(Continued…)

Recap:

"There, all finished. Now let's see what this does!"

And with that, Ed clapped his hands together and performed the transmutation similar to the one in the book.

Moments later, Ed awoke in an alleyway.

Ed stood up and looked around, fighting the urge to pass out again.

"Whoa—where am I?"

--Scene Flip—

Ed leaned against the wall of the alleyway, dizzy from the transmutation. A moment later, he found himself coughing up blood. Someone was walking by the alleyway and noticed Ed. So they walked over to him and waited until he quit coughing up blood.

"Hey, are you alright?" The boy asked.

Edward looked up at him and was shocked at who he was staring at, then suddenly realized it was a different person.

"Yeah…I'm fine."

"Say, do you have medicine for that cough of yours?"

"T-there's medicine for it?"

The boy smiled. "Of course, haven't you seen a doctor about it?"

Ed shook his head.

"Well, then you'll need some. Come with me to my house and I'll give you some of mine."

A moment later, the boy helped Edward up and was about to lead him to his house, but paused.

He smiled, "By the way, my name's Alfons Heidrich."

Ed gasped under his breath, "Almost the same…I guess there are alternate versions of people…"

"And I'm Edward Elric."

--Scene Flip—



Alphonse was running quickly. He finally got a trace on his brother!

"I have to hurry, before he gets away! I think I'm pretty close--!!"

A moment later, he saw Ed walk around from a corner and look at him.

Alphonse stopped and froze. "Brother!" And he ran up to his older brother.

Ed smiled. "Hey Alphonse, whatcha been up to lately?"

"What do you mean by that?! I've been searching for you for the past couple hours!"

"Ah, I see. Well, here I am."

Al paused. Was this really his brother?

"Say brother, what was that you were saying to me on the train earlier?"

"Ehh—" Ed began, then paused. "I don't quite remember, since I was in the hospital and all."

"…you're not Ed."

Ed tilted his head, looking confused. "What do you mean, Alphonse?"

"Well, for one: I didn't speak to my brother on the train, he didn't even know I was on it! And second, we were fighting, so the real Ed wouldn't act so casual! So just quit pretending to be him!"

Ed sighed, then glared at Al.

"I hate people like you…" He said, then transformed into Envy.

"Envy! What did you do to or with my brother!?" Alphonse demanded.

"I didn't do anything with him, Al. That much was caused by himself and his own foolishness."

"Liar!"

"Trust me, I wouldn't lie about this much. You know as well as anyone else, that I want Edward dead, and that I wouldn't mind bragging about it, but this time, it's the truth."

"Alright, then what do you want with me?"

Envy grinned evilly. "I want to kill you."

Al's eyes widened. "Me!? But why me?!"

Envy shrugged, "Just my orders. Now, prepare to die!"

--Scene Flip—



Edward took a pill that Alfons gave to him. He wasn't sure exactly what it'd do, but he trusted this world's Al. A few moments after Ed took the pill, Alfons walked into the room.

"So, you feel any better?"

"A bit."

Alfons smiled. "I'm glad, I'd hate for anything to happen to you."

"Why would you worry about me? You barely know me."

Alfons shrugged. "I just hate to see anyone suffer."

Ed grinned. "Well, that's very considerate of you.

They paused for a few moments.

"Say, do you have a place to stay?" Alfons asked.

"…Yeah, yeah, I do."

"Alright. Because if you need a place, just let me know and you can stay here."

"Will do, thank you Alfons."

"No problem."

A moment later, Alfons left the room.

"I wonder if I drew the same circle again, if it would take me back to my world…"

Then Ed realized that there was a transmutation circle back in the alleyway.

Ed bolted up and ran out the door.

He ran the path backward of the way Alfons showed him to his house and eventually arrived at the alleyway.

He ran down the alleyway and found the transmutation circle.

Ed sighed in relief.

"Good, it's still here."

Ed clapped his hands together and put them down on the circle, but nothing happened.

"What the hell!?

Why won't my alchemy work?!"



Ed thought for a moment and remembered what he read in the book.

"That makes sense. It said that certain worlds, alchemy doesn't work…so you had to sacrifice…Ah, alright."

Ed squeezed his left wrist, so that blood came out of the spot that was once connected to wires and dripped the blood onto the circle.

Then he clapped his hands together again and put them on the circle.

--Scene Flip—

Ed awoke in a field this time and looked around.

"Well, at least it looks familiar…"

Ed noticed a town nearby and studied it for a moment. Central!

It worked! His theory worked!

Apparently, different circles led to different worlds, but the same circles brought you back to where you began the transmutation.

Ed headed towards Central, in search of his brother.

"I have to make things up with Al, and tell him about this. I know I was angry, and I don't care if I was right or wrong! We just can't stay broken forever….I can't take it."

--Scene Flip—

Envy smirked. "That was too easy.."

Then he suddenly froze, he sensed someone was watching him.

"Who the hell wants to deal with me! I'll have to kill them!"

Envy turned and saw who was watching.

He smirked.

"Well, this is my lucky day…"

Ed stood there, wide-eyed and pissed off.

"You couldn't have expected to protect him forever, Edward."

"You SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BASTARD!" Ed shouted, then charged towards Envy.

"Ha, you're no match for me, pipsqueak." Envy said, easily dodging his attack.



Then, Ed and Envy began to battle, Envy easily dodging and beating Ed. Then suddenly, Envy whipped out a "combo move" and knocked the breath out of Edward. Envy knew he couldn't kill Edward yet, so he decided to leave him how he was and ran off. As Ed lay there, he drifted off into thought.

"Alphonse…

I wasn't there to protect you….

I'm sorry…

That bastard deserves to die!"