Disclaimer: So yes, all the standard disclaimers apply. No I do not own, and I shall never own the characters from Fullmetal Alchemist or from Dante's Inferno. I know that you are all heart broken, but just deal wit it.

Chapter 2: The First Circle —We All Go To Limbo

"Down to the sightless world we now shall go

Proceed will I and thou come second so."

~ Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Alchemist Headquarter hummed like a living animal, content. It was a relatively calm night. No full moon, so the werewolf population, if not exactly tamed, was calmer. The pixie infestation was cleared out the week before, and there shouldn't be anything arising from that sector for a few more weeks. There were no reports of a demon summoning, of will-of-the-wisp leading people to dubious locations or of ancient artifacts spontaneously possessing people and turning them into mindless slaves for the archbishop of the Catholic Church. Even the vampires had been strangely silent of late. And so, government lackeys sitting at rows of unadorned desk chatting amicably with their neighbor. All was tranquil at HQ.

That would last for approximately one more minute.

The sounds of a distant door slamming echoed faintly throughout the office. The clattering of black military issued boots marked the progress of the runner as he ran down the unadorned corridors, traveling deeper into the complex.

Make that 30 seconds. Ed was in a hurry.

When the doors of the office were thrown open, First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye looked up with a frown. Her brown eyes efficiently searched to room for the disturbance and quickly located Ed as he plowed though three office assistances, one secretary carrying a mug of coffee, and one unfortunate trashcan sitting innocently in the middle of the walkway. Riza couldn't help but admire Edwards's grace and form. The ability to completely terrify a battalion of hardened Alchemist office employees within moments of entering a room was a much valued skill, and it was sorely lacking in the military academy's curriculum in her opinion. Glancing at his furious golden eyes, she mentally sighed. And it was going to be such a peaceful night too…

"Sir?" she began. She might as well start out polite.

"Where is he?"

"Your brother? He said—"

Her words were impatiently cut off, "I'm not talking about Al. Where is that Bastard Colonel?"

Riza frowned again. While Ed and Roy still managed to fight like they were still in primary school and experiencing their first crushes, there hadn't been this much genuine anger associated with the words "Bastard Colonel" since they had gotten together. If this is what their lover's spats were going to look like, she glanced briefly at the secretary gaping horrified at his ruined uniform, then this needed to be stopped before anymore chaos erupted. Drawing herself up to her full height, and looked sternly down at the young man before her.

"Edward, if this is going to be your behavior every time that you and the Colonel get into an argument, I have to insist that you leave you personal life at home."

"I'm not fighting with Roy," Ed growled out. "I just want to know where his sorry ass is."

"He went to inspect some security breach in Sector 9." She shrugged, "If you are so desperate to hear his voice, why don't you just call him?"

It was as if all of the life went out of Ed, and he began to sway slightly where he stood. "He's gone…He's really gone…." He muttered quietly.

"Well yes. But he only went to Sector 9, he should be back within the hour."

Ed shook his head. With a voice still dazed he said, "No…He's not coming back. Sector 9 is where the Homunculus Headquarters is located. He probably walked right into their trap, and they have him now."

Hawkeye took 1.5 seconds to pull out her gun and place it between Ed's vacant eyes, and then she took an additional 10 seconds to stare him down before she spoke.

"Fullmetal, I'm giving you 5 seconds to pull yourself together and explain. Or," she said lowering the gun to his right side, "I will be forced to shoot you, sir, and not in your metal leg."

Ed looked blankly in her direction for longer then she would have liked. And it wasn't until she cocked the gun did he shake off his stupor. Ed visibly composed himself before looking directly at the lieutenant.

"Right. At approximately 2200hrs, I was approached by a low level vamp that I've had a few run-ins with before. His name is unimportant as he will not be answering to it any longer."

"Killed him?"

Ed smirked, "You can't kill something that isn't technically alive."

Hawkeye's lips almost twitched in response, "Continue."

"The vampire informed me that Roy, or in their words, "Flame," had been captured by the Homunculus, and they weren't planning to return him alive. I'd hoped that he'd be here, but it looks like the information given to me was correct. Though I don't think they would have killed him right away. The Homunculus like to…play with their victims first."

"Right," Riza said while holstering her gun. "I'll relay this information to the General, and we'll take the team down to Section 9 to look for him. Go and collect the boys from the mess hall, and meet me out front."

Ed nodded, "And I'll swing by to get Al too, he might have more information on the vampires that could be of help."

Even before he opened his eyes, he knew he was in trouble. It wasn't as if anything was physically wrong, it was more a feeling that something in the quiet was…off. In fact, for being kidnapped by Central's vamperic version of the mob, he felt fine. A little annoyed at being knocked out. But fine.

That's how he knew he was screwed.

Opening his eyes, he waited for them to adjust to the dim light, and then began searching around the room. There was not much to note: a broken chair tossed in the corner, a door that he presumed to be locked, a boarded over window and a decrepit chandelier fraught with spider webs. It wasn't until he happened to glance up that he realized he was chained to the wall. In the next moment he realized that while he could see the chains attached to his hands, he could not feel them.

But that wasn't his immediate concern; he could contemplate why he couldn't feel any of his extremities later. Right now he had to deal with the female vampire standing in front of him. Roy gazed at her impassively.

"Hello Lust," He said.

And she smiled.

A/N So there's the second chapter, tell me what you think!