Ed's eyes widened and he fell short of breath. "No... Not them too."

"Apparently they heard you were going to get Al. They want you to stay away." Riza gave Ed an apologetic look. She knew how much Al, Maya and Jess meant to him. Ed sat on the couch and tried to get his head around everything.

Hayate nuzzled Ed's knee and Ed patted his head. Hayate looked up at Ed with those big puppy dog eyes as if to say 'It's going to be ok.'

Ed sighed. "I hope so..." He let Hayate jump into his lap and curl up. "I really do hope so..."

XXX

Two Yakuza members lead Jess and Maya into the warehouse that Al was being held in. Al Looked up and froze. 'No... The Yakuza is going too far...'

One of the men threw Maya against the wall, Maya didn't realise there was a box there and didn't resist. She had completely given up on struggling. The corner of that box got her in the ribs. It winded her and she fell to the ground. Jess heard what was going on and looked up. The first thing she saw was Al.

"Al!" The man behind her threw her next to Al and Maya. "Why are we here? What's going on?"

The man simply grunted in reply and began to tie the girls up and gag them.

The girls were helpless. They had no idea what was going on. Maya was struggling to breathe and Jess had been pretty badly beaten before they got to the warehouse.

'I don't want to die here...' Maya thought.

XXX

Maya had come from a background of hurt and lies. Jess was one of the very few she could trust.

When she was younger, she and her mum left her father. After that, she just couldn't bring herself to let anyone completely take over the father role in her life. Long story short, Maya and her mum were victims of domestic violence. Jess understood what she went through, she went through similar and her mum had re-married.

Jess and Maya were always inseparable. They'd known each other since childhood. Maya was six and Jess was seven. They met at school and instantly clicked. They knew everything there was to know about each other. They both moved from Remada to Amestris and both struggled getting used to understanding the accent.

Maya had only just been able to let Mustang- her own godfather- take a small portion of the father role.

Ed was a little taken aback when he found out that Mustang was Maya's godfather. That's why they decided to hide the fact that he and Maya were a couple.

XXX

"Sir, we got the girls." A Yakuza member confidently said.

"Good." The man that the Yakuza member was talking to kept his back turned.

"They-they'll eventually find out it's you, Archer." The man shot around once he heard his name and held the Yakuza member to the wall with a sword.

"And what makes you think that?" Archer's cold eyes looked as if they could shoot daggers.

"N-nothing, sir. It's just... The Elric's are smart boys... They might find out and turn you in."

"Not if Edward eventually joins the Yakuza." Archer slowly pulled the sword out of the Yakuza member's shoulder, watching him cringe in pain. He held the blood-splattered sword in front of the Yakuza member's face making him watch his blood drip.

"A-anything else you want me to do, sir?"

"I want you to keep your mouth SHUT and go and keep your eye on Alphonse and the girls."

XXX

Jess stared at the roof. She had a plan, she just didn't know if it would work. She kept a pocket knife in her back pocket and she could just reach it. She and Maya were sitting back-to-back so, she could cut the rope binding Maya's hands and Maya could escape without anyone knowing.

She took the knife out and cut Maya's ropes. Maya realised her hands were free but didn't move until the man keeping an eye on them left the room. Once he was gone she turned to face Jess and Al. She pulled off the rest of the ropes and gag and Jess then gestured to the door.

"What about you two?" Maya asked. Jess and Al shook their heads and gestured to the door again.

"Okay... I'll come back for you. I promise." Maya said as she stood up. She ducked behind a box as someone walked past the open door of the warehouse. She checked to see if anyone else was a round before she ran out and down the snow covered road.

"OI, get back here!"The man that was supposed to be keeping an eye on Maya, Jess and Al pulled out a gun and shot past Maya. Maya sped up, not noticing the blood dripping down her arm.

'I need to get out of here' Maya thought as she escaped the docks and ran in the general direction of Central Command.

XXX

Maya burst through the door of Mustang's office.

"GAH." She fell to her knees. "The dock... They're at the dock..." Mustang and Havoc knelt beside her. Havoc held Maya's right arm, Maya pulled away and cringed.

"You got shot. Who took you?" Havoc held Maya's arm once more.

"I don't know who they are but... They had Al there too." Ed stood in the doorway, eyes wide.

"Fullmetal?" Mustang looked up when he heard Ed open the door.

"The Yakuza..." Ed said as he made his way over to Maya. He couldn't help but notice the cuts and bruises all over her, the bullet wound in her upper right arm, the tears streaming down her face. He sat in front of her.

"The warehouse?" He asked. Maya nodded and began sobbing into his chest. Havoc let go of Maya's arm. Maya couldn't help but hiss in pain. Ed put his arms around her.

"Yakuza?" Mustang asked.

"Long story..." Ed hoped that would Mustang wouldn't question any further.

"What does the Yakuza want?" Mustang didn't like the sound of this.

'Shit, he's going to want to know.' Ed thought. "Uhm..." He looked to Maya. 'What do I do to get him off the subject?' He leant forward and pressed his lips against Maya's, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss.

Mustang's jaw dropped. "Wait... What?"

Ed pulled away from Maya and looked to Mustang, he knew that that got him off the subject of the Yakuza.

"Maya, You ... And Fullmetal are..."

Maya nodded and hid behind Ed. "Ow, well, I'd better get this bullet wound checked out... See ya." Maya stood up and Ed followed her out of the room.

Once they were out of Mustang's hearing range Ed stopped in front of Maya and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Look, I'm sor-" Maya stopped him mid sentence, kissing him tenderly.

"It's fine." She held her arm again and cringed. "It seemed to have made Roy jealous though. He hasn't been able to get a girlfriend in god knows how long." She smiled a little before the pain in her arm got worse. Tears pooled in her eyes. The pain was excruciating but, she didn't care about that at that point in time, all she wanted was for Al and Jess to be ok.

"What did they want?" Maya asked. "You said something about the Yakuza..." Ed looked at the ground and sighed.

"They're after me." He looked around and opened the closest door and pulled Maya into the room. He closed the door and turned the light on: Mops, brooms, cleaning products etc. were scattered through the room. It was a cleaners closet.

"This is going to look suspicious." Maya said nervously.

"It's better than the whole military finding out about the Yakuza." Ed stroked Maya's cheek before she sat on a bucket, Ed kneeling in front of her.

"They want me to take Central Command hostage... So they can take over. They knew I'd refuse, so they're taking everyone I love." He put his hand on Maya's knee. Before he got the chance to say anything else, the door opened.

"Thought I'd find you in here," Riza said. "I figured you'd explain it to her eventually... I suspected there was something going on between you two." She then looked to Maya who was holding her arm in pain. "I know this is the last thing you want to hear but, the hospital was bombed." Maya clutched her arm tighter.

"I just need to get this bullet out of my arm..."

XXX

"What happened to the third one?" A woman yelled as she walked into the warehouse.

"Emii! What are you doing here? Uh, she escaped. I tried to stop her, I even shot her." Jess and Al looked up at that moment, their eyes widened.

"There is NO excuse; you should have kept an eye on them!" The woman said. Al looked at her and instantly recognised her.

'Lust. Why is Lust here? Why is that man calling her "Emii"?'

Lust took off her jacket to reveal her Ouroborous. The man gasped. "Y-you're a homunculus!"

"Yes." She pointed an elongated fingernail at his chest.

"E-emii... What are you doing?"

"My name is Lust. NOT 'Emii'. Don't worry, your boss won't hear of your failure to keep your eye on three vulnerable teenagers." Lust pressed her fingernail into his chest, killing him. The blood splattered over Al and Jess. She looked over to them and smiled sadistically. "So, how's your twerp of a brother?"

Al shook his head in response.

XXX

"Thank you, uncle Maes." Maya said softly after Maes had bandaged her arm. She stared at the bullet that was pulled out of her arm, lying on the table.

" Hey, it's fine. I would've done it anyway, even if the hospital wasn't bombed." Hughes said.

"I have a feeling I know who bombed it." Ed said.

"Oh?"

"I just need to confirm it before I tell anyone."

XXX

Ed walked to where the hospital once was and stood in front of the rubble.

'There has to be something here to confirm my suspicion.' He thought. He searched through the debris, climbing under chunks of cement and scrambling over pieces of metal of which stuck out of the ground. He came to the centre of it all and stopped.

'A hole... What could possibly be undergr- ...Homunculi.' He observed the hole, kicked a stone into it to estimate how far he'd fall if he were to jump. He waited a few seconds before he heard the rock hit water below.

"Shouldn't be too far to drop…. " Ed mused to himself. He ran forward and jumped. He landed in water and swam to the surface. Ed looked around as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"What is this place?" He mused as he got out of the water and began aimlessly walking around, looking for anything.

'Jess and Al are being held hostage… Maya was shot. Everything's going wrong and no one knows what exactly is going on…'

xxx A WEEK EARLIER xxx

Ed knelt in the dark, just out of sight of the nearest Yakuza member, ready to transmute his arm and attack. The first snow of winter fell around him. He thought about Central Command Centre, it was pretty much home to him. His brother, best friend and girlfriend were all there.

'Al, Jess and Maya…' Ed thought, he heard footsteps in the snow coming closer, he sank further into the darkness, and scanned the area around him quickly. Something shone in the moonlight. He reached over and picked it up. It was a grenade and the pin hadn't even been pulled.

"Nice." Ed whispered to himself. 'This'll come in handy…' He watched as someone passed him, then he bolted from the corner he was in to another shadow, he knew he'd pretty much given away his position, and he didn't care at all. He just pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it in the direction of the man that passed him, purposely missing and hitting the ship in front of him. The explosion startled the man and he ran, probably to get backup.

"So, the Fullmetal Alchemist decided to come." A deep, sinister voice said from behind him. Ed froze as he felt a hand come across his mouth.

XXX

He heard voices in the distance, Envy's voice, Gluttony's voice and another voice that seemed familiar. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"But, what if the girl that escaped tells anyon-I smell someone." Gluttony's voice rang out through the area. Ed stopped.

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for? you idiot. Go check it out!" Envy replied. Ed then heard mumbling, he couldn't quite make out what they were saying. He could've sworn he heard Envy say something about Archer.

'Archer?' Ed looked up and dodged Gluttony as he lunged at him.

"I finally get to eat him!" Gluttony exclaimed. Ed transmuted his automail arm.

"Don't be so sure." He replied.

XXX

Archer and Envy bolted to the dock. Envy shapeshifted into a military officer and they walked into the warehouse. Lust saw them and stood up.

"Oh my…." Archer said, pretending he had no idea of what was going on. "What's going on here?" He began to shoot at her as she ran out of the warehouse. He then followed her and roughly grabbed her by the arm, leading her out of sight of Jess and Al.

"Don't worry, Envy will keep an eye on them." He whispered.