Two Sides of the Same Coin

I sighed in exasperation as I turned off my computer. I flopped back into my chair, glaring at the screen. I had no internet, meaning there was absolutely nothing I could do. Of course, of course, I just had to lose it on a Saturday, when I didn't have a crap ton of homework to do that was due the next day. The world just had to turn against me.

I stood up after about ten minutes of thinking about nothing. I took one last swig of my mountain dew and left my room. I went downstairs and into the kitchen, where Mom was starting supper. I sat down at the table and sulked. Mom noticed this and looked over at me. "What's wrong, honey?" She asked me, somehow chopping celery and looking up at me at the same time.

"My internet is down, I have absolutely nothing to do anymore." I pouted, propping my elbow up on the table and resting my chin on my fist.

"Well, why don't you go outside and swim for awhile? We put up the pool awhile ago, but you never swim. You used to swim all the time when you were younger." Mom remarked.

"I then discovered the wonders of the internet and anime. It has forever taken over my soul. But I suppose now that I have neither, I will take you up on that offer." Ah, Fullmetal Alchemist. That anime had taken over my soul. I stood back up, running upstairs to my room to change into my swimsuit.

I didn't understand why I ran. I couldn't really go very far without running out of breath and taking a few minutes to compose myself. I had problems with my lungs, but never thought it necessary to go to a doctor about them. I couldn't even run a mile at school without it causing so much pain that I burst into tears. Stairs were also difficult. Therefore, I always made life harder on myself by running whenever I got the chance.

I frowned upon entering my room. For some reason or another, my computer was back on and the screen was white as fresh snow. I walked up to it and grabbed the mouse, wiggling it around. The cursor didn't show up. I groaned in annoyance. I hit the space button a few times, but nothing happened. I swear I turned it off! My brothers weren't at home and Mom was downstairs the whole time that I was.

Suddenly, a burning pain flashed through the arm that was connected to the hand I had resting on the mouse. I yelped. "Ow! God, what was that for?!" I held my injured arm close to me. "You know what? Screw you, you're being an ass!" I insulted my computer, almost as if expecting it to talk back to me.

I turned around, but froze in my tracks when my vision went fuzzy, throwing me off balance. I grabbed onto my chair. It felt as if someone was putting immense pressure on my head. I waited a few seconds for it to pass, but it didn't so I decided to lie down. I began to make my way to my bed, but halfway there lost my footing and collapsed onto the ground.

When I sat back up, I realized I wasn't in my room anymore. In fact, I had no clue where I was. Everything around me was white, kind of like my computer screen. I rubbed my temples, realizing I wasn't dizzy anymore. "Hello?" I called out. My voice echoed around me as if I was in a box.

I heard a weird noise behind me, so I spun around, finding myself face to face with a gate that looked awfully familiar. I pushed myself to my feet and walked forward, inspecting the huge gate. I grinned childishly, then reached out and poked it. Stone, definitely stone of some sort. I poked it again and again, amusing myself.

"What exactly are you trying to accomplish?" I spun around at the sudden voice, cheeks pink in embarrassment. I frowned slightly at seeing the source of the voice. Definitely familiar. It was white, and would have blended in with the background where it not for the black aura it was emitting.

"Um... Nothing exactly..." I muttered. I decided to act clueless. "Who are you?"

"Come now, I am aware that you know who I am." I could almost see a smirk on its nonexistent face.

"Fine, Truth. What do you want with me?" I crossed my arms over my chest, attempting to seem a lot more confident than I felt.

Well, this wasn't weird at all. From what I knew, Truth was part of an anime that was all fantasy, made up. Now he was sitting in front of me, staring at me, which was giving me an eerie feeling. I knew this was a dream, but it was vivid. Despite being nervous, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't half-hoping this was real.

"I have a question. If given the choice, would you continue through the gate to the place you've always wanted to go, or would you go back to your home universe?" Truth inquired.

I thought for a moment, before grinning. "Aw, this is a hella dream. You know what? I'm a good person, I'll play along. Send me through the gate!" I declared, anime sparkles in my eyes.

"Very well. I leave you with a parting gift. You will, however, have to pay a toll."

Shit, I forgot about that. Before I had the chance to ask what present I was getting, the gate behind me opened up, and little black whisps with hands grabbed onto me. My arms, legs, torso, and face were covered in the black smoky tendrils. I decided not to look back at the creepy eyes. I was tugged into the gate, the darkness hiding Truth from my vision.

It was about then that the worst pain I had ever felt suddenly pulsed through me. I whimpered, biting my lip. This wasn't anything I couldn't handle though. As soon as that thought entered my head, the pain suddenly ten folded. It felt like I was being burned from the inside out. A blood curdling scream left me. "S-Stop! What are you doing? Make it stop!" My cries didn't do anything to stop the excruciating pain. Were those screams really mine?

Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, I was relieved of the burning pain, and my vision went black as I passed out.

I woke up once again, lying in soft grass. I opened my eyes slowly, not prepared for what I was about to see. I tried to lift my left hand to shield myself from the sun, but I couldn't move my arm. I looked over at it and gasped, my heart pounding. Where my arm should have been was nothing but blood-stained grass. My breaths came quicker in panic, and I attempted to sit up. I glanced down at my legs to find both of them gone. There was nothing.

I was missing three limbs. In haste, I pushed myself over so I was lying on my stomach. I had to hurry and get help before I bled out. Why did I ever say yes to him? I should have known something horrible was going to happen!

I was confused. How did this happen? Not twenty minutes ago, I was back at home, spending my day as I normally would, on my computer. In what seemed like just a flash, everything was different. I was missing my left arm and both of my legs. Not only that, but I was beginning to bleed out with no one around for me to call out to! My eyes began to burn slightly, beginning to moisten.

I looked around to see if there were any houses, but I didn't see anything. I reached forward with my one arm and took a handful of the grass, tugging myself forward as fast as I could. I didn't go too fast, but I refused to do nothing. My eyes fluttered, but I forced them back open. If I blacked out again, I was done for. I pulled myself further, each minute feeling like an hour. I knew it was a matter of time before I was a goner.

I looked up again, and saw a familiar female figure walking a dog. There was a person. I needed to get their attention!

"H-Help..." My voice was hoarse, probably a result from my screaming earlier. I coughed violently, before giving it my all. But instead of words, an agonized scream left my mouth. I was so glad I was in shock, otherwise I would probably be in a world of pain right now.

The girl's head snapped over to me, and I heard her gasp in shock before sprinting towards me, her dog following at her heels. She was a pretty blonde with blue eyes. Any FMA fan would know who she was. But I couldn't focus on that. She kneeled beside me quickly. "P-Please..." I gasped. "H-Help... me!"

She nodded. "Stay quiet, don't use up any more energy. Stay with me!" My eyes were already closing, and I was blacking out. The last thought I had was, that if I felt pain, then this wasn't a dream.


A/N: Hello everyone, and thank you for reading the prologue of this story, Two Sides of the Same Coin. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors. My laptop is really old and spazzes a lot, so if you find anything wrong, like this: 'and thendgharfdharhi she...' I promise you that was not intentional. ._."

Anyways, I'm actually rather excited about this, because I really enjoy FMA. I finished FMA last week and I'm about twelve episodes into FMAB, and it's already captured my soul. xD Also, since this was a prologue, it's shorter than the actual chapters, so expect the next upload to be quite a bit longer.

Thanks again for reading. Please drop a review, they'll encourage me to continue. If you found any errors, please tell me so I can fix them. Bai! :D

~~~Edited as of 4-26-2014~~~

Hello once again, it's me. If you haven't noticed, all I did with this update was edit this chapter. I just recently acquired a beta reader (very awesome person, by the way.) who went through this chapter for me and suggested edits. I must admit, it made the chapter significantly better.

So for the next while, instead of adding new chapters, I'll be updating the already existing ones. Sorry if this doesn't float your boat, but that's how it's going to be for awhile. I will begin updating with new chapters as soon as possible, so don't give up on me yet!

Many thanks to my amazing beta, Ruizu73!