Alphonse awoke with a start.

"Brother!" he shouted jerking up, his hand flying out as if to reach for something. A cold fear gripped him as he heard his voice echo ominously, going on for quite a ways. He blinked and gazed around in confusion. This wasn't home; he didn't know where this was. Slowly he pulled himself to his feet, shaking a bit. He shivered and clutched his arms, becoming aware that he was naked.

"Brother?" he called again. No answer; save the eerie echo of his own voice. He observed his surroundings, trying to get his bearings.

From what he could tell, he was in some kind of hall. It was large and grand, with a huge chandelier that lit the whole room up. He turned and saw a very ornate stage positioned on the far side of the room. So this was a theater, or a ballroom of some kind. Alphonse wasn't sure, but he knew for a fact that he had never been here before.

This wasn't good. Waking up naked in a strange place with no memory of how you got there was bad enough, but Alphonse was alone. Frantically he racked his mind for the last thing he'd been doing before he'd lost consciousness. He had been with brother. The two of them had been trying to…

The severity of Alphonse's situation hit him just as quickly as the memories did.

"W-We were trying to bring back mom!" He realized, "but then, why am I here? Where's brother?" He remembered the rebound, and Edward reaching for him, and he remembered the gate. Alphonse suddenly felt the urge to throw up at the thought of it, but managed to overcome it.

"Just stay calm," he told himself. "There's probably something in here you can use to transmute some clothes, after that you just need to go outside and find some help." Nervously, Alphonse began to scourge the theater for something to wear. Unfortunately the stage didn't seem to have a curtain to transmute. He continued to search, but to no avail. "There has to be something down here," he told himself. He gave the room another once over, and noticed a little black heap of cloth that was piled near a corner. That would work. He approached it and realized that it was someone's discarded jacket, along with an undershirt. He vaguely wondered why someone would walk off and leave their shirt lying on the floor, but didn't spend too much time pondering it. Instead he clapped his hands and transmuted the jacket into a rather thin pair of pants. They were a bit uneven, not his best work, but they would work. He pulled them on, immediately feeling better now that he was at least somewhat covered. Heaving a sigh he reached for the shirt to pull that on as well.

As he grabbed it, he felt something heavy fall and hit the floor with a loud clank. Curious, he reached down and picked it up. It was a shiny silver pocket watch, with the emblem of the state carved into it, the sign of a state alchemist. Alphonse furrowed his brow. He didn't know what to make of that. Looking up, he began to observe the ballroom once again, this time much more precisely. As he did he realized that the entire room was covered in transmutation circles. Huge complex transmutation circles, more intricate than Alphonse could comprehend.

"What is this place?" he asked, a nervous feeling beginning to take hold of him. He had to get out of this place and find Edward, now! He dashed in the direction of the doors throwing them open. He emerged in what appeared to be a city square, but it was empty. The buildings were taller and more advanced than any he'd ever seen before, and Alphonse slowly began to realize just how lost he was.

"Hello?" he called. "Edward? Brother?"

His voice reverberated out into nothingness, and he could hear no response.

"Is there anyone here? Anyone?" Alphonse yelled, his voice cracking. "Brother? Brother where are you?"

He could feel tears beginning to gather in his eyes as he desperately called out. There had to be someone in here, right? The whole city just couldn't be empty.

"Edward!" Alphonse screamed. "Edward where are you?"

"…Alphonse?"

Alphonse whirled around to see a girl in a large flamboyant dress staring at him, a small infant held tightly in her arms. "Al is that you, the real you?" she asked.

Alphonse blinked. That had been un-expected. He must of been so panicked he hadn't noticed her. "Uh...Y-yes?" He answered. "I'm Alphonse.

A look of sheer horror crossed the girl's features. "Edward, what happened to Edward?"

"Edward?" Alphonse exclaimed, "You know my brother?" But the girl wasn't listening. She was staring at the building Alphonse had come out of and murmuring to herself.

"He said he was going to destroy it, did he lie? If Al is here, then what did he do?"

"My brother!" Alphonse yelled. "You know him? Where is he? What's going on."

The girl turned and gave him a confused look. "What do you mean Al? Of course I know him, its me."

Alphonse stared blankly. Had he and this girl met? He couldn't remember.

"I…I don't think I know you." He said.

The girl's eyes narrowed, as though she was trying to solve a difficult equation in her head.

"Alphonse…exactly how old are you?"

"I'm ten…" Alphonse answered, not seeing the point of the question.

"How old is your brother? Do you know?" she asked.

"He's eleven, one year older than me." Alphonse replied.

The girl's narrowed eyes immediately widened, and a shadow flitted across her face.

"What, what is it?" Alphonse asked. "Did something happen to brother?"

"No, no everything is fine." She answered quickly. "We need to get out of here."

"But what about brother?" Alphonse asked.

"It'll be ok," she said. "We just need to get out of here, then we can get help."

"But-"

"We need to hurry," she said urgently. She grabbed Alphonse's hand and pulled him down the street, going as quickly as she could.

"Where are we going?" Alphonse asked.

"Just don't worry," was all the girl said.

How could he not worry? He didn't know what was going on, and Edward was missing. This girl seemed to know more than she was saying, but her response to his questions was hardly comforting. As they ran, Alphonse began to realize that this city was within a large cavern. As the girl led him up the hill he looked down and saw the vast expanse of city that lay empty.

"Where is everyone?" Alphonse asked. "Why is the whole city deserted?"

"They're not there anymore," the girl answered.

"Where did they go?"

She was silent, and with a sinking feeling, Alphonse tried not to imagine the fate this city had succumb to.

Edward's head was killing him, and his whole body felt like one big bruise.

"Ughh…" he moaned, rolling over. He tried to push himself off the ground, but his arms were too weak. He collapsed, panting heavily. He could tell that what he was lying on was in fact grass, so he must've collapsed outdoors somewhere.

"The professor will have my hide," he hissed, trying once again to pull himself up. It was to no avail, and he collapsed yet again. He couldn't move, and wouldn't be able to for sometime by the looks of it. Slowly, his eyelids became heavy, and he could feel himself sinking back down into sleep. Despite his attempts to fight it, Edward's eyelids gently closed and he began to drift off.

For some reason, there was a voice still ringing in his ears.

"Brother? Brother?" The voice echoed, over and over.

"Who are you?" Edward asked, and then he fell into unconsciousness.