Gingersnap

Gingersnap Part ZERO (Part 1)

It was a sweltering summer afternoon in mid-July when a human cub wandered into my yard and changed my life forever.

I'm a snow leopard, my neighbors are sheepdogs and caracals, and the nice lady who brings the mail is a lizard...the list goes on. Point being, I had never seen a human in the flesh before that fateful day. I'd seen their silly, fur-less, tail-less shapes in picture books as a cub, and I'd heard the 'human rights' rallies at college, but I'd never seen a human in real life. In the age of human animal hybrids, 'purebred humans' are a rarity, if not something my race used to gawk at in the zoo.

I was in my dining room drinking iced tea when it happened. I was gazing out across my lawn at the lush forest in the back of my property when I noticed something moving around in the underbrush. I was expecting to see a feral squirrel or deer pop out from the weeds, so you can imagine my shock when a human cub stumbled out of the trees. As he frantically looked around my yard, he attempted to smooth away the flyaways in his yellow fur - I mean hair - and picked a few thorns out of his torn red coat and black pants. Now I have thick fur that sheds a bit in the summer months, but even I know not to wear long sleeves and pants outside in the middle of the hot season.

I already thought the cub looked a little silly, but it was plain to see he needed some help from a friendly neighborhood snow leopard. Abandoning my tea in the kitchen, I hurried into my sunroom and left my house through the screen door.

-

"Al! Alphonse, are you there?!"

When I was a few feet away from the cub, he stopped shouting and turned to face me, his frantic yellow eyes locking with mine before his eyes widened and he let out a startled gasp. "Hey, cub, are you okay?"

"A talking chimera?" A pained express came to the cub's face before he quickly closed the distance between us. "Have you seen my little brother? Where am I?!" He blurted out.

"A chimera? No no, I prefer to be called a snow leopard, cub-" He was so close I could smell the fear and confusion coming off him in waves. "Well you're in Silver Springs, right next to Sunny Lake..." There was no dawn of recognition on the cub's face so I went on to answer his last question. "What does your little brother look like?"

"He's in a tall suit of gray armor, you couldn't miss him. His name is Alphonse - have you seen him?"

"No I haven't, where did you see him last?"

"We were walking in a cave on the outskirts of a little town, then all of a sudden he was gone and I somehow ended up here-"

"Okay, okay, take a deep breath, cub. My name is Yuki Nakahara, and my house is right behind us. Would you like to come in and use my phone to cool off and call home?"

"I...don't even have a home to return to, but I guess I can try to call a friend."

"Let's go do that," I lead the cub back to my house and into the sun room. "So your brother's name is Alphonse, what's your name?"

"Edward. Edward Elric."

"Nice to meet you, Edward."

The cub lingered in the sunroom, looking at my potted plants before he followed me into the kitchen. I poured him a glass of lemonade and invited him to sit down before I took my cell phone out of my pocket and handed it to him.

Edward stared down at my phone in disbelief. "What the hell is that?!"

"It's a Galaxy. It's not the most recent model but it's not even a year old yet!"

"Galaxy?"

"Don't tell me you've never seen a cell phone before!" I chuckled. "It's got a touch screen... just tell me the digits and I'll type it in for you."

"O-oh, alright..."

But when I dialed the number he gave me, it was the number of a fireworks business. I guessed by the look on the cubs face that the man who answered was not the 'Roy Mustang' he was hoping for.

"Well...I suppose our next plan of action would be to call the police. They might be able to help. Is that okay with you?"

"Sure, I guess."

While I called the police and confirmed that they would be arriving within the next half hour to 45 minutes, Edward decided to take a look around my kitchen.

[]——

I'll admit, I've gotten myself into some strange situations before but this was the strangest. For starters, where the hell am I? I was with my brother Alphonse looking at transmutation circles caved in the wall and when I accidentally activated one, I ended up here... In a talking chimera's backyard! What sort of heinous person would create one, other than Tucker himself? The bastard. A chill ran down my spine.

I sat down at a barstool and sipped at the lemonade Yuki had given me. I paused to let the cold drink wash through me...then gulped down the rest of the refreshing mixture. Once I had cooled down enough, I got up and paced the rooms, gawking at the chimera's crazy modern gadgets.

I was looking at the large, thin television in her living room when the police showed up.

The two female officers, a crocodile and a Doberman chimera, followed me into the brightly lit dining room with Yuki and had me sit at the table with a sketchbook in front of me. I gave them my full name and age and drew a picture of Alphonse for them.

"This is my brother, Alphonse. He's about seven feet tall and loves cats. Please tell me right away if you happen to see him." I handed the crocodile my drawing.

"Alright, we'll keep an eye out for him. What does he look like under the armor?"

"Uh, he never takes it off!"

"Okay..." The crocodile lady handed the drawing to her partner before taking out a small notepad and pen. "And what's your birthday, Edward?"

"February 3rd, 1899."

Crocodile lady opened her long snout to show some serious fangs. "Come on kid, this isn't a joke. What year were you really born?"

I tightened my shoulders and stared down her brown snout. "February 3rd, 1899." I repeated, with extra emphasis on the year.

The crocodile looked ready to take my throat into her sharp jaws. She pulled something out of her left pocket and held it out to me. It was another device like Yuki's, a small rectangular box with a vivid, glowing screen. "Kid, it's July 26th, 2015. Quit playing games and tell me when you were born."

"I don't trust those things, cell phones or whatever. I'm sure it's easy to change the year on those things to make it seem like we're a hundred years into the future..."

But why would they do that? The fancy gadgets and modern styles were beginning to make sense and panic clutched at my chest. "N-now you're pullin' my leg, right?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the snow leopard jumping up and down and waving at me. I turned to her and followed her pointing finger to a calendar on the wall I hadn't noticed before. There it was, JULY 2015, in big bold letters.

I jumped up from my seat. "What?! No, it can't be 2015! It was just 1915! How the hell did I activate a transmutation circle in an old cave and somehow end up 100 years into the future?! It's impossible, it doesn't make any sense! Where are we? And how do I get back home? I want answers!"

No. I can't be stuck here! My heart was beating so fast I'm sure it could be heard by all in the room. Did they have stronger hearing than me?

The Doberman officer held her hands - paws? - out and gestured for me to sit down again. "Hon, take a deep breath and drink some more lemonade..."

"He sounds confused. Heatstroke?" The Doberman blinked as she looked me up and down. "He isn't panting...but then again, humans don't do that do they? We'd better take him to the hospital."

I flinched at the word. "I don't need to go to the hospital! Other than being confused and annoyed, I feel fine. I need to stay here in case Al comes to find me."

He will come and find me...right? Wait till he hears this one. I went to the year 2015, Al! Chimeras have replaced humans, and don't even get me started on these things called cell phones!

He'd probably love Yuki, she's a big friendly cat and she cant even talk... Are there more cat people here?

"Officers, I can take care of this cub. If he looks like he's having a heatstroke or anything, I'll take him to the hospital right away."

The Doberman officer's pointed ears flattened against her head. "Alright..."

"Have you been drinking any alcohol or taken drugs in the past 48 hours?" Crocodile lady glared at me with her creepy slit pupiled eyes. "Kid, where are your parents?"

I scowled. "First of all, alcohol tastes like dirt and the only drugs I've taken are for headaches. Which I get a lot of." I averted my gaze and stared at the condensation running down my fourth glass of lemonade. "My mom passed away, my dad is off who the hell knows doing whatever is more important than raising his own children."

"I'm so sorry, Edward..." I could hear the frown in the Doberman officer's voice. Crocodile lady wasn't so understanding.

"Could be a runaway-from-home case."

I looked up at the officers. "So is there anything you guys can do?" I'm assuming nothing.

"Not right now. We'll save Yuki's phone number and call her if we figure anything out, and we'll keep your information safe at our station over on River Rock road."

I committed the street name to memory. Something told me I'd be paying the lovely officers a visit sometime soon to see if they had any leads.

"It looks like you're in good paws here with Yuki. I hope you find your brother and get back home soon." The Doberman chimera gave me a sort of sad smile before she and her partner left out the front door.

Yuki sat next to me with another glass of sugary lemonade. "Gotta keep you hydrated, cub... Also, the bathroom is under the stairs for when nature calls. We got toilets, don't worry. I don't use a litter box!"

I chuckled a bit at that. "Got it."

"Speaking of the stairs, I've got a pretty nice library on the second floor. You mentioned transmutation circles earlier. You mean alchemic ones?"

I had perked up at the word library, but now she had my full attention.

"I've got plenty of books on alchemy, you're free to take a look at them, maybe you can figure out where you're from and how to get back - "

I was down the hall and up the stairs before she could finish her sentence. At the top of the staircase, shelves of books surrounded a few comfy armchairs, a couch, and a coffee table. I grabbed as many books as I could carry and sat down with them on my lap. "Hey, Yuki, you got a notebook and pencil?"

Yuki appeared at the top of the steps with a small leatherbound notebook and a mechanical pencil. In her other hand...paw, she held a fresh glass of lemonade for me. I took the items and got to work jotting down some notes from the crisp smelling books.

-

I skimmed through several books and damn near filled up the first notebook in the first hour or so. Then, I took the notebook outside and searched the woods behind Yuki's house for the cave I had stumbled out of earlier that day.

Yuki followed me out and steered me away from poison ivy and other obstacles. When the sun started to go down, she tried to steer me back toward her house.

"Hey Edward, you wanna come back and get some grub at my place?"

I started walking in the opposite direction, trying to retrace my steps from earlier. "No thanks, I think I know where to find that cave-"

"Are you sure? That cave isn't going anywhere, you can look first thing tomorrow after a good night's rest."

Without Yuki's guidance, I managed to get turned around on a deer path that lead straight back to her. "Let me just try this one more time..."

"Cub, you've already forgotten I'm a cat. That means I've got ears TEN TIMES stronger than yours, and I've been listening to your stomach growling for the past hour or two. Come back and get some grub before you pass out on me."

I blushed. "Is my stomach really that loud?"

Yuki tapped her fluffy round ears. "Please, I can even hear the mosquitos landing on your neck."

I slapped the back of my neck and found a mosquito squashed into the fabric of my glove. I hadn't even noticed it was there.

"Free food and no mosquitos at Hotel Yuki!"

I stopped trying to retrace my steps. I'd wondered the woods for days with Al, only eating when he insisted I stop to rest. Food had been further in the back of my mind at the cave, I was more worried about restoring his body than my own and I hadn't had more than lemonade so far.

"I could go for a snack." I said as my stomach gave another telltale grumble.

"Dinner's on me. There will be no empty tummies on my watch, kiddo!"

As i followed her back into her house, I resisted the urge to shout "I'm 15! Why are you treating me like I'm a little toddler that wandered into your yard?"