A/N: Aaaand the sequel! I'm pretty sure I only mentioned it to a few of you, but I've been planning this for a while and I have a decent idea of how it's going to work. It should at least be smoother, being that it won't take place over a whole damn year. Hope you like!

Title: And Tempered in Truth

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Friendship/Drama

Warnings: Earth!AU for Fullmetal Alchemist (Amestris is an isolated country located somewhere south of Russia, on the border between Europe and Asia) and slight AU for Artemis Fowl - the events of The Arctic Incident are all shunted forward a year.

Summary: Foaly never actually pulled location surveillance on Artemis, and when he goes into the one area monitored by neither humans, nor fairies, he can't help but be suspicious. Holly just wants to know how they missed this.

Disclaimer: I own neither Artemis Fowl, nor the Fullmetal Alchemist. 'Tis but a dream.

This situation, Artemis thought, seemed unnervingly familiar.

Not a few months after he'd fully recovered, Artemis' father made a decision that was among the most important in his life, right up there with deciding to accompany his ships into the Bay of Kola:

Artemis Fowl Senior was going to get automail.

This was a decision that worried Angeline; she had, after all, heard horror stories about the process. The way she'd heard it, surgery was hell, rehabilitation was hell, and even the automail itself was at times a form of hell.

Artemis supposed that her concern was somewhat warranted.

Artemis Senior, though, reassured Angeline, repeatedly telling her that yes, he was certain and yes, he could handle it.

It took some convincing nonetheless, but not one word could convince Angeline to let her husband go alone.

And when Artemis quietly recommended the Rockbells, neither of his parents said a word.

Butler didn't do much to hide his automail.

Artemis' second trip to Amestris, unlike the first, drew the attention of more than just the locals.

Though Foaly had pulled surveillance on Artemis' communications after the B'wa Kell incident, he had soon replaced them with a system that monitored his location. So when Artemis Fowl went off the radar, Foaly noticed.

He squinted at the screen, frowning, one hand coming up to adjust his tinfoil hat. Now that was odd.

He'd been aware of the blank spot, of course. It was hard not to notice the small land area that all human satellites carefully steered clear of, and since most of his sensors piggybacked on human technology, there had been no way of getting a reading without going out of his way. The effort had just never seemed worthwhile; hardly anyone, even humans, went in or came out of the comparatively small region, and it was just generally far too much trouble for far too little gain.

Only now, Artemis was entering the blank region.

Foaly pressed a button, called in a favor, and within the hour, Holly was on her way, too.

They got off the train at Resembool station and Artemis Senior's confidence visibly wavered at the country town, but Artemis reassured him,

"Even the automail engineers in Rush Valley say that the Rockbells are the best."

In a stroke of faith that the old Artemis Senior would never have shown, he nodded at his son, smiled slightly, and followed him to the house marked with the clear sign 'Rockbell Automail'.

He knocked on the door, balancing slightly awkwardly on his traditional prosthetic, and within minutes the door was answered, Pinako squinting up at the newcomers with narrow, sharp eyes.

She took in the prosthetic on Artemis Senior's leg with the air of a practiced professional (which she was) and, like Butler's missing arm had been two years before, that was explanation enough. Unlike Winry, though, Pinako only nodded and said "I see" before she took in his companions.

Her old, but quick eyes skimmed over Angeline, who subtly helped support the elder Artemis, and soon found Artemis and Butler, lighting briefly with surprise and recognition. "Oh, Artemis, Butler. It's good to see you two." To Artemis, "Are these your parents?"

Artemis nodded.

Pinako nodded crisply. "Very well. Come in, then. You'll be wanting your automail as soon as possible, yes?"

"Yes," Angeline agreed for him, one arm on her husband's. "Tomorrow, if at all possible."

Pinako turned to reenter and 'hm'ed a confirmation. "Yes, tomorrow should be entirely possible."

They entered the still-familiar living room and Artemis instantly zeroed in on a pair of familiar figures. His eyebrows rose.

"Edward? Alphonse? What on earth are the pair of you here for?"

Edward, clearly startled, looked up at him. He shifted slightly to turn around, revealing Artemis' answer for him; the guard plate of his right arm was gone, and the inner workings appeared to be damaged. He broke into a grin and waved. "Artemis!" he greeted. "And hey, Butler!"

Al started, looking up, and soulfire eyes lit up. "Oh, Artemis, Butler! You're back!"

Butler smiled slightly and Artemis dipped his head. Artemis Senior looked over at him, one eyebrow raised and mouth quirked ironically.

"Artemis? Someone you know?" Surprise danced under his voice, and with good reason; Artemis had very few friends his age. Absolutely none, in fact.

Aside, of course, from Edward and Alphonse.

"Yes, as a matter of fact," Artemis replied, crossing the room to stand by Edward and cock an eyebrow down at his broken arm. "Butler and I met the pair of them while Edward was going through automail rehabilitation himself."

"It's good to meet any friend of Artemis'," Angeline told them sincerely, smiling slightly.

Edward laughed a little. "What, he doesn't make a lot of friends? That doesn't surprise me."

Angeline smiled ruefully, and Artemis merely shrugged; most people simply weren't worth making friends with.

Artemis Senior looked at Edward's arm with a mixture of regret and interest. Regret, of course, that someone Ed's age would need such a thing; this new version of his father was by far more empathetic and moral.

More to the point, though, Artemis Senior's main concern since Artemis had first brought up the Rockbells was their skill. Though Butler's arm was quite brilliant, it was also large, in accordance to his large frame. Artemis Senior knew more than enough to realize that it would require less finesse to build, and that his leg would be smaller and finer.

Before he truly had faith in the Rockbells' skills, he'd need to see something smaller.

Artemis rather hoped that he wouldn't share the specifics of his thought process with Edward.

"May I see your automail?" Artemis Senior asked, any number of faint emotions etched across his face – concern, regret, anxiety, all just traces.

Edward looked up at him with some surprise and then smiled easily. "Sure. But, wait-" He stopped Artemis Senior as he started forward and leaned forward to tug up the black leather pant leg of his left leg. At the man's faintly startled look, he tipped his head up and gave a slight smile, hinting understanding but feigning ignorance. "You're getting a leg, right?"

Artemis Senior nodded silently and bent forward quietly to examine the cold steel, finely crafted according to Edward's small body. After a few minutes, he asked, "And it works well?"

"It's perfect," Edward promised, wiggling the foot lightly. With some pride, he added, "Winry designed it herself. I'm her first human patient, but she did the dog's, too." He paused for thought, then added, "Granny'll probably design yours, though."

Artemis Senior 'hm'ed a little, still a little uncertain. Edward smiled again, confident, and continued,

"The feedback mechanism's not bad, either. Nothing like a real leg, obviously, but you'll get a better response than you would from any other automail engineer. The pressure sensor's pretty good. If I had to criticize the thing, I'd say that it needs a lot more day-to-day maintainence than most models, but that shouldn't be a problem if you're gonna stay at home most of the time."

The man nodded slowly and leaned back again, and Angeline helped him back to his feet. "I see. Thank you, Edward, that was most helpful."

Ed grinned, clearly at ease, and leaned back a little, arm responding well even when damaged – something Artemis saw his father take careful note of. "No problem."

"Where is Winry?" Artemis asked. Edward was obviously here to get his automail fixed (Artemis wondered how it had been damaged) but Winry, who always worked on Ed's automail, was nowhere in sight.

"She's just fixing Brother's guard plate," Al provided, startling Artemis' parents slightly. "It has teeth marks in it and it's all crushed."

They chose not to ask.

And that's chapter one. Please review! (GODDAMMIT, THERE ARE SPIDERS IN MY ROOM! A LOT OF REALLY SMALL SPIDERS! *cough*)