Author's Ramblings: Hey! I know it's taking me forever to get these chapters out, but I have a few other stories running right now. I'll keep plugging away!


The Side Door

Chapter Two


Adri let Isabelle in through her own side door, and took her aside.

"Listen," The sixteen year old whispered to her friend, "You're gonna think this is insane but we may have an actual anime character….here! Look!" She glanced over her shoulder at Alphonse, who had taken quite well to Adri's black and white cat, and was stroking him gently.

Isabelle looked past Adri with a questioning expression. "He looks just like Al from FMA!" She exclaimed in a whisper when she saw him."

"Sounds like him too. The voice is a bit deeper, but still Al's. We just need to see his reaction to the anime." Replied Adri. She went to Al and dragged him to the television. "Come on, lets prove that you're not a psycho cosplayer," She said to him.

Al sat on the far end of the couch. Adri hoped they weren't scaring him, this was all very new if he was proven to be actually from the anime. She noticed Izzy was unable to peel her eyes from Al until she set the DVD in the player and started the renowned series. After much hassling with the sizable remote control, the first episode of Fullmetal Alchemist began.

Alphonse immediately brightened at the sight of his world. "That looks like it does at home!" He exclaimed. "The scenery looks like it really does. Al turned back to the television. "Hey! That's my armor!" He noticed as the first scene came on. He paused at the sight of the younger versions of himself and his brother, and cringed at their screams. "How…?" He asked, his expressive eyes filling with tears.

"It's called Anime, and somehow you got into this world," Adri explained. "Your life, your appearance, your entire being was created by someone in this world."

"Hiromu Arakawa, to be exact!" Izzy chirped, smiling. Adri glared at her, but a confused Alphonse interrupted them.

"It doesn't make sense…" He whispered. Staring at the floor. "My choices have always been my own! I don't feel controlled at all."

Adri nodded, and moved a bit closer to him. "You can stay here, or at Izzy's. Our parents went on vacation for a while, so it's just us." She tried to sound understanding rather that excited so to not further upset him. This would have to be their secret. No one would believe that there was an anime character here.

Al merely stared into the galaxies of his mind, thinking of his brother, and getting back home. After a few minutes of this, Adri and Isabelle began to stare at him, confused. He snapped back to reality, blushing when he noticed this. "Yea…that sounds good…thanks…" he trailed off, leaning his elbows on his knees.

"Alphonse?" Adri asked, stirring him from his day dreaming again. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen," came his distant sounding reply. Exactly, Adri thought. It's been two years since the movie, so he would be fifteen. And that means…She realized this with faint shock. Edward's twenty! She felt slightly faint from the fact that the beloved aniume character was now an adult; it didn't seem possible.

This time, Izzy roused Adri from her daydream. "He can borrow some of my brother's clothes." She suggested, noticing Al's apparel. "Yours look ridiculous on him." She added, causing Al to blush even more.

-x-x-x-

Over the past few days, Alphonse stayed with Adri, and the awkwardness between them decreased. They often visited the quaint town that resided next to the lake, going out to lunch at the various cafes. Izzy joined them on most of these excursions, and the two girls were almost enough fun to allow Alphonse to temporarily forget where he was, away from home and his brother. Until one day when there was another splash in the lake. The three friends did not hear it, but when Al turned to look at the lake, he saw something very unexpected.

"Brother?!"