What I Bargained For
Part One: Walking At Night, Alone
Holding my breath walking at night with you
I get to hear your voice again
If this is a dream, maybe you'll stay with me
Stay with me, please stay with me
This is where we met
We're back here again
Don't leave me alone
Don't leave me alone
I can't stand the way the world feels
When I'm walking alone
Can you please keep talking to me now
Tell me all about your new friends
I know you don't think I can hear you now
But I'm listening, I'm listening
And this is where we met
We're back here again
...back here back here again...
Don't leave me alone
Don't leave me alone
I can't stand the way the world feels
When I'm walking alone
Life seems like a mess
When it won't let go of me
But when it's gone I don't feel
When it's gone I don't feel alive
Don't leave me alone
Don't leave me alone
I can't stand the way the world feels
When I'm walking alone
World seems like a mess
When it won't let go of me
But when it's gone I don't feel
When it's gone I don't feel alive
When it's gone I don't feel alive
As I tumbled through the portal — the Gate, I should properly call it, I guess, I did not quite encounter the same experiences as Edward had on his multiple trips through and to the Gate. But it was pretty damn close. It was a tunnel of swirling, flashing golden light, just as I imagined. With all the information and life-energy surging through the gate, it was like being plugged into the world's largest power plant. I was practically buzzing. Images and information flew through the tunnel with me, and upon contact with them, I knew instantly of when, who, what, and where. Edward once said that what was in the Gate was the truth. Izumi, Edward's alchemy teacher, didn't think so. I myself saw it as just information, and that we all make of it what we will. There were mostly 'clippings' from the past of my own reality, but as I surged on for who knows how long or far, I began to see images from Amestris. Parts of the Ishbal War, and other things that where knew to me. But nothing too earth-shattering. Hey, you think by this point anything would faze me? Well, maybe a few things... but hey.
Then my kidneys dropped to my ankles. I saw long, black arms stretch out towards me. This was not good. My eyes widened to a frighteningly large size, but I had bigger things to worry about. They latched onto my arms and legs, wrapping around my waist.
I struggled, cursing. "No, NO, NO! For the love of all that is good, NO!" I protested, shouting into the void. I pried two arms from around my waist, but it was no use, of course.
More arms surged around me. Then suddenly, one of the thinner arms snaked towards my chest. Its fingertips touching my solar plexus — a bundle of nerves and dense tissue behind the diaphragm. Suddenly, as if only half-there, the arm reached INTO my solar plexus. I gasped haltingly, momentarily shocked. I could feel its arm in my rib cage, its little fingers as it dug around inside me. Not quite causing me pain, but I felt the intense need to puke. I felt it latch onto something in my chest. Somehow I knew it was reaching for my powers. I didn't know that my power had come from such a place in me, like a second nervous center. As it started to pull my power from me, I fought violently.
"Fuck, no! NO! FUCK! DON'T TAKE THAT FROM ME!" I shouted thrashing, hurling obscenities like it would make a difference. Needless to say, I was infuriated, enraged, downright pissed. And more than a little desperate.
I tried to push it out using my power. It clung to that smaller portion, which left my body. It left me drained, but I could still feel my energy in my chest, fluttering like an injured bird. The hand retreated, bringing the others with it. I heaved a ragged sigh, a hand of my own over where the hand of the Gate-thing had been. There was no wound, no blood, but I was damaged. I was at just a little more than half my original strength, even with the boost from the Gate's energy. This could be bad. If I ever wanted to go back... it wouldn't be easy.
A bright, white light suddenly appeared in front of me. 'The end of the Gate tunnel, the other side. They sure took their sweet time.' I thought, just a little bitterly.
I prepared for landing, or however I'd come into Amestris. It didn't go quite as planned. I entered the light, and the gravity was suddenly switched back on, some god taking justice on me for some past crime, laughing at my expense. Well, really, it was interesting to imagine. I fell, landing head first on the side of my face, then on my shoulder and so on, onto hard-packed, stony dirt. Still half-blinded from the bright light of the tunnel, I couldn't see where I was, or where I would be going.
"Ouch!" I cried out, cursing generously. The trip down the rabbit hole had not left me in a happy mood. Then I found myself rolling down an embankment, once being unfortunate enough to hit a bush of thistles. I continued to roll at the foot of the embankment, the ground having flattened out a little, but no! No breaks for Hannah! I thought I was safe, and that's when I rolled straight into a really cold river.
Me: not happy.
I was floundering in the rushing water, spitting out mouthfuls of it while trying to blink my vision back to normal. Note to self: when traveling to other parallel dimensions, avoid transporting into, or near inclines or moving bodies of water. Or water period.
I struggled to find up from down. Really, you might be surprised how much of a chore that was in my current state. I'm sure you understand. We've all had those days, you know? One morning you get up, wanting to go space/time-surfing, and you end up getting sucked up by a black hole. Irony sucks, am I right?
I finally got control in the current, treading the churning water. The current continued to carry me downstream as I swam to the bank. I clutched onto the dirt and the clumps of grass.
"Help!" I spluttered, coughing river water. I pretty much looked like I drowned rat. I couldn't see it, but I knew. Either which way, I knew that if I didn't look like a drowned rat, I looked like a drowned something, most likely something small and furry. Most people just prefer to say rat, but I dare to be different.
And while that particular little mind-rant was going on, a few people had rushed to the river bank, skidding down the embankment. A graying man and a teenage boy each came to the bank. Each reached for one of my arms and pulled me up onto the wonderful, magnificent, beautiful solid ground.
"Someone get a blanket!" The grayed man called out. I was sopping wet, and as they helped me up, I saw a middle-aged looking woman come up to me with a blanket.
"Thank you, thank you so much." I sputtered, wrapping the blanket around me, finding that I was shivering, chilled from my delightful swim.
"It's no chore." The woman said.
'Where did these people come from?' I pondered.
I looked up the embankment. And blinked in total anime-style. There was a town. I saw dirt road going along the top of the hill and past that was a small dirt street lined with street vendor huts boasting wares. There was a small crowd that had collected, looking on curiously.
'I hope they didn't see me come out of nowhere...' A tall order, I know, but I could hope.
"Hey, what's that?" The young man pointed to my left, down the bank. Down the bank, strolling cheerfully along, was a tan kitten.
'I can't believe it...'
Hope came to me, rubbed against my ankles and meowed plaintively.
"Is the cat yours?" The gray man asked me.
I paused a moment. I may have imagined it — I probably didn't — but Hope gave me a sharp glance and I smiled, scooping her up. "Yes, she is! I thought I lost her!" I cuddled her in my wet arms. Hope growled a little, but didn't complain. Not with people around.
"I saw you fall down the embankment." The young man explained. And no, he wasn't Edward, or anyone else we know, if he was, you'd know. He was just some random anime guy. He had brown hair, brown eyes, medium build and looked about seventeen. Typical random anime guy. Anime. Weird.
The grayed man looked to be about in his late forties and farmer-ish with gray hair. The wife was a plump, kind-looking woman with laugh lines and wavy brown hair
'Wait, anime... right...'
I looked around, realizing for the first time that everything was animated. Anime grass, anime water, anime town, anime people. Even Hope was animated. Wait... then that means... I looked down at myself. Woah. I was definitely animated too. My clothes my skin, the water dripping out of my hair. This was new, if not necessarily an unwelcome change. In fact, it looked, and felt… right.
"Missing anything?" I heard the woman ask, "current's pretty strong."
"Nope, everything's here." I said, smiling faintly.
"Let's come away from the water, then." Mr. Gray man suggested, leading us up the embankment. He offered to help me up if I needed it, I declined, explaining I was fine, just wet and cold. "This is my son, Neal." He gestured to the guy now on my right, who smiled and nodded. I did the same back. "I'm Gregor, and that wonderful woman in front of you Margaret, my wife."
"Nice to meet you all. I'm… Alice." I said, laughing silently to myself, and Hope meowed. After glancing at her I added, "and she says hello too."
"What an adorable little thing." Margaret cooed, scratching Hope under the chin. I could see she wasn't particularly fond of it, but she purred, just to be polite. She'd have something to say about it later.
"You're not from around here," Gregor observed, looking at my old jeans — which I'm glad to say that, looking at what Neal was wearing, were common in dress codes around here — and my long-sleeved white linen shirt, and my long, almost trench coat-like, well, coat, all the way down to my black, lace-up boots. "You travel?" He asked.
"Yeah," I replied easily.
"You don't seem to carry much with you."
"Travel light. And this was sort of a last-second thing, so I wasn't able to take much even then." I explained, hoping not to leave any holes in my story.
"I see, I think we might be able to help you there." Gregor grinned amiably, patting my shoulder.
"You really don't need to — " I began.
"Nonsense!" He interrupted. "We enjoy helping the odd travelers or two that come through here when they need it."
Neal nodded encouragingly.
"We insist." Margaret said then.
As it turned out, they owned a shop in town specialized in traveling gear — even a small section where you can buy some clothes. Bless them, bless them and their dear shop.
We'd entered the shop when we saw the place in shambles. Shirts had been torn up, and were lying on the floor, and suitcases had been scuffed and dented. Margaret gasped, her hands going to her mouth. Even hope looked surprised. "Oh, no! It must have been those blasted Kieran boys." Margaret exclaimed.
Gregor put a hand on her shoulder and Neal balled his hands into fists. "I'll set 'em straight." He growled.
"No, Neal, it won't solve anything." His father warned.
"I'm so sorry you had to see this," Margaret turned to me, apologizing.
"It's alright." Then, something dawned on me. "I might just be able to help you."
"How?" They asked, wondering.
"Watch." I go over to the shirts, pick one out of the crumpled pile, kneel, and set it on the floor in front of me. I concentrated, focusing on the dirt lifting from the shirts and the seams and rips repairing in the cloth. I clapped my hands together, then placed them on the shirt. It was unnecessary, seeing as I could repair it even from a distance, but with an audience that would make things complicated. The fabric glowed faintly. The seams began to re-stitch themselves and they grew bright with cleanliness.
"Wow, so you're an alchemist! No wonder you travel light!" Gregor exclaimed, laughing a little.
Their faces lifted. I stood, holding up the pristine shirt. Even though at just half my original strength, I was just as strong as any alchemist out there, maybe even with a big advantage: it wasn't even Alchemy - not really, I think.
After repairing all the damaged items, the family was even more insistent upon helping me, for which I was massively grateful. Seeing as I didn't have any money, but they assured me my services with repairing their shop and their wares was more than enough payment in return.
"So, where're you headed?" Gregor asked me.
I blinked twice. "Oh, to Central. I'm... looking for someone." I replied. I could see out of the corner of my eye that Hope looked up at me, a little questioningly, but this was lost to the three.
"Anyone we might know?" Margaret asked.
"Probably not." I shrug dismissively, smiling amiably. "You think you could point me in the right direction?"
"Head North-West, just follow the road out of town." Gregor explained.
"Well, thank you so very much for helping us, so we'd like to help you now." Margaret continued. She produced a suitcase, one of the ones I had fixed.
"I couldn't possibly—" I began, then she clicked open the clasps and, grasping the top, bringing it open. Inside, there were several shirts: a black sleeveless tank-top–like one (it looked a little tight, hopefully it stretched), a V-necked t-shirt in white, and a long-sleeved linen shirt much like the one I was currently wearing that tied at the cuffs, then a three-quarter sleeve shirt in red (my instant favorite). There were three pairs of women's slacks besides that.
"It's yours, a little thank you for helping clean up the shop and fixing everything." Neal said.
"Thank you," I said, a little flushed from their kindness.
Margaret closed the case with a snap, and held it out to me by the handle. "It's no trouble."
I took it gratefully, bowing deeply to them. "Thank you for your hospitality." At my bow, I could see Hope, looking as if she could raise an eyebrow right then, if it weren't for our company. Still bowing, I winked back to her, the action hidden by my long hair. I straightened.
"I suppose you want to get going now?" Gregor asked.
"Actually, yeah, I'm eager to get back on the road." I admitted, scratching the back of my head ruefully.
"Well, we won't keep you then. Bye, Alice, it was nice meeting you." She said, and they all waved.
I waved, and headed out the door. I paused on the threshold outside the shop, seeing them enter a back room that was behind the counter. It must have lead to the housing part of the building, seeing as this was two stories high, and the shop was only on the first floor. I saw no one else around, so I kneeled by the mat in front of the door.
'This will fix those Kieran kids.' I thought, remembering the cause of the shop cataclysm. Placing my hands to the dirt, my... ability soaked into and around the foundation of the building. Now those Kierans wouldn't be able to cause any harm to this shop anymore. It was the least these people deserved.
"You're generous." Hope observed.
"Maybe I am, but we should discuss this on the road, where people are less likely to see me talking to a cat. And it talking back." I commented, and we headed back down the street to the dirt road out of town.
"I'm sure that woman was a very good person, but I resented it when she scratched my chin like that. I hate feeling like some common house cat." Hope complained, cat-frowning.
"Oh yes, because you're too proud for that." I agreed, laughing.
"Oh, quiet, you."
"What are you going to do? Scratch me?" I taunted her.
She fixed me with an eerie, scary-calm look.
I didn't say anything else.