1: The Girl From Beyond the Sky

Edward and Alphonse walked down a dusty road in Germany. The midday sun beat down on them. Edward rubbed the back of his neck. He had crashed the car into a tree on the side of the road because of something Alphonse had said. Alphonse tenderly touched the cut on his cheek. It stopped bleeding, but still stung a bit. They were still a fair distance from town, and if no one drove by they would have to walk home.

Christin sat on her bed, idly staring out the window of her home in a small town named Sonora, California. She sighed loudly and flopped on her back, hitting her head on her history book. She had been doing her homework but got bored and stopped. She picked up a manga book and stared at the cover. It was a very compelling story about two brothers. She had only started reading the series about a year ago, but quickly became obsessed with it. Ever since she first realized her obsession, she had wanted to leave her world for another one, specifically the world in which the two brothers lived. Her life had crumbled in the past several years. She finally felt the effects of her parents' divorce (which had been finalized when she was around four or five) and found it hard to find a group of people around whom she could be the person she had become. Once, she even tried taking her life.

She closed her eyes and held the book to her face, blocking out the fading sunlight. She turned up the volume on her ipod and drowned out the world. Not that anyone would notice. Her younger brother had detention that after noon and would be picked up by her mom, who was still at work. Her dad lived in Arizona and she could care less what he thought or felt because she hated him for not accepting her for the quirky girl she was. She as a junior in high school and had to spend the summer with him, but after next year, when she turned eighteen, she wouldn't have to go there anymore. It was October and her birthday wouldn't come for another couple months. Only after Christmas vacation would she turn seventeen and begin eagerly counting down her last year of being controlled by her parents.

"Man, I can't wait until I'm eighteen and can move out of this little hick town!" she grumbled to the air. Her gray cat jumped on her bed suddenly, freaking her out. She sat up with a jolt and hit her head very hard on the bars supporting the top bed of her bunk bed, which she had outgrown several years ago. She leaned her head back until she could feel the cold pages filled with random facts about World War Two America against her skin. "Either that or time travel or whatever to get to their world." She added, staring at the manga.

"Anything to get out of here." She said. A bright light flashed, illuminating everything in her small room. She felt very odd, like her body was warping. Her surroundings disappeared in the light and she felt like she was flying. No, not flying – falling. She was falling very fast out of the sky.

Edward and Alphonse looked up. Something very bright had flashed in the sky almost directly above their heads. Edward shrugged it off as a rocket, seeing as how he had been around them quite a bit recently.

"Brother…" Alphonse started.

"Yeah, what?" Edward replied, turning around. Alphonse stared upward and pointed at the sky.

"I think someone's falling." He said bluntly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Al. People don't just materialize in the sky and crash land on peoples' heads." He laughed. Alphonse still pointed at the sky, slowly moving his finger down like it was tracking something… or someone as he claimed. Edward, humoring him, looked up in time to see the body of a girl hurtle towards him. Without thinking, he caught her, her weight and the speed at which she fell sending him into the ground. "On second thought, I take it back." He added, sitting up. The girl lay sprawled across his lap, unmoving. Alphonse crouched down next to them. He gently poked the girl's side. She convulsed and sat up.

"Ugh… Whew, that was weird. Definitely no more coffee for me." She muttered, dragging a hand through her short blond hair. She blinked and looked around.

"Are you okay?" Alphonse asked. She looked at him.

"Well, considering that I just fell out of the sky and crash landed on him, I'm doin' pretty good. You?" she asked, obviously trying to be friendly.

"I'm great, thanks for asking. Now would you get off me?" Edward snapped. The girl nodded and stood up, brushing dust off her pants. The boys studied her closely. She wore strange clothes- pants made out of some fabric they weren't familiar with, a black belt with small silver pyramids on it, a short jacket with red, black, and white stripes, and a black tank top. A red wire came out of one ear and trailed down to her hand. Alphonse tugged at it and it came out.

"My headphones!" she cried. "Cries of yay, that means I still have my ipod!" Alphonse helped his brother off the ground, trying to understand the girl's strange way of talking. She spoke really fast and used some words he wasn't familiar with. She turned to them. "Thanks for stopping my fall. It would've been one gnarly crime scene."

"You're not from around here, are you?" Edward asked, slightly put off by the girl's strangeness.

"I dunno. Where's here?" she asked.

"We're a few miles from Munich, Germany." Alphonse replied. The girl's clam demeanor was replaced by a pensive look.

"What's the date today?" she asked.

"December 15, 1923." Alphonse replied.

"Holy mother…!" she cried, covering her mouth with her hand. "You sure it's not October 7, 2009?"

"Quite certain." Edward replied. The girl sat down, shock taking over.

"That means… I'm free. I'm not in my world anymore. I can do anything I want!" she muttered to herself. "¡Qué cheveré!" she cried, using a different language. She looked up meekly, as if she just realized she had an audience. "sorry." She apologized, standing up.

"It's okay." Alphonse smiled.

"Heyy… if we're in Germany, how come you're not speaking German?" she asked.

"Do you want us to?" Alphonse asked. The girl shook her head.

"No, thanksies, but I don't speak German. Well, I can say 'thank you very much' but that's about it." She said quickly, using more strange words. "I'm kinda culturally retarded." She said, smiling a bit.

"That's nice, but we gotta go." Edward said gruffly, tugging on his brother's sleeve and walking away.

"You're just gonna ditch me?" the girl cried after them.

"I don't know what you mean by 'ditch' but we're going and you're not coming." Edward called over his shoulder. He heard the girl run up to them.

"Ditch-noun: a channel dug out, usually in the ground, for drainage. Verb: to abandon someone without their knowledge." She recited huffily. "Can't I at least come with you to town?" she whined.

"Come on Brother. Maybe someone in town can help her." Alphonse urged.

"But she can't speak German. How is she supposed to get help?" Edward snarled. The girl kicked his leg.

"Maybe I don't need your help. Thank you for being so nice to me," she said to Alphonse. "But I don't like you in the least!" she turned to Edward. "Sayonara!" she called, turning on her heel and marching off in the direction the brothers were going. A few minutes later she slipped and fell down the side of the hill the road was on.

"You'll never make it around here without help." A male voice said. She looked up into Alphonse's face. He offered his hand. "If you're willing to accept, I'm offering."

"Thank you." She said almost shyly, taking his hand.

"My name's Alphonse Elric, but you can call me Al. That's my big brother Ed." Alphonse said, pointing to the blond standing moodily in the middle of the road. The girl blushed a little and jerked her hand away.

"I'm Christin. I don't have a last name. Well, I did, but I'm not going to use it anymore. There's no point." The girl said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Please don't shorten it to 'Chris'. I hate when people shorten my name." she added. She and Alphonse walked a few steps behind Edward.

"Where are you from?" Alphonse asked.

"I'm from a small town in California. America. You've probably never heard of it, it's so tiny." She said. "Sonora?" she asked.

"Sonora… oh, I remember something about a gold rush, right?" Alphonse asked. Christin smiled and nodded. Alphonse then began talking to his brother, who occasionally nodded or grunted in response. Christin felt around her pockets for her ipod and almost screamed when she saw that it had fused with her hand. The control buttons and screen could be seen on the back of her left hand, but the device itself had vanished. Cautiously, she pressed the menu button. The screen lit up, displaying the song that she had been listening to prior to her… current situation. She turned down the volume and pressed play. Aiden's "the Last Sunrise" began playing softly. She couldn't see speakers or anything, so guessed the music was playing through her body. She put in her headphones and the sound became very soft, like she was used to.

"What's that?" Edward asked, stopping.

"What?" Alphonse asked. Edward looked around.

"I hear sounds. It sounds like it might be music, but it's no music I've ever heard." He said. He watched Christin walk up to them and stop.

"Something wrong?" she asked, looking up from her hand. Edward noticed the light and grabbed her hand, turning it around and examining it. "Hello?"

"That's weird. I think this is making the sounds." Edward said, pointing to Christin's hand. He pressed his finger to the small white circle on her hand. The small screen changed, displaying a list of artists he wasn't familiar with. After a few minutes of being toyed with, Christin snatched her hand back.

"Do I look like a toy? Haven't you…. Oh that's right. I forgot." She said. "Ipods wouldn't exist here, at least, not yet. But, if we're in a different dimension, then they wouldn't exist at all."

"Listen, don't play with that anymore, okay? You're enough of a spectacle as it is. Keep that thing hidden and don't go around showing it to people." Edward instructed.

"Why, cuz if I do I'll wind up in some lab somewhere strapped to a table with wires poking out of my brain cuz I'm some sort of freak?" she mocked. Edward nodded, holding out a glove. She took it and put it on.

"Keep that on until I say you can take it off." He instructed.

"That means I'm stuck with you, doesn't it?" she asked, flexing her fingers. The glove was a little big, but Edward was a guy and guys usually have larger builds than girls. Edward said nothing and kept walking forward.

Eventually, the three made it to town. Christin sat down on the ground, entirely out of breath. She had never been very physically fit and any sort of physical activity wore her out. In hopes of making her less conspicuous, she had donned Edward's overcoat and promised not to speak much because of her strange way of speaking.

"Hey, Ed, who's your friend?" a man called from across the street.

"Hm? Oh, that's… Chris. He's from out of town." Edward replied. Christin growled.

"Now I'm a guy?" she hissed angrily.

"It's easier to explain having a guy stay with us than a girl." He retorted, dragging her through town.

"Yes, because guys have boobs." She snapped, pointing at her chest. Alphonse sighed.

"Hey, Gracia, can I ask a favor?" Edward called, poking his head inside a flower shop. A woman with short brown hair looked up from the roses she was arranging.

"Sure. What is it?" she asked. "Oh, who's your friend? He's cute."

"I'm a girl, lady." Christin said wryly. She sighed and hung her head. "Do I really look like a guy?" she asked Alphonse. He shrugged.

"That's what the favor is. Do you have some clothes she could borrow?" Edward asked.

"I might, though I don't know if anything will fit her. She's rather on the short side, unlike Noa." Gracia beckoned Christin to follow her. She meekly obliged.

"We'll be back in an hour. Thanks." Edward grinned, pushing his brother out the door. An hour later, Christin and Gracia sat in the shop. Gracia sipped tea and Christin fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Uhhh… thanks…" she muttered.

"You're welcome." Gracia smiled.

"My name's Christin." She said shyly.

"That's a pretty name. I'm Gracia." The older woman replied.

"You're pretty too. I mean your name. N-not that I'm saying you're not pretty – you're a very attractive woman… um…" Christin floundered. "You get it…" she finished.

"Thank you." Gracia smiled.

"Are you sure I can have this?" Christin asked, looking down at the dress Gracia had tailored to fit her. It was very dark blue, almost black and came down to her knees.

"Of course. I have plenty others. Besides, I haven't worn that since I was your age. It's yours to keep."

"I'm back." Edward called. Christin jolted nervously. "Let's go." Edward said from the doorway. Christin stood up, grabbed the bag with the clothes she previously wore and followed Edward to an apartment. Alphonse sat at a table, talking to a girl with dark hair and skin. "Noa, this is Christin. She's going to stay with us for a while." Edward said, shrugging out of his jacket. Christin waved nervously. Noa stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You have no home either. You're like us." She said, drawing her hand back.

"Sure. I'll roll with that." Christin said.

"Noa's a fortune teller." Alphonse grinned. Christin nodded slowly.

"Dancer too." She added.

"What?" Noa asked, turning around to face her.

"You're a dancer too, right? Your movements, the way you walk. It's way too graceful for a normal person." Christin clarified. Noa grinned. A cat meowed loudly.

"Al, did you bring home another cat?" Edward asked. Alphonse grinned meekly.

"It was just sitting there all lonely and sad…" he said, picking up the small orange cat that was rubbing its face on his legs. It meowed and leapt out of his arms and strutted up to Christin, meowing loudly. She crouched down and picked it up. Then she meowed back.

"Oh. We got a weird one this time." Edward groaned, watching the cat and Christin meow at each other.

"Yes. Yes I am weird. How nice of you to notice." She said, standing and looking up at Edward.

"You admit you're weird?" he asked.

She nodded. "Weird, crazy, psycho, odd, any title works. I'm as far from normal as you can get, I guess." She grinned.

"Great…" Edward replied. "Just when I thought things would go back to normal."

"Hey dude." Christin said, turning his face so he looked at her. "There ain't no such thing as 'normal'. Especially with me around." Edward really dreaded the mischievous glint in her eyes.

A/N: Okay, I know I have my other story, but I wanted to get this idea down before I forgot it. I'm still working on chapter 12 of Catch Me As I Fall, so just hang in there, kay? I'll update as soon as I can.