Today had been one of those days that seemed to just drag on and on. You had woken up with a headache and by the end of the school day it was a full blown migraine. You drove up into the drive way in front of your home. With a tired sigh you put your car into park. Pulling your back pack out of the passenger seat you exited the car with a grunt.
"Why do I have to carry so much shit around with me all the time?" You asked yourself as you walked towards the garage door. You walk into the garage, shutting the door behind you and pulled your keys out to unlock the door that led into the house. As you were putting the key into the lock, you experienced a sharp pain in your head. You fell to your knees on the door step and grabbed your head, trying to cease the pain and the high pitched ringing in your head. You felt your head spinning and you opened your eyes to see everything fading to black as the skin on your back began to burn.
Someone's arms were around you. You see the color of gold around you. Hair maybe? You couldn't tell for sure.
"I'll never let them hurt you. I promise." A young man whispered in your ear.
"Let who hurt me?" You heard yourself ask. You got no response before the gold disappeared, leaving you alone again.
You open your eyes and as things come into focus you realize you aren't sure where you are or why you're there. The last thing you remembered was the garage.
I guess I passed out. But this is too bright to be the garage. Did mom or dad come home to find me in the garage?
With a little bit of effort you sat up and looked at your surroundings. You were beginning to get a little freaked out at this point. This room wasn't any of the rooms in your house. In fact, the two beds and jointed bathroom made it seem more like a hotel room. You looked down at yourself and found your weren't restrained and all your clothing was still on, so that was a good sign.
"Fuck." You cursed under your breath and stumbled out of the bed. You weren't sure what was going on or how you got there but you weren't intending to stick around to find out. What if someone had tried to break in to your house, found you in the garage and just took you instead? As you headed towards the door you noticed your back pack next to the wall. You quickly dug through it until you found a can of pepper spray you carried around with you sometimes if you had to go somewhere by yourself at night. You put your bag on your back and suddenly the burning sensation was back. The pain made your knees buckle and your fell to your knees on the floor. With as much effort as you could summon, you managed to pick yourself back up again. You hadn't taken two steps towards the door before it swung open revealing a large suit of armor. You froze in fear; the back pack fell from your shoulders and hit the floor with a loud 'thud', and bringing your senses back.
"Shit!" You yelled and tried to step back only to trip over your bag.
"Are you alright?" A young voice came from the armor; far too young of a voice to be coming from such a large suit of armor. You scrambled back against the wall and held out the spray.
"Get back!" You demanded.
"Please calm down. I'm not gonna hurt you. I swear." The armor said as it stepped closer. You didn't hesitate to spray the pepper spray at its eyes. You looked up at it in fear when it didn't seem to affect him any. You scrambled to your feet and darted around him and out the open door. You ran through the hall and past two other people but you didn't even notice them until one of them grabbed you by your arm.
"Let go!" You screamed, turning around to spray who ever had grabbed you. Before you could even push down on the spray, it was knocked out of your hand and hit the wall before rolling out of reach. "Let me go!" You cried out, trying to free your arm from a vice-like grip.
"Calm down!" A male voice ordered. You looked up at your captor to lock eyes with a young man with golden eyes that looked quite irritated at this point. He had long blonde hair pulled back into a braid and wore black clothing with a red trench coat.
"Please let me go." You pleaded while fighting back tears. You rarely cried but you were afraid for your life and well-being. You didn't know where you were, how you'd gotten there, or who these people were. You then took the time to notice the other person in the hall. Behind the blonde with the vice grip was a girl who looked to be about sixteen or so, the same age as you, with light blonde hair and blue eyes. Her eyes looked concerned for you and you looked at her with pleading eyes.
"We aren't going to hurt you. We just want to know if you're okay." The blonde guy told you with frustration.
"I'm fine, now please let me go. I want to go home." You told him.
"Not many people who are found unconscious in the woods are 'fine.'" He shot back. You suddenly quit trying to pull away and stared at him in shock.
"What? No, I was in my garage when I passed out." You told him.
"Well I found you in the woods." He replied. His expression softened slightly when he noticed you started to shake.
"Wh-where am I?" You asked with a shaky voice.
"You're in a hotel in the town of Frondt." He replied.
"Where the hell is that?" You nearly shouted. That wasn't a town anywhere near where you lived, that was for sure.
"It's in the eastern part of Amestris." He said with a frown.
"Where the hell is Amestris?" This information wasn't really giving you an idea of where you were.
"The country we're in." He looked at you like you were crazy. Amestris was one of the strongest countries in the world. How could you not know where it was?
"…I need to sit down." You said quietly.
"Come back to the room and you can rest in there. You seem very confused." The blonde girl finally spoke up, moving next to you and putting a supporting arm around you before walking you back to the room you had previously fled from.
You sat on one of the beds in the room and just stared at the floor with wide eyes. They all watched you, waiting for some kind of response. You moved your hand in front of your face and watched it. Your vision didn't seem really distorted so that ruled out the cafeteria ladies snapping and drugging the lunch food. You pinched your arms and felt the pain. That ruled out dreaming. Okay, so if you were by some chance in another world or something, what did it look like? You got up and moved to the window. Raising the blinds you looked up at the sky. Blue sky, white clouds, green plants; you looked down and….people for some reason still riding around in horse drawn carriages and really old cars. Was this some Amish village? No, Amish people don't drive cars or use electricity or a lot of the stuff you were seeing out the window.
"What year is it?" You asked hesitantly.
"1915." The blonde girl answered. You felt your head begin to spin again and tried to grab the wall.
"This isn't happening." You said softly at first. "This can't be happening!" Panic began to rise in your voice. They didn't even have time to ask you what it was that couldn't be happening before you bolted out the door. You heard them call your name and in the back of your mind you wondered, How the hell do they know my name? But you ignored the thought and you ignored their calls. You found yourself downstairs in the hotel lobby. You ran out the front door, getting strange looks from the other people in the room. You stopped to look at the people on the streets. The streets weren't hard tar and asphalt like any of the roads in your town or even the really small towns of a population of fifty people. People were driving really old cars that looked like they were from the early 1900's and a few were still even riding around in horse drawn carriages, and a majority of the people were walking and enjoying the road side vendors. But no one was wearing black penguin suits, top hats, bonnets, and dresses. In fact, the clothing seemed just a little more modern. Not much, people still weren't walking around in jeans and t-shirts. But they didn't look like they just walked out of a photo from 1915. You took off across the road and ran towards an open field where you saw a wooded area in the distance. The only logic going through your head at the moment was that the people here are crazy and if you ran far enough maybe you'd reach society. You made it to the woods and pulled out your cell phone. You dialed your mom's cell phone but only got an annoying beeping noise in response. You looked at your phone to find that you didn't have any service at all. You cursed and kept running in a different direction, checking your phone every so often hoping to get a signal. You weren't sure how long you'd been running around until you stopped in a clearing in the woods and fell to your knees.
"This can't be happening." You said while fighting back tears. You had even gone back to the town and didn't get any service. After sitting still for awhile you began to realize how cold it was outside and wondered where the hell your hoodie was. You sat back and brought your knees to your chest. You wrapped your arms around yourself and tried to distract yourself from the cold by trying to think of what to do next. You heard the crunching of dead leaves under someone's feet and turned to see the blonde boy from before.
"We've been looking everywhere for you. If you're gonna leave at least get your stuff and maybe thank us for saving you." He said while dropping your back pack in front of you and handing you your hoodie. You took the hoodie and quickly put it on.
"Saving me from what?" You asked quietly while staring at the ground.
"Probably from freezing to death. I found you out here in the woods. Actually…" He looked around a bit. "I think this was the exact spot. Anyways, we just wanted to make sure you were okay before you left. And you left your stuff behind." You buried your face in your knees and bit down hard on your knuckle. "Why are you crying?" He asked with concern and knelt down next to you.
"I don't know where I am!" You managed to say through ragged breaths. "I pass out in my garage from a migraine and apparently show up in the woods and wake up in a hotel room around a bunch of strangers, one that's in a fucking suit of armor and pepper spray doesn't work." You cried. "There's no country called Amestris where I'm from! And it's not 1915 either!"
"Alright, Alison, you need to calm down." He tried to soothe you.
"And how the hell do you people know my name!" You shouted.
"Calm down. We went through your bag to look for some form of I.D. It had your name and picture on it, so unless the I.D. is fake, we assumed Alison Rigby was your real name." He explained. "Now," he began. "You can either come back to the hotel with me and we'll help you figure out what's really going on here, or I can leave you here and you can go off and do whatever. It's up to you." He spoke to you kindly. You were quiet for a few moments before nodding your head and stand up on shaky legs.
"I need to change shirts when we get back. Mine kind of got caught on something and tore." You said with a shy smile. You took your hoodie off to show the huge tear in your shirt that went so far it showed your bra line. He looked at it strangely and you began to feel self-conscious. You honestly had a very beautiful body; a flat stomach, a curve figure, beautiful legs and full breasts. But like any other teenage girl, you always felt self-conscious about your body. "What is it?" You asked.
"Why do you have this tattoo on your back? Do you know what these symbols stand for?" He seemed very intrigued and he got closer to your back. You jumped away, a blush full on your cheeks. Then it hit you what he had said.
"Wait…what tattoo? I don't have any tattoos!"
When you returned to the hotel you noticed the blonde girl and the guy in the armor were still gone. You went to the bathroom and pulled your shirt off. You covered your chest with the shirt and moved your long brown hair out of the way to look at your back. And sure enough there was a tattoo of these odd but beautiful symbols on your back. It looked like it had been there for years; it wasn't red and peeling. It didn't look fresh at all. But you knew you didn't have it when you woke up for school this morning. The blonde guy who had apparently saved you came in the bathroom; you had left the door open, and took notice of your shocked expression.
"So you didn't know that was there?" He asked.
"It sure as hell wasn't this morning!" You told him. You sighed and gave the young man a look. He seemed confused for a moment before blushing and turning around. You quickly put a new shirt on and put your hand on your face. "God dammit… If my mom sees this she's gonna kill me." You muttered. The young man turned back around and gave you a sympathetic look. You ran your hand down your face and to your neck and let out another sigh. You then remembered you'd yet to find out this guy's name. "I'm sorry," You said with a kind and soft smile. "I don't think I know the name of the guy who rescued me." Maybe you were crazy, but it looked like his face turned red just a little bit. Was he blushing?
"Edward. Edward Elric." He replied.
"Hi, Edward. Mind if I call you Ed?" You asked.
"Just as long as you don't call me short." He said with a grin. You genuinely laughed when he said that.
"Well, you seem to be just a bit taller than me, so I don't think that'll be a problem." You said as you came to stand right next to him and compare height.
"Can I call you Alley?" He asked almost hesitantly. He really did seem to be blushing now. You smiled at him.
"Of course." He seemed to just stare at you for a few moments before he realized he was.
"Um….do you have any clue what those symbols on your back means?" He asked, quickly changing the subject.
"No, I don't." You said while shaking your head. "Do you?"
"They're symbols for alchemy." He told you.
"Alchemy? That doesn't…where I'm from it doesn't exist. I mean, they tried it back in the medieval days but it never evolved into anything." You told him.
"Really? Here they even have a specific military branch of alchemist. They call them State Alchemists. I'm one of them." He explained; his chest swelled a bit with pride when he announced he was part of this military branch.
"Show me." You said.
"What?"
"Show me how you perform alchemy." You repeated.
"O-Okay." He said. You followed him into the bedroom where he got out a piece of paper, a pencil, and looked around. He found a large screw on the coffee table. He drew a circle with some symbols on it on the paper, and then put the screw in the middle. "You have to go by the law of Equivalent Exchange. It has to have the same chemical make-up, and the same amount. I can't turn this into anything larger or smaller." He explained. He put his hands on the circle and a blue light began to shine from it. You looked in awe as blue lighting crackled around the paper, engulfing the screw. When the light disappeared, the screw had taken on a different form. You picked it up and noticed it was really warm between your fingers. The screw had taken on the shape of a metal heart about the size of a half dollar. The heart had little ornate designs on it as well.
"It's beautiful." You said in awe. "That's amazing! Alchemy doesn't work like that where I'm from!" You ran your fingers along the metal before handing it back to him.
"Keep it." He said.
"Really?"
"Yeah." He said with a smile. You felt your heartbeat speed up when he smiled. You felt butterflies in your stomach and bit your lip as you smiled.
"Um…about the tattoo on your back…" He started in again. "The symbols…are very important." He stopped and looked down at the floor like he was looking for the right words. He finally looked back up at you. "Do you know what the philosopher's stone is?" He asked.
"I've heard of it. I've heard it can bypass the laws of equivalent exchange. Back in the medieval ages alchemists searched for it or tried to create their own. They wanted it to turn copper into gold or something like that or even to be able to create human life or gain immortality." He nodded.
"My brother, the one in the suit of armor, and I have been looking for the Philosopher's stone to… to fix a mistake we made a long time ago. The tattoo on your back is the array needed to create a philosopher's stone." He watched you for your response.
"Oh…" was all you said at first. "Does this mistake have something to do with why he's in armor?" You asked. He nodded. "Was he…. Horribly disfigured or something?"
"….Not exactly. That would have probably been a preferred result than what really did happen." He said softly. He looked down at the floor and his face took on a sad look. He looked almost guilty even.
"If you don't mind me asking, what did happen?" You asked. He was quiet for a few moments that seemed to stretch out forever.
"You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Well… I'm somehow in a crazy alternate universe about 90 years in the past. Not sure how much more unbelievable things can get." You said with a hint of a smile. He was quiet for a few more moments.
"When my brother Alphonse and I were young, our mother died from an illness. Our father walked out on us when we were toddlers so we had no one was left except our friend Winry, the girl that's with us, and her grandmother, Pinako. Pinako helped take care of us. Then we came across a very skilled alchemist name Izumi and her husband Sig Curtis. After a lot of pleading she agreed to take us on as students. We studied under her for awhile, training both our minds and body. After we returned home we…" He paused for a moment. It seemed like he was trying to find the strength to say what he wanted to say next. "We tried to use alchemy to bring our mother from the dead. It… backfired horribly. I lost my left leg. And I sacrificed my right arm for Al's soul."
"His…soul?"
"Al… doesn't have a body anymore. I was able to bind his soul to that suit of armor. That armor and his soul is all that's there." He said regretfully.
"How is that possible?"
"It's a very difficult transmutation done through alchemy. We tried to play God, and we were punished horribly for it. Now we're trying to find the Philosopher's Stone to restore our bodies."
"If you lost your arm and leg…then how…" You trailed off somewhat gesturing at his limbs.
"It's automail." He told you.
"Automail? What's that?"
"Artificial metal limbs." He explained while pulling up his right sleeve to show you. "They attach the nerves to the prosthetic so that one can move and control it like a regular limb." He moved his fingers and wrist to demonstrate "My left leg is the same way. Winry and her grandmother do this stuff for a living. After the failed transmutation, Colonel Roy Mustang, my commanding officer, came to Winry's and offered to help me become a State Alchemist. He said he could provide me with information about the Stone that could aid us in our mission to restore our bodies. At the age of 12, I became the youngest State Alchemist in Amestrian history. And that's pretty much our story in a nut shell." He ended softly. A silence stretched out between the two of you. You felt the need to say something, but what could you say?
"I'm…I'm sorry. The things you guys have been through sounds… dreadful. I admire you both for having gone through so much and having continued to keep moving. I'm… not really sure of what else to say…" You said, feeling a tad awkward. He gave you a small smile.
"It's okay. There's nothing much really to say about it. You seem to take it better than most people when they find out. We honestly try our best to keep it a secret. Very few people know what really happened. If the higher ups in the military knew, I'd be thrown in prison for practicing forbidden alchemy, and they would probably run experiments on Al and lock him up in a lab."
"Well, though we barely know each other, thank you for sharing this with me. And I promise your secret is safe with me." You gave him a gentle smile that he returned.
The door suddenly flew open startling you both. In the doorway stood the blonde girl from earlier and the guy in the armor.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here." The girl said with a relieved sigh. "We searched all over for you and couldn't find you. We were worried about you." She smiled and walked over to you, extending her hand. "Maybe you'll be more at ease if you know us better. I'm Winry Rockbell." You stood up and shook her hand.
"Alison Rigby." You replied. The suit of armor tentatively walked over to you and Winry, moving slowly as to not scare you.
"I'm Alphonse Elric." He extended his hand cautiously. You smiled and shook his hand. Your smile and friendliness seemed to put him at ease. "I guess you've already met brother."
"Yes, I have. I'm… sorry for worrying all of you and kind of freaking out and running off. I'm kind of… out of sorts here. As I'm sure you've figured out, I'm not from around here and have no idea how I got here." You said awkwardly while rubbing your arm.
"Where are you from?" Winry asked.
"Heh, I don't think you'd believe me if I told you." You said with an awkward laugh.
"Try us." The three said in unison.
"Um… ok. Well… from what I've come to believe during my short time here is I'm not from anywhere near here. I actually feel dumb saying this, but I don't think I'm even in my own world. This place is very different from mine. I'm from another year, another country. Where I'm from alchemy doesn't work the same way it does here. There is no country called Amestris. I promise you, there isn't. I'm from a country called the United States of America. It's one of the strongest countries where I'm from. It's one of the World Powers. I'm from a small state in the southern region. I mean, I can try and prove it. My world has more advances in technology, and my identifications say where I'm from. I know it's just words on plastic, but it's legit." You reached in your pocket and pulled out your cell phone. "This is a cellular phone. We use these to make phone calls from pretty much anywhere without needing a cord or phone line or anything. Just cell towers and satellites in space. Since I'm… not home… I can't make a phone call but…" You pushed a few buttons and brought up some pictures. "I can show you pictures and stuff I guess…" You held the phone out to them to show them the pictures on your phone. "I mean… I don't really know what else I can say or do to prove I'm not insane. Hell, for all I know I'm in a coma or I was kidnapped and now I'm really locked up in someone's basement loaded up on drugs to keep me sedated and this is all just a really realistic dream or hallucination…" You said with a nervous and somewhat sad laugh. "I… I need to sit down." You said and sat down on the nearest bed and held your head in your hands. "What am I supposed to do?" You muttered, mostly to yourself.
"It'll be okay." Winry said as she sat down next to you on the bed. "Crazy or not, you'll be fine." She said playfully. "How about you and I go out and I'll kind of show you around this little town and show what it's like here? Maybe get your mind of things." She suggested. You smiled weakly and nodded. You really didn't feel like going anywhere but what choice did you really have? Sitting in a hotel room and sulking? Kind of puts a downer on things. Might as well make the best of things.
You and Winry walked around town for a bit, getting to know each other, and you learned a little more about where you were and in turn you told her more about where you were from. She became as excited as a school girl after having talked to her crush for the first time when she found out your world was more mechanically developed than this one. You learned very quickly that Winry was a bit of a grease junkie.
"My father and brother work on cars. Well, my brother does for a living. My dad used to and did for most of his life. Even when he was little. But now he's moved up to a manager's position at his work. But he still works on cars. He fixed my car. And he and my brother bought an old muscle car and fixed it up for my brother's first car."
"So you have a brother? Is he older or younger?" Winry asked.
"Older by about 3 years. He's the only sibling I have."
"I bet you guys are close then. Ed and Al are the closest things to siblings I have and they never tell me anything. They keep me in the dark. I don't even know that they're in trouble until Ed breaks something." Winry pouted. You just looked at her and began to laugh. "What's so funny?" She demanded.
"I'm sorry. It's just… I think that's how most brothers are. Especially with sisters. My brother and I aren't very close at all. We're polar opposites. And he never tells me a damn thing. I have a few guy friends that I'm close enough to that I could consider them brothers and I'm much closer to them than I am my actual blood brother." You explained. "My brother and I, we're so different but exactly the same. We have different interests. He's more of a country boy. He's into cars and dirt and stuff like that. I've always been more into books and computers and art. I mean, I can get my hands dirty and I don't mind it at all. But we're just different in interests. But we act a lot alike. We both have a temper, we tend to yell at each other when we get mad, we're both irritable around each other…we can barely stand to be around each other for more than an hour. When we were little the only times we got along were when we were getting in trouble." You said with a small smile.
"It's getting late. Let's head back." Winry suggested after a short silence. You agreed and followed her back to the hotel.
When the two of you arrived back at the hotel, Edward and Alphonse seemed like they'd been having an intense discussion.
"Did we interrupt something?" Winry asked.
"No, not at all. Brother and I were just discussing some things." Alphonse replied.
"Alison, we'd like to talk to you about something." Edward said. Suddenly you felt very nervous and you weren't sure why. You nodded and sat down across from the boys and waited for them to continue. "The markings on your back… I've already told you their significance." He stated, you just nodded. "I've told you that the significance of those markings are important to what Al and I are searching for. You obviously have some kind of connection to that. You don't seem to know what that connection is, and neither do we. But we're hoping to find out. Alphonse and I live a dangerous life. With me being in the military, we're constantly on the move and sometimes we're put in dangerous situations. You have no place to go and you're somehow connected to the Stone. I guess what I'm trying to get at is, if you're willing to, we would like it if you travelled with us, and maybe during that time we'll find out more about how you're connected to the Stone, and get closer to restoring our bodies, and you'll find a way to return home. What do you think?" He finished and looked at you with piercing amber eyes.
"Well…I guess I don't have much of a choice. And I would like to hopefully find a way home." You replied. "I guess I could find some ruby slippers and tap my heels together three times…" You looked up and noticed the strange look they gave at that remark and suddenly remembered they wouldn't get that reference.
"Well it's settled then." Edward said as he stood up. "We'll head back to Central in the morning and talk to the Colonel about you travelling with us. In the meantime, let's get some sleep." Edward suggested and turned towards Winry. "Winry, I hope you don't mind if Alley uses the spare bed in your room."
"Not at all!" She said cheerfully. The boys noticed she seemed a little too cheerful to have another girl to be around. Alphonse seemed to be the only one who noticed Edward referred to their new companion as "Alley" instead of her full name. On the inside of the large suit of armor, Alphonse grinned.