Just when his life couldn't get any more hectic, Alphonse had to find out that his brother went missing. He couldn't believe it when he heard it from Mr. Tucker. Poor Nina was crying thinking that Edward was gone forever. Mr. Tucker had been looking frantically for the elder Elric, but to no avail. It was as if he had vanished off of the face of the planet. Nonetheless, he told Colonel Mustang on the phone that he would not believe his brother was dead unless a body was found.

Come to think of it, Edward was acting pretty strange before his mysterious disappearance. He had been strangely watchful of Mr. Tucker lately. That wasn't even mentioning the bruises that just seemed to appear on his body. Whenever asked about it, Ed would simply use one of the following excuses: He bumped into the counter, he got into a scuffle, or he tripped over something. After a while, Alphonse didn't believe his brother's admittedly awful excuses, but didn't pry any further afraid that him knowing would make things worse.

Alphonse couldn't help but wonder despite it all, who was hurting him and how did they have access to his brother. He didn't want to believe it was Mr. Tucker, but he certainly fit the bill. Mr. Tucker would have easy access to his brother, and it wasn't like he could simply leave. Edward was studying for his State Alchemist exam which was in approximately 5 months from now. If he tried to take Al and leave, Mr. Tucker had plenty of horrible ways to manipulate Ed to fall back in line. Of course, there was no reason to believe Mr. Tucker would do such a thing. Nina showed no signs of such a thing happening to her, so why would Mr. Tucker do it to his brother. But even just a suit of armor, he couldn't help the terrible feeling creeping inside of him.

To make himself feel better and maybe even find a clue, Alphonse decided to go for a walk around Central. What was the harm? It's not like he had much to do. He had taken Alexander for a walk, brought Nina home from school, and helped Mr. Tucker proofread his research documents. Alphonse left his room and went to tell Mr. Tucker he was going for a walk.

"Mr. Tucker!" Alphonse called out.

The older man turned to the younger Elric with a smile that was obviously fake, "Is there anything I can do for you? I know it's probably very difficult with your brother missing."

"Oh, I don't need anything," Alphonse chuckled a bit, "I was just going to tell you I'm going for a walk."

"Of course, just make sure to be back before dinner is done." Mr. Tucker said.

"Sure thing, Mr. Tucker," Alphonse said, "I'll be back soon."

Alphonse felt like a complete and utter jerk-face for not telling Nina. But the last time he told her, she started to cry telling him that she was afraid he wouldn't come back like Edward didn't. Alphonse comforted her by telling her that Ed wouldn't have ditched them unless something happened. He also told her that he wouldn't leave her alone and would come back. Thankfully, she stopped crying and let him go after a little bit. But Alphonse certainly understood Nina's fears. Edward vanished suddenly and without much of a trace (Although Mr. Tucker told him he found an open window, that was about it).

As he walked through Central, Alphonse realized just how lonesome it felt without Edward. Sure, he was a handful sometimes, but Ed was still his brother. In fact, Al almost missed his brother's ridiculousness. It just wasn't the same without Ed whispering to Al about someone who acted incredibly stupid or throwing a tantrum because some random person dared to comment on his stature. It wouldn't be the same without Ed.

He was suddenly startled by a boy who ran straight into him and fell backwards.

"Oh shoot! Sorry 'bout that." The boy sheepishly said while rubbing his head.

"It's fine, I was just going for a walk and got lost in thoughts." Alphonse reassured the boy.

A girl and another older boy caught up with the clumsy kid as the girl began to scold him.

"Moron, I told you not to run ahead," She angrily growled, "Now you ran into someone."

The younger boy pouted and whined, "Hey, I said sorry!"

"Our friend can be a bit much." The older boy sighed with a slight smile.

Alphonse chuckled and replied, "Don't worry, my older brother can be a handful as well. I'm used to it."

The younger buy stood up and proudly introduced himself, "My name's Kevin and I'm a simple traveler."

The girl calmly introduced herself, "Rachel. Nice to meet you."

"And my name's Brad," The last boy said, "Would you like to tell us your name?"

"Oh, my name's Alphonse." He replied.

"Nice to meet you, Alphonse." Kevin grinned.

But Rachel soon frowned and asked, "Why did you look so sad before Sir Moron ran into you?"

While Kevin rolled his eyes, Alphonse explained that his brother went missing a couple of months ago. Although the military were doing their best to find him, they weren't finding anything that could really count as a clue. He told them how his brother's disappearance had been affecting Mr. Tucker, Nina, and himself.

"We can help look if you want," Brad calmly smiled, "I'm a crime solver where I come from."

Alphonse immediately brightened up and chirped, "Thanks! If you find anything feel free to knock on Mr. Tucker's door. I'll make sure to tell him about you guys."

Rachel surprisingly smiled and said, "We'll try…"

Alphonse then realized that he needed to start coming home. Dinner was probably almost ready, and Alphonse didn't want to make Mr. Tucker worry anymore than he already was. Mr. Tucker already had his assessment and Edward to worry about after all. He quickly said goodbye to his new friends and ran to make it back to Mr. Tucker's estate before dinner not knowing about the conversation the trio were having.

…

"You stupid crow!" Rachel snarled.

"What? I didn't mean to run into him." Kevin complained.

"We're supposed to be being subtle you moron!" Rachel barked back.

Brad sighed and said, "Calm down, Rachel. He didn't reveal anything that would get us caught."

Rachel gave a giant facepalm before replying, "True, but he wasn't supposed to get involved. What if he finds out about our profession?"

"I understand your concern, but he's not even suspicious of us right now," Brad calmly tried, "Thus, that's not even a problem right now."

Rachel finally relented, but warned her friends, "Fine, but if Alphonse starts to nose his way in, Ed's gonna be mad at us because we were supposed to keep him out of this."

With the end of that debate, the trio decided to leave that world before anyone grew suspicious of them. They also knew they would need to message Edward about the meeting soon. The trio vanished like they were never there in the first place.

A/N

Now, we get a glimpse of what's going on in Alphonse's head and how he's taking Ed's disappearance. But now we see that there might've been more trouble between Ed and Tucker than we previously thought.

Also, we get to see the bickering world trotters once again. Trust me, they will keep appearing on and off as the story goes on. Kevin being a lovable idiot, Brad being the mediator, and Rachel being the slightly grumpy voice of reason. These three were fun to write.

I also had fun writing characters like Randal, Tiffany, and Dani in the story. I just love seeing this story unfold. But do you know what I love more? It's when people are reading it because that means you guys like it, and that motivates me even more.

Thanks for reading and stay awesome, peeps.