Family of a Different Nature

Rating - pg13/R

Pairing - Greed/Martel.

Warnings - het sex if I can bring myself to writing it.

Notes - I like Parental fics for Edward and Alphonse. But, most of them are of Roy and Riza -so, I decided to change that bit up.

Summary - Edward and Alphonse come by a terrific discovery. Consequences ensue and they meet one Homunculus who wants a full life.

Chapter 1 - Reverse Transmutation

"This is it, Al," the brightness that filled the older brother's tone would have made Alphonse cry if he could do so physically. The armor which towered above the smaller boy re-read the passage in the old book. They had found the non-titled, non-authored book in the depths of Central City Library. It had the one hint, the one anagram, the one way to return their bodies.

"Brother, are you sure? It looks like only one of us can be turned to normal with this and we can't try it a second time," Alphonse pointed to the note at the bottom of the hand written page. Edward waved his hand.

"I don't care about me, not anymore. I like the Automail, if I get my real limbs back I don't think I'd be as affective at fighting like I am now. Sure it breaks and sometimes I get beaten up when that happens, but I survive and I really don't want to die because I don't have my Automail to save the situation. No, we're going to put you back into your body. You're going to have to accept this, Alphonse. I got you into this mess, you deserve to be whole," Edward had turned to the armor that housed his younger brother and smiled gently.

"I'm asking you to trust me, again, Alphonse, will you?"

"Yes," Alphonse said slowly. Edward patted a huge armor hand and closed the book.

"Then, lets do it,"

- - -

The alchemical light turned from a deep red to a light purple before going to pure light blue. It wasn't so much unlike their first attempt at human transmutation. Edward wasn't stupid, he was prepared this time. He stood before that gate and he stared it down, the Shadow beings taunted him with his arm and leg but he glared back at them.

"I want my brothers body back, whole and proper, you can keep those limbs as equivalent exchange. I won't be doing this again,"he yelled.

When the light faded and darkness fell upon them. Edward had toppled over from the effort to keep the transmutation active. He looked over to the large armor body in the middle of the transmutation. It was broken into pieces, but, in the middle of the pile was flesh.

"Al! Alphonse!" Edward called. A groan came back to him. He began to crawl to the boy in the middle of the transmutation circle. His energy had left him but damn it, he was going to touch his brother. Alphonse's blue eyes opened, and he smiled.

"Brother! You did it!"

"No, Al, we did it,"

- - -

He woke to the smell of strong coffee, stale piss and mold. He wrinkled his nose at the smell and tried to ignore it. He wasn't in pain, which meant one of two things. The Transmutation had worked and the Gate had kept his real limbs in exchange for Al's body - or he was hurt bad and any pain medication the doctors had given him was doing its work.

However, when he finally opened his eyes, the brown ceiling wasn't that of a hospital. Blinking a few times to clear his vision, Edward was able to take in the room he was in. It was small with a military issue cot serving as his bed. It was comfortable, which said a lot about the place in his mind. His limbs were still intact, his clothing and travel case were set by the head of his bed. The travel case at the foot of a chair with his clothing draped over the chair itself. He sat up and found that he wasn't in pain and there were no pin pricks that he could see.

He dressed quickly, though only in his corduroy pants, black tank and boots. He didn't know where he was or who had rescued them from the underground room he had found for the transmutation. Edward wanted someplace private for it. He didn't want a bunch of people around to whiteness him doing another human transmutation. Sighing, he opened the door, surprised to find it unlocked. He stepped into a room that was a combination of a kitchen, dinning room and living room. There were two long couches, he could smell brownies in the oven and it was empty. The bell on the oven rang. He crept across the home like room to the kitchen and took the brownies out with a towel. It was then that he found the note on the fridge.

Went to get food. Be back. Don't' leave. Al

It read.

Edward shook his head. Who had them, why did they take Alphonse and…where were they? They had to still be in Central. Though, right now he imagined this small home to be in the slums or in a rundown building. He pulled a chair from the small dinning room table and sat down heavily. His Automail limbs hurt. The nerves were on edge and he'd develop a limp in an hour or so. He banished these thoughts. This was what he got for trespassing where humans weren't allowed.

What he had told Al, he knew, was the truth. But what he wouldn't admit to his younger brother was that one of them had to carry the consequences for their sins. He was the older of them, he made the decision to bring their Mother back. Alphonse was naive and didn't understand all the implications as he had. Which meant - he sighed as he traces the scars of the table with one flesh finger - that Alphonse didn't have to carry the lion share of the consequences. He had only lost limbs, Alphonse, his entire body.

Getting Al back to normal - while keeping the Automail - was his goal. He'd carry the scars of their failed transmutation and he'd never breathe a word of the truth behind the truth to Alphonse, no matter how long they lived.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as the door was pushed open, and giggling could be heard. The giggling belonged to his younger brother, it no longer had the metal tinge to it and it was pure music to his ears. Edward blinked as Alphonse skipped over to him, he put his small brown paper bag on the table and then threw his arms around Edward.

"Brother! Your awake!"

"Yeah," Edward said softly.

"We went shopping for food, oh, it was absolutely wonderful! I finally got to smell all that fruit and Martel has promised to make meat loaf for us tonight and Greed…"

"Wait…what?" Edward pulled back suddenly, finally looking beyond his brother to see Martel, a Chimera, and Greed, a Homunculus, watching them.

"They found us and brought us home, like stray kittens," Alphonse explained.

"You and your kitty fetish, Al!" Edward rolled his eyes.

"But I have to go back to Mustang, he doesn't know what we did. Well, he probably does - the bastard - but that isn't the point. The point is that I still have an obligation to the military and I don't think they'd discharge me…" Edward trailed off as Al's light blue eyes filled with tears. Edward brought him back into a tight hug.

"I'm not going to leave you, silly goose. I am not our Dad. I'm different, didn't I promise you that I'd get your body back? You trusted me then, has that changed?" he felt Al shake his head in a negative against his chest.

"I….its all so…new…I don't know what to do," Al's voice quivered.

"It's all right, I didn't think it'd be easy for us to get you used to sight, smell, hearing and feeling again. Just take it slow, and savor it all," Edward whispered.

Greed took a few steps forward, the smile on his face wasn't one of gunmanship, as he had given Edward before. It was one of desire, for his name was Greed, but….it was gentle somehow.

"We want you to stay here, with us," Greed said.

"What do you mean?" Edward gave the sin a worried glance. He didn't trust the man.

"Martel and I cannot have children, I can't make live semen and the experiments on her made her unable to have children, But, you two are exactly what we need and we want you to be ours," Greed explained.

Edward shook, suddenly worried and scared all at the same time. Al stepped back and gave him a smile.

"We can have a second chance, Brother! Isn't that wonderful?" Al asked, looking up hopefully at Edward. He blinked and swallowed.

"I….I don't know. Is that what you want, Al?"

"Yes, I've thought about, you've been asleep for three days and Greed, Martel and I have done a lot of talking and I've thought about it and this is what I want," Al replied.

"Talk about trusting….okay, but, I can't. I have to go back to Mustang,"

"Why? You don't like him," Al's glared was as full of life and anger as Edward remembered it.

"I'm still a state alchemist, Al, I have obligations. I only joined so that we could get you your body back, we found that book at the library. We never would have gotten it if I hadn't joined up," Edward tried hard to keep his tone low and soft, but still convey the desperation in his voice.

"Edward," Martel had been busy putting the food away, the table was covered in greens, canned food, dried pasta and canned pasta sauce, "You have to stay here," she said, gently.

"I don't like being put into a corner, what's going on here?" Edward demanded. He had gotten to his feet but Alphonse pushed him back down into the chair.

"Ed, I really want this, please stay, please?" the anger was paramount and Edward found himself nodding his head.

"Let the record show that I don't like this, Al," he muttered, slowly so that each consonant could be heard clearly. Al nodded.

"Let me have your arm, Greed and Martel will show you how they can be great parents and when you want to stay, because you want to, then I'll give it back, think of it as an experiment," Al smiled suddenly.

"I like that plan less than the first, Al. Why are you acting so weird?" Ed asked. Al giggled.

"Silly, you missed something when you read that book," Al hopped over to the coffee table and picked up the old book. He flipped to a page and then skipped back to Edward, he held it out for his inspection.

Edward started to read, he had been too busy thinking about fulfilling his promise to Al that he had missed this small passage. He gulped, Al pulled the sleeve of his shirt up and show the oroborus tattoo on the inside of his right arm; "My name is Jealousy," Al, or rather, Jealousy, said with a wide grin.

"You birthed me, I am Alphonse Elric, in body only though. Thank you for giving me life," and with that the boy that looked like Al hugged him again. Edward let the book fall from his hand. As his Automail arm was detached by knowing hands, he felt himself starting to black out.

He had failed. He realized.

Failed.

Epically

TBC

- - - -

a/n - Hahahahaha brain fucking is fun to do. I wasn't planning on any of that, but there you go!