Disclaimer: No part of this publication is affiliated with, owned or endorsed by Square Enix, Madman Entertainment, Yen Press, or Monthly Shōnen Gangan to include any affiliation with the author and illustrator of the true Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi) series, Hiromu Arakawa.

This story is being uplifted. This chapter has been updated and edited as of June 12, 2019.

Note/Warning(s):

• This story may contain spoilers.
• This is rated M for a reason. This story contains heavy violence and romantic scenes in the coming chapters.
• This is based on the manga and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (2009).
• The entire story is being updated. The date of edit will appear at the top of the page. If it does not include a date, it is not new, so stand by.

Please let me know what you think in a review. I do encourage feedback! I wish to become a better writer.

Goldeneye

Chapter 1: Pursuit

It was past duty hours. Yet one could find Colonel Roy Mustang alone in thought; sitting behind his desk within his East City office. The chill of the fall night air seeped in through the closed windows, which seemingly had no affect on him. While his mind was retracing the events that started approximately three months prior, his blood kept a high pressure:

The facts:

(Major) Edward Elric had taken the initiative with his cohort, Al, by investigating the supposed "closed and abandoned" building that once housed the 5th Laboratory. Alphonse Elric, Second Lieutenant Maria Ross, and Sergeant Denny Brosh had confirmed activity at the site, with the proof of a souvenir they brought back, Barry the Chopper, an documented executed criminal. Adding more to the bizarre story, Barry, also known as Number 66, was alive within a suit of armor, similar to Al. Barry was placed under Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes' protective custody and any knowledge of his existence is entrusted with only key members. Though cooperative, this ex-neighborhood butcher shop worker-criminal possessed a limited amount of intelligence (...we are talking Military Intelligence, though, baseline mental intelligence can also work in this statement). Barry did inform Hughes, that Ed was sure to have made contact with the Slicer Brothers, Number 48 (other "executed" criminals), inside the facility. They, too, were to guard the facility. He continued to confess with Mustang on the other end of the telephone line, "Yep. It's still, well was, in use. THEY NEVER TOLD US THAT THEY COULD-WOULD DO THAT! What if I was trapped inside…!? How could they kill a LEGEND like me?!... Huh? Whatchu ask? Do I know what they're doin'? Pffft. No. They do whatever they want. Think I sat in board meetings? We were told to guard it. That's what I did. I got to continue chopping- something I'm good at and looooove to do." Mustang pressed on who 'they' were, which Barry responded, "These two people… uh, never told us their names and I never caught it. I can say, one was a real hotty, with a tattoo right near the tatas. Hot Tatas. Never saw them wearing a uniform." Ultimately, the team was left with more questions than answers.

Al's eyewitness testimony, placed Ed inside the building when the collapse occurred. Major Edward Elric has been missing ever since. Even with the odds, Al refuses to believe his brother is dead. And rightly so. The younger brother had personally helped with the rescue effort, and no evidence of his older brother's body was found, nor remnants of the Slicer Brothers.

So where was Ed? He was very intuitive and instinctive enough to know and be creative for good breadcrumbs to leave behind. However, there was absolutely nothing, but the building itself.

During the investigation, another tunnel was discovered; one not drawn in the original blueprints of the facility. The only tunnel recorded was the one that directly connected the lab to the prison facility next door. From what Hughes relayed, the stone did not match the discoloration of the aged stone which constituted the 5th Lab. Someone or a group decided to breathe a breath of fresh life into this facility, hiding in plan view of the city.

This brings us to the present moment. The man in leadership, sitting at his desk, mentally grasping for any crumb to find one of his own soldiers. All the while feeling powerless, as he wait on a simple phone call. Of course this was Maes' order. He was to stay in East City, as the overall vision to change their country, that plan they had defined so many year ago. In Central, Hughes' raid down into the tunnel should be ending any moment. Some more moments went by, not a sound heard.

Finally, the shrill of phone. The commander of East City snatched it off the hook, "This is Mustang."

"Hey there. Illegal actives where happening in the shop under our feet. The establishment is under control, it will pay its dues," Hughes sounded a bit overloaded, speaking with a sigh, "Sorry for calling so late, I could not bring myself to leave such a fascinating store. So many rooms and … ugh things. I didn't even get to see everything displayed in this wonderful new place. Didn't really know what to get."

Lieutenant Colonel Hughes was standing in the safe house on a private line. The shabby place had descent lighting, they made sure to cover up from outside in-so-that no one would suspect a soul within.

"Anything that I would be interested in?" Mustang asked as Hughes smirked with is replay, "I wasn't shopping for you." Mustang sighed, Hughes could hear the creek of Roy's office chair, and then Roy's voice, "Why not? You don't care about me?"

Maes pushed up his glasses to rub his eyes, "You are to picky to shop for. It did have a lot pertaining to your group of studies," they both had expected this, being underneath and old alchemic lab and all, "just not to your area of expertise." As Major Alex Armstrong walked into Hughes office, Hughes turned to face him.

Casually Mustang jested, "You will have to take me to this store the next time I am around town. Maybe, you just don't know my style."

In that moment, Armstrong place a box on the table separating them. Unconsciously, Hughes muttered an audible, "Huh?" as he watched. There was a moment of silence on Mustang's line, then the inquiry, "What is it, Hughes?"

"It looks like Major Armstrong bought us a gift from this new store." Quizzically, Hughes' eyes searched Armstrong's somber attitude, trying to predict what was in the box. He opened it with one hand and his stomach dropped, did a flip and a twist. There was one automail arm and leg inside. His sullen voice cracked, "Oh Major, thank you for the sediment but I don't have any need for these… maybe Winry could reuse these beat-up automail parts the next time she's in -" Hughes heard Mustang slam the phone down – "…town."

Hughes slowly sat the receiver to it's resting place, knowing that his direct order was being utterly violated.

Back in East City, the Colonel was scribbled 'Off to Central' on a random piece of paper, grabbed his black military issued trench coat off the chair, slapped the note down on Lieutenant Hawkeye's desk, and headed to the train station to hop on the next ride out.

It was a sunny but chilly, fall afternoon, two days since they spoke. Hughes waited on the platform for Mustang, who swiftly exited the train. He greeted Mustang with a warm smile, already walking and talking, "I am shocked, no Lt. Hawkeye?"

"I didn't feel I had the time. Wanted to get here as soon as possible," Mustang stated as Hughes shook his head. Mustang bluntly retorted to Hughes nonverbal dissatisfaction, "What? I left a note."

Dropping that confound topic, Hughes asked, "Are you hungry?" as they started walking to exit the station.

"No, just brief me on what you know," Mustang was too eager for a stop to eat.

Once they got to the safe house building, Hughes showed him the box with Ed's automail. Mustang carefully opened it and lifted up Ed's arm still alchemized into a blade; some bolts fell, tinking along as they made contact with the automail leg and found a resting place below. "I didn't expect it to be this heavy. He moves around with ease..."

"Maybe it really is stunting his growth," muttered Hughes. Both could not hold back a smirk, hearing an Ed rant echo in their minds. Yeah, they were not ready to but Ed in the past tense, either.

You did not have to be an automail mechanic to see this would barely work, on second thought, maybe not at all. Mustang muttered unknowingly audible, "He must have been badly injured. These impact marks are from another blade..." Blood droplets and smears could be spotted here and there. It was clear he was in fight for his life, most likely with Number 48, just as Barry reported. At least some puzzle pieces were fitting together. Good or bad.

Mustang placed the limb back in the box, following Hughes to another building further down near the pier. It was a military office storage warehouse. Lined and stacked with slim boxes and office chairs. Each box was labeled with a number. They were no higher than two inches and no wider than an average piece of paper. Hughes briefed, "We started to go through them. It was a lab of alchemic experiments from animals to humans, dating back to the Ishval War. They must have moved some of the older boxes from the original building. It is not clear if the work continued under the military or funded by the military but ran as a private enterprise."

Mustang picked a box, and started searching, "They would not have given you the go to investigate if your superior knew about it."

Hughes nodded and continued, "We can't find the logic with the numbers. There is no chronological order, no code to what experiment was done for that number, or the date of the experiment, ah! Really frustrating. Besides the boxes, we found people in cells, animals in cages and crates. I've yet to see them. Trying to find out if some were prisoners next door, prisoners of war, mentally ill from institutions, or simply abducted. We haven't gotten that far.

I thought this is where we might find something. They documented everything."

The sun had long since set and the night wore on. They silently they went from box to box.

On night three of this mission, Hughes pulled out a box labeled 35742. He took off the lid; it was organized in the same fashion as the others: a file packet sat at the top, with the number scribbled on it. He opened the flap, to see a square black and white photograph paper clipped to left inside corner. It was an unconscious Edward Elric.

Hughes was frozen. He couldn't make a sound as his brain processed what he was seeing. The state alchemist was laid out on a metal slab, stripped to his boxers. A male in a lab coat was hovering over him, disconnecting his automail arm.

They were only looking for clues, but who was he kidding? How many boxes had they gone though, he had to expect something to be horribly wrong. Did he honestly believed Ed miraculously could have been an exception to this experimentation? Yes. The fatherly side of him wanted to believe in the impossibly positive outcome for this case.

Unfortunately, Mustang was right; Ed had extensive wounds that seemed hastily patched; an IV ran down into his arm. Hughes tried to speak, everything was dry. He cleared his throat making Mustang's head snap in his direction, "Roy. I found him." The Flame Alchemist jumped to his feet and instantly cleared a table. Hughes put the box down, placing the folder next to it.

Mustang pulled the folder closer to him, opening it and detaching another square photograph from underneath the paperclip. Hughes on the other hand started to carefully extract the contents of the box. Within, there was indeed more, a single roll of light brown magnetic recording tape. Immediately, he ordered for someone to retrieve the sound playing device located somewhere in the storage facility.

This next photo Mustang was examining showed an Ed struggling to come to a clear consciousness, as his automail leg was being removed. Mustang placed the photo on the table, flipping the divider of the folder to reveal behavioral and medical notes.

Scribbles, maybe even with a hint of anger in the inscription, "Warning: Several escape attempts, nearly successful."

Day 3: Still in and out of consciousness.

Day 4: Refusing to eat, drink water, interrogation - no success.

Day 5: Force fed.

He skimmed down, turned some pages...

Day 43: Wounds almost completely healed, normal bruising.

Day 44: Still no Intel given, stubborn.

After turning over the third divider, there was a small stack of updated photographs. Mustang pulled them out, carefully. The one on top showed a short haired, thinner Edward, with extreme frustration filling his facial features. He had some bruising in those same features; most likely from the interrogation processes. Once again in boxers but his extensive wounds were nicely healed. His wrist was bound to the man escorting him, while another guard was holding Elric by his waist, to assist in the walking limitations of a man with one leg. On the back, the photo was labeled Day 45.

Placing that photo on the table, he continued to the next one: this photo was taken from a much higher angle, capturing the room beneath. Mustang's eyes sank to the back of his head, mind not willing to believe what he was looking at. Was Ed even aware that he lying in the center of a transmutation circle? Fullmetal's eyelids were open, orbs displaying an eerily blank stare, maybe his mind was not cognitively there. Quickly, the digits flipped to the next photograph. A canine was now present alongside Ed, and Edward lay on his stomach, arm at an angle as if trying to push himself upright, or in any possible movement. Mustang's logically concluded: Edward must have been sedated. Now, the boy genius must be aware of the situation. Flames of rage swept through the onyx orbs now. The photo began shaking. Roy's nerves were on fire, it was as if he was watching this transpire before him. There was simply no logic, take all emotion out, why would their own military want to be rid of an asset that was Fullmetal?

Click.

Mustang jumped nearly punching Hughes, who had been, all the while, setting up the roll of magnetic tape into the machine.

Sounds started came through.

Snap. Pop. Electric whine. Someone groaning. A male voice, "When are they going to invent something better? Every time, you have to replace the damn bulb. Fucking annoying." Pause. "How many did you say you needed?" Snap. Pop. Electric whine. A different male voice responded, "That should be enough."

"Where am I?" Ed's voice came through. Immediately, Mustang sank into a chair, and Hughes collapsed into one adjacent.

The first male spoke again, "The same place. Fifth lab, further underground." The second male voice hastily warned, "No-no-no-no! No! Don't pull out the IV! You lost a lot of blood back there. Easy now…"

Heavy footsteps, a door squealing to a shut. A new raspy male voice entered, "Are we recording?" The first male replied, "Yes Sir." A shift, slide squeal of a wooden chair. The raspy voice spoke again, "So, Elric, you're part of Mustang's crew?"

"Since you are a dog of the military you can look up… that shouldn't be hard for you." You could hear the struggle of exhausted breathing, "Unless there is lack of oxygen… at your level." Even in a stupor, he was connecting the dots and being smart about it. Hughes and Mustang caught each other's eye at that. The raspy voice belonged to a high-ranking military official, one who could access all roll information.

Mustang smirked to himself then, Ed's trusty breadcrumbs. He taught the kid well.

A hearty chuckle, "Yes, but that isn't the answer to my question." This guy did not even pick that up? What did this guy want? An admission on record? Ed retorted as if boringly appeasing the guy, "He is above me."

"You mean superior?"

Ed grunted, "No, I phrased it right… He is higher ranking but … I believe we are evenly matched."

The raspy voice interrogating him was becoming impatient, "Did he send you here?" Ed gave no response. "Fine have it your way." Ed emitted a quick cry of pain, then tried his best to hold back any verbal pain response, instead trapping it in his throat. The boy coughed for air as the ranking official continued, "Let's try that again. Did he - Roy Mustang - send you here?"

Ed sighed as though bothered by a moron, "If that were the case, you really think I would…," small pause and sudden change in tone, realizing the bigger picture of his mistake, "… have been sent in alone?"

Mustang's eyes fell to the ground when listening, he did try his best to get Ed to start thinking outside his own tunnel vision of his own goals. The boy's greatest weakness was his over driven need for answers. But then again, he was still a teenager.

It seemed the guy was satisfied with the answer, by continuing, "Who is Mustang's closest ally?"

This time Ed gave a chuckle, voice a bit more labored still, "You must have a thing for the Colonel." He was given another dose of pain. Hughes hands had clenched onto the fabric of his pants, silent tears to Hughes' eyes, as Mustang voided out any feeling to catch anything that he could from a scientific standpoint.

When relieved of pain Fullmetal continued, "Did he break your heart or something?" Shifting of fabric could be heard, but Ed's voice rang out, "Fine, fine, fine. FINE! I'll tell you."

Mustang swallowed; there would be no way that Ed would have broke that easily. Slightly interested in who Ed assume to be his closest ally - But wait a minute, the papers said the interrogation gave no leads...curious.

You clearly hear the smirk in Ed's voice, "Your mom." Ed was trying his best to hold back emitting any sound of pain but his wounds were his weakness. He couldn't any longer. Finally, the interrogator said, "You can use this little shit."

In amidst all that, Ed snorted, as if proud of his little rebellion, bellowing once it registered, "SAY THAT AGAIN YOU-" Ed was shut up following the sickening sound of flesh against metal. The second voice asked, "Are you sure sir? Remember she told us not-" interrupted by the raspy one, "I don't care! Use him!"

The tape clicked, end.

Mustang pulled the file off the table toward him. He looked down at the last photo, blood was everywhere, and there was something in the middle of the circle that was unclear. What had they done?! He closed his eyes and sighed. The professional alchemic soldier part of his mind was at it's hardest test. Continually looking over the folder, "It looks like they were continuing in Tuckers work."

Perplexed, Maes asked, "What?" Mustang slid the photos over to his confused comrade, watching the father figure carefully from the corner of his eye, "...No. You can't honestly think that they…" his voice trailed off. There was a glare on his glasses now.

Mustang stated, "I want this room found, and I want to see it personally." Not that he outranked Hughes, it was the principle.

Mustang was trying to let it all sink in... in an unconscious way, trying to accept Fullmetal was now KIA.

Why were they trying to extract information from Edward about himself? Why was that so pertinent? Who was "she", the one who told them not to do something? After running his fingers through his hair, he sat up, looking back at the dates, to check date 45 in writing.

Finally finding it:
Day 45: Experiment conducted.

Day 47: Success.

Success? "Success?! Hughes, what else did you say you found besides the boxes?"

"People in cells, animals-"Mustang interjected the correction, "Chimeras, where there any successful chimeras?"

Hughes thought, "If they were they were taken with the other animals to be examined at the 3rd lab."

"We are going. Now."

An alchemic scientist turned the corner, walking down an empty hallway with nauseatingly perfect white walls. His footsteps echoed against the bright white void, with no hurry in his step. Another scientist poked his head out of the door, "Hey Mr. Collins! I thought you went home for the night."

"Nope, I can't escape work, too exciting with all the new arrivals." Mr. Collins crossed his arms, and rubbed his chin, sighing heavily, "Even so, exhaustion is slowly taking my mind, what room did we place the canine like group in?"

The other scientist laughed, "Lab Hall 125, with the lizard cats. Don't work too hard!" For a moment Collins looked befuddled, quickly recovering, and took his leave. Still without hurry, Mr. Collins turned the corner, smirking himself once the door labeled Lab Hall 125 was in view. Once entered and door shut, an act was dropped, while flipping on the light, which was very dull one. "Jezz, this is a pain in the ass. Hey! Where are you brat?" He started to look from cage to cage. A chimera with cat's body, but had a lizard's tail, hissed back at him. "Weirder than I pictured." The next had the body of a lizard but with cat's tail. "What you humans think up is ridiculous. Cats are already a trap; two faced razor bladed beasts." Still muttering to himself, "..Most of you weirdos have way too much time on your hands." 'Collins' finally came across a dog, curled up, not paying any attention to the world. The scientist took out a piece of paper out of his lab coat. It matched the number on the tag of the cage label. 35742. "Well well, well, found you," saying the next part slowly, "Edward Elric."

The dog's ears perked up and head rose. Its honey colored eyes peering through the bars confining him, 'Collins' continued, "That's right, I am looking for you. When I open this cage, you better not run. Fuck this up and I will fuck you up. Got it?" Ed started to growl, Envy spoke over him, "Hey now, I am trying to get you out of here. Co-op-er-ate." As if this Ed might not understand language anymore. Ed stopped growling but still eyed this person suspiciously.

There was a very uneasy feeling associated with this guy.

'Collins' started to slowly open the door to the cage, whistling, "Man, they really screwed up. Father is really going to lay it on them." Ed was clearly stiff as he exited the cage; and 'Collins' quickly snapped a leash on.

The hair on Ed's back lifted as he started to back up. "Chill." 'Mr. Collins' walked out with the chimera, closing the door behind them; the echoing footsteps were now accompanied with patters made by paws. They continued uninterrupted out of the lab. 'Collins' walked across the street from the lab entrance into the moonlit sitting park. That's when the sparks of red light emitted from his skin. Ed's hair stood on end, backing up, hunching down low, watching as Envy took form. A low growl emitted.

Crouching onto his hunches, Envy held out his hand, "Chill. It's still me. You're going to get high blood pressure, need you to relax." Ed hesitated, and sniffed, the same scent was present. What the hell was this about?

Another of the same energy started to close it's distance, now Ed's focus was past Envy, and on another presence in the dark.

"Relax, its Lust. She's also here to help." Envy stood back up, turning to address the new comer who appeared from the shadows. Noticing there was no immediate threat, Ed eased his stance. "This is a pain in my ass. It was your fault we didn't get there in time. Damn kid is acting more like a cat than dog."

"Did father tell you what to do with him?" Lust asked. Envy shook his head, "Nope." Putting his hands on his hips looking down at Ed, "I guess Wrath will have to take in a new pet." Lust sighed, "Go take him for a walk. He needs to stretch out before we attempt to put this on Mr. Wonderful and his child."

As Envy headed out of the park, he switched back to Mr. Collins. As they walked, the suspicious Ed, followed behind him. He stopped once to stretch his back, which made popping sounds. Not being able to uncurl his back in the cage was painful.

Envy lifted an eyebrow, "You sound like an old man." Shaking it all out, ears flopping a bit. They eventually made it to a building corner when 'Collins' literally smacked into someone. "Hey watch-!" The other person fell to the concrete. Envy recognized the person on his ass, "HAHAHA - problem solved." Colonel Mustang glared up from the ground, Hughes quickly pulling him up to his feet by the shoulders. The dog was wide eyed at the scene before him. Neither Mustang or Hughes could open their mouths, before Envy slyly continued, "Wow. I didn't give you enough credit. Learned something today. Here," holding out the leash, "take your military dog. I don't want 'em."

Mustang questioned, "Who-"

Irritated, Envy interrupted, "Were you in pursuit of Elric or not?" Envy chucked the leash at Mustang, "Then shut up!" Slight cock of the head with smile, "And don't ask questions." Envy spun on his heel.

Mustang and Hughes looked down at the scrawny emaciated dog. It had short autumn blonde hair, with a darker brown streak that ran along its back. It was staring unblinkingly up at them, unsure, and frozen in place. Mustang looked back up to question the man, but he vanished. Mustang knelt down, holding the leash gently; the dog took a step back. "Hey it's okay, I just want to see if there is anything to read on you." Mustang slowly, took his gloved fingers to gently shift the band in order to read the metal punched tab on the leather, "35742".

The dog's golden eyes watched Mustang carefully. For a moment there was a quiver on the collar around his neck, before the hand retreated. Mustang sighed deeply putting on a meek smile, softly stating, "Hey there Fullmetal. We've been looking for you." Hughes stepped forward. The dog had a slight jump at the proximity of Maes' presence. As Hughes was pat on the head, Ed looked up to the man. Hughes' voice was lost again, this time within the lump in his throat, as Ed started to slowly wag his tail.

Authors note:

1. I cannot take the credit for coming up with the idea of Ed being a Chimera. I must thank, Sevlow. It was when reading Sevlow's FanFiction, Number Twenty Eight, that I was inspired by the idea of Ed/Chimera for this FanFiction. Though the idea is similar, the plot is much different, so there is no stealing.
The address to the FanFiction mentioned is provided below:
s/4046126/1/Number-Twenty-Eight

2. Please review, feedback is always welcome. Now and in the future of this story, let me know what gripped you, jerked you, made you chuckle or down right laugh, maybe a tear or two. All this feedback lets me know if I am making the mark for better writing. Thanks!