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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"Is that where he would go?" She runs a hand through her wet hair a few times, letting air into the middle layers so it might dry faster.

"It's possible Ed came through whatever and just ended up someplace else in the same world. Or the same place, but later or earlier."

"Yeah, I think so. I know so."

He hesitated. It seemed wrong to have to spoil this pleasant surprise of warmth and safety, but she deserved to know what was going on in Amestris. She already knew some of it, but it was different from living it.

"We were fighting in Central, a lot of our friends were too. I know if he got back here then that's where he'd go, and it's where I have to go too. We owe them our help in this fight, if-- if we're not too late."

She nods, serious again. She's ready to get to work anyway. Even if they're in the middle of a war, or the aftermath of one, there's more she's able to do here with access to real information and history than she could ever do in Norfinbury.

"Nice to have things simple for a change. Well, unless you have weapons hidden around here we may as well head out. We can always find something to use if we need it."

Because this is a real place, that works like the real world! Places that are occupied, houses that are lived in and full of things that living people need! What a time to be alive.

"A weapon...?"

He repeats the words after her as if she's just said something utterly profound. It's not that there are weapons here, it's just that mentioning them has reminded him that he should have his alchemy back. After so long without being able to use it and only being able to explain the basics to others, he should finally be able to perform transmutation again.

It's with eagerness that he claps his hands together and presses them to the floor. There's a flash of blue light and the sing of energy in the air, before a weapon rises up out of the floor to leave a concave patch in the stone. It's a spear, sharp steel and made at a height for Steph to use.

She watches him expectantly, waiting for him to tell her there's a pistol in the bedroom drawer or a metal bat under the bed. What he does instead is first confusing, then amazing.

"Oh. Okay. Well. That works."

She takes the spear and twirls it slowly. Yes, this she can work with. She grins.

"Sweet."

He can't grin right back at her, but there's a definite excitement in his tone of voice and he's practically vibrating with happiness.

"That's proof that we're really here, I can use my alchemy again! I haven't been able to use it even once in Norfinbury."

It should have worked. Alchemy ran on tectonic energy, after all, and anywhere on the Earth should have that sort of energy to harness and use. He had suffered with it blocked before, but only briefly and in the smallest of areas.

Either that or Steph is having a strange but very pleasant dream.

"And you can make pretty much anything, right? I'm surprised your technology isn't more advanced. Putting the stuff together is usually the hard part."

"I can make anything as long as I understand the components of the start and end product. And I can't make anything that takes a greater amount of material than what I can put in, it has to be an equivalent exchange."

So, really, there are a lot of limitations for alchemy. The primary one being that the alchemist has to understand what is being done on an expert level.

[ooc: Sorry for the wait, I was out of town at a wedding.]

"Huh." Well, so much for revolutionizing... anything, really. Too bad Steph's realm of experience is with information gathering and not engineering.

"Ooh! You could totally make a skateboard, that would be sweet."

The excitement has clearly scrambled her priorities.

Al was willing to make her anything she wanted as long as it lay within his abilities and did not compromise his morals, not that he expected she would ask for anything that he deemed unethical, because she deserved at least some small treats after being trapped in a place like Norfinbury for so long.

"Definitely! I can make you one of those."

He flashed her a thumbs up enthusiastically, followed by a beat of awkward silence.

"Uh... what is a skateboard?"

"It's a board with wheels. Pretty much what it sounds like. I'll draw you a picture."

She actually pulls a notebook and pen out of her bag before realizing that this is not the time.

"Uh. Maybe when we get in town, actually. It works better on paved roads."

"You know we have cars, right? And trains! You don't need a board with wheels on it to get around."

Wow, how technologically backwards does she think Amestris is? He might be offended if this wasn't Steph and he literally can't be offended by anything she says. Not when he loves her so much. She's like another member of the family by now.

"It's for fun. Like bikes! But cooler. Way, way cooler." She will convert him to the ways of the skater, just you wait.

"O-Oh... I see."

He feels a bit stupid now. Chuckling, he reaches out to drag Steph into a one-armed hug, still shocked as to where they are.

"Maybe a skateboard should come after we get to Central and find the others, huh?"

She gives him a squeeze back. It'll be strange, getting used to his body having different rules, but Al is always Al.

"I can live with that. Just don't let me forget to teach you how to do a kickflip."

"Why do I have the feeling that this is going to end in a lot of me falling over and you laughing about it?"

He's not saying that he won't try all the same. He might even consider a bit of embarrassing falling worth it to make her smile.

She grins. There is going to be lots of laughing.

"Look on the bright side: you won't break nearly as many bones as most beginners."

"No way, I'm going to wait until I get my body back. It won't be too long now, I'm sure of it, brother and I are so close to finding our answers."

He really hopes that's true, anyway. Especially because getting back here reminds him that all hadn't been going too well, that his blood seal had been failing.

"I'll have to sign all your casts. It'll be great."

She absolutely believes that they'll get his body back. After all, they got out of Norfinbury, didn't they?

"HEY! How do you know I'll definitely break bones? Maybe I'll turn out to be a natural at it and you won't get to sign anything."

He will absolutely break bones if he tries skateboarding. No question about it.

She laughs, just a touch maniacally.

"Because it's a skateboard. You don't learn to use it without falling a few times, that's just how it works."

"Why am I starting to get the impression that you're looking forward to this just a bit too much?"

He's hurt, Steph. Hurt and betrayed. He thought you were on his side.

"It's not like it'll kill you." She shrugs, grinning widely. Yeah, maybe she is enjoying this too much.

"It's always great to teach people new skills."

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