chapter 2

[November 15, 1917]

"Impossible? But... What!?"

Ed stared into your eyes, before his look focuses on something behind you.

"Brother! I was looking for you! How could you just leave for the entire night without telling me!? I see you found her..."

Instinctively, you turn around, putting your automail fist up. The mechanics inside clink together. It was yesterday when Ed found you, but Ed didn't talk to you as he promised. He only brought some food out and told you to eat as the day became night. It wasn't at all awkward, though. You began to warm to him quickly, and you loved his funny personality.

In front of you was the boy with dirty blond hair, about the same age as Ed.

You put your fist down when the boy in front of you offers a smile.

"Hi, I'm Alphonse Elric, his," Alphonse points to Ed, "younger brother. Call me Al."

You smile back. "Hey. I'm (Y/N) (L/N). Nice to meet you, Al."

Al nods and steps past you and takes a seat next to his brother. The three of you were sitting at the edge of the forest where you were first found. How Al found you, you had no idea.

"(Y/N), could you by any chance show us your alchemy?" Ed asks. You look at him before nodding.

"Sure."

Pulling out a small, dull pocket knife from your pocket that you kept just in case for emergencies, you flipped the blade open with your automail hand and took in a deep breath before angling the blade towards your right hand.

A hand grabs your left arm, stopping the knife from cutting your right palm. "What are you doing?" Ed asks.

You stop and look up. "Showing you my alchemy..."

Ed's gaze flickers to the the knife, confused. "Why would you need to cut yourself?"

"My alchemy won't work unless I draw blood from myself," you explained, patiently. Of course, they wouldn't know anything about alchemy.

Ed slowly unpries his gloved hand from yours, and you continue the process. The knife slashes across your right palm, which already had an accumulation of scars, and blood oozes out of the fresh wound. You flinch, but barely.

Smearing the blood on your palm, you clap your hands together and bring your right hand to your left arm, focusing your energy and imagining a sharp blade. A purple light flashes and a sword grows from your automail arm. Ed's eyes widen.

"Brother..." Al says.

You grin in pride, but Ed dismisses everything.

A bit disappointed at Ed's lack of wonder, you quickly transmute your arm back to normal.

"As I was saying," Ed starts again, "you're doing something that shouldn't be possible in this world." Al nods in agreement.

"World...?"

"Yeah." Al says. "Are you, by any chance..."

"From the other side of the gate?" Ed finishes Al's sentence, leaning forwards and looking intensely into your eyes. Look right back, trying not to blush.

"The gate...?"

You reach deep into your mind.

Suddenly, your eyes widen and you gasp sharply, pain shooting up your arm and chest. A vision of a black gate flashes in your memory, a guttural scream of your name, a stab in your heart. You see black ribbon-like arms reaching out for you and pulling you through the gate. You double over and start to cough, eyesight going black for a moment. The blood leaves your mouth and covers your hand, which you instinctively brought to your mouth. The coughing still hasn't stopped.

"(Y/N), (Y/N)!" You hear someone faintly calling your name as your vision comes back. You realize you're staring at the ground and gasping heavily, trying to catching your breath. You've never momentarily passed out during a coughing session before.

"(Y/N), are you okay!?" You hear Ed say.

"I-I'm alright," You gasp. "Don't take me anywhere, it'll go away..."

Arms embrace you as you calm you breath down, holding your blood-covered right hand out to avoid staining anything. You close your eyes but will yourself not to black out.

Al's voice yells your name again, and you open your eyes again to see Al's worried eyes looking at you. Your breathing was back to normal, and the ache in your chest has gone away. You move your left automail arm and gently push yourself away from Ed, who was the one hugging you tightly.

Your left hand goes to your chest, but your limp right hand smears blood across the forest floor. You see Al and Ed share a worried look and you focus your blurred gaze onto Ed's face, which had worry written all across from it.

You offer a smile. "S-See? I'm fine. Just a... Just a little blood, that's all." You hold up your bloodied right hand.

Ed shakes his head. "Are you sure?"

You wait until the last bits of dizziness fade from your mind, your throat still sore from the bout of coughing. "Yeah, I'm fine. Th-this happens a lot."

Ed turns to Al. "She's just like Sensei. Do you think she...?"

Al's eyes widen. "Equivalent... Exchange? Human tranamutation...? Is that why she can't remember?"

Ed shakes his head. "We can't jump to conclusions yet."

"I-I remembered something." You say, interrupting the brothers' conversation. "I s-saw a huge gate, and arms grabbing me. I saw someone taking my arm." You flex your automail fingers. "I felt a knife stabbing me in my heart, and I heard someone scream, someone I knew..."

Without your consent, tears gather in your eyes and you sob. "There's someone I miss, I think I've upset them..."

Ed gathers your sobbing form into his body and you bury your face into this almost-stranger's clothes. You feel Al sit down next to you and hear the clink of your automail as he attempts to comfort you. You take in a deep breath and pull back, trying not to show your swollen eyes. Al gasps, and you jump.

"Sorry, (Y/N)," he says, before turning his attention to Ed. "Brother, look at her automail. It's the same as yours!"

Ed stares at your automail and suddenly grabs your left arm and pulls off his right glove. He rolls up his red coat's sleeve and puts his arm side by side to yours.

You barely registered the new fact that he had an automail arm, but as you compared the two, you realize that the plating and screws were almost identical. The joints were also the same, and the only difference was the forearm, which didn't have huge slits to allow better movement. Ed gasps.

"Winry...?" Ed mutters.

"Brother, she's from the other side of the gate, for sure!" Al says.

"But," Ed starts, "How did she make it across the gate? We destroyed it... Besides she remembers getting stabbed in the heart and someone screaming and...!" Ed ends his sentence in a gasp and pushes you backwards. You make a surprised sound and catch your backwards momentum with your arms.

Al scoots forwards and help you back to a sitting position, shooting his brother a glare. "Brother, what are you doing!? She didn't do anything!"

Ed crawls backwards, terror on his face. "Sh-she's not human! She's a homunculus!"