Chap. 1: A Bad Promotion

Edward was floating.

He was in a great, white, open space, nothing for miles, and even further than that.

Then, a voice.

"EDWARD!"

The voice was booming, and sounded just slightly croaky. He turned around to find the gate. And in front of it, staring at him in rage was Envy.

"Where is he?! Where's that bastard?!"

"Envy?!" Ed said, wondering how the homunculus was still here. He mentally shook himself. "If it's my old man you're talking about, forget it! He's on the other side. You'd never make it through."

"The bastard is really on the other side of the gate? Really?" Envy went into a silence, thinking. After a few minutes, a light seemed to flick on in his head.

"Hehehehe... I might not be able to get through, but you can..."

Ed was confused. What did that mean? Sure, he'd traveled to the other side before, but that was just his soul. He doubted he'd be able to even do that this time.

But he was unable to dwell on it further, as the Gate swung open to reveal its dark depths and many violet eyes staring out at them. Arms shot out, and Envy grabbed him, even as he was being pulled in. Soon, the arms grabbed Ed as well, and he began to struggle further- as he was already struggling when Envy grabbed him.

But then they passed the threshold and the hands found themselves bodies. The bodies where those of children, and their giggles and chuckles gave off and added to the eerie feeling.

They started to try and pull at their limbs, and once again, Ed found himself without his arm and leg, only this time, there was more taken, as his other arm, from the elbow down, was taken off.

He screamed in horror, and helplessly reached for the limbs, but it was futile- he had no hands to grasp them with.

Envy was thrashing around, trying desperately to get back to Ed, as he had lost his grip.

Ed was confused as to why the man that was his enemy was trying so hard to reach him.

Envy, finally fed up with it, yelled out and transformed. It was a chimaera looking animal. It was like a mix between a great bird, and a lion. He lunged out, yelling.

"You're not going to take my chances away! I'm going to kill that bastard!"

He collided with Ed, scattering all the pitch black children of the Gate, and there was a blinding flash of light, and an incredible amount of pain shocked through his whole body, like fire and lightning mixed, and then there was a feeling of such coldness at his middle, it made him reel with the conflicting feelings of pain.

And then all was black, and the only thing he could feel was the cold pain.

Ed woke up.

He didn't know how much sleep he'd gotten, but the alarm clock was blaring in his ear, and when he looked at it, he was astonished to find he'd over slept to the point it was mid afternoon.

"Crap!"

He hopped out of bed and hurried to get dressed.

He continued to curse himself as he made and ate a hurried breakfast.

And then, he was finally out and running down the street, turning corners into other streets or alleyways, yelling his "Excuse me!"s and dodging past the people anyway.

Finally, he got to a tall building. It was- as stated- tall, and covered in glass, with a lattice network of steel window frames.

He ran up to the front desk and the woman there looked up, and saw him.

"Late as ever, I see Elric." she said, smiling.

"Yeah, sorry... stayed late at work yesterday, and didn't get much sleep... you know me." Ed said, smiling back.

"Well, if I were you, I'd bust your butt. The top man wants to see you."

Ed's eyes widened and he cursed again. Of all days to be late, it had to be today. Now, he was late every day- pretty much- and it was well known. But that didn't mean that his boss would care to remember this.

As the receptionist- Remilia- had subjested, Ed ran, complaining mentally about his sore leg and lungs.

Finally, he made it to the office door of his boss. Composing himself, and beginning his mental mantra he had when around the man, he knocked on the door.

"Come in..." said a slightly lazy voice, just barely heard, as it was so quiet.

Increasing his mantra, he opened the door.

His boss sat at his desk, looking over papers. He looked up to see who was there, and nodded.

"Ah, Mr. Elric. Come, sit."

'Don't kill him, don't kill him, don't kill him...' Went Ed's mantra, as he took in the man's appearance.

He was tall; had a very square jaw; very short brown hair; small blue eyes behind small circle glasses; and a thin lipped mouth.

Ed sat down and looked just beyond the man's head.

"You needed me, sir?" he asked.

"Yes. I have noticed that you have great potential in the higher sciences we have here. I wanted to let you know that you're going to be working there. Ask Marshal to give you a tour. You start in the lab today."

Ed was slightly shocked, so much so, that he looked directly at him, in the eyes, and completely forgot about his mantra.

He'd only been working at the science facility for three months, and hadn't expected to get even a raise in pay until he was there for at least a year. This was beyond unexpected.

"Uh... thank you... sir?" he said uncertainly.

The man nodded, and said, "You can go now, Mr. Elric. I'll see to you later."

Ed nodded stiffly, and stood up and walked out, in a bit of a daze.

He got down to the main lobby and asked for Marshal. Ten minutes later, a stiff, gray haired man walked out, wearing a lab coat.

"Mr. Elric. I presume you need me to give you a tour? Come this way."

The man left no room for questions or answers, as he rarely did. He turned swiftly, and was leaving just as quickly as he had come, and Ed had to jog a bit to catch up to the man.

"Now, what we do here- where you will be going- is research on evolution and animals. We do all assortments of experiments. Some are not very approved by the eyes of the public, but, as we are scientist, we are determined to learn of all possibilities, and there for, keep it secret. You understand the importance of that, don't you? If anyone were to find out, they'd freak."

Ed heard a slight tone to the man's voice, something like a smug hinting, and it made his spine prickle with unease.

They walked into the lab, which was very deep down, underground. Ed had always wondered what they did down there, and now he'd be able to find out.

"Come this way." Marshal said, and walked to a door, which took up about a quarter of the wall, and was shining with steel.

If Ed had to guess, the door was at least a foot thick.

Off to the side of the door, there was a line in the wall, and Ed could just make out gears on the inside of the gap.

Marshal walked over to a panel in the wall and punched in a code. The door let out a hissing sound, and it slid to the side a bit, and into the room, and Ed was astounded to find that the door was not, in fact, one foot. Not even two. It was three feet of steel and iron, the bolts just bigger than his head.

It slid to the side, and the room beyond was huge. He could not tell how huge, as it was very dark, and the only light that came in was from the room he was in as of now.

Odd sounds emitted from the room, some whines, growls, grunts, and just plain heavy breathing.

"This is where we keep our test subjects..." Marshal said, walking into the room. Ed followed, both fearful of what he might see, but also curious.

"And this is where you will be." said someone from behind. Ed turned slightly to see his boss, and some other big, heavily muscled guy.

There was something in his boss's voice and the look in the big guys eyes that sent a chill down his spine, and it increased when his boss continued.

"You will be such a fascinating thing to experiment on, Mr. Elric. I thank you for being so cooperative."

Ed's eyes widened in sudden realization.

"You bastard! You-"

He got no further as the strange guy walked up and knocked him over the head with a powerful blow that sent him reeling back, and then fell to the floor.

The last thing he saw was the face of Tucker, his boss.

AN: Hey guys! I was just reading a crossover between these two, and the idea just popped into my head out of nowhere. I think it's good, and interesting, and I hope you think so as well.

Anyway...

So, how did you like the first chapter? What is suspenseful? Did you guess who his boss was when I described him, or when I just said who he was? Do I need more detail? Anything...?