In the middle of the night, Ed woke up drenched in a cold sweat. He was breathing heavily. That dream he'd had… Ed was glad he was awake now.

Once he calmed down a bit, Ed looked around. It was dark in the room. Al was asleep, Ed was sure of that. It took him a moment to realize that there was someone else in the room.

Whoever it was stood by the door, quietly watching Ed. After a minute, she walked up to him. "Do you need something?"

"No, nothing, but why…?"

"Colonel Mustang decided that it would be best for you two to be under constant surveillance, since you're still in danger."

"It isn't enough that we're in military custody?"

"It's just an extra precaution."

"Yeah, but why'd he make the decision in the middle of the night?"

"I actually came when your brother was still awake, but he does have a reason for making the decision so abruptly."

"What's that?"

"He'll tell you tomorrow on the way to Central. Are you sure you don't need anything?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ed fell back on the pillow and closed his eyes. He could hear the woman walking back to the door as he drifted off to sleep.

-------------------

The next morning, Al woke up first. He looked around, trying to figure out how much time they had before they had to leave, and saw that he and his brother were alone. That was a tad worrisome, because Roy had said they weren't going to be left alone in the room. Al got dressed and slowly opened the door.

The hallway was deserted. That made Al worry even more. Where had everybody gone? Why had they been left alone? Al went back into the room, being sure to close the door tightly. He walked over to the window and looked outside.

Below him was a startling sight. There in the courtyard, surrounded by what Al guessed to be just about every soldier in East City, was Tessa. There were countless guns pointed at her, but she didn't hold her hands up. Al looked closely at her. She had taken someone hostage. As far as Al could see, it was just a regular soldier, but then what was that behind her?

Al gasped as he realized what he was looking at. Tessa had killed someone; in the same way she had killed those two people in front of Ed that night.

Al woke up his brother and was about to bring him to the window when the door opened behind them. Roy walked up to the brothers as calmly as he could, but Al could tell he was shaken up.

"Come on, we need to get you two out of here."

"Huh? Now?"

"Yes, right now. Get your shoes on, Fullmetal."

Al looked at his brother. Ed was still half asleep, and he obviously didn't know what was going on outside. Once Ed had pulled on his shoes, Al grabbed his coat and pulled his brother out of the room.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ed asked, looking from Roy to his brother.

"I'll tell you soon, but right now we need to get to the train station. We're running late."

Al knew that was a lie, because he had seen what was going on outside. He knew that Ed would try to go out there, though, so he was grateful for that particular lie. They walked down through the building and out a back door, where Riza was waiting in a car. Al noticed that she looked as worried as Roy was.

-------------------

Once at the train station, Ed looked at the empty tracks in confusion. "Did we miss it?"

"No, it's not here yet."

"Then why did you say we were running late?"

"Because I didn't want to worry you."

"Huh?"

At that moment, a soldier came up to Roy.

"What happened?" Roy asked.

"She got away, sir. She also took one of the new recruits with her."

"What?"

"And she left this. It's addressed to you."

Ed watched as the soldier handed Roy an envelope and walked off. Roy looked at envelope for a moment before opening it. As he read it, his eyes narrowed, and he began to look very pissed.

"Fullmetal."

"What?"

"There's been a change in plans. You're going to Central on your own."

"What are you doing?"

"Shut up."

"Huh?"

"Don't ask me that again, got it?"

Ed looked curiously at Roy. Something had pissed him off big-time. He decided not to push the issue.

Once Roy had left, Ed and Al boarded the train with Riza. By the time it finally left the station, Ed had fallen asleep.

-------------------

The train ride was surprisingly uneventful. Ed slept through most of the trip, only waking up when they got close to Central. Once there, the three were given orders to report to the Fuhrer. It took Ed a while to realize this meant he and Al might be put under strict surveillance again.

Bradley had no intentions of making the Elric brothers stay in Central, however. He had something else for them to do. After a few days, during which Ed was forced to stay in a hospital room in order to completely recover, Ed and Al headed out on another mission. This time, they didn't need anyone to force them to do it. Both of them were ready to take down the organization that had put them through so much.

Thanks to a lot of spying on Envy's part, the organization's main base had been found. Ed and Al were going there to surrender themselves, but also to prevent Tessa from killing more people in the military. They made their way to a village in the mountains. Ed recognized it as the one they had been taken to less than two weeks before.

As soon as they walked into the village, Ed and Al were surrounded. A few of the people had transmutation circles tattooed on their bodies. One of them was the man Ed and Al had met before. He took a look at the two and gave an order to someone next to him before walking off. Ed watched as he entered a small house.

Four people walked up to the brothers and began to check for weapons. Once they were deemed clean, someone led the two into the house where the man had gone. The brothers were seated and left alone in what looked like an office, and waited for what felt like hours before someone came in. It was Tessa.

"So, you've finally given up," she said as she sat down. "But I wonder, are you really here to surrender, or are you just coming to try and stop us?"

Ed kept his eyes on Tessa. "We came because we're sick of all the pain. If I had just stayed in the first place, none of this would have happened."

"True, true. If you hadn't so stubborn, everything would have worked out well. I would even have brought your brother, so that you could be together."

"That's a lie. The only reason you would have ever brought my brother into this is because he's an alchemist like me."

"Now, now, why do you think that?"

"You threatened to kill him. Colonel Mustang told me so."

"And you trust him?"

"More than I trust you."

"So then, why did you come here?"

"You were killing people. I wanted to stop that. You killed those people in that room that night, too, didn't you?"

Tessa lowered her eyes. "Yes, I did."

"Why?"

"They showed their faces. If I had left them alive, they would have been brought back here and tortured to the point of death. Nobody escapes us. I tried when I was younger, but it didn't work."

"Is that why you killed them? So that they wouldn't turn out like you?"

"No, my case is different. No outsiders knew about me. Now that most of the military knows about me, though, I'll probably be killed."

"Are you trying to make us feel bad for you?" Ed asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm just trying to make you see why I had to kill them."

"But why did you do it like that? Those bodies… you couldn't even tell if they had been human!"

"I know, I know, but I had to do it. If they could be identified, their families would have recognized them, and we would have been found out."

"The military knows about you anyway!"

"Because of you! You're the one who revealed our existence to the military!"

"They wouldn't have found you if you hadn't followed me! If you had just left me alone I wouldn't have said anything!"

"I know. It wasn't my idea to bring you back here. I didn't even want to keep you in the first place."

"Then why did you?!" Ed practically shouted, standing up and slamming his fist on the desk.

"Because, I didn't have a choice! Once they found out you were the Fullmetal Alchemist, the people above me decided to keep you with us."

"But aren't you the one who told them?"

"Yes, and I regret that decision now. I don't expect you to forgive me for that, but I'm sorry."

Ed calmed down a bit, or at least he lowered his voice. He was still standing, though. "What… what were you planning on doing when you found me?"

"I was going to bring you to our other base. We have someone there who can make you forget anything. I was going to have him make you forget that night, and then leave you at a hospital."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because, they wouldn't let me, not when they found out who you were."

All of a sudden, Ed's legs gave out, and he sat on the floor. He was trembling noticeably.

"Brother!" Al cried, kneeling beside Ed.

"I feel sick. Really, really…" Ed didn't finish that sentence. He was clutching his stomach.

Tessa stood up and walked around the desk. She was about to put her hand on Ed's back when he shouted, "Don't touch me!" She drew her hand back and stood over him.

"How long has he been like this?" she asked Al.

"Since a day or two after we got away from here last time."

"Did he see anything strange?"

"You mean like hallucinating? Yeah, he's been seeing this pink-haired kid named Shuichi or something…"

"We're going to have to bring him to the other base. If this continues, he could die."

Luckily Ed didn't hear that, because he had collapsed against his brother, trapped in an unnatural state of unconsciousness.

-------------------

Roy had wandered through East City, trying to find Scar. He didn't want this meeting to happen, but he didn't have a choice. He had to do something to save Ed's life, and Ed had said that Doctor Marcoh was traveling with Scar…

He found Scar in a deserted building. He was breathing hard, and Roy could tell he was injured. He stood up when he saw Roy in the doorway.

"Did you come here to kill me?" he asked.

"No. I came to ask for your help."

"Why would you need my help?"

Roy did his best to keep his voice steady. "The Fullmetal Alchemist is dying."

Scar was definitely surprised at this. "Dying?"

"Yes, he's been poisoned."

"What do you expect me to do?"

"I've heard you've been traveling with Doctor Marcoh. He might be able to help."

"I see." Scar began to walk through the door. "I'll tell him. You shouldn't come, though. He might think you're going to bring him back to the military."

"I understand."

"Come back here tomorrow."

-------------------

Al sat in the back seat of a car, his brother's head on his leg. Tessa was driving the car, and the man from before was in the front passenger seat. He looked back at the two constantly.

"Are you sure they won't try to escape?" he asked Tessa.

"The other base is the only place that can save Edward's life, and I doubt Alphonse will want to leave his brother behind. Right, Alphonse?"

"Right." Al didn't really care about what they were saying. He just wanted his brother to show some sign of life. The only way Al could tell Ed was alive was from his breathing.

After what seemed like an eternity, the car stopped. "Are we here now?" Al asked.

"No, not yet. We have to go a few miles by carriage."

Al looked uncertainly at his brother. Tessa smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. We'll make it in time. Hurry, though. If we take too long, it'll take even longer for him to recover."

After a long carriage ride, they finally came to another small village on the other side of the valley. Al walked alongside Tessa as the man carried Ed to a house eerily similar to the one he had been in only hours before.

"I called ahead to notify them that we were coming. This shouldn't take too long."

Al sat outside with Tessa for several hours, waiting for someone to tell him how his brother was doing. He was so desperate to hear news that he tried to go inside several times. Each time Tessa pulled him away.

"You won't be helping by going in there. Calm down," she told him the last time he tried it.

"I know, but…"

"I can see why you're so worried. You two have the strongest bond I've ever seen between siblings. But everything's going to be okay. Ed is going to be fine."

"How do you know? You said yourself it would take a long time for him to recover."

"Look, they did this to me, too. They used this poison on me, and my best friend, who was with me that entire time, said I went through everything that Ed's going through now. Even Shuichi. But with me, they waited longer to counter it, so I had to wait a long time to get back to normal."

Al stared at the door. "What if something goes wrong, though? If Ed were to die…"

"You wouldn't be able to live with yourself, right? Don't worry. We brought him here at a good time. You're a good brother."

Al felt his eyes begin to water. He blinked, trying to get rid of the tears. Over and over, he muttered to himself, "He'll be okay, he'll be okay," trying to convince himself that it was true.

Finally, somebody came out and walked up to Tessa.

"And?" Tessa asked.

"We were successful. He'll wake up tomorrow morning."

Al collapsed on the ground out of sheer joy and relief. He stayed there for a moment, not quite trusting his legs anymore. Eventually, Tessa pulled him to his feet and brought him to another house. Once inside, she had him sit down on a couch.

"Wait here for a minute, okay? I'll get you some food."

Al looked around the room. It looked normal enough, except for the fact that there were no windows, and there was some rope in a corner. Al hoped he wouldn't be tied up again.

Finally, Tessa came back with a book and a plate of food. She sat next to Al and read as he ate. Once Al was finished, Tessa stood up.

"You realize I'm going to have to keep you two under much tighter security now, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"I mean one of you will always be guarded. You're not going to have any freedom from now on."

"Why do we always have to be guarded, though? We gave ourselves up, didn't we?"

"Don't lie to yourself. You know you're going to try to get away the first chance you get. They don't want to waste any effort trying to catch you. Now come on. You look exhausted."

-------------------

Roy walked slowly back to where he was going to meet Scar and Marcoh. The moment he'd returned to headquarters the previous day, they'd told him that Ed and Al had gone to the enemy. Now it would be pointless to bring Marcoh to Central. But how was he going to say it? If he weren't careful, Scar would think that Roy had set up a trap. He probably already thought that, but now he'd have to be twice as careful.

Scar was waiting for him at the building. When he saw Roy, he walked towards him slowly. Roy really wished that Riza were with him, but there was no chance of that.

"So you did come alone."

"Yes, but something came up."

"What's that?"

Roy sighed. "Edward and his brother are now in the enemy's hands. There'll be help for him there."

"So you don't need Marcoh after all."

"No."

"And they're just going to be stuck there?"

"When they were sent there, it's doubtful that anyone knew that Fullmetal had been poisoned. There's not much of a chance of them getting away now."

Scar leaned against a wall with his arms crossed. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes. "I'll get them out of there."

"Hah?" Roy definitely hadn't expected this coming.

"That girl… I took away her family, something I can never give back. The only thing I can do for her now is to help her childhood friends."

"That girl… you mean Winry Rockbell?"

"Where are they? I'll definitely get them back."

Roy blinked. Scar was serious. After a moment, something in his brain began working again, and he was able to give Scar directions to the base up in the mountains, except for one thing. He gave Scar directions to the wrong one, which in this case, is actually the right one, so everything works out.