The days that Alphonse spent in captivity had increased, along with his physical appearance and overall health. The time spent in the Gate certainly didn't do his body any favors but lucky for him he was gaining weight fast. He felt a lot better, too, even if he still couldn't walk without some sort of support. He'd get there soon. 'Three days' was the time that he had set in his head. The sooner he could walk, the sooner he could get out of this place and look for Ed.

The soldiers, in the meanwhile, hadn't a clue what to do with the younger Elric. They had been ordered not to kill him unless ordered differently from Kayachey himself. With no more specific details, they could only do what they felt was right. Naturally they fed him a little more than they would've been told, due to how starved he looked. Some of the soldiers moved him to a bigger, less dark, and ten times as less damp cell. They offered him a haircut as well, but the best they could do with their swords and knives was get it just below his ears. They had given him some clothes, too.

Alphonse had really gained their favors.

He hadn't tried to escape once—even though he had already shown (by transmuting his shackles off) that he was capable of the same things his brother was. Any one charged with watching him would even announce at dinner time how pleasant he was to talk to. Of course, no one was sure whether this was normal-Alphonse behavior or if the young man was trying to kiss up to them.

Not that it mattered much, because in a few days' time, the fort was raided.

The men came in the night. They were wearing gleaming white armor with green trim. With all the rumors circulating around the Daein encampments, the soldiers stationed at the fort knew the instant they saw the small group heading towards them that they were screwed.

It was chaos when this fact had been passed throughout all the halls of the building. Men were running around, grasping at anything remotely resembling a weapon. They told the prisoners not to get their hopes up. They ran into each other in the halls.

"Oh shit!"

"Goddess! We're doomed!"

"Calm down, men! As long as they don't have those blue-haired siblings, we'll be fine! Pull yourselves together!"

"I've got a wife and two kids... I can't die here—not yet!"

"Goddammit I said calm down!"

"Shit, shit, shit this isn't good..."

One of those terror-struck soldiers had run past Al's cell, who couldn't resist asking what was happening.

"Excuse me, sir?" he started, walking up to the bars of his cell. "What's going on?"

"We're under attack!" was all the man could shout before rushing off to make sure every one was up and aware of the situation.

Alphonse couldn't help but smile. Just one of the few things he had been biding out for but didn't think possible. The only thing that could make this event more enjoyable was if his brother was a part of the attackers. He decided—instead of breaking out of his cell and seeing what was going on—to wait patiently in his cell. Besides, it would be hard to get around in a battle if he had to cling to the walls or find something to lean on.

So there he sat. Waiting. He felt rather smug at this moment. Something told him that everything would work out fine and that his brother would rescue him and they'd get back to Resembool. However, he started loosing faith as the sounds of war reached his ears.

Screams, metal clashing, cries of pain and commands being barked out didn't do anything but unnerve him.

No, he thought, taking a deep breath in and out, it'll be fine. Just... Don't think of that commotion. Think of everything good that's happened. He took another breath in—this time more shaky.

First off, he had his body back. And even if he couldn't find anything better than that, that definitely counted for a lot of something. Alphonse laughed a little to himself as he tried to think of what each person he knew would say and do when they saw him. Eventually, thoughts of Colonel Mustang spilling his coffee onto his uniform and Winry crying—tears of joy, of course—overshadowed and drowned out those horrible sounds of death that were now only a hallway away.

Just as he had gotten to the train of thoughts wondering how Mei Chang would respond, a stiff silence broke through the shouting.

He could make out a voice.

"Alright, men," a soft, male voice spoke, "spread out. Look for prisoners, open any locked chests, you know the drill." There was a pause, probably for giving the soldiers time to salute, then, "Move out!" This command was followed by several footsteps fading out and different voices shouting different things that Alphonse couldn't quite make out.

He could make out the several footsteps coming in his direction, and a woman's voice. "Get every one out of here as quickly as possible," she spoke sternly. "We have no idea if there are any other Daein soldiers lurking here and I, personally, don't want to wait around for them to kill us."

The group was closer now. Al couldn't be sure but it sounded like no more than three people, but he figured that they had a lot more men waiting for them elsewhere.

The three turned the corner and brought them into plain sigh for Alphonse.

Two of them appeared to be regular soldiers, wearing white and green. They both carried lances that were bloodied. He shuddered to think of how the blood had gotten there. The third one with them was a woman. She was rather good looking, tall and a little curvy. Her long, blue hair fell down to her thighs and she was wearing a long white dress. She had a bit of blood on her face and the sword she was carrying.

She noticed Alphonse in his cage almost instantly and rushed over to it. "I've got this one, check to see if there are any more."

"Yes ma'am," the soldiers replied softly, though their voices were filled with the utmost respect.

The woman walked over to Alphonse's cage and produced a small key from a pack resting on her right thigh. "Don't worry, we're getting you out."

"Th-thank you," Al replied slowly, not sure of how he was supposed to respond.

"It's no problem, really," she replied with a smile. The lock clicked and she opened the door. "It's the least I can do to help out a fellow Crimean." The woman stepped inside, noting that he wasn't chained to the wall. Instead, there was a small metal figure of a horse chained to the wall.

"Crimean...?" Alphonse asked. He could tell he was about to learn what was going on, finally. He tried to stand but stumbled, almost falling on his face. The woman caught him and helped him steady himself.

"Are you alright?" she asked, instead of answering his question. "You look like you'll fall over."

Alphonse smiled in response. "I still can't believe my muscles atrophied this much... I'm sorry, I'll be fine." He paused and the woman gave a sigh of relief. "But what you called me... What's a Crimean?"

"What's a Crimean? That's a silly question!" she laughed. "Did you lose your memory or something?"

"No, I'm fine. My name's Alphonse Elric, I'm fifteen years old, my brother's been missing for about three weeks now... It's all there."

The woman blinked. She didn't say anything until she had led Alphonse out of the cell and leaned him against a wall, waiting for the two soldiers to return shortly. "So how can you not know of Crimea? It's not that small of a country. And with the war, you think that you'd hear rumors..."

"Crimea's a country..." Al repeated, going over the little information he had in his head. "War... Does that mean that... 'Day-in' is a country too?" He was starting to understand what was going on here, if only a little.

"You're pretty strange. Every one in Tellius knows about Daein occupying Crimea." The woman furrowed her brow and crossed her arms against her chest. "You must not be from Tellius then." She had brought up the thought that he wasn't from this continent but that was impossible. The Dark God had flooded all the other continents and Tellius was the only one left. So how could that be possible?

"No, I'm not..." he replied, furrowing his brow as well. "I'm from Amestris..." Alphonse paused for a moment. "Where is Tellius on a map... Like is it any where near Drachma, Aerugo, Creta or Xing?"

"Drachma, Aerugo, Creta or Xing?" this time it was the woman repeating. "I've never heard of those places before..." She was about to add something else, but the two soldiers came back and interrupted her.

"Lady Lucia!" they started at the same time. "The other cells are empty."

"Good work men. We better start heading out before daybreak," Lucia replied. She turned to Alphonse and gave her a warm look with her liquid blue eyes. "You're coming with us, Alphonse. I hope you don't have a problem with that."

Alphonse chuckled a little bit. "I'd probably get lost or end up falling over and mooching off of strangers. I suppose it's for the best. I'm also really curious about this place."

"And I'm pretty curious myself to see what you're talking about. We'll have to have a discussion on this after we get back to the castle."

Al started peeling himself off the wall, but Lucia rushed over to him and helped him stand. He felt a little awkward leaning on a girl for support but was glad for the help nonetheless. The two, along with the soldiers, made their way through the halls and out of the fort. Lucia handed Alphonse over to one of the soldiers before running over to a man with cyan colored hair that was talking to another soldier.

"Geoffrey!" Lucia called out to him, interrupted the soldier mid-sentence. She looked at the soldier. "Sorry for interrupting..." she added under her breath.

"What is it, Lucia?" he asked calmly.

"I need to ask you a favor. We found a prisoner," she paused and Geoffrey nodded. "But he's not from Crimea. He says he's not even from Tellius!"

"How is that-"

Lucia cut him off. "He's hurt and can't walk without some sort of support. I normally wouldn't ask something of my younger brother like this but will you let him ride with you on your horse?"

That evening, Ike went back to the fort. Every one had set up camp in and behind it and was celebrating their victory. Ike was a little curious to make sure that Edward had gotten away safely and he was sure that some one was missing from their group. Though, he couldn't quite put a finger on it...

He walked in the fort slowly, his boots creating a creepy break in the silence of the fort. Far off, he could hear people laughing and talking, and it even seemed like some one had brought out a musical instrument. He soon reached the place he remembered leaving Ed. The only thing different about it was the snow.

The fort had no ceiling so snow was easily built up around it. Usually it clung to the walls and didn't dare go towards the center of the floor. However, part of the wall had no snow on it and the snow on the ground near it had foot prints leading up to—and getting cut off by—the wall.

It was safe to say that it confounded Ike to no end.

Even after he had decided to leave it be and wandered back to camp, he kept wondering how it was possible. When he got back, he went to his go-to man for answers; Soren.

"Hey Soren?" he started, sitting down next to him on a log that was used as a bench.

Soren looked up to him after staring at the campfire. "What is it Ike?"

"Is is possible to some how make a wall disappear and then reappear?" Ike paused. Soren stared at him with a skeptical look on his face. "I mean, like with magic or something?"

"I don't think I've ever heard of something that crazy," Soren replied plainly.

The two sat in silence for a moment, watching the flames on the bonfire dance.

"Well," Soren started again, turning to the sky. "I think I had read in an ancient book some where about some sort of science..." He glanced at Ike, who was looking at him with the wide eyes of a child. "Alchemy... I think it was called. The art of breaking down a material and changing it into something anew. I suppose, theoretically speaking, it could do something like that."

Ike looked a little excited, despite not knowing anything about science or magic.

"However, it required complex transmutation circles and every scholar that had studied it before ruled it as an impossible science and a failed subject to research... That may be why you've never heard of it."

"But, is it still possible?" Ike asked.

Soren paused again. "I don't believe so. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," Ike lied. The general turned his gaze back to the fire. Soren followed suit.

That doesn't sound like a likely story, Soren thought. He must know something about it... If we could find someone who can perform alchemy we'd be able to win this war without a problem... What is Ike hiding?

"Why the hell won't you leave me alone?"

"I told you, because you're cute."

"That's not a good enough reason!"

"Well, how about the reason that we couldn't possibly be more lost, and if I were to go back I'd get eaten by bears?"

Edward took a moment to think about his next retort. "I'd rather you'd get eaten by bears."

"You're so rude! You haven't even told me what an alchemist is or where you're from!" the woman responded. Though in actuality, she could've cared less. Mysterious men were sexier than men whom she knew everything about.

He scoffed. "Says the lady who has been following me around for the past five hours. I still don't know your name!"

She looked offended, but realized he was right. Not that she'd admit it, so she caved.

"Call me Aimee. That's A-I-M-E-E." This got her thinking. Aimee Elric. Sounded good in her mind. It was the first time she had been able to put names together like that. She still didn't know Ike's last name.

Edward stopped for a moment. The two had been walking—far too long from what Ed could reason—and it was now that he thought of making a camp. "Alright Aimee, if you want to be useful how about shutting the hell up and leaving me alone while I make a fire?"

Aimee huffed. "How about you tell me what an alchemist is first?"

The alchemist stayed quiet for a moment as he looked around the snowy area for some wood. He found a few sticks and one that was suitable enough to call a small log before gaining a satisfied look on his face. After that, he grabbed two rocks.

"Not a bad find for the first try," he mumbled to himself. Aimee looked at him like he was crazy as he set the rocks on the ground and clapped his hands.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a pout.

"I'm showing you what an alchemist does—performing alchemy—by transmuting these two rocks into ones that would make a spark."

Aimee just looked at him like he was an idiot. Ed pressed his hands to the stones and there was a small light, and something that looked like lightning danced around the rocks until he lifted his hands away. Aimee's expression grew wide.

"What sort of magic was that?" More importantly, she added in her head, can I sell it?

Ed moaned. "Why does every one think it's magic? Magic doesn't exist! Are you all stupid?"

"If magic doesn't exist then how come I can sell it at a shop?" Aimee questioned, taking a condescending tone.

"You can't," Edward replied simply. "Because it doesn't exist." He started rubbing the rocks together, which in turn created a spark. He quickly had a fire lit and thought how easier it would be if that Colonel Bastard were here.

Aimee made a sort of psssh sound that told Edward she didn't really care. "That's one question... Sorta. I want a better answer later. Now where are you from."

"Amestris," Ed answered quickly.

"Never heard of it," Aimee replied, taking a seat on a nearby rock.

Edward sighed melodramatically. "We're never going to get any where at this rate."

A/N: Thanks to every one for favoriting/alerting/reviewing my story! I really appreciate it! Any way, I hope I can get some more chapters out quickly. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of Alphonse in recent chapters so I hope you don't mind. I'd appreciate any one saying if they prefer different chapters for different people or for me to continue this way. Any way, thanks again!