Yes, I suck at updates. No, I'm not going to try and get better at it. I like to make you all suffer. :D

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Much to both Ed and Don's dismay, the next day dawned with more rain than either of them thought was possible. Don went outside to see how bad it was, and was nearly hit by a car that had lost control on the slick roads. Once he made sure the people inside the vehicle were all right, Don decided to call in to say he was going to work at home with Ed for the day. Nobody argued against it, since just about everyone else had had some sort of near-death experience that morning.

"Okay," Don said as he hung up the phone. "Let's see if there's any way to get the rest of your memories back."

Ed nodded. "Okay. How?"

Don thought about it for a while. "Hmm… well, how did it happen the first two times?"

Ed shrugged. "Well, it was pretty random… I guess it was because something reminded me… like something happened that was similar to what I remembered…"

"How was it similar?"

Ed briefly recounted the incident in the hospital before pausing. After a few minutes of silence, Don asked Ed to continue. "What about the second time?"

"I… was thinking about that one time, and…"

"I get it," Don said to keep Ed from getting too upset. "The only problem is, how are we supposed to do that now? Bringing you to the crime scenes didn't help, and even if it could, we can't exactly do that now." Just then, a bolt of lightning flashed less than fifty yards away from the building, and the power went out, proving Don's point. Once they were over the initial shock, Don sighed and stood up to look for a flashlight. He found two and brought them back to the living room.

"I'm going to go see if the power's out in other places too. You stay here and check to see if anything got damaged, okay?"

Ed nodded. "Sure."

Indeed, the power was out for the entire block. Don sighed as he opened the door to his living room – and heard a thud, followed by a yelp of pain. Don closed the door and ran to where Ed was now sitting on the floor, rubbing his head and frowning.

"You okay?" Don asked. "What happened?"

"I tripped," Ed replied as he got to his feet. "But everything seems to be okay in here. I-" Ed abruptly cut his sentence short and stared off into space for a moment.

"Um, Ed? You okay?" Don asked.

Ed blinked. "Oh. Yeah, I'm fine."

"What was that all about?"

"Um…"

-------------------

Ed cried out in pain as he hit the ground, completely unable to break his fall with his hands. He tried to get to his feet, but to no avail. He heard footsteps behind him, and after a moment, the dark-haired man came into view. He laughed as he slid his arm underneath Ed's chest and picked him up off the ground. Ed struggled as hard as he could to get away.

"Let me go, you bastard!" he cried, but after a minute of this, the man set Ed down and pulled out a piece of cloth. He gagged the alchemist before picking him back up and walking through the dark… place they were in.

"Stop struggling now. It's useless, and besides, your little brother wouldn't appreciate you risking his life like that."

Ed stopped immediately. The man laughed as he dropped Ed to the ground. "Okay, get ready for the most exciting moment of your short life."

The room was quiet after Ed shared the most recent memory he'd gained. After a while, Don spoke up. "Do you know what happened before that?"

Ed shook his head. "No, but I think it was probably soon after they found me on the train."

"That would make the most sense. Is there anything you can remember after that?"

Ed thought hard for a minute. "There was… some kind of bright light, and then…" He frowned. "I think after that is when we got to this… world…"

Don nodded. "Okay, so I guess they knew what they were doing when they brought you two over here. Now we just need to find out what their motives are and-" Don stopped and looked at Ed, who was still frowning. "Is there something else?"

"He seems… familiar. Like I met him somewhere else… But I don't know where." Ed sighed. "I guess I've met too many people to really know for sure who he is…"

Don stood up. "Maybe you'll remember that later on. Is that it for now?"

Ed nodded. "Yep."

"Okay, I'll let the others know as soon as we get power back. Sadly enough, I was charging my cell phone when the power went out, so that's dead right now."

"I could probably use alchemy to-"

"Um, no, that's okay." Don looked at the battery-powered clock he had in the living room and went into the kitchen. "Anyway, what do you say we try to find something we don't have to cook for lunch?"

Ed nodded. "Okay."

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Both of the Elric brothers were spacing out the next day. Ed was trying not to fall asleep, and Al was trying to keep Ed awake, but after a while, he gave up. Thankfully, nobody needed to talk to Ed much that morning, so it wasn't a problem. They let him sleep until Charlie came in sometime in the afternoon.

By the time Charlie arrived, Don and the others had gone to investigate the latest murder. He went into the room where Ed and Al were staying for the day and paused when he saw Al.

"Oh, hi. You must be Alphonse," Charlie said, holding a hand out to Al. "I'm Charlie."

Al shook Charlie's hand briefly before glancing at his brother, who had somehow ended up on the floor. "It's nice to meet you," Al said as he tried to wake Ed up. Ed weakly waved a hand in Al's direction before hiding his head and mumbling, "Go 'way, Al…"

"Brother!" Al grabbed Ed by his braid and pulled him into a sitting position.

"Ow! What was that for?" Ed snapped as he began rubbing his head. It took him a minute to realize that Charlie was watching him, trying his best not to laugh. "Oh. Hi."

Charlie put his stuff down on the table and watched as Ed got up and sat on a chair. "What are you doing here?" the half-awake teen asked.

"Oh, you know… working, trying to dye my shirt back to its original color…"

Ed frowned. "You don't like it?"

"Oh, no, it's fine, except for that weird… thing on the back."

"What weird thing?"

"It's like… a weird demon looking thing. It's kind of ugly."

Ed heard a snicker from behind and shot Al a death glare. "What, you don't like my sense of style?"

Charlie laughed. "No, it's fine, just… not on my shirt."

"Okay, I'll fix it. Jeez."

Al put a hand on Ed's head and ruffled his hair. "Aw, brother, that's so nice of you."

"Al, you touch my head again and I'll turn your armor into a clown suit," Ed growled, and Al immediately put his hands in his lap. Ed smiled in satisfaction before looking at Charlie's papers. "So what all did you figure out?"

"A bunch of stuff," Charlie replied. "I think they'll be able to find the guys with this."

Ed leaned back in his seat. "I hope so." Ed paused. "Wait, shouldn't you be giving that to Don?"

"Yeah, but he's not here right now."

"Why not?"

"Oh, yeah, brother, you were asleep, but they found another victim," Al said. "They're going to be back later."

"Oh."

The three talked for a while, trying to pass the time until Don got back. After a while, Ed found himself talking about alchemy. He began talking about some of his and Al's experiences, being careful to avoid the subject of human transmutation. Every once in a while, Al would have to correct Ed on a detail, but for the most part, the armor stayed quiet.

"So, I was wondering," Charlie said after a while. "This might not be the best question to ask, and you don't have to answer it, but… back when we first met, Ed, you said that you had been studying the human body, and you mentioned your mother…"

Ed's face darkened. "We did. And neither of us realized that what we wanted to do was impossible."

Charlie was slightly startled by Ed's answer. "Sorry."

Ed shook his head. "No, it's fine."

Just then, the door opened, and Terry waved before turning to Charlie. "Okay, we're ready."

Charlie stood up. "Great. I'll see you later," he said to the brothers as he left the room.

Once the door was closed, Ed stuck his hands in his pockets and sighed.

"You okay, brother?" Al asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"He's pretty nice."

Ed nodded. "Yeah. I just don't want to try explaining alchemy to him ever again."

"Why not?"

"He spent most of his time in denial. It was a little annoying."

Al chuckled. "Oh, come on, brother, if it were you, you'd probably do the same thing."

"True…"

"So, how long do you think…" Al trailed off as he looked at his brother. Ed's eyes were closed, and he seemed to be asleep. Al poked him in the face to check, and indeed, Ed was sleeping. Al shook his head and waited patiently for the meeting to be over.

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"And, from all that," Charlie concluded. "I managed to pinpoint five places where the suspects would be most likely to station themselves. They're fairly spread out across the city, as you can see…" Charlie gestured to the map behind him. "But they all have something in common: each one has easy access to the places where the victims are usually found, with the exception of one."

"The one we found when we found Ed," Don finished.

"But why would they go out of their way to take Ed out to sea when they could have just left him somewhere else?" Terry asked.

"Probably because of his automail. He'd sink to the bottom and drown, which would probably be a worse death than doing what they did with the others," Don replied, gazing thoughtfully at the map. "Wait, what are these areas?"

Charlie looked back to see what Don was pointing at. "Oh, those are areas where they've most likely used already. I don't know if you've been to those places yet, but there might be some leftover traces of them there…"

Don nodded. "Yeah, could be… thanks, Charlie."

Once Charlie had gone back home, Don went to check on Ed and Al. Ed was awake when he entered, and gave Don a questioning look. Don ignored it for a moment as he addressed the two. "We're going to check a few things out, so it's going to be late when I get back. Actually, it might be better for you to stay here tonight, if that works for you."

Ed nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. But, um… where exactly…"

"You'd… we have a place… um…"

About an hour later

"This is humiliating," Ed muttered, his arms folded across his chest as he stood next to his brother.

"It's not that bad, brother," Al replied. "It's just for one night, and besides, it's not like we're in trouble or anything…"

"But still, it feels like we're prisoners…"

If Al could roll his eyes, he would have. Gee, I wonder why.

Ed glared at Al and collapsed on one of the beds. "I give up. It's not like being stuck in a prison cell for one night is going to kill me…"

"That's the spirit, brother," Al said in an eerily cheerful voice. "And don't worry, the people are nice here."

"How would you know?" Ed asked.

"Where do you think I've been staying, brother?" Al realized that it wasn't the best lie, but he just wanted Ed to stop worrying.

"Oh." Ed sighed. "I can't believe I let him talk me into this…"

Al sighed as his brother fell asleep. He hoped that morning would come quickly, because he didn't much care for the looks the other prisoners were giving them. He sat down on the bed at the opposite corner of the cell from his brother and waited for the night to be over.

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The next morning, Ed woke up to Al poking him in the face. He shoved the hand away and sleepily sat up, rubbing his eyes with his left hand. "Whasgoinon?" he asked wearily as he looked around. After a minute, he saw Don standing behind Al.

"Come on. It's time to go."

Ed nodded and got up, trudging quietly behind his brother and Don out of the prison area. Once they were at the office area, Ed and Al began the routine they had somehow become accustomed to since yesterday; i.e., sitting around in an extra room and waiting for someone to give them something to do.

After a while, the brothers began talking about stuff, mostly so Ed didn't go insane with the boredom. Strangely enough, he wasn't tired enough to fall asleep.

"So… how was it for you last night?" Ed asked.

"It was fine. I had a nice conversation with someone else."

"The guard person? He seemed a little too strict for my tastes…"

"No, brother. I was talking to one of the prisoners."

Ed blinked. "You were?"

"Yeah. He was really nice, considering the fact that he's a criminal. He likes cats, too."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Of course, that makes him a saint."

"That's not what I said, brother. I just said he likes cats. He has three at home."

"How did you end up talking about cats?"

"Um…"

Ed stared at Al in shock. "How did you manage to hide a cat all this time without anyone noticing?"

"I didn't, brother. We were talking about you, and he said something about you having cat-like eyes. It was kinda weird, but he didn't really mean anything by it."

"Are you sure?"

"What? Yeah, brother, I'm sure he's fine. He isn't even in prison for hurting other people. It's some kind of drug thing."

"No, I mean about the cat. You really don't have a cat in there?"

"No, I don't."

Ed stood up. "Well, I'm looking just in case."

"Go right ahead, brother. I don't have a cat."

Ed had a very good feeling that Al was telling the truth, but he just wanted to be sure. He quickly pulled off Al's helmet and checked inside. Sure enough, there wasn't a cat inside. Ed sat back down and gave Al his head back.

"Okay, just checking." Ed paused. "Hey, Al, when we get back home, after we get our bodies back deal with that other problem…"

"Yeah?"

"Well, maybe we could-" Ed stopped.

"Well, now, isn't this precious?" the dark-haired man sneered. "The younger brother trying to protect the older one. You, armor boy, get out of here. You're unneeded."

"But-"

A shot rang out, and Ed cringed. "I meant now, boy! Go back to your little room and play with your kitties!"

Ed watched helplessly as Al unwillingly stood up and left the room. Then he felt a hand on his shirt that pulled him up. "Come on, Fullmetal Alchemist, you have some work to do."

Ed unwillingly followed the man to a nearby alley and stared with horror and disgust at the woman in front of him. She looked up at Ed with fear in her eyes.

The man placed a gun in Ed's hands. "It's time for you to finish up here."

Ed looked from the gun to the woman, and back to the gun. "No, I can't."

"You don't have a choice. It's either her or your brother, and I know how much you care about him…"

Ed dropped the gun, turned and walked away, but he didn't make it too far before he heard a click behind him.

"Here's the problem with what you're doing, Fullmetal. You leave, and both of them will die. You refuse to kill her, you and your brother will die. You kill her, your brother lives. It's simple, really."

"It's not simple!" Ed shouted. "I'm not a cold-blooded murderer like you!"

"It doesn't matter. Someone is going to die here, and it might as well be someone worthless like her. And besides," the man continued, pointing to the gun in his hand. "Don't you want to get your brother out of that terrible body? Don't you want to give him a chance to get a cute little kitten? You can't leave him now."

Ed cringed. "Fine… I'll do it."

"Good. Let's go back then."

Ed trudged back to the alley and accepted the gun. He pointed it at the woman, who stared at him in fear, and put a finger on the trigger. Before he pulled it, though, the gun slipped out of his automail hand, and he landed a kick on the man's stomach. He grabbed the woman's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Run!" he cried, pulling her along as much as he could. She soon figured out that she needed to run in order to survive, and they sprinted through the alleyway until they came to a dead end.

Ed stopped and clapped his hands. "Okay, I'm going to make a way for you to escape, so when I do, keep running until you can find someone to help you, okay?" Ed smiled. "Don't worry about me, either. I can deal with this guy. Just get yourself to safety and DON'T mention this guy to anyone because he'll come after you." Ed didn't know if what he was saying was true, but he had a feeling it might be.

The woman nodded, and ran through the hole Ed transmuted in the wall. Ed watched for a second before covering the hole back up again. He ran the other way, hoping to get through another alley – and ran into the dark-haired man.

"You fool!" the man shouted as he grabbed Ed's arms and pushed Ed against the wall. "Don't ever try something like that again! In fact…" the man grinned. "I don't think you'll be able to." With that, the man kicked Ed hard in the ribs and laughed when he heard a crack. "Your part in this is over."

"Brother!"

Ed started as Al's voice brought him out of his flashback. "Ah! You startled me…"

"Brother, are you okay? You seem a little…"

"I'm fine, Al." Ed took a deep breath and looked around the room. "Well, actually…"

"Did you remember something else?"

"Yeah. I did."

Al stood up. "You should tell someone."

Ed shook his head. "N-not yet. I need a minute to think."

"Brother…"

"Al, I tried to help one of them… and I even made it so she could escape, but…"

"What?"

"They caught her anyway… I think she's the one they found right before they found me in the ocean, and… She had a more painful death than anyone else, all because of me…"

"Brother, don't say that. You tried… you really tried your best. I know you did."

Ed stared at his hands. "It doesn't really feel like it, though."