A/N: Welp, I'm back a week early. The reason? Well, when I started this little fanfic, I was basing it on a dream. Unfortunately, that dream ended in a god-Sue.
Mati: We really hate Sues, and it would just kill us if we wrote it that way.
Me: Yup. Anyways, now we actually have a better solution, but it involves changing some of the earlier chapters-
Mati: You should reread them, by the way.
Me: -so we figured, why not since we were already at it? So, here ya go!
Mati: By the way, the names? Just the names of my friends scrambled. Or at least most of them are.
Disclaimers: We'll tell you when we do own Fullmetal Alchemist.
Over a while, I became good friends with Rika. All of my instincts were screaming out Stranger Danger! but I ignored them. She was a lot different than the other Drachmians I met. Even though I was an Amestrian, she didn't treat me any differently. It made me wonder a bit about what it was like to live in a story that didn't care about you.
"Hey, what's your life like?" I asked Rika. We were sitting on top of a building, looking at the stars.
"Well, I have five siblings. There's Rachael, Ancilit, and the twins, Lussler and Hoan. Rachael is the oldest. She's 16 and loves to sing. Ancilit, the crafter of our family, is 11 and the twins are 9, though they sure don't act like it. Our mother died giving birth to the twins and Father remarried. I like Zöe, but I still miss Mama. We're pretty well off right now. Father works as a doctor, but he hates Amestrians with a passion."
"Do you have a boyfriend or something?"
She flushed. "Yeah, actually. He's my best friend's twin brother."
I smirked at her and she shoved me. "Oh, shut up." She stole a look at me. "Well, what about you? What's your life like?"
I sighed and leaned back. "Yes."
She blinked. "Oh, yeah. I mean, tell me about your life."
I looked at her. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Try me."
I groaned. "Okay, but I'm going to sound like a lunatic."
She shrugged. "If it does, then oh, well."
"Well, I grew up in a different universe." At her odd look, I elaborated. "Not like that! I'm not an alien! No, what I mean to say is that I'm from a place that doesn't exist here. Not only that, but-" I swallowed. Choosing my next words carefully, I told her, "But in my world, this place doesn't exist. There is no Drachma or Amestris or Ishbal." Not that there is really an Ishbal anymore, I mentally added.
Rika was white. "You're joking."
I shook my head. "I wish I was." I noticed her slightly shake and asked gently, "Do you want me to go on?"
"Give me a second." I waited as she took a few shaky breaths, then sighed. "Sorry. It's just-it's a little too much for me to take in. I don't exist?"
I raised an eyebrow. "Of course you exist! Why wouldn't you?"
"You just said-"
"I said that in my world, this place doesn't exist. Obviously here, this place exists. It's just like how my world doesn't exist here, but somewhere else it does."
She silently digested the new piece of information, then nodded. "I'll accept that. Continue."
I smirked. "Anyways, I was actually pretty spoiled as a kid. Anything I wanted, I got. But yet…" I didn't want to finish, but Rika nudged me. "But yet…?" She prompted.
"Yes." She scowled and pushed me as I laughed.
"What was I saying again? Oh, yeah...but yet, I didn't feel much love. It seemed that my parents' hugs and presents were...slightly forced." I sighed. "Then one night, I heard my parents arguing." I thought back to that horrible night.
'I wasn't the one who wanted a child!' my mother screamed at my father.
'Well, the only reason why we still have her is because somebody's father forced us to keep her!' my father yelled back.
'At least my father is paying us to keep her!'
'And how much of that is spent on that brat?!'
'Well, we have to use at least a bit on her or else Dad wouldn't be paying us!'
'We don't have to use that much on her, though! She's a child!'
I barked out a brittle laugh. "At that point, I turned and left."
Rika looked at me in horror. "Oh, Angie." She whispered.
I gave her a sad smile. "It's okay. It's not that bad." I took a deep breath. "Anyways, my parents never knew about what I had heard. I never looked at them the same way again, though. In school, I started to distance myself until I was the loner. I got less greedy, too. Instead of asking for toys all of the time, I began simply asking for money, so I could save up for when I turned 18 and left. Every now and then, though, I would ask for a thing that I really wanted. My parents looked disgruntled at my requests, but also seemed slightly relieved. After all, they didn't need to spend as much on me now."
"Then I found Fullmetal Alchemist."
"It was just something I found at the library. Just a small comic book-a book with pictures-that was written backwards. One day, I got bored, so I decided, why not?"
I laughed. "That small little book changed my life. It was a far cry from my life, full of adventure and humor and this wonderful magic the characters called alchemy." I noticed Rika start in surprise. "Yup. That book is this world."
"You mean that in your world, this place only exists in a picture book?"
"Manga," I corrected, "But yeah. Honestly, I prefer this world more than mine, though."
"So, how did you come here? I mean, tell me how you came here." She quickly said.
"No idea. One night I was reading, wished that I could come here, and blam! I land in Amestris."
She smiled at me suddenly. "I'm glad you did, though. It's hard to believe that you're from another world, but I'm happy that I met you and became your friend."
I felt myself tear up. "T-thanks. I've never-"
Then we ran into trouble.
