A/N: I...I'll say everything in the Author's Note in the end. It's not really appropriate up here.

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I thought you might like to see what's going on back in Amestris. :)

Immisibility
by NyghthawK

Interlude: Alphonse Elric

Alphonse was worried. Very, very worried. His brother had gone missing, his last phone call to Winry and sensei made exactly three months, two weeks and six days ago.

That was why Al found himself in the Xing capital.

Well, actually, he'd wanted to go to Creta, the country Ed reported himself in last. But he knew his brother and knew just how quickly he could travel from one place to another when he wanted to.

Al sighed for the umpteenth time, guilt washing over him yet again. His brother was so selfless, insisting on him continuing training with sensei where it was safe whilst he went out alone. And it was all his fault—! Ed only went along the wild goose chase of leads and dead ends to try and restore his memories...

But he knew, that if their roles were reversed, that he would do the same thing. Even so, that didn't stop the tiny voice in the corner of his mind rampaging about how selfish Ed was being: just because Al was twelve now, just because Al couldn't remember their travels, it didn't mean that they couldn't travel together again!

So the only way he would have been able to find his brother would have been by tracing the path he went along.

Luckily, Al mused as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a rather worn piece of paper, General Mustang was nice enough to copy the list of places they'd tracked brother going along.

After all, despite his attention-grabbing attire, Edward Elric was very good at hiding when he needed to be hidden.

Al looked around. He'd been fortunate to cross the desert with the Amestrian convoy, since he wouldn't have been able to make heads nor tails of the strange, foreign streets around him. The smell of spices assaulted his nose, and the heat from some of the side vendors had him edge a little further towards the road. It was almost as if every corner and every road came from another world!

(Al honestly suspected that the convoy dropped him off in the tourist district because they assumed he was the General's friend who wanted a holiday sightseeing in Long Tian City.)

He glanced down to check where he wanted to go.

The Imperial Palace, Long Tian, Xing, his little note sheet said, under Liar's Palace, Silovsk, Drachma and West River Bay, Muiden, Drachma-Aerugo border.

Alphonse then looked around and began to head on his way. But without warning, he found his arms jerked behind him and cuffed, and several soldiers swarming around him.

"You are under arrest!" One of them said in choppy Amestrian. He turned to his comrades and changed to their native Xingese, but thanks to the Gate's knowledge Al could still understand him. "Take him to the palace; His Majesty would like to see him."

It turned out that everything had been a misunderstanding.

The soldiers had wrestled him to the Imperial Palace, a huge network of red buildings built in the traditional Xing style. Each building was connected by a bridge frail by Amestrian standards, but sturdy in geometrical structure. Alphonse rarely considered infrastructure beautiful, but the way the palace was built into the garden it almost seemed like a part of nature.

Once they'd entered the Lotus Sitting Room, the Emperor had frowned and inspected Al's face far closer than what was comfortable.

"No, you aren't the shorty," the Emperor muttered.

Al couldn't help himself. "Shorty?"

"Yunno," the Emperor said, and it was then that Al noticed how young the man was despite the long, black ponytail and the golden robes. "Blond, red coat, this tall—" and here he mimed someone at chest-height, "—springy antenna...what was his name? Ec...El..."

"You know my brother?" Al blurted, then corrected himself. "Edward Elric?"

The Emperor nodded lazily. He tapped one foot against the ground and crossed his arms. "Yeah, yeah. Your brother, you say?"

"Yes—um, sir."

Suddenly the Emperor was all smiles. "Brilliant! How wonderful; would you like some tea?"

"Erm..."

"Yes?" Then the Emperor noticed exactly what Al was referring to, and frowned. He switched to Xingese. "Why have you chained him?"

"Your orders were for us to bring him here, sir!"

The Emperor's frown darkened, and Al found it hard to apply the previously easygoing attitude he'd shown from earlier. The soldiers also seemed to share the same idea, and the lead gestured twice. That action hadn't been necessary, as the other soldiers had moved forward to undo his binds. Then, they all excused themselves and left.

Hands finally free, Al shook them out and bowed. "Thank you, sir."

"No worries, no worries!" The Emperor waved lazily. "Any Elric is a friend of mine. Actually, I haven't caught your name."

"Al—Alphonse, sir."

The Emperor gave another nod. "I am Ling. What brings you here?"

Now that he wasn't chained, Al finally noticed how young the Emperor seemed to be. The typical black Xingese hair and sharpened eyes were to be expected, but despite the other's height he couldn't have been any older than twenty—maybe twenty-five.

"I'm looking for my brother, sir." Al said. "Edward Elric. He went missing about three and a half months ago, so I'm tracing his path."

Ling just nodded during the explanation. "Right, right."

"Do you have any clues?" Al asked, hopeful.

"Hmm..."

The Emperor trailed off and spent the next few moments thinking, before:

"Nope!"

Al sighed. "Oh." Then he paused. "How do you know my brother, sir?"

A very, very slow smile stretched across Ling's features. "Let's just say he helped me quite a bit when he was here."

That was definitely not how the Emperor had been acting only a few moments ago.

Unaware of Al's growing discomfort, Ling continued. "Do you have a place to stay, little Elric?"

"N-no..." And call me Al, he wanted to add, but was unsure if he could.

"I'll have the guest quarters ready for you as well, then. You know, when your brother was here, he spent some time with our greatest fighters learning how to properly use a spear. He also spent quite a bit of time meeting with our rentanjutsu masters as well. Would you like both of these services?"

"O-okay." What did you do, brother, to make him so nice to me?

Ling clapped. "That's settled! Lei, come here and escort our guest to his room."

A small, young woman appeared from her hiding place behind a screen. She hurried to Al's side and bowed.

"I am Lei Ning," she greeted. "Welcome to the Imperial Palace."

Al couldn't help but wonder just what he got himself into.

The original plan had been something along the lines of spending a week in Xing, the time the previous Amestrian convoy had to leave. During that week, Al would meet with everyone his brother had met, and ask about their previous conversations. But Ling kept insisting on showering him with honours and extending his stay.

By the time Al remembered he needed to leave, two and a half weeks had already passed.

Ling almost didn't want him to go. Al only knew this was because of his brother's last visit, but no matter who he asked he didn't get any answers. (A part of him really, really hoped it hadn't been anything too...explosive.)

But finally—finally, he managed to leave; all with the thanks of Izumi speaking to the Emperor personally over the phone. Apparently, sensei knew Ling as well for some odd reason, and Ling had been too quick in helping Al make arrangements for his journey.

Al...just knew not to question anything in Xing any further. Nobody gave him answers anyway.

But things hadn't exactly gone to plan once he'd left, either. Why?

Bandits.

"You! Cough up everything you got and we'll spare 'ya!" One of them growled.

Al sighed. "Please let me go."

Instead of quelling them, as Al had hoped, the second bandit next to the one who had spoken just snarled and pulled out a gun. "Pass it over or I'll shoot."

Guns were always tricky things when it came to alchemists. Their firing speed could usually trump the speed of an alchemical equation.

Al mentally took stock of everything around him, the way Izumi trained him. Each rock's iron was a potential weapon, and each clump of dirt was a potential wall. If only, he mused, he had some ability to harness the air like General Mustang. Air was everywhere, so their attacks were instantaneous.

He'd just decided on his next move when a long, shrill shriek cut through the air. With his hands clapped together and his body channelling a transmutation circle, he couldn't press his hands to his ears in time.

But the bandits did.

They dropped their weapons and held their head to try and block out the sound. Where Al found himself dizzy and temporarily deaf, though the sound level receded from him before it receded from the bandits, they were busy trying to block out every last bit.

That was why most of them missed the kicks and punches heading in their direction, quickly falling unconscious.

Al had just deactivated the circle when a shadow fell over him, and he looked up to see a woman in a trench coat standing there with a frown. As she was against the sun, it was particularly hard to discern any feature except for the short, trimmed hair.

Her mouth moved.

"I'm sorry!" Al shouted. "I can't hear you!"

Her frown lightened, but it might have just been Al's imagination. Then she held out her whistle towards him, a whistle engraved with a delicate formation of arrays, and searched inside one of her pockets.

The silver watch she held up explained more than everything else combined.

"Alphonse Elric," she mouthed slowly. "You're looking for Edward Elric."

He nodded.

"I am looking for him, also. Will you accept my assistance?"

A/N: There's a lot of things to say...

First, I'm really, really ill. It's most likely due to stress, so I have to cut back on the things I do. So I'm cutting back on Immiscibility. I need to take a break to plan the order of events in the next part anyway, but I don't think I can continue with weekly updates.

Second, is there anyone who actually wants to join the contest? Seriously, I've got no clue. If nobody wants to join, I'll just return the CreateSpace offer back to Alex. (If there are people who want to join...then, well, that means I have to rush and finish writing Immiscibility asap.)

I'm going to wait a week for responses; if there aren't any/enough, I'm cancelling the contest and getting some sleep.

Sorry for everything, everyone! ^^;;

— Nyght