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.”
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