Author's Note: The Bold and Italic conversation later on is all in Reagan's head. Finally we are getting into the world! Disclaimer for whole book: I don't own anyone except for Reagan and her family!

It had been weeks after the news, but everything still felt frozen. School crawled by, classes even more so, friends and parties became unbearable, even eating was pointless. The only reason she even did her homework now was just to make sure she Grace's ghost wouldn't beat the crap out of her. Though she had considered skipping it once or twice to see if Grace would come back to haunt her, but the thought of disappointing Grace was too heavy on her mind. Everywhere Reagan went, anything reminded her of Grace, it was pathetic, in her opinion, but she couldn't help it. There was no respawn for Grace, no start over, nothing. This wasn't a videogame or an anime no matter how much she wished it was. Grace was gone for good.

"No….no no no no." Reagan held her head in between her hands pulling on her golden locks, she could still barely wrap her head around it. One stupid drunk man in a pickup truck, that's all it took, to take away her other half. Reagan could barely remember the funeral, she was too lost in rage and grief. She changed for a few days, she remembered that. She was dangerous, reckless; everything Grace warned her not to be since they were little.

"Because we aren't meant to fly with wings, but with our minds."

Reagan slammed her left fist into the ground and fiddled with the ring on her finger. It was Grace's ring, her favorite, and now it was Reagan's, the class ring felt weird, foreign. It didn't belong on Reagan's fingers, but it was better than letting it sit in a box. Or in the cold, distant, coffin…. She could imagine Grace telling her to "pick herself up and keep going" or to "pick up where I left off". Grace never let things bother her long, her eyes were always focused on the future.

"I would do anything to hear your voice again, Grace. I wouldn't even mind if you called me short…" Reagan laughed emptily and glanced around her room. She meant it, she would do anything.

'Even the taboo.'

Reagan sighed and pulled her body off the floor to stretch. Leave it to her brain to always go back to anime. Maybe that was her way of coping, stupid but useful. She laughed at the memory of Grace telling her that they would cosplay together. That day would never come, but at least the thought would still be happy. Grace was always a gamer; she watched some anime, but nowhere near as much as Reagan.

'Wouldn't that be stupid to even try the transmutation? Alchemy doesn't exist.'

'It falls under the category of anything doesn't it? Besides it would take your mind off everything, get you some fresh air, and if it doesn't work you can say then you tried anything.'

"Great now I'm talking to myself."

Reagan sighed and grabbed her bag shoving things into it before flinging it onto her bed and grabbing the red jacket from her chair. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was soft, warm, leather, and Grace's. It still smelled like her perfume too. Reagan quickly fixed her braid then grabbed her bag and headed out the backdoor. She made up some excuse along the lines of "I'm going for a walk to clear my head" so her parents wouldn't question her, but lately they were basically zombies.

One awkward stop at the store to grab final ingredients and a long walk through the woods later, she came upon the old tree house the neighbor kids used to use. The store wasn't too bad once she said it was for a science experiment, she just had to convince the old man running the register that they could not be used in any way, shape or form to make drugs. And on the bright side, the tree house was rarely used since all the kids grew up and most hated coming outside now. So Reagan had it all to herself.

"I'm stupid for trying this. Stupid for considering it. Stupid for having a shred of hope at its success. But it does fall under the category of anything. I'm doing this for Grace, no matter how stupid."

Reagan carefully laid out all the materials, counting them off as she went.

"Water- 35 liters, carbon- 20 kilograms, ammonia- 4 liters, lime- 1.5 kilograms, phosphorus- 800 grams, salt- 250 grams, saltpeter- 100 grams, sulfur- 80 grams, fluorine- 7.5 grams, iron- 5 grams, silicon- 3 grams, and 15 other trace elements I could get my hands on."

She carefully put the mixture aside and started drawing the circle.

"Maybe all my class doodles do pay off, that looks damn good."

She sat back for a second and put a hand to her chest.

"Why am I nervous? It's not going to work, it won't even do a thing. Alchemy doesn't exist no matter how much I wish it did."

She quickly finished any details and carefully placed the mixture in the middle.

"Oh! Blood, need that in there!"

She glanced around for something sharp and settled on her nails. She bit her lip in hesitation, then cut her finger letting a few drops into the mixture.

"That should be everything. So now is just the transmutation right?"

She carefully placed her hands on the outside of the array.

...

...

...

...

"Nothing… just as I thought."

She went to move her hands, but nothing happened. She couldn't move them at all, she tugged and tugged, but nothing.

"What the hell?!"

She glanced up to a faint blue light creeping around the circle, then slowly it grew and grew, engulfing the circle, causing her to squint.

"No way…"

Soon the blue light took over and became blood red.

"Wait... I know this, that's not good! That's not good!"

She frantically tugged at her hands, but they refused to move, she couldn't even move her eyes from the center of the circle. No matter how many times she blinked the light was still there.

'I have to be dreaming this! It can't be real!'

Her heart froze as a giant eye opened up filling the circle. Small black hands flew out and latched onto her.

'No! Alchemy isn't supposed to be real! This can't be real! Wake up, damn it, WAKE UP!'

As the small black hands pulled her legs apart, she cried out not caring who heard her. Pain wasn't supposed to be this real in dreams, the mind had to have a mental limit right?! The hot white pain was almost too much for her to bear, it drowned out any sound of her screams. The hands pulled everything apart, the pain only growing with each piece removed.

'This can't be real. This isn't real! I'm going to wake up drunk somewhere or in my bed! THIS ISN'T REAL!'

The slamming of a gigantic door behind her said otherwise.