"The human spirit is stronger than anything that happens to us." – C. C. Scott
Chapter Twenty-Three:
Home
Violet light seared its way into his retinas as Edward struggled against Alphonse's iron grip, fighting against his little brother as he strained to reach for Annora's hand while the corrupted transmutation crackled ominously around them.
"Annora, take my hand!!" he roared out as he held out one gloved hand towards hers, oblivious to Al's death grip on the back of his jacket as the younger Elric strained to keep him from getting sucked up into the transmutation as well. Brown eyes wide with a terror that was so unlike her usual cocksure attitude met his, and Ed felt a thrill of fear run through him as he strained to grasp the pale hand that she extended towards him, redoubling his efforts to get to his friend.
"Brother, be careful!" Al pleaded as he clutched at his older sibling's trademark red trench coat, only for the blonde to ignore him.
"Grab my hand!" the Fullmetal Alchemist ordered as he tried to grab Annora's hand, only to fall short by a few short inches. The taller girl looked at him with abject terror, a wild fear showing in her eyes as she tried to ignore the inky hands that were slowly stripping away the very fiber of her being, leaving behind nothing but empty space.
Ed felt droplets of sweat bead up on his face, only to be swept away by the whirlwind tugging at him as he strained to reach his friend. Just a little further…
Just as the State Alchemist was about to snatch up Annora's hand and haul her bodily out of the transmutation circle, her entire body started to dissolve, her fingertips shattering into millions of fragments while only millimeters from his gloved hand. The fragments were all immediately sucked into the dark void of the Gate before the ethereal stone doors slammed shut, and the dark wind from the transmutation vanished without a trace, leaving behind nothing more than a smooth expanse of untouched snow.
"Annora…" Ed whispered hoarsely as his legs gave away, and he fell to his knees in the snow, starring wide-eyed in horror at the spot where up until a few moments ago his friend had been standing. "No… no… no, dammit, no!!"
The State Alchemist felt a deep surge of self-loathing rise up within him as he stared fixedly down at the snowy ground in front of him. What had just happened… it was almost exactly like what had happened when he and Al had tried to bring their mother back to life.
Al stood frozen behind his older brother, shocked to the point of being speechless, as he too stared at the spot that Annora had only seconds before occupied. What had just happened… it was almost surreal.
"ANNORA!!" another voice cried out, and Ed lifted his head up a little bit to see Eric break away from the other soldiers and rush over to where he and Al were before skidding to a halt, the blood draining from his face as he stared down the solid stone street before he spun around to glare at Wrath, who sat huddled up on the cobblestones a few feet away from them. The soldier stared at the childish homunculus for a few moments before a look of animalistic rage crossed his face and before anyone else could react he seized the dark-haired boy by the front of his shirt, slamming Wrath forcefully into the closest brick wall.
"WHERE IS SHE, YOU LYING LITTLE SACK OF RAT SHIT!!" he snarled, shaking the small homunculus like a terrier shaking a rat. "WHERE THE HELL DID YOU SEND HER?!"
"Eric, calm down!!" Havoc snapped as he tried to approach the younger man and place a reassuring hand on his shoulder, only to back away as the twenty-year old slowly turned around and leveled an icy glare at him.
"No, I will not calm down!!" 'Eric' growled curtly as he glowered defiantly at the Lieutenant, not noticing the calculating look that Mustang was currently giving him. "Not until this little bastard tells me what the hell he did with my sister!!"
Mustang started visibly at this information, while Havoc gaped incredulously at the Private, his jaw almost hitting the pavement as his trademark cigarette fell from his numb lips.
"S-sister?" the sandy-haired Lieutenant stammered while the rest of the soldiers under Mustang's command all stared at Ethan like they had never seen him before, except for Hughes. Ed steadily ignored the chaos going on around him as he stared dumbly at the spot that Annora had been in, his golden eyes narrowing slightly when he caught sight of a small flash of silver partially hidden among some snow still left on the ground.
Hesitantly the State Alchemist reached out and scooped the object up from the snow, holding it gently in his left hand as he stared at it before he began to gently brush away the bits of snow and ice clinging to the metal. It was a silver ring, obviously a man's judging from the size, and it was threaded on a delicate silver chain so that it could be worn as a necklace. Ed frowned thoughtfully as he looked at the necklace pensively for a few moments before something came back to him.
"Ethan… he's okay, right?" she asked nervously as her entire body trembled. "He's okay, isn't he?"
Ben hesitated as a sympathetic look flashed through his eyes, and understanding flooded through the sixteen-year old as she rocked back in her chair with a soft cry.
"No, oh please, God, no," she moaned as tears started to well up in her eyes. "He's okay, he has to be… he… he promised! He promised that he'd come back home after his tour ended!! He's not dead, he can't be!!"
"I'm sorry kid, but… he was standing right next to where the IED went off. We haven't found his body yet, but then again… there might not be much left."
"No… no, you're wrong, you have to be…" Annora said haltingly as she grabbed the front of her nightgown, clenching at something desperately beneath the fabric as though it would anchor her to her rapidly dissolving reality.
-
"Ed, he's alive!!" Annora called out enthusiastically as she jumped into the fray, swiping Wrath's feet out from underneath him as he charged towards Al.
"What?" the alchemist asked as he turned around partially to face her, confusion evident on his face. "Who's alive?"
"Ethan, he's alive!" she said, an infectious grin crossing her face as she stared at her friend.
"Annora, are you feeling okay?" the teenager asked uneasily, concern flashing momentarily in his odd-colored eyes. A few meet away from them, Al also fixed the older girl with a worried look.
"I'm fine Ed. I'm just so glad that Ethan's okay!"
Several things fell into place for the alchemist as Mustang stalked over towards where 'Eric' was standing, his face a pale mask of fury.
"Private Thomas, explain yourself!" he barked, glaring heatedly at the younger man. Eric frowned as he stared back defiantly at his commanding officer, his back ramrod-straight.
"I don't think that there's much for me to explain, sir," he stated coolly. "Annora Thomas is my younger sister. It's as simple as that."
Hughes let out an annoyed groan as he covered his eyes with his hand, trying his hardest not to start yelling at the twenty-year old about respecting his superior officers. He was already in enough hot water as it was, and being a smart-ass to Roy definitely wasn't going to help matters any. Wrath glanced uneasily between the two soldiers before he ripped himself free from Eric's iron grip, leaving behind a piece of his black shirt, before he darted into the nearest alleyway.
Eric didn't notice what the homunculus had done until he glanced down and noticed the swatch of black cloth in his hand, and no homunculus. He stared stunned at his hand for a few short seconds before he let loose a long barrage of furious curses. Mustang hesitated for a moment before he started to berate the man for losing the only homunculus that they had captured; the other three having pulled a disappearing act when the botched transmutation had occurred.
"Excuse me. This… is this yours?" Ed asked softly as he stood up and looked over towards the currently shouting adults, the ring necklace held firmly in his gloved hand as he interrupted their heated argument. Eric… or rather Ethan looked at him in surprise for a few moments before he held out his hand expectantly, and Ed plopped the ring and chain into his callused hand. The twenty-year old looked down at the necklace in his hand for several seconds before he let out a world-weary sigh and closed his fist over the metal chain, bringing his other hand up to massage the bridge of his nose as he did so.
"Damn, it looks like I have a lot of explaining to do," he muttered wearily before he looked over at Mustang. "Is there someplace private we can go so I can talk? What I have to say… it's not for everyone's ears."
Mustang arched a disbelieving eyebrow and was about to say something when Hughes interrupted him.
"Roy, you might want to hear what this kid has to say," the dark-haired man said as he looked straight into his friend's eyes, his expression dead serious. "If it will make you feel any better, I'll vouch for him."
The Colonel's jaw dropped fractionally in shock as he gaped at Hughes for a few seconds before he was able to recover enough of his dignity to pull himself together, and he gave the Lt. Colonel a speculative look as a slight frown crossed his face.
"You knew about this, Maes?" he asked warily, and let out a frustrated sigh as the other man gave a silent nod of affirmation.
"Why am I not surprised?" Mustang muttered as he reached up and began to massage the bridge of his nose, already beginning to feel the faint warnings of the mother of all migraines. "Alright Private Thomas, we'll discuss this matter elsewhere. But first I think you need to give us some straight answers… after we've straightened up this fiasco."
Ethan looked around at the destruction that covered the front of Central HQ and nodded, adopting a slightly withdrawn expression as he went over and started to help some of the other soldiers with cleanup, steadily ignoring the suspicious looks that Havoc, Breda, and Falman were currently giving him. Ed arched an eyebrow as he watched the man for a few moments before he gave Al a meaningful look and went over to help the twenty-year old shift some rubble from the corpse of a soldier that had been skewered by Lust.
The teenage alchemist didn't notice the grateful look that Ethan shot him as he helped move a large chunk of torn-up stone, but Alphonse did.
--
"Nggghhh…" Annora groaned as she opened her eyes and sat up, holding her head with her right hand as she looked around her. She had the mother of all headaches, not to mention the fact that her entire body felt like it had been run through a meat grinder. The teenager frowned slightly as she looked around at the dark room that she was currently in before she realized that she was laying on a bed.
"What the hell happened?" she whispered quietly as she slid over to the edge of the bed and headed over towards where the door should be. "Did I pass out or something during the fight, and Ed or Al brought me back?"
The sixteen-year old gave a mental shrug as she moved towards the door, silently reasoning that she could just asked her friends what had happened, only to hit the bedroom wall with a loud 'thwack!'. Annora cursed colorfully as she took a step back away from the wall and glared at the dark shape in front of her, rubbing her abused nose ruefully.
"Dammit, where the hell did that come from?!" she growled as she stood there in the dark and waited for her vision to adjust, scowling slightly. "I swear, if I got kidnapped again, I'm going to start cracking some skulls."
Muttering some very disturbing threats underneath her breath, Annora waited until her vision had shifted from straight black to a more visible shade of grays. She spotted the door out of the room a few feet off to her left, and opened it. It wasn't locked, much to her surprise, and she cautiously made her way out into the hallway, trying her best to be quiet. Unfortunately, when she reached the stairs and put her foot down on the top step, it creaked loud enough to wake the dead.
The sixteen-year old yanked her foot off of the step like she had been burned and cringed, waiting for god knows what to come charging up the stairs out after her blood. Instead, she heard what sounded like a large hamster wheel squeaking downstairs, accompanied by a familiar soft thud as something landed on a platform. Annora froze as the blood slowly drained from her face, a chilling realization nagging at the back of her mind.
"… I could make it so that you could never see your friends again."
"Which friends?"
Silence.
"Damn it, answer me! Which friends?!"
"No way… no, no way," Annora gasped as she hurried down the stairs, terrified of what she might see. Her badly worn sneakers slipped on the polished wooden stairs as she scrabbled into the darkened living room, her hand automatically reaching down to hit the switch of a small night-light.
The night-light flipped on, bathing the familiar room in a dim glow, as well as a large cage with a familiar whiskered face peering at her curiously from in between the metal bars.
"Remmy?" the sixteen-year old muttered as she hesitantly approached the cage, kneeling down in front of the door and opening it. "Rembrandt?"
The gray and white mottled chinchilla leapt into her arms, and for a few seconds Annora was at a total loss at what to do before realization hit her like a brick. After three months of being stuck in some other world, she was home.
Tears started to well up in the sixteen-year old's eyes as she clutched her pet close to her chest, running her fingers through his fluffy fur almost incredulously.
"I'm home," she whispered hoarsely as she sat down the wooden floorboards with a barely audible 'thump', oblivious to the chinchilla pulling on a few strands of her hair and chewing on them. "I… I'm really home…"
Annora sat there for several long minutes as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea that everything, Ed, Al, the military, and the homunculi… were all nothing more than a dream now. Tears started to stream down her face as the teenager tried to hold back a choked sob, cradling a bemused Rembrandt in her arms. She was back in a world where her brother was still dead… where the two people she considered to be good friends didn't exist… and she didn't even get to say goodbye!
Tears started to stream down her face as she realized just how far her brother and her friends were from her. She'd probably never be able to see any of them again…
"I-I know I should be happy to be home… but…" the sixteen-year old trailed off as she stared off into space, wishing for one brief moment that this was all a dream and that she could wake up back in Amestris. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Annora hissed a curse as she straightened up and shook her head in an attempt to clear away the traitorous thought, shame coursing through her. If she just disappeared from here, what would that do to her parents, to lose both of their children at once?
"This sucks," Annora whispered bitterly as she let out a frustrated sigh before putting Rembrandt back into his cage and shutting the door. Getting to her feet, the teenager headed over to the stairs and headed back up to her room.
As she entered her bedroom and flipped on the light, she numbly slid her letterman's jacket off, tossing it onto the floor carelessly and ignoring the grime smeared onto it. Her badly battered tennis shoes soon followed suit, and were promptly kicked out into the hall so she could throw them in the trash in the morning. Annora cast a weary glance over at her jacket before deciding to beat out the worst of the dust and gunk before giving the coat a through dousing of Febreeze once she'd had a shower. She'd see about getting it properly cleaned later, maybe when she wasn't emotionally exhausted.
The teenager went over to her dresser and pulled out a clean set of pajamas, as well as a sports bra and underwear. Right now all she wanted to do was get clean, and throw all of her clothes in the hamper out in the hall so they wouldn't stink up her room. Everything she had on smelled like a disgusting blend of old blood, fear, wet dog, dust, and slobber.
"Eau de homunculus attack," Annora muttered dryly as she went into the hall bathroom and shut the door, setting her clean clothing on the counter just as she caught a glimpse of her reflection out of the corner of her eye. The sixteen-year old turned around and looked at her reflection steadily, her eyes widening marginally as a slightly bewildered frown twitching about her lips. She no longer looked like an anime character.
Even though she expected it, it was still a bit of a shock for her to see her normal reflection after three months of being in Amestris. All this really did though was hammer in the fact that she was now permanently separated from her friends.
Silently, Annora shed her filthy clothing and tossed it out into the hallway, planning on taking care of it after her shower. The teenager got into the tub and turned the water on, making sure that it was warm enough for her, before she flicked on the showerhead. For several long moments she stood directly under the spray, letting the warm water beat down on her face as she tried to ignore the hot burning feeling that stung at the corners of her eyes.
'The good thing about showers… nobody can tell that you've been crying.'
By the time that Annora finally got out of the bathroom and took care of her dirty clothing, it was well after one in the morning. The teenager didn't even bother to look at the spot by her door where her backpack should have been as she collapsed onto her bed, flipping off her light as she did so.
It was going to be a long night.
--
Everything felt wrong to her.
Getting on the bus so she could go to school that morning felt… off, for lack of a better word. Annora sat right in the very back, her headphones on and blaring as she listened to Breaking Benjamin on her CD player, and giving any of the idiotic jocks that tried to sit next to her the 'you-try-anything, you-even-think-about-bugging-me, and-I-will-personally-rip-your-balls-off-with-a-wooden-spoon, shove-them-down-your-throat, and-make-you-like-it' look. Needless to say, the guys who would have usually made some smart-ass remarks about her gave her a wide berth, sensing that the teenager was in an obvious 'do not fuck with me' mood.
Thank God it was Friday; otherwise she probably would have made up some bullshit excuse about being sick so she didn't have to go to school. Unfortunately finals were next week, so that probably wouldn't have been the smartest idea in the world. Annora knew her English teacher already hated her guts, so it wouldn't be a good idea to give her any excuses to give her an 'F'.
Not to mention the fact that flunking a class would go over with her parents about as well as the proverbial shit in a punch bowl.
The sixteen-year old let out a long sigh as she watched the snowy streets of Flagstaff fly by outside her window, silently wishing that she was already at school so she could do something, anything to keep her mind off of Amestris, and a certain temperamental alchemist. Annora groaned as the realization that she had lost all of her textbooks hit her, and she muttered a curse as she slowly allowed her forehead to collide with the window pane. Great, now she'd have to explain why she was suddenly missing all of her books.
As if things couldn't get any worse.
"I hate my life," the teenager growled under her breath as she glared out at the snow-covered streets, and let out a weary sigh as the bus pulled up behind her high school. Silently the sixteen-year old stood up and slung the strap of her brown fabric messenger bag over her shoulder before she exited the bus among a crowd of other teenagers.
--
Katie let out an exhausted groan as she flopped down in her chair for her first period English class. Even though they had all gotten an unexpected week off from school due to an unusually heavy snowfall for the beginning of December, as well as a student's wonderful contribution to the foul odors that already permeated the main building due to the crap concocted by the lunch ladies on the ground floor by setting off a slew of stink bombs in the ventilation system, she really didn't want to be here.
"Annora's so lucky; she doesn't even have to worry about school right now," the dark-haired girl muttered as she stared listlessly at the chalkboard at the front of the room, her glasses resting slightly skewed on the bridge of her nose. "I wish I could go to Amestris and travel all over the place with Ed and Al. That would be awesome… and I could meet Envy-kun!"
The sixteen-year old heaved a long-suffering sigh as ignored the sounds of people entering the classroom, too wrapped up in her daydreams of romancing the green-haired Sin. She didn't even notice when someone plopped down in the seat next to her until a familiar sarcastic voice met her ears.
"You know, I don't know which is more disturbing; the fact that you're currently staring off into space and drooling, or the fact that you're daydreaming about the homicidal nutjob who tried to kill me while you're spacing out."
Katie jerked in her seat as she spun around to see the speaker, and her eyes widened in shock as she stared incredulously at her friend.
"Annora?" she asked hesitantly, and the taller girl gave a slightly strained smile as she gave a small wave in response before she shoved a brown messenger bag underneath her desk with her foot.
"The one and only," the teen muttered as she slumped down in her seat. "So, how's it going, Katie?"
"Fine… I guess," Katie admitted before she leaned in closer and whispered urgently. "Annora, what are you doing here? I thought that you were still in Amestris."
Annora stiffened up in her seat noticeably, her brown eyes widening before she forced herself to let out a shaky sigh and ran a hand nervously through her bangs.
"I got sent back," she said finally, the look in her eyes saying that there was more to the story than what she was actually saying. Katie frowned slightly before she arched an eyebrow curiously at her friend's comment.
"How?"
"I… I'm not quite sure, but I know for a fact that little brat Wrath was involved," the sixteen-year old growled sourly, a dark expression flashing across her face as she drummed her fingers reflectively on her desk. "From what I could tell, he used some kind of alchemic attack the exact same time I was trying to transmute something so I could boot his whiny, annoying little ass straight into the next time zone."
"So, he summoned the Gate?" Katie ventured hesitantly, and Annora nodded as she bent down and hauled a plain white plastic binder out of her messenger bag.
"Yeah, and I got sucked into it," the teenager remarked as she pulled out a pencil and a sheet of notebook paper. "I don't know how, but I woke up in my room at home, and I'm not really going to complain about it since there are places a hell of a lot worse that I could have woken up in."
"Like in the back alley of the red light district?"
"… that would probably have been the worst-case scenario."
"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm just saying how it could have been worse."
"You disturb me."
"Awww… Annora, I'm hurt."
"Katie, it was people like you that inspired aspirin."
The other girl frowned as Annora leveled a dirty glare in her direction before she tried, and failed, to adopt the classic 'innocent puppy-dog' look. The sixteen-year old let out a slight huff of annoyance before she nervously ran a hand over her hair.
"Anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted, the reason I know it wasn't all a dream is that I'm missing my backpack, along with everything that was in it, I felt like I got run over by a semi, the clothes I had on smelled like smoke, blood, dirt, and dog, and I had a pair of horribly maimed and shredded gloves with transmutation circles on them on my hands," Annora said as she looked down at her hands, and for the first time Katie noticed the bandages wrapped around her friend's palms, as well as the large band-aid covering a cut on her left cheek. "You know… I'm starting to wonder whether or not I lost my mind…"
"You haven't lost you mind," Katie insisted as she shot Annora a warning look, who was currently staring at the sheet of paper in front of her. "It's just… what happened… it's difficult to explain, and hard to think about."
"You're telling me."
"So, are you okay?" she finally asked, and Annora gave a short, harsh laugh that was totally unlike her.
"No, not really. This entire time… ever since I fell into Amestris, all I really wanted to do was go home… but now I miss the people I met and knew there. Looks like I can't win either way, huh?" she admitted as she gave her friend a pained grin. "I don't really see why they'd even care that I'm gone anyways. They're probably all relieved that I'm out of their hair, and it's not like I was there long enough to leave any lasting impressions."
"Annora, any presence, no matter how small, will always leave an impression," Katie stated firmly as she reached out and patted the other girl sympathetically on the back. The teenager made a small noise of disbelief in the back of her throat as she started to idly doodle something on her notebook paper, unaware of the fact that her friend was watching her draw from over her shoulder.
"So, how long was I gone?" Annora asked offhandedly as she sketched. Katie gave a wry grin at her friend's attempted nonchalance before she answered.
"Only about a week. You disappeared last Thursday, so you missed school Friday, but I called in for you and said that you had the flu. On Sunday night we had a huge snowstorm blow through, so Monday was a snow day, and it seemed like every night after that, except for last night, we had a lot of snow, so you only really missed school on Friday."
The sixteen-year old gave her friend a grateful smile as she went back o her drawing. As the familiar features of a certain State Alchemist and his brother began to take shape, Katie opened her mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by their English teacher walking into the room.
"Great, Satan has arrived," the raven-haired girl hissed as she tugged warningly on the sleeve of Annora's jacket. The sixteen-year old looked up and scowled at the older woman that was currently jotting things down on the chalkboard up at the front of the room before she hastily stuffed her drawing into her binder.
Until she had met Envy, Annora had never thought that she would feel that much dislike for any one person as she did with Ms. Baker. The last time that Ms. Baker had found her drawing before class started, she had taken her entire sketchbook and criticized her artwork before throwing it in the trashcan, saying that it was nothing more than childish junk and that it needed to go where it belonged. Katie had somehow managed to sneak up before class had gotten out and retrieved the sketchbook, so Annora hadn't lost all of her drawings and art assignments.
Unfortunately, this little incident had fostered a burning hatred for the older woman within the entire class. That, and her sadistic tendency to assign homework and classwork with impossibly short due dates.
Ms. Baker scrutinized the assembled group of teens in front of her for several moments before she let out a muffled snort, obviously one of disapproval.
"Well, now that we've come back from our little… unexpected vacation… some of us sooner than others," she announced smugly, and Annora flushed angrily at the hidden barb, biting down on the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't say something stupid. She had disappeared last Thursday, and as a result missed class on Friday. "I think that a pop quiz is in order."
The older woman's grin widened even further as several kids called out in protest, especially since they had just started on Shakespeare the last school day before the snow day was called. Ms. Baker stayed silent for several moments, a diabolical smirk creeping across her face as the watched the students groan, voice protests, and in Annora's case, mutter a curse under her breath as she slumped forward and smacked her head on her desk.
"Hmm, do you all not want to do the pop quiz then?" the woman asked innocently, and was almost blown over by the resounding "YES!" that was shouted at her. "Very well. Since you don't want to do the quiz, we'll have a new assignment."
"Oh hell," Annora whispered softly to Katie. "Why do I suddenly have a really bad feeling about this?"
"That's because you're sane."
"You are to compose a sonnet," Ms. Baker said with a nauseatingly sweet smile on her face as groans and protests rippled through the students, crashing down on their inhumane teacher. "You will have until the end of the class period to do this." The protests increased by at least tenfold. "And it's worth sixty percent of your final grade, no exceptions."
Everyone fell silent as they all glared balefully at their teacher, silently praying that lightning would strike what had to be the devil in disguise. Or that she would at least spontaneously combust right in front of them, that way they could all witness her demise.
Unfortunately, there was also a running bet that Ms. Baker slept in a coffin, and either fire or a wooden stake through the heart would be needed to successfully eliminate the evil in human form.
You would be surprised at how much of the class would have done the Snoopy dance at their teacher being reduced to something that they could suck up with a Dust Buster.
"Evil hag!" Katie hissed angrily as she glared up at Ms. Baker, and Annora just nodded silently in response before she reached down under her desk and pulled the textbook out from under her seat. The sixteen-year old flipped through the book for a few moments before she came to the section on sonnets, and let out a sigh as she let the book lay open on a page with a sonnet written by Shakespeare printed on it, with the syntax layout for the poem on the opposite page.
"Why do I have the feeling that dear old Willie Shakespeare is going to be having an aneurism by the end of the day?" Annora muttered to Katie as she started coming up with ideas for her sonnet, a slight frown crossing her face.
"Why's that?"
"Because he's going to have a bunch of high-schoolers butchering some of his best poems. I think that would give anyone a reason to go on a rampage."
"So we're going to have some 500-year old English playwright come after us as a zombie? That's a lovely thought. Do you think we can convince him to eat Ms. Baker first?"
"Only if we bribe him, and cover her with barbeque sauce, 'cause she'd probably taste awful," the teenager said as she gave a nonchalant shrug, writing down the lines of her poem as they came to her on a sheet of notebook paper, stopping and counting every few lines to make sure that she was keeping up with the correct syntax. "You'd better get going on your poem; otherwise you'll get in trouble."
Katie muttered a curse under her breath as she dove into her own poem, cursing her teacher silently with everything she had as she started jolting down lines. Annora arched an eyebrow when she caught snatches of what her friend was grumbling before a wry smile crossed her face. She never knew that Katie even knew some of those words, much less used them.
Maybe she was a bad influence.
Stifling a chuckle at the thought, the sixteen-year old returned her attention to her own sonnet and resumed writing, finding it surprisingly easy to print the words that seemed to correspond to her feelings.
By the end of the period, only a few people had actually managed to finish their sonnets, and out of those few, most of them had just thrown some random crap together in the hopes that their teacher would at least accept it. Annora stayed seated as she read over her sonnet for a few moments, making sure that everything was a good as she could make it in the amount of time that she had been given. With a sigh, the teenager got to her feet and headed up to the front of the room, where she lay her poem down on top of the small stack that was already there. Before she could even move to go back to her seat, she felt a chill creep down her spine as Ms. Baker came up behind her.
"Well well, what's this Miss Thomas?" the older woman asked in a deceptively curious tone, her gray eyes boring into the teen's own brown ones. "You finished your sonnet already? I'm amazed."
Annora forced herself to bite back the scathing retort that immediately came to mind at the woman's depreciating comment, schooling her face into a neutral look.
"It just seemed really easy," she said nervously, and silently cursed when a sadistic gleam flashed through her teacher's eyes.
"Really? Well then, I don't suppose that you would mind if I read your sonnet out loud for the class to hear then, would you?" Ms. Baker said as a slow smirk crossed her face, and Annora was faintly reminded of Envy as she stared at the older woman. "Return to your seat Miss Thomas, and then I'll read your… artistic endeavor."
Annora silently called the woman every foul name she could possibly think of as she tried to calmly walk back to her desk, and tried not to cringe as her teacher started reading her sonnet out loud to the entire class.
"There is so oft' what one may never see
We stroll by unmindful of another
Through snow, and rain, and the warm summer breeze
Relying on sight alone, miss the other.
A fading pain, a feeling of great loss,
Is all that informs us of what we missed.
Laugh if you wish, lost love's a pained cost
If you think only that we never kissed.
Once we meet, the mem'ry never fades
Like a stoked fire, fanned to a flaming blaze
We search each other out, even if in Hades
Nothing can hide us, not even a heavy haze.
When your arms are around me, I can't cry
But all that I ask is teach me to fly."
By the time Ms. Baker was done reading, Annora's entire face was as red as a tomato, and the top of her head was barely even visible over the top of her desk, seeing as she had continuously sunk down lower and lower in her seat during her teacher's recital of her sonnet. The older woman shot the humiliated teenager a calculating look as a knowing smirk flickered across her lips, setting the sheet of notebook paper down with the rest of the sonnets.
"So Miss Thomas, who's the lucky boy?" the teacher asked, and her smirk widened as she watched Annora redden even more at the question.
"Nobody," the sixteen-year old managed to force out as she tried to retain what little was left of her dignity, only to have it shattered like a dropped glass as her English teacher let out a mocking laugh.
"It sure doesn't sound that way. However, the boy that has actually attracted the affections of a scruffy, lovesick little tomboy like you has my sympathy. You'll never be anything more than one of 'the guys' to him, the person that he'll go to when he needs help getting a gift for his real girlfriend for her-"
RIIINGG!!
Annora was never so happy to hear the dismissal bell ring in her life as she snatched up her binder and shoved it haphazardly into her messenger bag before she flung it over her shoulder and bolted out the door before everyone else. The teenager made it down to the end of the hallway before Katie caught up to her, grabbing a hold of the back of her friend's jacket in an attempt to pull her to a stop.
"Annora, stop it!" she pleaded desperately, catching the look of total humiliation and anguish, with a little bit of outrage thrown into the mix, on her best friend's face. "You're the one always telling me not to let that bitch get to me! Now I'm telling you not to listen to her!!"
The taller girl looked back at Katie before she sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, trying desperately to get her feelings back under control. Once she was able to shove the total humiliation aside, a deep raging fury overcame her.
"God, I hate that bitch!!" Annora snarled as she made a violent motion in midair, her brown eyes narrowed dangerously. "What the hell did I ever do to her to deserve that?!"
"Apparently your very existence offends her," Katie remarked dourly with a roll of her eyes before she looked down at her watch. "Look, geometry's in three minutes, so we'd better head downstairs before the bell rings so we're not late."
"Oh thank god. Mrs. Harkner is actually sane, and she knows how to teach without being a total hag too," the sixteen-year old sighed before she winced as a thought hit her. "Do you think she'll be okay if I turn in last week's assignment in on Monday? I kind of… well, lost it."
Katie arched an eyebrow as she gave Annora sideways glance before she gave a sympathetic smile. "Well, I don't know about that one, since we don't have Mrs. Harkner anymore…"
"Say WHAT?!"
"Annora, she left on maternity leave last Friday. We have a new math teacher now."
"Oh yeah… I forgot about that. So, who's the new teacher?"
The raven-haired girl let out a small giggle at her friend's question, giving the other teen cause to look at her strangely and take a precautionary step away from her. Katie immediately sobered up, although she couldn't help but grin as she looked over at Annora.
"Well, his name is Gregory Trevor, and… he's really cute."
If it had been at all possible, Annora would have sweatdropped as she stared at the bespectacled girl, a slight frown crossing her face as she arched an eyebrow.
"You think… our new math teacher… is cute," she said slowly in a tone that indicated she thought that Katie had lost her mind. "Kate, I hate to break it to you, but you've lost it."
"You know, my psychiatrist says that I've lost my marbles too, but what does he know?" the girl argued. "My marbles are in a plastic bag in my closet."
"Yet more proof to my statement," Annora stated blandly as they drew up to their classroom and walked in through the open door, heading to their respective seats.
"You're mean!"
"Tough."
The teenager considered their odd little conversation over as she flopped down in her chair near the back of the room and pulled out the book underneath her desk, at least until a familiar voice caused her to jerk her head up and let out a startled yelp as she tried to jerk backwards, only to fall out of her seat and flat on her ass as she stared at the teacher in absolute disbelief. Annora felt her jaw damn near hit the floor as she gaped incredulously at the man standing at the front of her classroom, completely oblivious to the stares she was getting from the rest of the class.
There, standing up at the whiteboard with the attendance sheet in hand, wearing a pressed blue button-up long-sleeved shirt, black slacks, and a tie, stood Greed. The thought of running out of the classroom screaming briefly crossed the teenager's mind as she struggled to get her brain working properly again.
"Ho-ly shit…" Annora managed to whisper hoarsely as she looked at Greed, who merely arched a dark eyebrow at her reaction before a look of understanding flashed through his… wait a sec, blue eyes?!
"Well, I never thought that geometry was something to get that excited about," he drawled before he grinned slightly at the teen. "Or perhaps you were referring to the fact of having a new teacher?"
"Uhh… yes sir. I'm sorry about that," Annora said nervously as she got to her feet and sat back down at her desk, trying not to freak out over the fact that the homunculus who had kidnapped her was currently her new geometry teacher. "I wasn't here last Friday."
"Oh, so you would be Annora Thomas than, correct?" Greed asked as he looked down at the roster sheet. "Yes, your friend told me that you weren't feeling well. I trust that you're feeling better this week?"
"Yes sir," the teenager whispered as she stared fixedly down at her math book, trying not to let the man know just how freaked out she really was. The homunculus looked at her oddly before he let out a loud laugh.
"Kid, you don't need to keep 'yes sir'-ing me like you're in the military," he chuckled as he ran a hand over his short-ish black hair. "You can either call me Greg or Mr. Trevor, but don't call me sir. It makes me feel old."
Annora blinked as she looked up at the older man, her eyes widening slightly at the sudden realization that hit her. Maybe this man… wasn't Greed, maybe he only looked like him. As the teenager was puzzling over the possibilities, as well as the continued doubts of her own sanity, Mr. Trevor looked over at her before he set the attendance sheet down on the podium up front.
"Annora, after the lesson, I'd like for you to come back to my desk so we can discuss what you missed last week," he said evenly, and the sixteen-year old nodded in agreement, before he turned around and launched into the lesson. Hesitating slightly for a few moments, the girl watched her new teacher before she started writing down the information on the whiteboard, shoving all thoughts of Amestris and Mr. Trevor's uncanny resemblance to Greed out of her mind. Annora made sure that she took notes throughout the entire thing, and once the lesson was over, jolted down the homework assignment for that weekend in the margin at the top of the page.
While the rest of her classmates got started on their homework, the teenager got up out of her seat and approached Mr. Trevor's desk at the back of the room, where the man was grading last week's homework that the rest of the class had handed in earlier. Annora waited for a few moments, shifting nervously from foot to foot as she watched her new teacher grade the assignments before he set them down and looked up at her.
"So, did you understand today's lesson?" the dark-haired man asked, and Annora nodded once in agreement as she tried not to fidget.
"Yeah, I don't think I'm that far behind. I just need to catch up on the two homework assignments that I missed while I was sick and I'll be okay," she said before she gave a slightly nervous laugh at Mr. Trevor's questioning look. "Umm… the homework that was due last Friday… I kind of lost it, and my book, so I was wondering if it was okay if I stopped by after school and borrowed one of the class books so I could get it all done over the weekend."
"Well, I don't see a problem with that as long as you get the book back to me before class starts on Monday," the teacher said evenly. Annora was about to give her thanks when an odd look flashed through her instructor's eyes, and she hesitated as he suddenly looked at her speculatively, a slight frown crossing his face before it turned into a knowing grin.
"You know, I'm curious as to why you reacted the way you did when you saw me earlier," Mr. Trevor said calmly, and Annora felt a slight thrill of unease run through her as she stared back at her math teacher.
"I wasn't expecting a new teacher yet to be honest," she said with an embarrassed laugh, lying through her teeth. "At first I thought I was in somebody else's classroom."
"Hmm… is that so?" Mr. Trevor smiled suddenly as he gave the girl a knowing look. "You know, you really shouldn't lie to your teachers… doll."
Annora felt her blood run cold as she stared wide-eyed at the man currently grinning at her, and immediately took a precautionary step back as her feet automatically shifted into a fighting position.
"Greed?" she asked nervously, and was rewarded with that familiar knowing chuckle issuing from the homunculi's throat as he leaned back in his chair, giving her a speculative look.
"You got it, kid," Greed said as he lightly clapped his hands a few times in a slightly mocking applause, although there was a look in his eyes that told the teen he wasn't making fun of her. "Although I can honestly say that I never expected to see you of all people here."
"What? Why?"
"Listen doll, do you even have any idea where this place is?" the homunculus asked, and Annora pulled a face as she looked down at the ground, scuffing at the tiled floor idly with the toe of her hiking boot.
"Yeah, I think it's the other side of the Gate," she stated simply with a frown before she looked up at Greed and caught the astonished look on his face. "And yes, before you even ask, I am originally from here."
The homunculus blinked in surprise as he stared at the teenager, both of his eyebrows arching all the way up into his hairline as he regarded Annora with a mixture of curiosity and disbelief. Annora frowned as she crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes upwards, muttering something under her breath about men being idiots.
"Then what about the whole deal with the Fullmetal pipsqueak?"
"Look, I don't know how I ended up in Amestris, but I did about a week ago…well, it was a week ago here. The only reason I even ended up with Ed and Al was because… well, Mustang kind of ordered them to keep an eye on me until further notice… the bastard," the sixteen-year old grumbled mutinously before she fixed the man currently posing as her teacher with a suspicious look. "But how the hell did you get here?"
To her surprise, Greed actually winced as he leaned forward and started shuffling through the papers on his desk, trying to look like he was working as he spoke with the confused teenager.
"I died," he stated flatly, and hastily elaborated on his situation when he caught the shocked look planted on Annora's face. "I'm not going to tell you how, so you'll have to ask your little alchemist friend about it if you ever get the chance. But anyways, after I died, I ended up at the Gate, somehow. It sucked me in, and then I was falling through the air, in a way I guess, before I fell into something. The next thing I know, I'm in some human's body, but he looks just like me… with a few subtle differences."
"Wait a sec… so you're saying that you're really…?"
"Yes, while I am… or was, the homunculus Greed, I'm also the man Gregory Trevor. It took a couple days for me to get used to it, especially the part where's he's a teacher," the man muttered as he ran a hand through his hair. "The gods must enjoy the irony."
"Unfortunately I think it's not just you they enjoy fucking with," Annora grumbled bitterly as she stuffed her hands in her jacket pockets. Greed arched an eyebrow before a teasing smirk crossed his face.
"Language; you're in school right now," he said simply, and the teenager shot him a dirty look in response.
"You know, you sound like a teacher now."
"You say that like it's an insult."
"That's probably because it was. You actually have to work for a living like the rest of the world now."
"I am in control of your grade now; you do realize that, right?" Greed pointed out with a slight smirk, and Annora frowned slightly before she rolled her eyes upwards.
"Great," she sighed dramatically. "I'm doomed."
The former homunculus chuckled a bit at her dramatics before he looked up at the clock on the wall.
"You should probably get back to your seat," he pointed out as he returned to grading the homework. "The bell's going to ring in about five minutes."
"Now you really do sound like a teacher."
"Shut up, brat, and get to work."
The teenager fought the urge to stick her tongue out at the older man, although that didn't stop her from giving him a slightly cheeky grin. Greed just sighed and rolled his eyes upwards before he pointed meaningfully at her desk. Annora arched an eyebrow as she glanced down at her watch, frowning slightly before she turned around and headed back to her seat so she could at least get started on tonight's homework. However, when Katie started poking the teenager in the small of her back with her pencil, she started to have doubts that she'd actually get anything done.
"Katie, not now," she growled warningly as she shot a glare over her shoulder. She did not want to be doing homework all weekend!
"But what did Mr. Trevor say?" the raven-haired girl whined pleadingly as she continued to prod her friend in the back.
"For you to get a life," Annora snapped as she turned around and resumed working on the math problems in her book. "Katie, it was about my missing assignments. It has nothing to do with you, geez."
"But you were back there for so long…"
"Katie, I missed a bunch of stuff. Drop it."
"But-"
"Katie," Annora whirled around in her seat and glared daggers at her friend, a dangerous gleam in her eyes as she glowered at the shorter girl. "Drop. It."
Before the bespectacled girl could say anything, the bell rang, and Annora immediately threw her stuff into her messenger bag before she flung it over her shoulder and stalked out of the room. She really didn't want to deal with any of this right now.
--
"So that's it then," Mustang stated with a frown on his face as he leaned back in his chair, giving Ethan the evil eye. "You and your sister are from some… other world where alchemy doesn't exist, and there is no such country as Amestris. You also claimed to have a form of amnesia on certain… subjects, at least until you saw your sister, which apparently acted as a trigger for the return of your memories. And you, a member of the 'American' military of your country, somehow ended up here, and deliberately lied to us in an attempt to-"
"I did it because I didn't know what the hell was going on!!" Ethan roared as he shot up out of his seat and glared at his commanding officer, his fists clenched tightly against his sides. "Don't you dare go making assumptions about me when you have NO FUCKING CLUE why I did it!!"
The two men were currently in Mustang's office, with Armstrong standing guard at the door, while Hawkeye, Hughes, Breda, Havoc, Falman, Fuery, Ed, and Al all sat assembled in an assortment of chairs that been pulled in so they could all discuss the current change in events. Right now both Ethan and Mustang were within ten seconds of going for each other's throats, and to hell with the consequences.
"And do you know what the penalty for spying is?" the Flame Alchemist retorted coldly. "Here in Amestris you face the firing squad. I'm fairly certain that the military in your world doesn't look too kindly on spies either. If I were you boy, I'd-"
BAM BAM BAM!!
Mustang and Ethan both stared wordlessly at the bullet holes in the wall only inches from their faces before they turned around slightly to look at Hawkeye, who had her still-smoking gun out and aimed directly at both men.
"Colonel, Private, I suggest that both of you stop shouting and discuss this civilly," the stern woman stated calmly, ignoring the fact that she had just made two full-grown men damn near wet themselves. Ed, despite the seriousness of the situation, couldn't help but bite back a snicker at the fact that he was able to witness Mustang get his ass reamed by the First Lieutenant.
Alphonse just sighed and shook his head as he carefully held Twilight in his gauntleted hands, the collie puppy having gone into a frantic meltdown mode when Annora disappeared without a trace. So pretty much it was his job now to keep the young canine calm, at least until they could locate their missing friend.
"I'll discuss this calmly when Private Thomas stops lying about his origins," Mustang commented tartly as he shot Ethan a filthy look. The younger soldier merely responded in kind with a similar look as he arched an eyebrow before he calmly flipped the older man the bird.
The obscene meaning behind the gesture was not lost on the Flame Alchemist, and before anyone could even blink Mustang had his fingers together and snapped them, unleashing a tongue of flame at the sandy-haired Private. Reacting instantly, Ed lashed out with his right foot and knocked Ethan's feet out from underneath him, sending the taller man sprawling flat on his back as the controlled burst of fire flashed overhead. Before anyone else could do something, Hawkeye fired her gun at Mustang once again, and this time she aimed dangerously close to valuable male body parts, reducing the famed and feared Flame Alchemist into a blubbering mass collapsed at her feet.
"Y'know Colonel Bastard, I don't think Annora would appreciate you incinerating her brother after she went through all that heartache after being told that he was dead," Ed stated dryly as he addressed the quivering heap that was his superior. "Remember what she did as payback the last time you did something to her?"
Ethan snorted as he got to his feet, eyeing the gloves that Mustang still had on warily.
"What did she do?" he asked with a shaky grin. Ed flashed a knowing smirk at the older man, knowing that the Private realized that he was trying to lighten the mood so that nobody tried to take anyone's head off.
"She passed around pictures of him in a skirt."
The twenty-year old blinked a few times before he started howling with laughter, collapsing back in his seat as he placed a hand over his face. Mustang just muttered something under his breath about demon spawn as he attempted to ignore Ethan's obvious amusement.
"Yep, that's definitely my sister," he chuckled. "She always did know how to get me back for some of the junk that I pulled on her when we were kids."
Ed arched an eyebrow at the older man's comment while Hawkeye shot the younger soldier a meaningful look, and Ethan sighed as he got back on the subject.
"Look, I didn't exactly expect everything to go all FUBAR on me," he muttered as he ran a hand through his short dirty-blonde hair, knocking some dust left over from the homunculi's attack loose. "Hell, I barely even knew who I was up until about two hours ago."
Mustang arched an eyebrow as he regained his usual arrogant attitude. "And what exactly do you mean by 'FUBAR'?"
"FUBAR: Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition. It's an acronym," Ethan stated shortly. "We used it a lot back in Iraq when things went down the crapper. And if this isn't a shitty situation, I don't know what is." The young man let out a sigh as he tried to pull himself together before he looked up at the man who was now his commanding officer, a slight frown evident on his face. "Look, Colonel, right now all I want to do is find my sister, nothing else. I could care less of what you might think about me right now, but I have to find Annora, and I'll do it with or without your approval."
Mustang eyed the younger man staring up at him with determination evident on his face before he let out a sigh and shook his head.
"I'm getting too soft," he muttered before he faced Ethan sternly. "Alright then, for now we'll allow you to remain in your original position in the military while you try to figure out what happened to your sister. Fullmetal can help you with any alchemic research that you may need, since you obviously have no clue about the workings of alchemy."
"What the-," Ed began, only to have Al clap a hand over his brother's mouth before something foul could emerge, and nodded in agreement to the Colonel's orders while the older Elric raged and flailed about wildly in his armored arms. Mustang ignored the ruckus going on behind him as he turned around to face the rest of his subordinates, his dark eyes narrowing slightly as he focused on the somewhat anxious man standing besides Havoc.
"Private Thomas, may I also make it perfectly clear that you are to accompanied at all times by at least one senior officer, at least until you have proved yourself deserving of our trust," he stated bluntly, and was rewarded with Ethan turning slightly red with outrage while Havoc and the others all looked annoyed. Hughes let out an exasperated sigh as he rolled his eyes upwards and clapped a hand over his face, muttering something under his breath about Roy going too far as he tried to hold Ethan back, and failed.
"And why do I have to do this?" the younger man all but growled as he stepped forward, hazel eyes boring a hole into his CO's own dark ones. "Why the hell do you need to assign a bunch of babysitters to me when I am more than capable of taking care of myself?"
Mustang looked right at the younger soldier and leveled a non-nonsense glare at him, a frown crossing his face as he stared stiffly at the Private.
"I think you know exactly why you'll need 'babysitters', Ethan," the Flame Alchemist stated coldly, giving the younger man a frigid look before he spun around to face the rest of his subordinates. "So, who feels up to the task of watching Private Thomas for the evening?"
Almost immediately everyone started shouting out protests, stating the reasons why they could not before they hastily excused themselves from the room.
"Gracia's got a girl's night out scheduled with some of her friends, so I have to watch Elysia tonight," Hughes said as he ducked out the door, waving goodbye to his higher-ranking friend. "I'm afraid that I can't do anything for tonight. See ya in the morning, Roy."
"We've got files to go through," Breda and Falman said simultaneously before they bolted out of the room, leaving their commanding officer staring slack-jawed at the spot that they had been occupying only seconds before.
"I've got a date," Havoc stated shortly before he practically sprinted from the room, not waiting for Mustang to sabotage yet another one of his relationships. Ironically, Ethan had been the one who had set him up with this particular girl, and he was really hoping that things would work out tonight.
Ed and Al just exchanged knowing glances before they gathered up Twilight, Annora's backpack and laptop bag and just left the room without a word. They had more important thing to do, like some serious research.
"The communications department needs my help with some of their equipment," Fuery muttered as he slowly backed out of the room, and then took off running down the halls.
This left Ethan, Mustang, and Hawkeye all standing in the now-empty office, with the Flame Colonel gaping wordlessly at the vacant room before him while Ethan struggled vainly to suppress a smirk.
"H-how?" he stammered as he turned around to look at Hawkeye before his expression twisted into one of extreme outrage. "How did I get such a pathetic staff?!"
Mustang froze at the sudden sound of the First Lieutenant removing the safety to her handgun, and inwardly cursed fate as the weapon was removed from its holster.
"Why don't you watch Private Thomas tonight sir, since you seem to be free for the evening?" the blonde woman suggested as she arched an eyebrow. Ethan pulled a face as he made a loud retching noise, only to immediately stop when he caught sight of the supremely dirty look that the Colonel was currently giving him.
"But I have a-" the dark-haired man began as he turned around to face his sole female subordinate, only to fall silent as he wilted visible under the intense glare that she suddenly leveled at him. "I'll do it."
"Good. Good night, sir."
And with that single statement the formidable woman spun about sharply on her heel and left the room, taking her much-dreaded handgun with her. Ethan's eyebrows rose up into his hairline before he cast a glance over at Mustang and let out a low whistle.
"Wow, now that's what I call whipped," he joked, and immediately lost the use of his voice as a murderous aura surrounded his commanding officer, and the older man's fingers started to twitch ominously.
"Not one word, Thomas."
"You're no fun."
"I believe that was more than one word."
Ethan swallowed loudly at the obvious threat in the Flame Alchemist's voice before he decided that it was probably a good idea to keep his mouth shut. He shifted nervously from foot to foot before he went and stood over by the door, snatching up his military-issued overcoat and rucksack from his desk while waiting for Mustang to get ready to leave the quiet office for the night.
--
"Damn that Colonel Bastard!" Ed snarled darkly as he stalked through the slushy street in the rapidly darkening twilight, Al trailing along behind him. "Who the hell does he think he is, ordering us to just drop everything to do research for Annora's brother?!"
The younger Elric decided that it was probably best not to say anything and just let his brother vent, knowing that it was his way of trying not to go ballistic over what had taken place only a few hours earlier. Ed continued to rant for a few more minutes, going into very vivid and graphic detail about what he'd like to do to his superior, before he finally let out a weary sigh and fell silent, aiming a violent kick at the random lumps of snow that occasionally entered his path.
"Hey Al, do you think what Ethan said was true?" the teenage alchemist finally asked after a few minutes of awkward silence, glancing over his shoulder at his younger brother. "About them being from some other world I mean."
"I don't know Brother," the possessed suit of armor admitted reluctantly as he looked down at the small black and white collie pup that he still held in his hands. "Annora kept telling us that she was from some other place the entire time she was with us, so maybe she was telling the truth."
"But that's what I mean!" Ed exploded as he spun around to face Alphonse, frustration evident in his voice. "This whole thing is all so unscientific, but looking at it as a bunch of… of mystical events is the only way that it even makes any sense!!"
"Then maybe that means that there's something else out there… something more," the fifteen-year old offered hesitantly as he looked over at his brother with wide red eyes. The golden-eyed teen gave a disbelieving snort at this as he returned his attention to the slushy ground, aiming a kick a stray chunk of ice that lay in his path.
Al just shook his head and let out a weary sigh before Twilight suddenly sat up in his arms and let out a sharp 'yip', startling the two brothers. Before either of them could say anything, the young dog leapt out of Al's arms and took off running down a nearby alley, yapping excitedly all the way.
"Oi, get back here you mangy mutt!" Ed shouted as he ran after the animal, ignoring the unfamiliar feeling of Annora's backpack bouncing around on his shoulders as he ran, knowing that his friend would kill him if anything happened to her precious pet. Al hesitated for only a second before he followed his brother in chasing the dog, not noticing that this was the very same alley that he and Ed had first met Annora in three months ago.
--
Annora pulled a face as she looked askance at what was supposed to be her lunch, her nose wrinkling slightly at the smell that wafted upwards towards her nostrils.
"Ewww…" she muttered as she gripped her styrofoam tray tightly and moved away from the lunch counter so the person behind her could order their food. This was supposed to be beef sauce over egg noodles, but it looked and smelled like something that even the Creature from the Black Lagoon wouldn't touch with a stick. The teenager let out a sigh as she meandered over to the salad bar and snagged some fresh onions that she could add to her 'lunch' to disguise the taste, as well as an orange sorbet cup, before she started looking around the cafeteria for a place to sit.
The sixteen-year old meandered about the cafeteria for a few minutes, searching avidly for a free seat, before she let out a long sigh of defeat and headed reluctantly out onto the outside patio area, where those unlucky enough to not find a seat inside the heated cafeteria had to go and eat. Annora shivered slightly as she stepped outside and was immediately hit with a frigid blast of air before she trudged over to an empty table and plopped down in one of the vacant seats. Not even a minute later she was joined by Katie, who flopped down besides her with a tray of slop of her own in hand, as well as a snack-size bag of ranch Doritos.
"Is it just me, or is this stuff more disgusting than usual?" the dark-haired girl asked as she stole a glance over at Annora's food and pulled a face, wrinkling her nose slightly. The taller teen arched an eyebrow as she stole a glance at her friend out of the corner of her eye before she picked up her plastic fork and prodded experimentally at her 'mystery meat' sauce. The supposedly warm sauce jiggled in response, causing Annora to draw back with a frown.
"It's more disgusting than usual," she stated coolly as she reached forward and poked at her food again, and was rewarded with it twitching. Katie gave a resigned shrug as she opened up her bag of chips, and watched as Annora tried to jab her fork into the wiggling mass, only to have its plastic tines bounce off of the surface.
"Now this is just flat out disgusting. I think my appetite just filed for bankruptcy," she said with a growl as she indicated at the seemingly innocent meat cream sauce and egg noodles with green beans on her tray. "My food's moving, and I know that it's not supposed to be doing that. I usually like my food dead."
"Aw c'mon, it can't be that bad," Katie said soothingly, only to have her attempts at negotiating go straight down the tubes when one of the kids sitting near them suddenly gagged loudly. Immediately the two girls both looked over in his direction as the senior scowled down at the offending food before he stood up and threw the tray into the trash can, where it bounced off of the garbage at the top and landed on the pavement with a wet 'slap'. Annora stared at the scene for a few seconds before she jabbed a finger accusingly over in the direction of the garbage can.
"Katie, look at that. Even the trash can won't eat that crap," she retorted as she arched an eyebrow challengingly. "What exactly does that tell you?"
"That the trash can is bulimic?" the bespectacled girl offered innocently, and was rewarded with her friend letting out a low groan of annoyance as she slapped her face with her hand, muttering something under her breath about 'patience is a virtue'. Once the sixteen-year old felt that she could speak without trying to hit her friend, Annora removed her hand from her face.
"No, it means that the food here is evil," she stated patiently, and was rewarded with a slight 'oh' of understanding from Katie before she decided to try her luck with the 'suicide concoction' so she wouldn't be starving until the end of school. "Here endeth the lesson."
Just as she was about to take a forkful of the questionable slop and put it in her mouth, a familiar voice from behind her caused her to freeze in her seat, brown eyes widening in horror.
"Well now, isn't this a surprise," the person behind her sneered before a smug undertone crept into his voice. "I told you that you couldn't hide from me, bitch."
Annora felt the plastic fork fall from her numb fingers and land with a seemingly loud clatter on her tray as she slowly turned around, silently praying that the speaker wasn't who she thought it was. Any and all hope that she was mistaken immediately shattered as she found herself looking into a pair of familiar violet eyes, and a chill ran down her spine as the homunculus smirked at her, crossing his arms over his chest as his two associates watched his actions from a few feet away.
It was Envy. He looked a little different, a little more real, but it was still Envy… and he had brought Lust and Gluttony along for the ride.
Annora swallowed nervously as she eyed the three homunculi before her, a cold chill creeping into the pit of her stomach as realization hit her.
She was so screwed.
--
Well now, sorry for the long wait everyone, but school started up again for me, coupled with a nasty case of writer's block. And I made the chapter a little longer to apologize for the lateness.
The sonnet that Annora writes for her English class is actually one that I wrote for my own Brit Lit class back in my senior year of high school, back when I was only starting with this story. The poem is also called 'What One May Never See' and I kind of based it off of the main idea of this fic, which is that you can walk by something so many times without even noticing it, but once your attention is called to it you wonder how the hell you missed something so obvious.
Okay, well I'm going to skip out on review responses for this time since I'm too damn tired and it's late. I hope that you don't want to lynch me now for the wait, and I'll see you guys next chapter.
Sayonara
Wandering Hitokiri
