Friday, September 30, 2011

A New Senshi: Chapter 7.1 - How Did We End Up In The Principal's Office?

Once the good-byes had been said, Natalie and Edward had moved on. When the portal opened this time, they came out in a dimly lit room. It was large but it didn’t echo like one would think it would. They looked around.
“So where are we?” Edward asked.
“Well if I figured right, we should be at Mahora Academy in Japan. I was hoping to land outside though.”
“Welcome,” came a friendly voice of what sounded to be an older man.
Natalie and Edward both turned around quickly. Seeing who it was Natalie relaxed a bit, it was the Headmaster. Somehow she must have just missed and they’d come out in his office.
“Hello sir,” she said with a smile.
Edward leaned over and whispered in her ear, “You know him?”
Natalie nodded. “I know of him. Remember, I read about the places we’re going to. He doesn’t know me personally though.”
The Headmaster got up from his desk and walked over to them. “And what brings someone like you and your friend here?”
Natalie drew in a deep breath and exhaled it. It was obvious to her that he could tell right away who she was and that seemed to be helpful to them this time. “Well first, I’m Natalie Simon and this is Edward Elric,” she replied. “We came here hoping that you or someone here might be able to help us.” Natalie didn’t tell him that they had also come for the school festival. It wasn’t really important right now anyway.
The Headmaster nodded. “So what are you looking for?”
Natalie pointed out her necklace. “I was hoping to find another one of these.”
He took a minute to examine the item. “Ahh, a translation stone, these are hard to come by.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Natalie replied with a sigh.
“I didn’t say I didn’t have one though but I can’t just hand it over to you.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to sir. What can we do to get it from you?”
The Headmaster thought about this for a few moments. “Please, have a seat. I have to get someone and then we can discuss options.” He then went out the door. Natalie and Edward both sat on a couch and waited for him to return.
A few minutes later the Headmaster returned and behind him was Negi Springfield. Edward looked at the kid. He didn’t look to be any older than ten or eleven. What could he have to do with getting what they’d come for?
“Ms. Simon, Mr. Elric, let me introduce you to Negi Springfield. He’s one of the instructor’s here as I’m sure you’re probably aware.”
Natalie nodded. “I’m well aware of Mr. Springfield,” she replied with a smile. “Child prodigy, magician, and English teacher for class 3-A.”
The Headmaster grinned at her. “You’ve done your homework, excellent. What I’d like you to do is assist Mr. Springfield in his class. They can be a bit of a handful and seeing as you’re a native speaker of the English language you might be of some help to him. In return I’ll give you my translation stone, though mine isn’t quite as fetching as that necklace of yours. Though, if it’s for Mr. Elric, as I suspect it is, that won’t be too much of a problem.”
She looked at him strangely. “How did you know my primary language was English?”
He laughed. “My dear, I know many things but it’s not difficult to tell that you’re American. Your friend though, he’s a more difficult one. Actually, before he joins you in the classroom, I’d like some time with him.”
“Excuse me? But what do you want with me?” Edward asked.
The Headmaster clearly had no trouble understanding him. “You’re an alchemist are you not? I know at the very least that you’re Amestrian.”
Edward looked at him shocked. “Right on both counts.”
The Headmaster chuckled. “You look like your father you know, that’s how I knew. I had the good fortune of meeting him some time ago.”
“I’m sorry Headmaster sir,” interrupted Natalie. “But how could you have gone to Amestris?”
“I dabbled in dimensional magic in my younger days and happened upon it. Hohenheim was quite a drinker and he liked to talk about his boys back home.”
Edward, though having made peace with his father before he died after the fight with Father, still didn’t like being told he looked like him. He still had a stubborn hatred for him for leaving them alone for so long. He’d never completely let it go.
Natalie could see he was agitated by the talk of his father. She put her hand on his knee and shook her head, silently telling him not to start anything.
“But anyway,” the Headmaster said walking over to a drawer and withdrew a small locked box. Taking the box back to his desk, he took out a small key and opened the box. Inside was a ring with a red stone in the center that looked just like Natalie’s. “Here you are Mr. Elric.”
Edward took the ring and put it on his right middle finger.
“Now I’d imagine that ring has the same limitations your necklace does Ms. Simon. It will only work when directly worn, just carrying it won’t do.”
Natalie nodded. Edward looked at it. He couldn’t help noticing that it looked a lot like the ring Cornelo had in Lior. He knew it wasn’t the same, as that one had broken apart; it just was enough to be a bit haunting to him.
“Now, if you would be so kind as to change your outfit Ms. Simon and accompany Negi to the classroom.”
“Oh yeah, this isn’t exactly proper attire for a classroom is it?” She said as she put her hand to her chest and transformed back to her regular clothes. “I’ll see you later on alright Ed?”
Edward nodded. “Yeah…” It was clear Edward didn’t like being left with this guy.
“Oh stop pouting,” she said with a laugh. “You might find that the Headmaster can teach you something. That is what you told me you wanted to tag along for right?”
Edward just made a sour face at her. Yeah it had been what he’d told her, but it wasn’t what had made him jump through that portal. He thought she’d figured that much out.
“Ms. Simon…” Negi said, trying to get Natalie’s attention.
“Just call me Natalie,” she said with a smile.
“Ah, alright, and please call me Negi. Shall we be going?” With that, Natalie nodded and they headed out of the Headmaster’s office.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

A New Senshi: Chapter 6.4 - A Few Loose Ends

After Natalie had finished braiding his hair, Edward grabbed a sandwich and they both made their way up to Serenity’s chambers.
Natalie knocked on the door. “Queen?”
“Come in,” she called to them. When Natalie pushed the door open, Serenity was sitting a beautiful antique vanity. She motioned to someone just out of sight to come forward. It was Endymion. “Edward, I’d like you to go with King Endymion.”
“But…” he said looking at Natalie.
“It’s alright Ed,” she said chuckling a bit. “The King won’t bite; at least I don’t think he will.”
Serenity couldn’t help but to laugh a bit at Natalie’s comment. “Indeed. Rest assured Edward, you’ll be back before you know it. There are just a few things that need to be discussed and Endymion is more qualified to talk to you than I am.”
“This isn’t going to be some sort of ‘Birds and Bees’ discussion is it?” Edward asked.
Natalie put her hand to her forehead exasperated. “You’re hopeless Ed, I swear. Just go, OK?”
Edward sighed and followed Endymion out of the room, into the next. Endymion closed the door behind them.
Natalie then looked at Serenity. “I want to thank you Queen, for everything… I…”
Serenity shook her head and sighed, her face stern, bordering on disappointed. “You don’t have to thank me Natalie but I have to admit I was very surprised to see you come here with him after I told you that removing people from their world was taboo. How did this happen?”
Natalie took a deep breath. “I didn’t take him on purpose, I was leaving his world and he jumped into the portal with me. I told you that much the other day.”
“But how did he know about your secret to begin with?”
Natalie blushed, embarrassed. “He overheard me talking to myself. I thought I had been alone but evidently I wasn’t. I admit I let him know the rest after that because I…”
Serenity’s face softened and she smiled. “It’s alright, I understand. We can’t always control the particulars of how our hearts work and who we fall in love with. I can’t say that I’m exactly innocent when it comes to letting my secret out. I just had to make sure you felt that little twinge that I felt when Luna found out that someone knew my secret.”
Natalie chuckled. “Wasn’t Tuxedo Mask, I mean, Endymion, the first one to figure your secret out?”
“That he was. That was even before we knew about our past lives. Destiny is what it is, we can try to fight it but in the end it’s not likely that we can win against it. Most of the time though, it’s alright to lose to destiny, we just don’t exactly want to see it. But that being said, if you’re going to do this and I can tell from the look in your eyes whenever he’s around I know you are, there are a few other things I think I should tell you.”
Natalie nodded. “Alright.”
“First, since he’s been exposed to the crystal, he’ll have the healing abilities you do, at least for awhile. Over time the effects will fade if he doesn’t return here.”
“Is there any way for him to keep it without coming back here? I mean it’s not like we never will come back here, it just may be a longer time this time before we come back.”
Serenity took a deep breath and thought about the best way to put this. “There is a way, yes. It would also grant him the same life span that we have but…”
“But?”
“Well, let’s just say it would mean that you’d have to be completely sure about how you feel about him…”
Natalie thought about it for a minute then blushed so red she would have matched Mars’ sailor suit perfectly. “You mean we’d have to…”
Serenity nodded. “I’m sure you probably know that it was only after Endymion and I were married that he gained the Silver Millennium life span. The same applies to the sailor scout guardians as well.”
“And you’re not referring to the actual wedding ceremony are you?”
Serenity shook her head. “No, I’m not. That’s why it’s not something that should be taken lightly and why I said you best be completely sure how you feel about him before doing this.”
It had been a ‘birds and bees’ thing after all but not in the way she thought Edward had thought it would be. “So I’m guessing the reason you had Ed go with Endymion was because he’s having a conversation pretty similar to this too?”
Serenity nodded. “And I didn’t think it would be a good idea to have this conversation with the both of you together. It isn’t exactly a topic for polite conversation.”
Natalie chuckled. “I understand. I just hope Ed hasn’t flipped out on Endymion. I don’t think this sort of thing is something that’s easy for him to talk about; it’s not really easy for anyone to talk about actually, but then to have to talk about it with someone who’s a stranger, I can see that being hard. Plus Ed isn’t your typical guy, he’s not a pervert for lack of a better way of putting it.” Natalie couldn’t help but to laugh at what she’d just said. Serenity laughed as well.
“He’s a good man, that’s true. He was willing to give his life to protect someone dear to him without thinking twice about it. There are truly very few in this world or any other that would be willing to do something like that.”
Natalie smiled, biting at her lower lip a bit. “Yeah, I know.”
Endymion poked his head out from the other room. “Are you ladies finished?”
Serenity looked at Natalie. “I had nothing else that required you alone but if you had any other concerns…”
Natalie shook her head. “No I think I’m all set.”
“Thank goodness,” Endymion said as he opened the door all the way. He looked clearly exasperated.
Edward just walked by him and went to stand next to Natalie.
“Ed, what did you do?” she asked him.
“Nothing…” he said, the look on his face very much like a child’s who’d just been made to do something for his own good but he didn’t like it.
Endymion came to join Serenity. “He has quite a temper…”
Natalie couldn’t help but to laugh. “Somehow I just KNEW you were going to cause King Endymion trouble,” she said as she lightly punched his arm making a playfully annoyed face at him.
“Yeah well, he was talking to me about stuff and asking me about stuff that was none of his business,” Edward said keeping that defiant look on his face.
Natalie got up and went over to Endymion, bowing her head slightly. “I’m sorry he was such a hand full for you.”
He put his hand on Natalie’s shoulder. “Don’t give it another thought. It just served to prove that he is a young man of good character, even if he can’t hold his temper,” he replied with a laugh.
Natalie turned and looked at Edward smiling. Serenity had said something similar to her. It was good to know that she wasn’t the only one that saw this in him.
“Hey wait,” Natalie said.
“What is it?” Serenity asked.
“Why can Ed understand you guys? He doesn’t have one of these,” she said as she pulled the necklace out of her shirt. “And he doesn’t ‘have it in his DNA’ like I do.”
“He does now actually, at least as long as he is here. It was one of the other things we did after we became the rulers here. It would be very difficult to have a peaceful world if we all spoke different languages.”
“Oh, but what’s he supposed to do when we leave here?”
Serenity shrugged. “That I could not tell you. We don’t have any objects like that necklace here; if we did I would have given it to you before you left. You’d either have to go back to where you got that necklace or find someone else who can provide you with something like that.”
Natalie made a face. She really didn’t want to go back and see Yuko so that meant getting one somewhere else. They’d have to make do until they could find it.
“What is that anyway?” Edward asked. “I noticed you were wearing it when you showed up in Resembool. I have to admit it freaked me out a little especially after I found out about your secret. If it had glowed…”
She held up the red stone. “Yeah, you thought my healing was because I was a homunculus and I’m guessing you thought this might have been a philosopher’s stone?” she asked with a smirk. “Quickly proved you wrong too didn’t I?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said then stuck his tongue out at her. “So anyway, what does that thing really do?”
“It’s a universal translator, that’s the best way I can describe it. It allows me to understand anyone anywhere when they speak and it allows them to understand me. I just have to figure out a way to get you one now that you’re going to be with me all the time because it only works if you’re wearing it.”
“Then we should probably get on that next huh?”
Natalie smiled. “Yeah, we should. But I think we need a little fun too. I have a good place to head off to next if you’re up to it.”
Edward smirked at her. “You bet I am.”
Serenity and Endymion couldn’t help but chuckle watching them like proud parents seeing their children happy. “You two be careful from now on alright. You can always come back here if you need us but we’d rather see you here for a friendly visit instead of...”
“Damage control?” Natalie interrupted with a laugh.
Serenity laughed. “Exactly.”
“Thank you Queen,” she said.
Edward nodded. “I can’t thank you enough. I’d be dead now if it weren’t for your help.”
Serenity shook her head. “Don’t mention it. Oh but Natalie, I think you best say good-bye to Jupiter before you two leave. She won’t be happy with you if just vanish without seeing her.”
“Oh I learned my lesson about trying to leave without saying good-bye to people already,” she said with a smirk as she looked at Edward. “I’ll go see her and then we’ll be off.”

A New Senshi: Chapter 6.3 - Please Edward, It's Time To Get Up

Natalie snapped awake. That had been one crazy dream. The exhaustion must have messed with her brain. She rubbed her eyes trying to get them to focus again. How long had she been asleep anyway?
Jupiter poked her head in. “Hey, how’s it going?”
Natalie sighed. “No change though it looks like the wounds are just about healed so at least he won’t be in there much longer. How many days has it been? I’ve kind of lost track.”
“Just about two now, you slept pretty much the last 24 hours. You want me to bring you anything?”
Natalie stood up and stretched. “I think I’m finally starting to feel hungry. I can’t remember the last time I ate anything. I think it might have been right before this happened.”
Jupiter nodded. “OK, I’ll go see what I can find. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Thanks Jupiter,” she said with a weary smile. She then sat back down next to Edward.
She hadn’t been sitting there long when the crystal slowly started to break down around him. She finally had the chance to get a good look at him. She brushed his hair out of his face and out from in front of his eyes. It looked like there were tiny tear trails running from them. She hadn’t noticed him crying before, though through the crystal it may not have been possible to see.
“OK Ed, time to come back to me,” she said softly and took his hand in hers. When she did, his eyes fluttered. Natalie’s heart caught in her throat. “Come on Ed, you can do it, please, I know you can,” she said trying to encourage him. She squeezed his hand lightly and they fluttered again before opening. It took a moment for this to register with her.
“Natalie…” he said, his voice raspy still but it was his.
“Ed!” she exclaimed throwing her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
“Ack! Can’t… breathe… “
Natalie blushed and quickly let him go. “I’m sorry, it’s just… I…” Tears started running down her cheeks. She was just overwhelmingly happy that he was alive.
He slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Where are we?” he asked as he looked around the room. “And why am I in just my shorts?” He actually blushed when he realized this little bit of information. Natalie grabbed her jacket from a chair and draped it over his shoulders.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” she asked him.
He thought about it for a moment. “Well I remember seeing that Sebastian guy throw the knives at you and jumping off the bench. After that the only thing I remember is seeing my mom in the world between worlds and leaving with you. It was dark for a moment then I woke up.”
“Wait a minute, that wasn’t a dream?”
“What wasn’t?”
“Being at your childhood home and seeing your mom. The things she said…”
Edward shook his head. “No, it wasn’t a dream…”
Serenity poked in to check on Natalie and saw that Edward was awake and free of the crystal. She smiled warmly.
“Ah, you’re awake,” Serenity said. “Thank goodness. I was beginning to worry that we’d have to treat Natalie next if she worried any more about you.”
“Queen…” Natalie said, blushing more shades of red than most people can imagine.
Serenity just chuckled. “It’s alright. I’m just glad we could help. Mr. Elric, your garments are on a table over there,” she said pointing to a table in the back of the room. “We’ve replaced your shirt and seen to cleaning everything else. Natalie, once he’s ready, would you two come up to my personal chambers?”
“Of course Queen.”
“Good, there are a few things I need to discuss with you both,” she said then took her leave.
Jupiter had returned while the Queen was in the room. She hadn’t wanted to interrupt so she’d waited outside. “Hey,” she said smiling as she came in. “I won’t stay, I know you two need a few minutes but before you head up to see the Queen, have quick bite OK?”
Natalie smiled at Jupiter. “Thank you.”
“No prob,” she said as she waved and left the room.
Edward hopped down off the table and handed Natalie her jacket back. “Hey that’s nice,” he said, pointing out her bracelet. Even though he’d been around her this entire time, this was the first time he’d noticed it.
“It was a gift from Jupiter, the tall, brown haired woman who was just here, the last time I was here, when I found out who I was,” she said as she put her jacket on and sat down to see what Jupiter had brought. There were a few finger sized sandwiches and glass of milk. She picked up a sandwich and started to eat it. Edward went over and grabbed his clothes.
“So this place is…” he asked as he sorted out his things.
Natalie looked up and for the first time was conscious of the fact that he was just wearing his shorts. It hadn’t even dawned on her when he’d said something about it a few minutes ago even though she had put her jacket over him. She blushed a little bit but didn’t make a big deal out of it. She was sort of used to it by now, at least him being shirtless. “Oh that’s right, this is Crystal Tokyo. And as I’m sure you’ve figured out, it’s a safe place for us. The woman that was here in the white dress was Neo Queen Serenity. She’s the one who healed your wounds when I brought you here after…”
After he’d put his pants and boots back on, she got up and went over to him. His back was to her and she could see eight quarter sized scars in his skin that hadn’t been there before. She ran her fingers over them and her heart began to hurt. Without even thinking, she just wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “I’m really sorry Ed,” she said softly resting her head against his back.
He put his hand on hers and lowered his head a bit. “Don’t be. If we could go back and do it again, I’d make the same choice.”
“Yeah but if we could go back, I would have just left when Sebastian originally asked. I was so stupid. I was in a mood and egged him on. I let my own pain put us both in danger and I almost lost you because of it Ed.”
“Yeah and I put your life in danger when I jumped the portal but we’re both here right now, still alive. I’d say that makes us even. You never did tell me why we were there to begin with. Why would you purposely go to a place like that?”
She let him go so he could put his shirt on. She wrung her hands a bit not wanting to tell him why.
“Natalie?” he asked as he pulled on his own jacket.
Sighing she thought it was probably best to just tell him. She wouldn’t look up at him when she did though. “I thought that would be a good place for me to go to forget about you. I could disappear into the population of London for awhile, maybe work a little. I just wanted to clear my head somewhere where I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be faced with the emotion I was trying to forget. And I didn’t want to go home yet because there would have been a lot of things I would have had to explain and even now I’m not sure I can explain them.”
He went over and put his hands on her shoulders. She lifted her head so that her eyes actually met his. “Did you think that was going to make me mad?” he asked smiling gently.
Natalie nodded slightly. “Yeah.”
Edward laughed a little and pulled her close to him hugging her. “Little idiot,” he said. “I understand wanting to run away, you should know that. If it hadn’t been for Alphonse, I would have let you too. I just wanted to forget too Natalie, forget everything but you and Alphonse both reminded me of what was important. I promise I won’t try to run away again as long as I know you won’t either.”
Natalie tightened the embrace and buried her face in his chest. She’d started crying again but it wasn’t because she was sad, far from it. He’d pretty much admitted to her that he cared about her, though his actions had said it long before now, it was nice for him to actually say it to her. She was satisfied with that and for now she didn’t mind giving him whatever space or time he needed. “I promise,” she said softly.
They stayed like that for awhile. Edward was in no hurry to let her go, not anymore. When they finally did let go, Natalie ran her fingers through his hair, which he still had yet to put up.
“Do you mind if I braid your hair?” she asked.
He couldn’t help but to chuckle. He hadn’t worn it that way in a long time. “Go ahead.”

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

A New Senshi: Chapter 6.2 - Hope In Dreams

Edward opened his eyes. Where was he? There was soft grass beneath his feet and cool fresh air blowing past his face. The last thing he remembered was that Sebastian guy throwing the knives at Natalie and leaping from his seat to protect her. He looked around and saw a familiar sight, the house that he’d lived in with his mother and Alphonse and the tree with the swing. How was this possible? He and Alphonse had burned that house to the ground when he was twelve, right after he’d passed the State Alchemy exam.
Slowly he walked up to the house. As he approached he noticed that there was someone there in the backyard hanging clothes on the line. He knew that silhouette, he hadn’t seen it since he was small but he knew it well. “Mom…” he said softly as he stepped into the yard.
Trisha Elric turned around when he entered and smiled warmly at him. “Hello my little man,” she said.
“Mom, is it really you?” he asked, his chest starting to feel tight with anxious hope.
She just smiled and nodded. Edward couldn’t help himself, he ran to her like he’d done as a child and hugged her tight. Tears started to roll uncontrollably down his cheeks.
His mother held him close letting him cry everything out of his system. When he’d finally calmed down she led him inside. Edward sat at the kitchen table as his mother prepared tea for them.
“You’ve grown into quite a fine young man Edward,” she said happily. “I’m so proud of you and Alphonse. Through everything, you did just as I asked of you boys, you looked out for each other.”
Edward sighed a bit. It made him happier than she would ever know hearing her say that. That was all he ever wanted, to make his mom proud of him even with the mistakes he and Alphonse had made along the way. There was something wrong with this though. How was this even possible?
With the tea finished, Trisha poured a cup for herself and on for Edward. She set his in front of him and then went with her’s to sit opposite him. She could see the look on her eldest son’s face. It was sad and world worn.
“A boy your age shouldn’t make faces like that,” she said before taking a sip of her tea.
“I’m sorry mom but I just don’t understand. I’ve wanted this, to have you back, for the last ten years. How is it possible now?”
Trisha took another sip of her tea and her own face turned sad. “What’s the best way to explain this?” she thought for a moment. “I suppose you could say this is a world between worlds. Your spirit or soul, however you’d like to think of it, is here but the rest of you is somewhere else.”
Edward thought about this for a moment, when he did there was a twinge of panic. “Am I…”
“Dead? No you’re not, not yet anyway.”
“Yet?”
“Well if you’re here you’re probably in pretty bad shape. I won’t lie to you Edward, you’re old enough and I know you’ve been through enough to understand. Right now you have a choice to make.”
“A choice?” he asked, looking down at the table top and the untouched cup of tea before him.
“Yes, a difficult choice. You can choose to stay here with me but that means your body will die or you can choose to go back and keep living.”
This was cruel, probably one of the cruelest things that had happened to him. He was being forced to choose between his mother and life.
“I don’t know…” he said softly. “What would you do?”
Trisha shook her head. “I can’t tell you that but I will say this, there are people that love you just as much as I do Edward and people you love. How do you think they’d feel if you never came back to them? How did you feel when I died?”
“I was devastated, so was Alphonse. That’s why we tried to bring you back,” he said, rubbing at his automail leg, the reminder he kept of that day.
Trisha nodded to him. “Alphonse would never forgive you if you died but there’s another person that would be completely devastated if you never came back. She’d been by your side this entire time.”
“Natalie…”
“Exactly. You’ve made that poor girl cry so much Edward; she has barely stopped since you put your life at risk to save her. She’s been sitting with you, waiting for you to heal. Waiting for you to wake up and come back to her.”
Edward closed his eyes trying to hold back more tears.
Trisha smiled softly reaching out to put her hand on her son’s. “It’s alright to cry Edward. There’s no shame in it. I know you have a hard time believing that someone would care about you that much but please open your heart to her. I know you’re afraid to completely let her in, especially after what happened with Winry…”
“You know about that?”
She nodded. “I am able to watch over you from here you know. I have been this entire time and I’ll continue to if you go back.”
The tears started to stream down his cheeks. He leaned over, putting his face in his hands. This was just too much, even for him, the one that saved Alphonse from the gate world, beat the crap out of Father, seen so many die just to help him and his brother, been a sacrifice to summon ‘God’. He’d been through so much, he couldn’t give up now.
Trisha looked out the window. “Well it seems we have a visitor.” She got up to have a better look at who was at the gate. “She really a pretty girl Edward,” she said smiling back at her son.
“Natalie’s here?” he asked sounding shocked.
“Seems so, she’s got a pretty strong will if she was able to get her, or maybe more of a strong heart. Come on, let’s go out and meet her.”
Natalie stood at the gate. She didn’t know how she had gotten here or why she was here. She just knew that she had passed out and felt like she was in a dream. The door opened and out walked Trisha and Edward.
Natalie’s eyes got wide and there was a bright smile on her lips. She resisted the urge to run and hug him since his mother was standing right there. Trisha, having a mother’s intuition took a step away from Edward and smiled at Natalie. She took the hit and gave in running up and throwing her arms around him. Trisha chuckled.
“I think you have the answer you needed Edward. Just remember what we talked about alright? Take small steps, but don’t let the important things get away from you.”
Edward let go of Natalie long enough to give his mother a hug. “I love you Mom.”
“I love you too Edward and the next time you see Alphonse make sure you tell him I love him too.”
“I will Mom. Thank you for everything.”
“Anything for my little man.”
They let each other go and then Trisha took Natalie’s hand and put it in Edward’s. “Take care of him please. He can be stubborn and hard headed, but he really is kind hearted.”
“I will Ms. Elric, I promise.”
Trisha smiled. “Alright you two, get out of here.”
They started to walk down the road when the world around them faded away.

A New Senshi: Chapter 6.1 - You Have To Help Him!

Natalie fell into the main hall of the crystal palace, Edward clutched tightly to her. Neo Queen Serenity was sitting there and was quite surprised when she appeared, covered in blood and holding a young man.
“Please Neo Queen Serenity, you have to help him, please, please I beg you,” she pleaded, the skin around her eyes so red and puffy from crying, her eyes dry and blood shot now, no more tears left within them. “You’re the only one…”
The other scouts came running in hearing Natalie’s panicked voice.
“Natalie!” Jupiter yelled as she was the first to get there. “What happened?”
“There will be time for that later,” Serenity said as she motioned for the court guards to come get him. They quickly did as the Queen had bid though Natalie didn’t let go of him easily. “Please, Natalie, if I’m going to help him…”
Natalie was in shock right now. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Once they had taken him from her she just collapsed completely to the floor. Her body was entirely exhausted. Jupiter went over to her and picked her up. “I’ll take care of her.”
“Thank you Jupiter,” said the Queen as she went with guard and Edward.
A few hours later, after Jupiter had managed to get Natalie cleaned up and had convinced her to rest at least a little; she brought Natalie down to the palace’s equivalent of a hospital. When she came into the room, Edward was laying on a table encased in crystal. Natalie ran over and put her hands against it. “I’m so sorry Ed, I never…”
Serenity went over and put her hand on her shoulder. “He’s still alive Natalie, barely, but he is. The crystal will heal his wounds but…”
Natalie turned to look at her. “But?”
Serenity sighed. “He’s unconscious, in a coma. As I said, the crystal will heal his wounds but it will be up to him if he wakes up.”
“He’ll wake up, I know he will,” she said softly.
“What happened? I thought I told you to never take anyone from their world. You’re lucky he even survived the trip.”
“I didn’t have a choice. It was either take the chance or let him just die. I couldn’t let him die; it’s my fault he’s like this. He was trying to protect me but he shouldn’t have. I’m the one that pushed Sebastian’s buttons; it should have been me…”
Natalie started to cry again. She rested her head against the crystal, her tears running off of her cheeks and down the smooth surface. She could see his face; it looked like he was somewhere she couldn’t reach, somewhere far away. Her heart broke even more.
Serenity understood this feeling completely. This had happened to Endymion long ago when she’d just learned who he really was and who she really was. “You love this young man don’t you?”
Natalie didn’t look at Serenity. “Yes, but I wasn’t going to take him with me when I left his world but just as I was leaving he jumped into the portal with me, he wouldn’t let me leave without him.” She completely broke down again, falling to her knees beside the table, her face buried in her hands. Jupiter got down next to her and hugged her. “If we hadn’t stayed in that other world, if I had made him go home, if I hadn’t toyed with Sebastian because I wasn’t in the mood for him to tell me what to do…”
“Come on Natalie, you can’t beat yourself up about what should have been or what could have been or whose fault it is. All you can do now is hold strong and be here when he wakes up OK?”
Natalie nodded allowing Jupiter to help her back to her feet. He would wake up, she knew he would. She didn’t even want to think about what would happen if he didn’t. “How long before the wounds heal?” she asked. She knew that didn’t mean he’d be all better by then but she wanted some idea.
Serenity thought about it for a moment. “I should be only a day or two. They are not large wounds but they were near fatal.”
Natalie nodded. “OK, then I’m going to stay here until then. I want to be here when he wakes up. Will the crystal go away once the wounds heal or when he wakes up?”
“It will go away once his body is healed but if he wakes up before then he’ll still have to stay there until he’s better.”
“But Natalie…”
“No Jupiter, if he’s in pain then I don’t have the right to be comfortable either. I’m staying right here,” she said, putting her hand against the crystal as if she were placing her hand on his cheek. “Besides, after all we’ve already risked for each other, I’m not going to abandon him now.”
Natalie was true to her words and stayed by his side. The entire first day she sat there talking to him, telling him whatever he mind could think of. She apologized hundreds of times. Finally after the first day she had to give into the exhaustion and fell asleep with her head propped against the crystal.

A New Senshi: Chapter 5.3 - You're Not Welcome Here

They walked the streets in silence as the sun started to rise over the horizon. They had been up all night but neither of them had seemed to notice. Finally the silence was broken by the sound of Edward’s stomach growling.
“Maybe we should find somewhere to get breakfast,” he said laughing trying to lighten the mood a bit.
Natalie didn’t seem to notice though; it was like she was off in her own little world.
“Natalie?” He put his hand on her shoulder to get her attention. When he did she snapped out of it.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, breakfast,” she replied. They would have to handle this the same way they had her change of clothes unless they could find a way to get some money. She noticed a small bakery and a woman trying to load a cart. “I think I have an idea, wait here…” she said to Edward as she ran off to talk to the woman.
A few minutes later she returned. “I made a deal with her. If we help her with her delivery, she’ll give us a few loaves of bread as payment. It’s not much but it’ll do for now.”
“Sounds good to me.”
They both went over and helped the lady finish loading her cart. Once that was complete they went with her to make the delivery and then came back. As the baker had promised, she gave Natalie and Edward two loaves a bread a piece. She also gave them each a scone for no other reason than they had been much needed help.
Out in front of the bakery was a small square with a fountain in the middle. Taking their payment they decided to sit on a bench in front of the fountain. Again in silence, they set to eating. Finally Edward just couldn’t take it anymore.
“Is there something wrong Natalie?”
Natalie stopped eating and just started picking at the crust of the bread. “Sorry Ed, it’s just seeing that girl with her dad, well, it made me sad.”
“Why?”
“My dad took off on my mom and me when I was little. He was never there, never worried about me like that. If it hadn’t been for my best friend Amy’s parents I wouldn’t have been able to do a lot of things. My mom had to spend a lot of time working to make sure we always had a place to live and food on the table. I suppose it’s a lot like how you and Al were with Winry’s family.”
Edward put his things down and hugged her; she just looked like she needed it. He had a pretty good idea of how she felt, his father had just up and left too when him and Alphonse were small. It had only been a few years ago when he’d seen him again.
Natalie didn’t say anything to the hug; she already knew where it was coming from. She knew all about Hohenheim and the type of relationship they’d had once he’d come back into their lives. She even knew about how he died.
“Aw, now isn’t this simply touching.”
They quickly let each other go and turned to see who was addressing them. It was Sebastian.
“I thought I’d asked you to leave this place Ferryman, though you never did answer me as to why you’re here.”
“Did you follow us?” she asked him sounding agitated. She was already in a mood from thinking about her father; the last thing she wanted was to deal with Sebastian.
Sebastian just nodded. “Master asked me to keep an eye on you once I explained to him the nature of who you are.”
Natalie sighed and got up. Edward made to do the same but she shook her head. “Don’t Ed,” she said softly but sternly. The last thing she wanted was for him to get into the middle of this. She figured if she had to have this conversation with him she was at least going to have a little fun with it, take her frustrations out on him. “I just came here for my own reasons, nothing else. I promise Sebastian, I’m not here to cause you or Earl Phantomhive any trouble. I don’t see why he even cares what I do anyway.”
“The Master knows much of what goes on in London young lady. Your presence makes him nervous. As you know, there are many unsavory characters in London’s underground and with you around, he wonders what trouble might be brewing that the Queen will ask him to take care of.”
“Yeah, that’s because he’s the Queen’s watch dog, or is it her lap dog? I can never remember.”
Edward was confused by this conversation. She was talking to him like she knew him and this guy wasn’t questioning it. She was even going so far as to poke fun at this guy’s master. What was she thinking? When this was over, he made a note to himself to ask her about all of this.
Sebastian just chuckled. “You’ve done your homework young lady, very good.”
“But I wonder Sebastian, is it him that’s worried about me or is it really you? The Earl has a strong soul and you’re afraid I’m here to take it before you have a chance to eat it, am I right?”
Sebastian didn’t say anything to her but his eyes narrowed. Seems she had struck a nerve.
“You know what Sebastian, just go back to being the ‘hell of a butler’ that you are and leave us be alright? I don’t have the patience right now to deal with a demon with a possessive obsession.”
That had done it; she had pushed a little far. “Fine, if you will not leave on your own then I shall have to deal with you myself,” he said, his red eyes glaring at her.
Natalie back peddled a bit. “Oh crap,” she said to herself. “Hey now, wait a second Sebastian, I didn’t say we weren’t leaving. I just…”
She wouldn’t get a chance to finish that thought. Sebastian lunged forward making to strike Natalie. She managed to get out of the way but she stumbled on a lose stone in the cobble stone around the fountain and fell. Sebastian took his throwing knives from inside his jacket. Edward saw this before Natalie did and before she could recover the knives were in the air headed straight for her. There was no way she could dodge them in time and there was no way, even with how fast he could transmute, that he’d be able to construct a barrier in time. He leapt up from his seat…
“EDWARD!!!!!”
“There, now you’ll leave,” Sebastian said as he walked away. He had done what had been asked of him anyway. The Master wanted her gone and with her friend in this state she would have no choice but to leave and seek medical attention for him, if it wasn’t already too late for that. If it was, well it served her right for not leaving when he’d originally asked her to.
Natalie hurried to her feet and rushed over to Edward. He laid there on the stones, bleeding from multiple wounds in his chest and stomach. He had taken the knives for her and with the intensity that Sebastian had thrown them, each had gone nearly straight through. He had already passed out. Tears fell in rivers from her cheeks. “Ed come on, wake up,” she said pulling him up into her lap, holding him close, sobbing. “Come on Ed, please, please wake up. You can’t die, not like this…”
There was only one hope left. Quickly transforming, she lifted Edward up off the stones and opened a portal. There was only one person she knew of now that might be able to help her.

A New Senshi: Chapter 5.2 - Did We Come At A Bad Time?

They had been wandering the streets of London for about an hour now and nothing special stuck out. “Damn it. I have no idea where exactly we ended up. I had hoped to land at the Phantomhive Estate…” Natalie said as she tried to figure this out.
“Where?” Edward asked.
“The Phantomhive Estate. It’s the home of the Earl Ceil Phantomhive. This world is another like I thought yours was.”
“You mean a story?”
Natalie nodded. “Exactly, but again another proves to be real.”
“So why did we end up in that alley if you had planned to go to this estate?”
Natalie turned and narrowed her eyes at him. “If you hadn’t distracted me at the last second…”
Edward backed up and made an apologetic face, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. “Oh yeah…”
Natalie just rolled her eyes and turned back around to keep walking. Edward stayed a step or two behind her for the time being. He knew she was annoyed with him at the very least and he knew better than to say anything right now that could make it worse.
Suddenly a young girl ran by them both. It seemed too late for a kid to be out playing in the street and in the rain on top of that.
“Hey get back here!” a man yelled as he too ran past them. “Stop you little brat!”
Natalie and Edward both turned in time to see the girl run into an alley and the man follow after her. They didn’t even need to say a word to each other, they were both off and running after them.
“Help!!!!” screamed the girl just Natalie and Edward both turned the corner, entering the alley. The man was standing over the girl, she had nowhere to go.
“Let her go!” Edward yelled as the man took a large butcher knife from inside his jacket.
Hearing his voice, the man turned to look at Natalie and Edward. “Move along, this has nothing to do with you,” the man hissed at them.
“Like hell dirt bag, now let the girl go,” Edward said through gritted teeth, taking his stance to fight. It was actually times like this he missed having the automail arm and the blade he could create with it. It didn’t matter though. Natalie did the same.
The man laughed. “You think you and that girl can touch me? I don’t usually like carving up anyone but little girls, but for you I’ll make an exception!” He then came running at Edward, knife raised. Edward put his hands together then put them on the ground. Up from the stone alleyway rose pointed spikes each aimed at the man. He managed to stop short just before impaling himself on them. “What the hell? How did you…”
Edward just grinned. “Natalie, I’ll keep this guy busy, you go get the girl OK?”
Natalie nodded. “You got it Ed, just be careful alright?”
“You too,” he said, not taking his eyes off of the would-be murderer.
Running past the spikes, Natalie made her way towards the girl. The man saw her as she did. “Oh no you don’t little lady,” he said as he took his attention from Edward and moved to intercept her. He managed to grab a hold of her arm as she ran by.
“Get your damn hands off me!” she yelled as she came around and kicking him square in the crotch. It made him double over and when he did he let Natalie go. She went over to the girl. “It’s alright now; we’re not going to let him hurt you OK?” The girl clung to her, crying hysterically. Natalie did her best to calm her down.
Seeing what Natalie had done to the man, Edward couldn’t help but to shiver. “Gotta make sure to not really get on her bad side,” he said to himself as he walked over to the man. “Now,” he said crouching down to take the knife from the man’s hand. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you it’s dangerous to run with sharp objects?” Edward asked as he threw the knife back down the alley. “Not so tough now are you?”
“Well, what do we have here?” came a rather silky yet sinister voice from the opening of the alley. “It would seem we’re too late Master.”
“Indeed, it would seem someone else has caught our quarry. Are you losing your touch Sebastian?”
“My apologies Young Lord. Do you wish I should retrieve him?”
“Yes, but do it quickly.”
“As you wish,” Sebastian said as he moved to the side of the man. His movement was so quick that Edward didn’t even see him move.
“Hey! Who are you?” Edward asked as he stood up, looking mad. That didn’t last long though as Edward found he had to look up at Sebastian. Sebastian just looked at him as he lifted the man from the ground.
“I am but a humble butler,” Sebastian said with his casual yet oddly chilling smile. “My master and I thank you for your assistance young man, but we’ll be handling this from here.”
Edward just looked at him. There was something about this guy that made Edward freeze. Natalie recognized him at once though. Lifting the girl and holding her, she walked over to Sebastian and Edward. Sebastian recognized her at once or more accurately recognized what she was. “What has brought you here young lady? I would expect that since no one has passed on there would be no need for the ferryman.”
Natalie sighed. “I should have known you’d see that Sebastian, given that…”
Sebastian put his finger up and waved it. “Now, now, enough of that. I suggest that you take your friend and leave this place if you have no business here.”
Natalie shook her head. As she made to say something but she wouldn’t get the chance. The police and detectives from Scotland Yard arrived. Someone must have heard the commotion and called for them. The parents of the little girl were also there so Natalie let the little girl down and she ran off into her waiting father’s arms. “Daddy!”
Natalie sighed heavily, her face turning a bit sad. Edward noticed and went over to her. A single tear had escaped her eyes and run down her cheek. “You alright?” he asked her.
“Yeah, fine,” she said wiping the tear away. “Come on, let’s go,” she said softly. At this point she didn’t want to talk to the police and they would more likely be able to slip away while everyone else was busy.

Natalie and Ed colored

So on to my continued torture of myself, I decided to color it... I just wish our scanner was big enough for the 11x14 paper...

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Natalie and Ed Inked

Here is the inked version of the sketch I previously posted. I actually really like how this came out considering there's really no reference pictures for 17/18 year old and that include that red jacket(because as we all know in both FMA and FMA:B he had given up wearing at this point) Again I apologize for the quality, camera phone picture of the drawing.

Newest Story Art - Pencil

I had a new idea for story art considering a lot has happened since I drew the first one. So here's the pencil sketch. Sorry about the quality... had to take a picture with my phone...

Updated Line Art

This is the updated line art for Natalie in her Sailor Charon outfit. When I'd originally done it I forgot the translator necklace and the bow on the back. Hopefully I get to coloring soon just not sure if I'm done with everything I want in this picture yet.

A New Senshi: Chapter 5.1 - You're Such An Idiot!

Natalie and Edward came rolling out of the portal onto cobble stones. Rain was gently falling making everything dark and damp around them.
“Get off of me!” Natalie yelled pushing Edward off of her. “What the hell were you thinking Ed? You could have gotten us killed with a stunt like that!”
Edward sat up, propping himself against a nearby wall. “I couldn’t just let you leave OK?” he said rubbing his head. When they’d come rolling out, he’d managed to hit his head against the ground.
“But I told you what would happen if someone came with me and left their world. How could you do this Ed?” Natalie now propped herself up against the wall next to him.
“You didn’t take me, I came on my own. That had to count for something right? And look, we’re both here and as far as I can tell everything’s alright,” he said, grinning at her and chuckling.
Natalie wasn’t finding this so funny. Taking her staff she knocked him over the head. “You’re such a jerk Ed! Just because we can’t see what happened doesn’t mean that something didn’t happen!”
“Ow! Hey! What did you do that for?? That hurt!”
Natalie just sighed. “You’re an idiot Ed, I swear. Oh well, nothing we can do about it now.” She stood up and transformed back to normal. She looked down at her t-shirt and jeans. There was no way she was going to fit in here looking like this. Then she looked at Edward, he should be alright, even with that bright red coat of his. “Come on, I have to find another outfit.”
“Why?” he asked, standing up now too, rubbing his head again. If the landing hadn’t given him a knot up there, her hit certainly would. “Where are we anyway?”
“Victorian England and right now I stick out like a sore thumb. This isn’t exactly something that people around here wear,” she said as she walked to the end of the alley they’d landed in and looked around for anyone. The last thing she wanted was to be seen right now. “Now let’s see…”
“So how are we going to get these clothes anyway? I mean we could make them with alchemy but we don’t have the stuff to…”
Natalie shook her head. “I don’t know if alchemy will even work here Ed. Remember, we’re not in your world anymore and it’s very possible that the principles that applied there don’t apply here.”
“Oh. So then what are we going to do?”
Natalie waved for him to follow her. “The only choice we have, ‘borrow’ some.” Edward looked at her like he wanted to say something but then thought better of it.
He did as she asked and they snuck their way into the next alley before anyone saw them. In there was a clothes line and from it hung a few sets of men’s clothing. “Perfect,” she said as she walked over and took a pair of black pants and white button down shirt from the line. “Crap, they’re wet.” Natalie shook her head. “Should have expected that.”
Edward took the cloths from her and draped them over his arm. “Well, let’s see if alchemy works. If not, we’re no worse off right?” He clapped his hands together and then placed one on the wet articles. In a flash of light they had dried. “Not bad, seems we’re good here, for alchemy at least.” Handing the clothes back to her he noticed some other things on the line. “You find a place to change, I have an idea…” he said with a grin.
Natalie looked at him curiously as she took the now dry clothes from him. “What’s going through your mind Ed?”
“Don’t worry; I won’t get caught, just go change OK?”
She just shook her head and ducked into a doorway where he wasn’t going to see her. While she did, he went back over to the clothes line and took a few other things down. He then placed them on top of a box that was sitting there and transmuted them into something else.
She came out of the doorway all changed and found a place to stash her other clothes. As she did, she saw the light from his transmutation. “Ed! Do you want us to get caught? I thought you said…” Her voice trailed off as he turned around and held up what he’d made. It was a long jacket exactly like his except in black with the symbol in white on the back.
“Edward…” she said as she went over and ran her fingers over the edge of the fabric.
“Put it on,” he said as he indicated that she turn around. She did and let him help her put it on.
She took a step back and spun around so he could see how it fit her, her long, green ponytail and the edges of the coat floating out around her as she did. His breath caught a bit in his chest as he watched her. This look really did suit her.
Once she stopped she went over and hugged him. “Thank you…” she said softly.
Edward swallowed hard then drew in a deep breath and exhaled it to keep his wits about him. Gently, he returned the hug. “You’re welcome.”
After a moment she let go of him. “Now, let’s see what we’re dealing with. I’m not entirely sure where in this world I dropped us exactly so I need to see what’s going on.”
Edward nodded and they made their way out onto the main street for a little exploring.

A New Senshi: Chapter 4.9 - Don't Think You Can Leave Without Saying Good-Bye

Natalie didn’t come out of her room for the rest of the day. She wouldn’t even come out for dinner so Alphonse went up with a tray of food for her.
“Natalie? I know you’re upset but you have to eat something. Please?” Alphonse waited for a minute for her to open the door. When she didn’t he left the tray and went back downstairs.
“I thought you said you apologized to her,” he said to Edward.
“I did but I don’t know as it did any good. Actually judging from the way she’s acting, I know it didn’t.” Edward sighed. “This is what I get for asking her why she’s still here.”
Alphonse looked at Edward a bit confused. He remembered Edward saying it earlier, it’s what started this to begin with, but what he didn’t understand was why it still mattered if he had apologized.
“I bet she’s up there thinking it over just like she said she was going to,” Edward continued then chuckled a bit. “You watch Al, tomorrow morning she’ll come downstairs and everything will be fine.” He then put on that false goofy smile he’d gotten so good at over the years. Alphonse saw through it. He knew that his brother didn’t believe his words any more that he did.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Natalie waited for Alphonse to leave before she opened the door and brought in the tray he’d left for her. She was hungry but she wasn’t ready to face them again. Taking the tray, she sat back on the bed and munched away at the bread while she mulled Edward’s question over more. She did need him to help her practice the alchemy but she knew enough that she could do it on her own if she needed to. But she didn’t really need him for anything else, at least not in the context he’d meant. This was all just getting out of hand. It was time to go home but she couldn’t stand the good-byes. That’s when she formulated her plan to leave; she’d do it that night while they were sleeping. She hated doing it like this but it was actually better this way.
That night, after Edward and Alphonse had gone to sleep Natalie transformed and slipped out of her room. She was just going to go outside but something made her go to Edward’s room instead. She had to say good-bye, even if he wasn’t awake to hear it.
Carefully she slipped into his room making sure not to make a sound. He looked so calm and peaceful while he slept. It was adorable, even though he had fallen asleep in his clothes again. She couldn’t help but to smile as she stood there for a moment just to make sure she remembered how his hair fell over and around his face. She walked around his bed so that she was on the left side, the side he was facing. Kneeling beside the bed, she gently moved his hair off of his forehead and from over his eyes. His hair was a lot softer that she’d expected it to be. Lightly she kissed him on the forehead.
“Good-bye Ed,” she said softly and then stood up. Just as she turned away from him she felt a hand grab her wrist. She turned back quickly to see that Edward was awake and he’d caught her.
“Trying to leave without saying good-bye?” he asked as he sat up.
Natalie closed her eyes and tried to catch the tears that threatened to escape from them. “That was the plan. I thought it would be better that way,” she replied softly. She started to tremble, her knees getting weak. Edward saw it happening and tugged on her arm so she would sit down on the bed and not fall. Once she was sitting though, she pulled her arm from his grasp as she turned so she was sitting to look at him.
His eyes looked so sad when she met them with her own. Why was that look there?
“I figured it out you know.”
“Figured what out?”
“The meaning of what you said to me the other night and why you did everything that you did.”
Natalie’s cheeks flushed so bright red she could feel the warmth of her sudden embarrassment burning in them and with the moonlight streaming into the room, she was sure Edward saw it too. It didn’t matter at this point though.
“I figured it out that night. I couldn’t go to sleep until I had, it bugged me that much. The reason you came here, the reason you sacrificed all of that for me, the reason you’re still here…” He took a deep breath before continuing. “Is it because you love me?”
Natalie bit at her lower lip and looked out the window instead of looking at him.
“I’m right aren’t I?” he asked, putting his hand on hers.
She just nodded.
“And you’d still leave?”
“That’s exactly why I was going to leave, why I have to leave,” she said softly, still not looking at him. “I’ve turned your lives upside down enough and I don’t belong here. I never did. It has to be this way.” She then got up and went over to the window.
Edward got up from the bed and walked up behind her almost close enough to whisper in her ear. “Then… if you have to leave… take me with you…”
Natalie spun around, her eyes wide from shock. “What? Are you out of your mind? I can’t do that!”
He put his finger to her lips. “Shhh, keep it down, you’ll wake up Al.” He then took his finger away and looked into her eyes. “Why can’t you? You brought me to the gate world. Besides, wouldn’t it be better to have someone you care about travelling with you?”
She recognized what he was doing and smacked him across the face for the second time today. “You arrogant, selfish… You know how I feel about you and you’re trying to use it against me! That’s just dirty Edward! You don’t care, you never did.” She pushed him back out of her way and ran out of the room.
“Crap, screwed up,” he said to himself as he pulled on his boots and went after her. At this point he didn’t care if he woke up Alphonse he just needed to get her to stop before she could open a portal and leave. “Natalie stop! That’s not how I meant it!”
She didn’t care anymore; she just had to get out of here. Before she could make it out of the house though, he caught up with her and grabbed a hold of her arm stopping her dead in her tracks. “Wait a minute would ya?”
“Let me go Ed!” she said trying to yank her arm away. This time he wasn’t letting her, he held her just tight enough so that he could keep a hold on her without hurting her.
“No Natalie, I’m NOT going to let you go, not this time. Look, I’m sorry for what I said upstairs. Yes, it was cruel but cut me some slack; this isn’t something I’m good at dealing with alright? I still don’t get it. I don’t understand why you feel this way about me.”
She stopped struggling and just resigned herself to the fact that he wasn’t going to let her go. “Ed, you’re trying to look at something logically that has no logic to it to begin with,” she said softly.
“Alphonse said something like that to me too. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Edward, there are some things that only make sense once you realize they don’t and resign yourself to just letting it be and nothing else. Love is one of those things. You wish for it, you look for it; you do everything to hold it in your hands and control it. It’s only once you’ve given up and given in to it that it appears in those very same hands.”
At her words, Edward let her go. He went over and sat down on the couch. He knew that he’d just given her an open invitation to just walk away, to do exactly as she had planned. He was hoping that she wouldn’t. It finally started to click how was it was possible. He still wasn’t sure if he believed in the idea of love at first sight and he wasn’t even sure if he actually loved her but he did know that he cared about her and that had happened in the three days she had been here. He couldn’t just dismiss it, not anymore anyway. He couldn’t hold her here against her will either. He may be a jerk sometimes but he wasn’t a monster.
Natalie thought about it for a moment and for that moment she really was going to just run out the door and run away but she changed her mind. She went over and sat next to him on the couch.
“Answer me one question, why did you really say you wanted to go with me?”
Resting his elbows on his knees, he rested his chin in his hands thankful that she had decided to at least wait a little longer. “What else do I have left here? Alphonse told me we needed a new purpose and he found one. He wants to go to Xing and research alchehestry with May but he won’t go unless he knows I’m going to be alright. I don’t want to hold him back; I’ve done enough of that. We finally got our lives back; I just want him to be able to do what he wants with his and not have to worry about me.” Edward shook his head. “Listen to me, and here I thought I was supposed to be the older brother.”
Natalie put her hand on his back. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting the best for your brother Ed. Why not go with him to Xing?”
Edward laughed a bit. “As much as I want to know about alchehestry myself, I think I would just be in the way if you catch my drift.”
Natalie smiled and laughed. “Yeah I know exactly what you mean but then why not go west? Maybe there’s something there.”
He looked at her. “The last time I went searching blindly for something, it almost got both Al and I killed. Plus, as much as I hate to admit it, I really don’t want to go alone. Half the fun of the old days was travelling with Al but it’s time for us to make our own lives.”
“But how does going with me make you have your own life?”
“There are so many different worlds out there and I want to see them too. Who knows what I could learn and bring back here. Between what Al learns in Xing and what I might find if I go with you, we might be able to make better lives for people here.”
Natalie’s heart was breaking listening to him. The more he said the more she wanted to bring him with her, the more she wished she could. It wasn’t for any selfish reason either, she agreed with him. She knew herself that there were things in her world alone that would help them here.
“I wish I could bring you with me,” she said softly. She wasn’t even sure if he could hear her.
“Why can’t you? Like I said before, you brought me to the gate world, why can’t I go now?”
Natalie sighed heavily, so he had heard her after all. “I’m not allowed to take people from their own world Ed. The gate world exists within this world so I didn’t technically take you away. If I take you with me when I leave here, there’s a price to pay and the only thing I know about it is that it’s something that’s precious to me. There are a few things that I hold precious to me and I don’t want to lose any of them.”She paused for a moment and looked at him, putting her hand on his cheek. “That includes you too you know.”
Edward couldn’t help but to blush and there was no missing it. Natalie noticed but left it alone. The last thing she wanted to do was give him a reason to press the issue of coming with her.
She got up and started heading to the door. “I think it’s time I go now Ed…” she said softly, not looking back at him. “The sooner I leave; the sooner things will get back to normal for you and Alphonse…” Reaching the door, she opened it and walked out.
Edward sat there, stone silent, not knowing what to do. He wanted to go after her but how could he after what she’d just said to him? He didn’t want to cost her anything more than he already had.
Alphonse had heard the commotion and had been sitting at the top of the stairs listening pretty much the entire time. He held his brother’s jacket in his hands, the one he’d worn pretty much through their entire journey in the old days.
“What are you waiting for Brother? Don’t let her just leave! I’ll be fine! Follow your heart instead of your stubborn head for once!”
“Al…” he said softly looking up to his brother standing on the stairs. “I…”
“I told you Brother, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. You’re so worried about holding me back; don’t let me be the one that holds you back. You’ve got two perfectly good legs Brother! Get up and use them!” As he said this last part he threw Edward’s jacket down to him.
That snapped Edward out of the stupor he was in. “Thanks Al!” he said as he jumped up from the couch, grabbing the jacket just before it hit the floor and ran out the door. He knew he had to take the chance, if not for this then for what?
Alphonse smiled as he watched his brother leave. He knew he probably wouldn’t see him again for a very long time after this but that was alright. It was good to know that Edward was finally back to the brother he knew and loved and that maybe he could finally be happy.
Edward ran down the road as fast as his legs would carry him, his jacket flapping in the wind behind him. He couldn’t see her but he saw a light coming from behind the tree that she had hidden behind when she got here. He didn’t have much time.
He reached her just as she was going to step through the portal. “Wait!” he yelled as he lunged to reach her.
“What the…?” she said as she paused for a moment and turned just in time to see him crash into her, his arms wrapping around her. When he did, it made them both fall through the portal.

Monday, September 26, 2011

A New Senshi: Chapter 4.8 - He Really Doesn't Get It

The next morning, training resumed. Edward didn’t go any easier on Natalie today than he had yesterday. He actually looked like he was working her harder. What was he thinking? She couldn’t take too much more of this. Natalie knew that too. If Alphonse didn’t know better, he’d think Edward was taking out the frustration he felt after their conversation last night on her to prove Alphonse’s theory wrong.
“Ed, what’s gotten into you? You’re coming after me like I’m really trying to hurt you,” Natalie said after dodging a particular nasty punch he’d thrown. She was clearly out of breath.
Edward, still poised and ready to fight, looked at her. “You have to learn to fight against someone who really is trying to hurt you Natalie, and the only way to do that is to spare like your life depended on it. Now come on, I didn’t say you could take a break yet.” He lunged for her, his fist cocked and ready to hit her square in the jaw. Natalie hadn’t quite prepared for it but she managed to move enough to not get hit by the punch but she had left herself open and Edward caught her in the midsection with his knee, and not the normal one.
Natalie doubled over, winded and gasping for air. Instantly Alphonse was up and helping her up. “Edward! What were you thinking?” he scolded. “She’s not ready for this!”
Edward stood frozen, his eyes wide. Natalie shook Alphonse off, standing on her own. “I’m alright Al, really…” she said, her voice raspy as she still hadn’t gotten her breath back from the hit. She didn’t want to show the weakness though. If Edward wanted a hard headed full on battle, she was going to give him one. “Fine Ed, if you want it that way…” She took her pen from her pocket and transformed. Once she was done she took her staff firmly in hand and glared at him. She wasn’t going to let him get away with this. Someone needed to knock some sense into him and she was willing to give it a try. Something had gotten into him, she didn’t know what but she was going to find out or at least make him pay for that cheap shot.
When she transformed, Edward snapped out of the frozen stance of horror. The look in her eyes, there was something there he recognized. She was pissed. That was an emotion he could deal with. “About time you got serious,” he said grinning at her.
“Indeed, I just hope you’re ready for it…” She gritted her teeth and came at him, her staff in hand and she was ready to smack him upside the head with it. He dodged it, rolling a few feet from her. He clapped his hands together and created his spear to fight back. He then came after her with it. She blocked it using her own staff. They backed off recognizing this was only going to end in a dead lock. Edward then clapped his hands together once more and put them to the ground. Beneath him grew a pillar lifting him up in the air. He was getting ready to drop down on her but she wouldn’t give him the chance. “Charon Spatial Rift!” she called as she pointed her staff at the pillar blowing it apart. Edward fell hard on the ground.
“What the hell was that!?” Edward yelled as he got to his feet. “Where did that come from? That wasn’t alchemy!”
Natalie stood back looking at him with a smirk on her face, her arms crossed. “You like that huh? I still have a few secrets you know. Now are you going to stop screwing around? I can clearly handle myself well enough without the alchemy.”
Alphonse couldn’t believe what he was seeing. She was just as hard headed as Edward. Even without their training she could easily hold her own against him.
Edward started to get angry. “If you’re so good then why are you still here?”
Natalie didn’t back down. She walked over to him, getting right in his face, her crimson eyes looking just as intense as his golden ones as she stared at him. “You already know the answer to that Edward. I need you to show me how to use the alchemy,” she said sternly.
“Why is that so important to you?” he asked, not giving her an inch.
“I need to be able to defend myself when I’m not transformed or when I can’t transform. I appreciate the martial arts training but that’s not enough, and besides, I know most of this stuff already. We do have this sort of training back home and I’ve been there and done that already. Damn it Ed, why do you have to be such a stubborn ass?”
Edward backpedalled a bit after she called him a stubborn ass. Winry had called him that a few times when he was being unusually hard headed.
No wonder she seemed to pick up the physical training so well though. “Fine, you want to know about the alchemy then we’ll get right to it.” He clapped his hands and put them on the ground, the land around Natalie rose up, wrapping around her completely up to her neck. “If you want to use alchemy like we do it involves more than just clapping your hands together. You have to know the limits and have strong concentration. You can’t make something if you don’t have the materials required for it either.”
Natalie struggled trying to free herself. “I know that.”
Edward walked over to her coming eye to eye with her once again. The look in his eyes wasn’t angry this time though, it was more hurt. “If that’s the case then I’ll ask you again, why are you still here? Don’t jerk me around Natalie, if you need my help then I’ll help you but if you don’t then why are you staying here? If you don’t need me, then leave…” His voice had started angry and pointed but the last sentence his tone changed, it softened.
“Ed…” Natalie started.
He clapped his hands together and put them on the earth that surrounded Natalie freeing her from it. “You heard me…”
In that moment Alphonse realized that he’d been right last night, Edward did have feelings for her he just couldn’t see it or more accurately wouldn’t see it. He hoped that Edward wasn’t really going to let her leave though.
As soon as Natalie’s hands were free she slapped him across the face. “Fine Edward, if you don’t want me here I’ll leave.” Her chin started to quiver and tears welled in her eyes but she was determined not to let her own anger go from her eyes. She was sure by the way he was treating her that he hadn’t figured out the meaning in her words that first night or if he had it didn’t make a bit of a difference to him. She put her hand to her chest and transformed back then without another word she went back inside.
“Natalie wait!” Alphonse called after her.
“No Al, let her go…” he said softly. He put his hand to his cheek where she’d hit him, watching her back as she walked away.
Alphonse went over to Edward and slugged him in the gut. “You really are a stubborn ass Brother!”
“Hey! What did you do that for Al?”
“Because you’re a blind fool, that’s why. Brother, you need to go in there and apologize to her, NOW!”
“But Al…”
Alphonse put his foot down and pointed into the house. “No buts Ed get in there and swallow your pride and apologize! You’ll never forgive yourself if she leaves and you didn’t try to stop her. Now get moving!” The look on Alphonse’s face was nothing short of scary and Edward knew that there was going to be no arguing with him.
“Fine,” Edward said, sighing and heading back into the house.
Making his way up to Natalie’s room he knocked on the door. “Natalie? Can I come in?”
“Go away,” she said just loud enough to be heard through the door.
He could tell that she was crying. It made his heart ache to hear it. Why did she affect him this much? “Come on Natalie, let me in.” He leaned his forehead against the door putting his hand up next to it. “Look, I’m sorry, please let me in.”
“I told you Ed, go away. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
“Don’t make me open the door on my own Natalie, please just talk to me. I said I was sorry, you don’t have to go…”
He heard her get up and walk over to the door. He backed off of it so she could open it without him falling in on her. When she opened it, she stood there, her eyes red and puffy and her cheeks soaked with tears. She looked as defeated as she felt and it was his fault.
“What Ed?” she said shortly. “I opened the door now what do you want?”
He went to wipe the tears from her face but she only smacked his hand away. He sighed heavily. “I wanted to say…” He looked into her eyes and his voice choked up in his throat.
“Spit it out Ed.”
“I’m trying,” he said before taking a deep breath. “Look Natalie, I’m sorry.” His cheeks flushed bright red as he put his hand on the back of his neck, rubbing it nervously. “I said some things… I didn’t mean I wanted you to… I just…”
Natalie shook her head. “Don’t Ed, it’s alright, really. But I think you were right, why am I still here? It’s something I have to think about Edward.”
“What?” Edward asked, looking a little bit alarmed.
Natalie shook her head. “Don’t worry about it too much. I’m not going anywhere just yet but I do need to think about your question.”
Edward looked down at the floor and nodded. “I understand. I’ll leave you alone then,” he said as he walked away from the door and headed back downstairs.

A New Senshi: Chapter 4.7 - Guys Talk About This Stuff?

That night, Natalie passed out early. Edward and Alphonse had worked her pretty hard after they had level set Alphonse on what had happened. They had taken a similar approach with her as Izumi had taken when training them; you had to work the body in order to work the mind. Natalie hadn’t minded much though; she could use the work outs. It had been awhile since she’d last gone to her martial arts training back home but that was why it just exhausted her now.
Edward and Alphonse were taking it easy downstairs in the living room.
“It’s been awhile since we had a workout like that hasn’t it Al.”
Alphonse nodded. “Yeah, it felt good. It was actually nice to finally be able to again. I’m still not completely back to normal yet though, I could feel it.”
“Yeah, but you’ll get there. Look how far you’ve come in the last two years. When I pulled you out of the gate you could barely even walk, now look at you.”
“Look at you Brother.”
Edward looked at him funny. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve been more yourself in the last two days than you have been in the last year. You needed this and don’t tell me you didn’t.”
Edward laughed. “Yeah, I admit I did. I thought I’d be alright without alchemy but once I didn’t have it, well, I guess it was like half of me was gone.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Alphonse looked at Edward with a knowing grin on his face. “You know it’s more than just the alchemy. You needed someone like her too.”
Edward blushed. “You’re reading too much into it Al. Yeah, it was because of her that all of this happened but…”
“She told you how she felt last night didn’t she? That’s why she didn’t want to say it again this morning just in case you didn’t get it. What exactly did she say anyway?”
Edward sat there looking rather obstinate, arms crossed and refusing to look at Alphonse. “It’s not important.”
“Yes it is Brother, what did she say?” He was prodding Edward and he would do it relentlessly if he had to. He was going to make Edward spill if for no other reason than to get him to admit it to himself that it had actually happened. Edward had a bad habit of overlooking variables in life like love. It was how he’d lost Winry after all. Alphonse didn’t want to see his big brother fall into that trap again. Edward was brilliant when it came to science and alchemy but in anything else, well he still had a lot to learn.
“You’re not going to let this go are you?” Edward said though a heavy sigh.
“Nope,” Alphonse replied, grinning.
“Fine, I guess I don’t have much of a choice. I swear Al; I don’t know who the more stubborn one really is.”
“Oh that’s you hands down Brother. Now come on, what did she say?”
Edward just shook his head in exasperation. “She said to think about how I felt about Winry and then I’d understand why she’d done all of that for me. I didn’t get it right away but I couldn’t get it out of my head after I went to bed last night. I turned everything all over in my head over and over again then it hit me.”
“She told you that she loved you without actually telling you that she loved you.”
Edward nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. I just don’t get why. I still don’t get it. How can you love someone you hardly know? I mean yeah she said she’d read all about us, but it still doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Alphonse laughed, a lot.
“What’s so funny?” Edward asked, sounding a bit upset.
“I’m sorry Brother, but sometimes you’re so naïve. You’re looking at this way too logically when there’s nothing logical about it.”
Edward just looked away from his brother again, his face getting warm with a combination of embarrassment and a hint of anger. It was mostly just embarrassment though. Here his little brother was trying to explain love to him. It should have been the other way around. Wasn’t the older brother supposed to be the well of knowledge when it came to this stuff? And what did Alphonse know anyway? He’d never been in love, at least not that Edward knew about.
“Come on Brother, don’t pout. I think it’s a good thing. You need something besides alchemy in your life, a purpose. Now that things have been set right, we really haven’t had a purpose.”
“And what was helping you get back on your feet, pretty much literally?”
“That was part of getting things set right again. But I’m fine now Brother, we both are.”
“Well aside from this,” Edward said as he knocked on his automail leg. “But it was my choice to keep this even though I’m pretty sure that, had I wanted to, I could have gotten my real leg back.”
“But then that brings us back to a new purpose. I’ve been thinking about going to Xing but I don’t want to go if I don’t think you’re going to be alright.”
“Xing huh? May made an impression on you didn’t she?” Edward said slyly, finally being able to turn the tables on his younger brother.
“No… I want to learn about alchehestry, that’s all,” Alphonse replied, blushing almost as much as Edward had when it came to Natalie.
“Alchehestry, right. And do you expect me to believe May has nothing at all to do with it?”
“Well, she would be the one that would teach me but… I just thought we could… Well we could find away to use our alchemy and their alchehestry.” Alphonse was a bright red at this point.
Edward laughed. “Isn’t so funny when it’s you getting needled is it?”
Alphonse huffed a bit. “Fine I get it Brother. But still, that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want to leave you behind, especially if I think you’re going to self destruct again.”
“Who self destructed?” Edward asked, starting to get angry.
“Calm down. Even you can’t deny that you lost it after Winry left, I heard you at night. You have a bad habit of talking in your sleep when you’re upset about something. I know if you hadn’t had to take care of me you probably would have totally withdrawn. You do that whenever you don’t know how to handle your emotions. Remember what happened after Nina or after we found out that Brigadier General Hughs was killed? You completely lost it and then almost gave up on everything.”
“That was different,” Edward said as he got up to look out the window. The moon was still bright outside as it had been the night before. Who was he kidding? Edward knew his younger brother was right. No matter how much he’d grown up it still didn’t change the fact that he never did handle things well when they didn’t go his way, especially when his heart was involved. It really didn’t matter if it was because someone he cared about died or if they just left.
“Brother, I just want to know that if Natalie does leave and I’m not here that you’ll be alright. I know you care about her…”
“I don’t know how I feel about her Al.”
“But you’ve been so kind to her. I just thought…”
Edward sighed a bit. “Look, you know I couldn’t very well make her leave especially after what we found out about her.”
“You asked her to stay before you knew that Brother.”
“What are you implying Alphonse?” Edward said as he turned to look at his brother genuinely curious as to what crazy thing might come out of his mouth.
“You knew she was different, special, when she got here. She got to you right away, I saw it. If I had to guess it was love at first sight.”
Edward started laughing nearly hysterically. “Are you nuts Al? Love at first sight? That’s ridiculous! There’s no way that’s even possible.”
Alphonse chuckled. “You laugh Brother but you’ll see.”
Having finally regained his composure he just shook his head. “It’s just nonsense, nothing more. I’m heading to bed, it’s late.” He then walked out of the room, raising his hand to his brother waving good night to him.
“Ed, why do you have to be so stubborn?” Alphonse asked himself as he too got up and headed upstairs to bed.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

A New Senshi: Chapter 4.6 - I Knew She'd Be Good For Him

The next morning, Natalie was up pretty early, even considering how late she’d been up the night before. Alphonse was also up.
“You guys were up pretty late last night.”
Natalie blushed. “I’m sorry Alphonse, did our talking keep you up?”
Alphonse shook his head. “Don’t worry, you didn’t. I just heard Brother leave and then come back that’s all. I figured it would have had something to do with you.”
It wasn’t long before Edward came downstairs as well. When he came in Natalie was helping Alphonse with breakfast. When she heard him, she turned around smiling, “Good morn… ED!!!!” she shouted, covered her eyes. When he’d come in he’d had his shirt in his hand and a towel around his shoulders. His hair hung long as well as he had yet to have put it up.
“What?” he asked innocently. He honestly had no idea why she was freaking out. Alphonse shot him a look. He’d figured out why Natalie had reacted that way.
“Brother, put your shirt on!”
“But I always…”
Alphonse kept the look on his face. “Brother…”
Edward sighed. “Alright, alright…” he said as he took the towel off of his shoulders and put his shirt on.
Natalie’s heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. Holy cow, he was a lot more toned than she had expected. Well she should have expected it though considering she saw the remainder of the scar he had left from when he’d had the automail. He’d had to get pretty strong to be able to use that arm he’d had. He never would have been able to fight the way he had in those days if he hadn’t gotten this way. She was just surprised that even two years after he’d stopped fighting he still looked that good. She’d never tell him that though. Edward’s ego was big enough as it was.
Edward walked over to Natalie and took her hands from her eyes. “Would you quit acting weird? I put a shirt on, yeesh. You’d think you’d never seen a guy with his shirt off before. How old are you again?” He couldn’t help but laugh at her.
Natalie didn’t think he was being so funny and she punched him in the arm. “I’m 18 thank you very much and for your information I HAVE seen guys with their shirts off before; it’s just…” her voice trailed off as she blushed a bit. She quickly shook it off though. “You just caught me off guard, that’s all.” She couldn’t tell if he had figured out the meaning of what she’d said to him last night or not. He didn’t seem to be acting strange though so maybe he hadn’t figured it out yet. That was fine.
“You’re older than me???” Edward asked, surprised by this.
Natalie nodded. “Yeah, but it can’t be by much, if it makes you feel any better. I just turned 18 not that long ago, and at least you’re taller than me… but not by much…” she said chuckling at him.
His eyes narrowed at her. “Are you implying that I’m short?”
Natalie stuck her tongue at him. “So what if I am… pipsqueak… Guys should be taller than girls.”
“That’s it! You’re going to get it now! No one calls me pipsqueak you giant freak!”
Natalie had seen this coming and had already taken off running before him. She couldn’t help but to laugh as she ran out the front door. So he was still sensitive about his height even though he had grown quite a bit over the last few years. Being around her height meant that he had to be at least 5 feet 8 inches tall, a far cry from the 5 feet 5 inches he’d been two years ago. And now that she’d stood next to him, he was a bit taller than her as she had joked with him.
Edward had managed to chase her around the house a few times before Alphonse came out and stopped them. “Come on you two, let’s eat.”
Edward and Natalie both stopped, finally out of breath anyway.
“Al’s right. Besides, after breakfast we get started with your training. I’ll pay you back for the pipsqueak comment then,” he said with that devilish look on his face. Natalie knew she was going to be in trouble.
So after they all ate and had cleaned up they headed outside. Natalie could only imagine what this training was going to be considering how Izumi had worked them when they were training with her. She had to be prepared for anything.
“Alright, so I’m going to test you by asking you a simple question,” Edward started. Alphonse smirked. He knew what Edward was going to ask. They’d spent a month alone on an island to figure this one out. “What is the meaning of ‘All is one and one is all’? If you can’t answer that then we’re going to have a lot more work to do.”
Natalie smirked at him. She knew this one, no problem. “The ‘all’ is the world and the ‘one’ is me. That basically means that I need everything around me to survive and when my time comes I’ll go back to the world that sustained me.”
Edward smirked at her. “Not bad, you’ve done your homework.”
“Do you think I would have come here to you if I hadn’t?” She was keeping up the lie that she had come here only for training. She had to wonder though when they were going to tell Alphonse the truth.
“Now let’s see if you have any talent. Do whatever you’d like; we just need to see what we’re working with.”
Natalie gave him a bit of a look. If she did what he asked then Alphonse would know that she could transmute without a circle like Edward could and she assumed Alphonse still could too. He gave her a ‘don’t worry’ look. “Well?”
Natalie took a deep breath, clapped her hands together, and then put them on the ground. When she did, she created a small ring of flowers from the grass that had been at her feet. Edward just looked at her and smiled. Alphonse on the other hand looked dumbfounded.
“You can transmute without a circle?”
Natalie shrugged like it was nothing. “Can’t you guys?”
“Yeah but that’s because we…” He cut himself off. He didn’t know that Natalie already knew everything and he certainly didn’t know yet that Natalie had gotten Edward’s alchemy powers back. He soon would know though.
Edward then stepped over to his brother putting his hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright Al. You might want to sit down, there’s a few things you need to know about.”
“Brother?”
“Please Alphonse, do as Ed asks,” Natalie said softly.
Alphonse did as Edward asked and sat down on the ground. “What’s going on you two?”
“This,” said Edward as he clapped his hands together and put them on the ground. As he lifted his hands, he pulled his favorite staff from the earth.
“Brother! You got your ability to do alchemy back! How did you do that? I’m still here so what did you trade? When did you even go back there? How did you get there?”
Natalie blushed and raised her hand. “I took him and I paid the price for him to get it back last night.”
“But how did you open the portal there?”
“I did that one too.”
“How? You need to make a sacrifice to open that portal and it doesn’t look like either of you did.”
“I don’t have to pay the toll to get there. I have the power to do that all on my own.”
“Natalie’s special Al. She has this weird magic that allows her to travel from world to world. She took me to the gate last night.”
“He caught me out here muttering because I felt guilty for lying to you guys. I actually didn’t come here to get training, I just wanted to meet Ed and then I had planned to leave. But after what you told me yesterday afternoon Alphonse and then how generous you both were and so welcoming, like I said I started to feel guilty. Well since Ed had heard everything I decided that the best way to prove that I wasn’t any harm to you guys was to show Ed how my power works and help him by getting his alchemy back. You said it yourself Alphonse, you wanted him to get up and move forward. I just wanted to help.”
Alphonse didn’t say anything. This was a lot to take in and Natalie and Edward both knew it. “It’s for real Al.”
“I can show you too if you want me to.” She then took her pen from her pocket. “You might want to shield your eyes, it gets kind of bright.” Edward and Alphonse both shielded their eyes as she suggested. “Charon Star Power Make Up!” Once again, she was in her sailor dress, her lantern staff in hand.
Both Edward and Alphonse took their hands away from their eyes. Alphonse was amazed by what he saw. Natalie couldn’t resist doing a spin. “What do you think?”
“When did that symbol show up on your back?” Edward asked. “Was it there before?”
“Symbol? What symbol?”
Edward ran inside and grabbed his old jacket, the red one with the snake and cross symbol on the back. “This one,” he said holding it up so Natalie could see.
“You’re kidding right?” Natalie ran into the house looking for a mirror. When she found one she had to contort herself a bit but he was right, there it was. She made her way back outside. “It had to have happened after last night but why?”
“Because you’re an alchemist now, and since it’s the symbol we’ve all used, Teacher, Alphonse, and I. I think, because the alchemy has been added to your other powers, it was actually fitting for it to show up on your costume.”
Alphonse was still reeling from all of this though. It took a little bit but they sat down and explained everything to him right down to exactly what Natalie had done to get Edward his alchemy back. She even demonstrated her powers for him.
“So you came from a different world and came here because you had read about what had happened to us in books and came here to meet Brother because you… Wait, why just to see Brother?” Alphonse asked, grinning at Natalie. He already knew and he could tell by the look in his brother’s eyes, he knew Natalie’s reason too.
Natalie just blushed. She wasn’t going to go through this again. “I explained it to Ed last night. If he got it, then he can tell you later.”
Alphonse just laughed. “You know, I had feeling when you got here that you’d be good for Brother. I’m glad you came, no matter where you came from.”

A New Senshi: Chapter 4.5 - A Promise Is A Promise

When they emerged from the portal, they both had to catch their breath. They hadn’t really had a chance once they had left the gate as they had just gone right to the portal. Both of them sat back down on the stone wall. Natalie put her hands together before putting them down so when she did a small pillar appeared. It startled her causing her to almost fall backwards off the wall.
“Well we know you got your ability to do alchemy complete with the part about not needing the circle,” Edward said as he went over to the little pillar. He clapped his hands together and put them on the misshapen little pillar, restoring it back to the stones it had originally been. “Seems I have mine back too.” He took a deep breath and looked at Natalie, his expression grateful. “Thank you,” he said softly.
Natalie smiled at him. “You’re welcome, but now it seems I really do need an alchemy teacher.”
He couldn’t help but to laugh. “Seems so, but how am I going to explain this to Al? You made me promise not to tell anyone, even him.”
Natalie hadn’t thought about that. “Um, well alright, I think it might be alright if we tell him but I can’t go through all that again to prove it to him too.”
“I don’t think we’ll have to. Al is a little more trusting than I am and I’m pretty sure that if I tell him it’s the truth he’ll be alright with it. You may have to show him that little transformation trick of yours though.”
“That won’t be a problem. I have an idea for how to show him the portals too, you know, just in case.”
Edward looked at her a bit confused. “But you just said…”
Natalie couldn’t help but to chuckle. “I can use those portals within a world too. I don’t have to travel to a different world to make them work.”
“Why didn’t you just do that to show me then?” That’s when he remembered that she had promised to tell him why she was willing to go through all of this for him. He was just getting ready to ask when he saw her put her hand to her chest. He instantly thought something was wrong but before he could do or say anything. She was wrapped up in that bright light again. When it faded she was back in her pajamas. “You know, a little warning before you do that might be nice.”
Natalie laughed. “Sorry.”
Edward stood up and turned to look at her. “You didn’t answer my question. Why did you go through all that if you didn’t have to?” You did promise to tell me why you were willing to pay that price too…”
Natalie sighed. “Well I knew if I was going to prove to you that you could trust me, I had to do something that might put my life at risk.”
“Why would you do something so reckless!?” Edward asked, his voice filled with a mixture of concern and anger.
Getting up, Natalie glared at him intensely. If looks could kill, her crimson eyes would have pierced directly through him. He had clearly made her angry. “Why did you always do it Edward? Why didn’t you run when Alphonse told you to back when you faced Scar for the first time? Why were you so willing to die as long as he let Alphonse go?”
Edward back peddled a bit feeling a bit embarrassed. He remembered full well why he’d always done it. It was just strange to think that now the tables were turned on him and by this girl no less. She really did know quite a bit about what had happened to them back then.
“Yeah, sometimes we have to do reckless things alright?” She was still a little angry so she turned away from him. She actually felt like she wanted to cry again. This was rough. She wanted to tell him the real reason why she’d done all this. It was clear he hadn’t registered it when she’d said it earlier.
Edward just stood there. Why did girls have to be like this? Winry had acted like this a lot too. He sighed and took a step towards her to put his hand on her shoulder. “Look, I didn’t mean to get angry at you. I just don’t understand Natalie. We were strangers until this afternoon.”
Natalie turned back around, her eyes filled with tears. When he’d put his hand on her that had been enough, the final straw. She couldn’t hold the tears back anymore and they’d started to stream down her cheeks. It took Edward by surprise and he clearly didn’t know how to react. She saw that it made him uneasy but she didn’t care, she didn’t bother to wipe the tears away. “That may be true, at least in the sense that we didn’t actually physically meet until this afternoon but you have to remember Edward, I’ve known you for a lot longer.”
“Ed…”
“What?”
“Just call me Ed OK? After all of this, I don’t think you need to be so formal anymore.”
“OK… Ed…” she said, blushing behind her still tear moistened cheeks.
“But that still leaves me at a big disadvantage here. You know an awful lot more about me than I know about you.”
“Well you know the biggest secret about me, that should count for something. And besides, now I have to stay here longer anyway, you still need to teach me about alchemy still. You haven’t changed your mind about that have you?”
Edward shook his head. “No I haven’t changed my mind. I owe you for giving me my own alchemy back don’t I?”
Natalie sighed and shook her own head. “You don’t owe me Ed. I did it because I wanted to, not because I thought I was going to get anything from you. I never wanted anything from you. Remember, I was originally just planning to meet you and then leave.”
He wasn’t sure why but he suddenly felt the urge to hug her and did. “I’m grateful that you changed your mind.”
Natalie hesitated for a moment before she finally put her arms around him, returning the hug. She rested her head against his shoulder as she did and closed her eyes. Suddenly she felt really tired. “I’m actually the one who’s grateful, because you changed yours,” she replied softly.
After a moment more, they finally let go. Natalie’s cheeks were bright red and Edward’s hadn’t escaped a bit flushing either.
“You still haven’t kept your promise though.” He said, grinning at her a bit. “We DID make it back alive you know.”
Natalie bit at her lower lip a bit. Clearly he still didn’t get it; he could be so dense sometimes. That was alright though; she didn’t need him to get it completely just yet.
“You know, it’s late so how about this, if you want to really know why I did all of this, think about this. Remember how you felt about Winry once up a time and then you’ll have my reason.” She then kissed him on the cheek and headed back inside. “Good night Ed…” It had been a long night and it was long past time to get some rest. She knew if he thought about it enough, he’d get it eventually and that’s all she wanted, nothing more.
Edward stood there as Natalie walked away. Thankfully she hadn’t seen him blush after she’d kissed his cheek. At first he’d had no clue what she’d done that little stunt either. One more thing about her he didn’t get right away. It wouldn’t be until later that night, once he too had gone to bed, that he’d realize the truth about the entire series of events. He hadn’t been able to sleep so he turned over the night’s events in his mind along with that last thing she’d said to him. The answer came to him just before his body made him drift off to sleep. How could he have missed it? Natalie was in love with him.