How to Get What You Work For

by PurpleTurtle21

After a friend attempts to perform alchemy from one of her favorite anime shows, Amelia finds herself on military property and about to go to prison for trespassing, until the Fuehrer offers her a chance: She gets a one-year trial period learning under a certified alchemist and if she passes, she gets a get-out-of-jail-free card. Now if she could only find someone to teach her…

36. Hamburgang Heist

36

Amelia is panting, sweating, and definitely tired but that isn't her concern at the moment. She was more concerned about the automail fist that was flying straight for her face. She jumped back, feeling the wind from the strike hitting her face, but thankfully not the strike itself. Edward was refusing to let up on her, and she reached up to grab his automail arm, shifting her weight to yank him down, hearing him yelp as she managed to get him down, though she went down with him. Still, she moved to try and pin him down, but he grabbed her hand before she could bring it down onto him and pushed it back. She cried out, reaching to kick up her legs but she couldn't get a hold on him, her other hand coming up to jab at his collarbone, and Edward let out a choked noise as he released her hand.

She took the opportunity, pouncing on him and pushing him down into the grass with a loud grunt, her legs coming up over his legs, grabbing his wrists and pushing them down into the ground. She stayed there for a brief moment, panting heavily, flushed-face, sweaty, thinking it would almost be fun to have Edward pinned down if it wasn't for the fact that he was coughing and choking in her face for a few seconds before relenting.

"Damn…" He sighed, coughing once more as he looked at how Amelia had him pinned down, "Well, I guess there's a first time for everything." His voice was a little hoarse, and she grinned widely at him.

"Yep, first time I ever pinned you." She said smugly, leaning down closer, still breathing heavily as she looked down at him. She started to realize how close their bodies were, seeing Ed's chest rising and falling under his tank top, his face as flushed and sweaty as she was, and she couldn't deny that the image of him under her like this gave her some ideas that a part of her very much enjoyed.

"Yeah… that was a good move, that bit to the throat," Edward praised her, "You're getting a lot better. I almost called it a dirty move, but… No such thing as dirty in a fight."

"I learned from the best," Amelia replied, making Edward smile as she lifted her hands off of his arms and straightened up, moving off of his legs and onto her feet to stand up, reaching out to him and grabbing his hand to help pull him up onto his feet. She let out a heavy sigh as she reached up and stretched while Edward stretched out his shoulders and sides.

This spar was one of many they'd had over the span of a few weeks, Edward insisting that she practice to prepare for a real fight and help keep him in shape. She had been getting better, and she could feel that she was getting some muscle for it, definitely feeling more fit now that they had this time to focus on building up her combat skills. And, of course, it didn't hurt that Edward was always her sparring partner. She liked having this time with him, feeling like they were finally back to where they were before their separation back at Fort Briggs.
The Promised Day was rapidly approaching, and their travels had only gotten them so far. They had been to multiple refugee camps following leads about Scar, finding out he was traveling with Doctor Marcoh still, but quickly on the move, so he was never in one place for too long. They finally managed to get a lead that said where Scar was heading next, and they realized they might be able to catch him because there was another Ishvalan slum in the town next to it so their plan for now was to head straight there in the hopes that he would know where Alphonse was. As far as they knew, he was traveling separately somewhere else, but they had no idea with who or where to since when they asked the Ishvalans about Alphonse they had no idea who he was. It's not like it would be hard to miss a seven-foot-tall suit of armor.

She finished stretching, looking over to their singular audience member of Darius, "So, how did that look? Any tips?"

"You moved well," Darius said from where he sat on a fallen tree log, "Good dodging, you should learn to pick up that speed, he almost got you a couple of times. Just got to learn to hit harder." She nodded and looked back at Edward.

"Any other criticisms?" She asked him, knowing he was her teacher and she wanted to make sure she was improving well.

"You're doing good, moving quick, thinking quick," Edward said, taking a second to stretch out his back by arching it, and Amelia took a small moment to admire the little bit of tummy and hard abs that peeked out from under the hem of his shirt. God, he really was so good-looking…

Edward straightened, "But just because you're good in close combat doesn't mean I want you doing that if it can be helped." He sighed, looking over at her, "Alright, make a weapon and get ready for round two."

"Right," Amelia clapped her hands together, holding them above the ground and watching as the ground pulled away, caving to create a long pole out of the clay and stone, hardened into a solid metal that couldn't be easily broken. It was a little shorter than Edward would have liked, and the look on his face told her as much, but she only shrugged, "What? This is what I'm comfortable with." It was essentially a metal baseball bat, something she swung around with practiced ease, "I like bashing and crushing, it's easy." She said with a smile.

"Yeah, alright, fine, but we're not focusing on bashing and crushing today, so can you make it into an actual blade, please?" He asked as he held up his own, decorated with that tacky Edward flare of a pair of bat wings around the base of the spearhead, and Amelia rolled her eyes.

"Okay, whatever," She sighed as she re-transmuted her bat into something more like a sword, getting some extra clay from the ground to finish it off. She swung it back and forth in her hands to get used to holding it before holding it at the ready. It was still short, and more like a long knife with a long handle, but it was what she felt comfortable with. The edges were dulled since she and Edward didn't want to risk actually cutting one another, but the weight was about the same and they both held their weapons at the ready. Edward stayed ready, legs spread apart as he held his weapon towards her, and she got her own ready. There was a pause for a moment as the two of them waited for the other to make the first move, and when Edward saw she was being strategic and waiting for him, he grinned and charged and the spar began anew.

Darius watched from the side as the two went at it, Amelia dancing around their little clearing that they had from their camping as she moved the sword back and forth, being careful to block Edward's spear as she slashed it back, grunting as she moved forward to get closer to him since she knew she could get him better in close combat, and he jumped back to swing his spear towards her, and again she blocked it, "Good!" He praised before pulling the spear back to grab it by the hilt before thrusting it out again. She heard the clang of metal as she brought her blade down against it, pushing it to the side before charging at Edward again.

The two moved back and forth with practiced ease as they worked to challenge one another. Edward was challenging Amelia with her lack of experience, getting her to react faster, think quicker, plan faster, and he was learning she had quite a few advantages over him. One of them being her ability to analyze him, it helped her predict his fighting style and the moves that he would make that allowed her to block him. Still, she wasn't perfect at it, and that was one other thing he was helping her with. She was good at reacting when she needed to, but she could grow overconfident easily, and that would give him an opening to do something she wouldn't expect and hurt her (if he were an enemy that wanted to hurt her). She was challenging him to think differently since a few of the opponents they would be facing would not only be superhuman but smart enough to have seen him and recognize what he's capable of in a fight and know how to beat him. Envy easily overpowered him, partly because of his size and massive strength in his "true form" but also the fact that he had so many faces and people inside of him, it had distracted him and made it easier for Envy to get the upper hand when he had speed and maneuverability on his side against such a big opponent. She was helping him to focus on what was in front of him, but also focus on his surroundings as she would see how he looked to her eyes, and dart them to one side as if there was something nearby to help her. It was a tactic that worked on him more often than he cared to admit, which worked for her, but not so much for him.

He thrust the spear forward again, and she misstepped, crying out as she landed on her ankle wrong and stumbled onto the ground. Edward stopped what he was doing as she saw her land, "You alright?"
"I'm fine, rock tripped me." She said as she stood back up, shaking it off. She was getting more resilient as their practice went on, and she could feel it in every fall, in every hit she took. She could feel that difference, though it wasn't as visible as she might have thought, but it was doing her good.

"Well, you two sure look like you're having fun." A familiar voice called out to them, and they looked to see Greed and Heinkel approaching them, "I have to say, getting sweaty with the little princess seems like a good ol' time."

"Not even in your dreams, Greed," Amelia replied, looking over at Edward to silently ask to break for the day, and he nodded in agreement since they had only started sparring as a way to kill time until they came back from town. "So, what's the haul?"

Heinkel pulled the rucksack that he was carrying from his shoulders, "Rations for another week at best, we're starting to run low on funds." He said, "And it's certainly not easy to get that much food with what little we have." He gave a pointed glare to Greed, who scowled.

"Hey, it's not my fault the pawnshop wouldn't pay the full 10,000 cenz." He snapped.

"Oh no, yeah, two crates worth of stolen silverware and obviously fake jewelry is totally worth 10,000 cenz." Amelia sarcastically replied, "Give me a break." Greed glared at her.

"Well, if you've got something to sell to fund our little trip, feel free to offer it up. I don't exactly like giving up what's mine, but if it'll keep you idiots alive, I don't have too much of a problem with that."

"What an incredibly kind leader we have." Amelia said with that same sarcasm as she went to look through the rations they had, frowning, "Man… I have to say, I'm getting really sick of all this canned stuff… I can't wait until we get some actual food again."

"That might not be for a while unless we can stop someplace long enough to find work." Darius said as Heinkel began to close the bag and put it over his shoulders, "If we head near a mining town, we can probably join for a day's wages without too many questions."

"Yeah, but we're a little too focused on refugee camps right now." Edward sighed, "I don't think we can afford to make the trip if we want to meet up with Al and get a cohesive plan together."

"Yeah, it really sucks though." Amelia sighed, "You have any idea what I would do for just a sandwich right now? Like an actual sandwich I made myself?"

Greed grinned, "Well, we might be able to get some sandwiches if you're up for it."

That caught Amelia's attention instantly, and Edward looked over at him suspiciously, "Yeah? How?" He asked.

"There's this big party being held, apparently a lot of folks in town are here just for that, we heard about it while we were out shopping, right?" He looked over at Heinkel, who nodded in approval.

"We talked about it on the way here, but I personally think it's a little risky."

"What's risky?" Amelia asked.

"We heard from the guy at the grocery store that there's this big celebration going on at one of the mansions nearby for a family called the Hamburgangs. They're local legends from what we heard," Heinkel looked over at Edward as he mentioned this, "They have an alchemist that works for their family that apparently successfully performed human transmutation."

"What?! That can't be true." Edward said with a frown.

"Well, if it's not true, they're sure as hell throwing a huge party over a lie!" Greed joked, "It's apparently for the subject of their human transmutation, their daughter Rosalie. Lots of bigwigs are getting invited, and I'll bet we could easily blend into the crowd a bit, steal some food, maybe some cash, and get out before anyone sees us." He looked over at Amelia, "Don't you think, princess?"

She frowned, "I'm not exactly the thieving type, you know that."

"No, but you are the only one here with any knowledge about etiquette for a proper party, so you could easily get us to blend in so the others would go unnoticed." He grinned at her, "And you'll get to taste all those fancy finger food hors d'oeuvres they serve at those kinds of parties while you wait?" She couldn't deny that the idea sounded very appealing to her after weeks of eating nothing but canned foods and dried meats.

"...Maybe." She conceded, "But I'd have to know what kind of party it is."

"The grocer said it was a debutante ball for their daughter Rosalie," Heinkel answered, and Amelia shook her head.

"Oh, no. We're definitely not getting into that." She said, "First of all, debutante balls are the worst. I can't even begin to tell you how incredibly sexist the concept is of introducing a bunch of young girls as new potential wives to aristocratic butthole men who just leer at you the whole time. Second of all, debutante balls are incredibly exclusive. I can tell you right now that all the girls that are going are all of the same age, all attended the same school, and all wearing the same dress that I seriously doubt I'll be able to get my hands on to blend in. There's no way we'd get in without an invitation."

"So, we'll steal one," Greed said nonchalantly.

"No, we can't." Amelia insisted, "They would know the difference between us and the people who actually have the invitation. Like I said, these people all know each other, and they're all probably from the same rich communities."

"Rich communities like the one you were born in?" Greed asked, still grinning, and she scowled.

"We can't get in without an invitation, and we can't steal one because they would immediately know we're not the intended guests! End of discussion." She insisted.

"So, we won't keep it, we'll steal one just to know what it looks like, then you and blondie over here can transmute a fake one with fake names on it." Greed said, "And you can use alchemy to make our clothes all fancy and stuff and make us presentable."

"I think you're putting a little too much faith in alchemy here, especially to make us do all the work like this…" Amelia muttered.

"But it can work, right?" Greed asked, and Amelia looked away from him, still scowling.

"Wait, hold on, what about this alchemist that successfully did human transmutation!" Edward spoke up, "Can we go back to that? Is that true?"

"Word says it is on the street, but that value can only go so far," Heinkel said, shrugging his shoulders. "She was supposedly transmuted back when she was a kid, and she's been living healthy and happy with her family ever since."

"Well, how long ago was that? I know for a fact that you can't bring the dead back to life, not even with alchemy!" Edward said.

Heinkel shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, I'm just repeating what I heard." He said, "But in theory, it's possible, isn't it?"

"Yeah, only in theory. There must be some kind of ruse here…" Edward muttered, crossing his arms as he tried to think it over.

"Well… I mean…" Amelia looked over at him, "What if they had a philosopher's stone…? It would be possible then, right?"

Edward's eyes widened, "You think they made one?"

"Hey, even more reason to go!" Greed piped up, "We go in, filch their stone, and flit off with a bag full of fancy foods to feast on!"

Amelia gave him an odd look, "What's that alliteration for…?"

"If they made a stone… that would be pretty dangerous, but if they had one and the person they lost was young enough… it's true they might not know the difference between their kid and a soul from the stone itself…" Edward muttered, ignoring Greed's strange joke, "But even still, a body can reject a soul that it wasn't originally born with. She would just be a ticking time bomb." Greed rolled his eyes as he kept listening.

"Alright, look, I'm getting tired of all the skeptical stuff," Greed said, "Or are we all forgetting who the leader is here? We're just going to get some good stuff, we sneak in disguised as guests, grab some things to get some money, and then get out! Easy."

"Not easy, these people will all know each other!" Amelia insisted again.

"Maybe, but how hard can it be to fake it?" Greed asked, "Like people haven't crashed weddings all the time just for the free food and beer, we can do it here, too. And I'm willing to bet this isn't the first debutante party you've ever been to. You know exactly what needs to be done and when by the guests, right?" Amelia frowned, "Come on, you're the expert on this, and I know you can do it."

"Just because I can doesn't mean I should," Amelia replied.

"Still," Edward's voice got her attention, "It might be better to take the stone away from their alchemist… I mean, if he's experimenting on people, it would be better to take it away."

"I'm hearing more reasons to go, you're the only one holding out here, Princess." Greed insistently said. Amelia looked over at Heinkel and Darius, who both shrugged at her silent question of whether or not they were okay with this. They were just going along with Greed, mercenaries who just followed the orders of whoever was leading them for money, food, and everything else they were getting out of this venture. She glanced over at Edward, who did seem concerned about what it meant for this family to have made a successful human transmutation, especially if they had access to a Philosopher's Stone. She couldn't deny that having one of those on their side would have proven incredibly useful in their upcoming battle on the day of the solstice. And when she looked to Greed, who was expectantly grinning at her, she let out a long, resigned sigh.

"Fine, but if this is going to work, I need to get information on the family." She said, "Was there someplace in town that seemed like a popular hangout for the rich?"

---

After a little walking around, they managed to find the place that Amelia had been looking for, with her having spotted it just outside of the main square. It was a very well-to-do restaurant cafe with plenty of natural light from the windows and the sun outside, but almost exclusively filled with booth seating, and each chair was clearly made from a very rich leather. It was enough that Edward was a little worried about oil stains showing up from his automail, and he made sure to keep his metal arm on the table in front of them, only for Amelia to poke his elbow off of it so it was just his wrist. She knew how places like this operated, they would see poor table manners from miles away and they didn't want to draw too much attention to themselves. The restaurant wasn't very full when they arrived, only a few people scattered here and there, but their fine clothing was more than enough to tell Amelia their motley crew could afford little more than a cup of coffee to be shared between the five of them at this place.

Amelia frowned as Greed kept looking at the server, nudging him with her elbow, "Stop staring him down. He's just doing what he's been told to do."

"Why has he been told to stare at us?" Greed asked with a scowl, "What did we do wrong, huh?"

"The last time we had a bath in an actual tub was a week ago, we look like we're homeless and he's not wrong to think that way, because we are!" Amelia hissed at him, "This place is really nice and even though they technically didn't deny us, it's not exactly normal for us to be in this place." She glanced around at the other people there, taking stock of their appearances, everything about them, trying to find the best group to talk with for information purposes.

"Well maybe he should learn to treat his paying customers with more respect." Greed scoffed.

"We haven't paid for anything yet," Edward replied dryly.

"We'd be lucky if we can afford tap water at this place." Heinkel said, grimacing as he looked at the menu prices, "They have good food here, but the cheapest food they have is 70,000 cenz, and it's just a pastry."

"The coffee prices don't look too bad," Darrius said, pointing to his drink menu, "I mean, it's definitely pricey, but it's cheaper for sure. Take a look, a cup of espresso is only 10,000 cenz."

"That's still more than we can afford right now…" Heinkel grumbled.

"Well, how much do we have to spend?" Greed asked.

"We only have about 17,000 right now, and we need to think about our ration supply," Heinkel answered, his hand subconsciously going into the jacket pocket where he kept the wallet that had all of their travel money. He was given responsibility of it after a long argument with Edward that he couldn't buy a spiked leather coat decorated in fake skulls with their money and insisted on it after Greed started egging Edward on to create counterfeit money, declaring them both completely incompetent with budgets and several other things that don't need to be repeated.

"What about just a regular cup of black coffee? Even here it would be a bit pricier than normal, but manageable." Amelia asked.

Darrius's eyes scanned over the menu, his brow furrowing as he looked over the list of drink options both alcoholic and not, flipping it over and then back again, "I'm not seeing…" He trailed off as Amelia scooted closer to him in the booth, pointing down to the smallest print at the bottom that listed the basic coffee and price, "Oh. 1,000 cenz is still expensive for one cup though?"

"It's better than the other prices I've been seeing." Heinkel sighed, putting down the food menu.

"We should at least buy a couple cups so as not to look too suspicious," Amelia suggested. "Trust me, the more we look like we belong here, the easier it'll be to communicate with everyone, especially with the staff not giving us the side-eye."

"If it makes them stop, I say do it." Greed agreed.

"Fine," Heinkel sighed resignedly, making his way out of the booth, "Who all wants a way too expensive cup of coffee?" Darrius, Greed, Amelia, and Edward all raised their hands, "And that's 4,000 cenz gone to waste."

"It's 4,000 cenz for intelligence gathering," Edward said, trying to make him cheer up, but the mustachioed man just glared at the blonde boy before turning to make his way, but not before giving one last glance to Darrius that Amelia picked up on. She looked over at Darrius as Heinkel went to the counter to place their order, seeing that the ape chimera's gaze was pretty firmly set on Heinkel. As she looked between the two men and seeing where Darrius was looking at Heinkel - his broad shoulders, the seat of his pants, his hands as he gave the server the money, something started to click in her mind. Then, as he was waiting for the drinks, Heinkel turned around, looked back at Darrius for just a moment or two longer than what would have been normal, the corners of his mouth turning up into the faintest smirk before he turned to look away, trying to be casual. It was too obvious, but Edward and Greed were completely oblivious to it as they both looked over the menus to see what all the fuss was about the prices.

"Oh, my god." Amelia quietly muttered as she realized so quickly what the connection was. Darrius and Heinkel had always traveled together, when they were working with Kimblee they had been paired together and that didn't seem to be a coincidence. And now, as they traveled with the former mercenaries with Edward and Greed, her mind seemed to be recalling how the two men were rarely alone without the other except for trips into town, and often they would go to town together. "Oh my god." As she realized their connection, Darrius looked over at her, his eyes wide as she looked up at him and he went pale. It was a very brief moment of communication, but he was clearly silently pleading with her not to say anything.

"What is it?" Edward asked, looking up somewhat worried.

"Um," Amelia glanced at Darrius, who was still begging her with his expression not to say anything. She had no idea how same-sex relationships were seen in Amestris but given the time they were all in and the fact that she hadn't seen any in Central City that she had noticed or heard anything about it from Edward - or anyone, really - it wasn't hard to guess that it might not be seen in the best light. She turned to Edward, "I just realized how much of our budget we're spending. We probably could have rented a cheap motel for 4,000 cenz. That's a whole night in a bed wasted on some expensive coffee." Darrius's shoulders just barely slacked in relief. He was doing his best to hide his feelings, but clearly he and Heinkel had a connection that went beyond brothers-in-arms that the two of them had been keeping a secret for weeks and she had never noticed! Then again, her attention had been pretty heavily focused on Edward for the last few weeks… so she blamed her obliviousness to the situation on that.

Edward rolled his eyes, "You can make your own bed just fine if you really want one that badly." He scowled down at the menu, "But Heinkel wasn't kidding, the prices here are sky-high."

"That's how you know this place services the rich and the rich alone. It's probably owned by that family near here, that's how they keep running with these ridiculous prices." Amelia said, looking over the sparse gathering that was already there. It looked like, for a debutante party, a few people were making a trip of it and staying the night in town since it was clear the cafe was a little understaffed from the one server going back and forth between tables to deliver various things. There were just a couple of tables that were occupied aside from their own, one had one singular man dressed in what was clearly an expensive suit reading the local newspaper while sipping his coffee, another was a small group of men also in expensive suits but with a much more… intimidating feeling to them - most likely either security employees spending their well-earned money on a nice break, or some kind of local drug-running gang (She had no idea if Amestris even had a policy for drugs and what's illegal), and finally the last was a group of young women with two security guards standing at either end of their booth keeping watching over everyone else. Three well-to-do young bachelorettes that were likely due for their own debut if they hadn't made it already.

"Well, we came for information gathering, and I think I found the best source." She said as she looked over the other patrons.

"Yep, we'll corner that old guy in the alley and make him tell us everything he knows." Greed said with a smile as he eyed the older man reading the newspaper.

"What? No, this isn't an interrogation!" Amelia replied.

"But you said you needed information." Greed said, a little confused, "Who else will give it to us better than a rich old man traveling alone?"

"That rich old man has connections to the family we're asking about. Unless you plan on killing him after the interrogation - a man who's clearly got an empire under his thumb and whose absence they will definitely notice - we're not getting information from him." Amelia replied.

"How would you know if he's got an empire under his thumb?" Ling asked.

"You see that bracelet on his left hand?" Amelia asked, the group looking to see the bracelet he had on as he flipped the page of his newspaper, "It's a wristwatch, which I've seen only 3 of in my time here in Amestris." Amelia held up three fingers to illustrate this, putting each finger down as she began to list each time she saw one, "The first time was on the wrist of one of Fuhrer Bradley's higher-ranking generals when I was doing investigations with Major Armstrong, he had a photo taken with it to show it off. The second time was on the hand of the man that owned the hotel where Edward and Alphonse were staying in on a government check. And the third was him. You know what that tells me?"

Greed paused, "That… he's rich?"

"Not just rich, powerful. Men with wristwatches in this country are either exorbitantly rich enough to own a long string of valuable properties or manage a replaceable but massive workforce that he exploits ultimately for his profit, or both. The fact that he came here alone to read the newspaper also says that he was invited to this place, probably by the Hamburgangs to turn their daughter's social event into a business opportunity that they can't afford to give up and he's staying either in their home or in a hotel room that they're paying for, and either way it's probably not fun to stay there all by himself so he came to a cafe to read in relative silence but with just enough activity that he can watch a group of pretty young girls without arousing too much suspicion." Amelia finished, crossing her arms as Greed looked back over at the man, seeing his eyes going over the edge of the newspaper to look directly at the girls at the other booth, just like Amelia had said.

"Damn, you're good, princess." He was thoroughly impressed, grinning as he complimented her.

"It's a skill you pick up after a while." Amelia brushed off.

"So… what about the other guys?" Darrius asked, pointing over to the table of men.

"First of all, don't point," Darrius put down his hand as she mentioned it, "Second of all, you'd probably have a better chance getting information from them than I would, but I'm not sure outright lying is a good specialty of yours." She glanced between him and Heinkel, "Obviously you're good at concealing secrets when you need to; two big, gruff guys that no one really wants to stay around too long to ask too many questions but because of that very intimidation factor, neither of you really have a whole lot of experience with subtle lying."

"Who says we don't?" Heinkel replied, frowning a bit.

"Me, the person who got pulled into your fake kidnapping back in Briggs because you couldn't find a way to sneak around the soldiers."

"The soldiers who found us because you two took so long arguing?" Heinkel reminded her with a bit of an annoyed bite in his voice.

"That's not the point, you think quick on your feet for sure, that's your talent as a soldier, but subtle lying? Not your best bet. Besides which, they're security guards on break. They wouldn't know anything about any families they don't work for, and we can't guarantee any of them work for the Hamburgangs." Amelia explained, "Our best bet for information gathering is going to be that group of girls."

"How is that better than the employees of the rich families around here?" Darrius asked.

"Because those guards aren't necessarily the types to gossip about families they don't already work for, and with a debutante ball and plenty of people in town they're more likely here for the guests than that one family." She started to stand up from her seat, "Besides which, I don't think you would know the right questions to ask." She made her way out of the booth and out the other side, "I think our best bet is for me to go talk to those girls…" She paused as she looked at the security guards at the other end of the booth, "With Darrius. The rest of you stay here."

"I thought you said that I wouldn't ask the right questions?" Darrius replied, not standing up.

"Yeah, that's why you're playing the part of my bodyguard and not saying a word. Trust me, it'll help sell it all the more. Now walk behind me and look mean." Darrius sighed but went along with it as he followed her to the table, the other three men watching curiously as she went over to the group of girls. Greed glanced over at Edward who seemed to be just as curious, but a bit more relaxed. They watched as Amelia went over there, chatting with the girls, complimenting the girl on the far end on something and the table erupted into girly giggles.

"She calls this information gathering?" Greed scoffed.

"She can do it." Edward said, his confidence surprising both the homunculus and the chimera at the table, "I've seen her do it. It's really subtle, but she's working." He said as he went back to the menu, put it back down. "She knows people pretty well; I'm willing to bet she knows enough about those girls and everything wrong with them just by talking to them." Greed raised a curious brow as he glanced back at the table, seeing that Amelia had been invited to sit down at their booth and talk, all girlishly giggling about something they couldn't hear while Darrius stood guard with the other two bodyguards on either side of the booth.

"You think so?" Greed asked as he looked back at the group of girls, "You know, if it wasn't for the fact I knew her, I would say she's been a part of that group for years."

Edward nodded, "I can't say I've ever seen her do this much of it, though… The only other time I've ever really seen was with this old lady." He sipped at his coffee, letting out a small hum at the taste, "This isn't too bad…" He sipped at it again and Greed looked over at him.

"What'd she do with the old lady? Make her the new inheritor to her will?" He joked.

"No, she made her leave us alone when we were doing our own intelligence-gathering mission." Edward said, "I didn't think much of it at first until she talked about how her house was spotless despite having a cat and all that. Al and I hadn't noticed it, but she saw that and knew the woman was eager to be complimented and that would get us to leave without making her upset." He shrugged, "It was something small, but I think it says a lot. She's really observant."

"...Just how observant do you think she is?" Heinkel asked, sounding a touch nervous as he remembered her pointed looks from moments ago, wondering if it meant he and Darrius had been found out.

Edward shrugged, "I don't know, but I think when it comes to other people, she can figure out how to get what she needs from them pretty quickly." Heinkel didn't seem soothed by that, going to drink his own coffee, and then letting out a hum at the taste, bringing it down and looking into the cup.

"Something wrong?" Greed asked.

Heinkel shook his head, bringing the coffee back to his mouth for another sip, that turned into a gulp, and then another, Edward looking at him with wide eyes.

"Isn't that steaming hot?!" Ed asked, incredulous and amazed the man was gulping it down.

"Yeah, and it's the best damn coffee I've ever had." Heinkel said, putting his cup down and revealing it was empty, "You gonna finish yours?" Without a word, Edward pushed it over to him, watching as he sipped at it more slowly this time, as if to savor it.

Edward shook his head in slight disbelief, "I can't believe you just- didn't that burn your tongue?"

"Probably," Heinkel replied.

"Don't just say that like it's normal!" Edward snapped. As he was talking, Amelia made her way back over to the booth, smiling proudly. "You got information?"

"Even better, I got an invitation," Amelia said, proudly showing the envelope in her hands, shocking all the men at the table. "We should probably get out of here before we attract too much attention." She said, reaching for her coffee cup and taking a couple sips, "Anyone want the rest?" Without a word, Heinkel took it and they started making their way out of the booth. "We're going to need to do a little bit of prep work before we get into this though."

"I can't believe you got an invitation!" Greed said, bringing his arm around and patting her shoulder heartily with a wide grin, "This is perfect! How the hell did you manage that?"

"Well, that girl in the middle there? She's Rosalie's classmate of 8 years, she barely knows the girl, but that's not entirely surprising when you send a girl to a well-to-do boarding school. There are so many girls in the school that it's easy to get overwhelmed and lose track. Anyway, her father has been looking to do some kind of business with the Hamburgangs for years now, and he sees this debutante ball as the perfect opportunity so of course he gets her an invitation. Lucky for us, she's in the middle of her rebellious phase right now, so she was planning on taking her boyfriend as her chaperone with every intention to run off in the middle of the night with him and abandon the party. This is where her little minion friends come in - the two girls she was with. One was her cousin who's clearly idolizing her for God knows what reason, the girl was horrible and absolutely the peak mean girl but maybe she's seeking power? Anyway, she was planning on being her replacement so that her parents won't get suspicious, but she's not thin enough to really pass for her according to the middle girl whose name I choose to forget. So, since we've basically been eating nothing but foraged foods and canned goods for the last few weeks, I've got a perfect figure but the wrong hair color. When I told her I could use alchemy to change it, she jumped right on board and told me that I could go to the party as her with my chaperone of choice and that her parents would be too busy to even notice I'm not her." She pointed to Edward, "So you're gonna have to be my chaperone. Any chance you can transmute your clothes into a nice-fitting tuxedo?"

"What?" Edward asked, his head still spinning a bit as she spat out all that information at once.

"We're taking her place as guests as the debutante ball, and I can't go in without a chaperone, and they're usually around the same age as the girl," Amelia explained. "Also, I'm going to need you to teach me to dye my hair with alchemy."

"Uh, what about me?" Greed asked, "I still want in, how are we all supposed to get in?"

She shrugged, "We could probably sneak you in through the back, if we manage to figure out where that is, but the Hamburgangs are surprisingly secretive. For all the talk I had, Rosalie's classmate had next to no information about them at all. Only that they're massively successful and have a very good alchemist working for their family because he successfully performed human transmutation."

"We'll have to do some recon on the mansion, then." Greed said, "Easy enough, we can head there now and get that done."

"And in the meantime, Ed and I can work on getting the right clothes, and learning how to dye my hair," She turned to him, "Do you know how to waltz?"

"No, why would I need to know that?" Edward replied.

"Because you're my chaperone, so you're gonna have to learn." Amelia said, looking down at the envelope, "We'll need to be there right around seven, so if you're going to do recon you need to be back by then."

"Easy, it's not like it's a fortress." Greed replied, "We'll be back real soon."

---

"Ow! Jesus, Ed!" Amelia grumbled, letting go of Edward's hands as she stepped back to soothe her foot yet again, "You have to watch what you're doing with your automail foot, that's the fourth time now!"

"I've never done this crap before, I'm gonna mess up!" Edward snapped back at her, "How was I supposed to know your foot was still going to be there?"

"Because you're supposed to be leading! If you weren't trying to follow me, that wouldn't have happened!" Amelia snapped back, readjusting herself as she put her foot back down on the grassy and sighed.

"I don't know how to lead!" Edward said, though his voice was quickly silenced as Amelia took his automail hand again, placing his flesh hand around her waist, his cheeks warming a bit as she did so with no warning.

"This isn't that hard," Amelia said, her voice calm again as she got them ready, "You just follow the beat, okay? And since you lead, you decide where we go, I follow you. The guy is supposed to lead, anyway."
Edward was still a bit flustered but nodded, "We'll start slow this time and then we'll speed up, okay?" Amelia offered, and he nodded again, "Alright, so it's just 1, 2, 3 and 1, 2, 3…" She led him through the steps carefully, and Edward seemed to be able to follow along, "See? You're doing fine."

"Yeah, I guess." Edward replied, "It's just… kind of weird to have to move to a beat."

"I guess that just means your sense of rhythm sucks." Amelia joked, smiling at him, "Plus, waltzing isn't so bad, is it? We're just moving in a little circle." The term sparked a thought in her mind, "Think of it like drawing a super-simple transmutation circle, only instead of using your hands, you're using your heels and feet."

Edward grimaced at her description, "That sounds horrible. You have any idea how much detail goes into creating a transmutation circle? And now I have to do that with my feet?"

She rolled her eyes, "Okay, don't think of it like a transmutation circle, then. I was only trying to help you figure it out." She watched how his eyes went down to their feet again, "And don't look at your feet, I know you're nervous, but you can't keep staring at your feet when we dance." Edward grumbled, lifting his eyes up with his brow furrowed, "You have to look at your partner, we have to look like we know what we're doing at least a little bit." As she said that, Edward blushed a little as he looked up at her, not at all used to being so close to her and feeling his heart racing a little more. He wasn't paying attention, and his foot stepped in the wrong direction, right over her own foot again, making her jump, "Ow! Damn it, Ed!"

"Well, if I don't watch my feet, how am I supposed to tell if I'm about to step on yours?!" Edward snapped, pulling away and throwing his arms up, "How do you know we'll be asked to dance, anyway? Isn't this that Hamburgang girl's party?"

"Just because she's the debutante doesn't mean that other girls won't be required to dance in some kind of performance. We have to be prepared for it." She said, taking a breath, "Here, I think I know what the problem is." She reached for Edward's hands again, "Instead of putting your hand on my waist, put it on the small of my back." She said, stepping a little closer, Edward's face growing a little redder as she brushed her body up against his. "See how it fits? Now try again," She looked up at him, ever serious and focused on teaching him how to dance, "Remember? 1, 2, 3, and 1, 2, 3 and…" She set up the beat and Edward slowly started to move, keeping his hand at the small of her back while his automail hand held onto her other one, "There, you see? You feel how you can kind of lead me?" Edward nodded wordlessly, his heart racing as he glanced away from her, "Come on, Ed. Eyes on me, remember?" Edward looked back up at her, "I know this is a little different, but this is going pretty well for your first dance lesson."

"Yeah, well…" Edward grumbled something under his breath as they moved, and she tilted her head.

"What was that?"

"It doesn't weird you out?" Edward asked.

"What, dancing? I've been doing ballroom since I was like 7. My mom insisted I learn." Amelia replied.

"No, I mean the whole being close and…" He trailed off, his face getting red again as he looked away to the side of them as they danced, "Never mind."

Amelia tilted her head to the side, "Um, alright. Whatever." She said with a small laugh, letting it go as she continued dancing with him, smiling, "You know, I think that's been the problem."

"What problem?"

"We've been dancing and talking this whole time and you haven't even grazed my foot." Amelia answered with a bit of a proud smile, "I think we just needed to teach you how to lead in dancing. Which is kind of surprising, but yeah. You just needed to get your hand on the small of my back like you did." Edward blinked, not entirely realizing it until that moment, but she was right. He glanced down at their feet and saw she was following his lead very easily. "I would have thought a guy like you would have no problem with leading, but I guess that was the main issue."

"Why would you think that?" Edward asked.

"Well, you're kind of thick-headed and stubborn, and even if no one says it you're kind of the unofficial leader even if Greed is the one technically with that title right now." Amelia said, "I mean, we wouldn't all be together if it wasn't for you, you know? But I guess you just had no rhythm and that's why you couldn't dance." She snickered, teasing him a little.

"I'm still your teacher, you know!" Edward snapped, "Don't go making fun of me."

"Yeah, yeah, my mistake, O Great Alchemy Master." Amelia sardonically replied with a well-natured roll of her eyes, "Now try and spin me out."

"What?"

"Spin me out, hold onto my hand and let me spin out." Edward nodded, releasing her hip as she instructed, Amelia did twirl out, and then came all the way back into his embrace, a little too quickly as she ended up with her back against his chest, looking up at Edward briefly as they came to a stop once she met his body. She realized there had been a bit of a difference in his body since the last time she had been this close to him, mainly that he had actually grown a bit and he was taller than her. She had hardly noticed it but now that she was up close to him, she could really see it for the first time as she stayed with his arms wrapped around her.

"You know, I could get used to the title of Great Alchemy Master." Edward said with a grin, "Don't tempt me into making you say it all the time."

She couldn't help blushing a little, seeing that grin and being in his embrace like that, it made her heart start thundering. She released herself and stepped back into their waltz position, "Oh, please. I wouldn't call you that even if you paid me." She replied, having learned to recover from those brief moments of attraction a little better in all the time she had spent traveling with him, even though her heart was still beating away in her chest. She only took a few more steps before she let go, "I think you've got it down for the most part. We should be fine if we're made to dance at the party. We should work on getting our transmutations done before it gets too late."

"Yeah, probably." Edward agreed.

"So, what all did I need to change my hair?"

"Just get some water, a little bucket's worth should be plenty. You mostly just need the hydrogen, from there you can work with that and the oxygen and be able to change the pigment in your hair strands." Edward said as he started to get off his coat to work on transmuting it into some better material.

Amelia left to get some water, heading to the river they had camped beside to get what she needed. A bucket was easy enough to make from the clay in the dirt, and as she carefully carried it back to the campsite to do the transmutation under Edward's supervision, she saw Greed, Heinkel, and Darius returning. "Hey," She greeted them as she came up, seeing they were already talking to Edward, "How did recon go?"

"Not great." Greed replied with a scowl, "I know I said the place wasn't the fortress, but damn if security's not tight!"

"How tight are we talking?" Amelia asked.

"The estate is walled up pretty high, and almost constantly monitored by someone." Heinkel explained, "At first we thought it was just a coincidence, but there seems to be staff members around the place at all times."

"They have a whole army of security guards?" Amelia asked, surprised they kept such high security.

"Not just armed guards, staff. Gardeners, maids, even a couple masonry workers and carpenters to clean up the walls and take care of any cracks in the foundation. There were plenty of places that could have been left until later, but they were constantly improving on it." Heinkel continued, "We think they could be doubling as security in a more covert way."

"That does make things a bit tricky…" Amelia sighed as she put the bucket down on the ground. "That means, at best, Ed and I will probably be the only ones able to get in really."

"Yeah, I need to get in there, too." Greed insisted, "You two will just be looking for a philosopher's stone, I need to find the goods."

Amelia frowned, crossing her arms over her chest, "Debutante balls are exclusive events. And if security is as high as you guys said, it's going to be next to impossible for you to crash it."

"Unless you know a way around it? Hm?" Greed asked with a grin, "Come on, you know how these rich people work. You can get me in somehow, right? Sneak in a disguise from a dish boy or something."

"I seriously doubt it," Amelia replied, "These are Amestrians, and as much as I don't like to admit this, a guy with a Xingese look to him is going to stick out like a sore thumb. You'll be noticed right away. Heinkel and Darius might be able to get in as bodyguards, but I don't really think stealth is their strong suit so they wouldn't be much good for searching the place," She turned to the two older men, "No offense-"

"None taken." Darius and Heinkel replied at the same time.

"-But yeah. I don't know that you're getting in there unless you want to play the part of a Xingese diplomat that just happens to be in town and heard about the party. And even then, that's not an easy story to sell." Greed took a moment to think, crossing his arms as one hand went up to his chin, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to dye my hair the right shade of black." She marched over to Edward, who was working on calculating how much fabric he would need to make a believable tuxedo as she came over, "Okay, so how do I do this again?" Edward led her through the steps, keeping his attention on her while Greed was still deep in thought, considering what she had said. It would be a hard story to sell on his own… but then again, he technically had a Xingese diplomat with him. And as he thought about it more, Greed could hear Ling say he could use the trip out for a little while and he could be incredibly convincing, especially since he already spoke Xingese and knew the proper dress to wear to look like a member of a formal Xingese court.

As Amelia was just about to begin her transmutation under Edward's instructions, Greed spoke up, "Hey, how about this?" She frowned as the homunculus made his way over to her, "If I tell you what kind of clothes to turn my clothes into, will you do it? I think we can sell the Xingese diplomat thing."

"You've got to be joking," Amelia replied dryly.

"Oh, come on. You can do it, right?" Amelia glanced over at Edward, silently asking for his opinion, and also silently telling him how much she hated this idea of his already.

"Yes, we can do it." Edward sighed in resignation, "What would you need?"

"I'll get a paper drawn up, just a sec," Greed replied with a grin and went to do just that while they were left alone again. Amelia noticed that Darrius and Heinkel seemed to be going over their ration count, ignoring everything else going on for the most part.

"Alright, let me see if I got this right." Amelia said, letting her hair loose from the ponytail she had been wearing, bringing it down so that the ends were in the water, clapping her hands and bringing them to the bucket and in the water, watching as the liquid changed to a much darker tone that quickly spread up from the ends all the way to her roots, "Whoa!" She smiled, impressed as she looked at her hair, pulling it up and running her fingers through it, seeing nothing left behind to suggest that the hair color was faked, "Oh, this is perfect! How do I look?"

"Like you, but with dark hair." Edward replied, "Here, come help me figure out how to make my clothes look like a tux. I've barely ever worn them." Amelia nodded and went over to him, talking about the measurements he would need to switch his fabric to as well as just making sure it was all the right colors. They spoke about it at length for a few minutes before he went forward with the transmutation, Amelia stepping back as she watched the tan, dirty coat he had been wearing for the last few weeks shifting around into a black tuxedo jacket, his shirt changing to a more refined white-collar button down, and his leather pants taking on a more pleated look to them. When it was finished, he looked up at Amelia, "What do you think?"

Admittedly, she took a few seconds longer to admire him than she probably should have. He looked… surprisingly good in a tuxedo. It was fitted in all the right places and made him look that much more mature. If she were seeing him from across the room at a party, she would have thought he was a very handsome young bachelor looking for a potential wife. "Um… it looks great, just one thing you should add?" She pointed to his shirt collar, "See if you can't make some kind of bow tie, and I think we'll be good." Edward groaned.

"Do I have to? I always feel like I'm choking when I'm wearing one." He groaned.

"Yeah, you kinda do. These things have a dress code for a reason." Amelia said apologetically, coming over to him, "We can probably use one of your socks for it or…" She trailed off when she saw he was still wearing his boots, "...I don't suppose you could transmute those into something else?"

"Oh, don't tell me these break dress code, too?" Edward whined, looking down at his boots, "I like these!"

"Well, yeah, you kinda have to. These people will notice if you don't look the same as all the other chaperones, you think I'm the only one that's this observant?" Amelia pointed out, "I grew up in this society, I learned how to think from watching these people. They'll notice. We can't leave anything to chance here unless you want the Hamburgangs calling us out for crashing their party and blowing the whole search for that stone-"

"Okay, fine!" Edward groaned, "I'll change the shoes too. But later, okay?"

"Fine," Amelia said, reaching up to fix his shirt collar, "And you'll get a bowtie later."

"Yeah, yeah…" Edward grumbled, his arms crossing over his chest.

As they finished, Greed came over, "Here! Transmute this for me!" He grinned widely as he showed them the picture of what he wanted, showing a somewhat poorly drawn Greed in what looked like very oriental formal wear.

"...You don't seriously expect us to transmute silk from a leather jacket?" Amelia asked, glancing at Edward who shrugged in response.

"Yes, I do. I'm getting into that party one way or another. Sneaky is best in your opinion, so you'll transmute it." Greed insisted, and Amelia sighed, taking the drawing from him.

"I mean… We can try, but I can't promise much in terms of accuracy." She said, "How would you even know what this stuff looks like, anyway?"

"Oh, the kid just recreated the outfit he has to wear to court or whatever." Greed said, pointing up at his temple, referring to Ling. Amelia frowned a little, knowing she had seen so little of Ling in their time traveling, she had to wonder if he was okay with all of this.

"Fine… we'll get to work on this, and then we'll need to meet up with Rosalie's classmate so she can give me her dress." She said with a resigned sigh, showing the drawing to Edward, "Which part do you want to work on first?"

"Let's see if we can't get these long sleeves done first, and then we'll work on the rest of this… skirt?"

"It's called a chang shan." Ling's voice popped out of Greed, making both teenager's heads bolt up to look at the homunculus, who just looked back at them with a raised brow, Greed's own voice coming through clearly, "What? Let's get started already."

The two teenage alchemists sighed and got to work, talking over the measurements they would have to make in different places to figure out the distribution of mass for Ling/Greed's outfit.

---

Soon enough, the work was finished and everything was ready for them. As sunset came to the town, Amelia led the others to the designated meeting place she had arranged with Rosalie's classmate. The dark-haired girl looked over at her as she came over with her friends, her eyebrows going up at the sight of her hair but having no real reaction other than that. She stood beside a rather rough-looking guy, tattoos on his arms and very much looking like the rebellious fling that would piss off a well-to-do mom and dad who wanted their daughter to be in the same lifestyle as themselves.

"Huh, not bad." She complimented before handing off the white dress, "Thanks again for doing this, I had a thousand different things to do with my Reggie."

Amelia gave her a sickly-sweet smile, her voice shifting higher to fit into that sweet tone to match hers, "Not even a problem! Thanks again for letting me have some actual fun on this stupid trip." She rolled her eyes, "I swear, my parents have no idea how much the outdoors suck."

"Right?" The dark-haired girl let out a snort of laughter, "Alright, well you have fun. And keep the dress, I'll just get a new one made." She turned to her boyfriend, who grinned and wrapped his arm around her waist, "Don't wait up!" She called back with a giggle, and Amelia giggled in return until she was out of earshot and her smile fell.

"God, what a bitch." She sighed, "Alright, let me get this on." She went over into a darker area of the trees to change, leaving the rest of the boys behind. Edward stood there in his tuxedo, hating every second of wearing it, while Greed stood in his chang shan looking somewhat pleased with himself.

"Nice to know we have a perfect spy to help infiltrate the richest house in town." He said with a grin. "We'll be in and out in just a few minutes, max."

"Assuming we don't find the philosopher's stone he supposedly has in there," Edward replied. Greed shrugged.

"I mean, hell, I'm a philosopher's stone if you guys really need one." Edward looked up at him dryly.

"Yeah, and I doubt you'll let us borrow that in a fight."

"Well, no, but I'll lead the fight." Greed replied with a grin. Edward didn't say anything and just sighed. It was only a moment longer before Amelia stepped out with her own clothes on her arm, her body covered in the beautiful white dress that hugged at her body, the skirt flowing out elegantly all the way down to her calves. Edward's eyes widened a little as he watched her coming out in it, never having seen her look quite so feminine before.

"Here, would you hold this for a second? I need to get my hair up." She said, handing her clothes off to Darius, who took them without a word.

"You look lovely, Amelia." Heinkel complimented her, "This has to be the girliest I've ever seen you." Amelia laughed as she started to pull her hair back, being careful to pull it up into a kind of bun that looked elegant without having to use a hair tie.

"Yeah, well when you spend a few weeks traveling and camping, there isn't much use for skirts." She joked. Soon enough, her hair was tucked back and she tried to make sure everything was in place, smoothing out any wrinkles in the skirt. "Okay, how do I look?" She asked, turning to Edward.

"You look beautiful," He replied without really thinking, his face turning a bit red when he realized he had just blurted it out. "I-I mean, it's… It'll be great. You should fit right in."

Amelia smiled, a little bit of a blush on her own cheeks as she realized that was a genuine compliment, "Thanks, Ed." She looked up at Greed, frowning, "You sure you can play the role you gave yourself? You're going to end up being kicked out, you know."

"Relax, I've got this." Greed assured her, and Amelia sighed.

"Okay, well…" She looked over at Darius and Heinkel, "We'll try to find what we need and get out, hopefully it won't take too long. You guys will be okay waiting on your own?" She glanced between the two of them, knowing that their being alone might have… other things going on.

"We'll be waiting right here," Darius assured her, giving her a pointed look right back, silently telling her not to say anything to the other two that hadn't caught on yet.

"Alright then, we'll be back soon." Amelia went over to Ed, taking his arm, "Come on, let's see if we can't properly crash this party."

---

As they stepped onto the Hamburgang estate, they could see cars already lining up around the block. Amelia held onto Edward's arm, the two of them staying together as Greed walked behind them, seeing very well-dressed people walking in as the cars were valeted away. The estate was clearly well-cared for, with topiary bushes surrounding the road, a well-manicured lawn surrounding the building, and decorative flowers that currently weren't in bloom, but their sweet perfumes still lingered in the air of the evening light. The mansion itself was massive, easily showing windows to fit 20 or 30 rooms, maybe even more since they were only looking at it from the front. It stretched out before them along with a long, circular driveway that modeled itself around a lovely fountain.

"Jeez, I don't know that I've seen so many cars in one place." Edward couldn't help commenting. Cars were few and far between, even in a big city like Central. Not everyone had one because of how expensive they were to buy and maintain, but here there were so many that people were running out of places to park. It was a little new for him, but it was hardly new for Amelia.

"All debutante balls are like this," She replied, "Everyone comes in their nicest clothes and nicest cars to be their finest selves for an evening of schmoozing and drinking while their daughters put themselves on display." She frowned a little as she walked with him past the many cars around their long driveway, "I always hated parties like these, but at least me pretending to be one of the girls should get us access to the Hamburgangs and their family's alchemist." Edward nodded.

"I guess I shouldn't be using my real name, should I?" He asked, wondering if it was smart.

"Probably not," Amelia smiled at him, "But you can say you're a fledgling alchemist or something, I'm sure they'd buy it."

"Aren't you supposed to be Rosalie's cousin?" Edward asked, "You don't think she'll notice, do you?"

"If we keep our distance, we should be okay. Worst comes to worst, I can tell her that her cousin Lily hired me to take her place and she'd probably believe it. Honestly, that girl just reeks of egotism and selfishness, so I'm sure Rosalie wouldn't mind if I told her that we're just here to satisfy her aunt and uncle."

Edward couldn't help chuckling, "Sounds like a brat, kind of sounds like someone else I know."

Amelia narrowed her eyes at him as they walked up the stairs to the estate, "If you say that she reminds you of me, so help me Edward Elric, I will throttle you right here and now."

He laughed again, "Relax, I was only kidding. You're hardly the brat you were when we first met."

Amelia stayed quiet as she walked up with him to the front where a butler was waiting, holding out his gloved hand to the pair, "Invitation, please." Amelia reached into Edward's pocket to pull out the invitation she had been given.

"Lily Henneberg and her escort," She introduced them to the butler.

"Welcome Lady Lily, your family is already inside waiting for you," The butler said, accepting the invitation without question.

"We also found this man, he's an emissary from Xing," Amelia said, gesturing to Greed who had been oddly silent through their walk into the estate. "He's eager to meet my father and Rosalie." The butler looked at him.

"I'm sorry sir, but this event is strictly invitation only. I'll have to insist you leave the premises." Amelia and Edward both looked back at him.

"You're sure?" The two teens were shocked when a voice that was distinctly not Greed's left his mouth, "You see, I'm only visiting the land of Amestris and I'm eager to speak with the Hamburgang's alchemist. I am Prince Ling Yao, Twelfth son of the Emperor of Xing. I'm sorry if my arrival was unexpected, but I'm really very eager to speak with him. Is there any way you could at least ask him to give me a moment of his time?"

The butler paused for a moment, "I'm afraid not, Your Grace. Miss Rosalie's debutante party is very much a family and friend affair." Ling sighed, and Amelia had to stop Edward from saying something, shaking her head subtly to remind him that they were here to play a role. Getting excited about seeing Ling again would unfortunately give them away.

"Will you at least pass along a message to him on my behalf to see if he changes his mind about meeting with me?" Ling asked, "I simply want to ask about The Philosopher's Stone, I know it's a tool used in Amestrian alchemy and it's very important to me. I can wait outside of the estate."

The butler let out a small huff, "I'll see if I can do so, Your Grace." He said. Ling smiled and gave a polite bow before turning to leave. Once he was gone, Amelia pulled Edward along with her inside the estate.

"That was a bold move…" She couldn't help muttering, "He just denied Xingese royalty like that. Security in this place is tighter than I thought."

"That's what you're thinking right now?" Edward asked, a little surprised by her. "What about Ling? We haven't heard from him for months and now Greed decides to let him suddenly take over?"

Amelia shrugged, "Well, he did want to play the role of a Xingese noble, and Ling really is one so it would make sense that he would let him be in charge to play the role right…" She said, frowning, "Although… I wish they'd let him in with us. I would have liked to talk to him a bit more."

"Me too," Edward said as they headed into the main hall. They saw groups of people, young and old alike, mingling and talking, drinks or hors d'oeuvres in hand, the chatter filling up the large ballroom alongside the music from the live band of cellists, violinists, and a pianist. Two beautiful crystal chandeliers hung up on the ceiling, the room lit up brightly in warm colors to match the white walls and the wood-stained floor. Everything looked like the pinnacle of elegance and luxury. Edward looked around the crowd, noticing there were plenty of young women all wearing the exact same dress Amelia had on, and all of the adults were dressed in distinctly different colors from their daughters. "Jeez, this place is richer than the Armstrongs." He chuckled.

"Eh, it's about the same." Amelia replied as they made their way down into the crowd, "Their family reunion was held in a ballroom almost exactly like this one." She looked up at the ceiling, "Oh, slightly less actually." She pointed it out to Edward by nodding her head, "Look up, you see that plaster design there?" She pointed up to the ceiling that had plastered flowers and leaves surrounding the fixture for one of the chandeliers, "That's horsehair plaster. Pretty simple to make, even cheaper to buy. The Armstrongs have ceiling decor made of some variant of marble."

"Jeez…" Edward muttered, grimacing a little as he realized how rich these people were. He sighed, shaking his head, "Okay, whatever. Let's just find this alchemist and see if we can't figure out what's going on." He said as he looked around.

"I found out his name is Judeau, he's been with the Hamburgang family for years, long before Rosalie was born." She informed Edward, "And since Mrs. Hamburgang's husband died, he's kind of assumed the role of a father figure."

Edward looked over at her, "You get all of this from Lily?"

She nodded, pulling him into the crowd, "Yeah, but apparently he suffered some kind of injury a while ago that scarred his face. She mentioned that it creeped her out, but that should make him relatively easy to spot in this crowd." She looked around and she spotted him, nudging Edward with her elbow as she pointed him out again. Judeau was a fairly tall, slim man with silver hair, with two huge scars over his eyes and cheeks, leaving his eyes seemingly shut. He stood next to an older woman with silvery-red hair who looked a little on in years, but still radiating a kind of elegant beauty, "I think that's them, Judeau and Mrs. Hamburgang."

"Okay…" Edward grumbled. He looked over at her, "Do you think she'll recognize you as Lily?"

"We won't be approaching as Lily and her bad-boy boyfriend escort." She smiled, "Relax, I know these rich folks. They know names but they don't know faces." She gave his arm a gentle squeeze as they started to make their way over to the couple through the crowd, "Excuse me? Lady Hamburgang?" As they came closer and people moved out of the way they could see the couple was talking with someone else, but there was a young lady with them. She was about Edward's age, with long red hair and a gentle face, but with eyes that spoke of a glimmer of mischief and a love to laugh. "Pardon me," She gave the older woman a curtsey, releasing Edward's arm and he followed her lead by giving a bow, "I wanted to come and introduce myself and thank you for inviting us to this party. I'm Rachel Graf, Lily's friend and Rosalie's classmate."

"Oh, it's a pleasure to meet you, Rachel." Mrs. Hamburgang replied. Rosalie tilted her head slightly in curiosity but still smiled.

"Thank you for coming to my party, Rachel." She greeted her with a small curtsey in her white gown.

"Of course, it's a lovely affair." She reached for Edward's elbow again, "And this is my escort for the evening, Garret Shulze." Edward smiled at her, "He's a fervent student of alchemy," At the mention of the science she could see Judeau's head turning to look their way, though his scarred eyes remained closed, "And I thought it might be good for him to meet with Mr. Judeau."

The older man faced them, and as he did they noticed his hand was on Mrs. Hamburgang's forearm, "You said it was Garret Shulze?" He asked with a friendly smile.

"Yes," Edward replied, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Yes, it's good to meet you as well, I am Judeau." He brought his hand up to one of his scarred cheeks, just below his eye, "As you can see, I am no longer capable of using my eyes so it's rather rare that I get to meet other alchemists, and it's quite the treat." He smiled again, holding out that same hand to Edward to shake. "It truly is a pleasure to meet another student of such a prominent and promising science."

Edward took his hand and shook it with his automail arm, and Amelia could instantly notice the difference in how Judeau responded to the touch. "Looks like my hand surprised you," he joked.

"No, I wouldn't exactly say that," Judeau replied politely as he released Edward's hand.

"You know, I've heard rumors about you, Mr. Judeau," Edward said, "And I'd like to have a nice, long conversation about alchemy with you."

"Really? Rumors?" Judeau repeated curiously.

"Nothing too scandalous, of course," Amelia said, "Mainly just about your achievements, your incredible loyalty to the Hamburgang family and serving them for so many years," Mrs. Hamburgang and Rosalie smiled at that, "And, of course, about how you used your enviable alchemic skills to help save the family from a rather terrible tragedy." Judeau smiled at the praise.

"Yes, with human transmutation," Edward added, and Amelia watched as the couple's smiles instantly fell, but oddly not Rosalie's.

Judeau's expression shifted, chuckling a bit, "Do you believe every rumor you hear?"

"Well, you can't blame me for wondering why someone would start a rumor like that in the first place," Edward said, and as Amelia read the expressions of the others, how Mrs. Hamburgang only looked worried and Rosalie looking very much like the cat that ate the canary as she looked at both of them, she gave Edward a pointed nudge with her elbow.

"But, of course, as eager as my chaperone is to talk about this, we understand we won't have the time with Rosalie's party going on." She said, trying to bring some manners and remind Edward not to get too worked up. "We just wanted to come over and introduce ourselves, and hopefully see if we could find any published copies on your notes on human transmutation. After all, so little is known about the field and Garret is incredibly curious after hearing about your success." There was a pause of silence between them, and Amelia noticed how Judeau gently squeezed around Mrs. Hamburgang's forearm once.

"Well, the party is starting to get into full swing, and I'm sure Lady Rosalie has plenty she would rather do than stick around with us old folks chatting about such a subject," He turned his head slightly in Rosalie's direction, "Why don't you go and introduce yourself to the new guests? I can hear them coming in droves."

"Yes, why don't you go get your chaperone, Rosalie?" Her mother said. And the woman frowned, pouting a bit.

"But James is such a boring boy, all he ever wants to talk about is food." She whined.

"Rosalie, James is a nice young man and we've asked him to be your chaperone. Go find him and introduce yourself to your guests." Her mother insisted, and Rosalie let out a long, exasperated sigh like any teenager would when being bossed around by their parents.

"Fine…" She grumbled before she walked off to go find the boy in question, leaving them alone.

When she was gone, Mrs. Hamburgang looked at the two of them, "I'm afraid that isn't going to be possible Mr. Shulze. Judeau is an employee of this family, and as our employee, his skills are intended to service our family alone. He has never published any copies of his notes on alchemy, nor anything regarding human transmutation. We can't share our secrets with any outsider that asks."

"But… with his success for human transmutation, it could bring so much to the field of alchemy." Amelia said, "Why wouldn't you publish such a historic achievement? No alchemist has ever been able to successfully perform human transmutation."

"You must understand," Mrs. Hamburgang spoke in a gentle but firm tone, "These were the wishes of my late husband."

Edward looked over at Judeau, "But… as a scientist, you'd make an exception, wouldn't you? This would be an incredible progress to the field of alchemy."

Judeau shook his head, "I'm afraid I need to respect the wishes of my employers. My research is not to be published or seen by anyone but them." That information caught Amelia's attention, but she knew better than to keep asking questions.

"Well… it's a little disappointing, but we understand." Edward turned and frowned at her, "We'll leave you to it, and thank you again so much for inviting us. When will the dancing start?"

"Rosalie's debut should begin in about a half-hour or so. Feel free to enjoy the food and drink while you wait, and even dance yourselves if you like." Mrs. Hamburgang replied.

"Of course, thank you." Amelia pulled Edward away by the elbow and back into the crowd. Once she was sure they were out of the Hamburgang's earshot, she spoke again, "Okay, this is going to be a little trickier than I thought."

"Yeah, he's got to have a philosopher's stone somewhere." Edward said, "There's no other way the transmutation could have been successful."

"Yeah, but where would they get the people?" Amelia asked, "We know the military used prisoners, but regular people have to go and find them… it's not like we know of anyone going missing in this town."

"No, I suppose not…" Edward muttered, crossing his arms as they walked closer to a buffet table, "But we need to go and find it. I don't like the idea of using a philosopher's stone but… maybe it could help us." Amelia's eyes widened.

"Really? I didn't think you would have considered that strategy." She said, a bit surprised.

"We're going up against a bunch of super-humans, not to mention an alchemist strong enough to perform transmutations just by thinking about it. I don't know that we'd have a chance without a stone." Edward admitted. "And then…" He paused as he looked down the buffet table, "Uh… Ling?" Amelia looked and he was right, there was Ling at the end of one table, devouring the last of what looked like some tasty seafood hors d'oeuvres. He waved at them cheerily.

"Hey, guys! You got to try this stuff." He said with full cheeks, holding out the last two on the plate to them before he began to reach for another one.

"Wait, I thought they turned you away?" Amelia asked as she took one of the offered hors d'oeuvres, which looked like just some fried shrimp to her, and Edward took the other.

"They did, I snuck around back and came in through the kitchen." Ling replied, stuffing his face with what looked like little pieces of cake, "They're making a whole 5-course meal there! It smells great."

Amelia smiled, "It's really good to see you again Ling, but are you just going to stuff your face the whole time we talk?"

"Well, I'm going to eat if I'm hungry," Ling replied, taking another piece of cake and shoving it in his mouth before offering her one. She took it and bit into the piece of shrimp as she watched the Xingese prince go to town. It didn't take long to come to a specific realization as she watched him eat.

"...This was why you wanted to crash the party, wasn't it?" She asked, "You just wanted the food."

Ling smiled as he chewed up his bite before speaking again, "It's really good food, though!" Amelia and Edward couldn't help laughing a little. Even though it had been weeks since they had last seen him, Ling was still Ling, ever ravenous and with that upbeat attitude. He finished off the little sweet cakes and turned to them, "But the rations help keep me going too, thankfully. Just wish we could get something other than that canned stuff sometimes." He said as he patted his stomach, seemingly full. Amelia glanced over the table and saw that behind Ling there were about 4 or 5 other platters that had been licked clean, most likely by him.

"Yeah, we all do." She agreed with him, "But it's still good to see you again."

"Seriously, I kind of miss your annoying ass. I prefer you over Greed any day." Edward said.

"Ah, be careful," Ling warned, pointing to his temple, "He's still in here, and he can hear everything you're saying, just like I can hear it when he's in control." He relaxed a bit, "Besides, he said I could keep control while I do a little bit of sneaking around on the side; find some things here and there for us to take out."

"Right, the filching…" Amelia sighed, "Well, we probably aren't going to get far asking Mrs. Hamburgang or Judeau about his transmutation. And I doubt Rosalie would want to talk about it, either." She glanced out into the crowd, seeing Rosalie among another group of girls, happily chatting and talking, "I'm pretty sure she didn't recognize me when I introduced myself, she might know we're faking."

"So now what?" Edward asked, "We just leave?"

"Not exactly, we just need to find where Judeau keeps his stuff and go through it." Amelia said, "But this mansion is pretty huge, and I can't imagine where it might be."

"Maybe it could be the east wing? On the second floor?" Ling asked, getting their attention, "I heard one of the chefs asking about it in the kitchen, apparently it's off-limits to all of the staff." Amelia tilted her head curiously.

"Well, that's unusual. I can understand not letting the cooking staff out of the kitchen or too far away, but all staff is to stay away from the second floor? That's suspicious." Amelia looked to Edward, "Could be where they're hiding a philosopher's stone, assuming Judeau doesn't keep it on him at all times." She glanced back at the couple, seeing them still standing and talking with guests through the crowd, "...I wonder how he lost his eyes though. Those scars look pretty intense."

"I don't know," Edward replied, "But it's the best lead we have, right? We should go for it." Amelia nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but now the question is how do we get to a room we're not allowed to go to in the middle of a party like this?" She asked, looking around, "My dress isn't exactly conspicuous, it'll be clear I'm supposed to be part of the ball to anyone that looks."

"I'll go ahead of you, then." Ling said, "A lot of my childhood was spent learning to hide from potential assassins and fighting back. I can lead the way and make sure it's clear for us."

---

Ling's plan was as good as anything and ended up working. Amelia and Edward made their way into the dining hall early, and Ling led the way through the door that led into the hall. The rest of the mansion was dark, showing that there wasn't much activity going on outside of the party itself. For the most part, the mansion's insides didn't seem nearly as heavily guarded as its outsides, which worked surprisingly well for them. The three of them quietly made their way around, and although there were some staff moving here and there, it wasn't anything too concerning that would risk them getting caught.

As they moved, it was mostly in silence until they came up to the second floor of the east wing. They poked their heads into different doors, finding mostly guest rooms until they came to a large pair of double doors. When they opened it, they found nothing except a small section of the room, against the walls were some boxes and bookshelves, but in the middle was a covered bed. "Okay… what's this? Storage?" Edward asked as he looked around.

Amelia poked her head in, "Looks like men's stuff. We might have found Judeau's storage?" She said, pointing to a small rack of men's clothes that had been pushed off into a corner.

"Let's see what we can find," Edward said, going directly for the bookshelf whereas Ling wandered around, looking over everything.

"Mr. Judeau doesn't really keep his room very tidy." Ling couldn't help commenting as the three of them split up to look around, glancing over at Edward to see him pulling book after book off the shelf, letting out a hum as he looked over the titles to see if they were anything that might have something to do with the philosopher's stone.

"I think this might be where he just stores his extra stuff," Amelia replied as she looked through the other boxes, not finding much. Meanwhile, Edward picked up a book off the shelf that had a blank spine, opening it up and seeing handwriting inside.

"I found a journal, this looks promising." He said as he began to read through it, checking the dates inside.

"Awesome, let's see what else we can find," Amelia said, still rifling through the boxes. Ling would join her, the two of them going through everything to try and find something that would point them in the right direction as Edward kept reading through the journal in the dim light of the room's few windows as the moon rose higher in the sky. The other two kept searching, Ling finding some cufflinks or a small pocketknife, things of value, and putting them inside of his sleeves. Whatever trinkets looked like they might be expensive or worth something at a pawn shop since that was their main way of making any kind of money on the road.

Amelia kept looking through the boxes, not finding anything that pointed to Judeau. None of it looked like the belongings of an alchemist, a scientist, a person passionate about their work and the hunt for knowledge. She was starting to wonder if this was his stuff as she went over to the draped bed to see if there was a mess left behind, something that might point to some other kind of storage of Judeau's, but what she saw was nothing like that at all. It wasn't a bed inside the white drapes, but rather a large collection of flowers, plush toys, and stuffed animals, but before she could even comment on how odd it was he even had that, he noticed that it was sitting around a single chair, and there was someone in it. Her heart skipped a beat as she gasped, jumping back from the curtain as if it had burned her hand, watching it shut.

The two boys looked over at her, "What's wrong?" Ling asked.

"I…" Amelia wasn't sure what to do, her face getting pale as she looked at the curtains, "I-I need some light. I… I'm not sure what I just saw." Ling glanced over at Edward, who went rifling through the pockets of his transmuted tuxedo, but they were empty. Ling reached into the sleeve of his chang shan and pulled out a small lighter, one that Greed would use occasionally when the group found themselves in a bar and he would use it to light a girl's cigarette. Amelia took it, the three of them making their way over to the curtains and she pushed it inside, looking in to see that she had been right in seeing a figure sitting in that chair. "Oh… my god." The other two looked on, eyes widening in horror as they saw what she did.

Sitting in the chair among all those stuffed animals was a corpse, rotting and grey-skinned, but not enough to stink. The eyes were hollowed, and the skin barely fit around the bones. It was dressed in what looked like a red wig and a beautiful dress, the body of a girl who couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 years old. "What the hell is that…?" Ling asked.

"I think I might know…" Edward said, the other two looking at him as he held up the book, "This isn't Judeau's journal, it's Mr. Hamburgang's. Listen to this," He opened up a page and read aloud from it, "March 14, 1905. Judeau says that his theory for human transmutation is complete. We have kept Rosalie's body from being buried as he asked. My wife and I can hardly contain our hope, but she is also very worried. Judeau has poured himself into his research for days and has hardly eaten or slept. We worry that Rosalie's death may have affected him worse than we thought, and that may have affected his research efforts." He flipped another page and Ling went a little closer to the corpse in the chair, "March 17, 1905. The transmutation is finished… what we have left is all we have. Margaret will go to the orphanage tomorrow and Judeau is still on bed rest. His injuries are heavy, and the doctor has confirmed our fears that his eyes themselves have completely gone. When he returns, we'll tell him Rosalie has made a recovery and hopefully, this will sustain him." He looked up at the other two, "The transmutation was a failure. The real Rosalie must have died and… maybe this is her?" Ling took a closer look at the corpse, watching as the jaw slowly opened and he jumped back fearfully, his arms up.

"I-It moved!" He exclaimed.

"What?!" Amelia jumped behind Edward in fear.

"It didn't move." Edward sharply replied.

"I swear, she just moved!" Ling said. Amelia looked over Edward's shoulder to see some of the writing in the journal as Edward argued with him.

"That's clearly a corpse! How could it move? Look at it, she's practically mummified." He said, looking over at the little collection of skin and bones that sat on the chair, clearly placed carefully with tender love and affection to be surrounded by so many toys.

"Wait, look," She pointed to the journal, "There."

Edward looked down at the page where she was pointing, the entry following the one he had just read, "As Margaret asked that we put Rosalie to rest, I found something strange… Her jaw and fingers could barely move, but they moved. It wasn't something easily seen, but as we look at her more closely, she's not… rotting." He repeated the word with some hesitation from disgust, "It seems his transmutation was indeed a success, but this is hardly a life. Still, we can honor our daughter, we will bring her the fresh flowers she's always loved, and give her every toy she could ever ask for… Though I do not know if this is truly our daughter or something else." He looked up at the corpse, "So… is she alive?"

"I wouldn't exactly call this a life." Amelia muttered as she looked at the corpse, stepping closer to her, "But… it's right. She's not rotten or rotting." She looked back at him, "1905 was ten years ago, wasn't it? Think about it, any corpse couldn't last with skin or any kind of flesh on it for that long. Not without stinking up the place."

Edward looked a little uneasy, "So… what does that mean? They're just… lying to Judeau?"

"How far back does that journal go?" Amelia asked, and Edward began to flip back to the beginning of it.

"1897… It says here that they celebrated their two-year wedding anniversary." Edward's eyes scanned through the rest of the page, "Oh, here. 'Judeau is an incredible alchemist, finding all the little things that can be fixed in our dining room. The scratch on the table made by one of the maids vanished before my eyes. It was an extraordinary display, and I can see why my wife's family has kept him employed for so long.'" He paused again.

"So… he's been with this family since Rosalie's mother was young," Ling said.

"I mean… with that much time spent with them, living with them, it would be easy for him to get attached." Amelia said softly, "If he's been here that long, then… He could have easily thought of Rosalie as his own family, and when she died…"

"Yeah," Edward closed the journal, "I guess they must have been doing this for a long time. Lying to him, adopting an orphan girl to play Rosalie, and she's done it for the last 10 years." He looked up, "You'd think she would have said something to him so she could be herself instead of Rosalie."

"I doubt it," Amelia said, "Orphanages aren't exactly fun, and this place would probably be paradise by comparison." She glanced back at the corpse, "She probably didn't mind, and I imagine there is part of her that's still acting like herself. After 10 years, I doubt Judeau would have noticed that much difference between a child pretending and a teenager morphing into herself as a young woman…"

The three jumped as they heard the doors open, on the other side was Rosalie, "I thought I heard voices in here." She stepped forward towards them, turning on the light, looking at what they found, "I see you found Rosalie."

"So… this is really Rosalie?" Amelia asked, "The real one?"

"Yeah, that's the one that Judeau brought back with alchemy." She said, stepping forward, smiling at her, "Also, I know you're not really Rachel. I just talked with her a minute ago. You're taking the place of my cousin Lily, aren't you?"

"Ah…" Amelia wasn't sure what to say now that they had been caught.

"It's okay, I don't really get along with her anyway. She kind of hates the whole story behind this." She said as she came towards them, "Mrs. Hamburgang used to just keep this room empty, but after some renovations she moved some of Mr. Hamburgang's things in here, too." She held out her hand for the journal in Edward's hand, and he handed it to her silently, "I read through this when I first got it. I heard most of the story from them when they adopted me but reading from the father's point of view was something else entirely." She flipped it open, scanning through the pages for a few moments before closing it again. "So, what are you guys? Party crashers?"

"Well, we thought…" Amelia wasn't sure what kind of excuse to make.

"We heard that Judeau performed human transmutation. We wanted to see if that was true or not since it's not really possible by what I know of alchemy." Edward said. Rosalie looked over at him, glancing at the hand he had used to shake Judeau's hand before.

"You know, some of the metal from your arm showed up under your glove. You should have gotten a better-fitted tuxedo." Rosalie commented, looking over them, "This is probably the Hamburgang's worst-kept secret, that the human transmutation was a kind of failure." She glanced back at the other Rosalie on the chair, "She never moves or eats, but as far as we can tell, she's still alive somehow. She doesn't grow, but she's still here, even after 10 whole years."

"She doesn't freak you out?" Ling asked.

"No, I got used to her after a couple of weeks of living here." She said, "My real name is actually Emmy, the Hamburgang's changed it to Rosalie after I was adopted." She tucked the journal under her arm, "And you're right, the entire mansion is lying to Judeau about his transmutation. They have been for years."

"You heard us talking…" Amelia said softly, wondering just how long Rosalie had been listening in.

"Why?" Edward asked, "I mean, is it just to spare his feelings?"

"From what I gather, yes." She replied, "Judeau watched Mrs. Hamburgang get married, played and took care of Rosalie. Even after they adopted me, I remember Judeau still trying to play games with me and read stories to me, as if I really was Rosalie. He lost his eyes in the transmutation, so it wasn't hard to get him to believe that I was Rosalie after he got out of the hospital. He couldn't see me at all, but I look and sound just like her, apparently."

"You're calling her Mrs. Hamburgang…" Amelia couldn't help noticing, "But… she's your mother, right?"

"Not really." She replied, her expression changing to a more melancholic look, "Not when they have the real Rosalie still here. I'm just a fake. Always will be." Amelia frowned, knowing that couldn't be easy on her, "But it's fine. I'd rather be a fake Rosalie than go back to being Emmy the orphan. This place is much better than the orphanage, and besides. Once I'm an adult, the Hamburgangs will still take care of me and by the time Judeau passes and the lie doesn't matter anymore, I'll probably be fine on my own." She looked back up, "Is that why you all came here? To try and find the truth?"

"Something like that…" Edward said, "But… I guess there's no real point in snooping anymore." He knew that being caught by her could carry some serious consequences, and she could easily have them all kicked out, or even arrested if she really wanted.

Emmy smiled at him, "It's alright, more people find out now and then when Mrs. Hamburgang hires them on. Everyone in this house is in on the secret. Not all of the guests though, which is why I thought it was odd you three made a beeline for the east wing." That mischievous glimmer was still in her eyes as she looked at them, "I couldn't help but be a little curious."

"Sorry," Amelia said, "We're alchemists. When we heard the rumors, we just thought…"

"I'm not worried about it," Rosalie shrugged, "But you should probably get out of here. Lily's parents are looking for her, and they'll know you're not really her. There's a way around back I can show you." She gestured for them to follow her, and they did without much question.

"That's kind of you to help keep your cousin's secret," Amelia commented.

Emmy just laughed, "Hardly, she's always rude to me. If they think she left the party early, they'll be furious and give her an earful." She looked back over her shoulder with an impish grin, "I kind of want to make her squirm a little."

Amelia let out a small chuckle, "Fair enough." They followed her down and out the door into the backyard. She brought them to a back gate that led them to a secret trail. She told them that if they followed it, it would take them back to the front entrance and they could go on their way, which is just what they did in the quiet of the night as the party continued inside the massive mansion.

"It's kind of sad," Amelia said, "I mean, that's really kind of them to go to these lengths just for Judeau, but…"

"Yeah," Edward agreed, "They're kind, but… their family is broken." Amelia let out a somber hum as she agreed with his words.

They walked on in silence for a little while longer, "...You know, maybe we should have stuck around for a little longer. Put those dance lessons to good use?" She said, trying to end the evening on a lighter note.

Edward let out a small laugh, "Maybe next time."

Amelia smiled a little to herself as he said that, "Yeah… next time."

---

A/N: Sorry, I know this took a while but I hope you guys are still reading and enjoying