Happy July everyone. Sorry for my truly suck updating skills. But I gotta say, this is the busiest summer I've ever had. I've just been running around with my friends everyday all day and it's been awesome, although I miss writing tons and tons like I usually do during the summer. I will say however that this chapter definitely covers some more ground and speeds stuff along.

Thank you to every who reviewed last chapter and everyone who's still willing to wait for my crappy updates and especially thank you to my helpful editor, Dani, The Faceless Warg.

Enjoy

Dad! Dad!"

Hohenheim turned at the shouts and saw Alphonse running towards him with Russell, Fletcher, and a blond-haired soldier in tow. Alphonse's face was alight with excitement and possibly fear and he practically ran into Hohenheim once he reached his father.

"Alphonse, what is it?" Hohenheim asked as he placed a hand on his younger son's shoulder.

"Dad, I know where Ed is," he panted. "Or, at least, I know that he's not here anymore." He turned and motioned for the blond soldier to walk forwards. "Jean knew Ed while he was here and he said that Ed got really hurt a while ago but there are rumors that he was taken somewhere else to this place underground and-"

"Hold on, Alphonse, slow down," Hohenheim said, cutting his son off.

"But-"

"I already know that Edward is not here anymore," Hohenheim said carefully.

"You do?" Al asked, looking surprised.

"Yes, we also have directions on how to get to him," he said as he held up the slip of paper Pinako had given him.

"What?" the three blonds chorused.

"We need to get out of here now," Mei said, looking around the slightly deserted area nervously. "We also need to find more supplies before we leave."

"How far away is it?" Al asked as he took at the paper from his father's hand.

"The woman who told us said it might take as much as a week to get there on foot."

"What?" Russell and Fletcher exclaimed, sounding exhausted.

"We need a faster way," Alphonse said quickly. He turned to Jean and, looking slightly desperate, asked, "Can you help us?"

"I can try," Jean said quickly, looking determined. "But I can't promise you anything."

"Well it's better than nothing," Hohenheim said.

"Let's go."

Alphonse, Russell, Fletcher, Hohenheim, and Mei followed Jean through a maze of tents and soldiers until they reached what appeared to be the edge of the battlefield. There were less soldiers and tents and even less noise here.

"Come on, I know there's an abandoned army truck over here," Jean said quietly as he lead them around the few remaining tents.

"We're gonna steal an army truck?" Alphonse asked in a hushed voice, eyes popping slightly. "Are you serious?"

Jean stopped and turned to look at the younger boy while an expression of deep thought washed over his face. He sighed heavily and scratched his head before he spoke again.

"Well, I guess if it makes you feel better, you could tell yourself that you're just borrowing it from the army," Jean said slowly.

"Come on Al," Russell said. "Let's just hurry up and do this before we get caught by anyone."

"This is for Ed, Al," Fletcher said quietly.

While Alphonse would do anything to find his brother, and even though stealing another car was not all that bad in the grand scheme of bad things one could do, the amount of laws they has broken recently was starting to take a toll on him. However, it only took the idea that he might be reunited with his brother within a couple days to make him not care about stealing.

"Let's go," Alphonse said confidently. Jean nodded and smirked before he continued on through the somewhat deserted area.

"So, Al, can I ask you something?" Jean asked quietly a few moments later.

"Sure."

"I remember Ed telling me that you guys were running away to Xing to stay safe until the war was over," the blond-haired soldier started.

"Yeah, that was the plan," Al said with a heavy sigh.

"What happened?"

"Some guys looking for people who skipped on the draft caught us right about the half-way point through the desert," Alphonse answered. "And then we got carted off to Central with Mei, who was trying to get into the country."

"Why was she trying to get into the country?" Jean asked, motioning to Mei.

"It is a long story," Mei said quietly. "But I was doing it for my own protection."

"Well no country seems to be very safe at this point," Jean said wisely. "But how'd you get out of Central?"

"We kinda had to escape from a experimental lab of a prison by causing a mass breakout," Russell said in a tone that might be associated with explaining a weather forecast. "You know, no biggie."

"What?" he exclaimed, looking shocked.

"Yeah well, at least we got to find Ed and Al's dad out of that hell," Russell finished.

"So you guys broke out of a prison?" Jean asked, looking at them all in awe. "That's freaking sweet."

"You didn't hear about the breakout?" Hohenheim asked curiously.

"We haven't heard much of anything down here," Jean informed them. "It's like our own little world down here. Nothing comes in and nothing comes out."

"Well that's good to know," Fletcher said. "Seeing as our descriptions were broadcasted on the airwaves earlier today."

A minute later, a slightly rusted and rather dusty army jeep came into view. Jean rushed forwards and after some investigation, found a pair of keys for the jeep. He tossed the keys to Al, who caught them before he jumped into the driver's seat. The others quickly piled inside of the jeep.

"So based on the directions you got, you just need to head straight for a while," Jean said as he glanced at the directions Pinako had given them.

"Alright, thanks so much for all your help, Jean," Alphonse said as he started up the jeep.

"No problem, Al," Jean said. "Your big bro was a great guy and he deserves to see you again."

"I just wish there was something I could do to repay you for this," he said.

"Just get back to your crazy brother and tell him I said hi."

Suddenly from behind them, there was a loud yell. Jean turned around and saw a man in a military uniform, clearly staring right at them. Jean turned back to Al, looking just as panicked as he felt.

"Okay, get the hell outta here, kid," Jean ordered. "You won't be getting very far if you're locked up in another jail."

"Right, thanks again, Je-"

"Just go!" he yelled.

Alphonse nodded before he shifted the car into drive and pressed his foot onto the accelerator and sped off into the distance. He glanced up into the rearview mirror just as the other soldier caught up with Jean, who was waving goodbye at them.

Thank you, Jean, Al thought as he turned away from the mirror. I don't know what we'd do without you. I'm just glad to know Ed had at least one friend out here… I hope we can see you again.

Alphonse pressed the accelerator down even more, now more determined than ever to reunite with his brother.

"What the hell was that, Cadet?" Lieutenant Colonel Mustang yelled at Jean as Jean watched the jeep drive away. "Why were there civilians in that army jeep? And where were they going?"

Jean turned back to face the Lieutenant Colonel and stared down at him with a hard expression on his face. He was not going to flinch or back down. Jean knew that what he did was right.

"I was helping out a fellow soldier, sir," Jean answered.

"I saw no soldier in that jeep and it is not within your authority to dole out army vehicles when you think it's necessary!" Roy Mustang continued.

"There was no soldier in the jeep, sir," he continued calmly. "But I was helping reunite a supposed fallen soldier with his loved ones who just wanted to find him."

"What do you mean?" Mustang asked in a quieter voice. "What soldier are you talking about."

"Cadet Edward Elric, sir," he answered slowly. "I believe you remember him? He used to be under your command but after he was injured, he was declared M.I.A."

"…I remember him, Cadet," Mustang said after a rather pregnant pause; Jean noticed the dangerous flash in his eye and knew that the kid was hitting the Lieutenant Colonel where it hurt. "Why does this pertain to him?"

"Well I just received information that the cadet is still alive and well," Jean said. "His younger brother showed up here looking for him and somewhere here, he found information on Elric's location. Now he's off going to find his brother. I volunteered to help him with the task. Elric is still considered part of our squadron and I'm just trying to help him in any way that I can."

Mustang stared at Jean with his dark, slightly hallowed eyes but he did not bulk. The two soldiers stood there for almost an entire minute, where in Jean prepared to deal with everything from court marshals to physical punishment. After a minute, Mustang stepped back, sighed slightly, and let his hardened expression drop slightly.

"Return to your bunk, Cadet."

Jean blinked. He had hoped that the mention Ed, who had clearly effect Mustang, might soften up the hardened Lieutenant Colonel a little but he had not expected it to actually work.

"Did I stutter, Cadet?" Mustang growled, sounding much more like his usual self now. "Or would you rather I rethink my leniency on you?"

"No, sir," Jean said before he quickly saluted the man. "Goodnight, sir."

Jean turned and marched away from Mustang as fast as he could while hoping that Edward really was as safe and sound as everyone claimed him to be.

"We're here?"

Edward looked up and saw Winry standing over him with her bag slung over her shoulder. He had just been woken up from a nap and saw that everyone in the boxcar was getting up and gathering their belongings.

"Yup. Get up. Time to go," Winry said before she extended a hand towards Edward.

Ed accepted the hand allowed the blond girl to pull him up. The boxcar teetered suddenly, causing Edward and Winry to fall into each other. After a second of contact, Winry jumped back and ran off to help other people, leaving Edward alone.

It had been a couple days since Winry had cried herself to sleep in Edward's arms but ever since then, she seemed to be trying to keep her distance from Ed, even though she was in charge of his exercises and the boxcar gave very little room for privacy. While part of Edward wished that Winry would not be so reclusive from him, a major part of his brain was thankful for it. The lack of Winry meant a lack of clouded judgment for him and it allowed him to think easier. It allowed him to focus on what he must do the second he got out of the boxcar.

Edward needed to get back down south as soon as possible without anyone else interfering. He needed to find a train going south, which would be relatively easy since most trains went south to supply the warzone, and then find his brother before he could get hurt.

Just as Edward finished gathering his belongings, the train lurched one last time before it began to slow down; a minute later, the train stopped completely.

"Alright everyone," Goran said as he stood by the exit. "Time to leave. We need to move quickly and quietly. Follow me and stay together."

Goran pulled the heavy door open and one by one, they jumped out of the train and onto the gravel of the train station. Goran paused for a second before he motioned for everyone to follow him. Edward paused and turned around quickly while he looked for a train car that might be headed south. He had to get out of there soon before he was dragged along somewhere else he didn't want or need to go. Unfortunately for him, someone appeared to have been reading his mind and stopped him before he could go anywhere.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Edward turned and saw Winry standing in front of him, glaring at him ever so slightly. Edward scowled at her slightly, feeling annoyed that this girl would try and break up his plans.

"I need to get out of here and find my brother," Edward answered quickly and harshly. "I don't care about what you guys are doing. I gotta do this on my own."

"No you can't and you won't," Winry said in a harsher voice as she gripped Edward's flesh arm tightly. "You're coming with us and that's an order from your primary physician."

"I don't have to listen to you," he countered as he attempted to jerk his arm out of her grip but failed; she had a rather strong grip. "This doesn't have anything to do with you."

"I don't care. You're not dying just because you wanna go be with your brother this very second."

"Yeah well… remember when you dragged me and Ling and Lan Fan along until we collapsed from exhaustion so that we could find out what happened to your parents?" Ed yelled, feeling anger surge up inside of him. "There was no stopping you then and there's not gonna be any stopping me now!"

Winry looked murderous at that moment but Edward was saved from any sort of assault coming from her by Rollan as he gripped onto both of them and tugged them towards Goran.

"Rollan! Leave me here, dammit!" Edward yelled as he attempted to break out of his grip. "I've got more important shit to do than sit around some army base for another month! I've got to find Al!"

"Well you know what, Ed? You really don't have a choice right now," Rollan growled as he let go of Winry's arm and focused all of his strength on pulling Edward forward. "We just got word that there's some trouble brewing around here and get gotta get up to the base now or we're screwed."

"What do you mean?" Winry asked, looking confused.

"I don't know. It's just what Goran got on his radio a second ago," he said quickly.

"Trouble from where?" she asked.

"I don't know," Rollan answered.

"We're much too far north for the war to affect us," Winry said. "It's one of the reasons we came up here."

"Yeah well, this county's just full problems and we gotta get our asses out of here and back up at the base before we're dead."

Not knowing what else to do, Edward finally complied with Rollan and ran with the others. He thought of how as soon as he could leave the base, he'd be back down here, searching for a good train to back down south. This was nothing more than a bump in the road. Right?

It took them almost an hour to get up the large and supposedly impenetrable fort of the north. Edward certainly had been expecting it to be harder to enter the fort; he had heard some stories about the impenetrable and unstoppable Fort Briggs. However, everything seemed much too quiet and calm. Something was up for sure.

"Where was your brother supposed to meet us?" Goran asked as the hid behind some vegetation.

"He said somewhere along this pass around this time but…" Rollan trailed off as he scanned the large mass of metal. After a moment, his eyes lit up and a man, who looked astonishingly similar to Rollan, appeared. "There you are, bro."

"I can't decide if you have to worst timing in the world or the best," the man said without preamble before he motioned for them all to follow him quickly.

"What's going on?" Rollan asked as they ran along the wall for a while before they entered a hidden doorway. "We've been hearing some weird shit."

"Well I wish it was just weird but unfortunately, it more like a monumental shit-storm," he continued as they ran down the deserted metal passageway.

"What the hell do you mean?" Winry asked as forced her way to the head of the pack.

"Drachma looks as if it's going to attack us any moment," he answered after a deadly quiet pause. "There army is all but knocking on our door."

"But we have a Non-Aggression pact with Drachma!" Edward exclaimed. "Why are they attacking us after so many years of peace!"

"The boss says that it's because they want to strike while we're preoccupied on another war," he growled before he opened a doorway and lead them up some stairs. "But those idiots in Drachma don't seem to realize that we're never distracted up here at the Briggs. They can try and attack but we'll just attack them back harder than they could ever imagine."

While the majority of the group continued to follow after Rollan's brother, Winry, Ed, and Rollan stayed behind. If looks could kill, then the look Winry was giving Rollan would have definitely left him dead and cold on the ground.

"You know, this isn't exactly the safest place to be," she growled between clenched jaws. "If we wanted to stay hidden in a warzone, we might have well just stayed back in the safe house!"

"This is way better than that dinky little shack!" he exclaimed defensively. "Nothing could take down Fort Briggs! We're safe as we can be right now!"

"Safe! We just stepped into World War Three here!"

"We'll be fine! Trust me!"

Winry gave him one last scathing look before she turned and followed the rest of the group, stomping slightly in anger. Rollan turned to Ed and looked at him with a sympathetic expression on his face.

"What?" Edward asked, feeling apprehensive about the look directed at him.

"Boy do I feel sorry for you, kid," he said sadly.

"What do you mean?"

"You sure picked one hell of a woman," he said before he turned and walked up the stairs with the rest of the group, leaving Edward standing alone, feeling particularly dumbfounded.

"What? She's… she's not my woman, okay!"

After a few more hallways and one more set of stairs, Rollan's brother opened a slightly rusted door and flicked on a light switch. The group quickly packed into the rather spacious room and looked around. It appeared to be a forgotten storage room of sorts, with a couple stacks of dusty boxes in the corner. There were a few chairs and a couple old mats to lay on. Rollan opened an even more rusted door and showed them a slightly under-par bathroom, but they had no room to complain after spending so many days locked in a boxcar.

"It's not much but it'll have to do," he said after the tour was finished.

"It's just fine," Rollan said before he walked across the room and embraced the man. "It's more than we could really ask for at this point."

"No problem," he said as the brothers broke their embrace. "I'll send someone down here to check on the patients in a little bit but I really gotta scram right now."

The man turned, marched out of the room, before he paused at the door. He turned around and added, "Remember to be quiet. People may be kinda frazzled right now but someone might come down here if they hear a bunch of screaming, and then we'll all be fucked."

On that note, he yanked the heavy door shut and left them alone; his footsteps could be heard for a few moments in the almost eerie quietness of the abandoned wing of Fort Briggs. While everyone began to settle and prepare to rest, Edward stayed where he stood in the corner, deep in thought. He needed to get out of the monstrous fort now before it was too late. Unfortunately for him, it appeared as if it would be much harder to sneak out again now that they were inside.

You'll just have to think it through, Ed told himself as he felt himself frown. You have to be patient for one more time and then you can get back on the road and find Al.

Feeling trapped once again, Edward let out a heavy sigh and let himself slip down the metal wall until he was sitting on the ground.

"Is that it?" Alphonse asked as his father cut the engine on their stolen army jeep.

They all stared at the small, ramshackle shed that stood out from all the lush and wild vegetation. Hohenheim pulled the keys from the ignition and pocketed them while he eyed the shed. They had not seen a single structure for over an entire day and based on the general position he had been able to place on the map, this had to be it, right?

"Be careful," Hohenheim warned as he stepped out of the army truck.

One by one, they disembarked the jeep and walked slowly towards the concrete shack. As they got closer and closer, Alphonse began to hear whispers coming from inside of the building, however, he could not understand a single word that was spoken. Could it be another language? He did not know. All he knew was that his heart was hammering against his chest as he thought about how he could be reunited with his brother in a matter of minutes. His brother could be on the other side of the door…

With a shaking hand, Alphonse gripped onto the rusted door handle and yanked it open with all of his strength. A lot of dust swirled in front of them for a moment, making it hard to see anything distinct in the tiny building besides two large objects in the far corner of the room.

"Ed!" Alphonse yelled as he squinted his eyes against the thick cloud of dust.

One of the figures stood up and Alphonse felt his heart skip a beat. Could it really be his brother? Could they really be together once again after being apart for so long?

"No," said the figure in a slightly accented voice, sounding similar to Mei. "I am not Edward."

"You're… you're not?" Alphonse asked weakly, feeling as if he had been hit with a pile of bricks.

"No. I am not," the stranger continued before he stepped into the light and allowed Alphonse to see that it was not in fact his brother. "But I know who you must be, Alphonse Elric. And I know where you can find you brother."

AH! It's the return of Ling and Lan Fan! YAY! :D

So I know for sure that the next chapter should be rather interesting for sure and it'll once again, speed things up, but it will bring this story just one chapter closer to its eventual end. :( But that's still a while away from now.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you leaves me a review because they make me happy face :D

I'll try to get to updating ASAP.

-FSK