I conjure up the thought of being gone...
But I probably even do that wrong...
The music swirls about in my head- a song from one of my favorite artists with crazy colored hair. The temptation of singing dances on my lips, but I push it away. The feeling of the steam hitting the newly exposed skin send tingles up my spine as I strip for a shower. Sunlight streams in from a small window above the tub, clouding with condensation.
Just an ordinary day, I guess.
My mother was forcing me to bathe, as I had 'forgotten' to the last three days. She had interrupted my watching of brightly colored and action packed Japanese cartoons shortly before she left for a meeting. 'Take a shower,' she said. 'It's unbecoming of a young woman to not bathe.'
"I'll show her unbecoming," I mumble to myself. "One day I'll show them all just how 'unbecoming' I can be."
I shed my ragged, stretched out panties and faded bra, dropping them to the floor as I climb into the hot spray. Water immediately condenses in my short, curly hair, dampening the perpetual frizziness of the kinky caramel locks. For a while, it doesn't even seem like it's wet. Water runs down my shoulders and dribbles to the tub floor. The urge to sing tugs at my vocal cords again. I'm about to give in when I hear a loud thump outside, from the family room.
I was home alone.
Carefully, I climb from the tub, leaving it running. I didn't want to alert the intruders, if there were any. Pressing my wet ear to the door, I listen for any other sounds, and am terrified by the conclusion- there were definitely voices. I quickly lock the door and try to calm the pounding in my rib cage. The strained sound dims as footsteps head up the stairs, toward the kitchen.
Quickly, I wrap a towel around my torso and hightail it to my room, which was right next door. My door didn't have a lock, but the room /did/ have a means of protection- I decide to grab the baseball bat from my closet. As I quietly open the door, a growth of old things and dirty clothes falls and my bat hits into the framework with a resounding 'thunk.' My heart jumps to my throat as the voices begin back downstairs. Fumbling with the handle, I tighten my shaky grip and tremble just behind where the door would open.
The doorknob turns a few head-splittingly silent moments later, and the door swings open. "Hello?" A male voice asks. Taking the opportunity, I jump out and bring the wooden bat down on something as hard as I can, and a small body drops numbly to the floor. I step on the blond head and swing blindly at the larger figure behind it. It catches my bat with ease and jerks it from my hand.
A squeal escapes my lips as a gloved hand wraps around my ankle and yanks me to the floor. My back connects with the carpet with just enough force to take the wind from me, and I can only tremble as the figure pulls itself to it's full height- which was actually pretty short. It was dwarfed by the large figure behind it, which had a metallic sheen in the dim light. I blink. A suit of armor...?
"That hurt, dammit!" The smaller one snaps, rubbing his skull. "The hell was that thing, a club?!"
"It looks like one." A surprisingly young voice echoes from inside the armor. I begin to scoot backward, clutching at my towel. Their heads swivel to look at me, and the shorter one's face reddens.
It's painfully silent.
"... Don't just stare!" I finally snap at him. "If you're here to rob me go rob something!"
"We're not here to rob you!" He yells just as angrily.
"Then why the HELL are you in my house?!" I shriek.
"We don't know! The last thing I remember is stepping on a transmutation circle, then it lit up and we fall from a weird, flat... THING! Al nearly CRUSHED me!" He screeches.
"FUCK YOU, transmutation circles. The hell do you think you are, Colonel Mustang?!"
"I'm MUCH better than that lady-killing, arrogant-" he stops. "You know Mustang?"
"Well, yeah. He's the star of that awesome show, The Flame Alchemist." I say, crossing my arms and sitting up. His eyebrows raise.
"Mustang has a RADIO SHOW?" He asks.
"No, stupid! A tv show, what do you think this is? The twenties?" I raise an eyebrow.
"... I thought it was." He says, raising his eyebrows even further.
"Yeah right." I snort. "You're just some weird role player. What are you trying to be, the Fullmetal Alchemist?"
"Well I happen to BE him, so-" He puffs up a bit, and I snort again.
"Yeah, ok. I'm calling the cops." I turn to find my phone.
"Wait, calling the military's a bad idea!" He says. "Mustang'll have my head for not being in Ishval!"
"I'm calling the POLICE, asshole." I say.
"I can PROVE I'm the Fullmetal Alchemist!" The blond teen claps his hands together and places them on the ground. I start to roll my eyes when a light circles from the carpet. Before my eyes, the strands of wool reweave themselves into a human form, then fall to the ground as a cute doll.
I drop my cellphone onto the bed in shock and horror. This... Kid... Just preformed Alchemy.
"... Are you actually Edward Elric?" I whisper, squinting. "Definitely short and cocky enough."
"SHORT! WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT?! I AM NOT SHORT I AM VERTICALLY CHALLENGED!" He screeches, being held back by the armor behind him.
"And you would be Alphonse." I point, clutching at my towel with my free hand. "The little brother."
"You can call me Al." He gives a nod.
"... Ok, so, ah..." I look at them both. "Can you go home now? My mom would kill me if she thought I invited a boy over when she was gone." I deadpan. A similar expression spreads over his face.
"How old are you?" He squints.
"18! FUCK YOU!" I growl. "It's not my fault my parents are friggin Mormon."
There's a slight pause as this new information sinks in.
"Is that a disease?"
"GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM."
"I think what my brother mean to say was that we don't know how." Alphonse says softly, fiddling with his fingers. "Someone else sent us here."
I take a deep breath through the nose. "So you came here on accident and don't know how to get back."
"Yeah." Ed grins. I throw a nearby shoe at him, missing and hitting Alphonse's chest piece instead. It bounces off harmlessly.
"This is NOT a time to be smiling! I can't keep you here! You have to go!" I groan, frustrated.
"Don't freak out! We'll just go! Not that big a deal." Ed heads toward the door, but I grab his shoulder.
"It IS a big deal. It's the middle of winter and you don't know the area because this is not AMESTRIS, this is AMERICA." I hiss.
"Well what do you suggest we do?" He swats my hand away. "We can't go back."
"... Do you have any money? Maybe we can pawn it off and I can get you a hotel for a few days." I pinch the bridge of my nose. "That'll give us enough time to figure something out."
"I've got some, but not much. Some silver, like two gold-" Ed pulls out a small sack, and I snatch it.
"Perfect. This'll get us enough for a few days." I say, hefting the bag. He immediately snatches it back.
"Hey!" I whine.
"It's MY money, I'll decide what we do with it!" He snaps. "Geez."
"Fine! Waste it! It's not like I was trying to help or anything!" I cross my arms. "I'm not spending MY hard earned money on you anyway."
"Well I don't need your money! I have my own!"
"And what are you going to do with it? You don't know where a pawn shop is!"
"I'll find it myself!"
"In 7 inches of snow and 1 degree weather?"
"I'll manage!"
"Hey, guys?" Al asks.
"WHAT?!" We shout, in unison. He holds up the pamphlet for the University I was starting at in the spring.
"What about this place?" He asks. "It looks like some sort of school, and they have houses there."
"But their rates are really high. I was just going to rent an apartment off campus." I shrug.
"Well how about we stay with you?" Ed asks. I blanch.
"Ah, no. I have a boyfriend, and I don't have enough money to rent out the apartment by myself yet, or pay for groceries or bills or my phone or gas-" Ed shuts me up by cupping a hand over my mouth.
"I'll get a job too. We might be here a while anyway." He says. I bite his hand, but flinch when I hit steel. Fuck. Forgot he had that arm. The bastard notices and sniggers.
"Oh, sorry about that. I forgot to mention, my-" I push his arm away.
"Arm and leg are automail. Yeah, I know." I snort. "Come on, let's pawn off the money and see if we can find an apartment." I start out the door, when my towel catches on a rivet on Al's hip and pulls clean off, save for the edge I was still holding above my chest.
Another painful silence. Ed's jaw slowly sinks open. My free hand, rusted to a stop at the doorknob, rears back, palm up and open.
"GODDAMMIT STOP STARING!"
