Chapter 2

Roy expected Edward to bounce right back the next day. Well, he did, in one sense. He was a lot more cranky.
Alphonse giggled as his brother threw a fit that ended up with cereal on the ground.

Roy had estimated that Alphonse was in his early two's, and Edward was in his late two's and going on three soon. This due to the fact that Alphonse couldn't talk yet, and Edward's speech wasn't the best.

"No!" Edward whined as he turned over his glass of milk. "No, no, NO!!"

Roy had a headache already, and was at his limit, "Fine! If you want to stay a little bean for the rest of your life, don't drink your milk!"

"FINE!" Edward shouted back.

Roy put his face in his hand, his eye twitching.

Alphonse laughed and clapped again, then picked up his own spoon and flung the food he had been eating into the wall.

Edward giggled, his tantrum forgotten for a moment.

Alphonse laughed again and threw another spoonful. This one hit Roy right in the face when the man turned around to see why the angry whining had turned to giggles and laughs.

Edward slapped a hand over his mouth, but laughed again.

Alphonse squealed and clapped his hands.

"No throwing food!" Roy snapped, then eyed the youngest, "Alphonse, don't you dare!"

Alphonse was grinning, both hands on his food dish as he was tipping it over the edge of the small table part of his high chair. The grin vanished at the stern tone, and he sulked, putting the food dish down.

Roy sighed. What a way to start the morning…

"Good morning!" Came the chorus of officers in the room when Roy walked in.

"Tell me what's so 'good' about it. You have three seconds. No? Time's up," Roy gritted as he just about stormed through the door, Edward being carried under one arm while Alphonse was carried in the other, normally.

Edward was wailing and babbling incoherently, kicking his small legs while he waved his arms.

Alphonse just stared at his brother as the boy threw a temper tantrum.

"Um…should we ask?" Fuery whispered to Havoc.

"Probably not, but, hell, since when have we listened to common sense?" Havoc grinned, then held up a hand, "Yo! What's with the screaming chibi?"

Roy turned a glare on him that said 'you have two seconds to run before I barbeque you alive'.

Havoc cowered in his chair with a gulp.

"What's with the noise?" Riza walked in, a stack of papers in her hand.

"If you haven't located the source yet," Roy's eye twitched as he all but dropped Edward onto the ground, "…no comment." He placed the calmer Alphonse down on the floor near his desk as he all but collapsed onto the chair. "Someone go get a playpen or something…"

"Yes, sir!"

Before anyone knew, it, only Roy and Riza remained in the room with the two toddlers.

"…I didn't mean for everyone to go…" Roy muttered, then reached in his desk for a bottle of aspirin.

Alphonse continued to watch his brother throw a fit on the ground.

Riza knelt down next to Edward, "What's the problem?" She was speaking to Roy, however.

"He was in a 'mood' ever since he woke up. Do you want the details of what he and his brother did to my kitchen?" Roy massaged his temples.

Edward's face was red from screaming.

Riza glanced at the boy, then drew in a breath and spoke sharply, "EDWARD ELRIC!!"

Roy and Alphonse jumped.

Edward blinked and stopped his temper tantrum, hiccupping a bit as a couple stray tears ran down his face while he sat up.

"I can hear again…" Roy marveled.

Riza rolled her eyes, then turned to Edward, her tone softening, "There…I think that's quite enough, don't you?"

Edward wiped his eyes and sniffled.

Riza glanced at Roy, "Honestly…you have no clue how to handle children."

"I just about grew up in the military. And I'm male. I don't have that maternal instinct…"

CLICK.

"…which can be a great asset and in which males are at a disadvantage due to the fact that we're lacking it," Roy hurriedly came up with an end of the sentence that wouldn't result in him being shot by Riza's gun.

Alphonse giggled, a thumb in his mouth.

Edward was grinning. "Woi's in twouble!"

Alphonse giggled again at his brother's statement.

"And he'll be in even more trouble if he doesn't finish his paper work," Riza stated sweetly to Edward, though there was a hint of a threat in it directed towards Roy.

Roy groaned and accepted the papers Riza had been holding. Why me…? "You can't seriously expect me to watch over these two brats while I do work…?"

"Saying you actually do your work instead of procrastinating…yes. The men are out getting a playpen, so the Elric brothers won't wander off," Riza responded.

"Who awe you?" Edward tugged on Riza's pant leg, temper tantrum completely forgotten.

"Riza Hawkeye," the woman smiled.

Edward nodded, "I'm Edo! And that's Awu! He's my lil bwothew!"

Alphonse, aware of the attention being turned to him, smiled and let out a cheerful chirp, then held his hands up.

Riza smiled and picked the boy up, "Very cute." I can see why Edward was working so hard before this happened to restore his brother. Alphonse had one of the brightest smiles I've seen. Full of innocence.

"I'm going to get some coffee for us," Riza stated, "I'll take Alphonse with me, so watch over Edward."

Roy nodded.

Riza rolled her eyes and left.

Edward stared for a moment, then ran as fast as he could to where Roy was and tugged at the man's pants, pointing to the door, "Woi, Woi! Wiza just stole Awu!!"

Roy blinked, then laughed.

"Not funny! We gotta go save Awu!" Edward whined.

"She just took him out of the room for a moment," Roy assured the small boy, wondering for a second if the brief maturity Edward displayed the other night was a fluke, "They'll be back soon. Now…let go. I'm trying to work." He pulled out some blank sheets of paper and a couple markers, and handed them to the boy. "Play with that."

Edward pouted and sat down with them, staring blankly. Then, he stood up.

Roy was now reading a book.

Edward sulked and walked around the office, looking around. It's been too long…Awu still isn't back! He looked at the door to the office, and then went over to it. Wiza tuwned this knobby thing…he reached up, but found himself too short. He was looking around for something to stand on, when he noticed that the door was open a crack. Pulling it back a bit, he smiled when he saw a long hallway. I'm coming, Awu! With that, he ran off down the hall, in a direction he hoped was right.

Riza pushed the door open, and sighed, "Put the book away and do the paperwork now."

Roy jumped and quickly stuffed the book he had been reading under the desk, then sighed when he realized that he had been caught, and placed it down, pulling out the papers.

Riza put one mug on Roy's desk, and the other on hers, still balancing Alphonse.

Alphonse looked around and whimpered.

"What's wrong?" Riza asked the boy. He had been happy-go-lucky when he was out with her…if not a bit shy when he saw other people from the military.

Alphonse pointed to the floor and made a babbling noise.

Riza blinked and looked down, "I don't see anything…" Then, it clicked. Yes…I don't see anything. I should see something… "Taisa…"

Roy stiffened. That was the 'I am pissed and you are dead' tone of voice.

"…where's Edward?"

"I gave him some markers and paper…"

"Which are on the floor, yes, I see that. I asked where Edward is…not where the papers and markers are," Riza's voice was dripping with ice, warmed only with worry of what could have happened to the boy.

Roy blinked and looked over his desk, "Maybe he's playing hide-and-seek in the room?"

Riza raised an eyebrow.

Roy sighed and got up, then looked under every desk, while Riza juggled Alphonse as she looked through every cabinet and drawer where Edward could possibly fit.

Riza then remembered that the door was open when she had returned. "Taisa…"

Roy gulped.

Havoc, Fuery, Farman, and Breda returned to the room with a few toys for the toddlers as well as a playpen that had to be assembled (it was still in the box for easier transport), only to find Riza and Roy arguing with a crying Alphonse in Riza's arms.

"How could you not notice that he left the room!?" Riza was shouting.

"At that time, I was working!"

"You were probably reading! This building is huge! He can be anywhere!!"

"I'm not the one that left the door open!"

"But you were the one that's supposed to be caring for him and watching him!!"

"I told you, I was…!"

The four officers looked from one to the other, then quietly started to set the things on the ground and tiptoe back out of the office.

"Hold it!" Riza's sharp order was directed at them.

The four froze, and Alphonse stopped crying.

"Edward wandered out of the room," Riza explained to them, her voice still hard as ice as she spoke, "We must now split up and find him before anything happens. Understood?!"

"YES, MA'AM!!" the four men stood at attention, sweat running down their nervous faces.

Riza glared at Roy, "You, too. If you have to work overtime to finish that paper work, then it's your own fault!"

Roy held back a groan, and looked at the men who were staring at him, "Well? What are you waiting for? Split up and find him!!"

The four men, plus Roy, ran out of the room.

Riza followed a little slower since she was still holding Alphonse, who had tears in his eyes as he pointed back at the floor. "Don't worry. We'll find Edward."

The little boy sniffled and nodded.

Edward, meanwhile, was backed against a wall, trembling slightly, as he looked up at the three large soldiers that had gone to asking him questions to trying to grab him. It had been going on for about a minute or two. He was cornered after two minutes of running blindly through the halls to try to find his brother.

"He looks familiar…doesn't he?" one of the soldiers, a bald man, reached forward as if to grab the boy.

Edward plastered himself against the wall even more with a whimper.

"He does look like Fullmetal…except even smaller than him!" the second soldier, who had short black spiky hair, grinned.

"Yea! I mean, how many shrimps do we know of with golden eyes? Hey, maybe he's Fullmetal's kid!" the third one, a guy with wavy brown hair, stated.

"What's your name, little boy?" spiky-hair asked.

Edward pressed his lips together in a silent way of saying 'not telling'.

"If it's Fullmetal's kid, I bet he's a brat. I mean, our department was ridiculed! A child who passed the National Alchemist test…and made such a fuss all the time!" wavy-hair clenched his hand around a silver watch.

"He gets more money than us, too," bald-guy stated.

"Hey, I have an idea!" wavy-hair smirked, "How about we snag this little brat, and demand a ransom of Fullmetal! As long as we don't give any locations, he won't hurt us!"

"Great idea!" spiky-hair grinned, staring down at Edward.

Bald-guy frowned, rubbing his chin, then nodded, "I know of a place." He reached out for Edward again.

Edward dodged the hand. Who's 'Fullmetal'? Why do they think I'm his son? Is that a nickname of tousan? But tousan left! I gotta get away! These guys awe nuts!

"Brat…" wavy-hair grabbed onto Edward's arm.

"Lemme go, lemme go!" Edward struggled.

"Hey, keep the kid quiet, or someone will hear us!" spiky-hair stated.

"No problem…" wavy-hair started.

Edward gave a shout and kicked wavy-hair in the shin…hard.

Wavy-hair yelped and let go of Edward to clutch his leg.

Edward instantly slid under him to the other side, and took off down the hall as fast as his stubby legs could carry him.

"Don't look at me, you idiots! Get that little brat!!" Wavy-hair pointed.

Edward yelped as the chase continued, though they were quickly gaining since their legs were longer. Edward saw a door on his left and burst through it, skidding, and yelped as he tumbled down a set of stairs.

Tears ran down his face as his body ached. He heard the voices of the three men from the entrance of the stairwell, and pushed himself to his feet, limping through the exit door and stumbling into a hallway. He looked around frantically, and saw an open door that had some sign on it he couldn't read. He ran inside of it and looked around. It was dark and scary…and there were things that looked like what his mom used to use to clean the house in there.

Upon hearing the voices coming, he pulled at the door to close it, then fell onto the ground, tears running down his face. He looked around the dark room, but could barely see anything except outlines. He recognized a rope, and made a loop in it, then tossed it up to the doorknob.

Miss.

The voices were coming down the stairs.

Panicking, Edward tossed it up again.

Miss.

The voices were at the bottom of the stairs.

Edward whimpered and tossed the rope up again. This time, it caught on the doorknob. Edward pulled with all his strength, putting his body into it, and yelped as the door swung shut and he fell to the ground, closing him in darkness.

Shivering, he lay there for a moment, breathing hard and eyes opened wildly as he heard the voices of the three men from outside the door.

"He couldn't have gone too far!"

"Think he's in here?"

Edward held his breath.

"Idiot! That's the Janitor's closet! It's closed! We need a key to open it! How can a little brat get through a locked door? Even if he is Fullmetal's kid, there would still be remnants of alchemy! Keep on going…he has to be around here, somewhere!"

Edward let out his breath as the voices got farther and farther away, then vanished.

Suddenly, he felt alone and scared. It was dark in the room…he could barely see anything, now. Stumbling to his feet, he went over to the door and tried to push it open since the men weren't there anymore.

The door didn't even budge.

Scared, Edward pushed on the door again and again, then even threw himself at it.

But still, the door didn't move.

"Let me out!" Edward shouted, banging on the door, "Let me out!!"

Nothing but a slight echo greeted him.

Edward sat on the ground and pulled his knees to his chest, then started to cry quietly. "I want mommy…I want mommy…"

Havoc, Fuery, Farman, and Breda skidded to a halt in front of Roy as they met up around the man's office on the first floor, with Riza joining them a moment later.

"I take it none of you found him?" Riza asked, worry overshadowing the sternness she meant for that to come out as.

The four lower soldiers shook their heads sadly.

"Well, search the second floor," Roy indicated, "If he's not on this floor, he must have gone down the stairs!"

"But he's a toddler! How could he…?" Breda blinked.

"Do it!" Roy pointed.

"YES, SIR!" the four snapped to attention, then scurried off.

"Damn it…" Roy hissed as he ran towards a different stairwell, Riza in tow.

Riza looked at the man as she followed him. He really is worried…

Alphonse gave a sob in her arms, and she rubbed his back, holding him close as she went as fast as she could down the stairs after Roy.

Roy was frowning. It's been almost fifteen minutes since we started to search. I hope nothing happened to the kid…

Edward shivered and coughed. It was cold, he was hungry, and he was feeling light-headed for some reason. He stumbled to the door and weakly pounded on it again, trying to get it open. "Help…someone…?" I dun feel good…

It was getting harder to breathe for some reason, and it felt like the walls were even closer around him and the darkness stretched out infinitely. He didn't know how long he had been in the dark, scary place…but he wanted out.

Edward coughed a couple times involuntarily, his chest burning. He sunk to his knees, then lay on the ground, coughing as he whimpered.

Then, he heard a noise, like the door to the stairwell opening. He picked his foot up and kicked at the door as hard as he could, feeling that he didn't have the strength to do anything else. There was a familiar voice mumbling something he couldn't catch, which encouraged him to kick the door again. His leg felt like lead, and he let it drop back to the ground as he wheezed, staring blearily at the door.

There were footsteps that came closer, until he could see slight black through the slit under the door of someone's boots.

"…Edward…?"

Edward coughed again and strained until he poked one small finger through the crack of the door as far as he could, then tapped the man's boot. Woi…help me…

Roy felt the tap, and looked down. His eyes widened, and he spun around, "Hawkeye! Go get the janitor's keys or someone that can transmute a lock! HURRY!"

Riza was startled at the fierceness of the man's voice, but nodded and ran off as fast as she could.

Roy knelt down and put a hand over the small finger, "Edward? Edward, can you hear me?" Why isn't he crying? He's trapped in that closet…shouldn't he be crying? He took his gloves off and touched Edward's finger again, flinching when he felt how cold it was.

The finger twitched a bit in response.

"Edward, it's okay. We're getting you out of there. It'll be okay," Roy found himself saying, though he didn't know where the assurances were coming from.

"Taisa!" Riza ran over with a chain of keys in one hand.

Roy nodded and then stared at the sheer amount of the keys on the ring, "Which one is the key for the lock!? He's been in there too long! We don't have time to go through all of them!"

Riza frowned, looking at the keys. Truth be told, she had no clue. But she did have an idea. She tossed the keys on the ring onto the ground and all but shoved a sniffling Alphonse into Roy's arms.

Alphonse kept on leaning towards the door, tears running down his face as he babbled something that almost sounded like 'Edo', over and over again, as if he knew his brother was in there and needed help.

"Stand back, sir!" Riza pulled her gun out.

Roy stepped back, somehow getting a grip on the struggling toddler in his arms.

Riza fired three successive shots. Two at the hinges, and one at the knob. "Step back!"

Roy didn't have to be told twice as Riza grabbed the handle and pulled the door right off, letting it drop to the ground with a loud 'bang'.

Edward squinted, the darkness suddenly flooding with light that made him close his eyes. He gulped in air, coughing now and again.

Riza put the gun back and knelt down, "Edward?"

Edward squinted, trying to adjust back to the light as he shivered.

Riza pulled off her military jacket and carefully wrapped it around the boy, then scooped him up in her arms and just held him.

Roy watched, holding a sniffling Alphonse, concern written all over his pale features. He cleared his throat and spoke up softly, "Hawkeye…why isn't he crying? Shouldn't he be crying?"

"We need to get him to a doctor and find out," Riza stood up, a trembling Edward in her arms, "He was probably running low on oxygen in there. That, plus the cold temperature…"

Roy nodded, "I'll go to the meeting spot to tell the men that he was found. Then, I'll come by the hospital."

Riza nodded, and the two took off in different directions as fast as they could, despite Alphonse's wail when he was separated from his brother again.

"We'll go see him soon," Roy told the young boy, "We have to tell the other men to stop looking, first."

Alphonse sniffled. Edo…

TO BE CONTINUED…