Prologue
The girl's head was spinning from the smell of burning incense. The scent filled the long narrow chamber. Cautiously, she followed the woman in front of her. The back of the room, to which they were headed, seemed blurry in the dark. Only a few candles illuminated the space.
They approached an altar. A scroll with characters that were foreign to the girl was hanging on the wall.
The woman gestured for her visitor to sit on the tatami floor. The girl knelt down. She uneasily placed her hands on her laps. In turn, the woman knelt down in front of her.
"So. Here we are." The woman's voice was calm. "You seem tired. Have you been travelling?" The candle lights danced on one side of her face. The other was half-hidden in the shadows.
There was a short pause as the girl cleared her throat. Hesitantly, she broke the silence: "I-I, y-yes, I have."
Her voice trembled. "I-I'm not from here. I come from Resembool. I-It's in the South East."
"I see. As you have probably guessed, I am not from here myself." The woman's smile was peaceful. "But I live a bit further away than you do. I come from another country. My hometown is called Kurain."
"K-Kurain? I don't know where that is."
"I did not expect you to." The woman continued to smile. "So, young lady from Resembool. Could you tell me your reason for coming all the way here? Has it already been explained to you what we do?"
"I…" The girl tried to gather her thoughts. The smell of incense was heavy. She felt dizzy and feared she might faint, even though she was sitting down. "I-I've never come to a place like this before. Bu-but I've heard about you. I know how it works."
"Alright. So you know what the art of channeling is?"
"More or less."
"You know that it consists in bringing in the spirits of the dead from the afterlife?"
"Yes."
"I practice the Kurain Channeling Technique. With this technique, the spirit will take possession of my body for a limited time, until it decides to leave. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Are you scared?"
The girl's lips were about to pronounce a "No", but she ended up confessing: "A little bit."
"It is completely normal, for a first time." The woman cleared her throat. "If you feel uncomfortable while I am preparing communications with the spirit, you need to stop me. During the actual channeling, it is not as easy to send back a spirit against its will. So it is best to decide now whether you are truly prepared to go through this."
The girl tightened her fists. She inhaled and exhaled. "Yes. Yes, I am."
The woman's serious expression faded into another reassuring smile. "Good. Relax your hands. Relax your shoulders. Yes, like that. Now. What is the name of the spirit you want me to channel?"
She looked into her client's blue eyes; they were glowing from the candlelight.
The girl took another deep breath, and, raising her head, uttered: "Trisha Elric. The name is Trisha Elric."
Short prologue is short. But hey, a prologue's a prologue.
I'm almost finished with the Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright game (sorry, North America!), so I'm in the mood for a good crossover. And I haven't found many crossovers with FMA and AA, so I thought, why not write my own?
I'm actually quite excited about this project, but I have no idea how often I'll be uploading in the future. My other fic is my main priority for now. In any case, I hope you'll enjoy this!