Credit where credit is due. Most of this story is adapted from a Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood story of the title:
Inseparable Brothers.
Url: https://www.deviantart.com/darklord665/a...
It had been one year since Father’s defeat. One year since Edward recovered his right arm and Alphonse his entire body. Other than Ed’s now inability to preform alchemy, life was good and returning to normal. The Elric brothers returned to Resembool, they rebuilt their old home, and then…
“So…how’s Al holding up?” asked Winry as she sat across from Edward at the kitchen table of the Rockbell's house. In front of her were various tools and dismantled automail parts that were keeping the blonde so busy she couldn’t spare the moment to look up at the person she was speaking to.
“Pretty good, all things considered.” The former alchemist replied, also neglecting to look up from his work. As Edward sat there, dressed in a pair of black trousers and a sleeveless, black top, he was immersed in the texts of several books at once. On either side of him were stacks of even more tomes. “He says he’s gotten used to it—the whole being tiny thing—but I think he’s just trying to put on a brave face. Being so small someone can pick you up into their hand would unsettle anyone, but he trusts the guys back at Central and I to come up with a solution.”
About three weeks ago, Edward’s brother Alphonse began experiencing an extreme decline in height. It started with just a few inches, then a foot or two, and suddenly Edward came home one day and almost stepped on his younger brother after he had shrunken to the size of a doll!
“And? Have you made any headway?” the Winry inquired while she used a wrench to twist a screw on an automail hand.
“None.” Ed answered with a heavy and drawn-out sigh. “We haven’t even been able to figure out what’s caused it. The very fact he’s so small and still alive is scientifically implausible, so it can’t be related to alchemy. Either he’s been poisoned, God’s fucking with us again, or…” Ed scoffed and slammed shut an old book on “magic” and “rituals”. “…it’s some weird voodoo, hocus pocus baloney.”
“Well…at least he stopped shrinking, right?”
“Yeah, he hasn’t shrunken in over a week now.” He said as he opened up a new book on plants and poisons from foreign countries and began flipping through the pages. “I don’t think he’ll get any smaller, that’s why I left him back at home. The only thing he has to worry about there is the occasional cockroach, and he has little trouble with them.”
The duo spent the next several minutes in silence as they both worked on their separate projects. Eventually, Winry looked up and caught Ed pulling at the collar of his shirt. Due to today’s dreadful summer heat, the 17-year-old was sweating bullets and his shirt was practically glued to his skin. Next to his arm was an empty glass that once held an abundance of refreshing, cool water, but Ed was so engrossed in his reading that he would rather die in the heat than get up to replenish it. Rolling her eyes, the automail mechanic stood up and grabbed Edward’s glass on her way by. She refilled it for him and placed it back down next to him. Mumbling a thank you, the long-haired youth took the tumbler and brought it to his lips without ever actually checking its contents.
“Ptooie!” The former Fullmetal Alchemist spat out a white haze the moment the pale liquid touched his tongue. Slamming the glass down upon the wooden table, Edward directed his eyes up at his friend in a loathing glare. “MILK?! Are you trying to kill me?!”
“So close…” Winry muttered under her breath as she took the glass of cold milk back; disappointment diffused across her face. As she took the milk to the refrigerator so it wouldn’t go bad, she spoke out loud, “Honestly, Ed, milk is good for you! Don’t you wanna be tall?”
“In case you didn’t notice, I’m taller than you! I’ve grown plenty these last couple years without having taken a sip of that repugnant cow piss! It’s probably thanks to your damn automail I wasn’t gro—“
Before Ed could finish, he was quickly silenced with a wrench to the head. As he doubled over and held the back of his head in pain, Winry went on to say, “And what about Al? How tall was he before this whole shrinking business happened?” Edward immediately froze and ceased his resentful grousing. The reaction pleased Winry as she continued. “A few inches taller than you, if I recall! If you start drinking milk, you might be able to surprise him when he finally returns to normal!”
“Would you just get off my back?” Ed took his hands off his cranium and rested them on the tabletop as he returned to his books. “I need to focus.”
“Fine.” Winry spat, but instead of returning to her seat, she grabbed a bag off the kitchen counter and headed for the door. “I need to pick up some things at the market. Try not to cause any trouble while I’m gone, alright?”
“The hell does she think I’m gonna do?” Edward asked himself after she had shut the door behind her. With both Pinako and Den out of town, there wasn’t even anyone for him to argue with. A few minutes after he was left alone, Edward heard an irritating buzzing by his ear. When he felt something land on his cheek, he instantly slapped it with the lightning-fast reflexes of a martial artist. Taking his hand away from his face, he examined it and spotted the black, flattened remains of a fly staining his palm. As he wiped his hand against his pants he said, “Not even she would get mad at me for killing some bug, right?”
Not long afterwards, the silent and peaceful atmosphere was disturbed by a peculiar scratching noise. Ed only acknowledged it the second time it occurred when he lifted his eyes from his work and they darted around to find the source. He traced the third instance to the door Winry had left through not long ago. “What is it now?” he grumbled quietly as he slid his chair back, stood up, and made his way to the door just as something scratched at it a fourth time. When he pulled it open, no one entered his sight until he lowered it. There, sitting on the front steps and staring right at him, was a golden cat. Edward recognized it as the same feline that had been spotted around Resembool lately; the one that had taken a liking to his brother.
“What do you want? Get out of here! Shoo!” shouted Ed as he dismissingly waved while sneering down at the stray animal. It refused to budge and simply sat there; staring up at the human with big, green eyes. The crying it made pierced the teen’s ears and made his eyebrow twitch. “Geez. If I give you some milk, will you scram?” Uttering some not-so-nice things about cats, Ed spun around and walked to the white refrigerator.
“Brother! Big brother, I’m down here! Don’t you see me?!” squeaked a voice belonging to none other than Alphonse Elric; the younger of the two Elric brothers. The tiny alchemist stood between Victor’s (that’s the cat) ears and was shouting at his ginormous, towering brother while waving his arms to signal him. His older brother seemed to glare right past him, however, and was soon turning his back to walk away. “No! Ed! Dammit!” It was just as he feared—his brother couldn’t hear him! He couldn’t see him atop Victor’s head either (his golden-blond hair did match the cat’s fur). Seeing no alternative, Al thanked Victor for his assistance and began sliding down his vivid coat to the floor below.
The younger Elric brother had been minding his own business at home, doing his own studying (no one could imagine how much harder it was to turn pages when you were only a few inches tall), when he suddenly started to shrink again! Before he knew it, he was a mere centimeter tall! Worried his shrinking wasn’t over yet, Alphonse climbed up onto Victor and directed the enormous cat to Winry’s house. He had to get Ed’s attention before he got any smaller!
As soon as the itty-bitty teen arrived on flat, solid ground, he made a mad dash for the house’s opened entryway. Al felt like an intruding ant taking advantage of a carelessly unshut door as he crossed over onto the hardwood floor of his childhood friend’s kitchen. Almost immediately, the miniscule blond’s shod feet slapped against moist ground and he caught a whiff of something rank in the air. Pausing and looking around, Alphonse realized he was standing in a vast footprint of fragrant sweat! As he plugged his nose, Ed’s little brother could only imagine how copiously his brother’s foot must be sweating to produce such a track. He did not need to imagine for much longer…
*THOOM* *THOOM* *THOOM*
The wood beneath Alphonse’s feet shook and quaked to alert the smaller Elric that his sibling was on the move again. The young alchemist turned his head to witness his colossal brother turning the corner and begin stomping toward him; both of his feet, one of metal and the other of flesh and blood, creating similar THOOMs as they slapped against the floor. Al felt the air leave his lungs as he craned his neck back and gazed upon the enormous figure of the former State Alchemist. Ed had been a veritable giant ever since he first shrunk, but now…now the teenager of average height seemed to dwarf any building Alphonse had ever seen!
“Brother! Look down!” cried the gnat of a 16-year-old, but Edward’s unobservant eyes of gold never graced the floor beneath him and he kept on marching forward. As the titanic blond was about to close the gap between him and his bug-sized relative...
Can the Elric boy evade his elder brother's feet and avoid being a victim of unaware fratricide? Or will he be at the mercy beneath his (un)notice?  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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