Author's Note-Thankies for the reviews so far! Disclaimer is the same as always, though I do own Clarissa. Oh yeah, after numerous PMs, e-mails, reviews, and nagging from my friends (the fellow roleplayers who have been helping me write this ficceh), I have finally decided to update. I had no idea that this fanfic was that popular! Thanks for all the support, and I'll try to get back to updating this story again. Here's an extra-long chapter for you guys.


Ed's hand tightened around the bar. What else could they do? Right now, anyway.. He still didn't look at the scientist, but kept his view on the ground.

Ezra saw Ed's reaction and laughed a weak, hoarse laugh. "Yeah, I felt that way too before my first time, Ed. But then I came back with my eyes bandaged and stinging, unable to see anything around me for a week and a half," he said.

Aiden smirked at Ezra. "You make it sound like one of us fucked your eyes out, boy."

Ezra glared at him. "You did," he shot back. "You turned me into some kind of freak with glow in the dark eyes." He looked over at Ed again. "Not being able to see where the hag is can be a bitch, trust me. I learned the meaning of the electric whore toy that week."

Aiden blinked slowly, then gave a careless shrug, strolling out of Tsuki's cage, shutting and locking the door behind him. Ezra looked up at him, his eyes following the man's every movement.

Ed sighed, closing his eyes. He tried to ignore what Ezra said, waiting for the inevitable. "Whatever happens, happens.. Besides, as you can probably see, I've been through a lot already. I don't know what they could do that I haven't had to put up with before..."

"The whip seemed to get you pretty good," Ezra said, not looking up at him but keeping his eyes on Aiden.

"Red water..." Ed mumbled. "Basically the same effect..." The red water incident at Lab Five…something that had happened only about a week ago, to his knowledge, perhaps a little bit more, but something he probably wouldn't be forgetting for a long time. Those chemicals truly did seem to have the same effect as electricity. He couldn't think straight, he felt like he was going to die. His mind was overloading while all his cells felt like they were about to burst, his brain felt like it was about to explode. Not a happy memory.

Aiden smiled brightly as he gazed at Ed. "I bet you've never had your fingers sawed off. One by one.."

"Loss of the arm and leg, slowly disintegrating..." Ed countered dully. "As you can see..."

"I'll make it so much slower...and much more painful. You can be sure.." Aiden said. His eyes gleamed as he licked his lips, once against baring his pearly white fangs.

Ed winced at the thought, at the memory of his limbs disappearing coming back to him. "You don't go much for originality, do you...?" he muttered.

"I go with whatever works, brat," Aiden snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ezra took his eyes off Aiden and looked over at Tsuki. "Tsuki!" He hissed at her, trying to keep his voice low. After a long pause of where she didn't respond, he tried again. He glanced up at Aiden again then adjusted himself slightly, continuing to hiss at her. "Tsuki!"

Tsuki lifted her head very, very slowly from where it had been resting on the floor, and she glared daggers at him, having wrapped her hand in the bottom half of her shirt.

Ezra rolled his eyes slightly, hissing, "Don't give me that look. I didn't cut your finger off." His face softened, his golden eyes reflecting his worry. "Are you okay?"

"I'll give you whatever look I wanna fucking look at you with, fuck. What the fuck do I look like right now? Shit. That's right. Do you ever go up to fucking roadkill and ask if it's alright? No, so stop fucking asking me shit like that, dumb fuck."

Ezra's face hardened again, his eyes a reflection of his annoyance. "Fine..." He brought his arms up and finally succeeded in lifting himself up off the ground and pushed himself off the bars, so that he sat in the corner of the cage, leaning against the far bars, the rest of his body limp. "That's what I get for worrying about a woman's well-being..." He muttered under his breath as he visibly brooded.

Maeva smiled and walked up behind him. "It's good to worry about a woman's well-being, Ezra, dear." She stuck the whip through the bars of the cage, pressing it against his back as the electricity hummed through it. Ezra cried out, his eyes widening, his body tensing as the electricity passed through it. Maeva held the whip there for a few moments before pulling back and smirking.

Ezra's body went limp once more as he glared half-heartedly at her. "Stupid hag..."

Theo, who was watching Tsuki, Ezra, and Maeva with some amusement, turned back to Aiden. "Now, now, this is a lab, not a torture chamber, though sometimes I like to think of it as one…" Theo said, grinning. "But there's not much you can discover just by slicing off all of his fingers." Aiden glanced over at him. Theo continued. "C'mon. How about attaching something to him, or perhaps something psychological? Or..." he suggested, grinning at Ed, "We could do something alchemic to him? Change him into a homunculi or something, perhaps...

Ed glared, closing his eyes. "Idiot..." he whispered. "That only works when the person is already dead..."

Aiden sighed heavily and shook his head, frowning at Theo. "Honestly, Theo.. Haven't you read anything I've given you?"

Theo shrugged. "A bit. Skimmed over a few parts," he admitted.

Aiden growled and shook his head again, tapping his foot impatiently against the ground. "You're a real flake sometimes."

Theo shrugged again, grinning over at Ed. "I'll choose to ignore that, though if you must know, that was while I was busy working on my sweetheart's wings. I didn't have the time to be reading about alchemy..."

Ash lifted a wing to watch, showing a bit more of her pale face than Ed could remember seeing, but then lowered it again.

"So anyway, what are we doing to the brat? I'd offer to add something to him, but I specialize more in robotics and stuff, and automail or attached metal would just make him dangerous..."

"Mm.. Maybe we should make a chimera out of him..." Aiden smirked, eyeing Ed.

Ed's amber eyes widened, his thoughts flickering back to Nina. Great. Another Shou Tucker... He glared at Aiden. "Bastard..." he whispered.

Aiden smirked wider and tilted his head. "Have I struck a nerve..?"

He blinked, then looked away. "No..." he muttered, frowning. And then another thought struck him. How was he going to find the Philosopher's Stone to help Al if he escaped as a chimera His fist clenched as his eyes darkened a bit.

Aiden gave a soft yawn into his fist and blinked at Tsuki, who seemed to be having trouble breathing. "Theo, would you take care of little miss bloody?" He turned back to Ed and tilted his head. "And you said you would come peacefully, did you not?"

Theo nodded. "Of course," he said, eager to take this chance at attaching something to another victim. He walk over to Tsuki. He smirked. "You can't perform alchemy, can you?" he asked.

Tsuki gasped and panted, rolling her head slowly to glare up at him, eyes glinting. "Fuck off," she hissed.

Theo grinned. "I'll take that as a no. Wonderful..." he said, opening up her cage and picking her up.

Tsuki groaned and rolled her head back and forth, still clutching her hand against her stomach, the bleeding almost stopped. "Get your...hands off me.."

Theo shook her head, taking her out of the room. "You should be happy. I'm going to build you a new finger," he said. Ed watched the door shut, then turned back to Aiden to respond to his question as he frowned.

"I don't really have much of a choice, do I..?"

Aiden smiled brightly. "I'm afraid not. Unless you'd like more blood to look at? Perhaps your own?"

"I'm not afraid..." Ed said, though he was somewhat nervous at what Aiden had in mind. Right. Keep calm. No point in wasting energy with fear when he had no idea what stunt Aiden was about to pull.

Aiden purred to himself, glancing to Maeva. "If you'd retrieve a wheel chair for Mister Elric?"

Maeva nodded. "Sure," she said, going over and grabbing a wheelchair, wheeling it over to them.

'They can't do anything to me...nothing I haven't experienced before, anyway...' Ed thought, watching.

Aiden opened the cage door and waited patiently for Ed to hop through, not attempting to help him.

He's got to be kidding. I can barely even stand up... Ed thought as he pulled himself to a stand and tried hopping out the best he could, nearly falling over. Aiden snickered and pushed Ed into the chair, wheeling him out of the room and into a dark room where red light shone from a single bulb. Ed blinked, looking around. "What are you planning to do, exactly...?" he asked. He turned to glare at the redhead. "It'd better be nothing with needles..!"

"Nothing fun, I can assure you," Aiden warned. He smiled and pulled a roll of duct tape out of his pocket. "Let's get you situated, hm?" He smirked, duct-taping Ed securely to the wheelchair.. He wouldn't be going very far at all. After that, he began plunking little sensory thingies to Ed's head, face, and neck, humming merrily all the while.

Ed sweatdropped, then looked up at Aiden as if the man was an idiot. The hell…? he wondered. "You do know that I can barely walk to begin with, right...?" He surprised himself with his calmness, but then, considering all the situations he'd been in.. When Aiden didn't answer his first question, he asked, "Anyways, what's all this shit for..?"

"You'll find out, Eddy." Aiden hummed louder and set up a little TV next to Ed's head. "There we go. Now...What does your brother look like again?" He asked, watched the screen.

"Don't call me that..." Ed grumbled. His eyes widened suddenly widened. "Wait! How do you know about Al!" he demanded as an image of Al both in armor form and human form appeared on the screen.

Aiden grinned and placed his hands on his hips. "Perfect... Now..mind telling me your fears?"

Ed glared, not noticing the screen as needles, failing, friends and family getting hurt or hating him, and...a wrench? appeared on it. He needed to know why this bastard was interested in his little brother. He wouldn't allow Al to suffer through this crap… "What does this have to do with your project? Why do you want to know about Al?"

"No reason...Just don't stop thinking, hm?"

"What do you mean...?" Ed asked, giving Aiden a suspicious look.

Aiden smiled reassuringly. "Absolutely nothing. Now how did you get that arm of yours?"

"I lost it in an accident..." Ed said. It was somewhat the truth, but not entirely. The night of the human transmutation attempt, of Winry and Pinako building him a new arm and leg and attaching it, all the touch-ups and time they had spent while visiting Risemboul flashed on the screen.

"And why did you have to get the false limbs, Ed?"

"What kind of question is that? I'd be pretty pathetic without them..." Ed said, as battles flashed on the screen. Not to mention the day he joined the military and found out that he could transmute without a circle.

Aiden frowned. "How did you lose your limbs Ed? What did you do? How did you screw up?"

The grip on the arm of the wheelchair tightened as Ed glared. "That's none of your business!" he shot back as images of his mother flashed on the screen, the blood seal being drawn on Al's armor, the promise to search for the Philosopher's stone...

Aiden smirked, eyes flashing. "So that's what you tried, you little fool."

"What...?" Ed muttered. He looked over at the screen, his amber eyes widening to see all of his memories and words showing on the screen. He looked back at Aiden. "You're trying to see all my memories? All of my secrets...?" he whispered.

Aiden smirked and placed his hands on Ed's duct-taped arm, leaning over so they were face to face. "You wanted something that had never happened before...Here it is.."

Ed stared at him for a moment, somewhat in horror, then began to struggle. "That's enough! My memories are mine and mine alone. I'm not going to allow you to see them!" he exclaimed.

"Why? What don't you want anyone else to know Ed? Why don't you show me? Get it off your chest for a while.."

"No..." Ed said. "There's some things I can't allow others to know... Especially not you.."

"Well that's too bad...sooner or later...they'll come to mind." Aiden stood up straight and let out a deep, throaty laugh, fists at his hips. "You aren't as unstoppable as you think.."

"I'm not going to let that happen..." Ed said, focusing, trying to get his mind to go blank.

Aiden smirked and ran a hand through his hair, grinning down at the blonde boy. "We'll see about that.." He reached over to the screen and pressed a button, and all of the memories that had just been viewed on the TV were projected onto the wall in front of Ed, sounds and all. "Enjoy, little one."

Ed's eyes widened, then looked away, biting back regretful tears as the human transmutation showed up on the screen. His guilt…his shame…his sin… He'd already gotten a front row seat, remembered it all too clearly...but the last thing he wanted was for him and someone else to see it on an outside source. "Turn it off..." he whispered.

Aiden smirked. "No," he replied firmly.

"Turn it off..." he ordered in a louder voice. His hand gripped the arm tighter as he saw the experiment go wrong, him trying to save Al the best he could, and shuddering at the monster that was the result of their failed attempt. Here he was, watching it. Again. And not just from his memory, but from an outside source. And yet…he still couldn't do anything to stop it. He still couldn't fix things, make them right again.

Aiden smirked even wider, eyes widening. "Or what?"

The blonde boy was caught by that. Or what? What could he do in his state? His foot didn't even reach the ground, so it wasn't like he could try to push away. His head lowered. "I've already had to live through this..." he whispered. "I...I don't need to go seeing it again..."

"You'll see it again, Edward. And again. And again." Aiden snickered, and pressed another button. A helmet flipped over the back of the chair and settled around Ed's head, tiny sticky pads smacking him in the eyes and yanking his eyelids open, holding them there.

Ed tried to jerk his head forward, trying to avoid the helmet, but to no avail. It was a futile effort. "Why?.? What's the point in this?.!" he shouted.

"Giving you a new experience. Don't worry. You'll either break or grow stronger. Have a nice night," Aiden purred, strolling past Ed and into the hall.

"What! You bastard!" Ed shouted, trying to struggle.

Aiden shut the door firmly and strolled back to the prison room, yawning and glancing around. "Well..What's left then.."

Ezra glared at Aiden, regaining consciousness but too weak to move. "You bastard...what did you do with him? Why isn't he with you?" he growled.

"Yeah. Where's Ed?" Abby demanded, walking up to the front of the cage.

The girl with long white hair that had been silent for most of the time sat up and blinked as her wings moved back slightly, into a more comfortable position.

Aiden smirked a bit. "He's watching a movie. Not one you'd want to see, trust me."

Abby's green eyes narrowed. "A movie? About what...?" she demanded.

Aiden frowned at her. "Shut up, will you?"

The red-haired girl growled, her fists clenching. "Bastard.."

Aiden smirked and tipped an imaginary hat at her, settling onto a stool and flipping through a file while humming a happy tune.


Meanwhile, in Risemboul, one of the soldiers walked up to Hughes as the group returned to the house. "Sir, we've identified the chemical and the fingerprints. The chemical is chloroform and the fingerprints are the same ones we've been finding at the scenes of the other kidnappings," she said. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes, looking around her early twenties, possibly even late teens.

Hughes nodded as he took the bottle with a gloved hand. "Thanks, Clarissa. I figured that would be the case..." he said. He sighed. "Looks like this may be more serious than I hoped. Guess I'll have to call Roy and tell him what happened. He's not going to be happy..." He glanced over at Winry. "Would it be alright if I could use your phone?"

Winry nodded. "Sure, it's over here…" she said, leading him inside and showing him over to the phone.

Hughes sat down in a chair nearby and dialed the number to East Headquarters. When Havoc picked up, he said, "Hey, this is Hughes. I need to speak to Roy.."


"Yeah, just a sec…" Havoc said, walking over to Roy's office. He opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Hey."

Roy looked up from his paper work, eyes narrowed. He seemed a bit agitated. "What is it?" he asked gruffly, pulling another large file out of a drawer and plopping it down on his desk.

"It's for you. It's Hughes."

Roy grumbled to himself and picked up the phone, holding it between his ear and shoulder, eyes scanning absently over the papers in front of him. "Talk to me," he said. Hopefully it's good news. Maybe they actually caught Scar...

"Hey, Roy. We...kind of have a bit of a situation going on," Hughes said. He sounded a bit hesitant, knowing that Roy would probably flame him if he were actually there for what he was about to hear next.

Or not… "Don't beat around the bush, Hughes. Just tell me what you called to tell me," the colonel growled, scribbling something or other on a blank piece of paper.

"Right... I don't know if you've heard about this yet. There's been frequent kidnapping cases going on recently, all at random. There's been a lot at Central and a few in your area, if I'm right.."

There was a long pause. "Hughes.." Roy started. He had a tone of warning in his voice as his eyes narrowed.

Hughes sighed. "I'm telling you about that because I'm investigating it right now. At the Rockbells'. Apparently Ed was kidnapped about four days ago."

There was another long, long pause..."...WHAT?.!" Roy nearly screamed into the phone, papers flying from his desk. "Just what the hell do you mean, 'Fullmetal's been kidnapped?.!'" And just what did he mean 'four days ago'?.! Why wasn't he informed about this sooner?.!

"It's just like I said, he was kidnapped," Hughes repeated, sounding a bit shaken. His tone regained seriousness. "There's been a series of random kidnappings going on throughout Amestris. From what we've been able to gather, it's been the same people responsible for all the other kidnappings. Same fingerprints left at all the other crime scenes. And probably like most of the other kidnappings, they probably snuck up on him and used chloroform to knock him unconscious."

Roy slowly relaxed, sitting back in his chair and leaned on his elbows on his desk, grumbling. "Do we have any leads other than that?"

"Not yet. We just arrived. Luckily it was a muddy day on the day of the kidnapping, so Al and Winry were able to trace the footprints in the graveyard to where they think they found a struggle take place, then Ed being dragged to a vehicle. One of the soldiers found a bottle of chloroform nearby, which is what confirmed the fingerprints," Hughes replied. There was a pause, then, "I don't like this, Roy. We haven't been able to find any bodies, hostages, nothing. Not to mention there aren't any witnesses. The victims don't seem to have anything in common. Age, gender, background, ect. The only thing they seem to have in common is the fact that they were alone."

Roy uttered a curse under his breath and put a hand over his eyes, taking a deep breath and then letting it out. Damn kid was always getting into trouble… "And what about tire tracks?"

"They were gone from the storm the following night. They were found in the evening, so Al and Winry couldn't follow very far. But from what they said, the tire tracks turned down the north road, and now that I just got this file from Sheska..." There was a pause. "The kidnappings all seem to be going down a northern path. I dunno if the path leads up to wherever their hideout is or what; it seems a bit stupid to leave such an obvious path. Not at all like someone who would be able to kidnap Ed."

"Careless...I'll take the next train and be in Risemboul as soon as I can. I'll meet you are the Rockbells', " Roy said, beginning to tidy up his desk, putting paperwork back into the top drawers.

"You've got enough on your plate already, Roy. I wouldn't suggest it," Hughes recommended.

"I'm coming!" He slammed the phone down and growled, standing up and pulling on his jacket, stalking out of the office.

Hawkeye walked down the hall, stopping and blinking at the colonel, a file in her arms. "Sir...?" she asked, wondering what was going on.

"Go pack, Hawkeye. We're going to meet up with Hughes in Risemboul in the morning."

She blinked, frowning. "May I ask why, Sir?" she asked.

Roy frowned and looked back at her. The blonde noted the stress on the colonel's features. Not unusual, but he didn't seem this bad a few minutes ago. She wondered what had happened to upset him this much. Maybe he was running low on coffee… But then she got her answer… "Fullmetal's been kidnapped."

Her eyes widened with surprise slightly, but then grew grim as she nodded. "Understood. I won't be long," she said, hurrying to go pack.

Roy hurried off to do the same, growling as he rang up the secretary to book tickets for the midnight train.


Author's Note-Well, Roy fans, you have gotten your wish. Roy has made his appearance. –grin- Finally, I have posted…and my god, I have tons of reviews to respond to. Um…I'll try to get to them all, but if not, then review in this chapter and I'll try to respond. Oh, by the way, for anyone reading Dark Rain...that will be updated very soon. Thanks, and don't worry-more torture is yet to come.

crazyanimefreak15-Heh. Well, don't worry, you didn't miss much.

Psychofullmetalfan-Yep. Thankies!

Dark Fairy of Doom-Thankies! We'll do that. –nodnod-

IloveJesus7390-Heh. Thankies! Though keep in mind that this is actually a roleplay between my friends and I. So either we were roleplaying better…or I just put it into story format better. –smiles and sweatdrops- Yeah, it was gruesome. And purely Kisike… -nodnod- Aiden and Tsuki are her characters, after all.

FullMetalEdward-Yep. Dismemberment. You'll see it all in this fanfic-electric shocks, mad scientist, automail pinkies… -grin-

Taiyoukai-Okibi-Nah, it's nothing like that. And…what? Bob?.! Where? –looks around and doesn't see him- Heh…Bob is my typo demon… -smiles and sweatdrops-

Pichu172B-Now, now. Thou shalt not puteth fellow students in labs full of evil scien…ah, what am I saying? I know plenty of people that need to go there, too. –nodnod- Heh, I knew that Ezra would have a fan club! And don't worry-there's always automail for Kisike!

Kylie-I hate to tell you, but as I have said before, this is technically a roleplay that my friends are doing. Therefore, I have control over Abby, Edo, Ash, and Theo. My explaination for Abby? She's stubborn, she's a rebel at heart, and she has vague hope still in tact. Some people are tenacious-most of the characters in this story probably are.

Ash-Thankies so much for everything so far! Your beta-reading has been very helpful so far, and I shall try to keep it a success and do justice to Ash and Theo.

The Teenage Writer-Very true. Edo just can't keep his big mouth shut. –smiles and sweatdrops- Um…here's the next chapter. Enjoy.

Chibimacha7-Here's Hughes. And Mustang! Glad you like the ficceh.

Shakia-Heh. Thankies! It comes from being in a whole lot of lab roleplays on gaiaonline... Um…sorry it took so long. Let's interpret soon to now. –sweatdrop- Heh, it's a good thing that Ezra doesn't have this many fangirls in the fanfic-his ego is already bloated enough.

Kitsune Freak-Um…okay? I'll see what I can do about some sending you some climbing gear through the computer…

Key Gee Bee-Yeah, well that's how roleplays normally turn out. Everyone pretty much gets equal airtime due to everyone contributing with their characters. Unless that person disappears all of a sudden without warning. Then the plotline decides to move on along without them unless it wants risk of dying.

PsycoNeko15-I agree. They all need hugs. –nodnod-

xxxxxxx-Oh god! Don't explode! Who will post the fanfic?.! –gets into bomb shelter- Okay, now you can explode.

Edward elric's wife-A new one? Um…I think people like this one… I think I'll stick to this one for now. –nodnod-

Cadetanimewolf-Heh. You should go to gaiaonline sometime. They used to have a ton of these kinds of roleplays.

xcloudx-Um…okay, calm down, I'm updating. No need to panic people! –smile-

NarutosGirl52-Let's see…Edo's around sixteen, Abby's around seventeen, Ezra I think is either seventeen or eighteen, and I think Tsuki is nineteen. Glad you think the ficceh so far. –grin-

Gozilla , Spirit Anime, Red Mist, and Whisper7-Yay! I updated. Glad you guys like it. –nodnod-

Ayame-Heh. If you can read, then you're worthy enough in my opinion. –nodnod- Glad to see loyal fans out there.

Djdoodet-Yeah, I see that now. Sorry for making you guys wait so long.

Dark-Syaoran-Well, there's currently no blood. Maybe next time.