Title: A Fangirl's Dream
Summary: Ivy has it rough. She's no anime fan or FMA fan. But when she somehow crosses the gate, she finds herself in the worst possible position: a protagonist of an Another World fic trope. And between the alchemy, automail, lack of plot knowledge, and struggling with her attraction to a pretty blonde mechanic, Ivy reluctantly teams up with the main characters in her journey to get home.
Pen Name: FanfictionIsMySideHustle

Despite the apprehension swirling in her belly, the Rush Valley train station was a welcome sight as Ivy stepped onto the platform. The breeze was warm as ever and the familiar scent of sand and rock hit her nose, mixing with the smell of coal the train released. Gross, but welcomed. In the distance, she could make out the form of the two large hand statues that held the RUSH VALLEY sign high and proud for anyone to see near or far.

"Boomtown of the Broken Down." Ivy whispered to herself, noticing the look directed to her.

"But even after losing their limbs, the people here won't stay down." Winry reminded her gently. That was what Winry had said before when they first arrived the first time and Ivy truly got thrust into the world of engineering in a way she couldn't have imagined.

One month of studying and shadowing, learning about the anatomy she slacked off on learning when her interest first developed. She occasionally even got to tweak with arms that were attached to something to give it an electric pulse so she could see automail in action differently in a way than she had been used to, the prosthetics already attached to people.

Another month started with Ivy slowly working on an arm, starting from the frame. It took just about the whole second month of her training to build Elizabetta 1.0 properly and get her critique.

Then a little under the third month to make 2.0.

And even in between that, there were many other memories. "I'm really gonna miss it all once we head off to Pinako's." Ivy sighed as she finally started walking towards the station exit.

"Rush Valley isn't going anywhere." Winry followed, but her tone was already filled with nostalgia. "It was great training here while it lasted. Granny's gonna be pretty impressed with the both of us when we show her what we've been working on. I'll have lots of notes to show her." If she can even read it. "I won't be able to bring all the models I've made, but one or two should be fine. And I'll tell her about Mr. Dominic! I'm still really curious about why he's so afraid of her."

"Not to mention the whole 'Pantheress' thing." Ivy could still picture the man's horrified face when he discovered who Winry's grandmother was. Yet the man remained stubborn in refusing to mention anything to do with Pinako whenever they brought it up. Even Paninya was curious! "We're finding out the full story one way or another."

Winry smiled with a nod, "definitely."

When they finally reached the main street, it was like an automail bomb had gone off as metals of all light and dark shades glinted in the sun. People were chattering loudly, some outfittees that were looking for new limbs or attempting to show off a new limb. She was sure some were probably hyenas looking for their next client, just ready to jump someone with deals and samples of their work.

"Oh my gosh, Adedayo look!" Ivy looked to her right, spotting a black boy a bit older than her with an accent gawking in a window. "This is it! This is the shining gem of the Wurtfrank Automail Company, the Salamander!"

Adedayo sounded just as excited. "Wow, it's even more amazing than it looked in the catalogue! Look at it, those legs could survive even the toughest heat! The nickel-chromium is gleaming! You just can't find work like this back home, Debare."

Ivy couldn't help the amused smile on her lips. "That was us not too long ago, remem-." She turned to look at Winry, but the girl was nowhere to be found, only her bag and tool box left behind. "Winry?"

"Nickel-chromium is a superalloy, Ivette!" Came the squeal, Winry plastered against the window right next to them. "How is this not new? No one was talking about it before we left for Central!" The blonde was jumping giddily and Ivy snorted, shaking her head. You can take the girl out of the fanatic town, but you can't take the fanatic out of the girl. "This is truly a work of art!"

Debare nodded in pleasant surprise, "you have a great eye, Miss! We had to come here and see it, we've been admirers of Wurtfrank for so long now!"

"Winry." Ivy called, the blonde in question looking over at her in time to see her gesture at her items thrown eskew.

"Oh um. Sorry." Winry laughed sheepishly as she hurried back to pick up her things. "I kind of draw blanks when automail is involved."

"Trust me, I know." But it's part of your charm. "Let's check it out before we head to Garfiel's." She wanted to stall for as much time as possible, glancing at the display window. The Salamander, despite the enthusiastic swooning, really was a work of art. The legs looked sturdy and strong, the display model clearly meant for someone stocky. I wonder what kind of finesse they did for the joints. Is this meant to be especially shock-absorbent? They look like they'd be great for walking in mountains too. "You guys engineers here or visiting?" Adedayo didn't sound like an Amestrian name, more akin to something African. To think she'd finally meet the Africans of this world, some sort of African at least.

Adedayo nodded as the fanatic high on his face wore off. "We're visiting from Adaeze."

Winry gaped, clapping her hands together. "I didn't know Adaeze had its own automail industry, what's it like there."

"Combat automail mostly,but nothing like Amestris." Debare replied, a look of envy passing over his face. "The best country in our homeland for automail is Barasa, we've moved there but there isn't a Rush Valley of sorts there. Amestris truly is the best country for engineering, so we are coming here to study and take the knowledge back home."

Winry beamed proudly, "then Rush Valley is definitely the place for that. Are you looking for mentors? There's so many great engineers here. Ashiya is the place to go if you're looking to work on legs! There's also Hagane, I'm not sure if they are looking for apprentices but they always give us advice when we visit."

"Just beware of Molly." Ivy threw herself into the conversation. "She's got a sharp mouth, but she means well. And if you head into the mountains, there's an engineer named Dominic who has great stuff. Look for a girl named Paninya, she'll show you how to get there."

Adedayo grinned in appreciation, "thank you. We're hoping we can find mentors in the short time we'll be in this country. Are you apprenticed here as well? You surely aren't just tourists."

"Well we were." Ivy replied with a so-so hand motion. "Well we still have a mentor right now, but we're planning on leaving soon. I…" Ivy trailed off awkwardly. It wasn't like she was trying to broadcast her personal tragedies.

But it turned out she wouldn't even need to as they both seemed to take one look at her before realization flashed over their eyes. Maybe it was how her left sleeve draped aimlessly, but the most damning evidence probably had to be the lack of a hand in it. "I see."

"Maybe you can ask our mentor if you can work for him instead since we're gonna take off soon." Ivy hoped she looked nonchalant and unbothered. "We are gonna be taking off pretty last minute and there's plenty of clientele. He specializes mostly in the finer details of automail but he's generally a jack-of-all-trades. Atelier Garfiel is the shop."

"He's an amazing teacher, we've really learnt a lot from him so far. Rush Valley in general is a great place to hone your skills." Winry looked ready to announce all the ways she had improved since leaving little Resembool in the east. "Mr. Garfiel keeps 30% of what you earn from sales in exchange for the room and board which is a great deal too."

Debare nodded in consideration, "we'd like to conduct our own search but we'll keep him in mind."

"No pressure." Ivy nodded as well, she would set her hand on her hip if it wouldn't cause her backpack strap to slip completely. "We hope you find the perfect mentor, there's hundreds of studios here for you to look into."

"We wish you both luck wherever you both are heading after your apprenticeship." Ivy appreciated that Adedayo was making a point not to look at her stump. "We'll be asking Wurtfrank Company for a go first, this will be perfect."

"Good luck with your first choice!" Winry replied with a good-natured smile.

Ivy took leave first, stopping after a few steps to allow Winry to catch up. "It was nice seeing some new guys geek out over some automail."

"And we got to see an amazing piece because of it." Winry had a dreamy expression on her face. Ivy knew that look would be considerably less consistent once they left for Resembool. Catalogues were nice, but being in the holy land of engineering was a lot faster than waiting for whenever a catalogue would come out. Still, Winry was right. Rush Valley wasn't going anywhere, they could still visit. Hell, maybe they can visit us too. Pinako would like Paninya. "Maybe the competition is what I'll miss the most, there's always someone better than you here and it's so inspiring to keep coming up with newer and better automail. Engineers really do come from all over the world to study here in Rush Valley."

"Must be nice being number one." Ivy was mostly talking to herself as they turned the corner, noting the display of the shop they were walking past. "There's probably other countries with automail unique to ours, though. We should find those guys again and ask them more about their automail."

"I'm not really sure I'd like to study combat automail anymore." Winry replied quietly, eyes dark.

Right, guns. Ivy felt a shudder pass over her as she remembered the moment Winry's hand slammed atop the gun in the alleyway. The way her heart nearly fell out of her chest from the fear. Ivy shook her head. She didn't want to think about that right now. "Who needs combat automail anyway, Amestris already has plenty of other engineers to do it." Ivy kicked a stray pebble, wincing as it skipped closely to the foot of a passersby. "It isn't like we're getting those kinds of orders."

The rest of their walk was quiet, the vague sense of discomfort in Ivy's churned into dread as the Atelier Garfiel logo came into their view. The shutter was wide open, but whether any customers were inside, Ivy couldn't tell.

The two engineers seemed to be thinking in unison when they halted their walking in unison. Ivy inhaled deeply and gave Winry a pointed look. "Wanna just take off back to the train tracks?"

Winry had an agreeable look on her face, "if you jump, I'll jump."

Ivy groaned, "don't tempt me."

They shared a look and released a sigh. Words didn't need to be exchanged in order to know that skipping out on Garfiel Garibaldi of all people wasn't going to happen, now or ever. Let's get this over with, was the unspoken words between them as they began pacing to rip off the bandaid. Ivy only hoped it would get easier down the road.

There was a rumbling of laughter that came out of the shop as they approached followed by an indignant "I'm busy" from Garfiel.

There were people in, great.

Rip the band-aid off. Ivy told herself, taking a deliberate step forward. "Hey, Mr. Garfiel." She smiled with a wave before adjusting her backpack's strap as it started to slip. "We're back." She could recognize all the faces in the shop, Paninya was holding a teacup, there was Tetsu one of Winry's newer clients who had an automail leg of his own, Old Man Jenkins… Faces she wanted to dissipate into oblivion until otherwise required.

The man himself turned around, looking part-relieved, part-frustrated. "Finally, you two are back!" His sigh sounded more like a growl as he gestured to the people before him. "Winry, your customers have been driving me cra-" Garfiel cut himself off as his gaze latched onto Ivy more clearly, then he brought his hands to his mouth with a gasp. "When you said there was an accident, I didn't consider- oh Ivy."

"We didn't know how to break it to you." I didn't know how to break it to you. How did one tell their engineering mentor that they were now in need of the prosthetics they were learning to build themselves? It seemed like an impossible endeavor, a hypothetical that had never crossed Ivy's mind until she was in the position herself. "I can't really keep up an apprenticeship with one arm, right now. So, I wanted to let you know I have to quit being your apprentice for now."

She avoided what kinds of looks might have been thrown her way by the rest of the occupants in the room. What sort of looks would they be giving? Sympathy? Pity? Maybe neither as proud automail outfittees.

"I'll be leaving too." Winry added with a bow, her voice quiet but strong. "I'm so sorry it's last minute. I can help with any customers that need maintenance before we leave though."

There was a pause, then a clap of hands. "Alright, the shop is closing early today. I need to discuss something with my apprentices." Garfiel said at last as he regained his composure. "Please, come back tomorrow as usual."

Ivy wanted to think she didn't collapse from relief since her legs were strong. She finally looked at Paninya, the look on her face knowing. Ivy appreciated she didn't offer any condolences, just a nod that told her everything she needed to know.

Ivy dropped her backpack near the chair Paninya had been sitting in before she got up, plopping down herself. She spotted Winry and Tetsu exchanging a brief hug, the young boy looking disappointed. Winry had been well-loved as an engineer in Rush Valley, now Ivy was taking that away. There were moments of envy throughout their apprenticeship, seeing how many clients Winry was able to procure so quickly once they started.

Still, Ivy couldn't resent her for it. She knew why the blonde was popular, she was kind and beautiful and she knew her stuff. It was why she loved the girl. It was what made Ivy want to become an engineer of her caliber and study automail so in-depth.

I'll see if I can convince her to stay again. Ivy thought as the remnants of their clientele shuffled out and Garfiel pulled down the shutter that led inside the studio.

"Central wasn't kind to the both of you." Garfiel's eyes were moist as he looked at them both. "I should have come up there myself when you mentioned having trouble with the hotel funds thanks to that Edward boy, then this might not have happened."

"It isn't your fault, Mr. Garfiel!" Winry said immediately.

Ivy nodded in suit, "it was just a freak accident, that's all." She clasped her empty sleeve to her side. "Just a really bad freak accident."

Their mentor took only two strides to reach them both and envelop them both in a hug. It must have been nice, having that reach. Ivy released a breath she was holding into the corner of his neck. "Sorry we have to run out on you." She muttered. She felt like she needed to scratch every inch of her body and wished time could have been turned back around with all the knowledge she had now. Then maybe this could have all been prevented.

Maybe Akasha would be here.

Maybe she shouldn't be here. Edward's angry gaze and Alphonse's stern agreeance came to mind.

No one really wanted her here.

Ivy shouldn't want her here.

She didn't know what she wanted.

"You two can do whatever you need to." Garfiel reassured her. "This won't be easy but I know this is something you can overcome. You both have one another." He stood back. "And if you have someone you care about with you in these times and can get through them together, you'll be able to stand beside each other in any sort of situation."

Brown and blue looked at each other and they both shared brief smiles.

"Where's your little friend from before, Ivy?"

Ivy mulled over her answer before she finally gave her teacher an answer. "She stayed in Central." She said at last. She didn't want to go into all the details. That would just make the entire situation messier.

"It's better this way." Winry added with a dark look of her own. Ivy looked over at the blonde unable to hide her surprise though she should have seen it coming. Winry and Akasha hadn't gotten along since the Mean Girls incident. "She should stay far away in Central."

Garfiel looked between the two of them and said nothing but his face was unreadable. "How about the two of you go and get some rest. The shop's closed for the rest of the day, everyone will understand."

Winry smiled appreciatively at the man. "It's okay, Mr. Garfiel, I can work right now. Ivette's the one who really needs to rest."

Ivy opened her mouth to protest but then closed it. There was nothing she could do with one arm anyway.

"I want to help with as much work as possible before we go back to Resembool." Winry continued, blue gaze sweeping over the room. There was definitely a lot more piled up from before they left.

Garfiel sighed with a melancholic expression, "the two of you were great apprentices and you are both always welcomed to come back whenever you can, I know it might take a while."

Painful as hell surgery.

Three years rehab at most for the standard.

One year rehab if you're absolutely insane like Edward.

Ivy recounted.

He looked at Winry now, "since you're determined to work, I can fill you in on what your customers have been asking about while you've been gone. It should take about a week between the two of us."

"I'm gonna go and take my things to our room. Did you want the first shower?" She looked to Winry as she picked up her backpack. "You didn't really get to do that at the hospital."

Winry shook her head, "you can go first, I'll set up my work space while you're in." With that she turned around in work mode. "I know I have to make the actual casing for Jenkins' leg and when Tetsu left I could tell his leg needs a bit of tune up."

"Clyde has been complaining about his elbow joint." Garfiel replied in his teacher's voice. "And there's plenty of work…"

Ivy made the short trek to her room in silence, sparing only a short glance at the work room she and Winry had for themselves. The perfect place to work on projects without cluttering the shop itself. Elizabetta 2.0's case rested on her desk the same way she had left it when they left for Central, completely unaware of the events to come in the city.

She really wished she could turn back time. Every second of it.

Author's Note

Another chapter, another dollar, another year off to a wild start with crazy politics and family problems. That aside, I still appreciate the support I get for the story from you guys, old readers, new readers, consistent commenters, and hearty lurkers.

That aside, thanks for all the comments last chapter! I'm trying to get into weekly updates again and not letting it slip and finding away to work around stuff here so I can write consistently. The comments for last chapter were fun reading since a lot of you could see that Ivy and Akasha's relationship was about to head into toxic territory. As Ed pointed out, Ivy was wearing nostalgia glasses when it came to Akasha. IDK if I did a good job showing it, but the way Ivy views their current situation was that Akasha is just so into being in FMA that she isn't seeing the reality of the dangers since she thinks she can handle it but regardless of fights they might have, they are still friends at the end of the day that can get over anything by talking it over.

Vedahzii: Let me hold your stuff so you can swing with no issue.

BloodPokemon101: I am glad I'm not the only one who thinks so, in reference to Ed being a jerk. It's part of his character, the 'jerk with a heart of gold' so I always figured this conversation in writing would be a real kicker. If even the known jerk is saying a line has been crossed, that's really saying something. I recently myself kept getting into it with a friend who kept coming to me complaining about her now (Thankfully) ex-boyfriend who was clearly using her for money and being emotionally distant 90% of the time and then love bombing her the other 10% like some sort of reward and I kept telling her to leave him but she kept trying to find justifications for his behavior and that eventually things would improve with conversation and therapy. Like using future prospective changes as justifications for the present and it was a lot to watch, so I'm glad she left him this year. Ivy was definitely following the trope of justifying too much since in her mind they've been friends for years and the problem isn't 'Akasha' it's the fact 'Akasha is trying to be in dangerous battles because she keeps viewing this like a show she is watching safely behind a screen'. This won't be the last of Akasha, but they are certainly having time apart from one another and Ivy is certainly going to learn forgiveness needs to be earned on the parts of those around her in regards to Akasha. (Also, Orihime seems like a gem! My friend who has been a hardcore Bleach fan for years has complained to me a lot about her, but I don't see what is to dislike in the series so far. She's really nice OTL)

AnimeandFanficLover: I wasn't expecting last chapter to hit so close to home, I really hope your friend is alright now that they aren't talking with the other person and that you get to talk to one another soon if you haven't already since last chapter. I hope you get to reconnect with one another. I know the feeling of having a friend justify crappy behavior because they've known the other person longer like I said to BloodPokemon101 OTL, it's frustrating and sad to watch. Ed and Al not being blinded by nostalgia was a crucial part in their putting their feet down about any recent or future interactions with Akasha, so they will gladly keep on doing the metaphorical slapping for you. Akasha will be absent from the story for a bit but she will make a glorious return in AFD but there will be more in upcoming chapters about their relationship and lives prior to coming to Amestris.

Kittywheaty: You're new to the crew, welcome to AFD I'm glad you've enjoyed what you read so far and I really hope you continue to enjoy what will come out now that this has happened! I wanted to make AFD more realistic in the fact that Ivy, due to having little knowledge about the series, learns more about Amestris and its inhabitants more organically than say, a hardcore FMA fan. So her relationships build more organically and she also knows the characters moreso as actual individuals than 'characters'.

Bingereaderguest: Yoooo binge reader! Good seeing your face again in the review section! Let's just say, that Akasha will be going on an interesting journey but don't worry, this isn't the end of her appearances in AFD. She will be coming back. And let's just say it got out that an old friend of the Fullmetal Alchemist was staying at the hospital and there was leverage to be had in keeping Ed and Al in check and not going against their plans.

Friends Really: You're review was honestly pretty fun because I completely forgot people like that do exist where they want someone to be dependent on them and if the story was written a different way, that honestly would've been a fun route to take Ivy on for more antagonistic purposes... but your first guess was more accurate! Either way, you are right in that their friendship was turning into one that was toxic since in Ivy's view, the root of the problem is that Akasha wants to be involved in a dangerous journey because she is seeing everything through Fangirl Glasses where 'I'm safely watching/reading all this action but I am pretty sure, due to my knowledge of the series, I would definitely survive and be alright'. But from jump in the outline, Ivy was eventually going to make excuses for Akasha's behavior on the stance that Akasha's her energetic and impulsive childhood friend until eventually things were too big to justify and needed to be halted before things escalated into extremely toxic territory. So your review wasn't harsh, but accurate. Trust me, the dark and toxic implications were intentional as both Akasha and Ivy find themselves changing in how they interact with the world of Amestris and how they view the world of Amestris and were eventually going to grow distant from one another.