Chapter 1: Crumple Smoosh
Alphonse awoke next to a wall. No, wait, when could he fall asleep? He hadn't been unconscious since the incident. Something was strange. There weren't walls this big in Amestris... well, except for Briggs, but these walls weren't metal grey, and it wasn't deathly cold. Was this Xing? He walked through one of the streets. Was this what their architecture looked like? He had pictured it as more... oriental?
THUD!
Huh?
THUD!
"Today we battle to reclaim Trost District!" Alphonse could barely hear the voice atop the wall. Trost District? That didn't sound familiar. Maybe this was Xing.
THUD!
Alphonse turned around and looked up at the giant... man? He didn't think that there were giant men in Xing. Was it even a man? No. That smile was unnaturally big, and the giant man lacked... genitals. Not capable of reproduction... Was it a homunculus?
THUD!
It didn't matter. Alphonse turned to run... too late.
Crumple-smoosh!
Alphonse had moved forward only far enough to prevent the pancaking of his upper body. Everything below the chest, on the other hand. Was beneath the sole of the giant man-thing. Alphonse's head stuck out from between the giant toes. Most would be coughing up their organs at this point, but Al was a suit of armor, and the seal inside the armor on the neck was untouched, so he remained alive, but half-flattened. This was indeed one of the few perks of being nothing more than a bound soul.
The giant man moved on, not seeming to have noticed him. Alphonse's hollow metal arms were moderately damaged, and he struggled to move them around. Transmuting the armor back into its original shape was going to be trickier than anticipated. He panicked a little, but was soon able to swing his arms around so that they were above his head. It had only taken what? 10 minutes?
Al swiveled his head towards the sound of rapid footsteps. There were people, normal people running across the rooftops with swords in hand.
"Spread out! Lure the titans towards the corner!"
Titans... that is what they call them.
"Hey!" Alphonse shouted, "Can I get a little help here?"
THUD!
"Huh?" the man who had barked the order turned to look at Alphonse. A titan rose from behind the building he stood on.
"Hey! Watch out!"
The man began to turn around, and the titan bent down and bit him in half. Blood went flying. The lower half of the man fell over, but was soon picked up by the titan, who tossed it into its mouth, and walked off.
THUD!
Only now did Alphonse notice the titan walking towards him.
"No! Nonono! Don't eat me! I don't even have a body!"
The titan continued to walk forward, seemingly oblivious to Alphonse. Only concerned with the woman taunting it and swinging around and between buildings using a contraption strapped to her sides, and spewing clouds of gas all the way.
The titan walked closer, and Alphonse became concerned that he might end up being stepped on again. The foot came down, and Al braced himself, fearing the corruption of his seal and the end of his life.
THUD!
The ground shook and Al violently rattled around on the ground, ending up propped against a fleshy toe. That had been uncomfortably close.
"That's it! Keep following me, you mindless beast!" the swinging woman could be heard faintly in the distance.
Alphonse realized suddenly that he was going up with the titan's foot. He went flying, and smashed against the wall, bouncing off and clattering to the ground, right up against the wall, kind of like where had had started, only this time, there was a giant hole a bit down the wall. His focus immediately went back to trying to fix his hollow body. His messed up arms would not cooperate.
It must have been an hour, maybe two, but a roaring was heard, and one of those titan things was walking down the road, carrying a massive boulder. From what Al had seen so far of these "beasts," as the woman had called them, this was unnatural. It continued its approach, Al realized that the titan was trying to plug up the giant hole, the one that he was dangerously close to. If it missed...
He frantically began to move his crumpled arms. They had to work! They had to work or he might be a complete pancake! And if the blood seal was damaged...
Squeek!
Rrt!
Clunk!
THUD!
The strange titan now stood close to the hole in the wall. Alphonse's efforts doubled out of fear of the end.
Clank!
Whoosh!
CLAP!
CRAAAAACK!
Alphonse finally brought his hands together, right as the immense, building-sized rock was sent flying towards the whole. The rock became lodged squarely in the hole, and dust flew everywhere, so much that no one noticed the blue transmutic light Alphonse made as he repaired himself. The metal shell regained its hollow nature, no longer flattened, but still slightly dented in places. As the dust cleared, Al saw that...
He was in Central! He sat up against the side of a building, crumbling masonry piled around him.
"Al! Alphonse!"
"Huh... brother?"
"Yeah, it's me! Snap out of it! Scar ran down that alleyway! How hard did he hit you?"
Al sat there, dazed, as Edward tugged on his metal frame.
"Er, um, I'm back."
"Good. Let's get back to it then."
As Alphonse got up, he couldn't help but wonder if the dents he bore were the result of being knocked into a building by Scar, or the remains of being a pancake in an unknown world...