fossilised | For Stephanie Brown

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For Stephanie Brown

He still isn't quite sure how they managed to make it home.

All he knows is that one moment he was standing in the snow, listening to his tablet blare out a warning about being in a 'RESTRICTED ZONE', and the next thing-- he's standing at the bottom of the dirt path in Resembool that leads up to Winry's home. He would have thought this another hallucination, a cruel trick of Norfinbury such as they had dealt with in the past, if it weren't for the person standing next to him who definitely doesn't fit the scene.

"S-Steph--?!"

She looks ridiculous in her thick coat and scarf out here in the summer sun, and he can't stop staring at her. This doesn't seem real, it can't be real.

Can it?

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The light is so sudden and different that for a moment Steph is blinded. She's on guard, ready for an attack... that never comes. Blinking away spots, she pulls her mask down and breathes in the suddenly warm and grassy-smelling air. Then she pulls down her hood, and unwraps her scarf. They're way too warm in this weather.

Finally one of the spots resolves itself into something resembling an actual shape.

"Al? Where is everyone?"

"I don't know."

That is a worrying development, to be sure. He swings around in a full circle as if he expects to see some sort of clue as to where the others are, but there's nothing except grass and familiar views. It's terrifying to consider the ramifications of what this might mean, especially for the people not here, but he has to trust in Ed.

"They must have been knocked elsewhere, or they're still there, but-- But Brother will figure it out, he'll take of them until we work out what's going on."

He's so shocked, so blown away, that is doesn't even occur to him that Steph won't recognise anything around her.

"Did you get hurt when that... uh, whatever that was happened?"

"Just my eyes."

It isn't a very satisfying answer, but it isn't as though he knows anything about all this that she doesn't.

"So, we're obviously not going to die of exposure. Think there are still monsters?"

"I don't think so, I don't think..." Wow, does this ever sound insane, because he has no idea how it happened, but: "...I don't think we're even in Norfinbury any more."

He takes a step forwards down the dirt path, chest tight at the sudden rush of nostalgia he feels. This is home.

"I know this place, this is where Ed and I were born."

"Toto?" Her totally brilliant and unknowable reference is lost as she takes in the meaning of his words. What was the place called? R-something? She looks around suspiciously, like she expects it all to disappear. Which she does.

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but... why am I here?"

"I don't know."

He seems to be saying that a lot at the moment, it's a little frustrating. There has to be answers to be found somewhere, a way to discover if this truly is Amestris and, if so, how to rescue the others from Norfinbury and get them here.

"I guess maybe because we were stood so close together? I wish I understood why, but... but I'm really glad you're here."

She huffs, still watching the scenery for any sign of its intention to vanish. But it doesn't go away, and she's starting to feel warm to her ears and nose like she hasn't in months. Finally she smiles, then laughs.

"You know what? I don't care." She takes a running start to leap into a hug. "Al, it's warm!"

"A--Ah!"

He wasn't expecting the hug and it nearly knocks him over in surprise, though his arms instinctively come up and around her to catch her so that she doesn't fall.

"Is it really?" He sounds awed, a bittersweet revelation that he can't tell. Somehow he had been able to feel the cold in Snowhell, but there wasn't anything here. It was as it had been before, just another indication that this might just be real. "It always was warm in the spring, even though Resembool is so high in the mountains."

"It really is," she confirms, still pretty gleeful. If this is a trick she'll take it, just for the temporary warmth.

"You don't feel that?"

"No."

The word is soft, and a little sad. That's the biggest clue that this is truly real, his inability to feel even the smallest bit of warmth. It tears through his heart, making it ache for even the pervasive cold of Norfinbury, but he doesn't allow it to colour his voice.

"I couldn't feel it before either, it's because I don't have my real body. Do you-- do you think this is real? It seems impossible that we'd both see the same hallucination, especially since you've never even seen Resembool before."

Right. That hadn't even occurred to her, since it wasn't a problem in Norfinbury. Rather, it wasn't a solution he had in Norfinbury, since it would have been useful not to be able to feel cold.

"It could be something the town did, but I don't think they'd mess with your senses like that. It doesn't really fit, you know?"

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean."

Norfinbury wasn't the kindest of places. It had messed with his head more than once, all of them, but never to show him something so comforting. And never to return the lack of feeling to his body.

Which left the growing realisation that this was... must be... real.

"Stephanie, do you know what this means? We're-- I promised I'd bring you home with me, and we're here!"

It means that she doesn't have to go back to Gotham. She doesn't have to face the fear that her mother or anyone else will come after her, or being homeless in a city where crime is as common as dirt. It means she doesn't have to leave the best friend she's had since Becky died.

Her knees go weak with relief.

"Is it really over?"

"No."

He knows it's probably not the answer that she wants to hear, but Al has never been one to ignore the hard truths. Especially not when it meant turning his back on people in need.

"We're here now, and that's-- it's amazing, but we don't know what happened to everyone else. We have to try and figure out a way to get everyone home, or find out what happened to them."

"The beginning of the end," she agrees, turning serious. But there's a light in her eyes that hasn't been there for a long time.

"We're going to find them, Al. Then we'll find who took them, and we'll destroy them."

It's so wonderful to see the fire inside her again, she's looked so defeated for so long. But now they know there is definitely a way out, a way they've somehow stumbled across. And now they'll have all the resources of Amestris to help them in getting the others back.

"I know."

He might have argued against destruction before, but he knows sometimes the fight is necessary and he never wants to let what happened to them happen to anyone else in the future.

"But I swear to you, even when we find them, you never have to go back there. You never have to go back to your home world either. I promised you'd always have a family and a place with me, and I meant that."

Stephanie knew from the start that the people responsible for this couldn't be allowed to continue, and she never doubted that. Whether or not she would be able to play a role in dismantling the whole operation had been up for grabs. Now she's in a position to do something real, and she's ready to pull out all of the stops.

But then Al tells her she has a home with him, and her world turns a little sideways. She doesn't doubt him, either, though she might have in the past. She had always been prepared for the worst case scenario. Now that the best case is coming to fruition she feels a little giddy.

"I-- yeah." She nods, unable to restrain her smile or the slightest hint of tears in her eyes.

"Yeah."

When he had made those promises, he had intended to keep every one of them. He wanted to give Steph the life she deserved, with a family beside her to love her and not betray her any further than she already had. But he had also known that those promises would be hard to keep without any real way of knowing how to keep them.

Now that they've come true, he couldn't be happier.

"I can't wait to show you everywhere, to introduce you to everyone. They're going to love you! Granny, and Winry, and everyone!"

No matter what, Steph might as well consider herself an Elric now.

She was only just now starting to get a sense of what that actually meant. What exactly was she supposed to do now? What did her new family expect from her? Would any of her skills even be useful in this new place?

Well, there was plenty to worry about, and just the one thing that really needed serious doing.

"Hmm. This is going to be tough without any computers..."

"We have telephones, and the wireless radio, I bet you could do something with those?"

Because all technology is the same, right? And 1900s telephones and radios are exactly the same as computers, Steph should have no problem fitting right into this world where everything is backwards as far as she's concerned.

"Or, if you want, I bet Winry would teach you about automail engineering. That's probably the most advanced thing we have here."

She huffs a disbelieving chuckle. It turns into a real laugh. Radio was something, at least. Recording equipment meant a record, archives, something for her to look through. Automail was just plain useless to her.

"I'll manage, I'll just complain a lot about it first. Alright, take me to your libraries." Wait, he probably wouldn't get that joke... Oh god, would she ever have relevant pop culture references again?

"Or, uh, a shower. Shower first, I think."

Al can't help but laugh.

Stephanie has been pulled into a whole new world, a new reality, and she's worried about a shower? It started off as a little chuckle, but it soon builds into a gut-wrenching laughter that he can't control.

"Y-You're something else..."

He might just be sinking to the ground now, pounding a fist on the earth.

Her eyebrows rise. She wasn't trying to be funny, she just hasn't had a proper shower in a very, very long time. Finally she shrugs.

"But there are showers, right?"

He just can't stop laughing, even though he knows it wasn't that funny and she might start getting annoyed at him if he doesn't. It's just that she is so strong, and so amazing, she reminds him of his brother.

"Yeah, yeah... come on, I'll get you to a shower."

Still sniggering, he gestures for her to follow him up the dirt road and towards a picturesque white house with a sign outside reading ROCKBELL AUTOMAIL.

"I bet Winry will have some clothes you can borrow too, since it's a little bit warm for those here."

"Warm," she agrees giddily, following him up the road. She was sort of hoping that she could shower before introductions, but she would take whatever she could get.

As long as it involved a shower, at some point.

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