And, Chapter 9.

BU DU DU DUUUUUUUU! (hammers away at an organ piano)

Now, I like the reviews I've gotten so far, but I was hoping for more. I know I have at least 30 subscribers to the story, so I want at least ten reviews before you get chapter ten.

Now, I've confused myself a bit, so I'm going to clarify for everyone.

This story follows the original FMA anime, not brotherhood. With Soul Eater it follows the Anime as well. The only aspect I've changed in those is that Truth exists with the Gate as well.

There, that's solved. I feel better. Now, without futher ado, let's begin.

On with the story.

Edward sat in the library at the witches enclave, having an internal battle with himself.

First, this whole thing with his 'theme,' was hard to get his mind around. Really, a dragon? Even though he saw it, in his... mind?... it was still a bit farfetched. Second, apparently, as he had just read, what ever creature you saw in the book would actually change you physically. Now, this did not mean he was going to grow scales and spit fire, but it would enhance his senses, a great deal more than before.

He had to practically turn off his sense of smell and taste when he started smelling flop sweat 12 floors above. It was now at a level that he could call normal, compared to normal people. Apparently Medusa had an increased nerve sensitivity due to the snake having higher nerve concentrations to feel the earth.

Then was the upcoming 'traditional' idea of having some clothing made for his theme. Said 'tradition' involved letting all the other witches design something for him to wear.

It will be a cold day in hell when he lets a hoard of half crazy women design clothes for him. besides, based on some older pictures based on the clothing the past few wizards wore it would be in the best interest of himself to make his own. He actually had an idea in mind.

But, the main thing that was occupying his mind, weather to go back or stay hidden in the library, was what had transpired a short while ago.

10 minutes ago

The platform with the book rose, the roof opening and letting in the fiery light from the magical flames. Around the edge were a few witches, wondering what the new guy was like.

When it finished with a little bit of a jolt, Edward and Medusa walked off the platform, witches parting.

"Well ladies, he is a wizard, but if he wants to, he'll tell you what the book showed him," stated Medusa, turning the witches away.

There was some grumbling from the gathered, while a comment from one very large in girth who had a panda theme made.

"He's probably got something wussy, like a flamingo," she muttered, munching on an organic bamboo doughnut.

Medusa directed Edward to a small room, used for people coming to grips with their power, learning magic, practicing said learned magic, or, if needed, a store room.

She closed the door before turning to Ed.

"Alright, if I'm going to train you, I'll need to know what animal you saw. It's a good indicator of what kind of magic you'll be able to use." Ed was silent, gazing at Medusa. She realized he had a weird look in his eyes. There was something nagging at the back of her mind, some after affect of the book but she wasn't able to remember. It probably wasn't important.

He snapped out of it, the look not entirely disappearing.

"Well, I was standing in a field, my metal arm replaced with a tattooed flesh one, when a dragon spoke to me."

Moment of silence.

"A dragon?" she asked curiously.

"Yup, big, black, gold eyes, armoured like a flying tank, it's what I saw."

She nodded. It seemed, well, there never had been a dragon in recorded history, the belief that dragons were purely myth and therefore did not exist.

"Well, that means... I can't exactly help you." Ed looked at her, a disbelieving look in his eyes.

"I'm serious, there has never been another dragon themed witch or wizard. I could not even tell you where to begin with discovering your abilities." Ed frowned, a sudden thought coming to him.

He removed his coat and unbuttoned his shirt, pulling that off and revealing the tattoos on both arms.

They looked like a circle was wrapped around both arms, containing different symbols. Upon closer inspection, Ed realized they were slightly alchemical in nature, yet containing a lot of stuff he was not familiar with.

"Well, it looks vaguely alchemical in nature, but a lot of this is unknown to me. Is there a library here? Somewhere where there might be records of magical drawings or something?" Medusa nodded. She was more concentrating on the tattoos than his voice.

To her, they were familiar, but she couldn't place it. They couldn't possibly be the same as hers, a temporary physical form of one of the snakes inside her, magically created to keep that form.

They looked almost burnt, like hot metal had touched the flesh and had burnt it. A bit of the inside was unfamiliar to her, probably the alchemical stuff, but the vast majority was familiar. She felt like she had read it a long time ago, but couldn't place it. It was a memory just below the surface, enough to be seen, yet vague enough to be distorted to the point of not being able to place it.

"Most of this looks familiar, but I can't place it. There might be a reference in the library." Ed nodded, suddenly realizing how close she was.

How close you might ask?

Close enough that he didn't need enhanced senses to feel her finger tracing one of the lines. Close enough to smell her. He noticed it was a cross between an earthy smell and lilacs. Maybe something to do with her theme.

"Hey Medusa," asked Ed, hoping to break her concentration of tracing that one line.

"Yes?" she asked, looking at his face.

"Umm, this might sound weird, but do I smell different? Don't get me wrong, it's just that I've noticed that you smell a bit what a snake would smell like, mixed with shampoo."

"Yes actually, I'd have to say you smell a bit... I don't know, smoky? Yeh, that's a good description. Almost like something is burnt, but in a nice way." Ed nodded, slightly confused.

It was at this point both of them realized that they were tracing tattoos, Medusa following the circular pattern on Edward's arm, Edward tracing the snake pattern.

They quickly backed away, not too sure how to handle the contact.

With Edward, he was completely baffled. He couldn't remember even wanting to trace the tattoo. Sure, it was there, it was unique, and upon having looked at the book she had changed into her witches clothes, a sort of loose black jumpsuit that had a hoot, no sleeves and left half the lower leg bare, her feet had no shoes.

Then, while she was tracing the tattoo, he became completely enamoured in hers. It's not like they were complicated, just an outline of a snake head with a body made of dots, yet, he found himself tracing them slowly.

He honestly had no idea where it came from.

Medusa meanwhile, was having two things randomly in her head.

First was this tattoo arrangement on Edwards' arms. They were both identical, both having a strong magical influence, but that one alchemical portion seemed to control something. Well, this was her, she was more of a biology person than one for the intricacies of magic, but hey, her master tried.

Second was that nagging feeling that she should remember something about the book. She was supposed to warn Edward of something, yet that too evaded her.

Again, she found herself lost in his gold eyes, awash in a sea of gold waters.

Edward simultaneously found himself lost in her bronze eyes, drifting in an existence of metallic water.

Both of them didn't realize they had closed the distance between each other, still lost in gazing into each other's eyes.

Then, hesitantly, their faces closed to almost a centimetre (YES! CANADIEN HERE!) apart.

It was a completely unknown feeling to either of them. They were lost in each other's metallic eyes. They breathed each other's air, making them short of breath. Absently their arms moved to trace the tattoos on each other, her soft hands running over his hardened muscle arms, his strong hands gracefully thumbing an area of the snake head near her shoulders, the other four fingers lightly holding her.

Then, in a metaphorical flash of light, they closed the distance, pressing their lips against the other's.

His arms slowly embraced her, holding her form close, while her arms slowly slid up and down his back, tracing scars by touch alone.

To her, his lips tasted like candy, sweet, satisfying, and she couldn't get enough. In an effort to fulfill the need for him, she moved her tongue to his lips, asking for entry. His jaw opened, signalling his answer. Her tongue began to run itself over his teeth, feeling his tongue as it explored her mouth. The taste of candy was stronger, but she knew she would never be able to fulfill that need.

To him, she tasted of... he wasn't sure how to put it, but freshness. The taste you get when you breath in the morning mist, the feeling when you stand on a cliff and let the waves crash against the side, spraying sea water droplets onto you. It was something that he needed more of, it was a sign of life to him that no matter what happens, the best thing to do is move forward, get a fresh start.

Then, to him, the reality came crashing down in a huge thunderous storm. It hit him like nuclear bomb, the explosion shattering the moment of complete peace he had enjoyed in a long time, the fallout making guilt overcome him.

He pulled away, pushing her lightly away. A thin trail of saliva from their mixed tongues stretched between them before disappearing.

In her eyes he saw confusion, hurt, anger, all the things he never wanted to see. Hell it looked like she might cry, and if there's one thing Edward Elric dislikes more than milk it's a woman crying. Especially someone he cares about.

So, maybe to prevent him from seeing tears, or a natural response he had no control over, or maybe it was something else, he ran.

He ran out the door, away from the training room, down the hall and out of sight.

Then, like he had predicted, a single tear fell from her eye.

That tear represented so much though.

Present

Ed sat in the chair, leaning against a wall in the library. He had found the place after a bit of running, despite the other witches wanting to talk to him. After all, it's not every day you get a gold haired early twenties wizard in top physical shape running through the subterranean complex. Besides, a few had... ideas... in mind for his clothes. Very tight fitting and/or revealing ideas.

He honestly wasn't sure what to do. One the one hand, he could go apologize, say the truth; he had no idea what came over him back there.

But really, as much as he tried to tell himself it was true, it wasn't.

The fact of the matter was that while she may be older than him by several hundred years, she could die. He couldn't. Not for an even longer time. Even then, she would age, he couldn't. He didn't want to have to go through that, nor put someone thru that experience. He supposed that now that he was in the same situation, he had to agree with Hohenheim. At the same time, he could have let himself die naturally of that weird body rot instead of abandoning mom and trying to find a way to restore the damage.

Curse his stupid heart, wanting what it can't have.

After a bit of thinking, he decided he was at least going to tell her his reasons. Why he ran, where he got the idea. Then, he would probably disappear. Both from the DWMA and the witching world, maybe throwing himself into a volcano would be a good idea. At least then he's got no change of regenerating.

Standing up he walked for a slightly more public area of the library. Maybe Medusa had already tried to find him.

Seeing nobody in the library, he decided he should at least go back to the training room, that's where she might be.

When he got back to the training room he found Medusa was not there either. Sighing, he decided he would kick start his education and try to learn some stuff on his own.

He decided to begin with the tattoos. The small alchemical parts that he did recognize were related to fire. That much he knew because there was a small bit of design that he recognized from some notes he 'borrowed' from Mustang when he was 15.

The rest of this tattoo was something to do with an alternate form of conveying fire, almost as though it was to be... he couldn't place it. The control was different. It looked vaguely like alchemy, where it's your mind and soul working the transmutation, yet this looks like it drew more upon the soul than alchemy did, where it only drew energy from tectonic movements in the earth. Hell, there was even a part that looked like it might defy equivalency.

He wondered if he might be able to talk with that dragon again, maybe get some info.

Before he could ponder this the door opened, Medusa walking in.

"Oh, Medusa, listen, I tried to-"

"Just... just let me speak first," she said, holding up a hand. Edward, a bit confused, paused anyways and let her explain.

"When you look into the book not only does it define your theme, but, as you know, changes you physically, me increased nerve sensitivity, you enhanced senses, there's a panda themed woman who had an incurable appetite. The point is, this change messes with the chemicals in your brain, causing emotions to be increased for a short while. I failed to remember that small fact." Ed took the information in.

So it increased your feelings in general for a short while.

"What probably happened was it wore off during the... incident... and you realized your situation in terms of that stone in your chest."

"...Ok, that explains a few things." Oh contrare, for Ed was missing one GIANT point here: Medusa kissed back.

[A.N.] there you go, chapter nine. And with the kiss scene. This was a dedicated filler chapter, so there. I hope you enjoyed. Have a nice evening folks.