The world was falling to pieces, leaving only the faint strands of an uncertain reality tied together. Edward looked up at the once blue sky and found a strange sensation quiver in his gut. The sky was deteriorating behind the tall buildings, fading as he stood there watching, leaving what was left of his home hanging in a blank nothingness. The rustling sound that he had become so accustomed to echoed in his ears as he ran forward atop unstable cobblestones. Suddenly the stones rushed up to meet him. A familiar sensation filtered through Edward even before he looked down at his feet.

So, Edward mused, this was the end.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Between Pen and Paper

Prologue - The Vanishing Village

By SakuraSagura

Disclaimer cleverly combined with an Author's Note…

What is this? I'm alive? Wow, that's rather unexpected. Alas, my writing muscles appear to be a bit on the flabby side, but that should hopefully even out soon. Anyways, you probably know the drill by now. I don't own FMA. If I did, I don't think the fandom wouldn't be nearly as fun. Darn. I wish I was an amazingly talented cow...

Anyway... Please enjoy the prologue!

Rain rushed down from the clouded sky, leaving Central City to slosh through the wet chill that filled every inch of its streets. Most of the flags lacing the outside of the government's headquarters had been piled away inside. In the early morning as the workers finished up folding several flags, Riza Hawkeye made her way down the fluorescent tinted hallway. Her black coots clicked stoically against the tiled floor as she approached the door to where she would find Colonel Roy Mustang. She knocked with one hand and adjusted a collection of papers with the other.

"Come in," called Mustang. She did so. Mustang was behind his desk, looking small behind the large stacks of papers that seemed to hold him hostage. He scribbled furiously. Hawkeye wondered absently if he had actually been doing his work or not. She decided on the latter.

"Colonel," she began as she passed the tables where other subordinates sat, "there's a report here for you." Mustang looked up her. He felt unease at the expression Hawkeye was struggling to hide away behind her mask of calm. He took the papers and was unable to escape the frown that caught him as the weight of the sheets fell into his hand. He had enough papers here to decimate half a forest in his opinion, but Hawkeye's expression troubled him enough for his eyes to scan the first lines of the page.

In silence Mustang's rather irritated face smoothed into one of sickened horror. The report told of a village that had been overtaken by a rugged group of terrorists. As men were sent out to repress the criminals they merely arrived at a vast hole. He continued to read, stopping at one part in particular.

'Upon arrival, the officers of Southern Headquarters came upon a large hole, which seemed to have engulfed the entirety of the town. Searching the very outskirts, the troops found farms. The people at the very outskirts of the village of Fromage reported hearing a strange noise earlier that morning. When they inspected it later that day they found no trace of their town.'

"Sir?" inquired a fair-haired soldier with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. His superior simply sat there, his face now frozen in terror.

"The village…" Mustang gulped as he set the papers down. He leaned forward and rubbed his temples, which had been throbbing to the beat of the constant rain since he had awoken that morning, and took several deep breaths. He rested his forehead there in his hands and said, "Fromage and everyone in it disappeared in one night."

Havoc, who was halfway out of his chair, stopped. Fuery let out a small gasp and Breda looked up from his breakfast with a shocked expression.

"How is that possible?" Fuery finally managed as he looked at Mustang worriedly. Mustang folded his hands together, laid his chin atop his fingers, and scanned the paper in front of him. Hawkeye looked at him for a moment before stating,

"There may have been an explosion in Fromage. There were terrorists there, they had weapons, and Fromage isn't too far from a train route. They may have been trying to destroy the tracks and…"

"And they ended up blowing the town to smithereens instead." Havoc finished for her. He had risen to his feet but remained near his desk.

"Right, that sounds reasonable. But all those people…" Fuery said in a near whisper, looking down at the polished top of his desk. "Why would they want to hide out in that village? It is near a railroad, but not a heavily traveled one."

"Maybe they thought the military wouldn't expect that piece of rail as much. I know terrorists have destroyed obscurer train routes before. Fromage does supply headquarters with food and therefore could be a target." Breda explained before he scooped some oatmeal into his mouth. His calculating eyes swung around the room, waiting for someone else to donate their ideas.

"Or," Mustang ventured from behind mountains of paper, "an alchemist is responsible for this." He flipped the page over and studied the next one, eyes suddenly colder than they had been only moments before. His subordinates muttered their opinions on the subject as he tried to ignore the beating his temples were giving him. Suddenly, he stopped and looked up hurriedly. "Where are the Elrics?"

"I think they were on their way to Resembool, sir." Fuery offered. "Edward had his automail damaged a bit on his last trip before he came back through Central."

"Someone get me a map!" Mustang ordered as he stood up from his chair, black bangs flying over his forehead as he rushed over to where Feury had been sitting. The young soldier had scattered to one side of the room, fumbling through a box of maps until he found one of Amestris that showed the Southern train routes clearly. He unfurled it for the colonel and placed it on his desk. The others crowded around as Mustang examined the lines of ink that were Amestris's railroads.

"What are you looking for, Colonel?" Havoc asked as he chewed on the end of his cigarette. Mustang allowed his finger to stop at the village of Fromage.

"Here is Fromage," he said before slowly tracing his finger down the map a bit, " and here is Resembool."

"You don't seriously think that those brothers are responsible for wiping out an entire village in one night, do you?" Hawkeye said, raising her voice at the unfathomable idea. Mustang looked around at her.

"I'm not saying they did, nor am I denying the fact that they have the power to do so. I don't think Fullmetal and his brother would attempt something so stupid, but if they were on their way to Resembool then they may have ended up in the crossfire." The colonel rolled the map back up and stalked back to his own desk, frowning hard and wishing his head would stop trying to make him feel like his skull was slowly crushing inward.

"Now, go and find out where those two are!" Mustang called as he swung himself into his chair. He bunkered down and scanned the papers again, wondering just what was going on.

Outside the frantic room Mustang and his subordinates were held in, rain continued to fall against the building. The gray clouds swirled as if a drain had unexpectedly opened, allowing the clouds to suck themselves away into the empty sky above, yet unable to keep the large droplets of water from cascading down towards the city below.

Huzzah, it's done! I know it was short, very, very short compared to what I used to write, hee hee. However, I still want to hear your opinions and ideas before I start posting the actual chapters. I'd love to get some critique. If you don't like it, fine, please tell me your thoughts as to why you don't. If you do, well, hopefully you'll be kind enough to press that little button that says "submit review", right?

See you (hopefully) in chapter one!