Chapter Nine:
Fear the Wrench
Ed blinked groggily as the jolting movement of the train woke him up. It took a few moments for the alchemist to figure out where he was, although he was surprised to see Annora sitting in the seat across from him, obviously sound asleep while she leaned up against Al. The Fullmetal Alchemist gave a small grin as he let out a yawn and stretched his arms out over his head; going to Resembool was almost a two-day trip by train, so it wasn't surprising that either of them had fallen asleep.
Al looked over at his brother and gently waved his left hand at him, seeing as Annora was currently leaning up against his right arm and snoring softly.
"Good morning, Brother."
"It's morning already?" Ed asked in slight confusion as he yawned again and rubbed the back of his neck to work the kinks out of it.
"Yep. The conductor came by not that long ago and said that we'll be in Resembool in about an hour."
It was at about that moment that Annora's head slipped off from Al's shoulder and the teen was jarred awake when her face collided painfully with the younger Elric's armored leg.
"Ouch!" Annora hissed as she immediately jerked upright into a sitting position and rubbed at her stinging cheek ruefully. She then directed her attention over to Ed, who was laughing so hard that he almost fell off his seat.
"Shut up, Ed!"
Ed didn't shut up, as he was laughing too hard to even notice that the girl had said something. Annora's face went red as she glared at the boy before her patience snapped, causing her to yank her math book out of her backpack before she lunged over and smacked the Fullmetal Alchemist over the head with the ten-pound book.
CRACK!
"Homework kills. It's a proven fact," Annora stated with a knowing smirk on her face as she carefully replaced her textbook inside her backpack, taking great pains to avoid waking up her new companion, who was still sleeping in the largest pocket of her backpack. Ed, managing to recover from the minor concussion that he had just received, glared at her as he rubbed the newly acquired bump on his head.
"What was that for?!" he demanded angrily. Annora grinned at him innocently as she removed her MP3 player and headphones from her backpack and slipped them over her ears, hiding the speakers underneath her hair so that people passing by couldn't see them.
"I can't hear you," she stated impishly as she turned on her player and changed the album that had been playing to Phobiaby Breaking Benjamin. Ed's expression changed from annoyance to puzzlement as he stared at the device that Annora held in her hand.
"What the hell is that thing?" he asked, pointing to the pale green music player. Annora arched an eyebrow as she looked at Ed, disbelief written clearly on her features.
"You're kidding me, right?" she asked as she unhooked one of the earphones from over her ear and stared at him. Ed shook his head, while Al looked over Annora's shoulder at her ZEN Media.
(AN: For all of you who don't know what that is, it's the equivalent of an iPod video, only cheaper and better quality.)
"I've never seen anything like that before," he pointed out, only to have Annora give him a sarcastic pitying look.
"You poor deprived child," she said teasingly as she took off her headphones and handed them and her player over to the bemused alchemist. "Allow me to introduce you to one of the great marvels known as portable music."
Ed tentatively hooked the headphones over his own ears, and relaxed when he heard what sounded almost like a piano playing. He was about to make a teasing comment to Annora about liking classical music when the general tone of the music changed and the lyrics started.
If I had to
I would put myself right beside you
So let me ask
Would you like that?
Would you like that?
And I don't mind
If you say this love is the last time
So now I'll ask
Do you like that?
Do you like that?
No!
Something's getting in the way
Something's just about to break
I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane
So tell me how it should be
Ed froze as he stared incredulously at Annora's MP3 player; this was like no song that he had ever heard. The bewildered teen stared down at the screen, which displayed the title of the song, Diary of Jane, as well as the band and the album.
'This is weird,' he though as he examined the player closely, while still listening to the music. He had never seen anything in his life even remotely close to what Annora had just handed over to him, much less heard of someone inventing it. Annora watched him with an amused grin on her face, and Ed looked at her, his mind whirling with millions of questions.
Try to find out what makes you tick
As I lie down
Sore and sick
Do you like that?
Do you like that?
There's a fine line between love and hate
And I don't mind
Just let me say that I like that
I like that
Something's getting in the way
Something's just about to break
I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane
As I burn another page
As I look the other way
I still try to find my place in the diary of Jane
So tell me how it should be
Was Annora actually an alchemist? Ed immediately dismissed the thought; there was no way that was even possible, not by the farthest stretch of the mind. When Ed had watched the sixteen-year old perform her first actual transmutation, the amazement that she had expressed had been genuine, not fake. The moment that the State Alchemist dismissed that notion, several others took its place. Where was Annora from? Why didn't the places that she had pointed out to him and Al on the map in her history book exist on any of the maps found in Amesteris? There were scores of unanswered questions whirling about in the alchemist's brain, and for once he couldn't come up with a reasonable answer to a single one.
Desperate, I will crawl
Waiting for so long
No love, there is no love
Die for anyone
What have I become?
Something's getting in the way
Something's just about to break
I will try to find my place in the diary of Jane
As I burn another page
As I look the other way
I still try to find my place
In the diary of Jane
When the song ended, Ed removed the headphones from over his ears, clapped his hands together, and placed them on Annora's ZEN. This action resulted in a flurry of electric-blue sparks, and Annora jumped slightly in her seat before Ed handed her player back to her, completely unharmed.
"It's like… nothing I've ever seen before," he remarked quietly while Annora inspected her music player closely. The girl looked up at him and gave him an exasperated grin.
"Well that's nice to know," she remarked in a slightly amused voice. "I was going to say, if you broke this, I would kick your ass. This was a Christmas present from my parents last year, and I'd be really upset if you did something to it."
"Yeah, well you better keep that, your lap thingy-"
"Laptop."
"Whatever, and that little annoying phone of yours away from Winry, because she'll take them apart on the first chance she gets. I told you yesterday that she's a mechanics junkie," Ed remarked as he rolled his eyes. Annora looked visibly startled as she turned off her MP3 player and put it back in her backpack.
"You failed to mention that bit of information," she muttered as the train came to a stop. Ed didn't hear her, seeing as he was now preoccupied on getting his suitcase out from the luggage rack over their heads without falling flat on his face.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So… this is where you two grew up?" Annora asked casually as she and Al helped Ed down the road. The sixteen-year old was carrying her backpack, Ed's suitcase, and the black cloth carrying case that held her laptop, while Al helped Ed along, although the alchemist was balanced between the two teenagers.
"Yeah. Al and I were born here, and we lived here until about five years ago, when I left to become a State Alchemist."
Annora looked over Ed with a slightly worried expression before she redirected her attention over towards the two-story house they were approaching. She didn't notice the massive black shape that came bounding out of the house and down the dirt road until it came to a skidding halt in front of her and woofed loudly.
"It's okay Den, she's with us," Al stated calmly as he reached out and patted the large dog on the head. Annora on the other hand, was the exact opposite of calm, seeing as the puppy in her backpack was now squirming about in response to the older dog's presence. Ed looked over at her and raised an eyebrow when he noticed that the girl went stiff when Den came up to her and showed an obvious interest in her backpack. It was at that moment that an angry shout broke through the late morning quiet as a blonde-haired girl stormed out onto the porch on the second floor and glared at the three teens that were standing in her front yard.
"ED, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU TO CALL BEFORE YOU COME IN FOR REPAIRS?!" she shrieked as she expertly threw a wrench at Ed. Unfortunately for Annora, Ed lost his balance in surprise at Winry's shout, and the wrench hit Annora full force on the top of her head with a resounding 'clang'. The teen stood there for a few moments, her balance wavering, before her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she slumped forward, out cold.
About twenty minutes later, Annora came to on a couch in the living room with a raging headache, which was not helped by the shouting match that was taking place in the next room.
"You idiot, how could you have ruined something like that?! That was a state-of-the-art piece of automail that I gave you, and you TRASHED IT?!!"
"Winry, it was either me or-"
CLANG!!!
Annora jumped at the sound, and winced as the room began to spin wildly. The sixteen-year old had just bent down and put her head between her knees to fight off the waves of nausea that hit her when Winry came into the room, a slightly bloodied wrench gripped tightly in her right hand. The other girl looked over at Annora and immediately realized what was wrong.
"Are you okay?" she asked as she knelt down next to Annora, who had her eyes clamped shut so she wouldn't see the room spinning.
"I'll be okay; at least once I stop feeling like I'm on a boat in the middle of a hurricane," Annora muttered faintly as she sat up. Winry gave her an apologetic look as she sat down on the couch next to the other girl.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hit you on the head like that," she said sheepishly. Annora looked over at her and gave a wry grin.
"It's okay; at least I'm not any worse for the wear from the experience," she pointed out as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Annora Thomas."
"Winry Rockbell," Winry told her as she shook the teenager's hand. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise. You have no idea how glad I am to be able to talk to another girl my age," Annora muttered fervently. Winry laughed at the expression on her face.
"I can tell. So, out of curiosity, how did you come to hang around with Ed and Al?"
A dark expression crossed Annora's face as she stared ahead, glowering at the floorboards as the memory of how she came to know the two brothers over a month ago came to mind.
"I had a little run-in with the military, and I pissed off Colonel Mustang," she started before she let out a small sigh. "Things just went downhill from there."
Winry arched an eyebrow in interest as she looked at Annora, who sat next to her on the couch with her hands clasped together in front of her. She could tell that there was more to the girl's story than what she was telling her.
"And how did you manage that?" the automail mechanic asked curiously. Annora glanced over at her and gave an embarrassed shrug.
"Well, there was this creep that jumped me, and I was trying to outrun him, and I ran right into the Colonel. He grabbed me, and I hit him in the stomach with my backpack." Annora thought for a moment before she added. "That, and I cussed him out after he and Ed caught me."
"Yeah, and I still haven't recovered from hearing you swear like a sailor," Ed remarked sarcastically from where he was leaning up against the doorway. Annora looked over at him in shock and blinked several times.
"You have both legs," she said in a startled tone. Ed rolled his eyes as he pulled up his left pant leg and revealed his artificial leg, although this one resembled the ones that Annora had seen back home.
"It's just a replacement for until my automail is fixed," he grumbled as he released his pant leg. Annora noticed that Winry looked decidedly angry at the mention of automail, and tried to scoot away from the other girl subtly before all hell broke loose. Fortunately, Fate intervened in the form of Alphonse and a tiny old woman coming into the room just as Winry was about to beat the crap out of Ed.
"Edward, would you introduce us to your friend?" she asked sternly, and Annora noticed with interest that both teenagers immediately froze and looked at the woman before Ed gave a slight nod.
"Granny Pinako, Winry, this is Annora. Annora, this is my friend Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako," Edward told her as he gestured at the two. Annora gave both of the women a smile before she rubbed the back of her neck.
"Nice to meet you," she said just as her backpack gave a yip and fell over. Annora froze and her eyes widened as she turned around to stare uneasily at the squirming canvas bag. Ed gave her a skeptical look as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Just out of curiosity, what could be in your bag that's alive?" he asked as he went over and knelt down next to her backpack.
"Umm… a dwarf?" she muttered desperately. Ed shot her a filthy look in response as he unzipped the compartment, and Annora's newest friend tumbled out. The puppy, now freed of its fabric prison, immediately toddled over to her and sat down at her feet, it's tiny tongue hanging out as it panted happily. Ed glowered at Annora as she picked up the small dog and held it to her chest, laughing nervously.
"Well, what do you know…" she muttered, only to be cut off by the death glare that Ed sent her way.
"How long has that been in there?" he asked, shifting his attention from her to Al. "Are you part of this too, Al?"
"No, I'm the one that found him," Annora interjected, stepping in between the two brothers. "He was being attack on the train platform by a bunch of crows at the rest stop yesterday, and I brought him with me. Al isn't a part of this."
Ed shot her a skeptical look and gave a disbelieving snort in response, while Alphonse silently thanked Annora for her intervention. Winry on the other hand, came up behind Ed and smacked him once again with a wrench.
"Stop being so cold-hearted," she scolded as she looked over at Annora. "Can I see him?"
The sixteen-year old reluctantly handed the puppy over to Winry, who inspected the small animal closely before she gave it back to Annora.
"First of all, your dog's a girl, not a boy," she stated matter-of-factly as she reached out and petted the puppy's head. "Second, she looks like she's one of those sheep dogs or something like that."
Annora grinned as she hugged the small dog, pulling it closer to her. "Cool."
"No, not cool," Ed growled he sat up and rubbed the spot where Winry had hit him. "That thing is a menace."
Annora gave Ed a skeptical look as she hid an amused grin. "Why's that? Did you have a dog try and burry you or something after it mistook you for a chew toy?"
Ed stared at Annora for a few seconds, not catching the meaning behind her comment as Winry, Al, and Pinako all looked at her like she was crazy, before realization dawned upon him.
"What did you just call me?" he growled, golden eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you calling me short?"
Annora smirked in response as she took a precautionary step back. "You're the only one who said that, hobbit boy."
All hell broke loose.
"For the last time, I am not a goddamned HOBBIT!" Ed shrieked as he lunged for Annora, who easily sidestepped him. Winry then intervened by hitting the boy upside the head with a wrench yet again, knocking him out cold.
"Why don't we all go have something to eat? I'm sure that you two have plenty to tell us," she said, looking directly at Al and Annora as she smiled brightly. Annora glanced uneasily at the wrench that the other girl still held in her hand before she immediately agreed. She wasn't dumb enough to refuse; unlike Ed, she valued her life.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I hate this," Ed grumbled as he lay flat on his back in the grass. Al glanced over at him curiously. The two brothers were currently sitting outside of the Rockbell's house, enjoying some mid-winter sunshine.
"What do you mean, Brother?"
Ed let out a sigh as he stared up at the clouds floating above them, his mind wandering.
"The waiting, I hate it," he muttered. If Al could have raised an eyebrow, he would have.
"Brother, you're not making any sense," he pointed out before an idea came to him. "Wait a minute; I know what's wrong with you."
"Oh do you?"
"Yeah. You're just upset because Annora's been hanging out with Winry all the time."
Ed froze in his spot as his mind was immediately jerked back into reality. They had been in Resembool for three days, and in that time Annora and Winry had struck up a friendship almost immediately. It was driving Ed nuts, seeing both girls sitting at the table where Winry assembled her automail, chatting away as though they had known each other their whole lives. Not that he would ever admit it though.
"Why should I care?" he grumbled as he turned over onto his side to look at Al. "It's not like it's a big deal."
"Uh huh," Al said disbelievingly. "That's what you say, Brother. I know that you like her."
Ed shot him a dirty look in response as he protested.
"Seriously, why would I like a foul-mouthed tomboy like her?"
Al froze, his eyes widening to about the size of platters as he stared in absolute horror behind Ed.
"Brother…" he started, only to have Ed keep going.
"I mean, look at her. She's got a fouler mouth than I do, she has the worst temper that I have ever seen on a girl, and she practically PMS's every day," he muttered, only to stop when he caught sight of the look on Al's face. "What's up with you?"
"Brother, you might want to look behind you," Al said nervously as he pointed to something behind Ed with a trembling finger. The alchemist turned around to see Annora standing behind him with a murderous look on her face, although a closer inspection also showed tears were welling up in her eyes.
"So," she finally ground out, fury evident in her voice, "that's what you think of me. Well, I'm glad to know that."
"Annora-" Ed began, only to have the teenager whirl around and storm off into the house, slamming the door loudly behind her. Al shot Ed a filthy look as he stood up and went after the girl in an effort to calm her down, leaving Ed sitting in the grass. The alchemist growled a low curse under his breath as he buried his face in his hands.
"I am such an idiot," he groaned. "This is yet another fine example of me putting my foot in my mouth."
The sound of the front door to the Rockbell's house opening and closing caught Ed's attention, and he looked up to see Annora stalking down the front path with her letterman's jacket on and her backpack slung over her shoulder, her mouth set in a grim line. It was then that Ed noticed that she was headed in the direction of the forest that lay on the outskirts of Resembool, less than a ten-minute walk away from the Rockbell residence. The Fullmetal Alchemist shot to his feet and headed after her, only to have Annora increase her pace when she noticed that he was following her.
"Go away!" she spat without even looking behind her. Ed didn't listen to her as he broke into a fast jog so he could catch up.
"Where are you going?"
"Away from you!"
Ed looked slightly taken aback at her response before he reached out and grabbed Annora's right arm, causing her to whirl around and glare at him. The sixteen-year old ignored this as he looked directly into her eyes.
"What is your problem?" he demanded. A scowl flickered across Annora's face as she tried to yank her arm out of his grasp.
"My problem? My problem?" she asked in disbelief, her voice rising up to a slightly uncomfortable pitch as she glared at Ed. "My problem is that I am sick and tired of all the bullshit that I've had to put up with for the past six weeks! I'm tired of people treating me like a child, especially when one of them is probably two years younger than me! All I want to do is go home, and I can't even do that because I have no idea where 'home' is!! Every single time I show someone a map of where I live, they tell me that the map I have is either fake, or the places that I'm showing them don't exist!"
"That's because they don't!" Ed roared, his golden eyes flashing as his temper got the better of him. "If you look at any map of Amesteris and the surrounding countries, you'll see that there isn't any place called the 'United States', much less a town called 'Flagstaff'! Get it through your head Annora, they don't exist!"
"Yes they do!" Annora shot back as she yanked her arm out Ed's grasp. "I was born there God damn it, so I should know! Why don't you get it through your thick skull, Edward, that I'M NOT FROM THIS PLACE!! I don't belong here!"
Ed glared at the teenager before he exploded. "Then where are you from?! If you'll just tell the truth, it'll make it easier for us to help you get home!! Not to mention that I'm the same age as you, sixteen!"
Annora gave a bitter laugh as she turned around and started walking again. "I don't think that you can help me get home," she said as a sad look entered her eyes. "No one can, at least not unless they know how to travel in between worlds."
Shock was evident on Ed's face as he stared in disbelief at Annora, who glanced back at him and shook her head as she broke into a jog, and then a run before entering the forest. The teenage alchemist stood in the middle of the dirt path before he uttered yet another angry curse and hurried after Annora, breaking into a dead run when a frightened shriek echoed in the forest not too far in front of him.
"Annora!" he cried out as he burst into the area where she was, only to be treated to an extremely unusual sight. The sixteen-year old had dropped her backpack on the ground and was standing frozen on the path, her entire body rigid as she stared straight ahead with her chocolate eyes wide in fear.
"What's wrong with you?" Ed asked as he approached her. It was then that he noticed that Annora was trembling slightly.
"There-there's a sn… there's a sna-snake in my shirt," she stammered. "It just fell out of one of the trees…"
Ed stared at her incredulously, both of his eyebrows shooting up into his hairline. She was afraid of snakes? He fought the urge to laugh as he walked over to her just as the previously mentioned animal poked its scaly head up over the collar of Annora's jacket. Without a word, Ed reached out and easily plucked the offending reptile out from the girl's clothing. Once he had done this, Annora immediately relaxed and turned around to face him.
"Thanks," she muttered as she held out her hand. "Could I see the snake?"
"Umm…sure," Ed responded as he handed the squirming reptile over to Annora, who gripped it firmly by the tail and swung it around once before she let go, causing the creature to go airborne for several yards before its flight was cut short by a large oak tree, where it stopped with a loud 'thunk' and slid down to the ground. Ed sweatdropped as he looked back over at Annora, who had picked up her backpack and was now looking at him.
"I hate snakes," she muttered fervently, and Ed gave a wry laugh in response.
"No, really? I didn't figure that out," he responded sarcastically. Annora gave an aggravated groan as she started walking again, pointedly not looking at Ed. The alchemist stared after her for a few seconds before he called out.
"So, do you have any particular destination in mind?"
"Yeah, home," Annora shot back over her shoulder, her chocolate eyes flashing darkly with anger. "That way, maybe I won't have to deal with you and your stupid insults!"
"I… I wasn't talking about you."
"Bullshit! Who else would you be talking about? I don't like it when people lie to me, Ed, and I'm usually pretty good at knowing when they are. So cut the crap and leave me the hell alone!"
Edward scowled at Annora as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you even know where you're going?"
"I have a rough idea. My house back home was right next to the woods and I used to out there and play all the time. This place looks a lot like where I lived, so I think I'll be okay."
"Fine, suit yourself then," Ed muttered as he turned around and headed back down the path towards Resembool, soon disappearing behind a large clump of trees. Annora watched him go for a few moments before she turned back around and started off down the dirt trail in the direction opposite of Ed. Although she soon turned around when she heard a startled yell, followed by a long stream of curses. Annora came around the corner and immediately clapped both hands over her nose and mouth when a familiar stench assaulted her senses. Her question as to what had happened was immediately answered when she saw a small black and white animal trundle away from Ed back into the bushes.
"Did you… just get sprayed by a skunk?" Annora asked as she tried not to laugh, although she failed to keep the humor out of her voice. Ed shot her a filthy look in response, although the intensity of the glare was diminished from the fact that the boy's eyes were watering from the stench that now emanated from him. That did it for Annora; she burst out laughing.
"It's not funny!" Ed snapped, his golden eyes flashing. Annora continued to laugh, much to the boy's dismay.
"Stop laughing!" he growled before he let out an annoyed sigh. "Great, now I'm going to have to sleep outside for a week."
Annora shot him a curious look and arched an eyebrow in surprise. "Why? Don't you know how to get the smell off?"
"No," Ed muttered unhappily. "It doesn't fade easily, and it takes about a week of scrubbing your skin raw for the smell to come off. I got sprayed once when I was a kid, and my mom made me sleep outside in a tent for over a week."
Annora shook her head and laughed. "Poor you. It's a pity that I know exactly how to make the smell go away."
Ed immediately perked up. "You do? How?"
"Tomato juice and baking soda," Annora stated wisely. "But, I seem to have forgotten the exact way on how to do it."
"Equivalent Exchange, huh?" Ed muttered, and Annora immediately smiled. "So, what do you want in return?"
"An apology would be nice," the teenager admitted with a knowing smile flickering about her lips. "But you don't have to. Unless you want to smell like skunk for the next week or so that is."
Ed let out a loud sigh. "Fine, I'm sorry."
"That's much better," Annora declared before she started walking in the direction of Resembool. "C'mon then, let's go back to Winry's. I'll show you what to do when we get there."
The two teens started back towards the Rockbell residence, with Annora staying upwind from Ed while the boy sulked. Neither of them noticed a certain familiar individual rise up out of the bushes where the snake had landed and rub the back of his head.
"Than damn wench," Envy growled as he massaged his abused head, which was still smarting from his unfortunate head-on collision with a tree. "Who knew that someone so frail-looking could throw so hard?"
The homunculus watched the two teens until they vanished from sight before a thoughtful smirk crossed his face.
"So, the girl is with the Fullmetal Pipsqueak then? Hmm… I wonder…" Envy mused before he shrugged as he turned around and walked off. "What will the Master have to say about this bit of information?"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ed stared uneasily at the tub of red liquid that sat in front of him before he spun around and glared at both Annora and Winry.
"I'm not doing this! I don't care what you say, I am not setting foot in that… that sludge!"
Annora rolled her eyes and let out an aggravated sigh before she reached up and massaged the bridge of her nose.
"Look Ed, stop being such a damn weenie and just get in the tub!" she finally snapped, her brown eyes flashing with barely restrained anger. "It's not like we're forcing you into a tub of milk or something."
"Tomato juice is used for cooking, not bathing!" the boy retorted hotly as he folded his arms over his chest in a defiant gesture. Annora gritted her teeth and muttered something under her breath that sounded like a curse, but it was in no language that Ed had ever heard.
"Stubborn fool!"
"What was that?" Ed asked, and Annora glanced over at him curiously before she rolled her eyes.
"Ed, stop stalling and just get in the tub. You have two choices; you can do this willingly, or you can have Winry and I strip you down to your boxers and throw your scrawny butt into the tub. Either way, you still have to get in the juice."
The teenage alchemist glanced over at Winry, and realized that both girls were serious. With a defeated sigh, he grudgingly began to pull off his shirt as the two strong-willed females vanished behind the sheet that they had erected to give Ed some semblance of privacy. Within a few moments, Al came in and stood next to the tub just as Ed was easing himself into the tomato juice.
"Al, what are you doing here?"
"I'm sorry, Brother, but Winry and Annora, they told me to make sure that you got in," Al muttered apologetically. "They also told me to bring the clothes that you were wearing out so they could clean them."
Ed rolled his eyes and sighed as Al gathered up his 'skunked' clothes and exited the curtained off bathing area.
"Why is it that this stuff always happens to me?" he muttered as he began to scrub himself thoroughly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Wow, I wasn't sure it would work, but it did!" Winry exclaimed as she looked at the clothing that was hanging on a line outside. "Usually it takes months to get that skunk smell out of clothing, but if you just wash them in a baking soda solution, it comes out right away!"
Annora grinned in response as the two girls headed back inside; leaving Ed's cleaned clothing out to dry.
"The only reason I remember what to do was because my brother got sprayed by a skunk once when he was out in our backyard fooling around," Annora admitted sheepishly. "We didn't have any tomato juice, so my parents made him sleep out back in a tent for the night. The next morning, my dad went and bought some juice, and Ethan had to take a bath out in the yard while my mom burned the tent because it smelled so bad. I kept teasing him about how he smelled like a vegetable stand until he got so mad that he went and took a regular shower."
"Sounds like you and your brother get along well," Winry pointed out, and Annora just shook her head and laughed.
"Sort of, but we still get on each other's nerves all the time. With Ethan, he always plays the 'overprotective big brother' card, and it drives me nuts."
At that moment, a loud buzzing noise echoed in the living room, and Annora glanced over at her laptop case, which was vibrating wildly.
"Crap," she muttered as she picked it up and unzipped the case, removing her laptop from inside of it before going into the kitchen and setting it down on the table. Winry's eyes widened as she stared in astonishment at the gleaming piece of technology that lay in front of her before an eager gleam entered her eyes just as Annora flipped her laptop open.
"Oooohh! What's that?! Can I take it apart?" Winry suddenly babbled excitedly, her eyes shining like small blue stars. Annora stared at her in disbelief before she regained the use of her voice.
"No, you can't! That's my laptop, and if you even touch it, I swear I will kill you in the most painful way possible!" she stated in a no-nonsense tone of voice just as her web-cam flicked on, and the image of a young man with sandy blonde hair wearing desert camouflage clothing popped up on the screen. The man watched the argument between the two girls for several seconds before he cleared his throat loudly. Annora turned around and looked at him, her brown eyes widening in surprise before she said anything.
"Ethan?"
"The one and only," Ethan Thomas declared proudly, his usual smirk flickering on his lips. Annora sat down in a chair right in front of her computer and stared at her older brother, her mouth moving wordlessly. Ethan looked at her for a few moments before he made a comment.
"So Annora, who's your friend?" he asked. Annora snapped out of her dazed state and immediately introduced Winry.
"Oh, sorry. Ethan, this is my friend Winry Rockbell. Winry, this is my older brother Ethan."
Winry shot the other girl a confused look. "Your brother is a machine? What did you do, bind his soul to this-"
"No, there's a camera on the computer that he's using that sends his image to my computer, and visa versa, that way we can talk to each other, even though we're not in the same time zone," Annora explained hastily before Winry could finish. Ethan arched an eyebrow in question at her sudden babbling, but instead asked something else.
"Actually, Annora, I wasn't talking about her. I was talking about the guy standing right behind you with the red shirt," he stated in a deceptively calm voice. Annora's eyes widened before she turned around to see Ed standing right behind her with a towel around his neck and his still damp hair in a braid while wearing a red long-sleeved shirt with a white stripe down the sleeves and black pants. The boy was currently staring at Ethan with a mixture of loathing and skepticism, although he looked slightly taken aback as well at Ethan's statement.
"Oh God," Annora moaned as she buried her head in her hands. "This is not happening. Please, someone tell me that this is a dream. I am not being asked this."
"Sorry, God's busy. How may I help you?" Ethan asked sarcastically as he gave his younger sister a penetrating look. "So, is there a little something that you forgot to tell me in your last letter, hmm?"
"Ethan, he is just a friend!" Annora snapped as she glared at her brother. "God, you are so paranoid!"
"I'm only concerned about the well-being of my only little sister."
"Well your 'little sister' is about ready to catch the next flight out to Iraq, hunt you down, and kick your ass so hard that you won't be able to sit down without wincing for a month!"
"Temper, temper," Ethan chided, although the roguish grin on his face indicated otherwise. "Such language for a young lady, especially from my sister. I'm appalled."
"Yeah, well you're going to be dead meat if you don't cut the crap, Ethan," Annora snarled. "Stop making comments about my friends, okay?"
"Fine, I'll stop," the twenty-year old admitted before he sent a piercing glare in Ed's direction. "I'll tell you right now, boy, that if you even think about trying anything with my sister, I will personally rip off both of your family jewels and stuff them down your throat before-"
"ETHAN!!" Annora shouted, her cheeks turning red in mortification as she fought the urge to strangle her older brother. "Conversation ending now!"
With that parting comment, she reached out and turned off her computer, closing the lid with a little more force than what was needed. After taking a few seconds to calm down, Annora turned around in her seat to face Winry and Ed, only to find that the latter of the two was extremely pale.
"Sorry about that," she muttered as she gave an exasperated sigh. "God, I hate it when he does that!"
"So that's… your brother?" Ed finally asked. Annora nodded as she massaged the bridge of her nose in obvious aggravation.
"Yeah, and he is also the very definition of the word 'moron'. In fact, that's why we have the word 'moron', because no one thought 'idiot' was strong enough to describe him," she muttered under her breath.
"Personally, I think 'moron' is too nice of a word for him…"
"Ed!" Winry scolded, her blue eyes flashing. Ed looked over at her and shrugged just as Annora responded.
"Actually, Winry, I have to agree with Edward. Moron is far too nice."
"How about stupid? Not the brightest bulb in the socket? Not the sharpest knife in the drawer? A hazard to the entire world that should be removed, preferably as soon as possible?" Ed continued, only to stop at the death glare that Winry was giving him. Annora just gave a short, sardonic laugh as she shook her head.
"All of the above," she pointed out as she leaned back in her chair. "It's not that I don't care about my brother, it's just that I hate it when he gets all overprotective. It's annoying as hell."
"So I take it that conversation like the one you just had are common?" Ed asked quizzically. Annora looked over at him and nodded.
"Yes, unfortunately. If my dad had been here, it would have been a different story, but as you can obviously see, he's really overprotective."
"How can you live with that?!" Ed exploded, only to have Annora look up and give him a satanic grin in response.
"Blackmail mostly," she admitted with an impish look dancing in her eyes. "But sometime I drag higher forces, aka my parents, in as well."
"Blackmail?" Ed and Winry both asked. Annora gave them both a highly unsettling smirk as she began to list off items using her fingers.
"Yeah, let's see… I've got pictures, voice recordings, video clips, and written documents on different things that Ethan's done over the years when my parents haven't been home, and all of them are things that my brother would much rather have my parents not know about. So, I guess that you could say that if Ethan really pisses me off, he's screwed."
Ed and Winry's jaws were both on the verge of hitting the ground as they stared in disbelief at Annora. Finally, Winry regained the use of her voice as she gave Annora a slightly wary look.
"Do you do this with your friends too, or…" she trailed off nervously. Annora gave the girl an incredulous look before she burst out laughing.
"No, Ethan is the only one that I do that too, and the only reason is because he gives me no breathing room whatsoever. If I tried to get the best of him physically, he'd wipe the floor with me," Annora admitted. "He's the one that taught me how to fight, and he's still better at it than me."
Winry looked thoughtful for a few moments before her expression brightened.
"Why don't we just drop the subject and talk about something more pleasant?" she suggested. Annora and Edward both nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, all this talk about annoying older brothers is wearing me out," the sixteen-year old admitted as she stood up and put her laptop away. Winry grinned brightly at her in response as she suddenly pulled out a vast array of delicate looking tools from out of nowhere.
"Then you won't mind if I take a peek at your computer than, will you?" she asked. Annora stared at her like she had lost her mind before she exploded.
"Hell no! If you even think about touching my laptop, I will string you up out in the middle of the forest by your own intestines and slather you in something that bears find appetizing! That's a fifteen hundred dollar computer! My parents would kill me if something happened to it!!"
Ed looked at the arguing females in front of him before he gave an amused snort.
"If it's not automail, then it's something else, huh Win?" he muttered. Winry looked over at him and made a face.
"You're the one who keeps saying that he wants to get his body back to the way it was," she pointed out. "Seriously Ed, why go to all this trouble just for human limbs? You've got the smell of oil, the creak of synthetic muscles, the hum of spinning bearings. Who needs natural when you've got automail?!"
Annora looked over at Winry, mentally deciding that the girl was obsessed with mechanics in the same way the Katie was obsessed with Mustang and Envy. She quietly began to back away slowly just as Ed made a sarcastic comment.
"Looser machine junkie."
The young mechanic turned an intriguing shade of red in response before her temper got the better of her.
"Alchemy freak!" Winry shrieked as she whipped out her wrench and smashed it into Ed's head with a sickening 'crack'. Annora decided that it was time to go find Alphonse, who was probably out playing with the new puppy that had recently been dubbed 'Twilight', and beat a hasty retreat outside.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ed gripped the seat of his chair tightly with his left hand as he glared balefully at the two automail limbs that were about to be reattached. Winry had taken off his arm to do routine maintenance only a few hours before, and now both his arm and leg were ready to be reattached. The teenage alchemist closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, mentally preparing himself for the shooting pain that he knew was sure to follow. He hated it when his nerves were connected; it hurt like hell.
"YEEOUCH!!!"
Annora jumped a good foot in the air at Ed's cry of pain, almost dropping the glasses of water that she held in her hands in surprise as she entered the examination room. The sixteen-year old stared at the sight before her with wide eyes; Ed was sitting on a chair wearing only a pair of black shorts with a look of intense pain and exasperation on his face while Winry and Pinako finished connecting his automail to the rest of his body.
"Umm…what just happened?" she asked as she looked around. "It sounded like someone was being murdered in here."
"You hear that Ed? You scream too loud," Winry pointed out good-naturedly as she put the metal plate covering the artificial nerves on and tightened the bolts that held it in place.
"Shut up," Ed growled as he sat up straight and flexed his arm and leg experimentally to make sure that they worked. "It's not my fault that it feels like I got hit by lightning every time that you connect the nerves."
Winry raised an eyebrow delicately and waited until Pinako had left the room before she responded to the boy's jab.
"Listen to me, Ed, because I'm only going to say this once," she muttered as she grabbed the alchemist by his automail arm. "You so much as scratch this, I will wrench you. You break this, and I will wrench you until you get a clear view of what the afterlife looks like. Got it?"
Ed went an interesting shade of white as he nodded empathetically in response. Annora nervously scooted over to where Al stood and whispered to the fifteen-year old.
"What is the moral of this story you may ask? Don't piss off a girl with a wrench."
Alphonse almost lost it as he tried not to laugh, although a strangled giggle did echo from within his armor. This small noise immediately attracted the attention of Ed and Winry, causing both of them to glare over at Al and Annora.
"What's so funny?" Ed growled as he stood up. Annora gave a very nervous laugh as she took several precautionary steps backwards.
"Umm…nothing," she muttered as she racked her brain for a way out of the dangerous situation that she had found herself in. Fortunately for her, Al intervened.
"Brother, why don't we go spar to make sure that your arm and leg are working?" he suggested hastily. Ed glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow in question before he agreed. Within five minutes, both Annora and Winry found themselves sitting out on the front porch watching the two brothers go at it.
"What is it with boys and trying to beat the shit out of each other?" Annora mumbled to no one in particular. Winry gave the other girl a questioning look, obviously not quite understanding her comment.
"Ed and Al do this all the time," she pointed out. "They told me once that they spar daily whenever they had some spare time, because they follow the motto of 'To train the spirit, you must also train the body'. That's why they're doing this right now."
Understanding dawned upon Annora's face as she returned her attention back to the sparring match. At that moment, the fight went from friendly sparring to downright dirty fighting when Ed skidded backwards, picked up a huge handful of mud and other assorted muck, and threw it at Al, where it hit him full in the helmet. Everyone froze as the possessed suit of armor reached up and slowly wiped the muck off of his helmet.
"You shouldn't have done that," he stated in a strangely calm voice before he lunged for Ed and threw him over his shoulder. Ed immediately got up and adopted a defensive position.
"Hey Al, is that the best you've got?!" Ed shouted from his spot, his customary smirk in place. The fifteen-year old stared at him as his eyes narrowed dangerously.
"You must like flying through the air, Brother."
Annora and Winry both burst out laughing at the sight of Ed being sent flying a good twenty feet with one well-timed move from Al.
"Ouch," Annora muttered, wincing when Ed almost collided head-first with a full water bucket. "That had to hurt."
"No kidding," Winry agreed before turning around and heading back inside. "I need someone else to help with making dinner. Do you want to do it?"
"Sure."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Muah hah ha haaa!!! Chapter nine is finally here! Okay, I need to clear up a little misunderstanding about the drawing contest. So far, I've only had one applicant, but also, you have to actually enter a drawing before you can send in a description of your character, and that's only if you're in the top three. Sorry if I confused anyone.
And now… REVIEWS!!! Oh, and I now have a one-shot with Ed and Annora up called 'In Another's Shoes'. Please read it and tell me what you think.
Reviews:
Kamisori Kaze no Renkijutshi: Yeah, those were Breaking Benjamin lyrics. They're one of my favorite bands. I know that the scene with Scar was a little freaky. But, knowing me, I'd probably say something stupid to Scar and have to run for my life, although I would go somewhere where he would have a hell of a time finding me.
rockleefan: I'm glad that you like my story, and I'm glad that you agree with me. I try extremely hard not to make Annora have any Mary Sue tendencies, but sometimes it's hard. To quote one of my earlier reviews, Mary-Sue's make good transmutation fodder.
Mimori Kiryu: Thank you for taking the time to correct me on that one. Crap, I didn't know that. Looks like I need to watch the episodes with Scar in them again. I like EdxOC pairing too, because there really is no one in the series that seems to go with him. I don't mind Winry, but I think that she's more suited for Al, not Ed.
animemaniac-101: I love to torment Mustang; it's one of my favorite pastimes. (Smirks) He's not exactly a character that I hate, but he's just really annoying, not to mention an egotistical git that needs a good swift kick in the pants.
animeroxsmyworld: Yeah, the Colonel will need every scrap of speed to get away from Hawkeye and her impeccable aim.
Syldoran: Ah, yes, the fatheads of the world unite. I personally wish that all flamers would do something to piss off Mustang or Scar, that way we could all just sit back and watch them try and run for their lives. Yes, I am evil. ;3 Thanks for the compliment, and the drawing as well. They really made my day.
endmylifeatTwilight16: I'm glad that you love it.
Mew Sarin Alchemist: Yet another person that agrees with me on my personal opinion. Thank you. Knowing me and my writing tendencies, Annora probably will end up with Ed, but I'm not positive. And even if I was, do you really think that I would tell you and ruin the whole story?
Kyuuketsuki: Why thank you. (Blushes)
richard9311: Thanks. I'm glad that you still read this, even after my three month period of not updating.
just another FMA fan: You know how if you're having a slightly bad day, the stupidest thing will piss you off? I wasn't entirely upset at you, but at another person as well. This stupid flamer git sent me a PM telling me how my fic sucked, and I kind of lost it. All I'm gonna say is that the response that I sent to this individual was not G-rated, and that the basic gist of the message is that if they don't like my story, tough, and if they wanted to find a real author, they could go to the public library instead of bugging me. I don't mind the fact that you're an EdxWin fan, and I respect your opinion, but please don't tell me what to do.
FriendlyFangirl88: Thank you very much. I'm glad that I was able to accurately capture the mood of FMA.
Siacatmesecat: Yeah, it took some thought, but I think that I did a good job on Annora's response to Scar's little spiel. I know that if I had been in her situation, I probably would have gone off on him.
The Shadow 111: I'm glad that I can keep Ed in character. It's a little hard sometimes, but it's well worth the effort.
The lyrics to Diary of Jane belong to Breaking Benjamin. I don't own iPod or ZEN, much less Ed, Al, or any of the other FMA characters. That honor belongs solely to Hiromu Arakawa- sensei, and if I did, do you think that I would be writing this?
Lawyer: You need to say it.
Wandering Hitokiri: Say what?
Lawyer: That you don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Wandering Hitokiri: Were you not paying attention?! I just said that!!
Lawyer: No you didn't.
Wandering Hitokiri: (Pulls out katana) Aku Soku Zan. (Beheads lawyer) Okay, now I feel better. (AN: Aku Soku Zan means 'swift death to evil' and was the code of the Shinsengumi.)
