Hi everyone! Hope you liked my last chapter. But please review. Okay? I need some feedback from my loyal fans!

Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own FMA either, sorry.

Alphonse gazed worriedly through the rusted bars of the gate to the mansion on the hill, large windows on the top floor stared out at him, cold and mean.

I wonder what waits for Ed and I in that creepy place, Al thought, it seems so foreboding, so unwelcoming, why is that?

Alphonse turned to look at his older brother, who was carefully looking over the almost rusted-through front gate.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Alphonse came up behind him, but Ed ignored him and, after a second, grabbed the padlock, and yanked.

It came off in his hand.

Edward turned to grin at Alphonse, who was looking at him astonished. "That lock was almost rusted through," Edward explained, "So it was almost ready to fall off anyway." Ed eased opened the gate with a creak and slipped inside the grounds. Before Al could react Ed was already halfway up the long, twisting path. "Coming, Al?" He called over his shoulder. "Yes brother" Alphonse hurried to catch up.

The house loomed over them as they stopped in front of the front steps that led up to the porch. The brothers craned their necks and surveyed the missing bricks in the walls, the crumbling chimneys, (five, that they could see), and the cracked windowpanes.

"Nice place." Edward commented sarcastically, starting up the rotted stairs.

"It was probably nice when it was first built." Alphonse said absent-mindly, still gazing up at the broken windows.

"Al! Let's go!" Ed was already halfway inside.

"Coming" Alphonse quickly caught up with Ed, who was cautiously creeping around in the shadows of the entrance hall.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, if there are people in here, we don't want them sneaking up on us, do we?" Ed snapped. "It's better we find them first, before they find us."

"I got it." Al tried to be as quiet as he could while following his brother, but his clanking armor echoed in the still of the large entry hallway.

"Al, is there anyway you could be quieter?" Edward asked after a while.

"Not really, brother." Alphonse sounded defensive, "It's this armor, I couldn't sneak up on anyone if I tried-"

But he was cut off abruptly when the almost rotted-through wood on the floor cracked under the weight of his armor.

"BROTHER!" He screamed as he fell through.

"AL!" Edward rushed to the hole in the floor; it was way too dark to see the bottom. "Al?" He repeated.

"Brother, I'm okay!" Al voice cut through the silence, "It's not too far down, but it sure is dark down here"

Edward sighed with relief, "Okay, Al, I'm coming down."

"Be careful" Alphonse warned him.

Ed swiftly brought his hands together and then touched the side of the hole; there was a flash of blue light, and the nothing.

"Al?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you see if there is a slab of wood sticking out there for me to land on? I can't see from way up here."

Alphonse reached up above him and felt around.

"Yup, it's here."

"Good, okay, I'm coming down!"

Ed jumped in, and slid down the wall until he came to a stop a few feet from the ground.

"Well," he grumbled as he jumped to the ground, "If whoever it is doesn't know we were here before, they sure as heck do now."

"I'm sorry." Alphonse apologized meekly.

"It's not your fault, Al." Ed sighed and looked around. "I can't see a single thing! And the sun is going down too! Where do ya suppose we are?"

"It seems like we' re in the basement." Alphonse looked around, "It's too big to be another room, and it feels like it goes on almost the whole length of the house." (A/N you know how you can sometimes feel that a room is big, even if you can't see it?)

Ed moved blindly forward, his hands out-stretched, but he bumped into something anyway.

"Oww!' He reached down to rub his left leg. "What is this thing?"

"I dunno brother, but there's more of them!" Al felt his way a few feet down. "Whatever they are, they're spread out every few inches, as far down as I can tell, and probably in the whole room as well!"

"Wish I could see." Ed muttered, "Where's the Flame Alchemist when you need him?" Ed had a couple of matches in his coat pocket, but he needed a torch or something.

Maybe there's on along the side! He thought, and immediately started running his hand along the cold, concrete, walls.

"What are you looking for, Ed?" Al asked.

"You'll know if I find one." Edward answered his brother through gritted teeth. Come on, he begged silently, the sun's almost down and soon we'll be stuck with no light at all! His hand brushed something.

"Yes!" Edward exclaimed, triumphantly holding up the torch. He plunged his hand into his pocket and extracted the matches.

"Oh, a torch! Great idea brother!"

"Thank you Alphonse, can you hold this a second while I light this?"

"Yup, I can't wait till we can see where we are! And what these things are that are all over the floor!"

"Definitely" Ed agreed, striking a match. He lit the torch, and took it from Al.

The flickering light sent weird shadows across the surroundings, making stationary objects dance and leap like they were alive. It was hard to see at first, but when the brother's eyes adjusted there was no mistaking the objects that lied in front of them.

They were long, around six feet each, made of wood. At one time, they were obviously polished brightly, but years of dirt had worked its way into the grain, staining each one with filth that would never fade. They did indeed stretch the entire length and width of the room that the Elric brothers stood in. And the room was huge; almost as big as the entire ground floor of the mansion, it looked like. The brothers couldn't even see the back from the poor light that the torch offered them. Even so, despite the dancing light and shadows there was no two ways about it; these objects were coffins.

Ha! A cliffhanger! I really hate these when I'm reading, but I just had to put one in! So, did ya enjoy it? I kind of enjoyed writing it! Hope you guys come back for more! Because hopefully I'm gonna update soon! Oops! Don't wanna jinx myself!

(knocks on wood) Peace you guys!

Jenni