AN: If this seems like Running Wild by hawkpath13, I'm very sorry. That's kinda where I got my idea from but i'll try to make it as different as possible. If I fail, please tell me in a review and I'M SORRY IF THAT HAPPENS! Also, like all of my other stories, I will attempt to write long chapters, but I don't really know if I can... ONE LAST THING. Al has his body back. So yeah, everything else is the same, but I needed Al back for this one. AGAIN I'M VERY SORRY IF THIS SEEMS LIKE COPYING! TTwTT

Alphonse snuck through the apartment hallway, towards his brother's room. Light from the windows dappled the hallway in pale moonlight. He heard the strange sound again. It sounded kind of like a hiss or a groan, but not either at the same time. He balanced himself against the wall, briefly marveling at the sense of touch, before he turned back to the darkened hallway. He crept slowly past the bathroom and up to the door of Ed's bedroom. The hissing groan continued. Was Nii-san in pain?

He slowly turned the doorknob, and the mysterious noise stopped. Al stiffened in alarm. Whatever was in there knew he was behind the door. Slowly and cautiously, he opened it.

What he saw shocked him beyond recognition. His eyes widened in terror and he slumped back into a wall. His mouth moved but the words eh was trying to say only made it halfway up his throat. Only rasping escaped his lips.

Blood pooled at his feet. Nii-san was nowhere to be found. Instead there was a huge cat laying in the middle of the floor. The window was open and a chilly breeze was blowing into the freezing cold room.

The cat was unmarked, but the blood seemed to flow freely from somewhere near it. It's fur was pure black with golden streaks down its back and legs. As it looked towards Al, he could see that it had golden eyes as well. Its gold and black tail twitched weakly on the floor and the gold eyes lit up in recognition. It pushed itself to its feet, then stumbled closer to Al. It took a step and collapsed. Suddenly there was more blood from the unidentified place. It sides were heaving and its limbs were twitching. It looked pleadingly at Al. Those eyes... they were familiar... and they had a sort of depth to them... Al shook the thought away. Even though his instincts screamed at him to move away, he walked hesitantly towards the chimera like creature.

It started slowly backing up, pushing itself across the floor. Weakly, it coughed and a small trail of blood dripped down its chin. Pain crossed its deformed face before it suddenly fell to its side, curling in around its stomach and chest. Al ran the last few steps to the chimera. That's when he finally got a good look at it. Its fur was streaked with blood and covered in small cuts. From its tail to its head it was about as long as Al was tall, probably waist height when it was standing up too. Then the glint of metal drew Al's eyes to the side of the cat.

Its front right leg and hind left leg were made entirely of metal. Al's mind whirled, slowly putting together the pieces. Nii-san missing. A large cat in his place. Blood. Pain. The eyes. The limbs...

Only Nii-san had limbs like those. Al took a shuddering breath and pulled the pained chimera closer to him. He gently placed its black head in his lap and stroked its head, avoiding the cuts.

Blood.

Pain.

It was time for the final confirmation. Al leaned over, his mouth close to the chimera's ear, laid flat to his head. He whispered quietly to it. "Nii-san?"

The chimera slitted its eyes and looked up at Al with a clear message written behind the pain clouding its eyes. Al gasped and almost dropped Nii-san's head onto the bloody floor. He was shaking a tears were leaking from his eyes. "Nii-san..."

Ed was still curled around himself, letting out small whimpers of pain. His teeth were bared, giving Al a clear view of the deadly canines that were clenched in distress.

Al whispered that he's be right back to Edward, then gently laid him down onto the empty bed.

He sprinted to the kitchen and opened a small cabinet. He grabbed the first-aid kit and the phone and raced back to Ed's room. He quickly sat net to him on the bed and took out a few pills. He shoved them into Nii-san's mouth, willing him to have enough humanity to know to swallow. Thankfully, he did. Al took out the bandages and slowly started patching up Ed's battered body. His ports were bleeding profusely and his other cuts were oozing crimson onto the crumpled white sheets. Slowly, Ed's breathing evened out as the painkillers took affect and he fell into a restless sleep.

Al breathed a sigh of relief and dialed the colonel's office number. The call tone rang for about 10 seconds, then Hawkeye answered at the other end.

"Hello, Colonel Mustang's office, how can I help you?"

"Riza! This is Al!"

"What's wrong, Alphonse? Why are you calling at midnight?"

"It's Nii-san!" Al practically screamed into the phone, then lowered his voice as he remembered his sleeping brother, "I can't tell you over the phone, but I need you guys over here now."

"Alphonse, what-?"

Al slammed the phone into its cradle and left the room. He walked back down the moonlit hallway and stared absently out of one of the large windows. Something flitted in the corner of his vision and he turned his head. Something was scuttling on the roof of the house next to their apartment, heading towards the back... towards Ed...

He sprinted back towards the room again. The thing was in the window, leaning over Edwards limp body and holding a syringe. Al realized with horror that it was empty. He leapt towards the thing but it was gone before he even got close. Ed twitched in his sleep, his cat-like brows furrowed in concentration. Then his eyes shot open, bloodshot and staring. He squirmed on the bed, opening a few cuts. He reached up to his neck and clawed at it desperately, ripping through skin and muscle in a desperate attempt to get at whatever was under his flesh.

Al dived at Ed's paws and pinned them against the bed before he could continue his crazed attempts to claw his own throat out. He looked down despairingly at his older brother, the truth finally hitting him.

Nii-san would never be the same again.

AN: Good? Not good? What will happen when Mustang and co. arrive at the scene? Who was that strange thing in the window? And what happened to Ed? All that and more answered in the next chapter!

Soulless, signing off!