The ground began shaking at around 7:00 PM.

What the cause was, no one knew. People crouched down in the safest place they could think of, others covering their heads while children clung to their guardians in fear and soldiers tried to keep order as they evacuated their personal and citizens to safe locations. Buildings shook and some crumbled, but they kept standing. Then, after only about a few minutes later, it ended.

"Wha- what the heck was that?!"

Edward Elric grimaced as he tried to get back up from where he fell during the earthquake, nearly falling back down again. His whole body felt like jell-o and his head was still ringing from the loud rumbling.

"I don't know," Alphonse Elric said as he got up too, steadying his brother and himself.

"Well, what ever it was, it's over now-" the blond began

Crackle.

Ed's sentence was cut off by the noise and the blond looked behind himself. His molten gold eyes widened.

"RUN AL!" he screamed as he grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him forward before the armored boy began running too.

A crater had opened up in the street, spreading and bigger-ing over the concrete, a red light surrounding it. It stopped expanding a few seconds later. The two brothers gaped, shell-shocked.

"Again: what the heck was that?!" Ed asked, officially freaked out.

The two then walked slowly to the edge of the crater to look at it. It was about a few yards deep and in diameter, or at least that's what the brothers estimated.

"Brother look! There's someone down there!" Al exclaimed, pointing to the bottom.

They quickly ran to the bottom and ran the the injured. The person's clothing might have been white at one time, but now the clothing was dyed crimson with blood, with multiple tears in the fabric. They were lying on their back so Ed and Al could clearly see their face.

Black hair framed their face and was down to the nape of their neck. The features on their face were delicate and the expression serene. Amethyst eyes were half-opened and almost glazed over.

"Hey! Are you okay? Stay with us!" Ed exclaimed as he propped the person's head into his arms.

Their eyes twitched slightly as they gazed at the alchemist, their eyes meeting Ed's golden ones before they fluttered shut.

An image of his mother flashed before Ed's eyes, when she was on death's doors. Her dark blue eyes were half-closed as she looked lovingly at the brothers, and when she closed them-

They never opened again.

"No no no! Stay awake, you need to stay awake! We'll get help and you'll be okay, okay?!" Ed nearly shouted, gripping their hand tightly.

"Al! Get help, now!" the golden-haired boy snapped at the armored boy. Al nodded and quickly got out of the crater to seek aid.

"So you're here too, Fullmetal?"

Ed looked up to see Roy Mustang standing over him.

"What-"

"Stand back," Mustang ordered, setting on his white glove with the transmutation circle.

"Hey, what are you trying to do, fry them?!" Ed snapped.

Mustang paid him no attention as he knelt by the person and snapped his fingers as softly as he could, flames billowing out weakly. After about a few seconds, Mustang pulled back, revealing to have seared the wound shut.

"Oh. Uh, okay," Ed muttered avoiding the older male's eyes.

A few minutes later, some medics came down and quickly loaded the young person onto a stretcher and into a medical car. Ed rode along side them, keeping an eye on the other. Without even realizing, he gripping their hand, delicate and with long thin fingers in his smaller and rougher hand.

Please live, okay?

After they had brought the person to the nearest hospital and Ed officially ordered the doctors to save them, he and Al had been waiting outside of the room where the doctors and patient were. Mustang was already gone to report the situation to the Fuhrer President.

"Damn it! It's been hours since we brought that kid here! What are they doing in there anyways?!" Ed snapped impatiently.

"What are you talking about, Ed? It's only been about thirty minutes," Al said, looking up from the newspaper he was reading.

"Wait really? Huh... " Ed said, sheepishly.

Just then, the doctor and nurses came out. Ed immediately shot over to the doctor.

"Well?! Are they okay?" he snapped impatiently.

If that person died, then so help him- !

"Don't worry about your friend. He's sleeping now and will make a full recovery," The doctor informed the alchemist.

"Seriously? That's great!" Ed sighed with relief.

"However, there is definitely something strange going on with him."

Ed and Al looked at the doctor at this.

"What is it?" They both asked.

"You said that he was bleeding from a sword-like wound in his stomach, correct?"

"Yeah, no doubt about that, doc. I saw the blood and I saw it coming out of him." Ed stressed the last four words.

"And Colonel Mustang seared the wound shut." Al added.

"I don't doubt you, but when we examined the wound, all there was were some minor burning and next to no evidence of a wound being there previously. And on top of that, there was almost no blood loss visible as far as we could tell."

Ed and Al stared, shock clearly visible on Ed's face, and while Al was shocked, no one could tell.

"How is that possible?!"

"Brother, don't yell. I'm surprised by this, too," Al said softly, gripping his older sibling's shoulder.

Ed took a few breaths to calm himself down before looking back at the doctor.

"Okay, um... I'm ordering you not to breathe a word of this to anyone, okay?" Ed said to the doctor. This was his second time using the oh-so useful major-equivalent status.

"Yes sir. Oh, one more thing: we found a single item on him. It's on the table."

"You didn't have to call me-!" but the doctor already left. "-sir."

Ed sweat-dropped. He really wasn't used to giving orders and even less used to being called "sir".

"What now, brother?" Al asked.

Ed didn't answer. Instead, he walked to the door and opened it as softly as he could and turned around. The young man was sleeping on the hospital bed, looking much better than when Ed saw him. Walking over to the the table by the bed, Ed picked up the item.

It was a device he had never seen before. It was pale teal shaped like two small rectangle held together by a hinge. Ed opened up the device, revealing a bunch of small buttons and a silver pad with four arrows on the bottom half and a blank looking square on the upper half.

"Just what the heck is this thing supposed to be?" Ed wondered aloud, closing it again. It was then he noticed a small white heart-locket with a golden pattern across it attached to the device by a small chain.

Curious, Ed opened the small locket. A soft melody began playing from it. He didn't know why, but Ed found himself trying to hold back tears. The melody was sweet, but at the same time, so sad. He closed the locket, cutting off the music, and wiped his eyes with the back of his sleeve. He set it back on the table, hoping that he didn't disturb the other male.

"Mmm..."

Ed perked up at the small moan, turning to the young man. He winced before opening up his eyes. They looked up at the ceiling before glancing over at Ed.

"Uh, hey. You gave me a pretty bad scare a while ago. I thought you were gonna die," He said after a moment, attempting to break the ice.

The young man remained silent, his eyes never leaving Ed's. The awkwardness in the air was so thick, you could cut it.

"So, um, if you don't mind me asking, who are you?" Ed finally asked.

The young man frowned as if thinking before finally replying.

"I... I don't know. Rather... I don't remember."

This is happening before the Elric brothers go to Liore, by the way.

Roy seared the wound shut just like with what he did to save Havoc in volume ten, by the way.