Title: A Fangirl's Dream
Summary: Ivy is no stranger to the 'Isekai' trope; her best friend writes fanfic for it all the time. She just never expected to find herself in one, let alone for a series she's never even watched. But between the alchemy, automail and lack of plot knowledge, crushing on the protagonist's love interest is about the dumbest thing she's ever done.
Pen Name: FanfictionIsMySideHustle
It's just a dream, just a dream. Brown eyes burn as they desperately close once more. This has to be a dream. Yet when her eyes open, all that lies before her is the same wooden fence and swept over grass she's been looking at for the past couple hours. Despair settles in Ivy's chest at the sight of it.
It's been approximately two hours since she stumbled into the place called Resembool. The sun has gone down and the quiet countryside is bathed in moonlight.
"The hell's a Vallant?!"
Ivy digs her heels into the creaking porch steps she rests on as she remembers the confused expressions of the boys from before. Shock turned into desperation and desperation turned into her sprinting down the path of the place she refused to accept as her reality. Sitting on the porch of the Rockbell house, the only vague piece of familiarity she has in this world ー no, dream ー is all she has to show for it.
Ivy had run until the sun dipped behind the rolling hills; the gate that had delivered her into Resembool is gone.
This has to be a dream.
It simply has to be.
Wandering into your best friend's favorite anime isn't something that happens in reality. This dream is only the byproduct of nearly three years of her friend's obsessive ramblings of a show about a blond and his mech suit-wearing brother.
And yet, and yet.
The dread in her belly only deepens as she blinks once more to see the land in front of her. How she feels the aching sting of her feet. The wafting scent of her sweat that reaches her nose and the sticky film of how it dried over her skin. The sting of her ass from shitting on a foreign porch. All while she sits in her damp blue practice jersey, backpack and duffle bag placed on either side of her.
Even for a dream, this is too realistic, isn't it? Ivy can't stop the thought from ringing through her mind. She shakes her head, fingers digging into her arms. She ignores the realism of her touch. I'm doing too much. I probably just knocked out at the bus stop.
Time in dreams always goes by slowly, she rationalizes.
For all she knows, this arduous dream of hers will only have been the result of a five minute power nap when she awakens.
If only she'd wake up now instead of having this realistic passage of time.
The Rockbells have gone to sleep, at least Ivy thinks so. She hasn't quite been able make herself to turn around and check. Her chest clenches at the thought of it. The lights were on when she had her walk of shame but the family inside hadn't noticed her return. It's embarrassing enough to come crawling back to the house of the dream girl she cussed out, she didn't need the family noticing her. If they did, they'd probably chase her off and the last thing she wants to do is wander around Farmville at night.
Thankfully, this is a dream, Ivy reminds herself. Even if they did chase her off, she'd probably wake up at the bus stop and breathe a sigh of relief. Ugh, I'm telling Akasha we need to push off the FMA thing by a week. The secondhand consumption is doing too much. She can already imagine how Akasha will react when she tells her about it. How the moment Winry's name leaves her lips, Akasha will groan and gag while clutching her metaphorical pearls. At this point, Ivy almost prefers to hear the rant rather than the sound of the nocturnal insects keeping her company. Almost.
"Hey," a warm but small hand clasps Ivy's shoulder. "Hey, girl."
Ivy all but jumps out of her skin, backpack and duffle bag falling down the steps in her panic. "You are gonna have to work for this-" at the sight of the old woman that barely reached Ivy's hip, Ivy's shoulders sag. "Oh my god. Oh my god. It's just an old lady," Ivy could have cried. "Lady, why would you scare me like that?"
The woman's only reaction to the spectacle is a lack of amusement. She really is short, pale hair resting at her shoulders as she is dressed in a nightgown as the dim light of the living room shines behind her. When had she spotted the teen camping at her front door? "You've been sitting on our porch for hours like a cat waiting for the rain to pass," the woman begins while Ivy tries to calm her sporadic heartbeat. "If you were a thief, I figured you would have tried your luck by now. So I decided to finally come and get some answers myself. Is there a reason you're sitting here?"
"Well it's definitely not to rob your house," Ivy winces at her own wording. "Seriously. I'm not interested in what you have. I'm just…" Waiting to wake up? Waiting for someone to wake me up? Who wouldn't wake up some poor, defenseless girl sleeping on a bench? "Waiting."
If the woman is retracting her earlier thought that Ivy isn't a thief, it doesn't show. Her poker face is impeccable. "And what is it that you're waiting for?" Ivy bites her lip, rubbing a thumb against her index and pointer fingers. "Resembool's not a place that tends to get visitors. And I'm sure if you were looking for a specific family of locals, you would have gone there already," Ivy winces at each observation. "You're the girl my granddaughter said wanted to use the phone, aren't you? Where's your mother?"
If it were possible to shrink into nothing, Ivy would have done it. The questions do nothing but increase her desires. "I…" She would have preferred if the woman had left Ivy to her own devices. "Sorry for camping out on your porch. And for shouting at your granddaughter," she murmurs. "I can go somewhere else."
Where else can she go in this town? Ivy supposes she will find out soon enough.
"We don't have any hotels here," the woman tells her before Ivy can turn to reach for her things. "And the train station is going to be closed."
So this place has a train station? It isn't as if the place will do her any good but she can at least lay down there properly. As the girl mulls this over, a sigh pulls her out of her thoughts. "You're getting too old for this, Pinako," the woman ー Pinako ー whispers to herself. "Come on in." Ivy can only blink in confusion before Pinako is already lugging her backpack into her home."Come on now, get in. We can talk in the morning after we've both gotten some rest."
Let me wake up… now! Now! The repetition of the mantra does nothing to sweep away the nighttime countryside Ivy is standing in. Nor does it make the old woman waiting for her answer disappear. "Thank you," Ivy mumbles at last. This isn't the first time she'd been unable to wake up from a dream. Of course, most of the time those dreams involve her being chased by Jason or Freddie, not farmland and old women.
"Just wait here," Pinako instructs as Ivy places her makeshift luggage at the foot of the couch. "We should have something that fits you."
Left alone to her devices, Ivy places her bags on the floor next to the couch. The living room is mostly the same as it had been when she'd been here some hours ago. Boxes here and there filled with fake limbs, wires and other doodads. Ivy ignores the tendrils of her earlier thought attempting to creep into her head again. It doesn't matter how detailed things are, a dream is a dream is a dream.
It doesn't matter if the wool blanket Pinako gives her feels real to the touch.
It doesn't matter if the cotton fabric of the shirt and shorts is reminiscent of anything else she would wear.
I'm dreaming. She has to be.
"Do you have a name I can call you by?"
"Ivy."
Pinako nods, satisfied with her guest's answer. "Well Ivy, you go ahead and rest up," she gestures to a light switch nearby. "Once you're done changing, just remember to turn off the light. I'll see you in the morning."
"Thank you again," Ivy mutters as the old woman turns to hoist herself up the stairs. As the creaking grew more distant, Ivy looked at the bundles in her hand. She stalls for a minute longer before finally relenting and changing. If she isn't going to wake up soon, the least she can do is change into something more comfortable.
The clothes are soft, plain, but familiar and comforting. Just like anything else she would wear as pajamas. The wool blanket was warm but felt scratchy against her skin. She ignores the details once more as her eyes slowly adjust to the darkness she's in. No bonnet and no satin pillowcase to protect her hair, she made do with wrapping it in her hoodie.
What a day.
What a dream.
Ivy thinks back to the out of place stone structure at Leif Park. It really had been unlike anything Ivy had ever seen there or anywhere else in Vallant. Was that really the shortcut Akasha was talking about? It was the only thing there Ivy could see that could have been translated into 'you'll know it when you see it'. The farmland of Vallant isn't something out of the ordinary.
Ivy has spent more than her fair share of time running through the grasslands with her childhood friends.
With the amalgamation of small city and countryside, field trips to farms were especially common.
A gate disappearing into thin air, however, is definitely outside the realm of reality. That's why this had to be a dream, right? Gates don't just disappear nor do they ever lead you into a realm full of fictional characters, let alone fictional characters you don't even know.
Ivy can barely keep her eyelids open as she comforts herself with the logic.
Magic doesn't exist, that's a truth of this world. It doesn't exist and multiverse theory doesn't trigger for girls like her. The ordinary girls that stay in their lane and live life cautiously. I am just like other girls and I like that. That's why this has to be a dream.
This ain't my room.
This is unwholly, unequivocally not the room Ivy has fallen asleep in the better part of her life. Nor is this the bus stop Ivy plopped her ass on prior to changing course to Leif Park.
No, this is the same wooden, Little House on the Prairie-esque house she fell asleep in last night. Her hair is still tied tightly in her navy blue hoodie and her bags still rest on the floor with the boxes of prosthetic limbs and wires.
Flinging the blanket off of her, Ivy reaches for her jeans resting atop her duffle bag and grabs her phone. 49% of life. The time and date functions were blank, only hyphens in their place. No bars of reception were displayed, her map and weather app won't load. Nor her repeated attempts to call her mother.
This cannot be for real, Ivy breathed heavily. Yet reality ー her actual reality ー only serves to give her a harsh wakeup call.
This is real.
This is not a dream.
What the hell?!
Before panic can take her completely, the sound of steps approaching behind makes Ivy shove her phone back into her pocket. "Ah, so you're awake now," Pinako announces and Ivy looks over her shoulder to see the old woman with her hair in an oddly long bun. Across her shoulders is a well-used rag covered in oil and her hands are covered in a pair of brown gloves distinctly missing the fabric that would protect her index fingers. "You certainly slept in," the woman says, not unkindly. It is merely an observation. "Everyone else has been up and at 'em for a little over an hour now."
"Sorry," Ivy stands with a nervous smile. "I was pretty tired last night."
"I'm sure you were, camping on our porch most of the night," it certainly must have been a sight, seeing some random girl sitting there for hours on end.
"Thanks again for letting me spend the night," Ivy scratches the back of her head and remembers the hoodie wrapped around it. Watching as Ivy yanks it off, Pinako raises an eyebrow. "I didn't have a bonnet to keep my hair in."
Pinako makes a sound of understanding before continuing on to her next point, "There's breakfast left for you on the table if you want it, though it's gone cold now."
"Cold food is a non-issue with me," Ivy has had many a sleepover with pizza she, Akasha and Austin had refused to reheat to avoid waking up any other residents of the house.
"Speaking of what you're used to," Pinako crosses her arms. "Do you mind telling me what you were waiting for last night in more depth? It isn't everyday something like this happens in quiet Resembool. Are you a traveler?"
Ivy hasn't been awake long enough to have a cover story on hand. How does one come up with a cover story for a world they know so little about in the first place? "Not exactly," Not at all. Ivy hadn't ever left the state of California. "I'm kinda… stuck."
"'Stuck?'" Pinako repeats, incredulously.
Ivy nods, only hoping she looks calmer than the storm brewing in her mind. Why did it have to be Fullmetal Alchemist? Why couldn't this have been somewhere in the Four Nations? She'd have more than enough knowledge to save her ass if that was the case. Although she supposes this could have been worse. If she were in Clorox, she might have been able to have gotten away with saying she's a lost American tourist but that would come at the cost of not knowing Japanese and dealing with those Hollow monsters. Fuck!
"Am I making you nervous right now?"
Ivy snaps out of her panic, not even realizing that she'd been tapping out a melody on her calf with her index finger. "I," Ivy licks her lips. "I kinda had a rough day yesterday."
"I think I heard a bit about it."
Ivy recalls her less than stellar exchange with Winry and winces. Venting to her grandmother about the angry black girl who cussed her out for no reason isn't outside of the realm of possibility. "... Sorry about that. I kinda took something out on your granddaughter that had nothing to really do with her."
Pinako's poker face is hard to read, but she ultimately nods. "I'm not the one who really needs apologizing."
"Er, where's your granddaughter at? I can do that right now."
"She's out walking Den right now, so I'd appreciate you apologizing to her when she comes back. She was pretty down the rest of the night after what happened."
"I will," it's the least Ivy can do, all things considered. It really hadn't been a prank orchestrated by Akasha to annoy her and knowing that now, it only makes everything she shouted at the blonde all the more awful. But honestly apologizing is the least of my worries. Where the hell am I supposed to go in this world? How much would a $20 bill take her? And that's assuming the US dollar even works here. If it doesn't, Ivy prevents herself from shuddering, she really will be assed out.
Pinako's own thoughts aren't too far off from Ivy's it seems, "So where are you planning to go next? Did you have a plan of where to go next?" The questions pull Ivy back to the conversation.
"No," Small bits of truth. I can tell small bits of truth. Until she gets a firmer grasp of how this country works, Ivy can trickle truth her way into a story for herself. "I'm having problems at home." Getting home. "And with how the phone call with my Mom went yesterday..."
Ivy doesn't need to say more before Pinako puts together the presumed puzzle on her own, "So you're a runaway?"
"Yeah," Ivy agrees, that's better than anything else she could have said. "And my resources are kinda…. Crappy."
"Define 'crappy'."
"Virtually nonexistent?"
Pinako pinches the bridge of her nose, sighing in frustration. Ivy is sure she is again thinking she is too old for the impulsive decisions of a dumb teenager. Somehow, Ivy knows that if she had instead said the truth that she came from a completely different world, Pinako would need more than just a few cigarettes to quell her nerves. That's assuming she didn't call someone to put Ivy in the bin first. "I suppose I have no choice," Pinako exhales at last, placing her hand on her hip. "If you have nowhere else to go, I don't mind giving you a roof over your head. As long as you help out with the chores, you have somewhere you can rest."
"R-really?" Ivy can't help how her eyes grow to the size of saucers in her disbelief. Is she relieved or is she full of dread? Ivy can't quite tell the difference in this moment, too much is happening at once. "You wouldn't mind at all?"
"This isn't the first time I've opened my house to those without a place to return to," Pinako says with a nod. "I doubt this will be the last. Just make sure you get along with Winry."
Apparently there is a god. Or at the very least, the universe is done fucking her. "Thank you so much, Miss Pinako! I'll get along with her, she seemed nice."
"She's passionate and sincere, although she can be pretty stubborn when she wants," Pinako speaks nostalgically, mind far off as she remembers a past Ivy knows nothing about. "I'll let you know now though that my granddaughter is quite the automail enthusiast, so try not to be too surprised when she swoons over it."
Considering the decor of the house, Ivy doubts the swooning would have been that surprising. "I'll draw up a bath for you so you can take one after breakfast. If there's anything you need me to wash, leave it on the couch and take your bags to the guest room."
With that, the old lady left for the bathroom and Ivy's stomach rumbled a beat later. Breakfast first, crisis second.
Breakfast is rather normal compared to what Ivy had been expecting for what she assumed was a fantasy anime ー grits, eggs and a few slices of toast. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised though, she relishes the buttery taste of the grits in her mouth. I didn't even realize I wasn't in Vallant anymore. Perhaps this place is closer to her reality than she previously assumed.
The kitchen, while not modern, is as normal as a kitchen can get. It smells like the food she is currently munching on and there are no prosthetic limbs in sight. Maybe there's a dash of oil in the air, but nothing too overwhelming. Looking out the window the table is next to, all she sees are rolling green pastures. The sky is a clear blue, very few clouds on the horizon. The ones that are present are fluffy and white, like a pastel painting.
Like she's back home and not sitting in a kitchen in a fictional country about two boys trying to get their bodies back. No Hollow monsters, no ninjas and certainly no Pokemon. Hell, honestly, it wouldn't have been bad if I'd ended up in Pokemon now that I think about it. If she had to be tossed into a fictional setting, why couldn't it have been that? There's a region or ten that Ivy would have loved traversing! The Digital World could have been a nice change of pace as well. Maybe she could have adopted a Leafmon ー not to mention the boon that unlike pokemon, digimon can talk.
Yet despite all the places she could have ended up where she did know the source material, Ivy was given Fullmetal Alchemist. It's Akasha who should be sitting here right now. Akasha would know what to do, she'd follow the format of her fanfiction to a tee. Perhaps she wouldn't be pleased she's in Resembool seeing her greatest opp on a daily basis, but she'd have a foot in the door for meeting Edward Not Cullen.
And if I were a fangirl who did nothing but eat, sleep and breathe this show, what would I do next?
"I would totally learn alchemy from Ed and Al if I were in FMA!" Akasha grinned. "Oh, but maybe I could learn from Roy. Oh oh, or Armstrong! That would be so funny!"
Well she certainly wouldn't learn how to do alchemy here, that much is certain. That's the extent of her Akasha reference, Ivy sighs. Learning alchemy aside, Akasha would simply reside herself to living in this place for the rest of her life. So I'm on my own when it comes to going back home. Great. I just wanna get out of here…
Ivy closes her eyes, finding the wooden aesthetic of the Rockbell kitchen annoying to see instead of the faux marble ones of her house that her mom adored. Universe, just…. Bring me what I need. Home.
When she hears a door suddenly creak open, Ivy eyes shoot open in disbelief that that actually worked ー until she sees it hasn't. Apparently, my wish is too much to ask for.
Instead of her mother or any semblance of home, a black-and-white streak runs in and out of the kitchen too excited to sit down anywhere. Her claws and metal prosthetic making two different, distinct pitter patters on the floor. Despite herself, Ivy smiles a little. At least the dog is cute and cute animals can always raise her spirits no matter the world she is in.
Cheerful laughter follows the dogs excited movements, "it's still too early for treats, girl." Winry entered Ivy's line of vision, dressed in her jumpsuit from before with the sleeves tied around her waist.
With a whine, Den makes a lap in a circle but Winry only laughs again before she finally notices the other girl in the kitchen. Gleeful laughter turns into an awkward and nervous smile faster than either of them can blink. Ivy returns a lackluster smile of her own. "Um, hi. Granny said you spent the night," Winry, flustered, corrects herself. "Not that it wasn't obvious when I came down for breakfast. Sorry."
"Sorry about taking up the space on your couch," Ivy coughs.
"It's no problem at all!" Winry replies a bit too enthusiastically and she looks as if she wants to kick herself.
The tension was almost sickening.
"... look so about yesterday," the bandaid would have to be ripped off eventually, Ivy is doing it now before this festers into a bigger deal than it actually is. "I'm sorry I snapped at you before. It wasn't you I was mad at but I took it out on you anyway, that was really shitty of me."
Pleasant surprise dances in blue eyes, "oh um, it's really no problem!" Ivy would argue that is considering this girl really is Winry Rockbell and not some weeaboo wrapped into Akasha's pranks. "I should have been more sensitive since you were just talking about how you really had a bad phone call with your mom so I should have- oh, did you want to try calling her again?"
Ivy waves a hand with as much nonchalance as she can muster. There's no point in doing that anymore. "For now my mom and I aren't really on a talking basis." How does the multiverse work when you disappear from your universe? Is everyone else aware she's gone missing or does her reality go into limbo until she returns? "I talked with Miss Pinako, she said I could stay here as long as I help out with the chores. So it looks like we'll be roommates for a while."
The sad look from yesterday returned, but this time it stays on Winry's face, "that's… really sad to hear."
"That I'm staying here for a while?" Ivy can understand if Winry doesn't want to room with someone who nearly bit her head off but she still feels slighted.
"No!" The reply is rushed from nerves rather than passive aggressiveness. "I just… you and your mom not talking. It's really sad." Winry looks to the ground, lost in thought.
Akasha said this girl's parents are dead right? Fuck. Flustered herself, Ivy stands up hands slamming on the table so loud Winry can't help looking up. "Hey it's fine alright? Moms and daughters fight all the time, y'know? So you don't have to feel bad. We just need some space! I'm pretty sure that you get it." You're making shit worse! "Grannies, moms, women."
Acknowledging this isn't her cleanest attempt at salvaging a situation, Ivy sighs and decides to change the subject. "What if we just start this over again? With introductions." Walking two, three paces to a comfortable distance in front of the mechanic, Ivy holds out her hand. "I'm Ivette Carter but no one calls me that. Ivy or Vee are my go too. Have fun picking your poison, it's nice to meet you, Miss…"
Surprise turns into amusement as Winry slips her own hand into Ivy's. "Winry Rockbell, it's nice meeting you too. We're gonna work you to the bone while you're here!"
"Is it too late to back out now?"
"Yes," Winry beams with a giggle and Ivy sighs lightly with a smile of her own. She's nice, Ivy can tell. Definitely sincere. Ivy can tell that the two of them will get along just fine. "Really the most we have to do is laundry, sweeping, mopping, that sort of stuff so don't worry, Granny won't have you do anything ridiculous. Walking Den might really be the only big thing you'd have to do."
Den who has since calmed down, laying down in a tired heap. "Long walk?"
Winry nods with a melancholic expression, "I feel bad sometimes when we can't play since I'm busy in the workshop so I make sure we get a long one at least once a week."
"I'm guessing you're pretty busy here then?"
"Kind of," the two of them transition into sitting at the kitchen table as the conversation carries on. "We're no Rush Valley but we still have regulars in town, so we get a steady service. Lately, we've mostly been making traditional prostheses. Not a lot of people in town use automail and sometimes we get to ship out to others in nearby towns too."
"Winry's Automail Delivery Service?"
The comment makes Winry smile once more but she shakes her head. "Not really! We just let the postmen handle that! We don't really get to travel," despite that fact, Winry doesn't seem too bothered. "But one day I'm definitely going to Rush Valley. It's my dream!"
"And Rush Valley is…?" Ivy asks, trailing off in her curiosity.
That is the straw that breaks the camel's back and all it takes for Winry to look as if hearts and sparkles are floating around her form. "Just the Amestrian hub of automail engineering, the Engineer's Mecca!" She certainly looked as if she were imagining a holy land. And yet despite automail and engineering being far from Ivy's typical interests, the bubbly enthusiasm is contagious. "If I could go there just once, I'd die!"
"Winry! If you're back now, come help me in the workshop!" The fact Den doesn't even move is a testament to how tired she is.
With her flight of fancy decidedly ended by forces beyond her control, Winry stands up sheepishly. "Coming, Granny!" A carefree smile is painted across her face and one that matches is on Ivy's. Yes, they'll definitely get along. "I'll talk to you later. You should finish your breakfast! Maybe if today isn't busy Granny will let me off early today and I can show you around Resembool since I'm guessing you've never actually been here."
"That'd be really nice, actually," she has to make the best of this situation and learning Resembool's layout is certainly a start. When the friendly blonde is no longer in sight, the airy feeling leaves Ivy's body.
As nice as these people were, this is going to be a trying situation.
Akasha Maverick kicks a tiny pebble across the paved road as she walks the paved road of Dublith, Amestris.
Once again, she managed to get into another fight with the smallest, no youngest, State Alchemist known in Amestrian history.
As it turned out, like a lot of the girls she had read about in the Fullmetal Alchemist section of her favorite fanfiction writing website, living in the world of alchemy wasn't the dream getaway she always thought it would be.
Sure she had been a fan since eighth grade and knew basically everything about it.
Sure she had finally begun learning alchemy just as she had always wanted and even had been taught by Izumi Curtis herself.
Yet in this particular moment, those victories felt hollow.
She couldn't stop Maes Hughes from dying.
She wasn't sure when Greed's attack would take place since Edward hadn't left yet to do his State Alchemist assessment.
Worst of all, she couldn't stop herself from falling in love with Edward Elric.
When she really thinks about it, perhaps falling in love with him had been inevitable. It had simply been admiration to start. Edward has always been easy to admire when a screen and manga panels separated them from one another, it's a completely different experience when she got to know him up close and personal.
Edward Elric is many things ー rude, stubborn, impulsive. Yet in the same breath he is cute, sweet and compassionate. Anyone would fall for that. Guilt prevented her from saying anything though. How could she when she has so far been powerless from stopping the tragedies she knew well in advance were coming?
There were some changes she made. It had been good to be credited with saving that mother and child in Rush Valley. And it had been nice when Alphonse accepted her as a sister figure.
But what does all that mean in the face of failure?
These were matters she contemplated heavily in her diary that she'd been keeping as a record of her daily adventures and alchemy notes. Looking back now, writing about how I'm from a world where everything in this world is just an anime was a dumb idea. Akasha wanted to kick herself this time. You're such an idiot, Akasha!
It is because of that very idiotic act that Edward had come to her, diary in hand, yelling about how he had read everything. How Mr. Hughes was dead now and she made no effort to try and stop it.
Fighting the urge to cry feels futile.
Now what am I gonna do?
"Akasha!"
Akasha jolts and turns around, long brown hair flowing in the wind from the action. Ed?
There the boy is, running towards her like his life depended on it and when he reaches her, his face is red. Flushed. And he was panting like a dog on a hot summer day.
"Ed, what are you doing here?" Akasha takes a step back. "I get it already, okay? You're mad at me and I betrayed you. You don't need to walk me to the train station." She turned around, trying to continue but stopped when she felt a metal hand wrapped around her wrist.
"Wait a minute!"
Eyebrow raised, Akasha looks at the boy incredulously, "what the hell am I to you huh? Some trusty dog? You said you wanted me to get the hell out of here!"
"We need to talk! About the things you wrote!"
"So now you wanna talk?" Akasha snorts, yanking her hand back in disbelief. "What about before when I was at Izumi's? You didn't wanna talk then. I don't wanna talk now. So just let me go so I can buy my ticket out of here!" Roy had to have been in Central by now, perhaps she could plead her case to him and find a way to make herself useful. But there's still the homunculi I have to worry about, I don't wanna catch their eyes either.
"I'm sorry, okay?!" Edward snaps looking more frustrated with himself than her. "I was being a hot head! I wasn't thinking!" He caught his breath before continuing. Maybe his breath wasn't back to normal after all. "I-I should have realized earlier that you were going through a lot and that it couldn't have been easy keeping this all to yourself. And that you were probably just trying to protect us in your own way… and I read some more of your diary trying to see if anything about our time together was just a lie or not and I saw."
Akasha pauses. "Saw… what?" There was plenty in her diary she wrote and Edward's words left little in clues.
At her prodding, Edward's face turns a red that blends into his trademark coat. "I saw… what you wrote about… your feelings."
Akasha's face nearly turns ashen and without a word she prepares herself to run.
"Hey wait a minute!" A steel hand wraps itself around her wrist.. "I just wanted to say that-"
"Let me go! I don't wanna hear what you're gonna say!"
"That I-"
"Let!" Why...
"Lo-" Am I doing this...
When I should be telling him how I feel?
"Akasha, wake up!" Akasha jolts at the sound of her older brother shouting through her door and groans. "We gotta get ready for school."
"Get away from my room!" All her snapping does is serve to make Austin bang on her door a couple more times. "Austin!" The cretin only snorts before he walks away to continue his own school preparation. Can the Law of Equivalent Exchange bring me a better brother? She looks over at the poster closest to her bed of her favorite brotherly duo, the Elrics.
When she hears no sounds of alchemy transmuting, she sighs. Once again, her wish proves to be too much for the universe to grant.
Grabbing her phone, Akasha does a quick scroll on her tumblr dashboard before deciding she can look at it more in-depth when she gets on the bus. Her text notifications are similarly dry as she notes that Ivy hadn't sent any other texts beyond asking about the shortcut Akasha mentioned. I told her she couldn't miss it. If she didn't see it, that's on her.
The marker of recognition for this shortcut is the community board with a bunch of small handprints in various paint colors. It was from the summer that there was a huge arts and crafts boom in the park's rec center and Akasha remembered how she chose blue, Austin green and Ivy purple.
Behind that community board is an apartment complex that led right to Main Street when you exited on the other side. It was pretty straight forward.
Considering the lack of replies from Ivy, she either saw it or she didn't and continued on home the normal way.
Akasha had been too distracted to continue talking, she had been on an inspiration streak. A Fangirl's Dream is going to be her best masterpiece yet! Nevermind the last few times she had said that, this truly is the one. She has to fight the urge to go check her account and see if there are already any comments praising her work. She'll do that when she's on the bus as well.
She readied her fingers to tell Ivy how she had posted chapter 1 the previous night when Melanie's shrill voice cut through her good mood. "Akasha, can you come here please?!" Akasha doesn't fight the scowl her face morphs into at the sound of that woman's voice. Why her father decided this was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, she doesn't know. She opted to ignore the woman, but that plan is only thwarted by Dad's voice calling right after.
"Akasha! Austin you too!"
"... coming!"
Scathingly, Akasha tosses her phone to her bed. Leaving her room, seeing Dad and Melanie looking at each other worriedly and talking under their breath. "Yeah? What is it?" When they didn't respond, Akasha nudged Austin who only shrugged back. So both of them are out of the loop it seems.
"Alright you two, we have a question." Dad starts slowly as Melanie twists her fingers anxiously. Akasha bit the inside of her cheek. She doesn't need Melanie's nerves rubbing off on her and making her anxious before school. "When was the last time either of you heard from Ivy?"
"Yesterday," Akasha crosses her arms.
"Same here," Austin nods. Even if they don't hang out together as much as they used to, it is hard to miss each other in a town this small. "She had volleyball practice yesterday."
"Anything else? Akasha? I know you two are really close, did Ivy tell you anything yesterday that might have been strange or-"
Akasha cuts her father off, defensively, "are we in trouble or something?"
Dad and Melanie share a look between them again and Akasha feels a spark of irritation as Melanie lays a hand on Dad's shoulder. "Ivy's mother called us just now. She said Ivy never came home."
Author's Note
And here's chapter 2, I had to keep the Akasha cringe I apologize.
Meant to get this out earlier but then FFN was down a few days. I think I'll be going for every other Saturday/Sunday updates going forward, I was just so excited to post my chapter 1 remastered'. Whoops. But I'll try to contain my excitement going forward. Emphasis on try. Rewriting the chapters has been really fun. For this go, I'm trying to write in the present tense rather than past because I've been experimenting with my style. But I hope that it still reads as humorous with Ivy's perspective narrating the story. I did my best to make the dialogue less jilted and alluding more into things about Akasha and her family situation rather than sprinkling that into the later chapters. I wanted their lunch time conversation to remind me and anyone else of their excited ramblings about fanfic with their friends as teens.
But now, Ivy is no longer in Kansas and she's got no idea as to when she'll be returning.
Anyways, back to my One Piece rewatch. I'm rewatching the series because I got a friend into it and god how I miss the earlier episodes. Can y'all believe the East Blue Saga is getting reanimated?! If you've never watched OP because of how dauntingly long it is, this project is happening to get new fans back into it! So definitely check it out. I know it's a joke that most OP fans work harder than the US marines, but it's truly a good show. If you want a story that has found family and politics as its core message, then you've gotta check it out. Trust me, it becomes rather apparent over time that this is more than a show about some kid trying to become King of the Pirates. I'm considering writing an old OP fic younger me never got a chance to write honestly... A nice, long-winded romp. For the soul.
DeMonte Writes: Yooo, a familiar face! Surprise, surprise, I'm back! It's nice seeing old readers already seeing that AFD is back and running! I'm happy you can see improvements from the previous first chapter, I wanted Ivy and Akasha to sound a bit more natural in their dialogue compared to before. And I'm happy you enjoyed getting a more extended look into Ivy's inner monologue! As for posting on AO3, I'll look into setting up crossposting! I do post there, but funny enough not this story.
Vedahzii: Another familiar face! Thank you for your kind words, I'm happy to see an old reader coming back for the journey even if we're starting from the beginning! I hope you enjoyed this remastered attempt at chapter 2!