"Secure him."
"As you wish, Father."
"Wh- What?! Lieutenant!?
"I'm sorry, Edward," a sad smile flickered to her lips. "I haven't been human for a long time…"
"No need for remorse, my daughter, he shall be one of us soon."
Ed woke up with a start, sweat pouring down his face, making his blond hair cling to his face. What the hell kind of nightmare was that? He wiped his face on his sleeve, groaning. His head was throbbing, his body was tensed up to such an extent his muscles were sore…
"Brother? You're up! Are you okay?"
"I- yeah- I think? What-"
That wasn't Al's voice, and he was fairly sure this wasn't his room. The room was plain, and not very well lit- were they underground? There were no windows.
"Brother?" the voice said again.
Ed finally focused on the speaker; it was most definitely not Al.
A strangely proportioned, rotund, bald man with a dopey face was eying him eagerly, and he wasn't the only stranger. A dark-haired woman, an androgynous person with green hair, and-
"Lieutenant?" he shook his head, trying to clear his muddled thoughts.
"Oh, he remembers you, Treachery," the fat-man said, chewing on his fingers. "Do we tell Father?"
"Hm, that makes things a tad more difficult but still manageable," the dark-haired woman mused to herself. "Go ahead and go tell Father, we'll deal with little brother."
"Okay!"
The strange man hobbled out of the room, leaving the confused teen with the two women and the green-haired person.
"E-…how much do you remember?"
The lieutenant was in some weird black clothes, they looked similar to the others' outfits, to a degree. They were pretty plain, with the exception of some strange lines crossing the torso.
"I- what?" Ed shook his head, drawing back from them. "Lieutenant what's going on?! Who the hell are these people?! Where are we-?!"
"Shhhh…try and calm down," she approached him, forcing a gentle smile. "Just calm yourself, and then we can talk."
"Ah great, he still has an attitude problem," the green-haired person rolled their eyes. "Yippee, can't wait to work with this some more."
"Envy if you're going to be so difficult perhaps you should leave too," the other woman huffed.
"Lust is right," Riza stated flatly. "You're not helping the situation much."
"Oh ho! Baby sister thinks she can boss people around now that she's not the youngest, huh?" 'Envy' grinned impishly, eying her.
"Envy, stop being such a brat and just go if you're not going to help." 'Lust' reiterated, rolling her eyes.
"Tch, whatever, I really don't care how this goes either way."
To Ed's shock the person abruptly turned into a snake and simply slithered out under the crack in the door.
"What the hell-?"
"Such a mouth on him," Lust tsked. "Well, Treachery, dear? How do you think we should handle him? Father said he might be different than the rest of us, but he certainly seems to know who you are."
Treachery? Did she mean Hawkeye?
"Yes, perhaps it's better if I talk to him alone, then." Riza looked at the other woman. "He might be more comfortable that way until I explain things."
"Hmm…well, if you think you can handle it, dear, just holler if you need help, hm?"
Riza nodded and Lust responded by smiling, then embracing the blonde in a hug, patting her head.
"My baby sister is all grown-up and helping with the family," she cooed. "You human-based types grow up far too fast."
Riza sighed but made no move to pull away, relaxing only when Lust released her.
"Good luck, darling." The woman said as she left the room.
The door had barely shut when Ed exploded into a barrage of questions and demands for answers.
"Lieutenant what the hell?! What's going on?! Who are they- where are we? Why-?"
"Shh." Riza covered his mouth, locking eyes with him. "Keep your voice down."
Ed glared but silenced when he saw her eyes dart to the door and back, clearly wary. After a moment she nodded at him and pulled away.
"Do you remember your name? Who you are?"
"Wh- of course I do," he scoffed, but kept his voice low.
"Then what is it?"
"It's E-" he cut off, frowned then spoke again. "It's E-…"
"What's my name, then? Your brother's? Your mechanic? Anyone?"
"You're Hawkeye," he answered easily. "Al is my brother, Winry is my mechanic, Mustang's our boss..."
The woman looked noticeably relieved, smiling slightly.
"I see, so do you remember what happened? Where we are?"
"Not a freaking clue," Ed scoffed, frustrated. "Last I remember I was with Al and…"
He trailed off into silence. What had he been doing? He had been with Al, in Central, looking for leads, and then- nothing. The rest was just a blur. Like his name. Why the hell couldn't he remember his name? Okay, okay if he just remembered Al's name he'd remember his right? Alphonse Elric- right, that seemed right, Elric was his last name. So what was…?
"And before that?" Riza pressed.
"Before that I think I was telling Mustang that his hair looked like a goat chewed on it when he got mad at me for not handing in a report."
"I see," Riza sighed, eyes closed. "Good, it's all there then, except..."
"E…Ed! There it is! Geez, why the hell was that so hard?" he frowned.
"I don't know, but I'm relieved you remember," she smiled weakly, her eyes warm. "There was a possibility you wouldn't and I was concerned."
Ed eyed he quizzically and she hugged him, the boy tensing up at the sudden gesture.
"I'm so glad you're still you…" she mumbled.
"Okay, Lieutenant? You're really freaking me out, everything about this is freaking me out, what the hell is going on?"
"Shh," she said again, but pulled back from him. "Edward…we're in Central, still, underground. Those people are…my family."
"Your what?" Ed scoffed.
"My brothers and sister, our father lives down here," she frowned. "Edward, listen to me, this is very important. You need to act like you're going along with them, do you understand? When Father comes to talk to you, you have to convince him you're going to do what you're told."
"I don't do what anyone tells me," he scowled. "No offense Hawkeye but I'm not doing anything your dad tells me to. What does he want from me?"
"Edward," she said again, locking eyes with him. "Please-"
"Well now, is the newest member of our family up?"
Riza stiffened and Ed quickly looked toward the door.
"H- Hoenheim?! What the hell!?" Ed recoiled.
"No no, we had this conversation already," the bearded man smiled pleasantly. "You still seem to remember everything else though; ah well, that's what happens when you experiment, you get new results."
"Father," Riza began. "I-"
"Now then, your name is 'Heresy'," the man ignored her, looking at Ed. "Is that understood?"
"Like hell it is," he snapped back, glaring. "If you aren't Hoenheim, who are you and what do you think you're doing kidnapping me? What do you want?"
"Oh dear, going to be difficult are we? Shame, I was really hoping this could go a lot easier for the both of us."
Ed got to his feet, clearly ready to start a fight if need be. 'Father' merely looked amused a moment, then glared.
"Transmute something."
"Wh-? Well fine then, bastard, you asked for it!"
Ed transmuted a weapon from the stone in the wall, brandishing it at his captor.
"Oh good, it worked," the man smiled, pleased with the action. "Now then, Heresy, put that away and let's talk, shall we?"
Ed responded by charging; it was all over in less than a second. Riza had shouted something, probably trying to warn him, and the Hoenheim-look-a-like hadn't even blinked. Ed knew an instant of pure pain before anything else. Then shock. He was impaled, spikes had risen from the ground, impaling his flesh limbs, his stomach, his shoulder, his chest…and his neck. He choked, eyes wide as blood seeped from his gaping mouth.
"Don't worry Heresy, you can't die anymore, but I imagine you're not enjoying that pain. Now let's try this again, shall we?"
Ed managed to choke out something very rude.
"Insist on doing this the hard way then? It's only going to hurt you."
A spike erupted from the ground in a flash of red lightning and thrust between his eyes. A shrill laugh echoed in his head, the one called 'Envy' had apparently arrived.
"Welcome to the family, you little brat!"