Ace: Gah, I'm so sorry! I meant to update yesterday, but I kinda got distracted…

Sonya: Yeah, enough to write up another three chapters.

Ace: Hey, I almost finished the story, okay, so shut up!

Greed: Yeah, thanks for that.

Sonya: I really like what you ended up doing to us.

Lela: Stop arguing with Ace over how much you two hate the ending because we all do, and get to the reviews!

Greed: DarkVampirePrincess8 is first. Well, um, you see, I kinda did accept it, but, uh, OH, JUST READ THE CHAPTER TO FIGURE IT OUT!

Lela: And the reason I hated my parents was because my mom physically abused me and my dad sexually abused me because I protected my sisters from them.

Kayla: And yes, we got caught, but how else was he supposed to figure out I was a chimera?

Ace: And there will be a sequel to this one, and likely a sequel to that one as well. I'm just adding so many OCs to catch up with the angels though…

Envy: Now time for my bestest buddy, Furorensu-Chan. I can so totally find you especially since you'd be spazzing on the floor 'cuz of Mustang, and you should be screaming when you see me! Mwahahahahahahahaha!

Lela: Seriously, I'd give it up by now. Not worth the murder.

Kayla: Yay, more encouragement! And as Ace stated, it is almost over. There should only be another 4 chapters at max.

Ed: And I seriously didn't need to know you're gonna steal my boss and lock him in your closet.

Greed: Yay, time to pollute the new reviewer!

Envy: I like the way you think!

Sonya: I do too! *kisses Greed* Okay, the reviewer is CSI Aphrodite, and I will personally be coming around to your house because you want my Greed!

Ace: I DON'T WANT TO DIE BECAUSE I DIDN'T UPDATE!

Kayla: YEAH, DON'T KILL HER BECAUSE OTHERWISE I WON'T BE ABLE TO RAPE ED!

Ed: *sigh* Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist. Now please enjoy the chapter.

19: The Reasons For Everything

Lela couldn't believe Envy could be so tame after he'd kissed her. There was no pressure for sex, and the kissing was mainly instigated by the chimera rather than the homunculus. He was all soft words and gentle caresses because he knew Lela had never been properly in charge before. She didn't want to be in charge though. She'd fallen in love with a sarcastic, possessive bastard, and while she knew he could be sweet and kind, she didn't want him to hold himself back because of her.

Still, she couldn't deny it felt really good when his hands would stroke down her long black hair. She had never purred for anyone but him before. Lying there beside him in their bed, feeling his hands scratch behind her ears soothingly, she finally dared to admit something to him. "I love you, Envy."

His hands paused for a moment before starting up again. "I love you too, kitten," he murmured, sealing his words with a kiss. If only the had noticed the pair of eyes watching their confessions, a pair of little soulless eyes.

Sonya smiled, a few strands of her chestnut hair falling into her face, as she watched Greed trace the bone of her wing slowly with a finger, following its subtle curve. The pair of angel and sin shared a bed every night they could, becoming lovers in every sense of the word. She felt his sigh against her shoulder as he pulled away from her, making himself decent. "Where are you going?" she asked, curious.

"To work. Where else?" he teased. "You coming?"

"Nah. I think I'll play hooky today, catch some more zs."

"Okay. I'll tell the others not to disturb you."

"Please and thank you."

"Edward," Kayla whined, wriggling around on the train seat, "I'm bored."

The blond alchemist interrupted his fearful distanced look to glare at the antsy girl beside him (Al and Winry and everyone who's not Ed doesn't know she can change into a wolf yet). "You were perfectly content to climb over me before to look out the window and entertain yourself."

The instant Kayla got to their compartment, she yanked down the blinds and proceeded to throw her gloves, coat, and hat over a seat pointedly in a display of 'I obey Ed but have my own freewill about me'. Of course, her display was completely ruined when she jumped onto him in a flying tackle and then sat in his lap as if that was completely normal behavior, which for Kayla, it was. He sighed, pushing her to the cushion beside him so that he could eat Gracia Hughes's pie that Winry had brought, which Kayla had rather happily declined, saying that it smelled strongly enough to make her not want to risk overwhelming her sensitive taste buds, which came as a relief to Ed since Kayla was hyper enough without adding sugar to the mix.

Kayla wouldn't stand for being pushed to the side, but even her urge to be close to her mate had to bow to getting between Edward and his food. Instead, she patiently waited for him to be done before climbing back on him, kicking off her shoes so that her back paws could balance on the bones of his legs, and pressing her front paws and face to the glass of the window. Her tail wagged frantically, smacking him in the chest, and she shifted her weight about eagerly, unknowingly presenting the young alchemist with a nice view of her butt. Face reddening because Winry and Al were there with them, he yanked on her tail so that her butt was now firmly on his lap. "Your nails are sharp," he explained to her confused gaze (Kayla's wolf instincts view attention on Ed's part, be it good or bad, as a wonderful thing, so the only way for him to properly discipline her is to either ignore her or attempt to reason with her human instincts).

"You're just grumpy because of your impeding self-imposed visit to your teacher," she huffed. "Don't take it out on me."

"It's not entirely my fault we're all gonna die when Teacher figures out what we did."

"My God, Brother, she's gonna kill us! I don't want to die without a body!"

"You can both relax. Neither of you are in any real danger."

"What makes you say that, Kayla?"

She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and allow her ears a brief chance to recover from Ed's shouting. "Well, Al won't die because even if his blood seal was destroyed, his mind would only pull his soul back into his body. I mean, yeah, there is a chance the shock could kill him, but from what I've learned, that's only a minor chance. No offense Al," she added quickly, seeing the disgusted look on Edward's face at her cavalier attitude to that. "And as for Edward, well, wolves mate for life, and since I claimed Ed as mine, the primal wolf part of me is incredibly possessive and protective as a result, and the protectiveness is something even the human part of me can fully endorse." Yawning her and conspicuously flashing her slightly-longer canines, she growled, "And I fully intend to protect my mate from any homicidal maniacs," (apparently Envy isn't included in that since he's only a homicidal cross-dressing palm tree), "even if that homicidal maniac does happen to be your old alchemy teacher."

"… You do realize she'll kill you if she discovers you're a chimera or you try to protect me."

Kayla smirked. "I assure you, Edward, there is no human who could manage to kill me single-handedly. Us Ark Angels are made of some damn tough stuff."

Ace: The end of another chapter, and we are even closer to the end of everything.

Kayla: Aw. And I don't like what you're planning to do to me either.

Ace: *whisper whisper*

Kayla: DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!

Ed: Suddenly, I am so much more concerned.

Ace: You should be.

Lela: Since Greed, Sonya, and Envy ran off to go find out where CSI Aphrodite lives, I'll offer the reward for reviewers as a magical time-warp that will take you to a special area with Ed's train compartment, only you can have whoever you want to climb all over to look out the window.

Ace: I LIKE TRAINS!

Kayla: I DO TOO! *runs off with Ace to train station*

Ed: I guess I should go after them to make sure they don't blow up the train station. *follows after the pair*

Lela: Right behind you.