Chapter Three: A Wanted Alchemist

The train Ed and Al were on was stopped for a search. In disguise, Ed tried not to give himself away as the soldiers talked about their culprit's short stature.

"Commander! We found some weird bronze statue in the back," one soldier called.

"How big is it?"

"I think it looks bigger than a suit of armor, but I don't know."

Ed knew it was Al's disguise they were talking about. He had encased him in bronze so no one would know it was him. Apparently, it didn't work.

"The dwarf was sighted off of the train! He's heading this way!" another soldier called as he ran toward the others, pointing in the distance. All of the soldiers ran off to help in the pursuit.

'What the...?' Ed thought. He looked in the direction the man had been pointing and saw several soldiers chasing what appeared to be himself.

---

"Why in the world are you guys chasing me for?!" Edward yelled as he ran. 'I did get the right dimension, didn't I...?' he wondered. He activated an array on one of his gloves and transmuted the ground so it would be harder for them to follow him. He then noticed that he was running beside a stopped train and realized that more soldiers were coming off of the train. 'Well, duh. I should be running away from a train full of soldiers trying to find a guy that looks like me!' he thought, upset with himself. Edward was just about to turn away from the train, when he felt someone grab his jacket and he was yanked onboard. He fell through the open doorway and landed on his back. While looking up at the ceiling, he heard the soldiers talking as they passed.

"Where did he go?"

"He just disappeared!"

"Keep moving, men! We'll find him sooner or later!"

When he didn't hear anymore soldiers, Edward let out a sigh of relief. Until he felt something moving underneath of him, realized it must have been the guy that pulled him onto the train, and jumped up to leave before he had to find out who the guy was.

"Hold it!" he heard the guy call from behind him.

Edward turned to see his own face. "Ed...?"

"What's going on?! What are you doing here?!" Ed demanded. Edward couldn't find anything to say, and just wore a startled expression. "Never mind. We have to get out of here," Ed said and took Edward's hand. Next stop was the baggage car, where Ed transmuted Al's disguise to release the suit of armor inside.

"Were we discovered, brother?" Al asked.

"Al's a suit of armor... So, I might have the right dimension," Edward said to himself, "But that doesn't explain everything else, so maybe it's just a coincidence..." he pondered, still wondering about the soldiers chasing him and his double's looks.

Al glanced toward Edward, surprised to see two Eds.

"You can talk to yourself later," Ed said, again taking his double's hand. "We need to go before anyone sees us."

As they headed away from the train, Al was the first to say something. "Ed, who is this?" Right after asking, he realized who it must have been. He looked just like Ed, only his right arm wasn't automail. "Is he your double from that other dimension?!" Al didn't actually see Edward before, since he was in Ed's body during the time in their dimension, but he remembered how upset he was about having to heave around a metal arm.

"So I did end up in the right one!" Edward said with a grin. He glanced at Ed. "Then, what happened to your hair? And what's up with the weird glasses?"

"It's called a disguise," Ed said and shot Edward an annoyed glare, but tossed the glasses over his shoulder, anyhow. His hair was starting to lose it's dark green color as well, since it was raining and the water was washing away the dye. "Now it's my turn to ask something. - Why are you dressed like me?!"

"What?! I'm not dressed like you!" Edward exclaimed. "Well... Not exactly..." Ed gave him a look. "Can I help it if we have the same taste in clothes? We're basically the same person, you know."

"Why are you here?" Al asked. "Didn't everything work out alright when we tried getting you back to your dimension?"

"Yeah... But, I needed to talk to you two about Mom."

Ed stopped walking. "Mom?... You didn't..." Ed snarled, jumping to conclusions.

"No! She's alive and well! And if she wasn't and I did try to bring her back, would I still have my arms and legs?! - I promised you I wouldn't bring her back if she died, remember?!"

"Then what else would you have to talk to me about?" Ed asked, curious.

"Can't you two talk after we're somewhere safe?" Al asked.

"Al's right. Tell me later," Ed said and started moving again. Edward watched as the two brothers ran off, thinking about what Lust had told him earlier. He shook his head of the thoughts and went to catch up with them.

--End Chapter--

It's Ed with green hair! Did anyone else love to see him with green hair during that part of the anime? I wish he kept it...

So... So far it looks as though nothing important will happen in the next chapter... Hopefully it'll be somewhat entertaining, though. By the way, the number of dimensions there are is a somewhat random number (since I doubt it's at all relevant for Ed's time period...), but one that people run across a lot on a computer. I don't see how I'd have a chance to tell it in the story (it's not important), so I guess I might as well say it... There are 256 dimensions. Edward's dimension is number 0, or the home dimension, and there are 255 others. The number involves coloring on the computer in programs like MS Paint and PhotoShop. It's also involved with html, in that I used it a lot when I made background colors and other things with color for my websites. And there's something about IP address or something... I can't remember exactly, but it was involved with a computer-related class I had several years ago. The number's basically a hexadecimal thing.