Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi). I'm not making any money from writing this - I do it merely for fun, from an inspired dream. And I don't have any money, so please don't sue.

Summary: Alternate Universe. Edward, Al, and Winry are living in modern times (i.e., 2006). Edward and Al managed to bring their mother back and succeed! And Al hasn't lost his body. Picture him looking a lot like him in the movie (but with different clothes: blue shirt and jeans, because Ed is wearing his traditional ensemble.) Ed's made enemies he doesn't know about, and they want to kidnap him. How will he get out of this situation?

Author Notes: This story was inspired by a dream I had last night, May 5, 2006 - May 6, 2006. I dreamt the entire story, so I know exactly what I'm going to write. ...I just have to write it. The dream is a little different than what I'm actually writing for the fanfic. When I'm all finished, I'll post up a description of MY dream. I don't want to give you guys one now, or you'll know what's going to happen!

Because this is AU, there's a lot of things that are different. Most of this first chapter explains HOW things have been different. It's a little boring, but please stick it out and read - it's important to understand the background to this fic. I promise there's a lot of delusional, angsty, depressed Edward to come in the next few chapters.

And also: Shout out to my Academic Decathlon team! The unfamiliar names in the second paragraph are them.
Special Shout out to my good friend Lumi, who was the role of Al at one point in my dream! hugs you Love ya, dear!

Warnings: Lots of Edward angst, lots of delusional Edward. Psychological, mental, (and slight physical) TORTURE! Torture induces extreme irrationality in Edward. HUGE AMOUNTS OF ANGST AND AN UNSTABLE EDWARD! TURN BACK NOW IF YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE. NOT GONNA BE A FLUFF STORY - I TELL YOU THAT RIGHT NOW.

His Nightmared Reality

The Elrics lived in a modern style house at the bottom of a hill, in the small town of Rizenbool. Being a rural town, their closest neighbors - the Rockbells - were at least a four minute walk away.

A lonely asphalt road, curved away from the hill and the house served as the driveway to the Elric's home at the bottom of a hill. Winry and her friends from the village - Travis, Alice who was most often accompanied by John, and sometimes Tom and Orissa - often walked along that road, and down the hill to visit It must be made clear, though, that it wasn't as though the house was in a spread out meadow, surrounded by a hill on one side. No, it was more like a Californian-style, glass-modern affair practically lodged into the side of a steep hill. To get to the front door from the road, one had to go down a series of twisting steps built into the side of the hill. The edifice was pressed up against the steep hill.

In retrospect, its unusual location would become an astounding (and not in a good way) fact for Edward, once the entire incident was over. It would be an, unintentional, tactical error.

It was a warm, May day, around seven o'clock in the evening, and dusk was just starting to set in. Edward was seated comfortably on the couch, in the living room writing away in his note book, experimenting in it with different transmutation circles. The living room was off to the left of the main entrance hallway. Alphonse was on the other side of that hallway, in his and Ed's bedroom, quietly reading a book. And Trisha was in the kitchen, making dinner for company that was coming over.

Yes, Trisha Elric. She had died when both Edward and Alphonse were younger, but they refused to be cheated out of their mother. Both the two talented brother vowed to bring her back using alchemy. They slaved away over books, their father's old note books. They learned from a real teacher, and then finally, Edward, with his teeth gritted, joined the state's army as an alchemist, in order to obtain more information on what he sought. He was the youngest person ever, to be admitted as a state alchemist at age twelve, and stayed at his job for the minimum three years, while gathering all the information needed to make the transmutation. At ages fifteen and fourteen, Edward and Alphonse had all they needed to bring back their mother. Edward resigned from his post in the army, they came back home, and succeeded in what achieving what no one else had done - performed a human transmutation. Thanks to her two sons, Trisha Elric was alive again.

Prices had been paid, but Ed didn't care, and neither did Al Trisha herself was slightly different in looks and demeanor. A little bit slender with more styled clothes, and slightly less cheerful, but what could you expect from a transmutation? If her smile was only 90 watts instead of 100, it was a small difference.

Ed was different, too. His left leg had been taken to bring back his mother, and his right arm was taken in exchange for keeping Alphonse. He had almost lost Alphonse to the other side of the gate during the transmutation, but with quick thinking, he had stopped the gate from taking Alphonse's body. El had to live with automail, but he didn't think it was so bad because Winry was the best mechanic ever, and he was working on a way to get his limbs back, anyway. Ed and Al had their mother, and that was quite enough for them.

Of course, human alchemy was still forbidden. Quite. So her existence was hushed up, and only a few people in Rizenbool knew of her true identity, while other believed that a kind woman had adopted the two boys to raise. (And still others had no idea the Elric brothers had gained back a mother).

Edward had made friends, with adults no less, during his days in the military, and it was one of his friends, Maes Hughes, that was visiting him in Rizenbool today. Ed liked Maes, and Al liked him, too. He was an outgoing, easy going, likeable kind of guy, and even his obsession with pictures of his four year old daughter was... endearing.

However, Ed wasn't looking forward to his arrival. Not because he didn't like Maes, but because he didn't like who was coming with him: Colonel Roy Mustang. Mustang had been his commanding officer during his service at the military. He was arrogant, cocky, womanizing, lazy when it came to paperwork, and always insulting to Edward. Ed couldn't count the times he was made fun of for his height, or lack thereof, his hair, his short temper, or any number of things. He had hated reporting to Mustang after missions, and he was going to hate seeing him now.

Yeah, sure, Mustang had helped Edward in his quest. He sent Ed on missions where it looked as though someone would have information on human transmutation, and he never told the higher ups what Ed was doing, exactly. But Ed still didn't think he owed Roy Mustang anything - he knew perfectly well that he was Roy Mustang's "brilliant find" that would eventually get him promoted to a higher rank. As far as Ed was concerned, the two of them were even.

So Ed was waiting for Maes to arrive with Mustang. Distracted from his work for a moment, he cringed at the thought of seeing Roy's smug grin that made him look like he owned the place. That was right before things went to hell, and it would be a while before Edward thought of Mustang again.

There was a loud bang as a something flew through the glass window, ripped through the curtains, and barely missed hitting Edward, flying over the top of his head.

'What the hell was that?' he thought, a second before the answer came. 'A bullet!' Loud noises of a fight right outside the front door met Ed's ears. He quickly ran to the door, and flung it open only to find Maes and the Colonel engaged in a fight with two people, right outside his house! Maes was contending with a human palm tree that had dodged the bullet and was now dodging every thrust of Hughes' blade, while the Colonel was trying to torch a quick moving woman with wavy black hair.

He noticed Edward watching the scene, and shouted to him, "It's an ambush on you, fullmetal! Flee while we hold them off. Go!"

An ambush? On him? Sure, he had made enemies working for the state, and these people were probably some of them, but Edward had never though anyone would attempt to find him in Rizenbool and kill him. But before he thought about his own safety, Edward's mind flew to his brother, Alphonse. "I have to get Al first!" he shouted back.

"Edward, no! Get out, now!" Mustang shouted back at him.

But Ed wasn't listening. He went back inside the house, turned right and down the hallway into their bedroom to warn Al. "Al!" he said, catching his brother just on the other side of the door. It seemed he had heard the commotion, too. "Something dangerous is happening, Al. There's someone out side who pretty much wants to kill me. Sneak out the back door, run to Winry's house, and don't look back! I'll tell mom to do the same."

"Brother, you're not thinking of fighting them!"

"I am, Al. They're my enemies, apparently. Please, go. I don't want you or mom to get hurt!" Ed was pleading with his brother, counting on the fact that he was older and always bossed Al to be enough for Al to listen to him. Al nodded his head in agreement, and Ed wasted no time darting out the other way. He called his mother's name a few times, but couldn't find her - not even in the kitchen, so he shouted the same instructions he had given Alphonse, before returning to the fight outside, to aid Mustang and Hughes.

He couldn't have come at a better time, because it was apparent that Maes was injured - stabbed in his side, and still fighting pineapple head. Edward rushed into help, clapping his hands together to transmute his automail into a sharp blade.

Mustang was royally pissed off with Edward refusing to listen to him. "Edward! What did I say? Go NOW!" But he couldn't make Ed do anything, while he was still dodging the woman who had some sort of clawed weapon, and trying to set her on fire.

Ed was trying to damage the person in front of him, who was yelling back witty insults, but the black-haired woman growled at his enemy, "stop talking to the boy, and grab him, Envy!" Envy was not listening, so the woman raised her free hand, and suddenly stabbed Edward in the shoulder with... her entire hand? It had extended into a long, pointed projectile, and he wondered 'Who are these people?' before doubling over in pain. He cried out while Envy picked him up and began dragging him away, up the stairs.

He struggled while his captor was dragging him away. Ed could see the woman stab Roy in the leg before also turning, right behind Envy. Ed was still struggling as he saw the vague outline of his mother moving sideways away from the house. It looked like she was running toward the Rockbell's house - she was alright. Ed's vision shifted for a moment, and she looked red. Her hair and her face looked red, but then he wondered if it was the blood coming from his shoulder affecting him. He noticed a shadow coming closer to Trisha. It looked like another attacker, but before Edward could shout out anything, there was a sharp blow to his head from Envy, and he fell into unconsciousness.

Wow! How did you like that? I REALIZE that Edward would never be defeated so easily. Never. But it happened in my dream, probably because before I turned into Edward, I was me, and I'm rather weak. It's my dream, just go with it, please.

The next couple chapters will be entirely weird (like this one), and full of Edward angst. He's getting more delusional the longer he's kept captive.