Author's Note-Wow! I didn't expect to get so many reviews… -smiles- I told you I'd update soon. It's getting easier to write, especially now that I'm getting some help from my friends Kisike and Mikomi. Which reminds me, for the disclaimer…Ezra belongs to Mikomi, Tsuki belongs to Kisike, and Kiteay belongs to Kitsunnie. Abby is one of my original characters and Ash is the character of my beta reader, Ash the Twisted. More will come as the story progresses, and I'll mention them in the disclaimer as the story goes on. –nodnod- Also, FullMetal Alchemist does not belong to me (though that's probably a given.) Oh, a warning I forgot to mention in the last chapter: this fanfic is going to end up having a lot of Ed torture. The rating will possibly even go up due to language and violence; I'm not sure yet. Anyways, with all that said, here's the next chapter.
It was a strange day for the people of Rismboul. Never since the Ishbal Massacre had they seen so many military personnel congregate in their rural town, though it really was not that many. Hughes, Armstrong, Ross, Brosh, and some other soldiers walked down the dirt road, to the large house of the Rockbells'.
"Grandma! Al! They're here!" Winry exclaimed, looking inside. She ran over to the arriving soldiers. "Thank goodness you guys have come! Edward…he's been…"
"We know, Winry," Hughes said quietly, stopping and putting his hands on her shoulders to calm her down. "We're going to try to find him. Don't start panicking yet." However, despite his words, he wasn't too sure on just how easy it would be to find the blonde boy. It had been nearly four days since the incident. It was doubtful there would be many clues left behind, if any.
He looked up to see Al standing behind a small old lady in the doorway. He walked over, his face grim. "Hey, Alphonse," he said. He looked down at the woman. "And you must be Pinako Rockbell, am I right?"
The woman drew in deep from her long pipe, then blew out smoke. "That's right," she said. "You certainly fit the role of Intelligence. Now, about Edward…"
"Don't worry, ma'am! We'll find the boy," Armstrong proclaimed, suddenly behind Hughes and posing. His shirt had some way of making it off him, and his pink sparkles practically showered down all around him. Ross sighed and Brosh sweatdropped.
"Well, I certainly hope so. We're all really worried about him," Pinako said.
"We'll do our best," Ross assured. Brosh glanced over at her, then straightened, putting on his most serious face.
"Right!" he seconded.
"Thanks, guys…" Al said.
Hughes smiled. "Hey, it's no problem," he said gently. "Now, Al. Do you think you could show us where this graveyard is?"
"Huh? Sure. This way…" Al replied, starting down the road. The soldiers followed.
"You know, I just don't see how FullMetal could've been captured," Brosh commented. "I mean, he was a pretty tough kid."
Ross shot him a look. "He still is a tough kid," she pointed out. "He's not dead; I refuse to believe that."
"I have to agree with Lieutenant Ross. It's not over till it's over. Besides, I could name several ways Ed could've been kidnapped," Hughes said.
"But it seems like he would've put up a fight, knowing him, Sir," Brosh said.
"He probably didn't have the chance," Hughes replied.
When they all got to the graveyard, the soldiers all fanned out. Hughes stood next to Al, watching and supervising. He sighed. "I'm sorry this hand to happen, Al. We've had a spree of random kidnappings all over Amestris, and especially in Central recently. I just never thought it would reach the quiet town of Risemboul, much less directly effect a State Alchemist. I probably should've sent an escort to go with you two while Ed's automail was being touched up."
"It's not your fault, Hughes. You couldn't have known," Al assured him.
"…Maybe…"
Al looked over at the lieutenant colonel. "By the way, does Mustang know about this yet?" he asked curiously.
Hughes shook his head. "Not at the moment. He's got his hands full at the moment. I decided not to contact him about this until we know just how serious this is," he responded. He looked up at Al. "By the way, has anything happened since the kidnapping? Perhaps Ed's kidnapping isn't related to any of the others. You guys have made some enemies, after all…"
Al shook his head. "No, nothing. At least, nothing yet…" he replied.
Hughes nodded. "Alright…" he said. "We're going to be staying at the local inn, but we're going to have one or two of us staying over at the Rockbells'. The last thing we need is you or Winry to be kidnapped, too."
Al nodded. "Sure."
"Sir!" One of the soldiers ran over, holding a small bottle with a rag. "We found this by the crime scene."
Hughes blinked, his eyebrows raising slightly, but then his look regained seriousness. "Good. Take it back to the hotel and start checking for fingerprints. Be careful with any chemicals it may contain."
"Yes Sir!"
As the soldier saluted and ran off, Hughes looked up at the sky. "Edward…we're looking for you. Just hang tight, okay?"
Cold… was Ed's first thought as he awoke. He let out a soft moan. How long had he been out…? "Damned gas…" he muttered. He sat up from the cold concrete floor, feeling slightly off-balance. He still had yet to regain his automail arm and leg. He noticed that he was no longer wearing his normal outfit, but instead some white shorts and a white t-shirt.
He looked around the concrete room. Florescent lights shone overhead. Around him were test tubes and cages with people trapped inside like animals. A few tables were strewn about here and there, and a door was off to the left, another towards the right in the front of the room. Some tools hung on the wall across the room. "Where…where am I…?" he whispered.
"Cages," a girl said. She looked a bit taller than him-around 5'5, maybe. She had long blonde hair and green eyes. But that's when things got odd. Her normal ears weren't where they should've been, but instead, two cat ears twitched from the top of her head. A furry tail swished behind her. The girl was sitting and staring at him from two cages over.
"Basically hell on earth," Another girl said. Her cage was right next to his. The girl looked around his height-only 5'2. She was pale with an athletic build, and had chin-length red hair. Her eyes were closed as she sat down, leaning against the bars of the cage.
"Hell on earth…?" Ed repeated with a frown. "But…"
A boy with silver, braided hair a lot like Ed's and golden eyes looked up at them. "You ladies haven't seen Hell yet..." he said to the girls. Ed looked up at the tag on the top of his cage. It read 'Ezra.'
Come to think of it, all the cages seemed to have the names of probably their captives. The redhead's cage read 'Abby', and the blonde's read 'Tsuki.' One cage in the corner read 'Ash', but he could only make out a trembling lump on the floor, while there was an empty cage that read 'Kiteay.' A few more cages were strewn around with names, but empty. The test tubes held people inside, but there were no names that he could see.
Abby didn't seem to take note of Ed's bewilderment as she opened her green eyes. She glanced over at Ezra, raising an eyebrow. "Oh? How long have you been here and what all have they done to you?" she asked.
Ezra smirked at her and stood. Ed could see that he was quite tall. He had been sitting in the corner of his cage as if it were the most comfortable place in the world. "Trust me, you'll like being in this cage compared to what they've got in store for you."
Abby sighed, closing her green eyes again. "I've been here for a year. Believe me, I know what kind of shit they do here..." she said, her hair suddenly growing down to waist-length to illustrate her point. Ed's eyes widened, though the girl seemed to be doing it as if it was the most normal thing in the world. It was almost like…Envy.
"What is this place…?" he asked.
"Honestly? It's an illegal lab in the middle of nowhere. Probably a place of some of the most hellish things imaginable," Abby replied.
Ed stared at her for a moment, then grabbed one of the bars to his cage and looked around. "Lab Five..." he muttered, the memories of that nightmarish place coming back to him. He began to look around for something, anything, to use to scratch a transmutation circle into the floor.
Ezra shrugged and leaned back against his cage bars before sliding down onto the ground, lifting up one knee and resting his elbow on it. He glanced at Ed. "There's nothing you could use here, kid. Not anything that's within reach anyway."
"Yeah. Don't bother trying. Don't you think we already have?" Tsuki asked, watching the blonde boy's futile attempts.
Ed looked from Ezra to Tsuki, then sighed, a frown on his face. "I'm not going to just give up hope getting out of here. Sorry, but I've got things I have to do. People to get back home to.." he explained.
"So selfish.. They'll break you of that, soon..." Tsuki said.
Ed looked over at her and glared. "I don't think so. I'm not going to be stuck in here. Besides...I've gotten out of worse situations than this..." he shot back. There had to be a way out. He couldn't stay here. He still had to find the Philosopher's Stone and get Al back to normal. But how...?
Ezra laughed. "So have I, but I'm still here, aren't I?"
"Well, all things considered, we don't even really know who he is, so whatever he's been in may have been more dire than the things you've been in," Abby said. She smirked. "I think I like this kid..." she commented, her hair shortening back to what he guessed was its normal length. She turned to Ed. "Abby O'Brien. I'd shake your hand, but we're kinda stuck in cages."
Ed nodded. "So I noticed..." he said, looking around. "I'm Edward Elric, a State Alchemist in the military. Also known as the FullMetal Alchemist," he introduced.
Ezra smirked. "So you're the one the hag was talking about..."
"Well, there's nothing metal about you now..." Tsuki said, rolling her eyes. "Though there might be, considering what scientist you end up getting first." Ed noticed the lump in Ash's cage shudder.
Ezra shrugged and looked up, as the staccato sound of heels tapped in the hall outside. "Stay sharp, newbie, the Hag's coming..." He smirked.
Ed glanced over at him and blinked, the lump in Ash's cage forgotten. He looked back at the door, dragging himself to the back wall of his cage to lean against so he would be less likely to fall over. "Who exactly is this hag...?" he asked.
Ezra shrugged. "You'll see." He nodded to the door as the knob turned and the door opened…
Author's Note-So it's not as good of a cliffhanger as I was planning, it still works. By the way, as I said earlier, I surprisingly didn't get the idea from the Lab Five episodes. The inspiration is actually from a roleplay I've got on Gaia Online. Now, to reply to the reviews…
Al'sGirl05-Yeah, Ed's been kidnapped. It was actually a bit of a pain figuring out how I was going to manage this, which is why the first chapter didn't end up as good as I hoped. After many kidnapping role plays and remembering the episode where Ed was captured by Barry the Chopper, though, I managed to come up with something.
Ominous Shadow-Thanks! With the help of my friends, I'm able to write this story much faster than planned, so hopefully you won't have to wait long for updates.
Ash the Twisted-I'm glad you could help me out. This story really a beta reader. –nodnod-
Raiyne Nagakura-Well, technically I'm not a first timer at writing. I've got practice with other fanfics and stories, but this was my first one to write that was just FullMetal Alchemist, and an impulsive idea at that. I'm not sure if I'm going to have any character deaths yet, but probably a lot of torture. As for the timeline, I'm thinking that it's probably going to be after the lab five incident, but before the character death. This is probably what you could call a little side story to FMA. –nods-
Sparky the Invisible Pyro-Thanks! The decent format comes from years of practice. I wasn't too sure what people would think with the idea since it's more of a side story to the actual timeline, but as I said earlier, the idea was gnawing at my brain. –grins and sweatdrops-
Pichu172B-Actually, I do watch Detective Conan, though I wasn't really thinking about that until you mentioned it. –grins- I actually do a lot of kidnapping role plays on Gaia, and I've always got a victim character who almost always ends up getting kidnapped by a kidnapper using either chloroform or a gun. Hence the chloroform idea.
IluvPiratesSavvy-Yeah, and not by very nice people, either. Like I said, be warned: this is gonna end up with probably a bit of character torture.
Well, I'll try getting the next chapter out soon. Please review-they always help motivate. Ja ne!
