Rebirth One Shots

A Secret of Brotherhood

I do not own Full Metal Alchemist.

I lead them down the street to a comfortable house. It's on the other end of town from the main Armstrong estate. As we enter the house the maid our parents insist is waiting. Marie is average height with raven hair and a kind smile. She is normally kind and bubbly but is also one of the people my big sister tested and approved to be my maid/companion. Alphonse is carrying the bag of parts for me. Edward is walking along kind of shocked.

"Not a bad place you got here," Edward says with a smile.

"Welcome home Ms. Crystal,"

"Thank you Marie. These are the Elrich brothers, Edward and Alphonse. This is Marie, my parents insisted I have someone since my big sister got stationed up at Briggs," I say as I take the parts from Alphonse.

"Welcome Elric brothers. Mr. Edward, Mr. Alphonse," Marie says bowing.

"I will be in my workshop," I say as I head down the hall. "You guys can take the guest room upstairs. If you trigger the boobytraps then you know it's the wrong one."

I hear Marie laugh as she guides them. I quickly get to work. As I pour over schematics and formulae I obsess. I know I'm almost there. I used my siblings contacts to get access to Tucker's and others work. I prepare, I'm going to stop him or at least be able to separate the two.

I growl and swipe my arms across. I feel metal dig into my skin and it hits me. I look down at the alchemic mark on my palm.

"Of course..." I exclaim.

I start drawing small circles and diagrams on metal disks. Then I bring my palms together and feel the energy crackle. I shrink the disks down into a powder keeping the image of the circles in my mind. The resulting powder has a red shine from the iron in the ink.

I guess I was a bit too absorbed in my thoughts. I hear a gasp and laugh.

"So that's why you weren't weirded out by Al's helmet popping for a moment," a voice drawls.

I hold back a scream but I can't stop the release of the wrench from my hand as I spin. It is embedded in the wall over his head and I groan.

"God damnit," Ed exclaims.

"S.s.sorry we tried knocking," Alphonse stutters.

I blanch and bow.

"Oh I am so sorry," I say as I pull the wrench out.  "Ok, you guys officially know my secret. I passed through the gate as I was being born because thanks to the man who killed my parents doing so with an incomplete array. Or at least that's what I've been able to piece together."

"So, you grew up with that knowledge," Ed asks.

"Yeah, not even my family knows the full truth," I say as we sit down.

"So, what are you working on," Alphonse asks.

"It's an idea for a kind of medicine. I hope by suspending this powder in a solution I can then inject it into the body and then use alchemy to guide it and use it like a kind of internal stitch," I say.

"Wow you really are their daughter," Ed says with a smile.

"Wait... did you know my birth parents," I ask.

"Yep, although I think my mechanic knew them better," Ed says. "Where is your phone by the way?"

"Marie can show it to you," I say distractedly.

"Uh no she can't. She stepped out to do grocery shopping," Alphonse says.

"Oh, yeah...  well when she gets back I'll cook dinner. The phone is down the hall under the painting of the bell," I say even as I hope Marie makes it home soon in one piece.

"Well she is on her way. Winry will be here tomorrow afternoon," Ed says walking back in and his eyes look around the workshop.

"Wow, you really do use all these parts," Ed asks.

"Yeah, alchemy may be an Armstrong family gift but for some reason I keep being drawn to automail," I say as I move my chair to a leg I made for a logger.

As the hours stretch I pull over one of my 'spare' arms. I am worriedly rebuilding it this time with a lining of the microcircles. I suddenly hear a knock and nearly run to the door.

"Marie," I say nearly ripping the door open to find a blonde haired man in the standard cut.

"I'm sorry Ms. Armstrong but I'm not your maid," he says and my stomach drops.

"No, no, no, not Marie," I pant.

"I'm sorry we found this in an alley near the market" he says holding her purse with a bloody smear. "Her ID was inside. We suspect she fell victim to the madman that has been attacking young women."

I collapse, Marie was the closest I had to a friend and had been with me for years. She worked for me because the Armstrongs were wealthy and her family was poor. She actually had asked my big sister for the job when she found out I needed help. On one level I was her boss but really she just wanted to make sure I didn't go overboard in my research.

Flashback

"Geeze Crystal, when was the last time you cleaned this place," Marie says wearing a plain brown dress looking annoyed.

"What," I ask looking up with a big grease stain on my forehead.

"I said when was the last time you cleaned this place," Marie says as she pulls a finger through a swath of dust.

"Uhh Olivier left 3 months ago and Catherine last was here for dinner a week after that, Alex was here hmm a week after that before he got sent out on a mission. Since then I've been left to my own to work," I say as I nibble on a dango.

"Well no more. As your best friend and new maid I'm not going to let you live like this anymore," Marie says rolling up her sleeves.

"Heh, since when were you my maid," I ask.

"Since your family accepted my offer. Now if you don't go take a bath I will let your family know how much of an alchemic prodigy you really are," she says glaring at me.

I narrow my eyes at her. "You wouldn't dare."

"You know I would little girl," she says.

In that moment I'm reminded that friend or not she is as old as my big sister.

"Fine but don't touch any of those limbs," I grump.

End Flashback