Hey, thanks everyone for your reviews! At least it means that this story is liked, heh. Strangely, I used to get more reviews for my stories, but I haven't been getting a lot lately. Sigh. Must be due to the fact that I haven't been very active as of late. Oh well, that ought to change quite soon, as I have more free time now. I guess that I'll just have to win my readers back, hehe.

Anyway, I have a lot of inspiration for this story thus far, so as long as the inspiration lasts, I'll be able to update fairly quickly. However, I'll need the reviews to keep the motivation to continue, so please don't slack off on reviews, heh. Believe it or not, the writers on this site really depend on them, and I allow anonymous reviews now, so you don't have any reason not to, so make sure you review! Ha! (snicker...there, that ought to get 'em.)

Disclaimer: Hmmm...what stupid thing can I say today...ummm...I can bore you to death by saying "ummm" can't I? Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Okay, I'll quit. I don't own FMA, got it?

"Brother," Al called as he shook his brother awake, "Brother, wake up, we're here."

"Just five more minutes..." Ed lazily rolled over so that he was facing the bench, away from Al.

"We don't HAVE five minutes, Brother! This train is going to leave for its next stop in five minutes. You have to get up now!"

Ed moaned and finally sat up, quite perturbed about having had his sleep interrupted. "Well, they should make the time they spend at each stop a little longer." He yawned and stretched his arms, and then reached up and grabbed his and Al's suitcases. He turned his face towards Al and flicked it in the direction of the exit without saying a word to indicate that he wanted Al to follow. Al was used to Ed's less than pleasant early morning moods, so he just shrugged it off and followed after his brother.

As soon as they stepped off the train, Ed set his suitcase down on the ground and sat on it. Al fidgeted with his hands a bit, trying to find a way to break the tension and get things moving. At last, he spoke. "Brother, where do we go now?"

"How should I know?" Ed said grumpily, "All I really want to do is sleep right now. We can do our demon chasing later, alright?"

"Um...okay..." said Al, a little taken aback. True, he was used to these bad moods of Ed's, but that really didn't make dealing with them any easier. "I'll just...go and socialize with the people...I guess...okay?"

"Fine."

Al blinked back a couple tears that were pricking at his eyes, and then walked off in search of more pleasant company. Ed would come around when he'd had enough rest. He always did.

Al reached into his pocket and pulled out the handwritten copy he had made of the most common traits of a demon. He knew that he wasn't supposed to have this copy on his person, since he wasn't in the military, but he wanted to help his brother in any way possible, and hey, if they didn't get caught, what would it matter?

He walked up to the nearest person that he saw. "Excuse me," he said, "My brother and I are looking for someone, but we don't know his name or what he looks like. Tell me, have you ever met anyone with these kinds of traits?" The person scanned through the personality traits and other identifiable traits of demons written on the piece of paper for a few moments, and then shook their head, apologizing that they didn't know, and wishing Al luck on finding their missing person. "Well, thanks for your help anyway," said Al.

Not dissuaded, Al turned and ran up to the next nearest person with the same question, only to find the same results. He continued with a third person, and failed yet again. "Well," he muttered, "I suppose I'll have to ask an awful lot of people before I can finally get a lead."

"You're not trying to do my work for me, are you Al?"

Al turned around and saw his brother walk up to him, a half smile on his face. Al blushed a bit, and stammered, "Um...I-I was only...trying to help you, Brother...since you looked so tired...and..."

Ed chuckled and said, "Al, it's okay, I just got up on the wrong side of the bed. I'm fine now, and you don't have to do my work for me, though I appreciate your concern." He caught the look of disappointment in Al's eyes, so he spoke up again. "Hey, I don't mind if we work together, Al...you've always been a big help to me...always keeping my feet on the ground. Frankly...I NEED you, Al...don't ever forget that."

Al looked up at Ed with those big gray eyes of his and said, "Thank you, Brother...I'm glad to hear that I've been able to be of assistance to you." He paused for a minute, and then asked, "So, what do you think we should do now?"

Ed scratched the back of his head. "Well, I've never been able to work on an empty stomach, so I'd say that we get some breakfast first, and then we can work. We can even work out a plan of action while we're eating, if you'd like."

"Sounds good," said Al. The two boys quickly found a decent looking restaurant and ordered themselves some breakfast, and, as Ed promised, they worked out their plan of action. For the next few days, the two of them went around questioning people and trying to find a lead, all to no avail. The same thing happened in the next town they tried...and the next.

"It looks to me like we're getting nowhere fast," said Ed, "There must be something that we're not thinking about." Ed closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and then turned his head upward to look up at the sky. "We're really close to Rizenbul from here. Why don't we go and pay everyone a visit? It would be a nice way to kick back and relax, and I couldn't be accused of shirking my duties since it's in the same vicinity as all of these other towns we've tried."

"Well..." said Al, "I would like to see Auntie and Winry again...but are you sure that it's alright?"

"I'm sure," said Ed, "Come on, Al, let's go."

"Yes, sir!" Al said jokingly, though he was really happy about the whole idea. It had been quite some time since he'd been to his hometown, and he couldn't wait to see everyone again.

Finally, the train pulled into the station at Rizenbul. Al stepped off the train and breathed in the fresh country air as he waited for Ed to find his way off. He set his suitcase down on the ground and turned around to get a better look at the rolling hills not far off from where the station was. He was home.

Just then, a boy ran up and grabbed Al's suitcase. "Hey, wait!" shouted Al, starting to run after the boy, "Give that back!" It was no use though, because even in the few yards they'd sprinted, it was obvious that the boy was a much faster runner than Al. And here Al had such important things in that suitcase too...this was just terrible...

Suddenly, they boys heard a voice that sent chills down their spines. "Leave. Al. Alone. Or you will live. To. Regret it." Al turned around and saw Ed standing nearby, and he could have sworn that he saw fire blazing behind those golden eyes of his. No one messes with his little brother. No one. And anyone that did would pay.

Ed took a step in the direction of the two boys, and the thief took a step back. Ed took another step in his direction, and said, "Let go of the suitcase, or I will let you have it, and you'll be sorry that you ever crossed paths with me." The boy promptly dropped the suitcase and ran off in terror, leaving a very amazed Al looking back and forth between the two of them.

"Brother..." said Al, "...Where did you learn to command such respect and awe in someone? Have you been watching Colonel Mustang at work?"

Ed snorted. "Me, learn how to command respect from HIM? He can't even command respect from ME, so how could I learn anything from him? No, it's just that it really ticks me off when someone is mistreating you, that's all it is."

"Well...anyway...thank you, Brother," said Al, picking up his suitcase and briefly opening it to make sure that everything was still intact. Yes, nothing had been damaged, so he closed it back up and looked at Ed. "Shall we head to Winry's now?"

Ed shrugged. "Why not?" He picked up his own suitcase and led the way to Winry's house. When they got there, they were met by a very warm reception, with both Winry and Pinako fussing over them and commenting about how much they'd grown. Apparently, Winry must've left all her wrenches in the house and Pinako wasn't in the mood for short jokes right then, because it was a fairly pleasant meeting.

Later, at the dinner table, Al pulled the handwritten copy of demon traits out of his pocket and showed it to Winry. "Winry, this is the mission that Brother's been sent on. We're trying to find someone that matches the description given here, but we haven't succeeded in finding them yet. You haven't perchance seen anyone like this, have you?"

Winry picked up the paper and read over the things on the list while everyone else continued talking. Al had conveniently left out the fact that it was a demon they were after, since most people wouldn't be able to answer at all if you did mention it right off the bat. "Hey, we're trying to find a demon, have you seen any around lately?"

After a few minutes, Winry set the piece of paper down on the table. "Are you sure that you've looked thoroughly in all the places you've tried?" asked Winry.

"Yes," said Al, "We couldn't find one person that had ever run across anyone like that."

"And you're sure that you don't already know the person you're looking for?" prodded Winry again.

"Yeah," said Ed, "That was one of the first things I checked. I've never met anyone like that."

"Well...I know someone like this," said Winry.

Both boys turned their full attention to Winry and simultaneously said, "You do?" Winry nodded, and proceeded to tell them who. What she said next made Ed choke on his food. "The only person I know that acts like the person described here...is Ed."

Hope you liked that chapter, now please review if you want me to post the next chapter, okay? Thanks a bunch, and hope to see you back soon!