The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Summary: Edward's gone. No one can find him. The Seven have also disappeared, including Fuhrer King Bradley. What is going on? And what does Mr. Tucker have to do with anything…?

Disclaimer: Do I own FMA? Think, people, think!! Use your head! What do you think? Of course I don't, you dimwits. How long did it take you to figure that out? Rawr…

A/N: This is my second fic, but I won't tell you much about it. I want the rest of the story to be a surprise…;) I'll just say that this happens…um, sometime after the Laboratory 5 incident. If you haven't see those episodes, don't read this FanFic. I don't know how long after. I just came up with this story on the spur of the moment, so there are probably some gaps. Oh well. Mustang is a little OOC, he's not as much of an ass as he normally is to Edward, but whatever. I'll tell you that Mr. Tucker eye twitch is involved in this story. I hate him…he should die…

Chapter One

"Don't struggle…don't fight…" rasped Mr. Tucker, peering at the wolf. It had beautiful silvery-grey coat and intensely amber eyes. There was a leather muzzle on it's face and it's legs were chained to the floor. It snarled at Mr. Tucker and tugged again on it's chains.

"You don't have much longer to wait…" whispered the man, his upside down blue eyes flashing. "We will be ready soon…"

0oo0

"Wake Up, Nii-san!" An exasperated sigh emanated from Alphonse's armor. Edward moaned and pulled the blankets up over his head.

"Go away…" he mumbled.

"But Colonel Mustang said he wants to talk to you immediately!" Al explained impatiently, pulling the sheets off his brother before he could fall asleep again. The small blond curled into a ball and coughed.

"I don't want to get up…" he groaned. "I feel awful…"

"Mustang says he has a new assignment for you, Nii-san," said Al. Ed finally opened his eyes and peered around.

"Damn…it's bright…" he hissed.

"Stop complaining brother, and get up!" Ed growled once last time then clambered out of bed. A few minutes later, Edward was out of bed, dressed, and finishing braiding his hair.

"I'm gonna kill that bastard," Ed said, opening the door and stepping out into the hallway. "Why does he want me to get up this early in the morning?"

"Um…actually, it's almost noon, Nii-san," said Al quietly, shifting back and forth from one metal foot to the other. Ed turned to stare at him, surprise mirrored in his golden eyes.

"Noon?!" he yelped. "Why didn't you wake me up sooner?!"

"Um, well, I tried," Al explained. "But you wouldn't wake up until just now." Ed glowered at the wall, then turned and stalked down the hall. Rubbing his eyes, Ed yawned again.

"Well, hello Edward!" said a bright, somewhat tired voice. Ed jumped slightly when Hughes suddenly appeared beside him. "You look pretty tired. Didn't sleep well?" Ed shook his head and coughed slightly into his hand.

"Oh, uh…no, I slept okay. I just got up, actually," the blond said, barely stifling another yawn. "I'm on my way to see Colonel Bas—, uh, Colonel Mustang." Hughes nodded.

"He said something about a new assignment for you," he said. He winked. "Good luck with that. And try not to tear his office apart." With a small wave, Hughes turned and walked down a different hallway. Ed watched him walk away, a frown on his young face. What did he mean by that? Still wondering, he kept walking. Sooner than he would have liked, he found himself facing the door to Mustang's office. He lifted a hand and pounded hard on the door.

"Enter, Fullmetal," said the annoying voice that Ed was so used to. He opened the door and walked in, glaring at Mustang.

"I see you slept well," Mustang said, betraying no emotions on his face. Ed glowered at him, then coughed again into his hand. He kept coughing until he began to feel lightheaded. He pressed one hand against his forehead and placed the other on the door frame to keep himself balanced. Mustang stood up and leaned forward across his desk.

"Fullmetal? Are you ill?" he asked. Ed opened one watering eye and peered at the black haired man.

"I'm fine," he gasped. Mustang raised an eyebrow. Ed sighed. "All right, I just have a cold. Good enough for you?" Now it was Mustang's turn to sigh.

"Good enough. Now sit down before you pass out." Ed cautiously walked over to the black couch and gratefully sank down onto it. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

"Al said you have a new assignment for me," said Edward. He opened his eyes again and saw Mustang pick up a folder and walk around his desk to stand before him. Ed reached up and took hold of the folder. It had the words "Fullmetal: Assignment Chimera" written across the top. Edward felt his breath catch. Chimera… He forced the images of Nina out of his head.

"When do I have to start?" he asked. Mustang sat back down at his desk and thought about it for a moment.

"In a few days. If your cough gets worse, don't go," he said. Ed was surprised that Mustang was going to let him not do the assignment if he got worse.

"But," Mustang added. "It has to be started within the next week. We only have a… small amount of time to get it done." He grinned obnoxiously and Edward got the hint.

"What?! Who are you calling so small that he would—" Ed broke off and started coughing again. Each cough seemed to rip the air harshly out of his throat over and over before he could breathe any air back in again. Finally the coughing stopped and he took huge gulps of air.

"That sounds like a pretty bad cold, Fullmetal," said Mustang. "I'd go back to sleep if I were you." Ed growled and stood up.

"I was planning on sleeping longer…" he muttered under his breath. "But noooo… someone insisted that I get up right then…" Then he saluted to Mustang and hastily left the room. As he walked down the hall, he pondered what he might find in the folder Mustang had given him. Chimera…chimera…chimera… The word echoed around in his head. He looked up when he heard the sound of running foot steps coming up the hall behind him. Suddenly he found himself sprawled out on the floor, papers fluttering down to land beside him, and a very surprised Kain Furey beside him.

"Oh…! Major Elric, I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention, I was hurrying—" The young man hurried to give an explanation to his superior. Ed laughed.

"It's all right," he said. "There's no need to be formal." Furey stopped in mid sentence.

"Yes, sir—I mean, yes Edward. Sorry," he said, still flustered. Ed scooped up some of the papers and stacked them up before handing them to the black haired soldier. Furey picked up another folder, then handed it to Edward.

"I think this one's yours," he said. " 'Assignment Chimera'…why do you Alchemists get all the cool assignments?"

"I wouldn't say that they're cool…" Ed muttered darkly.

"What do you mean?" asked Furey, standing up, all his papers stacked again in his arms. Edward got to his feet as well.

"Well…most of the time they're dangerous…" he said. "You remember the Shou Tucker case from a few years ago?" Ed could barely get the words out of his throat. Anger burned behind his eyes at the mention of Shou Tucker. "He was just creepy.."

"I remember him," said Furey, shuddering. "Wasn't he the one that turned his daughter into a chimera?" Ed nodded and blinked furiously to keep the tears from his eyes.

"Nii-san!" called Al, coming down the hall towards Ed and Kain.

"Well, I see you around Maj—I mean, Edward!" called Furey, holding tightly to his papers and running off down the hall again.

"So, Nii-san, what's our new assignment?" asked Al, coming to a halt beside his brother. Ed held the folder out for his brother to see.

"I don't know, I haven't opened the folder yet. And it's my assignment Al, not ours," said Edward. Al, ignoring his brother's last words, took the folder from Ed's hand and read the words across the top.

" 'Assignment Chimera'," he murmured. Seeing the discomfort in his brother's golden eyes, Al hurriedly said,

"Well, um…how about we look at this later?" Ed nodded. Two harsh coughs escaped his throat before he could suppress them.

"Are you all right Nii-san?" asked Al, lowering the folder to look at his brother. Ed nodded.

"I think I just have a cold," he said. "Mustang said I should go back to bed to see if I can sleep it off."

"Is there any food I get for you?" Al asked. Ed smiled and shook his head.

"I'm all right Al, really. Thanks for the offer, but I'm not hungry." Without saying another word on the topic of his new assignment or food, Edward started off down the hall again, leaving Al to follow after him.

0oo0

"Damn! What is taking him so long?" yelled Envy, kicking at a large pile of boxes, sending them flying in all directions.

"Patience, Envy," said Lust, settling herself into a chair. "Mr. Tucker knows what he's doing, but it takes some time." Envy growled.

"Well, he had better make it take less time," he said.

"He has the wolf ready," said Lust.

"And I care why?" asked Envy, glaring at Lust with his purple homunculus eyes. Lust sighed and closed her own nearly identical eyes.

"You should care because that means that he is half done," she said patiently. "All he needs now—"

"Shut up, Lust!" shouted Envy. "I'm sick of standing around talking!"

"You don't have much of a choice…" rasped a voice from the door. Envy spun around and saw the strange, twisted form of Shou Tucker standing in the door way.

"And since you are so eager for this to be done, I will tell you that it will be done by tonight…" Tucker said. "Isn't that right, Nina?" He looked down at the unmoving, blank eyed girl in his arms. "You'll have a friend to play with tomorrow…isn't that nice…" Still mumbling, he shuffled out of the room.

"He is such a weirdo," said Envy scornfully, watching the shuffling figure with one eyebrow raised. "But he's useful, none the less…"

"Lust…!" said another voice. "I'm done now, Lust!" Lust turned her head to look at the fat, gorilla like figure that stood across the room from her. Gluttony had blood all over his face and hands and he was smiling like a child with candy. In one hand he held what was left of a guard's body.

"That's nice, Gluttony. Now wipe your face," said Lust. Gluttony took the guard's uniform and wiped all around his mouth. But because the uniform was so coated in blood, all it did was smear the red stuff even more.

"Better?" he asked. Lust sighed.

"Sure," she said.

"Lust, that man scares me," said Gluttony, looking warily towards the door Tucker

had just left through. He stuck his pointer finger in his mouth and sucked on it.

"He's completely crazy…" muttered Envy. "He's always talking to that stupid girl doll… crazy."

"But he said that it'd be ready by tonight," said Lust thoughtfully. "Then we will have a clear shot at the military, won't we?"

"Yeah, I suppose," said Envy. "But I rather like the idea of taking it with us and raiding some of the towns first."

"What would that accomplish?" asked Lust. "It would just alert the military of what we are doing. What do you plan on gaining by attacking towns first?"

"A lot," replied Envy, smirking. "It might turn on us if we go after the military first. We might want to…train it first. Train it to kill."

0oo0

"Hey Al?"

"What?"

"Do you mind if I go out to get some donuts or something?"

"Sure Nii-san," Al said. "Do you want me to come with you? Your face is still a little flushed. I don't think your fevers' gone yet." Edward shook his head.

"Nah, I'll be fine. I feel a lot better," he said, pulling his red cloak on. "I'll be right back, don't worry about me."

Edward made his way through HQ, carefully avoiding Mustang's office. It was at least four or five hours since he had gotten his new assignment and he still hadn't opened the folder, so he didn't want Mustang interrogating him about it. When he stepped outside, he found that it wasn't as cold as he thought it would be. The sun was just starting to set and a gentle breeze toyed with his long red cloak. He looked around, then set off walking. (There will be some pretty big gaps around here because I don't know the geography around Central HQ, so I don't know where houses/shops/streets/etc. are. Skipping a little bit now, sorry. There will probably be a few of these gaps now and then. If you have any suggestions on what to write here, please contact me!)

Ed sat down on a bench with his small bag of donuts, coughed a few times, and put a hand on his chest. I guess I'm not completely better… He pulled one of the donuts out of the bag and took a bite out of it.

"Edward…" Ed spun around, almost choking on the piece of donut still in his mouth.

"Fho said fhat?" he asked, his words muffled by the donut. He swallowed what as left of it, then tried again. "Who said that? Damn it, answer me!" He coughed slightly, but it wasn't as painful as it had been earlier that morning. He stood up when he didn't get an answer and scanned his surroundings carefully with his deep golden eyes. The edge of his cloak snagged on an upturned root of a tree and he growled angrily. He looked around still, shedding his cloak when he couldn't get it free. His heart was pounding as he heard soft laughter from the blurry grey shadows that stretched across the ground. The sun was setting and everything seemed distorted from what it usually looked like.

"Damn," he growled, dropping his bag and holding his hands ready. "Where are you? I know you're there, so why don't you show yourself?" He heard the same faint laughter from somewhere to his right. He turned to face whoever had made the noise, then continued to back up. He felt his breath catch when his back hit a stone wall.

"What, is the Fullmetal Alchemist frightened?" asked the same mocking, female voice that had spoken earlier. He felt the wall behind him with his hands, then discovered that it opened into an alleyway of some sort. He turned his head briefly to see if anyone was standing in the alley, then turned back to the voice. He backed slowly into the alleyway, feeling the walls with his hands. The laughter started again, then slowly faded away. Edward could hear himself breathing quickly and felt his heart pounding in his chest. The silence was as terrifying as the laughter. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and another cover his mouth.

"Hello, Edward…It's nice to see you again…"

0oo0

HAHAHA! Horrible cliffy, I know. I shall leave you all hanging until I feel like posting the next

chapter! HAHA! I have the whole story planned out…I know what's going to happen…and none of you do! HA! Well, duh, of course I know what's going to happen, I'm the one writing this story…jeez… anyway, someone out there had better review or I won't post the next chapter! more evil laughter I know, I'm so mean. So! You had better review! Or I might just… forget where I put the notebook I have chapter two written in…hehehe…

Edward: She's crazy

Mustang: I agree

Bloody Sword Alchemist: HAHAHA! Wait, why are you two here?

Edward: Actually, I don't know. Shouldn't I still be scared to death in that alleyway? Or are we past the part? Are we in the tr--

Bloody Sword Alchemist: Sshhhh!! Don't give anything away! We just got to the scared-in-the-alleyway part.

Edward: Oh. I knew that. walks off

Bloody Sword Alchemist: turns to Mustang and shouldn't you be doing paper work or something like that?

Mustang: I don't know. You left me in my office and I don't know what you want me do now.

Bloody Sword Alchemist: Just get back and…I don't know, read a book! Clean the windows! Set something on fire! Just go do something!!! RAWR!!

Mustang: 0.0 I'm leaving, I'm leaving…runs away

Bloody Sword Alchemist: See how they run from me! All shall bow before me! Watch them flee from my wrath! HAHAHAHAHahahahahahahahahahaha…..