Kiomi & Éclair Destroy the World (A FMA Fan-Fic) [With AnimeNerd_36]

Out of Sync

Everything seemed fine, that was, until they heard a door fly open and shaky footsteps on the ground. They were very heavy footsteps, as if they were in a rush. Growing louder and louder as they ran towards the room.  They could hear knocking and shaking at the door knob of their room before it flew open. They were able to see Kiomi standing in the doorway "its-Eclair! She's freaking out. I don't know how to help her. She needs you Ed!" Kiomi seemed rather panicked and confused at the situation, so the boys heard the worry in her voice.
Trevor and Edward both sat back up, "is she okay? Are you okay Kiomi?" Trevor asked in a panic. He looked at his left arm. 
"Don't worry about me I'll be fine, worry about Eclair she seems scared come on you two!"She grabbed the two boys and the three of them ran to the room she shared with Eclair.
Éclair was not yet fully awake, instead her wings had grown back on her as she shivered and shaked, letting out a cry for help every once in a while through her heavy breathing. It was the stone on her chest reacting to something on the back of her neck that was glowing as well—the same place that Eric had used to knock her out earlier in the day.
Trevor was the first to notice, as his left arm began to tremble as well, "what's that thing on the back of her neck?"
Kiomi shook her head and Edward did before he went over to Eclair carefully and checked to see what it was , "Shh Eclair just keep breathing slowly ..."he tried to soothe her and examine whatever it was.
After moving aside the mess of hair he saw it—it was a portion of an incomplete stone that Eric had used to temporarily knock her out, however he didn't realize next to Éclair's lack of stone it's give her excruciating pain as a side effect. Edward looked nervous before he took a deep breath and held El in his lap , "I'm going to take the pain away okay? Just keep breathing." He huffed, explaining more for himself than Eclair before slowly moving his hand to where the inmate stone had sat on her neck.
"What's wrong? Is it just her nightmares?" Trevor asked. Edward shook his head "No she has a stone in the back of her neck...I have to take it out."  
"How the hell did she get a stone in the back of her neck..." Kiomi whispered, looking between Eclair and Edward.
"If you need it, her dagger's right on that table. How did this even happen?" Trevor shook his head.  
Edward looked at the dagger before shaking his head, "I have only one answer to that but it's not important right now. You two have to help me hold her. I'm going to do a simple transmutation that won't hurt her.  Just to drag it out it's little so it won't take long either."
Trevor and Kiomi were quick to come to Edward's aid, helping him with Éclair, "just be careful, I kinda need my left arm still who knows what would happen to me if she found out that I let something happen to it." Trevor tried to lighten the mood as him and Kiomi were able to get El to stop shaking for a moment. Kiomi smiled lightly at Trevor's attempt to make him feel less nervous before Edward carefully took the spot where the stone shard was at and took to clapping his hands on it as gently as possible. El couldn't feel pain but only a slight tingle go through her body as Edward drew the stone out he was slow and careful about it until finally he was able to grab it and simply take it from her neck
When the stone was finally removed, Eclair stopped her trembling and her wings vanished. She then began to wake up, unballing herself from the tight ball she clenched herself into while she was trembling.
As she woke up, she took a quick sharp inhale due to the pain, "ack!" She coughed, trying to move her hand to the back of her neck. She then bolted up quickly, beginning to nearly hyperventilate out of fear before she saw Edward sitting right next to her. "Y-you're...you..." she lifted her right hand to touch his face, "you're okay...you're here...." her fear quickly melted as she fell onto him, wrapping her arms around him as she began to cry, "you're okay...you're okay this time...you didn't leave me...." It seemed as if her nightmares returned with the stone fragment.
"I told you El I'm not going to leave you. Why would i?"he asked hugging her close to him.
"Because I couldn't save you! Dammit...don't leave me...why can't I save you...don't...don't go..." Éclair continued to ramble as she cried, "I'll figure it out I'll find a way to save you just don't leave me!"
"Eclair I'm right here you already saved me so don't worry about saving me. Look at me Eclair." Edward spoke in a more stern but gentle stern tone.
Éclair stopped her complete sobbing for a moment to look up to see Edward's face. She released her grasp of him slightly, "you're okay...yeah you're okay..." she mused, before she went back to wrapping her arms around him and sobbing into his shirt. "Just don't go..."
Trevor gave Edward a sarcastic look mouthing 'I told you so' while Éclair continued to hold onto Edward. Edward only stared at Trevor silently before caressing her head softly and holding her close for reassurance.
Trevor then looked to Kiomi, patting her on the head, "And he didn't believe in himself."  Kiomi smiled at him and then at Eclair and Edward, "I think he was just making an excuse, he needed a push to realize it." she whispered.
"Please...don't go..." Eclair mused once again, "Please..."
"I'm not leaving El. I swear on my mother's grave. You need to calm down, it's alright, you're alright."
Éclair simply nodded, doing her best to stop the trembling and quiet down, however she didn't seem to let go of Edward. He laid his head on top of hers and then rubbed the small of her back. "You feel alright right?" he asked softly.
"I-I-I'm okay..." Eclair tried to muse, doing her best to calm herself down and ground herself back in reality.
"Well at least you're okay, you're alright. Because if you're the Eclair I know you can withstand anything and sure as hell withstand a nightmare and kick it in the face. You're strong and don't let those nightmares get to you, if you get lost to them how am I supposed to stay sane without you around?"
Eclair had looked up for a moment, her eyes welling up with a few more tears, "I-I-I-" She began to stutter, unaware to focus on her words. After she stuttered with her words, she fell back down into him, trying to pull herself together, "I-I-I'm sorry!" 
Edward grabbed her to hold her again before shaking his head at himself and muttering quickly that he was an idiot seeing as he managed to make her cry. "El, don't cry I wasn't meaning to make you upset I was trying to make you feel better I'm sorry you don't have to apologize just let me calm you down..." he sighed wrapping his arms around her.
It took a few minutes, however Eclair finally seemed to calm down enough to cease her crying, and instead fell rather silent. Once she was able to finally speak again, her words were rather quiet but shaky, "why did everything hurt this time...?" Edward was about to answer Eclair right away, but seeing as she was so shaken up he didn't feel like freaking her out, and instead decided to wait until the next morning to announce it. That was for later, calming her down was more important at the moment, he slid the shard of stone that he had pulled from her neck inside the sleeve of his jacket rather sneaky as he glanced up at Kiomi and Trevor a brief moment as if asking, more so demanding they don't tell her about why. 
Edward took a deep breath shaking his head, "That kid from earlier must have done something to mess with you and now it took effect, whatever it was."
"It hurt..." Eclair repeated, "I...actually felt the pain..." She looked over to her right arm for a moment, seeing as it was perfectly fine she just let loose a tiny sigh of relief.
"And I believe you that it did hurt. But it's gone now isn't it?"
She nodded, "y-yeah it is." Eclair seemed to relax a bit now as she narrowed her eyes again once more. Edward nodded softly before pulling his head up to look back down at her, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah...it felt like...there was another stone again..." Eclair told him.
Edward shook his head, ''Don't worry about it now we can talk about it tomorrow you should just get some rest.'' he said, unwrapping his arms from around her.
"Wait...was there a stone...?" Éclair lifted up her head, "There's another stone?"
"El I said we can talk about this tomorrow you need to get rest first!" Edward suddenly snapped frowning at her.
"There is another one, isn't there? There was another stone, but it's not a complete one otherwise I'd still be in pain...it's a fake, but it's another one." Eclair looked up to Edward, "there's more of them out there, isn't there?"
"I said we'll talk about it tomorrow! You never listen to me! God dammit El you need to get rest or you're never going to feel better about those dumb nightmares!"
"But..if there's a stone that could hurt me even more! Do you know what this means? Where did you find it?" Eclair seemed concerned. She was putting the weight of the world back on her shoulders without thinking about her own health.
"It was in the back of your neck! I had to pull it out! That's it! We can talk about it tomorrow after you actually sleep!" Edward growled before marching himself out of the door
Eclair sat up, her face a mess as she watched him walk out of the room. "Edward..." she spoke softly, the entire situation not sitting right with her. She couldn't figure out if she was angry, sad, scared, or even just content with being awakened from the nightmare. Her tiny fists began to ball up at her sides as it seemed her mind was beginning to be made up for her.  
"El are you gonna be okay...?" Kiomi asked, attempting to draw her attention from her fists as she and Trevor stood a few feet from her.
Eclair turned to face the other two, for the first time noticing that they were in the room. She seemed to perk up before plastering on a rather fake smile to try to hide her uneasiness, "Yeah, everything's going to be okay, I'm fine see?" She did her best to smile more, but her fists didn't seem to move. 
Kiomi smiled back lightly  but nervously as she could clearly see through El's fake smile. It was rather obvious that it wasn't sincere. "You wanna talk about it? If you don't, that's okay too..."
"It's all fine, yeah, it is." Eclair tried to reason with a fake smile still being held strong, clearly shaken up  by the information she got, "but fake stone fragments...where did they come from...." Eclair reached over to the nightstand and grabbed her notebook, "I've heard about imitations...I just didn't think they'd do anything to me...but where did that one come from...?" 
Kiomi shook her head, "The only one who would know is the one who used it against you, but that would have been Eric and he probably didn't even understand its full potential so where would he get it from?"
"Only way to find out is to ask him, unfortunately." Eclair sighed as she looked down to her hands.
Kiomi sighed as well before looking out the door of the room then to Eclair and then Trevor before crossing her arms, "Guess that means we will have to pay him a visit, maybe he'll be nice to you, hopefully"
"I'm getting the information I need no matter what he says or does." Eclair stated, "We need to figure out what's going on here."
"You might have to smack him upside the head abit. But I agree, it's weird that another stone, regardless if it's complete or not, has shown up now."
"It's a fake, and it does happen, we've run into quite a few of them. They're not the greatest, but they can do a little damage. Larger chance of getting a rebound too."
"I wonder if someone's trying to replicate them or if maybe Bradley's trying to mess with you by sending some kind of decoy or something." Kiomi sighed, leaning her head back.
Eclair shook her head, "if it was him...or any of them...it probably would be much much worse.  Besides...he'd just send Regret..."
"Right...unless he's trying to mess with you in some way but either way. Next time someone shows up with another stone we gotta give them a punch to the gut." She was attempting to lighten the mood a bit.
"More than just that." Éclair muttered, her eyes still wandering to the door. 
Trevor who had been most silent looked over at El noticing her stare. "I'm sure he'll apologize sooner or later don't hold it against yourself El."
"It's not that...." Éclair trailed off before she hung her head, "I probably looked like an idiot. Ugh what was I even saying..."
"Looked like an idiot for what exactly?" Trevor and Kiomi asked her.
"Why did I say those things...why did I...." Éclair looked to her arms and her hands, "why did I do that? I never do stuff like that. Ugh I really did make him angry with my fears...I really gotta get over these nightmares."
"You know, I'm not really sure it was that... it might have been more that he was upset because you were worried and he didn't wanna see you in distress."
"Stupid nightmares..." Éclair stated bitterly. 
"You know I could talk to him if that's what you want." Trevor sighed.
Éclair simply shook her head, "No, I just have to learn how to beat these nightmares. Yeah, that'll fix this. Then I won't be scared anymore and then I won't have to worry anyone..." 
"Alright if that's what you say. I'm sure you two will be back to talking to each other in the morning. I think I'm going to head to bed." Trevor yawned, saying he was tired was an understatement.
Eclair simply nodded, "yeah, I'll figure it out somehow. I have to figure it out..." she grew silent for a moment, "I have to figure it out for him..." Her words were rather quiet now, nearly a whisper.
Kiomi and Trevor nodded at her before Trevor headed towards the door, "Goodnight Kiomi, El." he waved lightly before leaving and closing the door. 
After a few moments of silence, Eclair went to paging through her notebook, attempting to figure out something she could try next time in her dreams.  She kept shaking her head, displeased with everything she saw. She just couldn't figure everything out, and it was slowly eating away at her since she couldn't express her emotions properly. Kiomi had laid back on her bed before sitting up at Els paging and exasperated sighs , she shook her head before rubbing her eyes , "Alright Eclair seriously you're not doing okay are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"I'm okay...yeah..." Eclair responded lightly, still paging through her notebook, she was paging faster now, slightly frustrated at not finding the results that she was anticipating.
Kiomi folded her arms raising an eyebrow, "Then you're not paging through your notebook flustered because of something? Because it looks like you are to me."
"I'll figure it out, I just have to." Eclair responded as she threw a picture of her and Trevor when they were younger out of the notebook and onto the bed beside her. Due to El's frantic paging, the picture began to fall to the floor but Kiomi was quick to catch it and hand it back to El.But before she did, she looked at the picture quietly.
The picture included a young Eclair and Trevor playing out in the snow, Eclair with a goofy grin on her face, and Trevor smiling happily for the camera. 
Kiomi smiled lightly before setting the picture in front of El's notebook. "I don't think you wanna lose that now do you?"
Eclair took it back and shoved it between a few pages, still paging through her notebook rather rapidly and furiously since she couldn't find the answers she was looking for. 
Kiomi shook her head a moment waiting until Eclair was done being  frustrated with her notebook. She huffed before slamming it shut. Kiomi looked up, raising an eyebrow, "Did you find it yet?"
It took a moment for Eclair to finally admit to her shortcomings, "I don't even know where to start."
"Alright well, what's your first problem? You're upset because Ed freaked out on you right?"
Eclair just sat rather rigid and still, her eyes narrowing as she looked at her notebook cover, "I...I...I don't know..." her hands moved to grab at the bedsheets, holding the gatherings in her hands. She brought her knees in close to her as she felt her heavy heart that beat in her chest begin to sink. 
Kiomi sat across from her watching as she struggled to understand her feelings, "Well you know he's only being that way because he feels he has to protect you right? That's why he's so upset..."
"Why...why...even after I told him not to..." Éclair attempted to figure out his intentions, but could not seem to understand them.
"I'm not sure if you've realized but you're kinda important to him, you know how sometimes or most of the time you struggle to sleep if he isn't there? It's kinda like that for him too. He's just more upset about it lately and it's probably because of how many times you've been hurt lately...he only wants to make sure you're going to be alright." Kiomi attempted to explain without giving it away yet because she knew if she did El would deny it completely.
"But why...and how do you know about me waking up in the middle of the night?" Éclair tensed up a tad, "and I don't want to get hurt...I just don't want anyone else to get hurt..."
"Well for one, you just woke up in the middle of a nightmare before Ed came and calmed you down. And seeing as he knew how to calm you it seems like it's happened more than once, second, everyone knows you don't intend to get hurt. He's just more protective of you because he doesn't want it to keep happening. There's only so much you can carry on your shoulders by yourself, he's just looking out for you. Why wouldn't he? You're probably one of the closest people to him besides his brother..."
Éclair's eyes began to well with tears again, "I just...just...I can't..." she struggled to find her words, "not another nightmare again..."
Kiomi reached across to pat her shoulder in a gentle manner, "I'm sure Ed will be there for you if it does...he always is you know that."
"That's why...I have to find a way to save him...I can't lose him too..." Éclair held tighter onto her legs, "not after all we've been through..."
"He has stayed with you all this time El, I know your nightmare seems scary but I'm sure you'll figure out how to beat it eventually, just think if what you have now though. Edward's still here which means you've saved him somehow otherwise he wouldn't be."
"It's not like he'd want to leave me...it's that he has no choice..." Éclair huffed, "that's how people vanish around me. Especially when I get close to them...I don't want him to go too...I told him to not protect me or get too close...so why does he keep trying to get closer?"
It took a moment before Kiomi responded, "It's his way of protecting you, which does not work with what you told him but he's probably trying to get you to realize that if he gets closer to you, you might not be so afraid of him leaving anymore. You get frustrated that he gets close, he's frustrated because he can't get you to be close enough for your comfort."
"How do I know...that they won't come after him too...I don't want him to get hurt because of me. Especially now that there are more stones out there...what if something bad happens to mine? What if I go insane? What happens if I lose control and a new stone forms...I just...I just want him to be happy." 
Kiomi pat Els should once more, "He will be, I just suggest maybe giving him a bit more closure is all, I mean you don't have to open up about everything but he might feel less tense if you let him try to understand you. You may be scared, but he could be scared he's doing something wrong because you won't let him in too."
"I-I told him I didn't hate him...it was a little while ago...but..." Éclair sighed.
"You could possibly try something else too, make him feel like you trust him."
"Like what...?" Éclair responded. 
"Hmm I'm not sure, what's something you don't trust most people to do? If you allow him to do that thing he might not feel as on edge and like you trust him."
Eclair pondered a moment looking up from where she was hugging her knees before she spoke, "I trust him...I do...yeah..." Éclair closed her eyes once more. "He hasn't tried to sell me out back to the humoncoli or others. I still don't know why. And he's kept it a secret for two years...and even though I'm just as bad as the rest of them, he doesn't hate me...he only wants to help...we promised we'd help each other get out of this, and we will. Because..." She seemed a little uncertain about her words, "Because we have to."
"Because you care about each other." Kiomi nudged Els shoulder "Now you just have to make that clear to him."
"And how do I do that...?" Éclair asked, putting her head in her hands, "Ugh I'm such an idiot..."
"Not an idiot. It's not something you've done before well I guess you have but not with many people. It seems pretty simple you just have to tell him El that's all. Then from there things will work themselves out."
"Tell him what, that I don't want to lose him as a partner? It just sounds stupid when I say it like that." El didn't let her face leave her hands. "I just want him to be happy, and out of danger..."
"Then that's exactly what you need to tell him El. He won't call you stupid for saying it either. I'm sure he's said that to you many times now he just needs to hear it from you and he feel better. He feels safe when he knows your safe and feeling that's why he didnt wanna tell you about the stone earlier and I'm pretty sure it's why he got frustrated."
Éclair continued to keep to herself, curling herself more in a ball for what seemed like protection, "Ugh I've really screwed this up...All I wanted was for him to stay safe, and now look at the mess I've gotten myself into..."
Kiomi shook her head with a small sigh, "You'll figure it out eventually . Don't be so hard on yourself though, your never going to feel better about it if you keep putting yourself down."
"I just hope he doesn't hate me...ugh if only I'd been able to defend myself better then he wouldn't have had to get that stupid stone away from me..."
"It's not like you planned on having a stone shoved in your neck.  That's not your fault and it wasn't even noticed until you woke up so be lucky Ed did take it out of there or who knows what it could have done to you."
"I should have noticed it in the first place...just like...that day..." Eclair lifted her head slightly out of her hands, "at first, I didn't remember that morning that Ed said I woke up...but a few memories of it came back..."
"Maybe something else is wrong then? I mean it was a faulty stone from the looks of it so those are harder to detect because they don't have much to pick up on. And it could be your stone acting up that might explain all the weird things that don't normally happen with it."
Eclair sank her head back down, "I don't know...I just wish I knew so I could get him to stop worrying about me so he could be happy...just like he was before..." Eclair sighed, "That day you guys said I made a phone call to you, that day I couldn't remember, yeah...I kinda fell asleep on him..."
"So you were comfortable enough to fall asleep on him?"Kiomi asked with a hidden smile on her face, she had scored somewhat of a confession.
"As comfortable as I could've been with a huge hole in my stomach that ached in pain, yeah, because that's comfortable." Éclair's sarcasm stung the air, "I just...didn't think he'd hold me like that...I thought I was just going to sleep leaning against the window or something...and I don't know how to apologize, ugh he probably feels happy knowing I don't remember a thing and can't embarrass him anymore."
"So basically you're admitting to the idea he held you because he likes you and you wanted to make him feel good?" Kiomi stated rather bluntly with a smile and a raised eyebrow.
Éclair kept her head in her hands, her hair falling at her sides as she shook her head, "Why is everything so different now...? When Trevor and I used to fall asleep together during the storms everything was fine--and that idiot even talked in his sleep too while I had to tell him it's fine lightning and thunder was nothing to be scared of...so much so that I say fine, and learn how to play with the lightning to prove to him that it's nothing to be scared of--and he was still scared of the lightning! Meanwhile...Ed tried to shield me from it still when he knows lightning is my strongest type of alchemy..." Kiomi laughed at Eclairs somewhat attempt to cover up the assumption that was thrown at her and the idea of Trevor--the usually nonchalant and somewhat grumpy mechanic--being scared of lightning.
"I'm telling you El it's because you two care about each other and you LIKE each other. Also, it's so weird to imagine Trevor scared of lightning."
"Not only lightning, but bugs too." Éclair stated, trying to ignore the first half of Kiomi's statement, "Crickets mainly. Oh, and snakes. And bears, and at one time his basement. I convinced him that there was a big scary monster in his basement, then the kid actually believed me that the boogeyman lived down there and was made of all the boogers he's ever picked and then I had to go down there and pretend to be getting rid of the boogeyman! There wasn't anything down there but old stuff and a few rats anyway I don't even know what he was scared of I just didn't want him flicking his boogers at me."  
Kiomi attempted to stop herself from laughing, "Why would you tell me that? EWW." she laughed, shaking her head "And crickets? They're so harmless and cute though they wont hurt him!" she held her stomach to try and stop laughing.
"Not when you release about a hundred of them in his workshop so when he was trying to get work done at night, all he'd hear is crickets. And just when he thought he got them all, more would appear. He couldn't get rid of them. It was all because he kept talking to himself while he worked, it was weird and annoying and I wanted to show him no one was listening, so I gave him crickets for an audience."
"How could you be so mean?" Kiomi continued to laugh, shaking her head, "He'll probably never be able to face a cricket ever again, poor guy."
"Easy, it was storm season and he woke me up every night because he was scared. You know, he still wakes me up when I'm there if it's storm season in the middle of the night. I wonder if he wakes up his father when I'm not there. But you know, back then, all I wanted was some goddamn peace and quiet so I could sleep, but no, he kept waking me up every night, so I just wanted him to be quiet during the day so I could get some sleep. Instead he wanted me to teach him more of all the stuff the 'cool kids' did, like how to climb a tree, and I was just tired of being woken up. Oh yeah, he also likes to make jewelry and stuff in his freetime, kept asking me to try on bracelets and stuff when I was younger."
"Aww how sweet you were, like his model for bracelets." Kiomi burst into laughter again at the point she was lamest crying because of it, "Such a meantor of a sister you are El." Kiomi laughed once more, circling into a ball from the laughter.
Eclair shook her head, "I had a job to do, I needed my sleep. Besides, he refused to milk the cows too from the old barn because they smelled funny, so I had to do it and deal with all that disgusting stuff everyday only to never drink it. He just wanted to see me in pain, so I'd let the cows out, then accidently forget to let the herding dog go and instead let the cows all follow Trevor around thinking he'd give them food."
"There's no way you guys used to have cows! El I couldn't even imagine you stepping a foot within one without trying to pick a fight with the poor thing or, even though it's funny, seeing a bunch of them follow Trevor around like puppies!" Kiomi burst into laughter shaking her head.
"They were the village's cows. But because the barn was closest to our houses, Trevor and I had to do it because our father's were busy. Besides, I would always slip their favorite snacks in Trevor's bag or pockets. I'm glad the new barn isn't anywhere near the shop."
"Aww that means he could have actually been a cowboy."  Kiomi by the point was trying to find air to keep up with her laughter. She wiped at her face to try and catch a breath. "I don't think I could have ever figured that out if you didn't tell me."
"Except some cows didn't like him. He got chased a lot. Was way more interesting than watching the cows just eat all day some days. Besides Trevor needed to get out and get some fresh air and exercise anyway he hides up in his shop too much. The crickets were getting annoyed with him."
"Maybe the next time we go out of the Inn well have to take him to some cows he can get back to his old roots. And hey look he's out of the shop now I'm  sure those crickets will thank you for getting him out." Kiomi shook her head again with a smile.
Eclair nodded in agreement, "You know he might like that." She then curled herself back up underneath the blankets of her bed, "or it at least would be funny."
"We'd have to try it to see. Anyways,do you feel a little better Eclair?"
"Define better, then we'll see." Éclair slumped down where she sat, "As far as I know he's still mad at me. I'm just gonna go back to sleep." She had tossed herself below her sheets and just sighed to herself. "At least Trevor can share my suffering in the morning...greasy cricket boy." 
"I'm sure once you two wake up in the morning he's going to apologize. Greasy cricket boy? That's a funny name." Kiomi shook her head before shutting the light to the Inn room off, and laughing at Eclairs muttering before she laid in her own bed.
"He deserves it." Éclair muttered one last time before rolling over in her bed and falling asleep.
Kiomi  huffed before also laying down and finally closing her eyes to sleep for the night. None of them would wake until the next morning.