[insert snappy title here]
My heart was pounding and the familiar girl in the mirror, who I'm pretty sure is me somehow, threw a hand over her mouth while the other continuously pinched her arm, perhaps checking to make sure that this was all real. Light shades of pink blossomed wherever her fingers gripped the pale skin.
"Winry," an old lady called from downstairs. "Are you alright up there?"
Winry? As in Winry Rockbell? Oh man, I have officially gone off the deep end.
"Granny, help me! There's some freak in my body!" the feminine voice shrieked, giving me a splitting headache. The hand pinching my skin clutched my head instead as the voice screamed for me to leave and let her out.
"Winry?" the old lady called again.
I found my voice, though it was somewhat hoarse. After removing my hand from my face I yelled, "I'm fine! Just… stubbed my toe!"
"Keep it down up there," she said. I nodded to myself and took deep breaths to calm myself, but a certain voice wasn't helping.
"Get out of my body!" it commanded.
"Shut up!" I growled back, tears blurring my vision. I could feel my head pulsing beneath my fingers.
"Give me back my body!" the demon screamed.
All I could do was grunt as pain exploded behind my eyes. I stumbled around, knocking over automail supplies and blueprints in the process.
"Winry?" the old lady sounded closer than before. Aw shit, I'm screwed. I am so screwed!
"Let me out!"
"No!" I groaned, spinning stars clouding my vision. I rolled on the ground, mentally wresting with the raging devil. A box of screws exploded as it crashed onto my head with a loud thump.
The footsteps were right outside the door now and the knob turned slowly. Fear coursed through my veins and my concentration broke long enough for the demon to take over. Without permission my mouth shouted—
"GET OUT!"
Everything went silent. I used that small opportunity to gather everything I had to shut that voice up. I gasped as I gained control of Winry's body once more, demon hand and all.
The old lady stepped through the open door and I wasn't shocked to see Pinako Rockbell in all her teeny glory. Confusion and worry were evident in her wrinkled features as she looked around the room, pipe at the ready.
"What?" she asked calmly, though it was obvious she wanted to know more by the way she was staring at my bruises and the wrecked room.
"Uh, get out so that I can change…" I covered hesitantly.
"But you're already in your clothes," she pointed out while eyeing me suspiciously.
I looked down at Winry's customary jumpsuit ensemble and then back at her. "I meant my other clothes," I countered, rubbing the back of my neck nervously.
Pinako gave me a look that told me she wasn't buying it, but didn't push it any farther. "Do you mind helping me finish up Walter's automail?"
Now that sounded like a question, but by the way she was looking at me it seemed more like an order.
"YES! YES! YES! YES!"
"Sorry, but—" I furrowed my eyebrows. It was no easy task keeping that voice under control. I could already feel the mental restraints weakening under its crazed 'YES!' frenzy. "I actually—" I tried again.
"WOULD LOVE TO! Be down in a minute, Granny!"
I stared at my mouth with a mixture of horror and anger. I desperately wanted to curse that voice out, but I didn't think that Pinako would find me talking to myself sane.
I looked back up at Pinako and caught her shaking her head. She stuck the pipe in her mouth once more and turned to leave. "By the way," she began, chilling me to the bone. Had she found out? Was I that easy to see through?
"Your room is a mess. Clean it up," she finished offhandedly, closing the door behind her with a resounding click.
"Whew," I let out the breath I didn't realize I had been holding and laid back on the floor, completely and utterly drained.
I woke up disoriented. I blinked several times until the wood beneath me transformed from a blurry, brown mass to a hard, solid floor. The throbbing in my head subsided, but the aches on the rest of my body were just as sore and tender as ever.
"This is a dream. This is a dream. This is a dream," the voice inside my head chanted, but it seemed less and less true as everything became more and more real.
The world tilted, but then righted itself as I stood up and faced the mirror once more. Her mouth, erm my mouth, hung open as she, I, blinked stupidly. The empty feeling in my stomach only grew worse every time I opened my eyes and saw her staring back at me.
"This is a dream. This is a dream. This is… THIS ISN'T WORKING!" I flinched as the shrill voice echoed throughout my mind. "Who are you and what the hell are you doing in my body!"
"I'd tell you if I knew," I stated as I stared at my now blue eyes, wishing they would go back to their customary hazel.
"What do you mean by that? Shouldn't you know?" the voice noticeably softened.
I rolled my eyes. Letting out the breath I hadn't realize I had been holding, I leaned against the wall, thousands—no millions—of questions whipping around inside my mind like a mini tornado. One of them being why, out of all of the bodies I could be stuck in, did it have to be the one belonging to the whiny, crybaby, tramp wannabe Winry?
"What!"
"So what's your name?" I asked. If I was going crazy, I might as well know something about my partner in insanity.
"Winry Rockbell," the voice grumbled.
I opened my mouth to respond with maybe a cry of anger or a curse, but decided against it. "Francesca Cruz."
"Well hello, Francesca! And what did you call me again? Oh yah: a whiny, crybaby, tramp wannabe."
She didn't sound amused. In fact, she sounded downright murderous. Instead of taking the hint and apologizing, I threw gasoline on the flames like the oblivious idiot I have always been.
"You got that right, bitch. Francesca is in charge now and there's nothing you can do about it. So d—" my next words were cut off by a sharp stab of excruciating pain in my skull.
"You were saying!"
"You're super awesome and I admire your automail! Please stop that!" I pleaded in a strangled whisper.
"Aren't you sweet!" she giggled, ceasing the assault on my noggin. I swear, that girl is a psychopath.
"I can hear your thoughts you know," she pointed out threateningly. Oh… sorry? I puffed out my cheeks and tugged on a long piece of blonde hair.
"So do you know how we are… yah know 'together'?" I asked, getting straight to the point.
"Nope. One moment, I'm resting up after an all nighter and the next I'm sharing my body with a dummy."
"Haha, very funny, but I mean seriously, were you doing anything out of the ordinary… perhaps with circles and other various shapes…?" I pursed my lips as I fished around for an answer.
"No," she answered, totally not catching my hint. "But maybe my friends, Ed and Al, could figure this out," she continued more to herself than me.
We both pondered this thought for a bit, well she pondered and I nearly exploded from holding in my inner fan girl, but then the silence was ripped to shreds by a loud growl from my stomach. Winry snorted as I looked down at the pale, foreign appendage, poking at it every time it whined.
"You're hungry. Go get food," she prompted.
"Psh, I knew that," I said weakly as I pushed off from the wall and waded through a sea of metal and paper to reach the door. I looked out into the hallway and realized that as many times as I have watched Fullmetal Alchemist, I didn't know didly squat about the layout of the Rockbell estate. "What do I do next?"
"Just let me take over for a bit and I can lead you straight to the kitchen," she answered slyly.
"Sure, why not—hey wait a minute! No way, hag, if you take over you might do something stupid!"
"Like save us from starvation?" she deadpanned.
My stomach chose then to sing me another round of 'Feed me bitch!' "Good point," I sighed. "How about you just give me the directions?"
"Fine, so take a left…"
Five wrong turns, several arguments, and many migraines later, we were in the kitchen. Currently, Winry was rattling on about where everything was while I gave up trying to follow what was said and grabbed a ruby red apple. I took a large bite out of it and left the kitchen, a thin stream of juice running down my chin.
As I walked past an open door I heard Pinako answer a ringing phone. "Rockbell Prosthetic Limb Outfitters…" I wanted to continue walking past, but Winry was interested in the call.
"Come on!" she whispered excitedly, as if anyone besides me could hear her. "Maybe my package of limited edition bronze wrenches came early!" Yes, because that is exactly what this world needs more of: a crazy Rockbell with shiny, limited edition weapons.
I shifted the inhumanly large bite of apple to the left side of my mouth. "Winry, we should just go back to the room to sort all of—"
"Edward?" I heard Pinako ask. Okay, that got my attention. Ever so silently, I crept over to the cracked doorway and listened in. "She's a little busy… What kind of trouble did you get yourself into this time?... A broken arm, huh… Mhmm, I'll tell her you called… Tell Alphonse I said hello… Bye." The phone clicked as she hung up.
The squeals of Winry had long since died. "Oops," she muttered. Ignoring her, I wiped my chin on one of the jacket sleeves around my waist, swallowed, and stepped into the brightly lit room.
"So what did Edo want?" I eagerly asked.
"Ah, he broke his automail arm again and he needs you to go to Central to fix it," she said slowly, one gray eyebrow raised.
"Really?" I exclaimed. "I get to see Edo and the ah-dorable Al?"
"Yes," she answered hesitantly. "Winry are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, yeah just fine. D-damn that Edward and h-his disrespect for my m-masterpieces… roar. Grrr," I stammered. I chewed quietly on the apple in my hand.
"If you say so. Now go pack. I can handle the shop until you return."
"Okay!" I squeaked joyfully, bits of apple flying out of my mouth. With Winry's help, I made it back to the room in a couple of minutes.
"This is so awesome! I get to meet Edo and sweet ole Al!"
"Francesca."
"And explore Central!"
"Francesca."
"This is like a dream come true! Besides the fact I'm stuck in this body…"
"FRANCESCA!"
I stopped in my flurry of movements and dropped the black mini skirt onto the bed. "Damn, no need to yell."
She ignored me. "How do you know Ed and Al?"
"What?"
"Yah know 'Edo and the ah-dorable Al'," she mimicked my voice… well her voice technically although that didn't keep me from saying—
"I do not sound like that!"
"Answer the question."
"Well okay pushy. Hmm, let's see," I tapped my chin with my index finger and looked off into the distance. What could be a full proof lie that wouldn't come back to bite me in the ass? I mean, it's not like I could tell her the truth. She wouldn't believe me. Damn, I don't even believe me.
"Again: I can hear your thoughts!"
Oh yeah… shit.
"Shit indeed."
School is finally over! No more finals, no more creepy pervy teachers! Just me, my laptop, and my stuffed frog. Yes, this is the life.
I would love to thank LeFay Strent for reviewing, littleflowerkohona for alerting, and serenityangel1511 for favoriting. Yall really made my day :D
I do not own FMA.