chapter 49

"Hey! Where'd you say your gifts were again?"

You straighten up from your hunched position, pausing your work of eating a wonderful dinner of (F/F) and look towards the Christmas tree.

"It's under the tree." You say back, whispering as loud as you can.

The girl emerges from your room, confused. Her gaze floats to the tree, and under, and she spots your gifts. She breaks into a grin.

"Ooooh! I see! What did you get me??" She asks, rushing to the tree and picking out the box that wasn't labeled Ed or Al. She holds up her box and shakes it. You smile but don't reply to her question.

You stand up, leaving your mess on the table, hoping the room attendance would fix that for you. You make your way around the table and sofas to the Christmas tree.

There are a total of nine whole gifts under the tree, shaped different shapes and sizes, each wrapped in a festively colored and patterned wrapping-paper. There is one from you to Al, another from you to Ed, and another one from you to the girl. The girl had also gotten one gift for the each of you, the one labeled "(Y/N)" extra big. Ed had gotten one each, one (to the girl's dismay) for you and one for Al. Lastly, there is a small, petite box wrapped in sparkly silver wrapping paper, labeled: "From: the Hotel Team."

You suddenly wonder how you're going to get all these gifts to the hospital.

"How're we going to get these to the hospital?" The girl asks, echoing your thoughts. "I mean, look at this one!"

She attempts to heave Al's gift from you onto her leg, but fails miserably. You snort.

"What?" She complains, "it's not like can do it."

You agree silently, aka don't reply.

You think the only way is probably to carry it all to the hospital.

"Hey, go grab one of those paper bags I got." You order the girl. She gets up and walks off to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, you are picking up the gift boxes one by one, testing the weight of each box and deducing which ones could be put in the bag and which ones wouldn't fit or would be too heavy.

The girl returns shortly. She's holding a big paper bag. You immediately start stuffing the smaller gifts inside, arranging and rearranging the order of the wrapped boxes.

When you finish, seven of the nine gifts are stuffed into the box, and the last two include the book you got Al, which was way too heavy to fit in, and the Hotel Team's gift, which was too wide and fat to fit.

"Okay," you grunt, stacking the two wrapped gifts in your arms, "I'll get these two fat and heavy ones, and you get the bag. Don't rip it."

The girl nods in agreement and proceeds to pick up the heavy bag. You smile, shifting the bulky boxes and making your way towards the door.

~

You finally make it to Ed's hospital room door, sweating and out of breath, arms hurting from carrying such a heavy load.

"(Y/N)!" Ed greets you enthusiastically. He's sitting up, a nurse behind him. She's glaring at you suspiciously but when the girl explains (lies) that you're "family," she softens her gaze.

"I'll leave it to you guys, alright? Just know that visiting hours close at 11. Since it's Christmas." She winks at the bunch of you and bustles for the door, closing it behind her.

"What was that about?" You raise your eyebrow, and Ed laughs.

"I think the visiting hours usually end at 8."

"Yeah. It's 9:51 right now." The girl interjects.

You drop the load on the ground, causing a loud to reverberate through the room. After, you collapse into a chair.

"Why is it so heavy?" You complain, causing everyone to chuckle a bit.

"Okay, let's open some gifts!" Ed smiles, and something in your chest blows up, filling you with warmth. You can't help but smile as well.

You awkwardly stoop down and pass Al's gift to him. He's avoiding your eyes, but you pretend not to notice and put on a brighter smile, whispering to him, "Merry Christmas!"

The girl is passing out gifts as well, taking out gift after gift, until all seven colorfully wrapped boxes were exhausted from the bag.

At the end, you have a total of three gifts, and Ed has a total of two gifts, as does Al, but the girl only has one gift. The last gift sits in the middle of the room, the one from the hotel.

The girl looks slightly crestfallen at her single gift and glances, jealous, at your full pile. You give her a sympathetic look.

Ed takes the lead, shaking his medium sized, cube-like green box. He says it's from Al and proceeds to open it.

At the same time, Al starts to open his own gift from Ed, but you keep your eyes on Ed.

Inside, in a clear flexible plastic box, is a cube split into smaller cubicles, nine small squares on each of its six sides. As Ed turns it around, face lighting up, you notice the six different colors of each face: yellow, white, green, red, orange, and blue.

"What is that?" The girl asks.

"It's a Rubik's cube! Heard of it?"

The girl shakes her head. You watch Ed's childishly excited face, smiling a bit and holding back the urge to walk up to him and sit next to him and hug him.

Ed beams at Al. "Thanks, bro!" He says. Al merely gives him a smile.

Ed sets it aside and proceeds to open his second gift, the gift from you.

Something like nervousness fills up your stomach as you wonder if Ed would appreciate your gift. He shakes the small box before starting to unwrap it.

At this point, Al gives a small intake of breath. You turn towards him, wondering what had caused him to make the sound.

Al is holding a big, delicate, wooden, intricately designed, carved, and painted model of the first SONAR submarine.

He stares at it in awe as Ed chuckles. "No problem, Al." He says before Al even says anything and turns back towards your gift to him.

He had already detached the paper, and now opens the small box, revealing the small charm that you had brought for him.

He freezes immediately and his breath seems to stop in his lungs. His eyes widen and his face goes slack.

Immediately, something heavy in your stomach drops and and you feel something like dread spreading through your body.

"(Y/N)..." Ed breathes.

You don't reply.

"(Y/N), where did you get this?"

You unfreeze your mouth an mutter, "A charm store."

Al stands up to see what was causing the trouble. He gasps as well.

Ed lifts the small necklace, revealing the silver and detailed charm of the cross with a snake twisted around it and the crown and the small wings.

"Do you... not like it?" You ask hesitantly.

Ed starts. "Nonononono (Y/N) not at all! I love it! It's just-"

You feel something lift on your shoulders and let go of a breath that you didn't realize you are holding. You smile.

"-from the other side." Ed finishes. You weren't listening.

"What?" You ask. Ed rolls his eyes, putting the charm around his neck.

"This charm is the charm of-"

"Omergerd (Y/N) thank you so much sis!"

You turn towards the sound of the exclamation to see the girl holding up the bags of varieties of sweet and sour, soft and hard candies.

You smile, glad you made the right decision. "It's nothing. I-"

"No really! Thanks!" The girl is smiling brightly, really brightly. It's almost contagious.

Suddenly, the building rumbles. "What was that?" Al asks.

You shrug. "Probably a mini earthquake or something."

The building gives another large lurch. You almost slide off your chair.

"Guys, let's-" you start, but too late. Something had grabbed hold of your legs, and you can't move.

"(Y/N)!" Ed yells. You look down to see black, ribbonlike arms with tiny hands attached to them wrapped around your legs. You try to yank yourself free, but it's no use.

They've gotten you and they're dragging you into the ground.

*****

Lol guys sorry for the delay and the rushed end xD

I think I fell asleep writing the end last night and had a dream about publishing this chapter. I didn't realize this wasn't uploaded till now.

Sorry again xD

Anyways, if you liked this chapter, be sure to vote, comment, share, and most importantly, ENJOY!!!

~Sky-chan

Word count: 1405 words