And it's chapter 7. Now, I've taken reviews, read them, thought about them, burnt them, waited, realized they were useful, searched for the majority of my natural born life for it, realized I had copies on the corner of my desk, and re read them.

Hence, I've thought out the plot further, decided some things. First, let's step up the romance!

(flicks a light switch. Lights turn down, slow, deep bass music fills the air, a heart shaped bed rises out of the floor.)

Yeh, maybe that's a bit too much romance just right now.

(flicks light switch.)

Now, let's try this again. (flicks switch.)

(picture the perfect football fan room complete with world class cheerleaders holding trays of snackfood.)

Yeh, nice for me, probably not romantic. (flicks switch off)

Enough of that. Now, just to clarify.

This was mentioned at the piano section. Anything I said about the make up of the piano wires is complete bullshit. In fact, anything I said piano related was probably bullshit.

There, just had to correct that. I always forget important details like that.

Now, for my four favourite words.

On with the story.

Ed lay on his bed. It was around 7 pm and the school was closed, staff in their humble abodes, waiting for the next day.

Of course, Ed wasn't going to get any sleep. No, not after what he had overheard earlier today.

FLASHBACK

Ed walked down the hall, intent on grabbing some asprin. He had drank quite a bit after getting back from the reunion of Souls, mostly to get rid of the memory of Mr. Evans. When he got to the clinic though, he heard a conversation. He couldn't quite make it out so he probed the room.

"Mabaa is getting impatient. She wants to know the progress of the black blood subject." Ed couldn't name the voice.

"Eurka, based on the blood sample, the subject is nowhere near becoming a full Kishin." Ed recognized that voice as Medusa. He also remembered Mabaa was the head of the witches.

"Well, she's getting pissed. I'd find a way to up the soul intake of the black blood soon or someone might drop the information that you're a witch." Ed froze.

A witch, in the school?

Now that he thought about it, it was to be expected, secrecy was not something he was a stranger to.

"I'll work on it, but I'll need another blood sample. By the way, a student came in, apparently hurt by black blood, do you know anything about this?"

"No, I don't. All I know about this black blood project is that you research it, I move it, Mabaa fuses it with a person. It's all hush hush. Now, get to work. Ribbit." There was a small click as the window closed.

"And again, what would life be like if I wasn't a witch? Perhaps if I lived in Norway... Why Norway?"

Ed walked in the opposite direction of the clinic, stunned by this information.

END FLASHBACK

Currently, he was deciding what to do about this new information.

He could go to Skully and quietly drop a hint, he could confront her about it, or he could do nothing.

He waited, and waited, and thought, and thought, and looked at the clock.

"Option two," he muttered. Getting up, he walked to door, shutting the lights off. As an afterthought he grabbed his metal vest and put it on underneath his clothing. It never hurt to be prepared.

He locked the door behind him, strolling down the hall to Medusa's room. When he got there, he tightened his jacket. No sense letting a possible witch see his protection.

He rapped on the door three times.

"Just a minute," called a voice. Ed waited, his alchemical energy crackling through his being. It was not visible, yet he could feel it.

The door opened, revealing Medusa in a housecoat.

"Edward, what a surprise, can I ask what you're doing here?"

"I just need to talk with you for a bit, do you mind if I come inside?"

"Not at all, come in." She beckoned him inside. He stepped in, taking in his surroundings.

It was a reverse floor plan, everything looking like a mirror, except for the furniture. It was a steady mix of black, white and hints of yellowish orange, giving an aged look. It was all older design, looking very sophisticated yet easygoing.

"So, is there any reason why you decided to come here?" she asked.

"Well, there is one thing I've been wondering," he started. She looked at him.

Alright, moment of Truth.

"Well, more of a random out of the blue question. How's Mabaa?" She froze, the coffee cup she was holding crashing on the floor.

"I – I don't know what you mean," she stuttered.

"I overheard you and someone called 'Eurka' talking in the clinic, something about Mabaa being impatient?"

She seemed to try to recover. "So, what are you going to do? Reveal my identity? Hold me to blackmail? Kill me?" She didn't wait for a response.

"VECTOR ARROW!" Black arrows shot out from her back, lined with a purple energy. There were maybe 50 of them all shooting for Ed on sharp angles.

Ed's eyes widened before channelling the energy into the vest, shooting metal spikes to destroy the arrows.

She shot more arrows, Ed countering with more spikes, this time out of his back instead of his chest. For every arrow she shot, he countered with a spike.

This continued for about 10 seconds. The only reason they stopped was the apartment was too small to hold that many arrows and spikes.

"Well, we're out of room," commented Medusa.

"Keep this in mind, if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't have had to leave my bed. I could have mixed the air in the room with chemicals from around your house creating a deadly gas. Or, I could have spiked the floor into your body. Or, I could alchemically blow up every slightly flammable object, either horribly scarring you or killing you. Or, I could just sick Skully on you, I'm sure he could do a number with his skull chop."

The words sunk into Medusa. He didn't come here to kill him.

"So, if you didn't come here to kill me, why did you?" Ed grinned. The metal spikes were holding the arrows.

"Just curious as to if this was true. Honestly, if you try to deny it, I'll just laugh." There was a long period of silence between the two.

Medusa had no room to shoot more arrows while Ed had used all of his metal vest and part of the actual room. If he wanted too he could kill her with the floor beneath her feet.

"Alright, I'm a witch, although, most of the time I'd rather be anonymous." Ed continued to look at her bronze eyes.

"How about this, you retract your arrows, I'll retract my spikes and hands, and we'll talk." More silence. Finally, after about 10 minutes of a standoff, the arrows and spikes and hands slowly retracted, metal ones returning to his vest and wood ones returning to the floor. The arrows returned to her back.

"Now, why don't you explain to me why you're here, acting as a nurse."

She sighed. Taking a seat, if hesitantly, she sat on the opposite couch. Ed sat on a chair on the other side of her.

"About 10 years ago I took an interest in the medical field. I had always resented I was a witch. I decided that while I did like causing the odd bout of crazy, keep things lively, but I decided that I could do some good. I got a degree and worked at a hospital. About 4 years ago, because of my skills, Lord Death hired me to work here. Shortly after I was contacted by Eurka, another witch. She threatened that she would tell Lord Death of who I am unless I worked on a project assigned by Mabaa. Seeing no choice, I did it. It was creating the black blood. I make it, refine it, change it according to reports, while Eurka moves it and someone tests it on a subject. As for why it's being made, I'm not privy on the entire plan. What Mabaa wants is a Kishin for the madness. After that my sister, Arachnea, will do something with it to magnify the madness. After that it's anyone's guess."

Ed nodded through the whole story. It wasn't her choice to be a witch, yet she made the best of it, with odd bouts of madness to keep things interesting. Hey, he did the same, where did every one think the 'weakened' rock on Mount Rushmore around one of the faces came from?

"Alright, interesting story. For now I won't tell anyone about you real identity. As far as I know you're doing nothing to destroy the school from the inside so I feel no reason to reveal who you are. But it might provide a useful strategy later on. There is one thing I would like to know. In one of the history texts, it mentioned Arachnea being betrayed by her sister 800 years ago. There was no name, but I'm going to guess you're at least 800 years old?"

"Well, I'm actually 814. And in case you're wondering why I look like I'm in my twenties, here's an explanation. With witches, every time we use magic it heals our cells. The older we get, the more magic we need to use to stay young. Oddly this doesn't kick in until much later in life, possibly around 1000 years is when we start to visibly age. We age to early twenties, then it's a sort of pause with regular magic usage."

Ed nodded. It was a valid explanation.

"Well, as you can imagine, this is a bit of a situation. Lucky for you, I don't judge people by covers. I judge based on actions. As far as I can tell, you're a perfectly nice person who was just dealt some wrong cards. I personally have no reason to change our friendship."

Medusa inwardly sighed, if anything Edward made her day better. At least she wouldn't have to lose that friendship.

"But there is one thing." She groaned.

"I work on a principle based on equivalent exchange. It's the way we govern our lives back in my world. Because I know your all time big secret that's far better left secret, you're going to do something for me."

He let the silence sink in.

After what seemed like hours but was only half a minute, Medusa broke the silence.

"And that is?" Ed smirked.

"You're going to teach me everything you know about magic."

Silence.

Dead silence.

"WHAT! I don't know the first thing about teaching magic! For the most part I learned on experience! How could I teach you, add to the fact that it requires certain characteristics of your soul to even do magic! Wait, I thought you were an alchemist, working on equivalent exchange, wouldn't magic go against that?" Ed grinned.

"Well, normally yes, but there are some instances where equivalency is in fact null and void and it can be random. Besides, if it turns out I can't do magic, then you at least tried and our deal is still in place."

Medusa glared at Ed. Where would she begin? Oh wait, yeh, maybe there.

"Well, if that's going to happen then a few things have to be done first. First, there are two ways to find out your 'theme.' For witches we tend to be a bit more extravagant on our themes while wizards stick to it but downplay it. The first way is to look into the Book of Magic."

"And that is?" asked Ed questioningly.

"It's a book that if looked into it reveals your 'theme.' In fact it's what kind of personality you have and relates it to an animal. There was a unicorn a few years back, complete idiot. This way is unavailable... well, it could work," she pondered, putting a hand on her chin. Ed looked.

"What could work?" he asked.

"Well, I could pass you off as an aspiring person who has a powerful soul. The other witches would allow you to see the book if I was present, seeing as I am a witch, and if you don't see anything then you just leave. Of course there would probably be some memory spells or hoods to hide the location of the witch enclave."

"Moscow, Russia."

Medusa blinked.

"What?" she asked.

"Moscow Russia, that's where the enclave is, Specifically I'm not sure, but once you get there a gathering of a few hundred witches would not be hard to notice, look for the costumed people."

She coughed. In all history of the witches, only one person had guessed where the enclave was. And he was standing in front of her.

"Well. Ok. Moving on. The second way is to look into your soul while as close to death as possible while still being alive."

Alright, that was going to be impossible. "Yeh, that's a bit hard. Let's try option one." Medusa nodded.

"Alright, we'll have to leave the school at some point, maybe take a mission there or something. I'll sort out the details." Ed nodded.

"I'll leave you to it, I'm going to go sleep now. Just say when we go to peer into this book." With that, Ed walked out the door. It closed with a soft click, Medusa going to clean up the broken coffee cup. To her surprise it was already fixed and the coffee was inside, steaming hot.

"Well, that's helpful," she muttered, picking it up and searching for shards of the mug. There were none but you couldn't be too careful.

About a week later, as per Medusa's agreement, the two were on a plane heading for Moscow.

"Alright, I should instruct you on a few things about the enclave, specifically security measures and what and what not to do." Ed nodded, taking the information in.

"One, don't use your alchemy, you'll just get netted in somewhere you don't want to be in the witch society. Second, it's a bit of an unwritten rule, don't look anyone in the eye unless you're going to talk to them. Third, for the love of god, we all want to laugh at some of the witch themes that show up, don't. It's just bad, for both of you." Alright, easy enough.

"That's it?" asked Ed. He munched on some airline peanuts.

"Just about, for the most part don't draw attention to yourself." Ed nodded, a mouthful of peanuts preventing him from speaking. With a loud gulp, he swallowed them.

"So, this book tells you your personality or 'theme' of your magic/soul. I'm assuming you got a snake related one?"

"Yeh, I got a picture of a snake. I adopted that later into the vector arrows you see. It's the result of magically putting a few thousand snakes into me. I can call them to do anything I want. This ranges in a variety of spells." Ed was slightly creaped out at that.

"Interesting. And if I see some sort of animal, you'll teach me?"

Medusa nodded. "And you keep that secret of me being a witch, when you see an animal or don't. If you don't, you still keep the secret, right?" Ed nodded.

"Good, now buckle up, the planes going to land soon."

[A.N.] I am so sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I've been busy with a few things real life related, not to say you my dear readers are not real. It's just it's September and it's beginning of school, homework, various stuff.

Like your three year old generation 1 ipod breaking. Yes, it's sad. His name was Bob. Good news is I got a new 4th gen model. I named him Sir Komulin. Just cause I can. I take no credit for the name.

Anyways, Enjoy the chapter, for my FMAHP crossover, I'll post the next chapter later in the month. It's kinda lost inspiration. I'm trying to stretch it out across more chapters, yet, the way I've got it in my mind is only taking 4 chapters. I know, sad.