Hostage.
He sat at the window. His golden eyes watched them with complete and utter regret. The regret surged through his mind, flooded his mind until it was all he could think about. How he messed up. He ran a hand through his blond locks with no sound coming from pursed lips. He clenched a fist, the other running down the smooth windowpane. He winced at the sound it made. He was still watching them, observing what they did. The yellow-blonde girl that revealed a slight resemblance to Winry shook her head. The suit of armor in front of her tried to put his arms around her, and she let him. But then she pulled away, watching sadly as he grasped her arm to keep her from leaving. She shook her head and tugged. Tugged hard. She yanked and pulled until she was free, when she backed away slowly and then turned around and began walking away with a hand on her face. The suit of armor plastered his hands to his own face as though wanting to cry. Ed cringed, knowing he couldn't. Knowing the suit of armor should've started crying but couldn't. Because he was nothing.
He slammed his fist against the window, careful as not to crack it. He tried to grasp their images, the one single image now of the poor, heartbroken suit of metal. Then he started crying. He felt his tears run down his cheeks, saw the windows fog up as he leaned against them. He buried his face in his hands and weeped convusively, almost wailing. He was overwhelmed now, incredibly overwhelmed at everything that he'd messed up and now yearned to fix. Losing the one thing that was never his, that he was going to work so hard to get but couldn't. And the memories came flooding back. They drained him from his sanity like leeches. It was slow, endless pain. Reminding him of how he failed and how it was mandatory that he have success in this one thing.
He was a kid. Just a kid. A fifteen year-old, snot-nosed, half-adolescent and half-child. How was it humanly possible to carry such burdens like this? But he remained sane, even if he had to scream his heart out and drain himself of his tears with each little mistake. And he didn't even realize how important she was going to be on this journey to find that stone. Not that he could. It was an unseen prophecy, something that will shape itself when the time is right. The hands of the invisible potter is shaping it up each day, each second, shaping it perfectly without them even knowing it. No one would realize it, even when it finally came and hit them hard in the teeth. They wouldn't know until it passed and could not be fixed. The shock and the pain and the memories would remain, but they wouldn't be able to see until later. Much later. Will they regret it? Or will they profit and be grateful? The path is covered with a snake skin.
"She left, brother."
He nodded, his blond locks falling over his forehead as to shade his expression from view. "I know, Al."
She had it all planned out in her mind. How it was going to be, what she was going to say, and how she was going to say it in order to get it done. She repeated everything in her mind constantly as she nonchalantly strolled down the street. The feline in her bag mewed hungrily. She could do nothing but pull a small portion of the loaf of bread she had and feed it to him. He ate that gratefully, then retreated back into the bag. She was close to the building she had to get to, to the Central headquarters. She could see the large green banner with the military's emblem on it clearly.
"Teresa!"
She whirled around, shocked at what she saw. Ed, surging up the street toward her. She stepped backward, squinting as he stopped in front of her. His golden eyes burned into her gray ones as he observed her facial expression. It was inexplicable, as it usually was when she was upset. He ran a hand through his blond locks with a sigh. A villainous smirk snaked over his lightly tanned face. "Sorry, love," he purred, in a voice that was unusually deep. Before she could respond, however, she felt something jab the back of her neck. She felt herself fall but not hit the ground. The world was suddenly enveloped in black; she couldn't see or hear anything. That's the last she could remember.
"What do we do with the girl now?" The voice was exquisitely vixenish. The figure that appeared behind Teresa's limp body was clothed in a revealing apparel. Her eyes seemed bored and plain. The figure that was supposed to be Ed morphed into that of someone else; with a youthfully tall, athletic figurine. Thick strands of emerald-colored locks protruded from his crown. They seemed to be held in place by an irregular bandana around his forehead. His attire, however, was very confusing and appeared to be that belonging to a woman. "Easy," he crooned, observing the body on the floor. "We take her to the prison so no one knows where she is. When she wakes up, we interrogate her and get every last drop of information about the stupid stone out of her. Then we use her as a part of our sacrifice when we know." He lifted her body easily and sneered at the woman in front of him. "Don't be so doubtful, Lust," he droned. "Our new hostage knows quite a bit."
Someone appeared behind them. Lust smirked at the figure and turned away from the youth whom carried Teresa. "There's your girlfriend, Envy," she purred, crossing her arms. "Snake looks very content." The youth turned around to examine the figure. "Hello, love," Envy said, shifting the body onto his shoulder. "I was just beginning to worry about you." Snake's visible magenta eye sparkled sinisterly. She gave him a smirk. "Actually..." she said, stepping toward him. "I have a better plan."
Ed flipped through the book he was holding frantically. He growled, finding nothing about his chosen topic, and shoved it back into the shelf it originally came from. He fixed his eyes on Al, whom was silently searching as well. He had said nothing to Ed since the whole thing with Teresa. He didn't open his mouth, however, because he knew anything he would say would just ruin it for both of them. He was surprised at what Al did next. "Brother," he said softly. "I'm worried about Teresa. You think she should've called us already?" Ed quirked a brow and shrugged, pulling out another book. "Did she say she was going to?" he asked, reading a page carefully. He scowled and turned the page. Al nodded slowly. "She said she was going to stay with Winry for a while," he answered, putting a book back in its shelf. "She said when she got back to Resembool she would call."
Ed winced at the sound of a crash. He quickly stood, just in time to see a shadow shoot through an aisle like an arrow. "C'mon, Al!" Ed said, surging after it. The loud scuffling of his boots echoed through the air. He followed the shadow. It seemed nonchalant about him chasing after it. Ed shielded himself as the shadow burst through the window. Ed did the same, not waiting for Al to catch up. "Hey, you! Get back here!" Ed called, attempting to run faster. He could hear the noisy metal clangs as Al trailed after them. He was not too far behind. The shadow turned into an alley and Ed stupidly followed. The alley, to his surprise, wasn't dark at all.
The shadow turned out to be Envy. "Hello, Edward," he purred, his hands on his hips. "I want to let you know that this meeting was destined." He gave him a smirk. Ed stepped forward with his fist clenched. "What do you want?" The Homunculus lifted a finger to his own lips and looked mock thoughtful. "You know your little friend, Miss Stonewall?" Ed's eyes went large. "What did you do to her?" he barked. An unusually small, stout man with long arms appeared behind Envy. Ed couldn't help but scream at what he saw. "Please! Don't hurt her!" The man had his long arms locked forcefully around the body of Teresa, whose head rested in between his teeth. Her own mouth was covered with a white towel. She looked solemnly at the ground. "I say you follow me," Envy droned, pointing behind him. "You tell me everything your little head knows about the Philosopher's Stone, and you will help me make it. If you don't, little miss Stonewall here gets her head bitten off." Envy smirked, holding out his hand. "So what do you say?" Ed growled. "Never!" Fatal mistake.
As Envy nodded, the man bit down on Teresa's head. Ed winced at the sound of her muffled shriek. Blood dripped down the side of her head. "No, stop! I'll do it!" Envy smirked, then turned and pointed toward the back. "Can I eat her?" the man pleaded hungrily. "She has sweet blood and it makes me hungry!" Envy shook his head. "If Edward doesn't cooperate with us, you can have her. But, since Ed is cooperating at the moment, you can't." There was a vixenish laugh from the darkness. "You can't have her either way, dear sweet Gluttony," It was Snake. She put a hand to her chest with a smirk. "Because yours truly will personally lick the blood from her bones when I finish her, if Edward here doesn't cooperate." She quirked her only visible brow. "So don't mess up." Ed turned toward the front of the alley, in which he had come. In horror, he watched as Lust wrapped sword-like fingers around the suit of armor. "You have two lives on the line...three, including your own," Lust droned. "Make one mistake and they'll all be cut short."
Ed's fists shook as he clenched them. "Will you just shut up? Let's get going." Ed barked. Envy's brows quirked. He turned around and motioned for them to follow. All of them disappeared into the thick darkness, their footsteps echoing.