Hello, its Erin once again, this is my second FMA fic, its a post Manga story, but don't worry, it has all the characters you know and love (exept the ones who died.) a little EdWin in this chapter to, I own nothing

Edwina Elric sat in her room, it was 1:00 in the morning and the only light to aid her in her research, was a dim light from a candle on her desk.

I can't believe I got away with it! she thought with an excited smile as she brushed some stray blonde strands out of her face so it wouldn't obscure her view.

She did it, she got away with stealing the books on Alchemy the that her father, Edward Elric, had forbided she and her brother, Alexis, from reading, saying things like,

"You guys are to young to understand the deeper meaning of this level of Alchemy." or " I'll explain everything as you grow up and understand more."

And Edwina would have none of that, she wanted to learn everything she could about Alchemy.

What was the worst that could happen, right?

Edwina and Alexis Elric. From an early age, (Like their father and uncle before them.) showed a significant talent in Alchemy.

They were perfectly normal children, for the most part anyway. Edwina Bared a strong physical resemblence to their mother, Winry Rockbell Elric. Long light blonde hair, that she kept in a loose ponytail that hung over her left shoulder, (her bangs were more like Ed's though,) and blue eyes included, Ironicaly enough, though, everyone always noted how muh she resembled Edward in personality. for examble:

His headstrong and straightforward attitude,

His fiery temper,

His stubborness,

His intelligence,

His skills with Alchemy,

His strong intuition,

Slight arrogance now and then,

His strong moral code,

His utter hatred of being called short,

And, unfortunately, Ed's risistance to authority figures, was also passed on to his daughter.

(Something he was both proud of, and kicked himself for.)

The only real difference was that she was the younger of the two siblings.

As for Alexis, if you had to pick, he definately took after their uncle, Alphonse Elric personality wise.

His physical appearence was definalty passed down from Edward, everyone always noted that he was the spitting image of him, except his hair was much more evenly grown out, much like their late grandfather, Van Hohenheim.

But what made him resemble Alphonse was,

He was kind and understanding,

He helped anyone who was in trouble,

He had a soft spot for animals, particularly Cats.

His was a little different, though.

He was more quiet and aloof, distant, but not in an outright cold way.

And according to Edwina, he was something of a workaholic,

He would still give his little sister and their younger cousin, Xiao Lin, a kind smile whenever they would spend time together,

And like Edwina, he also studied in Alchemy, they would often study it together, encourage eachother, and help eachother solve various equations.

He also showed talent in Alchahestry, and studied it under Alphonse and Aunt Mei.

He also showed a flare for Automail, and often worked with their mother in the workshop.

But unlike their mother with Automail, or Edward, Alphonse and Edwina with Alchemy, he wasn't overly obsessed with any of it, while he sincerely enjoyed the time spent with each of them, with the lesson itself, he would just treat it like a normal lesson, like one you would find in an average classroom. With a Neutral disposition.

It was once said by Edward that Alexis is still searching for his Idenity in life.

And with both a famous and imfamous Father like Edward Elric, who could blame him.

But thats a story for another time.

Back to Edwina Elric.

It all started with a simple rag doll, simple enough, the only weird part was, Edwina Elric: Age 6, the youngest of Edward and Winry's children, actually cut up the doll in order to tested what she and her brother had learned from some basic Alchemy books that their Father owned.

The oddly violent act, for even Edwina to do, caused their cousin Xiao Lin: Age 5, to gasp and cover her black eyes, and Alexis to narrow his eyes scoldingly at her.

"I don't think mom want you to break things like that, Imouto." Said Alexis: Age 7, disapprovingly, Golden eyes glancing at the shredded Doll in his younger sister's right hand, and the pair of scissors in her left.

"This is for research! Mom will understand, besides, we're going to fix it anyway." Edwina stated proudly as she place the remains of the doll in the center of the transmutation circle.

"In fact, I bet she and dad will be very proud of us, you'll see!" She said with a confidant grin.

"I hope thats true, you know I've taken a lot of heat for your michief in the past, right?" Alexis said, nervous of the consequences, that was her big brother for you, Mr. play-it-safe.

"Yeah, yeah, I know! You always remind me, and its not like your so perfect, I've covered for you a lot of times!" Edwina protested.

"Yeah, I know, and I always thank you for the effort, but your a terrible liar, and Dad can see right through you. and we're not gonna be able to hide the evidence with this one, if we screw this up, he'll know what happend!"Alexis protested back, his worry growing, they'd always seen their dad study Alchemy, but this was their first time they were trying it, and Alexis was scared that their dad would get mad at them for going ahead with it without his permission.

"The way you two make it sound, you'd think you were commiting a crime or something." Xiao Lin chimed in, sitting cross-legged on the hardwood floor, holding Xiao Mei in her small arms where the little Panda was sleeping soundly.

She had a unique look to her, she had long blonde locks passed on from her Amestrian Ancestory, and fair skin and black eyes from her Xingese Ancestory.

Also, she was always clad in Xingese clothing, usually in a blue or purple color scheme.

"Parents always forgive you, so even if your doing something your not sopposed to, they'll take in strife that your only children and let it be." She said calmly, she always did that, showed levels of understanding that would belay her young age, it was uncanny, really.

"I guess." Edwina said, turning her head to the side with a slight pout,

"Your probably right, Lin-Chan." Alexis said, smiling warmly at his younger cousin.

Xiao Lin returned the smile.

"So are we going to do this, Nii-san?" Edwina asked her brother.

After about a moment of continplation, he finally answered, "Okay."

Her blue eyes lit up and a wide grin spread across Edwina's young, round face. "Alright!" She exclaimed as she gave her brother a hug in appretiation, a hug he returned.

Then, on opposite sides of the circle, they placed their small hands down by the drawn circle on the wooden floor beneath them, and a transmutation light ran throught their hand and into the circle, and in seconds, the torn Doll was as good as new!

"Yes! We did it!" Edwina exclaimed triumphantly raising her small fists into the air excitedly!

"Yes, we did." Alexis simply sad, with a content smile as he picked up the Rag Doll.

"That was so cool! you guys are awesome!" Lin shouted while jumping up and down with Edwina, finally acting her age.

"Of course we're awesome, what you expect? we're Elrics." Edwina stated arrogantly, with her hands on her hips, and a smug grin on her face.

"Yes, we are Elrics." Alexis said, his smile remaining.

"Yes, and you definatly held true to that name." Said a new voice to the conversation.

The three kids froze upon reconizing it, and turned around to see Ed standing in the doorway.

"Oh, no, I should have known this would happen." Alexis said cynically, not surprized at all by his father's sudden entrance, his sister always found some way to get him in trouble, not on purpose, but it still happend.

"D-Dad! How long were you standing there?" Edwina demanded, pointing nervously at her father, who simply looked upon his youngest while smiling calmly.

"AND WHY ARE YOU SMILING LIKE THAT? ITS CREEPING ME OUT!" She yelled at Edward, who then broke out laughing.

The three children were a little confused by that, were they in trouble or not?

" I've been standing here the whole time, you guys were just to busy thinking of ways to avoid getting in trouble to notice! " Ed said after he caught his breath.

"Boy, are we stupid!" Alexis said while slamming his palm into his forehead.

"So, we're not in trouble, Uncle Edward?" Lin asked nervously, giving her uncle the "Doe eyes" that she often used to get out of trouble.

Ed looked at his little Niece, That trick probably works on Al, no doubt about that.

"No Lin, one: you didn't even do any Alchemy, and two: your little Doe eye thing doesn't work on me, I'm not as big of a pushover as your Dad, remember that, okay?" He asked sternly.

"Okay." Lin answered, lowering her head.

"Alright. Now as for you two," Ed said, looking to his own children, who braced themselves for whatever lecture awaited them.

To their surprized, Ed smiled.

"You guys did really good!" He told them proudly.

Edwina and Alexis were happy to see their father proud of them, and seeing him proud like that sparked the begining of their own journey.

"Come on," Ed said, standing up."Let's go show your Mother!"

"Okay!" The siblings Elric said in union.

"I told you he would be okay with it." Lin said to Alexis as Ed and Edwina walked out of the den ahead of them, and into the Kitchen to show Winry what their children accomplished on their first try.

"I shouldn't have doubted you." Alexis said with a smile, holding Lin's hand.

End of flashback.

All that happend at least a year ago, and Alchemy has been Edwina's obsession, she wanted to be a great Alchemist, just like her father.

She wanted to learn everything she could about it.

Her father, however, watched her closely throughout all her Alchemy training, telling her to take it slow and not get to ahead of herself,

To always keep in mind that Alchemy was not a cure-all answer to everything,

They weren't gods, they were human, and should never forget that, ever!

Edwina already knew all that, what she wanted to do was learn what she didn't know!

But for some reason, Edward always held her back at every turn!

Edwina couldn't figure out why! Didn't he say before that he was proud of her? Did she do something wrong?

If so, what was it she had done?

After a while, however, her confusion at his behavior soon gave way to anger at him for his lack of faith in her and her abilities, and she resolved to make it to the next level of Alchemy, with or without her Father's consent.

She knew he'd be mad at her, but she didn't care,

She just wanted to know the answers, was that really so wrong of her?

Then, just her damn luck! A few books that were poorly balanced on the end of her desk fell and clattered to the floor with a loud Thud!

A few doors down the hall, a 27-year-old Edward Elric layed asleep in his bed beside his beautiful wife, Winry.

He had asked her to marry him at the train station two years after the promised day, she of course accepted,

They married in the spring about two years later, after Ed was done with his travels.

They then had their first child, Alexis. then Edwina was born a year later.

And he loved them both dearly.

But he was also painfully aware of how much they take after him and his brother,

Thus, the two of them ran the risk of being to hasty with their progress in Alchemy, and needless to say he didn't want his children to face the trials he and Al had to face due to his mistakes, sure, they don't really have a strong reason for it, and whatever the reason, it certainly would not be like theirs, accounting that he was still present in their lives, and both he and Winry were still alive and well,

While he rarely says it out loud, at this point, he held absolutely no grudge to his own father, he suffered for his mistakes, just as Edward did, and now that they both found peace, there was no reason to stay angery with him.

In fact, since becoming a father himself, he actually came to understand Hohenheim better, just a little.

Still, he figured it was better safe then sorry with his kids, so he tried his best to be a good, but stern teacher to the two of them, Alexis was okay with that, but Edwina, well, he was a little more stubborn about it,

She was just like he was at her age, stubborn, headstrong, thinks she knows everything, and can do anything, he was aware of the fact that she took after him, and tried his best to guide her along as patiently as he could,

But patience was neither of their stong point, so it often ended in the two of them butting heads over something.

Thud!

Sharp golden eyes shot wide open, and Ed quickly sat up at the sudden noise he heard coming from his daughter's room.

"What was that, Edward?"

Ed turned to see that the sound, or maybe his sudden movement, had woke up his wife,

"I'm not sure, it came from Edwina's room, its probably nothing, but I'll go check on her." He told Winry, with an assuring smile.

"Okay." Winry said drowsily, returning the smile.

Ed got out of the bed, and walked quietly to the door, trying not to wake anyone if he could avoid it.

"Ed, if Edwina's up, you should try to talk to her about why you snapped at her this morning." Winry said to a suddenly guilt-ridden Edward.

That morning, Edwina said something that completely innocent for a naive 7-year-old to say, and Ed knew he was out of line when he snapped at her for it, and has been practically been begging for her forgivess ever since!

What she had said was, with odd excitement, "I want make my own Philosifer's Stone!" and Ed just lost it, and his daughter's been upset with him since!

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything, she's really stubborn." He sighed.

"Reminds me of a certain someone else I know." Winry teased.

"Yeah, I know." Ed said, his voice lowering sadly."But theres a double-edged knife to being like someone like me."

Then Ed felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around his waist.

"Edward," Winry began softly, resting her head on his back." you always torture yourself over your one mistake,"

"It was more then just one mistake, Winry." Ed attempted to protest.

"But you keep on torturing yourself over it, even though you already paid your dues for it, you have to understand that all is forgiven now, Al not only forgives you, he never blamed you in the first place, and you kept your promise to Al, now Al's got his body back and is happy with his wife and daughter, Izumi already said that she forgave you, and I know for a fact that Trisha forgives you, in fact, she would've understood why you did it completely, and as for me, while I admit I was lonely sometimes without you and Al here, when you finally proposed to me at the station, it was like all my waiting had finally paid off, and I was happy, knowing that I would spend the rest of my life with you, so isn't that enough, Edward?." She said with tears welling up in her blue eyes.

Ed turned to face his teary-eyed wife, god, he hated to see her cry, even now, the sight of her tears still could make his heart ache. He then pulled her into a hug, "I was happy to, and yes, that should be eough." He said softly, running his artificial hand gently over her blonde hair.

"Good." She said, then she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tender kiss.

After about a moment, Ed pulled away."I should go see if Edwina's alright before this leads any further." He said, clearly cheered up by Winry's words.

"Alright." She replied with a nod.

"Shit! This is just my luck, something always has to go wrong!" Edwina whispered harshly as she franticly grabbed the book with the intent to hide it under her bed, blow out the candle and jump into her bed and hide under the covers, then pretend to be asleep, but Ed opened her door before she could do any of it, she stood frozen in the middle of her room, candle still burning and the book still in hand.

"Edwina, your still awake? That would explain why I heard some noise coming from in here, are you okay, Sweetie?"Ed asked his still frozen-in-place daughter.

"Yeah, Daddy, I'm okay, some books just fell, that's all." She answered, hoping her dad would be fine with that answer and go away without noticing his book that she slowly hid behind her back.

But Ed saw her hide it behind her back, in a vain attempt to hide what she was doing this late at night from him,

Does she honestly think I'm that stupid? He thought, She's probably just up studying and doesn't want to tell me.

"You do know your not sopposed to be up this late, right?" Ed asked sterny. Damnit! I want her to not be mad at me, and the first thing I do is lecture her!

An angery, but cute pout became noticable on Edwina's face,"Yeah, I know." She ssaid, her eyes averting from Ed's.

I guess she is still mad at me, but still, I can't have her study this late at night, I guess I'll have to talk to her in the morning about our little arguement,

"Okay then, we'll have to finish this talk tomorrow," Ed said, kicking himself for his inability to be more honest with his daughter, they never really lied to eachother, Edwina was a often a pain-in-the-ass, but she was at least an honest pain-in-the-ass, but he, on the other hand, wasn't the most open person to her, and sometimes he felt guilty for that, but he was going to make it up to her, however he could.

"I can hardly wait!" Edwina said with obvious sarcasim, she was not the type to be lectured.

"Me neither." Ed responded with a cheerful grin, playfully picking on her.

His action earned another pout out of her.

"Now give me the book your hiding behind your back, and don't try to deny its there, I know it is." He said, kneeling downward and extending his arm, waiting for Edwina to hand it to him.

Edwina heart got caught in her throat, Oh no! If Daddy finds out I snuck into his study and stole his books, he'll be really mad, he'll probably not trust me anymore, I wanted to learn more Alchemy, but I don't want Daddy to not trust me, but I guess its my own fault if he doesn't.

"Uh, why don't I just put it away?" She asked as a last ditch effort to avoid Ed's anger, when your a child, the thought of your parents getting angery is a scary one indeed.

"Because if I let you do that, you'll just get up and continue reading as soon as I leave." Ed answered.

"How do you know I'd do that?" Edwina asked.

"Because thats exactly what I would have done at your age." Ed answered. Then he started to wonder why Edwina was suddenly getting a little nervous, what was she trying to hide?

"Why are you making a struggle out of this, Edwina?" Ed asked, getting a little suspious.

"I'm not!" Edwina shouted, getting defensive.

Ed was getting fed up with this!" Edwina, give me the book." He asked in a low, stern voice.

Edwina saw that there was no avoiding it now, so she handed the book to him.

Ed took it out of her hand and his Golden eyes widened in suprize to find it was one of the books he had told Edwina to not read!

It read: "Secrets to gaining Immortality"

"Edwina!" he said, his voice rising with anger."Didn't I tell you to never read this?" He demanded to his daughter.

"I know! I'm sorry, Daddy! I just wanted to know what it was about, and I didn't see the harm in it, so I-"

"So you broke into my study and stole it?" Ed yelled, He couldn't believe Edwina! Disobeying him is one thing, but stealing things was a completely different matter!

Edwina winced when his voice rose, "Yes." she said timidly, her little fist tightening at her sides, she had never seen her Dad get this mad at her before.

"Besides, its not like I'd ever use it, I just want to learn for knowledge's sake." Edwina protested.

"You can't say that for sure, you may not think so know, but in the future, you will be tempted to use what you've learned." Ed said, still angery with her.

"How do you know that? I may not know everything yet, but I know there are lines that shouldn't be crossed!" she continued to protest.

"Just because your aware of the rules gives no promise that you won't ever disregard them." Ed said.

"I won't! Why can't you trust me?"

"Gee, I wonder why?"Ed asked sarcasticly.

"I meant before now, you always think I'm going to mess something up, your always holding me back, why? What did I do that was so wrong? Whatever I did, please, just tell me!" Edwina yelled, tears were now going down her face in streams.

Ed fell silent at her words, Its not her who did something wrong, its not her who broke the rules, its not her who sinned, its me, its always been me, and all this time, I'd been bleeding on her, thats not fair of me, she doesn't deserve this, I'm such a bastard.

"Edwina," Ed began, then he realized she was no longer standing there!

"Edwina?" Ed said, with worry in his voice, he tried not to raise his voice, he didn't want Winry and Alexis to wake up and star to worry needlessly,

Besides, if she wasn't somewhere in the house, he knew where she was going to go.

Whoo! Longest chapter I wrote yet, tell me what you think :)