Chapter 6

#*#

Roy Mustang had spent the entire night in the shadows, lurking in the Entrance Hall, counting the number of brave souls who had dared entered their names into the Goblet of Fire ( the only amusing thing he could think to do). It was all a very solemn business; students had crept around to the hall, unaware of his presence, and approached the Goblet whilst whispering passionate prayers under their breaths. Admittedly, some of them were downright hilarious and terrible – a few of hopefuls had actually bowed down and worshipped the Goblet for a few minutes (an enthusiast had placed offerings, though the General swiped them soon after; the cold chicken had helped with his peckishness…) before submitting their names.

Although, this did bring about questions as to why the Flame Alchemist decided to be on night-watch. Before retiring to his quarters after dinner last night, Armstrong had given Roy a cup of what he assumed to be milk. Exhausted and careless, the General had downed the cup in one go, only to realize a few moments later that the 'milk' had a very unpleasant aftertaste (it was like the time Breda squeezed his sweaty socks into his coffee; only much worse…). Cautiously, he had asked the Lt. Colonel about the contents of the white liquid. "Why, it's the Armstrong family's top training supplement," Louis had said, "with 97% caffeine and additional vitamins to extend training periods for a toned and healthy body!"

Eye twitching violently, Mustang tried to keep his voice even as he replied, "And why would you give me something like that?!" Ripping off his shirt and flexing his exposed muscles, the sparkling man exclaimed, "I noticed you were looking pale, therefore I thought this formula would perk you up!"

Finally reaching the end of his severely limited patience(then again, he never really did have any to start with…), Roy had, without thinking, whipped out his spark cloth gloves, clapped his hands and snapped his fingers. Needless to say, Armstrong had to spend the rest of the night sleeping in only his underwear (bunny embroidered boxers) in a room that now resembled a hollowed out piece of coal. Mustang just hoped that paperwork for the extreme damage caused wouldn't come back and bite him in the back when he got back to Central….

Not to mention that he was starting to become wary of whatever milk that was going to be served to him in the future… He just had to make sure Fullmetal didn't find out about this.

THUMP!

Jerking back to the present, Roy smirked when he saw that two very identical red-heads had flown about ten feet from the Goblet, and landed painfully onto the stone wall. Looking carefully, he noticed the twins were sporting splendid white beards, even more splendid than the ones which had grown on two other students that had tried unsuccessfully to cross the Age Line earlier. Not bothering to hide his amusement, the General chuckled (snickered – Mustang can never, ever chuckle to save his life) along with the other students at the spectacle.

"I did warn you," came a deep, bemused voice, and everyone turned t see Professor Dumbledore coming out of the Great Hall, "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to two other students whom decided to age themselves up a little, too. Though I must say neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours."

With that, the two students marched off to the infirmary accompanied by one of their friends, howling in laughter at their predicament. Dumbledore in turn, looked at the hidey-hole in which Mustang was sitting in, giving the surprised man a wink.

As the headmaster of Hogwarts passed by Mustang, he said, with a playful twinkle in his eye, "Madam Pomfrey would be glad to assist you next time you have any trouble sleeping, Mr. Mustang." Beaming delightfully at Roy, whose eyes were now bigger than saucepans, the headmaster continued, "Her sleeping potions are top-notch, if I must say."

For the next few moments, General Roy Mustang sat frozen, unable to process the 'how's and 'when's the headmaster had provoked.

#*#

"Take your shirt off."

"W-what?!"

Winry had to sigh. Her husband, the one and only Fullmetal Alchemist, savior of Amestris, was cringing in fear at the request of his wife asking him to take his shirt off. At times like this, she had to wonder if Edward was a genius only when it came to alchemy – and a dunce in everything else. "I said, take your shirt off," she repeated in a near monotone. Spluttering, her husband replied, "W-why s-should I?!"

It was either her husband was turning into a pervert or the students here had managed to give him some massive brain damage in the short time he had been teaching. "I want to check your arm. It's been squeaking a lot lately," she deadpanned. "Oh," Ed replied weakly, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. As he moved to remove the white dress shirt he was wearing, Winry went to her suitcase and fished out her trusty toolbox. She giggled silently at the success of making her Ed blush; it gave her a wonderful thrill that never diminished no matter how many times she did it.

Winry passed by the cot in which her son was sleeping in; Maes looked like a mini version of Edward right down to his golden eyes. She sighed, thinking that it was a good thing he inherited her temper – having another Ed around the house throwing fits about those insulting his (lack of) height would have driven her up the wall…

When she sat on the stool near Edward's exposed arm, she gave him a small kiss on the forehead, feeling the thrill of again managing to make her lover blush. Then again, this was nothing like the time he had proposed to her or the time he had almost fainted when the pastor had told him to 'kiss the bride' … Ah, the sweet memories. She smiled as she removed the casing around the automail, humming as she checked through the gears, bolts and mechanisms that brought the arm to life; gladly thinking that her husband had finally attained enough responsibility to maintain the inner workings of his own automail.

Oiling the elbow joint, Winry sighed, "Oh, Ed. To think you would ever be a teacher…" Her husband clenched his left fist, "You know Winry, just because I'm a tad impatient-" Winry coughed disbelievingly. "…Fine. Even with my 'non-existent' patience, it doesn't mean I can't teach."

Giggling, Winry responded, "You sure? Remember what happened when you tried to teach Maes how to go potty alone?"

"Hey!" retorted Ed, "That was different!"

"How so?" she teased back, "You eventually transmuted the entire toilet into a kid's wonderland just so you wouldn't have to carry the little boy every time he needed to empty himself."

Blushing furiously at the memory of having thousands of Winry's wrenches hitting his tender head for doing that to the bathroom, he retorted "People can change!" Winry giggled a little before replying, "Really, short stuff?"

"OI!"Ed shouted just as he remembered that he was talking to he woman who had the wrench. Sheepishly, he grinned, "I guess you have a point..." Winry did her best to reign in her laughter as she finished the last of her check up. Oh, this was so fun…

Edward sat up, stretching, the blush still on his face, as he told her, "But, I'm sure one thing will never change no matter what..."

"Hmm?" hummed Winry. Her husband approached her, taking her in his strong, warm arms and whispered in her ear, "I'll always love you."

So, there they stood, in the simple room warmed by the fire place, as the happiest couple in the world, feeling very lucky to have just each other by their sides.

#*#

Alphonse Elric was exhausted. He had decided that being young, single and, ahem, good-looking in a school full of hormonal girls and the occasional boy, extremely unhealthy…

He had started out his morning with breakfast, accompanied by Mei. Busy devouring the delicious meal, he had regretfully ignored the hundreds of ogling eyes trained on him, or more specifically, every single part of his body. Then, when a girl of about sixteen, came up to him to ask the seemingly innocent question about his marital status, to which he again made the regretful decision to reply that, no he wasn't married and yes, he was currently single.

After that, all hell broke loose. All hell.

The girl, who in reality was acting as informant for the others, had smiled strangely and in a matter of seconds, he was bombarded by hundreds of girls asking him plenty of questions. They ranged from, 'Will you marry me's to 'Let me take care of you's. All in all, Alphonse was starting to find them really, really frightening…

Mei had saved him from the suffocating crowd by transmuting a moving dragon beneath their feet, in an attempt to run. The students on the other hand, were persistent, chasing the two foreigners around the entire school a few times before May finally lost them. "Finally," sighed Al, "any longer and I might have just snapped." Sighing, he sat on a nearby sofa.

The Xingese girl squeaked. The last time she saw Alphonse angry was when a slave trader had been stupid enough to try and sell him a poor, malnourished girl with the promise that she would be able to do him plenty of… favors... In short, not only did the trader (poor, poor man) get buried in a HUGE pile of sand, the entire slave trading company got shut down. Everywhere in Xing. Within one week.

Needless to say, no one who found out of the incident after that dared to make Alphonse mad over anything; it wasn't good for anyone's mental or physical health no matter how sweet, forgiving and docile the blonde usually was. Mei decided that it was a much better decision to scare all those students into not chasing Al rather than risk him snapping. It would be for the good of the school, she reasoned.

In the medium sized room they were resting (which was odd, since Mei could swear that she had run around this hall at least three times and she could again swear that the door was not there before…magic must be cool…), the raven haired girl slumped into the couch Al was on before allowing herself to relax. As she felt her eyes closing, exhausted from all the running, she blushed as she felt her dear Alphonse's head droop onto her shoulder.

She remembered wishing so that they could stay together like this, if only for one afternoon, as she felt herself drifting off to sleep.

#*#

"So…what's it like to be emperor of Xing?"

"Ron!"

Ling was having a field trip this morning. By some miracle of luck, the emperor had managed to escape Lan Fan and the evil clutches of Ed's automail - his head still hurt from when the blonde had mercilessly hit him… Wincing ever so slightly at the unpleasant memory (he will get his revenge on the midget at a later date) Ling, turned to his huge (supercallifragilistically GIGANTIC) plate of food, food, food and more food. Of course, the house elves were more than ecstatic to serve the Xingese; a couple had actually fainted from all the happiness…

Somewhere along the time he had started vanishing the edibles and ordering for more, a red head had bumped into him, inadvertently shoving the emperor's face into the huge meal in front of him. The boy had then turned to give a quick apology (or taunt; you never know if it were the enemy) only to be drained of all the blood from his face when he realized whom exactly he had bumped into. The poor teen looked as if he were about to be forcefully castrated – which, Ling thought, wasn't entirely far fetched if Lan Fan happened to be witness to the incident.

The freckled boy started mumbling apologies when he was joined by a girl. All it took was a glance before she seemed to deduce what had happened, before she started stuttering apologies too. Then, in true Ling style, the emperor had wiped his soiled face with a sleeve (Lan Fan was going to kill him afterwards; that robe was a mini fortune in itself…) before bursting out in a hearty chuckle.

It was amusing, really, to have someone frightened of him when Ling wasn't trying to intimidate at all. Ling couldn't help but reminisce at all the times Ed, and occasionally Al, had forced his face into soup and not flinch the least even with him glaring at them and Lan Fan ready to brutally skin the assailants alive. Ling forced himself to breathe as he wiped away his tears; the bewildered look of the boy and girl in front of him only served to make him giggle more.

When he did finally stop laughing, the two teens were staring weirdly at the Xingese. Sighing, the man had said with an amused glint, "Aw, don't worry 'bout it. Join me for a snack?"

Then, before the wizard and witch could do, say or process anything, the emperor had proceeded to manhandle them onto the bench, order some food for the two and started a menial conversation as they waited. All in all, Ling had found out their names, age, dates of births alongside the likes and dislikes of the two (now known to him as Ron and Hermione) while fussing over them like a mother hen Alphonse had unconsciously made him be.

Back to current time, and Ron's hesitantly blunt question twenty minutes later, the raven haired man found himself chuckling again at the banter Hermione had started with Ron. In a way, the small argument somewhat resembled the Elric brothers when Al was trying to pound into his elder brother's head that, no, he couldn't beat that man senseless because he had mildly hinted about his height.

"It was just a simple question!" the red head argued. Hermione bonked his head with a fist before saying, "You dolt! Couldn't you find a more civil way to-"

"Its fine~" Ling cut the witch off, "I'll answer. It isn't the first time anyone's asked me that question."

It was amusing at how fast both of them turned and faced the emperor with puppy dog eyes filled with curiosity… Ling grinned and scratched his chin, wondering how he would put into words about his life as an emperor. "Hmm," he hummed, "I guess you could say its stressful with all the horrid paperwork you have to do…and it is suffocating having body guards surrounding you all the time even when I can perfectly protect myself, but…"

Hermione's and Ron's faces turned to one of utmost eagerness, waiting for the man to complete his sentence. After all, who else could claim that they had spoken so casually to an emperor of all people?

"…but, it isn't so bad once you consider all the wonderful comrades I have. One of them being that midget alchemist teacher of yours…" (Somewhere in the castle, the said alchemist felt a sudden, insatiable urge to strangle the emperor…)

Ron's jaw dropped open. He had never expected professor Elric to be that close to the Xingese emperor…But before he could question that however, Dobby had come up and placed a huge (again, the size was something no human being should be able to eat), causing Hermione's eyes to bulge tremendously. There was no way anyone could stomach that much of food without regurgitating at least thrice.

This goes to show that the great Hermione Granger had times when she was just painfully wrong.

A few minutes later, the young witch was still paralyzed in her seat as she watched the scene before her unfurl into a mortifying eating competition between Ron and Ling; food vanishing from sight within seconds. When Harry finally came back in from his Quidditch meeting a while later, he couldn't help but join Hermione in her gaping session.

By the end of lunch, plenty of the occupants of Hogwarts had to rewire their brains to accept the new reality that yes; a few hundred plates of food can be eaten completely within minutes and no; they were not hallucinating in the least.

# #

It was simple really. So horrifyingly simple that Lan Fan was barely holding herself back from slamming her head on a wall.

Her young master was nowhere to be found and he had escaped her with the oldest of all excuses to do so.

She should seriously stop her master from using the puppy dog eyes look he picked up from Alphonse and Mei. If he could get away so easily with the 'My-bladder's-too-full-I-can't-take-it-anymore-bye' line with just that adorable, innocent, there's-nothing-to-worry-about expression…nothing will stop her from wearing a blindfold when dealing with her master in the future.

Though if the young master had done anything to that hand tailored robe of his by the time she got to him...there would be hell to pay. Escaping the clutches of his personal bodyguard? Tolerable. Lying about his whereabouts after being warned a few million times that he was EMPEROR and his life was too important to let him wonder around unprotected? Again, tolerable, even if it was close to crossing the line.

But actually soiling her hand picked, silken robe embroided with authentic silver and gold threads with stains that were near impossible to wash off from the fabric? Oh-ho, that was just begging for punishment, really. Sure, she loved her master to a near obsessive level (she will never admit it to be more than undying loyalty), however, the feminine side of her just wouldn't let Lan Fan let go of her attachment to clothes no matter how much she tried to shake it off.

Even Hawkeye kept a five meter radius distance from her whenever anyone under her charge that day ruined the clothes her dear master was wearing. That included the young master.

"…thank you for the praise my Lord."

The female bodyguard nearly jumped out of her skin. So immersed was she in worrying about her master (and his robes) that she didn't notice the door which she almost walked into. It was only that strange raspy voice which kept her from face-planting into the door …

"Be ssure that no failure comesss, Crouch. You know of the consequencesss otherwissse…"

"Y-yes, my Lord!"

Lan Fan's eyes widened. She didn't mean to overhear this conversation; it was purely by accident. But, something in that tone of voice, in that snide, hissing way each and every word was said with pure malice caught her attention. She had only ever heard that tone once before; and even then it had never felt as…evil as this. The lithe girl could not help but shiver terribly at the memories that resurfaced from the deepest thresholds of her mind.

Because that voice reminded her of everything that had to do with Father.

It was purely by instinct that Lan Fan had the sense of mind to jump and climb the nearest pillar; it wouldn't do good if the people (if they could really be called that) in that room found her eavesdropping on their conversation. No, she had to listen to everything; something was telling her to, and it warned her to report it to master later. Vaguely, she recognized the room to be one of the professors' – Mooby? Maddy? She would have to ask around later. For now, she would forget about master and find him later; this seemed more important.

Concentrating, the black-clad woman focused onto the conversation that was going on below her. Frowning, she realized that the voices seemed to have taken on a muffled quality from this position – not that it mattered, she was able to hear some interesting phrases anyway…

"….jinxed…..Goblet?"

"…Definite…Potter will…."

Lan Fan's frown deepened. It looked as if she would have to set up an information network with some of the less suspecting students later. She didn't quite understand half of anything she was hearing, but she knew that those were words of magic. At the very least, she would memorize the words spoken for now, if nothing else. The sensation in her mind told her to concentrate as she drifted off slightly for a few moments; she couldn't help it, but she had a sick feeling that she was hearing a beast that was very much like Father. And she was willing to do anything to prevent that incident from ever happening again.

So, she listened.

# #

"Ah, it looks like the first move has been set into motion."

The owner of the voice let its gaze sweep around the expanse of pure white. It had never understood how this blinding white space could hold such appeal for his counterpart; it found the scenery much too blank for its liking. Letting its field of vision rest upon the silhouette surrounded by a large, blank set of stone twin doors, it spoke again in a light voice that belied its millennia of being in existence.

"And how will this move affect our worlds, Truth? This was never meant to happen originally."

Truth let out a small grin of exasperation. As powerful as they both were, the future, though easily read in more normal circumstances, had all but shown a buzz of weird static ever since the two worlds of alchemy and magic clashed so terrifically; and it irked the two regulators to have it that way. Standing, the Truth glided over to his counterpart before speaking, "It is a gamble that we both chose upon; to bring the two spheres of power together to prevent any more damage than that snake mortal has already caused."

The other voice hummed thoughtfully before replying, "Is it really that bad then? The walls between all the dimensions have held on for almost an eternity. Surely they can hold out even now?" The Truth allowed a grimace to form on their face, "I've seen the cracks, Brother. The 'Voldermort' of this axis has discovered a miniscule rift between his world and another. You should know that if he experiments a little more, the kinds of chaos that will ensue."

The counterpart of Truth sighed. Everything was a mess and it'd rather have it taken care off rather than leave it to fester into something much, much worse.

"How long until the first move is completed?"

The Truth smirked; his Brother was so much fun to prove wrong and he hadn't done it in centuries. "Not long Brother, not long…"

# #

He couldn't help but feel morbidly gleeful.

Lord Voldermort; the Dark Lord, evader of death, had stumbled onto something incredibly…fascinating. Played with correctly, his discovery would end that pathetic excuse of a threat named Potter. And it would be so very simple.

As constricted as he was in movement in this form, Voldermort managed to form a snake-like sneer on his disgusting infant features. A knot of almost nauseating excitement bubbled up in his chest as he let his thoughts drift towards the small gap that floated freely in the space above him.

So, so simple; all the Dark Lord had to do was watch as the sequence of images flashed around in the gap. Every single scene that played through would serve in his quest for power and destruction. And this time, no one would ever be able to stop him.

The snake-man grinned as he watched a green eyed brunette stare blankly at a dead body next to him in a cemetery; smirked as he saw the futile struggles of the same boy fighting so desperately against the toad-witch and downright sneered wickedly when the same boy threw himself around in despair at the loss of his dear godfather.

Tom Riddle barely flinched as the gap suddenly swirled into a myriad of gold and red; used as he already was to the temperamental rift, as the scenes changed into something else completely. Slowly, a picture of two golden haired boys came into view, both standing around an array; their fright shown clearly as things apparently started to go wrong and blood started splattering everywhere, before changing into a picture of a golden haired teen clenching his teeth tightly at the sight of the dog-girl staring blankly into the red eyes of the armor in front of it. Riddle had wanted to kiss Nagini in pure joy when mentions of the Philosopher's stone were heard.

Voldermort was indeed gleeful. The rift he had found was proving to be a dangerous thing; even more dangerous than toying with immortality. It showed him things that happened, was happening and most of all, things that could and would happen given the right conditions. It had shown him his coming defeat, the foreigner's power, weaknesses; everything that he could have needed for his rise to power. The rift gave him insight of many powerful instances; moments that he could manipulate in the near future for his own benefit.

And the chaos would start as soon as that air-headed headmaster read out the name that came out from the Goblet. Looking at the gap again, the Dark Lord grinned evilly as the colors shifted into the current scene at the Great Hall; the Goblet standing tall in flames as it shot out the fourth, unexpected name from its depths.

Lord Voldermort enjoyed every moment of shock that flitted across the old coot's face as he read out Harry Potter's name…

…Because, with his newfound toy, Tom would savor every single moment he took in breaking his counterpart of the damned prophecy into irreparable shreds.

# * #

Ahem…I guess you guys missed me? *Dodges a few crates of tomatoes**shrieks to the high heavens*

Really? Because I am doing a kneeling bow here begging for your forgiveness…. I'm SORRY! *barely moves out of the way of an oncoming express train* TAT

I have absolutely no excuse (well, homework, school and friends and school are some, but you know….) and I know I have disappointed many of you especially my Beta reader (MCat9905).

So, in apology, here is a little appreciation gift in honor of her pen name… (Based on this fanfic)

#*#

To, MCat9905

#M, as in Mock

Edward didn't know if life in general was out there having fun setting its demons at him at every turn of the way, or if he just had an uncanny ability to find things that would hurt him without meaning too. Frankly speaking, Edward thought it was a brutal mixture of both.

This was probably true considering all the shit he had been through ever since his dad left and his mom died…And after the promised day, after everything had calmed down and when he had finally proposed to Winry before taking his break from the military, Edward had foolishly thought that nothing as heartbreaking as that would ever come close to happening again.

Of course, like every hopeful thought of peace that ran through the Fullmetal's head, this one had ended up the same way like the others.

It died a tragically pitiable death.

After dying so horribly, the body of the hopeful thought had almost literally incinerated into dust when the old coot that had driven it to its demise introduced the upper echelon of the Amestrian army to the bloody world of magic!

Magic, Edward hissed through clenched teeth. The five lettered word seemed to mock his every struggle through life as it taunted openly the possibilities he could have had if that 'magic' had been found by Ed and his brother earlier. That stupid, stupid thing had flaunted its independence from any kind of exchange, equivalent or otherwise, and rubbed it not so subtly into the blonde's face. Magic, didn't have too much a price, didn't need to obey any logical law in the world, and didn't abide to anything he learned from teacher or the Truth.

It hurt, hurt, hurt that Edward could have probably gotten Al his body back with a flick of a stick, hurt that all the grief he had been through could have been solved with a few nonsense words and it ripped him to pieces knowing that Nina would probably have a chance if she were alive now. Mustang, who was standing near him at the moment, was probably feeling the same if those clenched fists and the barely heard whisper of 'Maes' were anything to go by.

But, before he could seethe any further, or allow himself on that self destructive path of 'what-if's, Edward felt something click in his head.

So what if things could have been easier? So what if magic wanted to use every single opportunity it had to mock him? Edward didn't want or need to care about that. He never, ever had any regrets about the way his life had gone (despite its constant bitchiness), so why bother now? He finally had gotten his brother back, had a family to take care off, had friends whom he really, really liked being with. None of which would have truly been his if he hadn't gone through every moment the painfully hard way. He would keep going down that way regardless of the damned things magic could have offered him; because, simply put, it was his way and nothing would budge him. 'Don't look back – the past is in the past' was something he had said once upon a time, wasn't it?

Heck, Ed would even kick the General hard with his left leg if the bastard didn't realize those facts for himself soon enough.

He would wish later, that was true; he would dream of the 'what if's and the 'could be's… but right now, he would settle for dissecting every single piece of knowledge this magic would offer.

And the sadistic fun he would have killing any misconceptions those wizards had about it…

# Cat

One cat, two cats, three, four, five….

Cat, cats, kitties, meow, purr….Roll over, scratch, pet, repeat…

Soft, soft furry creatures…

Hogwarts was probably a haven, thought Alphonse, if it could house this many felines. The best part was, even Edward couldn't tell him to leave them alone anymore…even better was the fact that all the cute kitties seemed to love him and he had another five hours of free time to spend with them.

Alphonse sighed. If only he could have kept a cat when he was younger; too bad Edward wouldn't let him. Not that Al was blaming his brother; their circumstances at the time were less than favorable (keeping cats in his armor while travelling was a terrible idea, seeing as felines needed toilet breaks and freedom of movement) and most places they had travelled too didn't cater well to travelling pets.

But Al did resent the lack of furry animals in his life when he was still a teenager (Black Hayate did not count. That pup was too well trained to even think of running off any further than five meters from Hawkeye) and it hurt him to even recall all the strays he gad so desperately wanted to help on his journeys but had to leave behind.

So, when the blonde had discovered the main hideout of all the cats in Hogwarts, he decided that he might as well make up for all the lost time. Seemed like the cats had the same idea as he did…

Now, if only this squashed faced ginger would get off his chest and allow him to scratch that annoying itch on his back; this would truly be haven…

# 9905

It shouldn't have been all that surprising, really. Actually, it should have been expected.

Then again, not everyone Winry knew had kept literal records at the number of times people had called them 'short'. Then again, this was Edward she was talking about. The man probably held more grudges about his height compared to anything else.

But what really caught her off guard was when she turned to the next page of the thick journal and read the figure scrawled messily under the entry marked 'bastard Colonel'.

9905.

In five years of knowing the Colonel-now-turned-General, Edward had been called 'short' in about nine thousand, nine hundred and five ways. Winry could not stop her jaw dropping at that; Mustang must have had a very creative mind to accomplish such a feat (her section only had 500…). The mechanic had wanted to keep the journal away (and probably use it for blackmail later) when a thick bundle dropped out of the book bindings.

Curiosity beckoned her with a shining beacon, and unable to resist, Winry picked the bundle up then went through the contents. As she flicked through the bundle of parchment, the mechanic's cheeks started to flush as she read the contents; the redness of her cheeks steadily becoming a full body flush. It took all her will power, and then some to not burst out laughing hysterically at what she held in her hands.

For, the bundle of papers was the hundreds of Edward's attempts at a proposal to Winry. And they were terrible in a very endearing way.

Giggling softly, she tucked the parchment into her overalls pocket, deciding to save the hilarious sweetness for later. She would have plenty of time for that tonight… plus, she was never one to give up on blackmail material….

#*#

And voila! I hope MCat9905 doesn't mind the sloppiness of it all…BTW, if you guys want the 101 proposals that Edward came up with, just ask. Though I need at least 30 responses to actually start on it… (Muahahah…)

As for where I got that idea from, it probably stemmed from the fact that I could never really imagine Ed to be the kind of guy to just blurt out a proposal like that. It would have taken him tons of prep before he could even dare to propose such a thing. Then again, like everything else he has planned, the proposal got screwed up in the best way possible… ('I'll give you half of my life, so you give me half of yours!' That line actually got voted as most romantic proposal in a magazine somewhere over here…)

Before y'all go thinking that that was all…I'm still feeling guilty, so here is a tiny ficlet that is not involved in any fandom for you guys!

PS, next chapter will have the characters of Harry Potter instead of Fullmetal for the dedication. ; 3

#*#

You could only run.

Run, stumble and pant. Over and aver again just so you can get away from that. You didn't care if your lungs were screaming at you to stop, or that your legs were threatening to give out at any moment. It didn't matter at all; nothing mattered in fact, so long as you could get away from the wicked, wicked claws of what was chasing after you.

It was horrifying that you had no idea what exactly was chasing you. Frightening that you could barely hear its movements in the pitch black space you were trapped in. things were so much worse when you could actually feel the cold, heart-wrenching aura that seemed to breathe down your neck every single time you paused for breath. You just wanted it to stop; because it was so, so scary and so very alone in the dark space that had trapped you along with the monster.

You were all…alone…

At the thought, you screech to a halt, completely forgetting the fact that a monster was chasing after you. Slowly, your breathing becomes uneven, sharp, stinging tears gathering slowly at your eyes. Then, without any warning, you let out a horrifying scream that sounded morbidly like an animal in its last throes of life.

You found that you couldn't care anymore about the monster chasing you, couldn't care that your life was in danger or that you would probably meet your end anyways. As your screams ebb into muffled hitches and as the dark claws of the beast start to wrap around you, you could only think;

"I don't want to be alone."

But it was useless to think that now; your precious people weren't here to save you from the putrid maw of the monster….you would die, die, die, and nobody would know because you were all alone. It-was-useless-hopeless-pathetic-

'SLAP!'

And suddenly, the monster was gone, the pitch turned to light and you were awake.

It takes a few long moments to realise you have fallen asleep at your desk, then slightly longer to take in the fact that you were surrounded by your group of precious, precious friends. At that point, you abandoned all pride and started bawling your eyes out, before managing to compose yourself just enough to start begging your family (you are adamant that your precious people are in all ways family except by blood) and had all but begged them to stay with you and never, ever leave you alone.

Because, simply put, you never want to be alone again, nightmare or not.

In their own ways, your family starts to hug and comfort you (one was ready to slap you again in case you went into a round of hysterics); some more awkward than others. They keep close, daring any passer-by to stop and stare with ferocious glares, and murmur sweet nothings that meant the world in your ears. A few minutes later, when you can breathe through ragged hitches instead of sobs, when you are so comfortably wrapped into the arms of your loved ones, and when they start telling you that you should stop crying or you wouldn't get your ice-cream later; do you let a raspy giggle escape your lips.

You laugh as your friends look at you incredulously, trying your best to explain to them the reason behind the laughter. You tried to tell them that you had been silly to even think or dream that you would ever be alone with them around; stupid to even have to beg them to stay with you.

Then, as blushes of varying shades dusted the cheeks of your comrades, they start telling you in their own sick, twisted and perverse ways that they love you too.

And, you think amidst the ensuing chaos, that you would never trade your family for the world.

#*#

There you go; that was my poor attempt at writing family fluff.

In case it wasn't good enough…well, I apologise. But I still like it though….

Before I sign off, there is something you guys should know. I have to make my updates sparser as I have a MAJOR examination this year that needs all my attention, because it WILL decide the curse of my future. But I will still try to update. Hopefully.

If you need to inquire about anything though, don't hesitate to PM me and ask.

LOVE YOU AND WILL LOVE EVEN MORE IF YOU REVIEW!
CIAO!