Okay, I know I tend to make long, unnecessary commentary ANs on my works. Just read the ANs for this first chapter because it's important for you to know what the heck is going on. After that, I promise you can just skip all the bolded stuff. Okay? :3
My second and third fanfics ever, Ed the Cat and Al the Cat (I've seriously seen at least 3 or 4 more fics after mine about Ed turning into a cat. Guess I'm not as creative as I thought. XD) of course made me really proud, but what annoys and saddens me so is that I didn't finish them. I really wanted to keep writing them, but the moment I got to as far as my mind had come up with... I totally blanked. Didn't help that then we started getting ready to move and stuff.
So, then I read more fics after that and saw that some authors (like Griselda Banks, who's one of my faves ever) always finished their stories before posting. I decided I wanted to do that. So, here's a story I worked on for a while and finished! :D *noisemakers blaring*
This came about because I had been hearing a lot about doing family history/genealogy work, which I know I should do, but haven't been able to do much in because I know literally nothing about my ancestors. :I Also, I'd been seeing modern AUs. You know, where someone plopped Ed and Al into the real world? Suddenly, this baby was born. (I'm referring to this story, not some random baby in the world. XD)
The chapters were originally half the size I'm posting, but then my final chapter ended up waaaaaay too long in comparison. So, chapter one is technically chapter one and two, chapter two is technically chapter three and four, and so on.
I feel like everything probably happens way too fast, but oh well. Also, if pure dialogue annoys you, leave now. I like to reveal everything through people talking.
On with the story!
John Edward Elric and Matt Alphonse Elric sat together during lunch every day. It was just a week or two since the new school year had started. They ate in a comfortable silence until a girl with long, dark hair walked up to them, somehow looking shy yet like an over-excitable puppy at the same time.
"Hi!"
"Hi..." they both responded, a little caught off-guard.
"Your name is Al, right?" She pointed to the younger brother.
"Yeah."
"I'm in the same Chemistry class as you."
"Oh yeah! ...Lily?" She nodded to confirm that he got her name right. "This is my older brother Ed." He pointed his sandwich to the boy sitting across from him, who raised a hand and mumbled "Sup" in-between bites.
"How may I help you?" Al asked the girl politely.
"Um, I noticed that you had some anime stickers and such on your things." Now her shyness was starting to show again.
"Oh yeah, I'm a big fan." He grinned. She grinned back, then looked over to Ed.
"Eh, I watch some with him if I'm bored," he shrugged.
"What's your favorite manga or anime?" Lily questioned as she pushed her glasses up on her nose.
"I like too many to pick a favorite!" Al giggled.
"My favorite of all time is Fullmetal Alchemist!" she boasted.
"I've heard of that one, but haven't watched it yet."
"You need to!"
The brothers glanced to each other, both feeling a bit wary of the girl.
"...Alright, I will when I can."
"It's on Netflix!" she called over her shoulder as she started to walk away quickly.
"So, that girl came over here just to tell you to watch a certain show?" Ed asked once Lily was gone.
"Yup."
"People of your generation are so weird." He shook his head.
Al raised a brow. "Can you really say that, Brother? You are only a year older than me."
"One and a half," he corrected, as if that really made a difference.
The brothers sat down to watch the first episode about an hour after they got home that day. Once they connected the family laptop to the living room TV, Al searched for the show on Netflix.
"Brother, there's two: Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Which one should I play?"
"Well, that girl just said 'Fullmetal Alchemist,' so I guess the first." Ed shrugged as he opened up a bag with munchies.
"Hey, put that away!" the younger scolded as he clicked on the screen.
"Why?"
"I won't hear anything! You are a loud chewer!"
His brother have him a blank face in response.
"Chucks for you! Just put on subtitles!" He stuffed his face noisily while lightly glaring at Al. "Jeez, you have a problem. Maybe you shouldn't watch these shows."
"But I love them too much! Please don't take them away!" he pleaded as he plopped down onto the couch again, now turning to his brother with his best puppy-dog face.
"...Fine." He never could withstand that face without giving in.
"I love you, Brother," he grinned/smirked as the episode started.
"Shut up."
"I think I understand more why Lily wanted us to watch this."
"So many coincidences!" they blurted simultaneously.
"The biggest one being that the main characters have the same names as us."
"We just have John and Matt in front of ours."
"Who were we named after again?"
"Edward comes from our... great...great-grandpa, I think." The older sibling dug deep into his memory. "Or was it great-great-GREAT-grandpa?... No, just two greats."
"And Alphonse was his brother." Al nodded.
It had become a family tradition to name children after past relatives, but at a point the names became too outdated, so it was agreed the names could be middle names instead. As compensation, their parents had given them extremely common first names, causing confusion in classrooms when there were other Johns and Matts, so people began to refer to them by their middle names, then shortened those names to fit better in modern society.
"And as far as I know, most of our family has light hair. That's just how it works in some Caucasian bloodlines," Ed grumbled while staring at his blonde hair, Al trying to do the same with his light brown hair, but it was too short.
"Of course there's other similarities, but there's no point in listing them out loud as if explaining them to someone else." Oh, hehe, they don't realize I'm writing their whole conversation down for the world to read... No point in stopping now.
"Do you want to watch some more?"
"I don't want to, just because it's getting creepy, but at the same time that makes me want to watch even more..."
They stared at the TV for a few seconds. Silently, they both reached for the computer mouse to put on the next episode.
The Elrics finished the whole 2003 series and movie in one week. (They would have done it faster, but stupid school and sleep used too much of their time.) They were so drawn in, Ed even stopped snacking so he could focus more. Al gave a short scream when they showed what Alphonse looked like before for the first time, as his brother had explained earlier that Alphonse might be his anime doppelganger, just as Edward was his (minus his eyes; Ed's were brown, not gold). And he was right.
Of course, Lily later admitted to them that she recommends Fullmetal Alchemist to just about everyone, but thought it was awesome that Al's name was, well, Al; it had really motivated her to talk to him, since he had the same nickname as her favorite character. She had not even known his real name, or any of the other things they listed as she ate with them during lunch. Her eyes got wider and wider as the similarities piled up.
"...Dang..." she breathed once they finished.
"Yeah."
"But since the series is set in the early 1900's...You said you were named after your great-great-grandpa, right? Try looking him up."
The brothers stared at her, a little lost. She continued, the voice now squeaking a bit in embarrassment.
"There's sites for that, like FamilySearch... It's worth a shot... There's nothing to lose... What if you found out you were directly related to Edward and Alphonse Elric?!" The last sentence suddenly made her excited.
"I don't have the time," Ed refused immediately, taking a long sip of his drink.
"Yet you had the time to watch anime?" she asked in monotone.
"You can't believe that the Elrics are real people?... It feels like I'm talking about myself..." Al said the second part more to himself than the others.
"I'm sorry, but I'm curious. History interests me anyways, so even if we didn't get any results that we wanted, I'd get to find out about other old people!"
"Oh, joy." Ed rolled his eyes. "That is definitely something high-schoolers do often."
"Would you rather I smoked and drank at parties every night while I was pregnant with a baby that probably already has STDs and a disorder or two due to the daily weed and other drugs I snort that grows in quantity constantly so I can get the same high all the time?"
"..."
"Exactly."
"..." Both boys looked at each other as she started to stand up, mumbling something about throwing away her tray.
"She said all of that in one breath... Did she plan that sentence beforehand or something?..." Al poked his food. His brother scoffed.
"I bet she's one of those people that gets called weird and responds with 'thank you.'" Ed decided to test his theory when Lily came back.
"You are the weirdest person I have ever met," he stated, looking straight into her eyes. She blinked.
"Thank you! That means a lot," she chirped happily. Both her and Al laughed a little while Ed facepalmed.
"Of course you are THAT kind of person! We shouldn't listen to anything you say! Why did we in the first place?! Come on, Al, let's go." He pulled his backpack up onto his shoulder and dragged the rest of his stuff that was on the table away.
Her big brown eyes followed him as he left. "...Well, that was rude."
"I think it's because you remind him- well, us- of one of our old friends," Al explained to her. "I'm not sure what happened between them, but it caused my brother to rant around the house with extremely colorful language for a few days. Being the stubborn idiot he is, he refused to listen to any apology or anything, so he is still sticking with a negative opinion of said friend." He finished cleaning up the table and went off to chase down his older sibling with a sigh, leaving Lily to ponder on what's been said, then deciding to switch the topic in her brain to cats, which reminds her of Alphonse Elric, which reminds her of cats, which reminds her of Alphonse Elric... (It's a vicious cycle.)
While it was a weird idea indeed, and most likely just going to prove that Fullmetal Alchemist is just a story, the temptation grew in Al until he gave in and tried looking for Edward Elric on a genealogy site. When he got no results there, he just tried a different website. This continued for some time until he fell out of his chair.
Why?
He found records of a supposed fictional character.
While there wasn't much, there was a black-and-white photo of him with some of the German rocket scientists shown in Conqueror of Shamballa posing together in front of their creation. He studied the picture very carefully, and found it looked very real. No cosplay or Photoshop.
He stared at the picture, his jaw slack. He could barely think. And when he finally could, his first thought was to show it to his brother.
"BROTHER!" he shouted. When a few seconds passed by without response, he tried again. "BROTHER!" When that didn't work...
"MOM!"
"What?" she replied at his door. She had only been in the next room over.
"Where's John?"
"I think he's just in his room, doing his homework. Maybe he didn't hear because of his headphones."
"Right. Thank you."
Too lazy to get up and drag his stubborn sibling to the laptop or to bring the laptop to him, he instead decided to send him the link. Being careful to not let the URL show on the e-mail, he thought about what to make the explanation. Ed wouldn't look at it if he truthfully said what it was for, so he settled for:
'Look! They classified Pluto as a planet again!' (Ed is a bit of a space nerd.)
With a click of a button, it was sent. A few minutes later, he heard "WHAT?!" come from some other part of the house, then something large falling to the floor.
With satisfaction in knowing his brother so well, he sent the link to Lily through Facebook (because he never asked for her e-mail address, assuming she would think that was a way-outdated mode of communication) before walking away to check on Ed. He's probably just fine, though; his head is literally thick.
So, there's the beginning! :D Have I piqued your interest? At least a little? I hope? ;-;
I find it so funny that I'd written that thing about Pluto a few months before they actually did that. XD
I NEVER LIKED PLUTO IT DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE A PLANET *runs away from everyone because I'm a Pluto hater*
I'm a supporter of e-mail! LONG LIVE THE GMAIL!
Also, because I'm awesome like that, at the end of all chaps, there's gonna be something extra. Sometimes character profiles, sometimes a continuation of something in the story that isn't really important but amusing, or... something else. *shrug*
K bai!
Elric Brothers: Are mistaken all the time to be the same age, although there is about 1.5 years of a difference. Everyone at school knows they have 4.0 averages, but since they don't participate in school sports, few know just how athletic they are. Both seem to be oblivious to the fact that many girls (maybe some guys too) find them quite attractive. They are comparable to Hikaru and Kaoru before they joined the OHSHC, although not as antisocial.
John Edward Elric, AKA Ed: 16 years old, in 11th grade. Has light brown eyes and blond hair. His haircut is similar to Roy Mustang's. (He has been attempting to grow it out of that ever since Lily pointed this out, but his hair grows as slowly as the rest of his body.) He has quite the temper, dishes out the rude comments without a second thought, and becomes violent if an insult is thrown at him. This is why he has such a hard time making friends, having to rely on his brother to make friends for him. He has always been far too occupied with his own interests to gawk at girls. He has incredible focus and determination. He is a great guy once you get to know him- he might even help you with your chemistry homework without complaining about your stupidity- unless he doesn't like you. He loves his red and black headphones. Die Hard is his favorite movie. "Brains or brawn? Psh, I've got both." "I highly suggest you rethink offending me- or my brother- anytime in the future."
Matt Alphonse Elric, AKA Al: 15 years old, in 10th grade. Has gray eyes and light brown, almost blond, hair. Keeps his hair short with a side part. He is taller and more slender than his older sibling. His positive attitude and politeness make him a favorite among teachers and other adults. Few have made him mad enough to have to face his wrath, which is just as terrifying as his brother's, maybe a degree more. He shows his darker side most often with his immediate family. It's much easier for him to be friendly to people, not driving them away like a certain someone. Ever since he was little, he called both of his siblings "Brother" and "Sister", the former still sticking to him, possibly for the rest of his life, while the latter was thrown out when the youngest Elric threatened him with a very menacing-looking fork to stop doing that and call her "Megan" like everyone else. "When you're with one of us, you're stuck with the other too. Brother and I were basically made for each other." "BROTHER!"
Lily: 15 years old, in 10th grade. Has very dark, large brown eyes and hair. Her waist-length hair is curly (and slightly frizzy, sadly), and is usually down. She wears glasses almost 24/7. She has an interesting taste in fashion, mostly wearing skinny jeans or leggings with a shirt, which ranges from a flowery, frilly, feminine top to an oversized men's T-shirt. She also loves wearing hats (or her BMO headphones), but has few opportunities to wear them due to dress code and/or weather. She is a tomboy, yet very girly; innocent and giggly, yet can be creepy on a whim. She makes friends almost TOO easily, and can make just about anyone laugh. She is actually quite introverted at times, sometimes sitting by herself on purpose during lunch to listen to music or read a book in peace, and almost never goes out to events unless forced to. Her favorite manga of all time is Fullmetal Alchemist, and by extension, both of the animes and Conqueror of Shamballa movie. Her favorite character of all time is Alphonse Elric. "Everyone is weird in their own special way." "Cats are life. So is sushi."