As soon as Ed and Roy had left, Al got on a train to East City. Once he was there, he walked quietly through the slums, trying to find a trace of Scar. It wasn't until he gave up that he saw someone familiar. Just as he began to walk back to the train station, he saw Scar walking toward him.

Al was surprised that Scar wasn't even bothering to hide from him. Considering everything that had happened during their last meeting, Scar being so obvious about things was surprising.

"What are you doing here?" Scar asked.

"I… wanted to ask you something."

"Like what?"

Al shifted uncomfortably for a moment, trying to think of a good way to phrase the questions in his mind. Finally, he decided to start at the beginning. "I regained my memory."

"I see. So you hate me again."

"No. I know I should, but for some reason, I can't."

"Then why are you here?"

"Brother joined the military again. He's trying to fight them without them knowing, but he doesn't remember anything. And…"

"What?"

"We… not Ed, because he doesn't know about all this, but Colonel Mustang and I… were wondering if you'd be our ally in this fight."

"Whom are you fighting against?"

"Who do you think we're fighting against? As far as I know, it hasn't changed since that day under Central."

It was quiet for a while. "Don't expect me to cooperate with Mustang. However, there are some things you should know if you want to win this fight."

"Then you'll help?"

"Yes. However, this sharing of information goes both ways."

"Right."

Scar looked around. "We shouldn't stay here."

Al quietly followed Scar through the city to a hidden room in the slums, far away from where the fight with Kimblee had taken place. Once Al had shared his side of the story, Scar stood up.

"I need to get something. Stay here."

"Huh? Sure…"

Al sat patiently in the room as he waited for Scar to return. After a while, he heard footsteps, and he looked outside. Once he saw who was out there, he immediately pulled his head away from the window and looked for another exit. Envy was walking down the alley, accompanied by a strange-looking Gluttony. Al soon found a hole in the opposite wall, large enough for him to crawl through. He checked the other side to be sure it would be safe and ducked into the next room.

It was dark in that room, and Al shivered from the cold. He wanted to leave, but he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to find Scar again if he did. He sat in the room for what felt like an eternity before he heard footsteps. He risked a glance out through the hole. It was Scar.

Scar walked directly to the hole and sat down right next to it. "Why are you hiding?"

"I saw Envy just now. And Gluttony. I don't think they saw me, though."

"I see. Here," Scar continued, pushing some papers through the hole to Al. "That's everything we know right now. You can give that to Mustang if you want. Just be sure it doesn't fall into enemy hands."

"Yeah." Al quickly read the contents of the papers, memorizing as much as he could before leaving the dark room he was hiding in. Before he left, he folded the papers and tied them around the medallion, which hung on a chain around his neck. He pulled his shirt over the medallion and buttoned his jacket up as high as it would go without suffocating him.

He walked cautiously through the streets of East City, watching for any signs of the homunculi. He stopped when he heard a familiar voice from behind him. He turned around to see Ran Fan standing behind him.

"You seem familiar somehow," said Ran Fan as she stood before Al, her arms crossed. Al noticed that she had indeed gotten automail installed in six months. He smiled.

"It's me," he said weakly. "Alphonse."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really? This is your true body?"

"Yeah."

"You need to gain some weight."

"I know. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"We were about to head to Central to find you two. What has happened?"

"Ah… it's a long story."

"Then you can tell us on the way to meet your brother."

Al paused. "About that… he doesn't remember anything. Everything from the past five years is gone."

"I see," Ran Fan muttered. "This is not good."

Al shook his head. "Actually, we're working it out to our advantage. Now Ed can gather information without being looked at with suspicion. I can too, since nobody knows that I regained my memories."

"I see. Then have you found any useful information?"

"Some. I just spoke with Scar."

"That man?" she asked. "You're allied with him now?"

"He has the same goal that we do," Al muttered. "Besides, we need all the help we can get."

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

Before Al had time to react, the two found themselves surrounded by what Al felt like was the entire military. Ran Fan managed to disappear, but Al didn't get much further than a couple of blocks before he was brought down by a group of soldiers.

Al struggled as they tried to restrain him. He came close to breaking free several times before Envy walked up to him and leaned in close to his face. He was in the form of a soldier, but Al recognized him.

"So, you know who I am now. This is quite a problem, isn't it? I didn't expect you to be so rash."

Al wanted very much to punch Envy in the face, but he couldn't move his hands in that direction. Envy smirked. "You're under arrest for conspiring against the military and associating yourself with Scar. Don't try to resist, or your situation will become much, much worse."

Al continued to struggle, but then he remembered a certain threat and decided to give up. It wasn't worth Winry's life. Envy smiled as Al allowed the soldiers to restrain him. "Good. You really do have more sense than that pipsqueak."

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

After completing his work with the Colonel, Ed went to Central to meet up with his brother. The first thing he did when he got out of the train was head to a phone booth, but someone interrupted him before he could place a call.

"Mr. Elric, you've been given orders to report to the Fuhrer's office right away."

"Huh? What does he want?"

"I don't know. I was simply given orders to take you to headquarters immediately."

Upon arriving at the office, Ed was surprised to see that Bradley looked completely different from the last time he had seen him. He sat down cautiously, not wanting to say anything to piss off the older man.

"I thought I told you to stay away from regaining your memories."

"We did. Or at least, we tried."

"Then how is it that you regained them?"

"Huh? I don't know. It's just Al who…"

"Only your brother?"

Ed nodded. "Whatever we did, it only worked for him. I don't remember a thing."

Bradley smiled. "That's good. Now then, I have something I wish to discuss with you."

"Huh?"

"It seems that there are some people in the military who have been plotting a rebellion. They wish to overthrow the military and rule the country themselves."

"So they're like a terrorist group or something?"

"Not quite. They haven't used violence yet, but it's only a matter of time before they take things too far."

"Who are these people?"

"At the moment, the group consists of only a few people. However, they're spreading lies about the military in order to gain the trust of certain individuals, such as yourself."

"Me? Who are these people exactly?"

"The three that I know of are Colonel Mustang, Lieutenant Hawkeye, and one more, who is a rather recent addition to this group."

"Who?"

Bradley's eye narrowed, and his face became dead serious. "I think you know who." He stood up. "Come. I'll show you."

Ed followed the Fuhrer through the vast military headquarters to a small building that seemed to be a prison of some sort. Before they entered, Bradley turned to Ed once again. "I'm very sorry about this, but it's for the best."

"Huh?"

As they entered the building, Ed saw a familiar figure standing with ropes completely preventing any movement on his part, surrounded by three well-armed soldiers. He stared in shock at the figure, who looked straight at Ed with traces of fear in his eyes. "Al?"

There was silence in the room for a while. Ed curled his fists as he stared at his brother. "What's going on?"

"Alphonse has been arrested for plotting against the military. He has been spreading rumors about corruption in the higher ranks and has even worked willingly with a serial killer in order to overthrow us."

Ed stared dumbly at his brother. "Al, is that true? Are you really trying to do that?"

"Brother, it's not how he says it is. I swear I'd never do anything like that."

"Then why didn't you tell me what was going on?"

"How could I? You don't remember anything."

"Do you think that's my fault?"

"Brother…"

"Do you?" Ed could feel tears in his eyes. He didn't know what to do.

Al's eyes became cold as he faced his brother. "Yes, I do think it's your fault, because you're the one who put us into this situation in the first place."

"What are you talking about?"

"You wanted to lose your memories. You wanted to get out of the military so badly that you decided that we would give up everything we'd gained in the past five years."

"Al…"

"Brother, what's with you? Don't you even want to help me?"

"How am I supposed to help you when I don't even know what I'm supposed to do? You didn't even tell me what you were going to do! You just kicked me out and talked about me behind my back!"

"We had to! Brother, please."

Ed stared at Al for a moment before turning away. "No, Al. Right now I don't even see why I should help you."

"Brother…"

"I'm sorry, Al."

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

Ed was dead silent as he followed Bradley through headquarters. After a while, he simply stopped walking. His face was hidden.

"Is something wrong?"

"No."

"That's a blatant lie right there."

"What do you think is wrong? I just betrayed the only family I have left."

"Hmm? Betrayed? Why do you say that?"

"I didn't even try to stick up for him."

Ed felt a hand on his shoulder. "You did the right thing. Now that he's been found to be one of this group, we can help him."

"Really?"

"Yes. He'll have to try hard, but we'll get him back to normal."

Somehow, I don't believe that, thought Ed as they went their separate ways.

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

Al stared blankly through the window of his cell. After meeting Ed, his emotions had gotten the better of him, and he had spent the rest of the day in a state of depression. He hadn't moved an inch since he had been placed in the cell.

After a while, someone came in and began untying the ropes. Al didn't understand this gesture until the man left the cell, leaving a plate of food on the bed next to Al. Al looked at it and turned back to the window, wrapping his arms around his knees. He wanted to eat, but he couldn't convince himself to move.

Eventually, Al heard a door slam. He sat up and looked through the bars of his cell. The soldier guarding his cell had left. Al looked again at the food and decided to eat some of it. Once he had finished, he continued to stare through the window. He blinked as a shadow passed by the window.

Al stood up on his bed and looked through the window, trying to figure out where the shadow had come from. He didn't see anything, so he sat back down, just as a light flashed in the hallway.

Al watched in surprise as a hooded figure came down the hall and stopped at his cell. At first he thought it was Ed, but then he realized that whoever it was couldn't be his tiny brother. Al instinctively moved to a defensive stance as the figure easily transmuted the bars of the cell and stepped inside.

"Who are you?" Al asked. The figure reached up to his hood and pulled it back. Al gasped as he saw his father's face. "What…"

"Quiet. We don't have much time to get out of here."

Al stood numbly in front of his father. His body wasn't quite able to move. After a moment, Hohenheim gave up and grabbed Al's arm. "Come on, I'm not leaving my son in a situation like this."

"Ah, wait…"

"There's no time to waste. Do you really want to stay here like this?"

"No, but…"

"Then come on."

"They're holding Winry hostage!"

Hohenheim stopped. "Winry Rockbell?"

"Yeah. They'll kill her if I try anything drastic."

Hohenheim continued to drag Al through the empty courtyard. "Then we'll call this a kidnapping. Since you don't seem to want to come with me, then there's a lot of truth in that statement."

Al couldn't help but smile at that, and he became more willing to follow his father through Central to a rundown old building. Once they were there, Hohenheim used alchemy to block the entrances. Al watched silently as he watched his father work. Something seemed wrong to him.

"You don't need a circle either?" he asked.

"No, I don't. Are you hungry?"

"No, I'm fine. Um, what…"

"I heard from the Flame Alchemist that you were being kept prisoner. I also heard about your brother. Do you still have that medallion?"

Al reached under his shirt and pulled out the medallion. Somehow, miraculously, the papers had stayed attached. He pulled them off and gave the medallion to his father.

"So this is it. The key to his memories. Do you know where he is now?"

"No, I don't. The last time I saw him he was walking away with King Bradley."

"So he's been corrupted by them, has he?"

Al looked at his father with curiosity. "What are you doing here? Why are you helping me?"

"Why shouldn't I help my children?"

Al paused. "Even after leaving us after so long?" Al immediately regretted saying that. The look on his father's face showed him the answer. "Sorry."

"No… I'm sorry I left you for so long. I was trying to… I didn't expect for everything to go so badly for you."

It was quiet in the room for a while. Finally, Hohenheim stood up. "Get some rest. We'll figure this out in the morning."

Al nodded and curled up on the floor, watching his father through one eye. Hohenheim, assuming his son was asleep, walked up to Al and gently covered him with his jacket.