[Disclaimer: I do not own FMA or any of its characters, though I immensely wish I did.

Nor do I own the name of the FFIII village I am going to use in my fan-fic. FFIII w00t.

Chapter 1

The Mission

It had just been a simple mission. But it turned out to be so much more. (A.N: OOh, so dramatic xd)

The phone rang in the Rockbells' house. Edward Elric picked it up, seeing that Winry wasn't home. Lifting the receiver up to his ear, he spoke into it.

"Hello?"

"Edward, I need to talk to you."

It was Mustang.

"ARGHHH! What do you want now?"

"I can't talk about it over the phone…meet me at Central."

"Alright, alright."

Slamming down the receiver, he sighed. It was probably just another scouting mission.

"Hey Al! I'm gonna go meet Mustang at Central."

Grabbing his coat, he slung it over his shoulder and ran out the door. Al shook his head.

"Why is he always in such a hurry?"

Several train stations later, Ed finally arrives at Central. There, Mustang is waiting for him.

"Come with me." Mustang promptly says, then turns and swiftly walks away.

"What the..?! Wait up!"

Running after Mustang, Ed notices that there are almost no people out on the streets. After running for a few minutes, he caught up with Mustang. Catching his breath, he taps Mustang.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I'm sending you on a mission."

"Well, there's new information."

"Edward, I'm not joking. Go to the city of Ur. There, link up with an old agent of mine."

"How will I know who he is?"

"Trust me, it will be obvious."

"Fine. Which train do I take?"

"They don't have a train station."

"Aw crap! I have to walk?"

"…You could run if you wanted to."

"Shut up!"

Ed walked back to a telephone booth he saw earlier.

"Might as well let Al know where I'm going."

Dialing the phone number, Ed waited for the call to go through.

"Hello?"

"Hey Al, I'm going to a place called Ur. Can you tell Winry and Granny?"

"What have you gotten yourself into now..."

"Mustang assigned me a mission."

"Well, do you want me to come?"

"I think I'll be alright."

"Bye then."

"Right, see you later Al."

Hanging up, he checked his wallet. 4230 sens. Well, It might be enough he thought.

Walking towards Central headquarters, he started thinking about the upcoming mission.

At Central Headquarters, he was told to "get going," and not much else. It seemed nobody really wanted to talk to him for some reason.

Many hours of walking/running later…

"Oooh, I'm so hungry." Ed moaned as he trudged through the thick woods.

Wait! I know! Clapping his hand together, he placed them on a small area of grass. After a brief alchemical flash, the grass was replaced by what resembled bread, and picking it up, Ed quickly ate it.

"Ugh, tastes like paper."

Bursting out of the forest all he could see was a flat plain, with several hills. Walking to the top of one of them, he gazed across the grassy plain and saw a small village in the distance, with several hills farther out. Finally, I'm here, he thought.

The thought of a bed to sleep in and a hot breakfast caused him to run as fast as he could towards the village.

Finding a cheap inn, he fell onto a bed and drifted off to sleep.

Waking up the next morning, he yawned and hurriedly put on his clothes. Walking out of the inn, he noticed a man wearing a state military police uniform, but did not really think about it. All he could think about was something hot to eat.

Sitting down in a small tea shop, Ed ordered sausage, eggs, and tea. (A.N: Umm… Obvious? ) Wolfing down the food, he noticed the same man he saw wearing the uniform looking at him. Without turning from his food, he asked:

"What do you want?"

"Your name is Edward Elric right? Mustang said you'd be coming. Said you'd be real short, with a fiery temper. Name's Ted, Ted Denzer, nice to meet you."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SHORT!"

"Oh, right sorry, but Mustang told me that"

Note to self, must kill Mustang when I get back to Central.

"So, Ted, what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, there's supposed to be this creepy mansion up that hill." As he says this, he points toward a hill behind him.

"What, I don't see anything."

"That's the thing, yesterday, there was this huge flash, and then the mansion seemed to sink into the ground, but when people went to look, there was nothing, just grass."

"Hmm… alchemy…"

"What's that?"

"Oh nothing, nothing at all."

Getting up from his chair, he left money, and then began trekking up the hill, accompanied by Ted. Reaching the top, he saw small traces of alchemic activity.

Nothing much, just small distortion, and chunks missing from the land, but it aroused his suspicion. Ed wandered around the circular hilltop, and suddenly clapped his hands, and placed them on the ground. A brilliant light lit up their faces, and Ted just stared. Soon after, a staircase leading into the hill seemed to have appeared from nowhere.

"Aha! I knew this hill would be hollow." Ed yelled triumphantly.

"You did?"

"Of course! The flash was an alchemic flash, and the mansion didn't sink, the ground just covered over it."

"I see."

Descending into the darkness, Ted pulled out a flashlight and turned it on.

"What in God's name is this!"

TBC in Chapter 2: The Discovery.