The Phoenix Alchemist

The Gate

My eyes fluttered open. A boy was sitting across from me. "I'm glad you're awake. It's awful lonely in here." I blinked. "Where are we? Who are you?" I asked. He smiled. "I'm Al. This is the Gate between our world and the next." My vision cleared out. Al was skinny, with long golden hair and eyes to match. "How did we get here?" Al had a blank expression. "You were already here. I came through a while ago when my soul returned. Hopefully my brother will come get me soon." He looked at one of the gates. "That's the door to your world? Why don't you just go through?" Al laughed. "The door won't open. Not for me, anyway. What're those stars on your face?" I shrugged and touched my cheek. "I don't know how I even got here. You can call me Ari." I stood up and walked over to Al. I offered him a hand and helped him walk to the correct gate. I pressed my hand to it and shadow arms surrounded me. Images and light flashed around me for a moment, then stopped. I couldn't remember the images, except for one; a woman with long black hair and a mark on her chest. I was thrown back into the white room with Al. "You saw the Truth, right?" I blinked a few times before I could see clearly again. "I'm not quite sure. I can't remember it, except for a woman with black hair and a tattoo." Al looked down. "That's Lust. She's a homunculus, a created being. Made from a failed human transmutation." I nodded and Al and I sat by the gate. The doors opened and a man resembling Al stuck his head and a metal arm out. "Al! Grab on!" I stood up with Al and ran over to the gate. The shadow hands wrapped around the man and pushed Al and I away. "Hold on! I'm bringing him through!" The hands grabbed my arms, but still resisted Al. They pulled be back into the gate with the man. "Al!" We both screamed. The gate shut behind us and we were ejected out of it.

~

We crashed to the grouns, soft dirt beneath us. I rolled over and stood up, dusting myself off. "Al.." The man said quietly. Then he turned to me. "Who the hell are you? What did you do to Alphonse?" I stepped back. "I don't knoe. I didn't do anything to him. The shadows were resisting him, and pulled me through. You can call me Ari." He sighed. "I knew this would happen. I'm Edward. Still, why did it pull you through? Did you see it?" I shrugged. "What Al called 'the Truth'? I saw it, but I can only remember Lust. I'm sorry." He angrily sighed. "You are quite short, aren't you?" He instantly got pissed. "Who are you calling microscopic?" I laughed. "I think that's the first time I've ever laughed. Literally." He looked at me with a pitying look. "You should become an alchemist. If you're going to help me get Al back, you need to learn. I'll teach you." I shrugged. "Let's start with simple transmutation." He showed me how to draw a transmutation circle and activate it. I pressed my palms against it and lightning shone out. Nothing was there. "This is going to be a long night."

~

I finally managed to transmute. It was semi-successful, though. The dirt and grass I'd tried to transmute had risen up, and bitten Ed. Luckily, his auto mail had been in the way. "Gah!" I laughed and pressed my hands against the circle. The monster shrunk back down to the ground. "How did you do that?" Ed s scratched his head. "Huh. I've never seen anyone detransmute like that. Even though you couldn't do it at first, you might actually be a natural. Maybe because of the Truth." I shrugged and grinned. "Where are we even? Seems kinda familiar." Ed looked over to what looked like the walls to a city. "Seems like we'we're near Central. We should probably head into the city. It's getting late. I have a place you can crash." We stood up and the sun set in front of us. We walked back into town and I slept on Ed's couch.

But my dreams were something else.