A fan girl's dream
The two girls sat side by side on the couch watching their favorite anime, Fullmetal Alchemist. The younger girl, Emilie, twirled her short flippy hair around her finger and yawned. "Why do they play it so late?"
The other girl responded with a laugh. "It's only ten"
"Well we didn't exactly have any sleep last night." The entire night had been spent talking and drawing. They hadn't even noticed when dawn broke the horizon and coloured the walls pink.
Fridays where the up to an otherwise dull week. They adored, practically worshiped, anime but unfortunately they didn't have many channels that played anything decent.
Getting annoyed with the splotch of dust on the TV Emilie got up to clean it off. "Stupid thing." She said under her breath.
She reached out to wipe the screen with her sleeve but instead her hand went straight through.
"What the!!!" She exclaimed stumbling back.
"What just happened?" The older girl looked perplexed.
"Cara, have you gotten a new TV or something?"
"No, That's soooo, not supposed to happen."
Emilie, getting curious poked the screen again then stuck her head through.
Everything was vivid. Bright green hills stretched as far as the eye could see. Two familiar figures where walking with their backs to her. "Am I hallucinating?" She wondered
She pulled her head back through and stepped away from the TV.
"What did you see?" Cara asked.
Emilie stared at her. "It can't be right but I saw Ed and Al"
"Really?" Cara glowed. "I'm going to check it out." The older girl pulled her long brown hair up into a ponytail then leaned through the TV, and fell on her face.
"Ow... I'm glad I'm wearing pants." She mumbled sitting up and rubbing her bruise. She glanced around. "Hey! This is the alchemist world!" She sighed happily.
The Elric brothers had, by this time, noticed the commotion and stood dumbfounded.
"How did that girl do that brother? Do you think it's alchemy?" The suit of armor scratched its metal head. Creating a sound similar to scratching one's nails down a chalk board.
"Ahh! Al! I told you not to do that anymore!" His brother complained, throwing one of his increasingly common fits.
"Sorry brother, I forgot. But what do you think?"
Suddenly turning serious (and acting like the girl wasn't still right there) Ed replied "I don't know, I haven't heard of alchemy that can make a person appear out of thin air. Then again, what else could it be? Magic?" They both laughed at the thought of the last.
Hearing voices Cara looked in their direction. Ed and Al froze, having been unaware that she could hear them.
"Maybe she's dangerous." Alphonse whispered.
"Hah! Like some girl could beat me." Ed said, smugly puffing out her chest.
Stars appeared an the girls eyes "It must be a dream." Then thinking back to her fall she changed her mind.
Cara was having difficulty deciding whether to talk to them or just go for it and glomp them.
Emilie poked her head back through. "Are you ok?" The Elric's gasps caught her attention. She waved happily at them as if this sort of thing happened to he every day then turned back to her friend.
"I'm fine, more than fine." Cara still had that dreamy look on her face.
Emilie laughed and dropped through as well. Landing more gracefully then her friend had.
"Isn't it amazing?" Cara raved looking around.
Ed and Al looked around the hill too. It looked petty ordinarily boring and common to them.
Curiosity getting the better of him Al finally spoke up. "Where are you from? Did you use a new kind of alchemy to get here?"
"We're from the real... Er. Not here anyway." Emilie answered.
"To tell you the truth we're not sure exactly how we got here." But I'm sure happy whatever happened, happened to us.
Grinning Cara playfully commented while peering at her nails. "So Edward, have you grown any?"
Ed flipped out and yelled. "Who are you calling short!!!" He glared and continued "Besides you're not exactly tall either!"
Cara smiled. "Well I'm a girl, besides, I'm still taller than you."
Al had to hold his older brother back. "I'll show you who's taller!!!..." The rest of what he yelled wasn't intelligible.
"Brother! Don't do anything stupid like last night at the inn... Wait, how did you know his name?" Al released his brother, who let out a frustrated breath.
"Oh, uhh. You are the famous Fullmetal Alchemist everyone's been talking about right? The youngest state alchemist in history? We've heard all about you, the hero of the people." She piled up the sweet talk.
Ed once more looked smug. "Yah, that's me."
"I'm just amazed they didn't get us mixed up like everyone else dose." Al said innocently.
Ed glared at him and muttered "Shut up Al."
Emilie leaned closer to Cara. "It's so much better in person don't you think?"
"Much." Cara agreed.
Now, to deciding what to do. Neither particularly wanted to go home. This sort of thing didn't happen everyday after all and they where between the dangerous stuff..
The hard part would be convincing Ed and Al to let them travel with them. At least until Central, they where pretty sure that was where the Elric's were heading according to the last episode.
Maybe they could stress the fact that they were two girls lost and alone in an unfamiliar place. Ed did have a soft spot after all, even if he didn't like to show it.
Persistent girls!
The brothers walked side by side followed by Emilie and Cara.
Ed suddenly turned around"Why are you following us?!"
They huddled close together like two frightened young girls.
"Ohh, but what if there are animals?" Emilie cooed in a falsely panicked voice.
"Or if we get lost?" Cara added.
"You'll protect us right?"
"Yah, your strong, you can handle any thing."
"Fine."Ed grumbled realizing he had fallen straight into their trap.
That wasn't as hard as I thought it would be Emilie thought relived.
Ed seemed in a bad mood the rest of the trip. It got darker the closer they got to Central. He really wasn't looking forward to seeing Colonel Mustang. Not only did the man just annoy him to hell in general, Ed hadn't exactly done a very good job of his last job.
He was just supposed to go collect taxes, 'real easy' they had told him. Well apparently it wasn't always.
He was pretty sure that by the time they had paid he had ended up doing enough damage that the state would have to pay the people back twice as much. And this wasn't even people that needed the money like the people from the mining colony in the East provinces had.
He was so dead.
The city was finally in view. The girls chatted happily, occasionally bantering with Alphonse.
Too soon they where at Central HQ
Everyone but Ed had to wait in the hall (listening at the door) as Ed went to talk with Mustang.
The three had their ears pressed against the door straining to hear.
"You what!!!!"
"...! Well you...!...!"
"If you're that bad at this then maybe I should...!"
"Fine! ...I wouldn't have to put up with your nagging! Seriously, you ... an old woman."
CRASH "FULLMETAL!!!!"
"Yikes!!!" Crackle
"I let you go off...The stone... Maybe I should just assign you to... the rest of...life...get it right!!"
"Brother's causing trouble again." Al's sigh echoed in his armor.
He looked over at them.
Cara and Emilie had their hands over their mothers, their faces red.
"Are you two alright?"
They burst into giggles.
"It's not that funny is it?"
They pictured Ed and the colonel in chibi form yelling at each other. Giant heads with the most evil looks imaginable, veins popping. "As only anime can." Cara managed and they both fell back laughing harder.
"You'll get us caught!" Alphonse whispered anxiously.
They suppressed their laughter, barely.
Hearing footsteps they managed to his behind the door as it opened, a difficult feat considering the bulk of Al's armor.
Mustang stuck his head out and looked us and down the hall before shrugging and closing the door.
"He's so much better in person." Emilie fawned.
Cara giggled again.
Deciding it would be safer to wait somewhere else (and that the interesting part was over anyway) they left.
Ed left the office a half hour later and found them in the, amazingly, deserted library.
"I suppose you heard everything?" Ed asked
"Uhhm."
"Come on Al, I know you." He looked at the girls out of the corner of his eye. "And somehow I don't think they would exactly try to dissuade you."
"You would have told me anyway." His voice happily innocent. "I just saved us some time is all."
"Well it's off to the middle of nowhere. Apparently there have been rumors of someone using a red stone to amplify alchemy... After I get my watch back..."
"You lost your watch?"
"No you idiot!" He raged "How can you think I actually lost my watch?!"
Al though back but wisely decided not to prove his brother wrong when he was in a mood, which was most of the time.
"That jerk took it from me. I have to get it back before tonight or he wont let me continue with the research for another month." Ed and Al headed off thinking of a way to get it back. If they barged in then Mustang would call the dogs on them.
Emilie and Cara exchanged wicked glances and slipped away. They went into Mustangs office.
"You're not allowed in here!" He exclaimed with an expression that said he had definitely not expected this.
The girls had leaned against the desk and pulled their most innocent expressions.
"We just wanted to meet the famous flame alchemist."Emilie intoned
"Please don't get us in trouble."
"Couldn't you just tell us a few stories so we can tell our friends we actually talked to you?"
They pulled the gushy act again, it had worked the first time after all.
He wavered. "I suppose it couldn't hurt."
Emilie pranced over to an alchemy book in delicate condition and picked it up. "Oh, where did you get this?"
He panicked and went over to her. "Careful!" He carefully put it back in it's place. Not noticing when Cara slipped the watch off the desk and into he pocket.
They got him to tell them some stories. Emilie hanging on his every word.
After they left Emilie mumbled "It's not fair, there are to many good guys in anime's."
They could hear Ed and Al still trying to find a way to get the watch back without being caught.
"Ohh! That's enough I give up!" Ed cried
They knocked then went in.
"You give up to easily." Cara scorned dangling the watch by it's chain.
"How did you get that?!" Ed had the after though to close his mouth.
"We're girls." They replied simply.
The world seemed to distort for a moment.
"We must be about to be sent back." Cara said.
"I guess the episode's over."
"Oh well there's always next week"
They waved the brothers and disappeared.
"Episode?"
"What just happened brother?"Al asked.
"Do you really want to know?"
"I'm not sure."
"Those girls sure are strange."
Al nodded, his armor creaking slightly.
"Why do I have the sinking feeling we haven't seen the last of them?"