The Muse's Quill bookstore, a single story Contemporary-style building located near Main Street, was a surprisingly popular for its small size. Everyday, many of the townspeople would visit to read and purchase books, magazines, newspapers, and more recently, DVDs.
It was here, that Alice found something of great sentimental value to Edan and her. That is, a copy of Fanfiction and Author Power for N00bs and Morons.
She gently tugged on Edan's sleeve. "Big brother, look what I found. Do you remember this book?"
He nodded in assent. "This is the manual we learned how to write from."
Suddenly, the world began to fade into darkness. Alice screamed with surprise. "Ahh! What's happening?"
Edan seemed to take the apparent enveloping of the world in complete darkness in stride. "Relax. The story's just going into a flashback."
"Witches! Black Magicians of evil! Come back here and take your punishment like men!"
"I'm not a man!" Alice shouted back her.
Linry Rockbell was chasing her neighbors, the Elrics, with a broom. It had all started when Alice found an Author manual at the local library. Edan and she developed their abilities quickly, and on this particular day, they had gone over to Linry's house to show her what they had learned. This did not sit well with Linry, who had just finished watching Hocus Pocus.
As soon as she entered the house, Alice hid behind her mother. Edan, the other hand, grabbed a straw from the kitchen and headed for the nearby lake. He would soon learn that this method of breathing under water only works in the movies.
Mrs. Elric smiled at the berserk Linry. "I'm assuming that there's an explanation for this."
"They were trying to steal my soul and leave by body for the lemmings!"
"You can't do that with Author Powers! Or can you? Hehehehehehe…."
Mrs. Elric and Linry stared wide-eyed at her.
"I mean, no, of course you can't."
Weeks later…
"I've done it! Yes!" Edan held up a rough model of a horse. "I've created something from a passage!"
Creation passages are the most basic of fanfiction procedures. Simply describe something in writing on any surface and use your abilities to make it appear.
"That looks really nice, big brother. Alice grinned, discreetly hiding her amazingly detailed, artist quality, nearly perfect figurine of a horse. "Why don't we go and show it to Linry?"
It was obvious to the siblings that something was wrong as soon as they entered the Rockbell house. The adults of the village were inside the house, talking with Linry's guardian. But most apparent was the fact that their friend was crying her eyes out.
"Are you okay? What happened?" Alice put an arm around Linry. Her figurine lay forgotten on the floor.
"It's my parents…" She choked out. "They've been killed… something about building a fire while pumping gas." The girl began crying anew.
Alice swallowed. "Our dad's gone too…"
"Don't be stupid, Alice!" Linry snapped at her. "Your dad just got up and left!"
The younger Elric recalled the incident bitterly. Hoenheim had said he was stepping out for some gum. Needless to say, he never returned.
"Does that mean he's coming back?" The normally aloof Edan spoke up. Alice scolded her brother for acting rude. Several of the adults, having over heard, walked over, angry expressions on their faces.
Alice and Edan landed with a thump outside of the Rockbell house.
"We really messed up, didn't we?"
"No kidding."
A short time later, a similar scene replayed in the Elric house. Trisha Elric became ill with an unknown disease. Doctors did not know if she would survive or not. So, the adults of the village came to help take care of Alice and Edan. They dumped their children in the village daycare, which was really just a giant cardboard box.
A week after she had taken sick, Trisha called for her son and daughter.
"There's some money in the cupboard upstairs. Take it in case you need to use it." She quieted for a moment. "I don't think I have much more time…"
"Don't talk that way, mom. You're going to get better." Alice tried her best to hold back her tears.
"Alice, Edan, could you please make me some flowers?"
"Okay, mom."
But, by the time they got back, they were already nailing Trisha's coffin shut. Alice buried her face in Edan's coat and wept. The elder Elric turned his head, so that his sister wouldn't see him crying. Several miles away, a cloaked figure was quickly making its way out of town. The figure swept back its hood to reveal itself as Mrs. Elric.
"Hmm… I wonder if faking my death, my illness, and fooling the dumb townspeople with a faux me for the sake of advancing the plot was the right thing to do…" She mused aloud.
"Yeah, probably." Trisha concluded. She continued on her path.
(Days later…)
Alice stared hard at Mrs. Elric's "grave". "I think we should try to bring her back."
Edan was shocked by her sudden announcement. "Where on earth did you get that idea?"
"She didn't deserve to die. Do you know why she left us so soon? It's because of our father."
"I was reading some of the books in our library last night when I came upon an interesting theory for human revival. The writer called it the Mary-Sue theory."
As soon as the words escaped her lips, the world seemed to undergo a short, minor cataclysm. Lighting flashed, thunder roared, fish floated to the surface of the waters they inhabited, dead. And to top it all off, musicians suddenly felt an irresistible urge to play the notes to a dramatic reverb.
"I'm about 90 percent sure that whatever powers that be just sent us a warning." said Edan.
"You're just being superstitious, big brother. Look, I'll say it again. The writer called it the Mary-Sue theory."
Lighting flashed, thunder roared, fish floated to the surface of the waters they inhabited, dead, and musicians suddenly felt an irresistible urge to play the notes to a dramatic reverb.
"Okay, now I'm 95 percent sure."