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

"It looks like we'll have to stay a bit longer than we originally planned." Winry's eyes were apologetic, face covered with oil.

It had been a busy day in Atelier Garfiel, maybe even busier than usual, with word spreading among their customer base the two of them would be leaving soon. Ivy snorted as Winry yanked off her bandanna tiredly. Not even two all-nighters could topple the amount of work that needed to be done. "Your fans are just trying to get the last of the Winry Rockbell fix before you take off, that's all. We've even seen literal water works." She gestured at the sandwiches on the table. "Now quit stressing out and get over here and eat, alright?"

"Only one person teared up and that's because Mr. Jenkins is a softie." Winry stifled a yawn and thankfully had no protests as she plopped in her chair with a heavy sigh. It was a true sign the world was ending if Winry of all people readily decided she needed a break. From minor fixes to major repairs, the blonde certainly had her work cut out for her. "Thanks for getting lunch."

Ivy shook her head, "it's the least I can do all things considered." She skirted around the specifics. I literally do nothing but sit on my ass all day now, I'm useless. It was bad enough not being able to continue her apprenticeship but there wasn't even much she was able to do like cooking or doing the dishes. Ivy helped clean what she could and it took her longer to fold laundry and make the beds, but she was looking for any excuse to be useful. "And at least there's no rush in us getting out of here since Mr. Garfiel is being so cool about it."

Winry nodded at that. "I'll just feel bad leaving him behind with all this work." She said over her mouthful. Even without elaboration, Ivy understood what she meant. Even before this, their mentor had been left to work on his own for weeks. As if sensing the thoughts lingering in Ivy's mind, Winry brushed her leg against Ivy's right. Her smile was small and there was a bit of mustard in the corner of her mouth but "But it'll be fine, it was just him before we showed up to be his apprentices in the first place so I think we can go to Granny's with a clean conscience."

Ivy did her best to smile back, "it'll be nice being in Resembool, I've missed the sheep and Den."

"Granny'll cry if she hears that's all you missed." Winry's eyes twinkled.

Ivy rolled her eyes in jest, "as if anything could make that woman cry."

Winry snickered with a distant but fond look in her eyes. "Yeah, Granny's tough as nails, I don't think I've ever seen her cry before." She hummed quietly, taking another bite of her food and Ivy finally did the same. She'd really miss these sandwiches when she was in Resembool even if Pinako's cooking was one of the best things she's ever had. Some white people can cook after all. You add the perfect amount of seasoning, Ms. Rockbell. "I'm pretty sure if she were here she'd just go 'I told you Rush Valley was nothing but trouble'! But still, I loved every second of it."

"Could be a love affair that doesn't necessarily have to end..." Ivy coughed, taking a long sip of her her juice.

"For the last time, you're not convincing me to stay here while you go off to Resembool." Ivy avoided Winry's glare with a casual glance to Winry's current work-in-progress. Can't blame a girl for trying. "It's just until things have settled and you've... gone home."

"Yeah. Home." Ivy murmured, her drink suddenly heavy as she gulped hard. The silence that fell over them was loud and tense as they both found more interesting things to look at. "It'll..." Ivy searched for any words in her mind that could fill the air of tension between them. "It'll be weird, trying to adjust to being back to Vallant. It's so different from anywhere in Amestris. It's gonna take a whole lot explaining this to my mom, too. I had two arms the last time she saw me." That alone would be difficult to explain let alone the fact she'd have to try explaining that she didn't run away but she wasn't kidnapped either. Mom won't believe that at all. It's gonna have to be one or the other and what if cops get involved? "I'll deal with it when I get there. It'll just be... nice seeing Vallant again. I didn't realize I was even in another place when I showed up to Resembool because there are actually are some farms around the place, we live in a smallish city next to the countryside."

"You've never told me about your home before." Winry's smile was an odd mixture of odd and reassuring. "But I know any mom would be happy to see her kid again if they haven't seen each other in months."

Ivy forced a smile of her own, "who knows maybe she's actually enjoying herself. I got into trouble a lot as a kid because I was always getting into fights or sneaking out." Winry looked at her in disbelief and Ivy chuckled lightly. "My teammates always got like that too since they think I'm pretty chill but I kinda popped off all the time before. The boys at school were always mean to my friends so I'd just start blastin'."

The blonde mechanic didn't look amused. "Ivette, please tell me you didn't just get into fights all the time before you came here."

"Hey, I just said I mellowed out!"

Winry looked unconvinced although there was a teasing look to her expression. "If you say so."

"Most of the time I just played sports and after that I'd just go to my place or Aka-" Ivy stopped herself and took a bite of her sandwich as Winry's expression turned dark at the near mention. "Well, anyway, the point is that I didn't do much before I got here. So there's no fights to worry about, I'm not Ed." Skirting around anything to do with Akasha would do for the best. Ivy tried her best to not think about her, where she could be or if she was alright. You haven't even called the hotel to at least make sure she's alright. You don't have to be friends to do that, you know. "Trouble sticks to him like brown on rice," Ivy babbled on. "it's a surprise he hasn't already called back talking about needing maintenance, huh?"

Winry made a noncommittal noise as she finished her sandwich quietly and Ivy bit back a sigh. Why did I even bring her up?

"I should get back to work." Winry's smile was small. "The faster I finish, the faster we get back to Resembool."

"Don't push yourself, we get to Resembool when we get there." Ivy persisted, watching as the blonde disposed of her trash. "You've gotta enjoy Rush Valley while we're still here, right? This place has always been your dream, right?"

Winry's expression was melancholic, "Rush Valley isn't going anywhere though, remember? I'll make sure you're well enough to go home, okay?" Ivy stopped herself from biting her lip while Winry went on with a smile a bit more genuine. " Ivy felt a stinging sensation in her eyes and stood up abruptly to Winry's surprise as she made her way to hug the girl.

Ivy smiled weakly, "thanks, Winry." Ivy whispered softly with a tight squeeze. "I mean it. Thanks a lot."

"You don't have to thank me." Winry squeezed back gently. "You never even had to ask. I told you before at the hospital, even if you're a grouch or you tried shutting me out, I'd be here for you."

"I love you." The words tumbled out of Ivy's mouth with strong emotions before she could stop herself. Winry seemed to freeze as the words kept going and going. "I seriously love you. I mean it. In spite of everything, I love you."

"I love you too." Winry mumbled into Ivy's shoulder, voice muffled but tone gut-wrenching.

"What are you doing?"

With a start, Ivy felt like her heart was about to leap from her chest at the sound of Paninya behind her. "Oh god my chest." Ivy breathed, clutching it for emphasis. She glared at the black-haired girl. "Thanks Paninya, you nearly killed me but that's fine."

Paninya looked entirely unbothered, looking Ivy up and down before her blue eyes skimmed across the train station and settled on her friend once again. "I was just wondering why you came to the Rush Valley Train Station of all places if you were just 'walking around town'."

Ivy bit her tongue for a moment to keep her composure before shrugging and looking away as coolly as she could muster. "I'm doing exactly what you just said." A sting of phantom pain swept over where her left arm should have been. The sting hurt almost as much as the fact it wasn't there in the first place. Her ticket felt heavy in her pocket. "Just walking around. I changed up my route is all, it gets boring walking around the same places all the time."

Paninya hummed, plopping her butt right onto the bench. "And your new route includes buying a train ticket too?"

"How do you-" Ivy whipped her head around to see Paninya thumbing over at the roof of a nearby building.

"I had a job over here and I saw you from there." Paninya rushed through the fact, arms crossing. "Why are you leaving? Where are you going? Are you coming back? Does Winry and Mr. Garfiel even know about this?" The wave of questions were overwhelming.

Ivy looked at her knees, tapping her right foot on the ground to the rapid beats of her heart as she thought over all the things she could say. Even if I lie, Paninya would just go and tell them everything. She slowly took a deep breath and released it shakily. "I'm going back to Central, I'm not coming back, and Winry isn't going to know until she puts two and two together. It's for the best."

While her face wasn't angry, Paninya's tone was one of disbelief and near accusatory. "You think ditching Winry without saying anything is for the best?"

"When your friend is getting ready to throw her entire career away because you lost your arm, yes leaving is for the best." Ivy snapped. "You know how Winry is. She's got a big heart and sometimes it's really stupid." Beautiful but stupid. Lovely but stupid. This was one of those times. "I'm not letting her derail herself because she thinks she needs to be by my side throughout the process. I'll be fine; I've got some money to last me a while and I'll figure stuff out. Alone."

And I'll find Akasha. I can't just leave things like this unfinished and without talking. Ivy smartly kept to herself. The entire storm cloud surrounding that whole issue only seemed to grow since the events that occurred when Ivy was last in the capital. She had no idea what was going to happen when she got there. She had no idea what she was even trying to accomplish. But… I can't just abandon her. We're friends. Sort of. Ivy ignored the part of her brain calling her an idiot and that she should stay put. It hasn't been that long since we got back, Akasha should still be at that hotel. It's been a while, we can talk to each other. Ivy stopped herself from hunching at the discomfort in her stomach. It'll be fine.

Ivy at least had to have hope that it would. Ten years of friendship didn't just disappear over one night because of an accident. This is the same Akasha I've known for years, it's just... This was just something Ivy knew she had to see through.

"Unless you both have magically gotten over being the cause of a friend losing a limb because you impulsively tried taking a gun from someone, that's not just something you get over in a few days and decide to chat over." An annoying pair of golden eyes flashed in her mind and Ivy pushed Edward's words out of her mind.

"I've already made up my mind so you can't stop me." Ivy declared resolutely when she noticed that Paninya was still there. It was only punctuated by the distant sound of a train's whistle blowing. God this is actually happening. There was no turning back. "You should get goin-" Ivy stopped when she realized she was only talking to the air where Paninya once stood.

"One ticket to Central please!" Paninya cheerily asked the booking clerk, waving a couple thousand sens in the air.

Ivy choked. "Paninya, what the hell?!"

Paninya stuck her nose in the air with an expression that was too smug for the situation. "You said you were going to Central, right?" She waited behind the yellow line as the train grew closer and closer. "But you're doing it with no luggage, no nothing. So I might as well make sure you get there in one piece so I can rest easy." A dark blue eye looked at her carefully. "If you're actually getting on." Light as her tone was there was a hint of a challenge.

Ivy's gaze narrowed as she stood up, firmly stepping to where the former pickpocket stood. "Of course I'm getting on. I made my choice, you can do whatever you want."

The train's arrival was like booming thunder. Ivy spared one final look at Rush Valley before she finally stepped on, Paninya right behind her.

"Don't you have work you could be doing right now?" Ivy asked after a good ten minutes went by since the two of them boarded.

Paninya, bouncing her right foot lightly through the air, grinned airily. "Nope, that's the best part about my work." She somehow made herself even more comfortable in her seat. "Unless people line up their requests, I can take whatever time of day I want off. I'm a one woman show after all."

"Just great." Ivy tried to keep her scowl at bay, right arm itching nervously. Why me? "Excellent honestly. But as you can see, I'm definitely fine and can handle an all night trip to Central so you can get off at the next stop, alright?"

Paninya sat back in her chair comfortably, making no immediate agreements or disagreements. "I haven't actually left Rush Valley since I was kid, though. I'm just enjoying the ride then if you got everything together with no luggage in sight."

Ivy pursed her lips, "I can just buy new clothes when I get to Central, alright?"

"And hotel funds?"

"Why are you so in my business all of a sudden?!"

Paninya looked at her carefully, blue eyes unreadable. "You said you were leaving because you thought that if you stayed, you'd just be burdening Winry. I dunno if maybe you were reading too into anything she was doing or she was actually giving you hints she was upset she'd have to leave the city," The brown girl continued on, arms and legs both crossing. "But you said you were making a choice because you were worried about a 'friend'." Ivy didn't like the way she said friend. "And right now I'm worried my friend is going to do something dumb based on something I don't even think you actually talked to Winry about."

Ivy bit her lip and almost on cue, her right foot went to tapping nervously. I need to get over this. "She doesn't have to say anything." Ivy mumbled. "She didn't give hints. I know Winry probably isn't thinking that at all. That's the worst part about it." Winry would leave Rush Valley at the drop of a hat for anyone she cared about because that was just how she was. They'd leave once her workload was finally finished and head on the first train to Resembool. They'd tell Pinako everything that happened, about the apprenticeship they had, about Akasha, and about the man who took away her son and daughter-in-law. Scar. Ivy grimaced as she remembered the Ishbalan man with his white hair and piercing red eyes who took Winry's parents. "She's been through a lot already, Paninya. I can't take this away from her too. She's happy here, you've seen how she is."

Even the bad days were something Winry appreciated, finding a way to rev herself up and work even harder to improve her skills.

Ivy only knew Urey and Sarah Rockbell through the stories Pinako and Winry told her and through the many photos that decorated the Rockbell home, but she knew that the two of them would be very proud of their daughter if they could see her now. Akasha had always talked up Scar whenever she was in the middle of a FMA rant. What the hell is so great about him? Ivy's scowl deepened and a feeling of anger grew in her stomach. She couldn't remember any time where Akasha could've talked about him in a negative light. He was just some cool anti-hero with a badass tattoo.

"... She has no place in anything and is basically just shoved wherever, no fighting or alchemical abilities- oh and she has this opportunity to shoot Scar- he's this guy who can only destroy with alchemy and he wants to kill Ed and Al and all the other State Alchemists for this Civil War-"

"So Scar left the Pride Lands to kill alchemists?"

Akasha continued on as if she wasn't interrupted. "And Ed basically reveals by accident to Winry that Scar killed her parents so she picks up a gun and just spends the entire episode crying and doesn't even shoot! She should have just left if she wasn't gonna do anything! And her granny helped with the prosthetics so technically-"

Akasha said all of that so casually. I didn't even care about it, I just joked about fucking Lion King. Yet under the surface, Ivy knew. Why wouldn't they say it casually? Why wouldn't they joke? It wasn't real to them before any of this happened, they were just animated characters on a screen or illustrated characters on a page. But they were real, all of this did happen, and Akasha couldn't even find it in herself to care about any of the specifics of who could be hurt because of her all-knowing eye. This guy wanted to kill Edward and Alphonse, they might've shown up late but Ivy saw the debris from the alleyway and the blood on Edward's face.

She recalled how much it felt like a punch to the stomach when Edward revealed who Scar truly was. Akasha couldn't even find it in her then to care when Winry was sobbing her heart out with a gun in her hand. Does she really hate Winry that much? Ivy clenched her hand into a tight fist, fingers digging into her palm painfully. What am I even doing on this train?

"Ivy?" Paninya's voice pulled the girl back to reality, feeling the soreness on her cheeks from frowning too much. Her handywoman friend looked concerned. "You wanna talk about it?"

Ivy hesitated a moment then shook her head, "it's nothing. I was just thinking. I just have to head back to Central and take care of things."

"Okay, but why Central?"

"Well it's Central."

Paninya smiled in exasperation, "yeah it's the most expensive city in all of Amestris and you were there forever! You don't get along with your parents so why go back?"

"I'm technically not really from Central." Only a small bit of the truth, that was all Paninya was getting. "But there's just stuff I think I should do."

"And this isn't about your friend? Akasha or something, she's still in Central, right?" Ivy paused, blood running cold, Paninya noticing nearly right away. "I don't know all the specifics. But when I asked Winry what she was doing in Central and if she was sticking around Ed and Al since she was interested in alchemy, she said none of you wanted anything to do with her." Ivy winced slightly at the word choice and glanced out of the window at the moving mountain ranges. "So whatever happened it must've been pretty bad if Winry of all people said that."

"We don't." Ivy replied before correcting herself, "well, they don't. It's complicated."

"'The accident that happened in Central' complicated?"

"Just complicated." Ivy skirted around the details. She didn't need another person telling her she was crazy for doing this and that what Akasha did was unforgiveable. "I- Winry, she doesn't think we should talk to her again. And she's right in that I at least think she should never be near Winry again but we have to talk."

Paninya quirked an eyebrow, "but?" She asked curiously, not due to her own impatience.

"I've known Akasha since we were five, I have to at least talk everything out with her before I make any decisions." Even if I'm still mad, I do think Akasha shouldn't be in Amestris anymore. If she goes back, she can start doing better. And after everything that happened involving Scar and the gun, Ivy was sure Akasha would be a bit more amenable to the idea. "We have to go back to our hometown. I think if that happens, things will be better for everyone." Ivy felt her lips pulling down into a frown. "It'll be especially good for her

"I don't get you. 'I have to, I have to because I need to', none of that sounds like 'I want to'."

Ivy blinked twice. "I mean, of course I wanna go back to my home. It's my home."

Paninya quirked an eyebrow, "do you because the whole time you talked about how you had to go back, you looked miserable." Ivy blinked blankly with no idea as to what she could say after that. With no reply in sight, Paninya sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "I'm not saying that you're not ever wanna go home. Maybe some day in the future when you're in Resembool or Rush Valley again or wherever, you'll wake up and think 'I wanna go to my hometown'. And, you know, you'll actually want to go to your hometown. You talk about how much Winry loves being in Rush Valley but you do too. I've seen you both and you never talked about where you were from or your family much. You always just seemed so happy and relaxed here, you weren't talking about how you couldn't wait to show your family the automail you were making, you were talking about how you wanted to study and build northern automail in the future.

You get excited talking about the trends. You were even talking about how once you got back from Central you were hoping that Elizabetta passed Mr. Garfiel's assessment because you could start expanding your customer base because you'd actually have automail to sell. None of that sounds like someone who misses their home so much they're just itching to get back to it. Like, if some magician just showed up today with some magical portal and said 'if you walk through this, you'll go back to your hometown but you can never make automail or see Winry or Ed and Al again', would you walk through it?"

At one point, I would've. Ivy looked at her knees brain racking at Paninya's words. There was the time she encountered the Truth, or God, whatever it called itself. She saw her gate and she did try walking through it. All she'd been thinking about was home then.

Paninya made a knowing sigh. "You're so stuck confusedly thinking about things that you don't even have to handle immediately that you're here sitting on a train heading to a city I don't even think you wanna go to talk to someone you don't even look like you actually want to talk to." Paninya raised a finger and pointed it at Ivy's chest. "So instead of thinking about things you actually want to do instead of stuff you think you have to do and just take it all one day at a time. If you change your mind one day, you change your mind and you can head off to do whatever you want at that point in time. So what do you wanna do now and is it heading to Central?"

"No." Ivy's voice was small but she no longer felt like she was two feet tall, the dark feeling in her chest subsiding exponentially and eyes stinging.

Paninya grinned with an expression of relief, "so let's head back home, alright?"

"Ugh my ass hurts." Ivy whined with a stretch. Her eyes still stung from the waterworks she spent but her shoulders felt considerably lighter.

"Well at least the seats here look slightly more comfortable than the ones at the Rush Valley Station." At the very least Paninya's words weren't just very dull wishful thinking.

The Lomeind train station wasn't as busy as Central's but there were enough people that it would probably take a bit of maneuvering to find a couple of free seats to wait everything out. At the very least, it was the universe giving the two of them some luck that Lomeind was only a station away from Rush Valley. Better Lomeind station than Central station, it would be another hour or so before they arrived back just before sunset. Winry'll kill me but I'll tell her everything. Ivy pointed her chin to the left, "I'm gonna go find a bathroom."

"I told you to go while we were on the train."

"I already hate public toilets to begin with and you want me to risk going to one on a moving vehicle? No thanks." Ivy gagged exaggeratedly before pacing over to what was the hanging sign of the women's bathroom. In spite of the hustle and bustle outside, there was no one else in the bathroom. God this is always like a horror movie when I come to one of these. She remembered a random tumblr post about how bathrooms and airports were almost like liminal spaces. Then she remembered Rest Stop, the horror movie that breathed into her the fear of rest stops and public bathrooms in the first place.

I don't like this. The quiet was unsettling even for a public restroom in the early 1900s. Ivy finished her business hurriedly, creaking her stall's door slowly and peering out for anything out of place. I didn't hear anyone come in this whole time so I guess it's fine. Wash your hands and get out. She opened the door a bit more widely, still on edge as she paced quickly to a sink and grabbing the bar of soap. It had become easier with washing her hand at least without dropping the bar, it was just a little odd to just rotate the same bar of soap over and over again in her hand to properly lavish it. Small victories. Maybe it won't be so bad when I get my automail. Ivy thought as she glanced to her left towards the bathroom entrance and looking carefully at her reflection in the mirror.

When no one appeared, she sighed. I'm just on edge because of what happened, I need to chill out. Nothing Rush Valley and Resembool couldn't fix once.

Ivy gave herself a small smile. Still a little forced but definitely a lot more natural. Not everything's okay yet but it's gonna be. She repeated firmly. I don't have to figure everything out and it's okay not to have Akasha in my life anymore. It's alright. One day at a time.

Wiping her hand on her pant leg, Ivy turned to leave before she felt the distinct feeling something was behind her and moved anxiously. There was no person, however, brown eyes wide in realization. Just the large and ever distinct carved stone gate that led her into Amestris in the first place.

Author's Note

It. Has. Seriously. Been. A. Long. Time.

I missed AFD and you guys so much and I hope AFD has been in your guys' hearts even after the long hiatus. A lot of stuff started going down in my personal life that writing became hard to do and I wasn't as motivated to go back and check in on the stories. So I just stopped writing AFD and considered dumping this account altogether since it was associated with how was feeling + stuff going on with my mom (she's now in a nursing home unfortunately), then something happened I won't specify and I just tried focusing on school, getting a part-time job, but I ultimately really missed this account and the stories here, especially AFD. So your girl is back and she's back for good, with a bonus account. Even if things are shitty, I don't wanna abandon a story I put a lot of work in that also I've wanted to complete since I was a kid so here I am.

I won't keep trying to drag you all down with my sob story but it is really nice to come back to this story and unwind with some familiar characters. Well, even if the story is currently in a more somber place right now. I'm writing SnK fics, it was therapeutic since it was a show Mom2 and I watched all the time before she got too sick so I started hyperfocusing on it. But we also watched all of FMA Brotherhood together and she even read the first chapter of AFD and liked it, so I'm rewatched Brotherhood, am currently rewatching FMA03, and I'm planning to reread the manga soon! A friend asked if Ivy ended up in the 2003verse, what would happen, and I can tell you what would happen, she'd become a Winry simp again.

Besides ending on the cliffhanger, with this chapter I really wanted to focus on Ivy and her inner turmoil concerning Akasha since that doesn't just disappear. Sometimes your head is telling you one thing and your heart is telling you another and your head is right and you just need to get all that out. So I'm glad Paninya was the one to help her through it. But then we end on the dramatic cliffhanger that is Ivy's gate reappearing on her way back to Rush Valley. Oh boi.

Here's a Ice Breaker Question of sorts since it's been a while: What's are some anime you really liked watching back in the early 2000s? I really liked watching Naruto, Ojamajo Doremi, Pretty Cure (I'm rewatching some of the old generations rn and the newest addition to the franchise), and Tokyo Mew Mew. Good times honestly.