A/N- Okay, so I hope everyone's feeling at least a little remourse for poor Ed and Al. Moving on...

Warning: (Nothin bad, don't worry.) Chapters from here on out get MUCH longer. I'm trying to come to a plot within ten chapters, and yes, I will release chapter nine and the epilogue together OR PEOPLE WILL BE ANGRY WITH ME! Can't say anymore or I'll give it away...

Disclaimer- I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or any of its characters.

Chapter 5- Runaway

It was later on in the day when Izumi announced that she, Winry, Ed, and Al would be taking a trip to Central later. It would take a few days by train, but that didn't matter. Alphonse needed some advice from someone who would hopefully know all about medicines, and Edward needed some serious help, no matter who they had to ask.

"Edward, could you make sure that when we go to Central you stay with your brother at all times, please?" Ed nodded, looking guiltily at the dinner Winry had set on the table in front of him after having to bandage all of her wounds. He couldn't quite say he'd known what he was doing at the time, even though Izumi had begged for him to try to control himself. As Ed still had no idea what was wrong with him, Al had no idea what his sickness had originated from yet, either.

"Here, Ed..." Edward looked up just in time to see a large glass of milk placed down in front of him. He cringed, staring up at the figure who'd bothered to even try to get him to drink that foul tasting... Crap. Winry saw the look on his face, and had known long before she'd even poured the milk into the glass that he would make such a disgusted look in an attempt to get out of drinking it. "Please, Ed. Do it for me?" Looking at the swollen wrist of poor Winry, and knowing it was his fault, Ed sighed, and drank the glass down with a single gulp. "Thank you."

"Yeah, it's not a problem..." Winry sighed to herself. She'd never heard Edward use such a timid tone of voice in all of her life. She hadn't even thought Ed was capable of sounding frightened of her, with the exception of when she took out her wrench. Alphonse had become just as bad, staring at his brother, almost like he was examining him all the way through, and could see right where the soul would have gone had it not been missing.

"Al, are you and your brother all packed for the train ride yet?" Izumi asked. Alphonse nodded, wishing everyone would just leave him alone for a while. "Good. We'll be leaving in about an hour, so make sure you have everything." Before Al stood up to go inspect the luggage, he took one more look at his sad brother, who was morely playing with his food than eating it. Though he wanted to, truly wanted to believe that Ed would be alright, something just told Al otherwise. What kind of normal person had an absense of pupils, and beat people up without meaning to? His line of vision quickly caught the ground when Ed finally noticed him staring. There was no happiness in his face. No feeling. His body held no warmth, his eyes held no emotion, his voice had become monotonous.

In the corner, Izumi thought to herself, quietly looking at the elder Elric, trying to memorize the many details about him that had changed over the past five years, and the other details that had changed in the past couple of days. Although she didn't want to admit it, to Winry or to Al, she knew there was probably no way to return Ed to a previous form, Philosopher's stone in hand or not.

---

On the train ride, Winry had to admit, the car was a little crammed up. It really shouldn't have been, but she just felt a lack of happiness in the air around her. Sure, things weren't going very good lately, having two brothers, both with broken souls, in the seat opposite of her, but they looked so cute in the positions they were in...

Ed was leaned up against the window, probably sleeping. He must have been exhausted now that it was eleven at night. His arm was around his younger brother, who's head rested on Ed's knees, legs propped up covering the remainder of the seat. They truely were brothers, alright, and they had one of those remarkable relationships it was extremely difficult to have with a sibling. Winry envied them. After all, they had always related to her as an older sister they could go to when they needed help. And speaking of which, just who's house were they staying in? The thoughts made her want to laugh to herself, until she remembered what kind of situation they were in.

Izumi couldn't be described as anything more than unhappy. Winry couldn't blame her. She had a lot to worry about, what with finding a 'cure' for Al, and then maybe figuring out what was wrong with Ed.

Speaking of those two again, they had been sleeping peacefully until the train hit a bump. Edward flew forward, landing almost on Winry's lap, face planted in the seat between the two girls sitting across from him. Al was laying on the floor after again hitting his head on the wall. "Somebody needs to make these seats more stable," Ed whined into the seat as Winry laughed to herself. Izumi just didn't want anyone to be happy.

"Stop whining. We're almost to Cenral." And with a cold look at all three of the passengers in the compartment, Izumi turned back to the window, only to stare at the rain drops planting themselves against it.

---

Central. One of the places Ed hated most, because of that one person who always, always, always had to screw up his plans. Always. And of all the horrible times for this person to get a promotion and become the Fuhrer... Yes, it was Roy Mustang. Winry would have to say they were having a hell of a time getting Ed to follow them into the large military headquarters located here at Central. He acted just like a baby.

"No! I don't want to see that jerk! He's going to act even more high and mighty and be like, 'Guess what Ed! I'm the Fuhrer now!' Then, he's going to look down and be like, 'Ed, where'd you go? Sorry! You're so small I lost you!' I hate that guy!" Edward was so caught up in making comments about the new Fuhrer that he didn't notice Izumi giving him a large glare of death. Al was laughing to himself while Winry pulled him along through the streets, holding a very threatening looking wrench in her opposite hand. Finally, they reached that huge building that was so familiar to Ed.

"Come on Edward, don't be a baby," Winry said, dragging Ed into the building as he clawed at everything he could get his hands on, afraid to see Roy. The inside of the military headquarters was very large and formal looking. It brought back such memories to the elder Elric, but not his younger brother.

Izumi walked up to the desk, where no one was currently present. This was suprising, this being a military headquarters and all, one would think someone would be there at all times. "I don't understand this. I called ahead to make sure we could see the Fuhrer, but where is everybody..." Izumi's question was interupted by an exceedingly familiar voice. Or at least it was pretty familiar to Ed.

"Good to see you again, Fullmetal. I did believe we'd lost you for a number of years." Roy, eyepatch covering the right side of his face, had stepped out into the open with a number of equally familiar subordinates following him. A blonde haired woman, followed by two blonde men and another woman with brown hair were standing behind their Fuhrer. Ed recognized all of them, but even if he did, Roy reintroduced them anyway.

First off, he pointed to the blonde female. "This is, as I'm sure you remember Edward, Riza Hawkeye." Ed nodded, and figured it would be best not to wave. Riza never did seem like the fun loving type. He next pointed to the brunette female and the two blonde males. "First lutenites Maria Ross, Denny Bloch, and Jean Havoc."

For some reason, to Ed, and probably everyone else standing in the room, Havoc always looked miserable, as though in strong beliefs God hated him. It could have been the fact that he couldn't seem to get a girlfriend, or maybe he just hated himself. Either way, that look was always on his face. "So I'm taking it you needed something, Mrs. Curtis?" Roy asked, showing as much respect to Ed and Al's sensei as he could. She nodded.

"Yes. We needed use of the library here in Central for a few reasons I'd really appreciate that we could discuss somewhere else. They're not objects to be open about."

"I see," Roy replied, in that low voice that seemed to have a very deranged effect on all people. "Well certainly we could discuss this elsewhere, but you don't really need my permission to enter the library... Or at least Edward doesn't." Izumi looked carefully from Roy to Ed, then to Roy, then down to Al, and back to Roy again. He seemed to notice she was trying to tell him something. "But clearly if you need to talk to me about it I'd be more than happy to oblige."

"Very well. Winry, stay here with those two." Roy, Izumi, and all of the lutenites were off, up the stairs, probably to Roy's office.

---

For the past few moments that Izumi had been gone, Edward had done nothing but complain of how much he absolutely despised the military headquarters, a great deal of the staff inside of it, and quite plainly, anyone who enjoyed the experience of visiting the horrible building. Therefore, he was having quite a problem with Winry that day. She was having a blast.

"You have books on mechanics at the central library? You have a list! Oh my God! Ed, you've just gotta get me some of those! You've just gotta! Oh, please, Ed, it'll further my career so much! Please, please, please!" The begging went on and on. She didn't shut up.

"Yes Winry, I'll get you some books on prosthetic limbs and automail, okay?" Edward had repeated those words over, and over again, but no matter how many times he said them, Winry only begged for more. It got even worse when she looked at the list and announced that she wanted almost every book having anything to do with automail. Great, what a day this would turn out to be. Ed would never get out of the library with just the book for his brother. It seemed finally, after all of Winry's ramblings, that the two twenty-one-year olds noticed quiet, withdrawn, self entertained Al.

Winry knelt down next to him on the floor, though he was sitting on a bench and was that much higher than her to begin with. "Hey, what's wrong?" When Al raised his head to look at her, he looked like he could cry. This was very strange for a fifteen year old. Winry hadn't seen Al cry yet, though Ed, supressing thoughts in the corner had. Al didn't answer her at first. "Al? Are you okay?" He shook his head violently and waited for her reaction.

"I don't feel very good right now," He replied. Edward imediately raised his head, stood up, and walked over to join his younger brother and Winry. Ed sat down next to Al and put his arm around him, like he expected a good older brother would do. Edward hadn't been there for five years and he figured it was time he started treating his younger brother at least a little better than he had been.

"Don't worry, Izumi should be done soon," Winry said, looking around her, anxiously. Although no one had noticed it until now, Al was continuously getting worse. Every passing day took a little more out of his soul. It was too bad no one realized this.

"Maybe if you eat something you'll feel a little better," Ed suggested. Al shook his head again.

"I'd rather just take a nap or something, but I don't want to bother anyone about it." Edward would not see his brother suffer like this, and if anyone ever made the mistake of thinking he would, they'd better guess again, or run and hide before they were murdered. Winry nodded in agreement to Al's statement, and Ed just sighed, trying to think of some alternative to the situation at hand.

"It won't be any trouble for them. At least it had better not be..." Ed said, standing up and walking over towards the desk. Winry watched as he did so. Though neither of them could see it, Al was smiling at his older brother, happy that someone was there for him.

---

"That's impossible."

Roy slammed his hand down on the desk in his office, causing unsigned paperwork to fly about the room. Izumi kept her head down. She didn't want to believe what was happening was true, but even without more research... This was the only logical answer to the way things had been working out.

"I honestly don't want to believe you, but given the circumstances of the medical records..." He motioned to a small stack of papers that had come out of Izumi's pockets just mere moments before. It was the proof of Al's persisting illness which did not wish to make a departure so soon. From the way things were going, the illness would either take his life, or the soul would leave his body long before he reached the age of eighteen. Therefore, he didn't have a whole lot longer to live. "Of course I'll let you have access to the library."

"I won't need to go to the trouble of having Al lead Edward around in there?" Izumi questioned, hoping the answer would be a no.

"There's no need. I'll call now and tell them you're coming." Roy turned to the phone, and had already picked it up before setting it back down again and turning to Izumi. "But you haven't explained to me yet why it's such a problem to have Ed go in there and get a book for you. Doesn't he know of his brother's illness?" Izumi nodded, afraid to speak, or maybe looking for a way to explain such an issue to the Fuhrer without scaring him too much. "Then what's the problem?" She didn't answer right away. There was a moment's silence, as Roy waited for a response. Finally, one came.

"Edward has been having some issues lately," Izumi stated as Roy gave her his full attention. "You realize you pay a price to cross the gate, correct?" She didn't even wait for a nod before continuing on in her sentence. "Something happened to him when he crossed that gate, something horrible that I can't explain. The only logical answer I can come up with is that..." She paused again.

"That what?" A concerned glare was shot Izumi's way as she gave a heavy sigh and finished up her statement.

"A Homunculi is attempting to take over Edward's body, and this is made possible through the fact he sacrificed his soul to return to this side of the gate. Once more through, and he'll have nothing left." Roy was left speechless, mouth wide open and eyes wide as he just about went into a shock from the words he was hearing.

---

Downstairs, things weren't going quite as smoothly as they had been earlier. Especially not in Edward's case. It was safe to say that as he was journeying up to Roy Mustang's office, he was at the ready to murder someone that day, no matter who it had to be. Never in his life had he heard someone disrespect his brother by saying they didn't want him there. No one had ever said that.

Then again, the man standing at the desk must have been new. Edward couldn't recognize him if his life depended on it. But damn, this guy was just asking for it, and Ed was going to go straight to the source of fixing all his problems. The Fuhrer.

He was walking down the hallway quickly, Winry hurrying to keep up, tugging at Al's arm so he wouldn't get seperated from his older brother. Things would not be good if Ed and Al got seperated that day. They were at least keeping up until Al had to stop, holding his stomach and falling to the ground, coughing. Winry sat down next to him. "You okay?" She asked, and got nothing but coughing as an answer. It was then that she realized... "Edward!" She yelled down the hallway, but he was already long gone.

Izumi had dodged out from under the door before it went swinging off its hinges and landed at the Fullmetal Alchemist's feet. His right leg had given that a good kick, meaning that Ed was not about to take any shit from anyone that day.

"So Mustang, there a reason I can't..." Ed stopped abrubtly, regular, paced breathing turning to a more fast pace, almost as though he were hyperventilating.

"Edward..." Izumi strained herself to walk over to the elder Elric, though she knew it would do no good. Ed had put his head down, so his long bangs were covering his face, and his eyes. When he brought himself back up, Izumi noticed just what she had been dreading. The pupils had dissapeared, and Edward looked dangerous, like a rabid animal staring at some poor helpless underlings.

Before she could bring herself to move, Izumi was laying on the ground, coughing up more blood than she usually did, and it was probably for the reason she had an unsharpened pencil shoved through her stomach. How this was possible, she was unsure, but it hurt like hell. It was lucky that Winry came into the room right then, dragging Al along behind her. Winry cringed at what she saw.

"Izumi! Ed...!" She looked at the golden eyed alchemist standing in front of her, examining her with interest.

When Al stepped into the room, more than one thing caught his eye. The first was of course, his sensei laying on the ground with a pencil shoved through her stomach, but the second was a document on his illness, which, he somehow managed to catch the only important word on the entire paper. Terminal. Al didn't really have to do anything, and even if he was supposed to, he was too taken aback. Edward caught sight of him, and his eyes returned to normal, his breathing rate decreased, he took a deep breath, and stared down at Izumi. "I...I...I..." It was the same as last time. He noticed Winry, backing away from him and hitting the wall as a result, but he also noticed Al, looking at him with huge, frightened eyes. "Al... I... I didn't do this! You have to believe me! Please! I'm your brother!" He rested a hand on Al's shoulder, hoping that someone would accept he could never have done this on his own free will. Alphonse Elric's thoughts were elsewhere as he pushed his older brother's arm away, and ran over to near where Winry was, by the doorway.

"You're not my brother!" Al spat back at him, glaring at Winry as well. "If everyone in this room cares about me so much, then why didn't they tell me I was gonna die!" Al yelled, running out of the room at an exceedingly fast speed.

"Al!" Winry yelled after him, and then realized something else... "Oh no..." She whimpered. Not too long afterwards, there was a broken window in the room from where the once Fullmetal Alchemist had broken it, and used it as an escape route. Roy stood up in disbelief.

"What a mess."

A/N- I told you they were longer! They're longer, aren't they? Well, please review!