(A/N: Hey! Yep, another new fanfic. Another plot bunny that has been in my head for over a year. This is an Alphonse/OC story. My first one. Wanted to try something new. Besides, we don't see a lot of those. Probably because Al is just a six foot suit of armor, so people tend to avoid it because it's hard to write kiss scenes with a suit of armor. There are other ways to write romance without kissing, you know? Well, enjoy! I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.)
The Thief
"Stop! Come back here!"
"Stop, thief! Stop!"
A young girl was hastily running through the streets of Central. She sometimes thought to herself why was she running? What was the reason for it? It just seemed like something natural for someone to do in this type of situation.
Isn't it base human instincts when someone is chasing you and are after your life? At least that's what she had seen and read in books. She studied for quite some time that people tend to run away when their life is in danger. She was simply putting her research to the test.
Although, her life did not feel like it was in any danger, despite the hordes of policemen rushing after her like rabid dogs. This was beginning to feel like another failed experiment. In hopes of feeling...anything, she got in trouble with the law. She wanted to feel the thrill of the excitement or the fear of getting caught, but she felt...nothing. Her mind was completely empty and no thoughts raced frantically through her head as most would often suggest would. She merely running because...it was the natural thing to do.
The blue duffel bag she carried with her was feel of rare jewelry that she stole from a local jewelry store. The sound of the bag rattled behind her as she kept sprinting.
The young red haired girl turned the corner. However, there was a quick flash and a wall sprang up before her.
"I think that's as far as you go."
Vibrant green eyes glanced backwards to see a boy with braided blond hair and a six foot suit of armor blocking her escape. The boy's posture was slouched with hands stuffed in his pockets, a small smirk carved over his lips.
She had read many such positions and facial features in books. Ah, she would believe that this what one would call feeling smug.
"Nowhere to run and nowhere to hide."
The boy took an arrogant step forward, slowing closing the distance between them.
The red haired girl quickly laid out her options. She had witnessed several times that this is the part where people try to escape from a dire situation. Luckily, she came prepared.
She pulled out bottle from her bag. The blond boy's body tensed, getting into a fighting stance. She tossed the bottle onto the ground and it exploded, feeling the area with a heavy vapor of smoke.
As the blond boy was coughing up a storm, the redhead used this chance to escape, swifting past him and down the street.
"Damn that little sneak. C'mon Al," the blond alchemist called out to the large suit of armor as they followed the direction the girl ran off in.
Strange, it didn't take them that long to find her. She crouched near corridor, feeding a...puppy? What was she doing? Shouldn't she have been miles away by now? The time it took for them to recover was more than enough time to be miles away by now. And yet she stopped to feed a puppy?
The metallic sound of metal hitting the ground seemed to caught her attention. Her expressionless gaze turned towards them.
"That's as far as you go," the blond boy spoke. His eyebrows seemed to knitted together facing downward as his golden orbs narrowed at her. His voice also seemed to carry a low, harsh tone. Was this what one would call anger?
She innocently observed the two. The boy was half the size of the armor, and the redhead tactlessly pointed it out. "He's taller than you," she said, matter of factly.
That sentence that was carelessly uttered from her mouth instantly garnered a response from the blond boy. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT HE COULD HIDE IN GRAINS OF SAND?!"
The metal armor seemed to be holding him as his wildly kicked about, his face was contorted into an aggressive snarl. Ah, she had heard of this phenomenon before. It was what people call rage. It was a more intense version of anger. It was the first time she saw it up close. She better make note of it for future reference.
Both duo watched in confusion as pulled a leather purple notebook out of her pocket and began to write something.
"What are you doing?" the suit of armor was the first one to ask, stating his confusion.
"I'm making note of the boy's rage," the girl replied, simply as if it was most logical response in the world. "It's the first time I have seen it up close. And I like to keep track of all the various types of human emotions and interactions. Tell me…" Green eyes glanced towards puzzled golden orbs. "...Could you describe to me what you are feeling right now?"
"Huh?" was the blond boy's indecisive response. What was with this girl?
"How does your body feel?" she elaborated, as if they didn't understand her. "Is it tense? Does it ache? Please describe to me the sensation that your body goes through when you feel this rage."
"Listen here, you weirdo," the blond boy hissed, releasing himself from the armor's grasp. "We don't have time for your nonsense." He smirked at her, evilly. "So are you going to come quietly, or are we going to drag you by force?"
The girl seemed eerily silent for a minute. The puppy that she was feeding heard the dangerous threat in the blond boy's voice. It hopped in front of her, and angrily barked at the duo. The puppy had brown fur with white patches under its belly, ears, and tail.
"This little one always seem to bark at people who wish to do harm to me," she said. "I couldn't never understand why, so I began studying it. I eventually came to the conclusion of what people would call being protective. I have heard before that dogs are often protective of their masters. However, I could not understand the reason why. What emotions would lead to this puppy to be protective of me?" she questioned, genuinely confused. "This was a piece of a puzzle I could never solve after many observations and research."
She waited patiently for the duo's response as they looked at her various expressions of bewilderment. This was officially the weirdest girl that have ever met.
"Um, what's your name?" the armor asked, trying to start a small conversation to break the awkward tension.
The red haired girl tilted her head in confusion, wondering what her name had to do with her question. "Diana," she simply answered.
The armor nodded his head as if he was making good progress. "My name's Alphonse Elric and this is my older brother, Edward Elric. You might have heard of him as the Fullmetal Alchemist."
The girl slowly nodded her, seeming to take the information into memory.
"Could you tell us why you were stealing?" Al asked.
The redhead tilted her head. "I was doing an experiment."
"Experiment?" Ed raised a confused brow.
She nodded her head. "I was trying to see if I would feel some sort of emotional response from stealing. I have heard others that do it feel a sense of thrill or desperation. However, it was unsuccessful as I have tried and failed to comprehend such things. I have tried there sorts of experiments before, but they all ended up in failure."
She tossed the bag towards them. "I would return this to you, if that's okay."
The Elric brothers seemed even more bothered by the redhead's passionless nature. It was almost like she was completely empty shell of a human without any thoughts or feelings.
"You do realize that stealing is bad?" Alphonse questioned, talking to her like she's a little kid. She probably was in a vague sense, only being a year younger than him.
"Bad? When it comes to moral ethics I suppose," she replied with an inexpressive face.
"You are supposed to feel bad, awful when you do such things," the suit of armor added, worried for the girl's mental state, or lack of.
Green eyes simply stared at them blankly. A sudden chill of a breeze flew past them. Finally she answered, but the response wasn't something neither boys were expected.
"If I was capable of feeling such emotions as happiness, sadness, or anger, I wouldn't have gone to such lengths require them."
(A/N: Now, that's the end of the first chapter! What do you think? Since this is an Alphonse/OC story, I tried to make it a little...unique. Alphonse is a character who often curses his lack of feeling. What would happen if he meets a girl that literally can't feel anything? Has no emotions? And thus this fanfic was born. Al is a literal empty suit of armor while Diana is empty in a figurative sense.
Leave any thoughts, comments, questions, and suggestions in a review, and thanks for reading!)