Whenever I look back to the reviews you guys have sent me, I'm like "Huehuehue, I have all these people wrapped around my little pinky finger!" Then I read the next chapter of a story like A Boy Named Ed that has at least 740 reviews... and suddenly I'm a little more humble. *apologizing blush*
But I'm so relieved you guys are excited for this! At the prospect of doing a sequel I'd been like "Aw great, how am I supposed to do this?!" but as I started to think of a few ideas I started feeling more pumped up for this story.
If you wanted to see what happens to Ed and Al... TOO BAD! That's gonna wait for next chapter. *evil grin* Why? Because now Lily (*coughmecough*) is officially a main character (I actually mention members of my family in here!) and leads for whatever happens on our side of the Gate.
If you didn't reread the last chapter of "Family History", I highly suggest you do so now, because this follows immediately after what Lily and Megan had been doing.
On with the story!
Lily's mom was surprised when the moment she drove up to the school after classes, her daughter hurriedly jumped in the car and told her to go to her friends' house first. She'd never dropped her off there before, but Lily had pointed out where it was, since they passed by it every day.
She complied to her daughter's wishes, since she could tell there was a reason. Anxiety was written all over the teen's face and body language. Even the way the girl kept pushing her glasses back up her nose showed her worry.
{Lily: 15 years old. Dark brown eyes and hair, which is wavy-curly down to her waist. Wears glasses. So obsessed with FMA it's probably unhealthy. Has a lot of contradicting aspects in her personality- perhaps the most surprising being that she didn't want the Elrics to attempt alchemy. People either don't know anything about her or think she's a funny, quirky friend.}
The car wasn't even parked at the house before Lily started to snap her seatbelt off. She nearly leaped out the vehicle the moment she could and ran to the front door, knocking on it harder than usual and bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited for an answer.
After a few seconds, they saw a girl with short brown hair circle quickly around the house from the backyard towards the front porch. She pushed Lily away from the door and stabbed something small into the lock.
"Uh, who are you?" Lily asked, thrown off guard (and a bit offended) by the girl who seemed to be breaking into the house.
"None of your beeswax," the girl replied, as if she just said it automatically to that question by now. She continued to pick the lock.
Lily heard the girl's voice and realized it sounded like the person who had called her earlier. "Are you Megan? I'm Lily!"
{Megan Alyssandra Elric: Younger sister of Ed and Al. 10 years old. Light brown eyes and hair cut in a long bob. Best known for being the only person in this story to have a British (instead of 'Murican) accent. Apparently is mean to her brothers, but recently showed concern for them when she believed they were in danger. Has a secret love of cupcakes and grasshoppers.}
Megan glanced back and saw that it really was her brothers' friend- she'd seen the pictures on the Internet. "Nice to meet you, but can I please have a bit of room? I'm still trying to open the door."
Lily blinked and nodded, moving away a bit to let the girl (who was trying to look cool and calm instead of worried) do her work. She supposed the 10-year-old didn't have a key, so therefore had to break in.
Clearly, she'd had experience in this, for the door opened just a few seconds later. Megan stuffed the lock-pick, which turned out to just be a bobby pin, back into her hair and strode inside. (In the back of her mind, Lily hoped she could be taught how to do that someday.)
"Follow me." Megan ran through the hallway, leading the older girl to the basement. They made it down in record time, and the light was turned on to reveal...
Chalk drawn on the cement floor, nothing (and no one) more.
"Wh-where'd they go?" Megan fumbled, clearly confused.
Lily felt a shot of fear and awe. She stepped to the chalk circle. She noticed part of the middle was hastily rubbed out, along with some more chalk a foot or so to the side of the drawing. She didn't recognize the symbols inscribed in the circle, but she didn't have to. She noticed a few kitchen knives stabbed into the floor (how'd they manage to do that?) on the edge of the circle, reminding her of May Chang.
She blinked, and inspected more the drawings, including the rubbed-out ones. It wasn't super obvious, but she thought she could see lines that resembled stars, and concluded they'd done alkahestry- or invented a fusion of alchemy and alkahestry.
"That's a little genius..." Lily couldn't help the small smile that came (not knowing she'd just complimented the author). They'd found a loophole! If they really were able to do this, then, while they couldn't do alchemy, it was possible for people here to use the purification arts!
She paused again, though, and played back part of her thought. If they really were able to do this...!
A whimper fell out her mouth and she studied the overall room more. She didn't know what she was looking for, but maybe she'd figure it out once she found it.
"Lily?..." She looked behind her to see Megan holding a paper a little shakily. She slowly stood and took the paper from the girl, then read what it said. It was a letter... written in Al's handwriting.
The younger girl scratched the side of her head and paced, trying to make sense of the situation. "This is impossible! I heard them down here! I saw all of the crazy light! They couldn't just disappear!" She gestured incredulously to the paper now in Lily's hands. "They wrote a goodbye letter, even! This is what they were planning?! There's no such thing as- what did they do, teleport?! That isn't real! What did they do, and where did they go?!"
Megan paused in her rambling to glare at the other brunette. "You know what they were doing."
Lily gaped, then returned the steely gaze. "And I told them not to!" she blurted angrily back. "Do you think I wanted them to leave?! Do you think I wanted... this?!" She shook the paper in her hand, accidentally crumpling it a little. "Do you..." She couldn't finish the sentence. She dropped to the ground, crossing her legs at the same time so she sat neatly. She supported her elbows on her knees and rubbed her face with her hand.
After a few minutes of silence, she sniffled and glanced up to Megan. She couldn't really determine how the other felt, for her expression was blank.
"Will they really come back?" the youngest Elric asked softly.
"...I know they want to, and I know that if they managed to go they could be able to return the same way, but..." Lily's breath hitched, and she realized a few tears were coming out. "They might not be able to..."
She locked eyes with Megan, even as her vision blurred in the tears. "They might not come back!"
A few hours later, Lily was called to come to the Elric house. The parents were home, and wanted an explanation. She came with a few manga books and the little physical evidence she had collected in her own room (but then found more when she searched the boys' rooms).
They met in the Elric living room. Lily's mom sat beside her daughter, despite not knowing what was going on. Her being there was a small comfort for the curly-headed girl, but also made her even more nervous at the same time.
She decided the first day they met was the starting point of all these events. She tried to recall as much as she could of what went down throughout the time she knew the brothers. She stuttered and backtracked several times, but seemed to get at least most of the information across to the family.
"So, after school, I asked my mom to drop me off here. Megan took me to the basement, and we found... they were gone." She dropped her gaze to her lap to show she finished talking. She took a shaky breath as she waited for a response.
"...Do you believe her?" Lily looked up to see that the Elric mother had directed the question to her own mom.
Though probably bewildered by everything said, the loyal and trusting woman defended her child. "My daughter is an honest girl. Anything she tells you is the truth."
"Or thinks is the truth." The Elrics' daughter propped herself against a couch armrest, directing a glare to the opposing family.
"What do you mean?" Her father looked to her, raising his eyebrow.
"Have you paid any attention? She is absolutely mad!" Megan tightened her fist. "She said so herself. She spends half her life fantasizing about this other world in a book. She's concocted this strange story and convinced herself it's real!" She gave Lily an expectant look. "Please, tell us where they really are."
"I'm serious! Do I not look serious?!" Lily glanced around at the different faces, noting the worried looks from the parents. "This was weird for me at first too, but the proof is there!"
She screamed in frustration in her head that they clearly didn't want to believe her. What, did she have to prove herself? Prove this wasn't all just a really long and complicated joke?
"...Those guys are my friends. My best friends, basically. And I..." Tears came out again. "...Don't want anything to happen to them..."
"Then tell us the truth already!" Megan shouted fiercely, surprising her parents. They'd never really seen much of their daughter besides the cute part of her.
"I did!" Lily whined back, burying her face in her hands.
"Liar!"
She wanted to retort with something like, "You just can't accept that sometimes fiction is real!" but didn't. She knew from past experiences with her kinda-hotheaded dad that it was better to not continue to argue like her sister often would.
"Say something!" The youngest continued to yell, making everyone flinch at her tone.
"I think we're done here," Lily's mom said quietly as she stood up, and she helped her daughter off the couch too.
Lily thought the moms might've had a minute of small chat as they prepared to leave the house, but she wasn't really paying attention. She was lost in her swirling thoughts... and her thankfulness to her mom for letting her escape Megan for the moment.
You feel bad enough when you make bad things happen to characters in your stories, but it's a whole nuther thing when it feels like you're torturing yourself. o.o
I think I accidentally alluded to KarmaHope up there. *ehehe...* You know, when I read her first work, I think that seriously like, up to halfway of the entire thing, I thought Kai's name was Kamryn, not Karmyn. .-. I kinda feel they both fit, though. *shrug*
Here's where things change. Whenever I (or maybe a reviewer) think of another direction this sequel could've gone, an alternate will be made. Thus, I will address my problems from the AN in "Family History"! :D They vary in length and genre, and are not always in every chapter (after all, there wasn't one in the first, right?). It's different from ABNE Infinite Possibilities, but I still give that credit for both being awesome and for getting this thing going. :3
This... is actually not my favorite alternate. It's not the best-written one. And definitely not the most positive one. ._.' Oh well. I feel I need to acknowledge that things could have really ended at the transmutation.
Happy Summer Break! K bai!
Alternative (Ending) A:
"YOU HAVE TO PAY THE TOLL!"
Then, the light quickly died down. And she could hear nothing.
Megan gasped when the light faded, and she didn't hear her brothers again. She tried one more time to kick the door down, but it was to no avail. She was too small to make a dent. With a frustrated grunt, she ran away from the backdoor to the front, which she already knew how to open (having had to do so once before). She didn't really realize that there was already someone standing in front of the door, being too focused on the task at hand.
"Uh, who are you?"
"None of your beeswax," she replied automatically to the somewhat-familiar voice. She stuck her tongue out a bit as she felt herself get close to opening the lock.
"Are you Megan? I'm Lily!"
She blinked and glanced behind her. Huh. She got here faster than I thought. "Nice to meet you, but can I please have a bit of room? I'm still trying to open the door."
Seconds later, she succeeded and let herself in, knowing that the other girl was behind her.
"Follow me." They ran around the house and down into the basement. She turned on the light, and...
"OH MY GO-"
Suddenly, everything was black.
Then, everything was white.
Then, everything was red.
The boys drifted in and out of consciousness for a few minutes. They were woozy from blood loss and a traumatic event they'd never remember. Ed was the first to feel like he needed to wake up...
He groaned as he blinked his eyes, wincing even though it was not very bright in the basement. He slowly tried to lift his head, and the sight he was met with was horrific.
Megan was already gone when he let out the most terrified scream of his life.
WHY IS THERE SO MUCH BLOOD?!
He noticed subtle movement next to him, and he gasped in fear. He shakily tried to move away, but stopped when he recognized brown hair. He sighed in relief that it was just Al, but then realized... He was covered in blood too...!
"Brother..." The younger groaned, having been woken up more by hearing the older's panicking. He drowsily blinked, and reached out. His arm seemed heavy from exhaustion, but it was also much lighter at the same time. He couldn't feel much on his limb besides wetness.
He started when he heard Ed scream again, now more directed towards him. "What's... wrong?..." he asked softly. It was incredibly difficult to think at the moment.
He furrowed his brows a bit; he was sure he'd reached his hand to his brother, so why couldn't he see said hand? Slowly, he lifted his arm higher, and it took his brain a moment to register... everything below his upper arm was gone.
His heart skipped a beat as he had a few seconds of clarity. IT'S ALL GONE?! He hurriedly brought out his other arm (dropping his back onto the ground with an 'oomph' at the same time), to see that it had his left elbow, but his lower arm and hand were missing!
Al made his own shriek as he stared at his missing limbs.
"...Rebound..." He gasped as he looked to his brother, who had whispered the dreaded word. His brother also had clothes soaked in red, but more collected at the lower part of his body. Both held their gaze at his knees. He had pants on, so his legs couldn't be seen... but there was an obvious spot where flesh ended and the fabric was empty.
Both legs from the knee down were gone.
"It didn't work..." Ed and Al stared into each other's eyes, tired and terrified.
Alphonse promptly fainted. Edward, after deciding he just couldn't stand the sight of so much blood, passed out soon after.
They didn't hear the footsteps of two girls go down the stairs, flick the light-switch, and scream at the gory sight.
Alt. A: Second transmutation failed. They met Truth, who took away Ed's legs and Al's arms for some messed-up reason, didn't let them through the Gate, and just plopped them back into their basement. They forgot the encounter because of the trauma. When Lily and Megan found them, they were then rushed to the hospital. After Lily explained everything to the whole Elric family, they decided to prepare to move out of town while the boys recovered. Ed later got prosthetics, though Al was still indecisive. Lily got to visit them every once in a while at their new house over the next years, but blamed herself for their misfortune for quite a while. Ryan lived, but ended up in a similar state to the ones who tried to save her. Ed and Al's parents returned Sensei's money to him without a word.