The Anime Book

Relief that is Suffocating

RELIEF THAT IS SUFFOCATING

At that moment, I didn't care. Nina Tucker, the adorable ball of innocence and happiness, was alive. I don't give a fahk that I probably royally screwed up the plot, I don't care if Ed and Al won't learn this lesson until later on, because I know that they'll understand either way at some point. What I care about is that Nina Tucker, the one character who we loved oh-so-much and all cried over when she had supposed to have died in the manga and anime, is alive and not a chimera.

Oh, and Alexander survived too I suppose but NINA SURVIVED!!

"Good job, Ed," I wrote. "You just erased so much pain on so many different levels."

I did? was his reply. Aww, he can be so cute. "Yeah," I wrote and spoke aloud, "you did."

And then I dropped the pencil as my lungs seemed to collapse. I choked, grabbing for my throat as I clawed for breath. An invisible grip tighten as blood dribbled from my lips and onto the AB. I twisted my head slightly and the fear I'd felt doubled. There, holding my throat, was a never-ending black arm that came from a portal of white.

A hand of Truth. Of God.

Was I being... punished for screwing up the plot?

You should know better than to mess with a person's destiny. Helping people only comes back to hurt you.

ALEX!! the AN had written on it in scrawled ink. The blood was seeping through the page. Ed knew I was bleeding. Badly. Ed was getting my blood like I'd gotten Elisa's pictures earlier. Ed knew something was horribly wrong.

I could not worry him and distract anymore than I already had.

Go ahead. Lie to him. Do it. Tell him you're fine.

Fine: Fahked up, insane, narcotic, and emotionally distressed.

How fahking true at that moment.

"I'm... fine," I managed to write as the grip on my neck loosened slightly. "Like a nose bleed and an accident with a pair of scissors. I'm... fine."

But I wasn't.

And more than anything I wanted to tell Ed exactly what the hell was happening to me. I wanted to tell someone who'd understand. Someone who wouldn't give me weird looks. Someone who'd just look at me and understand my pain at this very moment. I couldn't tell my mother, my father, or my sister. I was isolated from anyone I knew now. Only Ed, but I'd lied to him. To protect someone I didn't even know.

"Always the selfless one, aren't you, Alex?"

And then my vision went dark.

Someone to understand... me.