Ed woke up to the sound of a radio broadcast. He tried to sit up to see where it was coming from, but someone pushed him down again.

"Don't push yourself. You're still recovering."

Ed tried to see who was talking, but all he could see was white. Finally, a head came into view. It was Tessa. She gently placed her hand on his forehead. Ed wanted to push it off, but he lacked the energy.

"Your fever's gone down, at least. Maybe tonight I can let your brother come in here."

Ed wanted to say something, but all he could manage was a tired groan. It was just about the same as what he wanted to say, though, so he was fine with it. After a moment, Ed remembered questions he wanted to ask, but before he could get any of them out, he was asleep.

He woke up late in the evening, this time functioning much better. When Tessa saw that he was awake, she let him sit up and gave him some water.

"You're recovering much faster than anyone thought you would. I'll let Al in now," she said, and opened the door. Almost immediately, Al came running in.

"Brother!" he cried, jumping onto the bed and nearly crushing Ed in a hug. Ed pried away from his brother after a moment. He didn't think that Al would be that strong.

"Hey, Al," Ed said. "What's with all the excitement?"

"Brother, you came close to dying. I was afraid you wouldn't make it."

"Really? Was it that bad?" Ed asked with some surprise.

Tessa stood at the foot of the bed. "It was. If you had arrived much later, it would have been much harder to keep you alive, much less let you wake up the next day with everything intact." She paused for a moment, and then continued to speak. "Tomorrow the two of you are going to see a friend of mine. Then, after that, you'll be part of this place for good."

"Who's this friend you're talking about?" Ed asked.

"He's the one I was going to bring you to in order to make you forget about that night."

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

It took a long time for Scar to get to the town in the valley. He had intended on going alone, but Mei Chan had pleaded to go with him. When he asked her why, she had turned red and muttered something about Alphonse. The only reason he had agreed is that he remembered her healing abilities. If he was going to have to fight against a lot of people, he might as well bring her along.

He walked through the town cautiously, keeping an eye out for any sign of the brothers, just in case they had ended up in the town. When there was no sign of them, he continued up the road to the small village.

Once he got close, Scar moved off of the road into the trees. He circled around the town, trying to figure out where the brothers would be. Finally, he saw Ed walk out of a building with another boy about his age. All around them were a few people armed with guns. Scar watched as they crossed through the town.

He made sure to pay attention to where they were going. Then he dropped back into the forest to come up with a plan.

Ed sat next to his brother on a rug facing an old man. The man looked friendly enough, but Ed still didn't trust him. Of course, Ed didn't trust anybody in the area, which is understandable.

It was quiet in the room. Ed exchanged glances with his brother, but neither one spoke. Finally, the man stood up.

"So, the two of you would probably like to know why you're here, right?"

"Obviously," Ed muttered.

"Tessa wants to give you a chance. She says it would be unfair for you to be put under such a strict guard."

"And?"

"You have two choices. You can either give up your memories, except for the fact that you're brothers, and live freely in this place, or you can keep your memories and live with minimal freedom."

"Those are the only choices we have?"

"Yes."

"So we have to either give up our memories or our freedom?" Ed asked.

"That's how it is. I'm sorry."

"There's no way I'll ever give up my past!" Ed nearly shouted.

"I see. How about you, Alphonse?"

Al paused. He looked at his brother. "There are so many things I want to forget. But, at the same time, I don't want to forget all the friends we've made. I also don't want to forget that we've made mistakes." Al turned back to the man. "I agree with my brother. Who we are is more important to me than where we can go."

The old man smiled. "I understand. Nobody expected you to agree. We just wanted you to know that you have a choice."

"Thank you, but I don't think we'll ever change our minds."

They walked out of the room. Right away, Ed saw a gun pointed at his head. He wasn't very surprised. They had been doing this since early that morning. They walked back to the house that Ed and Al would be living in. Once inside, Ed heard the door slam shut behind him. Someone pushed him forward into the living room. Ed looked back to see his brother being held back. He wanted to ask what was going on, but someone had covered his mouth.

Ed was bound and gagged and shoved roughly to the floor. He watched as Tessa spoke to the men in the room. They left a minute later. Tessa stood above Ed for a while, not speaking. Finally…

"I've been thinking about that transmutation circle I found that night. That's pretty advanced stuff."

Ed looked at her in confusion. What transmutation circle? The one they had used to get back their bodies? Ed looked at the floor. There was a transmutation circle drawn there. It looked different from the one he and Al had made, but its purpose was the same: human transmutation.

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

Al was brought upstairs into a small room with no windows. The two people with him forced him to sit on a chair and stood on either side of him, guns in hand. After a moment, someone came in. A mask covered his face. He sat down in a nice chair across from Al.

"So, you're one of the two boys messing up my plans. I wasn't expecting you to look so pathetic. Why are you so skinny?"

Al was quiet. He didn't know how to respond to this. If he mentioned human transmutation, he and Ed could be forced into doing it again. Al didn't want to go through that.

"Well?"

"It's because my body was being starved for five years."

"Starved?"

"Yes. It didn't get much in the way of nutrition."

"But weren't you traveling with your brother in the past four years? How were you starving?"

"It's complicated. Basically, my body was taken away and my soul was stuck in that armor for five years."

"I see." The man stood up and walked right up to Al. He leaned over, and Al could see his eyes behind the mask. They were insanely creepy. "So, now I'm debating what to do. Obviously the military is aware of our location now, and we all know who's responsible for that. Not many people are happy about the fact that we're going to have to move." He stood upright again, and circled around Al. "In fact, someone's planning on killing you two. I've been trying to convince her not to, but…"

Al clenched his fists as he realized whom the man was talking about.

"Oh, didn't she bring your brother into a room by himself with no guards? And wasn't he tied up, too? This will present a problem, won't it?"

Al tried to stand up, but he was forced back down again. "Don't try to save him. It's probably too late anyway."

"So you're just going to let her kill him?"

"I'm having someone stop her at the last minute. Your brother needs to realize just how far we're willing to go to keep you in line."

Even though he knew how much trouble it would get him into, once the man wasn't looking at him, Al clapped his hands together and placed them on the floor. At that exact moment, there was another sound. Al looked at the doorway. There, standing where the door had been only seconds ago, was Scar.

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

Ed tried to break out of the ropes holding him, but he had forgotten just how hopeless that idea was. Tessa noticed him struggling and knelt beside him. She pinned him down with her knee as she pulled off the gag and began to untie him.

"What are you doing?" Ed asked as soon as he could speak.

"Your arm is still at the doors, right?"

"Wha… how did you know about the doors?"

"I've been there before. These people sent me there so that I could get better at alchemy."

"What about the passage fee?"

"They had a stolen Philosopher's Stone."

"But then why are you always using circles?"

"Have you actually seen me use alchemy yet? Those circles are just for show."

"But Al saw you use one."

"Like I said, that was just for show. I didn't want him to know what I've seen." Tessa finished untying Ed and held onto his right arm, still keeping his other arm pinned against the ground. "I'm taking this off, okay?"

"What are you doing?" Ed asked again.

"You'll know soon enough." She pulled Ed's automail arm out and set it on the floor. Then she proceeded to tie his other arm back against his body. Just then, Ed heard a crash. He tried once again to stand up, but Tessa had her foot on his chest.

"Someone's here. Be quiet."

Ed looked toward the door, trying to see if someone would come into the room. Several minutes passed. Ed could hear shouts and more crashes. He became incredibly worried about his brother. A few more minutes passed, and the door opened.

In the doorway was a man wearing a mask, and he was about to lunge at Tessa when she clapped her hands together and placed them on the circle on the floor. Ed wasn't quite sure what happened next.