Chapter 1: Broke

"No money, no food."

"Pllllllease! I'll do anything, clean dishes? Sweep up? Waitress!" The girl followed behind him like a shadow. "Please, sir...I'm dying here."

"Shoo!"

"Come on! A left over maybe?"

"I said scram!"

"Half a doughnut? A crumb!"

Alphonse Elric turned in his chair to see what all the commotion was about. He watched as the Inn's owner, a bald headed man with a thick mustache and narrow eyes, frowned down upon a young girl. She was on her knees now, hands clasped, begging with large, pleading eyes. She was resilient and 'no' was a word simply not in her vocabulary.

"We should help her out," Al stated to his older brother seated across from him. But Edward was too busy scarfing down his fifth bowl of rice. With his mouth full he finally replied,

"Eh?" A grain of rice fell from his lip. Al pointed to the girl several feet away, who was still carrying on to the Inn's owner.

"For the LAST time, you got no money so you ain't gettin no food. Now STOP naggin' me and scram!" The man angrily stomped off into the back. Defeated, she plunked herself down to the hard wood floor and sniffled.

"What a stupid head..." She muttered as her stomach growled in agreement. Ed raised an eyebrow. Unfazed, he blew his brother's suggestion off,

"She's a basket case." And he ended it there by resuming his feeding frenzy. Al turned to look at her again and watched sympathetically as she wiped at her nose.

"But we have more than enough. We could share." Ed groaned,

"We do not." But his younger brother seemed not to have heard his retort, because Ed watched as Al got up and approached the girl, asking if she'd like to join them. Ed grinded his teeth and pouted. He ignored them as the two sat down, but he couldn't shake the feeling of eyes on him. He looked up, almost choking on his food. His own eyes went wide as he looked to the girl before him. Her deep brown hair and blue eyes reminded him of his mother.

"Here," Al offered as he took one of Ed's untouched bowls and handed it to the girl, who immediately thanked him and started eating as hungrily as Ed was. Al expected a verbal protest from his brother but when he did not hear one he noticed his brother staring. "This is Elly, Ed." He introduced her. "And Elly this is, my older brother, Ed." Elly politely stopped eating, despite her hunger pains and smiled brightly at him,

"Hi!" She picked up a hand to wave and Ed blinked at her, raising an eyebrow, finally able to shake the memory in his head.

"Well you're mighty cheerful. You were cryin' your eyes out like a baby before." Elly shot him a look and swallowed her food,

"Hey, I was hungry, I couldn't help it. But thanks to your brother here, I'm remedying that!" Ed looked far from amused, Al may have took it upon himself to invite this girl, but HE was the one who had paid for the food. "So, huh...you're the older one?" She pointed at him and immediately Ed's expression melted into an agitated one. He could feel his right eye begin to twitch.

"Yep, he is," Al confirmed.

"I would have figured you for the oldest, seeing as you're a lot bigger and all." And Elly returned swiftly back to eating while Ed threw daggers at her with his glare. To quickly change the subject, Al asked the girl about where she was headed. Elly shrugged,

"Don't really know actually..." Her words muffled by a full mouth. "Where ever I happen to get to."

"And you're all alone?" Al inquired, ignoring the warning look Ed shot him. But Elly didn't answer right away and instead began poking the rice with the end of the chopstick.

"Pretty much..." Al exchanged glances with Ed but it was clear from his expression that Ed made his feelings known.

"Could you excuse us for a minute?" Al asked politely and in one quick motion, pulled Ed from the table. Once out of ear shot and sight, Ed let him have it.

"NO."

"Ed..."

"I SAID NO, ALPHONSE."

"You sound like that mean old Inn keeper." Ed sighed heavily and put a hand to his head.

"Look, Al, I know you wanna help everyone but the reality is that you can't! We can't afford to be looking after someone else. We need to keep focus on what we're after. The last thing we need is some strange girl followin' us. And besides, she's a girl not a kitten."

"We won't have to look after her, she's older than both of us! And, doesn't she look-"

"Stop, Al...just stop. That's why you want her to come with us?"

"No, she needs help and company. I'm sure she wouldn't stay with us forever."

"Oh you're sure, huh?" And Ed glanced past him at Elly who sat quietly with her head down. "She said she's not headed anywhere, so we can't help her. You have to think of the danger too. It wouldn't exactly be fair to drag her into our problems." Al bowed his large helmet,

"I know but..."

"This is a HOLD UP PEOPLE. ON THE FLOOR, ALL O' YOU." Al spun around to see a masked man, followed by two others, dressed from head to toe in black. In his right hand he paraded a gun and forced Elly down to the floor. Al went for him, and as the robber saw this large suit of armor advancing on him he shot three bullets, of which none had effected him. Al forced the gun from the stunned man and grabbed both his wrists behind his back. Ed, meanwhile had transmutated a wooden chair nearby to imprison the second thug within its morphed spindles. Al turned his attention to the floor to ask Elly if she was alright but found she was not there. Both brother's searched the room of startled costumers, finally laying their eyes on the third man, lying unconscious on the floor, his pistol in Elly's hand. She stood proudly and grinned, waving the weapon casually.

All three left the Inn, and the moments of excitement, behind them. Elly, meanwhile, munched happily on a large bowl of shrimp and brown rice as she walked. After what had taken place, the Inn Keeper was more than happy to reward her with food. Ed pouted,

"It figures he claims to not have seen us help."

"Brother..." Said Al.

"I tried to tell him," Elly claimed, her mouth full again, "but he's the biggest cheap skate I've ever seen. He just didn't want to give away too much food and lose money."

"Not surprising," Ed said and stretched his arms out in front of him. "So where'd you learn to do that?"

"Do what?" Elly asked curiously.

"Kick butt..." She shrugged, glancing into the large bowl,

"A girls gotta learn how to defend herself when she's alone." She stopped walking, allowing the two boys to continue ahead of her and when they noticed she was not with them, they stopped and looked back at her.

"Everything ok?" Al questioned.

"Do you guys really want me to come with you?" Ed folded his arms, unable to admit he had not planned on her going anywhere with them. She may have proved herself capable of fending off an attacker, but it had not swayed his decision much. Al realized Ed wasn't about to have the guts to say it to the poor girls face.

"We do." Al replied confidently.

"You're sure?" She watched the large knight nod his head. "Cause I'm getting a different vibe there from blondy." Ed frowned at her,

"Excuse me?"

"Well, if I'm gonna go anywhere with you guys, I gotta ask a few questions." Ed looked at her, dumbfounded. This girl sure had some nerve.

"Go ahead," Al complied.

"How come you're wearing that big old suit of armor? Aren't you dieing of heat exhaustion walking around in that? And what's with the white gloves? Fashion statement?" She motioned to Ed's hands and he clenched his teeth. Al looked nervously to Ed who only sighed. The last thing he wanted to do was to be bothered by having to explain their life story. He especially didn't feel like having to answer to some strange girl who had already offended him twice, even if she had done so unintentionally.

"Well, you see, uh, I, it's um, er-" They listened to Al stammer like that until Ed couldn't bare it any longer. He stared over at Elly, and rubbed at his forehead. He'd give in, but only just this once.

"Listen, Elly, it's fine and dandy you wanna interrogate us." Even though his expression said otherwise. "We'll oblige, just so long as you return the same favor." Elly studied them, thinking it over in her head. Ed watched as her lips spread into a smile,

"Fair enough."