A/N: Hey everyone! :D Hope you had a good Christmas and Happy Holidays ^_^ Voila! The next chapter of the cannon arc :3 crossing my fingers that it'll be good!
Funny thing I wanna tell you all first. So, Greed can be a hard character to write for, I spend a lot of time thinking about his reactions and perspective. Apparently, I did it to much =.= I've started talking like the guy. I quite seriously said "It's no fun if it's not a challenge!" (a line right out of brotherhood) without even thinking about it. (Though of course, me being me, it was about decorating the Christmas tree...)
Ah well, as long I don't start acting like him everything should be fine (right?...right?)
Well, enough with the commentary, on to what you're here for!
(Oh and just a note, more characters from brotherhood appear in this chapter X3 not gonna tell you who though ;p *I will tell you one character it's not: Ling. Sorry, his time will come. Not in the typical way though ;D*)

"You're over reacting. I'm sure I'll be able to go to school tomorrow."

"I'll take that medicine and get an early start. I don't need to call, everything will be fine."

"That was you that said all that, right?" Dolcetto asked, as he and Martel stood near the teenager who was currently slumped in her chair, face planted on the kitchen table.

"…Shut the f-ck up…" Mary muttered, far too uncomfortable right then to think of anything witty.
The girls previous optimism had been completely unfounded. Greed had been correct about the injury aching, when she woke up that morning, her right side was so sore that she could barely get out of bed. Any other fantasies of actually being able to function that day got crushed when the pain killers came into effect. They did indeed dull the pain, but the teen wasn't sure whether that was due to any real medical properties, or just because it had made her too drowsy to really feel anything. Unfortunately, that particular side effect didn't seem to help with the others, namely, how hard the antibiotic in the pills was on her stomach. It was a good thing that Mary had, had to deal with the same sort of medication a few times before. If she weren't familiar with antibiotics, she would have been convinced Greed was poisoning her.

"Aaaw, the pills make you sick?" A voice full of mock sympathy came from somewhere off to the girl's left. Mary turned her face slightly, even though she could only see his midriff, she knew exactly who it was.

"Yes…" The teen grumbled, still a little too shaken from the night before to reply with the snarky 'What do you think?' that she wanted to.

"Good." She didn't need to look any further up to know that Greed was smirking. Just like Dolcetto and Martel had said, the homunculus cooled from his rage pretty quickly. But the girl knew he was still angry to some degree, not one excuse to torment her got passed up on.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to be miserable." She mumbled, sitting up some. (Though she still kept a slightly hunched posture.)

"You'd be way worse off without the stuff." Greed said as he went over to sit in his recliner. The artificial human had grown used to the pain of regeneration after so long, but the few seconds where he was reforming were always agonizing. It was the reason he kept pain pills around, in case any of his people ever got seriously hurt. Greed knew instantaneous healing was painful enough, he didn't even want to think about what it would feel like drawn out for days or weeks.
"Though I didn't think it'd make you feel this bad. Guess you're just a wimp." He shrugged. Mary would have given anything to be able to throw something at him right then.

"Huuh, ball park, Roa; How long am I in the dog house for?" She mumbled to one of the only people who hadn't been totally furious with her the previous day. (Which Mary and the others were infinitely grateful for. A full out angry Roa was something they'd only ever seen in their nightmares, and they hoped to keep it that way.)

"Till you wise up." Martel interjected in his place.

"I recommend you get comfy." Dolcetto added.

"You brought this all on yourself." Roa stated, setting a mug of tea on the table in front of her. Even though he didn't get mad, he was still firmly on the 'That was the most dumb-ass stunt you've ever pulled.' side of the situation. The teen let out a pathetic groan and dropped her head back onto the table.

"Hey, cut that out, half-pint." Greed barked, as the firm 'thunk' of Mary's face hitting the table resonated. "Keep that and your nose'll get all squished. You'll be useless in the bar if you go ugly."

Slowly, the teenager inclined her head, so she could stare at the man seated across the room. Mary was trying to give him the mother of all death glares and, under other circumstances, it might have actually been impressive. But she didn't have her glasses on, which made her age even more ambiguous than usual, and there were enormous, raccoon-like, dark circles under the eyes that she could barely keep open.

"What the hell's so funny?" The girl hissed when Greed began snickering uncontrollably. The homunculus really meant to give some kind of retort but whenever he tried to look at Mary's face, the words 'Panda Bear' would pop into his mind and he would start laughing again.
After a minute or two, Greed was finally able to stop chuckling. Mary had apparently given up on any hope of him answering her question and appeared to be looking at something under the table. A low, but very familiar, scratching noise could be heard.

"Huh, y'know…" Greed sighed, easing back into his chair. "I don't think you go to a multimillion cen school to learn to draw rude pictures of me." He smirked when the scratching abruptly stopped and he heard a small book snap shut.

The young woman rested her chin on the table again, now looking as bored and disgruntled as she did uncomfortable. She considered drinking the tea that Roa had made for her, but picking it up would require moving. It wasn't long though, before she caught Martel looking at her in an almost calculating way, out of the corner of her eye.

"What?" Mary asked, shifting her head slightly to face the chimera. Martel stared for a few more moments before she spoke.

"That little book…" She said curiously "You've always got it on you, but I don't think I've ever seen the inside of it."

"Now that you mention it, neither have I. Brat always closes it when anyone gets to close." Greed stated, getting interested in the conversation.
In a matter of seconds, Mary went from a near zombie like state, to totally alert.

"It's just one of my sketch books. Nothing in there worth looking at." She said almost automatically. The words came out of her mouth in a slightly stilted way, like she'd given that response many, many times.

"If there was nothing in there worth seeing, you wouldn't try and keep it hidden." Greed said with a crooked grin, seeing a new opportunity to torment the teenager. Mary twitched, though didn't seem entirely taken off guard by his reply because she quickly added,

"It's my personal one, all I do is draw stuff I feel like in it. None of its very good."

"What kinda stuff?" Dolcetto asked, though he seemed more genuinely curious, unlike Greed, who was mostly just pushing the subject because it seemed to bother Mary.

"Just...random things…" The girl muttered evasively, looking away from them.

"There's porn in there or something, isn't there?" That question got the kind of reaction Greed had been hoping for.

"There is not!" She snapped as loud as she could, which was just barely above normal talking level. "I just draw the things that I see and stuff like that!"

"So, does 'stuff you see' count us?" Martel grinned, if Mary's 'Oh shit, I've been caught' expression was anything to go by, she was dead on.

"It's-…just for practice, it's the only way to get better. Th-they're just sketches, I don't show 'em to anyone, or anything." She stuttered.

"Doesn't matter, I gotta see 'em now." Greed said and started striding over to her.

"Eh?! No you don't!" The girl yelped, pulling the small, leather bound book close to her chest. She was sitting up right now with her body tensed like she would bolt any second. Her eye's flicked over to the hallway, where she was planning to make her escape but unfortunately, Martel had caught on and moved in front of it.

"I've got every right to look in there if I'm subject matter. And you're in no place to be making demands, brat." Greed snapped, then made a grab for the book. Mary reacted in a second and leaned back in her chair, while extending her left arm as far back as it could go. Considering the speed and precision she executed the move with, it became even more evident that she'd dealt with this sort of problem before.

"Hey, quit it! You're gonna hurt yourself again!" Dolcetto barked angrily, though the teenager didn't seem to care. She was about to duck under Greed's arm and make a run for it when the book suddenly flew from her grip.
The girl whipped around in an instant and saw the sketch book land in Roa's waiting hand, with Bido standing nearby looking a little nervous and guilty.

"Bido! Roa! You traitors!" Mary cried, knowing no one but the lizard man could have slipped the item from her so easily. Even though they didn't spend as much time together, the quieter two usually backed her up in these sorts of situations.

"You would've hurt yourself it you'd kept fighting for it." Roa said flatly. Either out of pure curiosity or he, like the others, wanted to make Mary suffer a little, he flipped the book open and held it at a level where all of them could see it.

The first few pages were exactly as the girl had said, just random objects and scribbles. Most of them were quite well drawn though, none of them understood why Mary didn't think they were good. A few more turns revealed a familiar face.

"Oh! It's Martel!" Bido exclaimed, when a pencil drawing of Martel in her Equinox dress appeared. After that, more and more pictures of the gang started to show up. They ranged from quick and barely discernible sketches, to elaborate, full blown drawings; her favorite subject for those appeared to be Roa. There was a little title under one portrait, that looked to have taken quite a while, saying 'My friend Roa, he's the only that'll stay still long enough to draw'. There were many of the others too, Mary seemed to like drawing faces the most, though. (In quite a few, Greed had been characterized with horns. Fortunately, for the girl's sake, aside from the little addition she kept him handsome.)

"What's your problem? These are all really good!" Martel laughed at the teenager who, when she realized she'd lost the battle, had sauntered over to the couch and curled up under a blanket.
The girl gave a series of broken mutterings, all of which they could piece together being "Dunno" and "Artist thing."

"Heh heh, well whadaya know? Half-pint does have some skills after all." Greed jibed. "Huh, who're these chicks?" he asked before Mary could snap at him, noticing something that they hadn't spotted at first. Carefully painted on the inside cover of the book, was a picture of two pretty, blue eyed women with thick dark hair.

"Eh? Oh, on the cover you mean. Those're my sisters." She answered, emerging from under the blanket some. The group stared at the painting again. Both women had medium skin to match their hair and one appeared rather tall in perspective to the background.

"Your sisters?" Dolcetto asked, looking back up to Mary.

"Yeah, my brothers are on the back. What?" The girl sat up, puzzled at the slightly incredulous expressions on her friends faces.

"Um…" Martel faltered when she flipped to the back of the book and saw the other picture there.

"Uh, kid" Greed started as he slid onto the couch and ran his hand through the girls thin, smooth (and in his opinion, blonde) locks. "So, you know about genetics, right?" He asked, in an almost gentle tone.

"Wha-? Of course I do, what's up with all of…you…" She trailed off at the, possibly sympathetic, but mostly 'Oh come on' look in the homunculus's eyes.
"I am not adopted!" The teen barked.

"Denial, how long has that worked for you?" Dolcetto asked, eyeing the other painting of three young men, who looked possibly even less like Mary. (Admittedly, two had lighter hair and one was pale, but it wasn't nearly enough to compensate for how tall and lanky they all were.)

"Don't push her. Acceptance take's time." Roa stated wisely.

A very long argument began between the girl and the rest of the gang began. Mary ended up pulling out a few photo's she'd brought from home and tried to prove that there were similarities between her and her relatives. A rather unfortunate family photo (in which Mary apparently hadn't notice the flash, and was making a completely different face from everyone else) nearly had the teen calling home to ask her parents a very sensitive question.

"Y'know, I thought I was finally over this. Thanks guys, thanks for twisting the knife…" Mary grumbled and retreated back under her blanket, effectively ending the conversation.

Sig Curtis polished a very large and threatening looking clever as he stood behind the counter of his butcher shop. His wife, who was feeling better that day, sharpened blades in the back. The couple was perfectly happy with just each other for company but they were steadily becoming bored, business had been very, very slow that day.

The bell ringing as someone entered the shop, brought them out of their doldrums.

"Hi Mr. Curtis!" A short, full figured teenager called cheerily. Sig straightened and locked eyes with the girl, an action which would make most people want to run. But the young woman in the emerald uniform just smiled, she'd grow used to his appearance.

"Is that who I think it is?" Izumi's voice came from the back.

"Oh! Hey, Mrs. Curtis." Mary said as the tall, dark haired alchemist entered the storefront. "Didn't expect to see you here, are you feeling better today?" She asked, knowing how touch-and-go the woman's health was (though she wasn't entirely sure why.)

"A bit. And what about you? You didn't come in for your usual delivery on Tuesday."

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen much of you lately" Sig added. The girls normal path to school passed the butcher shop, she would usually pop in, or at least wave, most days. "Did something happen?"

"Oh, um…kinda." Mary said, nervously rubbing the back of her neck. "Hurt myself by accident, had to take a few days off." She explained shortly.

"Hurt? How?" Izumi questioned, sharply. Mary twitched, she'd been expecting the question, but it didn't make her any less nervous.

"Well…I know it's a really lame excuse but I actually did fall down the stairs." She laughed slightly. "I messed up one of my ribs and….uh…" The teen made a point of not looking anywhere near either of the Curtis's. "I ignored it and it got really bad-Then I went to a doctor! I'm gonna be fine!" She added quickly, looking ready to sprint out of the shop. The girl knew Izumi could be ten times more terrifying than Greed, when angered.

The alchemist stared for a moment, brow clearly twitching. She was either deciding how angry to get at the teenager, or thinking of how to dispose of the body.

"...Honestly, I knew you should have never left home. I'm just surprised it took you this long to screw up!" Izumi finally barked. No matter how little she liked it, Mary Calvados was an adult and needed to be treated as such if she was ever going to grow up. She'd made that decision when she learned the girl was moving to Dublith.
However, while she wasn't going to throw Mary out a window (regardless of how much she deserved it) there was one thing Mrs. Curtis wasn't going to just let go. Something didn't quite add up in the girl's story, and she was going to find out why.

"Y-yeah, sorry…" The teen stuttered, extremely shocked that she was still alive. An awkward pause followed.

"Well! either buy something or get out!" The woman snapped.

"Ah! Y-yes ma'am!" Mary jumped and quickly placed her usual order with Sig.

"…Mary, what exactly is your job again?" Mrs. Curtis asked, while Sig was in the back, as she observed the girl closely.

"…I work as a private cook for this guy and his employees." Mary replied, but she had twitched and paused before she answered, Izumi also noticed the young woman was staring slightly above her eyes and not right into them.

'I taught her that trick! Does this brat honestly think she can pull it on me!?' She mentally snarled.
"Hm...and do you do anything else for him?" She continued, resting her elbow on the high counter so she and Mary were at the same eye level.

"Um, ah, yeah…some side jobs." Mary stammered, caught off guard. She moved a miniscule amount backward while she spoke. The two stared for a moment before Sig re-entered, then they heard the town clock tower chime in the distance.

"Oh shoot. I gotta go Mrs. Curtis." She said quickly and handed the money over to the big man as fast as she could. "Can't be late for my first day back on the job. Glad you're feeling better!" Mary called back and was out the door in less than a second. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis stared after her as she zipped off with a small, hooded figure that had been waiting outside.

"...You said she was acting strange the last time you saw her, right?" Izumi suddenly asked her husband. Sig stared down at her for a moment.

"Yeah," He finally answered "Seemed scared, and worried about something."

"Hm, that settles it then" Said the housewife, running her finger down the knife in her hand. "Tonight after work, we go get some answers."

"You sure?" Sig asked, looking warily at his wife. "We might be overreacting."

"You didn't notice, there are marks around her neck. I'm sure."

"Y'know Greed, it's not like I support your womanizing ways or anything, but why are you still here?" Mary asked the homunculus next to her, behind the bar. It was already past nine, Greed usually abdicated bartending by eight thirty.

"'Cus I feel like it, brat." He snapped and went back to pouring drinks. Mary sighed. Before, the girl would have thought having the labor split would be nice, but considering she was uncompromisingly left handed while Greed seemed to use both equally, working together in a tight space proved to be incredibly frustrating (not to mention Greed kept any and all tips for himself, regardless of who they were intended for.)

It was one week after Mary broke her rib. Greed had been reluctant to even have her cooking again, let alone bartend, but a sharp decline in customers (mainly of the young male demographic) had changed his mind.

The teen glanced over at the couch that Greed was usually glued to. His regular trio of women, along with a few others Mary didn't recognize, lounged around on it, looking bored and a little annoyed. She sighed again, the girl knew why Greed wouldn't leave.

The teen hadn't been able to discern very much from his long, anger driven lecture the week prior but there was one part that stuck due to how many time's Greed had reiterated it:

"Do you know how easily you humans die?!"

"Look, Greed" Mary suddenly said, catching his attention. "I understand, I really do. And I get why you're still mad. Compared to you and the others, I'm fragile as paper." She tapped the spot near her right shoulder in memory, thankful that Greed actually seemed to be listening and hadn't completely blown her off. "But I'm stronger than you think, I'm not gonna suddenly keel over like a goldfish."

Greed looked at the girl skeptically, he still needed some convincing.

"Huuh, if it starts to really hurt again, I'll get Roa to take over for me. And Dolcetto and Martel'll be over there watching me like hawks, anyway."

"Geez, if you're gonna keep whining about it, fine!" Greed finally groaned. Right then, it had been a fifty-fifty chance that he'd agree, or just chew her out for trying to get rid of him. Fortunately, the homunculus had really wanted to stop working anyway. "But I hear one whimper outta ya and you're off the job another week, got it?" He threatened as he passed her.

"Yeah...got it." Mary muttered, knowing that she'd pushed her luck enough and shouldn't try to argue.

By the time five minuets passed, no one would ever have known Greed had been anywhere but his couch. His usual group of women draped all over him, like he'd been there all evening.

'They sure forgave him fast.' Mary rolled her eyes. Then shuddered and decided to think of something else when she started to wonder why Greed was always in such 'Good Graces' with the frequenting prostitutes.

0*0*0

Another hour passed as usual. (Mary keeping very quiet, not wanting to accidentally let out even the smallest sound of discomfort. She knew Greed was probably using his uncannily powerful hearing to monitor her.)
Eventually, the bar settled into its normal, relaxed, rhythm. Even the customers had been effected by all the recent unrest of the gang, they were all very glad the tension seemed to be gone now.

"Hey half-pint! C'mover here for a second." Greed barked, suddenly remembering something.

"Eh? What do you want, Greed?" The teenager asked. He didn't sound angry, so she probably wasn't getting kicked out.

"Just get over here!" He snapped. Mary rolled her eyes, certain that Greed just wanted to make fun of her or something of that nature. But she did come out, deciding it wasn't wise to start a fight.

"What you doing?" Chrystala asked, she hardly ever saw the teenager leave her post at the bar.

"Winning an argument. What color would you say her hair is?" He questioned, pointing at the approaching girl.

"Huh? Brown."

'Oh shit.' Greed thought.

That was when the door got kicked in.

"I Knew something was up!" An authoritative female voice bellowed.

A/N: Haha! Cliffhanger! Haven't done one of those in a while XD in all honestly though, I didn't intend for this chapter to cut off here. I seem to have contracted the plague and only had this much written on time, not to mention if I kept going it would probably be a 10,000 word chapter . I decided to split it up so I wouldn't have to rush and do a sloppy job :p Sorry for the abrupt cut off though.
I hope everyone was in character :D and hopefully you'll enjoy the occasional Curtis cameo X3 (I couldn't write a Dublith story without Izumi. I've actually hinted at her several times, though I'm probably the only one that noticed. How they met exactly will come up in later chapters.) By the way, looking at someone's eyebrows instead of right in their eyes is a really useful trick when you're nervous :D especially since the person you're looking at can't tell unless they're watching for it.
Now for the million dollar question: Is Mary adopted? The answer is a resounding, no.
Adoption is a wonderful thing (and I didn't mean to offend anyone.) Mary, however, is just one of those big-family genetic flukes XD You'll see it in pretty much any large family, one kid'll look nothing like the others for no real reason.
Thank you all so much for coming back to read this fic! I'm running out of ways to say thank you, so please just know that I mean it each and every time ^3^
Next Chapter out soon!

As always, reviews are not required, but I hold each and every one of them dear :3