Hallo! OK, this chapter is basically Alphonse and Winry searching for Edward. Yup…oooooooooooooh yeah! Today I got volume two of D.N.Angel! (The DVD) I'm soooo happy! (Me: SQUEE! DARK! Dark: O.o;; Ed and Al: What about us? Me: -blomps all three of them-

Chapter Six: Separated

The man who held the gold rod had a very mean look on his face, he had to be at least in his early twenties. He lowered the rod and looked around, Alphonse and Winry ducked behind the sand dune so is not to be noticed by him. He then looked in the direction in which he had come, more men where riding towards him, one of those men stopped his horse right next to the man and asked,

"My Lord, what happened?"

"Isn't it obvious," he hissed "I dealt with the problem, take him back to the palace where he can be dealt with properly."

"Yes, my Lord!" the man said, he then got down from his horse and walked over to the unmoving Ed and dragged him over to his horse. That's when another man rode up beside the first man and asked,

"Priest Seto, this young man has a strange appearance. Hair the color of gold, and if I remember right his eyes were the same gold color, who do you suppose he is?"

"He obviously possesses a demon ka, it matters not where he came from or who he is. That young man killed two of my guards in cold blood, he is a danger to society and should be dealt with as such." Priest Seto replied, he then got back on his horse and rude back up the trail they had all come from. The guards that where with him followed, though the one who had to carry Edward was still there. He was tying up Eds' hands so that he couldn't do anything, even though he was unconscious. The guard rode off a moment later with Ed slung over the back of the horse.

--

"A…Alphonse?"

"I…know Winry…I know…"

Alphonse and Winry had been watching from their spot at the top of the sand dune, they had seen everything. It rather disturbed Winry to see Ed kill two men as if they ment nothing, Al though seemed the most bothered. He knew his brother would defend himself if he felt threatened but…to kill two men like that…it was very unsettling. Al wasn't even sure if he could blame the fact that the seal on the mark was gone and it was his 'darker' half doing everything. He knew the 'darker' half was rather…homicidal in ways but he'd never actually killed someone, not even those villagers back in feudal Japan, gave them a good scare but never killed them.

"We need to follow them," Al said finally, he stood up "We need to go after my brother so we can find out what the heck is going on."

"Right but, where are we exactly?" Winry muttered. Al started down the dune towards the path that those men had come from, he stopped at the bottom and looked up at Winry saying,

"Lets find out shall we."

She nodded and followed Al down the dune, they made their way down the path. The two of them were walking for a while before they came to another dune, but at the top of it they could catch a faint glow from beyond it. Making one last treck up the dune, Alphonse and Winry stood at the top…looking out over a large city.

"Wow…"

"Brothers down there," Al muttered "Come on Winry lets go." He started for the city but Winry stopped him for a moment,

"Wait a minute Al…we can't just rush in there, we don't even know where we are."

"I know that, but…those people took my brother. On top of that, you saw what he did to those two men. It's starting, his 'darker' half may be coming back again more…malicious…then normal." Al said.

"So…Eds' 'darker' half is back then?" Winry asked.

"Increased aggression, suddenly forgetting things, talking and making little sense…I wouldn't rule out the possibility. Ok…so, he still makes sense but it's harder to follow. Listen Winry, if that possibility becomes a reality then we're looking at a problem." Alphonse replied, Winry frowned. She didn't like the sound of that, but Al was right, they had to find Ed and get him away from this place.

Nodding agreeingly Winry followed Alphonse towards the city. When they got there, it was a lot further then they had anticipated, two guards stopped them and asked,

"What is your business?"

"We've…come a long way to see the city." Al answered, that sounded pretty good. The guard looked at him funny, the other guard was looking at Winry. They'd never seen people like them before,

"What is it?" Al asked noticing the looks they were getting, Winry glared at the one guard who had been eyeing her.

"Nothing…you both may proceed." The guard answered stepping to one side, the two walked past them into the city. Winry seemed rather irritated by something, Alphonse asked what it was and she replied,

"Did you see the way that guy was looking at me? The jerk…what was he thinking?"

Al laughed at this, he was rewarded for this by getting a smack upside the head, he didn't laugh again. Making their way deeper into the city the two of them seemed to be getting more and more odd looks from the locals. Finally feeling totally lost, more so then he was before anyway, Alphonse stopped at a bazaar and asked where exactly they where.

The man behind the counter of a small shop looked at the both of them for a moment then answered,

"This is the great palace of the Pharaoh, everyone knows that. He is the closest thing to a god there is, you should go pay respect to him before you continue looking around."

Al just smiled sheepishly and nodded, he could already tell this place is going to make his brothers condition worse. He wasn't one to believe in gods so people claming other people are close to gods would only make Edward more irritated, and that wouldn't be good in his present condition.

"Um…thank you." Al started to walk away, Winry though didn't follow him just yet,

"Could you tell me if some men came by here, they were on horses and one of them was carrying a friend of ours." She asked. The man scratched the back of his head and thought for a moment then replied,

"The only men I saw today where, Priest Seto and his body guards. One of them had a strange looking young man on their horse, long gold hair…sorta like yours only more like his in color."

"Which way did they go?" Winry then asked.

"Just up that path." The man pointed, Winry thanked him and rushed over to Alphonse, she grabbed his arm and dragged him in the direction of the palace.

"W…Winry? What are you doing?" he protested.

"Edward's at this palace place just up this path, lets go."

"Really! All right then…" Al freed himself and followed her, all the while getting questioning glances by everyone they passed.

-To Be Continued-

Happy am I that people are enjoying this story! I have so many story ideas it's crazy! Heck, I've already got plans for two more…one humorous, the other half inspired by agent000s' story "One Year" (So far that story is awesome!) and the other half inspired by volume six of the FMA manga –gives young Edu-kun and Aru-kun a hug and some chicken nuggets…see page 37 in vol. 6-. Anywhozles, till next time! Enjoy!