Edna looked at her new arm with open appreciation. Idia had been gleeful to look over her old automail, and had been excited to take it apart to find out how it worked. A leg was one thing, but an arm was far more sophisticated and the main reason why everyone dismissed it as a myth. After all, if modern medicine couldn't replicate it, then how could a civilization that barely had a working telephone system pull it off?

It had been both awkward and strangely embarrassing to let Idia examine the ports connected to her body. Idia had been particularly interested in the connections on her arm, as that had the most work done to it.

Vil had been rather horrified when he initially saw the scar tissue. To be fair, it was far more extensive than the scarring on her left leg.

Idia had put most of his spare time into creating a new working arm. He had used the knowledge he had gained creating Ortho's body to create the base, and did his best to recreate the wiring and gears he found inside her old arm.

The new arm was far more sleek, and more importantly was waterproof. The outer shell was almost half the weight of her old arm, and the shell was made of some sort of material Edna had never heard of, but responded to her alchemy just fine.

Idia had been fascinated learning about her trick with the arm blade, and had made sure to familiarize Edna to the new material so that she could recreate it with her new arm. He also added extra material on the part she typically used to form the blade.

He was almost disappointed the project was done, because it meant that Edna would have limited reason to visit. He had come to enjoy their talks, as there was something relaxing about being around her.

So you could imagine his surprise when she showed up a week later.

"Is there something wrong with the limbs?" he asked.

"I'm still getting used to them, but they're working fine," said Edna.

"I think Nii-san is surprised you came back," said Ortho.

Edna looked confused.

"Why wouldn't I come back? Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone who can keep up with me when I start talking about alchemy in depth? Besides, we were still watching that one show, weren't we?" said Edna.

Idia felt himself flush, as Ortho grinned at him.

"Come on, I think nii-san has this week's episode recorded!" said Ortho excitedly.

"Lead on," said Edna grinning, fist-bumping with Ortho.

In the Board Game Club...

"So Edna has been coming to spend time with you and Ortho to binge watch anime?" said Azul amused.

"Her comments were almost as entertaining as the show was," said Idia with a slight smile. He moved his piece in an attempt to corner Azul, but the other male easily countered him.

"I'm surprised at you. You've never been this social before," said Azul honestly.

This was the most social interaction Idia had with others willingly. At least, to Azul's knowledge anyway. Idia was rather firmly an awkward introvert who avoided engaging with actual people whenever possible.

And yet Edna breached that barrier without even a second thought. It was positively adorable to watch the reclusive bluenette open up to the extroverted blonde.

"She's easy to talk to. She actually listens to my explanation and understands most of it," said Idia. "And she gets along really well with Ortho."

Azul decided to go in for the kill...both in the game and to tease Idia a bit more.

"So, do you have a crush on her?"

Idia flushed, his hair turning a vibrant pink before quickly reverting to it's usual blue.

"I don't have a crush on her!" he said a little too quickly. However there was definitely blood in the water now, and Azul was notorious for sniffing out blackmail.

Azul smirked, and Idia knew he was in for his own personal hell.

Edna knew by instinct when she went to watch the latest episode of an anime Idia had gotten her hooked on that he wasn't in the mood for company. Ortho's expression said it all, and she had a pretty good feeling what was causing it.

One of the things Idia had loaned her to help combat boredom and catch her up to speed on modern living was a tablet. It had a direct line to him via Ortho in case something went wrong with her new limbs.

So she went back to her room, cast a minor spell to insure privacy, and slowly went through the steps Idia had coached her through to connect.

Ortho was quick to pick up, as Idia hadn't said anything about not speaking through a tablet.

Ortho- Hey Edna! Is something wrong with your new prosthetic?

Edna- no, but I have something I know your brother will need to hear. Do you have any way to transmit?

Ortho- sure thing!

She saw the tablet connect to Idia's room, though there wasn't any video. That was fine, as she didn't need it to get her message across.

What she said next came entirely from the heart and from personal experience.

"What do you want?" said Idia.

She could tell from the tone that her guess was right.

"The adults said that it wasn't your fault, that you were just a child and didn't know any better. But the truth is you knew exactly what you were doing and thought you knew better because they had also praised you, likely for years, about being smarter than the adults themselves."

She could hear him sit up in shock, and she could only imagine the expression on his face.

"What..."

"The truth is that you were arrogant, prideful and thought you knew everything you needed to know. After all, what was the worst consequence you'd suffer? A scolding from the adults around you and a time out? But it turned out to be so much worse."

She could hear Idia moving, and kept talking. It came out in a torrent really.

She didn't know when it started, but the memories of her own arrogance and stupidity came rushing back, and silent tears came down her face.

There was dead silence on the other end, but the sheer emotion was enough to convey that Edna not only understood his pain, but empathized on a very personal level.

It took everything in her not to choke off and sob by the end of it.

Eventually she hung up, but she knew that the intent behind the call had been made. She would leave him alone for a few days and let him make the first move.

A week later...

Idia cornered her after classes.

Edna took one look at his eyes and knew he understood why she had made that call.

"Who was it?" he asked simply. There was no one else besides him and Edna in the room.

"My younger brother, Alphonse. I sacrificed my right arm to trap his soul in a suit of armor to keep him with me. I couldn't bear the idea of losing him too after we failed to bring our mother back through alchemy. I spent well over six years trying to find a way to restore his body, at least until I ended up here," said Edna.

Idia could tell she wasn't lying.

"We just wanted to have an adventure, but the shields kept us from leaving. So I lowered them, and didn't know that I had also lowered the barriers keeping specific creatures at bay," he said quietly.

There was a moment of almost awkward silence between them. Neither of them had expected to encounter someone who knew rather intimately the pain of losing their sibling due to hubris, much less the agony of having to stare at their own mistakes every single day.

The two separated and kept quiet on the matter, silently musing over this new information. When Edna tentatively came to visit for another anime marathon, Idia shyly let her in. It took three visits before things settled into a more comfortable normal.

Edna looked at Kalim with no small amount of exasperation. She really felt for Jamil, she honestly did. The poor guy was stuck acting as Kalim's minder, and Kalim was pretty damn absentminded.

That being said, Kalim was hard to hate because he was honest and friendly.

Upon hearing she was from the lost kingdom of Amestris, Kalim remembered some random piece of junk one of his uncles had dumped on him along with the massive 'storage room' his family had sent over.

One of his uncles was into archaeology, and had at one point delved into the lost kingdom. He had found several artifacts, including an ancient piece of armor that had been of great importance, though he never could find out why as the records were lost. Just that the military of the kingdom held it in high regard.

It was old, rusty and couldn't really move anymore. It wasn't very appealing to look at, and the uncle had found more impressive things to put in his home. So he decided to dump the thing on Kalim with the knowledge his nephew was unlikely to get rid of it before he graduated.

After Edna helped Kalim with his alchemy homework, he opted to let her look at the storage room. Specifically the hunk of junk his Uncle had left him.

Edna froze the second she saw it.

She knew her voice was breaking, but she did her best to hide it.

"Hey Kalim...how would you like to restore this thing?" she asked.

"You can fix it? My uncle hired a ton of people, but they all refused to touch the thing," said Kalim.

"Yeah, it would only take me a few seconds. It looks like all the parts are here," said Edna. The shock had mostly worn off, so her voice was back to normal.

She walked up to the armor, which looked beyond rusted over. Without a second thought, she clapped her hands together to create the familiar rush of alchemy. She touched the armor, and the rust seemed to disappear as if by magic.

Kalim and Jamil stared as the armor went from rusted hunk of metal to an almost fully functioning suit. There were still parts that would need a bit of fixing, like the leather and the missing cloth part on the front, but the metal itself had been repaired.

Nothing, nothing could have prepared the three for what happened next.

The eye holes of the helmet lit up with a crimson light...and without any warning Edna was suddenly glomped by the suit of armor.

Edna's expression was one of shock...then relief.

"Edna!"

"Al?!" she said.

Outside the treasury...

"So let me get this straight...this suit of armor contains the soul of your younger brother Alphonse?" said Jamil. He looked like he had a headache.

"Yeah. I'm not going to go into details how that is, for obvious reasons."

"Well that explains why all those professional restoration artists refused to work with it. He must have scared them when he started talking," said Jamil.

Alphonse snickered, which was insanely creepy since he was all too happy to reveal there was nothing inside the armor. A possessed set of armor was sure to scare even the most hardened soul, even if the soul in question was actually a total sweetheart.

If Jamil and Kalim had been shocked, Vil was appropriately horrified.

Not just because of the implications of having a literal soul in a suit of armor...but also because there was no way in hell the armor in question would ever fit the ascetic of the dorm.

Edna wasn't happy, but Alphonse had zero issue staying in Scarabia for the time being. Jamil enlisted him as a silent sentinel for Kalim around the dorm, since Alphonse didn't need to sleep in the least and actually rather liked Kalim. The two would spend hours (much to Jamil's consternation) talking. Unlike Edna, Alphonse had picked up the local language simply by listening and having nothing but time on his hands.

On the plus side, something in Edna's heart eased a bit, having her brother back. Even if Alphonse couldn't join the school as a proper student, since he couldn't cast magic in his current condition.