Chapter 9

A Chapter by Keevan

Edward

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Alphonse shouted at me after he punched me a second time. Lucy ran out of the house after the first.

"Al,"I started, tasting blood in my mouth, but was quickly interrupted when Alphonse punched me in the jaw once again. This time, I fell back and hit my head on the table on the way down.

"Al, stop punching me!" I managed to shout. But he turned away from me and looked at Katsura. "You," he said, pointing at her. "Get out." I glanced at her, and felt anger and shame wash over me. She had been standing there with a smile on her face, probably feeling her job was done, for whatever motives she had.

"Fine," she said, in that voice that I now found annoying. "Edward, today was fun. Don't call me, though. I have a boyfriend."

"Bet your s****y a*s I won't," I muttered. She slowly walked out the door, still smiling as she turned and closed it. Al and I waited until we heard her footsteps trail down the porch steps, and Al watched out the window to make sure she was leaving.

"Al," I said again. "let me explain--"

"Yeah!" Alphonse shouted, still angry. "Explain to me why you were making out with her when you're dating Lucy!"

"It wasn't my idea--!"

"Who the hell was she, anyway?!"

So, I explained to him how Lucy and I "met" her in Central the previous week and she claimed to be a fan of the Fullmetal Alchemist.

"She gave you her number and you kept it?!" Alphonse shouted, threatening to punch me again as I stood up, a slight headache in the back of my head from hitting the table. "Why would you keep it?!"

"I threw it away when I got home!" I shouted at him. "I'm not the one who called her over here, she just showed up out of nowhere today!"

"Why did you let her in?!"

"She just walked in on her own!"

"You still could've made her leave! Why didn't you?!"

"I don't know!" I clenched my fists, ground my jaw, and muttered, "I don't know. All day, she's been here. All. Damn. Day." I slouched into a nearby chair.

"She talked on and on and on," I continued, tightening my fists. "I tried to find breaks in the conversation to tell her to leave. No such luck. And the, just before you and Lucy came here, she pushed me down on the table, and....and you saw what happened."

"She was dominating you," Alphonse said. I relaxed my fists and sighed. "Yeah. And Lucy will never forgive me, no matter how I try to explain it to her. She disliked Katsura since the first time we saw her."

"I can see why," Alphonse said. "she looks like a s**t." He turned from the window and looked at me. "Go get Lucy, Brother."

"She won't want to talk to me, Al," I said, staring at the ground. "Trust me."

"You have to be the one to fix this," he said with finality. "You're going."

"Al..."

"Get your a*s out that door, Edward!" Alphonse shouted. "Be a man and bring her back! Do you know how dark it is?!"

"I'm telling you, Al," I said as I stood up and slowly made my way to the door. "she won't take me back. She's not going to forgive me for that. Trust me."

"I'm trusting that all of this is Katsura's fault," Alphonse said, leaning against the wall by the window. "You've been in love with Lucy too long for you to be able to cheat on her voluntarily."

I looked at him a minute, grinned, and said, "Heh, you're right, Al." I ran out the door, straight ahead. I had to find her.

______________________________________________________________________________

Lucy

It was dark. I couldn't really see anything except for a light post that seemed within reasonable walking distance at first, but once I got going, I realized I wasn't going to reach it with how slow I was walking. I gave up and collapsed in the middle of the dirt road, not caring anymore.

The vivid image of Edward and Katsura together kept flashing in my mind. I burned behind my eyelids, making me want to scream.

He kept her number. He called her over as soon as I was gone. He told me he loved me over the phone, assuring me that nothing was going on, when it never even crossed my mind. He cheated. With Katsura. What really disturbed me was that when I was in my state of shock, calling Edward a b*****d, she just stood idly by and smiled.

And then there was Alphonse's behavior. He was extremely angry with Edward, even though he had no idea who that Katsura was. But, that was probably what set him off, seeing his brother kissing a complete stranger while he had a girlfriend. And the things he said to Edward....

"Lucy...!" I heard it in the distance. It sounded like Edward.

"I have to get up," I whispered, getting shakily onto my hands and knees. "I have to get up..."

"Lucy...!" Edward shouted again, his voice getting closer. "Lucy, where are you?! I'm sorry!"

"No you're not," I mumbled, getting to my feet. "I know you're not."

"Where are you?!" he shouted, his voice getting a lot closer. "Lucy, I'M SORRY!"

"Shut up, you liar," I mumbled, feeling the tears spill over onto my cheeks. "I don't want to see you ever again." I started walking towards the distant light once again, determined to make it this time.

"Lucy..." I heard again, Edward's voice trailing in a different direction once again. "I'm sorry! Come home! I love you, not her! Please, come home!"

"No," I muttered. "you stole that home from me, you b*****d." My heart felt like it was dying with every step I took away from Edward Elric. I could barely hear his voice as I finally reached the light post. And when I looked further ahead, I saw the lights from the train station.

I walked towards it, not looking behind me once.

______________________________________________________________________________

Edward

"Did you find her?" Alphonse asked as I walked up the porch steps, He had been sitting out there waiting.

"No," I said after a few moments of gathering my thoughts. I sat next to him and said, "I called for her, considering it was too dark to see anything. She could be on a train or something by now."

"Why don't we call Winry?" Alphonse suggested.

"I doubt Lucy's there," I said with a sigh. "When Lucy runs to get away from something, she seriously gets away from it. There's no way she'd go to a place as close as the Rockbells'."

"We'll call them tomorrow, then," Alphonse said, standing up. "I have to get going."

"Did you not hear a word I just said?" I said annoyed as I stood up with him. "And what do you mean, you have to go?"

"I have to meet Havoc somewhere for a military assignment," he said. "I'm sorry, Brother."

"Al," I said, before he started walking down the steps. "let me ask you something."

"What, Brother?"

I hesitated before saying, "Why did you get so angry before?"

He didn't answer right away, but he finally did, and when he did I almost thought I heard him wrong, "An old crush goes a long way, doesn't it?"

"Al..." I whispered.

"I've always trusted you'd take good care of her, Brother," Alphonse said, walking down the steps. "and I hope you always do. She's happy with you, and we all know it." He walked off and was swallowed in the darkness of the late Resembool night.

I was left gaping on my front porch, not quite grasping the face that my brother just admitted he used to have a crush on Lucy.

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