Heya, everyone who thinks this interesting enough to read xD. I'm Lacora, or more commonly known as 'Loco'. You can call me either. Ok, just some things really fast. All names for the countries are of the Spanish language. No, I do not speak Spanish, I asked my friend for these. And all characters relating to FullMetal Alchemist are copyright Hiromu Arakawa. Anyways, this is my first FanFic ever, in my whole life. So it will probably be of, not the best ever quality.
Ok, sorreh to keep you waiting. Without much further random babble, I bring you chapter 1. Umm, I will try to get the chapters up weekly, but sometimes, when I have time, and am really in the mood, I could be getting them up hourly or something like that o.O.
And, this is completely an alternate reality thingy-ma-whatever, and it really has nothing to do with the original work. I want it to be consistent with the original story, however. Anyway, I now bring you , Chapter 1.
Isolated Memories
Chapter 1 : ¿Dónde estoy?
The Eastern lands of Mar and the Western lands of Viento. The Northern lands of Guerra, and the Southern lands of Paz. And many other various middle regions that had no specific name. Together, these lands made up the territory known as 'Ellesmere.' Though it had no real core, and was only… a myth.
Bright, white light flooded the cramped, stuffy room, peeking into the corners and crevices of the square shaped space. A tiny bed lay off to one corner, blanketed in a thick mound of dust and littered with assorted books and papers. A small lump was huddled underneath the thin, rough excuse for a blanket. It stirred, turning over on its side and then back again. I neared the foot of the bed, creeping, ever so quietly nearer. Closer. I was naught but two strides away, when the lump rose, causing the blanket to tumble off its delicate chest. I froze, and then vaporized into the air.
Nicole sat up, rubbing her eyes wearily. She yawned; stretch her tiny fists into the air. Smacking her lips, as unlady-like as she possibly could, she surveyed her room. Her eyes scanning around the tiny space, making sure everything was as it should be. This had become a daily ritual for her. One that she had remembered doing since she was little, and wasn't sure why. She sighed, lazily throwing the blanket aside and scooting off the edge of her bed. She stuffed her legs through her skirt, and pulled her shirt over her head, smoothing it out as if fell about her waist. Slipping on her socks, she stepped out into the silent hall that connected to her room.
Oops. She had forgotten about the knotted mass that she so laughably called her hair. She sighed, deciding it best to leave it alone. If she even tried to comb it, it would most likely become much worse. 'But… today is picture day.' She grumbled to herself. She hung her head, and trudged back to her room. After she stood in front of the mirror for a few minutes, surveying the auburn tangle, she set to work unraveling it. This was quite the chore, and by the time she was finished, her limbs ached so bad she could have sworn she had just completed two hundred pushups. Though, she was rather pleased with the outcome of her labor.
She smiled, once… twice. No. It did no good. She really wasn't made for smiling. She shrugged her shoulders, then crept once again into the silent hall. She slipped down the stairs and into the next room. It was just as messy as the first. She sighed, looking about the mound briefly, before approaching it. She reached her arm into the depths of the pile, and began to tug. She had found her bag, and was attempting in vain to unearth it from the mountain of books, manuscripts and assorted papers and other writing surfaces. After much effort, the bag had still not budged.
"Damn it, Dad. Why must you always pile your things in such a way," she muttered.
Bracing her feet against its side, she pulled one final tug. The bag gave one final protest, and then was jerked out. The force of the effort thrust the girl backwards, slamming her into the wall. She swore silently under her breath, and then stumbled upwards, bracing her weight against the wall. Once she stood on her two feet, she shouldered out of the room into the kitchen. Or what could appear to be the kitchen. All that stood in the lonely room was a mini fridge and a small sink. She sighed, walking out the back door and into the yard.
Looking about the torn up piece of land around her, and sighed. She really should at least attempt to clean this up a bit. It would give her something to do with the endless hours she spent in her room pouring over books. It wasn't like she could gain much more knowledge, at least that her dad would let her read over. She walked down the path, and out of the gate, taking care to close and latch it tightly. Then she began her long trek to school. Since she lived to far from the school she attended, a bus never came to her house, and since her dad was a scientist, he was usually gone by the time she woke up. And she usually woke up around 5:30am every morning.
Life had become so much more difficult these days. Her father had hardly been at home, and when he was, it was usually only for one or two hours. She had asked about it, and he had told her that they had made a major breakthrough, and that he was asked to find the necessary data to complete the thingy-ma-whatever-it-was that her dad toiled on almost night and day. She strolled casually down the dirt road, stopping every so often to stroke the several creatures that stood at the fences lining the road. Most were horses or cattle, but there was the occasional llama, or sheep. She smiled at each of them, tickling their chins and then walking past.
After she had walked almost five miles or so, she came to the small mid-town. It was pretty much just a random place in-between cities, so people could get gas, and grab some quick snacks or something. She waved to a few people outside as she strolled up the street. She really wasn't very friendly with anyone, and no one really paid her much attention to her either, but for some reason, everyone had stopped to wish her well that day. This bothered her, for some strange reason. 'Ok… I suppose it isn't half bad. But most people ignore me. I'm the freakaziod from outer space, remember?'
She came to the end of the road, looking out upon the next thirty miles to school. Geez, it was such a pain to walk. She glared at the rising sun, cursing it for its heat that always came too early in the day. She shrugged, not much she could do about that. 'Stupid ball of gas that floats in random space.' She was obviously feeling more grouchy than normal today.
As she stepped onto the black asphalt of the school's parking lot, she glanced up at the large clock which was mounted on the center main building. 7:50, it read. Great, ten minutes before the bell. Of course, she always got to school at this time, and was almost always exhausted by the time she got to school. This was mostly because she sprinted the last half mile, jogged the last five miles. She grumbled to herself, then approached the building. She threw her plastic smile across her lips, and ambled over towards a group of students chatting animatedly in front of the school.
"Hey guys," she began, "what's new?"
"Not much, Nicky. What about you?" one girl replied.
Nicole shrugged, not really in the mood for shot conversation, "Oh, the usual. Come on, we're going to be late for class." She threw a thick, fake laugh over her shoulder as she walked toward the doors. At school, she was the genius girl, the straight A prodigy. She had gotten used to this, and so used it to her advantage. Though, she had a secret. She secretly held a crush on the biggest loser, dorkiest geek, and clumsiest goof in the whole school. Of course, this really had nothing to do with anything, she just felt this way. She slouched into her seat just as the bell rang, and ended up sleeping for the whole class period. She woke just before the bell, glanced at the clock, and gathered her books together. She rubbed roughly at her eyes, trying to wipe the sleep from her eyes. By the time the lunch bell had rung, she had ended up falling asleep in all her classes. She sighed, shrugging it off, and moving out towards the cafeteria. Seriously, she needed to go to sleep earlier, if she wanted to stay on good terms with her teachers. She shrugged it off, and slipped out into the halls.
After the bell, she crowded out the front doors like everyone else, and once again started home. About eighteen miles from the school, she stopped, turning around. A very large truck was barreling down the road, right at her, without showing signs of stopping. Nicole stood there, in a daze. Like a deer caught in the headlights. Quite literally, except she wasn't a deer. At the last second, it swerved and stopped. Two large men jumped out, grabbed Nicole, tossed her into the back of the van, and drove off.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she questioned irritably.
"Quiet back there. We need you for something. So just sit your little butt down, and hush up."
The harsh words were followed by the hard blow, a jolting pain in the back of her head. She slumped to the floor, her eyes flickering open and shut. She drifted between consciousnesses, and was only barely aware of their conversation.
"…what should we do with her now?" one asked. He was bald, and looked considerably fat.
"I'm not sure. Dump her somewhere?" another chimed in. This one had hair, but only about four hairs. And he kept stroking them, as if to make sure they were still there or something.
Nicole watched as the car turned a corner into a dark alley that soon opened up into a wide country side in the middle of nowhere. The care stopped, and she was tossed outside onto the soft, emerald green grass. She coughed slightly, and watched as the car turned abruptly, then… wait. That couldn't be possible. The car had been just feet from her face. And now, it had literally, just, vanished. Like the magic tricks her dad used to do when she was little. He would be in front of her one second, and then he would be behind her the next.
She smiled slowly at the old memory, but shook it off quickly. She rose to a sitting position, but it sent a wave of dizziness to her head, and she fell back down on the road side. She breathed deeply for a few minutes, then tried again. Nothing, same result. She sighed, deciding to just lay there and wait for sometimes to find her. Personally, that was usually about the worst thing you could do, but frankly, Nicole really wasn't worried that anything worse could happen to her. She blacked out a few moments later.
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Nicole woke with a groan, and glanced around her. She was in a hospital? Good. Someone had found her, and called an ambulance or something. She smiled slowly, looking around her. It was a small room, with several over beds around hers. They were all empty. That was rather odd, she concluded. It was peaceful, though, and no one seemed to be in the room. Her eyes followed the strange patterns on the walls, moving across them, and soon found the door. They then moved back across the room, and to the other side. A chair sat close to her bed.
It was occupied.
Nicole shrieked, a high-pitched, girly, mouse shriek.
"What are you doing?" she questioned the girl who occupied it. She looked to be about fifteen or so, but that was only a guess. She had blonde hair, that reached to the middle of her back. She wore a jacket, well, it was more of a one piece getup. The top part lay tied to her waist, revealing her pale skin. She had very blue eyes, and… a wrench in her hand? What was she doing with a wrench?
"Well… I was the one who found you. I brought you here, and my grandmother was in here a minute ago. Those are some strange clothes you have though," the blonde girl replied.
Nicole just nodded, "What's the wrench for?"
"Oh, this?" she held it up, "I'm a mechanic. I can't seem to part with this wrench for some reason." She smiled, stood up and left the room.
Nicole lay there in silence. 'Okay. That was probably the weirdest person I've ever met. I shoulder have asked where I was.' She lay back down, tiredness creeping over her body.
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Ed sat irritably in the corner of the Colonel's office. His right arm was shattered in pieces, and a cloth was draped over the empty socket. There was a conversation going on, and he was very much intrigued by the topic.
"The Ishvalans are a people from the East, who believe in the one god, Ishvara. Due to religious differences, they'd always been in conflict with the central government…But thirteen years ago, when an army officer accidentally shot an Isharlan child, the incident exploded into war. Riot led to riot, and soon the fires of civil war spread throughout the entire East area. After seven frustrating years, the military commanders took a new tactic…They used Sate Alchemists in an all-out genocide campaign. They were recruited as human weapons. It was an opportunity to test their suitability for war. I was one of those Alchemists.
That's why ther's a certain justice that one of the last surviving Isharlans would seek revenge." Colonel Roy Mustang stated.
"It's still not 'justice', whatever happened, he's still involving innocent people for the sake of his revenge. He's just sugar-coating it by acting self-righteous and calling himself 'an instrument of God,' Ed retorted irritably.
"We're talking about someone who hates Alchemy, but uses that same power to get revenge. Someone like that, who's either totally insane or doesn't care what other people think about them is one of the most dangerous people existing. Frankly, he scares me," Hughes put in.
Roy snorted. "We can't care what people think about us, either, because we can't afford to perish yet. The next time we meet, there won't be any explanations… Because we'll kill him," Roy replied curtly.
Ed looked glum, but nodded slowly. He sighed, and glanced down at his dismantled brother's armor. "That sounds pleasant," he gruffed.
"Ok! On that cheerful note… that's enough of this pointless conversation. So what are you guys going to do now?" he asked Ed and Al.
Ed thought for a moment, rubbing his chin with his finger. "Well… I want to fix Al's body, but I can't do Alchemy with just one arm…"
"Shall I fix him?" Lewis replied happily, flexing his arms.
"NO THANKS!" Al replied, quivering.
"I'm the only one who knows how to keep Al's soul in the armor… So anyway, first I need a new arm," Ed said, ignoring Al.
"Right… If Edward can't use Alchemy, then he's just a little brat who swears a lot," Riza said thoughtfully.
"An arrogant pipsqueak…," Hughes added.
"Useless… just useless," muttered Mustang, though loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Sorry Brother, I don't know how to follow that…" Al said cautiously.
"You're all picking on me!" Ed shouted. "Fine. I have no choice… I have to go see my mechanic."
"Well. I've got a ton of work waiting for me back in Central," Hughes said.
"I can't leave East Headquarters," Mustang put in.
"I'm too busy babysitting the Colonel," Riza added, "someone has to keep him in line."
"I don't think I can protect you from someone that dangerous," Havoc said carefully, followed by an 'Our thoughts exactly.'
Ed growled when he realized who was left. 'Why… out of everyone they could have sent… Does it have to be him' –insert all that stuff that happens between when he gets on the train, and when they finally get to Risenbool.-
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Nicole grunted, lumbering down the stairs into the room downstairs. According to the girl, who had introduced herself has Winry, she had slept for three days, and had been in bed for another five. She decided she might as well explore the house, and so here she was. She wasn't sure what kind of hospital this was, Winry hadn't told her anything except her name, and that she was a mechanic.
She sighed, coming into the kitchen. Winry was gone, but the old woman was there, sitting at the table. She was working on something weird. She couldn't exactly describe it, so therefore it was 'weird'. There were several of the same type of weird hanging on the walls and such. She sat down at the table, watching the older lady work with flying fingers. She obviously knew what she was doing.
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Two days later, in the later of the afternoon, Nicole wandered down the stairs. She needed to call her father, and make sure he wasn't worried about her.
"Can I borrow your phone?" she asked the old lady, who she still didn't know the name of.
But the lady didn't respond, she seemed interested in something completely different. Den's barks could be heard from outside. The lady smiled, and sighed. "Well I'll be darned." She grinned. "Winry! Our regulars are here! Winry..!" The lady stepped outside, standing on the porch. Nicole stayed inside, but watched as two figures faded into view on the horizon.
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Okay, please excuse the random badness. I typed this up during my lunch period. I should have chapter 2 up by tomorrow, and trust me, it will be longer. It gets rather boring at the end, sorry. But yea, the next chapter will explain more, and it should be funnier too xD
Translation Notes :
Title : ¿Dónde estoy? - Where am I? (I'm pretty sure that is, Translator sites aren't always accurate)
