Yes, I know, thanks again for your patience. But I've finally got some more free time on my hands and I'll probably be able to have this thing done before I leave for college. But then again, who knows? Anyway, for those who are still reading, please enjoy the next chapter.

Everyone in Wrath's room began to scramble, trying to think of something to do before Dante came in. They didn't know what she heard, but when she came down and saw them all still awake with Ed in their midst it would be a bad scene. Throw in the book that she hadn't wanted anyone to see and they might as well throw themselves out the window. It would be a quicker death then whatever Dante might do. Before they could find a way to hide everything, however, the door opened! Everyone braced themselves for impact when….

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

That voice…it wasn't Dante's! Everyone turned to the door and saw Pride standing there dressed in a night shirt and night cap, holding a candle in one hand and his sword in another.

"What the hell do you think you're doing coming down here and scaring us all like that?!?!?" Envy yelled, jumping up and pointing accusingly at Pride.

"Do you sleep with that thing?" Greed asked, staring at the sword.

Pride stabbed him in the head for asking. Just as calmly, he turned and saw Ed.

"And what is Fullmetal doing here?" he asked.

Wrath, sick of all these interruptions, said, "What does it matter? He's here to hear a story, we're all here to hear a story, we want mommy to finish the damn story!"

"Wrath! Such language!" Sloth said. "I blame this on you, Envy."

"Me? Why me?!?"

"You're a bad influence."

"Hey, I'm not the one pretending he's my son! You've got a weirder relationship going on with him then I do!"

"Then why does he dress the same as you?" Lust asked. "That in and of itself is strange since you look like a hooker."

"Oh, look who's talking Miss "I can run in high heels"!" Envy said scathingly.

"Enough!" Pride said. "All this fighting is going to bring Dante down here if we're not careful. I don't think anyone wants that. Sloth, finish the story, and then everyone's going to bed, Fullmetal is going to go home, and we'll all go back to hating and killing each other in the morning."

Everyone agreed this the best thing to do, so Sloth opened the book and continued reading.

The kingdom that was relatively close by the Hughes' kingdom had prospered in the last sixteen years. No one was really worrying too much about the princess' curse or her current whereabouts. Prince Roy had grown to be such a handsome and flirtatious man that if the princess did get killed another one could easily be found for him. Sure, they might lose trade with the Hughes' kingdom, but they hadn't been doing as well in the last sixteen years. Grief and sadness shared by an entire kingdom did not induce a good work ethic, nor did it make it a pleasant place for tourism. As a result, the whole shebang had declined greatly. But all that would surely change with the coming safety of the princess and the marriage. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the princess' return and the marriage that would occur directly after midnight that very night. King Bradley had already met with Hughes and Gracia and had gotten everything ready. Roy would be at the altar at midnight, waiting for his bride to be to be delivered as it were. But for now, Roy was spending his last day of freedom before the irrevocable shackles of holy matrimony forced him to spend time with only one woman, who may or may not be a wicked shrew. He was hoping to see a beautiful woman walking alone in the forest so that he might court her, but so far he had had no luck. Not far from where he was currently resting was Riza and Black Hayate, walking on the path parallel to his own. With Roy resting and Riza walking, she pass right by him only able to, at best, glimpse him from between the trees. But fate was on their side, as Roy stopped staring gloomily into space and saw a glimpse of Riza. Thinking fast, he leapt up, made sure he was presentable, and darted between the trees, trying to get to her. Riza, for her part, heard some rustling in the bushes. Calmly, she pulled out her gun, loaded it and waited for a moment…

When the bushes rustled again she turned and unloaded five shots into the underbrush. She then yelled out, "Those were warning shots. Whoever is in there, come out now or the next one's going into your head."

She was surprised to see a rather well to do looking man step out of the wilderness. In her walks she had been accosted by countless vagabonds and a crazy cat lady, but she'd never seen someone quite so well dressed so far out in the sticks. He had his hands up and he said, "That was some pretty fancy shooting. You know, there's nothing sexier than a lady with a gun."

She answered by flicking open the barrel, reloading, and snapping it back to a loaded position, pointing directly between his eyes. "Who are you?"

Roy looked a little disgruntled. I mean, he was only the most eligible bachelor in both kingdoms. He supposed this woman must really live out in the wilderness if she didn't know who he was. He said, "I'm Roy. Let's just leave it at that. And may I ask your name?"

"You may, but I probably won't answer."

Ouch. This lady was one cold mama. Roy quickly recovered and said, "Why so antagonistic? Don't you trust me?"

"My aunts told me never to trust a stranger." Riza answered. "And you're about as strange as they come."

Double ouch. This chick just didn't let up. "Well, why don't I meet these aunts of yours and let them get to know me. That way, we won't be strangers and we could spend a little time together before I have to return home on some unrelated business."

Riza thought about it and smiled. Her aunts would get set this guy right, she was sure of that. Roy saw the smile and his hopes were raised. She said, very clearly, "Alright. I live in a cottage about six miles south of here. Along this very path. All I ask is that you wait a few hours before you come. It's my birthday you see and I'm sure my aunts are getting everything ready."

Roy thought about it. He didn't have to be at the castle until midnight and it would only take a few minutes to get changed into his wedding clothes, so he said, "Great. I'll be there."

Riza smiled and continued on her way leaving Roy feeling pretty good about the whole deal. Meanwhile, back at the cottage, the three Fairies were having one hell of a time trying to get everything ready before Riza returned. Unfortunately, Al couldn't cook nor did he have a creative mind when it came to decorations, Izumi couldn't sew worth beans, and Ed wouldn't stop moving around in the monstrosity that Izumi assured them was a dress. Al, covered in flour, pushed a strand of hair out of his eyes and bent over the cook book, rereading the last part of the recipe. He then looked at the cake and compared pictures. He sighed and said, "You know, I don't think the cake's supposed to be gray."

Izumi, with several pins in her mouth, glanced at the cake and said, in a rather muffled voice, "It'll be fine once you put the icing on."

Al, looking baleful, said, "I already did ice it!"

Ed managed to pull his head out of the layers of ruffles around the neck to say, "This isn't working! This is going to be the worst party ever if we don't use our magic!"

Izumi slapped his head to get him to hold still and pinned a few flowers onto the shoulders. Once all the pins were in the "dress" she said, "Alright! It's done!"

Ed stepped off of the stool, tried to walk, tripped over the hem of the dress and fell over. Instantly the whole thing practically exploded, showering the room in different fabrics, fake flowers, and pins. Al only just managed to dive behind the counter to avoid getting stuck with hundreds of the flying menaces. A quivering lump moved under the piles of fabric which eventually revealed itself to be Ed. He gasped and yelled, "See what I mean?!?!?"

Izumi sighed and looked around the room. "Maybe you're right." She conceded. "But we're going to do this right! Lock all the doors, close all the windows, block up every nook and cranny, don't let a single spot be left that one of Dante's spies could see through."

Izumi and Al quickly did this while Ed ran up to Izumi's room, she got her own while he and Al shared, and grabbed the bag of magic that was hidden in a secret compartment in Izumi's wardrobe. He pulled out his blue orb and pressed it against his chest. Instantly, the orb entered him and he felt his magic reconnect. He ran the bag back downstairs and tossed the other orbs to Izumi and Al. They each caught their own and absorbed them. With that done, Izumi said, "Alright, now Al will make the cake and decorations, I will make the dress, and Ed will clean this place up. Get to it!"

Ed sullenly clapped his hands and touched a broom, dust pan, mop, bucket, and feather duster. As his fingers touched each one a spark of blue light leapt into said object and began to move around the room, doing their appropriate jobs. The broom swept, the bucket filled itself with water, the mop skated across the floor after the broom and dustpan while the feather duster floated elegantly all around the room. Izumi clapped her hands and touched her favorite bits of fabric each one floating into the air and forming into a dress under Izumi's hands. Al, meanwhile, had brought all the different ingredients and utensils to life before setting out the book for them to follow, since he himself was useless when it came to cooking. As Ed was redirecting the broom, which had been attempting to sweep the back porch which had already been mopped, he noticed the dress Izumi was making, while elegant and beautiful, was a horrific shade of red! He clapped his hands and put them on the floor. Blue sparks leapt across the floor and jumped onto the dress, filling it with a light blue color, like a clear summer sky. Izumi frowned and said, "Stop messing with my dress Ed!"

She clapped her hands and turned it back to red. Ed, incensed, clapped his hands and turned it back to blue. Izumi, getting annoyed now, turned it back to red. Ed, leaving the broom to its own devices, attempted to change the dress back to blue but a stray spark hit Izumi turning her own dress blue.

"Oh that does it!" She yelled, clapping her hands and turning Ed's dress red.

"So that's the way you want to play is it?" Ed said, angrily clapping his hands.

Izumi and Ed continuously clapped their hands, slamming them against various objects, turning each other's clothes different colors, until flashes of light and sparks were dancing all around the room. Unfortunately, they also jumped up the fireplace so brightly colored puffs of soot were erupting from the chimney, attracting a certain raven's attention. Envy swooped down and landed on a windowsill, peering in between a gap in the curtains. His eyes widened as he saw the three Fairies inside, performing the most magic he had seen done in sixteen years. Even Dante didn't use magic for simple things like cooking and cleaning. Of course, she usually forced Sloth to do all the work. He laughed evilly to himself and flew away, back toward Dante's mansion to tell her the good news.

Back inside the cottage, Ed and Izumi both attacked the dress at the same time with a color spell and the entire dress became a sordid dual colored mess. Izumi turned to Ed and said, "Now look at what you've done!"

"What I've done?" Ed yelled back. "This is all your fault!"

As they continued arguing, Al said, "Did you hear something?"

The other two Fairies stopped fighting and listened. They heard footsteps coming up the path. Riza was back! Quick as they could, they stopped all the magic, fixed the dress (red), and hid, waiting to surprise Riza. At the last second, Ed noticed the red dress and turned it blue. The door opened and Riza entered, looking around. The three Fairies jumped out and shouted, "Surprise!"

Acting on instinct, Riza fired three shots at Ed. Ed yelled and threw himself to the ground, covering his head. Riza realized her mistake and said, "Oh! I'm sorry Aunt Edna!"

"That's alright…" Ed said, returning shakily to his feet.

Riza looked around at all the decorations, streamers and balloons and confetti covered every surface, and at the cake and dress. She didn't normally wear dresses, but she didn't want to seem ungrateful so she smiled and said, "Thank you for doing all this for me."

"It's the least we could do." Izumi said.

"So, how was your walk?" Al asked, cutting up pieces of cake after Riza blew out the candles.

"Well, I saw a strange man in the woods who was stalking me." She said, accepting the plate of cake Al was offering her.

The three Fairies glanced at each other. Izumi, taking a piece for herself, said, "Oh? And what did you think of him?"

"Not much." Riza said, for which all the Fairies were relieved to hear. "Though there was something about him. He acted a little lecherous and self centered, but I felt that there was something more underneath all that. I'm not sure what it was…In any case, he's coming over here in a few hours to meet you."

That was the last straw. Izumi nodded to Ed and Al and said, "Riza, you can't see this man again."

Riza looked surprised and said, "Why not?"

Ed continued, "Because you're already betrothed to be married to a prince!"

Riza raised an eyebrow and said, "Are you joking?"

Al shook his head and said, "It may be hard to imagine, but we're not your Aunts. Ed and I aren't even girls!"

"What we are," Izumi said, changing her clothes back to normal, "Are Fairies. We needed to keep you safe for sixteen years to avoid a curse set on you by Dante the Black Fairy. We're going back to the castle tonight. In fact, with this man coming here it would probably be better if we left as soon as possible. Go and pack your things and get ready to leave. Make sure you wear the dress we made you."

Riza, confused by all this information, walked up to her room and packed everything. It didn't take long, filling only a small satchel. Once she was back down in the living room of the cottage, Al fastened a shawl around her head as a disguise. Ed had gathered all their belongings inside a small suitcase and was carrying it while Izumi looked around, making sure the coast was clear. She nodded when she was sure it was safe and they all started to walk towards the castle.

To Be Continued…

There will only be one more part after this, then I'll have to take a little bit off to try and think of a new story. I may come back to do more Twisted Fairy Tales if the mood grabs me. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review!