Free Falling

Chapter 20: Back to the Not-So-Normal

I remember the stone flying out of me like a toy rocket you can get from a thrift shop. It didn't hurt. It just came out and shattered into dust. After hitting the wall of course. 

Ed's lips on mine. Wait a minute. Ed kissed me. Edward kissed me. Edward Elric. Edward. Freaking. Elric. Oh my dear god. I was going to have a flip attack.

Wait another minute. Where was I? Was I dead? No. I could feel warmth. Did Envy escape my cage and find me? Did he kill Ed!? No! That wasn't possible! Ed had to live for the end of series!

I'm guessing I passed out from the kiss and the shock of the stone flying out of my stomach. I thought I would throw it up! But I guess it works the way it did only better. It would hurt coming up...

Ouch.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. Again. I have the tendency to pass out a lot lately. I groaned slightly as I squinted in the dim light that was probably coming from a window.

But, where was I? I slowly moved my eyes to the side. Oh. The Hughes' house. Ed must have brought me back here. I looked forward a bit. I was alone. 

I closed my eyes again. I was just so tired. My energy was drained. 

"Ed! She's not gonna wake up if you keep watching her!" That was Hughes... I was at the Hughes' house.

"I want to be there when she wakes up Hughes!" That was Ed... he was alive. That's good. I heard the door open and footsteps. I heard him sit on what sounded like a wooden chair. He did care...

He really didn't mean to hurt me... he was just upset... I understand why he was too. I had lied.

I forced my eyes to open a crack. I heard him gasp. 

"Anna?" He asked. "Thank God you're awake!" He cried.

"Ed..?" I asked looking over towards his voice.

"Yeah. It's me. How are you feeling?" 

"Like I got hit by a train." I said slowly. "I'm just so tired." I explained. I felt him smile.

"That's good. It means your body is trying to heal whatever damage had been done." He explained. I closed my eyes for the second time and nodded weakly. 

"Anna, about what happened the other night, I was wrong. I shouldn't have attacked you like that." He apologized. 

"It's... it's alright Ed. I understand why you were... upset. I- I would have done... the same thing." My voice was weak. I was stiff. My joints hurt. 

"No. I still shouldn't have hurt you like that. If I hadn't, you wouldn't have been kidnapped by that cross dressing palm tree. You never would have gotten hurt." I turned my head to him and cracked my eyes open again.

"I forgive you Ed." He gasped and looked up at me.

"Why would you forgive me that easily?" He asked. I smiled a bit.

"Because that's what you would have done." I said quietly. He reached out and placed a hand on my cheek; cupping it in the palm of his hand. I smiled and turned my head so my cheek rested more in his hand.

"Anna-" I cut him off.

"My real name's Nicole. Brianna's my middle name." I told him quickly. 

"I like Anna better." He smiled. "Anyways, ever since I met you, I knew you were special." He started. 

"You love me don't you?" I asked sitting up slowly. Man, everything hurt. My shoulders were stiff. So were my legs.

"You shouldn't sit up just yet." Ed told me ignoring the question. I brushed it off.

"I need to sit up. I'm getting dizzy." I said bending my left knee up a little bit. "And I know you love me Ed." I told him smiling a bit. "That's why you kissed me right?"

Ed rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah." He muttered lightly.

"Who knew the chibi could love." I stated. Ed fumed But then calmed down. He didn't know what it meant. That makes it even more fun!

"What the hell is a chibi?" He asked confused. And calm. He was never calm.

"It's another word for small." He fumed again.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A PIPSQUEAK SO SMALL HE COULD LIVE OF A CRUMB FOR A MONTH!?" He yelled thrashing his arms wildly.

"You." I said with a smile and looking down. He growled and sat down back in his chair. Then he gasped. "What is it?"

"This is how you express your true feelings." He stated.

"What?"

"You express how you feel with your actions and words. More so than other people. You use what annoys them, to show you care." My eyes went wide. How did he figure it out that fast? I was a closed book with a padlock and no key to unlock it.

He had picked the lock open. He saw right into me.

"I don't know what you're talking about Ed." I told him.

"Yes you do. You just won't admit it. You wear a mask so no one can see the pain and sorrow that shows through your thick skin." I stayed quiet before moving to swing my legs slowly over the edge of the bed. "And I know you love me too Anna." 

I froze. He... he could see that I loved him? How did he do that? I kept it in a box with a chain and locks that were all welded onto it! He cut them open! I gently let my legs  swing over the edge.

"Are you gonna say anything?" He asked. I stayed silent. "It's because I'm right isn't it?"

"I can't love Edward. I don't know what it is. I've never been loved so, I can't love back."

"That's not true." What the hell was he talking about? I don't know what love is! Not true love at least! I say I love one of these characters but, I don't know if I really do or not.

"You loved me and Al enough to try and keep the secret of where you were from. Which leads me to ask..." He pulled out my phone. "What the hell is this thing?"

"It's called a cell phone. It's portable. But I don't use it for calls." I explained with a small smile. "My world is more advanced and is like, a hundred years in the future compared to here."

"That's amazing!" He said with a smile.

"Yeah. I guess that makes to things that are amazing." Shit! Did I say that out loud!?

"What do mean two things that are amazing?" He asked confused. "Is the second that you really are in love with me?" He asked smiling. I shook my head while I thought:

'Maybe I do love Ed. I just don't know it yet.'