Waking up bound was… not entirely a new experience for Alphonse after his stint getting abducted by Greed and his gang of chimeras.
It wasn't made any more pleasant now than it was the first time around by his newly regained human body.
He flexed his wrists, testing the bonds. His kidnappers were smart, binding his wrists to the separate arms of the chair. He might not have been as renowned an alchemist as his brother before… everything- and with his human body back, there was no chance of being mistaken for the Fullmetal Alchemist again- but they knew that he was an alchemist.
They weren't giving him a shred of leeway to even attempt bringing his hands together.
He was blindfolded too- tight enough to make the back of his skull ache. It was uncomfortable, but at least it meant there was a chance he was getting out of this alive.
Why hide their identities if they planned to just kill him and dump his body in a ditch somewhere?
"You could at least tell me what you want," he began and was rewarded with a fist to the jaw.
He coughed, spat blood from his newly split lip, and took a moment to breathe.
Okay, so… talking to them was a bad idea. He could have probably figured that out without testing it first, of course.
He could persist and maybe one of them would finally give him something. Or they could just keep beating on him until he lost consciousness.
But antagonizing the enemy was more Edward's specialty and that was one area where Alphonse thought it best to avoid imitating his brother.
Getting kidnapped was more Edward's specialty too, he thought wryly. Ed might disagree with him after the chimeras, but that had been only once.
In fact, no one Alphonse had ever met in his life had possessed the propensity to piss people off to the degree that his brother had. It was an innate talent he had.
Even Winry would agree with him- and the two of them were married!
It had been different too, back then.
In his armored body, unless they decided to erase his blood seal- and there weren't many who knew to do that, although there was always the risk of it being accidentally tampered with- there wasn't much anyone could do to harm him physically.
Even dismantling him, while it was inconvenient, couldn't do much.
He could always be put back together.
But now, with his original flesh and blood body back, wrists bound to the arms of the chair, they could do whatever they wanted to him and there wasn't much he could do about it.
It was… terrifying, actually.
They wouldn't even tell him what they wanted.
At least with Greed, he had known what they were after. Right now, he was both figuratively and literally in the dark.
Al exhaled shakily.
He saw no shame in admitting- even if just to himself- that he was frightened. That he wanted to see Edward, though he had already gone through the process of thanking every deity he could think of that his brother wasn't caught up in this situation with him.
He'd tried listening to his captors in an attempt to gather more information, but they either had taken that into consideration or were extra careful or perhaps both.
No matter how hard he listened for it, he hadn't caught any useful tidbits.
Until…
"...Fullmetal Alchemist…"
The blood in his veins went cold.
Ed.
Why were they talking about Ed? Had they meant to abduct him and taken Al instead? That might have been possible except no one had mistaken Al for the Fullmetal Alchemist since before he'd regained his human body.
Then what was this?
A hostage situation?
Were they trying to force his brother's hand in some way?
That was even worse.
If they delivered any sort of ransom or ultimatum to Ed, he wouldn't hesitate before throwing himself into danger for his sake.
And the worst part was that Ed no longer had alchemy to defend himself. He wasn't helpless by any means. He still had the training from Teacher, but… with no alchemy, he was considerably more vulnerable.
He strained to hear anything more, but the conversation had dropped.
Al was startled by a hand dropping to the top of his head.
"Hey, Rolf, I think the kid's trying to listen in." This was accompanied by a snicker and the hand ruffled his hair almost playfully. "Should we clue him in?"
"Names!" the other man, presumably Rolf, hissed back. "And stop that. You know very well the boss told you you weren't going to be having any fun. This isn't about you. So take your hands off of him and back off. We've got a job to do."
"Ah, who's going to tell him if you don't? Come on, Ro…"
"What did I just tell you?"
"I already said it. Once more isn't going to hurt. Will it, kid?" The hand fisted in his hair and gave a harsh tug, dragging his head back.
Al cried out before he could help it.
"Stop it!"
He was released just as quickly as he had been grabbed.
"Geez, I was just having a bit of fun! What's your problem?"
"My problem? Look at him, will you? The kid can't be more than sixteen and you think this is funny?"
"When did you grow a backbone? You didn't seem to have a problem when we were kidnapping him!"
"Maybe when your definition of fun became tormenting a kid who can't even defend himself!"
The voices tapered off after that as the nameless man moved away from him with an incomprehensible mutter.
"Just keep your hands to yourself." Rolf's voice was raised after several beats of silence.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The other guy sounded sullen. "You were more fun before you developed a conscience."
There was a grunt in return, but the conversation subsided after that.
Alphonse had no idea how long they sat in silence after that, considering his sense of time was skewed.
Eventually, he heard a scratching sound as one of them picked themselves up off the floor and moved away.
"Whatever." It was the man who'd taken glee in harassing him. "Going for a smoke."
"I don't care what you do. Just don't cause any problems."
/
"You think you can hurt my brother? Just what kind of animals are you? I swear, I'm gonna bash both of your skulls in before this is over!"
The blindfold was dragged off his head, giving him full view of his brother.
Ed's arms were pinned behind him, but his eyes were blazing.
Al felt his heart sink. "Ed…"
"Al!" The only thing keeping him back was the man's grip around his elbow. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"
"I'm fine," Al assured him, because it was true.
They hadn't hurt him.
He let his eyes roam over his brother and wondered if Ed could say the same.
He looked unhurt- mostly- though his hair was disheveled, strands of it hanging loose from his braid, and there was the ghost of a bruise forming just underneath his eye that made Al's chest tighten.
His brother had put up a fight.
A big one, by the looks of it.
But in the end, it hadn't mattered, because these two men had one of the only two things in the world that could make Edward Elric cave.
They had him.
And Ed had proven time and again that he would fall on a sword for his brother if that was what it would take.
There weren't words to describe the terror that swept over Al.
"What do you want?" he whispered, cold dread settling in his stomach.
"What do we want?" Without much ceremony, Ed's captor- and Al recognized from his voice that he was the one who enjoyed tormenting him- marched him to an adjoining chair and shoved him down into it. "It's simple, really." He leaned against the chair himself and smirked. "The secret of human transmutation."
"You have got to be kidding me," Ed snarled, half-twisting around in his chair. "Human transmutation is…" He was struck by a blow to the temple and seethed. "You're insane if you think…"
"So only you and your brother are afforded that chance?" the man hissed. "Only you get the chance to see your loved ones again?"
The other- Rolf- remained silent, standing off to the side, arms crossed. A crease between his brows betrayed his doubt in the situation.
Al wondered if he would step in- even half-hoped that he would- but he stayed put. He jerked at the ropes around his wrist but they stayed firm.
"We didn't!" Ed spat. "You know what happened? We didn't bring back our mother. We brought back a monster. And we paid the price for it."
A chill went up Al's spine at the thought of that horrific night. His whole body taken from him… It was something he had no right to forget, even if there was nothing he would like better.
The man lunged forward, gripping Ed by the throat, fingers digging into the soft flesh. His face was twisted with rage. "You're lying to me."
"Stop!" Al screamed, jerking forward, heart in his throat. The rope held him back.
Ed didn't break eye contact, expression grim even with his airway cut off. He wasn't lying- Al had lived it, he knew all too well the truth of what Ed said- but even their captor could see it.
He held for a little longer, before releasing Ed with a frustrated cry. He stalked away from him, pacing the floor.
Al released an uneasy breath, but still felt very much on edge. They were walking on a razor blade, he thought.
While Rolf was certainly the more sympathetic of the two, he also didn't seem to be inclined to turn against his partner, who was growing increasingly more frenzied. With an enraged cry, he drove his hand through the wall.
Rolf flinched. "Hugo!" he snapped, forgetting the 'no names' rule he'd cited earlier.
Hugo turned on him in an instant. "What was that you said about names?"
"I…" He seemed to be genuinely taken aback. Whatever he was aiming to say, it was lost.
Al's mouth was dry, tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. The situation had become even more unstable.
"You're lying." At first, Hugo's words were almost too soft to hear. Then, he whirled around. "You're lying! There has to be a way! There has to be!"
"There isn't!" Al surprised himself by being the one to speak up before Ed did. He didn't falter, even when Hugo turned his attention towards him. "We wouldn't lie to you about-" He was cut off when he was backhanded across the face. His vision went white for a split second. He blinked back tears, black spots dancing in front of his eyes.
"You bastard!" Ed lunged forward in his chair, except this time his hands were free.
The time spent arguing back and forth with their abductors had also been spent working his way out of his bonds.
He threw himself at Hugo, his fist catching him in the jaw before he had a chance to react.
Hugo staggered back with a curse, but he was blocking Ed's next strike.
The fight snapped Rolf out of his indecisiveness. He rushed to Hugo's aid, throwing his arms around Ed's neck before Al's warning shout could leave his lips.
Ed staggered back, hands flying to the arms looped around his neck. He gripped him at the elbows and bucked forward, throwing him over his shoulder.
Rolf crashed to the ground with a grunt.
Ed pivoted just in time to catch Hugo's elbow to the face. He stumbled, blood spurting, but regained his footing, driving a punch into the man's gut.
It was two against one, but, even so, it was clear that Ed had the better training, even without his alchemy.
He threw Hugo to the ground, making sure he was down, driving his booted heel into his chin,, before spinning and driving his arm into Rolf's throat.
He went down with a gurgle.
He stood over the both of them, slumped in a heap on the ground, with his shoulders heaving.
/
"We got lucky. He was too careless when he tied my hands."
Ed undid the bonds tying him to the chair. They fell away and Al flexed his fingers, coaxing the blood flow back to them.
He said nothing, still trying to sort through his emotions.
"Are you okay?" Ed asked. He gripped his hand and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, helping him to stand. The touch lingered, even after he was on his feet.
Ed's eyes landed on his split lip and expression tightened.
"Bastards," he hissed.
Al touched the split self-consciously. "It doesn't hurt anymore," he said. "And they didn't hurt me before that."
It wasn't entirely true, but Ed didn't need to feel any more terrible than he already did.
Al noticed the abrasions around his brother's wrists and the crusting blood on his face and his stomach clenched. "I'm fine," he said.
"They didn't hurt you, did they?"
He shook his head. "No…" His eyes roamed over his brother, taking in his state. "They hurt you, though."
Ed pulled him into a fierce embrace, wrapping his arms around him and holding him close. "I gave back as good as I got," he assured him.
That got a wet laugh from Al. "I know."
He hugged him back, eyes sliding shut, resting his chin on his brother's shoulder. He took a shaky breath and a quiver ran through his frame.
It didn't matter how many years had passed or how old they were now- Ed was his older brother and this was where he felt safe.
"Come on." Ed broke off the hug, but stayed close, fingers ghosting along Al's arm. Ed wasn't usually touchy feely. This must have left him rattled if he was sticking as close as he was. Not that this came as a surprise- Al himself was still feeling shaken. "Let's get you out of here. Winry can make an apple pie after she kicks both our asses."
Al's spirits lifted thinking of Winry's apple pie- he still remembered trying it for the first time; it had been everything he'd hoped it would be- but still, something weighed on him.
"Ed, wait…" He swallowed, throat feeling far too thick, and gripped his elbow. The two men on the floor hadn't even been alchemists and still he had let himself be caught off guard and abducted. He'd allowed himself to endanger his brother. It was shameful and it was humiliating. "I'm sorry. I should have…"
"What?" Ed squinted at him, pulling back confused. "What do you have to be sorry for? It was those assholes who thought they could pull off human transmutation."
Al cast a look at the two unconscious men. He felt- what? Relief? Pity? Understanding?
Who had they lost?
He knew what it was like to grieve so miss someone so badly you were willing to do anything to get them back.
He also knew the hell that waited for those who tried.
He exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "You're right."