OMG, I'm alive! Long story short, senior year killed my non-technical creative juices (I had to use them all up on my senior design project). I have a really cool job now, in a petroleum pilot plant in my hometown.

I'm hoping that by posting this chapter, I'll find the inspiration to pull together what I've written in the interim, and also to keep going.

As always, thank you for your input, dewdropfirefly! You're awesome, and I miss you so much.

Even after all this time, I don't own any of these characters or the worlds they come from. I just like playing with them sometimes…

Chapter 6 – Introducing the Stranger

Heiji went home not long after the alchemy demonstration, with the explicit request to be informed of any new developments.

Dr Agasa appropriated the two pieces of automail in hopes of gaining even a basic understanding of how they worked, so that he could fashion something comparable for when Edward would be ready for them.

Ai and Conan wisely decided to let Edward rest as much as he needed to. They went to school the next day, trying to act as though everything was still normal.

At lunch time, the other three Detective Boys cornered the pair.

"Where were you guys yesterday," Ayumi asked. "We couldn't get in touch with either of you!"

"I bet they were off on a case without us…" Genta muttered.

Conan held his hands up and smiled. "Heh, heh… it was nothing like that!"

"Then what was it," Mitsuhiko asked.

"You two have been acting weird all morning," Ayumi remembered. "I wonder if it has anything to do with the guy we saw in the park…"

Conan tensed. "Which guy?"

She sighed. "The weird one in the old-looking clothes. He gave you your ball back, remember?"

"Oh yeah, him…"

"We don't know anything new," Ai said without looking up from the book she had opened, "but you three will be the first to know if we do."

There was a chorus of 'okay's before the bell rang to begin the afternoon classes.

Conan went with Ai to Dr Agasa's house after school. Edward was sitting on the sofa watching television when they got there. A single crutch lay on the floor nearby.

"You're up," Conan observed.

"Yeah… I still feel like crap, though."

"That was a pretty stupid stunt you pulled yesterday," Ai scolded.

Ed exploded. "How the hell was I supposed to know it would drain me? My body could handle it the last time I was this size!"

"That's exactly my point," she replied, unfazed by his outburst. "The circumstances have changed and you're in bad shape. You should have known better."

"You're not my guardian."

Conan observed the exchange with interest. In the short time they'd known each other he'd discovered increasing evidence of a strong independent streak in the alchemist.

"No, I'm not. However, I know exactly what's wrong with your immune system."

The detective interrupted her. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"He'll have to find out eventually, so it may as well be from the horse's mouth." When he didn't say anything else, she continued. "Elric-san, you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you. It would help greatly, though, if you can keep in mind that it's also why I came to live here and am doing what I'm doing."

Edward looked back and forth between the two of them. Ai took a deep breath as if preparing to reveal something big. Conan looked away as if the something big was information he wasn't terribly interested in hearing again. "What's the deal? The way you're acting… if I didn't know better, I'd think you were about to tell me you're the one who did it!"

Two pairs of eyes snapped back to look at the alchemist.

"I'm not an idiot."

"We didn't mean to make it seem like we thought you were. It's just taking a little getting used to there being someone else like us. Anyway, you're not far from the truth – I did make the poison. They forced me to. What they took from me was a prototype, and they fed it to Edogawa-kun. I'm surprised that they still haven't figured out what it does." She and Conan sat down in an attempt to make themselves comfortable.

"In other words, they could come after us at any moment?"

"Exactly," Conan replied, "which is why we both changed our names and enrolled in one of the local elementary schools. You're lucky in that respect, because no one knows who you are. Still, I think it would be a good idea for you to come to school with us once you recover. There's just one thing – I know you haven't told me everything yet. I would really appreciate it if you shared the rest with me."

Edward turned his head away.

"I find it hard to believe that you have bigger trust issues than Haibara. I told you I'm a detective – I like to know what I'm dealing with."

"Keep in mind that aside from Hattori-san and Dr Agasa, we're the only ones who have any clue what's going on," Ai added. "Actually, we have a better idea."

"Fine," Ed relented, "but there's a lot. Where should I begin?"

"I haven't heard any of it," she pointed out. "So how about you start at the beginning. How did you lose your arm and leg?"

"Alchemy – I was trying to perform a human transmutation, and both my brother and I paid the price for it." The other two not-kids listened quietly while he described his parents and his brother, and his friends in the military and the adventures he'd been on after the incident. He was in the middle of explaining about the homonculi when Conan remembered to look at the clock.

"It's almost dinner time and Ran will be expecting me. Can we continue this tomorrow?" He hopped down off the couch.

"Sure." The alchemist made to follow him. He centered himself over his right leg and picked up the crutch for balance. The other boy had already started turning to go. "Conan…"

He turned back and saw Edward standing up.

A strange look came over the blond's face as he found himself looking up a few centimeters just to make eye contact. "How tall are you?"

Conan raised his eyebrows. "Um… 99 centimeters last time I checked. Why?" He and Ai exchanged confused glances.

Ed laughed hesitantly in a noble, yet futile, attempt to hide a flinch. "Oh, no reason… I was just curious…" He shifted his weight to free his hand for a handshake. "Sorry it's my left hand, but I feel I should be thanking you."

"You're welcome," Conan replied, taking the other's hand with his own. "It's what I do. But don't get too comfortable – once you get your strength back, I hope you'll be able to help us."

"I was planning on it. It'd be pretty boring to sit back and do nothing."

Conan smiled. "Good. Until tomorrow, then."

Ed turned to Ai after the other boy left. "I'm already bored out of my mind being stuck here all day…"

Edward's condition improved in the following days. During that time, he and Conan exchanged information about their respective situations. At the end of the week, the alchemist agreed to let the other children come for a visit.

The following Monday, Genta, Ayumi, and Mitsuhiko went with Conan and Ai to Dr Agasa's house after school.

Ayumi was suspicious. "You guys have been running off every day, but today you invited us along. What changed?"

Conan and Ai glanced at each other in a silent discussion to determine exactly how much information to divulge.

The detective took charge of the explanation. He turned around and stopped the procession. "A friend of ours came to us in bad shape last week. He's been recovering well, and we've all agreed that he's ready for visitors."

Genta and Mitsuhiko didn't like that explanation. "You have another friend that we don't know about," the larger of the two exclaimed, ignoring the fact that the world did not revolve around him.

"Maybe it wasn't on purpose," Ayumi considered, always believing that Conan could do no wrong.

When they got to the house, Edward was in the same spot they'd found him in every afternoon since he was able to get out of bed. He broke his attention away from the television when he heard them shuffling around in the entryway. "This box is great," he called out. "I've been watching a lot of news reports."

The three children were surprised when they got into the living room, to find who the voice belonged to. It took them a while to feel comfortable looking at him, because the first thing they noticed on each attempt was that he was missing two limbs. They eventually met his eyes, though. He was blond, and his face looked strangely familiar.

"Hi, I'm Edward," he announced with a grin.

"You look better today," Conan observed. "How do you feel?"

"I feel better. I've been trying to help Dr Agasa too. The sooner that gets finished, the better."

"I agree."

Genta found the remote control, took it, and turned on the new episode of the kids' favorite show, Kamen Yaiba.

"Hey, I was watching that," Ed protested.

"No you weren't," the larger boy said. "You were talking to Conan."

Ai picked up the crutch that was lying on the floor and handed it to Edward. "Just let it go. The news will still be there later. This program will keep them occupied, and in the mean time I think we'd both like to see how much progress you made."

Dr Agasa looked up as the three not-children entered his lab, and greeted them. Parts and wires were strewn on the bench behind him. "I'm glad you're here."

"What is all this," Conan asked, looking at a set of very detailed notes and drawings.

The inventor faced them with a proud smile on his face. "I've been trying very hard to understand how the automail works. I think I figured out where the arm was broken, so I'm just about ready to start working on the new set. I just need to take some measurements."

Conan and Ai watched while Dr Agasa wrote down the lengths of Ed's arm and leg and made notes on the shapes of his hand and foot. When that was finished, all four of them went back out to the living room.

Ayumi turned off the television after the ending credits finished. She turned to face Ed. "I was thinking… Can you join our club?"

The alchemist turned wide-eyed to Conan and Ai as if they could advise him on the answer. When both of them just smirked, he turned back and said "Uh… sure."

Ayumi was ecstatic. Genta and Mitsuhiko on the other hand, were less than pleased. They saw the newcomer as more competition for the girls' attention.

Dr Agasa cleared his throat. "Edward-kun will also be joining you in school as soon as he's able. He is well, as you can see, but he's not exactly mobile."

"I bet you're gonna make something really cool for him," Ayumi said knowingly, "like… a scooter or something!"

The inventor crossed his arms smugly. "I'm going to do better than that! I'm going to build a new arm and leg for him!" He started laughing maniacally, and the children waited patiently for him to realize how crazy it made him look.

"Wow," Genta exclaimed. "Can you really do that?"

"Eh… heh, heh… well, I'm going to try. I have a very good example to work off of."

"I hope you can do it," Ayumi said encouragingly.

"Me too," Mitsuhiko chimed in. "I want to see them when they're finished."

"If everything goes right, you'll at least get to see them when I start going to school with you," Ed commented.

"The trio chuckled a little bit. "Oh, yeah…"

A/N: Only a couple things about the story itself, that I'd like to address. First, I had a suggestion from Ooshii Kurai to extend the pre-poison segment. For a while, I seriously considered doing that… but then I felt that it wouldn't be that meaningful to me. The main purpose of that part of the story was to set up the conflict (which I admit it only did crudely)… and I've moved far enough past that point, that I feel it would be better to just keep pressing forward.

Second, for those of you who usually measure lengths in inches (like I do), 99 centimeters is approximately 3 feet and 3 inches. Dewdropfirefly and I looked up Conan's height, and that was what we found. We assumed that Ed's shrunk-height would be slightly shorter than that, approximately 94 centimeters. We chose to use SI units because that's what most of the world uses, and it makes more sense that way. For an amusing rendition, feel free to check out dewdropfirefly's profile on deviantArt. The picture is called "Life isn't fair".