Chapter One

Edward Elric stretches as he gets off the train that had delivered his little brother and him to the town of Markins. They were here to see the Springleaf Alchemist, Col. Mustang wanted them to investigate his research. The Fullmetal Alchemist starts walking and before Alphonse, or rather Al can warn him he runs smack into someone and they both go down. Ed looks down at who he'd run into dazed until he starts to notice that he'd run into a girl about his age. He couldn't stop the next thought that came to him, Hello, gorgeous. He springs up as he realizes he was staring, and helps her up, " I am so sorry. "

Erin smiles at this, and shakes her head, saying he wasn't at fault, besides she was too busy looking him over discreetly. She liked his overall look, blonde hair, gold eyes, red trench coat, black tank top, and black pants, along with brown leather boots. She decided then and there that she had to get to know him better, besides, she recognized him from her previous incarnation during the Silver Millennium.

A townswoman looks over, " Oh, you're already forgiven. I'm the innkeeper, Ashley, and this is Erin Ten'oh, she lives at the inn with me. "

" I'm Edward Elric and this is my little brother Alphonse. We'll actually need a room at the inn anyhow. Al, why don't you get started on our assignment while I get our room set up and get a tour of the town. "

Al nods and moves off, while Ed heads into the inn with the ladies. Erin heads to her own room and Ashley sighs, " Life's been too hard on Erin. "

" What do you mean by that? " Ed asks her.

" Her mother came to this town pregnant with Erin and was one of the best damn automail mechanics I've ever seen. One day when Erin was four they were in the library and Erin witnessed her own mother's murder, she hasn't spoken since, but I think she doesn't speak because she knows who killed her mom and he still lives here. "

Ed flinches at this information, " Then how does she communicate? "

Ashley grins, " Sign language, come on, I'll give you a tutorial. "

An hour later Ed has learned the entire language, much to Ashley's surprise and he places his stuff in his room before hunting up Erin. He knocks on her door and Erin opens it. " Care to give me a tour of this town? "

Erin blinks, as he'd said it both out loud and in her silent language. She nods and while she gets ready Ed notices the parts and tools on her desk, those were for repair and not building, " You have automail, don't you? "

Erin sighs and nods, wiggling her right foot. Ed blinks, " How long? "

Erin turns to face him, signing her reply, Since I was two. Mom built the first one, and I've had to build and maintain my foot ever since, though I'll need a new one soon.

" Al and I have a friend in Rush Valley, we could be persuaded to take you there for repairs. " Ed says, as Erin walks to her door, she had shoulder length dusty blonde hair, was slightly taller than him, had eyes so dark blue they were nearly black, and a killer body. Ed blinks, had he just thought that? Everyone always assumed he had a thing for Winry but that couldn't be further from the truth.

Erin turns around, her eyes as wide as Winry's had gotten at the thought of Rush Valley. Erin had her arms full of books and Ed looks at her. Erin smirks and heads for the book drop. Then she takes him on a slow tour, taking him in and letting him investigate each place. Ed found himself enjoying her company and her quick wit. She was leading them to a café for lunch when some town punks wandered over, " Well, if it isn't little Erin, the Silent One. "

Erin's eyes harden and how she wished she could open her mouth and say what she wanted to, instead she flips him off and Ed grins. The lead punk grabs onto Erin's arm hard and she slams her fist into his stomach , before he goes down he stomps down hard on her right foot and Erin's eyes widen at this development. Ed transmutes his arm and the other two punks gulp before racing off with their friend. Erin grimaces as she looks down at her foot, several choice oaths being said silently as she curses the existence of the jerk who'd smashed her foot. Ed transmutes his arm back to normal and helps her to the café where they order lunch and Ed helps Erin remove her foot.

" I'll put in a call to Winry and see if she can come and build you a new foot, though I bet you'll still want to go to Rush Valley as an automail mechanic. I know Winry had stars in her eyes at the thought. " Ed says and propping her right leg on a chair he heads for a phone and makes the call.

" Hello? "

" Hey, Winry, it's Ed, I'm in Markins and I ran across a girl with an automail foot. She needs repairs done because of some punk who smashed her other one. " Ed says.

" By train it'll take me two days to get there. "

" There'll be a room waiting for you at the local inn, thanks, Winry. "

" No problem, Ed, see you soon. " Winry says and hangs up.

Ed replaces the receiver and rejoins Erin. The other teen looks at him and Ed answers her silent query, " She's coming. "

Erin nods and both are surprised when Al and the Springleaf Alchemist show up. Erin's eyes widen slightly and Ed notices this reaction to the other State Alchemist in the café. Ed turns his attention to his fellow alchemist and notices the set of his eyes. Erin seemed to shrink away from him internally and everything snapped clear for Ed at that moment, " Tell me, Springleaf, did you know Erin's mother? "

The Springleaf Alchemist hides his reaction, Ashley must have told him Erin's back story, " In passing. "

" That's not what Erin's body language is saying, she's scared of you, yet not of me, so that means she doesn't fear every State Alchemist, just you, why is that? " Ed asks, keeping his tone light and even.

Al sits down beside his brother and watches the interplay between the two of them. When the other Alchemist moves to attack Ed tackles Erin out of the way, the female teen glaring up at the Springleaf Alchemist, Darren Meiers, " I didn't even have to say anything to him, he figured it out on his own. If you hadn't been present during my questioning then I would have told the truth years ago. "

Her voice sounded raspy from disuse but it told Ed all he needed, though he had to dodge another attack, taking Erin with him. Erin smirks, " Deal with him, I'll be fine, I have my own way of defending myself. "

" Are you sure? " Ed asks.

In answer Erin's eyes start to glow and the wind whips up around her forming a solid barrier. Ed looks at her and raises an eyebrow, Erin just looks at him and maintains her barrier, she'd tell him later in her silent language. As Ed and Al battle it out with the murdering Alchemist; Ed backflips away from him while Al attacks. Erin watches the rhythm the brothers have together and watches on in awe. Sure, she could hold her own, but she would love some more training and someone to train with. She winces when one of the Springleaf Alchemist's attacks shatters her barrier. Erin immediately gathered herself and somersaults out of the way.

Ed hits him with an aerial roundhouse kick just as Erin finishes her somersault and comes up facing the danger, " Well, Darren, you've gotten stronger, but so have I. "

" Really now, Erin, without your right foot, you can't fight. "

Erin's eyes flash as she uses the air around her to get upright, she closes her right fist and raises it above her head, when she opens it there's a glowing yellow ball inside of it, with the aid of the air around her Erin smirks, " I'm not normal, pal, time for you to meet up with my power. World Shaking! " Just like Sailor Uranus, Amara, she slams the attack into the ground and it slams home into her opponent and drops him where he stood. Erin smirks, " Didn't even need my right foot to do it, though I wouldn't have dared attempt this without backup, now, lock him up please. "

" With pleasure. " Al says, and then he and Ed clean up the café. Fortunately, Ed and Erin had finished eating before everything went down. Al delivers the arrested Alchemist to the prison, his hands far enough apart, with nothing he could make alchemic symbols with on his person. Ed calls his boss, who agrees to come along with Riza Hawkeye to pick the prisoner up.

" Fullmetal, how'd you…? "

" Well, Colonel, it's like this, the innkeeper told me her suspicions and Erin's reaction to the Springleaf Alchemist clinched everything together. Oh, after Winry arrives here and gets the repair work done we'll be going back to Rush Valley, taking Erin with us, she's an automail mechanic as well. " Ed says.

Once the conversation is done Ed heads back to Erin, who was leaning up against a wall and swings her up into his arms, " Got a substitute foot you can use until Winry gets here? "

" No, I can barely scrape enough together to keep my foot functioning. "

" Shh, rest your voice, it hasn't been used in a long time. "

Erin nods and by the time they get back to the inn Erin has fallen asleep in Ed's arms. Ed looks over at Ashley, " Can you get her door for me? We've had an eventful day, I'll tell you about it once I have her settled. "

Ashley runs ahead and gets the door for Ed, once he has Erin settled he lingers, long enough to lightly run his hand along her cheek and to his surprise she leaned into his touch. " Get some rest, you're continuing my tour tomorrow, though I suppose I'll have to help Al go through Springleaf's research, but I just can't bring myself to stray too far from you. "

Once Ed is back downstairs Al has made it to the inn, Ed books Winry a room and they all head to Ashley's office where Ed explains the day away to her. Her eyes widen at this, " Oh dear, I'd've never guessed that Springleaf was the one behind all the disappearances. "

Ed zeroes in on that comment, " What disappearances? "

" Young women in their early twenties have been disappearing once per month for the last two years. I don't know why he never came after me. "

They had been in her office for two hours and Erin makes her way in on her hands, " I do, he couldn't get past my mother's power, you and your mom took me in and sheltered me, earning my mother's protection. You see, in a different life my mother was the Queen of Uranus, and had power over the wind and Earth. Her daughters also had control of these two elements though the elder favored Earth and the younger air, though both were wicked fast in a foot race. "

" So, that's why you can do what you can do, you're the younger one reborn. I must say I'm not used to people being able to do that type of thing without alchemy. " Ed says.

" Yeah, thing is I'm in a different dimension from my sister. Mom came here to hide me. The ruler of the Silver Millennium hates the second princess' because none of us are afraid to tell her where to shove her crescent moon wand. " Erin says.

" Well, why'd she choose here for you to be born? " Al asks.

Ed looks at Erin and says in sign language, It's because Al and more to the point, I were born here. You needed to be here with me, in a world where you could meet me.

That's right, keep the metal limbs, but do get Al's body back. You had metal limbs last time due to a rockslide you were caught in.

I remember and you had made them for me with help from your cousin, Winry.

Very good, Ed, I didn't think you'd remember this much so fast.

Probably wouldn't have if I hadn't seen you use the World Shaking. Something just clicked for me right then.

" Ah, care to share? " Al asks.

" Sorry, Al, I'll tell you later, I promise. Erin, if you give me a list of parts for a rudimentary foot I'll go get them, at least that way you'll still be able to get around. "

" I'll have to go too, though I will write out a list. Al, Ashley needs some stuff fixed up around here. " Erin says.

Al nods and follows Ashley while Erin writes out her list, Ed looks at her and she looks up in time for him to sign, I know we had something great back then, but I'd rather get to know you all over again, I was already interested anyhow.

Erin grins at this admission, I can live with that, Ed.

Ed grins at this and once Erin has her list done carries her piggyback style to the parts shop she had pointed out to him earlier, she'd taken him to places that he had expressed interest in, Ed hands over the list and then lets Erin down, keeping a hand on her shoulder to keep her steadied. Erin inspects the parts and looks at the man behind the counter when she sees the one, quirking an eyebrow, " All right, I'm sorry, you just want this for a temp foot, right? "

" That's right, a friend of mine, who's a mechanic will be arriving day after tomorrow to make a new one. She just needs this to get around until she gets here. I'm paying, seeing as how she was with me giving me a tour when that punk smashed her last foot. " Ed says.

" Taro again, Erin? "

Erin nods as she inspects the rest of the parts, " Marv, I need more lube as well and you know I'll only take top of the line. "

The parts seller, Marv, stare at Erin in shock, " Glad to hear your sweet voice again, Erin, and I'll throw in some polish and oil as well, seeing as how you have a State Alchemist footing the bill. "

" Hey, I also have to pay for the new foot. " Ed says.

" Oh, don't worry, I always give her everything at half off and I saw what happened in the café, you protected her, so that means you get her prices. " Marv says.

Ed blinks at this, " Did you love her mom? "

Marv blushes to the roots of his still fire red hair and Erin blinks at this, Marv sighs, " I'd've married her if… well, you know. "

Erin looks at him, " Marv, you're probably as close as I'll ever get to a father, so get busy and give me a brother or sister already. Mom wouldn't want you to mourn forever. "

Ed laughs at the look on Marv's face, " Blunt, aren't you, Erin? " Ed asks.

Erin grins, " Of course I am, what did you expect. I always speak my mind, when I actually talk. "

Marv gathers the stuff and places it in three bags, " I'll send my assistant off with these to the inn. " Marv says as Ed pays for the parts.

Erin leans against the counter and smirks, she needed some new clothes, and was hoping she could get Ed to pay for them. Once Ed has her picked up again Erin grins, " You, Mr. Elric are going to take me shopping. "

Ed groans, " You're limited to fifty dollars, okay. "

Erin sighs at this and directs him to her favorite store and they hit it during a 80% off sale. Erin steers Ed in the right direction and then he sets her down, keeping her steadied and she grins, she could get a lot for fifty dollars now. As she picks out her clothes Ed watches how her eyes light up and sighs, knowing if she went over, he'd still pay for it. She was just too damn hot for him to not buy her what she wanted. Ed helps her maneuver through the store and grabs a cart for her items, when they reach the shoes she heads straight for the combat boots and picks out three pairs, all black in color.

" Why three? "

" One for travel, one for formal occasions and one for back up. " Erin answers him.

Ed grins, " So how long do you plan on traveling with us? "

" Well, once I get my new foot I'm going to need a training partner. Mom taught me a lot of self-defense, but just performing katas alone isn't as fun, I need a training partner. I was hoping you'd like that job, Ed. "

Ed grins at this, " I think I'll like that job, Erin, though I don't know if we should have public training sessions. "

Erin shakes her head at him, " So, you're going to flirt with me while we're training, careful, I have a bigger arsenal for that. " Erin says loud enough for only Ed to hear her, and he had yet to see her training outfit. She stifles her giggles at the slight red tinge his face had taken on. She'd put some very interesting thoughts into his hormonal mind. Ed is surprised when she grabs two duffel bags as well, then they head to the counter. Ed arranging for everything to be delivered to the inn. He picks Erin up and looks at her, shaking his head.

" You are one of a kind, Erin. "

" You started it, Ed. " Erin says.

" I walked right into it, I know it, but I never thought you'd capitalize on it like that. I think I'd better get you back so you can get started on that foot, " Ed says, " What's your favorite color? "

" Dark blue, what's yours? "

" I'd have to say red and black. " Ed says.

" So, Fullmetal, what's your favorite song? "

Ed blinks and cocks his head to the side as he thinks about this, " I'd have to say Moonlight Denetsu. It has a fantastic beat. What's yours, Erin? "

Erin grins, " True Light, White Night by Shunichi Miyamoto. " Erin answers him.

They continue in this fashion even as she uses Ed as her assistant, as she couldn't move to get things for herself very easily, of course it would be fun attaching her temp foot. Erin managed to finish the foot with Ed's help and Ed is the one to attach it to her right leg. Erin grits her teeth in pain and then relaxes, before exhaustion takes over. Both teens end up collapsing on her bedroom floor Erin's head resting on Ed's chest. Had they been awake they'd've both been mortified. An hour later Al comes in to check on his brother and finds the pair where they had collapsed, curled up together.

Al grabs the blanket from Erin's bed and covers them up, knowing his brother would never have dropped his guard like this other than for extreme exhaustion. Ed wraps his left arm around her in his sleep and pulls her closer, nuzzling her neck gently, before settling again. Erin's left hand ends up resting on Ed's right arm, and the female teen relaxes marginally after he had pulled her closer.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or Sailor Moon.