A/N: The 'Alchemist Killer' is high on the loose and Roy Mustang must send out his endangered State Alchemist to solve trifle affairs. The Colonel must send Fullmetal and Alphonse to what appears to be their doom, but can it be so?

As normal with my stories 'blah' means that the designated character is thinking. This story mostly focuses on the man who keeps on killing alchemists (I can't remember his name, if anyone knows, please leave it in a reply). O, the town, Treissgad, is made up; so don't ask if it was ever mentioned in the show. A beta reader is checking this story. This basically means that if a reader is going to flame me, find something better to flame me on then the words and such that I use. (Sorry, flamers piss me off.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, but I think it's a great anime. If I was to ever meet the person who did make it, I think I'd become a brand new stalker (j/k)

Chapter 1

Central

Roy Mustang sat at his desk, trying to dismiss the newest migraine and the newest pile of paper on his desk. It had been two weeks since he had last heard from Fullmetal and he finally thought he had pushed them to hard.

'Why didn't I order him to stand down? That area had already been checked multiple times by my troops and not a trace of the stone was found. What would I do if my best

alchemist was to be killed all over some "misunderstanding"?

"Sir…"

'Ever since the so called "Alchemist Killer" showed up there have been all of these meager obstacles in our way. We haven't been able to even begin on trying to locate him.'

"Mustang!"

"WHAT?"

"You don't need to worry about them, sir, you know that," a young, sweet voice said from in front of the Colonel's desk.

"I know, but at times I can't help but worry, Lieutenant," he stated calmly. "What is it?"

"Another killing has been sighted, sir."

"Where?" He stood up and began to walk out of the room with the Lieutenant in toe.

"Very close to here, sir. Only a few miles to the east, it was in Treissgad."

"It was that close?"

"Unfortunately. The General will be calling soon to try and organize some plans. It almost seems that the killer is just toying with us, doesn't it, sir? Forcing us to show some type of sign, a flaw."

"It's beginning to look that way. Fullmetal should be back soon," he stated, almost too half-heartedly.

"Yes, why, sir?"

"Send him to investigate."

"Sir?"

"Who knows what those boys will see. Maybe they can find something out that the rest of us keep on missing, maybe they can lead us to him."

Road to Central

"Finally back at Central," Ed sighed. He stretched and placed both of his arms behind his neck, "and still no sign of the Philosopher's Stone."

"I know we'll find it, brother," Alphonse said, walking slightly behind his older brother, even though in appearance it didn't seem like that.

"We're running out of leads, Al."

They walked in silence. Neither one wanted to discuss the horror they left behind.

Past/ A small valley-town

Two days earlier, another fake of the stone was being made. But this mimic was almost identical, compared to power, as the real thing, but it required so much to be accomplished. The air, the land, the people, the animals and even the trees were drained because of this selfish power. And even more was lost.

Earlier, the town seemed almost normal. It had had no problems; it didn't even have the slightest troublemaker with in its walls. And then, three days before the brothers left, all hell broke loose.

The wind stopped blowing in the town and in the valley. The land and trees began to die; the people and animals began to suffer. The brothers weren't affected as easily because they hadn't lived in the poison that long, but the town people began to die.

The disease almost resembled leprosy, where the skin would literally peel away, revealing the soft tissue and the stringy muscles, leaving the person there, bleeding to death. What made this madness in the small town worse was the alchemist in charge of the chaos.

He had been gentle to the townspeople. He only used alchemy to help the people in any way. And then, from what the brothers were informed, he began to hide from the people. If he were ever seen away from his castle-like home, he would do so only at night, when all decent people were asleep. Inevitably, the alchemist faced the same death as the town's people. He finally saw the error of his ways.

Present/ Road to Central

"Brother…"

"Yeah, Al?"

"Why did he do that?"

"Why did who do what?"

"Krostein, the alchemist back there, why did he create the stone, only to kill everyone else and himself in the end?" He seemed almost as if he wanted an answer, and at the same time didn't want one.

"How the Hell would I know, Al?" Ed asked, exasperated. "Maybe he was sick or something."

"Alright, brother." Al seemed to think that Ed had something else on his mind and wouldn't indulge his brother.

Central/ Some time later

"Sir," the lieutenant said, "the Elric brothers are here to see you." She turned and stepped away, but she didn't leave the room.

"It's good to see that you two are back."

Ed nodded.

"Did you find anything that helped in your search?"

Ed nodded.

"And?" Colonel Mustang asked, trying to get some type of notion that Ed, was in fact, still alive.

"That it's so fucking possible to be so ignorant not to see that everything around you is dying just so you can have some new form of power," Ed replied. To Al, who knew Ed his entire life, it seemed that he was trying to blow off some steam that he had locked up inside of him.

"I'm lost Ed, please explain," the colonel calmly stated, knowing that Ed, too, was just trying to blow off some steam.

"An Alchemist, by the name of Krostein, was creating another duplicate of the Philosopher's Stone. This duplicate seemed to equal in power compared to the real thing. But it required the lives of everything around him, and to him, that was only a small payment for the power."

"Everyone was forced to suffer," Al softly added.

"It seems that where ever you two go, there is always something new to find," the Lieutenant said from the back of the room. Neither one of the brothers said a word. "And this is why the Colonel has a new miss-"

"Lieutenant Hawkeye, that is enough," Colonel Mustang sharply stated.

"Yes, sir."

"I have a new mission for the two of you," the Colonel began. "It has been recently reported that a man, so far named the 'Alchemist Killer', is massacring alchemists by the day. We have all looked into this case and not one of us can find out anything that can give us some type of clue to where he is, who he is, or even where he will strike next. And since you two boys are good at finding new information-"

"Call it a streak of bad luck," Ed interrupted dryly.

"Call it what you will, Ed, but you two do seem to find out new things that the rest of us just pass over. This is why the two of you will be escorted by Major Armstrong to the town that was recently attacked by the 'Alchemist Killer', Treissgad."

"The Major?"

"Yes, the Major, do you have a problem with that, Ed?"

"No."

Outside Roy Mustang's office

"Brother…"

"Yeah, Al?"

"Why do you think the 'Alchemist Killer' is attacking so close to Central?"

"I'm not sure, Al."

"Could he know where it is?"

"I hope not, Al. That's the last thing we need."