The lantern's light flickered over the walls of the mine, toying with shadows and distorting them beyond recognition, shaping them into things that weren't really there.

Edward and Alphonse Elric, Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye patrolled the dark corridors. Their bodies were one edge, ready for to move with a second's notice. The abandoned mines of Hijfred were feared by the locals, mainly for superstitious reasons. But recently, the military had taken notice of them. Reports of monsters prowling the area, attacking travelers and sheltering in the mines were becoming more and more common placed.

Mustang's first instinct was to ignore it. But the hair on the back of his neck began to stand on edge whenever the mines were brought up. Rumors of an eerie blue light shining from deep within the mines didn't help and eventually the abduction of children became an frighteningly common occurrence. He had intended to just go himself, but his sixth sense screamed at him that something was wrong.

Now, Mustang never considered himself superstitious, but he had learned that sometimes the gut feeling is the best feeling to go with. So he brought his entire team. Lieutenant Hawkeye was by his side as always, and the rest of the team was scouting about the woods that surrounded the mines in pairs.

When they had arrived at the entrance of the mines, they were greeting by the clanking of hollow metal and the muttering of curses. Guns were instantly raised, pointed in the direction of the sounds. Fingers were poised to snap. The entire team was enraged when the Elric brothers stumbled out of the bushes.

Edward and Alphonse had heard of the rumors, and just as Mustang did, brushed it off as nothing initially. Then they too heard the rumors of the blue light and the monsters. They too heard the reports of missing children.

The boys had a suspicion of what was happening. Someone was performing alchemy in the mines, experimenting with perhaps the children who had gone missing. Or maybe the monsters just ate them. Past experiences told the boys it wasn't impossible, and the two of them were determined not to relive those experiences.

When they shared their thoughts on the matter, Mustang knew it was waste of time to try and get them to leave. He also knew there was no point in getting them not to go into the mines themselves, so he figured he and his lieutenant would go with them.

And thus here they all were. Traveling underground with nothing but a few lanterns lighting the way. The tunnels were wide enough for them to walk side by side and long enough to be unable to see the ends. Not only that, there were other tunnels that branched off from the main one, except narrower. So they had a lot of ground to cover.

Ed stopped in his tracks suddenly, holding his lantern up. At his halt, Alphonse did as well. And the absence of the clanking of Al's armor alerted the two adults that the boys weren't moving. Roy, holding the other lantern, looked to Edward with a frown.

"You hear something, FullMetal?"

"Ssh." Ed hushed him. Roy obeyed, a bit irritated, but he did. Edward slowly approached the wall of the mine, placing his lantern down as he crouched onto the ground, pressing his ear against the carved out ground. His brow furrowed as he bit down on his bottom lip. "Something's moving down here." He muttered mainly to himself.

The other three stayed quiet, letting the boy listen as carefully as he could.

Now, Roy had no idea how Ed's hearing was as good as it was, but he had also learned to not question him when the kid said he heard something. And right now, as Ed's shoulders tensed, Roy tensed as well. When he did, Riza did too, and Alphonse was already dashing towards his brother.

"It's digging up!" Ed snapped, jumping to his feet. Al quickly scooped Ed up in his arms, the elder brother snatching their lantern as he was lifted. The armored spirit leapt back just as the ground beneath them gave way. Ivory claws pushed through the ground, a beast crashing up just moments after. Roy snapped his fingers, flames forming and throwing themselves around the fleeing brothers and at the creature, setting is alight.

It screamed, a gurgled thing that echoed through the dark corridors. Alphonse had rejoined Roy and Riza, skidding to turn as he did so. Ed's eyes were wide, their yellow color reflecting the orange of Roy's flames. The monster's scream went on for far too long, echoing still as the fire burnt itself out.

As the echoes died down, the four were left looking over the charred corpse of the monstrosity that had dug out from under them. It was hard to tell, given how burnt it was, but it resembled a mole. A very large mole with very large, very sharp teeth that still shined white in the lantern's light.

Roy frowned, opening his mouth to talk when Edward beat him to it.

"What the fuck?"

Al nodded silently, eye-lights fixed on the dead creature. Riza frowned, eyes narrowing as they flicked over the mole. Roy took a step towards it, and his lieutenant's eyes shot wide open.

"Sir!" She snapped. Roy stopped and scrambled back, just as the mole lunged itself upward, digging its claws into the ceiling above them, pushing rock and dirt down behind it. But just as Roy was throwing himself back, the ground beneath him gave way into the hole that the monster left.

"Colonel!" Ed and Al both screamed. Ed leapt out of Al's arms as Riza charged forward. Ed, who was lunging for Roy as well, planted in his heel and did a 180, turning to tackle the lieutenant away from the collapsing ground. Alphonse grabbed a hold of Roy from the back of his collar, going to haul him up and the ground slid out from under him and throwing the both of them down the ditch.

The ceiling caved in, crushing one of the lanterns. The mine shook around them, making it impossible to keep their footing. Ed wrapped his arms around Riza's waist, holding her back as she tried to force her way to where the Colonel and Alphonse fell. He tried to scream at her, but his voice was drowned out by the collapsing mine tunnel.

Eventually, the dust settled and they were left in the silent dark. Alphonse and Roy were somewhere beneath them, possibly buried alive. Edward's throat was sore from yelling, his arms still holding back the lieutenant who was screaming for her colonel.

They were separated.

A/N

Hiya! I wanted to write something that explores some Familial pairs i like, never see. So here's a thing with Roy and Al and also Riza and Ed.