promises to remember you fondly, Double Dee Ed boy! Do not think poorly of this son of a shepherd for abandoning you now, yes?"

"No, Rolf! It's okay, I assure you!" Edd interjected before Rolf could get too out of hand with the funeral plans. "I think I can survive on my own this one time with Marie's more, ahem... amorous urges." He smiled weakly, trying to reassure Rolf. The foreigner stared at Edd with a mixture of fear and awe.

"Rolf promises to give the double-dee Ed boy a proper sendoff. He will ready Nana's old boat for the traditional setting-on-fire tonight," Rolf said. Without waiting for an answer, he turned and walked away slowly, dejectedly. "Rolf knew you well, Ed boy. Rolf knew you well..."

Edd gulped as the farmer walked away, and took the chance to glance behind him. Sure enough, Marie was several feet away, walking slowly and chewing on some gum. She seemed to sense Edd watching her and turned to look at him. She grinned salaciously, and gave him a wink. Edd grew pale as it finally sunk in.

As soon as this was over, he BELONGED to Marie Kanker. And she didn't seem to be the sort to take care of her toys. If anything, she was more the sort to break them for fun.

Edd got annoyed. Was he really going to accept those outrageous terms? At the time, they'd seemed unfair, but acceptable. But now, with a clearer head, they weren't even that! He resolved to go over that contract more carefully. He would not willingly break its terms, but he wasn't going to lie down and take this, either. Really, Marie never played fair, so why should he? He needed to find a way out. There HAD to be some sort of loophole he could use to get out of this!

Once the 3:00 bell rang, Edd made a beeline for the library. Not because there was a topic he wanted to research in particular (even if he desperately yearned for the sweet sensation that came with learning something new), but because of the silence inside.

He needed a place he could concentrate, and since the library was almost always empty, it was the perfect spot. If he was going to craft a defense against Marie's plan for himself, he'd need all the concentration he could muster.

He nodded politely to the librarian, who returned the nod with equal politeness. In silence, he found an empty desk by a bookshelf and sat down. Glancing around surreptitiously to ensure he wasn't being watched, he reached into his bookbag and drew out the paper, his notebook and a pencil. With the usual dedication he devoted to any task of an intellectual nature, he dove into the study of the binding paper he'd signed.

For over an hour and a half, he made notes on it. He copied it word by word, to get a better feel for its terms. He circled the few areas in his notebook that he felt might help him escape the situation, and at one point simply engaged in a staring contest with it, willing it to just reveal its secrets already. Unfortunately, intuition was not something he possessed in large amounts, and this remarkably Ed-like tactic failed miserably.

It wasn't that complex in its terms, which irked him. Its terms were stated in clear, no-nonsense statements, further solidifying Edd's opinion that Marie had strong-armed a law enthusiast into writing this. There was a brilliance in its simplicity that Edd couldn't help but grudgingly admire. It was hard to find loopholes when the document in question was more akin to a flat, straight line. This had been written by a natural at manipulation.

At the end of his little study session, Edd's notes took up three and a half pages. During his poring over the contract, he'd gotten down a law book or two, made a few mental maps, and brainstormed a little. And although he had learned a lot about paralegal practice, had discovered a secret trend in the stock market, and found out who the shooter on the grassy knoll was, his possible solutions to his problem could be boiled down to the following statements: "There is no mention of the other Kankers here; possible case if set upon by them?", "Successful assault by Kevin nulls contract; incite minor altercation?", and "Have not yet modified to include new terms; argue for a concession?"

Edd bit the eraser at the end of his pencil and frowned. Neither of the first two ideas was especially appealing to him. Although it would be more than easy to be attacked by Lee or May, they were not explicitly mentioned in the contract. As such, there was no guarantee he'd be able to build a case from such an event. In fact, it would be a very Marie-like thing to do to pull out something that completely overturned his case to her advantage.

Edd still had trouble believing the Kanker family technically owned Peach Creek.

On the other hand, an altercation with Kevin would be both easy to achieve and a guaranteed contract-breaker. However, it was the exact situation whose avoidance had gotten him into this crazy scheme to begin with, and he'd have no way of controlling the jock's level of rage should the actual event occur. He'd noted the timeframe of 72 hours after the play was done during which he'd still benefit from Marie's protection, but again, it was a risky gamble to make, having to depend on being attacked at such a time.

"So", he reasoned, "my best opportunity lies in the making of an updated contract to include the "no kissing" rule." Maybe he could convince Marie to add a couple conditions he could benefit from. He hesitantly marked both of the first options with an asterisk. They were not the best ideas, but there was no reason to discard them just yet either. He'd worked with plenty of worse ideas many times while on his adventures with Ed and Eddy.

"Heya Double D!" As if on cue, Ed's voice shattered the silence of the library, making Edd wince in pain. "Hey Eddy, I found Double D!"

"I'm there in a sec, Lumpy!" Eddy's voice was equally loud in the closed space of the chamber. The librarian glared at them, standing up as if to throw them out, and Edd made a mitigating gesture with his hands, as if to say "What can I do?" In a hurry, he rolled up the contract and stuffed it into his backpack, along with the notebook. Just in time, too, as not three seconds later, Eddy's head poked around the corner, grinning.

"So, Casanova! You ready?" he asked Edd, walking up to him. Edd cocked his head and tried to keep the flush off his cheeks.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you mean, Eddy," he tried to defend himself. It was a moot point, he knew, but dignity ("What little I have left of it," he thought bitterly) had its costs.

"Really, now? Does blonde hair, a rockin' bod, and a cheerleader outfit sound familiar to you at all?" Eddy asked slyly, waggling his eyebrows. Edd flushed once more and was going to answer, maybe ask Eddy to refer to Nazz a tad more respectfully, but Ed's hand shot up into the air, an excited expression plastered all over his face.

"OH! I KNOW THIS ONE, EDDY!" he yelled happily, prompting a loud "SHH!" from both Edd and the librarian. Ed leaned forward and picked Edd up by the back of the shirt. "I think he's talking about Nazz, Double D," he whispered conspiratorially.

"Yeah, yeah, Lumpy. We all know that," Eddy grumbled, glaring back at the librarian. He glanced at Edd, then lowered his voice.

"Hey, Double D. Your Kanker over there give you any trouble?" he asked, hooking his thumb over his shoulder. Edd looked over to where he was pointing and, indeed, saw Marie.

She was sitting at a desk a few bookshelves down, quiet in the library for once. Her hands held a magazine, probably dealing with carburetors or engines or other car parts, but her gaze was quite focused on Edd himself. With a small grin showing plenty of teeth, she flipped a page on her magazine and kept reading. Edd shivered.

"I'm doing my best to ignore her, Eddy," Edd said, picking up one or two of the law books and putting them back in their shelf where they belonged. When he turned away, Ed picked them back out. "She's being less of a nuisance today than most other days."

"They DID chase us a couple hours ago, you know," Eddy pointed out. Ed nodded frantically, the mental trauma still fresh on his mind. "Besides, we all know that a silent Kanker is a Kanker who's planning something."

"You don't know the half of it, Eddy..." Edd muttered under his breath, sliding the last reference book into its shelf. He hardly noticed when Ed slipped it back out.

"Hm? You say something, Double D?"

"I was just asking you for the time, Eddy," Edd covered. His greedy friend glanced at his wristwatch.

"It's 4:45, Sockhead." Edd paused in picking up his backpack.

"Oh, my. That late already? I'm sorry, gentlemen!" he said, slinging his backpack over his shoulders and heading for the exit, intent on getting to the play practice. "I really must be off!"

Eddy lifted a hand in farewell, then let it fall. He narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin in suspicion when he saw a certain blue-haired young lady stood up and followed his friend outside. While Ed contented himself making a fort out of half the library, much to the librarian's protests, Eddy sat quietly and pondered.

A/N: And that, boys and girls, is the longest chapter I've written thus far. I focused mostly on the situation right now and Edd finally growing a bit of a backbone over it. Will he beat Marie at her own game? Who knows, who knows.

Please review. Knowing that you guys enjoy the story keeps me going, and any feedback or critique helps me improve my writing.