AN: New story, and I am soooooo excited, guys. I'm gonna level with ya'll - I may only be uploading this because I'm drunk, and intoxication makes me brave. This story is not deep or meaningful. I'd argue that it's actually incredibly cliche. It is, however, a plot bunny that I've had for yeeeears. And I have sooo much of it already written. It's just not something that I'd expect other people to be particularly interested in reading. But drunk me says "Fuck it! Let them eat cake, I mean, read fanfiction!

So you'll have to let me know what you think, and let me know if you want me to keep going. Cheerio, my amigos. Enjoy the tale. Be kind and review!

CHAPTER 1

"Hey Vince, can you keep a secret?"

An annoyed look smeared itself across the boy's face. It was an uncomfortably humid fall day, and the chill of the morning air made him tug his jacket closer to his skin. He glanced warily at his younger sister. He loved her, sure, but a question like that was never a good sign- especially not when it came from the mouth of an Elric.

He pursed his lips and kicked up some dust off of the gravel road they were following. "Depends," he muttered noncommittally.

"Depends? On what?"

"On what the secret is, stupid."

Amelia's lips curled into a pout, and she crossed her arms with an angry huff. The frustrated silence continued as the two trekked towards Resembool's tiny schoolhouse. He'd hoped that the nine year old would let the matter go or get distracted while they walked, but luck was not on his side. Ten minutes passed and she was still huffing angry sighs while they walked. With a sidelong glance at his sister's still angry face, Vincent groaned reluctantly. "Fiiiiiine, I'll keep your secret, but I'd better not get in trouble for it. What did you do this time?"

The indignation remained on the girl's face as she rolled her golden eyes. "I didn't do anything! Not yet, anyways. And why do you have to go and make it sound like it's gonna be a bad thing! You're the one who's always getting in trouble!"

"Nuh-uh!" the eleven year old boy cried. "You dropped mom's favorite dish two days ago! It's not my fault I was the one who got in trouble. She just thought it was me!"

"That's because it was you! I didn't drop it! If you'd have just let me bake alone, then it never would have happened!"

"You can't make a cake by yourself, stupid! You'd burn yourself or something! I have to-" the boy's comment died on his tongue when he noticed the cart that was passing them to the left, or rather, the smirks on the faces of the elderly couple driving it. The siblings hadn't even realized that they'd stopped in the middle of the road to bicker. Grabbing his sister by the hand, Vince took off down the road in a light jog. "Hurry up! People are staring and we're going to be late to class."

Amelia's hand popped out of her brother's grip and she barked, "That's what I've been trying to tell you, idiot! I don't have to go to class anymore!"

The boy slid to a stop, sending dust flying beneath his feet. "What?"

"Yeah!" A grin stretched across her tiny face. "Teacher says that, so long as I do all of the homework and get perfect scores on all of my tests, I don't have to sit in on class anymore."

"Why would she let you do that?"

"Cause I asked her if it was okay."

"But why?"

Amelia pushed the sweeping wave of golden hair out of her face and bounced excitedly. "Cause it's boring and I finished all of the books at home and at school so I don't have anything to do there anymore."

Vincent gapped at the girl. "You finished all of the books? All of them? And I still can't believe that your teacher is okay with you just skipping class."

"I mean, I finished all the ones that Dad will let me read. And it's not like she's just letting me skip, you know," his sister replied, wagging her tiny finger at him knowingly. "I'm taking the train to Angren so I can study from their library up there. It might not be much bigger than the one we have here, but it's better than nothing."

Vincent sighed and began walking towards the school again. He couldn't afford to be late to class again. He wasn't as lucky as Amelia- for some reason, every teacher he'd ever had seemed to hate him. It's not his fault they were all morons, and he shouldn't be punished for letting them know it. No, he couldn't get away with the sort of things his sister could, never in a million years.

Trailing behind her brother, Amelia's breath hitched when she squeaked out a nervous, "So you will keep this a secret?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'd better not get yelled at for it, though. Why can't you just tell Mom and Dad? I doubt that they'd be upset that you're reading a lot." The boy chuckled dryly. "Actually, Dad would probably be thrilled." Their father worked as a scholar for a living- a well renowned one at that. Fuhrer Grumman frequently called upon him to travel to Central and advise his council.

Amelia bit her lip. "Because, they wouldn't like me taking the train alone. And sure, Dad would probably love to spend the day in a library with me, but then I can't read whatever I want. He'd say that 'This book is too complicated' or 'That book is too adult' or 'You can't read that, it's too scary' or whatever."

Vincent rubbed his eyes and shrugged. She wasn't wrong about that- if Edward Elric was known for one thing besides his intelligence, then it was his protective nature. "Alright, sure, I won't tell, but if you get caught, then I'm just gonna pretend I didn't know in the first place."

The girl squealed in excitement and wrapped her brother in a tight hug. He groaned and tried to push her away, but couldn't quite hide the smile that was forming. In the distance, the school bell rang for the first time, and the boy cursed under his breath- a bad habit that he'd acquired from his father. If his mother heard him, she'd beat him over the head.

With one final shove, the boy grumbled, "Let me go, or I'm going to be late for school."

His sister released him, and took off running in the other direction. "And I have a train to catch!" Her hair bounced like liquid gold and she ran off in the direction of the rising sun, her pale red dress fluttering in the breeze. Vince frowned, feeling a slight pang of jealousy at his sister's freedom, before turning to glare at the dull, six room schoolhouse. He pouted and kicked at a clump of grass, until the warning bell chimed for the second time. Cursing again, the boy glanced one final time towards the freedom of the open fields, before trudging towards the doom of schoolhouse boredom.

If he had known the trouble that was to come, Vincent would have never envied his sister's departure. He'd have stopped her, or warned their parents, done something, anything.

But he hadn't known.

And so, with ignorance and bliss, their adventure began.