Chapter Six:
Christmas Chaos
Whump!!
"Damn it! Stupid shoes! Why the hell are they even there?!"
Annora cracked her eyes open and let out a sleepy yawn before she sat up and scrubbed the back of her hand across her eyes to rub away the sleep. She looked over at her snow-covered window where dim winter light was shining through and shook her head.
"It had better be later than it feels," she grumbled just as she heard a loud crash, followed by a rather long stream of obscenities, echo outside her door. The teenager stared at her door as she caught snatches of the rant that was taking place outside her door.
"Stupid fucking doorjamb, always tripping me. Well how do you like this now, you sadist?!"
A flash of bright blue light followed this statement, indicating that Ed had lost his temper yet again after tripping over the doorjamb to the bathroom while half asleep. Annora rolled her eyes as she tried not to laugh as she got up out of bed.
"I better be able to close the door this time," she muttered as she went over to the ancient wooden dresser that held her clothes. It was almost a morning routine for Ed to trip and fall flat on his face while trying to go into the bathroom and take a shower, as were all the profanities that he used after meeting the hardwood floor.
The girl pulled out a navy t-shirt, green long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and socks from her dresser before she began to get dressed. After pulling on her tennis shoes, she stood up and went over to the desk that sat up against the wall opposite to her bed, where all her textbooks, sketch book, laptop, MP3 player, and a couple of alchemy books lay scattered across the wooden surface. She picked up slightly beat-up spiral notebook and flipped it open to a page full of tally marks. After a silent count up, she added one more mark to the page before she realized that she had been in Amestris for almost a month.
'Let's see… it was December 1st when I first came here, and it's been twenty-two days since then… so that means that today's the 23rd! That's the day before Christmas Eve!'
Annora sat down on her bed and sighed as she shook her head.
"I can't believe that it's almost Christmas," she muttered. Everything has been going so fast these past few weeks."
She sat there for a few minutes, thinking, before her stomach let out a growl, reminding her that she hadn't eaten breakfast yet. The sixteen-year old stood up again and had just stepped out her door when the bathroom door flew open, and she was knocked over by a very wet Edward Elric. Annora let out a startled 'oof' as she hit the floor with Ed landing right on top of her. The teenager felt the air whoosh out of her lungs, leaving her winded and gasping desperately for breath. Once Annora had gotten her breath back, she realized just exactly who was sitting on top of her with his hand dangerously close to a certain area of her chest. A brilliant red blush flamed across the faces of both teenagers.
Al, who was downstairs, jumped about a foot in the air when piercing shriek of "Pervert!" and an echoing 'crack' come from upstairs, soon followed by Annora come storming down the stairs with her cheeks stained crimson. The fifteen-year old followed the angry girl into the kitchen, where she venomously pulled a slice of bread out of a bag, jammed it into the toaster and hit the leaver that pulled the bread down. She then pulled a plate, glass, and knife out of the drain rack and placed them down on the table before going over to the refrigerator and pulling out a carton of orange juice along with some butter from its cool interior. These she set down next to her plate without saying a word. Al watched the whole thing in silence; he was already unnerved from Annora's angry expression, and her silent fuming wasn't helping either.
"Umm… Annora, what happened?"
Annora turned around to face him, and took a deep breath in an effort to calm down before she explained.
"Sorry Al, I didn't mean to scare you. I just had a little… problem upstairs."
The possessed suit of armor looked at her strangely as she poured a glass of orange juice.
"What kind of problem?"
It was at that moment that Ed came downstairs with a bright red handprint on his left cheek, interrupting their conversation. Al looked at Ed, who was glaring at Annora with a disgruntled expression on his face while the girl pointedly ignored him, and understood almost instantly what had happened. He couldn't help it; he snickered. Angry golden eyes immediately snapped to look over in Al's direction and narrowed.
"What's so funny?" Ed asked in a dangerously calm voice. Annora just rolled her eyes and ignored the angry boy as she grabbed her piece of toast from the toaster just seconds after it had popped up and began to spread butter over the hot bread. Al began to sweat nervously as he stared at his older brother apprehensively.
"Umm… it's nothing!" he exclaimed in an uneasy voice. Ed gave him a skeptical look as he raised an eyebrow.
"You were eavesdropping, weren't you?"
"But Brother, you always say that you don't learn anything if you don't listen in."
Annora gave a very un-ladylike snort of amusement as she fought the urge to spit out her orange juice and burst out laughing, although she almost did have juice go up her nose. Once she had managed to get her mirth under control, she swallowed her orange juice and smirked knowingly.
"It's kind of like how you don't grow if you don't drink your milk," she pointed out. Al stared at her like she had completely lost her mind, while Ed failed to see any humor at all in the comment and exploded.
"WHY THE HELL WOULD I EVEN WANT TO DRINK THAT CRAP?! I WOULD MUCH RATHER NOT DRINK EXCREMENTS FROM A COW, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! AND YOU DON'T GET ANY TALLER JUST BY DRINKING THAT PUTRID, DISAESE-INFESTED SLUDGE!! BESIDES, I DON'T NEED TO GROW ANY TALLER ANYWAYS, SO YOU CAN KEEP THAT SHIT THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!!!"
Annora wiggled a finger in her ear to make sure that she hadn't gone deaf while she stared at Ed, who was standing in the middle of the kitchen with both gloved fists clenched and his chest heaving from all the shouting that he had just done. The sixteen-year old then cocked an eyebrow as she gave Ed a crooked grin.
"So I'm guessing that locking you in a milk processing plant for four days is out of the question then."
Al was forced to restrain Ed from causing extreme bodily harm to Annora while the boy spouted out a very long, detailed stream of obscenities in response.
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By the time that the three teens left the house and had started to trudge through the deep snow covering the ground en route to Central Headquarters, Ed had calmed down enough so that Al no longer had to restrain him to keep his brother from trying to strangle Annora, but he would still occasionally glance over in the girl's direction and mutter a profanity under his breath. Annora looked over at Edward and cocked an eyebrow when she heard him mutter the words 'psycho' and 'how can she even stand that crap?'.
"Excuse me, what was that last one?" she asked in a warning tone. Ed looked back at her and made a face.
"None of your damn business."
Shock flickered across Annora's face before her eyes narrowed dangerously. Ed didn't notice this, seeing as he had already turned around. A few moments later, Annora called out.
"Hey Ed, check this out!"
The Fullmetal Alchemist turned around and- POW!, a huge snowball slammed right into his face, knocking him flat on his butt.
Annora smirked as she brushed off the snow that still clung to her brown leather gloves.
"Don't screw around with someone that grew up in Flagstaff," she warned. Ed stood up, his face flushed with anger as he wiped some of the fragments of the snowball that still clung to his face and hair before a homicidal gleam entered his eyes. A chill ran up the girl's spine as she stared at Ed, who was looking at her with an extremely unnerving expression on his face. Annora immediately recognized the glint of retaliation in the alchemist's eyes and began to back away. When Ed clapped his hands together and placed them on the ground, transmuting a giant snowball, Annora knew that she was in deep trouble.
"Oh crap."
Ed picked up the snowball and smirked at her.
"Don't mess with an alchemist," he retorted as he threw the snowball. Annora let out a curse as she scrambled backwards, barely avoiding getting creamed by the monster snowball. She glared at Ed before the corners of her mouth twitched up into a smirk.
"You do realize that this means war!" she declared. Ed looked startled for a moment before he ducked, letting the snowball that followed Annora's statement sail harmlessly over him. Defiance flared in the teen's eyes as he straightened up.
"Don't expect me top go easy on you just because you're a girl!"
SPLAT!
Snow flaked off Ed's face as his right eye began to twitch violently. Annora had pegged him right in the face with another snowball that she had kept in reserve.
"Then don't expect me to go easy on you just because you're a shrimp!"
There was dead silence for a few moments before Edward exploded into a raging fury.
"Who're you calling a runty little kid that needs stilts to reach anything?!" he roared as he flung an impossibly massive amount of snowballs at Annora, who gave a startled yelp and dove behind a snow bank to avoid to avoid the mass assault that the teenager launched at her.
"Note to self: don't stand out in the open when I say something like that," she muttered as she began to pack snowballs as fast as she could. The sixteen-year old was surprised when Al suddenly joined her by her sparse shelter.
"Al, what're you doing here?" she asked as she added yet another snowball to her steadily growing pile.
"I'm helping you, what does it look like?" he responded as he sketched a transmutation circle onto the snow and placed his hands on it, erecting a two foot high wall of icy snow that formed a semi-circle around them, creating an instant snow fort.
Annora gave the boy a grateful look as she increased her efforts in making more snowballs.
"Where were you when I was in elementary school?" she asked in admiration just as Ed gave an angry shriek.
"Al, you traitor!"
Needless to say, things went downhill from there.
After several minutes of heavy snowball fighting, and finding out that Al had one heck of a good throwing arm, not to mention his impeccable aim, the chaos was interrupted by a certain individual walking to work. Annora, who was about to cream Ed yet again with a snowball, froze in mid-throw when she heard someone behind her exclaim.
"What the hell?"
The sixteen-year old turned around to see Colonel Mustang standing behind her and Al, staring at the two of them with a bemused expression on his face.
"Oh, hi Colonel. How are –OW!" Annora whirled around to face Ed, who had just hit her in the back of the head with a snowball. "You jerk! That hurt!"
Mustang just rolled his eyes and continued walking, going right between where Ed was standing and Al and Annora's snow fort. That turned out to be a huge mistake on his part.
Ed immediately realized just who was walking directly into his line of fire, and a sadistic smirk crept across his face. He bent down and scooped up a gigantic heap of snow, shaping it into a massive icy orb. The teenage alchemist then straightened up, holding the enormous snowball in his right hand.
"Hey Colonel Bastard!" he cried out, his golden eyes shining with savage delight. "Here's your Christmas present!!"
Mustang looked over in his direction, and his dark eyes widened when he caught sight of the frozen projectile heading his way. It collided with a sickening 'splat', and Annora and Alphonse both flinched before they ducked down, lying flat on their stomachs behind their snow fort. It was a good thing that they did, because a split second later, the two teens heard the unmistakable sound of fingers snapping, followed closely by a teeth-rattling 'boom'. Then, surprisingly, several gunshots followed the explosion. Annora's eyes widened as she glanced over at Al, who also looked extremely nervous. Both teens jumped about a foot in the air when the no-nonsense voice of First Lieutenant Hawkeye rang out.
"Alright you two, it's safe to come out now."
Annora cautiously peered over the top of the snow fort, and burst out laughing at the sight that met her eyes as she and Alphonse stood up. A very angry Ed, who looked a little scorched, was standing with his arms crossed in front of his chest and his eyes narrowed angrily as he glared at Mustang. The Flame Alchemist however, was in a far more precarious position, seeing as Hawkeye's gun was pointed directly at him and her finger was on the trigger.
"What's so funny?" Ed growled. Annora looked over at him and tried not to laugh as she covered her mouth with one hand.
"You look like someone stuffed you down a chimney with all that soot on you," she pointed out. Ed just rolled his eyes as he brushed at the scorch marks on his jacket. Mustang opened his mouth to say something, only to have Hawkeye interrupt.
"It's getting late. We should all hurry up before people wonder why we're not at H.Q.," she stated pointedly. Ed took this as his cue to get away before Mustang could reprimand him, and headed for the military office at a fast walk. Annora started after him, and noticed that he was about to step on a patch of ice.
"Ed, watch out for that-" CRASH! "ice…"
The Fullmetal Alchemist had landed flat on his rear, and he sat up, wincing and rubbing at the offended area as Annora jogged up to him, taking care to avoid the ice herself.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she held out her right hand. Ed looked at her in surprise for a few seconds before he took it and allowed the girl to help him to his feet.
"Yeah, I think so. But sitting down is going to hurt like hell today," he muttered. Annora gave him a sympathetic look.
"I know how that one feels. It stinks."
Ed had a slightly confused expression on his face, and started to as Annora something just as Mustang called out.
"Fullmetal, there's going to be a Christmas party tomorrow evening for all military members and their families."
Ed glanced back and raised an eyebrow.
"So?"
A knowing smirk crept onto the Colonel's face as he looked at the younger boy.
"You and your girlfriend are going to come, and that's an order. Might I also add that formal dress is required?"
Ed stared at Mustang in stunned horror before he and Annora both realized what the man's comment meant.
"What?!" they both yelped. Mustang's smirk, if at all possible, grew wider. Ed immediately tried to go after him, only to have Annora hold him back.
"That's not fair!" he accused. The Colonel raised a dark eyebrow in a mocking manner.
"Since when is life ever fair, Fullmetal?"
Annora was forced to dig her heels into the ground as she tried desperately to keep Edward from going after Mustang, and let out a startled curse when the boy began to pull her forward. Fortunately, Al came over and grabbed the angry teen as well, and between the two of them, they dragged the alchemist away in the direction of H.Q., with Ed spewing a long list of profanities the entire way.
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It took a while, but once Ed had calmed down, the three teens were able to have a normal conversation after visiting the Central library, well, at least as normal as it could get with Ed and Annora.
"So, what is it exactly that you two are looking for again?" Annora asked as she dumped the load of books that she had been carrying onto the desk in the room that Ed and Al used for doing research. "It must be pretty big for you guys to raid the library and steal every single book on alchemy that they have."
"We didn't take all of the alchemy books," Al pointed out as he set down his stack as well. "Just the ones we haven't read yet."
Annora's eyes grew wide before she gave a low whistle of astonishment. Ed, who had pulled out a large hard covered notebook and was already reading one of the huge books on alchemy that they had brought over from the library, looked over at her.
"What we're looking for is called the Philosopher's Stone. It's an amplifier that allows you to bypass the laws of alchemy. So far, Al and I have found quite a few fakes, and hit enough dead ends to make anyone go insane, not to mention homicidal. It's a little frustrating sometimes because it seems like for every step we take forward, we take two steps back."
"Yeah, I'll bet," Annora agreed as she plonked down in one of the empty wooden chairs surrounding the table and pulled her sketchpad out from her backpack. Ed looked over her shoulder to see what she was drawing and let out a startled curse.
"What the hell?!"
"What?" Annora looked over at him, her chocolate eyes wide. "What's wrong?"
"Where did you see that?!" he demanded, jabbing a gloved finger angrily at the drawing. Annora looked back and forth between Ed and her drawing before she set down her pencil and pointed at her half-finished drawing.
"You mean this thing? I had a really weird dream last night; you know, one of those dreams that's not quite a nightmare, but still freaky enough to scare the crap out of you? Well, this thing was in my dreams last night."
Ed frowned as he looked at the drawing pensively. "Then why did you draw it if it freaked you out?"
"I've found out that it helps me get over the dream, especially if it's a W.A.S. dream."
"W.A.S?"
"Weird As Shit, W.A.S. Anyways, it helps if I at least sketch what I saw. Maybe that's just because I get it out of my mind and turn it into something that's two-dimensional, something that no longer exists in the actual plane of reality. Kind of dumb, huh?" Annora looked thoughtful for a moment before she shrugged as she gave the boy a bemused expression. "Although I don't think that I can exactly say that anymore. Anyways, a couple of times, I've had my art teacher think that my sketches were an assignment, and he gave me an 'A' on them."
Ed ignored this comment as he stared at Annora's sketch. It wasn't finished, but it was impossible to mistake the subject of the drawing for anything else. There, on Annora's sketchpad in clearly shaded pencil, was the Gate, with a young boy standing in front of it. Ed frowned as he ran a gloved hand lightly over the paper's rough surface, taking great pains not to smear the pencil marks on it.
The teenage alchemist stared intently at the sketch for several long minutes while Annora and Alphonse waited in a nervous silence. Finally, Ed set the drawing pad down and let out a long breath.
"Well, it's very… interesting," he said hesitantly as he sat down. Annora looked over at him and raised her eyebrows. For some strange reason, she didn't believe the boy when he said that. When he had first seen the sketch, an expression of shock, pain, fear, and then anger had made its way across Ed's face. She started to ask why Ed had reacted the way he did when he hastily changed the subject.
"So, who's looking forward to the Christmas party tomorrow?" he asked in a sarcastic tone. He received his answer in the form of a wadded up ball of old notebook paper that Annora threw at him.
"Ha ha, very funny," she retorted as she rolled her eyes. "In fact, that was so funny that I forgot to laugh."
Ed actually chuckled at this comment and shook his head.
"I guess that it's safe for me to assume that you don't want to go then?"
Annora gave a disbelieving snort as she looked at Ed.
"It's not just that," she pointed out as she spread her arms out to give the brothers a good look at what she was wearing. "Does this look like something that someone would wear to a formal dance?"
Ed an Al stared at her for a few moments before the older Elric began to snicker uncontrollably. On the dark blue t-shirt that Annora was wearing over her green long-sleeved one, a green pine tree was printed next to the words 'Save the trees, wipe your ass with an owl,' written on it in bold white lettering.
"No, it doesn't," he agreed as he tried to stop laughing. "Where do you get those shirts anyways?"
Annora raised an eyebrow as she gave Ed an amused look.
"I put the sayings on there myself using alchemy. All it took was changing the chemical construction of the dye on the shirts in certain areas. And no, I did not make up those sayings myself. I've seen them on shirts back where I lived in Flagstaff. If you think that this one's funny, you should see some of the ones that I have a home." Her expression sobered as she looked at the two boys. "All joking aside though, I just don't have any clothes that would fit the criteria that Colonel Fathead stated earlier. So unless he wants me to come to some fancy party wearing jeans and a t-shirt, I don't think that I'm going."
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Colonel Roy Mustang frowned thoughtfully as he moved away from the door to the office that Ed used for doing research where he had been listening in on the teen's conversation. So the girl didn't have the proper attire to attend the Christmas party? That could be fixed easily enough, at least with the help of another individual who had far more experience in matters such as these than he did. A knowing smile crossed the man's face as he strolled down the hall to find the person that he needed. This could prove to be quite interesting indeed.
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The next morning
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Annora and Ed were in the middle of breakfast when someone knocked on the front door.
Both teens looked at each other before Annora stood up and managed to drain the rest of the milk from her glass while Ed ran to the door. Annora had just put her and Ed's dishes in the sink when she heard Ed exclaim in surprise.
"First Lieutenant?"
The sixteen-year old froze where she stood, her hands still immersed in hot soapy water, before she shouted over her shoulder.
"Whatever it was, I didn't do it!"
An amused chuckle answered her fervent statement. Annora wiped her hands dry on the legs of her jeans as she left the kitchen. There, seated in the living room dressed in civilian clothes, was Riza Hawkeye. With her hair down, along with the change of dress, Annora hardly recognized the older woman.
"What brings you here, First Lieutenant?" Ed asked curiously while Annora flopped down on an empty sofa seat next to him. A slow smile crossed the woman's face as she looked steadily at the two teenagers.
"I was wondering if it would be okay with you and Alphonse if I borrowed Annora for the day. You see, I need some help with some things, and they require the mindset of another woman."
Annora turned red at this statement; it was the first time that anyone outside of her family had ever called her a 'woman'. Hawkeye didn't seem to notice this as she continued her request.
"I promise that we'll be finished in time for the party tonight. Actually, I think that it would be best if I took her to the Christmas party myself and that way she'll be able to meet up with you two there."
Annora's jaw dropped as she stared wide-eyed at Hawkeye. Of all the things that she had expected, this was certainly not one of them. Just what exactly did Hawkeye need help with anyway? She was one of the most respected officials in Central, and was well known for her no-nonsense attitude. Annora looked over at Ed, and felt an icy trail of fear go down her spine. The boy had an almost unholy look in his eyes, and the evil smirk that flickered across his face momentarily did nothing to dispel that thought.
"Sure you can. I think that it's a great idea for you to get Annora out of the house for a little while."
Before Annora could even protest, she was handed her jacket, gloves, and scarf, and was hustled out the front door right behind Hawkeye, all within a matter of minutes. The teenager scowled as she followed the older woman into the winter morning; Ed was going to be in so much trouble the next time that she saw him.
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That evening
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"She ditched us," Ed grumbled as he pulled out his pocket watch and glanced at it for the umpteenth time in the past five minutes. "What do you want to bet that she and Hawkeye are sitting somewhere, laughing their butts off over the fact that they gave us all the slip?"
Al let out an aggravated sigh and shook his head slowly as he tried to calm his brother down. It was only a quarter after seven, so it wasn't too late. In his personal opinion, Ed was stressing out way too much, although that might have just been because he was worried, not that he would ever admit it though. Just as Al was about to start teasing his older brother about being a worrywart, he caught sight of a girl standing near a wall on the opposite side of the cafeteria. The fifteen-year old stared at her for a few moments before he realized just who it was.
"Umm… Brother," Al began as he tapped Ed on the shoulder to get his attention before he pointed at the girl. "Call me crazy, but I think that that's Annora over there."
Ed's eyebrows shot up in surprise and disbelief before he silently stole over to a spot near where the girl stood and looked closely at her. She was wearing a silver blue gown with a bow tied around her waist that went down to her ankles, revealing a pair of black high-heeled sandals. A long blue ribbon was threaded through her hair just above the base of her neck, and she was also wearing a blue heart-shaped stone pendant on a black satin string.
The teenage alchemist practically felt his hormones surge as he tugged nervously at his red tie. He had never really looked at girls before, not even Winry, and that was making him uneasy, even though he had absolutely no idea as to why he felt like that. There was only one thing that puzzled him that he would actually admit, and that was the fact that he couldn't possibly see how the girl he was looking at, who seemed to be extremely nervous, could be Annora. That was at least until he walked up to her and saw the familiar fire flare up in her eyes.
"You laugh, and you will die!" she hissed, although the blush that flamed across her cheeks indicated otherwise. Ed looked at her before a slow grin crossed his face.
"Are you wearing makeup?"
Annora turned an even brighter shade of red as she looked at him.
"Yes," she muttered softly. Ed started to snicker, although he stopped when Al stepped on his right foot. The boy then decided to go on a different tangent.
"Well, this is something that I never thought I'd see," he quipped, mischief glinting in his golden eyes. "You wearing a dress."
Annora rolled her eyes upwards in response.
"Yeah, well I never would have thought that I'd see you wearing a suit, so I think we're both equally surprised."
Al chuckled at the girl's comment while Ed looked down at the black dress slacks, suit jacket, and dark gray shirt that he was wearing, along with his usual white gloves.
"I think that this will most likely be the only time that you'll ever see Brother wearing a suit," he pointed out. Ed glanced over at the possessed suit of armor and made a face.
"How funny that you should say that, seeing as all you ever wear is a loincloth, Al," he muttered. He then gave a yelp as Annora swatted him upside the head, hard.
"Stop being such a grump, Ed," she warned, her mahogany eyes serious before she smiled and ran a hand nervously through her bangs.
"Anyways, this will probably be the only time that you two will ever see me in a dress, especially one this fancy."
It was at that point that Mustang came up to the three teens, his customary smirk in place.
"Well, well, well, I see that you two clean up nice," he stated knowingly.
Annora and Ed both cocked an eyebrow before they rolled their eyes, turned around, and walked away. Mustang tried to go after the teens in an attempt to annoy them even more, but Hawkeye threw a monkey wrench into that plan when she grabbed a hold of the Colonel's dark green tie and held him back.
"That's enough, sir," she stated in a no-nonsense tone. Mustang flinched as Hawkeye dragged him away by his tie, causing the man to make loud choking noises as she did so. (Now, whether these were the sounds of someone actually being deprived of air or just Mustang being melodramatic as usual, we will never know.) The rest of the night continued on a somewhat similar trend.
Not too long after Mustang was dragged away by Hawkeye, Ed, Al, and Annora all got ambushed by Hughes, and consequently were dragged away against their will to meet, as Hughes put it, 'his precious little girl'. It was during the conversation with the Lt. Colonel's family that all hell broke loose.
A couple of the younger military members had brought along a few flasks containing brandy, and even one with vodka, seeing as the individuals that had planned the refreshments had seen fit to make sure that there were no alcoholic beverages served. Needless to say, these men became very drunk in a relatively short matter of time; so what did they do? They started to sing Christmas carols, ones with highly inappropriate lyrics.
Ed looked over at Annora, who was in the middle of being shown an inhuman amount of pictures of Elysia by Hughes.
"Hey, do you hear people singing?" he asked. Annora frowned as she listened intently. Sure enough, in between the beats of the music that was being played by the DJ, there was the unmistakable sound of people singing. A slow grin crossed the girl's face as she looked back at her friend.
"Sounds like Christmas carols to me," she pointed out, although it was at that point that the DJ decided to stop playing the album that he was on, and the lyrics to the 'Christmas carols' became clear. Annora's eyes widened and she slowly paled while Gracia clapped her hands over Elysia's ears. In a matter of seconds, Hughes was standing in front of the three drunk soldiers with his gun out and aimed directly at them.
"Don't you dare ruin my daughter's innocence," he warned, his eyes glinting with a murderous light. One of the men blinked stupidly as he stared at the gun barrel before he recited.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag, that Colonel Mustang is a fag-"
He didn't get much further than that, because Mustang suddenly appeared behind him with his ignition cloth gloves on.
"Do you care to repeat that comment, Private?" he asked in a deadly tone. The man looked at him before he cheerfully began to repeat the limerick. Annora decided to leave the area before she became a witness to a very violent murder, as did several other people. Fortunately for the poor drunk idiot that had aroused the Colonel's fury, Hawkeye interfered before blood could be spilt. Well, at least large amounts of it. Annora glanced back and shook her head, muttering something about men being idiots as she headed over towards the refreshment table. It was there that she ran into more trouble.
Just as the sixteen-year old was about to pick up a cup of lemonade, she felt someone place a slightly calloused hand on the middle of her back. The girl's eyes widened before she whirled around to face two extremely drunk soldiers standing behind her with goofy grins on their faces. Annora mentally groaned when she smelled the alcohol on their breath.
'Oh no, not more of them.'
"Hey there gorgeous, how about dancin' with us?" one of them, a brown haired man with freckles that couldn't have been more than twenty, slurred. Annora frowned as she began to back away.
"Sorry, but I don't date outside my species," she remarked, and cursed silently when she backed into a wall. The other man, a scrawny red-head that was a little older than his friend, grinned roguishly in a drunken way.
"Aww, c'mon. You know you want to," he insisted as he grabbed Annora's arm. "We'll make it worth your while. My bed's been real lonely for the past few nights."
Annora's eyes widened before she tried to yank her arm away.
"No thank you!" she growled. She was surprised when Ed suddenly appeared out of nowhere and yanked both of the men away from her while fury shone in his golden eyes.
"I don't think that she's interested," he stated coldly while Annora shot him a grateful look. Both of the soldiers looked at him in surprise before the lanky one grinned slowly as he put his arm around Ed and pulled him close.
"Hi there sweetie, what's a pretty girl like you doin' in a place like this?"
Annora went dead white while Ed stared in shock at the drunken soldier. It took a few minutes for the Fullmetal Alchemist to get over his surprise before his expression turned into one of homicidal fury. Annora flinched as Ed completely and utterly lost his temper as he lunged for both of the hapless soldiers.
"WHAT THE HELL KIND OF SICKOS ARE YOU FOR WANTING TO GET SOME ACTION WITH A COUPLE OF MINORS?! NOT TO MENTION THAT I AM NOT A DAMN GIRL!!! YOU PERVERTS ARE SO DAMN DRUNK THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BUTCHER AND A WHORE!!"
Annora covered her eyes as Ed grabbed both of the men by the front of their shirts and pulled them down to his eye level before he proceeded to beat the ever-living crap out of them. (On a later note, when both of the men came to the next morning, they had raging hangovers and were told by their friends that they had apparently mistaken the Fullmetal Alchemist for a girl and had asked him to share their bed for the night. Both men were later found in the bathroom with their guns attempting to commit suicide.)
When the sounds of two drunk idiots getting the tar knocked out of the stopped, Annora slowly lowered her hand and got a two second glimpse of the scene that lay in front of her, both of the soldiers unconscious and laying in a bruised heap, before Ed grabbed her hand and dragged her away. The sixteen-year old's eyes widened and a faint blush made its way across her cheeks as she tried not to trip while trying to keep up with Ed's furious pace as he pulled her along towards the door leading out of the cafeteria.
"Umm… Ed, where are we going?" Annora asked hesitantly.
"We're leaving, I've had enough of this political bullshit!" he growled before he let out a curse when he caught sight of Mustang standing right by the door. The man looked over at both of the teens and gave a knowing smirk.
"Leaving so soon, Fullmetal?" he asked. Ed glowered at him in response.
"Yes, we are. I think we've both had enough fun for tonight," he grumbled acidly as he glared daggers at Mustang. The Colonel's grin, if at all possible, got even wider.
"But you can't leave; you haven't danced with your girlfriend yet, and you have to do that before you go."
Annora's eyes widened, and her blush got even brighter while Ed stared slack-jawed at Mustang.
"But-"
"No buts, Fullmetal. Now go dance, and that's an order."
Ed muttered several obscenities under his breath as he turned around and went out onto the dance floor, pulling Annora behind him. The girl looked over at Edward, who was scowling as he maneuvered the two of them into a dancing position as a new song began to play.
I still
hear your voice, when you sleep next to me.
I still feel your
touch in my dreams.
Forgive me my weakness, but I don't know
why
Without you it's hard to survive.
"You don't have to do this you know," she pointed out softly. Ed's eyebrows shot in surprise as he looked at Annora, and for the first time really saw what she was. She wasn't just some girl that Mustang had dumped on him and Al, much less the girl that managed to continuously get on his nerves anymore. She was his friend, if you really wanted to put it that way. Ed felt his face grow hot and tried desperately to calm down.
'Damn it, why am I getting so embarrassed?'
'Cause
everytime we touch, I get this feeling.
And everytime we kiss I
swear I could fly.
Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this
to last.
Need you by my side.
Annora looked at him curiously, and a small spark of worry flickered in her eyes.
"Are you okay? You look a little flustered."
Ed immediately shoved all of the thoughts that had been whirling around inside his head out of his mind and shook his head.
"I'm fine, so stop worrying so much."
'Cause
everytime we touch, I feel this static.
And everytime we kiss, I
reach for the sky.
Can't you hear my heart beat so...
I can't
let you go.
Want you in my life.
Annora raised an eyebrow as she gave Ed an incredulous look.
"Who said that I was worried? I was just asking if you were okay."
"Yeah right. You're just saying that 'cause you're a worrywart."
Ed immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing and mentally kicked himself for his own stupidity while anger flashed deep within Annora's eyes.
'That… that jerk!' she growled silently as she continued to dance. 'I was about to suggest that we duck out of here the first chance that we got, but I guess that he doesn't want my help! Oh, is he going to pay for that!'
Your arms
are my castle; your heart is my sky.
They wipe away tears that I
cry.
The good and the bad times, we've been through them all.
You make me rise when I fall.
Ed knew he was in trouble when he felt the heel of Annora's shoe hit his left foot. When he looked at the girl, she had a look of concentration on her face, almost as if she were palnning something. The teenager figured out what she was doing really quick when she stepped on his left foot again. A small sweatdrop ran down the back of Ed's head as Annora frowned before she dug the heel of her shoe into his left foot, this time giving out a faint 'clunk'.
'I wonder when she's going to figure out that that's not my real foot,' Ed wondered as Annora continued to angrily step on his foot.
'Cause
everytime we touch, I get this feeling.
And everytime we kiss I
swear I could fly.
Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I want this
to last.
Need you by my side.
He tried not to laugh, but he couldn't help it; a slightly strangled snicker escaped his throat. Annora's eyes narrowed dangerously and she oppened her mouth to say something just as Armstrong, who looked more than a little drunk, went up to the stage and stole the microphone from the DJ.
'Cause
everytime we touch, I feel this static.
And everytime we kiss, I
reach for the sky.
Can't you hear my heart beat so...
I can't
let you go.
Want you in my life.
"Thank you all for attending this wonderful Christmas party," he declared with tears pouring from his eyes as several sparkles winked around him. "And now as a fitting Christmas gift for all of you that so thoughtfully attended, I will now show you the skilled artistry that has been passed down through the Armstrong family for generations!"
With that comment, Major Armstrong ripped off his shirt and tie that he had been wearing and flexed his massive muscles. Annora stared at the man in horror, her eyes practically bugging out of their sockets while Ed made a face and covered his own offended irises with his right hand. Not surprisingly, everyone in the room had stopped what they were doing and were staring up at the stage with an expression of horror and disgust. Annora finally snapped out of her stupor and looked away from the stage.
'Cause everytime we touch, I get this feeling.
And everytime we
kiss I swear I could fly.
Can't you feel my heart beat fast, I
want this to last.
Need you by my side.
"Excuse me for a moment; I'm going to go gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon and wash them in acid," she muttered as she headed for the door leading to the main area of Central H.Q. Ed went after her, placing a hand on her shoulder as the two teens left the cafeteria unnoticed.
"I'm with you," he agreed as the sixteen-year old looked at him with wide chocolate eyes.
Any further conversation was halted by Alphonse's arrival as he came out of the cafeteria shuddering violently.
"Brother, I'm scarred for life," he whimpered. Annora patted him on the back reassuringly while Ed muttered something under his breath about super-gluing a shirt onto Armstrong to keep him from scaring people. The three teens walked out of the building into the entryway and stopped dead when they saw that it was snowing heavily.
Ed looked over at Annora, who didn't have a jacket and was already starting to shiver. Without a word, he removed his suit jacket and handed it to the girl, who looked surprised for a few moments before she accepted it.
"Thank you," she whispered softly as she pulled it on. Ed's eyes widened marginally before he nodded.
"You're welcome."
Al looked out at the thickly falling snow and back at his brother and Annora before he pointed something out.
"It looks like its getting worse. We'd better hurry home before this snowstorm turns into a blizzard."
Ed scowled as he took Annora's hand in his and led her out into the storm with Al following them. The teenage alchemist didn't notice the intense blush that flamed across Annora's face as she struggled to stay upright while trudging through already eight-inch deep snow.
(AN: Snow and heels, not a good combination. Trust me, I know.)
It took a while, but they finally reached home and got in out of the cold. Annora and Ed both flopped down on the couch, utterly exhausted and shivering for a few minutes before Annora took off the coat that Ed had lent her and handed it back to him.
"Thank you, it really helped out a lot," she murmured as she stood up and headed upstairs. Ed stared in the direction that the girl had gone in for several minutes before he shook himself out of his daze and stood up.
"What the hell am I doing?" he asked as he headed up to the room that he and Al shared. "Not to mention why am I even thinking stuff like that?"
"Oh, Brother's got a crush," Alphonse teased as he poked his head out of their bedroom. Ed turned bright red and he lunged after Al with murder in his eyes.
"I do not!"
"Yes you do!"
"No I don't!"
"Just admit it Brother, you'll feel better that way."
"AL, SHUT UP!"
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Woohoo! Chapter six is now up! Yeah, I know I'm acting like a hyper preschooler, but I'm happy. Okay, I hope that you all liked this chapter and aren't ready to go after me for leaving you hanging. Chapter seven is in the process of being written and typed up right now, so hopefully it'll be done in about a week or so. I also will have a fan art put up on Deviant Art of the dancing scene with a link on my Fan Fiction profile.
Disclaimer: Annora, Ethan, and Katie © me, and Ed, Al, Mustang, Hawkeye and anyone else © Himoru Arakawa.
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Reviews
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Mew Sarin Alchemist: I'm glad that my last chapter cheered you up. Wahi, an interesting nickname… I like it.
Rikdo Osaka: The phone calls are going to be kept at a minimum due to the fact that Annora blocked Katie, at least temporarily, but there will be funny Webcam incidents coming up in the near future!
Kamisori Kaze no Renkinjutsu: You're thirteen and you swear as much as Annora? Oh God, I've corrupted the minds of children!
Ed: Calm down, it's not that big of a deal. (Wandering Hitokiri glares at him) Okay, then again, maybe it is.
Umm, yeah… I used the Mustang comment that you gave me.
Siacatmesecat: It seems that a lot of people liked the hobbit scene, and I'm glad that it was funny. Yeah, the smoke alarm isn't a cooking timer. I can actually cook, and I'm pretty good at it too. I know how to make Oden!
Ed: Show off.
richard9311: I'll be doing a fan art of that scene sometime in the near future, so I hope that it'll turn out funny.
Lady of Summer Haze: There will be more trash can puns in the future, I can assure you that. My reasoning behind Envy's getting thrown in a dumpster is the fact that I sincerely believe that he belongs there.
Liah Cauthon: There's Grammar Whores and Nazis?! Okay, I'm officially scared now. Hmm… I like the penname that you're using right now, but German Pryde sounds cool too.
Lanfear1: Ah, yet another Mary-Sue hater. I'm not alone. I try very hard to keep Annora out of the Mary-Sue personality section, and I'm glad that so far I've succeeded. As I've been told by one of my reviewers, Mary-Sue's make good transmutation fodder, not to mention they annoy the hell out of Envy.
Envy: So that's why all these screaming sissy fangirls have been pouncing all over me?! You &!$#, I'm going to kill you!!
Wandering Hitokiri: Ha, I'd like to see you try, you stupid fag!
Envy: I'm not a fag!
Wandering Hitokiri: Says you. Anyways, haven't you heard the saying 'Stupid fagot, dicks are for chicks,'?
Envy: I'll kill you!!
Lightning Dragon Alchemist: Don't worry about it; I've done the same thing before. Inspiration is always good, even if it comes five minutes before the bus does. I know what you mean with what happened with Annora and meeting the walking tin can.
Al: Tin can?
Wandering Hitokiri: I'm not talking about you! (Panic)
Anyways, I know that if I had been the one there instead of Annora, I really would have freaked out.
ImaginaryPoptart: Thank you, I'm glad that you liked it.
Dragon Rider Katari: Sure will.
caspercat22: Yeah, sometimes I think that happiness is having a new chapter put up on your favorite fan fic.
AdventureAddict: Yeah, it is a little difficult to keep Ed in character sometimes, but its well worth the effort. I had one of my friends say that it's easy to imagine Annora as part of the actual FMA anime series, so I think that that's a good thing.
Part of the milk rant came from a fic by Fullmetal Archer, and the song is 'Everytime We Touch' by Cascada.
