Before anything else, I apologize! I'm so sorry for leaving for so long! To quote off of Ling, "Family matters. I'll leave it at that." I promise I'll explain myself more later! But here's the next chapter!

Chapter 7

~Edward's POV~

"Brother.. Brother! Wake up! Ed!"

Edward groaned tiredly and rolled over onto his back. Opening his eyes a little, he found Al leaning over him, shaking his shoulder. The sun was shining brightly through the curtains that flowed gently along with the breeze coming through the cracked window. Ed gathered pretty quickly that he had slept in much later than he had wanted to. This meant that he had a problem. A pretty big problem..

Quickly sitting up, he groaned and ruffled his hair in frustration. "Al, what time is it?"

Al looked at him. "Around 9:00, I'd say."

Ed groaned again. Great. He cursed inwardly to himself. There was no doubt that they would be found now. Getting slowly out of bed, he went into the bathroom to change into his usual black shirt and pants, and the red coat, then went out to the living room where Al was waiting for him. Ed sighed and started to walk over to his brother, when Al suddenly stood up and looked down at the couch. "Brother, quick!"

Ed didn't need to be told twice. He ran over to his brother's side and tracked his gaze. His eyes landed on a sleeping Tara. She was covered in a blanket, holding some sort of a book. Nothing really seemed out of the ordinary.

Until Tara started to violently shake. Her eyes began to scrunch up, as if she was in pain. She let out a series of mumbles and jerky movements. Tears started to spill down her face. Ed watched in shock. What the heck is this!?

Al answered for him. "Brother, I think she may be having a nightmare.. What do we do?"

Ed watched Tara for a few more seconds. When it was apparent that she wasn't going to calm down, he leaned down and started to shake Tara's shoulder in attempt to wake her up. "Hey," he said into her ear, "Snap out of it! Wake up!"

That only made it worse. Tara began to raise her voice, her words now clearly distinguishable. "No! Mom.. Dad.. Stop.. Noah.. NO!" Ed tried one last desperate attempt to shake her awake.

Tara's eyes flew open, her icy blue irises filled with a series of emotions that Edward couldn't understand. "Hey, are you alri- AGH!" Ed fell backwards onto the edge of the coffee table from the force of the book slamming into his face. Owww.. That hurt, a lot.. Rubbing the spot where the book made contact, he looked up into Tara's face. She had the book raised, ready to strike again. Her eyes were wide and scared. Tears still rained down her cheeks. She looked as though she was lost, as if she didn't know where she was. Edward had seen that look before, and knew what Tara was feeling at that moment. That was the feeling someone got when they had just relived a terrible memory.

Apparently Alphonse had noticed the look as well because he quickly walked in front of Ed to defend him. Edward watched as his younger brother gently pulled the book from Tara's hand and pushed her slowly back into a sitting position on the couch. Al then started to talk gently to her, calming her down. Tara seemed to gradually come to her senses, as she blinked and looked down at Ed. Then she promptly asked, "Ed? What are you doing on the floor?"

Al was heard making a small, "Pfft," sound as he tried to hold back a chuckle. Edward fumed. "You threw a book at my face, that's why!"

He watched her look around in confusion. Al showed her the book, and her eyes widened. "Oh.. Sorry, Ed."

He sighed. "Whatever." He stood up, rubbing the sore spot on his cheek. Tara looked away from him and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. Ed shot a look at Al, who returned his gaze. He knew what Al was thinking. Say something. He looked back at Tara. "Something pretty bad must have happened to you, huh?" Wow. What a way to start a conversation.

Tara nodded to him, becoming very interested with the floor. "Yeah.. You could say that.."

Ed felt a pang of sympathy for her, though he would never show it. He could relate to having something terrible happen to him. Especially when it came to family. Though he had no idea what had happened to her, he knew it couldn't have been pretty, or something that someone should have to go through. Ed was highly curious as to what exactly had happened, but he decided wisely that now was not the best time to ask. Instead, he got up and shrugged it off for the time being. "Alright. We gotta catch a train in a little less than an hour, so we better get moving."

Tara nodded and got up to proceed to the bathroom. Ed started to go to the kitchen area to get something to drink.

However, he stopped cold when there was a loud knock at the door. No, a knock didn't cover it. It was more like someone attempting to break down the door.

Ed felt his face drain of color. Maybe it's not him.. Maybe someone else is ungodly strong..

Shouts suddenly echoed through the room, coming from the other side of the door. "Elric Brothers, I have found you at last! Open this door, I know you're in there!"

Al came up behind the distraught Ed. "Oh, Brother.." Al looked at him. "Is that..?"

Ed facepalmed. He had successfully gotten away to get to the library. Ed had hoped that he wouldn't find them. But, unfortunately, that was not the case. Groaning, Edward closed his eyes and hung his head in defeat. "Yep. He found us."

Who could that possibly be? I'm sure you can figure it out! Review, Im sorry again!