I do not own Fairy Tail or Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Fairy

Chapter 2: Meeting People and Learning about Magic

It had been a few days since Ed started his research on Ethernano and how it could be used to return home, and so far, Ed had made almost no progress. Despite the large amount of information that the Fairy Tail archive had, very little of the information actually explained what Ethernano was, only going into the basics of how it worked on people.

That wasn't to say Ed didn't learn anything. As Ed began to research it more, the actual use of magic followed similar principles to alchemy. The biggest connection was the circles used in magic, which worked like transmutation circles for alchemy, and something that most forms of magic required in order to be used. This, however, only seemed to raise more questions for the alchemist due to how the circles used in magic seemed to just appear when the mages used them, something completely different to the alchemic circles back in Amestris.

Not helping Ed's research were the constant interruptions from the guild and its members. Some, like Lucy and Levy, only came down to introduce themselves, so they weren't an issue. Other members, though, only seemed to exist to torment the alchemist or interrupt his research.

The most troublesome for Ed to deal with was a pink haired boy who wore a black sleeveless vest that exposed his chest and a white scarf made of some sort of scales. As Ed found out, Natsu Dragneel was his name, and he always caused trouble it seemed. After his first meeting and Ed throwing him and Grey out, the same thing happened the next day, with a repeat of the same results. Because of this, now it seemed like Ed couldn't go a few hours without the flame head rushing into the archives to challenge Ed to a fight. Every time Natsu did, Ed would immediately beat him down to get him to shut up, and then would resume his research as if nothing happened. Ed was tempted to just use his alchemy and form a massive wall to keep just Natsu out, but he realized that Natsu would just eventually break it down and keep pestering him, so it was far from worth it.

The other problem that Ed found came from one of the women of Fairy Tail. She had long brown hair and only seemed to wear a bikini top and pants, much to Ed's initial discomfort, and she always had some form of alcohol with her no matter what. While she seemed alright at first, when she offhandedly called Ed short, she quickly found it was more fun to tease the blonde than to actually get to know him. No matter what he was doing, whenever she muttered some form of short comment around him, Ed dropped whatever he was doing (both figuratively and literally in some cases) and went on a rant about how he wasn't short, only fueling the teasing from the brunette.

After five days of nonstop research, Ed inevitably decided to stop when he realized the books he had just weren't going to cut it. Sighing, Ed walked up to the bar of the guild and sat down.

As he walked up, a woman with long white hair and a red dress came up to Ed from behind the bar, "Is there anything I can get you Ed?" she politely asked.

Ed turned to face the woman, "Nothing right now, but thank you Mira. I plan on heading out for a bit and just wanted to let the old man know."

Mirajane Strauss was one of the first people who Ed had met during his time at Fairy Tail, mainly due to how she was the one who brought him food whilst he was in his research comas. She was kind and supportive of the alchemist, but didn't annoy or pester him while he worked, which he appreciated immensely.

"Oh, and why are you going out Ed?" asked a voice from behind Ed. Turning around, he saw Makarov walk up to the bar and sit down on the counter next to Ed.

"I have been here for five days with nowhere else to go, and so far, all I have done is freeload off the guild. I'm going out to make some money, that way I can actually get my own place to stay and can pay back all that I owe." Ed hated being in debt to people. It went against the law of equivalent exchange, for him to receive something and for someone else to get nothing in return, it was infuriating to him.

"But Ed, how are you going to make money? You can't take jobs unless you are a part of the guild and there isn't much that people need that a non-mage can provide." Mira asked.

Ed shrugged, "I don't know, but I'm sure I can find some way to make money."

"Ah, I see you decided to leave the archive," a voice said approaching Ed. Turning around, Ed was greeted with someone who he had yet to meet. The person in question was a girl with long scarlet hair wearing armor and gauntlets on her upper body, with a short blue skirt and boots for her lower body.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Erza Scarlet, it is a pleasure to have you here at Fairy Tail," the now named Erza stated matter-of-factly.

Ed help out his left hand, offering a handshake. "Edward Elric. From what I had heard from the rest of the guild, you seemed to be some monstrous destroyer who everyone feared. I don't see why though."

Erza chuckled at this before accepting the handshake, "The other members tend to act fearful of me due to my nature, I can assure you that I am not a monster."

"Well that's good to hear, but I think its about time I go out to make some cash. I'll be back before the guild hall closes. See you Old Man, and nice meeting ya Erza," Ed said, walking away from the bar and exiting the front door.

Erza took Ed's place at the bar shortly after he left, then turned to face Master Makarov, "I take it Edward has yet to join the guild as of now."

"Ed has no obligation to join our guild, though I'm sure he will after his brother is fully healed and he finds that being a part of the guild will make getting money a lot easier than whatever he plans on doing out in the city," Makarov stated before drinking from the mug of beer he now had.

Erza raised a brow at this, "Is Ed's brother doing alright? It would be rude for the guild to not help him if he is sick."

"Ed's brother is admittedly not in the best condition. However, Porlyusica has been helping him ever since I meet the two of them, so he is in good hands," Makarov replied.

"Hm, would it be alright if I were to meet Ed's brother Master?" While Ed had had little interaction with the guild at this point, Erza still felt that it would be wrong to not try and learn more about the brothers.

Makarov looked over at Erza at smiled. "I have no problems with it, you'll just have to deal with Porlyusica when you visit him."

To most other members of the guild, that would have stopped anyone from pressing the matter further, but Erza was not most members.

"Very well, then I will leave to visit him shortly."

"Where exactly are we headed?" Lucy asked, following behind Erza, Grey, Natsu, and Happy as they walked into the forest.

"We are going to visit Edward's younger brother. From what the Master has told me, he is currently being treated by Porlyusica and has yet to meet any of the people in the guild," Erza replied.

"Okay but why though? If you haven't noticed Ed is kind of distant from the rest of the guild, and if his brother is anything like him, he probably won't appreciate the visit, especially if he's sick," Lucy shuddered at the thought of there being two people who were just as bad tempered as Ed was.

"Even still, it would be rude for him to not meet any of the guild members if they decided to join the guild," Erza said, continuing her march toward Porlyusica's place.

As the group approached the home in the forest, Erza walked up and was about to knock on the door, when Porlyusica flung the door open and glared at each of Fairy Tail members who had just showed up.

"What do you all want? You clearly aren't injured so I have no need to see any of you humans," Porlyusica snapped at Erza.

"We are just here to visit Edward's brother. Ed has left the guild hall for an undetermined amount of time and we wanted to make sure his brother would not be neglected because of it," Erza politely explained to Porlyusica. The rest of the group, however, backed away in fear the moment she came out of her house.

'Th-this is the guild's doctor' Lucy thought as the woman continued to glare at them.

"None of you are injured or sick so why should I bother letting you in?" growled Porlyusica.

"Natsu, can you come here for a second?" Erza turned around to ask the salmon haired youth.

"Huh, sure Erza what do you-" Natsu started to say before Erza slammed her fist into his gut, causing him to collapse over in pain.

"It would appear that Natsu is injured, would you let us in so that he can be properly treated?" Erza turned back to Porlyusica as if she hadn't just assaulted Natsu.

"Hmph, fine, bring the idiot in but you better leave pretty damn soon otherwise there will be consequences," grumbling, Porlyusica turned back into her home.

Picking up Natsu, Erza walked into the house, "Now then, I believe it is time we meet Edward's younger brother."

What the Fairy Tail mages saw next was not what they were expecting. They had assumed that when Ed's brother was sick it meant that he was simply trying to get over a disease and would be slightly sick looking. What sat before them was anything but that.

In a bed across from them laid a boy roughly the same age as Ed if not a bit younger. He wore a very loss fighting shirt and was reading from a large stack of books that were beside his bed, occasionally moving his hair away from his eyes as the long, unkept blonde hair seemed to obscure his vision. The thing that shocked the mages the most, though, was the boy's condition. The boy's skin was incredibly pale, as if he hadn't been in light for ages, and his body was built almost like that of a skeleton, with his limbs seeming to be incredibly malnourished with little to no muscle on them at all.

Lucy nearly vomited immediately after seeing the boy, while Natsu, Grey and Happy were simply dumbstruck and in shock. Erza had it the worst, with the color draining from her face almost immediately and her previous positive expression shifting into a look of pure horror. How the boy had survived to reach this state was beyond anything the mages could imagine, and they all wondered 'What happened to this boy?'.

"Can I help all of you?" the boy in front of them politely asked them.

"A-are you Ed's brother," Erza managed to stutter out after a few seconds of silence.

The boy smiled brightly, "That's right, my name is Alphonse Elric. It's nice to meet you all."

"W-what happened to you," Lucy squeaked, barely able to maintain her composure.

"I've been sick for a while now, and brother worked to help me get better. Running into Porlyusica has now allowed me to get better after so long." Al explained, his smile slightly shrinking from the memories of his past. "Either way, what can I help you with?'

Regaining her composure, Erza answered. "Ed has been rather distant over these last few days and we felt that it would be best to introduce you to some of the guild members if either of you decide to join the guild."

"Oh, okay then. I take it brother has been spending most of his time researching?"

The members of Fairy Tail nodded.

Al sighed, "Sorry if brother seems distant around the guild. The both of us love to learn new things and after all that's happened with the two of us, he hasn't had much time to just do research. It also doesn't help that when he researches he gets very caught up in it. I have trouble breaking him out of it at times." Despite how bad the young boy looked, the smile he gave off and the energy of his words were filled with positivity, as if he was just happy to be able to talk.

"So, what were you guys doing before you came to Fairy Tail?" Natsu asked.

"Like I said, my brother and I like to research. We want to learn as much as we can about the world, so we can use it to help people and grow as people. Its just that after I got sick we haven't had as much time, with Ed doing everything he could to help with my condition," Al explained, his kind smile never leaving his face.

Erza smiled. Even with his body in such terrible condition, Al radiated a feeling of hope, as if he was just happy to be alive.

"Is there anything else that you would like to talk about while you're here? I don't get a lot of visitors save for brother when he brings me new stuff to read." Al waved his hand towards the pile of books sitting next to his bed.

"Well, if it is alright with you, could we just talk with you about some things? Nothing much, just some questions about you and Ed," Erza asked.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind having a conversation. It would be a nice change of pace." As Al said this, his long hair began to fall back over his eyes, obscuring his vision. He quickly brushed it away and looked back at the members of Fairy Tail.

"Um, Al? This may sound rude, but you seriously need a haircut," Lucy stated.

"Yeah, but I haven't had a lot of time to get one what with Porlyusica treating me right now."

"If that's the case, would you be alright if I give you one?" asked Lucy.

"I appreciate the thought, but do you know how to properly cut people's hair?" Al didn't want to have his first haircut after getting his body back end with a bad haircut.

"Oh, I won't directly be the one cutting your hair, my magic will." Before Al could ask further questions, Lucy pulled out a gold key and held it out.

"Now open, Gate of the Giant Crab, Cancer!"

In a flash of light, a new being appeared in front of everyone. He was tall man wearing a long sleeve blue jacket, with red skin, sunglasses, and several crustacean-like legs coming out from his back. In each of his hands he held a pair of scissors used by a barber.

"Whoa! Who is that?" Al screamed. From what he had read the magic in this world could do a lot, but being able to summon and entire person out of the blue? It was so insane for him to even think about.

"This is Cancer, one of my celestial spirits. I use my magic and these keys to summon him when I need his help. He is the best hair stylist I know, and I figured he would be able to help with your hair problem." As Lucy explained, Cancer seemed to shift uncomfortably around Al, as if he didn't like being around him.

Before Lucy could react, Cancer quickly dashed toward Al, cut his hair into a much shorter style than he originally had, then moved back to Lucy.

"That should be all you need from me, right?" Cancer said, a hint of nervousness present in his voice.

"Uh, yeah but-" Lucy started to say, before Cancer left in a flash of light, returning to the spirit world.

After a few seconds of silence, Lucy decided to speak up. "Well, that was different."

"No offense, but he seemed pretty rude, just showing up and cutting my hair. I don't mind the haircut, it actually looks really nice, but I would have preferred to have some say in it." While Al said this, he looked over to a mirror and saw his new haircut.

Lucy shrugged her shoulders, "I'm honestly just as confused. Usually my spirits aren't that anxious when in the human world. Maybe Cancer just had something going on back in the Celestial world and needed to get back quickly."

"Well, I still appreciate the haircut Lucy. It actually looks like how I used to have it before I got sick."

"It's no problem Al, but I do have to ask, why was it that long? Being sick doesn't mean you can't get a haircut." Lucy asked.

This time it was Al's turn to shrug, "Honestly we just forget to do it while we were traveling, and brother isn't the best with cutting hair."

The group nodded to this, thinking of Ed's strange braid that he had.

"Something I was wondering though, what's with you and Ed's magic? I haven't seen anything like it and for some reason your magic doesn't seem to use a magic circle." Grey asked, wanting to add his own thoughts to the mix.

Al continued to smile, but Erza noticed how it very briefly diminished when he heard the question. "Well, to answer what the magic is, basically brother and I can use our magic to reform any material that we touch, so long as we know what we are working with. As for the magic circle part, when we clap our hands together, we create the circle inside ourselves, letting the energy flow through us until we create what we want with it."

"That makes a bit more sense, but how did you learn it? I haven't heard about any type of magic that works like that." Grey said, still thoroughly confused.

"Well, our teacher was the only person we know who had this type of circle-less magic, so she trained us how to do it." Al was half-lying, but it was easier to explain than what alchemy actually was.

"Your teacher must have been an exceptional mage than. What guild was she part of?" Erza asked.

"None. Izumi Curtis was just a housewife."

"WHAT? So some random everyday women taught you and Ed how to do this badass magic?" Natsu screamed.

"That sounds like what happened with Grey now that I think about it." Happy said as he jumped up next to Natsu.

Up until this point, Al had not even noticed Happy's existence, him being more focused on the other members of the guild. However, once Happy jumped up onto the bed Natsu was at, Al's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. In front of him was not just a cat, but a TALKING BLUE CAT. Al didn't know what the rest of this new world was like, but right now he thought it was heaven.

"A-am I dreaming or is that a talking cat?!" Al exclaimed, his already bright smile somehow getting even brighter.

"Aye, sir! My name is Happy." Happy said, raising one paw while he talked.

"Its official, my brother brought me to the best guild possible." Al said.

The members of Fairy Tail all laughed at this, the clear joy Al was showing making it feel almost like the guild hall in a way. The members continued to talk with Al for a bit, with each introducing themselves to him and him getting to know more about what Fairy Tail was like. Eventually, Porlyusica forced the group out because of her annoyance with humans, but Al did say that if they wanted to talk again he would be happy to once he was able to leave. Al smiled as they left, satisfied that he had made some new friends in this mysterious new world and glad that they seemed genuinely interested in helping Ed and him through their problems.

'Brother, I think you might have made the right choice this time.'

"Well that definitely was an eventful day."

Ed was walking back to the guild hall shortly before the sun had set, finished with his mission to make some money. While the guild may have more job offerings available, Ed had an exceptional amount of luck finding some work while he was out in Magnolia. It mainly consisted of him using his alchemy for repairs, similar to how he would back in Amestris when he would repair the damages caused by a fight. Considering who Fairy Tail was, Ed was surprised there were less repair jobs available.

Something that Ed did take notice of, however, was when he performed his alchemy. For some reason, the transmutations seemed to be faster and easier than they were in Amestris, even seeming to not need as much material as he thought. Ed could only assume that the Ethernano in the air was somehow amplifying his alchemy and allowing him to perform his alchemy on a greater scale in comparison to before. He still didn't understand how this was possible, but it just happened regardless.

Needless to say, Ed was frustrated with not being able to know what was going on.

After his work was finished, Ed was able to make off with a decent amount of money. It wasn't enough to get a house or anything, but it would be enough to pay back the money he owed the guild and then some.

When he finally reached the guild hall, it was around 2 hours before the guild hall closed. As he walked into the guild hall, he made his way to the edge of the bar, where Mira walked over to him.

"So Ed, how was your little job search?"

"Honestly, better than I thought. Considering how much damage the guild does, I just got paid to help fix stuff the guild broke. By the way, here is the money I need to pay for my time here." Ed then pulled out a small sack filled with his payment for the guild.

"Well then, does that mean you will be paying for your meals now?"

"I may still need to stay at the guild for housing, but I won't keep racking up debt for the basic necessities." Ed said.

"YO ED, FIGHT ME!" a familiar voice screamed behind Ed. Before Natsu could even reach Ed, he had already created a hand from the ground and thrown Natsu to the other side of the guild.

"I JUST GOT BACK TO THE GUILD HALL ASSHOLE, LET ME HAVE A SECOND TO RELAX DAMMIT!"

"Ah Ed, it is good to see you back." Another voice said to his side. He turned and saw Erza walking up to him.

"Oh hey Erza, what's up?"

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that we met your brother earlier. He seems to be quite nice, despite his…. condition." Erza said.

Ed sighed, he knew someone in the guild would met Al soon enough, he just hoped he would be there to make sure nothing went wrong. "Please tell me Natsu didn't challenge him to a fight or Grey started stripping in front of him. He doesn't need that in his life after all that has gone on."

"No, we simply talked with him for a bit. But I must ask Ed, what happened that lead to Al's condition? While he did say he was sick, part of me feels there is more to it than that." Erza asked.

Ed looked directly at Erza, his gaze hard and serious, "Erza, Al and I have been through a lot in our lives, and while Fairy Tail may be willing to help us, we still want to keep our past to ourselves. Do you understand?"

Erza was honestly shocked by how blunt Ed was about how much he didn't want to talk about his past. The look he gave her also screamed 'I will not talk about this further'. This just screamed to her that Ed was hiding something, and whatever it was had a major effect on the brothers.

She eventually nodded, before going into some mild conversation with the boy. Erza left shortly after though, to go on a job of her own. Eventually, it came time to close up the guild hall, and everyone started to leave, with the exception of Ed and Mira, who both worked to clean up the place.

"Thanks for all the help Ed." Mira said as she put up the last of the chairs.

Ed shrugged. "Well I am staying here so I can't just let this place stay dirty."

"Even so, I still appreciate this. Goodnight Ed."

"Goodnight Mira." Ed waved to her as she left the guild hall.

Ed walked over to the archive to hopefully get some more study in before he went to bed. As he walked though, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Happy was flying out of the guild hall holding what appeared to be a job flyer.

'Happy and Natsu must have wanted to grab one last job for tonight' Ed thought. Shrugging, Ed walked off to get some much needed sleep.

As Ed woke up, he started to help set up the guild before Mira came by. After everything was set up, members of the guild began to show up and things became business as usually. That is, until Mira went to the second floor. Afterwards, she ran down to Master Makarov.

"Master, we have a problem. An S-class mission from the second floor has gone missing." Mira screamed, panic evident in her voice. Makarov spit out his beer immediately.

"WHAT? NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO TAKE AN S-CLASS MISSION UNLESS THEY ARE S-CLASS! WHO COULD HAVE DONE THIS?" Makarov at this point was screaming to the entire guild.

"What's an S-class mission?" All eyes turned to Ed, who was calmly eating at the bar.

"An S-class mission is an extremely dangerous mission that only mages recognized as S-class can take. In Fairy Tail only a few are S-class, such as Erza, Master Makarov, and myself." Mira explained.

"Ed, you were here last night. Did anyone come by that you saw?" Makarov asked.

"I saw Happy fly off with a flyer in his hands. Must have had the S-class job." Ed nonchalantly stated before going back to his food.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM?" Makarov screamed at Ed.

"Ow, my ears. Also, I had no idea what an S-class mission even was, so how was I supposed to know it was an issue?" Ed responded while rubbing his ear.

"Ed, the second floor is off limits for a reason, it is where we keep all of the S-class jobs!" Makarov stated, frustrated.

"…And you don't lock up these missions at night why?"

"Members of the guild know better than to go to the second floor. The punishment alone would scare off anyone stupid enough to try it." Makarov explained.

"…. Old man, you are the master of this guild. So, you should know how stupid Natsu is. Not to mention the simple fact is that NATSU was able to figure out how to take an S-class mission from under your nose. Even with the threat of punishment, Natsu is Natsu, and I think we all know how much he likes to fight. This is all on you for not having some basic foresight." Ed deadpanned.

Makarov's went wide when that realization hit him, and the entire guild went silent. What else was there to say after that? Ed was able to easily summarize Natsu's character AND bring to attention a major flaw of the second floor system, and he had barely stayed at the guild for a week!

"BAH HA HA HA HA!" a new voice laughed above everyone.

Turning, Ed saw who was responsible for the laughter. Standing on the second floor was an older male with blond spikey hair. He had a scar over his right eye in the shape of a lightning bolt, and he seemed to be wearing a large set of headphones, along with a fur coat and a purple shirt. He was noticeably taller than some of the other guild members (Ed included but he didn't want to admit it), and he had a cocky smirk plastered on his face.

"Man, who knew the blonde runt would get the old man to shut up like that?" the blonde man said, eyes squarely focused on Ed.

"WHO YOU CALLING SHORT ENOUGH THAT HE COULD RIDE A FLEA LIKE A HORSE?!" Ed screamed at the top of his lungs, getting ready to jump at this new member of the conversation.

"Ed, calm down. Laxus didn't even say that." Mira wanted to make sure Ed didn't get himself hurt, since he had yet to meet the S-class mage.

"Old man, the freeloader got you there. If you really wanted to keep people from doing something like this, then you should have done more than offering a vague threat to people who do break the rules." The newly named Laxus said, now turning to Makarov as if Ed didn't even exist.

Makarov ignored Laxus' statement before turning to Mirajane. "Mira, what job was taken from the board?"

"It was the one for Galuna Island sir." Mira stated while looking down.

Sighing, Makarov finally addressed Laxus. "Laxus, would you go to Hargeon and stop Natsu from doing something stupid."

"That's not going to happen," Ed muttered, still pissed at Laxus's insult.

"Pfft, like I'm going to waste my time with those losers. I'm out of here." Immediately after finishing, Laxus disappeared in a flash of lightning.

Makarov turned toward Ed. "Ed, you were there when Happy took the mission. You should help fix this since you-"

"Let me stop you right there old man. I had no idea that what Happy was doing was wrong, so you can't hold me accountable for this." Ed explained.

Before Makarov could continue, Grey walked forward. "Gramps don't worry about this. I'll go bring Natsu back. If this is the Galuna Island job, then I should be able to find him before he sails off."

After Grey walked off, Ed turned back to Master Makarov and Mira. "So, who was the asshole who called me short?"

Makarov sighed before answering, "That was Laxus, an S-class mage, one of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail…...and my grandson."

"Wow, so does he get that attitude from you or…" Ed trailed off, ignoring the glare Makarov was giving him.

"I still think you should have gone to help Grey with bringing Natsu back Ed." Mira said.

Ed shrugged, "Really it shouldn't be that hard. Grey just has to go to wherever they are, remind Natsu of what Makarov is going to do to him, and then come back. Besides, I have no knowledge of any of the towns and places around here. I would probably just get lost looking for them. Also, you seem to forget that I am still not a part of this guild yet, meaning that I have no stake in what happens."

Makarov raised an eyebrow at that, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to be staying at our guild right now, right?"

Ed glared at Makarov, "You offered me a place to stay, so you only have yourself to blame for my company."

After that, the rest of the day went on as normal, with Ed continuing his research on magic, with him understanding the concept a bit more, but still had trouble wrapping his head around most of it. Ed even interacted with the guild a bit (or rather screamed more at Cana for calling him short and getting the entire guild to laugh).

As the day kept going though, Makarov got more and more anxious. Grey had yet to return, and it seemed that things must have gone wrong on his end.

Ed was currently reading from more of his books, hoping to find something in the books on magic that would allow him and Al to return home, when he heard a crash in the main guild hall, followed shortly by a loud "WHAT?"

'Sounds like Erza's back' Ed thought before returning to one of the many books around him.

Not two seconds after he thought that did the doors of the archive burst open with a very angry Erza Scarlet walking in and grabbing hold of Ed's jacket before dragging him out of the guild hall.

"Erza! What the hell are you doing? I was researching dammit!" Ed screamed while he struggled to get out of her death grip.

"We are going to bring back Natsu, Happy and Grey from the mission they went on, and you are helping no matter what." Erza stated coldly.

"I have nothing to do with this! And I'm not part of the guild, so there is nothing you can-" Before Ed could finish, Erza made a sword appear out of thin air, let go of him and pointed it at him while he was still on the ground.

"-do to stop me!" Ed screamed, not even flinching at the sword in front of him.

"If you truly think I will not punish you simply because you are not from the guild than you are surely mistaken."

After a few seconds of silence, Ed sighed before standing up. "Lets just get this over with so I can go back to my research."

Nodding, Erza made the sword disappear before the two of them began to walk off.

The two reluctant travel parents didn't speak throughout the entire trip. Ed would occasionally shoot Erza a glare for taking him away from his research. Erza either didn't notice it or was too focused on bringing Natsu and Grey back from this idiotic excursion.

After some time, the two finally reached Hargeon town. From what Ed had gathered, this is where Lucy had met Natsu, causing her to join Fairy Tail. Ed then had a sudden realization.

"I just realized that Lucy is probably with Natsu too." Ed told Erza.

"That seems likely. The two are close guildmates." Erza stated, looking for a possible ship to use.

"But knowing Natsu, he probably dragged her along even though she didn't want to. Lucy doesn't seem like the type to break the rules." Ed said.

'Probably because she's one of the only people in the guild that isn't some type of insane.' Ed thought.

Erza seemed to think about that for a moment before responding, "Even so, she would still have broken a major rule of the guild and will be punished for it."

Erza then notices a ship docked nearby and begins to walk towards it. Ed follows close by, wondering what she plans to do.

"You know that these people might not want to take you to Galuna if it is as dangerous as people say it is, right?"

"I am aware, but this ship is not a normal trader's vessel. It is a pirate's ship." As she explains this, Ed looks at the ship and its crew and realizes it is, indeed, a pirate ship.

"So we just beat up some pirates, take their ship and find Galuna?" Ed asked. He wasn't against the idea but was curious if that was all Erza had thought to do.

"No, they will take us even if I have to convince them to." Erza stated bluntly, causing Ed's mouth to hang open in shock.

'WHAT IS WITH PEOPLE IN THIS GUILD?! DO ALL OF THEM DO STUPID SHIT JUST TO GET A JOB DONE? TRUTH YOU BASTARD, YOU KNEW THIS WORLD WOULD DRIVE ME INSANE!' Ed internally screamed.

"Hey! Who are you two, and what the hell are you doing on our ship?" A random pirate screamed at them.

"You will take us to Galuna Island. NOW!" Erza declared, before Requiping a sword and point to the pirates, "You will do as I say or else!"

Ed and Erza were currently on the pirate ship on their way to Galuna Island. Ed didn't know what was worse, the fact that Erza basically threatened a group of pirates to do as she said, or the fact that it ACTUALLY FUCKING WORKED! No matter how many times Ed thought about it, he still was left dumbstruck by the complete 180 the pirates had after being beaten senseless by Erza (Ed knocked out any that came at him, but it was mostly Erza). Not helping matters was the pain in Ed's ports. While the sea didn't have as much of an effect as when it rained, the atmosphere of the ocean still caused his leg and arm to ache with bits of pain. He currently was rubbing his arm port with his other hand in an effort to subdue the pain, but it still was a pain.

As the two continued to sail, Erza walked up next to him. For some reason, she had a conflicted look on her face, and was looking away from Ed.

"I don't know what you're about to say but based on how things are going I probably won't like it, so go ahead." Ed stated while looking out to sea.

Erza was silent for a few moments before speaking, "How did you lose your arm and leg?"

Ed quickly snapped his head toward Erza, eyes widening in shock. "How did you-"

"When I was dragging you out of the guild hall, I noticed that you seemed much heavier than a normal person. At first, I didn't pay much stock in it, thinking you just had on some sort of armor or metal on your person, but then I noticed that when you walk, the very faint clink of metal can be heard around you. And when I remembered that you always wear gloves and long sleeve clothing, despite the fact that it is incredibly hot out, it wasn't hard to figure out."

"That still isn't enough to prove I have lost anything. I could just be wearing armor and want to cover it up so people can't find out about it when I am fighting." Ed argued.

"And that was what I thought, until we got on this boat. I noticed that ever since we got close to the sea, you seemed to rub your shoulder as if it were in pain, and that you weren't putting as much pressure on your left leg. I have seen a few people with amputated limbs before, and generally their stumps will ache when the weather is different from what they like it to be." Erza explained, but looked away from Ed.

The two remained silent for a few minutes before Ed held up his right arm towards Erza. He then pulled off his glove to reveal the automail underneath.

"So, you really did lose your arm." Erza said solemnly.

"I lost both my arm and leg in an accident when I was younger involving my magic. I don't want to talk about how or why, just know that it happened. And I don't want the rest of the guild to know either." Ed stated, no emotion showing in his speech.

"But why, if you think the guild will think less of you then-"

"Maybe in the future I will tell the guild, but right now I'm not even a member so I don't plan on doing that." Ed stated matter-of-factly.

"Who else knows?" Erza asked quietly.

"Aside from me and Al, the old man and Porlyusica are the only others who know. If you do talk about it, I won't try to stop you, and I'm not really making an effort to conceal them aside from the gloves, but I prefer to keep them covered just so people don't look at me with pity for what I did." Ed stated calmly, before turning back to the sea.

'That and I don't want people trying to dig into my past. With Al and me being from another world, if too many people went searching for us based on our past we would have all sorts of trouble coming after us.' Ed thought.

"So how long until we get there?" Ed asked.

Shaking off the new revelation about Ed, Erza quickly answered. "It won't be long now. Once we get there we will gather up whoever from the guild is there and bring them back immediately."

"Alright then. I'm gonna take a nap until then. Wake me when we get there."

As Ed sat down and started to doze off, Erza continued to think.

'First Alphonse's sick state and now Ed's arm and leg? What happened to the Elric brothers to cause them all of this?'

And with that the second chapter is done! I'll be honest, I have really been enjoying writing this story so far. Next chapter will primarily go over the Galuna Island arc, so look forward to that when it comes out. I still am thinking of ideas for Al's magic, but Ed's magic I already have planned out, and let's just say that once he uses it, the arc will be quite different from the source material.

That being said, I will say that right now: I will be diverting from how the cannon of these arcs go in some situations. With Ed in the picture certain events are going to change (for better or worse) and I want to make the story unique. I hope everyone is okay with that.

Now, that isn't to say that every arc is going to be drastically different. Most will follow the same events as the story presents them, just with Ed and Al's interactions. But some arcs might have massive changes that make the arc play out in a different way.

Also, please feel free to give me advice on the writing or the characters. This is my first fanfiction, so the writing will no doubt need work. I really encourage everyone to review if you feel as if the story could be improved or made better.

Another thing, the next few chapters may take a bit more time to come out as I want to rewatch the arcs just to make sure I have the events down correctly. I want to make this story as good as I can even if it is my first.

That's all for now. I'll see you guys in the next chapter.