a/n: Right, I wasn't planning on continuing this story, but I had this nagging idea that wouldn't go away, so I said, "To heck with it" and wrote it anyway. However, because I decided to write a second part, the story will need a third chapter in order to be complete. In other words: Watch out for the next update! It may take a while as my main focus is on A Study in Alchemy, but it will be done...eventually.
Hope you guys enjoy this as much as the first chapter.

~~~v~~~ = Time Shift

~o(0)o~ = Viewpint change

Gate Crasher 2: UnVeiling

Little Harry Potter…

You can't even save those closest to you. How long has it been since you've seen your godfather, hmm? We're definitely not torturing him in a place that starts with Department and ends in Mysteries. You'll never find him, and you're too much of a wimp to attack us.

– Voldemort & Co.

P.S. This is totally not a trap. Promise.

The Golden Trio looked at the letter that had been tied to a rock and thrown through Harry's window. Ever since the connection between the Dark Lord and Harry had been lost, the Death Eaters had been going to further and further lengths to get the kids' attention.

"This has to be a trap." Hermione stated bluntly. "You can't go, Harry."

The Boy-Without-A-Scar threw his hands in the air dramatically. "But what if it's not?! What if Voldemort is killing Sirius and we're doing nothing to stop it?!"

"You idiot!" Hermione smacked Harry upside the head with her Charms textbook. "We would have heard something from the Order if he had been captured."

"But what if they don't know!" Harry whined.

"More likely that they wouldn't tell us." Ron mumbled. "With them thinkin' we're just little kids who can't protect ourselves an' all."

"Exactly!" Harry exclaimed, slapping his friend on the back. "Come on Hermione. We should at least check to make sure." The girl still looked skeptical. "How bad could it possibly be?"

~o(0)o~

(Later in the Department of Mysteries)

"I TOLD you, Harry!" Hermione screamed at him as the Order members burst into the room, spells flying. She pointed an angry finger at the figure of Harry's godfather as he blasted a Death Eater with a curse. "I TOLD you that Sirius was fine! But did you listen? Noooo~"

"Alright, alright, Hermione." Harry rolled his eyes. "You were right. I can see now that Sirius is perfectly fi–"

At that moment, a blast of light from Bellatrix's wand hit Harry's godfather square in the chest, sending him flying backwards in graceful slow-motion into the conveniently placed Veil.

Silence. Then–

"Bloody Hell, Hermione!" Ron shouted. "You just had to jinx us!"

~o(0)o~

"My, My. This is strange. You are not supposed to come here, Little Wizard."

The voice echoed around Sirius, causing him to open the eyes that he had not remembered closing. Around him was nothing, and yet the nothing was everything– endless white stretching on and on for as far as the eye could see. Where had the voice come from?

"I'm over here, Little Wizard."

Sirius turned around. Behind him, the void of white was broken by an enormous set of grey, stone doors decorated with intricate carvings. In front of the doors sat a figure; a white shadow the same color as the milky-white surroundings. It gave a small wave with a hand that looked surprisingly like flesh, but it did not seem like a friendly wave to Sirius– more like the being had decided to acknowledge the presence of an insect before squishing it.

"Where am I?" He asked. How did I get here? What was I just doing?

A wide grin appeared on what Sirius assumed was the creature's face, and it cackled. "You are nowhere and everywhere." It answered cryptically. "You are far beyond the world you once knew, and have fallen into a place your kind was never supposed to go."

"…Well, thanks for nothing. That didn't answer any of my questions." Sirius glanced around him again. "Who are you? Do you live here all alone? Because I would think that would get super boring in a place like this." The wizard hoped he wouldn't be stuck here for long. The pale guy didn't seem the chatty type, and he couldn't see anything to play or mess around with in this wasteland of white nothingness.

The being frowned. "Are you implying I get lonely? I am One, I am All, I am both Everything and Nothing– Some call me god, others The Truth; I am Everyone, and I am…well, you are a wizard, so technically I am not you…but I am everyone else!" The being shook its flesh fist. "And the Truth does not get lonely!"

Sirius crossed his arms. "Mhm. Sure. You keep telling yourself that, bud. I know lonely when I see it." He reached around to his back pocket, looking for his wand. If there's a way out of here, magic should–

The second that Sirius's fingers met the smooth wood, it all came back:

Rushing to save Harry…

Fighting with Bellatrix…

Getting hit by her spell…

Falling through the Veil…

Sirius blinked and looked at his surroundings with new understanding. "…Shit. Am I dead?"

"What do you think?"

"Well, this sure doesn't look like heaven…and it's not quite what I pictured as hell…but my I'm not really keen being dead, so I'd say I'm still alive." Sirius nodded to himself as he finished his assessment.

"…You believe that simply not wanting to be dead will make you alive?" The being asked incredulously.

"Are you telling me that I am dead?"

"No, but– Argh!" The ivory figure smacked its fist on the ground. "You know what? I don't have to deal with this. Normally I would have just wiped your memory and sent you back home, but I'm not letting you off that easily!"

"Um, sure. I'm not all that fond of getting my memories erased." Sirius interjected. "Actually, completely different subject:" The animagus pointed at Truth's flesh arm and leg. "Are you really into body paint, or were you just born freaky?"

"These are not my limbs." The Truth grinned, happily back in control of the conversation. "This is the price another paid for entering my domain uninvited."

"Ah," Sirius took a step away from the creepy figure. "I take back what I said earlier, then. I'm good with loosing some memories."

Truth decided to ignore him and simply snapped his fingers. The gigantic stone doors behind him began to grind open, thousands of pitch-black, grasping hands spilling out from the darkness beyond.

"Lumos!" Sirius shouted desperately as he pointed his wand at the Gate, but no light sprang from his wand. "Colloportus!" The doors made no sign of closing, but kept opening wider, the hands inside drawing closer and closer to the wizard.

"Your magic has no effect here, Little Wizard." Truth taunted. "I would recommend you not struggle– it only delays the inevitable."

"I'm sorry I called you lonely!" Sirius was grasping at straws. He was trying to run– to do anything to get away from those onyx hands– but despite his efforts, the hands drew closer as if he wasn't moving at all. The wizard gasped as he felt nothing touch his ankle– the nothingness of the dark void, compressed into a reaching form. As soon as that hand touched him, he felt another, and another, and another still until the hands were no longer reaching but pulling– pulling him backwards towards the fully opened Gate. While he watched, a huge eye opened up in the darkness beyond, terrible in it's singularity and unsurpassed knowledge. He had no words left, his terror robbing him of his voice yet fueling his struggles.

"Bye, bye Little Wizard." Truth smile mockingly. "There is a way back home if you are lucky enough to find it." The being tutted softly and shook his finger at Sirius, who was sending him his worst glare. "Now, now. At least be thankful you already know someone there. Otherwise I doubt you would survive long. Though.." The alabaster shadow grinned it's trademark smirk. "Your chances are still not the best."

With a sudden jerk, the hands pulled Sirius into the Gate and the stone doors shut behind him, sending him Truth-knows where.

"…I do not get lonely."

~o(0)o~

Ed grumbled softly as the forest passed by outside the window of the car. Why does Hohenheim get to drive?

They had all piled into the car to go to Central, leaving behind the wounded chimeras and that wimpy guy (Nyoki? Toki? Ah, forget it. Ed thought.)to watch over Al and Pride in their prison. Now Hohenheim, who had already been on Ed's bad side after not telling him the plan to use his little brother to capture Pride, was the one driving. Not that Ed could drive…but still, it was doing nothing to improve his mood.

"Are we almost there–" Ed was cut off when his face suddenly introduced itself to the seat in front of him as Hohenheim slammed on the brakes. "Ack! What the hell was that for?"

The teen peered around the seat to yell at his father, but stopped when he saw the look of concentration on his face as the older man stared into trees. Ed was just about to ask what was happening we he felt it– a sickeningly familiar gathering of energies. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and his mind could hear the intangible whispers of a place he hoped never to visit again.

"Uh, are you guys okay?" Gelso asked, looking between the two alchemists.

"The Gate." Ed muttered to himself. Hohenheim nodded.

Crack! A bolt of blue lightning came out of the afternoon sky to strike the ground somewhere beneath the trees. Even from here, they could all make out the sound of great, stone doors slamming shut. Without another word, Ed and Hohenheim kicked open the car doors and went sprinting towards where the lightning had struck.

Ed clapped his hands together as he ran, transmuting his automail into his signature blade. He was a little surprised to see that Hohenheim was able to keep up with him, but it wasn't the time to question such things.

"Homunculus?" Ed asked.

"No, though there's too much energy flying around to be certain." The man answered without breaking his stride.

Soon enough the pair crashed into a small clearing where a figure lay sprawled on its side. Ed went to go charging forward, but Hohenheim snagged the hood of his red coat and pulled him back.

"Let me go!"

"We should wait." Hohenheim cautioned. "We don't know who or what it is."

Ed huffed and crossed his arms, but stopped struggling. He squinted at the figure, trying to make out more details. It looked relatively like a person from what Ed could see, and the clothes it wore were strange yet familiar…

"Wait a second…" Ed walked forward cautiously, brushing aside the hand that reached out to stop him. "There is no way…" He needed to see the person's face. If this was who he thought it might be…

He walked around the man– he could tell that it was a man by now– and froze.

"Edward?" Hohenheim called out.

"…Shit."

~o(0)o~

Sirius was slowly woken by the bumping and bouncing of riding in a car. How did I…

"Ah!" He sat up with a start, crying out in distress as the memories of those grasping hands came back to him. He found he couldn't move his arms, and darkness was all around him– wait, no, there was something covering his head. He tried to calm his breathing, but he couldn't help jumping again when gruff voice shouted from beside him.

"Fullmetal! He's awake."

The movement of the car immediately stopped, and Sirius heard the sound of doors opening and people moving around. Where am I? Who are these people? Sirius wondered. Are they working for You-Know-Who?

The wizard flinched as rough hands grabbed him, though the feeling was completely different from the black hands that had reached for him only moments ago. He felt himself being lifted from the seat of the car, and could tell from the light breeze that he was now outside. The person handling him must have been quite strong, for he was carried for a long while before being set down on a hard surface, presumably a rock. Without warning, the thing covering his face was jerked off, leaving the animagus squinting at his brightened surroundings. The rope around his arms remained, but that was the least of the wizard's concerns.

"Who are you and what are you doing here." The voice was kinder than the last and came from a man standing directly in front of him. The man appeared middle-aged, with long, blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and a beard of the same color. He seemed familiar to Sirius– so familiar that the wizard began running through a mental list of Order members and enemy Aurors.

When the man stared at him expectantly, Sirius realized that he hadn't answered the man's question. "Uh," He decided to go for the honest approach. "I really have no idea how I got here. There was this really pale guy who was kind of freaky, and–"

Sirius stopped talking, straightening as he felt the cool metal of a blade touch his throat. The person behind him didn't speak, but the blond in front of Sirius frowned.

"Please do not take this lightly. We do not have time for lies or jokes."

"It's not a–" But Sirius was interrupted.

"What is your purpose here?"

Well, Sirius had no idea where he was, so he didn't really have a purpose. However, it didn't seem like these people were willing to accept that answer.

"I was trying to rescue my godson when someone hit me with a spell." From behind him, Sirius felt the knife holder stiffen, but he continued, "I can't tell you specifics, but–"

"Where were you?" The blond asked.

"London, England."

A soft curse came from behind him, and finally the knife holder spoke up. "Alright, it's him." The voice was so familiar that Sirius could almost picture the face that belonged to a name just out of his reach.

"Who are you?" Sirius tried. "Why do you two seem so familiar?"

Unexpectedly, the wizard was spun around to face his captor. Unforgettable, striking, golden eyes stared into his own. "It's been a while, Sirius."

"…Ed?!" Sirius couldn't believe it– it was the teen who had shown up injured at his house months ago only to steal Harry's scar and then zap away in a storm of blue light. "What– You– I– When–?" Sirius babbled incoherently.

Ed raised an eyebrow at him. "For all that hocus-pocus stuff you always talked about, you can't put together a sentence worth shit, can you?" He lowered the knife from Sirius's neck. The wizard's eyes widened when he realized that the blade was actually fused to the teen's metal right arm.

"How do you sleep with that?" Sirius blurted out before his brain could catch up to his mouth. Seeing the incredulous look the teen wore, he elaborated. "I mean, uh, do you put a cover on it so you don't accidentally slice your foot off?"

Ed got a mischievous glint in his eyes that reminded Sirius eerily of the twins. "How do you think I got this?" He asked rhetorically, lifting up his left pant leg to reveal a prosthetic leg.

What am I supposed to say to that?! Sirius searched for a response, having never expected his hypothetical situation could have happened. "Oh, uh–" He stuttered. "Em…sorry? I shouldn't have asked about a sensitive topic–"

"Edward." The older blond man interrupted, his tone disapproving. "Now is not the time for jokes."

Ed grumbled and let his pant leg fall back into place. Sirius watched curiously as the teen clapped his hands together– much like he had the night the blond had left Grimmauld Place– and placed a gloved hand to the blade on his other arm. A flurry of blue sparks flashed across the metal limb, and the wizard's eyes widened as the blade seemed to melt into the metal of the prosthetic.

"How did you do that?"

Ed didn't bother looking at the wizard as he stood. "Alchemy. I would think after using that stick-voodoo whatchamacallit that something like this wouldn't phase you."

"But you did it without a wand!" Sirius protested.

"Alchemy doesn't need one." Was all the reply he got before Ed turned to call into the woods. "You guys done checking the area yet? We need to move out if we want to make it to Central on time."

"Yeah. No sign of anything." The voice was the same as the one Sirius had heard when he had first awoken. As he watched, two burly figures made their way out of the trees and came to stand next to the older blond. One was on the chubbier side, while the other was tall, lean, and sported a pair of spectacles. Both of the newcomers wore blue military uniforms, though Sirius thought that their gruff mugs would have been better suited to working as grunts for a mob boss.

The fat man squinted at Sirius suspiciously. "You sure this guy isn't a threat, Fullmetal?"

Ed waved away the question with his prosthetic hand. "Nah, without his magic stick he can't put up much of a fight." The teen's golden eyes appraised Sirius. "Though we could still take him if he got it back."

What Ed had said clicked in Sirius's head, and the wizard squirmed in his bonds, trying to get a look at his back pocket.

"Looking for this?" The wizard turned to see Ed twirling his wand between his fingers lazily.

"Give that back!"

"Edward, we really do need to be going. Are we leaving the man here or taking him with us?" The older blond man asked.

"What do you want, Sirius?" Ed wondered. "Not that your opinion matters the slightest in this situation."

Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but found that he didn't have an answer. Should he try to go with them, or did he want the strange teen and his menacing companions to go away? Which way would be the quickest route back home? Where was home?

"Sirius, do you trust me?" Ed asked suddenly, interrupting the wizard's thoughts.

"Um, no offense, but no."

Ed nodded noncommittally. "I wouldn't expect you to." Without warning, those golden eyes were suddenly boring into Sirius. "You seemed like a reasonable man when we last met. Would you be willing to come to an agreement that would benefit the both of us?"

"Possibly…" Sirius hedged. "It depends on what the agreement is." A thought passed through his mind. "More of that 'Equivalent Exchange' business you used to talk about?"

A calculating smirk made its way onto Ed's face, thought the piercing stare of the teen's eyes remained the same. "Exactly." He agreed. "Are you a fighter, Sirius?"

~~~v~~~

Sirius, his hands now unbound, sat squished uncomfortably between Ed and the older blond man as their car raced down a dirt road. The wizard had been given his wand back as well, though it had yet to be explained what Sirius would have to give in return. He had been hustled towards the car with the excuse that they needed to get moving and the assurance that he would be given an explanation on the way.

The car was awkwardly quiet, something that Sirius was never very comfortable with. After drawing a breath, the wizard broke the silence.

"And you are…?" He directed the question at the older man on his left.

The blond man smiled and held out his hand to Sirius. "The name's Von Hohenheim. I'm Edward's father–"

"Don't try to make us sound all chummy, Bastard." Ed growled from Sirius's other side.

"–though he doesn't think of me as such." Hohenheim finished with a sigh.

"I don't think I could stand being in the same car as you, old man, if it weren't the fact that there's a war going on." Ed threw back offhandedly.

"Welcome to my world." Sirius grumbled, thinking of all the times he had been forced to work with Snape during the unending fight against Voldemort.

"No," Ed corrected, his face suddenly much more serious. "Welcome to mine."

"What?" Somehow, Sirius could tell that Ed hadn't been talking about the fighting.

The blond teen sighed. "Look, Sirius, remember when I showed up at your house and had never heard of England?" The wizard nodded. "Well, there's no amount of traveling by boat, car, or train that can get you back there. You said you saw a white figure and a grey, stone Gate? That means your in my world now, Sirius, and you're a long way from home."

The car was silent as Sirius tried to process the implications of that new piece of slightly terrifying information.

"So…" Sirius finally started. "Are there any wizards here?"

"Nope."

"You-Know-Who?"

"I still have no idea who that is."

"Magic?"

"Only alchemy. Though," Ed paused. "Truth did let you keep that ludicrous twig of yours, so it might work for you." The teen gestured at Sirius's wand. "Try something."

"Here?"

"We're not stopping the car until we get to Central, so yes, here."

Sirius tried think of a spell that would be possible to use in the close-quarters of the vehicle. "Lumos."

Blinding white light burst from the tip of Sirius's wand, causing everyone to cry out in surprise and the man driving the car to swerve.

"Put it out!" Someone shouted, but Sirius was already shaking away the enchantment.

"Warn us next time, Sirius." Ed grumbled, blinking his eyes as he tried to readjust them.

Sirius looked at his wand in confusion. "Sorry, it's never been so powerful before."

"Really?" Hohenheim asked, sounding like he thought that that wasn't a good thing.

"Oh, come on, old man." Ed smiled grimly. "The more firepower to take down Father, the better."

Sirius raised and eyebrow. "Father? I thought Hohenheim was your dad."

Ed crossed his arms behind his head. "I'll let you do the explaining this time, old man."

The wizard looked over to Hohenheim, who sighed and shifted in his seat to more fully face Sirius. "Of course. You probably don't want to charge in blind to this fight."

~~~v~~~

Right. So this world is in an even bigger mess than the one I left. Great. Just great. Now that Sirius knew the basics of what Ed and company were dealing it, he was almost homesick for the wizarding war back home. Somehow, in some crazy, messed-up way of logic, the fight against Voldemort now seemed a simple thing.

It had taken only an hour of driving to reach the place Ed kept calling Central, which was where Hohenheim had explained the 'Father' dude (Sirius figured he was this world's equivalent to Voldemort) had his secret base. After a bit of walking, the group had met up with a few others, one man with white hair and red eyes standing out as particularly intimidating.

Honestly. Sirius thought to himself as he glanced at the people around him. If I hadn't already known Ed, I would have expected these people to be the bad guys.

Instead, here he was, having agreed to fight with the blond teen in hopes that Ed could find a way to get Sirius back home.

"There are two guards standing by the gate. Do we charge them?" The chubby man asked.

Sirius peeked over the bushes they were all crouched behind to get a glimpse of what they were facing. Two men, military by the looks of their uniforms and guns, stood guard at the entrance to a walled-in complex of low, stone buildings. There was a large, open space between the gate and where the group was hiding, meaning that the soldiers would have time to shoot at least two of them before anyone made it close enough to attack. What they needed was a distraction, and Sirius knew just how to provide it.

Ed started to stand. "Alright, I'll–"

"I can take this one, Ed." Sirius interrupted. The blond looked questioningly at him, but the wizard simply grinned. "Just be ready to knock them out, alright?"

Not waiting for Ed's reply, Sirius began crawling through the bushes. As the leaves brushed past him, the animagus let his body slip into the form of a large, black dog.

The guards looked surprised to see a friendly canine trotting towards them from the woods, looking back and forth between each other and Sirius. Once he was only a few feet away, Sirius sat back on his haunches and let his tongue loll out happily, trying to look as cute and distracting as possible.

One of the men set down his rifle and held out a hand to the wizard. "Hey, boy, what're you doing over here? Do you live nearby–Ack!" The man was cut off as Ed's booted foot suddenly smashed into his face, sending him flying into the wall where he lay unconscious. The other man had no time to even lift up his gun when the blond teen was standing in front of him, a solid punch to the jaw making sure neither of the soldiers would be alerting the authorities any time soon.

Sirius shifted back into human form and was about to complement Ed on his effectiveness, when the wizard found himself pinned to the ground, the blade on Ed's arm once again pressed against his throat.

"Who are you?" Ed growled, the furious expression on the teen's face causing Sirius to stifle the indignant exclamation he had been about to throw at the blond.

"What do you mean?"

"No games!" The knife pressed down harder–not enough to break skin, but leaving no doubts about Ed's conviction. "Who are you?"

"Sirius Black! Who the hell do you think I am?"

"Are you a chimera?"

"A camera?" Now Sirius was confused.

Ed looked frustrated. "Don't move." He commanded.

Sirius watched warily as the blade moved away from his throat and down to his arm. "Hey, what are you–Ow!"

The teen stared at the shallow cut he had made on the wizard's arm, watching intently as a small drop of blood welled up in the wound and trickled down Sirius's skin. Ed released a deep sigh, all of the tension going out of his body as he slid off of Sirius and helped the wizard up from the ground.

"Sorry. I needed to check."

"Check what?" Sirius asked sarcastically as he pressed a hand to the cut. "That I can bleed?"

"Yes." That was Hohenheim, walked out from the trees with the rest of the group. "The beings we face are not capable of bleeding."

Sirius's mouth fell open into a silent "oh."

"You should have told us about that ability of yours, Sirius." Ed complained. "You're lucky I didn't just stab you before checking."

"Um, yeah, sorry. I appreciate being stab-free, thank you."

"So are you a chimera like us?" The fat guy asked.

"No idea what that means, so I'm gonna say 'no' to that." Sirius replied. "I'm an animagus–though I'm not a registered one, so I would appreciate it if you kept this a secret."

"Interesting." Ed circled the wizard, eyeing him critically. "Can you turn into any animal, or only a dog?"

"Edward, we don't have time for this." Hohenheim reminded. He gestured at the gates. "We need to find Father as soon as possible."

"Right." Ed started towards the gates, throwing a glance back to Sirius. "Don't think this conversation is over, though."

~~~v~~~

Shit shit shit shit shit. What the hell is wrong with this world? Sirius thought as he desperately dodged the gaping jaws of a pale, zombie-like figure. Swarming around him were dozens more, and it was all that he and Ed's company could do to keep from being torn to shreds.

"Locomotor Mortis!" The spell shot hit one of the monsters, making it fall to the ground as it's legs refused to move. "Petrificus Totalus!" Another one froze in place, it's single eye rolling around madly in it's socket as it tried to figure out what had happened to it's body.

"Sirius!" Ed's voice shouted over the combat. "You have anything more powerful?"

"Reducto!" The wizard's answer came in the form of three monsters exploding into dust. "Like that?"

"Better." Ed admitted.

The battle kept raging, a seemingly infinite number of immortal puppets pouring out from the white room's stone doors. The wizard knew it was only a matter of time before one of them went down. Sirius's spells were coming slower despite desperation egging him on with every second. The two soldiers who had turned into porcupine and frog-like creatures were running out of ammunition, Hohenheim had split off from them before they got into this room, and Ed–

"Shit!" The teen, having just dispatched one of the monsters with his spear, found a pale hand gripping onto his ankle, keeping him in place. From behind, a mob of puppets lunged towards the blond, who would be unable to get his weapon around in time.

"Ed!" Sirius cried out, knowing neither he nor the others would be able to make it.

Snap.

KABOOM! FWOOSH!

A torrent of flames exploded across the mob of monsters, incinerating them instantly while leaving Ed unharmed. Smoke and rubble drifted through the air, and in the momentary silence, a calm voice floated through the ashes. "So you're the one who's responsible for the unconscious guards upstairs?"

Sirius turned to the doorway as the dust settled to see a man and woman standing there, the man holding one hand out as if he had just snapped. A cocky grin stretched across the man's face as he looked over at Ed.

"You look like you could use a hand, Fullmetal."

Sirius stood warily from his defensive crouch. Was the man a friend or enemy?

"You sure have a back for showing up at the last second," Ed commented as he turned to face the man with a smirk. "Don't you, Colonel?"

Ah, a friend, then. Sirius concluded.

The Colonel, as Ed had called him, glanced around the room, his gaze landing on the wizard– particularly on the wand he held.

"And who are you?" The colonel asked suspiciously.

"He's on our side." Ed interrupted, swishing his spear impatiently. Across the room, the doll soldiers were regaining their footing. "I'll catch you up later, but for now, would you stop standing there and help out?"

Snap.

This time, Sirius saw a sparks of red energy–much like Ed's blue lightning–moments before another explosion decimated the attacking monsters.

"If you need help with these pitiful things, you've still got a long way to go, Fullmetal."

~~~v~~~

What's next?

After finishing off the dolls, jumping to avoid being squished when the ceiling began collapsing, and fighting a shape-shifting palm tree (who then somehow ended up being a worm that killed itself), Sirius was beginning to seriously wonder how anyone managed to survive in this world. So far he had only seen soldiers, monsters, and odd combinations of both, but surely there were normal people somewhere. War can't be all there is, right?

Sirius really hoped so. Really hoped so, because if not, then he wasn't sure he was going to live long enough to find a way back home–if there even was one.

"Who are you?" Sirius shook himself from his thoughts at Ed's question. They had just entered a new room, this one full of pipes and illuminated by an unseen light coming from a large hole in the center of the room's ceiling.

"Who am I?" Right. There was also a creepy old man standing spotlighted in the room's center. "I'm the man who created King Bradley." He announced dramatically.

At that moment, almost as if it had been rehearsed, a dozen or so sword-wielding figures dropped from the hole and charged at Sirius's group.

The fighting began again, and Sirius was sure the others back home would have applauded the way his spell casting had improved. The wizard had discovered, after running out of breath sometime during the fight with the palm tree, that he didn't need to say his spells for them to work–just thinking them was enough to do the job. Just like the Lumos spell had been in the car, it seemed practically every spell he cast had twice the amount of punch he was used to packing (not that he was complaining).

"Number 16, 17, 21, 23, 26; come here."

What now? Sirius almost groaned aloud. He shot off another silent spell and turned to face the creepy old guy. Next to him, Ed did the same, and together they watched as the old man slammed a hand down onto a carved circle on the floor.

"What the–!" Ed started.

Red lightning crackled around the room, and the air turned as thick as mud. There was something familiar about this ominous feeling, and Sirius didn't like it one bit.

A sudden intake of breath from Ed had Sirius looking down at the alchemist's feet, where a large, purple eye had opened underneath the blond. Before the teen could jump away, his legs were gone–dissolving into tiny particles just the way they had back at Grimmauld Place.

"Not again!" The alchemist cried out desperately.

"Oh, no you don't!" This was his chance, and Sirius was not going to miss it for the world–his world. Without thinking, the wizard shoved his wand in his back pocket and grabbed onto Ed's disappearing form with both hands.

It's working! Sirius realized when his arms began flaking into pieces. Then the pain of being broken apart hit him.

Crap! He would have shouted, had his mouth not disintegrated a second before. It's working!

Just before the deconstruction reached his head, Sirius heard the Colonel call out Ed's name, but it was too late to do anything. The world went black and numb as the devilish lightning stole away the wizard's body.

For the longest time there was nothing, but then–

"Hello~ Little Wizard."