AN: Well, here goes nothing. I've never written more than an FMA oneshot before, but I've been reading all sorts of fics and have a neat idea. I know I know, OCs tend to turn people off but I write slightly better using them and, after creating them for 13 years, I hope I can integrate poor Alex into the FMA world.
Warning, I've only read the manga, so I'll be using manga numbers not episode numbers! I'll also be rereading it as I write this, so hopefully, fewer mistakes. If there are any, please point them out!
R&R, but please be kind. I can take criticism but not direct hate. Thanks.
One last thing... I use an iPad, so autocorrect hates on me some days.
CHAPTER 1
Escapism.
That's what reading was. Or, in this case, looking. Because dealing with manga was as much looking at the art as it was reading, perhaps more so.
Alex sighed and flicked the screen of her iPad, wet hair dribbling onto the screen. The next page of Fullmetal Alchemist appeared as if by magic.
Stupid triggers. She couldn't even read or watch TV anymore. SOMEONE just HAD to die and make her sob all over again. Just a day without getting emotional. One day! Her face was set in grumpy expression.
She had been ranted to an Internet friend (the two of them had a mutual listen-to-the-other's-rants agreement) when the idea of rereading FMA occurred to her. She's only read it once, yet she already knew how it ended. Yes, of course there was Nina and Hughes, but she knew to expect those. Plus it was all free online? Well except for the funny extras at the end. But still, too good to be true!
So here she was, a high school senior on the brink, on the verge of graduation, finding solace in the adventures of two younger boys.
She was feeling more content than she had in...
Ages.
It was great.
One of her favorite scenes was up. Al and Ed were fighting Scar in the alleyway, and Roy and his team were racing to save them. The first time she read it, she'd been worried. Would they be okay? Would Ed lose another limb? Or worse? What would become of Scar?
Now she knew. Ed almost gave up his life in exchange for Alphonse's. His automail arm had been blasted away by Scar's deconstructive alchemy, meaning that he couldn't clap and transmute any more. His brother, currently inhabiting a suit of armor with only his soul, had been taken out of the fight. He wasn't injured, being only metal, but some of his armor (such as his right arm) was gone, and he now could only call out as his brother almost traded himself over to Scar's vendetta. But Roy had arrived just in time. But the scene in the alley had been touching and electric, and most importantly it had changed Ed.
Somehow Edward Elric had become even MORE determined, if that was even possible. Strange how near-death experiences change people.
Alex sighed. She'd moved many times in her life, which hadn't always changed her for the better, but she'd never had to stare death in the face for someone she cared about. She was relieved about that to be sure, but... Some days her friends didn't believe in her love for them. Surely facing down a murderer in an alley would have proved that. And Al and Ed were perfect examples that the strongest bonds of love don't have to be romantic.
But hey she was living in the real world. Where magic wasn't real and everyone assumed things all the time. She would just continue reading quietly.
Hmphing, the skinny, bespectacled girl sat up, staring at the panel showing Ed's defeated, downcast eyes. Vaguely, she dreamed of being able to draw humans so reliably so her own Webcomic wouldn't look awful.
Then something caught her eye.
Static. Black and white pixels were flickering around the edges of that panel.
Suddenly all of the panels switched to static, their images gone. Alex sat bolt upright, frightened. Had she gotten a virus? The entire screen went fuzzy and slowly, a black outline appeared.
A human, no eyes or definition, just a grinning leer of a mouth.
Truth.
In that split second in which she saw him, she could see the individual pixels writhing into his shape, from a darker definition around his outline to his pure white form. Strings of a single pixel width defined his teeth and mouth. The image? Terrifying.
Alex only had time to yelp before white light engulfed her.
AN: Whew chapter 1 done. Also, if you ever see anything with [i] next to it or anything in brackets, please tell me! I use BB code notation to remind myself where bold and italics go and edit it out later, but I may one day miss some!
Next chapters WILL be longer!