A/N: Guys. GUYS. Hi. You're gonna like this one, promise. *grin* *excited bouncing* First time I've actually gotten around to the good part in a reasonable amount of time - I blame the arrhythmia.

Title: A Heart Forged in Steel

Author: liketolaugh

Rating: T

Pairings: None

Genre: Friendship/Drama

Warnings: Earth!AU for Fullmetal Alchemist (profile for details) and slight AU for Artemis Fowl - the events of The Arctic Incident are all shunted forward a year.

Summary: In the fight with the troll, Butler loses more than is easily replaceable. In an attempt to remedy this, Artemis takes the bodyguard to Amestris, the world's main manufacturer of automail. There, they go to the best known makers of automail - the Rockbells - only to find that there is already a patient in surgery: Edward Elric.

Disclaimer: I own neither Artemis Fowl, nor the Fullmetal Alchemist. 'Tis but a dream.


It was raining out. Ed woke up rubbing his shoulder port, wincing. Ow…

But then Al noticed he was awake and beamed at him. "Brother! Look, it's just finished raining!" His head turned to the window, and Ed obediently looked out to find clouds just blowing away from the sky, mud and puddles scattered around outside, just begging to be jumped in.

Ed didn't want to. Hig leg hurt, his shoulder hurt, and there was a warning tingling in his false fingers and toes.

But Al sounded so excited.

He grinned at his little brother. "Let's go outside," he said enthusiastically, swinging his legs off the bed without a hint at the ache in his limbs. "C'mon!"

Al beamed again and bounced out after him, following Ed as the small boy ran down the stairs, feet stomping unevenly over the ground.

Artemis was already awake, reading yet another book at the table. For once, Butler was with him, a book on combat automail in one large hand. Artemis looked up as the two brothers clanked down the stairs and raised an eyebrow. "Edward?"

The golden-eyed boy's hair had grown in the time Artemis had known him; he refused to let anyone cut it. Now it reached just past his chin, brushing it gently.

Ed grinned at him and jerked an automail thumb out the door. "Al and I are gonna go splash around for a while. You coming?"

Butler chuckled. Artemis wrinkled his nose. "I think not."

Ed shrugged. "Suit yourself." He darted out the door, Al following after him happily. Artemis smirked a little, amused despite himself.

"Where'd Ed and Al go?" a yawning Winry asked, coming down the stairs.

Artemis nodded out the door. Winry rolled her eyes.

"Of course."

She looked out the window to find mud and water flying everywhere already, and smiled, watching Ed fling a handful of muck across Al's chest plate.

"Don't you dare forget to clean your automail later!" she yelled out the door. "If it rusts I'll kill you, Ed!"

"Yeah, yeah!" came Ed's voice, dismissive.

"Won't Alphonse's armor have to be cleaned out as well?" Artemis asked, feigning disinterest.

He didn't fail to notice the color draining from Winry's face, nor the strain in the smile that followed. "Yeah… I'll make sure Ed does that."

As it turned out, Ed didn't need to be told. A few hours later, when Ed tripped up in the mud and accidentally let slip a pained groan getting up, Al launched straight into mother hen mode, shooing his brother back inside, berating him for not saying anything.

Ed responded by dragging his little brother up the stairs, making noises about rust and cleaning and oil. When they disappeared from hearing range, Al was insisting that Ed take care of his automail first, and then they could clean his armor.

Artemis, in turn, waited about an hour before he decided to go upstairs and look in. Butler, resigned to his employer's insatiable curiosity and unable to deny his own, followed.

The door opened. Artemis entered quietly, and blue eyes landed on the scene within and widened.

Al's chest plate was open, and Ed was half inside it, diligently wiping at the inside. That wasn't the alarming part.

The alarming part was the the armor's arms were still moving as Al spoke, and Al was nowhere to be seen.

The armor's head turned toward them, and red orbs landed on them. Al froze and stopped talking. When he spoke again, it was in a squeak. "E-Ed!"

Edward withdrew from the armor and sat back on his heels, a muddy washcloth in his hand, and frowned at Al. "Al?"

Al shakily pointed at Butler. Ed turned around, and his eyes widened in horror.

A moment later, horror turned to angry fear, and he threw the washcloth at them. "Get out!" he snarled.

Artemis didn't move, blue eyes flashing. "The armor is empty." It wasn't a question.

Ed surged to his feet, fists clenched. "Get out!"

"Why?" Artemis' head tipped slightly, looking around Ed to where Al was frozen on the ground. He could just make out something red at the back of the armor; he wondered what it was.

Gold eyes were on fire, dangerous with their fury. Artemis was unmoved; even if he truly believed Edward would attack, Butler wouldn't let the boy touch him.

"Why is your brother's armor empty?"

Al spoke, hands covering the front of his armor like it was a dirty secret. And Artemis would bet all the fairy gold in his possession that it was. "Please leave. Please."

Artemis smiled coldly, and did.

He only knew so much about alchemical theory. But most of the pieces were there, and he already had his suspicions about the picture that they formed.

"Artemis?" Butler's voice, curious. Of course. Who wouldn't be? "What do you think that was?"

"That," Artemis said, voice thoughtful and slow. Thinking. "Was something that I think they don't want anyone to know." He looked up at Butler and smiled an unfriendly smile. "Butler. We have somewhere to be tomorrow morning."

Butler raised an eyebrow. "Yes, sir."

It looked like Artemis had just about reached his conclusion.


...I had to go back FIFTY PAGES in my document-which-covers-all-things-that-I-have-written to find this. Fifty pages. Wow, okay then. Well, please review!