A new story! Catch me once again ignoring my WIPs but I do what makes me happy, enjoy!

Alphonse was exhausted and extremely tired. He never knew getting kidnapped would be so exhausting. The ropes were biting into his skin and the wooden chair was stiff and uncomfortable. At the very least his hands were free but they were being intently watched by his opponent.

The man who'd claimed he was a (dog?) chimera squinted at him with interest before placing a card down on the table in front of them. "Four"

Al thought for a moment before placing three of his own cards down with his automail arm, "Five"

The squinted at him before calling out, "Bullshit!" Al smiled a little and flipped over his cards, all fives. The man threw his head back and groaned in agony.

"Discard piles' yours Dolcetto." the snake like woman on the other side smirked.

"Whatever Martel." Dolcetto grumbled, accepting his penalty. "How is this kid so good anyways, he's what? Fourteen? Have you even played this before?"

Al shook his head as Martel laid down two cards and claimed "Six."

Dolcetto sighed, "Then you've got to be cheating! It's the only explanation!"

Martel rolled her eyes, "There is literally no way he could be cheating, he's tied up. I think the reason he is so safe is because he hasn't called bullshit the whole game, and he plays the truth every time."

Dolcetto shrugged, "Why haven't you called bullshit anyhow kid?"

Al bit his lip, "I'm not a fan of cursing. My brother is the one who likes to run off his mouth."

Dolcetto barked a laugh at that. "Man you sure are a goody two shoes for someone who committed human transmutation."

Al went quiet, he was not discussing that with these people.

The woman beside them cleared her throat, "Anyways Alphonse, where is your brother, shouldn't he be here by now?"

"I don't know, I mean who knows how long he could take to get here…" he trailed off, feeling awkward.

A man across the room groaned, "Well he'd better hurry up. I need both of you and I don't like to be kept waiting. You two are my ticket to immortality." His sharp teeth gleamed in his smile.

Al muttered under his breath, "Not gonna happen." squeezing his automail and flesh hands together.

"What was that kid?" Dolcetto asked."

Al sputtered a bit, "Uh can I get another snack? I'm kinda hungry."

"Sure." The dog chimera passed the tray of cheese and crackers over to him. Al sandwiched the cheese in between two crackers and lifted it into his mouth, but ended up biting into his tongue as the metal door that was locking them inside flew to the other side of the room. The resulting clang was almost as startling as Edwards angry voice making demands.

"GIVE ME BACK MY LITTLE BROTHER YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES!" Edward stood at his full 4'11 height with his arm transmuted into a knife. His eyes quickly found Alphonse's.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What the hell are you doing playing games!?" Edward demanded.

"I was bored! And they offered! Who knew how long until-"

"Dude! This is a serious situation!" Ed argued.

"You were taking a while brother-"

"Okay ladies you're both pretty." Greed interrupted, "Listen kid, I had to lure you here somehow, and then we saw your little brother just wandering around all alone, we had to take the opportunity."

Ed scrunched up his nose, "What the hell do you want?"

"You two are skilled enough to attempt human transmutation, and survive. I need you two little geniuses to find a way to bring me immortality. It shouldn't be too hard, you both are prodigies after all. You give me that, and I let you and your little brother go."

Edward was quiet for a moment, "DID YOU ACTUALLY THINK I WAS GONNA HELP YOU AFTER YOU KIDNAPPED MY BROTHER!? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!? NONE OF YOU ARE GETTING SHIT FROM MY BROTHER AND I! SO LET HIM GO!"

Greed groaned, "I hoped we wouldn't have to do this the hard way." His body was soon covered in thick, strong carbon as he charged at Edward. "Take his brother elsewhere."

"Alphonse!" Ed tried to go after him but was stopped by Greed's hand. "Not so fast brat."

Al called for his brother as he was taken away, his hands now bound as well. He was dragged into a place that stunk worse than the military locker rooms. It looked like they were down where the sewage was.

Alphonse found himself growing aggravated as Dolcetto and Martel spoke as if this were a simple and casual affair. The ropes were giving him burns on his skin and he couldn't take this shit anymore.

"Let go of me!" he scrambled, wiggled, and struggled, trying to get out of Dolcettos grip.

"Woah there kid, you ain't gonna get-" Al bit into the man's skin, as hard as he possibly could.

The dog chimera yelped like the animal he was mixed with and dropped Alphonse. He laughed a bit at his victory as he began to run away… at least he tried to. He ended up moving much like a worm down the edge of the tunnel.

"Damn it Dolcetto." Martel stepped towards Al but was caught up at the sight of Greed approaching. "Greed? What's wrong?"

The homunculus pointed behind him, "Things are getting a bit outta hand. FIrst the kid made the fight more interesting and then this old lady showed up and really started beating my ass. Short version, we've gotta split."

"I don't think you're going anywhere." A voice behind Greed surprised the homunculus. Alphonse looked up at the familiarity.

"Fuhrer Bradley!?" Al's eyes were wide.

"Huh?" Greed turned around, looking unimpressed. "Look I'm not into fighting old people, so we can just leave this here and we won't have to see each other ever again."

Then, Greeds hand was swiftly chopped off.

"Shit, okay then." Greed began to engage in combat once more.

Alphonse watched it all unfold it was insane, he was so fixated by it that he couldn't defend himself when he was grabbed and dragged away by Martel. She rushed him back towards where they came from, but quickly ran into Dolcetto and the cow chimera, Roa.

"The Fuhrer's shown up, we need to get the hell out of here." she explained.

"What?! Why would he be here!?"

"Guess that's what we get for messing with military dogs, even if they're just pups."

They all began to run but didn't make it very far before running into Bradley, who had gotten there almost inhumanly fast.

"Martel, run." Roa charged at the man alongside Dolcetto.

"But-" she gasped as Roa was completely decapitated.

Dolcetto jumped backwards, "Go!"

And she did.

She ran as fast as she could, Alphonse still over her shoulder. "Roa's gone, Dolcetto is probably gone too, where is Greed, what the hell happened to-"

"You run fast young lady." he pulled out his sword, "But I'm afraid nobody is able to outrun me."

She froze. And She was sliced through with the sharp, bloodied blade of Bradley's sword.

As she fell, Alphonse's face was coated in blood. And he fell into unconsciousness.

Al awoke in thankfully, a much warmer place. However, even though he was warm he still felt panicked. He jolted up and looked around, his breathing quick and heavy as warm and cold hands were placed on his shoulders.

"Hey." Edward brought his flesh hand up to Al's cheek, "It's okay now."

Al's breathing slowed as he processed where he was. He was in the bedroom he'd shared with his brother when they were training with teacher.

The blanket wrapped around him was big and fluffy and it seemed like all the pillows in he house had been piled onto the bed. He shook a bit with emotion before falling onto his brother.

Edward ran a hand through his brother's blonde hair, "It's okay Al, it's all gonna be alright. We're safe and nobody's gonna ever kidnap you again."

Al's entire body shook, "Brother, the Fuhrer, he-he killed every-"

"I know… I was questioned about it but it seems like he believed me." he rested his head atop Al's, "It almost seemed too easy."

Al looked up at his brother, his eyes urging Ed to go on.

"The whole situation was too weird to be a coincidence, how and why did Bradley show up when he did? How did he defeat Greed so easily? It all feels wrong." Ed held his brother closer.

Alphonse couldn't handle thinking about what his brother was implying right then. He gazed at Ed's destroyed arm, allowing his mind to wander a few years back. To a time that was a lot like this one.

After the transmutation had initially taken Ed's right arm and left leg, along with his own left arm and right leg, things were tough.

After Mustang had showed up they had both decided together to get automail and become state alchemists. The surgeries were done one after the other, Ed insisting he go first.

The recovery was done together. Nightmares and intense pains were very common and they'd often end up sharing a bed and holding each other through it all.

After the rough recovery, they'd both gone out to become state Alchemists, not taking no for an answer. Though in Al's opinion Ed may have gone a bit too far with aiming a weapon at the fuhrer.

In the end they were both placed under Colonel Mustang and given the shared title of 'Fullmetal'.

The younger brother took the time to think over Ed's words, "Do you think that all this could be a lead on getting our bodies back?"

"I'm almost positive."

Al brought himself back to looking at Ed's arm once more. "Winry's gonna kill you."

"Not the first time." Ed mumbled, sounding tired.

"Then we might as well get some sleep." Al moved over, giving Ed room to lay down next to him.

As expected, Winry was just about ready to murder the boys when she saw Ed's arm.

Ed, for being careless, and Al for getting his ass kidnapped.

The visit had been eventful and they'd even met an annoying leech claiming to be a prince that wouldn't leave them the fuck alone.

After the clusterfuck that too way too much effort to live through, they were all heading back to central. Winry joining them to see Hughes.

Edward wanted to get right down to figuring out if his suspicions were true.

They had left Winry to do what she pleased as they headed towards Central command. However they didn't get too far before Al saw something that got the off track. He tugged on his brother's sleeve, breaking Ed's walking pace.

"What is it Al?"

"Brother, that woman."

They both looked over to see a woman in absolute hysterics, being chased by two mean in military uniforms.

"First lady please! Calm yourself!" one of the men called to her, but despite that she kept on running.

Alphonse ran over to the situation, Edward in tow.

"What's going on here!?" Edward asked, stepping in between the men and the woman.

"We are appointed to escort First Lady Bradley wherever she goes, but it is ill advised to go disturb her husband while he is working." one of the men informed. "What business is that to some child?"

Edward smirked and gave Al a look. They both flashed their watches at them. "We're state alchemists. Our title is Fullmetal. I believe we both outrank you."

Alphonse turned to the woman, "What's going on?"

The first lady caught her breath a bit, "I- my husband hadn't been home for around a week but while he was gone our son… he went missing." Alphonse's eyes widened at that. "I reported it the day he was missing but, I've gotten no response. I need my child back, and if I go right to my husband I should get this through faster!" she exhaled sharply, "These men believe I should wait until he gets home later tonight."

"How long has he been missing?" Ed questioned.

"Four days, no ransom note, no anything, I don't believe he would run away, I just don't know what to do." she began to tear up.

"Four days?!" Ed looked to Al. "I think you need to see your husband immediately." Edward looked to the soldiers behind them, "My brother and I will escort the first lady to her husband."

Al seemed a bit nervous at the notion but joined Ed, "You two should wait until we return to escort her home."

The men offered a salute, "Yes sir, but we must at least escort you into the command building."

"Fine, but then you wait downstairs." Alphonse reasoned. The men nodded and they all walked into central command together.

They managed to make their way to the Fuhrer's office with some use of their titles and some tears from Mrs. Bradley. Upon their arrival they made their way in, Edward giving a half assed salute while Al did the best one he could muster.

Mrs. Bradley burst in, "King! Its an emergency!"

Bradley only seemed slightly surprised, "Morgan, what's going on?"

"It's Selim! He's gone missing! I haven't seen him in days! I tried reporting it but nothing seems to have gotten through. We need to get our son back."

Bradley's face was oddly calm. "I'll get some men on it right away, I can assure you Morgan, we will find him, thank you for telling me." he glanced towards the elric brothers, "At ease Fullmetal." the two boys relaxed their salutes, "Why are you escorting my wife here?"

"Her private escorts wouldn't let her see you sir." Edward answered, "We saw the commotion and intervened."

"I see," he looked to Alphonse, "I see you are better Alphonse, glad to see you back on your feet."

Al looked down a bit, feeling intimidated after his last encounter with Bradley, "Yes sir."

Morgan looked a bit concerned, "Did something happen?"

Bradley nodded, "The younger of the Fullmetal Alchemists was abducted not too long ago, but we were able to liberate the place and get him out of there."

Morgan's eyes lit up, "So." She turned to the brothers, "You've dealt with abduction before!?"

"Uh, yes." Al swallowed.

Morgans hair whipped around as she turned back to her husband, "King, can you place these boys on the case, I believe they can find Selim."

Bradley seemed to squint his eye shut in thought, his eyebrows bowing a bit with stress before returning to their original stoic positions.

A loud laugh came from the Fuhrer as he stood, "Alright then Fullmetal, what do you say?"

"O-of course sir!" Alphonse responded with a salute, Ed flashed a look at Al that said 'we need to discuss this more' but followed with a salute of his own.

"Okay then, I'll get the information of this case to your commanding officer, for now you both are dismissed.

"Thank you sir." Alphonse curtly left, Ed in tow.

As soon as they left the office, Ed spoke up.

"Alphonse what the hell!? We were supposed to investigate more about what happened back in Dublith."

"I'm sorry brother." Alphonse rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I just couldn't leave Mrs. Bradley in such shambles, she seems sick with worry over her son. And who knows? This could lead us to something interesting."

"I guess." Ed grumbled, "But as soon as we find the kid, we get back on track, got it?"

"Got it brother!"

"Alright then, let's get moving!"

Pride kneeled before the throne his father sat upon. "Father, my container is failing me. It won't last much longer." His skin was breaking at the seams, Envy, Gluttony, and Lust surrounded him.

"Not to worry my child." The blonde man before him spoke. "It seems the time has come for you to lose your container, it was bound to happen eventually, but not to worry, a new one will soon be ready."

Pride's philosopher's stone was removed from his container and whatever was left of it turned to dust, the draft of the tunnels taking it away.

A sharp cackle sounded above them. Greed was bound up high, a vat of what looked to be lava beneath him. "Awe! Big brother finally comes home to visit and he has to go! How sad! That's your first loyal child lost paps!"

The man clothed in white looked back at Greed. "I only let you watch that so you would know that there is a painless alternative Greed. Those who go against me, will always suffer."

Then he was lowered into the vat. Screaming and cackling the whole time. He was melted down until only his philosopher's stone remained.

Next time things get REALLY interesting. Thanks for reading! Be sure to give me some feedback! They keep me writing!