Chapter 4: I'm NOT Tiny!

A/N: And I'm FINALLY done! ^.^ Yayz!

So, several things I wanted to mention:

1) …I lied. :P This isn't entirely set in FMA; there is going to be some Brotherhood stuff, too, because my sister has been showing me some stuff from it even though I'm too busy to watch it myself, and I'm like, "Meh, might as well." Plus, like I said, I'm adding stuff to the series that didn't happen in either, so I might as well. So, derp.

2) Have ANY of you seen Ouran High School Host Club?! O_O Seriously! I watched it, and Tamaki has the same voice actor as Ed! DX They are complete opposite characters. I'm just like, "What the…?!" I thought his voice was familiar at first, then he threw a temper tantrum and I'm like *gasp* "THAT'S ED'S VOICE!"

3) I changed the cover pic because of Destiny's alchemy. :P But if someone preferred the previous cover, then let me know, 'kay?

4) Quick reminder. Last chapter, I left off with Ed getting—GASP—shrunk! XD Yes, it is physically possible to shrink things. I am not just making stuff up. Besides, Alphonse says it himself in the series at, like, episode 1. He was talking to the shop owner guy in Lior after fixing the broken radio and said something along the lines of, "With alchemy, I can make it bigger or smaller, too." So, yes. It is possible, DON'T JUDGE ME! I'm going off FACTS here! Besides, FMA is a lot more science-related/physics-centric than other stuff I've written about before, so I'm trying to up the intelligence on this story. :P

I made up a new word: traffilddefefiff. O_O

Me: *about to post new chapter* Heh, I shrunk Ed. *snickers*

Ed: Are you the one they call UltimateOtakuGirl100?!

Me: *spins around on chair* WHAT THE—?! EDWARD ELRIC?!

Ed: *death glare* Yeah, that's me. Now, answer the question!

Me: *gulps* U-um, yeah, that's my username… my real name's Gabi, though…

Ed: *cracks knuckles* Then you're the one who wrote about shrinking me…! *evil grin*

Me: O_o Eep! *cowers* Please don't hurt meeee!

Ed: *lunges*

Al: *grabbing Ed and holding him back* Please, Brother! Calm down! You don't need to go to every author's house that makes you angry…!

Me: "O_O ALPHONSE?!

Ed: LEMME AT 'ER! LEMME AT 'ER! LEMME AT 'ER!

Winry: *whacks Ed on the head with her wrench*

Ed: *KO'd*

Me: WHEN DID YOU ALL GET HERE?!

Mustang: Unimportant. I just suggest you hurry and put him back to normal in your story before he regains consciousness…

Me: *sweatdrop* U-um… okay…

'^.^ Heheh… you should probably just read now…

~~Destiny's POV~~

I gaped at the now-miniature Ed, stunned beyond belief.

I'd sat up in a crouch position next to the transmutation circle, and Nadia had now come up behind me, shocked.

"SAY WHAT?!" Nadia, Winry, Armstrong, and Pinako screamed in unison.

I began to tremble a bit. I couldn't think clearly.

I just shrunk Edward Elric. And without the transmutation circle, might I add.

There he was, just standing there, barely outside the transmutation circle: probably no more than five or six centimeters tall, dazed but otherwise looking exactly the same as normal, with his red coat, black jacket and black pants, golden hair and golden eyes, except, well… mini.

I slowly reached up with my automail arm and pinched myself on the cheek. I winced. Nope, not dreaming.

Mini-Ed and I stared at each other in shock and horror wordlessly for a little while longer.

Ed was the first to react. He glared up furiously at me. "WHAT DID YOU—?!" His hands abruptly flew up to cover his mouth and cut himself off, but it was too late; we'd already heard his voice. His ridiculously high voice.

My jaw dropped. "You—your voice—you—squeaked!" I gasped out before falling over backwards, laughing uncontrollably.

At this point, everyone had stood up and walked over, wanting to see this new development. "What happened to Ed?" Winry whispered, bewildered. "And what's wrong with his voice?!"

Nadia stared at him, stunned. She replied for me because I was currently doubled over in laughter. "…Somehow, Destiny managed to tighten all of Ed's matter together and therefore shrink him… even though she's completely failed at anything science-related her entire life… and the reason why his voice is all high-pitched is that his lungs have compressed much tighter, making it so that he can't take in as much oxygen, and thus altering his voice." She slowly smirked. "Kind of like when you try to breathe in helium from a balloon."

He glared at her. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Ed squeaked angrily, but it just plain sounded hilarious.

Somehow, despite the fact that this was completely and utterly hysterical, I managed to stand up again with my laughter barely under control, although I was still snickering every few seconds anyway. "E-Ed…" I panted, "you're… you're… so… puny!"

Tiny anger-vein-thingies appeared all over his face. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO PUNY YOU NEED A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO SEE ME?!" he squealed in fury, thrashing. Ed tried to run at me, but the second he lifted his tiny foot off the ground, he lost his balance and fell forward face-first.

I hadn't had a very strong hold on my laughter to begin with, and that was what set it off again. I collapsed again, laughing so hard I felt tears streak down my cheeks.

Winry had to physically clamp her hand over her mouth to suppress her giggle. Nadia's lips curled into a grin as she fought off a laugh with all her might.

Pinako and Armstrong looked like they were suppressing laughter, too. "W-well," Pinako said shakily, "I'm sure you are all capable of figuring out how to resolve this situation on your own. We'll leave you to it yourselves." They quickly ran into the house, but we heard them cracking up the instant before the door closed.

Al, being a suit of armor, wasn't capable of laughter, but he sure seemed to be enjoying this. "Brother…" he began in slight humor before trailing off.

Again, I somehow managed to gather myself and stand up, albeit unsteadily. "Sorry, Ed," I apologized, although I was grinning as I watched Ed get up again furiously. "I guess that I accidentally… shrunk… you…" I paused and snickered a bit as he twitched. "…and because I increased your density a lot, it'll probably make it really hard to move. You'll weigh exactly the same as you did in your full-sized form, despite the fact that now you're… pocket-sized…" Ed clenched his fists in fury. "…because you maintained your mass, even when your volume decreased. Therefore, you'll be really stiff, and your muscles will be too small and weak to move you very much."

Nadia abruptly shot her gaze at me, shocked. "Alright, now I know there's something very wrong here. Who are you and what the heck have you done with Destiny?!"

I sweat-dropped. "Er… I don't know how I know that!" I cried honestly. "I just suddenly remembered that from school…"

She gave me a look of suspicion. "Since when do you pay attention in school?! Especially science?!"

I shrugged helplessly. "I don't. I dunno how I know all of that! Honest!"

Nadia gave another skeptical glance before sighing. "Alright. Well, even if she's obviously possessed and not really in her right mind, Destiny's right. This is going to be a pain, because Ed's still going to weigh the same, but he'll be a lot smaller and unable to move much…"

I frowned. "Y'know… my automail arm is a lot stronger than a normal arm… I'm sure that I could carry him. Probably won't be that much trouble for me."

They all blinked (minus Al) and looked at me. "…Hey, you're right!" Winry gasped. "That'll work!"

"HEY!" Ed shouted angrily in the same squeak as before. "I DON'T WANT THAT IDIOT TO CARRY ME! I CAN WALK MYSELF!"

I gave him a bemused look. "You do realize that the house is at least a mile away for you now… and besides that, you can hardly move…"

He froze. Then he turned around, sat down, and sulked. "…"

Seeing this, I turned to Nadia and pouted. "Awww, do we have to figure out a way to fix this?! I like him so much more like this! All unable to argue when we call him short or tiny… and he's so chibified…"

Nadia face-palmed and sighed. "Well, I was wrong; only the real Destiny would say something as stupid as that…" Then she glared at me. "Of course we have to fix him! Don't you realize how bad it would be if we left him like this?!"

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "Umm…" Then I imagined it: Scar coming and him being completely helpless, the homunculi easily destroying him, Ed accidentally being stepped on…

I pouted again. "Fine, we'll figure out a way to get him back to normal… but we won't risk doing anything until tomorrow before we get on the train to Central. Because… well, I did that accidentally, and if I try to do it again and get a single molecule off…" I looked at him meaningfully.

Edward turned around from his sulk and glared at me. "Yeah, yeah, I get it," he squeaked in annoyance.

My lips curled again in humor upon hearing his voice. "Oi, Nadia," I said, snickering, "I just realized. He sounds kind of like Alvin and the Chipmunks."

She clamped her hand over her mouth. "…Or FЯED," Nadia added, giggling.

Then we cracked up and fell over laughing again.

Ed jumped up, peeved. "THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" he squeaked. "IT'S YOUR FAULT I'M LIKE THIS! AND WHAT THE HECK IS AN ALVIN OR A FЯED ANYWAY?!"

We just laughed even harder.

More anger-veins appeared on his face. He took large, heavy strides, struggling to keep his balance as he stormed over to me.

"Hey, chill, pipsqueak," I said after finally recovering, standing up slowly, "it's just an inside joke."

Have you ever heard a squeaky growl? Well, that's what Ed did. He literally growled, and it sounded hilarious, just like everything else. Somehow, however, we managed to maintain our composure. "Alrighty, then!" I chirped, taking a small step closer to the chibi-Ed. "We're obviously not getting anything done just by standing here arguing." I crouched down next to him.

He took a step backwards, looking up at me defiantly. "No," Ed snapped, taking another step back.

I held out my automail hand on the ground, palm up. "Now, Ed. I wasn't asking."

This only served to tick him off. "NO!" he repeated. "You may have… done… this—" He gestured to himself, probably unable to bring himself to say that he was small. "—but I REFUSE to have you ruin my dignity, too!"

Ed probably didn't expect me to burst out laughing and turn to Nadia. "Nadia!" I cried. "He reminds me of Vegeta!"

Her jaw dropped. "Oh my gosh, you're right!" she said, giggling (I'd forced her to watch DBZ several years back).

I snickered. I was unable to do a very good imitation of anyone without drinking milk first, but nonetheless I tried to mimic him. "'You may have invaded my mind and my body—but there is one thing a Saiyan always keeps… his PRIDE!'" On pride, I threw up and waved my arms to signify the yellow aura exploding or whatever he did in the show. Then my eyes widened. "Hey, now that I think about it, he was a Super Saiyan when he said that, right? He had golden hair and everything!"

Nadia crossed her arms and studied Mini-Ed thoughtfully. "Yeah… the only difference is that his eyes were blue, not gold… and his hair was sticking straight up, not in a braid…"

I frowned. "Yeah… and even when Ed was at his full height, Vegeta was still quite a bit taller…"

More anger veins appeared. "I'M NOT SHORT!" he squeaked angrily. "AND WHO'S VEGETA, ANYWAY?!"

I waved dismissively. "It's just another inside joke." Then I reached out with my automail hand, picked him up by the back of his cloak, and began walking to the house.

He began thrashing wildly. "HEY! LEMME GO! LEMME GO! LEMME GO!"

I paused my walking and glared at him. "Ed," I said in a dangerously low voice, "If you don't stop squirming, then I swear I will personally drown you in a cup of milk."

Ed froze.

"That's better."

Upon entering the house, the first thing we noticed that it was completely empty and silent.

"Hey, where'd they go?" I wondered aloud, holding Ed out in front of me.

Winry walked past me and picked up a small note on the counter with her back to me. "'We left to go grocery shopping. We'll be back around midnight. Sincerely, Pinako.' …MIDNIGHT?!"

I sighed. "And, let me guess: Armstrong has a letter on the back that reads, 'I am busy chopping a year's worth of firewood.'"

Winry raised her eyebrows and flipped it over. "Hey, it does! How'd you know?"

I shrugged. "Lucky guess. Those cowards. Anyways…" I set Mini-Ed down on a counter. "What are we going to do about this little guy?"

Edward lashed out again. "WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' SO TINY THAT I'M INVISIBLE WITHOUT A MAGNIFYING GLASS?! I'M NOT LITTLE!"

I pat chibi-Ed lightly on the head with my normal hand. "Of course you aren't, Ed. Of course you aren't." (My voice was dripping with sarcasm, in case you didn't realize.)

He continued to thrash, but I placed my finger on his head, preventing him from actually going anywhere. I sighed and turned away, finger still on his head. "Anyways, let's get down to business…"

They all nodded. "Well, let's go over what happened, and maybe we can figure something out," Al said.

I frowned, ignoring Ed's continued high-pitched shouts. "I'm not sure, really… all I know is that I was thinking about matter-related stuff when I tried to use alchemy, and then, poof! This happened." I waved my automail arm towards the still-furious Ed for emphasis.

Nadia's eyes widened. "Hey, I think I've got it!" she declared, slapping her fist on her other palm.

I sweat-dropped. "Well, that was quick."

She ignored me. "My theory is that you unwittingly focused your attention on size factors, and when you blindly lashed out in anger with alchemy, this caused you to decrease his volume and increase his density, but due to those two variables, you managed to keep Ed's mass and weight the same. So, it only stands to reason that you can reverse it once more if you focus on the opposite and try again."

I don't think it's possible for armor's eyes to shine (besides his white-red eyes), but if they could, then his definitely would be. "Whoa, how did you figure that out?!" Al exclaimed, amazed.

She shrugged. "It's just basic laws of physics. And alchemy, too: you can't get something without first giving something of equal value in return. Mini-Ed is the same amount of matter as regular-sized Ed, so that's why. It wasn't hard to figure out that you can just blend those two scientific laws to do something like this."

"But none of us have ever been able to pull something like this off," Alphonse said, turning to me. "Somehow, you managed to do something that no one in the history of alchemy has done. And you've just barely started learning."

My jaw dropped. "You're kidding!" I gasped. "Seriously?! No one has done this before?! But… but you're professional alchemists, right? You can increase and decrease the sizes of stuff like radios, right?! How is this any different?!"

Suddenly, both Ed and Al froze and fell silent. "…That's true…" Al replied quietly, "but it's never been successfully done on another living creature before without… without killing them."

…Alright, that was quite the conversation-stopper. And is it just me, or did it suddenly get several degrees colder in here? I thought. "…Um. Okay, then… er…" I slowly removed my hand from Mini-Ed's head, feeling very awkward.

An uncomfortable silence hung over us for a little bit.

Winry broke it after a while. "Well… um… although I know it's risky… what're we going to do? I mean, we can't just… leave him like this, can we? So we've gotta get him back to normal at some point…"

"I know…" I said, a dreading sigh escaping me. "But like I said before, if I got even a single molecule off…!" I trailed off meaningfully as I glanced at Edward.

He slowly sank to his knees, horrified. Message received.

"This is bad," Nadia murmured, just barely loud enough to hear. "If Ed's like this, then everything will be messed up. If you mess up, then you'll kill him. Great. Now what're we supposed to do?!"

"N-no… I'll risk it…" Ed said, shakily standing up, but looking determined. "There's still something I have to do, and I can't be like… this… for that to happen." We all knew he was talking about getting Al's body back. The thing was, they didn't know that we knew.

Sigh… so complicated.

We were all silent for a little while longer as his words hung in the air.

Then I clamped my hand over my mouth, trying unsuccessfully to suppress my giggling. But I fell to the floor laughing anyway. "OH, ED! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY WHEN YOUR VOICE IS LIKE THAT!" I gasped out.

"IT'S NOT MY FAULT! SHUT UP!" he squeaked in fury.

After I recovered from my sadistic laughing fit, Nadia pulled me aside.

"Destiny." Her voice was barely over a whisper, but shock and frustration was quite clear. "I don't think that anyone else saw it clearly, either that or they chose to ignore it, but… you used alchemy without a circle, didn't you?!"

I swallowed. "Y-yeah… I think so."

"And not only that, it was successful in something that no one has ever done successfully before!"

"…What're you getting at?"

"I'm saying that you just did alchemy without a circle, and in a way that has never been accomplished before. Don't you see?! It's because we saw the Gate. You can do alchemy without a circle. And on accident."

I felt a sudden chill.

Nadia held my gaze for a little longer. "Remember… they can't know that we've seen the Gate, so we have to keep up the façade. And just be careful, Destiny… the Gate is unpredictable. We both know that. Anything could happen because you've seen it. No… because we've seen it." Then she turned and left.

I stared after her for a moment. …So… that means she can use alchemy without a circle, too… doesn't it? I wondered.

I sighed. "Great. My head hurts," I mumbled before returning to the group.

~~Later that day, Destiny's POV~~

I gulped. My hands shook in anxiety.

They all watched me expectantly as I fret over my own doubts, staring at the Mini-Ed inside the newly-drawn transmutation circle.

"Calm down," Nadia told me reassuringly, "it'll be alright. You'll do fine. If you did it once on accident, when you actually want to do it, then maybe it'll be even easier!"

We both knew that was a stretch, but I forced my hands to stop quaking. "R-right." I took a deep breath.

Nadia, Winry, and Al stepped back as I crouched down and clapped my hands together. I inhaled shakily again and ever-so-slowly reached towards the circle…

I jumped back about five feet. "I CAAAAAAN'T!" I wailed, tears streaming down my face. "ICAN'TICAN'TICAN'TICAN'TICAN'TICAN'TICAAAAAN'T!"

Nadia sighed in exasperation and walked over to me. She grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. "Pull—yourself—together!" she yelled between shakes.

Feeling dizzy, I sniffled a bit as she continued to shake me. "B-but Nadia," I whispered quietly, just barely loud enough for her to hear, "what if it doesn't work with a circle?! I mean, I did it without a circle before. Maybe using a circle will screw it up!"

Nadia moaned, stopped shaking me, and dragged me to the side again. "Look, Destiny, you aren't even making any sense," she snapped quietly. "A transmutation circle used by people who can do alchemy without one merely amplifies the alchemy. That means that it will definitely work with one."

I frowned. "Okay… you're right…" I made my way back to the circle, crouched down, and clapped my hands. I swallowed again and slowly reached to the circle again…

…And leapt at Nadia instead. "I JUST CAN'T DO IT!" I sobbed.

Ed was probably pretty PO'd. "WOULD YOU QUIT STALLING AND DO IT ALREADY?!" he squeaked furiously.

Nadia glared at me. She pulled me aside once more. "If you don't hurry up and do it, then I swear I'm not going to make that solar-powered iPod charger that you wanted."

My eyes widened. "B-but you promised, before we even came to this world!"

She blew some hair out of her face. "I don't keep promises to idiots. Just do it already."

I straightened and went back to the circle with newfound determination. "Ed," I said sternly, cracking my knuckles, "if you die, I swear I'm going to friggin' kill you."

Everyone sweat-dropped.

I crouched down again, clapped my hands together, and closed my eyes. Focus… I thought, envisioning Ed at his full size. Increase the volume, decrease the density, and keep the mass…

Make Ed big again…

My fingers touched the outer rim of the circle.

The bright blue light flashed.

~~Ed's POV~~

Please don't let me be dead, please don't let me be dead, please don't let me be dead… if there really is a God, then please don't let me be dead… I prayed.

Me, praying. What a laugh.

I finally felt my limbs again. My fingers twitched.

Feeling drowsy, I cracked open my eyes.

To my shock, I saw Destiny, Nadia, Winry, and Al, all crowded around me, grinning (well, except Al… but if he could grin, he probably would be).

"Well, he's alive!" Destiny cheered. "Looks like all that worrying was for nothing!"

"Not so fast," Nadia replied. "He hasn't said anything. Let him talk; we've gotta make sure his voice isn't so high-pitched anymore."

They all fell silent and continued to stare at me expectantly.

I slowly sat up. "…Don't talk about me like I'm not here," I grumbled, relieved when my voice was normal.

Everyone visibly relaxed. "BROTHER!" Al exclaimed, yanking me into a hug. "I'M SO GLAD!"

"Can't… breathe…!" I choked out. Alphonse released me.

"Whew," Destiny said tiredly, sighing as she pulled away. "Too much worrying. I can't take this anymore… I'm going to go to bed. It's already nightfall, and I really don't feel like waiting till midnight for Pinako and Major Armstrong. See ya." She walked away. A few seconds later, she poked her head out again, looking half-asleep. "Oh, yeah… And before I forget, Nadia, can you start working on that solar-powered iPod charger…? Thanks…" Destiny yawned and walked away again.

I turned to Nadia, bewildered. "What's an iPod? And what's solar-powered mean, for that matter?!"

Nadia shot a glare towards where Destiny had left that could've easily been the origins of the saying, if looks could kill… "Oh, nothing much. It's just something from where we come from. You don't need to know anything else."

I raised an eyebrow, suspicious, but decided to drop it. For now, anyway. "…Alright…"

Then I remembered something. "Oh, and one more thing. Tomorrow morning at first light, we're leaving for Central."

Everyone snapped to attention at this. "WHAT?!" Winry cried.

"You could've given us some more warning!" Nadia said, glowering.

Al made a sound like a sigh. "Well, someone has to tell Destiny that, too. It'll be unfair if we just abruptly up and leave."

Nadia crossed her arms and stepped back solemnly. "Nuh-uh, no way. I'm not doing it. At this point, she'll be in bed."

We stared at her. "Uh, yeah? So?" I asked.

Nadia sighed. "Well, if she willingly went to bed instead of someone making her, then it's serious; she rarely goes to bed on her own, so she's really tired. At this point, if she's that tired, then I'm sure she'll have fallen asleep by now. And if you wake her up, well… she generally doesn't like that. Destiny is a fairly light sleeper… but…"

"But?" I prompted.

She shuddered. "Destiny can be really violent when you wake her up. She'll be half-asleep at first, so…"

I rolled my eyes. "Is that all?!" I smirked and rolled up my sleeves, heading to the guest room Destiny and Nadia were staying in. "Please. It can't be that bad. If no one else is going to do it, then I will!" I stormed off, determined to wake her.

A/N: Phew! It's done. '^.^ That took a while, because I was busy with schoolwork and stuff… but yeah… here it is~!

Me: Okay, okay! I'm done! Ya happy?!

Ed: *moaning as he wakes up* Say wha…?

Me: -_- Are you freaking kidding me…

Al: Brother, she made you not tiny anymore…

Ed: *fully awake* SERIOUSLY?! LEMME SEE!

Winry: Wow, that was fast. '^.^

Me: *sigh* I know. I just wanted to hurry everyone to Central.

Winry: …I was talking about Ed waking up…

Me: "O_o …I knew that.

Hawkeye: What she probably means to say is, "I'm sorry this chapter was abrupt."

Me: Seriously, WHERE ARE ALL OF YOU COMING FROM?! *sigh* Fine, she's right. Yeah, we're finally leaving Resembool and getting on with the plot. Sorry if it seemed sudden. But I needed Destiny to learn how to do that before the story progressed, so… derp.

Ed: WHAT THE—?!

All: What?

Ed: *looking at new chapter on computer* You did not seriously do what I think you did…

Me: *gulp* Um… er… maybe?

Havoc: Didn't do what? *blows smoke from cigarette*

Me: *snagging cigarette, smashing it, and chucking it in the trash* Oi, no smoking in my house! *sigh* And what I did was— *stops* …Hey, I nearly gave the readers spoilers! Sorry, no spoilers for you~! :3 Fine, I'll tell you guys, but after I'm done concluding my Author's Note. 'Kay, readers! R&R, or else I'm sending an angry Ed after you!

Ed: Wait, what?! I didn't agree to this!

Me: What if I told you I knew how to do Chinese water torture, except with milk?

Ed: O_o GAAAAAAAAAAH!

Me: I'll take that as a sign of agreement.

Review topics~

Does anyone have any guesses to how Ed trying to wake up Destiny went?

What is going to happen at Central?

Do you have any suggestions for what you want to see in the upcoming few chapters?

Ed: *still yelling* NOOOOOOO!

Me: *slaps* Oh, for crying out loud! I haven't even done the milk torture yet! You can't go insane if I haven't even done it yet! *sigh* For the sake of Ed's sanity, please R&R…