Chapter 1
It was 1:30 in the afternoon, and in the military command center at Central, it was lunch time! As he and his brother Edward went to sit at their usual table next to Major Hughes, Alphonse Elric noticed a boy about the same age as his brother eating alone at a table. The boy had short but unrulely brown hair, and startling blue eyes, which he kept down, focusing on his food and trying not to draw attention to himself. He seemed so lonely. "Brother, look."
Edward Elric glanced at the boy. He was about to glare at Al and say "SO?" when suddenly he made a snap decision. The major wouldn't mind. He got up, went over, put his lunch down, and sat across the table from the boy. "Mind if we sit here?" He asked, as Al joined them as well.
The boy was a bit surprised at first, but then he smiled a big, friendly smile. "Not at all! I'd be glad of the company!"
Ed grined. "I'm Edward Elric."
The boy nodded. "Malcom Lupin, but everyone calls me Mal."
Al looked thoughtful, for a suit of armor. "Mal Lupin... isn't that Latin?"
Mal grined. "Yup, it means 'bad wolf.'" His blue eyes sparkled in amusement.
Ed shrugged. "You don't seem bad to me! I'm curious though, I don't see many people the same age as me around here. What brings you to the military command center?"
Mal hesitated, but then said "Well... I wanted to pay a visit to my sister, but she was busy. I decided to eat my lunch and talk to her later."
"Your sister... she's in the military?"
"Sort of. She's the new state psychiatrist!"
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah, apparently some official named Colonel Mustang has been lobbying for a state shrink ever since something called 'the Nina incident.' I have no idea what happened, but whatever it was must have been really bad. No one seems to want to talk about it. Now all the state alchemists will take a mandatory psych evaluation at least once a month."
"Well, if it prevents terrible things like that from happening..." Al said, getting a mental picture of poor Nina. "It's definitely a good idea."
"That ass hole Mustang, what's he trying to do, kill me?" Ed exclaimed.
"Actually brother, he's doing the exact opposite." Al said, trying to make Ed see reason, but Ed was too far-gone. Suddenly, Mal stepped in.
"Here, try some of this, it's really good." He proffered his canteen.
Ed, startled, stared down at the canteen. "OK..." Then he took it and tried a small sip. "Wow! This is really good!" He took several large gulps, then realized, too late, that he had finished it off. "Woops. I'm sorry, I just chugged all of your drink!" He looked slightly embarrassed.
Mal chuckled. "That's all right. Next time I'll ask my sister to make some for you too. I've always hated milk, so my sister started making me this special drink. It's got all these vitamins, and antioxidants, in short, it's got ten times the nutritional value, and it tastes good besides! Of course it looks like green swamp sludge, but that's OK. Maybe it's some sort of life lesson, you know, 'don't judge a book by its cover' and all that." He grinned guilelessly.
Ed stared at him. He got the feeling that this boy was more than he appeared to be. They finished their lunches, just talking. Ed realized that he'd never really had a friend his age before. Oh, there was Al and Winrey, but Al was his brother, and Winrey was complicated... and hit him with wrenches. He'd never had someone he could "hang" with, talk girls, swap dirty jokes, do the sorts of things guys his age normally did. He liked the idea of having Mal for a friend. And if she was his sister, perhaps this new shrink wasn't so bad, after all he hadn't even met her yet.
Mal got up, excusing himself. "I gotta go, I need to talk to my sister before she gets whisked away so she can be formally introduced."
"'Kay, see you tomorrow?" Ed said.
"Sure thing, I'll bring you your own canteen of that special drink you liked so much!" Mal hurried off.
"I think you made a friend brother!" Al exclaimed.
"Jeez, you don't have to act so surprised!"
A voice came in over the public intercom, the one for making announcements. "All personel, to the assembly hall. All personel to the assebly hall please."
"Bet they're calling us up to introduce the new shrink." Ed grumbled.
"Yeah, that's probably it." Al agreed. They made their way to the assembly hall. The Furher was there, as well as Mustang, Hawkeye, Armstrong, and about a dozen other officials. But then again, this was a military base, they were all technically officials.
King Bradley stepped up to the microphone. "Hello. I've called you all here today because there is someone new on the force. Not a soldier, a doctor. She's not the usual kind of doctor either. She's a professional psychiatrist. I know what you're all thinking, but recent events have caused such a passionate request for someone of this job description, I felt it necessary to take action. After all, the last thing anyone wants is another incident like the one three weeks ago. So without further adue, please give a warm welcome to Dr. Malory Lupin!"
The young doctor stepped forward. She resembled Mal a great deal. They could almost be twins. Without those heels she would have to be about the same height as him. Her hair was longer, but no better behaved. The ends of it went all over the place. Only her eyes were different, they were blue, but almost grey really. Nothing like her brother's eyes which were anything but grey. Her personality seemed much different as well. She exuded cool professionalism. She made a brief speech, then stepped down from the stand, and surprised Ed by standing next to him. He didn't have time to wonder if this was on purpose though because Mustang was making a speech about the importance of a state alchemist's mental health. When he finished, it was clearly the end of the assembly. He called out "Hawkeye! Certain facts involving our current mission have come to my attention. Please come to my office for debriefing."
The shrink leaned over to murmur in Ed's ear "Well it's about time those two debriefed each other!" She whispered with a snigger. The professional demeanor dropped, and she reminded Ed more and more of her brother.
"What?"
"Can't you see it? She's in love with him, and she knows it, but after all these years he still hasn't figured it out!"
"Figured what out?" Ed didn't like it when people talked like this. As far as he was concerned, people should keep their noses out of other's business.
"That he loves her too, of course! Oh, sure, he tells himself "she's my partner, my best friend, I'd trust her with my life, but that's all there is." Someday though, he will see, and perhaps, someday, you will learn to see too. For now, just keep your wits about you, OK?"
"What is this? A therapy session? Piss off!" Ed stormed away. Now she was just trying to make him feel stupid! She was nothing like her brother at all!
"Oh dear, I'm going to have my work cut out for me, aren't I?" Said Dr. Lupin, gazing after Ed worriedly. "Who knows, maybe he'll open up a little after he gets to know me."
"Yeah, and hell might freeze over." Said Mustang.
"Didn't you call a debriefing?"
"I figured that the new state psychologyst talking to herself took precedence."
She smiled. "Well thank you for your concern, but unfortunately I'm of perfectly sound mind. It's quite disappointing isn't it? Most famous people in history, and certainly all of the great psychologysts in history were at least a little bit crazy. So you'd probably be better off with a shrink whose motivations for talking to herself aren't limited to thinking aloud and self-criticism." She said this all in a cool, professional tone, making the ironic humor subtle.
"Well the way I see it, it's you we hired, so just work twice as hard. Or give yourself a complex of some kind. Not as good as a mental disease, but definitely a close second." Mustang joked.
That made her laugh. Was it just her, or was he flirting? "Thank you, see you at your therapy session."
"WHAT!"
Well that took care of that.
A week passed. His friendship with Mal strengthened, as for the older sister... he was still trying to figure her out. The following Monday started out great. Edward discovered he had grown several inches taller! He had called Winrey, hoping to get her to come up to central, but she was so busy with other clients he couldn't even get through to her on the telephone! Instead, he adjusted his automail himself, which in retrospect probably wasn't the wisest way to go, but what else was he supposed to do?
Feeling taller and more confidant, he was so disappointed when his good mood was spoiled. He received a letter telling him he had to have his therapy session with Dr. Lupin today. At least it would be after lunch, he didn't know if he could handle a shrink on an empty stomach.
"Hey Mal, that drink of yours is really something! If I keep growing at this rate, I won't be a pipsqueak for long!"
"That's the spirit! It's amazing stuff isn't it?"
"Yeah, what's in it? I never asked."
"All kinds of fruit juices, edible grasses, spinich, spirolina (natural sweetener, also green), and much, much more."
"Edible grasses?" Suddenly Ed wasn't too sure about his new drink.
"Yeah. Corn's a grass, so are all the grains. People use lemon grass for seasoning. It uses things like that."
"If it's got grass and spinach in it, why don't I taste it?"
Mal shrugged. "The wonderful alchemy of cooking."
This made Edward laugh again. "Alchemy huh?" He had told Mal all about his work, and so the ironic pun was definitely intended. "You got some alchemy that'll get me out of going to the shrink?"
"Nope. But don't worry, my sister's cool. She's good at getting along with pretty much everybody. She's a bit of a Polyanna."
"What's that mean?" Edward could plow through Alchemy books like he plowed through a meal, but the rest he left up to his nerdier friend.
"It means that she acts differently to different people. She'll act similar to others to gain their trust, or act however they expect her to. What ever helps them open up."
"Well the last thing I feel like doing at the moment is "opening up" to some lady I've never met!" Ed growled.