Title: A Fangirl's Dream
Summary: With an anime loving best friend, Ivy has heard plenty about whatever show of the week they're into. But when she manages to cross the gate during an attempt to take a shortcut home, she finds herself in a frightening position. The main character in an Another World fanfiction trope; and with reluctance, she finds herself teaming up with the main characters to get back home.
Pen Name: FanfictionIsMySideHustle

"Hey there it is!"

"Ah yes. That's the National Central Library." Maria announced as the car slowly came to a stop in front of a large building. "It houses more books than any other library in the nation. There are some that even say that it would take more than a hundred lifetimes to read all the books it contains."

Ivy whistled, impressed. "Wow. That's impressive." The library was huge, a white and gray building decorated with a large green tapestry with some sort of a creature on it. "And this is only just one part of it?"

"Have you never been inside the library before, Ms. Ivy?" Denny cocked his head curiously.

"Er when I was small, yeah." Ivy coughed. "I kinda took my interests to more…. geary-centric things so my time in the library kinda dried up."

"'Geary-centric'?"

"Yeah!" Edward waved a hand, looking as trying to look as nonchalant as possible. "Ivy was actually just in my hometown of Resembool doing an apprenticeship with an automail engineer that we know!"

Ivy stared thankfully at the boy. You seriously just saved my ass. "It was more of an accidental apprenticeship more than anything, but I've started getting the hang of it." She chuckled. "I never actually expected to get into engineering though, I was mostly just trying to see the sights."

"Resembool is an odd choice." Maria commented, curious herself. "Why not head to the automail hub of the country? We're not too far away from it."

Ivy just barely stopped her right foot from twisting holes into the floor of the car. "Like I said, it was an accidental apprenticeship. I didn't even know that there was an engineer in Resembool." Technically, that isn't a lie if you really wanted to go into the details. Ivy thought back to her arrival to Resembool and the confusion of every exchange she had. Akasha hadn't ever really told her the name of Edward and Alphonse's hometown, after all. "I would totally go to Rush Valley one day. But I'm pretty sure if I went without a certain tagalong, I'd find myself on the receiving end of a wrench-based murder."

That gained nervous chuckles from the brothers and concerned looks from Lieutenant.

"And you left your apprenticeship?" Maria pressed, arms crossing.

Jesus, why do you guys have to ask so many questions?! Ivy wanted to scream and jump out of the car, hoping some black hole would conjure out of nowhere and take her away from this entire moment. "Temporarily! I needed to come back home for a bit; talk to my mom. We kinda had a big fight and I took off without really telling her anything so I just wanted to try and make things up with her."

The Second Lieutenant nodded in understanding, "I see." She smiled pleasantly. "If you'd like a ride home we can certainly do that for you."

Ivy held up a hand, "No, no you don't gotta." She played back the sounds of snapping in her mind rapidly as she tried to think of an excuse, any excuse. "I'm kinda trying to think about what I wanna say and I dunno how she'll react to a military car being outside our place. She might think I was in trouble and got arrested."

The concerned look in Maria's eyes became piercing and doubtful that in Ivy's worry. Ultimately, Maria conceded. "Alright, but if you need any help at all getting home, please let us know."

"So the library?" Edward coughed, Ivy thankful the attention was diverted from her again. "We've been pretty anxious to get to it. Specifically, the First Branch."

Maria and Denny shared a look. "Right, the First Branch. There's been a bit of a complication."

"And what's the complication?" Edward crossed his arms, a finger tapping out on his arm.

There was another shared look before Maria nodded at last and opened her door, "Sir, you might want to see this with your own eyes."

Ivy found herself sharing her own look with Alphonse, a sudden feeling of dread in her stomach. Life, come on. Just throw me a bone here. She begged quietly, drowning out whatever was being said by their guides as they walked passed the library entrance. Even just a tiny bone, I'll seriously settle with that.

The dread only seemed to intuitively deepen from there as the rubble pieces of the ground came in sight followed by the ashen pieces of what Ivy could only guess was the-

"It's really unfortunate to announce this when you've been looking forward to it." Maria's started warily. "However, just yesterday the entire collection was incinerated. It hasn't been confirmed nor has the investigation been completed yet, but it appears to have been arson."

Son of a bitch! Ivy nearly burst into tears, biting her lip to hold back the trail of curses she wanted to let out freely. "Damn." She grounded out. "This really bites, I was hoping you guys would be able to get that book you wanted." Her words fell on deaf ears.

Edward's hands clenched into fists, "How did this happen?!" Alphonse, even with his immovable face, seemed to be looking on in horror alongside his brother.

"We still have yet to discover the motive behind the attack, Sir." Denny answered, pity in his green gaze.

"Just perfect!" Edward bark, kicking a stray stone. "Dr. Marcoh's research is all gone!"

The information needed on this Philosopher's Stone, gone.

My way back home.

Gone.

Ivy wanted to make her lip bleed.

"Now hold on." Maria remarked, Ivy reluctantly spared the woman a glance with a spark of irritation. "This doesn't necessarily mean that your book was lost to the fire. Maybe there's another copy located in the library that you were unaware of?"

"... We're not really sure if there's another copy that we were told about." Alphonse muttered weakly, shining gaze falling onto his brother. "Do you think Dr. Marcoh had another copy just in case something like this happened?"

The elder Elric didn't respond, shoulders hunched.

Maria took the liberty of responding instead, "At any rate, it doesn't hurt to check with the library staff." Her voice was calm and assured, the corner of her lips turned slightly. "They may be able to find exactly what you're looking for."

Denny nodded in agreement, "The book may have been moved during the time it was placed in the First Branch."

Ivy tapped a foot. Their optimism was better than the three of them moping in self-pity by the setback. "They have a point, guys." She sighed at last. "For all we know, this Marcoh guy's book could have been moved around. So we might as well give it a whirl." It better be there too. "Ain't nothing wrong with a little verification game."

"That's the spirit." Maria added.

Edward finally turned around, less enthusiastic than he had been in the morning."Alright, fine. We can ask the staff."

Brown met gold and red eyes. For a moment, Ivy thought they were telepathically telling one another, It'll be better than nothing.

Then with hurried steps, they headed to the main building.

Ivy found herself pleasantly surprised when the woman manning the front desk had brown skin. Maybe I'm not the only-... Ivy noted the woman's green eyes. Well, some niggas back home got light colored eyes. She reasoned. So I'm not the only non-white person in the series. She sighed lightly, relieved. Remind me to give the author some grateful nods when I finally get out of this place. "What are you looking chipper about?" Edward whispered, for once not seeming intimidating for the shortstack that he was. "Do you really think that there might be an extra copy of the research notes?"

"It ain't that." Ivy whispered back though that was definitely something to hope for. "This is just the first time I saw another black person here."

Edward's eyebrows knit in confusion, "But your skin isn't black, it's brown."

"My man, there ain't enough time in the day to talk about the names for different groups back in my hood."

"But I'm right, your skin is brown."

"Well, we also got African-Ame- ah, the library lady free. Hurry up before someone else gets her." Ivy elbowed him as the person ahead of left the library woman to her own devices.

Edward jogged over almost immediately. "Um excuse me, Miss!"

The woman raised a finger to her lips, eyes narrowed. "We're in a library, sir." She replied calmly.

"Er, sorry." Edward bowed his head slightly. "I was wondering if you had any books filed under the name 'Tim Marcoh', by any chance?"

"Tim Marcoh?" The woman repeated, opening some kind of registry book beside her. "Let's see…"

She flipped pass a handful of pages and skimmed through the 'M's several times. "What kind of book is it? A novel?"

"It's a research journal." Alphonse added helpfully. "Research about the Philosopher's Stone."

The woman nodded and looked over the pages once more. Ivy leaned against Alphonse's armored body for balance as she ground her toes impatiently.

….

"I don't see any research journals by a Tim Marcoh in our records." The woman said at last. "Certainly nothing about the 'Philosopher's Stone'. Any new acquisitions, whether kept in the main building or the other branches, should be on file. If it's not here, it either means that it doesn't exist or it was destroyed in the fire the other day."

Ivy wanted to screech like a banshee. Oh you have got to be kidding me!

This was just ridiculous!

Edward's dramatic collapse to his knees practically had the words 'doom' swirling around him.

"Er… sirs?"

"Thanks for your help." Alphonse mumbled.

"Are you alright?" The woman looked like she was torn between being amused and genuinely concerned.

"Do we look alright?" Edward snapped and Ivy was almost ready for her own quip when a bespeculated man leaned over, stacks of books in hand.

"Hey, maybe Sheska might know something?" When the woman didn't automatically respond, he added, "You know, the girl who used to work at the First Branch but got fired because-"

The woman's eyes brightened in realization and forgetting her own library rules, exclaimed. "Oh yeah!" She whipped out a scratch piece of paper and a pen before grabbing another registry book of some kind. "I could look up Sheska's address for you, if you'd like to meet her."

Edward's gloom-and-doom expression cleared up in exchange for one of curiosity. "Who's that?"

The woman smiled in exasperation and Ivy felt a wave of nostalgia. "You could say that she's a real bookworm."

After a couple bouts of knocking, the irritation set in.

"Maybe she ain't home right now?"

Denny knocked the lion door handle once more. "The lights are on so someone should be home."

Well the knocking certainly isn't making this girl appear any faster.

Ivy shoved her hands into her pockets. Should I have just kicked it in Resembool and start making my own automail instead? She contemplated, blue eyes and blonde hair flashing her mind. She shook her head. Definitely a good move to come to Central instead. One hundred percent the best move to make. No regrets here. No regrets at all.

The sound of a door creaking made Ivy jump lightly. "Hello?"

"Y'all really 'bout to just walk in this woman's house?!" Ivy whispered in shock. Alphonse looked sheepish while Edward only grinned, muttering something about the benefits of being military personnel. Dude, you are evil. Ivy quickly reminded herself to keep whatever secret goods she had stored and locked away. Edward screamed being the type to read someone's diary with no guilt or shame. As the door opened wider, Ivy sighed. "At least apolo- oh hell."

Edward beat her to the punch in surprised gasps. "What's with all the books?!"

Even the Sergeant's composer was shaken, "Someone actually lives here?!"

In front of them lied books. Books everywhere. Literal towers and mountains of books. This girl puts Belle to shame, OMG! Ivy reluctantly followed the others into the hellscape of books before them. Inside, it was even more cramped than Ivy was expecting as she could barely see over the shorter towers had some books were skewed sloppily over others. Some books wrapped in bindings that appeared to have never been opened. Other books were lined neatly in a fine row atop of even book towers. Is this how Miles felt when he looked at Doc Oct's computer desktop because geez!

"How can anyone live with this much clutter?" Alphonse looked around, the sea of books only expanding as the Lieutenant and Sergeant called out Sheska's name.

Ivy nodded in agreement. I never wanna hear Mom say my room is a pigsty ever again. Hell, I never wanna talk shit about Winry's work space again! Instead she said, "Maybe this is just the lady's organized chaos?"

Alphonse chuckled lightly. "Ma-"

...Ellp...

Somebody...

Alphonse looked to his right, Ivy's left. "Did you hear that?"

Ivy flinched as another soft, ghostly whine entered the atmosphere. "Yeah..."

Between the alchemy and sparkling non-vampires, I really don't need a ghost showing up here! Ivy calmly looked to where Alphonse's gaze was heading and nearly pissed her pants. A stray hand with glasses sloppily grasped in them stuck out from a toppled mountain of novels. "You don't think-"

"I'm stuck under here!"

A surge of terror entered Ivy's chest and she immediately knelt down to start shoving books out the way.

"Guys, over here!"

"Brother, there's someone buried under books!"

More panicked shouts filled the air as hands, flesh and steel alike tore book after book from the pile until there was finally the semblance of a breathing human body gratefully gasping for air. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The woman yelped scrambling quickly to free her legs from underneath what was left. "Thank you so much! I thought I was going to suffocate under there!"

Ivy felt like she ran two miles. "How did you even end up under there?!"

The woman, Sheska?, shakily placed her glasses where they belonged. "I tripped over some books and got stuck."

Organize your personal library, Lady! "S-so are you Sheska?" Denny asked breathlessly.

"Y-yes, that's me!" Sheska answered after a moment. "I really... like books as you can see here."

"And you worked for the First Branch of the Central Library?"

Despite the near death experience, Sheska's black eyes brightened considerably. "I did! I've loved reading all my life, so when I got a job there I was ecstatic! But..." Her smile disappeared. "I really love to read so... I always would forget that I was supposed to be working and would read books instead, so I got fired." There was a pause, but if anyone planned to say anything, Sheska didn't allow them as she buried her face into her hands. "I need to be able to work so I can put my mother in a better hospital but the only thing I've ever been good at is reading, so I can't ever find a job! I'm worthless, pond scum!"

Ivy leaned back in horror. Is this what life after college is like?!

"Is she really alright?" Edward grumbled.

Ivy nearly shrugged.

Edward shook his head before finally raising a hand, "Uh... I just wanted to ask you if you knew anything about some research documents by a 'Tim Marcoh'?"

Surprisingly, the wallowing stopped almost immediately, Sheska placing a finger on her lip in deep thought. "A Mr. Marcoh...?" She clasped her hands together with a smile. "Yes, I remember! His notes were the only handwritten documents among all the printed books and someone had filed them incorrectly, so I remember them quite well!"

Ivy leaned forward once again, gloom exiting her chest. "So it really was there?"

Edward looked like his mind was going a million miles per hour. "But if they were handwritten notes then..." His expression turned into one of despair. "That means it was burnt to ash like the rest of the library."

The gloom returned even stronger than before. We really are starting at square one. Ivy inhaled deeply. No one said this was gonna be easy. She grabbed her knee tightly. It's gonna be fine, it's gonna be fine. There had to be other leads on this stone outside of whatever this Marcoh guy had wrote. That had to be a fact. So there wasn't any use getting super frustrated that the one good, solid lead the Elrics had had literally turned into dust.

"Did you want to read them? Is that why you're asking?" Sheska awkwardly inquired.

"Yeah but we're not going to know what was written in it. That was actually the only copy." Edward sighed. Ivy felt a surge of sympathy. Her wanting to go home aside, it's got to be rough when the only key to getting your bodies back to normal keeps slipping away time and time again. Especially for Alphonse, her eyes drifted to the boy who was even younger than her. Stuck in something that only has one of the five senses. It's got to be rough.

She opened her mouth to try and say something comforting-

"I remember what was in them if that helps?"

"Excuse me?" Ivy's head whipped around quickly.

Sheska smiled, actually looking confident. "I have a photographic memory. So when I read something even once, I still remember everything the way it was written without error." Sweet Deus Ex Machinas. "I can transcribe everything if you'd like, but it might take a few d-"

Edward was already latching onto Sheska's hands gratefully. "Thank you, Bookworm!"

Ivy was already on her feet, practically skipping to the doorsteps. "Talk about convenient!"

"No kidding!" Alphonse sounded as if he were smiling, quite pleased with himself. "I've never heard of a photographic memory before! Have you, Ivy?"

Ivy nodded, "Yeah. I've never met anyone with it before, but there's this book series I remember as a kid where I think the main character was this child detective and she had a photographic memory. I never really read any of the books though."

"Books shmooks, we're getting Dr. Marcoh's research notes!" Edward beamed, catching up. "At this point, who cares if it takes a few days. I seriously thought that we'd have to start from scratch all over again." Who are you telling? Ivy ignored the fact she wouldn't even be the one reading the notes. She was going to be upset nonetheless. "We should probably go over all the other notes we have then in the meanwhile. Go through any other texts."

"I'm glad that the two of you were able to find the research journal, Sir." Maria sounded pleased with herself as she arrived, Denny following not too far behind. "I'm sure the payoff from the wait will be great."

Edward grinned widely. "I sure hope so." He let out his first satisfied sigh of the day. "Anyway, I guess we should book a hotel now. We're gonna be in Central for a while."

Ivy stretched on cue, "Yeah, I'm beat from having to sit on the train for so long." If she had to sit on any other surface that wasn't a soft mattress, she was going to scream her head off. "I'm getting my own room, right?" Her eyes gave Edward a pointed look. Nice or not, she wasn't sharing any kind of sleeping space with the brothers. Sometimes, you just wanna walk around in your bra and panties and you can't do that with two dudes around. At least, not these dudes.

"Meh, yeah whatever."

"Wait a minute, you're making it sound as if you're planning on rooming here tonight." Ivy winced at the peering eyes of the Lieutenant and her right leg almost instantly burst into smearing some imaginary item into the fine carpet. "You're not planning on contacting your mother at all?"

"Um… No?" Ivy looked over to Edward and Alphonse who promptly looked away. Assholes. You're no help at all! "Was planning on doing it in the morning? I can be nice and relaxed in the morning."

The scrutinizing look she was getting only felt hotter. "It's still bright and sunny out right now."

"Well the next morning?" Ivy offered. "It was kind of a tiring day following my friends on this important quest for an important document and I need a night to recover from all this…. Looking around?" But if you don't do something now, it could get even worse if you just keep coming up with excuses to do anything. The voice inside her mind added. FML. "Get it?"

Maria did not, in fact, get it. "I understand that you and your mother had your arguments before you left Central, but it would be irresponsible of me to allow you to not at least contact your mother the first day that you're here." Ivy could feel her soul leaving her body. "You can at least give her a phone call and see what she says. And if all things go well, we'll see to it that you make it back to your home safely, understood?" Maria's gaze was firm; there wasn't going to be any room for arguing out of this one. "I saw a phone booth not too far away from here on the drive. We can stop there first."

Ivy saved her glare for after the Sergeant and Lieutenant turned around.

"I hate you both." She mouthed as she stormed pass the brothers, the phone booth was within walking distance. "Alright, I'll give my mom a call. But I'm not expecting any miracles."

What do I do?! What do I do?! What do I do?!

Ivy could feel the blood rushing to her ears as the phone booth came closer and closer.

Say you forgot her number! The voice said.

You idiot, they'll just say 'Oh that's fine, we'll just drive you there instead!' Ivy countered back. I'm screwed either way!

By the time Ivy reached the phone booth, closing the door firmly, she was sweating bullets. Eyes were all on her, but she was thankful at least they were in front of her instead of standing behind her to see her every action in closer detail. What would Akasha do? She kept her finger just barely from pressing the numbers, pretending to press and rotate the dial for every number needed. Come on, Ivette Carter, think!

"Stage a fight, dude." Akasha's voice said.

Stage a fight, sis.

"Uh... hello? Can you connect me to Rose Carter here in Central City?"

Sure why not, with your lyin' ass? The imaginary phone operator cheerily replied.

Ivy paused before shooting Maria and Denny a thumbs up before pointing to the phone mouthing, 'She's on the line'. They smiled, Ivy forced a smile right back.

"Uh, hey Ma. It's me, Ivy. Yeah, just checking in."

Girl, where the hell have you been?! You had me worried sick! Ivy could already hear the near tears her mother would actually be in if she managed to get her now dead cell to work. Were you kidnapped?! You can tell me what happened, baby!

"No I wasn't kidnapped. Look, I know you've prolly been worried. Just wanted to say that I'm back in Central."

Do you know how long it's been?! I've had everyone looking for you! The police, your grandmother, your daddy! Akasha and her family! Where are you!? The hell is this Central?! You better mean the central of Vallant!

"I ain't tryin' to argue with you, right now, Ma! I get it, I'm failing you on all accounts of Daughterhood and- Can you let me finish explaining things to you?! I was in Resembool-"

Where are you?!

"I was in Resembool, woman! Damn! Listen to me! No you listen to me! You always do this! I try talking to you and you shut me down and just expect my ass to shut up and listen to you!" Ivy tapped her right foot. "What was going on with me and- Mom!" Ivy could vaguely see the expressions outside turning into ones of worry. "Why can't you just accept I'm different, Mom?!"

I just want my baby to come home!

"I'm different and I ain't gonna change because you just want me to be the perfect daughter with the right likes and dislikes!"

Please... Ivy felt her throat tighten.

"I'm just- Mom, Momma, MOTHER. OH MY- I CAN'T EVEN TALK TO YOU RIGHT NOW! You know what, fine! Kick me out then! I don't wanna go back to your damn house no way!"

Dramatically, Ivy slammed the phone back down onto the whatever the hell you call the holder managing to clip her index finger. "Fuck!" She shook her hand harshly, eyes watering from the pain. Completely from the physical pain. She mustered a fake sniffle and wiped at one of her eyes. "Yeah, called my ma." She glared heavily at the military personnel in front of her. "It didn't work out too well, she kicked me out. Can I go to this damn hotel now?"

The replies of compliance barely reached Ivy's ears.

The ride there, she pointedly looked out the window all shoving all thoughts of her mother deep down inside.

I'm sorry, Mom.

[;';]

"... Well, looks like we're stuck together after all. At least for a little bit." Ivy said, heart beating heavily as she stood inside Edward and Alphonse's room. The sun was beginning to fade, the drive from Sheska's proving to be long with the city traffic. Ivy could admit that she fell asleep at least once from the constant moving and stopping.

"Yeah..." Edward mumbled quietly. "Nice bit of acting out there at the phone booth." Outside the room, Maria and Denny were sitting on chairs. Apparently, they were the all hours of the day and night type of bodyguards.

Ivy shrugged, looking down at the cream carpet. "Only did what I had to. Honestly, my best work."

There was a pause.

"So what are you about to do now?" Edward fell back onto his bed, speaking at a normal level. "Sleep?"

Ivy shrugged, "I guess." She then quietly added: "It ain't like I have any leads outside your Marcoh guy on getting home. So I'll just lay low until we finally get results from your Sheska lady and hope we get something from there." Returning her voice to a normal volume, she wriggled a hand her finger still sore. "Maybe I can hang out at the library? I can look at some books on automail while I'm out here. What about you guys?"

"We'll be spending time in the exact same place until Sheska's done." Edward crossed his arms, leaning against the sofa. "We can't just do nothing until then, so we'll see what else we can find."

Alphonse nodded, "It isn't everyday we're in Central, so it'll be nice seeing what alchemical books they have there."

Edward smirked, "Wanna look at those books too? Not everyone can be an alchemical genius like myself, but I think you'll get the hang of it after a while."

"You know what, Edward?" Ivy squinted. "Keep talking smack and I'll find a reason to whip out my toolbox Winry got me."

"Good night, Ivy. Good luck in Central."

"Don't forget your promise, Ivy."

Ivy's mind instantly flashed with serene blue eyes and soft smiles and gloved hands caressing their newest masterpieces and her chest tightened. Damn it, Carter. She huffed, scratching the back of her neck. This really ain't the time for this.

"Hey, what is it?" Ivy looked up to Edward's concerned eyes and the feeling of scolding only felt worse. She isn't yours to like, so just drop it, Sis. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

Alphonse leaned over, worried. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah guys, just fine. Just remembered I promised to call the Rockbells when I got to Central." Ivy waved a hand and lowered her voice. "It just sucks having to lie about the Mom Thing, you know?" Edward and Alphonse shared a look of understanding. Ivy coughed and raised her voice to normal speaking levels again. "So I'll just go and let 'em know I'm fine in Central before hitting the sack."

Ivy barely registered the sounds of acknowledgement given to her as she walked past Maria and Denny's post, giving them a slight nod. "Do you know if there's a phone in this building? Gotta call someone else tonight to let them know I got here safely."

Maria's expression was one of sympathy. "If you go to the front desk, there should be one that guests of the hotel can use."

Ivy nodded, "Thanks." Guilt rose but she squashed the feeling back down. Her Mom didn't really get wrongfully yelled at, everything is fine. She quickly made her way to the front desk where a woman was organizing some papers. "Excuse me, ma'am, can I use the phone? I was told that there's one here that guests can use."

The hostess gave her best customer service smile, "Of course."

"Thanks." Ivy leaned across the desk, eyeing the phone. "I just remembered I promised a friend I'd let them know when I made it back to Central in one piece. So I gotta call her before she clocks out for the night." Or at least before Pinako's typical self-imposed curfew. Ivy wasn't trying to risk seeing what would happen if she woke the woman up from her sleep to exchange a few words.

The hostess nodded, handing the phone over, "Well, as long as the phone call isn't too long or too late, the phone is always free to use. Just remember to be mindful if others in the hotel may need to use it."

Ivy nodded, using her free hand to give a thumbs up of assurance, "This call will be short and to the point."

Then Ivy dialed the Rockbell's number and heard an eerily familiar voice.

"Hello, who are you trying to reach?"

It took a moment to place, then Ivy blinked in disbelief. "..." Her mind's voice quickly turned into Alex the Lion from Madagascar 2. You. She could almost envision the scene of him glaring at the old woman who kicked his ass in the first movie. An old foe arises.

"Hello?"

Please don't remember me. "Hi, yes, I'm here to-"

The man cut her off abruptly, annoyance in his tone. "I know that voice; aren't you that kid from before who tried calling a phony number?"

Ivy felt an eyebrow twitch, "Look, I'm actually calling someone who's number hasn't changed. The last number I had was… disconnected."

"Sure, kid." The man sounded as if he were rolling his eyes. You know what? I hope you stub your toe on a piano. Or get smacked into my world. Let's see how you survive that, chump. "So who is it you're trying to reach this time? The Fuhrer?"

"Actually, I'm trying to reach Rockbell Automail in Resembool!" Ivy snapped, startling the hostess who shot her a concerned look. Ivy smiled tightly at her, hoping that she seemed reassuring in some kind of way. "I'd really appreciate being connected to their line. I'm a friend of theirs, Ivy Carter."

Ivy could hear muted fumbling on the other side of the line before the man said at last, "Well it looks like these people actually exist, kid. I'm proud of you; you have friends after all."

"You know what-"

"Connecting you to the Rockbell's Automail Shop." The man said smoothly and his voice went quiet and abruptly turned into ringing.

Ivy grit her teeth then sighed. God he is such an asshole. I seriously hope that he isn't going to be the operator every time I'm making a phone call. It would be just her luck considering everything going on as of late.

"Well while I live and breathe, we finally get a phone call from an old guest of ours." Pinako's voice emerged as the ringing came to a halt. "Are you finally in Central?"

"Yep." Ivy answered, leaning onto the desk. "Ivy Carter is back in the big city. How's Winry doing?"

"Oh, just skip right over another certain someone in the house."

"Hey hey… I was gonna ask about Den too." The two of them erupted into laughter and light chuckles, Ivy's shoulders relaxing for the first time since she left Resembool. How she missed the light familiarity and how easy it had been. Gods, how easy it had been staying in that sleepy town. "But how's the place been holding up without me? You takin' care of yourself?"

The familiar sound of a pipe drag began then faded into talking. "The shop's been the same. Nice and quiet here in sleepy Resembool, times are peaceful here in the East so there isn't too much to do." Pinako had long since mentioned more in depthly that their business only skyrocketed during their -this world's- Civil War due to their proximity to the battlefield. But since then, things had calmed down and the Western and Southern parts of the country fell into militaristic despair. "I can only imagine how the engineers over there are fairing. They're definitely getting more work than us." "So I can say I've had the time to take care of myself. And you?"

"Eeeh." Ivy's leg bounced, "I'm alright too. Nothing really improved on my part. So, I'll just base it up here for a bit before getting on the move again."

"I see." Even if she couldn't see the elderly woman's face, Ivy could picture her nodding. "I'm wishing you all the best. Did you want to talk to Winry now? She should be done with her shower."

"Sure thing." Her next breath, Ivy's chest felt reminiscent of that butterfly feeling. Stop it.

"Alright, just give me a minute."

Ivy sighed as she heard Pinako's voice distantly calling out 'Winry! Winry, are you done?!' It had been easy enough ignoring and pushing thoughts of the blonde mechanic to the side in favor of actually favorable thoughts when she was on the train. Things had been fine before, why did this random development have to happen? (Because Winry was probably the sweetest individual she had ever met who was both beautiful with brawn and intelligence evenly matched? Perhaps.) Maybe you should just not call anymore? Came first. You know you can't just make yourself do that. Followed subsequently, knowing Winry would be hurt by it. And then you'll be hurt for breaking a promise. It would be a bloody day with wrenches, micro-sanders, and screws oh my.

You know what, maybe you should just stop making promises.

"Ivy?" An energetic voice came out of nowhere.

"Oh sweet holy everything that is pure and sanctified- don't just sneak up on a phone call like that!" The exclamation caused the hostes to jolt again, this time shooting her a dirty look and Ivy coughed awkwardly holding a hand up apologetically. Winry only served to laugh her head off while Ivy sighed. "I love that you think my pain is hilarious, Winry."

With the last trails of laughter, Winry finally said, "How's Central and your mom?"

A less pleasurable feeling fluttered in Ivy's chest. Winry wasted no time jumping to what she wanted hear. "About that." The line grew quiet. "It didn't really work out well. Kinda got kicked out the house. So it's kind of just me on my own right now. So Ed and Al got me a room at the military hotel they're staying at."

"... I'm so sorry it didn't work out, Ivy."

"Hey, it's fine."

"No it isn't!" Winry sounded as if she were sniffling. "You shouldn't have gotten kicked out your house."

"Hey hey hey, no crying on our once in a lifetime reunion phone call." Ivy choked awkwardly. "I'm sending virtual hugs. I'm calling because I wanted the laughter and happiness, alright? So no crying, or your knight in nagging armor will have to halt the conversation."

The last bit wrung out a small chuckle, "I'm not crying."

"Good, because believe it or not, there are folks out there that are terrible at comforting people who are crying." Ivy sighed, resting her chin on her arms for a brief moment. "So this particular folk likes it better when you're not crying. Bring on the smiles and laughs that I love so much." OMG Carter please. Ivy shot back up with her back rigid as she tried calming her heart. "Speaking of laughs, you'll laugh at this. Central is the worst place to be an athelete. Like, I have no idea how I used to do my morning jogs before."

Winry's giggle was stronger than the last. "I'm sorry it's so bad for you."

"I suffer much in the lifetime, Miss Rockbell." Ivy whimpered dramatically. "So cramped with lots of cars and no Den to accompany me. You must pet her for me while I am gone."

"You'll be there for a while?"

Ivy nearly squinted but ultimately decided Winry's tone was more curious than disappointed. "Yeah, I figured there was some stuff I could do first since it's been a month since I've been here. Maybe meet up with some folks I know. But there's a huge library here, so I figured to keep up to date with the automail information I could read that with the books you got me."

"And no trying to get apprenticeships with other engineers. You're supposed to learn how to make automail from Granny."

"Yes, my love, I remember. I'm not to cheat on your family business."

"Promise?" Winry laughed.

Ivy ignored the heavy feeling in her chest. "You seem to love putting me in binding contracts, Winry Rockbell." She said as nonchalantly as she could. "I demand royalties in exchange for these. I'll be taking custody of Den now."

"How about if you keep this new promise, I don't have to swing a wrench at you the next time I see you."

"... You drive a hard bargain to beat."

Winry burst into laughter again and despite herself, Ivy still smiled pretending it was still her first month in Amestris. The quiet yet lively mornings and the chatty afternoons as she decrypted Winry's notes and they talked about her favorite automail ateliers and her plans to shake up the world of automail by a storm. Or the accidental sleepover when Winry was too tired to leave Ivy's room due to the random all-nighter and the two of them ended up clocked out only to wake up laughing about it the next day. The trips to scrap to find spare metal and looking up at the clouds for a while as Den napped. It was nice. "... I'm really happy you called." Winry said at last, sounding as if she were smiling peacefully to herself. "Don't take any time rushing to get back to Resembool, okay? Just make sure to call first when you head back."

It was torture.

"I'm great at keeping promises." Ivy firmly kept her right foot to the ground, refusing to let it budge. "I'll keep calling right up until we can finally meet up again."

Author's Note

And here's Updated Chapter 8. Took a day or two to get to, but I finally did it! So I'm satisfied with myself, I'll probably be going back and looking at all of my currently ongoing stories and edit them quite a bit since I have the free time to write. I also did myself a favor a made a clearer outline of the plot in how AFG will be going. I already had an idea of how it would go from rereading the manga, but honestly writing down a blow by blow outline for the cast helps a lot in keeping the flow of the story going smoothly as well as updating/fixing the previously created chapters. Without it, it gets easier to lose passion for the project which I do not want. Fanfic is a great tool for writers. You get to write whatever you want and get responses from readers that can help you grow. Plus, you get practice finishing projects. I just make it a personal creed to update when I am able rather than at the rate/consistency readers want because Real Life sometimes doesn't allow me that luxury. So I'm honestly really happy that none of the readers for this story has begged me to hurry with uploading chapters.

I'll be updating chapter 9 soon and soon chapter 10 should be here. I'm not completely finished writing it and debating if I'll still try writing a super long chapter since it's already been so long since I last updated. So we'll have to wait and see for now!

If you're still reading this, I hope you liked the small changes.