Chapter 2:

Al was lost, alone. And his body was growing weaker. His hair fell raggedly around his back and it felt greasy and gritty to the touch, while his body felt much the same. Where the hell was he?

"Brother…" he whispered, his eyes closing, "Ed… please…" because he knew he was running out of time.

"Your sure this is where you left them!" Izumi barked, feeling the open breeze that came from the underground tunnel. It'd taken another precious day to get here in a hurry, and now the stars shone lazily through windows of the damnable night.

"Yeah, this is where I came out from." Rose back peddled, "Please… don't make me go back." Izumi grinded her teeth from a nasty retort.

"Okay, Big Guy!" she snapped to Armstrong, "You're an alchemist right?" because she needed people who could move, who could be able to look at whatever was down there rationally. With Armstrong nodding she began walking down the steps. "You're with me! Got it? Good!" Armstrong walked, following 'Teacher' who held a torch.

Everything was in shambles. The colonel and first lieutenant were in a hospital from what he could gather, in an I.C.U ward that catered especially to burns and 'severe gashes and other wounds'. And then there were the Elrics. They were just MIA plain and simple. Although… could they really be counted as such? They'd flat out told the military to fuck itself and had left.

As Armstrong crouched down the steps, quickly following Izumi he couldn't help but think of what might have happened to Ed and Al.

"So you think they're alive?" he silently queried.

"I'd rather see for myself if they aren't…" Izumi murmured to herself, "and they don't deserve to be buried in this hell hole."

"So if they are…" Armstrong felt tears forming in his eyes. "Do you intend to bring them back?" Izumi nodded.

"Don't think about that just yet. It is possible, remember, we are dealing with the Elrics." She tried an unconvincing smile.

It wasn't until Izumi saw the soft light through the darkness that she quickened her pace. The moment of truth, were they dead or alive? Eventually breaking out into as much of a run as her ruined body would allow she left Armstrong in the dust to emerge on a rocky cliff. Towering above a vast city…. With no birds eye views…

"Hell!" she yelled, hoping to god if they were alive down here they would come up, hear, yell back.

"Ms." Armstrong began, putting a hand on her shoulder, "look." He gestured to an area of severe collapse and decay. "From past experience I would say that's where the Elrics were…"

"Are." She corrected, beginning the task of picking a careful way down the rocky terrain. "We've got to hurry, we've wasted enough time already." Armstrong hurried beside her- she was right- if they were indeed alive- they didn't have much time left.

Alphonse shivered and tried to cover up his body the best he could from the cold draft. Every bump on his skin hurt worse than it should, and every sound made his body beg him to flee.

Opening his eyes for half a minuet he remembered something that seemed important. A yell, and now…. Footsteps that echoed and made the floor beneath him tremble softly with them. The monster… it was coming for him. Just like on Teachers Island…. Only this time, he couldn't run away-couldn't move.

"Alphonse?" a short, hurt voice whispered. Opening his eyes again he looked at a form. A human shape running towards him, picking up his head, whispering, "Alphonse!" then garbled commands- no- orders. It could only be one person. Only one person in the entire world would do this for him – would act like this.

"Edward?" Al opened his eyes wider. "Edward…. You came…" his voice was no more than a whisper, but he was too tired to try anything louder. "knew yu'd get the monster away…."

"Alphonse? Alphonse keep talking! What monster?" but Al reeled away, and with a feeling of falling he passed into darkness.

"Help me get him up!" Izumi glanced around for anything suspicious, then fully took in the room. An unfamiliar transmutation circle, blood – primal and feral, and probably Ed's – and Al.

"Alphonse?" Armstrong felt the tears brimming and put a hand to his head for a moment. He's alive, he thought, though Ed wasn't it hadn't been in vain. "Izumi… do you think that Edward is also-"

"He succeeded." She pulled the brown jacket she'd been given for shock at the military around Al's body, noting how undernourished he was. "I don't think we'll find Ed here." She sighed. At least it wasn't in vain… "Let's go." Placing her arms under her students upper torso and lower legs she hefted him up.

"I can carry him-" Armstrong began, ceasing when he truly saw the look on her face. Lament, grief, and the utter feeling of being lost.

"Thank you for the offer, but-" I got them into this. Izumi swallowed hard. Keeping a slower, less unsteady pace she ignored the stress on her arms (which wasn't much thanks to Al's current condition) and kept walking.

Left foot, Right foot, on and on. Even though she tried to stop her brain from thinking back on Ed it didn't help.

"We're gonna train, Al!" he'd said on the way to her house. "She probably has a huge laboratory and stuff!" and Al had just nodded enthusiastically.

Then a newer, fresher memory dug itself up. Ed and her were sitting on a bench, waiting for Al to come from someplace, she couldn't remember.

"Teacher?" he'd asked, flipping a rock across the street. "Promise me you won't tell Al what I'm gonna tell you?" she'd nodded, "I know the path we're taking is dangerous… already we've almost gotten killed multiple times…." She sighed looking at him. Expecting him to say he was exhausted, that he wanted to give up, "And I want to know that if I get killed someone will take care of Al for me." Izumi smiled, he really had to ask that? "I want him to be happy, y'know? For someone to stay up with him all night and travel with him…." Ed swallowed hard and pushed his voice to deepen. "I want him to be happy, even if he's still stuck in that suit!"

"I will Ed…" she murmured, drawing a concerned look from Armstrong, "I will…" she looked down at Al and smiled sadly. He'd called for Ed…