"I can't believe you broke it again, Brother."
Edward Elric's automail arm hung limp at his side as he and his brother, Alphonse Elric, walked to the local trainstation.
"It's not my fault!" Ed argued.
Al only sighed. "Winry's gonna be angry, you know."
"Yeah..." Ed muttered, "I know...."
The two brothers arrived at the station and looked for the schedule so that they could catch the earliest train. Once they located it, however, they found that all trains were cancelled for the next two weeks due to damage on the tracks.
"I can't wait that long!" Ed exclaimed, putting his good arm up to his head.
"Is there a problem, sir?" a man asked. Judging from his uniform, he worked at the station.
"Hell, yes, there's a-"
"Brother, please," Al said, interrupting his older sibling. "Mister, is there an automail repair shop around here?"
Ed sighed. "Al, it's a hick town. Why would there be-"
"Actually, yes, there is," the man said, and Ed shut up, not caring that he was interrupted for a second time. "Here," he continued, giving the short boy a map. He pointed to a location. "It's right there."
Ed took the map, beaming now. "Thank you, sir!" he said, running off to the location.
"B-Brother, wait!" Al called, trying to catch up to him. "Thank you, sir!"
After a long run, followed closely by slowing to a walk due to lack of breath, the siblings arrived at the place marked on the map. It seemed rather run-down, but looking through the dirty window, Ed saw that the shop's equipment was high quality. He walked in, a small bell sounding as he did so.
"Hello?" Al called. "Is someone here?"
Your head peered around the corner. "...Customers?" you whisper to yourself. Rushing out, you say, "Yes! Ah, I'm here. Er, that is... can I help you with something?"
"Yeah," the shorter one stated. "My automail is damaged pretty bad. Can't even move it."
"Let me see," you said, taking his arm. "Um, just out of curiosity, why are you wearing a suit of armor?" you asked the taller one.
"N-no reason!" both boys said simutaniously. You cocked a brow, but didn't pry.
Releasing his arm, you walked over to your wall of tools, picking out a screwdriver. "So, what're your names?" you ask. "I'm (y/n), by the way."
"I'm Ed. This is my younger brother Al." The one you would have thought to be younger gestured to the one clad in armor.
"He's the younger..?" you began.
"Is there a problem?" Ed asked, knowing what you were implying.
"Uh, nope! No problem at all! Just sit down here so I can get to work."
As he walked by you, you realized he was about half an inch taller than you. 'Wait, I'm shorter than such a midget?' you thought to yourself. 'I must not have looked in a mirror lately. Oh. Right. Can't afford one.'
"Now, I hope you realize that this will be expensive," you say. "We don't get a lot of people here, so we have to make money where we can."
"That's understandable," Al said as Ed sat down.
Walking over to the chair Ed was sitting in, you said, "Can you take off your shirt so I can get a good look at the automail?"
The blonde nodded, and began to take off his cloak. As he did so, however, something fell out of his pocket. Leaning over to pick it up, your eyes widened. It was a silver pocket watch.
