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Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.


Chapter Two

Ed was scared and crying and just wanted to get home to Mom and the real Al. He had trusted Roy because he said that he was with the military, but he had lied to him.

He didn't like this. He didn't know where he was, just that he needed to get away from the liars and the people that had hurt him. He ran down the street, getting funny looks from people who kept calling to him, but Ed didn't care. He wasn't going to trust anyone until he was back home with Mom and Al.

He ran until he couldn't anymore, stopping at a dark alley, crouching down behind a garbage bin.

What was happening? Why couldn't he remember getting taken?

The last four days had been horrible. The couple had been sticking needles in his neck and back and had been a activating some sort of array. Whatever they had been doing to "prepare" him, had hurt. Not his body, except for what the needles did, but his mind. They had kept tearing at his mind, deleting things. He just didn't know what they had deleted. It had hurt a lot when they hadn't been able to delete anymore and they had pulled out the needles instead.

He was scared and he was alone and nobody was telling him the truth. But why wouldn't they?

"Hey, kid. Why you here?" said a raspy voice.

Ed looked up. There was some light coming from the streetlights outside that lit up the man's face slightly. Ed didn't like the way he was grinning.

"Your parents abandon you?"

The man stepped closer. Ed curled in on himself.

"You know, it's not safe to be in a place like this. You can meet all sorts of dangerous people."

Ed was trapped. "GET AWAY FROM ME! SOMEBODY! HELP!" he shouted, doing as Mom had told him to do if someone strange did anything he didn't like.

The man bent forwards, gripping his wrist and began dragging him with him. Ed struggled, but the man was too strong. "HELP!"

Then the man clamped his hand in front of his mouth and the other around his chest, lifting him up.

No! Not again! I just want Mom and Al! Please not again!

Then suddenly the man fell to his knees and another person tore Ed from his grip, clutching him to their chest.

Ed began thrashing about as much as he could. "NO! PLEASE! JUST LET ME GO HOME!"

"Hey, Edward, it's okay, it's Roy. I won't hurt you, I swear."

"Please! I just wanna see Mom! I wanna be with Al! Why can't I?!"

"Because your mother has been dead for ten years now, Ed."


Roy sighed deeply. There was no point in lying to the stubborn kid.

"No, it isn't true! She was there just a week ago!"

"And a week ago you were fifteen until you were kidnapped by the people that returned you to your five-year-old self."

"No! I wasn't! It can't be! It just can't! Please don't say that!"

Roy hated himself for doing this, but the kid would find out sooner or later. If they were going to have him cooperate with them, then they needed him to trust them. He was five after all. Roy was going to have to apply child logic.

"Edward, I'm sorry, but it's true." Roy shifted his grip so that he had his hand under his knees and behind his back.

Roy felt weird. This was supposed to be the Fullmetal Alchemist?

No, it isn't, Roy. This is a frightened boy and what he was like before everything went to hell.

Edward was clutching the front of Roy's shirt, obviously crying.

Damn it, Roy! Of course he's crying! You basically just killed his mother!

Roy gripped the child closer to him.

"Alphonse? How are things going with you?"

"I've transmuted his hand to the wall so that he can't escape. We can just call the police to come get him."

"Sounds good. Then we're going back to HQ."

Roy turned his head around and saw that the man was definitely the worse for wear. Alphonse had beaten him repeatedly and his whole face was bloody.

Roy couldn't even begin to understand how the kid must be feeling. After a week of waiting for the news that his big brother had been found dead, instead he is discovered to have been transformed into a mere boy that doesn't even recognise him. And when someone then tries to hurt his brother even more, then of course he's allowed to snap. It just meant that they'd be pulling the "attacked a State Alchemist" card with the MPs instead of the "trying to kidnap a five-year-old boy" card with the regular cops so that Alphonse wouldn't get in trouble with the law. It was better, anyway. Roy hardly wanted men like that on the streets.

"Tell you what, Alphonse, let's just send the MPs instead and tell them that this man tried attacking Edward Elric."

"Oh, alright, Colonel. Sounds good. How is Brother doing?"

At the mention of the word "Brother", Edward gave a loud sob.

Roy sighed and they walked back to HQ in silence, not wanting to upset Ed even further. He kept crying into Roy's shirt all the way through the fifteen-minute walk. Roy's heart ached for the kid.

The only problem was what they were going to do with him until they found a way to get the child back to normal.

And there was also the fact that there was a very real possibility that the kidnappers would come back for him.

Roy carried the boy through the halls of East HQ. He found his way to the infirmary while Alphonse delivered his message to the lady behind the reception desk, who made sure to call the MPs immediately.

Roy ended up pulling a Fullmetal and kicked the door open, lacking any arms to do so with otherwise. The doctor looked curiously up as he banged his way into the infirmary, but became professional instantly as he saw the child in Roy's arms.

"What has happened to him?"

"I need you to check him out. He's been held captive for a week and I don't know exactly what the culprits did to him."

"Of course, just lay him down on the bed and I'll get right to it."

Roy did as he was told, despite the fact that the child immediately grew scared as he saw the tools lying on the tray next to the bed. "NO! I TRUSTED YOU! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T HURT ME! I TRUSTED YOU!" Edward thrashed about in his arms and Roy had to give up on his attempt at putting him down.

"What's the matter?" the doctor said concernedly.

Roy held Edward close to his chest, shushing him. "He's been held in a surgical theatre during his captivity and been a part of some kind of experiment."

The doctor's eyes grew wide with understanding, and he put away all his instruments.

"How about we remove the jacket and I can examine him as he sits on your lap?"

"How does that sound, Edward? Then I can make sure that the doctor doesn't hurt you?"

There was a whimper, but after a few seconds, there was the slightest of nods.

"Right, then I need to remove the jacket."

"No."

"Edward, unless you want me to bring you to a hospital, you need to work with me."

That had been the wrong thing to say. The boy instantly began struggling to get free. "NO! DON'T TAKE ME BACK THERE! PLEASE!"

"Sh-sh-sh, Edward, no one is going to take you back to those people, I swear."

"But you said…?"

"No. Listen, Ed, how about this? If you let me remove the jacket, then I'll buy you two scoops of ice cream."

The child stopped his wriggling and stared at him. "You promise?"

"Yes. Two scoops."

Edward eyed him sceptically, then he nodded. He sat back down on his lap and raised his arms in the air.

Roy pulled the jacket over the boy's head, and then he held his arms around him. It was weird to think that this small boy would one day be the "Hero of the People". This was before the transmutation, before his brother lost his body. Before the automail. Before the military. This was just a scared five-year-old boy.

A five-year-old boy who was currently clinging to his shirt, exposing all the needle marks on his neck and back.

The doctor had noticed them too.

"Edward, what did they do to you?" Roy asked.

"They were trying to make me forget, but they couldn't. They just reached a point where they couldn't hurt my mind anymore, and they tried all sorts of things. They gave me needles filled with weird stuff that made me see things, they tried everything, but they couldn't empty my mind anymore. And it hurt. Some of it burned."

Roy was furious. It was bad enough to do that to a grownup, but a five-year-old child?

Roy was definitely going to burn them.

He found himself holding Edward closer to his chest.

The doctor wasn't able to find anything physically wrong with the boy, but he needed a blood sample, which was when Edward began screaming and clawing to get away.

"Listen, Ed, it's okay! He's not like the people who took you! He's not going to make you hurt the way they did. He's a professional. A real doctor."

"NO! GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!"

"Listen, Edward, I swear that I'm not going to let him do anything to hurt you. I'm going to hold your hand, and if he even thinks about doing anything else than taking a blood sample, then I'm going to hit him."

"NO! PLEASE! NO MORE!"

Roy just closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. He couldn't order the struggling child around like he had done just a week ago. He needed to make him trust him, and if he was being too strict to him, then it wouldn't do him any good.

Roy held Edward close to his chest, gripping his arms so that he wouldn't hurt himself. "Edward, please, just listen to me."

"NO!"

Edward was kicking and screaming, getting more and more terrified as Roy kept restraining him. Soon he was outright crying. "Please, Roy! Don't do this to me!"

"Would you trust Granny Pinako?" came Alphonse's voice from over by the corner. Roy hadn't noticed him coming into the infirmary, he had been too busy with Edward.

Edward suddenly grew still. "Granny? Is she here?"

"No, but she could be here tomorrow if you want."

He was quiet for about thirty seconds. "Yes. She can do it."

Thank god.

He knew that the woman in question was a surgeon and would therefore be fully capable of taking a blood sample.

Roy relaxed his grip. It wasn't the best thing to wait, but he didn't want to cause this boy any more pain and fear. If Edward did get sick, then they would take him to a hospital no matter what. Right now, however, it seemed that the child first and foremost needed sleep and safety.

"Can I have the jacket back? I'm cold," Edward said quietly.

"Yes, lift your hands above your head."

Edward did as he was told and was once again dressed in the ridiculously large uniform jacket. They didn't have any clothes that would fit the child and they would have to buy some soon. He could send Hawkeye out to do it, he supposed. Right now he was just going to take Edward back to the office and let him sleep on the couch.


Alphonse was hesitantly picking up the phone. How was he supposed to explain what had happened to Brother? They hadn't even told Granny and Winry that Ed had been missing for a week. It didn't feel real, any of this. His Big Brother was now nine years younger than him and didn't recognise him. He had still thought that Mom was alive.

How should Alphonse tell him what they had done and what had happened? What would he do if Ed never got back to himself?

He dialled the number and soon heard the voice of Winry.

"Rockbell Prosthetic Limb Outfitters." She spoke so normally that it broke his heart.

"Uh, Winry? It's about Brother."

"Don't tell me he broke his automail again!"

"No! No he didn't!" Al immediately grew terrified at Winry's I'm-going-to-hit-you-with-a-wrench tone of voice.

"Then what is it? Is something wrong?" He could hear the anxiousness in her voice.

"Yes."

"What happened, Al? He's alive, right?" There was real terror in her voice now.

"Yes, he is, but…"

"But what, Al?!"

"He got kidnapped a-and he's different. He's five again. He doesn't even recognise me and he's terrified. It's like the last ten years never happened."

"What are you saying, Al?!"

"The people, they drugged him and experimented on him and I don't think he even believes that it's me. He doesn't really trust us. Please, ask Granny to come here to East HQ. We need to check him over but he panics the moment he sees a needle and we need to take a blood sample in case they did something to him that could hurt him."

"Give it to me, Winry." Granny Pinako was obviously speaking in the background. "Hello, Al, we'll be there tomorrow. There's a night train that I think leaves at nine."

"Thank you, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. He's Brother, but also not. I'm not sure he even believes that Mom's dead."

"Just take it easy, Al, we'll figure this out."


Ed kept passing large, uniformed people. They scared him slightly. They kept looking at him funny. He didn't know if he could trust Roy or "Al". If they brought Granny here tomorrow, then he would. Especially if she said that the armour really was his Al.

And if it was…

Then he must have hurt him by saying the things he did.

But he couldn't begin to trust "Al" if he was lying to him.

He wasn't going to go back to those people ever again.

"Roy?" Ed looked up to his right to the large man that was walking next to him.

"Yes, Edward?"

"I need to pee."

Roy looked slightly surprised. "Oh, then I'll take you to the toilets."

Ed followed Roy through the hallways until they came to a large room with many stalls and three sinks. This was nothing like the bathroom back home.

Ed saw what looked like the bottoms of toilets, though, under the stall doors.

Ed walked forwards and pushed one of the doors open. It was a toilet. He closed the door and then did his business before he walked back out and over to the sinks. Only problem was that he couldn't reach the soap. Next second, Roy had lifted him under the armpits and was holding him up so that he could wash his hands and then dry them with paper towels. Roy then put him back on the ground and Ed walked back to the door, not sure if he should thank him or not.

Problem was, Roy seemed kind, but then he suddenly lied to him and was in on the doctor sticking him with needles.

He wasn't sure if he could be trusted. Because he did save him from the people that hurt him and the man in the alley, but he wasn't sure if he believed him. How could Mom be dead? How could Al have grown that much? And why did Roy act like he knew them from before? Why would he know anyone from the military if it was true anyway? If it was true, he would be fifteen. The military didn't take in people that were that young.

No. He couldn't let his guard down around Roy, not until Granny came and told him the truth.

Roy opened the door for him and pointed out which direction that they were supposed to walk in. Ed walked that way, and then he stopped. He stood in front of a machine that promised him water. He hadn't had anything to drink in four days, just the things that they had put into his veins. He turned around to ask Roy if he could have some, but he had disappeared. "Roy?" Ed asked.

No answer. No dark-haired man looking for him or calling for him among the crowd of soldiers.

"Roy!"

Still nothing. Just a lot of soldiers walking past him, no one seeing him.

"ROY!"

Then someone was suddenly standing in front of him, all dressed up in uniform, a warm smile on his face. It was the man that had called himself Grant. The man that had stuck so many needles in his neck. Ed panicked.

"Hello, Son, it's time to take you home."

No! The military was supposed to be safe! He was supposed to be safe here!

Ed began running away. "ROY! ROY! ROY!"

Grant caught him quickly, though. He lifted him into the air. "NO! LET ME GO!"

"Is something wrong?" a woman Ed had never seen before asked them.

"YES! DON'T LET HIM TAKE ME! PLEASE!"

"It's just my son. You know how five-year-olds can be when they try to defy you."

"Oh, then I guess – "

"NO! HE KIDNAPPED ME!"

The woman looked unsure.

"DON'T LET HIM HURT ME! PLEASE!"

She seemed to become more and more unsure and her hand reached slowly towards a gun on her belt.

Then someone stuck a syringe into her neck and she quickly fell to the ground, revealing Lillian from the hospital.

"NO! SOMEONE! ANYONE! HELP!"

But the hallway was empty now. The soldiers had left for the day.

"Edward, my son, we're just giving you a happy, new home. We just need to make you ready first." She pulled out another needle and Grant put his hand in front of his mouth.

No! Please don't do this again! I don't want to! Please!

"It will be alright, dear, soon you'll have a new life with us." She was about to stick the needle into his neck, when a shot suddenly rang out.

Grant shrieked and let go of Ed as he fell to the ground just as Lillian transmuted a wall in front of her. "I swear that I'll be back for you my son," she said and then the wall closed up the hallway completely.

Ed quickly began crawling away from Grant who was screaming and cursing as he clutched his bleeding knee.

"Edward, are you alright?" It was the blonde woman from the hospital, the one Roy had spoken to.

A lot of soldiers had come now and they were pointing their guns at Grant.

The woman kneeled down in front of him, smiling kindly. "It's okay, we caught the bad man."

"Who are you?" Ed asked cautiously.

"I'm Riza, I'm Roy's assistant."

"Where's Roy?"

"They drugged him, he's resting right now. I can take you to him if you want?"

Ed looked at her, trying to see if she was lying. Roy had seemed to trust her earlier.

And she shot Grant.

"Okay, but I want another you to take another soldier with you too." Ed said. If she was with Lillian and Grant, another soldier would be able to protect him.

"Of course, Edward."

Riza stood up and walked over to one of the other soldiers while Ed rose slowly. The two of them came over to him and Riza smiled at him. "Edward, this is Second Lieutenant Breda."

Ed just stared at him, trying to see if he was untrustworthy. He, too, looked at Ed with a small amount of fright.

"Why are you scared of me? Roy wouldn't say."

"Edward, this really isn't the place to discuss this," Breda began saying.

"No! I want some answers!"

Riza smiled sadly. "Tell you what, we'll take you to Roy and if he doesn't explain, I'll shoot him."

Ed looked her in the eye, and discovered that she wasn't actually lying to him. After a few seconds, he nodded.

He followed the two of them through the halls and into an office. Then they went through to an inner office, and Ed saw Roy lying on the couch.

"Edward!" Roy said, relief flooding his face. Ed guessed that he had got the same drug as he had, because he didn't seem to be able to move his body.

Which meant that he couldn't be with Lillian and Grant…

Which meant that he could be telling the truth…

Which meant that everything was wrong right now and that Ed just wanted a hug.

And so he ran over to Roy and threw himself around his neck and began crying.


Okay, so it might be more realistic with updates twice a week or more, but I won't make any promises because I have three other active stories as well, so it really depends on what sort of mood I am in.