Fullmetal Alchemist Fan Fiction ❯ A Rather Grimm Afternoon ❯ The Black Mirror ( Chapter 1 )

 

Yes, every girl remembers her first...

Her first fanfic, that is….

Yes, this is mine….

Enjoy (Or don't, whatever XD), and how quick I write the next chapter will depend on whether I receive reviews that encourage me (Including constructive criticism! I Lurve the CC! Just, no flames….pwease?)

 

Yes, there will be romance later…

Yes, I am a fan of Ed/Winry…

Don't hate yoZ!!!

 

I love you all! (I'm such a suck up….)

 

 

 

Chapter one: The Black Mirror

 

Winry struggled to lift the rather large box from the other assorted objects underneath. `We never pack this stuff right! Every year or so, we try and pull something we need out of here, and we always end up leaving it a complete mess!' the blond pony-tailed girl thought to herself. Not that she was the type to complain about a little extra work now and then. She was a mechanic, so she was used to some heavy lifting every once in a while (Some of the boxes they deliver nowadays…but we won't go into that…).

 

Winry was defiantly strong, but there are limits when you've been lifting and digging for such a long period of time! Anyone would be breaking a sweat after this!

 

So, it will be no surprise to any reader that she dropped the box.

Also, it should be obvious that the box fell open.

…and that stuff spilled out of said box and all over the floor.

…and that it was now time for a certain mechanic to take a deep breath, and admit defeat for one day.

 

With a long, rather angry sigh, Winry trudged up the stairs and out of the basement. To her surprise, she heard voices coming from the living room. Rather familiar voices…

 

“Edward! Alphonse!” She shouted as she ran into the room excitedly, “You've come for a visit!” And, without warning, her earlier bad mood returned only to be focused on the two boys. “…and without writing first.” A glare went in the direction of her grandmother “Or a yell down the stairs…”

 

Pinako felt a bit guilty for a moment. She had meant to let Winry know when the boys had arrived almost two hours ago…but she really needed that old sink from downstairs! Their current one…had had a little…accident (many strange things can be broken when you live in a Rockbell's house, ne?).

 

“Did you find the sink?” she asked

“What?”

“The sink. Did you find it?”

“Oh, that….no, not yet. In fact, are you sure it's down there and you didn't sell it or anything?”

“Of course I'm sure! My memory is as sharp as a whip!”

 

Winry sighed. She turned to the boys, who listening to the conversation with grins on their faces. They had missed little home-grown arguments like this one.

 

“Why don't you boys help her out?” Pinako hinted/ordered. There was a slight groan from Ed, followed by a glare from Winry, and a realization that there was no getting out of doing work today from both.

 

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The contents of the disgruntled box (Yes, the box felt rather disgruntled, wouldn't you?) were still flowing all over the floor. These contents included (But where not limited too): marbles, dolls, books, and a cute toy mechanic kit….

 

“Ah!” Winry exclaimed in delight. There are few things more enjoyable then rummaging through your old treasures. She kneeled down and started to half straighten up the contents of the box; half sit and be distracted by her old things.

 

Al lifted a rather large mattress (that had earlier fallen on Winry) with ease. His big mechanical body was rather strong…but somehow, at the same time, very precise in movements. Al didn't seem to posses the same clumsy qualities of Ed and Winry (although, if she remembers correctly, he never really did…). He placed the mattress in a convenient place on the other side of the room and began to neatly stack things in that fashion.

 

“Come on, Winry! Don't just sit there looking at old books! Help us out here!”

“And who do you think has been working down here all day!?”

“Not that you could tell by looking…” Ed muttered. Automatically he flinched, and rightly so. If at that precise moment Winry hadn't discovered her old favorite book, he would have been pummeled by a rather large, heavy object (Most likely of the wrench family…).

 

It was a large volume, full of Fairy Tales (Very close to those of this world, if you must know). Ed, realizing she hadn't heard him, let out a drawn-out sigh before continuing to help Al move things (Although Al had to just re-place them…Ed was about as good at this kind of thing as Winry and Pinako.

 

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(Warning: Plot) In an equally dark (but considerably quieter) room, a woman sat down upon an icy throne, set with pebbles (any rock would be considered glamorous in an ice kingdom such as this one, after all). A cold wind rushed in, blowing her white hair slightly out of place. Standing up, she fixed in it place with a long pin while looking at her reflection in an icy mirror. She did so with such care one would think the pin was made of sugar; ready to crumble at the slightest mishandling. A very out-of-place, yet elegant, silver swan was fixed to the end.

 

She was really very beautiful, but just by looking at her eyes you could tell that that beauty didn't extend very far inside her. None-the-less, many people have been fooled by her beauty, including the late king from whom she had acquired the kingdom through marriage.

 

It was time for her daily ride through her land on her silver chariot. She liked to ride through the villages and cause some fear in her subjects….you know, it's a villain thing…

 

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“I don't think I can even remember seeing this far back into this room!” Winry commented on their progress.

 

Suddenly, she saw something glint out of the corner of her eye. It was strange….like it was moving!

 

“We would have gotten through this a lot quicker if someone hadn't been flipping through some old book…” muttered Ed. But once again, Winry wasn't listening. She was focused on the…the whatever it was. She moved a small box and several picture frames out of the way, so she could get a better look at the ever moving and bending light.

 

“And we still haven't stumbled over that old sink! I'm beginning to think you were right, Winry…” Ed continued. Neither him nor Al were paying any attention to Winry.

 

This was most defiantly a mistake. If they had been paying any attention, they would have seen her reach out for the bending light. And maybe they would have seen her trip. And then, just maybe, they would have noticed that Winry had, in fact, disappeared without a trace.

 

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“The black mirror! Somethin' just popped outta it!” said a rather scruffy voice from a rather scruffy man.

“Itssa girl! So it IS magic, after all!” Said another equally scruffy voice.

“Maybe it's a wishin' mirror!” commented a third with a little laugh.

 

Winry felt rather dazed at this point. `Mirror? What mirror?' she thought, looking around. `oh, that mirror' she thought, looking behind her. The “Black mirror” everyone had been talking about showed a rather pleasant country scene, actually. It looked like … Resembol…. And then, in a great wave, it hit her.

 

“Where am I!?” She exclaimed. All sorts of raggedy men stood around her, gaping and whispering. They looked like…well, if she didn't know any better they looked distinctly how she would expect a pirate to look!

 

And a boat. She got the distinct feeling she was on a boat. But how would she get from her basement to a boat!?

 

“wha…what's going on here?” she asked, her voice shaking. This was just too much. She was used to alchemy, but that was a completely different thing from this. Alchemy doesn't cause people to randomly appear on boats with pirates!

As she spoke, she slowly backed up and away from the men, who were now starting to look quite menacing. She felt something at her back, and, startled, realized it was the mirror. She quickly turned around, but it was too late. This “magic mirror” which showed her home flipped around and over the railing it was leaning on. It made a rather loud “splash” as it hit the dark water.

 

She felt, rather than just heard, the aura of the men change to disbelief and anger. Winry grimaced and turned slowly.

 

“you…you just dumped our mirror!”

“that's it! Let's tie her up good before she causes any more damage!”

“tie her up? Let's throw her in after it!”

 

 

Comments such as these increased as the men drew near her (and a few that were rather vulgar, if you care to know). Suddelnly, a voice rose out over the mob.

 

“What's this then?”

Winry watched as a slightly less scruffy man parted the crowd.

“This girl came outtta the Black Mirror, Capin'!”

“only it wernt black any more!”

“It was magic!”
”and then she knocked it into the ocean!”

 

Winry gulped. On closer inspection, the “Capin'” was actually quite good looking, but she wasn't sure she liked his grin as he came up to her and gripped her chin.

 

“Well, the way I see it, no harm done.” He said as he inspected her face. Winry was feeling reeeeally uncomfortable with this whole face-touching thing. “We didn't even know it was magic. It was just…black. Not even very good for selling, eh? We probably would have pitched it into the ocean ourselves soon enough.”

 

`It was black?' Winry thought. And then a strange thought came to her. `That light…that must have been what it looked like on my side, but here it's a mirror…..so that means….'

“It's because it's been covered with so much stuff! No one could go through it and certainly not SEE through it! So it looked black!” She said aloud. She quickly covered her mouth. `Why did I say that SO loud?'

 

“So, here we were trying to turn it on, and it was on all along!” said the Capin'.

 

Winry slapped his hand away. She was getting rather angry, as confused people do tend to get. “WHERE AM I?” she asked again, in a very agitated voice. Her earlier fear was now fully replaced with good-old Winry fury.

 

The Capin' seemed quite surprised at this. After a moment, his face relaxed and he began to chuckle. The men, nervously, slowly, followed suit.

 

“Why, this is the great Pirate Hook the 3rd's ship! And you are somewhere in the middle of the great sea just outside the 6th kingdom, hiding from the navy of the 2nd kingom!” he made a gesture of bowing and taking off his hat mockingly. “And you, dear Lady, the moment we reach Queen Rapunzels city, are to be my wife.”

 

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“Where did Winry go?” Al realized a minute or so later. Such a simple question with such a complicated answer…

 

Ed blinked. He knew she had just been there, in the corner, pulling out some picture frames….

 

And then he noticed. “Al, look at this!”

 

The two brothers gathered around the strange light. It looked alchemic… Ed, ever the curious, reached out his right metal hand tentatively.

 

“Brother! What are you doing!” Al chided, but it was too late. Ed`s hand had disappeared.

“Ahhhhh!” yelled Al

“Ahhhhhhh!” yelled Ed. And then he realized he could still move it…just not see it. His face became very serious. He stuck his metal arm in further…

 

“What are you doing!?” Al yelled, but it was too late. Ed hopped through the light completely. “We don't even know if she's there! Brother! Oh!” and with that, Al followed his brother.

 

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“SPLASH!”

 

Ed popped his head up out of the water and sucked in a big gulp of air. You can't imagine how hard it is to swim with metal appendages…especially if you ARE a metal appendage…. “AL!” Ed yelled, and dove as quickly as he could. He hadn't been far under the water. (As a note for the reader, the mirror sunk slowly, being that it was magic, and any magic item would struggle to not die, right? So the boys were lucky enough to come out not-too-far-down), and he knew Al would be following him soon.

Ed spotted him coming out of a flat glowing object several feet down. (Al, unlike the mirror, sank quite fast

 

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What are the chances of something stopping Al's decent into the deepest depths of the ocean? Pretty good, actually, considering this was a rather magic filled land.

And so, before Ed could think of his next step, something did.

Though I'm not sure you could say it bettered their situation.

 

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Ed lit a small fire between his hands (Although this didn't last long….there was nothing to burn but air, and they didn't have too much of that to spare).

“Where do you think we are?” Al asked quietly. Somehow it seemed like a good idea to whisper. A strange (and rather disturbing) gurgling sound was constantly in the air.

“I would guess….” Ventured Ed, “that we are in the belly of that sea serpant that just swallowed us…”

“Yeah….I knew that…”

The small fire in Ed's hands was bright just long enough for the brothers to see their rather dismal grey/pink surroundings. And to make all worse, they were knee deep in some disgusting green liquid.

“Is that stomach acid?” Al wondered.

“ugh…” Ed said disgustedly, “I wonder what this stuff does to…metal…”

The two had a moment. It was first a moment of thinking, then of realization, and lastly, of panic.

After realizing they could do nothing, and that they were in no immediate danger, the two settled down in the darkness….

And that's when they were calm enough to realize they weren't alone…

 

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“YOUR WHAT!?” Winry felt she had to ask for the third time as she was forced to follow the capin' down a tiny hall to what was to be her room during her voyage.

Surprisingly, this time he turned on his heel to face her quick as lightning and said in a rather annoyed voice “You know, I'm beginning to think you are not feeling honored. Every generation of Hook has to settle at some point, and after our heist in the 2nd kingdom, I think me and my crew just might be able to do just that!”

“Then how about you marry them and leave me out of it?” Winry ventured.

Her “wit” was well appreciated by the capin' as he opened the door to her quarters. He let out a great booming laugh.

The room was….beautiful! It was so out of place on this dirty, rickety old ship that Winry thought she had gone through another magic mirror! There was silk and velvet everywhere.

“This… this is my room?

“Actually, this is the room where we store the loot…it just happened to include plenty of silk this time.”

“But…um, I'm not going to be put in a cage in the lower deck and made to peel potatoes?” Winry asked, remembering her old stories.

He laughed once again. Then stopped rather abruptly. His eyes bore into hers. “But don't you think of escaping. Your to be the wife of a Hook, and no one escapes a Hook!”

“Except Peter Pan….” Winry muttered.

“My great grandfather…. That wicked little flying boy and that damn man eating gator…. Clocks!” the capin' snapped at her, as if he was making a perfectly coherent sentence.

Winry felt a strange twang of fear. `He….he's not kidding…is he completely insane? Or is he really….' “What is your name again?”

“My name?! You don't even know that! Well, I suppose you did just come from a mirror…can't be expected to know much….” He muttered, and straitened up. “My name, my Lady, is Captain Milo Hook.”

And as serious as her danger and situation, all Winry could think was “Milo?”

 

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A strange glow was coming from down the er….stomach or the serpant. Ed rubbed his eyes. Was it his imagination? What was that?

“Brother!” Al exclaimed. He had seen it too.

“Whose there!?” Yelled a man's voice near the glow.

As the light grew closer the two boys saw a man in what looked like a kind of military uniform, with some kind of…thing on his shoulder?

He grew closer and closer. “How did you two get in here? Who do you work for? What is that strange armor? What kingdom do you come from?” The man streamed a line of questions like it was a job interview.

“My name is Edward Elric, and this is my little brother, Al.” Ed said, pointing to his brother. “We, er….were not quite sure where we are…”

“The belly of a serpant?” Al ventured.

“…but we'd like to find our friend and get back home soon…”

The man was now right in front of them, and stood quite tall. He was holding a cage full of lightning bugs and on his shoulder was…..a spider…? Yes. The “thing” mentioned above was in fact a spider about the size of your head.

“Why all the staring?” piped the spider at Ed. He turned to the man whose shoulder he was on. “Must be from the Kingdom. The small one's defiantly a dwarf.”

“WHAT!?” Ed yelled, full of broken male pride and intense hatred towards the spider. “WHO are you callin' a tiny pipsqueak no bigger than a bean!?”

“Actually, I think it's strange that he's saying anything at all, brother.”

“ER….good point…”

Suddenly, Ed noticed a glint of light out of the corner of his eye. It was the mirror. He breathed a sigh of relief. There way home hadn't been lost in the ocean.

It was at that point that the brothers decided to have a nice long chat with these two locals…

 

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Winry never felt so stupid. What a stupid idea. What are the chances this would work? But then again, what where the chances of her being kidnapped by pirates?

And so, she felt slightly less foolish as she dropped the empty corked rum bottle out the window. It hit the water with a thud, and promptly disappeared under a wave.

“ugh…well, that worked wonderfully…

Winry had been on the ship for about a day now, and she was starting to feel more then a little worried. One: She was being forced to marry Captain Hook. Yeah, as if that wasn't bad enough. Two: she was sea sick.

The men on board actually found it quite funny. Nice guys.

“uuuuuuuhhh…..” Winry moaned, leaning out the window herself. It was then that she noticed something welcoming…

“Land!!!” she cried, for indeed a cold gray landscape was showing through the early morning mist. And then, an idea hit her…

Winry gathered up the dress that she had been forced to wear, removed her shoes, covered her nose, and dove.

Ok, so, maybe not a brilliant idea, but still better than the bottle, eh?

 

 

 

Eh?