This is a little something my sister and I whipped up. If people like, and we get at least a couple of reviews (pwease?), we'll continue. If not, this is something that'll just whither and die like a rose unattended.
This part is the prologue, and will be set in the anime, from episode 17(The House of the Waiting Family) onwards.
NB: Yoda is my sister's nickname. I'm sure George Lucas doesn't own her.
Pairings: Undecided as of yet. Mwaha.
Spoilers: Whole series + Conqueror of Shamballa. Maybe some manga spoilers. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: We won't write it again, so listen good. "WE DON'T OWN FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST! The wonderful lady Hiromu Arakawa-sensei does."
Hands of Fate
Prologue- Anna's point of view
"Are we there yet, Yoda?"
"Shut up, Chibi-san."
"Make me."
"D'you want to get off at the next stop and we'll catch a train going the other way?"
"...No."
"Then shut up. We'll be at Central in ten minutes."
The nice... uh... quarrelling sounds of a road trip. A road trip that wasn't really a road trip, a train trip, actually, and just a journey on the way to a particular anime convention my younger sister and I had randomly decided to go to.
Both 'Chibi-san' (her real name is Ebonee) and I are both complete fans of the manga/anime 'series' of Fullmetal Alchemist and Chibi is obsessed like a lot of other rabid fangirls over the main character Edward Elric. I myself didn't really have any character preferences, I just loved the storyline.
"This train will terminate at Central. Please continue on to a connecting service if passengers wish to travel further," was announced over the intercom as the six carriage train slowly pulled to a stop at our destination: Sydney Terminal, otherwise known as 'Central'.
Chibi and I joined the throng, carrying two backpacks as well as a small brown briefcase. Normal people stared as we passed, went through the barriers and walked out onto the main street above the station.
Chibi had her blond hair tied back in a tail, leaving two strands free that framed her face perfectly. She was wearing a white collared shirt, plain black pants, dainty white boots and a thick brown belt; her black jacket was folded up in her backpack.
I was wearing black pants, black jacket and a long red coat with the Flamel symbol for alchemy boldly imprinted in black on the back. My honey-brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, my fringe neatly parted at the side. My eyes were a grey green thanks to contacts.
The sound of the city was deafening to a pair of country girls' ears.
"I vote we head to the hotel first, establish ourselves there, then walk to the convention. It won't be far and we're early," I yelled over the din.
"That's a good idea. And besides that, people are staring at you, you freak!" Chibi yelled back.
"Oi, I'm not the one with wrenches hanging from holsters on her hips, you tool!"
"Okay, okay, shut up. Which way do we go?"
"Uh... this way, towards the harbour."
It didn't take much time to get to the hotel we were staying at for the duration of the convention. Star City was a large and fancy hotel for just a couple of young teenagers, but Dad didn't like it anywhere else.
The apartment was spacious, four stories up, and both my sister and I had a room and double bed each. Which was good, as Chibi snored and I liked a peaceful sleep.
"Hurry up, Yoda... I wanna go to the convention..."
"Hold your horses! It takes what, ten minutes to walk there. Settle down. Fill up your water bottle and check your wallet."
"But I have already..." Chibi was reverting back to her normal not-so-adult fourteen year old self again.
"Fine, go to the loo and wait by the door. I'll only be a few minutes."
"What the hell are you doing, anyway?"
"Brushing my hair."
"Yeah right. You freak."
"Shut up, Chibi."
"You shut up, Yoda."
I opened my bedroom door, all contents of my backpack stowed safely in the briefcase I was now carrying.
"Alright, let's go."
The anime convention was packed, fans, dealers and cosplayers milling around. Prices were shouted, merchandise introduced and bought.
Chibi and I stood frozen on the spot. We turned to look at each other and burst out laughing, grinning our heads off.
Now this was heaven!
"Hey look, there's a guy dressed up like L from Deathnote!" I squealed.
"Can you see any Eds?" Chibi asked, standing on tiptoes and looking around frantically as if her life depended on it.
"No! But look, there's an InuYasha over there! This is so cool!!"
"I know! Okay, nuts to looking at costumes. I wanna buy an Ed plushie!"
"Yeah, yeah, just a second... Hey look, is that a Shinji?" There was so much to see, and only so fast my eyeballs could rotate in their sockets
"How the heck would I know? I wanna see FMA stuff. Ooh, look, over there! C'mon Anna!" Chibi dragged me through the crowd, forgetting, for once, to use my nickname.
Reaching a stall Chibi stopped, released my arm and let me drop to the ground with a thud.
"Ow..." I sat up, and realised a lot of people were staring at me. If I could have sweat dropped, I would have then.
"Heh... Winry gets over excited," I said, jabbing a thumb at Chibi.
My younger sister took no notice and instead started digging through her backpack for her wallet, blue eyes shining.
"Oh my god, you look so CUTE!" Some random girl dressed up as Envy (which unnerved me quite a bit) squeed an glomped me.
"Ah..." I patted the girl on the back and grinned uneasily. She then held me at arms length, scrutinising my face thoroughly. I was by then completely freaked out.
"Do you know how to draw transmutation circles?" she asked me and grinned broadly when I nodded unsurely. "We need you, then."
She stood and tapped Chibi on the back,
"I'm borrowing your younger brother for five minutes. We'll be over there." The Envy-girl pointed to a muddle of Fullmetal Alchemist cosplayers milling around a large -was that a human transmutation?- circle on the ground.
Chibi nodded absently and continued haggling for a large stuffed Ed doll. I blinked when Envy's words sank in.
"Hey, I'm not her-" the girl hauled me to my feet and set off towards the rest of the cosplayers.
"I'm not her younger brother, Envy, I'm her older sister!" The Envy-girl turned around and looked at me again, the sparkle in her eyes indicating she was amused.
"Honest mistake, sorry. What's your name?"
"Anna."
"Nice to meet you, Anna. Tell me, do you have any skill whatsoever in drawing human transmutation circles?" So I was right before.
"Yeah, I do," I replied. Envy looked a little shocked. I tapped the side of my head.
"Photographic memory," I said by way of explanation.
"An interesting talent," she told me as we came to the edge of the ten-feet in diameter circle. It was chalked out and complete but for at least two-thirds of the runes.
A boy dressed as Ed, wearing almost exactly the same clothes as me sauntered up to us and half-laughed. "There you are, Al!" His voice dropped in volume abruptly and he confessed, "We can't remember much more of the runes. Or where they go."
I smiled. "Happy to help." I shoved a gloved hand into one of my pockets and produced a lump of white chalk. Stepping past the line of onlookers, I shut my eyes and imagined the complete circle in my mind. Opening my eyes, I dropped to my knees, careful not to smudge any of the other lines, and began to draw.
In the time it took for me to complete the transmutation circle, stand back, dust of my hands and pants and admire, Chibi had bought the Ed plushie, a set of automail, a pocket watch for both her and me and an ice cream, and had wandered over to the circle of gawkers.
"You know, it's quite sad you can remember all that, Ann- Al," she informed me, shaking her head.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Win. What's with all that stuff?"
"I was hungry... and I just had to get this new set of automail! Look at it, it looks so-"
"Loser machine junkie," the Ed-guy piped up.
"Alchemy freak!" Chibi retorted automatically, then blushed as several people laughed.
"Stand back," I ordered, trying not to laugh as well. I was left standing at the edge of the huge transmutation circle with Winry-Chibi just behind me and the Envy-girl just to my left. Making a big show of it all, I clapped my hands together and touched them to the circle.
And nearly died of a heart attack when blue light shone brightly from the runes and chalked-lines.
"What the hell?" I yelped, bewildered and tried to stumble backwards.
"Yes!" The Envy-girl crowed, triumphant, her voice changing slightly to sound a bit more... Envy-like?
Screams of shock were muffled behind me, and I could feel Chibi had a vice like grip on the back of my jacket. The transmutation circle glowed to a brilliant blood-red crimson before everything vanished. Just like that.
A huge door appeared in the abyss.
"Oh God..." I whispered.
It swung open with a creak. I was met with the hungry violet eyes of thousands.
There was another shine of bright white light. A scream.
Then everything went black.