Ed woke up in a small, cluttered room, with the early light of day streaming in through the window. There was a small staircase down on the other side of the room. He rolled out of the bed and looked around. "Al?" he said, looking for his brother.
That's right. I got pulled through the portal, he thought. I'd better figure out where it took me.
He made his way down the stairs where there was a small kitchen and dining room. A woman with long green hair, wearing an orange dress and white apron, was cleaning. Without even looking at Ed, she said "You're up early, Crono. Excited for the fair?"
"Huh?" Ed responded.
"What do you mean, 'huh?' You've been waiting for this fair for—" she stopped as she saw Ed. "Oh, I'm sorry, I assumed you were Crono. Are you a friend of his?"
"I don't think so..."
The woman suddenly seemed suspicious of Ed. "Then what were you doing in his room?"
"Look, I'm not sure myself, okay? I just woke up there," Ed said. "I'm sorry about that, I'm leaving now." He backed away and out the door, and heard the woman mutter something like "maybe I should start locking the door at night."
That didn't sit well with Ed, mostly because it made him seem like some drunk who had wandered into the house in the night, but he wasn't going to waste time trying to explain something like the Portal of Truth to a woman he didn't know.
Coming outside, he was in a bustling seaside town, and the house he'd just left was near the docks, so he had a good view of the ocean. Amestris was landlocked, so he'd never seen it before. He didn't know how long he looked at it, but he was snapped out of his daze by a voice he thought he recognized.
"Fullmetal! Fullmetal, is that you?"
Ed turned around to see Colonel Mustang running towards him. He had short, black hair that came straight down around his head, and he was wearing his uniform and black coat, as well as the white gloves that he used for his flame alchemy.
Ed waved to him as he approached. "Colonel! Any idea what's going on?" Ed himself had long blonde hair that he kept in a braid, yellow eyes, and wore a red coat and black shirt and pants. He also wore gloves, but for him it was to cover his artificial, automail right arm. His left leg was also made of automail. Though he hated to admit it, he was also very short.
"None at all," the colonel replied. "To be honest, I'm just happy to see a familiar face. Apparently, I just appeared in the place of some teenage girl, and I had quite the awkward conversation with her father. What about you?"
"Something similar, yeah. Did you see the portal of truth before you came here, colonel?"
"The what?"
"It's sort of hard to explain. It's like a white abyss with a huge stone door."
"Actually, now that you mention it, I do remember that. I think I got pushed out of the door while someone else was pulled in. Maybe it was that girl."
"Hm..." Ed said. "Well, I'm glad I wasn't imagining things, but... what do we do now?"
"We need to find out where this place is. Maybe someone has a map that can lead us back to Amestris."
"Hey, what about Alphonse?"
Mustang frowned. "It pains me to say it, but we don't even know if he's here at all. We can look for him later, but our first priority should be to get our bearings."
"I guess..." Ed said. Though he was worried about Al, he knew he could handle himself should the need arise. "The government would probably have a map like that."
"Right," Mustang replied. "Let's get going then.
Mei awoke in a large, soft bed. For a moment she thought that she was at home, and her hellish trek through the desert was all a bad dream, but it didn't take long for her to realize that this wasn't her bed, or her room. The door was huge, and wooden, the walls were stone, and there was a single window behind her. She got up and looked out of it, seeing that she was well over four storeys high. She also noticed that there was a pendant around her neck with a blue stone she had never seen before.
Mei was a young girl and the princess of the Chang clan in Xing. She wore a lavender and purple robe, and her black hair was arranged into two large buns on either side of her head, with long, thin braids coming down from each.
"Xiao-Mei?" she asked, looking around the room. She heard a whimper, then the tiny panda crawled out from under the bed and jumped into her arms. "Where are we?" she wondered out loud.
The only way out seemed to be the door, so she opened it into a hallway. There was a soldier on each side of the door, wearing a purple uniform with gray helmets and plates. "Good morning, prin—" one of them started.
"Hey! How did you get in the princess's room?" the other shouted.
"Dammit," said the first one. He went running down the hallway. "Alert the guard! Nadia's gone missing again!"
The second soldier sighed, then bent down to Mei's level. "Who are you? Friend of the princess's?"
"Huh?" Mei asked, confused and scared.
"Don't be nervous. If she let you in, that's alright. She's quite the rebel."
"W-what princess?" Mei asked.
"Princess Nadia, of course!" The soldier chuckled, but then stopped when he noticed the look of confusion on Mei's face. "Hey, don't tell me you don't know the name of our beloved princess."
Mei didn't respond.
The soldier's eyes narrowed. "Here, why don't you come with me." He held out a hand. Mei stepped back from him. "Look, I'm not gonna hurt you, okay? But we need to figure out who you are and why you're here, so please just—"
"Stay away from me!" Mei shouted, dashing past him and down the hall.
"Hey! Come back!" the soldier yelled, scrambling after her.
At the end of the hall was a circular staircase down a tower. Mei took them two at a time, still holding Xiao-Mei, and eventually came out into a spacious throne room. A man who seemed to be the king was speaking with a number of soldiers. One of them, the one from upstairs, pointed and said "that's her there, your majesty."
The king and the rest of the soldiers turned to her. Mei squealed and ran across the room toward the exit. The soldiers yelled, and tried to catch her, but she ducked beneath and between them. She scampered down a small staircase, around two more guards, and out a large gate into a courtyard surrounded by a wall. There was another gate directly ahead, but there were more soldiers guarding it. Mei didn't have a choice, though, as the others were close behind her. Desperately, she drove between them, and escaped into the forest beyond.
Ed and Mustang were on their way to Guardia Castle, having learned a bit about the area they were in from the locals—no one seemed to have heard of Amestris, oddly enough—when they saw what looked like a young girl stumble out of the forest. She was wearing a lavender and purple robe, and she had black hair in two buns with braids coming down from them. She also seemed to have a strange black and white cat with her.
"Hey, am I crazy, or does she look a bit different from everyone else we've seen around here?" Ed said.
"Yeah..." said Mustang. "Well, she seems to be coming our way."
Indeed, when the girl saw them, she waved and started running towards them. "Hey! You look different," she said. As she got nearer, Ed saw that what he originally thought was a cat was actually a small panda.
"So do you," Ed said.
"Your clothes..." the girl said. "Are you from Amestris?"
"Uh, yeah, we are," said Mustang. "You?"
"I'm from Xing. I was on my way across the desert when I suddenly just woke up here."
Ed and Mustang nodded
"Well," Mustang began, "we were just on our way to the castle to see if they had a map. No one in the town we woke up in seems to have heard of Amestris."
"You're welcome to come with if you like," said Ed.
"Oh, well, actually, I don't think that's such a good idea..." the girl said.
"Huh? Why not?" Ed asked.
"I think the castle guards are after me. Apparently, I woke up in the princess's room."
Ed and Mustang looked at each other.
"Fullmetal, we don't even know her," the colonel argued.
"Oh, come on colonel, she's having the same experience as us, and she's just a kid," said Ed. "I think it's a good idea to stick with anyone who actually has any idea where we came from."
Mustang smirked. "Just a kid, huh?"
"Oh, shut up, will you. Come on, let's help her out."
Mustang thought in silence for a moment, then said "fine."
"Alright!" said Ed. "Hey, girl, what's your name?"
"Mei Chang," said the girl, then she held up the little panda. "And this is Xiao-Mei."
"Nice to meet ya," Ed said. "This is colonel Roy Mustang, and I'm Edward Elric. We're both state alchemists."
"Edward... Elric... You're the Fullmetal Alchemist?!" Mei shouted.
"Uh, yeah. Why?"
Mei's face became a mask of shock, then anguish, and finally anger, before she leapt into the air and kicked a very shocked Ed over.
"The hell was that for?!" Ed yelled.
"How dare you!" Mei said, tears in her eyes. "Toying with a girl's feelings like that!"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Mei started to cry. "I can't believe it... The legendary Fullmetal Alchemist... is so short and unrefined."
"Hey! Don't call me short!" Ed exclaimed.
"Would you two cut it out?" said Mustang. "Come on, if we're going to get Mei someplace safe, we need to get moving."
"Uh, right..." said Ed. Mei was wiping her eyes. "What about the fair? That'd probably be a good place to blend in for the time being."
"Good thinking," Mustang said. "Let's go."
They began walking back toward Truce, the town Ed and Mustang had woken up in, and the two men inquired about Mei. "So, were you crossing the desert by yourself?" Ed asked.
"That's right," said Mei.
"Really? Why would you do something so dangerous?"
"Well, believe it or not, I'm technically a princess myself," Mei said. "Xing is made up of 50 clans, and each clan leader's daughter is sent to the emperor to have his children. My clan, the Chang Clan, is one of the weakest in the empire, and the emperor himself is growing quite old. I was going to Amestris to look for a method of immortality, as the emperor has become obsessed with finding it. Alchemy is different from the Alkahestry we use in Xing, and we've all heard rumors of the philosopher's stone. If I can bring one to the emperor, I might be able to raise my clan's standing."
"Huh. I've actually been looking for a philosopher's stone myself, "said Ed. "Supposedly, they amplify alchemy and allow you to bypass the Law of Equivalent Exchange."
"Do you know anything else about them?" Mei asked excitedly.
"Not a thing, sorry," Ed said. "Damn thing is about as elusive as they come."
"Oh..."
"So what's alkahestry? Never heard of it before."
"It's the variety of alchemy we use in Xing. It's mostly used in medicine."
"Huh. That's interesting. As far as I know, alchemy can't be used that way without a philosopher's stone."
"Yeah," said Mustang. "That could be useful."
"So then what's alchemy used for?" Mei asked.
"Mostly as a weapon," Ed answered.
"I see..." said Mei.
They continued in relative silence until they reached the fair. It was quite lively, with stalls, competitions, and all the usual amenities. An old man was standing near the entrance to the fairgrounds. He waved as the three of them came in. "Welcome to the Millenial Fair!" he said. "This year is 1000 A.D., the thousandth anniversary of our kingdom's founding!"
Ed waved back as they passed, then suddenly whipped back around. "Wait, what did you say?"
"Huh? About the fair?" the old man asked, confused.
"No, what year is it?" Ed demanded.
"1000 A.D.. Are you alright, young man?"
Ed backed away, then leaned in close to Mustang. "Hey, last I checked, it's 1914, isn't it?" he whispered.
"Yeah," Mustang responded. "Either we're a really long way from Amestris, or something really strange is going on."
"Personally I'd classify waking up in someone else's bed in a completely unfamiliar place under 'really strange', but yeah."
"Actually," Mei interjected, "this place feels strange somehow. Different from Xing."
"What's that mean?" Ed asked.
"It's like... there's some malicious presence deep beneath the ground."
"How can you tell that?" asked Mustang.
"You mean you don't feel it?" Mei asked. "The Dragon's Pulse feels tainted somehow."
"The Dragon's Pulse?" Mustang asked.
"It's the natural flow of energy in the world, from the tops of mountains, through rivers and streams, and into the land. It's the source of power for alkahestry," Mei explained. "Do you not use it for alchemy?"
"No," said Mustang. "Alchemists use tectonic energy from earthquakes and other underground movements."
"I guess that explains the differences between the two," Ed said. "But, back on subject, you said this place feels different? How so?"
"To be honest, the feeling is completely foreign to me," Mei said. "A particularly unsettling presence might permeate the area around it, but here, it's everywhere. It's so deep and constant that I can't imagine it doesn't envelop the whole world. But then, if that's the case, why have I never felt it before?"
"So you're saying we might be on another planet entirely?" Ed asked.
Mei nodded.
"Well, there goes our chances of getting back to Amestris on foot," said Ed. "Hey, did you see the Portal of Truth before you came here? It's like this white space with an enormous stone door. Both of us remember being pushed out while someone else was pushed in."
Mei thought for a moment. "Yes, I do. It looked like a teenage girl was going through. Maybe she was the princess?"
Ed nodded. "I think I'm starting to put together what's going on. For some reason, whoever we've swapped places with either left or got expelled from this world, but that caused us to be pulled in to fill the sort of void they left. Maybe it was alchemy, or maybe it was something else, but whatever it was, it seems that the Law of Equivalent Exchange still applied."
Mustang took a moment to consider that. "I won't say it's the only possibility, but it is a strong theory. What should we do now, then?"
Ed looked around. "Let's find somewhere private. Maybe I could open the portal again and undo whatever brought us here."
"Doesn't opening the portal involve human transmutation?"
"Yeah," said Ed, "but I can just take us apart and put us back together again and it should still count. The real problem is that opening it involves paying a toll, and I'm not really up for losing more limbs."
"What if we tried it with alkahestry?" Mei asked. "It might go differently that way."
Ed shrugged. "Worth a shot."
"Alright, let's go then," Mustang said.
They made their way through the fair, past a courtyard with a large bronze bell, and up to another, empty courtyard.
"This should do," said Ed. "Why don't you try a basic transmutation first, so we'll know if there's anything wrong with your alkahestry before we try something so risky.
"Good idea," Mei said. She picked up a small stone. "I'll just try breaking this in half." She placed it on the ground, then got out a piece of chalk and drew a circle around it, then a pentagram inside it. Finally, she procured five kunai daggers, and placed one at each point that the pentagram met the circle. Ed and Mustang observed with interest. She then placed both hands on the circle, and it began to glow a light blue.
The rock didn't break, however, and instead, a blue pendant around her neck that had been hidden under her clothes started glowing as well. It floated up above her chest, as her clothes began rippling as if in a phantom wind. Both she and the panda on her shoulder screamed, and started levitating above the ground. The pendant flashed, and what seemed like a hole in the air opened around her, a mass of swirling blue beyond it. The pendant fell off her neck, then the hole closed around her and she disappeared.
Ed and Mustang stood still, stunned. "Uh, colonel," Ed said, "any idea what that was?"
"You're the expert on mystical portals," Mustang replied.
"'Expert' is being a bit generous," Ed said. "It seemed like the pendant was reacting to the energy from her alkahestry. Only, it got left behind, so she won't have any way back."
"Please don't say what I think you're going to say," said Mustang.
"We've gotta go after her."
Mustang sighed. "Fullmetal, we don't have any idea where she went. For all we know, there could be no way back, and we only met her today. It's not worth the risk."
Ed picked up the pendant. "Well, then you can stay here, because I'm going," he said.