Full Metal Alchemist: A World Apart
"Let's see... A little tweak here, alter that line there..."
Edward Elric was busily at work, drawing something on the stone floor beneath him. To the untrained eye, it just looked like random scribbles on the floor. But to Ed, however, it looked like the solution to all of his problems! The young alchemist had been secretly working on the project for many months, away from the prying eyes of the State Military and that annoying Colonel Mustang. Not even Alphonse, Ed's younger brother, knew about it! Ed carefully moved the chalk across the stone floor, forming the symbols needed to create his experiment. Filling in the last line, Ed stared at the result as he wiped the excess chalk off of his gloved hands. "Finally..." he sighed, "It's complete!" His face clouded over as he recalled to purpose of this creation. "All this time of searching for a way to return things to the way they were... After so many years, Al will have his body back!"
Placing his hands on the edge of the circle, he breathed a sigh of hope. "Please, please let this work... for my brother's sake..." he quietly murmured.
Alchemic energy surged from the young man's body and into the circle, charging it with power. Small bolts of electricity crackled and sparked in response to the reaction, their light making shadows dance about Edward's nervous face. The young man slowly smiled in anticipation. Any moment now, it was going to happen. Just a little bit longer...
But nothing came. Ed's golden eyes squinted in confusion when his circle failed to produce any effect. "What's going on?" he wondered. "This circle can't fail, I made sure of that! But then what..."
The young man sucked in his breath in horror at what his sight revealed to him. Part of the circle had not been filled in properly. "No way!" he cried. "This can't be happening... Damn it, I have to stop the transmutation, before it's too late!"
Ed frantically tried to cut off the energy flowing into the circle, but to no avail. The circle's energy was out of control, compacting upon itself in surges of purple light. Suddenly, a rift appeared in the floor, and a great wind swept about the room, mercilessly pulling every object close to it into its depths. The young man cried out in fear as the wind screamed in his ears, dragging him ever closer to the void. "No, this can't be happening! Al... ALPHONSE!!!"
Ed reached out to grab something, but he was seconds too late. His gloved hands scrapped uselessly against the cold floor, failing to grip anything, the fabric ripping as it dragged along the hard ground. Time seemed to go in slow motion in those final seconds. His vision was surrounded by crackling electricity, and his entire body became engulfed by purple mist. Excruciating pain wracked his whole body, threatening to consume him. The last thing the young man heard were his own anguished screams before the peace of unconsciousness claimed him...
The dark portal whipped along at staggering speeds, tossing the unconscious Edward all around the void. The force of his tumbling forced him awake, but when the young man attempted to open his eyes, he had to close them again because of the speed of his transportation. Well, at least I'm not dead, he thought. Clutching his stomach, he attempted to calm down his churning intestines. Ugh... I think I'm going to be sick... Why can't this thing just dump me out somewhere?!
A few seconds later, Ed got his wish, and he flew out of the rift at high speed. The young man blinked in surprise at his immediate departure from the void. What the- I guess you really do get answers to your wishes! he pondered
However, he failed to notice his impending destination beneath him. The new situation made Ed glance below him, only to make him cry out in surprise:
He was soaring through the air, with absolutely no protection whatsoever, over a god damn lake.
Yep, he was sooo screwed...
The young man sweatdropped as he registered what was about to happen. "Aw shit!!"
Ed peddled his legs in midair, trying to move away from the body of water beneath him. But at that moment, gravity kicked in, and the alchemist plummeted towards the water.
Splash!
Luckily for Ed, he managed to perform a pencil dive into the water before impact, preventing damage to himself. The bad part was that he ended up a couple dozen feet below the surface of the lake, and was steadily sinking deeper. The waterlogged alchemist mentally smacked himself in the face for his stupidity. God damn wishes always have to have a drawback, huh? He stared at the steadily fading light above him, frantically trying to come up with some kind of idea, any kind of idea, to get himself out of this mess. Now would be a good time to know how to swim... he thought.
Ed attempted to move his arms and legs and swim up to the surface, but they moved in a slow, creaky motion, only hindering his progress further. He mentally cursed in frustration at his own incompetence. My automail limbs aren't moving as well as they did on land! Damn it, they must be slowed down by the water!
His lungs began to sting with the effort to hold his breath, air bubbles beginning to escape his mouth with fatigue. Getting harder to hold my breath... Is this- is this the end?
The mental image of his younger brother appeared in his mind, as if to tell him that giving up wasn't an option. Ed's eyes narrowed with newfound determination, gazing with conviction at what little light that could still be seen. No... he forcefully told himself. I'm not going to die here, not after all that Al and I have been through together! He clapped his left hand against his artificial one, starting a familiar alchemic reaction. I-will-LIVE!!!
In a last ditch attempt to save himself, Ed used the last of his energy to transmute the rocky bottom of the lake into a pillar. The growing structure caught up with him and brought him up to the surface, just before his lungs were about to give out from exhaustion. The young man's head broke through the water's surface, his breath coming out in ragged breaths. Ed gratefully filled his lungs with precious oxygen, his body lying useless on the damp stone, too tired to move. "I made it... I'm alive!" He weakly turned his head towards the sun's rays, gazing at the sky with relief. "I won't give up... not until Alphonse is back to normal..."
Ed's sight slowly began to blur, black spots appearing before his half-open eyes. "Al... thank you..."
The young man's body finally gave in, and his head fell gently to the side, the comforting darkness claiming his mind...
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"Hey kid, you alright?!"
A blurry face faded in and out of Ed's focus, indistinguishable in his current state. The young man's mind reeled in confusion, frantically searching it for some explanation. What happened?! he thought. Why is everything so blurry?
"He's awake!" a male voice said. A strong hand placed itself on his shoulder, giving him support. "Come on kid, snap out of it!"
The face seemed to stay in focus this time, though it was still blurry. An older man's face leaned over his, worry etched into his expression. "Are you alright?" he asked the disoriented Ed. "I thought that I lost you for a moment..."
Ed gave the man a weak grin, lifting his gloved hand to give him a thumbs-up. "Yeah, I'm okay, but my vision seems to be blurry..."
The stranger chuckled at Ed's obvious remark. "That's because you've got water on your face! Here, let me get that for you..."
A rough, yet gentle hand ran over his face wiping away the water that clouded the young man's vision. Now that the water was gone, Ed was able to see clearly. Looking around, he realized that he was in some type of vehicle. Probably an ambulance... he thought. They seem to be trustworthy, but I shouldn't let my guard down.
The doctor leaned towards him, holding a hand to the teenagers back to help him sit up. "What's your name, kid?"
Ed snapped out of his thoughts, trying to look like he had been paying attention. "I'm Edward Elric, sir."
The man smiled in reply. "Good to meet you Edward!" He grabbed the young man by his arm and hoisted him off the floor of the vehicle. This surprised Ed a bit. For an older man, he sure was strong! Taking careful steps, the doctor led Ed over to a gurney, and the young man sat down at the doctor's bidding. "Thanks..." Ed sighed. "I guess you found me at the lake, right?"
He got a nod in reply. "Yep, that was me! If you had been out on that lake for much longer, you could've went into shock and died, Edward. It's a good thing that I found you in time!"
The young man clapped the doctor on the shoulder in thanks. "Much appreciated, doctor!"
The man turned away for a second, emerging a second later with a small tool in his hand. "I'm going to have to test your joints for problems." he said. "No objections, I hope?"
"Nope." replied the young man.
The doctor hit the tool against his joints, checking to see if anything was wrong.
Thump. Thump.
Ed let his mind wander a bit, contemplating the situation. Things seem to be going very well here... he thought.
CLANK!
The young man tensed at the familiar sound. His eyes grew wide as he realized one important thing he had forgotten about: his metal limbs. Oh great... he mentally groaned. On second thought, maybe not!
The doctor stared at the spot where the tool had hit with a confused expression on his face. "That can't be right..." he murmured. Raising the tool again, he brought it down on Ed's left leg once again, only to be greeted with the same reverberating clank that echoed throughout the vehicle.
The young man frantically leaped off of the gurney, trying to escape the doctor. However, the man managed to grab hold of Ed's sleeve. The force of Ed's frantic pulling and the doctor's grip caused the fabric to rip, exposing the metal limb beneath it. Ed quickly tried to hide his arm in his shirt, but the damage was done.
The astonished doctor simply stared in awe at the prosthetic limb that the young man sported, trying to process all of what just happened. "Your arm... your leg, they're machines!"
Ed yanked his arm free of the doctor's grip and backed away towards the back of the vehicle, planning an impromptu escape plan. He looked at the doctor with an apologetic glance. "I know that you saved my life, but I have to do this." The young man formed a fist with his metal fingers, preparing to act on his plan. "Sorry about this doctor, but it's for your own good. Bye..."
With one swift punch to the man's temple, the doctor was lying on the floor, out cold. Ed whipped around and jumped out of the back door of the vehicle, rolling to cushion his fall as he hit the ground. Once he stopped moving, he got up and looked back to where the vehicle had driven off to. "Damn it... Can anything go right for once?" he whispered.
Turning in another direction, he set off towards the closest building in sight, hoping that it would provide him some answers as to where he was, and if he would have any chance of going home.
"Guys, this is really stupid. We could get into really big trouble for this-"
"Oh shut up, Sam. This is probably the most fun we've had in months here, so don't spoil it for us!"
"Yeah, and I have some major info on you, so don't be surprised if I use it against you!"
But Jill, Gabrielle doesn't want to do this… right?"
"Hell yeah, I do!"
"But-"
"SHUT UP!!!" The other two bellowed as loud as they dared to.
Three teenage girls made their way down the deserted hallway, trying not to attract any attention to them as they snuck around the school. So far though, things weren't going as planned. Since Sam forgot the large amounts of silly string needed for the prank in her locker, the group had to rush over there and get the damn stuff! This only made the other girls even more frustrated at her.
"For the love of God, Sam…" Jill whispered, "why did you have to forget all of this in your locker?!"
The said teenager sighed in response. "I didn't think we would need it until after school. You guys know I never go to my locker during the day!"
"Sam, just be quiet, sneak into Mr. Utter's office, and cover it with silly string!"
Sam sighed in defeat. "Fine…"
As Sam and Jill snuck into the principal's office, Gabrielle stood outside the door and kept watch. She yawned loudly as the minutes slowly inched by. Taking out her pocket watch, she checked the time, only to groan in impatience. "When are those guys going to get out of there? I'm bored…"
Step-CLANK. Step-CLANK.
Gabrielle tensed at the sudden noise. "Who's there?! Come out, now!"
The noise slowly grew louder, approaching the teenager with caution. A shadow appeared on the floor, extending with every step…
Step-CLANK. Step-CLANK.
And then, the actual form of the person became visible. There was one key feature about the person that made her eyes widen in surprise:
A pair of bright, golden eyes stared intently at her.
The word caught in Gabrielle's throat, barely even squeaking out. "Holy crap- Guys… Now would be a good time to come out here!!"
Scuffling noises were heard and the other two girls ran out of the office. Sam noticed something was weird immediately and walked over to Gabrielle, who was currently immobile from shock. "Uh… Gabrielle? OY, WAKE UP!!!"
Nothing.
Jill then came out of the office, punching the air in a private victory dance. "Man, the whole room is covered in silly string! AWSOME!!!"
After a few seconds of silence, she finally noticed what was happening, or lack of that, rather. "Sam, what's going on?"
"I have no idea." Sam replied, waving a hand in her friends face. "She won't move!"
Gabrielle finally managed to choke out her words. "Guys, take a look over there and tell me if I'm going crazy…"
Sam and Jill followed her stare with curious eyes. Sam jaw dropped in shock as she recognized the person standing in front of them, apparently not noticing his exposed metal arm.. "You- you're- ugh…."
The group, including the newcomer, just stared as the teenager crumpled to the floor. With a small exclamation, the figure rushed over and knelt at her side. Seeing that she was alright, he looked up at the other girls in confusion. "Can some PLEASE tell me what the hell is going on?!"