It was a dark and cold night. Yes it was also pouring rain. The hard roadway held the soft broken body of a man on his stomach. To his left was his turned over car, underneath him, a glowing circle, to his right, a mortified blonde. They stared at each other, the man's eyes dimming slowly. "Pat… promise me you'll watch yourself… I'm doing this for you…" The woman nodded solemnly. "Alright… I'm ready." He whispered hoarsely, talking to a tall dark figure that just appeared from behind the car. The figure clapped its hands together then slammed them onto the edge of the circle. A bright light flared up, blinding the woman. When everything cleared, there was a stone on the road and nothing else… She looked around, then walked over, picked up the stone and placed it in her pocket, not understanding why.

"Alright lemme get this straight. We're going to some other part of the world, to investigate some random acts of alchemy in a country that never practiced it before? Sounds more like experimentation to me." Ed sighed exasperatedly, bored of sitting on his backside.

"We thought so too, but we sent someone over there anyway. Now we're not so sure, it seems the philosopher's stone has been spotted." Said Hawkeye, in a monotone voice. This caught Ed's attention.

"Really! SWEET! Where is it?"

"That's what we're going to look at. Last time we heard, it was picked up by a girl." Ed rolled his eyes, but his brother was staring out the window.

"Hey Al, what's eating you?"

"Huh what? Oh nothing brother, I just miss Alex."

"I told you Al, she's no good, she tried to kill us!"

"Only because you wouldn't let her…"

"We're not gonna talk about this anymore." Ed sighed gruffly and turned back to the train window, Al just continued to sigh.

"Ok Kathryn, let's go." Pat pulled on her Inuyasha messenger bag and grabbed her bottle of water.

"I still don't understand why we can't just drive there." Kathryn sighed.

"Let's just go before it's too late." The girls headed out, ready for the long walk. Just as they passed a pond, the girls heard screaming. Kathryn turned her dark brunette head towards a creepy house. Before she could say a word, the girls were captured.

"Wait! Pull over!" Ed screamed to Hawkeye. The boys jumped out of the car before it had come to a complete stop.

"Ed! Al! Oh those buys will never learn! 19 and they're still doing things themselves!" She parked the car and ran after them. "Boys you can't just… what the hell?" They stood in a room with blood spattered on the floor and walls. "Shhhh… I hear something." Ed whispered.

"GET THE HELL OFF ME YOU SICK TARO!" Without a second thought, Ed, Al, and Hawkeye ran towards the noise. Ed gracefully kicked in the door and looked around. Kathryn and Patricia were both chained to the wall, kicking at a half lizard half dog. A shrouded figure stood in the corner, chuckling manically. Pat growled and continued kicking at the creature.

"Hey, what the hell is going on?" Everyone stopped to face Ed. The creature licked his lips and walked towards them. Ed grinned. "Alright, snack on this!" He pulled out his alchemist knife attachment and slashed the beast with it, killing it fast. The two girls closed their eyes, not too happy about the blood. Three more chimeras charged after him. The smug grin crossed his face again as he broke them, one by one. When he had finished, the shrouded character was no where to be found. Al's voice echoed down the hall, warning that he man had gotten away. Ed groaned and started to walk out. "Uhhhh… little help here?" Kathryn asked, causing Ed to turn back and Hawkeye to chuckle. Ed released them while Al trotted back to the room. Pat dropped to the floor her necklace coming out from behind her shirt. Ed looked at her fast.

"What is that around your neck?" He reached for it and she smacked his hand away.

"Excuse you, perhaps you should ask nicely." He glared at her then moved away.

"Come on, it's not safe here." The girls followed suit, looking at each other silently.

Al walked up to Patricia, clanking loudly. "Can I ask you a question?" Pat smiled.

"Sure Al, what's up?"

"I was just wondering what that necklace you're wearing is." She pulled it out again and looked at it, before taking it off and handing it to him.

"I got it from a friend…." She sighed and turned away, looking at the stars.

"What is it?" Al looked at her with concern; she smiled weakly, looking back at him with tears in her eyes.

"I watched my best friend die for me. He was shot, we found him lying on the side of the road. His professor tried to treat his wounds but it was no use, my friend was going to die anyway. He… he told the professor to just kill him, to protect me… I turned away and when I looked back, this was around a chain, on my neck…." She cried gently, holding her head in her hands.

He sighed, longing to comfort his new friend. "Well at least that means he'll always be with you." Pat smiled weakly again.

"Yeah, that's true, thanks Al. Look; I know you want my philosopher's stone… So I'll ask Brian… his soul still resides in here so he can make the decision on his own." Al looked at it closely. It seemed to pulsate. In his head, he heard a soft voice.

"The only way I'll let you use me, is if you promise to protect Patricia and Kathryn for me."

Al looked from the stone, to Pat, to the room that Kathryn was in. He nodded and whispered something. Pat looked at him totally confused.

"What is it?"

"He said yes… Look, you should get some sleep, I'll to tell Ed and see you in the morning. Pat just nodded and left.

The morning broke a bit harshly, Ed moaned, muttering words at the sun. He turned over to face a kid about 18, just a little bit taller than him, with bluish grey eyes and blonde hair, much like Ed's but shorter. He looked around. "Man this is the first time I've been able to experience the morning in years." Ed grimaced.

"Oh shut up Al, mornings aren't meant to be experienced." He pulled himself up slowly, and then helped his brother up. Al stumbled a bit, leaning on his brother a bit. They walked out of the room, dragging themselves to the breakfast table. Kathryn was already there. She sat and stared at Al.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" He looked at her and blushed.

"Um, I'm Al, remember? Ed used Pat's philosopher's stone to give me back my body…" He flushed a bit more, looking at his hands.

"Al, you should eat, you can't live without food anymore."

"Oh yeah, I forgot." He immediately began gobbling down his cereal, pouring himself another bowl. Ed chuckled then looked around.

"Where's Pat?" Kathryn, who had finally started eating, looked up.

"Oh she's even less of a morning person than you, she's still in bed." He shook his head.

"We don't have time for this; ugh she's such a burden, its too bad we had to make that promise in order to use the stone." Both Al and Kathryn went silent, looking right behind him. Ed turned to see an obviously pissed off Pat. Her eyes were a dark grey, her brows lowered. She glared for a few minutes before turning on her heel and heading back to the room. Ed shrugged it off but Kathryn and Al knew better.

"Um Ed, we should probably go after her, we did promise to take care of her." Al stated, a worried look in his eye.

"She's just in her room, throwing a temper tantrum." He shook his head and finished his meal. Al and Kathryn exchanged glances.

Ed knocked on the door to the room Pat and Kat shared, getting no response. "Come on Patricia, we have to get going." still no response. He kicked the door in to find the window partially open and her things done. "Ah DAMNIT! WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" He leapt out of the window in an attempt to chase after her.

"Kathryn, do you know where she went?" Kat looked at Al suspiciously.

"Do you know where she is?" Al nodded.

"I have a theory." He led the way, randomly leaning on trees since he hadn't quite gotten used to having his body back.