A/N I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist

Chapter Four

Mustang's Office

10:30 pm

He had ordered his men to go home shortly after they had learned the boys had not been on the train. Mustang, however, had remained in his office to await word on their whereabouts. He hoped they had simply missed the train and were on the next one which would arrive in a few minutes. He had called the hotel himself to ensure they had indeed checked out, despite Havoc having confirmed this hours ago. Then he called the train station to confirm their tickets had been issued. Finally, he had called Major Armstrong with instructions to have Edward call him immediately when they finally arrived.

Roy had given up any pretense of working awhile ago as he glared at the phone, willing it to ring. His youngest subordinate had only passed the exam a short time ago. While Roy had complete confidence in the boy's talent, he was young, and he was new to fieldwork. Edward was naturally gifted as well as trained by some who clearly knew what they were doing. However, he was only twelve and this was only his second official mission. Roy was willing to admit to himself he was concerned for the boys and their equally young charge. He'd assigned Edward this mission with the assumption that it would be an easy and safe assignment perfect for a new recruit. He was beginning to wonder if the boy was simply a magnet for trouble.

Hawkeye walked in with a mug of coffee to interrupt his musings. "I believe I sent you home Lieutenant." Mustang said as he took a grateful sip.

"You did sir, you didn't specify for how long however." Hawkeye replied as she looked over the map of the rail line spread across his desk.

"If somehow those kids are not on a later train we need to figure out what happened to them. I'm still convinced we'll receive word they arrived on a later train."

Hawkeye nodded, not believing for a minute her superior was unconcerned. He worried whenever he sent any of them out in the field and they were all a lot older and more experienced. The phone rang before either of them could continue, and Mustang snatched it before it could ring a second time. The conversation was brief and one sided, but he was clearly upset as he slammed the phone back into the cradle.

"Edward Elric and Chen Li's luggage was discovered aboard. Interviews with passengers has revealed three people were forced off of the train."

"Where sir? There's no record of it stopping before Central?"

"It didn't stop. They were thrown from a moving train"

Hawkeye allowed herself a small gasp before leaving to call back in the rest of the team. Mustang began marking out the most likely area to begin searching for the missing and possibly injured children.

Chen laid sprawled across the grass dramatically as she groaned loudly. Edward continued to ignore her as he finally removed his black jacket to check the damage to his arm. They had made camp a short walk from the tracks. Al had started a fire and was now off setting snares in an attempt to feed the others. Ed had created a stone lean to, which is when he noticed his arm wasn't working as smoothly as it should.

He had waited until he had a stone bowl of gathered plants over the fire before he further inspected the damage. There was a large dent in the panel of the forearm, and several screws were loose. Something had to wrong with the wiring as well he knew because he couldn't bend his fourth and fifth fingers. Ed didn't know enough about how his arm to attempt any repairs. With a sigh he removed the lining of his black jacket to create a bandage. He wrapped it tightly around the damaged arm to prevent further loss of pieces.

Chen groaned again, louder than before. Ed still ignored her, so she said. "Food. I need food. I'm starving, we haven't eaten since breakfast… I'm going to die I'm that hungry."

"It's only been a few hours. It takes longer than this to starve to death." Ed said impatiently, he was starving too. " Besides, the soup will be ready in a few minutes and with any luck the traps will work by morning."

"Are you sure this stuff is edible?" Chen asked as she finally sat up and stirred the pot with a spoon Ed had also made.

"Yes." Ed said with a sigh. "And if it hadn't been I could transmute it into something edible."

"Really? You can make food out of nothing? How?"

" I can NOT make food out of nothing. No one can make anything out of thin air. I CAN transmute the materials we gather into food as long as they are similar. For example, you can turn grass into bread."

"That's wonderful!" Chen said pulling a fistful of grass up to hold out to him. "Can you teach me?"

"No, it takes years to learn." Ed said in a kind tone. He felt bad to turn down the girl, or anyone, who wanted to learn.

Chen collapsed onto the grass again with a dramatic groan. A moment later she held up the grass in her hand without looking at him. "Can you show me at least?"

"Sure." Ed said as he took the grass from her. Since he was trying not to use his arm as much as possible, he drew the needed circle in the dirt before placing the grass in it as Chen sat back up to watch. She began excitedly pelting Ed with questions again. As they grew more and more outrageous Ed finally stopped her to ask where she had come up with her ideas on Alchemy.

She listed the name of a popular book series that he had heard of when he was younger. He laughed at this before telling her that nothing in those books was accurate. They weren't written by an alchemist, and the author just threw whatever he wanted into them to make it entertaining. Not that his craft wasn't exciting and impressive.

"It is impressive, at least what I've seen so far." Chen said as she moved to sit closer to him in her excitement. "What about the Philosopher's Stone? That's real right?"

Ed subtly moved away slightly form the girl, uncomfortable with her proximity. "I hope so."

"Oh. So you don't know?" she asked, downcast.

"I'm sure it's real." Ed said. "It better be." He added under his breath.

"So. Is it food yet?"