A Raven Comes Calling

The Elrics

When Ed and Al left the Colonel to deal with the panicking woman, instead of leaving, Ed had them heading around the corner to wait. Al looked down, and curiosity could be heard in his voice. "Ed, you left without asking anything. What happened?"

Ed was still peeking around the corner, so he looked back with a frown. "Hey Al, did you notice the way that woman was looking at us? Me in particular?"

Al shook his head. "Not really. All I could tell was that she was afraid. Do you know who she is?"

"No, not a clue, but we're gonna find out." Al did not like the way his brother's voice sounded, but he also knew better than to argue. Once Ed made up his mind, it would be hard to change.

It was a little more than fifteen minutes later that Ed jerked back around the corner when Mustang came out of the girl's room. The brothers waited until they heard his footsteps fade around the far bend before Ed waved, and they headed straight for the door the man had just exited.

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Anna had barely had a chance to lay her head down when the door slammed open again. She looked up and groaned at the sight of the two Elrics before she let her head flop back. "Can I not catch a break."

Ed was immediately by her bedside while Al closed the door. "Hey, woman. I want to know who you are and why you kept looking at me that way?"

Anna had to remind herself that he was only fifteen, and no matter the different world, it would probably be frowned on if she decked him. She sat up with a sigh and tried to glare at him. "Is that how you make friends with everyone, or am I a special case?"

Ed's glare matched hers as he leaned forward. "Just answer the damn question."

She huffed. "Why don't you try asking like a person first."

Al grabbed his brother before he could do anything stupid and looked over at the woman. "Please, ma'am, I understand that you were attacked last night, but you recognized us both, so can you explain that? It doesn't happen often."

Anna sighed and gave the younger boy a smile. It didn't last long, and she shook her head. "I can try, but I don't know if it will make sense. Although, if anyone would believe me, it would be the two of you."

Ed's eyes narrowed as he jerked away from Al's hold. "I knew it. You've seen it haven't you."

Anna didn't need him to verify what he was talking about. Her eyes flitted down to his right arm, and she had to clench her fist in the sheets to keep from reaching up again. All she did was nod.

Al gasped at her agreement. He finally understood what Ed had been talking about when the woman looked down at his brother's automail arm before she nodded. He lowered his voice before he spoke. "You've seen the gate too?"

She sighed and closed her eye before she looked up and shrugged. "Yes." That was all she could get out.

Ed made a disgusted noise next to her and pinned her with a heated glare. "That's it? That explains your eye, but not why you kept looking at my arm. You knew it was automail. How?"

Anna's eye snapped open, and her mind was whirling. These boys needed help. Desperately, but she knew that she couldn't just tell them about Father and the homunculi. Not if she wanted to keep Edward from rushing to confront the Fuhrer. Besides, she needed to find out which reality she was in first. It wasn't like she didn't know there was more than one conflicting story she had heard. Which one was real? God, the thought made her head hurt. How was any of this real in the first place?

She shook her head when Al grabbed his brother again. "Look, all I can tell you is that I'm not from Amestris at all. I have heard of the two of you—a lot about you. I know the reason you are called Fullmetal has nothing to do with your automail, but your style of alchemy and attitude. That is why I know you are Ed and he is Al. There are a few other things I know, but-"

She cut herself off as she could see both boys were not buying it. She started to run her hand down her face but froze as her hand touched the gauze. Her fingers turned into a fist, and she swallowed before she looked back at the two of them. "I can't tell you more than that. What I can tell you is the last thing the Truth told me before the gates shut. Maybe you will understand then."

That got both of their attention. Al couldn't remember the encounter at all, and Ed wasn't fond of recalling it. Still, he understood how cryptic the being could be. It was interesting to him that the woman called it the Truth. "What was it?"

She sighed. "I was told it had been a long time since they had seen someone from my corner of the multiverse. They then said, since it had been so long, that it would be best if I took a little trip. Something about it being a mercy instead of sending me home. That was when I woke up in an alley here in Amestris instead of back in my apartment."

Ed was scowling, and Al was rubbing his chin. Finally, it was Al that spoke. "Why do you think it said it was a mercy?"

Ed scoffed, but Anna closed her eye. Despite the danger she was in, that was one thing she was pretty sure she understood, and she had to agree it might be a mercy. "I can't say for sure, but I think it was because alchemy doesn't exist where I am from. Since I can now use it without drawing a circle, I would probably be targeted. Either to be used in experiments or to be killed to keep the rest of the world from learning the truth."

Ed cursed, and Al froze. Ed was the first to recover. "Wait, if it doesn't exist where you're from, then how did you open the gate?"

Anna sighed. "It was an accident. I was working with an ancient transcribed text. I honestly didn't believe anything would happen when I added my blood."

Ed rolled his eyes and nearly growled at her. "Idiot! How could you be so stupid to play with forces you don't understand fully! If you were smart enough to get the formula right, then surely you understood enough to know what could happen!"

Al grabbed Ed once more. "I apologize for my brother, but it's hard to see other people be so careless."

Anna gave him a nod. "I understand. I was careless, but you both need to remember that to me, alchemy wasn't real. At least not in the sense that it is here in Amestris. It was an ancient art that was relegated to the same light as snake oil and other charlatans. The book I found seemed more like the beginnings of early chemistry, not alchemy in the sense I knew it. I wasn't trying to transmute a human or even create a philosopher's stone. Not really. I was following the instructions and trying to see something ancient brought to the light of the future. I'm an anthropologist. I was looking for living history."

Both boys had frozen during her speech. When she finished, Ed turned to her with narrowed eyes. "You know about the Philosopher's Stone?"

Anna's expression matched his. "No." Despite what she did know, that was one more thing that she needed to figure how to share with them without causing more harm than good. First, she needed more information.

She shook her head. "It was a legend. It was said that if a person could create it, they could have the elixir of life and gain immortality. They could also use it to transmute lead into gold and become wealthy beyond measure. It was a fantasy to goad dreamers on, nothing more."

Ed glared at the woman but didn't speak right away. He wasn't sure what to believe. She seemed to be telling the truth, but he knew there was more she wasn't saying. "You said that thing said something about you coming from the far corner of the 'multiverse,' right? Does that mean you are from another dimension or something?"

Anna chuckled. Ed was too smart for his own good. She looked at him and shrugged. "I don't know exactly. All I do know is that I am not from this planet. It could be another dimension or simply another corner of the universe."