Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, only my OC(s)

Warning: The beginning may be boring. It overviews the year, but you can skim through it until you see them start talking again, if you really can't handle it :)

Drawn to Life

Revelations

Twelve Months Later

Here's a fact: Determination gets you no where fast.

It took me eleven months to control my automail, and I spent the last month helping out around the Lament's general store and household.

I guess I'll tell you what's been happening in this last year first.

Well, it turns out I'm in this town that marks a fairly close half way point between Resembool and Rush Valley, it being slightly closer to Resembool. It's called Riverstone, because they get most of their electricity from watermills (the city has a huge river partially surrounding it). I've never heard of it, but it's not like I know all of Amestris, only what was in the Fullmetal Alchemist series.

The Lament's have a business running with -you guessed it- the Rockbells where they get the equipment the Rockbells need from Rush Valley and deliver it to Resembool. Mr. Lament usually does this alone, while Mrs. Lament handles the general store- their main income.

Mr. Lament had known Pinako for a while, so apparently he's been doing this delivery service for a while. Mr. Lament had told me that he had lost his leg when there was a fire at a friend's house and he tried to help his friend's family get out (they really need firemen here), but on the way out a support beam collapsed and fell on his leg. They were able to get him out, but his leg was burned and mangled beyond repair. Lucky for him, the Rockbells were more then happy to give him an automail one.

Well, I didn't get my nice automail making pedestrians, but I got the next best thing.

About a week after I had been taken out of the hospital, Mr. Lament told me we would be heading down to Resembool in the next week. I was a little leery about meeting Winry and Pinako, because I still didn't want to interact with any main characters, but I digressed. I had to get automail, so I might as well get it from the best.

When I arrived, Winry was all wrenches and sunshine, and I have to say, when she's not nailing Ed in the head with a hammer she's pretty nice. Odd, but nice. I think Pinako might have thought I had done the same thing as Ed and Al when she saw how neatly my appendages were cut, but didn't comment on it.

After a couple hours of pleasant chatting, we got down to business. Truthfully, I was scared as hell. I had seen how painful it was to reattach limbs, and I don't think I have nearly as much pain tolerance as Ed, so I guessed I could only hope it wasn't as painful as reattaching the whole limb.

I passed out after they finished connecting my second hand. I'm not sure what was more painful, getting my limbs ripped off or reattached. I just hope I don't do anything stupid to break them again.

We stayed about three days after that, in which I spent most of my time with Winry. She spent a lot of time telling me about her friends, Ed and Al, and she always seemed pleased when I took interest about hearing about them. I wouldn't say it was boring though, I knew generally all the boys' past and future, but it was nice to hear the stories about their childhood, since we didn't get a ton (some, but not a lot) of that from the anime.

I saw Winry and Pinako one more time during the year, when Mr. Lament went to go deliver some equipment they needed and I got an automail check-up. I was proud to say I didn't get wrenched.

As soon as I had gotten my automail, I began attempting to use it. I was an utter failure. It felt so weird to have to depend on something, but not being able to feel it. I got discouraged a lot, because it felt like I should be able to move my limbs- even if they weren't technically mine anymore.

While that was a constant struggle everyday, I had to do something else, to keep my mind off things. I ended up reading books about alchemy. Yes, I know, I probably shouldn't have, but really, it was about the only interesting book I could find. Their fantasy books were seriously lacking, and manga hadn't even been invented yet. That wasn't the only reason though, I was hoping I might find something on the gate coming without being summoned, though I hadn't had any luck.

Other than that, I thought a lot. Something I thought about was something he showed me as soon as I got to their home. It was a sketchbook, my sketchbook, in fact. He said it was lying next to me in the grass when he had found me.

Apparently, the gate had decided to take that too. The picture of the Fullmetal Alchemist cast was still in it (the only one, in fact. I had decided to use a new sketchbook when I drew it), but they weren't in the same position I drew them in. They were all lined up across the page, with the last look of pity, indifference, or sadistic glee they had on when they were 3D.

My first impulse was to throw it out, but I decided to keep it, because it might be important. I'm happy I had decided to keep it, because a week or two I after I got my automail, I decided to look at it again, out of boredom. Winry and Pinako had changed their facial expression. Winry was now beaming at me and Pinako seemed to look somewhat suspicious, if not indifferent.

After rubbing my eyes and checking my glasses to make sure they weren't smudged, I began somewhat freaking out. I thought it might have been a sign that they might come to life again, and that the gate might come soon after- and I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

After about an hour of nothing happening, I figured that wasn't the case and started to think about what it could be. When I figured it out (which took a substantial amount of time) I felt like hitting myself. Winry and Pinako were the only ones who I had met, so I figured the chibi versions of them displayed how they felt about me.

Let's just hope at least the homunculi don't change. I have the feeling that real Envy won't like me much more than chibi Envy.

The homunculi lead me to another one of my revelations: my eyes. Homunculi have violet eyes, I have violet eyes, that just does doesn't bode well. I can tell you this though, I am no homonculus. If I was, automail wouldn't be a problem, now would it? I'd just generate a couple limbs. The eyes though, I knew were going to be a problem, but I figured it wouldn't matter much as long as I stayed away from the army and homunculi themselves, which I planned on doing anyway.

The next of the matters I pondered throughout my time would be why the hell the gate even appeared in the first place. I know it has something to do with the transmutation circles in my house -another thing I don't get- but why did it react on its own? How did the little Envy even know about it in the first place? He's a drawing for God's sake!

Why did the gate even take me? That equivalent exchange crap says I need something in return for loosing my feet and hands- which was more than Ed lost. I only got some violet eyes in return, and I somehow doubt that's even worth a hand.

I guess that brings me to the strange vision I had before I blacked out. The person whose thoughts, or words, I'm not quite sure, I was hearing sounded female. I can come to the conclusion she committed human transmutation from her desperation to bring whoever back, but what deal was she talking about? Can you even make deals with the gate?

I can also figure she saw whoever the guy was, but he was either a homonculus or that.........thing you get when you commit human transmutation. I don't think it was that bloody thing you get though, because she only seemed worried about the eyes. She said sky blue though, and like I said before, don't homonculus have violet eyes?

I sighed in my reverie of the last year as I finished sweeping up the house. "I see you have a good grasp of that automail now. It's nice to see that your not falling over yourself anymore."

I looked up to see Mr. Lament smiling from the door frame. I smiled back and said somewhat bitterly, "Yeah, but I didn't exactly get it in the six months I had planned."

Mr. Lament laughed, as I learned he often did, and said, "At least you got it! Too bad your grasp on automail didn't come with alchemy!" he said while laughing harder.

I scowled and anime sweatdropped (I totally freaked out when I first did that) as I glared at him. I tried alchemy a couple days after I finally completely controlled my automail, because, honestly, who wouldn't? Don't listen to fanfictions, you don't get fabulous alchemy powers when you cross the gate.

I suck. Hard.

I can preform it without a circle though, because I did see The Truth. I thought they stuff information into your brain at school, but it had nothing on The Truth. Anyway, even if I can preform it without a circle, I still suck.

Well, not at everything. Irony of all irony, I can use alchemy to bring pictures to life.

The first time was a complete mistake. I was doodling on a paper about two weeks ago, and drew a bird. I got bored, so I decided to try alchemy again. I put my hands on the paper I was doodling on, and decided to try and turn it into an origami swan. I got the light and all that jazz, but nothing else happened. I slumped down in my seat and slammed my head into the table. I sat like that for a while, until it felt like someone was poking my forehead.

I picked my head up and, what do you know, the bird I had just drawn was staring right back me. I screamed and fell back in my chair. The Laments were out, so they didn't come running, but the little bird had the audacity to flutter onto my nose.

Ever since then, I had been practicing when the Laments weren't around, because I figured it would be better if absolutely no one knew about my little talent, and that little bird has been with me. I told the Laments I found her and she took a liking to me, I felt bad for lying, but I knew it was for the best.

I named her Chipper, because she always seemed to be happy enough to bug me no matter what time it was. I had shaded her so she was all black with a white underbelly and little black legs and beak. I didn't know why she stayed out so long, because my other creations went back into the paper after a time until I summoned them again, but didn't really question it. Why bother? I had other things to think about.

"So, are you sure you want to leave?" asked Mr. Lament, once again pulling me out of my reverie.

Chipper landed on the top of the broom I was holding and trilled while looking at me, as if asking the same question. I nodded confidently and said, "Yeah, I think I remember some of my family living in Central."

Of course, this was not true. I wanted to avoid Central at all costs, but I had read something in the newspaper that mad me spit the juice I was currently drinking out.

It was about some guy with sky blue eyes terrorizing the place. Now, that could be anyone, but it was the picture that got me. The person seemed like a blur, but his eyes looked like they were glowing because you could clearly see them. They were a haunting, hollow sky blue, just like the one I saw in the vision I had in the gate.

Normally, I would just leave it alone, but I did intend on getting back to my world. Not only that, I needed to know why I was taken in the first place, and I had the feeling this guy would know the whole story.

Mr. Lament looked at me, and told me with his eyes that he didn't believe me. Through all the time I was here, I hadn't mentioned my family once, and here I am suddenly saying that I remember I had some in Central. Not very tactful, I know, but I couldn't really think of much else that wouldn't sound either crazy or ungrateful. Mr. Lament just sighed and said, "Remember that you always have a home here."

"Right," I said, smiling.

"You can even keep your new cloths," He said, brightening up.

I had obviously gotten new clothes, because I don't particularly like walking around and nearly screaming that I'm different. I got a long sleeved violet shirt, a black vest to go over it and black gloves to go over my automail hands. I kept my jeans, because I felt the most comfortable in them, and they were dark enough to not be very noticeable. For shoes I got black hiking boots, so they covered over my ankle and I could go almost anywhere in them. The most important thing though, was my black ribbon chocker with a black metallic cross attached. My mom had given me it for Christmas the last year I had been there.

It kept my usual flair, because I certainly wasn't changing just because I was in a new world, but didn't stand out. I kept my old clothes in a drawer in my room, because I didn't have the heart to throw them out.

"I really appreciate you buying me them," I said truthfully.

"No problem. I just expect regular payments of money while you're traveling, since you're not here to work off the money you owe us," He said while laughing.

I sweatdropped, again. I hope he was joking........

Mr. Lament sobered up and said, "But really, you've become like a daughter to Martha and I in this last year, don't do anything reckless while you're gone."

"Never," I grinned, trying to keep the mood light.

He smiled, ruffled my hair, and said, "Martha said you already said goodbye to her this morning since she couldn't take seeing you go. I guess this is goodbye, squirt. You better come back and visit!"

As he began leaving the room, I took that as my queue to split. I leaned the broom up against the wall and grabbed the bag I had packed for myself off the counter. I had food for a day or two, money, my train ticket to Central, a change of clothes, my sketchbook and a bag of pencils, a couple alchemy books, and a notebook that had the Rockbells' and Laments' numbers in it.

"Come on, Chipper," I said to my traveling companion as I walked to the door and headed down the porch steps. Chipper trilled and landed on my shoulder. I began walking down the dusty road towards the train station. It was only a little over a mile away, and Mr. And Mrs. Lament had been making me walk these kinds of distances since I was able to walk again, so I was able to rebuild my stamina.

I looked up and saw it was nearly sunset; my train would be arriving at nine.

"Hn, I'm walking into the sunset. How cliché," I mumbled to myself as I continued to walk until the Laments' house was only a speck in the distance.