Roy could only sit by and watch as hands wrapped themselves around Edward's throat. He couldn't move from where he was tied to the wall. The hands squeezed tightly, but he knew they would let go before too much damage was done. It was still terrifying. He kept telling himself that Edward would be spared. They needed them alive to sell. But Fullmetal had made them mad and the man obviously wanted to act on that anger. He was brutal.

Roy could hear every one of Edward's chokes as he tried to breathe through his punishment. But that wasn't how it worked. He couldn't breathe. Roy's skin crawled at another choke. He watched as Edward fruitlessly fought for freedom. He was clawing at the hands with his one available hand. His face was turning a bright red. And from that to a shade of purple. He looked back at the hands in horror.

There was a moment that Roy realised how wrong he'd been. Edward's body fell limp. He stopped fighting. It wasn't long before Edward's chokes stopped as well. He simply hung there in the man's hold. Neither of them made a move. The man didn't let go. He kept holding Fullmetal up by his throat. Roy kept watching the hands as they tightened around the defenseless boy's neck. Chills didn't cease to come.

It was in one terrifying, sickening moment that Mustang stopped looking at the hands around Edward's the throat and instead looked to the boy's face. Dull, lifeless eyes. Eyes that didn't belong to Edward. His eyes weren't dull. His eyes were like staring into a camp fire left unattended in a forest. It was unruly. It could choose to rise and swallow the forest, or it could be the small fierce fire that promised safety. These eyes were empty...

Dead and empty. Roy felt everything stop. He didn't even breathe. He couldn't do anything anymore. Nothing worked. It all shut down. He couldn't do this.


Here Alphonse was again. Standing in front of the phone. He could put it off again, only for a little while. Just for a minute. He just needed to collect his thoughts. He wouldn't tell the Rockbells that Edward was dead because he wasn't!

Alphonse shook his head. No! Stop! Regardless of the fact that Brother is not dead, you need to tell them! They deserve to know...

He almost did it. He picked up the phone. He was ready to do it. He would have it off of his shoulders. He was shocked when he realised that he had dialed the phone. It took everything in him, which wasn't really anything, not to throw the phone across the room and let it break into a million pieces that would make it unfixable. Of course that was a stupid excuse because he was an alchemist. He could fix it easily.

There a terrifying click. "Rockbell automail, how may I help you?" It was Winry's voice. This was just horrible.

A knock sounded on the door and Alphonse slammed down the phone. He had at least managed to call. It should be easier next time, right? There isn't going to be a next time. You're too scared to admit he might be dead.

He ran to the door, so very grateful for the distraction. If the whole of reality was against him calling Winry and Granny then maybe he shouldn't. They didn't need to know about everything that had happened. He would set it right and everything would be just fine. He grabbed the door knob and turned it, opening the door to reveal a familiar face. "Lieutenant Colonel?" Alphonse moved to the side of the frame. "Come on in. What are you doing in East City, Sir... Never mind, I think I know." Alphonse shuffled his large "feet".

Maes Hughes walked in, giving Alphonse a weary smile as he passed. "And I imagine you're not wrong." He looked like he was trying to keep how worried and upset he was down under a mask, but seeing Alphonse had shattered that mask.

Alphonse lead Hughes to the small couch in the room so that he could sit down. Maes sat down at one end while Alphonse sat at the other. "Would you like some water, Sir?" he asked, trying to think of something that might make this less awkward.

Hughes shook his head. "No, I'm fine, Al. I came here to talk to you. How are you doing?" Maes's voice filled his non-existent ears. It rang through his armour. He could hear the thickness in his speech. Grief.

What should he say? He wasn't fine. He was so scared. He was terrified. But everything was going to be alright when they got Edward back. He was going to make everything right again. Because Alphonse needed Edward here. He needed his big brother. A tiny voice in his head whispered to him, That's the only reason you refuse to believe he's dead. That's why you can't accept it. You think you need him. And you can't imagine life without him. He's dead. He isn't coming back. You're lying to yourself. It's a fantasy.

No! Alphonse wanted to scream back. He wanted to shove the voice down. Snuff it out. Hide from the lies. If they really were lies...

"Not great, but it will be better once we get Brother and the Colonel back." Just speak the truth. Don't let the lies get to you. Push them down.


Maes knew that Alphonse's focus was only on his brother. It was sad, and it broke his heart to see Alphonse like that. He didn't want to crush Alphonse's hope or spirit, but if Edward was dead, and he most likely was, then Alphonse needed to be prepared for that shocking reality so that it didn't turn out to be too much for him. He had to be able to accept it when the time came. "Alphonse, I think that you might have to prepare yourself for the fact that Ed might not come back. There is a strong possibility that he won't be coming back."

"He is! I know! We have to be fast!" Alphonse was fidgeting. His hands wouldn't stay still. His head was bowed. "We have to get him back! I need him!" Alphonse broke down into dry sobs. "I- I- I n- need him... He couldn't... He wouldn't leave me! I know... It's not true... It's not."

Hughes crossed the couch and laid a hand on Alphonse's back. The cool metal shook underneath his hand. "Ed would never purposely leave you; I know that, but this isn't something that he could control."

"Can," Alphonse amended, his head shooting up with a clank. "Can control. 'Could' would mean he had previously been unable to control it, but he would have come back if he could control it now!"

"Alphonse, you know what I mean. I know you do. Please, don't do this to yourself. You're a smart kid, and you know you're only hurting yourself more by doing this. Please, understand that I'm telling you this because I don't want to see you hurt." Hughes barely knew the boys, but he had gotten attached to them and so had his family. Poor Gracia and Elicia. They barely knew anything of what was happening, and he knew that Elicia wouldn't understand why her Uncle Roy and Big Brother Ed weren't coming back. It was a painful reminder that nothing was going to be easy.

"I just can't, though, because I know he's coming back. He'll come in and stroll up to me and say something all Ed-like. Maybe, he'll ask for me to make Mom's stew for dinner. Everything will be alright when he comes back."

Hughes didn't want to believe that they were dead, but Alphonse just refused it. He didn't care about the evidence. It was sad that that had to happen to the Elrics. Those two were so close. It was so unfair. Life was unfair. But so was death.

Hughes looked at nothing in particular at all. He knew Alphonse wasn't naïve. The boy was kind. Kinder than anything or anyone, but he wasn't really naïve.

An idea formed, but Hughes didn't voice it. He knew Alphonse would be upset if he did. He would refuse it. But just maybe he wouldn't...

"Al, I think it would be best for you to get away from the investigation." He was regretting telling Hawkeye that Alphonse would be fine to let into it all. That was a stupid mistake on his own account. "You could go to Resembool and visit friends." Maes saw the way Alphonse flinched. He was probably not keen on going back to Edward's and his old home. Back to friends that would be grieving as well, and Hughes could see why Alphonse wouldn't want that. "Or I would be happy to have you stay with my girls. They would love that."

Alphonse was shaking his head. "No, I have to stay here for when you find Brother! I need to be here for him!"

Hughes sighed. He knew Alphonse would shoot down the offer. He was too certain that everything would turn out just fine, and he needed to be there when they found Edward. Maes was, to some degree, envious of Alphonse's stubborn hope. And he felt so guilty for crushing it. He couldn't do that to Alphonse.

Alphonse was bowing his head again, staring at the boring floors.

A quiet sobbing whimper came from the boy in the armour. Hughes looked to the boy who was trembling and making horrible sobbing noises. He sounded so lost. "Mi- Mister Hughes? I- is he g- go- gone? Do you know f- for sure that he is d- de-" Alphonse couldn't finish. He sobbed. "I don't believe them, Mister Hughes! He can't be gone! He wouldn't ever leave me. He wouldn't leave me..."

Hughes felt his chest tighten. His heart clenched. This was so painful. Alphonse didn't deserve this.

He wanted so much to believe that Roy and Edward were both alive. He had to find them for Alphonse. Whether they be dead or not, he would find them or the proof. For Alphonse, but also for Roy and Edward.


Roy's eyes shot open and he gasped. His head snapped in Fullmetal's direction and relief flooded him. Roy didn't know when he had fallen asleep, but now he was sitting there sighing silently in relief because Edward was sitting there, looking so bored. He wasn't dead. He looked awful. He was covered in bruises. The kid looked like hell, but he wasn't dead. Relief was actually making him sick, or that might have been that dream. It was horrible. He could only remember those empty eyes. It was so wrong. Fullmetal was never supposed to look like that.

The dream felt so real. It was sickeningly vivid and painful. It was numbing. Roy wanted to say something but he couldn't. He couldn't say anything in his dream and couldn't when he woke up. It was still too fresh. It was so horrible. It was so real. It made Roy wonder what was real. Maybe this wasn't real. Maybe the dream was the real thing. Maybe he only wanted this to be real. He then looked for something that would prove once and for all that this was real. He needed this to be real. He needed it so much. He made a promise and it was too soon to break it. It would always be too soon to break it. He swore to himself that he would get Edward out. But he needed proof that this was real. He promised Edward that he wouldn't have to go through this.

Roy's eye scanned the room for something that would indicate that this was reality. Something surfaced.

Edward's arm was pinned up against the wall in a cuff. In the dream, it hadn't been because he had fought against those hands and their hold. That was proof that this was real because they were imprisoned and their captors had never let Edward loose. They also never would. They wouldn't ever let their prisoner free. So he was alive. A whole new, fresh wave of relief passed over him. Edward was alive. It felt so calming. But he would never forget those eyes. Empty. He swore he would never let that become reality. They had to get out of here. He felt his chest tighten painfully. He was sure Edward was alive, but it still hurt.

Roy coughed then. He took a deep breath to still his trembling throat. The cool air tickled his throat instead of calming it and sent him into a full fledged coughing fit.

Edward's head snapped in his direction, and he looked up and at him. The bruises were clearer. "Cona," Edward said, muffled by the gag. His voice, though muffled, was clearly dry. It made Roy wonder exactly how long they had both gone without water. Jace hadn't been kind enough to bring any for the two of them. Roy was sort of afraid that if he asked they would be denied water, but they wanted them alive. They had to give them water eventually.

Edward shifted and sighed. He groaned in annoyance after attempting to say something. Roy could tell he wanted to be rid of the stupid gag. It was too tight to wrestle loose, and Edward had tried. He had tried a lot. Roy's jaw ached just thinking about how hard Fullmetal was fighting against the gag. It did nothing to help.

He struggled, trying to talk to Mustang through the gag, which under any other circumstances might have been funny. Edward went out of his way to avoid Mustang most of the time, and here he was trying to find a way to speak with him. There weren't very many options, so it wasn't like Roy was against it.

Edward let out an exasperated grunt. He growled before his eyebrows shot up as if something just occurred to him. He brought up his broken automail and rubbed one of the rough edges against the cloth. The sharp edges dug into the fabric and also Edward's fleshy cheek. Blood dripped down to his chin.

"Edward, stop! What are you doing?!"

He shook his head and kept going with the sharp edges against the cloth. Blood kept coming, but it must have been working because he didn't stop. He hadn't given up. Roy could see that it had been loosened at least. There was one last rip and the gag was being spit out.

"Y- you wouldn't believe how annoying that thing was," Fullmetal rasped. "And it m- made my mouth really dry."

"So you thought cutting it off your face while also cutting up your face was a good idea? Fullmetal, I can't believe you would do that!"

Edward stared at him in shock. "What?" He scowled then huffed at Roy. "You would have done the same! Don't you scold me!"

"If you would just wait, my hands are free and I can transmute." Roy lifted his hands, shaking exhaustedly.

"Then why haven't you yet?!"

"Because I've been feeling like crap, and I wasn't sure if I had the strength! And I apparently passed out sometime!"

"Yeah, believe me, I noticed... You slept like the dead."

Roy groaned. "You should have been the one resting!"

"Just do the damn transmutation! I'm sick of this place!"

"I'm not too fond of here either," Roy said, taking Fullmetal's appearance in. He was pale. He had already been pale. But he was worse now, though. Blood was all over his face, dried and fresh. And the nasty bruises on his cheeks and head and jaw. They were really anywhere and everywhere. They were on his throat. The sight made him sick. It was a reminder of that horrid dream.

Roy shook it off and intentionally started rubbing his irritated, clotted wrists. Blood dripped from the wound.

He readied himself to draw up a transmutation circle when there was the loud shriek from the door of their prison. Roy jumped, covering up his wrists and his proof of what he had been about to do.

"How are my two favourite dead alchemists?" Jace asked with fake mirth while strolling in through the door. He was smirking slyly. "I heard shouting and got worried," he said in a faux worried voice. He lip was jutting out in a pout.

Edward felt shivers crawl up his spine. "I don't see how that's funny. Even for someone so deranged. It isn't even true."

His disturbing, deranged laugh rang out.

The shivers returned again.

"But that's what investigations thinks. No leads. No bodies. No ransom. Only blood. So much blood. Too much." He chuckled at their expressions. "They aren't coming. You can't expect them to have their top priority be searching for a couple dead bodies. They don't care." There was an awful pause. "They've given up on you."


When I say "probably"... Don't trust me. I really mean "see you in a few months"! I'm a horrible person! Forgive me?

Thank you for all the response to my story! Reviews are awesome!

I won't make any promises on the next chapter but I've got a bit written. I've been rewriting this one and saving bits I liked for later.

-UNAU/IME