AN: It's been ten years since FMA: Brotherhood came out today! Hope you all had a great day today! (Wrote this in one day AGAIN plz excuse mistakes)

Chapter 9

"How long is she gonna fuckin' be?"

Ed leaned against the wall, reaching his hand down to rub at his left knee. He could feel the cool metal of his port through the fabric of his pants, and he rubbed around the port to generate heat. The cold air was starting to get to him, more so than Zack's pacing and complaining.

"She won't be long, idiot. Calm down." Ed retorted, missing the scowl Zack sent his way. He looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching him, and came face to face with Zack. "What-?"

"How about you stop insultin' me before I start swingin'?" Zack asked dryly, and Ed raised a brow. A smile formed on his face.

"What? Is your ego that fragile?" He challenged, and Zack's eyes narrowed to slits. He brought the blade of his scythe up to Ed's throat, making him press back against the wall.

Zack growled, "Shut up and quit smilin' before I kill you, pipsqueak."

Ed gulped a bit, a bit of fear slipping into his eyes as he glanced down at the sharp metal. Any closer and it would dig into his neck. Clenching his jaw, Ed sent a hard look Zack's way, and reached up, pushing the weapon away from him.

"Screw off, man." Ed started, huffing. "Let's just look, okay?"

"There's nothing to look for here, if you haven't noticed!" Zack snapped, waving his hand in the direction of the graves. "This is all there is! Graves!"

"There's gotta be more than just graves! You just have to look!" Ed could feel a headache starting to form, a dull thumping in his mind. He pushed pass the killer and approached the grave stones, stopping in front of one and kneeling to search.

"You look like an idiot." Zack sneered, watching as Ed brushed aside debris and looked all over the stone. Ed ignored him, brushing some dirt away, and he paused as his hand ran over the writing carved into the stone, taking a moment to read the name.

Nina Weber

His eyes softened. He knew this was a completely different woman, but memories invaded his mind like a flood. Memories of a blue eyed, brown haired child and her favourite pet dog. Her voice echoed in his head, clear as day as if he only saw her just yesterday.

"Big brother!"

"Big brother Ed, let's play!"

Her voice warbled, changing distorting to a voice unlike her own.

"Ed...ward... Let's... play..."

"Oi, you listening to me?" Zack's voice broke him out of his trance, and Ed shook his head, ridding himself of the thoughts.

"Uh, sorry, what?" Ed looked up, seeing Zack looming over him from behind the grave stone, and he looked disgruntled.

"I said, what're you lookin' at?" He asked, clearly annoyed at repeating himself.

"Just... Her name." Ed answered simply, looking away to stare back at the stone. He felt sorrow and sympathy for her.

"Who's name?"

"Hers. The woman who died here."

"What's so special about it? She's dead." Ed turned to look at him, his eyebrows furrowed.

"You're joking, right?" Ed asked in disbelief, and felt a bit of shock at how quickly Zack dismissed him.

"Nope. I don't get why you're putting up so much of a fuss about the dead, anyways. They're fuckin' dead." Zack said, staring down at Ed as he slipped a hand into his pocket. He looked utterly uninterested.

"They were people." Ed spoke, and that seemed to catch Zack's attention, so he continued. "Like this girl, Nina... She was alive once. She had a life. A family. Probably a significant other." He turned his gaze back onto the stone, staring at her name. "I don't know whether she enjoyed her life or if it was filled with heartbreak. But she was alive. She was someone who once walked her. It's...a shame that she had to go this way. She could have done great things."

"You don't even know her." Zack was staring at Ed as if he'd grown another head. "How do you know she would have done something good?"

"I don't." Ed said simply, and he looked up at Zack once more. "But I think anyone has the potential to do something good."

Zack stayed silent, seemingly too stunned to speak.

Sensing the air turn awkward, Ed stood, dusting himself off. "You know what? I'm gonna go looking elsewhere. I think there was another hallway, so maybe there's something there." He said, turning away, and he heard Zack splutter behind him.

"You're leaving me alone, now?! Gonna run away?!" He snapped, and Ed snorted.

"No! Just look for the switch, dumbass." Ed replied, walking towards the exit, and he ignored the expletives Zack hurled at him as he left.

Ed made his way across the first graveyard room, finding another door, and he blinked, staring at the plaque left beside the door.

Morgue.

"Well, isn't that pleasant." Ed muttered, opening the door to the morgue, and he shivered at the cold air that blew over him. "Ack- This place is even colder than the rest of the floor!" He whined, stepping foot into the room and rubbing his arms. He definitely wasn't going to spend too much time in here.

There was only a few cold chambers in the room, suggesting that this place doesn't see a large group of corpses very often, with two coffins beside one set of chambers. )n the far wall there was a bridge over a small pool of water, that strangely enough, only lead to a wall. He frowned at the strange sight, and approached it. As he came closer to the wall, he saw that it looked rather new, and he ran his hand over the bricks, his eyes trailing over the surface.

"Aha." He murmured, kneeling down and grazing his fingers over some markings at the edges. Alchemy. "Someone was certainly hasty with this."

Ed's eyes turned up at the wall, staring. The alchemist who did this certainly didn't want people to get into whatever was on the other side. If he could still do alchemy himself, he would have opened up the wall by now. He sighed softly. He stood, taking a step back to examine the rest of the room, when he spotted some papers sticking out of one of the chambers. He approached, cautiously checked for a body, and upon finding none, retrieved the papers. He blinked, taking in the odd circles and scribbles that lined the paper.

"Are these transmutation circles?" He mused quietly, gazing at the odd usage of symbols used to make it. It looked Amestrian, but there was a foreign element to it that he couldn't place. "What sort of alchemy is this?"

A sudden noise echoed through the halls outside of the room, drawing his attention as he looked up, confused. He couldn't place what the noise was at all, but he did hear Zack's laughter, and knew it couldn't be good. He folded up the papers nicely, and slipped them into the inner pocket of his vest, reminding himself to examine them further later.


Rachel found herself walking for a little while before she finally emerged into a room.

The room was filled to the brim with the materials to make grave stones as well as shovels, dirt, and other digging equipment. A table stood in the center of the room, papers scattered over it, and from what she could see, they looked to be designs for future graves. A shovel sat next to the table, propped up by a bag of dirt. On the other side of the room, there was a door.

Rachel tentatively approached, her gaze falling onto the sheets of paper, and she tilted her head. One of them looked odd, showing rows of circles settled into a box, and one of the circles in the second row from the top had an x on it.

"What is... Is this suppose to be the graves out there?" She mumbled, staring blankly at it as she picked up the sheet in question. Her finger traced over it, recognizing the box as the shape of the room, and from there it wasn't hard to put two and two together. "That must mean this grave has the switch."

Just then, she paused as the sound of stone breaking echoed through the walls, and Zack seemed to howl with laughter in the distance. She frowned.

"Hah! Onto the next one, bitches!"

"Annoying..." She murmured, shaking her head.

Click.

Rachel blinked, turning her attention to the door. He did it? She approached, carefully pushing it open, and she paused at the darkness that loomed further on. There were no traces of lights in the hallway.

"Won't do..." She mused, and she turned her gaze to search the room, spotting some cabinets near the door. She approached one, moving aside some papers with circles scribbled on it, and picked up a flashlight. Turning it on, she was pleased to see it worked, and ventured further.

This hallway seemed even longer, the dark almost suffocating, but she paid it no mind. Until her flashlight flickered.

"Heheheh!"

She paused, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

Was someone... there?

Brushing it off and making sure her flashlight was working properly, she continued forward, quickening her pace only slightly and pushing the door open once she found it.

This new room, she noticed, seemed to be an archive room. Shining her flashlight around to examine her surroundings, she saw tall shelves lined with books, and papers littered the floor. A large book rested on the table, and she felt drawn to it specifically when her eyes settled on it.

Rachel approached the table and opened the book, curious of the contents. She felt the slightest sense of surprise rise up within her.

"Records?" She murmured, brows furrowed as she flipped through them. She saw many names and pictures, and the details written on each page described the person, as well as their deaths.

"So many people... Hm?" She paused as a few sheets fell out from the book, and she picked them up, the light settling on the papers and her her eyes widening a fraction upon seeing her own face staring back at her on the corner of the page.

"It's... me..." She mumbled, her eyes skimming over the sheet. My age... my birthday... it even has what my home life was like...

She shifted the pages, bringing the second one to the front.

"Isaac... Foster?" She murmured, her eyes trailing from the name to the picture. Zack.

So this is him...

Finally, she turned her attention to the third one, and became confused.

In the corner, a picture of Ed. His name printed clearly as well as his age, but his birthday and personal history were written off as "confidential."

Does the resident of this floor not have access to Ed's information? Why is it only Ed?

The light from her flashlight flashed once again, startling her, and she stared at it. It flicked once more, before staying on, and she sighed in relief. "I should look around some more..." She murmured, moving her flashlight away from the pages, and she folded them to slide into her purse.

She moved away from the table, reaching the far side of the room where she found a small hallway. Venturing through it, she found a door when she reached the end, and in front of the door laid a switch she could step on. She eyed it curiously, stepping on it, and she heard a click. Looking up at the door, she tried to the handle, and frowned upon finding it locked.

This means there's another switch? But where... wait.

An image of the bubbling water appeared within her mind.

That may be it. I should head back.

Determined, Rachel turned back, re-entering the archive room and making her way to the exit. She didn't even make it two steps into the hallway before she heard a noise.

"Who's there?" She called out, turning to gaze behind her into the darkness. She could sense a presence somewhere, but couldn't place where, only feeling eyes watching her every move.

"Um..." A voice spoke, sounding incredibly young, and she took a step back. They sounded close.

"I know what you desire." The voice continued, and she thought it could be a young boy speaking to her. "I like you, so I'll make you lovely."

She thought the voice was coming from the room she just left, but now she couldn't tell. It sounded like it was all around her, and she turned every which way, her flash light illuminating the walls.

"After all," The voice this time sounded like it was in her ear. "This is my domain." A giggle followed the whisper.

Rachel spun around, staring at the space directly behind her, and only saw empty air.

"...This floor's-?"

She heard a distant thump, followed by Zack's aggravated voice, but she couldn't quite make out what he said clearly. Shaking her head, she noticed the presence was gone, so she turned, leaving the dark and entering the light of the first room. She turned the flashlight off, closed the door behind her and quickly left the equipment room. As she approached the crack in the wall, she could hear Ed's shouting and frowned. Did something happen?

As she stepped out of the hole in the wall, she stopped dead in her tracks.

All of the graves but her own were utterly destroyed, and Zack sat on the floor, rubbing his head as Ed appeared to chew him out. Both looked utterly pissed, and Rachel let her brows furrow.

"...What on earth..."


AN: Another chapter that wasn't so action packed, but I wanted to use this as a chance to introduce some things an t. Sorry if it was a little dull!

I'm really having fun with Ed thrown into this because he's so different from Zack and Ray, which is why I thought this would be an interesting crossover in the first place. He balances out the group physically and mentally(While Zack is the brawns and Ray is the brains, Ed is a good balance of both), and for any readers who don't know FMA, he just has this HUGE thing against murder and killing innocent life. It's such a big thing to him that even in situations where it would be easier to kill his opponent, he doesn't, because he values human life just that much.

I think he could be a good influence for Ray and Zack, don't you? Haha!

Please review! I love reading what you have to say. And happy 10th anniversary, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood!