Ah, finally got around to putting this up… sorry for the wait!

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Over the next two days, Ed didn't do much of anything. He just slept. Everyone wondered why he had suddenly become so quiet, until Tansy remembered the picture she had seen. The poor human was probably missing his brother.

Auma agreed with her, and they brought up this point to the elders. During the meeting, Martin looked at the picture of the three children.

"From what Ed said about those rats, there's a chance we won't be able to find his brother at all."

"Also, it would be dangerous. We can't just go out without a plan."

Auma looked over at Tansy, who was slightly upset about not being able to do anything. "Tansy, why don't you go check on Ed? I'm sure we'll be able to work something out."

Tansy nodded and headed up to the infirmary. Ed was sitting up in his bed, doing something with his right hand. He paused when he saw Tansy.

"I have good news."

"What's that?"

"There's a chance of finding your brother."

Ed looked at Tansy for a moment. Then he went back to studying his hand. "Don't bother."

"What? Don't you want to see your brother again?"

"I do, but it's not worth fighting those vermin. Al can take care of himself."

"Are you serious? They nearly killed you! How can you say that…?"

"Don't worry. My brother's a lot stronger than I am. That and… well… He doesn't exactly have a body anymore."

"What do you mean…?"

"Well, it's complicated, but… A few years ago, we did something that caused Al to lose his body. That's how I lost my leg, too. I managed to get his soul back and bond it to a suit of armor, but at the cost of my arm."

"Bond his soul…?"

"Like I said, it's complicated. Both Al and I are alchemists."

"Alchemists?"

"It's… I can't believe I'm about to say this, but… just think of it like a type of magic. Alchemy has a lot of different uses, from making weapons, to fixing stuff, and you can even bond souls, but at a price."

"You mean your arm? But how did he lose his body in the first place?"

"I… we thought we could do something we couldn't…"

At this point, the door opened, and Martin came in.

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Ed ended up having to explain the deal with his brother several times, and he even used alchemy to prove that he was telling the truth.

"So, your brother's just a suit of armor?"

"Right now, yeah."

"Even so, we shouldn't just leave him in vermin hands. They might destroy that seal."

Blah blah blah blah and so on…

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Tansy walked with Ed through the abbey grounds. She was giving him a tour, but neither was paying much attention to their surroundings. Tansy was still curious about humans, and Ed was watching a group of dibbuns playing nearby. They stopped when they saw him.

One of them pointed a finger at Ed and shouted, "It's the monster!" Then they all ran away. Ed was confused.

"How am I a monster?"

"Oh, right. Auma sort of told them that you were a dibbun-eating monster the other day, so that they wouldn't break into the infirmary."

"Oh. Well, should I go tell them the boring truth?"

"I don't think being an alchemist is boring."

"It's not as exciting as being a monster, though."

"All right, let's go." Tansy ran ahead and caught one of the young ones, a squirrel. Then she beckoned Ed to come over. Ed walked slowly and sat down next to Tansy, who introduced him to the squirrel.

"Arven, this is Edward. He's not a monster, so be nice, okay?"

Arven looked at Ed curiously. "You're no monster?"

"Nope. Just a human."

"But your arm's made of metal. Monsters have metal bodies."

"But I'm still not a monster."

"Then why is your arm metal?"

"Because, my real arm, the one that I was born with, was taken away, and I didn't want to just have one arm."

"How'd it get taken away?"

"Someone took it in exchange for something else."

"Oh. So you're not a monster?"

"No, are you?"

"Nope, I'm a squirrel!"

"Are you sure? You look like a monster to me."

"That's cuz you're silly!" Arven squealed as he got away from Tansy. Ed watched as he ran off to join the others.

"Well, there's one convinced," Ed muttered.

"What will you do?" Tansy asked.

"Huh?"

"I mean, about your brother."

Ed looked up at the sky. "Well, I'm going to find him, obviously. I don't want him to think I'm dead."

"You can't! I mean, you shouldn't leave until your wounds heal."

Ed looked at Tansy and smiled. "Don't worry, I wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon. And besides, I'll come back once I find him. He'll probably want to say thanks."

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Martin and Abbot Durral watched the two young ones speaking from a distance (it's funny cuz Ed's probably older than most of them). After a moment, Auma joined them.

"Why did he decline our offer to help, do you think?" she asked.

"Probably because he isn't used to our way of life. He might feel like he doesn't deserve help."

"No, I don't think that's it," Martin said.

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you notice? He has a scar on his forehead. And that right arm of his, it has a lot of scratches in it, most likely from fights."

"So he gets into trouble. What does that have to do with him not wanting help?"

"When we found him, do you remember that silver watch with the chain? It seems like that's a symbol of authority. Why else would he have something that valuable in plain sight? I'm guessing that he works for an organization of some sort, most likely as a soldier." Martin paused for a moment. "Keeping that in mind, there's a certain look in his eyes, one that you only get when you've lost more than you should have. He's probably had to see friends be killed, possibly because of him, and he doesn't want to see that again."

"So, he's trying to protect us by refusing help? That's…"

"It's only a guess, but it shows strength on his part. Even though his life is hard, he's not going to let anybody else suffer because of it."

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A few days passed, and Ed's wounds were almost completely healed. He looked forward to the day when he would be seeing his brother, even if that day was still very far away. He would definitely have to come back to this place after finding Al.

He woke up one morning to a paw covering his mouth. He looked around and saw Martin standing on the other side of it. Once Martin let go, Ed sat up.

"What's going on?"

"We're heading out now."

"Eh?"

"I'm not going to let you go out there on your own. Besides, now that I know they're out there, I can't just let them wander around Mossflower unchecked. Come on, let's go."

Ed quietly pulled on his shirt and grabbed his suitcase. He looked out the window. It was still dark outside.

"Why do we have to go so early?"

"The others don't think it's a good idea for you to leave just yet, but if we don't go now, we could lose track of them completely."

"Oh." Ed followed Martin silently to a small side door on the outer wall. He looked back at the abbey as they walked out into Mossflower wood.

"You have a hood, right? Wear it."

Ed pulled his hood up as they arrived on the road. It was a chilly day, and there were clouds in the sky. Ed groaned. Traveling in the rain while wounded was not his idea of fun.

They made their way to where Ed had been found. Ed looked at the ground, trying to think. Where would they have gone from here? He looked over into the trees, trying to find an answer.

"Hey, look at this," Martin called from the other side of the road.

Ed came over and looked at what Martin was pointing at. There was a deep gouge in one of the trees, and at the base lay a small scrap of fabric. Ed recognized it from Al's loincloth.

Beyond that was a trail. Apparently the rats weren't worried about being followed, because they were leaving very obvious tracks through the woods. Ed curled his hand into a fist.

"Well, shall we go?"

"Yeah." They walked through the woods, stopping only when night fell and it was too dark to see. They didn't risk lighting a fire, although it was too wet for one anyway. Ed leaned against a tree and sat down.

"Sorry about this, I didn't think to bring a tarp."

"Nah, that's fine. I've dealt with worse," Ed replied.

"Really? Like what?"

"Pretty much everything that's happened in the past few years."

"Years? Wait, how old are you?"

"I'm fifteen years old."

"Fif… FIFTEEN?"

"What? Yeah, humans have fairly long life spans. It also takes longer for us to mature."

"Oh. That makes sense. Look, why don't you get some sleep? I'll keep watch first."

Ed nodded, not remembering that it was pitch black. He curled up into a ball on the ground, pulling his coat closer around him. His chest hurt.

----------dash

Martin had an easier time adjusting his eyes to the dark than Ed did. He looked around the forest, trying to see if there was any danger before turning his attention to the human sleeping across from him.

FLASHBACK:

"Martin the Warrior spoke to you? What did he say?"

"Well, something about a body having the appearance of being whole, but in reality not being whole at all. And gold eyes."

"Is this someone who will come to Redwall?"

"Well, he said something about a journey, and about it being important…"

Well, something along those lines.

With his coat covering his replacement arm, it was impossible to tell that Ed had lost a part of his body. He was whole, but not…

There was a rustling in the distance. Martin drew his sword and shook Ed awake. They waited in silence for something to happen.

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Something did happen. Before either of them could figure out what that something was, hooded creatures had surrounded Ed and Martin. Martin held his sword, ready to fight, but Ed stopped him.

"Don't do anything just yet. I have an idea."

Martin lowered his sword and watched as one of the creatures walked up to Ed. Ed, whose hood was still on, stood his ground as the creature pulled off his (the creature's) hood. It was a cat, and he glared at Ed for a while before speaking.

"Take off your hood."

Ed faltered as he reached up to his head. He was definitely taking his time. Finally the cat got impatient and yanked it off for him. He looked with interest at the human.

"So you're the one my soldiers had 'killed.' I was angry when I found out they had let such a fine specimen go to waste. Oh well, I suppose it's a bit too late to cancel their punishments." At this last sentence, the cat gestured to something in the distance. Martin looked with horror as he saw three bodies hanging from branches.

After a moment, Martin was forced to drop his sword. His arms were wrenched behind his back and tied together. The cat watched this for a moment before turning back to Ed.

"We're going to leave him alive for now. Whether he survives depends on how skilled he is as a warrior."

"What do you mean by that?" Ed asked, still glaring at the cat.

"Nothing too important. We're just going to leave him here. If he survives, then good for him. If not, too bad. I don't care about him, just about you."

Then it was all black for Martin.

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Ed looked around as he tried to assess the situation. His idea had been a complete flop. He felt something digging into his back, but he tried to ignore it. Right now he needed to be sure he wouldn't be killed.

"What do you want with me?" he asked.

"Oh, I guess you don't know who I am, do you?"

"No."

"Well, it doesn't matter at the moment. The important thing is that you're alive, and I can take you back immediately."

"Wait. What about my brother?"

"Oh, the suit of armor? He's most likely back at my home by now. He thinks you're dead, by the way."

Ed hung his head. He didn't want his brother to think he had been killed. It would be too much for him. The cat looked at Ed one more time before speaking again. "I'll let you see him once when we get back. Hey, I'll even send a messenger ahead with news of your being alive. Let's move out."

Whatever was digging into Ed's back pulled away just before something came crashing down on Ed's head. He collapsed on the ground, groaning, as the cat crouched down in front of him.

"Sorry about that, but we can't have you resisting and getting yourself hurt again, can we? Tie his hands and feet, and gag him. There's a chance that more of them will follow, so be sure not to leave a trail."

Ed wanted to resist as they bound and gagged him, but he was in too much pain. His wounds were stinging, and he felt a wet spot on his chest. One of the rats noticed this and pointed it out to the cat.

"Tie something around it. We'll take a closer look once we're away from here. Right now, he'll just have to live with it."

Ed watched as a rat came toward him, cloth in hand. Another rat pulled Ed into a sitting position, and the rat with the cloth stuck his paws between Ed's arms in order to pull the cloth tightly against Ed's body. Once that was over, the cat picked Ed up and draped him over his shoulders. Ed felt ridiculous, but there wasn't anything he could do. He was tied up and in pain, definitely not the best combination for trying to make an escape.

Instead of struggling, Ed decided to observe his surroundings, in an effort to memorize the way back. It went well until one of the rats realized what he was doing. Then the entire party stopped to give Ed a blindfold. Now he felt REALLY ridiculous.

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Tansy managed to get to where Martin was. She knew that sneaking out at night was a bad idea, but something, a sixth sense of sorts, told her she needed to follow Ed and Martin. It was a good thing she had gone against her better judgment, because she found Martin tied up at the base of a tree.

"What happened? Where's Ed?"

"They took him, but I don't think they're going to kill him."

"What do you mean? They already tried to kill him once."

"Because he resisted. This time he was calm, and he even managed to get them to spare my life."

"So they just left you here? That doesn't make sense."

"Don't worry about it. Right now we should just get back to Redwall. It's going to rain soon."

"But what about Ed?"

"There's nothing we can do at the moment. Besides, it's better if we leave him be."

"How is that?"

"I don't know exactly, but don't worry. Martin the Warrior will guide that boy out of that situation safely."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive." Martin patted Tansy's head as they walked back to Redwall.